#i've had the book sitting around but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. but now i'm thinking i should

[aphelea]

i finally watched good omens and am now a little bit obsessed with it holy shit

[sturnsrecord]

CLIMB THROUGH MY WINDOW

— [fuckboy!chris x smart!reader. making out, dry humping, dj on the vj, wanking]. you can’t help but let chris in every time he comes knocking at your window.

ʚ part two ɞ — ʚ part three ɞ

it wasn’t like you were proud of the little situation you had gotten yourself into, messing around with the schools biggest fuck boy wasn’t exactly your greatest accomplishment, nor was it on brand for you. besides, accomplishment was a big word considering how many other girls had also accomplished just about the same thing.

you were the typical ‘head in a book’ type of girl, always focussed on your grades and making sure you were making your parents proud. a boy climbing through your window at 11.30 at night wasn’t exactly something you would’ve expected in your life. at any point.

“your house is a fucking pain to get into.” chris huffs, climbing into your room clumsily.

“maybe that's because you're climbing up a two story building, and using a window.” you retort from your position at your desk, not moving or even glancing his way as you speak, focussed on the work infront of you.

“well maybe, you should let me in through the front door.” he remarks back, slightly annoyed about the way he has to come in. he shuts the window behind him, fiddling with the curtain as it gets caught.

you turn in your seat, frowning as you watch him struggle slightly. he then gives up, turning round to meet your gaze, a nonchalant expression on his face as he tries to act like he didn’t just fuck up the curtain slightly. “it's just uh-” he looks down at the caught fabric. “it’s fine-”

“leave it chris.” you sigh, resisting from rolling your eyes. “yeah ok.” he huffs, slightly embarrassed as he moves to sit on the bed, looking around your room observantly. he'd been in here a few times now, some encounters in the evening, others after school when your dad wasn’t home yet.

you get up, opening the window enough to fix the stuck curtain before you close it again, turning to look at chris with an unamused expression. you then go to saunter back to your desk, hoping to reside in your homework.

he catches you by the hip as you move past him. “why don't you take a break?” he asks softly, the suggestion heavy in his voice.

“chris, c’mon.” you huff, making a small attempt to move away from him despite the firm grip he has on you, holding you in place. you look down at him, a slightly pleading expression on his face. “don't look at me like that.” you grumble, removing his hand from your hip so that you could move out of his grasp. “we have a bio exam tomorrow- if anything you should be revising.” you say in an almost accusatory tone as you make your way back to your desk.

he scoffs dismissively, falling back on the bed as soon as you move away. “for all you know i've been revising.” he retorts, his tone slightly sassy.

“have you revised?” you question, raising an eyebrow as you flick through your textbook, looking for a specific page.

there's a silence between you as soon as the question leaves your mouth. “no.” he mumbles in response, preoccupying himself by fiddling with the tassels of the blanket on your bed.

you smile to yourself, although you knew the answer before you’d even asked the question. he takes note of your cocky expression, sitting up on the bed with a frown on his face. “so what if i haven't?” he huffs. “school isn't everything y’know?” he mumbles, obviously taking a little dig at you.

you ignore his little comment, focussing back on your work. furiously writing notes as your eyes scan over the copious amounts of reading. “can you like, not ignore me?” he says, the frown still evident in his slightly annoyed mood.

“m’not.” you hum, although your attention suggests otherwise.

“then why aren't you speaking t’me?” he huffs, feeling bored and annoyed. “because you haven't said anything to me.” you respond softly, your eyes still fixed on your work.

“yeah, because i feel like i’m talking to a fucking wall.” he huffs, clearly frustrated with your undivided attention towards your work. yet again you don’t respond. he groans in annoyance. “seriously, what the fuck.” he complains, throwing his arms up.

“what?” you giggle slightly at his frustrated tone, this time turning to look at him, sitting on the bed looking all grumpy. “don't get your panties in a twist.” you mock, playing with the pen in your hand.

“i'm not-.” he huffs, not even wanting to repeat your words. “just want you.” he mumbles, looking all gloomy and sad.

the words make your stomach flutter, but you ignore the feeling for better judgement. “give me five minutes, and i promise i'll come hang out with you.” your words turning into a mocking baby voice as you swivel on your seat to face your desk again.

“can you like, not do that.” he grumbles, frowning over at you. “nope.” you respond with a pop, fiddling with your pen as you read over your work.

chris lets out a sigh, falling back onto the bed to look up at the ceiling. there's a silence in the room as you concentrate on your homework and he lays there, staring up at the ceiling while fiddling with the drawstrings of his black hoodie.

“can the five minutes be done now?” he asks, clearly getting bored of waiting. you roll your eyes, finishing up before putting your pen down. you stack some of your books, making specific piles for organisation.

he leans up, holding his weight with his elbows. he watches as you particularly organises your shit. he finds it fascinating. you bring over a stack to your bag that's on the floor at the end of your bed. “the fuck you doin?” he questioned, his brows furrowing and his mouth tugged into a small smile. mostly of amusement.

“packing my bag for tomorrow.” you respond as you put all your stuff into the bag a certain way. he shakes his head slightly. “are you just trying to waste my time?” he questions.

“no.” you stifle a small laugh as you continue to basically tidy your room. he leans over, lying on his side now so that he can observe you. “what?” you question innocently, looking up at him. “m’not.” you mumble, going back to what you were doing.

“can you get up here.” he huffs, fed up of waiting. you nod a little, continuing your task. “c’mon.” he mumbles, getting antsy with you. “m’already hard.” he says, almost too quietly for you to hear.

you roll your eyes at his words, a smile of disbelief on your face. “how?” you question, shaking your head slightly as you zip up your bag.

“from watchin you prance around in your sexy pyjamas.” he mumbles, his gaze very obviously hazy with lust.

“well that's a you problem because these aren't even sexy pyjamas.” you say matter-of-factly, raising an eyebrow at him as you stand up to face him.

he shifts to sit up, a frown on his face. “what d’you mean ‘aren’t sexy’?” he questions, running his hands over the side of your hips. “chris.” you tilt your head, looking down at him. he looks over your outfit, a grey vest and some low waisted navy bottoms that curved over your ass perfectly.

“okay, they ain’t lingerie- but still.” he admits before his hand travels to squeeze your ass. clearly a motion to support his point.

the movement brings you closer so you’re now stood between his parted legs, your hand on his shoulders to hold your weight upright. he grins up at you, his hand shifting to your lower back to pull you even closer. “c’mon, y’know you look sexy.”

you smile, unable to hide the effects of his compliment. but you shake your head in disagreement, closing your eyes for a second.

he makes a fake shocked face as his other arm wraps around you to bring her closer, their faces almost touching as you let yourself lean down. “you're crazy.” he mutters before pressing his lips onto yours.

as soon as your lips connect, it's a domino effect of your bodies getting impossibly closer. he lies back on the bed, bringing you with him. with your body on top of his, you shift to comfortably straddle his lap all whilst you kiss.

one of his hands travels up to cup your face, while the other stalls at your lower back, feeling the soft exposed skin.

you continue to kiss like you always did, the both of you comfortable and confident like this. your hands are either side of his head, keeping you up. eventually he slides his own hand from your lower back up to your shoulder, before going down your arm to gently wrap around your wrist. you take the hint and remove the weight off your arms to move your hands to cup his face.

he adapts to the new position, now both of his hands going to your lower back. he's hesitant to grab your ass, not because he never does or because it's too much, but rather because he'd end up pushing your hips down to grind into him, and he didn’t wanna push you to do that.

instead he keeps his hands on your bare skin, waiting for you to grind your hips against his. you pull away slightly, catching your breath as one of your hands travels up to rake through his hair.

“have you got a new aftershave?” you ask curiously.

chris gives you a funny look. “you stopped kissing me to ask that?” he says judgmentally. you shrug, sitting up slightly to put some space between your bodies waist up. “no. i stopped to breathe.” you say, catching your breath as you spoke.

“your staminas bad.” he comments with a lazy smile, looking up at you, his hands resting comfortably on your upper thigh. “no.” you frown, shutting down the accusation. “your face was squashing my nose.”

he grins, sitting up so that you’re face to face again. “my face was squashing your nose?” he repeats with a questioning look and a sly grin. “yeah. it was.” you say back, a stern look on your face.

“oh really?” he raises his eyebrows, nodding as he speaks. “it was squashing you-yeah.” as he speaks he moves closer, his voice fading to a whisper as he goes back in to kiss you desperately.

in this new position your hands travel up to his hair, pulling at the strands. he lets out soft grunts between kisses. you knew he loved it.

in the motion of kissing chris, you begin to move your hips back and forth, a slow pace, almost torturous for him. that's until his hands finally find their way to your ass, squeezing the flesh through your pyjamas before he gently pushes you to grind into him harder.

your mouth falls open, a mix between a gasp and a whine falling from your lips. “they're really thin.” you whisper, looking down at your pyjamas. he follows your gaze, realising. “does it feel good?” he asks, his voice hoarse as his eyes meet yours. you nod, and he goes back to kissing you instantly, his hands never leaving their position on your ass.

you let out soft breathy moans between kisses, your thin pyjamas allowing you to feel his rough jeans against your heat, as well as the faint hardness of his dick underneath.

his lips leave yours, making a trail across your jaw and down your neck, sucking on the skin in order to find a sweet spot. “don't leave any marks chris.” you whisper, although it comes out as more of a whine. “i won't.” he mumbles against your skin, never taking his lips away.

his grip on your ass softens as he notices the way you’re grinding against him at your own accord. so he lets his hands trail up your sides softly, grazing the small slither of skin between the bottom of your top, and the top of your bottoms.

one of his hands slips under your top, his fingers dancing across your rib cage before his thumb traces your underboob.

sexually speaking, you hadn't done much because you were very cautious about how far you were gonna go with chris, especially considering the situation. a guy whos fucked more girls than you know, and who you’re not in a relationship with. and it's not like they were gonna build up to a boyfriend girlfriend status, chris didn't do relationships and you knew that.

he keeps his hand there, only going further with his thumb as he brushes it over your hardened nipple. you moan out, your fingers gripping his hair tighter to keep his mouth on your neck.

he'd had his hand up your top like this before, but now with the arousal clouding his judgement, he began to ruffle the bottom of your top up, eventually pushing it past your tits.

your grip in his hair loosens as you feel your top lift up. he pulls away from your neck, looking up at you with clouded eyes, practically begging you. you nod ever so slightly, and that's enough for chris to trail his kisses further down, over your collar bones before skipping past your bundled up vest and over your tits.

his kisses are delicate on your boobs, like he's gracing the skin. the anticipation is only making you more horny and needy, which is probably why he was doing it. it was no shock that he knew how to pleasure a woman, that should be the bare minimum considering how much practice he gets.

then he looks up at you with his sexy blue eyes, wrapping his lips around your nipple with a smirk plastered on his face. you want to make a comment, but the feeling of him sucking on your sensitive nipple before flicking his tongue over it is too much. so much that you let out a string of gasps and moans, having to bite down on your bottom lip.

once you get used to the new pleasure, your hands return to his hair and your hips begin furiously grinding against his.

you’re in ecstasy, and yet they’re hardly doing anything. for chris he's more centred on your pleasure right now, knowing that you wouldn’t do what he needs you to do so desperately for him. but making a girl squirm under his touch was just as satisfying to him than his own pleasure, your reactions going straight to his already overly-inflated ego.

he pulls off, looking up at you with a cocky grin. “feel good?” he asks, running his fingers over both your nipples as he spoke.

“shut up.” you breathe out, ignoring his cocky remark as you continued to grind your hips against him.

“c’mon, answer the question.” he coaxes, gripping your hips to still your movements. you groan, desperate to move again. “don't be a prick chris” you whine, practically drunk on the pleasure he was giving you.

there's a smug grin on his face as he feels triumphant, looking at you squirm on his lap. “can i finger you?” he asks, the grin still on his face.

you pause, thinking for a second. he takes note of your hesitation, his hand travelling down so that he can teasingly hook his finger into the waistband of your pyjama bottoms. “c’mon.” he coaxes, pressing soft kisses to your neck in order to persuade you.

you sigh at the feeling of his lips on your neck. “okay.” you hum, grabbing his wrist to push his hand into your underwear. “don't go inside though.” you whisper.

“what?” he questions, a curious, amused expression on his face. “don't.. properly finger me.” you say nervously.

his curiosity peaks at your nervousness, you usually spoke so confidently. “why?” he questions. you groan, throwing your head back in annoyance at his pestering comments. “just don't, okay?”

his eyebrows raise a little, an amused grin on his face. “yes ma’am.” he mocks, before his hand ventures a little further, his fingers taking no time to find your clit.

you can't even make a snarky comment back, your mouth falling agape as soon as his fingers are on you. he rubs slow circles on your clit, drawing out soft moans. he hesitates to go back to kissing your neck, instead watching as your mouth falls open and your eyes squeeze shut in pleasure.

“you look so pretty right now.” he murmurs, his voice slightly hoarse. “shut up.” you breathe out, your hands gripping into his hair to pull his lips back to your neck. he lets out a small chuckle against your skin before he sucks at your neck again, simultaneously speeding up the movement of his fingers.

he temporarily removes his hand, shifting to rub your clit with his thumb instead. the more comfortable position allows him to be more deliberate with his touch, creating a faster more consistent rhythm against your bundle of nerves.

“holy shit.” you whine, your body tensing in pleasure as you drop your head onto his shoulder. “you sure you don't want me to finger you?” he whispers in your ear, smirking to himself.

you shake your head, “why not?” he pouts, looking up at you. you look down at him, “i've just never, y’know-” you say quietly, slightly embarrassed by the fact.

“you've never fingered yourself?” he questions, eyebrows raised as he's slightly taken back by the information. his gaze shifts down to where his hand is, down your trousers, watching his own movements as he gently circles your clit. then his eyes meet yours again. “is it bad that i find that hot?” he mumbles, although he's not expecting you to answer.

you roll your eyes at his comment, of course he would find it hot that no one had ever touched you there, not even with your own fingers. “can you just shut up and keep doing what you were doing.” you huff, annoyed at all the interruptions.

“you're so bossy.” he states, enjoying the way he annoys you. “and you talk too much.” you respond, connecting your lips with his to stop him from continuously talking.

the kiss is desperate and messy now that you’ve picked up the pace, his thumb moving faster on your clit to match the energy of your kiss.

he's painfully hard right now, gently rocking his hips up for some friction against your ass. his free hand moves up to grope your boob, gently massaging the flesh as he occasionally brushes his thumb over your nipple.

your hands are in his hair, tugging at the strands. they venture further, cupping his face and grabbing at his hoodie to pull him closer.

“i'm close.” you mumble out against his lips. previously you never would've gone even this far, but with the overwhelming pleasure, you couldn't care less right now.

“where d’you want m’mouth?” he whispers, face a few centimetres from yours as you both catch your breath.

“neck.” you respond quickly, rutting your hips forward to get back the pleasure of his thumb on your clit. the movement of your hips makes you grind against his hard cock. he lets out a gruntled moan as he begins to suck at your neck again.

it's only a few minutes later of his thumb moving at a ridiculous speed, whilst he nips at your neck, his tongue occasionally darting out to soothe the skin. “oh fuck.” you whine, your hips rutting forward in the rush of the moment as your face scrunches up in pleasure.

he shifts his neck to watch as you come undone, your body shaking as you grab onto him, drawing him closer. you let out breathy moans as he continues to rub your clit, continuing to stimulate you as you ride out your high.

once your body relaxes, you flinch away at the overstimulation, dragging his hand out of your underwear by his wrist.

“you look sexy when you cum.” he mumbles, so turned on it was impossible to think about anything else other than his throbbing dick.

you chuckle a little, smiling at him in your orgasmic haze.”thank you.” you whisper, looking down at him endearingly as you run your hand through his hair, evening out your breathing.

“you okay?” you ask softly. he settles his hands on your thighs, softly rubbing them up and down. “uh yeah. just ridiculously hard.” he chuckles out in a breath, looking down at the bulge in his jeans.

your gaze follows him as your teeth naw at your bottom lip. “could i just grind on it?” you mumble out, going a little red at the awkward wording.

“mhm, yeah.” he nods, not wanting to push you to do anything. he leans back on his elbows, giving you the space to do it.

you grip onto his shoulders as you begin to roll your hips across his. he lets out a soft sigh, mostly of relief. after a few minutes though, it begins to feel uncomfortable, the denim rubbing against his sensitive dick.

he sits up a little, gripping your hips to stop you. your face turns to confusion. “sorry- just hurts a little.” he groans, shifting his hips under you to get rid of the discomfort.

you move your hips back so that there's no weight on his dick anymore, then you move your hand down to unbuckle his belt. “oh.” he sighs in surprise and excitement, watching your hands as he lets you.

you unbutton and unzip his jeans, opening them to reveal the vivid outline of his hard cock behind his boxers. you shuffle his jeans down far enough for them to not be covering his dick anymore, ignoring the way her mouth waters at the sight.

“shit.” he hisses under his breath, watching tour every move in anticipation, letting you do what you want. you then shift forwards again, your weight back on his dick. “mmgh.” he groans at the new sensation.

“better?” you ask, rocking your hips back and forth in fluid motions. “mmh, yeah-fuck.” he moans, lying back on the bed as he lets his mouth fall open.

he can almost feel your pussy against him, only thin layers of material between them. his hands wander to your hips, reaching round to squeeze the flesh of your ass.

he lets out breathy moans as his head falls back against the mattress, giving into the feeling of your body against his. every time he feels the heat of your core rubbing against his throbbing dick, it makes his stomach turn, bringing him closer to the edge.

“i’m gonna cum like this.” he groans, his words catching in his throat. as he feels his orgasm approaching, he shifts under you, pulling the waistband of his boxers down enough for his dick to spring out.

you watch with wide eyes, shifting back onto his thighs. he doesn't notice your startled, curious expression, only thinking about the pleasure as he wraps his hand around his dick. he pumps himself, lips thinning as he concentrates. his face contracts, scrunching up as he furiously rubs his cock, desperate to cum.

“oh fuck.” he groans, using his free hand to lift his hoodie up slightly. “fuck, fuck-” he moans, head falling back as his face relaxes into pleasure.

you watch curiously as ropes of cum spurt out of the tip. you’ve never seen a dick in front of you like this, the erotic scene turning you on more than you’d like to admit.

“shiiiiit.” he groans, pumping the last of his cum out. it's a mess, all over his hand that's now loosely wrapped around his half hard dick, the rest on his lower stomach, slowly running down.

“fuck- could’ya get a tissue or somethin?” he mumbles, snapping you out of your trance. “uh, yeah, yeah.” you mumble under your breath, scrambling off his lap to get some toilet paper from your bathroom. you return with the entire roll, ripping off a bunch and handing it to him.

he takes it from you, cleaning up his hand before attending to the mess on him. he wipes it all off, requesting some more to which you quickly respond, ripping more off and handing it to him all scrunched up.

“thanks.” he sighs, finishing up. you nod a little, returning to the bathroom to put the toilet paper back.

once you return, he’s tucked his dick away, doing up his belt. “sorry bout that.” he apologises, looking over her bed to make sure none of the mess made it’s way there.

“s’fine.” you mumble, standing in front of him. he stands up, fixing his hoodie and his trousers to look presentable again.

“uh, m’gonna go.” he says, pointing towards the window. “m’kay.” you nod, your bottom lip settled between your teeth.

“you okay?” he questions, raising an eyebrow as he gently rubs your upper arms. “yeah, yeah. i'm good.” you reassured him with a soft smile.

“okay, i'll see you tomorrow.” he nods, cupping your face and pressing a soft kiss to your head. he then moves away, opening your window. “bio exams tomorrow.” he says as a reminder, although it was obvious that he was just remembering and reminding himself.

“yep.” you chirp, watching as he climbs out onto your roof. he sends you a sly grin before shutting the window behind him and leaving your house.

you stand there for a second, thinking about what just happened before you push it all out of your mind, settling back to your desk to revise. sitting there like nothing had even happened.

©sturnsrecord

notes . this is a reupload from my previous account @/plan8sturn, and I’ll be continuing the series here

[welcometothejianghu]

Welcome to another round of W2 Tells You What You Should See, where W2 (me) tries to sell you (you) on something you should be watching. Today's choice: 山河令/Word of Honor.

Word of Honor is a 2021 adaptation of a novel by priest that tells the story of two beautiful murderers, their three kids, and their collective attempts to ignore the fetchquest madness that has taken over the rest of the jianghu.

Look, you know what Word of Honor is. Doing a rec for this is like doing my rec for Nirvana in Fire -- I am not introducing you to a new concept. Even if you haven't watched it, you've probably osmosed enough through the rest of Tumblr to have an opinion on it. At this point, if you haven't seen Word of Honor, I'm assuming it's for one of two reasons: either you haven't gotten around to it yet, or you haven't been sufficiently moved by what you've seen fandom do with it.

So I'm going to give you five reasons to watch the show, and they're probably not going to be the reasons you've seen already. Not to say that the other reasons are bad, but you've heard them already, right? What I've got for you are five somewhat more unexpected reasons that may just convince the fence-sitters that this nut-flavored morass of toxic relationships is worth your time.

1. No matter how gay you think it is, it's gayer

Okay, sure, you've probably been given the impression that this show is real gay. But I don't know if you know how gay it is. This show is so gay that we still haven't seen many of the other BL-flavored shows filmed around the same time period or since, because Chinese censorship gay-panicked and locked them all away before they could air, because Word of Honor was just too gay.

Zhou Zishu and Wen Kexing (L-R above) are in love. The story does not make sense if they're not. There is no story if they're not. Everything else in the show is set dressing to this incredible adventure story of two horrible people who fall for one another.

Oh yeah, did I mention that they're both bad guys? One's a fascist toddler-murderer and the other's a cannibal mob boss. These two deserve one another, in every possible sense of that phrase. In any other property, they'd be the villains -- and even here, they're still kind of the villains! It's just that the heroes are worse.

What's more, their two actors absolutely understood the assignment. They got the memo. They read the book. No one ever had to sit them down midway through shooting and explain their dynamic. They had it from the table read. When given creative freedom, they chose to double down and make the gay shit even gayer.

But the actors weren't the only ones who knew what they were doing! Everybody working on the production was pretty much in full-on Let's Make A BL mode. There are no gay accidents here. It's so gay that it's actually gayer than the version that aired. If you can do a little lip-reading (though beware of spoilers in those links), you can get at the original filmed version, which had a number of lines that were too homo and/or sexual for Chinese television.

No, they don't kiss. They don't have to. This is the TV version of the tweet about, what's gayer, gay sex or whatever these two have going on? The answer is, whatever these two have going on.

It's so gay that they're not the only gays. No, I'm not going to tell you who the other gays are, in part because spoilers. But trust me, they're there. Lesbians too! And a bisexual elderly polycule! And one pair of hets that we love love love, and most other heterosexuals are creepy and gross. And if that's not an accurate representation of how the world looks to queer people, I don't know what to tell you.

2. Go nuts!

You are not prepared for the product placement.

Word of Honor started off having a budget, so they went ahead and started spending that budget in the way you do when you're making a TV show. Unfortunately, circumstances changed, and their budget became much less, which meant they couldn't keep making that TV show unless they got more dollars. But where to get a sponsor for a fairly low-profile wuxia BL property?

Enter our hero: Wolong Nuts.

I have seen actors do bumper ads in costume for products from their various sponsors, and I have seen actors do bumper ads in character for the same. But the feeling of seeing a modern product diegetically hawked mid-scene by ancient fantasy characters is like none other.

Something like 40% of Word of Honor's total budget came from this nut sponsorship. And here the thing: It worked! It sold nuts! Hell, I’d buy them if they were sold anywhere near me; I like nuts in general, and nuts that support the queers in particular.

I'm including this as a selling point because, come on, it's funny as hell. But it's also a good place to warn you that Word of Honor has what we're politely going to call a spotty use of its funds. Some things, like everyone's outfits and the score, are lavish and beautiful. Other things, like some of the sets and a lot of the CG, are janky and sad. Crowd scenes are thirty humans and a bunch of Blender assets. I've never seen so many fake plastic trees together in one place before. There's a lot of visible hairnets. Like, a lot.

The show was originally planned as being 45 episodes long. It wound up being 36 + a tiny epilogue. That's a huge cut! I’ll say to its credit that you mostly can’t feel the seams; the production team did a heroic job killing their darlings (in many senses) while keeping the narrative coherent. If you know about the original vision, though, you can identify pretty quickly where the excised material should have been. Don’t be surprised when the last two episodes in particular smack you like a hit-and-run.

They blew a truly unwise amount of the budget on costumes in general, and Wen Kexing's costumes in particular, and thank goodness. (@canary3d-obsessed has done a noble job of cataloging everyone's wardrobes, and some of the details are just stunning.) See that red outfit he's wearing there, with the elaborate, delicate embroidery? That apparently took two people literal months to hand-sew. It's a terrible use of limited funds, and I am living for it. Even when Wen Kexing looks awful, he looks stunning -- especially when you put him side by side with Zhou Zishu, who is wearing the jianghu equivalent of slutty yoga pants and a thrift-store dollar-bin t-shirt that says IT'S WINE O'CLOCK SOMEWHERE.

So if, while you’re watching, you’re ever disappointed by the quality of the production in front of you, just console yourself by thinking: That’s nut money, baby.

3. The ghosts (and everyone else) doing the mosts

This is a show that somehow managed to accumulate a tremendous supporting cast of actual grown-ass adults, then had the wisdom to make them play a wide variety of balls-to-the-wall bonkers roles.

You can't throw a rock in a crowd scene without hitting a dozen actors with resumes as long as their arms, who have been acting since before you were born. Apparently they poached a couple veteran film and stage actors from other contemporaneous productions and had them come over to film bit parts on their days off. If you see a character played by an older actor who's getting more lines and face time than you think their character strictly deserves relative to their importance to the plot, and you're like, hm, I wonder if this older actor has a career that includes roles in several dozen other shows and/or stage productions, the answer is yes.

I've seen the tone of the show described as melodramatic, but I don't think that's quite it -- it's more operatic. People speak to the middle distance and play to the back row. Several actors have the body language and line delivery that makes it seem like they're always about three words away from breaking into song. Several of my favorites are downright camp. It's magnificent.

Statistically, everyone in this show is a bad guy. There are the respectable people who don't mean to be bad guys, but wind up being bad guys anyway because they support bullshit systems. There are the morally grey folk who are willing to become bad guys because they think they'll be the good guys when all is said and done. And there are the bad guys who know they're bad guys and are going to chew every piece of scenery in the vicinity about it, so watch out.

My favorite collection of scene-stealing weirdos is probably the clutch of freaks that make up the ghosts of Ghost Valley. They're not actual ghosts -- this is not a supernatural show. They are instead living people who call themselves ghosts because they've found themselves on the margins of society for one reason or another, and have created their own little society! With hookers! And blackjack! And also a little murder, as a treat!

These ghosts are so extra that they actually have a Top Ten List, where all the ones that have code names and specific costumes hang out. How do you get on the Top Ten List? By killing one or more of the people already on it, of course! I told you these guys are villains! They're not even the only villains! They're not even the only villain organization! It's wall-to-wall bad guys around here! And oh my goodness, the actors are clearly having a ball with it.

When the screenwriter came to adapt Faraway Wanderers (the novel) into Word of Honor, she realized that there weren't a whole lot of ladies in the book -- so she invented/adapted some for the show and made most of them sinister! (In fact, if you watch Legend of Fei -- and you should watch Legend of Fei -- you can see a lot of the inspiration for said ladies.) Some of the female characters in the show were men in the book, while others weren't even in the book at all. They all feel organic, though, and not like someone was trying to get Strong Female Character Points. It's the good representation you get when there's a lot of representation, so nobody has to be The Girl, and all the girls can just be people.

...Alas that another casualty of the budget cuts is that several of the lady characters did not get to live up to their full ass-kicking potential. But that potential is still there! The badassery may be implicit instead of explicit, but you don't doubt that many of these women would eat your heart at the slightest provocation, and you would thank them while they were doing it.

This show is perfect food if you're the kind of viewer liable to get sucked up into the worlds of villains, NPCs, bit parts, optional side characters, and other narratives going on outside the main storyline. Because there's a lot going on outside the main storyline. I mean, that's kind of the running joke of the whole novel, that there's this whole complicated political plot happening, and yet our dudes are over here studiously trying to not know what the hell is going on. Obviously that's harder to preserve in a show, but it's still a key feature of the narrative. Most of the Big Power Play What-Not is always happening a few towns over from where the main party is at any given moment. I know people who've watched the drama several times and still can't explain whatever's happening with all that. That's fine. You roll with it for the sake of everything else.

So! Do you like gazing upon delightful character actors and having imagination adventures about the unexplored workings of a bunch of tantalizingly mysterious and often very sexy weirdos? Great! This will keep you busy for a good long while.

4. The juciest pining in the jianghu

I said I wasn't going to tell you about all the gay shit going on here, and I'm not. What I do want to cover, however, is how much gay shit isn't going on here -- and by that I mean just how much of the show's gay longing is unrequited. If you like it when the boy yearns for the other boy, friend, you will feast well tonight.

You have likely already, through fandom, been alerted to the existence of the biggest gremlin in the land and an understandable number of people's favorite character, immortal grandpa Ye Baiyi. What may not have been conveyed, however, is just how tragically gay this bitch is. The ultra-condensed, scrubbed-for-spoilers version of his backstory is that he was in love with a guy who got injured because of him, so he decided to stay and live on a mountain with that guy and the guy's wife and coparent their son with them, all the while never once telling the guy how he felt.

This is not me with slash goggles on. This is canon. Well, okay, the "in love with" part is only confirmed in the book, but Huang Youming, Ye Baiyi's equally gremlin-like actor, has also clearly done the reading and understands how to break your heart with it. Ugh, it's so good.

Shidifuckers, rejoice! Zhou Zishu has Han Ying, his devoted little dumpling who would -- and does -- do anything for him. Back in Zhou Zishu's regrettable (but very fashionable) fascist days, he had a bunch of little underlings; one of them was Han Ying, who still works for the same evil empire. Problem is, Han Ying isn't evil. He was never loyal to his job; he was always just loyal to Zhou Zishu. It's cute the way Wen Kexing hisses like a cat upon meeting Han Ying and immediately identifying him as a rival for Zhou Zishu's affections. If you like OTPs that occasionally roll in a service-top third, please consider that adorable muffin boy up there.

And speaking of quitting your job, have you ever had the problem where you had to orchestrate your own death to get away from your toxic boss who won't stop sexually harassing you, and that motherfucker still expects you to show up for your shift next weekend? Meet Prince Jin, who has refused to accept Zhou Zishu's resignation letter with extreme prejudice.

Zhou Zishu isn't even the only ex he's mad he drove off! But that's just a namedrop in the show; see my bonus selling point for instructions on how to get into that whole gay-ass story. [insert obligatory "Prince Jin is not Helian Yi" disclaimer here]

...Nope, uh-uh, we're not going to get into what's going on with Scorpy. Suffice it to say, this is one of those cases where the show can't outright call a thing gay (though uhhhh it sure can imply a lot of it!), but it can set up an unspoken Gay Bad Idea as a direct, textual parallel with a canon Straight Bad Idea and be like, see? see? Anyway, daddy's boy there has deliciously terrible taste. This is the one that'll have you screaming crying throwing up etc.

And then there's this handsome jackass, who isn't doing the pining, but is the unfortunately heterosexual object of the often confused and misdirected longings of his friends. About the first thing you know about Rong Xuan is that he died before the series begins, so you only see him in a few flashbacks. The precious few times you do, though, you're treated to scenes of him holding court among his besties (many of whom are the spectacularly cast younger versions of major older male characters) while they all wrestle with varying degrees of homo longing for his cocky dreamboat self. You ever wanted to fuck a straight guy so bad you got both him and his wife killed about it? Because somebody in this drama sure has!

I sense you think I'm making this all up, that I'm just a fujoshi looking at the world through rainbow-colored glasses and telling you about her favorite slash pairings. Friend, I am not. Okay, I am being a little cheeky about the last one, but I swear that everything else I have listed in this selling point is about as textual as the show could make it, if not outright straight (ha ha) from the books.

(I have a whole separate theory about how priest herself is a real-life queer, based on how basically everyone in her works is either queer-coded or a token straight who's on thin ice, but that's a subject for a completely different Tumblr post no one's ever going to read, so save us both the time and imagine I already wrote it.)

I cannot stress to you enough how much this show knew what it was doing with the queer stuff. I love how amazingly toxic so much of it is, too, because one of the big themes of the show is that secrets will destroy you and everyone you love. If you have gay longing in a society that forces you to hide that gay longing, yeah, you're going to be extra-vulnerable to making some shitty decisions because of it! You're either going to suffocate yourself by keeping silent, or you're going to open yourself to intimate partner abuse you can't reveal to anyone else, or you're going to do some murders about it! Or some combination of the three! Either way, it's not good!

Also, tell your partner about your chronic health conditions, whether they be Can't Remember My Past, Would Eat A Guy If I Had The Opportunity, Stuck Some Nails In My Chest And Am Now Dying And Also Can't Get A Boner, or Whoops Took The Nails Out Of My Chest And Still Can't Get A Boner. Oh, and tell your partner if you're about to run off and go confront your dangerous ex. And absolutely tell your partner if you're about to fake your own death. Just ... learn to have conversations with the people who love you, okay? Avoid huge amounts of narrative suffering with this one weird trick!

5. Putting his whole Zhang Zhehussy into it

See, Gong Jun (playing Wen Kexing) is not what I'd call a great actor. This is more of a case where you take a guy, you cast him as a character whose motivation can be summed up as "I want to fuck that man in half," and then you cast opposite him a man that the guy in question clearly actually wants to fuck in half. And you let the magic work.

Zhang Zhehan (playing Zhou Zishu), however, legitimately knocks it entirely out of the park. Whenever the camera's on him, it's hard to take your eyes off him. He holds his own in a sea of veteran actors. He can do comedy and tragedy with equal panache. It's lucky he's such a beautiful crier, because Zhou Zishu cries so much. I have never seen someone more perfectly portray the mood of "in love and absolutely furious about it."

As the story goes, when he auditioned, he actually wanted to play Wen Kexing -- but the director told him, look, while you'd be great at that, I can find another Wen Kexing, but I'm never going to find another Zhou Zishu.

Zhou Zishu is bad man who has done terrible things and resigned himself to suffering to atone for his crimes, and he is so mad to find himself at the end of his life suddenly having a reason to keep living. Zhang Zhehan does a pitch-perfect tsundere right up to the point where he breaks. I'm not going to call it an understated performance, because nothing in this show is understated, but it is often times subtle and always complex, and fuck does he have a good crazy grin.

One of the first things you find out about Zhou Zishu is that he's got just a couple years left to live, over which time all his senses are going to deteriorate. In fact, they've already started going. And as the show goes on, you can watch Zhang Zhehan play it so you can tell when he's missed something he should otherwise have picked up on, reacting to noises and touches a split-second late. It's a testament to what a thoughtful job Zhang Zhehan's doing, keeping track of how much of Zhou Zishu has already slipped away.

There are, if you've read the book, legitimate complaints to be made about the adaptation's interpretation of Zhou Zishu's character, and I get that. But you can't say that Zhang Zhehan isn't pulling off exactly what he means to here. I say this too as someone who loves the novel: I think it works. Given the constraints of Chinese television in particular and cinematic adaptations in general, the show made the right choices when it came to figuring out what were the more filmable, actable options, and Zhang Zhehan plays every one of those choices within an inch of his life.

Also did I mention he's like the most beautiful man to ever exist? Holy crap. You're going to be so mad about what they do to his face for the first several episodes.

Don't worry, it washes off eventually.

caveat: Kind of a bummer!

You may have been warned that this one's got a sad ending. Well ... yes and no. On the "no" side of things, there's a "secret" mini-episode 37 that rolls back one of the major points of tragedy. (It's also clearly the first version that got shot, and then they shuffled around and redubbed some material to make the aired end of episode 36.)

But oh man, not all of them. Plenty of characters we love do not make it to the end. Like ... kind of a shockingly large number. Some are dispatched offscreen, some have tragic onscreen deaths, some are probably dead given the circumstances we last see them in, and a couple aren't dead yet but are almost certainly going to be soon.

(It's also kind of a meta-bummer! I mean, I don't recommend falling down the rabbit hole of what happened with Zhang Zhehan's career after the show aired, but tl;dr, it's not great.)

So yeah, it's not an outright pain simulator, and if you've got the mettle for Nirvana in Fire or Guardian, you should be okay here. But hoo boy, don't just blunder on in expecting a cheerful romp from start to finish, because ... yeah. I said it before: This is a story about a bunch of bad guys. Bad guys don't live long lives, nor do the good people who get tangled up in their shit. Just be prepared!

bonus selling point: black and white husbands

Okay, I will tell you who one of the other pairs of gays is. You'll see the two of them show up near the tail end of the show, and then you'll decide you want to know more about what their whole deal is, and then you'll read Qi Ye, which is a novel entirely about gay pining, and then it'll be all over for you.

Ready to wander this way?

There's a number of ways to watch this one! Viki, Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime all have you covered -- but Viki's the only one that has the epilogue at the ready, so I'd go there if you can.

And I get it, if you're enough of an aging hipster that you don't want to play in the same sandbox everybody else is playing in. Believe me, I understand that impulse on a visceral level. After all, this is not a small fandom -- 7718 works on AO3 (at time of writing) isn't Untamed levels of content, but it's nothing to sneeze at. Maybe you want to leave this one for a little while longer, until the hubbub dies down a bit more and people's attention is redirected by a different gay and shiny thing. That's valid. I get it.

But if you do, I still encourage you to get around to it someday. For all its flaws -- and yeah, it's got flaws -- it's a good, solid story that makes you feel lots of feelings about some fascinating characters in some beautiful costumes, running around being real queer (and okay, occasionally straight) to beautiful music. This, to me, is television.

Fun fact! There is also a Japanese dub, if you feel like taking it at that speed, and the guy who voices Zhou Zishu is the voice of Kaworu from Evangelion, and the guy who voices Wen Kexing is the voice of Victor Nikiforov from Yuri on Ice. See what I mean???

I'm telling you, everybody ships it.

[intimacyequalsdeath]

Bubz's Slasher Fictober Day 5 : (Caramel Apple) Otis Driftwood

Day 5 of Fictober! I don't have much to say that isn't just a repeat of previous days so I hope you all enjoy! Notes: Minors DNI, Canon typical anything to do with the character, their movie or game. Swearing. There's also no real plot to this one either, just domestic esc stuff. Support me: KO-FI

"God! That stupid Bitch! This was my favorite goddamn shirt."

"Oh boo hoo, the baby's shirt is ruined." Otis remarks.

"Hey if it wasn't for your shifty fucking tie-up job that chick wouldn't of gotten out."

"Fuck you, That was Baby's tie up job and you know it."

"Yeah sure, blame it on Baby"

You flop down onto the bed next to him. Your back against the mattress as you stare up at the ceiling.

"If you're really that fucked up over it, I'm sure mama would fix it for you."

"Careful Otis, I'll think you're turning soft."

"Oh fuck you! I'm trying to help your crybaby ass."

You grin up at him with your back still planted on the bed. He flicks his eyes off whatever he's reading and flick them over your face with a roll of them. He snorts at your grin and shakes his head before tossing the book to the side.

"You love me"

"Fuck you"

"Youuuuuu loveeee meeee" You say dramatically.

"Fuck. you."

You laugh loudly as Otis rolls on top of you. His hands on either side of your head caging you in.

"Softie"

"I should've killed you when you first rolled in"

"Oh please, I'm the life of the party around here"

"This ain't no party"

His brings his hand up to cup your face, moving it from side to side as if inspecting you. It reminded you of what he did when you first showed up. It was only you and your broken down car, for some reason Baby felt inclined to help you instead of luring you back home to be killed and turned into some macabre project and it didn't take long after that for Otis to lay his claim to you.

After that you were easily accepted into the firefly family, just another one of mama's ducklings as if you had been there the entire time.

"You're such a goddamn stick in the mud."

"One of us has to be serious or nothing would ever get fucking done around here."

"Yeah like that girl escaping-"

"Don't"

"You can't make nots for shit."

"You need to learn how to shut your goddamn mouth sometimes."

"I've been running my mouth since I got here and you haven't done anything to me yet."

"The night is still young."

Now it's your turn to roll your eyes. Your bliss is interrupted by mama calling you all down for dinner as you shove Otis off of you.

"Last one there has to sit between Baby and RJ!"

"Hey now that ain't fair!"

Otis calls after you, but by then your already halfway down the stairs. He rolls his eyes and huffs as he gets off the bed to follow you, asking himself the same question he has for years, why didn't he kill you ? but answering it himself as he's also done for years. Maybe you really are the life of the party.

[ghostoffuturespast]

I don't remember the last book I finished. Finding the time, focus, and peace to read has only gotten harder as I've aged. I bought this book last year with the intention of reading it. But it sat on my shelf for months and I carted it around on numerous occasions, hoping to find the inspiration, and never gaining it.

I started reading it in January of this year though. It's now September. That's about nine months for a book that's just shy of 400 pages. I've read much longer books in much shorter amounts of time. I struggled to read this one, not only because of the constraints on my time and energy, but also because of the stories woven on its pages.

A nonfiction book has never made me cry before this. I had to take the time to sit with each story after every chapter. To understand the wisdom of Pecans. The abundance of Strawberries. The beauty of Salmon. The creativity of Fire. The honor of braiding someone else's hair. I had to stop to take it all in and commit each lesson to heart. Having listened to Skywoman's story, perhaps it's apt that it took me nine months to read this.

There are many stories in this book. Some are from legends passed down through generations, lost and found again. Others are from the study's of scientific tradition. But most often, they are the simple moments of every day. They are awe-inspiring and tinged with grief, but, more than anything, these many stories are one story of love. One that we have forgotten but need to remember.

This book was published almost ten years ago. If you haven't read it yet, you should.

If you have, it's worth reading again.

[disasterbuck]

Hi!!! Ooooh There is so much to choose 🤪🥰💕❓️💻💖🤝🤖🌎🥵

omg just go ahead and make me write everything lol (affectionate) I couldn't keep myself to strictly 3 sentences for all of these, so they vary a bit 🥰

🤪 - clumsy

first time in MONTHS I've written anything for this wip 🥰

This lasted for approximately five minutes before the bell went off and he found himself piling into the truck next to Eddie. He'd tried to slip into another seat, but Chimney had gotten there first and shot him a curious glance. After that, Buck had resigned himself to his fate and sat down beside the love and torturer of his life.

🥰 - confession / surprise date

this one ran away with me a little, how exciting!!

Eddie's lips parted in surprise as Buck began ladling the stew into their bowls. Buck was nervous, accidentally moving a bit too quick and splashing some sauce out of the bowl onto Eddie's shirt.

"Shit! Sorry," he said, moving the dish back to the island bench and taking a step to go and fetch a wash cloth.

Before he could get far, Eddie grabbed his arm and gently reeled him in until he was standing right beside Eddie's chair, looking down at him.

"Relax," Eddie said softly.

"I just want it to be perfect," Buck said. "But now I've already gotten food on you and we haven't even eaten anything yet and–"

Pushing his chair back to stand up, Eddie silenced him with a kiss.

💕 - first kiss

Eddie wasn't sure what to say to that. The truth was he was scared, but he knew he needed to face this no matter what. If Buck had picked up on enough to think they were dancing around each other, that had to mean something.

❓ - is this a date?

It turned out that there was only one table left, which Buck accepted eagerly.

"Alright, up you get," Buck said once the booking was finalised and he'd hung up the phone. "There was only one slot left and it's for 6:45, so we've gotta hustle."

Eddie let out an exaggerated groan as he got to his feet.

💻 - eddie's online friend

this is a goldmine that I completely forgot about lol. I might have to share more snippets at some point.

Stranded: so?

Stranded: are you gonna ask him if he's into men?

GI: stop asking me that

💖 - sorry but I fell in love tonight

Buck watched in delight as the fear drained out of Eddie's face, replaced with wonder.

that's all I've got in me for this one atm

🤝 - touches

The next escalation comes one evening as they're curled up on Eddie's couch together. Eddie sits between Buck's legs, his back to Buck's chest, when Buck takes a risk and slides his hands up the man's thighs. Eddie hums, happy, and tips his head back.

After that, they kiss whenever they can.

🤖 - who's got a crush

a few extra lines for this one as well 🥰

Had Buck really just said what he thought he'd said? No, he couldn't have. Eddie must have misheard.

"Sorry, what?" he asked, giving his head a slight shake.

"Oh my god, Dad!" Chris exclaimed, rolling his eyes dramatically. "He wants to have your babies!"

"Christopher!" Buck wheezed.

🌎 - alternate universe

How could he be right about when Christopher was coming back, but wrong about so many other things? Why didn't he have any memory whatsoever of getting married to Eddie? It couldn't be amnesia, because he had too many other memories all packed into his brain.

🥵 - that's hot

A moment later he heard footsteps and turned to see Bobby and Eddie walking towards him. Bobby looked extremely proud, and Eddie looked…

"Marry me," Eddie said, eyes fixed on Buck's face.

Make Me Write ✨

taglist:

(I hope it's okay that I'm adding you all here! Just thought you might like to read some snippets, and figured this was a good post for it since there's such a variety. If you're interested in even MORE, go to my blog and search 'make me write'. I've tagged all of these asks with that tag.)

@dluoser @taketheplanspinitsideways @loudenthusiastic @wallywise @mxrcjqckspnchqsc

@i-am-married-to-my-fandom @therosesaredying @stillfuckingtired @classtrialguru @speggle

@awesome-igi @natnuszsstuff @olliesrants @crazyfangirlallert @delirium1995

@brah3280 @meanceclosetohell @anythingeverythingallofthetime @izzysbeans @sunflower-eddiediaz

@darkrose6578 @veronae-buddie @steadfastsaturnsrings @loveyouanyway @inell

@spicyrottingbrains @gnoeltop @idealuk @donationwayne @lemotmo

@smilingbuckley @realpersonwithrealfeelings @superlock-in-the-tardis @mjthe14thdoctor @strxwbereee

@idontknowwhatimdoing777 @ashleigh2658 @mari-lwyd-fannibal-blog @mineyneedsmoney @faithhopeandmisery

@spotsandsocks @unlifeira @tofanasmuse @pirrusstuff @buddiedaydreamer911

@littlevampireprincessuniverse @misshiss727 @i-put-the-star-in-bastard @hermioneindisguise @dangerpronebuddie

Let me know if you'd like to be added or removed 💕

[kamisama1kiss]

Words counted: 1,000 ish

My first ever story posted here :D request should be open and I'm also up for criticism as for inproving my writing. I am also dyslexic, sorry beforhand. Enjoy ♡

Kai Smith Princess Au

It was warm and lit from the fire place being only a few feet away from where she sat, reading yet another romance novelle. She had placed herself with a small table in the corner of the castle library, the smell of burning pine wood lingerd in the air giving a home like feeling. There stood no other lights, relying on the fire place for lights making writing a tad bit eyestrining.

A semi loud creek screamed through the quiet library, snapping the princesses gaze to where the door is. Behold there stood the knight in shining armor that her father the King assigned her, clearly not trusting her. Seeing who it was her eyes want back to the page she previuslly was looking at.

"Good evening, Princess." A low, husky voice spoke up sitting down in the chair opposite of my own. "What is the book worm reading this time? A comedy? Or..." pousing as he leaned his elbow on the wooden rounded table, pointing at the red leather coverd book in my hands. Looking up at him with a small smile resting on my face, watching him guess. "..Most likely a romance?" He crooked his eyebrow at me.

"Hm yeah, it is another Romance book." Closing the book in the process, laying it down on the table. The knights face beams with joy, pleased with the achivments, his world known grin spread across his lips. "I knew that" leaning back in the chair crossing his arms. "It's not like I read them all the time, no no. Not at all." Scoffing with my answer not making him loose any pride.

"Whatever you say Princess. Anyways, I'm here because the King wanted to tell you some informasjon about the upcoming ball." He informed me as his gaze jumped around the room before landing on me, staying as such. "Okay, I will talk to him soon. It's not that urdgent of a topic anyhow." Shurgging my shoulders as my eyes look at the red leather book, carressing the spine of the book with my one hand. Shifting my view up to the spikey brown haired knight.

The fire place brighten his features I hadn't truly noticed before now, soft lights brown freckles skatterd on the bridge of his nose only a few but enough to be noticable. Half a eyebrow slit on his left side followed with it going under his eye, a decent long scar being the reasoning behind it. He is an attractive man. I won't fool myself.

Nodding to what I had said "Well, how about you explain what happens in the little book of yours than? As you said the topic wasn't that urdgent" Soinding intreged with the book, leaning forwards again resting both his arms on the table while still looking at me. "I haven't gotten far but I can tell what I've been able to catch so far." Admitting the book was new from not long before he arrived.

"Go ahead, I have all day" Dragning the word 'all' a few seconds, a small little chuckle escaped my lips. "The book is about a Girl who wishes to find her true lover, but her family tries to stop her at every chance they've got. She goes through blood and mud to let alone escape her so called family..." stopping myself for a second seeing as the knights eyes were watching me, as if every word from my mouth was analysed by him. "...And that's what has happened so far. I've only gotten to about chapter 4"

"Seems brutal, very brutal. How did you even find this book?" Questioning me as leaning back into the wooden chair. "One of maids recommended it to me actually, so far I like it. It drags me into the book, making it difficult for me to stop reading. It hadn't been for you i would have gotten further" Jokingly speaking.

A heartfelt laugh came from him, it was short but at the same time sweet to listen to. "I'm sure you'll be able to read it just fine later this evening after I've left you alone. Just my duties your highness" Tauntingly speaking as he winked at me, a grin smakked on his lips. "I am very thankful for that time." Coming back with a what I think is a comeback, only Seeing as it made him laugh again. His eyes squinted and his dimples became even more visible. In this very moment it felt as time almost slowed, he was natrually apealing for my eyes to look at.

Snapping out as fast as I started "Well, it has been a nice talk but I should get going. My father would get worried if I would go to him." I told him, standing up from my chair before pushing it into the table again. Moving some hair/braids/hijab from my face, it moved forwards a bit and annoyed me greatly. A small sulk bade it's way to his lips "Really? You will be missed Princess." He spoke almost with a hint of admiration lacing in his tone fall, it squeezed my heart a little. He stood up, taller than me.

Looking down at me from his hight, grabbing my hand as he placed a small kiss on my knuckles, his warm breath fanned my skin leaving goosebumps up my spine. "Until later, your highness." Looking back at me with a smirk. My face became warm from the affection he showed, trying to push it down but it was difficult as my heart was about to burst out of my chest. "Until later, Kai"

We're the last words we exchange before I left the library to continue my Princess responsibilities, my heart was aching as I walked, softly touching the spot he had kissed on my hand feeling my face warming up again. Little did I know if I had turned around again a faint red would be visible on his face as well companyed with a genuine smile. "Until later, (Name)"

[ajalholland]

Zack Fair x pregnant reader

Zack watched as (Y/n) waddled into the living room, rubbing her very pregnant belly. It seemed to taunt him, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of panic rise within him. She was due any day now, and the thought of her going into labor right here, right now, sent a shiver down his spine. He had read all the books, taken all the classes, but nothing could prepare him for the reality of becoming a father. He felt his heart race as he imagined the scene: the hospital, the blood, the chaos. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but his eyes kept darting to the clock, the phone, the door. He was ready, or so he told himself, but he couldn't shake the feeling. He just wanted this part to be over, the part where he was just waiting, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

(Y/n) was also nervous of course, but she was a natural at hiding it. She had her hand on her lower back as she slowly walked over to the couch.

"Mmm..." She grumbled as she sat down on the couch, closing her eyes as finally the weight came off her feet.

Zack couldn't help but worry as he saw (Y/n) wince in pain. He moved over to her quickly, sitting down next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. He started rubbing her lower back, trying to ease the pain he knew she was feeling. "You look exhausted," he added, gently.

(Y/n) let out a sigh as his hand went to her lower back. She loved his massages, he was really good at it. "Well you try carrying around the weight of a bowling ball and you'll see how tired I am." She teased jokingly, cracking a small smile.

Zack stifled a laugh, but it was followed immediately by a pang of guilt. He knew that she was carrying their child, and that it wasn't easy on her body. "I'm sorry," he said, pausing his hand momentarily. "I know this is tough on you. But you're doing great, babe. You're almost at the finish line."

(Y/n) chuckled lightly, grabbing his hand to keep him from stopping. "No, no keep rubbing." She said, putting his hand back on her back. "And yeah, I know I'm almost done, but when you think your going to pop at any second it feels like forever till you actually do pop."

Zack obeyed, resuming the massage, his strong hands working the muscles on her lower back with practiced ease. "I can't even imagine how you feel," he said, his voice sincere. "But I'm here for you, every step of the way. And trust me, I'm just as impatient as you are. I can't wait to meet our little one."

(Y/n) leaned back into the couch as Zack's fingers worked her muscles. She let out a small moan as the pain in her lower back started to lessen. "Mmm...I know you can't wait... you talk and dream more about the baby then I do." She said with a laugh.

Zack chuckled, his voice soft and affectionate. "Well, can you blame me?" He continued the massage, his hands working out any remaining knots. "I'm just so excited to finally be a dad. It's like a dream come true." He paused for a moment, his eyes tracing the contour of her belly. "And you're so beautiful like this, babe. I know it's hard on you, but damn, you're glowing."

(Y/n) smiled at his words, feeling her chest flutter with a warm feeling. "Mmm... you flatterer... I know I look like a whale right now, I'm surprised you can even find any beauty in that."

Zack chuckled, his eyes meeting hers warmly. "Are you kidding? You don't look like a whale, babe. You look like a goddess. You're carrying our baby, and that's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He leaned over, pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Seriously, you're gorgeous. I hope our baby gets your looks."

(Y/n) chuckled again, rolling her eyes playfully. "Mmm... you are so full of crap." She said jokingly. "I bet you're already planning the next baby even though you haven't gotten this one yet... aren't you?"

Zack smirked, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Well, can you blame me?" He teased, his hands moving from her back. "You're so good at this baby-making thing I might just have to keep you pregnant forever." He winked at her, his hand trailing along her belly, feeling the gentle curves.

(Y/n) snorted, playfully swatting at his hand. "Hey, I can't be pregnant forever... that's not healthy for me... but I guess I was asking for it when I married a horny man who wants kids." She said with a lighthearted sigh.

Zack chuckled again, his smile widening. "Guilty as charged," he admitted. "But can you blame me? You're the most gorgeous woman I know. Even more beautiful now, if that's possible." His hand moved to her thigh, tracing light circles on her skin. "I can't help myself."

(Y/n) smirked, a hum of pleasure escaping her lips as his hand went to her thigh. "Mmm... you are a hopeless little puppy." She teased.

A small pout formed on Zack's face at the nickname, but he couldn't help but laugh at her teasing. "Hey, I'm not a puppy," he protested jokingly, his hand continuing its caresses on her thigh. "I'm a strong, manly EX-SOLDIER, the toughest around."

(Y/n) laughed again, rolling her eyes. "Mmm... and a big tough EX-SOLDIER like you can't handle a little nickname?" She teased, jokingly booping his nose.

Zack pretended to be offended for a moment, huffing in mock indignation. But soon his pout turned into a cheeky grin as he leaned in closer to her. "I can handle nicknames just fine," he said, his voice taking on a huskier tone. "But be careful or you might start something you can't finish."

(Y/n) was about to throw in another quip, when suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side, like a strong force pushing down from the inside. She let out a gasp, her hand flying to her stomach.

"Mm..." She winced, the pain coming in waves.

Zack's playful demeanor immediately vanished, replaced by concern. "Babe? Are you okay?" He moved closer to her, one hand reaching up to her face, the other moving to her belly. "What's going on? Is it the baby?" He tried to keep the panic out of his voice, but his heart was hammering in his chest.

(Y/n) gritted her teeth, another wave of pain going through her stomach. She nodded, letting out another gasp. "I think I'm going into labor..." She managed to say through the pain.

Zack's heart raced faster at her words. This was it. It was finally happening. "Okay, okay," he said, trying to stay calm, despite the fear coursing through him. "We've got this. We've practiced for this moment." He took a deep breath, then stood up, offering his hand to her. "Time to go to the hospital. Can you stand up?"

(Y/n) took his hand, using his help in pulling herself up from the couch. With his help, she managed to get to her feet, breathing deeply as she tried to ignore the pain. "You... you go get the bags in the closet..." She said, grabbing onto his arm. "I'll wait here."

Zack nodded, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze. "Okay, babe. I'll be right back." He quickly hurried to the closet, grabbing their bags that were already packed and waiting. They had prepared for this, but still, Zack couldn't help the flutter of nerves in his stomach. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that it would be alright. (Y/n) was strong, and she had him by her side.

(Y/n) leaned against the back of the couch, waiting patiently for Zack to come back with the bags. Every moment or so another wave of pain rocked through her stomach, making her gasp. She knew she was in labor, she had studied all this in a medical book, but it didn't make it any more pleasant.

"Mmm.... I hope it all goes well." She said to herself.

Zack dashed back into the room, bags in hand. He froze for a moment when he saw (Y/n) leaning against the couch, wincing in pain. "Hey, you okay?" he asked as he approached her, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

(Y/n) gave him a glare. "Do I look like I'm okay? I'm in labor here." She said through clenched teeth.

Another wave came through, and she gasped, doubling over and grabbing Zack's arm to steady herself. The pain was getting worse.

Zack quickly put the bags down and moved closer to (Y/n), wrapping an arm around her as she gripped his arm tightly. "Okay, okay. Just breathe, babe. It's going to be alright," he said in a soothing voice, even though he wasn't sure who he was trying to reassure more - her or himself.

(Y/n) nodded, taking a few deep shaky breaths, trying to steady her heart rate. She managed to straighten back up, though she was gripping Zack's arm pretty tight. "Alright... I-I'm ready. Let's go."

Zack squeezed her tight, trying to give her as much support as he could. "You're doing great, babe. Let's get you to the car." He picked up their bags and grabbed the car keys off the table.

When they finally reached the car, (Y/n) leaned against the side of the car. "Mm.... I need a moment...." She said in between her shaky breathing.

Zack nodded, putting the bags in the back of the car. "Okay, take your time. Just breathe, in and out. Focus on your breathing." He tried to keep his voice calm, even though his heart was racing. He wanted to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible, but he knew that rushing her would only make things worse.

(Y/n) gasped as she felt a sudden wetness between her legs. She looked down, seeing a puddle on the ground, and quickly realized what had happened. She groaned, the situation suddenly hitting her. She was REALLY giving birth.

Zack noticed the puddle on the ground and the realization dawned on him as well. "Babe, did your water break?" he asked, glancing between her face and the puddle.

(Y/n) nodded, a pained look on her face. "Y-Yes.... I think so..." She groaned, leaning into Zack. "Please... help me into the car... these contractions are coming closer together."

Zack quickly moved to her side, wrapping an arm around her waist to support her. "Okay, lean on me. We'll get you into the car and get you to the hospital." He helped her into the passenger seat, making sure she was comfortable before jogging around to the driver's side.

(Y/n) settled into the seat, a grimace on her face. The contractions in her stomach were getting closer together, and they were becoming more painful. As Zack got into the car, she reached over and grabbed his hand, gripping it tightly.

Zack started the car and put his hand over hers, squeezing it gently. "Just hang in there, babe. We're almost there. You're doing great." He could see the pain on her face and it filled him with a mix of worry and admiration. He couldn't imagine how much pain she was going through, but she was doing it with such strength.

"I-It really fricking hurts..." (Y/n) gasped, shutting her eyes tightly as another contraction went through her stomach. "F-Feels like I'm being ripped in two..."

Zack's heart ached seeing her in pain. "I know, babe. I know it hurts, but just breathe through it. You can do this," he reassured, his voice soothing even as his own anxiety sky-rocketed. He wanted to do anything, anything to ease her pain but all he could do was squeeze her hand and drive.

(Y/n) nodded, panting heavily in between contractions. Sweat was beginning to form on her face from the pain. Her grip on Zack's hand was so tight her knuckles were turning white, but she didn't loosen it, holding onto his hand like a lifeline.

Zack pulled into the hospital parking lot and quickly got (Y/n) out of the car, not even bothering to park in a parking space. He half-carried her into the emergency room, the bags forgotten in the car. "Hey, we need some help here!" Zack yelled to the nearest nurse, his voice filled with urgency.

A couple of nurses quickly rushed to them, their eyes going straight to (Y/n), who was doubled over with pain. "Are you in labor dear?" One of them asked, taking notice of the state (Y/n) was in. (Y/n) nodded, letting out a gasp mid-contraction. "Y-Yes... water broke... contractions... close together... p-please..." She managed to get out the words between breaths.

The nurses immediately got to work, taking charge. "Alright, let's get you into a room." They quickly wheeled a wheelchair over and helped (Y/n) onto it, all the while bombarding her with questions. Zack followed closely behind, his heart racing.

(Y/n) was quickly ushered into a room, the nurses helping her onto a bed. They started to hook her up to various monitors, checking her vitals. Each time a contraction came, (Y/n) would gasp and wince, gripping the bed sheets tightly, the pain becoming more and more intense.

Zack hovered nearby, feeling helpless. He hated seeing her in so much pain, but he stayed by her side, holding her hand and whispering words of reassurance. The medical team was bustling around them, talking in hushed tones, but Zack was focused solely on (Y/n).

The nurses finally finished hooking (Y/n) up to the monitors and checked her vitals. After a few moments the primary nurse spoke up. "You're already dilated 8 cm and your contractions are regular. I'll let the doctor know and they'll be in to see you shortly."

Zack nodded, trying not to show how overwhelmed he felt. 8 cm, already? The words sounded far-away and foreign in his head. He squeezed (Y/n)'s hand, trying to comfort her. "You're doing amazing, babe," he whispered. "Almost there. Just breathe."

(Y/n) groaned, the pain of the contractions becoming almost unbearable. She nodded at Zack's words, gasping for breath. "I... I need something for the pain..." She said to the nurse.

The nurse nodded, saying, "Let me check with the doctor, and we can get you an epidural."

The nurse left the room, leaving (Y/n) and Zack alone for a moment. (Y/n)'s grip on Zack's hand was so tight it hurt, but he didn't complain. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "I... I don't know if I can do this... it hurts so bad..."

Zack's heart ached at her words. He wanted to take away all her pain, to make it all go away. But he knew he couldn't. The only thing he could do was be there for her.

"You can do this," he whispered, his voice firm. "You're the strongest person I know. You're strong for me, and you're strong for our baby." He reached up with his free hand to wipe some sweat off her forehead. "You're almost there."

(Y/n) nodded, taking a few more deep breaths to steady herself. "Y-You're right...." She managed to say between gasps. "I can... I can do this for us... for our baby..." The pain of the contractions was intense, but the thought of their child kept her going. The nurse returned a few moments later with a doctor in tow.

"Alright," the doctor said with a smile. "We can administer the epidural now."

(Y/n) sighed a breath of relief, glad that she would be getting some pain relief soon. The nurse got everything set up and the doctor quickly administered the epidural. The relief was almost instant, a wave of numbness spreading through (Y/n)'s lower body. She slumped in the bed, feeling the contractions were much more bearable now.

Zack watched as the doctor administered the epidural, the relief on (Y/n)'s face making his heart feel like it was going to burst. He ran a hand through her hair, caressing her forehead gently. "How are you feeling? Any better?" he asked, feeling the slightest bit of tension leave his shoulders.

(Y/n) nodded, her grip on his hand relaxing as the pain medication took effect. "Much better... I can actually think now." She let out a sigh of relief, feeling the numbness spread through her body. The contractions were still occurring, but they felt almost bearable now.

The doctor checked her vitals once more before stepping back. "Everything looks good. You're fully dilated now. Let's get ready to welcome this little one into the world."

Zack felt a wave of relief wash over him at the doctor's words. They were finally almost there. Their baby was going to be born any minute now. He took a deep breath, trying to steady himself.

"Alright, babe. It's time," he said, a mix of excitement and nervousness in his voice. He grabbed her hand again, holding on tight.

(Y/n) nodded, a determined look on her face. "Okay... I'm ready." She squeezed Zack's hand tightly, steeling herself. A moment later, the doctor began to direct her on when to push.

(Y/n) did her best to follow the doctor's instructions, pushing with all her might during each contraction. Sweat rolled down her face, beads of liquid rolling down her forehead. The pain was still there, but the epidural helped her focus and breathe through the sensations.

Zack watched in awe as (Y/n) pushed, amazed at her strength and determination. Even in immense pain, she was fighting with every fiber of her being to bring their baby into the world. He held her hand tightly, whispering words of encouragement to her.

"You're doing great, babe. You can do this. Just a few more pushes."

(Y/n) gritted her teeth as another contraction hit. She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing with all her might. The pain was intense, but the thought of their child kept her going. Each push was a step closer to bringing their baby into the world.

After several more minutes of pushing, the doctor announced, "Almost there! One more big push!"

Zack's heart was racing as he watched the doctor encourage (Y/n) to push again. He squeezed her hand, his own hands feeling slick with sweat. "You're so close, babe," he whispered. "Just one more. You can do it."

(Y/n) took a deep breath, summoning the last of her strength. She pushed with all her might, crying out with the effort. Zack's words echoed in her ears, giving her the mental push she needed.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, (Y/n) heard a cry fill the room. "You've done it," the doctor proclaimed, holding up a tiny, writhing form.

Zack's heart leapt in his chest at the sound of their baby's first cry. He let out a shaky breath, a mix of relief and overwhelming emotion welling up inside him. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he looked towards the doctor, who was now holding their child.

"You did it, (Y/n).." he whispered, his voice choked by emotion.

(Y/n) sagged against the bed, her energy spent. But when she heard her child's cry, a wave of relief washed over her. "I-Is it a boy or a girl?" she managed to ask, her voice weak.

The doctor smiled, holding up the newborn. "It's a girl." The doctor carefully placed the baby on (Y/n)'s chest, wrapping her in a blanket.

Tears streamed down Zack's face as he watched the moment unfold. A daughter. They had a daughter. He squeezed (Y/n)'s hand, a smile stretching across his face.

"She's beautiful," he whispered, reaching out to touch the baby's tiny, fragile body.

(Y/n) looked down at the little girl on her chest, her heart overflowing with emotions. The newborn let out a soft cry, tiny arms and legs flailing. She was pink and wrinkled, but the most beautiful thing (Y/n) had ever seen.

Tears filled her eyes as she caressed the baby's head. "She's perfect..." She whispered, her voice trembling.

Zack couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of his family, his heart full to bursting. He reached out, slowly brushing a finger against the baby's cheek. The moment was surreal, like a dream. And yet, it was real. They had created this beautiful little girl.

He leaned down to press a kiss to (Y/n)'s temple. "You did amazing, babe. She's perfect just like you."

(Y/n) looked up at Zack, her eyes shining with tears of joy. "We have a daughter," she breathed, still in awe. The baby let out a soft cry, her tiny hand grasping at (Y/n)'s finger.

"She's so small..." (Y/n) whispered, marveling at the fragile life in her arms. "What should we name her?"

Zack took a deep breath, his mind momentarily wandering to consider potential names. They had talked about it a few times, but in the moment, none seemed quite right. But then, as he looked down at their daughter, her tiny hand wrapped around (Y/n)'s finger, the perfect name came to him.

"How about Bernadette?" he suggested, looking to (Y/n) for her opinion.

(Y/n) repeated the name, rolling it over her tongue. "Bernadette..." She looked down at the baby in her arms, a soft smile playing on her lips. "It's beautiful."

The little newborn let out a tiny sound, as if responding to her name. "Bernadette..." (Y/n) whispered once more, a feeling of connection and love overwhelming her.

Zack felt a warm sense of contentment as (Y/n) agreed with the name. He watched as she repeated the name to their daughter, feeling a connection forming between mother and child.

"Bernadette it is then." He smiled gently stroking Bernadette's soft hair. "Welcome to the world, baby girl."

(Y/n) looked up at Zack, her gaze soft and warm. "Where did you come up with the name Bernadette?"

Zack chuckled, realizing he might have to explain his reasoning. "Well..." he began, a hint of a smile on his lips. "I was thinking... I wanted a name to call her something cute..I thought Bernadette would work... so i could call her Beanie... or Bee for short.." he admitted sheepishly.

(Y/n)'s lips curled into a soft smile, her heart fluttering at his explanation. "Beanie and Bee," she echoed, the diminutives rolling off her tongue with a sweetness. "That's adorable."

Zack's smile widened at her reaction, feeling a small sense of relief that she liked the name and the affectionate nicknames that came with it."I'm glad you like it," he said softly, looking down at Bernadette, who was nuzzling (Y/n)'s chest. "It just feels right, you know? Like it fits her."

(Y/n) nodded in agreement, her gaze fixed on the baby in her arms. "Yes, it does feel right. Bernadette... our Beanie..." She chuckled softly, the name bringing warmth to her heart.

Bernadette let out a small cry, her tiny hand opening and closing in an attempt to grasp something. "She's so feisty," (Y/n) observed.

Zack chuckled at (Y/n)'s observation, his gaze fixed on their daughter. "Yeah, she's definitely got some fighting spirit," he said, his tone filled with pride.He reached out a finger, letting Bernadette grasp it with her tiny, fragile hand, her grip surprisingly strong. "She's already got a grip on us," he joked.

(Y/n) smiled, watching as Bernadette clasped her tiny fingers around Zack's finger. She let out a soft sigh, feeling exhausted but incredibly happy.

"She's going to be trouble, I can tell," she said with a tired laugh. She cradled Bernadette closer, gently rocking her back and forth.

Zack chuckled, watching as Bernadette continued to grip his finger, her tiny hand holding on tightly. "She definitely seems like she's going to keep us on our toes," he agreed, a sense of exhaustion settling in as well. He reached over to wrap an arm around (Y/n), gently pulling her closer. "We did good, babe. We made something amazing."

The sounds of the bustling hospital faded away as they focused on their new family.

[newtabfics]

IDK if you've done this but can you do a fluffy Ganondorf x f!reader where the reader is sick? Thank you ^-^

TOTALLY ADDING THIS TO MY REDEEMED GANONDORF SERIES which btw will have a master list up at some point. I've got them marked in my own document but like...i haven't organized it yet and I have an order in my head so far.

"Let me help her," he said simply. Upon the exchanged looks between the princess, hero, and village leader, he added, "She and I are close and she'll be more responsive to my presence."

"I don't know," Paya sighed. "You two are often around each other but..."

"Let him," The hero stated, grabbing the room's attention. With a shrug he said, "Her system is likely out of sorts after teleporting between here and the desert and back. She did collapse from the heat and he helped her. We can trust him when she's involved."

"No denying that," Zelda nodded before looking to Paya. The leader needed to make this decision.

After a long moment of weighing this, she too nodded. "Alright, but there'll be a guard at the doorway and you're not to leave until she is in good health."

"Understood. That in mind, Link," He said, turning to him. The swordsman glanced at him, body tense as he listened. "Would you mind getting some things once we've assessed her symptoms?"

That was how the former Gerudo King found himself in Y/N's home, forcing her to sit in the bed.

"It's just a cold, Ganny," Her voice croaked out, throat raw from coughing. "I just need to finish my research."

"It'll be there when you've healed up," He said before grabbing the book she'd been attached to. "You can still read in bed."

She sighed and nodded, smiling softly before letting out a startled yelp when the door slammed open, revealing the swordsman with an armful of filled baskets.

"Link," she asked, making him smile in greeting before he set it down. "What--What's all this?"

"Ingredients," He answered before looking to the large Gerudo. "Ready?"

Y/N blinked as she watched Link teach the man how to cook a stew that was rather popular for colds among Hylians. A little spicy pepper, some chicken, Hyrule Herbs, and rock salt mixed with carrots and Hylian Mushrooms.

More improtantly, something about the man's hulking frame in her small home was amusing, as well as heartwarming when he finally offered the stew to her.

Ganondorf's chest swelled with pride as she drained a second bowl. "You eat too," Link said as he headed for the door. "Don't let anything go to waste."

At the man's blink, Y/N chuckled quietly. "he's a big food guy. He gets upset if food has to be wasted," She said slowly.

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Understandable," he muttered as he turned to pour a cup of water. As he turned, he said, "Y/N, drink up. Hydration is good af–"

Ganondorf stopped, seeing Y/N rubbing her eye tiredly. He took the bowl as he set the glass down. "You need sleep."

"But–" She only surrendered when a hefty yawn broke through her defenses.

The man paused for a moment before holding up the book. "I could read this to you."

She stared at him a long moment before nodding with a smile. She listened to him happily as he read over the research text on Zonai devices. Everything from constructs to devices to charges to Zonaite! All of it felt like a soothing spell with his voice melded in. His deep voice rumbled lowly as he read over it, squinting a few times at words that she helped him pronounce.

"In my defense, this is in your Hylian," he had said after struggling through another word before a soft snore snapped him out. Looking over, she was out cold, scooted closer to the edge of the bed to be nearer to him. He bit back his quip about how the text would put anyone to sleep as he closed the book quietly.

Carefully, he fixed the blanket over her shoulder, blinking when she cuddled into a sand seal plush she'd gotten for herself at the racing event. Her peaceful expression made his chest warm as a familiar tug of desire coursed through him. His jaw clenched at the thought.

The thought of her looking up at him with a smile. The thought of her coming to him for anything, even little things. The thought of her leaning into his touch and–

He silenced the thoughts. His penance in serving Hyrule didn't allow for the thought or even the humor of romance.

Instead, he sat in the chair by her bed, only allowing himself the pleasure of her soft snores and peacefully sleeping face.

[gingerlegacy07]

Writer Interview Game

Thank you @morelikeravenbore for the tag! Everyone please check out her blog! She's a great writer with a beautiful MC!

When did you start writing? I was around 12/13 when I first wrote an actual little story. I loved doing it once for an assignment at school and from there on I kept writing. Mostly it was little love stories I made up, but when I was 15 I really got into Cinema Bizarre and wrote a (very bad, very cringey) chaptered story about them. I also wrote a pretty big Supernatural story in Dutch, but I never continued it after about 30 chapters. I stopped writing for a few years after that. I always loved reading fanfiction though and once I got into Kpop when I was 20, I started writing a little bit again. Mostly oneshots and all. After that I didn't write in over 8 years. Well, at one point I did try my hand on an orginal story, but I'm not even two chapters in so... Anyway, when HL came out I really got obsessed with it. And I started reading fanfiction about it. Before I knew it I was writing again and this time actually finished every story I started haha. Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write? The only trope rather than genre that I enjoy reading, but haven't written (yet lol) is enemies-to-lovers. I absolutely love that trope, but only if it's done well. And I have not yet dared to try it because I feel like I wouldn't make it good. But one day I do really want to try writing it. Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often? No. I'd rather have my own style and so far I haven't been compared to someone. Though I do admit that since I read most books in English, I've gotten some ideas of describing certain scenes or use certain wording in my writing. Can you tell me a bit about your writing space? Simple; on my bed, on my couch or sitting at my dinner table haha. I'll admit I've even wrote a bit at work lol. I don't really care for the space around me. All I need is my laptop and the inspiration/want to write and the words will come to me.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse? Listening to music, reading or watching a movie. Basically seeing or hearing anything that tells a story. A lot of times it either brings me ideas on how to proceed or it creates a vague outline for me which I want to expand and write a oneshot. I have a few stories written that are heavily based on a song. But sometimes I want to progress my WIP and want something to happen, just that I don't know what. Music, video's or book can help with that. Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you? Absolutely. Heartbreak, fluffiness, happy family life. With nsfw fics it's the aftercare scene and there's almost always some form of trauma. It doesn't surprise me as those themes are the ones I love to write and feel comfortable writing. Happy family life and aftercare is something I enjoy writing a lot and fluff is something I write because I'm a huge empath and need some fluff (especially after writing a very angsty scene or oneshot) to heal me. Heartbreak can make for the most delicious and soulcrushing angst and trauma does that too. They also help with character development; your character goes through something terrible and you'll need to write them dealing with it and moving on (or not) from it in their own way. What is your reason for writing? Because I want to read something that I haven't seen before or is hard to find and then I decide, well I can just write it myself. For example: with HL, I stuck to reading fanfiction until I started shipping Ominis and Poppy together. There were hardly any fics out there and the very few that were, only had them as a minor side couple. So I decided I wanted to write something with them, where they develop a friendship that turns into a relationship overtime. Very slowburn. At the same time I wanted people to read it or at least get interested and since I was sure just writing them as a main couple might not work (and honestly, I do love me some good SebastianxMC), I decided to make the main characters SebastianxReader (so whoever read it could insert either themselves, their own MC or someone they made up on the spot) with Ominis and Poppy as a pretty big side couple. So yeah, my main reason for writing is because I always got ideas in my head that I would love to read, but is hard to find. Thus I try writing it myself. Is their any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating? Honestly, any kind of positive comment is already motivating to me. But whenever someone takes their time to give a bit more details to their thoughts about my writing, it is extremely motivating for me to write more. It always helps to know someone likes it enough to leave a long comment and with giving their thoughts, I can get a bit of perspective on what my readers like/do not like. How do you want to be thought about by your readers? Good question. I don't necessarily want them to have a particular opinion about me, but I'd be flattered if, whenever they see my name besides a title, they think along the lines of: Oh I do like her stories. I dunno. It's always nice to know people enjoy your work, but as far as having an opinion about me, it doesn't matter really. What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer? I think understanding the characters I write and sticking to that while I develop their growth in my stories. How do you feel about your own writing? Not gonna lie, I always thought it was trash, but ever since I started writing for HL I actually like it now. Still, the first few chapters of my trilogy are a bit... icky to me, but overall I think I do a decent job at writing and it's pretty good. Most importantly; I love it!

That was fun! Thank you for whoever made this :D NP tags: @writingannyred @polarisgreenley @zetadraconis11 @sallowslove @mspegasus17

[loveroftoomanyfandoms]

Angel of God, My Guardian Dear Chapter 17: Matt

Pairing: Matt Murdock x F!Reader

Rating: Explicit (18+, MINORS DNI)

Story Summary: While speaking at a local school for visually impaired youth, Matt runs into his childhood best friend, with whom he lost touch almost 20 years prior.

Warning/Tags: Phone sex 🔥

Word Count: ~2k of pure porn

A/N: Enjoy some smut, y'all.

Matt sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he sat on his sofa listening to an audiobook he had gotten from the library the previous week. Y/N was out of town at a library conference and he was waiting for her to call.

His book automatically paused as his phone began to ring.

Matt smiled as he swiped to answer. "Hi, angel."

"Hi, Matty," Y/N replied. "How's it going?"

"It's going good. How's the conference?"

"It's fine, just the usual library stuff -- how to deal with difficult patrons, the depressing increase in book banning attempts by morons who've probably never read a book in their life, what to do when you're stuck at a library conference away from your very sexy boyfriend for 5 days…"

Matt grinned. "Learn anything interesting in that last session?"

Y/N huffed out a light laugh. "Actually, yeah, the presenter suggested calling him and telling him how much you miss him."

Matt chuckled, his heart warming. "I miss you too, angel."

He paused, listening for signs of anyone in Y/N's vicinity. "Are you settled in for the night?"

"Yeah, some of the others decided to go out for drinks but I wasn't feeling up to it. It's been a long conference and I haven't been sleeping too well."

Matt hummed. "Well maybe I can help you with that."

"Oh?" Y/N's voice piqued with interest. "How so, Mr. Murdock?"

Matt licked his lips. There had been something else he had been wanting to try with Y/N but the opportunity hadn't presented itself until now. "Remember how I helped you out the last time you couldn't sleep?"

Y/N let out a breathy laugh. "You mean how you made me come so hard my brain went completely blank for a moment? Yeah, I definitely remember that."

"Well, I was thinking maybe we could do something like that… just over the phone."

Y/N gasped playfully. "Matthew, are you suggesting that we have phone sex?"

Matt hummed. "Maybe… if you're interested."

"Oh, I'm very interested. Give me just a second to get situated though?"

Matt moved from the sofa to his bedroom. "Sure, angel."

"Are you in bed?"

"I will be in a minute. I was sitting on the sofa."

"Oh, okay." Y/N paused. "Just for the record… I, uh, I've never done this before, so… apologies if I'm awkward."

Matt shook his head even though he knew Y/N couldn't see him. "Hey, no, it's okay. To be honest, I haven't actually done this either, but it's just like our sexy talk at home, right? Except we'll just have to also tell each other what we'd like to be doing instead of actually doing it."

He grinned and dropped his voice down a register. "Plus you know how much I love the sound of your voice, angel. Can't wait to hear you while you're touching yourself for me."

Y/N sucked in a breath. "Okay."

"Are you settled into bed yet?"

"Uh huh. Oh wait, what are you wearing?"

Matt could feel Y/N cringe over the phone. While yes, that was typically a pretty stereotypical lead-in to phone sex, it actually was a pretty important question since they couldn't see each other. 

"Actually I just got out of the shower about 20 minutes ago, so I'm wearing a pair of boxers. What about you? What are you wearing?"

"Oh, um…" Y/N paused as she pulled the covers over her. "A black tank top and black and red plaid pajama pants."

Matt settled in his bed. "Those soft cotton ones you like to lounge around in?"

"Uh huh."

"Mmm, good to know. I like those on you." Matt grinned. "I like them even better on my bedroom floor."

Y/N huffed out a laugh. "Smooth, Murdock."

"Just telling the truth, angel." Matt sighed. "I wish you were here in my bed right now, because you know what I would do?"

Y/N's breath hitched. "Uh-uh, what?"

"I'd cup your face in my hands and kiss you. Love kissing you, angel, thought about it for years before I got the chance."

Y/N let out a breathy sigh. "Mmm, me too, Matty, used to stare at your mouth all the time when we were kids, wanted to know what your lips would feel like pressed to mine."

Matt groaned softly. "God, Y/N, had I known how you actually felt about me back then I probably wouldn't have been able to help myself, would've had to find out what your lips tasted like, both with and without that coconut lip balm on them."

"Good thing you can kiss me all you want now, hmm?"

Matt smiled. "Mmhmm. I'd kiss you breathless then tangle my fingers in your hair and tilt your head to the side so I could move down to your neck. Love to feel your pulse flutter under my lips, angel, have to hold back from marking you and feeling the blood rise to the surface of your delicate skin." 

Y/N's breath hitched. "No, baby, don't hold back. Want you to mark me, Matty."

Matt closed his eyes, picturing Y/N whimpering underneath him in pleasure as he tattooed his name in Braille on her skin, soothing each mark his lips left with his tongue before moving on to the next one. "Fuck -- don't tempt me, angel."

"Love to wear your marks on me, sweetheart, know that it's you who put them there." Y/N giggled. "My sexy vampire."

Matt grinned. "Mmm, definitely going to have to mark you up when you get home then, remind you who you belong to."

"Mmmhmm. So what else would you do?"

"I'd slide the hand that wasn't buried in your hair underneath your tank top so I could feel your soft skin." Matt let out a quiet groan. "Used to dream about it when we were younger, sweetheart, what your body would feel like under my hands and mouth if I ever got you in my bed other than to sleep."

"Mmm, and?"

Matt groaned. "The real thing is even better than I imagined. You feel so fucking incredible, Y/N, want you all the time."

He licked his lips as he heard the shuffle of clothing. "Touch yourself for me, angel."

Y/N sighed. "Mmm, Matty, love to feel your hands on my skin, baby, whether you're being gentle and caressing me while we're making love or gripping my hips tight while you fuck me into oblivion."

Matt hissed, his cock starting to stir. "Take your top off for me, sweetheart, want to hear your hand caressing that soft, smooth skin of yours."

He could hear Y/N pulling her shirt up and over her head. "That's my good girl."

Y/N hummed. "What would you do once you got my top off?"

"I'd move down to those perfect tits of yours. First I'd start with the left one, tease it to a peak with my tongue before getting my mouth properly on it." Matt groaned as Y/N gasped out a breath. "That's right, angel, touch yourself for me, imagine those are my hands caressing you."

Y/N's breath hitched. "Mmm, Matty, your hands feel so good on my skin, love the way you touch me."

Matt groaned. "By now I'd be able to smell just how fucking wet you were for me, angel. God, your scent is intoxicating."

"Mmhmm, just for you, Matty. Only you make me feel this way, God , you turn me on so much." Y/N let out a soft moan. "Want your mouth on me, sweetheart, need you."

Matt pulled his boxers down, freeing his cock. "Need my mouth on that beautiful cunt of yours, angel?"

"Uh huh. Feels so fucking good, Matt, God , that mouth of yours is magical."

Matt wrapped a hand around himself. "Mmm, well since you asked so sweetly I'd kiss my way down your stomach while I slowly slid your pajamas down, then when I finally had you naked I'd have to kiss and feel my way down your body one more time before I got to taste your sweetness."

Y/N whimpered. "God yes, please , Matty, want you to make me come on your mouth."

"Go ahead, angel, let me hear how wet you are for me." Matt groaned at the slick slide of Y/N inserting two fingers into herself. "You taste so fucking good, Y/N, could spend hours eating out that beautiful cunt of yours, see how many times I can make you come on my tongue alone."

Y/N gasped. "Fuck, Matt ."

Matt spit in his hand before taking himself once again, the dryness of his hand alone uncomfortable in its friction. "As good as you taste, it's nothing compared to the feeling of being buried deep inside your tight cunt, so once I had drunk my fill of your juices I'd slide my cock through your folds getting myself nice and slick, then I'd ease myself inside you. Gotta start out nice and slow, angel, don't want to hurt you."

Y/N bit back a moan. "Mmph -- fuck. You're so big, Matt, always make me feel so full, baby, stretch me out so good."

Matt sped his hand up. "Your pussy feels amazing, Y/N, like it was made perfectly to fit my cock."

"Feel so good inside me every time, Matt." Y/N sucked in a breath. "Love to feel your cock in me, sweetheart, fucking me so deep, filling me up."

Matt groaned. "Can't wait until you get home, sweetness, miss you so much."

"Fuck, Matty, miss you too, baby, hate not being able to see you, to touch you. Need you inside me, Matt, wanna feel you." Y/N gasped. "Want you to grip my hips tight while you pound into me, make me feel you deeper than ever before."

"Oh, don't worry, angel, gonna stuff you nice and full when you get home, come so deep in that tight wet cunt of yours that you feel my cum inside you for days ." Matt hissed, his orgasm edging closer. "Gonna come for me, angel?"

"Uh huh. Close, Matty."

Matt tightened his grip on himself. "Me too, Y/N. Fuck, you always take me so well, sweetheart, such a good girl for me."

"God -- yes, yours , Matty, always." Y/N's breath hitched. "I'm so close, baby."

Matt pitched his voice lower. "Want you to let go for me, angel, let me hear those pretty sounds you make for me while I'm filling your pussy up with my cum."

Y/N gasped. "Yes , Matt , sweetheart, want to feel it, want to -- Ah !"

Matt jerked himself roughly a few more times, the sound of Y/N crying out his name in ecstasy making him groan as ropes of hot cum shot out onto his stomach. 

He could hear Y/N panting on the other end as she came down from her high. "Fuck, Y/N ."

Y/N hummed. "Mmm, love you."

"Love you too." Matt grabbed a few tissues and wiped the quickly cooling cum off of himself. "Feel better?"

"Mmhmm." Y/N sighed. "Still miss you, baby, but luckily I'm just gone for a few more days."

Matt grinned. "I miss you too, and whenever you get home I'm going to show you just how much I'm missing you."

Y/N huffed out a light laugh. "Mmm. Is that a promise?"

"Oh, definitely. You're not leaving my bed for at least 24 hours."

"Deal." Y/N yawned. "I'll call you tomorrow?"

Matt nodded. "Okay, angel. I love you."

"Love you too."

"Sweet dreams."

"Mmm, you too, Matty. 'Bye, baby."

"Bye."

Matt hung up and pulled his boxers up, then lay in bed for a moment silently contemplating before getting up and going to his Daredevil trunk.

He pulled out the small square box he had hidden the day before and ran his hand over the contents, smiling softly before setting it back in his trunk.

He went back into his bedroom as his phone rang once again. "Hello, this is Matthew Murdock."

He grinned. "Yes, hi, thank you for getting back to me. I'm sorry for bothering you, but I need a favor…"

[ritualofcirice]

Hello to one of my favorite internet sheeps! I just wanted to pop in and say that you are a nice writer. Your blog is also so organized and fancy.

What were the top three stories you've had fun writing? Give us a shameless self promo... 👀💕

Hello to one of my favourite internet anons! Thank you so much for your kind words ♡

I would give approximate stats for how long I spend piecing together banners and keeping my blog neat, but it's actually shocking ;; I'm glad to hear people are liking the aesthetic! Those sleepless nights haven't gone to waste...

SHAMELESS PROMO TIME THOUGH - with a lot of waffling ♡

If I had to give my current top three I've had fun writing it'd be these:

Moth and Rust. OKAY. So I don't have a lot I can say about this one yet because there is only one chapter out. Let me tell you though the amount of time I've spent detailing OCs, plot, and development is insane. I haven't gotten around to posting more due to how large the encompassing story is, and I don't want to 'rush' it. As such I've been writing chapters but not releasing them to ensure everything is flowing the way I want it to. I'm using it as a guinea pig to get better at editing, descriptions, and handling longer plotlines too, which has been exceedingly fun for me so far. In other words, I love reading grammar books.

Fragile - Handle With Care. I had a bit of a love hate relationship with this one to start off with, but after I started editing it things kind of just fell into place in a fulfilling way. Fluffy stories rock!

The entirety of the Love Letters series to date (I can't pick a favourite out of these). Like, they are just so fun. I started it for character practice, but it's turned into a fun little project I adore. It's super nice to sit and think about what each character would write. That's not even considering what their letters would look like. The whole Valentino rhinestone rabbit hole I went down was wild. Plus, I'm looking at being more hands on crafty with that series once it's 'done' - money and time permitting ♡

REALLY APPRECIATE THE ASK, AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR THE SUPPORT ♡♡♡ I'm always down to talk stories anyday!

[b3anieperson]

THE LETTER - An Epilouge To Fourth Wing - Part 1 - Part 2

Story Summary-

Twenty year old Sloane Mairi, sister to Liam Mairi, and daughter of Colonel Mairi and Isaac Mairi, Awaits her brothers first letter of his second year, before she can leave for the Riders Quadrant and see him again.

I sit in my room that I share with four other, younger girls, along the window seat where I have just received a new book from the market in Alrysben. I should be packing what I can in a rucksack, but I'm reading, because if I don't read what I have now, I never will.

Xaden sent a letter telling me to pack light, no books, whatever knives I still have from my mother, as well as my Tyrrish Stone that my mother gave all the marked children before the execution, because of course Xaden knows I still have it, both Liam and I do, it's the only thing we still have from our mother.

All of my other possessions consist of things Xaden, Liam and my fostered sisters have gotten me for my birthdays over the years, as well as my letter book-  it consists of every letter I've received since I was six- and the few things Lady Burnam has gotten us.

Though Lady Burnam is a temperamental woman- when Eya was here, she had had more than a few screaming matches with her - she is kind to all of the younger girls and boys that live with us.

At least I can see Liam in a few days. I think as Kahla and Bryn run through the room, playing what appears to be pretend dragon riders, Helena sits down next to me, her bobbed red hair bouncing as she slumps, then places a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, have you finished packing yet?" She's two years younger than me, and the only other I share the room with. I shake my head and close my book.

"I still have a few days," I pause, then look up to the door, where the mail carrier sits, divying up who's mail is whose, "I'm trying to read what I can of this book before I leave."

She scoffs, "Read, read, read, that's all you ever do, Dear Dunne, you won't last in the Quadrant." Her gaze shifts, "If only they'd let you become a scribe."

I shrug my shoulders and breathe through the impending fear that seems to stay in my chests these days.

Fynn opens the door, his hand over his eyes, "Are you guys dressed?" He asks. When Bryn shouts yes, he picks her up from behind the door, "Good!" He spins his little sister around. He'll be leaving with me for the Quadrant, and hopefully, I pray, he will cross the Parapet safely.

I clear my throat and gesture my hand to the open door, and Fynn sets down his sister, his skin is dark, like Bodhi or Xaden, but a tad bit lighter, "Right, sorry, Lady Burnam wants all of us that are leaving to come down to her office." He answers. I nod and dust off my stuffy uniform from home-study as I set down my book.

I glance back to Helena, and nod with a smile, then call out to the girls before I exit, "Don't be too much trouble for Helena while I'm gone! I'll be back you know!" I call out, and the girls giggle.

We walk the long halls in silence, I don't know Fynn well, but I know he fought like hell to make sure he got here with Bryn. The last six years haven't been easy, I know I miss Liam every day, but at least Fynn and Bryn weren't apart.

"Are you ready?" He asks, trying to fill the voided silence.

I let out a self-deprecating laugh, "Me? The five-foot-six, skinny, blonde daughter of Colonel Deriana Mairi, who sucks at doing anything but swinging with a sword, ready?" His pace slows and he worrys with his hands.

"You're good at stuff, like a lot of stuff, and you're great at battle practice, well not Emek great, but you're good!" He tries to comfort. He continues walking, the asks another question, "Are you excited to see Liam?" I nod eagerly.

"It's going to be great, Xaden wrote me a few months ago saying that he bonded a red daggertail named Deigh."

"Xaden still writes?" He asks with a slight laugh.

"Well he writes me for Liam, to make sure that we are both doing okay, and also because we grew up in Aretia together, so we're kind of close." I respond.

"Ah, I can't even remember the last letter I got from him, it was before he left, but after his first check in letter." When we had all been separated, Xaden, Garrick, Liam, and Bodhi had all sent every marked child of the Apostate, a letter to check in, ask how we were settling in, and if we were sleeping good.

We reach the end of the hallway, where Lady Burnam's office sits, filled with the three other boys who will leave with me for the Riders Quadrant.

Lady Burnam turns in the chair that she sits in for all but six hours of the day. "Good Evening dears!" She clasps her hands together, and smiles, "Have you all finished packing?" I am really tired of getting asked this question today.

Everyone else nods in murmered agreements besides me. Lady Burnam turns her hand in a gesture, "Sloane? Is that right? Did you finish packing?" I shake my head, and answer.

"No ma'am, I'm going to pack tonight."

She nods, her green gaze catching mine, "Good, good. Well that's all I really wanted to check in with, well, that, and to wish you all good luck, I'll be praying to Zihnal for all of you."

We all give quick thanks before we are dismissed. Dinner starts in an hour, and it might as well be our goodbye dinner, despite that being in three days, when we board a cart for Basgaith.

When I renter our room, the girls are sitting reading through their history textbook, and Helena is sharpening a Tyrrish dagger.

I fall back onto my bed, and let out an exasperated sigh. Helena looks up from sharpening, and twists her head like an animal; "Are you okay?" I nod, my arms splayed out above my head.

Bryn and Kahla squirm up on either side and hug me tight. "We're gonna miss you Sloane." They whimper into my sides. I reach down and stroke their long, braided hair. Bryn's is a long fishtail, and Kahla has a short two strand.

"I'm going to miss you too." I whisper. One of the servants walks in and smiles, it's Dahlia, and she urges the girls upright.

"Come on you two! It's bath night! I've got bubbles, and-" She rattles a box, "wood incense!" The girls sit up and rush to follow her out of the door.

Helena sits down on the bed, and something slides on my night stand. "You got mail, it's from Garrick Tavis, Imogen Cardulo, Eya and Xaden." She says quietly, "They're all marked urgent." She runs a hand through my long blonde hair, then stands to walk out for a shower.

Yes! They're probably all telling me about what to expect after I cross the Parapet. I sit upright and reach for Xaden's letter, and break the seal.

[rmd-writes]

Thanks for tagging me @hippolotamus @lilythesilly @welcometololaland this has been sitting in my drafts for I don't know how long now, but I'm overwhelmed by my work to do list so of course I'm procrastinating now 🙃

Bold all that apply (with some notes because Lola did and why not):

APPEARANCE: i’m under 5’5” // i wear glasses/contacts // i have blonde hair // i prefer loose clothing to tight clothing // i have one or more piercings // i have at least one tattoo // i have blue eyes // i have dyed or highlighted my hair // i have gotten plastic surgery // i have or had braces // i sunburn easily // i have freckles // i paint my nails // i typically wear make-up // i don’t often smile // i am pleased with how i look // i prefer nike to adidas // i wear baseball hats backwards

(Notes: I am quite often the shortest adult in the room. I've been wearing glasses since I was 16 but likely needed them much earlier. I used to wear contacts almost all of the time, but I prefer glasses these days and own 6 pairs, plus sunglasses. I like the way I look at the moment because I'm the fucking strongest I've ever been and have actual muscles now 💪🏽. The Nike preference is really just for Lola, I don't have a strong preference, but do tend to purchase Nike shoes for sneakers)

HOBBIES AND TALENTS: i play a sport // i can play an instrument // i am artistic // i know more than one language // i have won a trophy in some sort of competition // i can cook or bake without a recipe // i know how to swim // i enjoy writing // i can do origami // i prefer movies to tv shows // i can execute a perfect somersault // i enjoy singing // i could survive in the wild on my own // i have read a new book series this year // i enjoy spending time with friends // i travel during school or work breaks (if i can afford it) // i can do a handstand

(Notes: idk if my aerial stuff counts as a sport? I am very much not a sporty person. I've been surprised to see how many of these I've seen go around where people can't swim - it's so unusual for people where I live not to be able to swim, it's part of the school curriculum. I used to be able to do a handstand - pre-kids and destroying my core strength via two pregnancies. I have my core strength back yet but haven't attempted a handstand again)

RELATIONSHIP: i am in a relationship // i have been single for over a year // i have a crush // i have a best friends i have known for (more than) ten years // my parents are together // i have dated my best friend // i am adopted // my crush has confessed to me // i have a long distance relationship // i am an only child // i give advice to my friends // i have made an online friend // i met up with someone i have met online

(Notes: fun fact, the crush who confessed to me is now my husband. I have made many, many online friends and met a bunch of them (the best friends I've known for more than 10 years were originally online friends). and in 47 days I get to meet more online friends and I couldn't be MORE EXCITED)

AESTHETICS: i have heard the ocean in a conch shell // i have watched the sun rise // i enjoy rainy days // i have slept under the stars // i meditate outside // the sound of chirping calms me // i enjoy the smell of the beach // i know what snow tastes like // i listen to music to fall asleep // i enjoy thunderstorms // i enjoy cloud watching // i have attended a bonfire // i pay close attention to colours // i find mystery in the ocean // i enjoy hiking on nature paths // autumn is my favourite season 🍂

(Notes: in theory I enjoy rainy days and thunderstorms but I DO NOT LIKE the humidity that accompanies them here)

MISCELLANEOUS: i can fall asleep in a moving vehicle // i am the mom friend// i live by a certain quote // i like the smell of sharpies // i am involved in extracurricular activities //i enjoy mexican food // i can drive a stick-shift // i believe in true love // i make up scenarios to fall asleep // i sing in the shower // i wish i lived in a video game // i have a canopy above my bed // i am multiracial // i am a redhead // i own at least three dogs

(Notes: I am quite literally the mum friend. But also: see me sending my friends to bed when they're online too late and reminding them to drink water. I wasn't allowed to get an automatic licence - my dad said he'd only teach me to drive and help pay for my first car if I learned to drive a manual car)

I don't know who's already done this game, it's been going around for a while but let's try: @basilsunrise @heartstringsduet @heartitinthesilence @rosedavid @mostlyinthemorning @stereopticons @kiwiana-writes @pragmatic-optimist @sunshinestrand @reyesstrand @strandnreyes @freneticfloetry @fitzherbertssmolder @lemonlyman-dotcom

[duskwoodgirl4life]

Chapter 6

As the weeks went on Jake and Astrid had gathered more evidence against Alan Bloomgate. They had been busy working on a conviction to have him sent down now was the time to go and arrest him. Jake called his team into one of the meeting rooms and went over what was going to happen. They knew that Alan would be making his usual drop at the coffee shop around 13:00. Once he comes away from the coffee shop they will go and arrest him. Jake promised MC and Cleo that he would not make the arrest right outside the shop.

Jake's POV

Today begins the operation to bring Alan in for questioning, we have worked tirelessly gathering evidence against him. I've finished going over what we need to do with the team now we wait. I pull out my phone for what feels like the hundredth time in the last few minutes. I decided to open up the chat with MC and send her a message.

Jake: Hi MC, we will be ready to leave in the next half an hour

MC: Hey Jake, thanks for letting me know I can't wait for this to be over

Jake: It will be soon I promise, how's Cleo doing?

MC: she's gone into baking mode she's baking things we don't even sell

Jake: with how good her baking is they will sell fast

MC: Will I see you later?

Jake: You will yes, not sure what time tho it could be late

MC: That's fine, hey Jake?

Jake: Yes MC?

MC: I love you

Jake: I love you too MC

Jake put his phone down and noticed it was finally time to get going, Astrid and Jake got into the car while the team followed in the police van. They made sure to keep the police van out of sight so as not to spook Alan when he shows up. They all got into their positions and waited for Alan to show it didn't take long for him to appear. He was carrying more flowers and a gift bag with a bear inside it as the lunch time rush had Cleo and MC busy so they didn't notice Alan enter and then leave again.

Jake and Astrid got out of the car and went followed by the police van, they went over to Alan ordering him to stop where he was. He tried to play dumb and pretended he hadn't done anything wrong, Astrid slapped the cuffs on him and Jake read him his rights and put him in the back of the police van. They took him back to the police station and booked him in. One of the officers took him to his cell, locking the door behind him. Jake and Astrid went back to the office to prepare for the interview.

A few hours later Jake and Astrid had gotten everything ready for the interview, Alan was taken to an interview room. When they walked in Alan was sitting there with no expression on his face. They both sat down Astrid put the tapes in and hit record she sat taking notes as Jake interviewed Alan.

Jake: Alan, can you tell me what you were doing on the 15th May 2023? At around 13:30pm

Alan: No comment

Jake: is this you in a CCTV still on Monday 16th May 2023 at midnight

Alan: No comment

The interview went on for hours and each question Alan was instructed by his lawyer to say no comment. They ended the interview when an officer came to take Alan back to his cell while Jake and Astrid went back to their office.

Jake: I had a guy feeling her would answer no comment

Astrid: with the way his lawyer is acting we might not get anything out of him

Jake: don't worry we still haven't shown him any pictures of Cleo receiving the gifts yet

Astrid: how could I forget I can't wait to see his face.

A few hours had passed and Alan was back in the interview room, Jake showed Alan all the pictures they had of Cleo finding the gifts. Alan's eyes widened; he was so sure that she would be happy with receiving these messages and gifts. The look of disgust on her face said it all. Alan started to get angry. His lawyer tried to calm him down but nothing worked. Alan ended up blurting everything out how he planned all the times he would watch Cleo. All the times he would leave her gifts and messages. The room fell silent. Alan slumped down in his chair, the expression on his face was bitter.

Jake and Astrid had heard all they needed to and ended the interview, Alan went back to his cell while Astrid phoned the CPS they would decide if Alan was to be charged. An hour had passed and it was good news Alan was to be charged. Jake and Astrid went back down to the desk where Alan was waiting. The sergeant behind the desk charged Alan with stalking. He will remain in his cell till tomorrow morning where he will be taken to court.

Alan started to shout and band his fists against the desk, it took 4 police officers to take him down once he was restrained Alan got taken back to his cell. Jake and Astrid could still hear him shouting and banging against his cell door.

Astrid: fuck! He really didn't take that well

Jake: I never expected him to behave like that

Astrid: he's where he can't hurt anyone now

Jake: I better go give Cleo a ring and let her know what's happened.

Jake went back to his office followed by Astrid who was texting with Richy.

Jake: hi Cleo

Cleo: Hi Jake, what's up?

Jake: Alan as been charged and is going to court first thing tomorrow morning

Cleo: that's excellent news thank you so much

Jake: your welcome Cleo, could you let MC know I will see her at the coffee shop in an hour

Cleo: of course, see you later Jake

Jake put his phone back in his pocket and finished off some paperwork.

Astrid: Hey Richy you free tonight?

Richy: for you I am always free

Astrid: You want to meet up in about an hour?

Richy: that's perfect, meet me at the junkyard

Astrid: see you then ;)

After Jake had finished his paperwork he headed out to go and meet MC, Astrid had left a few minutes before so she could go and meet up with Richy. Jake arrived at the coffee shop just as the girls were about to close for the day.

MC: hey you, it's good to see you

Jake: Hey, did Cleo fill you in?

MC: yeah she told me what had happened

Jake: he will be in court first thing tomorrow morning

Cleo: Do you think he will get bail?

Jake: we are hoping once the judge as hurd the case they will keep him on remand

MC: I really hope so

Jake: if for some reason he was allowed out on bail he does come near you and if he does he will be arrested again.

Cleo: I can't thank you enough Jake for everything you had done

Jake: no thanks needed

Jake helped the girls close up for the day and headed back to MCs apartment.

[gamesception]

Done with Utena for now, but I had fun trying to post something near daily and would like to try to keep that up. Given my track record I'll likely not get very far, but I didn't think I'd finish the rgu read, so who knows. I've got a few ideas, but I also have to take like a week to get out from under the minis-painting commission, so in the mean time why not a poll to see which idea I should go with? explanations under the cut:

Cass Cain project: Cassandra Cain was my favorite comic book superhero, and DC bungling her character back in the day was what got me out of comics altogether. She has since been revived as a new character after a reboot or two, but while I tried I was never quite able to get back into the later version of her, and around the time of the Birds of Prey movie I started a project looking back at her comic appearances more or less in order to try and put into words what I liked about the character back in the day and why later reinterpretations of the character didn't quite hit that same note, for me at least. I put it on intermission at some point and promised to come back with a look at the 'Shadow of the Batgirl' graphic novel, but that book was too long for the too little I had to say about it, so I never did finish that post and the project stalled out. I have thought on and off about dusting the project off and starting it up again. Now might be a good time to do so.

Dark Souls: I've played Dark Souls before. I had a lot of fun with it, and for a while watched a lot of lore & cut content videos. One of the bits of cut content that really stood out to me was Oscar, Knight of Astora. In game he's the nameless knight that drops the key to you at the start of the Undead Asylum, and later gives you the estus flask before dying, but until relatively late in development he was supposed to survive the asylum and appear repeatedly in the main game, following a sort of parallel path to yours. Ever since hearing about this cut npc quest line, I've kind of wanted to recreate it by naming a new character after Oscar, collecting all his gear early, and then using co-op and pvp features to play out Oscar's narrative in the games of random players online, helping early on before becoming a rival and invader later.

Morrowind: I never did beat Morrowind - just played it until I had completely broken the game by accident (through bartering if you'd believe it) and sort of lost interest after that. The game's a classic that deserves a better run than that.

Fallout: New Vegas: Another project I started but failed to finish, multiple times over. But maybe third time's the charm for Bethany? I had a lot of fun with New Vegas but the liveblog got bogged down because I ended up playing too far ahead. If I just post thoughts or updates to where I am currently instead of trying to create a continuous narrative of the entire run that shouldn't happen.

Hollow Knight: I've done all the Hollow Knight Achievements on both Switch and Playstation, but on PC my record's sitting at a shameful 83%. Gotta fix that, plus I kind of want to replay it again before the release of the sequel, which I'm still thinking will be later this year.

Cyberpunk/Nier/Sekiro/Disco: Nothing much to say about these, just some games I heard were good and bought on steam that I haven't gotten around to playing yet. At least, not more than just the intro/tutorials.