#i'll think about other names and maybe something else will crop up

[folklorebyswift]

behind the camera

fake dating & pr relationship with billie eilish

synopsis: Madison Cole is an aspiring actress with every advantage-wealth, connections, and a last name that opens doors in Hollywood. But privilege doesn't guarantee talent or fame, and Madison is eager to prove she's more than just a product of nepotism. When her powerful father orchestrates a PR relationship between her and global pop star Billie Eilish, Madison reluctantly agrees, knowing it could fast-track her rise.

What will spark when the cameras stop rolling?

———————————————————————————

Chapter 1 — she’s an actress

Madison's POV 

I barely make it through the front door of my parent's house before kicking off my shoes. 

One lands by the stairs, the other somewhere near the wall—I don't fucking care. 

My jeans feel stiff, my hoodie still smells like him, and I've got that gross post-cry headache creeping in behind my eyes even though I haven't actually cried yet. 

I wander through the massive house looking for my dad—the only person I want to talk to right now—but the silence tells me he's not home.

I was at Luke's house when I got the email. 

We appreciate your time and energy. We've gone another direction.

That's all they said.

I hired a dialect coach. I forced my friends to read lines with me for weeks. 

I put everything into this. 

Not even a sentence. Not even a name. Just a vague, gutless "we've gone another direction" like I was some forgettable extra.

I sink down onto the bench in the hallway, tugging my hoodie sleeves over my hands like I'm fifteen again and trying to disappear.

God, I should've just told them who my dad was.

One word—one last name—and it would've been mine. I know it. They'd have lit up the second they realized I'm his daughter. Taken me more seriously. Maybe even bent over backwards to make it work.

But I didn't. Because I wanted to earn it.

And now I'm sitting in a house full of things I didn't earn, wishing like hell that just once, hard work would be enough.

My phone buzzes in my pocket.

It's Luke.

lucas!! <3

Did I do something wrong? Why'd you leave so suddenly?

Luke and I have known each other forever. 

Our parents are best friends—the kind that do joint family dinners and plan summer vacations like it's still 2005. Every year, same beach house, same inside jokes, same easy rhythm.

Last summer, things shifted. We got a little drunk, crossed a line, and didn't bother stepping back.

We've been hooking up ever since.

It's not serious. Not romantic. Just comfortable. Familiar. Something to make the world feel a little less heavy, a little less lonely—at least for a few hours.

I send a quick reply, blaming it on my mom—some vague excuse about her needing me for something. It's easier than explaining that I'm this fucked up about losing a part in a movie to someone else.

I drag myself upstairs and collapse onto my bed, not even bothering to pull back the covers.

I open the email again.

I stare at it for a few more seconds, hoping maybe the words will rearrange themselves into something less soul-crushing.

They don't.

With a heavy sigh, I close out of it and open my group chat instead—

a straight a bi and a gay

mads

is anything going on tonight? i need a drink. maybe twelve.

brookey <3

bad day? bad dick? what's got you down?

kenz :)

grace said there's a party in the hills. rooftop.  obnoxious and exclusive. could be fun. could be terrible. should we go find out?

mads

in. getting ready now, i'll pick you both up in an hour. kennedy, do you think grace would drive my car and us home? i'm planning on getting shitted.

brookey <3

shit ok i guess im in too?

kenz :)

she said that's fine. see you guys soon.

I lock my phone and get up to get ready.

The first outfit I pull out feels too try-hard. The second one makes me look like I'm trying not to try. Third time's the charm: black crop top, baggy low-rise jeans, and the leather jacket my dad says makes me look "intense"—which is exactly the point. I grab my keys, throw on my boots, and head out the door without bothering to tell anyone where I'm going. My mom's probably in her pilates cave and my dad's MIA, still. It's fine.

My G-Wagon growls to life as I pull out of the driveway, my phone buzzing with a text from Brooke.

Ten minutes later, I pull up in front of Kennedy's place. 

Kennedy, Grace and Brooke are already waiting outside like they've been summoned for a Vogue cover shoot. 

Brooke's in a tiny black dress that looks like it was painted on, Kennedy's wearing leather pants and a sheer top that makes her look like a walking threat. Grace is in a pale blue slip dress that hits just above the knee. Sweet. Innocent.

I lean over and push the passenger door open.

"Get in, fuckers" I call.

Brooke rolls her eyes and climbs in like she's taking a seat on her throne. "You're late."

"Shut up."

Kennedy slides into the backseat, Grace following behind her. "Well, good news; you look hot enough to ruin lives tonight."

"Ruining lives is literally all I have left," I mutter, pulling away from the curb.

The drive up into the Hills is quiet, the four of us staring out at the glittering city below like we're about to go to war. 

We pull up to the house—modern, angular, obnoxiously lit, with a valet line of luxury cars outside like a rich-kid museum exhibit. There are already people spilling out onto the driveway, all perfectly curated and fake as hell. Just the way we like it.

I throw the G-Wagon into park and toss the keys to Grace. "Thanks for being DD tonight. I owe you one."

"Of course, I don't mind," she replies softly, polite as always. 

We've all known her for a while, but it wasn't until she and Kennedy started dating that she really began to open up to us.

We make our way up to the house.

The music's too loud, the crowd too pretty, and I love every second of it.

We weave through the party like we've been here a million times—because we have. It's always the same: models, celebrities, DJs, fake friends, real egos.

I find the bar fast and slam my hands down on the counter.

"Three shots of Tito's please."

The first one burns. The second goes down easier. By the third, my chest starts to get warm and I can finally begin to forget the day.

Brooke's beside me, sipping something pink and dangerous, already talking to a guy she'll ghost by the morning.

I make my way back to the bar, "Tito's with a splash of cran please." 

I down it in 10 seconds, needing the world to blur around me faster. 

Bodies are hitting me.

The music is loud.

Kennedy and Grace are dancing behind me.

Suddenly the room feels too small.

I need fresh air. 

I make my way outside and sit at one of the pool's lounge chairs.

A few people are laughing in the pool, I pretend they don't exist. 

Suddenly, my chair sinks with weight sitting down next to me. 

"Hey, you look like you could use some water," the beautiful voice says next to me offering me a cold bottle. 

———————————————————————————

this book is a collab betweem me @/folklorebyswift and my bestie @/daddyb1ll1e on wattpad

new chapters are getting posted to wattpad before they get posted here! make sure to look it up there to read early :)

[silly-tv]

HI! I am writing my first fanfic ever, please tell me if there are any errors, grammatically or smth else, this Threadville’s fanfic will be about Oliver x Reader but for now I'll just put up chapter 1, it's more story, beginnings and hopefully you'll enjoy because I enjoyed a lot writing this.

and tell me what you think and if I should continue!

The reader is gender-neutral in this fanfic!

CHAPTER I

"Welcome to Threadville"

"Yeah, Grandma, I'm gonna find it," Y/N said as they began climbing up into the attic. "Where's that stupid sewing machine? Come on, where are you hiding?"

They glanced around and muttered, "So many boxes... This is insane. What even is in all of these?"

After thirty minutes of searching, they finally spotted the machine on the top shelf. "Better take this back to—"

BANG!

"THE HELL?! What even was that?" they said, turning toward a large shape under a draped fabric. Pulling the cloth down, they blinked. "A... mirror?"

"Hmm, what a pretty mirror. Why is it even up here? Maybe Grandma will let me have it."

As they reached out to dust it off, the mirror suddenly began to glow.

"Wait. WAIT. WAIT, WHAT EVEN IS THIS?! HELLO?! NUH UH—IT’S SUCKING ME IN! GRANDMA—!"

Everything went blank.

Oliver and Veena were enjoying a hot cup of tea near the bee area.

"I'm so happy my crops are turning out better every year. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to manage alone, but they’ve grown beautifully!" Oliver said, a silly smile on his face.

Veena, on the other hand, was already a little cranky.

"Ugh, Rocky hasn’t moved from that spot in ages, and he’s been acting weird lately, especially with those night time crazy episodes. Is it just me, or did you notice it too?"

Oliver nodded, his expression shifting to concern.

"I’ve noticed... but when I ask, he just goes back to fishing. We’ll figure out what’s going on someday, I promise— what is that?"

They both looked up—and saw something, or more precisely, someone, falling out of a hole in the sky. They quickly stepped out of the way.

"Fuck, man, that hurts," Y/N groaned, rubbing their head. As they opened their eyes, two figures stood in front of them.

"...You ruined my table," Veena muttered.

"I'm so sorry—one minute I was in my grandma's attic, a mirror sucked me up, and now I'm here... Where is here?"

"Welcome to Threadville!" Oliver said with a smile. "But we should probably figure out how you ended up here. Let’s head into town—oh, wait. Rocky’s at the exit. We’ll need to get some honey for him as a peace offering."

"Ugh, the bees are already mad we took honey for our tea today," Veena exclaimed.

"I’ll do it," Y/N offered. "It’s the least I can do after destroying your table."

"Thank you kindly... uh, what’s your name?"

"Y/N," they said, putting their hands on their hips.

"I’m Oliver, and this is Veena. And as you probably heard, the guy napping over there is Rocky. He’s a bit tense, but he’s a sweetheart."

Getting the honey was not a task for the weak. The bees swarmed all around the maze, making it tricky to avoid them—but somehow, Y/N managed to grab the honey. The group made their way toward Rocky.

"I’m so sorry to wake you up," Oliver said gently, "but our new friend here needs to get into town. Can you kindly move? We brought you honey."

"Oh, no problem, Oliver. Sorry for blocking the path," Rocky said, taking the jar from his hands. "Here—let me walk you all into town."

When they arrived, Rocky and Veena split off to go talk to Patty, while Oliver wandered into a little garden patch to check on his radishes.

"Hey Oliver, need some help over there?" Y/N asked.

"Oh no, no, I was just checking to see if there’s a worm. He’s been giving me trouble—keeps eating my plants."

"Ugh, maybe you can give the worm a vegetable every time you grow new ones? Like a little offering? So he munches on that instead of everything else?"

"Oh, believe me—I tried that. He wants to cause trouble."

"What a little maniac."

Patty’s house was tucked between a yarn-dyed shop and a building that looked suspiciously like a giant bubble. It smelled like lavender, cinnamon, and old buttons.

Inside, Veena leaned on the wall while Rocky stood awkwardly by the door, holding what was left of his honey jar.

Patty—mid-40s, power stance, brushing her hair—eyed Y/N as they walked in with Oliver.

Oliver slowed his pace. “Hey, you’ve been super calm for someone who just got sucked in a antique mirror.”

Y/N let out a breath and laughed weakly. “Honestly? I think I’m still in shock. Or maybe Threadville’s so weird it’s distracting me.”

Just then, a squirrel in a sweater darted across the window carrying what looked like… a crochet hook?

Oliver said with a sweet smile “Yeah, give it a day. You’ll fit right in.”

“Ah,” Patty said slowly, tapping the brush against her chin. “You’re the one who fell.”

Y/N blinked. “People just… know that?”

“Threadville’s small. You sneeze and the fabric trees echo it by lunch,” she said. “Also, there’s a sky-rip above the forest. Not subtle.”

"Can you help me get back to... my world?"

"Mmm, maybe. Maybe not. I’ve never heard of this kind of mess before, but we’ll give it a shot. In the meantime, I’m rolling out a sleeping bag for you, ‘cause it’s late, I need my beauty sleep, and tomorrow’s gonna be weird enough without me looking like a mess. We’ll talk more in the morning. Nighty night!" Patty said as she headed upstairs.

Everyone went their way as nightfall crept into Threadville, the sky stitched with silver stars and a crescent moon shaped like a bent thimble. Y/N tossed in their sleeping bag, trying to find a comfortable position.

They’d almost started dozing off when—

CRASH.

THUD.

Y/N shot upright. "what the—”

Outside, loud stomps... a flower pot fell off the windowsill. Somewhere in the distance, a sheep screamed.

Veena burst through the door, hair wild, holding a tote-bag. “He’s SNAPPIN’. Rocky’s having a NIGHT-TIME EPISODE. It’s happening again!!”

"WHAT, IS HE GOING TO END US ALL, IS HE GOING TO EAT US!?" Y/N started to scream dramatically.

"No silly, he's just on a rampage from time to time, even tho the last episode he has ended up with a few broken ribs for Oliver, we just need to try and calm him down" Patty said as she walked down the stairs, tying a robe around her waist.

"ok, so how do you plan to calm him down this time?"

Patty shrugged, unfazed, as another loud BANG echoed from the valley. “We throw yarn at him until he finishes his episode.”

“THAT’S the plan!?” Y/N shouted. “Y’all don’t have a bat or like—tranquilizer cupcakes or something?!”

Veena was already stuffing colorful yarn balls into a tote bag like a baseball pitcher preparing for war. “Nope. We improvise. And also—cupcakes are for after.”

Patty pointed dramatically. “To the Craft Plaza!"

Outside, Rocky was stomping around with one eye popped out of its socket. He howled, swinging a garden gnome like a club.

Y/N ducked behind a barrel. “What in the Looney Tunes is this man’s problem?!”

Oliver appeared from behind a bush, hair messy holding his hat to his chest. “Okay, okay, I have a plan. It’s dumb. But it worked once before.”

“Does it involve getting body-slammed?” Y/N asked flatly.

“No,” Oliver said. “Well—a little. But listen, we need to lure Rocky to my barn, Veena and Patty are going to make nets so there and we can trap him, so who's going to get chased by him?"

Everyone was silent... silently looking at Y/N. "No, nuh uh, not in a million years am I going to be chased, MAYBE AND MOST LIKELY, to my death by that."

Everyone went to the barn to secure the net to some trees around the area, while Y/N was chased down by none other than Rocky.

Y/N ran like their life depended on it, because it kind of did.

“THIS IS SO STUPID!” they screamed, dodging the gnome Rocky picked up. “I DON'T EVEN LIVE HERE!”

“RUN FASTER!” Veena shouted from the treetops, holding two balls of yarn like twin grenades. “We’re almost ready!”

“DEFINE ALMOST—AAAAHH!”

Y/N’s lungs were on fire.

“WHY IS HE SO FAST?!” they screamed, ducking as Rocky hurled a mailbox like it weighed nothing. “HE’S BUILT LIKE A TRUCK BUT RUNS LIKE A MOTORCYCLE!”

From behind a tree, Oliver yelled, “Just a little farther! You’re doing amazing!”

“THAT’S EASY FOR YOU TO SAY, YOU’RE NOT BEING HUNTED!”

Y/N turned the corner, Oliver waving like a crazy man. “Through the laundry lines! Trust me!”

Y/N dove under a row of floral bedsheets, accidentally getting slapped in the face by someone’s polka-dot bloomers.

"THIS IS THE MOST CARTOONISH EVENT THAT CAN EVER HAPPEN RIGHT NOW AND I AM NOT OK WITH IT"

As Y/N tried to take the bloomers of their face, Rocky caught up to them. Slowing down, breathing hard, staring right in their eyes...

"You better look at me with BOTH eyes is you want to chase me like a lunatic, yeah, yeah GET THAT EYE BACK IN YO SOCKET"

Rocky was dumbfounded, mouth open, picking up his eye, putting it back where it belongs.

BOING.

Veena and Patty dropped the net.

Silence.

Y/N flopped to the grass, gasping. “I. Am suing. All of you. Emotionally.”

“Congrats. You just survived your first Threadville Rampage.” Patty said with a proud smile.

“Next time,” Y/N wheezed, “I’m leading the cupcake party.”

“Next time?” Oliver grinned. “So you’re staying?”

Y/N remained silent, looking up at the stars.

Oliver ran over and knelt beside them. “In any case, you did it. We did it.”

“I want a medal and a juice box.”

He laughed—soft and warm—and reached into his satchel. “Okay, it's no medal, but… I brought this.”

He held out a tiny packet of strawberry candies. The old-lady kind that were wrapped to look like actual strawberries.

Y/N stared at him, chest still rising and falling from the run. “Candy?”

“I panicked and grabbed the first thing I saw in Patty’s kitchen,” Oliver said, offering one with a sheepish smile. “Thought you deserved something sweet.”

Y/N blinked, then took the candy, their fingers brushing his. “Thanks… That was actually kind of sweet.”

Oliver’s cheeks turned pink. “Well, you were kind of heroic.”

[bigdumbbambieyes]

for @thissortofsorcery, who wanted more Billy with a belly button piercing (hehe) and inspired by @robthegoodfellow's amazing tags!!

nsfw

The first time he sees it, it's on accident, and he's not entire sure what he sees.

He's about six beers and two shots deep, so his eyes aren't really focusing as he catches a glimpse of Hargrove's stomach, perfectly toned because he's a fucking asshole, but the peek of silver around his belly button had caught Steve's wandering eye.

They're in Tommy's backyard with a dozen of other people he can't remember the names of, but Billy had invited him so he had gone, and Tommy had glared at him the entire night but also hadn't approached him because the guy clearly doesn't care enough. Which, admittedly, hurts Steve because they had been friends for forever, but not anymore.

But, it's whatever. Hargrove has taken a liking to him and Steve's not about to pass up on someone he can have decent conversations with - even if the guy irritates him to no end.

And, apparently, intrigues him.

Billy had raised his arms in a stretch once he stood up from his chair by the campfire, groaning out a soft sound as Steve had eyed him from above the rim of his cup, the beer catching in his throat as he saw the quick reflection of something shiny on Billy's belly button.

There was no way, right? He's seen plenty of girls with their belly buttons pierced. It was a girl piercing. No guy he's ever known has ever had one.

Until Billy, it seems.

And Steve, as he coughs up a lung and tries to soothe the burn with more beer, thinks back to the times where Billy wore his shirt unbuttoned almost down to his navel, and he'd never seen them before. He's met up with Billy after his shift at the pool, when he wore his cropped Everlast shirt, and there hadn't been anything there except a dark blond happy trail.

It has to be new. Recent.

"You good, princess?" Billy asks him suddenly, his brows furrowed.

His eyes watery from coughing, Steve nods and waves him off, watching the blond roll his eyes and go back inside for another drink.

There's no way, right? 🖤 It's been a week and Steve can't stop thinking about it.

He has to make sure he wasn't just seeing anything or else it'll eat him alive.

So, he calls up Billy that weekend, asking, "You wanna come over for a swim? Maybe some beers, too?"

"I worked at the pool all day, the last thing I want is to fuckin' swim, Harrington. How about we just have some beers? Maybe take them over to Heather's?" Billy offered cooly, like he wasn't ruining Steve's perfectly laid out plans.

Pursing his lips, Steve covered up his indignant huff by palming the bottom of his phone before transferring it to his other ear, saying, "Yeah, I suppose we could."

Because he was a sucker for Billy. He couldn't help it.

"I'll pick you up in twenty, be ready."

The line went dead and Steve huffed again.

🖤

A couple days later, he's finally got Billy at his house, but his parents are home. Not that they're going to ruin his plans or anything, but his parents actually enjoy Billy's company, so they ask him to stay for dinner and who is Billy to decline such a generous offer?

His dad's barbecuing in the back and he and Billy are chatting about something regarding sports while Steve helps his mom prepare the table. He had immediately noticed Billy's new shirt when the guy arrived, a soft light green t-shirt, tightly fitted - and if Steve could only get a damn glance at his stomach, he might be able to see the shape of it through the fabric.

It's almost comical how much stuff gets in the way: Billy's standing behind the barbecue, his dad is in front of him when they come in with food, his mother passes his father the salad bowl just as Billy goes to sit at the table.

He kinda wants to scream.

And again, Billy asks him, "Everything alright, Steve?" Because he's Steve in front of his parents.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he smiles tightly, their eyes locking for a moment, and there's something shining in Billy's blue eyes.

After dinner, when they've had their full and it's time for Billy to go, he watches the blond pat his stomach and keep his hand there as he stands, thanking the Harringtons for the meal.

Steve manages another tight smile as his parents tell Billy to come back soon.

🖤

A couple guys they know from school are playing basketball at the park when he and Billy drive by a couple days later, and Billy glances over at him with a grin, saying, "Wanna join them?"

Steve stares at him for a moment before flicking his gaze over to the guys on the court, noticing that they're shirts vs skins. And knowing Billy, he'll want to take off his shirt.

Oh, yeah. This will work.

"Sure," he hums, playing it cool.

They park and head over, standing on the sidelines until Patrick stops dribbling the ball and asks them, "You two come to join?"

"Yeah, thought maybe you'd want some actual competition, McKinney," Billy smirks, grinning when Jason gives him a glare for his smart mouth.

"Alright," Patrick nods with a smile, "Harrington, you're skins."

Steve feels his shoulders drop, and he glances at Billy, figuring he'd say something like 'nah, let's switch' but Billy just looks at him, quirking an expectant brow.

"You gonna strip or what, Harrington?" Billy asks with a leer.

Sighing, Steve rolls his eyes and pulls the bottom of his shirt over his head.

🖤

It's gotta be on purpose, right? Steve's suffering from some kind of karma that he doesn't deserve. How fucking hard is it to catch Billy Hargrove without a goddamn shirt?

He has Billy's aviators from the other day and he's on his way to Cherry Lane to return them, his thumb tapping his steering wheel as he replays the memory of that simple little lift of Billy's shirt that started all of this. It's honestly infuriating how unlucky he's been.

And he knows he could just ask, but there's no dignity in that. Billy would just tease him about it and never show it.

When he pulls up to the Hargrove house, Billy's outside mowing the lawn, in shorts and a white tank top. He's sweating a bit, his face so unfortunately attractively flushed. His lips go red whenever he's working out too hard and Steve can't help but to stare at them.

He shuts off his car and gets out, calling, "Billy!" over the sound of the mower.

Billy looks up, squinting in the sunlight, and shuts off the mower. He smiles at Steve, in that mean way he does, and shouts back, "Miss me so bad you had to come and track me down, Stevie?"

He's Stevie when Billy's teasing him, when they're alone.

Steve leans against his car and holds up the aviators, "Figured you'd want these back, asshole."

The smile that blooms on Billy's face is beautiful and he actually says, surprisingly without sarcasm, "You're a goddamn lifesaver."

But, it's not what he says that has Steve freezing in place - it's his hand, going down to the bottom of his shirt, like he's going to lift it to wipe away the little beads of sweat on his forehead, and Steve's breath catches in his throat.

Holy shit. Finally.

His stomach clenches in anticipation, his jaw dropping a little, until he hears a sudden familiar voice screech, "Billy!"

It's Max, on the front porch, with anger written across her face, and Billy's immediately turning to face her, his hand falling to his side, sweat forgotten.

Steve lets out a groan and rests his forehead on his car, closing his eyes as he half listens to the step siblings yelling at each other over something petty.

Goddammit.

He's really at his wit's end.

🖤

It's been two weeks and Steve finds himself at a party on a Friday night, at his wit's end about the whole stupid thing. He can't even talk to Robin about it.

Well, he could, but he doesn't really want to see the look on her face and the deadpanned 'you're such a dingus' she'd say to him.

He knows he's being a dingus, but it's not like he can stop.

What he can do, though, is shoot back some vodka with Carol like they used to in freshman year.

"What, no Billy tonight?" She hums, words just a touch slurred, and he gives her a shrug as he reaches for his half-drunk beer.

"Dunno where he's at," he replies, glancing around the busy room, "Assumed he'd be here."

"You two are, like, attached at the hip these days," she smirks, giving him a look, "What's the deal?"

"No deal," he shrugs again, feeling the vodka warm his belly, "He's just...nice to hang out with, I guess."

"Hm," she hums, giving his arm a pat, "Well, if you wanna know where he is, I saw him go down to the basement like, five minutes ago."

Steve's eyes widen and he immediately looks towards the door leading down to the basement of her house, which is cracked open a little.

He eyes it for a moment before asking, "He take a girl down there?"

"Nope," Carol shakes her head, "Probably went to get more beer, or something."

Maybe he should go check on him.

"Maybe you should go check on him."

He turns and looks down at her, eyeing the impish look on her face, and he doesn't know why it's there or why she's saying that, but he nods anyway.

"Yeah, 'kay," he slurs softly, pushing himself off the counter, his beer left behind there as he makes his way to the door.

The basement is cool, and dark, except for the warm glow of a lamp that he can spot at the bottom of the staircase. He pulls the door closed behind him without meaning to, and slowly descends, hearing the rustling of bottles in the fridge that he knows is down here. Carol's dad had the basement fully finished and furnished for his poker nights a couple years ago, and the fridge in the corner is always fully stocked.

He steps down onto the landing and sways, holding onto the railing as he watches Billy compare two bottles of beer, as if he really prefers either. The best beer is a free beer, and the only thing better than a free beer, is a cold one.

Steve breaks the silence first, saying, "You didn't tell me you'd be here."

Billy glances over at him, surprised, before he recognizes him and then he's smirking, "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd be here anyway, pretty boy."

He's pretty boy when they're alone and Billy's flirting.

Steve feels his face flush, from the alcohol (he tries to convince himself), and he quietly watches Billy put one of the bottles back in the fridge before bringing the other one to his mouth, opening it with his molars, and it makes Steve cringe every single time.

"You're gonna wreck your teeth doing that shit," he mutters, like he does every time.

Billy flicks the cap away with that smug smile still on his face, and like every time, he replies, "Haven't yet."

He watches Billy come over to him, to probably go back upstairs now that he's invaded Mr. Perkins' stash, but he can't help the way his eyes flick down Billy's body.

And his eyes stop at the bottom of Billy's Metallica shirt, which might've shrunk in the wash or something, because it's short than Steve remembers and that's when he sees it.

A shiny metal ball, just peeking out from under the dark fabric.

His heart skips a beat and he doesn't even hesitate to step off the landing and push Billy back against the nearest wall, listening to the soft rush of air as the blond's back hits it a little too hard, but he's smiling like the prick he is, staring down his nose at Steve as he tilts his head back.

"Mm, Stevie, that wasn't very nice," he purrs, and that's when Steve smells the alcohol on his breath, but he doesn't care.

He grabs the bottom of Billy's shirt and rucks it up, his jaw dropping as he breathes out a rush of air, like he's just been punched in the gut.

He wasn't seeing things. He was right.

A silver curved barbell, pierced through Billy's navel, sitting so pretty and perfect just above his happy trail.

"You like it?" Billy hums, arrogant, because he already knows Steve does.

His mouth is too dry to answer, and he can't help it when he begins to touch the skin of Billy's stomach, his dark eyes trained on the piercing as his fingers dance around it, his thumb daring to draw closer and closer until he strokes the barbell, giving it a little tug that has Billy making this sound that goes straight to his cock--

"Fuck," Steve breathes, feeling his cock throb in his jeans, so fucking turned on and he hadn't even known it until he heard Billy make that sound, and now he's arching into Steve's touch, seeking it out, and...and...

He flicks his eyes back up to Billy, sees this look on his face, like he kinda wants to eat Steve alive but also wants to be kissed, so Steve does.

He surges forward and Billy meets him halfway, their mouths meeting in a frenzy, like they can't get there fast enough or close enough. He can hear glass break, knowing it's the beer bottle, but it's forgotten because it's dizzying - the way Billy pushes his tongue into his mouth, not wasting a single moment, groaning into his mouth and it goes straight to his cock again.

His hands go to Billy's waist and he pulls himself against him, tilting his head to suck at Billy's lower lip as he grinds his hips into the blond's, revelling in the choke moan he receives for it.

"Knew you'd be into it," Billy breathes, when Steve kisses down his neck and licks at the cologne there, his skin bitter and salty, and he bites down on the junction between neck and shoulder just to hear Billy moan again.

"Shut up," Steve pants, pouting as he sucks on Billy's neck, and then pauses because--

He pulls back just enough to look at Billy, admires the flush on his face before he says, accusingly, "You knew."

"Of course I knew," Billy chuckles low, his teeth flashing as he grins, "I couldn't help it. It was fun watching you lose your mind over it."

"You're such a fucking brat," Steve growls, fisting a hand in Billy's hair and pulling him into a hard kiss, hearing Billy's chuckling hums turn into soft moans as Steve slides his tongue against Billy's.

He can't help but to imagine a stud there, sliding against his tongue, against his skin, against the tip of his cock--

Billy hooks his leg around Steve's hip and reaches down to grab his ass, pulling their hips together until there's a delicious but restricted friction, the blond growling into his mouth, "Yeah? You gonna do anything about it?"

It's enough of a taunt for Steve to pull them away from the wall and turn them, once again pushing Billy back towards the poker table in the middle of the room, a fire in his blood that Billy notices in his eyes and it has him grinning, flushed and pleased as he crawls back onto the table, letting Steve push him down onto his back.

"You gonna suck my cock like you've been wanting to, princess?" Billy breathes, cocky as always.

"Maybe," Steve hums, pushing Billy's shirt up again to get another look at the piercing there, thumbing over it and giving it a playful little tug that has Billy hissing.

"That hurt?" He asks gently.

"S'fine," Billy hums, licking his lips, "Just got it caught on something this morning, kinda tender..."

"Good," Steve says, pushing the shirt higher with both hands, until he's thumbing at Billy's nipples, feeling them harden under his touch and he watches the pleasure cross Billy's face as he squirms under it, sensitive.

"Wonder how sensitive they'd be if you pierced them, too," he murmurs, feeling his blush spread down to his chest as he images it, silver barbells through each nipple, playing with them until Billy had tears in his eyes, begging him to stop or make him cum.

"Maybe we should find out," Billy sighs, moans when Steve gives them a little pinch, arching into the touch like a girl.

"Maybe we should," he agrees, thumbing over them again as he lowers his mouth, pressing and sucking kisses into Billy's stomach, unable to help himself as his mouth wanders lower, his tongue peeking out to guide the metal ball of the barbell into his mouth, groaning as he closes his mouth around it and gives it a little suck, feeling Billy's hips buck under him as he gasps out, "Steve!"

"Yeah, baby? Feel good?" Steve murmurs as he flicks his tongue over it again, sliding his hands down from Billy's chest and to his jeans, tugging his belt open and kissing lower and lower, nuzzling that happy trail with the tip of his nose as he tugs Billy's jeans down, lower and lower until his cock is out and Steve can feel it bump his chin.

He's like a man starved, opening his mouth wide and taking Billy's cock onto his tongue, moaning at the taste of him, salty and bitter like cologne and he still fucking puts it on his dick, the freak, but it's too good and he doesn't even care at this point, not when Billy's grabbing a fistful of his hair and gasping his name.

It's messy, because he's kinda drunk, but he does his best, sucking and minding his teeth, swirling his tongue over the tip before taking Billy as deep as he can, gagging on it gently because Billy makes the prettiest sounds when he does.

"Fuck, Stevie, so fucking pretty like this," Billy moans, watching Steve bob his head up and down on his cock, and he glances up at the blond, their eyes meeting as he slurps at the tip like a fucking slut, and it makes his cheeks burn red.

"Shit--I'm close," Billy gasps, his face twisting in pleasure, which is honestly a compliment because Steve knows he can blow him better than this if he were totally sober, but it's not exactly the time to drag things out, so he sucks harder and brings his hand down to fondle at Billy's balls, giving them a little tug and pressing his knuckles to his taint, enraptured as he watches Billy's eyes roll back as he cums, gripping Steve's hair hard.

It makes him whimper, feeling a streak of cum in his mouth, and he pulls off Billy's cock with a soft gasp, feeling another streak or two paint his chin and cheek.

"Holy fuck," Billy laughs quietly, going limp on the table, but he's still staring down at Steve, humming, "You got a lil something there, Stevie..."

He doesn't even care, too turned on to fucking think as he straightens and goes for his own jeans, yanking them down and pulling out his cock with one hand while the other goes to his face, spitting Billy's cum out onto his palm while he wipes the mess on his chin and cheek with his fingers, bringing that hand down to wrap around himself with a moan.

It's gross but it's worth it to see the stunned and awed look on Billy's face, his jaw slack and blue eyes wide as he looks down to watch Steve stroke himself, clearly admiring his cock.

"Jesus, Stevie," Billy sighs, "You've been holding out on me."

"You've seen it before," he grunts, stroking over the tip and feeling his balls tighten in response.

"Not like this," Billy hums, licking his lips, and Steve's locked in on his mouth then, imagining it stretched around his cock, knowing that it eventually will be.

He feels his stomach tense and he whimpers out a quiet 'fuck' as he cums, aiming right for Billy's stomach, sighing happily when he watches it cover Billy's piercing.

"Oh, you fucker," Billy chuckles, breathless and almost fucked out, looking up at Steve with annoyed amusement.

"Pay back, for the two weeks you put me through," Steve pants with a grin, triumphant.

But, like he knows, he's a sucker for Billy and he doesn't leave him like that. He goes over to the couch against the wall and grabs the box of tissues there, pulling a few out to clean himself with before taking a few more to Billy, who grabs them from him.

He watches Billy carefully wipe away at his piercing, smirks when he hears the annoyed grumbling as he wipes the cum from his belly button, and he grins when Billy shoots him a look.

"You had it coming," he chuckles, scrunching his nose when Billy throws the crumpled up tissue at his face.

"Asshole," Billy hums, tucking himself back into his jeans, slow and unhurried.

Steve does the same and watches his best friend push himself up with a wince, until they're face to face again, although the table has Steve looking up at Billy a bit.

They stare at each other for a moment, in that warm lamp light, until Steve leans in and presses a sweet, chaste kiss to Billy's mouth. Way too sweet for what they just did.

"So," he hums against Billy's mouth, "About those nipple piercings..."

He feels Billy smile against his mouth, his chest rumbling with a chuckle as he mutters, "I'll think about it."

They both know he's definitely doing it.

[convexicalcrow]

Pix gently brushed the earth away from the horse bones they'd uncovered, having caught sight of something that wasn't bone that had been buried along with the horse. He didn't usually dig this far outside of Bahariya, but they'd been doing some surveys around the area in search of old trade routes that were said to have existed out to the west, and stumbled across horse bones. Very, very old horse bones from the look of them.

"You know, I think it's some papyrus," Pix muttered to himself as he continued to brush the sand and dirt away. "Maybe a messenger killed who was leaving from the oasis. Or someone else, maybe a priest?"

The likely identities of those who would have carried papyrus were few in number, but of course there were always exceptions, such as a messenger, or even a regular person carrying some kind of magic spell with them for healing or something.

He switched to a smaller brush, a paintbrush, really, to avoid damaging the papyrus. He was hoping it would be in decent condition, given that it had been buried so long ago. The sands out here did tend to protect these things.

"Lunch, darling! Come take a break!"

Ahh, the dulcet tones of his Patron's wife. Pix sighed, got to his feet, and covered the site. She wasn't so bad, really, but he did just want to keep digging, and taking a break when he wasn't ready to do so did somewhat kick him out of his flow. But he liked the money to keep digging so he was happy to obey.

Pix went to the well, washed his hands and face, and headed into one of the tents they'd set up as a mess hall for him and the other workers out here. She was sitting in very practical clothes, fancying herself as an archaeologist as well. She offered him a plate of sandwiches.

"Here, eat, you must be famished with all that digging in that heat!" she said with a smile.

Pix had to agree as he sat down and took the plate. "I am a bit, yeah. How's the pottery collection coming along? You said you'd found some more urns in the oasis?"

"Oh yes! I was digging in that necropolis area that you'd found some years back, because there were some areas we didn't get to at the time, and I've found so many new pots and letters! Just like the collection you found last season. All letters to the dead, all dating to around the same time. If it matches up with what the Greeks and Romans tell of an invasion of Egypt that marked the end of the civilisation as we know it, then it's possible it's related to that. Why they might come this far into the desert, we don't yet know, but the dates do line up with that calamatous event," she said.

"Hmm. I'd want to see a bit more solid evidence before I'd make that kind of call. It could just be their trade routes were disrupted, leaving the oasis to starve and become abandoned if the crops failed or there was just simply not enough food to support the population. There could have been foreign attacks that took out a weakened population," Pix said.

"Also possible! The only way to know for sure is more digging! Now, I did find some other texts in the temple that talked about an ally, Pixandria, that seemed to be situated to the west of the oasis. I can find scarce else about it though. Have you heard of it? If I didn't know you better, I'd say you named yourself after it!" she laughed.

Pix laughed too. He had seen mention of a name like that in some trade records, but even he wasn't really sure where it was. He also hadn't named himself after it, at least not to his knowledge.

"I think it's just a fine coincidence. But perhaps next season, we should plan an expedition out west and see if we can find anything. I've seen some mention of it being close, maybe a day away? Maybe that will help us narrow down a spot for it," Pix said.

"A grand idea! I'll get the survey boys onto it. If we can do some preliminary mapping while we're out here this season, that'll make next season much better," she said.

"Indeed."

-

Three days of digging and brushing and gentleness later, Pix had uncovered a small codex, filled with maybe a dozen pieces of papyrus, written on both sides. He also uncovered what was left of a scribe's palette, as well as some small metal rings that may have been part of the horse's tack, as well as some arrowheads.

The skeleton, too, had been mostly uncovered, and now Pix could see that the horse had been killed, probably in pursuit. Whoever was riding this horse was being chased, and the horse died where it fell. And it looked like it was heading to Bahariya, so perhaps it was a rider from this mythical Pixandria, and this scribe was some kind of envoy between them.

His cursory reading of the texts suggested they were all mostly hymns or other religious writing though, so maybe it was a priest and his services had been needed somewhere and he was coming home and got attacked on the way.

Pix entertained ideas like this, as it helped him understand the artefacts he was looking at. What about the way the skeleton was lying told him about its purpose and its death? What other things were found with it? What story do those things tell? That's what got him so hooked on this job. Finding out the stories that were buried under the sand.

-

It wasn't until he was back at his home and away from Egypt that he was able to take a closer look at the codex. It had been bound into two small boards with what looked like the cartouche of the last known Pharaoh of Egypt scratched into the front with a shaky hand. He'd done a simple translation, one that was a bit rough around the edges. It clearly belonged to a priest of Ra, and each of the sheets of papyrus held hymns and spells to the god. Nothing exciting there, really. Well, at least, nothing that stood out like the names inscribed on the inside cover that had been rather crudely scratched and chipped at to obscure them.

They hadn't been erased completely. They were still legible enough to get a sense of the names, but not enough to identify them. But the damage had been done later, so clearly the owner had felt a need to erase these names later on after, perhaps, carving them there originally.

It took him a while to recognise the script, too. He had examples of dozens of different scribal hands now from the letters to the dead they'd found, but none matched this codex. Or so he thought.

"Oh, it's that strange letter, the one without the names! Where is it? I wonder if that's a match?" Pix said, turning to his papyrus collection. He sifted through them until he found the one he wanted. "Yes, this one!"

He lay the letter and the codex down to compare the hands. It was a subtle match, as whoever had written it didn't have that many writing quirks. But there was a smiliar unevenness in some of the glyphs and how they were laid out that were identical.

"Yes! It is by the same hand! I wonder who he is? I can't see any kind of personal name on the palette nor the codex. Perhaps they didn't think to do so, or didn't have a chance. It could have rubbed off with the paint though, the palette is in poor condition."

It wasn't often he could connect up personal writings like this. This was someone who had clearly gone through some kind of terrible trauma, and still found himself unable to speak openly about it like many other Egyptians would have done. Perhaps whatever invasion hit these lands had left such a black mark it had destroyed the civilisation of the people who had lived there. That was certainly a possibility.

-

"O Ra, Lord of Lords who illuminates the Two Lands, come forth in your power, come forth in the day boat, come forth in the night boat. Your enemies lie on their sides, they have been defeated. The imperishable stars sing their praises to you, O Shining One, they worship you, they kiss the ground, they sing in the mesketet boat, they sing in the mandjet boat. O Lord, your servant comes to you, your servant comes to awaken you. Your servant of your heart is come to see you, that you might shine your rays down upon his brow, that your radiance might shine around him. Come, O Lord, to the horizon, and awaken into the dawn."

Pix paused as he finished reading the hymn. He was surprised to find any completed texts in the codex at all, but here was one, and he loved the imagery the writer used to compose this hymn. Perhaps a little shiver had gone down his spine when he finished, and let the words echo into the silence. Personal hymns always made him react that way. This was the true voice of the priest, not the standarised hymns you found in the temple. This man had written this down, perhaps in a half-remembered version of a hymn that had once been in a temple. Either way, he imagined the priest still in the temple today, serving his god as he felt he ought to, and wondered if one day whether he might ever learn his name.

[yourheartonfire]

The battle ended not with a bang but a whimper; no glorious triumph or mad retreat but a long, slow dying as exhausted soldiers fell until the few still on their feet all were on the same side.

Not the protagonist's side.

Desperately they tried to will themselves back up to their feet, tried to force numb fingers to close around the sword that lay in the mud beside them. But their body was done, helpless as the tired enemy soldiers picked their way closer and closer, methodically stripping bodies of any small valuables and finishing off any wounded still alive.

The protagonist prayed frantically to any god they thought might hear them. The god of war. The god of peace. The god from any temple and roadside shrine they could ever remember visiting. They wracked their brain. Dead. They'd have to pretend to be dead. They could do that. They were half there already, just slow their breathing and don't catch anyone's...

They turned their head and saw the god of war looking straight at them.

Like everyone else on the battlefield the god was spattered with blood, from her cropped hair to her armored boots. She could have been any soldier from any nation - except for the terrible red joy in her eyes as she beheld the devastation wrought.

"Hello, little sacrifice," she said without moving her lips. She pointed, and as if puppeted, one of the enemy soldiers started to turn their head -

A clean boot crunched down next to the protagonist's head. Then another, stepping carefully over them to place themselves between the god and the protagonist. The protagonist looked up at a figure straight out of their childhood.

The god of war stopped.

"Are you serious?" she sneered.

The god of the protagonist's childhood village shrine shrugged, strumming his fingers thoughtfully over the lute in his hands. Unlike the murals, the statues, he was not dressed in fine court robes but in simple traveler clothes, his hair pulled back into a plain knot. But just as the protagonist remembered, he seemed impossibly tall. Impossibly beautiful.

"Spare this one," the god asked, stilling those long clever hands on the strings. "Please. This one is mine."

The god of war laughed. "You think you can challenge me, godling? Me? Here? At the height of my strength? Flee back to whatever muddy temple you escaped from and maybe I'll let you survive, you jumped up deity of bad chords and tasteless lyrics."

"Oh, I'm no god of anything so prevalent," the protagonist's god murmured humbly. "And I'm not here to challenge you, great one. Say rather, we're here to bargain. After all, this one has something that can benefit you."

The god shot the protagonist a look. The protagonist knew this line from the stories of their childhood.

"A song!" they blurted. "A - an epic about what happened here, about you, to make all who hear it shout and weep and... and honor your name."

The god of war... paused. Tilted their head.

"A fitting tribute to your potency," their god chimed in, the melody from their lute drifting into a martial fanfare. "From a god-touched bard. Surely that makes them worth more alive than dead."

A shout went up from the other side of the field. Someone was up and swords were swinging. The god of war waved an impatient hand, already disappearing towards the fight. "Fine. But I expect my song. I'll hold you responsible, godling. I don't forget!"

She was gone and the god of the protagonist's childhood turned to look down at them. "Well," he said, reaching out a hand to pull the protagonist up. "I hope you can actually write music."

"Seems like a priority to learn," the protagonist said fervently, and their god of trickery and bargains laughed and hauled them away.

[forgotten-retrouvaille]

ON INVESTIGATIONS INTO UMBRELLA .

JULY 24TH : Arklay Incident. Valentine and several others escape the Mansion, while the rest of the team isn't so lucky. Witnessed the betrayal and subsequent death of Captain Albert Wesker.

"I've made it out of that fucking place. Damn it , damn it to hell. None of us made it out — that is, except me, Chris, Barry, and Rebecca. Hospital's got us locked down for the next couple days while they run a few scans. This is fucking bullshit. I want out. Now." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

JULY 27TH : Physically stable. Valentine discharges herself from hospital and leaves to start her investigation. Police station files are raided on specific individuals, and she opts to collect her own information herself. Irons is briefly considered as a potential collaborator with Wesker, and a skeleton of evidence collection is built on him, but it remains barebones. Valentine confronts Irons on the events, and is subsequently suspended indefinitely — or at the very least, until he makes a decision.

"I'm going to go crazy if they keep me cooped up in there longer. I feel fine — I have to find out who the hell was behind all this. For everybody's sake. Maybe the station will have some answers. I have to get in there before my clearances are revoked." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

JULY 28TH — 29TH : Valentine begins to look more into newspaper clippings of cannabilism rumors. They are the first pieces of evidence to be collected and added onto her newly created murderboard, and she suspects something strange about it. Connections are drawn to illegally-gained footage of something only given to her as "CASE 101", and from there, imagery of new medical symptoms courtesy of her own contacts.

"These have been cropping up ever since before Bravo went out to investigate. Connected? I know what I saw. Did it come from that place we investigated ourselves? Some part of me wouldn't be surprised. Not after what I saw."

"-- This doesn't seem natural. I want to be wrong, but who the hell knows if I can afford that kind of hope? Rebecca will have better insight into these pieces. I'll ask her, when she's ready for it." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 1-5 : Investigations into Arklay, Spencer Mansion and the surrounding area are looked into and studied by Valentine during her suspension.

"Northwest of the city and our biggest tourist trap. Possesses medicinal herbs unique to the area. Spencer Mansion was here, and so is an unmarked set of buildings I suspect are long abandoned. Might be worth checking out. Source of the cannabilism rumors. Suppose I can rule that one out." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 7-10 : Investigations into Umbrella officially begin. Results come back with a connection between the name "Spencer" and the founder of the pharmaceutical company.

"Oswell E. Spencer. Founder of Umbrella — and most likely owner of that mansion we came across. Connected in some way? Why else would that specific place have been chosen? I think Umbrella's got something to do with this. No company is that trustworthy." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 11-14 : A connection between Umbrella and the R.P.D. is established and discovered.

"Records of communication between unidentified individuals with Umbrella emails and addresses contacting the station for reasons that I'm unsure of. Someone's been getting paid off. You assholes think this is a game? Playing with people's goddamn lives for a little bit of cash?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 15-18 : Investigations into chief researchers Annette and William Birkin begin.

"If anyone is going to know anything about engineered chemicals and viral properties, it's going to be one of these two. I doubt anybody else is going to have the clearance — or maybe I'm being led down a wild goose chase. Fuck. I need some sleep." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 19-22 : Irons begins to catch on. Valentine switches her attention to him and begins building a case properly, using federal connections.

"Something tells me he's not so innocent in this either. He's catching on, called me last night to ask about missing files. I'll need to look into him next. Corruption? Don't know why else he'd be trying to stop me from going through with this." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 23-26 : Investigations into researchers return with significant results. It's not the whole story, but maybe several steps closer into figuring out this hellhole.

"Annette and William Birkin. Leading virologists employed by Umbrella. Connection to the bioengineered virus? The latter received his degree at a young age. Both are married and rarely seen outside of the company facilities, as far as eyewitnesses say. Annette strikes me as a potential collaborator. William . . note to self, look into when I have more of a chance." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 26-29 : Investigations into Umbrella return fruitful. She all but confirms their involvement and does some more digging into current developments, and uses samples gained from contaminated clothing and items from Arklay to arrive at a conclusion surrounding potential biological weaponry.

"Pharmaceuticals company, industry leader in market share."

"Focuses on military weapons development while maintaining cover as a pharmaceutical company. Also secretly developing bioweapons. "

"T-Virus outbreak at Arklay Mountains research facility . Predicated the "mansion incident" . Conspiring with Raccoon City leadership. Large donations to Mayor Warren's office, and effectively controls the city." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 30 - SEPTEMBER 5 : Umbrella Executives are looked into, and curiosity upon how deep the rabbit hole went are brought up. Brad briefly manages to contact her at this time, though little to no information was able to be shared.

"Managed to gain access to footage of a few of the top brass. Always being followed around by some sort of security detail. All of this is just pointing me more and more into the fact that they knew this was going to happen, and don't want to deal with backlash. Wonder how many at the top approved all this?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 6 - 11 : Investigations into medical properties and the creation of the virus itself begins.

"Managed to uncover a very small amount of details on whatever this was. Sent it for testing to a friend of mine, and hoping it'll give me some sort of further insight when results come back. If it made everybody go crazy — it's never going to be any good. -- Would any of us still be infected?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 12-17 : Valentine's research is caught onto. Umbrella and/or Irons assign a group of hired staff to occupy the apartment across from hers and keep an eye on her to ensure she doesn't leave or spread information she shouldn't have. Orders are to maintain position and silence if necessary.

"A new group's moved into the apartment across from me. Curtains never close and I never see them out and about. It's either one hell of a timing, or I'm just being paranoid. This whole thing is making me try and see things that might or might not be there, but I can't risk anything when I'm this close to finding out. I'll just have to keep an eye on things and try not to let it get to my head." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 18-23 : Plans are made with an outside friend who organized a night extraction on the 30th of September, in order to get her out of the city and somewhere safe for the time being.

"Worst month of my life. I have someone who'll help extract me out of the city in a few days, so guess I just have to hold out until then, without going insane. Something's off, I can feel it, I just . . I'll have to finish packing, and soon. I don't want to leave anything behind for these assholes to get their hands on. Who knows what they'll cover up?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 23-28 : The culmination of her investigation. Research into the T-virus is largely complete, dossiers of important individuals, scientists and corrupted figures have been collected and stored safely. Two days until extraction.

SEPTEMBER 25TH : "They've got me pinned down at home. Guys across the street are watching me from their window 24/7. Are they Irons' men? Umbrella's? I don't know, and there's no real difference anyway."

" know what they're trying to do. They want to wear me down, torment me into compliance, and it's working. I'm barely eating, barely sleeping..."

"I'm going crazy. I feel like the living dead."

"But I won't let them win. I have to get out of the city and find a way to make them accountable. They'll send someone to silence me, of course. If you hear that I've been killed...or whatever it is they do to people like me...you MUST pick up the investigation where I left off. I've enclosed my files. They'll tell you everything you need to know, as long as this package isn't intercepted."

"I'll be moving out at night. Five days."

"Wish me luck." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 26TH: "It's already been two months since that mess with Umbrella. Thanks to the suspension, investigations haven't progressed exactly as I'd hoped. Perhaps this written record of what I've found will prove to be my final duty as a S.T.A.R.S. officer... I can only hope that it helps lead to the truth."

"The T-Virus ."

"Those infected by this virus seem to become literal zombies. It appears to be communicable via several different avenues, outlined below:"

"Bite from an infected individual, allowing the mixing of bodily fluids, or contact with crows which have eaten infected carrion, and due to the strength of the virus, airborne infection cannot be discounted. It should be noted that those who survived the incident have not yet developed symptoms. It's unclear whether this is because the virus has a long incubation period, or because we just happened to be resistant to the infection. We ought to remain vigilant, even after this investigation period ends."

"As for me—aside from my minor difficulties sleeping—I seem to be in fine shape. Still, I shouldn't get too hopeful. After all, this could just be an extended incubation." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 29: Raccoon City Incident begins. No further records could be recovered at this time.

"You have to get out of there!" — ???

[theamityelf]

(Kamukuras AU Masterlist)

"So, Kamukoto," Junko says, twirling a strand of her voluminous hair around one manicured finger and smacking her gum in a way that is meant to downplay the inside knowledge she's just demonstrated by half-using the name 'Kamukura'. "What do you think of my nails today?"

He is sitting beside her on a bench close to the main school building. He's wearing the hoodie the class gave him. His thick, brown hair he has taken to trimming at just past shoulder length and tying back in a ponytail, with a bunny hair tie that Junko also gave him. The bunny has a tracker inside, which he knows and allows. (It's not as if Byakuya's nearest home address was classified in the first place.)

His eyes are still bright red, because he eventually decided against using colored contacts for his classmates' benefit.

Perhaps his first demonstration of personal identity, though the choice itself was a passive one.

"I think I...don't like them," he answers honestly.

"Color me deeply offended," she replies, with barely a veneer of offense. "Why not?"

"Well, that seems to be the same polish that was used to ruin the personalized comic Hifumi made for me, which heavily implicates you as the one who did it. Also the saturation doesn't quite match the color of your lipstick. An extra coat would have rectified that."

"Oh, good, you picked up on that first one. I was worried I hadn't done enough to take credit for my gift. When did you know it was me?"

"Within a second of Hifumi tearfully showing me his ruined comic. Was I supposed to mention it out loud?"

"No, but a glance or wink would be very validating for me."

"By validating, you mean reinforcing the behavior?"

"Maybe."

"What kind of acknowledgement would you find least validating?"

She hoots with laughter, pinching his cheek hard enough to break the skin. "Ice cold, you lab rat!"

"Kyoko said I'm allowed to be unaccommodating with people when I feel like it. I wasn't sure what kind of feeling she was talking about at the time, but I think this is it. Was that good, for you?"

"Aww, you even negotiate your kink after the fact! You're so precious, I'd cut you open if someone hadn't beat me to it. Still might," she adds in singsong.

He gently removes her hand from his face. "Speaking of, I've also been asked not to let people hurt me."

"Uh-oh! Am I in trouble?"

"My friends have said they won't harm my classmates unless..." He trails off. "You'll be fine. I might have to make this minor injury look like it was caused by something other than fingernails. Next time I'll remember to stop you."

"What else were you asked not to let people do to you?" Junko purrs.

He blinks, considering her and deciding what to make of the subtext of her question.

"Makoto!" Nagito greets, walking up to them (having presumably stealthed over until he announced himself at ten feet away) without even the pretense of having to look around.

He's dressed in bright-colored, loose-legged pants and a crop top, with jewelry in a seemingly-random subset of the many piercings he's given himself since escaping the labs. His hair is about as thick as Makoto's, but not as curly, and he's allowed it to grow just past the small of his back with only a few streaks of dye throughout (in a rare show of restraint, which is unlikely to last). In one hand, he is absentmindedly twirling a closed umbrella.

"The Ultimate Yakuza mistook me for this body's former occupant on my way here," he continues. "I kissed him on the mouth, of course. His reaction suggested that was incorrect. Ready to come home? Because I'm allowed to use force, if you're reluctant."

"Oh." After a few seconds of sustained eye contact, Makoto says, "I'm...reluctant?"

"Thank you!" Nagito says, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder.

Junko opts to interject, now. "Hi there, Kamukomaeda. Remember me?"

"The noisy, impudent one who forgets she's beneath us!" Nagito says delightedly, his bright red eyes actually landing on Junko for the first time. "Good afternoon. I see you've slightly injured my favorite compeer. I wouldn't want to be you when our predecessor sees it."

"Why? Do you think Izuru-sama will finally grace me with his presence? Because don't get me wrong, botched experiments are totes my type, but I am just itching to get my hands on the original; my sources say he actually came out as intended."

"You put a lot of stock in the intentions of our inferiors," Nagito muses (still carrying Makoto on one shoulder). "Understandable, as one yourself. But you're mistaken if you believe provoking our predecessor's wrath will earn you his attention for very long. If he feels moved to confront you, it's unlikely you'll have time to talk."

"And here I thought you were the fun one."

"Also understandable. I present as such because I frequently entertain myself." Nagito casually puts up his umbrella just in time, as someone empties a bottle of formaldehyde out of a window above them. The angle of the umbrella causes the fluids to trickle down the back of Junko's shirt. "Good afternoon, Ultimate Fashionista."

"Bye, Junko," Makoto adds, as Nagito turns to leave. "You should soak those clothes in a bucket of hot water with a cup and a half of baking soda for at least eight hours, then rinse them with cold water and leave them to air dry."

[adamsrcnan]

okay i'll bite, here's my jeremy knox speculations !!!

it's nothing super outrageous in my opinion, as fun and interesting as that would be, but alas lets dig in.

with regards to the police, his step grandfather is a congressman which means his step father probably has political ties too. this could mean they have ties to the police force perhaps involved in funding or something?? hence why jeremy would be recognised by them bc he gets forced to go to these occasions to paint a perfect family picture and maybe they're full of cops?? and maybe that's just not something he wants to be associated with lmao. cannot blame him now can we?

rhemann tells jean he can ask jeremy to leave the vicinity if he wants to press charges and call the cops i don't think this is because jeremy could get in trouble or anything bc i don't think rhemann would risk that. i think it's just because him being there might have sway or might lead to more gossip among the force that jean would wanna avoid. and if rhemann knows about whatever this weird avoiding police thing is i'm not sure it would be something so horrible??

in terms of his past. personally i don't agree jeremy was aggressive as a teen. i read him talking about his high school team as more of a "they played that way. i didn't vibe with it. i wanted to make sure my college team wasn't the same" i mean it's basically what he says he doesn't imply anything else but again the guy is closed off as HECK so god knows. but i don't think jeremy has an aggressive tendency. i feel like, given how the foxes have their entire lives pried into, if jeremy had such a reputation in the past (being in a class 1 team and captain of it no less) it would be known. and jean would know bc of kevin's obsession. like that would be a huge scandal.

i don't think he's done anything crazy like murder or manslaughter or has any assault charge. although that screenshot i posted a couple days ago is very Very sus, i think it might stem from how his family makes him feel about himself. because again i don't think he'd be able to keep any of that hidden.

UNLESS it's been all swept under the rug thanks to the political ties from the step family, and maybe that's why they dislike him so much. but again i think it's all a bit far fetched bc i don't think jeremy would be able to be so well adjusted after something like that, even after attending therapy.

which brings me to my next point, which is where he mentioned his mother finding the therapist for him and his family as he says "us" when talking about it which means they all see this therapist and jean mentions jeremy does not seem bothered to be exposed for having to go to therapy. i think if he was in therapy bc he did something really terrible he wouldn't want it known. especially if it's meant to be swept under the rug. i think this is in relation to the mysterious brother and the possibility of losing them to suicide. as he becomes very serious when jean says he promised he wouldn't kill himself saying it's nothing to joke about. also his concern for jean's wellbeing after ravens start dropping like flies maybe bc he knows how the grief feels.

thought that could also be a far fetched speculation because jeremy says the fall banquet broke their family in half. it's obvious his step family and his older brother and younger sister are not on his side, his mother sounds questionable too. so maybe that just leaves his other brother and his father and again maybe it's just a case of them being supportive of jeremy's sexuality.

there's also a brief mention of jeremy's dad being stationed in europe - some kind of military man?? since his mother re-married there's definitely something there too. maybe jeremy still keeps in touch with his father and it's not appreciated by the rest of the family? idk this one's a bit of a stretch but i feel like it might crop up again. what with jeremy not wanting to be addressed as "knox" as well - is that his father's name or his step father's name??? why does he not like it??

moving on to the scandal at the fall banquet i think this has to do with jeremy getting outed for being gay. lucas before cutting himself off at the beach says "now that you're.." implying they didn't know before so maybe jeremy was keeping it under wraps but got involved with someone from another team (???) at the banquet and got caught. his step grandfather and step father, and brother are probably very conservative and of course did not agree with jeremy's "lifestyle" and i think this had consequences on the whole family as it probably got out and "tarnished" their image. jeremy was probably asked to give up exy so as not to get involved with all "that" and he obviously refused. punishment for that probably meant his sister not caring for his games anymore as he wouldn't compromise for her, him getting put on a strict allowance and his mother's bookkeeper having to keep up with his expenses bc he's only given a certain amount of money. maybe a way for them to take back control over his life?? it also could explain why he has to stay at home during the school year so they can keep an eye on him perhaps??? also him getting dismissed from the dinner table bc of his hair as well idk sounds like his family are probs homophobic. also kind of a stretch but mayyyybeee the reason jeremy feels so bad is because he got the person he was involved with into trouble so he feels like a terrible person. but again there's really no alluding to that or implication i'm basically just taking a wild guess. but i feel like it would make some sort of sense

TLDR; i think jeremy's big "scandal" was that he's gay and his step family are just not accepting so they make his life difficult on purpose and he struggles to stand up to them about it

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Big Party

I'm going to do something a little bit different with 1135, because the #1 I'll focus on post-Wano is anything that feels narratively odd or subversive. And now that we're here, it's worth pointing out how Elbaf has accomplished that. We're having a big party upon our arrival. Only other time that's happened in One Piece is Whiskey Peak and it was a ruse. Do I think the Giants are as duplicitous? Hell no, but here we're seeing the type of scene you'd see after the climax of a major One Piece arc at the beginning. Even if it makes sense logically, in terms of telling a story that is interesting.

Especially when we have our disruptive forces working in the background. Loki is a wild card and now we have him explicitly tied to these invaders. Not-Shanks and this mystery woman who may or may not be the Mosa that Loki was talking to last time. Though I feel like if they had contact with him they wouldn't need to ask where he is. Nor does it feel like anything shady on the Elbaf side when they first assume the pair are with the Straw Hats, though it is rather interesting they don't comment on the Shanks lookalike. Maybe Red Hair isn't super well known here? No matter what else, don't forget Louis Arnot's warning. Don't linger on Elbaf.

I wanted to lead with that because it makes the rest of the chapter's fluffier moments take on an interesting tone. We have that weird vibe where normal happenings have a precedent and this is a great example. The perv face really drills it in right? This is incredibly reminiscent of Momonosuke. I think it's interesting that Luffy is so bitter about the more peaceful generation of Elbaf children. Especially when it's a split reaction from the crew. It makes perfect sense for Sanji to feel the way he does. But I kinda see where Luffy's coming from too.

These kids were freaking out about a swing going too high. They hate Collun for acting...kinda just like a fairly normal little boy in our world. There's peaceful and there's being a bunch of little wiener kids. And these kids feel like it's swung so hard the other way they might actually grow up into adults who can't defend themselves. This is developing into a really compelling reversal of our expectations for this island, even moreso given what I already wanted to see out of Usopp after his experience with the downsides of a culture of honor. I feel like the parallels between Wano & Elbaf are a great opportunity to really play with that iconic Doflamingo line about the difference between kids who have only known peace and those who have only known war.

But hey, at least they have Collun. And is this new info that the barmaid's name is Mato? Sanji no one wants parenting advice from you. This is cool, Ripley's Collun's mom but what we learn after is even more interesting. That the boy is only half-giant with a human father. Which implies a fun snu-snu situation and that's neat. Zoro's not the only one who likes sizeable women.

Don't forget, a few chapters ago Mato sent Collun with favorite foods for both parents. So that implies his dad is still around on the island. Given the loose marriage Ripley explains and other Sabaody vibes through Stansen's story cropping up, good job remembering that Luffy, I'm definitely leaning hard to the theory the guy we saw roaming around might just be Scopper Gaban. Ripley does say he's a former pirate and it'd all make sense, on top of giving us a true "prize" out of Elbaf as an arc. In the sense that Gaban like Rayleigh is a great way to learn a few things about the road ahead. Which at this point is now completely undefined. Especially with Lilith and Bonney talking about getting residence permits it really cements that Elbaf is a lateral move from Egghead. We haven't had that element of how long the Log takes to reset really define an island in some time either so look out for that.

And finally...this was just cute. So Gerd has a thing for making human-sized clothes? I love her more and more the more time we spend with her. She's gonna be my dedicated Elbaf blorbo isn't she? Gotta complete the set and these all look great.

[personification-of-darkness]

Ive been meaning to do this for a little while but your post reminded me to finally stop being scared to.

I agree that trans women are forever talked over in the community. You do not deserve that treatment, not at all. And i agree also that transmisogyny is rampant both on and offline. But... I've seen you say to other askers before that you want to be disproven or challenged on things or views and I'm going to try to do so here? If that's not the case, feel free to ignore this or delete it, I'll continue to be here and support you all even if we see things slightly differently.

i do not think that all trans men experience male privelege over ANY women the same way all cis men do? genuinely trying to understand how that would work. from what I've seen and experienced as someone on T and with elevated T levels from birth, only men that are seen as men are being treated with that priveledge in the outside world and in public? i am still not safe at night alone, i am still approached and followed, I'm still solicited and not taken seriously, whereas a cis man (or an unclockable trans guy even?) wouldnt have to worry about those things, but i do, so I'm wondering what part of male priveledge i have? And I'm asking you to challenge how black and white and absolute you seem to be seeing things, i suppose? And if I'm wrong, to please explain to me how so I can understand.

thank you for this i truly do appreciate it. im sorry but i think you have to go to someone else for big questions on how this stuff works im just. i just wanted something to make sense of why i feel so isolated? maybe is the term from other lgbt people.

you are absolutely right about the black and white thinking and genuinely i did not notice that going on until now i am horribly unaware of myself and actively try to not know things about myself.

my feelings on this stuff come from a lot of places. its. my first exposure to queer stuff i believe was a simpsons episode as a kid where one of marges cousins? sisters? was a lesbian and getting married and then it gets revealed that the person shes marrying is actually a man pretending to be a woman and this reveal happens by him pissing in the toilet while singing about how hes pretending to be a woman and fooling everyone.

and stuff like that just crops up everywhere i tried rewatching a tv show last year and episode 2 has a character literally named "anny the tranny" in it whos whole character is just haha man pretending to be woman.

its just. its so much stuff like and seeing people constantly reject trans girl readings of characters while every character under the sun gets top surgery scars slapped on for fun yay self expression.

at my second time ever being at a pride parade there was some people outside the area who singled me out of the group and said smth about therr being smth wrong with us all and said oh you have a man in a skirt here.

right. its just. it just hurts and i havent seen anything remotely similar happen to trans men and idk its possible its just me not knowing stuff but this is what ive experienced and seen myself. and with that all comes a lot of pain and its all just so unfair people like me kept being kicked to the curb and i just i just wanted something to make it make sense.

i dont know how all this stuff works i know its meant as a like society wide thing not as a thing that fits every single individual perfectly.

i didnt really do much to try and understand it well i just wanted something to make sense out of what ive seen and experienced in my life and it just it validated that it said that im not alone in what ive experienced and seen.

and im sorry for if ive hurt anyone with taking this too far, its not from a place of malice. i have all this stuff thats happened and i dont even know how to begin to approach recovering from any of this especially since i just wish none of this was a thing about me.

[solarmorrigan]

Hello! I was tagged for this by the marvelous @paperbackribs about... *checks watch* four months ago! I'm so late, I'm sorry, time is meaningless and slippery!

How many works do you have on AO3? 300 (!)

What’s your total AO3 word count? 976,101

What fandoms do you write for?

At the moment, I'm only writing for Stranger Things, but I've written things for about 40ish fandoms over the years.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

In Phony Matrimony [Fantastic Beasts]

Shared Space [Homestuck]

Simple Association [James Bond - Craig movies]

Made with Love (and Yarn) [Stranger Things]

These Days I'm Fine (These Days I Tend to Lie) [Stranger Things]

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I used to get fewer comments, and it was easier to respond to each of them. Having recently been in some much larger fandoms, though, I've kind of been getting overwhelmed and have fallen behind. I'm so grateful that people take the time to even just send a little heart--to tell me that they read this thing and enjoyed it--and I'd love to respond to everyone, but at this rate I'm not quite sure I'll manage to catch up D:

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably either For the Love of You (James Bond, established 00Q, in which Bond is forced to go after Q when he turns out to be a traitor) or either of the fics in the Forever and Ever, Amen series (also James Bond, 00Q, in which Q is a necromancer and won't let Bond die). I've written other dark things, but I tend towards hopeful endings even with those

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most things I've written! I'm a big fan of happily ever after and I write a lot of short fluff pieces. But as far as fics where the happy ending is sort of earned, I'd say maybe He Dreams, Until Such Time (Hades game, gen, in which Hypnos is the Elysium boss fight after having been banished from the House, and Zagreus finds a way to get him back in) or We Have Surplus If We Need It (Pacific Rim, established Newmann, in which Newt tries to figure out who he is in a post-kaiju world and cooks a lot about it)

Do you get hate on fics?

Not particularly. I've gotten a few randos trying to tell me off for writing slash, and one or two people who were clearly just mad at a specific trope and happened to land on my fic, but I've been very fortunate to get largely positive feedback

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I do! I'm not sure it's exactly my strongest suit (and, in fact, often worry that it's not very good at all), but I guess I keep at it?? I've written PWP and plotularly significant smut before; whatever serves my purposes at the time

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not often, but I have! The first fic I ever tried writing on my own was a Buffy/Scooby-Doo crossover, and I've written a fair bit for Gravity Falls/Over the Garden Wall. Not sure how wild either of those are, though?

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I've been alerted to, but I've been posting fic for something like 20 years now, so it wouldn't surprise me if at least one of them has cropped up elsewhere under someone else's name

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yyyyyes...? Pretty sure I remember that happening! I think it was over on ff dot net, so I don't remember which one it was. Good odds it was one of my Criminal Minds fics, though

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

A few times! I've done RP-style co-writing, round robins, half-and-half, and just plain collaborating. Most of them never reached the point of being able to publish, but they were still fun

What’s your all time favorite ship?

Gotta confess: I don't think I have one. My favorite is usually whatever I'm focusing on at the time; I don't dislike ones I've shipped previously, but they tend to settle fondly into the background once I've left a fandom

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I had a whole Stranger Things fic planned out exploring the potential relationship between Steve and his mom, and I'd love to get at least the bare bones of that done, but there's something about it that just kind of refuses to come

What are your writing strengths?

Characterization and emotion. Emotion is something I feel like I don't identify particularly well in real life, but I think I'm pretty good at getting the intended response from people in my writing. (Also maybe dialogue, but that's just so fun to write)

What are your writing weaknesses?

I! Am! Impatient! I tend to rush through things sometimes and screw the pacing up or skip over important details because I worry writing it out in full will take too long and I'll lose interest. I can also get a little too rigid in trying to achieve a particular outcome, instead of letting the story flow

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I don't tend to do it, but that's because I'm only fluent in English and don't want to jar anyone with a bad auto-translate job. If someone is speaking another language, I usually try to find a way to signify that based on whether or not the POV character also knows that language

First fandom you wrote for?

It was either HP (forgive me, this was over 20 years ago) or Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Scooby-Doo (crossover fic I wrote when I was, like, nine?)

Favorite fic you’ve written?

Ever?? In my life?? My dude, I could pick a favorite per fandom maybe, but just straight up favorite?? I cannot. Of things written more recently, I'm very fond of Under My Skin (Steddie, exploring the possibility of Steve with physical scars). Of things written slightly less recently, I still have a complicated soft spot for We Have Surplus If We Need It

Gently tagging (if you've already done this, I'm sorry, just ignore me): @spiritofcamelot @ato-the-bean @puppy-steve @emchant3d @lexirosewrites

[sapchats]

Wait omg thats so cute stop it 💗😭 what other buildings do u have in that server? i need some inspo if u dont mind sharing ＼(^-^)／

THANK U heres everything i have so far ft me yapping about it all by god do i yap my ass off im so sorry if all u wanted was pictures im incapable of not talking about literally anything. my bad. :3

barn area for my animals + a cute little interior that's technically extra storage space but i dont really use it

MY HOUSE ! the stone + glass thing to the left is my automatic composter setup built off my personal wheat farm (i like to enclose all my crop farms with stone walls bc i think it gives it ~character~ and also it looks pretty) this is a pretty far away picture of my house tho so have another one i took a while ago:

this area has the barn to the left which u already saw and then the storage house in the middle and then my villager breeding area on the right + what's eventually going to be a bee farm in front of it (idrk if i like the placement of it and the build itself just feels very in the way so i'll probably scatter single beehives throughout the entire town space BUT IDK YET!)

storage house ! pumpkin patch to the left and wheat field to the right (it's for when i want to breed the villagers) the inside still isn't entire organized bc well im honestly really bad about putting things in the "correct" chests but im working on it and one day it'll be finished trust

villager breeding house U cant see him rn but there's actually an iron golem that somehow spawned on the upper floor?? ive named him jeff. he goes and stands in the window sometimes but he was being really shy today :/ the random block on the right of the screen is literally there bc an enderman placed it there for some reason and i havent broken it yet

nether portal ! ive only gone through once to check out the spawn but el spent the time to make a path to the world spawn portal (which is where literally everyone else settled lmfao - i originally just set out exploring but i found this area and thought it was cute enough to live in) but anyway i do eventually want to replace the dirt circle, which took freaking forever to lay out btw never build circles in this game ever, with stone + cobble and maybe add some detail to the actual portal it's very up in the air rn. and i do eventually want to put some builds in the actual nether (also way off to the right u can see 2 torches, theyre framing the entrance to my mine where i get all of my cobblestone/deepslate and it leads to my strip mine, im eventually going to add a little mining outpost there and expand it i just havent gotten around to it)

lava farm / mass smelting area + a small crop farm i think it's just carrots and potatoes back there. i actually hate how i did the roof (i play on 90 fov so ifl maybe the angle i was at for this screenshot is fucking with my view of it ?) but things got weird bc i had to scramble to place it and also was replacing the original wood roof with diorite bc who knew lava makes wood catch on fire :/ but it's cute enough i think and it's also really practical i ran out of coal pretty early on this was the 2nd thing i built!

small tiny little enchanting house (got inspiration from some photo on pinterest that i cant find rn rip) bc when i finally decided to start enchanting my stuff i realized i didnt really have enough space for it in my house like i usually do unless i added a basement and i really did not want to do that and i like this better anyway!!! level 30 enchantments + a space to store my lapis + it's just so cute :) downside is theres always like mob sounds bc there's a cave entrance somewhere in this area that i literally just covered up with dirt so

and this is the trading hall + sugarcane farm for paper! followed a youtube tutorial for this one bc ive never really dealt with trading and wanted to make sure i didnt build something really wrong or whatever i had to change the block palette a little to fit the rest of my builds (im a huge fan of spruce and stone if u couldnt tell) but i think it's cute! im still really bad at dealing with villagers tho ive accidentally suffocated a few trying to get them in their spots and theres been some that have been attacked by zombies bc i leave them trapped in boats outside while i go to do other things.......nothing is my fault ever remember this

some extra things bc im nothing if i dont overexplain literally anything i do:

im using complementary shaders unbound bc i think theyre pretty

resource packs autumn biomes + fall pack for the fall theme (this is how im getting the red leaves and the leaf piles on the ground, i'll prob change it once it's christmas-time)

some extra resource packs: flowering crops, fast better grass, and a font change one!

tons of cats spawn and ive tamed + bred a few of them i have i think 6 and am working on naming them all (if i dont have 2 cats called jett and operator in every minecraft world i play on i'll Die.) and i eventually want to venture back to a forest i found and grab a wolf or 2 as well :)

the giant spruce trees in the background of some of the photos were planted by me bc i use spruce in pretty much every single thing i build bc well i like it

EVENTUALLY i do want to let the villagers run free to make the area more lively (i have a slab blocking the door so they cant get out lmfao) but not everything is done rn so theyre staying in their house for now. although i did think about building each one a small little house and giving them jobs and letting them live there thats like. a lot of work. so idk if im gonna do that

build progression if u care: house + wheat farm -> mining area (that i still havent finished oops) -> lava farm -> barn (started out just as fenced pens but i decided i hated that and built an actual space for them) -> storage hall bc i was running out of space -> sugarcane farm -> i found a village over the mountain behind my house and decided i might as well start breeding back home so i built them their own little house next to mine (this is when the 2nd wheat farm got built) -> decided the empty space in between the barn + storage hall was getting to me and built the pumpkin patch -> iron farm WHICH I DIDNT SHOW it's actually a good distance behind the storage hall -> built the trading hall bc why not -> laid out the area for the nether portal -> enchantment table to get some basic enchants on my tools bc the villagers were frustrating me and sitting there rerolling trades was annoying -> actually built the nether portal -> started to work on some detailing, added in some trees in the main area + added coarse dirt, fence, lanterns to the paths -> built bee farm area (might change tho)

and (sorry) ALSO theres a lot of empty space and everything but im working on making paths and adding details around to make it feel like a really connected area instead of just a bunch of builds! i was waiting until i had most of the builds i wanted in place/planned but im kind of stuck on what else to add to really tie the space together especially at the back towards the enchanting house yk but im not too worried about it rn im just having fun :D

anyway thank u for coming to this month's yap about my current interests with jo i hope u enjoyed if u read this far yippee yay wahoo ily

[atwooozi]

Almost Perfect (Sebastian x Fem!Farmer) Chapter 3: Friday

Warnings: Slow burn, personal struggles, anxiety, depression, eventual smut

Summary: It's Friday which means Angeline will be doing what she can to integrate herself with the townspeople of Pelican Town at the saloon. One of the things she so desperately wanted when she moved out here was to feel like she was part of something and hopefully that happens.

A/N: When writing this I kept going back and forth on whether I wanted to include characters from SVE and I decided plot-wise it would make a lot of sense for Sebastian's character arc. It might be a bit clumsy, but I'll try my best to include a majority of the characters where I think it makes sense.

READ ON AO3

Chapter 3: Friday

Spring 5

Angeline dusted herself off and checked her phone. It was 3:30, and she still had time before meeting Sam and his friends. He didn’t specify when Angeline should meet up with them but he mentioned them getting there around 5:30. Since she had been here Angeline had met a handful of people and while they were nice she was looking forward to meeting more people around her age. 

She had met Alex, and while he was handsome he made her feel so small. While she didn’t want to take it to heart she couldn’t help but be put off by him. When she told him her name he seemed to outright refuse to learn it, settling just for farmgirl. It felt dehumanizing. Not to mention Haley. Haley was stunning, like a model. However, Haley’s beauty couldn’t cover up the way she looked Angeline over and brushed her off when she tried to introduce herself. It made Angeline feel like she was back in high school all over again. 

At least Sam was nice. Who was she kidding? Sam embodied sunshine. He was pure goodness put into a lanky blonde. Angeline hoped his friends were the same. She couldn’t really handle the high school antics for a second time when she was teen that was more than enough for her. 

Angeline looked around her farm. She made quick work of it once Lewis and Robin left. She cleared what she could and while that wasn’t much given her rusty tools it was enough to plant her first batch of crops. She was proud of herself, truly. She wasn’t completely sure if she was going to make it three days before calling her dad, begging to be picked up. Maybe it was just out of spite that she was making so much progress, but she didn’t care. Angeline had kept plants in Zuzu and they did okay, but this was going to be her livelihood now she needed it to be perfect or at least worth the effort she put in.

Angeline put her tools away and went inside her cabin, grabbing her makeup bag and some toiletries to freshen up a bit at the spa. She couldn’t believe that her grandpa did this every day. She had never felt so sore in her life. As she made her way up north she spotted the man that lived in the yellow tent near Robin’s house. She gave him a small wave and he hurried off in the opposite direction when they made eye contact. Angeline frowned, aside from Lewis, Robin, Sam, and Marnie everyone else felt stand-offish (at least of the few that she met) like back in Zuzu. She stopped herself, it hadn’t even been a full week yet she couldn’t give up yet. She was new, and a new person wasn’t necessarily something that happened in Pelican Town often. They would warm up to her. She would have friends and she was going to make this work. She had to.  

~*~

Angeline made her way to townsquare and took in the scenery. A general store, a clinic, and a saloon all within a few feet of each other. Angeline liked it, in Zuzu if she wanted to hit up the grocery store, her doctor’s office, and a decent restaurant she would take at least two different trains not even including the train she would need to take, plus, the 15 minute walk that she would then need to take from the station to her apartment. 

Angeline was about to check out the bulletin board when she bumped into someone. 

“Oh I’m so sorry.” The red head gaped. “I was just trying to look at the calendar. “ 

Angeline shook her head and smiled at the girl. She looked a bit like Robin. Was this Maru? “My name is Angeline. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” 

“I’m Penny.” The red head smiled and held out her hand. Okay, so not Maru. Just another red head. Not all red heads are related, Angeline. 

Angeline smile and shook Penny’s hand. Her hand was slim and a bit cold. Penny was pretty. Angeline could picture Penny being the star of one of those cheesy rom-coms where the jaded-city business exec tries to buy up a historical building to place condos in the quiet town, but Penny would win them over with her charm and down-to-earth feel. 

“I should be going. I still need to get this one home.” Penny gestured and looked towards a boy with strawberry blonde hair. Are they related? Angeline couldn’t really tell if she was going just by hair then it was definitely a maybe. 

Angeline nodded, “Have a nice night. It was nice meeting you Penny.” 

Penny smiled and gave a small wave, leading the small boy away towards what she believed was Sam’s house. Were they all related? 

Angeline shook her head. That didn’t matter right now, she made her way into the saloon. It felt cozy despite how large the building was. The wood and the fire made the bar feel warm and inviting. 

For the second time someone had bumped into her. She quickly shuffled away from the door and looked over her shoulder to see a guy with somewhat stringy hair and a five o’clock shadow. He looked tired and maybe a bit sad? 

“I’m sor–” Before she could even get here apology out the guy brushed past her and made his way to the far corner of the bar. 

Angeline sighed and made her way to the bar. The people of Pelican Town have been a bit of a mixed bag. She felt like maybe she was putting too high of expectations on the people here, but so far she felt alone if not more alone than she felt in the city. She felt herself tearing up and her body began to tremble. Her anxiety was starting to get the best of her. Maybe moving out here was a mistake. Before a tear could fall Angeline felt a hand reach out over her own. She looked up to see a woman with striking blue hair and matching blue eyes. 

“I can read your face,” she smiled warmly. “You’re going to love it here.” 

I am? Angeline swallowed her anxiety back and returned the smile she had been given. “I hope so.” 

“I know so.” The woman replied with a firm nod. “My name is Emily. If you’re ever looking for something to do come by the saloon. I’m always here.” 

Angeline nodded, “I’m Angeline.” She let out a deep breath. “Can I have some water, please?” 

“Of course!” Emily smiled and quickly served her a glass. 

Angeline drank her water and scanned the room, before she could find something to focus on a hand clapped her on the back. “Angeline!” She straightened and turned to see Robin with a tall man standing behind her. 

“I’m glad you came!” She turned towards the man behind her. “This is my husband, Demetrius.” 

Demetrius gave a slight nod and a small smile as a greeting. “How’s the farm? Are you getting used to the slow pace of the valley?” 

Angeline shrugged and gave a polite smile. “It’s a little overwhelming but I’m doing my best.” 

Robin smiled and nodded. “Oh good.” She sighed, “ I wish we brought Maru– our daughter. She’s been anxious to meet you.” 

Demetrius cut in. “She is quite busy though with all her work, so it will have to be a different day.” 

Robin nodded and gave a small frown before brightening a bit. “But you can at least meet my son, Sebby, I mean, Sebastian, he’s a bit shy but he’s a good boy.” When Sebastian was mentioned a complicated expression that Angeline couldn’t quite read spread over Demetrius’s face as he stepped away to socialize with Lewis. 

Robin frowned as she watched Demetrius step away but she turned back to Angeline with a smile. “He should be in the game room with his friends.”

Robin nodded towards the room off to the right. “Go say hi. Sam, Abby, and Victor are sweet kids, too.” with some light cajoling from Robin Angeline made it to the game room. She peeked her head in and she felt three sets of eyes fall on her. 

“... Like I was saying, you should totally think about being our drummer Abs.” Sam said, “Maybe you, too, Victor. Do you play anything?”  When Sam looked up from the pool table at Abigail and Sebastian he followed their line of sight and immediately straightened. “Angeline! I was worried you weren’t going to come.” 

Angeline took a step into the game room towards Sam and waved shyly at Abby and Sebastian. “Hi I’m Angeline. I just moved here from Zuzu. I-I’m taking over the old farm.” she said in a voice that didn’t feel like her own. It felt softer and scared than what she was used to. She felt like she was intruding on an already tight-knit friend group. Sam was very welcoming and friendly, but the energy that Sebastian and Abigail gave was intense and a bit intimidating. She looked over towards the arcade cabinets and gave a small smile to the other young man in the gameroom. She wasn’t sure if he was also friends with the others, but he felt far less intimidating than the violet and raven haired pair on the opposite side of the room. Robin said shy when describing her son and sweet when talking about Sam, Abby, and Victor, but all she could feel was her own anxiety. Angeline pushed some hair behind her ear to soothe her nerves but she felt small under their stares like how she did with Alex and Haley.

Abby got up from her seat on the couch and walked over to Angeline. “Hey I’m Abigail, but you can call me Abby.” 

“Hey” Angeline said softly. 

“I always liked exploring the fields of the old farm, but I guess it’s cool that you’re taking over.” 

Angeline smiled and gave a shrug, “It’s still a bit overgrown in some spots, so you can still explore whenever.” 

Abby returned Angeline’s smile and led her to the couch. “Really?” 

Angeline nodded. “Yeah sure.” Maybe Abby was sweet she just seemed a little guarded at first?

~*~ 

Angeline had really loosened up as she spoke with Abigail and with Sam and Victor, the man standing near the games, interjecting every now and then. Sebastian however only spoke to Abby and Sam, though. He didn’t even seem to care that Angeline was there. He only focused on his pool game with Sam or would look Abby’s way to answer a question or quip at either of his friends. He seemed nice when speaking with them, funny even. Angeline couldn’t help but think that maybe she had done something to upset him. She didn’t know what it could be but she must’ve done something. Perhaps it was the fact that she was there in the first place? Friend groups were tricky and introducing someone new was never an easy thing. It felt apparent given that the group didn’t interact much with Victor either despite him seeming so kind.  

Angeline studied Sebastian as he lined up his shot, she never knew of someone being so shy that they just ignored a person’s existence. Of course anything was possible but was that truly the issue that Sebastian was having with her? She wasn’t sure. All she knew is that him icing her out completely made her feel on edge. 

Angeline checked the time, it was 9:20. “I should get going” she said as she stood up. 

“Already?” Sam pouted. 

“Yeah I have to get up at 6. Farm work.” Angeline lamented. 

“That sucks.” Abby frowned. 

“It was nice meeting you Angeline.” Victor gave her a kind smile. “Don’t be a stranger.”

Angeline returned Victor’s smile and shrugged at Abby. “It is what it is.” She walked towards the door. “Thanks for the nice night. Goodnight Sam, Abby, Sebastian, Victor.” She waved and made her way out of the saloon and to her farm. Aside from a few hiccups Angeline felt that maybe she would be okay. She hoped Emily was right that she’d love it here.

[goldenamaranthe-blog]

I know you're primarily doing Bumbleby, but ever since the Big Cat RWBY post where Cheeta!Ruby and Snow Leopard!Weiss where introduced, I kept wondering about what Animal!JNPR would look like.

Rather than giving them feline dopplegangers as well, my mind instead kept returning to canines, domestic dogs specifically.

Dog!Jaune would a Golden Retriever, because obviously. He'd be owned by Pyrrha before she came to the zoo/animal reserve Jaune works at. Picked up as something of a runt from the litter, and the only male pup amongst all the sisters because why not.

Dog!Pyrrha would be something that looks imposing but would only be dangerous if provoked or goaded, maybe something like a Rottweiler. Or better yet, a Dobermann! Dobermanns are fiercely loyal to their owners and are known to bond with one person only. Owned and cared for by Jaune after he found her in an dank alley with, of all things one could expect, an arrow in one of her back legs.

Arkos happens by chance when both Jaune and Pyrrha are taking their dogs out for a walk in the local park. There's a whole meet-cute scenario that brings the two together and bish-bash-bosh, both Jaune and Pyrrha end up with a significant other they each believe to be out of their league.

Dog!Nora can't really be anything else but a Samoyed. Sure, it'd be funny to have her be like a massive wolfhound or something, but I think the Samoyed is basically perfect. Nora's boisterous, active energetic and playful and so is the Samoyed. If you can keep a handle on her, she's incredible to have around.

Dog!Ren on the other hand was harder to pick. After some searching however, I managed to come across the Chuandong Hound. They're described, among other things, as noble, loyal, and dignified. All of that describes human!Ren quite well I'd say. They're also protective of the people they care about and are known to stand guard if strangers come up to their owners, only to lower their alertness if their owners are fine with them.

Dog!Ren and Dog!Nora would both be owned by an established Renora couple. When they adopted them as pups, Nora named them like that on a whim because she thought it was hilarious. She still thinks it's funny now, now that the dogs are all grown up.

All four dogs, despite their vastly different personalities seem to mesh incredibly well when they all meet each other for the first time. The same goes for their owners but that's to be expected really.

Anyhow, whether you decide to do something with this or not, I just needed to get this out.

Big Cat AU is 100% funny, fluffy and lovely by the way, definitely hope to see it come back from time to time.

Whew! This was a long one for me to go through, so I apologize for the delay here.

I like the idea of Pyrrha being a doberman! But maybe keep the ears floppy instead of cropped for her. Adds to her wanting to be "normal".

Jaune is definitely a Golden boy, but I don't see him being one of the AKC purebread floof boys. No, I want him to be the shaggy, dark blonde slender boys. They have more charm.

Nora.... I have to disagree with the Sammy. I can honestly see her being a Terrier. Specifically a Jack Russel Terrier. Those little crackheads are so loving, but absolutely crazy when they get into hunting mode. Considering her backstory, I can see her being a terrier mix.

Ren's definitely works! Never heard of a Chuandong Hound before, but I can definitely see it. Otherwise maybe a black and brown Chow Chow.

I'll have to do the Dog Days AU in a different post, but I'll try to do one soonish! I just need to get an idea. If you think of a prompt before I do, shoot me an ask!

(Funny thing is: I'm not that big of a cat fan. I'm a dog person, so the fact that I'm writing a Big Cat AU is hilarious for me! I'm glad you're enjoying it though! I enjoy writing up blurbs for it.)

[virago-unbowed]

ON INVESTIGATIONS INTO UMBRELLA .

JULY 24TH : Arklay Incident. Valentine and several others escape the Mansion, while the rest of the team isn't so lucky. Witnessed the betrayal and subsequent death of Captain Albert Wesker.

"I've made it out of that fucking place. Damn it , damn it to hell. None of us made it out — that is, except me, Chris, Barry, and Rebecca. Hospital's got us locked down for the next couple days while they run a few scans. This is fucking bullshit. I want out. Now." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

JULY 27TH : Physically stable. Valentine discharges herself from hospital and leaves to start her investigation. Police station files are raided on specific individuals, and she opts to collect her own information herself. Irons is briefly considered as a potential collaborator with Wesker, and a skeleton of evidence collection is built on him, but it remains barebones. Valentine confronts Irons on the events, and is subsequently suspended indefinitely — or at the very least, until he makes a decision.

"I'm going to go crazy if they keep me cooped up in there longer. I feel fine — I have to find out who the hell was behind all this. For everybody's sake. Maybe the station will have some answers. I have to get in there before my clearances are revoked." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

JULY 28TH — 29TH : Valentine begins to look more into newspaper clippings of cannabilism rumors. They are the first pieces of evidence to be collected and added onto her newly created murderboard, and she suspects something strange about it. Connections are drawn to illegally-gained footage of something only given to her as "CASE 101", and from there, imagery of new medical symptoms courtesy of her own contacts.

"These have been cropping up ever since before Bravo went out to investigate. Connected? I know what I saw. Did it come from that place we investigated ourselves? Some part of me wouldn't be surprised. Not after what I saw."

"-- This doesn't seem natural. I want to be wrong, but who the hell knows if I can afford that kind of hope? Rebecca will have better insight into these pieces. I'll ask her, when she's ready for it." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 1-5 : Investigations into Arklay, Spencer Mansion and the surrounding area are looked into and studied by Valentine during her suspension.

"Northwest of the city and our biggest tourist trap. Possesses medicinal herbs unique to the area. Spencer Mansion was here, and so is an unmarked set of buildings I suspect are long abandoned. Might be worth checking out. Source of the cannabilism rumors. Suppose I can rule that one out." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 7-10 : Investigations into Umbrella officially begin. Results come back with a connection between the name "Spencer" and the founder of the pharmaceutical company.

"Oswell E. Spencer. Founder of Umbrella — and most likely owner of that mansion we came across. Connected in some way? Why else would that specific place have been chosen? I think Umbrella's got something to do with this. No company is that trustworthy." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 11-14 : A connection between Umbrella and the R.P.D. is established and discovered.

"Records of communication between unidentified individuals with Umbrella emails and addresses contacting the station for reasons that I'm unsure of. Someone's been getting paid off. You assholes think this is a game? Playing with people's goddamn lives for a little bit of cash?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 15-18 : Investigations into chief researchers Annette and William Birkin begin.

"If anyone is going to know anything about engineered chemicals and viral properties, it's going to be one of these two. I doubt anybody else is going to have the clearance — or maybe I'm being led down a wild goose chase. Fuck. I need some sleep." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 19-22 : Irons begins to catch on. Valentine switches her attention to him and begins building a case properly, using federal connections.

"Something tells me he's not so innocent in this either. He's catching on, called me last night to ask about missing files. I'll need to look into him next. Corruption? Don't know why else he'd be trying to stop me from going through with this." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 23-26 : Investigations into researchers return with significant results. It's not the whole story, but maybe several steps closer into figuring out this hellhole.

"Annette and William Birkin. Leading virologists employed by Umbrella. Connection to the bioengineered virus? The latter received his degree at a young age. Both are married and rarely seen outside of the company facilities, as far as eyewitnesses say. Annette strikes me as a potential collaborator. William . . note to self, look into when I have more of a chance." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 26-29 : Investigations into Umbrella return fruitful. She all but confirms their involvement and does some more digging into current developments, and uses samples gained from contaminated clothing and items from Arklay to arrive at a conclusion surrounding potential biological weaponry.

"Pharmaceuticals company, industry leader in market share."

"Focuses on military weapons development while maintaining cover as a pharmaceutical company. Also secretly developing bioweapons. "

"T-Virus outbreak at Arklay Mountains research facility . Predicated the "mansion incident" . Conspiring with Raccoon City leadership. Large donations to Mayor Warren's office, and effectively controls the city." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

AUGUST 30- SEPTEMBER 5 : Umbrella Executives are looked into, and curiosity upon how deep the rabbit hole went are brought up. Brad briefly manages to contact her at this time, though little to no information was able to be shared.

"Managed to gain access to footage of a few of the top brass. Always being followed around by some sort of security detail. All of this is just pointing me more and more into the fact that they knew this was going to happen, and don't want to deal with backlash. Wonder how many at the top approved all this?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 6- 11 : Investigations into medical properties and the creation of the virus itself begins.

"Managed to uncover a very small amount of details on whatever this was. Sent it for testing to a friend of mine, and hoping it'll give me some sort of further insight when results come back. If it made everybody go crazy — it's never going to be any good. -- Would any of us still be infected?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 12-17 : Valentine's research is caught onto. Umbrella and/or Irons assign a group of hired staff to occupy the apartment across from hers and keep an eye on her to ensure she doesn't leave or spread information she shouldn't have. Orders are to maintain position and silence if necessary.

"A new group's moved into the apartment across from me. Curtains never close and I never see them out and about. It's either one hell of a timing, or I'm just being paranoid. This whole thing is making me try and see things that might or might not be there, but I can't risk anything when I'm this close to finding out. I'll just have to keep an eye on things and try not to let it get to my head." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 18-23 : Plans are made with an outside friend who organized a night extraction on the 30th of September, in order to get her out of the city and somewhere safe for the time being.

"Worst month of my life. I have someone who'll help extract me out of the city in a few days, so guess I just have to hold out until then, without going insane. Something's off, I can feel it, I just . . I'll have to finish packing, and soon. I don't want to leave anything behind for these assholes to get their hands on. Who knows what they'll cover up?" — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 23-28 : The culmination of her investigation. Research into the T-virus is largely complete, dossiers of important individuals, scientists and corrupted figures have been collected and stored safely. Two days until extraction.

SEPTEMBER 25TH : "They've got me pinned down at home. Guys across the street are watching me from their window 24/7. Are they Irons' men? Umbrella's? I don't know, and there's no real difference anyway."

" know what they're trying to do. They want to wear me down, torment me into compliance, and it's working. I'm barely eating, barely sleeping..."

"I'm going crazy. I feel like the living dead."

"But I won't let them win. I have to get out of the city and find a way to make them accountable. They'll send someone to silence me, of course. If you hear that I've been killed...or whatever it is they do to people like me...you MUST pick up the investigation where I left off. I've enclosed my files. They'll tell you everything you need to know, as long as this package isn't intercepted."

"I'll be moving out at night. Five days."

"Wish me luck." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 26TH: "It's already been two months since that mess with Umbrella. Thanks to the suspension, investigations haven't progressed exactly as I'd hoped. Perhaps this written record of what I've found will prove to be my final duty as a S.T.A.R.S. officer... I can only hope that it helps lead to the truth."

"The T-Virus ."

"Those infected by this virus seem to become literal zombies. It appears to be communicable via several different avenues, outlined below:"

"Bite from an infected individual, allowing the mixing of bodily fluids, or contact with crows which have eaten infected carrion, and due to the strength of the virus, airborne infection cannot be discounted. It should be noted that those who survived the incident have not yet developed symptoms. It's unclear whether this is because the virus has a long incubation period, or because we just happened to be resistant to the infection. We ought to remain vigilant, even after this investigation period ends."

"As for me—aside from my minor difficulties sleeping—I seem to be in fine shape. Still, I shouldn't get too hopeful. After all, this could just be an extended incubation." — INVESTIGATIVE RECORDS .

SEPTEMBER 29: Raccoon City Incident begins. No further records could be recovered at this time.

"You have to get out of there!" — ???

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: Love Sick by Deidra Duncan

3.5/5. Releases 5/13/25.

—Grey's Anatomy vibes (but like, the early seasons)

—rivals to lovers

—written by an OBGYN

Heat Index: 5./5/10

The Basics:

Grace starts her intern year as an aspiring OBGYN off the wrong foot—with toxic, baseless rumors suggesting she slept her way into the program. She's not happy with fellow internet Julian seems to believe those rumors; and though he quickly realizes he was wrong, the damage is done. Now they're sniping and competing their way through residency, despite the fact that they could potentially help each other... and have an attraction they don't want to face.

The Review:

It feels basic to compare Love Sick to early days Grey's, but it really does give that vibe. From the moment you plunge into the book's world, full of nurses and techs, intern comrades-in-arms, judgy attendings, and so on. This is in every way a workplace romance, because Julian and Grace understandably spend most of their time at work. Hospital politics are huge—not only in regards to the misogyny Grace experiences, but the bias other doctors have against Julian as a DO versus an MD. (This is something I knew very little about ahead of time, but Duncan explained it in a way that made it easier for me to understand.)

The cadence reminds me of Grey's, too. The rivalries, the friendships, even the dialogue to an extent. But, while I can't personally attest to the accuracy of the narrative, it felt less melodramatic. Maybe I'm just buying into marketing here, but it did read to me like it was written by someone who knows what she's talking about. And that was really one of my favorite things about the book. I felt immersed in the world. The narrative covers two years, and you really feel those bonds grow, you absorb the stakes for Grace and Julian—and that makes their romance feel more authentic.

Because I'll admit, there was definitely an uphill battle involved in making me really buy into this relationship being a good thing for Grace. I really didn't get why Julian would even give the rumor as much time as he did... if he was a decent guy. Like, you don't know this girl? Why would you just buy it? That still bugs me, even if it's quickly rectified. And maybe I would've understood his reasoning more if a picture had been painted there, but it wasn't, so....

And because we're basically introduced to Julian in his "believing a misogynistic rumor about a total stranger" era, it does bug me a good bit that he continued to call Grace by a name she didn't like. In general, I'm not one for the "hero gives heroine a nickname she hates" trope. It's just not cute to me. But in this case, Grace's legal first name is Sapphire and her last name is Rose. She's used to people commenting on Sapphire Rose being a stripper name, she's sensitive about not being taken seriously, makes sense to me. So Julian gets that the rumor is false, he gets that it hurt her, and then, because she admittedly keeps holding that against him for the long term... He follows up by condescendingly calling her a name she's sensitive about because it's been used to demean her and sexualize her...?

But he's written papers about disparities in women's healthcare and is super passionate about that, so it's cool, I guess? I mean, a part of me feels like this type of dumbassery is fairly realistic and the type of thing we're supposed to accept in "good guys" because everyone else is that much WORSE.... It just wasn't very hot to me.

Which sucks, because Julian does have other hot moments! This is definitely a slow burn, but I liked it. And it's hard to get me into a slow burn, so that in itself speaks to Duncan's talent. I felt their chemistry, I was excited for them to get together. But these nagging issues just kept cropping up. Among them are some pop culture references I think will date the book—they made me raise my eyebrows. Can we drop the Harry Potter fangirlism, maybe?

I also find it interesting that this book centered on OBGYNs in America and really skated over a lot of the bigger issues affecting women's healthcare. This is a romance, I'm of two minds about how that could be handled, but it really sort of breezed over those issues. Most of the medical stuff, with a couple exceptions, is a lighter touch. Really not sure how for or against that choice I am.

Anyway! Basically, there was enough stuff for me to go "Yes, I see the bones, I'm into these components" while still feeling like I couldn't give it as high a rating as I would otherwise because of some problems that could've been corrected on another developmental pass.

The Sex:

Interesting mixed bag. There are a couple of REALLY hot moments in this book, badly needed after all the buildup. But then... a couple other moments sort of trickle away? Like, they start explicit, and then it's like "dot dot dot". Not closed door, just frustratingly tapered off

Conclusion:

I think Deidra Duncan has a lot of potential, and I definitely feel like she went for some big topics that I appreciate her pursuing. I just think a bit more work could've been done to make this stronger. That said, I do like her writing style and would try her next book.

Thanks to Canary Street Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.