#it’s a group of the few people who would be ready willing and able to take on a Punisher who’s had a massive power upgrade via the Hand

[alaritheaurora]

Chat I'm thinking about Jimmy and Scott and Tango. Just... the duality.

Flower husbands living in a valley covered in greenery and pops of colour, they nurture the garden because at some point after they die they won't be able to find that brightness when looking at eachother. They have a little farm next to the pond, just enough to sustain them and the few animals they have. Scott gets so used to seeing Jimmy as red that he doesn't fear pale, grey skin or crimson eyes. Jimmy has no basis for what Scott would look like as anything but green and he's so willing to protect him, and so to Jimmy people with three lives pose just as much threat as those on one. Then there's Ranchers. They have no idea what either of eachother looked like on green, save for glimpses from the corner of their eyes but the memories don't hold up. They live on a cliff that overlooks the valley of water below. It's so bright and hot that only some flowers can grow. They have open pens and plots of farmland for the animals to graze. Jimmy is the 'idiot' of the two, yet clings so hard to rational decisions. Tango is the 'smart one', but his temper flares at the drop of a hat. One dies and so does the other, they don't ever wonder what red looks like, they see it on eachother. Both Tango and Scott having their homes burnt down and acting similarly. Tango in rage. Scott in a desperation to find who did it. Jimmy working as what connects them to others, he is the reason Scott has friends in the desert. He keeps Tango updated after he disappears into the deep dark. But even so when Scott and Tango interact it's like some battle of politeness and intelligence. If they ever teamed up they would be a force to be reckoned with, a group you want to be friends with, or else you know your actions will have consequences. Thinking about them all three together. Tango is fire and rage, all bark and eventual bite. Scott is the ice and slow creeping death, the one willing to wait and use time to make it hurt. Jimmy is the wind that blows hard and leaves just as quick, quick to strike, but just as quick to forgive. All of them ready to protect each other.

[billybob598]

Hey I was thinking of a FWB with either Alexia Putellas or Ona Batlle ( doesn’t have to be smut if you’re not comfortable) where they’ve been fwb for a few months and the reader and one of them have a crush on each other. One day, one of the ( reader or one of them ) confesses their feelings than they start dating!!!

Sorry if this is bad I’m horrible at making requests!

Have a wonderful day!!

Friends With Consequences (Alexia Putellas x Reader)

So, thanks to the anon who sent this in! I've got like 5 or 6 more requests I'm gonna try and do this week sooo yeahh... Also big shout out to Grammarly for correcting all 999999 writing mistakes I made in this one. Again any feedback good or bad welcomed! Have fun reading!

Word Count: 1.7k (Boom)

As you stare longingly at Alexia, your thoughts wander to the current predicament you’re in. You and Alexia had been friends with benefits for a couple of months. At first, it was just the consequence of a night with a few too many drinks in it. Then, it was celebrating Barca winning the league (again). After three “one time only” nights, both of you knew there was a little something more. That’s when Alexia came up with the brilliant idea of friends with benefits. Alexia also came up with the idea that there would be no strings attached, no caught feelings, you guys would be fuck buddies and teammates, nothing more. If one of you called upon the other, they would be there, but the next day there would be no bringing up what happened the night before. Sure, you liked her as more than a friend, but anything to keep her in your life while also having a little taste of what it’s like to be with Alexia.

As you guys started preparing for the World Cup you would usually be excited, however, with the Spanish teams' current state a.k.a Jorge Vilda you weren’t nearly as excited as you should be. Jorge was being quite hard on players part of the “Las 15” that had come back. While you didn’t take part in the rejection of call-ups, you openly supported your teammates. 

As the tournament progressed, you tried your best to keep a distance from Alexia. Not that she noticed, she was under so much pressure from the media, fans, and Jorge. It didn’t help that her knee had started to bother her during the group stage. The team, despite all off-field events, had been performing well. You guys cruised through the group stage, finishing top of the group. Unfortunately, Spain lost in the quarterfinals. Everyone was heartbroken, and of course, Vilda was not very happy. After the game, Vilda said some terrible, terrible things to the team and you specifically. You had not played your best game ever, but for him to blame it all on you? It made Alexia’s blood boil. 

Throughout the tournament, Alexia realized just how much you meant to her. She was able to admit that you were important to her. She, however, refused to believe that her care for you ran deeper than just friends, who occasionally fucked. So, as the new season at Barca began the two of you kept your current relationship the same. You knew you were in love with Alexia, at this point, there was no denying it. Alexia, on the other hand, kept denying and denying her feelings for you. 

“So, how’s it going Alexia?” Ingrid asks. She was probably your best friend on the team and the only one who knew about your current situation.

You sigh, “I don’t know Ingrid, every time I feel like she likes me back she goes and says something about how she thinks the friends-with-benefits idea is perfect for us. Or as soon as I think that I might have a shot with her, she’s talking about her latest match on some dating site.” 

It was no secret that Alexia was on multiple dating apps. She was always going on dates with different people, it seemed none of them ever stuck for more than two or three dates. It bothered you to no end, here you were ready to do anything for Alexia, willing to drop everything if she ever called, yet you know she wouldn’t do the same for you. 

“Well, maybe just give her signs that you like her and want to be more than just friends with benefits,” the Norwegian suggests.

“Signs? What does that mean?”

“Doing things for her, to you know, show her that you care for her in a different way than friends.”

You think about it for a couple of seconds, “So just like, be extra nice to her?”

“Yeah, basically,” Ingrid says with a shrug. You nod. You can do that. That’s easy, just show her that you care about her.

Over the next couple weeks, you did everything you and Ingrid could think of to show Alexia you like her. Bringing her coffee in the mornings, her favourite candies left at her locker, buying her food whenever the team ate out, anything you could do you did. It was so obvious that even some of the rest of the team started to pick up on it.

“Why don’t you ever buy me coffee, Y/N?” Mapi whines with a cheeky grin. One that quickly disappears after receiving a sharp glare from her girlfriend. You turn red before stuttering out a comeback,

“I don’t know Mapi, but maybe you should think about your girlfriend before asking other women to buy you coffee.” The look of true fear that crosses Mapi’s face is enough to distract the rest of the team enough for you to slip out of the locker room and onto the pitch. 

“So you really like her, huh?” You are startled by the voice, thinking you were the only one out here. When you turn around you’re met with Keira giving you a soft smile. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” you say quickly, hoping to avoid the question.

“So?”

“So what?” You try to play dumb.

“Do you like Alexia? And don’t try to lie Y/N,” Keira asks, pushing you to tell her.

“I think I love her if I’m being honest. She’s in my head 24/7, I can’t stop thinking about her,” you admit shyly.

“Then why not tell her that?” 

“I’m scared. What happens if I ask her out and she says no? I think I would have to move clubs,” you say in a joking tone, but both you and Keira know it wasn’t a joke. She looks at you sympathetically,

“Let’s say that does happen, you get that initial embarrassment over with and then you start getting over her. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but if she rejects you there will be other people. It’s not like she’s your only chance at love, mate.” 

You ponder over her words for a bit before speaking, “I guess you’re right, I should ask her out. Should I ask her out? I shouldn’t ask her out.” Your mind races, then Keira puts her hands on your shoulders and gives you a look. “Okay, I’ll go ask her out.” You walk away feeling nervous and confident at the same time if that’s possible.

As you approach Alexia’s door you feel nervous as hell. The second you knock on it you know there is no going back. So, when she opens the door and sees you, fidgeting with the flowers in your hands, you want to immediately run away. At this point, though, you have to see it through, no chickening out now. 

“Hey Ale,” you can’t keep the nervousness out of your voice.

“Hey Y/N, what’s up?” She senses your nerves and takes hold of your hand to try and calm you down. Smiling at the contact you take a breath before spitting it out,

“Wouldyouliketogoonadatewithme?” Confused, Alexia asks you to repeat what you said. You sigh and say slower,

“Would you like to go on a date with me?” You then hold your breath, as Alexia processes what you said. Then, an expression comes across her face that you can’t quite explain, it’s almost a look as if she’s in pain and then apologetic. 

“Uhm, Y/N, I’m really sorry…” She trails off. When you get the gist of what’s saying, your shoulders slump and your face heats up with embarrassment.

“Yeah, no that’s okay. Don’t worry about it, Ale.”

“I’m really sorry, I just don’t like you like that,” she says feeling worse and worse every passing second.

“I get it, anyways these are for you,” reaching out and giving her the bouquet of flowers you were holding before turning and walking away, head hanging low. 

Alexia couldn’t keep her mind off of you for the next couple of days. Anytime she saw you in training she would try and catch your eye. It seemed, though, that you were determined not to speak to or even make eye contact with her. The entire team saw it, how you slowly cut yourself off from everyone, how you refused to come to team bonding nights, how you stopped going out with the team. For you it became, go to training and go home, nothing more. You had always been relatively quiet, but you didn’t even speak to anyone unless you were on the pitch. This concerned everyone, and Alexia couldn’t help but feel responsible for you isolating yourself. It was also around this time that Alexia started feeling like she made a mistake. Every date she went on she would always imagine that it was you across from her. That you were the one holding her hand and kissing her. So, as the January transfer officially opened, Alexia decided she was going to ask you out.

She originally planned to catch you after training, but you weren’t there. When she asked Ingrid about you the Norwegian just shrugged and said she hadn’t heard from you and that you probably were just not feeling well or something. Now, as Alexia walked up the stairs to your apartment she took note of how nothing was hanging off your front door. Usually, you had some sort of wreath or decoration hanging, she shook it off and put it down as you just forgot to put a new one up after Christmas. She knocked and stood waiting for a couple of seconds. That’s when she saw that your door was slightly ajar. She slowly pushed it open,

“Y/N? Are you in there?” Fully entering the apartment, she let out a gasp. It was completely bare, with nothing more than a couple of boxes and trash bags left. At that exact moment, she got a notification from Instagram. Tapping on it, her heart sank as she saw the post on your account announcing your transfer to Bayern Munich.

Alexia sank to her knees and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Hope you enjoyed this one! Do we want a part 2?

[fuwaprince]

👉👈 Hi friends! I have a long, serious post made just for you(!) that isn't full of spoilers, smut or mooning lawn gnomes. Please read if you can, this is a 💥 mutual aid request 💥

It has been a horribly painful and long while as most people following/keeping up with me know. and in a few days I'm going to be down $1500, which is basically all my fucking $

I can't afford Christmas for anybody, which sucks and I'm very sorry. I can't even take care of myself and haven't been, which also sucks and I'm very sorry

Landlords spontaneously raised rent on me more than halfway through this month as punishment for not getting to my house chores and not communicating, to be totally honest with you. I feel ashamed and awful about it but I didn't want to clean the place while multiple ppl living here had tested positive for COVID and kept walking around unmasked... I am not fully vaxxed because I've been too depressed to get any kind of necessary medical care done and I didn't want to catch COVID in the middle of my finals week for the semester. I woke up to being angrily and rudely bitched at first thing after the last of my finals (I passed at least). It wasn't a humanizing text. Fuck the mistreatment though. Rent is now almost doubled and it won't be lowered

There was no room for negotiation and I truly believe they've resorted to pricing me out of living here because the group of renters psychologically tormenting me wasn't effective (actually- putting a picture of my rapist on the fridge rly was super effective in getting me to isolate myself in my room all day and so was outing me as trans to the transphobic ass neighbors.... But I didn't and still don't have any place better to move out to, like the way they were hoping I would. Yes, I have looked and BEGGED btw)

I want out of here NOW, but I can't leave. I tried and had to come back because it was the best option. I can't afford to stay in a motel/hotel/BnB just to get away from them for a day or two during Christmas. I don't have any friends who I can spend the holiday with either. During the semester, I resorted to convincing classmates with keys to locked buildings to let me crash in them while they worked at night and I would leave before anybody showed up. Now that school is out, I can't do that. I don't have any family I can reach out to for support or friends who I can depend on for immediate help. I have been crying day in and day out for weeks. I have records of it posted throughout my blog. Literally crying for days on end. I'm being so fucking transparent

All that lump of text is to explain to whoever is out there, who might be listening and willing and able, to please consider helping me, if and ONLY IF able. I know times are tough and if you'd rather use your $ for other reasons or just don't have any to spare, don't sweat it and take care! 🫂

I've thought about what I could do for a long time and have helped myself how I can. It isn't enough. I've applied for so much assistance. Been approved and been sabotaged by my inhumane mom (who does not love me) via stealing my legal documents and letters and hiding them for months. My mind jumps to grim places but I'm clinging for dear life to whatever hope I have left that says things will get better. I wish I knew somebody with a business that I could work for. Part of me feels so fucking terrible for asking for help because I feel like a waste of all your resources. I feel like I shouldn't ask, like I really do not fucking deserve help, but there are friends online who care, who I know mentioned being interested in helping in whatever ways they can

So to the people who care to seriously me, I'm ready to accept it: please send me nice words to get through this and feel less alone. It feels pathetic to ask but I would love a nice letter. A nice card even. Kind words of any kind would go a long way. It means more to me than food. I have felt so broken and every day feels like a test to figure out how badly I actually want to live

I'm also leaving my cash app and paypal here in case anybody would like to do more than what I'm comfortable asking but probably very likely will inevitably need very very soon. I will be left with fucking nothing and I will have no idea what to do once rent is paid

Thank you to those of you who have sent love, offered to listen and heard me out. I really wish it wasn't so hard to survive. I'm trying to feel better knowing there are people out there who are also without help and hoping the best, but it doesn't make me feel any better or comforted tbh. I just wish the help was there for us. I wish there was a place to go for spare love, care, compassion, empathy, kindness, humanity, generosity... I need that more than I need $. Call me stupid but that's what I live for. I don't live for paying to survive in terrible conditions. I live for love and to smile with friends

I hope to write back to the friends who have already been so kind as to message me soon btw. I'm sorry for not replying sooner. Your overwhelming support is sincerely sweet and sometimes I cry because I can't believe people are so nice (to me???). It'll give me something to do that doesn't make me feel like dying! :') so thank you thank you thank you *fist bump*

Hope you're all doing as well as you can and that somehow things get better. Hope anybody else struggling like me doesn't make the mistake of isolating like a sick and dying animal. You deserve love. You deserve support. Don't be like me. Have the courage to reach out to the people who care about you for help as early on into your emergency as possible. Don't let your situation snowball because you spend so long trying to figure out if you're worth it!!! This Random Tumblr user is here to tell you that YOU ARE. Sending my infinite everlasting unconditional love. Be nice to yourselves. Be nice to each other. Fuck the hateful assholes who wish I would just kill myself already. Tell your friends you love them. Happy Holidays!!!

And here's a single picture of a mooning lawn gnome at the very end, as a treat! I told you this post wasn't full of it.... It just ended with it 👉👉

[forever-once-gone]

Day 3: Yoongi - You Meet Your Fated at a Coffee Shop <3

Part of the Love, Amour, Aur Pyaar drabble series for February! (lol)

Word count: 3.7k (can't keep them short for the life of me)

Content and Warnings: soulmate au, coffee shop au, gn!reader, sharing preferences, arguing, frustration, they're both a bit dense lol, but other than that nothing too terrible in this, just sweet honestly, almost throwing up, coffee snob!Yoongi, barista!Yoongi, mocha slander, terms of endearment: baby, dear, Y/n is ready to FIGHT

Author's Note: Hey! So like I know it is well past Feb, but tbh it was crazy of me to even think id have time to publish these things during midterms season. Even though I had reading week, it was just not going to happen. Even though I did manage to write some of the days, I obviously couldn't every day. And posting? Forget about it. Anyway, even if it's past Feb, would you want me to post the ones I did write? It won't be instantaneous, but I would like to share what I did write, and maybe even finish all the other days as I had already planned out what I wanted to write each day. Let me know if you're interested! Anyways, as always, enjoy! <3

Another mocha, just another mocha to fill up in the takeaway cup for another person who is trying to get through the February cold. Yoongi gets a lot of mocha requests before the winter holidays season. When so many are hyped up with Christmas cheer. Even people who do not celebrate Christmas tend to indulge in peppermint mochas when the snow hits the ground. And the trend trickled into the post holiday months every winter season. To the point when people ordered mochas even into early spring.

Yoongi, ever the coffee enthusiast, hated having to make so many mochas.

Frankly, he considered mochas just snobby chocolate milk with the smallest hint of caffeine. Like do mochas even deserve to be considered coffee-based beverages? He thought not. You could barely even taste the coffee in between the thick, tongue-coating taste of chocolate and the heaviness of way too much milk.

Everytime he had to make mochas, every single time, he’d be cursing in his head about how he would rather just be able to make his espressos, black coffees, and iced americanos. Iced americanos are the most he’d be willing to go when it comes to diffusing the taste of coffee.

Adding milk? Forget it.

Adding sugar? He’d rather just pour it down the drain than drink it.

Alas, when it comes to his job, he has to fulfill the customer’s wishes. No matter how much he hated the sugary, barely-even-coffee, more-like-milkshakes drinks, he would make the drink for them. A waste of good coffee in his books, but he needed the money that came from his overpriced caffeinated chocolate milk 

So, when it came to a coffee-novice coming into his coffee shop asking for a mocha, he would grit his teeth but make the drink nonetheless, the underline he requires to be able to pay his shop’s mortgage and keep all of his employees.

It was another one of these spring days when he’d unlocked the front doors of the café only to see someone new. Normally, only a few select people would come to his café so early in the morning, after all, most people started work at 9 or later. Only a few people would come at 5:30 when he opened. But today, there was someone new.

There was you, a person he’d never seen before standing behind his regulars. A cheery looking person, giving him a smile when he unlocked the door and opened it for the small group of people to trickle in.

He made his way behind the counter as he began his small routine with his regulars, smiling at each one of them as they gave him their orders, even though there really was no need as he had gotten each one of them memorized ages ago.

He took and prepared each order with practiced ease, until he got to the last person in line. The one who had spent the last ten minutes scanning the chalkboard menu with an analytical look.

You.

“Good morning,” you said to him with a kind smile.

“Good morning,” he replied. “What can I get started for you today?”

You wrung your hands, scanning the menu again, before looking back at him. “Can I get a large mocha?”

He scoffed. Seriously, chocolate this early in the morning? Typical from a cheery-looking person like yourself.

“What?” you asked, wondering if you’d broken some unspoken social cue. You’d seen the way he’d kindly spoken to the customers before you, making small talk, so what happened when it came to you?

“Nothing, nothing,” he waved you off, before pressing some buttons on his cash register’s screen. “That’ll be 5000 won.”

“No, no. That definitely was something. Did I say anything wrong?” You insisted, brows furrowed together in a mix of worry and a bit of indignation.

“No, not at all. It’ll be 5000 won.” He tried to force a smile, but your eyes were squinted together just as you did before when you were scanning the menu, but this time your object of interest was him.

“What? You just don’t like me or something?” You felt a bit uncomfortable, out of place in this cafe with a barista who seemed to hold a certain disdain for you from the moment you opened your mouth. But that didn’t mean you were going to back down from this entitled man. You eyed him up and down, letting him know the contempt was mutual.

He let out a small scoff, before seeming to recompose himself with customer service professionalism. “Of course not. I’m sorry if it seemed that way. Your total is 5000 won.”

You could see through his poorly reconstructed composure, but nonetheless gave him the requested money. You were already running late to your job interview, and you needed this job if you hoped to actually be able to rent a place in this city. You had already spent three weeks staying with your friend after moving here from your old city. You couldn’t stay with her forever, even if she was willing to keep you for forever if you needed it.

You stepped away from the register after he had given you your change and moved away to make your drink. You took the time to continue admiring the interior of the cafe as the barista flew around his counter space. You took in the worn furniture resembling something half between industrial and contemporary. The hanging lights and the various maps lining the walls of the place. Very hipster. Fitting for a coffee shop.

The call of: “One large mocha?” brought you back from your inspection. With a hum, you took your drink from him, feeling the drink warm your gloved hands.

“Thanks.”

“No problem, have a nice day.” And with that he was moving back to his dishes to clean up the dishes he’d used before the next customers wandered in.

You turned away from him, moving towards the door. Before you pushed open the door to brave into the cold, you flipped open the flap on the top of the to-go cup. You took a quick sip, ready for the delicious drink to coat your tongue, but instead your tastebuds were assaulted with a heinous amount of sugar. It tasted like you’d boiled a pool full of chocolate and dumped a truck full of sugar and then reduced the entire pool full over a roaring fire until only a cup of the concentrated mixture remained full of pure chocolate and sugar.

You immediately turned back on your heel. Pressing your tongue against the tip of your mouth, trying to rid it of the sweet assault. “You messed up,” you slammed the cup on the counter, seeing the barista’s shoulders jump at the loud thump.

“What’s the issue?” he asked, as he wiped off his hands on a hand towel before flipping it onto his shoulder. He leaned onto the counter with the palms of his hands, not even trying to hide his annoyance with you anymore considering the frown he sent your way.

“This is way too sweet. Like what, did you dump a whole bag of sugar into this thing?” You nudged the cup towards him. “If you didn’t like me, you could have just refused to take my order, you didn’t have to do all this!” You gestured to the cup.

“Please, I need you to calm down. I didn’t do anything to your drink. It’s just a regular mocha. Mochas are sweet, you should have known that before you ordered it for the first time.” He rolled his eyes slightly.

“First time? Oh, honey, no—I know what mochas are meant to taste like and this is not it. It’s practically the only thing I ever get!”

He scoffed yet again. Typical, he thought to himself. Never would've guessed. “Just take your drink and go, I don’t have time for this.”

“You don’t believe me do you?” You said in disbelief. You never would dare fight with someone like this, but for some reason, this one guy was just getting on your nerves. Typically, even if your order had gotten mixed up you would just swallow your disappointment and try to enjoy the drink anyway. Even if it was something bitter and boring like a plain black coffee. But the way this man had been acting from the moment you ordered has been rude and completely ruined your confidence. Not what you needed at all before trying to get this job. And for some reason, it felt like all your senses and emotions had been turned up to 100, so controlling your anger was a lot harder.

“Drink it,” you told him, holding his eye contact. “Yeah, drink it. If you can drink even one gulp without making a face, I’ll admit I was wrong and leave.”

The barista tongued his cheek for a moment, contemplating what you said. “I don’t want to. I don’t like mochas, besides, I can’t drink a customer’s drink anyway.”

“I’m just gonna take your refusal as you admitting that you fucked with my drink.”

By this point the two people left in the shop were watching the two of you fighting at the counter. A middle aged man walked up to the counter, stepping in to try and defuse the situation. “Why don't you just take a sip of it, Yoongi? Just to prove them wrong?”

“I refuse,” the barista, Yoongi, said to the man. “It’s a matter of principle at this point. I’m not drinking it. I know my abilities, and I know that that mocha would be as good as mochas get. I’m not gonna take a sip of a nasty ass mocha just cause this person wants to throw a fuss at five in the morning.”

“So you admit you fucked with it?! You admitted it’s nasty!”

“No,” he rolled his eyes at you for the umpteenth time this morning. “I just hate mochas, they taste like shit. But anyone who likes those chocolatey messes will admit mine are as good as they get. I might not like them, but I still put all my effort into making sure they taste good.”

“Just fucking drink it then! I’m not joking, this tastes like shit. Maybe something is wrong with your milk steaming machine or something—this just isn’t right!”

The middle-aged man decided to try and put the fight to an end. “Why don’t I just give it a try, huh?”

“No!” But Yoongi and you said at the same time, before turning back to each other again.

“He refuses to admit it, and he has to be the one to try it!” You crossed your arms.

“And they’re the one who is making a big situation over nothing, you should never give in to people like them.” He glared at you. Now that his patrons were getting involved, he wanted to get you out as soon as possible.

“Just try it! I swear it’s unbelievable. Just give it one sip!” You threw up your arms in frustration. “Come on, I’m not even asking for a refund or anything, I just want you to admit that you took your anger out on me for no reason. That’s all, I don’t even want an apology!”

“I don’t need to apologize! I didn’t do anything wrong! That mocha is PERFECT! I’d bet my life on it.” Yoongi was fuming now, chest heaving with frustration and annoyance. He was this close to calling the cops on you and calling it a day.

“Oh shut up with the ‘perfect’ nonsense! It’s not perfect! Just try it! This whole thing would have been over ages ago if you just gave it a try!” You pulled the cap off of the cup. “If you’re afraid it’s poisoned, I’ll take a sip of it before you drink it. See look.” 

You took a swig of the drink, nearly choking on the sugary beverage as you tried to keep the concoction from coming right back up. You gagged for a second or two, before finally straightening back up, wiping your mouth with the back of your gloved hand.

The two men around you exchanged expressions, their anger turning more to disbelief. Either you were a great actor or that drink really, really sucked.

“There, see. I didn’t tamper with it. Now, please, please just try it. Please. Don’t make me look insane. Just try it.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Fine. Fucking fine. I’ll try it. But if it tastes fine, you need to leave my shop and never come back, you hear me?”

“I swear. I won’t come back, don’t plan to anyway.”

Yoongi raised an eyebrow at that, before grabbing the lidless cup from the counter. He held it up, hesitated, and then said, “I really don’t like mochas,” with a scrunch of his nose. He took a breath and then took the smallest sip you’ve ever seen a human being take before slamming the cup down. His hand immediately came up to cover his mouth, his eyebrows furrowed.

You couldn’t bear to hide your smug look. How was he gonna hide how terrible the drink was now? He looked like he was going to throw up. Ha! That will show him!

But then he did the weirdest thing. He took another sip. A long sip this time. Other than his furrowed brows, he didn’t choke, gag, or even dry heave for a millisecond. Just watching him drink was making you nauseous.

“Oh my god!” you yelled, snatching the cup from his hands before he could take another sip, holding it up behind you, away from him. “You’re going to give yourself diabetes if you drink that whole thing!”

Immediately he tried to reach across the counter and get it back from you. “Hey! Give that back! This makes no sense!”

“Yoongi, calm down!” The man said, pushing the barista back off of the counter that he was practically leaning his whole body onto at this point.

“Why does it taste good?!” The distress that the barista was under put even you on pause. You watched the barista scramble around, rubbing at his head as if it was aching him. Was this the effect of all the sugar?

“Hey, man, you doing alright?” You placed the cup back down on the counter, holding a hand out to him to show you meant no harm.

He just shook his head, picking up a half empty mug from behind the counter that you had seen him periodically sipping from between the preparation of yours and the others’ drinks. He took a large gulp only to immediately run to the sink, spitting the drink right into the drain.

“Why does my coffee taste so heinous?! Why does it taste like fucking bitter gasoline? Why does the mocha taste so fucking good?!” He was still hunched over the sink, the only thing you could see of him was his back a bit of his lowered head. His arm reached to grab the hand towel on his shoulder to throw it to the side.

You had no answer for him. This was all so bizarre.

“This—” the middle aged man brought both your and Yoongi’s attention to him, as he brought the cup back to his lips for another sip. When had he taken your mocha from you? Was it when Yoongi was losing his mind? 

“This tastes…” He took another sip. His brows furrowed in concentration. 

“This tastes like a regular mocha.” He put the cup back down. “I think you guys need to calm down for a moment and think about what this means.”

“What do you mean?” you asked him.

“I think you know what I mean, dear.” The man had a kind-hearted look on his face as his eyes flitted between both you and Yoongi.

“OH MY GOD.” Yoongi grabbed the edge of the counter, seeming to understand the man’s insinuation. “There is no way.”

“What? What am I missing?” The man only shook his head as Yoongi raised his head to meet your gaze. He just pushed his half empty mug to you. Inside was black coffee.

“Try it. I need to see if it’s true.”

“Um, no. I don’t like black coffee. Yuck.” You nudged the mug right back to him only for him to stop the movement halfway. 

“That’s exactly why you have to try this,” Yoongi said as calmly as he could, though you could swear he looked almost like he could faint right then and there.

“Fine,” you took the mug from him. “Just cause you did drink the mocha.”

You swirled the dark liquid in the mug, debating whether it was worth it to drink the bitter liquid. But when you looked up to see that both the man and Yoongi were watching you like scientists inspecting their latest mutant rats for their observational notes, you just took a sip only to get them to stop staring at you.

Instantly your throat was soothed as the smooth taste of the perfectly roasted coffee made its way through your mouth. You’d never drunk anything so refreshing, so calming as it warmed you up from the inside out. Even though there was no sugar or cream, you surprisingly didn’t mind it as it allowed the rich flavour of the black coffee to shine through strongly. It tasted so good.

You didn’t put down the mug until you’d finished the whole thing.

The middle aged man had a small smile on his face, while Yoongi seemed to be still in his inspector mode.

“So,” the man began. “How was it?”

You thought about it for a second. “Good. Like really good. Like surprisingly good.”

The man clapped his hands. “Well there you have it. Congrats you two.”

You shook your head for a second, scrunching your face in annoyance. “What are you talking about?”

Yoongi came around the counter, finally coming to stand beside you without anything between you two. “Do I need to spell it out for you?”

“Easy, Yoongi. Don’t want to scare them off now do you?”

Yoongi rolled his eyes at the man but then nodded his head in understanding. “You don’t like black coffee right? Too bitter or something?”

You nodded. “Yeah, too bitter. I need more sugar or else I just can’t get it down.”

“And I hate mochas. They’re too sweet and you can’t even tell there is coffee in it since it's so overpowered by the sugar, chocolate, and milk.”

“Okay… What does that have to do with me though?”

“But I just liked the mocha. Not just liked, I loved the mocha. And you loved the black coffee.”

“Yeah…” You waited for him to clarify further.

He waved his arm as if urging you to think further, but when you just cocked your head to the side in confusion, he dropped his arm back down to his side. “Seriously?” he asked, exasperated. “I hated my usual coffee and loved your mocha. And you hated your usual mocha and loved my coffee.”

You nodded your head, trying to understand what he was trying to get at. Until it just clicked, your eyes widening instantly, reaching to grab his elbows. “OH MY GOD! We’re soulmates! Oh my god! We switched preferences! We’re soulmates!” You threw your arms around him, pulling him as close to you as you could through your thick winter jacket.

“Took you long enough,” he huffed, his arms reciprocating your grasp.

“Oh my god! I knew I was meant to move here! I have to tell my roommate! But wait—” you pushed him out of your hold.

Yoongi let out a light groan, as he caught himself from stumbling.

You pointed a finger at him accusingly. “You hate mochas, you black coffee supremacist!”

“Seriously?” Yoongi asked you. “That’s your biggest concern now?”

“Well yeah! I mean, I don’t know if my preferences will change back, but if they do, I can’t stay with a soulmate that thinks he’s superior to me because of his coffee preferences!”

Yoongi let out a small laugh, his lips tugging into a smile. “If it makes you feel any better, I think I will never be able to hate mochas after today.”

Even with your finger still pointed at him, you felt your lips pull into a wide smile at the hidden meaning behind his words.

You both jumped at the clearing of a throat behind the two of you. The man had made his way to the front door of the coffee shop with his order in his hand. “Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to let you know that my wife, Maria, had been recording the entire thing in case you needed to call the police.” He nodded towards the other patron who had been at the shop when you and Yoongi had started fighting who was now standing holding the door open as she waited for her husband. “Let me know if you want the video of your first meeting, I’m sure your friends and family would love to see it,” he said between kind-hearted soft laughs, before leaving hand-in-hand with Maria.

“Maybe even our future grandkids,” you teased him happily, taking a step back towards him.

Yoongi just smiled in reply, showing off his perfect teeth to you.

You felt your heart swell.

He took another step towards you, grabbing a hold of your hands by your side. “I would like that.”

You heard the door chime as a customer walked into the coffee shop before their steps halted somewhere behind you.

“Uh, is this a bad time?” The customer asked from behind you.

“Give me a second,” Yoongi replied.

“Alright,” the person cleared their throat. “Just don’t want to be late for work.”

That seemed to jolt you out of your Yoongi admiring stupor. “Shit! I have an interview!” You tightened your hold on his hands before letting go.

By the time Yoongi realized what was going on, you were already halfway out the door.

“I’m going to be so late! I’ll be back later, okay, baby?” You had pushed the door open taking a step out before turning back to him. “I am allowed to come back right? Or am I still exiled from your shop?” You asked with a smile.

“Seriously?” He laughed, shaking his head as he made his way back behind the service counter. “Maybe you’ll just have to try your luck.”

“You’re impossible.” You laughed into your hand, waving your hand at him. “When I come back, if you don’t let me in, I’ll tell all your customers that I almost threw up after drinking your mocha.” You stuck out your tongue at him as he fake gasped, before finally actually leaving the shop.

Well, there's that.

So if you didn't get it, in this case, soulmates have different ways of finding out if they're meant to be in this universe. For Yoongi and Y/n, they met and ended up switching coffee preferences (or maybe even more preferences but the only thing they noticed so far is the coffee). Even though their reactions may seem extra, when you meet your soulmate all your emotions/feelings/everything is meant to be heightened. So they had each other's preferences, but n times stronger. So that's why they loved the other's preference like it was ambrosia, but their own preferences tasted like so bad to them. Y/n found the mocha wayyyy to sweet like Yoongi would usually, and Yoongi found the black coffee wayyyyy too bitter cause Y/n likes her coffee well sweetened and with a lot of stuff to mellow the coffee flavour.

But anyway, yes they're in love.

So yeah, do let me know if you want me to post the rest of these. It will be a slow process, but I would like to do so.

Take care!!

[here-lies-they-ran-outta-luck]

Hey!! I saw your post about requests! I was wondering if you could write something about draco falling in love with his childhood best friend? (fem reader please) this could be like a series or just a short story or whatever u want!! thank you :)

Finally (Draco Malfoy x Reader)

warnings- use of y/n, more feminine compliments, kinda sad word count- 983 an- I had something else posted here and then I didn't like it so I deleted it, so sorry. Thank you so much for this request because I had a great time writing this!

You take a deep breath as you walk towards the large doors that lead to the Malfoy’s expansive ballroom for what might be one of the last times.

“You look as beautiful as ever, Y/n. Are you ready?” Narcissa says, putting her arms on your shoulders once you stop walking, she’s been like your second mother for the last 8 years.

“I think I am. Is Draco walking with me?” You ask, turning around to look at the graceful older woman.

“Absolutely you are,” the blonde says, appearing behind his mother, giving you a large minty smile.

“I know I say this every year,” Narcissa says, moving so that you and Draco are standing together, putting her hand on Draco’s cheek, she says “You two would be such an adorable couple!”

“And Each year we tell you you’re crazy,” Draco says softly, taking his moms hand off his cheek.

“You guys know what you're doing, yes?” She questions, looking at us with expecting eyes.

“Yes Mum, we’ve been doing this for as long as we’ve been walking,” he says, flashing her a charming smile. She returns the smile and continues on her way, convinced that we know when to head down the stairs.

“She’s right, you do look beautiful,” Draco says, turning to face you, he pushes a few stray pieces of hair out of your face.

“And you look extremely handsome,” You reply, flashing him a large smile. You two stand arm in arm waiting for the doors to open.

The doors fly open after a few quick seconds, you and Draco start walking down the long flight of stairs, arms staying locked.

“I don’t think I’d be able to walk down the stairs with anyone else,” You joke, looking up at Draco, “I’m too used to how goofy you walk.”

“This could be our last year together and you’re going to bully me?” He says, smirking at your comment.

“What makes you say that? Are you trying to get rid of me?” You say, mocking offense.

“I’m just saying that with how stunning you look, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone came to sweep you off your feet,” He says, his minty breath hitting your face.

“It’s a shame you’re not willing to try to woo me,” You say, only half joking.

“Who says I haven’t been trying to?” He questions, stopping at the bottom of the staircase, looking at you with adoration in his eyes.

“Is that so?” You say with a smirk, challenging him. He only answers with a shrug, pulling you towards your group of friends, leaving you with them while he grabs the two of you something to drink.

“Are you two finally together then?” Theodore questions, taking a bite out of a small slice of chocolate cake.

“Oh come on, did he pay you to say that?” You say with a large smile, taking a finger full of frosting from the boy's plate.

“Nope, just waiting for the day that I get to win the bet,” He says with a smug smirk, pulling his cake further away from you.

“What is it? A bet that two childhood best friends will get together? Do you guys have one between me and Matty too?” You snort, crossing your arms.

“Nope, I only make bets that people with sexual tension are going to get together,” He replies with a shit eating smirk.

“Theodore! There is no sexual tension!” You say, swatting his arm with your hand bag, “He wouldn’t feel the same way about me anyway, he's just a flirt.”

“No no, I am just a flirt, he is smitten,” The brunette says flashing you a goofy grin.

“You are the dumbest person I have ever met,” You say, turning away from him, taking a drink from Draco who just arrived.

Eventually the two of you wonder off, talking to different people, taking pictures for when your parents ask for it. At some point you find yourself out on the balcony, Draco nowhere to be seen.

Embracing the chill of the lonely night you sit on the small metal bench you’ve spent time growing to love. You’re staring off into space, letting your thoughts take over when you hear quiet footsteps then soon after feel the presence of the blonde boy next to you.

“Hello Dray,” You say, sitting up, looking at the stunning boy.

“Hello love. Are you feeling okay?” He asks, turning towards you.

“I think I am now that you’re here,” You say, bumping your shoulders together, “Things are always better when you’re with me.”

“Don’t do that, Y/n,” He says, abruptly standing up.

“What do you mean, Dray?” You ask, his sudden movement making your chest ache ever so slightly.

“I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to just be your friend, I don’t want to watch you walk with someone else at my family balls, and I don’t want to pretend that I’m not absolutely in love with you,” He says, letting out a loud huff.

“What?” You say quietly, looking up at the boy.

“Don’t act stupid, Y/n. I have been so in love with you for as long as I can remember. And I need to tell you now before it really is too late,” He says, his eyes glossing over.

“Draco Lucius Malfoy, I have been in love with you since we were 7 years old,” You say, standing up, wrapping your arms around the boy's neck.

“Do you promise?” He says, tears brimming his eyes ready to fall.

“I promise,” You reply, standing on your tiptoes to give the boy a kiss on the lips, pulling away you lay your head on his chest, moving your arms down to the middle of his back so you can squeeze him in a tight hug.

“Mattheo, you owe me 17 sickles!” You faintly hear Theodore yell.

[kurenai-works]

Hello everyone, today is my 29th birthday.

With that in mind, I figured it would be the best time to talk about this, so I'm proud to present to all of you 東方雷秘儀 ～ Strike in the Holy Apex, my very first Touhou Project fangame!

The game's story will be centered around a mysterious thunderstorm that's raiding the entirety of Gensokyo, so it's up to a group of heroines to investigate the situation and save the day.

As some of you may know, around November of last year, GameMaker has become free to use for everyone, which prompted me to take the opportunity to create an engine that looks roughly similar to ZUN's original Touhou Project games. I showcased it in greater detail on YouTube sometime around late February and I was very pleased by the generally positive feedback it got.

Taking that into account, I continued to expand the work I've done and it has grown a lot during the past four months; menus function properly, game settings can be modified, controller support has been added, several gameplay tweaks have been implemented, and so on. There's still a number of things that need to be ironed out by the time I'm writing this post, but considering the progress I have done on it so far, I have faith that a trial version for the game will be ready for release soon. This has to be the biggest project I've worked on... by a country mile. Speaking of the trial version's release date, that will be disclosed at the very end of this post.

GameMaker being free to use has given me a joy I genuinely can't describe, and I bet my inner child would’ve been happy too by hearing those news. After all, I've had experiences with GameMaker for well over 15 years, basically almost half of my entire life!

So, what should you expect by the time the trial version is released? First things first, it'll obviously consist of only three stages.

Secondly, you'll be able to play this adventure as the usual duo; Reimu and Marisa. More playable characters will be available in the full version.

Thirdly, the game's main mechanic. It's called the Brave Gauge, and it has functionality almost similar to the Season Gauge found in Touhou 16: Hidden Star in Four Seasons. It's not the most original idea I've had, but for the record, and coming back to my familiarity with GameMaker ever since my teenage years, this system was taken from a very old draft which dates all the way back to 2014, while making some adjustments to it. Here's a little bit of proof:

I'm going a bit off tangent here, but seeing these filenames kinda makes me feel embarrassed. The game has "Ascii" on the name because all of the graphics in there were made using ASCII characters, which was done during a time when my artistic talents were non-existent, so they looked quite messy and overall made the game have a goofy aura to it, haha.

And lastly, considering that I'd like this game to be played by a wider demographic, it's gonna be available in three different languages: English, Spanish (my native language, hooray!) and Japanese. These can be selected anytime via the options menu.

I don't know any people who are fluent in Japanese, and the few friends that I have don't seem to know much about the language either, so that translation is gonna be handled 100% by myself using tools like DeepL. I know that translating all the stuff in one go can lead to heavily mistranslated results, so I'll be making sure to convert my game's text as meticulously as I can. If there's anyone out there who understands Japanese fluently and is willing to translate the text for me, please hit me up because that'd be really appreciated. In case that happens, I won't be able to reward the translation financially, but I will be adding your name to my game's end credits.

So yeah, I don't have much else to say. The game's trial version will be available on Itch.io this August 30th.

The game has a long way ahead from being completed, so anticipating a release date for the full version is not feasible, at the moment. Regardless, I'll make sure to update on that once I have made abundant progress on it.

Both versions of the game will be released as pay-what-you-want. In simpler words, they'll be available free of charge with the optional choice of depositing a sum, in case you're feeling generous. After all, not to brag, but it goes without saying that I'm handling every detail in the game; not just the programming, but also the art, music and writing. While I have used some code libraries to facilitate the inclusion of certain aspects in my game, most of the heavy lifting is carried out by me, so it'd be really appreciated to have some compensation for the work I have been doing for almost half a year. It's not by any means mandatory, so it's fine if you can't for whatever reason, hahaha.

Anyway, I hope you look forward to this game of mine as much as I do! See you then!!

[muninnhuginn]

mitsumi's always had this big plan about what she wants to do and the steps she needs to take to achieve it. she likes meeting new friends, even if it's an entirely different vibe to "back home". there are way more layers to decipher in the city and it's not just "expected" for everyone to get on with everyone else. her class sizes back in the country almost mandated that people had to get on, but her tokyo school is so much larger and it's so easy for people to get lost in the crowd.

anyway, entirely tangented from where I was going with this. mitsumi breaks up with shima for a few reasons. one of the big ones is her not believing that shima likes her romantically. she takes his avoidant nature and enforced passiveness to mean that he's not willing to intervene on her behalf. and being able to step forward for other people is a big part of mitsumi's own approach to life. she's pushed mika, yuzuki, and makoto out of their comfort zones by the sheer force of her personality. three people who are well aware that they're not the same types of people and yet who all get along in the same friend group. so, if she's willing to bat for shima and he isn't willing to do the same for her, then her conclusion that maybe they're ill-matched makes sense. it's not like she has the same insight as the audience into shima's psyche, after all. if anything, until they started dating, she had him on a pedestal that only then started to crumble.

that said, mitsumi really does have a life plan. and she has worries about that plan. she doesn't take it as far as takamine in terms of planning down to the second, but she mentions several times about worrying if she has time to commit if she wants to do well in her exams and therefore meet her goals.

and a romantic relationship is a commitment. obviously the level of commitment varies between relationships, but shima and mitsumi both go to the same school. they see it each other nearly every day and that would be true regardless of whether they stay friends or turn their relationship romantic.

I guess what I'm gunning at here, is that mitsumi has reason to believe shima isn't actually interested in her romantically (regardless of how true that is) and has seen that he is not willing to defend her publicly. these are both clearly laid out as reasons when she says they should break up with each other. however, there are still other factors that she doesn't outright spell out.

one) a relationship could take up time and pull her away from her life plan. she wants to dedicate her life to public service but she doesn't know that a romantic relationship would even last that long. if she ruins her whole reason for moving to tokyo over a relationship that doesn't last? then her entire plan is back to square one. two) linked to this is that she would be seeing shima regularly regardless of how the relationship panned out. if it went badly and they ended on bad terms then she'd still have to see him. it wouldn't be as bad as if he were a classmate back out in the country, but there's still enough overlap for it to be awkward. and they're awkward enough as it is when they were only dating briefly and ended as friends. and shima's friendship is too important to her to lose.

mitsumi says that she's given it a shot but some extent there's some self-sabotage in there. she would rather bail early on than risk her relationship with shima going sour or it impacting on her life plan. they didn't even have the chance to share that they were a couple with any of their schoolmates because the relationship was so short-lived.

but, it is fair enough. shima himself was not ready to meet her halfway whilst they were dating, because he had his own issues that he's still working through. it'll be interesting to see though once shima has started to work through his issues and realised he wants to try again, if it's then mitsumi's turn to try and balance her worries against their potential relationship.

tldr; mitsumi has more reasons than she says for breaking up with shima, but at the same time, shima wasn't yet ready to be in a relationship with her anyway. when shima is ready at some point down the line, it'll be interesting to see if mitsumi's previously stated worries about her life plan come into play, and if they'll affect her own commitment.

[lesboylycan]

guhh simplyplural is pretty much useless for us as a tool for plurality which sucks. we tried to use it but we way prefer pluralkit on Discord and we find very little use in logging switches (as a polyfrag collective with four people voluntarily frontstuck who rarely has "switches" in the way it's usually meant, but constantly has people popping in to talk for a few minutes before fucking off again). like yeah the data would be nice but it's such a hassle to handle (plus the whole thing of only having names/not having displaynames means it's harder to organize, say, our 70+ Wills, and we're not a fan of how the groups work (specifically we wish you could drag groups into others instead of having to remake a group if you want it placed somewhere else). also only being able to have one image as an avatar and not being able to show different avatars to other people makes it difficult for some of our headmates who want to be known about, but aren't, say, out as trans to certain folks and aren't ready to out themselves, but still want a profile picture for people they are out to that makes them feel euphoric). plus trying to keep simplyplural and pluralkit both synced is a Nightmare.

+ we're too paranoid to add anyone as friends and risk them accidentally seeing things we don't want them to see so there's not much use there

tbh, we might clear the whole thing, use solely pluralkit for plurality, and try using simplyplural to track our physical nonhumanity? that's a lot less "volatile" in terms of changes and it could be nice to add people for the purpose of letting them know What we are (rather than Who)

[kittyit]

Hello I see that you appear to be an active member and/or contribute to women’s land communities and I’d appreciate some advice on how to share information about these communities to other women online without endangering them.

I’m a member of the female separatists subreddit and more and more members have been showing interest in learning about women’s land, however there are some users that think this information shouldn’t be posted so publicly. If there is a consensus on how to share this information form women in the communities I’d love to hear and heed what they’re saying.

there is no consensus! different lands have different policies and ideas but even those are usually loose intentions. it's hard to pin down exactly what my approach is on sharing info publicly about women's lands and events. it's an intuitive practice. i like to share just enough information that someone on anon would not be able to get the information she'd need to actually show up. i feel like the way things are (society artificially mollified by social media interaction while still starving for interaction and connection) is almost a shield between people who want to do harm to land and the land itself. the people who hate us are often lazy. going to land takes effort, how much effort that is depends on your specific situation and the specific land, but it requires a level of vulnerability, being yourself, and being willing to personally connect with other women, especially older women who don't want to just email, who want to talk on the phone or meet you. i think the details of contacting a land liaison are best shared in private groups or between two women who have some sort of personal connection, even if it's just a brief or intuitive one. i also don't believe in holding women's hands or begging them to go to land - the women who want to go to land and get connected will. encouragement is one thing, but i wasted a few years not understanding that there's a difference between women who are active and do what they want to do and women who are not in that place. it would be nice if i could make an ovarit post or a tumblr post or a facebook post and interested women would spring out of the woodwork ready for action. but unfortunately we are living in a society that drains our will, drive, and energy we need to act and do unusual and adventurous things, and our subculture of radical & lesbian feminism is not protected from or immune to that. every day i eagerly await more curious and bold women emerging from the digital shadows and treasure all the ones i already know :)

[cuddlepilefics]

That's no stomach bug

Fandom: Stray Kids

Sickie: Jeongin (?)

Caregiver: Chan (alpha)

After struggling for quite some time during the survival show, Jeongin finds himself feeling increasingly sick. Since he can't get a hold of his mother, he decides on his next best option and dials Chan instead.

No one's POV.:

As Stray Kids battled through the survival show, they already emotionally prepared themselves to form a pack with Chan as their pack-alpha after their debut. There was one more hurdle aside from the threat of eliminations though. One of the members hadn't presented yet. Though the age difference between Jeongin and Seungmin was pretty small, Seungmin had already presented as a beta two years ago, while Jeongin still had no clue what his secondary gender would be and how it would fit into their dynamics as a group. Chan had once asked the maknae about it, worried why the boy still hadn't presented. Brushing it off, Jeongin declared that he had already seen a doctor about it and it was determined that he was just a late bloomer. It wasn't entirely the truth but the leader didn't need to know that. Since Jeongin's mother too had been concerned, the boy did see a doctor, who determined that it was the trainee lifestyle that was messing with his body and threw his hormones off balance.

As Jeongin tried to juggle school and training, he barely got any sleep. He always had to practice after school, oftentimes till late into the night before having to get up early to attend his classes. The excessive amount of physical activity from the endless hours of dancing combined with the strict diet he had been following to prepare for his debut, put further strain on his body but the only way to solve this problem would be to give up on this career path and choose something boring and less stressful. Jeongin wasn't willing to give up. So what if it took longer for him to present? Still he hated to make people worry about him, which was why he never told the other members why he hadn't presented yet. The one most worried about the boy, was his mom. After the members had moved into a dorm together, she had no way of looking after her son and feared that he would cut down on food even more, now that she wasn't there to remind him to eat. Jeongin himself was excited about their new living arrangement. He was rooming with Jisung and realized that although the rapper was often loud and overly confident, often picking fights, it was all a front and the older often doubted himself. When they talked before sleep, Jeongin found a good friend in his hyung because the other took the time to listen to him.

Chan was also of great help to Jeongin. He knew how tough it had to be on their youngest, who often wasn't able to attend practices due to his classes, so the Aussie met up with him in the evenings to practice together, as did Hyunjin whenever he had the time to. On one of those nights, when Chan and Jeongin stayed in the practice room for hours, completely missing out on dinner, the maknae kept messing up the same sequence of steps. With how tired he was, he was ready to cry from frustration. He had felt even more fatigued than usual over the past few days and in truth, his stumbling came from how lightheaded he felt. When Jeongin once again lost his balance, Chan caught him by the arm and helped him to sit down, frowning: "You okay?" The younger only nodded, harshly scrubbing at his eyes, knowing if he tried to talk a sob would be all that came out, so he held back.

Fetching the younger's water bottle, Chan made him drink a few sips and asked: "Truthfully, how do you feel, Innie?" His dongsaeng shakily placed the bottle on the floor and shrugged. "I'm really sore from all the dancing this past week but I can't stop till I get this right", Jeongin admitted, his voice trembling as he tried to force a smile, "I know I have no right to complain because all of you sleep even less than me but I'm so tired." – "You have every right to complain", Chan stated quietly, "All of us are tired, yeah, but that doesn't mean that your experience isn't valid. How about we go and eat something? Sure, we will choose something healthy that won't completely mess up our diet but if you don't eat well, you'll only get sorer as time passes." Sniffling softly, Jeongin shook his head and played with a loose string on his shirt. Not daring to look the leader in the eye, the younger admitted: "I don't really have an appetite but I'd love to sleep. Can we try to quickly do a few more run-throughs only till I get it right and then go back to the dorm?" – "No", Chan said bluntly, making Jeongin's chest tighten before continuing, "We won't do another run-through. You're exhausted, I don't think that pushing yourself further will help you get it right. Let's go back, so you can get some rest and we can try again tomorrow." Defeated, Jeongin accepted but he felt so ashamed, that he remained quiet as they headed back to their dorm. Jisung was still out when the younger went to bed, making him feel even worse about going to bed earlier than the others.

When Jeongin woke up the following morning to get ready for class, his muscles were on fire, which wasn't surprising but still annoying. It felt like he hadn't gotten any rest before his alarm rang, forcing him out of bed. Still having no appetite, Jeongin skipped breakfast and sluggishly made his way to school. The morning passed in a blur, the boy barely paying attention in class. He simply couldn't. His mind too muddled to really make much sense. During lunch, his friends forced him to eat but the boy only had a small serving of rice. He wasn't hungry, which was weird, considering how long it had been since he had last eaten something. On his way to his afternoon class, Jeongin's vision suddenly swam as his ears rang. Stumbling, he sank into a crouch with his back against the closest wall, afraid he was about to faint. It took a few moments of Jeongin breathing deeply for him to get his bearings but it had given his classmate a scare. No matter how many times Jeongin repeated that he was fine, the other insisted that he smelled wrong but was brushed off. Jeongin didn't have the energy to think about his situation right now. He just wanted to get his school day over with, so he could head to the company building to his evening vocal lesson. He was planning to practice his vocals for another hour after his lesson before meeting up with Chan to go over his dancing again to make up for the previous evening.

That was easier said than done though. By the time class was over, Jeongin was ready to drop but he knew he had to keep going. He took a taxi to the company building, palming his tummy under his shirt as the ride made him feel queasy and he was glad when the driver pulled up outside the building and he had solid ground under his feet again. For the briefest moment, he stumbled but quickly made his way inside, afraid he'd be late for his lesson. To Jeongin's surprise, his vocal teacher asked him if he felt alright, nodding suspiciously when the boy claimed to feel fine. The exhaustion was evident in Jeongin's voice, as it came out flat with barely any emotion behind his words.

Frustratingly, the faint hint of nausea he had developed during the drive there, still hadn't disappeared by the end of his lesson, his teacher leaving him with the cryptic sentence that sick-days were a perfectly normal thing and that many people took them. It confused Jeongin because he wasn't sick, was he? He was just tired and sleep deprived. Sure, it kept him from achieving best results but it wasn't an excuse to miss out on practice. He barely had enough time to practice as it was, so no way he'd give up more. As he tired to practice on his own though, Jeongin increasingly struggled. His stomach was in knots, making it difficult for him to breathe deeply enough to sing. His voice was tense with pain and when his skin suddenly flashed hot and he broke into a sweat, he reconsidered his teacher's words. Maybe he was sick but had been too out of it to realize. When the next cramp hit, Jeongin drew his legs up to his chest and gritted his teeth. It hurt so badly, he could barely breathe and it scared him. Weakly gasping for air when the cramp finally let up, the boy fanned his face with his hands. How could he feel so hot all of a sudden?

Jeongin tried to text his mother but got no reply as she was at work still. Glancing at the time, he realized that he was supposed to meet up with Chan in less than ten minutes. Dialing the leader's number, Jeongin waited anxiously for the older to pick up and startled when he finally did. "Hey, what's up?", Chan asked cheerfully, frowning when he heard the younger whimper. Drawing a shaky breath, Jeongin admitted: "H-Hyung, I- I think I might be- I might be sick." – "Why, what's wrong?", the older worried, saving with work. "Stomach bug I think", the maknae forced out between gritted teeth, "My- My tummy really hurts." – "Oh dear, did you throw up?", Chan inquired. Jeongin shook his head before remembering that the other couldn't see him and quietly denying. Turning his phone on speaker while he packed up his things, the Aussie hummed: "Did you eat anything yet? You've been skipping a lot of meals recently, so it might be hunger pains." – "I had some rice for lunch and I- I think I have a fever", the younger whimpered, biting the cuff of his sleeve to silence the pained noises. Still, Chan was able to hear the muffled sob on the other end of the line, pressing: "Where are you? I'll come and get you, yeah? I just need to know where you are." Telling the leader the studio number he was at, Jeongin hung up the phone and really started to cry.

As his mind grew increasingly fuzzy, Jeongin got out of his chair and swayed dizzily. A strong smell hung in the studio, making the boy's stomach turn as his heart raced. Feeling increasingly anxious, the makane backed himself into a corner and sank to the floor, where he curled up tightly. His hand found its way under his shirt as he tried to soothe the pain in his tummy but it was to no avail. It kept cramping as sweat coated Jeongin's forehead and he startled when he heard steps outside the studio door. By the time, Chan arrived at the studio, his dongsaeng had completely sweat through his shirt and the alpha froze in the doorway. The air was thick with a sweet scent, making it hard to breathe and forcing the Aussie to cover his face with his sleeve as he approached his dongsaeng.

When he was only a few steps away, Jeongin growled at him, startling not only his hyung but also himself. He had no idea he was capable of making such sounds. Defensively raising his hands, Chan hummed: "It's okay, Innie. I'm not gonna hurt you." The maknae still eyed him wearily as he took a seat on the floor a few steps away. "That's no stomach bug", the older said softly, trying his hardest to sound calm as he breathed through his mouth, "You're in heat, Innie. Seems like you finally presented, little omega." The pet name made Jeongin's mind grow even fuzzier and he blinked at Chan through tears. Mewling softly, Jeongin made grabby hands at the alpha. His scent was comforting and made the boy feel safe, so it should be considered a crime that he stayed so far away. Though surprised by the sound, Chan slowly scooted closer and eventually opened his arms. Jeongin instantly curled up against the leader's chest sniffing him shyly. The older giggled, running his fingers through his dongsaeng's hair. Realizing it was damp with sweat, Chan hummed: "We should really get you home, hm? You can have a nice warm bath and after you ate a bite, I'll find you some painkillers to help with the cramps."

After giving Chan a few more sniffs, Jeongin started kneading the leader's tummy, which made the alpha tense. What was the boy doing? Cuddling closer, the omega shoved his face into the crook of Chan's neck and nosed at his scent glands. "What's going on, pup?", the older cooed, stroking Jeongin's back lightly, which earned him a quiet purr from the boy. Whining in pain and frustration, Jeongin pouted: "Icky." – "Mhm, you're all sweaty and I bet your tummy doesn't feel nice right now, huh?", Chan agreed with a sympathetic smile, "You wanna wear hyung's hoodie till we're home?" It was the first time the alpha had referred to their dorm as home and it made Jeongin feel all warm inside. This was his pack, his home. "Smells nice", the maknae pleaded with an eager nod but wasn't too happy when Chan had to pull away so he could take off his hoodie. He was glad though when he could trade his own sweaty shirt for the alpha's hoodie, already feeling a little less disgusting. That didn't mean that he was eager to leave the studio though. There were people out there and the omega wasn't really in a people-y mood right now.

"Okay, do you think you can walk or do you want me to carry you?", Chan asked when Jeongin was changed into his hoodie. Anxiously pulling the sleeves over his hands, the maknae mouthed: 'Walk.' He knew that being carried would draw attention and he just wanted to hide and make it to the safety of his dorm room as fast as possible. When he struggled to his feet though, the omega was hit with a cramp, doubling over and stumbling as his legs didn't cooperate. Chan caught him around the waist, rubbing his back until the cramp let up before pulling his dongsaeng onto his back. The leader's protective instincts had hit full force and there was no way the boy would walk if it made the pain worse. Whimpering softly, Jeongin nuzzled his face into the crook of Chan's neck from behind and nosed at the alpha's scent glands. The leader's scent was so comforting and it seemed to soothe the pain a little. It also helped the omega to ignore the prodding eyes as they made their way to the exit and into a taxi that would take them back home. During the drive, Chan used Jeongin's bunched up shirt to dab the sweat off the younger's forehead.

After carefully kicking off his shoes, Chan carried Jeongin straight to the bathroom and placed him onto the rug before starting to fill the tub with warm water. "I'll go fetch you some fresh clothes in a moment", the leader announced, "I know you feel hot, so the water isn't too warm, just warm enough to help with the aches. You still feel sore, don't you?" Jeongin nodded pathetically, pouting: "Can I- Can I borrow one of your shirts? They smell nice." Any other day, he would've felt embarrassed but right now, he couldn't care less. "Of course, anything else you need?", Chan cooed, digging a neutral soap out of a bathroom drawer. Felix had once mentioned hating scented toiletry products when he was in heat because the scent would be overwhelming.

While Jeongin was soaking in the tub, tiredly washing the sticky sweat off his skin, Chan prepared a small bowl of rice along with a few fried eggs and made the younger a cup of tea. He was just about to take everything to Jeongin's room when, two arms snaked around his waist from behind and the omega cuddled up to his back. "Hey there", the leader chuckled, turning around to cup Jeongin's flushed cheek, "I made you something to eat, so you can take some painkillers." Nodding in acknowledgement, the maknae leant further into his hyung's arms and took a deep breath of the other's calming scent. He was sleepy and out of it, so Chan guided him to the dining table and placed the food in front of him. Pulling his legs up on his chair, Jeongin tiredly nibbled the food the alpha had prepared for him and accepted the pill the older handed him, washing it down with a few sips of tea. When he was done, Chan carried the maknae to his room and placed him down on his bed, where the boy started to fuss with his pillows. "Let me go grab some stuff, yeah?", the leader cooed but Jeongin didn't pay him any mind as he was arranging his nest.

When Chan returned, he was carrying his own blanket and a few shirts. Jeongin's head instantly shot up and he stared at the alpha as the scent registered in his brain. The older was about to ask Jeongin whether he wanted those for his nest but before he got the chance, the younger had already snatched them from him, purring as he kneaded them in his hands. Taking a seat in his dongsaeng's desk chair, Chan watched in awe as the omega built his nest. Jeongin was still inexperienced when it came to nesting, which wasn't surprising considering he had presented so much later than most others, but he was quite proud of his nest and looked up at Chan expectantly. "Good job, pup", Chan praised as he walked up next to his dongsaeng's bed, patting the boy's head, "It looks so cozy, hm?" Jeongin only pouted, reaching for the alpha's arm and tugging on his sleeve. "You want me to join you?", the alpha asked carefully, not wanting to overstep any boundaries. He didn't have to worry though as Jeongin pulled him into his nest and curled up on the leader's chest, demanding: "Innie! Cuddles! Now!"

[frostfall-matches]

[ matchmaking... ]

@chloiyoomi : [ match report ready ]

your match is…

✦ Yaku Morisuke

-> [ Yaku is someone who is (generally) mature and calm; a good balance to your anxious nature. ] He is more than willing and able to be your rock when things get tough, and he’s so sweet about it, too. Life is tough, especially for folks prone to anxiety and overthinking - but even resilient people have days where they struggle. While Yaku can’t exactly relate to many of your troubles, he can absolutely sympathize and empathize. For him, it’s only natural to try and help his friends and partner overcome whatever they may be struggling with, whether it be in the short or long run. That said, he does tend to be solution oriented - if you’re wanting to just vent, please let him know or he’ll default to coming up with things to help ease your worries.

-> [ He isn’t exactly a bubbly social butterfly, but he’s social enough that it smooths out your initial interactions. ] Yaku is able to comfortably interact with many different types; he doesn’t come off as extremely introverted or extraverted, putting him in a comfortable middle ground for most. So, thankfully, you being socially awkward really isn’t going to hinder much when it comes to him. But it seems that you fare better in one-on-one situations, not as overwhelmed as you tend to be in group settings. He’s quick to pick up on that and is happy to devote some time to getting to know you - especially once he starts developing a crush on you. And learning that you actually love to yap is so amusing to him (in a good way!). He loves hearing what you have to say.

-> [ He would really value your compassion and desire to help others. ] Oftentimes, he falls into the role of the supportive upperclassman himself, naturally guiding or assisting those in his vicinity. If he’s in the position to help, then he will help! So knowing that compassion is such a core part of your identity and the way you approach the world and those around you is a huge point of attraction for him. You’re so incredibly sweet and charming in his eyes! And, sure, he may have a bit of a temper himself, but being kind to people is such a simple thing to do, and it shows that you’re mature enough to be considerate of other people. It’s a big draw to him when it comes to relationships, because he knows you’ll have each other’s backs.

-> [ It’s no problem if you’re not very comfortable with confrontation - Yaku will gladly step in when need be. ] At least you make a solid attempt to deal with confrontation when necessary, even when you hate it; he respects that a lot! It’s funny, though - he honestly does try and let you fight your own battles because he doesn’t want to disrespect your autonomy, but damn if he doesn’t have the urge to step in right away. He will absolutely get heated on your behalf, especially if the conflict involves someone who is disrespecting you. But, to his credit, in many (but not all) cases, he will hold himself back until you either went to him for help or it seemed like you were in dire need of assistance.

-> [ Cat-loving couple! ] If you have cats, he must befriend them. He’s coming over to your place as often as you’ll let him - mostly for the cat… but you, too (he’s kidding–). Yaku is really fond of cats and he definitely wants to have one (or several) in the future himself once things settle down a bit in terms of school and professional volleyball. Chances are you’re absolutely down to take in a few cats with him. He definitely treats them as your shared children, and tends to fluctuate from absolutely spoiling them to sternly (but endearingly) scolding them if they get up to too much mischief.

-> [ Low-key and relaxed dates seem to be your thing, and that works well for Yaku. ] He would absolutely be down with hitting up a place for milkshakes on the way home from school and practice, spending the hours chatting and indulging in your presence until the sun starts to set low on the horizon. And he’s the type to walk you home, even if it isn’t quite dark out yet. Given the fact that he likes going into the mountains in the summer, he might really like camping with you. A trip that is at once both relaxing and adventurous, breaking the monotony but still allowing room for comfort.

-> [ He is definitely someone who puts a lot of emphasis on quality time in relationships. ] All other love languages aside, spending time with you is so important to him and it allows him to really show his affection for you in a myriad of ways. Side note: although he tries to be brave and mature about it, long distance would be a struggle for Yaku. He can send as many sweet messages as he wants and have long phone calls with you, but it’s nothing compared to being with you, seeing your face when he gives you a sickeningly sweet compliment and a tight hug to top it all off.

-> [ The type to become absolutely smitten and lovesick, even when he tries to play it cool. ] Yaku gets teased about it by his teammates quite often - and yes, they are subsequently often on the receiving end of his ire due to this. Any time you do something he considers even remotely cute, he’s melting and malfunctioning on the inside. Any sweet or supportive messages has him grinning and blushing; gifts you give him are kept safe and proudly displayed; he melts into any sort of touch you give him. He doesn’t even realize how much his bold and steady exterior softens up around you!

[staringdownabarrel]

I know the copy-paste fleet from PIC's Et in Arcadia Ego, Pt. II tends to get a lot of people riled up, but honestly, I feel like it makes a lot of sense from an in-universe perspective.

Like, one of the big issues Starfleet had in the TNG and DS9 eras was that basically any time a new threat rolled up at the border, their threat response was just whichever ships they could call up at short notice. This was one of the bigger reasons why the fleets in episodes like The Best of Both Worlds, Redemption, Pt. II, and the Descent two parter were a mish-mash of different classes: from Starfleet's perspective, it was quite literally just whoever they could drum up in the moment, not which ships were actually best for this job.

During the DS9 era, there was a shift from fleets being just whoever they could drum up to being actual formalised big fleets that consistently did maneuvers together. This is why it went from DS9 getting seven ships as reinforcements during the battle in The Way of the Warrior to there just being hundreds of ships that operated together a few seasons later. This is apparently a trend that continued after the Dominion War, too: in Nemesis, the fleet the Enterprise-E was supposed to link up with towards the end was referred to as Battle Group Omega.

I think having a couple hundred Inquiry-class ships operating as a single fleet would make sense in this context. A lot of the ships that were in service during the TNG/DS9 era would have been decommissioned or destroyed by this point, and Starfleet would have had to replace them with something. In seasons two and three of Picard, we've seen some of the other ships that have been introduced over the intervening decades; having a few rapid response units would also make sense.

This wouldn't necessarily square with Starfleet's exploratory and scientific missions, but I don't think it'd necessarily need to. Even in TNG, there were more military-focused officers like Captain Jellico and Admiral Nechayev who were very concerned with the Federation's security, and they didn't get in the way of the Enterprise-D's exploratory, scientific, or diplomatic missions.

The same would be true of the late 24th/early 25th century of PIC's first season: they could easily have both the heavily militaristic officers and the more pacifist officers working different missions for the most part. It's just that the part of the fleet we saw was the military part.

Plus, from a thematic point of view, this would tie into why Picard left Starfleet to begin with. In Remembrance, Picard straight up says he left because he felt that Starfleet wasn't Starfleet anymore. Having a noticeable chunk of the fleet set up to be the immediate military response to a new threat would make sense in that context. Picard's traditionally been the kind of guy who prefers peace and diplomacy (though he is a capable military guy when the chips are down), so Starfleet immediately being able, and potentially willing, to respond to everything with deadly force really would rub him the wrong way.

The other reason I don't mind there being a fleet of hundreds of Inquiry-class ships ready to go is because of the makeup of the Romulan, Klingon, and Cardassian fleets during DS9. While these powers did have some varieties in their fleets, for the most part they're just as guilty of flying copy-paste fleets as Riker was in Et in Arcadia Ego, Pt. II. While Starfleet was flying fleets with a large variety of ship classes, the Romulans were almost exclusively flying D'deridex-class warbirds, the Klingons mostly Vor'cha- and Negh'var-class battle cruisers with the occasional bird-of-prey and K'tinga-class, and the Cardassians exclusively Galor- and Keldon-class ships.

This doesn't necessarily mean that these are the only ships these powers had available, but they were very much the backbone of their battle fleets and were clearly considered to be the most capable of combat. Their other ships were probably made for much more specialised purposes.

This is probably a design philosophy Starfleet probably took as well. Instead of having most of their larger ships be jack-of-all-trade ships, they spent more time having specialised ships for specialised purposes. The end result of this is that they could have 200 Inquiry-class ships ready to go for this purpose rather than just have dozens of different classes that might not be the best for it, but would do in a pinch.

I feel like this is also something people would have warmed to a lot more over time, had the Picard writers not immediately try to back peddle in season two's opening episode, The Star Gazer. Had they just said, "Well, this is a new era, both of production and in-universe, and this is how Starfleet does battle fleets now," it might still be a contentious thing but people would eventually get used to it.

The other thing they probably should have done--and I still think they should do this at some point--is have a show set during this same period that focuses heavily on a five-year mission during this period. That'd allow room for an explanation that the copy-paste Inquiry fleets are mostly just for emergencies, and that other ship classes exist for different purposes. (I know eventually someone will say, "Yeah, but Lower Decks and Prodigy exist", but keep in mind they're set twenty-ish years prior to Picard.)

I think this would allow for starship classes to clearly be for much more set purposes rather than just be the jack-of-all-trade ships they've traditionally been. While there's been exceptions to this like the Oberth- and Nova-classes mostly being science vessels, the Defiant-class being a warship in all but name, and the Olympic-class being a medical ship, but these are mostly the exceptions.

Classes like the Constitution- and Excelsior-classes are nominally explorer classes, but have been shown to be used for military missions as well for example, and that tends to be the general rule for larger ships. For the most part, if they're a medium-to-large ship for the era, then they're used as a jack-of-all-trades ship rather than for a specialised purpose.

So really, the writers on Picard had the opportunity to really do something interesting with how starship classes get used and having a set canonical purpose for each new class, but then they chose to not do it because it didn't really gel with a lot of people. I feel like this is ultimately an unfortunate thing.

[do-it-for-the-fandom]

Fic prompt! Kissing in an alley behind a bar

Back Alley Bar.

Set early season 5.

She'd had her doubts when Alex Conrad called to personally invite her to the launch of his latest novel. Almost two years ago she promised Castle that she was a one-writer girl, and that promise meant more to her than it did before now that her writer was also her lover. So, she politely declined the invitation, claiming that she - unfortunately - had too much paperwork that needed to be prioritised. What she hadn't expected was for Castle to come to the precinct the next day excitedly gushing about how he had secured VIP invitations for the whole team.

"Conrad said that without the information you, Espo and Ryan gave him he never would have been able to write a five-book series. He just wanted to thank you guys," Castle had explained to ease her doubts. "And me, for being so willing to share my resources," he added, which made her laugh more than she should have.

Castle hadn't been thrilled to learn that Conrad had already invited her, but the knowledge that she had declined seemed to soften that blow a little bit.

Flash forward to the night of the launch party and she was glad she had rescinded that declined invitation.

Black Pawn had reserved the VIP lounge of a new bar in the heart of Manhattan; somewhere she usually would not have been drawn to, but she was enjoying herself nonetheless. Good music, expensive champagne, engaging conversation and plenty of laughter all made for a good night but as midnight approached she began to crave the one thing she hadn't been allowed tonight: a quiet moment with her man.

Castle had spent the majority of the night schmoozing and networking - an obligation that came along with being a best-selling novelist, apparently - and, although his attention had drifted back to her throughout the night, she was more than ready for that attention to be undivided.

"Would you excuse me for just one moment?" she uttered absent-mindedly to the small group of people conversing around her.

She made her way through the slowly dwindling crowd, her eyes locked to Castle as he chatted to Conrad. His eyes lifted to where she had been standing and his face dropped almost instantly when he saw she was no longer there. His eyes moved, searching the room for her. She stopped and waited for him to find her.

When his eyes settled on her, he smiled.

Ever so slightly, she tilted her head toward the back of the bar. His eyes flickered to a door marked 'staff only', then back to her and he nodded his understanding.

She checked her surroundings to make sure the coast was clear before she leant against the swinging door and let herself into the restricted area. She leaned back against the wall behind the door, out of sight, as she waited for Castle.

Just a few seconds passed before he pushed through and strode right past her, looking left and right for any sign of her.

She chuckled as she pushed off from the wall, walking past him. "Keep up, Castle."

He stepped quickly to catch up to her stride as they made their way through the kitchen. Thankfully, given the hour, there didn't seem to be anyone there.

Satisfied that they weren't likely to encounter anyone who actually knew them, he reached out for her hand and laced his fingers through hers.

She leant into the back door and nudged it open with her shoulder, leading him into the alleyway behind the bar. As soon as the door closed behind them, the sounds of music and laughter from the bar faded to near-silence.

She turned to face him, smile brightening as she slowly walked backward and led him further into the alley, away from distractions. In the absence of noise, of flashing lights and too many people, when it was just the two of them - exactly what she needed - she was finally able to focus on him, just him.

"What's going on?" he asked, his smile bright and eyes full of curiosity.

Her tongue pressed to her teeth as she smiled, playful and flirty. He knew exactly what was going on.

"I just wanted to tell you-" Her eyes drifted down his body and she took in each detail of him. "You look good tonight."

Her voice dropped - low and oozing with lust - and oh God, his heart was skipping several beats at a time.

He pulled at the hand that had remained connected with hers, bringing her body close to his.

His free hand fell to her waist; his palm fit the curve of her hip so perfectly.

"Well, there's someone here tonight that I really wanted to impress." The warmth of his coy whisper skirted along her cheek and left her breathless.

He knew what she wanted, why she brought him out here, but he would take his time. He slipped his fingers from hers and traced a long, slow line from the inside of her wrist, to the point of her elbow, to the curve of her shoulder. He smirked as he noticed the goosebumps that formed from the gentleness of his touch.

"Is it pathetic of me to say I missed you tonight?" he asked as he looked into the depths of her hazel eyes; bright and filled with adoration... and no small amount of lust.

She smiled and shook her head slightly. "No," she whispered. "I missed you, too."

Her mouth parted slightly and her eyes dropped to his lips; any plans he had to drag this out, to make her wait, had wholly dissipated.

His open mouth crashed against hers; self-control a thing of the past as he palmed the back of her head and kissed her deeply.

The material of his shirt crumpled in her fists as she held him close and arched her body into his, desperate for as much contact as physically possible.

She moaned as his tongue slicked along her bottom lip, burning heat sparked in her core and every inch of her became overwhelmed with desire.

"Please tell me you're ready to get out of here," Castle whispered, needy, against her mouth.

Her breath was heavy against his chin as she panted.

"Oh, I'm so ready."

She chuckled slightly before claiming his lips once more in a slow, languid kiss. She pulled back and looked into piercing blue eyes.

"We shouldn't leave together, though," she said reluctantly.

They'd already tempted fate tonight; if they wanted to keep their relationship private, they knew not to push too far.

"Right." He pulled his keys from his pocket and removed one from the chain, then passed it to her. "I'll meet you at the loft?"

She smiled and nodded, pressing one last, tender kiss to his lips before heading back toward the bar.

"Don't take too long," she called over her shoulder before disappearing behind the door.

[safeheavenproject]

The "Arcs" of Safe Heaven

AKA what I've thus far decided would be how the story is written out! Arcs would be longer than the intermissions, tho the prologue and epilogue could be as long as the arcs proper, or at least longer than intermissions? We'd just have to see.

Prologue: Before the Fall (Opens on Agatha's death on earth, a little gruesome but has her wanting to not die despite it all etc. She ends up in heaven, we get to see it's a pretty good place overall. Basically goes over her year in heaven and how she ends up getting on Umbra's bad side, the subsequent trial, and her fall. Ends on Dawn and Eden finding her)

Act 1: Pride (Agatha is taken to Safe Haven for the first time and told how it works, as the twins nurse her back to health. She learns that Lucifer himself comes to see how it's going once a month and decides she's going to help them make their dream a reality. Upon recovery, she starts trying to recruit people to Safe Haven, to live in peace with them all. She's able to get Abel's attention and, from there, Dollie and Zoey follow after. Lucifer comes on his monthly visit and actually seems impressed -- turns out it's been a few years since the start and this growth has never been seen before. He says he'll throw a little weight around to assist, since they made it this far.)

Intermission 1: Princes of Sin (Lucifer calls a meeting between the Princes of Sin [leaders of the City] and discusses the fact that before he didn't care if they fended off Eden and Dawn... But now, they should allow them to at least try. Test them, if you will. Hell politics yaaaay)

Act 2: Sloth (Eden, Dawn, and co decide to tackle Sloth first, as they believe it won't be too hard to convince them that Safe Haven fits right in with what they want... If they leave out the fact everyone is supposed to help each other out around there. With a little bit of schmoozing and lying, they're able to get Belphegor and his left and right hands to agree to open things up to Safe Haven. They gain their first non-main cast guest from this.)

Intermission 2: Settling In (Would basically focus on this first non-main cast guest settling in and getting to know the main cast better. Would start to hint at redemption being possible, as they choose to start changing for the better)

Act 3: Envy (Envy is their next target, due to their smaller size. Leviathan and those under him prove to be a lot less willing to work things out at first, and so the main cast turns to the general populace. They basically play on their envy talking about how much better life is in Safe Haven. The non-main cast guest is integral to this, showing how much better it is. Eventually they get their way, just so they get away from Envy. An important antagonist for the next arc joins Safe Haven)

Intermission 3: Risk and Rewards (On their way back to Safe Haven, Abel gets murked by some demons. This is bad, because his pride has grown tendfold since he first died and he WILL respawn in front of Lucifer himself. This goes better than expected)

Act 4: Lust (Lust is their next target and Asmodeus is actually open to them proving themselves. They have to earn his Right and Left Hand's favor without falling to the temptation of lust themselves. Simple, only lust is a very strong thing sometimes. Zoey gets into a mess, but it's okay because they're ready for it and it gets Scotty's favor long enough to get what they need. Twilight is harder, but when the antagonist from last arc reveals their history with her and attacks her, the group is able to win her over. Their first guest dies saving Twilight and is redeemed, but they gain three or four for the lost two so it's alright.)

Intermission 4: Who Art in Heaven (We see the character redeemed and the panic it causes for parts of heaven. Namely Umbra and Justitia. Adam is actually quite excited. Dahlia, who would be mentioned here and there before this, is also introduced)

Act 5: Wrath (This is where things get REALLY hard for our crew. Satan, as it turns out, is a bit more favorable of God and heaven than the others. This leads to straight up fighting with Wrath and a bit of a territory war. Daddy dearest COULD help... but nah. He'll just watch, thanks asshole. It's fine... Dawn and Eden are able to use their wits to win in the end and Satan has no choice but to allow them to recruit. More guests for Safe Haven GET.)

Intermission 5: A Court Case in Heaven (Heaven wants Eden and Dawn to explain themselves BIG TIME. But they have the best lawyers hell can provide on their side -- Lilith and Eve. Agatha also goes with and reunites with Dahlia... The tensions are as high as you would expect)

Act 6: Gluttony (To indulge to the point of self-destruction is the fun of it. That's what they learn is the way of Gluttony very quickly. Everyone at Safe Haven now have to come up with a plan to make Safe Haven seem like that kind of indulgence, while skirting self-destruction just enough to not. Y'know, implode in on themselves. Beelzebub and his guys seem to find this very funny -- enough they eventually give in just to see how fast things crash and burn when any and all sinners and hellborn can join up and cause havoc. Especially when heaven's knocking at their door.)

Intermission 6: Redemption, Redemption, Redemption (Without even meaning to, the twins seem to be redeeming a lot of souls. Mostly ones who were hurt themselves in life and, say, ended up there due to addiction or killing their abuser. Things one could easily argue aren't something that should land one in hell just because they didn't regret it. This is not a good thing for them in the long run.)

Act 7: Greed (Getting Mammon to agree is simple. Pay him enough and they can do whatever they want! Yeah... So it becomes a big scheme to make as much money as fast as possible. This goes about as well as one would expect -- think Ed Edd n Eddy as far as how it goes at first. FINALLY Lucifer steps in to give them just a little bit of help. Thanks asshole.

Intermission 7: Declaration of War (Heaven, tired of all these guys popping up and causing chaos... Decide it's time to declare war on hell. No more simple raids -- all-out war. Lucifer gathers the sins and the choice is made -- they have to fight, even those who don't want to (Satan and co).

Act 8: War with Heaven (It's time for the actual war. It's a struggle back and forth, ending with the defeat of Umbra and Justitia calling troops back to save the dark angel. Adam through this has his eyes opened to the ignorance god and co were happy to fill him with and he gets to recoline with Lilith and Eve both. Redemption of Sinners is possible, BUT they have to argue for the right to redeem them before doing it. They can't be having serial murderers or something showing up at the pearly gates, after all. Basically a treaty is drawn up and things seem okay after a lot of strife yippee!!)

Epilogue: From Then On... (Just a lil flash forward of how things are going. Eden and Dawn are really good at arguing for sinners to the point where it's like. OKAY WE GET IT. THEY KILLED THEIR ABUSIVE SPOUSE AND ONLY THEM FINE THEY CAN COME IN. We get to see some draw backs to the main cast with this treaty and deal in action but overall it's pretty good. Yep yep.)

[ravendruid]

Hi! Love your stuff on AO3, was wondering if I could prompt/request something? Maybe a TLOVM AU where the group is hired to find the Briarwood's "missing son* Percy but they learn that Percy is the actual lord of Whitestone and the Briarwood's keep him locked up and hidden away- the public have an idea that the actual lord of Whitestone is most likely being tortured/held captive but Vox Machina are the first group able to actually save him and save their town from the Briarwoods. Vox Machina themselves have always felt like something was missing, only for it to click into place once Percy joins their group

Hi! I'm sorry this took so long. I've been working on it all week. I'm not entirely sure if this is what you asked for. I tried writing something like a more detailed one-shot, but I didn't like it. I'm considering this a set of HCs, and I'm willing to write some drabbles within this AU, having these HCs as a base.

Once Vox Machina successfully defeat Brimscythe and are given the keep, they have a week of rest before they need to start looking for their next job. During that week, Allura Vysoren, an archmage member of the council, visits Vox Machina with an invitation from Sovereign Uriel Tal’Dorei III to attend a meeting that will be held as an introduction to a couple of dignitaries from a faraway land called Whitestone, who require their services. 

Vox Machina meet Lord Sylas and Lady Delilah Briarwood, a charming, hot couple – albeit somewhat dark in nature – who inform them of the disappearance of their son, Percival. They believe something evil happened to him, and as protectors of the realm, and friends of Whitestone, they trust Vox Machina to do an adequate job of finding him and bringing him back home.

With the help of Gilmore, who so kindly “provides” them with the essentials they need for the long travel, the party sets out to Whitestone, encountering difficulties on the road, as one does, and arriving about a week after they meet with the Briarwoods.

Whitestone is a bone-chilling, deserted, silenced, and almost dead city. The few people they see on the streets are scrawny and pale, with exhausted and fearful looks on their faces. No children play in the streets, there are no sounds of laughs or cheers, and Keyleth – so in tune with nature as she is – notices the lack of singing birds.

In the town center, they see a large, tall leafless tree that looks almost dead. People seem to avoid it, going around the central plaza as much as they can, and when they can’t avoid being near it, they avoid looking at it as if it was the source of a curse that could befall them.

Castle Whitestone isn’t hard to find, standing on a hill overlooking the town, so Vox Machina find the path leading to it in silence with a feeling of dread taking over them. At the door, they are greeted by a very elderly man, so elderly that if it weren’t for the fact that he was still breathing and moving right in front of them, they would believe he was dead. They are taken to Lord and Lady Briarwood’s study, a large room filled with partly empty bookshelves. As if that wasn’t enough, Lord Sylas Briarwood’s pale, delicate features and devilish smile cause chills on their skins and a feeling of unease. 

Lady Delilah, always so charming, explains how their son, Percival, has been missing for a few months after going on a hunting trip in the Parchwood Timberlands. She describes him as a young man in his twenties, with shock white hair and gold-rounded glasses. As she weeps over his disappearance, Vex’ahlia can’t stop but notice how fake her tears look and how the corners of her mouth curl into a mischievous smile when she thinks they aren’t looking.

To no avail, Vox Machina spend the next two weeks searching every nook and cranny of Whitestone and the Parchwood Timberlands. They are about ready to stop their search for the day, way after the sun has set when a shadowy figure emerges from the thick bushes ahead. 

Curved around himself, full of wounds and bruises, with ragged clothes and practically skin and bones, is Percival de Rolo. His dull eyes widen in surprise and fear, but he barely has time to react before Keyleth casts Hold Person on him. After making sure Percy isn’t armed, Keyleth lets go of him, and he is invited to join them by the campfire to eat their food and rest before they head back into the city.

Percy, however, is visibly upset and anxious about returning to Whitestone and the Briarwoods. He tells Vox Machina how the Briarwoods killed his entire family, but him and his younger sister, Cassandra, and how he was locked up and tortured for the past five years, only coming out once a year for the memorial of the death of his family. 

Percy tried to escape once, but he got caught, and the Briarwoods threatened to kill Cass if he tried again, so, for her well-being, Percy never tried to run again until a few months ago, when he found an opportunity. He was found a couple of weeks later, while he was trying to hide in the woods, by a group of revolutionaries that had been hunting, and he learned that they were planning a coup to take down the Briarwoods.

Eventually, Vox Machina, now with Percy at their side, finds the headquarters of the revolution, and together they take down the Briarwoods, freeing Whitestone and the remaining living de Rolos.

[athenawasamerf]

That post claiming that most people's bodies are not meant to thrive on a vegan lifestyle is not correct. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals, said that vegan diets are "appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes."

I'm sure there's a small proportion of people who are allergic to all nuts, grains, beans, and vegetables, and there are native people living off the land in the arctic regions, but is that true for you? And is it true for every non vegan who uses those people as an excuse to not feel bad about not doing everything they can?

That post accuses vegans of having an "us vs them" attitude, forcing our lifestyle on nonvegans. But the "live and let live" philosophy falls apart when you consider the lives and experiences of those that are being harmed and killed. Nonhuman animals a part of "us". There is no "them".

Also, are vegans REALLY "forcing" our views onto others? If we were, everyone would be vegan already! We are still just a small minority though!

You do realise you’re messaging a senior med student, right?

I’m not gonna get into it bc I have to get ready for class and I don’t want to think about biochem at fuck all o’clock, but no, vegan diets are not safe for pregnant and lactating women (without a fuckton of supplements), babies, young children, or adolescents, and will not provide adults with all essential nutrients without supplementation. Some nutrients simply don’t exist in plants. FYI you can be arrested and charged with negligence or abuse if you feed your baby a vegan diet. The academy for nutrition and dietetics is funded by several pharmaceutical companies and food industry lobbying groups, which I would consider a major conflict of interest, and since that’s the case with most American institutions I take most research done in the US with a massive helping of salt.

I’m Egyptian, I literally can not sustain myself on a vegan diet in Egypt - the (expensive) food items required for that are simply not sold in my area. Poor people can’t sustain a vegan diet. America has a massive food desert problem, people can barely find anything to eat that isn’t fast food within a reasonable distance from their homes. Haggard, busy people can’t sustain a vegan diet. The ability to be healthy on a vegan diet is a luxury that you’re privileged to be able to afford. Have some empathy for your fellow humans.

Animals (humans included) kill and eat each other. It’s natural. We are an omnivore species, and far from the only one on earth. I’m against inhumane industrial farming, but that’s not a huge issue in my country and we buy meat from small farms and neighbourhood butchers anyway.

I was a vegetarian for a few years, btw, and it nearly killed me. I’m not willing to discuss this publicly, and won’t be answering any questions about it on this blog.

And yes, vegans who go into supermarkets and restaurants to spill milk and fake blood everywhere while playing animal noises are trying to force their views on everyone else.

Humans are physically and chemically optimised for an omnivore diet. This blog is not focused on animal rights or human eating habits. I’m not going to get involved in any discourse about veganism, and this will be my only response.

Take home message: do not feed your fucking babies and toddlers a vegan diet. You’re an adult and you can make your own choices about your health and what you eat, I won’t get involved. But don’t drag kids into it for the love of all that is holy.

Have a good day.