#if there is one that I would recommend ANYONE checking out above all else it is the first one I linked

[repurposedmeatlocker]

I've recently gotten really into this genre of ARG that is based around classic nostalgic late 2000 and early 2010 video games. These don't seem to get half as much attention outside of their dedicated communities and I find it a real shame, because if anything I connect more to the timeframe these supposedly take place in comparison to other nostalgic types of video game horror ARGs based on early 2000 and 90s platform video games.

Thought I would list a few of these out. Most of them seem to be incomplete/abandoned unfortunately, but who knows. I really like the stuff that is built up here and hopefully more people start to consider exploring it in a more fleshed-out manner!

Old Minecraft Reuploads - This series hasn't been updated in 2 years, which is super unfortunate because it probably has to be my favorite of the approaches to this format! It is so effectively frightening without depending on any obtuse jumpscares. A majority of its eeriness comes from the ambiance already displayed in early Minecraft games. If you are familiar enough with playing them, you can kind of get the gist that something isn't right here. The immersion is super effective too. I'm not a fan of ARG's that hammer in their fictional and "otherworldly" elements too heavily. It takes me out a bit. All the glitches and discrepancies here feel like things that could actually happen, which makes it more scary! The last episode is especially frightening from the acting of the player alone. I never thought I could actually read fear in a faceless and voiceless screen recording, but it is SO impressive what evoked here. It is sad to me that I haven't heard much about this until now, and that it appears to be inactive. For what it's worth I would love for it to get more attention, even if just to see what is already there!

Gunslingerpro2009 and BadwaterVideos2009 - These two are not connected in any way, but they explore similar subject matter, so I feel it is appropriate to put them together. The format these base themselves on are classic TF2 gmod videos/animations. With the twist though that the ragdolls used in the game are sentient and being tortured/mistreated by the player/uploader. It is a cool concept I am surprised hasn't been played around with more with this genre. Absolutely recommended if you are a fan of that era of gmod content and psychological horror.

gmod9fan reuploads - This one kind of ends in a whimper and I don't think it is being continued (last update was 4 years ago), but the ideas being explored here are interesting. I think of the gmod ARGs it is the one that felt the most "scary" to me. Mostly just creepy stuff happening on someone's old gmod videos.

Classic GM Videos - I'm not the most invested in this one, but it feels worth mentioning nonetheless, and actually appears to be actively continuing compared to a majority of these. I would say my biggest complaint is the narrative that appear to be built here kind of fluctuates and doesn't have a strong amount of focus between the uploads. There is a sense that the creator is still figuring out what they want to say, but the Bob and Bill stuff is really captivating to me enough to keep an eye on it.

Minecraft Alpha 1.0.16 Versions - Still watching this, but it kind of appears to be an account under the pretense of uploading videos of a non-existent variant of Alpha 1.0.16. It feels a bit like a Herobrine-centered ARG, so if you are into that subject it could be fun.

Anyway, just thought I would find a way to bring some of these more into the spotlight since I find the approach really unique and fun. Not that I have a huge audience or anything, but anything to get the word out. I think the effort put into them deserve way more attention. Also, if you know of any other ARG's that fit this bill PLEASE feel free to let me know. I love this stuff.

[xvysarene]

𝔹𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕎𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕟

Pairing: LADS Men (All 5) x Fem!Reader Prompt: The moment they realise they want to spend their whole life with you Words: ~1.3k || 200-300 per LI Genre: Fluff, Comfort, Established relationship A/N: Highly recommend giving Urban Zakapa's "Nearness is to love" a listen to capture the mood! I need to be love like this smh

[ᝰ.ᐟ MASTERLIST]

⊱ 𝕏𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕣

Xavier has always wondered why he willingly abandons a good slumber and ignores the sting and soreness in his body just to see your face after every challenging mission.

“𝐷𝘰 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝘵 𝑚𝑒 𝘵𝘰 𝑐𝘰𝘰𝑘 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑠𝘰𝑚𝑒𝘵ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒?”

The lines of concern etched on your forehead deepen when he hasn't touched the porridge, all white swiftly checking to ensure you haven’t missed tending to any of his injuries.

He realises then, that you opening the door after the first knock, with a home-cooked meal waiting for him even before the first rays of dawn, is why he always seeks you out first.

This is the person he wants to witness a lifetime of sunrises with, the one he never wants to see weighed down by worry due to his line of work.

Words fail him, so he gathers you in his arms. Revelling in the way your body moulds perfectly against his.

“𝐼 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝘵 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑐𝑙𝘰𝑠𝑒.”

“𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙,” you chide softly, eyes flicking up to meet his.

The concern in your gaze tugs at something deep within him.

Xavier now understands what it is to be unconditionally loved—to be so genuinely cared for that someone would worry about his well-being above all else.

“𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝘰𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝘵𝘰 𝑏𝑒 𝑚𝘰𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝘵 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝘰𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝘵ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝜈𝑒𝑟𝑦𝘵𝑖𝑚𝑒.”

Your eyes soften. “𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑑𝘰𝑛'𝘵 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝘰𝑛 𝘵𝘰 ℎ𝘰𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒.”

The sensation of your fingers threading through his hair is pure heaven, and as you hold him tighter, you express that this embrace requires no further validation.

⊱ ℝ𝕒𝕗𝕒𝕪𝕖𝕝

Bathed in hues of molten gold and fiery amber, Rafayel watches you set up the dining table with his aunt and Thomas, a scene he will cherish until his very last breath.

The laughter of his favourite people mingling with the rhythmic crash of waves is music to his ears.

“𝑅𝑎𝑓, 𝑑𝘰𝑛'𝘵 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝘵 𝑠𝘵𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝘵ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒,” you call out. Tucking your hair behind your ear as the salty breeze whips strands across your face.

If only he could immortalise this scene on canvas, Rafayel muses.

But he knows that a painting would never do justice to fully conveying the true essence of this beauty.

“𝛭𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝘰𝜈𝑒𝑑, 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑠𝘵𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑓𝘰𝑟 𝑎 𝑚𝘰𝑚𝑒𝑛𝘵?” The quiver in his voice doesn’t go amiss by anyone’s notice as he approaches.

Thomas quirks a questioning brow, while his aunt's gaze softens, her smile somehow knowing as she glances between the two of you.

Normally, he would have a response ready as Thomas quips about the champagne warming, but not this time. 

Not when everything else other than you fades into insignificance.

Overwhelmed with emotion, he pulls you in a tight hug as soon as you both are away from prying eyes, burying his face in the crook of your neck.

“𝑇𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒,” his voice barely above a whisper, “ℎ𝘰𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝐼 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑓𝘰𝑟 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑓𝘰𝑟𝑒𝜈𝑒𝑟?”

You gently draw back and hold his cheeks, adoring the crimson spreading onto his face and ears, before murmuring tenderly against his lips, “𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝜈𝑒.”

At that very moment, it feels as though his heart might combust.

As if every whispered longing he's ever had has come true.

⊱ ℤ𝕒𝕪𝕟𝕖

Perplexed is what Zayne always imagined he would feel—wishing to spend the rest of his life with someone is a huge commitment after all.

But now, his heart overflows with nothing but contentment and peace.

With his glasses and book perch on his lap, he attentively listens as you animatedly vent about one of your coworkers, sitting cross-legged beside him on the bed.

“...𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝘰𝑟𝑟𝑦, 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝘰𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛'𝘵 ℎ𝑎𝜈𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝘰𝑛. 𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝘵 𝑏𝑒 𝘵𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝘵𝘰𝑑𝑎𝑦.”

Zayne frowns, cursing himself as you mistaken his prolonged silence and composed demeanour for indifference.

Setting his stuff aside, he draws you closer, pressing a tender kiss to your forehead as your arms circle around him.

“𝐿𝘰𝜈𝑒, 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝘰𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝘵𝑎𝑙𝑘. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝜈𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝘵𝘰𝑝 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝘰𝑢𝑟 𝘵ℎ𝘰𝑢𝑔ℎ𝘵𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝘵ℎ 𝑚𝑒.” 

A small content sigh leaves his lips as you nestle closer to him, the warmth of your embrace seeping into his very soul.

Long fingers gently stroke your hair as you voice out concern about adding to his mounting stress with your words.

“𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑐𝘰𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝜈𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛,” he murmurs, lips brushing your temple. “𝑌𝘰𝑢𝑟 𝜈𝘰𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝘵 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑎𝘵 ℎ𝘰𝑚𝑒. 𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑒𝜈𝑒𝑟𝑦𝘵ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝘵𝘵𝑒𝑟, 𝑑𝘰𝑛'𝘵 𝑒𝜈𝑒𝑟 𝘵ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝘰𝘵ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒.”

Sometimes he wonders if he truly deserves the depth of love and understanding you provide, a treasure more valuable than any he has ever known.

He is not an easy man to love, yet you wholeheartedly embrace his complexities.

In that quiet moment, with the soft glow of moonlight filtering through the curtain, he knows with certainty that you occupy a space in his life that no one else can fill.

⊱ 𝕊𝕪𝕝𝕦𝕤

“𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑎𝑏𝑠𝘰𝑙𝑢𝘵𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑓𝑓𝘰𝘰𝑛!” your voice trembles with fury as you cock your gun at him. “𝑊ℎ𝘰 𝑖𝑛 𝘵ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑟𝑖��ℎ𝘵 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝘰𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑖𝑛𝘵𝘰 𝑎 𝘵𝑟𝑎𝑝 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑦? 𝑌𝘰𝑢 𝑐𝘰𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝜈𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑑!”

Despite having just slain dozens of degenerates and currently staring down the barrel of your gun, Sylus’s head is oddly silent.

The sight of his enemies’ blood staining your clothes, your hair tousling messily from its ponytail, and the blazing intensity in your eyes—every detail captivates him completely.

Fuck him, you’re perfect.

Exasperated by his grin, you continue calling him all the names in the book: reckless idiot, brainless fool, dumbass…

But he’s your idiot.

Sylus watches your eyes widen as he closes the distance between you, your mouth opening to protest, “𝐷𝘰𝑛’𝘵 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑘𝑖—” but before you can finish, he discards your gun aside with alarming speed, lips crashing against yours with a fervour that matches your fury.

It’s not a gentle kiss, it’s an explosion of emotions; a release of all the anger, fear, and love that has been building up.

“𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝘰𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝘰𝑟 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝘰𝑢,” he says breathlessly, resting his forehead against yours.

Strong hands pull you closer, and he smiles, sensing your fury starting to dissipate as you melt into his cocoon. “𝛢𝑠 𝑙𝘰𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝜈𝑒 𝑦𝘰𝑢, 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑒𝘵ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝘵, 𝑛𝘰 𝘰𝑛𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝘵𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑒—𝑢𝑠—𝑑𝘰𝑤𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑦.”

When you respond to him with another creative jibe, calling him a “𝘵ℎ𝑖𝑐𝑘-ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝘰𝑎𝑓”, his deep laughter booms through the room.

No one else can and will challenge him like you do, and he lives for it.

Caught in the back-and-forth of your wit and spirit, craving the spark you kindle within him with every word.

⊱ ℂ𝕒𝕝𝕖𝕓

“𝐶𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑏!”

The moment your wide smile graces your features upon spotting him down the store aisle, it robs out all the oxygen in his lungs.

Caleb has always known that this relationship is different from his past ones—the thought of seeing you in his future teasing his brain occasionally.

But when you skip to him, with excitement dancing in your eyes, it hits him that he will give everything just to witness that radiance again.

Every day for the rest of his life.

“𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝘰𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒!” You slip your hand into his and intertwine your fingers together. “𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑦𝘰𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝘵ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝘵𝑒𝑚 𝘵ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝜈𝑒 𝑝𝑢𝘵 𝑢𝑝 𝑠𝘰 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ.”

He’ll let you lead him to whichever section of the market, and he'll damn well help you get whatever you want, even if it’s questionable whether you need it or not.

Another mini planter for your succulents? Sure, he’ll even buy all of the different designs for you.

When you ask him if he’s alright, noticing his dazed expression, he straight up pulls you into his embrace and kisses the top of your head, murmuring, “𝐼 ℎ𝘰𝑝𝑒 𝑦𝘰𝑢’𝑙𝑙 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝘵𝘰 𝑔𝑒𝘵 𝘵ℎ𝘰𝑠𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝘵𝑒𝑚𝑠.”

If he is misty-eyed amidst the bustling grocery store, it doesn’t concern him in the least.

You smile up at him in confusion, noticing the sentimental mood in his eyes. Standing on tiptoes, you give him a quick peck and melt in the warmth of his arms, feeling the beat of his heart against your cheek.

No other place feels as secure and comforting as being in each other’s arms.

⤷ ᝰ.ᐟ MASTERLIST

[ink-and-dagger]

do you have any silco x reader fic recs? both on ao3 and tumblr?

Oh boy do I.

I have zero time for reading these days (sob sob) so I'm sadly not at all familiar with any new fics post S2 being aired. But let me lay before you a sumptuous feast; lovingly prepared by the old guard of the Silco fucker society.

Reader's responsibility applies - please check tags etc etc..

Flawless - @a-gal-with-taste

An apt title, for Gal's writing is, indeed, flawless. Silco x Sex Worker!Reader. Absolutely brutal and beautiful - to me, Gal is the Angela Carter of the Silco fandom.

Here be Dragons // Hic Sunt Dracones - @sherwood-forests

This will always be one of my top recommends for a Silco x Reader fic. It's unlike anything else that I've seen in the fandom, and it reminds me of one of my favourite books Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Gives me the cosy feels.

Penance - @astudyincontrasts

Hands down the hottest, sexiest Silco fic in my opinion. If you enjoyed Fleabag or want to bang that priest from Midnight Mass then you need to get on this fic ASAP. To this day I cannot set foot in a church without getting horny. Thanks Study.

Secret Ingredient - @sweatandwoe

This is the Silco fic that made me want to write my own. DWM exists because of Sweaty. Domestic romance and drama of the absolute best kind.

Come Morning - @chickenparm

Parm has so many Silco fics and they are all incredible and required reading for the fandom. But I've chosen this one because it's so incredibly real and human, and will rip your heart to shreds.

Swapped - @silcoitus

I love seeing my blorbos in Situations™ and this is one hell of a Situation™ to find oneself in. Fun, funny, and full of tension. I get the pleasure of beta-reading this one, and I always have the best time squawking at Coi in the comments bar on google docs.

Go, Team! - @vasiktomis

This is actually Marcus x Reader x Silco and it's fucking genius. Vas is a genius and a pervert and I love them and they're my role model. Everyone absolutely has the right not to engage with content that they're not interested in but also if you don't read this fic then you're a coward.

Bend But Not Break - @constantfragmentation

This is a Jane Eyre retelling in the form of a Silco x Reader fic. Yeah that's right. Regency Silco. Emotional constipation cranked up to the max and coats with tails? Yes please. Ensure that you're near a fainting couch whilst reading because you will swoon.

Art in the Heart - @juniper-sunny

Juni was out here giving Young Revolutionary Silco his time in the spotlight long before he was ever animated. If you're a new to the fandom and have come here specifically because of young Silco then AITH is required reading. Head over to Juni's you'll be fed good.

To The Depths - @cognacandlilac

Full disclosure, I haven't actually had the chance to read this fic yet. But it has been on my TBR for an embarrassingly long time and every time I see a snippet I'm like "hot damn I need to get on this pronto" because I just know I'm going to be totally obsessed and consumed by it.

I've only picked one fic for each of the above but I would honestly recommend just tearing through the entirety of their fic lists because there are some absolute masterpieces in there. This is also far from an extensive list - there are so many incredible writers in the fandom and I'm so sorry for anyone I've missed off. I say this with my whole heart - the Silco fandom is easily one of the most talented and skilled corners of the internet. We may be fairly small in numbers compared to other characters/fandoms, but by God the art and stories we have are platinum quality.

[thatfreshi]

No Need To Be Shy Now (Astarion x Reader)

TW - smut, lots of bloodplay, masochism, dom/sub dynamics, also tav is afab

(I had a lot of fun writing this and this is actually my first time writing smut so please let me know what you think thank youu)

Recommended Song: Tilted Halo - Flo Milli

Temptation. You were Eve, him the apple. All that time ago, lost in the forest, long before you were in love, long before he knew he could love. You and Astarion, what an odd history, and yet fitting, like a geode, two sides cracked apart, still fitting perfectly.

"Come here darling, let me drink in that beauty of yours."

You concede, coming to the bed, lying down next to your star-crossed lover, one you managed to keep your eyes on in this lifetime.

"I'd let you drink far more than that."

You grin, leaving a trail of kisses down his neck, gliding towards his chest until he forces your chin back up, coming into a rough kiss, hungry, desperate. You pull away for a moment, giving him that sweet stare.

"What darling?"

Impatience.

"Being a tease, that's all."

You ghost his lips lightly, smirking, knowing what you're asking for. And then he bites down into your throat. You gasp, somehow still shocked, but he doesn't drink just yet, pulling you on top of him, letting it trail down your neck. You take your blouse off, some of the blood smearing on the white fabric. It continues down your chest, dripping onto your breast. He licks it off slowly

"Fuck..."

His nails dig into your back, as he continues to lap the blood off your skin, intentional with his movement.

"So beautiful, bleeding for me like this."

He means every word, appreciation caught in his throat, almost making him sentimental. But he'd leave that for after he was done with you.

"Bite me again, please."

The only person you'd be this vulnerable with, the only man you'd beg for.

"Your wish is my command darling."

He lies you back on the sheets, moving down to your legs, leaving two teeth marks in your thigh, leaving you trembling. He can see all the little dotted scars, sweet memories, lustful evenings. He kisses down the inside of your thigh, taking the blood as he goes, leaving some of it smeared as a reminder. You try to keep your moans to yourself, almost a little embarassed. He looks up at you, noticing you're holding back.

"No need to be shy now, I've already got you right where I want you.""

He digs his fingers into your hips, a sensitive spot that wins a cry of pleasure.

"That's better."

He begins softly grazing in between your thighs, ever so slightly touching you. Astarion hears you about to speak, but hushes you.

"Patience dear. Let's have our fun."

He had been teasing you all night while you were out, light touches when your friends weren't looking, whispers in your ear that made red cover your face. You claimed the blush was just from how hot it was in the tavern. While you try and wait on his antics, you're taken aback by the sudden entrance of his fingers, well received. He stops moving for a moment just to get a rise out of you.

"Gods, you're the worst."

"Would the worst make you feel this good?"

Every word of his drips in lust, knowing he has you, knowing you wouldn't want this from anyone else, knowing he matters. The next few thrusts of his fingers are calculated, slow, trying to extend this moment as long as he can. You make eyes at him, trying to use that sweet gaze to convince him.

"I'm sure you're tired too. Don't you want more?"

You're not wrong, but he tries to keep himself in check, edging you for as long as he can before biting down into the flesh right above your hip, making you both moan.

"When I want more, I know how to take it. Promise."

He mumbles against your skin, more blood on the sheets. You're a little light-headed, somewhere between the bed and the heavens. Astarion moves to undo his belt.

"I think you've earned it my sweet."

Soon enough, hips collide, getting your own blood on himself. He doesn't hold back this time, giving you everything you've begged him for, and yet you're still begging. You grab the sheets tightly, and he takes that hand, putting it up above your head, holding you down in between his fingers. He goes to drink from your neck once more, picking up speed, leaving you utterly helpless.

"Please, can I-"

"Yes."

You're first, and he follows shortly after, the two of you shaking. He kisses you deeply, but softly.

"Gods..."

He lies down beside you, feeling the blood that has pooled on the bed. You don't say anything, still stuck in that bliss, trying to get your bearings. He moves a piece of hair from your face, and you slowly turn to look at him, smiling like an idiot.

"What a syren you are my love. If you didn't like begging for me so much, perhaps it would be the other way around."

You simply wrap your arms around him, tired from what he just put your body through.

"I love you."

You mumble into his neck, nestling yourself by his side. He kisses the top of your head.

"I love you too."

It's silent for a moment, and then he shifts a little.

"We should run a bath, get you something to eat before you get nauseous."

You pout, pleading that he stays in bed with you.

"I don't want to get up yet..."

He stands by the bed, slowly putting his shirt back on.

"If you let me use you so much, I have to at least make sure you're well taken care of. That is, unless you don't like it rough like that. Because if so we could always go back to-"

"Noooooooo. I'll go to the bath."

"Good answer."

Demand still in his voice, but coated in sugar. He helps you stand, leading you to the bath, where a night of pampering and hand-fed cheese is in order.

[chvoswxtch]

Girl I have been silently reading and praising your stuff from my sisters account. Like liking all you stuff for safekeeping. The whole thing crashed and now I am trying to do the whole interacting thing. I am so embarrassed and scared that my idea is shit so this I am anonymous. But listen - I check your blog every day for updates. I luv u.

Okay my request is a bit messy. But like an angsty/fluf fic with Frank and a woman who is like small but indestructible - you know like a super power or x-gene thing. You cant see any wounds on her body they´ll just heal or something. And all she wants to do is protect Frank and he is just not having it.

If this is shit and not duable I get it! And if I missed somebody writing something simular please share the link - I would love it! Rant over...sorry...and thank you <34567

hi nonnie!

firstly, welcome. there's no need to hide in the shadows, or to apologize or feel embarrassed or any of that. i'm happy you're here and felt comfortable sharing your idea with me! I actually got a somewhat similar request, so I ended up combining the two to get the best of both worlds :)

also if you're into frank x powered reader, I highly recommend @grippingbeskar! she has an entire completed series called salt, ice, and fire that is phenomenal that I can't gush about enough

I hope you enjoy!

warning: swearing, mentions of guns & blood word count: 1.4k

bulletproof.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“What the fuck are you doin’?”

Frank’s thick brows were angrily bunched up in the middle of his forehead, a trail of crimson slowly leaking from the cut that covered the bridge of his freshly broken nose. His jaw was harshly set and he scowled deeply at you while switching out the cartridge on his rifle by muscle memory, not even having to look down.

“I told you-“

“No, I told you to take the goddamn stairs to the roof while I took out-

“I had it under control, Frank!”

Frank scoffed and let out an exasperated puff of air through his lips while shaking his head and gesturing towards you loosely with his free hand.

“Under control my ass, look at you. If you had fuckin’ listened to me, you wouldn’t be bleedin’ right now.”

Frank’s voice had risen in volume, and the timbre of it carried through the empty space between the two of you with a subtle growl. He might have been pissed at you, but you were fucking furious with him. You’d lost count of how many times the two of you fought about the exact same fucking thing over and over, and you weren’t arguing about it with him anymore. 

The heavy sound of approaching footsteps and yells caught Frank’s attention, but as he began to march towards the open loading dock of the abandoned warehouse with purpose and a raging vendetta burning in his eyes, the metal shutter door suddenly came barreling down with a wave of your hand. It collided with the concrete floor, a loud thud echoing around the space, not only preventing Frank from getting out, but anyone else from getting in.

Frank instantly paused, snapping his head to look over his shoulder at you with an expression of pure annoyance covering his sharp features. Your eye color had shifted to an incandescent shade, glimmering like two deep red rubies caught in the sunlight. There was still a flickering scarlet glow around your right hand as you kept the door shut, and Frank could tell by the look on your face that you were incensed by his behavior, but he refused to back down anymore than you did.

Grabbing the hem of your top with your left hand, you hastily lifted it upwards just as one of the bullet holes above your right hip began to close up and heal. Frank’s narrowed gaze dropped downwards to watch, and his features softened just a sliver, only to harden once again when he looked back into your illuminated eyes. 

“I can heal, Frank. You can’t. So when I tell you I have something under control, that doesn’t mean you fucking jump in front of me guns blazing. That bulletproof vest can’t protect you from everything, and I swear to whatever God you believe in, if you pull that shit again and get yourself killed, I will find a way to raise you from the dead just to kill you myself.”

Frank didn’t visibly react to your words, even as your voice rose in a hysterical volume and filled the empty space surrounding you both. Any other person might have been fucking terrified to be alone with a woman that had glowing red eyes and could trap them somewhere with her mind. Then again, anyone else probably also would’ve been scared shitless to be alone in a room with the Punisher himself. 

But Frank wasn’t afraid of you, just like you weren’t afraid of him. You both knew what the other was, and you loved each other anyway.

That was the root cause of your recurring argument. Frank wanted to protect you, and you wanted to protect him. Despite him knowing about your abilities, he still felt responsible for you. He didn’t like seeing you get hurt, even if it did heal. He didn’t want anything to happen to you if he could prevent it.

Letting his rifle drop by his side, Frank let out a deep exhale through his broken nose, his eyes wandering over your figure slowly before meeting your gaze.

“You know how much I hate seein’ you get hurt, baby. You know what it does to me.”

The sudden change in his voice to a softer and more sincere tone had your eyes shifting back to their natural color, and your previous anger began to instantly cool. You did know. If someone so much as bumped into you on accident, Frank was ready to tear them to shreds. He had always been extremely overprotective of you, and knowing his traumatic past, you couldn’t blame him, or stay upset with him for very long.

Letting out a soft sigh of your own, you ran one of your hands through your hair before taking a few steps towards him, your heeled boots echoing along the cement floors. Despite the three inches of height they gave you, Frank still towered over you completely. The size difference between the two of you was nearly comical, especially considering he was the “big and scary” one.

But you were the little witch that had a nasty temper.

“You think I enjoy seeing you get hurt? I’m the one who has to fix you up, remember?”

Neither one of you paid any mind to the incessant banging on the shutter door, or the sound of ricocheting bullets and yelling coming from the other side. When you brought your hands up to gently grab Frank’s face, he leaned down to nuzzle into your palms and instantly melted into your touch, his attention solely focused on you.

“I know.”

Brushing your thumb lightly along the violet bruise that began to bloom on his right cheekbone, you took in the cut along the bridge of his nose and frowned softly with a sigh.

“Your nose is broken again.”

“Ain’t the first, won’t be the last.”

“Can I try something?”

Frank arched one of his thick brows in question, glancing over his shoulder momentarily at the shutter door before looking at you again.

“Right now?”

“You have somewhere to be?”

Rolling his eyes, Frank let out a soft chuckle and gave a slight nod of his head.

“Alright. S’pose they ain’t gettin’ in no time soon.”

A proud smirk was all you offered in return to his comment. Taking a deep breath, you removed your right hand from his face and let your index finger hover over his wounded nose. Focusing intently, your hand was once again glowing, and you traced a crimson line in the air from the top to the bottom of his nose. All of a sudden, the cut on the bridge of his nose sealed up, and the indigo patches that had blossomed around it vanished.

Frank blinked a few times in dumbfoundment, wiggling his large nose and glancing down at it in a mixture of confusion and awe. Your own eyes widened in surprise, and your mouth hung open in shock before your lips parted into a wide grin. Frank looked at you, his features twisted up in wonder and puzzlement.

“Holy shit. How the hell did you do that?”

“I…I don’t know. I just…wanted to see if I could, and…focused really hard. I can’t believe it actually worked!”

Frank stared down at you incredulously when you said that.

“The hell you mean you can’t believe it actually worked? You didn’t know it would? What if you had given me a tail or somethin’? Or put my ass where my nose was?”

“Oh, well then I could never kiss you again.”

Frank actually looked offended by that, and you couldn’t help but laugh at his expression while you gently patted his shoulder and stepped around him to face the shutter door, brushing your hair off your shoulders.

“Alright big guy, let’s wrap this up. I’m starving, and there’s a Gilmore Girls marathon waiting with our name on it.”

Frank’s plush lips pursed in an adorable pout as he cocked his rifle and aimed towards the shutter door, keeping his narrowed gaze locked on you.

“You and I are gonna have a serious talk ‘bout this magic shit when we get home.”

tags: @day-dreaming-goddess @kdogreads @heimtathurs @mars-rants-a-lot @casa-boiardi @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @hazallem @avencol @neverlandcity @charmedkim @queenofthenoobs @stilldreaming666 @mattymurdock1021 @bubuslutty @ninejlovebot @purrrfect @pennylovey @firesunflamed @oscarisaacsleftknee @ameliaswife @vane28282 @kmc1989 @messymissy @dark-academia-slut @strawberry1042 @utterlynuts

[perfectwitchcrown]

Allusions in Make the Exorcist Fall in Love

So far in Make the Exorcist Fall in Love there’s been a lot of allusions to various texts. I thought it might be fun to compile all the ones people have noticed so far as far as I've seen. Some of these are more speculative than others and I will update as I go along. Also, I read Ekuoto as free first read chapters on Mangaplus so unfortunately I can’t go back and check much so this is largely through memory, so if anyone has anything else to add I would greatly appreciate it! All I’ve got is a few screenshots and a dream. If I get anything wrong feel free to correct me! I’ve organized this in order of allusions I’m confident about to allusions I’m less so confident about.

CW: reference to sexual violence

Dante's Divine Comedy and Vita Nuova: Dante Alighieri

This one is pretty obvious since there are characters directly named after the characters figured in Dante’s Inferno. It’s been a long time since I read it, but other details are also taken from the text, such as the frozen center of hell where Satan is located.

Lmao Leah from the Bible (who is probably Leah’s namesake) also shows up in Dante’s Divine Comedy apparently in Purgatorio.

Ok also super important to Dante retellings r Beatrice, who’s used as a symbol of divine love and is instrumental to Dante's journey through hell, purgatory, and paradise, so of course Ekuoto Dante advises Priest to fall in love lmao. So far though there hasn’t been a direct Beatrice in narrative (which there might never be one since the text has already made the Dante-Virgil connection an active choice of Virgilius's to reference the Divine Comedy rather than just an allusion by the author).

To be so real though I figure that Vergilius is probably also intended to be the Beatrice in this narrative.

The points I would draw attention in support of this would be these: 1. Beatrice is the woman who Dante has been in love with since early childhood but unable to ever be with because they both married others. Ekuoto Virgilius and Dante have known each other since childhood, and have something going on. 2. Beatrice is, like Virgil, one of Dante’s guides (through part of purgatorio and paradiso) 3. We still don’t know what Virgilius’s name was before he took that one on. Beatrice does not have a masculine form in current use and I tried finding some sort of nickname that would work and was unable to do so. However. Beatrice’s name is rendered in Japanese as ベアトリーチェ, and Beato is at least a surname. Then again, I’m not sure anyone has both a first name and last name except for Imuri so far???

"Book of Tobit"

I wasn’t familiar w this one so I didn’t notice it until I saw posts pointing it out, but the Asmodeus flashback was a retelling of the book of Tobit. Other people have already done analysis of this so I’d recommend checking other’s out. Unfortunately I failed to save the link to any of them so I can’t pass any along :’) Belfagor arcidiavolo: Machiavelli

Another one that I wasn’t familiar with but have seen people referencing. As above, I recommend checking out other’s analysis. "Those Who Walk Away from Omelas": Ursula K. Le Guin

The Brothers Karamazov: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Ok major spoilers and I also highly recommend this book, but also, its super long so I don’t blame anyone who chooses not to read. This book is about the most disgusting father alive and his three, maybe four, sons: Dimitri, Ivan, Alyosha, and maybe Smerdyakov (rumored to be an illegitimate son). Most of the action follows Alyosha, who is the youngest and probably the most idealistic character in the novel, at least in the beginning. Alyosha starts out as a novice in the local Russian Orthodox monastery under the purview of Father Zossima, an elder who really emphasizes love in religious practice. There's a series of chapters that cover a theological debate between Ivan and Alyosha.

In this theological debate, Ivan is arguing not that God doesn’t exist, but that the foundation of the world as understood by Christianity is something he fundamentally rejects.

Quotations from the Signet Classics edition:

“I don’t accept this world of God’s. Although I know it exists, I don’t accept it at all. It’s not that I don’t accept God, you must understand, it’s the world created by Him I don’t and cannot accept” (Dostoevsky 266) - “If all must suffer to pay for eternal harmony, what have children to do with it?....I understand solidarity in sin among men. I understand solidarity in retribution too; but there can be no such solidarity with children. And if it is really true that they must share responsibility for all their father’s crimes, such a truth is not of this world and is beyond my comprehension” (Dostoevsky 276)

“Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last. Imagine you are doing this but that it is essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature—that child beating its breast with its fist, for instance—in order to found that edifice on its unavenged tears. Would you consent to be the architect on those conditions?” (This quotation, although from a different translation, is the one that inspired Omelas - I think the bowling alley theological discussion between Virgilius and Priest bears some similarities to this conversation. Its not a debate about the existence of god, but rather a debate whether or not the world envisioned by Christianity is inherently unjust or not. Demian: Hermann Hesse

“The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. That God's name is Abraxas”

Potential references but tbh they’re a bit of a stretch:

“Book of Martha”: Octavia Butler

"Book of Martha" is an Octavia Butler short story in the Bloodchild collection about an ordinary woman who is visited by god one day who tells her to choose one thing to change about people to try and make the world a better place. It’s a very short read and I’d recommend reading it before you read the next sentence where I’ll spoil the end.

She eventually decides that the thing to focus on is people’s dreams. Specifically, to give them the things they desire most within their dreams, in the hope that people will be less violent to each other in real life. A stretch, but Octavia Butler comes from similar recommendation circles as Ursula K. Le Guin (feminist science fiction authors with overlapping periods of activity) so I don’t think it’s impossible for the most recent chapters' use of dreams to hold some sort of inspiration from this short story. Again, this one is a pretty big stretch, as the idea of dreams to escape reality is pretty common.

The Monk: Matthew Lewis

Ok! So! Demon seduces a person is like not at all an original story (The Daemon Lover, Cazotte’s The Devil in Love, etc etc). BUT! The Monk is specifically a story that’s like. What if there was this extremely virtuous young man who has never lived in the outside world ever because he was raised in the church as an orphan and then the devil sent a demon girl to seduce him.

I have not finished the book yet so I can’t comment in depth on it other than to say the concept is similar but the execution so far is very different (It's a fairly misogynistic text. Ambrosio turns evil in ways that I doubt Priest will because thematically they’d go completely against the story. Also, The Monk is veryyy lurid in terms of Lust is Evil!!! And will turn you into a murdering maniac!!!! Because evil women are out there seducing you!!! Whereas so far sexual desire in Ekuoto has been handled as a perfectly natural thing, but complicated by religion, patriarchy, trauma, etc.)

This is all I have so far but I'd be interested to see if anyone else has any other ideas!

[adobe-outdesign]

Earning NP in 2024: A Quick-Start Guide for New and Old Users

I feel like there’s a lot of people that struggle with making NP nowadays, both due to shifts in what is/isn’t profitable and a lack of clear direction for new players, so I thought I’d put this together to see if it helps anyone. (This was originally written for Reddit, but I figured people over here might find it useful as well.)

IMPORTANT: This guide just tells you what to do, not how things work. I’d recommend looking up more in-depth resources if you would like to understand the specific mechanics.

Also, please note that this guide is just what I’ve found most effective. Feel free to sound off in the comments if you want to add something you think is useful.

Part 1: The Big 8

The Big 8 are the dailies that I’ve found to be incredibly profitable; just doing these each day will earn you tens of millions of NP over a few months, and they’re pretty fast to complete. If you don’t do anything else, do these.

Bank Interest

Click the “collect interest” button.

Always collect your interest before you do anything else—remember, you can’t collect after depositing or withdrawing NP.

Note: Upgrade your account type (at the bottom of the bank page) as you save. This permanently increases your interest rate.

The interest rate does NOT go back down if you dip below the required amount after upgrading.

Shop Till

Technically this is just collecting the money from items you’ve sold, but if you follow this guide you’ll likely have a tidy sum to collect each day :)

The one is listed second because you can jump straight from here to Trudy’s, as the till’s old layout will make the Trudy’s notification appear if it hasn’t already.

Trudy’s Surprise

Click the “play” button.

Do this each day for 25 days to collect a 100K prize.

Note: Trudy’s also gives out Basic Gift Boxes, which are useful for NC trading.

Quest Log

First, check your weekly prize. To do this, click on the slider button to switch from your daily prize to your weekly one. Check the price of the prize.

If you like your weekly prize:

Complete all of your daily quests.

When all daily quests are complete, click on the NP bag to collect your 20K reward.

HIT REFRESH WHEN DONE. The clock at the top-right corner will disappear. This has to be done or the completion may not take.

Repeat for the week, then click on your prize at the end of the week to claim it.

If you do not like your weekly prize and want to change it:

Complete 4/5 of your daily quests (whichever ones are most profitable)

For the last quest, click the red “skip quest” button and confirm.

REFRESH THE PAGE. Once again, this is important.

The next day you should have a new prize. Continue skipping a quest per day until you get an item you like.

If you want to reset your weekly prize but already completed some days:

Follow the steps above. When you return the next day, your progress will be reset but your weekly prize will be the same.

Follow the steps above one more time. When you return the next day, you should have a new weekly prize.

Stock Market

To buy shares:

Go to the bargains page above.

Look in the right-hand column titled “curr” and find a stock with the number 15 (the cheapest you can buy shares at).

Copy the four-letter ticker symbol in the left-hand column labeled “ticker”.

Click on the “buy” link above and enter paste the ticker symbol into the first box, then enter “1000” into the second box (this is the max amount of shares you can buy per day). This will cost you 15K NP.

Repeat daily. Remember to diversify your portfolio (which is a fancy way of saying buy shares for different companies to increase your odds of getting a payout).

After you have bought a stock, go to the “my portfolio” page and look in the “current price” column.

If the number there is greater than 15, you have made a profit.

It is up to you to decide when to sell the stock. Waiting until 40–60 is average, but you can decide your own preferences here.

DO NOT ever sell a stock under 15. The stock market no longer crashes, so a stock that drops down has no choice but to eventually bounce back up.

Note: The stock market is a long-term investment. You may need to wait long periods of time before seeing a profit depending on how often you sell.

Food Club

Unlike other dailies, Food Club rolls over at 2:15 p.m. NST.

At 5:00 p.m. NST, a few Food Club board will automatically go up on this subreddit.

Click on the board and pick a betting table you like from the comments. I highly recommend u/nsheng’s standard or aggressive sets.

Once you have your table, submit your bets. To do this:

Click on “place a bet”.

Start with row 1 of your chosen betting table. On the “place a bet” page, select one pirate from each drop-down menu, then click the far-left checkbox for each.

Enter your betting amount. Your max bet is listed on the “place a bet” page, or you can enter a different amount. MAKE SURE THE AMOUNT IS THE SAME FOR EACH BET.

Hit “place this bet!”. Repeat this process ten times for all ten rows of your chosen betting table.

At 2:15 the next day, click “collect your winnings”, then go back to the “place a bet” page and enter that day’s 10 bets once the betting tables are posted on Reddit.

Note 1: How much you can bet (and by extension, make) depends on your account age, so this may be less useful to new players. It’s free passive NP either way however.

Note 2: There will be days you experience losses with Food Club. On average you will make back much more than what you invest as long as you stick with it, but with that said, make sure you’re only betting amounts you feel comfortable losing.

Battledome

The Battledome is unique in that you have to put some time and money into it to get something out of it, but the rewards are usually pretty high (making 100K+ a day isn’t uncommon).

To get started, you will need to train your pet and get them some weapons.

For training, follow the steps at the bottom of Battlepedia’s “Beginners’ Guide to Training” here.

For weapons, pick a beginner’s set from Battlepedia’s “Beginners’ Weapon Recommendations” here.

Once you have a basic weapon set and some beginner training, you’ll need to pick an opponent. Not all opponents are worth fighting!

/~SeasonalAttackP breaks down the stats, but the shortened version is that you’ll want to fight these opponents in this order, working your way up as you go (for difficulty, chose the hardest level you can manage for each opponent).

For premium users:

For regular users:

The end goal is to get to the point where your pet can 1-shot your chosen opponent with a single weapon without taking damage (this allows for the fastest dailies run possible). To do this:

Train your pet up to level 50 and give them the lens flare ability. This prevents opponents from attacking.

Give your pet a powerful bomb-type weapon. I recommend Varia is the Bomb, which currently goes for 3–5 mil and does 25 icons.

Train up your pet’s strength. How high your strength needs to be for a one-shot depends on what opponent you’re focusing on and if you’re using one or two weapons; you can use Battlepedia’s damage calculator here to get an idea.

You can earn up to 15 items a day; how many items you get per battle is random. DO NOT stop battling until the “You have reached the item limit for today! You can continue to fight, but no more items can be earned” message pops up.

(Note: You can continue to earn items after the “You have reached the NP limit for today” message pops up. It’s only when the item message appears that you can’t earn anything more.)

Stock Your Shop

Do this last so you can price any items you obtained from the previous 7 dailies.

Try to do this once per day, which will prevent massive backlogs of unpriced items taking up space in your shop.

Note: If you already have a backlog, you can use Jellyneo’s shop price checker to get an idea of how to price things—but use caution and double-check prices when appropriate, as the checker may not always be accurate.

Part 2: Optional Dailies

These won’t make you nearly as many NPs as the above, but if you’re in a hurry to earn NP these are useful additions. All of these have been vetted as low/no risk with either a decent daily reward or a slim chance at a very large reward.

Daily Puzzle (Note: Answers are posted on Jellyneo)

Rich Slorg

Anchor Management

Forgotten Shore (Note: You need all 9 map pieces for access; just buy them on the SW, as they’re dirt cheap)

Coltzan's Shrine

Deserted Tomb

Grave Danger (Note: Need a petpet attached to one of your pets for this one)

Fruit Machine

The Discarded Magical Blue Grundo Plushie of Prosperity

Tombola

Mysterious Negg Cave (Note: This one has a little puzzle to solve)

Faerie Caverns

Wishing Well (Note: Place 7 wishes @ 22 NP every 12 hours; you can use the recent winner’s list to get an idea of expensive items you can wish for)

Buried Treasure

Ye Olde Fishing Vortex

Part 3: Assorted Tips

Make sure to place any large amounts of NP into the bank immediately to protect yourself from random events. (I recommend keeping around 30K–50K on hand.)

Likewise, put any expensive items in your SDB or shop immediately.

It’s easier to make NP if you have NP. Try to save past your goals before making a large purchase so you have a “cushion” left over—it will save you a lot of time in the future.

Restocking used to be a good way to make NP, but currently bots snatch up all the valuable items. You can do it on the side and make a small profit by focusing on less profitable items, but it’s generally a time-intensive low-profit option.

Likewise, (traditional) games are a huge time sink with almost no profits (only 3K/game). Don’t bother unless you just want to play for fun.

For older players: You can use Jellyneo’s SDB Price Checker to find expensive items in your SDB to sell. Remember to double-check the prices on the SW/TP before selling!

Also for older players: Don’t forgot to check for unneeded Battledome weapons, old TCG cards, Neohome items, NeoDeck cards, and unused plot points.

It’s generally a good idea to sit on items from plots/events for a little while before selling—the price usually goes up over time (don’t wait too long though or it might be re-released!).

Always participate in plots and events when possible. Not only are they engaging, but the prizes are usually worth a decent amount.

And most importantly, remember to have fun!

[valentoru]

|| Limitless ||

[CHAPTER 8]

SYNOPSIS: Gojo Satoru, a big time artist, who’s known for leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake wherever he goes. And you, the lead guitarist of an upcoming band, who’s absolutely certain that no one will ever love you. Through an accident in which you happened to kiss Gojo in a frantic state, you both decide, via convenience alone—and zero regard for both of your managers—to pull a fake dating stunt what could go wrong? Any press is good press…right?

PREVIOUS : MASTERLIST : NEXT

Three days later you found yourself stood in front of Gojo’s office again.

You’d never been there before three days ago, but once again you had no problem finding it. The staff scurrying out of it with misty eyes and a terrified expression was a dead give away. Not to mention that Gojo’s was the only one in the hallway completely void of pictures of kids, pets or significant others. Not even a copy of his album cover with the hit song that had won him a Grammy. You knew about all the awards he’d won from a quick google search you’d done the previous day. Just dark brown wood with a metal plaque that read; Satoru Gojo.

You had felt a bit like a creep the night before, scrolling through his Wikipedia page and going through as much information you could find out about him. Unlucky for you, he was reserved and didn’t let the press know much about him. Still you’d quashed yourself the feelings, telling yourself that a thorough background check could be considered mandatory before embarking on a fake-dating relationship.

You took a deep breath before knocking and then another between Satoru’s “Come in” and the moment you finally managed to force yourself to open the door. When you entered the offices he didn’t immediately look up and continued to type on his PC. “My office hours were over five minutes ago, so—“

“It’s me.”

His hands halted, hovering and inch or so above the keyboards then he turned his chair towards you. “Y/N.”

There was something about the way he talked. Maybe it was an accent, maybe it was just the quality of his voice. You didn’t quite know what, but it’s was there, in the way he said your name. Precise. Careful. Feel. Unlike anyone else. Familiar—impossibly so.

“What did you say to her?” You asked, trying not to care about how Satoru Gojo spoke. “The woman who ran out crying.”

It took him a moment to remember that less than sixty seconds ago there had been someone in the office—someone whom he clearly made cry. “I just gave her feedback on something she wrote.”

You nodded, silently thanking all the gods you were not a member of his staff team and never would be, and studied your surroundings.

He had a corner office, of course. Two windows that together must total who knows how many square metered of glass, and so much light, just standing in the middle of the room would cure twenty people’s seasonal depression. It made sense. With all the money he brought in, along with the prestige, that he’d be given a nice space. You on the other hand, didn’t even have your own office or filming booth, you just went where you were told and nine times out of ten the booths would smell of sweat and the offices would be with other people you didn’t know.

“I was going to email you. I talked to my publicity manager.” Satoru told you, and you looked back at him.

He was gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. You pulled it back and took a seat.

“About you.”

“Oh.” You stomach dropped. You’d much rather his publicity manager didn’t know about your existence. Then again, you’d also rather not be in this rooms with Satoru Gojo, have to go to shows, have climate change be a thing. And yet.

“Well, about us,” he amended. “And social media regulations.”

“What did they say?”

“There’s nothing against us dating—though they don’t recommend it—and we are free to keep it a secret. Unless of course it’s gets out then we don’t have a choice.”

A mix of panic and relief flooded through you.

“However there are some issues to consider. Any of the members of staff in this building could sell us out. Equally, if we get spotted, press may sell us out, which means we simply have to be cautious.”

You nodded. “Fair enough.”

“And I absolutely cannot collaborate with you until this is over.”

You huffed put a laugh. “That won’t be an issue. I wasn’t planning on asking you to collaborate with my band anyway.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why not? Your band does the same music as I do.”

“Yeah.”

“Then we would collaborate perfectly.”

“Yeah we may, but we don’t plan on collaborating any time soon. Plus, there are millions of people who do our genre music, and if we were going collaborate, I’d argue against it being with you. I’d like to finish the song ideally without crying in the bathroom after every meeting.”

He glared at you.

You shrugged. “No offence. I’m a simple girl, with simple needs.”

To that he lowered his gaze onto the desk but not before you could see the corners of his mouth twitch. When he looked up again, his expression was serious. “So, have you decided?”

You pressed your lips together as he watched you calmly. You took a deep breath before saying, “Yes. Yes I…I want to do it. It’s a good idea actually.”

For so many reasons. It would get Maki and Yuta off your back, but also…also everyone else. It was as if since the rumour had begun to spread, people had been too intimidated by you to give you the usual shit. The staff had quit trying switch the bands nice 2pm sessions with their nasty, horrible, life-sucking 8pm ones. People had stopped cutting in front of you at the coffee shop next door. And two different staff members had been trying to get ahold of you to potential work under your band as well. It felt a little unfair to exploit this hugged misunderstanding, but this was lawless territory and your life had been nothing but miserable for the past two years. You had learnt to get away with whatever you could. And if some—okay most staff looked at you suspiciously because you were dating Satoru Gojo so be it. You friends seemed to be largely fine with this, if a little bemused.

Except for Megumi. He’d been avoiding you like you had the pox for three solid days. But Megumi was Megumi—he’d come around.

“Very well then.” He we completely expressionless—almost too expressionless.

Like it was no big deal and he didn’t care either way; like if you’d said no, it wouldn’t have changed a thing for him.

“Though, I’ve been thinking about this a lot.”

He waited for you to continue.

“And I think that I would be best if we lay down some ground rules, before starting.”

“Ground rules?”

“Yes. You know. What are we allowed and not allowed to do. What we can expect from this arrangement. I think that’s pretty standard protocol, before embarking on a fake-dating relationship.”

He tilted his head. “Standard protocol?”

“Yup.”

“How many times have you done this?”

“Zero. But I’m familiar with the trope.”

“The…what?” He blinked at you, confused.

You ignored him. “Okay.” You inhaled deeply and lifted your index finger. “First of all, this should be a strictly in the work place agreement. Not that I think you’d want to meet me out of work but I’m worried about the press. And just incase you were planning to kill two birds with one stone and being home a date for Christmas—”

“I wasn’t.”

“Huh?”

“I wasn’t planning to ask you to celebrate Christmas with me. But also my family don’t really celebrate.”

“Oh.” You pondered it for a moment. “That’s something a fake girlfriend should probably know.”

The ghost of a smile appeared on his mouth, but he said nothing.

“Okay. Second rule. Actually it could be interpreted as an extension of the first rule. But—” You bit into your lip, willing yourself to bring it up—“no sex.”

For several moments he simply didn’t move. Not even a millimetre. Then his lips parted, but no sound came out, and that’s when you realised you had just rendered Satoru Gojo speechless. Which would have been funny any other day, but the fact that he seemed dumbfounded by you not wanting to include sex in your fake-dating relationship made your stomach sink.

Had he assumed you would? Was it something you’d said? Should you explain you’d had very little sex in your life? That for years you’d wondered whether you were asexual and you had only recently realised you might be able to experience sexual attraction, but only with people you trusted deeply? That if for some inexplicable reason Satoru wanted to have sex with you, you weren’t going to be able to go through with it?

“Listen”— you made to stand from the chair, panic rising in your throat—“I’m sorry, but if one of the reasons you offered to fake-date is that your thought we would—”

“No.” The word half exploded out of him. He looked genuinely appalled. “I’m shocked that you’d even feel the need to bring it up.”

“Oh.” Your cheeks heating at the indignation in his voice. Right. Of course he didn’t expect that. Or even want that, with you. Look at him—why would he? “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume—”

“No, it makes sense to be up-front. I was just surprised.”

“I know.” You nodded. Honestly, you were a little surprised too. That you were sitting in Satoru Gojo’s office, talking about sex—not only the meiosis kind of sex, but potential sexual intercourse between the two of you. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make things weird.”

“It’s okay. This whole thing is weird.” The silence between you stretched, and you noticed that he was blushing faintly. Just a dust of red, but he looked so…you couldn’t stop staring.

“No sex,” he confirmed with a nod.

You had to clear your throat to shake yourself out of inspecting the shape and colour of his cheekbones.

“No sex.” You repeated clearing your throat. “Okay. Third. It’s not really a rule, but here goes: I won’t date anyone else. As in real dating. It would be messy and complicated and everyone and…” You hesitated. Should you tell him? Was it too much information? Did he need to know? Oh, well. Why not, at this point? It wasn’t like you hadn’t kissed the man, or brought up sec in his place of work. “I don’t date, anyway. Yuta was an exception. I’ve never…I’ve never dated seriously before, and it’s probably for the best. This job is stressful enough, and I have my friends, and my music, and honestly there’s better things to use my time for.” The last few words came out like more defensively than you’d intended.

Satoru simply stared, saying nothing.

“But you can, of course,” you added hastily. “Thought I’d appreciate if you could avoid telling people in the—well anyone—just so I don’t look like and idiot and you don’t look like your cheating on me and rumours don’t balloon out of control. It would benefit you, too, since you’re trying to look like you’re in a committed relationship—”

“I won’t.”

“Okay. Great. Thanks. I know lying by omission can be a pain, but—”

“I mean, I won’t date someone else.”

There was a certainty, a finality in his tone that took you by surprise. You could only nod even though you wanted to protest that he couldn’t possibly do that, even though a million questions surfaced in your mind. Ninety-nine percent of them were inappropriate and not your business, so you shooed them away.

“Okay. Fourth. We obviously can’t keep on doing this forever, so we should give ourselves a deadline.”

He pressed his lips together. “When would that be?”

“Im not sure. A month or so would probably be enough to convince Maki that I’m firmly over Yuta. But it might not be enough on your end, so…you tell me.”

He mulled it. Then nodded once. “May twenty-ninth.”

It was a little over a month from now. But also… “that’s a weirdly specific date.” You racked your head, trying to figure out why it could be meaningful. The only thing that came to mind was that you’d be in Boston that week for a charity show.

“It’s the day after my contract is reviewed. They will be deciding whether they are going to renew it or terminate it.”

“I see. Well, then, let’s agree that in May twenty-ninth we part ways. I’ll tell Maki that our breakup was amicable but that I’m a little sad about it because I still have a bit of a crush on you.” You grinned at him. “Just so she won’t suspect that I’m still hung up in Yuta. Okay.” You took a deep breath. “Fifth and last.”

This was the tricky one. The one you were afraid he would object to. You noticed that you were wringing your hands and placed them firmly in your lap.

“For this to work we should probably…do things together. Every once in a while?”

“Things?”

“Things. Stuff.”

“Stuff,” he repeated dubiously.

“Yep. Stuff. What do you do for fun?” He was probably into something atrocious, like cow-tipping excursions or Japanese beetle fighting. Maybe he collected porcelain dolls. Maybe he was an avid geocacher. Maybe he frequented vaping conventions. Oh God.

“Fun?” He repeated, like he’s never heard the word before.

“Yeah. What do you do when you’re not at work.”

The length of the time that passed between your question and his answer was alarming. “Sometimes I work at home, too. And I work out. And I sleep.”

You had to actively stop yourself from face-palming. “Um, great. Anything else?”

“What do you do for fun?” He asked, somewhat defensively.

“Plenty of things. I…” Go to the movies. Thought you hadn’t been since the last time Megumi had dragged you. Play board games. But every single one of your friends was too busy lately so not that, either. You’d participated in a volleyball tournament, but it had been over a year ago.

“Um. I work out?” You would have loved to wipe that sumg expression off his face. So much. “Whatever. We should do something together on a regular basis. I don’t know, maybe get coffee? Like, once a week? Just for ten minutes at a place where people, not the press but people we know, could easily see us. I know it sounds annoying and a waste of time, but it’ll be super short, and it would makes the fake dating more credible, and—“

“Sure.”

Oh.

You thought it would take more convincing. A lot more. Then again, this was in his interest too. He needed his contractors to believe in their relationship if he was to cajole them into renewing his contract.

“Okay. Um..” you forced yourself to stop wondering why he was being so accommodating and tried to visualise your schedule. “How about Thursday?”

He angled his chair to face his computer and pulled up a calendar app. It was so fully of colourful boxes and your felt a surge of vicarious anxiety.

“It works before eleven a.m. and after seven p.m.”

“Ten?”

He turned back to you. “Ten’s good.”

“Okay.” You waited for him to type it in, but he made no move to. “Aren’t you going to add it to your calendar?”

“I’ll remember.” He told you evenly.

“Okay, then.” You made and effort to smile, and it felt relatively sincere. Way more sincere than any smile you’d ever thought you’d been able to muster in Satoru Gojo’s presence. “Great. Fake-dating Thursday it is.”

A line appeared between his eyebrows, ��why do you keep saying that?”

“Saying what?”

“‘Fake dating.’ like it’s a thing.”

“Because it is. Do you not watch rom-coms?”

He stared at you with a puzzled expression, until you cleared your throat and looked down at your knees. “Right.” God, you had nothing in common. You’d never find anything to talk about. Your ten minute coffee-breaks we’re going to be the most painful, awkward parts of your already painful, awkward weeks.

But Maki was going to have her beautiful love story, and you wouldn’t have to wait ages to finally do a Cancer Awareness Campaign. That was all that mattered.

You stood and thrust your hand out to him, figuring that every fake-dating arrangement deserved at lead a handshake. Satoru studied it hesitantly for a couple seconds. Then he stood, clasped your fingers. He stared at your joined hands before meeting your eyes. And you ordered yourself not to notice the softness of his skin, or how tall he was, or…anything else about him. When he finally let go, you had to make a conscious effort not to inspect your hand.

Had he done something to you? It sure felt like it. Your flesh was tingling.

“When do you want to start?”

“How about next week?” It was Friday. Which meant that you had fewer days than seven to psychologically prepare for the experience of getting coffee with Satoru Gojo. You knew that you could do this—if you had worked your way up to being in a band and kicking your stage fright in the ass, you could do anything, or as good as—but it still seemed like a horrible idea.

“Sounds good.”

It was happening. Oh God. “Let’s meet in the downstairs coffee shop. It’s where most of the staff and well—anyone who comes here at all—goes to get coffee. Someone’s bound to spot us.” You headed for the door, pausing to glance back at Gojo. “I guess I’ll see you for fake-dating Thursday, then?”

He was still standing behind his desk, arms crossed in his chest. Looking at you. Looking entirely less irritated by this mess than you’d ever had expecting. Looking…nice. “See you, Y/N.”

TAGLIST(25/50): @bbmsxlene @lunavelha @satoryaa @tranzumaki @k-kkiana @luvkvni @lysaray @kalulakunundrum @arysbruv @r4veeen @stillnotherapy @catobsessedlady @colortheoryrocks @minzxec @dazqa @packsvlog @luvvmae @simplysm1le @mintfyi @fushism @angstmuncher @fackeraccount @astro-stars @lavender-hvze @miizuzu @rayrayline @kanaojacksonofc @letsmyy

AN:

I have so much in store for this fic I’m genuinely debating making a discord server so that I can pester you guys with spoilers and talk to you guys about stuff bc there’s literally SO MUCH to tell

ANYWAYYY aurkurad chapter🔥 Y/N WHY WOUKD YOU SAY THAT GIRL

© valentoru all rights reserved- do not publish my work on other platforms, plagiarise or translate.

[babydollmarauders]

luke blurb with 40. “You come here often?” “Well, I work here. So I think I’d have to say ‘yes’.”? maybe reader works at the rink/a local spot the team go to often?

notes: i’m not gonna lie, i definitely got carried away with this one.

my night has been a disaster. if anyone asks, i would have to tell them that i do not recommend working at a bar close to a hockey arena. and if they must, then try not to be scheduled on game nights.

i’ve been yelled at, dropped plates, had my ass slapped by drunk men, had people stiff me on tips, and spilled a beer down the front of a customer after someone knocked into me from behind. i’ve officially given up on my night getting any better, now just counting down the hours until i go home.

i had hoped that my favorite customers would be here tonight, as they always turn my night around; but they usually come in around eleven on game nights, and it’s now eleven-thirty and they’ve still yet to show.

sighing, i sink into the stool behind the hostess stand, letting my head hang forward and drop onto the wooden stand. the bell above the door rings, signifying a new patron, but i can’t get myself to lift my head, just letting out another deep exhale.

“bad night, y/n/n?” the voice is like music to my ears, my mood instantly perking up. i raise my head, a grin spreading across my lips.

“John!” i stand from my stool, my eyes scanning the group of guys. “it’s been an off night, but a lot better now that you guys are here. was starting to think you weren’t gonna show!”

“we would never leave our favorite waitress hanging!” Dawson jokes as i make my way over to their unofficially designated table, the 3 boys following behind me.

“no Jack tonight?” i wonder as they take their seats in the circular booth.

“he’ll catch up with us. he had to wait for the rookie.” Nico tells me and i nod in understanding.

“got it. you guys wanna wait for him or do you want your beers now?” i ask.

“now. now is good.” John affirms, making me chuckle. i nod once more and quickly make my way over to the bar.

“3 beers!” i smile at the bartender and he chuckles as grabs the drinks for me, already knowing who they’re for. i hastily make my way back to the table, dropping off the drinks.

“anything else for now?” i question and Dawson nods.

“three orders of cheese fries.” he holds up three fingers, making me smile.

“you got it. that all?”

“that’s it for now. thanks, y/n/n.” Nico assures me.

“i’ll be back with that. if i’m not back by the time he’s here, just have Jack come and find me and i’ll get him his beer.” i tell them before i take off to the kitchen, letting the chefs know their order. while i wait, i drop down onto a seat at the bar, making conversation with the bartender.

“hi.” someone’s sidles up beside me. i turn my head, coming to see a boy addressing the bartender. he appears to be around my age, curly hair, and slightly resembling one of my favorite customers, which makes me furrow my brows as i assess him. “can i get a coke and a beer?”

the bartender nods and gets to work on the drinks, making me roll my eyes at his nonchalance about checking ID’s. it’s always been an issue with him. something he seemingly forgets to do.

the boy turns his head to look at me, catching me scanning him. he smirks, striking another resemblance to my favorite customer.

“hey.” he nods his head once at me.

“hi.” i reply, giving him a smile.

“you come here often?” he asks, making me giggle at his obliviousness.

“well, i work here. so i think i’d have to say ‘yes’.” i tell him. his cheeks turn pink at my words and he lets out an awkward chuckle.

“oh. sorry, it’s my first time here, i didn’t know.” he says, scratching the back of his neck as the bartender returns with his drinks before going to help another customer. “i’m Luke.”

“i’m y/n.” i smirk. “you old enough for that beer, Luke? ‘cause you look about my age, and i know i’m not old enough.”

“oh, the beer isn’t for me. the coke is. the beer is for my brother, who’s twenty-one.” he explains, and i decide to give him the benefit of the doubt, accepting his excuse. however, before i can speak again, my tables order is called.

“okay. you should get that to him then. hopefully i’ll see you again, Luke.” i stand from my seat, walking away towards the order window as he calls out a goodbye.

picking up the tray with three plates of cheese fries, i say my thanks to the chefs before making my way towards the table. my eyes stay locked on the floor, making sure nothing is in my way to trip me like earlier in the night. finally, and safely, arriving to the table, i smile.

“cheese fries for my favorite guys.” i chime, setting the plates on the table.

“thanks, y/n/n!” i look up at the owner of the voice.

“Jacky! you arrived!” i cheer, making him laugh.

“the guys told you i’d be joining, right? just had to wait for my brother.” he tells me.

“your brother?”

“the rookie.” Nico informs me and i nod.

“oh, there he is now!” Jack exclaims, making me turn my head to find him.

“Luke!” i cheer, gaining the attention of said boy.

“oh hey, y/n!” he smiles as he drops into the booth, sliding the beer in his hand over to Jack.

“you guys know each other?” Jack asks, his face scrunched in confusion.

“oh yeah, we go way back.” Luke jokes, making me giggle.

“a whole five minutes, when he hit on me at the bar.” i tell them, making Luke bury his face in his hands as the boys laugh. “aww don’t worry, Luke. i won’t tell them what you said.”

the four others immediately start questioning us, asking what line Luke had used. i laugh at his red face as he answers.

“i asked if she comes here often.” he mumbles, making the others burst out in laughter, quickly chirping him for his lame pickup line and how it backfired.

“hey, y/n/n? can i get another beer?” John asks and i nod, excusing myself to the bar once more. while waiting for the beer from the bartender, i grab a napkin, hastily scribbling on it with a pen.

“here ya go.” i grab the beer from the bartender, clutching the napkin in my other hand, making my way over to the table.

“one beer.” i place the drink in front of John before placing the napkin in front of Luke. “and one napkin.”

“i didn’t- oh.” his sentence dies off as he spots the number sprawled across it. i wink at him as i turn to leave.

“what is it?” i hear Jack ask before he lets out an ‘oooh!’

“little bro got game!” Jack cheers and i peek over my shoulder to see him slap Luke’s shoulder in excitement.

[britt-kageryuu]

It's early evening, things are calm, and Donnie is playing as a Horrible Goose. He has his model dressed in his Dinosaur Onesie, and matching slippers, and on the purple inflatable chair, against a background that made it look like he mas next to a pond somewhere. Animated turtles are swimming in said pond, including a softshell that keeps popping up to 'bite' the chair.

"This game very much matches my more mild Cain Instincts. Maybe I'll recommend this to Blue later. Though I must make sure he's never seen anything about the game first. Dubious Chuckle." Donnie does lets out a sinister sounding chuckle. "Clears Throat. I mean, I must be sure he plays this blind, it would be more entertaining! For you, and for me ofcourse."

Suddenly a loud mechanical hiss and growl could be heard, that startles Donnie. He quickly paused the game, and removed his headphones to check out what made the noise. His model goes off screen which reveals an animated red eared slider now basking on the seat of the chair. It has a little speech bubble that says 'BRB!!'

Chat goes nuts with many already creating Conspiracy Theories, while others are spamming how cute the little turtle animations look.

A few minutes later Donnie comes back, sits back down, and puts his headphones back on, all while looking mildly annoyed.

"Annoyed Sigh. Before anyone asks, that was River. A while back I bought her a game to keep her distracted that she wanted. But now she's annoyed because there is currently a bug that crashes the game every few times she cooks, and she also can't find a collectable, and every search result for it's location is one she already got." He decides to take his frustration out on the glasses wearing kid that is needed to continue the area puzzles/to-do list. "We believe the Collectables might not be labeled properly in the guides because of a different set where the first one in the list order is the last you collect for the area."

He proceeded to steal a bunch of random stuff from the market stalls, even stuff not necessary for the task list. Honking all the while.

"I wonder how hard it would be to re-skin the Goose into something else? I'll try that out later. As for Rivers game problem? It's apparently a common issue, and many have a similarly problem. Including one of the lists saying an item is missing, when the list is fully checked off."

A donation notification goes off that gets 'chased' off the screen by a goose with a purple bandana and Donnies goggles.

"Thank you for the donation, but the message was cut off, again. I guess that's another thing to work on later!" Donnie suddenly stretches out his body while still sitting. Arms stretched above his head with his hands clasped together, his legs held out straight with his slipper covered feet at slightly odd angles. Slight cracks or pops can be picked up by the mic. Ending with a loud yawn from Donnie himself.

"It's still early, but I feel like it's much later, must be from staying up too late last night watching memes... and I'll do it again tonight because I don't always control how easy it is to sleep! Light laugh, or would it be joking?" Donnie looks upward while thinking. He then pulls out his phone to check something. "Darn, it's definitely too late to have my preferred drink, and I'm being lightly threatened to get to sleep before midnight. The horror!"

He says all of this is such a deadpan tone that chat doesn't know how to interpret the moment.

"Okay, let's get the next area completed, then I will have to swim off to dinner. So let's embrace the goose, and annoy more people!!!"

The stream ends an hour later, with at least 4 new emojis of geese dressed in color coded bandanas, and a accessory to match their turtle counterparts.

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

Masterpost

[maxs-grimoire]

Hi!

So I'm a (minor) young witch and I want to learn how to get into hellenism. I'm looking to pray to Aphrodite, Ares, and Dionysus particularly, but also Hestia, Thanatos, and Hera!

I kinda want to be discreet about it, because my mom is very Christian lol.

Thank you for the help!

- Anon Ziggy

Hello! I like your little Anon tag, that's kinda cool! This post will be broken into two parts, the first is about Hellenism and how to get into it, and the second part about broom closet witchcraft.

==-🏺HOW TO GET INTO HELLENISM🏺-==

--=-==-=--What is Hellenic Polytheism?--=-==-=--

Hellenic Polytheism is the modern recreation of Hellenism, the ancient Greek religion. It is an open pantheon/practice, and anyone can get into it.

Hellenic Polytheism is a partially animistic religion, believing in nature spirits and treating all things with respect, including plants and inanimate things found in nature (rocks, the wind, water, etc.). The Hellenic Pantheon is made up of these nature spirits, the Twelve Olympians (link), the cthonic deities, and the lesser gods.

I recommend looking at this webpage to learn about traditional Greek religion. Keep in mind that while it's 100% okay to not do things exactly as they were done in the past, it is important to keep things in mind the cultural context and history of Hellenic Polytheism.

--=-==-=--How do I start?--=-==-=--

"Step one" on becoming a Hellenic Polytheist is to decide how you want to go about worship. Do you want to worship Greek deities, or do you want to work with them (link , link)? What is your view on cleansing yourself before interacting with the gods? Do you want to work with every god and deity from the Greek pantheon, or just a select few? Figuring these things out will give you a place to start.

As I mentioned above, some people decide to cleanse themselves before interacting with the gods. It isn't necessary, but it is a huge sign of respect. You can go about this the traditional way, by making khernips (link), or just by washing your hands and face.

The next big step would be to research the deities you want to work with. Find out what appropriate offerings are (like bay leaves for Apollon), their mythology, festivals for them (Aphrodisia for Aphrodite), associations with them (mint and Hades), and any customs that are common with them (honoring Hestia first and last).

I would also learn or at least read their traditional hymns and media (poems, plays, etc.) created for them. You can even make some for them yourself!

As for praying, here is a great video on praying in Hellenism, here is a great video on altars, and here is a good one on offerings.

--=-==-=--🤫 Secret Witch Tips 🤫--=-==-=--

This post is already a million words long, so we're going to rapid fire some broom closet witch tips.

Travel altars! These can be made in an Altoids tin, a small box, a shoe box, or anything else! Let me know if you need ideas on small things to go into a travel/mini/hidden altar.

Digital worship! Check out this post on virtual worship

Subtle witchcraft. Can be done through glamour magic, art magic, kitchen witchery, affirmations, taking care of nature, or any other small form of magic that makes you feel centered, connected to the earth and universe around you, or honors your guides and deities.

Get plants! Taking care of plants is a great witchy thing to do, and you can dedicate a plant to a deity and take care of the plant as an offering to them

Get e-books, read articles, watch videos, and listen to podcasts on witchcraft.

--=-==-=--=--=-==-=--

[keshimasu]

He is thirty one and sixteen and five all at once.

The world shook with a roaring roll and then froze. He'd dropped to a crouch at the initial sound, eyes on the sky for a plane or low flyer. That was probably the only reason he didn't get knocked on his ass by the motion. A rooftop probably wasn't the recommended safest place to be during an earthquake, but they were so common Shouta had merely braced in waiting. Nothing above to fall on him and most buildings were up to code. There was no reason for them not to be with the amount of construction quirks in one prefecture alone.

It starts like a bad slow motion movie scene, stuttering on worn out film. Some already gather in the streets and his voice gets drowned out by another tremble. Too close, too soon, rationale says too late to stop instinct from propelling him down to ground level. He should've stayed where he had a better vantage point. The crowd makes it hard to pin down any suspects. Few listen to his command to return indoors. Someone leans on an apartment complex, a hand moves-erasure is a second late (or maybe it was going to happen anyway.)

Cloth binds everyone within reach and hauls. All but one get released as rebar bends and brick makes a horrible grinding noise. The masses scatter. Hopefully at least one civilian thinks to call emergency services. Shouta doesn't have time to pick a person and yell at them specifically to do it. Dust already chokes the area before he can check if he missed anyone. The best he can do is tie up suspected villain's hands to a lightpost and keep going before pieces have settled. Which is not protocol or smart or even effective - he's no rescue hero but his quirk's odd infrared thermal effect mean he can spot victims.

Spotting them is easy. Getting them out is something else entirely. He tries to keep track, to prioritize as time blurs and ears ring like maybe he did get hit on the head. Again. The millionth time. It doesn't matter. Eyes remain open and hunt continues until people who were far better equipped for this arrive. Shouta actually snaps teeth at the hand that firmly steers him out of rubble, mouth desert dry when he tries to give numbers, places, conditions. Report like first hero on scene is supposed to do. Grit crunches in his teeth. Goggles have left tangible marks on his face, peeled off to allow him to rub eyes. Too bright flashing lights blind him.

Blink. Everything floats. Blink. Again. Everything still appears cold and hot, erasure and bonus ability on. Like he's five, a child hopelessly new to controlling a quirk, when it would remain activated for minutes hours until finally clicking off. Already his head thunders in complaint. Maybe he shouldn't be looking. . . anywhere near those who likely needed their quirks to assist. Shouta slips goggles back on, shutters the lenses over halfway and vehemently turns to his own walking feet, as far as other professionals will let him without seeming like he would wander off. He might. It's tempting. Away from destruction and blood and rain but it's not raining but there's a presence approaching -

"Don't. I can't turn it off."

[dearestones]

Lost Time (Yandere! L x Reader)

Warnings: Yandere behavior, drugging, kidnapping, isolation, slight manipulation, major character death, slight angst, etc. 

@tragiclotus Request: Hi! Love your writing. Would you consider an angst filled yandere L x reader fic? Love me some tension. Xx

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Forty seconds.

Forty seconds was how long it took for the heart attack to take effect—as was stated in the Death Note.

Forty seconds for your life to become upended, re-righted, and flipped completely upside down.

"I checked the autopsy reports." 

You looked up from your hands that were clenched in your lap, eyes still somewhat groggy and head still achy from a night full of restless sleep. Above you, dressed in a button down shirt that was rumpled and clearly worn for a day longer than recommended, Light Yagami held up a series of documents. 

You didn't need to look closely to know that these were the reports that Light was talking about.

Your voice was dull, lifeless. It had been a while since you've felt something other than dread or pure fear. 

"Heart attack?"

It almost didn't sound like a question. If your voice was the sole indicator, most would have thought that you were merely stating the truth. The head detective of the Kira Investigation had died suddenly and without warning. At least one shinigami was afoot. The rest of the detectives were distraught.

Obviously, the Death Note was involved.

Light, who had been observing you intently for a while now, simply nodded. Carefully, he placed the sheaf of documents onto the table, careful not to knock over your mug of coffee. Your eyes barely passed over the seal on top of one of the papers before you glanced away.

As you did so, you heard Light pull out a nearby chair. As always, his movements were measured. Methodical almost. He was kind of enough not to drag the chair's legs against the floor, choosing instead to slightly lift it up. You were grateful for his seemingly kind action even if there was some ulterior motive beneath his kind facade.

For a moment, the both of you sat in silence. As you waited for the eventual conversation to follow, you tried to shake off the discomfort that plagued you—this situation was all too familiar to the isolated life you led before. 

Light, polite but forever too nosy for his own good, asked a question that you dreaded being asked from anyone else.

"You don't seem too sad that L died." He paused and if you happened to look up at that moment, you could see the hint of an upturned curve to his lip. It's too bad for Light, though. Despite his careful acting that he cultivated for several months in captivity, you knew him just as well as you knew the man who died. At times like this, it was advantageous, but when all you wanted to do was leave and live life to the fullest, it served as a reminder of all that you lost. "Tell me, when Mogi informed you that he died, what did you feel?”

You barely had the strength to look away from your hands, but your voice was sharp enough to make freshly broken glass look soft in comparison. “If you’re implying that I had anything to do with his death—”

“I wouldn’t blame you.” You looked up only to find that Light was looking down at you, pity and sympathy swimming in his eyes. “Between the solitary confinement, the psychological torture, and forced observation, I wouldn’t say that I haven’t been feeling anything other than relief. In your position, I would think that you would be feeling the same.”

The truth, as most things were in real life, was a lot harder to put into words, much less simplify into plain terms. 

Before the Kira Investigation, you had led a relatively normal life as a private investigator. You were by no means someone who was as intelligent or as connected as the likes of the three most famous detectives in the world, but you were smart and keen on solving any mysteries that landed at your feet. When the Kira Case became publicized and the ICPO were looking for ways to track down Kira, you had offered your services.

And then—

You were approached by L. 

You’ve heard of him. Anyone who was involved with cases that stumped nations, where international cooperatives were needed to track down crime syndicates and bring down seedy organizations, knew about L. He was a famed detective who was renowned for his intelligence and propensity for anonymity. What was more, there was also the fact that he was also infamous for the fact that he rejected several known (ongoing) cases because he deemed them “unworthy” of his time. Arrogance was not something that you can entertain in this line of work, but for L, he practically held the world in the palm of his hand. 

And that arrogance led to him working alone. 

Which made it all the more jarring when you were approached by an elderly man dressed in a pitch black overcoat bearing a laptop. You were on your guard, of course, but you came to heel when you saw the stylized gothic “L” appear on the screen alongside the telltale monotone of a digitized voice speaking to you. At first, you were confused, but the situation was made clear when L informed you that you were to serve as his “in” to the Japanese Task Force and that you would be compensated. 

Apparently, a former FBI agent that L used to work with—Miss Naomi Misora, you were told—had killed herself shortly after realizing that her fiance had been killed by Kira himself. To L, the killer was evident—the teenager that he had been following that day was obviously the culprit. However, he needed proof.

Hence, you.

Obviously, things didn’t turn out too well afterwards. L had to be personally involved and introduce himself by his official title to the Japanese detectives who wanted to take down Kira, two teenagers were apprehended as likely suspects, and you resigned yourself to at least a few more months of observation before you could finally return to your old life.

What you didn’t account for was L setting his sights on you.

As much as you hated to admit it, you were in awe of the detective. How could you not? His intelligence far outshone any other person you had ever known. He was pragmatic and efficient, his idiosyncrasies painting him to be some sort of mad genius confined to the terrors of an organic vessel. Despite his propensity for sweets and clothing that had clearly seen better days, you could not deny that he was magnetic as he was repulsive. 

A computer masquerading as a human. 

During all that time you had spent investigating the Kira suspects, curbing L’s plans to psychologically torture and isolate both Light and Misa, and looking into theories as to how Light and Misa could kill with only a name and face, you had no idea that L was paying just as much attention to you as he was to them. 

What had first started out as brief meetings where you would inform L of your findings had become drawling conversations. You would be remiss to say that you didn’t enjoy stimulating conversation once in a while, but when these exchanges became more frequent, you were at a loss as to what to say. Up until this point, you were in a professional relationship with L and barring that, you weren’t too interested in him outside of the investigation. You thought about asking him why he sought you out so often, but decided that since he liked to remain anonymous that maybe he was just lonely.

And that’s when the restrictions started happening. 

Before you knew it, L wanted to keep you inside for longer hours. 

He wanted you to report more often—the meetings between the two of you occurring at least every other day now even if you had found nothing substantial.

Eventually, when you began to question his motives, he had drugged, bound, and placed into a separate floor for your own personal use where he installed cameras he alone had access to.

It was for your own good, he told you after you had screamed at him to explain himself. After all, you had been in the field for so long, it was only understandable that there was the possibility that there was another Kira out there and it was only a matter of time that they matched your name to your face. 

For the first few weeks, you tried to convince yourself that you didn’t have it as bad as the two Kira suspects. The pretty model was bound and blindfolded, tricked into thinking that she was talking to a stalker. Meanwhile, the young university student was merely confined. At the very least, you could walk around in your room. 

You could make your own food.

You could yell and scream at the hidden cameras without repercussion.

But you could never leave. 

Luckily, when the two suspects had been released from custody (but still bound to the headquarters for further observation), Light had convinced L to let you loose around the building. At the time, you were thankful to move around and actually interact with other people outside of L, but you began to realize that maybe Light might have had a motive behind letting you free…

Out of preservation, you made sure to keep your distance from both your alleged savior and your captor.

And then the Death Note was found, a Shinigami interrogated, and then—

L had died. 

And, for now, you were free. 

Not free from the probing eyes of the detectives who wanted to interrogate you for the circumstances of L’s murder, but you had more freedom than you had for the past several months or so.

You smiled at Light and gave a nod that was more of a jerky twitch than a confident affirmation. Even now, you were wary that there were cameras in the room. Being alone with Light was dangerous enough as is, but if the rest of the team knew that you were fraternizing with him so soon after L’s death… 

Then again most of them were aware of the heinous circumstances surrounding L’s relationship with you and had voiced their concerns, but had eventually been bullied into their place. 

“I’m just sorry that I couldn’t have done it myself.” It barely came out as a whisper, but Light heard you. His eyebrows rose to his hairline and his mouth parted just right in surprise—if he was Kira, he was really good at feigning surprise. “Kira took that away from me.”

“It could be worse,” Light reasoned. “L took away your freedom.”

“And my time,” you muttered. “So much lost time… I could have been helping with the investigation, but…”

You trailed off, unwilling to spare the thought any more energy. 

“Hey.” Light placed a gentle hand on your shoulder; the presence was more than enough of a grounding force to keep you calm. For reasons unknown, you felt his touch warm you. “We can still catch Kira, right? Besides, since I’ll be heading the investigation, I’ll be needing someone to help me who was just as invested and as close to L as I was.” 

He paused when he saw you think it over. 

“What do you think?”

You thought about L and the lengths he went to keep Light close and you closer. 

You thought about Light holding L as he died.

And you thought about bringing Kira to justice. 

What was another L, you thought, when you would finally complete the job that you were tasked to do from the very beginning?

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DISCLAIMER: I do not condone yandere behavior outside of fictional settings. Please don’t mistake the actions of fictional characters displayed in works of fiction to be considered harmless in real life.

If you want to donate a Ko-Fi, feel free https://ko-fi.com/devintrinidad.

DEATH NOTE MASTERLIST

[pomodoriyum]

Sunrise, Dense fog and knot for the ask game!

omg i almost forgot to answer. hi!! hope you are doing well!! and that you have had the chance to see some pretty nature recently!!!

🌅 (Sunrise) - Do you have ambitions or plans on going on an arctic expedition in real life? If so, was it directly inspired by the show, or was your interest in the show because you already had these goals? If not, what things do you dislike about the prospect? (The temperature is a given!)

alas. i belong to the burning heat of the low desert.

🌫️ (Dense fog) - If you could have saved just one of the men from going on the expedition, who would it have been? Why them above anyone else?

in truth? none of them. i wouldn't alter the story in any way, shape, or form (although it'd be nice to y'know. avert the suffering of the local people that the crew causes. but that is in fact critical for the show's premise. T-T).

i do want to feed them all some delicious lightly spiced foods (capsaicin is what i mean) and see what kinds of faces they make. because im a little mean.

🪢 (Knots) - Favorite Terror fic(s)?

there are so many incredible terror fics, it's really really hard to choose. I tried to find some of my bookmarks for Mr.Fitzjames (i know he's your funny guy), but it looks like i have none. sorry T-T. I know that some of these authors have works centering around fitzjames, and im sure those are probably pretty good. here are some fic recs:

curious meat by skazka (hickey/gibson study)

somewhere in the belly of the beast by cherrytart (armitage/pilkington situation, mutineer camp era)

Imperfect Life by Drac (hodgson character study)

tastes arranged for the body by Stonestrewn (hickey/gibson, this one rewired my brain so many thousand times)

raw material by stonestrewn (hickey/tozer/hodgson. holy shit this fic is so good. i think ive read it like 5 times at least. im limiting myself to two recs from stonestrewn but honestly i recommend checking out all of their work)

potluck by catpoop (des voeux & hickey discuss something. short, wretched, and has haunted my brain since i read it)

babygirl, i wanna study you under a microscope by starblessed (gibson study-- quite funny, in a mean sorta way. definitely more lighthearted.)

Transubstantiate by anomieow (des voeux/hickey. porny. really good)

The Butcher of Dule by vigilantejam (cdv character study. short & stays with you!)

You're Already Caught by vigilantejam (cdv/vesconte & cdv/hickey. another character study through porn. funny as well. definitely also recommend this author in general.)

Barnyard Epithet by HarveyWallbanger (cdv/hickey. you may notice a running theme in these last few recommendations. sorry i do not control how my bookmarks are ordered.... T-T)

my head in your hands; your teeth in my neck by gremlit (tozer/hickey survival AU [along with a few others]. pretty much one of the only mute/tongueless hickeys ive seen done right!)

[fumblingmusings]

do you like Fruk? Do you have any fic you like a lot about them?

I do like them! I have no set one dynamic for how I enjoy them though. I love them being the most horrid monsters to each other, I like them not actually mattering as much as the other likes to imagine, I like them being old and tired and sitting at the water's edge in mute horror and comfort and what they did and what they do now, I love them bickering and spitting and every time Francis smacks Arthur's none existent butt or Arthur gives a backhanded compliment which shows how deeply he cares.

I think Arthur loves Francis more than Francis loves Arthur. I think knows and deeply resents Francis for it. I think they spend as long fighting their tangled history as they do revelling and celebrating it. I think they are the greatest example of how you go can from abject love to loathing to ambivalence and suspicion to trusting them above all others to cowardly french and perfidious albion and on and on they go in circles.

I think their relationship is exhausting and there's not one lick of stability. It's stability is in that it's unstable. And yet they are incredibly aware of anyone else trying to manipulate their relationship with each other. No-one can turn them against each other, no no. It's all them doing it to the other. No Ivan Alfred or Antonio required.

For me, they are the epitome of

to me. At least.

As for fics! Variance by Paeanrela has the type of dynamic I adore, but otherwise I am very short on recommendations! However, I would check out this list over here - Vi put a wonderful list together featuring many fandom big guns!

[h4venpha]

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𓂃 ⟡

gunsmoke band au! livio x reader

cw: none! (though i recommend checking out opening post before reading!)

a/n: first livio work AND first gunsmoke band au work and honestly im rlly rlly satisfied!! @chris-continues here ^^ i figured youd want a tag

you couldn’t believe wolfwood left you all alone to take care of this. for some stupid snacks vash bought on the way to the airport? he was so annoying sometimes. no, no that wasn’t true, it was just that the summer heat was finally getting to you. the sun was beaming down, practically laughing at you attempts to lift the heavy trunk into the back of the van. god, you’re never scheduling another tour during summer.

your palms pressing up against the outside corners as you try and lift it up on one leg, propping it up and hoping to just shove it onto the edge of the van. balancing on one leg while also trying to stabilize the heavy trunk on your raised thigh without dropping it onto the concrete below you, or your foot. your fingers scramble against the hard plastic outside as you feel it slipping out of your hold.

thankfully, the only person who would be capable of AND willing to help comes over to the back of the van, livio.

“can you— please—“ you stammer, your legs shaking as you struggle to keep the box up. you can’t even look up at him, all too focused on not dropping it and potentially breaking stage equipment.

“oh! oh— yeah,” livio responds quickly at the panic in your voice. he shoves the box he was holding next to the others before reaching for you. and almost immediately, relief washes over your muscles, livio’s large hands reaching under and lifting it’s weight off you with ease. the thick shoulder muscles straining under his thin t-shirt as he slides it up and into the van, barely breaking a sweat. when livio turns back to you, you’ve got this half surprised, half impressed smile on your face.

“i think those are the last trunks… so,” he peeks around the truck back the way he came, checking for anyone to bring anything else before locking the back doors shut.

“thanks,” you say, “i don’t know why nicholas put me on loading duty,” you laugh and subtly stretch out your legs, pretending like they weren’t slightly sore from trying to pick up that fucking box. damn you, wolfwood.

“is it okay?” livio points out, big, golden eyes catching the way you stretch out your muscle. he reaches out, beginning to kneel down in front of you, “do you want me to..?” he says, voice soft and concerned.

“oh no, no it’s fine,” you quickly put up a hand, unsure exactly of what he was going to do.

livio pouts a little as if wanting to insist but also wanting to respect your wishes. “if you say so,” he says softly, shrugging before standing up. and fuck he’s like ten times closer than he was five seconds ago. he notices it too cause his lips purse together and his pupils dilate in his sparkling eyes. somehow he radiates heat hotter than the sun above, you can feel it coming off in waves. the thick muscle hidden under his shirt like a secret he’s too shy to share, but it was still so obvious the way the shirt cuffs wrapped tightly around his bicep and fell nicely over his pecs.

livio reaches out and wipes a bead of sweat off your temple, a small, simple act of fondness. or so you thought, cause his touch doesnt leave your face, instead his thick fingers slide down to gently cup your jaw. his golden eyes flicker behind you nervously, checking for anyone before he leans down and connects his lips to yours in a soft, hesitant peck.

lips parted as he pulls back, the lookin his eyes vulnerable and gentle, too gentle. you smile and reach to cup his face instead, his hand falling to your waist. you lead this time, pulling him in and closing the hesitant gap he created. just as you’re about to feel that cold metal against your hot lips again, someone calls.

“wooowwww, save some for us too, livio!” vash coos teasingly.

livio jumps off you, face red and his arms flying to his sides, blushing furiously at being caught. meanwhile you just laugh, finding his shyness adorable.

there vash is, peeking around to the back, eyebrows wiggling as snack bags fall from his arms. the rest of the band follows behind.

“we’re on a schedule guys, loading took long enough as it is,” meryl snatches her snacks from vash’s before hopping into the van, milly giving you both a sheepish smile before following suit. wolfwood comes over and leans over vash’s shoulder before lowering his glasses.

“yeah, maybe if ya stopped sucking face while on the job we’d already be outta here.” his voice is serious and deep, pretending to scold you both, but his eyes lighten, clearly joking, before he kisses vash’s cheek and grabs one of the chip bags and making his way to the passenger seat. “spikey, yer drivin’,” he shouts, voice fading. “let’s go!” wolfwood calls out to the band.. vash points at you and livio and makes a silly, giggling noise before zipping over to the drivers side.

you peek over at livio, and he can’t even look at you. hands covering his flustered face, cause fuck, why did the entire band just catch him trying to—

“you’re fine,” you gently tug his hands down and press a kiss to the corner of his lip, pulling him to get into the van. “cmon before meryl yells at us again.” livio only nods, taking your hand in his.

“i saw that!” vash’s cheery voice calls out, his stupid, smiley face in the side view mirror.

“shut up!” you laugh as livio’s face only gets redder.