#i'm pretty sure i've forgotten more things i wanted to draw over the years than things i've actually managed to draw

[kwillow]

HOW DARE YOU IMPLY MY ASK WAS TO GET AN AMBROYS PINUP, MY AROACE ASS GENUINELY WANTS TO KNOW WHATS UP WITH HIS BRIAN FKFKF

Jokes aside i love how developed your characters are and how many layers there are to their choices/ likes/ personalities and relationships so i wanted to see how deep that hipersexual persona he flaunts went (since i havent really seen you cover it in detail before i think?)

You and @chocodile are some of the best indie creators in my humble opinion and i hope every single one of your projects gets the apreciation it deserves :) 💜

I AM SO SORRY ANON, people ask me for pin-ups/suggestive art (or send messages that are thinly veiled prompts for it) frequently so sometimes I just assume. But I'm glad that six paragraphs of rambling character exposition was actually what you wanted!

I suppose I hadn't covered it in detail before! Sometimes it boggles my mind, how much I've solidified with my characters and want to share versus what I've actually managed to share. For instance, I'm currently working on a short comic... but I wrote the script for it almost two years ago. There are so many scenes, scripts and backstory details I've written down that I've wanted to draw for years but never found the time for.

I'm happy that you enjoy my and Chocodile's work! That's an extremely kind thing to say, especially given all the amazing, talented artists out there on the web. As always, I feel as though I don't know what I'm doing and I'm never doing enough, but it's heartening to know that what I can make is compelling in its own way.

[gemapples]

my new year's artwork won't be done until tomorrow, but i at least wanted to make a little post celebrating it before it turns! see you in 2025 ❤️

going into a personal ramble about my year under the cut. im mostly just talking to the void but feel free to read if you want!

this year has been. wow. if i had to put the definition of an emotional rollercoaster it would be this year for me

so much happened, yet so much DIDN'T happen simultaneously?? i don't really know how to think tbh 😭 i think above all i'm relieved it's over and i get to (hopefully) have a fresh start again

i got a lot accomplished this year. i graduated and got a degree which is a huge thing!!! i went for and accomplished lot of difficult things i had to do that i wouldn't even think about considering last year, and i feel my mental health has been beyond improved from it. last year i took note of how i consistently put myself in a box to make others happy, and i noticed i significantly improved in regards to how i see myself and made sure to put my own health first. there's still MUCH more to work on, god, and i've still been struggling with it, but i've been taking steps and that's all that matters to me. i want to continue taking better care of myself next year

on the downside though.. a bunch of personal stuff i had no control over happened in july and to put it in a way, i was scared for my life. it's settled now, and even got better, but i haven't been that terrified in a very long time. it was so difficult for me to cope with and i'm very grateful it's not something to worry about anymore, but i would be lying if i said i wasn't scared for what horrific event next year will bring for me. i noticed the past few years, something awful happened that made me seriously question, doubt or even straight up hating myself :') and i'm not looking forward to experiencing that again next year in the slightest. but at least, i'll try to get better at it

i've felt pretty disappointed and unhappy with my art this year as well, for whatever reason. it was mentioned to me that it could just be burnout (i HAVE been drawing more consistently than i ever have throughout this year, especially due to college, which makes sense) but whatever i try to do experimental-wise, i just can't be happy with it. i think the major reason is the way i've been shading, because i might be instinctively holding myself back. i don't want my art to be too eyestrainy or give people headaches by looking at it obviously, but i feel like as a result i've been making my art feel too "muddy" for my liking. so! i decided one of my new years resolutions will be to be way more spontaneous with the way i use colors and try not to put that box on myself. one thing i can say is, i tried a Lot of new things with art this year, including working on complex backgrounds, putting in way more effort into pieces enough to be full illustrations, etc etc. and i hope to break a ton more boundaries next year too. regardless, i can't thank you enough for your continued support. it seriously means a ton to me. i know i repeat myself a lot but i always mean it

hopefully 2025 will bring us more kirby too! we haven't had a full year without a new kirby game since 2021, and even then forgotten land got revealed! so i get the feeling something HUGE is coming. also looking forward to pokemon legends z-a too (im insane over it). and the hypothetical manager magolor plush. <- copium.

thanks for reading, and i hope 2025 is a fun, enjoyable year. hopefully it'll be nice to us

~ mac ❤️

[tacticaldiary]

just found ur account, u post some rly awesome stuff. i was just wondering if you could write a fic for either the 141’s ghost or price in an established relationship with the reader and they forgot the readers birthday?

Forget Me Not

Pairing: Simon 'Ghost' Riley x Reader

Genre: Hurt No Comfort

Simon's a sharp man. He can't afford to be anything less, lest he ends up with a bullet in his back but it's most often the more mundane and meaningful things that slip his mind. Her birthday, for example.

Masterlist

There wasn't an expectation to go all out for every little celebration in their lives. Both Simon and her were relatively quiet people, preferring to keep celebrations more intimate between them. A small gift for an anniversary, a walk along the beach. It was the little things that were the most special to her, they showed her that grandeur and big gestures weren't the only means of expressing love so deep and devoted.

But never had it come to one of them completely withdrawing.

Their birthday were a slightly more lively affair, having more people involved. Simon, of course, was not particularly fond of having his own but hers? In the past he'd arranged surprises for her on the day, whether that be contacting her family and friends or pulling her out of bed in the morning with breakfast he'd made just for her.

It's why it's so surprising to see him go about his morning like a completely normal day.

He'd kissed her in the morning, no different than how he does every day, went about the house gathering his gear for work that day. Nothing special, just a debrief he needed to attend in the afternoon.

"You'll be going in today?" She asks, unable to keep the slight frown off her face. Her coffee cup is set on the counter with a small 'clink.'

He nods, leaning down to lace up his boots. "Got a debrief at noon. Johnny's been yapping our ears off about a new bar he found so I've no doubt he'll find a way to drag everybody there afterwards." He rolls his eyes but she can tell it's in a fond way.

As disinterested as Ghost might act, she knows he's fond of his team.

Ghost nods, straightening up once he's done with his boots. "Don't wait up for me. Might be a while till I'm back." She watches, a little stunned as he leans down to press a kiss to her forehead before hitching his bag over his shoulder.

Oh.

She didn't think he'd...forget.

"Are you sure you're not forgetting something?" She asks half thinking he's playing some sort of joke on her. He couldn't have forgotten...right? Simon was normally so good with these things. He'd never forgotten before. "Something else that's today? Something important, maybe?"

He gives her a blank look, coming to a stop next to her. "Nothing important enough to remember." He responds, pulling out his keys.

She knows he doesn't mean it like it sounds to her, but that doesn't stop the pang of sudden hurt. Nothing worth remembering?

He was probably trying to be funny with that dry humour of his, but after waking up to him already out of bed, excited to spend the day with him, finding out he'd be going to spend some time in some bar instead of with her today...

It really does sting.

She knows she could call out to him, just tell him that it's her birthday today, but part of her just...doesn't want to. If it wasn't worth remembering, maybe she should celebrate by herself this year...

He calls out a goodbye. The front door opens. Shuts close behind him.

Silence.

She draws in a long, slightly shaky breath and picks up her coffee mug, willing the stinging in her eyes to recede.

                                 · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Simon's had a pretty smooth day so far, which is something that almost never happens. The debrief went smoothly confirming that the Russian intel they'd spotted the other day had been solid enough to warrant the extraction op the team was to take in two weeks time. The bar Johnny had been so eager to show them hadn't been half bad either.

The decor was old 80's themed, a nice polished mahogany bar spanning the entire length of a wall. Ghost had taken to sitting down with a whiskey, watching Price and Gaz play pool while making idle conversation with Johnny sat by his side.

Well, 'conversation' was a generous word. It was mostly Johnny doing the talking with him answering every now and then, or chiming in with a hum to show he was still listening.

"I'm surprised your still hear, you know." Johnny says, shaking his head as he takes another sip of his drink.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Had a fight with the missus?" Gaz's voice joins in, the other two having wrapped up their game. He orders a drink for himself before sliding into the stool next to Ghost. "Got to agree with Soap on this one. I'm bloody surprised you're in deep enough shit to spend the night here instead."

Ghost stares at them like they're stupid. Maybe they are, because neither of them are making a lick of sense to him.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" He drains the last of his whiskey, not missing the look exchanged by the other two men.

"Mate-" Gaz says incredulously.

"Nah, he's not that daft." Soap cuts him off. "He's just fucking with ya."

Gaz narrows his eyes at Ghost. "I don't think he is."

"He's gotta be. Everyone knows-"

"Will either of you spit it out?" He sets his glass down on the table with a little more force than necessary.

"Bloody hell, you did forget." Gaz whispers. "Oh, you're a dead man." Soap recognising the frustrated twitch of Ghost's hand decided to blurt it out before hands get thrown.

"It's your lass' birthday today." Soap says. "Don't tell me ya forgot."

Ghost go through a rush of feelings all at once.

First in disbelief. He's not stupid, of course he'd remember something as simple as a birthday, especially hers. The second is doubt, because the look on Gaz's face is one so full of pity it makes him uncomfortable.

Ghost pulls out his phone to check the date and...

Shit.

The third feeling is disbelief. There's no way he just forgot. Someone must be fucking with him.

"Are you sure you're not forgetting something?"

"Nothing important enough to remember."

The barstool scrapes as dread and guilt twist his gut. Grabbing his coat, he makes for the door without another word, cussing out Johnny for the cackle he laughs behind his back as he leaves in more of a hurry than anyone's ever seen him.

8pm. He'd spent the entire day taking the piss with the guys on the one day that should have been dedicated to her.

He'd been away for so long, arriving home only a few days ago and he'd just...left her again. Granted, those few days being so busy had been out of his control but still. That wasn't an excuse, he decides, turning on the car.

He hadn't been busy today, and had had the time to go back home to her after his debriefing.

His hands tighten around the steering wheel.

                                 · · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·

Her earrings glint under the light of their bedroom. Staring at herself in the vanity, admiring the gorgeous dress her friend had gifted her for today, she can't help but feel a lack of excitement for the upcoming night.

Simon has really forgotten. She'd come to terms with it a couple hours ago when the sun had finally set and she'd realised that it wasn't a joke. He'd really, truly forgotten.

Going out partying hadn't been the plan at all, but when he friends had come over to give her a hug and presents, they'd seen her upset, still in her house clothes and decided it was completely unacceptable for her to spend the day like that.

Ushered into getting ready, they'd made plans to meet at this new upscale fancy restaurant before hitting a few clubs on the way back home.

Better than nothing, she reminds herself, chasing away thoughts of what her night might have looked like if Simon had stayed. No time for sulking, this was supposed to be a happy day. She was supposed to be happy.

So why does she feel tears sting at her eyes when she reaches for her purse to check if she has everything? Blinking them away, she takes a second to compose herself.

The key jingle in the lock, the sound echoing from the hallway into their bedroom. She tenses in surprise. Was he home?

Hope blooms in her chest. If Simon was home, maybe he did remember? Maybe he came home early to-

No.

No that wasn't right, she chides herself, smile slipping off her face. Even if he did remember now, that's not an excuse for forgetting the rest of the entire day, for leaving her feeling so shitty and going off to drink with the others.

Straightening her spine, she takes a deep breath and heads for the door. Her feet take her halfway down the hall before the front door flies open on its own, baring the man in question.

His knuckles are white with how hard he's gripping his keys, and some of the tension in his shoulders relaxes when he lays eyes on her. Something akin to relief, as if he might have thought she wouldn't be there when he got home.

"I-"

"Early night?" She straightens out her dress, feeling his eyes on her. He's quiet for a beat, assessing the situation before acting. Ever the soldier. "Mine's just starting." Her voice is as even as she can make it.

Simon shuts the door behind him. "I didn't realise-"

"That's right." He doesn't get to speak right now, doesn't get to fill her mind with pretty apologies and promises. Not this time, not tonight. "You forgot, Simon." A flash of guilt in his eyes makes her feel a pang in her chest she refuses to let take the reigns. "You forgot." She wavers for a moment, clears her throat to regain some control. "Nothing important enough to remember, right?"

It's a punch to the gut, hearing his words thrown back at him with the knowledge of how she interpreted them. His jaw clenches, frustrated at himself for letting something like this slip by him. "I'm going to make it up to you, yeah? Just let me-"

"No thanks." She shakes her head.

"Just let me finish," He narrows his eyes, a little irked at being cut off over and over again.

"No, Ghost." The way he tenses at his name being abandoned for his callsign is proof enough of how he's fucked up. "I don't want to hear it, alright?" She swallows. "I don't want to hear any of it, I'm going out, I'm going to have a good time on my goddamn birthday with my friends, and I'm not going to let you make me cry before I leave."

Cry? It's then that he notices how red her eyes are. Guilt slams into him hard enough to wind him, it worms it's way through his chest and eats him alive, gnawing on the little parts of his heart that haven't gotten calloused.

The first thing he notices when he walked in was how gorgeous she looked. Standing there in front of him in that dress, he's well familiar with most of her clothes, having been the one taking them off at the end of the day, but this one he hasn't ever seen before and it hugs her just right, enough to make his mind blank for a moment when he first walked in.

But he understands. Ghost sees the way she's clutching onto that purse of hers, the way her knuckles are white and the slight shake of her shoulders.

She's trying not to cry.

Because of him.

Fucking hell, that hurts. But not as much as what he's made her feel. Simon wants to argue, wants to tug her close and make it all better, but he sees that she means it, and hell does she deserve to have a good time after the way her morning went.

Simon steps aside with a tight nod.

Letting out what almost is a small, shaky sigh of relief, she brushes past him on the way out and Simon really doesn't have enough self control, because his hand wraps around her elbow to halt her in her tracks.

"I'm sorry, love." He says, so gently, so quiet. Such a stark difference to how he usually is. "I really am. And I will make it up to you, yeah? I promise."

A tight knot forms in her throat, threatening to send a fresh wave of tears at her conflicted feelings. It's all she can do to give him the barest of nods, avoiding his eyes.

"Don't wait up for me. Might be a while till I'm back." She echoes his words from the morning back to him before she shakes off his grip and leaves him alone.

An empty house, a mind full of buzzing remorse.

Requests Are Open! Reblog, Reply and Like!

(11/07/2023)

[curryfury13]

KHOC Week Day 6 - Journal

This has been a prompt for @khoc-week that I've been so excited about. Hinata keeps journals of her adventures as a way to keep track of her memories. She's forgotten large chunks of her past before and wants to make sure that can never happen again.

Her journals, however, are a bit different from a normal diary. She writes them like a story and also draws pictures in them to show where she is. She's not an incredibly gifted artist, but learned a few things from her time with Namine.

This is an excerpt of her journal entry during a short stay on Montressor. In Chapter 41 of "The Forgotten Traveler", Hinata and her team find themselves back on Montressor in search of information on Sam's dad. It leads them back to the Benbow, where Sam's mom holds the missing piece.

The actual chapter was written from Sam's point of view, but this journal entry is Hinata's take on it all. I'll post the entire entry below:

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

The Benbo Inn was filled with warmth and life. Sarah Hawkins always did have a way of making people feel welcome. She kept our booth open. I remember sitting there after my shift, or whenever Sam and James would come during my work day and convince me to take a break. Tonight though, it lacked the usual excitement it used to.

While the rest of the inn bustled and chatted, we were there for something different. Sam needed to talk with her mom. It wasn't going to be easy and it made me queasy to think about. Jenna was someone I couldn't figure out. Her eyes showed a vast emptiness, yet I could sense something deeper. It made me sad for her. Though I could understand the anger Sam held towards her. Two years of isolation… What could that do to someone? I went crazy during my month alone on Treasure Planet. Well, mostly alone.

As Ben and I took our seats, Sam went to her mom. Her words were short and terse, telling her they needed to talk after closing time, then she came back to the booth with us. I wish I could have said something to help. Part of me wished I could have taken care of the entire thing for her. But that wouldn't help anything. It was something she needed to face on her own.

Knowing that, I asked if she wanted us there during the discussion, which she said yes to. All that remained was for us to eat dinner and wait. But even with the great food from Sarah, I didn't have much of an appetite. Sam didn't seem to either. While Ben kept the conversation going, mostly with himself. I'm glad he was there.

It was agonizing to wait. I kept drumming my fingers against the table and I'm pretty sure my leg wouldn't stop shaking. Then closing time finally came. I helped Jenna and Sarah clean up. It was just like I was working there again. But then it was time to talk.

Jenna brought over a chair and carefully folded her apron over the back of it before she sat down. She sat on the edge, her back straight. It was like she was trying to seem stronger than she felt. Sam brought out a locket. It looked similar to mine but was made from a bluish metal. I didn't recognize the engraving on top, not that it entirely matters. Jenna seemed to though. I noticed her shifting in her seat at the sight of it. Did she know what was inside it?

Sam asked if she'd seen the vision and Jenna just nodded. Not a word came out of her. Sam continued to pry and Jenna's entire demeanor shifted. Her posture slumped and that distant glaze came back over her eyes. There was more to this. Even with the possibility of getting Jarith back, she didn't react. It only made her retreat further back into herself. What was really going on?

There was something deeper. Something even Sam didn't seem to understand and realize. The raw pain between them was palpable. It didn't take long for Sam to lose her temper. She slammed her hands against the table, demanding answers. Jenna begged her not to look into this and got up from her seat to leave.

I couldn't sit by anymore and got out of my seat, while Lupe took care of calming Sam down. Jenna could hardly stand. She leaned against the tables for support as she walked away. I moved to stand in front of her and all I saw was a broken woman. Everything she did… she abandoned her children when they needed her most, ignored them when they pleaded for help and even for something as simple as love, and locked herself away for nearly two years. Why didn't I share Sam's resentment towards her? There had to be more to it. More that we didn't understand about Jenna.

All I had to say to Jenna was acknowledge she was trying to protect Sam. She broke down. Sam was all she had left.

Sam cried that if that was the case, why did she never care?

It was a valid question. One Jenna didn't have an answer to. Whatever is going on with her, maybe Jarith will have the answer. We have to find him.

Lupe and I calmed Jenna down enough to let Sam back in for another chance to talk. We promised her that we'd get him back… Maybe that was a foolish thing to promise, but it seemed like the only choice at the time. I know I'll do everything in my power to do it. We all will.

Sam tried again. She knelt in front of Jenna and offered the locket once more. She pleaded softly, begging for any information about her dad. And Jenna did… she told us the name Glee Anselm. That's where we'll find Sam's dad.

We have quite the journey ahead of us.

[noellawrites]

Special - Yandere!Eli Moskowitz x reader

summary: Eli has his eyes on you— to him, you’re special.

The first time Eli Moskowitz ever talked to you, you were sure you were hallucinating. He was the dorky-nerd-turned-impossibly-cool-karate-champion, which made you like him more. You felt like he might understand you even more deeply than any friend you'd ever had.

After graduation, you gave up on ever being asked out. You hadn't been appealing enough in high school so you figured it wouldn't ever happen until you were prettier or more mature.

But everything changed when Eli walked in with his friends to the waterpark you worked at over the summer. You watched from the concession stand as he entered with some other karate students you recognized.

Your eyes followed the group and you felt a pang of jealousy as they congregated by the lawn chairs. Deep inside, you had always been slightly interested in joining one of the dojos. However, once the drama and rivalries started, you decided to keep your distance. Better to keep out of it and avoid drawing any attention to yourself.

You were jolted out of your thoughts when you realized someone was in front of you, clearing their throat to get your attention. You sat up straighter in your chair. It was Eli.

"Hey, you went to West Valley, right? Aren't you (y/n)?" he asked, and you nodded in response.

As he examined the laminated snack menu, your hands shook. He recognized you! Your chest burned with a mix of excitement and fear.

"I'll take the chili dog and your number," he said with a slight smile.

"M-my number? I thought you had a girlfriend?"

"Nah, Moon and I are way over. I covered up her tat, see," he leaned over the wooden desk, pointing at his new inked-over chest. You tried to avoid glancing down at his karate-toned abdomen.

"Oh, well in that case, here."

Hands still shaking, you grabbed a scrap piece of paper and scrawled down your number.

—

You now stood on your porch, watching as Eli drove up in his mom’s old van.

His first date idea was hanging out at his place followed by a trip to Golf ‘N Stuff, which you were fine with.

“Hey babe,” Eli shouted out the window as you opened the passenger seat door.

You tried to push back the thought that you’d completely forgotten to send your address to Eli, but he managed to find your house anyways. Either way, you hopped in the car, excited for your first real date.

—

Eli grew impatient when he couldn't win the purple stuffed bear you wanted. He was playing the milk bottle game, where he had to knock over the metal milk bottles with a ball.

"Fuck this stupid game, it's totally rigged!" he yelled, throwing the ball at the poor game attendant, who cowered as you did.

"Eli, let's just go get some food, 'kay?" you suggested as he put a hand on your arm.

“No! You’re my girl, and I’m going to win you this fucking stuffed bear if it’s the last thing I do!” He screamed, nostrils flaring.

Terror rushed through your veins. You felt like you had seen a glimpse of the violent Hawk from sophomore year, stalking through the halls as he searched for karate enemies. The prospect that he hadn’t changed as much as you thought since high school made you scared.

You tugged him away, towards the food trucks. "I'm your girl, huh?"

"Well, obviously. Just a couple more dates and you'll be ready to move in with me," Eli said. There was no indication of joking in his tone.

"Oh, well I don't really know if—"

"Are you saying you don't want to move in with me? What, you still wanna live with your parents? That's pathetic," he laughed.

"Eli, um, I would really like to move in with you but this is our first date," you explained. Is this how all adult relationships are?

"But babe, I feel like I've known you forever," Eli insisted, bringing you in for a kiss. You knew he just wanted you to stop arguing with him.

You were pretty sure he would never let you go, you just weren't sure if you were okay with it.

[ghoultyrant]

Other M: Less Terrible Than I Thought

So I recently stumbled across a video digging into Metroid: Other M's localization, which argues that the localization is a strong part of Other M's issues; that the original Japanese has nuance that is lost in the official translation, and the localization straight-up inserts problematic changes and whatnot.

And... they make a pretty good case on this topic, more so than I was expecting at the start of the video. Particularly striking to me was actually the video touching on Phantoon, who came across to me as a plotless bonus boss you weren't supposed to think too hard about, but actually the Japanese manual for Super Metroid has a bit where it asserts that Phantoon is Mother Brain's 'consciousness' in physical form. (Which I've actually read elsewhere years ago, though I'd forgotten before watching this video) So... a Mother Brain variant dies over the course of Other M's plot, and along comes a Phantoon variant. That's actually a very sensible easter egg! Too bad being able to make sense of it relies on a detail that official translation excised. Oops.

A similar point is the 'hell run'; in the official localization, we end up with... well, this:

Whereas the video argues that the original intention is actually the player-as-Samus being led to deliberately subvert the spirit of Adam's orders: that he says basically "Restrict your search to places appropriately accessible with already-authorized upgrades", and then Samus/the player stays to the letter of this order (You can access the lava zone without the Varia Suit active, it's just a self-destructive idea) while violating the spirit of it. (Adam pretty obviously means "places that are reasonable to explore with your current kit")

Which... I actually buy? For starters, Fusion has pretty directly comparable elements, where eg the Diffusion Missile data gets sent, but the Federation has decided Samus is doing too good a job of killing things so they want to avoid her powering up enough to be able to kill their precious bioweapons so Adam doesn't mention it. And then the gameplay absolutely demands you collect it, at which point AI Adam tries to play it off like he has no idea what happened there. Fusion's story involves Samus increasingly getting, in-universe, 'off the rails' while her handler and their bosses are trying harder to keep her on the rails.

Alternatively, I could draw a comparison to Zero Mission, which has a standard Metroid linear route you're expected to take your first time, and then deliberately constructs all kinds of sequence breaks and item skips that an experienced player can figure out, emulating the kind of thing people have been doing in Super Metroid and Metroid Prime and so on for years. In particular, I'm thinking of the aspect where eg Metroid Prime's successive versions actively tried to close off such tricks, while players kept looking for (and finding) new ways to subvert the game's intended route, vs Zero Mission embraced players working to subvert the intended route. Samus 'sequence breaking' in the narrative and performing exactly the kind of 'hell run' sequence breakers do in other Metroid games is... very meta-appropriate in a way consistent with Zero Mission's handling.

In turn, this video led to me watching an alternate sub of Other M's 'movie mode' where this take on the translation is the basis, and... Other M's story does work better this way. I was surprised at how regularly stuff I found inane in its handling was due to the localization's handling: that for example I always found Furby-Ridley flagrantly suspicious to an eyeroll-worthy extent, and it turns out that's not 'the creators inexplicably expected you to be caught off guard when it turns out to be a threat' but rather is 'Samus herself is sure this thing is probably hostile/dangerous/suspicious'.

There's also a number of subtle implications that went over my head originally where I'm not sure how much of that is 'the localization directly butchered things such that it was hidden' vs how much is 'I was too busy reeling at the latest botched writing to be in the space for recognizing implications': that for example this time I caught that the narrative implies but does not actually spell out explicitly that Actual Madeline sicced the Metroid Queen on the traitor when said traitor came for her. (By a similar token, I caught this time that Melissa-pretending-to-be-Madeline fails to react to "Hi, I'm Samus Aran" while Actual Madeline is reassured that Samus is thus not one of the conspirators here to kill her: this makes sense! Melissa is an AI that's lived for, what, a couple years? On an isolated space station. Madeline is a regular human with a full life experience, so presumably she's heard of The Famous Samus Aran where Melissa might not have)

This isn't to suggest Other M has no problems in the original writing. The most glaring two are of course...

... the sheer indefensibility of this encounter in particular being the one where Ridley's appearance causes Samus to break down. The video tries to argue the game tries to justify this in a way that got lost in localization, and while I don't think that's untrue, in the end I don't think it matters much: this was a busted idea that would never have worked.

The other issue is Adam Shoots Samus In The Back For Her Own Good, of course.

It's less terrible in this version. Adam is not so clearly presented as a heroic good guy doing a smart and good thing Samus should be grateful for. The narrative logic for why Adam thinks it's a bad idea for Samus to go into Sector Zero is more coherent. (And why Adam is going inside at all has an actual suggestion of a reason) Adam and Samus' relationship is presented as more complicated than 'she looks up to him to an unreasonable extent', where there's less a built-up assumption we're supposed to back Adam's view, and in fact there's a fair amount of evidence we're supposed to side with Samus against him overall.

But it's still really, really dumb that Adam shoots Samus in the back when there's a Metroid right there, and the writing is hampered by the fact that Adam is just assuming the Metroids in Sector Zero are immune to freezing while the game fails to depict freeze-immune Metroids. I at least caught this time there's an actual implication he's right on this supposition, where Samus, much earlier in the game, reacts to a corpse as "That looks like a Metroid killed it! Oh crap! Wait, no, this area is too cold for that, and also they're extinct. There's gotta be another explanation."

Buuuut there still should've been stronger evidence of Sector Zero Metroids being immune to freezing.

And also even if that was fixed, Adam shooting Samus in the back to stop her is stupid, and absurdly stupid when there's a Metroid right there that he expects to be unable to hurt. The alternate translation doesn't change these problems.

More subtly/generally, the vibe I get from this translation is that the core story person/people (Yoshio Sakamoto, going by how the credits present things, but... credits are always an incomplete picture, and can be very misleading) were too aware of the themes they were trying to write.

That is, in watching this version, it was a lot clearer to me that Other M has as one of its main thrusts be about parent/child relationships, and more specifically that it's trying to argue that, basically, being a controlling jerk of a parent is going to blow up in your face someday so please consider not doing that. And honestly, the bits that are just the story doing that tale work okay-to-pretty-good.

But then there's all the secondary signaling thrown in that largely doesn't add anything or actively detracts from the story: the (baby) Bottle Ship name, Nightmare being given modified human baby cries and its face animated to more directly evoke a crying human baby, and so on; lots of stuff that is consistent with 'this game is trying to make a point about human parent/child relationships', but which aren't actually contributing to the message and all.

At this point I do suspect that if Other M had been given a less borked localization, it would've gone over better, but by 'better' I mean 'more like Hunters, which people mostly don't actively hate but they also are largely pretty unenthused about it'. (I liked it, and I still totally understand this reaction) The baseline handling absolutely has a number of pretty big flaws (I'm not even reiterating stuff like the camera work focusing way too much on clearly-intentional titillating shots, for example), where even a different translation doesn't iron them out.

But I am glad to have watched these two videos, and I think they should be seen by more people.

[julemmaes]

Robyn

Rowaelin Month, Day Ten

A/N: I'd planned on posting them in order, but you get what you get. Idk when the other prompts will come tbf. I hope soon. Anyway, I managed to write over 6k words today and I'm pretty fucking proud.

This is just fluff over fluff, so yep enjoy!!

Word count: 3,047

Rowan was unbelievably late as he sped through the streets of Orynth.

So late that the school had called not only him, but also the front desk of the place where he worked when he hadn't answered the call on his personal phone. Sorscha, his assistant, had entered his office with an embarrassed smile on her lips, as if she didn't want to tell him that he had forgotten for the umpteenth time to pick up his daughter from school.

Lorcan had joined him, for some strange reason, but Rowan had stopped bothering when it came to his best friend. He'd been trying to figure out how he reasoned for years and had come to the conclusion that there was no logical sense in the actions of the man sitting next to him, who was currently singing at the top of his lungs to one of the songs on the Frozen CD - which much to the chagrin of both of them, had gotten stuck in his car radio months before, forcing them into hours of torture.

He would never deny that the songs were all quite catchy, but after the sixteenth time Rowan had had to listen to Let It Go at maximum volume, his positive opinion of the film had begun to waver.

As they pulled into the school parking lot, Rowan noticed with deep regret that the only cars still there were those of the teachers and school staff.

They both got out of the car, Rowan walking quickly towards the entrance while Lorcan dragged behind him.

He greeted the caretakers sitting at the entrance, who returned a big smile. A smile that grew even wider when his large, imposing friend entered a few moments later. He stopped to talk to the old ladies and Rowan walked down the corridor he knew led to Robyn's classroom.

He could hear muffled voices from inside the teachers' room on the left and the one he knew belonged to Miss Galathynius coming from the right. He looked out over the classroom, spotting the two people sitting at a desk.

As soon as his daughter saw him, her eyes widened and a huge smile flashed across her face.

No words. No "hello, daddy!" or "I missed you!" from the little girl.

Her teacher turned as she leapt out of her chair and ran towards him, hugging his legs and looking up at him. Rowan smiled at her in turn, running a hand over her hair that was shot in every direction.

"Hello, little bird," he murmured to her. The child's smile widened even more if that was possible.

The woman a few feet away from them pulled herself upright, crossing her arms over her chest and offering a sincere smile to the child, who hid behind his thighs.

Rowan was about to tell her that Robyn was shy with everyone like this, ready to defend his daughter's behaviour as he was used to doing in front of every adult, but he was beaten to the punch.

"It's good to see you, Mr Whitethorn," she said, extending a hand. Rowan shook it without hesitation. "Actually, I just wanted to write you a letter regarding Robyn," she continued, never taking her eyes off the little girl. "Nothing serious," she hastened to reassure him when Rowan grimaced, "quite the contrary. Robyn is remarkably good. One of the best in the class, though I shouldn't offer that information so bluntly."

Miss Galathynius winked at him, but he couldn't process what he'd just been told.

"Sorry, could you-"

The little hands clamped around his trousers tightened a fraction more and Rowan looked down, trying to figure out what was bothering his daughter, but then something happened that he hadn't even dared to dream about in recent times.

"You're here!"

The little girl broke off and ran away from him in less than the blink of an eye.

Rowan turned just in time to see Lorcan grab Robyn in mid-air, spinning her around as he brought her to his chest and showered her with kisses. The loud, incessant laughter that erupted from her seemed too much coming from that fragile little body, but he never tired of hearing it.

"Why hello baby!" said Lorcan laughing in turn, starting to tickle her until she begun to rebel and he was forced to let her slide to the floor. Robyn was still laughing at the top of her lungs and nearly fell to the ground as she squealed left and right, letting herself be pushed around by the closest thing to an uncle she had ever had.

When Rowan turned back to the woman, she was wide-eyed and her lips slightly parted as she watched the massive man dressed completely in black and the menacing face turn into a completely different person the second he had seen Robyn.

He chuckled, "I know, it's not every day you get to see a little girl be so comfortable with a brute like that."

Lorcan, who was listening to everything, looked him straight in the eye and without stopping smiling and playing with the little girl, mouthed to him to fuck off.

"Well, yeah. You caught me a little off guard." she confessed, still shocked to hear how Robyn was having a full conversation with Lorcan. They couldn't hear anything of what she was actually saying, but even just the fact she was talking to someone seemed to have Aelin unsettled.

She returned her attention to Rowan and let out a breath that sounded more like a giggle, "I've never heard her laugh before."

He nodded, blushing a little at the teacher's surprised but relieved tone.

"I'm sure the dean warned you about the problem she has," he said in a low voice. He grimaced at her poor choice of words, "I mean, not problem, but the difficulty she finds in interacting with people she doesn't know."

Liar, he told himself. Robyn hadn't spoken to anyone but him and Lorcan since the day Lyria had died. It wasn't a difficulty, but a response to the trauma that prevented her from speaking to anyone who wasn't part of her immediate family.

"I know, I know. We've been looking for solutions together." she informed him. "I give her a white board every morning. Come on, I'll show you." she turned to the desk they were sitting at earlier and raised the magnetic board, on which a few words were scribbled on. "I'll write here what she might need. Yes. No. I need to go to the bathroom. I'm thirsty. I'm hungry." she read, listing the various options. Rowan gaped. "We've only just started going over the alphabet for a second time, so she can't really read or write yet, as I imagine you know, but the little drawings next to each sentence help her."

She continued talking, but he couldn't quite follow.

The woman in front of him - aside from being breathtakingly beautiful - had done as much as she could to help her child with communication.

"Mr. Whitethorn-"

"Rowan. Please, call me Rowan." he said, clearing his throat once he realized how hoarse it sounded to his ears. Lorcan walked up to them at that point, still holding Robyn in his arms and positioned himself next to him, letting their shoulders touch in a comforting way.

"Call me Aelin, then," she smiled at them both. Then she made a small grimace, turning to Rowan, "I wanted to ask if it bothered you, that I sought a solution like that. Maybe I put her in distress, embarrassed her. I'm sorry if I gave you the impression that I wanted to solve this on my own. I really wanted to discuss it with you, with your husband too, to avoid misunderstandings. Maybe we could arrange a meeting."

He was about to tell her that she had given him the exact opposite of annoyance, that he had been more than pleased that she had helped Robyn this way, when her words finally registered.

Lorcan, beside him, had opened his mouth wide and his lips were slowly bending into a mischievous smile.

Rowan furrowed his brow, "I'm sorry, what?"

Aelin's smile seemed to falter. "A meeting? With you? To talk about how to handle the situation," then she shifted her gaze to Lorcan, "You're more than welcome to join as well. I didn't know Robyn had two dads, I apologise for assuming Robyn had a mum and dad. That was very rude of me-"

"I love this," Lorcan whispered, laughing in shock. He turned to Rowan with eyes that sparkled with amusement, "I would definitely be the top."

Rowan looked at him with an expression of complete shock on his face, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Robyn gasped, opening her eyes wide and bringing a hand to her mouth, pointing then to Rowan's.

"Yeah, sorry, love. I shouldn't have said the bad word." he apologised, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead. He turned back to Miss Galathynius, "I'm sorry to have to disappoint you, but we're not married."

"No need to lie, sweetie. I'm sure Aelin," he gave her a knowing look, "doesn't mind at all about our relationship status."

Aelin nodded, "Well, yes. That doesn't change anything. Mr..." she turned to Lorcan, searching for a name.

"Salvaterre."

"Mr. Salvaterre can still attend. The fact that you are not yet married is no reason why you cannot both be present at the meeting. You don't have to worry, we are a very tolerant school and if anyone bothers you, you can come directly to me."

A sound of sheer glee escaped Lorcan.

Aelin continued, "I mean it. I was pleased to see both of you today. I was also pleased to see Robyn smiling so much." she concluded, looking the little one in the face.

Rowan took a deep breath, bracing himself, "No, I meant, we're not a couple. We're not gay. He's her uncle."

The woman's blonde eyebrows shot up and a second later she turned almost as red as the dress Robyn was wearing as Lorcan shook his head muttering something very much like 'you're no fun', which made Robyn giggle.

"Why did you even get off the car?" he asked him exasperated.

Lorcan shrugged, "Because I missed my little bean, you monster." he replied, clutching Robyn to his chest. The little girl clutched Lorcan's shirt in her chubby little hands and Rowan huffed, shaking his head.

Aelin brought her hands to her face, leaning against the desk behind her. She shook her head, her face still hidden, "Oh, god. I'm so sorry."

Lorcan let out a dry laugh, "Don't worry about it. It was fun while it lasted." then he turned to Rowan again, who was still trying to recover from the idea of being involved in a relationship with his friend, "You're really no fun."

"Yeah, no fun dad." repeated Robyn.

Silence fell over the class. Rowan looked at her with wide eyes and blinked once, twice. Robyn was staring at him with a sweet scowl that mimicked so much that of the man who was still holding her, but Rowan couldn't get over the fact that his daughter had spoken while Aelin was still beside them.

He was about to talk, noticing how Robyn had started squirming in Lorcan's arms, when there was a knock at the door.

They both turned, Aelin peering over Rowan's shoulder, and saw the figure of a petite girl with black hair and eyes standing in the doorway, watching them with her head slightly bent to the side. She had a tag on her t-shirt that was too colourful to belong to someone who didn't work in a school with children, so he guessed she was a teacher herself. Besides, Rowan felt like he'd seen her elsewhere. Probably every day when he picked Robyn up from school, he said to himself.

"I know you're not supposed to eavesdrop but I stopped by earlier and heard you were a couple of dads," she said by way of introduction. "I just wanted to reassure you that the school is an extremely safe place. I'm the one who did most of the interviews with the parents," that's where they had met then, "and one of the questions that is asked is just about the tolerance of the people who will be attending the school."

Aelin watched her, remaining silent the whole time and putting on an amused smile, nodded, "That's what I was telling them. How tolerant the school is. They make such a cute couple, don't you think, Elide?"

Rowan turned to her, arching an eyebrow, silently asking her what she was doing. The woman, as if she could truly understand what he was trying to convey to her, nodded her head towards Lorcan, who Rowan only then noticed was standing weirdly, his eyes fixed on the woman in the doorway.

He grinned, deciding to take his revenge right away. "Oh, yes. Thank you so much for the reassurance," Rowan began to play along as well. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Lorcan turn towards him, dropping Robyn to the floor, who made a disapproving noise at being dumped so suddenly. "We are happy to know that this school is a safe place for our daughter. And for us."

Elide offered him a blinding smile, "Good. I'm happy to hear that you are pleased so far. And I am happy that Aelin is the one who is taking your daughter's class. She's the best one here."

Rowan didn't know her yet, but he knew the thing Elide had just said could only be true.

"Well," she said again, giving them an apologetic smile, "I really must go now, but if you need anything, you can find all my contact details on the website. Have a nice day!"

Aelin and Rowan said their goodbyes, thanking her. Lorcan took a while to recover, but when he realised he was staring into empty space he ran towards the door, almost stepping on little Robyn, who was moved by Aelin.

"We are very much not gay, miss!" he shouted into the hallway. Aelin, now beside him and with a hand on Robyn's shoulder, cackled. With Lorcan's infinite luck, someone walked by just then and gave him a stern look. "Oh, shut up ma'am. I'm an ally. The best ally."

Rowan shook his head as Lorcan launched himself in pursuit of the poor teacher and burst out laughing when he heard him shout, "I'm not homophobic! I'm willing to suck someone's cock if I have to prove it to you!"

Aelin opened her mouth wide before bursting out laughing in turn.

Robyn, seeing both adults so happy, giggled too and Rowan bent down to pick her up. The little girl laid her full head of white-light hair on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

She was tired and Rowan really needed to get her home to sleep.

He glanced at Aelin and reduced his lips to a thin line, "I'm sorry about the commotion, I'll try not to bring him into the building again. Even if it means tying him to the seat."

The soft laugh she gave made something tighten in his chest. He frowned.

Aelin didn't seem to notice the effect she had on him, "Don't worry, Elide is crazy about fools like him. If he says the right things, we might start seeing each other outside of school too."

Rowan nodded, now too caught up in the thought of having to take Robyn home to focus on anything else.

They agreed on when to hold the parent-teacher meeting and then he grabbed Robyn's backpack, walking towards the exit.

He was thoughtless as he reached into his pocket for his keys and balanced everything else - including the girl - on his other arm, but when Robyn's hand brushed his cheek, he looked down and his eyes met their twins. Green against green.

"What is it?"

The little girl's voice never stopped making him smile. Each time was like the first time she had said dada.

"I really like her."

Rowan frowned, "Who?"

"Miss Aelin." she whispered, almost as if she was afraid they might hear her.

He smiled at her, "Yeah? You like her?"

"She's nice to me."

Rowan had to put her down as he opened the door and let her get into the back seats by herself.

"I'm glad she's treating you well, love," he let her know, buckling her in.

He hoped she'd tell him more about her new teacher, but like any kid her age, the topic of conversation couldn't last for more than four lines apiece, "Where's Uncle Lorcan?"

Rowan snorted, "No idea, little bird."

Robyn nodded, "Elide is pretty too."

And as if those words had summoned him, Lorcan appeared beside the car, making them both scream. He entered the car in a heartbeat and turned to his daughter, who was still settling into the seat. "Do you know Miss Lochan?"

But before she could answer him, Rowan had entered the car in turn and smacked the back of his head, which made the Robyn giggle, "You're not using my daughter as your wingman. Now stop it and buckle up."

Lorcan gave him a gentle push, before doing as he was told and for once he was happy he'd convinced him to do something.

Or at least, Rowan thought he had convinced him.

"What if I left you a note to deliver to Miss Lochan, Rob? Would you be up for it?"

Rowan knew, even without looking at her, that she was nodding emphatically.

Keeping his eyes on the road, he murmured, "Could you stop calling my daughter Rob, please? You'll give her an existential crisis."

Lorcan clicked his tongue against his palate, "Rowan, I'm not giving her a damn thing. We live in this new world, okay? Your daughter could be called Simon and still be a beautiful princess. Grow up and educate yourself before you talk shit."

"Aaaah!" shouted Robyn, "Bad word!"

Rowan sighed and shook his head, but still he was smiling.

This was his life. Had been for the past two years.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.

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[neo-nomatrix]

ahhhh i've had this c!ranboo angst idea in my head for a while now. basically c!ranboo and reader were friends for a while before he joined the smp, but they got separated and one day reader tracks him down. but, BUT, c!ranboo has forgotten all about them. bonus points if they both have some sort of matching accessory. any pronouns and any style you feel like writing <3 -🎃

First loves

C!Ranboo x reader

593 words

A/n: I’m sorry anon! I misread the request and wrote them as partners instead of friends. I hope you still like it, and if you wanted them to just be friends feel free to re request and I can re write some things :)

Many would say you should give up, stop looking for him, luckily you didn’t talk to many people. And the people you did talk to all encouraged you, told you to follow your love. At points yes, you did want to give up. Just admit he’s gone and move on, you found it easier said than done. The day you tried to stop looking for him you found yourself in bed longing for him more than anytime before, longing for the person who’s photo sat in your pocket, the person you fell in love with. You needed to persist, persist for your first love, and perhaps your last.

This was the moment you had been waiting for. The moment you had been anticipating since the second you two were separated. You stood just outside of the nation they called Snowchester. You had met a traveler named Foolish, who you later found out was a former citizen of the nation, he told you where you could find your lover. You found your way across a bridge to a snow covered peninsula. Stepping into the premise you found a cold presence coming over you, not only was it the snow that surrounded you but it felt like someone was watching you. Whipping your head around you found yourself staring at a wavering bush and the snaps of twigs.

“You gonna show yourself? Or are you gonna keep hiding?” You ask the figure, the one you’re still not entirely sure exists. Two people emerged from the bush, one looked like a sheep mixed with a female, she was tall too, a little under 7’0 if you had to guess. Your eyes shifted to the other, they seemed eerily like Ranboo. He was a little taller, had a few scars on his face, and was wearing a suit accompanied with a crown. “Ranboo?” Your voice seemed to be smaller and your eyes softened at the sight of him. “Sorry, do I know you?” His voice was more monotone and it had lost the love it once contained. You were confused to say the least, had he really forgotten who you were? He couldn’t, right? Sure, he did have a pretty bad memory but not bad enough to forget his own lover. “Sure you do, I’m y/n. You know me, you-you couldn’t have forgotten me,” you shake your head, trying to deny what was in front of you, “I know it’s been a while but you remember me right?” Your words came out stronger than you meant. Your tone caused the sheep-like hybrid to put her hand on her sword, ready to draw at any moment.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know you. But if you need a place to say, I’m sure you’re welcome,” he says with the same kindness and hospitality you once knew. Upon seeing the sympathy Ranboo had for you, the sheep hybrid backed a few steps away, allowing you to talk to him. You walk towards him, sure if you kept talking he would recognize you. “We were uh- we were dating. It’s only been a year since we got separated,” you swallow trying to figure out more words that could jog his memory, “we spent hours together, we were… in love.” You looked up at him, he was clearly confused, but still listened. Maybe he hadn’t changed as much as you thought. “I'm sure we were, but I can’t seem to remember you,” he says, the sadness in his voice evident. “I’ll find a way for you to remember, I swear.”

[sylverstorms]

Cassandra x Maiden ----Anonymity Ch. 6

Ch.1 Ch.2 Ch.3 Ch.4 Ch.5

It becomes a sort of evening ritual between the two of you, waking Cassandra up at sunset.

You're always cautious with your movements and how much light you allow in from the hallway as you enter her lavish bedroom, but the cold fear that used to grip at your chest is no longer there.

Measured steps take you to the edge of her bed.

Cassandra usually sleeps on her side, yet today she's on her front, firm back and creamy thigh tantalizingly on display against satin crimson sheets. Her pretty face is turned halfway into her pillow, a river of rich brown waves falling behind her ear and over one shoulder.

The sight makes you stop and stare for a moment. A strange feeling —accomplishment?— swells within your chest at the thought you know just how smooth and sensitive that skin is.

Then you shake your head at yourself. Pull it together. It's one thing to accept you're in a mutually beneficial arrangement with a killer —you remain intact, she scratches an itch, both of you share the pleasure as a means of escape or passing the time— but it is entirely another to be proud of it.

She's nothing of yours. Not your lover, certainly not your girl. That would imply you stand on equal ground which you most certainly do not. You're exactly what she calls you;

A plaything.

The question is, inside your head, what do you call her?

"My lady." you say, keeping your voice low. She doesn't stir but somehow you know she's awake.

"Either wake me up nicely or don't wake me at all." the words come semi-muffled against her pillow. "If I wanted to hear 'my lady' I'd have another maid come."

Well. She does seem to enjoy when you take some creative liberties. So you lean forward and press your lips just over her knee, then move a tad higher on her thigh, then kiss the veins visible on her hand.

Cassandra's mouth slowly pulls into a pleased smile as she turns onto her side. Her fingers then curl on the neckline of your shirt and tug you forward, into a quick little kiss that ends with a nibble on your tongue.

You always get anxious when she does that —it's probably why she does it in the first place— that you'll end up with a piece missing, but so far you haven't even been cut. And if you're honest with yourself, which you're not, but if you were... the thrill is a turn on.

Cassandra licks her lips and scoots back, patting the spot she just vacated on the queen-sized mattress. You look at her, confused. Surely she isn't suggesting...

"Come, now. I don't bite." A devilish smirk curls her mouth while she tells probably the biggest lie of the year. "Keep me company until dinner."

You climb onto her bed like it's a freaking minefield. As carefully as you lower yourself onto the crimson sheets, however, the bruises across your sides still protest. You subtly suck in air through your teeth.

Cassandra's fingers slide over to you, to the exposed part of your waist from where your shirt has risen up. There's a visible patch of purple there that she traces —the coolness of her skin is so soothing— until she presses into it. The brief flare of pain makes you gasp. She giggles.

"You make such nice expressions to pain." she says, as though tempted to draw more from you.

"I've been told my pleasured ones are better." you reply quickly.

Cassandra chuckles. "Is that so?" Her yellowish eyes are gleaming with amusement as she pushes you onto your back and straddles you.

The sight is enough to steal your breath away. The sinful black of her underwear peeks through the royal red of the sheets tangled around her waist, all a wonderful antithesis with her incredibly pale skin.

You want to touch. But then you may lose your hands, so you lock your muscles down and wait for her move.

Cassandra slowly trails a slender finger up your neck, all the way to the underside of your bottom lip. "...yeah, they're good too." she breathes, although you've almost forgotten what you were talking about.

"Can't hold a candle to yours." you whisper back. At this point, you're not really capable of rational thought.

You loathe the effect she has on you. How everything she's done can just be bypassed in your head whenever she gets like this with you.

Cassandra's mouth twists into a near coy little smile. "I'll take your word for it." she says. "There hasn't been anyone else to see them, so."

Wait. Your mind stutters to a halt. Wait. What?

According to rumor, the Dimitrescus have been around for over one hundred years. From what you've seen in the castle, probably longer. And you... you're her first?

"Cat got your tongue?" she giggles again, taking your chin between two long fingers. "I think I may like surprise on you best."

You want to ask if nobody's ever interested her before, but you're afraid to overstep. Cassandra seems to know, though and has no problems answering your unasked question;

"The first few dozen years after the mutations were... very bad. The hunger and thirst were enough to drive one mad. Didn't leave much room for anything else." she explains. "And humans in general are only attractive to me chained up and bled out."

Something inside you recoils at how casually she says it. Like she's simply commenting on the weather.

"But you... you have a little spark that I like." She smirks down at you.

"What about before?" you ask.

"Hm?"

"You said after the mutations. What about before?"

Cassandra's smile gets swallowed up by the abyss so quickly you wonder if you imagined it there. Tension builds at her temples and her eyes take on an icy quality that feels like it extinguishes all warmth in the room.

"There is no before."

You've never heard her voice like that. You hope you never will again, either.

The conversation drifts to lighter subjects, then. She asks you about the world beyond the village and you share what you remember from your childhood, until it is time to escort her to dinner.

But even as she eats and talks with her family, even when she leaves with her mother and sisters and you're left alone, to clean after bloody plates with the other maids, you can't shake off that look in her eyes when you dared ask about her life pre-mutations.

The more you linger on it... there's only one word that comes to mind as an accurate description.

Haunted.

-

-

Deep in your slumber, you hear the telltale buzzing of flies.

Something winged flutters against your cheek, but you merely stir. It prods at your jaw and you grunt. Leave me alone, you want to protest, brain muddled with sleep still.

Until.

A nip that cuts a thin line on your jaw has you springing upright in bed. "Agh!" Your hand flies to the wound, eyes wide.

A familiar form materializes out of an insect swarm, right in front of you. Cassandra grabs at your hand before you can start flailing and panicking any harder than you already are. Your lungs empty of hair in the milliseconds it takes you to realize she's not here to kill you.

Probably.

"Calm down." she says it like you're overreacting.

You try to take a deep, relaxing breath, but she leans forward in the meantime, running the tip of her tongue over the fresh cut on you. So much for oxygen. She even hums against your neck. Despite the sting, your stomach flutters.

Cassandra pulls back, licking her lip. "There. All better now?"

No. Your heart is trying to jump out of your chest. Has she never heard of knocking? For the love of everything Holy out there, it's the middle of the night.

"W-what are you doing here?" you ask.

A dramatic huff escapes her. "I'm bored."

Ah, yes, that makes a lot of sense. You spare a moment to wonder what your life has come to, then accept lack of proper rest and sit back against your pillows. Cassandra takes it as an invitation to push off her hood and plant herself next to you.

"Do you... want to go for a walk outside?" you suggest, uncertain.

Her eyes light up like a Christmas tree for a moment. Then she seems to remember something that dims the glow. "Ugh. Can't. It's way too cold tonight."

That... shouldn't be and issue for her, should it? It makes you wonder.

"Well, if I stay here I'm going to fall asleep." you sheepishly admit.

Cassandra's gaze darkens as she runs her fingertips down the taut skin of your bare middle, leaning over you like a lioness cornering her prey.

"I don't mind biting you awake if you do."

You want to say that you mind, yet her lips are on top if yours, smooth, tasting of strawberry lipbalm and that's the end of that conversation.

"But I am willing to cut you a deal." A manicured nail presses a bit at the middle of your chest. "Put that smart tongue of yours to good use and I'll let you get your sleep."

So spoiled and so demanding, you think. But then, looking at her face this close up... So beautiful.

You forget all about sleep for the next half hour or so as you focus solely on Cassandra, your bedroom filling with her quiet sighs and moans.

True to her word, she does ease back when she's satisfied and you're so tired your eyes start drooping before you've even lowered your head to your pillow.

She doesn't move to leave though... and you find that you don't mind.

When you drift off to sleep this time, your last thought is that the gentle chill of her body beside yours is almost...

Comforting.

[the---hermit]

Hello there! Since for some reason there is now over 1000 of you following this sideblog, and many weren't around when I first posted an introduction, I decided to create a new one. Plus in less then a month this blog will turn 1 year old! So, I guess this is a good moment to do this.

about me

my name is Cris, I'm 22, I'm bi, and I use she/her pronouns out of habit, but honestly I couldn't care less

I'm from Italy

I study history in university, and I am currently at the end of my third year (it should tecnically be my last year, but I still have a few exams left, plus my final thesis, so I will be graduating a bit later)

I have studied languages in high school so I also speak English (duh) and a bit of French (I have forgotten the majority of things I had learned in my German class, but I'd like to pick it up again)

I'm a pagan witch, I love gardening and nature in general, and one of my biggest hobbies is to dry my own herbs to mix them into herbal teas

other hobbies include reading, drawing, writing, cooking and going on walks in the woods

about the blog

this is actually a side blog! My main blog is @cri080799 it's an old mess of random reblogs.

I also have a witchy sideblog called @the-hermit-witch

I created this studyblr/bookblr/whatever last year, to help me stay motivated, and it has worked very well so far. I like to think of this blog as a journal more than everything

I mainly post about what I am studying and reading

on the topic of books I am also pretty active on Goodreads (there I post book reviews both in English and Italian depending on the language of the book I read)

I met some amazing friends thanks to this blog, and hopefully I will meet more!

goals

at the moment my main goal is the keep my motivation up as much as I can. In the past year it hasn't been the best, so I am working on that

finishing all the damn exams I still have to do

write my final thesis

hopefully graduate as soon as I can cause I really want to be done with all the stress

useful tags in the blog

#the---hermit : the tag for all my own posts

#cris speaks : mainly me ranting about stuff

#reblog : pretty self explainatory, everything I reblog from other people

#self reblog : no idea why I am mentioning this but sometimes I reblog some of my old posts and tag them this way

#tips : this is possibly the most useful tag, everything of my own or that I reblog that has study tips, or organization tips and so on

#quotes : again pretty self explainatory

#note to self : stuff I reblog that is maily positive things I should remind myself more often

#book review / #book recomendation : again pretty clear, usually it's me ranting about books I read, with no spoilers

#ask / #answered : usually how I tag the answer from my inbox (btw it's always open, so come and say hi if you want)

#random history fact : I only have a few out at the moment but there's so many little facts that are worth sharing, so keep an eye out cause there's going to be way more in the future

a few amazing studyblr of friends / mutuals I've made in this past year :

@peregrination-studies, @contre-qui , @justanotherstudyblrinthecrowd , @sage-studies .

a few studyblr that inspired me to start this sideblog :

@myhoneststudyblr,@rylie-studies , @serendistudy, @starrystvdy and @gaaandaaaalf.

I am surely forgetting about someone or about something, and for this I apologize. As I have said my inbox is always open so come say hi, I am now going to end this post or else I'll just randomly keep ranting about useless stuff.

[sorry-i-ship-drarry]

In another life, in another time

Dialogue prompt- 27. what happened to us ? Part - 25 | part 31 coming soon |

TW- HEAVY ANGST | Amnesia | Sorry In advance..

Perhaps in another life, In another time, We'd be together.

The beats thumped louder, the footsteps dissolved somewhere in the big building. Harsh breaths leaving Harry's lips could be hear by anyone sitting besides him, he was grieving perhaps or breathing as a task to stay alive for a mere few seconds, even if he wasn't dying, a part of him was slowly approaching senescence, at least that's what he felt.

And finally he saw the healer's coming out talking to each other, whispering in low tone. He could sense the bad news by the way their faces expressed but he held onto a little hope. Just a little.

" Mr. Potter ?" One of the Healer approached harry as the other one's left offering him a sympathetic smile.

"H-he's fine, he is, right?" His voice came out in tremble with trying to control his trembling hands by his sides.

" he's fine " the healer pressed his lip in a thin line before adding " but -"

" no please. No Buts-"

" I'm sorry Mr. Potter. He- draco have suffered some rare oblivation spell. I'm sorry harry, draco have amnesia, anterograde or retrograde, we're not sure of it as of now "

__________________________________

" I'm very glad we were Able to summon you mr. Potter " the healer offered harry a little smile as he pointed the chair in front of the desk to be attempted.

Harry hummed as he sat down on the chair, Shaking.

" I'm going to ask this as a friend harry, when was the last time you slept ?" He huffed.

Harry leaned back over the chair uncomfortably, gulping " I don't know " he grunted

" harry- y- you have to understand what I'm trying to tell you, alright ?" The healer asked. Harry nodded in soft lazy motions, yawning.

After supposedly half an hour, he walked out, every corner of his mind filled with unblinking thoughts. Draco didn't remember harry, he only remembered parts of harry that seemed much like a dream to him and there seemed little hope that he would but the Healer had suggested harry to try again, after unsuccessful attempts and practically forcing draco to remember him. This time harry was to need to a strategy to help draco remember thing's and the only way to it was by storing away his memories.

He passed by draco's ward watching him look outside the window, sitting on the edge of the bed, all alone. Harry wanted to go inside, try once again but he was sure by his previous Attempts he had scared off draco and harry was probably the last person he wanted to see as of now.

Heavy hearted harry walked home drenching himself in rain unknowningly, thoughts of draco brimming his mind to care about anything else.

" you'll have to try but you have to remember harry, he doesn't remember any part of your relationship and he might not even remember you forgiving him. You'll have to start from scratch. If you want him back harry you need do "

He opened the door to his apartment, memories of theirs of cooking on the kitchen, cuddling in the couch, laughing and throwing at pillows at each other, smiling at each other from across the hall, making out against the wall, all of it lingered in the background as a television show not ready to stop but harry didn't raise an eye as he walked into the shower and sat down with clothes on and remained there, numbness invading his senses until Ron had came to visit harry and had forced him out of the shower, helping him get dried up.

" I know it's hard harry, but he doesn't remember you "

" but we've been together for 5 years, he must remember something, anything ?"

" I'm not sure how but during the time of attack draco might've been trying to conceal his memories of you but instead of locking them away, he might've exposed them. In attempts to conceal them, he gave the attacker entrance to it and he possibly have forgotten everything about the relationship "

" how long were you in the shower for ?" Harry suddenly was broken out of numbness, finding Ron putting food over table.

" when did you came here ?" Harry only asked.

Ron looked at in little shock at harry before he sighed, letting it pass " I got you out of the cold shower "

Harry nodded, watching the food presented before him.

" from the looks of it, you met the healer today, didn't you ?" Ron asked. Harry looked up but didn't answer. He didn't know how to. He wasn't sure he could answer even.

" harry, It's been days. If you can't forget him, don't let him. His entire memory isn't blocked. You can try-"

" I've tried Ron but I gave the love of my life an almost panic attack in Trying to make him remember me " harry yelled

Ron startled and saw harry break down in front of him over the kitchen table, " I miss him, ron, he's here but I miss him "

" you have to try this time more patiently harry. If you want him back, you have to " Ron rubbed Harry's back as he hugged him.

" I- I don't know how to ron. It's hard " harry sobbed

"something is better than nothing. Try harry. Trying Is the only hope you've gotten "

_____________________________

Harry shook his hands by his side violently, trying to shake off his anxiety and practiced deep breaths beforehand he knocked on the door.

" come in " he heard.. harry let out a deep breath before he plastered a smile and finally walked through the door.

" hi " harry waved awkwardly

" you " draco raised an eyebrow at harry. Harry closed his eyes, remembering why he is doing this.

" I was wondering if we could talk about the other day ?" Harry asked not moving a step forward

" haven't you done enough " draco rolled his eyes.

Harry swallowed " I- I just wanted to apologise "

" for which part exactly ? The yelling at me like a baboon or basically causing me a panic attack "

" both " harry sighed " listen, I don't think you understand how hard this is for me-"

" hard for you ? I'm the one who doesn't remember people, I've lost chunk of memories and it's hard for you" draco narrowed his eyes at harry

" I- I understand but you see- well it's not as same as you- but-" but harry couldn't go on. He couldn't and draco only waited for him to go on. He didn't.

" you know what it doesn't matter. Let me reintroduce myself, Hi I'm harry potter, I'm your used to be arch nemesis and i- we- well I'd like to be friends with you "

" friends with me? Like my days have became that had that I'd be friends with you potter!? " Draco Airily laughed " no thanks I'm fine "

If only draco knew what he had done, if he only knew. Harry couldn't stand it. He thought he could but he couldn't. He ran out into the washroom and let his burying feelings evade, breaking into heavy sobs. He couldn't do it. Not when he knew Draco didn't remember anything, that he didn't remember harry.

________________________________

" where did you ran to yesterday ?" Draco asked as harry fetched him water today

" I- I had Somewhere to be " harry cleared his throat as he gave him the glass of water.

" it was weird. You asked me to be your friend, then you ran and yet here you are again. There's something weird about you Potter-"

" harry, please " it hurt even to think of how draco didn't know what he was doing by calling him potter.

" it's weird. I've always called you potter, It'd be weird to call you by your first name. Besides I don't think we are on first name basis " draco shrugged his shoulders as he watched harry leaned against the wall, fumbling with the zip of his jacket.

" right, I forgot "

" weird, you're not the one who have amnesia.. you are acting strange you know that. Pretty weird " draco frowned

" it- well we used to be to- friends. We were friends so it's just weird how now you call me potter when I'm used to being harry for you "

"still weird. I mean I at least remember being with people, but you, no recollections as if we were never even friends. Hope you're not lying potter " draco casually said.

Harry exhaled deeply, tears forming at the brim of his eyes " it's alright. You can call me potter until we become friend's "

" why are you so persistent on being friends with me ? I thought you hated me ?" Draco curiously asked.

" because " harry couldn't go on. He couldn't.

" you need to start finishing your sentences potter " draco raised his eyebrows at harry mockingly.

Harry hummed and just stood there watching draco flip pages of a magazine until Draco asked him to leave. Harry did. He had no other option.

__________________________________

" you didn't come yesterday ?" Draco asked one day, watching harry knit a sweater for him..

" I- I had something " he lied. He was lying in bed haunted by draco visiting his dreams, sitting on an empty date table at their 6th anniversary, day they were supposed to move in together, eating draco's favourite dish, all by himself.

" not very nice of you skip a night if you're trying to be friends " draco teased. Harry looked up at Draco with a small smile before he went back to knitting.

Draco observed harry as if he was a blank canvas waiting to be drawed upon, his glance curious. Draco would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't curious about why harry was the only one so persistent about being friends, as if there were greater reasons but no matter how hard he tried to remember, he only remembered him apologizing to him after war, and nothing else.

" do you not sleep at all or those dark circles are just fashion ?" Draco asked

"I- have trouble sleeping " harry replied, pressing his lips in a thin line.

" you can sleep around here if you want to you know.. It'll be a secret" he cared. Draco cared and it only offered false hope to harry, one he should've been very much aware of not to fall into trap to.

" I'll keep that in mind " for the first time harry offered draco a warming smile before he began knitting again and draco absent-mindedly flipped pages of magazine again.

________________________________

" wow- such a grand celebration " draco laughed as he saw his friends come in with cakes and balloons

" since you couldn't celebrate your half birthday as you always do, we thought we'd bring it to you " pansy chimed.

Draco laughed and started singing along with them as they sang the birthday song, making draco happier than he had felt in days. And in even so everything, he couldn't stop thinking about harry standing in the background, then walking out in the Middle. Hermione followed him outside and from what draco saw, it seemed like she was hugging him, trying to probably comfort him, but before he Could've stared any longer, pansy forced him to cut the cake.

Something felt missing, there was and it Haunted draco to think of what it was. There was no one more hurt by the fact that he couldn't remember even when he tried so hard. He knew there was something missing, he could feel it, he just didn't know what and for whatever reason, it felt it was related to harry.

" y- that necklace " draco had pointed out at Harry's neck when he was helping draco with adjusting his pillows.

" that-"

" it's yours " harry smiled lightly, helping Draco lean backwards.

" how? How do you have it ?"he asked curiously.

" you gifted it to me, don't you remem- " harry stopped himself.

" you gifted it to me. You can have it back if you want " harry offered as he hesitantly reached his neck to unlock it but draco stopped him.

" it's fine. Keep it. Feels like it holds much meaning to you than to me " draco replied.

Harry gazed at draco softly before he pressed a small kiss on his forehead " it does " harry whispered and left, like a dying wind.

Draco played with the ring on his finger for a larger part of the night, haunted by the fact again that harry had different motives. He Could sense it but the more he tried to think, the more he felt as though he was stepping away, more he was forgetting and it ached draco. He knew it, he felt it but he was too Afraid. He was afraid of hurting even if he didn't know what he'd even do.

________________________________

" harry, stop this " one day draco abruptly said while harry was helping With last of draco's bandages

" what? What do you mean ?" Harry asked puzzled

Draco breathed in deeply, gulping, preparing himself to drop the bomb " stop taking care of me, stop trying to do whatever it is you're trying to do, can't you see it already, it's not- it's not what you want "

Harry looked at Draco as the pained expression found his face and he softly whispered " you don't know what this means, do you ?"

Draco shook his head painfully denying.

Harry gave him a sad smile as he sat down on the chair next to draco's bed, his head dropping, a single tear dripping down his eye.

" to you it's just me trying to be friends with you but it's so much more than that. It's more than about just being friends for me " harry whispered.

" it Always have been so much more than that. Yet I've been holding onto the hope all along but -"

" I don't remember " draco finished his sentence somehow knowing harry was about to say that.

" stop doing it to yourself harry " draco sympathetically said

" I- can't. I -"

" you have to " draco raised his voice

" can't you see it, I can't. Do you even realise how much it pains me to see you everyday on the bed, holding onto one single ray of hope that you'll remember. But you, remember nothing. 6 years of memories , gone just like that. You don't get to say any of it draco, you're living it painfully, I walk in everyday to an Empty apartment, crying myself to sleep in just one hope that you'll remember-"

" but that's the thing, I will not harry. i can't and i won't " draco interjected loudly.

" I will not remember harry. Stop hurting yourself " draco whimpered.

Harry looked only once at Draco " I know " before his whispers Turned into sobs and harry was shaking with the pain.

Draco tried to comfort harry, rubbing his back, trying to tell him it's alright but he knew it provided no solace. It didn't mend his broken heart when he was the one causing his heart to break in little fragile fractions of glasses until it was scattered across everywhere.

" I pretended it didn't hurt, but it does. It does so much that I can't even sleep at night" harry whimpered as he hugged draco. Draco rested his chin on top of Harry's head, rubbing circles over his back, providing any comfort he could offer.

They remained like that for several moments until Harry's breathing came to normal and draco finally broke the silence with a painful statment " what happened to us?"

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, a grief to offer, a way to express sorrow, to visit pain. It was to offer solace that draco too regretted and harry knew he did. It was a way of saying that when they expected cherish and Making more memories, living together, waking up next to each other, instead they were fighting through, waking up in hospital bed, grieving on lost memories. Where life landed them.

" I have got to go " harry finally said, Breaking from the little hug.

Draco looked at harry only for a moment before he kissed harry in pity of being unable to give everything to harry he had once promised him and that left him in tears again.

Harry broke free crying, desperately trying to conceal his whines.

" I'm sorry harry, I really am " draco's eyes prickled with tears as the moon danced over them in the late night..

Harry stood there in silence for several moments, packing away the memories,. storing away draco somewhere he'd only visit in dreams until it was time to finally leave and he reluctantly walked towards the door..

" I'd like if we can be friends harry.. " draco offered.

Harry turned around, giving draco a small smile " I'd rather not have you at all than only for a few, draco "

" perhaps in another life, I'm another time we'd be together and neither of us would forget "

And harry walked away, coldness settling in as draco long stared at the doorframe.

I swear I'm sorry. ( Thanks to Tom Odell for putting me in feels )

300 followers appreciation Dialogue Prompt requests open

[kaiparker-avengerssmut]

Their Doll 4

Y/n Stark

B.Barnes x Reader, S.Rogers x Stark!Reader

series synopsis:  y/n Stark, all records of her non existent, and yet Hydra still find her. When she is kidnapped by a certain super-soldier and no one believes her, she finds herself searching for unexpected familiarity in her not-so-distant past.

Series Warnings: smut, violence, torture, swearing

Chapter Summary: the avengers find some stuff out about y/n

Warnings: swearing

A/n: The timeline in this has been altered, as there I things I wanted to include but I also wanted this fic to follow the storyline/timeline of Winter Soldier and Civil war.So for purposes of this fanfic, Peter Parker was discovered by Tony at a much younger age - when he was bitten - and has been an intern with him since, almost like a protégée.(For the purposes of this story Peter was bitten much younger too - more like when he was 9 or ten rather than 14/15)

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

"SO there's some weird HYDRA girl locked and sedated in my basement? Cool, don't want to know." Tony dismissed, not looking up from his white mug as he tipped a generous amping of sugar into his black coffee. He swirled the liquid in the mug and turned around, leaning against the counter as he raised the drink to lips lips and took a sip before sighing intently. Bruce frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Tony, I don't think you get it, I ran a DNA test and-"

"And she's probably some innocent girl that went missing years ago and was never found? I get it, I feel bad for her but at the end of the day she has nothing to do with me." Tony dismissed, pushing away from the counted to deposit his now-empty mug in the sink. He turned the tap on, rinsing out the cup before carelessly placing it on the drying rack.

"Just, please, come and see her. You won't regret it, and if you do - dinner's on me?" Bruce suggest, arms outstretched in welcome. Tony rolled his eyes, before scoffing.

"Yeah, no. I'm good. Catch you in the lab later though?" Tony was quick to deflect, exiting the room with so much as another glance. Bruce's hands feel to his side with a slap as his shoulders sagged in defeat.

...

Bruce nervously paced the lab, desperate to tell someone his horrifying discovery. The click of the door made his head snap up, a smile of relief spreading his on lips at the sight of Nat.

"Nat, finally." He sighed, walking towards the scowling girl.

"What did you need to tell me Bruce? You sounded pretty urgent when you called." She pressed, crossing her arms over her chest and raising a brow. His smile faulted, his gaze dropping to his hands where he fondled with a biro pen.

"I- uh. I made a... discovery about y/n." Bruce confessed, finally meeting Nat's eyes.

"Go on.." Nat prompted. Bruce took a deep breath, chewing on his bottom lip nervously. "Bruce-" she started.

"Y/n isn't entirely human-"

"Well we knew that much."

"It's what she is, that's shocking. Looking threw all her blood tests and whatnot - it's showing she has an ability to manipulate minds when she s-sings. It's like a certain note her voice forms that can control the minds of people around her."

"So what is she?"

"I don't know, there's not really a name-"

"A siren. She's a siren." A third voice joined the room, and both the avengers' heads snapped round to the direction it came from. In the door stood Steve, shoulder leant against the frame and ankles crossed.

"Who's watching y/n?" Nat asked.

"Clint. Anyway, my father - he used to read me a story when I was a kid. The Odyssey, I believe it was called. It was a Greek myth about a bewitching girl who lured saloons in with her voice so she could feed off them." Steve continued, pushing himself off the door frame and walking further into the room.

"There's no way that's real, though." Nat dismissed, frowning heavily at his words.

"No, no. He has a point - I mean, look at Steve. Look at me." Bruce said, gesturing to himself and Steve. "We shouldn't be possible, but science does some crazy things. Y/n was with HYDRA, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Well, what if they did this to her. We know she was taken when she was young, so what if they did so to experiment on her?"

"I should go talk to her, you know - girl on girl. She seems to like me, maybe she knows what she is and she might open up to me, if I ask nicely." Nat suggests, walking out the room when she was met with no protests from the two men.

"There's something else I should mention." Bruce started fidgeting again, which man Steve's brown knit together.

"What is it, Bruce?" The super-soldier prompted. Bruce continued to fidget, not looking up from him hands as he spoke.

"Are you aware Tony used to have daughter?" Bruce asked sheepishly.

"Tony had a daughter?" Steve said, brows now raised with genuine shock. He knew of Tony's...escapades from before he was with Pepper, but he couldn't see Tony as the type to actually keep a child from just a one-night stand.

"She was adopted, some kid he found on the streets with no parents. So he took her in, raised her and then she just disappeared. Many people have forgotten she existed, and those that remember her are all under the impression that she is dead. I thought so too, until..." Bruce paused, flipping through some papers on his clipboard until he found what he was looking for. "Until this." He finished, handing the board over to Steve.

In Steve's hands was proof that matched y/n's DNA to that of Tony's adopted daughter.

"Well that explains the name, and her hesitation to tell us who she really is." Steve frowned, eyes scanning over the paper repeatedly. Bruce hummed in agreement, taking the clipboard back from Steve when he held it out for Bruce to take. "Do we tell Tony?" Steve asked after a moment.

"He doesn't want to know, I've tried telling him but he doesn't care." Bruce told Steve and Steve pressed his lips together as he thought. "I do think we should wake her up though. If she's Tony's daughter there can't be anything that's more dangerous about her than you expect her attitude." Bruce said and Steve nodded, suppressing a laugh.

"I'll tell Nat to wake her up." Steve said as he exited the lab.

...

The steam from the shower engulfed me, my hands running through my hair and brushing out the tangles lightly. As I scrubbed the shampoo from my scalp, I hummed a small tune - thankful to be somewhere noisy enough that I wouldn't risk affecting anyone with my powers. After waking me up Nat told me to clean up and get changed before handing me a pile of clothes and telling me that she would meet me at my room in half an hour to take me to meet the rest of the team.

Shutting the water off, I slid the glass door open and my feet padded onto the thin bath-mat. The towel wrapped around me as I patted my hair dry with another one, looking over my scarred figure in the large mirror opposite me.

A large scar spanned the width of my stomach, smaller remnants of cuts littering my thighs that were joined by one larger one from where I was once stabbed. Looking at myself over my shoulder, I observed the large scars that spanned over my back, the layers fading at different degrees from their varying ages. The memory of how I got them brought tears to my eyes, which I was quick to blink away and focus back onto what I was doing.

Pulling the large sweatshirt Steve had lent me over my head, I left the large bathroom clad in a pair of leggings and some socks I borrowed from Nat. I brushed my fingers through my wet locks, detangling them. I threw the towel onto the bed in the room I had been assigned and plopped down next to it, taking my time to survey the room I barely got a look of earlier.

The door to the en-suite bathroom I just exited sat on one side of the room, accompanied by a big closet and a dressing table. A chest of draws was propped next to the king sized bed the sat in and the free corner housed a small kitchen. It had a stove, fridge-freezer, sink and a few cabinets. On the side sat a kettle, toaster, blender and some chopping boards.

A sharp knock on the door bought me back to my senses, making me perk up a little at the sound of Nat's voice.

"You feeling okay?" I nodded. "Good, well Steve and Bruce want you to meet them in conference room 4. I'll take you." She quickly added the last part in seeing my scared face.

As we walked down the halls we chatted, talking about our pasts and finding out that we were fairly similar - we were both forced into the bad things we did, we both found a way to redeem ourselves, neither of us have ever had a boyfriend and we both love chicken noodle soup.

"Well, this is it." She announced, pointing at a door to our left. I nodded, going to open the door before pausing and turning around.

"Thank you. For taking me with you, for giving me this chance, for hiding me from HYDRA - thank you, really." I spoke softly, giving her the friendliest smile I could muster.

"No problem. I couldn't live with myself if I knew we could've helped you. Everyone deserves a second chance."

"I genuinely can't thank you enough - you saved me." I said, quickly swiping away the threatening tears with the heels of my hands.

"I was nice meeting you, y/n."

"You too." And with the last words said, I pushed the door open, walking into the room and being instantly greeted by Bruce and Steve.

"Hey, y/n, why don't you take a seat and we'll get the introductions out the way?" Bruce suggested and I nodded shyly. I took a seat next to Steve, who appeared to shuffle slightly away from me but I couldn't be sure.

"So, another midgardian?" a bulky man with shoulder length blonde hair and a red cape clipped to his shoulders broke the silence. He was clearly the God I'd been hearing about - I mean how much more of a costume does he need to look like Thor?

"Yes, we think so." Bruce confirmed. I frowned at this. Midgardian? What the hell was a midgardian?

"We think she's been tampered with, like me," Steve elaborated, "but as far as we know, she is of this earth." Steve spoke and Thor nodded. "We are keeping her safe from HYDRA." Steve said to break the silence as they all stared at me with funny looks. I kept my eyes cast down now, cheeks hot with embarrassment after feeling so many eyes on me at once.

"Does she-" I interjected the second I heard another voice. I stood abruptly, pushing me seat back and wincing at the screeching noise it made before resuming my angry face. I slammed my hand down the table as I stood, catching the attention of everyone sat at the table.

"If even one more of you refers to me as 'she' rather than just fucking talking directly to me I am going to end up sirening one of your asses!" I demanded, seething with anger. A grin broke out on Thor's face.

"Atta girl, I like this one already!" He laughed and I sat down again, smiling contented ay his compliment.

"She's got Tony's patience, all right." Another man remarked with a smirk. Steve simply rolled his eyes as common menus about my attitude were thrown around the room. Finally, someone addressed me. It was a woman with Blonde hair and kind eyes. She looked motherly.

"Hey, I'm pepper." She smiled kindly and I quickly reciprocated it. They went around the table - the man who had commented about my patience was called Clint, the blonde man was was indeed called Thor and obviously I'd already met Bruce and Steve.

"I'm y/n." I returned and she repeated my name in her beautiful voice, almost as if she was testing how I'd felt in her mouth.

"Y/n. A stunning name for a stunning lady." Thor commented, boyish grin still in place and I gave him a sheepish smile.

"Oh, cut it out big guy - you're like, a billion times her age." A voice came from the door and we all turned to find out who it was.

"Tony. I wasn't aware you'd be joining us." Steve said in a monotone voice and Tony gave him a tight smile.

"You don't get everything your way, Capsicle. Now, who's this?" Tony said, stuffing a mouthful of blueberries in his mouth before stuffing the bag of food in his back pocket and motioning to me with a nod.

"Tony, this is y/n," Bruce said moving out the way from where he was standing so Tony could see my face. The man's eyes widened instantly as the recognition sank in. "Y/n Stark."

[thebeautifulfantastic]

Top 5 books you'd give someone for them to get to know you?

oooh this is a really good question! however, I have suddenly forgotten most of the books I've ever read, so hold on while I try to remember lmao...

1. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

I think I knew I would love this book ever since I read the summary when it first came out. I finally got around to reading it early this year and it did not disappoint! It was one of those timely encounters with a story that feels like it was made for you in that moment. The two main characters, Addie and Henry, both feel like a different side of me. Addie's greatest wish is to live a meaningful and significant life, to be remembered. Henry struggles to meet people's expectations of him, constantly feelings like he's not enough and at the same time too much (he feels everything deeply). Ultimately, both of them just want to be fully seen and known and loved for who they are. V.E. Schwab is also such an exquisite writer. She knows how to make prose feel like poetry and REALLY put the emotion into it. I cried at the end :')

2. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (and The Lord of the Rings)

I spent the majority of my middle and high school years in a public speaking and leadership nonprofit, and I started out with a HUUUGE phobia of speaking in public. The Hobbit unironically is the story that helped me get over that fear. The stories were a big part of my life back when I was starting out onstage, and so I referenced it in about five different speeches. As I got more confident, I also became known as the resident Tolkien fanatic. (I can do a pretty wicked Gandalf impression, just saying ;)) So in a way, my love for Tolkien is inseparable from my public speaking journey. The stories themselves are deep and beautiful and make me ache with their bittersweetness, but also they're perfect for drawing parallels with my own life. I had a running joke for a while where I'd compare my Gandalf pushing Bilbo out the door to my mom pushing me into public speaking. And if she hadn't done that, I wouldn't have overcome a lot of my insecurity and decided I wanted to pursue acting for life.

3. Macbeth by William Shakespeare

I have a list of dream roles I'd love to play as an actress, and Lady Macbeth is sitting right at the top as my number one. I'm not sure I know all the reasons why, but I've always been really drawn to this specific Shakespeare play. It's so dark! and so tragic! and the spooky atmospheric-ness of it! ughhh so good. Fate as a concept is something I wonder about a lot, which is the underlying theme of the whole story. But also it's an exploration of how far people will go to get what they want. Where to draw the line before ambition goes too far, and all that. I'm sure there are plenty of other things that could be explored. And Lady Macbeth is without a doubt one of the greatest Shakespearean antagonists. I think she's so much more complicated than she appears; she's certainly no good, but she's not pure evil. I also used a Lady M monologue for my drama school auditions last year, so there's a fun personal connection.

4. The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.

I read this in tenth grade, and it really turned a lot of things around for me in regards to my faith. It's because in the book, you have to subvert everything Screwtape says, since he's a demon and obviously a liar and an unreliable narrator. But in doing so, it means you're forced think through what the truth really is --- which is a surprisingly effective tactic. Lewis walked a really fine balance between showing the chilling reality of spiritual warfare, and rendering them Screwtape & Co ridiculous and ultimately powerless. Yeah. That one was thought-provoking for sure. I think back to it all the time.

5. Matt Fraction's Hawkeye comics run

Pretty much the reason for putting this on the list is because I freaking love Clint and Kate, those two idiots (affectionate). Their dynamic is top-tier. And it has a depth to it too, because these two are dealing with so much shit all the time from their respective dysfunctional families. I was a little disappointed when the show came out, because even thought it did an amazing job of conveying the mood of the comics, the Clint-Kate relationship was portrayed as more fatherlike than siblinglike, whereas I think it was a mix of both in the comics. And Kate's backstory got rewritten too... but I won't start rambling. I just really appreciate the comics and the time I spent reading them during a really rough year of my life.

(I feel like I have to "honorable mention" a few of my childhood favorites too so here you go: The Chronicles of Prydain, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Beauty, The Hero and the Crown, The Chronicles of Narnia)

send me my top 5 anything!

[ordinaryschmuck]

What I Thought About the Climax of "Reunion" from Amphibia

Salutations, random people on the internet who are already scrolling right past this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

So, Season Three of Amphibia is coming pretty soon. And I am...excited, but not as much as most people.

If you've seen my reviews, you'll know that while I do like Amphibia, I wouldn't go so far as to say it grabbed me as well as a series like The Owl House. With a show like that, it took me until Episode Five before I realized The Owl House was something special that was worth remembering. For Amphibia? It took me until the Season One finale before I had a similar reaction. But, to be fair, that's because this series is really good at making an ending. "Reunion," for example, takes a lot of the small things the first season has been building up, taking plots from episodes I considered filler and tying it all together in a pretty satisfying ending. I know people are still reeling over the epicness of "True Colors," and all for a good reason, but I want to start the new season on the right foot by discussing a moment that made me consider giving the series a chance.

But it also contains spoilers, so if you haven't seen Amphibia yet, now might be a good time to check it out. It may not have grabbed me and might not even grab you, but trust me when I say that it's worth it just to get to that final scene.

Now, let's review, shall we?

Grime Explaining Flipwart and Bogjump: One thing I will always defend about this series is its humor. More often than not, it succeeds in getting a chuckle out of me with perfect timing and solid comedic delivery. And stuff like this? Where Grime takes a break from his evilness to explain how two board games work to two teenagers? Only to then give up and stick with a simple answer? Yeah, I'm sorry, but that's funny to me. A good thing, too, given how this show relies more on humor than anything else. It may have an overarching plot and its fair share of grim moments (I give you Marcy's maybe death), but Amphibia knows when to keep things light amongst the darkness, which I always appreciate.

Anne Pleading with Sasha: Here, the scene showcases Anne's own personal struggle with Sasha. We know Sasha's a bad friend, primarily because we have eyes. But Anne still needs convincing. Because while she speaks up, she still doesn't assert herself. Anne doesn't yell at Sasha or tell her she's going too far. Instead, she just begs and pleads, hoping to seek the bit of humanity of this girl that Anne sees as a friend. Only for Grime to cut things short in demanding Hop Pop.

Anne Grabbing a Sword to Defend Hop Pop: This, on the other hand, was a defining moment for Anne. She spent so much time with the Plantars, risking life and limb for their own personal health and safety in multiple episodes before this one. So in desperation and due to being backed into a corner, she yanks out one of the guards' swords and orders people to back up, including her "best friend." This moment is when Anne is right on the edge of standing up against Sasha, ready to do all she can to help a person, er, frog that treats her right.

Sasha Talking Anne Down: But she isn't fully ready to fight back yet. Sasha sees the panic and desperation and uses that to her advantage and takes control. She speaks calmly, attracting Anne with talks of going home and pointing out the ridiculousness of standing up for Hop Pop. And my blood boils with how easily she does it. It was like a light switch, turning off her intensity just so Sasha appears to be empathetic. Even though she isn't. You can tell just how cold hearted she can be with the way she says the line "End of discussion." Does the way she say that really sound like a person who has Anne's best interests at heart. I wouldn't think so.

Sprig’s Reaction to Anne Lowering the Sword: And neither does Sprig. I mean, look at Sprig's expressions when he sees Anne lower the sword:

First, there's shock and empathy in seeing Anne crumble to Sasha's will. And unlike the fake empathy Sasha offered, you can see that it's real.

Almost as real as the look of pure disgust he gives Sasha afterward. Personally, I can't blame him. Sprig cares deeply for Anne, as the two of them have the most real friendship out of everyone else in the main cast, one built on mutual trust, respect, and willingness to have the other's best interests at heart.

Sprig Standing Up for Anne: This only proves my point. By slingshotting mud (was that mud?) into Sasha's face and praising how incredible Anne is, Sprig proved he really is the true friend that Sasha can only wish to be. And it's just the boost Anne needed to snap out of her stupor and do, in her words, "something that [she] should have done a long time ago."

Anne Standing Up to Sasha: If standing up for Hop Pop was a defining moment for Anne, defending Sprig from Sasha was a moment Anne could never go back on. It was one thing to fight for her found family against soldiers she's never met before. It's something else to do that against Sasha, Anne's best friend, who she pleaded with earlier and was so close to falling into submission for. But not anymore. At this moment, Anne decided to think for herself and do what needed to be done. Rather than let a bully tell her what to do instead.

Grime’s Words of Warning for Sasha: Grime’s little warning is similar to how a commander gives tips to a fellow commander in leading the troops. Because that's what Sasha really seems like. Not a friend, but someone who takes charge and orders what Anne and Marcy should do rather than listen to the opinions of the group. You see it more in "Battle of the Bands," and that's why I think she follows his advice to "stamp this out." Especially with how he finishes his warning: "Fail, and nothing will ever be the same."

There are two things to take away from that.

The fact that Grime was right. Sasha failed, and nothing was the same because of it. Anne now stood up to her and won't take her orders anymore. The thing is, that would have happened if Anne failed or not. Sasha winning may have stamped Anne's spirit a bit, but it still shows a dark side to her that wouldn't have been forgotten for long.

The fact that Sasha vocally admits that she won't let things change. It proves how twisted her mindset on friendship is that Sasha would willingly partake in a sword fight with her "best friend" because she refuses to have Anne standing up for herself. She likes being in charge and refuses to lose her power no matter what needs to be done to keep it.

If Anne defending Sprig is a moment where she crosses the line for the better, Sasha listening to Grime is a moment where she crosses the line for the worst.

“Anne, you don’t have to do this”: I love how Hop Pop tries to talk Anne out of the challenge. It's his life that's on the line, but he cares just as deeply for Anne as she does for him, that letting her duel Sasha, her supposed "best friend," is a choice he doesn't want her to make.

“Yes, I do.”: But Anne isn't about that. She now knows the type of person Sasha is, and letting her get away with more control is something no one should allow. And Anne won't. Not anymore.

The Fight: The fight isn't all that special compared to other action animation, and even to a certain fight scene we see in "True Colors." But as is, it is still pretty tense. I mean, for f**k's sake, it's two thirteen-year-olds fighting each other with swords! It's a miracle that only Sasha got a small scar at the end of it. Plus, while not the show's highest standard yet, there is a lot of effort and attention put into this battle. Anne is a lot more inexperienced and frantic with her attacks, where Sasha shows she was trained well in her time with the toads and is rotten given that she cheated by blinding Anne to force a victory. In a way, it illustrates the desperation the two of them have for winning, making Sasha's actions, in particular, easier to root for Anne.

Anne Wins: So when Anne is victorious, it's all the more satisfying. Primarily thanks to the look on Sasha's face. Look at it:

That is the definition of shock and anger, mostly shock. Sure, Sasha might be ticked that she lost, but it's Anne's words that I think really hit a specific soft spot: "You're not going to push me around anymore." That's probably the first time that Anne called Sasha out on her awful behavior. Saying that she's standing up to her huts, but pointing out how Sasha basically controlled Anne and how that's something she won't allow anymore, could be an eye-opening moment that Sasha needed.

Grime Goes Against the Deal: Ok, full disclosure, while this post is meant to shine a light on how great a scene is, there is one complaint I've got to get out of the way. You see, Grime going against his deal to let Hop Pop go free if Anne wins was way too predictable. Because why the f**k would he?!

I mean, does this seriously look like the face of a man you can trust? This scene may excel at everything else, but this one predictable moment is just a little off to forgive.

The Tower Blowing Up: This predictable moment, however, is done flawlessly. Because there's a difference between a twist and a payoff. Where a twist is meant to shock the audience, a payoff has to, well, pay off a setup brought up earlier in the story. And Wally's boom-shrooms going off at just the right time, transitioning to the most iconic moment of the series? Yeah, that's a payoff done right.

(Also, Wally cursing his one eye is hilarious)

“Lean On Me”: By the way, NOT joking when I say what follows is the most iconic moment of the series. All of which is aided by the inclusion of "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers. I'm not a music theory major and have no idea if the song itself is actually mildly appropriate to the scene, much like how "All Star" and "I Need a Hero" work perfectly for Shrek and Shrek 2, respectively. With that said, "Lean On Me" really does add an extra Umph! power to what follows. And as Matt Braley, series creator, describes, it is the coolest thing, but it will never happen again.

(Apparently, the song was too expensive).

Anne Goes to Save Sasha: Believe it or not, I actually do love this decision. Sasha may be a bad friend...Actually, no. Sasha is definitely a bad friend, but that doesn't mean Anne wants her to die. Not after all the good times that they had with each other. Anne might refuse to let Sasha push her around, but she's not ready to cut Sasha out of her life. Not yet.

Anne Holds Onto Sasha, the Plantars Hold Onto Anne: ...I mean...just f**king that! Through this moment, we get a perfect idea of how Anne's relationships work.

To put it simply, the Plantars raise Anne up and keep her safe, where Sasha just weighs her down and risks her safety. And the saddest part is that Sasha knows this.

“Anne. Maybe you’re better off without me…”: Some say that this could be Sasha trying to get in one last manipulation, using her own sacrifice to stick to Anne for choosing talking frogs over her. While I could see that perspective as a possibility, I personally take this moment as Sasha finally realizing the damage she causes for Anne and admits her faults. Sure, Sasha might have backpedaled in later episodes. What with refusing to change and even directing her anger towards Anne instead of towards herself. But that's because she had time to process these events and unfairly aim her negative feelings at Anne for wanting something better. So it doesn't seem implausible to me that Sasha admitting that Anne's better off without her is something she believed deep down and, for just a moment, allowed herself to accept this heavy truth. I won't deny the possibility that she's still trying to manipulate Anne, but to me, with the tone and expression Sasha has with her admission, you can't fake that. And you can't fake what she does next.

Sasha Lets Go: This...shocked me right down to my core.

I knew Grime would go back on his word, and I assumed the boom-shrooms would pay off somehow. But Sasha, willingly and unhesitantly, letting go of Anne's grip and falling to an expected demise? I...I couldn't have ever predicted that. Not with what we've seen from her before. When I hear how people see this as one last manipulation tactic, I just can't see it. Yes, there are monsters on this planet who would go this far, but I don't think Sasha is one of them. Later episodes like "Battle of the Bands" (despite a rough start) show signs of a person who could be better, and the Season Three trailer hints that she might actually learn from her mistakes. So her letting go, with no way of knowing her survival, could be the first sign that Sasha would one day make that first step. She might not be able to become Anne’s friend again, thanks to burning that bridge in "True Colors," but she'll at least try to become a better person. She just needs to do one good thing in her life first.

Plus, whenever I see this image:

I’m reminded why I could never say that I didn’t like this show.

Grime Saving Sasha: A lesser viewer would say this cheapens Sasha's sacrifice, but not to me. She had no way of knowing Grime would save her, so to her, so this is still a bid decision to go through with, even if she couldn't have gone all the way. In no way does it take away from the sacrifice, just as much as it doesn't strike a chord deep in Anne's heart.

Anne Breaks Down: Because what else would she do?

It's true, Sasha isn't a good friend, and Anne would likely be better off without her. But that's not what Anne's thinking at this moment.

She's thinking about the good fun she had with her best friend.

She was thinking about the person she could lean on.

And she was thinking about how she almost lost this person forever.

So when it all comes crashing down on Anne at once, there's nothing left to do but cry. It is such a real moment that proves one thing: There was effort put into this finale.

IN CONCLUSION

Would I say Amphibia draws me in as much as The Owl House does? No. But it still has my respect. A finale like this proves how hard the writers try to give a good experience. Even if a Schmuck like me thinks that all the pieces don't come together, they still do all they can to make a beloved series.

Season Three is on the way, and while I'm not as hyped as others, I still can't wait to see how it ends. Because if "Reunion" taught me anything, this series really nails an ending.

(And if you want me to do a scene breakdown of the finale in "True Colors," I'll tell you now: I won't...alright, maybe I'll do something for the mid-season premiere. But no promises!)

[enigmawrappedinhypocrisy]

I've recently really gotten into your blog and I love how you write Barley, I'm very interested by the NSFW because I didn't expect this much love for him from the community! I wanted to request something NSFW if it's okay :)! I like the concept between fem reader and Barley ending up doing the deed in his van ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) (Could I add that during this deed, Barley is very passionate and thorough as well as -not safe sex- 👀?) Thank you for your time, I look forward to your stories, take care! ❤️

Hey guess who totally didn’t forget about this sitting in my drafts 75% finished for a looooong time?!! Sorry

Okay… the nsfw things really take longer for me to come up with… it’s like… difficult for me to come up with something that doesn’t sound like bullet points or has bad pacing… 

Aand I could not come up with an opener for this… all I kept thinking of was the premise for the other time there was sexy times in Barley’s van… and I couldn’t do that twice… And i’m not sure what you mean by ‘very passionate’ so hopefully this works…

 Fandom: Onward

Pairing: Barley Lightfoot x Fem reader 

Warnings: NSFW! Badly written Smut, Fingering, unsafe sex, some cum talk I guess... kinda upsetting language in the beginning... 

❀✦ Master List✦❀

The day was warm and bright, your parents were having their annual summer party,

You were grateful Barley was there to help balance you, as the people invited tended to be a little… much...

Everything was okay for a while… you were able to avoid any uncomfortable discussions by spending a good amount of time in the kitchen ‘helping’ until your parents insisted you ‘join the fun’. 

It only took a few minutes before the conversation outside shifted to you...

A great aunt commented that, “you’d be pretty if you dropped the weight…” 

A cousin asked when you’re going to get married, and someone responded with something that sounded like “when she gets ‘in trouble’” 

Your mother’s friend told you she thought you should date her son instead of that “troublemaker you were dating”.

And then politics… 

It was very quickly becoming too much… and you needed out. 

-

Barley had been helping your parents and was mostly kept away from the toxicity, until you texted him. 

<Hiding in Guinevere :( > 

It didn’t take long for the back of the van to open revealing a concerned and slightly amused Barley. 

“What happened?” He climbs in, shutting the door behind him. 

You’re lying on the floor in the center of Guinevere. Barley joins you, on his side, facing you. His hand brushes some hair from your face. 

You huff but give him a quick recap of what happened. 

Barley frowns, “Want me to go talk to them? They shouldn’t be saying things like that...”

“No,” you sigh knowing that won't help…  

But then a thought wormed its way into your head. You try to hide the smile that flashes across your face as you reach up and pull Barley down to you. 

He smiles into the kiss, always happy to kiss you… and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t missed being affectionate with you throughout the day. You had both decided earlier to keep the ‘lovey stuff’ to a minimum around your family in order to avoid… well… basically what ended up happening anyway… 

When he was distracted you shifted your position so you were now on top of him. Barley’s hands instinctively move to your hips, “What are you doing?” he smiles up at you.

You return his smile with a smirk, before rocking your hips against his. 

“You know I’m always up for this but your family…” Barley blushes as you tug off your shirt.

It was if you didn’t care if you got caught… or maybe you wanted to… to show those people… something… your feelings were all jumbled at the moment and you’d decided to just go with them. Barley made you feel safe to share those kinds of feelings with. And you wanted him right now! In his van, on the curb, in front of your house. 

You lean down to nibble on his neck, whispering breathlessly to him that you don’t care, and “let them be miserable while we’re having fun” 

You reach back and quickly remove your bra, tossing it somewhere in the van. 

Barley chuckles, “as long as I get to say ‘told you so’ if we get caught.” 

“Deal” you lean back into a kiss, yelping when Barley retakes control. 

He knows you’re still a little upset by their words, even if you won’t admit it, and Barley was more than happy to take the opportunity to take care of you. 

He spends some time worshiping your body with his hands and mouth, sometimes nuzzling you playfully. He breathes soft words into your rapidly heating skin. Telling you how much he loves you, he wants to let you know how much he adores you, and your body.

Eventually he makes his way down to your waistline. Barley winks up at you playfully before pulling off your pants. He leans down and nips at your hip. 

You giggle and nudge him with your foot. 

He winks again before he works your panties down and off of you. Now you're fully nude in Barley's van… and he's not… You're about to bring it up when he brushes his hand along your slit. 

You glare at him, at his cheeky smile, 'cause he knows just what he’s doing. He knows you want him now, and his teasing is not helping satiate that need.  

The glare works, and Barley quickly continues, moving up your body to kiss you again. His hand continues to teasingly stroke along your folds, now moving with purpose and not just teasing. 

Once he felt you were distracted by the kiss he slips a finger into you, smiling when you moan into his mouth. Before long he adds a second finger,  stretching you, working you the way he knows you like. .

Pulling away slightly, Barley leaves some pecking kisses on your face, "You know I think you're beautiful, right?" He tells you, cheeks flushed. 

You bite your lip looking up at him, a little distracted by his fingers inside you. "You're wonderful," you tell him. 

"No you," Barley smiles, a little heart eyed. Before you could protest or add anything Barley hooks his fingers inside you unexpectedly, drawing out a surprised moan from you. 

He continues his fingering while he leans forward, and begins marking your neck. He wants you to be able to look in the mirror later and know he loves you. You might have said those words didn’t bother you… but Barley wanted to make sure… 

Your hands find their way into his hair, knocking his hat off in your haste, and gripping his hair.  

Brushing his thumb firmly over your clit he quickly brings you to your first orgasm. Your insides twitching around his thick fingers, eyes shut tight. Barley withdraws and allows you as much time as you need to recover. He just enjoys watching you in bliss, a little proud to be the one responsible for it. 

While you’re in your blissful post orgasmic state you find yourself keenly aware of the scents surrounding you. The cinnamon dragon shaped air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror. The obvious musk of sex, and then Barley, above all else you can smell him. 

He’d made sure to dress up a little nicer, shave which made you a little sad, and wore the cologne you’d bought him for his birthday last year. The effort he’d put in to make a good impression filled your heart.  

How’d I get so lucky? you muse to yourself, hooking a leg around Barley's hip, drawing him closer to you. 

With a soft chuckle at your eagerness Barley leans forward, his forehead pressed against yours. “Someone’s eager” he teases, while already undoing his pants. 

“If you don't hurry up” you threaten with a hiss, but are unable to keep the smile from your voice while you do it. 

With your legs already wrapped around his waist Barley doesn’t have much room to move as he frees his cock from its fabric confins. He was plenty eager, himself, at this point, earlier reservations forgotten. Cock, standing tall, practically pulsing with anticipation. Barley didn’t know what he’d do If they were to be interrupted at this point, but as your hips buck against him all thoughts vanish the young elf’s mind.

He slips inside you with ease, your warmth already soaked from the earlier orgasm. Barley teases a little at first, starting with shallow thrusts, leaving you to chase after him. Your hips lift and tilt, trying to find the right angle to get him deeper, all the while Barley makes sure to keep just far enough away. The game doesn’t last long, however, as Barley soon finds the teasing too tough to take himself. 

With a hand on your hip he gives a sudden thrust, pulling you to him at the same time, bottoming out inside you with a whine. His face buried in your neck as he tries to keep his noises to a minimum, grinding against you lazily. 

Barley finds himself wondering how this can always feel like the best time… every time… always… but as you clench around him he’s pulled back into the moment. 

Drawing back Barley crashes his lips against yours in a brief heated kiss, before beginning a bruising pace. 

Your hands grip his arms as your head falls back, overwhelmed in pleasure. You’re rapidly approaching your second orgasm as Barley quickly finds and assaults a spot deep within you. A spot he’d long since learned, will cause you to see stars. 

Barley grips your thigh, and wraps an arm around your back, and with little warning he pulls you up and into his lap. From this angle he’s able to thrust up into you while you writhe, and clench above him. He keeps you against him for a bit, staying deep within your warm walls as he focuses on those places inside you again. 

It doesn’t take much more before you clench down on him, both on his cock and his neck, as your orgasm crashes upon you. 

This time Barley doesn’t allow you to come down from it as he takes your hips in a more solid grip, and begins lifting you again. Dragging your spasming cunt along his cock, he’s barely able to keep a rhythm, overwhelmed by chasing his own pleasure at this point. 

Barley repeatedly lets out your name in breathy whimpers. Not that he was really aware he was doing it. All the while you stroke his back, and moan encouragingly in his ear. 

Biting down on your shoulder, Barley holds you tightly to him as his own orgasm finally hits. His whole body shudders, as he cums deep within you.

It only takes a moment for you and Barley to realize the mistake you’d made. 

“Oops” you look up at him, biting your lip. You can already feel some of his cum leaking out of you around his now softening member. 

Once he realizes, however, Barley’s eyes go wide, he quickly begins to apologize. 

With a sympathetic smile you nuzzle into him, assuring him that it was okay, mistakes happen, and you’ll just need to stop at the drug store after the party. 

“Besides, it’s kinda hot” you tell him with a mischievous smirk, “being around those judgmental people, only you and I knowing why my underwear is all wet” 

It seems Barley didn’t know how to react, his ears flushing, a cum drunk smile stretching across his face. He wasn’t sure if he should be embarrassed or turned on, but a tone coming from your pants pulled him back to reality once again. 

He watches you pull away from him and scramble to get your phone. His nerves return once he sees your face. You looked like you’d been caught sneaking a cookie. 

“What?” 

“We should go to the store now” you bite your lip holding out the phone so Barley could see the text from your mother. 

<Hope you’re using protection LOL>

“Your mom uses ‘lol’? Barley teases. 

You glare at him over your shoulder, already in the process of redressing. 

“Okay, okay” Barley chuckles, readjusting his pants, and starting the van “but don’t say I didn’t tell you so.”

Okay that’s all I got…  see you all in another 3 months... Sorry 

[yourultraarchive]

Oh, no no it's not an issue at all! I don't mind it's alright! Focus and take care of yourself first and foremost! :>

And yes! I'll be doing her template once I actually find the time to draw her in her outfit and also for the mini scenes! Also I've actually ended up changing her name to Yaren instead since I was told by some people that Yuren sounded like another english word for something else (unfortunate :'D), I don't think that should change the kanji all that much but ahh I'm unsure.

Anyway sorry for the very long blabber, I did want to say what Yaren's quirk is! Her hero name is a WIP between Waterdog, Waterpuppy, Lottie or something else entirely.

Her quirk is called Axolotl, which gives her the humanoid appearance of an axolotl and is able to do anything an axolotl can do. Having gills to breathe underwater, but also lungs to live on land, a tail to swim really fast and also incredibly fast regeneration! She's usually better suited to fight underwater. She can heal almost any part of her body, minor cuts, severed limbs and even internal organs and brain! The latter however take days to weeks to heal, everything else can take seconds or minutes depending how much blood she's willing to lose to heal quicker.

Drawbacks however include her skin being irritable and sore if she's not in water long enough so she carries a water spray to help deal with it if it starts getting sore, she's very sensitive to toxins and pollution and if she overdoes her regeneration she'll get permanent scars on those areas and will be harder to heal properly next time. Plus if she overdoes it in any part of her body, she can lose too much blood and become paralyzed or pass out from blood loss.

Extra tid bits include how her skin is naturally a light pink but if she's in water long enough it turns darker and black like a wild axolotl which helps with camouflage and much much later probably in second year or third, she finds out her saliva or blood has regenerative abilities on others if they consume it or if it's placed on a wound!

I am so so sorry that was incredibly long, her quirk is pretty detailed as I've thought and researched about it a lot! I do have issue with trying to find a way to make her able to battle, and the only idea I got is that when she gets injured she can force her body to react to it to have an adrenaline rush which makes her strong enough for a while. That and also in water, due to her high speed and better suited environment she's able to sneakily attack enemies with quick powerful punches or kicks added to her quick swim speed! Thank you for reading and I am so sorry it's so long, please please don't rush yourself replying to this! As I said take care of yourself and thank you for your help! :D

Hi!

Sorry for the late reply again! (Life is busy.)

Yeah I didn't realize the english word thing either. But like I said in my original post, there are other readings to use, or the option of rearranging the name. ("ya", like has been mentioned before, is not a reading for that kanji, so it'd be a kirakira reading if anything. Unlike in English, changing one letter of a name to make it more unique doesn't work the same way in Japanese since it changes the meaning entirely in normal cases.) One of my previous suggestions in the first post were "Yujin/Yuzin" because the kanji for "ren" could be read that way in Japanese (as previously mentioned, "ren" is not a Japanese reading, but a Chinese one), but if you're set on using "ren" you could always rearrange it to "Renyu", or use the other readings for the "yu" kanji and make "Renie" or "Reniya" or something. Or you could still change "ren" and get "Jinie" or "Jiniya" or "Jinyu", among other things.

As for the quirk, it's already really well-thought-out and thorough! I don't know if you actually need to expand on it because that's already a lot of skills (I like the bit about the camouflage, and the later-in-school-years leaning how to heal others). I think it's a careful balance between being realistic and being overpowered (which can lead to potential mary-sue moments if you're being wary about that, but it's your character and if you have fun with it you can do whatever you want--besides, in canon Izuku's got that going on himself lol). You don't really need the bit about "when she's injured she can force her blood to give her an adrenaline rush and make her super strong", that feels like too much tbh.

I think the thing about trying to give her quirk so many applications is that you're trying to wield her powers over too many fields. You want her to be a battler but also good at sneaking/surprise attack tactics but also good at rescue (which is what I thought her powers would fit! Being good at being underwater and also healing? Rescuing people seems perfect for her!) but there IS such as thing as being spread too thin. Even in-universe or in-story or wherever you're planning to use her, if you have her try to do EVERYTHING, realistically she's going to burn out. It's good to have ambition, but even most characters in MHA don't have that many focuses.

I forget which characters canonically have certain career goals, but I know for certain there are several characters whose quirks and personalities are geared more toward being disaster/rescue heroes (like the Wild Wild Pussycats) or support heroes (like Nighteye) than toward reaction/responsive heroes (like All Might) or stealth heroes (like Eraserhead, but I think his type of hero work is also arguable and fits under multiple umbrellas). It's like in the very first arc where there's a bunch of heroes standing around not helping Bakugou when he was caught in that slimy villain because they knew their quirks weren't suited to that situation--it's not cowardly, but it's realistic, when they know their quirks can do more harm than good in certain situations, even if they wanted to help.

I think that's what applies here, with your character. Yes, I understand wanting her to be able to adapt to any situation, but I think there's a point where you have to give her a goal and set her toward it. Does she want to be on the frontline reacting to villain attacks as they come and going out to apprehend them first-hand, or does she want to pre-emptively stop villains before they can rise by doing investigation and stealth work, or does she want to use her incredibly fit biology to help others when disaster strikes and there's no villain involved at all? Sure she can have ambition like Bakugou or Izuku who want to be the best #1 hero, but even they have their focuses (both are reactive striker types!) and while Izuku is adaptive (ie. he's strategic and well-prepared for a raid strike to surprise attack the base Nighteye found, or he rescued people stuck under buildings and whatnot during that exam and had good "bedside manner" for lack of a better term when dealing with rescuees) most of his actual quirk training has gone toward being brute force and quick response toward emergencies and villainous plots.

You can have her be strong but also give her vulnerabilities and that's okay. Like giving her the regeneration powers but also making them necessary because her skin or bone structure is weak like a real axolotl's, which would make her not very suited to brute force situations but that's fine because if she were perfect for speed and stealth and also brute force then it wouldn't give room for conflict or growth in your story. Forcing her to work around her weaknesses is one of those things that could make her stronger--make her more aware of herself or her surroundings or her limits or what she's willing to sacrifice (like Izuku in the entrance exam--can she afford to break her bones if it meant saving someone?) but it doesn't make the weaknesses go away, and working past those weaknesses isn't going to invalidate that they exist. She's not going to win every time--that would be boring wouldn't it?--and you need to give her ways to lose as well as ways she can triumph.

(A good example of this, and this is the first thing that popped into my mind even though it's not MHA, is Edward Elric from FMA. He's the main character so of course he wins a lot and he's tough and cool and seems like he's so strong. But the most prominent moments in the story are when his prosthetic arm/leg don't work, or he loses them, and he still fights but he's disabled but he's fully aware of this, and having abilities to work through the fights when he's missing an arm doesn't mean he's forgotten that he's missing an arm or that he never needed it to win. It means he found a way to work around those weaknesses and still achieve his goal.)

I kinda lost track of the original question/thought here, but to round back to it--when your character is injured, the adrenaline rush to fight longer or get to safety? That should be all her, that's character traits and determination and strength of will, not part of her quirk. She doesn't need some superpowered adrenaline rush to be part of her quirk, and you don't need to make her "able to battle" if she's not suited for it, unless that's one of her goals (while foregoing the other potentials her powers have--if she's aiming to fight villains face to face, then she's probably not focused on rescuing people or rounding around for a sneak attack, and in that kind of situation she should leave that up to real rescue/response heroes while she's playing distraction and keeping the villains' focus on her!) and if being able to battle ISN'T her main focus, then in a situation where she HAS to, you can make her struggle and that just makes her all the more real and interesting. You can make her get help from her classmates, or you can make her fight and lose and realize she's not suited for battle and switch focus (if it was her original focus) or realize she needs a plan to deal with that in the future while still staying true to her actual goal (if she wanted to focus on rescue for example, and she had to fight a front-line battle and she realizes she's not great at it, then maybe her strategy can just be to run and get a strike in here or there but the ultimate goal is to wait for help and backup to arrive in that case).

That was a lot so I hope it was useful and not too rambly but remember that these are just suggestions! I was just talking ^_^;;