#it’s the same thing she does when he says she looks good the day she confronted him 5 months earlier 😷

[wingsofmud]

The Star-Crossers

Doomed lovers my beloved. I want to make their relationship a lot more messy in my rewrite. So I want to make the shitty and good qualities between them a lot more even. I have so much to say about them so, without further ado:

Info + Heights Below:

What is perhaps the most surprising part of their relationship is that they fell in love at all. Within their own Queendoms, they are quite stunning, but to each other's, not so much. Nightwings look far more like lower circle Icewings than the aristocratic Icewings. And while Nightwings do love a narrow-faced drake, Prince Arctic looks less slender and more severely malnourished at first glance.

.

Prince Arctic

Queen Diamond's only son and the betrothed of Duchess Snowflake, his life has been determined since before he was laid. Of course, the animus abilities were a bit of a surprise, but the possibility had already been accounted for. Such is the life of a drake in the Everfrost Palace. Arctic was prepared to live an uninteresting life as a fixture in Snowflake's household... until he met Foeslayer.

Big, bold, and a bit vulgar, she caught his eye immediately. Like most Icewings, Arctic had never seen a Nightwing before. She was incredible. Like something out of a fairytale. A knight with shining scales. She had so many stories of her home, of places and creatures he'd never seen and never would see. Arctic fell fast and fell hard in the month she was there.

So hard in fact, that on the eve of his 20th hatchday, his wedding, and the night Foeslayer was to return home, he fled to her quarters and professed his love and intention to run away with her. Things escalated very quickly from there. There were dragons chasing them. Someone grabbed him. There was a scuffle but...well... Icewings, upper circle Icewings at least, don't feel the cold. But there was suddenly blue on his scales and he felt its chill. He'd never seen a body before.

They married that same year. Arctic did not expect to be so...alone. A prince has more allies than friends, but at least he was surrounded by dragons like him. He didn't understand the way Nightwings spoke, their differing formalities, their jokes, their gods, their stories, their food, their...anything really. Not to mention their spirit-forsaken sleeping schedule. Sleep deprivation has become a constant in his life, especially after the dragonets were born.

On top of that, Foeslayer was around less and less often as things escalated between the Nightwings and Icewings into full-scale war. Arctic was often left to care for the dragonets on his own while also having to navigate the Nightwing Court by himself, which was a different beast entirely than the Icewing Court. While Prudence is often there, she doesn't exactly have his best interests in mind. He has little authority in the decisions made surrounding his children.

He doesn't quite regret leaving his mother's Queendom, especially after she attempts to assassinate him, but he does wish he'd done things differently.

.

Foeslayer

So Foeslayer fell for the elegant little Icewing prince like some sap in a dragonet's romance scroll. Sue her. But, truth be told, Foeslayer had no real intention of marrying Prince Arctic when she first met him. It simply couldn't work. They could have a bit of fun, but she would have to return to her Queendom and he'd be married within Oracle's blink.

Safe to say that having the prince barge into her room the night before his wedding day wanting to elope with her then having to suddenly flee under threat of death for kidnapping a royal thus ruining months of careful negotiations was not exactly on her year's bingo card. It is unclear whether or not Foeslayer would've married Arctic were their situations different. As it were, she could not simply leave him to fend for himself in a foreign land. She loves him, truly, but it would be a lie to say the marriage wasn't at least partially out of obligation.

Yes, perhaps Arctic does have a point that she tends to ignore issues, especially those in the household, but she does not want to return from a bloody, death-ridden battlefield to problems at home as well. She doesn't exactly get to spend much time with her dragonets. And for Imperial's sake, he could stand to lighten up a little. He's not in the court 24/7, he doesn't need to act like it.

While Arctic generally isn't shy making it known when he has an issue with something, Foeslayer tends to keep it all in. She treats personal problems like they'll go away if you ignore them, but of course this only lets them build and fester. Spending days, weeks, or even months at a time on the battlefield does not help. She has... so many feelings about this whole situation, about Arctic, about this war, about her family, but she's unwilling to examine any of them. She's afraid of what she might find if she does.

That isn't to say their relationship is all bad, much of it isn't, but they do seem to be fighting more and more as the children grow.

.

Height Comparison:

Foeslayer is very big for a Nightwing. Upper Circle Icewings tend to be taller while Nightwings tend to be larger.

Male and female Nightwings are about the same size while male Icewings tend to be smaller than females.

Foeslayer and Arctic are about 2 years apart in age. Foeslayer is older.

[femmenature]

Good luck, Babe!

Pairing: Ellie Williams x f! reader (ofc)

Summary: Ellie is your best friend, or so you tell yourself after you're done kissing and doing things that friends don't normally do. But that's over since you have a boyfriend, and you're pretending to be something you're not.

Warnings: Inappropriate language, infidelity, mentions of sex, jealousy.

-

Your “friendly” relationship with Ellie was not easy, even if it seemed quite the opposite when you were alone with no one watching. You couldn't explain when this happened. When you started to see each other as more than friends, your mind blurs as you try to remember when her hands fit so well with yours and when the songs she played on her guitar started to play just for you. You think you don't remember because nerves make your brain melt, and your heart melt too. She's the only one who can do it, and losing control of the situation makes you despair. That's what led you to cut everything off, actually, you don't even know what you cut off. You couldn't define what you had, you were and still are friends. You broke the unexpected news about your new boyfriend with your friends, she was there too. It was an impulsive act because you knew you couldn't tell her alone.

“girl, congratulations I'm so happy for you!” exclaimed Dina happily as she hugged you.

“It's about time, isn't it?” Jesse joked as he playfully undoes your hair.

As soon as Dina broke the hug Ellie's face came into your view. She didn't say anything, her eyebrows were slightly furrowed trying to decipher what the fuck was going on. She looked at you with a hint of sadness but also with a claim, she wanted to claim so many things, she wanted to get angry and demand so much from you. Her heart was ready to tell you to give her back everything you were taking from her at that moment but on the other side she was dying to ask you not to do it, not to leave her, not to give up, to stay with her.

“I'm happy for you, good luck” but that's all that came out of her mouth, it seemed that the last words carried an ironic tone, but only you noticed it, because you knew very well what she was trying to tell you.

After that day it was obvious that your friendship wasn't the same, you didn't hang out alone, you only hung out with Jesse and Dina, and it was better that way. Or that's what you were trying to tell yourself. Your thoughts were interrupted by Dina, who texted you to party tonight. Obviously we were all going to go, she has great convincing power. The problem is that your boyfriend is going too, and Ellie is going to meet him. You had double dates with Jesse and Dina, they ended up being double dates because Ellie conveniently always canceled when she found out your boyfriend was going too. But I guess that changed today, or it would be too suspicious if she didn't come again.

“What are you thinking, gorgeous?” ugh, you hated that nickname. Or you just hated it coming out of his mouth. Because you really liked it when it came out of Ellie's.

You faked a smile and sighed before answering your boyfriend “I was just thinking about the party today”

He walks up to you with a cocky smile “I'm going to be with you, you don't have to worry about it” clearly that's not what you were talking about, but you just let it go. “And aren't you excited? I'm finally going to meet your friend Annie”

“It's Ellie. Not Annie” you roll your eyes, you couldn't help it. You were annoyed by something as simple as him mispronouncing her name. But it's her name. How could he mispronounce it? You couldn't hide your annoyance over something so small and it bothered you. It bothered you to know that you are losing control of the situation with the pronunciation of her simple name. You didn't need her presence to be overwhelmed with emotions and that scares you, it scares you too much.

“Chill, Ellie, whatever” his words were vague, he didn't even care about meeting your friends, he just wants to give you satisfaction by pretending he does. It was time to leave for the party and meet your friends there. It was a house, doors open, people kissing on the front steps, Christmas lights adorning the frames, even though the season was long gone. Plastic cups everywhere, laughter and scattered conversations were the decoration of the place but your eyes were only looking for her. A hand touched your shoulder and as you turned around you saw Dina smiling at you and your boyfriend.

“Finally lovebirds, it took forever” you hugged her greeting her and when you rested your face on her shoulder you saw her. Ellie was behind, looking at you, playing with her hands nervously as she looked at him and then quickly to the floor. As if it was the most eccentric thing ever. You broke away from Dina and waved to Jesse, then did the same to Ellie.

“Finally, its a pleasure Annie, I was looking forward to meeting you” your boyfriend interrupted the greeting with Ellie, smiling with false honesty. You looked at him angrily, you had literally reminded him of her name a few minutes ago, it seemed like he was doing it on purpose. I was about to remind him again when Ellie cut me off.

“It's nice to meet you Frank” she replied coldly, looking him in the eye. Your boyfriend sighed in frustration and reluctantly replied “My name is Mark”

“I guess the three of us have bad memories, hm?” Ellie tapped his shoulder as she passed and escaped the situation, heading for the bathroom

“all three of us?” Mark looked at you in confusion, trying to guess what she tried to say

You ignored his question and decided to confront Ellie once and for all, entering the bathroom without knocking. Her hands were resting on the marble countertop and her head was down. “What are you doing here” she didn't even need to see you to know it was you. She knows your steps, your perfume, she knows everything about you. “Shouldn't you be with your little boyfriend?” she spat angrily.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? did you really have to leave like that? doesn't it seem too obvious?" you pull your hair back in frustration. She looks at you in disbelief “Are you fucking with me? that's what you're going to tell me? I should be complaining about things”

she herself pointed to her chest, wanting somehow to make you understand what she is saying “you come all this way to point out to me that I am being obvious when you didn't even give me a reason to stop being obvious. You just showed up one day exclaiming you had a boyfriend and all I could do was step aside and let you go” her hand went back to the bathroom counter, squeezing it ”when you didn't give me any reason to do so. And I don't know how you do it but it's not easy for me to stop loving you overnight, so I'm sorry for not disguising it the way you would want me to” Her hand reached for the door handle but your back instantly pressed against the door closing it again.

“You know it wasn't the right thing to do, what we were doing” her hand was still on the door handle as she looked you in the eyes “then why are you blocking my way?” she whispered as her heart was racing. And all you wanted to tell her was the truth. Because you couldn't let her go like that, because she's all you want, all you long for, but your mouth said something else “we were nothing, just confused friends.”

She laughed under her breath with sarcasm “Is it so hard for you to say it's love? I want you to tell me something” she let out a sigh ”When you see his face when he gets up, do you recognize yourself? Really, when you look at yourself in the mirror, do you know yourself?” Your eyes betrayed you and looked quickly at the mirror next to you, returning your gaze quickly to her, with a hint of embarrassment ”Because I have no idea who you are. And when you finally wake up from your lie after so many years of living a sham, the only thing you're going to get from me is an I told you so.”

your gaze dodges her and your back peels away from the door , leaving the way clear for her to leave the bathroom “and I really would have liked it to be you. Shit, I really do, but if I have to beg you to stay I guess you don't love me enough, and I just want someone who feels the same way I do” her fingers moved closer to yours, trying to caress them, the distance was so deep even though the centimeters were ridiculously short ”I wouldn't care what they say about us, loving you is never going to be something shameful, I never saw it that way. I never felt it that way, I wish you would understand that and stop being afraid. But I can't force you to feel more love than you do.”

The only thing that sounded after that was the door being closed. The feeling of anguish that dwells in your chest feels so heavy that it drags you down to the cold bathroom floor. You hug your legs trying to protect yourself from your own guilt screaming at you from the mirror. Even though you know your shadow's speech by heart, at the end of the day it is yours. And even if you try to hide it's still there, telling you that you will never be happy if you deny yourself what you really love. Why do you need control? You keep telling yourself that it's natural to be with him when you know it's unnatural to force yourself to touch his face when your heart doesn't want to. And the most real you ever felt in life was with her. It makes you sick to know that you have to go home to him and have to put up with the lack of love you feel, or don't feel. So you get up from the bathroom, and when you see yourself in the mirror, the only thing you think is that you want to know yourself again, and you know who knows you well enough to remind you of who you are.

In a hurried step you opened the door and looked for her through the crowd, not finding her silhouette you left the house, ignoring the calls of your friends and Frank. Her car was in sight, you would recognize it anywhere since on starry nights we drove around in it listening to music. The lights came on, indicating that she was inside, about to leave, and you rushed over, opening the passenger door, without permission, and sat down. “What are you doing? You really have a problem with opening doors unexpectedly” she scowled at you.

“I'm an idiot. And you're right, everything you said to me in the bathroom, you're right. But you were wrong about one thing” you swallowed nervously looking into her eyes with sincerity ”I love you as much as you love me. And yes, fear paralyzed me, the lack of control over my feelings made me make a stupid and senseless decision. I overflowed with love, I really did. And not being able to hold that back and put it in its place I ran away. This is not a justification, nor is it an excuse. I'm just telling you the truth, I want to be me again, and I was never more myself than when I'm with you. I don't want to be afraid of love. I don't want to walk away from you.”

"Then don't do it" her hand rested on your leg, caressing it with her thumb "let me remind you who you are" her hands unbuckled her car seatbelt and she approached me, resting her forehead on mine "let me love you like he could never do" and without saying anything, you kissed her like you never did before. Without fear.

-

I guess she told you so!

[arthur-lesters-spinal-cord]

Bellaverse au!

Hello and welcome to an idea thats been spinning around my head for months.

The basics:

Arthur runs away from his marriage when Faroe is born, Bella survives Faroes birth.

Bella is tied to a fractured piece of Lillith.

Bellas version of Parker is a newly freed from the dreamlands Noel.

Its a really long one so its going under the cut. Props to you if you manage to read this.

Pretty much everything we know before the birth of Faroe stays the same. Neither Bella or Arthur love one another, they are still both trapped in their relationship.

On the day Faroe is born after getting drunk in the bar Arthur decides to run away from his obligations to his wife and family. He isn’t justified and he knows this. However when has guilt stopped Arthur from being selfish and trying to escape his problems? He ends up in New York but this isnt about him.

Bella survives the birth but there were complications and she has to stay in hospital much longer than would be normal, the whole time never receiving word from her husband. Once she gets out of the hospital she finds that Arthur is missing, the things he could carry (ie clothes and any thing bearing a deep significance to him) removed from their house, only a wad of cash and a hastily written apology in Arthurs handwriting remain.

Instead of going back to her father (who she blames for making her marry Arthur in the first place) Bella decides to raise Faroe on her own. Moving to Arkham she works as a tailor. When people ask her about her child and lack of husband she says she is a widower. Which is not wholly a lie, Arthur is dead to her.

A few years later Bella has a sizeable order to fulfil but if she manages it she would have the money to buy her own shop and create a business instead of working from her flat. Often when she has a large order her friend, Tess helps her out by looking after Faroe. Tess works as a nanny to a few of the families in the area. On the night of this particular order Tess is working and cant help Bella. Tess does however, come over to help out before she has to go to work. Just before leaving she turns on the water for Faroes bath for Bella telling her to turn it off in a few minutes. Bella works with the radio on, she doesnt like silence. It reminds her of growing up and the more recent memory of the hospital ward. Knowing she needs to get this order finished so that she and Faroe can get a better life for themselves she pours all her energy into completing the clothes. She doesn’t hear Faroes cries for help over the radio and her own thoughts on the life this could bring her.

Its only late at night once her work is complete does she remember, and by then its too late.

Faroe is buried in the Saltzman family plot. The funeral is the first time Bella sees her father in years. He asks her to come back to New York with him, she is riddled with guilt over the idea of being where she could’ve raised Faroe, where her daughter would have been safe from her negligence. She goes anyway, she cant think of any other options, what choice does she really have?

Bella begins to drink away her troubles, funded by Daniel trying to help in any way he can but not really understanding how to help in the first place. So he does what he can by making sure Bella has everything she wants, this is not necessarily good for Bella.

Its one day slumped over a bar that she meets a man in a similar position to her. He is gaunt, scarred and starving, with long uncut hair and a haunted look in his eye. She jokes that it looks like they've both hit rock bottom together and offers him a drink, asking if hes ever had a blood and sand. He replies with a mirthless laugh telling her hes had a bit too much of both of those things. They end up at a diner together as the man she met struggles to introduce himself as Noel Finley. They spend most of the night talking. Bella ends up spilling her guts to this stranger, ending up on his side of the table crying into his arms and once the diner closes for the night on a bench in a park. Upon finding out he has no place to stay she drags him home with her past his protests. Its the first time in ten years that someone thinks of and takes care of Charlie wanting nothing in return.

The two of them begin to re-build their lives together. Having someone to collapse onto is rather useful for the both of them. Noel re-joins the police and Bella begins with limited success to hunt for jobs herself.

At some point they move into an apartment together. Daniel thinks they are in a relationship that she doesnt want to tell him about, they arent but hes trying to be supportive anyway (Noel and Bella are the bisexual besties of all time).

After Bella helps Noel with a couple of cases that he comes home and rants about, he begins smuggling casework home with him to ask for her advice. Turns out shes a natural. They start their own private investigative agency together. Noel often deals with clients but once word gets out that one of the investigators is a woman there is an influx of women with cases for them due to the fact they trust Bella to take them seriously. Noel is terrified that it might end the same way as him and Roland, but Bella is finally enthusiastic about something and even if he cant admit it to himself he missed the job. He vets every case they take on as much as he can in order to try and avoid the supernatural if not for his new life's sake then for Bellas.

A few years down the line they end up taking the case about a woman called Hattie who has disappeared, her sister Marie is the one who goes to them. Shortly after the beginning of their investigation they find a link to a priest who has also gone missing, Noel leaves for a few weeks to follow a lead on him (i just dont want him to be Parkered and put in a closet ok). While Noel is away a book arrives in the mail.

Upon opening it Bella wakes up without her eyesight or memory and a voice in her head. Bella finds herself bound to the fragment of Lilith which was once Mr Scratch, this fragment has very little memory itself. Bella and the fragment investigate how and why they have ended up tied to one another find leads to Maries dead husband and through investigating him find the secret room in Maries house. Which in turn leads them to the farm. Bella ends up in a hospital after falling from the roof while escaping the insects. The fragment obtains a name but i dont think i want it to be Jane Doe. Feel free to suggest names, i think Evelyn is quite nice as a placeholder. Upon waking up Bella and her newly named fragment return to the farm. From here they end up falling through the portal and into another plane of existence. I dont yet know where this would be but it would be similar to the dreamlands arc of malevolent. I dont know where Lilith lives in the mythos lore but its there.

Noel returns from his trip with no idea where Bella is. His only leads are a few sightings and police reports to go off before they disappear entirely. Distraught at the fact that even though he was being careful not to let the occult get involved he has still lost a friend to the eldritch. He re-joins the police force throwing himself into his work in order to try and distract his mind from the grief. He works on the cases no one else would be willing to try, the two biggest being trying to profile a serial killer known as the butcher and then trying to find information on Charon, the smuggling ring he is looking at in malevolent cannon. Only they arent connected to the order of the Fallen Star in this universe instead they have ties to a cult of Nyalathotep.

Bella ends up meeting Lilith in her own domain as well as Kayne who is extremely interested in who is annoying his daughter (thats his job). Kayne presents more feminine when interacting with Bella. Wearing a black dress instead of a suit (fem fatale Kayne for the win). Meaning due to her presentation Kayne is referred to with she/her pronouns. Pretty much everything else with Kayne is the same since its still exactly the same guy as malevolents Kayne.

I dont think i want Liliths interactions with Bella to be identical to the King in Yellow. I will need to do some more research into Lilith before i know what happens with them but somehow Bella and the fragment return to earth. Lilith while weakened is still a threat and a presence even once they are back to their own plane.

Now what about Arthur also in New York? I know i said this isnt about him but hes still here. Arthur upon running to New York finds himself doing reasonably well. He makes enough money through his composing and is able to make ends meet. He begins to hang out in bohemian circles again, and ends up gaining a patron who is willing to support his music. Arthur slowly ends up being indoctrinated into a cult. Specifically a cult to Nyalathotep. (It feels like a good time to admit the first bellaverse fic i read was an arkayne fic). Over the years Arthur ends up leading this cult, turns out his patron was infact Kayne messing with different universes and seeing how much he could corrupt this version of Arthur (he wasnt the reason Arthur ran, that part was all Arthur himself). This Arthur is actually the reason Kayne shows an interest in this universe. However, after meeting Bella Arthur becomes more of a hobby he has a vague disinterest in, used more as a way to pass the time than anything else since Bella is the more interesting one.

Arthur within this au acts as Larson does in malevolent. This is way for Bella to deal with her past as well as letting Bella punch him (at least). He is rather influential and has a lot of ties to different organisations despite rarely leaving his home north of New York except to go on tours (this version of Arthur used the cult to obtain fame as a musician).

If there is a situation similar to the order of the fallen star in episode 40 Kayne probably kills Arthur.

Kayne and Liliths relationship are a parallel to Bella and Daniels relationship. Yay for shitty father daughter dynamics. A lot more about Kayne and Lilith get to happen since they are the two main eldritch entities in this. The King in Yellow also lost a fragment of himself. I think that is actually with Larson but he is off doing his own thing, maybe he finds Noel at some point, who knows (aka i have only just thought about this).

Allright I think thats everything. If you made it this far i am kissing you on the forehead. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!

Heres a drawing of Bella

Oh and if you have any ideas what to name this au or the fragment of Lilith please feel free to share them (i am so bad at naming things)

[changingplumbob]

The pregnancy progressed and Glenn found himself getting more and more clumsy. If he wasn't sneezing apart his flower arrangements then he was almost slipping in puddles. Silver did try and fix whatever plumbing he broke but he often forgot about the water left behind. Luckily Glenn had been taught a quick spell to dissipate the water.

Eventually Glenn relented to the werewolf's pleading and stopped going for runs. He found a good number of work out videos he could do with little stress. Well, little stress at the start. As he got rounder and rounder the same workouts got harder and harder.

Silver seemed to get more protective as time passed. He wouldn't stop Glenn visiting friends or having friends come and visit but the werewolf started staying closer to the house. He did all his workouts inside where he could be easily reached if Glenn needed help for anything. What do you know, getting up off the floor while pregnant? Actually difficult.

Glenn began to stock up on potions of plentiful needs, he loved food but sometimes a potion to fix an empty belly or a sleepless night was needed. He also figured that when the baby was born he and Silver might well be to busy for woohoo, if he could even have it without being in pain. It made sense to brew potions that would help them get through while he could.

Sure, Ophelia was a few sandwiches short of a picnic, but she was Glenn's friend. So he and Silver began taking more time to talk to Oakley about what was happening in the house and in the world. If Oakley could actually understand he was bound to appreciate the insight. If he didn't understand, well what was the harm?

Silver: I'm so excited to meet our kid

Glenn: Yeah, me to Beefcake

Silver: What do you think they'll be like

Glenn: Honestly? I have no clue. From the sounds of the tests and imaging, they're pretty adaptable

The due date neared and Silver took Glenn on one last date to the local pub while they were simply two and not three. They were both excited to meet their kid but didn't want to risk forgetting what they had together as a couple. Before they knew it they were in a sterile room getting ready for the caesarean.

Glenn: You don't mind that I wanted to wait until they were born before we got married? I swear I am going to marry you

Silver: I know Babycakes. Just breathe and sway with me

Glenn: If I don't have a cervix why does it hurt so much

Silver: Miranda said it looks like the womb sack is migrating closer to the surface to make delivery easier. So things are still moving inside you, that's got to hurt

The procedure was pretty straight forward in the end, much like the ones male werewolves had. Glenn and Silver had their first kid. It turned out that the imaging issues were due to them being intersex. Deciding to follow Ophelia's comment that they hadn't decided who they wanted to be yet the dad's decided to treat their newborn as non-binary until they could indicate their preference.

Eden Sutherland joined the household

To say the two men were proud of their kid was an understatement.

Glenn: Papa has planted some veges here, right by your crib, so you can have some outside even if you can't go outside yet

Silver: They don't have bugs do they

Glenn: Did you hear that Eden? Your Daddy thinks bugs on indoor plants are bad. Don't you want to get nice and big so you can correct him

Silver: Don't start ganging up on me before they can even talk

Glenn: Do you want to hold our tadpole while I sort dinner

Silver: Oh yes, come to Daddy little froggy

Glenn: You know, some frogs can change their sex

Silver: They can?

Glenn: Yeah so froggy and tadpole are good nicknames for Eden

Silver: Biology classes have progressed since I grew up

Glenn: Oh no, I learnt that from Jurassic Park

The first few days of having Eden in the house were a breeze. Glenn had made enough plentiful needs potions that both he and Silver could spend the majority of their time looking after or just watching Eden.

Previous ... Next (conclusion)

[formosusiniquis]

never anything but sharing

For @genderthings Robin Gender Week Day 1: Sharing Pronouns

T | WC: 2123 | Genderqueer Robin (and also Steve) | Gender Identity; Fluff and Humor; Period Typical Discussion of Gender | AO3

The door of the Harrington house is unlocked when Robin storms through it. The only danger it would have any hope of delaying is seven unruly and unthankful children; today especially Robin appreciates that Steve has stopped making that effort. It makes it a lot easier to storm in and pull him off the couch by the hair and drag him into the nearest bathroom.

“Ow, Robin! The part is in the mail, the truck will be running by Sunday. Ow!” He doesn’t stop complaining until she has them in her favorite full-sized bathroom with the ugly tile and jacuzzi tub.

 He’s Steve, Robin’s Steve, so he doesn’t glare so much as pout as he runs a hand through his mussed-up hair, pretending that he’s tender-headed even though he knows Robin knows better. “You’re worse than Henderson, you had to bike to work one day.”

“First of all, don’t ever say that to me. But do you think I dragged you in here to talk about our truck, this is serious.”

He crosses his arms in that way that tries for bitchy but these days lands closer to fondly disgruntled. Parental, maternal, in that way that suits Steve. “Okay well seriously start talking then. I think you ripped out a clump.”

Robin takes in a breath, using the exhale to force out the thing that had worried itself in there like a burr at 11:57 that Saturday afternoon. “Someone called me sir at work.”

Robin can feel the slow track of Steve’s eyes as they take in the outfit. The wide-shouldered blazer and the pants in a different but complementary plaid pattern. Underneath is a t-shirt and, with the biking, Chuck Taylors had been a must though the thrifted, wingtip, dress shoes had called out from the closet begging to be worn instead.

“How do we feel about that?”

Always we. Steve hadn’t even been there and it’s a them problem, it’s easier to think in terms of them and we.

“She wasn’t looking at me from the front,” Robin says. That feels important to stress for some reason. Do they look like a sir from the front? Probably not, and Robin isn’t sure what the emotion that’s sitting below the breastbone at the thought of that is. 

“I was reshelving in Romance and she came up behind me and was all…” Trailing off all Robin can do is gesture, flapping hands leading away from a body that has become a source of confusion.

Arms still crossed, lazily now, relaxed. Cool and lean in the way Steve can be but only when the effort is accidental. He nods. “Oh, that makes more sense.”

“What does that mean?”

Steve’s hands on their shoulders, Robin is turned toward the mirror with Steve just behind in a blink. “From the back you have the same haircut as Byers.”

“You take that back right now.” Robin watches as their mouth moves in the mirror.

“It’s better, cause you steal my product. But when you don’t let me style it, it can get a little Byers-y.”

They’re in the ugly bathroom with the seafoam green tiles that have the print that makes no sense for a bathroom but Robin loves. That’s the only reason the counter beneath their fingers is bare. That it doesn’t have the accusing army of mousse and hairspray that has been slowly infiltrating the Buckley house.

“So you’re saying since I have a Byers-y haircut-”

“Not the whole haircut, just from the back and just sometimes.”

“That’s the only reason I’d be called sir.”

Steve slouches against the wall by the mirror. There’s a careful nothingness to the way he’s looking at them that means he saw something Robin didn’t mean to show. That he heard something in the forced sarcstic lilt in her voice.

“Do you want to be called sir?” The forced casualness extends to the question.

It makes Robin feel hysterical. Get prescribed a visit to the seaside, the real remedy is a good vibrator hysterical. “I’m a lesbian, Steve. That’s- I’ve always been a lesbian, it’s the one thing- So I can’t be a sir or a he-”

“Why not?”

The guidance-counselor-calm is infuriating, even as they make that mental note to add that to the list of things Steve could be good at if he wanted a traditional job. Robin could teach music, band, they wouldn't be broken up.

“Because..? Because it’s too much, isn’t it?”

He cocks his head to the side, circling Robin and their problem carefully.

“It’s not all the time, right? We’ll share.”

“What?”

“We’ll share.” Steve repeats, moving now to settle into the massive jacuzzi tub. Lounging for real in its dry basin now that, in their mind, the problem has been solved

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” Robin has to be careful in refusing. The two of them don't disagree. Trying to do it now tastes like ash on the tongue. Bitter and wrong.

“Why not?” Steve challenges. Brow raised in a way that hints at something bitchy like the girls at the last slumber party she’d been invited to, before she was too weird, right before someone got the dare that they’d asked for.

“That’s my shirt you’re wearing and you stole my favorite jeans last week. You’ll borrow my he and I’ll take your she and it’ll be fine.”

“Those aren’t the same thing, that’s not those words mean something.” Robin pleads. Begs Steve to be rational because Robin can’t be. Biked the five miles here faster than anyone ever has. Broke landspeed records and possibly the sound barrier powered by the feelings caused by a single word.

“Yeah, I know.” Steve says gently. But it’s Steve and gentle gives way to a catty eye roll and, “I saw that kangaroo song as a kid too, he will mean Robin sometimes and she can mean Steve and other times it’s the otherway around. It’s fine, Robbie.”

It’s Steve, Robin has to remember. Always remembers because Steve is something they are as aware of as their arm or leg or spleen. Intrinsic.

Steve would burn Hawkins to the ground for them: Robin, The Party, anyone close enough to be family.

What then would it be to him? To claim Robin’s errant she. He is Steve Harrrington. Hawkin’s perfect son. The Keg King, the reformed prep. Perfect in his John Hughes-ian glory. Everything a perfect corn-fed, Midwestern boy should be.

“But it has to mean something, you can’t just say that we’ll share because you want me to feel better.”

“When have I ever lied to make you feel better? I just told you when you don’t do anything with your hair it looks like Jonathan’s.”

“Yeah, and you’re the kind of freak who understands what Nancy sees in him.”

“And it isn’t his hair. Our whole friendship is based on saying what we really think, even when it’s annoying.”

“I thought it was based on you inability to resist doing your Miss Piggy impression.”

“Robin.” The stone seriousness of it drops Robin to their knees in front of the tub. Close enough to Steve that big hands can cup their face. “I love you. This is your moment, so you'll just have to believe me when I say it's fine.”

“It's fine.” Robin repeats.

“We’ll share.” Steve says.

“We’ll share.”

“You're a sir.” she says.

“I’m a he.” Robin says, “Today. Today I'm a he.”

“How does that feel?” She asks him.

“Good? Good. Oh my god Steve I don’t know how to be a he. This isn’t stealing your red sweater-”

She shrieks, “I knew you had my sweater!”

But it isn't going to distract him from the bigger picture. “I can’t just slip into your guy thing like it’s your clothes, you know that was the point.”

Arms crossed, she pouts, “The point sounds like you’ve been stealing my clothes.”

“Steve!”

“You don’t have to be anything to prove that you are something. Sometimes you’re a he, you don’t have to know how to shotgun a beer or something to prove it. I will show you the right way to do a keg stand, that’s a point of pride. And you should know how to fix up the truck, change a tire, to help you pick up babes.”

It's not the worst point ever made. Probably because some of it -- the first part, not the part about car maintenance as a tool of seduction though that has its merits too he supposes and it has a butch quality that is appealing -- is familiar.

“I hate when you quote me at me.”

“When did you tell me you were going to teach me to change a tire?”

“You know what I mean, dingus.”

“You’re the smartest person I know,” Steve says through her smile, “how else am I supposed to give you advice?”

“I love you.” Its the truest truth Robin can come up with at the moment. So true it's an understatement. Love too simple a word for what he feels right now and about Steve.

“I love you too.” She says back, and Robin knows its the same kind of feeling. “And you’ll love me even more when I teach you how to scale a trellis.”

“Why would I need to scale anything, why can’t I just go in the door?”

“It doesn’t have the same Prince Charming feeling. Girls love that stuff.”

“How many times have you fallen off the side of someone’s house?”

“Not as many times as you’re going to, Vickie’s house is laid out like a nightmare.”

He settles into the tub next to Steve. The oversized jacuzzi a tight fit for both of their bodies, but Steve lets him settle into her side like she doesn’t care that the faucet is digging into her shoulder. In sync, Steve lifts her head up enough that Robin can rest his in the space where shoulder and neck meet. The sound of Steve’s heartbeat in his ear gives his a steady rhythm to settle into after the flustered panic it had worked its way up to. Share, they can share.

Some things they can share.

He sits up enough to look Steve in the eye, a half-hearted glare that she wouldn’t buy for a second on his face. “Why have you been scoping out Vickie's house?”

“For you, obviously.” She says, rolling her eyes just like Robin had imagined. “I had to figure out the best point of entry.”

“It's not a siege.”

“It's breaking and entering, and it's embarrassing when someone catches you and it doesn't look cool. Trust me.”

“Some more expertise that you're sharing?”

“I'll share anything with you, Bobbin.”

He hears what's underneath that promise. Their bond forged in chaos, in danger, in blood, in fear. But it was honed in moments like these: honest, sincere, still frightened sometimes but touched by love and laughter.

“Even your green henley?”

He hopes she hears how he knows that Steve would do or give anything for him. His shirt, his time, his bathroom, his life. 

Whatever life may mean at that time. The actual thing, defending and protecting them all from whatever the next great evil is, or the more metaphorical life, marriage and it's safety net that they’ve discussed.

“Even all my best clothes when you have nothing in your closet you could possibly share too.”

“Welcome to the time honored tradition of girlhood, the friend that’s borrowing clothes from you is doing it for a reason. I’ll teach you how dress sizes work next time we’re at the thrift store.”

“Yeah okay, but who’s going to teach you that?”

She’s smiling as she says it, and the tub is too small a space for them to get a good fight started. Grief, the teasing kind, something they’ve always been good at sharing. So he takes his lumps and settles back down into the cradle of the tub and Steve’s arms that he moves elbows first. Let’s them share how unappreciated that dig might have been, the truth in it neither here nor there. 

They’ll lay here for a little bit longer, letting the moment settle. Sharing their space, their time, their breath, and probably the gossip from his day at Family Video without Steve. When the time is right, they’ll leave the bathroom and share a meal, maybe the couch or the bed. It’s just what’s right, like Steve so often is. What’s a pronoun or two among all of that.

“I know how to find a dress that fits. Just like I know that the kangaroo song is about pronouns. How do you remember a cartoon from when we were kids but not the thing they were singing about?”

[xviistrings]

your name is ryuji sakamoto and you are a ticking time bomb.

currently, you are sixteen years old; a freshman in high school. you like to run. you're part of the track team. you get along with the other dudes. you love your mom very much, even if she can be a bit of a nut.

your dad had a habit of screaming at her for reasons that largely didn't involve her. he left when you were very young. (tick tick tick.)

the sakamotos are not known for being temperate. your dad was the angriest asshole in the world, your mom has a major attitude problem, and even your grandma shouts curses when she bumps into furniture while wearily stumbling around.

mom believes you can do better than that. you try your damn hardest.

you keep your hereditary petulance under wraps the best you can, but you don't exactly have good role models to base your coping mechanisms on. even the gym coach - kamoshida, you can't ever forget a name like kamoshida - tends to blow up in everyone's faces about every little thing. in his fits of anger, he leaves blazing bruises on the bodies of you and your teammates. (tick tick tick.)

every day, you want to scream. in every conversation with every passerby, there is something, a parasitic beast in your chest, banging on your bones and scraping away at layers itching to explode out of you and scream, but you're better than that. you've found a strategy that works quite well: if you ever feel like you can't hold it in anymore, you simply excuse yourself to the bathroom and scream there.

though, usually, before you've even gotten there, you have already burst. you quietly sob instead of screaming. that isn't enough. (tick tick tick.)

you can't stand the idea of yelling at another person, even if you want to. it makes you feel sick to your stomach. your dad didn't only lash out at your mom; you distinctly remember your small hands flying up to cover your ears, only for them to be smacked back down, allowing a discordant symphony of degradation to flood in.

you remember his eyes, wide open and fixed on you, like a wolf spotting a rabbit. they bored into you, like he wanted to burn his insignia of hate onto your cheek, where everyone could see how much of a "stupid piece of shit" you are, the very same place kamoshida rams his fist into now for the very same reason, he's got that same look, he says the same thing -

you wish you looked more like your mom. maybe, then, you'd be more averse to the idea of spouting insults at your reflection, but that's just not how it is. instead, you have your dad's eyes. (tick tick tick.)

despite how you yearn to, you really do not like raising your voice. you don't like getting angry in general, actually, because you hate the way your hands get shaky, cold while the rest of you is hot, the sizzling and melding of wires in your brain, that when you stop mumbling all the time you sound too much like him, but...

it's not a particularly special day when kamoshida goes on a rampage again. he puts one half of your team in a row for discipline, and makes the other half, including you, watch for the sake of being taught a lesson. you recoil at every harsh smack of his hand across a boy's face. instinctively, you mutter, "stop it," and he does. he stomps over to you; you didn't mean it like that.

he asks you to repeat yourself. you stay quiet. he asks again, a little less nice, grabbing your shoulder and yanking you closer. it spills out, "stop it!" and he starts to mock you.

kaboom. you punch him in the face.

kaboom. he snaps your knee entirely the wrong way.

kaboom. at last, you scream.

everything that has ever mattered to you has been set aflame and sizzled into meaningless ashes. you're kicked off the track team and shunned by your friends for compromising them, even though you did it to help them. you lose your upcoming scholarship on account of not being able to run anymore, despite the fact that it was entirely kamoshida's fault and he should be getting the punishment, not you.

mom. mom sobs into her hands at the side of your bed when you're recovering from surgery. the doctor said you still need to go into physio, but an even busier schedule is not what she's upset about. she can live with that. she can't live with you.

she's crying because she's just realized that you are no better than her. no better than grandma. no better than kamoshida. no better than dad. (truthfully, that's just what you feel. still doesn't help.)

your name is ryuji sakamoto and you are a ticking time bomb. you have exploded and are now smoldering pieces of what you once were. you will never be the same.

[shewolfofvilnius]

Jordana Mercar ("Rook") x Bellara Romance Headcanons and Notes

Rook has feelings for Bellara almost immediately, but between the whole 'end of the world' thing, the crisis with Bellara's brother Cyrian, and the fact that Rook is technically Bellara's boss, she's hesitant.

Rook also assumes that Bellara doesn't reciprocate at first, either because she's just not interested - or because Rook is a human from Tevinter, a group not always exactly known as a friend to elves.

It takes Bellara a little longer to start to develop feelings for Rook, but when she does, it's sincere. Bellara however assumes that Rook just likes her as a good friend who likes spending time with her and who delights in pointing out Bel's positive qualities.

Neve, who practically considers Bellara a sister and Rook her best friend, is the first of the squad to clue in to the growing attraction between the pair, and tries desperately to encourage both. She and Lucanis lie to Rook slightly at first to see where Jordana's head is regarding romance (They'd actually hit it off almost immediately but kept it secret for a time) - while the serials she brings Bellara are increasingly romantic in nature, and frequently center on things like warrior princesses and heroic lady knights - and even a scandalous story about a Tevinter soldier who fell in love with a Dalish keeper. All of these serials feature happy endings, even the couple Neve had to have re-written herself. (Remember too: The scene directly preceding the romance softlock directly involves Neve, and is referenced in the softlock scene.)

Taash and Harding both figure it out soon thereafter as well, Taash picking up on the massive hormone and pheromone changes in both Rook and Bel and other markers, and Harding bc she knows Rook the longest/best even if Rook's closer to Neve (and Varric told her most of his secrets, one of which was Rook's 'tells'). They get involved in trying to set Rook and Bellara up too, and wind up hitting it off themselves (the opposite of the other two)

SIDEBAR: Neve and Taash talking about Rook and Bellara is how they get into the convo about Taash and gender stuff that Rook interrupts.

They both realize they're genuinely in love at the same moment. Rook is trying to comfort Bellara, who is horrified both that she might have to kill Cyrian - and that she might fall victim to the same manipulation he did. Bellara is snapped out of it by laughter when Rook notes the strict 'no turning evil' policy, and playfully teases her. It occurs to Bellara that Rook might just love her, for herself. Might just care about her just as much as Cyrian - but in a different way. She notices that there's something else in the look Rook gives her.

Seeing Bellara brokenhearted and down on herself hurts Rook in a way that she had never anticipated. Bel was amazing, how could she not see that? And yeah, Cyrian appeared to be heading down a dark road, but that was a choice. And dammit, Bellara's friends weren't going to let her go down that road.

Rook thought for a moment. She loved seeing Bellara's eyes light up when she was 'rambling' about whatever she was passionately invested in that moment. Loved seeing the joy in her spirit at a new discovery. The surprise adventurous spirit, that each new ruin to explore was a new challenge, and that there was ALWAYS a new way to approach an old problem.

It already would have been anyway because of Solas' betrayal plus Harding presumably dying (plus learning the truth of Varric's death plus "a few weeks blurring into 45 minutes") but to say the day Elgar'nan kidnapped Bellara was the worst of her life is an understatement.

That said, it was also the day/weeks that Rook, that Jordana, resolved herself. If she got Bellara back, Maker willing if she got Bellara back (however weird it is to pray to the Maker now), she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Bellara. Be it a day, a century, exploring ruins, you name it.

She promises as long as there is breath in her lungs and the beat of her heart, she is going to kill Elgar'nan for this - and any remaining willingness to reason with Solas went out the window after learning weeks had passed. Weeks with Bel in Elgar'nan's clutches. Having become her worst fear, having become to Elgar'nan far worse than even what Cyrian was to Anaris.

Rook notices the extensive degree to which Bellara is blighted, and is already making plans for them both to join the Grey Wardens. She'll do anything to keep Bellara alive, and to be with her for as long as Bel will have her. Davrin, Antoine, and Evka are already onboard, and Rook herself had ordered the Ostagar Joining Chalice and "as much stuff as you can carry" hauled out as they fled Weisshaupt.

Both Rook and Bellara know that their time together may be limited to a matter of hours. Bellara assumes that Rook wouldn't even so much as look at her blighted like this, but is joyful to receive such a warm hug (and had noticed earlier the care at which Rook had cradled her after recovering Bel from Elgar'nan).

Here, when Bellara sees Rook drinking in every single moment that she's alive and with Bel, she pushes back that Elgar'nan and the Blight still sing to her, loosens his control that much more.

That first night back at the Lighthouse is majestic. Never in her existence has Bellara felt more truly cared for. They didn't even 'do anything'; Rook was still nursing broken ribs and a hurt shoulder, and Bellara emotionally wasn't ready. But the kiss. She'll never, ever forget the kiss. Will never forget the warmth and tenderness of laying by her love's side.

She made SO much progress writing her serial the next day.

The music room had never let anyone other than Jordana and Emmrich into it - the latter because he had been her music teacher at the piano. On the day after, Bellara was shocked when it's doors opened for the first time for her.

Three weeks later is the first. Only one detail from that night - "Some things are better left to the imagination" - makes it into Bellara's serials: Rook is ticklish just above the small of her back.

Although Bellara has noticeable blight scars, and Rook and Bellara keep in touch with the Grey Wardens, Bellara's blighting seems to have disappeared save only for the scarring. Bellara's worry that Rook won't love her changed appearance were quelled the same night they kissed for the very first time - Rook loves Bellara. Bellara loves Rook No matter what. Even when they're withered and grey and laughing at each other watching the sun set. Or dying together in a trapped ruin. Or with the Wardens if it comes to that.

Bellara means it truly when she calls Rook her eternal waking dream. In a billion years, she never could have fathomed meeting someone who would cherish her - even for the things others considered faults - so utterly and truly. Rook is both her anchor and yet also a mythic dream figure. Surely someone so kind and loving can't be real. But she is.

Jordana wonders if she was ever truly alive before meeting Bellara. She settles on "not really".

Bellara meets Rook's father six weeks after Elgar'nan is destroyed, and right as the new Magisterium is debating who will be named the new Imperator (commander of the military). Legatus Mercar is one of the lead candidates.

Bel and Rook's mutual insecurities kick in when the Legatus' opponent tries to use Jordana and Bellara's relationship against the Elder Mercar - with the aid of Jordana's mother and the Legatus' now soon-to-be-ex-wife.

Bellara understands where Rook 'gets it from' ("I AM adopted, Bellara, I told you this." / "I know. He's still your dad, though.") when the Legatus sings the praises of his daughter, the "Slayer of Lusacan", and the love of his daughter’s life on the floor of the Magisterium. And suggests that if Minrathous can't handle being saved by a soporati woman and her elf girlfriend that just perhaps the city should be left to burn.

Charon Mercar (Rook's father) is named Imperator, but is stunned to learn that Rook plans to join the largely-Dalish Veil Jumpers as a senior advisor. Between her experience killing Elgar'nan, setting up Ghilan'nain's death, and tricking Fen'Harel, Rook has very specific experience - and both Rook and Bel just want to go off and explore ruins and artefacts together.

Rook admits privately that "Tevinter helped destroy so much of who the elves were AFTER the Evanuris were locked away. Maybe it's time some of us help them see what can be recovered - and what's worth recovering."

Bellara and Rook get married in a slightly modified Dalish ceremony one year to the day after that first kiss in the Lighthouse. Although Sylaise is no longer asked to watch over their aravels and the other Evanuris are dropped, the main beats of the ceremony remain the same.

Although Bel is no longer formally member of a clan, Rook has to go through the ritual of 'proving herself' to the Veil Jumpers instead, with Irelin (Bellara's ex) being the final arbiter. ("No, the slaying of the Ancient Gods does not count, Rook. We know Bellara's heart, now you must show us yours.")

On the first three attempts, Rook is rejected. She found an improbably lost relic by herself and got it operational, she delivered several baby halla, and - after learning from the Inquisitor that Templar magic could sometimes heal tears in the Veil, offered to have an entire squadron of Imperial Templars mend some of the Veil's damage in Arlathan created by Tevinter so many years ago.

When that didn't work ("no one here wants to see a hundred tevinter templars in full armour in Arlathan Forest, rook"), Jordana changed tactics as she noted Bellara's now visible tears at Irelin's continued refusals. Rook had had enough, catching the entire camp off-guard. "Irelin, let's be clear about this. If Bellara tells me to jump into a volcano, I will. If she tells me to leave, I'll be out the door. Until that day, she is the woman I love, and her word is law. I've done all I can to respect all your traditions AND to try to help, but Irelin, I killed Elgar'nan when he tried to hurt Bellara. You're making her cry right now, what do you think is headed your way if you keep up with this petty crap?" Irelin withdrew her objection.

Bellara later tells Rook that her standing up to Irelin so forcefully definitely, definitely resulted in a "Powerful - but this time not even remotely contained - tingle."

[cripplecharacters]

Hello!

I'm writing a story where a group of people are forced to work together to solve a mystery, and early on in the story when two of the characters are getting to know each other better, they go clothes shopping.

One of the characters is colorblind (protanomaly) and he usually has a friend help him pick clothes out to make sure things match, but that friend is busy. So instead, he ends up getting help from the other character who he doesn't know very well.

They don't like each other very much (they're not enemies, they just don't really trust each other and they bicker a lot) so I thought it would be a nice way for them to bond and learn to trust each other.

She's initially confused as to why he needs help differentiating between colors, so he tells her that he's colorblind and explains what colors he can and can't see, and then they basically take turns holding up clothes and going, "What color does this look like to you?" and they both think it's neat learning about how the other person sees colors.

I know people shouldn't write stories about what it's like to have a disability they don't have, but I'm not sure if this scene falls into that category since he's explaining how it works and not what it's like to be colorblind outside of "yeah my friend helps pick out clothes so I don't wear an ugly outfit lol".

Does any of this sound like it would be an issue?

Hi!

My dad is red insensitive colorblind and he will send me pictures of his suits and ask what color they are because for suits he needs all the pieces to match. With other clothing he does not bother.

With that in mind, I'd say someone else picking your character's outfits for him is a little unrealistic, but definitely fit checking to make sure everything looks okay is fine. He'll know what colors his clothes are! Checking with new clothes or the same item in multiple colors is probably the extent he'll want someone else to help him.

On comparing color vision: with my dad's agreement to participate, a common game with him is "sort the M&Ms" and watch him fail at splitting orange and green ones into separate piles. So as long as your character feels comfortable talking or joking about it, it's all good!

Mod Rock

Hello,

I have a friend who's blue-yellow colourblind. According to her, most of her process takes place when she's actually buying the clothes. She stays away from most green and yellow because those clash with a lot of colours, and her collection of purple clothes is very small. She also tends to buy plain clothes without patterns or graphics, like plain t-shirts and simple jeans, because those are easier to match. When buying jeans, she sticks to plain blue or black, and she buys dresses instead of skirts to avoid combining a skirt and shirt that clash. Most of her shopping is done online, where the colours of the products are listed. Then, when the clothes get into her house, she either asks one of her roommates for help or uses an app on her phone that tells her what colour which article of clothing is. She sorts her clothes in her closet by colour and keeps clashing colour combinations in mind while picking out what to wear for the day. She has it down to a science.

If he's grabbing clothes out of his closet, he probably has them sectioned off based on what colour they are. All of the black would be in one place, the blue in another, etc. He might also keep problem colours (red, purple, pink, orange) away from the rest of his clothes in their own little section to avoid accidentally grabbing them, assuming he has clothes in those colours at all. He could also avoid bright reds and bright colours that are related to red (pinks, purples, magentas, oranges,) because those clash with a lot more than darker shades of the same colour will. If he's really worried about clashing, he might have the clothes in colours that will definitely clash with red- bright greens, powder greens, browns- also sectioned off. Colours and clashing are a whole science and there are a lot of ways he can avoid wearing clashing colours without help.

You might also want to keep in mind that there while there are some colourblind people who would be okay with games like this from people they barely know, my friend says a lot of them would not like this. Some, like her, would only tolerate this from another colourblind person. It's realistic that he could just be exceptionally chill about it, just remember that many people absolutely are not.

Mod Aaron

[synthetickitsune]

Dino (SVT) | Good Luck, Babe! angst | 0.7k | f!reader warnings: reader wants to leave chan at the altar for a woman A/N: i'm so late to be obsessed with this song but oh well lmao

“Hey, uh,” you speak so fast the words blur together, “Do you think we could run away together?”

During the second of silence you realize your words probably weren’t clear enough to be understood, but that doesn’t matter. You only need to say them. You only need for them to be heard. You don’t expect much at this point.

The answer comes from a robotic voice notifying you that the number you called cannot be reached.

That’s not a no - that’s all you can think. 

Since your calls go unanswered, there still is a possibility that the person feels the way you do, right? You’ve been friends since you can remember, surely there’s some chance that she wants happiness for you… right? That she will forgive you and save you from your own choices like she’s always done.

Although you’re sure that your husband-to-be could make you happy too, it doesn’t feel right. You know he could, though. You need to believe it. Chan’s a good man. A kind man. He’s just not… You don’t even know what he’s not. He’s everything that they say would make a good husband, but is that what you’re looking for? You don’t know. Probably not, seeing as you’re still trying to reach your best friend. Former best friend? There’s too many things you don’t know.

You hang up the unanswered call and let your hand drop. Staring at the lit up screen with the contact info pulled up, it feels like the universe is mocking you. Just then, there’s a knock at your door.

“Love?” It’s Chan.

You quickly try to collect yourself, but you don’t trust your voice not to betray you and your complicated feelings, so you just hum in response. 

“I just… I want you to know that I love you.” You close your eyes and let a wave of gratefulness wash over you. You truly don’t know what you’d do if Chan wasn’t so set on not seeing you in your wedding dress. The door separating you and him feels like the wall you built around yourself inside your own head, one that you never allowed him to break through.

“I know you must be nervous - I’m so nervous. My heart beats so fast it hurts,” he chuckles. All your friends and family always told you that his smile and laughter is infectious, so you used to laugh and smile along whenever he did. This time you don’t.

“But I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together,” the smile in his voice is so loud. You feel nauseous. You call the number again, your fingers trembling as they tap away on the screen. You can only pray that she’ll pick up now, at the worst moment possible. Would you still go through with it? You’d love to say you don’t know, but right now that’s the one thing you’re sure of.

“Just… deep breaths, yeah?” he laughs softly again and you can imagine him standing on the other side of the door, fidgeting with the piece of paper with his vows written on it, “I love you. See you soon.”

You want to cry. The call goes on and on, unanswered once again. At least the tears will be written off as nerves or happiness. Today you can cry as much as you want without judgement. Nobody will know because nobody will ever know you like she does.

She was right, you realize and it almost makes you laugh. She knew that you’ll change your mind when it’s too late. You have no idea why you didn’t listen. You can be oblivious, but you thought you’d be the one to know your heart the best. Apparently, that was another foolish assumption on your part. Just the same as thinking everything will click into place when the wedding day comes and you’ll be walking towards the altar.

It doesn’t matter that Chan’s looking at you like you’re his entire life or that his entire face lights up. It doesn’t matter that some of the guests tear up with genuine happiness for you two. You feel sick to your stomach, your knees almost give up as you meet Chan and he takes his hand in yours.

His vows are a white noise in your ears.

It takes everything in you not to change your vows to a simple apology to her.

[arcane-ish]

Revisiting the season 1 "is Silco a bad parent" discourse

It seems that sometimes people come across my season 1 metas and liking them and it's pretty fun for me to "re-find" some of my old stuff that way.

I like to think I still stand by a lot of if even if a lot of theories about how things get disproven.

Anyway, I think it's very interesting in retrospect how central and heated the "Is Silco a bad father" discourse was in season 1. (It was very much the "is Caitlyn a war criminal" of its day)

One aspect that I think made it differently is that "being a war criminal" is usually a relatively distant concept for most people.

While if you listened deeper you could sense a lot of personal stories and very different takes on what makes a good or bad parent.

Looking back, it does feel like maybe a lot of it was the Vi&Cait side of the fandom versus the Silco&Jinx side of the fandom with a lot of people in the middle weighing in, because it is an interesting question and again ones relationship to a parent being something where everybody can bring something to he table.

In the end season 1 is very structured around Vi. She's by the character by far with the most screentime. And season 1 is pretty much about her quest to retrieve her sister.

Vi has a certain, harsh way of perceiving Silco and Silco and Jinx. And I wonder if at least some of the discourse was a lot about validating Vi and validating Vi's quest. Because if Silco is an awesome parent and Jinx is happy, then Vi's quest is basically useless, right?

For the record, I don't think Vi fans were overall about proving that Silco is evil and Vi has to smite him. Even in season 1 I think there was generally a lot of fandom discourse support for the idea that Vi has to accept that her sister is changed and that she can't just blindly cling to the past. But there's still investment in the idea that she is at least partially right.

On the opposite. To me it does feel like on the Silco&Jinx side (even though people will always say they understand that their charas do bad things) it did feel like there were genuinely people who wanted an edgy "Silco and Jinx never did anything and are perfect and everybody else drools" take by the show. Again, just like with the Vi side, not all. Plenty of Silco fans who also get that he was a flawed father even if he was genuine. Just saying the "Silco and Jinx should burn the world down without resistance as an awesome powercouple and/or father&daughter duo" also existed and who were longing for a portrayal where everybody who opposed Silco turns out to be more evil than him or comes around and sings his praises to validate Silco.

Which brings me to:

I think a big reason why I was less disappointed with season 2 than some others is because I always saw myself squarely in the middle of this discourse.

For me that looked like that: For a lot of the accusations typically levelled against Silco I was usually a lot more on the "Silco side" of things than on the "Vi side".

That a lot of the things that are happening are dark, but dark that make sense for the setting. ie having Jinx be violent, encouraging her to fight, not seeking help for her mental illness, that always seemed like a fairly natural part of the setting to me. And on the whole manipulating front, seeing it more as "Silco projects his own trauma/fear/paranoia, his messed up feelings about Vander onto Vi" rather than he is intentionally manipulating (though I do think there was an element of "Silco is scared of Jinx leaving him and wants to tie her to him at all costs" rather than just a clean mangnanimous "Silco thinks Vi is dangerous and wants to protect Jinx from harm")

But at the same time: I also had genuine bugbears with his parenting.

When I look at my old post one thing that I pointed out was that it feels off to me that Jinx doesn't have peers her age. She interacts mostly with Sevika and Silco. The closes to her age is probably Thieram and he's scared of her. Back then I reserved judgement. Because we don't know for sure how Jinx felt about it. Maybe since she killed her brothers she never wanted to be around friends anymore out of fear of killing them. Though I still think that as a parent Silco should have pushed back on that. Especially since imo the Enemy music video suggests that in the past Powder did like playing with other children, at the very least Ekko. So to me season 2 was extremely validating when we see that as soon as Silco is gone from her influence the first thing Jinx does is attach herself to a young girl and be really playful and kid like with her. And season 2 suggests that having Ekko forgive her did mean something to her. (and depending on whether you consider it canon or not, Jinx writing "home" on top of the firelight base when she has been there like once is just gutting)

There's also the fact "Silco is just projecting his trauma rather than manipulating" to me is a seriously deal. Even if that means that he isn't manipulating "he can't see beyond his trauma enough to be a good parent" is still a serious parenting issue. (for the record: Vander has very similar problems in his parentage) If you had a parent who is a narcissicst or a drug addict or bipolar and that did have an affect on the parenting style, you would still file that under having a bad/less than ideal childhood even if that parent tried.

And the core effect of this trauma/paranoia is that Silco does not respect what Vi means to Jinx and is not really engaging with Jinx about it. And no, he did not know Vi was alive, but he did lie about Vi just being there for the crystal (when from his conversation with Vi in the Shimmer addict scene he KNEW that Vi was there about Jinx). Not to mention he immediately moves to try to get rid of Vi and attacks her rather than even just subtly try to figure out how Jinx feels about it. Again in a perfect parent world, even if he irrationally feels that Vi will hurt Jinx, the good parent thing would have been to talk to Jinx, express his fears and let Jinx choose how she wants to handle the situation. Support her through it, catch her if Vi really does end up hurting her.

But then I generally often feel like I have a very different take on Jinx and Silco's relationship. Like… if you see Silco and Jinx as a pair, a duo… you can see in season 1 that Jinx isn't fully happy with him? Like the underlying message of season 1 is that even though she was with Silco and she cared for him, she was dreaming of being with Vi the entire time. She wanted to abandon Silco and run away with Vi. She kept, remembered and activated the flare when she realizes that Vi is alive/around. She yearned for Vi while she was gone, was always doubtful of Silco's world, completely thought Silco was capable of lying to her. She cares about him, but she does not fully believe the things he's telling her, she clearly thinks of him as somebody to take with a grain of salt, yes even before the Shimmer maker he doubt him even more.

For the record, I don't buy the Silcofan take Jinx and Silco were 100% happy and he a completely reasonable parent till all the stressors of season 1 Act 2 happened. IMO I buy what Jinx says to Vi in the dinner scene in 1x09, the deep tiredness and frustration. And I don't think that Jinx would assume so easily that he would lie even pre Shimmer if he hadn't given her the vibe before. And we see her pushing back and rebelling a little bit not just against his restriction but against the lies he tells himself before all that.

(it probably helps that my fandom of Silco was always more on the "he's this beautiful, chaotic, tragic, compelling, ingenious mess" rather than "he's so cool and badass". Like a lot harder on the "Silco makes a freaked out face during the rat experiments" than just "Silco does sexy sauntering")

Again, if you "ship" Silco and Jinx as a narrative pair, even if just a platonic one, maybe you were rooting for the story to validate Silco fully. Yes, Jinx strayed and tried to "cheat" on Silco with Vi, wanted to leave him, wanted to run off with Vi, but he was right all along, Vi didn't care for her and choose the enforcer over Jinx. And the happy end will be Jinx understands Silco's love for her and knew he as right all along and be gung go, either wanting to kill herself because she loved him so much or dedicate her life to continuing his life's work.

And maybe the Vi side thought that with Silco being dead it would be a "ding dong the witch is dead", yes Jinx is now even further in her darkness but maybe season 2 can be the search to retrieve her and everybody can at least see what horror he has wrought and how he destroyed Jinx's life if it turns out she cannot be saved.

The thing about season 2 is that if refuses to validate either the "Vi side" or the "Silco side"

And my theory that this really frustrated both sides, especially if they fought for fervently post season 1 about whose perspective is right.

While for me, it felt like a natural continuation of what I already saw in season 1. Jinx genuinely cares for Silco, but she wasn't fully happy with him, their relationship was genuine, but also layered and complex.

She grieves for him, but the moment he isn't there she acts very differently. She does tons of things that weren't and maybe couldn't easily have been part of her life when he was still around. Her position towards his goals, towards the fight, towards Zaun,towards violence is mixed. She connects with Isha, with Vi, with Ekko. She doesn't denounce Vi or Vander to praise Silco.

For the frustration of the "Vi side", she never denounces Silco either. And even worse, like, here you could say, okay, maybe Jinx is just strong enough to resist Silco's influence, especially now that he's gone, but he was still bad for her, but the show imo by adding Silco to the AU does take a stand against that Silco was just a bad father and a malignent influence. If Silco was just full on bad, why would he still be part of Jinx's life in the other AU, where it is hinted that Silco is very much part of many things being better in that AU. To me that alone is a strong proof that they don't see Silco as just a bad thing that has to be fought. Heck that episode textually has Ekko saying outright that maybe he wasted his time fighting/hating Silco and Jinx as part of a general message about forgiveness and embracing people.

And about all people being messy and flawed and you should still embrace them.

And from a Jinx fan point of view? That's great actually

Season 1 is being spent with Silco and Vi metaphorically fighting over Jinx. From their point of view, it would be most desirable if she chose one and decried the other.

But from a Jinx point of view? It's actually great that she doesn't have to choose. Because Jinx is a cool and awesome character who can have deep and layered and complex and loving relationships with Silco and with Vi and with Vander (and gain new ones with Isha and Jinx). She doesn't have to give one up to properly love the other. She can love all these people in her own way and at the same time, there can be complexity and flaws in all those relationships too.

Because again, Jinx is a complex character with many sides to her and many relationships to her.

And just like the show in the end refuses to make a hard choice between Powder versus Jinx, it also refuses to choose between these relationships. Doesn't see the need to push any of them to the dirt, just lets her keep and at the same time lose all of them.

I think that ultimately, why, even though I see many flaws on season 2, I can still find something to love about it. Because to me Jinx is the throughline, the emotional core as the journey of a young woman searching her place, figuring herself out, choosing her path.

(please note that I'm a staunch believer in the "Jinx Lives" theory and that clouds every and all reads on season 2 I have)

In the end, imo the juxtaposition of Silco and Vi was a pretty cool move of season 1. Most fandoms fight primarily about romantic shipping, who should date whom, who is whose OTP.

Structurally, in season 1 Vi is the main character and even though she might have flaws (maybe too brash, too narrow minded, too emotional), she comes across as the more traditional heroic character.

At the same time, she is on a quest that is impossible. She wants to retrieve a sister who doesn't exist anymore. She wants things to not change, but that can't be avoided. She has a quest given to her by her dead father figure, but maybe that quest isn't just impossible, maybe it isn't what she should be doing in the first place?

And the fact that Vi is structurally the hero but maybe she's also kind of wrong I think opened up this narrative space of "okay, if Vi is not right, that maybe who or what is?"

I get that the show answering that question with "everybody is flawed, those relationships an co-exist" isn't a satisfying answer for everybody who wanted clarity, but I can just reiterate, from my Jinx fannishness point of view, I think it's pretty great.

[neminomnom]

Hobbies arcane characters would have

Includes: Caitlyn, Mel, Jinx, Silco, Maddie, Grayson, Vi and Elora!

Caitlyn

- You bet Caitlyn was a figure skater, but she quit at 14 because of an injury, and she lost interest in it, having joy in other things.

-But, when Caitlyn did do figure skating, she had edea EVERYTHING, even the socks, but that was because she told casandra and Tobias that edea was the only good brand to get figure skates from.

- Caitlyn preferred spins over jumps, her favourite spin was a camel spin. But if she had to pick a favourite jump, it would be a lutz, and out of toe jumps and edge jumps, she loved toe jumps wayyyy more.

- As an adult, she decided to pick the sport back up again, sure she wasn’t as good as she used to be, but still enjoys it.

Mel

- apart from painting, Mel loves to make jewellery, especially necklaces and earrings, sometimes she finds it frustrating if she’s lost a charm she wants to put on the chain or if someone interrupts her when focusing.

- Mel would make sure that the things she uses is high quality, she’s allergic to fake jewellery and thinks that some stuff looks cheap.

- At the end of the day, if she ran out of paints it would be one of her favourite things to do, sit down in bed and make jewellery.

- She made Elora a nice bracelet and a matching necklace to go with it for her birthday, it was in silver and Elora always would wear it to work.

Jinx

-Jinx would love to build Lego, she had a huge collection but then accidentally blew it up, so then she had to restart it.

- If she doesn’t feel like causing chaos, Lego is her number one thing to do she had all the car one and all the transformers, but she had to start her collection again,her favourite Lego set overall is the Tuxedo cat, or the Exotic parrot.

- Jinx would try to make her own Lego sets, she would melt plastic she found and shape them like Lego, some would turn out really good, others not so much.

Silco

- It might be basic, but he LOVES crosswords and puzzles, he finds word searches wayyyy to easy, and most of the time finds crosswords easy, he has tones of those book things full of them.

- Silco could probably finish a 1000 peice puzzle in a few hours, he finds them relaxing and does then if he’s like reallly stressed, he likes the ocean themed ones with like sea creatures on.

-He was doing a difficult puzzle once, he forgot that jinx was in his office with him and then got jump scared when she started talking to him, causing him to mess up the puzzle somehow.

Maddie

- Maddie loves to do other people’s hair, she can’t do her own but she loves to do different hairstyles on others, her parents would get her those Disney princess hair style kits when she was younger, but those would always get knotted up.

-She would gladly learn about how to style for different people’s hair types and scalps, when she was little, before she thought about becoming an enforcers she wanted to be a hairdresser.

-Cuts her own hair and fails every time, the only reason she has that small ponytail at the back is because it’s apart of the dress code or something.

-Maddie would die right there and then out of happiness if someone asked about her hair care routine or if she could do their hair, and she’s really good at it aswell.

Grayson

- If it isn’t shooting, then it’s baking, On her days off where she has nothing better to do or comes back from work really stressed, the first thing she does is turn the over on and gets out the ingredients to start baking some cookies.

- She makes a gorgeous red velvet cake, she doesn’t like it that much herself but would bring it into work, put it down somewhere and let the other enforcers just munch through it, would never say she was the one who bakes it though.

- Grayson is also really good at making pastries, every time she gets it right and uses the same recipe her mum taught her, overall it’s her way of stress relief.

- Her favourite thing to bake is brownies, I don’t make the rules.

Violet

-Violet loves cooking, she can’t bake to save her life, but she can cook literally anything and make it perfect every time, nothing would ever be too spicy or too bland.

-To mess with people, she would cook something what would smell really good and make your mouth drool by even thinking about that dish, but would make it really salty or spicy on purpose.

-Her favourite thing to cook is fish, she loves it and never gets sick of cooking it, she could cook it and eat it every night without getting bored.

-Vi has these huge fireproof gloves, even on a big butch like her they look ridiculously massive, they’d probably say something along the lines of ‘Zauns best chef’ on them, caitlyn got her them as a gift.

Elora

-Elora adores knitting and crocheting, she’s memorized every type of stitch there is, ans she had all different sorts of wool, needles and crochet hooks

-She would probably make a bunch of hats, gloves and blankets near winter time and give them to charity, she loves making things for others.

-Definitely prefers Crocheting over knitting, sometimes she gets really frustrated when knitting because she will keep on loosing the stitches

- Her favourite things to knit are blankets, and her favourite thing to crochet are little bunnies

[cautotelic]

Chapter 5: Been Like This

Ambessa Medarda x Reader

Synopsis: When you get taken away from your home land and thrown into the palace of the infamous warlord, will things be as bad as they first seemed?

CW: SMUT (what we've all been waiting for), kinda fluff, Ambessa being downright downbad, yes the title is from that Doja Cat song 🤨

A/N: enough with the sadness, let the tension end. please leave more replies/comments I LOVE reading them and knowing y’all enjoy the story:))

The next few days go by painstakingly slow. I help the physicians with tending to the injured warriors. I’m back to avoiding Ambessa, still somewhat upset with her. Whenever I think about her I’m drawn between being so frustratingly angry at her and just wanting to thank the fact she’s, in her words, alive and well.

Whenever I get the chance during the day I’ll go into my room and try to get a bit of sleep before leaving for the night, knowing that Ambessa has been residing in my room. Maybe she’s hoping that I’ll come back at the same time she's there, but I doubt that.

Currently I’m outside of the estate collecting snow in a bucket to take inside for the physicians. Being in my own thoughts I don’t hear the crunching of snow beneath boots coming from behind me. 

“You should really wear a coat out here, little lady.”

I smile. “You want to give me a hand or are you just going to stand there and look pretty?”

The crunch of snow grows closer before Rictus’s big, burly form comes into view. He settles himself behind me and pulls something out of his cape, a blanket. 

I hold my hand up. He continues to unfold it. “The General would have my head if I let you get frostbite out here.”

“Why does she bother?” I mumble as I feel the weight of the blanket being placed around my shoulders. I will admit that I am thankful for the blanket.

Rictus hums as he takes the bucket out of my hands and begins shoveling in the snow with his own gloved hands. “She has a weird way of showing it, but she really does care about you. It’s the reason she brought you here,” he admits.

My brows furrowed in confusion but Rictus continued. “She and your father had a meeting negotiating trade deals and land disputes, the regular diplomatic conversations,” he says and I nod. “I remember you standing in the corner of your fathers office, just a tiny little thing, barely noticed you were there. But when we got back on the airship, you were all she could talk about.”

“She sent your father a letter asking if he would trade you for extra trading goods. He refused and she threatened him with war.” The bucket of snow is full so Rictus stands, I copy his movements as we start to make our way back to the estate. “Of course she knew of your power and wanted you to train her soldiers, but she also saw how miserable you looked, like a bird trapped in a cage. Her stronger feelings for you only transpired after you arrived.”

We step back into the estate and hand the bucket of snow to the physician standing there. I watch her leave before turning to Rictus. “Why are you telling me this?”

“So you understand why I have to do what I’m about to do next,” he utters, a hint of guilt showing in his expression.

“What-“

In an instant I’m scooped up and thrown over his shoulder as he begins walking down the hallway. A small gasp comes out as I am disoriented. “Rictus put me down. Where are you taking me?” I protest.

My struggling does nothing to sway him into putting me down. “The General hasn’t slept for a week because of you and personally, I don’t enjoy being yelled at,” he grunts as he readjusts me on my shoulder.

The realization hits me. He’s taking me to Ambessa. I start hitting his back. “Rictus, put me down now. I don’t want to see her,” I declare.

I protest the whole way until we walk into a room lined with bookshelves. He sets me down on my feet and I turn around to face Ambessa who is sitting at her desk. The surprise on her face tells me that all this was all by Rictus’s own doing. 

“General,” Rictus nods towards Ambessa before walking out of the room, leaving us together.

The tension in the room is so thick you could cut it with a knife. I stand awkwardly in the center of her study as I shift from foot to foot. Her study is just as warm and inviting as her bedroom. Throw blankets adorn the couch sat in front of the fireplace and soft rugs cover the floors.

I look up at Ambessa and she isn’t looking at me but I can tell she’s tired.

“I don’t know why he brought you here, I told him, and everyone else for that fact, not to bother you,” she states coldly as she writes something down in the ledger on the desk.

Just hearing her talk and being in her general vicinity has all my anger resurfacing. I let out a chuckle. “You’re a real piece of work, you know?” I accuse as I stalk towards her desk.

She stops writing, folds her arms, and leans back in her seat, an amused expression playing on her face. “Oh you're in no position to talk about being a piece of work, but please, do tell.”

I bite the inside of my cheek, growing irritated. “You are so incredibly maddening. I cannot fathom how anyone gets anything done around here with you.” When I get close enough I trail my hand along the edge of her desk. “For the past month I spent the whole time believing you were dead, hoping you weren’t so I could do it myself. But now…” I sigh as I look at her, looking for answers to the ache I feel deep in my bones. “I can’t even find the strength to stay mad at you.”

Our eyes lock and I wonder if there is just as much emotion in my eyes as there are in hers. I draw closer to her slowly, unsure and uncertain. Reaching out I touch her cheek with the backs of my fingers softly. 

She leans into the small touch before grabbing my hand and pressing kisses to my palm. “Forgive me… please.”

My body leans towards her hesitantly, eyes darting between her lips and her eyes. I gently press my lips to hers, my own silent apology and many words unspoken. I feel her smile into the kiss as she lets me lead. My own repressed desires surface as I move to press myself closer to her. Ambessa stands from her desk chair, breaking our kiss as her hands come under my thighs and lift me onto the cool wood of her desk. My hands move on their own accord touching any part of her that I can. She chuckles at my eagerness before lifting her shirt off, her bindings going with it. I stare at her for a good second admiring her as her hands go to the bottom hem of my shirt. She looks at me, waiting for me to push her away, to close myself off again.

I don’t.

I mutter a soft ‘yes’ and she takes my shirt off. Unlike our kiss in the library, her fingers find my skin, going over the scars on my chest and torso. Under her observant gaze I feel self conscious and I curl in on myself.

Ambessa notices this and makes a noice of displeasure. Her head dips back down and her lips brush against the shell on my ear, sending an involuntary shiver down my spine. “Do you know how turned on you make me, sweetheart? Hm.” She hums as she nuzzles her nose into the crook of my neck. I shake my head and she groans. “Too much. I get all hot and bothered when you're fully dressed, so don’t worry about this,” she says, her hands trailing up my sides. “You're perfect.”

Her lips find mine again as she lifts me off the desk and walks us over to the big couch in her study. Laying me down on the couch she makes quick work of my pants as well as her own. She leans down and sucks on the skin of my neck, leaving dark marks that will stay. Her hand travels down, down until it touches my waiting core. She teases, circling her fingers around my clit. I let out a frustrated whine and she chuckles.

“So impatient,” she hums, kissing my ear.

She’s merciful and slowly enters her fingers. Her pace starts out slow and deliberate, sinking them in before, dragging them almost all the way out, before doing it over again. I sigh, pleased that she’s finally touching me but wanting her to speed up. 

My hands come around to her back, grabbing as much of her as I can before pushing her into me. I turn my head to it’s right by her ear. “I know you love me, but I want you to fuck me like you hate me,” I nearly demand.

She chuckles into my skin. “I would be careful what you ask for, little one,” she purrs as she bites down onto the space between my neck and shoulder. She speeds up the thrusts of her hand as she curls her fingers up and brushes that spot inside me. I gasp. She mimics my face and sound. “There,” she says breathily. “Is that what you wanted? Hm. To be treated like this, like a toy for me to use?”

I let out a strangled moan into her ear. My noises only egg her on as she fucks me. My nails dig into her back. 

“So fucking wet, your basically swallowing my fingers. You dirty, dirty girl,” she says as she leans away from me looking down at my sopping cunt. 

She uses the thumb of the same hand to gently circle my clit, light and slow motions. She watches her own fingers disappear inside me, she damn near moans at the sight. I quickly shut my legs closed at the sensation, feeling overwhelmed. She roughly pushes them back open as I feel her go deeper.

“Fuck…” I sigh. It’s all too much, her, my body. I reach my hand down to grab at her wrist. For what exactly, I’m not sure, but the coil in my stomach is winding tighter and tighter, I feel like I might burst.

Ambessa looks down at me with a dark expression on her face as she grabs both my wrists in her free hand and holds them against my stomach, leaving me helpless as she tortures my body.

“Mm that’s much better, don’t you think, little one?” She chuckles as she bullies her fingers into me at an unforgiving pace.

The sounds leaving my mouth are absolutely, downright shameful. But I can’t find it in me to care right now. Moans and whines leave my lips but Ambessa swallows them in a kiss. 

“Please please ple-ah,” I jolt as she hits that spot. She takes notice and focuses on repeatedly hitting that spot as her circles on my clit fasten.

The coil begins to fray, the pressure too much. “A-ambessa stop I-“ I’m cut off by my own moan.

She looks down at me and hums. “Are you close? Going to make a mess for me, pretty girl?” She coos.

I struggle against her hold trying to get away from her and the feeling in my stomach as my breathing grows ragged. I cry out as my orgasm washes over me, my back arched, Ambessa smiles as she fucks me through it.

When it’s finished I close my eyes and regain my breathing. I stay like that for a while, my hands coming to cover my face.

Before I can even open my eyes again I’m being flipped onto my stomach, my chest being pushed into the couch, ass up. I yelp as I crane my head to look behind me. Ambessa leans over my body so that her head is right beside mine, her bigger frame covering mine. I feel something prod at my backside. I go to look and she turns my head to look at her. She trails kisses along my shoulder blade.

“That first one was for your pleasure,” she says, almost proudly. “These ones are for mine.” 

“What are you- oh my god,” I moan as I feel her strap enter me. When the fuck did she put that on?

My mouth forms an ‘O’ as she sinks deeper into me, inch by inch. I dig my fingers into the couch to keep me grounded. Ambessa leans over and kisses my cheek, laughing softly. 

“I won’t be as kind.”

“Sadist much?” I spit out, my voice coming off weaker than I expected.

A loud smack sounds through the room and I jolt forward, gasping at the sting. Ambessa’s hand rubs over the spot. “I do hate disobedience, and you're far overdue for a lesson,” she leans down to my ear. “Let’s fix that, shall we?”

Her weight lifts off me. “If it’s too much, let me know.” As soon as I nod her hips snap forward. A short scream leaves my throat at the action. 

Her pace is so deliberately slow it makes me want to cry. I groan into the couch. I move my hips in sync with her, fucking myself back on her. Her hand comes and grip my hips, halting my movements and I whine.

“You want me to go faster?” She asks, and I nod desperately. “Well who am I to deny you that?” There’s a hint of something in her voice but I couldn’t care less as she does indeed pick up the pace.

I’m a moaning mess as she does. I’m muttering curses and small ‘thank you’s under my breath as I approach my climax faster this time. 

This time when I finish, Ambessa doesn’t stop. I whimper, overstimulated. “T-too much- Ambessa.”

She chuckles behind me as she grunts, speeding up her pace. “This is your lesson for being so damn mouthy. I told you that this wasn’t for your pleasure, it’s for mine. So fucking take it or do you want me to stop?” She slows to a complete stop before pulling out. She waits a solid few minutes waiting for my growing orgasm to subside.

I cry out at the loss of stimulation. “You're such an asshole,” I seethe.

She shrugs before pressing back into me at a brutal pace. “So damn stubborn,” she says.

Ambessa has me a moaning mess in less than a few minutes. She kisses down my back, over my scars. “So fucking pretty. You like this huh? You like me being mean to you.” All I can do is nod and mumble incoherently at her words.

“What happened to that attitude that you had earlier? Am I fucking you too good for you to act out now?” She teases. 

Although she is acting unaffected, her small moans and sighs are telling me she is getting off from this, from me.

I’m getting closer to my 3rd orgasm and her thrusts are growing erratic and inconsistent. “Fuck…” she groans from behind me and I can tell she’s close too. She speeds up and a guttural moan leaves my lips as my body shakes.

She keeps thrusting her hips forward, chasing her own release. I tap her hand on my hip. “Stop Ambessa.”

She quickly pulls out of me and flips me around, concern written on her face. Her hand comes to cradle my cheek. “What’s the matter? Did I-“

I flip her over so she’s on her back before climbing on top of her, sinking down onto her strap. I moan at the feeling, feeling it go deeper than in the other position. Ambessa looks up at me from her spot below me. “Darling you don’t have to-“

“Shut up,” I sigh as I begin to move. She moans at the sight and the friction on her own cunt. I bounce up and down on her strap, moans leaving my lips as I look down at Ambessa watching her face contorted in pleasure. 

I fold over and suck marks into her neck as soft sighs and moans leave her lips. Her body is growing restless and I know she’s close. 

She leans into me, worry etched into her brows. “You need to finish first. I can’t-“

“You can and you will. You better fucking finish, Ambessa I swear to god,” I chuckle as a breathy moan leaves my lips. 

I pick up my pace, my breast moving in time with my bounces. I reach down and roll her nipple between my fingers earning a small sigh from her. 

Her face should be casted in a painting for my eyes only. Her eyes watch the strap as it goes in and out of me. Her moans growing more and more desperate.

“Are you going to come for me, General? Gonna get off to me using you to pleasure myself?”

At my words her arms reach up to me as she pulls me to her chest. She props her feet up, heels digging into the couch as she thrusts up into me. 

“Oh my god- fuck fuck fuck.” I say into her skin. She’s shuddering at this point. “I’m gonna come- fuck.”

My orgasm wracks through my body, our combined moans filling the room. My body goes limp and we stay like this, me on top of her, as we both catch our breath. I raise my head and peck a kiss on her lips.

She moves under me, sliding her strap out of me, I hiss. She chuckles as she lifts me and sets me down to stand. I wobble a little on my feet but her arm is there to steady me. She wraps one of the blankets on the couch around me before wrapping one around herself and then scooping me up.

We walk out of her study and into the hallway and I’m met with Rictus standing on the other end of the dead end hallway. My face reddens as we approach where he is standing against the wall. 

“Why is he down here, Ambessa?” I ask, embarrassed.

She shrugs. “Making sure no one bothered us,” she says nonchalantly.

Someone needs to give him a pay raise. 

We pass by him and he gives a curt nod to Ambessa before looking down at me wrapped in the blanket. 

“Good talk?” He questions with a mischievous, barely there smile.

“Good talk,” I affirm as Ambessa keeps walking.

She takes me to her room and we shower to wash the sex off of our bodies. I dote on her, washing her hair and body even though she insists she can do it herself. She dresses me in her clothes before laying us down in her bed. I lay my head in the crook of her neck, breathing in her scent. Her hand lazily runs up and down my back, I no longer flinch at her touch as it lulls me to sleep.

For the first time in years I get a full night's sleep.

[maretinelli]

CAPTAIN HEART (Epilogue)

Ollie Bearman X Player!fem!reader

Summary: How things are going in Y/n and Ollie's relationship and the player's adaptation in Italy.

Words: 2.6K+

Warnings: Mentions of the past (but you know), make-out session, teasing and allusion to sex at the end. But nothing explicit.

Author: English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes that may be in the story. And of course, I couldn't help but write how Ollie and Y/n are doing before saying goodbye to the story hahaha❤️🇧🇷

MASTERLIST

CHAPTERS: CAPTAIN HEART

A year had passed since Y/n made the decision that completely changed her life. A few days ago, she left Sydney for the charming Verona, Italy, and was now officially part of the Italian national handball team and a renowned local team.

The adaptation was not easy, but with determination and constant support from Ollie, the McLaren couple and her parents, she found herself increasingly comfortable in the new routine.

Their relationship remained strong despite their busy schedules. When Y/n had time off, she would often accompany him to the races, cheering for him in the stands or in the paddock. When Ollie had gaps in his schedule, he would fly to see her, whether in the old hustle and bustle of Sydney or the now quiet tranquility of Verona. They made it work, despite the distance and commitments.

That day, while Ollie was waiting for his flight at the airport, Y/n was at the market, pushing a shopping cart and video calling him.

"How's the Italian?" Ollie asked, a smile on his face as he adjusted his phone to show his curious expression.

Y/n let out a light laugh and replied jokingly. "Before, I only knew how to say 'Buongiorno'. Now, I know how to say 'Buongiorno, come stai?'" She winked, feigning pride.

Of course it was a joke, because she was taking intense language classes and when she could she would visit her grandmother in Florence and ask her 'Italian Nonna' for some tips.

"Good progress. Soon you'll be giving interviews in fluent Italian." He laughed from the other side of the screen.

"I wish..." She muttered, adjusting her phone on the shelf as she picked up two trays of fruit. "So? Strawberries or blueberries?"

Ollie frowned, trying to look serious. But he had a loving smile on his face.

"Strawberries, definitely. But what's the point?"

She smiles, placing the fruit tray in the shopping cart and picking up her cell phone, while having a mischievous smile on her face.

"For you to make me Italian recipes. I'm on ramen, salad and energy drinks." She smiles and Ollie rolls his eyes, smiling too. "The change is definitely catching up with me!"

"Of course, only essential foods for the diet," the pilot says, making her laugh. Despite the joke, Ollie knew that his girlfriend was disciplined with her diet, something essential for her career.

On the other end of the call, Ollie looked around, noticing the boarding announcement. He sighed. "They're calling my flight."

Y/n grabbed a few more items from the market, smiling at the camera. "Will it take long?"

He checked the watch on his wrist as he walked down the airport hallway pulling his suitcase.

"Five hours, more or less."

"Cool, enough time for me to finish shopping and finally get some sleep. I'm still getting used to the new apartment... and organizing everything is exhausting me."

Ollie laughed. But he knew that making changes was a big and tiring thing. And he felt guilty for not helping her with it, but racing schedules were getting tighter and tighter this late in the season.

"So rest, love. And don't worry, in a few hours I'll be there to cover you in kisses."

She bites her bottom lip and flashes a mischievous smile behind the camera. "Oh, I'm excited now." They laugh. "Have a nice flight, my sunshine... See you in a few hours!"

"See you soon, love. Rest." He sends a kiss through the phone and she does the same, soon hanging up the call.

As she finished her shopping, Y/n realized how life, even with its challenges, had been generous. She found a home in Verona, a new family on the team, and by her side, someone who loved her completely.

"Ciao, buongiomo. Come stai?" She smiles at the cashier, placing her products on the conveyor belt.

•••••••••••••••••••

Hours later, Y/n was at the airport, waiting for Ollie to arrive. She had finished shopping, organized some things in the apartment and even managed to sleep for two hours, which was a relief after such busy days.

She was wearing a wool-lined denim jacket, a gray knit scarf, leather boots, and jeans, a practical and comfortable look for the Italian winter. The airport was already starting to feel familiar, as was the excited anticipation of seeing him after weeks apart.

Sitting on one of the chairs in the arrivals area, she was fiddling with her cell phone, but looked up as soon as she heard Ollie's excited voice in the distance.

When she saw him walking towards her, pulling his wheeled suitcase with one hand and slinging his backpack over his shoulder, her heart warmed.

"Ollie!" She exclaimed loudly, standing up immediately.

He smiled even wider, walking faster until the two finally met halfway. Y/n didn't think twice before wrapping him in a tight hug.

Ollie immediately wrapped his arms around her, kissing the top of her head as she nuzzled into his neck, breathing in the familiar scent that was so comforting.

"It's so good to have you in my arms after weeks," Ollie murmured, his voice thick with relief.

She laughed, pulling away from the hug to face him. "I know, I missed you too." The player leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the lips, a brief but affectionate gesture. "How was the flight?"

"Long. There was a child who cried half the flight. But other than that it was fine," he replied with a smile.

Y/n laughed. "Sure, very calm." She joked, as she reached for his backpack. "Give me that, I'll carry it for you."

He hesitated, but eventually let it go. "You didn't have to."

"Oh, stop. It's the least of it after you flew halfway around the world to come see me."

"Anything for you, of course!" He said with a smile, kissing her cheek. Then he intertwined his fingers with hers as they walked toward the parking lot. "But tell me, did you manage to sleep after you finished shopping?"

"I did, but only for about two hours. I'm still trying to get used to the new apartment, and there's so much to organize..."

"You really need to slow down a bit, you know?" He teased. "The way you are, you'll end up organizing even the food containers by color and size."

"Funny" she retorted, pushing his arm away lightly, but then laughing.

They walked for a little while longer, while Y/n told them about her routine. And arriving at the parking lot, Ollie frowned a little, while Y/n walked towards a black car, which was not hers.

"Since when do you have a black BMW? You've been away for three weeks and your career goes to your head?!"

Y/n laughs loudly, letting go of his hand to grab her keys from her pocket. "You're so funny, I'm going to ask Oscar and Lando to stop hanging out with you."

Ollie chuckles. The soft sound of his laughter makes her heart race.

"To answer your question, handsome. I had to rent this one earlier this week because mine is still in Sydney. There's a lot of red tape involved in shipping it to Verona. I'm getting impatient."

Ollie chuckled. "Looks like your car likes Sydney as much as you did. It doesn't want to leave."

"Oh, come on! Wouldn't you live there too?" She jokes, unlocking the trunk and helping Ollie load his bags. "Want to drive? You know the way."

Ollie smiled, taking the keys from her hand and before answering, he leaned in to kiss her. "You still ask, love."

He smiles, so close to her that he can see the small scar she got from the blow to her nose years ago at the game in Melbourne. Where they met.

The handball player kissed him again, before smiling and walking around to get into the passenger side. "Just don't accelerate too much, driver.

"I'll behave... maybe." He replied, winking at her.

Inside the car, Ollie quickly adjusted the seat and mirrors, while Y/n watched him with an amused smile on her face. He looked so comfortable in the driver's seat that, for a moment, she thought maybe she had made the right choice in handing over the keys.

"Okay, what's the plan for the rest of the day?" Ollie asked, casting a quick glance at his girlfriend before turning his attention back to the road.

"Nothing much. I thought I'd show you around the apartment, convince you to help me unpack the boxes that are still in the living room... and then we can order pizza. How about that?" Y/n turns around with a smirk.

"Italian pizza? That's not asking, that's a gift." He laughed, but then looked at her, pretending to be serious. "But about unpacking boxes... Do you want me to work on my first day here?"

"Of course!" Y/n said, laughing. "Teamwork, remember? That's how relationships work, Mr. Bearman."

He sighed dramatically, holding back a laugh. "Okay, okay... But only because I want pizza."

Y/n raises her eyebrows and places a hand on his thigh. "And what else, darling?"

Ollie smiles, now with a look of love and affection. "Because I love you."

Y/n felt her cheeks flush, even after almost two years together.

The Italian winter left the city with a charming air, and Y/n pointed to some areas, explaining where the best markets, bakeries and cafes that she had discovered in the last few weeks were.

When they reached the building, Ollie helped with the bags, and they went upstairs together. As soon as the apartment door opened, he looked around curiously.

"Wow, this is looking cool. Very home sweet home style."

Y/n huffed, hanging up her keys and kicking off her boots. "Home sweet home, but still a lot of boxes."

He put the suitcase in a corner and walked over to her, pulling her by the waist. "It's okay, it'll be perfect in time. And there's an advantage..."

"Which?"

"I'm here now."

She smiled, melting at his sweet expression. "You're very conceited, you know that?"

"And you love me anyway."

He pulled her into a kiss, their lips meeting softly at first, but quickly gaining intensity. Ollie's hands gripped her waist, and Y/n felt the heat growing between them, as if the world around them had disappeared.

Her breathing quickened as his hands gently slid beneath her blouse, touching her skin with a delicacy that made her shiver. Her heart was beating so fast she could swear he could hear it too.

But then, like a warning bell in her mind, she realized where this was going. Reluctantly, she pulled away from him, panting, her hands pressing lightly on Ollie's chest as she tried to compose herself.

Still close to him, their faces just inches apart, she ran her fingers through her hair, which was slightly messy.

"Honey, before this whole make-out session takes a turn and we eventually end up in my bed..." Trying to catch her breath, she began, "I really need your help with the boxes."

Ollie rolled his eyes, a playful smile playing on his lips. "Seriously? You're the only person who can take a moment like this to talk about boxes. That's talent."

Y/n laughed, pushing his shoulder lightly. "Someone has to keep the focus around here." She smirked and leaned closer to his ear. "I promise we'll continue later..."

He kissed her on the cheek, still smiling, and rolled up the sleeves of his sweatshirt as if he were about to run a marathon.

"Okay, boss. Which box do you want me to open first?"

Y/n turned around and looked at the boxes. Which now, thank God, were few, but they were heavy things.

"We can start with that one!" She points with her finger and comes closer. "It's some ornaments and heavy stuff."

"Okay, Captain Heart. Let's go!"

After a few hours of teamwork, the room was finally starting to look like a livable place. Most of the boxes were organized, with only one left that, according to Y/n, was not important enough to open that night.

Now, they were sitting on the living room carpet, next to the coffee table where a hot, freshly delivered pizza rested, exuding an irresistible aroma. The apartment was silent, except for the low sound of a background playlist that Y/n had put on.

She was sitting next to Ollie, legs crossed, holding a slice of pizza in one hand while the other absently played with his fingers.

Ollie, equally relaxed, did the same, lightly running his fingers through hers, as if that simple gesture was a silent way of connecting. Of saying I Love You.

The atmosphere between them was light, and as they ate, Ollie asked about other details of her life in the new city: How the team's training was going, if she had met more neighbors or if she was still discovering the corners of Verona.

"What about Oscar and Lily? Have they come to see your new apartment yet?"

Y/n nodded, taking a bite of her pizza before responding. "Yes, they came here a few days ago. They spent the afternoon with me, helped put together the bookshelf in the living room and, of course, made a huge mess while they were doing it."

He chuckled, imagining the scene. "Classic Oscar. He probably spent more time making fun of you two than helping, didn't he?"

"Absolutely. He made a whole show of how the manual was in Italian and 'impossible' to understand. Lily laughed and I ended up doing most of it myself." She smiled at the memory, taking a sip of her soda.

Ollie shook his head in amusement. "Well, at least they came. I bet they left some kind of mark, like a crooked picture or something."

Y/n pointed to the wall next to him, leaning in front of him and laughing. "A crooked frame would be kindness. That frame over there is crooked because Oscar decided it was a 'good artistic angle'."

Ollie looked at the painting appraisingly, then pretended to nod seriously. "It's not so bad. Maybe he has a future as an interior designer."

"Only in his head," Y/n replied, laughing, as she took another slice of pizza.

Ollie turned around again to grab another slice of pizza, but as he did so, he came face to face with his girlfriend. Y/n had looked away from the wall and was now staring at him, a soft smile playing on her lips.

He held his breath for a moment. It was amazing how, even after so much time together, she still had this effect on him. Ever since that day in Melbourne when they met, Ollie had known there was something special about her. But of course, he would never admit how much it affected him—at least not directly.

Y/n raised her eyebrows, confused by his sudden expression. Before she could say anything, Ollie smiled and gently took the piece of pizza from her hand, placing it on the coffee table. He leaned close to her, pulling her in for a kiss, and in one careful movement, laid her down on the carpet.

"Now, young lady, let's finish what we started before you start talking about boxes again." His voice was low, slightly husky, full of amusement.

She smiled against his lips, her eyes shining with a mix of affection and teasing. "You're impossible, you know that?"

"And you love me anyway."

She laughed, but her laughter was soon silenced by Ollie's lips. Their kiss, soft at first, grew more intense as heat spread between them. Ollie held her carefully, as if she were the most precious thing he had ever touched.

The room was silent, except for the occasional sigh and the sound of their hearts, beating in perfect sync.

In that moment, everything seemed to align. The remaining boxes, future races, challenges or distance didn’t matter. They were exactly where they should be: Together, on a simple day that had become special just by having each other.

And that was how they completed each other. Ollie and Y/n were proof that true love could arise in the most unexpected moments, like that ordinary day in Melbourne that changed their lives forever.

Author: Hey guys, we're done with "Captain Heart"...

[ahhhh-118]

Hello! I am curious what is Marìanne's relationship with Rocky? Also what is her opinion or relationship with the Lackadaisy crew? Does she have any thoughts about them and what is her job exactly?

Does Marìanne have a family? Does she knows about the Marigold?

That's all l could think of, by the way your oc is so pretty and I love that she has snake fangs (I do have another lacka oc that's base on a sliver fox and snake.).

Have a good day/Night!

AHH! Hello! Thank you for the Ask! ❤️ and thank you, she’s my lil snake (even if she denies it) and that’s awesome! I love your art style and how you draw your ocs, they’re all so pretty 🥺❤️ Below gonna drop as much lore as I can! (Of course it might change because my brain likes to keep adding on 🥲)

This is gonna be two separate parts just to space things out! Let’s start with some Maríanne stuff!

🐍🐍

MARÍ’S FAMILY:

Has an older brother with a 12 year age gap, his name is Estefan Villanueva (his name was changed it might change again). He took care of Maríanne when she was much younger. When he got older he found himself a husband with a kid. His future husband helped him raise Maríanne along with his own child.

Her parents are out of commission. It didn’t end well for them. Maríanne thinks about them sometimes but was mostly raised by her brother.

There are some extended family members in Mexico but some died during the revolution. But she has some aunts, uncles, and cousins still kicking!

MARÍ’S JOB:

Oh, yeah, it fluctuates. When she first arrived at Lackadaisy, she started working at the Daisy’s Cafe as a waitress. Taught Ivy the ropes when she came to work there.

Then to keep her mind busy, she becomes Mordecai’s assistant and does a bit of accounting (mostly in her head).

At the same time she starts to work out again and regains her strength, she catches the attention of Atlas. He put her as a trigger man but she always got hurt because she refuses to kill the enemies with a gun (this mentality won’t last forever) and only fights with her fists. She really tries Mordecai’s patience.

The last straw was when she took in a rival gang member and that’s when Mordecai insisted that she doesn’t join their trigger man ventures anymore. Of course, she is still brought along as extra muscle but only for negotiations, but she just cooks books with Mordecai for the most part.

DOES SHE KNOW ABOUT MARIGOLD?

Oh yeah. Yeah she does. When she finds about Mordecai joining them and betraying Lackadaisy, she’s pissed. Once she finds him, she tackles the hell out of him. After almost killing each other, they talked things out like civilized people (if pointing a shotgun and pistol at each other was civilized). They soon made a deal and allied with each other.

Onto her relationships!!

♣️

MARÍ’S RELATIONSHIPS/THOUGHTS Pt. 1:

Rocky 🎪🎭🎻:

As part of my “The Rattlesnake and the Jester” AU, they met on the road. After a few coincidences of meeting each other while Maríanne was traveling to Florida, they decided to stick with each other because why not, better than being alone. They do split off but not my by choice. Once they find each other again at Lackadaisy it was a joyous day!

They have a close relationship, always getting into trouble with each other. Performing together on the streets almost everyday made them in synch with each other, it frightens a lot of people when they mimic each other perfectly or say the same sentences at the same time. Chaotic in the streets and chaotic on the dance floors. Swear up and down, they can communicate telepathically by squishing their foreheads together. Their love is a little codependent (totally won’t backfire) but it’s a good one.

They act so stupid and goofy when they’re together, so much so it makes people underestimate them. Together they’re a dynamic duo and can swindle people in a heart beat with their combined charm. One moment you’re like “aww look how stupid they are” and next thing you know, whoops! Your wallet is gone. 🔥Partners in crime!🔥

Her first impressions of him: “He’s cute, funny, charismatic, weird, talkative, but I like it. I love hearing his frantic rambles and poetry, even though I don’t understand the bigger English words.”

Current thoughts: “I will die and fight for him (yep they’re getting together). I still think of him the same way but I understand his rambles now. I like joining in his chaos but I will pull it back once it gets too dangerous or it risks other people’s lives. He’s my safe space and wherever he goes, I follow. I don’t want to lose him again. “

Mordecai 🔪⏱️🔫:

Her mentor (Mordecai never agrees with it but it’s the truth). Back in New York, Marianne’s brother owned a shelter/soup kitchen where Mordecai and his family stopped by from time to time. Marianne’s brother hired Mordecai to be his accountant once he got to know him. Baby Maríanne always followed Mordecai around when he came to the shelter and watched him work. Despite being annoyed by this clingy little child, he’d let her watch because she stayed quiet.

During their prime lackadaisy era, it was no different. Maríanne would come into his office and watch him work or even help him (or tries to, she just ends up being more of an unpaid secretary instead of a fellow accountant cuz Mordecai is very picky).

First Thoughts-“I admire him and I aspire to be like him (people often wonder why). I try to adopt his menacing and stoic demeanor, but it never works. Next best thing is trying to be as agile and quick thinking as him. I really trusts in his advice and judgement. Often finding myself looking to him for answers but I’m not afraid to question them. He keeps me grounded and I’m grateful for the amount of times he kept my mind busy with work. Better than dwelling on the past. Occasionally, I fear him and fear for him. I don’t understand how he can be so cruel but I’m jealous on how quickly he can turn off his emotions. How does he sleep at night?”

Current thoughts: “Can I still trust him?”

Note- Think of Athena and Odysseus from Epic the Musical

Zib and the band🎺🎷🥁🎹🎻:

She loves them. They’ve helped her get through her toughest days and always went to them on her break. They’d sing and dance with each other to the annoyance of most. They f e e d into her gambling addiction (always tempted to gamble her house keys, cuz she believes she’s that good) and she always plays poker with the band. For fun she often plays their instruments, always reaching the trumpet more (iykyk). Marí always hangs with them until Mordecai has to drag her by the scruff to bring her back to work.

She’d mostly do some late night drinking with Zib and they both just wallow in self pity together. ✨Depressed drinking buddies✨ She’d often go to him to learn more about poetry and (before their reunion) would ask him to explain Rocky’s poems to her.

First Thoughts: “They’re fun! I understand why Mordecai refers to them as “lazy hooligans” but I always finds them as a place of peace to let loose. A bunch of talented cool cats! Deep down I want to sing with them on stage but the dance floor just calls to me.

Current thoughts: “They deserve better.”

Viktor 🔧⚒️🛻:

A friend but only talks to him on occasion. She know that Viktor pities her but she doesn’t take it to heart. Marí slightly fears him but sees him as a place to run when they’re creepy men tailing her.

First Thoughts: “Tall. Tall scary fluffy man. I find him incredibly intimidating but I want to be as strong as him. His unwavering strength encouraged me to get strong again. I always feel tempted to ask him to throw me at the enemies. Like a surprise attack! But he’d probably stare at me. I’m definitely going to use his stare as a negotiation tactic.”

Current thoughts: “I pity him.”

Sorry for the long post! Second part coming later today!

[zoennes]

25 NOVEMBER, 2019 ✦ MAANDAG, 20:02

[vanhelsingapologist]

Strahdposting (with possible spoilers so tread lightly)

One of the worst things about Strahd in our campaign is that he's not overtly forced anyone to do anything. His underlings have, sure, but never him. He just waits for us to eliminate our options all on our own, and then presents us with his way. And of course, his way is the easiest. He'll even make it easier. We keep falling into the pit because he ensures we dig it ourselves.

We're almost past the point where he wants to bargain with us and I'm nervous about what happens when he stops being the devil we know and becomes something else altogether.

The recent reveal that there were other parties before ours has been so shattering for us, I think, because it made us all realize that our party is an amusement until it is an inconvenience, and then we'll be insects in the garden that have overstayed our welcome. And then he'll start with the force.