#it was between this and a much funnier snippet

[stylinsoncity]

ok whatever i'm sharing a snippet from the next thrill chapter:

Harry pushes his wet boots off at the door and hears Louis’ shoes hit the floor a moment later. He doesn’t actually watch him step inside. Or rather, he can’t.

In the kitchen, Harry gets a can of cat food from the cupboard above the microwave. He goes about cracking it open, emptying it into Collette’s dish. And for a little while, he pets her as she eats while pretending he isn’t aware at all times of Louis’ breathing, his heart beating, his scent. He’s also aware of his own heart racing, his panic mounting.

When Louis steps into the kitchen after several minutes of silence, Harry forces himself to stand and takes a step in the opposite direction, shoving his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt.

“Do you want a drink or something?” Harry asks, his voice a flurry, hardly intelligible.

“Harry,” Louis says.

Harry looks at him. He notes the diminishing distance between them. But he’s in the corner of the kitchen already. There’s nowhere left for him to retreat to.

“I’m not afraid of you,” Louis says. “Alright?”

Harry releases a heavy sigh and as he does so, his eyes slip closed. “I think you should be,” he says.

“Maybe you should try being a bit more menacing, then,” Louis suggests. “I think you’re the one who’s afraid.”

Harry scoffs, but he still can’t even meet Louis’ gaze. He looks down at his damp socks instead. A moment later, he sees Louis’ socked feet enter his field of vision, the toes slightly damp from rainwater soaking through his trainers.

He feels him closer than he’s been in days. And then he can’t help but look at him, at his mouth, at least. Close enough to kiss. “You’re right,” he says quietly. “I am.”

“This probably sounds like a joke,” Louis says, “but I’m not going to hurt you.”

Harry presses the heels of his palms into his eyelids until it hurts. He’s sick of crying. He doesn’t know what else to do but cry. He wants to rewind to two weeks ago when this all felt simpler. Still impossible, still doomed, but simpler. Back when he felt guaranteed to Louis’ touch for however long it lasted. That’s all he wants now.

Then, Louis touches Harry’s wrists. He closes his fingers loosely around them. He gently pulls Harry’s hands away from his face. A shiver runs through Harry’s body when Louis presses a kiss to one palm, then the other.

The only way this makes sense is if Harry is dreaming. He doesn’t have a ton of good dreams anymore. He should probably make the most of this one.

[that-gay-guy-from-hell]

Oh hey look-! It's the Blue Man Group!

TLT Masterlist

[teecupangel]

Hello Teacup! I just need you to know I've basically devoured everything on your AO3 and a multitude of the snippets here and I've adored everything!

But now I have a Thought that I must share.

Imagine Umar Ibn-La'Ahad is mid-mission, fleeing Saladin's tent and just about to attack a general in his way, only for said general to be knocked unconscious by a young boy. He looks a bit like Umar's son too.

The two stare at each other for a moment before the boy opens his mouth.

"You're a bit shit at this, aren't you?"

The boy disappears in the chaos and Umar returns to Masyaf safely if a bit put out at being called out like that and worried for the boy.

Later, Saladin sends a message stating he will retreat on the condition of compensation for his concussed General, warning them that he would have demanded the Assassin's head had the General died. (In other news, Ahmad also returned to Masyaf looking very disgruntled and ruffled, muttering about nosy boys and he WAS a Master Assassin thank you very much.)

So all's well that ends well. Except that no one has any idea who this kid is or where he came from.

Umar wants to know if the boy is ok.

Ahmad has a small grudge and is sulking a bit. (Abbas is also holding a grudge in solidarity.)

Al Mualim wants to see if this boy could be of use.

Altair just wants to thank the person who saved his father. (He can read between the lines.)

Meanwhile, Deaged!Desmond is kicking himself for opening his mouth like that in front of Altair's father. All he wanted to do was make sure Umar got out safely! (and maybe rescuing Ahmad would ensure Abbas didn't grow into such a dick.) The next stop though is Jerusalem for the Apple. He'll go from there.

(There's a Tiny!OP!Desmond loose in the Levant. Nobody knows what he's going to do next, least of all Tiny!Desmond.)

Thank you! It always makes me happy hearing/reading how you guys adore my stories in AO3 and the snippets/ideas here in Tumblr <3

.

Okay, you know what would be funny? If said general knew that it wasn’t an Assassin who knocked him out. Noooo, he definitely saw it was a boy.

And he also know the Assassin he was chasing saw the boy as well.

So the main reason why he asked Saladin to just ask for compensation was because his pride was wounded so badly that he just wants this entire situation to end already. He’s afraid Umar would tell everyone that a boy, a waif, was the real culprit and he’s too honorable to lie.

When Umar goes to them with the compensation, he can’t even look into Umar’s eyes and Umar ignores him because he’s worried of how Saladin would take it if he does say that it was all that boy’s fault.

They asked him if any wayward brothers had returned during the night and he has no real idea what they’re talking about, only realizing they were asking when he saw that Ahmad had left, mumbling about how some waif had no reason to tell him to take care of his son better, who does he think he is?

So now Umar is wondering who this child is…

And why their paths seemed to be intersecting strangely too much.

Unorganized Notes:

Desmond is either super unlucky or the Calculations is at play because he bumps into Umar too many times that he stopped counting already.

I’m thinking Desmond is around Altaïr’s age because (1) it would make him knocking out a general two or three times his age funnier and (2) it would make Umar’s worry for him easily meld into Desmond reminding him of Altaïr and he can try to reason it’s because of the similar age and not because Desmond… pretty much have some of Altaïr’s mannerism.

You know what would be funny? If the general finally confesses to Saladin and Saladin starts to get curious about this ‘waif’. This would mean another powerful man is out looking for him.

Desmond is winging the entire thing but is also being chased by the Templars because he stole the Apple right under their noses (in this idea, there are already Templars in Levant but they were lying low, waiting for the perfect time to infiltrate the vault underneath the temple when Desmond did his thing).

Desmond turns into an ‘urban legend’ among the Assassins who say that seeing him means some shit is gonna go down. There are even whispers that he’s a harbinger of chaos and destruction because that’s what usually happens when he’s there. (It’s really not. Desmond is mostly stealthy and a lot of Assassins don’t actually see him and they just start attributing those chaotic ‘issues’ to him because… well… they needed a reason XD)

Altaïr starts to think of him as this… strange person who caught his father’s attention which means he caught Altaïr’s attention. Whether that’s a good thing or not is up to you XD

Abbas and Altaïr are friends here but they have differing thoughts about the ‘harbinger’ with Altaïr wanting to meet him (and maybe tie him up so he can bring him to his father) while Abbas wants to punch him because he always feels annoyance about him thanks to Ahmad always being annoyed when he hears the word ‘harbinger’.

The Al-Sayfs want no part in any of these… except Kadar. Kadar supports Altaïr 100% even if it’s something illegal. That’s just a fact at this point.

[jazzy-art-time]

Curious on how missingno plays a role within the au, are the twins not corrupted?

TLDR: Nope! The Pinkies are not corrupted by a Missingno in JarbleAU.

Maddox (Missingno) is it’s own person within the AU!

Originally in Jarble, the concept just didn’t exist at all. I was ripping them out of their current plot/setting so I didn’t see a need for it.

It wouldn’t make that much sense in the current setting/lore of Jarble. As it’s vastly different from all the blog counterparts.

Then I shifted and went “oh maybe MissingNo could be like, a metaphor for something”

But then shrugged that off, I figured what the characters were going through shouldn’t have been mixed up with metaphors or anything.

Then I thought “oh since they have weapons, maybe Missingno could be the names/symbolize their weapons!”

But then I didn’t like that either

EVENTUALLY I settled on a much funnier option. What if it was just a guy. What if I smashed Bones and Ghost together and made a guy. Originally was going to have another set of twins to be “rivals” to the Pinkies… but there are already another set of twins that fill that.

So I smashed Ghost/Bones together and made a single entity. He’s just a guy.

The “jarble” aspect making it so he’s no longer this super powered glitch entity but is instead… a little guy. Congrats on being a fupking kitty.

Maddox DOES have extreme story relevance still, as per my Jarble rules I can’t eliminate everything but. He isn’t some OP super glitch villain anymore. As for who/what he is in Jarble…

Maddox is a project created by the Mending Ring. I mean come on, can’t have the illegal science going on if they aren’t creating life!

He’s a test tube baby made by a sperm donation that Wem made when he was younger. Despite Maddox being a “”mew”” I still use heavy mewtwo symbolism because I think it’s funny.

Maddox was originally used for basic testing and whatnot. That old chestnut. But eventually showed stronger intelligence and eventually became a scientist himself, being one of the Mending Ring’s top scientists. Also him being the Mayor’s favorite/some weird parental relationship between them, Maddox gets a lot of special treatment.

He’s useful to the Mending Ring and the various studies and experiments that they do! However he does not really work with other scientists, he is still somewhat considered a threat due to him being a literal test tube baby experiment.

So, he lives in a basement type area that also functions as a laboratory! Socially isolated for the most part, he CAN technically leave if he wants to but he doesn’t. He actually enjoys it a lot and does his own thing.

That man is down there in his lab, in his boxers doing experiments and tinkering with things. OSHA and lab safety doesn’t exist to him, it’s his house and he will wear nothing but boxers if he so pleases. He will eat take out food and tinker with robotics while sitting like a shrimp. He does what he wants and he’s the Mayor’s special little guy.

He is technically Wem’s son, so he that means he is also the older brother (only by a few years) to The Pinkies. He dislikes this greatly however, he knows who his father is and hates him. He also knows of the pinkies and thinks they are annoying smelly spoiled brats.

I WOULD RAMBLE A LOT MORE but I fear I have done too much already… so…

Have some epic family drama snippets from vague toyhouse links

[arliedraws]

Update!!!

Whatever the Cost (aka the whump fic) - AO3 Link

There’s no Harry and co in this chapter, but we do have Draco, Peter, Narcissa, and a very, very sick Sirius :)

—

Snippet:

“You still think you’re better than me, don’t you?” said Peter. “Still think you’re smarter? Well, look which side you’re on, Sirius. We offered you the chance to join us, and you thought this was better. Look at you. Look at you!”

Sirius grinned; a chuckle was rumbling deep inside him, turning Peter’s face crimson. Later on, he considered maybe he should have controlled himself. Maybe provoking Peter was a poor choice when he could barely move.

Peter stepped away and paced angrily. It didn’t take much to turn his bluster into envy. Sirius had always known that. Peter was a sniveling spy—a sniveling friend, sniveling enemy, sniveling coward. There was no bravery in a man who took advantage of an inversion of power.

“You were cruel to me,” Peter accused. “You thought you were better than me. Smarter, funnier…so handsome.” The word hung between them, and Sirius shrugged, knowing it would infuriate Peter. He was right.

“What’s that?” Spittle flew. “Think you’re still handsome, Sirius?”

Sirius nodded.

“Well, you’re not!” squeaked Peter. He whirled on Sirius who was fighting to remain impassive, to hold onto some sort of pride in front of Peter who wanted him to cower in fear. “You’re not anymore! Crucio!”

[faebriel]

and a bonus new year's treat - this puffychu fic has been good for me to get back into the swing of writing for the next act of rousseau's man, which is a beefy one. but for people who have been holding out since july (sorry. lol), here is a raincoats snippet from somewhere in act 2!! happy new year <3

"Look at the night, it don't seem so lonely... we fill it up with only you!"

Niki giggles, almost tripping over the footpath as she tries to hide her face in the length of her sleeve. Everything seems so much funnier after a few glasses of wine.

"'ve fucked it," Schlatt informs Wilbur, only slurring slightly. Wilbur stumbles, dragging Niki's weight halfway over towards him thanks to the arm slung over her shoulder. Schlatt must be tugging at his other arm. "It goes only two, dumbass."

"Artistic interpretation," Wilbur snipes back, and his arms resettle jerkily atop their shoulders - Niki almost stumbles again, entirely too short for this business, and Schlatt groans loudly.

"You're gonna make me fucking sick, Wil."

"You already - " Niki is beset by another set of giggles. "You already make me sick, Schlatt."

Wilbur absolutely hoots at that, loud enough for his laughter to echo down the empty road like a thunderclap. Schlatt groans even louder.

"You're both so fucking annoying," he remarks, but he says that all that time, and it has never been an issue even once.

This new place is twice as big as Perfect, twice as developed as their old server, and Wilbur and Schlatt take to it like fish that have long outgrown their puddles - bright and colourful as the fish that swim from salty rivers down to the sea, as long as her arm, fish that didn’t exist back home. Niki watches them brighten up as she dips her toes in, pleasantly surprised by everything from the way people smile at her as she passes in the streets to the swathes of new things they just… have, now. Wildflowers in every colour of the rainbow that dot the fields, buildings topped with beehives and copper, and vegetables she’s never eaten before. Her notebook is thick with new recipes scribbled onto scraps of paper and stuffed between the bindings, and the back wall of her new base is decked out in densely-patterned terracotta tiles.

Niki's house emerges on the horizon, and thank god for it. The brisk walk has sobered her up - it's a month or so into autumn, and the winds here are sharp (Wilbur even thinks it will snow during winter, which is exciting, because Niki's never seen snow) - but she's hungry, and it had taken an extra fifteen minutes to convince Wilbur and Schlatt not to waste their gold on kebabs when she has leftover pie at her house. And she doesn't even fumble with the locking enchantment on the door, either.

"Would either of you like some tea?" she asks, bustling in - unlike her old house, this one does a better job at keeping the warmth in. She immediately swans over to her laundry hamper and pulls out her house jumper over her nice blouse. She is cold, and coming home after a night out always makes her feel tired and ready for bed, too. She is absolutely kicking the other two out as soon as possible.

"Oh my god," Schlatt's voice emerges from behind her. "That is the ugliest fucking thing I've seen in my entire life."

"Rude," Niki says. She knitted this sweater.

"No, you dumb fuck," he says, already reaching for a finger bun on the plate left on the counter. Schlatt is usually extremely anal about his gains, but he loosens up when he's drunk. Stops staring at sweet things like he thinks they're going to bite him. Good. "The fucking wall. What the fuck else would I be talking about? Jesus fucking christ."

"Oh," Niki says. She turns to look at her feature wall - in white and orange clay, spreading bright beams from floor to ceiling. It's not always easy to track down dyes, but bonemeal, dandelions and poppies aren't too difficult. 

"I like it."

"Niki likes it," Wilbur echoes.

"I think I'm gonna throw up," Schlatt remarks.

"It's not that bad - "

"Not on my floorboards!"

" - you drama queen," Wilbur finishes, pinching his own finger bun as Niki scrambles over to whack the bathroom door open. Fortunately, it looks like Schlatt is faking just nausea to make his dumbass point, instead of actually sick. He gets the least nauseous of the three of them when he drinks anyway. "It's got - it's got suns in it, doesn't it, Niki. It's nice. It's morningly. I helped her put it in, you know."

"Of course you did." Schlatt narrows his eyes, chewing through his words. "She's fuckin' lying to you, man. Shit looks terrible, jus’ terrible."

Wilbur makes an offended noise. Niki swats at them both as she reaches for the kitchen counter. Wilbur, ever a sweetheart, reaches over and hands her a finger bun.

"It looks very nice," Niki says firmly, in her and that is the end of that tone of voice. Roll the dice - today, they've both decided to listen to her, as Schlatt rolls his eyes and Wilbur distracts himself by trying to find a nice way to rub stray icing stickiness off his fingers. "Do either of you want some tea? I'm going to put a pot on."

"Right. How could we forget about Niki’s nanna bedtime," Schlatt snarks. "We'll be out of your hair soon, don't worry." Niki, maturely, sticks her tongue out at him.

"Do you have chai?"

"Are you going to ruin it?" Niki shoots back. Wilbur always drinks his tea so sweet. "I don't think I have enough sugar for you."

"Har-har, very funny - "

"But no, just peppermint, sorry."

"It'll do. Never apologise, Niki."

"I don't want your leaf water," Schlatt pipes up.

"Some water, then? Normal water?"

"I'm already sober, don't make it worse," he groans, running a hand over his face. "I'm good."

Niki is poking around in her fridge.

"Milk?"

"No," he says again, but his face scrunches up in thought. "'s it hi-lo?"

Niki squints at the label.

"Full cream."

He sniffs loudly. "It'll do."

Wilbur eyes Schlatt judgmentally as Niki passes the mug over the counter.

"You're such a freak," he remarks.

"Don't you have a teaspoon to pull out of your ass?" Schlatt retorts.

"Ew," Niki adds.

"Schlatt." Wilbur crosses his arms, tilting back on the back two legs of his chair. "Not appropriate at the lady's dining table."

Schlatt just rolls his eyes, and takes a loud slurp of his milk.

Niki makes the tea and passes it to Wilbur, along with the poorly cobbled together teapot – auspiciously, the same colour as Niki’s wall. She and Wilbur have never been particularly good at pottery.

"We can't stay long, anyway," Wilbur points out. "Big work day tomorrow."

"Oh?" Niki has gotten a job laying paths, but it’s hardly the dream she chased out here. The other two, though, are still in the stubborn realm of self employed. Wil hasn't even touched his brewing stand since leaving their old server, as far as she knows. "Doing what?"

"We have someone interested in our new enterprise," Schlatt drawls, putting on his businessman voice - and now they're both tipping back in their chairs. She idly wonders which of their drunk asses will overbalance first. "Dare I say, the market will soon be ours."

"Bookmaking," Wilbur informs Niki, with twin self-satisfaction. "Enchanted books, specifically."

"Oh, that's nice," Niki says mildly, over another sip of tea. "I didn't know you knew galactic."

"We don't," Wilbur says smugly.

"We don't," Schlatt confirms, just as smugly. "But fuck, people pay a lot for those things."

Niki tries not to look pained. She does not succeed.

"Come on, Niki," Wilbur conjules her. "It's a good idea. Promise you that"

"Promise me you won't end up in trouble again," and that might be skirting a little too close to last server, because Schlatt and Wilbur exchange those silent looks she still doesn't know how to parse. Whatever. She's making her point.

"Can't make promises." Wilbur says, not unkindly. "Trouble tends to follow me, Niki."

"Speak for yourself," Schlatt mutters into his cup.

Niki squares her shoulders, but the fight is already lost - she might as well try to stop tidal swell with nothing but her hands and a kid's plastic bucket. There's no point.

"Just be careful," she concedes, and Wilbur reaches out to pat her shoulder with a brilliant grin. It's the snakey one again. The comedown from the wine must be making her cynical. She heaves out a sigh, and pats her hand atop his as she pulls a long draw from her tea.

Wilbur yawns loudly.

"Bedtime?" he suggests.

"Bedtime," Niki agrees, and yawns loudly. Schlatt immediately starts holding back a slightly-larger-than-normal gulp of air, eyes watering as he tries to look wide awake.

"Two is so fucking early to call it," Schlatt complains, still slightly slurring, but he'll sleep it off she guesses. "'m gonna feel like shit in the morning, at this rate."

"Bedtime," Niki insists, and Wilbur ushers the three of them outside.

The door opens, Niki stands on the porch to wave them off, but the doorframe at this height frames the night sky in an oak wood frame, and Wilbur points up excitedly.

"Look, look!" he exclaims.

The moon is dark and unlit, a new moon, but the velvet of the sky is filled with falling stars. They streak downwards, leaving long silver tails in their wake, swallowed up by the darkness in a few seconds. Niki squints upward, feeling the warm night air on her cheeks, and watches as they fall. The scent of something stark and acrid hits her nose, fresh and prickly all at the same time.

"End stone?" Wilbur asks quietly, more to the sky than anyone standing on the stairs.

"Smells like it," Schlatt agrees. “If it died up a rat’s ass.”

"I hope no one lives out there," Niki says, following the comets' trajectory to where they disappear into the horizon - into a canyon or mountain system or whatever.

"I'm sure they don't," Wilbur says immediately.

The statement settles between the three of them. People probably do live out there, is the thing, but Wilbur is trying to be comforting. It's not very comforting. Niki screws her face up. At least he's trying.

"Isn't it strange," Wilbur starts, and then pauses - either trying to remember how his tongue works, or working the idea over in his mind in that thorough way he does, filtering out the pieces he sees as unnecessary and streamlining the thought into something consumable. "Isn't it strange how pretty those look this time of night."

"Ay?" Schlatt asks.

"No, like - it's destructive, but it's beautiful. And we're all here staring at it, aren't we? Are we part of the problem?"

"I think I get it," Niki says quietly.

"You're both soft," Schlatt scoffs, but there's no actual power behind his voice. "Fuckin' pussies. It's rocks. And more fuckin' importantly, not our problem."

Wilbur cuffs him up the side of the head. "Yeah, alright, thanks for the input."

"I'm not standing around on the steps all night," he announces, stumbling down the turning set, and Niki watches with all the carefulness in her newly-sobered brain as he goes.

"You will go to bed, won't you?" she says.

"Maybe."

"Schlatt," she implores him.

"You're making the lady upset," Wilbur chips in. "She's gonna worry all night."

"I'm going to worry all night," Niki echoes.

"Fine," Schlatt groans, and Wilbur and Niki cheer - and then glance sideways at each other, catching the others' eye, and dissolve into a new set of giggles. Maybe Niki is less sober than she thought.

"Work can wait until the morning," Niki says definitively, definitely not bubbling with laughter. "You need to be re-refr - you need to be fresh. Go be fresh."

"Yes ma'am," Wilbur says obediently, squeezing her arm before he starts to amble down the stairs after Schlatt. "Sleep well, Niki."

"You too," she says.

[fineosaur]

First of all I'm impressed by the productivity second of all I'd like to know about canon-obscured by stars!

ahhaha thank you ila! productivity would have to be objective because i have some of these fics that have been in the works for 3 years 😭

and canon - obscured by clouds (the name is from the pink floyd album) is actually a crack fic i started after a convo with @hendrikfaheys who told me about a fic where theon flirts with robb and robb is so confused and believes that theon is possessed because why on earth would he be acting this way ???

(i also love the name because i remember my first crackfic was named after the beatles album "help!" and every chapter was named after a track so i thought why not do the same this time around.)

i thought it would be EVEN funnier of a crackfic if i put it into a canon setting. here is a snippet because i love it so much:

chapter one: obscured by clouds 

track one: robb

“And what does your father think?”

“I haven’t spoken to him about it yet, I came straight here in anger,” Robb explained. “I hoped that you would be training, not them. Then maybe I could stab you a little.” 

He watched the apple in Theon’s throat bob with his suggestion. Every part of how Theon was behaving was entirely bizarre. 

The black-haired man took a step closer to Robb. This time he settled a hand over Robb’s leather jerkin, slowly bringing it over his shoulder. 

It felt odd, it left goose-pimples over his body. 

“Perhaps we could do something about it later?” 

“Are you feeling okay?” Robb asked. His concern extended when he took a step closer to his friend and saw how wide his pupils were. 

“Yeah, of course, why?” Theon told him quickly. He kept his gaze on Robb and fluttered down and back to his eyes. 

“No reason.”

Robb allowed a safe distance between the two of them once again, trying to forget the strange series of events that had just transpired between him and his friend, choosing to walk towards his sister to channel his frustrations. 

He held a hand out to block Bran, twisting his sword away and instructing him to “teach” their baby brother. 

“You and me, sister— what do you say?”

Arya welcomed any challenge. She quirked a smile and swirled her sword. 

“Has our mother been drilling you about possible marriages?” Arya taunted.

[ithilien-writes]

laura, can i ask you to tell us something about the wip you're MOST excited about? <3

well, since you're letting me pick, i would actually love to tell you about 'different spiral' (will NOT be the actual fic title lol) bc it's the one where i incorporated your beautiful hotshots world building 🥰

the main difference between my version and yours is that instead of making buck a pals shipper i actually made him an anti (at first) because i thought that would be funnier 😭

here's a lil snippet:

The characters are just so compelling though, is the thing. Like okay, the emergencies are a little dumb sometimes and definitely not true to life (although, he supposes to be fair, he has seen some freak disasters happen in his time at the 118 - like an actual tsunami hitting LA, for example), but he finds himself caring so deeply for the characters that he can't help but be on the edge of his seat as he watches them deal with triaging a patient in a literal mine field or midair on a flight with an exploded engine. His favorite is easily still Parker. Well, Parker and Claire. Their relationship is so special, especially now that Buck's gone back and seen Parker's actual introduction and knows a bit more of his backstory. His wife, Sheila, died in childbirth, so Claire's all that he has left of her. In the episode where that was revealed - in a flashback when Parker was trapped in a collapsed basement, slowly running out of oxygen - Buck might have ugly cried a little. He just clearly loved her so much. The upside of getting so invested in Parker's love life is that Buck doesn't think about his own the entire evening. He doesn't check his phone even once. The downside is that he loses track of time so thoroughly that he only stops watching when he suddenly realizes it's nearly 3 am and he has a shift at 9. Whoops.

ask me about my wips

[breitzbachbea]

dk if you’re taking asks for it but. 17 and 18 for the writer’s ask game? 😳

I am always taking asks that give me an opportunity to blabber about my writing process! <3

Weird Questions for Writers

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

You actually caught me WIP-free for the first time in 7 years! 😳 I finished all of my big projects this year. I’m currently working on the outline for the Irish Problems rewrite, but I am still waffling around a lot and there isn’t much to tell, I’m afraid. And if I started to talk about the history of Irish Problems, we’d still be here tomorrow. That’s for another day, perhaps.

However, this is why I waited for the prompts of hwsrarepairweek to drop! I had a lot of fun with it last year, so I’ll hopefully be able to participate in it again this year! I’ll keep the ships to TurGre, SicIre and GreSic again, but here are the ideas I had so far:

Writer & Artist: I may finally be able to deliver a scrap for the Neighbourhood AU for @needcake that I never had the time to write for 👉🏻👈🏻 It’d be about Sadık reading his poetry at the monthly “Everyone can come and read their pieces for 10 minutes to the interested public” event of the local literature club. Little does he know though that Dilan told the twins about him doing this and that after he told Herakles he would have liked to study Literature, Herakles talked about it with the twins, who in turn told him about the event. Either way, it’s shortly before his reading when Herakles either comes in or Sadık spots him, so … little time to panic and wonder what the hell he is doing here. Afterwards, he is also contemplating whether or not he should sneak away and never bring this up again or if he should walk up to Herakles, but Herakles takes the choice off his hands. They talk a little bit about it and Sadık asks him if he liked it. Herakles gives the evasive answer of “Well, I liked it better than that one guy’s crime short story.” Sadık laughs, says that guy (Gilbert) has been trying for so hard for so long, but maybe some things aren’t meant to be. Wanna grab a coffee? So they grab a coffee <3 I suck abysmally at writing poetry … and I would have to research Turkish poetry/poets … but it’d be interesting and I can probably weasel myself out of writing the actual poem.

Historical: Since me re-using the topic of my term paper worked so well last year, I thought why not do it again! It’s a bit trickier than it is with the curse tablets at Bath, but I finally realized I should put my knowledge about the Siege of Syracuse to good use! It’d be SicIre again, set in the Imperial Rome AU, but many years later. Not only did they move to Ostia, but they also moved into Herakles’ domus, while he found his calling working on his villa rustica. Michele contemplates another trip to Syracuse, his home, and Harry wants to tag along this time. They talk a lot about the city and Michele goes on and on about its beauty. To illustrate his point, he gets out his books which talk about it, which would include some texts like Plutarch mentioning both the Siege of Syracuse and Marcellus’ ovation, where he paraded around its spoils. It’d be bittersweet, too, if they talk about family. Michele’s mother may or may not be alive anymore and Harry hasn’t heard from his family ever since he left Hibernia, basically.

Supernatural: Sicily Is A Monstrous Island, Baby!!! I’d love to put my book “Creature Fantastiche di Sicilia” to good use and Michele tell Herakles about some of the ghastly inhabitants of the island. I’d set it some time, like weeks, months or even a year after last year’s GreSic oneshot. Whereas in that one they were in Herakles’ house, now they spend the night in Michele’s mansion. Perhaps Maria, Michele’s mother, has gone off with the twins elsewhere for a few days; perhaps they are simply asleep, in which case Michele would take extra precautions to not wake the twins. He’d also suspect them behind every moving shadow, since they’re two ne’er-do-wells and tricksters. They’re also, like, 13 or 14, so complete little shits. He probably tells Herakles the story when he hired Alessia, an older teenager that recently started to work for him, to scare the twins into believing that there ARE bedtime monsters like the Grecu Livanti, who will get and eat them if they don’t wise up real quick. Nothing about that plan went as it should have been, Michele apologised for it all profusely in the end, Alessia will still never let the twins hear the end of it. However, the house isn’t haunted by Alessia, or the twins or a Grecu Livantu … it is haunted by the memories of Michele and Herakles making out in his childhood room. It’s haunted by the people who built it and whose burden Michele yet chose to carry, not strong enough to do the right thing. It is, if anything, haunted by a Turnatu. A body that just couldn’t stay dead … someone who crossed back over from the other side, only to drain the living he left behind of their energy … If the last drabble was about the comforting shared past of language, this one is about the horrid, personal one of ghosts.

Pirates & Mermaids: IT’S CORSAIR AU TIME BABY!!! I’d have to research so much for this one, but I want to write it soooo badly 😭 I think the mermaids would be metaphorical, though, and would lend themselves as an excellent metaphor for some parts of the story. You see, the idea behind this one is that in the 16th/17th century, Omar and Timothea ran away from home. Not intending to do their poor mother and father any harm, but Omar had fallen in love with one of the crewmates of an Ottoman corsair ship and wanted to be with her. Thea came along for the ride and to help her brother out, of course. Either way, Natasa asked Herakles to go after the twins, so he embarked on the journey to find them … and promptly ends up on an Ottoman Corsair ship, but not on his own volition. Its captain is Sadık, who takes a liking to this stowaway and his pretty face. I actually don’t have a concrete timeline for this AU, or anything resembling a plot, but that are some points that definitely happen in the story. Hijinks ensue, which also include a Sicilian taverna owner, a brief cameo of the Spanish navy and, in a much more central role, their allies, a bunch of Irish Pirates! This story has got it all, baby! Either way, for the Oneshot, I’d set it sometime after these events though, when Herakles sails on the corsair ship for work reasons and … perhaps companionship? They start talking about sirens and joke a bit about how Omar had indeed been lured to sea by Dilan. Ah yes, those Sirens … “But perhaps, it fits the story better if it was he who lured her in? Spotting him from the ship, watching from atop the rocks … there certainly is something very tempting about your kind …” Sadık says and perhaps an arm snakes around Herakles’ waist …

Fantasy: I was thinking about using this SicIre scenario for rarepairweek anyways and this AU is a) literally called the “Myth AU” and b) I don’t know what is going on there anymore. The timeperiods are all a hopeless mess, there’s normal humans but also, Paddy is a giant, Charlie is a changeling, Tahir a sorcerer and the Bontade twins are the sons of Hermes. Whatever the fuck it is, it should be able to qualify for Fantasy. And because I am dying to tell this story to someone else, you’re also getting the rundown of what happened before the actual Oneshot idea but is tied to it. So, here is the rundown: 1. Tahir is currently working on magic portals, however he keeps being interrupted by Charlie’s changeling fuckery and the twins’ semi-divine bullshit, because the Irish and their friends LIVE to frustrate the English 2. Tahir asks Robert if he wants to make him a very happy man, which Robert sure does want to, but he'd also kill Charlie for just the pleasure of it. 3. A plan is hatched, Arthur, their king, is involved and it goes as followed: Robert, as a loyal knight to Arthur, will be sent as a delegation, alongside with some other knights, to the Irish castle. They cannot refuse them on the grounds of hospitality. So they get in and when Charlie one night sneaks around, like the twins, to see what is going on, Robert finds him and … just splashes a potion on him. Charlie is mightily confused that that’s the only thing Robert has done. He doesn’t like the smug expression and the predatory grin on his face when he tells him: “Oh, you’ll just … wait.” 4. Charlie continues to be confused, but starts to feel strange over the next couple of days … more aggressive, more anti-social, less able to control his powers and his strength. Because! What they don’t know! The plan was to craft a potion that would bring out Charlie’s changeling nature in full force. Thusly, if he then rampaged through the court, nobody could fault Robert for taking care of the problem! He was out of control! The beast had to be killed before it hurt anyone, as tragic as that is! 5. However, when the rampage eventually happened, they did not bank on the Irish REFUSING to let Charlie go. They did not bank on a good old “I know you’re still in there” fight! Harry just beats the SHIT out of Charlie, while he also gets the SHIT beaten out of him, invoking their brotherly bond! We grew up together, remember? Side by side! I’ve known you all my life and this isn’t you! I know my friend’s still in there! I KNOW IT! 6. And it works! Probably just when or before Robert has had enough and still tries to bring the plan to fruition as planned. Either way, the English are found out and get back home with their tails between their legs, Robert both incredibly disappointed with himself and also simply frustrated that all this ordeal was for nothing, stifled so shortly before he got the pleasure of finally shutting that annoying little fairy up once and for all. In the meantime, Harry contemplates how to handle the aftermath of the situation in the evening, while Michele already sits in bed and does some reading. It's here we get to the actual Oneshot. So Harry asks Michele for his opinion, Michele says You should ask your men, not me, your politics isn’t my lane now as guest of the court, is it. And Harry says, true, true, but as he slips underneath the sheets, he says that it would be his lane to advice the King as a King’s consort. And in my head, I just have Michele staring into nothing, past Harry, elated but surprised, a blush on his face and Harry already either cuddling him or kissing him, while he says: “Oh? I’m the King’s consort?” And then we’ll either have a bit more serious discussion about Michele’s future and role at the court or just some absolute teeth-rotting SicIre fluff, perhaps with some spicy fading to black <3

18. Choose a passage from your writing. Tell me about the backstory of this moment. How you came up with it, how it changed from start to end. Spicy addition: Questioner provides the passage.

God, that question. I’ll be honest with you, I forgot most circumstances under which I wrote most of my stories. I think it’s also because good moments often come to me on the go, later get implemented into the work and then polished a bit. Or I’m often working on scenes for at least two days, sometimes longer, because I rewrite them when I come back and didn’t like what I wrote last.

One of the clearest moments I still have in my memory is … tbh also very foggy, but I remember sitting on my bed and being up very late for a schoolday, writing with my daylightlamp right in front of me and probably chugging Soda. And you know what I wrote? Irish Problems, Chapter 4, Scene 2 The one where Paddy has to squeeze himself into the Mito. THAT is the one I still remember.

I still have the “raw draft” document for Italian Affairs, aka the document where I dump all ideas for a scene as they come to me. I actually got lost for a while, rereading bits and pieces I had written for the draft that never made it into the story … I am actually surprised how many ideas I had before I ever reached many scenes! It’s also such a great testament to how fundamentally the tone of the story changed over time; a lot of these snippets are so much goofier, contain so many more asides for the sake of asides. Here is an example – From a scene that was described like this in the outline: “Okay let's figure out how to drive on italian streets. Very very gay moments between Charlie and Marco, also - they took the baaaiiit ~”

"Nice cabrio." "I see, someone finally found each other." "Ach hör mir auf!" [Oh, stop it, you!]

You know which scene this is? Chapter 17, Scene 1. The Chapter called “Running Beneath”, the scene that starts in Charlie’s Porsche, just after they picked up Marco. The dialogue snippet above was about them running into Francesco during the chase sequence, where they would have actually talked with one another. Charlie would have complemented Francesco’s car, while Francesco would have commented on Marco clinging to Charlie. It would have been comedic banter, good-natured.

Here's what the scene looks like in Chapter 17:

They both kept silent. Not for long however, as Charlie looked around. It was a mystery how he, or Marco, hadn’t noticed the car in the lane next to him yet. You didn’t overlook a Ferrari, much less when its white coating blazed in the autumn sun. And yet, only now he stared at Francesco Belfari’s face, barely half a meter away from him. “Fuck,” he said. The other two followed his looks. Marco jumped; Charlie heard his legs shuffle on the backseat and felt the vibrations as his head collided with the headrest. “Ou, fuck,” Marco cursed and asked in the same breath: “Where did that bastard come from?! We’ve been staring behind us all the time, the traffic was so thick that if he’s here, he must have been behind us before! What the fuck?!” Charlie threw a look at the traffic light, but it was still red. When his look went back to Belfari, the other was letting down his window. He looked at him with a smile on his face. His eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. He wagged his hand down. “What?” Charlie whispered. “What in the hell’s this shit about?!” Marco asked. “Whatever he wants to tell us, I don’t want to hear it,” Harry said. “Let’s get out of here before him!” Charlie’s eyes snapped back to the traffic light in the same moment Marco said: “Go!” This time, he was readily colour blind and ran the yellow light.

Quite the tonal difference, huh? I don’t think I ever realized how much my stories have matured ever since their conception. I’ve came a long way, truly and I think it’s very interesting to see all the components. Yes, my writing skill has improved since I started, but Francesco’s character also has changed as the years went on. My focus regarding what the story is about has shifted. Writing isn’t just the words on the page; it’s every thought behind them. But you can only approach and unpack them if you have words to put on the page, which I think it is very important to keep writing. Yes, maybe you aren’t equipped yet to tackle a certain story. Yes, maybe you will write something you will think about differently in a few months or years. But if you didn’t know what you were focusing the first time around, you cannot shift the focus anywhere else. If your characters only ever existed in your head, they will never get the chance to grow into fully fledged fictional people. You have to let them take baby steps on the page. So keep writing, keep writing messily, keep writing with all the care in the world, but don't stop.

[yukidragon]

Our Life Snippet - Lazy Morning Intimacy

So, who’s ready for an extra long serving of shameless fluff from the first draft of my fan novelization of Our Life: Beginnings & Always? My philosophy in writing this is if I can add some more fluffy cuddly moments, I absolutely will, and the Step 3 moment Reflection offers one such opportunity right at the very start before, well, those of you who have played this moment know what happens later.

Spoilers for those who have not played the Step 3 DLC! If you don’t want to be spoiled, don’t read any further! If you don’t mind spoilery stuff, well, don’t let me stop you, but I highly, highly encourage you to play through the game before reading any of this.

As always, thanks go to @gb-patch for their wonderful game and their lovely feedback for my work, as well as everyone who likes, reblogs, and comments on these clips I’m posting here. You are all awesome.  💖

...

It wasn’t often that Jamie had the chance to enjoy breakfast at the Holden house. Ever since their parents decreed that they were ‘too old’ for sleepovers, she and Cove didn’t have many opportunities to enjoy that particular meal together, which made today a rare treat. It wasn’t especially fancy fare, but it was lovely to be able to spend time with her boyfriend almost as soon as she woke up. She was glad she impulsively asked if he wanted to have breakfast with her when they exchanged their usual good morning texts.

After a pleasant meal filled with light conversation and tasty food, Cove invited Jamie to retreat to his room to relax and let the lazy morning linger before any big activities began. That was, if they didn’t just decide to take it easy for the rest of the day. Neither of them had any plans in particular, with no prior commitments with friends, family, or work to distract them from just spending the day together. It wasn’t officially a date day, per say, or at least neither of them called it that yet. So far, they just decided to do whatever came to mind while enjoying each other’s company.

Of course, the first thing that came to Jamie’s mind was to cuddle with her boyfriend. When Cove sat down onto the bed, she didn’t hesitate to take a seat beside him, leaning into him. He hummed happily in approval and looped an arm around her to pull her in even closer.

A mischievous smile tugged at her lips as a new thought came to mind, and Jamie leaned in even closer. Cove raised an eyebrow at expression, only to yelp when she unexpectedly pushed her weight into him and tipped him back onto the bed. She fell along with him, giggling as they tumbled onto the mattress

Cove let out a chuckle of his own once he recovered from his surprise. “When I said we could relax, I didn’t mean going back to bed,” he said with a wry smile. Even still, he allowed her to nudge him gently back to the headboard so that they could both lounge comfortably on the bed properly with their heads resting on the pillows side by side. 

Jamie flashed Cove a satisfied grin before she snuggled up against his side, nuzzling her cheek against his as she basked in his gentle warmth. “You also said to make myself comfortable,” she teased, her eyes sparkling playfully as she rested her arm across his chest. “I’m very comfortable like this.”

Cove felt his heartbeat quicken, and he smiled back fondly at Jamie, nuzzling her cheek in return. “Me too,” he said softly.

Though maybe he was a little too comfortable.

Cove couldn’t help but be aware of the fact that they were both lying in his bed together. A prickling of nerves rose up that he quickly did his best to tamp down to not ruin the intimate moment they were sharing. It was fine, no big deal, he told himself. They were both fully dressed, on top of the sheets, and it was broad daylight. They cuddled plenty of times like this before on sofas and the ground. Heck, this was nothing compared to when they shared a bed when they were younger.

The flickering of nervousness didn’t escape Jamie’s notice. She softened her expression and reached up to gently run her fingers through her shy boyfriend’s hair. She had intended to steal a kiss or two and see where that would take them, but she decided that could wait until later. Just enjoying this moment with Cove was enough for her.

The touch was soothing, and Cove slowly started to relax as he leaned into Jamie. The anxious air that had threatened to pull him out of the moment gradually dissipated as her comforting warmth slowly settled in. Soon, he felt at ease enough to slip his arm back around her, which she happily used as her new pillow. He couldn’t help but smile at seeing the content expression on his partner’s face as she smiled softly back at him.

A comfortable silence washed over the pair as they simply enjoyed the quiet moment of intimacy. At some point, Jamie went from stroking Cove’s hair to toying with it. His ponytail limited her in how much she could card her fingers through his hair, but there were plenty of long locks to ripple between her fingers.

It wasn’t the first time Jamie got the impulse to play with her boyfriend’s hair. Even before he was officially - or even unofficially - her boyfriend, she couldn’t help but want to run her fingers through those pretty pale green strands. When they were younger, Cove would jokingly try to avoid her hands, but always ‘failed’ to escape in the end, allowing her to have her way. Sometimes she teased him back by pretending to give up, and he would always pout adorably, which she would immediately chase away with a satisfying ruffle of his hair.

Occasionally, Jamie would go beyond playing to actual styling. She was no professional, but it was fun to wind her boyfriend’s hair into a braid or two sometimes. Cove never minded, even if the braids rarely lasted that long after she was finished making them. It also didn’t escape her notice that he would sometimes shiver or let out an adorable pleasured little mumble when she raked her fingers along his scalp. It was an enjoyable experience for both of them, and sometimes she suspected that was one of the reasons why he let his hair grow as long as he did.

Jamie had no such grand designs now. Today she simply basked in the freedom to enjoy the feeling of his soft hair sliding between her fingers as she listened to the happy noises her partner occasionally let slip.

Although much more at ease, Cove couldn’t help the small traces of nervous energy that left him with the need to do something with his hands. He ran his thumb across her shoulder with the hand that was limited by Jamie resting on the upper part of his arm. With his freer hand, he decided to return the favor she paid to him and ran his fingers through her long deep blue hair, starting with stroking back her bangs before sliding his hand down along the entire length of her hair until he reached the ends at her hips. The feeling was soft and silky, and she sighed softly at the attention.

On impulse, Cove poked one of the small buns on top of his girlfriend’s head. Space buns were her preferred hairstyle of choice nowadays, and there was something satisfying about poking them that he couldn’t quite explain. Maybe it was the feel of them, or the way the bunched up hair bounced when poked that did it, but most likely it was because of the amused looks Jamie gave him whenever he did. She wore one such expression now, and he couldn’t help but chuckle a bit before giving her bun another playful poke.

Entertained, Jamie let Cove have her way with her buns, poking and prodding them as he pleased. The potential for innuendo wasn’t lost on her, but she let it go unsaid. As fun as it would be to make him flustered by suggesting that he might enjoy playing with a different set of buns she had even more, she didn’t want to interrupt the light, playful moment.

Jamie would just save that little bit of wordplay for later, preferably when the mood was good enough that Cove might take her up on the invitation.

Despite the steamy thoughts that skirted through her mind, Jamie did her best to focus on enjoying the lazy moment between them. It was lovely to just share such casual intimacy with Cove.

Jamie wasn’t alone in trying to ignore her more hormonal urges. As much as Cove enjoyed playing with her hair, focusing on touching her as he did made it impossible for him to stop thinking about the fact that they were both lying on his bed together. He was keenly aware of the gentle warmth of her body pressed against him, how soft and inviting her pink lips looked as she smiled at him.

Eventually, Cove realized he needed something else to occupy his hands if he didn’t want to risk disrupting the peaceful moment. Shifting about a bit, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket. Although Jamie raised an eyebrow at that and at being displaced from her cozy spot when he moved around, she held no objections as he turned his phone on and busied himself with it. Instead, she simply readjusted her position to get comfortable once he was settled again.

Sifting through missed texts and emails, Cove soon managed to distract himself from the urges that ruffled his nerves and relaxed back into the moment. He spotted a number of texts he missed from his dad, and for a moment he wondered if everything was okay until he realized Cliff just sent him a bunch of images last night.

A warm smile graced his face as Cove slowly scrolled his way through the photographs, nostalgia washing over him. Each photo brought him back to the moment it was taken, allowing him to lose himself in the priceless memories he shared with his friends, family, and especially the special person he held so comfortably close at that very moment.

Some photos brought back sweet memories, others a little more on the bitter side of sweet, and then there were the funnier ones. One such silly photo seized Cove’s attention, and he couldn’t help the burst of laughter that escaped him.

The sound immediately snapped Jamie out of her relaxed stupor and brought her back to the present. She raised an eyebrow at Cove, but he failed to notice her questioning look, too preoccupied by whatever was on his phone’s screen.

“What’s so funny?” Jamie asked as she propped herself up on her arm to get a better look at his face and catch a glimpse of the phone’s screen.

Cove finally turned to look at Jamie, his eyes crinkled with mirth and a smirk playing on his lips. “Dad scanned some old photos,” he chuckled. “You know…”

Now that Jamie was no longer using his arm as a pillow, Cove was free to use it to draw a rectangle in the air. “Printed out ones,” he explained, “back from when I was little.” He waved his phone a bit with his other hand. “He texted it all to me last night, I guess. I’ve been checking them out.”

Jamie sat up completely, her dark blue eyes flying open wide. “You were looking at your kiddie photos and didn’t tell me?!” she gasped, almost scandalized at missing out on something so priceless.

Cove barely resisted the urge to chuckle, offering Jamie a bent smile as his eyes narrowed playfully. “I was gonna show you.” His gaze then slid away to his phone as his expression turned a little more hesitant. “I just wanted to look at it first to make sure there was nothing super embarrassing. You never know with my dad.”

His mouth pulled into a grimace as Cove could easily imagine all sorts of horrors his dad might have captured on film to unintentionally humiliate him until the end of time. “I mean… what if there’s a photo of me getting potty trained or something?”

Although Jamie empathized with his worries, she couldn’t help but giggle at the fraught expression Cove wore. “Yeah, that sounds like something your dad would do.”

Cove could only respond by clearing his throat nervously, his eyes skirting away from Jamie as he sat up as well. While he hadn’t come across any particularly humiliating photo of himself, he couldn’t quite shake the fear of what his dad’s well-meaning actions might have left for him to deal with this time.

Jamie offered her boyfriend a sympathetic smile before adding a slight bent to it. “Hey, how about this - if you let me look at your embarrassing baby photos, I’ll show you just as many of mine. My moms have plenty of them.”

The offer was tempting. Cove couldn’t help but wonder what sort of photos Jamie had in mind, but the price was just too steep. He merely chuckled awkwardly and shook his head as he pointedly kept his phone tilted away from her. She huffed and puffed out her cheeks in a mock pout at him for holding out on her, which elicited a genuine bout of laughter from him.

Once Cove got his mirth under control, he smiled at Jamie. “Anyway, before we forget, I was laughing ‘cause I came across a Halloween one from when I was eight. The year I was a zombie, remember?”

Jamie dropped her faux pout and nodded, her eyes lighting up eagerly. Cove shook his head at her excitement, a wry grin gracing his face as he finally offered the phone to her.

As Cove watched Jamie eagerly turn to his phone, he couldn’t help but shake his head again, this time at his kid self. “I never even liked zombies!” he said, a little baffled that he ever was so enthusiastic for such a costume. “All I wanted was to show off my new scar. And I needed to be something scary. I couldn’t be a normal person who had a scar, according to my eight-year-old mind.”

The photo displayed on the screen showed Cove from ten years in the past, and a pleasant wave of nostalgia washed over Jamie as she saw him the way he looked when they first met, minus the pink cast and plus a fair amount of makeup and fake blood. Little Cove posed for the camera with his fingers hooked like claws, his mouth open as though letting out what was probably supposed to be a fierce roar. She could easily remember the noises he made that night as he pretended to be a zombie on the hunt for brains. His hair looked even more wild and disheveled than it did after the most energetic day of play, going well with the tattered and ‘blood’ stained button up shirt he wore. His face was painted in gray down to his neck, marred with an array of fake scars that couldn’t compare to the real one on his arm.

Cove looked from Jamie to the phone and chuckled softly at the face his younger self pulled for the camera. “I was a little dork.”

Jamie eyed Cove at such self-depreciation before poking him on the nose. “You were a little cutie,” she insisted. “And now you’re a big cutie.”

Cove blinked at the playful action before blushing at the compliment. He had no words to reply to it except for a quiet, flustered chuckle as he rubbed his nose.

Jamie grinned at that reaction before turning back to the photo. As much as she enjoyed how adorable Cove looked while pretending to be a fierce monster, it was impossible to ignore the scar displayed so predominantly on his arm at that time. Her smile softened at the edges at the sight of such a large, jagged line of fresh skin that was such a deep and angry shade of red. The scar was a pale memory in the present, but back then it looked so painful, and at the time she found it hard not to worry about him and his comfort after his cast came off.

Still, Jamie refused to let that put a damper on the story and focused instead on just how much fun little Cove was having posing for the camera and remembering the way they played around with their costumes that night. She could vividly recall how she pretended to run away from him when he playfully growled that he wanted to eat her brains, and the memory made her smile grow stronger.

“Dad really wanted to be useful, as usual,” Cove said, bringing Jamie’s attention back to him in the present. Though he noticed the flicker of sadness that crossed her face and realized the reason for it, he was glad to see her perk up again just as quickly. “He came up with the idea of being an undead person. It was pretty good, huh?”

Jamie chuckled softly and nodded. “You had the best Halloween costume that year, hands down,” she said playfully. “I remember you getting lots of extra candy when adults realized the scar was real.” Her smile widened as she remembered just how jealous Lizzie had been at how much candy Cove got that year, especially since he only offered to share some of that extra candy with Jamie. “It must have been your greatest Halloween haul ever.”

Cove couldn’t help but chuckle as well as he thought back to that legendary candy haul as well. It took him a month to finish it all even with Jamie’s help.

Still, the topic of his scar brought his gaze back to the picture. Cove couldn’t help but compare the way it looked in the photo to its current appearance on his left arm. “I can’t believe how much larger my scar used to be,” he said quietly.

Jamie watched as Cove turned his focus to his arm with a soft smile on his face. He traced his fingers along the jagged line of pale flesh that remained with him even ten years on. It was an action that she had seen him do countless times, but it felt more significant in that moment.

A soft sigh escaped Cove, but his eyes and tone were playful. “Look at how tiny it is now.” He gave Jamie a look with big, pathetic eyes. “How am I gonna pretend to be tough without a big scar?”

It was a struggle for Jamie not to laugh at the expression Cove wore. “You better not do anything stupid to get a new scar,” she joked with a faux disapproving frown as she wagged a finger at him. “No matter how much you like them!”

Cove grinned back at Jamie. “I won’t.”

“Good,” Jamie said with a satisfied nod. “You’ve already got the coolest scar, no matter how small it gets.”

Cove felt his cheeks grow warm and his smile turned bashful. “Thanks.” He ducked his head away from Jamie, pleased with their joking exchange. Once again, his eyes drifted down to his scar as he continued to trace it.

“I really do like having this,” he admitted in a soft, shy voice. “Even if it is kind of little these days.”

Jamie’s expression softened as well, feeling as though Cove was sharing a big secret with her. She couldn’t help but feel happy to hear that he liked his scar despite whatever pain it must have caused him to get it. It was always wonderful whenever he opened up to her like this.

Cove glanced up at Jamie, a gentle smile gracing his lips. “I like yours, too.”

The unexpected compliment caught Jamie off guard, and heat rose in her cheeks, turning them pink. She couldn’t help but smile as she felt her chest flutter with butterflies. He never failed to think of her as well, especially since he knew that she was self-conscious of her own scars.

Unthinkingly, Jamie brought her hand up to her upper arm and traced some of the countless jagged little white lines that marred her pale skin. There were matching scars in the same place on her other arm, as well as her thighs and her chest. Unlike Cove, these scars were not the result of an accident, but her skin not being able to keep up with her sudden growth during puberty.

Back during her early teenage years when the stretch marks were fresh and an angry purplish-red, Jamie always kept them hidden. Puberty had been rough on her, dealing a blow to her self-esteem as well as her body, and being covered in so many scars left her feeling ugly even though she never once thought of Cove’s scar like that.

It took time for Jamie to accept her scars, and she knew that Cove was a big part of why. Seeing the way he took such quiet pride in his scar always made her question how she thought of hers. More than that, he always made her feel beautiful, and he was always the first to remind her  whenever she needed it. That was why she was no longer afraid to wear clothes that exposed her scars like she did now.

Jamie scooted in closer to Cove as she smiled adoringly at him, placing her hand on top of his. “Thank you, Cove.”

Cove turned back to face Jamie fully. He finally let go of his scar so that he could take her hand in hers, giving it a gentle squeeze. He felt at peace with his scar and was happy to see the same reflected on her face as well. Their scars held such meaning to them despite coming from unhappy sources.

Jamie squeezed his hand back as she drifted even closer. “Could I touch your scar?”

Cove blinked, taken aback by the request. Usually, Jamie wasn’t shy about touching him without asking first, particularly someplace as innocent as his arm. Still, he quickly realized why she might hesitate to do that now and smiled gently at her as he nodded easily. “Yeah, that’s okay.”

Jamie gave Cove’s hand one more squeeze before letting go of it. Lightly, she pressed her fingertips against the edges of his scar. With great care, she slowly ran her thumb along the entire length of it, following the jagged angles the old wound took. The pale flesh was rough when compared to the rest of his skin, which was soft, but with goosebumps rising quickly along his arm as she stroked his scar.

The touch, so delicate and gentle, left Cove feeling a bit lightheaded. Jamie’s touch always felt wonderful and often left him feeling butterflies, but somehow the feel of her paying such careful attention to his scar was particularly powerful. A choked breath escaped him and a wobbly smile played across his face as he lost himself in the feeling.

The dizzied smile Cove wore along with the light pink of his cheeks drew Jamie in with the urge to do more. She locked eyes with him, staring deep into his aquamarine eyes as she took a hold of his arm and raised it up towards her.

A quiet gasp escaped Cove when she realized what Jamie had in mind. He couldn’t look away from her dark blue eyes as she stared so intently into him even as she placed a soft kiss on the old wound that marked him. The feeling of her lips, warm and soft, pressed so tenderly against that particular place sent shivers up his spine, and he let out a tiny squeak.

Jamie smiled against Cove’s skin as she appreciated his adorable reaction, as well as the way he looked at her with overwhelming adoration. She kissed him again and again, tracing the entire length of his scar with her lips like she did with her fingers before.

It was impossible for Cove to stay still when Jamie was showing him such affection. He reached up with his free hand to touch her arm. With his thumb, he brushed aside the edge of her open sleeve, giving him better access to the countless little white lines marking her pale skin. The texture was interesting, feeling so similar yet so different from his own scar. Because of their size and number, he found his fingers constantly alternating between soft skin and rougher tissue. It was difficult to trace any one scar from start to finish like she did for him, so instead he sought out to touch every single one.

The touch was electric, and Jamie could feel her heartbeat speed up as Cove caressed her so lovingly. “Cove…”

Cove shivered again as Jamie murmured his name against his skin, setting off sparks that made his body burn pleasantly. It urged him to lean forward, his eyes gleaming with the fire she set ablaze inside him.

Jamie raised her head and instinctively matched his movement, drawing nearer to Cove as her eyes drifted closed. She felt his lips gently meet hers, and she melted into the tender kiss. She held a little more firmly onto his arm as she fell deeper into him, feeling like she might drown in the depths of her feelings for him.

Cove all too quickly lost himself in the moment and in Jamie. It felt so wonderful, so right to be her like this, to touch and kiss her. He loved her so much that it was almost overwhelming, but knowing that she loved him as well kept him grounded.

Eventually they finally drifted apart, breathless and dazed from the kiss, their faces flushed with heat. When Jamie opened her eyes, she saw Cove gazing back at her with his mesmerizing ocean blue eyes. The look he gave her was spellbinding, filled with so much love and adoration that made her heart hammer hard against her ribcage. It told her without words that the feelings he had for her were just as immense as hers were for him.

Cove leaned in again, this time resting his forehead gently against Jamie’s. With heavy lidded eyes, he simply enjoyed gazing deeply into her blue eyes that always reminded him of the night sky. No matter how many times he saw them, they always captivated him. He could lose himself in those beautiful eyes of hers.

The feeling of his warm breath tickling her skin made Jamie shiver a little, especially the way it brushed against her lips like the ghost of a kiss. With their heads touching, his hand on her arm and hers on his, she felt entirely entwined with Cove. It felt so right.

Time ceased to have any meaning in that moment as they gazed deeply into their partner’s eyes and drank in the closeness and warmth they shared. Seconds or minutes might have passed, but neither of them cared as they lost themselves in each other.

[un-pearable]

s4 thoughts: okay honestly im really surprised the tournament arc came this early in the show because for some reason i thought it came a lot later. either i had. so much fun this was such a fun arc. i was also familiar with wayyy way more of this season than the other ones which was surprising so i mustve watched the bulk of it at least twice or something.

okay lets get the worst thing out of the way so that we can talk about things i really liked. the . euuuuuugh the garmadon / misako / wu love triangle that they still keep bringing up for some reason. actually im just going to take a snippet of one of my angry discord rants and leave it at that

number 2: THE RESOLUTION OF THE JAY/NAYA/COLE LOVE TRIANGLE!!!! thank GOODNESS im so glad that is done. i'm glad we're all friends again and dont have to bring that up in any sort of significant way going forward. hopefully. id like to see more friendship shenanigans please writers please

number 3: im obsessed with how absolutely and entirely confused i am about the timeline of ninjago. i understand nothing. i really dont and i think the writers are just as confused as i am

number 4: i think they did a better job w skylor/kai than any of the other ships so far but also half of that is because im pretty sure it being kind of shallow but having the potential to be an actually functional and mildly interesting relationship is the point instead of on accident this time. at least thats what i got out of it

number 5: speaking of skylor, who the heck is her mom. real question. this is always my question whenever any dude has a child with no mention of a mom especially because half the men in question i could not see anybody getting married to them in a million years.

number 6: i feel like the writing got significantly better this season. the plot was tighter and the jokes were a lot funnier and . yeah i dont know i had so much fun the fights were engaging without dragging on too much on characters we dont have any real investment in and i really like how they didnt just put everybody into the same stone pit and had them beat the snot out of each other. many points for creativity.

number 7: your tags on my last ask

literally SOOO true nothing else to add you hit the nail on the head. tangentially related question but is it ever explained how chen got his hands on pixal & zane (???)

number 8: lloyd & garmadon continues to be the most interesting and compelling relationship in the show, which is great for me because im terribly invested in this. my curse in life is that the more invested i am in a character or relationship the more my brain locks up when i try to talk about it so trying to put something into words is like pulling teeth but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY WERE SO GOOD THIS SEASONNNN im also really glad they let lloyd be mad for five minutes when garmadon decides to send himself to the spirit realm or whatever to save ninjago. thank you writers. also having lloyd be the one to send him off like 😭😭😭 wow yall really out here making him kill his dad Again but also YESSSSS yesss couldnt have chosen anybody better this was so good

number 9: some more miscellaneous things, but like. dude this season was so fun. the premise is "the ceo of this megacorp noodle company is actually is holding an underground fight ring between all the elemental masters so he can steal all their powers and use it to turn all his men into anacondri" is absolutely wack and i am 10000000% here for it. still not over how the prisoners built a jet to escape the underground noodle factory, btw. some other misc observations

also cannot believe they worked literally DARETH into this. incredible showstopping spectacular amazing this was so much fun. 9/10 (<- one point docked for subjecting me to more garmadon/misako/wu) arc

1) ah yes,, the misako frustration reigns eternal. i will never get over how interesting she had the potential to be (implied to be badass archaeologist adventurer who’s also setting the trend for deadbeat moms? at the very least she could be frustrating but fun) and the dedication to making her the good guy in all conceivable situations is ACTIVELY harming the narrative. i wish she could be shitty in a fun way so bad

2) hell yeah!!!! the love triangle is annoying but cole and jay’s dynamic through out this season is very dear to me. its stupid as hell but dear.

3) mhm mhm mhm. it gets so painfully clear that they grew out of the original plan for the series VERY quickly after s2 and over time it only gets funnier as they try harder and harder to justify each new season’s premise. personal fave is “fuck it video game”

4) skylor and kai is fun!!! i’m not usually a fan of those kinds of dynamics but they’re more convincingly attracted to each other and maybe have the momentum + desire to make it work than. pretty much every single other romantic relationship at this point

5) ahh… the villains inexplicable child dilemma. theoretically she had to be the previous master of amber but imo it’s much funnier if chen just yoinked skylor from somewhere. or she was just 100% down for evil machinations and skylor’s the weirdo in the family for being half decent. either way good fuckin question why is this so ridiculously common

6) yeah!! the fights and competitions are actually pretty creative and the structure did tie the whole season together well,, this seasons technically less exciting than the others but you can def tell they had a much clearly vision and plan for it. and the roller derby is funny as hell so

7) i could talk about zane for ages and ages.. the day i finally write the android-becomes-human trope fic about him and pixal (is probably never going to come bc i can’t decide When it should take place bc his opinions would be vastly different) is the day i win. i believe it’s canon that robin’s the one who turned them over? zane rebuilt himself, pixal found him and then they got captured (the ending of s3 was supposed to tease about zane’s new body but i think it didn’t get animated correctly). i very much could be wrong but i’m like 80% sure that’s canon

8) GOD YEAH ITS SO GOOD. lloyd and garmadon carry the character dynamics for the entire show. utterly tragic. stunning. i also have nothing coherent to say about them but will never shut up about them. i want to stick s1 lloyd and current lloyd into a box and shake it until the emotions and complex feelings about their father come out

9) IT IS IT REALLY IS. ninjago at its core MUST be goofy as hell and s4 embraces it in SUCH a good way. later they get too good at angst i need stupid shit and stupid shit we get. (okay not really. what i mean is early goofiness fits with the established show, where later stuff is more. spontaneous and lol random wouldnt-it-be-funny-if stuff rather than part of the narrative’s status quo) agshdjfjfkf tysm for your reactions im never going to be able to watch it w/o those being in my head again.. ooohh there’s something there about ourboros but i don’t have words for it rn. the narrative is constantly eating itself to rewrite what was once canon so they can tell new stories. it’s crumbling under the weight of needing to tell more and more new and creative things in a world that was built for four ten minute glorified advertisements,, consuming itself and rewriting its own history by necessity…

[bokettochild]

Maybe a snippet about Hyrule hitting statues for potions? (Like Legend’s statues in Holodrum/Labrynnia or maybe Mipha’s statue)

Ask and ye shall receive! In no reasonable amount of time, but receive ye shall!

(This was a ton of fun to write!)

Everyone in their group had some... irregularities...

Time’s issue with pottery for example, or Legend’s need to collect every item that could conceivably (and sometimes inconceivably) be used for anything ever. Wars had a need to know where everyone was all the time, and Twilight had a tendency to gnaw on things, made worse by Wild’s propensity for giving him meat with bones still in it, bones that Twilight would gnaw on for the rest of the meal until someone pointed it out.

It was funny, really, to see his pup flush and spit out the bones with a startled expression, apparently never having realized what he was doing. It was funnier still that if the pup seemed particularly keen on one, that Wolfie would appear later to finish chewing it.

But chewing bones and collecting items, and even digging through pottery (which wasn’t a good thing he knows, Malon has scolded him a million times for it) are hardly comparable to Hyrule’s tendencies.

Hyrule liked to hit things.

Not people mind, or animals, or even buildings. Hyrule liked to hit statues, and apparently only statues.

The same look would come over the traveler’s face every time, considering and curious before he took off like a rocket towards whatever stone or metal figure lay before him. But no matter how consistent the behavior was, no one was ever fast enough to stop him.

The first time it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just the traveler, the veteran and himself, and they’d been wandering about in Wild’s Hyrule trying to figure out where exactly the others were.

Usually, they wouldn’t have split up, but both he and the vet were fighting with their arthritis and Hyrule had insisted on taking a look to try and figure out something to help them. It was late, and neither of them had felt overly keen on arguing against the order, but the others were half asleep on their feet, so Time had encouraged them to hurry along to the village Wild had promised was nearby.

Finding the village was the easy part, the hard part was stopping Legend from wheezing up a lung when his protégé's first instinct was to smack the statue of Hylia in its center. Hyrule had looked disappointed for whatever reason after soundly punching Hylia’s likeness in the side, and it had only made the vet wheeze harder, leaning against Time heavily in order to stay upright as he cackled uproariously. Time didn’t really get why it was funny, but the fact that Hyrule’s first instinct was to smack Hylia did pull a smile to his lips.

Legend didn’t laugh the second time it happened though, in fact, he looked hurt.

They’d been dumped in a place that Legend called Lynna City, and while the vet wove his way through the streets with practiced ease, the others trailing after him like ducklings as he’d explained some of the history of the place, even telling them that it was the sight of one of his adventures.

“It’s changed a lot since then though,” The vet drawled, eyes glimmering in a way Time wasn’t sure he liked. “But there’s some things that don’t change.”

“Like what?” Wind had bounced in place, gripping Legend’s hand tightly as he had been doing since they found themselves in one of the cities alley ways.

The vet flinched, eyes darting to the side as he’d ushered them further along the pathways, only to be stopped by Warriors’ voice exclaiming in a breathy manner. “Like that?”

In the middle of the town square, there was a statue. A bright smiling face, sharp eyes and the vet’s signature messy bangs stared out at them from a face of stone, much younger looking than the vet himself, but easily recognizable.

Warriors whistled. “They have a statue of you? Wow, impressive.” None of his usual snark tainted the words, and the captain even looked vaguely uncomfortable as he stared at the fixture (if he remembered right, there was an exact replica in Cia’s rose garden).

“Like that.” Legend drawled, irritation on his face, but ears darkening and twitching in embarrassment. “I told Anbi not to but-”

The vet’s words were cut off by Hyrule running across the square and promptly smacking the statue. Legend’s irritated façade cracked to reveal a hurt expression beneath as he watched Hyrule wring his hands out and return to the group with a disappointed expression. “’Rulie?” The vet’s eyes shimmered with hurt as Hyrule shook his head.

“Nothing.” Came the disappointed sigh.

Legend was very nearly pouting out of hurt for a second before he shrugged it off stiffly and continued to lead them all through Lynna. Nothing was said of the statue hitting after that, save one time where Wars tried to bring it up only to be on the receiving end of a stink eye from the vet.

For not wanting a statue, Legend seemed rather hurt that Hyrule would hit the thing.

Wild was even more touchy, but it made sense that he would be, after all, the statue that Hyrule tried to go after next was, apparently, very important to the Champion.

They’d landed in Wild’s Hyrule again and the young hero was taking them all to the Zora’s Domain to investigate rumors about an infected lynel. Three heroes had flinched at the mere idea, and while time didn’t know what a lynel was, he was beginning to dread it, what with the hesitant murmurs and fearful looks shot between the trio.

They’d hardly entered the domain before Wild was suddenly catching hold of the traveler, prompting several curious looks from his party and from passer bys. But then they saw why.

Rising up in the center of the domain was a tall and graceful statue of a zora woman, and the minute Hyrule’s eyes fell on it he was surging forwards in Wild’s arms, barely held back as the Champion scowled.

“Rule, so help me, if you smack that statue I will toss you in the pools and not let you out for an hour!”

The traveler turned to his growling friend in confusion. “What?”

“Don’t hit her, that’s my fiancé.” Wild threatened softly, eyes glinting unnaturally blue as brows shot up.

“Sky could have said the same thing, yet here we are.” Legend drawled, earning curious looks from all those who hadn’t witnessed the first incident.

“But statues have rupees inside.” Hyrule blinked owlishly. “We’re hard up for funds, why shouldn’t I get us some.”

There was a moment of silence before Wild released the traveler with a weary sigh. “That’s not how it works here, ‘Rule.”

“Or in my world, I’d like to add.” Legend butted in, looking somewhat relieved.

Hyrule looked from one to another of their group, confusion clear on his face. “Then how do you get money?”

“I have a job.” Wars shrugged, and was echoed by both Twilight and Time himself, as Four motioned at the captain.

“I’m a smith.”

“I do odd jobs for people.” Wind added on.

“Same!” All anger had drained from Wild’s face as he smiled brightly at the sailr.

“I do landscaping work.” Legend drawled, inspecting a hand distractedly, nly to be met with th stars of the others. “Oh fine, I cut grass and blow shit up, happy?” He frowned in thought, cokcing his head. “And trees. I also work on trees. We also sell stuff out of the orchard and honey as well, and I kinda rent out the house to Ravio-”

“Point is.” Warriors broke through the vet’s murmurs. “We don’t hut statues for money. That would be considered rude in our worlds.”

Hyrule nodded. “Alright.”

And they thought that was the end of it.

The first time they saw a statue in Hyrule’s world, a goddess statue to be exact, Hyrule ran up and bopped the thing over the head, much to the horror of Sky.

A rupee bounced to the ground, glimmering and bright, prompting a smile from the traveler.

“But- but- but-”

“It’s just a pagan god.” Hyrule shrugged, rubbing the rupee off on his tunic. “And everyone does it here.”

Sky looked like he might either scold or cry, and Legend had devolved back into cackling, eyes watering as he looked up at his protégé with a fond smile.

Time shook his head. They all had their irregularities.

[hacash]

ted lasso 2x09 thoughts

ARGH

those are it. those are my thoughts.

Ok, slightly more coherently…

Sam’s getting recognition! Sam has his own chant! I love that for him. Love it all. It’s obviously so good that Sam is becoming an in-universe hero when we’ve loved him from his first scene - however, that also comes with the caveat of not wanting him to move anywhere from Nelson Road. I’m curious to see where they take it though, because I obviously can’t see Toheeb Jimoh leaving the cast before the show finishes, but at the same time this offer is so good for him?? I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know.

(If, on the other hand, Toheeb is being written out because he’s going on to star as a lead in another show where we could see more of his beautiful face and stellar acting every week? I would find that acceptable.)

Screeners’ reactions for this episode had me thinking something cataclysmic and dreadful was going to happen between Sam and Rebecca with them reuniting and it hitting the papers - and it ended up being fine?? Of course she’s torn about him leaving. Even if they end up never being together again Sam clearly represents something wonderful to Rebecca - possibility and the sense of being treated right - and those feelings don’t just go away.

I expected a bit more reaction from Ted about the whole Sambecca thing, but that little look in his eyes after their conversation did have me curious - does he disapprove more than he lets on? is he secretly pining for Rebecca already? only time will tell. also I did notice Ted was once again basically saying whatever Rebecca wanted to hear and agreeing at every single line - he might be going to therapy but he’s not out of the people-pleaser woods yet.

Another bombshell next year? OH COME ON. If that’s not a prediction of some sort of confession of love I will go out and buy a hat just to eat it.

SHARON. How I am going to miss thee. But it was a lovely and understated farewell to a character that I’ve really come to love - Sexy Mother Fucker; he stole my move, yaas - showing how much she and Ted have helped each other grow and I just *tear*. Also I’m a Tedbecca shipper through and through, but Jason and Sarah do have such lovely chemistry together.

Also the pub regulars basically pleading for free therapy? Aww.

Higgins luring Ted back to read Sharon’s note with a well-chosen letter based pun? I love this man to the ends of the earth.

I FUCKING KNEW THAT HIGGINS KNEW EVERYONE’S BIRTHDAY. I PREDICTED THAT SHIT.

Roy and Keeley…I’m sorry, I’m emotional and anxious and hopeful and I do not think they’re going to break up. Relationships go through messy spots and people struggle, and the mark of a good, communicative, grown-up relationship is that you take time and discuss your issues and move past them. Keeley and Roy’s relationship has always been characterised by that maturity, and I just don’t see a couple of ill-timed romance confessions breaking that down.

(If anything, we might get a discussion from Roy about Keeley trusting him - I’m guessing there’s a fair bit of time lapsed between Jamie’s confession and her telling all to Roy, and I can see that being the sticking point that upsets Roy, that she hid this from him for some time. He clearly didn’t feel at all upset by what happened with Nate; it’s the - arguably fair - point that Keeley didn’t let him know that her ex confessed love for her that I think is going to be the issue.)

Also, the ‘are you married’ question - coupled with the fact that we keep seeing Roy on his knees in front of Keeley - makes me think we’re going to get a proposal next episode.

Also I love that we’re seeing more of Keeley’s psyche beyond the ‘cute and supports everyone’ façade - her mother’s experience with ambition and not being able to achieve it is a really interesting little snippet, not to mention the reason she bonds so much with Nate and is able to see how someone seemingly ‘undeserving’ should be able to realise their dreams.

also her and Rebecca’s ‘bleargggggh!’ competition! and Ted thinking he was going to be on the cover of Vanity Fair! return of Biscuits with the Boss!

ok, deep breaths now

NAAAAAATE

WHAT ARE YOU DOOIIIIIIING

Is it bad that I sort of liked the whole thing with Keeley? Not in a ‘yes I want this to happen’ sort of way, but because it makes so much sense that Nate (particularly Nate in his current state) might mistake that level of bonding and emotional support as something romantic. We know Nate is insecure and hasn’t had much of a social life in the past, and that he idealises Keeley for her basic kindness and decency: much like Jamie in 2x10, he’s mistaking Keeley’s kindness as something more…it’s absolutely gutting to watch, and also so human and real that I can’t help but take my hat off to the writers for it.

(Honestly, there’s been so many posts on tumblr about how toxic masculinity fucks men over to such an extent that when they receive kindness and friendship for a woman they immediately think romance - but yeah. this show does tick all the boxes.)

I did see the kiss moment coming a mile away and was really worried that Nate was going to be…uh, very entitled about it, given his current state, but the fact that he wasn’t - that he was immediately horrified and realised he’d fucked up and stumbles away muttering about how he ‘is worried about it’ and ends the scene spitting at himself in the mirror again and looking absolutely disgusted with himself - well, in a way that just hurt more. (I mean, I’m relieved Nate wasn’t all bolshy with it because his reaction does show there is still some of the old Nate still there…but still, owch.)

And then that text from Trent…

Next episode is going to hurt like hell, isn’t it? I absolutely cannot wait for the showdown between Nate and Ted, it’s been a long time coming…like I’ve said, while I think ultimately Nate is going to have a redemption arc, because thematically it makes sense and would send some pretty iffy messages if he doesn’t, I don’t think it’ll come until season three. Right now I just want to see Ted get angry after several seasons of suppressing his anger, I want a full-blown emotional hash-out between them both - basically I want Jason and Nick to have me sobbing before 9AM.

My one question is: are we going to see Nate realising what he’s done, or not? Was this a pragmatic, doing-this-for-the-sake-of-the-club betrayal or a blind, lashing-out-in-frustration betrayal? In short: is Nate Lando or Anakin in this scenario?

I’m very curious as to what show people who say this ‘came out of nowhere’ have been watching. Nate’s been heading for some sort of implosion since mid-season, and we all knew it was going to hurt some innocent bystanders.

I’m saving something light and cheery after all the angst, so let me just say: cinema has never surpassed, and will never surpass, the scene of the Richmond boys dancing along to Bye Bye Bye. Almost made up for the fact that they were criminally underused in the rest of the episode, and quite frankly this had better be redressed in the season finale.

and WE FINALLY SAW COLIN DRIVING THE LAMBO. I don’t know what I find funnier: the fact that it’s some neon lime green monstrosity that every fourteen-year old boy would have dreamt of owning growing up (should my new Colin tag be Colin ‘I Need To Rethink My Relationship With My Car’ Hughes, or Colin ‘More Money Than Sense’ Hughes? enquiring minds want to know…) or as was pointed out to me by @kamillahn, the look of absolute terror on Colin’s face as he begins to drive. Colin, hun, please just buy yourself a Fiat. It’s not worth it anymore.

[awanderingtortoise]

introduction and masterlist

hi everyone, stil not totally sure how this site works, but please feel free to chat and say hi. below the cut is a list of fics, along with links to their post on tumblr/ao3. for drabbles, snippets, or shorter fics you might want to check my writing tag: #tortoise tries to write or #tortoisememery if youre here for the incorrect quotes/playlists/memes/any of my other attempts at humor. for analysis: #tortoise analysis ; the tags are kinda fucked w the search idk why i think the search works on my blog itself tho

stuff i post: grishaverse (zoyalai-centric), marvel, bridgerton, pjo/hoo, lotr

(all my original posts are tagged with #me; i believe you can use that to sort through them. or not i dont know how these updates work)

I only write zoyalai atm but requests are always very very very (i cant say it enough) welcome, though i may take ages to do so i will definitely do my best to write them out. (anything sfw is fine). i think thats all, will update this periodically. enjoy your existences

1. how we go on (ao3, 1.7k) warning for mc death, angst

summary: It wasn't supposed to be her. It was never supposed to be her. That is all Nikolai can think, the only thing he finds coherent and whole in his mind as Zoya lies in his arms, eyes bright and radiant and blood blooming on her chest.

or: nikolai and zoya both realizing they dont have much time left. takes place some years after rule of wolves

2. even so, my sun did shine (ao3, 1.2k)

no warnings, fluff

summary: A sort of reverse of That Scene between Zoya and Nikolai in the aftermath of the Tavgharad’s-- lets call it a fiery demise-- but less angsty ‘don’t gos’ and more nonsensical fluff.

in which zoya is slightly loopy and quite a bit more clingy in the aftermath of taking a sleeping draught, and nikolai finds himself rather concerned at her lack of spite. hes not exactly complaining, though.

3. laughter in the rain (ao3, tumblr, 2.1k)

no warnings; basically half-crack, half-fluff

summary: in which Nikolai is much too found of puns while Zoya is the polar opposite, and a young, incredibly chaotic Squaller child wreaks absolute havoc on literally everything. (from tumblr ask: how about nikolai interacting with zoya’s students and them finding nikolai’s dad jokes funnier than zoya does (though she does secretly enjoy them))

4. all i ask (ao3, excerpt here)

no warnings, pining/angst

summary: Starlight glints in her gaze, in the jewels that swirl in the waves of her gown. “What do you want, Nikolai?” she asks quietly.

“A dance,” he says, and though it has barely been seconds he feels as though he’s aged a decade. He forces an easy smile onto his face, holding out his hand. “Nothing but a dance.”

or: a king and his general, and the words they leave unsaid. basically angsty zoyalai ballroom dancing while they play their favorite game that we all know as ‘lets constantly ignore our feelings for eachother!’

5. a heart's a heavy burden ao3, multichapter, 5 chaps and 8.8k so far)

no warnings, post-KoS, pre-RoW pining and angst to come but happy ending

summary: There would always be part of her that wanted more; for better or worse, a part of her that believed she wouldn’t know true satisfaction until she had it, even as she swore off the possibility with every fiber of will in her. She wouldn’t become what he had. She couldn’t. And yet fear of it now roils deep in her gut, old and dark as the scales glinting on her wrists.

(Zoya struggles to control the newfound power she has in her amplifiers and fears that her strength could turn her into something worse. luckily, nikolai is here :)

from anon request: after trying so hard to make sure that she’s unable to feel nikolai’s emotions with her newfound powers something happens that breaks zoya’s concentration and she’s finally feels the weight of nikolai’s feelings for her.

6. as the morining comes (ao3, tumblr, 997 words)

no warnings

summary: "Nikolai, at this moment, has decided on two things: the first being that he is a hopelessly lost cause for Zoya Nazyalensky, and the second being that he does not think he will ever stop smiling again."  part one of a bunch of fluffy zoyalai oneshots ill post under the series waltz of four left feet

7. afterimage (ao3, 362 words)

summary: basically hurt/comfort post-breakup zoyalai in a modern au

8. its always brighter with you (ao3, 748 words)

summary: an excuse for me to write zoyalai banter. basically Nikolai and Zoya going through all the shit Genya sent them and doing the KoS equivalent of Say Yes to the Dress with Nikolai

9. stills of a life tied in blue (that is to say, tied to you) (ao3, 466 words)

warning: grief/mcd

summary: a little fic and musing on the ever iconic blue ribbon and the roles it will play throughout nikolai and zoyas life, from beginning to end.

[storiesofsvu]

For the fanfic asks: F, G, L, M, P, S, Y & Z. 🥰😊

F: share a snippet from one of your fave dialogue scenes you've written and why you're proud of it?

okay, the one that jumps up is "This is my present?" "I put a fucking bow on it, didn't I?" between heather & jackie about yn. there's probably more meaningful quotes out there, and honestly funnier ones, but i've written so much that I can't think of another one right now. there were definitely some really good ones in Classified Affairs, but i do admit, I took some of that directly from HOC, within the debate scene specifically. and there was a scene between jackie & underwood about the "our dynamic and leash you have me on" that i squealed at when i watched it cause it was *perfect* for heather & yn

G: do you write your story from start to finish, or write scenes out of order?

I write start to finish! if i wrote out of order then i would never end up finishing the story and doing all the other parts. i do usually have future scenes/stuff figured out before a chapter before them kinda thing, but i always make myself figure it out before i move on. if that makes sense

L: how many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

close to none lol. i usually write and then post it directly after, though with some series i have made sure i have a good chunk written before i start posting it, like i am with the new heather one. so those ones get a little bit more revision, same with SSS since i did that story in this style too. there was a lot to figure out and i needed everything to be right, so there were some revisions. in the one i'm doing now w/heather, I've changed a couple of things but it's like, a sentence max. ex; i realized if i changed it to 6 years of heather being gone instead of 5, Jackie would be finished her VP term by the end of the story. i also am actually watching HOC now, so I discovered heather's from connecticut, so i swapped that in instead of saying she was from ohio. tl;dr: basically none lol

M: got any premise on the back burner that you'd care to share?

hmm... ok, so since i've talked a lot about the vampire/fantasy AU already and I've mentioned the new Heather one so lets go with that.... -it's a Classified Affairs follow up, taking place 6 years post the little run in with yn at the end of CA. and after Bruised Peach. yn from CA is now an original character, and Heather returns back to DC, running into her family and she starts to try to get some redemption. along the way she meets yn, a school teacher, and things start to develop between them. only question is....has she done enough work on herself over the past few years to regain her family's trust, and will yn flee as soon as she hears all the crap heather pulled before she left dc in the first place?

P: how much do you plan in advance, vs letting the story unfold as you go?

depends on the fic. i have a very full and detailed outline for the new heather fic. with SSS it was the same. Peach has a very light outline in my phone. Then stuff like the Nanny fic, I had little spitball conversations with friends screenshotted or notes jotted down about the little things that could come into play and i kinda just wrote around those until a story looked good

S: any fandom tropes you can't resist?

fake dating, one night stand with a stranger who turns out to be your new coworker the next morning, secret relationship

Y: any character you want to protect?

oh lort. a lot of them. currently Velasco is pretty high up there, but also Keane, oh sweet sweet Keane, can we pls just take you to therapy and then burrito you in a blanket for snuggles?

Z: major character death? do you ever write/read it? is there a character whose death you can't tolerate?

yes and yes. i have no issues with that shit. though (spoiler alert) in Seeing Red i HAD to make it a WPP thing instead because i was terrified of manifesting Rita getting killed off in canon and i would hate myself forever if that happened LOL. i'm much more likely to kill off a yn or a family member. but we'll see! lol

thanks for asking!! 😊

[victorian-miner]

Honestly I’ve been following this jpl verse so hard. Please reveal any headcanons that you haven’t yet!

Aww, thank you anon! That means a lot. I've been thinking about this ask since you sent it.

For one, and I guess this isn’t really a headcanon, but Paul bites his nails a lot (or did when he was younger) and I haven’t seen a lot of fics on ao3 addressing that or his anxiety in general? So that’s a bit of a recurring thing.

I’m not going to elaborate on this too much because it comes up in the fic (or should, when I get to it) but John does in fact call George in a panic about what to do about the developing relationship between him and Linda and Paul. Just a little moment of brotherly bonding.

I feel like Linda would struggle a lot with feeling okay about her feelings toward John. Not in a “I’m being unfaithful to my husband” type of way, more in a “protective of Paul, who’s already been bruised by John a fair bit, and her kids and also she’s had to listen to her dad rant against John for the past four years” kind of way, and she doesn’t know how to reconcile that. Or, at least, she’s hesitant to.

In a few interviews I’ve seen, Stella and Mary (and Paul too I think?) have said that when they were kids they would always tell Paul to stop playing because he was singing over the TV or something. Which is just, hilarious. But I think it’s even funnier to consider John and Paul having their first proper moment of playing together and really connecting, and Linda looking between them with bated breath hoping that it’ll work out (and is surprised at herself with how much she wants it to work out) and then Heather just yells from the other room “Daaaad you’re being too loud, I can’t hear *insert name of 70s TV show here*” and the three of them look at each other and then burst into giggles. Like. Hmm the humor and softness of that is very appealing.

And now, your promised snippet:

“Oh.” Paul had almost thought that John hadn’t been listening when he told him about his and Linda’s plans for the next Wings album. “It’s new, you probably won’t know it,” he tries.

But John just keeps looking at him, eyes obscured by the glint of his glasses but gaze steady. “Tell me anyway.”