#i still have no idea what was causing it but ill never trust the same again

[starsofang]

Single Dad!Simon who vowed to never trust another woman again after his failed past. He was locked up with the key thrown away, permanently off of the market.

At least that’s what he’d told himself for years. Now, he was beginning to have cold feet.

Simon needed a nanny, one that he could trust completely. He didn’t play about his child, and he’d be damned if he got set up with someone of ill intentions.

But, he was desperate.

Price needed him back periodically, even after his retirement, and he agreed. After all, money was tight when he parented on his own with a growing child.

That was when you came in. Soap had been a pal and recommended an old family friend, somebody he knew Simon could trust with his kid. Simon was skeptical, of course, but Soap had never done him wrong. Reluctantly, he agreed.

Simon wanted to have a trial period to see if you were truly built for the task. He wouldn’t let you off easily. His child was his world, and women weren’t exactly in his deck of cards when it came to trust.

You were as sweet as honey upon the first meeting with a smile that could outdo the sun. Your voice was soft as rain, flowing out of you like a summer song. You spoke to him with the upmost respect, and even more so with his child.

Simon knew he could trust Soap in guaranteeing somebody safe. You were the perfect candidate. He just didn’t know it would lead into him feeling emotions he’d buried a long, long time ago.

Attraction. Interest. A crush, dare he say, like he was a stupid high school kid that just saw the prettiest girl in class and fell head over heels.

He had a silly crush on his child’s nanny when he fully intended to keep it short and professional. That was the way he operated. He was like a working machine, and you had undone his mechanics so easily to the point he struggled to function.

Seeing you with his child only caused his attraction to fester deeper. His child became attached to your hip, smiling more than they had ever done, rambling nonsense to him every time he returned home and you left to go to yours.

It was becoming hard to deny it. You opened an old wound of Simon’s, awakening that deep and dreadful loneliness he felt every passing day. Every smile, every laugh, every Mr. Riley even though you were close in age, all of it had him on the edge of his seat.

He wanted more. He was tired of denying himself happiness. The idea of pushing away every woman was still very vivid in his mind, but denying you just seemed criminal the more time passed.

“I never got to thank you for allowing me in to your home, Mr. Riley,” you told him one day, ever so sweet.

“Thought I told you to call me Simon,” he grunted, avoiding your eyes as the two of you stood in the doorway.

“Right. Simon,” you corrected with a radiant smile. “You have quite the kid, I’ll tell you that. I always look forward to coming over. It makes my day seeing the two of you.”

Simon could feel his heart pattering against his ribcage. His hands were sweaty, and he prayed you didn’t notice him swipe them along his jeans.

“Both of us?” he hummed.

“Of course. You’re just as exciting to see, too, Mr. Ri- Simon.”

Simon’s lips quirked up the slightest bit, but his heart was in his ass. For the first time in a long time, a woman was making him shy and nervous, and it didn’t feel as bad as it did before.

“You’re always free to come over for dinner,” he offered.

“That sounds great, I’d love to have dinner with the two of you!” you exclaimed, beaming.

He didn’t understand how you could be so bright yet so oblivious at the same time.

Simon cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably on the balls of his feet. “I meant, the two of us.”

You stared at him like he’d grown two heads, and he nearly slammed the door in your face from the sheer anxiety that spiked in him. He couldn’t read your mind or what you were feeling, and Simon wished he had never said anything to begin with.

“That sounds wonderful,” you said instead. Now it was Simon’s turn to stare at you crazy. “I’d love that.”

Simon realized he was staring too long, so he cleared his throat once again, giving you a brief nod and looking away. “Alright. I’ll text you a day and have Soap pick up the little monster for the night.”

When you agreed and left with the smile that made his heart ache, he didn’t waste a second in texting Soap, telling him he’d be on nanny duty for one night that week.

Soap was quick to agree, but not without a little “You’re welcome ;)” text back.

[azulpitlane]

vicious I ln4

pairing: lando norris x reader, a little of charles leclerc x reader🫣 summary: lando's fans always attack you yet he does nothing to defend you, inspired by vicious by sabrina carpenter notes: if youre the anon that requested this sorry it took so long lol! but you were so sweet ty masterlist, part two

yourusername

liked by maxfewtrell, charles_leclerc and 1,829,392 others

yourusername lil getaway

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user wait is she dating lando??

user there's been rumors of them dating for months but neither of them have confirmed user hopefully not lol

user i had no idea she went on this trip

user yeah cause lando never posts her or even likes her posts lmfaoaofda

user am i the only one that finds her annoying...

user nooo everyone else does lol shes always leeching off lando

yourbff ur perfect babe liked by yourusername

user pls dont let this be a hard launch🧎‍♀️lando get UP

user of course she has to post lando🤣she needs him for the likes

maxfewtrell spent more time on the ground than actually skiing

yourusername SHHHH it was my first time

user why are all these comments about lando?? im only looking at her😍

f1gossip

302,837 likes

f1gossip Y/n Y/l/n spotted in Bali celebrating New Years at Martin Garrix's show, possibly with Lando Norris. The two have sparked dating rumors for a few months now but no confirmation has been made from either of them.

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user we might have to start accepting that theyre dating☹️

user I REFUSE

user wait im new to the fandom, whys everyone hating on y/n i love her music...

user shes always posting lando for attention and he clearly has no interest in her, he doesnt even like her posts user plus his ex >>>>>>> y/n

user she doesnt deserve him, he needs someone lowkey and y/n is such an attention whore

user not surprised shes there, always leeching on him

user right like girl give him space, he aint yours

user im a y/n defender idgaf. everyone in these comments are just jealous liked by yourbff

user yikes... user defending someone who needs a man to stay relevant lol ok

user i miss luisinha😭

user im convinced theyre still dating and shes using lando for pr

y/n hey lan, i safely made it back to the hotel

lando 👍

y/n i still dont understand why you wanted me to leave early though, its not even midnight :(

lando y/n, we talked about this. there was lots of paparazzi there and if they saw us together on midnight they would think we're dating

y/n we ARE dating... why are you acting like we arent?

lando yk what i meant im just trying to protect you from the craziness that comes from dating me baby

y/n im already getting hate, hows hiding me any different?

lando lets just not do this tn. yk how much worse its gonna get it if we confirm anything listen i love you, isnt that enough?

y/n yeah, ily too

lando ill see you later tn❤️

lando baby where are you? come on it was a drunk mistake, yk i only love you it was just martins friend, you know her

y/n oh the girl you told me not to worry about?

lando it didnt mean anything why are you acting like this?

y/n because you fucking cheated. im leaving and im moving out of the apartment

lando please dont, im sorry baby i love you

y/n you say you love me but you can never prove it you hid me away for a whole year, was it so you could hook up with other girls?

lando of course not wth but since there's clearly no trust in this relationship maybe we should end it i wish you the best y/n read

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, pietrapilao and 3,295,203 others

yourusername new year same me, wasnt ever the problem

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yourbff YES WIFEY liked by yourusername

user she unfollowed lando omg.

user WAR IS OVERRRR

pietrapilao out of sight out of mind🧘‍♀️ liked by yourusername

user is this about lando omg...

luisinhaoliveira99 😍😍 liked by yourusername

user ARIANA WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE??? user WHEN DID THEY MEET??? user I NEED THE TEA RNNNNNN

charles_leclerc 🖤

user OH?

user what is going on in these comments omg??

user shes finally realized lando will never date a girl like her

user hahaha fr she finally deleted all her posts with him user probably gonna go for piastri now🤣

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, landonorris and 3,294,234 others

yourusername took some time off music but dont worry, im back and ready to prove i dont need anybody to stay successful

vicious is out now💌

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user OH NOWWW LANDO LIKES HER POST

yourbff sooo back baby

user this has to be about lando...

user the lyrics are heartbreaking omg

user you all owe her a big apology for the way you treated her

charles_leclerc you look good in red this comment has been deleted

charles_leclerc love it! this comment has been deleted

charles_leclerc congrats on the new song!!

taylorswift 💌❤️

user yall better not start switching up!! if you were hating on her, stay away

user are we just going to ignore charles' deleted comments??

user bro was NERVOUS

user we dont know if this is about lando!! they were just friends

user you toxic lando fans need to stay away🙄 she was never seen with anyone else this past year so its clearly about him. hes not some saint you paint him out to be user exactly!! you guys are acting like you know him

user her shirt saying loyal🫣thats gotta be a diss

landonorris

liked by carlossainz55, martingarrix and 630,402 others

landonorris pretty vicious life im living rn

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user the caption??? the hard launch??? oh thats not-

maxfewtrell bro. no.

user his own best friend doesnt approve of his behavior😬

user this winter break drama is something else

user lando i cant keep defending you. why would you caption it this.

user IS THAT NEW YEARS KISS GIRL ON THE THIRD SLIDE???

user yess i found her @ shes martin garrix's friend and she was at that party

user anyone else notice luisa unfollowed him??

user she chose her side HAAHAH user pretty ironic cause so many fans were comparing y/n to her and now theyre friends🤣

user whys everyone mad?? its his private life why do you guys care

user oh so now you guys are giving him privacy?? but when he was rumored to be with y/n you were hating...the hypocrisy

yourbff alexa play obsessed by mariah carey🥱

user OOP user the girls are fightingggg

user not even a y/n fan but this was a bit unnecessary...

user "you dont feel remorse, you dont feel the effects" 🫠

f1gossip

240,520 likes

f1gossip Despite hard launching their relationship just one week ago, Lando's new girlfriend has been spotted getting cozy with a different guy! The leaked pictures have already caused for her to go private on all social medias😬

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user karma is A GOD

user i know y/n is having a good day today

user omfg poor lando :(

user womp womp

user i bet he is regretting his decisions rn😭

user y/n nation won today, ln4 nation taking L after L

user we cant catch a break😩

user WHAT IS GOING ON WITH LANDO RN

user craziest winter break yet jeez

Instagram Messages

charles_leclerc hey y/n! i know we havent spoken much but ive seen how lando treated you the few times you were at races and i apologize for never speaking on it i just wanted to tell you you're a great person and your music is so amazing if you ever need anything please just shoot me a text!

landonorris y/n you blocked my number? im sorry about everything baby can we please just talk?

yourusername

liked by charles_leclerc, maxfewtrell and 4,204,214 others

yourusername im soooo sorry for your loss😊

my new single feather is out now!! special thanks to @charles_leclerc for helping me out in the music video, had so much making it <3

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user this mv was so hot omg

user I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS BUT I LOVE

user i know a certain someone is FUMING

luisinhaoliveira99 on repeat already!!

yourusername 💋💋 user im convinced luisa reached out after she saw all the comparisons with her and y/n and they became besties user wait that makes so much sense

user f1 twitter is going insane rn

user Y/N NATION KEEPS WINNING

pietra.pilao AHH youre so talented bby liked by yourusername

charles_leclerc had the best time on set with you❤️

yourusername ❤️ user i ship it........

user i want them both

user ofc now shes going for another driver🙄

user oh you guys are OBSESSED with her, get a job user y/n still has them mad LOL

user l**** would never agree to anything like this

user im literally never getting over this, ive watched it 5 times in a row already

landonorris

liked by carlossainz55, maxfewtrell and 940,240 others

landonorris a toast to my real friends

view all comments

user if this is a charles sneak diss i will cry

user we got carlando content....but at what price

user oh he definitely got blocked by y/n😭

user dw we're on your side lando

user who is we?

user just take the L and move on bro

user the way 2 songs got everyone to switch up on lando HAHA

user not just that but his shady posts too

charles_leclerc posted a story

Replies

user the girls are OFFICIALLY fighting oh gosh

user next season is going to be interesting...

user my roman empire

user IS THIS A HARD LAUNCH???

user what is happening.

user PARENTS

[mind-player]

Purge

Durge is beginning to wonder whether it matters if they make it to Bhaal's temple and if it would be better for the others if they didn't.

And Astarion, despite your constant protests, cannot helplessly stand by and watch as you pour out the contents of your stomach and then eventually all of your questioning thoughts along with it.

Warning! Suicidal thoughts/questioning

Words: 2,040

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Astarion was quick to wake from his trance just from the absence of your presence at his side. He felt the place with cold fingers, realizing the blankets still had some of your warmth. The fire everyone circled around in their bedrolls was freshly tended, alive again with a new log added to the flames. 

The vampire quietly got up to avoid disturbing the other companion's rest and began to sense where you might've run off. He strained his ears, and it didn't take long for him to pick up the sound of a specific someone retching in the distance of the forest. Astarion made haste, not wanting to let you suffer alone for a second. 

A selfish part of him wanted to tell you again that it was alright to snap him awake whenever this happened, but he was fast to conclude that the morning would have to do. As much as he's gently brought it up, he did also understand your discomfort at the thought of him seeing you throw up last night's dinner. 

But still, they were in this together, Bhaal be damned. And he knew you wouldn't hesitate to do the same for him. Hells, you've asked him for a kiss even when he was covered in blood and viscera, his hair more than just slightly askew, and his face sore with cuts and bruises. Sure, he couldn't look into a mirror, but he could still feel that the grime and exhaustion were evident to anyone at camp.

Didn't matter to you, though. You would call Astarion beautiful every time, and he'd readily call you a liar. And you'd say with a smile as golden as your heart, "Prove it." 

He never could. 

Astarion finally came upon the vision of you keeling over on your knees. Your hand was your only leaning support, pale and clammy from the night's cold on a tree stump. The only contrast was the red and scabbing marks around your wrist from being tied up every other night. 

"Don't look," you croaked, your voice hoarse and tired, ready to deny his help. 

It was rare that you would let yourself sleep sometimes, especially after what happened to that poor bard you so eagerly let join camp without even a hint of suspicion on your mind. Astarion was irritated by your being so open and careless, and all you had to say was that you missed the sound of a bard's music. 

And you were punished for it. 

Astarion remembered the last day you would ever trust your body around anyone. Not even your thoughts were safe in your mind, for fear of them crawling out and unleashing murder upon your companions and, God's forbid, on Astarion. Even the idea of that happening made you ill, but your mind would force you to see it in your dreams, and your slinking Bhaal butler would provoke the strength of your will.

It was only inevitable and natural that you'd be sick to your stomach with all that on your shoulders, your mind. 

"You think this is the worst I've witnessed in my two hundred years?" the elf questioned, and he chose not to move forward, not without further consent. 

"No," you answered truthfully, letting your hand slide down the rough bark for you to fall back on the balls of your feet. 

"Then please let me help you." 

"I," you started, taking a shaky breath. "I don't think you can." 

Astarion could tell from your voice alone you were on the brink of tears. And as much as the vampire just wanted to take all of that pain away and rip it to nothing but shreds, kill any God that causes it, and ascend himself victorious so that it could never happen again, he couldn't. Not yet. He remained where he stood. 

"What do you mean, my love?" he questioned softly when you didn't continue. He could always be sincere with you when you so effortlessly were, especially in such moments. 

"I just hate this," you responded, nearly crying aloud. "I know you said we can fight this together. And I want to. Gods, I want to. But sometimes, I just wish my mind would stop for a second. Just to let me be me around you. The me that you know and the one I want to be. But I don't think I ever will." 

He didn't say anything, letting you say what he couldn't bear. 

"I'm going to die," you whispered, giving out and leaning onto your side. "And if my body doesn't, I know whoever was on this journey with you definitely will. So what does it matter if it all just stops now?"

Astarion almost couldn't believe his ears. Such a dreadful question slipped through the lips of an angel who soothed everyone's worries and selflessly promised devotion to countless others regardless of their own self-preservation. 

Some say vampires are unfeeling creatures with no heart, none that craves to beat for anything other than the thrill of power. But, of course, if anyone ever proved them wrong, it was you. 

And if there was anyone to tell Astarion he was worth more than his looks, his body, and his charm, that he was a person just like everyone else who could be valued, trusted, and loved so readily, it was most certainly you. You were the only one to give him even the slightest hope of defeating someone he had revolved around for two centuries. You were the only one to tell him he could finally stop surviving and start living. 

You were the hope of every tiefling, your companions, and him. Hearing you, seeing you finally break, was enough to bring him to his knees, and the thought of genuinely losing you made his heart fall. But not for one second was this only about him. 

A silence fell over the two of you until he finally gathered his words. 

"When I discovered you, I remember being so furious. After all, how could there be people like you out here all this time? Just waiting to save someone's life, end their torment, their worries," he tried to explain without his voice trembling. 

"You were so naive yet so relentlessly kind, constantly worrying about right and wrong, weighing every decision and then being the one to bear the consequences of them, all on your shoulders. And not once did you expect anything in return from anyone.

"So, please, consider when I hear you ask if it matters if you keep existing in this world, even if it's for a moment longer, that it does. Gods, it does. It's indisputable. Because this world is already so starved of people like you," he said, his chest aching with every word. 

Hot tears threatened to well in his eyes, tears he hadn't known since he was still in that wretched dungeon being tortured alive. 

Astarion couldn't stop thinking about you being lost forever compared to so many other evils they've slain along their journey. There were so many in this world who no one would miss, who no one would even consider a moment to remember, and Astarion thought that, with all his faults, he might as well have been on that list, too. 

But everyone would most certainly miss you. Probably would throw thousands of flowers on your grave each year, speak exciting stories of your adventures with all you've done, put up a statue of you, and honor you for centuries to come. 

He would so desperately miss you. When the others finally abandoned him and left him to his own devices or back with Cazador, he would have forgotten how to love again, knowing that you were the only one he could care for. 

Astarion watched as the hand that supported you on the ground clenched, intertwining your calloused fingers into the grass. You turned your body to finally face him, shining tears from the firelight staining your cheeks. 

And all of that and everything else he could've said to convince you otherwise must've been conveyed in just one look because he was finally seeing you. Your sweat-damp brow was furrowed in pain, your white-knuckled grip released the delicate blades of grass, and all your pain from your stomach to your head and mind was brewing behind your reddened eyes. Tired eyes. 

"I'm sorry," you eventually cried with shoulders quivering, and it was all Astarion needed to come crawling over to hold you in his arms. "I didn't– I shouldn't have–"

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Nothing at all," Astarion vehemently told you, shaking his head. "Everything that's been asked of you forced onto you, would test anyone." 

You wept, sniffled, and apologized, and the cycle repeated, but Astarion never once ran out of quiet, comforting whispers. 

It continued until it eventually came to a slow end, with you resting your head on his shoulder and his hand rubbing against yours. Your legs were numb from how long you both had sat there in that forest and if you could feel, maybe even a little cold- not because of Astarion. Never because of him. 

While basking in the comfortable silence that befell both of you, you still couldn't help but sigh and shake your head. 

"What is it, my love?" he asked so gently as if the words alone would make you fall apart again. You never hated yourself more for dumping your doubts, worries, and dreads on him. 

"It's stupid," you said, actually meaning that you were stupid in a sense. 

"Try me."

You hid your face further into the crook of his shoulder, feeling that familiar warmth spread across your cheeks. 

"I just remembered how much I didn't want you to ever see me throw up... and you get something ten times worse."

Astarion laughed and said, "Compared to the monstrous atrocities we've seen throughout this journey, this is more akin to sunshine and a bed of fresh roses. I don't mind."

"Really?" 

"Yes."

You squinted in suspicion at him and persisted, "Not even a little?" 

Astarion quirked a brow. 

"Well, I could do without the snot on the only shirt I possess," he joked, earning that gorgeous smile he missed so dearly, "but if it means you're still here, together with me, then no, I genuinely don't mind. I'm not going anywhere." 

The latter part of his words sounded so irrefutable and clear to your ears that you almost forgot everything ahead. 

"Even if I turn into a monster?" you asked him.

"The day you turn into a monster is the day that bears will fly," he answered, silently thinking about how different you were compared to him. "But if that still somehow manages to happen, then what's the harm of being monsters together?" 

"That'd be so terrible," you told him, shaking your head with a smile. 

This was nice. Your dark thoughts were quelled and momentarily replaced with the idea of you and Astarion, the future you two could have if you somehow managed to live through all this. What would it be like, you wondered. 

You imagined a house somewhere in the city, perhaps a townhouse. You'd both live messily; all the treasures you hoarded over this journey would be scattered everywhere when first moving in. Curtains would be closed, but you'd like to imagine them open with a smiling Astarion basking like a cat in the sun he adored. 

Alive again. With your love's heart beating so strongly with your ear pressed up against his naked chest as you both lounge in bed, doing nothing in particular. 

Then it crossed your silly mind that you wanted that. You wanted to see that someday, even if it might not have been in the cards for you. But when have the chances ever not been slim? And how many times did you beat them until now? 

That future, that hope, was enough to fight for. 

That acquainted quiet settled once more before you finally whispered a vow only to him, "I'll defy him. Whatever it takes." 

Even if it meant dying. 

"As will I," he answered, and you knew who he spoke of. One day, both of you might be free- truly free. 

[belovedmusings]

Poppy red.

Choso Kamo x You x Suguru Geto

Explicit Themes (🚫Minors DNI🚫)

Part six of the 'Two + One' story. Click for story masterlist.

Guitarist! Choso Kamo is your boyfriend, and today, after having gone no-contact with his bandmate, Suguru, for a month, you have him over at your house while Choso is visiting his brother. The two of you need to discuss your relationship...and hopefully exhibit much-needed self-control.

Relevant tags: sexual tension, thoughts of infidelity, characters with questionable morals, Suguru is hot, but so is Choso, slow burn, no "y/n" for immersion, 2nd POV, reader has no defining characteristics, explicit smut, missionary, oral sex (fem receiving)

Recommended songs to listen to while reading: HENTAI (Rosalía), Animal I Have Become (Three Days Grace)

A/N: Life has still been busy but I still am so in love with this story so I'll continue to update!! Here's a rather spicy chapter, enjoy :)

Read below cut:

The two of you take either side of the couch in the living room once you’re inside with the groceries all put away. 

Suguru had been watching television while you restocked the fridge and pantry, so once you join him, he faces you properly, beginning to speak.

“I want you in my life,” Suguru tells you right off the bat, seeming to want to avoid wasting time, “And before I…tell you how I really feel, I need you to know that I don’t want to take you away from Choso. I understand that you two are happy and I have no ill-feelings towards him.”

You nod, waiting for him to continue.

“That being said,” Suguru looks you deeply in the eyes. “I…what I feel for you isn’t like anything I’ve felt for anyone else. You’re constantly on my mind and I…I just want to be near you all the time. I want to hold you and…kiss you. Since I want to be completely blunt, I…I want more than that, too. I’m physically attracted to you, but also, I…I can picture us together.”

Hearing it out loud is a crazy experience, but Suguru is being open and honest with you. You want to meet him halfway. 

“I feel the same way, but I haven’t lost any feelings I have for Choso. It’s very confusing.”

“That’s another thing—I don’t want to hurt Choso. I really like him, and I’d never want to betray his trust.”

You sigh, looking down at your hands, which have begun fiddling with each other in your lap. Then, in one fluid motion, you feel Suguru move closer, his hand covering both of yours. 

“I…I don’t know how to move forward from here,” Suguru confesses as your eyes meet, your heart fluttering in your chest. “But I can’t say ‘goodbye’ to you.”

”Look…um, I just think it’s a good idea if we only see each other when he’s around,” you tell him, his palm warm over your skin. Your eyes are fixated on the sight. “We…can’t control ourselves when we’re alone together.’

Suguru sighs heavily beside you, giving your hands a small little pulse, his thumb gently running in small strokes. It makes you nervous, filling you with a pulsating warmth that ebbs and flows in rhythm with his touches. 

“See?” You say, “Even this…this is intimacy we shouldn’t be sharing. We wouldn’t do this with Choso around.”

He looks into your eyes, nodding minutely. “That’s true. I know what you’re saying is true. I just…have this urge to not keep my hands off of you. If you were my girlfriend…should you want it…I’d have trouble staying off of you.”

You suck in a slow, deep breath. “When you say things like that…”

“I know,” he shakes his head, “I know, I do. Just…why couldn’t I have found you first?”

“Suguru,” you look away, pulling your hand out of his. “I shouldn’t be entertaining you like this, but I just…there’s something about you that I just…”

“Why haven’t you told him about what we’ve done so far?” He asks suddenly, causing you to look at him again. Your lips part for a second in thought before the honest words come pouring out.

“I don’t want to hurt him,” you say, “He has a tough exterior but he’s incredibly soft and vulnerable on the inside. If I told him…it would…grow. Like a weed. Even if I assured him it was nothing to worry about, it’d be there in the back of his mind. It would make him see you differently too, and it might ruin the band. I can’t do that, Suguru.”

“So, your plan is to never tell him how you feel about me?”

“How can I?” You stand up, gesticulating as you speak, “Suguru, I can’t tell my boyfriend, ‘I think I have feelings for your bandmate even though I’m still every bit as in love with you as I was when we first got together.’ If he did that to me, I would be devastated.”

Suguru frowns. “But the longer this goes on…the worse the lie.”

“I can’t hurt him.”

“So tell him the truth. Tell him how you feel about me, but that you have no plans of ever leaving him.”

“Then what? Then he leaves the band and hates you?” You ask, the idea absurd to you.

“Then I talk to him, too,” Suguru says, “I tell him how I feel, and that I have no plans of taking you away.”

“You tried to kiss me the last time we were alone together.”

“I know,” He says, “but maybe if it’s out in the open…”

“He won’t want me ever near you again,” You protest, “it’s better if this stays a secret.”

“I don’t like secrets,” Suguru shakes his head. “What if I dropped hints? Let him figure out that I have feelings for you? And we’ll see what he does.”

“What good would that do?”

“Then he could control the situation. Would that make you feel better?”

If Choso was the one who picked up on it, he could approach you first, and then you could get a read for how he feels about it based off of the way he broaches the subject with you. 

You take a breath before nodding. “Yeah…it would.”

“Okay,” Suguru nods. “Then we’ll do that. It’s going to be okay.”

Your heart throbs painfully in your chest, and suddenly those words of comfort have a lump growing in your throat. Why? Do you like Suguru that much? Is it really having such a great effect on you?

His palm touches your cheek, and you look up at him to see his golden eyes staring into yours. His voice is soft as he says, “tell me how I make you feel.”

There’s a flutter in your chest and you breathe out shakily. “I…I feel a pull. You’re always on my mind, and your music is all I play. When I’m with you, I just…I want to do every bad thing in the book with you. I want to know how you kiss, how it feels, how you…”

Your words trail off as you realize how insane it sounds out loud. Still, he presses on. 

“How I taste?” He fills in for you, deep voice low and syrupy, just above a whisper. It robs your own voice from you. You nod your affirmation.

His hand soothes your hair back. “What else?”

You inhale slowly to try and gain miniscule composure. “How you’d hold me…what it would be like if we were together…the sort of things we’d say, how we’d act, if we could just be a couple…”

“You like me bad,” he teases you lightly, and it commands a hot flush to your face.

“Don’t…”

“I’m right there with you,” he murmurs, pressing his forehead against yours. “I want to wake up next to you, to see you wearing my clothes, to make meals for you, to go out with you and spoil you…I want to make you happy.”

Your eyes close, and he takes the opportunity to ghost his lips over yours, the metal of his lip rings prompting a hitch in your breath. You begin to pull away, but he chases you, tilting slightly to plant a kiss to your cheek instead. You meet his eyes, and his own hold such an intimate gaze within them that you feel it sear through a layer in your heart. He keeps going; his lips meet the skin of your jaw, hands holding you by your back, and soon he’s trailing a line down your neck, arising goosebumps over the flesh he touches, the soft clicks indicating the cadence of each kiss only heightening your insanity.

Having lost a part of your conscience in his embrace, you return it, holding him close to you and relishing in his affection. You thread your fingers through his hair, pulling it from the tie it had been in, and he breathes out in relief, the warm air brushing over your skin.

His mouth stops at the neckline of your shirt, eyes glancing up at yours. 

“I want to keep going,” He states, lowly and softly. You swallow thickly, afraid of the lack of control you might display if you told him what you really wanted to say. Luckily, he doesn’t put you in that position, and he takes a breath, straightening up and putting some distance between you. “I won’t, though.”

Your eyes hold his for a moment, and then you move to speak.

The lock in the front door turns. 

Choso.

You hurriedly sit on the couch, an appropriate distance from Suguru, and understanding the situation immediately he follows suit on the other end. The door opens just in time, and your boyfriend walks through the door.

“Chos’,” you greet with a smile, standing and moving to kiss him. 

“Hey,” He kisses you back before noticing Suguru on the couch. “Oh, hey. I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Oh, yeah,” Suguru puts on his signature disarming smile. “We happened to be out at the same grocery store. I had to get more tea for Larue, and the place I usually go was out so I came over here.”

“Yeah, I ran into him and invited him over,” You corroborate. Nothing we said was a lie. Just not the entire truth.

“Cool,” Choso smiles easily, not phased or suspicious in the slightest. He removes his shoes and drops his keys in the basket near the door.

“How was hanging out with Kechizu?”

“Ah, same old,” Choso shrugs, “just played games and had pizza.”

“That’s good,” You say, moving to sit back down on the couch. “I got us restocked for the week with groceries since I got a little bored.”

“Oh, good. We can just use Sunday for a lazy day then,” Choso states, moving to sit where you were sitting on the couch. That leaves one spot; between him and Suguru.

Seeing the turmoil flash behind your eyes, Suguru stands.

“Well, it’s getting pretty late. I should get going home since it’s a little far from here.”

“Oh, you sure? You don’t want to stay for dinner?” Choso asks, “we can just order in and hang out, you’re not imposing.”

You take a breath, and Suguru shakes his head. “I appreciate it, but I gotta run some more errands before I go back. I’ll take you guys up on that on another day if you’ll have me.”

“Sure,” Choso shrugs, “you’re welcome any time.”

“Thanks,” Suguru smiles, then walks to the door. He passes you, and you get another whiff of his jasmine cologne, your last dose for the night. He starts putting his shoes on. “Thanks for having me over.”

Recognizing he’s talking to you, you smile in a way that you hope is convincing. “Sure, it’s no trouble. We’re friends now too, after all.”

Something gleams in his eyes at that. The denial you’d given him last time has been overwritten. “Yeah? Sweet. Hey, would you mind if I got her phone number, Choso? It’s not weird, right?”

What?

You look at your boyfriend, who shakes his head. “No, it’s not weird,” He chuckles lightly. “Go ahead. It’s probably a good idea in case of emergency anyway.”

“You’re right,” You agree, moving over to Suguru to take his phone and put your number in it. You text yourself so you have his. 

“Thanks,” He says, taking his phone back. “Well, I’ll see you Monday, Choso! You guys have a good night.”

“You too.”

Choso raises his hand in a wave, and you close the door behind him once he leaves, locking it.

Once you turn around, you see your boyfriend’s eyes traveling over your figure, and it makes you feel warm.

“Chos’?”

“You look really beautiful like that.”

You take a look at yourself. Your hair’s kind of messy, and all you’re wearing is one of his sweatshirts and shorts. 

“Thanks,” you laugh, moving to sit beside him. “I’m not wearing anything special.”

“So?”

That catches you by surprise. He’s usually not this bold. He reaches out and puts a hand on your leg, running it up your thigh. 

“I’ve been thinking about us…” Choso says, “and…that time when I got a little flustered after you wanted me to choke you.”

Your mouth dries up. “…oh?”

“Do you want me to be rougher?”

Your next breath is uneven. “W-well, I…”

“I need you to tell me what you want,” He says, voice dropping a bit in volume. “You know I’ll give you anything.”

“A-anything?” Your voice is thin. He nods seriously.

“Anything in the world.”

You find yourself nodding. “I want…I want to try it rough.”

His lips are on yours in the next instant, and everything after that is a blur of bruising touches, the hurried removal of clothes, and an insistence in your boyfriend you've never seen before.

He has you laid out on the couch, both of your clothes strung around the room unimportantly, his mouth trailing kisses down your neck. A reminder that Suguru had been there not even an hour ago has you feeling a whirlwind of emotions; the shame gives way to arousal.

Choso’s teeth near your nipple has you gasping right back to the present, and you look to see him sucking marks into the soft flesh of your chest. His hands are on your thighs, spreading them, and without warning you feel the glide of his length against your mound. 

He begins grinding against you as he marks your breast up in hickies, pulling noises from you that you don’t recognize. 

His tongue runs over your nipple and you cry out, arching your back as he doubles down and continues to run his tongue over the hardened peak, your sexes rubbing intimately together in a way that makes your heart feel close to bursting.

It’s like he’s a new man tonight…he’s never this into it.

His teeth graze the tip of your nipple and you shudder, wrapping your legs around his waist and beginning to move your hips with his. He groans at that, moving to the next breast and giving it the same attention the first one got. 

“Chos’,” you moan out, feeling one of his hands find the apex of your thigh. It’s only a second before two of his fingers find their way inside of you, slipping in with no resistance due to the way he’s masterfully turned you on. He starts pumping his fingers at a pace, the long digits reaching deep within you, making you shiver again. 

The combination of his mouth and hand are enough to make your head spin. 

He adds a third finger and begins moving down, sliding to his knees off the couch and readjusting you so that he supports your legs with his shoulders. 

His lips scatter kisses and marks over the insides of your thighs as he continues to finger you, and not wasting any time, his mouth finds exactly where you need him, lips wrapping around your pearl and sucking as he pushes his fingers in deeper.

“Fuck,” is what leaves your mouth in a hiss, your hand gripping the couch tightly as he starts eating you out with gusto. “C-Chos’…”

He hums, tongue working wonders on you, and you think for a moment that you might actually lose sanity. 

It’s not like he hasn’t done this before. It’s just that you didn’t think he could be so bold. Usually he goes slower, he never really leaves marks, and he sure as hell doesn’t curl his fingers inside you as he’s doing now—but you’re falling even deeper in love with him.

“Oh my god,” a moan leaves your mouth, and he licks a fat stripe up your swollen bud before attacking it again with a kiss. “Choso…”

His free hand finds your breast again, and it’s over soon after that—the way his fingers pinch and tease at your nipple combined with everything else he’s doing sweeps you over the edge swifter than you’re prepared for, and your orgasm slams into you with a cry of his name. 

Or, rather, your first orgasm of the night.

He doesn’t stop there. He straightens up and climbs back between your legs on the couch, kissing you deeply as he lines up. Instead of asking, he takes, driving himself inside of you and making you take him despite the sensitivity of your walls.

You gasp as he begins moving immediately, nails digging into his shoulders. When you clench around him he groans, right in your ear, and you look up at him to see his face flushed prettily, sweat dripping down his forehead.

Another wave of lust for him takes over and you kiss him hard, nails dragging over his back. He mewls into your mouth and picks his pace up, the lewd, wet slap of your skin tell-tale to anyone who may be walking by the front door of your apartment. 

That reminds you…the two of you have never done it on the couch before. He couldn’t wait long enough to get to bed. 

Another one of your flutters around him causes his hips to stutter, and he ducks down, dragging his teeth over your ear before leaning up on his hands above you.

Then, one of them finds the base of your neck. Your lips part as he squeezes gently, focusing more power on the slam of his hips into yours. You feel him deep inside of you, the dull, harsh stretch of him forcing you to accommodate, and your eyes roll to the back of your head, voice reaching octaves you didn’t think you were capable of. 

“I love you,” he breathes, kissing your open mouth, and you shiver from the contrast of his rough-fucking and the gentle declaration of devotion.

“I love you too,” it comes out of your throat like a wrecked sob, and amidst his panting, he reaches down and starts rubbing you in time with his thrusts, doing exactly what you need in order to finish for the second time. 

As soon as you do, you feel him twitch, pressing deep into you to give you his load. Your own body shakes at the feeling, a sense of euphoria washing over you akin to the rush of opium. 

When you open your eyes, his own mahogany ones are looking at you, a loose, dopey smile on his lips.

“Fuck,” you rasp intelligently, and he chuckles, burying his face in your neck.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” you nod, hugging him close. 

No one is on your mind but him. What else happened today? You can’t remember. You can’t think at all. 

Right now, Choso is your world. 

___

A/N: calm before the storm me thinks. Seriously though, if you're sticking with this and still waiting for the updates, thank you so much, I appreciate you. I still plan to post on AO3, I'm just not sure when I'll have the time. Keep your eyes out for the next update!

Please don't copy or repost, but feel free to reblog and share! Taglist (comment here or my masterlist if you want to be added): @jaegerstan222 , @cosmicstarlatte , @dabisdolly , @moonriseoverkyoto , @propheticfire , @bontensbabygirl , @crlyhairedwxtch , @alittlebirdahgaselx , @okkovtsu , @notbellasstuff , @uchihabbynic , @polaroidnana , @childofilluvatar , @shadowfoxy , @jordan-network , @dreamtravelersade , @unmatchxd , @lucyrocks86 , @spineyy , @k3lbade , @xxbuckpoppi , @naughtygobbo , @slammynics , @roseambers , @luvingyouwasreallyhard , @hinachaaan , @redladyrae-blog , @spiteless-xo , @slutforaz , @bellaabee082 , @thedorklingqueen , @delayedrage , @poopwons , @pandisastergod , @username23345 , @sleazymac-n-cheesy , @forest-haven , @midnaamethyste , @bihanspookies , @mysteriouskiller1 , @liyahthings

[jasperhaleobsessed]

I have a rq!!

A platonic Emmett x friend!reader who he learns has the same last name he had when he was human (McCarty), and the same dimples as him.

Turns out, she’s like a great-great-great niece or smth and how they talk ab it n how he explains all the vampire stuff and they become besties!!

Notes: Sorry, I know this is really short compared to my other fics!! also thank you for your patience, I really appreciate it! But I hope you still like it! 💗

Warnings: None!

Emmett Cullen x platonic!reader!

"I can't believe you're my great, great, great niece! That's awesome!" You laughed showing your dimples.

Emmett smiled as well, "And you've got my dimples as well!"

You couldn't believe it either. You had a great, great, great uncle who happened to be a vampire. You'd never thought when you moved to Forks that you'd make a lot of friends let alone family. You still couldn't quite fathom the idea that he was a vampire. It was kind of crazy. You were still processing the information he had told you but you gladly welcomed him, with open arms. And he did as well. You'd met his family and for the most part they were welcoming as well.

They were sweethearts except for a few who were a little more closed off. But you didn't take it personally. You couldn't blame them. You couldn't help but feel emphatic of them as well. They were vampires who strived to be good and care for humans and the bloodlust must be difficult even after multiple decades. It seemed to be a difficult task and for that you wouldn't blame them or have any ill will towards them. You knew if you were a vampire you'd want somebody to be understanding of your predicament.

It warmed your heart knowing even after he couldn't be with his family he had grown up with he found a family and people who loved and cared for him. It was also delightful to know he found someone special in his after life or vampire life? You weren't sure how to refer to it but you were just happy for him that's all you know.

She hadn't been the most welcoming but you tried to not take it to heart or too personally. She seemed to care for Emmett quite a bit so you tried to think optimistically rather than negatively.

He then explained that they sparkle like diamonds. They freaking sparkle! You could barely believe it!

"Wait you sparkle like, like actual sparkles." He nodded. "Wow." You said mouth agape in shock.

Carlisle intervened, "Yes but you need to understand you cannot tell anyone about this or else our family could be endangered." You completely understood you wouldn't want to cause them problems especially to your own family. And to you it didn't make sense why you would tell anyone else this wasn't your secret to tell, it's not your business you're not going to go off and tell people.

"She won't, don't worry." Edward answered before you could say anything.

You were confused, "How do you know I won't?" He raised his brow, "I just mean you don't seem like someone who is very trusting of someone they just met."

"I'm not. I can read your mind." he said bluntly.

"What?" You asked. Emmett laughed at your expression. "Okay I wasn't expecting that." You said, surprised.

'I don't think anyone does, dear." Esme says warmly. "True." You said. You turned your wrist to look at the time, "Oh shoot look at the time, I have to go. It was amazing meeting you all, Thank You so much for having me."

"You're welcome." Esme and Carlisle said.

Esme gave you a warm smile while Carlisle shook your hand. Alice gave you the gentlest hug she could while being excited. While Jasper simply nodded. Edward didn't say much and Rosalie followed suite. But Emmett gave you a bear hug and twirled you around. You in that moment decided that he gave the best hugs in the world. You couldn't help but laugh and you thanked him, sweetly. A warm feeling spread in your chest as you left the Cullen household.

[trans-axolotl2]

Fuck the DSM. Seriously, fuck the DSM.

The DSM is and always has been used primarily as a method of rationalizing mistreatment of the people it labels as "deviant." When you look at the history of psychiatry, it becomes clear that things like drapetomania, protest psychosis, hysteria, and homosexuality as a disorder were not just thrown into there randomly. Rather, it showcases the power of the DSM: labeling and categorizing ways of being as mental illness opens up new paths of incarceration, social control, and curative violence. I need people to understand that the modern DSM still works like this: these classifications of madness/mental distress/neurodivergence into psychiatric labels encourage society to treat madness/mental distress/neurodivergence with the apparatuses used to eradicate "deviance." Diagnosis is not neutral.

As mad/mentally ill/neurodivergent people, we deserve access to more explanatory models of madness/mental illness/ neurodivergence than what the psychiatric language of normalcy and disorder offers us. Whether this looks like rejecting diagnosis, embracing varying cultural understandings of mental experience, or any million different ways of interpreting our bodymind, we deserve the option to move beyond clinical language that tries to convince us not to trust ourselves. We deserve to view ourselves wholly, leaving room for all our experiences of madness/mental illness/neurodivergence--the meaningful, the terrifying, the joyful, the exhausting. We deserve to have our own relationship with our madness, instead of being pushed to view ourselves as an inherent "danger to self or others" simply by existing as crazy.

Here's another truth: I hate the DSM, and I still call myself bipolar, a diagnosis that came to me through psych incarceration. While I wholeheartedly reject the DSM and the system intertwined with it, I simultaneously acknowledge and believe that many of the collections of symptoms that the DSM describes are very, very real ways of living in the world, and that the distress that they can cause are very very real. When I say fuck the DSM, I don't mean "Mental distress, disability, and neurodivergence aren't real." Rather, I mean that the DSM can never hold my experience of what it is like to be bipolar, the meaning I derive from experiencing life with cyclical moods. The DSM can't hold within its pages what it's like to see my mood cycle not as a tragedy or disaster, but instead as an opportunity, a gift, to grow and shift and go back to the same place over and over again, dying in winter and blooming again in spring. The DSM can't hold the fact that even though I experience very, very real distress due to those mood cycles--they're still mine and I claim that as something that matters to me. I call myself bipolar as a shorthand to tell people that I experience many things both extreme high and low, but I do not mean the same thing when I say "bipolar" as a psychiatrist does.

When we build community as mad/mentally ill/neurodivergent people, I want us to have room to share, relate, and care for each other in ways that isn't calling to the authority of a fucked up system with strictly defined categories. I don't want us to take those same ways of thinking and rebrand it into advocacy that claims to fight stigma, but really just ends up reinforcing these same ideas about deviance, cure, control, and danger. I dream of the day when psychiatry doesn't loom as a threat in all of our lives, and I think part of that work requires us as mad/mentally ill/neurodivergent people to really grapple with and untangle the ways we label and make meaning of our minds.

ok to reblog, if you want to learn more about antipsychiatry/mad studies check out this reading list.

[krillking]

*saunters cutely* what are your forest elder beast hcs :3

OK OK SO. Quick preface or whatever but a lot of this n just the hcs i got in general for a lot of the elders have been cooking for. A while in my brain and in rambles with friends so no idea how to fully explain it all 10000% through a tumblr post BUT picking up teth by the scruff anyways ill do my best

a handful of thoughts are usually based on like. Bobcats/lynx actually thanks to this one scrap of concept art from when tgc was still rolling with the whole animal elders idea in development but since im a sucker for animal hcs i just took it n ran with it

ANYWAYS few of the big ones in terms of like. Appearance for teth are that she gets some fangs n claws obviously and er pupils can also constrict into slits

at the same time though they can also dilate which looks silly but i think teth should be silly sometimes. As a treat

A TAIL TOO this thought is a bit more recent shoutout to salem over @/catb-sh for that idea

it's like a bobcat tail tho so it's just. Short

also also. Yknow how baby bobcats are just made with ZERO proportions in mind? teth when they were younger girl was so lanky

with behavior i dont think she'd be too different? like. General feline grace n all would prob apply here which makes for an insane combo when u consider the strength teth has with the whole blacksmithing thing going on

another silly thought but teth would also just have The Bobcat Scream (look it up if u haven't) which sounds. Super ridiculous but it makes me insane like imagine being in hidden forest and just hearing That in the distance cause they got startled or smthing

ALSO PURRING. SHOUTOUT TO THAT BIG FAN KF THAT also kneading when they're all relaxed n comfy though they'd never do that around anyone unless they're like super super close to them

i am. Very normal abt beast elders n a handful of these actually? Kinda apply to the samekh twins since i roll with the hc theyre teths kids with priestess (concept valley elder basically turned fanon idk if u know abt her yet but. Bro if you don't then just ask @whitebookposts trust me when i say they're her #1 fan.) and i like to think that priestess samekh is like. Reindeer when it comes to er creature so it just ends up in the twins being like funky cat/reindeer fellas

anyways in summary. Handing this over to teth

[hiemaldesirae]

Swap AU:

Val wasn't too slow, he didn't come at all to Vox's distress call. He thought Vox could handle it. He spends the first 4 years as Alastor's thrall dead, as do most of the soul that Val owns. (Angel included.) Killing Valentino and the souls he owns gets old, however and sinners are getting tired of the same old pornos, so Valentino gets to go back to work, but thanks to their multiple horrible deaths, Valentino and his contracted souls are alot closer. They even have a discord server dedicated to bitching about Alastor. Now that Vox is back, they've added a sever dedicated to getting pictures of Vox for Valentino so they all don't die horrible deaths--and also, Valentino rewards everyone with every new picture with a raise of 50 dollars, so it's nice incentive.

Alastor on the other hand beside killing Valentino and his contracted souls for the first 4 years, made a shrine with Vox's heads--except for the very first one. That one he slept with. That one remain's in his (formerly Vox's) bed everyday, waiting for Alastor's return everynight so he can curl around it and murmur the words he never got to say to his beloved Vox one last time.

When Vox returns, Sir Pentious joins the hotel because Vox has always been his favorite of his favorite of the Vees, and if he's joined another Overlord and started something else, the Sir Pentious will try it out!

Angel Dust is there because he doesn't want to go through the absolute HELL the first 4 years under Alastor was, he wants no repeats. No one Valentino included DOES!

Husker actually loves working with Vox, and loves sending smirks at the very pissed off shadow Alastor (not knowing Alastor is watching from the Shadow's eyes.) and the side hugs, the cuddles, Yeah, they might piss off the Shadow and Alastor even even more but he deserves it--Vox still has nightmares about his near death.

OHH okay okay i see. that clarification. Actually made things 1000x worse for me actually im gonna throw up. this val trusting in voxs abilities to the point where it made him lose one of his best friends for years vs show val jumping to vox the moment that it became clear the other couldnt hold his own..... so sickening what the hell. the guilt that val must feel in specific for voxs disappearance and presumed death- honestly hes probably glad for dying so much those first four years because it took his mind off the fact that it was HIS fault all this happened to vox and him and vel. i just want an oddly tear filled reunion scene with the two vees where vox is like "i thought you guys just didnt think i was important enough to come help" and voxvel start actually bawling bc theyve missed him so much and theyre so glad he's back and *safe*. also the discord server inclusion is hilarious as hell thank you for that mental image nonny

oh my GODD thats actually so sweet im gonna be sick. i just know those former heads are kept clean and swept everyday both by niffty and alastor himself, and the one in his bed is probably propped up by all the most comfortable pillows while alastor himself just goes without a pillow.... WHAT WORDS. what FUCKING words if it was i love you ill actually just implode on the spot nonny ill get raptured and itll be all your fault /lh

+ pentious finally gets an audience with his idol! aww this is so sweet im gonna get cavities. hopefully he doesnt get hit with the kys this time but oh well if he does cause i support my wife committing crimes

Also. Vox having nightmares about the time he nearly died.... do you think that he has like ptsd flashbacks or something everytime he sees a radio. im gonna be SICK fuck oh my god. do tou think ohe day he just . meets al again and immediately tries to run away or something while the other hotel members go to his defense because they know the shit hes been dealing with from al....

p.s. nonny are you planning on turning this into a fic or something anytime soon? because if not.... can i write one based off these ideas 🥹

[kingcunny]

hold onnnnn i would eat up any thoughts you had about a defector!otto au…

-otto never really put any thought or stock into the things viserys said. truthfully, there was always a part of otto that despised viserys. he thought viserys was soft, weak, that he didnt fully appreciate or utilize his position in life

-and so, otto didnt expect to be affected so much by his death, but he is. he finds himself constantly thinking about viserys. the last time he saw him alive. his speech during the last supper.

-viserys hesitancy, his desire towards *peace*, might have used to anger or frustrate otto before, but now he gets it. now *hes* the one advocating for it.

-while he mightve even encouraged ruthlessness in his family and own daughter before, hes now finding himself realizing he doesnt want to see viserys family, HIS family, tear each other apart. it isnt what viserys wanted either.

-there were mistakes made in the hours following viserys death, HE made those mistakes and now HE must fix them

-but he has rapidly lost control. aegon doesnt respect him like his father did. alicent has had a taste of freedom and is never going to come back into his fold now.

-his family is not willing to listen to caution and reason because HE has raised them not too

-that idea weve kinda talked about before. moderation is key. both alicent and rhaenyra got too much of one thing and not the other. alicent needed freedom, rhaenyra needed structure

-ottos best hope now is that rhaenyra Still needs that structure

-if viserys was right about aegon maybe he was right about rhaenyra too

-maybe shes still willing to logic and reason despite the rumors *hes* spread about her

-if im being mean to otto ill say he has a desperate need to be *in control* and is going to the last place he Might have influence…

-otto told alicent hes leaving for oldtown to try and get daeron on their side. hes not. he has no intention of going to oldtown. daerons been raised by ottos family, who also dont like him! if he *is* willing to listen itll be to them, not otto.

-if im being nice ill say maybe he Did mean to go to oldtown. but a mixture of unexpected grief and regret. (he Might have influence over rhaenyra, because viserys Loved and trusted him. and look what he did with that-) and Also helplessness. rhaenyras the only one who could have any real outcome on the dance.

-either way i dont think hed go to dragonstone with the intention of declaring for rhaenyra or anything. hes just. Trying to find a path forward with the least amount of bloodshed

-he has to smuggle himself onto dragonstone but i dont think he would Really hide. his intention is to talk to rhaenyra so. he needs to get captured

-id like it if rhaenyra has him tortured a lil before she even speaks to him. partly ‘sharp questioning’ cause she doesnt trust him, and part revenge. not just for what he did to her, but hes also the first green that rhaenyras gotten her hands on so he has to pay for all of them. i dont think ottos necessarily suprised about this. he probably knew it was a possibility.

-but eventually curiosity wins over and she goes to talk to otto. see what he wants.

-and he makes his offer to her. as long as she promises not to hurt his family, hell bend the knee, hell help her get the throne.

-he admits to her its what viserys always wanted and he worked against him

-they maybe have a little back and forth about aemond. eventually otto concedes as long as rhaenyra doesnt Kill him… she can do as she likes (a mistake, from otto. there are worse things than death)

-theres a bit of irony in it but rhaenyra can almost trust otto more than daemon now. otto is honestly telling her everything that happened, the role he played in it. he doesnt like it, but hes willing to accept her as queen. theyre after the same thing now, in a way. neither of them want this to descend into a bloodbath. rhaenyra cant say the same about daemon.

-otto basically handled everything for viserys, and his reign was considered to be pretty good! theres stock in his advice and expertise

-rhaenyra accepts his offer. gives him a spot on her small council

-then she orders one of his hands cut off

-its not “meant” as torture, though obviously it is, a little, its Meant partly as a punishment. instead of executing him. for committing treason against her and her father. partly a reminder of his past sins. what he Owes rhaenyra. what he has to Fix

-(also really love the idea of her then immediately calling a small council meeting and forcing otto to attend while hes struggling with blood loss and painshock)

-(corlys is already her hand but i cant stop thinking about rhaenyra throwing the hand pin at otto after cutting his hand off. she thinks shes so funny. just like daddy.)

-rhaenyra *says* shes forgiven him, that shes giving him a chance to start over and do the right thing. but even IF that is true, otto knows she will not *forget*

-so ottos constantly trying to prove his worth to rhaenyra, to hold up his end of the bargin to ensure she holds up hers

-jumping at any opportunity. trying to impress her

-i dont think being maimed really bothers otto, i think he sorta takes it in stride a lot like davos. cause immediately after she more or less puts him in charge of things, asks his advice, takes his council. it wasnt *necessarily* a sadistic action… or so otto tells himself

-this all obviously can only go down if daemon has already left for the riverlands. if daemon had been around when otto showed up he wouldve killed him no hesitation. otto Somehow Returning and replacing him AGAIN. does add another layer to daemons whole riverlands campaign and spiral of self destruction.

-i dont really know how this would impact the wider politics or outcome of the dance cause im not good at politics. NOR do i know what the greens and especially alicent would think when they heard about ottos betrayal….

[zeriq-5]

_A Short Gregory based story (the Wizard)_

She left, The Security guard who now Gregory lived with left to deal with the chaos of the Mega Pizzaplex that they caused in a single night. He sat on the couch of the living room of her apartment. Well, their apartament.

He didn't feel comfortable enough to call this place his home, he saw himself as a guest. His knees apart, legs shaking from anxiety, couldn't think of what to do. Freddy’s head was charging at the kitchen table, he didn't know what to watch on TV because he knew that Pizzaplex’s random Temporary closure was gonna show up on the news. His head was running with a thousand questions that he couldn't even think of processing.

“how did they know my name?”, “why is my mind so fuzzy ?” And more and more kept running through his head. He felt that only Vanessa could answer these questions but he had a feeling that she was almost as lost as him. Gregory was never a patient child, especially after all this turmoil, So he decided to pass his time until Vanessa arrived, napping on the same couch where he sat to see if he could at least kill two birds with one stone.

He lays down, placing the couch pillow on his head. He tries to think of something that would put him to sleep like a lullaby as he closes his eyes. He finally manages to make his body relax, finally entering a needed nap. A few seconds passed, the good old hiss of the night was all he wanted to hear.

A loud THUMP was heard after a while, making him jump from the couch ready for anything. He took a quick look at his surroundings, Nothing in the window of the apartment, he also took a look at the clock to see what time it was “2:24 AM” the digital clock next to the window told. The living room itself was clear and Freddy's head didn't accidently fall on the kitchen floor. Since everything was safe, He decides to return to the Couch and sleep, waiting for Vanessa to return.

In his steps to return to the sofa he could hear the noise again, this time louder behind him. He immediately looks back and sees the hallway that leads to Vanessa's Room and the Bathroom with an impenetrable darkness. While he was looking to at least get an idea of what it could be, maybe the wind was making the door open and close, but he heard It again.

It was at that moment that he realized that it was not something normal being caused by natural means, It was steps, LOUD steps. He thinks it's Vanessa who could have probably come home from work early, she said she wasn't gonna take long afterall. So he got a little closer, but not enough to show trust, the fight or flight was still there.

“Vanessa ?” he says scared talking to the abyss, But nothing could prepare him for it to answer back. A deep smooth but somewhat ill voice could be heard saying “No” that freezes the boy. The steps continued but so did Gregory’s who immediately ran to the apartment door to escape but a Dark wine-purple wall blocked the exit, that wall felt cold and rough like It was there even before Gregory could imagine.

“You are Alone, Child” Said the Abyss in the Hallway, getting closer. He immediately turns his head to It to try and face the situation, nowhere to run after all. Purple pupils pierced through the Darkness. “But do not worry,” it spoke as it slowly revealed itself from it, showing a seemingly skeletal…. thing. It felt like It was detaching It from the Darkness, like a water drop. When the entire creature revealed itself going from crouching to standing upright with confidence, It roared “I am here”.

Gregory, shocked by what he was seeing, couldn't speak but look It felt familiar but in the worst way imaginable. It looked like a really old bunny animatronic, Deteriorated by time with what was left of its dark green costume was a noticeable endoskeleton that when looking further upon, You could see what seemed like flesh growing in it like some kind of old tree with deep and Strong roots.

When He looked straight into Its face, The jaw of the animatronic, If you could even call that one, was missing, leaving what looked like the jaw of the “human” growing inside of it, leaving the top part of the costume like a mask.

"Why are you so scared, apprentice ?” The hellish looking Bunny spoke. Gregory, now shaking with fear taking steps back for safety, fired back It's question with his own “Wh- What are you ?”. The boy had never been so scared in his life, rightfully so, It might look frail but he has no Idea what this freak of Nature could do.

“You don't remember me, apprentice ? that's a shame” it tilted It's Head looking quickly upon and down the boy. “It doesn't mean that it’s forever forgotten” the Bunny said, getting closer and closer. Gregory fell into the Couch, still quaking from It, the Bunny looked at its surroundings and said “I see you're at her house, I won't lie that this wasn't the result I expected. Especially from a mind as brilliant as yours” somehow with a smug tone.

He looks directly into the kitchen, with a clear proud look in his Dark Deep eyes, “No murder leaves It's weapon behind” It teased Gregory. “What ?” Shakinly Said to the Monster as confused he could ever be, what was It Referring to ? “The Bear” It said as Quickly the head snapped back to him, with a clear bone cracking sound, It's dead arms wooshed by such action.

“You loved that Bear, seemingly just as much as I remember. to take him with you to Shelly’s Burrows. It means you haven't completely changed” Said the Bunny lifting It’s arm and pointing towards the mess of fear of a kid. quickly the child responded yelling for answers “WHAT ARE YOU AND WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT”.

The creature got closer to him towering over the boy, “it's a shame, Doctor Rabbit. You are still my favorite apprentice even with this precious faulty memory of yours” it lowers down to be at the same level as him, one knee on the floor and the other he uses as support. He puts his right hand on top of his head, managing to cover all of it like a helmet.

Paralyzed, Gregory felt a strange calming breeze from the window, Making him close his eyes and breathe deeply and with a new found intuition he asked “Are You that thing in the Sinkhole of the Pizzaplex ? ”. With all remaining courage he had he opened his eyes to stare at the beast.

The creature then got up to Its towering stance, took his hand away from his head calmly. What seemed like a Chuckle could be heard when the thing was turning its back, “Not exactly” Slowly returning to the middle of the room.

“Then what are you ?” Gregory begged for an answer again. The Bunny placed its hand on the table nearby as It walked away, “If you embrace the nothing again, It will be revealed” So the creature said, returning to the Hallway.

“I will see you once again, Child. But not Tomorrow or the next day, my Slumber is long however i too wake up” said as It's body became one again to the Darkness, returning to the Abyss.

Gregory, Still quite shaken by the appearance of the living dead, he picks up the hint that It left. “I too wake up”. Was he dreaming ? Better yet, was It a nightmare ? If so, he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath to escape whatever just happened. for when he opened his eyes, Vanessa was sitting next to him reading a book and he was covered by a blanket. The soft sun light hit his face, making him look out the window to see the new day.

“If you're sleepy, go to my bed or atleast get Something to cover yourself, little Man” She says putting her book about Marketing next to her in the gap of the couch. Gregory's eyes fill with tears as he rethinks what happened and gives this woman a hug. “Had a nightmare or did you miss me ?” She said in a mocking tone, Gregory shook his head in agreement.

Vanessa pets his head and says “I'm sorry for leaving you alone, I promise it won't happen again, the Company was trying to figure out what happend and I had to skip around to protect us”.

Gregory laughed, at the horribly timed Bunny joke of hers, It was enough to him to never want to let go of Vanessa, He was never a scared cat in his life but this brought a strange comfort to him.

But even with a warm hug he still thought about the implications. it was a dream, does that mean the creature came from his mind ? If so, what's also lurking in the Abyss of his mind ? Maybe the answers he once wanted.

[medicallymercury]

I haven’t watched the full episode yet (I know what happened generally) because me and my mum watch it when my dad is at work and he isn’t tonight, but I have watched Teddy and Jan’s scenes, sooooo…

Teddy is, or least was, just a kid with a toy ambulance. And I mean that ‘was’ both literally when he was a kid, and in the very recent series 36 naivety-about-the-job sense. Which has survived a little bit up until this point but I think this episode might’ve killed it off. I actually like the idea of Teddy becoming very disillusioned with the job and still never leaving it. I don’t know if I’ve expressed this in a post before but Teddy has to be a paramedic - it’s the only thing he wants to do, it’s the thing he’s best at, it’s required to keep the tragedy of that family going - but it’s not really good for him. To give the writers far too much credit, he’s the heir to the throne in a Shakespearean tragedy, it’ll kill him and he has no choice but to keep going after it. Anyway, this a great episode for my Teddy Has To Be A Paramedic thoughts. All the horrible things that happened, the fact that he's clearly shaken up, and he's still trying to keep working. That is a kid with a toy ambulance standing too close to the road if I ever saw one.

Sometimes the spoilers focus on something largely irrelevant to what is actually happening in the episode, huh? I don’t really know what to say about Len beyond 'that’s gonna fuck Teddy up'. That’s horrifying. I am really looking forward to seeing how Teddy is doing in next week's episode cause that was……….......… There’s also kinda parallels between Jan (reasonably) telling Teddy he can’t stay with Len and Jan (justifiably) not telling Teddy about Gethin going to Switzerland if you're looking for them. Edit: they also highlighted (…I don’t like to assume the writers intended to anything they did well recently) the fact that Teddy and Jan have both been really alone for a long time, since before Gethin died they’ve only really had each other because Teddy stopped actually trusting Paige and Sah around the time that Jan and Ffion re-broke-up and since Gethin died they haven’t had each other, with that part where Len asks if he and Teddy can get a dog because Jan asked Ffion the same thing when they were planning their retirement-that-wasn’t.

Also, that’s another Jan and Teddy episode with a drugs based plot point (alongside literally everything they were called to in Is The Patient Breathing? and Kezzie, AJ and their mum in Break Your Heart). Probably unintentionally, Ross looms.

The scene where Teddy wants to go back to the explosion and Jan stops him is FUCKING GREAT. Another thing I think about a lot are the ways that their personal relationship inevitably bleeds into the professional. Jan as Teddy’s boss and Jan as Teddy’s aunt. That scene, first of all, has Teddy’s tendency to pretend he’s fine and deny that he needs help or to step back from work. An overlooked trait of his, if you’re asking me, but one that has been there a long time (and that we've also seen Jan sometimes has as well). Also, there is a clear moment where Jan switches from talking to Teddy as his boss to talking as his aunt and I love it. It’s from “I know how hard it is when…" to “I know how hard it is.” when her tone changes entirely and he turns to look at her after looking away. I appreciate that singular moment so much.

Generally? Di Botcher and Milo Clarke, you've done it again (made me feel physically ill about pretend paramedics).

Next week’s spoilers about them: how many times can I say that it’s not the storyline I dreamed of after Gethin, but that I am very excited for their stuff next week anyway? (Especially because “he’s got nobody to talk to about work” makes me foolishly hopeful for a Sah mention.)

I'm gonna go listen to Class of 2013 and Fireworks by Mitski and think things about Teddy until it's next Saturday.

[neyafromfrance95]

Sylvie Laufeydottir in the Fanfics.

i love all the different takes on Sylvie in the fanfiction and i think that the fic writers should be bold when it comes to experimenting with her characterization, so i don't mean to be dogmatic or anything about it, but i think there is fun in trying to grasp the essential traits of a character and trying to write them as in-character as possible as well.

and if i'm being completely honest, there are not a whole lot of fics that have Sylvie characterized in a very "canon accurate" way.

i'm not saying that i am the one who has this correct idea of what kind of a character Sylvie is, but here are my two cents on what makes Sylvie - Sylvie.

first of all, here is what i think some people get wrong about Sylvie:

when she is reduced to exhaustion and stress.

it's true that Sylvie is an anxious character with many issues caused by her struggles, but Sylvie we saw in the series is passionate and driven.

when her one true dream and a final destination beyond revenge is settling down into a domestic lifestyle.

there is no hint of Sylvie dreaming about an uneventful, quiet, ordinary life. the flashbacks into her past suggest that her dream (and possibly her glorious purpose) was to be a hero. we see Sylvie living a low-key life in S2 teaser, and she doesn't look happy at all, she looks depressed af, which indicates that such lifestyle is not right for her.

Sylvie being sadistic.

i think the series makes a point that Sylvie is not sadistic at all. she never does more than necessary to her enemies, she is not cruel for the sake of being cruel. yes, she is feral and competitive, but those aren't the same as sadism. she puts Hunter C in a safe mental space while investigating her, she empathizes with Hunter B, she kills HWR with a quick stab. compare her approach to her enemies to pre-series!Loki's and Ravonna's - they tend to verbally hurt, scare and humiliate their enemies.

the only argument Sylvie has for fighting against Kang being "he wronged me."

yes, she is motivated by a personal vendetta. yes, she can be quite single-minded. but! her experiences with the the tva, awareness of who they are and what they represent, have shaped her worldview. Sylvie is an idealistic character, her revenge boils down to "he hurt me", but she has to believe that her mission is serving a good cause against the oppressive fascists. i believe this is why she is so discouraged and passive in the teaser of S2 - Kang tarnished her idealistic perception of her life's work. she doesn't feel like a hero any more, and it mattered a lot to her that she was a hero - Loki validating her heroism was one of the reasons why she fell for him.

Sylvie being a manipulative femme fatale.

another aspect of her persona that is portrayed very clearly in the series is her honesty. she is a straightforward character, always true to who she is. her kiss was not a deception, it was an expression of her feelings and emotions that exploded when Loki told her that he only cared about her.

Sylvie being overly-apologetic to the tva and Loki.

while Sylvie might feel like she fucked up and have an existential crisis, i highly doubt that she would feel apologetic to the very people who kidnapped her when she was a child and stalked her with an ill intent. "these new Kangs are bad so you were right when you destroyed my world and oppressed me" doesn't feel like an authentic Sylvie response. she most probably feels bad for pushing Loki away, but not to the point of self-depreciation and begging for forgiveness since she still felt backstabbed by him bc he did betray her, technically - he went back on his word and got in the way of her glorious purpose.

let's now move on to the aspects of her characterization that are pretty essential. i won't be elaborating too much on these for now.

she is assertive and strong-willed.

she does everything on her own terms, never compromising.

the themes of freedom and choice play a very important role in her story.

she has the pathological trust issues, and some anger issues as well.

she has probably been to every corner of the multiverse without ever settling in one place, so she never got to properly socialize within any cultural framework and she was exposed to the countless cultures. so, she has to be very nonconforming.

a glorious purpose means everything to Sylvie. it gives her life a meaning and is her driving force. out of all Lokis, it's probably Sylvie who values and prioritizes the glorious purpose the most.

she is truly like a feral cat in many ways.

she is the Multiverse Liberator.

(i always thought that out of all fictional characters, Sylvie is the most similar to Arya from ASOIAF btw)

but in the end of the day, we are still a new fandom, so it's understandable that there aren't many fics that have an astonishingly canon accurate characterization. it's ok and please don't hold yourself back from writing Sylvie if you are unsure about her characterization. the more you write and try, the better your vision of a character becomes! that's how the writing improves. also, i would encourage you to explore Sylvie's relationships with other characters as well. i mean, there is just so much to Sylvie's dynamic with Kang and Ravonna, it'd be interesting to write about Sylvie's journey around the multiverse, you all could let your imagination go absolutely wild, the Postman could be the ultimate OC in Sylvie fics (fancasting Will Sharpe, Sophia Di Martino's husband, as the legendary Postman)...

anyways, i think Sylki and Sylvie writers are some of the best fan writers out there (bc let's be real, there are not a lot of fandoms that characterize their faves very accurately to begin with), i'm only trying to say that if you are interested in writing very in-character, it won't be difficult since Sylvie is pretty strongly characterized in the series.

[blackevermore]

x Secrets of The Lake: The Company of Misery and Pain ( Also on A03)

{ Chapter 18 }

Summary: Vladimir Masters’ family tree has always been tainted by secrets swept under the rug. From generation to generation there have been countless reasons the Masters’ family had seemed to keep private from the public. Even to this day, Vladimir was no exception. But what was one to do when a restless spirit from the settlement years finally breaks free from restraints and demands you answer for your ancestor’s crimes? Vladimir doesn’t know. However, Clockworks does.

Notes: We just having fun, rewriting some of the canon, new adventure new characters. I will apologize now for any grammar, spelling, or weird sentence structuring in advance. My brain writes faster than my fingers and even when I go back through to reread it I still miss things. Sorry about that!

Warning: SA in the first part of the chapter

Word Count: 7.5

P.s: I'm knocking this out faster than my Hazbin fic. The sexy tumblr men are fighting!

To tell a man he could create a new life after watching the one he had before vanish was the cruellest advice, in Vladan's opinion. It was insensitive to the loss of a family, legacy, and business that was once flourishing. Vladan had watched the way his mother fell ill to a broken heart after his father's passing and he was sure she would be next to follow. His brother was not getting worse but was far from ever getting better and Tayonna was feeling the weight on her shoulders just as much as her master. Vladan was now the head of the house, meaning every ounce of freedom he had become accustomed to while living in the colonies was gone. It was not an option but his faith as his mother kissed his forehead and told him how much she loved him. Vladan knew way before the illness that struck his brother he would be the one to shoulder the world. 

At a very young age, he quickly disregarded his toys and traded his childhood for academics and business practices. He had lost himself at the idea that he would gain control of the family, which made it even harder to accept his role when he had lost sight of said mindset due to his newly found liberation with Tayonna. In the heat of the family's fall, Vladan took hold and kept his family stable within the colonies, their home across the seas was sold to usher in their transition which caused great distress to Luther. He would miss their country home that sat atop a hill that looked down into the old town square with the beautiful church bells. Vladan would miss them too, they were his haven of knowing the time of day in a melody rather than the rattling that the colony's church called music. Luther could not survive a trip back across the seas, it was dangerous to try no matter how much Luther begged his brother and mother. He wanted to die in the arms of his empire if it was possible. All Vladan could do was promise that when his time was to come he would make sure Luther’s body was taken home and buried with the rest of their family.

It was morbid but it was all the family could do while trying to shift the focus of death away from business. Vladan’s father was a trusted merchant who dealt with the settlement shipments that came in from the other world. Day in and day out Vladan’s father was keeping track of the moving world rather than his own family. Now Vladan was doing the same but at least he had someone to talk to when things become stressful. Tayonna had promised him that she was at his side just as much as she was by his brother’s. Their affair had yet to blossom in the way Vladan’s mother and brother expected. The pair was careful and even scared to express their interest in one another. Even in the comfort of the house, the two kept their relationship with that of a housemaid and her master. Vladan’s mother secretly begged for some sort of entertainment at times but she knew her son. He was like a wolf that only ate the meat it could hunt itself and never the meat it had randomly found. Whether he was prideful or just scared, the boy’s mother huffed at the idea that Vladan would rather wait for her death than acknowledge his burning desire. 

It took Vladan a while to accept that the large oak desk within his father’s study was now his. The books tucked in the wooden shelves collecting dust were his. The handmade furniture his father picked out from Prussia was his. The land and the house that was now empty of the old grumpy man was now his. That awe would strike him at times but would be quickly washed away when stacks of papers and letters came across the desk with his name on them. He had to work. He had to make sure he took care of his family. 

As he finished writing his name across the paper in front of him he felt that something wasn’t right. His mind told him that the paper in front of him wasn’t correct. He placed down his quill and held up the document making sure the ink didn’t run. But there wasn’t any wet ink. There weren’t any handwritten letters either, the paper seemed foreign with the letters seeming robotic and the date at the top seeming so far in the future. Vladan looked back up to the top and the image in the corner caught his attention. It was big, bold with black words and a red outline like a banner; it read ‘Vlad Co.’ which was not one of the ships Vladan had to manage. Vladan's brows knotted as he tried to think of what ship this was but his mind was quickly averted when he looked down and saw the name he had written was not his. 

Vladan placed the paper down and took hold of his head when a pounding pressure began to form right above his eye. He shut his eyes and tried to relax so the headache would subside but it never did and made him miserable. He opened his eyes again and now the paper was back to normal. His name was at the bottom, the top of the page was empty, and the letters in the middle were handwritten. Vladan was confused yet quickly blamed it on his head. He was working too much and the day was far into the afternoon. Normally when the sun was halfway through the sky Tayonna would knock on the door to call him for midday supper. At times she would come in and they would share each other's company.

She hadn’t come. There was no knock at the door and Vladan began to feel a sense of worry. Tayonna never missed coming by, he tried to get up from his seat but he was stuck to his chair. He tried again but when he wouldn’t budge he gave up and looked around to see what was causing this. The headache was growing more and more painful. It felt like he had been slammed against the desk over and over before being thrown to the floor. He stopped trying to get up from his chair and held his head in his hand hoping the pain would stop.

Knock. Knock.

Vladan rose his head slowly and felt a wave of relief wash over him as he thought it was finally Tayonna. But when the door opened his heart dropped and his headache worsened.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Mister Mægisters.” Phoebe Speldercast spoke before she entered. Vladan's brows knotted and annoyance bubbled in his stomach. He didn’t like this woman one bit. 

Phoebe Speldercast was the town’s head judge’s estranged daughter who caused more issues within the town than good. Her father was a nasty man who ran the town with a black cloak that left people blind and at his mercy. He was known for going beyond the book of God and justifying his torture as the gospel that would keep everyone pure. When Vladan found out the judge had children he was not surprised to find that his daughter was just as nasty as him. She was treated with so much honour by her father’s work that it left her untouchable from any wrongdoing she could accomplish. She stuck out from the rest of the town with her fiery red hair and striking blue eyes. It was said that when she was born she was a gift from god as an omen of a plentiful harvest in the autumn. Vladan knew that was the farthest from the truth. She was wicked and cruel to anyone who did not bend to her will, at times calling upon her father to aid her in the destruction of innocent people. 

Phoebe had been the reason people’s businesses were torn apart and given to the court. She was the reason many women feared that at any time their husbands could be taken from them and remarried. Not because the men could not stay faithful but simply because Phoebe said so. The woman was her father’s lurking shadow that made it easy for the man to stay in good grace. If anyone would go against god’s omen then everyone would burn in the depths of hell. The town was submissive, no one wanted to go to hell or even be associated with any wrongdoing that would cost them their life. Phoebe was death. 

This was why Vladan could never understand how someone like Phoebe could have such a sweet and caring twin as Magdalena. Everything Phoebe was Magdalena was not and was better, including having green eyes instead of blue. Vladan couldn’t help but cherish the times he had the honour of talking to the nicer twin. He wishes it was Magdalena’s responsibility to come to him about her father’s stocks rather than Phoebe's.

The woman was dressed in her signature red evening gown she was gifted from France. Due to her status, it was ignored how European she was. The English in the land took a more modest appearance. Phoebe made it clear she lusted for the exposure of luxury from the whiney empire of cheese and wine. It was like the town couldn’t see how outlandish she looked, she was like a ghost walking among the living. Vladan took note she had purposefully worn a dress much lower in the neckline that showed off more than he was willing to look at. Her hair was twisted and curled, pulled into a messy bun that lengthened her neck and made her look delicate.

“I come to speak of my father’s stock. As you know-”

“As I know it is mid-month and the ships from the Germanic states have arrived later than usual. Yes, I have informed your father and made it a point that once everything is settled, he shall be the first to know.” Vladan was quick to cut the woman off. Her voice wasn't annoying, thank god, but it was clear she was putting on an act to seduce Vladan as always.

Phoebe looked annoyed from being cut off but dismissed it, smiled sweetly then took the seat in front of the desk. She sat sideways causing the ends of her dress to rise and pool around her making her lean forward. She was trying to make him look down but Vladan was smart and could never fall for her tricks. 

“Then I come of my own accord,” Phoebe said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and slowly blinking up at Vladan. He was not impressed.

“What is it, Miss Speldercast? Last I checked, everything you own is in your father’s name, it is his property. Women hold no property.” That seemed to hit a nerve as Vladan saw the way her jaw clenched and her gaze became hardened. Vladan knew this cat-and-mouse game better than any man she had set her eyes on. Despite holding so much power over his head, Vladan knew that without his father’s work, the settlement would fall apart. Phoebe could corner him as much as possible but he was quick to put her back into a position of a powerless woman. 

“I’ve come for you.” She spoke and got to her feet. Vladan tried to get up as well but he was still stuck to the chair. 

“I’ve told you I do not wish to marry you, Miss Speldercast.” The woman smirks.

“Phoebe,” She replied. “We know each other much more personally than for you to be formal. Won’t you say, Vladan?” Phoebe walked around the desk and slid a hand over Vladan’s shoulder before standing behind him and leaning down into his ear.

Vladan tried to move away but he was helpless, Phoebe was amused.

“I’ve wanted you the moment you came into this town and you’ve done nothing but make it clear that you have no interest in me.” She ran her fingers through his hair and Vladan pulled away forcefully, rocking his chair.

“Is it because you have an interest in my sister?” Phoebe slipped her fingers back in his hair, tangling them before pulling his head back. Vladan gasped and glared at her from the corner of his eye. “Little Magdalena, pure and smart, born from the wife of the judge, unlike her sister who was born from the judge’s mistress. Hmm? Is it that? Are you attracted to her purity from a false marriage?” Phoebe threw Vladan’s head and pulled his chair back so she could reach him. She pushed his arms down onto the armrest which rendered him motionless as he tried to get out of her grip. 

“What are you doing to me?!” Vladan yelled and Phoebe quickly shushed him with the tip of her finger. Vladan’s mouth felt heavy and he couldn’t move. Fear rose to his heart and he began to pant as he tried to fight whatever hold Phoebe had him in. 

“She’s a purist you know, she’s the only good thing to ever come from our father. Everyone is born with wickedness and yet my sister is what the bible praises. Father doesn't understand it either. I do. I understand she is the object of your affection.” Phoebe inched closer to Vladan’s face until they were inches apart. He could feel her breath on him and it only made him more enraged. If the force holding him down could break at any moment he would slap her. 

“You wish to fuck it right out of her I know it.” Phoebe grinned and laughed in his face. “You could fuck me just the same and pretend it’s her. We are almost identical if you ignore our eyes.” Phoebe pulled away from Vladan and leaned back against his desk.

“I could give you much more than whatever your father had. I could give you a real status, real power, a real head on your shoulder that would make other people realize your potential.” The woman bit her lip and eyed Vladan up and down, lingering longer on his crotch. 

“Or.” The woman thought for a moment then pulled up her dress and sat on Vladan’s lap. “You crave something worse than an unmarried woman. You crave someone who isn’t even considered a human.” 

Phoebe closed the gap between them, capturing Vladan’s lips in hers. He couldn’t move but the fear in his eyes said it all as the woman began to kiss him again. Her hand ran down his chest and cupped him through his pants. All of his strength went to trying to make his body stop and eventually, he tired himself out. He cursed himself for reacting and shut his eyes to will it away but nature was stronger than his will and Phoebe was well aware of that. 

Vladan kept an eye on the door hoping that Tayonna wasn’t home. His heart sped at the sheer thought of Tayonna finding him like this with Phoebe. He couldn’t bear the idea of his secret love seeing this. He could only hope she was far from the house mending to Luther or in the woods. But that fear came to light as he heard a knock and the door being pushed open. Vladan shut his eyes trying to hide but that wasn’t enough when he heard the sound of plates falling to the floor and footsteps running away.

Phoebe finally pulled away and licked her lips, “You taste better in despair.” She whispered in his ear and Vladan felt his body give way from the force and he quickly pushed the woman off.

Vlad shot up from his bed in pure anger ready to attack whoever was around him. He had to blink a few times to gather he was in his bedroom. He couldn’t remember his dream but knew that whatever it was left a legit bad taste in his mouth, and a brimming anger that could shoot ectoblasts through his walls. He hadn’t felt this angry since…since his bitterness towards Jack. It was an ugly anger that once made Vlad scared of himself. It consumed him, swallowing him whole which caused a brief moment during his mayor career he had to go into hiding. When his anger got out of control it was like a splitting pain that turned into a being that lingered on Vlad’s shoulders. He had given it a face as Plasmius, but that made it even worse when it felt like Plasmius became animalistic. Vlad knew what anger looked like when he hurt Danny, he knew what anger could turn into when he came face to face with Dan. Vlad never wanted to go back there.

Vlad fell back onto his pillows and blinked a few times trying to catch his breath and come back to the living world.

‘What the hell was that?’ Vlad thought, hoping Vladan would answer, but there was silence. He tried to conjure the man but it was fruitless when Vladan kept hidden and silent.

Vlad rolled his head to his nightstand and saw the clock said 10:47 am. He huffed and rolled to his other side towards his large bedroom window. The curtain was drawn but the slip of light that peaked through told him the sun was already high in the sky. He couldn’t stay in bed just because of some dream, that would be ridiculous. With that, he rolled back over and sat up on the edge of the bed. He ran his hands over his face again then through his hair. Just when he thought the roughness of the morning was over he heard yelling coming from the hallways. Vlad shot to his feet and out the door, he heard more yelling and the sound of glass breaking and quickly shot into the air to fly through the house. As he followed the sound of the voice he heard another one begging for forgiveness. 

When Vlad found the source of the yelling he quickly had to dodge as a blast of lighting came flying towards his head. Tayonna was standing in the middle of the kitchen in her ghost form shooting towards the Dairy King who hid behind the island. A few of Vlad’s cabinets had black holes through them and the things behind the covers were broken. A few plates were shattered on the ground and water began to pool from the sink as Tayonna used it to conquer electricity. The kitchen was quickly becoming a battleground and Vlad was rather speechless on what could have caused this. 

Vlad looked between them and then jumped into action to stop the girl from blasting at the other ghost again. He flew towards her, grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to the ground holding her against him. This made her let out a chilling scream and Vlad had to brace himself so he didn’t let go.

“Tayonna!” Vlad was much stronger than the girl but wrestling first thing in the morning was still a lot. He managed to get her to stop thrashing around and finally, she stopped and glared towards the Dairy King.

“You disgusting little man! She was on her deathbed waiting for you!’ Tayonna yelled. Echo blasts of her voice rippled towards the island. The room shook and the center of the island marble top cracked. 

“That is enough!” Vlad commanded and shook Tayonna. She finally seemed to calm down. She panted and tried to escape Vlad’s grip a few times but settled for her capture. 

The Dairy King peeked from his hiding spot and gave Vlad a pleading look to not let go of his attacker. 

“Let me go!” Tayonna managed to yank her body down which caused Vlad to let go of her wrist. She quickly turned around and slapped him across the face which knocked him backward. He caught himself and held his face. Anger was not the first emotion to run through Vlad’s mind, rather, confusion and shock. He held his face and watched as Tayonna’s whole demeanour changed. The anger in her face shifted to confusion then to utter horror. She was speechless, covering her mouth as she saw the damage she had caused. Vlad could feel her core racing as it flipped between confusion and a sense of loss. Did Tayonna not know what she was doing?

“I… What-I…I didn’t….” Tayonna couldn’t find the words to say. Her mind ran blank until she caught Vlad’s eyes again. Vlad could feel her fear and he held up a hand to show her he was not mad. That was a lie. He was beyond pissed at how much destruction she had caused in a perfectly good kitchen. But for some reason, he couldn’t turn that anger towards her. Maybe it was because he was harbouring another person’s feelings in him, or it was just too fucking early for the bullshit.

Vlad took a deep breath and spoke, “What happened?” It was clear he just wanted answers just as much as he wanted a brand new kitchen. 

“I don’t know,” Tayonna mumbled, still looking terrified, Vlad grumbled.

He turned to the Dairy King who slowly came out of hiding holding his cheese hat in his hand. “What happened?”

“She was cooking and then she just stopped to turn to me and just stared at me. Next thing I knew she was seeing red and attacking me like a wild animal, don’tcha know.” The smaller man kept his distance as he looked between Tayonna and Vlad.

“Did you feel something?” Vlad turned back towards Tayonna, she was still in a state of shock, she nodded and Vlad held his breath knowing it might have been his dream. He must have triggered her core when he woke up in a fit of anger.

“I was fine…then I was just so angry. It was a burning feeling that took over me and I couldn’t stop myself.” Tayonna's eyes pleaded with Vlad to understand. The phantom did and motioned for her to calm down. “ It wasn’t him, I know it wasn’t him.” Tayonna held her chest and turned away from Vlad. He knew that what she felt was purely him and that made him feel a bit of guilt. 

“Well, Dairy King seems like you just showed up at the wrong time. On behalf of Tayonna, I do apologize.” Vlad held out his hand for the ghost to take but the King was hesitant. He slowly took Vlad’s hand when the phantom insisted and shook it reluctantly.

“On behalf of my kitchen, I ask that you all leave so I can have this cleaned up and fixed.” Vlad pointed between the two, Tayonna was the first to leave in a hurry while DK stayed behind. Vlad wanted to stop her and tell her he wasn’t upset and that everything was okay. This was genuine, purely from him, much to his surprise he wanted to apologize for causing such an outburst despite it being triggered by something else. 

“She’s like a match, don’tcha know.” Dairy King floated up next to Vlad and the man rolled his eyes. He turned around and crossed his arms giving the old soul a stern look.

“What happened?” Vlad knew the man was hiding something. Yes, Tayonna may have flipped out but something besides Vlad’s core triggered her.

The Dairy King backed away and shrunk into himself as his demeanour from Vlad told him this was no playing matter. The ghost thought for a moment of what to say before he opened his mouth.

“She looked at me as if she was looking into my core. It was a distant look as if she was seeing something far beyond me.” The King was nervous to speak, Vlad knew that whatever Tayonna saw and what she said went hand in hand with whatever guilt the ghost had. Dairy King avoided Vlad’s eyes as his mouth opened and closed and he caught himself from saying something. Vlad's brow rose and he waited for the short man to continue. The Dairy King huffed and shook his head then flew away. Vlad shut his eyes and gave himself a moment to process everything that happened. When he opened his eyes his annoyance came back with force and he was sure that if he stood in the middle of the kitchen for any longer he was going to snap. He called for the ghost maids, they were just as surprised, told them he needed it cleaned and to call for some ghostly repairman to come and fix anything broken. Vlad knew that no matter what the Ghost Zone was always resourceful. Why pay living people when ghosts who enjoyed the labour would do it for free?

~~~

Working while away from Minnesota was supposed to be easy. He didn’t have to go into his Wisconsin headquarters often and he could work from home and do a few video calls. He could process paperwork, look over comments and concerns with his partnerships, read distasteful emails, and even send out a few personal emails to staff members who slacked off, that was supposed to be the luxury of owning your business and working away from it. That, however, was the furthest thing Vlad had ever dealt with while working from home. It seemed like no matter what, something always needed his attention even in the comfort of his sun room turned office. He had three calls on hold from both headquarters and one from a sponsor who just had too much free time on their hands and wanted to chit chat. An email came through about a stock being low thanks to one of Vlad's distant business partners finally being arrested (which he wasn’t surprised). 

The only good thing that came between the shit show that was that morning and his very busy work time was a phone call he had been waiting for.

“Masters,” Vlad answered in a breathless huff as he fell back into his plush armchair.

“Jackson has travel fever, poor man,” Kate said in a very monotone voice.

“He has you to blame.” Vlad retorted.

“He has you to pay for it.” Vlad chuckled and he could tell Kate got a kick from him doing so.

“Report?” Vlad sat up and moved his computer mouse, he was in the middle of finishing emails but that could now wait. He closed down his work email and opened his personal one. Packer green and slices of cheese, such an old man theme. 

“We’re heading home finally, Germany is beautiful but Jackson is clearly American and everyone could tell. Had to save him from shitting himself when a woman threatened to bench press him, he’s so skinny, you need to feed him you monster.” Kate pulled the phone away from her face and said something then came back to the phone.

“Anything actually important?” Vlad secretly missed Kate’s nonchalant behaviour and way of speaking. He knew it was because she didn’t care that he had status, nor did she care he was twice labelled the sexiest politician in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

“Phoebe Speldercast was the second daughter of John Humphrey Speldercast. She was known within her town as the ‘autumn omen gift from God’ before being later tried and convicted due to a connection with witchcraft. She was killed by the method of burning which was said to leave the town covered in a black fog for many months through the winter. She was survived by only one member of her family, her twin sister Magdalena.” Vlad could only hum. If that was all Kate could find then he was once again at a dead end. 

“However,” Kate started again.

“However? You sure do like ‘however’.” Vlad jokes.

“The archives that are in New York show that she may still have living relatives within the state. In the 80s someone had a few family heirlooms documented and placed in a local museum about the settlement years and Phoebe’s portrait is said to be hanging up there. I’ll send over a picture.”

Vlad perked up and leaned into his computer waiting for the email to come through. If he could see what this woman looked like then maybe he could get a start in finding out the truth.

“Our plane is about to take off, I’ll talk to you later, Sir.” Kate didn’t wait for Vlad to respond before hanging up. Vlad didn’t care and placed his phone down. The email finally came through and just as he was about to click it his ghost sense went off and it felt like someone was threading closer than they should. Vlad turned around to look out the windows of the sunroom and saw Tayonna walking about the backyard. He shrugged and turned back to his computer. If was only Tayonna so it wasn’t that big a deal.

‘Go out there, something is wrong,’ Vladan spoke in his mind.

‘Yeah my kitchen.’ Vlad snarled and rolled his eyes.

‘Someone is watching her.’ Vlad stopped and thought for a moment. No one should be anywhere near his manor. The lawn people wouldn't come until next week, his mailman knew better than to snoop, and his neighbours were too far to be casually walking by. It was also a red flag when the back of Vlad’s manor faced the woods. Vlad turned back around and Saw Tayonna walking farther into the backyard then taking a seat in the middle of the glass area. He looked around trying to see if anything was out of place but it all seemed like a normal sunny day.

‘Go out there’

‘No’

‘ Go. Out. There ’

‘I said no, she is fine, no one would be here besides us.’

Vlad didn’t have to see his reflection to know Vladan was glaring holes into him. He also didn’t need to hear the man’s voice to know he was not in the spirit's good grace. Vlad rolled his shoulder when he felt a slight pain shooting up his back. He needed to focus on his task at hand which was opening Kate’s email. He went to grab his mouse but felt someone crawl into his palm. He looked down and saw Vladan’s red mist form into a hand and curl its fingers into his to hold it. Vlad tried to shake it but he was too late as his hand was flipped over and his consciousness was sucked inward. He felt like he was being pulled out of his body and placed in a dark void as he looked out his eyes like they were windows. Vlad had only a moment to figure out what was going on till he realized Vladan was possessing him. Vlad had only been possessed a handful of times in the past and it was the most uncomfortable feeling. Vlad watched as his vision shifted toward the window to the yard again and the reflection he saw was Vladan’s. 

Vlad tried to regain his power and he saw it was effective when Vladan clenched the body’s head and blinked a few times. Vladan looked back to his reflection and glared, Vlad knew that was towards him and he tried again to gain his body back. Vladan didn’t wait to see what would happen as he quickly looked around and found the door handle. Vlad could feel his body moving and it felt so foreign and uncomfortable. No wonder Danny complained so much. Vladan walked out the door onto the back patio and began walking towards Tayonna.

‘You know she isn’t going to be happy to see you!’ Vlad yelled through his mind and that made Vladan stop in his tracks just before he got to the steps to walk down to the grass. Vladan looked down at the body’s hands, he clenched them into fists, Vlad couldn’t hear Vladan but he could feel in his core the man was conflicted. Vladan knew he was right but he wanted to comfort his love. Vlad knew that was a terrible idea and who knew how Tayonna would react if she saw Vladan taking over Vlad's body. Vlad knew Vladan didn’t know how to use his powers let alone defend himself against a very angry ghost. So while Vladan was stuck thinking over what to do Vlad pushed his consciousness forward and gained control of his body. It felt like breaking through water after being submerged, Vlad took a deep breath and held his chest while hunched over. His nerves tingle from his toes to the top of his head, knocking someone else out of power always leaves a person drained.

Vlad shook his limbs out and stretched, he told Vladan to never do that again or he was going to grab an old device and rip the man out of him. Honestly, he should have done that sooner but the thought had just crossed his mind. 

Tayonna turned around when she felt someone around her. She snapped around and that made Vlad flinch and awkwardly wave. She ignored him and turned back around, focusing on something on the ground in front of her. Vlad tsked at how rude that was but complied with Vladan’s request and went to see what the girl was doing. If Vladan now could take over, Vlad was not going to allow the man to be willy nilly. The last thing he wanted to do was have Vladan go to work for him if he was in the middle of a meeting. Maybe ripping him out of him wasn’t a bad idea. 

Vlad put his hands behind his back and walked up to Tayonna, when he was right beside her he saw she was plucking up blades of grass and crumbling them in her hands. He wanted to tell her that the money he spent keeping the place pretty wasn’t just shits and giggles, but he was distracted when he saw her hands glow and the grass turn into the roses he saw before.

“What are those?” Vlad asked. She didn’t seem to be in any trouble as Vladan had put it. Vlad looked around and everything seemed normal, surely if someone had been there he would have known.

“Green Whispers.” Tayonna held up the flower and pulled at its pedals before crumbling it back into her hands. Her hand glew again and when she opened it the flower turned to dust and she blew it away.

“Can you conjure them whenever you want?” Vlad asked. He fought with himself about sitting on the grass while in dress pants but quickly sucked it up. He was already here. He got down on a knee and then plopped down, Tayonna looked at him from the corner of her eye and scooted away. 

“Yes.”

“Do they heal you?”

“Yes.” 

“Is that why you made them when you got hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Are they related to Blood Blossoms?”

“To what?”

“Can you eat them?”

“Yes but-”

“Are they safe for the living and the dead?”

“Yes but why-”

“Can any ghost conjure them?”

Tayonna huffed from the questions and Vlad couldn’t help himself to laugh. That caught the girl off guard and she turned fully towards him with another flower in her hand. She grabbed his hand and shoved the flower into his palm and curled his fingers around it. Vlad felt the surge of power run through him and he felt much better than before.

“Stop asking so many questions.” Tayonna narrowed her eyes and Vlad smirked, he took the hint to stop, and she turned away from him again and went back to plucking at the grass. Vlad was silent for a bit, the sun was high and the day was nice. The sky was clear with a few pure white clouds rolling past, a slight breeze blew rustling the trees and the birds sang without a care in the world. Just another reason why Vlad loved coming back to his manor when the Spring rolled in. For a moment he forgot about why he came out here as he hung his head back and enjoyed the rays against his skin. It was peaceful and cleared his mind. He should have done this more often. 

“I used to feed them to his brother to keep him alive.” Tayonna was the first to break the silence. Vlad cracked open an eye and hummed to let her know he heard her. “I was destined to be a priestess before I was taken away from my home. Luther bought me and became my only friend for a while. He was dying and I knew how much he meant to him and I kept Luther alive as long as possible. When Luther learned it was my doing he asked me to stop, he wanted to die, he couldn’t watch his family suffer because of him he would say.” Tayonna rolled the grass in her hands and then threw it. Vlad sat up straight and leaned into the conversation. 

“Vladan…” Tayonna took a deep breath, she hadn't said his name in a while. “Was so heartbroken over his father’s passing that I thought if I kept Luther alive just a bit longer he would have more time to grieve one loss before the next.”

“Did it work?” Vlad asked, he felt Tayonna’s core pulse.

“Luther stopped eating the flowers, he found out I was putting them in his food and he starved himself. He didn’t do it to be malicious, he just wanted his brother to let go of him. Luther loved Vladan more than anything.” Tayonna curled her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around them. Vlad looked down at the flower in his hand and rolled it around a few times before bringing it up to his nose. It smelled sweeter than anything he had ever smelled before and he couldn’t help but take a bite of it. As soon as it hit his taste buds he quickly began to spit it out. Tayonna heard him and looked over to see Vlad trying to get the pedals out of his mouth. She looked horrified but also amused. Vlad didn’t know what to say and that was enough for the girl to bust into laughter.

“Did you seriously just try to eat the flower raw?” Tayonna covered her smile behind her hand and Vlad blushed wildly. He threw the flower down and crossed his arms over his chest.

“You made it sound appealing, I thought since it was ghostly it would be different. Like the taste of ectoplasm, you would think it tastes like something sour and nasty but it’s actually like a flavorless jelly with a hint of…” Vlad began to blush more. “Why am I telling you this!?” Tayonna laughed harder and Vlad could not keep his embarrassment steady as he finally caved in and began to laugh as well. When they finally calmed down they looked at each other and Vlad felt his heart slow. She really was beautiful when she smiled. He quickly shoved that down and gave her a gentle smile.

“So,” Vlad began. “Was Luther fond of you just as much as his brother?”

“If you mean in the way of courting, no.” Tayonna shook her head. “He was simply a friend. A very annoying witty silver tongue fool who had the biggest heart of them all. He was my friend.” Tayonna's brows knotted, and then she looked back towards Vlad with her mouth open. Vlad was confused until the girl brought a hand up to her head.

“I remember.” She seemed so happy to remember something from her life and Vlad couldn’t help but feel happy for her as well.

“Can you recall anything else?” Vlad felt a sense of hope from both of them. Tayonna closed her eyes and thought for a moment then turned back to Vlad. She slowly opened her eyes and then looked away. Vlad couldn’t read her expression but he knew she was calm.

“I remember Luther wanted us to stay together.” Tayonna sighed and Vlad felt his core begin to burn then slowly turn cold as sadness filled his heart. His body ran faster than his mind and before he could control himself he had reached out and took the girl’s hand in his and held it tight. Tayonna looked down and then at him and Vlad bit his lip and looked towards her. This was genuine, they both knew that, Vlad knew what that form of sadness was like and he couldn’t allow the girl to wallow in front of him.

“You’re holding my hand again,” Tayonna whispered.

“I know.” Vlad held her eyes with his. It was like an intense pull that he didn’t want to pull away, he felt like he was dealing with his own hurt emotions when he spoke to Tayonna. It was slightly addicting. All the emotions of loneliness and sadness Vlad felt about, Tayonna had expressed since they met. Vlad felt like the comfort he was extending to Tayonna also reflected the comfort he likely needed years ago. Vlad knew heartbreak, Vlad knew loneliness, he knew abandonment, what being lost and having to find your way, and he knew what being bitter felt like. Tayonna wasn’t bitter but she was everything else.

Having Tayonna around was like having an embodiment of emotions that Vlad needed to fix. Is This what Vladan meant? Tayonna could help him because he was going to help her, which in turn meant helping himself.

Vlad felt like that was farfetched, beyond him, yes, he was trying to be a better person and turn his life around but to fix something he had shoved down deep into his heart was messy. But looking at Tayonna made him want to fix her pain beyond just trying to put her to rest. They inched closer, never breaking eye contact. They were mere inches apart when the sound of a branch breaking pulled them away from each other. Tayonna’s eyes grew wide and she pulled her hand away, Vlad blushed and cleared his throat. They almost kissed and both of them knew that was a terrible idea. 

Vlad quickly got to his feet and brushed off his pants as best he could. He looked towards the sound and saw a deer coming out from the woods. Seems that nature had its way of butting in at just the right time. 

He cleared his throat again and held out a hand for Tayonna.

“Well, it seems it’s time to go in.” Vlad did his best to not seem flustered and offered a small smile. Tayonna saw the deer and then looked up to Vlad before taking his hand. Once up she pulled away again and Vlad felt a small ounce of hurt from it. He didn’t wish to dwell on it further and turned back to the house. Tayonna looked at the animal, something about it made her tense. Vlad felt his core pull when he made it to the door and he groaned and turned to look at the girl. 

Tayonna tilted her head and the animal followed, when she tilted the other way it did it again. Tayonna knew something about the deer was off but couldn’t figure it out. It looked like a deer, it moved like a deer, but even then that didn’t mean a duck was a duck. She felt locked in a trance with the deer and she couldn’t pull away. Tayonna took a step forward, she wanted to run towards the deer, she didn’t know what she would do but it wouldn’t be good. A feeling of danger and anger crept forward and Tayonna gripped at her dress. Her hands began to heat up as her powers came to life and lighting sparked and popped from her fist. 

“Tayonna?” Vlad called and that broke her from her trance. Tayonna blinked a few times then turned around and hurried to Vlad. Vlad could tell the girl was uneasy but he wasn’t sure if it was because of him. He didn’t feel a shift in emotions or even his core. He didn’t have to ask if she was okay as the girl just nodded towards him and rushed past him to get into the sunroom. Vlad kept an eye on the deer for a moment before brushing it off and closing the door behind both of them.

When the couple was gone the deer peered at the house and then began to slowly melt into a pool of green blob. From the blob, a shapeless figure rose and glared with burning red eyes.

[withlovelunette]

Hi Lunette! How've you been?

So full disclosure this is about a self indulgent fanfic with a self insert oc lol but anyway I still want it to be good™

The characters of the actual show have super tragic backstories and my oc is just a regular ol girl, but she's still like.. an emotional/sad character, do I need to give her a tragic backstory for it to make sense & for her to be able to connect with the other characters?

Hello hello!! Upfront, sorry for the super late reply; I began answering this almost immediately when it came in, but then I fell ill again shortly afterwards and struggled to get myself to write anything, and I didn’t want to give you anything that was half baked, hence the delay :,) Aside from that, I’ve been good! And been looking forward to tackling your question!

Firstly, my short answer here is no, you don’t need a tragic backstory for a character to be tragic, nor does your character need to be tragic to connect with tragic characters! But I figure you’d like something more in-depth, so I’ll try my best to provide something more concrete.

I think it’s actually a very good exercise to practice making characters connect despite not having anything specific in common backstory wise. The reason I say this is because I often find that this can be something of a crutch for writers, and there’s a risk of this connection coming off as somewhat superficial. Don’t get me wrong; there are incredibly well written character relationships where part of their bond is shaped by their shared tragedies, but this should never feel like a component that their connection depends on. If removing their equally tragic backstories suddenly breaks their bond completely, then there’s likely something else missing there (the notable exceptions here would be more dysfunctional/codependent/complex relationships). Try and see if you can find some other components than tragedy (such as shared themes, opportunities for narrative foils, opposing or shared ideologies, etc.) that your characters can connect over!

I also think that writers (myself included) can sometimes overemphasise backstories as a "function" for why a character is a certain way. Sometimes, characters can just be a certain way without there being a blatant cause-and-effect in play! Some people are just naturally more emotional and sensitive than others, and have an easier time connecting to other people as a result of that.

There is also an inherent sadness to such characteristics which you might be able to play around with. A character who is very emotional and has an easy time connecting with other characters, but maybe has a difficult time allowing others to connect with her in that same manner. There's a lot of vulnerability that comes with putting in so much emotional labour into other people, which somewhat generates a certain tragedy to her own arc without having to explicitly give her a tragic backstory to justify the way she acts. That in and of itself could be something for your character to connect with other characters (I'm speaking a bit vaguely here, since I don't know what media this is for. Hopefully that's ok!)

A very longwinded answer to what basically amounts to just a "no", but I hope I was able to help you churn some ideas and get the gears going :,) Thank you for trusting me with your question! And again, very sorry about the delay in my answer. If there's any follow-up questions or anything you'd like me to explain more thoroughly, don't hesitate to send in another ask, and I'll do my best to help out!

[violetwinterwidow01]

Civil War: Dumbfounded (AU)

This popped in my mind, i had to throw in my 2 cents😜

○☆○☆○☆○☆○☆○☆○☆○☆○

Imagine

Before Ross leaves, Cevyn grabs his attention.

Cevyn: Hmm, seems like he finally grew some balls, but allow me to crush them before you go...

He drops his head, sends his security out of the room and turns around. Everyone's eyes land on her as she absentmindedly swivels in her chair staring up at the ceiling. Cevyn lulls her head to the side, to look at Ross, and scoots up folding her hands on the table.

Cevyn: If you could give us a logical explanation as to WHO or WHAT is going to save this planet from the next alien invasion, we will gladly get out of what little hair you have left...

She rises out of her seat before he can speak.

Cevyn: And if you're gonna stand there naming off the Army, The Navy, The Seals, The Air Force, Police, Firefighters, Doctors, Scientists, pretty much anybody that has no goddamn expertise in this field... youre gonna need a third tripple bypass fucking around with me.

Rhodey snickers. She smiles.

Rhodes: Cev, calm down-

She cuts Rhodey off.

Cevyn: I am calm. Im simply waiting for an answer.

All eyes are set upon Ross as he blankly stares at the enraged yet calm woman hes been afraid of since the day they met.

Heres a backstory on Cevyn and Ross. The hatred runs deep. When Cevyn was 10 , Fury thought it would be a good idea for them to meet so that Ross was made aware of her powers, but mostly because Fury wanted to know if he could trust him, and the only way he could tell was if Cevyn shook his hand. Shaking hands allowed her to read someone, sense their aoura, and to see into their future. Seeing everything caused Cevyn to snatch her hand away and give him a death glare that could make Satan piss himself. From that point on, Cevyn knew that she would never get along with him, so she stayed as far away as she possibly could. Until she became an Avenger.

She saunters standing in front him. At this point everyone can see how intimidated he his by her. She snaps her fingers to get him out of his daze.

Cevyn: You have nothing to say do you? Because that's exactly who you were going to put in place of us weren't you?

Ross looks around the room for any signs of help. Wanda looks down, Vision looks straight ahead, Sam looks behind him, Natasha smirks, Rhodey lightly chuckles, Steve's shaking his head grinning, and Tony... you know those really good silent laughs you get? Yeah, thats where he is.

Cevyn: After all these years, still the same dumb ass expression on your face. Do you know the real reason why we do this, cause if not I'll be happy to break it down for you. We do this because we love this planet. Its the only one we call home. Nobody else can do what we do. Yes, there will be consequences. Yes, there will be collateral damage. But we can't help it when that happens. It shows that we are trying our best to control the situation, and save lives all at the same damn time. Do you have any idea how hard this shit is?

At this point, her body is vibrating with malice, yet she never raises her voice and masks it with laughter. Steve gets up to rub his wife's shoulders coaxing her down, while the team watches the scene unfold before their eyes. Tony sits in the corner burying his face in his hands, trying his hardest to suppress his snickering.

Rhodes: Tony, nows not the time to laugh.

Cevyn: You're one to talk. Over here about to keel over in laughter, go ahead and laugh because it is funny. This asshole has been a joke since the day Fury took me to meet him. The nerve of you walkin' up in here with the gall and the gumption to give us this bullshit proposal, basically saying you wanna keep us on a leash. In case you've forgotten, we're here at our own free fucking will, so Ill be damned if any of us will turn into somebodys bitch. This aint prison.

Natasha/Sam/Wanda: Oh my god🤭🤭🤭

Cevyn: You wanna know why i despise you so much? Youre sneaky, conniving, undermining, and repulsive. But, more importantly, it's the fact that you don't let your brain catch up to your actions. You do before you think, and that is highly disturbing. All im sayin is that You need us, and until you figure that out you can shove these accords right up your scrotum. I'm going to take a nap.

Cevyn shoves the accords into his chest walking out of the room. Tony can't contain his laughter any longer, and neither can the rest of the team. Steve chuckles and halls ass to follow his wife.

Steve: Sweets???

Cevyn: Steve, i dont wanna hear it. That imbecille has been a thorn in my side since i was 10. 10!!! Do you know how fucked up you have to be for a child to realize, "Hmm, theres something wrong with this mothafucker! Piece of shit dont know left from right, north to south or yes from no." Its time someone had the cojones to knock some sense into him.

Steve calms down from laughter. God he loves this woman.

Steve: First if all, language. Secondly i was just gonna say you were right.

Cevyn: Well, Thank you.

He wraps his arms around her waist, kissing her. He pulls back.

Steve: How are you feeling?

Cevyn: Tired. Not even showing that much, and this baby of yours is already kicking my ass. On top of that this asswipe comes in here causing a ruckus.

Steve laughs again. She joins in.

Steve: Can you see what he's gonna do next?

Cevyn: Ol' dumbass is gonna have chat with the United Nations. They're gonna realize what a terrible mistake this is and that if they were to go through with it, they'd be losing half of earth's mightiest superheroes. This also buys us more time to get to Bucky.

Steve quirks an eyebrow looking down at her and her stomach.

Steve: Us???

Cevyn: Yes. Me, you and Sam. Ill detach my conscience so she can go with you guys. She wont be pregnant.

Steve: okay.

Cevyn: Now, since all is said and done, take a nap with your wife and child.

She wraps her arms around his shoulders, leaving lingering kisses all over his neck. He scrunches up his nose.

Steve: A nap?

Cevyn: Yup. Why?

Steve: I was hoping to do something else. What you did back there, made me feral.

She pauses mid kiss, Pulling away.

Cevyn: Even more than you normally are?

He deadpans.

Steve: Im offering you some head. Take it or leave it.

Cevyn: Fine.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

I agree with your stance on gender dysphoria, but I still have questions. What sources made you conclude that gender dysphoria is a mental illness? You can't say common sense, we know that already. Furthermore, I believe that gender dysphoria is primarily an effect of trans social contagion. However, do you genuinely think there isn't a single person out there with genuine dysphoria that isn't a result of social contagion?

I never said all gender dysphoria is a social contagion. Dysphoria and dysmorphia are both, as far as we can tell in the inexact field of psychology, real things. You can find definitions for both in several different medical sources. I'm willing to believe those conditions exist unless some evidence comes to light to show otherwise. And that's part of the problem as a whole, because those studies just aren't being done. Especially when it comes to gender dysphoria. There's too much money and ideology tied up in modern gender "studies" and "treatment" for anyone to want to risk rocking the boat by accidentally discovering that gender dysphoria is caused by a rare circumstance during pregnancy or, even worse, that it doesn't exist at all as currently defined. I don't personally think that last is true, mind. I do believe gender dysphoria exists. But for the most part, that's what it is. A belief. I'm choosing to trust the untrustworthy field of psychology and the people who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria that the condition is real and people have it.

That said, I also think a lot of people who currently say they're trans these days, especially if they're underage and even more especially if they're little children, are the victim of either grooming or social contagion. I have seen nothing to show me that trans kids exist and there are generations of studies and medical proof of the effects of puberty. Kids going through puberty, especially young girls, often experience dysmorphia over their changing bodies. Kids going through puberty are maturing rapidly from children to adults and are being inundated with hormones and it's a very confusing time. They often don't know who they are as people and have to navigate the often turbulent seas of self-identity for the very first time. Kids in that situation are very open to manipulation, self-manipulation very much included. I can think of at least three things about myself that I hated when I was going through puberty that a trusted adult or group of friends could have used to convince me I was trans if they wanted to. Just look at how many young girls go on birth control to stop or regulate their periods. Do you seriously think it would be hard to convince those same girls that they could avoid the other unpleasant aspects of becoming a woman if they became a man instead? Especially with how prevalent the idea is that men are privileged and woman face a life of discrimination and abuse? What about young gay boys who just want to be attractive to their straight crushes? How hard would it be to convince them they're better off as a girl? There are so many alternative explanations for the sudden explosion of "trans kids" other than "they all have gender dysphoria and they all need to transition as soon as possible" but you're not allowed to entertain them at all.

Of course there's social contagion. But that doesn't mean every adult with dysphoria is "contaminated".