#i love adding ie to the end of names

[fckbatmanhiskidsareminenow]

nicknames

bruce:

-B

Dick

-dick

-dickie

-bluebird

-big bird (mostly by jason)

jason

-jace

-jay

-little wing (by dick obviously)

tim

-baby bird

-timmy

-timbo

-timbers (mostly by jason)

damian

-dames

-dami

-baby bat

duke

-sunshine

barbara

-babs

-red (mostly by jason)

cass

-cass

-cassie

steph

-steph

-stephie

-blondie (by jason)

i got sad when i was struggling to make nicknames for duke and cass so feel free to drop some of your own for any characters.

[stunie]

“GONNA SHOW HIM YOU’RE MINE.”

WINDBREAKER BOYS + LOVE BITES. ft. togame jo, hayato suo, kaji ren, sakura haruka, & umemiya hajime x f!reader

filled request: “Can I request for umemiya, sakura, suo, and kaji where they see reader with another guy friend and they get jealous because the guy is being flirty and obviously trying to make moves but reader is dense so then the boys give reader a hickey for the first time to show that reader is taken??”

mdni ! suggestive. 1.5K WC ; added togame ! :>

TOGAME JO. pet name ‘doll’ used!

“Him again?”

You adjust the straps of your top before twisting and turning to get a better look at your outfit. “Mhm,” you hum in response. “Said he needed help asking someone out today. I’m gonna help pick the flowers.”

Togame's eyes narrow a bit at the obvious intent of your friend. It didn’t help that you really didn't have a single clue in the world, and on top of your obliviousness— you're dressed so cute.

The combination was just a recipe for disaster, and he wants to finally put an end to it today.

“Ah— what are you doing?” You yelp when he suddenly tugs at your wrist, pulling you off balance as you stumble and fall onto his lap. His arm comes to loop around your waist before you can even stabilize yourself, hugging you tight against his chest.

“Togame, let go.” You whine, “I’m gonna be late!”

“Don’t wanna.”

The casualty of his tone makes your eyebrow twitch. He almost sounds bored with how slow the words come out of his mouth, and despite that fact, his arm doesn’t seem to budge at all when you try and push against him.

“Plus…..” he’s choosing to ignore your efforts to move him— or he just doesn’t notice them in the first place. “You don’t need to meet with a guy like that anyway.”

“And why is that?” You retort, arms crossing in frustration as you give up and resort to simply glaring back at your boyfriend. “..Are you jealous?”

“Course I am, doll.” He grins, fingers pulling your top’s strap out of the way before his lips attach themselves to the side of your neck, sucking at the skin as you shiver. His hand tilts your jaw to the side, giving him the space he needs to better suckle and kiss your neck.

You can’t help the little noise that slips out when he releases the skin with a loud pop, exhaling deeply against you before peppering kisses beside the dark mark he's given you.

“Can’t stand when guys are tryna get at what's mine.”

HAYATO SUO. reader described as having hair you can hold up (ie moving it to adjust a necklace)

“That friend of yours..” Suo coos against the shell of your ear, “really likes you, doesn’t he?”

He’s looming right over you, his familiar smile looking a little different today when his arms are caging you right beneath him, and you suck in a sharp breath when he leans down, tassel earrings tickling the sensitive skin of your neck.

“H-huh? He does?” your voice comes out a little breathless from the way his lips are just barely hovering over your skin.

“He does. You couldn't tell?”

In any other situation, he would think your innocence would be endearing. But after watching your friend get all close to you like that, holding your hair up and then fixing your necklace for you— he couldn't help it. A part of him is thankful for how steady his voice comes out, because you'd never be able to guess that just below his calm exterior- he was absolutely fuming with jealousy.

“No, I didn't know.” You whisper. “But you know I would've turned him down if he said anything-”

“I can help with that.” He interrupts, tone sweet and soothing. He plants a kiss just below your ear, his breath grazing your ear, and it sends a shiver straight down your spine.

“H-how?” you squeak.

You can feel him smile against you before his hand comes to tilt your head to the side, exposing more of your neck for him. “Just like this.” He whispers before he's taking a sharp inhale, lips latching onto you as he sucks harshly.

The noise that comes out of you riles him up even more. He’s sucking harder before he even realizes, calm demeanor crumbling just a bit when he hears the noises you’re making just for him.

You think you felt his teeth graze your neck for a second when he releases the skin, pulling back a bit to admire the mark he’s left on your neck.

“It’s a good idea, right? Turn your head the other way for me now.”

KAJI REN. calls you ‘my girl.’

“W-what's wrong, Kaji?” You manage to stammer between kisses. “You’re a lot rougher today— is something on your mind?”

He pulls back a bit when your hands tug at his hair, a part of him content when he sees the way your lips are slightly swollen, your mouth parted to catch your breath as your chest rises up and down from the intensity.

There was a lot on his mind, but marking you up was at the forefront of his brain. He could already tell that only kissing you just wasn’t gonna cut it after all that’s happened today.

“‘S fine.” He mutters before he’s back on top of you, his lips roughly latching onto the skin just beneath your collarbone, sucking at the skin as you gasp above him. “Oh— t-that feels good,” your voice comes out as a breathy sigh, “are you… mad still?”

“Mad at that friend of yours.” He growls against your skin, pressing a quick kiss onto the mark until he's moving onto another part of your neck, lips hovering just below your ear. “He was tryna get at my girl right in front of me.”

“I’m sure he wasn't— ah!” You gasp when his arms wrap around your middle, pulling you flush against his body as he tilts his head to better nestle into the crook of your neck.

“Got me pissed off just seeing him looking at you like that.” His teeth graze against your skin when he sucks particularly hard. “Gonna make sure he’ll get a nice and close look at these next time.”

SAKURA HARUKA.

Kissing Sakura is much, much different today.

He’s rough— hands trailing along your back, sending an shiver straight down your spine as he deepens the kiss, breaths mingling with urgency. The way he’s kissing you so desperately today has little gasps escaping your lips, which do nothing but encourage him to touch you more.

“F-fuck,” he gasps between kisses, pulling back to inhale sharply before your fingers come to tangle in his hair, pulling him right back into you.

“Someone's in a bad mood.” You giggle, and he scoffs in response, a dusting of pink over his cheeks. “‘M not mad.”

“You sure? What’s got you so worked up?”

And he hates that he doesn't know. He doesn't know what this feeling is, so he has no idea how to get rid of it. All he knows is that it didn't feel nice when he saw your friend all up over you.

It should've been him instead— he thinks. And all he wants now is to have you.

Your breath hitches in your throat when his lips begin to trace a path down your neck, pressing wet kisses between each inch of skin. “I don't know,” he admits through a deep blush, “just want…this.”

Just thinking about the earlier events makes his blood boil again, and it shows in his next kiss. He accidentally sucks at your neck for a moment, and a lewd moan slips right through your lips.

Your hand slaps over your mouth a moment too late, and he freezes in place, deep blush spreading to his ears at the sound. He’s never heard you never make that noise before.

“D-don't stop, Sakura,” you urge, tugging at his hair, “feels good.”

He pulls back a bit to roughly shake his head, shake off the irritating blush before his eyes finally flicker towards the subtle mark he’s left on your skin. It’s a deep shade of purple, and something about it makes him feral— it scratches at the itch he’s had all day.

He doesn’t think he’ll be stopping anytime soon, at least.

“F-fine,” he growls. “Turn your head.”

UMEMIYA HAJIME.

Umemiya sighs when your phone buzzes again, the sound catching your attention as you scroll to check your messages again. You’re leaning back against ume's chest when you open it, letting him rest his head on your shoulder with a dramatic pout.

“He’s tryna steal you away from me,”’he whines, arms hugging tightly around your core. “S no fair.”

How you were able to reduce bofurin's strongest— the one standing at a staggering 6’2 to a needy little puppy is beyond him. But in his defense, he thinks he's been waiting for your attention for ages by now.

It seems like the second you're finally putting down your phone to turn your attention to him is the exact moment your friend decides to send yet another message, your phone buzzing from the notification— and your attention shifts back to that guy just like that.

It’s a never ending loop, and he's getting desperate.

“He’s not, Haji,” you mumble, fingers clicking at your screen. “He’s just my friend. And he’s asking to get dinner with everyone tomorrow.”

You don't notice the way his bottom lip pokes out in a pout, eyes then narrowing into a glare directed at your screen before he's pulling you a bit closer to himself, arms holding you impossibly tighter against his chest.

It really wasn’t fair.

It only takes a few more seconds of pouting before his eyes suddenly flicker to the bare skin of your neck, and he perks up when he thinks of an idea. A great idea.

“..Are you gonna go with them? Tomorrow?”

You give him a nod, and if Umemiya had a tail— it would be wagging now. His lips start to excitedly ghost over your skin, taking in the scent of your perfume, and his gaze is focused and intentional as he tries to gauge your reaction.

Nothing, so far.

So he presses an experimental kiss onto your shoulder, eyes watching you closely— and still nothing. You only perk up a bit when he finally decides to proceed with his plan and takes the skin in his mouth, sucking at it for a bit before releasing it with a lewd pop.

"Haji— d-did you just leave a mark?”

“I did.” He’s grinning now, staring at the mark he's left— and he thinks it's surprising dark for how gentle he was. It was only the first one tonight, after all.

“Want another one?”

[lezbianchae]

As sweet as can be.

-

Chaeyoung x fem reader

waking up to eaten by Chaeyoung.

Words: 550

Moving in with Chaeyoung was the best decision you’ve made. Everyday was like a dream come true, spending your days with Chaeyoung was like living on cloud 9, you hope you 2 stay like this forever.

The best parts are sleeping together. The cozy nights is your favorite way to end the day, you could stay in bed forever with Chaeyoung, she always loved to spoon you.

“Good night y/n.” Chae yawned, as she gave you a peak on the lips. Turning off the night light, as she reaches for your waist. Chae is so used to sleeping while holding you, she believes she wouldn’t be able to sleep without you.

You held Chaeyoung’s hand as you to drifted to sleep, admiring the warmth of each other.

Every morning you’d wake up to Chae’s kisses but this morning was..different. As the sun was starting to rise, the golden tint hit your room, you had felt the sensation of your panties getting slid off. You wake up, slightly confused, only to see Chaeyoung below you. She starts kissing your thighs, and nibbles on them, you giggle a bit, the feeling being a bit ticklish.

“Ch-changieee.. what are you doinng..” You said. “Relax baby..I thought we could shake things up this morning.” She caresses your legs, continues kissing them leaving little marks. You feel yourself get wetter and wetter, as Chaeyoung is kissing you everywhere but the place you need it the most. You groaned, you started to grow a bit impatient. “C-can you start..putting your mouth on..there?”

“On where baby?” She smirked. She knew what you wanted but wanted you to admit it. “C’mon baby, you’re a big girl, use your words.” If there anything Chaeyoung loved it was teasing you.

You heavily blushed. “C-can you start putting your mouth on my..pussy..”

Chaeyoung gave your thigh another kiss. “There we go, good girl. You see that wasn’t so hard was it~?” She holds your hips down, and starts kissing your clit from top to bottom. She rubs your thighs, as you let out soft whimpers that fill the room. Chaeyoung trails down your dripping cunt, and buries her tongue deep in your wet entrance.

“Mmh..ch-changie..” You whimpered her name, the feeling of her tongue is driving you crazy, you take a handful of her hair and firmly gasp it. “You taste so sweet baby.. I could do this all day.” Chaeyoung pulls out a finger, inserts into your wet slit, pumping her finger in and out. This added another sensation that was making you nuts. You tugged her hair even firmer. “Chaeyoung.. I’m..im so fucking close..” you breathed out.

“C’mon, cum for me y/n, be a good girl and cum for Chaeyoungie will you~?”

The praise was your final straw. You had came on Chaeyoung’s mouth, Chae drinking up your sweet juices, while riding out your high with her fingers. You frantically gasped for air, trying to catch your breath.

“Good job Y/n-ie..” she gets closer to your face, giving you a big kiss on the lips, having to taste some of your juices on her mouth as she pats your head”

“C’mon,get up I want you to sit on my face next.” You were sitting trying to calm down, you didn’t know if you were able to make it for round 2.

[straykits]

[ waltz for two / bang chan ]

ie. three times chan really wanted to tell you he loves you and the one time he does. (reverting to this style of fic bc i actually really like it lol) a/n: title has one (1) maybe two (2) things to do with the actual fic. three if you squint. point is, it's not important. chose it bc it was the second first thing to come to mind // in the wise words of ao3, please see the end of the work for more notes. w/c: 2.3k tags: friends to lovers (maybe??? idk u choose ur own interpretation ig), lots fluff, small angst and comfort c/w: mild (?) descriptions/implications of dissociation and negative thoughts; mentions of alcohol oki enjoy the piece my dudes <3

one;

your name rings out into the still of chan’s apartment, the question mark hovering in the hall where he stood. he wouldn’t have even known you were here, if not for your shoes by the door.

the apartment is cold, the evening air having found a home in the empty space. there's no sign of you on the couch, or in the kitchen. the balcony is empty too - a favourite place for the both of you during the sunset hours when the city is painted in hues of red and gold. it was well past sunset now, the city instead bathed in evening’s blues.

if you weren’t in these places, then that leaves one more - because there was no way you were in the laundry or in the bathroom, right?

chan makes his way to his bedroom, feet padding across the floor with only the soft shuffle of socks against the laminated surface indicating his presence. he drops his backpack on the dining table as he passes by it, being careful as to not make too much noise..

the bedroom door is slightly ajar, revealing a sliver of the dark bedroom inside. he pushes the door open gently and your name leaves his lips with hope on its tail.

even in the dark room, he could tell it was you on his bed.

you’re asleep with a hand under your chin, another between your legs. why you had fallen asleep atop the covers instead of under, he didn’t really know.

he sits on the floor by the head of the bed and for a moment, all he can do is watch you. he rests his elbow on the mattress and his head on his arm, and watches. the careful, rhythmic rise and fall of your body. the way your lashes flutter just that much whilst your eyes dart behind your eyelids.

how long, he muses, could he keep doing this before it got weird? better to wake you now than have you wake and find him staring at you.

he pats your arm; once, twice. you only let out a low moan. your brows furrow ad body curls up more. a breath of laughter escapes him, and he tries again to wake you. this time, he reaches for your arm, rubbing gentle circles into your inner wrist.

“y/n,” he whispers. “y/n, i’m home. have you had dinner yet?”

the large inhale you take lets him know that you’re awake. he pulls his hand back, leans back altogether - no need to be so close, after all.

you raise the hand under your chin to rub your eyes, scratch your cheek - it's endearing, so endearing.

i love you, he thinks, and the thought is as new to him as the way you blink wearily as your eyes adjust to the dark. it’s as new to him as the way you let out a tired groan, pulling your whole body into a ball - and that’s to say it’s not new at all, because after so many years of friendship, he knew your habits and the things you do when you wake up. after so many years of friendship, the thought had taken residency in his brain the way the evening air had in his apartment, or the way the sun’s golden rays had across the cityscape.

“chan?” you stifle a yawn behind your hand and just when he thinks you’re about to get up, you close your eyes again, a tired smile falling on your lips as you snuggle back into his pillow. “welcome home.”

two;

he finds you on your couch, gazing at the coffee table without really seeing.

he knows that dazed look on you, knows that slight furrow of the brows and the tightness of your hands. he knows that you know he’s here from the way your head cocks towards the sound of his footsteps, the sound of your name. your eyes stay unseeing.

the sofa dips and you sway towards him when he takes a seat on the couch, facing you. you welcome the movement and the way it breaks your daze. chan extends an arm as you let your body continue to fall, and then he’s holding you against him.

“you okay?” a silly question, but it was a start.

the silence that surrounds the two of you is filled only by the static of the fridge in the kitchen, it’s electric buzz audible despite the distance. he can feel you take deep breaths, feel every exhale warm his chest.

“sorry, chan, i don’t think we can do movie night today.”

he shrugs, holds you tighter. what does it matter if plans change?

“you don’t need to stay. i’ll be okay later, but i- i don’t want you to stay here for no reason.”

he lets out a chuckle. “no, i’ll stay. of course i’ll stay.”

because i love you, he thinks, but the words are caught in his throat and something about the situation made him think that no, this wasn’t the time to confess his feelings, even if he meant well and wanted to help you with those words.

he knows that sometimes it’s not always a matter of making you feel better. sometimes it’s just a matter of being there for you, and sometimes that will be enough.

for however long he loves you, he’ll be there for you.

“when you’re ready, and if you want to, we can talk about what’s going on.”

“it’s just the same-”

“even if it’s just the same things as before.”

his heart is heavy with the pain of seeing you like this. his heart is heavy with the love he carries for you. his heart is heavy with his inability to make it all go away with a click of his fingers - if only it was that easy. one could wish, he supposes, but not all wishes can be fulfilled.

it’s not the first time he’s seen you like this, and it probably won’t be the last, but he’s okay with that. he wishes it was the last, of course, but chan knows that change takes time and he knows that loving you means loving all the versions of you, not just the versions that make him smile, or the ones that reassure him, or the ones that make him laugh (though he loves these ones immensely, too).

loving you means being on your side when your own brain is your biggest enemy. loving you means standing his ground about the fact that you are lovable and you are important and you do matter, even when you can’t stop thinking that you aren’t. loving you means being atlas, sometimes, and carrying the weight of your world for you so that you don’t need to do it alone.

for however long he loves you, he’ll make sure you’re not carrying your burdens alone.

three;

after-dinner walks with you are one of the things chan cherishes the most. the kiss of evening on his cheeks, your presence by his side as the two of you walk down streets lit by the yellow lights from the restaurants, the way you occasionally brush each other.

on this particular friday night, after a well-deserved dinner and a glass or two of wine, you’d decided to go on a stroll through the city and god was chan was glad he’d agreed to the aimless stroll.

if he were to recount this evening to someone else, they would probably be surprised that he hadn’t noticed the music until you’d pointed it out. following the sound, you’d found a small circle of people surrounding a performer- a guitarist, open case at their feet, mic stand raised to their height, and fingers playing the chords to a familiar song as they sang. a ring of fairy lights surrounded them, adding a wistfully magical atmosphere to the cold evening.

people were smiling, waving their phones with their flashlights on, and in the middle of the circle, people were dancing. children and adults, friends and lovers. it was a beautiful scene, but not quite as beautiful as your face lighting up as you pull him into the middle as well.

you’re pulling his hands out of his pocket and he thought he would mind the cold but it’s not so bad when your hands are in his and you’re smiling up at him. he’s being pulled along by your eyes your lips, the gentle swaying from side to side that he quickly matches. it’s magical, it’s blissful, its euphoric. he’s laughing at the enjoyment in your eyes, at the way you cheer when the busker finishes one song and moves onto another - one, two, three; one, two, three.

you’re holding onto each other’s elbows - not exactly the most intimate thing, or nearly the most romantic, but you’re rocking side to side together and there’s nowhere else that chan would rather be on this friday night, because-

because god he loves you so much - its all he can think about as the final chords of the outro play, as adlibs rise like adrenaline in chan’s veins because he wants to kiss you so bad right now and he doesn’t even care that there are people around but- but he does care what you think and maybe this isn’t the way to do it.

so as the song comes to a close, chan pulls you in and he might be smothering you with his jacket but he doesn’t care - if he looks at you any longer, his feelings would physically manifest and he doesn't know what he would do if that were to happen.

“chan?” your voice is muffled against his puffer, confusion and laughter softened against his chest.

“your face looked cold.” it’s a half truth to cover up the bigger lie.

“well,” you mumble, “it’s a good thing you’re warm.”

when you wrap your arms around him, the crowd applauds - at the two of you or at the performer, he doesn’t know.

and to be quite honest, he doesn’t care.

one;

you’d both fallen asleep with the curtains half opened - it had been too dark outside, too late in the night, the weariness of the day’s fun too heavy, that neither of you had realised the curtains weren’t fully closed.

not that it was a major problem, being three floors up, but it did make for an early rise.

chan finds his face closer to yours than he would have liked, though he confess the sight wasn’t too bad a thing to wake up to.

in the past, perhaps, he would have had no reservations, no worries about being so close to you in bed - but years of friendship had matured like wine, had left an aftertaste in his mouth that he was still trying to figure out if he enjoyed or not, if he wanted more or not.

no, he knew he wanted more, and that was what scared him. what if a bit more was actually too much? he didn’t know his limits, not with something like this. he didn’t know your limits. it was risky, was like drinking for the first time - the consequences didn’t quite hit until they hit. he could have a sip, have three, five, could be enjoying it all until suddenly it was too late-

rustling sheets pull him back to the present.

“chan?”

he’s reminded of an evening long past, as you rub your eyes. your gazes meet, but the fragility of tension is barely present this many years into the friendship.

“what are you thinking about, so early in the morning?”

a rhetorical question, perhaps, but the sunlight dancing on the wall behind you and the warmth under the covers and the innocent curiosity in your eyes pulls the words out of him.

“that i love you,” he says.

it’s… not as cathartic as he thought it would be but it’s enough.

it brings the dancing sunlight and gentle rise and fall of your body to a standstill. it brings the ticking clocks in his room and the saturday morning traffic outside his apartment to a mute. it brings his heart’s bpm from an andante to a moderato, an allegretto; he can hear it in his ears, feel it in his chest. the disjointment between his internal and external world almost sends his mind into momentary panic.

but you smile an angel’s smile, and he doesn’t quite understand what it means yet but he knows it’ll be alright.

“i know.”

for a moment, he thinks that those two words were all you had to say in reply. his mind dances on the line between friends and more (whatever that is, at this point) and whilst he can’t deny the existence of the slight disappointment in him, he’s grateful that nothing has changed.

until- until things do change.

“me too.” you pull the blankets up to your chin, curl up closer to him like you had so long ago when you were both younger with neither questioning the relationship. “i love you too.”

in some other universe, he might have disregarded your words as nothing more than ones of friendship - you both knew you loved each other as friends do, as you always had. but in this universe, he grasps onto the way you’ve practically buried your head into his chest. he grasps onto the warmth of your body, so early in the morning, so close to his. he grasps onto the slight shake in your voice, the way you had breathed out the words like a confession.

“okay,” he whispers into the crown of your head, arms almost shaking in disbelief as they settle around your body and draw you closer. “okay.”

—

a/n: scene 3 is inspired by this!! also, anyways, i havent written anything outside of academic work and evening star in so long that im surprised this even... ended up finished LMAO but ye i hope this was an okay read, if not enjoyable! gentle reminder that interactions of any kind will make my heart soar <3

[adyophene]

Hello ! I just have a little question, how do we start drawing ? I want go draw but idk how to start- any suggestion ? Or, if for starting it's better to do it with tutos, any tutorial to recommend ?

Have a great day !

Oooh, this is a tough question to answer! I suppose one the best pieces of advice I have is to figure out, before anything, what you are hoping to draw. What style, what tones, what media.

I have a feeling this might get long, so I will throw the rest under a readmore.

For me, when I started taking my art a little more seriously (I never went to art school or anything) I just focused on finding both tutorials on the fundamentals, and finding tutorials that focused on the aspects of art that interested me, which were animation and cartooning!

They go hand-in-hand, after all, and you'll find you end up honing in on the tutorials that coincide with your interests! IE- I ended up doing a lot of figure, and expression drawing because they would help me express emotion and movement better! I also spent so, so long just training my hand to be a bit more confident with drawing steady lines just because I loved the look of clean line-work!

So try to identify what your personal draw towards art is! By doing both something you like, as well as focusing the basics, I found that, at least in my personal experience, it put me in a positive feedback loop where I could keep seeing results in exactly the type of art I was interested in! And, once you start to feel confident, that is when you start adding in little bits of study from fields you might struggle with! A 90/10 split on what you're comfortable with and then what is new is usually a good way to go about it! Weirdly enough, though I don't watch him, I saw that the youtuber pewdiepie actually had a really good set of videos where he started from being a complete beginner and improving his art over 100 days. I believe its an absolutely great watch for a new artist, because he really does a great job in showing what a brand new journey into art can look like, and explains what he thinks each day. I think my favorite line was, 'after 24 days, I was finally having fun' because that can really sum up the new artist experience. It will absolutely be a slog at times, and can be really disheartening, but when you start to see progress, becomes so, SO fun.

Here is the link to the first vid, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMLEudGbxQk and his second https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJDtQTTAogk

ALSO- this was just the first video that came to mind because I watched it recently. I would recommend finding other videos about people learning to draw, or doing 30-100-365 day challenge videos. As for my personal favorite channels for art tutorials (though keep in mind, I haven't watched them in a few years ;-;, I need to study again);

There were a number of others that I wish I could link as well, but I am struggling to remember them. I hope any of that is helpful. My own art journey has been very long, and non linear, and I have to say, I'm not even satisfied with my own art! Its a endless mountain to climb, but it is so worth it to do! And lastly, I want to say thank you so much for sending this ask, you've made me dig back in to artists I used to study, and made me want to really focus back in on my own improvement!

[flowercrowngods]

In which Eddie likes words that are pretty or funky or weird, and Steve goes on a treasure hunt for Good Words after learning that they make Eddie happy. They are utterly in love.

🤍 also on ao3

Eddie, with his bright eyes and brighter mind, has opened Steve’s eyes to a great many things. Steve just never anticipated that words would one day be included in that. 

It starts with his name. They’re hanging out at Eddie’s and Wayne’s new place, and his boyfriend is pouring over something — Steve can’t quite tell if he’s doing school work or working on his DnD campaign — when Steve hears it. 

“Stevie.” 

He looks up to see what Eddie wants, if he needs anything or if he wants to run something by him, ask for a different word, the time, anything. But Eddie isn’t looking at him. 

Steve frowns slightly and takes to watching his boyfriend instead of turning back to the magazine he’s been reading. Eddie is more interesting anyway, even when nothing’s happening. And, well, he’s right there for Steve to look at. How the hell is he supposed not to watch the way the light catches in those pretty curls and makes them shimmer, thanks to the new conditioner Steve bought him last week. 

Eddie is beautiful. So Steve watches. 

And then he says it again, quietly, as if testing how the word feels on his tongue. “Stevie. Steve. Stevie. Hmm.” 

Eddie doesn’t even seem to be aware of it, and it makes Steve smile, leaning back into the armrest of the couch, his head against the backrest, his view of Eddie unobstructed and perfect. He just wishes he could see his face, but there is a curtain of hair that sort of prevents that. 

“Stevie.”

It’s quiet, somewhere between contemplative and certain, playful and serious. Steve has absolutely no idea what’s happening, but he likes the way Eddie says his name. 

After a while, he can’t hold back on the affectionate amusement anymore and gently calls for Eddie’s attention. “Are you just saying my name?” 

And when Eddie looks up, he almost looks like a little kid that has been caught trying to sneak into a candy shop even though his parents said no. 

“Uh.” He leans back slightly, his pencil landing on the table and Steve follows it with his eyes, when— 

His smile grows, and so does this fondness inside his chest, the affection, the want and need to go over there and wrap Eddie in the tightest, longest, most intimate hug and never let go. 

“Babe, are you writing my name, too?” 

He knows he sounds terribly besotted — because he is. All of that is extremely endearing. 

Eddie, seeing that Steve isn’t mad or annoyed or demanding an explanation, relaxes immediately and shoots Steve one of his shy smiles. The ones that are for Steve’s eyes only. 

“Yeah? I mean, it’s a good name, Stevie, what can I say?” And then, with a different smile, his lips form the word again. “Stevie.” The smile grows, like it just makes him really happy to say it like that. 

“Hey, if it makes you happy, don’t let me stop you.” 

Eddie chews on his lip for a moment, not looking away from Steve, before he shrugs very slowly. “It does.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. I like it when words end on that ‘ie’ sound, y’know? I’m not even sure why I like it, but. Steve just feels too short, too crass, too… Too King Steve, if you know what I mean. Adding that extra syllable makes it feel more complete, more rounded, more… I don’t know, it’s just better like this. Stevie. You’re not Steve, you’re Stevie, because those feel like very different names to me.” 

Eddie shrugs again and then looks at the paper, huffing a laugh and nudging it with his pencil, smile still in place, though it’s a bit sheepish now. 

“And then sometimes when I like a word, or when I’ve made it better, I have to write it down. Or, don’t have to. But I want to, and it’s fun. Sometimes it makes me feel very accomplished afterwards.” He chuckles, scratching at the light stubble on his chin. “It’s a bit silly, I know.” 

Steve has been listening with rapt attention, soaking up every new detail about this boy that he likes so much, only to like him even more in the end. 

But he gets up at that last point Eddie makes and walks over until he’s standing between his legs. His hands find their way into Eddie’s hair where he’s tucking it behind his ear, caressing his cheeks, making Eddie look up at him with those bright, trusting, vulnerable eyes. 

“Hey,” he murmurs, hoping that Eddie doesn’t feel ridiculed or exposed just because Steve can’t ever stop being so damn emotional about him. “Eddie. We’ve been through hell and back. Fuck, we’ve been to hell and back. It’s kind of a miracle we’re still alive, okay, so, frankly, if saying my name like that makes you a little happy because it feels right, I am not going to judge you. I’m not asking you to stop. In fact, it’s kinda cute.” 

Eddie flushes and tries to hide his face, but Steve keeps him where he is and catches his lips in a tender kiss, then his nose, his forehead, his temple. 

“And so what if it’s a bit silly or whatever! You’re right, actually,” 

Now it’s Eddie’s turn to look surprised. “How do you mean?” 

“It does sound better like that, the way you say it. Nicer. I like it. So don’t stop on my account, yeah?” 

The surprise melts away and leaves in its wake something softer, something tender, something more. More than relief and understanding and affection. 

“Okay, Stevie,” Eddie says, still looking up at him with those big, brown eyes, illuminated by the desk light, and Steve can’t quite catch his breath. 

So he steals Eddie’s instead when he leans in for another kiss. Slow, careful, because something has changed between them. And it’s a good something, that’s for sure. 

Over the next few days, Steve realises that Eddie refuses to call him anything but Stevie for a while. No pet names, no exaggerated made-up terms of endearment, nothing. And he loves it. Loves seeing the small, shy smile on Eddie’s lips every time, loves the way his own heart skips, because he’s never been Stevie. 

He never got to be Stevie. It was Steven for his parents, Steve for school, King Steve for high school, and Dingus for Robin. This new name, handed to him on a satin pillow of trust and affection, brings something new to him, something softer. It makes him believe, hope, that he could be something softer, too. Soft because that’s what Eddie sees in him, because Eddie believes in him, because Eddie makes him all of that and more. 

Because Eddie makes him Stevie. 

And he thinks he’s falling in love with that boy. 

One night, as they’re holding each other, trying not to fall asleep because the night is fleeting and they barely saw each other today, Eddie refers back to that day a while back. 

“Y’know, I think the whole… Ordeal has done quite a number on me.” 

Steve freezes. They don’t usually do this before falling asleep, they know better than to challenge the nightmares like that, but he’s sure Eddie has a point with this, so he waits for it. 

“The almost dying part, or…?”

“Maybe, but actually just the whole thing. Because during D&D today, I… Or, well, not during DnD, because nothing can break the Dungeon Master, thank God! But before and after, it’s like I’d forgotten how to talk again.” 

Steve blinks. Eddie, forgetting how to talk? Eddie who’s always rambling, always muttering something or other, always keeping the conversation going even when there’s none to be had — forgetting how to talk? Again? That’s what trips up Steve the most, so he finds himself asking. 

“Again?” 

Eddie shifts in his arms, rolls Steve onto his back and crawls on top of him, his head on Steve’s chest, hands still finding his and drawing patterns on his palm. 

“When I was a boy, I was… Well, let’s say, I didn’t quite understand how basic communication worked, and no one really bothered to teach me. I’d just repeat words, repeat questions, entire sentences without really getting my point across, y’know? Like, I knew the words a lot of the time, but connecting everything was a bit overwhelming. It got better in time, I had a pretty great teacher, too, and then learned to just. Mask it. I’d be the crazy guy, sure, the one who’s not making sense when you ask him a simple question, the one who will answer in terminology he read in books because characters there can talk, right, and they don’t get made fun of, and they just. Get to live. By the time Wayne took me in, I knew how to say what I wanted to say, how to answer questions, even though I would still evade them if I didn’t know the answer.” 

“The Shire is burning, so Mordor it is,” Steve says quietly, and Eddie lifts his head to meet his eyes in the dim light of the room. 

“Hm?” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to… But when. At Skull Rock. Dustin asked you to come along and I said we can’t just take a walk with you because you were still wanted, and then he asked you. You just said—“ 

“The Shire is burning,” Eddie fills in, as though realisation only just hits him. “So Mordor it is.” He swallows and puts his head back on Steve’s chest, where Steve’s hand immediately finds its way back into his hair. “Yeah. Like that. You got it.” 

“I always thought it was just a quirk. But it’s not?” 

Eddie sighs and seems to want to bury further into Steve. “I mean, I don’t even know at this point. But you understand what I mean.” 

“Yeah,” Steve says, though he’s not sure he really does. Doesn’t think he could, really. “So, what happened with the kids today?” 

“Remember how I have this thing with words? Where I’ll just say them over and over again because they feel good or funky or weird, all that jazz? Well, today’s word, apparently, was luminous.” 

“Luminous?” 

“Luminous. And boy, I think Dustin was mighty annoyed with me. Thought I made fun of him the whole drive home. And I used to have this under control, the funky words and the non-answers and the fucking quirky Munson freak show. Turns out, I don’t. And I blame Vecna.” 

Eddie is done, and he’s quiet, and Steve doesn’t know what to say. Doesn’t think there’s anything he can say, could say, to help. 

And he feels stupid when all he says after a while is, “Luminous is a good word, though.” 

But Eddie laughs, and the tension between his shoulders leaves, and he presses a kiss to Steve’s chest. Maybe not so stupid then. “It really is.” 

“What’s it mean?” 

“It means that something’s shining or glowing. Radiant. Bright. Something to do with light.” 

Steve smiles for some reason, forming the word with his lips again. “Good word.” 

Eddie just hums, and Steve mulls over everything that Eddie just told him. They lie there in silence for a while longer, before a thought strikes him. He braces himself the way he always does when he’s about to be vulnerable, when he’s about to expose himself and hope that no one is gonna strike where it’ll hurt the most. 

“Is that why you’re so patient with me?” 

“Come again?” 

“Your… Your difficulty with, uhm, with communication sometimes, right? Is that why you, why you don’t mind when I need a moment to get things, or to say things, or when I need you to use different words? You never make me fee stupid about it, not like… Anyway, I always wondered why you didn’t mind. Guess it makes a little sense now, huh?” 

Eddie is still for a moment before he raises not just his head but his entire body, coming up to straddle Steve’s hips and look him in the eye. 

“You deserve patience, Stevie. First of all. And second of all, it’s not a hardship — and it wouldn’t be a hardship for the buttheads either if they weren’t a bunch of self entitled teenagers. You’re not stupid. You hear me?” 

Steve nods, and Eddie cocks his eyebrow. “Not stupid,” Steve concedes, a smile forming on his lips. “Thank you.” 

“And don’t you forget it,” Eddie threatens, before cuddling back into his earlier position on Steve’s chest. “But yeah, I think you might have a point that you and I, we just…” 

“Match?” 

“Yeah, Stevie,” Eddie murmurs, the smile evident even in his voice. “We match.”

They fall asleep like that, holding hands, not willing to let go.

And that is how Steve finds himself looking at words differently. He listens to people differently, still oftentimes not catching their meaning, but he’ll catch their words as though they’re separated from any sort of meaning. He’s collecting them, and remembers that Hop once told him what he and El used to do. 

They’d have this word of the day deal going on, where El would learn one new, possibly big word each day. 

Maybe it’s silly, maybe it’s even offensive or patronising, but he still ends up telling Eddie about it, and the boy’s eyes are, well, almost luminous. 

“You’d want to do that?” 

“Sure,” Steve shrugs, tugging Eddie in for a hug because he never wants to stop holding him, dammit. “Maybe I could learn a thing or two, improve my vocabulary just to defy Dustin one of these days.” 

And Eddie just laughs into Steve’s throat, sounding happy and bubbly and excited. 

Steve realises he would do anything just for Eddie to laugh like this. 

They make it a routine. If Steve wants to get a goodnight kiss, he has to tell Eddie at least one Good Word, as they’re calling them now. The rule gets omitted more often than not, because Eddie simply cannot resist kissing him. Ever. Steve still collects the words for him, catches Eddie writing them down sometimes, over and over again, and just hooks his chin over his shoulder, never interrupting him. Never judging. 

Sometimes when they don’t know how a word is written or what it means, they’ll have a look at the dictionaries in Steve’s mother’s library, or call Nancy or one of the Wonder Whiz Kids with their endless wisdom; though even Dustin doesn’t know how to properly pronounce iridescence. They don’t care, though, because it looks pretty enough. 

The questions rise, people demand to know what’s up, and one day Steve tells them. Not the entire story about Eddie’s struggles with words and communication, but he tells them that, “Sometimes words that look or sound pretty, or funky, or weird, delight Eddie.” 

“Is delight one such word?” Lucas asks, and Steve flips him the bird. 

“Fuck off, Sinclair, or you can leave if you’re going to make fun of this.” 

They all realise pretty quickly that Steve is serious, and thad this is important to him. No one makes another snide remark and they all listen carefully as he tells them about how he and Eddie have been collecting the words.” 

“Like me,” El says, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips and Steve melts as he turns to her. 

“Yeah, El. Like you. I told Eddie how you did it back then, and he absolutely loved it.” 

Eleven looks so proud when he tells her, and Steve just really fucking loves these kids. Most of the time, at least. 

After that, nobody questions them anymore when Eddie or Steve call, needing their help with a word or two. Especially when they see how genuinely relieved and happy Eddie is when the remarks, the questions, the teasing stops. Even though he tries to hide it. 

One by one, everyone in their chaotic little group contributes to their treasure of words. They try to be sneaky about it, but Eddie finds out, of course. 

It’s on a Trauma Family Bonding Night where there’s pizza and ice cream in abundance and they all come together at Steve’s place, even Hop and Joyce joining them for the night. They talk the whole night through, and everyone will have brought their word. Ineffable, from Mike. Philanthropist, from Nancy. Epiphany, from Max. Catharsis, from Will, which quickly sends Eddie into a happy little spiral, rambling like he did that first time about Stevie. 

“It’s just, it’s a great word! Starts with a weak syllable, almost unimportant, but it’s crass, a harsh beginning even in its irrelevance. But then you get to the ‘tharsis’, and it’s big and bright and you can’t ignore it, can’t not open your mouth and by extension your mind and heart to this change, this realisation, this complete opposite to where you started. And then the end, the last syllable, and you don’t even have the chance to be harsh about it, to be crass, to be curt. Because the ‘sis’ needs you to take your time, making sure you end the word almost on a smile.” Eddie finishes his rambles and looks almost embarrassed about it, but Steve can only stare at him and find the most beautiful, most wonderful, most intelligent looking back at him because Eddie doesn’t quite dare to look at anyone else.

Steve moves to him, right into his personal space, and kisses him. It almost feels like catharsis, the word still hot on Eddie’s lips. 

“Told you it was a great word,” Will says and they all laugh, even when Eddie and Steve are breathless from just about everything. 

It’s that night that Eddie finds out that they all know, that they’re all in on their little word treasure hunt. 

He looks at Steve when everyone is gone, El leaving them with effervescent, and thinks, I want to spend the rest of my days with you, Stevie. 

Steve drops the spoon he’s been holding, half-empty tub of ice cream on the counter abandoned as he stares at Eddie. 

They’re both staring, because Eddie is realising what he’s just said out loud, and Steve just busy processing. 

“Forever,” he says after a moment, sounding dazed, feeling dazed, dizzy, floating, as he walks towards Eddie. “It’s a pretty big word, hm?” His hand finds Eddie’s cheek, caressing, mapping, promising. 

“Feels just big enough, honestly,” Eddie says before catching Steve’s lips in a kiss. 

They’ll talk about this. Of course they will. But not now. Now, they just create their own little forever. Just the two of them and the love they share.

--

written for @bethespark who wanted to see Eddie with echolalia, but then this ran away from me. well. you're not surprised.

[stormblessed95]

230328 Jimin Live Stream

Jimin is such a cutie and a precious soul. I'll mostly just focus on the jikook moments/comments though in this post rather than talk about everything/break things down. Not necessarily in order either, just me throwing down the major plot points in a post. Lol

Jimin started a live on his way home titled thank you. He mentioned that he noticed that JK did a live yesterday or technically the same day too since it went past midnight. Lol and that JK spent the live Watching all his videos. “I saw Jungkook-ie watched a lot of my videos yesterday hehe. Ah! a live 1h 40m long” he is so cute I swear. Lol knowing he watched JK Missing him like that 😭🥺

And then JK popped up in the comments and then proceeded to spam the chat the whole rest of the live. Lol it was ADORABLE. Here are good threads of just all his comments

The way JK asked jimin what he was thankful for and Jimins first confusion before remembering that he named his live "thank you." Lol but the way JK said it in very informal language and tone. You'd only ever speak to your hyung that way knowing it's okay and that he was okay with it. It's just consistent with them since always and speaks sooo clearly of how close they are.

The way ARMY threw JK under the bus so fast, sharing about his weverse photo change. It was only there for a minute! Lol

He can't NOT gush about them. It's so cute

Finally going to get to spend more time together after promotions are over 😭😭

No because he really said, when I'm less busy, I'm coming over asap and you will cook for me. Cook ramyeon for me. And JK just immediately gave us that "anything for you" attitude. I MELTED. I TELL YOU

The way he giggles and talks to JK while replying to his comments 😭 my heart!

Trans of the above with JKs comments added in too

It's the way he says it's been ESTABLISHED that im your fan. For me. Yes, we all know that Jungkook is Jimins BIGGEST fan and he has made it very clear. Especially with his little 100 minute live dedicated to said hyung right before this. Lmfao

And the satoori. Because it's them, talking to each other. You know they slip into that all the damn time together. And getting all informal.

And the way Jimin laughs and lightly scolds him for not sleeping when sleepy but instead dancing his choreo and being silly and JK just screams his name (informally) in the chat. Hyungs biggest fan indeed!

And the way that Jimin told us indirectly since it was really just him reassuring JK who was pouting about missing going to any of Jimins prerecorded shows with him that he had been to Jimins rehearsals so it was okay. And I'm just 😭 WE TOLD YALL that they were clearly Still spending some time together, as much as they could. And yet because they are so busy with solo promotions too, it's CLEARLY NOT ENOUGH TIME. They got too used to living in each other's pockets and still want that. Lol I love them.

And the way that Jimin all softly told us that it felt like he could hear JKs voice when reading his comments. IM GOING TO CRY. They love and miss each other SO FREAKING MUCH it's insane. These busy schedules are killer!

And ending with this person's added observations because HONESTLY YES. JK isn't the only one who indicates their closeness and intimacy with how he talks to and about Jimin.

The way K jkkrs were losing their shit yesterday. So many talk spaces titled "no, they are really dating for real" after these lives. Lmfao. Just... they way they talk to and about each other is so wonderful to get to witness every so often. I love them so much it hurts.

[wutheringmights]

With Spirit being a serial dater, what kind of exes does he have? What were his breakups like? If he was attracted to Jean for his stability, what else was he attracted to in his partners? And who is this Warriors-like exe? 👀

Ooooooh boy. Strap in because I am ready to info-dump so much about Spirit's horrendous love life.

Spirit's serial dating didn't start until a couple of years after he returned back to New Hyrule. His relationship with Zelda had a slow, painful death. He lashed out at her a lot because he felt like he wasn't being heard. Zelda was upset that he betrayed her trust while feeling terrible that she was making his pain about herself. When Zelda had to start thinking about political marriages, Spirit finally decided to put them both out of their miseries and end things.

They're still friends. Spirit still loved her. But the moment the relationship ended, Zelda seemed to brighten up and become her old self again. She was so much happier, and that hurt.

Spirit tried moving on too, but he really couldn't get over Zelda. This was also around the time that his lashing out and moodiness was starting to reap consequences. Alfonzo fired him. A lot of his friends lost contact. He was gaining a reputation for being hard to work with. He was as famous as ever, and no one liked him.

He didn't set out to date a lot. There were plenty of people who wanted to date the famous Link Macaryll, so he was never short of options. He was looking for a partner, but in the sense that a partner was going to fix him. He felt abandoned. Unlovable. He just wanted to find someone who would stay by him.

If you asked him what his ideal partner was like, he list generic traits like humor or kindness. In reality, his ideal partner was someone who liked him. He would mold himself to be whatever they wanted so that they would stay and never abandon him.

But of course, that's a terrible foundation for a relationship. Nothing progressed past the first date because it was so obvious that Spirit didn't really like the people he was going out with. This was a chore, and he didn't really enjoy himself. It hurt every time he was refused a second date.

Jean was probably the first person he dated because he actually liked them.

At this point, Spirit had been weaving in and out of Jean's life. Spirit was friends with Linebeck, who was friends with Jean. They ended up getting drinks together sometimes. They probably first met on the day of Jean's accident, the one that led to his leg being amputated. They got closer after Linebeck and Spirit opened their own garage in Trading Post, with Jean being one of the first employees. This is where they started to become friends, albeit with the occasional discomfort whenever they realized that Spirit was Jean's boss.

Before Spirit dated Jean, he was in a pretty terrible situationship with a character I have not named yet (vote now on your phones).

This character was the son set to inherit his father's lucrative trading company. Until he did, he captained a prominent trading vessel. In New Hyrule, job titles are used in place of names when possible (ie: engineer) (somewhere in CTB, Spirit has a line about being used to just being called the engineer vs his name...). So this character is often just referred to as the Captain.

So when Spirit meets this handsome asshole called the Captain, he's first more than a little weary. But the Captain loved the hunt, and pursed him endlessly. And, well, Spirit wanted to be loved. That this guy resembled Warriors quickly went from disquieting to kinda attractive.

They never officially dated, but they did hook up and spend a lot of time together. That the Captain was a terrible person and was terrible to Spirit was an added bonus. Spirit liked how familiar it was. A part of him wanted to bring some part of his experiences in the war to New Hyrule so that people would understand him. Another part was so lost as to why his life wasn't fixing itself the way he wanted to that he wanted a problem he knew how to cope with. He even insisted on calling him by his job title as much as he could, because he wanted to be fighting Warriors again.

Everyone who knew Spirit was worried about him, but no one could get through to him. Zelda, Niko, Linebeck-- they all tried to sit Spirit down and gently tell him that he needed to cut this guy off, but Spirit would only dig his heels in deeper.

Which takes us back to Jean. One thing about Jean is that he never looked down at Spirit. For all his intelligence, Spirit was infamously terrible with people. When it came to social cues, his friends and family tended to get a little condescending about it. Not Jean. After a couple of months of this bullshit and reaching his breaking point, he sat Spirit down and talked to him about it.

Jean wasn't condescending, so Spirit didn't throw his defenses up. Jean's questions forced Spirit to actually reflect, and he had a moment when he realized that he didn't want to put himself through this anymore. Finally, he cut off the Captain.

That was a turning point. They became closer friends and, after a few weeks, Spirit realized he had a crush. He tried to hide it, but wasn't too subtle. Jean tried to ignore him for as long as possible, but Spirit eventually did ask him out. Jean ended up agreeing, and they dated for six months.

As a character, Jean is the pinnacle of stability. He's calm and even headed. He wasn't prone to getting upset. He was thoughtful, hardworking, and a grade A older brother. He's the type who asked a lot of questions before making a judgement, which gelled well of Spirit's irrational behavior-- by asking Spirit why he was upset, he would accidentally deescalate. If he had a flaw, it's that he's not the most romantic guy. Rituals like buying flowers and going out to dinner seemed a bit pointless to him. He'd rather stay at home and not waste the money. But over all, he was a real catch.

Spirit wasn't used to stability. He couldn't shake the feeling that everything was going to go wrong again. Jean was going to hurt him because everyone hurt him. Subconsciously, he believed that if everything was going to go wrong anyway, he might as well do it himself; he'd rather be the problem than be another victim.

On top of that, Spirit was a terrible person to get into a disagreement with. Everything had to turn into a high stakes argument. He was defensive, and often got mean when he was upset.

They lasted six months. Jean couldn't handle Spirit anymore. He broke up as gently as he could, but Spirit was still crushed. He had half the idea to apologize and try to win Jean back, but Jean started dating someone else-- someone a little older and as steady as Jean was.

Spirit was only 2-3 months out from the break up when he was pulled back into Warriors's era. It's still fairly fresh, and he was in the middle of lapsing back into his worst self when he wound up in the Temple of Souls.

Bonus Facts:

Spirit realized he liked Jean when he saw Jean playing with his younger siblings on the beach. Was watching him build sandcastles and was like "aw, fuck"

Jean got Spirit to quit smoking, which lasted up until Spirit ended up in Warriors's era

Jean didn't have a crush on Spirit when they started dating, but Linebeck swore that Jean was so bothered by the whole Captain thing because he was a little jealous (Jean's reoccuring complaint was that Spirit deserved better)

Linebeck didn't know they started dating until a couple of weeks in. Then he sat them both down and did a joint shovel talk that amounted to: a) Jean if you hurt Link, I will kill you, b) Link if you hurt Jean, I will kill you, c) Jean if your boss takes advantage of you I will stop it, d) Link if your love affair endangers this business I will kill you

Spirit liked that Jean was older, both because he felt better understood and that Jean was someone who he could depend on to take care of him; but Spirit was also constantly anxious that Jean thought he was immature

The last straw in the Captain situationship was Spirit getting a black eye

Spirit probably met the Captain at a royal function, while he was moonlighting as Zelda's guard

Zelda didn't know anything about the Jean relationship until it was over; Spirit didn't trust her after how badly she reacted to the Captain stuff

Even when he was with Jean, Spirit never really got over Zelda; while he does sincerely love her, she also symbolizes a point in his life when he was sincerely happy that he aches to go back to

[nursesharkinfirmary]

hihi ! um can u pls give advice on howw 2 start an npt blog

thats a really good question anon! im going to try and answer it to the best of my ability as i only started not too long ago myself:

1. Research into name meanings! baby name websites are your best friend, in a pinch things like noun names are also incredibly handy! and if all else fails adding things like -ette, -sse, -ie, etc. to the end of words can make some beautiful names!

2. Refrain from putting names of cultures you aren't a part of! this seems to be the general consensus among the community that using culturally significant names is a no go. Try researching names you'd love to share from your own culture! this is why i add the occasional slavic name into my npts

3. Get creative with your pronouns! things like sound names, variants of common pronouns and emojis are my personal go-to

4. Don't stress about adding a whole bunch to each category! i tend to struggle coming up with titles the most so typically they are fewer than my names and pronouns

5. Start out by making requests for yourself and posting them in the correct tags, but dont let posts with low notes discourage you! consistency is key and before you know it you'll have more requests than you know what to do with!

6. Make promo posts and interact with the community! i try to interact with the community as much as i can and this eventually leads to building friendships with people running similar blogs ^_^

I really hope this all helps at least somewhat anon, if you do end up making that blog then dont be afraid to tag me, id love to promo it and request something myself! 🫀🫀🫀

[atopvisenyashill]

idk if this is where I should be but i like your hotd opinions so….

idk if i am crazy but i always understood that rhaenyra killing her siblings would do nothing but make a problem for her

like we know being a kinslayer is bad, but we also know being a woman in westeros who wants to be a queen in her own right is also bad lol, so how would killing her siblings aid her in anyway??? killing them makes everyone’s thoughts on women ruling real and if they aren’t causing problems she looks crazy

but if she doesn’t, rhetorically she’s faced with war even if the dance doesn’t happen the way it did, but if aegon isn’t veering for the throne, wouldn’t it be easier to just… imprison, tax and kill the lords rebelling against her instead of kill aegon??

Idk i just think there is a lot of options and things that need to happen before killing alicent’s children is mandatory especially if everyone is playing nice in the family, or as nice as they can play since everyone has loose lips

i definitely feel like often when people analyze both the books and the show, when it comes to ~competing claims~ they tend to go for a very typical westerosi way of dealing with it ie murdering the competition or isolating & neutralizing them in some way. the thing is, and i know i sound like a broken clock here but….this never works!! there’s lots of reasons for this, fundamental to it being that feudalism is just a bad, self destructive system but also, not for nothing here, but ned raises jon to love his siblings and jon not only defends sansa and is likely to defend both sisters and bran later on, but robb names jon as his heir. i mean hell, if roose had let ramsay and domeric grow up as brothers, he could have avoided his damn heir getting merked because domeric had an interest in knowing his brother!

so YES i do agree that rhaenyra killing aegon is not only a stupid, reckless decision fueled by anger and nothing more it is also politically just so fucking dumb. and that was part of my frustration with that scene, is i can't believe alicent didn't say that! kinslaying is stupid, people already think rhaenyra is a tyrant (in both the books and the show - the silent six thing does not help her even if i think the velaryons were asking to get got there they're so fucking stupid, and b&c really destroys any and every shot of working towards a quick resolution of this war. thanks daemon you fucking idiot!), adding another incident of kinslaying is so dumb. it's just more needless violence.

and to be honest, this is also the argument against like "rhaenyra will need to kill alicent's children to ensure her own rule and that's why the greens are justified" first of all, wildly misogynistic reasoning here thanks but second of all, no she really does not need to kill them. in fact, it actively harms her cause if she does! she needs to neutralize them somehow, which is a vastly different beast! and something that could be relatively peaceful if anyone involved in this situation wasn't mindlessly and stupidly violent especially on a certain side. "oh but the princes in the tower" that's a wildly different situation and also, idk if anyone pushing "well richard iii killed the princes so that means rhaenyra would have to kill her brothers" know this but like, richard iii got overthrown by henry tudor so i'm not sure child murdering really worked out for him in the end there. which is again, the fucking point!!! turns out when you escalate violence constantly over some stupid fucking chair, it opens the playing field up to getting your own ass whacked by someone else for that stupid fucking chair. rhaenyra and her brothers' best shot at life was to make peace with each other and make sure they were really loud about how much they tried to make peace with each other. you can't murder your own brother and expect people not to think "well shit what's she gonna do to ME if i piss her off?" and considering rhaenyra's dedicating to making sure She Personally did not murder any of her siblings, she clearly knew that.

[moreespressoformydepresso]

knock knock ⭐ losing battle plssss

(future me adding this later because I want people to see this without reading this whole mess: In The Losing Battle, Lamina loves Treech while Tanner loves the idea of Treech. Explanation is at the end of the post below)

Omg okay there is so much I could and want to talk about but I'd be writing several essays so I'll try to keep this contained to one thing. If anyone else is interested I'll ramble about the other stuff because there is so much that I haven't put into text yet or have kept vague/implied so far (IE what exactly happened between Treech and Vipsania during the interviews and dynamics between characters that are neither Treech nor Lamina). A lot of it is due to perspective restraints, because I love me an unreliable narrator to the point where I've never written anything that didn't contain it to some degree but it does make it difficult to fully get across what the character thinks vs what's actually happening around them. There's a lot of smaller inaccuracies in their perception of reality that I don't see anyone mentioning (though to be fair not many people talk to me about the fic) so I don't know if anyone caught them or not. A shame, really, because I've put a stupid amount of thought into them.

Also, there's just so much to say about all my fics but especially this one! I could talk about all the different motivations of characters who aren't very present or the tensions building in the background or the deep explanations of why characters do what they do that TreeMina isn't self-aware or present enough for to realize or I could talk about how this whole fic's basic premise is the soul-crushing reality that major, world-shattering changes on a personal level barely have any impact on the bigger picture until decades in the future but I'll pick just one. Oohh this is gonna be difficult I just really want to type whatever comes to mind but I can't. But! That's enough useless introductory words. Onto the unhinged ramblings of a mad entity!

The mini LumberHouse subplot! Otherwise known as why Tanner really doesn't like Lamina in this fic, even if it isn't that apparent due to how small his role is in the story.

I'm choosing Tanner because I have a lot to say about him, but unlike the main duo or Vipsania and Pup, Tanner isn't gonna get a big spotlight chapter as it stands right now. Maybe as a mini spin off one-shot but I'm not planning on it. Vip and Pup will get more focus later, especially once Treech and Lamina are out of the arena, but Tanner just doesn't have enough impact on the story to get that. Which is the intention here.

My basic idea for Tanner is that he's someone who very clearly has his own life and complicated emotions during the games, with pain and drama and the whole shebang, but it all happens in the background. You can get a good idea of his struggles if you pay attention but it's just as easy to read past and not even notice, because he's not a main character. He's my representation for the way all these kids had their own stories that could just have easily been the one you were reading, but you aren't. So you only get glimpses whenever one of the actual main characters is close enough to take note. Most of his story is implied, with enough room for other people to have different interpretations than what I intended. The timeline in my head for the Tanner/Treech arc of Tanner's life is as follows:

Tanner didn't even really notice Treech before the arena bombing. Sure, he enjoyed the singing and he knew his name, but at most he really noticed him due to his proximity to Lamina, who Tanner tended to pay attention to due to her crying. Then Treech had the balls to turn Coral's offer down during the bombing. and Tanner really started to see Treech. The way he shared all of his food, the small ways in which he showed kindness, the way his face lit up so prettily when he smiled. Tanner became intrigued, but only ever from a distance. With dawning horror he realizes he's developed a crush on a boy he'll be forced to kill in a matter of days, and he can't even go and talk to him. When they meet up in the arena, it's no accident. Tanner deliberately snuck away from Coral and Mizzen to see if he could catch a glimpse of Treech and possibly even talk to him, if only to give himself some closure. When he finds Treech with Dill, his feelings deepen, but when he hears Lamina calling for him... When he sees the way those two interact, he knows he's lost. He lost before he even began.

See, Tanner dislikes Lamina, but it's not for anything she's done. It's because she has what he wants to have: A connection with Treech. She's had years to get to know him and spend time with him, and Tanner didn't even get an hour. Now, he's not stupid, Tanner knows that he and Treech were never gonna be a thing because no shit, one of them is gonna have to die here, but it doesn't lessen the jealousy. It doesn't erase the what-ifs and the might-have-beens. And unlike Lamina, Tanner doesn't get to spend his last few days with someone he cares about. Brandy's gone and Treech is at the top of his alliance's blacklist. Whether he lives or dies, he'll have spent these days as good as alone.

The biggest difference between Tanner and Lamina that made TreeMina endgame instead of LumberHouse is that Tanner has a crush where Lamina is in love. One of the most painful things for Tanner is that he knows he could've loved Treech if he'd had the time, and maybe it could have been mutual, but they don't. Lamina did have that time, and over the years she and Treech fell in love far past a simple crush. Basically, Lamina is scared of losing what she has where Tanner laments what might have been if things were just a little different. Tanner doesn't actually know Treech, they've barely spoken to each other, and while he has a good grasp of who Treech is due to what he's seen so far, he's only seen bits and pieces of his person. Therefore, he can't really love Treech. He has a crush on him, and he loves the idea of Treech he has in his head based on what he's observed. How accurate that image of him is, is a whole different question. Lamina, meanwhile, has had years to get to know him. She and Treech have shared many vulnerable, personal moments together and their bond has grown incredibly strong over the years. Not even betrayal could fully break it. Lamina truly loves Treech, because she knows him better than anyone else. From his strengths to his biggest flaws, she's seen them all and she loves him for it.

Lamina gets to stay with Treech because she knows him in ways Tanner will never get the chance to, and he hates her for it.

[samuelturn]

Aight so now that I have finished Brothersong I have THOUGHTS on further logistical breakdowns of how Green Creek could be adapted to a GLAAD Award-Winning HBO TV show. Spoilers so here is a cut for anyone who wants to be fresh to the series.

PRE-PRODUCTION

OKAY SO! The filming block for Season 1/Wolfsong would MOST LIKELY be the biggest, especially for scenes involving younger versions of the actors. As these are spread out across, like, all four books, some are just “scene we’ve seen but from a different perspective or with ‘Dream Seauence VFX’ so we just need more blocking/extra takes to make it all seem believeable using B-roll” to “yeah this requires Young Thomas and various child actors so we’re filming this beforehand so that everyone looks the same when these scenes come up later” to “ah hell we gotta shave their heads anyways might as well film the revenge road trip.” Thus, basically everyone but, like, Dominique would have to be cast by Season 1, and probably all of Season 1 and half of season 2 would need to be written and finalized and drafts/outlines of Season 3 and 4 would need to be made before casting would begin. Writer’s room would include TJ and a racially-diverse LGBT staff.

Caswell wouldn’t need to be fully built but enough of a location would be needed to film individual scenes with the younger actors and scenes set in the big house at Caswell (ie arguments between Mark and Thomas, Joe being taken, Thomas in the woods with the kids, Thomas writing the letters)

Title sequence would be based on the lovely new covers for the hardcover editions from Tor. They’d get longer with each season and by the end we see the whole pack in the papercraft style of the covers.

CASTING

Yeah we’d need a big ass cast. With multiple actors to play different characters at different ages.

Babies:

Carter, Kelly, Joe, maybe also Gavin depending on things

Children:

Gordo, Gavin, Mark, Rico, Chris, Tanner, Carter, Kelly, Joe, Robbie

Young Adult (ie Teen to Mid 20s) and Adult (ie by the Rough Present of when Ox first discoveres the secret of the Bennetts)

Basically everyone else

The tricky part will be that, yeah, there will probably need to be different actors for 20s Thomas, Elizabeth, Mark, and Gordo because while a 20-something can play 16 or so, its harder for 30-40 year olds to play 20-something. The upside being that an older actor CAN play Gordo for the scenes after Ox’s dad leaves (also Ox’s dad will need a name lol). You would need to switch to older actors for the Bennett kids and Ox basically once Ox graduates high school. But then you can keep all the same actors for the rest of the “present” set scenes. Osmond, and Robert Livingstone would also need younger actors. Richard Collins would only need one actor he’s barely in the flashbacks as it is.

STRUCTURE/PLOT RAMBLINGS

There are a few things that would need to be done in order to improve the pacing for TV, imo. Mainly, that the handing off of Alpha of All to the Fairbanks pack needs to feel more earned and less semi-random. Like, show them taking in Omegas at the end of Season 2, have them be allies at Caswell in Season 3 and the final battle in Season 4. Flesh them out a bit more. Also some continuity smoothing would be needed (ie clarifying that Gordo refused Mark’s MATE bite not Thomas’s BECOME WOLF bite).

Some more forshadowing of Robert’s failsafe in Season 2 would help. Obviously SHOW Gavin’s timber wolf in the attack on Jessie (and ideally have the actor be the body actor wearing the CGI ball suit moving all wolf-like in the scene) in Season 1.

I’d personally add in more of a wrap-up in Caswell at the end of Season 4. And also an extended aftermath scene or episode after Ox’s resurrection. Joe’s wolf is still bigger than almost everyone else, but not as big as it was when he was Alpha. One thing that I’d ask to be added is, maybe with the death of Robert and the ressurrection of Ox there’s a big ass magic pulse and we get a follow-up with the new Alpha of All from Alaska training Betas who have become Alphas thanks to Mystical Moon Magic as they rebuild packs across the continent. Idk the story needs more of a denumont. Alpha of All making more of an effort to try and bring Omegas back from the brink before just automatically deciding to kill them.

Dominique could have human bite marks on her to show thar Jessie tried to “Mate Bite” too even as a human. Bambi and Rico too.

He/They Gavin? Maybe? Gavin feels very he/they. Also Elizabeth showing affection to Maggie (hey if we’re gonna imply that Thomas and Richard had a kind of romantic love for each other in Brothersong before he went Omega Lizzie can make side-eye at Maggie).

Show more of the three year gap between Ravensong and Heartsong (not a lot but more than just one bit when Robbie is kidnapped). And the new story in the deluxe hardcover books too. The myth or whatever. That can be animated in a sketchy style (think Princess Kaguya or Wolfwalkers) with VO from Elizabeth.

Anyway rambling over I love these books so much. TJ I woudn’t say no to a LIGHT DRAMA/mostly fluff 5th book or short story. Maybe from Chris or Tanner’s perspective? Or Jessie’s?

[whinlatter]

author's note: chapter 10: reared & chapter 11: hatched 🐣🎇

thank you for reading chapters 10 and 11 of beasts (and especially for being patient with the bumper doubled up author's note). this time, ginny has a bad new year's eve (attends the world's most triggering party, slops booze down her old love rival, loses to her boyfriend at butterbeer pong) and then an even worse new year's day, featuring boggarts, the hangover from hell, the inevitable consequences of her own actions, and cormac mclaggen. nightmare. if you slog through all this you'll get a sneak peek of chapter 12 so that's my ploy to try and get you to endure my takes on liberal subjecthood and girlhood again. shameless! alright - let's do this.

✨ spoilers for this chapter below the cut  ✨

writing notes and headcanons:

parties: i almost called chapter ten party animals. you can be glad that i didn’t. but wow writing parties is hard! you have to keep track on like 30 different attendees! it ends up like choreographing a musical number. and then i had to come up with costumes for all of them AND fun drinks names. nightmare. never again. i only did it to make all the memes

haunted house: ‘they have a house party then ginny gets trapped in the house with both her ex boyfriends, her boyfriend’s ex and also cormac mclaggen’ was a chapter concept i mentally wrote back in february lol. it’s too delicious. i wanted the teenageness of it - the sloppy lazy hangover vibe the day after a house party, but added all these layers of fear and the waiting game with all the left-behind characters. the garden as relief was important, but also the wild overgrownness of it, unmanageable untamed. i have lived in flats in the kinds of london townhouses grimmauld is based on and they very often have these big scooped out brick walled gardens below street level that are just so atmospheric and oasis like but also usually kind of a mess and overgrown. so count this as a love letter to a london garden

ginny and sirius: in these two chapters, the flashbacks are entirely ginny’s memories of sirius black - specifically, of teenage ginny’s attempts to connect with this veteran, someone she canonically cares for and admires, who i think would be something of a god in her eyes, partly because he’s hot/cool/can turn into a dog (slay) but mostly for his enormous self-sacrifice and martyrdom for his friends and for the cause, even before his actual death. i’ve talked about the canon parallels between these two characters in the first of a two part meta here, which lays out my thinking behind sirius and ginny’s relationship as rendered here (ie. sirius would quite like ginny, perhaps see shades of james in her - hence the snitch - but she would always care more about him, and about impressing him, than he ever would about her). one of the most important lines of sirius’ in canon for me is the one he yells at the weasley children the night their father is attacked: they (understandably) just want to go and see their dad, but sirius, as kindly but as firmly as he can, tells them that this is both naive and also counter to what the order of the phoenix exists to do: a resistance organisation that is all about self-sacrifice for the greater good (“This is how it is — this is why you’re not in the Order — you don’t understand — there are things worth dying for!”) through sirius, we learn, ginny began to form a set of ideas about some very important things for her: about how to survive, how to preserve a mind, and about what it means to fight, especially when being held back and deliberately kept out of the fight. all pretty formative in ginny weasley’s book, i’d say. i wanted ginny’s memories of sirius to be very triggered by place, trapped back in this very claustrophobic, very sensorily dense and evocative house. i knew i wanted moments where we have ginny actively drift off into reminiscences in the present timeline (getting caught drifting off fleabag style by ron before the party) or seek out spaces to remember (going into walburga’s bedroom). where previously the flashbacks have been less active and less visible acts of ginny remembering, more standalone cutaways than examples of a character actively going into a memory, it was important to me to start to show memories becoming much more like intrusive thoughts ginny can’t push away as her defensive coping mechanisms come under increasing assault.

animagi: one of the big things ginny first badgers sirius about is how to become an animagus. ginny’s interest in becoming an animagus does, at first, come from a place of childlike awe (especially from an animal lover). but, as ginny eventually hints to sirius, it’s also a reflection of young ginny becoming very interested in possible survival strategies to get out of facing awful memories she’d rather not think about every time a dementor comes to town. she sees sirius becoming the dog as an escape both from literal prison and from the prison of the mind. sirius suggests it’s not quite as simple as that. we’ll be returning to these ruminations in due course…. 

traitors: as @ashesandhackles’ gift of a question suggests, one of the big themes at work in these chapters, particularly chapter 11, is betrayal and - particularly - the figure of the traitor. as ashes points out, we see a whole lot of traitors mentioned to varying extents (from canon: pettigrew, percy, regulus, sirius himself, marietta, mundungus, kreacher, xenophilius, snape, andromeda…). in c.10 these themes are more dormant, little passing asides (the banality of evil, lol, and geri halliwell betraying the spice girls aka the worst act of treachery in 90s britain). but in c.11, we see the memory of past traitors and the prospect of future ones come to bear: the DA’s interrogation and fear that dean might not be all that he seems, and then rabastan lestrange getting killed by his own brother for, as harry suggests in his analysis of rabastan’s murder, betraying a set of ideas and a worldview that pre-existed voldemort and now survives him. so far in the fic, we’ve seen ginny reflect on questions of the soul as an inherently moral entity, its existence imbuing all who have a soul with the capacity for good, if not compelling them to always do it. here, i wanted to start introducing questions of where the choice to do bad comes from, the big nature vs. nurture, question, because i think this question would not just interest ginny given her own set of experiences (and you can speculate what those might be, because we will be returning to them!), but also because it speaks to a broader set of themes and questions that beasts is trying to expand upon that thread through canon. i don’t want to spoil too much for a future plot point, but needless to say this is a fic that tries to ask questions about selfhood, people’s nature, about motivation, intent, and choices, about childhoods and why people grow up to be who they are and make the choices they make – and also about wizards’ claim of superiority over all other magical beings because they have a monopoly on morality, on conscience, on justice, and therefore, as the most rational, civilised, self-governing political subjects, have the right to make and enforce law over other magical species. the existence of the traitor, for these characters who made moral choices to resist during a war fought over right and wrong, is a fascinating litmus test for any society grappling with the enforcement of justice, what it means to try to do good, and the circumstances under which people choose not to do good - as kingsley’s speech at the end of c.11 suggests, what it is in a person’s development that might lead them in one moral direction or another. “is this who we are?” kingsley asks, and the answer really might be: yes, actually.

the girls’ getting dressed: a) it’s literally always the best bit of any party and b) yes it’s important that hermione granger not just looked hot but wanted to, and that her and ginny had the first meaningful conversation they’ve had with each other while they’re pulling on hoe fits and doing sleakeazy treatments. female friendship arc engaged. also nymphadora tonks just definitely had hot cool 90s clubbing fits don’t know what to tell you (recs below)

the DA: what was fun about writing the party, though, was getting to try and show ginny among her fellow soldiers, and, especially, harry getting to see it. we know that canon ginny is popular and well liked by her classmates pre the war, but the experience of the DA under the carrows (as future flashbacks will show…) would be an intense bonding experience for many, and, i think, of the three leaders (neville, luna, ginny), it would be ginny that would become perhaps the most important emotionally to her fellow soldiers on the basis of her personality, compassion and empathy. in these chapters, you see those who *were* at hogwarts during the war have their guard up, exercise stiff safety procedures, and those that *weren’t* - especially harry - start to clock how much the war changed the DA from duelling fight club to a resistance organisation with military capabilities and procedures. what this means for hinny, of course, is harry, knowing that ginny is keeping things from him, starting to put together that that persecution and torture neville spoke breezily about in the hog’s head tunnel that time might actually have been, er, real, and that ginny might have had her own direct experiences of it that she hasn’t shared with him…

the slytherins: @titaniasthings sent me this ask ages ago about slytherins and i very rudely banked the ask to talk about another day. and i'm not even going to answer it now! i am hugely sorry about that, but i will answer it in due course, so this is me publicly apologising and basically promising to get back to this question, because i think it’s both very interesting and also one of the weakest points of canon that fanfiction can help right in really interesting and productive ways. for now, let me just say theo nott and daphne greengrass’ presence at the party is me flagging that i DO think there are ways that slytherins would have engaged with the DA and with resistance during the war, for lots of different motivations, and look forward to developing this further as this lovely little inquiry gets underway…

deamus: is this deamus or is it dean/rio ferdinand (unrequited)? who’s to say

cormac mclaggen: yes everyone is under attack from a renegade bunch of vigilante wannabe death eaters but you should never let that stop you from going to pound town

cho and ginny: me, posting a sneak peek that looked like it was ginny dialogue but it was actually from cho… 😈

i’ve talked a bit about my thoughts on cho and ginny’s relationship elsewhere, and had this scene written for ages, because i a) think it’s funny when surprising characters call the protagonist out on their shit and impart the most useful wisdom (michael and cho have both played this part so far lol) and b) i wanted ginny’s insecurities about cho, which are understandable but come from a place of teenage rivalry and are quite juvenile, to have to give way to something more mature between them, as part of a coming of age growing up arc. in c 10 we get their petty interactions, judging each other for their outfits, clearly frosty, but in c 11, we see ginny and cho accidentally have probably the most important conversation ginny's had with anyone in ages. ginny has to face up to the fact that since 1995, cho chang has grieved and lived with a reality that ginny fears enormously - the death of the boy she loves - and also all the repercussions that came with it, including the impact of it on her own quidditch ambitions. the cho we see has done a lot of work on her own grief and now has a remarkably healthy reflection on what it is to grow up and to both forgive yourself and release yourself from dreams you had as a child, while also recognising it’s ok to mourn the future you hoped you’d have when life gets in the way. for hinny purposes, i also wanted the memory of cho’s distress and harry’s inability to handle it to resurface before the hinny fight, because i think cho’s weepiness and attempt to ask harry for emotional support would be pretty influential on ginny’s decision to try to avoid doing that at all costs. (ashes also pulled out my agenda behind the cho changing in front of ginny moment: “the difference of Cho's comfort with changing in front of people i.e women vs Ginny - it shows how differently each have built friendships and at what stage in their lives”. cho chang had close female friends before ginny or hermione really ever did and it shows!

rodolphus lestrange: ‘a huge day for rodolphus nation’ - aka just @saintsenara. i have never bought the idea that rodolphus is pure flop and bellatrix is the instigator in their marriage for them joining the death eaters - my personal take is that the lestranges are the gateway for the black sisters being drawn into the orbit of death eaterdom, and am especially a fan of a big age gap between bellatrix and rodolphus, meaning that rodolphus was in the first wave of death eaters/voldemort’s school gang or at the very least an early follower, and that that’s how bellatrix gets drawn from low key pureblood supremacist politics of the black family into the paramilitary activities of the death eaters. i *like* the idea of death eaters who aren’t just thugs for hire but have a real political worldview and a programme that they will continue to pursue after voldemort’s death, and am excited to explore that in the fic (and what it means for plans for postwar reform and societal rebuilding). slay from roddy, basically

ginny’s boggart: thank you to this lovely anon both for the regulus-ginny parallels note and also for asking about ginny's boggart! i am however going to be an arsehole and stay zipped lip on this one for now (we will find out i swear), but just for now to say: i wanted the boggart to both add atmosphere and a lovely sense of oppressive dread (hiding in a broken clock, a forever waiting game), but also ginny’s inability to bring herself to draw it out and face it to be a sign of her struggling to force herself to process dark memories that are proving stubbornly haunting…

the hinny fight: you all have had the patience of saints waiting for this scene fr. pls know this fight took me absolutely bloody ages to write lmao. fights are hard when you want people to be flawed but neither person really be in the wrong! here we have ginny, finally letting out seven years of resentment at being left out, patronised, and over-protected: harry, calling her on the fact that she’s clearly trying to protect him from things that really bothering her, letting her know how hurt he is that she’s excluded him from her ongoing ordeal - but also, in getting her to finally tell the truth, having to face up to the thing he hasn’t wanted to face up to, the possibility of ginny’s enormous sufferings during the war that he literally broke up with her, naively, to try to avoid. it’s a long scene – 4k words lol - but i really wanted the fight to have distinct stages, a crescendo, a cooling off period, building ultimately to a quiet moment of confession from both characters. harry finally says out loud what ginny has become to him, his fears about what happened to sirius happening to her, how lost he feels in a world where he is no longer the chosen one, and the hopes he has for him and ginny as a little family around which he wants to build a future amid uncertainty about literally everything else. ginny finally admits what it is in her past that has shaped how much she is prepared to trust and confess to another person about her fears. and so we leave them having finally aired out things that needed to be said, but lacking direction about how to resolve them. they’ve got work to do, baby (and i’m super excited to share how they’re going to do it). will be posting part 2 of the sirius and ginny meta v soon, which discusses in more depth how the memory of sirius, and especially of his death, influences harry’s ideas about familial love and especially his overprotectiveness when it comes to ginny. stay tuned for that. it’ll be real sad, sorry!

harry left holding all of his eggcups once ginny’s gone back to school: 

songs from the playlist for these chapters:

i would personally like to take this opportunity to call out ginny weasley for having such a sad adolescence that i had to write about it and listen to phoebe bridgers the entire time and therefore fuck up my spotify wrapped. that is all

the songs for chapter ten (party party party) are wall to wall bangers. two tribes, with siren, right before the auror alarms go off! yesssss. also slow show is the most romantic song ever written about a party and a person’s dick (‘standing at the punch table swallowing punch’, ‘you know i dreamed about you/i missed you for 29 years/before i saw you): 

playing around before the party starts by childish gambino | i predict a riot by the kaiser chiefs | paint it black by the rolling stones | two tribes - we don’t want to die version by frankie goes to hollywood | slow show by the national

the songs for chapter eleven are much more subdued, quiet (hangover-proof), songs for a waiting game. the mitski song is this chapter's manifesto and also is the harry-sirius-ginny arc anthem, i will not be persuaded otherwise (you're an angel, i'm a dog/or you're a dog and i'm your man/you believe me like a god/i'll destroy you like I am). i wanted duets, too, especially men and women duetting together, to echo the conversations that happen across both of these chapters (between sirius and ginny, dean and ginny, and then harry and ginny). and had to have auld lang syne cos it’s bloody new year for GOD’s sake: 

i’m your man by mitski | no doom for doubt by lianne la havas and willy mason | house of the rising sun by alt-j | birch by big red machine and taylor swift | waiting room by phoebe bridgers | new auburn by big red machine and anaïs mitchell | auld lang syne by mairi campbell and david francis

ps. the new beyonce song could easily be harry to the DA at the end of chapter 11. get the fuck out of my house!!!

reading list: 

on tonks being a hot girl with party streak and a wardrobe that is major:

Leather by @saintsenara/asenora  (self-rec! embarrassing!) dead ends by whinlatter

on dean and his mum: 

Lifelike by @evesaintyves

on sirius and grimmauld place:

Toys in the Attic by @ashesandhackles and thecat_iswriting Lux Aurumque by @saintsenara/asenora

on peter pettigrew: 

All I ever wanted was a life in your shape by saptashati 

on cho chang: 

overemotional: in defense of cho chang by dirgewithoutmusic

plus the smallest of sneak peeks of chapter 12, coming in january...

They're different, his letters. She knew they would be, though it doesn't make it hurt any less.

[boltedfruit]

How I Outline/Plot: Including Author Resources for Developing Characters and Self Publishing

First and foremost, everything I’ve included in this doc that references resources (such as the plot outline below), is also available for free on the authors’ respective websites. I just wanted to recreate the template Scrivener file I use when starting a new project as I’ve collected everything in one master file.

MASTER TEMPLATE GOOGLE DOC: https://tinyurl.com/boltemp

I recently posted the chapter count for my upcoming Mafia MM romance I'm writing for NaNoWriMo this year and was asked how I plot by @duckyreads

Below, I've included screenshots of the first couple beats of my process and how much detail I usually include when outlining. The template I'm working from is an edited one of Romancing the Beat by Gwen Hayes, who offers her beat sheet for free on her site and in a Scrivener Template.

Using Romancing the Beat, I first went through and made a separate page for each story beat for my protagonist, Zac. I can't do just normal three act structure as it's too vague for me. I need Too Much to work with, then I can whittle it down later. I then did the same for the love interest and Mafia boss, Joe. (name might be changed idk yet.)

The colored dots represent which act of the story I'm in. Light pink= Act 1: Set Up, Dark Pink= Act 2: Falling, Blue= Act 3: Retreating, and Purple= Act 4: Shake it Off.

I also want to note that even though the epilogue is written in for both characters' POV, I'm only writing it once, from Zac's POV. So not every single beat necessarily translates directly into its own chapter. A few from Joe's POV are definitely combined more than once.

So Chapter 1, Scene 1: Zac's sister Riley has made him a dating profile and set him up on a date with who will soon be revealed as a crime lord.

I'm repetitive, because I've gone back in at different points and added little notes here and there. But my basic points I want to convey right off the bat: Zac is a hot mess who drinks to excess at times, has a sister who loves him but he is always putting her in a hard position, and has issues with money and violence from his childhood.

I also like to include some dialogue or rough snippets for scenes because it helps make the scene feel more concrete to me. I don't always do this though.

This is Chapter 1, Scene 2. Very short and to the point. (This was something I originally started writing as a fic btw.)

This is Chapter 2, Scene 1 and is the first from Joe's perspective.

It's plotty compared to the first chapter. I haven't done any nitty gritty location research yet so I put stuff I don't know yet in asterisks or brackets or in something like "XXX", because XXX is easy to find and change with ctrl+f > replace.

This is from Chapter 3, Scene 1. Just vibes.

This is from Chapter 4, Scene 2, from Joe's POV after the date.

This is what I ended up with. I'm sure as I work through it, the chapter count will go down. I don't really want my romance book to be so long, but I saw recently that 50 Shades is apparently over 500 pgs, which is wild to me. I'm also doing alternating POV, so it'll be switching between my protag and the love interest.

My outlining/plotting steps:

Decide on genre and type of story structure I want to use.

Decide on my protagonist and lay out a new page/note for every story beat of whatever structure I'm using.

Go in order or jump around and write a little per beat based on how I want a scene to go. For me, feeling is more important than knowing exactly what's going to happen. I'm not naturally a plotter, so I still like to not be constrained when I'm actually writing. (ie I'm not adhering to some rigid word count per chapter.) And if I changed something or added a thing while writing, I go back to the outline after and add it in so it all lines up and I don't forget something I did.

If a beat doesn't fit its own chapter, I make it a scene. It's also okay for multiple beats to happen in one chapter too.

Do the same for any other POVs involved in the story. Try to make each character have their own arc as well, no matter how small.

Really my main advice is go with your gut first because you can always add on or retract later. Write what you want (with some awareness of genre tropes/audience wants if you're trying to write to market to some extent). All book publishing is fickle and mean a lot of the time. And honestly unless you're one of the few who gets picked up by traditional publishers and offered an amazing deal, you'll be expected to pay for all the things you'd be paying for with self publishing, except with fewer rights to your own work. I'd rather pay and manage my own website, ads, and ARC readers and retain total rights to my own creations than give my rights to a publisher who might hold my book up for years, and still expect me to fund my own advertising, book tours etc.

And besides, if you self publish, there is no rule you can't have another book (and then even your backlog) traditionally published later on. You can have both.

[pastelsapphy]

Man I wish it was easier to keep things from being lost in translation. Like when characters add -ah or -ie to each others names (which, really could've been kept in English. or, -ie could've anyway, to a degree. wouldn't be exactly the same but it still conveys a bond bc nickname) or using hyung/noona. listening to voice acted story modes, it's easy to hear when these things are dropped.

like when saeyoung talks about V and rika, it's pretty much always "V hyung" and "rika noona", but after the Big Reveals it's just V and rika. I just got the one story mode in Ray After Ending with Saeyoung and V and when saeyoung tries begging for saeran's freedom he also starts calling V "hyung" again.

I haven't checked for it, but I did once see someone point out that in Saeyoung's BSE3, when MC starts to get suspicious of saeran's "secret exit", he starts calling saeyoung "hyung", which very easily keeps him from thinking too much about it. there are a few times where rika will stop adding "ah" to saeran's name if she's mad at him (I heard it at least once in the first Secret Ending, when she says he needs to be brainwashed again.)

i dunno i just love these little language things and i love how sometimes concepts are specific to a language bc that's what makes them special and unique but man i wish it were easier to convey these things in translation.

[saturnznct]

d-20; making christmas cards for members | lmk

➸ word count; 1023 words

➸ lucas; aged 10, noah; aged 8, maeve; aged 4

➸ alternative names used; hyungjun (lucas), minjun (noah), yeoreum (maeve)

dadmas masterlist | nct masterlist (lnks will be added later)

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

‘Wow, Mae, you really captured Uncle Doyoung’s spirit there,’ Mark grins.

Maeve holds up her Christmas card for Doyoung proudly, showing off the rabbit with a Santa hat she’d drawn on the front with ‘Merry Christmas Doyoung Samchon’ written in messy toddler handwriting on the front.

‘Although, I think we need to work on your Hangul. You wrote Samchon in English..’

Maeve just looks sheepish, putting the card into the finished pile and grabbing another plain one to start.

This was a Lee household yearly tradition. The kids would sit down at the dining table, cover it with pens, glitter and whatever crafting materials they could get their hands on, and make cards for family and friends.

When it came to the sheer amount of NCT members, it was a full on operation. The members had been randomly assigned to each of your three children, who would make their cards. You and Mark would write the inside messages once they were finished and all the glue and or paint had dried. 

‘Wait, why does Maeve get Uncle Johnny?’ Noah whines once he notices Johnny’s name on Maeve’s list. 

‘It’s random, No,’ you explain, ‘it’s fair that way.’

‘But I wanted to make Uncle Johnny’s card,’ he pouts.

‘Buddy, the card will still be from you, and Uncle Johnny will know that,’ Mark rubs Noah’s back with his hand, ‘how about you make a really pretty card for Uncle Taeyong, huh? I bet he’d love a really glittery one!’

‘Daddy, can we come to work with you and give Uncles their cards?’ Noah asks, wanting to see his beloved Uncle’s reactions to his work. 

‘Of course, how about you and mummy/mommy drop me off tomorrow, and we can give them to Uncles then?’

‘Yay!’ Noah cheers, accidentally knocking over a pot of silver glitter.

⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯ ⋆✦⋆ ⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯

‘Uncle Ten!’ Maeve runs into the practice room, barrelling towards the first member she sees.

‘Mae!’ He exclaims with equal excitement, wrapping the small girl into a big hug.

‘Sorry to interrupt your practice, guys,’ you apologise, knowing that all of the members are gathered to rehearse for their end of year project. 

‘It’s all good,’ Jungwoo, the closest person to you grins, ‘it’s nice to have a break.’

He catches Maeve’s eye, his face suddenly lighting up, immediately dropping to his knees to offer a hug, ‘and to see my Yeoreum!’

‘Ah, Minjun-ah,’ Jaemin squats down to greet Noah, ‘what’s that you’ve got?’

Noah holds out the envelope with both hands, a messy ’Nana’ scrawled across the front. 

‘Ah, thank you,’ Jaemin always saves his aegyo for his favourite nephews and niece, his Mark’s children.

‘This one’s for you, Uncle Yangyang,’ Maeve hands Yangyang his card.

‘Wow, thank you MaeMae, you’re so kind,’ Yangyang, who has crouched down to her level, peels the envelope open, laughing when he sees the sheep with the Christmas hat drawn on it.

‘I like how the sheep is pink and glittery,’ he adds, pulling her into a hug, ‘I love it, thank you Mae.’ 

The members fuss over the kids, each giving very exaggerated but genuine reactions to their individual cards.

‘Ah, Hyungjun-ah, thank you,’ Chenle fist bumps Lucas, ‘you write in Chinese so well.’

‘It’s from the lessons you gave me,’ Mark chimes in teasingly, and the two men laugh as Lucas huffs.

‘Yeoreum-ie, your art is so good!’ Yuta fusses over Maeve, who blushes and squirms at his compliment over her drawing of him next to a Christmas Tree.

‘Don’t get all embarrassed!’ he teases, poking her side, before turning to Sicheng who’s standing beside him and commenting, ’so cute.’

When Lucas notices Johnny holding his own card, he walks over to talk to his favourite Uncle.

’Tell Jude-hyung that I’ll give him his card the next time I see him,’ Lucas tells Johnny, ‘I don’t want him to think I’ve forgotten about him when you bring that one home.’

‘Will do buddy, I’m sure you’ll see him when the school holidays start.’

‘Are you guys not going to Chicago?’ Lucas tilts his head in confusion.

‘Not ’til the twentieth,’ Johnny explains, ‘you guys should arrange to hang out. In real life, not just on the Xbox or whatever it is.’

Lucas just shrugs, embarrassed at being called out, and Johnny chuckles.

‘I’m just messing with you, go on, go give Uncle Seunghan his card.’

‘They’re so sweet, Hyung,’ Jisung remarks, watching the scene alongside Mark, ‘so crazy I’ll have one of my own in a few months.’

’They’re a handful,’ Mark shakes his head, still smiling, ‘but I love them more than anything.’

At that moment, Noah runs up to Jisung, clutching Jisung’s own card. 

In a corner, several members are gathered comparing cards, Doyoung throughly enjoying Maeve’s rabbit drawing while Xiaojun praises Noah’s reindeer.

‘Thank you, Noah, I’ll keep it forever,’ Taeyong reads the message inside of his card, on which Noah has drawn a polar bear wearing a lime green (’NCT colour!’) scarf.

‘Will you really?’ Noah gasps, shocked that his Uncle would treasure his creation for so long.

‘Of course, because my Minjun-ie made it for me!’

Eventually, all of the cards are distributed, and the three Lee children sit against the mirror and watch as the members go through their dance performance for the year. 

‘What did you think, Mae?’ Hendery bends down to ask, face showing a picture of pure joy when she begins bouncing on her feet and enthusiastically chatting about what she likes about the song and the choreography.

‘Come on kids, say goodbye to your Uncles. We’ll get out of your hair now, leave you to practice,’ you start gathering up your things, leaving the three of your children to say goodbye to all of the members.

’See you when you get home,’ you give Mark a quick hug, pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek as to allow him to avoid unnecessary teasing from his members. 

‘Bye bye little Lees,’ Ten and the rest of the members wave you all out of the room.

‘Now, kids,’ you announce once you’re fully in the corridor, ‘let’s go and harass Uncle Minseok.’