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3-2-whump · 10 months ago

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Escape Attempt Last

As in, there were plenty in between this attempt and First Escape Attempt, but I won't enumerate them (unless you ask nicely, I guess)

Set one year after The Auction Floor

TW/CW: minor whump, slavery, pet whump, noncon body mod (tattoos, piercings), threats of permanent injury (not followed through), burning, inappropriate use of a clothes iron

The first thing he heard that morning was “Happy anniversary,” whispered softly over him as he stirred awake.

Khaled blinked. The blond man leaned over his bed, not a trace of a frown on his stern face. Khaled groggily rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He had no idea what his master just said, though that might’ve just been because he was never much of a morning person. “What was that?” Khaled yawned.

“It’s our anniversary,” the man explained patiently as he helped him sit up. Those broad arms and bruising hands that once (and occasionally still) struck fear into Khaled’s heart now supported him as he climbed out of bed. “I brought you home a year ago, and so I wanted to give you something special today, if you’d let me…” he trailed off with a smile.

Khaled shuffled toward his wardrobe and began picking out a pair of boxers, denim pants, and a shirt. “A year, huh?” Though he was still in the process of waking up, having never been an early riser in his life, his muddy brain was slowly piecing it together.

It was well into midday when Khaled finally let its implications sink in.

One year of his life in slavery. One whole year of his life spent in servitude. His head swam in an unsettling mix of shock, anger, and grief, emotions that traveled down to his gut and twisted it into knots. A lot had happened in a year; the sixteen-year-old shot up a few inches in height, his voice had deepened, and his body hair (everywhere) had grown in enough to prompt his owner to teach him about shaving and ‘hygienic practices.’ That was an embarrassing talk, and one that he deeply wished his father could’ve given him instead.

It had been more than a year since he had seen his family; were they thinking of him? Did they notice he was gone? He brought home one of their main sources of income; how was his mother coping, providing for his siblings all on her own? They didn’t hate him for abandoning them, did they? Khaled blinked back the mist in his eyes at the thought.

The car lulled to a stop. “We’re here,” the Boss announced, taking Khaled out of his head. He looked down at the small box resting in his hands. Twin diamonds set in white gold rested inside the velvety interior. At first, Khaled thought it was a mistake, since his ears weren’t pierced. The man only grinned as he simply replied “not yet.”

They got out at the now-familiar tattoo parlor, entering soon after they opened. This was where the boy got his second and third tattoos, the initials and the skull and snake, respectively. The bearded, bespectacled man known only as Leo spotted them immediately and approached them with a welcoming grin. He made small talk with Khaled’s master as he led them to the back.

“So, we’re doing a set of piercings today?” he asked, pulling out a pair of single-use gloves.

Master nodded. “Ears, just one pair for now, unless we want more.”

Khaled let out an unbidden scoff. His master threw him a reproachful glare. There is no we, there never was, he wanted to scream. He didn’t consent to any of his tattoos, what made the man think he’d be okay with piercings? Yet his owner initialed him like an object and drew the symbol of his crime family on his skin, and he could just do that –he bought him, after all.

“Well, let’s get to it, then!” Leo said.

“Wait. I’ve gotta use the bathroom,” Khaled murmured. Master glanced at Leo, who merely shrugged. He silently pushed past the two men and made his way to the front of the store to the bathroom, where he locked the door and slumped against it as he settled onto the floor. He allowed himself a deep, shuddering breath behind the closed door, resting his head back against it with a dull thunk.

One year… he thought morosely. A streaky bathroom mirror bordered with stickers glared back at him under artificial light. Curious, Khaled got up from the floor and leaned over the sink to look at himself, to physically see how much he had changed in only a year. How much of these changes were within his control?

None of them, he realized sadly. He turned his newly shaved head side to side to look at his ears, taking in the sight of the unpierced lobes as much as he could. These would change too, and that was also out of his control.

Or was it? Out of the corner of his eye, Khaled spotted a slit of natural light seeping in from above. He turned; there, above the toilet, was a small window, vented open to let in fresh air. He assessed the window immediately, judging that he was still skinny and flexible enough that he could climb through, and without much else besides a desire to just be in control of something, he did exactly that.

With exception to the mall incident (which shouldn’t even count, he genuinely got lost), this had to be the worst escape yet. He was recaptured within two hours, tied up and thrown into the back of a car yet again, and now lay on his back on a large table, hands and feet bound to each corner as two unfamiliar goons stood on each side. Beside him, Master stood solemnly ironing a dress shirt on an ironing board. His resting bitch face was back, and he was re-ironing the same sleeve for the third time. Khaled gulped, only sensing a fraction of how fucked he was.

“I really thought we had made some progress this past year,” the man growled. A puff of steam escaped the iron as he set it aside and hung up the crisp white shirt. He then moved on to ironing a pair of slacks. “I trusted you, I provided for you, I gave you everything you could ever need, and what do you do? You run away the second I loosen your leash,” he continued, straightening out a seam with a bit more force than necessary.

Khaled cleared his throat and tried to look up from his awkward position on the table. “I’m sorry, Master, I just freaked out- “

“Quiet! Let me finish.”

Khaled shut his mouth immediately. He sunk back down, fixed his eyes on the dim ceiling lamp above him, and awaited his punishment with dread.

Master continued talking. “You know, the last time this happened, a friend of mine advised me to cut your tendons.” Beneath the quickening pounding of his anxious heart, Khaled heard the faint hiss of the iron. “I don’t want to permanently cripple you though, mostly because it would be even more of a hassle to care for you, but I will cripple you temporarily, at the very least...”

Khaled tore his eyes from the ceiling and looked over his outstretched toes. His master settled in front of his feet, the steaming hot iron in hand. Moist tendrils of heat lapped at his exposed bare soles. Dense as he may be, it didn’t take a genius to realize what was about to happen. Khaled trembled, then began struggling in earnest. The mob members held him firmly by the legs and shoulders as he thrashed frantically in his restraints, fearfully begging. “No, no, no, please, no, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry – “

“You’re only sorry you got caught,” Boss snapped. “Now hold still.”

Searing hot pain erupted in the soles of his feet as Khaled screamed himself hoarse.

After what felt like too much time and yet not much time at all, the goons above him let him go and started working on the knots tying him to the table. That must mean he’s done, Khaled thought, but why does it feel like my feet are still burning?

“Get up.”

The now untied boy paused rubbing his chafed wrists to look up at him in shock. His master glared down at him coldly. “I said get up!” he shouted.

He can’t be serious. With horror, he realized the man was completely serious. “I-I can’t,” Khaled whimpered, “I -you wouldn’t -I can’t!” He caught his trembling lip between his teeth before a small sob could escape.

“I’m not going to repeat myself again, brat,” the Boss gritted out. “Get. Up.”

Khaled hung his head and nodded. He stiffly swung his legs over the table and gingerly lowered his burnt feet to the floor. The freshly blistered flesh barely touched the ground before an effusion of pain shot up his legs. He gasped in agony. His owner, meanwhile, stood in front of him in silence, waiting. Khaled sniffled, grit his teeth, and, with legs quivering and tears streaming down his cheeks, he stood up straight and tall.

“Walk,” Thomas said.

No. Khaled shook his head, completely unable to get a word out through the pain.

“Walk.”

Please, no, he wanted to say. He hung his head and shakily took a step forward, not making it even two steps before he collapsed. The strong arms of the Boss’ cronies caught him just before his knees could hit the floor. They scooped him back onto the table before one ran off to find the first aid kit, and the other ran off to get a basin of cool water. Khaled thankfully slipped into unconsciousness and took refuge in the nothingness.

A hesitant knock at the door brought Khaled’s attention back to the present, three hours after the Iron Incident. “Khaled, it’s me.” His master entered his bedroom soon after.

Facing away from the door in a fetal position on top of the bed, Khaled curled up even tighter. His heart picked up pace as he heard the man settle to his knees in front of his bed. “Your bandages need changing.” He flinched away when he felt the man’s fingers graze his injured feet, but ultimately he relented, letting his master unwind the soiled bandages as he winced and whimpered. Not all of the gauze was peeling off neatly. He heard a faint click of a tube opening, then felt cooling salve on his burned soles. Then, with a level of tenderness he did not think the Boss capable of, the man wrapped his feet up in clean gauze and taped the bandages in place. “One more thing,” he murmured softly, reaching into the first aid bag he brought with him.

Khaled had raised his head from his pillow, his red-rimmed eyes trailing down to his feet as curiosity overcame his pain and apprehension. His owner procured a pair of socks, gingerly slipping them over each gauze-wrapped foot. “There are plenty more of these, so if this pair gets dirty, you can just ask me for more,” he told him. “Comfortable, right?”

Khaled reached over and brushed his fingers against the soft fabric. His eyes misted with tears again at the act of kindness. “…They’re nice,” he sniffled. “Thank you, sir.”

The man replied with a pleased grunt before he lifted himself from the floor and stood, ready to leave. “Now then, is there anything else you need before I go to bed, Khaled?”

A hesitant silence. “No, but I-I’m sorry. Really.”

“I know,” he answered, his tone sincere. “Goodnight, Khaled.” Khaled flopped back onto the bed, face to the wall as he heard the door close gently behind him. What was that? He wondered. In the whole year that I’ve been here, he’s never been that gentle with me. Was that even the same man?He didn’t hear the faint click of the lock this time. In any other circumstance, this would give him hope, but at this point, the hope had been burnt out of him through the soles of his feet.

Le Tag List: @kabie-whump @rainydaywhump @whumped-by-glitter

#throwing in a bit of carewhumper in the end #whump #whump writing #whumpee #whumper #tw minor whump #slavery whump #tw noncon bodymod #tw burning #carewhumper #failed escape attempt #no beta we die like my protestant upbringing

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aesethewitch · 1 month ago

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My 2024 Year Ahead Tarot Reading

All the way back in January, I did a year ahead reading for myself. For each month in 2024, I drew two cards from the Alleyman’s Tarot and one from my Dungeons and Dragons Tarot deck (for variety and to play with it, since it was brand new at the time!). My goal was to get a general overview of each month, patterns for the year as a whole, and specifically reminders and warnings for the year.

I kept notes throughout the year in my divination journal to reflect on that month’s reading and compare it to the actual events of the month. For the most part, it was pretty accurate! There were a few things that seemed inaccurate at the time, but that ended up being… well, more accurate than I wanted them to be.

I’m omitting some of the more personal bits and pieces from the actual journal entries, but all of these observations are coming direct from the journal! Noting, of course, that I’m writing this at the end of November/beginning of December, so December’s notes are going to be kind of scarce.

January

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Knight of Wands, Seven of Inking Bells D&D Tarot Card: The Sun

Immediate Thoughts: Using motivation to reclaim a sense of self; makes sense, lacking direction, drained

Full Reading:

I’m partially through the month, and I can see what this means: A loss of direction and sense of self, feeling very drained and lacking motivation to do much of anything. But the choice to find motivation can give a hearty shove to the creative mind. I should focus on the things that make me happy, not just what I “should” be doing.

Analysis:

[11/25/24 (the time of reviewing my entries)] I don’t have any full notes on January, unfortunately. Since I did this reading partway through the month, I skipped it. However! After year ahead readings closed, I took some time to myself. I focused in on my hobbies and self-care, holing up for the chilliest part of the season.

February

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Six of Cups, Death (Blood) D&D Tarot Cards: Five of Wisdom

Immediate Thoughts: Violent upset; death in the family?

Full Reading:

A painful change. My intuition says this is an actual death of someone I know. It will kick off a renewed determination to enjoy life despite the rain and thrive under bad circumstances. No matter how large the foe, I will manage.

Analysis:

[3/26/24] No one died in February. I did take a somewhat extended hiatus (longer than I expected/wanted) and started up again at the top of March. February was really tough, health-wise.

[11/25/24] Looking back, this is the month I thought was totally wrong. In actuality, I received really bad news last month — my dad’s health is declining rapidly, and we have a very limited amount of time with him left. Things started going downhill in, you guessed it, February. I really had hoped that this outlook was wrong. I’m still hoping it’s wrong. It has given me a renewed motivation to enjoy life and take care of myself and the people I care about. So, that’s something, at least.

March

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Hierophant (Arrow), King of Swords D&D Tarot Cards: Page of Intelligence

Immediate Thoughts: Reclaiming a sense of control over spiritual matters

Full Reading:

A renewed sense of control in the spiritual realm. This might be a good time to start doing more spirit-focused spells and workings. With the Page of INT on the field, maybe a bit of research into constructed spirits or a new kind of spirit vessel?

Analysis:

[3/26/24] March has been good. I do definitely feel like I’m back in the saddle and have control over where I’m heading next. I haven’t been doing a ton of spirit work, but what I have been doing is very natural and fulfilling. The research I’ve been putting in has paid off already.

So, not perfectly accurate, but not bad!

April

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Two of Cups, Weird-Ass Mystical Shit D&D Tarot Cards: Ace of Charisma

Immediate Thoughts: Balance and happiness, trying new and weird magic; new and deeper friendships?

Full Reading:

This is a good month for magic and trying new things. A happy time of balance and good relationships. Could also be a sign of new and deepening friendships. The warning is to not get too carried away by alluring outside influences.

Analysis:

[4/14/24] I’ve been interacting more with folks in my online witchy circles! It does count!! (:

I haven’t gotten to do any new or weird magic yet. I should do that Straw into Gold spell soon and maybe look at some other spells. A new recipe, maybe.

Then again, my new money bowl has been working! It’s a new configuration and cast method with different upkeep than previous iterations. Not “weird,” but definitely a change.

I’m also planning on returning to older, odder facets of my practice — ghosts and ghost-related workings. By popular request, I’ll be writing about my ghostly experiences and how to contact/work with the dead.

Maybe I could get really weird about it. Hyper-specific, weird, and outside my usual work. I’ll give it some thought.

[4/28/24] Friendship!!! The folks in the Discord server I got invited to in February have encouraged me to revive the original House Rules campaign for them to play. It’s very cool! I’ve gotten to chat more than usual and have gotten better acquainted with people individually. I’d say this reading is now definitely accurate on the new and deeper friendships front. (:

Going into May, I’m keeping burnout warnings in mind. I’ve got a lot going on, and I don’t want to get overwhelmed again!

May

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Ten of Wands, Two of Whips D&D Tarot Cards: Judgment

Immediate Thoughts: Heavy; breaking out of unhealthy patterns, lashing out

Full Reading:

A heavy month. Burnout leading to anger. It’ll be necessary to look at everything on my plate and decide what actually needs my attention and what can be left alone. What’s worth my time? Pick and choose battles wisely.

Analysis:

[5/27/24] Most of this entry is redacted due to it being really personal.

I’d thought that the burnout would be work-related. Instead, it ended up being more interpersonal, emotional burnout. Bearing a burden alone is neither necessary nor fair. The lashing out was definitely very real. Perhaps the most accurate set of cards out of the whole year, unfortunately. The bright side is that the conflict(s) laid everything bare and paved the way for improvement and healing. Judgment, indeed.

June

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Three of Books, Knight of Swords D&D Tarot Cards: King of Strength

Immediate Thoughts: Imposing order

Full Reading:

A lot of esoteric knowledge is tough to make sense of. The urge to wrangle it is powerful, but it isn��t always possible. That doesn’t mean to waste the energy! Just direct it toward more productive ends.

Analysis:

[8/7/24] June… was hard. I ended up not getting a lot done after all. Back to back migraines killed the back half of the month. There was some magic and theory work, but not a lot.

[11/25/24] Looking back on this, I wasn’t being very fair to myself. The reading was more accurate than I gave credit for at the time. There was so much I wanted to do and get done and handle, but my body just kind of gave out. It does that sometimes. In the end, I had to direct my energy reserves to simple survival — productive enough, no?

July

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: The Letter, Nine of Cups D&D Tarot Cards: Four of Intelligence

Immediate Thoughts: Successful social interactions

Full Reading:

Successful socializing is rewarding! Proper communication about goals, wants, and needs is essential. Taking time to oneself, even in the company of others, is an essential skill. This hand screams “comfort in others’ presence,” which I love.

Analysis:

[8/7/24] July was better than June. My friend finished her move, and we helped her haul furniture last week. It was definitely a month of positive socialization, even if I can now feel myself retreating inwards again.

[11/25/24] I remember little of June, unfortunately. I do remember much of July, though! It was a fun time, though very busy. I took as much time to myself as I physically could. Recovering from two full weeks of migraines at the end of June took a long, long time. It was horrible. Having comfortable places to socialize without straining myself too far was critical to my recovery! So, another pretty accurate reading.

August

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Queen of Pentacles, Eight of Tentacles D&D Tarot Cards: Nine of Intelligence

Immediate Thoughts: Comfort, roots, expression

Full Reading:

Comfort and indulgence. This is a sign to invite others to enjoy the things that make me feel good. It’s easy to hide away but hard to exist out in the open. Foster a space where anyone can come and be themselves safely. Protecting myself and my energy is still important — this may be a good time to renew personal protections.

Analysis:

[8/7/24] I definitely think the advice for August is solid. I’m tired. I desperately want to indulge in the things that make me happy.

With my friend only two hours away now, I might be able to plan some actually fulfilling witchy events. And maybe I can involve my partner more, too. He seems interested in everything.

Being so drained, it’s tough to gather the energy I need for even the most indulgent, lazy activities. Still, I’ve got to try.

[10/16/24] August ended up being a subdued month. The weather made me pretty ill, so I spent my time caring for myself and focused on my novel.

[11/25/24] God, August was so bad. I thought June was bad, but August was almost as bad. It was three straight months of feeling like absolute garbage. If you recall seeing my content publish less and less frequently (which has unfortunately continued into the end of the year), this is why. The second half of the year has severely kicked my ass.

I did ask for more help around August, though. My partner kept my spirits up and engaged with me about the things I care about more often and more intentionally. It definitely helped as I finally, fully recovered from the horrible summer sickness.

September

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: The Tradition, the Comforter D&D Tarot Cards: The Devil

Immediate Thoughts: Comfort, roots, expression; interference

Full Reading:

More comfort, this time found by returning to my roots. This time of year is full of fulfilling traditions, and it’s important that I get to partake in them. Straying from the path and letting lazy temptations take over is no good.

Analysis:

[10/16/24] September saw our first chilly days. I did observe several traditions and have plans for more as we move into the final months of the year. Overall, a calm month. Not a lot of spells, more spirit work and offerings.

[11/25/24] This time of year is always when I come alive again. Spring and autumn are my peak seasons. Spring is often spellwork, autumn more so spirit work, so this really does track. Otherwise, September was pretty quiet. I was still recovering, so I intentionally took it easy. Traditions and structure definitely help to energize me, though!

October

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Four of Swords, the Star D&D Tarot Cards: Knight of Charisma

Immediate Thoughts: Rest, dreaming

Full Reading:

“Damn, bitch, take a vacation.” So I will. October will have one full week (at least) off from writing, posting, commissions, everything. Maybe I’ll go somewhere I’ve always wanted and fulfill a dream.

Analysis:

[10/16/24] Looking at October, I’m torn. It’s been a chiller, less busy time, but I’m still working on other stuff — plans, writing, etc. I hope to do more in the second half of the month. On a more somber note, I’ve gotten news that my dad is officially Captial-D Dying. The suggestion of rest isn’t about dreams. It’s about having hope for the best and allowing time to pass.

All I can do is wait.

[11/25/24] As you can probably tell, that’s the day I got the Bad News. It’s worth noting that I very much did not take a full week off, and I should have.

On October 31, I wrote an entry venting about everything going on that I won’t include here. But in that entry, I mention scheduling a week to stay offline and away from my computer. And I’m going to be doing that!! Kinda!! This weekend, from Thanksgiving on Thursday until Monday, I’m not working at all. I’m taking Thursday and Friday off, and I’ll return to everything Monday. I won’t be allowed to log into Tumblr or my email or do any work. Totally unplugged.

I have it marked on my calendar and everything. Peaceful introspection will be mine this weekend.

November

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: The Emperor, Nine of Wands D&D Tarot Cards: Seven of Intelligence

Immediate Thoughts: Authority over a safe space

Full Reading:

No matter how serious things get and how certain I am about my path, I should always take a moment for quiet introspection. Peace is an option. It might take some clever thinking, but I can make it happen.

Analysis:

[11/24/24] After almost a full week of activity (November 6 to November 11), the “quiet introspection” was less a suggestion and more a bodily-mandated requirement.

It’s been a really busy month. Events and socializing in public have left me drained of energy. I have little left for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Peace and quiet are no longer options, they’re requirements.

I sort of think this card combo might also be in reference to the Annoying Neighbors debacle, in a way. All of them are finally, blessedly quiet after months of struggling. QUIET. I win.

Dominion over my safe and quiet home. Ha ha ha.

December

Alleyman’s Tarot Cards: Bone Fire, Queen of Swords D&D Tarot Cards: Wheel of Fortune

Immediate Thoughts: Start fresh, question everything; BIG educational upheaval

Full Reading:

Radical change! Time to call everything I’ve learned and everything I am into question. Time to decide who I want to be. Am I happy? What am I willing to do to get there? There’s an element of faith and chance here — nothing is certain. But the leap has to be made. It has to burn. I have to stand back up. I have to fight. I have to.

Analysis:

[11/25/24] Now, obviously, December hasn’t happened yet. But I think I can comment on this hand now, since it’s more a call to action than a prediction.

I really am in a position where I need to examine my life and my practice. This year has been difficult on a lot of levels. I keep setting goals that are unattainable. They “should” be things I can achieve, but my health continually gets in the way. It’s not fair, but I have to do better about keeping my limits in mind. The more conscious I am, the better I feel, the better I’m able to perform.

I’m looking toward December as a month of planning. I want to sketch out my 2025 with purpose. I’ll throw out everything I don’t need and don’t use and don’t particularly like. I’m talking restructuring my whole year. New schedule, new holidays, new traditions, the works.

I’m starting over. It’s all gonna be new again.

The thing I have to remember is my limits. Not what I “should” be able to do, but what I actually can do.

Facing reality, one Bone Fire at a time.

Conclusions

Since jotting down my December thoughts in my journal, I received a very cool tarot readings from a mutual who was testing out a new style. Now, I’m fairly certain I know what the Bone Fire is and how to approach it. It’s going to be a lot more new than I was expecting. Square one, in many ways.

Ah, well.

I had pretty good overall accuracy for this reading! I expected the details to get less accurate later in the year, but it stayed fairly faithful throughout.

The big critique I have for this is that I wish I’d written down more details at the time of the reading. Part of the brevity is because I wrote the reading out by hand. This year, I think I’ll type up a very in-depth report that’s more similar to the year ahead readings I do for clients.

My 2025 reading will also definitely focus more on the spiritual side of things rather than being a totally general reading. I have a feeling that it’s going to be more productive if I do it that way!

Anyhow, let me put my shilling hat on real quick… If you’d like a year ahead reading, check out my Ko-Fi commissions, available for a limited time only! I also do other types of tarot readings and custom spell services, if that tickles your fancy. And stay tuned for more seasonal posts!

You can also read this post over on Ko-Fi!:

#aese speaks #tarot reading #year ahead tarot reading #2024 year in review #tarot #tarotblr #divination #tarot community #witchblr #advwitchblr

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malachiwardyt · 1 year ago

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youtube

Hello again, podcast side of Tumblr.

Entities Explained has officially come to a close with the final episode explaining the End. If you didn't know, Entities Explained has been a series where I, over the course of the last year and change, have explained each of the Fears from hit horror anthology podcast The Magnus Archives. This is the longest episode of the series, but I think it's totally worth watching.

Also, this video contains a major announcement: I am currently working on a MASSIVE video explaining The Magnus Archives in as much detail as I possibly can. Hopefully, it'll be a great refresher course before Protocol, and trying to get it done in a month won't absolutely destroy me.

For the art, I decided to draw the moment from Oliver Banks' statement in MAG 121: Far Away where he and the rest of the crew on a research vessel are destroyed by falling satellite pieces. I wanted the whole piece to be very dark and to have this slightly dusty feel to it, which I think I succeeded at.

I went back and forth a lot on what to dress Banks in, but, in the end (pun intended), I went with something a bit more casual, since he is mostly just hanging around a shipping vessel. If I ever drew him as The Coroner, I'd probably go with something more formal (full black suit with a wilted red flower on the lapel?), but this felt fitting. I also wanted to give him a rain coat because, hey, I imagine it gets pretty rainy out there.

Unfortunately, Banks' design doesn't get to shine through too much in this piece, since his back is to the audience but, for one, I think that's sort of fitting for his themes, and, two, it makes the composition, at least in my mind, a bit more interesting.

The falling satellite was something I experimented around with a lot. Using reference pictures of real satellites, I tried to get something that felt small, but also like it could do some serious damage. The motion blur was a late addition, but I can't say I don't like it.

The moon was always going to be an important part of this piece, but it was during the sketching phase that I realised I could make it into a bit of a stylised skull, which is just a subtle enough detail to be fun. The angular clouds were originally meant to cut through it, but I settled on it being in full view instead, which I think looks much better.

Finally, there's the veins themselves. I actually went with less of them than I originally planned because I think it felt less repetitive, but I'm really happy with the way they turned out. My one addition was adding a pop of colour to this very drab and grey piece (which could, now that I think about it, be seen as a parallel to the desaturated people in Banks' dreams) in the form of the red flowing through the veins. This is technically only described as happening when Banks saw Gertrude Robinson in his dreams, but I figured, if there was another time for it, it was in the moment that he was truly in the grasp of Terminus. I also, honestly, just think it looks better.

That wraps up Entities Explained, so I hope y'all have enjoyed this series while it lasted. I'm not going to stop Magnus content, as I have plenty of ideas already and I'm sure Protocol will only bring more, but I am interested to see where my content goes from here. If you've read this far, thank you so much for listening to my ramblings and, if you celebrate, enjoy your holidays. Good night, Tumblr people!

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lilydoesdrawsometimes · 1 year ago

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I made it. The last day of Inktober! (Technically Paratober, and more accurately Thierratober) I literally have NEVER done this as long as I've known about and been (attempting) to participate in Inktober, and that's about six years now. A thanks to the users who made the three prompt lists I drew from: @/ a-game-of-beginnings with The Stanley Drawable and @/ themochimadeoftaro with the Canon and Non Canon Paratober Prompts

One fully rendered piece a day, for thirty one days. And I did it. What I'm going to write next is a bit sappy - so feel free to scroll past if you're not interested <3

I genuinely don't think I could have done it (or have essentially done 31+ drawings in two weeks since I missed an entire week at the start, and had a vacation at the end) without the support from @vellichorom (of whom this entire thing is dedicated to) and my other friends (including a friend who isn't actually in the TSP community, but I love her none the less [I'm looking at YOU Bloo, I know you see all of these]) I really appreciate the support that all of my friends and members of the community have given me. I don't think my art could have grown as much as it has if not for that, nor would I have the inspiration to keep making art like I do now. I have been close to giving up this month a few times due to a variety of things, but continued on specifically because of the kindness that was shown to me. Anyways, enough with all the rambling: I loved drawing Thierry this whole month - the goober is my comfort character so it made it far easier than just doing generic prompts. Thank you Velli, and thank you everyone else for being so kind to me <3 I hope you enjoyed that VERY self indulgent image for the last day :)

#tsp #the stanley parable #stanley parable ultra deluxe #narrator tsp #tsp narrator #tsp fanart #art #fanart #tspud #LilyDoesDrawArt #probably the most art i've ever drawn #31+ drawings in the span of two weeks (even though it was SUPPOSED to be a month)#I love thiewwy

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mischievouslittlecreature · 2 years ago

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Part 13: Dance of Darkness

Summary: It's the first time either of them has seen Grace since she left Small Heath two years ago.

Word Count: 4,448

Warnings: Infidelity, smut, threesome, and infertility.

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Chapter 11: Happy or Sad

With Ada staying at Polly’s until they got the whole situation with Campbell sorted, that meant that her house was available to be used. Staring at herself in the mirror in one of the upstairs bedrooms, Lucy raised a trembling hand to her lips, wiping a small smudge of bright red lipstick, running a hand through her hair. Downstairs, she could just distantly hear the hum of Tommy and James talking, as Tommy explained that he and Lucy needed the house to themselves that evening.

She’d picked out a bright red dress with a long skirt and intricate black beading, and had swapped out her usually simplistic and less flashy jewelry for a few of the more expensive, lavish pieces she owned. Most of which had been gifts that Tommy had gotten her throughout the years. Fussing over her hair one last time, she sighed, and began to climb down the stairs, careful in the heels she was wearing so that she didn’t fall. She heard the door open and close, as James finally left for the night.

When Tommy saw her, his eyes lit up, crossing the room to her in several quick, long strides, hands landing on her waist as he kissed her.

“You look beautiful.”

She blushed under the praise. “Thanks.”

He’d prepared the sitting room while she was upstairs, turning on a few of the lights and getting a fire started, the dim glow leaving the room feeling seductive and romantic. He had shed his coat, leaving him in only his waistcoat, slacks, and white button down shirt, making it easier for her to feel the muscles in his biceps flex as she ran a hand along his arm.

“What if she doesn’t show up?” she asked, nerves spiking again. Tommy looked her up and down, clearly appreciative.

“I’m sure we can think of something to do.”

She laughed, leaning more solidly against his chest. He rubbed her back.

“Nervous?”

“A little.”

“It’s just Grace, love,” he reminded. She nodded.

There was a knock at the door. They both drew in deep breaths.

“I’ll get it,” he said. Lucy nodded, but then followed him anyway.

Grace looked more or less the same; more done up, in a beautiful, elegant dress and carefully done makeup, her golden hair shorter and curlier where it fell to around her chin. Her smile was wobbly, bordering on unsure.

“Hello, Tommy.”

“Hello, Grace,” Tommy stepped aside for her to come in, taking her coat for her and hanging it up.

“Grace,” Lucy stepped forward.

“Oh, Lucy,” she reached out to her, pulling her in a warm, firm hug. The smell of her perfume was the same that it had been years ago. “It’s so good to see you.”

“You too,” she pulled back to look Grace over. “I love your dress.”

Grace flushed, tucking some hair behind her ear. “Thank you.”

“This way,” Tommy gestured, leading them back to the sitting room, closing the door behind them. Grace looked around as Tommy offered her a seat, gesturing to the orange couch and armchairs, settling himself down in one. Grace sat down in the armchair across from him, and Lucy took the couch. Tommy fumbled with his cigarettes.

“Do I not get a drink?” Grace asked. Tommy gestured with a cigarette to the alcohol shelf.

“Please,” he handed Lucy another cigarette, probably knowing that she needed one. Grace stood, fumbling with her little handbag.

“You want one?” she asked, looking between them.

“Yes,” Tommy said.

“Sure,” Lucy nodded.

“Still whiskey?”

“Yes,” Tommy answered for both of them. Grace started to pour, mentioning briefly that she’d seen his name on vans at the docks. Tommy kept his eyes lowered, like he was afraid to look at her. Lucy, for her part, couldn’t stop staring at her. As if she did, Grace would disappear. Grace passed them both their drinks. Lucy eyed the massive, obvious glittering wedding bands encircling her left ring finger. Instead of returning to the armchair, Grace came to sit on the couch next to Lucy.

“Tommy, I really wasn’t sure about coming tonight–” Grace began.

“I lit a fire in the bedroom upstairs,” Tommy interrupted. “My plan was that we’d sit here for a while, talk about old times, drink some whiskey. Then I was gonna tell you, I hadn’t spent a day without thinking about you. And then we were gonna go upstairs, the three of us, and sleep together.”

Lucy shifted closer to Grace, until their shoulders were nearly touching.

“But just now on the way to opening the door…I changed my mind.”

Lucy’s eyes snapped up to his, unable to fully tell if he was joking or not.

“So just have one drink, tell me how happy you are in New York and then you can go,” he said. Lucy raised an eyebrow at him. Interesting seduction strategy. She would have interfered if she wasn’t so curious to see if it actually worked.

“You changed your mind?” Grace asked, voice trembling, angry.

“Mm. So you can go.”

“Well…” Grace looked up and away. “As a matter of fact, I am happy in New York. And I am married.”

Lucy looked back down at the rings on Grace’s finger, swallowing.

“Oh yeah, he’s rich, I know,” Tommy said, a trickle of bitterness leaking into his voice.

“And he’s sweet, and he’s kind to me. So what makes you think that I would’ve gone to bed with either of you after one whiskey and some conversation?”

“I was accounting for three whiskeys,” Tommy defended. Lucy snorted, raising a hand to clap over her mouth a moment too late. Grace’s hair whirled as she turned her head to stare at her.

“Sorry,” Lucy mumbled, still trying not to laugh. Grace spun back on Tommy, snapping at him while he maintained his appearance of being unbothered.

“I came here because you asked me.”

“Even though he’s sweet and he’s kind to you?”

“Tommy,” Lucy groaned, tilting her head back. “Stop being an ass.”

Grace continued to bicker with him, and yet she still did not take him up on his offers to leave.

“But you’re still here,” Tommy observed.

“Are you so certain?” Grace asked.

“That you’re still in love with me? With us?” Tommy asked. He sighed. “I was. But I’m not anymore.”

Grace was still looking at him with cooling anger in her eyes. Tommy narrowed his pretty blue orbs, slightly, and asked her if she was armed.

“No, I’m not armed. I don’t carry guns. I don’t have to.”

Tommy looked like he was trying not to smile and failing at it. “You don’t have a sense of humor anymore either.”

“Ugh, Tommy,” Lucy groaned, resting her fingertips against her forehead, but her smile was uncaged, clear on her face as she watched him have his fun. He shot her a teasing grin before looking back at Grace.

“What are you talking about?” Grace snapped, looking between, seemingly greatly offended. Tommy downed the remainder of his whiskey, and stood. Lucy scooted across the couch, making room for him to sit between her and Grace, curling into his side.

“Thing is, I hate reunions,” he told Grace.

“That’s because you’re shit at them,” Lucy mumbled, pressing her face into his shoulder, yelping when he lightly pinched her hip in retaliation, snickering.

“I didn’t want to sit here for hours talking about nothing and dancing around what we really want to say. So now…I know you’re happy in New York, I know your husband’s rich and sweet and kind to you. I know you’re unarmed. And you didn’t come here for sex, because you don’t love me or Lucy anymore. And it’s only three minutes past,” Tommy explained. “Another drink,” he determined, then poked Lucy. “You want one?”

“God, please,” she said, handing him her empty glass to refill. Grace squirmed in her seat, stammering.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he went to the alcohol shelf, then turned around. “It’s good to see you, Grace.”

“So you didn’t light the fire?” Grace asked, and Lucy pulled her lips in to try to hide her smug smile at the glimmer of disappointment that she sensed in the words. He handed Lucy a refilled glass, then went to fill both his and Grace’s.

“You see, my real plan…was that we go out. I want to impress you,” he leaned forward. “Now…do you like Charlie Chaplin?”

Grace smiled, confused. “Yes, I like Charlie Chaplin.”

“Good,” Tommy smiled. “I bet you’ve never heard Charlie Chaplin speak.”

∗ ∗ ∗

They walked side by side, her and Grace with their arms linked with each of Tommy’s. Jazz music gently played, as they stepped into a room where several people were gathered.

“Oh my God, that’s him,” Grace gasped, eyes round as dinner plates as she stared at the man across the room from them.

“Mhm.”

“That’s really Charlie Chaplin in person.”

“Surprise,” Lucy grinned. In response to Grace’s question as to how he knew Chaplin, Tommy whispered an explanation that he knew Chaplin through his bodyguard, Wag MacDonald, who, like Chaplin, was a Gypsy. A waiter came by holding a tray of glass flutes of champagne, and Tommy scooped up one, handing it to Grace. “Thank you,” then another to Lucy before taking one for himself. “Thank you. See, we all have our secrets, Grace.”

Lucy smirked, wondering if he was going to tell her about the horse they’d gotten that he’d named after her.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you,” he began to pull them along, introducing Grace with a charming smile. Lucy smiled politely to Wag and Chaplin, having already met them each at a different function. Grace blushed, smiling so wide the dimples appeared in her cheeks as she began to chat with them. Tommy let her go, then gave Lucy a tiny tug on the arm, eyes lit with a wicked type of mirth.

“We’ll be right back,” Lucy whispered into Grace’s ear. She nodded.

Tommy dragged her away to the telephone in the far corner of the room. He dialed, then held it up to his ear, angled just enough so that she could hear. “Hello, Mr. Campbell.”

Lucy clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from cackling. Tommy elbowed her with a grin.

“You said you knew my sister’s address in Primrose Hill. So I expect you have men watching the house to see who comes and goes. Well, tonight your men will see me return to the house with a very beautiful woman. She will stay until just before midnight. Of course, I’ll close the curtains. Can you guess who the woman is?”

Lucy grinned, clinging to his bicep, snickering to herself.

“Liar!” Campbell roared from the other end of the line.

“Sleep well, Mr. Campbell,” Tommy hung up the phone. Lucy nearly doubled over, fighting to keep herself from howling with laughter.

“I love you so much,” she said finally, holding firmly onto his arm. Tommy smirked, and pulled her along with him, back towards Grace.

∗ ∗ ∗

When she kissed Grace, she tasted like champagne and whiskey, with the hint of something sweet underneath it all. Maybe strawberries.

Tommy was behind Lucy, groping at her hips, kissing messily at her throat, pushing his erection forward to rub against the small of her back. Grace’s hands found her breasts through the material of her dress, squeezing them, and Lucy broke the kiss to let her head loll back onto Tommy’s shoulder, eyes rolling into the back of her skull.

Taking her by the shoulders, Tommy spun her around to face him, mouth crashing down onto hers, grunting when she squeezed his biceps. Grace’s face nuzzled into the crook of her neck, hands still cupping her breasts. She broke away from Tommy, leaning to the side to give him the chance to kiss Grace, swapping places with him so that he was in the middle, hands shaking as she smoothed them over his chest, nibbling at his neck.

“Tommy,” Grace whispered, reaching for his face. “Tommy, do you have someone?”

He just kissed her again. Lucy buried her face in between his shoulder blades.

“It’s too late, Tommy,” Grace tried. Lucy shivered, bottom lip wobbling when she said it. One of Tommy’s hands grasped hers where it was laying on his chest, squeezing.

“It’s eleven, Grace,” he said, noting the time on the clock.

“I mean, it’s too late,” her voice trembled with it. Lucy pulled away from Tommy to wrap herself around Grace’s back, burying her face in her neck, breathing in her perfume. She didn’t want her to go. She never wanted her to go again. “If you had come with me to New York…” she trailed off.

“I had things to do,” he said, simply, kissing her again. Lucy petted her golden hair, letting the curls twist around her fingers, trailing them along her shoulders, feeling how it made Grace shiver.

“You mean the coin landed the wrong way?”

“It couldn’t have worked. That was the question.”

Grace just kissed him again, probably to get him to shut up. Lucy flattened one hand on the middle of Grace’s chest and slid it down, until she just grazed over her core through the material of her dress. Grace nearly sobbed, pulling away from Tommy’s mouth again.

“Tommy, do you have someone? Do either of you have someone?”

“I have a racehorse,” Tommy said, and Lucy snorted into Grace’s shoulder. “She’s gonna win the Derby.”

Lucy curled the fingers of one hand around the zipper of Grace’s dress, pulling it down slowly, grazing her hand and her lips along the newly exposed bare skin. Grace let her peel away the top half of the dress, leaving it bunched up at her waist. Tommy cupped her breasts and kissed her hungrily, rutting his clothed erection into Grace’s stomach, pulling her deeper into his arms while Lucy pressed herself flush to her back. Suddenly, Tommy's arms were around her as well, effectively squishing Grace to his front as he pulled Lucy closer, until he was able to find the zipper on her dress and pull it down. Grace spun around, pulling Lucy’s dress away, dropping her mouth to kiss at her breasts. Moaning, Lucy tangled her hands in her hair.

“Oh, fuck,” Tommy hissed, leaning around Grace to kiss Lucy, growling when she nipped playfully at his bottom lip. Grace wriggled the rest of the way out of her dress, pressing her naked body to Lucy’s firmly, bare skin sliding against each other.

Lucy let out a yelp and then a laugh as Grace suddenly pushed her back into one of the orange armchairs, her hands catching at Grace’s hips, lips pressing into the bare skin just below her navel. Tommy sank to his knees, and her legs fell open for him without him even needing to ask, his tongue finding her clit with little preamble as he began to suck.

“Here,” Lucy said, reclining her head back as much as she could. It took a little maneuvering, but eventually she had Grace settled on her face, closing her eyes and lapping at her folds with long, slow licks of her tongue. Grace shuddered, fingers closing in her hair, being careful not to pull too hard. It was hard to focus, with Tommy pushing two thick fingers into her, but she managed to mimic his movements onto Grace, tongue playing with her clit while she slipped her fingers into her, smirking as she felt Grace already start to tense with a building climax, the vibrations from Lucy’s moans only helping to get her there faster. All it took was a few more well timed strokes of her fingers, and Grace came onto her mouth with a moan, head thrown back. And Lucy was right behind her, thighs squeezing around Tommy’s head as he pushed her into an orgasm.

Grace slid off of her, gasping for breath, while Tommy rose up to kiss Lucy, letting her sample herself on his lips while he took a taste of Grace on hers.

Grabbing at Tommy’s face, Lucy fixed him with demanding eyes. “I want to watch you fuck her.”

Grace moaned, Tommy’s hips thrusting forward at the suggestion.

“Touch yourself,” his voice was deep and growly as he gave the order.

Grinning, she sank down into the chair, letting her legs fall open, fingers circling around her clit.

Tommy pulled Grace into another kiss, lowering her onto her back on the couch. His clothes were shed hastily, tossed haphazardly around the sitting room. He and Grace kissed languidly as he settled between her legs, adjusted himself, then thrusting into her with one quick roll forward. Grace moaned, legs wrapping around him as he began to thrust slowly. Lucy sighed at the sight, slipping two fingers into herself, pumping in time with Tommy’s thrusts, watching them as they kissed and thrust against the couch, Tommy cradling Grace’s head gently. The hand not pumping within herself fondled at her own breasts. A growl rumbled from the couch, Tommy watching her with dilated eyes as he continued to roll into Grace at an increasing pace.

“Lucy,” Grace suddenly cried out, gripping tightly to Tommy’s back. “Lucy, come here. Please.”

It took a good deal of willpower to manage to pull her fingers from her sopping core, climbing to kneel on the floor beside the couch. Grace used the hand not clinging to Tommy’s shoulder to cradle the back of her head, pulling her into a deep kiss. She could tell that they were both close, turning her head to kiss Tommy next while Grace threw back her head with a cry as she came. His hips continued their slow rolls forward, and when Lucy brushed her nose along his neck, she felt him tremble and then groan, low and deep in his chest, pushing himself forward as deep as possible, bursting within Grace, the muscles in his back straining with how powerfully he came, emptying deeply and heavily inside her.

Lucy watched her lovers slump against one another with soft, fond eyes, biting back a smile at the erotic sight before her. Very slowly, Tommy raised himself back up onto his forearms, giving Grace a quick kiss on the lips before pulling out, sitting up on the couch.

“Lucy,” he said, urging her up into the space between him and Grace. Leaning back against the opposite armrest from the one Grace had her head resting on, he pulled Lucy into his lap, mouth hungry on hers, dropping down to suck on one of her nipples.

“Mm…” she sighed as Grace pressed in from behind her, legs wrapping around both her and Tommy possessively.

“Our pretty girl,” Tommy praised, knowing well enough that he could probably have gotten her off using just his voice alone.

Lucy could feel his erection swelling up again underneath her, only encouraged when Grace reached around her to stroke him, chuckling upon finding him already half hard, mumbling something into Lucy’s neck along the lines of, “stamina of a fucking stallion.”

The moment that he was fully hard again, he was lifting Lucy up and sheathing himself in her, groaning and pressing his face into her chest. His hips bucked up as she balanced her hands on his shoulders to stabilize herself while she rode him. All the while, Grace remained flush to her back, kissing her neck and fondling her breasts, pinching her nipples.

“Oh, fuck…” Lucy choked, head falling back to rest on Grace’s shoulder.

“That’s it…” Grace encouraged. “Fuck her good, Tommy.”

Lucy nearly sobbed, walls spasming and tightening around Tommy in a way that made him growl, cock twitching. With one hand still squeezing her breast, Grace dropped the other down to rub Lucy’s clit, and she came with a scream, still bouncing in his lap. Tommy’s thrusts remained deep and powerful, working her through it until he moaned, loud and low and–

“Oh, fuck,” she whimpered, as she felt him release yet another large load, seed thick as it coated her walls, cock spasming when it emptied.

They all collapsed in a tangle of limbs, Tommy sprawled half on his back on the couch with Lucy on top of him, face buried in his shoulder while Grace was draped over her back, nuzzling at her neck. For a long, long while, none of them moved. Just content to lay together in a silent little bubble of satisfaction and fading pleasure.

It was Grace who moved first. Pulling away and leaving Lucy’s back cold as she sat up, pushing her hair back.

“I have to go. It’s getting late.”

Lucy felt Tommy tense beneath her, as she raised her head, watching sadly as Grace stooped to pick up her dress. There would be no point in asking her to stay. Moving off of Tommy, she looked around, searching for her own clothes amongst the pile that had been tossed to the floor.

Slowly, silently, they all began to dress. Lucy helped Grace with her zipper, watching as Tommy pulled on his shirt and waistcoat. Grace touched her shoulder, and she turned to let her zip her back up.

“I’ll drive you,” Tommy offered, after they were all more or less presentable. Grace nodded, silently. “When do you sail back?”

“We don’t know yet.”

Lucy frowned at the answer.

“You don’t have a return ticket?” Tommy’s brows furrowed.

“This wasn’t right, Tommy,” Grace fretted.

“When do you go back, Grace?” he asked, ignoring the statement.

“They’re doing tests on us. I don’t know when they’ll be finished.”

Lucy and Tommy both stared at her blankly.

“We’re having treatment. A doctor in Harley Street. Some new thing, a breakthrough,” she hesitated. “We’re trying for a baby.”

Lucy felt like she’d been punched in the throat. Tommy stared at Grace, then looked down, rubbing at his eyes, pinching his nose, sniffing, and grabbing a cigarette from the ashtray for a drag, then setting it down again.

“Why did you come here tonight?”

“The doctor believes it’s surely me who’s at fault,” Grace said, eyes sad. Tommy shook his head. Lucy swallowed around her own memory of pain, as she’d sat in that doctor’s office years ago and listened to him tell her of the surety of her barrenness.

Perhaps she and Grace were more alike than she had ever even thought.

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “It’s no one’s fault.”

Lucy glanced up at him, moving a tiny step closer, wondering, not for the first time, what he would say to her if she told him the truth about her broken, sterile womb.

“I’m tired of that, Tommy,” Grace said, not unkindly, eyes miserable. He reached out, and rested a hand on her arm.

“Can I see you again?” he asked. She looked down. “Grace,” he nearly pleaded. Lucy looked at her with begging eyes, already feeling the beginning cracks in her heart as the silence, in it answer enough, stretched on and on. Tommy dropped his hand. “You still working undercover, eh?” he asked. Grace’s head snapped up, and she slapped him hard across the cheek. Tommy jerked back, but other than that, he didn’t move. Lucy’s muscles tensed on instinct.

“I have never lied to him once,” Grace growled out, suddenly furious. Though Lucy suspected that it was more at herself than at either of them.

“So tell him the truth,” Tommy urged.

Grace’s face twitched and shifted, looking down, she pushed some of her hair back behind her ear. “I promised that I would be home before midnight.”

Tommy let his head drop, then nodded. “Alright. We’ll drive you back,” he took Lucy’s hand, holding onto her particularly tight as he went to the door, grabbing his coat.

They drove Grace back to her hotel in near silence, only bidding her goodbye with quick, quiet words. Watching as she disappeared inside, Tommy’s hand covered Lucy's, squeezing her fingers as they drove away.

“Lucy?” he said, voice low in the dark.

“Mhm?”

“I’m so happy that you’re still here. With me.”

She tilted her head up, gazing at the shape of his jaw in the darkness, understanding what he meant. She pressed a kiss into his cheek.

“Me too, love.”

∗ ∗ ∗

“I feel terrible,” she complained, slumping over in her seat beside him in the car, staring at May’s house with mounting dread.

“I can do it, if you’d like. You don’t even have to be there,” Tommy offered. Lucy sighed.

“I feel like I should be.”

He shrugged. “You really don’t.”

She glanced over at him. “I feel like a coward.”

“You’re not. Go do some work in the drawing room or take a nap or something. I’ll handle it.”

“Thank you.”

He just stroked her hand affectionately in answer. The guilt twisted sickly in her gut as May greeted them in the entryway with a huge smile.

Despite Tommy’s assurances, she still felt like a coward, but she really couldn't bring herself to face May. To have to watch her pretty face fall as they told her about things could no longer continue between them. So she muttered something about having a headache and needing to lay down, and left them to go to the stables on their own.

She didn’t actually get any rest, simply laying there on her back and staring at the overly fancy canopy of the bed in one of May’s guest rooms, silently hating herself.

Poor May. They really were awful people.

∗ ∗ ∗

“I want you to go down to the phone in the Garrison and call Alfie Solomons.”

She paused, head raising from where she’d been staring at the cobblestones as they walked. “You do?”

Tommy nodded. “Tell him that I want a meeting.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Is this just because you don’t want me in the office when you meet with Campbell?”

Tommy’s lips twitched upwards. “Yes.”

Looking him over, assessing, she frowned. “Is that because you plan to kill him?”

“No,” he said, though from his tone it was clear that he very much would have liked to. “I just don’t want him near you,” she opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off before she could speak. “But I really do need to set up a meeting with Alfie.”

Giving him a once over, she nodded. “What do you think Campbell wants?”

“Probably to talk about Russell’s house being burned out and the location of the assassination being changed.”

“And you’re still going to suggest Epsom on Derby day?”

“I am.”

“Okay,” she shoved her hands into her pockets. “I’ll head over to the Garrison now.”

“Thank you.”

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Thank you for reading! Please consider leaving a comment, reblog, or like. I always appreciate feedback and love getting the opportunity to interact with you and hear your thoughts!

#tommy shelby #tommy shelby x oc #peaky blinders #lucy winters #lucy winters x tommy shelby #my ocs #my fanfiction #fanfiction #dance of darkness #lucy winters x tommy shelby x grace burgess #tommy shelby x grace burgess #tommy shelby x grace burgess x oc #grace burgess x lucy winters #grace burgess x oc #grace burgess

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eleanorfenyxwrites · 6 months ago

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A few days ago @little-smartass tagged me to self rec 5 of my fics so here we are! Out of 84 fics published to AO3, here are the 5 (and a bonus sixth lol) in no particular order that I'd like to highlight 🥰

The Sculptor (WangXian, 27.6k)

This fic was inspired by a fabulous piece of fanart by @ceru-draws and I wrote it in a 3-day sprint/fugue state. I'm still really proud of it mostly because I think it's the tightest narrative I've managed to write yet so far, and I really enjoyed creating a modern AU but set in the American 1970's, with some of the little undercurrents of queer/counter culture that that entails. It was really fun to write, the art it's based on is beautiful, and I think it's a nice little read. (It's also part of a series, so if you like it there's more to the universe!)

2. Outta Time (3zun, 4.7k)

Okay so this one is relatively short, less than 5k words, but it's about the ✨vibes✨, alright, and they're immaculate if I do say so myself. @little-smartass and I realized last summer right about this time that we both love Orville Peck and I said I'd always pictured 3zun so vividly for the line in Outta Time that goes "Drag me to the party guess I got nowhere to go / Got a man to my left and one on my right and they're tellin' me 'bout what they know". And aren't I just a lucky duck - she had great ideas for writing a whole fic AND she drew that scene that sparked it all 😭 This fic is also the start of the Orville Peck Cinematic Universe, which is currently only 2 published fics but there are many more in the works! This is the fic for you if you like soft gay cowboys.

3. Tales From Jianghu Shopping Center (Wangxian, NieLan (implied), SangCheng (unestablished), 6.6k)

This is another one that's all about The Vibes, this time inspired by a post by @lansplaining reimagining all of the Great Sects as businesses in a seedy strip mall. It's the 90's, it's summer, it's fluffy fun and low-stakes drama for everyone! I wrote this one partially out of homesickness when I was missing the boiling hot Southeast American summers I'm used to, but also I just really have a deep love for shitty little strip malls and the weird shit you find in them so this was bound to happen either way once I saw that absolutely INSPIRED post. This is also another one that's part of a larger universe (are you sensing a theme?) and they're all slice-of-life fluffy little summer things focusing on various ships within the community. And I have more in the works!

4. After Each Midnight Begins A New Day (3zun, Wangxian (background), 54.4k)

The one that started it all! This is not only my first chaptered fic for The Untamed, it's the first chaptered fic I've ever finished in my life, and I'd been writing fic for a decade by then. I feel like I can't really rec things I've written without including this one, which was a turning point for me in the fandom both in terms of starting to really actively participate by sharing stuff I'd written (outside of tags and short one-shots) and in really letting 3zun take over my brain for what would be the next three-ish years and counting. I still go back and reread this fic every now and again and of course there are things I would change now with so much practice under my belt since I wrote it, but I do still love it as it is. (This one is also part of a larger universe with plenty of extra scenes, some of which are chaptered fics themselves....shocking, I know.)

5: You Need Tending (12k) and You Are Of Their Ilk (44k+/WIP) (Baby Wangxian)

I'm putting these two fics together for number 5 because this is my post and I make the rules now lol. I wrote the first fic and then decided that I wanted to explore the sort of ripple effects of what happens after the Lan save WWX from the streets, and then it really got away from me, so the sequel is much bigger and more emotionally fraught than the first (at least in my opinion). It just feels weird to recommend either of them without the other when they're so closely linked! It's been ages, I know, since I last updated You Are Of Their Ilk but I'm still claiming that it's a WIP - I will finish it one day, I just don't know exactly when. So if you love it and want to see it finished, don't give up hope!

So there we go! I know this is more than 5 (a LOT more than five if you include the extras and stuff for all the fics lol) but oh well. As per usual I'm terrible at knowing who to tag for these things but I'm going to give it a shot (and if you see this and you're not tagged but you want to play then consider yourself tagged by me!)

@wei--wuxian @omgpurplefattie @iamwestiec @rhysiana and/or anyone else who wants to play!

#the untamed fanfic #fic rec #wangxian #3zun

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reneesbooks · 1 year ago

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the final daily lacuna snippet

buckle up bitches time for chapter 11, the princess. it’s the last one and I’m not about to spoil the WHOLE thing but I’ll give yall a long one.

Keelan stumbles out of the alley and sits on the curb with his head between his knees. His breathing is too fast, something that Annie the bartender has a fancy word for, but he definitely can't be bothered to remember it now. His fingertips tingle and go numb, his head spinning.

It had to have been Birdie. It couldn't have been anyone else. She was older, a young woman and not the child she had been when he saw her last, when he tucked her into her bed with a promise to keep her safe. She survived and grew up and returned, but not to her home.

He's failing at convincing himself that there is a single good reason for her to be with the two most wanted criminals in the city. They'd clearly known her, trusted that she would protect them. She is alive. She is on friendly terms with at least one mass murderer and a serial thief.

He can still hear her tripled voice— "when thieves steal for honor" —he can still feel her hanging off one of his arms.

Levi hadn't killed her—he'd managed to hide her from Maura for years. Why? What had he told her, taught her?

She hadn't recognized him at all. Maybe Levi used memory spells to erase him. Maybe he erased more than that.

"Sir?" One of his soldiers is standing next to him, expression nervous. "Our team completed another sweep of the—"

"Get away from me," Keelan forces out through gritted teeth, "or I swear to Leyna I will gut you like a fish."

The soldier is gone in an instant.

Birdie had disappeared in an instant, in the blink of an eye the way Levi had all those years ago. What else had he taught her?

He is on his feet, walking towards the castle.

Levi had always been obsessed with Birdie's visions, and the prophecy. The one that supposedly predicts Maura's death. And now Birdie is in hiding with thieves somewhere in Morbhard, alive but not coming to tell her sister that. He is not a scholar, but he can connect those dots himself.

He's reached the castle gates. The guard is sending someone out to meet him—he drew the short straw, by Keelan's guess, since he is pale and sweaty when he reaches Keelan. "Captain O’Leyne. You are still banned from—"

"I'm not on castle grounds, so you can spare me the speech." His feet are firmly planted on the cobblestoned road. "I have to speak with the queen immediately."

"Queen Maura—"

Keelan's hand closes around the knife in his belt and the guard quickly backtracks, looking distinctly like he's going to throw up. "Her Majesty has ordered us to turn you away if you come to speak with her."

Keelan grinds his teeth. "Then bring her a message from me."

"Sir Keelan—Captain O'Leyne, I really can't—"

"This is too important for you to get in my way," Keelan hisses, taking a step towards the cowering guard. "You'll deliver a message to the queen for me. You'll tell her that I saw..." He hesitates, suddenly acutely aware of the people walking by, the nearby market, the gutter children collecting pieces of gossip for men like him and Jack. "Tell her I saw the duckling. She'll know what it means."

"Captain O'Leyne." The guard's gaze is fixed somewhere over Keelan's shoulder. "If I disobey orders—"

"If you do not deliver this message, I will be the least of you worries," Keelan says, getting up in the guard's face now. "This is of immediate and utmost importance. It concerns the queen's safety. If you fail to deliver this message, or even if you fail to tell the queen that you saw me, she will find out. I suspect she'll be very angry." He reaches up to scratch the skin under his dead eye. "Do you know what she does when she's angry?"

He sees a small wet spot appear on the guard's trousers. If he was still in charge of the royal guard, he would kill the man for a coward. The guard tells him to wait and he watches him sprint up the front path through the bars of the gate.

Keelan's gaze lifts to the castle towers. He wonders where Maura is, what she's doing. Will the guard interrupt a session of the court? Likely not, there aren't enough liveried servants loitering outside the gates. Perhaps she'll be in the library, studying her spells and curses. She never liked to be interrupted when she was in the library. He wonders if the same guard will even come back.

One of his soldiers finds him after a while and gives him an update on the search for the thieves. Unsurprisingly, they've vanished without a trace. Keelan considers telling him about Birdie, but he doesn't want to do it before telling Maura.

Would she read his memories to see if it was really her?

He sends away the guard with instructions to continue the search and double their efforts and men in the lakeside district.

The coward is returning. The wet spot on his trousers is just a bit larger. Keelan doesn't dare walk forward onto castle grounds until he knows what the man is going to say. He reaches Keelan and clears his throat. "The queen has lifted your banishment." Weight lifts from Keelan's chest that he can't believe he has been living with. "She awaits you in the throne room. I am to escort you—"

"I know the way."

He brushes past the guard and goes home.

The hedges are overgrown, long branches reaching out onto the path at random intervals. There is no one to open the doors for him, and the hinges groan when he pushes through. A few maids scurry through the corridors, but there are no others to stop and gawk as the Knight of Lacuna Lake returns home. His footsteps echo up into the vaulted ceilings, where dusty chandeliers hang half-lit as if someone had pulled them up before they were ready.

The throne room doors swing open easily at his touch.

Maura is sitting alone, her head resting on one hand as she watches him approach. Her favorite green dress hangs off her ribs a bit, as if she'd done the lacing herself. There are deep, dark circles under her eyes and lines around her mouth hardened by years of sorrow and rage. Half the chandeliers are lit and she hasn't raised most of the curtains, bathing the room in shadow.

Her eyes dart to the door behind him. He stops at the base of the steps up to her throne. Her gaze returns to him and she clears her throat. "The guard was meant to escort you."

Keelan takes a deep breath. "He's a coward. I would have him killed for it."

The corner of her mouth twitches. "You've risked much to return here, Sir Keelan."

He kneels. "My queen. I had to tell you immediately. I saw...I saw something in the market."

"Yes." He looks up to see her knuckles whiten on the arms of the throne. "The guard said something about a duckling."

"It's her." He can't stay on his knees, can't hold himself back. He is on his feet and halfway up the stairs, his hands itching to reach for her. "I—I don't know how, but it's Birdie. Those eyes..." He's caught in Maura's silver gaze, tears welling up in those same eyes. "I could never mistake those eyes."

He doesn't think he knows how to read her anymore, but he does recognize the way her fingers touch the empty space on her left hand. "Do you...what kind...what was she doing? Who was she with?"

He blinks. "I...I don't know where to start." He hesitates a step from the top. "Do you..." He puts one finger to his temple. "Aren't you going to...?"

Her face falls a bit, different emotions flashing across. "No. Not—I swore I would never..." She grips her left finger. "Not without..." A shaky inhale, her eyes unreadable. "Not unless you want me to."

He thinks of the servants and others that he's watched her curse over the years. The golden light that pours out of their faces. "Does it...does it hurt?"

Maura looks away. "I don't actually know."

He thinks of how her healing spells taste of sweet pea. He remembers the warmth of the golden light that comforted him in the Black Cell. He takes the final step up to her throne. "You can read my mind, if you...you can do it."

"Only if you want." Her eyes burn through him. "Never again unless you want me to."

He inhales sharply, the scars on his chest burning. "I...I want you to."

She rises to her feet and his nose is filled with her perfume. She is so close and his hands are begging to hold her, but instead he stands stock still as she lifts trembling hands to his face. "If it...if it hurts, I'll stop."

He nods and she presses her fingers to his temples.

Golden light fills his vision.

He is eight years old, standing at the front of the chapel in Leyne, evening light shining through the stained-glass windows.

He feels it more than he hears it—Maura's voice, somewhere in the back of his head.

Too far back.

He is fourteen, sword in his hand as he walks away from his burning house, bloody feet leaving footprints in the dust.

It's almost like a nudge, Maura's presence in his head. She sifts through his memories like the pages of a book, searching for the right moment.

She finds him in the market, hearing the squire announce the opening in the city guard. He looks up from his groceries and sees her in her green dress, standing across the crowded square.

He sees her as he leaves the burning flat on Amber Road, sees her as he walks into the city guard headquarters, he sees her standing behind Jack in the lakeside market.

There.

He watches it happen again, sees Birdie appear and disappear in slow motion. The edges are faded, but Birdie is clear as day. Her eyes burn through him, even just as a memory.

Maura steps away from him, her eyes wide. "You think she's here to kill me."

"I don't." He looks away. "I don't know."

"You were right." She presses her fingers to her forehead, sitting heavily in her throne again. "You're right, Levi was always obsessed with the prophecy. He'll have raised her for that very purpose."

"Maybe it's something else."

Her mouth quirks. "Maybe Lacuna Lake isn't bottomless."

The quirk fades and she sinks into thought, her nose scrunching as she stares at the royal seal in the stonework. Keelan puts a shaking finger to his temple, trying to see if there is any warmth left over.

“When you read someone's mind...” he says slowly, and Maura's eyes flick to him with more than a little anxiety.

“It's less like reading and more like watching,” she says cautiously.

He thinks of her standing in the background of his memories, her silver eyes piercing through him. “You could see what I was thinking after I saw Birdie...is that normal? To see what they thought?”

She hums, tracing patterns idly on the arm of her throne. “I get more of a sense of what the person was feeling in the moment. Sometimes thoughts pass through, if they were particularly important in the moment.”

He stares down at her, her words registering slowly. “So you can feel what they felt?”

Her eyes are guarded. “Yes, wh—”

He grabs her hands and presses them to his temples, meeting her eyes fiercely. “Read my memories. Every one that you can find.”

“What are—”

“I never lied to you,” he says, and her eyes fill with tears. “I would never lie to you. I want you to know that. I need you to know that. Read my memories, every single one that you are in, and know that I never lied. I loved you the day I saw you and I have loved you every day since. Send me away again, cut out my other eye, I will crawl back blind and begging. I will always love you, Maura. No matter what.”

She tries to pull her hands away but he holds them firmly, her fingers pressed to his temples. “Keys, please.”

“I will ask nothing more of you,” he says quietly. “You said you wouldn't do it unless I wanted you to. I am begging you to. If you only feel an ounce of the love I have for you, it would be enough. I need you to know that I never lied.”

She inhales shakily, and he lets go of her hands. She doesn't lower them from his temples, but her thumb touches the corner of his dead eye. “I don't...I don't know if I can...”

“Please, Maura,” he whispers. “Please.”

The golden light fills his vision again. He is standing in the throne room for the first time, his eyes caught on the golden princess in her throne. He is sitting in the gardens, his sword forgotten in the grass as her laughter chases away the ghosts. He is seventeen, spinning around her in the ballroom as she laughs and he falls harder and harder. He is in the Black Cell, grasping her golden light as his only salvation. He is next to her in the theater, holding her hand in the safety of the royal box as she rests her head on his shoulder. He is holding her against him in the throne room, feeling her fluttering heartbeat through his shirt. He is standing before her with his knife in his hands and his blood on his face but he is only thinking if this is enough, if this will make her believe him, if he has finally broken the last remaining piece of light in his life. He is exhausted at his desk, marking up a city map in the hopes that he'll find the thief and go home soon. He is standing before her again, his heart breaking as he sees the pain she is in. He is in love.

She yanks away from him like he burned her, her eyes welling up with tears. She won't meet his gaze, hers fixed firmly on her hands instead. She sinks back into her throne.

“I never lied,” he murmurs, reaching to catch her hand. She doesn't shake him off, just slips her fingers into his, and it gives him the courage to keep going. “I...I don't know what I did wrong, Maura, but I never stopped loving you.”

She inhales shakily, her gaze darting up to his missing eye. “You didn't...I need to tell you some things.”

dw abt what those things are. lacuna taglist: @serenanymph @lyssa-ink @oh-no-another-idea @lena-rambles @ashen-crest @tragicbackstoryenjoyer @serpentarii @allianaavelinjackson

#finally reaching the actual conflict of the raedoran cycle. did I mention keelan and maura are the villains?#this has been sitting in my draft for like. a week. embarrassing #anyway! birdie is alive and maura thinks she's in the city to kill her! who thinks that's true sound off!#something something best tragedies are the ones where there was every opportunity to avoid it #anyway birdie and her band of misfits will be introduced soon lol #lacuna #writeblr #writeblr community #original fiction #fantasy novel #keelan #maura #rb original #daily snippet #posting a jack and arthur snippet after this...eyes open

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allylikethecat · 2 years ago

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I actually didn't know about their history from 9 years ago, I was relatively new to listening to Taylor's music and I didn't really have any kind of online present so I never knew until it was brought up recently because of their relationship in the last few days, so I got curious about them which made me look for ff about them and this was the only one I could find, and it's astonishing to me how I can clearly visualize them while reading it. I guess the thing that really drew me about this possible relationship is their long relationship as friends and some videos I keep seeing, where on some concerts Matty said that he wrote a song that help him in romance I guess and he implied that "about you" was the one that work and some are saying that maybe he wrote that song for Taylor, and on those shows he also said something like "I got something real to tell you guys" and began to sing me & you together song from the lyric "I've been in love with her for ages, and I don't seem to get it right, I've been in love with her in stages, my whole life" and then proceeded to sing from the beginning of the song, and the next show he said "I've been trying to tell you guys" and proceeded to do the same thing. I don't know if I'm reading too much into this or not but I'm really happy for both of them regardless of their relationship right now. I guess the appeal for me lies in whatever could've been then that never happen, and that now that they're reconnecting and getting the chance of exploring whatever that was, but with them being more mature persons and having experience others relationships that helped them grow, our in other words in 2014 the "right person wrong time" phrase was what happen to them but now may be the right time to pursue more between them. What do you think? Do you also have that feeling of wanting them working this time around?

I'm sleep deprive so whatever I wrote may not even make sense but thank you for taking the time to read this anyway.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reach out! Especially about Matty and Taylor! It blows my mind that at least last time I checked, I was the only one writing a Matty / Taylor fic, and it blows my mind even more that I started it ages ago and posted it before all the speculation about their present day relationship. I'm so thankful and honored that people are reading it and enjoying it, even with polarizing speculation about their IRL personal lives.

I'm so happy to hear that when reading you're able to really see them and get a feel for their fictional characterization- both are such public figures, it's interesting to me to create the fictionalized version of them that can be found behind closed doors. Especially in the context of 2014 /2015, which were crazy years in both of their careers, and also extremely messy times for their personal lives and the pieces of them that they have shared. I'm having a lot of fun exploring how a relationship- even a fake one, between the two would have changed the trajectory of their careers and lives, and I hope you continue to enjoy reading it as well!

As for their present day IRL potential relationship- I just really hope that whatever is, or is not going on between them, makes both of them really happy. 😊 As a fan of both, I know Matty isn't perfect and has made (a lot) of mistakes, and also think that Taylor is human like the rest of us and just because she's brilliant doesn't mean she needs to be put on a pedestal. I hope that their fans can treat both of them with respect because at the end of the day, what happens between them is between THEM, we don't know them IRL and we probably never will, AND at the end of the day, whatever is or isn't going on between them does not ACTUAL effect us in anyway, since it is not OUR potential relationship in question. HOWEVER, that said I am having a blast writing my fictionalized account of a Fake PR Relationship between the two and how they will make each other both better, and worse.

Thank you so much for reading and for reaching out! I'm sorry for writing you another novel!

❤️Ally

#Ask Ally #AllyLiketheCat #You Know Where the City Is #Matty x Taylor #When your fake dating au fic accidentally manifests a real relationship

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avocado-frog · 11 months ago

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Happy STS! Today I have a riddle: what comes first? The title or the story? 🤭 To expand, I'd love to hear the creation order of one (or several) of your stories. Did you think of characters first? Plot? World? What was the final piece?

Hello happy STS

So I've been using the same group of characters (give or take a few, some were cut and some were added) since I was. like. thirteen years old. So I've had the same characters in my head for nearly four years now. I think I've posted about the different versions before but I'll do it again since it's been a while.

If we're thinkin about the FIRST first version I ever wrote, I'm pretty sure I made the characters first, then the plot, and then the world, but all I really remember was writing a character sheet on rapidtables notepad and then making the characters on the sims 4. I don't have anything for this version saved anywhere. It was like I wrote 8 chapters, did nothing with it, and then deleted it forever. From what I remember though: -Draft 1 was just referred to as "untitled writing" because I couldn't be bothered to find a title -Leo was created first, then Cass, then Kai, then Marcy, then a secret fifth character (i think her name was addison or something) -Addison was the twins' sister, as was Marcy. Kai was just their neighbor that Leo didn't really like -It was written in 1st person POV -The twins were 14, Kai was 13, Marcy was 12, and Addison was 11 -No last names for anyone -Leo gets in a fight with Marcy over a board game, runs off, gets stolen right out of the woods for Plot Purposes, goes missing for like six months, the other kids get exactly one chapter of looking for her, and then there's three chapters of Mind Control Leo. This is also the longest we ever canonically see Leo's real parents in any version ever -It was DUMB. I did not like it -So I stopped writing it -Leo did get this sick wolverine claw flamethrower (exactly what it sounds like) -No magic

Draft two was written a few months after draft one, when I decided I wanted to write a different version. It still didn't have a title and it was still first person pov. It didn't last very long because the only character it involved was Leo (there was a few chapters of sideplot for the other kids) but it was a little hard to write a whole novel with only one character

So for draft three, I decided to throw Kai in with her. I'm fairly sure I drew his name out of a hat when I decided. I remember writing the last chapter during online history class with the Worst Teacher Ever in seventh grade so I had to have been like 13-14/mid 2021 because I started going half online half offline sometime in April -Kai follows Leo before she gets kidnapped, somehow they end up in Canada -First establishes the setting in Maine since I figured it was close enough to Canada -Leo burns down the cabin with a match (the kids don't have magic yet) -Kai and Leo spend way too much time trying to get from Canada to Maine -Like they go to Mexico for some reason

I actually finished that one though!! That is the most screen time Kai will ever get. rip. Draft four was when I made the triplets, who were in fact seven years old. I cannot stress how SEVEN they were. what the hell why were they actually babies. This one was so that Kai and Leo had more stakes but it was done at the cost of me immediately losing motivation

I kept the triplets though. Here are my notes for draft five: -It changed to third person POV -Leo's full name is Leonidas for fucking no reason (this ends up being a joke in the final version, in a scene where Jaxon is trying to guess her full name and Leo goes "no one has ever been named that" thought i'd mention it) -Kai is no longer part of the main plot and no longer a love interest because I didn't like writing it -The triplet's backstory is that they're the kids of the people that have stolen Leo, but that their mother died when they were like two -So now they're locked in a basement and so is Leo -Elliot's completely blind -Leo once again saves the kids but has a villain arc in the process -Proceeds to kidnap Cass with a stolen car, builds a robot army, gets blown up (?) -Brief redemption arc follows after Leo goes to jail for a bit

Draft six is the longest one I had before the final one, with an entire sequel and three whole chapters of a third one. This one gives us Logan (here he is !!) except evil Logan. Leo needed some friends in jail or something I don't remember -Logan's name wasn't Logan but the real name was so embarrassing that I'm choosing not to disclose it -First draft with magic. But only for the twins. Leo had fire magic and some thing where she could like. disintegrate people or something. Cass's was still healing + plant magic -Logan goes back to jail 💥💥 he had ice magic + able to control metal. which now that i think about it why did they put him in a jail full of metal then. what

Draft six's sequel was when I went full worldbuilding mode and made up an entire ass prophecy that I don't remember and don't want to have to think about. Not many notes on this. Logan was still the oldest (still only like sixteen though) and he drives a school bus. I gave up because I couldn't figure out what to do. Something with portals?

Draft six book three only lasted a few chapters, BUT we finally get Jaxon, Dylan, and Lily. Jaxon was twelve or thirteen (and his name was supposed to be a placeholder), Lily was fourteen or fifteen, and Dylan was eleven and is the only character whose age has never been adjusted. Their name was supposed to be a placeholder too. I can't remember if they were always written as deaf or not. I was writing this one while I tried to figure out what to do with the sequel. Lily was Leo's new love interest (why Leo is canonically bisexual in the final version)

Draft seven was a rewrite of draft six that featured Jaxon, Dylan, and Lily. They overthrow the government with Leo

Draft eight was another rewrite. Leo meets them instead of going to Actual Prison at age fourteen. I do a bit of worldbuilding with the magic again and give the other kids something to do. Lily could control time for a while, Jaxon had electricity, and I didn't know what to do with Dylan yet. The triplets are the twins' cousins + are adopted by Kai's family

Draft nine was funny (another rewrite of draft six) because I got to make Logan a BIT closer to his final version, but he still has beef with actual seven year old children. I got the concept ideas for the lab here which I know for a fact because Jaxon and Leo broke into it in one chapter to find files or something. Jaxon got to have explosives

The sequel for draft nine was when I finally got the idea for the sequel for draft six. I actually didn't delete this version and I still have it somewhere. Characters who get a villain arc in draft nine/draft nine the sequel: Leo, Jaxon, Lily, Dylan, Logan, Elliot, Cass, Ryan Characters who DON'T get a villain arc in draft nine/draft nine the sequel: Kai, Marcy, Sam, Addison -The earliest version of forget-me-not chapter 17 (Ryan gets pushed into a lake and nearly drowns) here it's he falls into a lake while the kids are trying to learn to water raft (in both versions, he's alone with Jaxon) -Elliot, the blind seven-year-old child, gets a villain arc -I remember this specifically because Leo has a line like "can't we just pick him up and put him somewhere else??" -For some reason, Sam has a snake -Leo's afraid of snakes and Marcy is afraid of ducks -or something?? -anyways that's canon because I think it's fucking hysterical

Draft ten I completely scrapped everything forever and started over. Nothing was saved in the fire except for the draft nine sequel and a couple of extra small things I had in my misc writing pile. I still have the outline for this one but tldr Logan gets aged up to eighteen, and the triplets are ten now. Ryan's name is briefly changed to Adrian, Sam's is briefly Emile, and Elliot's is briefly Ethan (but it was also changed to Cecil and Lucas for a bit as well) Logan's sister Jasmine is introduced and is killed off immediately Leo runs away after learning the truth about her parents (they're really her parents here) (whatever the truth is is not expanded on because I never got farther than an outline) and meets Jaxon, because they're both in the middle of robbing a gas station Cass does not join Leo in meeting them The first time I allowed myself to use swears Elliot actually literally dies The closest to canon final draft

Draft ten had a sequel but the sequel was one 8k chapter long + was the early plot of dahlia. -Elliot's dead but some weird infection bullshit happens -Like a zombie apocalypse -Leo has a Frankenstein motif the whole time -All I remember is that Leo became some weird demon thing and tried to kill Jaxon over it -The other thing I remember is that it was genuinely REALLY funny

So then draft eleven is the final final version which I outlined after watching over the garden wall in the Spring and wanted to see if I could start and finish writing a book before the end of summer. I in fact couldn't, and it didn't finish until sometime that winter -I cut Addison out because I didn't like her -Logan was aged to 22, the twins to 16, Kai and Lily to 15, Jaxon to 14, Dylan remained 11, and the triplets remained 10 -Instead of coming up with names for titles, I attached dates so that I could stress myself out with a timeline The title is finally made!!! I don't remember what made me go with a flower theme, I think I had read a book that had something similar. I gave each of the characters a flower as well

SO. sorry for always writing essays for sts asks lol. The story definitely came before the title to answer your riddle

#sts ask #thanks for the ask!!!!!#isaac says things related to his writing again #wip: forget me not

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brydigdraws · 2 years ago

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So these are long overdue lmao

I didn’t quite realise how 2021 was The Year of Crowley (2020 was The Year of Aziraphale) and 2022 was The Year of Izzy until I put these summaries together

I didn’t manage to account for every month these past two years, and 2022 is looking particularly sketchy (quite literally). This is because Shit Went Down :) I’m going to summarise it below for my own benefit▼

Personal/philosophical ramble under cut

In 2021 I had a lot going on, which I think explains the lack of art in June and August (memory’s fuzzy), and why I never posted some of the art in the summary here on tumblr (miiight post Nov and Dec soon-ish). In 2022 things initially screeched to a halt and I had the worst art crisis (and personal crisis tbh) I’ve ever had. Basically I had a really hard time drawing anything without it feeling completely soulless and of worse quality than my actual skill level, which heavily impacted my motivation to draw (sometimes my ofmd obsession came out on top lmao, but that fanart still felt like it was lacking something essential 99% of the time). I drew less, and felt worse for drawing less, which made me draw even less, repeat ad infinitum. It wasn’t until solidly into Autumn that I realised the root of the problem: I had tied the label “artist” so closely to my identity that it had effectively become my identity. And since it was my identity, I felt I had to become a professional artist or be miserable, and in order to become a professional artist I felt I had to constantly focus on honing my skills and get better, nitpick everything in every drawing and strive for impossible perfection, and “draw every day” as all the professional artists advice you to do (I have never managed to draw every day, and my failure to do so made me feel like I was lagging behind). Drawing had slowly but steadily become some insane rat race to me and eventually it ruined my art because I couldn’t appreciate where I was at. Actually finishing a piece of art felt like an incredibly arduous task with little reward (which is why I only really “finished” two pieces last year). I had drained myself of the inherent joy of creating. But realising this didn’t solve the problem, not on its own, because if the fact was “artist is my whole identity” the question then became “If I don’t create art, am I anything at all?”, and the answer for some time was “No.”

I have since found joy and genuine excitement in other types of creating (not that I hadn’t before, but never above a hobbyist level) with potential career opportunities that won’t make my daily life “miserable” (fun fact about me: my biggest fears are the unknown and having my soul ground down by the tireless gears of capitalism). This has helped me stress less about “becoming a professional artist” (something I’m still certain I’d enjoy, despite it all) and find some identity outside of art, but that perfectionist/improvement mindset in relation to my art didn’t start to leave me until a few days before New Year’s. That’s when I was suddenly inspired to make the Ed/Izzy sketch representing Dec ‘22 in the summary above. I had effectively given up on my art at that point, but my mental image was so strong I had to commit it to (digital) paper, no matter if it turned out like shit or not (which, in retrospect, is probably the most visceral motivation an artist can have for practicing their craft). Having no expectations on myself, and with the single-minded drive to capture the ~vibes~ and nothing more, I found the act of drawing fun and near effortless for the first time in fucking years. That’s when it clicked. You don’t have to try and make every aspect of a drawing perfect, and not every drawing needs to be properly rendered; just focus on the one or few most important things you need to be able to convey what it is you want to convey (in this case it was the overall poses and facial expressions). The rest may not be perfect, but it wouldn’t have been even if you tried to make it so, because perfection is fucking unattainable (as much as my chronically perfectionist ass wishes it wasn’t). Trying to attain it is a fool’s errand that’ll slowly eat you up, and your audience will most probably not even notice or care about the difference.

Audiences, especially online audiences, are arguably their own potential source of artist brainrot (and not the fun kind), and I’m of the firm opinion that art can definitely be made for no one’s eyes other than the artist’s own (in opposition to the mindset that the purpose of all art is for it to be shared with external parties) - my own art from years ago being an example of this. But I have found sharing my art with others to be such an inherent joy to me that I don’t think I’ll ever fully stop doing it, and will continue to try my best not to fall into the mental pitfalls that can come with it.

I don’t think my relationship to my own art is fully mended (and I’ve likely failed to see some of the cracks), but it’s definitely better now than it has been in a long, long while.

in short, thanks to edizzy’s dysfunctional marriage for helping me not give up on art I guess

#template by DustBunnyThumper on dA #my art #summary of art #fan art #original #suggestive #in regards to the contents of the read more: this does NOT mean art uploads will be more frequent; I am a spotty bitch and that's chronic

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yaut-jaknowit · 2 years ago

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Demands Are Met

Pairings: Yautja (Vic'tao)/reader (gender neutral)/Yautja (Uihoy)

Word Count: 1543

Summary: You've been traveling with Vic'tao and Uihoy for around two human years. Over the course of that time, you've come to learn and understand these aliens now called your lovers. They have duties to preform to ensure your safety and the clan's as well. You understand the work they do is important but you were only human. That doesn't mean you don't get bored and alone while they work. As any other human, you do what is best for your mental health and go to bother them.

Author Note: Moonaite here! Do you guys want some smut next? If so, tell me what you want. Like for the reader and Yautja. Male/female? Female/female? Male/male? Most of my stuff is gender neutral for the reader. Or, if you got ideas, sent them my way. Also, I can’t believe my last two writing got over three hundred notes! Thank you so much for that!

Ao3

Masterlist

Stars slowly passed by as you walked into the main cabin of the star ship you were currently on. Your gaze dragged to outdoors and watched the distant solar systems move by. It made your heart throb momentarily. Earth was far away at this point but it was your first home. Everything that you knew and loved had to be left behind. Your life now was different, a good different.

Two loving and caring lovers. Which both are on this ship, in the same room as you. Yet, neither were giving you any attention. Their screens were filled with the symbols that made up their language, one you could read, not fluently, but enough to get the idea of it. Your eyes caught something about a group of rogue Yautjas leaving a bloody and gory mess in their wake. The two hunters before you weren’t enforcers but freelancers per say. Whatever the Elders wanted done back on Yautja Prime, your lovers did so. The added skulls and honor kept your little group well fed and happy.

Though, the Elders weren’t the happiest when they showed up one day with you. One of the Elders dared to challenge them. That ended his life pretty quickly.

After everyone heard and/or saw the gruesome battle, no one stood in their way again. A fearsome duo not to be messed with. Funny enough, Vic’tao wasn’t much before Uihoy met him. Vic was the youngest of the group and learned a lot from Uihoy. Then they found you. It was almost a year before the group landed on Yautja Prime and that whole fiasco happened.

Clicks drew you from your thoughts and looked over to the two working Yautjas. Uihoy had his head turned just to the side but his gaze was still focused on his screen. Since he was speaking in the Yautja language, you knew he wasn’t speaking towards you. Vic’tao sat close by, his own screen pulled up and claws dancing along it.

Their written language was a lot easier for you to understand. When they tried to talk with you, all it seems to do is go in one ear and out the next. But you tried, you really tried. Your ears strained to pick up any nouns or words you’ve come to know.

Nothing simply came to you besides what sounded like your name. You rolled your eyes and strolled further into the room. Both aliens didn’t turn to greet you though, either too preoccupied with the work or their talk. After the two human years with them, you know that they knew you were there. Hunters, born and raised and bred to be the universes most dangerous species. No one smart enough dared to get in their way; humans aren’t on that list as you’ve come to learn.

Instead of letting them easily ignore you, you decided to step next to Vic’tao’s chair. Before you got within ten feet, Uihoy gaze returned back to the screen. It wasn’t unusual for them to, in a way, ignore you when in the middle business. They told you this would happen when handling cases. You’ve come to terms with it over time.

Yet, the male wouldn’t give you a piece of his time. Finding that group was important but after five days of this, a couple of times they’ve landed on different planets, you needed some sort of attention. They haven’t learned this just yet, as much as you hated it. You hated it worse when you had to be direct like them for them to get the idea. Acting that way was a last resort. That’s what you had to do now. Act.

Vic’tao swiped at some symbols without acknowledging your presence. Your face fell into an annoyed look. So, you decided to take things into your own hands and poked him into the shoulder. The muscle there didn’t even move at the action. It didn’t do anything to get his attention on you. “Vic, come on. I’m bored, I’ve ran out of book to read days ago. I need attention, please,” you begged with your hands clasped before you.

The male didn’t even falter in his movements, eyes studying the work before him. His free mandibles twitched with a soft chitter but you knew that wasn’t because of you. With his young agility, when he found something, he wasn’t about to let go. Like a lion and a zebra within its claws. Sometimes, that aided him. Other times, it didn’t with you.

You poked him again. No reaction. Again. Still nothing. Five more times. Not a twitch or reaction. “Vic, babe, love. Can’t we cuddle for just an hour. I’ll stop bothering you?” you attempted to reason but silence from him. Damn him and his training.

So be it. “I’m not going to stop poking you until you give me some attention,” you stated firmly and began to constantly poke the younger male. Still, he gave no indication that he even knew that I was there.

Uihoy chittered something to his partner, nothing you could understand. Damn him! He spoke too quickly for you to decipher anything of importance. With a scowl, you started to poke harder but still received nothing in return. At this point, Vic was probably hoping for you to get tired and leave. On any other normal day, you probably would’ve. It was too late to go back now. They’ve been neglecting you.

When both arms got tired after what felt like hours on end, you rest your forehead on his shoulder. He tensed underneath but didn’t falter in his work.

Then, an idea hit you.

A smirk grew on your features. This has to get his attention! You latched your mouth onto his shoulder and bit him as hard as you could.

Vic yelped and pulled away. You released him from your hold and looked smugly at him. “Now, will you give your mate attention or do I have to bite you again. Not that I mind.” See, you didn’t like to be direct but this was needed. Anything to get his attention back on you. He turned his head to face you, brows lowered into an annoyed look. Uh oh.

Whoops, maybe you pushed it a bit far. You took a step back with your lips pressed together. As you opened your mouth to apologize, Uihoy chattered to Vic’tao once more. It was short then he spoke English towards you. “C’mere, sit in my lap till I’m done working,” Uihoy offered and motioned for you to come over to him.

That was probably the best course of action. Before you followed through though, you quickly pecked Vic’s shoulder where you bit him and scrambled over to Uihoy. Said male used one arm to lift you off of the ground into his lap. You gasped and clung to his arm. You were promptly dropped into his lap.

The shock was simply washed away with a smirk that was thrown at Vic. Said male shook his head and tapped on the screen before him.

Uihoy smacked the side of your head. “Don’t be smug.” Unfortunately, he had a point so you had to listen to him. You settled down in Uihoy’s lap and kept his arm close to your stomach, not allowing him to have it back.

Instead of being ignorant, you began to read the letters before you. The yellow light was harsh on your human eyes in the low light but you pushed through.

Once in a while, he got to an interesting part where it could important for them. Uihoy was about to swipe away from the video when you stopped him. His tresses slid over his shoulder as he tilted his head. “What do you see, little hunter?” he questioned.

Similar to Vic’tao, you’ve come a long way to become a better hunter. Never as good as them due to your stature. That didn’t deter you from helping them every once in a blue moon. And they seemed to love when you did. That’s how you gained many of the scars that decorated your body.

You got onto your knees and carefully pointed out a point of interest on the screen. The male leaned closer as well, eyes squinted and keeping a steady hold on you. You may have come a long way for fighting, doesn’t mean you aren’t still clumsy as fuck. Both of them knew this and kept a watchful eye on you while out and about.

When he saw what you saw, he hummed and typed something in. Most likely marking the spot for later reference. Uihoy pulled you back towards him and nuzzled his strange mouth to the back of your neck. “Watchful eye, little hunter. I’m proud of you,” he praised. You smiled shily and shrugged your shoulders. It’s not often they give compliments about that sort of thing as they are on top of things.

Over to your left, Vic’tao makes a grumbling noise. That you heard. “Well, if you weren’t such an ass to me, maybe you would be getting cuddles instead of Uie,” you snarked at him and turned your nose up at him. He gave you one last look out of the corner of his eye before returning back to work.

#yautja #predator #male predator #yautja x reader #predator x reader #yautja x human #yautja x you #vic'tao #uihoy #another writing prompt #i still can't believe #the other two have over #300 notes #thank you so much for that

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s1xthirty · 3 years ago

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right where you left me | ben barnes x reader

summary : you got dumped in a restaurant and haven't been able to move on since that day.

A/N: i wrote this months ago and posted it on my wattpad so some of u might have seen this and yes they are inspired by right where you left me, another shoutout to blondie. excuse my bad grammar and writing, english isn't first language.

You entered the restaurant and you immediately caught the smell of all different kinds of spices making your stomach growls. Your eyes roamed for an empty seat and you finally made your way to the corner in the dim light. Ben had texted you to meet him at the restaurant, he doesn't say why—you two hadn't been talking for a couple of days because of a simple disagreement. It's stupid, both of you held your pride too high to apologize and make up with each other.

You noticed his silhouette in the crowd and raised your hand, gesturing him to your way.

"Hey," You gave him a smile as he sat in front of you. You both stare at each other, the table filled with awkward silence as you keep fiddling with your fingers. "I'm sorry—"

"Look—" You two spoke at the same time and let him first. "How can I say this?" Ben muttered under his breath, and sighed. "I don't think I can be with you anymore."

"What?" you were taken aback by his words, what happened? You stayed there, unable to move. you felt like your heart had been shattered into a million pieces. You felt like your whole world had stopped.

"BRITISH ACTOR, BEN BARNES (40) IS RUMORED TO BE MARRIED AFTER FOUR YEARS OF BEING SINGLE AND ALSO CAME OUT WITH HIS NEW EP. SUCH A SURPRISE!!"

You sighed warily and shifted on your seat at the restaurant as you stared at the article on your laptop. Has it been four years? how?? Ben had always talked about writing his own songs, and you are glad that he finally pursued his dream. But you couldn't deny the burning pain in your heart when you read the article.

You dragged the cursor to close the tab on your screen, "Y/N," your head snapped up from your laptop to meet the familiar brown eyes which you used to call home. "Ben." you exclaimed, lowering your screen and drew your attention to him.

"How are you?" his eyes seemed to seek for eyes, implying onto something you couldn't put your finger on. You tried your best to not get drawn into those dark eyes, knowing he might have a wife out there.

"I'm okay. How are you?"

"I'm great." that goddamn smile.

"I heard about your EP! Congratulations." you mean it, you always want what's best for him. "Would you like to sit? I'm always alone, of course." you offered the chair in front of you, whispering the last sentence under your breath and closing your screen all the way down.

After a few awkward questions, you finally managed to relax with each other. You two exchanged your lives like old friends.

"I met someone." he blurted out,

And suddenly, you're back at the restaurant again four years ago. Standing in your cardigan, you could feel the mascara run. Your heart crumbled into a million pieces again. You barely had a grip on reality.

#ben barnes imagine #ben barnes #ben barnes fluff #ben barnes x reader #ben barnes angst #benjamin barnes #shadow and bone #aleksander morovoza x reader #billy russo x reader #billy russo #the darkling #the darkling x reader #della writes ˙ ୨୧ ٭

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inagetawaycarxo · 3 years ago

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Post Breakup Run-Ins [WWE]

Warnings: breakups, mentions of cheating, angst, crying, heartbreak, breakout them tissues, me listening to SOUR while writing this, more angst, roman’s part is FULL ANGST, broken hearts, Roman being an ass in Jey’s part and his own part, as well as Drews, asshole!roman, mentions of cheating, insecurities, heartache, alcohol, Seth’s part is short.

A/N: All two parts. This preference involves Drew Mcintyre, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins. REQUESTS ARE OPEN!

Drew McIntyre:

Drew and you were on different brands so a breakup was inevitable. Drew and you broke up before survivor series. You were lucky you haven’t run into him yet, but that was all going to change when survivor series happened.

You thought you could avoid him but you were so wrong. You ended up crashing right into his chest.

You were talking to Jey, so your attention wasn’t in front of you. nor was his he was looking at you. you crashed right into something solid. Nearly falling, put a strong muscular arm caught you. the familiar smell invading your nostrils. It was him.

You looked up. Staring into his eyes. he stared into your eyes.

The moment was interrupted by Jey when he pulled you off of Drew. Drew looked annoyed.

“Come on y/n/n,” Jey spoke, before dragging you away quickly. Drew and you stared at each other till you disappeared.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

“You, okay?” Jey asked noticing that you were spaced out while he guided you to Roman’s private locker room.

“Do you think I should talk to him; I mean the way he stared at me…” You spoke. As Jey and you walked into Roman’s locker room.

Jey fought the urge to roll his eyes. He didn’t why you were under Drew’s spell. He broke your heart because you got drafted to smackdown while he stayed on raw. He couldn’t even bother to try a long-distance relationship with you. In Jey’s eyes Drew didn’t deserve you or a second chance.

“He broke up with you because both of you were on different brands,” Jey pointed out.

“I know but…” You sighed, but Jey cut you off.

“Y/n, if he cared about you, he wouldn’t have broken up with you, he would have tried,” Jey grumbled. Trying to prove a point to you. You must have forgotten all those nights you cried till you had no tears left to cry.

“What are you flapping your gums about?” Roman demanded. Rubbing his temple. Jimmy looked up from his phone, while Paul looked at Jey then at you, then back at Roman.

“Y/n ran into Drew and now she wants to get back with him, which I think is stupid,” Jey grumbled. Making you roll your eyes.

Roman let out a huff. Rolling his eyes. Obviously, you forget how much it broke you when he dumped you.

Roman composed himself. Looking at you. Making your heart jump to your throat.

“He broke your heart, y/n, he couldn’t be man enough to make it work, so he dumped you, broke your heart into pieces, you spent years trying to get over him, and now you want to get back together with him,” Roman hissed out.

“But…” You gasped out. Heart thumping wildly against your ribcage.

“I’m not done talking yet, you are better off without him, he isn’t a man,” Roman spoke in a cold tone. Like he was lecturing you.

Roman got up. Walking over to you. He gently rested his hand on your cheek. Eyes looking into yours.

“I don’t think your heart could take another heartbreak from him,” Roman sighed, stroking your cheek before leaving his locker room. Leaving you standing confused. Paul followed him, as well as Jey. Jimmy trailed behind but stopped beside you.

“Y/n, don’t listen to them, do what your heart tells you, if you want to be with him, then be with him,” Jimmy spoke. Making you smile.

“Thanks, Jimmy,” You beamed. Making him give you a playful wink before he left the room.

You quickly spun around. Opening the locker room door and walking out. Searching for Drew.

After about an hour of searching for him, you were about ready to give up. You couldn’t find him. Cursing to yourself. Maybe Roman and Jey were right.

Pouting to yourself you hopped onto a crate. Wishing the world would swallow you whole. You didn’t see Drew sit down next to you.

“Hey y/n, I’m surprised your guard dogs aren’t around you,” He joked. Making you look up. Surprise edged on your features.

“Drew,” You gasped out. Mentally cursing yourself.

The two of you looked into each other’s eyes for a minute or so of gazing into each other’s eyes, both of you broke the silence at the same time.

“I want to give us another chance,” Both of you spoke at the same time.

You smiled at his response. While he smiled back at you. Drew took a hold of your hand. Intertwining his fingers with yours. Your heartbeat beating a hundred miles. Butterflies swarming inside of your stomach.

“I shouldn’t have broken up with you, these past few years have been torture,” Drew spoke. As you starred at him.

“It’s okay, all that matters now is that we want the same thing, and that’s that we want to get back together, to give us another chance,” You spoke. As Drew closed the space between him and you.

His other hand grabbing the side of your face. Lowering his lips down to yours. His warm lips pressing against yours softly. Eyes fluttering closed as he kissed you…

Jey Uso;

You avoided Jey, and if you did see him you would run in the other direction.

Ever since he joined Roman, he had changed and not for the better either.

Roman told Jey to forget about you, that you weren’t supportive and if you dumped him because he joined family then you never really did love him. The truth was Roman was manipulating him and you couldn’t stand it anymore.

At first, Jey listened to his cousin giving you death glares, but that all faded. He missed you. He missed your touch, your smile, how your hair smelt, how you laugh, he missed deep conversations with you. He was aching for you.

So, he planned to corner you into a corner.

“Jey, what do you want, here to glare me to death,” You asked. Placing your hands on your hips.

Instead of answering you he just grabbed the side of your face and kissed you roughly. Placing your hands on his chest and pushing him away.

“Jey…” You gasped out. Eyebrows furrowing.

“I miss you so much, I need you, I want you back,” Jey begged you. Making your heart ache.

“We can’t, you’ve changed so much, ad Roman hates me,” You sighed. Looking at him with sad eyes.

“Then what if we date in secret?” Jey suggested. Making you think for a second.

You let out a sigh.

“Okay,” You whispered. Jey was close enough to hear. He smiled before kissing you again.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

Jey let out a content sigh, as you snuggled into his bare chest. Both of you coming down from your high, after having multiple orgasms.

You traced his tattoo. Looking at a bruise of his in concern. Jey knew you weren’t fond of Roman. Or his actions, in fact, you liked to call him a self-centred asshole. Telling Jey he is manipulating him.

“What’s going on in that pretty little mind, well dirty mind?” Jey asked, winking at you on the last line.

You moved your head up, looking at him, to see him staring at you. You playfully rolled your eyes. Lightly swatting him. Jey let out a fake ow.

“I just… I wish your cousin wasn’t so self-centred. He could come and save you when you get attacked by his opponents,” You sighed. Pouting at him.

“Don’t worry, babe,” He replied. His hand cupping the side of your face.

“But I do, you get hurt, and he doesn’t, it’s hard not to,” You sighed heavily. Jey had to distract you. He was still horny, so he thought why not go for another round.

“Let’s not talk about my cousin, not when we can go for another round,” He spoke, shifting his body so he was on top of you. Your heart rate accelerating a few beats.

“But…” You tried to speak but stopped you by putting his finger on your lips.

“Sh,” Jey shushed you making you pout. Jey positioned the head of his cock with your entrance.

Before you could even protest, he entered you. Making a gasp escape your mouth. Jey smirked. Satisfied he got that reaction. Your hands gripped his forearms.

“See so much better than talking about Roman.” Jey groaned out, as your walls clenched around him as he continued to slide into you till bottom out. Your legs wrapped around his waist.

What the two of you failed to notice was that Jimmy and Roman entered Jey’s hotel room, walking in on Jey and you naked about to have sex.

“Yeah, let’s not talk about me while you are fucking this whore, in fact, I thought the both of you broke up, please don’t tell me she manipulated you into sleeping with her,” Roman shouted. Voice booming.

You let out a slight scream. You could have sworn he locked the door. But the two of you were both driven by the lust for each other that the two of you didn’t lock it. However, your shock disappeared at what he said. What a hypocrite, he was the one that was manipulating people.

“Uce,” Jey hissed out. Covering him and you. Jimmy awkwardly adverted his eyes, while Roman just glared at you. You glared back at Roman.

“We wouldn’t have broken up if you didn’t manipulate him,” You hissed out. Giving him an icy glare. Which he shot right back at you.

“Babe,” Jey gasped out. Roman scoffed.

“You are such a brat,” Roman growled out.

“Least I don’t let my cousins do my dirty work or get injured because I couldn’t be bothered to save them,” You hissed out.

“You wouldn’t understand you aren’t a part of the bloodline,” Roman shot back.

Jimmy wished he had popcorn, Jey wished this would end, because he knew Roman would make him choose and he couldn’t do that.

“Uce,” Jey hissed out. Shooting Roman a look.

“You such a manipulating asshole,” You shouted. Voice rising two octaves.

“Y/n,” Jey huffed out. Looking between Roman and you.

“Least I’m not sleeping my way to the top,” Roman smirked. You narrowed your eyes at him.

“That’s enough,” Jey shouted, slightly upset at Roman’s words.

“And there it is,” You chuckled darkly.

“It’s true, you slept with Jey, got attention, now you will probably want to sleep with someone else,” Roman growled out. Glaring at you coldly.

“You really think that low of me,” You spat out.

“Yeah,” Roman smirked.

“You are such an asshole,” You yelled.

“Might be but you wouldn’t understand, even if Jey did make you understand you just wouldn’t get it,” Roman spat out. Crossing his arms. Did he just call you dumb? you thought to yourself. You wrapped the sheet around you, getting up. Jey quickly covered himself with the quilt cover.

“No, you are being a manipulating toxic asshole, I honestly think you need a reality check, and I hope Brock knocks some sense into you,” You shouted. Walking over to him. Roman’s glare intensified.

“Y/n,” Jey hissed out. While Jimmy looked amused. Damn you had balls to stand up to Roman and say that.

“Jey is either her or us?” Roman spoke, giving him an alternative. Making you narrow your eyes.

You quickly slapped him hard. Making Jey gasp and Jimmy try to control his laugh. The slap echoed through the hotel room. Roman grabbed his cheek a red mark formed on his cheek.

“I’ll do you one better, I’m done,” You hissed out. Casting a look at Jey, before you turned your head to look at Roman. Giving him an icy glare. You stormed off. Jey quickly got out of the bed, holding the quilt close, as he chased after you. Roman rolled his eyes.

“Y/n, wait,” Jey gasped out. Voice full of panic. He couldn’t lose you again.

“You are just going to walk out with a sheet wrapped around you,” Roman questioned smugly. Jey shot him a look, as you stopped in the doorway of the front door. The door was half-opened.

“Well, got to keep my slutty reputation up,” You spat out, slamming the door after you exited it.

Jey glared at Roman.

“What the hell was that?” Jey hissed out.

“She wouldn’t understand, and she is a distraction,” Roman responded. Shrugging his shoulders like he just did Jey a huge favour. Jey glared at his cousin….

Jimmy Uso:

Jimmy cheated on you. He begged you for forgiveness telling you it was a moment of weakness and he missed you.

But you weren’t having any of it so, you ended it.

Jimmy vowed to get you back. Yelling at you that he wouldn’t stop until you were his again.

You weren’t really surprised to see him at your doorstep.

The loud sound of persistent knocking came from your front door. Taking you away from the tub of ice cream and the show that was playing on the TV. You whipped your tears away. Before walking to the door. Unlocking it and taking the lock chain off, before opening the door.

You let out a groan of annoyance when you saw Jimmy at your doorstep. Eyes red from crying. He was the one that got himself in this mess. Holding a bouquet. Like they were going to fix the issue.

You were about to close the door, but he stopped you. a look of panic crossing his face.

“Please, y/n, I love you, I am so sorry I cheated on you, it was a moment of weakness, please, I love you,” He pleaded.

You closed your eyes. Fighting the tears back. You then reopened your eyes.

“If you ever loved me, you would have never cheated on me,” You snapped. Before slamming the door and locking it. Putting the chain lock across before walking back to the couch. Turning up the volume on the TV to drown out Jimmy’s pleas.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

You wished your self-doubt would go away, you wished you didn’t fall in love with Jimmy, but nothing is ever simple or easy in life.

The first few months of the breakup you wallowed. Crying your eyes out. Eating junk food to comfort you. To soothe your breaking heart. It didn’t help when Jimmy kept coming around with gifts trying to apologize. You didn’t want the gifts, you just wanted his love, but he couldn’t give that to you. Because if he even loved you, he wouldn’t have cheated.

He only went away when Sasha threatened him. Chewing his ear out. It pained you to see her get up him, but he did hurt you, and he did deserve her grilling. Sasha was your best friend in the company. Claiming you were the best hairdresser in WWE.

So, when you didn’t come to work, she started to worry about you. Till the point, she came over. Comforting you and telling you, you needed a distraction and to forget about him.

So, here you were at the salon you worked at. Trying to distract yourself. But failing miserably.

A bunch of teenage girls going to prom, made you think of Jimmy. Wishing it were that simple. You styled their hair. Doing your best not to think of Jimmy, asking about who they were going to prom with, what their gowns looked like, but it was hard not to think of Jimmy when his twin brother made his way into the salon. You rolled your eyes, as he walked over to you. The teenage girls swooned over him.

“Is he your boyfriend?” One asked.

“He is so cute,” One of the girls spoke.

“He is so hot,” Another one swooned.

“What do you want Jey?” You asked as you continued to curl the teenage girl's hair. She was the last one.

“Do you have a minute?” Jey asked. As he sat down on the bench to the side. The teenage girls stared at him in awe. While Jey shot them a wink. Some of them blushed while some of them giggled. You rolled your eyes. Shooting him a look.

“Are you two dating?” The teenage girl whose hair you were curling asked. Jey’s eyebrow flicked up.

“She wishes,” He teased. Giving you a playful look. He was trying to cheer you up. Seeing how miserable you looked. You rolled your eyes at his answer.

“He wishes,” You grumbled. As you curl the last strand of her hair.

“Nah, she dated my twin brother,” He spoke. Making the teenage girls gasp.

“There’s another one that looks like you,” One of the girls gushed out.

“Alright girls, all done, go to the counter and I will ring up the price,” You spoke. They all obliged, but not before giving Jey flirty looks.

“Can I have a word?” Jey asked. Making you let out a huff.

“I’m busy,” You huffed out, as you unplugged the curling iron.

“I’ll wait,” Jey responded. Crossing his arm as he sat on one of the chairs.

“Fine, just give me a second,” You sighed. Walking off to go charge the teenage girls. Their mums were there as well. Paying for the styling. You smiled warmly at them as they left the store. Telling the girls to have fun.

You let out a heavy sigh. Dreading to go back and talk to Jey. You knew he would want you to get back with Jimmy.

You took a deep breath before letting it out. Walking back to Jey.

“What do you want Jey?” You sighed out, as you reorganized your kit.

“He misses you, and you miss him, the two of you look like shit, and I before you argue and say he cheated on you, he regrets doing it, he needs you and you need him, can you please look past the fact he cheated on you and go back to him, at least give him another shot or be his friend,” Jey pleaded.

“I can’t Jey,” You sighed. Tears gathering in your eyes you quickly wiped them away.

“At least come back to WWE, everyone misses you,” Jey sighed. You thought about it for a second before looking up at him.

“Fine, but keep Jimmy away from me,” You sighed. Jey smiled brightly. Wrapping his arms around you and pulling you close into his chest. Giving you a bone-crushing hug. You let out a groan of pain. His plan worked, now all he had to do was get Jimmy and you back together…

Roman Reigns:

Breakups were hard. Especially how Roman and you ended. He ended up telling you he still has feelings for Galina and wanted to try again with her.

That left your heart breaking into two. You quickly rushed out of the room, while he called your name.

Ever since then you have been avoiding him. It didn’t help that the two of you worked in the same place, smackdown.

Doubts setting in your mind, where you a placeholder? Did he ever love you? Did he cheat on you?

Unfortunately for you, your luck ran out. You bumped into him in the hallways.

You felt like your throat was closing up. Heart thumping loudly in your eardrums.

“Hey, y/n, I haven’t seen you lately, how are you? Are you okay?” He asked. Looking at you with a general interest. His eyes looked sad. The nerve of him to ask you that, to even speak to you like you are his friend.

“Okay?” You shouted out. tears pricking the corners of your eyes.

“I can’t even look at you without bursting into tears. You broke my heart, you ruined me,” You snapped. Tears falling from your eyes.

Out of habit roman went to wipe them away but you slapped his hand away.

“Did you even love me? Or was it just fake, maybe you even used me just so you felt less lonely,” You snapped. Bianca noticed the Commotion. She quickly walked over to Roman and you. she wasn’t too impressed with how Roman broke your heart, after all, you ran to her crying your eyes out till you passed out. She was your best friend, so she felt a little protective over you.

“I hate you; I never want to talk or see you ever again, heck, I’m going to see if I can go to raw, and if I can’t then I quit,” You yelled. roman looked heartbroken, but you didn’t care.

“Come on y/n/n,” Bianca spoke softly, wrapping her arm around your shoulder and pulling you away from Roman, casting him a glare over her shoulder.

“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” She spoke in a soothing voice. While your body shook in anger.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

You no longer had emotional breakdowns over Roman. Lies. At least not in front of anyone. Though Bianca believed you weren’t over Roman. Especially since you got drunk to numb the pain or have one-night stands with other guys, to forget about him, and the fact he chooses her not you.

Roman on the other hand after his encounter with you, wasn’t doing so well. He made a mistake breaking up with you to be with Galina.

He saw how cold you were to him, but deep down he knew it was all a front. He knew you were breaking, and he was breaking too. But he knew he couldn’t break up with Galina as well.

She noticed Roman’s behaviour as well. Often finding him deep in thought. Or scrolling through his phone. Looking at selfies of you. Sometimes he would stalk your Instagram as well. At first, she felt jealous, but then she accepted that a part of Roman was going to love you.

“You still love her, don’t you?” Galina asked as she noticed Roman was looking at photos of you again. He quickly locked his phone a little too quickly for her liking.

“It doesn’t matter, I’m with you now, I picked you,” Roman spoke. Flashing her a soft smile. That didn’t quite reach his eyes.

She let out a sigh. Just because he flashed her a smile. She could tell it didn’t reach his eyes. He was miserable without you. Every time he was happy his mind would then wander off to you. His smile turning into a frown. She could tell he missed you.

“Talk to her,” She sighed.

“She hates me,” Roman sighed.

“She hates that you choose me over her, and truthfully I only think you choose me because of the kids, and maybe you do still love me, but I know you love y/n more,” Galina spoke. Giving him a sad smile. He needed to hear it.

Roman tried to speak but Galina cut him off again.

“Go win her back, give you her your all, and if it doesn’t work out, we can try again,” She spoke.

Roman smiled at her sadly. Getting up and walking over to her.

“I’m sorry, for doing this to you,” Roman sighed. Cupping the side of her face. She looked up at him. Slightly smiling. Leaning into him. Her hands grabbed his wrists.

“I know, but you still love her, go get her,” Galina spoke. Leaning up till her lips pressed against his. Kissing each other passionately one last time before he went to your apartment complex…

Nerves racked throughout Roman’s body. Palms clammy. Rehearsing in his mind what he was going to say to you. Roman took a deep shake breath in then exhaled. Clenching his hand into a fist. Bringing his fist up to the door and knocking.

He knocked three times. Calling your name. But got no response. His heart hammered against his rib cage.

“Look, y/n, I know you don’t want to see me, but I left her, I want us to get back together,” Roman spoke voice slight loud.

Roman heard the door behind him. Making him glance over his shoulder. Seeing your neighbour standing there in their pyjamas. Looking slightly annoyed.

“She’s not home,” They grumbled. Looking at Roman in irritation.

“That’s fine, I can wait for her,” Roman replied. Giving your neighbour a forced smile.

“You’ll be waiting for a while,” One of your neighbours spoke. Making Roman shrug his shoulder.

“Your problem,” Your neighbour grumbled. They were about to slam the door when Roman spoke again.

“Is she doing, okay?” Roman asked.

“By okay you mean, coming home drunk while her friend helps her, or doesn’t come home at all till the next day?” Your neighbour shot out. Shotting Roman a glare. Before shutting the door.

Guess he deserved that. But that got Roman worrying more about you. You weren’t doing okay, and it was all because of him….

“And after all, he put me through, I still fucking love him,” You drunkenly blurted out. Making Damian furrow his eyebrows as you downed the shot. An idea popped into his mind.

“How about I get him off your mind?” Damian suggested.

“How?” You asked as Damian got up off the barstool, tilting his head to the side hinting at the dance floor. Holding his hand out to you. You bite your lip, a small smile forming on your lips.

“Okay, handsome,” You slurred out, getting up and taking his hand. Damian pulled you towards the dance floor…

Seth Rollins;

You tried to get transferred to NXT but no, Vince wanted you on Smackdown live.

It was hard to avoid someone you loved, hard to look at him, hard to be happy for him since he was now a father. You weren’t too happy when you found out the woman, he cheated on you with Becky was pregnant, it broke your heart.

So, when you did bump into Seth you cast your gaze down to the ground and walked off muttering an apology and walking off.

Seth felt bad. All the guilt of cheating you eating up inside of him. he tried to apologize to you he really did, but you ignored him. he knew he broke your heart. He loved Becky but deep down in his heart you always held a special place.

.✫*ﾟ･ﾟ｡.☆.*｡･ﾟ✫*.

The alcohol only numbed your heartache to a certain extent. Though you always ended up crying yourself to sleep. You wished that you didn’t fall in love with him, then you wouldn’t be so broken. Wondering what you did wrong.

You tried your best to avoid Seth, especially Becky. You were hoping you would get released to at least ease your pain, but that never happened. You could only wait till your contract ended. Then you could be free of him. Maybe you would wrestler in AEW or Impact anywhere that was free of Seth and Becky.

All you wanted was to be enough for him, and you weren’t. You thought he loved you, but he didn’t. You were sick of feeling heartbroken…

FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED! IT WOULD MEAN A LOT TO ME IF YOU LEFT FEEDBACK! REQUESTS ARE OPEN!

#wwe x reader #drew mcintyre x reader #jey uso x reader #jimmy uso x reader #roman reigns x reader #seth rollins x reader #angst #wwe imagine #wwe imagines

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its-short-for-jackalope · 2 years ago

Text

greetings! i have made a thing! ✨️two✨️ things!

✨️ sketchboooooooooooks! ✨️

it took longer than anticipated (I've been trying to get this done since the end of last year, oops) but I finally finished putting these together today. all that's left to do is decorate the covers and start drawing in 'em!

they are slightly–moderately wonky and pretty clearly handmade, but I love them. gives em charm. these are only the second and third books I've made myself so I'm still learning.

if you're interested I'll drop a few more photos and babble a little about the process under the cut! (definitely not a tutorial if that's what you're hoping for lol i was winging it the whole time)

okay so we'll start with the little guy. this is meant to be more of a travel sketchbook.

I wanted something fairly small that I could take on the go without it being too much of a hassle, because I'm also hoping to get out more and like... go for walks to the park or the cemetery or w/e and try doing some studies and life drawing and such. or just get some fresh air and doodle while I make a valiant attempt to get some vitamin D.

THE PROCESS

both sketchbooks are made out of materials I just had lying around, but this one is even more "recycled" lmao

i took the inside pages from an old sketchbook, and about half of them had previously been used, so I went and erased my old sketches as much as I could (they were bad and low effort, so it's no loss I assure you) and that was a boring and frustrating endeavor but it was worth it because, well, I get to use the paper again! I did a very poor job the first time around, I almost never drew on both sides of the page and so many pages were just one shitty sketch and nothing else 🙈

i sorted the pages into signatures (tried to mix up the used and new paper because it'd annoy me if I had just like one big chunk of ghost drawings and then the rest of the book was good and clean lol) and stitched those together and then put just a couple layers of glue on the spine to hold it together.

I made the cover by gluing two pieces of thin cardboard together for each part (front cover, back cover, spine) to make em sturdier, and then I trimmed them down to size and glued the pieces to a paper shopping bag. I didn't have the patience to try flattening the cover under a heavy book or anything, so it's a little warped and will kind of open up on its own so I'm just using the binder clip to hold it closed. plus idk it looks cool!

once the cover was done and dry I just... glued it all together! added the end pages i cut out of construction paper to the.. chunk of book? the book brick? (is there a technical word for it when the signatures are all together....?) and then glued the other sides of the end pages to the inside covers.

now for the second book! the big boy!

this fella was intended to be the grand, improved follow-up to the first sketchbook I put together, and I started working on it right when said first book started running out of paper.

this one is the wonkier of the two but I think it's definitely a few steps up from the original, and I'm pleased with it. this is gonna be my everyday sketchbook, so I wanted it to have a ton of pages so I can use it for a good long while. I think it's at least twice as thick as my first sketchbook. 😂

THE PROCESS

...basically the same as the travel sketchbook, just bigger! the pages are sourced from a different sketchbook, one I started using in high school and promptly forgot about upon graduation.

fun fact: the end pages are covered in countless tiny little hatch lines that i drew by hand while I watched/listened to something on my computer. I don't quite remember what I was watching at this point, but it was almost certainly something from Starkid... probably VHSCC on repeat, since I did this part back in november/december. it might sound tedious but I shit you not I was thrilled to do this part and it was just a blissful neurodivergent turn the brain off and vibe kind of time.

the biggest difference in this process was doing the cover; it's not cardboard, it's some kind of particle board.. thing that was salvaged from the back of a busted picture frame. it is VERY stiff and sturdy and I did not cut the pieces out so much as score the board with my box cutter as deeply as I could, bend it back and forth, and pray it didn't break. 😅 the cover-cover is from the same bag I used on the smaller book!

most of the wonkiness comes from the fact that the cover is sliiiiiiiightly too small for the book brick inside. I had limited material for the cover so I couldn't stretch that at all, I made the cover as big as I possibly could, but I also did not feel like trimming the inside pages so that they would fit better because that would have taken FOREVER and also probably killed me. 😫 soooo the pages stick out a little bit, but that's fine and it doesn't bother me much. 🤷🏻‍♂️

and that's my two sketchbooks! finished em both up over 3 days after procrastinating for at least a month. and now that they exist I can finally draw again!!! been wanting to do that for WEEKS.

if you read all of this I hope you got something out of it, lol. whether you did or didnt, here's a skull for your troubles.

😊🤲🏻💀

enjoy!! <3

#jack jabbers #sketchbook #handmade sketchbook #crafting #crafty #bookmaking #book binding #crafter

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