#i needed to talk about the context first and lay it out loud

[bugflies00]

I continue to wonder since you said fostering au wilbur continues to be entirely in denial and Not Realizing for some time after he and quackity re-meet how exactly DOES the Feelings Realization TM go down qcihdtiwdzgd

OOOH well its very gradual and very much a disaster because. well. its him .

i think i said they remeet when theyre around 22-23, and at the time wilbur was in a really bad relationship that he only breaks off two or so years later. his girlfriend was very controlling and always bringing him down and making comments about him, his appearance, his interests, what he ate, etc. so needless to say wilburs already absolute dogshit self esteem is so further down the gutter it’s actually Wow look it pierced a hole into the ground from how far down it is.

this is important context because it’s part of why he takes soooo long to realise his feelings, he’s just so deeply entrenched in trying to make his girlfriend happy and love him and to appease everyone that he doesn’t realise. its what i call his “ghostbur” era - none of this stuff is actually strictly based on the bursonas, but i find he does follow a similar pattern of evolution, and at that point in his life he’s trying to be the biggest people pleaser possible after realising that being the unapproachable loner he was in high school would only leave him alone (also bc his abandonment issues got worse after sally left). his new relationship makes that worse also.

in the beginning him and q are just sort of awkwardly tiptoeing around each other considering they last left each other with a bajillion things unsaid and they are extremely determined on keeping said things unsaid. they start to grow back into friends, albeit more normal friends than the absolute mess of a situationship/frenemies they were in high school. theyre still themselves meaning they can’t go a second without aggravating each other, but its definitely friendlier.

and as time goes by some of their joke flirting gets a tad bit too real sometimes- quackity will make a joke and stare at him a moment too long, or wilbur will stutter out of nowhere, etc.

but wilbur still has a girlfriend!!! so as usual he shoves his head in the sand and he takes melatonin so at night he falls asleep instantly without having the time to yearn or reflect lmao. (for the record i do not condone this if your feelings change communicate that with your partner etc)

time progresses, every stranger they meet think theyre either married, sworn enemies, or fucking each other. meanwhile wilburs relationship grows worse and worse, he’s fallen deep into an eating disorder (while he was already struggling with bad eating habits pretty much his whole life it gets much worse then), hes struggling with self harm a lot, and its just not a great time. his friends keep trying to convince him to break things off, especially tommy who, since he lives with them, has seen a lot of shit and absolutely despises wilbur’s girlfriend’s guts and makes this very well known.

eventually they do break up (its a longer story than that but it would require its own post) and wilbur falls deep into a depressive episode. it makes him doubt for so long if he did the right thing, if he just should’ve sucked it up and taken whatever scraps of love he was given, but in reality the depressive episode had been a LONG time coming its just his brain was in survival mode. he never felt safe enough with her, so subconsciously his brain only allowed falling into depression again once it was safe to do so.

and so my point is that with all these things happening he’s absolutely nowhere near ready to accept his feelings. meanwhile q is pining hard - that man is going through it LMAO trying to support his friend (they still pretend to be frenemies) whilst shoving down his own shit. he’s one of the few people wilbur feels safe with (even though theyve gotten into fistfights and q has sincerely threatened his life on several occasions), mainly because, in a way, q knew him at his worst (high school) and still came back. so he has more trust in him than some of his other friends because hes convinced he’s manipulated them into thinking hes better than he is.

anyway q is planning this trip for an internship he’s doing for his law degree, and he has to leave for a month or two. wilburs 25th birthday rolls around, and he knows q wont be able to be there. he’s already still feeling shitty, not really entirely out of that depressive episode, and he’s ready to just have a lame birthday and go back to rotting in his bed.

and then (this is so cliché LET ME LIVE) theyre about to do the cake whatever and tommy yells announces they have a surprise and he turns around and wham! quackity standing there looking downright exhausted, with his suitcases around him and the airplane neck pillow still around his neck (he came straight from the airport). wilbur runs to hug him and, to me, that moment is the kickstarter that forces him to start actually realising whats happening.

first off because theyre not exactly huggers but that one was so spontaenous and it felt so right!! second because hes already sad and a bit emotionally volatile and the fact that q cared enough to rush and try his best to make it to his birthday moves him a whole lot. and finally because well yeah he’s madly in love with him but the only thing he says is to ask whether the eyebags q got from jetlag are a fashion statement in europe or if hes just reaching for the raccoon look.

theres definitely more moments after that (they take a LOOONG time to get together. and so much pining. its so bad) but i just think that moment is really sweet and also i love how their relationship progresses over time

[homunculus-argument]

When it comes to high-context and low-context cultures, where one has the expectation of people understanding specific subtle nuances of what someone says, and the other has the expectation that everything needs to be explicitly said to be understood, I've heard plenty of people from low-context cultures ask "why not say what you mean and mean what you say then, why would you have to speak in riddles?" about high-context ones, like people of the latter type are just being cryptic and esoteric on purpose.

But culture does not consist of things you do on purpose, it is just the way things are done where you were raised. And when you were raised in a high-context culture, the thought of needing to explicitly state something instead of using some phrase or expression that you've learned to use comes as a culture shock, too. It's not "fuck you for not correctly understanding my riddles three", but "oh shit, I hadn't occurred to me that I would need to say that out loud."

The first time I went on a business trip to the US, my partner came with me, and we immediately discovered that he does not fare well on long flights. So when my publisher asked me about future trips, inquiring whether my partner would be coming with me, I asked him. He said that he would, if the flights weren't such a problem - he would need to travel in some way where he could get his feet up or lay down during flights, like business class or first class. Being also a finn, I understood what he meant and relayed the message as is to my publisher, not considering that they might not.

To both of our surprise, they started to actually look for first class tickets for us.

Finnish culture is a high-context one, people don't talk much and aren't very confrontational. Being demanding and putting someone else into a position where they're forced to be upfront or demanding is rude. And in finnish, saying "this would only be possible if these entirely absurd/completely impossible conditions were met" is a polite way of saying "no". You are simply explaining why something cannot be done, without either saying an explicit "no" or seeming like you're making up excuses. It offers the other party an opportunity to agree that these conditions cannot be met, so neither party will come off as confrontational or demanding.

Both me and my boyfriend considered it self-evident that the request was absurd, and could not be read as anything but a polite way to decline. It had not occurred to me that an american's natural response to "it would be impossible to do this" is to start figuring out how to do it anyway.

[azullumi]

“oh no, there’s only one bed.” ; genshin men

summary — the one-bed trope.

characters — alhaitham, albedo, ayato, childe, cyno, diluc, heizhou, itto, kazuha, kaveh, kaeya, thoma, tighnari, scaramouche/wanderer, venti, xiao, zhongli (w/gender-neutral reader)

tags — fluff (kind); hidden feelings things going on

words — 1057

note — wrote this because i got bored

Once he sees the sight of a singular bed in a room that the two of you had to stay in the whole night, the idea that the two of you will be sharing it flusters him. Is he really going to share a bed with you? Never in his wildest dreams will he even imagine of being in the same bed as you (in the context of just sleeping in it). He tries to hide his shyness and embarrassment by talking quite a lot—“It was such a tiring day. Oh hey, there’s only one bed here.” paired with a nervous chuckle, he says. He wouldn’t sleep immediately, maybe he’ll do something for a little bit but he wouldn’t sleep immediately. He’ll wait for you until you do so and if you ever invite him to just come to the bed already so he can get the rest that he needs, he will (not before hesitating) but will only sit on the edge while his back is facing you because he doesn’t know if he can face you properly with his cheeks completely flustered and his eyes darting all over the place, not able to remain still. Archons, what is he supposed to do?

Thoma, Kaveh, Itto, Heizhou

He immediately becomes a gentleman, seemingly knowing what to do as soon as he sees there’s only one bed—he’ll be sleeping on the floor instead while you take the bed. He wouldn’t hesitate in doing so as long as you’re comfortable and satisfied in your sleep, he wouldn’t mind sacrificing a bit just for your own happiness, after all. It will take him quite a lot of convincing and talking just so you could urge him to just sleep besides you and share the bed with him—you won’t mind it really as he doesn’t seem to be the type of person that would be horrible to sleep together with (probably no snores and not much of a movement). He’ll get on the bed, on your side but not too close as he maintains a distance, and he’ll sit instead of laying down—“I am not sleepy yet.”—and he will choose to either talk and tell you stories that he has heard from when he was a kid or from the people around or he will choose to remain in silence, choosing to enjoy the sound of the leaves rustling outside and the quiet hum of the evening breeze, as he waits for you to drift off to sleep.

Cyno, Diluc, Zhongli, Tighnari, Childe, Kazuha

There's only one bed? Oh no, what are you going to do? What in the world is he going to do? Of course, sleep on it. What else even? Should he even care about the fact that there’s only one bed for you two? As long as there’s a bed, it should be no problem for you both as the bed is big enough to fit you two. He wouldn’t even bother thinking of setting some sort of boundary between you two and would even say something along the lines of not minding if you get too close to him and hug him while you sleep. He’s just so casual about it as if he has gotten used to sharing a bed with someone when in fact, this is probably his first time as despite the nonchalant act that he shows, his mind is just all over the place. Despite the casual and carefree show that he puts on, once you lay down beside him and he could inhale your scent, his heart will flutter out of his chest and his thoughts would get too loud that he’s afraid you might be able to hear him—he knows he wouldn’t be able to sleep for the whole night.

Albedo, Alhaitham, Ayato, Kaeya, Venti

There’s only one bed and there’s two of you—one of you has to be on the floor and it’s not going to be him. Although, he would probably feel bad about letting you sleep on the cold ground instead of the soft and warm mattress and would carry you to the bed as you sleep. However, if you insist, earlier on, and fight with him that you’ll be on the bed also, both of you would compromise on having a boundary in the middle of the bed and that boundary is just consisting of one pillow because archons forbid for the two of you to have so much pillows in a singular bed. “This line must not and should not be crossed or I’m going to kick you off the fucking bed,” he tells you as he points at the pillow placed at the space in between of him and you before he turns around and dozes off to sleep—it sounds like a baseless threat, one that sounds silly instead of scary, but you still listened anyways, not wanting to have any of your rest being more cut off or interrupted. Now, you’ll just have to see if the line will be maintained or one of you will cross it in the next morning.

Scaramouche/Wanderer

He wouldn’t sleep at all. He’ll be up doing something else, doing something entirely different as long as he is not and will be sleeping and it's not because he dislikes the idea of sharing a bed with you, it’s just more like he wouldn’t be able to handle it—I mean, sharing a bed, really? How cramped can it be? How awkward can it be? How hard will it be for him? It’s probably much better that he keeps awake and watches over you as you sleep instead of having such loud and persisting thoughts inside his head as he tries to rest in the bed while you’re there beside him—he probably would feel more overwhelmed with his thoughts and feelings. “Xiao? Why won’t you come to the bed so you can get at least some rest?” You say to him, tone gentle and soothing like you’re trying to make him trust you but he still insisted on not doing so, simply just shaking his head and turning his head away—And maybe that hurt you a bit but you have to brush it off as well, that’s just how he is, always keeping a safe distance from you as if he’s afraid to get close.

Xiao

© azullumi — do not plagiarize, copy, repost, nor translate any of my works.

[littleskeletonprincessss]

Heyyyy yknow what we were just talking about? So, maybe you should write Schlatt getting mad and fucking the shit out of you

-In any context-

I’m totally not just asking this so I can complete all the drafts I have

Heyyyy, i'm going to use what we were talking about as the scenario for this. (For anyone confused, you can go read the post here (you definitely SHOULD go read it because) but tldr, Schlatt would throw a bitch fit trying to put a tent up. (The SHELTER kind, you filthy rats)

also, was definitely listening to ysf audio while doing this which kinda helped. Definitely recommend him if you haven't heard.

Just some HCs:

It definitely would have taken weeks and a couple blowjobs to convince Schlatt to take you camping.

When he finally gave in, the process didn't go smooth AT ALL.

You both somehow forgot to actually make reservations at a camping site, but you reassured him that you didn't need a campsite, you could just drive into the mountains somewhere.

So anyway it starts POURING rain.

And his car is getting dirty driving through all the mud puddles trying to find a place

Side note I think Schlatt is definitely the kind of man who babies his stupid car.

As much as he babies you, if not more

When you finally find a clearing, and the rain stopped, you both got out to set up camp

But come to find out the instructions for your tent were nowhere to be found.

Schlatt being who he is, insisted with every ounce of pride in his body, that he could figure the damn thing out.

He definitely muttered lots of swear words under his breath, along with the whole idea of this stupid trip

You'd been unloading the bed supplies and when you were done you noticed it was getting darker

So you innocently asked Schlatt if he wanted a little bit of help when you noticed that he'd made no progress

"No I don't want you goddamn help. I'm not a fucking idiot."

"Schlatt, come on, it's getting dark, let me help."

"Shut the fuck up. This whole stupid camping trip was your idea in the first place."

You could see Schlatt's eyes darken with anger and frustration and fuck was it hot.

"No."

Was it a good idea to say that right now? Oh absolutely fucking not. Did you care? Absolutely fucking not.

"What the fuck did you just say to me?"

"You heard me."

Schlatt would stand up, throwing the bag of stakes down and walk to the pile of blankets before grabbing a big one off the top.

"I thought I fucking did. Fuck this fucking dumbass tent, I can blow your back out right here, now lay the fuck down."

After Schlatt would spread the blanket out you'd lay down on the slightly damp ground, barely having time to move a rock from under your back before Schlatt was pressing hard kisses against your neck, sucking harsh bruises.

"What, I don't even get a kiss first?"

Schlatts hand would immediately be on your throat.

"You need to shut your goddamn mouth. Make me drive to the middle of bum fuck nowhere with a stupid tent that won't stay up."

Schlatt would break up his sentences with nips to your neck.

His other hand would hold both of your above your head, pinning your wrists.

The nice thing about being in the middle of nowhere was you could be as loud as you needed and Schlatt made it his personal goal sometime to make you break the world record for loudest noise ever made.

He'd waste no time getting both of you naked so he could just fuck you already and sink the tent he never had trouble getting up between your thighs.

And he'd go HARD.

Taking every bit of anger out on you

"Yeah, that's my little bitch. Just a fucking little cumslut for me aren't you doll? That's all your good for apparently, since you can only come up with stupid ideas like camping"

"Open your fucking mouth." he'd say before spitting in it. "That's it, sweetheart, take it."

Man would go for hours he was so pent up, both of you coming multiple times together.

After he'd finally calmed down, when the sun was just coming up, he'd pull his underwear back on before dressing you in the warm pajamas you'd brought

Just some of his sweats and his Wilson hoodie

before wrapping you in a clean blanket and bridal carrying you to the passenger seat of the car

He'd get dressed and pack everything up before sliding in to his sit and leaning over the console to kiss you.

"You okay baby?"

Schlatt is aftercare king, always.

"Mmm" you'd mumble quietly

Starting the car, Schlatt would start driving home.

You'd turn to watch the trees pass by out the window before glancing in the rearview mirror.

"Schlatt I think you forgot the tent."

"Nope."

And he'd drive away without another word leaving a pile of canvas behind you.

Anyway sorry this was shit. <3

[meraki-yao]

RWRB: A list of thoughts on the Campfire Scene

Ok I went to sleep for another hour to calm myself down and now I can form coherent thoughts about the scene and not just scream and squeal

It's a three-minute scene with two shots. The first shot is a little over two minutes

When Alex asks his question, Henry, who was looking into the fire, tilts his head towards Alex as if to listen better. After Alex finishes, Henry looks up towards the sky, like he's wondering how to answer

Alex doesn't really react to Henry's "Once upon a time" even though he's not directly answering Alex's question. He just listens, and that's such a beautiful thing

Nick deserves a round of applause for this scene, his monologue was two minutes long, and monologues are really hard to perform because it's just you who keeps talking, you don't really get to react to other things or people, it's just you, so Nick is a fantastic job

Nick's delivery and tone, and the way he sometimes ends a sentence a bit like a question (ex: "acutely") makes it sound like Henry's been thinking about this story/ metaphor for a while but this is the first time he ever verbalizes it, so while he knows what he wants to talk about thus he doesn't need to pause a lot to think of the story, he does occasionally need to think of the next word or line because again, he never actually said any of this out loud before, and Nick does that so well

@pippin-katz pointed out that Nick misspoke and said "sent the suit a prince of armour" which is hilarious, and while because movie, this shouldn't happen, realistically we all have moments where we mix words up so it almost feels more... authentic? Also, I didn't pick it up but now that Pippin mentioned it I'm really aware of it lmao

Also Henry/Nick's voice here is so soothing? I can almost imagine him telling bedtime stories to his and Alex's kids like this in the future. I wonder if Henry would write children's books because it feels like it'd be something he do and something he could write really well, if this clip is anything to go by. Plus I stumbled across an audio of Nick reading "The Emperor's New Clothes" before (I literally have no context of why he was reading that and it was literally just audio, not sure if I can find it anymore) and it was so soothing and calming that I fell asleep to it one night. Besides the full-cast RWRB audiobook that I'm practically demanding at this point, I wonder if he would be interested in doing more audiobook/narration stuff. He's really got the voice for it

The King sending a suit of armour to protect the prince's heart kind of further proves my point of the King being a much more loving grandparent to Henry than the queen in the book, and him worrying more about Henry himself than the image of the crown. He noticed that 1, Henry is an emotionally sensitive person, 2, Henry is gay, and both of those things could be turned against him easily, and he will get hurt. He does love Henry, just not in a way that's good for Henry. If we get a sequel I do hope we can see them reconcile in one way or another. It'd be a nice example for people in the same positions.

The "Nothing will ever happen to him" line!!!! I wrote a whole essay about Kensington and this line because somehow this line was one of the most powerful ones to me, but to know that it was originally Henry's word just adds another level of pain to the Kensington scene

You can see Henry's face light up when he starts talking about the peasant boy. And Alex's quick eyebrow raise and deep chuckle. It's so beautiful, I wanna cry

We talk about Alex's heart eyes, which, yes, but Henry's look of pure adoration and love at Alex when he says "Truly Alive" makes me want to melt

I yelled a little at Alex when he started to lay back down (as in I verbally shouted "DAMMIT ALEX LOOK AT YOUR MAN") because I felt like if Alex saw Henry's face in the following lines he'd figure out Henry has issues earlier? But then I saw a take saying the shot was framed like theatre where Henry's both centre stage and in the spotlight so the focus is on him, so Alex was designed to lay back down on the timber bench to make the entire space for Henry

Henry's look of sad longing when he talks about the peasant boy pulling apart his armor is heartbreaking

I wonder if this was originally planned to be the changing point from Alex's POV to Henry's POV? Because in that case I do think the lake scene worked better as a changing point

I also wonder how did Henry end the story in his head up to this point? Because as hopefully as the last line is, at this point in the story, Henry still doesn't believe he can keep this

I get why scenes are cut because when you're putting together a movie, there are a lot of things you don't see for individual scenes until you put them together. This is why as much as I want the cast and crew to get the premiere they deserve to have, I don't really want an extended cut of the movie, because things were cut for a good reason

That being said, if the cornetto scene and this scene proved anything, is that the scenes themselves are fascinating, and I WANT THEM ALL

[ofallthingsnasty]

I just remembered that one ridiculously cute thing in uni during the body donor class - for context: we dental students got pooled together with the meds during the pre-clinical semesters a lot, and that class was no different.

We were separated in two main groups, and one body donor was shared between 12 students - coming in from Monday to Thursday. On Fridays, you could come in until 12 and just look at the donors without any supervision, you just needed your coat and name tag. And I remember going in before the situs oral and trying to understand how blood flows through the heart and then one of the meds (super intimidating buff guy) saw me struggle and was like '... Hey do you want me to explain that to you?' and then we sat there - him with a whole heart in hand, explaining it all to me, more than happy to help. Not gonna lie, I had a bit of a crush on that guy for the rest of the semester. We weren't even in the same group, so we never saw each other during prep hours but I always had my eyes peeled for him during lectures haha tw.anatomical stuff (i'm german so if my translations are a little off then i'm sorry hah), cadavers, just fluff

Long story short - I'm thinking about that with Law. You and Chopper are at the same table, come in every Friday to review the material of the week, both a little on the not-so-studious side. (Don't get me wrong, you go to every lecture - but those suckers are two hours long and not the only class you have. It's easy to lose track, especially when all you wanna do is catch up on sleep during the weekends.)

You pull your donor out of the body bag, lay them down and go over your notes, some sessions more and some less successful. The two of you are usually not alone, either - there is always someone else rifling around on their own table. Today it's a guy with a severe expression and some earrings. You've seen him in the lecture hall but you and Chopper aren't in the same group as him, so that's really all you know. You get through this week's lecture notes just fine - until it's time for the heart. The way blood gets fed through the atriums and ventricles, how the pressure changes, systole and diastole, the coronary arteries... You two are feeling beyond lost and so, so close to simply giving up - it's just too much and too intricate (at least for someone who has heard all of that info only once, maybe twice). But then there is also that other student - and maybe, just maybe, he knows more than you two do. It's not unusual to ask - and so that's what you do.

Law can't be assed, actually.

He's reviewing his notes, trying to get his own studying done. He's really not the type to do tutoring, doesn't have the patience for it. But you two are loud - hemming and hawing over your own cadaver and if he has to hear you confuse the mitral valve with the tricuspid one more time, then he's going to get a migraine. What are twenty minutes of his time if it means that you get done with your little idiot session and finally leave the hall? So he sighs and motions you to come closer. He's surprisingly good at explaining. The heart of his donor in one hand, a tissue forceps in the other, he walks you through every fact one would want to know about the organ. You probably have stars in your eyes while he talks because finally, finally you're grasping the material - and really, it might be confusing at first, but it's not that hard. He even lets Chopper regurgitate it all to him and has the two of you giggling over it. Law is just glad you two morons are finally having your little eureka moment because it means that you'll be off in a matter of minutes.

But no good deed goes unpunished.

It's then that you notice his tattoos through the nitrile gloves and suddenly he's the most fascinating living guy around (the most fascinating guy is dead on table 5, with golf ball sized cysts in his liver, sorry Law). He gets bombarded with questions, you and Chopper all over him, way too loud, too excited, too fucking annoying. He's already regretting his little act of charity.

And not only do you have the audacity to ask him to explain fetal circulation (because, please, please it's so confusing) as well, no, from that moment on, you're all over him very goddamn Friday and he's been added to three different group chats the moment Chopper and you leave the hall.

[electrikworm]

A peaceful moment

Relationships: Omega & Wrecker & Tech

Content Warnings: Chronic Pain, Past Child Abuse (vaguely mentioned)

Summary:

After getting the Marauder back and leaving Ipsidon, Wrecker's abnormally quiet. At first, Omega thinks he's upset about the argument he and Tech had, but she soon discovers the uncomfortable truth about the side effects Wrecker's enhancements have.

Word count: 2,140

Read on Ao3

Since they'd gotten the Marauder back and left Ipsidon, Wrecker hasn't moved from his spot on the lowest sleeping rack. As soon as they'd boarded the ship, he took off his armor and laid down facing the wall. He's got one of those thin blankets distributed to clone troopers pulled up high. Omega can only just see the top of his head from where she's peeking out behind the curtain separating what's been designated as her room from the rest of the ship.

Wrecker likes to sleep. Definitely more than Tech or Hunter do. Sometimes it seems like they don't sleep at all. This isn't normal though, he's barely said a word to anyone, hasn't reacted to anyone walking past either. Omega tried walking past him a few times just to check.

Wrecker doesn't look like he's sleeping anyway. He's too still, and when he does move, he moves too coordinated to be asleep. His breathing hasn't evened out either.

Why is he just laying there? Is something wrong? Something has to be wrong...

Is he mad at Tech?

After the Havoc Marauder got stolen, the two of them were fighting a lot, maybe that's why Wrecker's not talking to anyone. Omega climbs down from her room and walks up to Wrecker for the seventh time since they took off. Like the six times before, he doesn't react.

“Wrecker?” Omega asks, carefully placing a hand on Wreckers shoulder. The twitch in response to the touch is so subtle, Omega can barely feel it through the blanket.

“Hmm?” He sounds unfocused, tired. From where she's standing now, Omega can just about tell that the one of his eyes she can see is closed. Maybe he really was sleeping?

“Are you mad at Tech?” Omega asks. Wrecker doesn't say anything for a moment, then he laughs. It's not nearly as loud as it usually is.

“M'not mad at Tech. Jus' tired.” The way his voice slurs, he really does sound tired.

“Okay.” Omega says, not ready to drop this yet. She can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. Wrecker doesn't seem very talkative, so Omega expands her investigation to the cockpit, where she knows she'll find Tech and Hunter.

As the door to the room slides open, it seems she's interrupted a passive conversation the two were having. Tech's sitting in the pilots chair, eyes trained on the datapad in his hands, Hunter was looking out into hyperspace, but turns to look at Omega when he notices her presence. He smiles slightly.

“Do you need something?” he asks.

“Tech, are you mad at Wrecker?” That makes Tech look up from his work.

“I'm not mad at him.” he states matter-of-factly. Hunter glances at Tech, then back at Omega.

“We were all frustrated by an unfortunate situation. I'm sure there are no lasting hard feelings.” Hunter says. Tech nods courtly in agreement.

“I was simply pointing out that the Marauder being stolen was Wreckers fault, as he was the sole person on watch.” Tech adds before Omega can process the new information. She isn't the slightest bit closer to figuring out what's wrong with Wrecker.

“Then why's Wrecker just been lying there since we took off?” Omega asks, pointing through the doorway leading to the rest of the ship. Hunters eyebrows draw together at that.

“The whole time?” He sounds concerned. Omega nods.

“His chronic pain is most likely flaring up.” says Tech.

“Chronic pain?” Omega asks. Of course she knows what that is, but she had never considered it in Wrecker's context. Nala Se had never mentioned it, neither had Wrecker.

“Yes, an unfortunate side effect of his enhancements.” Tech says, then sighs. “I should have predicted that it would rear it's ugly head. Wrecker put a lot of strain on his body during our involuntarily extended stay on Ipsidon.”

Omega cringes at the memory of the last day. No wonder Wrecker's having a rough time.

“I will check on him.” Tech says, stretching as he stands up. He glances at Hunter before continuing. “Your presence is likely to be beneficial, Omega. It would be appreciated if you accompanied me.”

Omega nods. She planned to go along anyway.

Wrecker's exactly were she left him, still laying on his side, motionless. Omega leans over him, trying to see his face.

“Wrecker?” His eyes open sluggishly, exhaustion marring his expression. He still smiles when he sees Omega.

“Need somethin'?” he says.

Omega shakes her head at the same time Tech huffs and shakes his head. “The one that needs something is you. How many times do we have to remind you to say something if you're experiencing issues?”

“I'm not experiencing issues. 'm fine.”

“You are not.” Tech states. “Will you let me look at your back?”

Wrecker sighs. “Fine.” Good. Omega almost thought they were going to argue again.

Tech stops Wrecker from sitting up by placing a hand on his shoulder. “I can work like this just fine.” Omega watches closely as Tech removes the blanket from Wrecker's upper body and starts pushing up the top half of his under-shirt.

Omega grimaces when she sees the deep bruises littering the exposed skin. Most of them look to be from the creatures he was run over by. Tech runs his hand along Wrecker's spine carefully, expression pinched in concentration. Wrecker inhales sharply, flinching away from the touch.

“Apologies.” Tech withdraws his hand. Wrecker lifts his arm gingerly to wave Tech off. The way he's moving is worrying Omega. “Are you bothered by the bruises or-”

Wrecker interrupts Tech. “The bruises are fine, s'just my back that's the problem.”

“I thought as much.” Tech says, readjusting his goggles. “Omega, could you get the medkit for me?”

Omega sprints off, familiar with where the box is stored now. Her brothers, and occasionally her, seem to need it a lot. They've told her that they always got injured a lot, but Omega isn't entirely sure they're not just saying that to make her feel better. If Omega wasn't with them, her brothers would be hiding somewhere remote like the Lawquane family is. Tech thanks Omega when she returns with the medkit.

He takes something out of the medkit Omega's not seen them use before. It's a type of patch, similar in size to a bacta patch, but the packaging is different.

“That's not part of standard medkits.” Omega says.

“Astute observation.” Tech says as he applies the patch to Wrecker's upper back. Wrecker flinches again when Tech smooths it down, but seems to relax a little after. “They are heat patches, and were never distributed to soldiers. Upon learning that heat decreases the pain Wrecker experiences regularly, we made sure to have some on hand at all times.”

“How do they work?” Omega asks, leaning to look at the one stuck to Wrecker's back. Tech's already unpacking a second, placing that one of the lower part of Wrecker's back.

“When activated, an exothermic chemical reaction is triggered within the patch.” Tech takes a moment to study Omega's face, likely trying to tell if she'd understood what he said. She does, so she smiles at her brother.

“Okay.” Omega says, moving to crouch near Wrecker's head again.

“I will be giving you a dose of painkillers Wrecker. Consider this your warning.” Tech says, producing a hypo from the medkit.

“No.” Wrecker says firmly, voice surprisingly clear. He's covering his neck with his hand. Omega still hasn't figured out what Wrecker's issue with needles is. She's not sure she wants to know.

“Cease being difficult, kih'vod.” Tech sighs. “You are aware the neck isn't the only area medication is administered, right?”

Wrecker lets out a frustrated groan. “I don't need it Tech. 'm fine.”

“The way you have been acting since we left Ipsidon begs to differ.”

“We haven't got a lot of medical supplies left, and they're not cheap. No point using more than necessary.”

Tech shakes his head. “I deem it necessary. And after that mission, I say you deserve it.” When Wrecker just grumbles, Tech gives Omega a look.

“Please Wrecker.” Omega says, making him turn his head to look at her better. “I don't like seeing you hurt.”

Wrecker's expression has a sadness to it as he pauses to think. He sighs as he lets his hand drop away from his neck. “Fine.”

Tech smiles at Omega as he disinfects an area on Wrecker's neck. Wrecker's visibly shaking as he anticipates the needle piercing his skin. Tech warns Wrecker again before pressing the hypo to his neck.

Once Tech's got the painkillers in their brother, he tidies the medkit and makes to leave. “Keep an eye on him.” He says to Omega. She nods in response. She'll keep an eye on him like her life depends on it.

As the pain medication takes hold, Omega can see the lines on Wrecker's face soften. “Should I get Lula?” She asks once she's sure the painkillers have started working right.

Wrecker smiles tiredly. “Yeah, I'd like that a lot.”

When Omega returns, she tucks the stuffed tooka into her brothers arms, carefully pulling the blanket back over his shoulders.

“Thanks 'mega.” Wrecker says. Omega sits on the floor next to him.

“Are you in pain a lot?” Omega asks after a moment of silence.

“It's not that bad, kid.” The way he sounds doesn't make Omega very confident in the words he's saying. “It's always been this way, I'm used to it.”

“That doesn't make it any better...”

Wrecker sighs. “Look Omega, they did a lot of tests, experiments, on us when we were kids. They're the reason I'm strong the way I am today. I'm fine with a bit of pain if it's a side effect of making me a useful part of this squad.” Wrecker puts a hand on Omega's shoulder gently. It can't be comfortable to do so from the angle he's laying at.

“How bad is it?”

“The pain?” Wrecker asks. Omega nods again. “Depends. Some days it's fine, other's it's like this. You don't have to worry about it Omega.”

Omega doesn't say anything for a moment. She grew up knowing bits and pieces of the experiments done on her brothers, even helped with some. She never knew the downsides they had.

“Do the others have problems too?” She's not sure she wants to know, but avoiding the truth doesn't help anyone. Wrecker seems to hesitate for a moment.

“Yeah.” He says sadly. “Different from me. Tech and Hunter get a lot of awful headaches and Crosshair...” Wrecker suddenly goes very quiet. “Crosshair has problems with his eyes.”

Neither of them say anything for a moment.

“Best you just ask them.” Wrecker eventually continues. “They can give you a better answer.”

Omega would like to ask them now, but she won't leave Wrecker alone. She feels like she should say something, but can't think of anything. Instead, she tries to think about What Nala Se told her about her brother's enhancements.

She remembers various operations and experiments mentioned, but not all of them made it out of the planning stage. Nala Se let her watch some of the procedures, but usually only through a pane of transparisteel.

Realization hits Omega as she remembers seeing one of the experiments done on Wrecker. “They injected something into you're back, right?” Omega asks. Wrecker cringes at the mention and nods. “Nala Se never told me what it was...”

“You and me both kid.” Wrecker says with a sigh.

“Is that why you don't like needles?”

Wrecker pulls a face. “It's... one of the reasons.”

“I'm sorry.” Omega puts her hand on Wrecker's.

“What for?”

Omega shrugs. “I guess the experiments. And the side effects of them.”

“Don't be. It's what we were made for.”

“Still doesn't seem right...” Omega wishes her brothers didn't have to suffer just because of the way they were made.

Wrecker's eyes look earnest as he speaks. “Ad'ika, my heads too fuzzy from the stuff Tech gave me to be talking about this. I know things don't always make sense, they didn't make sense to me all the time either. But can we continue the conversation another time?”

Omega's fine with that. She'd like all her brothers involved in that conversation anyway, so they'll have to wait for Echo to be back. “Okay. Can I talk about something else though?”

Wrecker laughs quietly. “I'd love nothing more Omega.”

So Omega start talking, not really sure what she's saying half the time. She talks about the mission, and about things Tech told her that he's definitively already told Wrecker. She talks about anything really, not really sure whether she's doing it to distract Wrecker or herself. Her brother doesn't seem to mind.

At some point, Wrecker appears to fall asleep. Omega keeps talking quietly, hoping that his rest is peaceful.

[mytheoristavenue]

TMNT 12 Adult!Donatello x OC 🍋 - Pick Up Lines

Summary: Terra has always been terrible at dropping hints, and she should have known better than to take Mikey's advice.

Warnings: x OC, NSFW, MDNI, adult!donnie, adult!terra, adult!everyone, 19yo!donnie, 19yo!terra, light smut, mentions of anxiety, dirty humor, bully!donnie

A/N: This revolves around Donnie x Terra (my OC, whom I've never really talked about before.) Just for a little bit of context, I added a bit of background for her! Feel free to skip if you don't feel like reading!

Terra and Tori Phelps are paternal twins living on their own in NYC. Tori is a clepto, which leads to their initial meeting with the turtles. After the ordeal is over, Leo decides that they will keep an eye on the twins, finding too many connections with them and TCRI.

During their time with the turtles, the twins are involved in an accident while investigating an entomologist's lab, the girls are mutated into bugs, Terra an Atlas moth, and Tori a Rhinoceros beetle.

Thanks to Donnie, Terra has cybernetic implants in her wrist and temple, the former injects nutrients into her veins, and the latter that translate thoughts into text to speech, to compensate for her not having a mouth. The downside to this, is that she cannot have thoughts that aren't said out loud.

Terra's nickname is 'TerrorFly', of simply 'Fly' for short, obviously created by Mikey. 'Terror' is a stretched version of her name, which he says would strike fear into her enemy's hearts, making her seem intimidating to compensate for her frailty. The 'Fly' portion was added because, at the time, he mistook her for a butterfly.

Tori's nickname is 'RhinoBeatle'. This comes from the species of her mutation, accidentally misspelled. When corrected, Mikey insisted that it was wordplay, swapping 'beet' for 'beat', because of how tough she was.

Terra could never remember a time where she was able to out right say what she was thinking- that was before the accident. Now she highly valued her private thoughts, considering she didn't have the privilege of having them. Now all her thoughts were known by her friends, and nothing could be done but wait patiently for Don to finish perfecting the retromutagen. Though, as the years passed, she lost hope and became more comfortable with her current state and situation.

In spite of herself, as time flew, she found herself falling deeper and deeper in love with Donatello, someone who, at first seemed to be the bad guy. When they'd first met, she'd even accused him of kidnapping her, and now she simply giggled at the idea. He really was a sweet guy, and she knew it was a misunderstanding, but it was still funny to recall.

-----

"Can you stop?" Tori huffed, crossing her arms at her sister as she tried to watch television. "If you can't be quiet, go somewhere else."

"Lighten up, mama," Mikey grinned. "Fly can't help that she's down horrendous for Donnie."

"Mikey!" Terra's electronic voice squealed. "No, I'm not! Don't say that!"

"You are, and it's disgustingly obvious." The beetle snarled. "All I ever hear from you is: 'Oh, Donnie looks so hot today!' and 'Oh no, Donnie has to tune my little gizmos today! I'm so nervous!' Gross."

Terra crossed her arms and pouted, stewing in humiliation. "Lay off, ladies, no need to bicker." the turtle soothed, standing up and sitting back down between them, wrapping his arms around them and pulling them in. "It's not a problem, you're just goin' about it all wrong."

"What do you mean?" the moth asked, her antennae twitching with curiosity.

Mikey grinned, lowering his voice and leaning in. "Here's what you're gonna do-"

-----

Terra tensed as she felt footsteps enter the kitchen behind her as she stirred salt into a pot of boiling water, preparing to add in some pasta for dinner.

"Hey- be careful!" Donnie's voice suddenly shouted sternly, coming behind her to carefully take the pot away. "You know your not supposed to be cooking. What if you hurt yourself? You're so, so delicate, when will you understand that?" he lightly scolded, still dangerously close to her, reaching around her to turn the burner off on the stove.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot-" a robotic voice chanted.

"No shit," he replied with an annoyed sigh. "Did you burn your hand or something?"

Terra quickly shook her head no, steeping aside to let herself calm down a bit. "Sorry, I just wanted to be nice and cook dinner for everyone..."

Don sighed, realizing how overprotective he was being before pinching the bridge of his nose. "No, I'm sorry. Of course you can cook dinner, just let me help you, okay? That way if something happens, I'll already be here."

She nodded in agreeance, pulling down the needed supplies to chop some vegetables while he took over the pasta. As the minutes ticked by, she found the air between them silent as her voice muttered lowly with every passing thought- something he'd become accustomed to and hardly paid any mind.

"Uhm..." she began hesitantly. "A-Are you boiling water? Because y-you're pretty hot?"

He snickered a bit, barely acknowledging the statement. "Really smooth, Mikey teach you that one?"

Her shoulders instantly slumped as tears pricked her overwhelmed eyes. "No." she mumbled, defeated and too bashful to elaborate.

-----

Donnie walked into the living room to find her reading on the couch, back pressed to the cushions and two pairs of arms in the air to uphold the book. "Lay on your tummy, Terra." he called nonchalantly as he pass her. He got static feedback as a response, the equivalent of an aggerated grumble. "Don't talk back to me! You wanna tear one of her wings, be my guest, but don't come crying to me to fix it."

Terra's blacked out eyes rolled as she begrudgingly fixed her posture, laying back down on her stomach, book laid out in front of her. To her surprise, the terrapin plopped down on the sofa, dangerously close to her, close enough for her antennae to tickle his thighs. Her breathing became heavy as she could tried to quail her overwhelming thoughts as they threatened to become loud enough to be audible. "Oh not this again." he suddenly complained, dramatically tossing his hand toward the book in dismissal before taking it from her.

"What?"

"This manga is so dumb," he scoffed at the pirate themed anime. "I mean, you've got this rubber kid that's got like- what? Two and a half braincells and somehow still manages to make everything work for him? I swear, it makes less sense than that stupid space show Leo likes." He ranted theatrically, irritating the moth.

"I like it!" she protested, snatching it back from him. "It's charming..."

"You would like it," he chuckled as she stewed, crossing her arms and sat up on her legs. "Hey- don't do that, don't pout." She threw her head in the opposite direction with a huff. "Don't be mad at me..." he soothed, gently putting a hand on her head, petting her hair gently. "Please, Fly?" She reluctantly dropped the act, leaning into his touch, something he reveled in.

"Speaking of pirates..." she began nervously, fiddling with the pages of the book. "Are you one?"

"Not last time I checked?"

"B-Because I got some booty for you to find..." Much to her dismay, Donnie broke out tin a fit of hearty laugher, causing her face to heat up exponentially. "Don't laugh! What's funny?"

"You are, Fly." he cooed, giving her a genuine smile, before standing up and whisking himself away to his lab, shaking his head amused.

"But...I don't wanna be funny..."

-----

"Terra, stop moving." Donnie commanded as she flinched again. "Terra!"

"Sorry!" she squeaked, flinching again. "It hurts, Don."

He sighed a bit, setting his tools down for a moment. "I know it does, but we're almost done, I promise. It'll only hurt a bit longer. Just try to be good and still for me, hmm?" She nodded hesitantly, bracing herself as the connection between her 'feeding brace' and vein was severed. "Very good," he praised, setting the device to the side for cleaning, before pressing a cotton ball to the pinhole in her arm to cease the bleeding and secured it with medical tape.

"Now then, since the nectar storage is empty, I'm gonna assume your full?" he asked, flicking the small glass tube. She nodded in confirmation. "Think you can go the rest of the day with out it?" Another nod made him smile. "Good deal. I'll make sure and reinstall if before bedtime, 'kay?"

"Okay," she replied, glancing around as she sat in her designated chair. "Is it okay if I watch you clean it? I wanna learn how to do it myself."

He thought for a moment before shrugging. "Well, you really can't fully clean it without removing it, and I don't think it's a good idea for you to do that alone. But I suppose if you'd like to keep it a little cleaner in between tune ups, I can show you how."

Minutes passed she watched intently as he showed her how to dip cotton swabs in rubbing alcohol, dragging it along the seems to pick up the dirt in them. "Huh, that's funny." he remarked, hardly paying her any mind as he continued his demonstration.

"What is?"

Nearly everyday for the past week, Terra had dropped some ridiculous pick up line on him, assumingly to make him laugh, as he'd been admittedly very stressed lately, though, today she was even quieter than usual. "No pick up lines today?"

Terra shook her head no, glancing away a tad somberly. "I didn't think you liked them," she sadly confessed, catching his interest.

"What makes you say that? I loved 'em."

The moth quickly glanced back up to him, confused and surprised. "But you always laugh?"

"Well, yeah?" he snickered, setting his tools down. "They're just flirty jokes, Terra. They don't really mean anything." A beat of silence passed as she boiled in her embarrassment. Donnie couldn't help but feel his curiosity grow as to why this seemed to have her so upset. "Why...did you want them to mean something?"

She didn't have to answer for him to connect the dots, he was able to build a conclusion simply to the tune of her translator whirring, operating with no thoughts to communicate. "Terra..." he trailed, taking a deep breath, hoping he hadn't misread any signals. "You shoulda just told me." he smiled a bit, leaning closer to her, reaching out to catch her chin and guide her gaze back to him. "Do you got a little crush on me?"

Her cheeks burned as her eyes widened far enough that he could see the slivers of white beyond her oversized pupils. "W-What?" she squeaked, her text to speech voice mummering thousands more words behind her reaction. "W-Why would you think that?"

"So...if I kissed you, you'd push me away?" he asked, almost coyly, glancing up toward the ceiling, a smirk still playing on his lips. "'Cuz I will if you ask me to." He reveled in the sight of her stirring in a frenzy, a harsh juxtaposition to his cool demeanor. Carefully, while she was distracted, he quickly reached up and switched off he translator with a snicker, before retracting his hand and looking away, dramatically trying to play himself off as innocent.

The mechanical rambling that filling the lab suddenly halted, leaving Terra frozen, gripping at her throat. It merely took her seconds to crack the case as she shot him a harsh glare, telepathically urging him to turn it back on as she struggled to find the switch. "What's the matter?" he teased, laughing at her expense before leaning in again. "Why don't you try and tell me what you want without it, after all, actions speak louder than words."

With a puff in her cheeks, Terra finally had had enough of his bullying, reaching out and squishing Donnie's cheeks together, and crashing her face to his with furrowed brows. He had to admit, it was bit awkward, kissing something that wasn't there, but he was excited by it all the same.

"See?" he chuckled, pulling away a bit, looming over her. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" She begrudgingly shook her head, pouting a bit. "Where else, Fly?"

-----

Donnie couldn't help but beam up at her as she helped herself to his lap, wings fully unfurled, hair mussed, and face looking as if she might come undone right there on top of him. He skin was decorated with his kisses and bitemarks, none actually harsh enough to hurt. He was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that this all was real, and it was her dough hips in his hands, and it was him she was on top of- it was him taking things form her and giving his own in exchange.

"Look so pretty like this," he mumbled under his breath, breaking the silence that the absence of her thoughts had created. He had spent this whole time showering her with praise, and somewhere along the way, she'd stopped reacting to it. she couldn't hear it anymore over the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. "Fuck," he cursed, clenching his eyes shut as she rocked against him, feeling the most intense feeling crash against him.

He deduced that the feeling must have been mutual, ash Terra writhed, back bending drastically, and eyes watering with tears threatening to fall. Suddenly, her body fell onto his like a rock on a serene pond, and he caught her, enveloping her in a warm embrace. "Hey," he whispered, prompting her to very sleepily lift her head.

"Are you copper? 'Cuz I feel a spark with you, and that was electric."

A/N: This was very dumb (my entry, not the challenge) and I'm super embarrassed by it, but I promised I'd finish it, so here it is! 😅 Thank you to @thelaundrybitch for tagging me, and thank you to @post-apocalyptic-daydream for letting me participate!

Taglist:

@sunshinesdaydream, @helpyaw, @thelaundrybitch, @momii, @camillahorne26, @turtle-babe83, @fyreball66, @sharpwindow, @roseygardenfan, @witchofthenorthstar, @pheradream15, @post-apocalyptic-daydream, @killmewithafanfic

[sweet-s0rr0w]

hello, might you have any excerpts to share, either something new or a beloved passage of an old fic?

Hello lovely kind person, and thank you so much for messaging me!! Now this ask was sent during the Great AO3 Outage which means that I am drastically late with it, and I am afraid I don't have anything to new share at present (I've just started working on a longfic, which if the stars align I might submit for a fest next summer, so I can't post an excerpt on here), BUT I was just talking to @sitp-recs about the three fics I've written this year, and how I think that I'm finally getting more comfortable at writing smut, so in celebration of that I'm going to offer up a porny little snippet from my Dronarry fest fic, Silhouettes.

(for context, the fic is established Ron/Harry)

“What,” Ron says to Draco, letting his chin rest on Harry’s shoulder, “have you changed your mind, then?”

Draco steps into the room, eyes flashing and – it’s amazing, Harry thinks, how well Ron understands Draco, how cleverly he lays down a challenge, appealing to Draco’s deep-rooted need for approval. Draco’s gaze meets Harry’s, lingering for a second, then drops lower – lighting on Ron’s hand, the covetous way it’s splayed across Harry’s stomach – then lower, and lower still.

“Fuck,” Draco breathes, and for a split second Harry wants to run, wants to cover himself – damn, it’s been so long – but Ron’s arm just tightens around him, holding him in place as though for Draco to drink his fill. Harry knows he’s blushing under the scrutiny, but he can feel his cock responding all the same.

“Undress him,” Ron tells Harry, nodding at Draco, who steps forwards wordlessly, unfolding his arms so Harry can comply. Harry’s hands feel heavy, his movements clumsy – and grow clumsier still when Ron begins toying with his nipples, one and then the other, tweaking them hard enough to make Harry cry out. Ron presses his body up tight against Harry’s, cock full and insistent against the small of Harry’s back, and now Harry’s dragging Draco’s belt from its loops, tossing it aside, desperate to get his hands back on Draco’s skin. The first brush of Harry’s fingers beneath his waistband has Draco jerking forwards, Harry’s cock smearing precome all over the front of his expensive trousers, and it’s too much already, Harry thinks, driven almost out of his mind, liquid want in Ron’s arms.

When he’s finished exposing the evidence of Draco’s desire, Harry reaches out, running a finger along his collarbone, pressing his hand over the flush that’s bleeding slowly down his torso. But when he leans forwards, eyes fixed on Draco’s lips once more, Ron’s hand is firm against his chest.

“On the bed, Malfoy,” Ron says.

“Sod off, Weasel,” Draco mumbles, but he obeys all the same, sprawling back atop their duvet: a tableau he’s well acquainted with, except this time Ron’s standing behind him, and Draco’s turning his face into Ron’s pillow, inhaling deeply, and it’s so fucking hot that Harry can hardly breathe.

“Now you,” Ron tells him, applying just a hint of pressure to the curve of Harry’s spine. He climbs onto the bed until Draco’s laid out beneath him, lean and elegant, uncharacteristically defenceless.

“Good idea, d’you reckon, Harry?” Ron says, joining them on the bed. His voice is teasing, pitched easily loud enough for Draco to hear, and Harry can only groan in response, mind a roaring confusion, leaning forwards to fan his hands out over Draco’s stomach.

[angelsaxis]

There's always that struggle I have with taking critiques with a grain of salt. I try to be understanding and I may put too much weight on someone else's perspective specifically because it's not mine. But you know. This one critiquer who frequently told me I lacked subtext. And the one time I apparently had achieved it in my writing was when Arvin and Tibe were arguing about trying to get the former to eat more, and Tibe asks Arvin who it was the decided his incredibly small meals are appropriate, implying that it was Arvins mom who controlled his meals (which was correct). And they were like "yes!!! Subtext!!!"

And I scratched my head. Because I've been doing that. Not through quotes as much but through body language and general behavior. Arvin is afraid of his mom and the first thought he has about Chima when he sees her is "she reminds me of my mother" and then he tries to avoid her for as long as possible. There's a double motive to every act of kindness tibe does for arvin. I don't say it out loud ofc bc I frankly. Don't think I need to.

"why does Arvin do X" because his ultimate goal in life is to please his mom "but why" she's abusive and controlling and she's isolated him socially for 18 years and controls everything from who he talks to to what he's even able to eat. He's 18 and he's never been anywhere without his mother and the first thing he hopes to ask for from his parents (his mother) is to travel on his own and his fear in that moment is that he'll be genuinely yelled at for eating dessert before dinner.

I'm not the best writer but I lay all of this out almost verbatim in the first chapter. First chapter. I don't like dialogue and I prefer distilled quotes to lengthy ones so perhaps this is why this person was insisting that I guess every character just says what's on their mind all the time? Supposedly? Even though they also don't do that? Like were they hoping that more of the characters would just lie or be passive aggressive or something (both of which people do). Like I'm so confused. Critiquers can say important and correct things but they also like to critique in a way where they're telling you what THEY like to see and this isn't the first and certainly won't be the last time I get a vague or incomplete critique from someone. Mind you this person could not figure out social ranking at ALL a common critique from them "why doesn't X character say (wildly inappropriate thing given social ranking an context and familiarity)" like girl come on. "Why does Arvins dad treat him like this" the man who's a distant alcoholic and serial cheater??? You're asking why that man isn't nice to his family????

"why is drei mean to arvin" oh the brother with the alcohol issues and the loyalty issues and the ego issues? Why isn't he perfectly nice to arvin 100% of the time? But then when Arvins aunt is nice to him that's a problem because now he's not learning. But also also when Drei actually does help Arvin in multiple present if subtle ways that just doesn't ping your radar. Make up your MIND.

[bismuth-209]

additions as a middle class dutch person with parents who were among the first in their families to go to university, and grew up in a christian environment in a city in the netherlands. for like, cultural context

most of what i read here is how i was raised, although like. usually there was some confusion about what to do with napkins if they were out. like for a proper dinner party for christmas or some such, you'd lay the table with the napkins and then people would kind of. leave them there until they need it for something, and some people did the thing of putting it on your lap as "i heard this is what you're supposed to do"

regarding tour of the house: as a kid i always got one the first time i went over to someone's house, especially if it was to play with my friend who lived there, as their room would be upstairs, and then all the other rooms are pointer out and their function is indicated, and whether i would be allowed to go in there if i wanted.

but also if going to someone's house for a birthday party, the majority of the time would be spent in the living room downstairs but we'd be taken upstairs to see the layout of the house and our friend's room

specific example, my best friend as a kid had her room on the first floor (above ground floor), we'd play in there usually, as best friend i also was allowed to go into the computer room on the first floor, and i was taken to the second floor/attic on my first visit to just. see it. and then go down to the first floor to play

that's not considered super important etiquette though, and there's situations where you'd not do that at all, like larger parties

but one thing considered very important to our family is that the guests get their food first

we sit down at dinner, we pray. if we have a non-christian guest we usually pray silently, if our guest is christian someone, usually the parent, prays, a relatively standard prayer that involves thanking for the food, and because of the guest, also thanks that they can be there that day. if it's a birthday party, the prayer will be like "thank You for the food, and [name] being able to have another birthday, and our guests being able to be here. amen"

prayer is silent if there's non christians because we consider it impolite to force others to pray with us but we also do want to do it. at camp and such where not everyone is christian, a moment of silence is held for people who want to pray before meals, but doing it out loud is rude. also in restaurants my family opts for silence

after the prayer the serving spoon or whatever is usually handed to the guest or birthday person in our household, if there's both one guest and a birthday person there is lighthearted disagreement about what takes precedence

a lot of people will just serve the guest first themselves, and that's also considered polite. it's just that my family is mostly audhd and we have very specific opinions on how food should be placed on a plate and how much food.

but the main thing is that the first person to have food on their plate is the guest / birthday person

if there's 1 or 2 hosts and you're among the first guests to arrive, or the only, it's normal to start talking in the kitchen while the cooking is happening. also i have experienced the start of a dinner party being like. the female guests are mostly in the kitchen talking to the female host who is cooking, although likely they're not helping (but they do offer probably, but it's declined cordially), and her husband is in the living room entertaining most of the male guests

but times are a bit more varied these days

also eating isn't supposed to happen until everyone has got food on their plate, same for eating cake. at a regular birthday party it may take 20 minutes between the cake being brought out and everyone having a slice but you're meant to wait

I do not have Boy Knowledge to trade, but can I ask for dinner party hosting tips???

Sure!

I grew up broke but the great-grandparents passed on all their old etiquette, so *fart noise* got a lot of old fashioned shit kickin around, this is what we'd do

PREP:

Clean the house in advance. And not just common areas- the whole place. Minimum the kitchen, living room, bathroom, entrance. Take out all the trash, no dirty dishes, scrub out the toilet. (This is less vital with super casual close friends and family.)

Have snacks ready before arrival. Ask in advance about any allergies and accommodate. Same for actual food.

Aim for business-casual clothing. Jeans are okay if they're well-fitted and clean, with no holes, but nothing acid-wash. Sleeveless shirts should be at least three fingers wide, typically women-only but fuck gender conformity I don't give a shit.

Put coffee or the kettle on a minute or two before you expect people to arrive. Coffee should be fresh and kettle should be boiled around the same time folks arrive.

Have a place for people to put their coats and shoes. An area rug works for shoes, ans if you don't have a coat rack or closet for jackets it's handy to have a bedroom cleaned out and a bed made so people can keep coats, scarves, bags, and purses somewhere.

In some cultures cooking doesn't start until guests arrive. The way I was raised, cooking starts much earlier, and things should be coming out of the oven after they've been there a few minutes and had time to chat.

Set the table before guests arrive: Typical setting when I was younger was matching placemats at every seat, plate next. Fork on the left, knife and then spoon on the right. Wine glass on the right, saucer on the right, cup on saucer for hot drinks. Cloth napkin under the spoon and knife on the right, unless rolled with a napkin ring, in which case it could be set at the top of the plate, on the plate, or on the right hand side. Salt, pepper, and a butter dish is to be set out- one of each for every four to six seats is a decent rule of thumb.

DURING:

Guests are expected to announce themselves by knocking or ringing the bell. When this happens, usually a younger member of the family is sent to answer the door and let them in. Hosts follow shortly after, and hugs and greetings take place. The host offers to take people's coats and bags, or otherwise indicates where they can be placed. Shoes come off and are left at the door.

Tour of the house. This doesn't happen every time, but a quick, "let me show you around" may happen if you expect to be there a full day or longer, or if someone needs to politely stall for time, or if the host is especially happy to have you there or to show you something. This usually skips bedrooms, but a nod will usually be given to indicate adult's rooms, and kid's rooms may be peeked at to show off or do introductions with small children.

Offering seats. Usually starts in the living room, where, "can I get you anything?" Is asked. Options usually include wine, beer, water, some kind of juice, coffee, or tea. Possibly ginger ale or cola, but not usually much in the way of sodas.

At this point, a tray of cookies, biscuits, crackers, or other small snacks might be set our to be shared. Here, it's polite to eat a little and join in on smalltalk.

Dinner. When food is ready to come out of the oven, someone in the host's home will announce that dinner is ready, and guests and hosts will relocate to the dinner table and pick seats. (If there is not enough room at the dinner table for everybody, children's plates will be set at a folding table elsewhere, or in the vacated living room area.)

Some hosts will have guests line up in the kitchen and serve their own food one at a time. The way I was taught, hosts bring food and serving utensils to the table and sit once everything is placed. Dishes are then passed in a circle from person to person as people fill their own plates. It is generally assumed that you will take your portion in such volume that everyone else can receive the same amount as you, or more.

Meal usually includes a meat-based dish, a starch like rice or potato, one to three vegetable dishes, and a bread like a bun or roll that may be buttered.

It is here preferred that you ask for something to be passed rather than reach over food. "Could you pass me the..." or "may I borrow the ..." are good ways to ask.

Elbows stay off the table. You may rest your forearms on the edge if you like, depending on how formal we're talking, but no elbows.

Napkin is spread out flat on your lap to catch anything that may drop or spill. Some people may choose to tuck I into their shirt collar to protect their suit or tie, but I've only really ever seen old folks do that, or people doing it to babies and small children.

It is polite to eat everything on your plate, especially if you served yourself. Once everyone has eaten their plate, seconds may be offered or mentioned. It's considered rude to go in for second servings if others haven't finished their firsts yet. This is a good place for conversation to pick up.

Once everyone is finished eating, a member of the hosts' house (usually a kid, sometimes a volunteer guest assisting) will clear the table, gathering empty plates and such from the guests and taking them to the kitchen to be cleaned. Drinks might be refilled now, and dessert forks or spoons might be brought in.

Dessert usually happens. While the meal itself is traditionally homemade, it is perfectly normal for dessert to be store-bought.

The serving of dessert is much less communal than dinner. The person dishing dessert will normally take a stack of plates and send a runner (again, usually a kid) to take stock of who wants dessert and carry theirs to them.

After dessert, dishes will again be gathered and removed, with the exception of cups. Coffee and tea is customary at this point, and alcohol will disappear. This is when conversation comes back in full swing- talking and unwinding is the goal here, and letting any liquor digest so drivers who may have had a sip will be safe to drive afterwards.

END:

Someone will sigh and take note of the time. This is different depending on the group, but a second round of hugs will be in order. Farewells will be made at the door. If there are plenty of leftovers, the host may insist the guest take some. Borrowed dishes and containers will ostensibly be returned at a casual future meeting, possibly as an excuse to meet up and chat over coffee.

It is polite of the guest to offer a hand with cleaning up. It is polite of the host to insist they not. If they are an acquaintance or someone to be impressed, the guest will not be allowed to help clean unless they make it clear that offense will be taken otherwise. If they're a close friend or family member, they may be accepted with some minimal pushback.

The host might start cleaning while the guest is still at the table. This is not intended as an insult.

It is polite to leave around the same time that children begin getting ready for best- usually around 8, 8:30, 9-9:30 on special occasions.

If the weather is especially terrible, or driving conditions are poor, the host might offer the guest a bed for the night. If this is done, it is best to fetch them clean sheets and blankets, a fresh towel, and whatever else they might need. They will be expected to stay no later than breakfast the following morning, unless further plans have been agreed upon. An especially prepared host might have a spare set of pajamas (close friends and family only, usually) and a new toothbrush ready for use.

I think that's everything? A lot of it is weird unspoken shit but yeah lol that's most of what I remember.

I'd love to hear what everyone else grew up with!! Share with me your food culturrrrrrre

[celibibratty]

i get so impressed that all this trauma stuff is so me and marina(sometimes i feel like it was not much or not that worse, but we basically lived almost our whole life under stress), that reminded of a day (story time! story time of our miserable and stressful past in...school), this was in 2018, i was in 9 year of school(idk how this class thing works in english), a little bit of context of an another stressful situation on the same year that impacted on this day (uh, how do i say that cuz it may seem silly, but it really traumatized me at the time, (sigh), a troublemaker boy seemed to like me (romantically) and i didn't like that, one day he with some girls sit in circle group in class beside me and marina and then the boy was trying to flirt with me, but all in a kinda of a mocking way, that made me very anxious/stressed (bullying flashbacks), and this day was one of the days that i felt my first higher anxiety attack in my life, my heart was beating very very fast, i couldn't even breath and walk properly, when i was home i felt numb, and after that i get a little bit paranoid(one day i want to talk about this "boy" whole story, it was kinda suck, but heres a little context), the day was a day that had P.E (class that we hate it for the exactly reason of why that day happened, cuz P.E classes seems always like a shitty/stressful moment magnet and cuz of that most of the time we didn't participe), but i needed to have some grades so i decided to participate this day (marina decided to not do it), the game was soccer and it was only girls players (i find so funny, for some reason the girls seem more crazy in these competiton games than the boys), so i was playing, i was very very fast and cuz of that i became a target, had a moment that i was running with the ball beside the court fence and (i gonna say it cuz the girl was huge compared to me, i can call her the "know at all" too cuz she was like the intelligent/leader girl at the class) the "know at all" smashed/pushed me into the fence and it fucking hurts (i dont remember the pain but it hurted, that girl was huge compared to me,

i was like a stick beside her, and she did it on purpose she put force on it), i lay it on the ground in pain and cuz of that the game stop it a little, i remember the other girls went to check on me and they started warning the "know at all" to don't be that aggressive and the "know at all" reaction was like "urgh, it was not that strong, this girl is such a weak, this is a game we need to be more aggressive"(dude, we are not competing in the world's tour cup!!💢), she didn't said that things out loud, but i could see on her expression, she looked kinda bothered, she even said "sorry", but it was so heartless, so careless (no, no, it wasn't like that i think, she does said sorry, but it wasn't like that, it was worse, i think...she laught it, i had a very serious problem with laughters(i/we still have a little), she found it funny) and then she started playing again, i got so mad(i admit it was my bad, cuz i could just quit the game and move on, but i wanted to make her feel too, to see how it was, how it hurted), i tried to do same thing she did with me, i tried to smash/push her to the fence, but as i said the girl was kinda cof cof chubby/huge compared to me,... she was more stronger than me, she push me to the other side and i falled on the sand ground(and this time it was a bad fall, that kinda fall that grate your skin), i remember me falled on the ground, the "know at all" with her face very red (with that kinda mix of a hurt/angry face, ready to put the blame on me, cuz i hurted her), i wanted to cry, but i was holding back the tears, i stand up fast and i was walking to the court exit(i was walking like ep 4 sean after getting hitted by that nicholas a lot of times, yknow when he walk with his hand on his stomach, argh stop talking about this stupid dolls*they are another part of the problem too* but its the only comparisson i know), and...I...felt... so weak, i tried to defeat the girl and i couldn't, who got screwed the most it was me, i remember my thoughts being "why that things happen with me?it has other quiet people in class, why it always us?

"I didn't do nothing to these people, i don't do nothing, i always try to act nice?,why? Why world?why they always try to hurt us?why it always us?" I could hear this words in a crying tone looping in my mind, i couldn't take it, these thoughts make me started crying (i think this was a reaction to stress cuz i was already very stressed cuz of that boy situation and probably cuz of many others too(trust me every day in my life at that phase happened a shit, the thing is that some are more memorable than others,if it wasn't in school would be in the english course or in home, i usually try to forget) and then it happened this, i remember marina running all worried at mine direction, she was trying to comfort me, she was saying so worried "ana, don't cry, don't cry, cuz see you crying makes me want to cry too", but identical twins y'know, when one Twin is hurt the other twin feels the pain, marina started crying with me, and i was crying very loud (sometimes i cry Softly, but this cry was that cry that you hiccup a little), argh, i hated it that before marina start trying to comfort me, that boy come to me all worried saying like "you got hurt? Don't be so sad, it's okay, look, i got hurt too", i remember he showing me his leg injury(his injury was kinda ugly, it was a very big wound in his knee) and i was avoiding eye contact and i said very low "you are the reason of that too"(cuz it really was), i think he heard it cuz i remember he being like "what did you Said?", but marina apperead right after (i find it so annoying that everybody in that day was thinking i was crying because of the injury, it hurted but it wasn't nothing that i never felt before, i was crying because i felt weak, i felt weak cuz i didn't got to do nothing, it was humilating, but i give a credit to the boys cuz they all tried to sypathze with me at least (even this stupid boy), cuz the girls were all defending the "know at all"(not judging, she was their friend), i was so sad that i not even react, but i think one of the boys even complained about the girls and Said something like "you all play like some animals, now, you hurted the "twin"(our nickname i guess), it was kinda funny the way he said that, i don't what happened after that (after the class ended and when we were going home),i just remember that in home it was a mess too, i just remember that my mother knew, but i don't remember if it was cuz school called her or if it was cuz i open up to her (i think it was this one!, i tried to open up with her, i think she notice that i/we looked sad,worst choice of my life), she was all agaisnt us "you hit the girl!!??, did you hurt her!!?, you cried in front of everybody!!? (Argh, i was getting so anxious that i couldnt explain the situation right, even if i do i dont think she would try to understand anyway), i hate that mom didnt had no empathy for us, she already assumed that we were the wrong (maybe they do that to dont make us become spoiled/victiming individual but still), she put the blame on me and it seems Just cuz it was me cuz i'm the angry daughter, the girl hit me too!, and i hate that she was Soft blaiming us for crying as if would be our faults if we got bullied again cuz we kinda asked for it, i remember me almost fainting in fear of things Starting all over again and mom seeing me trembling and being all like "stop with that" , you literally says that we can get mocked cuz of that and then you expect me to not get worried💢, the house discussion was worse than the situation itself for me (i'd prefer to be in school), it so sad, cuz after that discussion i started to blame myself, it wasn't my fault, it wasn't ana from the past fault, well, if you want to know the next day it didn't happened nothing, as if nothing happened (thank god), this mom part pisses me off, this day was one of the second event that prove to me/us that whenever something happened it was better not to Tell mom(we'd rather deal alone or with each other)

[ladyluscinia]

I'm gonna single you out a bit because as far as I can tell, you are one of the kinds of person I was talking about in this post + relatively new to the fandom and missing over a year of context, so maybe I can successfully impress on someone why casually (and unknowingly) backing up a morally motivated network harassment campaign is not helpful (and have a slight sliver of hope for the general / casual fans hearing about it).

You can't say "no one hates you (excluding the assholes)" when the assholes are large, loud group of people that have been harassing fans since this hiatus started in spring 2022. Consistently. They were doubling-down on saying Izzy fans demonstrate harmful cult-like behaviors (in this case objecting to a "drink the cool-aid" quip casually comparing them to a cult because the official trailer was sympathetic to Izzy) a little over a week ago.

Fans of color especially have been viciously attacked and harassed by both anon hate and then (predominantly white) antis dismissing and encouraging their harassment while using it as an excuse to lecture them on how their takes aren't anti-racist enough because they still enjoy Izzy. Izzy enjoying fans of color have repeatedly attempted to lower the toxicity of the discourse - to the point of putting together an impressive worksheet that you can still read in this post to try and lay cards on the table.

When you look at the responses from big name fans who have made their whole brand "objecting to problematic trends in Izzy enjoyment" and thinking "liking the villain is fine as long you remember he's a villain and don't cause harm to queer/poc fans about it" please notice how the overwhelming consensus from the first months of 2023 is that Izzy fans just need to leave the fandom entirely. Also how they were - at the time and currently - scapegoating Izzy fans as the main generators of racism in fandom. This view is still pervasive.

People "loving a character wrong" is not the problem here. Nor are Izzy fans being uniquely problematic or white-centering or resistant to self-reflection as a fandom.

Literally you just aren't seeing the conversations we've been having or the nuanced takes we've generated because you (and soooo many other general fandom people who don't consider yourselves in the "hate izzy" camp) are occasionally looking through a very small window mostly curated by people actively looking for takes to dunk on and claim "ugh those problematic Izzy fans are at it again."

I'm sorry that people jumped defensively on your post for criticizing a random meta, but - to be blunt - you still don't know what you're talking about enough to make blanket statements on "what everyone has had issues with" about Izzy fans. And doing so anyway is reinforcing everything those linked posts above are trying to bring attention to. Please read them. And then maybe take their advice?

I don’t want these to be fighting words but they’re the last I’m gonna say on the Izzy discourse cause it seems to be getting worse instead of better:

No one hates you for liking Izzy. From what I’ve seen, what everyone has had issues with is the way some people have been defending his actions. (Note I’m not including people being assholes just to be assholes here, I’m talking about anyone willing to discuss in good faith.)

And I’m wondering if some of this discord comes from that fact that some people don’t know how to love characters who’ve done bad things. So they rationalise and rationalise until what they’re saying in defence ends up being worse than anything the character’s actually done.

You are free to love people who’ve done bad things. It’s not something you need to defend. And I’m being intentional here in saying “people who’ve done bad” and not “bad people”. There are millions of us on this planet who probably love a real person who has done bad things (I’m specifically referencing actions that directly harm others here).

To use a personal example, my mother was extremely physically abusive to me as a child. She kicked me out at 17. I have struggled for a long time because of her actions. And yet, I love her. I don’t need to excuse her actions in order to love her. I just do. And that’s okay. It’s a choice I have made after struggling for many many years with the effects of my childhood. But it’s a choice I have made without downplaying or minimising what she did.

For me, that’s the sticking point. It’s the rationalising of bad actions and going so far with it that you end up spreading beliefs that can harm people in the real world.

Not anyone hating you for liking a “morally grey” character.

[thegrandlinesimp]

Hii! I saw your autism awareness event and I think it's so cool that you're doing this! Last year I found out I have autism and things finally made sense to me after all these years. So I'd like to request something for this event ☺️

May I request Zoro/Law with 'Reaction to first seeing their s/o have a shutdown'. I suffer from panic attacks (luckily I'm doing a lot better lately, but oof). So this prompt feels recognisable :)

Thank you 💕

As requested over PM I switched out Law for Bartolomeo (my simpy cutie!)

Panic attacks aren’t a far cry from shutdowns in my own experience (I get both so I gotta do an assessment on how I feel when I know one is coming on cause my coping for each is vastly different). For me the main differences are how fast my heart is going and if I can talk, for both there’s still that general sense of fear, that everyone is looking at me.

I get things making sense, I went through all of school not knowing I had autism (turns out my parents had an inclining but never got me tested) and literally 2-3 weeks before finals in my last year I got tested.

Fun bombshell.

Case in point: IF YOU THINK YOU OR YOUR CHILD HAS AUTISM GET THE TEST DONE!!! THIS GOES FOR ANYTHING!!! DOWN SYNDROME, ADD, ADHD, SCHIZOPHRENIA!!! ANYTHING!!!

Note: Barto’s one is with an S/O whose shutdown was induced by stress, yes, this can happen, I was once so stressed I had them weekly for three weeks straight 😊 fun times

BTW: anything written like this is information pertaining to autism that helps add context and is written in such a way that one’s eyes are drawn to it but is easier to ignore than if it was in bold.

Warning: Zoro’s is a bit panic inducing, proceed with caution!

Zoro and Bartolomeo: first time seeing their autistic!S/O have a shutdown

Zoro

Again, I feel this would happen at a famous Straw Hat party, and pretty early in the relationship too

Tbh this dummy doesn’t really notice anything wrong till someone points you out to him, too busy taking part in tasting the local drink

But when some local says “that pirate’s acting pretty weird” he gets worried

He knows you’re different, you explained it to him as best as you could, and he recalls you saying something about “turning off” when you get sensitive

When he sees you, he wishes he listened better

You’ve found a secluded spot not too far from the ship, probably having tried to make it there before you shutdown fully

Laying on your side, body tense yet there’s little twitches in your limbs every now and then, knees pulled up and hands clutched to your chest, they’re twitching the most

Then he realises they’re not twitching

You’re scratching…

No, clawing at your own skin!

This is also known as self-harm stimming, where the person is unable to help but hurt themselves as a means to get out of the current state they’re in. such actions include scratching one’s skin long after it bleeds, hitting oneself, using objects to self-harm. From personal experience the need to do so is incredibly strong and occurs more when in a depressive state followed by an anxious state, such as a shutdown

As soon as he realises this, his immediate instinct is to grab your wrists as he shouts for you to stop

You want to scream at the sudden touch, kick out, flail, yet your body tenses, knees curling up tighter to your chest, breath coming in little gasps as you curl in on yourself mentally and physically

Zoro’s stomach flips at your reaction, but he holds fast, keeping a firm – near bruising – grip on your arms, thinking to himself that whatever discomfort you’re feeling is better than adding to the flecks of blood under your fingernails

Even with your eyes squeezed shut, you can feel his intense gaze on you, which only worsens the numb inducing terror pumping through your veins

Too many eyes, hands to tight, everything too loud, too much too much too much, helphelphelphelp!

You want to shout it all at him yet you can’t even open your mouth

It’s Robin who finds the two of you, within seconds she’s assessed the situation and takes immediate action, telling Zoro to keep holding you while she runs to the ship

She ends up coming back with Chopper, who saw her dashing about and knew something was up for the woman to be in such a state

Robin carefully drapes a blanket over you, and Chopper changes into his Walk Point form, laying the front half of his body across yours

The reindeer says Zoro can let go of you now, which he does very reluctantly

It surprises the swordsman when you seem to cling to Chopper’s fur, the young doctor flinching a little at the tight grip but not voicing any discomfort

When you eventually calm down, Chopper carries you back to the ship on his back, not caring if you’re too heavy, he patches your cuts (thankfully not too deep) and has you rest in the infirmary for the remainder of the crew’s stay at the island

Zoro watches you for the next few weeks like a hawk, Chopper ends up having to explain exactly what happened

He promises to do better for you, asking the ship’s doctor dozens of questions to better prepare himself

He’s gonna feel guilty when he realises that he made the whole thing worse, give him time, tell him he didn’t know and you forgive him, he’ll come around

(there weren't enough gifs on here to I grabbed one off google, and the fact that this gif isn't available on Tumblr is a sin)

Bartolomeo

Thankfully he does better than the previously mentioned green haired boy

Honestly the day was lovely, strong wind filling the Going Luffy-Senpai’s (I will never get over this ship’s name) sails, bringing with it the crips smell of the sea and rolling waves

Surprisingly good weather for the Grand Line

Bartolomeo was cheery as ever, ready for his crew’s next adventure

Only, he couldn’t seem to find his number one partner in crime, you

It was odd, you were usually out on deck, soaking up the warm sun or shouting profanities at oncoming storms, so to not have your lively presence on deck was making him a little uneasy

He eventually finds you in your shared cabin, wrapped up in a bunch of blankets, curled up on the bed

Of course, his immediate thought is: ‘cuddles!’

As one can guess this didn’t go well

The moment he goes to climb into bed next to you, you let out a soft, short, high-pitched whine

He pauses, having never heard you make that sound

“Ev-…everything okay, babe?” he asks as he reaches out to place a hand on your shoulder

Only for you to flinch again, whining once more

Bartolomeo starts to panic, were you hurt? Why didn’t you say anything to him? Why didn’t you tell him? What was going on?!

“…No…touch…” you manage to mumble, curling up tighter

Now, Bartolomeo isn’t the smartest man, but he has a decent memory, and he remembers you telling him about your autism, how sometimes you just didn’t want to be touched because it upset you

…Or…or something like that?

His first thought is to make a funny face to make you laugh, if you laugh you won’t be upset anymore, right?

Hmm, but you don’t seem to want to move, and you’re hiding under the blanket

Favourite food? No, you need to move for that as well…

And then he has a brilliant idea…that – obviously – involves the Straw Hats

He pulls out a scrap book from a draw, flipping through the various newspaper clippings before coming across one of the funniest news articles involving Luffy-senpai and his crew

Bartolomeo sits down on the floor with his back against the bed, and begins to read

He tries to keep his voice as quiet as possible, recalling you saying you hate shouting when you’re ‘upset’, though he does get a little excitable and ends up giggling every now and then

It’s by the fourth news article that you begin to giggle along with him

Once he’s finished the article he turns to grin at you, but his smile falls when he sees you’ve been crying

“Cuddle?” you whisper, a faint smile on your face

He returns the smile, climbing onto the covers so as not to disturb your blanket cocoon and wrapping his arms around you

He doesn’t mind that you don’t feel like talking right now, there’s plenty of time for you to explain everything to him later

[queendomcosplay]

After careful consideration, I’ve figured out the Mamma Mia songs that correlate to each couple and why:

Impulse and Bdubs: Lay all your love on me. It’s the most over the top, let me love you, I adore you song. Impulse and Bdubs would 100% choose the cheesest love song that’s as loud and affectionate as they are.

Tango and Jimmy: Andante, Andante. It’s a song about sweet, tender love. It’s about being there for each other, and being a source of comfort and strength for your partner. It says “I may not be perfect, and things may be terrible, but if I have you, things are ok”.

Joel and Etho: Voulez-Vous. This song has the most feral energy, istg. It’s all about anticipation, being in that moment where all hell breaks loose, which is the type of chaos Joel and Etho love. Also, Masters of the Sea is a line and you think I’m not giving the boat boys the song with the line about ships?

Grian and Scar: Fernando. I was between this and Money Money, but Fernando works so well. It’s coming together in a war zone, and reuniting years later to reminisce about the past. These two went from being a unit in 3rd life, and have found themselves together again, tied together by fate. It just fits so well.

Pearl and Scott: Mamma Mia. Listen, it works so well for both sides. There’s the determination to not be with someone, mixed with the desire to win them back. It has a desperation to it that just…works for Pearl, and a determination that works for Scott.

Martyn and Cleo: SOS. Listen, this man is chasing Cleo around, trying to rekindle things. He’s building hearts, and bridges, and trying desperately to understand, while Cleo is pissed she even has to spell things out. I want you to listen to watch this scene from the movie, and imagine it as Martyn and Cleo and tell me it’s not perfect.

Cleo and Scott: Why did it have to be me. These two have left their soulmates, and found comfort in each other. They don’t like that their soulmates ditched them the first episode, so they came together and made a home for themselves together and that’s what this song is. It’s coming together after love and just being together.

BigB and Ren: Winner Takes it all. This is Ren’s big dramatic moment. He imagined forever with BigB, only for BigB to go meet his secret admirer. He’s a drama queen, and would absolutely sing a power ballad about how he’s sad and betrayed and I guess I’ve lost you. Also like, I can picture them recreating this scene so vividly.

BigB and Grian: Take a Chance on me. Listen, Grian is trying to win BigB over, to give him a chance to prove he’d be a better soulmate than Ren. That’s what this song is. It’s a fun, lighthearted song that says “Hey, let’s give this a shot, because I like you, and you like me”.

Martyn, Pearl, Ren: Angel Eyes. Listen, I just want them to recreate this scene, with them all talking about their relationships and sobbing. Like, full lonely hearts club vibes. It’s so good, and I just need it now. For context: Martyn is Tanya, Pearl is Rosie, and Ren is Sophie

Edit 1: Including the scenes I’ve mentioned just so you can visualize this with me

Edit 2: Kisses of Fire is another one that would work for Joel and Etho, but only the film version, not the soundtrack version. Purely because I can imagine Joel as the singer here

[elvenmother]

Context and Perspective: Mister Heroic Himself

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x F Reader  Rating: Teen. Warnings: Swearing. Chapter: 6/15 Word count: 1969

Summary: The newest member of the Heroics has gone missing and as one of the better-known Villains on the scene, you are blamed. Then your sidekick goes missing. You must go after the Heroic’s leader to try to get them back and clear your name.

Note: This has not been beta read, so apologies for any mistakes.  This my first time writing for We Can Be Heroes and Marcus Moreno.

Marcus is finally here!

Part Five | Part One

You’d gone home after meeting with B feeling conflicted. On the one hand, there was a plan of sorts in place. On the other hand, that plan might get you arrested or killed outright if it went wrong. A meeting with Mister Heroics himself, Marcus Moreno. You didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this level of desperation. 

You sat for a few hours in your apartment before finally plucking up the courage to call Jada. She needed to know. If something went wrong, then someone other than B needed to know where you had gone. She picked up after the third ring.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” You swallowed hard. Suddenly your mouth was super dry. “How’ve you been?”

“Fuck.” She sighed. “I’m doin’ ok, I guess. Just wish I knew where she was.”

“Me too.”

“I was cold with you the other night. I’m sorry.”

You could feel tears building up and stinging your eyes. “You have nothing to apologize for. You’re stressed about your niece; it’s totally understandable.”

“No.” She sighed again. “No. It wasn’t ok. None of this is your fault. I know that. I just… What am I gonna tell my sister?” You heard a loud sob.

“We’ll find her and get her back.” You said confidently, although you felt nothing of the sort. “I’m working on something. That’s why I called.”

“Whaddya got?” Jada was immediately all business. “A lead?”

“Sort of.” You took a deep breath. “I reached out to Orphan Maker again and asked to speak to her person inside Heroics HQ.”

“And she helped?”

“She did. I met them today after work.” You decided to leave out the part where Orphan Maker knew your real identity. “They filled me in with a little of what they knew. I wanted them to put me in contact with Jess.”

“Yes!” Jada sounded enthusiastic. “Yes, good girl! Good plan. Work with someone inside the Heroics to figure this shit out.”

“Yeah, well. Jess is overseas with Miracle Guy, so that went to crap pretty quickly.”

“Shit.”

“But,” You decided you need to get this next part out quickly, “the contact did suggest an alternative Heroic to work with. Marcus Moreno.”

You had expected Jada to perhaps yell or at least swear, but she was oddly silent. A few seconds passed before either of you spoke. 

“Marcus Moreno?”

“Yeah.” You bit your lip.

“Their leader? That Marcus Moreno?”

“Yeah?”

“Huh. I mean, I wouldn’t have thought of that, but it kinda makes sense.”

“I’m sorry, what?” You couldn’t believe your ears.

“Think about it. If we can get help from their fuckin’ leader, then at least we know that they believe you didn’t do this.” You could hear Jada start moving around, something fell over, and the familiar sound of her laptop booting up. “If you can convince this guy to help you, then we can definitely clear your name.”

“Easier said than done, though.” You leaned back on your sofa. “What if he just attacks me on sight? What if he doesn’t believe me? What-”

“You’re focussin’ on the negative.” Jada chastised you. “We’ve talked about this. Positive thoughts. You can do this. I need you to do this so you will. He must be their leader for a reason. Use him to find our girl.”

~~~~~

The next morning you awoke to your alarm going off as usual at 6 am, but instead of getting out of bed and starting to get ready for work, you lay there. You weren’t sure when B was going to get back to you. She had simply said later. You’d slept, but your dreams had made it less than restful, and there was no way you were going to be able to concentrate on work like this. 

Sighing, you picked up your phone and scrolled through your contacts until you found the one you were looking for. Charles Kelly. Your manager. Taking a deep breath, you hit call.

“Hello?” He answered almost immediately, saying your name with a touch of concern.

“Hey, Charles.” You tried to sound as pathetic as possible. “Sorry to call so early, but I’ve been up all night being sick.”

“Oh no. You know, there is a bug going around.” You closed your eyes and pushed down the guilt. Charles, bless his heart, was a good man and sounded like he was genuinely worried about you. “Are you ok?”

“Not really. I’m not going to make it in today.” You crossed your fingers, hoping he wouldn’t ask for more details.

“No problem. You never take sick days, so I’m sure you have plenty left for the year.” You could hear his kids in the background yelling about their breakfast. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll sort everything. You get some rest and call me tomorrow to keep me updated.”

“Will do. Thank you so much. Bye.” You hung up quickly and swung your legs out of bed. Time to start planning for your meeting with Moreno.

~~~~~

It was a little before 7:30 when your phone beeped with a message from B.

I noticed you’ve taken a day off work. Since you’re so keen here is where you can find MM

The following message had an address, and grabbing your jacket and bag, you headed out. Getting into your car, you quickly typed the address into your phone and set off following the monotone directions of your SatNav app.

After about half an hour, you found yourself being directed through suburban streets. Looking around, you slowly the car slightly. This definitely wasn’t an alternative route to Heroics HQ or even a secondary training centre. Then it hit you. His home. B had sent you his home address.

A short while later, this suspicion was confirmed as you pulled up outside a beautiful-looking home. It was a single-story house surrounded by trees, and you would have put money on it having a pool in the back garden. What the hell were you doing here? Shaking your head, you shut off the engine and got out of your car.

This was his house! His fucking house. Carefully approaching and ducking off down the side of the house, you could just about see movement through one of the large windows on the side. A girl. She looked to be early teens, perhaps even preteen, with wavy brown hair coming down just past her shoulders. She was talking animatedly to someone and laughing. That had to be his daughter. You’d read somewhere about him having a child but seeing her in the flesh was so much different than words on a page. She was a living, breathing person, and if Moreno thought for a second you were here to hurt her, he was going to kill you.

You watched for a few more moments before the person she was talking to stepped into view, and you got your first look at Marcus Moreno in person in years. You’d seen him on the tv, in photos, and once before in passing years ago, but now you were up close. He was right there. The leader of the Heroics. And he looked so fucking normal.

You couldn't tell how tall he was, certainly taller than his daughter, but that wasn’t saying much. But damn, he had broad shoulders. Even in his shirt and tie, you could see the way they caused the fabric to be pulled a little tighter across the back. Finally, he turned around, and for a brief second, you ducked down so as not to be seen. When you lifted your head once more, you watched as the two of them chatted and left the room. 

You cautiously made your way back around the house to the front. That had been too close. You needed to make a good impression here, and getting caught watching through a side window like a perv wasn’t going to do that. Pulling out your phone, you looked at the time. It was almost 8 am. Surely the daughter would be heading to school soon. You could only hope he didn’t drive her, or you’d have to follow him, and that could get complicated.

Getting back into your car, you decided to wait. Watching the house for signs of someone leaving. Finally, at 8:07, another car pulled up outside and honked its horn. The front door was quickly opened, and Moreno and his daughter appeared. After exchanging a few words and a kiss on the cheek, she bounced over to the car and got in. You watched as he waved her off before going back inside.

This was your chance. He might be setting off to HQ soon, and you didn’t want to be anywhere near that place. You had to go now.

Walking up to the front door, you could hear and feel your heart almost pounding out of your chest. This was such a stupid idea, but you were all out of options. You need to clear your name. More importantly, you needed to find Chloe. Taking a deep breath, you knocked on the door.

He answered quite quickly and smiled as the door swung open. You laughed inwardly to yourself. He obviously had no idea who you were as you wore a mask in your alter-ego. 

“Mr. Moreno?” You found yourself getting your first real close-up look at him. He was a good-looking guy; you couldn’t deny it. His short brown hair was neatly combed, while his beard and mustache were trimmed short. Soft chocolate eyes looked at you from behind thick-rimmed glasses. 

“Yes? Can I help you?”

“I hope so. Can I come in? I really need to talk to you.” You tried to keep your voice as even as possible. Not wanting to sound too desperate or aggressive. The last thing you needed was this to turn sour before you’d had a chance to talk to him.

His brows wrinkled in confusion. “Erm, who are you? What is this about?”

“This is about the disappearance of Freefall.”

His entire demeanor quickly changed, and you watched as the bewildered smile dropped as his eyes narrowed. 

“Are you a reporter? How did you get my address?”

“I’m not a reporter Mr. Moreno.” You held your hands up, hoping to reassure him. “A friend of mine has gone missing, and I think it’s connected to Freefall’s disappearance.”

The stern edge was gone in an instant, and the softer expression he had greeted you with returned. “Come in.” He gestured for you to follow him. 

Following him through a hallway decorated with knickknacks and photos, you soon entered a large kitchen at the back of the house. Glancing out of the window, you could see that there was indeed a pool. 

Turning to face you, Moreno leaned on the kitchen island. “Your friend is missing? Why do you think it’s linked to Freefall?”

“Yes.” You weren’t sure if you should sit at the table, still covered in evidence of his breakfast with his daughter. You opted to stand, just in case you needed to run. “They were seen together a day before he vanished. Now I can’t find her either.”

He eyed you suspiciously. You could almost see the clogs in his head turning as he started piecing things together. B was right; he was smart. You’d only been here a few moments, and already, he was starting to figure out who you were. 

“You still haven’t told me who you are?”

“I can tell you my real name if you like.” You dropped your head down as you said your name and, for a second, debated whether or not to actually do this. Fuck it. You needed his help, and the best way to get that was to be honest with him. “But you probably know me as Storm Shadow.”

####

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