#i picked by vibes and I'm pretty sure at least one of them are decisively employed. not even counting RI employment

[whatwooshkai]

20 please!!

The weight of the world seems to have settled on the other rescue bot's shoulders.

Something's bothering Heatwave, it's been bothering him every since all four of them met, and now it's bothering everyone, especially Chase. After the Incident, the police bot can't seem to get his mind off whatever it is Heatwave's got eating at him.

And Blades. He's always had this kind of heaviness, but after the Incident, he's just gotten heavier. He's got this far away look in his optics, like he's watching bots that aren't them, and always reliving memories instead of staying in the present moment.

In short, it's depressing. They have their moments, yeah, but the vibe around here is so bad even the humans have started to pick up on it.

What the rescue bots need, Boulder decides, is an intervention.

So they whip up several of everyone's favorite flavor of high grade and gets them all blackout drunk.

Boulder had graciously decided to stay sober to keep an optic on everyone, and that is proving to be a better and better decision by the moment as this is not going well in the slightest.

Well, it's not going badly. This is pretty much the usual for a night like this, actually. But the Burns are reacting badly.

They'd started out playing poker, and now Boulder isn't even sure what the game is, just that they, Chase and Heatwave are absolutely losing.

"Boulder," the Chief hisses through gritted teeth, "it is midnight. What is going on?"

"'M GOIN' ALL IN!" Chase slurs, shoving his meager pile of chips forward. One of his arms is wrapped tight around Heatwave, who started uncontrollably sobbing two bottles in and hasn't stopped since.

Blades has almost every single chip in their set, stacked in high, neat piles that cover a large swatch of table in front of him. He gives Chase an unimpressed glare, then pushes one of the smaller piles forward.

Boulder's basically done playing anyways, so they push their chips towards Chase, who absorbs them into his pile without hesitation.

Blades rolls his optics exaggeratedly. "Don't extend their suffering."

Ignoring him, Boulder leans down to the Chief. "I thought it might help them relax," they admit, tapping his hands against their thighs. "We used to do it in the academy."

The Chief raises an eyebrow. "Is it helping?"

"Tomorrow will tell," Boulder says, patting their thighs again. "Now I'm not so sure."

"What, Heatwave usually doesn't cry this much?"

"No, that's uh, pretty par for the course, actually." Boulder chews on their lip. "They're just not talking like I thought they would."

Both Boulder and the Chief look to the other Burns kids, still on the lift, watching the scene with a mix of abject horror and fascination.

"What, lots of deep and in depth conversations going on usually?" Kade pipes up. "'Oh, guys,'" he poorly imitates Heatwave, "'even though I'm a total jackass and insufferable to be around, I love you guys, I really do-"

"Not so much like that," Boulder mutters, tuning him out. "It's less of a tangible thing, for lack of a better work. Field talk, kind of. Everything's so muddled right now it's like they're speaking in a different- oh."

Boulder blinks as realization hits them. Of course they can't understand any of the talking that's happening, they're not drunk.

Reaching for a bottle, some of the tension leaves their frame. "I'm just not drunk enough to listen," they hum, about to throw it back, when the Chief places his hands on their calf.

"Stay sober, please?" he asks. "I'd rather at least one of my rescue bots not be inebriated if something happens."

An uncharacteristic beat of anger flashes through Boulder, and it's enough to cause the other three to look over in surprise. Your rescue bots? they want to demand. They're my rescue bots, as I am theirs. These are things I may never hear if I don't hear them now. I can't stay in the dark forever. If they need me I need to be able to know what to do-

They put down the bottle. "You're right," Boulder says, offering a smile that doesn't quite reach their optics. "Someone has to be responsible here."

--------------

Even that night, with the other three pressed so close Boulder can feel their fields in their frame, Boulder can't understand it.

--------------

The next morning, Blades is looking at Heatwave strangely, and Chase is brimming with frustration. And Boulder doesn't understand.

Somehow, they think they've made it all worse.

[maniculum]

Another example from Der Natueren Bloeme, sent to me by @joeyportfolioey, who says:

The first of the manuscripts in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, KB KA 16 (ca. 1340-1350), you've already posted. It has another scorpion in its section on the zodiac (f. 19r), though. This one sticks out its tongue, which is fitting, because the bestiary text compares the scorpion to a man who will flatter you to your face, but will stick out his tongue when you turn your back.

Unusual choices in this drawing. First, the decision to add trees & grass but still have the animal floating in the air. I can't get after them for scale or perspective, because this is obviously an intentional stylistic decision, just an odd one. Maybe they're trying to represent the habitat in which this creature can be found? That would be a pretty good move on their part.

Second, the everything about this animal. You can kind of see how completely reasonable stuff combines together to have a weird effect. Top-down view? Sure, if I were drawing a scorpion for a bestiary, that's the most reasonable angle to get a good sense of what the animal looks like. I'm sure many modern diagrams of scorpion anatomy do the same. Sticking out the tongue? As pointed out above, this fits with the text, good job. Weird googly eyes? Look, eyes are hard, I get it; put that little black dot just a millimeter out of place and it looks wrong to us. All of that together, though, makes it look like someone ran this animal over. That thing has been flattened.

Also, one more thing before we get into the points. That's... a deer, right? Everyone else sees that? Not in the Old English sense of "a 'deer' is just a generic word for 'animal'", but like a deer deer. A cervid. Which really just makes the "flattened" thing worse, because deer get hit by cars pretty often, so this is just like... yep that's some roadkill there. Chrissakes, it has hooves. Okay, yeah, it has six legs, and the body & tail are more lizardy than anything else, but still, hard to look at it and not think "deer". Or at least "Appalachian cryptid". Anyhow, points:

Small Scuttling Beaſtie? ½ (the scale isn't clear, but the resemblance to a deer makes me think it isn't that small)

Pincers? ✘

Exoskeleton or Shell? ✘

Visible Stinger? ½, there's something going on at the end of its tail but I wouldn't call it a stinger.

Limbs? 6

This does manage to dodge the penalties, though, because I'm pretty restrictive about those. As much as I might look at it and think "deer", that is identifiably not a deer, so no penalty. And I've already committed to the "mammal" penalty only applying if it has four legs and fur, so the extra pair of legs exempts it. (I actually haven't seen any that fit that particular requirement; I just picked it as the most egregious way a medieval artist could draw the Wrong Type of Animal.)

Vibes... I do not like the not-deer. I'm also not thrilled with it looking like it had a bad encounter with a cartoon steamroller. It's not horrible, but I'm not a fan. 2/5.

Total score:

3.6 / 10

Show me one that hasn't been run over and I'll reconsider.

[akatsuki-shin]

Hi, @akatsuki-shin thanks so much for sharing your wonderful fanfics. I love to read them...🤩

I found your blog, cause I saw a lot of your JJK posts. Then I realized that you're also the author of quite a lot my favorite fanfics (sorry for being late in realizing it)....

Wow, now that you mentioned it, one of my twitter moot also like to post paralell between SatoSugu and HuaLian, somehow I felt it's not quite fit to their dynamics, and you worded them perfectly....

After reading your previous ask, do you mind if I ask you danmei questions? Can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from 'X'? And why you loved them? And your top 5 (or top 3) favorite moments from the novel? Thanks if you want to answer and sorry for the long ask....

'X' can be Qiang Jianjiu, Can Ci Pin or Mo Du, feel free to pick either one that you want to answer....

Aaaahhh thank you so much for reading my fics! 🥺 Hopefully I can post in the future for you to read hahaha

Yeah, I mean, for a ship to be similar to SatoSugu, I think one of them has to at least give off that Mom vibe like Suguru. Ngl, if Gojo were to marry Geto, he's not only going to get himself a wife but a Mom, as well, because he can be pretty childish and unhinged while Geto is there to make sure he doesn't run off somewhere. 😂

For your question, I'll go with Qiang Jinjiu.

My favorite character is definitely Shen Lanzhou. He's so pretty and smart. If he weren't so sickly, he would've been super strong when it comes to fighting. I love the fact that despite him often being looked down due to his looks and status, he ends becoming the most fearsome character in the story. Like, if you slight Ce'an, you may get off with just a few punches from him, but if you slight Lanzhou, you'll probably disappear that very same day. 😂

Next one is Xiao Ce'an. I love to see his change from wanting to kill Lanzhou on first sight then ended up becoming the most dedicated and loyal lover as the story progressed. Considering how precious Lanzhou is to me, I kinda share Ce'an's adoration for him and it just makes me happy to see him trying to spoil Lanzhou in every way.

For the third place, I'm not sure if I should say Papa Xiao Fangxu or Qi Zhuyin. They both definitely have a special place in my heart because of how strong and cool they are. Maybe I'll put Papa Xiao on 3rd and General Qi on 4th because I really love how we can see Xiao Fangxu's personality in Ce'an, especially with the way they both love and adore their partner. Qi Zhuyin is super awesome, though. Despite everyone's doubt on her as a woman, she proved to be a great and strong general (I think her troops are the most crucial there because she leads, like, 300thousand soldiers or something?).

I think it's pretty weird to put this one as a favorite character, but for some reason, I really love Ce'an's horse, Lang Tao Xue Jin. This horse always has the coolest description whenever it shows up and it's so funny when CeZhou had sex that night while riding the horse. The poor thing, LMAO. Also love Meng the gyrfalcon. I love them both. <3

As for my favorite moment, my number one is definitely when Ce'an resurrects the Libei Armored Cavalry after his father's death, that battle when they caught the Scorpions off-guard bytheir weapons and tactics upgrade in winter and pushes them all down to the Chasi Sink Hole. What I love the most about QJJ is how cinematic the battle scenes are and that one, followed by how Lanzhou desperately jumps into the sink hole to chase after Ce'an like a scene straight out of his nightmare is so uuurrgggghhhhhh 😭😭😭

Next one is the huge decisive battle with Hassen. Like, man, I didn't think I sleep at all until I finished that entire arc until Ce'an came and finished Hassen for good. From the very start when the invasion has just begun, to when the old commander (Yin Chang?) sacrificed himself outside the gate, when Fei Sheng rode all the way to lit the tower, when Tantai Hu came with reinforcement, and when Ce'an shot his arrow right before Hassen killed Lanzhou. I truly have no words; that must be the coolest battle scene I've read in my whole life.

The third one goes back a bit further to the earlier part when Lanzhou lets Ce'an go and locks him out of the city gate, so he could confront the guy who killed his teacher (Han Cheng, I think). But then Fei Sheng opened the gate for him and let Ce'an brought Lanzhou with him. That was so intense and the following hurt/comfort scene is just heartbreaking aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I'm not sure what to put as my fourth and fifth favorite scenes because there are so many interesting scenes throughout the story. I do remember two scenes that I still remember to this day.

One is when Qi Zhuyin's vice commander(?) sincerely told her that even if nobody were to remember her after this, then he would be the one to always light a candle for her, and after his death he would make sure his children continue to do the same. Qi Zhuyin really deserved that recognition after all her struggles and this show of sincere loyalty really just strikes me in my weakest point hhhhhhhhh

The other one is when Lu Yizhi came to visit Lanzhou to see what kind of man his brother-in-law has fallen in love with, but Lanzhou has no idea about it at all. And then at the end, Fei Sheng inadvertently opened the gift Lu Yizhi left for Lanzhou and went "mother of god it's a dowry" or something. xD

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Battle Of The Knights Alt Ending 4: There Are No Winners

Pairing: Moonknight trio x Reader

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings: eh no one's vibing here lol

Genre: this one is angst

Summary: "So let me get this straight, you all like me, so you each want to take me on a date and let me decide what to do after?" You can't believe the words you're hearing even as you repeat them back.

What happens when the relationships you've built with Marc and his two alters are turned on their heads by a proposition that is anything but simple? How can they expect you to risk blowing up the carefully crafted dynamic you've worked so hard to create? And why do you agree to such an insane suggestion?

***

There is no good choice. You've been thinking it over and over every day now and you can't see any decision going well. You can't possibly be expected to pick a favorite. That's what this is basically, picking a favorite person. At least that's what it feels like and you do not want to do that. How could you? No, there were too many unpredictable factors to try and choose one.

Hey guys, I made a choice. We should meet up when you all have a chance.

Their response comes quicker than you were expecting. Barely a few minutes pass before your phone dings with a message.

Sure, why don't we grab lunch tomorrow? We can go to our usual spot. -Marc

Good. Somewhere neutral. It'll make things easier. At least a little bit.

Works for me. Is 2 okay for time?

That's usually what time you guys would grab lunch there on the days you go so you can't imagine it'd be a problem but between the three of them- scheduling can be madness.

Two is perfect. See you then. -Marc

Great.

The next day you have to actively stop yourself from leaving extremely early to meet them. You're so anxious to get through this conversation that you were ready way before you needed to be and that left you with nothing to do but mull over how much you're dreading it until it's a reasonable time to leave. When you get to the cafe you're meeting at, they're already sitting at a table. You walk over and when they spot you they stand.

"Y/n, you made it." It's Marc that greets you with a smile and you hug him as you reply.

"Yeah! Hey, good to see you." You say taking a seat in the chair he wasn't in before you entered.

"Well duh we're like this." Marc crosses two fingers to indicate your closeness and you chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess we are pretty close." You hum.

"I went ahead and ordered for us since we got here early, courtesy of Steven, they should be calling it out soon so I wanna wait that way we're not like interrupted." Marc tells you.

"Oh yeah no problem we can wait. Thanks for ordering." You smile although you literally do not have the appetite for this lunch despite it being one of your favorites. It only takes a minute or two for them to call Marc's name and he jogs up to the counter to retrieve your meals and bring them back.

"And the food has arrived." He announces as he sets down your bag in front of you and sits down again.

"Indeed it has." You smile popping open the bag to pick at your fries. You don't want to open the sandwich you always get just yet because if this conversation goes as horribly as you're worried it will you'll want to be able to grab your lunch and leave.

"Alright, decision day, right?" Marc prompts as he pulls out his food and starts unwrapping things.

"Right." You nod.

"You know I have to admit I didn't think you'd really use the whole three weeks when you said it at the end of our date." Marc says before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, well- you guys gave me a lot to think about. I had to make sure I made the right decision. But I'm sure the waiting was killer. Especially with how y'all can be." You muse.

"How we can be?! Rude!" He protests.

"Maybe but it's not incorrect." You shrug.

"I resent that." His eyes narrow at you.

"Oh I'm sure you do." You scoff. Marc chuckles and you allow his laughter to die down while you settle your nerves before speaking again. "I love you guys, you know that, right?"

"Of course. And we love you." Marc says without missing a beat.

"Then... I hope you'll understand when I say I won't- pick one of you." You say shakily. Marc freezes in the middle of putting down his sandwich at your words.

"What?"

"I had- a lot of fun with you, each of you, but I can't date any of you. I love you, really but this just- we work well as we are and I don't want to change that." You say. There's a long pause where Marc is frowning at- nothing in particular, he's not looking at you and after over a minute passes you stand up, assuming he needs space to process things.

"If you weren't going to choose to be with one of us why go through the trouble of doing any of this?" It's Jake's voice that stops you from standing all the way.

"What?"

"If you weren't going to choose any of us what was the point of doing all of this at all?"

"It's what you asked me to do. I did exactly what you asked. Go on a date with each of you and make a decision after that. You don't like my decision and I can understand that. You don't have to like it but it's my choice and you will respect it, Jake. I expect at least that much from you."

"So all of this was just to appease us- because we asked?" Jake looks at you, practically glares at you.

"Of course it was. Look I had a lot of fun with you all really I did- but you all are a unit that I have no desire to split up in any way and you all plus me work really well- the way we are now. I don't want to mess that up either. I like the way things are." You say meeting his stare head on. As worried as you were about all of this you refuse to let Jake intimidate you.

"It sounds like you're scared. We put ourselves out there to you and you can't be bothered to risk doing the same?!"

"It's not about that Jake. I care about all of you and I have no interest in seeing things shift. If- this decision is what destroys our friendship if you- can't speak to me anymore because I refuse to choose between you, I can live with it. I'd rather lose all of you at once now than lose you one at a time." You say calmly.

"Why is that the only outcome you see?"

"I've spent the past 3 weeks going over every possible way this ends- there are too many not good possibilities. I don't like the odds. I understand that you're upset and I will give you space to deal with that." You shake your head.

"And what if we don't want to see you again?" Jake asks harshly. You don't allow that flash of hurt you feel to simmer as you answer him.

"I will respect that choice." You say, slowly, because as much as you try to mask it the idea does hurt you to think about.

"Y/n- wait. Jake- he's upset, we all are- but he doesn't mean that. We'd never-"

"Don't speak in absolutes. And don't speak for him. He might not get over this and he doesn't have to. It's okay if he- never wants to talk to me again." You cut off Steven's frantic attempts at defusing the situation.

"He'll come around. You know he will- he's never been able to stay mad at you." Steven says.

"This is different Steven. I think he feels particularly betrayed. He doesn't- feelings aren't something he allows himself and the one time he did- it backfired. The door is always open for him but- he may not want to speak to me again and that's okay too, but I'll always be around if he does."

"Y/n-"

"I- I should go but I'll see you around. I love you by the way. All of you. I'm sorry things didn't go the way you hoped." You say grabbing your lunch and darting out of the place before Steven can try more placating. This played out about as well as you expected but you feel you made the best choice for you and that's all that should matter. Right?

***

Taglist: @queerponcho @avengersinitiative2012 @stressed-cherry

[mistress-ofmagic]

Around The Realms in 80 days- Chapter 17

Pairing: Reader x Loki

Story summary: You have fallen through a portal during the convergence into Asgard and come face to face with Thor, and his brother Loki. With no way to return, you must travel with the two men and their hoard of asgardian soldiers to get back home. Things get from bad to worse when you have to share a tent with the god of mischief himself.

Notes: Um hello!!! I said there would be another chapter shortly for all of you who interacted with my last post mawahah! I'm so sorry this has taken me an insane amount of time I had about a three month break from writing and Tumblr and I've been very quiet! I won't go into all the details but it's been some ride but I am back finally and I hope to god some of you are still out there in the void answering me! Hope you enjoy this latest instalment, I feel a bit out of practice writing so I hope it doesn't seem disjointed or anything! Hopefully I won't leave it quite as long for the next chapter!

Read this story on a03!

find all parts to this story on Tumblr here

“What about this one?” 

The book shop was warm and pretty crowded, it felt like you had been in for hours. Still, it was nice to be doing something normal…right? 

Leaning against the wall, your thoughts flitted back. You had actually gone up to bed eventually last night and snuck in next to Loki. You had woken to an empty bed again. 

If there was something you had noticed about Loki it’s that he was an early riser, not something you could ever relate to. 

You had laid in bed for a while, pondering over if you had made the right decision. Internally groaning, you realised that you literally had nothing to wear for today again. 

The people of New York are going to think I’m heavily into the medieval vibe you thought sadly, mentally running through the Asgardian dresses you owned trying to work out which would be the least LARP-y. Either that or go for the office aesthetic again, not something you were particularly interested in. 

Finally, you had forced yourself up to face the horror inside the wardrobe (after a few attempts of waving your arms around like a maniac thanks to Tony’s technology). You opened it up and…

You blinked. 

Had you accidentally transported yourself into someone else’s bedroom?

The wardrobe was filled with….well, normal earthly clothes in your size.  Shirts, trousers, skirts, even some dresses that weren’t giving a peasant girl vibe.

“What the fuck?”

You took out a shirt that you would actually wear. Just in time, you heard the door to the apartment open.

“Loki did you…make me some clothes?” You yelled through.

He came into the bedroom, rubbing his hair with a little towel.

Jesus, you had to get your hormones under control, who gave him the right to look so pretty immediately after working out? If this was going to be a regular sight every morning you had got to stop reacting so viscerally. 

“What are you squawking about now?”

“Did you…magic these clothes up for me?”

Loki raised a brow nonchalantly

“Well you were yapping about not having any clothes yesterday.” He stared at you and you stared back, incredulously. 

He rolled his eyes,

“Fine I’ll get rid of them. Honestly make up your mind up. You complain about a lack of clothing and then complain when you have some…” He muttered. 

“Hey, wait, I’m not complaining.”

“You’re not? That’s unusual.” 

“It just…it just took me by surprise that’s all. It was…nice.” 

Loki stared at you with his brow slightly furrowed, as if you were a puzzle he was yet to figure out. 

Your insides twisted funnily. 

“So…thanks.” You gave an awkward smile. 

Loki tutted,

“I only did it because now you don’t have to spend any time today shopping for garments and we can focus on my book shopping instead.” He headed towards the kitchen. 

You rolled your eyes.

“Sure.” You murmured, rummaging through your new clothes. 

Now, you were stood in a book shop, dressed, curtesy of Loki, while you waited for him to pick out his books. 

You had been kind of concerned when stepping out with him, that you might get attacked or something since you know, you were chaperoning the guy who destroyed New York after all, but to your surprise, barely anyone had given you a second glance. 

People only see what they want to see after all and you doubted anyone had expected Loki to be wandering down the street. 

“How many books can one person have? You’re so old, surely you’ve already read like every book in existence?” You moaned. 

Loki shot you a pointed look but ignored your statement. 

You turned round and browsed the shelf half-heartedly in front of you. Your interested piqued slightly, realising that there were some books in a similar vain to your examinations yesterday; ones that even Tony didn’t have in his collection. A particular book caught your eye, 

“Norse mythology for dummies.” 

Checking over your shoulder to make sure Loki wasn’t looking at you, you picked the book up and started flicking through. 

With one last sly look at Loki, you jumped to the part about the man himself. There was a silly little picture of him looking rather impish, with red hair and jester like clothing. 

You chuckled darkly, “suits him.”

You stared at him through your peripheral, trying to spot any similarities and struggled to find any with this cartoonish picture. You wondered if Loki realised how he was typically portrayed in books and if it upset him at all, he was rather vain after all. You found a biography section that you skimmed through. 

“Loki has been described as the trickster god…. a shapeshifter, sometimes taking the form of a horse or an old woman…”

You snorted, putting that on the list of questions to ask him later.

“Loki’s relation with the gods is varied, sometimes he assists them and other times he is malicious towards them…Loki’s father Laufey is a Jotun, hailing from Jotunheim.. little is know about Loki’s mother.” 

Wait..you suddenly remembered the fire demon talking about that.

You quickly flicked to the page about Jotunheim. 

“Jotunheim is the home of the frost giants…”

“What are you doing, mortal?” Loki looked over at you curiously, startling you out of your reading and you snapped the book shut.

“N…nothing. Just doing a bit of homework. I’m going to go and get this book.”

You dodged Loki’s attempt at swiping the book from you and headed to the checkout. 

Smiling briefly at the man behind the cashier, you paid for your book and a bag of sweets, and sat one on of the chairs near the door, returning to your page. 

“A cold and barren world with very little sunlight…” you whispered under your breath as you skim-read the rest of the page. 

There was a brief part on some notable events, including teenage Loki and Thor barely escaping having chased the giants for stealing some apples.

Kind of an over-reaction jeez, reminder to not steal apples on a different planet. 

Also something about Loki loosing an eating contest to someone called Logi (finding out about Loki’s past was turning into a bit of a hoot). And finally Thor having to wrestle an old lady? 

You shook your head. This was ridiculous. Nothing about Loki’s parentage though. You turned the page and found a portrait photo of a Jotun. He looked nothing like Loki, for starters this guy was blue with white markings on his face and chest. 

You sighed and jumped to the pages on Muspelheim, the fire realm, instead. A few seconds looking at some more fire demons made you feel slightly queasy however, and you shut the book. 

Just in time, you caught Loki wandering back over to you with a pretty hefty pile of books. 

“Let’s leave mortal.” He stated, haughtily.

“Did you pay for those?” You asked him. 

Loki rolled his eyes and tutted, but, in his defence, made his way back to the cashier. 

“That will be a no then.” You muttered. 

You watched him, brows raised to see how the man behind the checkout would react. Just as the rest of the public had, he did not seem to be phased despite Loki of Asgard now standing in his shop. In fact, he seemed to even be flirting with him.

Unbelievable. 

“C’mon.” You grumbled once he returned to you grinning rather irritatingly. 

The cooler air outside was a welcome change from the stuffy bookshop. Still, you were used to much cooler Septembers than this, and you missed your home autumn climate. 

A pang of guilt hit you very briefly, as you thought about your family at home. They had seemed happy enough with the idea you were now working with Tony Stark, and you had failed to mention the whole dangerous space travel aspect.

“Have you got everything you wanted?” You turned to Loki. 

“Indeed I have.” 

“Excellent.” You moved to walk back to the towers. 

“Ah.” Loki cleared his throat. “Actually, perhaps we could go to the coffee establishment you mention constantly.”

You blinked.

“You wanna go get coffee with me?” You asked, surprised. 

He smirked,

“I know it must be difficult for a mortal like yourself to believe I would ever grace you with my presence…”

“Oh for…yeah whatever. I didn’t mean it like that, I just meant…”

He continued smirking at you, annoyingly. God he pissed you off.

“Asshole.” You muttered and checked the time on your phone quickly.

“I have about an hour…” You spoke out loud without thinking.

“An hour?” He was still smirking.

“Hm?”

“Going somewhere are we? Surely my escort does not have any other prior engagements?” 

“Gross, please don’t call me your escort.” 

“You haven’t answered the question.” 

“I erm…” You stuttered. 

God why did you feel a twinge of guilt about telling Loki that you were meeting Oliver in the afternoon?

This was stupid, you had nothing to hide. 

Loki continued to peer at you curiously, enjoying your discomfort. 

“I’m meeting up with someone.” 

“Oh?” Lokis smirk dropped finally, his face growing slightly more guarded. 

“Prey tell, who is this mysterious figure?”

You rolled your eyes. “Come on, let’s go to the coffee shop.��� 

Loki fell into line next to you. 

“I’m curious, just who could have taken my escorts attention away from me?”

“I told you not to call me that.” 

“You’re avoiding the question mortal.”

You sped up. 

“I’m not avoiding it…”

You were only half listening to him, already deciding what to get at Starbucks. Since there was no Costa in New York. Boo. If you were going to get a coffee later with Oliver, you should probably not get one now or you would be jumping off the walls. It felt too warm still for hot chocolate season though…

Loki caught up pretty quickly with his long legs. 

“You know, I’ve always wanted to go to New York.” You sighed wistfully as you looked around the streets. 

Despite the shit-show that was your life currently, you had a sudden happy feeling flood you. You never believed you would even go to New York, and here you were walking around, enjoying the city. 

“This is kind of cool right? I guess it didn’t settle in before. I really want to do the tourist bits before I leave, like the Empire State Building, central park and the statue of liberty. Maybe go see a show, visit Brooklyn Bridge, go the the Grand Central…hopefully if I survive the fire demons ill get to do them.” 

Loki looked at you funnily,

“Why do you have to go home?”

You squinted up at him. 

“Well I can’t stay here forever, I need to go…beg for my job back probably. I’m running on low funds here and I doubt Stark will let me live in the towers rent free forever like a little pet.” You snorted. 

“And, once this all gets resolved…or you know even if it doesn’t, I’m not an Avenger or even in official employment of Stark. Plus this may surprise you I did have a life before all this.” You paused, “albeit not a very exciting one. Come on, let’s go to this Starbucks.” You stopped outside and entered. 

“What are you going to order?” You asked him. 

Loki rolled his eyes and looked at the board.

“There are far too many options.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty overwhelming. Well, erm, do you like coffee or not so much?”

“It is acceptable.”

“Erm, well there are different types of coffee I guess like espresso if you like a very strong coffee or a latte if you like milkier coffees.” 

He rolled his eyes again.

“I know the different types of coffee, I have been to Midgard before.”

“Jesus. Well then, you can get syrups if you like them sweeter or there are options like frappachinos which are kind of more just milkshakes.”

“What will you be ordering?” 

“My usual, a vanilla latte, my namesake after all.”

“Yes, the drink you had the day we first met.” Loki smirked. 

“You mean the drink you caused me to spill everywhere when you literally pushed me over!”

“Haven’t we had this conversation before? I thought you were a spy.” 

“Didn’t apologise for it though.” You muttered. 

Finally you got to the front of the queue. 

“Hi, I’ll have a vanilla latte please and a -“ You looked expectantly at Loki. 

“Another one.” 

You got your purse out to pay when Loki swiped his card agains the machine. 

“Oh…thanks.”

Loki raised an eyebrow cooly, 

“You said you were low on funds.”

“Er, yeah.” 

After getting your drinks you managed to find a table to sit down on.

You stared at Loki in anticipation, watching him as he took his first sip.

“Well?” You asked, strangely nervous. 

He took a dramatic pause before answering, definitely doing it on purpose to goad you. 

“It’s not…terrible.”

“Woo!” You let out a squeal to which Loki stared at you disapprovingly. 

Taking your own first sip you sighed happily.

“I’ve missed you coffee!” 

“You’re very dramatic about coffee.”

“Well you’re very dramatic about literally everything.” 

Loki sniffed.  “I am not.” 

“You really are. You could win an Oscar.”

“I do enjoy winning things.” He said, proud of himself.

“Okay.” You rolled your eyes. “What books did you get?”

“Hm. I need to improve my Midgardian knowledge it seems so I picked up books on human physiology and theology, as well as this abridged guide to quantum theory.” He snapped his fingers and a huge book that must have been as thick as your head appeared on the table.

“Jesus I’d hate to see the unabridged version.”

“Speaking of human physiology, how is your…affliction?”

You took another sip. “Hm? What affliction?” 

“You know…” He eyed you cautiously. 

You snorted coffee out your nose.

“My period?” You hiccuped.

Loki gave you a look of distaste as he passed you a napkin. 

“Indeed.”

“Do we… let’s actually not talk about that.” 

Loki sighed. 

“Very well. I thought friends were supposed to talk to each other about intimate things. What do you wish to talk about?” 

“Yeah but, you know. You are a 20 million year old alien male, it’s not… well…. some intimate things don’t have to be talked about. It’s not the done thing.” 

“Once again you have no concept of my age. Why does me being a male change anything?”

“Well because… I don’t know really it’s just sort of something woman talk about between themselves, most men don’t want to know I guess.”

“Why would they not want to know?” He asked.

“Erm, I guess…well I don’t know really.” 

“I could turn into a woman if it would make you feel more comfortable.” He took a sip of his drink smugly. 

You eyed him suspiciously, unsure if he was joking. 

“Not right now, that might attract some unwanted attention. Remind me to ask you to do that later though. Or perhaps a horse.”

You expected this to trip him up slightly, one of your current favourite activities but he merely blinked.

“As you wish.” 

“God, can we just talk about something normal for once.”

“Like who you are running off to meet?”

“Er, well no, not that…” 

Speak of the devil… your phone, laying on the table, buzzed and flashed up with Olivers name. Before you had change to grab it, Loki reached across the table and snatched it up with lightning speed. 

“Wh…hey!”

“Whose Oliver?”

You grabbed your phone back.

“We met him yesterday, jeez your memory is bad. And don’t take my phone.”

“I have no recollection of meeting a mortal of that name yesterday.” 

“Er, sure he was in the lab with Stark.”

You checked his message. 

  Oliver: Still okay to meet? Shall I come to Stark Towers?

“Oh.. you mean the moronic head-of-starks-fanclub boy.” 

“What did Oliver ever do to you. He seems nice actually and he messaged me asking to meet up.”

“Ah, so you are running off to meet another boy.”

You snorted, “another boy, please that sounds as if we are on a…never mind. Unlike you, Oliver actually wants to spend time with me.”

Loki leaned back in his chair and looked at you with an odd look on his face. 

“Well I’m here aren’t I?”

You shot him an exasperated look. “Only because I am the only reason you can leave the tower. Be honest Loki, would you really have come out to a bookstore with me if you weren’t under strict  instruction to not go out alone?” 

Loki shifted and blinked,

“Well I…” 

“Exactly. It’s fine I’m not upset but I’m allowed to meet up with people who actually enjoy my company, not just tolerate it.” 

You quickly replied back to Oliver to tell him he could meet you outside the towers.  

“Your company is not always… intolerable.”

“Careful now, that was almost a complement.” 

You sighed and looked around you. Once again, no one had noticed that a dangerous war criminal was sat, relaxing in Starbucks like it was the most normal thing in the world. It felt nice though, to be amongst…normal people going about their every day business, complete unaware that their lives were potentially at stake and you were somehow tasked with ensuring that didn’t happen. God you wished you were just as ignorant, there was no way you fit in with the gods and superheroes you were currently keeping company. 

“Are we prepared for the trip?” You asked him. 

Loki nodded. “I believe Volstagg and Fandral will also be accompanying us.”

Your eyes lit up,

“Aw nice!” 

Loki shot you a dark look. 

“No, not nice. It is highly irritating.”

“Well, the more people we have the better, no?” 

Loki rolled his eyes but didn’t reply. 

You let yourself people watch for a bit longer, watching as a guy ate a sandwich and completely missed his mouth as he read a newspaper. 

“He’s a simpleton.”

You chuckled as the guy looked round in embarrassment, “yeah.” 

“Then why are you meeting up with him?

“What?” You snapped your attention back to Loki. 

“The boy.” 

“Oh…well actually Oliver is super clever he went to Harvard and got an internship with Stark while he was studying.”

“Please, Midgardian education is nothing compared to the far superior Asgardian education. He wouldn’t have even met the entrance criteria.”

“Isn’t Asgard kind of backwards when it comes to things like that though? Seems like there’s kind of a harsh class difference, you know, gods vs the rest of Asgard?” 

“Do not pretend Earth is any better.” He scowled. 

“No, but I’m just saying, maybe Oliver couldn’t have gotten into the schools you went to but wouldn’t that have been because of his states rather than his brains? Also you age so much slower than we do so you have more time to learn things which is kind of an unfair advantage.”

You took a slurp of your coffee.

“You certainly seem to be quite enamoured.” Loki stated, cooly and guarded. 

You blushed in spite of yourself. 

“I…I am not…enamoured.” 

It’s true you were up quite late texting him before Loki got irritated and said the light was disrupting his abilities to sleep and banished your phone to the shadow realm or something. 

Loki stood suddenly.

“Going somewhere?” You asked surprised. 

“If we are going to head back for you to be on time for your rendezvous we should return mortal.” 

“Oh.” You checked the time, he was right. 

He strode off out of Starbucks and as you attempted to catch up, you wondered if he was annoyed you were ditching him for someone else. 

The walk back seemed to be feeling awkward and you felt bad for abandoning him. Which is probably what prompted you to say the following:

“You could come with me and Oliver if you wanted? This afternoon?”

Loki looked at you as if you had suggested he ran around Stark Towers naked doing the cha cha slide. 

“Or not…just a suggestion.”

“Why in the realms would I want to do that mortal?”

“Well I just wondered if you were maybe a bit bored at the towers and would prefer to hang out with some different people for a change.”

“I would not prefer to hang out with you and that midgardian.”

“Jeez I take back my invitation.” 

It was quiet between you again. 

Aw man this sucks. You felt a strong sense of guilt for some reason and was that…a feeling of sadness? Where you…sad that you weren’t spending the rest of the day with Loki? It had been kind of fun spending the morning with him, even with his complete lack of knowledge around what counts as an appropriate conversation. 

You snuck a glance up at him as you walked, laughing inwardly at his outright questions surrounding your menstrual cycle earlier. He looked kind of annoyed, but then again, you mused, his usual facial expression was kind of “mildly irritated” so it was difficult to tell. Loki had the worst case of resting bitch face you had seen.

As you got closer to the Towers, you spotted Oliver waiting for you. You smiled and waved at him as he walked over.

“Hi” He grinned. 

You awkwardly looked at each other, both wondering if you should go in for a hug or not.

“You look nice! I like the more modern look today” He said cheerily. 

“Aw thanks!” 

You could almost feel Loki rolling his eyes behind you.

“Norns above this is sickening. No need to lie mortal boy she looks the same as usual.”

“Are you going to stay here and be rude all afternoon or do you have somewhere else to be?” You shot at him. 

“I have far more important things to do than stand and talk to midgardians.” He sneered.

“Well why don’t you go do them then.”

“Well, I will.”

“Fine.”

“Fine.”

“Goodbye.” You spat. 

You turned to face Oliver who looked slightly unsure at the interaction he had just witnessed. 

“Shall we?” You asked rather briskly and strode off in whatever the opposite direction of Loki was. 

Notes: Let me know what you though! Not sure how many are still out here lol but I hope you enjoyed! Loki is a master of hot and cold!

Tag list:

@creationsbyme  @kikster606  @slytherinintj13  @th0rswh0res  @huntress-artemiss  @jannieka394 @stefffrs  @misswimberly @thedistractedagglomeration  @yoongissidebitchh  @purplekitten30 @mischief2sarawr  @johnmurphys-sass 

@ionadane  @imalovernotahater @lokisgoodgirl  @lalicexo eee @dlwrish 

[eldritchamy]

high protocol, "yes Mistress" play?

You just HAD to ask one that I couldn't give a simple answer to. One that I literally can't figure out how to answer without giving a lot more away in other areas. And infodumping a bit.

The bottom line is this:

HIGH PROTOCOL: I don't have enough experience (any) to say. In theory? I find the concept pretty hot. No idea if I would be as into it if I were a PARTICIPANT in it, though.

POWER PLAY: extremely extremely 10/10, probably my top thing

TOTAL POWER EXCHANGE: somewhere approaching 10 but it's too complicated to just say that. Hot as fuck, but HOW YOU GET TO THAT POINT matters for me. I like a process of submission. I like a Power STRUGGLE before a total power exchange.

Just using pet names and titles? uh, yeah. 10.

I'm starting to realize that I'm pretty polarized when it comes to kinks. They either work for me or they don't, and the things that DO work for me I tend to like a LOT, so a lot of my answers are going to be "I'm not into that at all" or "this is my kryptonite". Off the top of my head, there's not much in the way of middle ground.

I actually had to retake my bdsmtest to figure out how I should answer this, so my test and a bunch of explanation (and a little bit of HDG brainrot) under the cut.

I still have the same issues with this test that I usually do. Like, with THAT MANY 100% scores, there's something weird going on internally for Vanilla to be that high. I think I know which question keeps it from going lower (the one about romance being more important to you than sex, which means it's impossible to get an accurate result as a kinky ace, which sucks, because the idea of vanilla sex does basically nothing for me and I CAN'T get that score below 40% no matter how many times I retake the test).

But anyway.

It's hard to really answer this one because it's hard to categorize exactly what it's asking. And I had to have fresh test scores to really explain it.

If you look at my scores, you'll notice every single thing above 90% has both sides of the same coin. Brat/Tamer both 100%. Rigger/Rope Bunny both 100%. Degradee/Degrader both 100%. Switch 100%. Sub and Dom within 2 points of each other. Masochist and Sadist 1 point apart. The only paired result where they're nowhere near each other are Voyeur and Exhibitionist.

SO, that leads me to the complication. I'm .... flexible in terms of what I'm into, at least in theory (but ALL of this is still just in theory for me, so that kinda goes without saying).

Both brat and tamer are 100% in this test.

I like the thought of submission as a PROCESS, not just a state.

It can become an end state once you get there, but I don't think I would consider it JUST that.

Would I be into a scenario where, once that submission point is reached, the power exchange is pretty decisive?

Ab

so

lutely.

Total Power Exchange is hot as fuck.

Sometimes (often) when I tease people that's the vibe I'm going for. If I smell blood in the water, that's EXACTLY what I'm going to go for. I LOOOOOOVE teasing. Almost all of what goes into my Primal scores is that, actually. Just the power dynamic of getting to pick apart someone's brain and find out EXACTLY what gets them to blush, and using that knowledge against them. Like finding their weak spot and going for the fucking jugular. And enjoying the panic as I tear apart whatever resistance they expected to put up.

No one has really done that to me yet, which is a shame. I'm sure I would enjoy it, but I'm also not easy to fluster, so it might take some effort. Despite being 100% switch and very much being into the idea of taking on either role, there's a problem with getting me to be submissive.

I have to believe you.

Maybe BECAUSE I'm that much of a switch, maybe because I REALLY like to do the teasing and watch someone squirm and blush and see them slowly start to realize how much I've figured them out and piece together how absolutely fucked they are, maybe because my instinct is that submission should be a process and that requires them to be decisively in control the whole time it would take to wear me down to the point of a Total Power Exchange, no one has really managed to do that to me yet.

(No one's really managed to do much of anything to me, really, but being some flavor of demi/ace and requiring very specific circumstances to feel comfortable is just a bar that has not been met yet. I've had one or two people TRY to tease me back before. They didn't put up that fight for long, but I did tell them I was proud of them for trying.)

All of that is to say that, IN THEORY, if a very decisive power dynamic played out, yeah, I'd probably be pretty into it, in either direction. I've had a number of people on discord call me Miss Amy before (unprompted! they were such good little pets), and I definitely enjoyed toying with them, but none of it has ever happened in person.

So I can't really answer this question without giving away multiple things because I'm not sure exactly how to categorize it.

If you're asking about Power Play? YES. 10/10 that's probably my TOP thing. Other than bondage that's the CORE of BDSM for me. I'm a lot more BD and DS than SM. Bondage and Discipline and Domination/Submission are the key things. S&M is just flavoring for me. There's a balance to how much is good. But the other two are the main dish.

Total Power Exchange? INTO IT, but I prefer if the exchange isn't IMMEDIATE, because the process is more interesting to me. Not sure how to rate that one on a scale of 1-10. It kinda fluctuates depending on where the moment falls within the overall process. Somewhere on the upper end. Approaching if not reaching 10.

If someone was able to CONVINCE ME that they were the one entirely, unrelentingly in control, I'd probably be EXTREMELY into that. But If they can't convince me they're in charge, they're not. I'm the captain now. You show weakness, I pounce. I'll be giving you pet names in no time, and you'll be the one saying yes mistress. In theory I'd LOVE to be that submissive, but I'd need an equal and opposite dominant to make it happen. If I don't believe you, I'll call your bluff. And most of the time, I won't be the one to blush first.

But basically, no one that I've liked enough and trusted enough and felt comfortable enough with has really tried it, and I don't think any of the people who currently meet those conditions are dominant enough to pull it off.

Plus I need like a good two years of platonically falling in love with a person as foreplay before the concept of sex is even imaginable to me. I really don't think I experience sexual attraction, but I do think I experience "you're a person I would trust enough" sometimes.

HIGH PROTOCOL as in really specific training, prescribed positions and hand signals type of thing? That's something that takes a lot of time to build up to, and I don't have enough experience (read: any) to confidently say how into it I would be. In theory? I find it hot. Would I be as into it as a participant? Not sure. I wouldn't confidently rate it outside the 6-9 range for now. I'd have to have a partner I was willing to put in the time to get there with before actually trying it.

ALL OF THAT SAID, I think one of the reasons the Human Domestication Guide hit me like a train is how much the Affini give off EXACTLY the right vibe to hit my submissive switch. I definitely lean pretty hard on the dominant side most of the time, but when that pendulum swings in the other direction, it swings HARD. And the Affini are exactly the right kind of dommes to get that pendulum swinging. If you can get me desperate enough to call you mistress without a HINT of snark behind it, without any hesitation or embarrassment or shame (thanks catholic upbringing!), that's it, you've won. And I will very much ENJOY you winning.

And that's like the entire basis of what the Affini DO.

Akash in the original fic is like, EXACTLY my kind of dom. Sweet and gentle, will tease and caress you and adore you and take care of you, but in a way that is absolutely dripping with confidence and condescension and faux sympathetic praise-and-degradation, and the firm, resolute knowledge that no matter what you do, you WILL submit to her. That's exactly the vibe I go for when teasing and exactly what would probably drop me like a lead balloon.

They're just UNCOMPROMISING. Something about the ruthless inevitability of the Affini just WORKS for me. Sure, you can resist them at first. But they're GOING to win. You're GOING to break, and you're GOING to be calling them mistress. And it's going to come out in desperate, breathy whispers that you can barely even verbalize at all after losing that power struggle.

And that power struggle is not going to last as long as you think it will, no matter how stubborn you are at the beginning. It doesn't matter what fight you put up. The Affini always win.

You have some leniency with HOW you end up submitting to them, but they give you that leniency only because they know it doesn't matter HOW you submit; you're going to end up where they want you either way.

And it's hot as fuck.

[13eyond13]

Hey! What do you think about Berserk’s secondary characters? Such as Judeau, Luca, or Skull Night? Who’s your most and least favorite?

Ooh, thanks for asking! THOUGHTS ABOUT THE MORE MINOR BERSERK CHARACTERS:

BAND OF THE FALCON/HAWK: So the members that made the biggest impression on me aside from Guts/Casca/Griffith, in order of how much I liked them, were:

1. JUDEAU: he was probably my next most favourite member of the Band. I thought he was pretty kind and emotionally intelligent - I liked his loyal/thoughtful/peaceful mediator vibe, and I always wanted to hear what he had to say about everybody else. I'm still not ok about what happens to him in the end, it was one of the most emotionally upsetting parts of The Eclipse to me for sure...

2. RICKERT: He started standing out to me way more post-Eclipse as a character when he starts having to make more decisions on his own. I love the ways he's dealing with his grief and I was very proud of him whenever he stood up to Griffith, hahaha. I'm really interested in seeing what part he's going to play in the finale of the story, too...

3. PIPPIN: the only scene I can really remember about Pippin now is when he literally picks up Guts and drags him down to force him to hang out with everybody else, which was great. Hahaha I liked him, but I don't remember a whole lot else about him other than that? I think that he was pretty quiet most of the time.

4. CORKUS: He's probably the one you're kinda supposed to not like as much as the others in the group, as he's pretty abrasive at times. He added some spice to things for sure, and I could see why he might feel negatively about Guts, and some of the stuff he says made for interesting contrasts to the positivity/comradery going on otherwise. I didn't feel a ton of love for him at any point, but also I don't think he deserved what he ended up getting in the end either, of course...

BLACK SWORDSMAN PARTY:

1. PUCK: I'm attached to him quite a bit simply because of how much he was with us in the beginning / during the parts where Guts was wandering around all surly and angry and alone. I think he sort of gets reduced to only comic relief a bit much in the later parts of the story, but he definitely kept me going through some of the darker and more nihilistic parts with his cuteness and kindness and the way he always pointed out the stuff that was at times bugging or concerning me about Guts, hahah. Also, I love whatever weird thing he has going on with the Behelit, hahaha. It's like his little pet... feeding it cheese...

2. SCHIERKE: OK so I was kind of like OHHHNOOO at first about the kid characters permanently joining Guts traveling party, because I didn't really want the story to start attempting to pander to kids a bunch when it's so clearly adult in subject matter and themes and tone much of the time. But Schierke definitely grew on me more over time, especially in the scenes where she's interacting with Guts alone - I think her witch powers are pretty impressive, her quiet/nervous personality is usually cute, and her crush on Guts is endearing as well, haha - the way she's self-aware that it's because "he's an adult who paid attention to me, and I liked it" reminds me of the kind of things I would've been saying at that age myself. I was always trying to be serious and sensible and cautious and adult all the time as a kid about such stuff, too...

3. FARNESE: She had some of the most dramatic and interesting character development of any of the characters in the entire series, I would say. Thinking about who she was when we first met her versus who she ends up becoming later on is pretty impressive. I especially like how hard she works at humbling herself, learning new things and opening herself up to new people and new ways of thinking and being, even though she also feels completely useless and incompetent at it much of the time.

4. SERPICO: I feel almost like I'd have to reread the story to really get a handle on this character better, because he often slipped into the background for me? I think his fights with Guts were pretty interesting, but otherwise he just didn't really resonate that strongly with me or stand out to me that much, and I never felt that attached to him at any point tbh

5. IVALERA: sassy and cute, but I don't have that much else to say about her

6. ISIDRO: My least favourite of the bunch, because he often actively irritates me whenever he's on the page, and the comic relief he's supposed to provide never really hits the mark for me. I feel like he just throws off the tone of the story a lot with all the loudmouthed insecure spunkiness, like he's out of place and was meant to exist in a Shonen series like Naruto or something else instead, haha. IDK... maybe I'd warm up to him more and see why he's necessary to include more upon a second read...

OTHER NOTABLES: 1. SKULL KNIGHT: I love him a lot, haha. He's got such an oddly chill and polite vibe for what a dramatic and scary-looking presence he has. He definitely can feel very plot-devicey as a character at times, but it doesn't mean I'm not always glad to see him whenever he shows up, and I think his personal history with the Berserker Armour is pretty interesting as well

2. NOSFERATU ZODD: I like him quite a bit too... definitely the most chill of the monsters to me, haha. Chill is almost always a plus to me, especially when the character is otherwise a bit larger than life

3. LUCA: I liked her! One of the more palatable characters in that arc. Was glad she was watching out for Casca like she was...

4. CHARLOTTE: I worry about her, but I feel for her too! The fanart she kept making of Griffith made me lol tbh.. I hope nothing too bad happens to her now that she's actually hitched to him...

[nancypullen]

Well, Hey There!

Gosh, I let the last few days get away from me and this poor ol' blog paid the price. I don't even have anything exciting to report, I've just been puttering - a bit in the yard, a bit in the house, even did a little Xmas shopping, but mostly a whole lot of nothing.

A decision was made that we would not be joining the Y, so I'm trying to discipline myself into at least a 30 minute dance workout every day. Let's just say I'm not very disciplined. There's a treadmill in the garage that works perfectly fine and I really don't mind turning on some music or a podcast and killing 30 minutes on it. Unfortunately I can always find something else that I want to do more - like reading, painting, watching a murder show, writing limericks, picking fuzz out of my navel, watching clouds, naming birds at the birdfeeder...see? Busy, busy. Speaking of that treadmill, until recently it was blocked by that desk/hutch combo that I bought at an auction for 7 dollars.

I finally painted it and got it moved into my craft room!

I'm still organizing it and will probably switch the items on the shelves until I'm satisfied. I'll move that basket out from under the desk too. I suppose it's the lighting, but the handles and knobs really do match. Know what my favorite bit is?

The bottles.

Those are just old Starbucks bottles. I painted the lids with the same paint I used on the desk and then sorted my buttons into them. I need a couple more for black and brown, so I have to keep drinking.

I'm tickled with the extra storage (the drawers are so tidy!) and I love it when organization can be pretty.

The drawers have glues, scissors, blank cards & envelopes, cardstock for printing my dead people, etc. The shelves hold everything else I use for my silly cards.

My paper is sorted in those clear bins on the right - I only bought four, so it's sorted into florals, patterns, holidays, and "special" stuff like maps, sheet music, and that sort of thing. I didn't have to buy anything else, the baskets and stuff were hanging around the house waiting for a job to do. The wooden crate holding markers, colored pencils, and paint pens was gifted to me from Tyler & Jamie's wedding.

Remember that Goodwill print that I was turning into a witchy picture? I finally stopped dabbling with it and put it back in the frame. First I painted the frame black, and because I ruined the original mat (oops) I had to fish around and find one that would work. Nothing I had on hand fit the print and I wasn't about to buy a new mat, so I edged the print with gingham and lace (my answer for everything) and slapped it in the frame.

Poor photography skills, but you get the idea. What was once a prim and proper street scene is now giving Halloween vibes. now it can go into the back of a closet with the rest of them. Why do I do this?? I should take them all and donate them back to Goodwill and let them find homes. I'm home alone. For the last two days Mickey has been out day and night snapping photos of Summerfest, Denton's big bash marking the end of summer. I hope Mother Nature sees it and turns the heat down. It's been drizzling on and off today, so I'm sure everything is steamy. No, thank you. Hard pass. There will be a handful of vendors selling stuff I don't need, no decent food or food trucks, a decent selection of bands playing at different times and on different stages, a great area for kids with slides and bouncy houses, and at the end of the night, fireworks. I may go sit on the front porch later and take a peek at the fireworks. I was spoiled by attending the Wilson County Fair every August , that was always the official goodbye to summer for us, even though the weather didn't break until a month later. Annnd speaking of weather, I saw that The Old Farmers' Almanac issued their winter forecast. I was disappointed.

We're up there under "Mild,Wet". Every year I cross my fingers for "Cold, Above Average Snowfall" and it never happens. Thanks to Climate Change I think it's going to become rare if not extinct.

Oh well, I need to tidy up a bit and then choose a movie to watch with the girls. This is who I mean by "the girls."

They keep begging for the BBC version of Jane Austen's Persuasion, so it looks like tonight is the night. I'll try to think of something more interesting to write about tomorrow. The rest of the week may be a wash. We're getting the grandgirl on Monday and returning her Thursday, so I'll be busy and tired. It's her last week before school starts so there needs to be some fun. She's had a great summer, vacation and camps, but we'll have some Grancy-style fun. Look at these cute sprinkles I picked up for back-to-school cupcakes. Perfect for a first grader!

I'll have to see if there's a movie playing that she might be interested in, and I'll bet she'd like to go on a treasure hunt in Target with me. The rest of the time it will be Barbies, pool, books, and probably some arts and crafts. The only things that she requested I add to the grocery list (I asked) are apples, pretzels, and pizza Lunchables. I have a feeling her parents may want me to get some veggies and good protein into her. Grandpa sees nothing wrong with that list. If I turn my back he'll have her at the 7-11 getting a blue Icee right before dinner. Anywayyyy, I'm rambling. I'll wrap this up by saying that I hope your Saturday evening is a delight. If that means running wild with friends or being in your jammies by sundown, I hope you love every minute of it. Sending out loads of love tonight. Take what you need and pass it on. Stay safe, stay well. XOXO, Nancy

[knockyasocksoff2022]

My Mother Ranks + Makes Assumptions About Bungou Stray Dogs Characters Based on ✨ViBeS✨ Alone: PART ONE

Armed Detective Agency Edition

Dazai is not here, I'm doing him as part od the Buraiha Trio.

I used the manga art of them since that is (in my opinion) closer to canon. I think that may have affected her decisions since she has a hard time telling their age since their drawings. Like she couldn't tell at all lmao.

I did tell her that the clothes they're wearing are their everyday clothes which suprised her a bit lol.

She's one of the "they're just DRAWINGS!" people so her rankings are kind of sadly low (T-T).

She thought all of them were "sharp, stlyish looking young adults."

(My thoughts on the rankings are in parenthesis)

Anyway on with the rankings.

FUKUZAWA YUKICHI 🐺

Name: Ren (? I do know for a fact that my mother thinks this is a cool name so I guess she thinsk Fukuzawa is a cool guy so yay?)

Age: 32

Outfit: 8/10

Hair: 10/10

Looks: 8/10

Role in the Story: Villain (I have no idea why she guessed this, but maybe it's because he's frowning and wearing kind of dark colors?)

Occupation: Marketing Manager for a retail chain (uh...okay I guess)

Ability (if applicable): Clothing control (???)

Sexual/ Romantic Oreintation: Straight

Relationship Status: Single

No Kids (he has sooo many kids tho, nice to see he's pulling off the whole 8 thing so effotleslsy he doesn't look a day over thirty)

---

EDOGAWA RANPO 🔎

Name: Marcel (??? idk even what to say, no words)

Age: 23

Outfit: 2/10

Hair: 5/10

Looks: 4/10

Role in the Story: Ordinary Person

Occupation: News Boy (completely fair tbh)

Ability (if applicable): N/A (I mean, she's technically not wrong)

Sexual/Romatic Orientation: Straight

Relationship Status: idk (rip Poe and their situationship I guess)

No Kids

---

YOSANO AKIKO 🦋

Name: Scarlet

Age: 26 (She got really close which was surprising since she was sooo far off with the others.)

Outfit: 7/10

Hair: 9/10

Looks: 9/10

Role in the Story: Hero (I though she'd pick ordinary perosbn honestly. I think Yosano's stance is just too powerful though.)

Occupation: Waitress but could be a Lawyer

Ability (if applicable): Yeah, but idk what

Sexual/Romatic Orientation: Straight

Relationship Status: Partnered

No Kids

---

KUNIKIDA DOPPO ✒️

Name: Troy (ewww wtf, sorry to people named Troy but just nO)

Age: 38

Outfit: 9/10 (she like the fit of the clothes but she didn't like the sleevless vest, which doens't make sense to me because I think it would look wird with sleeeves. liek a jacket would be too macthy-matchy, the black sleeves need to shwo for contrast.)

Hair: 9/10

Looks: 8/10

Role in the Story: Ordinary Person (I'm not suprised she pciked this since he does look like a pretty normal guy, maybe save for the hair.)

Occupation: Journalist (idk, maybe she thought that becau of the notebook, I might've guess teacher though.)

Ability (if applicable): Influence events by writing them down (very close, again kind of surprising. I guess him holding the notebook was a clue but she didn't explain her reasoning so idk)

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Straight

Relationship Status: Partnered

Has Kids

---

TAYAMA KATAI 🖥️

Warning for the Katai enjoyers: Mum was brutal with this one.

Name: Ohno (? huh? Okay . . . i guess?)

Age: 65 (original guess 55)

Outfit: 1/10 (yeah, the cropped trousers need to go, at least he isn't wearing socks.)

Hair: 3/10

Looks: 5/10

Role in the Story: Ordinary Person

Occupation: Neighbourhood bum (I mean . . . kinda? Probably if he ever actually left his house, then yeah.)

Ability (if applicable): N/A

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Straight

Relationship Status: Partnered

Kids

OTHER COMMENTS:

“I don’t know enough names to give him the kind of name I want to give him.” (she had to google names, I'm not sure what search prompt she put in though. However, given her otehr commenst I don't think she meant that positively.)

“Looks ordinary but probably isn’t.” (relating to the role in the story question: Is he: Hero Villian or anOrdinary Person?)

“He has a wife who hates him.” (I- 😭)

---

TANIZAKI JUNICHIROU 🌨️

Name: Tracy (yes, I told her that he is male because she did ask, which I guess is kind of fair given the illustration. I guess Tracy can be a guy's name too, idk I've never met a guy Tracy, but go off.)

Age: 24 (My mum reallly has no idea what age these characters are, I mean, I guess he could be 24. He definatley looks younger in the anime, or just next to the other characters. I think you have to see his demenour to really get it though, just standing still doesn't give away much.)

Outfit: 4/10 (My mum has something against feminie guys, so that's probably why.)

Hair: 6/10

Looks: 6/10

Role in the Story: Hero (I though she might guess Ordinary person)

Occupation: Dance Instructor (I guess it makes sense with the outfit, but still her guess suprised me.)

Ability (if applicable): Bulletproof, and he activates his powers by twirling (? She said it like it wasn't nessesarily a positive thing, probably because of her anti fem-boy agenda.)

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Not Straight (she really bro is NOT straight, whcih I mean I can kind of see.)

Relationship Status: Single

No Kids

---

TANIZAKI NAOMI ❤️

Name: Lena (pronounced Lee-nuh)

Age: 15 (original guess 19) (she changed her guess after I showed her the anime version, also because of the school uniform)

Outfit: 3/10 (Mum has something against sailor tops for some reason)

Hair: 9/10

Looks: 7/10

Role in the Story: Hero (I'd honestly thought that she might guess villain because of her sharp eyes and expression in the manga.)

Occupation: Student

Ability (if applicable): N/A

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Straight

Relationship Status: Single

No Kids

---

MIYAZAWA KENJI 🐄

Name: Fred (it kind of suits him actually lol)

Age: 22 (she siad her only cue for age was that she knows that bigger eyes usually indicate youth in illustrations)

Outfit: 4/10

Hair: 6/10

Looks: 7/10

Role in the Story: Hero

Occupation: Farmer (technically correct)

Ability (if applicable): communicate with birds (She said the illustration influenced her)

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Not Straight

Relationship Status: Single

No Kids

---

NAKAJIMA ATSUSHI 🌕

Name: Simon (again, it kind of fits)

Age: 29 (lmao)

Outfit: 3/10

Hair: 4/10 (I did show her the anime version for a better angle, and she didn't seem to mind it, OI though she give him like a one)

Looks: 8/10

Role in the Story: Ordinary Person (I htough she was going to pick Hero, but she isn;t that familar with anime so I guess eh doesn't know the MC always stands out with eitehr colourd hair or wild colthes rule)

Occupation: Singing Telegram (no words)

Ability (if applicable): N/A

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Not Straight

Relationship Status: Partnered

No Kids

OTHER COMMENTS:

"He probably has a boy friend who ~loves~ him." (said kind of sing-song. She thinks Atsushi is a sweet guy.)

---

IZUMI KYOUKA 🐇

Name: Miko (I think the traditional grament may have infulenced Mum's choice)

Age: 16 (pretty close, I actually though she was 16 when i first saw her)

Outfit: 10/10 (Fukuzawa also got a 10/10 so i think my Mum just likes the traditional garments)

Hair: 10/10

Looks: 10/10

Role in the Story: Hero

Occupation: Geisha, idk (uhhh., anyway, moving on.)

Ability (if applicable): She can turn her hair into a weapon.

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Straight

Relationship Status: Single

No Kids

[foster-the-world]

Good ole cry

Came home after school to have a good ole cry. Baby boy went to school okay today. Still 3-4 kids crying at drop off but I figure that's probably pretty normal with 15x 3yos. When we asked the teacher how yesterday went she said he "requires a lot of redirection. He was also eating paper and books." She said the second line as if he was eating his own poop or something else super terrible. Or maybe I'm sensitive and that's just how I heard it. The teacher comes off as very stoic. He doesn't eat paper at home but I'm also not shocked. For me, its odd and not a normal thing for a 3yo but also not that terrible. He does chew on things constantly. Specifically he bites down hard on his blanket or stuffed animal to help himself fall asleep. He doesn't tear books regularly. However, the two times we let him take a book into his bed after we left he tore them both apart. I'm assuming in this new environment he's pretty unregulated all day and looking for sensory outlets.

Emailed the special ed consultant lady to see if we could get a paid consult sooner rather then later. I already assumed he wouldn't be okay in this setting without additional aids/support so I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time now that its coming true. He is so well loved at daycare even though they know he's high maintenance. Despite his challenges he's a cute/charming kid. So I was hoping his new teacher would see his good side. With our limited interactions I'm not getting that vibe. I also really wish he had one of the 4K teachers. We know them well and they have all worked with 4yos for years - so I would at least have a little insight to what's really out of control and what's normal for a high maintenance kid. This women has 18yo experience but none with 3yo's. That's also the expertise we are missing at daycare. They are these sweet grandmas that love him as if he was their grandkid - so its hard to get an unbiased opinion from them.

I also get the vibe they are copy/pasting the four year old schedule/routine for the three year olds. Which seems like a bad idea. There are some kids in the class who are clearly doing fine. My girls would have been totally fine but I don't think it will work for everyone.

It seems counterintuitive but I think having a job could be helpful for my mental health. I think rather then coming home to stew/worry it would have been better to go do something else. I know I have to wait this out, see what the assessments say, see what services are provided and then make a decision. We can put him back in daycare for another year - which he would like. We aren't without options. It will all be fine. Baby boy's fine. He's not bothered at all with the redirection. He won't notice if his teacher likes him or not.

Anyway I'm going to pick up his pumpkin library books today so we can read all of them tonight. It will make his night.

[betouma]

touma raps and dances to the hit song idol for next gen.

touma doesn't know what drove him to fill in the form for next gen season two, but somehow he has. it was probably an impulsive decision, honestly he doesn't even remember what he wrote down now—he does remember the image he sent in, where he looks a little goofy with his button-up, bare face and messy hair. and yet, he passed that stage. he got the message when he was walking the dogs. one of them barks, like it's congratulating him. touma smiles and pets the dog, as if saying thank you.

now he has to prepare for what's to come. so he decides to do what's fun for him. if he does that, surely everyone else will have fun in turn too... right?

—

it's unexpected. he watched the last season of next gen, and he's pretty sure there wasn't a rapid fire question round back then. he doesn't mind, touma thinks he's pretty quick on his feet when it comes down to it. that doesn't mean the pressure isn't on, especially when they have to showcase a 'unique skill' afterwards too. he does have some spray cans left in his bag, and he wonders whether he's allowed to do use it later.

for now though, he'll focus on his performance. time passes fast and suddenly it's his turn to face the judges.

touma introduces himself: name, age, what he's doing right now, the names of the dogs he walks every few days—okay, fyi, but he thought it was important. then, he thanks them for their time ( maybe he should have done that after ), and begins his performance.

he starts with the face-paced rap, missing no beat, keeping up with the rhythm. a quick few seconds, then the song continues onto the chorus. touma fosters a big grin on his face, hopping and skipping in place, stretching his arms as he dances to the music—complicated hand gestures done. he's jumpy on feet, as the song requires him to be. he sends a heart to the camera at the right time—it's a little embarrassing and his ears feel a bit warmer, but it fit into the song too perfectly. and then he poses towards the end, smile ever-so-present despite trying to catch his breath.

unfortunately, he has to gather himself for the round of questions he's about to get. so he does.

“what style of music/performance suits you best and why?”

touma hums, considering his options for a while. "if i'm being honest, i want to try everything at least once." that's not the answer they're looking for right now though. "but i think fresh concepts would work best with me, those that are upbeat but also heartfelt. throw in a bit of rock or pop... and i can make a choreo out of that too."

“why do you want to become a kpop idol?"

that's a question he knew was going to be asked in this round. "oh, well. i like to dance... and i want to dance for other people to see. i also like to rap, and to perform..." that being said, he definitely has to get better at singing itself.

“what would you do if you won ₩1,000,000,000 (~$750,000) in the lotto?”

touma laughs. "not sure, i'd probably say i want to spend it for myself. but i'd end up using it for my family. specifically my brother. help him get into school or something. and then... expenses for my future pet?"

“what was the first thing you thought about when you woke up this morning?”

he tries to recall the morning. "honestly, i was thinking about this moment. hoping i'd make a good impression." now he sounds likea pick-me, but it's the truth. it's because of the nerves. "i also thought about what i should eat that morning. i ended up going with eggs."

“what can you bring to the table that we won’t see in any other contestant?”

the pressure is definitely on. "hm, good vibes." he means it though. "i think that's important, particularly when you want to keep an audience hooked. right?" he laughs once more. "i'm also determined, i want to learn more. i know i'm not perfect right now, but i think i can be a great performer if even the chance." he supposes that's eventually up to the judges though.

now it's time for the unique skill he has to show off. "okay! is it alright if i ask for some sort of... canvas? anything is fine." the judges seemed a little hesitant, but somehow they do have an actual blank canvas. so he doesn't have to use the stage itself, which he's grateful about. it's medium-sized and not what he's used to ( he's used to walls, after all ), but he can make do with it.

"thank you! please give me some time. it won't take too long!" touma takes out his paint spray cans from his bag. he doesn't have too many colors to work with, but this will do enough. he's used to running low on supplies, it's not like he has a huge budget for his hobbies.

touma was right, he doesn't take too long. after a few minutes, he comes up with his newest masterpiece. this time, more people will see it. and know who made it. a part of him is flustered about that.

it's done now. after this, he can only put faith in the judges. but mostly on himself.

[waitingforwinterwinds]

Game of Thrones - 44 SANSA III (pages 455-462)

Sansa and Jeyne manage to sneak in a bit of time to act their age, Sansa and Arya have a blow out that pushes Sansa passed her threshold for suffering abuse silently, and Ned tells the Stark girls they are going home in the least helpful way possible while Sansa accidentally solves one massive portion of Ned's murder investigation.

The reader, officially turning another year older, faces the daunting march or mortality.

-

Her father's decision still bewildered her. When the Knight of Flowers had spoken up, she'd been sure she was about to see one of Old Nan's stories come to life. Ser Gregor was the monster and Ser Loras was the true hero who would slay him.

Oh hon, Loras would be crushed like a flower without the wiggle room of a tourney to give him tricks to gain advantage. If Sandor hadn't stepped in back then, he'd already be dead. Come on sweetheart, you know this. Urgh, curse your hyper-fixation with romantic stories clouding your perceptions of reality.

Although can we talk about the fact that- oh no, never mind, Ned's already made the call to send them back, of course he's not going to do a good parenting job and talk trough his decisions with Sansa so she can begin to understand what kind of pressures her future husband might be under when he takes petitions, and what kind of choices he has to make and things he must consider, of course Ned's not going to educate Sansa in any manner so she can begin to understand how to better support her husband, she's just there to look pretty and get bred. Maybe seal an alliance if she's extra lucky.

He had touched her cheek, his thumb lightly tracing the line of a cheekbone. "Life is not a song, sweetling. You may learn that one day to your sorrow." Sansa did not feel like telling all that to Jeyne, however; it made her uneasy just to think back on it.

BAD TOUCH!!! Ewww, Petyr Baelish belongs on an offenders registry, and we all know which one.

Sansa shuddered. Every time she looked at Ser Ilyn Payne, she shivered. He made her feel as though something dead were slithering over her naked skin. "Ser Ilyn's almost like a second monster, I'm glad father didn't pick him."

Good instincts, pity she doesn't understand they're telling her to GTFO.

Beric Dondarrion was handsome enough , but he was awfully old, almost twenty-two;

...OUCH. Excuse me, I need to go lie down, my Ancient and crumbling body of Pre-historic Age needs a moment.

"I'm sure I don't know why Arya does anything." Sansa hated stables, smelly places full of manure and flies. Even when she went riding, she liked the boy to saddle the horse and bring bit to her in the yard.

Yeah, see, there it is again. That repulsion for dirty things and smells, there's also an undercurrent in the way she talks about the pageantry of the southern court, it really does vibe like Sansa has a sensory thing.

Jeyne yawned. "Are there any lemon cakes?" Sansa did not like being interrupted, but she had to admit, lemon cakes sounded more interesting than most of what had gone on in the throne room. "Let's see," she said. The kitchen yielded no lemon cakes, but they did find half a cold strawberry pie, and that was almost as good. They ate it on the tower steps, giggling and gossiping and sharing secrets, and Sansa went to bed that night feeling almost as wicked as Arya.

omg that's so cute, look at these eleven year olds sneaking half a pie and being girls. This is going to hurt so much later. 🙃

🍋🍋🍋=🥛🥛🥛

Arya screwed her face up in a scowl. "Jaime Lannister murdered Jory and Heward and Wyl, and the Hound murdered Mycah. Somebody should have beheaded them." "I's not the same," Sansa said. "The Hound is Joffrey's sworn shield. Your butcher's boy attacked the prince."

Mmmm, that's not quite how it happened, but how many times has Sansa told herself a specific version of events in her head to cope with what happened, to deal with the fact that she's engaged to someone who was fully prepared to murder her sister and a peasant boy, she might actually believe it by now.

She's also right though, it's not the same. Ned can actually do something about this situation, politically it's tricky, but he has the time, power, and wiggle room to at least make the attempt to stop Gregor.

When she saw what the fruit in her lap had done to her beautiful ivory silk dress, she shrieked. "You're horrible," she screamed at her sister. "They should have killed you instead of Lady!" ... Sansa stalked away with her head up. She was to be a queen, and queens did not cry. At least not where people could see. When she reached her bed chamber, she barred the door and took off her dress. The blood orange had left a blotchy red stain on the silk. "I hate her!" she screamed. She balled up the dress and flung it into the cold hearth, on top of the ashes of last night's fire. When she saw that the stain had bled through onto her underskirt, she began to sob despite herself. She ripped off the rest of her clothes wildly, threw herself into bed, and cried herself to sleep.

Speaking as a sibling, I can tell you all that this is unfortunately not unheard of behaviour between siblings.

But also this is absolutely not about the dress being ruined, the dress being ruined was just the straw that broke the camels back. Sansa has not been okay since the trident, and she has been keeping it together so admirably through sheer determination and an unhealthy amount of disassociation.

Arya got to talk to her dad a bit, got to have it out and face what she was feeling with what happened, but no one has given two shits about Sansa's state of mind.

"Oh she's so well behaved we don't need to worry about her," is literally the phrase that gets so many people, including a significant number of older siblings, marched to the edge of a full mental breakdown. Sansa needs therapy, just because no one is helping her face the trauma she's been experiencing, some of which - looking at you Petyr - she doesn't even understand she's experiencing.

FURTHER MORE- why am I having flashbacks to Sansa's first period in the tv show?

Sansa sat up. "Lady," she whispered. For a moment it was as if the direwolf was there in the room, looking at her with those golden eyes, sad and knowing. She had been dreaming, she realized. Lady was with her, and they were running together, and... and... trying to remember was like trying to catch the rain with her fingers. The dream faded, and Lady was dead again.

... Someone, please help this girl. She is Going Through Some Stuff.

But also was that a real Wolf Dream? or just a dream about Lady who had just been brought up? If it was real, how? Were they just running in the dream realm, or did they astral project into the real world, or did they hijack someone else's paws?

"Arya started it," Sansa said quickly, anxious to have the first word. ... Arya raised her eyes. "I'm sorry father. I was wrong and I beg my sweet sister's forgiveness."

Oh I know that feels. There were so many times in school, who ever spoke first some how had this... it was like speaking first some how made your version of events truer in the teachers' eyes, more valid. Except for a few people, who were always in the wrong even when they never actually did anything wrong because they were the teacher's least favourite. ... You are but words on the page and yet I can hear your insincerity from here Arya.

- they were going to send her back to the bleak grey walls of Winterfell and lock her up forever. Her life was over before it had begun.

On the one hand, oh sweetheart you are such a melodramatic little thing. There's more to life, I promise you, yes I know it is your special interest, but still.

But on the other hand: She has a point. GRRM doesn't give the Northerners a lot of colour or depth. (at least he hasn't thus far in the text.) Northern "cultural practices" are basically 'being stoic' and 'frost resistant.'

[fezwearingjellybananas]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Picking favourites is so hard.

1. Definitely Sweet Defiance, that one just flowed while I was writing. The only problem with having an associated song while writing a fic is now every time Renegades starts playing I start thinking about space pirates again. Naming them renegades in the fic actually came before the song first showed up though and when I saw the name while making the playlist for it, it was so perfect (hence the title came from the song)

Eddie Thawne was a Captain in the Fleet, and very good at his job. He hadn’t meant to get caught up with a renegade, but Iris had spun a tale of corruption within the Fleet and justice for her lost love, it was the morally right thing, she didn’t deserve the label she’d been given.

Only her husband was not the fellow officer she’d initially claimed. Nor was he quite as dead as they’d thought. (Westhallen, T, 25k)

2. Ghosting has to be up there somewhere, I loved writing that

Hartley didn't like Cisco. So, if he was desperate enough to be asking Cisco for help with his apparently haunted house, maybe Cisco should take him seriously. There had to be an explaination for it all somewhere. Maybe with the electrics. Flickering lights definitely sounded like an electrical fault. Not ghosts, ghosts weren't real.

There's something going on with this house though.

(Hartmon, T, 15k)

3. I had really good fun writing The Questing Flower. I even drew a map

It’s rare that a Questing Flower will bloom, yet here was Iris with a golden flower in her hands, and a vow to do her upmost to succeed in a Quest no one’s ever succeeded in for over five hundred years, even though she hasn’t even passed all her other Knight Trials yet.

And then the Queen’s Son is gone, vanished from his room in the middle of the night, leaving no trace. It’s no coincidence the flower bloomed the same night, and perhaps finding Barry isn’t Iris’ Quest, but he is her best friend.

Besides, it’s not like she even knows where to start looking for the Moon. (Gen, T, 73k)

4. Flash Red; Vibe Blue is not my first published Flashvibe fic but because it took a bit to write I'm pretty sure it was the first I started to write and it still holds the honour of the only time a fic ever made me stop writing it so I can go to Tesco, buy yeast, and bake bread. The next scene was written while the bread was rising

In which Cisco runs into Wally West in Jitters and one spontaneous decision later, he’s moving in with Wally and Wally’s kind of cute brother.

Armando would probably have laughed at him, but Doctor Wells’ particle accelerator took Armando away from them, and Cisco has other things to focus on.

Like proving it wasn’t the accident Wells claimed. (Flashvibe, T, 12k)

5. Can I count the whole Tess Lives AU as one please, it is published as a series of 12 fics with snippets of the important story part of one AU rather than entirely rewriting series one, but I had so much fun writing that and I can't pick just one

Tess Morgan survives the car crash. Harrison Wells doesn't. So it's a little odd he's still walking around, and Tess is determined to prove the truth.

(Predominantly gen, featuring Westallen and Tess Morgan/Tina McGee, T, 32k total)

Thank you!

[eldrichboyo]

Little brother mc au:

Things that makes Lucifer's heart explode!

I'll be making more parts of this soon

- little toddler mc is so giggly, they like to hold Lucifer's hands or at least try too ( hes so tall!). You'll do that little toddler dance thing while holding his hands and he just "❤❤❤❤❤" the vibes are so pure how are you a demon?!?

- He was EXTREMELY HESITANT when bringing his wings out around the little one, the itty bitty lad was a demon afterall. Demons are known for being exceptionally malicious, but luci is their current favorite person.

- lucifer yelped when mc grabbed at the fluffy down feathers at the base of his wings. Hes happy to let you explore but please be careful. It's taking him everything to not reflexively flap his wings and accidentally smack you.

- the brothers have caught him playing peekaboo with his wings.

- when he Is dotting on you hell make little chitters and clicks in demon tounge. To the untrained ear it just sounds like weird guttural yelps but hes actually being super friendly and gentle with you!

- the chittering Is a learned behavior that he picked up when all of them first fell into the devildom. He learned it to help soothe his siblings and himself.

- lucifer is a very busy man so he doesn't have all the time in the world to play with you, it upsets him a bit because he was so involved with his other siblings childhoods but cant be there as much for you.

- THAT BEING SAID LORD DIAVOLO ADORES YOU. In a previous post I said that diavolo was probably the first person to ever hold you when you were born. And that you lived in the castle until you were about 100yrs and started attending primary school + start living in the HOL.

- best believe you two are very close.

- Lucifer down right refuses to talk in baby talk too you. It'll stunt your language skills! He fully intends on you learning many languages in the future so hell no.

- he will however talk to you in a normal voice and you'll speak back to him in baby babble that kinda sounds like you know what your trying to say but cant quite get it out. and its pretty funny to see from an outside perspective:

Baby: "Mamm meEp! NoNono! "

Luci: " mhm, yes? Tell me more."

Baby:" Grrraaaahhh!!!" * tiny screech*

Luci: " oh really?"

Baby:* blows a raspberry * " bubba! Noknok!"

Luci: " very well, I'm glad we came to this agreement " * shakes your tiny hand and hands you back your confiscated spoon*

- he does it so much that the others do it now too. Mammon and asmo still occasionally talks in baby talk to you but Lucifer scolds them for it.

- he knows better than to let you roam free, his brothers are grown ass men and get into everything so imagine that but make it smaller and harder to catch.

- the press spread word fast, when the youngest born was introduced to the devildom public; it had their heartstrings nearly snapping! Succubi, inccubi, demons from every ring came too see you. You weren't royalty but you were for sure nobility!

- you were too young to make decisions or hold any power in a court but it did fill Lucifer with pride to see you trying to mimick him. You try to copy his angry eyes, raise your wings if you have them to look bigger luke he does. It's cute and it only makes the press love you even more!

- apart of him is extremely protective of you. He already lost 1 sibling he cant lose another...it would destroy him. He feels as if he's been given a 2nd chance, and although you aren't lilith you are little and hes far more wise now than he was before. He vows to not make the same mistakes twice.

[ellegreenwxy]

Who do you think is going to pick mc at the boys choice recoupling? With all the leaks I don’t really see any of them picking mc haha but honestly I could possible see alfie doing it. Once he has the time to think of the whole thing that came out about mc in that challenge I can see him being like “I was stupid and I overreacted but it still really want to get to know you if that’s what you want”

anon, this is such a fun question LOL thank you for gifting me this

as usual, spoilers/theories/all the good stuff under the cut babes!! xo

OKAY SO

Let's break this down:

Finn, to me, is an immediate no. According to him, he's not a marriage guy so I think he'd be super turned off by the knowledge that MC was going to propose. Will he proposition her for a bit of fun? I'm pretty sure he would because he just seems like the type. One of those guys who sleeps with women who want a relationship but then he ghosts her right after because he just wants a hookup? Yeah, Finn strikes me as that kind of person, so I'm gonna say he's a no-go on picking MC. (He'll continue to flirt with her, but I think he's going to stick with Kat or if a new girl comes in that's more his type, maybe her).

The other three? Complete toss-ups to me.

Eddie, Eddie has been our dark horse so far. He's made little flirty comments here and there but he's not been nearly as present, especially when you compare him to Suresh and Alfie. But! This is not to say that he's completely out of the game. I think based on spoilers, I think he's kicking his little snakey side into high gear. He's very clearly using the rift between MC and Suresh to his advantage, as well as the rift between MC and Alfie since he reacted so badly to her excess baggage secret. So yeah, I think it's very possible we could see Eddie swoop in here and choose MC. Additionally, Dana hasn't been shy about flirting with MC (regardless of whether you're on her route or not) and Suresh both, so I could see him pursuing MC because he's given up on Dana. Now, how MC responds to it after he basically threatened to blackmail her is a totally different story.

Alfie. Sweet, sweet Alfie. Regardless of whether or not you picked him on the first day, Alfie appears to be the person that's pursuing MC the hardest. He's always flirting, always there to square up against Suresh (even if it's not his business but that's a whole other thing), basically just there for MC in general. There is no doubt that he wants to pick her. Now. Let's talk about the proposal issue. I've talked about this in a couple of other asks now but the whole situation to me feels very odd, to say the least. My feelings about the situation aside, I think, anon, you have a really great theory there. I can one-thousand percent see Alfie apologizing for getting cold feet all of a sudden and realizing it was silly of him to get so freaked out by a relationship that MC had before she even met him (!! hello !!). So yes, I think Alfie is a really good contender here but only if MC is genuinely interested. For some reason, I could also see him pursuing Dana? Not sure why, just a vibe I get. So if MC isn't interested, I could see him choosing her instead.

Suresh, my mansplain, manipulate, manifest king. Here's the complicated thing about him. I think he would choose MC if she were at risk of being dumped from the Villa. Say, for whatever reason, Eddie picks one of the new girls or sticks with Dana and Alfie picks one of the new girls or chooses Dana and then it comes down between MC and the other new bombshell. I think, even though Suresh said he was essentially giving up, I highly, highly doubt that he would let MC completely slip from his fingers if he could help it. Regardless of the decisions he's made so far (decisions, mistakes––potato, potahto), I really do think that seeing MC in danger would be a huge wakeup call for him. It would force him to realize what he's actually after here which, I'm assuming, is to fix things with MC and to get her back.

So to answer your question anon, I really do think this is going to be a total toss up and I'm excited to see how it plays out!