#it’s ok tho because i’m back to not enjoying my job

[niymue]

genuinely enjoying the sims 4 feels like the ending of 1984

[dark-and-kawaii]

You've done a remarkable job getting me hopelessly hooked on tieflings. It did get me wondering tho, how would the bachleors react to their partner begging for the knot? Properly too, face down, ass up, hands holding their cheeks spread.

Thank you for writing, I do appreciate reading your work. ♡

˚₊‧꒰ა♡໒꒱‧ Knotted ‧꒰ა♡໒꒱‧₊˚

₊˚⊹♡ YES!!! 100/10!!! I’m eating this up om nom nom!!! Something about the tieflings and having knots just make me drool!!! The way they’d fill you up so nicely- you’d never want another cock again, nor would you ever be the same~ ♡

₊˚⊹♡ Pairings: Zevlor x F!Tav/Reader - Rolan x F!Tav/Reader

₊˚⊹♡ Content: NSFW - Stretched So Good - Pussy Never Going To Be The Same - Tiefling Cock Has Your Tongue Dangling Out - Tip Of Their Cocks Kissing Your Cervix - Begging - Tummy Bulge - Spread Wide

Notes: I didn’t add Dammon because these got longish~ Enjoy my dear xoxo

‧₊˚✧[ Zevlor ]✧˚₊‧

The way your face was pressed into his bed roll, your ass thrown up in the air as your fingers spread your pussy lips... The look in your eyes, the way your tongue was out, panting, saliva dribbling down your chin. And that beautiful hole of yours, slick with your juices, glistening and twitching... No doubt you were playing with yourself in preparation for his return to the cave... That was pretty risky of you. If Tilly had decided to accompany him...

“Z-Zevlor~!” You gasp out his name in a breathy moan, “I want it- I- I want to take your knot please~”

A shudder runs down his spine as he listens to you. It takes all of his willpower to not just slam his hips into you, his aching cock twitching with every word that falls from your lips. He swallows thickly, his fingers pulling at the armor around his neck.

His face felt hot and his mind hazy.

He had to focus on something other than your scent, the way you called his name… “Y-you shouldn’t be here. What if someone came looking for me and found you in this compromising position-“

“I don’t carrrreeee~” your mouth hangs open, saliva dripping onto his sheets, “I want them to know~ know I belong to a foulblood, the most handsome oneeee~” you whined, wiggling your ass, spreading your legs a bit wider.

You were going to give this old man a heart attack. He had to open his mouth and take a few gulps of air to get more oxygen to his brain.

“A-are you sure? I fear it may-“

“I-I can take it~!” You cut him off, looking over your shoulder at him, “Y-you've stretched me out so much with your cock already... A-and I've seen it~” You give a small moan as you slip a finger into your pussy, “Y-your knot is so big... I-I wanna feel it stretching my pussy open~ break me~”

He gives a small groan, his hand moving down to free his throbbing cock, stroking the length as he watches you finger yourself. He wants nothing more than to slam himself into your little cunt, feel it wrapped tightly around him, but... He also wants to make sure that you'll be ok. Taking his thumb he smears the bead of pre-cum dripping from his tip onto the head, slicking it up before pressing his thumb into your needy cunt. He can't help but shudder when he feels how wet you are, his tail swishing in response as he slips his thumb deeper, watching as you start to suck him in.

You bite your lip as you look over your shoulder at the handsome tiefling, pushing yourself against him and his hand, wriggling your hips desperate for something bigger- much bigger. “A-ah~! Z-Zevlor, p-please~! I-I need more~ I-It's not enough~!”

He had never seen someone- never been with someone as desperate as you for him. He hated himself for saying you looked like such a whore in his head, but it was true. You were just a needy, whimpering mess on his bed roll.

Zevlor's thoughts were cut off when he felt you reach back and grab his throbbing cock.

“Zevy~ Fuck me please~! Stretch me open…“ You looked over your shoulder at him, licking your lips hungrily, “Commander~”

Hearing his title, feeling your hand stroking his cock, the sudden change in the way you addressed him… Despite his fear of harming your tight snatch, he’d give you what you desired, and he’d make sure to take such good care of you~

…

Your legs were quivering, knees weak, as you bit into his thin sheets, the only thing you had to muffle your screams. It had taken Zevlor a moment to get his knot halfway inside, his cock pulsing with each breath you took.

“mmmph!!!! fhhhh~ !! AHHH~!!! MMMMMM!!!!!!!!!~!!!~!!!!!~~”

Your knuckles turned white as you gripped his bed roll, your pussy stretching wider and wider. Tears rolling down your cheeks as his knot started to press into your pussy further. It felt like you were being ripped open, his knot growing wider and wider.

“My light, I can stop- I- I can pull out. I don't want to hurt you... If this mmph- if it’s too much... We can try some other nigh-“

Your hand released his bed roll and grabbed his arm, holding it tightly.

“I s’need it, commander... Please…~” Your words came out a choked sob, a plea.

His breath catches in his throat as he watches you push back onto him, his eyes going wide, the pain evident on your face as you force him deeper and deeper inside of you.

Finally, it popped inside.

The mouth of your sex stretched grotesquely as it engulfed his big meaty knot, your lips sealed around the base of his cock… “Ahhhn~!!! H-hhaa~! Oh gods, oh gods- Z-Zev!!! I'ms stuffed m‘full- soooo fff-full~!! I-it's stretching my tummy-!!”

Zevlor delicately moved his hand down and around your waist, and sure enough there was a little bump on your belly where his cock was. His hands moved to your hips, gently rubbing the skin and preventing you from taking him deeper. His heart was pounding, worried that his knot was too much for you. His hand slid over to yours so he could lace his fingers between yours before kissing your shoulder softly, trying his best to be comforting, “Shh… You're alright, I've got you...”

One thing was for sure, he was going to miss you when you both finally went your separate ways…

‎‧₊˚✧[ Rolan ]✧˚₊‧

You lay there panting, a thin gleam of sweat on your entire body, babbling his name like some sort of prayer. Feeling the cold air on your exposed, wet pussy as you spread it open for him, your hands pulling your folds apart to show him all of your insides… How your womb was ready and waiting for his potent tielfing seed.

“R-Rolan- Please-,” you were ready, it was time you took his knot. The way it throbbed, the tip of his cock oozing a thick and gooey white liquid, the base of his length throbbing and engorging with blood, turning his pretty cock into a bulbous, veiny knot that was just begging to be sunk into your waiting sex.

But Rolan didn't move, “I-“ he felt so foolish. Here you were, ass in the air, your pussy spread and waiting for him like some sort of offering, and here he was, the very picture of hesitation and uncertainty. His own mind was screaming at him, yelling that this was everything that he had been waiting for- he’s imagined filling your greedy pussy with his knot from the moment he met you… But now that you were begging, now that it was right here he was too scared to take the plunge.

He was so afraid to lose you, of being alone… It’s the reason he’s been purposely holding back from locking himself with you, not giving you his knot no matter how much you begged him. Rolan never said it out loud ever but deep down he was afraid you’d look at him like a monster if he showed you the true extent of his nature.

And you, ever the observant one, noticed.

Your hand reached between your thighs to grab the base of his dick, feeling the bulge of his knot pulsate against your palm. Squeezing him gently as you cock your head at him and pout, “don’t be so greedy~” you mocked him. You were still breathing heavily, but a smile graced your features. Your other hand, covered in a sheen of your own wetness, reaches back and grabs his tail. Gently, but firmly.

Pulling his hips closer to yours, guiding him, “if you don’t fill me nicely with that delicious knot~” you bring his tail up to your lips and lick a long, slow line from the base to the tip, causing Rolan to shiver and moan. Your teeth nibble at the base of his tail, biting down enough to make him squirm but not enough to cause him any real pain, “I’ll have to use this as the replacement. I think that will do nicely, don't you agree?~"

Rolan groaned at the sensation, his mouth agape as his breath became more ragged, “mphf - hah-” he covered his mouth, trying to keep from getting too excited. The idea of you shoving his tail in your cunt and riding it so deep until he saw the outline of it snaking through you- “S-so desperately needy and gr-greedy- li-like a whore in heat-“ he breathed on your shoulder…

…

Your head jerked back, “GUEAAAU!!!!!~” your tongue hanging from your mouth as saliva fell from your lips, your eyes crossed, your vision blurred, and your ears ringing. For a moment you couldn’t hear, see, or feel anything other than the sudden, overwhelming sensation of being filled stretched, your uterus being smashed repeatedly by his tip now that it was finally fully buried inside.

Rolan bit his bottom lip so hard he nearly drew blood, the sharp points of his teeth digging into his flesh and leaving indents, his face a mess… He could feel your sloppy pussy lips wrap around his knot, the popping noises it made as he would forcefully pull it out and then back in as it caught on your lips over and over. The sounds coming from your mouth made it sound like your internal organs would come popping out of it…

“M-my wom-b- A-a-augh- H-ha-h-h-hh-hhhh-h-h-!!!!! Sho’deep Rolan baby~! You're sooooo deep~!! I can- can feel you- so deep~!!! You're hitting- my cervix-! Ahhh!! Ah-!! You're making my pussy all stretched out and gaping f-from yo-your knot~!!!”

His hips moved on their own, the tip of his dick kissing the entrance of your cervix, trying to penetrate you even further than he already was. Your cervix was already starting to swell, and you could feel the pressure building up in your belly.

You were going to be filled with his warm milky tiefling seed, your body ready to welcome his into this world. You swore your eyes had heart shapes in them from thinking about how his knot would plug his cum up inside of you this time, keeping it nice and safe, until he’s ready to fill you up with another batch of it. And then another… And another… Never spilling a single drop…

[doromoni]

Not Over the Papaya | OP81

⊹ ｡•┈꒰ა ♡ ໒꒱┈• ｡ﾟ

Ships : Oscar Piastri x Popstar! Reader , Ex!Lando Norris x Popstar! Reader

Genre : Fluff Smau

A/N : I wrote 2 chapters worth of material today … but imma make y’all wait for tomorrow 🤠👹

Face claim : Jennie Kim

Warnings : Moderate Cursing

Summary : Y/N and Oscar cope with their own breakups by making the Heartbreak Club.

Masterlist | Series Masterlist

< Previous | Part 3 | Next >

*message sent

Notification : You received a message from Oscar

*Incoming Call from Oscar

Pick up or Decline

Pick up

“Hi Osc”

“Hi to you too. You sound so sleepy”

“Yeah, I didn’t get that much sleep on the plane.”

“I told you to limit your coffee intake. I’m not there to stop you , you gremlin control yourself”

“I know I knowww”

“So why’d you wanna call? You should sleep”

“Its just weird that I’ve gotten to see your face practically everyday since last month and now I wont see you for like 2 weeks”

“Well we both work very hectic jobs, so that would be expected. But yeah ~ i’ve gotten used to your presence”

“ Hey Osc… Is it weird to say that I already miss your voice? “

“Only my voice?”

“Well your voice is like Jake Sully y’know.”

“You and your Avatar obsession . And I do not sound like Sam Worthington”

“Who??”

“The guy who voices Jake Sully”

“Ok but how do you know that?? I don’t even know that at the top of my head. I just like Jake cause he’s hot”

“I know that because you forced me to watch blue people run and swim for 10 freaking times!”

“Well you made me watch Cars with you on repeat!”

“You also loved Cars! what do you mean?”

“Ok, I do but that’s besides the point”

“What is your point dweeb?”

“ My point is that I miss you already”

“Well I miss you too”

- Hey Osc, is that Lily? -

“Hey I’ll be back. Lando’s talking to me. Don’t hang up, alright?”

- What? No. We’ve broken up , I’ve told you that -

- I thought I heard a girl’s voice. Is she your new fling? -

- I dont do flings Lando -

- Whatever you say mate -

“Hello? are you still there?”

“Helloooo?”

“You’ve dozed off huh. Sleep well dearest”

Y/N.

liked by oscarpiastri, y/bf, logansargeant, and others

Y/N. Florida I love you but you’re too hot. Rehearsals are brutal! 🤠 send jake sully thirst traps pls

Y/N. Whaaaaa who said that?

oscarpiastri Youre so weird.

Y/N. Because having a crush on a blue car isnt??

logansargeant Its not weird to have a crush on Sally tho

charles_leclerc I support my son’s tastes. Crushing on Sally is valid.

Y/N. But me having a crush on a giant blue man is not???

oscarpiastri nope. thats weird Y/N

logansargeant nope. thats weird Y/N (1)

charles_leclerc nope, thats weird Y/N (2)

Y/N. ugh i h8 the patriarchy

Y/bf Y/N your glowing babeeee!! So excited for Floridaaa. Im catching myself a cowboy 🤠. (and ur Jake Sully crush is so Valid!!)

Y/N Babe give me a call, your pass is still with me! ( RIGHT? The blue man is hot)

Y/bf That he is, but I think orange suits you better 😘 liked by oscarpiastri

oscarpiastri you are so right @Y/bf but its actually papaya 🤓

Y/bf stfu Oscar, im making u a case here 😤

user1 I dont know what to freak out about??!! Y/N adding another day to her concert sched or Oscar being in Y/N’s comment section and CLEARLY being flirty.

user2 Sir that is your teammate’s ex 😮‍💨

user3 Well lando did cheat … so eff the bro code or smth like that— i dunno im not a guy

user4 we can freak out about both!!! YES MY SHIP IS FREAKING FLOATING (it aint sailing till oscar confirms his breakup)

user5 Y/N becoming more unhinged by the second

user6 Y/N looks like she’s becoming better and happier 🤍 we love to see it.

user7 Enjoy your time Queen!

User7 Y/N in American soil is built different

User8 We see that like Oscar 👀.

oscarpiastri 3mins close friends

story replies

charles_leclerc do you like Americans now? well its very plausible since Logan’s American.

oscarpiastri Are you insinuating that I like Americans because of Logan?

charles_leclerc Yes, exactly that.

oscarpiastri NO.

logansargeant I knew it! Western always winssss 🤠🦅

oscarpiastri Why am I not surprised.

Y/N. Ohhhh whos the hot chick? 🤭🫣

oscarpiastri 🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️🙂‍↔️

oscarpiastri I dunno you tell me

Anyone interested to be added to the taglist? Drop a comment or DM me!

Series Taglist : @champagneproblems17 @itsjustfranzi @cheriwritesig @forza-charles @awritingtree @sltwins @gr1mes-cc @hwalllllllelujah @btsfluffsworld @tillyt04 @landotd @booksandflowrs @czennieszn @thatsouthernblondewiththeass @tellybearryyyy @wobblymug @alittlechaotics-blog @bingussthirdtoe @mirrorball-6 @demandealalune @heartsforleclerc @yoongi-holland @maneskin-slave @alenix @forensicheart @bloodyymaryyy @stereading @hahahjej @youre-on-your-ownkid : closed

Maintaglist : @myescapefromthislife @peterholland04 @charlottef1 @fangirl125reader @mel164 @gnarlycore @chloelovesln4 @vickykazuya @merchelsea @ln4author @qzmef @nxk1309 @styl1shl1v @lottalove4evelyn : closed for now

[star-girl69]

protective clarisse save me ANWAYSSSS enjoy

*mentions of clarisse picking reader up and carrying her around

PLEASE ignore the fact i forgot ambrosia existed thanks 🙏🙏 yk i just be saying stuff

it starts out like any capture the flag game

except for the fact you’re on different teams

like in so it goes when clar tells y/n “don’t do anything i wouldn’t do”

everyone once in a while the teams switch up

and clarisse has a really hard time when you’re not on the same team, but she can usually function

she’s worried out of her mind obvi

we all know you’re her achilles heel

but for some reason this time clarisse just has a really bad feeling

she’ll probably threaten everyone on her team- if they so much as LOOK at you in the wrong way she’s going to make their lives a literal hell

and everyone is like ok scary lady 🫡

they all know clarisse don’t play about you

so the game is going pretty normal

you’re just doing your thing and clarisse is hunting around you

it’s really funny because you and a few of your siblings are just fighting whoever makes their way to you

and you win every time

bc clarisse is still letting you win 😭😭😭😭

the good members of her team get told to turn around

and then she lets the weaker ones, the stragglers she doesn’t care about, pass through and then smiles when you cheer after winning even tho she can’t see you

you feel her eyes on you tho sometimes it’s kinda creepy

but basically annabeth and the blue team had set up these trenches in random parts of the wood

they were lined with like a bunch of leaves and spare linens so they were soft at the bottom

but someone 🙄🙄🙄 ugh

forgot to soften up one of them and that’s the one you fall into

she hears you scream and she’s like WOAH HOLY FUCK

running through the woods you’re crying at the bottom of this 6 ft deep hole your siblings are screaming

like she literally throws herself to the ground and drags you out of the pit pure adrenaline

and like she could tell just by your screams and the look on your face that you were HURT HURT

but she knows you need her rn so she pulls you into her lap and asks what hurts

and you can’t even speak you’re in so much pain but you gesture to your leg and maybe clarisse just didn’t want to notice it before but like that bitch is BROKEN

she’s literally shaking

“it’s okay it’s okay baby it’s okay someone is gonna go get a healer right? SOMEONE IS GOING TO GO GET A HEALER, RIGHT?”

*cue like 10 random campers all running off*

and you’re screaming and crying and your siblings are freaking out so the game kinda stops bc everyone is like what happened 😭

then they just walk into this clearing and see you pale and crying and leg obviously broken, sitting in a shaking clarisse’s lap

one of her siblings definitely has to come over and subtly say that she’s like doing a good job LMAO

bc she is STRUGGLING

like she’s never been so scared in her life

her heart is pounding her hands are shaking

but for the first time in her life she’s not really angry right now

she’s just fucking terrified

and she HATES it

she’s stroking your hair and has her arm wrapped around your waist so tight

she tells you “just dig your nails into my arm”

and you can’t even comprehend what’s going on so she grabs your hands and let’s you squeeze so hard she swears her fingers come out a little crooked

FINALLY some apollo kids come over with a stretcher

so then she starts yelling at them “BE GENTLER SHES HURT DUMBFUCKS”

then finally after clarisse’s incessant screaming she holds your hand as they take you back to the healers

then 20 minutes later they reset your leg and put it in a little cast and give you some AMAZING painkillers

so you’re like omg

clarisse is like pale and sweaty and her heartbeat is so erratic one of the healers actually has to come over and be like “maybe you should sit down and get checked out..?”

she starts screaming at them

then you’re like “omg no my saviors are fighting ☹️☹️☹️☹️”

“no no i’m sorry i didn’t mean to make you sad it’s fine it’s fine we’re not fighting”

“yay!!!!!!!”

she has to lay down in your bed and take some really deep breaths in order to calm down

and you’re just happy bc you are floating and you have your gf with you

you’re babbling on about something and clarisse is like wtf is happening to me

but also she’s acting like you just died

holding your head to her chest and staring off into the distance like that one painting of ivan the terrible holding his dead son y’all know

and you’re just happy

she’s kissing all over your face and head and telling you about how she’s gonna help you

“i’ll carry you whenever you don’t feel like using your crutches, i’ll make sure you take all your medicine, i’ll find and kill whoever did this to you, i’ll sleep with you every night just in case, and i won’t let you out of my sight ever again, and i’ll make chiron switch the teams back”

she ends up doing all of those things obvi

she annoys chiron so much he makes a permanent rule that the ares and your cabin always have to be on the same team

clarisse becomes 10x worse in terms of protectiveness

like she’s watching you like a HAWK

she just felt so totally helpless in that moment so unprepared and she never wants to feel like that again

she doesn’t think her heart can take it actually 😭

she does find the person and loses dessert privileges for 5 months for what she did!!!!!

she sleeps with you ever night bc the meds make you sleep restlessly and she’s always there to whisper in your ear and lull you back to sleep

even if you’re like oh i can just use my crutches she’s always staring at the ground like it’s a monster that’s gonna hurt you so she’s like

“hm well i don’t think so actually haha just let me carry you”

“I WANT TO WALK CLARISSE”

*picking you up* “no it’s fine this is safest”

“LET ME DOWN”

basically you’re just the love of her life and she can’t imagine something else happening to you

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - All's Quiet on the BL Front

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

May 2024 Wk 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Wandee Godday (Sat YT) ep 3 of 12 - I love how were getting a solid depiction of two queers just genuinely enjoying sex with each other. That’s actually rare in BL. In this case, it manages to also be weirdly adorable and cute.

Dee is such a tease. I guess Y likes a brat? 

LOOK at those bedroom eyes!

Linguistics corner: when these two are being serious, sweet, or flirty with each other they use rao/nai which is kind of old fashioned and charming and not common in BL. They move pretty seamlessly into gu/mueng and back depending on the style of convo, tho. It's FUN to hear them talk.

Let the fake relationship commence!

My Stand-In (Thai Fri iQIYI) ep 4 of 12 eps - I HAVE THOUGHTS. I'm really enjoying the sinister backbone of this show. I hope they have the courage of their convictions in that regard and lean into a kind of sexy evil revenge narrative. It was a pleasure to watch the break up and I do not want a redemption arc for Ming or a romance for us. Fuck 'em, let’s just ride a revenge train, okay Joe baby?

That’s said, I totally sniffled at the ending scene where Ming (for two years!) has been paying penance cooking for two and waiting alone. Excellent pathos. Now, I understand how they're gonna make this a full 12 eps. And I’m excited about it. Carry on!

We Are (Weds iQIYI) ep 7 of 16 - I wasn't a fan of Winny & Satang in My School President but I'm loving them in this. The thing with Q, Toey, and Chain had me hooting with laughter. I think I’m finally just easing into the relaxed absurdity of this show. The key is not to expect anything from it. Just them being tiny gay idiots.

Two Worlds (iQIYI) ep 10 fin - Someday I’d like to really enjoy a MaxNat show, but today was not that day. (I feel like ever since Between Us I’ve been generally disenchanted with established OG pairs and what they’re bringing to the table. Perhaps that’s a discussion for another day. Cherry Magic excepted, of course.) 

OK, so this final episode, they sure tried to fit a lot in. But that made the pacing better for me. So I kinda liked this weird cliff notes resolution to the story.

In conclusion:

MaxNat do a credible job with a messy script about parallel worlds, gangsters, and strange diseases cured by forest fruits. It sounds confusing because it is. The chemistry is excellent the side pair is entirely forgotten about, and one could drive a Tardis through the plot holes. Still, I found it modestly enjoyable if not at all rewatchable. 7/10 

Only Boo! (Sun YouTube) ep 6 of 12 - I do love how bold and brash Moo is. He’s truly a great character, such an utter outgoing sunshine puppy focused on his pursuit of his older boy. I'm charmed by his utter harmlessness. They gave us a sweet coming out scene, and an awesome supportive mom. Frankly GMMTV has a good track record with moms. (With a few noted exceptions, of course.)

That said, I do keep forgetting this is a GMMTV offering. It just doesn't FEEL GMMTV. Just me?

OMG Vampire (Thai Sun ????) ep 1 of 10 - Starts tomorrow, will report on sitch next week. LeeFrank are back - not unlike the undead. But how do we feel about it? Unsure given their track record.

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

At 25:00 in Akasaka AKA 25 Ji Akasaka de (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 5 of 10 - I like it. I like our sulky 2nd lead. He’s pouty, adorable, brash, and adding some much-needed tension to this narrative. The blurring lines between show within a show is a lot of fun. Probably the best I've seen done in BL so far.

Living With Him AKA Kare no Iru Seikatsu (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 6 of 10 - I like that we got backstory, but we also sort of already knew it. So this ep felt a bit like filler. They are wonderful when they’re on screen together but when they aren't it's a bit dull. I hope we just get them together for the next 4 eps. But this is Japan, so I doubt it.

Blossom Campus (Korea Thurs Gaga & iQIYI) ep 1 of 6 - The image resolution on this show (via Iqiyi ) is terrible. Meanwhile, awkward crush. Jock nerd pairing. Dorky. Maybe a bit too much awkward/dorky for me? I'm not sold on this one.

Meanwhile the ordering then not eating or drinking of food continues. Very upsetting.

Boys Be Brave (Korea Viki) eps 5-8fin - This show was just never sure what it wanted to be. Slacker sunshine KiSub moves in with nerd JinWoo, mostly because he knows JinWoo likes him but won't confess and that's never happened to him before. It reminded me of some earlier KBLs like Behind Cut, yes is had bones but not much flesh, so it only just hung together and progressed through not very much plot in a jerking rattling fashion like an animated skeleton. All the story and chemistry was with the side couple and none of the screen time. That just annoyed me. What did this BL want to BE? Who tf knows. I, for one, don’t care, and resolve to think no more on it. 6/10 

Blue Boys (Korea Sat YouTube) - This ended at 4 eps on a cliffhanger. Since this is a very small studio I don’t have a lot of faith in there being a part two. But they have bundled both this BL, and the GL, bingable chunks on YT. So if you want to binge it, it’s there. Just be aware that it ends on a cliffhanger.

My thoughts?

Promising reunion romances full of class and coming out struggles but I grade with what we got, not on expectations, and you know I HATE a cliffhanger. So yeah, it HAD promise but as of now it gets a 4/10 - fatally flawed. I reserve the right to change my mind if they amend for damages.

It's airing but...

You Made My Day (Thai YT) ep 1 of 5 - mini series staring the I Will Knock You couple Tar & Bom, started but I couldn't find it. I also didn't try very hard.

Lady Boy Friends (Thai WeTV grey) 16 eps - reminds me a bit too much of Diary of Tootsies only high school. Not my thing. DNF unless it turns a corner and is truly amazing.

A Balloon's Landing (Taiwan movie) trailer - A frustrated Hong Kong writer, Tian Yu, meets a Taipei street gangster, Xiang (Fandy Fan from HIStory2: Crossing the Line), and the two of them embark on a journey to find the Bay of Vanishing Whales. Along the way, they discover unexpected twists and turns and close bonds, which brings out the message that "there is always someone like you in this world who is waiting for you. This released to cinemas in Taiwan, no word on international release.

In case you missed it

A really really thorough and fascinating article on 2 Moons 2 and what happened.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

May Releases

VBL (Taiwan) is releasing 4 'Special Episode' epilogues to their 4 2023 shows every Friday this month on Gagaoolala, Viki & Viu. Not sure on search terms or how to find these. (Or, frankly, if we need them.)

5/10 – You Are Mine

5/17 – VIP Only

5/24 – Stay By My Side

5/31 – Anti Reset

5/25 The Time of Fever AKA Unintentional Love Story 2 (Korea movie) trailer - HoTae & DongHee are back but unfortunately not in a cinema near me. Side couple from Unintentional Love Story, same actors, same character names. I love them. I NEED TO SEE THIS.

5/28 My Biker 2 (Thai movie YT?) - trailer

5/30 Knock Knock Boys (Thai Thurs WeTV) - I'm hoping I can get it elsewhere since my WeTV account is inactive, but I do love Best and I'm interested in seeing him in a new pairing. That said, I'm not wild about Seng... so I won't be too cut up if I can't get hold of this. More here.

5/31 The Time of Huannan (Taiwan movie) - May not be BL

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

I'm a sucker for this king of casual claiming. (Only Boo)

It me! (Wandee Goodday)

(Last week)

Streaming services are listed by how I (usually) watch, which is with a USA based IP, and often offset by a day because time zones are a pain.

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @sunflower-positiiivity @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious

If ya wanna be tagged each week leave a comment and I will add you to the template. Easy peesy.

[bigtreefest]

Chapter 6: San Antonio Stroll

From: You Catch More Bees With Honey Series

Pairing: Mob! Bucky x Farmer! Reader

Summary: You can’t ask for much more than good friends and good times.

Word count: 3,620

Content/warnings: heavy drinking, accidental misogyny, friendship, flirting, country close dancing (that’s not an innuendo…yet), mentions of puke, curdled milk, improper treatment of plants (it’s ok tho bc they’re ugly flowers), swears

Author’s Note: Another chapter that made me giggle and kick my feet as I wrote it. I hope you enjoy—let me know if you did through comments, reblogs, and asks!! (And also likes)

Dividers by @firefly-graphics

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You were in the corner of Bucky’s room, laying sideways across the armchair reading a book when he began to stir. He stretched and looked around, the late morning sun lighting up his sharp features and causing him to squint.

“Well good morning, sleeping beauty.” Bucky’s eyes finally found you as he let out a groan and flopped back into bed, turning over and pulling the covers with him.

“What happened?” Came muffled from under the comforter. You laughed and shifted to get up, walking to the side of his bed and crouching down. You carefully slid your hand under the bedding and flipped it open to be met by the sapphire eyes of the mob boss, framed by his messy morning hair. He smiled slightly at the sight of you, causing his eyes to sparkle even more on top of the way they were lit up by the sun’s morning glow.

“You passed out. Do you remember?” You didn’t specifically mention the kiss, but based on the way Bucky hid his face against the mattress and nodded, you knew he did.

“Why? How did I get here? What time is it?” You laughed and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Well, according to Steve, you haven’t been sleeping all week and were being kept up by the adrenaline with that whole situation Thursday into yesterday. The second I got out, you collapsed, probably from a mixture of exhaustion and finally feeling safety, which counteracted that adrenaline. That’s what Decks said, at least.”

Bucky’s head cocked to the side as he looked at you, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Yesterday? You got out yesterday? I thought you got out today.”

You shook your head. “No, Bucky. You’ve been sleeping for twenty hours. It’s Saturday.”

His eyes went wide and he shot up out of bed. “What!? You’re telling me I lost a whole day!? What about all the chores that needed finished? Or the rest of the other business dealings I had to direct?”

You ran your hand through his hair and down to his cheek to calm him down. “It’s all been taken care of. Steve closed up the rest of your business dealings, including Jake. Said he did his job and you would’ve called him ‘a good boy,’ so he’s visiting his mom right now before the jet flies him back tomorrow.”

Bucky nodded along, letting out an exhale of a small laugh at how well Steve knew him. You continued. “While Steve took care of things here, Sam drove back to the city to handle everything there, but otherwise everyone else stayed and is leaving tomorrow. Well, everyone except your construction crew. They’re staying until all tunnels are stabilized.”

“And the farm?” You were surprised at his concern over the land, something more than what directly applied to him.

“Curtis is out there right now. There’s not much to do, because according to him, ‘Bucky ran around like a busy bee doing all the chores with his nervous energy.’”

Bucky laughed. “He’s not wrong. And I encouraged Steve to do the same.”

“Yeah, I’m not surprised. But speaking of Curtis, you should thank him. He’s the one who carried you all the way over here and up the stairs.”

“So what do you think? Another night at the bar will do it? Drinks on me?” Bucky waggled his eyebrows.

When Bucky got up and showered, he changed into jeans and a comfy shirt before galloping down the steps. There, he saw Decks and Steve sitting on the couch chatting, each drinking a small glass of chocolate milk, as he made his way to your office.

The door was open, so he peeked his head in to see you closely examining several papers sprawled out. You tore your glance from the blinding white sheets and rubbed your eyes with the heels of your hands. “Hey, you were in here? I saw some stuff was moved around.”

Bucky nodded slowly, coming into your office fully and gently closing the door. “Yeah. I took a look at that contract the dairy girl left on your desk.” Bucky gestured to the one in your hand.

You felt the compulsion to laugh at his statement, the way he refused to say Cole’s name, but kept your lips tight and sighed instead. “Now, Bucky, you know I’m technically a ‘dairy girl,’ right? Please don’t insult me and my efforts in your attempts to make a jab at Cole. I know he sucks, trust me.”

Bucky winced at his mistake. No one in his line of work would’ve batted an eye at a statement like that, but he was starting to realize just how deep the misogyny ran. You were so capable, and Cole and Lloyd really thought they had the authority to push you out. Although, they probably would have done that no matter your gender, but the point was, they were entitled pricks.

“My bad, Honeybee. Won’t happen again. But yes, I do want to tell you that the law firm that Cole’s associated with has ties to a bad guy. Like, certifiably insane. He fights dirty, so I’ve got Sam looking into it all. That’s probably why he went back so soon.”

You nodded slowly, trying to hide the concern of how your small operation had gotten itself into this entangled web of a mess, but honestly, it could have been a coincidence. You had also read a page of Bucky’s notes which had been scrawled haphazardly, denoting everything that Jake had said about their interaction. At the bottom of that page was an additional note ‘train to handle interrogation better on plane ride home.’ You laughed at that; Jake was always a little too honest for his own good.

But thinking back to the mess you were in, Cole probably would have gone for your farm either way, tied with Lloyd or not, thanks to Jake’s loose lips.

Bucky could see you ruminating and making connections. He confirmed your thoughts. “If it helps at all, I don’t think Lloyd or Cole know who you’re working with. Lloyd hasn’t been around, and Cole can’t put my name to a face. If they had done so already, we might be dealing with something different.” He shrugged.

You knew it shouldn’t have that quickly, but Bucky’s statement provided you with relief. After the past few days, you could see how many men he must’ve had at his disposal if he only sent you a skeleton crew for what was done at the farm. He was calculated and smart, and it was beyond comforting.

Just then, there was a knock at the door and Decks came in, holding a large vase at full arm’s length. It was stuffed with blueish hydrangeas: your least favorite flower.

That was when the smell hit you and Bucky like a wall, the both of you squeezing your noses shut as you shouted with a nasally voice. “Ugh! Decks, get that out of here. Where the hell did those come from?”

She ran back towards the front door, where Steve was holding it open, to set them on the porch. “Just got delivered. Don’t worry, I’ve smelled worse. There’s a card here.”

Everyone else stood back, hands covering their airways as she plucked the small piece of paper from the petals and read it out loud.

“Peach, can’t wait to milk our deal together. -Cole”

Everyone exchanged glances, disgusted by the weirdly suggestive statement, as Decks pulled the hydrangeas out of the vase and tossed them into the yard. She knew how much you hated them. She peered into the vase and gave it a sniff.

“He put the flowers in milk…and,” she sniffed again, “lemon juice?”

The two of you exchanged a glance and you laughed at how foolish Cole was. You could tell Bucky and Steve were utterly confused, so you explained as Decks walked into the yard with the vase. The smell was far away enough now that you didn’t need to cover your nose.

“First off, I hate hydrangeas, so I’m glad Decks knew to get those little bitches out of my face. The only cool thing about them is they change color based on pH. So if they’re in an acidic environment, they’ll turn blue, one of the Turner farms signature colors. I’m sure Cole thought he was being so cute, putting flowers in a vase of milk, but milk is hardly acidic enough to cause any color change, so his smart ass thought lemon juice would be the solution. It worked, but at the cost of curdling the milk.”

You scrunched your face in disgust as Steve and Bucky mirrored it, the three of you looking out into the yard where Decks was shaking the vase vigorously, trying to get all the solids out. She reached for the garden hose and sprayed it out, the force of the stream moving the vase a few feet. She turned off the hose and grabbed the vase, stomping back into the house and slipping off her shoes.

Decks shoved the vase into Steve’s chest and he cradled it with an oof.

“Finish cleaning that. And dump out my glass. I won’t be able to drink milk again for months.” She grumbled. You looked to her as she was retreating from the living room.

“Where are you going?” She turned to look at you briefly.

“To take a shower.” Her head whipped back around.

She continued to stomp up the stairs before gesturing aggressively with her arms above her head. “WHY DO GUYS ALWAYS SEND YOU WEIRD SHIT LIKE THAT!?”

Steve looked at the vase in his hands and rubbed the back of his neck. “I think I’m gonna need a shower, too, after this.”

Once evening came, everyone was finally clean and ready to go, including Curtis, who had come back shortly after the hydrangea incident.

You considered piling the five of you into one car, but Curtis offered to drive, as well, taking Steve and Decks with him as you and Bucky drove in your truck. Curtis figured he’d go home after the bar, anyway, since your house was crowded enough with the extra guests.

As you and Bucky wound around the country roads toward town, he spoke up. “So Decks, she’s quite the character…”

You laughed and nodded, one hand on the wheel while you continued to look forward at the road. “Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, she’s been there for a lot. You’ve gotta be a little crazy to live in close quarters with someone for four years straight like we did. We’ve each got our own things.”

Bucky gave a small chuckle. “I guess it’s good to have someone who knows you so well, though.”

You hummed in agreement, not sure where he was leading this. “And she and Curtis seem close, too. Did she spend a lot of time out here when you were in school?”

You stole a glance at Bucky quickly, catching his inquisitive face. “Yeah, she’d come here for summers and some long weekends. The three of us get along really well.”

Both of you paused before Bucky broke the silence. “So did anything ever happen between the two of them?”

There it was. Who was he asking this for? “Why, asking for a friend? Asking for Stevie?”

Bucky shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant. “Just curious.”

You gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “Uh huh, well you’re lucky I’ll indulge your curiosity because I’m rooting for them, too. To answer your question, no, nothing ever happened. Her place is in the city, and I don’t think Curtis will ever leave here. This is home. They are really good friends, though, sometimes I think they like each other more than they like me.”

Bucky laughed. “That’s how I feel about you and Steve, even though I’m the one who’s been around here the most.”

You gave him a shrug. “Some people just get each other.”

You and Curtis pulled into the bar, parking next to each other. The five of you emerged from the trucks, denim and flannel-clad and ready for a night out.

As you walked in and up to a few empty stools. Curtis hung back, having a word with the bouncer and handing him a sheet of paper, then patting him on the back. The bartender who took your orders was super sweet, and she must’ve been new since you’d never seen her around before.

“I’m not sure what the big guy back there wants quite yet, but I say just make him something good and he’ll be happy.” You pointed a thumb over your shoulder towards Curtis, bumping into where Bucky’s hand was draped as he stood to your other side. The bartender smiled and nodded as Bucky pulled you in closer to his ribs and talked lowly by your ear.

“You and Decks wanna pick out some food while Steve and I grab a booth and a pool table?” You nodded and patted his chest before holding out your hand.

“Sounds good, Bucket. Gimme your black card so I can start a tab.” He smiled and obliged, digging into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet. Once you handed the card to the bartender, he walked away and Decks came up beside you.

“Oh, we’re definitely pushing that card to the limit tonight.”

You laughed and nodded with her. “Agreed.”

You sat under Bucky’s arm in the booth, watching Steve teach Decks how to play pool. Little did he know, Decks was even better than you, in fact, at all games you played.

You laughed into your empty beer glass and reached for the pitcher to refill it when you saw Curtis leaning over the bar.

“It’s been forever. I can’t believe he went back over there.” You noted. “Something must’ve caught his eye.” You knew exactly what. It was someone.

When Curtis had come to join the four of you at the table earlier, Bucky had made a toast. “To new friends and the safety of Honeybee.”

Everyone clinked their glasses together. “To Honeybee.” You giggled as everyone took a sip and Curtis was gone the next second.

He claimed a seat at the bar and hadn’t moved since, making heart eyes at the new bartender. You were happy for him. He worked so hard, he deserved this kind of break, and she seemed sweet.

Bucky nodded along to your previous statement, but you could tell something else in the corner had drawn his attention. You were an hour in and Bucky had already probably doubled the rounds you’d taken.

He looked at you with a mischievous glint in his eye. “I’m gonna ride the mechanical bull.” You put a hand on his chest and could feel his speeding heartbeat.

“Slow down. Learn how to ride a horse first, champ. And then, maybe you can do it.”

Bucky shook his head, not wanting to hear what you had to say as he slid out of the booth and walked past the bar, slapping a hand on Curtis’s shoulder as he made his way to the mechanical bull on the far end.

You rose from your seat as Steve and Decks set down their pool cues, following you to stand by Curtis. The four of you, along with the new bartender, watched as Bucky spoke to the operator and got up on the bull. Steve and Decks were clapping and shouting words of encouragement while you looked on in terror. This man could literally not sit on a stationary horse by himself, and he wanted to ride the bull? Well, no use in trying to talk him down now.

You could hear Curtis through the other screams coming around you. “Buck, hold on tight! I am not carrying you up the stairs again if you get knocked down.”

You laughed at that as you began to clap, a huge, yet tentative, smile beaming on you face in anticipation of what was about to go down. The bull started off slow, rocking Bucky back and forth, but it picked up quickly. You watched as his body began to flail, the bull whipping around until it spun, launching him off to the side from the inertia.

The whole bar began to cheer and whoop. He lasted 8.7 seconds.

Another hour later found you and Decks standing by the bar, sipping another drink the bartender who Curtis called ‘Cherry’ had made for you. You were talking about the two mob bosses over at the pool table. Well, you knew what they were, but Decks didn’t yet, although you believed she and Curtis had their suspicions.

You jolted with excitement when a familiar song came through the speakers.

“Oh! You love this one! You remember the dance I showed you in college? I think you’ve got some new guests to teach!” You looked over to Decks as she playfully rolled her eyes.

You danced your way over to Bucky and dragged him out on the dance floor, catching Steve having an animated conversation across the bar on your way over.

You spun Bucky around and pulled him close. “You ready to learn, cowboy?”

Bucky laughed, taking his hat off and putting it on your head. “Lead the way, partner.”

You two-stepped around the dance floor with the music, keeping your eyes on the top of Bucky’s head as he stared down at your feet, trying not to step on them. Unsuccessfully, you might add, but it was adorable to see him trying to fit himself into another part of your world.

“I think it’s time for a break.” This came after a particularly hard stomp on your big toe, you holding in a yelp and Bucky sheepishly looking up at you as he guided you both back to the bar.

Another drink later, and you were spry as a young calf, ready to go for a round of line dancing.

“Come on Bucket, let’s go boot scoot!” Your voice grew louder with another drink, and Bucky was already three sheets to the wind.

After the two intensive rounds, you both flopped down into the booth, Bucky slumped with his head on your shoulder and arm wrapped tightly around your waist. He was being surprisingly affectionate, speaking against your neck.

“How are you so good at everything?” He mumbled. You stroked his hair and kissed the top of his sweaty head, looking around the bar for your friends. You spotted Decks an Steve making their way over to you from where they had just been chatting with Curtis.

You continued to pet Bucky’s head. “If you guys are, I think we’re ready to go. Bucket here is gonna need one for himself. If we get another drink, I fear he might puke.”

Steve bent down to get a better look at Bucky’s face, flicking him in the temple. Bucky’s face scrunched up in annoyance as he sloppily threw out an arm, swatting at Steve.

Steve stood back up. “Yeah, I think we’re good to go, too. Curtis is gonna stay through closing to give Cherry a ride home. I can drive your truck, though. We already closed out the tab.”

He held out his hand and you tossed him the keys. Steve stuffed them in his pocket as you did your best to shove Bucky’s dense, muscular body out of the booth. You watched as Steve bent down and lifted Bucky over his shoulder.

“Steeb, you’re so strong.” You faintly heard Bucky whisper.

Steve chuckled and adjusted him in a fireman’s carry and took him out of the bar, Decks ahead to get the doors.

You hopped up in the back of the truck to help as Steve tossed Bucky in behind you and drove home. Upon arriving, Steve lifted Bucky again, this time setting him down in his bed.

Bucky woke up to the sound of laughter, causing his head to bounce slightly. He looked up and hardly opened his eyes to see your smiling face.

You were laying on your back, propped up against some pillows. Bucky’s arm was slung across your stomach, his leg thrown to be in between yours and his head nestled in your chest.

“I can’t believe you crawled into bed with me.” Bucky smirked and spoke through his cheek smushed against you.

You laughed even harder. “Bucky, what are you talking about? This is my room. You crawled into bed with me.”

His eyes grew wide before he closed them again in satisfaction, nestling in closer to you, getting more comfortable.

“I don’t know when or how that happened, but I’ll own it.” A soft, sleepy smile took over his face.

You continued to stroke his hair. “Despite your rough exterior you put on for strangers, you’ve really got a way with people, ya know? Like when you helped the Carters and got us those free drinks?”

Bucky hummed and squeezed your waist tighter.

“Decks told me you helped them out again. They offered to pay for drinks last night, too?” Bucky nodded.

“Well it’s not as easy as it seems, Honey. But yeah, she thought we were best friends, Mrs. Carter. She even called me Jamie.”

You looked down as Bucky began to trace shapes against the bare skin under your sleep shirt. “Jamie? I like that. What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, nothing’s really wrong, I guess, it’s just that no one has called me that since my ma. It’s kinda reserved for someone special… But I do like the way it sounds coming from you.”

He turned to kiss your palm that had made its way to his cheek.

“Okay, Jamie.”

Next >

Bonus A/N: I’m not sorry for my hate of hydrangeas. They suck.

Series Taglist:

@scuzmunkie @openup-yourmind @vicmc624 @hawkeyes-queen @blackhawkfanatic @morgthemagpie @buckybarnessimpp

[blair-the-juggalho]

Hello!! I absolutely love your TWDG writing. And I have been having a bad day bc my tooth broke and I'm stressed -_-

Could you possibly make a "TWDG S4 characters when a bubbly Y/N is upset/sad"? ^_^

Hey yeah ofc! And I’m so sorry I hope your day gets better lovely :(

Also I did this as platonic lmk if ya want me to redo it idm! 😭

Another sorry if there’s any spelling mistakes it’s half three am and I’m tired

Also side note, sorry I’ve been like gone a lot of stuff happened and I lost intrest in the game but it’s kinda coming back I’m just getting use to writing again so if this sucks I’m SO SORRY 😭😭😭💖💖💖

TWDG S4 characters when a bubbly Y/N is sad

Violet

She’d find you a bit strange and would tease you but in honesty she loves how bubbly you are

Whenever life gets her down all she has to do is spend some time around you and she feels better

She notices instantly when you’re upset tho and will give it a few minutes before coming up to you

“Hey. What’s up? Why are you all depressed?”

But fr tho that’s her job 😞 LMAO SORRY

But you’ll open up to her and she silently nods along

Whatever it is she gets it

“Yeah…it sucks sometimes…”

She won’t say much but she offers to go somewhere more private so you two can chill and just complain to each other

She’s not all that good at comfort but she’d really try

When your back to normal she’d have a small smile on her face

“Ya happy again now?”

She’d be a bit upset if you’d want to go right back to being around everyone else but she’d join you anyway cuz she’s just happy to see you smile again

Mitch

He doesn’t really get it I mean how can anyone be happy living like this? I mean sure it’s manageable at times but it still sucks

He’d never on his life say it but he does secretly enjoy how happy you are even if he’d tease you for it

When he sees you upset tho I’m so sorry but this man is useless here

He doesn’t notice at first but after Willy or someone points it out he picks up on it and worries a bit

However he just hopes you cheer up on your own and doesn’t say anything

But he does watch out for you in the corner of his eye

He just assumes if it’s really bad you’ll come to him

Cuz he won’t come to you unless your both alone

When you do tell him what’s up he’s still not very helpful

“Damn…that sucks..”

He does care he’s just rubbish at showing it

He will let you stay with him but be warned you’ll both be sat in silence if you’re not in a talking mood

But when you do cheer up he’s relived

again, not that he’d voice it

“Happy again huh?”

Marlon

Marlon finds you to be a breath of fresh air, he always has a gentle smile on his face when your around

He’s happy that you can bring the others up too cuz a happy group is a good group yk

Plus you keep him calm too

So when he sees his usual happy friend down in the dumps he’s very confused

What happened to you?

He watches you for a bit then walks over to you and asks if you’re ok and if ya wanna talk

Hell take you up to the office and will listen to you explain why your upset

He listens and offers some advice and comfort

He’ll let you stay with him for a bit and if you like dogs yk he’ll get rosy to give you some comfort hugs and all

He just has normal conversations with you and will say that he hopes you cheer up soon cuz what would they all do without your positive ways

When you cheer up he’ll have a big smile and if your ok with it he’ll pull you in for a hug and definitely does that back pat and rub (yk the that you do to a friend or family to either be like heyy! Or ok that’s enough now)

Louis

HELLO YOUR BASICALLY THE ONLY OTHER PERSON THEIR WHO CAN MATCH HIS ENERGY

Like he needs to see you all happy and lively because that makes him more happy and lively too!

And this mf he instantly knows when you’re down and he will come up to you and just say “aww what’s wrong (name)? You gotta turn that frown upside down!” He might even pull an over the top sad face too

Depending on what kinda person you are this either kind of works or makes it so much worse

If he does realise that he’s not helping he panics a bit like

“Oh no- they really are sad…what do I doooooo?? This is badddd…”

He’s not all that good in serious situations and will try healing you with comedy and laughter

He’ll tell jokes, tease the others at Ericsson’s

Anything to cheer you up

Heaven forbid the moment you actually do cuz this mans energy is amplified by 100

“is that a smile I see?? So mx grumpy finally cheered up? Ha well it seems I’m just the best at curing sadness.” He acts all cocky but he’s just joking

He’s very pleased to see ya back to your regular self again

Aasim

Aasim always found it curious how someone so happy could exist in a world like this

But he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it

He can’t match your energy but he does support your cheerful ways

He won’t voice it but you do cheer him up when he’s having a bad day

he notices when you’re upset very quickly n all it’s very obvious lmao

He’ll give it a few minutes but after a while he’ll cave and awkwardly walk over to you

“So…you ok? You seem upset…”

You tell him what’s up and he listens

He either gives you advice or will empathise with you saying he gets it

He just kinda silently sits next to you cuz he doesn’t really know what to say

You both just kinda sit around for a while

he won’t really offer it out loud but he doesn’t mind giving you a hug if it will cheer you up

He just waits for you to feel better and is thankful when you do

(Sorry but damn this man I just can’t imagine he’d be much help here that sounds horrible Ik ik 😞)

Omar

This man is grateful that you’re the way you are even if he doesn’t voice it a lot

He’s also a silent observer so when he saw you where upset he just quietly watched you

I think he either doubts how good he is at comforting or he’s too preoccupied but he’ll still watch you for you

He’s kinda hoping it’s just a off day and you’ll perk up again in a while

He waits to see if anyone else will check up on you or if you’ll come to him

But if enough time has passed and both of those didn’t happen he’ll slowly make his way over to you

He doesn’t say much but he listens to you

The few times he does speak it’s either reassurance or advice

He will stay with you for as long as he can and if he had to start cooking again he’d let you stand next to him while he does so

When you cheer up again he wont say much but he has a smile on his face

Ruby

Ruby fully appreciates your bubbly ways and she will usually match your energy when she can

She really thinks you totally brighten up Ericssons!

But today you were acting totally different and she could just sense it

Like there was a shift in the air she just picked up on before she even saw you

Since she gives me like mother friend vibes she totally instantly goes over to ya

Are you ok hun? Ya seem down? What’s happened? Do ya need some space?

She’s there and she will listen to ya 100%

She does whatever she can to be supportive and she might tell a few rubbish puns to make you smile again

She’ll get all protective of ya too like if anyone tries to annoy ya (which I doubt anyone would but yk just incase) she will get so mad at them she’s shout at them and scold them so much

She’ll either stay by you till you cheer up or will give you the space if you need it but the moment she sees that smile she loves so much and that cheery personality she adores she’s matching that happy face

Brody

This girl loves how bubbly you are it’s such a nice change of pace from the usually rubbish day to day apocalypse life

You don’t know how much you can cheer her up and make her feel more relaxed

So she was super quick to notice that you where sad

Huh that’s (name), why arn’t they all happy?? Where’s that lovely smile gone??

I don’t think she’d straight away ask if you where ok cuz maybe you needed some space? I mean it’s normal to get upset now a days but this isn’t like you

She’d ask the others like Marlon if they noticed that you’ve done a total 180

She’d still stay put but keeps a close eye on you and after a few minutes of watching you mope around she’d walk up to you and ask if you where ok

After you tell her what’s got ya so bummed out she’d do anything to get that smile back

She’d listen to you, give you advice if you wanted it, she’d give you a hug literally anything!

She’d also try to distract you by planning some made up road trip (a beach trip if I remember correctly??)

She needs to see her friend go back to their bubbly self 😞

Once you do cheer up she just sighs in relief man she’s happy you’re back to normal lmao

[quinloki]

Welcome to today’s ’what’s been rattling around in my brain’

Bc I think I have you to thank/blame for this but I can’t remember, it’s mafia Marco tho so….. close enough…..

Ok so picture this. Bodyguard Marco right, but he’s actually from an opposing family being your bodyguard bc his actual face is relatively unknown. I’m thinking devil fruits still are a thing and he normally just shows up as the phoenix, or works on the backend healing people Izou is torturing for info (WHY IS THAT HOT I WILL UNPACK THAT IN THERAPY SOMEDAY)

Anyways! Your family is up and coming and keep getting in the way, and they find out about a bodyguard posting for the boss’ kid. Marco’s got some fake (or real) documents of some like, ex military combat doctor stuff and some letters of recommendation from like idk shanks Or something so he’s an easy pick. And he’s good at the job, not the least bit weird or overbearing. Polite. Never complains about where you wanna go or what you wanna do, just taking in any info he can.

And then dun dun dun arranged marriage for combining families but the person you’re supposed to marry is the worst. Like gross disgusting. And as the wedding approaches Marco realizes that well, he’s gonna be out of an info source anyways once you marry, so maybe the jig is up. But he’s gotten fond of you, and maybe at this point they have enough to totally sink your family. But he doesn’t want you to come to any harm! So he slips a little something into your food and out you go while he takes you back to his family.

And like damn at first it’s like red flag omg creepy you just got kidnapped but then you realize…: well now you don’t have to marry that icky guy, and Marco isn’t a bad person …. You’re given more freedom to come and go here too, without constantly being under your father’s control so maybe it’s not so bad…. And really Marco is so sweet and a much better match than that other guy anyways. And he did this for you after all, bc he couldn’t let anyone else have something he wanted

>.>

(WHERE DO I SIGN UP???)

Idk where this has come from but idc I’m enjoying it and thought you might also enjoy <33333

This sounds like something @mamaalpha needs to be held accountable for too - because it reminds me of the Marco x Reader idea we had.

I say had, but we're currently conspiring behind closed doors on a collab for it (no rush, we're both pretty swamped right now), but that said the idea is similar to this with a few differences.

So I won't get into too much.

Though >.> I like the idea of devil fruits for this (idk if it works for what we're going to do, but for this) cause yeah, uh, Marco healing people that Izou's working on. >.>

uh

I don't even think I'mma worry about unpacking that in therapy to be honest. I'mma just sit here and enjoy it XD It reminds me of the line in A Light Touch (is it arrogant to talk about my own work? whatever, I'm gonna do it anyway) - the idea being "Will you come to fear the [flames] that heal you more than the pain?"

Whew.

Just gonna chew on that for the rest of the day I think.

[yeyayeya]

OMG I KNOW THIS IS REALLY LATE but I was extremely busy earlier today so I didn’t have time to make a post about this

But here we are

My reaction to TGCF Season 2 Ep 1

(Spoilers for those that haven’t read the novels)

IT STARTS OUT SO PRETTY????

Xie Lian being so gorgeous (I 100% understand Hua Cheng) and the only thing he be thinking about is Hua Cheng omg. AND THE RING

Also, I know she did bad things and all that, but what heavenly official hasn’t? Give my girl a break and just appreciate her beauty. She also needs a fucking rest because of all the shit she has to go through daily like damn, look at her eye bags! If I were her, I would also give up my job that nobody thanks me for to go overthrowing the heavenly capital

Then we get to the Heavenly Capital and you can tell right away the animation went up in quality between the seasons. It’s all so beautiful and I think it would be really haunting seeing it in ruins once the donghua gets further in the story… whenever that happens

LOOK AT MY SON

I know it’s only been the first episode, but they did such a good job with him I’m crying happy tears. I love his design here, and this makes me so excited to see Quan Yizhen animated, tho tbh I have no idea how they are going to animate his curly hair, but let’s wait and see

Daddy is here

whore

Also he gets a lip shot??? Hot damn is this man daddy. Pei Ming is such a weird character for me as there are times where I greatly enjoy his character and other times I’m just like 😐

Idk it just weird, but I can understand why so many ladies love him, and why he is called the “God of Love”. Equivalent of Zeus but only on the whore part, and he is actually not a bad lover?? Surprisingly???

I love the fact he is interrogating Xie Lian about his new boyfriend in front of the Heavenly Court (“man is leaving us for the devil himself”) and later on in the story he ends up becoming their #1 shipper

Little Pei looks so pathetic here omg?? A little wet cat

You can see the family resemblance and at the time you cannot. “General just leave me alone and banish me so I can go back to my gf please.” The only straight one in the cast but it’s ok

[thefudge]

big announcement to make after my first viewing: the little mermaid (2023) kinda slapped!!!! 

it’s not a perfect movie, but it was so charming and full of heart, and it felt like the ppl making it actually cared about it beyond cash grabs. and halle is a FORCE of nature. she not only carried this movie, she sang it and swam it and flipped it upside down. she is MY LITTLE MERMAID ok. there’s something so striking and soft and melancholy about her, like you absolutely buy that she’s a disney princess BUT ALSO an old school mythical siren from a fairy tale. she had great chemistry with everyone, but her chemistry with eric?? totally unexpected to me. i actually liked their relationship much better here than in the original. the guy who plays eric (i’ve only seen him in the little women miniseries where he plays a very passable laurie) does a pretty good job, but it’s halle who makes the romance come alive for me.

anyway, the film also looked pretty great, so i guess they listened to ppl’s complaints when the first trailers came out. like, some sequences even impressed me visually?? not everything worked, but when it did, you kind of forgot about the cracks. i didn’t even mind melissa mccarthy as ursula, even though i was gunning for smb else. i wish they’d done more with her tho. i liked the things they teased out in her character, even a secret vulnerability (i’m thinking of the scene where she is frantically looking for a potion in order to beat ariel and you can sort of feel her unraveling), but i would’ve loved a bigger confrontation between her and triton. 

going back to eric for a minute, i found the changes made to his backstory kind of fascinating. not only did they flesh him out and give him more personality, but eric is, arguably, a much bigger “fish out of water” than ariel in this movie. ariel seems to belong to his world more than he does, because he is one of the few white people on the island and his status is very hazy. i mean, he was a foundling who was discovered after a shipwreck; he is a literal offering from the ocean. it’s got me thinking all kinds of thoughts lol. in any case, i really liked his connection to ariel, how they’re both collectors/explorers, how he’s drawn to the ocean and she’s drawn to the land. their lil nerd sessions! her spelling out her name using the stars! ahhh

overall, i really enjoyed the film and i plan on seeing it a second time! (which never happens with these live actions lol)

(oh, i knew the movie was gonna win me over when they began the film with that quote about mermaid tears from hans christian himself!!)

[sephirthoughts]

Just Like Honey: Chapter 10

big vincent lore-drop ahoy

AU: organized crime, cabaret, sex work

SHIPS: MULTIPLE! rufus/cloud, vincent/cloud, sephiroth/cloud, reeve/cloud, rufus/cloud/tseng, cloud/other characters as clients because that's his job, weiss/nero, background aerti

RATING: this chapter is teen and up i apologize and will make it up to everyone by making the next one extremely filthy

WARNINGS: sex workers, prostitution

Chapter 10: The Head of the Family

Strife: hey i wanted to give you a heads up. i won’t be available all next week. going out of town

Tseng: How far out of town? Give me an address, in case he needs you.

Strife: sorry i don’t think that’ll work. i’m gonna be in Wutai with a client

Tseng: Unacceptable. Cancel.

Strife: um. no?

Tseng: But have you even considered how this will affect me?

Strife: not for one second

Tseng: He’ll throw a massive tantrum, if he needs you and you’re away.

Strife: why do i feel like we have a child together

[Several minutes passed, then Cloud’s phone vibrated again.]

Tseng: Andrea has also refused to cancel. It seems this client is rather important. I’m not pleased, but business is business. 

Tseng: This may be too much to ask, but don’t do anything stupid. 

Strife: hey fuck you 

Tseng: If you get into trouble, call me. Wutai isn’t outside my radius of operation.

Strife: what seriously?

Tseng: I’m always serious.

Strife: ok mr. rainbow jelly girly boba

Tseng: 😑

Strife: you know you’re really sexy when you’re expressionless

Tseng: Don’t flirt with me unless you mean it.

Strife: WAIT A MINUTE WHO IS THIS

Strife: GIVE TSENG’S PHONE BACK TO HIM

Tseng: Very funny. Enjoy your trip.

Strife: fr tho does that mean i CAN flirt with you if i DO mean it? 😳 

Strife: ????

Strife: ???????

Strife: you’re really gonna drop some shit like that and then leave me on read

Strife: prick

When the driver opened the door, and Cloud saw Vincent sitting in the limo, waiting for him, looking like an overbearing-CEO-slash-tragic-gothic-beauty, his heart gave a giddy little flutter.

Not that he ever forgot how gorgeous Vincent was, in theory, but the man’s actual face was always so much better than the image in his head. Now, after a stretch of several weeks without seeing him, it was downright stunning. Despite the fact that he was covering half of it with dark-lensed sunglasses. 

That was admittedly, a little odd. He usually wore them during the day, but today it was pouring rain above the plate, and the visible sky was heavily overcast. It was also four in the afternoon, in winter, so it was nearly dark, already. Was there something wrong with his eyes? 

“Little devil,” Vincent said softly, as he climbed into the car. “I have missed you.”

“Obviously, you have. I’m amazing,” Cloud sniffed. Then he dropped the brat posturing and looked sheepish. “Um, also, part of my amazingness is that I get carsick, sometimes. Are we going a long way?”

“The airfield is on my family’s property, in the outskirts of the sector, which is thirty minutes or so, by car.”

“That should be ok, then.” He looked up into Vincent’s face, but was only met with his own reflection, on the dark lenses, and frowned disconsolately. “I haven’t seen you in forever and I still can’t see you. Can I take off your sunglasses?”

He reached for them, then huffed petulantly as Vincent caught his hands, to stop him. 

“Excuse my impoliteness, little devil. My eyes are particularly sensitive, this afternoon.”

Vincent’s pale lips curved up, ever so slightly, at the corners, but it didn’t look like a real smile. It was taut and wan, and his skin was even more ash-white than usual. His low-toned voice had a hoarse quality to it, too, that made Cloud think he’d been sick. 

Finally, it dawned on him that Vincent was in pain. He wanted ask about it, but unless Vincent brought it up specifically, he didn’t feel it was his place to press for details. 

“Have it your way,” he sighed, concealing his concern behind his bratty persona. “I think you’re just being a dramatic edgelord, wearing sunglasses in the rain and all this black and red, all the time. And carrying that cane, like you’re sixty years old. It’s silly for a guy your age to be dressing and acting like an old man.”

Vincent tightened his arm about Cloud’s waist, as the car pulled out into the street. “How would you like me to dress and behave?”

“Tch. Don’t pretend you even care what I think,” Cloud scoffed. “You’ll just keep being an edgy vampire, no matter what I say.”

“That is most probably true,” Vincent agreed. “I am rather set in my ways.”

As they turned out of Wall Market, onto the old highway, four big, black SUV’s came out of nowhere and proceeded to flank the vehicle, one pulling in front, one on each side, and one following, completely boxing them in. 

Cloud’s eyes widened. “Vincent—”

“Not to worry,” Vincent said. “Those are my people, in light-armored vehicles. They will escort us to the airfield. This vehicle is also armored. The windows are bulletproof, and the body can resist a direct hit from an anti-tank missile.”

“Oh. Is all that really necessary?” Cloud asked, uneasily.

Vincent looked unconcerned. “It is unlikely that I will be openly attacked, within this sector, but it is always a possibility. I would prefer not to risk your safety.”

The idea of being attacked hadn’t even occurred to Cloud, but he didn’t want to bring down the mood, when Vincent was already feeling unwell, so he swallowed his anxiety and asked about their journey, instead. “I’ve never been on a plane, before. Will we fly over the ocean?” 

“Indeed, we will,” Vincent answered. “Wutai is a chain of islands.”

“Why do the Valentines own a bunch of hotels, there?”

“My mother’s side of the family is Wutaian. I was born there and spent my early childhood there, until I was old enough to learn the family trade.”

The drive flew by, as they made chit-chat, and soon they were approaching the Valentine property.

Cloud knew this without being told, because suddenly there were high cyclone fences, stretching out in front of them, as far as he could see, topped with razor wire, and with guard towers spaced out along the length, like battlements on a fortress of massive scale.

The gates were heavily guarded by black-uniformed men, carrying assault rifles. They swung open, to admit the convoy, and all the guards stood to attention and saluted, as Vincent’s car passed by. 

Once they were inside the fence, the other vehicles fell back to a less suffocating distance, and Cloud could finally look at the scenery. 

It was the same flat, brown dirt, as all the land around Midgar, for a while. Gradually, though, it gave way to low hills of strangely striking colors. They seemed to be composed of some kind of rough, black gravel, and were streaked all over with red, anywhere from deep crimson, to a rusty orange color.

“These are volcanic hills,” Vincent explained, observing Cloud's curiosity. “The rock and scoria are rich in iron, which oxidizes over time, creating that look of rust.”

“They’re beautiful. And they match your color palette,” Cloud grinned.

He was dying with curiosity to see what the Valentine family home was like, but apparently the airfield wasn’t close to it, so he had to stay curious, for now. 

Waiting outside one of the multiple aircraft hangars, was a sleek, hyper-modern private jet, along with another small army of men and women, in black combat gear, carrying various automatic weapons. 

There were a few people standing close the plane, who all wore black suits and gloves, and weren’t openly carrying weapons. Cloud spotted the bulges of concealed holsters, though, and knew the hard, cold eyes of professional killers, when he saw them. He surmised that these must be the Valentine Syndicate’s elite enforcers, similar to the Turks. 

Speaking of the Turks, he had to admit, it felt a bit strange, being surrounded by all this Valentine power, considering his connection to Rufus Shinra. Also Tseng’s offer to send help, if he got into trouble, in Wutai. As for Sephiroth, Cloud wasn’t obligated to inform him of his whereabouts and wouldn’t know how to get a hold of him, anyway. 

The uniformed people all saluted, as Vincent and Cloud emerged from the vehicle, and the suited ones came forward to bow and give respectful greetings.

Cloud couldn’t help but stare at Vincent, standing tall and monolithic, with his long, black coat and hair blowing in the wind, and all these heavily-armed people, treating him with reverence due more to the king of a nation, than the son of their boss.

He was just thinking that everyone here looked Wutaian, when a blonde, white man, with ruddy skin and bright-blue eyes popped out from behind the plane’s landing gear, rubbing his hands with a shop rag.

He was wearing a rather eccentric pilot’s outfit, complete with scarf and goggles on his forehead, like an aviator in an old cartoon. He also had a cigarette sticking out of his mouth, which he did not remove, to speak.

“She’s all ready to go, Vinnie,” he announced, using a very casual manner of address, which stood in stark contrast to the strictly formal way Vincent was being treated by all the others present. “Hey, that your fella?”

“Cid, this is Cloud Strife,” Vincent replied tranquilly. “Cloud, this is Cid Highwind, my friend and personal pilot.”

“Cid Highwind,” Cloud repeated, as the blonde man shook his hand affably. “As in, Shinra’s famous ace pilot, Cid Highwind?”

“Tch, not anymore, I ain’t,” Cid sneered, puffing out a plume of cigarette smoke. “Shinra fucked me over one too many times, so I work for Vinnie, now.”

“But, I’m not a Valentine,” Cloud pointed out. “I even have friends at Shinra. Aren’t you worried that I’ll tell them where you are?”

Cid laughed heartily. “Trust me, kiddo, they know. Ain’t a damn thing they can do about it, is all. Anyhow, it was nice to meet ya. I’m gonna get strapped in and do a final instruments check. Whenever y’all are ready, we can get goin’.”

“He defected from Shinra, and you trust him to be your personal pilot?” Cloud asked Vincent, in an undertone, as the blonde man walked away. 

“I trust Cid with my life,” Vincent replied gravely. 

He didn’t offer any further explanation, so Cloud let the matter drop. It was none of his business, anyway. 

Overall, Cloud found air travel on the jet quite a bit less jarring than his helicopter rides. The takeoff was smooth and gradual, and once they’d reached cruising altitude, and the pressure was no longer making his ears pop and his stomach do flips, it was pretty comfortable. 

Turns out, he was unprepared for just how long a journey of several thousand miles was. He had wanted to see the ocean, but it was dark by the time they were flying over it, so all he could see was a vast and eerie expanse of blackness, far below. He shuddered and pulled the window shade down. 

Partway across that unsettling void, the plane suddenly jolted and shook, like it had been struck by a missile. At the same time, lighting flashed outside the windows, and thunder boomed. 

Gripping the arms of his seat in terror, Cloud looked at Vincent. Incredibly, the man was reclined in his seat, apparently asleep, with his sunglasses still on, despite the low lighting inside the jet. 

Cloud grabbed his hand, just as the plane rocked again. “Vincent! Vincent, something’s wrong!”

When he lifted his head and saw Cloud’s stricken face, he only smiled softly. “Turbulence, little devil.”

“What? What’s that?” Cloud panted, not letting go of him. 

“Cool air descending interacts with warm air rising, creating pockets of irregular currents. It’s perfectly normal.”

“But that didn’t feel normal, it felt like—ah!” Cloud yelped, clinging to Vincent as the plane bucked and reared, like an out-of-control chocobo. 

“It will be alright,” Vincent reassured him. “Come here. I’ll hold you, till it’s over.”

Cloud fumbled to undo his seatbelt, which he still had on, despite Cid’s announcement that they could take them off, and crawled into Vincent’s lap, burying his face in the crook of his neck. 

Normally, he would be extremely embarrassed to show Vincent such childish behavior (out of character), but he was too freaked out to care, at the moment. 

The lighting flashed and the thunder rumbled, and the small jet rocked and shuddered, tossed about by forces of nature, far beyond human control.

Strangely, however, Cloud’s fear quickly faded, and a deep sense of calm settled on him, as if arms like the bones of the earth, stronger than any storm, held him securely, in their embrace. 

He woke, to Vincent gently shaking him. “Wake up, little devil. We’ve arrived.”

“S—sorry. When did I fall asleep?” Cloud asked blearily, as he clambered out of Vincent’s lap. “There was that storm and then…I don’t remember what happened after.”

“You fell asleep during the storm,” Vincent said, with a trace of an amused smile. “I was quite surprised, considering how frightened you were, by the turbulence.”

“I was, but I didn’t feel scared, anymore, when you were holding me. I guess I drifted off, without realizing it,” Cloud yawned, while he stretched his arms, blithely unaware of the effect this offhanded remark had on his host. 

The sun had already set, in Wutai, and it was still cloudy and raining, but the atmosphere was thicker and more humid than in Midgar. Awaiting them on the tarmac, were yet another army of Valentine people—some in suits and some in traditional Wutaian clothing, but all in black. 

They made low bows, as Vincent came down the stairs, and two ran up with large, black umbrellas, which they held over Vincent and Cloud’s heads like a canopy, despite the fact that it was only lightly sprinkling. For some reason, Cloud was reminded of the scene in Junon, when he’d seen Rufus on television, addressing that crowd.

The vehicle they were shown to was a glossy, black and chrome Rolls-Royce, built in a flashy, retro style, and even outfitted with a gasoline engine. To Cloud’s surprise, Cid followed them to the car, and climbed right into the driver’s seat. Huh. Guess he was his pilot and driver.

There was another convoy, only this time, their car was escorted by much more imposing armored personnel carriers, which were far too big and brazenly militaristic in appearance, to be used on the streets of Midgar.

People in Wutai must be more used to seeing these kinds of vehicles. Either that, or there was no here one with the power to object to the Valentines using them. Cloud decided that was more likely the case, considering the way people on the streets stopped and stared. 

This was the capital city of Wutai. It was bustling with life, and looked prosperous and clean. It struck Cloud as a bit small and old-fashioned, compared to Midgar’s titanic upper city, but it was a large, modern city, nonetheless. There were a lot of gasoline-powered cars on the roads, however, which was novel to him.

“They don’t use mako-powered vehicles, here?” he asked Vincent.

Vincent shook his head. “Because of Shinra’s monopoly on mako technology, and the tension between the nations, most of Wutai is still dependent upon fossil fuels and nuclear power. There is some movement toward cleaner, more renewable energy sources, but it is a slow process.”

The city held Cloud's interest, but once they left its bounds, he was too groggy to pay much attention to the tree-covered landscape, and wound up falling asleep on Vincent, again.

About an hour’s drive out of town, the large and sumptuous Valentine ryokan was perched high up on a lush, green mountain, surrounded by vast miles of other lush, green mountains. 

Behind the stately walls, it was a modern update of a traditional manor complex, surrounded by tranquil, well-ordered gardens, complete with little footbridges over babbling streams, ponds full of fat, jewel-toned koi, and fountains with bamboo sozu, which made that pleasant knocking sound, as they filled with water and tipped over, to tap on the rocks. 

At the main entrance, they were greeted by what appeared to be the entire staff of the ryokan, who had turned out in their neat, black and white kimonos, to pay respects to Vincent. 

Cid took the car away, after they got out, and the armored vehicles hadn’t followed them up the gravel drive, so it was just Cloud and Vincent, at the moment. As a result, Cloud stood by, smiling and bowing and feeling awkward, as Vincent accepted greetings and spoke to people in Wutaian.

Chief among the staff, judging by her position in the group, and the richness of her clothing, was a middle-aged lady, with her greying hair in a neat bun. She was apparently related to Vincent in some way, that was vaguely explained to Cloud as a cousin on his mother’s side. 

She greeted Cloud with effusive warmth and even told him to call her auntie, before speaking to Vincent, in Wutaian. Cloud understood quite a bit of the language, but couldn’t follow the low, rapid tones the two spoke in. She seemed to be urging Vincent regarding something, and he appeared to be refusing. 

Twice, though, Cloud thought he heard the woman refer to Vincent as ‘oji-sama’. He decided he must’ve misheard, or maybe he didn’t understand this dialect that well, because that would be an excessively polite way to address one’s uncle, let alone a younger cousin. 

“I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me, for a little while,” Vincent said, at last, turning to Cloud. “The staff will take good care of you. Make yourself at home, and be sure to tell them, if there is anything you need. I will return, once I have seen to this matter.”

“Is anything wrong?” 

“Nothing you need trouble yourself about. Only a bit of unavoidable family business.”

“Alright. See you later, then,” Cloud said cheerfully, not wanting to make things difficult for Vincent. 

Vincent walked away with the older woman and a cadre of attendants, and Cloud followed the young ladies, who were smiling and beckoning to him. 

The first thing he discovered, was that he had been given his own room, rather than sharing with Vincent, but he consoled himself with the fact that it was right across the hall from Vincent’s. Also, he’d have his own space, if he needed it, which was always nice.

The attendants explained all the features of the room, as well as the many amenities of the ryokan, and highly recommended the on-site restaurant, with its five-star chef, before they finally went away. 

Honestly, the room was pretty spectacular. It was actually a suite of rooms, decorated in the traditional Wutaian style, with tatami mat floors, and sliding, paper-paneled doors. 

The large main room had a low, lacquered tea table, with luxurious cushions for seating, as well as a modern sofa and coffee table. The second room was a simple but tasteful bedroom, with a huge, soft futon. In both rooms, the sliding doors opened on the cypress-wood deck and serene little private garden. 

Cloud’s personal hot-spring bath was carved right into a big boulder, and was fed by a fountain, pouring down a stack of smaller boulders, on one side. The blue-green water was steaming invitingly and smelled strongly of dissolved minerals. He was tempted to take a soak right now, but he wanted to do that with Vincent, so he decided to wait. 

Instead, he showered in the Wutaian-style bathroom, with a shower nozzle one removed from the wall, and a little bamboo stool to sit on, right in the middle of the fully tiled room. After he’d brushed his teeth, he dressed himself the navy-blue yukata and wooden geta they’d prepared for him, stuck his phone and room key in his pocket, and set out to explore.

To his surprise, there were two guards posted outside his room, and another two outside Vincent’s. He wondered if it was awkward just standing there, staring at each other across the hall, all day. The ones at Vincent’s door bowed and said ‘Strife-sama’, as he approached, and apologetically explained that the master had not yet returned.   

“That’s alright, thank you,” he said. “If he comes back, please tell him I went to have a look around.”

Cloud wandered about, for a while, looking at traditional brush paintings and beautifully shaped bonsai trees, but his stomach was starting to growl. Having no desire to sit in his room and eat, he decided to go see about that much-lauded restaurant.

The serene, candlelit dining area was deserted, from what he could see, and he was informed by the obsequious host, that he should sit anywhere he pleased, or if he'd rather sit at the bar, it was right over there.

From around the corner, Cloud heard a hearty, deep-throated laugh. He went and peered in the doorway, and sure enough, Cid Highwind was seated at the bar, in conversation with the bartender. 

“Howdy, kiddo,” Cid greeted, as he spotted Cloud. “Care to wet your whistle? My man Kashiwagi here makes the best damn cocktails in Wutai.”

“Sure, thanks,” Cloud said, coming to take the stool beside Cid’s. “What do you recommend?”

Cid rubbed his chin. “Hm. You’re a little fella, but I reckon you can hold your liquor. Brown or clear?”

“Anything but gin. Upsets my stomach.”

“Gotcha.” Cid turned and spoke to the bartender in Wutaian. 

The bartender, a handsome, older gentleman, with dark grey hair and spectacles, nodded and went to work making the drink. 

“You probably hear this a lot, but I seen a coupla your shows,” Cid said to Cloud. “You’re damn talented. You come from a circus family, or somethin’?”

Cloud actually laughed, which was rare for him, on a first meeting with someone new. “A circus family? Is that even really a thing?”

“Never know,” Cid grinned. 

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t come from a circus family. I came from Nibelheim. My mom’s just a seamstress.”

Cid looked surprised. “Nibelheim, huh? I come from thereabouts myself. You musta worked hard, to learn all that acrobat stuff, way the hell out there.”

“Yeah, pretty hard. But I love it, so it was worth it.” 

The bartended set a drink before Cloud. It was golden-orange colored and served in a coupe glass, with a candied citrus peel garnish.

“What is it?”

“Yuzu martini,” Cid said. “How d’ya like it?”

“It’s really good,” Cloud smiled, after he took a sip. “Thank you, Kashiwagi-san.” 

The bartender replied with a polite half-bow, and went away to dry some glasses, or something. 

“So, how did you go from Shinra to the Valentines, if you don’t mind me asking.”

Cid made a sour face. “Fuckin’ Shinra. I dunno about the kid, but the old man was a real son of a bitch. I was headin’ up the all-new aerospace program. My rocket, my flight, leavin’ the Planet’s surface for the first time. Woulda went down in history. Last minute—and I mean last fuckin’ minute—old man pulled the plug on the whole thing. Said manned space exploration wasn’t lucrative. Wanted me to switch the focus to drone-piloted rockets. And he wanted me to put weapons systems in ‘em.”

“He wanted you to do it?” Cloud asked, bewildered. “But you’re a pilot.”

“Well, it ain’t brain surgery, it’s just rocket science,” Cid quipped, chuckling at his own joke. “Most folks only heard of me as a pilot, but I’m an aerospace engineer, too. I designed most of Shinra’s aircraft.”

Cloud nearly choked on his drink. “You’re a fucking rocket scientist? What the hell are you doing chauffeuring Vincent around, then? No offense.”

“None taken. Like I said, Vinnie’s my friend. I don’t trust anyone else to fly him, so I do it. He funds my R&D, in return. Works out pretty good for me. I got a better workshop with the Valentines than I had with Shinra, and I still get to fly.”

“That’s impressive. But how did he get his father on board with funding an aerospace R&D department for the family?”

“His father?” Cid squinted. 

“Vincent’s father, Grimoire Valentine. He’s the head of the family. Right?”

“I dunno how outta date your info is, but Vinnie’s the head of the family.”

Cloud felt like he’d been struck by lightning. “He’s…he’s what?”

“Vinnie’s the patriarch, don, capo, big boss, whatever you wanna call it,” Cid explained blithely. “I never met his daddy. Reckon he’s been dead and gone, a long time.”

“But, Vincent’s so young. How could he be the patriarch?”

Cid snorted, over the rim of his highball glass. “So young. That’s a good one. You’re pretty funny.”

Cloud was still reeling, and didn’t really process that comment. “I suddenly feel like I’m being kept in the dark about a lot of things.” 

“Maybe. Maybe not,” Cid shrugged. “Vinnie don’t talk about himself much, but he ain’t secretive. Y’ever try askin’ him?���

“Well, no. Not really,” Cloud admitted. “It’s not that I’m not curious, but I’m just a whore. It’s not really my place to pester a man like him for personal details.”

“Wow, kiddo. What’s it like livin’ in that head of yours?”

“What do you mean?”

“You really think ‘just a whore’ gets invited to ride on the boss’s private jet, to the family vacation house, overseas?”

“I thought…this was one of the Valentine operated hotels.”

“It is. But this one’s only for Valentines. No guests outside the family allowed.”

“What about you?”

“I’m sworn in. So’s everyone who works here.”

Cid unbuttoned his collar and pulled his shirt to the side, to reveal a strange circle of arcane symbols, tattooed in scarlet ink, on the left side of his chest. It was small—only about the size of a baby’s palm—but it looked extremely ornate and detailed.

“What’s that?” Cloud asked, peering at it curiously.

“Mark of the blood pact,” Cid answered, as if that were a perfectly normal thing to say. “Makes me a Valentine, far as the family is concerned.”

“Do they all have one of those?”

“Anyone who’s taken the oath.”

Cloud’s face lost a shade of color. “They won’t make me take the oath, will they? Since I’m here?”

Cid scratched his head. “Uh. If Vinnie didn’t say nothin’ beforehand, I don’t think he’d spring it on ya. Seems like you’re an exception to a lotta rules, anyhow.”

“I am?”

At that moment, they were interrupted by a politely cleared throat. They turned to see one of the female attendants from earlier, bowing and smiling. 

“What’s up, Ai-chan?” Cid asked. 

“Pardon me, gentlemen,” the young woman said demurely. “Valentine-sama hopes Strife-sama is enjoying his time, in our humble hotel, and that he finds the accommodations satisfactory. Strife-sama is welcome to visit him in his suite, should he desire advice on the most enjoyable leisure activities.”

“Um. Thank you,” Cloud said awkwardly. After the young lady glided away, he frowned. “Advice on leisure activities? What’s that about?”

Cid burst out laughing and patted his back. “The boss is tellin’ ya he’s in his room and he wants you to come see him.”

“Oh, right,” Cloud said, with a sheepish smile, remembering that directness was considered rude in Wutaian culture. “I better go, then. It was nice talking with you, Cid. I hope we get a chance to hang out again, soon.”

“Likewise. See ya later, kiddo.”

Cloud hurried back to their hallway and went to Vincent’s room, where the guards bowed and opened the door for him. He felt a little weird about all this bowing, but everything about this trip had been weird, so whatever. He was entirely, absolutely, and in all other ways unprepared for the state in which he found Vincent.

The man was reclining in a low-framed easy chair, near the open back doors of his main room, which also looked out on a private garden, only much larger and more spectacular than Cloud’s. His gorgeous hair hung loose about his shoulders, and he was dressed in a long, black and crimson Daoist robe, which somehow managed to look extremely comfortable, and evoke ancient royalty. 

His sunglasses were finally off, but he kept his eyes closed, when Cloud entered, only smiling softly. “Little devil. You have come.”

“You…you look so…holy shit,” Cloud said, swallowing hard. “You should dress like this all the time. No, wait—strike that. Never dress like this, except when you’re with me.”

Vincent held an arm out, indicating Cloud should come sit in his lap. “I am glad you are in good spirits. I apologize for being a poor host.”

“It’s no problem. I ran into Cid at the bar, and we chatted for a bit. I like him.” Cloud glanced around, as he came over to sit. The room was lit only by a couple of lanterns. He couldn’t imagine such soft lighting could bother Vincent so much. “Are your eyes still hurting?”

Vincent hesitated for a beat, then he opened his eyes and slowly raised his black lashes, to look Cloud in the face. 

It was only Cloud’s years of hard-won experience playing an array of roles to perfection, in various dangerous situations, that saved him from reacting like he’d been hit with a stun baton. 

He was well aware of Vincent’s heterochromia, which meant one of his crimson irises had a ring of gold color around the pupil. He liked the vampiric look it gave the man, and never thought anything of it.

The difference, right now, was that the ring had grown to nearly encompass the entire left iris, and was actually emitting a faint, golden light.  

Heretofore, Cloud had only seen Sephiroth’s eyes glow, and that was under the influence of his heavy mako abuse. Fortunately, that also meant the idea of a person’s eyes glowing was already something that existed within his realm of accepted possibilities, so he wasn’t all that psychologically shaken by it. 

Honestly, it was more stunning, than anything. It actually made Vincent look even more rakishly beautiful. Like some kind of heavenly demon, from a xianxia novel. Especially with the dark-sexy Hanfu robe.

Mistaking his reaction, Vincent smiled ruefully, lowering his eyes again. “I apologize for appearing before you, in this condition. I’ve no wish to frighten or disgust you.”

“Disgust me?” Cloud said, taken aback. “What are you talking about?”

“I normally wait until the mark of the demon has left my body, before I visit you. But the signs have lingered, this time, far longer than usual. I’m afraid I’ve been selfish, and prioritized my own desire to see you, above your comfort.” 

“The mark…of the demon,” Cloud repeated. “What does that mean? Is it something to do with that sacrament thing? Did something happen?”

“It is related,” Vincent answered evasively. “But this is not unusual, for me, so you needn’t worry. Though, I must admit, I do find your concern for me a bit gratifying.”

“But I don’t understand why you think this would scare me or disgust me. I play a bratty kid for you, because you like it. Do you think I’m really that closed-minded?”

“Of course not. It is only my own internal turmoil that makes me reluctant to show you this part of myself.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” Cloud ventured, remembering Cid’s advice.

“It is a painful and humiliating experience. Not something with which I should trouble you.”

“If it’s painful and humiliating, why do you do it?” 

“It is my duty, little devil,” Vincent said quietly. “The blood oath binds me as firmly as physical chains.”

Cloud balked. To him, this was the equivalent of someone claiming to be bound by an oath to Odin or Minerva. It was just something people said. It wasn’t real. “Isn’t that stuff all make-believe, though? I’ve heard what people say about the Valentines serving a demon, but it’s just some old religious tradition, right?”

Vincent regarded him from beneath his long eyelashes. “Would it ease your mind, if I were to say it is make-believe?”

“Would it be true?”

Vincent remained silent.

“If it’s not true, then no. It wouldn’t make me feel better. I don’t like being told comforting lies.”

“Very well. Here is the uncomfortable truth, then. My family bloodline, in perpetuity, is bound by oath to a demon-god. Long ago, our forbears agreed that in exchange for certain power, we would carry its curse, in our blood. Those who take the oath nowadays, do so of their own free will, but for my direct line. I became bound by the oath, simply by being born my father’s son. Now, the duty of bearing the curse has fallen upon me. That is the truth.”

Vincent watched Cloud, as he processed this information. Far from pity, or fear, or disbelief, or any of the reactions he expected, he found the brilliant blue eyes glittering with righteous indignation.

“I know it’s not my place to say this, but you deserve better. You shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice yourself, no matter how much power your family gets. If they really cared about you, they wouldn’t ask you to.”

Vincent smiled and stroked his smooth cheek. “Your straightforward way of thinking is certainly appealing. I only wish it were so simple.”

“Hey, wait. Are you calling me stupid?”

“Moral directness is not the same as stupidity. But in this case, where one needs a fine blade to dissect the complexities, it is too blunt a tool.”

With the things Cid said earlier weighing on his mind, on top of all of this, the question that had been welling up inside Cloud, finally blurted itself out. “Is immortality part of the curse? Is that why you look young and act old, like a vampire? Which is exactly what you seem like?” 

“You think I seem like a vampire?” Vincent asked, sounding amused.

“Um. Yes?” 

“But I don’t drink blood.”

“You’re right,” Cloud said drily. “You only look, act, talk, dress, and have taste in décor exactly like a vampire. Otherwise, you’re nothing like one.” 

“I suppose I would take umbrage to that, only I’ve long known that the commonly accepted vampiric aesthetic was borrowed from my family.”

Cloud blinked. “You’re…joking.”

“Not at all. Some centuries ago, one of my forbears had befriended an intrepid author, who then wrote of our family in caricature, for his vampire novel. Thus the Valentine peculiarities were canonized in popular fiction, making those traits appear vampiric, to the general public.”

“Wow. You’re actually sitting here claiming that vampires are copying you. Just wow. I thought you were a dramatic edgelord before, but now I see that I’ve just been a frog in a well.”

“Now that you have seen the size of the sky, are you pleased with what you have learned?”

“No,” Cloud said, crossing his arms.

“What troubles you?”

“I’m fucking pissed off about your family curse, Vincent. That’s what troubles me. They’re using you to keep their hands on their power and wealth, and you’re suffering for it. That sucks.”

Vincent sighed. “You misunderstand. No one is using me. The oath goes well beyond acquiring power and wealth. It is a guardianship. A burden of responsibility, to keep the other powers in this world in check, and maintain balance, between them. Power and wealth are necessary evils, to accomplish our tasks.” 

“So, what…you’re telling me that the Valentine crime syndicate are secret guardians of the Planet?” 

“It is not a secret, it is only that no one believes in us, anymore. The world has changed. We have not. On the outside, we appear to be a criminal organization, because we respect no authority above our own, and obey no law that conflicts with our ordained duties. We do control some aspects of society, in order to keep others in check, but our goals are neither acquisitive nor destructive.”

“When you say others, you mean Shinra, right? Cause, no offense, but they seem pretty out of control, to me.”

“They are pushing the limits, of what we will tolerate,” Vincent admitted. “But they’ve yet to cross the line into upsetting the balance of the world. When they do, we will step in.”

“What about the Remnants?”

“They are…more difficult to deal with,” Vincent frowned. “Their intentions are still unclear to us.”

“Sephiroth’s up to something,” Cloud said abruptly, before he could talk himself out of it. “Normally, I’d never betray a client’s confidentiality, but I trust you. Also, if he’s planning something bad, you might be the only one who can do anything about it.”

“We have been keeping tabs on him, as well as we can. He hasn’t appeared to make any suspicious moves, since he has been back in Midgar. What do you think he is planning?”

“I don’t know. He’s usually wasted and talking nonsense. But the last time I saw him, he was sober. He wants me to look for a woman, for him. He said she’s somewhere in Shinra Tower.”

“Who is she?”

“He didn’t say. He just had a picture. He also said the time hadn’t come for him to move openly against Shinra.”

“Hm. That does sound ominous.” Vincent thought for a moment. “Thank you for alerting me. I will look into it. I’ll not ask you to compromise your safety by defying him, but please be careful, little devil. Shinra is a dragon’s den. I would not have you devoured.”

“Vincent, are you the head of the Valentine family?”

“Ah. Cid seems to have been quite forthcoming, with you,” Vincent observed, arching a black brow. 

“Oh, no no, he didn’t say much of anything, really,” Cloud said hastily. “He just, um…mentioned it casually.”

“It is not well known outside the family, because I conduct business in my father’s name, for various reasons, but yes. I have been the head of the family, for many years.”

“How many?” Cloud asked gingerly. 

“Since my father died, in 1977.”

“B—but…weren’t you a little baby, back then? How can a little baby be the head of the family?”

Vincent smiled again. “I was twenty-seven.”

“But that would make you…how can that—”

“You have already hit near the truth, yourself. My body stopped aging at twenty-seven, due to the curse. Chronologically, I am fifty-six years old.”

“Holy shit,” Cloud muttered. “No wonder Cid laughed at me when I said you were young.”

Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “He has been chatty, this evening, indeed. I wonder what else he told you.”

“Nothing about you, really! He mostly told me about why he left Shinra.”

“Did he show you his oath mark?”

Cloud choked. “H—how did you know?”

“He only reveals that mark to those he considers to belong to the family. I suppose that means you’ve gained his approval. And in such a short time, too.”

“Uh, ha ha…about belonging to the family. I’m not sure how to ask this, but…”

Vincent tousled his hair affectionately. “No one will be expecting you to take the oath, little devil. In fact, I forbid it. I’ll not have you bound to us by shackles, which you may one day wish to throw off.”

Cloud let out a sigh, unable to conceal his relief. “Thank the goddess, cause—oops, shit. I mean…thank the demon? Is that right? I don’t want to offend you.” 

“I can imagine no scenario in which you could offend me. But I’ve one more question, before we change topics. Knowing what you know, now, would you prefer not to see me as a client, anymore? If so, I would be disappointed, because I like you very much, but you have my word that it would have no bearing on your career, nor my solicitude for your wellbeing. I only want you to do what makes you happy.” 

“Are you kidding?” Cloud scoffed. “You’re about a hundred times sexier, now that I know you’re an actual old man. Also, I don’t want you to wait till the mark goes away, before you see me, anymore. That glowing eye is hot as fuck, whether you want to admit it or not.”

Vincent only smiled faintly, in reply, but his entire aura seemed to relax and soften. Cloud hadn’t ever seen him look this at ease, in fact. And maybe it was the sexy-ass robe, or the ryokan setting and golden lantern light, but Vincent was actually beginning to pull ahead of Sephiroth, for the best looking man Cloud had ever seen. 

Vincent drew him in for a kiss, and then chuckled when he pulled away, and Cloud pouted. “You’ve not eaten all day, little devil. Supper, before other things.”

“But I’m not even hungry,” Cloud lied.

“No arguments. I insist you replenish yourself.” Vincent leaned close and spoke low in his ear. “You will need it. I intend to work you hard, tonight.”

Lightning flashed and wind whipped torrents of rain against the floor to ceiling windows, of the cavernous presidential office, atop Shinra Tower. It was a grand scene for a villain, with the vast space mostly dark, but for the flashes of lightning, and a floating, holographic map screen, which bathed the faces of two men, in poisonous green light.

One of these men was in a white suit, seated at the desk, his shoulders taut and his brow furrowed, as if wavering in indecision, and the other stood behind him, in a black suit, hands clasped serenely behind his back.

“You’re absolutely certain that he’s with Vincent Valentine,” the man in white said.

“Yes, sir. Our intel has confirmed it,” the man in black answered.

“And the long range ICBMs can strike the target accurately, without visual verification?”

“Within a zero-point-seven percent margin of error, sir. The new targeting systems use satellite triangulation. They are extremely precise.”

The first man steepled his fingers and gazed even more intensely at a little flashing dot, on the map screen. Minutes inched by like continental drift.

Finally, he shook his head. “I have a doubt.” 

“Shall I call them off, sir?”

“Mn, do it.”

The man in black put his phone to his ear. “Stand down. Repeat, stand down.”

“Standing down,” a voice answered, from the phone's speaker. “Launch aborted. Weapons cold.”

There was a long silence, broken only by the rolling thunder and beating of rain on the windows.

“It’s not because I care about him,” the man seated at the desk said, apropos of nothing.

“Of course, sir,” said the man standing behind him.

“This just isn’t the right time, to make such a big move against the Valentines.”

“Understood, sir.”

As he said so, the man in black leaned over the other’s shoulder and tapped a keypad on his desk, causing the holographic map to flicker and wink out. 

The man in white gave a sigh that sounded half relieved and half exhausted, and slumped forward on his elbows. “When will he be back?”

“One week from today.”

“Book a session for then. My neck is…starting to act up.”

Unseen by him, the man in black smiled. “Yes, sir.”

THE AUTHOR HAS SOMETHING TO SAY

if Square put Vincent in Wei Wuxian's outfit from MDZS i think my soul would actually leave my body 🫠

this outfit

[justajsworkshop]

ok, so this is the second time this has happened to me, and i just wanna catalogue here a bit. long ass self analysis i’m sharing in case anyone sees themselves in this, too.

so, i’ve had a list of desires that you could label as “big” to the limited self; i.e., the limited self perceives a greater separation between me and these desires. and i really decided to get locked in on them the past couple of days to kick myself out of the state of waiting.

sometimes, i can just get so lazy and apathetic about my desires. i think it’s a protective mechanism to stay disconnected from how unfulfilled i feel. so, i keep telling myself “oh, it’s fine. it’s coming together.” when the deeper truth is that i’m keeping myself separate from my desire (by perceiving it that way) because i’m afraid to surrender myself to it. i’m afraid to let myself have it.

now, when i decided to get focused on this, i wrote out a list of these desires on my phone. i wrote them in affirmation form too, so i could easily read the list to myself. i said the first rule was that i already have all these things, which is true. intellectually, i know that. but it’s like i have these in a shed out back, and instead of just walking over to grab it all, i keep saying “oh, it’s coming. it’s gonna be fine. i have it now.” but im not reeeeeally letting myself have it.

like, bruh, just get your shit, y’know? my desires are waiting on ME.

k, so, i thought i’d try out a variety of approaches to see what was up. some stuff i’m able to passively affirm, and it’s reflected back real fast. other times, i just wish for something, and within a day or so, a solution is there. i firstly tried to be more diligent about my thoughts and “mental diet” even tho i hate the term. i tried saturating too, and while i do enjoy it, doing that for extended amounts of time kinda got tiring, but i also found being conscious of my thoughts when not saturating to be even more tiring.

yall, i’m lazy as shit, ok. i really am about finding the easiest way to go about things.

so, I thought to myself about the time i manifested roger’s vet bill to be a specific amount. someone was checking out as i was in the waiting room, and when the receptionist said their total, i said to myself quite decisively, “that’s how much it’s going to be for me.”

fast-forward to me getting the estimate from the vet in the office, and they told me something about three times that amount, and i almost fainted. i actually forgot i had even made that decision, tbh. i was just there, trying to come to grips with how i was gonna pay that much. after staring at that list for way too long, i finally told the vet’s assistant that i was between jobs, and that’s why it was hard for me to decide what to say yes to and what to pass on. he leaned in, was super sweet, and said, “these are the only ones you need. don’t tell them i said anything.”

my total came out to $7 under my desired amount.

this also happened that one time i manifested my friend paying for my transportation downtown and everything else. i visualized her saying it was all on her, and she had me covered. and when it came time for me to order a car, i basically gave up on the manifestation. then, through a conversation i had with her, she ended up following through with my desired outcome to the letter.

notice how both times, i wasn’t policing my thoughts or state or even feeling toward the outcome. it happened on its own even when i “contracted the new story.” this is because the linear mind ain’t got nothing on the power of god.

what i’ve learned from this is that a single decision is really all i need. it makes me think of the woman with the blood issue for twelve years who touched jesus’ robe (prayer tassels in the chosen) and was instantly healed. i only need to touch the awareness of my desire, and it’s mine, and i am instantly in the reality/script where that will come to pass. the rest happens for me no matter what my linear self does, thinks, or feels about the experience.

so, what i’ve been doing these past two days is convening with myself as my god self in what the bible might refer to as “the secret place.” im just imagining my desired outcome, but there’s something that’s changed where, as i continue to affirm or visualize, i’m really letting myself experience it. because what i want is to experience a certain outcomes, so why not give myself the full experiencing of it to myself now? because i can literally have that experience at this very moment. reality is not the physical. i am reality. and the more awareness i invest in imagination, the easier it is to see that.

to be clear, i’m not imagining to get or to change or even to feel what it would be like. i am actively experiencing my desire right then and there. yesterday and today, i was so present with the experiencing of my desire, i was moved to tears—the guy who’s normally so apathetic and passive about these things i say are so important to me. then, all desiring within me ceased. i felt sated. calm. at peace. gratitude poured forth from me, but not because i was trying to make myself feel grateful or to emulate it. i was deeply grateful for the experience i just had: the fulfillment of my desire.

i have no interest in further saturating or anything else. i go on with my day. i don’t feel the need to wait for it to appear in the 3D anymore because i fully experienced it. and i’ve also noted what when i experience one desire, i feel wholly fulfilled as relates to all the others on my list as well.

yeah, im still going to affirm and be cognizant of my inner narrative, but also, i’m seeing how powerful it is to truly experience fulfillment now without creating this perception of separation between the 3D and 4D or whatever people say (personally, i deeply dislike these terms). because why would I separate these when i got my shit? i experienced it fully, and i am the awareness, not the body/mind, so why would i give myself something then be waiting on what’s already happened to me?

i’m gonna keep going with this practice/approach, and i’ll keep you all updated, but really, as i’ve always said, god heard you the first time. just tongue the fringe of fulfillment, fully experiencing it, and see what happens?

[superbellsubways]

ok thanks so you ever heard of jackbox games. they make incredibly silly party games you can play with your phone. one of my faves is the fibbage series, specifically the most recent one fibbage 4

in fibbage you get a weird fact with an important word(s) blanked out. and every player has to write something to fill in that blank (that’s called a lie). then everyone picks what they think is the real answer (the truth). you get some points if someone falls for your lie, but more points if you find the truth

the main reason i like jackbox’s games so much is because of the voices in each game that narrate stuff like tutorials, prompts, etc. the fandom usually just refers to these guys as the Hosts of the games. some of them have official designs that appear sometimes throughout a game (m bubz in job job, rue meringue in roomerang, etc.)

others don’t have appearances Or official names (like the hosts of talking points, quixort & fixytext) and some More others, while not ever being seen, they do have names that they refer to themselves as. there’s schmitty from quiplash and lord tippet from weapons drawn

ok back to fibbage now the host of fibbage is part of the last category i listed, his full name is Cookie Masterson. he’s such a wild guy let me talk abt him for a moment. he has a niece named Lexical Semantics, his house is infested with bats, he once tried to drive down local real estate prices by dressing up as a ghost & the fandom has collectively agreed that he’s bisexual. those first three facts are from various voice lines that he has in fibbage 4. go try to look for them i dare you

fibbage 4 also has 5 special episodes with pre-decided questions (oh did i mention that the players take turns choosing the questions using random words relating to the questions? well in the special episodes they can still kinda “choose” the questions but every choice in one round leads to the same question. does this even make sense anymore i’m sorry) that relate to an over-arching storyline that each episode has, like there’s one where cookie’s on a date and hosting the game both at the same time, one relating to the bats infesting his house that i mentioned earlier, one where an ai clone of himself traps him in a closet and takes over the game for a bit. sorry for going on for too long i just really like sharing crazy shit i enjoy. anyways here’s a link to all 5 special episodes i have no idea if the embed will show or not

https://youtu.be/bSjrVTXS5C0?si=_ZlB8dgIclnUQs3u

also idk if i made it clear or not but cookie does Not have a canon design, meaning we in the fandom draw him however we like. do with that information what you will

OK THIS IS ALOT MORE THAN I WAS EXPECTING but its OK!! I don't mind this at all prommy

I am aware of Jackbox and a couple characters in it :) (I have actually made a design for the host of Trivia Murder Party once before but never finished or shared it!) Though I haven't been able to play many of the games myself 💔

This Cookie guy does seem very interesting tho and I'm sure I'd love him just from the stuff ur telling me fhjsdjd I'll probably check out the eps later and look more into this along with the other characters and hosts 😁 I love disembodied voice characters!!! (and by ur name i could tell you do as well LOL)

[spacemancharisma]

saw x liveblog:

this doesn’t look visually anything like a saw movie

john describing himself as something like a life coach is maybe the funniest thing i’ve ever seen

this ancient freak drawing torture devices in his sketchbook at the park is also 👌👌

I miss adam

part of me thinks they should’ve recast amanda since she’s like 20+ years older than her character now, but I also kind of like that she’s the same even if it doesn’t make sense. she’s also still incredibly hot.

I’m glad we’re back to torturing ppl who actually deserve it this is nice

it’s also nice to see some folks who actually fucking want to live for once

ok but on the subject the time limits are stupid if someone is willing to do whatever insane bullshit

the theater keeps erupting into laughter at these people being stupid and that’s such a vibe

this blonde lady did not come to fucking play. icon lowkey

I’d love to talk to amanda’s dad cause I blame him for like. all of this hfbfng

billy shows up and the theater goes “oooOOOooo” like the laugh track when a guest celebrity shows up on a sitcom

blonde lady is a wretched human being and I’m obsessed with her. I don’t support her wrongs but I do support what a fucking queen she is. do what you need to do to survive baby I love you

ok I’m getting sick of the impossible time limit like. if someone is doing what it takes and they just need like 30 more seconds, I think they should get that- it’s about having the will to live and that should be respected

THAT MASK FUCKS

is this a bad time to say I miss my grandpa

in my fix-it, amanda saves gabriela and they’re in lesbians forever 💖

radiation is fucked up

I’m so glad the other ppl in this theater understand that comedy and horror are fundamentally the same thing

GABI MY BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS WITH A DISORDER

blonde lady I have turned my face away from you I can’t wait to watch you die badly

the assorted reprisals of the theme are awesome

BLONDE LADY YOU WILL DIE BY MY HAND

damn she is still serving cunt tho

ngl the chekovs gun of the one (1) spanish word john knows got me it was really obvious but it kinda fucked anyway

haha wharrgarbl

YESSSSSSS THEY CALL THE MOVIE SAW BECAUSE AFTER YOU SEE IT YOU SAW IT

I love to stim at abject horror lol

YEAH BITE EACH OTHER’S DICKS OFF

EVERYONE SHUT UP THAT CLOSING SHOT WAS THE FUNNIEST THING IVE EVER SEEN THEYRE WALKING INTO THE SUNRISE LIKE A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE FAMILY

also my friend pointed out that all the previous movies have ended with a door closing and the series ended with a door opening and that’s actually pretty cool

closing thoughts:

actually an excellent movie! did the series justice, was visually nice if not consistent with the original art, and did an honestly kind of compelling job with its characters. I really enjoyed it! would recommend but only if you’ve watched the rest of the saw movies for context lol

[im-no-jedi]

took a while to get out, but in a similar but opposite toned way to last week, here are my long, rambly, and barely coherent thoughts about episode 9 “The Crossing”

which are thankfully much more positive than last week 😋

where do I even begin y’all. the vibe of this episode really emphasized the end of episode 8 with its melancholy; we didn’t even get any dialogue for the first couple of minutes. all of them silently exiting the Marauder as just the four of them was painful to watch. and it didn’t take long to get into the sibling squabbles after that.

which, as I’ve mentioned before, was another great example of why I think this show does an excellent job selling TBB as siblings. the Clones in general have always been good sibling rep, but TBB does it the best imo. Wrecker and Tech’s bickering with Hunter and Omega pitifully trying to stop it was *chef’s kiss*. even Tech and Hunter hounding Omega about being careful with the ipsium was very “older sibling trying to be the parent”, especially with Omega’s mocking responses LOL. I mean, we even finally got a confirmation that they see each other as family! finally!! thank you Omega!! \o/

speaking of Omega! my girl has really learned how to express herself, as we saw with her rant in episode 8, and I’m glad she was letting her feelings out to the boys. yes, she was overly emotional, but it was understandable! she’s still a child, and it’s hard to process loss without getting emotional, trust me.

that being said, it’s still unfortunate that the boys aren’t the same way. Wrecker has been the only one who’s ever been comfortable showing his emotions and feelings, but even so, he clearly still struggles with it. I really hope we get to a point where the boys are able to open up more (although they admittingly have improved since the beginning thanks to Omega).

now for some specific moments I enjoyed or were just notable to me. 

firstly, Hunter’s spidey senses going off not once, not twice, but THREE times this episode. oh Lordy. if I didn’t know he had enhanced senses, I woulda thought he was freaking Force sensitive with how in tune he was with what was going on. him sensing that something had happened to Omega and Tech? hello?? is he really THAT sensitive, or was that his Dad™ senses going into overdrive LOL

next, I obviously have to talk about the Lion King stampede (thank you Kiners for the blatant spoilers ROFL). OMG I felt so bad for Wrecker, poor baby. him complaining about his back afterwards was a MOOD. and then the exchange with him and Tech, “why don’t YOU carry it?” “fine.” I laughed SO hard, peak sibling humor 😂👌🏻 Hunter holding onto the wire tho... Lord have mercy 🥵

and now circling back to Hunter again cause I’m not done talking about my man yet. can we just appreciate how well he was able to keep himself together in this episode with all the chaos? he could’ve easily joined in with the bickering or gotten frustrated, as we saw him do in “Entombed”. but no, he stayed calm the whole time, even when confronting Tech about his behavior. the only time he actually got frustrated was with Cid (rightfully so). I know that man is a boiling pot of emotions inside, but still he remains the calm and collected leader, keeping everyone on track and not escalating anything further. my man... I love him so much 😩💙

last specific thing I wanna mention cause OMG am I still mad about it. Cid. what. the. HECK. as someone who has loved this character since we first saw her, I’m with TBB (and the rest of the fandom!) on this one. she crossed a line. I gave her the benefit of the doubt with the riot racing, but this was TOO far. she’s gonna catch these hands fr 😤

ok! now I’ll talk about the more serious subjects again. I’ve got two things I wanna talk about because hoo boy, do they relate to me personally.

I wanna talk about the subject of loss and dealing with trauma. if you read my post from last week, you’ll know that I was absolutely devastated by the loss of Echo, regardless of it being temporary or not. it brought me down to one of the lowest points I’ve been at in YEARS. so yeah, having this episode showcase Omega (and the others) going through the exact same thing? yeah.

honestly? I needed that. I needed to have my own feelings validated as much as Omega did, and I got exactly that. Omega wasn’t just upset, she was angry and hurt and worried and didn’t know how to handle all of those emotions at once. it was way too real. that’s what trauma does to you; it gives you way too many emotions to process all at once, so it often comes out in unpleasant ways. I’ve learned to process my own feelings through years of therapy, but clearly it’s still something I struggle with. and I always will. that’s just how trauma works. and I think this subject was portrayed perfectly in this episode.

and now, the absolute cherry on top for this already perfect and beautiful episode... my boy Tech.

I’m not kidding when I say I’m getting emotional writing this cause umm... YEAH

so I’ve been labelling myself as neurodivergent for a few years now. I began to suspect I might have ADHD back in like, 2019 I think, and since then, I’ve also strongly suspected I might just be overall autistic. I haven’t gotten an official diagnosis yet but... I know I’m somewhere on the spectrum, I have to be. and this show has been one of the things that’s helped me realize that. I’ve been 100% behind the “Tech is autistic” train since the early days of the show. I also strongly believe the entire squad is neurodivergent in some way, even Echo and Omega. mostly because I can relate to them in many ways in terms of behavior. I’m not gonna get into a discussion about that here though, I’ll save it for another post✨

the bottom line though is that me being able to see myself in these characters has been one of the major reasons I love the show so much. so now having this canon confirmation about Tech has made me absolutely ecstatic.

after we were done with the episode, @jam-n-ham were talking (as we always do), and she had a hard time getting behind the idea of Tech basically being confirmed autistic. but as we talked about it, she realized that the whole issue between Omega and Tech mirrored a lot of issues she and I have had in the past. and the convo between the two of them by the water was extremely similar to convos she and I have had in the past. again, I myself am not officially diagnosed but... I’m just sayin’ 😬

so uhh, yeah. I’m obviously very happy about this, to the point where I can’t even be sad about them being currently stranded on that planet for who knows how long. the well-done portrayal of Omega’s grief coupled with canon neurodivergent Tech has uplifted me to the point where I literally can’t be sad anymore. this episode gave me hope, y’all. which is why I’m not worried about them. I know they’re all gonna be ok in the end. they have to be. they will be.

cause even when you’re grieving or dealing with mental illness... you still can have hope. it’s gonna be ok 💙💙💙

oh, and one more actual last final thing I wanna say. because of this episode, I’m no longer worried about getting an official diagnosis for my mental illness. in fact, I plan on talking to my therapist about it and seeing if I can schedule an appointment to get checked out. I’ve been debating about doing it for a couple years, and now I’ve finally got the courage to do it. so yeah. that’s a thing 😊

[mars-ipan]

ok well now i’m curious! what’re your stanley parable headcanons?

hehehehehehehehehehehehehe (<- has been granted power)

heads up this is gonna be a lot. also this is a mix of general hcs and design hcs! basically the same thing to me :]

first off stanley and the narrator are both autistic but in complete opposite ways and yes it leads to a lot of arguments because they both suck at compromise but also sometimes it works out for them. some of these dichotomies include:

narrator is “line all my toys up in a row” autistic and stanley is “knock down another kid’s block tower to get to the racecar i want bc i didn’t see it oops” autistic

(this is a popular hc but i like it bc it is canon-compliant) narrator is chatterbox autistic and stanley is nonverbal autistic

the narrator is very eloquent with his words and Needs Them To Be The Right Words when he articulates a sentence like he needs to describe the exact meaning of what he’s going for. he uses shit like “pontificate” in casual conversation. STANLEY however is a why use many word when few word do trick kinda guy and regularly uses shorthand when he signs

stanley would sooooo love an aac device (button + he doesn’t mind choppier sentences) but alas. the parable does not have them and the narrator wouldn’t be able to make a properly functioning one (think abt the jim button)

narrator stims: little vocal stims (humming, tutting, popping noises), flappy hands (smaller motions not big ones), bouncy legs, fretting with the corners of papers + hems of clothing (tho he hates messing up his clothes so he tries not to), taking things apart and putting them back together

stanley stims: button pressing (duh), clicking pens, CHEWING on everything (i am projecting but he is SUCHHHH a biter he has had a pen explode in his mouth several times), drumming his fingers on things (bucket good for this), foot tap a la sonic the hedgehog, bouncing, pressure/gravity (helps with parable-induced dissociation)

stanley practices his facial expressions a lot bc they’re one of his main forms of quick communication and he needs to make sure he’s understood. the narrator enjoys watching him practice and takes notes- if he has a physical form at that point in time he tries to mimic them so he can understand what they feel like

both stanley and the narrator are trapped in the parable. the narrator has no clue how he got there but he did so he took the space and made it an office

the narrator may be trapped in the parable but he is not confined to it. he can influence things outside of the parable (stanley’s world, our world) and he has partial control over the parable itself

along this line stanley is both the narrator’s oc and an outside person he brought in. the narrator wanted a character for his story so he made up stanley’s backstory and ported stanley into the parable from his actual job. stanley was chosen bc being nonverbal means he can’t talk and interfere with the story (so he thinks) and also he looked generic and those were his only criteria he had no clue stanley would be Like That (affectionate)

stanley doesn’t remember much pre-parable. he remembers stuff about himself but not places or other people or events

the narrator remembers pre-parable but has no clue why he’s in the parable now

stanley is expressive when communicating to others and only when communicating to others. when he’s not being actively social he is completely blank faced

stanley had braces as a kid

stanley also had several alt phases (namely goth, emo, scene, and skater) as a kid. some of these overlap with his braces era. he still has his ear piercings but he doesn’t wear anything in them anymore. he wanted small gauges as a kid but was too scared to get them so he wore earrings with mirrors in them to fake it

stanley already knew asl upon entering the parable. the narrator offered to give him knowledge of bsl so they could properly communicate but stanley refused bc Ew British He Is An American (skwaaaaa (<- bald eagle)) Thank You Very Much. so the narrator had to go learn asl to understand stanley

the narrator can read stanley’s mind but stanley HATESSSSS it bc it’s violating and feels gross so it doesn’t happen without his express permission. after a long enough time (eons) they become so close that the narrator can understand stanley really well through body language anyways so it’s kind of unnecessary

stanley can also eventually project his thoughts into the narrator’s mind which he hates less but still doesn’t like so he only does it when he can’t sign

the narrator is Not Human but he is also so painfully human

the narrator is equally disgusted and intrigued by humanity. he wants to learn but every time he learns something new he goes “ewww gross why do you do that” but most of the time it isn’t even the gross parts it’s just like. blinking

the narrator starts having an appearance after stanley spends about a century’s worth of resets pestering him about it. at first he’s just animated textures that show up in shadows and screens and reflections and such

but eventually stanley’s like “make a model like u did for me >:((“ and the narrator’s like “ugh FINE” but he doesn’t wanna make another super detailed person so he grabs one of the low-poly 3-frame audience models from the press conference ending and edits it in blender to be “him.”

issue is he’s not good at designing humans he doesn’t quite get it. stanley he basically imported into the game so it was more like converting him into a compatible file but the narrator doesn’t have any outside thing to port in. so he gets a lot of details wrong and ends up just a little uncanny

most of these get ironed out when stanley points out how weird it is (arms don’t bend like that, your hair needs more polygons, can you separate your fingers so we can hold hands so you can hold things i throw at you) but some of them stay. these include (but r not limited to):

his glasses, tie, and headpiece (over-the-ear because “in-the-ear is horrible for your hearing stanley i read an article on it really do you expect me to subject myself to that”) all float like they have no physical attachment to his body. the glasses have no frames the tie has no tie thingy to go around his neck (or clip) and the headpiece has no headband. they’re just On There

his outfit is not something an actual human being would come up with. he wanted the author sweater-and-collared-shirt look but more “sophisticated” so he went with a turtleneck a blazer and a tie (which he themed after The Adventure Line™️ partially because he thought stanley would like it) with slacks and dress shoes. stanley regularly makes fun of him for it [how r u not sweating to death you fucking dork] but the narrator REFUSES to change it

all of the narrator’s teeth are flat, like the ones in the front of our mouths. he had yet to look at a human mouth that closely (why would he look at a gross wet hole (<- lmao)) so he guessed. his thought process was “front teeth flat -> humans aren’t scary so probably no fangs -> they must all be flat.” he was wrong

i actually have a comic idea where stanley points out how creepy his teeth are and he “fixes” it to fuck with stanley. i would be throwing the monsterfuckers a bone with this one but it would also be a treat for me because teeth r really fun to draw

there’s something going on with his eyes (beyond their unnaturally yellow amber color.) maybe he blinks with his bottom eyelids or he doesn’t blink enough or the texture for his eyes is on both his glasses and his skin like a low poly ps1 model. not quite sure which yet but it’s something simple like that

he/it narrator supremacy. he prefers he/him when he has an appearance but in voice form is equally okay with both and doesn’t care if u switch it up

the narrator can scale his model up and down as he pleases so he’s a sizeshifter teehee. he likes to be taller than stanley (who is somewhere btwn 6’1” and 6’4”) but stanley likes when he’s more human-sized (aka abt a 1/2 foot shorter than him.) they argue over who’s “actually taller” a lot and yes the narrator uses Tall Mode for physical intimidation

the narrator switches between voice mode texture mode and model mode a lot. usually he’s a voice or a texture but sometimes he is a model As A Treat for stanley

the narrator is arospec + acespec (you can take my aspec hcs out of my cold dead hands). idk if he’s quoi or gray or what but essentially he doesn’t fully Understand This Thing Some Humans Do and he’d like to learn but he gets overstimulated easily so he needs a lot of time (especially with more physical stuff). he’s okay with it (and eventually even enthusiastic) but he needs to go slow

stanley is more than a bit impatient about this internally (he is So Touch Starved and also probably sexually frustrated) but he knows better than to be an actual asshole about this and waits as long as the narrator needs. thankfully they have forever

speaking of which it takes a Very Long Time for them to get their shit together. they Hate Each Other for a long time and then they Tolerate Each Other for a long time and then they become uneasy friends then frenemies then besties that insult each other and VERH INCREDIBLY SLOWLY they fall for each other but i mean they’ve loved each other the whole time. that being said they also have a lot of “Oh. Oh Shit I Am In Love With Him Huh” moments of varying sadness and horniness (stanley once realized he redid the countdown ending over and over not because he thought he could find an actually working combination but because there was something addicting in the thrill of it and the Monologue and the danger and the way his name was said and he needed. a Moment to process that. and also sometimes stanley would give the narrator A Look (usually some brat shit but sometimes it had deeper emotions??? maybe??? the narrator wasn’t good at reading them yet) and the narrator would get A Feeling and he’d be like “what was that what just happened what did he do to me just then whadda hell”)

while they’re figuring it out there is So Much Shame between the two of them. stanley fucks around and someone gets hurt and he feels bad or the narrator is a bit too mean and someone gets hurt and he feels bad etc. they’re both garbage at communicating but they do try to show each other they’re sorry. stanley will be less of a nuisance or will replay the freedom ending over and over and maybe even sometimes sign “sorry” at the ceiling and the narrator will try to make stanley laugh or throw little easter eggs in to try to get him to smile as an apology. there’s a lot of stepping on toes from both of them

this remains a thing when they eventually get together (this happens a while after the narrator makes his model) but they’re better at communicating by this point and this is around when they actually start talking about setting boundaries and understanding each other. the narrator wanted to avoid the conversation bc he was embarrassed and The People Pleasing but stanley strongly emphasized that it needed to happen which was good of him. they talk things out when someone oversteps or gets too mean and they very slowly get a little healthier

while stanley is the one to initiate the What Are We conversation the narrator is the one who actually does the dramatic sigh and turns with the wettest saddest eyes and goes “oh, stanley, what are we..???” and it takes all stanley has to not laugh at how cliche it is bc he knows it would hurt his feelings and this is a Serious Conversation That They Need To Have so he bites his tongue and signs smth along the lines of [what do you want to be?] and they move on with the conversation

they are still very codependent tho. Do Not Separate Them. infinite time together means they have some WILD fears of being alone

it fucked with stanley a lot actually. he wants more than anything to be independent but he can no longer envision himself without the narrator’s presence. he never fully makes his peace with it

anyways their boundary conversations include sexual boundaries (both because stanley had trouble knowing when was too much for the narrator and because the narrator had trouble controlling his strength). also kink discussion teehee :3 !!

they r soo bdsm both sexually and non-sexually like. that’s just the truth. fucking look at stanley he is incapable of being anything but a brat the whole game is a fucking power struggle. anyways. they are Not Healthy about it at first but stanley sits them down for a talk specifically about sex stuff and they spend a long time hashing things out. the narrator made a spreadsheet for both of them about it because he’s a big dork. they have dos and don’ts and safewords/signals and all that. i won’t get into specific kink hcs here but i might some other time bc bdsm/kink is interesting as hell :)

anywho!!

when the narrator narrates stanley “speaking” (like he does in some in-game lines) stanley’s mouth moves and air leaves his chest against his will but no sound comes out- it’s all the narrator. it’s one of the things the narrator has control over in the parable and stanley HATESSSSS it like viscerally. it makes him want to vomit. when the narrator realizes this he stops doing it unless he has to because when an in-game line is triggered he Has to follow the script he has no other choice (unless stanley cuts him off by triggering another line)

i’m projecting SOOOO hard with this one but as an artist the narrator has all of those Creative Mental Issues. he’s a people pleaser (lives for the validation of the fans and fears their scorn), he’s a perfectionist, he procrastinates, If Someone Interprets This In A Way I Did Not Intend I Will Be So Upset (unfortunately the nature of art is that no interpretation is wrong (within reason)), the only thing he hates more than creating is not creating, he is a major escapist, The Whole Shebang

that’s all i can think of for the main boys for now so i’m gonna go into other characters! 432 time yippeee !!!!

ok so in my mind 432 has like many many names that stanley gives him. the main two are Esper/Espie (from settings person- S P(er)) and Teeks (from TK/timekeeper). to 432 the full versions of these r like titles, and 432 is like a full legal name- it’s a bit more formal

funnily enough stanley refuses to give the narrator a name that isn’t “the narrator.” he makes a list of names and stanley vetoes them all. the narrator is jealous that TK gets so many names but he gets just his title

speaking of the narrator TK has INCREDIBLY mixed feelings on him. he hates him for trapping stanley in the parable, he blames the narrator for his current state of existence, but he knows the narrator makes stanley happy and he doesn’t think he’s that bad of a person, even with his (many (endless)) flaws. so he’s kindaaaa conflicted as all hell

when he realizes he and stanley are into each other (he learns this way before they do) he immediately gets SOOOO exasperated. world’s biggest hater. he’s like that guy from that post the fucking “can you guys not do that in public. i’m not homophobic i’m just a hater” that’s TK. it is really funny

he/they TK supremacy. i’m sticking to “he” for simplicity’s sake rn but after becoming entwined with the parable tk kinda felt a bit detached from humanity !!! but it/its felt dehumanizing in a bad way to him so he uses they bc it’s a lot more comfy.

oh yeah the nature of TK’s existence. unlike stanley TK never existed as a person outside of the parable. TK sorta willed himself into existence as a result of the narrator’s worldbuilding. this happened sometime between the release of the og game and ultra deluxe. because TK wasn’t meant to be a character as well as the erratic nature of his personality due to backstory, when he popped into existence he got glitched the fuck out and eventually became entwined with the parable. he both loves and resents this

TK loves it for many reasons. for starters, he likes stanley. he has memories of stanley in the office (memories that stanley doesn’t have)- stanley wasn’t mean to him, they had sort of a mutual “weird kid” solidarity- even if stanley never spoke to him. stanley never reported him to HR, or grimaced when he asked for a pencil, or gossiped about him with his coworkers. TK also likes the responsibility that being the settings person gives him. he likes the sliders, and the yes/no questions, and the talking- he can use it all to keep the wheel turning, keep the parable running- and that brings him comfort

however, TK hates being part of the parable as well. he knows he’s fiction, that he was never meant to exist. he knows that his memories of the office, of stanley, aren’t real, even though he also knows that He Knows Stanley. he feels bound to the parable, and he hates that he’s gone from being under the control of his horrible higher-ups to being under the control of whatever the parable even Is. it’s an uncomfortable truth for him

that being said, he needs the parable in order to exist, even moreso than stanley or the narrator, which is a part of why he’s so insistent that it go on forever. this ties into his obsession with keeping the wheel turning very nicely and i commend the writing of the actual game for that tasty little parallel

let it be said that the narrator is NOT TK’s dad. TK’s existence was influenced by the narrator but he came into being entirely independently. they have no familial relation

TK sees the narrator grab a model from the press conference and thinks “ohhhh i can do that!!!” so he does but the issue is he doesn’t know how to use blender so his model is REALLY janky and low-poly and he still moves at about 3 frames per second. his texture form can move faster but it’s still janky bc he still doesn’t know what he’s doing. interestingly enough while the narrator is confined to the hitboxes of the objects he projects his texture onto TK is not and can manipulate the shapes of shadows or pop out of mirrors n shit. perks of being literally a Part of the parable teehee :3c

unfortunately the rest of my TK design is still in the vague concepts stage so that’s all i know abt him physically. teehee !

TK is sooooo silly like even more than stanley. he’s very very reactive and emotional imagine if sodium were a person. incredibly volatile creature

the narrator had no clue that TK existed until TK started manifesting himself actively in the parable. it was a fucking jumpscare. the narrator still finds TK very offputting and kinda doesn’t like him but he’s more passive-aggressive about it. TK is straight up aggressive abt his dislike for the narrator

neither the narrator nor TK know everything about the parable. they are both wrong about several things and each other. not a single reliable narrator (heh) in this fucking universe

the parable is alive but not in a way we can comprehend. sorta animalistic but also omnipotent but also sentient but not. too complex for us to get

the curator (curie) is the same species as the narrator (also eldritch and unknowable but on a smaller scale than the parable. atoms to cells kinda deal)

the curator and the narrator know each other! i once saw a hc that they were siblings and i really like it but i don’t know if that’s my own personal hc. i don’t think their species has relationships like that but they do know each other

the curator is not trapped in the parable she’s just nosy and made her own little hidey-hole in it so she could spy on the narrator

she actually really likes what he’s done with the parable which is why she made her hiding spot into the museum. she also finds artistic processes interesting.

unlike the narrator who is an emotional and mental mess the curator has her shit together. not many problems with that woman

the curator has yet to make a physical model in my mind but if she did she would use stanley’s “wife” as a base (copying the model so the narrator wouldn’t notice it missing)

the curator is very supportive of stanley and the narrator being a thing (she thinks it’s good for both of them to learn to communicate better and if this is how they do that then sure!) and when stanley fucks up he sometimes comes to the museum to get advice from her. her advice can almost always be boiled down to “talk about it” but stanley appreciates the push very much. the narrator would never do this because he is far too prideful

mariella!!!! mariella is a semi-verbal autistic (the autism parable). she doesn’t speak often but if she starts going she may not stop for a while

unlike stanley, mariella doesn’t mind when the narrator “speaks” for her, and it’s how she likes to communicate when she’s not feeling like talking herself

while the narrator did import mariella’s model, her personality is entirely made up by him. she isn’t so much trapped in the parable either- she lives outside of it and sometimes interacts with it for story purposes

mariella is a well-adjusted human being but she likes to Party

stanley TK and mariella are besties and brunch buddies and they talk shit together and are silly

mariella is also supportive of stannarrator but she’s more actively excited. sometime over brunch stanley’s like “….guys i think i’m attracted to my narrator” and TK’s like “i’m well aware can you stop it” but at the same time mariella goes “oh thank you for noticing go bag him !!!!!” she hypes them up (much to TK’s dismay.) it makes stanley laugh but the narrator finds it just as embarrassing to have mariella cheerleading as he does to have TK praying on their downfall

i woke up today with more headcanons so i’m glad i queued this one moment :3

the narrator is sooooo agoraphobic he’s freaked out really bad by lots of people and big open spaces. it’s why the parable is mostly confined and why his discovery of TK is a big scare. it’s also why the curator doesn’t immediately alert him of her presence- she doesn’t want to over crowd him

this agoraphobia eventually spreads to stanley bc he got so used to being in the parable. similar to how he’d freak out if he was ever truly alone he’d panic in a big public space because all the people and stimulation would be incredibly overwhelming- if it gets loud enough for him to struggle to hear the narrator or crowded enough for him to lose sight of him he’d panic

if they ever escaped the parable they would be INCREDIBLY non-functional. they’d need therapy but i don’t think either of them could make the call to get an appointment. the narrator would be happy with a suburban-sized house but with the crowds and their lack of cash they’d probably need to squat somewhere rural where they wouldn’t be caught. but then all the empty space would freak the narrator out so after food and water the first priority would be building a fence so he doesn’t feel so lost. i don’t think either of them could get jobs but maybe stanley could get wifi working and do stuff remotely. MAYBE. stanley would be the only one with legal id in the first place but idk if it’d be valid