#it's fate and they share the top spot i guess.

[tv21pollshowdown]

Alright, lets try that again?

Stingray (pilot). When a World Security Patrol submarine is mysteriously destroyed, Troy and Phones are assigned to investigate. However, they are captured by the Aquaphibians and sentenced to death by King Titan of Titanica.

Marineville Traitor. All the signs point to Commander Shore when a vital component is stolen from the Marineville control room.

x

Trapped in the Depths has pipped Standby for action, and been voted the 3rd favorite! but we had a 50/50 split for the final so the third option returns.

Much appreciated

[ladykailitha]

Never Hold Back Your Step... Part 13

This really is getting down to the end here. I'm already at the Mind Flayer in the spot where I'm at in the story so...yeah. Then it would just one chapter after that. Maybe. I don't know. But it's sad to see this one go, too.

Of course as with "Can Anybody See Me?" once this is done, I will begin work on the final story which will take us all the way to the end of the fourth season. Which I hope to get done before season 5. Ideally.

It will have a line from a song in a musical just like the last two (1776 and The Scarlet Pimpernel respectively) so you have any songs you think will fit the theme of the third book (which will be Steve and Eddie clashing over nerds vs sports until that fateful day in March) let me know in the comments or tags or even a DM or ask. It took me months to come up with the title for this one, so any help would be great.

Here we have the dipshit detectives trying to figure out the message and the "secret tunnel".

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12

~

Once they explained everything to Robin, she told them about what the message said. And no given the context of the message coming from the mall it suddenly made too sense.

“The clock tower, the shoe shop and the Chinese place,” she crowed. “It’s got to be.”

“You sure you translated it correctly?” Steve asked. “Because what the fuck does blue meeting yellow have anything to do with the clock tower?”

Robin rolled her eyes and huffed out a deep sigh. “The hour and minute hands are blue and yellow and meeting in the west would be 9:45!”

Eddie tilted his head to the side. “AM or PM?”

Robin stared at him for a moment in shock. “Oh. I don’t know. Could be either I guess.”

Eddie looked at his watch and cursed. “As thrilling as all this has been, I have to get to band practice.” He gave Steve’s shoulder a squeeze. “Be careful, Stevie. Okay?”

Steve nodded and squeezed Eddie’s shoulder back. God, he just want to kiss him goodbye, because it might be his last opportunity to do so. But Dustin and Robin were watching and probably half of the mall too. “As careful as I can be.”

“How can you be so super chill about this?” Robin asked after he left. “Like Russians are running around our mall and Eddie acts like this is a normal Tuesday for you?”

Dustin and Steve shared a glance.

But Steve just scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Like I’ve had the worst year. My girlfriend broke up with me, I got my head bashed in by Hargrove, I got harassed by the basketball team, I nearly got water dumped on my head because I won the part fair and square, then the same asshole tried to scramble my brains further, I didn’t get into the right colleges and was forced to work here instead of the rec center pool like have for the last three years, and a fuck ton of other things. Now Russians have set up shop in my home town? This is just the cherry on top of a very shit filled cake.”

Robin and Dustin winced. Dustin knew that Steve’s year was actually way worse than the truncated version he gave Robin, but they couldn’t tell her about the tunnels, El, monsters, and secret labs. Hence, fuck ton of things.

“Okay,” Robin conceded, “it does sound like your average Tuesday.” She looked up at the clock. “You’re supposed to be off, anyway. So shoo and take the genius child with you.”

Dustin beamed up Steve smugly, but Steve just knocked his hat off on his way to clock out.

“Hey!” Dustin shouted after him. He turned to Robin. “Can you believe this guy?”

Robin just shrugged. “You’re the one who’s friends with him, not me.”

Steve walked out moments later, twirling the hat on his finger. He walked past Dustin to the mall food court. He stopped and turned around.

“Are you coming or are you going to keep harassing workers?” he huffed, putting a hand on his hip.

Robin burst out laughing as Dustin hurried to catch up, scooping his hat off the floor in haste.

Steve shook his head as they walked through the mall. “Hey if we grab my binoculars, I bet we could stake out the mall and look for Russians.”

Steve looked at his watch and sighed. Eddie wouldn’t get done with band practice until much later tonight and he didn’t want to go back to his large empty house, because of course his parents fucked off to the Caribbean for the summer. His father had forced him to give up a job he loved for the most humiliating retail job imaginable and then fucked off to some place pleasant, leaving him to rot.

“Yeah, okay.”

Dustin let out a whoop and jumped up and down. “You won’t regret this!”

Steve buried his head in his hands. “I already do.”

~

Steve and Dustin were hiding behind a large potted plant with Dustin’s binoculars watching people go by.

“What are we supposed to looking for, anyway?” Steve asked, scanning the crowds.

“Russians.”

Steve tore himself away from the binoculars to glare at him. “Thank you for that unhelpful assessment. I know I’m supposed to be looking for Russians, but what do Russians look like?”

“I don’t know,” Dustin huffed. “Tall, blond, scary looking dudes, I guess.”

Steve rolled his eyes and kept looking. He spotted Anna Jacobi flirting with Mark Lewinsky and huffed out a a noise of disgust.

“You have got to be kidding me,” he said with a sigh. “Anna can do way better than swamp ass Lewinsky.”

Dustin smacked his shoulder. “Can you please take this seriously? You’re supposed to be looking for Russians, not your next date. Besides you already have the perfect girl right there!”

Steve rolled his eyes and went back to looking through the binoculars. “Don’t say Robin.”

“Robin.” Was the immediate response.

“No, man,” Steve said as Dustin grabbed the binoculars from him, “she’s not my type. She’s not even in the ballpark of my type.” Considering that she had boobies and not a dick, pretty much sealed the box on any chances of that romantic relationship going anywhere.

Dustin looked over at him and sneered. “And what’s your type again? Not awesome?”

Fuck you. But Steve sneered and stuck his tongue out. “Thank you.”

Dustin grinned back at him with a little hum.

“Look,” Steve said, “for your information, she’s still in school. And she’s weird. But not like Eddie weird. Weird, weird. And she’s hyper. Like worse than Eddie. At least if you put a book in his hand, he’ll settle down. She’ll tap her fingers and twirl her gum. She was also one of those kids in drama who didn’t think I deserved the role of Thomson. That’s a bad look. And she’s in band? But not a rock band like Eddie, a fucking trumpet.” He twisted his lips in disgust. “No.”

Dustin turned to face him. “Now that you’re out of school, that means you’re an adult. And don’t you think you should move past primitive social constructs like popularity?”

Steve looked at him as if he was joking. “Popularity? Are you fucking with me right now? Did you forget I wasn’t popular for the last four months of high school? Primitive constructs, I tell you. Where the hell did you learn that shit? Camp Know Nothing?”

“Camp Know Where, actually,” Dustin huffed, “And no, it’s shit I learned from life. Instead of dating someone you think will make you cool again, why not date someone you enjoy being around for a change? Like me and Suzie.” He smiled broadly. He turned back to watching the through the binoculars.

Steve was soo close to just telling the little shit that he was dating someone he enjoyed being around, someone who did make him look cooler, someone who loved him for him and not in spite of him. But instead he took a deep breath and said, “Oh Suzie. Yeah, you mean hotter than Phoebe Cates. That Suzie. And let’s think about how exactly you scored a girlfriend?”

He scratched his head, appearing to think about it, then he snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, with my advice. Because that’s how this works, Henderson. I give the advice and you follow through. Not the other way around, all right?”

Dustin sighed. “I just think you could really benefit from being with someone like her, you know?”

Steve rubbed the top of the kid’s head. “I’m doing better than you think I am. Better then everyone thinks I am.”

Dustin stared at him skeptically, but left it alone. Steve knew that there was no way he was going to leave it alone. He just knew that it was going to come back and bite him in the ass in the worst way and at the worst time. He could feel it.

~

“There is a secret room under the mall,” Steve said slowly, not quite wanting to believe this. “And we can get there through the air vents in the break room?”

Robin nodded emphatically. “Yeah, isn’t that cool?”

He had no idea how to tell her how uncool that actually was, because Jesus fuck, the deeper they got into this, the more over his head he felt.

“Let’s go see your secret tunnel,” he said with a sigh, rubbing his face, just suddenly exhausted by the whole thing.

He followed them to the back and looked up at the vent in utter despair. Sighing, he got a ladder and set it up, then hunted around for a screwdriver. Once he found one, he tucked it between his teeth and started climbing. He reached the vent and unscrewed the screws holding the vent in place.

“Oi!” he called out to Dustin. “Hold these!” He held out the screws for him to take. “Don’t lose them, otherwise people are going to ask why there is a great big gaping hole in the wall.”

Dustin rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Steve put the screwdriver back between his teeth and took off the vent cover.

“It’s a tight space,” he murmured. “Hey, Robin you think you could fit? You’re pretty thin.”

Robin put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. “While I appreciate you thinking I’m skinny enough to fit, I question your sanity if you think I’m going down the creepy tunnel.”

“Vent!” Dustin huffed. “You’ve both called it a tunnel. It’s not a tunnel, it’s a vent. And none of us are small enough to fit.”

DING! DING! “Hey!” someone called out from the front of the store. “Is anyone here?”

Steve who had been climbing down the ladder, stopped and shared a look with Dustin. A slow smile took over their faces.

“Erica!” they said together with glee.

They ran out to the front with Robin fast on their heels. They skidded to a stop and their smiles grew to actual grins when they saw that she was alone and not with her many friends.

“Erica...hey,” Steve said smoothly, leaning against the counter. “What can I get you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. “Why are you suddenly being so nice?”

Just then Dustin and Robin burst out of the back room and stumbled into front and Erica was even more suspicious than she was before.

So Steve bundled her over to one of the booths and tried plying her with all the ice cream a little girl could conceivably eat, while Dustin filled both Robin and Erica about the messages and all their clues and how they put it all together. It was a hard but impressive sell.

“So will you do it for America?” Dustin asked.

“Well, you can’t spell America without Erica,” she said smugly. “A life time supply of Scoops Ice Cream and you’ve got a deal.”

Robin and Steve shared a glance. Then Steve reached across the table to shake Erica’s hand.

“Deal.”

~

Part 14 Part 15 Part 16

And if you remember something else there from WIP Wednesday... yeah. It wasn't fitting with the rest of the story and had to be cut. Sadness.

Tag List: FIVE SLOTS REMAINING

1- @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @zerokrox-blog

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @messrs-weasley @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @justforthedead89 @irregular-child @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @blondie1006

5- @anne-bennett-cosplayer @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @littlewildflowerkitten @genderless-spoon

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @angels-of-hades

7- @mugloversonly @y4r3luv @greeniebean911 @birbsauce @acingthecounts

8- @cryptid-system @counting-dollars-counting-stars @ravenfrog @dreamercec @sadisticaltarts

9- @clockworkballerina @bluelightsinthevoid @blcksh33p1987 @i-go-pink-in-the-night @mamafaithful

[wonijinjin]

THE WEEKND SERIES: CALL OUT MY NAME - CHOI SEUNGCHEOL

author’s note: the first work of the series! i am all for strangers to more tropes so i hope you guys will have fun reading it! take care<3

synopsis: will shared fate with a stranger turn into something more, something you had never expected?

word count: 0.6k | genre: fluff, hurt/comfort, dark themes (apocalypse) | pairing: cheol x gn! reader | warnings: mentions of injury, doctors, apocalypse, death

the masterpost to this series can be found here.

the wind was blowing coldly as you reached the deserted capital, body tired from dragging it all day, not finding anyone near who could help you out. in the distance you could spot a silhouette, a human’s to be exact. “wait!” you shouted from the top of your lungs, taking all of your energy and putting it into a final call before you saw the figure turning around, running in your direction. the pain in your injured leg became unbearable and forced your knees to buckle; luckily the stranger who had arrived by your side just at that moment had caught you, laying you down on the muddy ground. “hi.” you smiled at him while his eyes widened in surprise seeing another human alive. there were not many people who survived the earthquakes or the tsunamis after the collision of the meteor. “nice to meet you.” he smiled back at you, inspecting the wound on your foot. “i guess you got this while trying to escape from the storm.” you wheezed. “good guess, sherlock.” his movements halted and he got a roll of surgical tape and bandaids out from his pocket. “so, do you want me to fix you up? you are not doing so well as i can see.” you nodded immediately, thanking him several times. “i have been searching for signs of life for days, but have seen noone so far.” he shook his head in agreement. “because there is almost no human here as of today. i’m surprised to see you here, never thought i would cross paths with someone here. everyone i know is at the same place, the mall. they gathered there, but they are starting to go crazy so i left.” he explained what he knew about the situation happening. your lack of response and the way you stared into nothing alarmed him and he pulled your body towards his so he could see your eyes. “you with me?” he swung his hand in front of your face. you nodded slowly to ensure that you heard and understood him. “good.” he thought for a moment. “must be shock which got you so quiet all of a sudden.” he finished wrapping up your leg, patting it for good measure. “can you stand?” he questioned with a warm look, one which you missed so much, after so long of not being in contact with others. “hello? i asked if you can stand up and walk.” he was crouching next to you, grabbing your chin to check your eyes again. you assumed that he must’ve been a doctor since he was looking for signs of head injury for sure, you knew this much of first aid. you leaned in without thinking, kissing him quickly. this caught him off guard, but it was so quick and sudden that it was over before he could register what was happening. “sorry, i just needed to check if you were real. i’ve been alone for a while, i wasn’t sure if it was just in my head or not.” he had a weird expression but only for a moment, then caught your wrist and lifted your finger to his face, poking it. “you could’ve just done this, you know.” he laughed sweetly, another thing you had been missing from your life. “you are right…” you whispered shyly, a bit embarrassed. “anyways, i see that you are quite lonely. you can accompany me for the time being if you want to. at least i can make sure your leg actually gets better.” you grinned tiredly. “if i’m gonna be your companion i gotta know your name at least though.” he extended his arm towards you. “just call me seungcheol.”

[freetobeafcknriot]

Okay but hello! I saw your post about a Soulmate!AU for TUA and with season 4 coming I feel like I need to know more sooooo may I?

anon the way you made me screech and giggle and cry tears of joy because of course you may know more?? i've been waiting for this??? for reference, this is the post and this is how i'm tagging the au to keep track of it on my blog. because i may not have a title, but i'm an editor and sometimes a writer and almost always i just have an overreacting imagination. so i definitely needed a tag. anyway! i'll... idk i will give you a few details? hcs? this is the gist of it, buckle up !

the psa for this is that there are two kind of soulmarks: the ones you already have when you are born (if you're born with it; not everyone is and as a matter of fact the only two brellies to have a twin flame are allison and klaus) and the ones that appear through life (way more common). a case could be made to differentiate between these two categories, for which we either talk about twin flames—allegedly what once was one single soul now split in two perfect halves who are said to recognize and yearn for one another—or soulmates—two souls drawn to one another out of compatibility or remembrance who connect and form something.

this may vary from one culture to another, but there generally is no fixed standard regarding romantic or platonic bonds, as every soulmark and soul bond are unique in form and shape and meaning. this is the core of it all.

now. . . when they're little, reginald makes six of his seven children get the umbrella academy tattoo. in this universe, that tattoo is sort of a faux mark, because reginald had a strict and precise stance on soulmarks and at the time claimed that such things were foolish compared to the duty the academy had towards the world. the team should have formed a united front, be a unit, so that tattoo was a symbol that was to be seen as binding. marks and bonds can be made not just by fate, after all! at the time, little viktor was exempt from it because he wasn't part of the academy.

(little did they know that years down the line, in the sixties, an actual mark would appear on that same spot. this time though there would be seven of them.)

anyway, i don't know if you want a rundown of the soulmarks and whatnot? i have an in-depth list of bonds (both marked and not) with backstories and considerations and hcs regarding canon events that is quite lengthy because i imagine the au splitting in two branches at some point—one canon compliant up to season 4 when it's out and one canon divergent post-season 1 or 2—and  i'm also writing down a list of the soul bonds within the academy that is basically an abstract from viktor's book (because he would have included it too). i'll keep it short for starters because otherwise i'll end up unloading too much on you all and i'm afraid of being too all over the place, but basically. THE SOUL BONDS:

there's the tattoo of the series/faux mark and the actual soulmark that in my mind appears on top of it mid-season 2 and is shared by the brellies. team zero, hey? then from the oldest to the most recent to manifest we've got. . .

FIVE & VIKTOR, the rings �� because i nicknamed them all according to their soulmarks they have this small pigmented ring on the right ring finger that changes in shade depending on the physical distance between them. very subtle and cool and with much lore following canon, as you may guess. the only thing i'm gonna say for now is that five and vik's soul bond goes back to when they were four and it played a small role in the leaving lights on and sanwiches out situation.

LUTHER & ALLISON, the cryptolect ┈ it means that they can speak a language of their own. literally! it's impossible for anybody but them to understand it, reginald probably tried and failed to identify patterns or elements from various linguistic branches to make some sense of it but it just can't be picked up or taught as it's basically second nature. given how luther and allison were as kids it was such a big deal and so obvious that no one even remembers a time before and obviously due to recent events it's kinda cool to me to see it as a bit deteriorated but still ever-present bond.

FIVE & BEN, the wisps ┈ literally what five started calling the two flame-like little spirits that represent his and ben's soul bond after ben pointed out that they looked like the will-'o-the-wisp he'd read about in a book. but also because of the way they would appear and always lead the way to one another. that was their thing. nobody but five and ben has ever been able to see the wisps, not even klaus, so they had a theory that maybe they were an echoed apparition of their souls or something like that. there's a lot of lore/hcs here, too, especially regarding five's disappearance and time in the apocalypse and ben's afterlife as a ghost. all i can say is ‘so close yet far’ and ‘never truly gone’.

KLAUS & BEN, the timers ┈ it is as it says, only there were speculations about what the timers led to given that they weren't aligned (read: they were counting down to different dates) and not even made out of conventional numerals. the soulmark itself was a bit above the inner crook of the left elbow, no darker than a sunspot, regularly in motion and indicating years, months, days, hours, minutes, and seconds in roman numerals, which is part of the reason why it was a bit difficult to interpret with no previous familiarity. even more so if you're oblivious or in denial. again, lore and angst and delayed realization came with a row of light null characters in its stead. quite a bit of baggage because i love them and canon says so.

DIEGO & KLAUS, the compass ┈ more specifically, i have it jotted down as a moving indicator that appeared more or less when they were around thirteen or fourteen. it might have seemed out of the blue then, but all things considered it wasn't that unexpected, especially when you look at season one or if you too think that diego used to haul klaus from the streets or drag him to rehab if they ran into one another. anyway, their soulmark is kind of a compass if you go by its shape. it's embedded on the lower part of the palm of their right hand, towards the thumb (below klaus' hello tattoo), and it does move and spin, but instead of pointing north it points you towards the general direction of the other.

OG!BEN & VIKTOR, the blossoms ┈ the most subtle and late soul bond of them all. i like to think that the lowest numbers were close as kids, given the information we were given, so even though their relationship might have stilled a little in their teens it was still tender enough to grant viktor and ben a soul bond. they were never sure of when it happened because the only instance where the soulmark in on itself becomes visible is when they touch. physical contact equals a tiny luminescent outlined flower appearing near the knuckle of their left middle finger. to which i feel the need to remind you all of this:

so these are the soul bonds within the hargreeves siblings! without taking into account sparrow!ben (or the sparrows in general) because stars do i have something in store for pookie as well.

i was tempted to add more, but i also wanted to emphasize how there doesn't always need to be an actual, visible soulmark for a bond to be important plus i'm waiting to see if season 4 makes me add more lol. diego is a primary example of this because, without spoiling anything, he secretly craved that kind of bond as a child, even though his siblings love him just the same regardless. it's also the reason why i have a list of non-marked bonds as well as one for soul bonds featuring characters outside of the academy. there might also be a playlist somewhere, because each bond has a song in my mind, but i digress!

this has gotten super long already so for now, that's it that's all. but i'm tagging this au and working on it and my inbox is there if you uuh, wanna chat about it more? ngl it was hard not being able to rant about it with anybody, because there are some elements and facts and implications there that genuinely alter my brain chemistry daily. so thank you for the ask, nonnie! <3

[mmoneystones]

𝐓𝐎𝐀 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐲 M𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐲!

Celebrating TOA and the people who contribute to make our group what it is.

Repost, don't reblog. Only fill in what you feel comfortable sharing!

Happy anniversary, TOA! Here's to many more years spent together.

Name: Neku

Pronouns: he/they

Birthday (no year): Feb 24th

Where are you from? What is your time zone? North-Eastern NY with an EST time zone!

How long is your roleplay experience? About 2+ years now likely, with about half a year on indie and the rest from Discord RP (AKA just TOA)

How were you introduced to roleplaying as a whole? Okay this is always a really funny story because when I was around 15 or so I was really getting into Puyo Puyo, both because funny puzzle game but the characters were actually really cool! Then like one of my random friends from that community had the idea for RP/worldbuilding and the rest is history I guess?? I don't do Puyo RP anymore but it was a nice start. c:

How were you introduced to TOA? After my indie experience went down the drain I stayed in contact with most of my close Tumblr FE RP friends and that included gamer N. He told me about TOA a while back before, but I only considered joining really after I started getting used to college life.

Do you have any pets? No, my only pet were like carnival goldfish that....yeah :(

What is your favorite time of year and why? (Season, holiday, general period) Start of spring because while I like the colder seasons I feel sick AGAIN so I think the spring period is just my safest one.

What is your IRL occupation? University student until I learn what the hell I want to do with my life.

Some interests and things you like/enjoy? Small interests in music theory, game design, mathematics, musicals, uh....gaming. Yeah, gaming.

What non-Fire Emblem games do you play? Smash Bros, Splatoon, The World Ends With You, Touhou Project, Trails/Kiseki, Celeste, a lot more Nintendo, honestly insert a lot of roguelikes here

Favorite Pokemon type & Pokemon: I'm such a fake pokemon fan I stopped playing after Gen 6 but the Steel type is cool and Empoleon my beloved.

Tell us some funfacts and trivia about yourself! (Optional bonus challenge: if you filled this out last year, try not to repeat what you said back then!)

1) I have moderated a Touhou gacha server. Am I proud of it? No. 2) I can do a T-spin. I think that's pretty cool 3) I can beat Punch-Out on the Wii in a single session. It's probably easy to do but I love that game okay.

How did you get into Fire Emblem? Brother showed me FE7 on a totally legal GBA and I was like "wow cool!" Also Smash.

What Fire Emblem games have you played? It's on my mun page but I've played every (remade) FE game outside of FE5 (which I'm currently completing), 3 Hopes, and TMS. Quit FEH after like year 2.

First & Favorite Fire Emblem games: First would be both FE7 and Awakening, favorites are FE15, FE9, and (until I lose the adrenaline) FE4.

List your 5 favorite Fire Emblem characters across the series! Okay 5 is a large ask when you say favorites but uhhhhh Mae, Ike, Anna, Flora, Shamir. They can fight over the top 5 spots like a battle royale.

Who was the first character ever to make you go “ooh I like this one in particular” and why? Can be any context and reason! Going off FE7 being my first I'd probably call out Marcus because haha strong earlygame prepromote go zoom. Fortunately that almost works depending on the FE game.

Any Fire Emblem crushes? 😳 Ayra. Yeah.

If you’ve played (or are familiar with) the following games, who was your first S support? Who would you S support nowadays? I don't really care much for the S Support mechanic so I'm just writing these to call out my tastes. Probably no one I'd really consider to do with nowadays. - Awakening: Tiki - Fates: Honestly I cannot remember for the life of me for my sake I hope it was like Setsuna. Edit: fuck it was definitely Kagero. - Three Houses: Shamir - Engage: Ivy

Favorite Fire Emblem class? Pegasus Knight!

If you were a Fire Emblem character, what would be your class and stats? Would you be playable? I don't want to be one but I'd likely be some armor class with axes or swords. I'd be playable with really middling stats so I'm either benched or the subject of a FE video essay on "why splorgius the axe knight is UNDERRATED???"

If you were a Three Houses character, what would be your affiliation? (Black Eagles, Blue Lions, Golden Deer, Church of Seiros, Those Who Slither in the Dark, unaffiliated civilian, other - for example Almyran) Golden Deer YIPPEE

If you were an Officers Academy student, what would be your boons, banes and potential budding talent? Boons: Lance, Gauntlets, Flying; Banes: Axe, Faith, Heavy Armor; Budding Talent: Authority

If you were an Engage character, which nation would you originate from? (Firene, the Kingdom of Abundance; Brodia, the Kingdom of Might; Elusia, the Kingdom of Knowledge; Solm, the Queendom of Freedom; Lythos, the holy land of the Divine Dragon; Gradlon, the desolate land of the Fell Dragon) Brodia so I can convince Citrinne to donate to the commoners (it won't work.)

How do you pronounce TOA? 🤔(separate letters, to-ah, other?) N has made me say To-Ah but if I am not being hypnotized it's separate letters.

Current TOA muses: Citrinne, Lene, Yuzu

Past TOA muses? Mae, Shamir, Sonya, Faye, Anna (FEH), Flora

Who was your first TOA muse? If you no longer have them, can you see yourself picking them up again? Mae, and I honestly could see it but only if other muses weren't picking so hard at my brain right now.

Do you believe you have a type of character you gravitate towards writing? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) N has called me out for my sadgirl schtick, and...yeah. I think I've strayed from women that outright have traumatic moments define them, but it definitely is a sore spot in their lives. Unless you're Yuzu. You'd win.

Do you have characters or types of characters you don’t think you can handle writing, but wish you could? So this used to be like any single noble muse due to the inevitable struggle of writing around politics but I think Citrinne has been doing well sooooo let's just go with what the people want. Neku the male does not think he can write other men.

What kind of scenes, situations etc do you believe you enjoy writing the most? (If you filled this out last year, has this changed in any way?) I still don't feel like I gravitate toward any real scenario but nowadays I have gotten less scared of dialogue to the point where I enjoy moments that allow muses to just talk to one another and bounce off each other.

Do you have any scenario in mind for your muse(s) that gets you thinking “man I hope I get to write this one day”? Nothing sticks to my mind right now for Citrinne; for Yuzu I need her mind to implode from Fates' route shenanigans; for Lene I need her to meet her mother :)

Favorite TOA-related memories? At this point it'd be Ball 2024 and Happyland since those are my most recent event memories. The mini-event I did with Sonya was very precious too.

Present or past tense? Try my darnest to keep it to present and I'm so sorry when it flops.

Normal size text, small text, no preference? I prefer to keep it to normal text when writing on my own end, never really saw the point for small, but I don't mind what others use.

Got any potential muse delusions to share? 😉 You know who you are.

[imaginespazzi]

Guess whos back:

Ahaha just another (reasonable) commonality b/w us! 🙅‍♀️❄️

Yes, please go ahead and tell her, thank you bestie! Hey how does one say "take a chance on me" in French? Jokes, but I always so love your Lou-Tea support after my run in this summer😊. Also perhaps I need to become more of a Wings supporter in light of recent events?? (I'll discuss briefly later in the post)

So wow TCU ended up getting NC State. And I think IU over Stanford qualifies as a minor upset. Ive caught very little UK so far, so appreciated your thoughts. Def bummed I missed the LVille matchup that went OT. I did see Wildcats struggled to beat up inferior opposition today before a big 4th Q. Will be curious to keep following - you may prove right about a SEC adjustment period 🤷‍♀️. Kinda relatedly, and I saw other anons mention the news story here, I see that Liz posted an insta story about the KMew pregnancy announcement. She really is just one of us huh lol. Also funny to me since GA seemed the soccer obsessed one while Kitley was pretty casual.

I certainly dont think there were many UConn supporters who wouldve enjoyed the game vs UNC as a whole. But early days, not much reason for freak outs in Nov, as weve said. Im looking forward to the Bahamas tourney bringing more competitive matchups following FDU.

Oh the W draft lottery results.. First of course Im still sad a miracle didnt end up happening for my Mystics. And in a more neutral perspective you cant tell me that a squad of Paige w Slim, Kira, Li, Dolson, and Ariel Atkins (plus others) wouldnt have been an absolute delight to watch. Not to mention her having fams around for all home games. Now what I say next is likely a bit controversial - but I think Dallas may be the next best landing spot, and Im not quite as upset as some people about the top pick going there. In short I feel that way because I think they seem more serious, put together, and to be genuinely investing in comparison to LA or Chi. And for Paige I wish an ownership & front office that cares.

👀 On a last fun note: Tickled me to see all the PJ talk across your blog, knowing that I first shared a post for you way back becuase it referenced Percabeth parallels w Pazzi. And ofc just the general fact that my dear twin was brought up 🤗.

Wishing you a great start to the week

-☕️

Hi loviiiieeee

Also thank you for your other ask, sending me what I'd missed so I could be all caught up lol. They really were attached at the hip that night huh? My gayass cute babies I adore them <3

I gotchu I gotchu, I'mma send your wife a dm in french telling her I've found the perfect woman and she really must give you a chance because fate is telling me y'all belong together!

Yep yep, TCU got NCState and now they're ranked for the first time in like a hot second. And Kentucky playing so well against Louisville and then struggling against whatever school was kinda insane like it made no sense to me and I'm really curious to see Georgia and her team against SEC competition fr fr.

I love that everyone slowly coming around to what we've been yapping about for months with Liz reposting the pregnancy announcement lmao. Between that and the CC repost, everyone's seeing the light.

I'm with you babes. I've really come around to the Dallas pick especially after the Lynne Roberts higher for LA which I think would've been terrible for Paige. Also Curt seems really excited to have Paige and seems determined to do right by her so I hope he sticks to what he's showing and creates an environment Paige thrives in and hopefully that starts with them figuring out how to keep Satou.

Ah yes you and Annabeth twinsies!!!

[samrut]

"For You"

Hetalia

Reader x HWS Lithuania [Tolys]

Canon Divergence

[A fic determined by polls. I wrote this just for you guys - hence the title. It's not that great, but I hope someone out there likes it. lol]

Poll Results: HERE

While heading home from the grocery store, you find you have lost your way. It has begun to rain, but luckily, you remembered your umbrella. Unfortunately, smartphones do not exist at the moment, and you have not seen a living soul since you initially left the store. 

Just as you are ready to accept your fate of being lost forever, you spot a man sitting on a nearby bench. He stares off vacantly, wet from the rain, droplets of water drip from his dark auburn hair. Though he lacks all rizz, he is just your type. You summon up the courage to approach him, anxiously clutching your eco-friendly shopping bag.

You politely say, "Excuse me." There is an unexpected crack in your voice, leaving you puzzled. Surely, this sopping wet man could not possibly be the reason.

His once-lifeless emerald eyes light up with a sudden burst of energy, and he gives you a timid smile, looking pathetic as all hell. You can't help but stare. Something about him makes it seem as if time has halted, and you nearly forget your reason for greeting him.

You regain your composure and ask, "Do you know how to get to Main Street from here?"

"Yes, but it is a bit complicated," he replies, standing. "I can escort you."

"I do not want to trouble you."

"It is no trouble." 

He gestures for you to follow. Despite his average stature and pitiful appearance, the man has a commanding presence. You trail behind him, your stomach fluttering, as you watch his short ponytail gently sway back and forth, knotted at the nape. 

The brown tweed suit he wears looks dated. He appears much too young to be wearing such an old-fashioned style. It is only natural for you to assume he must have acquired it secondhand.

"Do you work around here?" You ask, trying to make small talk.

His gaze is drawn back to you. That weathered smile reappears, and he says, "the office building back there."

You look at him, perplexed. You had missed the building, if there was one. The wind picks up, and you tighten the grip on your umbrella. Suddenly, you are reminded of the rain and hurry along side the man to shelter him from it. 

He thanks you, waving back a strand of hair with a gracious smile.

You nod, your face flushing. "Do you mind if I ask your name?"

He lets out a short, melancholic laugh and answers, "My name is Tolys Laurinaitis."

When you respond with your name, he takes the umbrella to formally shake your hand. After the exchange, he insists on holding it for you. Hesitantly, you accept.

Following an awkward silence, you ask, "Why were you sitting in the rain?" 

"I guess that is a bit strange, isn't it?" He speaks quietly, keeping his eyes fixed forward.

"Yeah," you agree, expecting him to give an explanation, but he falls silent again.

He abruptly stops, and it dawns on you that you have arrived at your apartment. You do not recall sharing the address with him, but perhaps you did. The peculiar man offers the umbrella back, but you decline.

"Keep it," you tell him, "you shouldn't be out in the rain without one."

You say your farewells, and he leaves in the direction you had come. After stepping into your home, you turn around and discover, to your amazement, that no one is there. It was as if he had vanished, but you conclude that he must have slipped down an alleyway.

Later that day, you decide to search online for his unusual name. A strange wiki website appears as the top result. You scroll through a list of names, stumbling upon a brief biography containing several candid images of the man you had met.

You skim through the article, but there is a rerun of your favourite show on television that distracts you from pursuing it further. In the days that follow, you forget the encounter you had entirely, as if it had never happened. Life carries on for you as usual.

Cupboards bare, you grab your shopping bag and leave for the grocery store. The forecast calls for rain. Despite your best efforts, you could not locate your umbrella and ultimately decided to go without it.

After shopping, you lose your way walking home. It begins to rain. You are alone, wishing you had your umbrella. 

Just as you are about to accept your fate of being lost forever, you catch sight of a man sitting on a bench. He gazes into the distance, holding an umbrella much like the one you had misplaced. Though he lacks all rizz, you find him extremely attractive. Summoning up your courage, you approach this sad, pathetic-looking creature and are hit with a sudden wave of déjà vu. The reason eludes you.

You have never seen this strange man before, but oddly, he glances at you with emerald eyes that gain life at the sight of you. He smiles bleakly, and you cannot help but to stare. There is something about him that makes time seem to stand still.

He guides you home, sheltering you with his umbrella from the falling rain. Neither of you say much, but he does share with you his name. It is unusual, and out of mild curiosity, you look it up online later that evening.

His name automatically pops up in the search bar, as though you have already searched for it many times before, making you feel uneasy. A strange wiki website appears as the top result. Scrolling through a list of names titled "World Stars," you stumble upon a brief biography containing several candid images of the man you had met.

You skim through the article, but there is a rerun of your favourite show on television that distracts you from pursuing it further. In the days that follow, you forget the encounter you had entirely, as if it had never happened.

Life carries on for you as usual.

[ninjahiccups]

Hi there! I saw in one of Songbird of Asgard's chapters that you headcanon Heimdall as demi - do you have any other Heimdall headcanons you would like to share with us? Sincerely, a definitely-not-Heimdall-content-starved anon.

I have a few, though I don't want to share some of them just yet since they would give away things that happen in SoA later on.

-Like I said, I hc Heimdall as demi. Gender identity really doesn't matter to him so long as he can tolerate someone and trust them enough to accept them (which is the real hard part lol)

-Heimdall is a little shit, that much we know. I like to think that applies to people he's close to as well, but in a different way. He'll give them sass and do annoying things to them just for the fun of it. Short? He puts things on the top shelf just to watch them go crazy looking for it, then casually reveal that he moved it after they've lost their mind just to watch them blow up. Have a pet peeve? You better believe he's doing the exact thing that pisses them off every chance he gets. Neat freak? He will 100% walk into their space and fuck it up. If they're someone who will push his buttons right back at him for revenge it turns into a never-ending war of pranks and sass and just messing with each other, and he's too prideful not to have the last laugh.

-Speaking of caring, Heimdall is an all or nothing kinda person, so if he cares, he goes all out. He'll be a selfish, snobby prick to everyone else, expecting them to meet his needs and expectations because they aren't worthy of his time and effort. But if someone's earns his trust and becomes important to him, he will do anything for them. There are limits to how far he'll go depending on the circumstances, but he is devoted to the people he values.

-The same can't really be said for animals, unfortunately. Yes, he respects them, but in the end he sees them as tools that can outlive their usefulness, hence his reaction when Gulltoppr dies. T_T Though he could grow to care for an animal as well, but it would take a lot. It boils down to how he perceives external bonds, seeing them as valuable only if they benefit him (we can thank ol' Odin for that) and he has to get very, VERY close to people to let go of that idea be as devoted as I described above.

-I see him as being 6'0, 6'2ish max. I know Kratos is 6'4, and it looks like Heimdall isn't *too* much shorter than him? (This would make Eivor about 5'5 in SoA)

-Based on the God of War: Lore and Legends book, I'm guessing Heimdall is not too much older than Baldur? The book states Odin and Freya were married about 125 years before GoW 2018 and Baldur came along 5 years later. Freya clearly knows Heimdall, and considering she doesn't care for him at all makes me think she never saw him grow up (if she did I honestly think she would cut him some slack since she has a soft spot for children). That would mean Heimdall would have to be an adult by the time Freya came around, making him at least 135ish? BUT he still seems a lot younger than the other gods like Tyr and Thor based on appearance alone, so he can't be too much older. I hc he's 150ish, which is still very young compared to most other gods.

-My mans is touch-starved and you can't convince me otherwise. So force this man into a hug for god's sake, he just can't admit he needs it so someone has to take it into their own hands.

-He appreciates the arts. Literature, architecture, visual art, music, anything like that. He's just very picky about what he likes.

-I subscribe to the idea that his fate would have been different if just one person cared about him. He would have had one reason to trust someone other than Odin, and that could have changed his perspective completely. Odin likely never allowed that to happen specifically to keep Heimdall under his thumb.

-He does drink, but it's more of an Asgardian culture thing than a letting loose thing. He never gets drunk and has no desire to be.

-His favorite color is gold (shocking, I know).

-He had to learn how to control his foresight in his youngest years. It's always warned him about anything that's coming at him, but actually *reacting* to it in an efficient way was something he had to work on. He wouldn't have been able to catch arrows when he was a teenager, just duck out of the way of them. Of course, his mastery over this skill is part of what makes his ego so enormous.

-My dude is an indoors enjoyer. He very much likes neat environments, clean floors, organization. Outdoors is only nice in the short term, but ask this man to go camping? No way, bruh. You'd have to work to get him to sit on the ground, let alone SLEEP on it.

-Between Heimdall's snarkiness and Atreus's smart mouth, I see so much annoying sibling energy between them. If things had been different, Heimdall would have definitely been like a smartass, I'm-better-than-you older brother, and Atrues would have been the flat-out irritating, Nuh-uh-your-face-is-stupid younger brother. I will ride or die with the idea that the god of order and the god of mischief would piss each other off like brothers who beat each other up for fun. I may or may not plan to hint at this is SoA at some point ;)

(Side note, this blog DOES ***NOT*** support Heimtreus shipping. That last headcannon is strictly in a platonic and familial kind of way)

That's all I can think of right now, other than the ones that would give some things away is SoA. I hope you enjoyed that anon!!!

[juulz]

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN THE SUN HOMIE.

You drew the lads listening to In This Moment on a walkman? The Official Misfits AU playlist includes Johnny Hobo and the Freight Trains? Various songs I personally associated with your Silvers? You even took the time to share my playlist with other people???

I am touched. Thank you!

I've added your playlist to my library so I can start diving in and listening to the songs I don't recognize. I'm hella excited, I've been needing new music and I . Since you liked Johnny Hobo let me tell you about a band that I wanted to add but couldn't find on Spotify: Blackbird Raum. "Cities" is probably my favorite song by them. Also, on spotify, but I couldn't think of a song that would fit the playlist right off the top of my head, is the band Mischief Brew. OOH and you may like Dangerkids since they took inspiration from Linkin Park.

I'm glad you liked Escape the Fate, I'm surprised you never heard of them given they were rather popular in the late 2000's into roughly the 2010's. Basically the tail-end of the Scene kids era. Another related band to look into is Falling in Reverse. Long story short, EtF's original vocalist, Ronnie Radke got kicked out of the band when he went to jail. He was replaced by Craig Mabbitt who had recently been kicked out of Blessthefall. When Ronnie got out, and didn't get his spot back in EtF, he created Falling in Reverse. There's beef there, but I'm here for music, not drama.

My Darkest Days never got big and it's a fucking crime. While they were founded in 2005, they didn't gain traction until they signed on to Chad Kroeger's record label and started opening for Nickelback between 2010 and 2012. They disbanded when their vocalist Matt Walst, brother of Three Days Grace's bassist Brad Walst, took Adam Gontier's position in 2012-2013.

(ﾉ´ з `)ノ♡

Heh, “Official” makes it sound so OFFICIAL, these are just my headcanons after all. Whore is def a Gold song to me.

There isn’t much as of now, but I’ll keep adding onto it.

Again, thanks for the recs! Blackbird Raum is a bit too folksy for my taste, but I’ll be checking out more of Mischief Brew and Dangerkids. Not sure how I’ve missed Escape the Fate either tbh, but could’ve just been the timing. Around 2008 I moved from emo/alternative onto punk and ska, so I quit following the new releases. Come to think of it, I haven't listened to a single Three Days Grace album since One-X (2006), despite really liking the band. Time to uh… catch up.

Upd as I got done writing this: actually that’s not true, just found a song from their 2015 album in the AWSB playlist, but got no memory of anything else. Guess 2006 is just the best.

Anyways, Escape the Fate and Falling in Reverse must’ve fallen through the cracks somewhere around there at the end of the decade, as well as My Darkest Days. Happy to have discovered them now!

There’s a bunch of stuff that’s not on spotify, namely more obscure/regional bands. It’s a shame when they’re not even on youtube. There was this shitty punk band called Big Dildos from my hometown - the lyrics were dumb, the sound was shit, but the shows were always a blast. Now I can find them pretty much nowhere, but my hard drive. Same old, same old everywhere. 

Out of the bands that didn’t make it into the playlist but I like the sound of I'd say - Chevelle, Coheed and Cambria. Altho the latter can get too concept-album’y to go into any playlist other than their own.

I also discovered this sweet channel dedicated to the UK82 era recently. Some of those are on Spotify, but some remain solely as demos. Digging it immensely.

That Walkman is 100% stolen.

[borrowedtimeandspace]

GT July Day 8 Bonus:

Slightly related to today's short story, my very dear and good friend @neonthebright shared a song with me recently that wasn't even on my radar. The second I heard it, my entire heart sank into Zepheera/Orrick feels. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out their love story in Zepheera's Origins, chapters 4 onwards specifically.

I'm a music lover first and foremost, and I've already associated certain songs with my star-crossed lovers. This one is less diegetic than ones I've put into the stories, but it still gave me big ol feelings. I figured I'd share if anyone else cares and is as masochistic as me.

The song was the re-imagining of "Just A Dream" by Nelly. Specifically, the recent re-recording.

Emotional flailing under the cut. Tl;dr:

From the get-go, it's an emotional song because this video is spliced with old footage of the original cover made almost 13 years ago. Footage of the late Christina Grimmie. The male singer Sam Tsui and the instrumentalist Kurt Hugo Schneider returned for the re-recording. The original cover is also outstanding, but the vibe from them both in this new version is much more somber and heavy with the loss of Christina. So that's already crying points.

Then there's the added dynamic of the male and female singers that immediately invoked in me the feeling of lovers who adore each other so much but cannot be together, which hits so much different than the single perspective of the original. Made it very easy for me to insert my most tragic M/F couple into their roles.

I want to preface my next statement by saying that I was not aware of Christina Grimmie or her death before this song was shown to me, and it is the farthest thing from my intention to disrespect her memory or her admirers with my words. That being said, the age difference between her 12-year-old footage and the others' re-recordings brings to my mind the entire reason Zepheera left Orrick to begin with. She was stuck in time, fated to be forever youthful, and was terrified by the notion of watching the person she loved age away while she stayed the same and had to deal with being left without him.

And don't even get me started on the lyrics! They're not always exact, but some of them just Hit Me in the Heart, guys. First there's the chorus, which they always sing together.

I was thinking about you Thinking about me Thinking about us What we gonna be Open my eyes It was only just a dream Travel back, down that road Will you come back? No one knows I realize It was only just a dream

Changing the gendered pronouns throughout (most) of the song to "you" adds a more personal touch in my opinion, not just relating this story to someone else but wishing that the subject themselves could hear them. Adds an emotional urgency to it for me.

Lots of Orrick feels in the first verse (skimming through the less relevant lyrics):

I was at the top and now it's like I'm in a basement Number one spot, now you find you a replacement I swear now that I can't take it (...) Now you ain't around, baby, I can't think (...) 'Cause I can still feel it in the air See your pretty face, run my fingers through your hair My lover, my life My baby, my wife You left me, I'm tied 'Cause I know that it just ain't right

I can vividly imagine things like this running through Orrick's mind, reeling after being left high and dry.

The second verse related to Zepheera less than Orrick's, mostly because it was initially written from the perspective of a man who pushed a woman away. Even so, there are a few lines that really stuck out to me and stabbed me right in the heart:

Another riding, I swear see your face at every turn (...) And I just hope you know that you're the only one I yearn for No wonder I'll be missing when I learn (...) Hey, you were so easy to love But wait I guess our love wasn't enough Going through it every time that I'm alone (...) 'Cause I was wrong

She knows that leaving Orrick behind was a horrible thing. She knows that, and she did it anyway because she couldn't face losing him the long way around. Not when she couldn't carry the burden of aging alongside him like normal people and partners do.

And if that wasn't enough, they hit us with this bridge:

If you ever loved somebody, put your hands up If you ever loved somebody, put your hands up And now they're gone and you're wishing you could give them everything

The second time this repeats, and I say this without judgement on Christina's crystal clear talent, the way her diction comes across made me think the lyric was "If you ever lost somebody" and just made Everything Hurt.

I have no good way to end this other than to reiterate:

[superfluouskeys]

19. Do you enjoy creating OCs or do you prefer to stick solely to canon characters?

29. What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

THANK YOU for indulging me friend you have saved me from a terrible fate (doing my homework)

19. Do you enjoy creating OCs or do you prefer to stick solely to canon characters?

It depends!  I think bc of the way I started with fanfic I definitely err on the side of enjoying interpreting canon events/characters in my own way/to suit my own purposes, and I don’t like to add OCs if there’s not a specific “spot” for them, if that makes sense, because that’s what tends to feel off to people reading.

In the case of video games with character customization there’s already that spot for an OC, and that OC’s family, friends, etc. within the context of the story but also removed from it.  But even in that context I do lean towards keeping whatever canon elements of that character the game offers, not only because that’s going to keep the overall story feeling natural but also because it offers me an interesting framework for creating my character—certain events/responses to events being indelible even when they seem contrary to what I’ve imagined can create a kind of character justification challenge that I’ve always enjoyed.

I think I am leaning a lot more towards wanting to write more OCs/original work lately, though—actually, I was thinking about this because I was rereading a bit of The Prisoner last night.  I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently, just because, you know, it took up such a large chunk of my life lol.  And I sort of miss it in a way, but my interest is much more on my OCs and their stories than on the actual canon characters and main focus of the story at this point LOL.  Maybe leaning back towards reimagining it as a fully original work someday, since it’s really so close already, and it has some elements I’m very proud of.

In a similar vein, I’ve been thinking so much about my Stormchaser characters, a project that was regrettably lost to a truly magnificent depression spiral sometime mid-pandemic.  It’s funny—I usually take awhile to warm up to my OCs, and I guess in a way it has been awhile, but I already feel like I have them in my mind and really want to share their stories!  Just, you know, need more hours in the day.

29. What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

I think I do a really good job with dialogue, which is something I’m really proud of since it’s something I had to work hard on to achieve, and I can very much see and feel the progress over the years.  Dialogue used to be one of the harder things for me, something I sort of tried to avoid because it always felt so stilted and awkward, and now it’s like my fave thing, easy, can write dialogue off the top of my head with no effort.

Something I’ve noticed recently that I’m really happy with is I feel I’m getting better at describing characters, like, looking at and observing things about other characters?  And imbuing that with the emotion I mean to convey?  I’ve always felt that I really lacked in physical descriptions and tended to keep them short and simple, so I’m really happy with whatever brought about this sudden ability to write evocative descriptions.

Fanfiction Writing Asks

[crawfxrds]

[ jeremy allen-white, cis-male, he/him ] - was that KENNETH CRAWFORD i saw by the lighthouse today? i heard that the TWENTY-EIGHT year old who has been in nightrest for HIS WHOLE LIFE and works as a KITCHEN MANAGER & COOK AT MAMA’S has a reputation of being STEADFAST, but also SELF-DEPRECATING. they reside in FOG GATE & people in town usually associate them with A CHEAP BOTTLE OF WELL WHISKEY, THE STING OF GRABBING A HOT PLATE AND NOT LETTING GO, A BLACK MILK CRATE THRONE TUCKED BESIDE THE DUMPSTER, & A LOTTERY TICKET SKITTERING OFF INTO THE NIGHT. let’s hope the killer doesn’t go after them next.

tw: absent parent, illness/stroke, parent death, gambling, religion mention, jail

at the tail end of his freshman year, life flipped upside down when his mother suffered a severe stroke. things we never the same after that. his spot on the baseball team was dropped in favor of hospital visits. new clothes were put off in order to pay the bills. homework fell to the wayside; grades along with it. crawford could only give so much. his father should have given more; should have given anything, but it seemed as if he’d almost taken it as his way out. his first foot out the door.

crawford always had an iffy relationship with the church, but he’d held out up until that fateful night in december. his father had always been a gambler – horses, chips, lotto tickets. that last one finally showed up. 140 million, the papers said. crawford never did hear the exact truth from his not; dad had gathered his things and left before he’d gotten the chance. never looked back. seventeen and crawford was alone. he stopped believing in god after that.

he’d gone by k.p. – short for kenneth patrick– up until the midst of high school. then, as his father pulled back, he did too from that given name, the one that he and his father shared. it became crawford. just crawford.

from the outside, he was the boy that barely made it to graduation. everyone’s guess to fail. they weren’t wrong; his grades had suffered, falling as he begged for more and more hours behind the dish pit at the sunset diner. he found himself oddly thankful then that he hadn't gotten accepted to wardwell on scholarship. it'd been his mother's idea to apply, a why not try sort of thing. on top of that, college was never an option anyway. taking care of his mom became the number one priority.

in time, crawford graduated beyond dish, learning to prep for the kitchen, upgraded to a cook, until he recently became kitchen manager. he's still learning what this new responsibility means and how to handle it.

just a little over a year ago, his mom suffered a second stroke and sadly passed. it’s been a complicated thing for him to process, sad because he misses her but also… he’d been missing her since he was fifteen.

between past medical and funeral expenses and the cost of living, crawford’s car has fallen in terms of priority. good ol’ gretchen had a habit of breaking down from time to time; never enough to junk her but always enough to threaten it again and then some.

when he’s not at his trailor in fog gate or the diner, crawford likes to spend his time getting tattooed at permanent record, tossing back drinks at deadlights, and sitting out in the bed of his truck, whether its putting up with the ambiance of shipwreck beach or just hanging back in mama's parking lot.

crawford’s main mode of transportation is gretchen, but he’s also got red: a motorcycle he’d pre-emptively inherited from his mother.

crawford grew up living the local trailer park in fog gate. his family had a short stint in a more spacey apartment when he was in elementary school, but that was just a year and half. then his father got caught and charged with a class b theft and a year behind bars. he’s been back in that trailer ever since.

his family was known to have records. both of his grandfathers had had their stints, then his father. even his mother with a few acts of shoplifting, though she’s mostly wasn’t welcome in certain places anymore. didn’t make much a difference now. but crawford was pretty proud that he’d managed to keep his nose clean, though he’d definitely had some close calls with a bar fight or two.

wanted connections:

best friend(s)

friends

old friends

drinking buddies

motorcycle buddies

ex-girlfriends - (he be tragically heterosexual)

fwb

one-night stand

enemy/do not get along

regular customer

an annoying customer

old coworker

neighbors

there’s plenty more i just cannot think atm

[fantomevoleur]

Valentine's. A day for couples. A day Makoto gets to enjoy with the one and only boy who stole her heart. It's cheesy and so unlike the Student Council President to be so... happy today, but she had a good reason. She had purchased the best chocolates she could find, and they were both pricey and delicious according to the cashier. She trusted her judgement and set out to find Akira during their lunch break.

She spotted a head of messy black hair heading for the cafeteria and quickly stopped him by tapping his shoulder. "Akira, wait!" She called out and once he turned his head, the brunette presented him with a red heart-shaped chocolate box wrapped in a dark blue bow. It even had a card saying 'to my Joker... from your Queen'.

"For you... Happy Valentine's day." The red color on her cheeks was inevitable. "Um, if you're free, I'd like to walk home with you today as well." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear sheepishly.

Another Valentine's filled Shujin's halls with lovestruck couples and students steeling their bravado to confess their true feelings towards their crush. It was a holiday of love, and heartbreak. Fifty-fifty, so long as fate's scales favored the individual's desires. Akira always felt more neutral when it came to February's festivities, minding much of his own business and quietly overserving his surroundings. He'd be lucky if one person handed him leftover handmade chocolates or a homemade, crafted card just to feel included. Yet the second-year never minded being ignored. It wasn't the first time, nor did he expect it to be the last.

Sometimes, though, a small surprise made all the difference. A few 'mysterious, unmarked letters' appeared inside his locker, each written with patience and careful writing. So some students happened to foster deeper sentiments to the delinquent transfer student? How thoughtful. His besmirched name must not have driven away all of his fellow classmates. Those notes remained in place, tucked away and safely hidden underneath his books. Their bravery for taking the first step forward was something to admire, and Akira wished he knew their names in order to congratulate them. And at the same time, let them down easy and in person.

His heart belonged to a queen, after all.

Those thoughts must have materialized into reality since grey hues spotted the brunette jogging down the breezeway. A medium-sized, heart-shaped box took his attention almost immediately as she presented it to him in celebration of today's events. The cold-hearted, student council president participating in a love-themed festival? Guess this could count as a miracle.

"Well, well, Miss Prez. I never expected you to go out of your way and buy chocolates for little ole me~." He playfully teased, smirking and prodding the woman with his brand of mischief. "The good kind, too. I must be reeeeally special if you bought this just for me." It was the truth. In his eyes, Makoto held more importance to him than most others, aside from his merry band of thieves.

She loved him. And he loved her. Completely.

Once he set the box on a nearby bench, he stepped forward and placed a chaste kiss on the top of her head. Screw it if anyone happened to be around there at the time! It was Valentine's Day after all, so he could display as much PDA as he desired. "Thank you, dear. Let's share these together later on today. Perhaps in the student council office? After school hours~?"

[fuckzachariah]

It had, as he had hoped, worked a treat. Alex was derailed from her line of questioning down the even more attractive path of berating him – she even laughed in bitter delight at the invitation. A soft smile, indistinguishable in the murky light, flitted unevenly across his face, and with it a delicate flutter teased his gut. There was, unfortunately, still nothing quite as satisfying as making her tick. It scratched an itch in him that hadn’t been tended to in years, and now he’d felt it, he worried he’d find it quite impossible to forget again. “No,” he prodded lightly at her agitate button, “because you’re unskilled at knowing when to shut your mouth.” If she could see in the dark, she would see his smirk having widened to a grin. She fell away and he stole his hands, and his air, back, his body relaxing in the wake of their shattered tension. Alex went on, needling at him as though searching for the sore spot, or perhaps just relieved to have an outlet for all that pent up tensions, and he clicked his tongue absently in his infamous way. Alex, once, had picked up the habit in his constant presence. Now, Kylie shared the arrogant tic. Before he could retaliate, and before Alex could continue her line of insult, a sharp, loud noise attracted their attention skyward. 

The lights flickered to life, illuminating their needless proximity and severing their dangerous thread before it could tangle. He glanced at her to find she had already beat him to the punch, her lips curling. His stomach responded with an appropriately humiliating lurch. It felt as though a new, silent promise had been made: this was yet another secret they would keep. From the moment they had reunited, either they or fate had conjured several convoluted ways in which to steal them into yet another private, charged interaction of which they never disclosed to another soul. Much was lost in their time apart, and yet the inherent understanding that certain things existed only for the two of them to know and keep remained intact. Intuitive, even. It was perhaps unwise of him to dwell on this unshakeable bond, or what it might mean. Instead he let his gaze slide, in a drawn-out manner, down her legs as she stood to her full height and he remained seated. A cardinal memory threatened to attack him, but he promptly swallowed it. Zach looked up at her, the corner of his mouth upturning as she taunted him. “Mm,” he hummed, getting languidly to his feet, the heat of their interaction spilling top-down from his flushed cheeks, all through him. “I guess you’ll have to just see me in those nightmares you mentioned instead.” His eyes glittered amber and wicked as he side-glanced at her.

The elevator ding!ed, the doors sliding apart to reveal Drew among a throng of security, and one particularly distinct looking tech guy. Drew, who had left hours ago, must have been informed of the power outage and returned to rescue his beloved fiancé. Maybe he even spared a thought for his imminent monumentous money-maker. Zach saluted the posse in a kind of mocking, uncomfortable with the attention. Drew’s face fell briefly from its strict, cool composition to relief as his eyes found Alex, giving her a once-over as though checking her for damage. “Oh, thank god,” he mumbled mostly to himself. He almost admired Andrew’s absolute faith in the two of them – he was either a skilled actor, or he wasn’t perturbed a bit by their solitary confinement. As he advanced toward Alex, asking “are you both alright?” Zach stepped away, avoiding collision by deftly swerving the CEO’s broad shoulder. “We would’ve been out sooner, but Alex didn’t like the idea of climbing up an elevator shaft during a power outage.” His hands went up in a playful, dismissive manner. “Which was weird.”

A heavy silence hung between them. The gauzy, half-formed image of his blonde girlfriend seemed to flicker in Zach’s mind, jolting him back to reality. Alex inhaled slowly, but deeply, the red cashmere of her sweater straining against her swelling chest as she did. She had touched a nerve, one long dormant since their last conversation all those years ago. This charged space, thick with tension was where they were most at home. They knew how to press each other's buttons, their fingers kneading and teasing the frayed edges of sanity until it felt ready to snap. Envy might have sparked Alex’s mention of Zach’s newly crowned better half, but her words had a sharper aim – to test his resolve. His actions suggested his commitment was flimsy at best. How important could Kylie really be if, right now, Zach’s hand was curled around Alex’s throat, poised to make what could be the biggest mistake of his life?

Zach recoiled, bitterness creeping into his once saccharine tone. Alex couldn’t help but laugh, her eyes nearly rolling at his snide remark. “Oh, I’m irritating? And why’s that? Because I’m skilled at knocking you off your pedestal? Isn’t that how we started in the first place?” She smirked. “Don’t tell me it’s a turn-off now.” She leaned her head back against the elevator wall, her hands resting in her lap, casual and unbothered, while Zach continued his tirade. “Mm, and who in your life tells you that you’re not entitled to everything you want? You’re such a little —” Before she could finish her thought, the elevator groaned, the harsh sound of metal grating against metal filling the area. The overhead lights flickered, casting a pale, sickly glow that made her squint as she glanced up, trying to gauge if they were in any real danger. The muffled sound of voices seeped in from outside, though it was hard to tell where they were coming from. She glanced at Zach, her lips curling into a sly smile. “Just in time.”

Rising carefully to her feet, Alex smoothed the wrinkles in her impossibly short skirt, though the gesture seemed more for show than necessity. As she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, there was a subtle air of concealment, as though she was erasing the evidence of their barely innocent exchange. “Another minute in here might’ve triggered a relapse,” she teased.

[hrts4hanniehae]

Heartless Letters Chpt 1 Teaser

Astris Nezryn Li. A. A. A. Astris Astris Astris. A student. A student. An A student. Astris. A. 

                   A

A                                                                            a

                        A

                                      A

A

                A

                                                       a

A

                                                                                                     a A

                                          a

                                                                                                                                              a

                                                                                    a                    A

                                                   A

I wanted to scream. A scream is an A. A is a scream. A scream. A person. What am I?

A scream welled up inside me, desperate for release. A scream, like the 'A' grade I relentlessly pursued. A scream that embodied my identity, my worth. Who was I?

“Ms Li, we’re here.” 3 years. 3 years of coming to this school. And every year it has remained unchanged—the same old gate, the same cobblestone and the same line of butlers to take your things. Unchanged. Uniformed. Conforming. 

“女儿啊... 好好读书... Good luck with your O levels.” My parents never came to see me. All they wanted to see was “A”. Maybe that’s why they called me “Astris”. A*. Asterix. It sounded the same to my parents whose first language wasn’t English.  

It was the same routine. The butlers would move my things into my dorm and I would spend the rest of the day revising for the first lesson the next day. But today was different. He was here. Zeng Liwei. Zeng Liwei who dethroned me in the rankings last year. Zeng Liwei and his smug smile. How could he just stand there smirking at me? How could he? 

“Li.”

“Not in the mood, Zeng.”

“I was just greeting you.” His Chinese accent resonated strongly, his attempts to conceal it were amusing.

“As I’ve said. Not in the mood.”

An idiot. He was an idiot. A sudden pressure on my back shocked me as somebody’s hands covered my eyes.

“Guess who!”

“I missed you too, Zel.” 

Zelmira Frances. The smartest girl in our school. She was so smart that she was untouchable. For three years, she had claimed the top spot in every subject, achieving perfect scores effortlessly. Dedicated, unwavering, unbreakable. Her once cascading tawny locks had been transformed into a stylish bob, and her mossy green eyes remained as enchanting as ever, drawing me in just as warmly as her embrace.

“Long time no see, Astris.” Rhory was here too. It made sense. Both Liwei and Zelmira were here. His best friend and his crush. The Honourable Rhory Byrnes, Zeng Liwei and the ‘love of his life’, Zelmira Frances. 

I’m joking. Rhory was my best friend. We’d known each other for the longest time. My mother had friends in Ireland, and by chance, one of them became Rhory's stepmother. During my formative years in Greece, he was my steadfast companion. We bonded over our shared love for ice hockey, though I eventually moved on to fencing while he remained devoted to the sport. When I returned to China, we believed we would never see each other again. Then fate intervened, enrolling us both in this boarding school.  See the rest on @/dysophien on wattpad :O

https://www.wattpad.com/story/343254400-heartless-letters

[dastardlyobnoxious]

My time with Pathfinder: Kingmaker (P.2)

Heavy spoilers for Pathfinder: Kingmaker below, didn't initially plan on this being a three-part post so apologies for that and any cohesion breaking it causes. Part one: https://www.tumblr.com/dastardlyobnoxious/718604715975426048/my-time-with-pathfinder-kingmaker-p1?source=share This part will cover my views on each of the companions prior to Act Seven (excluding Linzi) Ensuing text dump below, but thanks for reading this intro blurb.

My Companions. This'll be a brief overview of the companions and just any general thoughts I had on them and their quests prior to Act Seven, if it seems somewhat disconnected it's because it is.  (The benchwarmers) Starting with Tristian I was never sold on him even before his betrayal. I knew he was beloved among other players but I wasn't interested in romancing him and even with his super useful rest ability both Linzi and my player character largely dealt with any serious buffing or healing I needed. So when it came to his quests? It'd be something I have to revisit as his two stand-out moments are his betrayal and his argument with Jhod during the Bloom. 

On the opposite end of characters, Jaethal was easily the most evil companion, and for someone whose alignment didn't really mesh with my player character on top of her undead status and strangeness when being healed, it largely led me to dismiss her altogether. When in reality her quests were really fascinating, this pull and push of power versus morals with the penultimate build-up being Jaethals rejection of her Deity and being smited for it. When she died it wasn’t a huge blow to my team, but it was shocking with the click of a button she went from standing there to being a stain of blood and at least she redeemed herself? I don’t know if I’ll use Jaethal unless I’m going for some sort of evil playthrough but alignment be damned she was entertaining. 

Moving on, Harrim fell into this odd spot as a companion for me, originally he filled my fifth spot as his blessing buff was useful alongside being another front-line fighter, but the way I specialized him became a significant problem, I’d made him into more of a fighter then a cleric on top of his low Mobility/Dexterity making him quick to die even when buffed to all hell with Blur or other support spells. Making replacing him with Ekundayo an obvious choice, and like his character class I think I largely fumbled whatever story was going on with him. Unintentionally inciting his rage against Torag and leading him down a path of bitter madness, I always felt like I slipped up somewhere along the way, really just unsure of what I should say to someone so entrenched in Groetus. This is more just a gripe but I swear for a high priest even when he was max level he’d always have a low-resolution rate, frankly I don’t know if I ever really want to deal with Harrim again for someone you meet so early on I’m just not a fan of him? The end comes for us all eventually I guess. 

Then we have Nok-Nok, another character who I think I kind of put on ice and shot down a lot of his companion quest ideas just because it was chaotic as all and went against my alignment. Unlike Harrim though Nok-Nok was very fun, and even when he was making problems for me, who can hate a Goblin Jester? He’s someone I definitely plan to use if I ever replay Kingmaker. 

Then we have Jubliost, someone I wasn’t a huge fan of at first, from his snarky attitude to his less than careful world choice his bluntness read almost like a bitter or rude person when in fact by digging into his quests that isn’t true. From his endearing curiosity and motivation to cure the bleaching (a rather debilitating and sad way to go out) while exploring and writing about all he can. When he got so close to his award, I encouraged him to give it to Xae. It only felt right, as her existence as a ghost who could never return to her home was far too sad a fate for someone. I never really used him, on account of me not liking AOE/splash attacks until late in the game alongside not specializing him correctly.

Regongar is the last of the benchwarmers, and he’s kind of tied to the hip with Octavia for a lot of his quests. He's brash but beyond being a tad too flirtatious I never had much problem or desire to get to know him. Hearing about his and Octavia’s roots that’d led them to eventually escape the Technic League and blossom into their independence is what I admire most about him. 

(The main cast) Speaking of Octavia, like Regongar I’m happy she found her roots and was surprisingly able to reconnect with no strings attached, her abilities as a rogue-wizard mix made her into a really good marksman. Ended up probably agreeing with her and Linzi the most on kingdom management issues just because of how progressive they both were on social issues. 

Ekundayo and his wolf are second to Amiri in terms of how useful they were to my team, often nailing his ranger shots for high damage and destroying trolls. Moving on from the past and not letting rage consume yourself is the central idea of Ekundayo’s companion quest and while I wonder if things could’ve been different at the very least he isn’t vengeful or hateful any longer. Elina’s extremely obvious crush on the guy who clearly isn’t ready for romance makes me both sad and hopeful for Ekundayo’s future. Not forgetting Ekundayo’s wolf, half the reason he’s so good is because that wolf of his is the best of tanks and like Elina, Ekundayo has no clue what to do with them. 

Moving onto Amiri, her reconciliation of the past and focus on bettering herself for the future just made her an instant favorite and probably the strongest member of my crew constantly receiving some of the best gear. Her brash and upfront nature makes this really sincere and helpful character that I can’t underpin as anything but great. She isn’t stupid and breaks that idea of a barbarian being an inherent moron with the reforging of her blade as a story of complicated emotions and feelings in a largely sexist traditional group. When said group tries to execute her for being different, the one positive person in her tribe Nilak is a reluctant friend and compatriot. A lot of emotional baggage and tension reveals itself when Amiri first finds the Six Bears tribe in the Stolen Lands and a lot of that tension is only resolved because Amiri cares about Nilak and regardless of how poorly they treated her the ghost tormenting the clan because of her cannot stand in her mind. So, off she goes to confront it ultimately sacrificing herself instead of someone else being resurrected and being awarded for her bravery. Frankly, I doubt there’ll be a campaign of this game without Amiri if I can help it; her companion line is hands down my favorite of the companions. 

Last but not least Valerie, in a strange way, ended up being my favorite companion. With her high AC and tank-like nature always having enemies target and fail to strike her as they ate the party's damage and while her attack strength wasn’t the best if anyone was suited for the job of rushing ahead it was her. Her stoic nature as a fighter and diligent follower of the law is in constant conflict with her proclaimed beauty and past as a child raised to worship Shelyn. It’s a past she wished to not look back on, wanting people to value her as a fighter and person first and foremost not as some artistic piece or muse. It’s upsetting for her when her past demands she returns to face worshippers of Shelyn and artists harassing her because of her beauty. So much so, that when Linzi and others who merely mention art seem to offend and enrage her, intervention is the only thing that can be done. Early on in the game she received a scar after beating a certain obnoxious Shelyn follower in a fight and wore it as a symbol of pride until that pride for said scar turned into a confused mix of resentment and reflection. I think by the end of the companion quest line Valerie ended up better off, Shelyn healing her scar, and the intervention of the Shelyn followers ending as peaceful as one could expect. Valerie seems to find herself and at least find some respect in the pursuit of art. It’s hard to put into words what Valerie’s conclusion as a character was, it’s a complex emotional issue that she struggled with throughout Kingmaker, and it made her a stronger person in the end. Part Three: https://www.tumblr.com/dastardlyobnoxious/718899022820261888/my-time-with-pathfinder-kingmaker-p3?source=share