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poraphia · 1 year ago

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"A Dancing Rockstar."

➵ PAIRING! cc!lvjy!wilbur x cc!reader

➵ CREATING! 12.8.23 | 1978 words

➵ CONTAINING! party with the qsmp members, brief mention of FitMC and JaidenAnimations, Tubbo being a drunk wingman, reader and wilbur are drunkk, dancing :o

➵ SAYING! hihi guess who tryna get back into writing! I started on this fic like.. a while ago but since this prompt one the poll here it is :))! hope yall enjoy and sorry i been leaving yall hanging i love yall mwa mwa

My masterlist :)

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I wasn’t much for parties, but if you passed me a couple shots of vodka and some damn good music then maybe I could get down to a song or two.

The party was getting loud and heavy. Bodies were sloshing around the dance floor, music rumbled the whole room, and silhouettes could only be defined in blue and pink. I sat on the couch, clutching my glass as I watched my friends dance while laughing and holding each other close. It was interesting watching from afar— seeing these people I had only met months prior in a Minecraft server now here and present before me having the time of their lives.

It was safe to say I knew most of the people here— it is a QSMP party plus some guests after all. I’d like to think I’ve talked to every single member there is to the server, whether they would be frequently active or log in every once in a while, but there was someone in this party I was dying to get to know. Though he only logged in for at max a month, he had a daughter, posed as a son under Phil, and even had some sort of gay romance with Quackity.

You know who I’m talking about.

The myth.

The legend.

“—Wilbur! Pass me another glass, would you?”

Yup. William fucking Gold.

He was here by convenience. Lovejoy was in the city for his worldwide tour and it just so happen that the stars aligned for him (and maybe a bit in my favor too) to be here.

I constantly glanced at him— He stood there next to the bar area and never really left that specific spot. His shoulder was pressed against the pillar wall while his other arm held his red solo cup. Every so often one of his friends would come up to him and spark up a conversation before retreating with other friends. Not Wilbur though. He remained firm in his position at all times, and his eyes would sometimes lurk amongst the dancing bodies. Maybe he was looking for an excuse to join in, but never really found his little reason.

I felt the weight of the sofa shift as someone took their seat next to me. It was Tubbo, who looked wasted, but had some sort of consciousness in him still. His arms sprawled out as he sunk into the cushions, letting out a loud sigh.

“Whewww! I am so… Dizzy…” He exhaled. I rolled my eyes before turning my direction toward him.

“That’s sorta your fault for drinking so much.” I commented. He puffed out his cheeks while squinting at me.

“Psh, I’m a big man now. I know what I’m doing.” He scoffed. “How about you? Doesn’t look like you’re doing much. You’re usually my party buddy here!” He exclaimed, sitting up.

I sighed. “I mean yeah. I guess I’m just a little buzzed.” I shrugged, my gaze leading itself back to Wilbur. His long limb wrapped around the pillar and his cup was now placed on a surface. His mind was occupied with the phone he was clutching in his hand. My head tilted a little at the sight and without realizing, a little smile was forming on my face. This sparked Tubbo’s curiosity.

“Don’t tell me you’re looking at..—” Before Tubbo could say anything else, I whipped my head around, causing him to nearly choke laughing. “NO WAY—! ARE YOU CRUSHING ON—?”

“BE QUIET! “I squealed. I jumped toward him and put him in a headlock while using my other hand to cover his mouth as I muffled his obnoxious laughter.

“Dude, shut up! It’s not that big of a deal—” Tubbo broke out of my grasp, sitting up and staring at me.

“Alright, so if it’s not that big of a deaaaal—” without a second to spare, he raced off of the couch and darted towards Wilbur, becoming a near foggy vision under the LED lights. My heart skipped a beat as I desperately stumbled after him. I burst through the dancing crowd, nearly slipping because of the sleek tile floor.

“TUBBO YOU BITCH!” I screamed. But it was too late. By the time I yanked the boy by the shoulder, he was already grinning sinisterly at the sight of Wilbur’s flustered expression. I pushed Tubbo aside, now putting me in the position where I was right in front of the man.

“Uh…” I croaked out. A part of me wanted to just crawl into a hole and die at this point.

Wilbur chuckled, leaning his head against the pillar while smiling down at me.

“Hey there. So uh.. What was Tubbo talking about..?” he asked, slightly side eyeing Tubbo, who was losing his shit laughing while clutching Fit.

“D-don't mind him! He was just kidding haha!” I tried to nervously laugh it off, but under the dancing lights I was a heated red mess. I glanced behind him, realizing there were spare cups and glasses of alcohol. Without thinking, I moved past him and swiftly poured my own shot before frantically gulping it down.

The alcohol burned my throat, but luckily it was quick to loosen me up. I whipped my head back to Wilbur, who had a mixed expression of shocked amusement.

“Wanna dance?” I quickly offered, holding out my hand. I knew I wasn’t thinking this true, but what else could I say to break the ice?

“I.. Uh.. sure..—?! Ah—!” without letting him get another word out, I grabbed his hand and led him to the dance floor while occasionally bumping into the large groups of people. Some even took a double take at the sight of me dragging Wil.

Holy shit, this is so embarrassing. I thought. But I was far too gone to pull away. I turned around to face him now, bobbing a little bit to the music. He looked down at me, and with the red to his cheeks and the blue light shining down on him, his face was a sweet purple. The sight tugged at my heartstrings, and I felt my knees going weak.

If anything, I needed another shot. I turned to Tubbo, who was watching us with Jaiden and Fit. With my hand, I held up my thumb and pinky and held it close to my lips, indicating that I needed a drink. I watched as Tubbo ran off, leaving Fit and Jaiden confused. Chuckling a little bit, I turned back around to look at Wilbur.

He was sort of bobbing around, moving to the beat of the music. It was obvious that both of us weren’t completely feeling it, but all I needed was one shot and maybe I could help him start feeling the vibe. I watched as his lanky arms swayed from side to side.

I smiled a little. “Not much of a dancer?” I asked. Bashfully, he shook his head no. As if on queue, Tubbo ran up behind me, shoving a plastic cup into my grasp. Turning away from Wilbur, I brought the brim to my lips and chugged down the rugged taste. The alcohol rushed through my throat and into my nerves like poison, but I was back into the game. I shoved the cup back into Tubbo’s grasp and whispered him a quick thank you.

As if on instinct, my hands were on Wilbur’s hips, making him yelp in surprise. I picked up our pace, swaying to the beat of the music. Wil fumbled a little, not sure what to do besides move his torso with my consistent guidance. I decided to help him out, and as our hips grooved, I moved his hands onto my hips and rested my hands on his shoulders.

“Come on, you got this.” I smirked. A spark of boldness flamed in my chest, and the look on Wilbur’s face was my gasoline. He took one of my arms and backed away a bit to twirl me in place before holding my waist with his forearm, dipping me down so that my hair touched the glowing floor.

“I-I don’t even know your name!” He chuckled.

“Well..—” He pulled me back up, but I still remained close to his face. “Call me (y/n).”

We continued to dance to the music with our bodies intertwined. His leg was in between my legs. My arm was wrapped around his neck. His hand was on my hip. Our other hands were intertwined. It felt dangerous to be so close to stranger like this, but shit, did it feel right. For all hell, he could’ve been a mass murderer and I’m his next prey.. Although.. Looking into those eyes, I’m no better than a mouse falling for cheese on a trap.

“So how’d you meet Quackity?” He asked.

“Oh, we go way back to when we went to college together. He was a busy ass kid, but we bonded through those late night cramming sessions.” I chuckled. “How about you?”

“Ah, we used to do similar content like years ago on Youtube, then we got put into the same minecraft server, bonded outside of the server, and the rest is history.” He smiled. “It’s crazy seeing how far he’s come though— Y’know, creating a whole server full of people from all over the world and all.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy.” I laughed. “How about you? Heard you were a whole rockstar.”

“Pfff— rockstar?” He scoffed. “Don’t boost my ego now.”

“Oh, come on! You’re hardly on the server. It’s really the only explanation you have.”

“Well, yeah, I guess so—”

“Hey lovebirds!” Tubbo butted his head between me and Wilbur. “Are you guys having fun getting to know each other?” He chirped. He clasped his hands together and brought them near his cheek, giggling at the sight of us together.

I pulled away from Wilbur before playfully shoving Tubbo away. “Shut up!” I exclaimed. He only cackled in response before disappearing into the crowd yet again. Before I could chase after him, I felt a pair of hands grip the sides of my waist, pulling me close to his chest.

“Come on, it’s not his fault.” Wilbur whispered in my ear, the alcohol near apparent in his voice. It took Tubbo’s outburst to make me realize we were wasted and dancing the night away with Wil equally as drunk as me. I tilted my head up and sighed, taking comfort in his wobblily smile.

“Let’s get out of here, yeah? I saw there’s a gas station near by. We can get a couple snacks and walk around the city.” I reached up, cupping his face with one of my hands.

“Hm, sounds like a plan to me.” Wilbur smiled back.

Though we spent the rest of the night with him drunkenly talking about any random historical fact his mind came up with, or the outrageous stories he had while on tour, tonight it really did found like I found someone like no other. Someone who knows how to dance with me without even knowing my name. Someone I would confide in telling my life story to. Someone I could maybe, just maybe, fall in love with.

So, did I thank a hangover 19 year boy the next morning afterward? Yes, yes I did.

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a / n ~ hope yall enjoyeddd :D reblogs, replies, notes of all kind super duper appreciated YIPPIEE

#wilbur soot #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot fanfiction #wilbur soot oneshots #wilbur x reader #wilbur soot x y/n #wilbur soot x you #wilbur soot fluff #wilbur mcyt #wilbur from lovejoy #qsmp wilbur #wilbur x you #lovejoy #wilbur fanfiction #wilbur fluff #poraphiafanfics #tubbo x reader #qsmp tubbo

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 10 months ago

Note

I found this blog through a reblog and decided I’d poll Tumblr whether I’m the asshole. And the reason I’m concerned is because my mother (53 f) doesn’t think I’m the asshole, and that’s a bit of a red flag.

My sister (22 f) was home from college for break. She was to be traveling out of state to visit her boyfriend (23 m). Meaning, she was going to be flying in the continental US. As such, she needed a 1 qt, clear, plastic bag for her travel liquids. My family has several durable and clear plastic bags (as opposed to ziplocks) for this very purpose.

But rather than use one of these empty bags, she emptied my care bag.

This bag is fairly small. It usually holds my acne medication, including topical creams, tablets, prescribed moisturizer, etc… in travel sizes for me to take with me to work. I also include my migraine meds and lactose pills in this bag, among other things. And it fits perfectly within my backpack’s side pocket (which is why I bought it).

I noticed immediately that she had taken it as she had just dumped the contents all over my bathroom counter. So, I called her and told her that she needed to return it to me (at the time, she was only an hour away and her flight wasn’t for another week). She tried to play it off at first. “What bag?” Then she tried to reason that it wasn’t a big deal. Then she told me she didn’t want to make her bf drive an hour to return the bag to me as it’d put them an hour back in their drive, so I should just let it go.

And the reasonable part of me thinks… maybe I should? Maybe I should just go out and buy a new bag? Like… it’s annoying that she took it without asking and dumped everything out of it. It’s annoying that the bag doesn’t even meet TSA requirements as she claimed (it’s black and not completely clear). It’s annoying that I had asked her if she needed me to get her anything up for her night before and that rather than ask for help, she took something. And it’s annoying that she didn’t use the clear bags provided to her by our mother.

But the thing is… it’s not just the bag. This happens with all my stuff. It got so bad when I was a teen that my father put locks on all my drawers and doors that only I had keys to (my parents did have a spare set in the event I lost mine that they— ironically— “lost”).

EX: I have a pair of Levi jeans that I bought with a gift card from my grandparents. Levi’s are— well— expensive. Earlier last year, before she went back to school after break, I noticed they were missing. I called her and told her I was angry about this. She insisted I was “insane” and that she would never take them and that I likely misplaced them or lost them (I do have memory problems, combo of ADHD and whatever causes my migraines). My father helped me look for them. He even looked through her stuff. They *were not* in the house. But 5 months later after she came home from college, I found them under my bed (they were not previously under my bed). “See, I told you that you lost them.”

So, I told her that she needed to find a way to return the bag to me and that under no circumstances was she allowed to leave the state with it (if she did, there wasn’t much I would’ve or could’ve done about it, so I was hoping this ultimatum would work). And I said that if she didn’t return it, I would tell our mom about all the unused, unopened pregnancy tests she was stocking and hiding in her room (found when I went looking for spoons as she hides my mother’s spoons after using them). She told me “You’re insane. It’s just a bag,” but she did mail it back to me and I got it in time for work that Monday.

My mother says I was justified in demanding it back (she doesn’t know about the unused tests), but she is often petty and demanding and blows up or snaps at the smallest things. So, I am concerned that I made a big deal of nothing or that I took it too far.

AITAH? ESH?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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the-s1lly-corner · 1 month ago

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A miniature knife on a keychain (Jeff x Reader) (Ending 3)

Ending three for the 7MIH x CRP series we are slowly chipping away at the characters, hooray! As per usual there will be a poll at the end of this to choose another character for the 4th ending! Currently thanking tumblr for adding a poll option for 3 days because... i am too impatient to wait one week to work on a new ending... grrr.... and 24 hours is way too short for this imo notes: reader is gn, jeff has zero experience to the shock of you and probably everyone reading this, LET ME COOK CWs: vulgar comments but it's tame enough, better to tag though word count: 1.8k

You reach your hand into the hat and pull out…

A keychain with a small charm on the end… “Who’s is this?” You mumble out loud as you fiddle with it. A tiny knife. Pointy but not enough to actually do any damage. A hand is put on your shoulder with enough force to shift you slightly. “That’d be mine Babe,” Jeff grinned down at you- practically bearing all of his teeth right in your face. He pulls himself away and leans backwards to Toby. You hear him mutter something to him about tough luck, and in a louder voice, “Make sure to time me, I’ll have them back after the time’s up,” He clicked his tongue against his teeth and attempted to wink.

It only looked like his eye was trying to scrunch closed.

You don’t even realize his hand is still on your shoulder until he gently tugs you up by your top. “Come on, into the closet- them’s the rules,”

You rise to your feet and shuffle to your feet and let Jeff lead the way to the designated closet for the game. “After you,” He chuckled. He shuts the door behind him and leans into the corner. There was hardly any light, but the way the dimness bounced off of his face… You were used to how Jeff looked, but the lighting was not doing him any favors as he seemingly waited for you to make your first move.

When you didn’t he broke the silence.

“Sooooooo…” You could hear him patting his hands on his thighs as he searched for the words to say. “Anything you’re into?”

It’s so straight forward, so casual in how it leaves his mouth. It takes you off guard, actually.

“Uhmm…”

“I mean we don’t have to do anything if that’s what you’re worried about, general question, really,” He chuckled as he folded his legs under him and sat on the floor. You did the same, only about a foot away.

“I’d thought you’d be taking charge since you…” You raised your hands and… you didn’t know what you were trying to do but the point seemed to be understood. “It’s more fun seeing you struggle,” Jeff grinned- the act alone stretched his lips impossibly thin, the cuts in the sides of his cheeks allowed him to really push it across his face.

And for a moment, you wondered how kissing him would work. You swat the thought away, but it proved useless as your mind hooked itself on curiosity.

“People usually kiss during this game, right?” You ask, catching Jeff off guard for just a split second. In an instant his widened eyes relax. “That what you want? I’ll let you know I’m a biter,” He chuckled under his breath. You only stare at him blank faced.

“You’re serious?” He leaned back on his hands and stared at you. If this wasn’t the same guy who constantly talked himself up you would have thought you heard some surprise- shock?- in his voice. “I wouldn’t bring it up if I wasn’t,” You try to mimic his previous grin but you only find yourself feeling a little silly. You let your face fall neutral again as his eyes darted all over you. “Well shit, man,” He chuckled under his breath with a shake of his head. “Show me what you got then, don’t expect it to be nice though,”

“If you bite me I’m kicking,”

“Fair enough,”

He didn’t make a move towards you, instead he put closing the gap onto you.

And you do.

You close your eyes and begin to lean forward, you have to readjust how you’re sitting just so you don’t fall forward and into the man in front of you- he didn’t make any adjustment to his own position, still leaning backwards against the wall. You pucker your lips and-

Your lips press against something wet, and your eyes instantly snap open. Jeff sat in front of you, and while looking you dead in the eye his jaw hung open- wide enough that he could probably fit both his fists inside his mouth- sticking his tongue out forward. It took a horribly long moment to process just what in the hell he thought he was doing.

He expected tongue.

You reel away and grimace, “What the fuck,”

“What-”

“Why- that’s not how you kiss someone you know that right?” You rub your hands against your temple and try to keep a straight face. You weren’t sure if you wanted to laugh or cry. You almost do both as you recall a particular image you saw on your phone months ago- depicting exactly what Jeff had just done.

You inhale sharply.

“You’ve never kissed anyone before have you?” You ask half joking.

Jeff doesn’t immediately answer.

“You haven’t kissed anyone before,” You decide and he waves a hand in front of your face. “I mean it’s not that big of a deal-”

“Honestly you seemed like the type to blow through partners,”

His hand tenses and he shoots you a look. “The hell is that supposed to mean?” He hissed.

“Just thought you’d have… I don’t know, experience? With at least someone?”

It’s quiet for a second.

“No one?”

Jeff groans as he leans his head back against the wall. “Look when you’re going about sticking your knife in people you don’t have a lot of time sticking your dick in anything,”

“Gross.”

“Point is,” He quiets you, “No I’ve never kissed anyone. There. Happy now? Make fun of me all you want I don’t give a flying fuck. I wasn’t saving it either so before you think I’m one of those kinds of people then-”

“I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of, everyone’s been there before you know?” You shrug. What else can you do? Nothing you say will change anything. “You said you were a biter though?”

He waved you off. “I’m pretty sure I would be one… you wanna confirm that for me?”

You considered… you were previously about to kiss him anyway with that warning and that didn’t stop you earlier… but there was no way in hell you were going to let him pull the tongue maneuver again.

“You don’t look so bad, I don’t think you got it in you,” You tease as you close in. You stop a few inches away from his face. “It’d suck if the next person you got with had to deal with you not knowing how to do anything, with what you tried earlier,”

He opens his jaws but you push them closed. He almost looked offended.

“You open up too wide, it’s like you’re trying to eat my face… maybe you’re into that but most people probably aren’t,”

“I’m going to bite you,” He muttered, but he doesn’t make any movement to push you away from him. Actually he could bite you right now if he wanted- you were close enough- but he continues to remain still in place. “If you want to figure it out on your own you’re free to say no,”

You slip your hand away from under his jaw but before you can really begin leaning back onto the floor Jeff grabs your wrist and tugs you back into his face.

Chapped lips brush against yours for a minute causing your heart to skip at the sudden contact. He practically hisses right in your ear, but he sounds so fired up that you can hardly make out what he said. You only catch the tail end of it as he seemingly regained control of himself.

“If you think I’m going to let this slide without getting some you’re dead wrong,”

He sounded utterly humiliated as his hot breath pulled further away from your ear. He stares dead in your face and takes one last deep huff of air and lets it blow into your face.

“So how am I supposed to do this? Do I just mash my mouth into yours or-”

“There’s no mashing- look just…” You mutter and compose yourself. “You almost had it a second ago actually, just…” You think. You didn’t know how to truly explain exactly what to do, and you almost felt like asking if he can still pucker his lips would be an insult.

Without giving it much of a second thought you press your lips to his. Jeff nearly jumps out of his skin from the suddenness but he keeps himself locked to you. He lets go of your wrist and slips his hand away somewhere out of sight.

Your hovering hand finds its way to his cheek- being careful not to hook your fingers into his mouth through the cuts of his cheeks. To your surprise he actually leans into your palm.

The kiss goes on for a few more seconds, due to the need of air and because of someone outside loudly knocking their fist against the closet door.

“ONE MINUTE!” Toby calls out through the outside of the door.

Was time almost up?

You wipe your mouth clean and glance to Jeff who seems to need a minute to gather himself. You didn’t say anything, but you knew if your places were swapped he would be giving you flack for becoming so unraveled over a kiss.

“Come on,” You rise to your feet and use the last half minute or so to smooth out your clothing. Jeff finally pushes himself up off of the floor a few seconds before Toby swings the doors wide open. “Out you t-two,” He jerks his head to the side. You tug on Jeff’s arm and walk him out into the hallway. The light seems to bring him back to reality. He makes a face to Toby as you tug him down the hall.

Toby returns to the living room, leaving the two of you alone.

“You said you were a biter?”

“I’ll fucking get you next time.” Jeff hisses through clenched teeth. You glance at him.

Next time.

You hadn’t even considered the possibility that there could be one after this.

“Well you wanna go ahead and try to stick to your threat?” You grin at him. Jeff stares at you hard for a long moment.

“I’ll draw blood,” He matched your expression.

“Uh huh sure, sure whatever makes you feel tougher,” You wave him off. “You need chapstick by the way, like. Badly.”

“You-”

You cut him off before he can continue. “Maybe another day though, I need to go scrub my tongue off after that first attempt,” You weren’t going to let him live this down.

“See you tomorrow?”

Jeff’s mouth hangs open before he screws it shut. His mouth struggles for a second, but in a forced voice to attempt to sound unbothered- a fail mind you- he wishes you goodnight.

#creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #creepypasta imagine #crp x reader #crp x you #crp imagine #jeff the killer x reader #jeff the killer x you #jeff the killer imagine #canon x reader #canon x you #x reader

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pombeom · 3 months ago

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my 5 princes | chapter 2 (suggestive)

chapter 1

pairings: prince!beomgyu x princess!reader

warnings: suggestive content, slight exhibitionism, dry pussy rubbing

a/n: thank you to everyone who voted on the poll on chapter 1! make sure to vote again at the end of this chapter!

The prospect of choice was hard. You’ve hardly ever had to choose before, considering that most decisions were made for you. You’ve had liberties but yet you felt so much restriction. Even with your marriage, you were limited to choose between the 5 princes chosen by your parents.

You spent the rest of lunch getting to know each of your prospects feeling that most of them were putting up some sort of facade. None of their reactions to you were authentic nor genuine and all seemed to be a pose to seem gentlemanly in front of your parents, the king and queen. You were the one they needed to impress, not your parents. The meal ended shortly after dessert and the 6 of you made your way out the dinner hall promptly.

Ignoring the princes, you head out into the royal gardens for your usual weekly stroll. The minute you step out, the corner of your lips rise into a delicate smile as you take in the view of the infinite blue sky that stretched across the horizon. The garden flourished with life, each corner possessing a multitude of plants and flowers as they each grew and blossomed in the care of the royal gardeners.

You head past the rose bushes, nodding graciously to the man tending to the soft flowers. Your feet with a mind of their own, guide you through the acres of land as your eyes are bewildered by the beauty of nature, desperate to escape into a life of freedom.

A sudden tap on your shoulder signalled an alert, bringing you wandering mind back to the present moment: a reality where you were set to marry in a month. You turned around to find Yeonjun stood behind you, holding a rose that he had clearly just plucked from the bush you walked past mere minutes ago.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” You begin, slightly irritated that your walk was disturbed.

“Nothing, my princess. Just wanted to talk to you.”

“Well, now you’re done talking, you can leave.” Your response was harsh but you were hoping it got the message across.

“No can do. May I join you on your walk?”

“If I say no will you go away?”

“I don’t take no for an answer.”

“Exactly that’s what I thought.” Your eyes rolled as you sped up, almost as if you were running away from him.

“So, which of the princes have caught your eye so far?”

“What if I don’t want to tell you?”

“Oh come on. I’m just wondering. You don’t have to be shy. I know it’s me.” His eye winks at you as he smirks at you, feeling evidently cocky.

His arrogance annoyed you. He was attractive but that doesn’t mean everyone is obliged to fall head over heels for him.

“Can you just leave me alone? I’d like to continue the rest of my walk alone,” you grumble.

“No need to get feisty princess. Although it is kinda hot.” He winks once again making fire burn through your cheeks. You were unsure whether it was from the anger or the surprise from the ease he was able to flirt with you.

For once he listened and headed back to the castle as you continue to roam the gardens alone. You had made your choice. Beomgyu was definitely the better candidate for your riding trip scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Upon your return to the castle, you informed the King of your decision and headed back to your room where you spent the rest of the day.

The following morning had you feeling nervous. Not only were you about to get on a horse for the second time I your life but you were to do it with Beomgyu. You felt an initial attraction to him upon meeting him for the first time, so naturally your stomach ached with butterflies as you prepared for your ride.

You were geared up in your mother’s riding suit that you rarely wore although the prospect of wearing trousers and a jacket excited you. The trousers hugged your figure while the jacket cinched in at your waist revealing your curves. You picked up the helmet from the dresser and headed out to meet Beomgyu at the castle riding grounds.

“Hello princess,” he bows to you, meeting your eyes when he arises.

“Hello, Prince Beomgyu.”

“Please, Beomgyu is fine. How are you feeling about today?”

“In all truth, I am quite nervous. The only time I’ve ridden is when I was 11 when my father insisted that I get riding lessons. I fell and the trauma has forbidden me from ever riding again. But here we are.”

“Don’t worry princess. I’ll make sure to take very good care of you. Now let me help you up onto your horse.”

You step up onto the laddered steps when you feel his hands grip your waist, supporting you from behind. You feel the rush of infatuation as you’re instantly left craving for more of his touch but you try to shake off the feeling trying to concentrate on the task at hand.

With his help, you succeed at mounting the horse but his grip on you doesn’t change as he helps you find your centre and balance.

“Thank you. You made it feel easy.”

“It’s no big deal. But I was thinking that maybe I get on the horse with you, seeing at you’re still quite new to horse riding. I’ll be right behind you guiding you through. If that’s alright with you?”

You were flustered by his idea as well as the idea of being in such close proximity but nonetheless, you agree.

Soon he’s sitting right behind you as his arms reach out around your waist, grabbing the reigns. He props his head on your shoulders for “visibility” and he begins trotting the horse as you stiffen up.

“You’ve got to relax princess. The horse can feel your tension. Just breathe for me.” His deep voice whispers in your ear, his breath tickling your neck as it sends shivers down your spine.

Minutes later, you begin racing around the course with ease with support from Beomgyu who sits behind you. He let you take control of the reigns, trusting you to be in charge. His hands move back down to your waist, holding onto you for balance. The contact is his hand on you, had you squirming and you held back a moan when suddenly his grip tightened as you made a sharp turn. Your hitched breath was audible and you swore that you heard him chuckle. He reacted to your sensitivity by moving his hands down the curve of your hips and squeezing the plush of your thighs striking a jolt through your body. His fingers continue to move down as they circle your clothed core as you bite the inside of your mouth to suppress any untamed moans. You were certain he felt the same tension is the air as you did as he rubbed faster making your back arch. You were lucky no one else was around to witness the profanity. This realisation bought back to your senses.

“Right. I think that’s enough for today,” you abruptly say, as you slow down the horse.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes everything is well thanks. I would like to get off now.”

“Very well. You did great today by the way.” He had gotten off the horse, feeling quite smug about the way he made you react. His hands are wrapped around your waist once more, assisting you for the horse. You should be used to the feeling by now but each and every time just has you feeling weaker. His eyes pierce through yours as he stares deep into them, only further making you feel desperate and weak in his presence.

“Thank you. For teaching me. And helping me get off the horse. I’m grateful. I really am,” you rushed to say.

“Don’t mention it. If there’s anything else you want to do just let me know.” Beomgyu places a soft but suggestive kiss on your hand, his eyes were mischievous indicating that he had some sort of plan.

You rushed to bid your a dues and ran back inside as quick as you could when a tall figure roams outside your room, his blonde hair just as striking as it was the first time you saw him.

“Soobin, what are you doing here?” You manage to say catching your breath after speed walking to escape from Beomgyu.

“I just wanted to see you, your highness.”

“Well I’m all yours now. Is there anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?”

“No not really. But how was your ride?” His voice came out uncertain, almost as if he feared treading on water.

“It was surprisingly pleasant,” your tone reassured Soobin’s doubts as you were frantically trying to forget the sensations you felt earlier.

“That’s good then. Do you mind if I escort you to breakfast this morning?”

“Yes of course. Just let me get changed,” you say as you slip into your room.

You frantically try and find a new dress to wear and your eyes fall upon the new dresses your seamstress has bought in yesterday. You pulled out a silver gown, beaded with the smallest diamond which scoop neck of the dress. It was truly a bewitching gown and you manage to pull it on without the support do your handmaids who appear to be busy elsewhere.

You fix up your hair to the best of your abilities and reopen the door to find Taehyun accompanying Soobin.

“Good morning princess, may I escort you to a private breakfast on this fine morning? I’ve made preparations in the orangery.”

Shocked at the second proposal your mind buzzes with confusion. Soobin asked first but you were quite drawn to the idea of having breakfast in the orangery. What should you do?

————————————————————————

#txt #txt smut #txt ff #txt hard hours #beomgyu hard hours #txt suggestive #txt series #txt royal au

24 notes · View notes

marty-parties · 3 months ago

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Happy September 15th! Which, if you didn't know, is 'leave a comment day.' I could be wrong though, since my source is a poll i took on my other blog - either way, i've come up with a fun idea.

In honour of ‘leave a comment day’ i’ve made a list of all of my favourite fanfics/authors that I can think of atm, and I wanna leave a nice little note about them and their work! This isn’t in any particular order, tbh it’s mostly me going through my AO3 bookmarks and re-reading all of my fav fanfic, haha.

I honestly had no idea 'leave a comment day’ was a thing, and if you didn’t either, show your favourite authors that you appreciate them! Anything from a heart emoji, or a key smash, or an insightful/heartfelt comment will do wonders in terms of showing/being appreciated.

A lot of these fics below have influenced me in some way, big or small, into how/what I write today. I guess I wanted to give thanks where I could. (It’s also just really sick to make a doc full of your favourite things,and I highly implore you to do it too, even if you don’t wanna post it. (That's totally fair, no pressure.) I keep going over in my mind what I like about each fic and ‘oh, this fic is different from that, but it’s still fantastic, oh and this fic, too,’ etc. it’s such a fun little snowball effect of positivity, i definitely recommend you do this if you have time and need a pick me up, haha.)

Little note, here, If you’ve seen that I’ve read your fic, but found you’re not on the list - it’s not that I don’t like you/or work! I probably very well did enjoy it! I found as I was making this list it was taking a lot of my free time. (Free time that i’d rather like to use writing or reading more, haha.) And, I feel like this list is already so wickedly long ��cause I can't shut my mouth to save my life, to add more might be a little bit much to read all in one go. 😅

So, please don’t be upset if that’s the case! ily *mwah*

Also, there’s a few nsfw fics mention at the end, so if you’re a minor, pls buzz off, that content isn’t for you! I also recommend you check the links on some of these fics. I think I’ve included warnings where I think they’re due, but you know yourself better than i do. And, who knows, I might’ve accidentally missed a tag or two - So, please take care of yourself out there!

You’ll notice i’ve either included a source for either the authors tumbr, or AO3. I originally was going to try and do both, but i lost steam. Each story is linked to their author, on some site, promise.

Last thing, most of these fics are in the undertale fandom, tbh. It’s been my ride or die since highschool, so i’ve got a lot of love and things to say. You won’t find any frans or foncest here, i’m a reader insert girlie, simply put, and I don't care much for those tags on the fics i read.

Quick legend here:

Complete = complete work

Ongoing = still updating / i think they’re still update

Incomplete = either hiatus, or just incomplete

So, without further ado-

Road Side Attraction (Ongoing, teen+ rating) and Dirty Laundry (Complete, teen+ rating)

By Popatochisp (AO3) / popattochisp (Tumbr)

I’m going to be grouping together fics by author. Usually when I find one I really like, i really lurk around their tumblr/AO3 for others, haha.

–AND because I can’t think of one fic without the other. I find myself going back to read them both quite frequently, usually on rotation, they’re my little bedtime stories i keep on repeat in my mind, lol.

I mean, if you’re in the undertale fandom how can you not know about pop? For me, them (and luluwrites, among a few others i can’t remember rn,) –were really impactful to me growing up, as I think it was to a lot of people. (Tbh they’re still impactful, actually. I find myself going back even pretty often to read the same fics I read in high school.) They’re like the one piece of media you read in English class in high school that sticks with you throughout your adult life. (Looking at you, monkey’s paw.)

Pop has like 1,000 different au’s to choose from, all with fantastic and deep characterizations and lore.( I don’t know how they do it, i’m only writing a/b ONE skeleton rn, and i feel like a hamster on a wheel trying to get his characterization right. I couldn’t imagine doing that for every single au they have. God damn.)

I especially love Roadside Attraction, because of how easily i can relate to it? I’m deep in the sticks, a town more populated by livestock and people. When I read this, I can really put myself i MC’s shoes - b/c i’ve been there! (Hah, maybe not the dating skeletons part, granted, lol.) But it’s such a fantastic read, I love any and all media that has a vibe that it could take place in like a rural Montana. (think scenes in Twilight. Tall spruce/pine trees, misty morning, the possibility of seeing bigfoot, that sorta thing.)

And Dirty Laundry? Come on, dude. What a love letter to the swapfell universe, truly. If you haven't read it, you gotta. The world building, and the changing POV’s are so damn good, that every chapter feels crisp, and like you’ve got a really good inside scoop of each character. You can’t knock the characterization in this one, fellas. All the dynamics are so dead on - how Sans and Papyrus interact, how Sans and Alphys – dude, even how Sans and Toriel interact read so deeply in character. Everyone’s motives and ideas make sense to each character and the conflict that it brings. Big fan. 10/10, will definitely read again and again. (There’s also a ‘Menswear addition, where the reader has he/him pronouns if that’s your cup of tea!)

Bones Picked Clean (Incomplete, teen+ rating) and) Apéritifs (Ongoing, Mature rating)

By Skelezbian (tumblr) / luluwrites (on AO3)

Woof, where do I start?? I think Bones Picked Clean is another one of the first fics I remember being a really impactful piece of undertale fanwork that stuck with me. I know they’re not the one who created the whole ‘lodge’ scenario, (if you know, you know. Thank you @Tyrant_Tortoise, we’ll be seeing you next,) but they put a spin on it that is so interesting to see. The problems feel very realistic, like something that can easily happen in a house full of busy bodies with not enough communication. And, ohmygod the MC. My first love, truly. You get to see each set of skeleton brother’s, and watch how MC’s befriends them all. Granted, they have a track record of putting themselves in dangerous situations, for reasons revealed in the fic, but they’ve got a heart of gold, and a PHD in being a sweetheart.

The horrortale boys really shine here. I haven’t read much horrortale centric fanfics, but I really like the soft horrorale’ spin. The healing after the damage, the sunshine after the storm, watching the fauna overgrow, etc. I love watching characters grow when love is shown, and here, you can really see it here. I love domesticity, and using food as a love language– which is something this fic has in spades!

(I also love love swapfell characterization in this fic, chapter 13 does a REALLY good job of walking you through the mindspace of sf pap. But in terms of favourties, i’d have to say that would be Chapter 18. You get to see sf pap’s relationship with his brother! You really see/understand their dynamic, and how they really act as brothers behind closed doors. The other reason it’s a favourite is the inherit domesticity! Maybe I’m a sucker for the normie, slice of life, but how MC and sans chit chat at the start of the chapter is so cute! )

Warning: mention of past cannibalism, past murder, past abuse? I think that’s it, maybe check the tags to be sure. They sound scary, but I promise it’s a very sweet story.

Ohh, Apéritifs. First of all, what a clever name! I’m a sucker for word play, and this title alone really did it for me, haha. (if you don’t get it, please google ‘define Apéritifs’, and you’ll be just as jazzed as me.) They’re three stand alone one-shots featuring a different skeleton each chapter. I will say, I think chapter 3 is my fav. It’s actually heavily inspired me to make one of my one shots - it’s that good! I love the world building in it, as well. Really, you can’t go wrong. (Lulu really knows how to nail flirty dialogue, in very funny ways. ‘“so, you a fan of spare ribs, or just mine?”’ (ch. 3 – Apéritifs) KILLS ME, oh my god, what a funny flirty little one-liner.

Skeleton Squatters and The LandLady (Incomplete, teen+ rating)

By Tyrant_Tortoise (AO3) tyranttortoise (Tumblr)

Man– SSLL walked so we all could run. The amount of ‘lodge’ type fanfic dynamic i’ve seen, BECAUSE of this fic is wild. I might be wrong in saying this, but I think they were the one who came up with the whole ‘lodge’ type scenario, like all the reverse harems with all the au’s.

I haven’t read anything of theirs in a long time, but I wanna pay my respects where respects are due. Tyrant made one hell of an influential fanfic, enough so, that I’m pretty sure if I had a timeline of fandom evolution on undertale alone– I think there would be a noticeable difference in the before and after SSLL. Which, is so sick!! To have influenced a whole fandom with a concept that we’re still seeing it years later? (I get that trends sorta tend to last longer in fandoms than they do irl, but isn’t that such a neat thing to think about?)

I’m going to age myself (and maybe you, reading this a bit, but–) the first chapter was posted in 2017. 2017! Isn’t that nuts to think about? I was literally 17 at the time. No WONDER it stuck with me, my teenage brain was looking for all the serotonin it could get from fandoms. (wow. Things haven't changed all that much for me, haha.

Skeleton Ex Machina (Incomplete, teen+ rating)

By Cryptid_jack (AO3)

Ohh, okay, for all the SSLL fans out there, you probably already know who cryptid_jack is. And if not, I'll gladly tell you!

They’ve made this cool ass AI AU (it’s a LOT cooler than it sounds, I promise!) in their words, ‘a fanfic of a fanfic’ that’s actually in Skeleton Squatters and The LandLady (see above.) I’d recommend reading SSLL to fully understand this - although, if you’re good at picking up context clues, or maybe don’t mind missing some context, I don’t necessarily think you’d have to, since jack does a really good job of showing the reader everything that’s going on. (although, i really recommend you do.)

I think this au is so cool, it’s literally tagged as ‘Quarantine Sans’ (which, i’ll be the first to say, that maybe that name didn’t hold up too well, with recent 2020 events, an’ all that. Pandemic aside, it’s a cool name for an AU!)

It’s also really fun to see two friends in the fandom interact with each other's works like this. Even reading the note at the start of the fic, you can just feel the camaraderie and care that went into paying each other's proper respects.

Big big ups, hats off to proper manners and friendship!

All’s Fair In Love and (Prank) War (Incomplete, teen+ rating)

By torrikor (AO3)

Ohh, this is a short and sweet 2 chapter read. I don’t the author is going to circle back to it, but i suggest you read it anyways! the idea is so so good! In essence, MC and sf sans are roommates, and MC starts a prank war. I love love love their dynamic, their bickering is a real treat to read, that, coupled with their size difference? Sign me up!

My Favorite Thing (Complete, teen+ rating) and A Conversation Starter ( Complete, teen+ rating)

By peachwhimzy (AO3) peachwhimzy-things (Tumblr)

I’m a slut for their characterization of sf pap here, oh my god. Both are so so good, and i know i must sound like a broken record by saying I love how this author interpreted his character - but i can’t help it! So many people have good ideas and ways to showcase a character! Sue me.

A Conversation Starter is another one that’s inspired me to write a little one-shot. It’s so fantastically written, sf Papyrus and MC are at a bus station, both the first human and monster either have met. The world building is subtle, but wonderfully done. MC is so damn cute in this, and so is Papyrus, who’s really just trying to keep the conversation going, lol. There’s a delightful slice of life aspect to this.

Honestly, a lot of of Peach’s work feel very domestic, and sweet, and romantic. Sorta like i’m reading a studio Ghibli movie. Do yourself a favour and go check em out!

Late Night Shift Romance (Complete, teen+ rating)

By Inumaru12 (AO3)

The one fic on here that’s not a romance,how about that. (I guess that’s not technically true. There's possibly something budding, if you squint. I always read it as platonic friendship- it’s fanfic! Read it with whatever context you’d like!)

Burgerpants and MC are at the same convenient store late at night, and there’s a robbery. Friendship ensues. I love seeing the background character of undertale, and honestly, who doesn't relate to Burgerpants? Perpetually working shitty minimum wage jobs, trying to chase his dreams - that’s rough. I appreciate a character who can give a nod to class solidarity.. I think Inmuaru12 did so well writing his character, it feels like he was plucked out of the game himself, haha.

My Dearly Detested Delivery Man, (Complete, teen+ rating) and Black Coffee (Complete, general audiences rating)

By Little_old_lady (AO3)

Lol yet another set of swap fics, haha. (Yet another great example of different interpretations of the swapfell au!)

My Dearly Detested Delivery man is so fun, I love an ‘enemies to friends to lovers’ type of fic. I love the dialogue, it’s so funny! Like almost sitcom-esk with how good the one liners are. I think my favourite thing about writing fanfic is the dialogue- but reading what other authors have cooked up is such a treat, too. I love seeing authors with a certain brand of wit/cleverness they think the character would have, and seeing their own comedy bleed through, too sometimes. Little_old_lady does a good job showing the reader what you can gleam from the characters with how they talk to each other, in a way that sets the tone for their relationship. (whether it’s platonic, romantic, etc.) There’s so many ways you can show friendship, but I think the “passion” (lmao I don’t know what else to call it!) that’s at the heart of any argument is what can create the difference between friends arguing, vs two people who could be more. (Better put, I think what I like about two characters arguing is the sorta obvious chemistry it can create.)

Black Coffee does a good job about that too! I’ll be the first and last to say that I love any characters whose love language is ‘argue’ (lol even though irl I wouldn’t last long in any relationship like that, haha. ) I can be hit or miss with a soulmate au, but there’s another layer that I think undertale adds another level to in a soulmate au-since the game established that monsters and magic are real— that it almost feels a little more plausible of an au, than say, a soulmate AU of parks and rec? (no hate on the au or parks and rec, haha. I guess it just feels more “realistic” being that undertale is already a world made of magic, that magical soulmates, is one more step into weird that also makes sense?) I also love the bro-ship mc has with pap, in this one. Coming from someone who’s constantly worked retail/with customers one-on-one, somedays you want to go ape shit, so it’s nice to see an MC who can.

Half Your Age Plus Seven (Complete, teen+ rating)

By KassyKins

Ohhh, what a little treat this was to read. Tragedy! Romance! Love-rivalry! (NOT a love triangle!) People just Trying to do their best, they’ve got it all! This is another MC i’m in love with. They know what they love, and what they’re passionate about, but when push comes to shove, they’ll choose their family over themselves every single time. I think it’s a very admirable trait to have, integrity, and the ability to self-sacrifice. I think those two tropes/characteristics can really lead a story in so many interesting directions - weather it be an MC who’s too self-sacrificing, giving parts of themselves to everyone, leaving nothing for themselves, or an MC who’s pushing themselves through the ringer trying to do what they think is right according to their integrity, burning them up in the process. In this particular case, it’s maybe a little bit of both, coupled with (sad) a slice of life meet cute, with a healthy dose of growing pains.

There’s something about it that always hits extra hard to me, the ‘thrust into the lime light, or power, or a position they have no business being in. But, they’ve got people on the line, their people to take care of, so by god they’ll try.’ There’s something so tragic and poetic about it – but who knows, maybe I'm waxing poetic about the eldest daughter trope.

This fic really nicely written, and there’s so many fun hijinks and shenanigans in there to make you chuckle. Featuring another MC who’s able to shout at their boss and get away with it- big ups from me, lets goooooo working class!

Fair warning, this is a notable age gap from MC and swapfell gold sans. It is talked about in the story as well. I personally don’t mind it too much, but if that’s a no-go from you, you’ve been warned. (Maybe just check the tags on this one, (spoilers!) I know someone gets pregnant later. But, I know that can freak some folks out, so, heads up.)

There’s some smut mentioned, but it doesn’t go into detail about it, so i’ll leave it above the NSFW section. Just fair warning! (Maybe not a story for minors? I don’t know, read at your own discretion if you are?)

For the smut mention, be warned that I couldn’t find any age in their bio, do with that what you will.

And Now It’s Crystal Clear(Complete, teen+ rating)

By nighttimelights (AO3)

Oh, man. What another banger read.

Fun fact- i read this in . . . highschool? But i forgot the name of the fic,and it took me FOREVER, im talking YEARS before I found it again. I actually gave up the hunt, and just found it again one day– what an utter joy that was for me to rediscover it. I felt like I ran into my highschool sweetheart at the grocery store after not thinking about them in years.

It’s really cool concept on the whole ‘machine gaster’ situation. I respect someone so damn much who incorporates a bit of sci-sfi in their fics, I have no idea how to write it, but I love to read it/see it in media. So to see it, and understand it, and how it’s relevant to the plot is a real treat!

I also love the ending. :)

Wish Bone (Ongoing, Explicit rating)

By timeofjuly

I could not, in good conscience make this list without including my bestie, the OG and probably the reason why I'm actually posting what I'm writing today. I really can’t sing their praises high enough – but for the sake of comment day, I sure can try, haha.

July really does a good job of creating a wicked atmosphere in her works. The stark difference between Wish Bone (a political romance drama) and Resisting the Currents (reverse harem, but the gf likes you too. It's linked in the nsfw section, please check it out if you can.) is so incredible – they’re really an author that can do both, haha. Even though both fics are so different, what they have in common is their ability to get you right in your feelings, in whichever way the story calls for.

In Wishbone – Flint (the MC) has a bad case of being a massive asshole, that’s verging on becoming chronic. Their paranoia has caused their head to permanently be a swivel, and they’ve developed a taste for their own brand of Justice (however malicious as it is.) That sounds like the start of a vigilante story, but in all truth, Flint is a dick. Which, is another thing July is great at! Writing MC’s who are assholes! You love to hate them, you hate that you love them!

This is a MC x sf Pap, and later X sf Sans as well, If you’re hoping for a sappy romance, you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a reluctant soulmate AU fic, a fantastic spin on the traditionally very romantic au, a meet ugly, sort of vibe. If you love arguing, political drama, fantastic world building, and a very, sad, broken MC – you’re going to love this. Hell, even if how I described it doesn’t sound appealing to you – I implore you to check it out anyways. July will absolutely knock you on your ass with her writing. By god, there’s themes, motifs and symbolism that I'm not smart enough to analyse, let alone talk about. Whether July intentionally put them there or not, I have no idea, but they’re there and it adds another layer of depth in a delightfully, painful soul crushing way.

Go, see what I mean for yourself!

Tbh, i feel like I could go on forever about what I love about their fics, and my little personal theories on them – but I feel like I already look pretty unhinged. For the sake of my ego, i’ve gotta move on.

In terms of warnings, I think I sorta covered them? There's Plenty of anger, and hatred, ummm monster phobia? There might be some sorta nsfw stuff down the line, thus the rating, but as it stands now it’s smut free! Just a heads up, I suppose.

In Two weeks time and Red is my favorite color

By who_wants_a_muffin (AO3)

My other current ongoing fav, in two weeks time! Another swapfell sans one, to the surprise of absolute of no one, haha.

This MC is a dude! A man! Which is a refreshing change up, I don’t think there’s many many fics out there with a male leaning/male dominant MC’s. The characterization of MC is very good,

is so so good, it’s and X sf sans, and he’s got the exact right amount of snark and sass to keep you coming back, haha. (Or, I guess in this case, he keeps coming back. MC works at the pool he frequents.) Their banter is really fun to read, bordering on bickering, really. They’re almost like a little old married couple, haha. Which is to say, you can really feel the chemistry they have even though they’re basically strangers.

sf Papyrus is such a little shit in this one, i love it. He’s perpetually the youngest brother, and how Muffin writes him is so snarky and funny, and very endearing.

The chapters are short and sweet, enough so that you can read it a few times in the same day and still enjoy it, even though his updating schedule is crazy fast! I don’t know how he does it, but they’re just motoring along, haha. I get excited whenever I get an email saying Muffin updated. It’s like a little treat to brighten your week.

I’ve been reading a bit of his other stuff, and he just gets it! Like the dynamic between MC and fell sans in Red in my favorite color, is just perfect. I love the soft!underfell au, and he does a really good job of capturing how underfell sans straddles the line between being a bad boy, and a boy that's not all that bad.

I also love the notes he writes, ‘Hello gays and other assorted sillies!’ (from Chapter 2 in Red in my favorite color,) Like COME ON, that’s so funny!

– Undertale related

Bonley Hearts Club (Demo available, Ongoing, teen+ rating)

Bonely Hearts Club (tumblr)

owl-bones (tumblr) is the Developer and Director and (self proclaimed! I’m not being mean!) Lead Nerd. Here is a link to their cast, although it might not be fully updated. (It’s \a big one, so I'm going to leave it as a link.)

I don’t even know how to begin to explain my love for Bonely Hearts Club. It’s a fanmade game, made entirely of love, which you can tell, even before you play it. The sprites are so cute, and fantastic, and the writing is so in character and on point, do not get me started on the voice acting - which is also incredible. I’m not kidding, when I first played the demo, I immediately followed the voice actors on tumblr after, haha.

This is the kinda piece of art that you just stand back and look at it, and just go ‘wow’. It’s such a big undertaking! I know very little about game development, but from what i vault remember from my comp sci class - is that is’s hard. Mad respect from me to Owl, and everyone a part of the team/process.

This is off topic, but I wonder if Toby Fox has read any of these fics, or played the demo of this dating sim, like in the same way Alex Hursh has played a bit of Swooning Over Stans: A Grunkle Dating Sim. I’d pay serious money to have Toby play the dating sim demo. God, could you imagine the energy in that livestream? It would be goddamn electric.

[ Soul Redacted ] (Completed, teen rating) and The Great Noodle Jape (Completed, teen rating)

By nighttimepixels (game jolt) nighttimepixels (tumblr)

// active twitter lethalhoopla

//active tumblr lethalhoopla

Good god, talk about a . . .what, triple, quadruple threat? There’s nothing nighttimepixels can’t do. They write, they make art, they’ve made two complete games, (and the beginning of another,) and they animate!! Like oh my god! Another love letter to the fandom, everything they do is so so good.

[Soul Redacted] is a very cool rpg sidescroller explorer/mystery, and i’d say a touche of sci-fi in there, too. It has fantastic writing, and features Q! (from Cryptid_jack au, in Skeleton Squatters and The LandLady fromTyrant_Tortoise fic! see above for all!) Truth be told, I got a little scared playing this. Granted, I played it at like 2 am in the dark - and I am a coward lol. I don’t think the average person will get scared, but fair warning anyways, haha.

They’re not into the undertale fandom anymore, I don't think. Which is sad to hear, but also understandable. It’s not fun making art and other creations if you’ve lost that spark there. However, if you’re a mass effect fan, they’re making a bunch of art on their other bog. I personally really love their art style, so i’ll gladly keep checking back. Also, there’s so much undertale content on their blog that you’ll be good for a long while. And if not, you can always go back and look again! If you can’t experience it for the first time, the next best thing is to experience it again.

Warning: I think there’s some flashing lights at some point? Maybe double check the tags on that one if that’s a concern for you.

The Great Noodle Jape is so damn cute. As night put it, ‘a visnov style silly whodunit’, which I think it captures it perfectly. The writing is so fun, all the characters feel very well written/in character, and i love how they all interact with each other. As well, the sprites are so fantastic! Night has that kind of art style where you just know it's theirs without needing to confirm.

No warnings that I could think of, other than you’ll be wishing for the experience of playing it for the first time once you’re done.

– non-Undertale related fics -

Cult of the Lamb—

The Rehabilitation of Death

By bamsara (AO3) / bamsara (Tumblr)

WOOF. I am an ‘happy ending angst’ lover, and a ‘energies to lovers slow burn,’ and this fic takes the cake on both regards. Truly, who could pine better than a god, who’s named literally ‘The One Who Waits’? What an aptly named character for one of the major troupes in the fic, haha.

But for all you freaks out there (lol me) who don’t mind horror some of the time, I recommend reading it! Even if you’re not into CoTL, the pining is so goddamn good! (Considering it’s about gods, they’ve been pining for hundreds of years without even knowing it– the slowest of burns, like oh my GOD.) Bam also is known to post longer chapters- so if you like a read that lasts a couple days, PLEASE do yourself a favour and check it out. I don’t wanna spoil anything, but they’re getting to the part where the main couple is starting to be nice to each other, plus, the subplot B couple is starting to sorta shack up too. There are so many good, funny dynamics that are in this fic, that I don’t have enough words to properly explain them.

They also make fantastic artwork and sketches for just about each scene in their fics - which for all you visual girlies out there (myself, haha.) I think you’d appreciate it! I wish I was that type of triple threat, but I think i’d burn out too quickly if I was also drawing scenes of my fics – which is why I think it’s so impressive when other authors/artists do it!

They do art streams pretty frequently, too, and they make stickers too! A true triple threat,

Just, fair warning- like Cult of the Lamb (the game the fic is based off,) this fic mentions a lot about gore, and death, and mention of cults and religion. So if any of that is a turn off, or something you don’t like to read about, this might not be your cup of tea.

Non-fanfic Undertale fandom related material–

FNAF—

Solar Lunacy (Incomplete, Mature)

By BamSara

(I kept these two separate on the account they’re different fandoms, lol)

I was very briefly into the FNAF fandom, I only read a handful of fics— but Solar Lunacy really stuck with me!

Robots with trauma! An overly curious MC! I think what I like most about this, is how driven mc is? Usually it gets them into trouble, haha, but I love that troupe where the MC really puts themselves through the wringer looking for answers. (I.e like ford and bill from gravity falls.)

What’s not to love? For all you robot fans out there, it’s pretty sick! I’m sure if you dig deep enough on Bam’s tumblr you’ll find all their old DCA fanart, and draw parts from this fic.

Fair warning! Scary robots, the regular tags of the fnaf fandom (past child abuse/past child murder), robots don’t understand boundaries, maybe check the tags on this one, just in case.

Sleuth Jesters (Series!) (Complete, teen+ and mature ratings, depending on which fic in the series you’re reading.)

By naffeclipse (AO3)

This was the other FNAF fanfic that really stuck with me when I had the robot bug. (lol) I’ll be the first one to admit that I’m not overly into the whole ‘mafia boss’ side of self-ships, but if I had to choose one to read for the rest of time – it would definitely be this one. It’s like a detective noir, where mc is the vigilante who’s only law they follow is their grey moral code - but usually it’s for the good! So you can’t really feel to bad about that, haha.

Tbh it’s almost hard to verbalise what I like about it, it’s one of those fics that give you a feeling you can’t name, and it’s so frustrating to have this unnamed feeling you can’t quite pinpoint! (PLEASE tell me some of ya’ll know what i’m talking about!)

I feel so tragically for the MC, if that makes sense? They’re constantly putting themselves in harm's way for answers, and for others. They’re selfless, yet selfish, and they never let anyone too close, except for when they do. There’s some heavy themes and very toxic relationships, but there’s a happy ending!

Ahh warning for a very possessive, toxic robot, and kidnapping in later fics - i suggest you read the tags just in case! Bam is really good at tagging triggers accordingly,

Fair warning: blood and injury, very possessive character, toxic relationships (one sided), mention of injury, violence, kidnapping, guns, gunshot wounds, shootouts, broken bone- probably some more. I recommend checking the tags on this one as well, just to be on the safe side.

NSFW Below – Minors get out of here pls!

A quick mention, before I get into this–

I tried to check and make sure all the authors below are all well over 18, i’ve indicated which link has their age posted in their bio’s if you’d like to check for yourself. If I couldn’t find it, I made sure to be clear that I don't know.

Just doing some light housekeeping, here. You should also check the tags on each fic for what kinda . . . stuff it has, lol.

Play With Me (Incomplete, explicit rating)

By grimrester (AO3) / grimrester (tumblr/ age in bio here.)

Oh my god. Oh my god! For all you queers on the ace/aromatic spectrum just like me, this is the fic for you!

I could easily go back and read this again and again - tbh I already do. It’s plot with porn, and then it turns into porn with plot, but emotional! love the relationship between MC and Sans. There's something about their intimacy that’s so casual (maybe not the right word for what I mean,) but vulnerable, and realistic, but very enthusiastic and personal? I don’t think I even have the right words to properly and fully describe what all I like about this fic, but what I do know is that I like it a lot, haha.

I like that it shows sex and intimacy in a different way. I know it’s pretty common for undertale smut to have some kind of ecto junk involved - this one doesn’t. I personally, like the creativity involved in thinking different ways a person can get off that isn’t just penetration. (Don’t get me wrong, that’s in here too, but that comes a little bit later.)

I’m also s Big Fan of the sf sans interpretation here. It’s like a soft swapfell, one of my favourite version of him. I said it already, but there’s so many ways a person can go with his character, and I really really like the worldbuilding. It’s a nice subtle nod told through the characters. I love his relationship he has with Alphys, it all feels so incredibly in line with the character, even though he’s a swapfell version, he still does have some sort of friendship with her – even if to him it’s under a guise. To me, it’s one of those things that you can see the core traits that make him a sans, and that’s a hard needle to thread! Just an all around great character study.

ALSO, I think I have a particular penchant for MC’s with oddly specific niche jobs?? In my heart of hearts, Pixy’s (the name of the arcade MC owns in Play with Me) is like right next door to Faunas (the name of the pot store my MC owns in Into The Weeds.)

Warnings: i’m pretty sure this one is tagged accordingly on AO3, so i’m not going to tag it all here, just know there’s smut.

Something Good (Ongoing, Mature)

By skeletonlvr22 (AO3)

WARNING: No age in bio that I could find. This fic isn’t at the smut yet - but becuase of the 'eventual smut' tag, and for the sake of transparency, i’m letting you know. (I’m like 90% sure this person is an adult though, since there’s a tag thanking their husband for their help.) Do what you will with this info, you’ve been warned.

This is another one of my current reading obsessions lately!

I think i’m realizing I have a particular penchant for some of the lesser known au’s? (niche, I suppose?) Fellswap Gold Pap sets out on his own in only his trusty bus, to explore the surface above, away from the (over-) protective eyes of his brother.

This is the escape fantasy of my dreams. A stray skeleton on the adventure of his lifetime, seeing the sights and the city lights. The romance portion in the later chapters is so damn cute too, it’s very much the ‘first love’, type of romance that’s very sweet and charming. (also, c’mon, who doesn't love a coming of age story?) Love love seeing a Fellswap Gold fic, and a Papyrus based one, too! People are so damn creative, I never would've ever thought of this plot for a fic, but now that I know it’s real, I love it!I I’m really not kidding when I say it’s prime escape fantasy material - I think it would be the cats ass to have a van and travel across north america, thanks skeletonlv22 for letting me vicariously live through Pap in your fic. :)

Warning: Only the ones i’ve given at the top! It’s a very cute story. I put it in the NSFW section b/c of the eventual smut, there’s none in it now – although, they certainly are starting to get flirty.

Resisting the Currents (Ongoing, Explicit)

By timeofjuly (AO3) timeofjuly (Tumblr)

WARNING: No age in bio that I could find, but I’ve been chit-chatting with July for months now and i’m 99.99% sure they’re well above 18. It’s not my info to give out, and i’m trying to be transparent on my end, do with this info what you will!

Edit: age confirmed in the tags!

This is easily another fav of mine for sure.

Resisting the Currents is a reverse harem fic (with all the au’s!) but with a twist - the gf likes you too! It’s a refreshing take on the ‘reverse harem’ tag you see often in the undertale fandom - and holy shit, truly ‘only love can hurt like this.’ The relationship they have with the MC is so painful, verging on devastating. There’s love there! There is! But there’s also hurt, and a lot of it, the kind that doesn’t just go away, not on its own, anyway. I’m trying not to spoil too much, because I truly think you should read it for yourself.

But, Oh My God, their MC? Holyshit- I have a(n aforementioned) weakness for impressionable MC’s, oftentimes, I end up loving them more than the love interest in the fics. I can’t help it! The electrician is personable, relatable, and funny! They’re a lovable goofball with a rough past, with a history of doing the wrong things.They're recovering/recovered? (I’m not too sure which is the correct term, here,) drug addict, and they’ve come a long way! They’ve changed a lot, and I love love love to see that kind of realism in an MC.

If you’re reading RtC (which you should be,) you can 100% see me going apeshit in the comments trying to figure out what the elections and Quinn’s deal is. (ESPECIALLY chapter 11!

(Sorry if they’re not coherent, at one point, those theories made sense in my head, but looking back on them, I think they’re more so like the crazed ramblings of a conspiracy theorist, haha.)

This fic is in the NSFW section b/c it does have a chapter where two characters get it on, but i can’t say that’s what the whole story is about. I put it down here to be safe rather than sorry, haha.

Ahh, fair warning, there is past drug mention, and past abuse child abuse I think? Plus, a bit of mention of religion and the negative effects that can have on a person. Read the tags just to be safe!

Shark Teeth (Complete, Mature rating)

By luluwrites (AO3) skelezbian (Tumblr)

Warning: No age in bio that I could find. If it makes you feel any better, they joined AO3 in 2012, while I joined in 2016 and i’m 24 currently. I’m not good at math, but I think we’re all in the clear here. But like always, do with this info what you will!

I will say, this isn’t full on smut - it’s saucy, but I’m trying to keep anything suggestive, kinda together?

Not to divulge myself too furiously here, but uh–There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about Shark teeth. C’mon. Y'all get it, right? It’s just a funny, saucy little number! A funny moment that happens between couples that we get to see. There’s so many different interpretations on the fellswaps, (I know i’ve said it a lot,) but Lulu’s just happens to be one of my favourites interpretations!! Sf Sans is a very precarious character, and I think Lulu does a good job showing that the swaps can be written in a multitude of ways, he doesn’t just have to be the dickhead all the time, lmao. They really do a good job showing how he shines, y’know?

Warning: teeth and/or biting? Not full on smut, or anything, but it is saucy. So, take that into consideration.

The Fulfilling Ordeal of Being Known (Complete, explicit)

By nighttimepixels (tumblr) / // active on twitter lethalhoopla (age mention in bio here)

Ohhh, for all my sapphics out there – you’re going to love this.

Blade (fem horrortale sans, who’s apart of her ‘Lillytale’ au, a sapphic take on all the au’s,) and MC settling down for a nice night in, MC playing breath of the wild (BIG UPPS, great game, lol) while Blade plays some games of their own - hopefully you get the picture.

Just some great lady-lovin’ smut! Size difference! If you love the pillow princess treatment, this is the fic for you.

Warnings: (Lesbians? Queers?) really going to town on each other, def NSFW. Check the tags before reading, it’s nothing Dead Dove, or anything - just want you to be aware.

mothiepixie (tumblr / age in bio here)

mothiepixie (twitter, age in bio here too)

No fic to tag, but their art? AHHHHH. They’re more active on twitter than tumblr since The Ban, but ohhh their art is very, very good. Very great if you like fictional hunky men, and beautiful shapely ladies.

Warnings: tasteful (shameless) smut, you’ve been warned, lol

Woof. That was a lot of typing. If you made it this far, circle back to one of the recommendations above and get to reading!

12 notes · View notes

shady-scripter · 9 months ago

Text

How Long

It took me way too long to pull this out-

You guys remember that on poll with Hamilton lyrics? Yeah, that’s what this was for

Malon thought of him as she washed the dishes and dealt with the livestock. It was at the day’s end that she wrote to him. Though, that was only when she wasn’t exhausted.

Dear Link,

You have no idea how plain it is without you or the others around. It feels sorta like-

She groaned, unable to find the words that suited the sentence. She closed her eyes, thinking random words. Green, gliding, sword. None of them would help her letter.

-almost like I’m in some sort of limbo…? A supposed the easiest way to put this is alone? Words truly aren’t coming to me in this letter, but I felt that I should write anyway, make sure you know that I’m okay on this end.

Be safe, love,

Malon

She looked over her letter, fairly disappointed in it. It was shorter than she usually had them, but it was time for bed. Maybe that’s why she couldn’t think of the right words.

Besides, if she talked too much, she may uncover the big news before he gets back. She needed to see his face when she told him!

So, Malon folded the paper and put it in an envelope, opting to carry it to the office tomorrow.

Then her stomach started to rumble. She cursed and ran to the bathroom.

~~~

The day had been a close call. No one was injured, but with the rise of these new enemies, moblins and lynels with elemental powers, this adventure was getting more dangerous by the minute.

Time’s leg bounced as he tried to think of his own words. Red? No. Well, yes, but no.

Then the thought came back, the one that had haunted him for so long.

Dear Malon,

I think that I’m scared. Not for me, for the other boys. We encountered something none of us have seen before. A moblin with elemental powers. We also encountered a lynel with elemental powers, but I ordered a retreat. No one is too badly hurt. Only slight burns.

But that only fuels my fear. Malon, I love you and I’d do anything if it meant that I could come back to you. But I have this looming feeling above me, like my time is near. I pray that this is just paranoia and not some deity trying to warn me.

I’m sorry to leave you on such a note,

Link

He sighed. And began to fold it.

“You look like doom and gloom tonight.”

“Just a little stress is all, Captain.” Warriors pat Time on his back.

“You made a good call. Those things are new.”

“Do you think there’s another one?” Wind piped up.

“Another one?” Wild asked.

“Well, when we see another version of a moblin or boko, that’s how we figured another one of us was coming.” Twilight explained. “I mean, it’s how we found Sky.”

“His bokos look atrocious,” Warriors scoffed.

“Our bokos look atrocious! Yours looks just like mine!” Sky laughed.

Time hummed. “You are right. I suppose they come from close to the Champion’s era with how similar their enemies look.”

“It must be pretty damn far from him. Since when can moblins do electricity?” Legend reasoned. Time nodded.

“We’ll find out soon enough. For now, it’s time for bed. Who’s day for watch is it?”

Malon’s leg bounced as she read his latest letter.

He thinks that he’s going to die out there? Well, if he died out there, she was going to drag his soul back home and stick it into one of the cattle.

Her hand gripped the fabric of her dress that hung over her belly. She could feel how much it’s grown since he last visited. She was already starting to panic that the bump would tell Link before she could. Now she had to deal with the fact that maybe she’ll never see Link again…?

She’s seen how he looks at those boys. He looks at them with such a longing. He already told her why. He said, “I long to have my own be as strong as them.” It made her so happy to hear that from him.

The downside was, Link was a very loyal person. If something came up and it was him or one of them, he’d choose them in a heartbeat.

He doesn’t value his life as much as Malon wished he did. He was stuck in that hero mindset. He always put others' lives before his own.

She hated getting letters like this. The only thing she could do about it was pray that he returned to her. That he returned to them.

He grunted as he swung his sword through another one of Sky’s lizalfos. He could hear how loud his own panting was. He swung his sword again and hit metal. He made a sound akin to a growl.

He swung again and the next lizalfos fell to his claymore. He felled another five bokoblins before he heard a yell.

“An electric lynel?!” His heart dropped to his stomach. He cut down a few more bokoblins before he ran to face the lynel.

Hyrule was already trying to deal with it, launching his holographic swords at it. Wild aided him with his remote bombs. Time sighed, thankful that they weren’t going in recklessly this time. Too bad he was about to.

He reached to his side, pulling out his checkered-bladed sword and threw it like a spear. It sliced through one of the lynel’s legs, its rawr is the loudest Time has ever heard.

He gripped the biggoron sword with his secondhand once more, swinging at the beast.

“Wait!” He barely registered the scream before his blade met the beast. The searing and agonizing pain shook through his spine like an earthquake. He felt his scream, but he couldn’t hear it.

He felt his body hit the ground, but the buzzing of electricity on his armor remained, keeping him firmly in place.

“…to him!” His hearing began to turn coherent rather than the deafening ringing. The sounds of battle continued. Shouting, slashing, groaning, screaming.

His fingers twitched as he tried to use them to grip the earth beneath him. When his focus regained, he saw a shadow loom over him.

He turned his head to look behind him. There, blocking the sun, was the same lynel responsible for electrocuting him. It raised its sword into the air.

I have this looming feeling, like my time is near.

His time wasn’t near anymore. It was here.

“HYAH!” And, suddenly, the thing fell to its side, dropping its sword on the dirt right next to Time.

He landed, spear in hand, the blade glowed a brilliant bright blue. Similar to a tunic he knew.

“Champion?” His voice croaked, raw from his scream. The boy’s hair swayed as he turned to look at Time, his lips sealed.

It was then that Time noticed how quiet it had gotten. An arrow landed at the boy’s feet. He jumped back, his eyes darting around.

“Woah!” Time saw Twilight holding Wild back. “What are you doing?!”

In his peripheral he saw a hand. He turned and it was the same blue tunic that the Champion wore.

Did he pass out?

He took the boy’s arm and stood with his help. Time made haste to strip himself of his buzzing armor.

Time stampered over his words and opted for a curt nod which the boy returned.

“Are you alright?” Warriors came to Time’s side. Time nodded, a weak smile on his face.

Warriors looked at the ‘fake’ Wild. “And you are?”

Time side eyed Warriors. They both already knew the answer.

The doppelgänger signed. “Link.”

What a surprise.

Time and Warriors let out a sigh in unison.

She swayed with her humming, guiding the broom across the floor.

Her nerves were getting worse and worse. He had told her about what Ingo did in that forgotten time, but she couldn’t ask her father.

She dreaded asking him, she really did, but she didn’t have someone else she could fall back on.

Now she had to find out how she was going to word the letter. She was surely not going to wait until he came back to explain.

She sat down at the desk with a relieved sigh. She glanced out of the window, watching Ingo wrestle with cuckoos. She chuckled to herself.

She was in a fairly vulnerable state. If he wanted to, Ingo could easily overtake the Ranch. But Malon knew he wouldn’t, she already told him what Link would do if he tried something. That would come even before he found out about her state. After he realized, Ingo would be six feet under if he wasn’t already.

She giggled at her own thoughts. She turned her gaze back to her ever growing stomach. “You know, naming you would be so much easier with him here.” She rubbed her stomach over her belly button. “She said that you’d be a beautiful boy. I’m fighting myself not to make you a junior, you have no idea.” She giggled again, her feeting kicking.

She looked back outside her window, the sunset looking bright today. “Link Junior…would he like that?” She sighed. “I got to be ready in case he doesn’t come before you, y’know. Can’t look crazy when they ask me what to put on the paper.” She chuckled for only a moment, it faded into a frown. “Maybe you can be named something not destiny tied. Like Cassidy or Calor or- wait.” Malon hummed. “Hear me out, Calon.”

She didn’t know what she expected. Maybe a small kick or something like that, not Ingo’s face smashing against the window right in front of her.

She busted out laughing. “Calon it is!”

They were getting easier with the new hero’s guidance. They started calling him Guardian. It was his request. The Champion didn’t like the idea. It was obvious that they were connected in some way.

It was through the side eyes and off handed comments that alerted Time. He hoped this wouldn’t become a split in the team.

It was obvious that Warriors was taking a liking to Guardian, hanging around him more than the Champion. Time could see that Wild also noticed.

He stayed away from Warriors more than he used to.

The boys did their usual bantering as they walked. He was just following Twilight’s lead, as they were in his world. They’d been there for a few weeks, if not a month. It’s the longest they’ve been in a single world.

The boys were starting to gamble on when the next portal would open. If Time could guess, he’d say between a few hours or next week. Either way, the hoards were getting cut less and less.

They hadn’t fought anything all day. Well, except Wild. He hated baths. Twilight compared him to a cat.

Which was ironic because Twilight could turn into a literal wolf. Time was pretty sure cats hated dogs, yet those two were attached at the hip.

“So, Old Man,” his eyebrows and ears raised at attention. “How’s the wife?”

His eyebrows furrowed, trying to think as to why the Veteran of all people would ask about Malon. He answered hesitantly. “She’s-“

“Give me my rupees!” The Sailor yelled, pointing behind Time. Time turned and there, in all its purple swirly spooky glory, was a portal. “I was right! Eat shit Captain!”

The Captain pushed the Sailor away by his face. Looking over, he saw a smile on Guardian’s face. Not a large one, but it was there. Time was happy to see that his guard was coming down.

“Approach with caution. We don’t want another incident like in Wind’s Hyrule,” Time muttered, slightly trembling with the thought of plunging into water again. The others nodded.

When stepped through the portal and opened his eyes, he was overcome with relief. Yes, he wasn’t plunged into water, but he was also home.

He was home.

“Cookies, cookies, cookies…” some of the others joined in with the Smithy’s chanting. Time let loose a laugh.

“So that’s how you remember her? I’ll tell her that,” He chuckled.

“You shoulda tasted those orange ones! They were so good!” Sky’s eyes were practically stars.

“What is it with you lot and pumpkins?” He asked, a snicker at the tip of his tongue.

Twilight rolled his eyes. Time waved it off. “Let's go get some cookies.” The others cheered.

They were lucky they walked into Hyrule field during the morning. He didn’t know if he felt like fighting stalchildren. Well, it wasn’t like they were scary or hard to fight, he must’ve been feeling particularly lazy today.

Or he was saving his strength for the ungodly beating he was going to give Ingo if even a single drop of Malon’s blood stained his carpet.

She said that it was getting harder to manage it on her own, which was understandable. They worked together on that Ranch usually. She was amazing and proficient when she worked, but everyone eventually gets overworked. She deserved more help.

But did it have to be him? Was there really no one else out there?

They side eyed each other as Time and the others went up the hill. He wasted no time. “Where is she,” his voice came out more snarly than he anticipated.

Ingo looked him up and down. “In bed.” They stared each other down for another few seconds, one judging the other so keenly it was like ritual. Ingo looked away first, his muttering growing coherent with each word.

“What kind of husband leaves a pregnant wife to manage a farm alone? What an ass.” Time’s ears perked up at the allegation, but he doesn’t react other than that. Well, not outwardly.

He can't focus on his steps as he walks to the door. His eyes feel hazy and his breath can’t decide what pace it wants to go.

He softly knocked on the door, waiting for any sound to come from inside. He couldn’t hear a thing.

“Aye!” Time’s head snapped backwards. Wind rubbed his temple. “Bastard,” the boy muttered.

On the ground, next to the cursing boy, was a plethora of keys. One of which he knew was a house key.

He glanced up at Ingo and slowly reached down to pick up to the keys. He maintained eye contact while he stood back up.

He shuffled with the key inside the lock until he heard the soft click that told him that the door was open. He twisted the knob and pushed the door.

“What was the point of knocking if you had the-“ their eyes met.

“Oop-“ Sky covered Warriors’s mouth.

“You’re…” he was sure his jaw was on the floor. Malon glanced down, spotting her own problem.

She laughed, awkwardness laced into every sound. “Yeah.”

“You’re-!” he ran up to her, not even finishing his sentence. He scooped her into his arms and spun her. It was close to, if not the same thing, that Malon did to him when he proposed.

She squeaked. “Mercy! Calon needs space!” Link set her down. She cupped his cheek, a smile on her face. “Why are you crying?” She whispered, wiping a stray tear from his face.

Time struggled to find the words so he hummed. Malon shook her head. “Speak words!” She laughed.

Time looked away and chuckled. “I’m, well, no juniors.”

“Awe,” Malon faked disappointment. “I did think about it though.” She laughed. “Our little LJ.”

“Stop,” Time wiped his own tears. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wanted to see this. I wanted to see you,” She answered swiftly. “It was truly a test of will not to write “pregnant” on the parchment.”

Then he did it. The thing he’d been dying to do since he did it last. He kissed her, planting her beautiful lips onto his own.

She pulled him back down when he pulled away, turning the tender kiss into a fit of abstract giggles.

“So, uh,” he forgot they were there. “Twilight’s grandpa is on the way?” Wild laughed. “Ow!” Wild rudded where his predecessor punched him. Twilight’s cheeks tinted red.

“I guess so,” Time giggled as Malon’s arm wrapped around his waist. Time pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “I think that it’s time you head back upstairs.”

Malon hummed, “No.” Time picked her up and began up the steps.

The others watched the married couple giggle on their way upstairs with lingering eyes.

“Damn,” Legend started. “I wonder how long he lasted.”

“VET!”

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cinematicsoph · 2 years ago

Text

valntyne • calum hood blurb

summary: it's your first valentines day in a relationship and you're super excited. however, everything that could go wrong - did. and your boyfriend doesn't even seem to remember it's valentines day…or does he?

warnings: swearing, super duper cheesy…like extremely cheesy

a/n: heyyyy how y'all doing? happy valntyne's day, lovers! i randomly got this idea listening to valentine and luckily Cal won the twitter poll bc i lowkey wanted him to win it all along oops lol. anyways (as always) thank you to my amazing editor and to you guys reading this! i hope you enjoy and that you had a great valentines day !

✧ ˚ 　· 　　. 　　 · 　˚ ✧ ✧ ˚ 　· 　　. 　　 · 　˚ ✧✧ ˚ 　· 　. 　　 · 　˚ ✧

Today sucks. It has honestly been the worst day you’ve had in a long time. To make matters worse, it’s your first Valentine’s Day in a relationship and your boyfriend didn’t seem to remember or care.

You and Calum have been dating for four months and things have been going great. You and the guys have been friends for so long but you always felt different about Calum. When he finally got the courage to ask you out, you were ecstatic. Now it’s Valentine’s Day and while you usually hate this holiday since you never got to fully experience it, you were looking forward to spending the day with your boyfriend. But Calum didn’t say anything about Valentine’s Day when he woke up, and then you got called into work at 6 am so you couldn’t even stay at home with him. Then you got a shit ton of work thrown at you, and you spilt your coffee on your outfit and important documents that needed to be sent out before you left. It seemed that everything that could go wrong, did. All you wanted to do was go home and curl up in a ball, never to leave again. You knew that by now Calum had left your house to go back to his own and you couldn’t tell if that made you feel better or worse. Part of you longed for his comforting cuddles. His body temperature always seeming warmer than normal and his tattoos were strangely calming to trace always made you feel better. But the other part of you desperately wanted to be alone. To go to the grocery store and buy whatever the hell you wanted, go home to change into your pajamas, and binge watch John Mulaney specials until the tears on your cheeks turned to ones of laughter. Unfortunately, you cannot have both.

Work seemed to drag on, the end of your shift always seeming out of reach. Until finally, your boss walked into your office. “Y/N, you’ve been here for nearly 10 hours. Go home and enjoy the holiday with your boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks” you said, ignoring her and continuing the last of your work.

“Hey, I know I’m your boss. But I’d like to think that we’re friends too. I can tell when somethings wrong, Y/N. Did something happen between you and Calum?” She closes your door and sits down in the chair across from you. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

You look up at her and the sympathetic look on her face made you tear up. “It’s just been such a shitty day, and it’s my first Valentine’s Day in a relationship, and my boyfriend doesn’t even seem to care. I woke up this morning hoping for at least a “Happy Valentine’s Day” from him. But I didn’t get anything. I got a “good morning” and then a phone call that I had to come in today. I just…I just want to go home and be alone,” you say choking up. You’re trying to keep the tears from falling and then you realize how much you just spilt to your boss. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to rant like that. I’m just so tired.”

“It’s okay, Y/N. Why don’t you go treat yourself to some sweets and go home, okay? I’ll have one of the interns finish the last little bit of work.” You nod and gather your stuff. You quietly thank her and walk out your office door. As you’re walking to your car, you check your phone in hopes that Calum remembered what day it was and texted you. But there was nothing. No call, text, not even a tag on Instagram for a Valentine’s Day post. At this point, you don’t even want the sweets. You don’t want to walk through the store and see more people. So you head home, hoping for some quiet.

After unlocking the door and walking in, you take off your shoes and notice a rose petal on the mat you keep your shoes on. Confused, you pick it up and look at it. Looking at the floor, you notice more rose petals. You being to grow more confused and decide to follow them out of curiosity. You follow them all the way upstairs to your bedroom. You see that they go under the closed door so you open it up. Your bedroom is covered in balloons and rose petals and sitting on your bed is your boyfriend, grinning like a mad man. He looks as handsome as ever in a suit and red tie, hold a giant teddy bear and a few boxes of chocolates.

“Hey,” he says smiling even more (if that’s even possible).

“Hi.” You say quietly, walking over to him. “What is all this?”

“Well, I was hoping to spend Valentine’s Day with my favorite person ever, but they got called into work. And a little birdie may or may not have mentioned the terrible day you had. I didn’t forget about Valentine’s Day, love. I just really wanted to surprise you.” And that’s when the dam holding your tears back finally gives out. You sniffle and look at him. “Hey, it was not my intention to make you cry!” He sets the teddy bear and chocolates on your bed and walks over to you. He hugs you and lightly kisses your head.

“You’re just…you’re so incredible and I just spent the work day angry at you because I thought you didn’t care about Valentine’s Day.” Your words are muffled by his shirt. “I’m so sorry, Cal.”

“No, don’t apologize, love. I wanted to surprise you and I obviously didn’t think this through very well.” You shake your head and look up at him.

“It’s perfect, thank you.” You peck his lips and he wipes your tears.

He kisses your head again and for the first time—he says “I love you.” You swear you have never felt the way you are feeling right now. You face breaks out into a huge smile and you kiss him. Eventually you pull away for air, still smiling.

“I love you too, Calum. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.” You walk over to the box of chocolates and giggle when you see “will you be my valntyne?” written on the lid. “You’re such a dork.”

“Yeah, but I’m your dork.” He smiles and hugs you from behind. “Now let’s go cuddle and watch John Mulaney.”

“You read my mind.” You turn and kiss his nose.

“There’s a horse loose in the hospital!”

After you change into comfier clothes, you and Cal are cuddled together on the couch with your favorite comedian on in the background. He brought all the snacks and treats to the living room and refused to eat any of it claiming “it’s for you, love.” He pulls you closer and lightly draws shapes on your back. As he does, you feel your eyes begin to feel heavy. The long day and tears finally caught up with you and exhaustion kicks in.

“Love, you can take a nap. I know your day was rough,” he whispers and kisses your head. “You must be so tired.”

“‘M fine, Cal. I wanna stay up with you.” Your eyes are closed and you are cuddled into his side as much as possible.

“Go ahead and take a nap, love. I’ll be fine. I can carry you to bed if you want.” You nod, already half asleep. He picks you up and brings you back to your room. He lays you down on the bed and kisses your head. He starts to walk to the door

“Stay,” you say. You grab his wrist to stop him from walking away from you. “Please, Cal.” You look up at him as he smiles and nods. He takes his jeans and shirt off then lays next to you. Your legs end up tangled together, his arms wrap around your body pulling you as close to his chest as possible. He rubs your back and kisses your head every once and a while.

“I love you so much,” he whispers. Since he said it the first time, he hasn’t stopped. While watching the special, he would look at you when you were laughing and say it. You would say it back, obviously. He must’ve thought you had fallen asleep, but you were still slightly awake. “God, how did I get so lucky. I don’t deserve you, love. I really don’t.”

“Cheesy fucker,” you say with a sleepy giggle. You open your eyes and look up at him.

“I thought you were asleep!” He laughs, but is clearly embarrassed.

“I am! I am, keep going.” You quickly close your eyes again with a wide smile on you face.

“Yeah, no. I’m not going to make that ego of yours any bigger.” You both laugh and he kisses your head. “Just go back to sleep, bub. We can go back to watching John Mulaney specials and eating our weight in chocolate when you wake up.” You nod and look up at him. You kiss his nose and cuddle back into his side. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Cal.” You smile and close your eyes again. Before falling asleep again you remembered something. “You are gonna clean up the rose petals…right?”

#5 seconds of summer #5sos #5sosblurb #blurb #calum hood #calum hood blurbs #calum hood x reader #valentine's day #cinematicsoph

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partial-bouquet · 2 years ago

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(it would probably work better if I put my Night Vale post under it's own post than the sexymanotd poll)

… the spider’s mechs were very well made, but also very tiny. So it was easy to deal with.

Listeners, here’s something strange, a skeleton, you know, like those commonly found in Old Town, is on the outside of my booth. He seems bored, as most skeletons are. I can’t imagine the existence of being a sentient skeleton. Then again, I suppose that’s all we are, just wrapped in flesh and stuffed with a little bit of straw and bugs.

[paper sliding across desk]

Oh, another red envelope! Must be telling me who this fella is!

[tearing paper]

Ah. Mhm. Okay. So this skeleton is named Sans Undertale. What a unique name! You know Comic Sans is one of my favorite fonts!

This fine skeleton is dressed in a light blue hoodie, black gym shorts, and pink fluffy slippers. Wow! Sans here should be a runaway model, where only the most fashionable people run away in terror. I’d vote for him there.

He now seems to be sleeping, he has eyelids somehow, but I also have eyelids somehow.

You know listeners, come to think of it, this fashionable fella might be my new competition in this “sexyman competition”. Now I can’t compete with his fashion sense, i’m just in the usual radio host garb, plus a cool bleached jean jacket, like The Beatles wore when they all had mustaches, and played on mustaches.

Oh I should put on one of their records later! I love the one wear it’s just Paul McCartney screaming “THIS IS NOT US! THIS IS NOT US! THIS IS NOT US!” and there’s the sounds of fire and shattering glass. A classic!

And now, The Community Calendar.

On Monday Dark Owl Records will seemingly be on fire, Michelle Nguyen and her girlfriend Maureen will be totally fine about it, and say it’s a statement on the music industry cannibalizing itself. They will be trying to light candy cigarettes with the fire and failing and laughing at people who try to help. The fire will end with the building miraculously being okay.

This Tuesday the Vague Yet Menacing Government Agency will be holding a surprise party. Be alert! Prepare for the surprise at any time! Be wracked with paranoia! What was that?!

Wednesday is. It just is. Accept it.

Thursday we will all stare at the sky and smile, until the existential crises set in.

Friday will be worth about $2.67 and a cool rock

Saturday is the city wide Block Party, bring your favorite block and compete in the block race!

Sunday is a limited run NFT worth thousands of dollars initially that will be worthless within about 24 hours.

Back to our guest in studio. I don’t know what to do about him. He’s still sleeping and it’s rude to wake someone up who’s sleeping.

I’ll tell you what, I’m going to have a nice long think and consider what to do. While I do that, you all can go to the weather.

Keep on Chooglin - AJJ

Okay so while the weather played, I talked with Sans. He is genuinely a nice guy and seemed to not be concerned about the whole thing. He didn’t even sign up for the competition, much like me.

So we had a kinship there.

The last of the votes are rolling in as I speak. Sans is still here just giving me a nonchalant thumbs up, which I am returning.

[paper sliding]

Ah, here is the results. This is a bigger envelope than last time, still red though.

Do you want to come in as I read them?

Sans is shaking his head no.

Alright then.

[paper ripping]

It appears I have won listeners. And there’s a Burger King style cardboard crown in here that says “#1 Tumblr Sexyman 2023”. And a $25 gift card to the Burger King in the mall food court.

I might use it if the pythons which infest it are removed, though reportedly, they make some mean burgers. Something to consider.

I can see Sans leaving the studio, with a taller skeleton, I guess this is Papyrus, his brother.

[calling out]

It was nice to chat with you! Consider being a runaway model Sans!

Ah he’s giving a thumbs up.

I think this is a nice ending, though I must say, I think my husband, Carlos, deserves the title of sexyman much more than me.

I will now go to spend some time with my personal sexyman.

Goodnight, Night Vale, goodnight.

(Idea credit to @bigcommunist )

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #cecil palmer #cecil gershwin palmer #night vale #night vale fanfic #tumblr sexyman poll #cecilsweep

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magnorious · 11 months ago

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A Sea of Monsters Retrospective, 16 Years Later

You can read my Lightning Thief retrospective here.

To anyone who says these are children’s books and not for all ages – Around ten years ago, I was waiting outside a baseball stadium for the doors to open with a hundred other people dying in the heat and this 50-something dude was propped under a palm tree with this book in his hands, happy as a clam.

If I ran a more popular blog, I’d make a poll asking the favorite book of the original five. And I can say with confidence that Sea of Monsters would not win. It’s a good book! It gambles with interesting new elements and directions it takes its characters, it’s funny, it’s full of shiny new locations. It’s, I think, the least-best of a very impressive series, solely because the other four are that good.

With that said, that has been my opinion for sixteen years. Did it change upon this latest reread? **Spoiler alert**

The Sea of Monsters

If you’re keeping up with the classic myths homages, SoM is probably the most obvious one – the Odyssey/Jason and the Argonauts. TLT did steal the land of the lotus eaters, but they outright say ‘hey, this is what Odyseus and Jason did’.

We cold open on one of Percy’s nightmares and in seven pages (in the ‘06 paperback) plot, exposition, and tone have all been established: Grover is in Florida and is being chased by a huge monster. Camp is in danger, Percy’s not supposed to know about it, and he’s pissed. Tyson, a new character, is going to be important. And, we get all caught up with a quick refresher on the need-to-knows from TLT. Percy’s still young enough to doubt his instincts (lolz) about something spying on him and man, I forgot how innocent he used to be.

The action continues with the Laistrygonian fight and all these puzzling details surrounding Tyson. As with TLT, PJO isn’t much for long paragraphs of poetic narrative, which means it’s paced incredibly fast and it doesn’t slow down at all during the taxi ride to camp, and then straight into fighting the golden bulls.

Compared to TLT, SoM spends exactly as much time as it needs to in the mortal world and at camp without first-book exposition dragging it down. Before, they didn’t get their quest and leave camp until almost halfway through the story. This time, it’s about 1/3rd and all the better for it.

The tone of this book is refreshingly different as well. This time, there’s trouble in paradise and everyone’s upset. Percy isn’t supposed to be the hero, he’s just a camper told very firmly to stay out of it. He’s not the one given the quest, he’s not at the crux of the prophecy, and he’s not the most important camper – and this bothers the heck out of him.

The stakes aren’t higher, per say, the fate of the world doesn’t hang in the balance this time, but they are more personal, and that makes the risk of failure that much more plausible. It’s not a godly civil war, it’s their home, it’s Chiron, it’s all their friends and the only sanctuary they have, and it’s Thalia’s legacy.

Exposition is handled as well as it was in book one. Percy is still the audience’s eyes and thus the audience’s mouth to ask all the expository questions, but, since it’s usually Annabeth having quite the attitude explaining things, it also builds on their relationship. One scene that comes to mind is discussing Jason and the Argonauts in the dish pit and their back-and-forth was hilarious.

Also, of course, I have to address the rather bold directions his character went – Percy has some scuffy new flaws. He resents Tyson as his brother and Poseidon for claiming him and makes some pretty crummy choices surrounding their relationship for the sake of not being bullied again by the entire camp, and not being known as the “kid with the cyclops for a brother”. He grows from this throughout the book, once he thinks Tyson is dead he regrets everything, but he’s a little jerk there for a while and I appreciate that he’s not perfect.

He’s also troubled by his physical appearance on Circe’s island, as any teenager mid-puberty is, and it doesn’t end with “you’re beautiful no matter what” or really any moral to take away. He’s just. Self-conscious. That’s it.

**Side note, before the new character art by Viria was accepted as canon making these characters much more conventionally attractive, the original art (especially poor Nico) did not try to make them all flawless and people poked fun, but there’s still a place for it. **

Now, Clarisse. I mentioned in my last retrospective that Ares was the bully house filled with bullies, but she got so much depth and development in this book, worlds beyond just being the jealous, snot-nosed brat. She’s smart, she’s cunning, she cares about her subordinates in battle, she’s got insecurities and a temper and friends who don’t really stick up for her (re: the You moo, girl! sign). She, too, has an absentee parent just like every other camper around her. She, too, is just a kid. And she, unlike Percy, has a huge jerk for a godly parent, and not one she can petrify with Medusa’s head.

Other beloved characters make their first appearances this book – Silena, Beckendorf, the Stolls, Chris Rodruiguez. I’d forgotten that they didn’t just show up in Battle of the Labyrinth, they’d been there the whole time.

The side-villains/monsters of the book are so colorful and unique. Circe’s island, the dead Confederates, the enchanted cruise ship. Even when they’re squatting in the cabin or stranded in the lifeboat, the conversations make it interesting where the setting comes up short – those two scenes are dedicated entirely to character drama, not plot.

Also Blackbeard was a son of Ares and Percy commandeers the Queen Anne’s Revenge, ha! I’d forgotten about that. I didn’t forget the Sirens and wow, kudos for intensity. The scene does so many things at once – plunge the tone down to the bottom of the Sea of Monsters, reveal Annabeth’s fatal flaw – hubris – and gives us some sweet, sweet percabeth all in incredibly dramatic fashion.

**Side note, I can’t remember for sure if Annabeth calls him Seaweed Brain first in TLT, but I think that nickname honor goes to Thalia in one of the dream sequences in this book.**

SoM doesn’t suffer the curse of the sequel. It doesn’t just reskin the previous book with the exact same premise: Prevent a godly civil war, go on this fetch quest across the country (there is a fetch quest but it’s different this time), the mood at camp is completely different, Chiron isn’t there, Tantalus is ass – it’s new.

It also gives plenty of new lore and backstory on Luke and Annabeth’s past that matters to the plot at large.

Speaking of lore, the gimmick of convenient dream exposition really finds its footing in SoM. No crucial information is ever handed to the characters on a silver platter and it never feels like a crutch to move the plot along where the story would otherwise be stuck, but they certainly do happen at convenient times. It is also the first and, I believe, last? time we get the empathy link thing with Grover, and the last mention of satyrs being empathic.

Unlike a certain other fantasy series, the plot holes in this series are less canon-shattering and more “huh, I wonder what happened to that,” and this empathy link is one of them. I don’t know what happened, if Riordan just didn’t like it after this book, but it seems like a useful power given how central a character Grover is for most of the series. We get one good use of Grover’s empathy in TLT when they’re lost in the forest and he tells Percy exactly what he’s feeling, and we get plenty of dream sequences with the link this series and then… never again.

It’s a shame. They were interesting concepts.

Monster Donuts as well never appear again and Ares’ curse specifically said “every time” Percy raises his sword, not the one time he needs it most. Enforcing said curse in every single one of Percy’s battles would be tedious, but in the climax of the Polyphemus fight, Annabeth’s down, they’re all exhausted and out of options, that would have been a fantastic time to mention it.

It’s a shame. They were interesting concepts.

Something I didn’t touch on much for TLT that I will do now is the villain’ plan.

Step 1: Poison Thalia’s tree

Step 2: Get Chiron to take the blame and leave

Step 3: Wait around hoping the camp figures out they need the Golden Fleece

Step 4: Since we don’t know where it is/can’t be bothered to get it ourselves, we’ll steal it from the heroes once they’ve done the hard work

Step 5: Possibly raise Kronos but more importantly, raise Thalia

Also, somewhere along the way, free Tantalus from the Fields of Asphodel and give him Chiron’s job. Who’s idea was that? Not even Dionysus likes him after the Stymphalian birds attack. Why is he still here?

It’s a good, non-convoluted plan for a kids’ book. Luke definitely spouts some mustache-twirling propaganda that would be cheesy if you didn’t realize he’s being groomed (and most kids reading this wouldn’t) but looking back… damn, that is tragic. He was just an angry kid.

His dialogue reads a bit corny now. Luke’s only excuse for falling victim to the classic “I won’t be efficient and kill these interlopers myself, no I’ll turn my back and leave it to the minions” trope is that he needs them alive to do his dirty work and think they escape of their own volition. Percy’s solution to the camp problem at the end is clever and works solely because Luke is such an arrogant prick.

Now, the prophecy, one we don’t hear for most of the book because it’s not Percy’s:

You shall sail the iron ship with warriors of bone,

You shall find what you seek and make it your own,

But despair for your life entombed within stone,

And fail without friends, to fly home alone.

Since it wasn’t Percy’s prophecy he and the audience would spend the quest trying to decipher, it doesn’t need to be all cryptic, and it’s not. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show up until chapter 17/20 so by that point it just kind of… exists, giving Percy and co the idea to get Clarisse on a plane. This detail, the emergency flight, is the only reused plot thread from TLT, I think.

Concerning the ending: I also forgot about the raid by the Party Ponies! I can’t gauge how easy it would have been for younger me to predict Thalia’s Fleece-granted revival, but reading again — her showing up in the dream, the reminders that Percy is the only eligible prophecy kid on technicality because of what happened to her, it wasn’t obvious, but it was well seeded through the book.

**Side side note, the font is a bit difficult to make out, but I’m pretty sure the address to Camp is Pi. Farm Road 3.141. Also, headcannon, but I think the unnamed first year Apollo Cabin chariot driver in the redo race is Will Solace.**

And, though it’s not revealed that Thalia is older than Percy by a couple months in SoM, this mysterious Great Prophecy we’ve been hearing whispers about suddenly gets flipped on its head. Now, Thalia’s back. Now, Percy can’t be the prophecy kid unless she dies again. Now… Now what?

In the words of Poseidon: Brace yourself.

I think the only negatives are again, the established empathy rules with Grover that don’t matter after this book (which isn’t really this book’s fault) and the reminders that they’re all technically related? Luke, aboard the Princess Andromeda, greets Percy and Annabeth as his favorite cousins and it’s… kind of weird knowing that Annabeth has a crush on him. They establish later that, outside of same-cabin-coupling, the gods don’t have DNA so it doesn’t really count, but still. The reminders are a bit squicky, and that’s ignoring the age gap between “college age” Luke and 13 year old Annabeth, per Percy’s description.

—

To answer my own question at the start of this: I think I have to move Sea of Monsters up a slot in my ranking and unseat Titan’s Curse (which I believe was the trend years ago, for reasons I’ll save until that retrospective). It was so fun to reread and such a different adventure to the Lightning Thief without any first-book worldbuilding baggage.

#sea of monsters #percy jackson #pjo #pjo series #retrospective #review #pjo hoo toa

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atlafan · 1 year ago

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friendly reminder that patreon is only $5 a month, it charges you on the same day each month, so if you subscribed today, for example, you wouldn’t be charged again until Dec. 27th!

I post 2-3, sometimes 4, times a month and the updates are all usually pretty long. If they’re short (under 10k) that’s usually when I’ll post up to 4 times so you’re getting your money’s worth. Not only that, but once you subscribe you then have access to my entire patreon masterlist, so you can read some oldies while you wait for the next update!

the little community on patreon is a super positive space. my peeps on there make me feel comfortable enough to dabble in different kinds of tropes and smut that I wouldn’t feel comfortable posting on here because even though I have minors DNI in my description, we all know minors can still find a way. Whereas on patreon, you must be 18+ to subscribe to my page. I genuinely value the feedback I get on there, and will often post polls to see what everyone wants to see next. Yall are paying for a service and I want to post what you’re paying for. I love how collaborative I get to be with everyone on there

I’d like to think I do a pretty good job of posting on there. I mean, you’d pay $10+ dollars to buy a book that’s 30k+ long, right? I post almost double that in a month sometimes, so I do feel like $5 is a decent price for what you get from me. I try to post at the beginning, middle, and end of each month. If it takes me longer to post at the beginning, I usually post a PSA to let yall know what I’ve got cooking and I post sneakies so you know I’m actually working on things

Anyways, this is the time of year where a lot of money gets spent, I know you all have your own bills to pay and whatnot, but I need the money from patreon each month to literally afford to live. Without the money I get from patreon each month, I wouldn’t be able to afford my phone or my car payments/car insurance, all things that are essential for me to do my day job.

So, this is me asking if you can lend your support to me for a simple $5 a month, that would be great. I’ve dipped to only getting around $280 a month, and other months I’ve gotten close to $400. That’s a huge difference in income. I know not everyone can afford it each month. Believe me I’ve been looking at some of the things I’m subscribed to to try and cut back on expenses, so I get it. You can leave and come back any time to patreon, which is something I love about it.

I love you all lots and am so beyond grateful that there are people who like my silly little fics enough to pay for them. It means the world to me, truly.

Please consider boosting this! I could really use a bump in extra cash for the next few months.

#went over my monthly expense tracker and uhhhhhhhh #why is living so expensive #I’ve been able to cut back on a few things AND I’ve been clipping more coupons #like any time I go grocery shopping or to cvs I have my coupons ready to go #patreon peeps if you wanna reblog and maybe say why you’re subbed to me that would be super helpful!!#boost!

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theinvisibledoodlewizard · 2 years ago

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Quest Poll✨

Re-roll!

Ok, since the last poll was badly worded? And I was writing it with derp brain… and it ended in a weird tie.

Imma do it again. This time? Better worded. Hopefully… still got derp brain.

I’ll try not to do this that often, since it’s really cheating. And takes up lot of time.

Ok, and since I’m still being derpy brained? I’ll explain the options where I don’t have a text limit. Cause that + derp = I crash and burn XD

Call for help: You haven’t tried to make sounds yet. So far Sweeps has been a silent protagonist, and you aren’t even sure anyone is around. So this option has a lot of risk, but possibly a high reward? But will the person who helps be good? And will the lamb last long enough?

Scoop the lamp up and continue on your way: Pick up the small sheep, and keep walking down the path. Maybe you’ll find a river and a town? Or maybe you’ll get ambushed? Who knows really. But you can’t stay there.

Go back to the cabin to check for supplies: thiiiis one is a trap. Yeah sorry. I’m evil. This means you leave the lamb in the meadow, and walk back. But Sweeps took a few hours to get to where they are even now. So it’d be double that getting here and back. Meanwhile the lamb is defenseless, and injured. Sweeps might come back to find it not even there, taken by another predator. This world isn’t a nice one, unfortunately.

Go back to the cabin, but bring the lamb: this one is the nicer version of the one above? But I’ll rat on myself. There’s nothing in the cabin. It’s been busted for years. If y’all wanna look around in there, I can make other opportunities to do that! But right now, if y’all wanna lil sheep friend you’re gonna have to focus on that. It’s more the option to bring the sheep on a different path with you. But idk if the others will have the supplies you need. (Ok I do but I already tattled enough. Lol)

Walk away and try not to think about this: “Look at what I made! … I gave it depression!” Cause I like that joke. Yeah Sweeps will be devastating over harming the sheep, and not be able to cope with anything. Then run down the path. Well, as much as a big robot whose all rusted and overgrown can. But yeah, probably don’t wanna pick this one. I do tend to throw in joke options or “LOL! I gave it depression” options as a “let the author pick” kinda route. That’s what this is.

Ok that’s all of them. Sorry about the exposition dump. Derp brain is a killer, man. I’ll only do these when I get ties, and usually just between the two tied options. But since this is the first I figured I’d do them all. To give y’all an insight behind the curtain.

And again, I’m gonna do this as little as possible. Cause it’s definitely cheating on my part. This story is me learning how to write, just get things out there. Cause I can’t edit polls? It adds a level of finality to it. And I know I’m not the best, but hopefully I’m alright at least.

Anyway, if y’all wanna vote in a real thing? Check out my YouTube channel’s community page! I’m doing the same thing over there. It’s a few days behind though cause I can’t keep it as close to daily as on here. So far we’ve names the Bot Sweeps again. Which makes me think y’all already know about it lol. But if you wanna take a different path? I’m up for writing two stories at once! Let’s see what happens!

#quest poll #re-roll

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simlit · 3 years ago

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CotS Chapter Two: Reflections | The Tiger & The Key

Another chapter finished, which means time for another reflections post. With the end of chapter two, CotS will be entering into a bit of a long hiatus. For now, my plan is to start posting chapter three sometime in mid to late June. I’ll be keeping the end of chapter poll up for a while, so make sure you vote on your fan favorites here. The results of this poll will matter very much, and will have a direct impact on the trials to come.

Chapter three will be another long trial. I’ll drop a little teaser at the end of this post about it, but I thought in this reflections I’d like to show how trials and decisions work behind the scenes. The trial itself was an idea given to me by my husband (who admittedly has helped me brainstorm much of the story’s structure, especially the initial premise of the Selenehelion). His idea was that the contestants would be faced with a decision, his example was a tiger, and they’d either have to kill the tiger for the reward to proceed or refuse to kill it. Of course, we didn’t want to do anything that brutal so I watered down the decisions into smaller, less cruel decisions the contestants would have to make. Usually involving a morally “superior” choice and a reward. Thus how the name “Tiger and Key” came about.

Below is a “flow chart” of how I map out each trial. I’ve redacted certain information about particular contestants and things that are still secret. The end of chapter poll for chapter one only mildly influenced chapter two. Mostly it dictated who I would give more screentime to. It also determined which contestants would accept the potion from Indryr’s Workshop #1.

I’ve also added a very fun relationship meter to each character’s info panel on the CotS Character Page, for those who haven’t seen yet. All characters started with a baseline 10% for everyone. Since there’s no way to show negative values, a 0 value represents a negative relationship, 50% will represent generally friendly, and 100% will represent close companion or romantically involved. Some characters fill up faster than others, depending on their personalities. Here are their current meters after chapter two at a glance:

High Res Version

Well, I think that’s enough rambling and info dumping for this chapter. Thank you everyone for reading along and leaving comments. This chapter was wild lmfao, I had a lot of fun reading the commentary, and ofc I am also greatly enjoying the ever-growing CotS meme canon. New submissions always welcome ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

current screenshot count: 575 current pose count: 296

chapter three teaser below...

#jade babbles #cots reflection

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the-s1lly-corner · 8 days ago

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An Eraser (Bloody Painter x Reader) (7MIH Ending 7)

only about four characters left and then we are done! wondering what fandom to do next hmm.... im also thinking of possibly making a quotev acc so i can more interactive stuff- having polls at the ends of these have been fun but quizzes sound so cool tbh reminder that there are polls at the ends of these to determine the next ending notes: reader is gn, admin is still trying to figure out how he wants to write helen outside of hc posts, hes got a bit of a crush on you cws: none word count: 1775

You reach your hand into the hat and pull out…

An eraser. Not the pink blocky ones you would usually see. No, it was one of those fancier malleable ones. The ones you see artists use every now and then… You didn’t even need to look around the room- there was only one person you could think of who would have something like this. You shift the eraser between your index and thumb and show it to Helen who only pats his thighs and rises to his feet.

“Well damn, alright then.” Jeff said under his breath, seemingly disappointed that he didn’t get to delay the surprise of who you got until you were both shoved into darkness. Jeff flicked his head towards the hallway, “Closets down that way, you’ve both got seven minutes the second the door closes you got that?” His wide blue eyes darted between you and Helen- who had already joined you at your side. You didn’t even notice him closing in on you.

You decide not to say anything, instead choosing to walk down the hallway that was motioned towards. Helen kept up with your footsteps, his own nearly perfectly matching up with your own. When you stopped, as did he.

It wasn’t until you made it to the closet door that he made his own move, and it was as simple as opening it and waiting for you to enter first.

“Thank you,” You mutter under your breath and slip right past him. You slink into the back corner of the small space.

The door shuts behind Helen, leaving the both of you in darkness.

You tap your palms against the wall behind you as you scrape your head for something to say to fill the silence. Helen decided to be kind enough to break the silence for you.

“I never took you as someone who would play this game,”

He catches you off guard.

In an instant you’re straightening up and trying to come up with an explanation. Was this an accusation? Judgment?

“I mean I don’t usually but-”

“I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing, I’m playing as well,” He gently cut you off. You suck some air between your teeth and fall silent.

“You don’t seem like the type to play games like this either, you know… I mean, I’m personally fine playing… this stuff… but you kinda…” You fail to find the words. “Seem reserved to yourself?”

The air falls quiet once more for a few moments before it's broken for a second time by Helen. “I was encouraged to put myself out for tonight,”

You hum in response and move your hands from the wall to the bottom of your shirt, busying your fingers with the fabric.

“Yeah? By who? …Pup right? I only ever really see you hanging around with him,”

Helen nods.

You look down to the floor and stare down at your shoes, then to Helen’s- dully noting that he wore boots… stained with paint, or perhaps blood. It was nearly impossible to tell in the darkness.

“Well, I’m glad there’s one person here that you like- or at least enjoy enough! I remember you hardly ever left your room for anything when you first arrived here,” You give him a smile and hope that he could see it.

“There’s two, actually.”

You snap your eyes back up to his mask.

“It was you who gave me the nerve to stick around for the games, if you didn’t come downstairs I’d have gone back up to my room… though I do wish I got the chance to talk to you before everyone gathered…” He paused.

“Too many people…” He muttered under his breath.

“But I bumped right into you- how come you didn’t say anything?”

Helen’s head tilts to the side. It feels like his eyes were raking themselves over your body- from head to toe. You do your best not squirm under his gaze.

“You took me by surprise… Nerves is all.”

You hum again and clench your fists into your shirt fabric.

“How…” You start. Helen rights the angle of his head and you pull your eyes away from his mask. “How long did you…”

Was he admitting to having feelings for you or did he simply want to be your friend? You work your jaw… you could be horribly misreading this. You could make a fool of yourself.

“How long did you have a thing for me?”

Helen only chuckles softly- a sound that only lasts for a few seconds before its quieted. “For quite a while… months, now.”

You open your mouth to reply but he’s already answering your question.

“I wanted to see how long until you approached first,” Helen takes a step towards you. He leans over you with a gaze still fixed right on your face. He smells of paints and iron, and you fight yourself not to scrunch your nose as the scent washes over you. “But I grow tired of waiting, and there’s no one here to steal you away- during the party, of course,”

He stops right in front of you, leaving just enough space for you to make an escape if you wanted to. “I was hoping you would take out my eraser, even if we do not share a moment of intimacy having you just to myself for a moment is fine enough for me,”

Your mind blanks for a split second at his words for a moment.

You had nearly forgotten the outcomes of games like this- though you couldn’t find it in yourself to mind it all that much. You looked at his mask again to try to find his eyes, however you were only met with failure… you force your eyes to remain locked onto the mask’s sockets though as you try to find your voice again.

“I will not force anything on you, nor will I act without your word,” He softly spoke and backed up a few inches away from you. You finally release the hem of your shirt and reach forward- lightly gripping the sleeves that were folded and bunched against his wrists.

“I… wouldn’t mind-” You grin up at Helen. It’s faster paced than what you normally preferred for relationships, but you had found yourself emboldened by the current setting you’ve found yourself in. “So long as this isn’t a trick to get my blood for one of your projects,” You teased.

…

“I’m joking of course… not giving you my bodily fluids before the first date,” You swat the idea down and pull Helen closer. He allows you to, even lowering his face closer to yours.

“I wouldn’t… I’ve no spare canvases as it is already… a work with your matter requires one purely devoted to it,” He mutters into your ear. A shiver runs up your spine as he rested his hands on either side of you- effortlessly freeing his sleeves from the admittedly not very tight grasp you had on them.

Helen pulled away and settled his face in front of you, seemingly taking in every single feature of your face. You’d swear he could memorize every pore if he could, if it weren’t too dark.

He was… close… to say the least…

Helen peeled one of his gloves hands from the wall and let the finger sprawl across his mask. He didn’t take it off or slip it upwards towards his forehead. Instead he shifted it to the side, shielding his face away from the door… but allowing it to give you a full view of his face.

He looked… tired… more than you were expecting given the hours you assumed he spent on his paintings. Despite that, his blue eyes were nearly glowing with life. Or at least carried a sense of thrill in them- a stark contrast to the otherwise neutral expression pulled across his face… there was a light dust of red across his cheeks… faint in the darkness but you could just barely see it thanks to the proximity.

Helen remained still and unmoving in front of you despite all of this, though.

Your eyes darted across his face, before his earlier words sparked an idea in you.

You make the first move and begin to lean forward to him, and gently press your lips against his. In an instant you can feel his mouth attempting to twitch upwards into a grin before he simply started to kiss back. Helen’s hands returned to the wall on either side of you and remained. Instead, it was you that decided to begin touching him; by choosing to run your hands through his black hair and move the strays out of the way.

You both remained that way for… you weren’t paying attention- the only thing that caught you off guard and made you pull your face away from his was light flooding into the small room.

“Woah! Damn! Okay!” Jeff chuckled as he stood in the doorway.

You shoot a glare at him- you didn’t hear him announce how much time was left… Did he give a warning? It didn’t matter now as your face burned hotter than it had when the door was closed.

Helen doesn’t seem to pay much mind to Jeff. He only rose to his full height and pulled his mask over his face back to its original position. Only then did he actually turn to face the doorway straight on.

“You didn’t knock, Jeffery.” He said lowly.

Clearly irritated.

You pull away from the wall and follow after Helen as he steps out of the closet.

“Didn’t think you’d actually have the balls to do anything… damn…” Jeff shot back.

“I owe a Nina some drinks, damn…” You caught him muttering as you passed by. You tried to fight the urge to step on his foot as you passed, instead choosing to focus on Helen, who was waiting on the other side of the hall for you.

“Hey,”

Helen nods to you. You chew the inside of your cheek as things fall silent once more… How does one proceed after something like this with someone as reserved as Helen? You shift your weight between your feet.

“Do you want to go somewhere else? You’ve gotten what you wanted from the party- and game-” You sheepishly smile up at him.

Helen studies you hard for a moment.

“I would love that,”

“Cool… cool nice,” You smile. He takes your hand after your eyes nervously dart over it.

You weren’t surprised when he started to lead you to the stairs, and even less when he passed by your room and to his.

#bloody painter x you #bloody painter imagine #bloody painter x reader #creepypasta x reader #creepypasta x you #creepypasta imagine #crp x reader #crp x you #crp imagine #canon x reader #canon x you #x reader

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shijiujun · 3 years ago

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on the danmei twitter fight

okay guys i didn’t wanna say anything about this and yes it’s that hot danmei twitter translations saga thing that’s going on, because honestly i feel like there’s nothing much to say but when i see dumb posts on tumblr taking about that, by people who present a misleading hot take and their friends or moots run off with it without even knowing what exactly is going on - it really pisses me off.

and also if you shit talk translators for not continuing their translations or locking their translations whatever - the door is that way on your right and left, but anyway here’s a rundown on what happened because i am seeing people make comments without two brain cells put together, without the slightest bit of consideration for the people who bring them translations

here’s my hot take and thesis: if you enjoy english translations made by fan translators, you don’t, in any way, no matter happens, shit talk fan translators. fan translators do this for free, and whatever their intentions are, whether genuine sharing or like some of you like to say, for clout, if you consume, and you enjoy these translations, i’m sorry, you’re not uninvolved, and you don’t get to sit on a high horse and say translators should or shouldn’t do something. you should just keep quiet, honestly, because someone else is doing you a favour, a favour that you are enjoying and taking. that’s what respect is.

i’m presenting both sides or i guess three sides of the story as objectively as i can, altho my support is still for fan translators who were just minding their own business before this blew up.

===

🔺 what happened:

so it started because one of the bigger translators in the fandom did this poll - i’m not blaming her at all, i doubt she had any intentions of shaming anyone or causing any controversy and was plain curious, but her poll asked english speaking danmei twitter how many people buy the digital, print copies of the danmei they read, and who did not.

in my honest opinion, it’s not strange at all for her to have created that poll, considering just how much work she’s put into making sure things are accessible for the eng-speaking danmei fandom. i mean i’d be curious too, to know out of my thousands of readers, what the reading and buying behaviour is like. do yourself a favour and don’t read too much into it.

obviously in an era where a lot of people do consume content for free whether the underlying content is profit-making (like anime, donghua, manhua, manga etc.) or not (fanfiction etc.), it was unsurprising to see that the last option - the ones who consume danmei without paying a single cent, came out as the majority. i don’t think this is a surprising result at all, for all sorts of reasons that i will not get into now.

anyway, this is obviously kind of a sore point in the fandom especially for translators who want a wider audience to support their fave author’s works - i won’t get into that for now, but the issue began because other translators or fans started to criticize the majority of people who don’t pay for objectively rather affordable danmei and just consume things for free.

and yes, i don’t deny that the argument on both sides got really heated and emotionally charged with both sides calling each other names which i believe is uncalled for, but it totally derailed the crux of the issue, which basically is that the majority of english-speaking danmei fandom - consumes danmei for free.

anyway this whole thing escalated and fan translators were brought into this for no fucking reason at all except that the people who didn’t want, or were unable to pay for the danmei they usually consume, made what i call a LOGICAL FALLACY in argument by going to the extremes, i will explain why later.

the end result is that fan translators were brought into this (most of them, the bigger ones i know at least) without even participating in the direct crossfire. and obviously, you can see why they’re hurt and decided to lock their translations. let me explain why

===

🔺 kind of like four camps:

(1) translators and fans who criticized those who consume danmei liberally but do not pay for them in any way - no merch, no digital copies, no physical copies, no audio dramas whatever

*** their arguments:

danmei is so cheap right, that technically people should be able to pay for it in one way or another, even if not all

danmei and its authors are, at the end of the day, out here to earn a living, and the industry, like any money-making industry, is a for-profit enterprise - and unlike public goods, if you cannot afford danmei, then there is no obligation for others to make it free for you (fan translators or otherwise, it wasn’t super clearly stated while this shitshow happened) when it is inherently a for-profit industry

yes, i don’t deny that some of them did call the peeps who don’t pay at all, “leeches” and other sort of names. personally, i wouldn’t go that far or even like venture there to be honest because in general, if it’s something that i’ll get punched in the face for if i called someone that in real life i tend not to do it, but i’ll leave my opinions, whatever they’re worth, for later

(2) the readers and fans of danmei who do not pay in any sort of way for them

*** their arguments:

some of them really cannot afford, even the dollar or more, to spend on danmei for several reasons: upbringing, culture, money-spending mindsets, real poverty, struggling to make ends meet etc. - some definitely more valid than others (and when i say not valid, it’s because SOME, a minority or like those few stragglers, say they cannot afford and then you see them like idk, throwing $50 on other merch on kpop and stuff - i’m just bringing up ONE example. not shaming anyone for spending more money on one aspect rather than the other, but yeah you can see why some of them, when making this same argument, are a little invalid, that’s just a small number of them tho)

if translators are blaming them for consuming free of charge, then the fault lies, at its foundation, fan translators who translate illegally, which i mean, in that definition, all of them including me

did i mention that we were called illegal translators like you know in response to being called leeches? anyway-

(3) others translators who literally were just minding their own fucking business before some smart alec dragged them into it

i don’t think most of us had an argument. we were just quietly munching on popcorn and staying out of it and yeah, can you imagine, we provide a service, however illegal it is, for free on our own time, we don’t even check whether people support legally or not, we just... provide, and pray that those who are able to, at least support in some small way or another do so, on their own time. i mean i don’t check, most of us don’t, not the bouncers at your local club before COVID happened do, and then suddenly, to be used to derail an argument, we were called illegal translators. and that we should stop translating, and that it is our fault that there are free riders in the fandom

(4) people who offered to provide JJWXC credits to those who said they couldn’t afford it etc.

honestly i think they were just trying to help - no different than a gofundme. there’s no shame in taking a free thing that people already weren’t intending to pay for. it’s there, just take it!

===

🔺 the shitshow that led to fan translators locking their stuff up:

i would provide some actual examples in the form of screenshots but i’ve blocked most of them, and i don’t want to direct any sort of traffic to them so i guess you’ll have to take my word on it or go search on twitter yourself but-

(1) the affordability issue: i can understand the frustration at being called leeches, and some if not a majority of people, do have valid reasons for not being able to afford something or anything and end up pirating content they enjoy. hey, i am not about to crucify anyone for pirating at some point in their lives. we all have done it at some point, or for example hate disney+ and that $30 they were trying to rip off us for a subpar Mulan live action. i don’t have anything to say about that. inherently, is it wrong and illegal? yeah sure of course it is. do we call people leeches? i wouldn’t go that far.

if anyone cannot afford, cannot access for whatever reason, fine, i’m not gonna go check if jjwxc truly is banned in your country, or is your postal service so terrible that you definitely won’t be able to receive a hard copy of the book you like at affordable rates.

and if you have to pirate? go ahead. i mean it’s always been a rampant thing. the only thing fan translators and fans can do is encourage, motivate and incentivise as much as possible to get people to support legally. they can only put up REALLY COMPREHENSIVE guides as to how to access jjwxc or taobao or whatever.

and if you still cannot afford it and pirate, honestly no one cares about the story behind it. you owe no one justification, just as how no other person is obligated to take it into consideration or understand you or empathize with you. i don’t say this in a malicious way - i do think that in general, you just do you.

(2) the poor people don’t deserve nice things argument: honestly, this was not the point of this entire debacle, altho yes, people were rude to those who could not afford to support legally. but this is not the point of this whole thing.

main point - there are free riders who can support but choose not to because they choose to just consume it for free and if you are able to you should support

everyone going off on a tangent - you guys hate poor people / you guys are leeches

well guess what, no one wins in this argument.

there were a lot of people saying “reading danmei is our only source of happiness, are you saying poor people who can’t access legally don’t deserve to read danmei” (this is just one example i’ve seen, there are other variations), and it wasn’t put across perhaps in the right way, but the other camp of people were saying “you’re not entitled to it for free if you cannot afford it”, which raised a lot of hackles and anti-poor yellings

altho i do not deny that there are those who mean it maliciously, i think what everyone is trying to say is - the danmei industry, like any other profit-making industry, is looking to make profits. the people working in the industry, the authors even, are looking at numbers - traffic to jjwxc or other legal platforms, how much revenue they’re making from their live actions etc., comments, rankings, etc. i think @/hunxi-after-hours made a really succinct post on this aspect which yall should read.

it’s the same as - if you wanted to purchase a standee which costs $20 USD, but you cannot afford it = you don’t get it. there’s no way you can get this standee unless some gifts it to you for free. what the camp trying to ask people to support legally is saying, is that danmei is NOT A PUBLIC GOOD. it is a private, for-profit product. it might be intangible, but it is a PRODUCT that has a price that needs to be paid.

if you cannot afford it, you either don’t get access entirely (i’m saying this objectively and honestly from an economic standpoint). if someone gifts that standee to you for free, count yourself lucky - if someone makes a danmei accessible to you for free, COUNT YOURSELF LUCKY. you don’t have to be grateful and treat them as gods or like obey their every word, but it’s not rocket science. someone did you a favour that you accepted and consumed, show some respect.

if you cannot afford to buy the standee - you do not go on twitter demanding that someone ensures that you have access to the standee for free. do you see how ridiculous this sounds once it’s a tangible product? and danmei novels ARE PRODUCTS. they are not FREE CONTENT. if someone cannot afford the standee, this is the equivalent of people going “we didn’t get the standee for free because poor people don’t deserve nice things”

totally missing the point. i don’t even know how it got to this. once again, i do admit that some users were unnecessarily mean, but going to the extreme of this is ridiculous. in argumentative essay writing we call this a logical fallacy:

e.g. “if you cannot pay for merchandise or danmei, it is a fact that you might not have access to it” morphing into “if we cannot pay for food, does this mean we cannot have access to it?!” - this is a slippery slope, and factors are not equivalent!!!! do they not teach people anything in school

don’t confuse fanfiction with danmei - danmei novels ARE PAID PRODUCTS unless for free chapters, just because it’s released online doesn’t mean it’s free public property, and also selected novels (did you guys know the WHOLE of SCI novel is free? about 500 chapters sorry, random, just a tidbit)

there are of course nuances right, like if anyone told me they were pirating disney+ content i’d be like yeah hey get one over those bloodsuckers, they take enough of our money and produce shit content anyway. the difference is that danmei authors, and the danmei industry itself can still be considered a nascent and not-yet matured industry, with a majority of authors if not all, depending on monetary flow, likes, comments, virality on the sites their content is hosted on, for a living, unlike hugeass MNCs trying to squeeze us dry for content that isn’t even interesting.

danmei is priced rather reasonably - and this brings me to another argument that was made, that the value of money is not the same for everyone. i don’t want to make comments on this because yes this is correct to a large extent. a $6 book might be cheap to most of us, but might be expensive to someone else. i’m not gonna comment on how cheap or whatever it is, if you gotta use your money for other things, definitely! i still maintain however, that a novel less than a dollar should be affordable to most people, a majority of people. and i definitely side eye some users who obviously have money but are just creating noise because they wanna continue free-riding

(4) the “they’re losing out on their international audience” argument: honestly, i feel like english-speaking danmei fandom gives themselves a bit too much credit. danmei has long thrived in china in its domestic market - sure the international audience is a plus to have and i’m sure the authors are grateful and flattered that people who don’t understand chinese love their content and love it a lot, but do they and their companies care about fans who basically don’t bring in money? i’m not sure (okay i’ll get to the fan translators doing illegal shit later okay i got it don’t be impatient)

and international fans are great, i don’t deny that - but when i see arguments like “oh but it’s their loss if they don’t cater or deny access to us, they get more popularity and sharing overseas”, i honestly think they don’t care as much as you think. once again, hunxi made a really good argument regarding non-sinophone audiences, but it really irks me, because this is the same as:

an instagram influencer saying they’ll give a restaurant exposure for free to their followers, if they get a free meal

it’s par for par - danmei authors wants earnings, popularity, tangible results that show that they are succeeding. this is life. if i put something out there for sale, i better be getting returns, simple economic logic. they probably don’t care that a non-paying reader is bringing them greater ‘exposure’ - once again, i mean this objectively.

and yes if they’re thriving without the international market then why should it matter that people are pirating right? which brings me to the next point~

(5) it’s fan translators faults for so many people pirating, and fan translators are the ones doing the “illegal” work: this one is like... wow where do i unpack this and how-

firstly, we are talking about assholes who can pay but decide to free ride and not pay for danmei, and we assume that if you really cannot afford and have to pirate, no one’s saying anything as long as you don’t go around spreading how to pirate, how the hell did it get to fan translators from “you guys are anti-poor” and whatever

yes, fan translations are indeed illegal, i don’t deny that, and i also don’t deny that there are translators who translate for clout and popularity but putting these aside - here’s what i have seen from people who ran their mouths and made this argument

“if you guys care about us pirating the book so much than fan translators shouldn’t have translated in the first place” and “if you wanna come after us for reading illegally, then fan translators, you guys should go get the copyright for the book and then translate it cuz what you guys are doing is also illegal”

hooooo i’m telling ya, i am all for translators locking up their translations at this point. see how fucking hurtful that is? you eat from my hand and then now you biting at the hand that fed you the gays in love?

honestly if you’ve made this argument or supported this, you can basically go to hell. yes this is personal because what, you think fan translators don’t take out their personal time and effort and hard work to make translations accessible to you? if you’re ever consumed and read translations, don’t be a hypocrite and make this argument. you benefitted from it, now you wanna say it’s their fault?

most translators want to share and spread the love they have for a novel right, want to show you how wonderful all these authors are, how much enjoyment u get from reading these wonderfully thought out stories of gays in love. yes we all know we are illegally translating, which is why on top of sharing we first, purchase the novels legally ourselves first, and then we try to encourage people to buy etc. and actually put their money to use. it doesn’t make it any less illegal, but we are bridging the gap between danmei and basically the english-speaking fandom, albeit illegally

we aren’t that self-important to ask for gratefulness but some respect would be nice. like i said, you read it, you consumed it, you enjoyed it, you can only access it because of illegal translators - a bit counter-intuitive to yell at these translators, who are simply telling you, if you can, please support. and none of us went “if you cannot afford, begone!”

===

🔺 some people tried to help by offering jjwxc credits so people who cannot afford as they say, can get legal access: honestly, just take it right, guess what some of these users did in response

they said the people giving away credits are trying to redeem themselves for their comments by giving away free stuff

they also said that we are trying to shame the people who cannot afford it with this handout to them, to show that they are the bigger person - the fact that they think this is a handout to them is TELLING. the people offering this is giving their money not to these readers, but to the authors! that’s the point of this exercise!!!

one of them even said “instead of trying to do these giveaways, here, there are greater world problems out there, donate instead to these causes” - love the initiative, but how did we get from being able to afford danmei and entertainment content to saving the world? i just- i cannot

===

🔺 so why i get why fan translators are locking up their translations, because wow, so hurtful:

you have no idea how many fucking assholes went “sure, lock up your translations, deal with the consequences” - ermmmm firstly, thanks for making a threat. like who the fuck do you think you are?

the consequences is... the authors still don’t get the money these free riders weren’t going to give them anyway, so no loss, and they weren’t reading on jjwxc anyway so you know, the authors don’t lose or gain any readership numbers or traffic they didn’t already have. instead, it WILL push and force people to pay for the PRODUCT. once again, it’s a product.

this works, and i’d say Word of Honor’s payment model worked marvellously for Youku, because they fucking forced everyone to pay to access content. ALL OF THEM. sure ok some people still pirated it, but how many MORE people paid on Youku, on Youku Youtube, watched on Viki etc. than if they didn’t? even english-speaking fandom were wracking their brains trying to purchase a Youku pass even if there were no subs initially - and other examples that lovely hunxi brought up in her amazing piece

and for translators?! honestly me for one, i’m glad i don’t feel pressured anymore to churn out a chapter every week since we get called names etc. most of us are glad to have a break to be honest. we’ve lost all motivation to translate because it’s a free service, at the very least we don’t expect like hate, or rudeass fuckers. for those who are doing a proof of purchase thing - go for it honestly!

hopefully it’ll minimize the free rider problem - some people for whatever reasons really cannot buy or support legally, that’s totally cool and they don’t have to justify it, i get that. but for others making the same argument but obviously are just unwilling to pay because they can’t read chinese, think it’s too troublesome when there are guides and translators provide it for free anyway so what’s the point - we all make concessions and make decisions to grab what we like (not talking about the ppl who have their various troubles and difficulties!)

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🔺 and those who are saying why is it the ‘rest of us suffer’ from locked translations just because of a few bad apples:

IT ISN’T ABOUT YOU. where the hell were all of ya when we were getting called illegal huh? it’s about us fan translators getting shot at for no reason, and then people still demanding things for free. i don’t see any of the people i’ve seen on tumblr complain about fan translators stopping or locking translations defend any of us in any way. instead, you’re complaining.

it is the translator’s prerogative to start, stop and end translations, unless of course the original author starts to sue i suppose. i see people on tumblr going like if they were gonna do this, they shouldn’t have started in the first place etc. - i don’t what world you live in, but when i do something for free, then get called names and am attacked or get dictated on how i should do something that’s already like free, i tend to be less generous.

i’m sorry, do us illegal and free translators owe ANY OF YOU? i wasn’t aware any of us were being paid for this hobby. readers, especially those who CAN and just refuse to support, don’t get to say SHIT. translators deal with so much shit and so many entitled readers, i say they get to lock whatever they want as long as they aren’t profiting off of this monetarily.

let me give you an example - nan chan, which is translated by lian yin, completed translations by the way for all chapters. it is all free for viewing, and she only locked up one extra and asked for proof of payment. some dumbfuck quotes that locked up extra chapter tweet and said “honestly, this turned me off reading this novel because they restricted access”.

the. fucking. entitlement. the whole of nan chan is free, that’s like what more than 80 chapters. she locked up the EXTRA and the money goes to the author, she doesn’t earn anything. AND HERE THAT BIJ is (yes, i’m going to call them names because you know, fucking asshole who didn’t bother to check) going “yeah i didn’t wanna read because 1/80+ chapters were locked”.

AN EXTRA. LITERALLY AN EXTRA!!!!!!

at the end of the day, translators are not like DYING to translate, not like some of you are DYING to read the translations. once again, this isn’t a “BE GRATEFUL” message, it’s a please be respectful to the people who put in time and hard work for free and share the goodness ya know? what’s the use of yelling at fan translators as if we owe you anything?

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🔴🔴🔴 TOO LONG DIDN’T READ 🔴🔴🔴

some people may need really need to pirate - and no one needs to justify why they cannot afford to purchase etc. pirating happens all the time, translators only hope that when you can, and in whatever way you can, to support legally - in general we don’t ask and we get it! we’re just annoyed that some people think that it SHOULD BE FREE, when it is a paid product, especially for those who CAN afford it

readers are not entitled to shit on translators for what they do with their translations - once again, you’re not OBLIGATED to have it. so what if i start and stop? i’m the one doing the work, i get the only say. don’t be a hypocrite and shit on translators, whose works you’ve read - it’s no loss for translators, we read and enjoy danmei just fine

yes, fan translations are illegal, but you can’t read and enjoy them like some of you have, and then turn around and point the finger at translators - a lot of us are happy to stop translating - this isn’t a threat, but at the end of the day, shitting on translators simply decreases access, and sure, some people can indeed live with you know, MTL or shitty translations from people who’ve learnt chinese for only six months or whatever, but you’re gonna be reading an entirely different book tbh

the people saying illegal translators are at fault - funnily enough, most of them consume the translations, so what the fuck? i mean we know it’s illegal, we’re trying to share the love and trying to minimize the illegalities of it by redirecting people to hopefully support legally. it’s still illegal yes, but i think it’s hypocritical for people who have read translations, stab translators in the back. and now that translators are indeed ‘restricting’ and ‘removing’ their ‘illegal translations’, yall yelling again? and threatening?

fan translators aren’t “elitist” or “classist” - just looking for some respect in a community which seems to have taken them for granted, and also looking for support for their fave authors - and honestly a lot of us were caught in the crossfires truly, don’t be an asshole and demand things from fan translators - who are you talking about? do you know why they decided to lock? do you know know what their locking system is like and what for?

it’s not EASY to lock the translations up - it’s more admin work, it’s putting together a whitelist of people, if given the choice i’m sure translators would prefer to share everything. but not when there are assholes who have a comment on how they should translate etc. and yeah!!! calling us illegal!! i mean we are but still!!

the last straw was seeing that post on tumblr and people in the comments going like fan translators shouldn’t or should do something, without getting the whole picture, without even considering how hard it is for fan translators being caught in this situation.

whoever puts in the work gets to decide, and everyone else should leave them alone.

be nice to the people who really cannot afford as they say so (or just don’t think about it), be nice to the translators feeding you content, and the people who free ride and shit on translators - honestly, i’d say ready the pitchforks.

edit: i forgot to mention this is my hot take and i’ve tried to like present all the arguments i’ve seen so far. i’m definitely not doing all of it justice and i don’t claim to speak on behalf of any of them except maybe one or two- and i’ve definitely left out stuff, but anyway, lmao we’re just tiny people doing what we love. i wish we could solve you know inequality or poverty or hunger or other pressing concerns. if i was that great i wouldn’t be stuck on tumblr or twitter or have to make posts like these like a loser.

thanks for coming to my ted talk.

#danmei #danmei twitter #rambles #long post #literally cannot take the stupidity of some people anymore

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