#i’ve already assigned a ton of them in my head

[fogwitchoftheevermore]

everyday i become more tempted to assign every single fob song to the life series. i could do it. it would be very easy, even.

[minnillea]

ON THIN ICE (Keegan P. Russ X Reader)

I’m saddened by the lack of Keegan content, so I’m doing this even tho I’ve never written anything like this before.😩 Might write more later or whatever. English is not my first language + not really proofread, so easy there. (Roughly 4k words)

CW: MDNI!, NSFW, dom Keegan, sub fem reader, pure filth, spanking, choking, degradation, praise if you squint, edging, fingering, bj, raw, tons of pet names, hair tugging, creampie, power dynamics, dubcon, mentions of exhibitionism, rouuughhhhhhh, you really piss him off, and aftercare <3

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･''･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･''･*:.｡. .

You followed Keegan through the halls because you were assigned to pair up with him for a mission taking place in a couple of days, and he was going to tell you all the details you needed to know.

You trailed behind him, moving a little faster to keep up with his long strides, before finally speaking. “Don’t tell me you plan on filling out some reports first? I’ll get so bored just watching you do that,” you said with a pout, already frustrated because of how little time for yourself you’ve had in the last couple of weeks.

“What’s that?” he said in a teasing tone without even caring to look back. “I won’t let you out of my sight because you’ll get lost, and it’s gonna be a pain in the ass to find you again. But if you really need to keep yourself busy, I can make you run laps in the freezing cold,” he replied in a harsh, cold tone as he halted beside a door before turning, his piercing eyes staring down directly at you.

You grimaced as you avoided his gaze. “No, I’m good, sir.”

You couldn't help but think about how the black war paint around his eyes made them stand out even more and how his stare made you feel weak in the knees.

“That's what I thought,” earning a soft chuckle from him, he opened the door and signaled with his hand for you to step in. “And yeah... there’s gonna be a lot of stuff to fill in, so you better behave, kid,” he said in his husky voice, waiting for you to move.

You eyed him up and down after his comment, with your lips slightly parted in surprise before you regained your composure and stepped in. “Alright, Sarge,” you said in an unenthusiastic tone, trying to keep your mind out of the gutter.

He gave you a sultry look as his eyes ran over your body before rolling his eyes with a sigh as he followed behind you. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick,” he sat down and pulled out some papers, starting to type on a computer.

You looked around for a bit before sitting on a nearby office chair and swiveling around.

His icy eyes darted towards you for a second before he kept working. (God, this is torture…)

“What are you, like… 10 years old?” he said, shaking his head slightly while typing.

You decided to ignore him as you took a paper ball from a nearby desk and started playing with it until you thought it would be a good idea to throw it at him. Keegan was a very reserved individual, so you loved to try and get reactions out of him. You craved his attention in a way.

Keegan swatted the ball away with a hand as he looked down at some files.

“Don’t you dare drop that ball again, or else there’ll be consequences,” he said in an intimidating low tone as he sent you a sharp glare before typing in the rest of the data.

You tensed up under his gaze, but your stupidity had no limits today, and you looked down at the ball on the floor and bent over to pick it up in a teasing way as you turned your head to look at him discreetly.

“You are walking on thin ice, darling, don’t test me,” he sneered sharply as he glowered at you, crossing his arms. Keegan was in no mood for any games and your silly antics today.

You weren’t sure if you should keep pushing him, but you did anyway. You proceeded to throw the ball on his desk. “Oops, it slipped,” you said in a mocking way, finally making him snap.

“Ohh, so that's how is it going to be?” He said in a stern but playful tone as he cocked a brow. “I’ve had it with you. Come over here, quick.”

You cautiously walked and stopped in front of the desk. He stood up quickly and stared you down, towering over your small frame as a wave of anxiety hit you. (Oh, I guess I really did strike a nerve this time.)

“What did I tell you?” He leaned against the desk with his arms folded.

“Uh, not to throw the ball again?” You said softly, feeling your heart pounding in your chest.

“And what did you just do?” he asked, tilting his head to the side as his cold eyes remained fixated on you.

You felt your cheeks burn at how close he was but still attempted to pathetically save face.

“But it slipped….”

“Sure thing, sweetheart.” His eyes trailed all over your body before he broke the silence.

“Kneel.”

Keegan’s tone got serious all of a sudden, as he looked down your body slowly before his eyes locked with yours.

“Now, don’t make me say it again.”

You looked at him with big eyes, your lips parting slightly in surprise before dropping on your knees immediately.

He chuckled deeply at the sight. “You really need to know your place…you know what to do next; make good use of that mouth of yours”.

You couldn’t believe what just came out of his mouth as you quickly felt your core ache and pressed your thighs together. You fidgeted with his belt shyly before throwing it to the side and looking at him coyly. You exhaled slowly as you let his length spring out.

“I'm waiting,” he said, tilting his head again with a husky voice as his hands went to his sides, gripping the edges of the desk as he leaned on it while still maintaining eye contact with you. He looked down at you in a condescending way.

You wrapped a hand around his base as your other hand held onto his thigh. You slowly licked the tip before starting to suck it and let your tongue roam around it, too embarrassed to keep your eyes open. He sighed, feeling the wetness of your lips.

“Eyes on me, princess,” he commanded as he moved a hand behind your head to tug at your hair slightly.

You let out a little whine and locked eyes with him as he pushed your head into him, making you feel overwhelmed.

“Aww what’s wrong? Don’t tell me you wanna back out already?” he said in a fake kind tone.

You gagged slightly for a bit before trying to accommodate him better as he exhaled softly, still holding onto your hair firmly. You swirled your tongue around him as you dug your nails into his thigh, making him hiss softly. You looked right at him as you started bobbing your head up and down, trying to take in as much as you could.

“Damn, who would’ve thought you were like this?” He said with heavy lids, watching as tears formed in your pretty eyes. He then pushed you further again, tearing more muffled whines out of you.

“I’m not going easy on you.” He smirked under his mask as his other hand wrapped around your neck with a tight squeeze, making you groan.

“I need to show you who’s in charge here. I could make you stay like this the entire day, and anyone could just walk in at any moment to see how much of a slut you are.” He spoke in a threatening tone as he kept fucking your face relentlessly.

Your eyes widened as you let out a muffled gasp.

“Now don’t give me that look; you brought this upon yourself after all. I’ve been too lenient with you. Fuck…” Keegan let out a low groan, and let himself get lost for a moment, before pulling himself together. He squeezed your throat tighter, feeling himself in it and making you yelp as you tapped on his thigh, signaling to him that you needed to breathe.

“Oh, you need some air sweet thing?” Keegan let you have barely any time to breathe, before tightening his grip on your hair and ramming you into him again, earning a moan from you.

“No one said you were getting it easy on any of this, princess.”

You kept your watery eyes locked on him as his breathing became heavier.

Eventually, as little whines filled up the room he chuckled and patted your head before letting your neck go. “You better think twice before defying my orders, understood?” he said in a softer but stern tone.

You pulled back with a pop, gasping for air, before replying softly. “Yes, sir.”

He rubbed his thumb over your cheek.

“Good girl.” Keegan smirked at you as he pulled you in again, his grip on your hair still there but a little looser this time.

He kept you like this for a while as you did your best to please him, tears rolling down your cheeks as your hand pumped what couldn’t fit.

You noticed his breathing getting more elaborated as your throat squeezed him tightly and you pressed your tongue flat, below his length. Tightening your grip around his base, you looked up at him as he threw his head back with a breathy grunt.

“Just like that…” he groaned, gritting his teeth before looking back at you and painting your throat white.

Your eyes widened as you swallowed most of it, with only a little stream making its way down the corner of your mouth. “Mmm…” you hungrily cleaned him off with your tongue and pulled back to rub your thumb over the remains dripping off your face before sucking it lewdly while your eyes met his.

“Careful with your actions, love,” he warned, taking a hold of your face and looking down at you before speaking again shortly. “Such a naughty little thing...”he grinned under his mask, swiping your tears away with a gloved thumb before fixing himself up and putting some documents away.

You slowly stood up as he was facing away before you heard his voice again.

“Did I say you could stand up, doll?” he said mockingly as he rummaged through papers and closed the file cabinet.

You froze in place not knowing what to say.

He chuckled as he turned his head to look back at you. “Oh, I’m not done with you yet, kid; you’ve been having your way for weeks now and seriously think you’ll get away that easily?”

“Am I still in trouble?” You asked meekly.

“You’re goddamn right about that, you are.” Keegan spoke in a firm tone as he saw the look of nervousness and excitement in your face.

“Alright, come on. Follow me.” He gestured with his hand for you to come before turning around and walking away, leaving you with little choice. He had orders for you, and you better follow them.

You followed him, feeling all kinds of emotions as your thoughts raced.

Keegan walked out of the room, going down some stairs and walking through some corridors.

He held a door open with a heartless expression as you stepped in, and then he followed, slamming it shut.

He saw you taking a moment to look around the small, dimly lit room before his hoarse voice caught your attention.

“We don’t have much time. So, I advise you not to piss me off further, because you don’t wanna know what’ll happen then. Now come here and bend over, princess” he patted the desk, gesturing for you to come over, as he spoke in a cold tone while staring at you dead in the eye, both of his hands flat on the desk as he leaned forward over it.

You looked around nervously before bending over the cold metal desk he was putting his weight on.

“Attagirl...” Keegan smirked as he walked behind you, the sound of his shoes tapping echoing through the silent room.

He kept his gaze fixed on you as he placed both of his hands on your waist, holding you still.

You turned your head back, to look at him with big round eyes.

He rubbed his thumbs on your hips, and smirked.

“You really pushed it this time,” he sighed, speaking in a low whisper.

He suddenly pulled your pants down in a swift motion before applying more pressure, so you’d stay in that position. He pulled his belt out with a rattle, folding it in half and gripping it tightly before he spoke in a more serious tone once again.

“This is going to hurt.”

You yelped softly as you felt the chilly air hit your hind, your body tensing up as you were still looking at him with pleading eyes.

“Ah ah ah, eyes up front, gorgeous. There’s no turning back now.” One of his hands snaked up your back to hold onto your neck and push your face down against the cold metal table firmly.

You let out a little whine in anticipation as you felt arousal yet fear for what was about to happen.

Keegan smirked at you, knowing that you wouldn’t enjoy what was about to come to you, as he finally struck you with his belt, making you gasp. The sound of the belt hitting you filled the room as you flinched.

“You asked for it, princess.”

Keegan hit you once again, and again, not planning to stop anytime soon.

You whined and squirmed under him as Keegan kept striking you with the belt and smirked at you once again.

“Keep making more noises like that, and it won’t stop.”

He gave you another hit with the belt, which was stronger than the others.

You moaned loudly as your eyes shut tightly. “Hmm!”

“Asking for more?” He spoke in a rather cruel tone with a raised brow.

Another hit with the belt was given to you, making you tremble and bite your lip.

“Hah! I’m s-sorry Sergeant! I won’t do it again!” You wailed out.

“Don't you dare lie to me. I know your games, and you'll do it again unless I teach you a lesson,” he said with venom-laced words. Keegan squeezed your throat tighter as he hit your ass again making you feel the stinging pain every time before it was replaced by a warm feeling. He made sure not to follow a pattern at all to keep you wondering when he was striking you again and for how long.

Your eyes welled up with tears as your knuckles turned white from how hard you were clenching your fists, and you whimpered pathetically before feeling the pool of arousal below you grow larger. How your breasts were getting squished against the desk didn’t help your situation at all, so you resorted to pressing your thighs together to alleviate the aching need you felt.

He took notice of what you did and harshly kicked your legs apart with his.

“You are getting off of this? Look at you, all hot and bothered like a bitch in heat.” he spat as he shook his head slightly with a smirk.

He then paused for a few seconds longer than usual, as you could think it was over.

Keegan caressed your red ass softly, admiring the markings on it and making you shriver.

But he then hit you again, as he chuckled while you writhed before speaking in a dark tone.

“You’re gonna feel this until you remember what happens if you misbehave.”

After a couple of agonizing strikes his deep voice drew your attention.

“Get comfortable…” he whispered, his breath getting hotter as he gave you a smug look. He turned you around, so your back was against the table and restrained your hands with the belt. He then leaned closer over you, in between your spread legs.

“Mmm?!” You looked at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks as he briskly yanked off his glove and stuffed it in your mouth to shush you.

“Don’t tell me you enjoy this.” He suspired, holding onto your waist with a gloved hand as the other one pushed your soaked underwear to the side and collected some of the overflowing slick. “What am I going to do with you?” He teased as he pushed two long fingers into your tight cunt, making you moan in pleasure.

His eyes narrowed, studying your expression as he moved his hand, curling his fingers upwards and rubbing his thumb on your clit slowly.

You moaned and squirmed, welcoming his touch as he added another finger and pumped slowly in and out of you. “You are such a troublemaker you know that?” He pressed on your swollen clit as his eyes slowly trailed all over your body.

He kept you like this until he realized you were about to cum, making him pull out immediately as you whined frustrated.

“Aww, you are so naive, doll.” Keegan spoke in a cruel tone as he tilted his head, seeing your frustration and excitement displayed on your pretty face.

You let out a muffled whine as you pleaded, afraid of him leaving you like this.

“What was that? I can’t understand you, sweetie. What are you saying?” He spoke in a condescending tone before briefly lifting his mask and licking your arousal off his fingers with a soft groan.

You kept whining and squirming with your restrained hands, desperate for him as a result of his teasing.

He chuckled before taking the glove out of your mouth. “Speak.” He demanded dryly as he looked down at you coldly.

“Please s-sir let me cum..” you whispered as you panted.

“Sorry, but you’re at my mercy now…” he said in a firm, raspy voice as he slowly graced your sensitive clit with his thumb, causing you to let a mewl out, before he gagged you with the glove once again.

He kept tantalizing you for a while with devilish eyes as you whined and pleaded in frustration. Leaving you at the edge over and over again, he wouldn’t let you have it. Suddenly, some knocking made your eyes dart to the door.

Keegan’s eyes lit up with mischief as he quickly pulled his cock out before aligning himself with you and sliding his tip between your folds.

“Shh shh...” he said in a quick whisper as he held onto your waist with his free hand, not caring about the situation at all.

You went completely silent as your lips parted in surprise and your eyes locked on his.

“Uh, is everything okay in there?”a voice came from the door.

“Just some discipline, nothing you need to worry about.” Keegan replied harshly before he abruptly pushed himself into you, making you let a choked moan out.

“Now, unless you want to see what’s going on in here for yourself. I’d recommend for you to walk off.” He said in a threatening tone as he pulled his mask up slightly, revealing some stubble and catching your attention. He proceeded to bite on your neck softly while his other hand made its way below your shirt and rubbed circles on your stomach before dragging it up and meeting your breasts.

“Alright, chill man.” The man behind the door left feeling amused yet confused at what he just heard.

Keegan smirked as he took the wet glove out of your mouth, and then looked at you in the eye.

“I see you are quite loud...” He said teasingly, leaning into you with a breathy grunt as he gave your breast a soft squeeze.

You moaned and arched your back in pleasure as you felt him stretch you.

He felt like he had no room to move at all as he toyed with your hard nipples.

“Goddamn…” He sighed as he started to slowly pick up the pace and pressed his lips on yours, kissing you passionately as his hands roamed your body.

“You have no clue how much I’ve been wanting to do this…” He then kissed you again, harder and deeper than before, as he caressed your body.

You let him take you as you moaned into him, not being able to think straight anymore as you felt his tip bullying your cervix.

His breathing was getting louder as he kept thrusting into you harshly. The lewd sounds of squelching and slapping accompanied with your sweet moans filled up the room.

You wrapped your legs around his waist tightly as he placed his hands besides your head and started a merciless pace.

You breathed shallowly and rolled your eyes back in ecstasy, feeling him hit all the right spots.

“Fuck…I love the sounds you make.” He said with a soft groan, stretching your gummy walls as you melted under him.

“Oh m-my hah! Mhmmm! Ahh! Pleaseeee-” You mumbled incoherences as he looked at you with those beautiful eyes of his, the black smudge around them only making his gaze more intoxicating.

“You are taking me so well, darling.” He said exhaling softly before kissing your lips down to your jaw and neck.

Keegan’s brows furrowed in pure pleasure as heat coursed through his body and he sucked on your neck hungrily.

You were reduced to a whimpering and quivering mess as he roughly moved against your little body, but you loved every second of it.

He continued ravaging you as one of his hands made its way to pinch and rub on your clit, making you wail. You felt like you were about to snap again as your walls tightened even more around him.

“You got quite the grip in there huh?” He chuckled before clenching his jaw at the feeling of you squeezing him tightly. His thrusts were getting sloppier as he felt his high near.

You kept your gaze on him with glossy eyes as a symphony of moans and whimpers left your lips, and you came trembling under him, pushing him over the edge and making him grunt deeply as thick strings of cum spurted inside you.

“Fuck….” He said breathily as he rode his high with a couple of thrusts before letting himself collapse on top of you, making sure to put most of his weight on his hands. He nuzzled his face against your neck before planting a kiss on your forehead and levering himself over your body to look at you with calm eyes.

You panted and quivered, feeling so full of him as you took a look into those eyes that had you captured.

He pulled himself back and out of you, making you feel empty and needy as you whimpered softly.

“Look at you….” He said in a husky voice as he admired the mess he’s made of you, leaning in with his hands gripping the edges of the desk.

He pushed the overflowing cum back in with his fingers and put your panties back in place before freeing your hands. He turned with his back facing you to look around as he fixed himself up while you tried to sit up in your sore ass.

He saw you move slightly in the corner of his eye, so he picked up your pants from the floor and came over to take you in his arms. You were quick to wrap your legs and arms around him.

“Hey, lay down for a bit, sweetheart. Are you okay?” He asked in a caring tone as he ran a hand through your hair as the other one patted your back. Your pants were hanging around his arm as he set them down on the table.

You were catching your breath but giggled with a nod as you clung onto him.

Keegan smiled as he held you close, his chest rising and falling as you breathed in his scent. His breathing relaxed you as you nuzzled your face against his neck.

“You are adorable.” He chuckled, shaking his head as he sat down mindfully on the desk, spreading your folded legs at his sides so your behind didn’t touch anything, and proceeding to litter soft kisses all over the love bites on your neck.

He kept a grip on your waist as a hand came up to caress your cheek, and his lips met yours in a soft, tender kiss. The heat between you two was intense; your bodies pressed together tightly as he kissed you deeply.

Keegan pulled away and held you close to his chest in a warm embrace, his eyes closing as he let out a deep breath.

He let you rest as much as you needed while caressing your hair and rubbing circles on your waist before it was time to leave.

Your eyes locked onto his; he had such a loving gaze.

He pulled his balaclava down after giving you a kiss on the nose.

“Are you gonna behave now?” He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head with a tone as playful as the look he was giving you.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Oh? Crewel-sensei! Are you actually joining us in class today? - Kalim, beaming

Zzzzz- h-huh? Did I miss... Trein-sensei's class...? - Silver, sleepy

If he doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will.

Crewel warily surveyed the classroom. Each group of students had been presented with a cage full of mice. The assignment for the day: to command the mice to execute a trick of one's choosing. They scampered around on their tiny feet, clawing at their confinement and chorusing in soft squeaks.

A few brave students had already taken to freeing the mice, to varying degrees of success. Some rodents had escaped and now skittered across the floors while being chased down. Others, aggravated, had clawed or bitten their students, sending them to the nurse’s office.

Class 2-A may as well be an unkept dog kennel, Crewel grumbled to himself.

“I’m participating today to brush up on Animal Languages,” he explained bluntly. “Pardon the intrusion. Please do not let my presence distract you from your learning.”

“Hahah, of course not! Make yourself home, cuz my classroom is your classroom!” Kalim chirped. “Since we’re in the same group, let’s do our best to help each other out.”

“Agreed.” Silver nodded. “We’re honored to be working with you, Crewel-sensei.”

They’re good boys—but let’s see whether their technical abilities are on par with their kind-heartedness.

"Lead the charge. I will stand by and support your vision.”

“Let’s have the mice dress up and have a parade!” Kalim immediately suggested. His entire face lit up with determination. “Maybe some of them could be horses pulling a little toy carriage, and other mice could ride the carriage.”

“That’s far too complex for your level of skill!” Crewel pointed out. “Start simpler. Instructing them to do a single thing is enough to fulfill the requirements. For dogs… ‘sit’ and ‘stay’ are common first commands. Extrapolate that thinking to mice. The vocabulary should also be within your reach.”

There was a long pause. Then Silver spoke up.

“So… we could ask them to sit or to stay?”

“Do not so blatantly superimpose the orders for dogs onto a different animal!” Crewel snapped. “Are you still half asleep?!”

“He might be! Hey, Silver.” Kalim nudged his classmate (whose head was beginning to loll) on the arm. The knight startled—but his eyelids still fluttered, threatening to shut. “Stick with us! We need you awake for this, buddy.”

“Ngh… I’m sorry, I’m trying… I’m trying so hard, but… I don’t think I can… hold… it off…………….. Zzzzz…”

Silver drifted off, slouching forward in his seat. Kalim grasped onto his shoulders, keeping him upright.

“Wh-Whoa…! Don’t worry, Silver! I’ve gotcha!!”

Crewel facepalmed. “… This is quickly devolving into a disaster.”

"I'll say!" Kalim agreed. "How's Silver going to nap well without a pillow and a blanket? A desk and chair are really uncomfortable to sleep on."

"That's what you're concerned about?"

"Hmm? Yeah. Did you mean something else, sensei?"

"You'll be receiving a zero on this assignment from old Trein if you don't come up with something," Crewel lectured him as he removed the lid from their box of mice. "Find a way to wake Silver up this instant!"

"Aaah, what should I do...? I feel bad waking him up when he's having a good dream... Are you sure we can't just make Silver as comfortable as we can?"

"YES, I AM SURE."

As Crewel and Kalim clashed, the mice were frenzied. They had collected in one corner of the box in one massive wriggling heap, spilling out onto the counter like liquid when Crewel tipped the container over. They darted in front of Silver in frantic rows, then compressed their small, furry bodies together, forming something resembling a pillow.

"What the..."

"Oh!" Kalim brightened with realization. "Did you guys want to help out? That's so nice of you!"

He was met with a sea of excitable squeaking.

"Gahahah! I don't get it, but thanks a ton! Silver appreciates it too. I'll lay him down now, okay?"

Crewel watched, jaw hanging open, as Kalim gently placed Silver upon the bed of lab rodents. It was like a scene right out of a fairy tale. Kalim, the prince. Silver, the princess. And the mice? Their animal companions that saved the day.

Footsteps approached from behind.

"Asim, how does your group fare?" Trein inquired. "I hope you were not too heavily relying on Crewel-sensei's expertise to get by."

"No, sir! We're just making sure Silver gets proper rest in." Kalim gestured to his snoozing peer. "See?"

Trein took note of the pillow of mice, his brows creasing in confusion. "... Well, it's certainly an unconventional 'trick' you've shown me, but I suppose I will allow it. It's a creative solution for the task."

"Wait, really? Cool, thanks!!'

Crewel blinked.

Just what am I looking at here? Did these two just pass by failing to use any of the course's teachings in the assignment?!

"... Unbelievable." He shook his head in disbelief.

These pups are truly something else.

[dmercer91]

i love opposites attract au so much 🥹 what would happen if someone (maybe a new teammate or someone who does really know black cat) said something rude about her like maybe about her personality or her shyness? i feel like luca would be ready to sock someone in the nose LOL

he is always so ready to punch someone when they talk shit about her for no reason and after he walks away from the situation he just feels so sad

he wishes people saw her the way he did and that they’d at least try and give her the benefit of the doubt

through my eyes | opposites attract au, lf63

luca had been paired up with seamus and another guy from their class for an assignment, and they’d been sitting in the guys living room talking away for the last hour, assignment be damned

“you guys must get like a fuck ton of girls at parties, right? i mean like, hot girls, too,” the guy had commented, tilting his head so his words served as a question

“eh. sometimes, sure. lucas got a girl though, he’s head up his ass in love with her,” seamus smiled, looking over at luca who gave a small smile, the reminder of you making his heart flutter

“yeah? you got a picture?” the guy chuckled, watching as luca turned his phone screen and showed him the picture of you two he had as his lock screen

you were laughing together, you pretending to open up to bite his shoulder and him just beaming at the camera. it was one of his favourites of the both of you.

“oh. yeah, i think i’ve seen her around. shes pretty weird,” the guy shrugged, going back to seamus and staring to ask about some of his hookups.

seamus shook his head “dude. what the fuck,” he raised an eyebrow, coming to your defence while luca soaked in the comment, already angry.

“what? i’m just saying, man, you can do better,” the guy scrunched his face, confused as to lucas and seamus’ reactions

“she’s beautiful. and she’s quiet, yeah. but she’s not weird. she probably just didn’t fucking like you,” luca but in, eyes cold and pissed towards the guy.

“no, fantilli. she’s weird. she doesn’t talk to anyone and she’s about to fucking bite you in that. weirdo shit,” he vaguely gestured to lucas phone, rolling his eyes.

“you don’t know a thing about her, man. don’t fucking talk about her like that,” luca replied, fist gripping his phone roughly

“whatever. keep fucking your weirdo girlfriend. the rest of the team can have the hot, normal ones,” the guy smirked, clearly just trying to rile up luca and see how far he could take it

“jesus christ- let’s go, luca. grow a fucking sack, asshole,” shea eyed the guy, shoving his and lucas things in their bags and pushing him out the door, trying to get the both of them out of the situation as fast as possible

luca was quiet for a good while, a somber look plastered on his face while they walked back to his and your apartment.

“she’s such a sweet girl. nobody tries to see through her when she’s quiet,” he mumbled, looking over at seamus who was visibly uncomfortable because of everything that was said at their partners place

“don’t pay any mind to him, fants. the team loves her, shy or not,” luca looked down, a small smile forming on his lips

you were still pretty brash with a lot of the team, but they all included you in the group and loved lucas love for you regardless.

the people he actually cared about were all that mattered, no matter how bad he wanted everyone to see you how he did.

[sommerregenjuniluft]

can you believe on twitter people are starting to make regulus be fem

*GASP* THEY DID WHAT??

dunno if fem stands for identifying as female or presenting more feminine but yeah i sure can and Actually what a coincidence, would you look at that nonny, i dug this out of the depths of my docs just for you~

enjoy 1.7k of fem regulus (that i wrote for the jegulus microfics a few months back that took a life of its own and i never finished lol)

It had started with a debt.

No, that’s not true– actually, it had started with Professor Slughorn.

He’d sat down on his desk—yes, on, not at, long colorful knitted robes fluttering as he maneuvered himself into a pretzel. He’s a very strange man, that one, Pandora wagers he’s possessed by multiple old spirits, Shakespear and Van Gogh being only two of them—and had tapped a finger against his temple conspiratorially, “I’ve cooked another something up for you guys in here.”

Whenever Slughorn cooks something up in that cauldron of a head of his it’s either brilliant bordering on manic genius or it’s entirely stupid.

The given assignment is to write a song and produce a music video for it. Their final this semester.

Which sounds easy enough, but Slughorn had stressed multiple times that he wanted to be wowed as he’d slurped on his open coconut.

Which means they’re gonna have to put in a shit ton of effort.

“Form groups of five and figure it out,” he’d clapped his hands twice and then slid off the desk and went to leave as students started moving around the room and erupting into hushed discussions.

They’d pretty quickly figured out that Barty and Regulus would come up with the lyrics, they’d done it often enough, sometimes by accident when the brownies Pandora occasionally baked were a whoopsie too strong. Evan had leaned back with a grin and told them not to worry about the soundtrack and Lily and Pandora had already fallen into a tangent about cameras and equipment and location, possible props and friends they could rope into staring.

That’s when Regulus had taken her snake bite piercing between her teeth to smother a mean grin at the idea that popped into her head.

She plops down on her brother’s usual table in the yards, chunky platform heels propped on the bench and long legs on display under her mini skirt. Drives a hand through her wild mane and smiles sweetly, “Hi Jamie.”

As expected, his jaw drops slightly as James’ gaze breaks eye contact and takes on sliding down Regulus’ form where she’s propped herself deliberately right next to his meal.

Another voice at the table pipes up before the object of Regulus’ attention gets the chance to, “What do you want, Reggie?”

Regulus tilts her head, curls falling over her shoulders, eyes not letting off her target, “That’s none of your concern, Sirius.”

James licks his lips, “Hi Reg, how can I be of assistance to you today?”

Regulus leans forward with a smile, noticing the way James’ eyes flit down her low cut shirt for a second, “Remember that one time you’ve dared me to let the whole hockey team drink body shots off me?” Voice honey thick, the Just so you could get a taste goes without saying.

Behind her Sirius chokes on his lunch.

But James’ grin widens and he raises an eyebrow intrigued.

Regulus cards her pale fingers through James’ messy, black hair, makes it just a bit more messy as he looks up at her through his rounded glasses with those baby cow brown eyes of his and the corners of Regulus’ lips tug, “I’ve come to collect my debt.”

Evan produces a banger beat over the course of a single all-nighter that Regulus and Barty write their songtext to, tipsy as fuck on vodka lemon sodas out on Regulus’ small as fuck student housing balcony in the dead of night, moonlight just bright enough to see the pen of what they scrawl down onto the paper of their sketchbooks.

Regulus had left Lily in charge of the planning of availability on the location and the hockey team and Pandora to come up with a range of outfits to choose from for Regulus and the boys.

Evan finishes the song in record time for Regulus to record the vocals to and when it’s mixed and ready Evan’s grin is so bright Barty drives the girls out of the studio to do whatever debauched things to his boyfriend on the couch in there which one, Regulus doesn’t want to worry her pretty little head about too much since it’s her fucking voice– and two, means the song fucking slaps.

Barty also comes up with a slutty and good enough choreo that’ll give the video the dynamic it needs and together the four of them sweat away a few afternoons blending into evenings in front of the mirrors while Lily does whatever magic she does organizing.

Regulus hates that she’s not into girls in times like this.

It takes some time, obviously, you don’t just finish a song overnight and it takes a few weeks until almost everything is ready for the video shoot.

Regulus is sitting curled up on her desk chair while Pandora absolutely just takes her fucking closet apart, Ipad in one of her tiny hands, the Greedy Pinterest board open.

There’s already a pair of trainers and another pair of pointy, glittery heels thrown haphazardly on the end of her bed over the formerly neat sheets as well as a pair of black overknees and a cute lace-y, sage green bra that Regulus didn’t even know she had.

“Here,” Pandora blindly throws something over her shoulder at Regulus. They’re some older, white basketball shorts with black highlights. “Put these with the heels and the green top.”

Regulus does as told, albeit an eye roll that’s nearly painful as Pandora throws some white Nike socks after her. “Those too, babe.”

Another few beats pass where Regulus is bored and Pandora is rummaging and then she says, “Oh. my. gods,” and turns with a shiny faux leather bra hung loosely on her index fingers and a bright smile on her face, “You absolute slut.”

Regulus takes the compliment and gives her a sweet grin and a wink.

Pandora’s eyes take on a milky quality and then she asks, “Can you still do a split?”

Regulus takes a step into the middle of her room and falls into a nearly perfect split without any warm-up.

Pandora rolls her eyes at the showing off, badly containing another smile, “Again, I love you,” and then, a more contemplating expression, “How much do you think you think you can milk James of that debt of yours?”

Regulus scoffs, pointedly looks down at herself where she’s still sitting wide legged and at ease on her bedroom floor.

Pandora’s grin sharpens, “Text him you’re gonna need an old jersey and matching uniform shorts of his.”

And Regulus does just that. And if she sends the demand on Snapchat with a picture of her still in a split that’s none of anyone’s business but hers and Jamie’s.

James, as captain of the hockey team, is courteous enough to let them in with his own keys early in the morning of the shooting day.

They check out the rooms and halls for good spots and start bringing in bags and setting up equipment.

And James is just…helping.

Sticking around the whole fucking day actually.

Xeno and Mary have joined at some point with coffees, donuts and breakfast bagels, bless their fucking souls.

And when everything is as set in place as it can be it’s time for Regulus to change into the first outfit and start filming and James is still just…there.

Hovering with the crew, jostling elbows with Barty and Evan and peaking over Lily’s and Pandora’s shoulders and throwing Regulus glances and toothy smiles from across the room, showing no intention whatsoever to leave and come back later with his fucking team.

——— NSFW

James encourages the jerky movement of Regulus’ hips against his thigh, grip unrelenting on her waist as he leans impossibly closer, dragging his thumb along Regulus’ plump bottom lip, “You’d come like this, wouldn’t you, princess?”

Instead of answering Regulus sucks the thumb into her mouth, laving her tongue around it sloppily and making James breath stutter on the exhale.

“Fuck, good little slut– so desperate for it,” James says as he watches the movement of Regulus’ lips transfixed, continuing to get her off against his leg, “Want me to fuck you, don’t you, baby?”

And Regulus’ mouth drops around the sudden moan as her pace stutters, her eyes pricking with tears of the overwhelming toomuchnotenough and the degradation and sweet pet names and James’ lewd fucking mouth.

He pulls his thumb away and grabs at her ass with both hands, pulling their fronts flush together, two hard lines pressing at each other, “C’mon, princess, words.”

Regulus’ hands ball into fists at the front of James’ soft cotton shirt as she nods hopelessly, brows knit and voice husky, “Want you to fuck me.”

In the next blink James has her turned in his arms, palming at her stiff cock and pulling her ass back into him, his other arm coming around her front. Trailing faintly up her stomach, eliciting goosebumps, then grabbing at her breast and pressing a wet kiss on the side of her neck as a thumb brushes over a hard nipple behind the lace and Regulus groans.

“Be a good girl and stay down for me, yeah?” James rumbles into Regulus’ ear, nuzzling at the curls around her ear and the next moment there are calloused fingertips pressing into the nape of Regulus’ neck and she’s being pushed down against the counter.

James spanks her once across her right ass cheek for good measure it seems, another stay, and Regulus is helpless against the whine that crawls out of her, long hair falling into her eyes when her temple thumps against the marred, red countertop as James sinks to his knees behind her.

The hockey player palms at the swell of her thigh, right under the seam of her ass and kneads, warm humid breath puffing against Regulus’ entrance and she shivers against the exposure of the chilly air, whines something that sounds too close to Jamie and the man does nothing but keep looking and fucking chuckle. Bastard.

And then, “Oh, baby,” a groan and a bite to Regulus’ ass that has her whimpering pathetically, “Prettiest pussy, gonna get you all nice and wet for me.”

Regulus moans, and James hums as he dives in face first, grip strong around her thighs and tongue wet, slowly coaxing the tight ring of muscle open.

[olderthannetfic]

Hi! So I have a rambling explanation that’s going to lead into a genuine question about making a website somewhat like a03 or finding alternatives to a site I will mention (it’s not a03 don’t worry)

I am a non/disney editor, crossover artist, amv maker and deep faker and any other term for “make videos of characters in canon or au type scenarios to music”. I’m also a fanficcer. And I remember when being wary of Anne Rice and Archie Comics and DC was a thing. A teacher, to cover his ass for an assignment of mine, taught me how to write an apology letter to a company on the offhand my hand written basically Batman fanfiction, made it’s way online or was heard about. I was in the tail end right before A03 but I am extremely grateful that the site exists. Okay. So now I need to talk about the Owl House. In season three episode special one, Luz Noceda makes an amv coming out to her mom.

Editor friends in a private discord were both happy and worried. Luz is one of us….but also Disney knows about us, to some level. Nothings happened I’ve just been stewing and I’m just worried something might hit the fan for the community given many of us use Disney media (hard not to when 80% of things put out is by them) So I’m asking how one would make a platform like A03 but for video media. Or if there’s things you know like that. YouTube is getting more and more difficult for anyone nowadays too.

Again, nothings really happened yet, I just can’t get it out of my head

--

Video is worlds harder than text, but you know that.

There are a couple of approaches here: First, more is more. The more sites you have your stuff on, the smaller the chance that Disney can nuke all of them. Second, if you're not just using youtube and getting good at playing the algorithm, you need some way for people to find you or to keep track of all your alternate hosting.

Vidders of the oldschool sort have taken to using AO3. It doesn't have native hosting, of course, but it provides a stable URL and useful fandom-based tagging without algorithm bullshit. It's also a decent way to get vids out there if you only have download links and no streaming (though, of course, that means fewer views). You can embed a bunch of different copies of the same thing in the same work.

I don't know of a ton of fannish attempts at video hosting that are open to everyone. The only person I can think of who's heavily working on that is the guy behind Vidders.net who has a few different projects going.

For other hosting options, I'd see what AO3 currently has whitelisted for embedding. Two obvious ones are Critical Commons and Archive.org.

--

Broadly, yes, fanvids and AMVs have been subject to even more disastrous mass deletions than fanfic has, and far fewer of them have been saved by other fans because video files are huge.

Oldschool AMVs in the strict sense (i.e. Japanese anime and not Disney) are catalogued and sometimes hosted on animemusicvideos.org. Oldschool Media Fandom has some vidding archivists, and really old stuff was released on tape and then disc, and people still have their copies of those. But online-only fannish video stuff from the 00s and 10s has massive gaps in the historical record already.

Disney is quiescent now, but they haven't always been, and neither have other rights holders. Worse, a bunch of hosts vidders liked just up and deleted their entire sites, wiping out eras of videos and commentary.

Your stuff is in less danger than it would have been 10 years ago, as far as anyone can tell, but video is always in massive danger of disappearing.

--

If you actually succeed at video!AO3, more power to you! I'm just skeptical that you'll be up to the technical and financial challenge if you don't already know more than you currently do, you know?

Hosting video has, among other problems, the issue that people trading actual abuse materials will upload their videos to your service. Hosts often play whackamole with illegal and traumatizing content. I've known people whose jobs exposed them to this shit, and they were... not okay.

I guess you could make things slightly easier on yourself if you restricted video to cartoons only, but then you'd have the same issues amvs.org does where people who start as one kind of editor start working with other footage and keep trying to upload the wrong thing.

It's often not really viable to host unless you make everyone pay and/or you're authorizing a few dozen accounts of people you've vetted, not running a service just anyone can sign up for. Hosting a hundred videos for friends that you have reviewed and know to be fanvids/amvs is a lot easier than hosting enough stuff that you can't personally review it all.

If you or anyone else is interested in trying to start a site, I'd go check out the various writings by Denise (who runs Dreamwidth). She has some twitter threads and posts on enforcement and running a platform. I remember she talked about the tech people use to detect CSAM from known law enforcement databases.

I don't want to be a downer here, but there are serious legal implications to being the actual host as opposed to just running a discord or something on someone else's platform and reporting some fucker if they try to post illegal shit.

--

If I were you, I'd get my buddies together, embed all our works on AO3, and then maybe make a collection or tagging standards so we could find each other's stuff.

For hosting, I'd add the Internet Archive, Vimeo, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. to Youtube and do a periodic audit of AO3 works to make sure links were still working.

AO3 already has a lot of tags that have been made filterable, like Fanvids, AMV, Video Format: Streaming, etc.

[kkbardd]

hello! i haven’t sent an ask in a while because schoolwork has been piling up infinitely :[ , but your recent posts have been really interesting to me! i really liked the room sketch one, I can’t exactly explain why but there’s something so indescribably human about it. i love spaces that looked lived in, that have personality, and I think that your room (current one? made up? old one?) has done a great job of showing that. and I’m not very good at giving advice— I can hardly follow it myself, but if you don’t know something, don’t know what you want to do, try things. it’s okay if you don’t like them. i recently found out I’m more competent in languages than I thought! i can already read and understand simple sentences in german.

there’s always more to yourself than you’ll know, I think, but the world is kinder than people think. If anything, everyone is still very new at this. we’ve never lived before. do the things you like, branch out, don’t become less of yourself for other people. everything has a place, and my best advice is to treat life as you would a vacation. do all the things you can while you’re here. build a life that makes it worth it. (sorry for the long ask and my rambling, or if this is overstepping in any way. i just read what you wrote and kind of related to it in a way. thank you for continuing to create art, it brings me a lot of joy! :] )

hey isopod!!! thanks for the ask & I wish u good luck with ur school work!

Thank u so much for the compliments, im really glad the vibe of my room was conveyed in those doodles. i absolutely looove drawing my room! It’s extremely small (a renovated utility closet) and just barely fits a bed + my desk but its packed full of the things i love. It’s very lived in and I feel like it reflects my character well.

when i drew that page I was in my senior year of high school and pressures to decide my future were overwhelming. I never thought much about it until then and I didn’t have any idea of what I was going to do. The only thing I felt I had going for me was art but I didn’t want to turn my only hobby into a job I hated. I remember going through a master list of majors on random college websites and one-by-one asking myself if I’d be okay doing it. In the end I had nothing. I was really crushed about it and felt stuck. This was right after the covid quarantine too so focusing in school was difficult & I couldn’t bring myself to apply for scholarships. I started skipping classes, smoking weed, and pushing off my assignments. All of this only made me feel more miserable, of course, so everything seemed pretty bleak at the time.

But luckily I had the support of my family and especially my mother. She would always remind me that “we have option”, “we always have options”. Because I did! This was a fresh start to try my hand at a totally different experience than what I’ve done so far. I ended up choosing my major on a complete whim after hearing my aunt had a job in an adjacent field. I was pretty sure I’d drop out after a semester, yet here I am about to graduate soon & I’m having a ton of fun!! (Hell, I’m 10 hours out in the middle of nowhere right now for my Field Methods class!) It’s not that I had a knack for Geology that I just never tapped into, or that i secretly had a passion for rocks this entire time; I just found something that seemed like an okay fit and grew interest from there. I think that a small level of commitment like that is more than enough to get you going. I had a ton of ideas in my head about how I needed to have a perfect fit major that would connect every dot I’ve laid out in my life thus far, but that’s not true at all. Life is much more messy and unpredictable than that.

But enough of my rambling!! That time of my life may have been stressful but I’m very grateful that I went through it! It changed how I viewed problems and it taught me to always look for other options when everything seems helpless.

Thank u so much for ur encouragement, I really appreciate it <33 I completely agree with everything u said!! Life is an ever changing experience & often leads u in unpredictable directions!

[bigbroadvice]

Hi, I want to preface this with the fact I was raised in a conservative home, homeschooled, and very .. insulated from people I guess. My first public schooling experience was college and I only made a few friends I kept at arms length for a while. So I don’t know a ton of people.

I have recently been questioning a lot about politics and religion and science (I was never taught about evolution either and am just now learning about it) and I am .. questioning LGBT stuff and I was wondering if you know of studies proving LGBT identities? Or evidence for them? I was raised being told they just didn’t exist and the idea that they could be real is .. I guess amazing to me. I’m so sorry if this sounds cruel at all. I support and love my LGBT friends, I just don’t understand if there’s any science or proof behind it and .. I’m kind of questioning if I’m LGBT too but I really need evidence or I know I’ll never be accepted by my family. Are there studies proving people can be born gay or trans? Or anything else? Something like that? I’ve found studies looking at trans brains that look promising and the hemispheres and hypothalamus of gay and lesbian people but idk if there’s anything else.. thank you in advance.

Sorry this took so long to respond. I felt like I needed to do some research for it but I’ve been struggling to keep my head above water with college work.

Don’t worry, this is a perfectly valid question given where you’re coming from and that’s exactly what I’m here for, all the questions you’re not sure who else to ask.

Honestly, it sounds like you’re already doing a really thourough job researching, in fact I’d love to see what you’ve found. I’m not sure what kind of scientific proof I could find for you that LGBT people are real. It’s like finding research that proves the sun is real. Of course it is, it’s right there. Queer people are everywhere and always have been.

But I understand that you were raised in an environment that went to great lengths to deny that reality. I was also homeschooled in a very conservative home and while they couldn’t outright deny the existence of queer people because I had some access to the outside world and knew I myself was queer, they did try their very hardest to explain it away as something you get infected with, confusion, a choice, and/or sin.

I don’t know all the science behind why people are queer, I just know that they are and there’s no changing it. Some people are naturally attracted to another sex, and some people are naturally attracted to the same one. Some people have always felt comfortable in the gender they were assigned at birth, and some people never have and never will. People will try to tell you that can be changed, but it can’t. They used to try to medicate it like a disees but all that did was make people depressed or feel nothing at all, not start feeling attraction for the opposite sex.

Growing up, they told me that if I prayed enough and did all the right things I could stop being queer if I wanted it enough. Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a lie. I went though years of conversion therapy and am still just as queer as I’ve always been. No amount of bible verses and earnest pleading prayers and counseling sessions and exorcisms was able to make that go away, it just made life miserable.

The only choice involved in being LGBT is weather you choose to love or hate yourself for it. It’s not going away, so you can either choose to live in shame and keep yourself from things that would make you happy, or you can embrace it and live freely.

If you’re looking for more avenues to research, I’d recommend queer history. It’s really eye opening seeing how queer people have always existed in every time period and every culture, through persecution and celebration. We have been and always will be here for as long as humanity is, because we’re an inextricable part of it.

[sburbian-sage]

Hey there, Knight of Quartz again! I’ve been testin shit, here’s what I got for you so far:

I’m in the Land of Fabergé and Rhystic, LOFAR.

So right away, weird, because Rhystic isn’t a real word, it’s a thing from Magic the Gathering- a word used for cards that an opponent can pay a cost to prevent you from using. Rhystic Study for example draws you a card every time someone else casts a spell, unless they pay an extra point of mana. (God FUCKING DAMN do I miss MTG, can’t play it now though, too risky, lots of cards give corruption.)

Meanwhile, Fabergé was literally just a guy’s name I think? But the way it manifests here is clearly about Fabergé eggs, they’re all over the place.

It’s kinda hell actually. Tons of the eggs have consort ashes (and/or organs/bones) in them and are basically like grave urns. But some of them have important stuff so I gotta open em anyway, and I think all the funerary ones I keep desecrating by accident are actually dropping my land rep.

As for the Rhystic keyword, I’m kinda stuck actually. I’m not seeing much about it really? There’s a place called the “Rhystic Tower” in one of the consort villages, and the consorts get really weird when I try to talk to them about it, but I can’t figure out how to get inside.

Onto the topic of death, none so far. No comas either. I want to ask though, if Quartz DOES rely on no deaths, do you think dying to go god tier might fuck all this up and make it so I retroactively never would have been assigned the aspect? Not that any of us have found our beds yet anyway, but I'm worried about it... Realselves don’t leave a ghost in a dream bubble when they god tier, right? Since you are your realself and dreamself at the same time? Or am I wrong?

As for time stuff, the meteors seem to be working like normal. Appearifier is still letting us make paradox slime for frog breeding, and the Ectobiology labs are present in the veil (but we’ve not found a gate to them yet). I think the exiles aren’t working though? Hard to tell. They might just be subtle and not have much to say, or maybe all of us have too much pepleader or something.

Okay, now for the big list of abilities I’ve gotten:

The first two were [Rose Tint] and [Smoke]. I guess in reference to rose quartz and smoky quartz. They are notably NOT offensive, and in fact seem to barely work, if at all. I think they might just be bugged. I can target living things with them, and they eat up some pluck, but then nothing seems to happen. I know abilities can be finicky, but I’m running out of ideas.

[Record] is an ability that I’ve been using constantly though. I actually learned to freestyle this early on, though the ability version is way more efficient. Either way, it basically it lets me extract a memory out of something’s mind. They come out as these glowy colorful orbs, but I can’t like, stuff them into my own head or anything. When I touch them, I think I get an impression of what the underling I extracted from was feeling at the time (mostly anger and fear so far). I’ve not found a real use for these yet, but it’s become almost compulsive for me to [Record] every enemy I fight at least once. I assume they’ll be useful later on.

As for abilities that actually do stuff in fights, [Elegist] was my go-to for a while. It feels like it “skips” me ahead, to after an enemy is already dead, and then I get a mental summary of how I beat them. But while it’s running I’m actually just in a fugue state, it’s not time travel or anything even though it feels like it. Had to stop using it after it let me get run through the chest with a sword just so I could get in close and kill an imp, I almost died from that… Plus, I just don’t trust it, no way Sburb really gave me a “I win” button, I bet it’d fail against strong enough enemies or whatever.

So instead I’ve mostly been using [Brain Fart] and [Going In Circles]. Fart just makes a target forget what they were doing for a second, and the circles one seems to make an enemy want to go back to wherever they were standing when I used the ability on them, after a few seconds. Both of these are really good at throwing enemies off in battle, and cost barely any pluck, so I can spam them.

There’s more, but my coplayers need me for a dungeon dive, and these were the ones I’ve been using the most, so I’m just gonna send this off as is.

I'd be a bit concerned about the Land Keywords. The running theory is that Quartz is a bugged Aspect, and Lands don't typically generate pop-culture references. I mean, it'd be kind of stupid if you got like, the Land of Gonzales and Mug Root Beer and you don't know that wrestler/that soda isn't available in whatever country or world you come from. Pop culture is constrained almost entirely to Alchemy, so you should be seeing immediate red flags any time they pop up. Related sidenote, I am now much more skeptical of this entire post.

On the funerary ashes, you just gotta roll with it. Toppling sacred urns, desecrating mystic ruins, and defiling hallowed tombs is as natural as breathing. It's sad, but you can't make an omelette without traumatizing a few people.

"Retroactively not getting assigned your own Title" isn't a thing. The only thing you can do to make yourself not be the Title you've been assigned is to do Vagabouncy. The nature of the Quest Beds and how ascending works is unknown, so it's kind of your job to figure that out. And as for whether or not ascending leaves behind a Dreambubble Ghost, the classical mistake you're committing is thinking about Dream Bubbles. Don't do that. All thinking about the Dream Bubbles typically does is existentially freak yourself out. So don't think about it, or whether or not you leave a ghost when you suffer a non-Just or non-Heroic death.

That the meteors and Ectobiology labs are working as normal seems to throw a wrench at our previous "Quartz supersedes Time and replaces it" theory. The game DOES have back-ups in case the meteor plan doesn't work, so "it brute-forces the meteors to time travel when the Reckoning happens because that's an essential step of the game" isn't an answer. Or at least, it seems somewhat hackneyed.

I don't think [Elegist] is an "I win" button, per say. It gives you a roadmap for defeating an enemy, but knowing how to do something and actually doing it are two different things (I say as I smooch my bulging biceps while wearing a shirt reading "SAGE EXCEPTION"). It's like how you can read guides for how to get top scores on Punch-Out!!, but the input, timing, and RNG makes it difficult. I would advise not using it on tougher enemies... Alone. If you can get someone to run a distraction (or otherwise protect you), it could make for a really good tactic. The defending player learns how to protect against its attacks, you learn the perfect offense, and then you put it into action. Unite, synchronize.

Those other abilities seem more immediately useful though, yeah. One ability that might be looking into, either "try freestyling" or "potential in-game ability?", is forcing an enemy to repeat the last action they performed. It'd be really predictable, which would help one learn how to avoid or counter an attack, not to mention the potential of "making an enemy with an explosive attack keep exploding and causing collateral damage". That's the first ability I'd think of when it comes to Quartz.

I'm glad to hear the progress report. Keep your wits about you, seize all tomorrows, and report back with any breakthroughs.

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

hi anon !! ofc u can ask !! <33 i study literature in uni, but not specifically english lit… sadly most of my assigned reading is western though :’3

Ah, I see! I could tell! 😀

Unfortunately, I don't study literature as my degree, but I could perhaps suggest some stuff I've enjoyed that maybe you might enjoy?

English Language Works:

Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Toni Morrison, Beloved.

Nella Larsen, Passing.

Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room.

Anything by Rabindranath Tagore.

Non-English Language Works:

Cao Xue Qin (曹雪芹), Dream of the Red Chamber. (A classic, yes, but a goodie.)

Shota Rustaveli, The Knight in the Panther's Skin.

Yasunari Kawabata, The Master of Go.

Han Kang, The Vegetarian.

José Saramago, Blindness.

Anton Chekhov, The Lady with the Dog.

Eileen Chang (short stories, especially).

Haruki Murakami, The Elephant Vanishes.

If you're up for it, personally, I think Plato's quite fun.

Oh, and I feel like you might enjoy this, too:

Carol Ann Duffy, Rapture.

These are just some things off the top of my head. Please don't feel obliged to read any of this ahaha

AAAAAA ANON…….. TYSM FOR TAKING THE TIME TO WRITE THIS OUT i’m getting so tempted to just buy a ton of these 😭😭😭 i recognize a lot of them too!! dream of the red chamber has been on my tbr for a while now, i’m just a lil intimidated by the lenght :’3 but i’d loveee to get into chinese lit eventually!!

i looked up some summaries and all of these sound so interesting …. i’m supposed to read a morrison book next week for uni hehe!! and i’ve read a bit by woolf & murakami too…. but most of these are new to me and that’s getting me so excited!!!

will def go back to this list whenever i decide to go on a book shopping spree >:33 tysm again anon!! i can already tell your taste is amazing hehe

[werebutch]

certified major loser here‼️im 20, been in college since i was 15, should have a bachelors degree already and very much do not, we rockin w an AA and technical program. i’ve dropped out like three times 💪 im not sure what college situation you’d be in (community vs uni, state vs private) but honestly the biggest things i’ve learned from trying and failing a LOT is that… it’s all chill. everyone’s at least a little scared and confused, mistakes are part of the learning experience, not knowing smth or asking a question doesn’t result in a duolingo bird level instakill (idk if that even made sense). there’s more of a sense of community than not because we’re all pretty much in the same boat. a lot of profs are nerds about what they teach and want you to know about it very very badly bc of that (i.e., ask questions. all of them. any that pop into ur head). i wrote a paper about Lil Nas X for cultural anthropology and my prof remembered me two years later. there is an incredible amt of freedom: with most general degrees, you can take whatEVER the FUCK u want roughly whenever the fuck you want so long as it falls into natural science, math, social sciences/humanities, or phys ed. you are more than allowed to drop a class, change your major, take more or less credits than expected, graduate a term early or late, pretty much anything. go ham. like 80% of my elective credits by choice were biology classes. queer lit was a baller time and counted for english cred. i’m gonna wrap this up bc it’s so long— don’t take anything before 9am (you’ll suffer), check the credit requirements early on so u have a vague idea of what to take, ASK FOR HELP WHEN U NEED IT whether it be a prof or advising services or the damn cashier’s office, expect to walk a fucking shit ton if it’s a larger campus, CHECK RATEMYPROFESSORS, enroll as soon as classes open, do NOT shirk your language classes if you didn’t take them in highschool, for the love of god bro don’t take more than a full time course load (15 credits at most institutions). yes, you could probably do it alright, but that is the DEVIL TALKING saying you’ll be fine. sorry this so long but i’ve been doing this so long i have so much to say. if u want more specific advice just say and i’ll be back‼️—local professional loser idiot with no bitches, no money, and a toy car collection

Hi sorry I read this, was comforted, and then didn’t respond..SO SORRY.. I’m doing community but I plan to transfer after 😸 I will probably end up taking a lot of biology and hopefully I’ll get an art class in next year.. right now I only have 4 classes in total cause I tend to be a bad student and I wanna feel it out. LMAO. I’m mostly scared about doing really bad and not being able to keep up with assignments but the only one who can truly help with that is myself SO WE WILL SEE. I’ll try my best. Cause seriously I have no idea what I’ll do if I dont.. thank u for this btw I hope you’re doing well 😸♥️

[cameronsactivities]

Anderperry Week 2023, Day 3

(80s)

I Want to Hold Your Hand

Todd stared at his trigonometry assignment, the paper already rough and patchy from the several times he had failed to solve the problem. He felt like the solution was right on the tip of his tongue, like a word that had slipped from his mind. 

The door flew open and Neil barged in suddenly. He began rummaging the room, explaining as he went, “Charlie’s got a study group and I was supposed to bring the music.” He surfaced from a cabinet with a stack of cassette tapes. “Do you want to join us?” 

Todd shook his head. “Go ahead, Neil. I’ve got tons of Latin to catch up on.”

“I’ll see you later, then,” he said, and left the room as quickly as he came. Todd returned to his math problem, but whatever willpower he had left to finish it had evaporated. He went to the cabinet to look for his cassettes, but they were missing from their usual spot. Noticing that all of Neil’s Beatles tapes were still there, he deduced that Neil had taken the wrong cassette tapes. Out of curiosity, Todd picked up the first one, popping it into the cassette player. 

He sat next to the window on the radiator, like Neil always did, listening to Neil’s mixtape. Todd stared out the window, watching other students cross the lawn, some leisurely, some walking comically faster than the others. He wondered if Neil had seen this exact scene before, with the sun partly covered by clouds and a cool breeze rippling through the grass like the surface of a lake. Maybe he looked out further, up and over the Welton gates to the tops of the trees reaching towards a sky so immaculately blue it must have come directly from a tube of paint. Todd had gotten so lost in his thoughts that he’d forgotten to listen to the lyrics, letting the beat set the aural backdrop.

Neil burst in unexpectedly again, and Todd lost his precarious balance on the radiator, barely catching himself in time. 

“Sorry!” he exclaimed as Todd brushed himself off. 

“It’s nothing,” Todd said, trying to ignore the bruise forming on his elbow.

“I took your cassettes by accident and got distracted,” Neil said. “I’ll put them back— Are you listening to my tapes?”

“Sorry,” Todd muttered. “I should have asked—”

“No, no,” Neil interrupted quickly. “I don’t mind at all. I didn’t know you were a Beatles fan.”

“I’m not,” Todd said. He had picked up the cassette because he wanted to understand Neil better. 

“Do you like it?” Neil asked, his eyes sparkling in excitement.

“Yeah,” Todd said, smiling, just as a new song started with a spiffy guitar introduction. 

“Oh, I love this song,” Neil said, turning up the volume. Then he paused, like he was holding his breath. “It makes me think of a certain poet when I listen to it.”

Todd focused on the lyrics; the chorus began with “I want to hold your hand.” Don’t jump to conclusions, he thought as his heartbeat began racing. He could not let his delusional, love-stricken mind mistake another act of friendship as a sign that Neil liked him back. The poet could not be himself. He didn’t even consider himself a poet, how could it be? Todd could hear his own heartbeat louder than the cassette player. Everything was moving too fast, too quickly, even though his feet were cemented to the carpet. What would he even do in the unlikely case that Neil meant what he said? Todd prepared to ignore the comment and change the subject. Yes, that would be the safe route.

***

“Neil! What happened to the tapes you said you would bring?” Charlie yelled across the room, eliciting a few dirty glares from other students and a deep sigh from Cameron.

Neil looked at his empty hands. “I forgot. Give me a minute.” He ran back down the hall, the slaps of his shoes against linoleum echoing in cacophony. He caught his breath at the door, in case Todd would think he had gone feral, and opened it suddenly to seem more nonchalant. 

Todd was sitting at his desk, his chin resting on his hand. Neil tried not to stare too long, and quickly went over to the cabinet where they kept their cassettes. 

“Hi, Neil,” Todd said quietly. 

“Hey,” Neil answered. “Charlie’s got a study group and I was supposed to bring the music. Do you want to join us?” Todd shook his head, and Neil was mesmerized by the way his hair fell on his forehead. “I’ll see you later, then.” He rushed out of the room, cassettes in hand, blaming his racing heart on the fact that he had just run down the hallway. 

Neil deposited the cassettes in front of Meeks and his cassette player and slid into a seat next to Charlie. “I’m back,” he said.

“Did you miss me?” Charlie asked with a grin. 

“No, not at all.”

“It’s ‘cause he misses Todd more,” he whispered loudly to Meeks. 

“Shut up, Dalton,” Neil said. “I’m here to help you pass trig, and I can leave you with Cameron whenever I want.”  

“Nooo, please don’t leave me with him,” Charlie whined jokingly, gaining another eye roll and sigh. 

They forgot about the music for another half-hour or so, until Meeks finally noticed. “Hey Neil, I didn’t know you listened to ABBA,” he said.

“I don’t,” Neil replied, confused.

Pitts examined one of the mixtapes. “I’m pretty sure your initials aren’t T.A.A. either.” 

“What?” Neil went over to look at the cassette covers. “I must’ve accidentally grabbed Todd’s tapes.” He left to return them, but this time, he walked. 

When he opened the door, he heard a small thud before seeing Todd stumbling off the radiator.

“Sorry!” Neil exclaimed, as he rushed to catch Todd.

“It’s nothing,” Todd said breathily. 

“I took your cassettes by accident and got distracted. I’ll put them back—” Neil suddenly noticed that The Beatles’s “Michelle” was playing. “Are you listening to my tapes?” he asked with a smile.

“Sorry. I should have asked,” Todd apologized quickly. 

“No, no, I don’t mind at all.” Neil set down the cassettes in his hand on Todd’s desk. “I just didn’t strike you as a Beatles fan.”

“I’m not,” he said with a small shrug. 

“Do you like it?” 

Todd nodded. The next song began playing, and Neil immediately recognized it as “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” 

“I love this song,” Neil said, adjusting the volume knob in the silence that followed. He took a deep inhale, ready to flee if things went badly. “It makes me think of a certain poet when I listen to it.” 

Todd stared back at him, his lips slightly parted in shock. 

“Nevermind, I—” Neil started towards the door, regret filling every last crevice of his body.

“It reminds me of a certain actor.”

“What?” Neil’s heart was beating so powerfully, he was sure that Todd could see it through his shirt.

Todd turned away immediately, mumbling an apology. Neil repeated Todd’s words over and over in his mind, as if it would make them any more real, begging that he wouldn’t wake up and find it all to be a dream. 

“Todd,” Neil said gently, barely above a whisper. 

“Neil?” Todd whispered back, his voice cracking slightly, like skipping stones over a pond.

He took a deep breath and gathered all his courage. Neil held out his hand, and Todd took it, with a very fitting song playing in their room.

[oliviab-scstudyabroad]

Welcome to English Camp! (Part I)

Hey guys! I apologize again for another late post; I’ve been extremely busy as usual! School has been taking up most of my time, as ORT is known for their course grades being heavily weighted on midterms and group projects. I haven’t had a single homework assignment here, but I do have tons of Zoom Meetings and study sessions with classmates. Last week, I had a parcial (miderm) for my Business Law class, and I got an 83%! I was proud of myself because not only is the class taught in Spanish, but it also discusses business law specifically in Uruguay. I also had a parcial for Uruguayan Economy and Society, and fingers crossed that that went well also! Although studying was tedious for that course, I enjoyed doing research and reading articles because it gives context for a lot of the conversations that my classmates have here. This weekend, I’m heading to Buenos Aires to blow off some steam and explore more of such a lively city.

A few weeks ago, I worked as a camp counselor for an English camp! I got the job because the academic coordinator at ORT forwarded an email from the academic coordinator of Escuela Integral, an elementary school that is affiliated with ORT because they’re both Jewish! At Escuela, the students are taught English and Hebrew, and Escuela is one of the only Jewish elementary schools left in the country. After an interview with the head camp counselor, I was hired! The camp lasted for three days, Wednesday to Friday, and it was in Atlántida, about an hour from Montevideo. At 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday, I arrived at Escuela with my things and met the other camp counselors. Two of them were Uruguayan, and one was American (from Boston). I also met the kids; they were fifth graders (10 years old), and they were already bouncing off the walls before we left, so I knew I was in for a long ride. We then boarded the bus and headed to Camp Floresta!

The site was your typical summer camp site. It was complete with a cabin with bunk beds, a bonfire area, and a soccer field. We got a tour of the site and the counselors explained the rules of the camp. The main rule was to only speak English. We then did several ice breaker challenges, including “Line Up”, where the students had to (in English) put themselves in order based on their birthday and name. It was pretty adorable because when they asked me for help, they would speak to me in Spanglish. For example, when I asked one kid what his birthday was, he said “eleven of Julio” (July 11th). Although their English was questionable, I was still impressed that we could carry little conversations and that they weren’t timid about speaking to a native speaker. They also played “Try to Stand Up” where they had to form pairs, intertwine their arms, and try to stand up together, and “Human Bingo”, where they had to get signatures from their classmates if they had done that activity on the Bingo Sheet. For example, if a student had gone on a plane before, they signed their name in that square.

After the icebreaker activities, we had lunch. I was asked to sit with the students so that they could practice their English, and it was hilarious to hear the types of conversations that 10-year-olds have. One kid named Jeronimo (love that name) told me that he has an 18-year-old girlfriend named Flavia. He had this mischievous grin on his face, and the girl next to me (Lisette) said that he met her across the street. I then realized that he was the one waving at people walking by the camp and asking them what their names were! Flavia must live in the neighborhood hahah. Most of them only spoke to me in Spanish in the beginning. A lot of them thought I was Uruguayan, and although that’s a big compliment to me, I assured them that I wasn’t and that I “only knew English”.

After lunch, the class was divided up into four groups, and each was assigned a color (green, yellow, red, and orange). The counselors then explained that throughout the camp, the students would receive tokens for things that they had done well, such as cleaning up after lunch or speaking in English. The team who had the most coins at the end of the camp would receive a prize! Each team then had to create a team flag and make up a song and dance to present to the class. I was in charge of helping the green group. I suggested that they come up with their team’s name first and then base their song around the name. At first, they wanted to be called the “Green Group”, but I told them to come up with something more creative. They decided to be called the Grinches! I helped them draw a crown on their flag with lightning bolts, and they made up the choreography and lyrics. I tried not to laugh when they were coming up with the lyrics. They went something like this:

We are the Grinch, Grinch, Grinch

The best of teams, teams, teams

We are a group, group, group

The best of group, group, group

We are Grinch!

The Grinches then performed in front of the class. I had to take a video because they were so into it and serious about making sure everything was perfect. After, the kids had free time, so I helped them with getting on and off the zipline! We then had tea as a group, and then there was another activity. Each group had to sit together, and the counselors would ask them trivia questions. Some of them were “name five countries in Asia”, “who is the president of Chile”, and “what is the capital of France”. The kids were out of control at this point. I think they were antsy after having free time and exhausted from getting up early to board the bus, but the trivia game that should’ve lasted 30 minutes ended up lasting two hours. It made me have a deeper appreciation for teachers, because I certainly don’t have the patience to deal with rowdy kids for that long. After finally finishing the game (the winner got a few tokens), we had a dinner of milanesa and French fries (a typical Uruguayan meal).

While the students were finishing up dinner, I helped the other counselors to put up a disco ball, hang up neon lights, and create a playlist with English songs for a Neon Party! Each student received a “VIP” ticket to admission for the party, and once they entered the dance floor, we encouraged them to dance with their friends and sing the English songs (“Dynamite, “Tik Tok”, “Party Rock Anthem”, basically the hits from the early 2000’s). I also did face paint on some of the kids, and they loved that the colors were neon! A lot of the students were beat after a packed day, so we went to bed as soon as the music cut out and the lights turned off.

That concludes my first day at the camp; stay tuned for Part II!

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Becoming a Writer #2 – Playtime and Story Time

I mentioned before that among the Guys – the many colorful plastic toys which lived in my People House – were Disney characters. Disney still sells these sets of toys, around eight or ten characters from a specific movie or franchise together in a box. It’s a great way for a grown-up to make a child feel like they’ve received a ton of toys while only paying the price of one. I loved our Disney Guys. We had the cast of Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, 101 Dalmatians, and The Lion King. I remember we also had a Hercules, with one empty fist over his head where my mom had cut his sword off at the hilt. (The Hercules wielding a fish was allowed to keep his fearsome weapon.)

My parents were very hands-on with my siblings and me. I remember sitting on the floor with my mom, the Little Mermaid toys scattered on the hardwood between us, using the toys to act out the movie along with the soundtrack of the movie playing on the CD player. I can still hear my mom doing her best impression of King Triton’s deep voice. We played Dumbo together, too, even though we didn’t have any Dumbo toys; I had more than enough toy elephants, to the point where one of the elephants stood in for Timothy Mouse.

We didn’t watch much TV. My parents would generally limit us to a half hour of “screen time” a day. We listened to Disney stories much more often than we watched them. Our house was full of music and devoid of headphones; whatever we played, we listened and sang to it together. And then there were the Little Golden Books and the “book on tape” versions of Disney movies, which we would all read together.

When we did watch movies, we watched them together, and we talked about them. I don’t remember much from watching Cinderella as a child. It wasn’t one of my parents’ favorites, so we likely only watched it once or twice. The one thing I remember is the scene where the stepsisters rip up Cinderella’s dress, so she can’t go to the ball, and she runs into the backyard and cries. My mother turned to me then and said, “Cinderella could still go to the ball, even without the pretty dress, and the prince would still love her, because love isn’t about pretty dresses.” That’s stuck with me beyond any other memory of watching Disney movies.

When my parents didn’t have time to play with my siblings and me – when there were papers to grade, laundry to fold, or food to put on the table – they often sent us off on a mission: to put on a play. We would retreat to the bedroom and come up with the whole production. It was always something we’d seen or heard before – nursery rhymes like “Humpty Dumpty” and “Old McDonald,” a play we’d seen done on shows like Zoom or Blue’s Clues, or dancing along to the soundtrack of Seussical the Musical or whatever show was making the community theatre rounds at the time. We’d figure out all the details – who would play which character, who would be the narrator (usually me), what costumes or props we needed – and once we’d rehearsed, we would call in our parents to come see the show. One home video includes me at five or six years old telling the camera that “flash photography and video recording ARE allowed at this performance!”

When I became a Show Writer intern with Disney Live Entertainment, I found myself thinking about that home video a lot. Pre-show announcements were a recurring assignment in that role: “The show will begin in five minutes! Please turn off your electronic devices!” and the like. Clearly, at that young age, I had already been exposed to enough theatre to know that such announcements were an essential part of a production. And there I was, writing up those very announcements for the Garden Rocks concert series at Epcot, UP! A Great Bird Adventure at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and many, many more Disney Parks shows.

Which brings me to the second thing I’ve learned about how to be a writer – it’s vital to have opportunities to engage with storytelling. As many opportunities as possible, in as many forms as possible: reading, watching, singing, and playing. It’s equally important to have the opportunity to be the audience as it is to be the storyteller; re-telling the stories you’ve been told is a kind of learning. Being able to replicate how a story is told helps form an understanding of the building blocks of storytelling. This in turn leads to an understanding of how to manipulate these building blocks and make the craft your own. And it’s always a good time to encourage critical thinking – to not only see what’s out there but also talk about why it is the way it is and what could be done differently.

Formal education will come later. Playtime and story time are the writer’s first classrooms.

[nobody-for-sure]

Language Barrier

If you didn’t pay attention to the interludes, they’re going to start tying in now. Also, if you have yet to read the story’s important notes (I don’t know why you wouldn’t have, since I’ve already asked on a previous chapter as well as the masterlist), it’s never too late to correct a mistake. It’s been semi-updated recently as well, so another quick reread/skim is never a bad idea.

Chapter 14

(~3.2k words, see chapter list here)

You didn't expect this.

Maybe you should have. But by all accounts, your life has always been... pretty average. Things happened. People came and went. You were there, but not really. Sometimes, you seemed to be an outside observer of your own life, just watching things happen with no control over them. Sometimes, nothing felt right. You were the sort of person who wouldn't mind getting isekai'd, because you didn't have a ton of attachments to your world... at least, that's what you always told yourself.

So then why are you crying?

You lift a hand to your tear-stained cheek as your companions snooze away nearby. The sky is getting lighter, but the sun has not yet broken over the horizon as you rise from your borrowed sleeping bag and take a few steps away from the camp. You take a seat on the riverbank, watching the water lap gently against the shore.

There's no 'if's, 'and's, or 'but's about it: you're homesick.

You had a dream again. Like before, you can't remember all of it, but you cling to fragments, trying to piece them together.

You were back home again... though the word 'home' feels funny on your tongue, as if it's not quite right. You remember a bunch of people: friends and loved ones of yours. You can't recall if they were gathered for a specific event or purpose, or if they were just all there by coincidence because that's how dreams work. Nor can you recollect what anyone said to you, which leaves you the most ill at ease, because you have a feeling it was something important.

Even Autumn was there. You don't know what Autumn looks like in real life, but your dream had assigned them a random figure, and you knew instinctively who they were. Who else could it be? They gave you a sad smile from across the room as the others were talking, and it haunts you. Why are you sad, my friend? Why am I?

Answers. Liyue will have answers. It has to.

Your first encounter with slimes happens around mid-morning. You haven't quite reached the Stone Gate outpost when you pass a rich vein of Cor Lapis, and out pop several small geo slimes.

They're cute, just as you expected. Not quite as cute as the official art made them out to be, but very small and squishy. Very... squeezable.

You want to hug one.

Luck must be on your side, because the slimes start bouncing directly toward you. Your companions ready their weapons, and Noelle moves to shield you. She succeeds in blocking most of them, but one of them slips past her and bumps against your leg.

"Ouch!" It wasn't a hard bump by any means, but even without the thick armor of a larger geo slime, the little rock-horns on its head are sharp enough to scrape your leg. The slime seems a little surprised as well, and nudges against your leg more gently. Aw... that's kind of sweet.

"Xaue kigxm, kxg aue egqu?!" Amber exclaims frantically.

You imagine she's concerned for your welfare, so you wave your hand dismissively. A little scratch is far from what it takes to do you in; but your companions are here to take their escort mission seriously. Fischl twirls her bow with dramatic flair and gestures to Oz. "Ujrgbfu, rxalta enz ymtoc jtg kmtarv kyknz yjtkol uzto rgtxkzk yyktqxgj!"

"Es ymtoc kxg ejgkxrg jkrxalta, toks tokragxl," he responds, swooping up next to Noelle as the outrider and the princess take aim from a short distance. Meanwhile, Bennett rushes over to you, preparing to defend you from the slime currently rubbing against you.

You wave your hands frantically at him. "Wait, no! I think they're friendly!"

He pauses, giving you a searching look. "You... ztuj ztgc us uz qigzzg?" he says, sounding unsure of himself. The others stop to glance at you as well. In response, you lean down to pet the slime. It's got a bit of a dusty texture, like a box that's been in the attic too long, but it's not wholly unpleasant. It's also really...

......really......?

For some reason, your mind feels hazy as you search for the right words. It's...?

You slump to the ground, causing shouts of alarm from your companions. Simultaneously, the slime puffs up, expanding to more than half the width of the walkway and gaining a rocky plate of armor. Amber and Fischl unleash a volley of arrows, and Oz starts firing off bolts of lightning. With a sweep of her claymore, Noelle bats what's left of the smaller slimes into the stream nearby and rushes back to you, inserting herself firmly between you and the still-growing slime. "Kygkrv kbgkr yonz uz ya, xaue kigxm!" Bennett also steps up, his eyes narrowed in fiery determination as his sword starts to glow with pyro.

You clutch your head, too dazed to stop them. What the fuck just happened?

With difficulty, you try to focus as your companions whack away at the giant slime. You're tired... no, not tired. You're weak, like all the strength has left your body. But how? And why? Are you such a weak god that you're so easily bested by a slime of all things?

Nope, you're pretty sure this is the clincher. No way are you a god. Goodbye, cruel world. I hardly knew you.

The fight is over almost as soon as it began. You don't know who deals the final blow (or shot). One second the slime is there, getting battered from all sides; the next, it's gone. You can feel the difference, though. It's like a change in the air. A sudden wave of energy washes over you, and the fog in your head clears abruptly as your strength returns to you.

You feel... fine. Better, in fact, if that's even possible. But your confusion doubles now that you can think clearly again. Did that slime absorb your energy somehow? Did you just absorb energy from a slime?? ...Come to think of it, the game had those elemental particle things... have you charged up your (nonexistent) elemental burst??? Can you-

"Xaue kigxm!" The collective voices of your companions snap you out of your thoughts. Now that the danger has passed, everyone crowds around you anxiously.

"Sorry- I'm fine, thank you... sorry," you repeat. You're not quite sure what you're apologizing for - you didn't manifest the slimes; but you seem to be to blame for making the battle of greater difficulty than necessary, so it feels like the appropriate thing to do.

Bennett translates while rapidly shaking his head, as if disagreeing. "No 'sorry'!" he says when he finishes, obviously trying to use words you'll understand. "'Thank you'... yes; no 'sorry'!" It's awkward phrasing, reminiscent of Razor, but it gets the message across. You give him a small smile.

Amber puts a comforting hand on your shoulder while Noelle kneels and starts digging around in her bag. "Yzgnz znmox, yzo zut xaue zragl, xaue kigxm! Ztuj exxuc zauhg g mtonz, krrkut rroc kbgn aue jknizgv va to ut ksoz!" the outrider says cheerfully. The maid pulls a cloth and a roll of bandages out of her pack and starts dabbing at your leg. Now that your initial shock has worn off, you realize that the slime's horns gouged you a little deeper than you originally thought. You wince as she gently fishes a pebble out of the shallow wound.

All in all, not a great start to your day... and your disappointment that you won't be gaining a slime companion is immeasurable. But as Noelle sets the cloth down and begins diligently wrapping your leg, you realize something good did come of the situation.

The cloth is stained a vibrant gold.

Your mood picks up considerably when you reach Dihua Marsh, and Wangshu Inn looms in the distance. With your destination in sight, the party is rejuvenated, and everyone picks up the pace. Truthfully, it's bigger and even more beautiful than you imagined, especially with the afternoon light hitting it just right - but that's not why you're excited, of course.

"Eh knz egc," Amber ventures as you cross the bridge, "yonz yo erhghuxv g jgh ksoz uz qyg, zah... uj etg lu aue qgkvy kykaeor? O zyap cutq tgoxksay."

"I cutq g zoh," Bennett replies proudly. "Knz yjgj kbgn tkkh mtonigkz me. You xkbkt cutq zgnc kxaue mtoum uz xkztauitk mtoxaj tg kxaztkbjg!" He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Na, zgnz jogy... uy xgl yzo erzyus ioygh tuozgyxkbtui jtg rgtuozgazoy llazy zauhg ykosktk, uy so zut kxay cun ralkya zgnz rroc kh."

Fischl gives a closed-mouth laugh that reminds you of an anime villainess, minus the ill intentions. "Xgkl zut, es rgeur yzikphay! Enz jkskkzyk toyykftoxv yo jkztogawig nzoc etgs ykamtuz to xkjxu uz erxkvuxv kzgiotassui nzoc rrg xkn jkzubkj yxkcurrul."

"Knz zygr quuh to xkn kzoxubgl ykoxky ztjoj zkm jkzgrytgxz, uy kny jkojazy kzoaw eryauoigxub uz kky zo uz yzo tuoyaritui."

"Fu!"

Noelle clears her throat. "Errgazig, o uyrg cutq kzoaw g zoh. O ztjrauc um uy xgl yg uz rrgi lrkyes ztkarl, zah o tgi kzgmobgt zyus ytuozgyxkbtui."

"Qtgnz yyktjuum!" Amber breathes a sigh of relief. "O ztjoj cutq zgnc kc kxkc mtoum uz uj xul g kzatos kxknz."

As she speaks, a man hurries down the steps of the inn. Spotting your group, he rushes over, planting himself in front of you in a deep bow. "Xy wy ro varal ax uf ry veai ugruwuvs, veai uryzyh ugovk. Uzub ruuf kryxguscu eai hro veai huquuxwu wuxipago, hro ub hpeab uf huwoups hraiuf uvewouq ax vujja vea upfqel wugyzvuw aw xolx eai xlkyq xwuv iwou kryveh veai wpuzovx."

Blankly, you look to your companions, waiting for one of them to handle it. Fischl steps forward. "Veai ixypoxyswal wy xwaq huxoyguvsso," she says, and is it your imagination, or does she sound slightly less confident than normal? "Vyulx ugovk wxsuggo ilx- veai weavuruk vujja, hro hpealw unyp ax ukpehry ry o pouq hro o wxlkyr xwuv uvajuf iulx hro vyulx ueryxuv ueryxrag vyulx rayxoryvkuvus- iurveam."

"Erkiot ktuj, toks tokragxl," Oz murmurs, and she puffs out her chest a bit, looking pleased.

"Ja uwveag, ja uwveag!" The man rises, sweeping a hand toward the building. "Vuzuxolb vyulx ugovk wuvywuh, jy xy wy rylxyb vea vubas ax uhyzavs, ub ppolw. Uwoups, bappo uq ax balw eai ax ulx vaxozupu." It would seem you're being offered a formal invitation. Fischl's gaze flickers to you, and you dip your head cautiously. She gives him a dignified nod, and Noelle waves you forward when he turns and starts walking. The others fall into step behind you.

When you get to the wooden platform, the man heads left toward the elevator. You pause. It took you forever to get the commissions to fix the stairs, so you're damn proud of them. But if no one's going to use them, what was even the point?

So be it. You'll use them, if no one else will.

You extend a finger in that direction and tip your head to your companions, indicating you want to go that way. They look at each other, shrug, and nod amicably. Everyone changes their course to see the fruits of your (aka the traveler's) labor; but as you reach the bottom step, you notice Bennett hanging back warily. "What is it?"

"Sa... ykxknz no mtorogx tu ktu kjoy," he says, licking his lips nervously. "Zo yquur jtoq lu- I zyap qtonz- zo znmos kh xkzzkh xul me uz kqgz knz xuzgbkrk yonz ksoz, gngn. Sorry." He points apologetically to himself, and then in the direction the other man disappeared. You're confused. He wants to take the elevator? Everyone else looks like they understand his request immediately, though, so you give him a nod.

Fischl falls back as well. "To zgnz kygi, enz toyykftoxv rrgny etgvsuiig aue to knz ztkbk lu... skng... tkkykxulta ykitgzysaixoi." She puts a hand on his shoulder and gives you a wave as the two of them round the corner, disappearing from sight.

Well... alright then. Their actions strike you as a bit strange without further context, but you assume they have their reasons. Even if they're just tired from walking the whole day, that's good enough for you.

You turn back around. Noelle gives you a supportive smile, and Amber gestures eagerly, already climbing the steps. The three of you set a leisurely pace, stopping to lean against the railing and admire the new view every time you round a corner. Mondstadt is no less scenic, but it’s full of rolling hills; Wangshu Inn is perfectly positioned between the flat marsh and the plains, providing a rare and spectacular view of nearly all of Liyue. Amber is enthralled by the floating Statue of the Seven in the distance, pointing and gawking in excitement. Meanwhile, Noelle seems content to simply enjoy the way the sunlight glints off the water as the first autumn leaves flutter past.

...Autumn.

You shake your head. Think about something else. Think about... think about Xiao. The thought spurs you on. Wangshu Inn might be a convenient place to spend the night, but you didn't come all this way to not see the yaksha. In fact, you'd been privately hoping to stop here for that very reason. With renewed vigor, you urge your companions onward, taking the steps two at a time in an effort to leave your less-than-pleasant thoughts behind you.

In no time at all, you reach the landing, and you round the corner without stopping, ignoring the gaping passerby and giving a wave to an unfazed Verr Goldet as you continue up to the second balcony. Your excitement grows with every step. If your friendship level theory is correct - as it seems to be - you should be able to understand Xiao better than anyone else you've encountered so far.

...In fact, being who he was, he'd probably know you were coming, wouldn't he? Do you dare to hope that he might be... waiting for you? You put on a burst of speed, stumbling up the last couple steps. And, sure enough, standing by the overlook waiting for you is-

-no one. But up on the roof-

...also no one.

In your dreams, a voice taunts in your head.

This is just not your day.

You purse your lips, reluctant to give up so quickly. There's still one option. Should I call him?

You don't get time to think about it. Amber and Noelle finish pounding up the last flight of stairs behind you, looking mildly winded from the sudden exertion. "Xaue kigxm-" Noelle starts, but doesn't get any further before Oz swoops over the balcony.

"Toks tokragxl ygn ztky ks uz sxulto aue zgnz knz xuzgbkrk yo qiazy," he says calmly. "Kny yegy, jtg o kzuaw, 'yg jkzikvdk'."

This draws a sigh from both of them. Amber brings a dismayed hand to her forehead. "Qig, kc kxkc zyap zauhg kaj xul mtonzksuy kqor yonz, ztkxkc kc? Zo kxay ztjoj kqgz mtur xul yon jgh qiar uz qioq to kitu kn jkzgxgvky suxl xoknz kigxm."

"Xuuv zzkttkh," Noelle says sympathetically. "Rro zkr knz xkvkkqtto cutq yzgnc jktkvvgn, aue kkxnz um qikni tu sknz." Amber nods and takes your hand. With some disappointment (which you do your best to hide), you allow her to guide you back down the stairs at a brisk pace, with Oz leading the way. This time, you cut straight through the inn and onto the opposite side of the landing, where the elevator and the teleport waypoint are.

Where the elevator should be, anyway.

Amber lets go of your hand and leans over the railing. "Kxg aue yeam znmoxrg?!" she shouts down.

You hear Bennett's awkward laughter as you peer over behind her, and you're alarmed by what you see. The elevator is stalled, dangling halfway between the two platforms. Even further down, the man who greeted you appears to be frantically checking over some sort of pulley system. Immediately, your eyes dart to the rigging at the top. Fortunately, nothing looks like it's about to snap... for now.

"Ztuj exxuc, yonz yo zyap xknzutg egj to knz klor lu tg xkxaztkbjg!" Bennett calls back up. He gives you both a thumbs up through the open doorway, though you notice he's otherwise pressed snuggly into a corner, looking cheerful as ever but not taking any chances. Fischl has made herself comfortable leaning against one of the walls, seeming almost bored with the whole affair. Justifiable, since you can only imagine how many times she's been through something like this. Oz glides back down to join his mistress.

"Ykrrkut mtozzkm knz xkvkkqtto," Amber responds. "So gttum qikni knz mtommox - o qtonz o kky mtonzksuy jkmmgty to kxknz." She gestures for you to stand back near the waypoint before shimmying up a post and beginning to fiddle with something out of your range of sight.

You do as she says, absently running your fingers over the waypoint as you look on uselessly. It's yet another instance where you can do nothing, and you're reminded again of just how much dead weight you are. It's beyond frustrating, and all the more so now that your golden blood has been revealed to you. What you thought would be a blessing is now seeming like a curse in disguise. Being a weak human mistaken for a god is one thing, but being a weak god? Why can't you do anything? Ugh, at least if these teleport points actually worked like they were supposed to, you wouldn't have to bother people with the mundane task of escorting you, if nothing else!

......Actually, wait a minute.

Do the waypoints work like in the game? When you cool your head a bit, you suddenly realize you haven't tried. Excluding the statue at Windrise, you haven't been this near to any until now - at least that you were paying attention to at the time.

You don't have the map, of course, but maybe you can just... think really hard about where you want to go? It's worth a shot. Best case scenario, you wind up exactly where you want to go. Worst case, it only works for the traveler (or as a game mechanic) and nothing happens. Either way, there's no harm in trying. If it works, you can just come right back and inform everyone.

You reach up to press your hand against the floating device. It's higher off the ground than it looked in the game but still easily within reach. The bluish material has an odd feel to it, one you're not quite sure how to describe. Magical, perhaps. The waypoint pulses with energy, and you feel confident it has to do something.

I want to go to Liyue Harbor, you think to yourself, trying to picture it in your mind's eye.

Nothing happens, but you're undeterred. Maybe you need to say it out loud. "Take me to Liyue Harbor," you say firmly, visualizing the overlook by the waypoint just outside the city.

...Still nothing.

You let your hand slide to the bottom in disappointment. This really isn't your day. First the ominous dreams... then I touch a slime and end up nearly fainting for some reason... and after that, I want to see Xiao, but he's not here, of course... and now all of this. What does it take for something to go my way, for once?!

And then everything goes white.

[yeeunjia]

▬▬ [𝐄𝐍𝐇𝐘𝐏𝐄𝐍] 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐑 𝐒/𝐎 𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌

idol!enha x idol!fem!reader

▬▬   enha masterlist, here. i write for both kpop and genshin! for feedbacks or requests send them here! (●'◡'●) feedbacks, reblogs, follows, or likes are also much appreciated! thank youu!  ▬▬  warnings : cursing/swearing ! —————————————————————————

lee heeseung 이희승 !! - the fact that you two were even assigned to be interviewed together yet you’re still ignoring him（；へ：）he got so excited when you got asked about your relationship with him but immediately pouts a bit when you made another member answer it instead. you barely spoke too and that made him worried. little did he know, you were actually trying to surprise him by writing a song for him and you were afraid that you’d that about it by accident (spoiler : im doing a reaction for this soon!!) gives you little glances here and there and is so close to losing it. - after the interview, heeseung sits beside you in a room and you immediately close your laptop as you were listening to the recording for the song. this made heeseung assume something else making him sigh. he hugged you tightly, your chest on his head “(y/n) i don’t know if i’ve done something wrong to make you upset and ignore me but i really miss you. i really want you to stop ignoring me..” he says, not even wanting to let go of you. you apologize to him as realized how you missed him too and how you got too caught up with the song that you barely payed attention to your bambi!! ╥﹏╥ park jongseong  박종성 !! - your period was just being a big ass which caused to to have tons of mood swings. you just decided to ignore jay knowing that you’d probably get mad and annoyed by everything if you don’t. he’ll think that something really is wrong and will give you space and wait for you to reach out to him. gives you enough space and tries not to bother you as much as possible. buys you so much stuff and when he comes across a bunch of pads, he finally realized why you were acting like this.(๑꧆◡꧆๑) - “yah yah yah” he says while poking your cheek. you tried to get out of the bedroom but eventually fail as he grabbed your arm immediately. “i can handle your mood swings. there’s no need to ignore me, babe.” he says, letting go of your arm then hugging you tightly. “did you miss me that much?” you smirk. “why would i?” he teases, making you pout. you later fell asleep on top of him and he took tons of pictures of you. he even made one of them his wallpaper (´◡`) sim jaeyun  심재윤 !! - actually, you two had a little fight about work beforehand. you two were able to solve things really quickly but they fact that you were ignoring jake made him really worried and he thought that it was because of all the words he said. whenever your group and enhypen would be in the same practice room, he’d try to give you space while looking at you too many times. (´- `*) -  “if you want to talk to her, go for it. it’s not like we don’t know about your relationship!” sunghoon scoffs. jake looks at him and says “she’s been ignoring me, hoon.” making sunghoon feel confused. jake actually tried to ignore you back, it was going fine for him until he heard you talk to jungwon. “what if he thinks i’m ignoring him? i mean- he’s already ignoring me now!” jake didn’t even let jungwon respond as he drags you out of the room right away. and again, he doesn’t allow you to say a word as he immediately kisses you. “i thought you were ignoring me..” he confesses while looking at you with puppy eyes. park sunghoon  박성훈 !! - you lost to a bet with your members and you now have to ignore hoon for 24 hours. you knew it was going to be hard but still did it anyway, you were curious to see his reaction too, after all. you also told his other members about the prank as you may need a little help from them. your group and enhypen spent your day off together in “(y/n) my lovely girlfriend you didn’t give me a morning kiss earlier!” sunghoon says running to you as he puckers his lips. - you walk away from him making the poor boy awfully confused while your members and his are at the side trying to hold their laugh. “fine! if you want to ignore your boyfriend, THE MOST HANDSOME PERSON IN THE PLANET then so be it!!” he says before going away while stomping. but for the record, he knows that you won’t even be able to ignore him for long so he lets you be for a while. (and then sulks whenever you do ignore him again) ◜▿◝ yang jungwon  양정원 !! - he’d think that you really just want space and he respects that. still, he doesn’t know why you’re ignoring him or why you’re not talking to him about it. ❛︵❛ he’s awfully tempted to send you little messages or notes such as “i hope you’re doing alright. i miss you!” but is too shy to do so. he’s also scared that it’ll make you want to ignore him more. - he spent days trying to gather the courage to talk to you and after thinking carefully of what he can do to make you talk to him he finally has the ‘perfect’ plan. on your vocal practice, he made the mic stand a bit loose thinking that you’d immediately ask him for help. and well, he failed. you just decided to bear with it. later starts sulking and bursts. pours it all out and won’t hesitate to ask you tons of question and would definitely want to know why you’re ignoring him.(ﹷ ‸ ﹷ ✿)  kim sunoo  김선우 !! - niki was the one who proposed the idea that you and sunoo should try  painting for your next date and it which was definitely something you both agreed on. you two planned this date months ago but your schedules were a bit too full that you couldn’t even go on one until today. after thinking of a few places, sunoo suggested that it would be great to paint in a park. he seemed like he really wanted to go there so you agreed! (ꈍᴗꈍ) - the weather was a bit chilly but you both were able to bring sweaters, anyway. plus, despite this, you two were still able to enjoy each other’s company! sunoo hadn’t even noticed the time that has passed until he realized that the way you haven’t said a word to him seems too long. He was about to sulk until he looked over to see you slightly biting your bottom lip while concentrating at the painting. Seeing you actually enjoy this made him smile. It made him laugh a little bit too. Well, he was quite calm when that happened but he wont stop asking you to give him attention afterwards.  (˶◡‿◡) nishimura riki  西村 力 !! - it’s been a while since your group was able to have a sleep over at enhypen’s dorm so they (well, specifically niki) invited you and your members!  you two also decided to play games together. later that night, when everyone was asleep, niki quietly dragged you out of your room while laughing a bit. after playing games, you both decided to build a pillow fort and watch movies too! ˆ⌣ˆ - it was all going well until your favorite character died and you started sobbing. “hey- are you crying?? PFFT!!” niki laughs “IT’S NOT FUNNY! THEY LITERALLY DIED!” you said, feeling a bit embarrassed. all you could hear was niki’s laugh now. “can you stop- i- fine then!” niki can’t help but smile and laugh again when he saw you crossing your arms and acting like a child. but later becomes a bit worried when he noticed how you were ignoring him now. starts to feel a bit bad and moves closer to you. you literally never ignore him so this made him realize that he does enjoy all your affection too much. “i’m sorryy! i was joking, okay?” niki pouts while pulling you in a tight hug. (⭒•͈ 𓎺 •͈ ) —————————————————————————