#its been a long time since i tried to design ponies

[otterloreart]

Trying to design my own glow-n-show ponies. The original Glow-n-shows have a lot of contrasting colors and are relatively bright so I wanted to try to stretch my ability to create... somewhat clashing ponies.

GnS ponies also had 1-color symbols with sort of random themes so I stuck with that. We have Peppermint-Tea, Glowbug, Seaset and Strawberry Lemonade.

design ur own:

[meetinginsamarra]

mayprompts2024, #31 pride

Chapters 1 to 8 here on AO3

If you like the tattoo AU give it some love on my AO3, please. It would mean a lot to me. TYSM!

+++++

Just to give you a heads-up, this AU is not finished with today's prompt.

But it will be tomorrow!

I wrote a longer ending and I don't want to cram all of it in here today. Therefore, there will be a "mayprompt 32 determined". 😊

+++++

White Pony Tattoo - Part Eleven (pride)

Have I ever wondered about the shop’s name?

John took his time to think about it. Answering Sherlock’s agitated question correctly was of utmost importance. Not trying to guess what Sherlock might like to hear. Sherlock would probably detect any lie in a matter of seconds anyway.

John did not want to jeopardize the trust Sherlock had shown to him so far by opening up about his troubled past. Therefore, he decided to be completely honest.

“Actually, no. I just thought it was a very catchy name and the design of the running pony was beautiful.” John admitted. “Sorry, if that’s disappointing but it’s the plain truth.”

Sherlock laughed but it was a pained and unhappy sound.

“The White Pony is street slang for cocaine, John.” Seeing the involuntary widening of John’s pupils, Sherlock carried on, his voice dripping with self-contempt.

“Yes, I’ve been a junkie. A full-blown cocaine addict at the age of 22 and when I overdosed the third time I died in the ambulance on my way to the hospital.”

Sherlock’s agitation manifested itself in restless pacing around the tattoo parlour while he talked in rapid-fire mode.

“The reason for my phoenix is not as glorious as the one for yours. It’s neither heroic nor is it noble. It’s just pathetic. The tattoo covers all of the damage the needles inflicted onto my veins but the scars are still below the ink for everyone to see if I let them. Which I don’t. My phoenix is reminding me on a daily basis that I’ve been weak and stupid.”

Sherlock stopped in front of the computer, pulling visciously at his curls and staring wildly at John.

John was baffled by the amount of self-loathing Sherlock felt. If all of the caustic derision and acidic hate in Sherlock’s rant had been directed at John, he would have dissolved into a puddle right on the spot.

Carefully, John got out of the recliner chair and walked up to Sherlock.

“How long have you been sober?” He asked calmly.

“Eleven years since my rehab following the reanimation.” Sherlock snorted. “That doesn’t change anything.”

“Sherlock, believe me, I’ve had my fair share of dealing with addiction. Not myself, but my sister has been an alcoholic since her teens.” John spoke slowly and firmly, making sure that every word found its way into Sherlock’s brain.

“She had multiple tries to get sober and been to rehab. But sadly, she never managed to stay that way. The addiction always claimed her back, sometimes it took two years, sometimes it was just two months.”

Sherlock calmed a bit. Curiously he watched John, listening intensely.

“Yes, you are an ex-junkie.” John nodded. “But the emphasis is on the ex and not on the junkie.” John stepped up very close to Sherlock and fixated him with a stern stare to really drive his point home.

It didn’t work.

Sherlock’s face became hard and in a flurry of motion he pulled the black t-shirt over his head and flung it away onto the ground.

On part of Sherlock’s chest and over his right shoulder, John saw a masterfully tattooed realistic head and neck of a pony.

“But that’s exactly it, John! The cocaine will never leave me!” Sherlock exclaimed and slowly turned so that John could see his back. It was covered with the body of a running pony.

“The White Pony is always running behind my back, following me everywhere. It looks over my shoulder, watching and waiting that I’ll cave someday and invite it back into my life.” Sherlock spat furiously.

The total lack of understanding sparked John’s ire. “You totally misunderstood what I’d meant to say. How can you be so fucking thick?”

John’s voice raised in volume. “My sister, Sherlock, she never made it. Nine months after I’ve returned to London, she died of alcohol poisoning and acute liver failure.”

John fought back the stinging sensation in his eyes.

“So don’t you dare,” John poked his index finger right into Sherlock’s chest who immediately flinched over the silent rage in John’s eyes, “to think that you’re weak. Eleven years of sobriety is a fucking long time, Sherlock.”

Another poke.

“You had to be strong to resist the siren call of substance abuse every time when life got difficult again and obstacles have turned up.” John poked the chest once again, forcefully and this time it was intended to hurt.

“You have been strong and you have achieved perfection in what you do!” A vicious double poke followed.

“You should be fucking proud of yourself, God dammit Jesus Christ holy shit!”

++++++

tagging some people @totallysilvergirl @peageetibbs  @lisbeth-kk @raina-at @calaisreno

[bepisbee]

V10137 ch5 Outing

read on Ao3 Chapters Index Next Chapter (WIP)

heyhey! im so sorry its been over a year ;n; I changed some plans and designs but it is back babey!!!

With their newfound freedom Vio began making fast friends of the staff members. At least the ones who weren't in the know about their electronic magnesis freak out. Thankfully they were posted at different stations in the facility now, for them and for Violet. They still had nightmares that they tried to decipher, and talked to Shadow about. Shadow was odd about the subject, repeating that they needn't push themselves into thinking too hard but to be open about how it made them feel. It confused them a lot. They wandered to a small archive sector they had access to now. It was filled with books of all kinds. The delightful old woman running the check out even showed them their secret stash of real books. Although most of them were blushing romances with a shirtless man or creature on the front. Vio had a secret soft spot for this series about a group of vampires and their strange ward. It reminded them of themself and Shadow honestly. They came in and sat in their favorite spot, idly wondering if that was their situation if Shadow would be so eager to be their partner like that, going so far as intimate biting.

They shook their head and focused on the book they came in for. It was about carpentry. They wanted to understand this ex of Shadow’s named Green. It had started as mere curiosity but it also pooled something vile feeling inside. What was so cool about it anyways? They considered it for a while and decided it might be a type of jealousy, similar to how it was described in one of their romance novels. Despite that Shadow had explained the break up had been on good mutual terms, thinking of them maintaining a relationship spiked something inside them. Twisted their insides and dug into their chest. Of course they tried to let that be, since they fully trusted Shadow. They were sure it was a kickback from all these new feelings. It seemed everything they felt was incredibly intense as it came on and then settled afterwards. Vio sighed silently, these thoughts had them distracted, they had begun walking once again.

They looked around the hall, slipping into a side room near the entrance. They pulled out a pair of jeans and a hoodie they’d pilfered from Shadow’s drawers last week and stuck into his empty chassis. While they didn't really need it for the weather they would stand out horribly without some type of jacket, and absolutely without regular clothes.

Using Shadow’s personal code, they left right out the front of the building. A security guard snoring in his booth had no objections.

Vio stepped out and blinked as their artificial lenses adjusted to the bright sun. Now, where was this place? Accessing an online map, they began their journey. They had gone out a few times now with Shadow so they deemed it wouldn’t be too difficult. As they went, they admired everyone around them in the bustling city. People too busy to notice them, people going place to place, people laughing and smiling, or frowning with brows furrowed hard with their face into their devices. Some were stomping around with a phone to their ear. So many different people, different clothing styles, different hairs, eyes, skins, marks. They stopped as they spotted a shop on the corner. A wood carved sign, their destination: “Four Corners Carpentry”

Vio walked in, a tiny bell making a jingle as they did. They looked up at it before stepping in. Immediately they felt a rush of warm air across their skin. More so of an emotional warmth within something that their systems said smelled like wood and pine. Someone in the back cursed as a loud metal rack collapsed.

“Fuck! Shit! Not again!” Rustling of fabrics and a huff followed. A tall man walked out of a wood door near the back left, a towel covered in brown wood stain hanging half off his pretty blonde head. His hair was long, tied back in a ponytail. It was scruffy and everywhere, pieces sticking up. He stopped as he saw his customer. His shining green eyes stopped Vio also. Just past the stunning color were whirring gears. Invisible to any human eye, but not to them. That single moment felt like a lifetime as they both recognized what they were.

“Hello.” They cautiously greeted, the first olive branch. Green recovered and placed on an award winning smile.

“Oh my Gods. I'm so sorry I didn't hear you come in!” He swiped the towel off and threw it into the room he just came from. “Ahem sorry.” His cheeks flushed embarrassed. ��Most people around here just call me Green,” he approached, startling Vio with his friendliness. He held out a hand to shake. It felt like more than just a handshake, it was an acknowledgement. “Not a problem at all.” they shook firm, and met eyes once again. “Green. Please call me Viol--” They shook their head. “Vio. Call me Vio.” “What brings you here, Vio.” Green was kind, but suspect. Vio assumed it would only be natural, surely the company had no idea that he was here. 

“I saw a piece of your work, and I was curious.” Vio let go, sticking their hands into the hoodie pocket in front. Why was there a creeping feeling of self consciousness? “Shadow seems very fond of you and now I have a few more questions than answers for you. If that is alright? I’ll buy you a coffee?” Vio titled their head, wondering if Green even ate or drank like they did. By his surprised laughter at the offer, that was a no. “Coffee with a side of oil? Hahaha sure.” Green clapped a hand onto their shoulder. “We can talk, I live upstairs.” He flipped the sign on the door to ‘closed’ and led them up a set of wooden steps. “Shadow huh? How is he? It’s been a long time since he’s had any time for his friends.” “Yes well… He’s given a lot of responsibility at the facility.” Vio couldn’t help but feel a little responsible for that. “Since when does he ever actually do that?” Green snorted and sat down on a pillow set up with a short table. Vio followed his lead and sat on a pillow cushion across from him. “I assume he doesn't know you’re here?” “....Yes.” Vio looked down at the table sheepishly. “He does not know.” “You’re from the facility?” “I am.” Vio frowns, “I am technically V-1-0-1-3-7. Violet. Or… Vio, as Shadow’s named me.” “He knows you’re an Android?” Green blinked. “You’re outside the facility and he knows??” “Yeah, he does. Does….” Vio fake swallows thickly. “Does he not know you are?” “So you could tell.” Green nods, “He met me after I escaped scrapping, and already established myself here. He has no idea, and for now I would like to keep it that way.” he said kindly but firmly. “Okay.” “Okay?” his eyebrows raised up. “You are okay with that? With lying?” “How do you think I got here? I lied. In fact, I snuck out unsupervised because Shadow is out of town on a big project and will not return until tomorrow morning. As long as I am within enough range to alter my presence as being still in my pod, no one will know.” “That guard still sleeps on duty?” Green shakes his head, amused but bitter. “How are you going to return?” “I’ll just sit in Shadow’s apartment until he returns and he can take me back, saying we had a morning teaching guide about- something. Something Hylian morning- something.” Vio sighed. This was a bad idea, they knew it. Green laughed again, and the tension in the room dissipated. “Unbelievable.” He was grinning, and took their hands in his. “Oh!?” he startled. “Your- skin layer is warm?” He put their hand to his cheek. “Woah. I’m no brainiac but that’s a lot more advanced than me.” Vio held back the urge to correct Green’s grammar and speaking. They didn’t want to offend their new friend. Friend?? Vio blinked, did he have a friend? They smiled softly. “Yes. Beyond what they know. If they knew I had self sentience and will out of theirs I wouldn’t be sitting here.” A disturbing realization. “Or the things I can do.” A mechanical sigh left their mouth. “It’s complicated and neither Shadow or I really understand it. He tries his best but everytime he looks there’s something different or new developed.” “And here I thought I was special with just sentience.” Green joked. “They really let you out on little field trips?” He was amazed, playing with the tablecloth distractedly. “Yeah. “supervised” They quote with their fingers sarcastically. “Hey… Do you want to come with me?” at hsi confused look he clarified, “To Shadow’s apartment. I’m sure he would be happy to see you and uh…” what’s the word? Oh yeah, “Hang out?” “You sound like an old man trying to sound hip and cool.” He teased, “Sure, I would like that.” And that’s all it took. Vio and Green walked downtown, stopping at the local shop Shadow and Vio had previously had their date. They ordered a new drink this time, a hot tea with something called “elderberry honey” Vio seemed interested in. Green was baffled as they took a literal sip of the drink and consumed it. They left a generous tip to the nice waitress.

“Where did you get money? Uh no offense.” “None taken. I stole it from Shadow’s wallet last week.” That earned them a large laugh. “Wow, you are different, that's for sure. I still can’t do anything like that, despite my free will. You can actually drink that?” He raised a brow. “What does it taste like?” They pressed the walk button on the street light pole so they could cross and continued while they waited. “That is something I have been finding difficult to explain, like emotions. It is warm, and sweet. With a tangy berry taste. It is fruity like the smell but not overpowering.” Vio hummed and it sounded more body than mechanical. “It is like…a warm spring mid afternoon, when you just start to smell flower pollen in a breeze.” “Wow, that’s poetic.” “Thank you. I read romance novels.” Vio snickered and they crossed while the green man symbol pops up across from them “No shit? Like mushy kind or the one’s with shirtless men on the cover?”

“Yes and no.” they passed him a sly look. “I’ve found that even though I have no uh… for lack of better terminology: equipment, I have that sort of feeling for Shadow. It is like an electricity build up.” their cheeks tinged a purple color in a blush. Green touched their cheek in curiosity, and as he suspected the skin there was warmer. “I have not mentioned it just yet, I am afraid it will make working on my interior wires different to us. Not that it isn’t already a strange form of care and intimacy.” they sighed wistfully, “I am not sure if he understands that, and there is not a lot of opportunity to bring it up. I know he knows I am interested that way, I might have ahem,” They scratched their cheek and looked away, embarrassed. “Helped him out  with my mouth.” “Holy shit!!” Green beamed at them, “That’s nuts. How?? Wait no-” he held up a hand. “I don’t actually wanna know. Well good for you dude! I always just told Shadow I was ace, which is mostly true just not quote in the way he expects hahaha,” Vio holds the door open for Green when they arrive. “This is kind of blowing my mind. I have so many questions.” “Ask away,” They went upstairs, and sat in the little kitchen nook. They talked hours away.

The door lock rattled as Shadow put his key in and unlocked it. He squinted in confusion, he could have sworn that he had turned off the lights when he left last night. He was tired as all hell. He grumbled to himself and opened the door. He placed his bags down with a thump and shuffled in, comically and entirely missing Green and Vio sitting in the kitchen. They shared a look. Vio looked amused as he went to his room and plopped face first onto his bed saying nothing to him. Vio motioned for Green to be quiet. “I have an idea.” they whispered. They googled a recipe they could make with the minimal groceries in the cupboard. Can’t go wrong with fried rice. He made it while whisper talking with Green and brought the bowl into his room. Green on one side and Vio on his other. They leaned over and put a hand on his back. “Shadow?” He shot up with a surprised yell and his head swiveled between them. “Fuck!! Shit-- h oly shit?? What the fuck?” Green was excited to surprise him. Vio laughed. “Hello. Welcome home.” he handed over the bowl. “H-how long have y'all been here?” He took it, confused but grateful. “Oh man, at least three hours now?” Green shrugged. “We’ve been talking for a while. Vio is very interesting. They came by to see my work and we just kinda hung out all day.” Vio nodded to confirm the story. “Oh, well. I’m really glad to see you. Both of you. I missed you.” Shadow took a spoonful and stuffed it into his tired mouth. “Mm…. hey wait a second. How are you here!?” he directed at Vio. Vio just shrugged and smirked, Shadow gave them a look that they were going to talk about this later. Green snickered. They all settled in to catch up and eventually landed on watching a movie. Shadow fell asleep on the bed between the two.

Vio would have had no idea what exactly they had missed in the facility. And the trouble they managed to avoid somehow with sneaking out. Daphnes had planned an intervention to try and alter his mindset. A first test to an ai programing thought process. One that would satisfy his true intention for the robots he distributes to the world. 

He scowled, setting another robot failure to the scraper, a builder bot designed in Blue coloring. At the last second, when he was turned away, the robot snuck off the line and into the vent underneath the system. He was not going to be scrapped for this monster, he was going to be free…

[bon-is-gone]

https://www.tumblr.com/bon-is-gone/748757237890170880/fluttershy-so-yeah-i-made-mlp-infection-au?source=share

*perks up* found this trend a while ago and I loved seeing mlp infection aus...idk why but I think mlp horrors are the best horrors! Like human horrors make me feel uncomfortable but replace the humans with colorful ponies and I wanna see it! (My random guess is, not knowing if I'm right or not, because I'm scared of it being transmitted to humans?) Anyway, now I'm curious about it!

What are the stages? How did it begin? You planning to make a bunch of art for it? Write a story via comic or written or as I've seen some do...videos? Or just draw a bunch of ponies infected? Sorry if I'm pushy or nosey...just fluttershy went from 0-100 so fast in your pics of her and looked so good...she looked so cute before infection and terrifying after! You have a great artstyle! I just had to learn if this was a one hit-thing or if it will bloom into a story or something!

AGDHAGDHSGDHAGSHGA I STILL CANT GET USED TO THE FACT THAT PEOPLE LIKE MY STUFF AND IVE BEEN HERE FOR A YEAR NOW HDGAJGXISHDJ THANKYOUTHANKYOYTAHNKYOUTHANKYOU-

Ah yes, my favorite subject

Dying ponies with rabies 😌

Imma try and answer all the questions amigo, however I'm writing this in 2 in the morning with a sh*t ton of adrenaline from the fact that you asked (I'm gonna have a heart attack oh lord) so do forgive me if I missed one-

Oh ehem-

Stages

So the sickness which I took for this au is Rabies! Which I think a lot if you might know what it is. Ofcourse, this is a more messed up type of rabbies. There's only 3 stages since the person transforms quickly(in a 1 day). 1st stage: after the pony gets bit by a subject with rabbies they start feeling weak, tired and nauseous. They also all of a sudden get scared of water 2nd stage: the ponies body starts to hurt, usually specific body parts feel the most pain (for example with fluttershy its her front hooves), which then start to get longer, stretching. 3rd stage the ponies body becomes disfigured, they become extremely aggressive and blood-thirsty, foam will start pouring out of their mouth and completely forget who they were before.

How did it begin?

Some chemist pony probably tried to find a cure for different types of sickness in the mlp world but instead made a potion for the missed up rabbies. He tested on some animals and one of them escaped. The animal got to fluttershy(because she's always with animals so she shall be the first victim) and bit her. The infection would continue on with twilight who wanted to go check up on her but instead got attacked.

You planning to make a bunch of art for it?

Oh buddy. OH BUDDY- I already nade some sketches of how twilight and Pinkie pie are before and after getting infected. I do want to draw some background ponies with those meters (you know those ones with like "hunger: 50%" or something) specifically this guy

SILVER ZOOM 😎 I found him whilst browsing the mlp wiki for background ponies and omg I LOVE HIS DESIGN AJGDHSHDHWHDHDH

Also this fella

Crystal earth gives me "I FELL INLOVE WITH AN EMO GIRL" vibes and I'm DIGGING IT

Write or make a story/comic/video? Or just draw a bunch of ponies infected?

I'm not a writer so hard pass on the story. Comic would LOVE to do that, however I'm not used to drawing ponies like, at all, So it takes me a really long time to get the look right(especially with all the different angles of the head, yikes). Now, the video? Hell f*cking yeah. I planned on making a video 100% doing it like people do on tiktok (or in my case youtube because I am not going to that wretched place, no offense to anyone who goes there) but never made it since I got sidetracked with other stuff lmao. So currently I will stick to just solely making art, but I will make a video about it no doubt. Complete story? Probably not.

Again thank you so much for asking! It makes me super happy when people ask me about my stuff or just opinions on anything. (I did not get held enough as a child God damn-) and no worries about being pushy! (You weren't honestly)

This was Bon, signing out

[cartoon-lizard]

Life at Sweet Apple Acres

a short appledash fic i wrote after having a need to read more of them in the future being old and married but there was a noticeable lack of exactly that :’) so enjoy! (i’ll update this with an ao3 link once i get an account lol)

In all her years, Rainbow Dash never believed that she would find home on a farm. Especially not Sweet Apple Acres. She’s sworn multiple times that if she ever got a chance to speak to her younger self, she would never believe her. Sure, being a veteran Wonderbolt and coaching the next generation at the academy, that one was a no-brainer, but living on a farm? Rainbow had to chuckle to herself when thinking about what that conversation would be like. As she’s curled up into her designated seat in the living room, she zones back in on her book. It’d been a while since she read through the Daring Do series, her last meeting with Twilight finally tipping her over the edge and giving in.

Rainbow practically had the pages memorized, Daring Do being really the only series she’s read in its entirety. She remembers back when A.K. Yearling had tried out different genres and published several more successful books after retiring as Daring Do. Rainbow, as her friend, made sure to read all of them as soon as they were released. But it was the original Daring Do series that still held a special place in her heart after all these years. She didn’t get very far in her reading though, as the golden sunlight was shining through the window and onto her seat, slowly putting Rainbow to sleep. It only felt like she had just closed her eyes when the door to the kitchen slammed open and the peace in the house seemingly ended.

Big Mac, Sugar Belle, and their son, Crispin Cake, were all bustling about in the kitchen. Thursday was one of their nights for making dinner, and each of them liked to do it all together. Rainbow marked her place in her book and stretched in her chair, yawning loudly to announce her presence. Sure enough, Crispin leaned out the doorway and smiled.

“Hi, Aunt Dashie!” He waved his hoof enthusiastically.

Rainbow waved back, leaning back with one hoof behind her head. “Hey, kiddo. What’s for dinner?”

“I think Mama said we’re having spaghetti tonight!”

“That sounds good, bud,” she suddenly sits up, eyebrows knit with slight concern. “Have you seen AJ? I came home early and thought she’d be out apple bucking, but I haven’t seen her.”

“I think Auntie Jack was over at the animal sanctuary, helping out Fluttershy.” The colt tapped his chin like he was trying to remember.

Rainbow smiled slightly. “That’s probably what’s taken her so long. I bet she’s having to wrangle all of Angel’s kids.”

The pegasus finally got out of her seat, cracking her back and her wings as she did so, and followed her nephew into the kitchen. While Big Mac and Sugar Belle did the cooking, Rainbow helped Crispin set up the table.

“Daddy, do you know if Auntie Applebloom is coming?”

“Eeyup.”

The colt’s smile grew as he went to grab an extra plate. It was clear that he loved his aunts, but he always got excited when he knew Applebloom would be joining them, since she lived closer to town and was usually at the School of Friendship a majority of the time.

Sugar Belle turned the temperature down on the sauce and looked back towards Rainbow Dash. “I hope we didn’t wake you Rainbow, we didn’t realize you were home.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” she shrugged, setting down a fork and a spoon. “Practice ended earlier than expected, and instead of starting the next exercise, I just decided to let the recruits have the rest of the day off. But they won’t get it so easy tomorrow when I bring out the Dizzy-tron!”

“It sounds like everything’s been going well with this new batch then?”

“Oh yeah, much fewer show offs and a lot more ponies who actually want to be in the academy.”

After a few more minutes of comfortable silence, Applebloom came bursting through the kitchen door. “I’m here! I’m here! I’m not late, am I?”

“Not at all,” Sugar Belle smiled. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“Mm, smells like spaghetti!”

It was well after everypony had their plate and was halfway done with their food by the time the kitchen door opened again and in came Applejack, looking frazzled and sweaty.

“Sorry I’m late, y’all,” she said, wiping her forehead, embarrassed. “Hope y’all don’t mind, but I invited Fluttershy over as well.”

The pegasus followed behind sheepishly, even as everypony responded with “there’s enough room”, or “we have plenty to go around”.

“Thank you so much for having me,” Fluttershy said as she sat between Applebloom and Rainbow.

“Been a hot sec,” Rainbow stretched a wing out and pulled Fluttershy in closer for a hug. “How’s the sanctuary been?”

“Oh, wonderful as always.”

“Yeah, ‘cept for all of Angel’s kin. Of all rabbits to multiply, that one knew what he was unleashin’.” Applejack finally sat down after washing her hooves and serving herself a plate. She reached down for Rainbow’s hoof and kissed it, keeping hold of it while she ate.

“And how’s that pesky roomie of yours,” Applebloom added, leaning towards Fluttershy, still under Dash’s wing. “Discord been behavin’ himself?”

“Of course he has,” she paused. “Although he did finally learn how to do the dishes correctly.”

“He doesn’t know how to do the dishes?” Applejack asked between bites. She looked appalled.

“Oh, no, no, he does, it was just… how he did them.”

Rainbow let her go, leaning on one hoof to face her friend. “Which was?”

Fluttershy smirked at the thought. “He would put them in the soapy water, but they would come out dirtier. All this time, I thought he was leaving a pile of dirty dishes, and when I would clean them, he would see the clean dishes and think they would need to be ‘dirtied up’. It went on for a long time until I was in the kitchen when he was doing the dishes and finally noticed.”

Everypony stared at the pegasus as she giggled at the mishap. How she’s managed to live with Discord, nopony knows, but it’s somehow worked for years now and neither friend has ever said anything negative about the other. They didn’t make sense, but as the draconequus always said, what fun is there in making sense?

Dinner continued, Applebloom was asked about how her job at the School of Friendship was going, Crispin told a long story about an adventure he had with Lil’ Cheese, and Sugar Belle updated everyone on how her village was doing after her most recent visit. The sounds of laughter and chatter filled the barn as it always has, decades of old memories within the walls. Eventually it grew late, and Fluttershy felt like she had overstayed her welcome, even though she never did. She tapped three times on the table and an unzipping sound could be heard from the living room, along with a flashing blue and purple glow. She said her goodbyes and stepped through the portal. The family moved into the living room, and as it grew later, Crispin couldn’t hide his yawning anymore, indicating it was time for bed. He gave everyone a sleepy goodnight hug, making sure Applebloom’s was extra tight, and headed upstairs for bed. The two couples and the little sister were left, and even when living together for so long, they still had plenty of stories to share, enough to go well past midnight.

“Applesauce, is that the time?” Applejack said, looking up at the clock. “Sugarcube, are you stayin’ the night here? It's pretty late.”

“Oh, no, I was plannin’ on headin’ back after dinner. Mighta got carried away though with the talkin’.”

“Walk back to your place? At this hour?”

“Well, yeah,” Applebloom said nonchalantly. “I’m not a baby Applejack, I can go by myself.”

Rainbow could tell Applejack tensed when she said that, but then quickly eased up. “You’re right. Sorry, sugarcube, sometimes I still feel like you’re that little filly. I’ll walk ya’ out.”

Applebloom smiled as she got up to hug her brother and Sugar Belle and then Rainbow. “Have a good night, y’all.”

Applejack was outside with Applebloom for a long time, most likely not wanting her to go. Rainbow knew she missed having her little sister there all the time like when she was growing up. She remembers how distant Applejack was for the first few weeks after Applebloom moved out. Even though she just lives near the center of town with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and still visits the farm regularly, Rainbow was still able to tell that Applejack missed her.

Once Applebloom was finally allowed to leave, Applejack came back in, curling up next to Rainbow. Their nightly routines were set and tonight was no different. Big Mac and Sugar Belle usually said their goodnights and headed for bed first, which left the two mares alone in the living room.

Applejack sat up to look at Rainbow, then leaned in to kiss her. “Haven’t properly said hello tonight.”

“I was starting to wonder,” Rainbow teased, kissing her forehead as she snuggled in closer. “Sounds like you had a rough time wrangling?”

“Well, y’know, I’m not built like I once was,” Applejack said, mostly jokingly. “I’m just worn out tonight, ‘sall.”

Rainbow wrapped her wing around her partner, who promptly used it as a blanket. The pegasus rolled her eyes. “We can go to bed, too, y’know?”

“I guess we could.” Applejack smirked as she reached a hoof up to Rainbow’s cheek. Right as she leaned into the touch, the hoof quickly moved to boop her snout, and Applejack was quick to wrestle herself out from under Dash’s wing and onto her hooves. “C’mon,” she said with a smile and tired eyes.

Entering their room, Rainbow took off her sweater and tossed it onto the nearby chair while Applejack took off her Granny Smith’s bonnet around her neck and placed it carefully on the dresser. She then took off her hat and shook her head of whatever dust or dirt was caught up there from a day’s work. Rainbow came up behind her, knowing she’ll ask to take the pin out from her hair. Applejack still kept her mane long, but more often than not would have it braided and tucked into a bun. Rainbow herself had kept her mane around the same length for the longest time, as if she made it a competition to see who could stand it longer. Apparently, Applejack was never a part of this imaginary competition. The day Rainbow finally chopped her hair off was the day she decided she would never grow it out again. Having a short mane felt much better, especially when flying, and she thought it looked good on her. Applejack’s reaction was confirmation enough when the pony’s face turned redder than her brother’s coat when she first saw Rainbow after her haircut.

She looked down at her partner’s mane as her wavy blonde hair unraveled from its braid. It was frizzy, stuck out in some places, and there were shimmers of silver here and there, but she loved it all the same. Looking at their reflection in the mirror on the dresser, she caught Applejack’s eye and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

As the two crawled into bed, it was quiet enough outside for Rainbow to hear the distant sound of howling. She didn’t question it and got under the covers, leaning herself against Applejack’s chest, who was sitting propped up on a pillow. Rainbow’s eyelids were growing heavy and she was ready to fall asleep when she felt hitched breathing coming from the other. She looked up to see what was the matter only to find quiet tears rolling down her wife’s cheeks.

Rainbow quickly sat up, cupping her hoof around her cheek. “What’s wrong?” She tried as hard as possible to sound gentle when speaking.

Applejack merely shook her head, looking down at her hooves beginning to bunch up the sheets piled in her lap. It was easy to tell she was too upset to speak, so Rainbow could only sit and watch with concern, waiting for something to be said. Applejack allowed her breathing to even out for a moment so she could say:

“The timberwolves are howlin’.” Her voice was shaky and as soon as she spoke her breathing resorted to gasps again. That was all Rainbow needed to hear though, because she knew. That was the first sign. Zap apple season is beginning. And it was the first harvest since losing Granny Smith.

“Oh,” she said quietly, reaching to wipe her tears away. “I- I’m sorry, hon’, I wish- I wish there was a better way we could predict it- I-”

“No, it’s alright,” Applejack said, wrapping a hoof around the other’s, taking a deep breath. “I knew the time would come eventually. Guess I was less prepared than I thought.”

Rainbow moved again to wipe the tears from her face. While she wasn’t in the family as long, Granny Smith still made her feel as much a part of it when she began dating Applejack. Rainbow was convinced that Granny considered her family before she ever even thought of being with Applejack. Granny was such an unstoppable force in the family, always making sure things got done, always providing for her grandchildren. Her impact was definitely felt when she passed.

“AJ, I know you know how much Granny loved you, loved all three of you.”

Applejack sniffed. “She loved you, too.”

“Heh, well, this isn’t about me right now.” Rainbow lifted her chin up so she could look her partner in the eyes. “Granny always wanted the best for all of you, and I saw how much she’s done for this family. She was such a strong pony, and she raised some strong ponies, too. And it’s because of that that I want you to know, it’s okay to be upset over this. I never want you to bottle something like this in. Losing someone sucks, especially somepony like Granny, that’s for sure. But, if I know her, she wouldn’t want to see you upset over her. I can practically hear her right now if she knew you were sad.” Applejack looked down again briefly, but her tears had stopped.

“Life is full of firsts, and this is no different. And I know it won’t get any easier as those firsts become seconds or thirds or so on, but I think it can also become a time to remember and look back on the good times you’ve had. We may not have Granny anymore, but she’s still with us in our memories and in what she’s left behind.”

Applejack looked up, her eyes still shining. Rainbow gave a small smile and Applejack leaned in, hugging her wife. Rainbow wrapped her arms around her, rubbing a hoof up and down her back as she squeezed tighter. When Applejack pulled away, she wiped her face and took a deep breath.

“Thank you, sweetheart. It’ll definitely be hard without Granny, but you’re right. I’ll have Big Mac and Applebloom, and of course you n’ Sugar Belle, and lil’ Cripsin. Granny wouldn’t want to see any of us upset, especially durin’ zap apple season.” She laughed slightly. “She’d tell us we don’t have time for that.”

Rainbow smiled at that, nodding. The two paused, taking a moment to themselves. After a while, Rainbow faced Applejack again and reached up to push her hair away from her face, her hoof lingering against the side of her head. It seemed what she said did the trick, Applejack wasn’t crying anymore. Her cheeks were flushed and she leaned into the touch sleepily, shutting her eyes. It was so rare to see her wife cry, and it in turn upset her as well. But Rainbow knew she needed to be the voice of reason at a time like this. It was more important to her that Applejack felt better. Applejack, whose head was currently getting heavier on Rainbow’s hoof.

“Well, I say we get some shut-eye. Gonna be pretty busy for the next few days,” she said quietly and the two slid further under the covers. Taking hold of Applejack’s hoof, Rainbow continued. “If you want, before I head up to the reserve, I can go into town and find Applebloom to tell her the harvest is starting. I know she’ll be excited to start making zap apple jam.”

Applebloom was really the only pony in the family who knew all the steps Granny did when it came to making a successful batch of zap apple jam. That was always a special time for the two to work together.

“Y’know, I reckon Crispin will be able to help out Applebloom in makin’ the jam this season,” Applejack said, a small smile on her face at the thought of her nephew. “He’ll love gettin’ to do that with her.”

“Another first right there,” Rainbow said, a smug edge to her voice.

“Alright, I believe you’ve made your point,” Applejack rolled her eyes and lightly kicked Rainbow’s leg. “Thank you, though. I needed to hear that.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

“It’s much more than just that,” Applejack said, scooching closer to the pegasus and kissing her. “I love you. So much.”

Rainbow smiled, taking Applejack’s hoof and kissing it, then her forehead. As she pulls back, she takes a moment to simply look at her wife. Years of teasing and competitions, small looks and quiet gestures, long nights filled with laughter and heartaches, and a friendship evolving into romance and so much more. They’ve been through so much together, but Rainbow wouldn’t know where she would be without it all. It’s not a life she ever expected, but it’s one she wouldn’t trade for the world. Especially if it was spent with the pony next to her.

“I love you, too.”

[brainrot-stitch]

😈😈😈 (also u can draw any of my ocs if u want woahh!!!)

Putting a cut actually cuz this was long whoopsy

M!heartbreak is an au of heartbreak but I just. Like this version more💔. There's a sp au called mirai park which has since been deleted and the person who made it wants no association with it btw. But I thought the general concept ("ur god is dead fight the other players whoever wins/survives becomes god) was cool and moved on. That's where i first heard abt it at least idk if there's like a show or smth it's based on. But anyways later on some of my little guys got snatched from their worlds and put in a killing game to become a god, and heartbreak was one of them!! I didn't do this btw sometimes events just happen I can't control sighhh.. but yea he's there now. Currently the mirai au is unfinished but I'm slowly learning what's happening to them and sadly heartbreak had a dead end :(( it's ok tho he js got sent back to his world (which I know very little about sigh). This is also a more humanized version of him, as all the contestants were given more humanoid forms bc they were either anthro or feral. (Heartbreak was anthro but I need to redesign it BAD). Anyways while competing he's really put together and is good at fighting. He's probably got the best um. Idk how to say it. Survival skill? Idk smth like that. Out of all of them. Bro knows how to survive and defend himself which is so odd he died before the final few. Seeing how he died I can guess who got to him tho :( anyways here's his ref!!!

Wooo mlp ocs!!

None of them have a lot of lore yet so I'll do all of them for now :3

Azure- basically 0 backstory idk what her deal is. When I was sick and like dozing off (like sleeping but I could wake myself up if needed) I saw her and woke up to sketch them rq before going back to sleep lol.

Greyscale- my first pony oc! Not much lore they js kinda chill :3 they have a bf I don't have a set design for yet but bro is a silly goose

???- don't have a name for her yet but it's from the equestria civil war au by @/captainzigo :D. It's an alicorn experiment oc and u can find out more abt those if u go check her out bc idk how to explain it well 💔. She's a very yapful yapper and real energetic and excitable. It's deal is that the scientists mixed her dna with not only a pegasus but also changelings so she's got like. Feathery bug wings. And also those funky holes in its back legs. She's silly I think :3

Their refs!! (Greyscales looks like ass bc I made the wings too big but I don't feel like fixing it so bros gotta stay like that

And finally axel!!! Ough I love axel he's my little freak creature..

Soo he's a funky little minecraft oc :3 hes an avian but he's got a sculk infection going on tho. Currently he lives in the deep dark, usually above or somewhere near the ancient city. He likes to hang around on ledges or in crevices high up in the caverns. He also really likes being in lush caves but always ends up going back to his place in the deep dark. He does sometimes go to the surface, but usually only at night. Bright light is starting to hurt his eyes (he likes the dim glow of the glowberries (: ). Wardens don't really give a shit abt him as long as he's quiet and stays out of their way. Due to his time in the deep dark (he's been there for years btw) he's learned to keep quiet by instinct. He's a silent flier and he speaks in a sort of whisper voice? That's not really a whisper?? Idk how to describe it. His voice is real quiet basically idk

He can leave the deep dark n all that, but the longer he's away the more effects it has on him. After recovering from the initial injury (will talk abt that in a bit) he tried to leave for good but ended up eventually going back. He tells himself that it's just because he wants to, not that he's being affected by the sculk growing on him. He knows he's lying. Anyways!! The longer he's gone the worse he gets btw. The symptoms of.. idk what to call it. The whatever, I guess? Can range from like irritability or homesickness to getting fevers or migranes and a clawing urge deep in his throat to get back.

Anyways how he got infected/stuck in the deep dark!!! He n some pals went to the ancient city bc they heard there was cool loot n stuff (despite their village leader specifically telling them NOT to). They didn't know shit about the deep dark tho and ended up eventually triggering a warden. They panicked obvi and the warden aggro-ed on them and they got their asses BEAT. While they were trying to run back axel got shot by a skeleton and then hit by the warden back into a uhhh fuckin like. Crack in the ground?? Idk how to describe it well but like a crevice. Anyways he passed tf out and was down there long enough for the sculk to infect the wound (which is on his left shoulder/bicep btw. It's where the X is :3). His friends were like "oh shit he's a fuckin goner" and ran! Bro got abandoned so sad sighhhh. He eventually got better but bro was sculked :( he still convinces himself his pals are gonna come back some day (they are not<3).

Sooo bro has been in total isolation for like. Years. Idk how many years tho I haven't found that out yet💔 bro is NOT mentally stable!! Also here's his ref :3

Ermmm haiii oc doodles :D

Might add some more later..

[blysse-and-blunder]

in lieu of daylight savings time

mid-feb to early march, 2022

for the last three weekends, i've gone into campus on a sunday and had a really lovely long focused work session + bubble tea-- but this has thrown off my ~blogging rhythm~ and we can't take it any longer! if i tried to capture everything since the last time i did one of these, we'd be here all night. so this is the start of the late-feb / early march rounding up, with more to come (hopefully) sooner rather than later.

reading late feb saw my hold on patricia highsmith's the price of salt come in at the same time as i was finishing giovanni's room (see the previous ilcb post), so late feb / early march 2022 has been abt foundational works of queer fiction i guess. turns out the price of salt is incredible, ms highsmith thank you for your service, the biggest lasting impact from reading this will probably be thinking so so much about how communication/travel/relationships have changed in the last sixty years, but also i am obsessed with therese's rebirth at the end, very delighted by the choice to have her be an aspiring set designer, and still getting over the tension of the road trip-cross country chase. and finally, now i can watch carol (2015).

pull quote:

In the middle of the block, she opened the door of a coffee shop, but they were playing one of the songs she had heard with Carol everywhere, and she let the door close and walked on. The music lived, but the world was dead. And the song would die one day, she thought, but how would the world come back to life? How would its salt come back? (p. 288)

listening @madonnavenus sent me the link to chappelle roan's single pink pony club a little while ago, and it has been on repeat in my head and on my phone since then. the opening jangle of saloon piano, the mounting combination of, like, delighted and also scandalized confessional energy, before bursting out in glitter and dancing. the heartbeat BA-duh and everything that comes next in the bass and synths under that first 'god, what have you done?' it feels like it echoes out in, like, this cosmic way--occupying this huge space with shimmer. the video is also good:

because of this song i now have a sptify playlist entitled 'i'm gonna keep on dancing' with two whole songs on it, the other by orville peck. watch this space for more gay country thoughts coming up next.

watching well folks, we did it, we beat the rona for good and all, mission accomplished, good game, everyone can relax--and the way i know is bc i went back to the movies in february, for the first time since 2020. all joking aside, i did give my housemate a birthday gift of a year's membership to this tiny beautiful historic cinema in our area, and we did go to see paul verhoeven's benedetta (2021).*

taking three medievalists to a medieval film is always going to be a wild ride, but for this movie in particular we all had so many thoughts. generally positive! the costumes, locations, everything visually (hats! hurdy gurdy! medieval drama in multiple forms i'm gesticulating wildly) worked so beautifully. the film is based on actual historical events, and i have the book (immodest acts by judith brown, 1987) which i will eventually do more than look at proudly on my bedside table aslgk;lkj;lkg-- but perhaps even more so, because of its many successes in adapting something ~historical~ and in seeming to respect the source material, i had big questions about other directorial/writing choices. there was so much about the 'romance' that wasn't...romantic. an awful lot of entirely un-erotic nudity (which by itself isn't a bad thing! bodies just bein bodies, etc), and sexy moments that were shot like they were just. transactional? there was a big Energy between the two women, but it wasn't tender for most of the time they were involved-- which, again, perhaps that's a choice! the film stopped showing us things in benedetta's subjectivity right around the time that there start being significant doubts about her visions and miracles, so that we can't know if she's faking or not, so the mystery about that is preserved-- but it also meant we didn't really get a lot of her emotions or thoughts around bartolomea either. she clearly gets tender, see the teaching her to write scene, but we the audience didn't get to witness the steps to that feeling. also bartolomea's whole character got so little time to reveal itself (the actress is extraordinary, very intense gaze, very strong opinions happening with no real expression of them in words) aside from the abuse just like piled on her, and sure maybe her behavior is ~accurate~ given what she lived through, but it's still a directorial choice to depict that, to use that, and i'm just. still questioning it. 11/10 for lay piety and plague panic behavior, medieval entertainment and performance, loved the mother superior and her absolute clear-eyed calculating behavior, loved the incredibly awful papal nuncio, i truly believe a medieval audience would have seen jesus come in on a white horse to slay some demons and just hooted and hollered. minor deductions for excessive lactation.

*(granted, the cinema had at the time one of the better vax passport / mask policies in place; as our area loosens restrictions i may go back to uhhh not seeing movies in person for a while)

playing dnd took a brief hiatus at the end of feb because one of our party members became a parent (!!), but i got to hang out with a different party member and one of my housemates taught us this boardgame. it's a bit like scotland yard in that one player is in hiding / on the run and the others have to strategize together to find them, and i had so much fun being dracula and avoiding having to use teamwork and just cackle to myself while doing dastardly things and causing problems on purpose.

making there’s a post out there that I saw again relatively recently, and which I will link here EDIT: link as soon as I can lay hands on it again bc in this house we pay tribute to original artists, but it made me so happy that I ate it a la the Maurice Sendak quote did my own version. have oil pastels, will commit color crimes you know?

working on Spent an unconscionable amount of time last week and the week before prepping for a 15 minute mini lecture on one of my research topics, gave it on Tuesday last week, and have basically done nothing since this isn’t true I did grade (also for an unconscionably long time) and spend like five hours today trying to make some order out of the chaos that are my ra-ship transcriptions. meeting with research supervisor on friday whomst?

[ohfugecannada]

So I’ve been on a bit of an My Little Pony kick since I’ve been watching a few of youtuber Shunks’s MLP iceberg videos (which I highly recommend you check out if your an MLP fan btw) and somthing that struck me today is how there really aren’t any other examples of dedicated toy lines that fit into the “horse doll” niche My Little Pony fills.

I know that feels like a weird to say, but... i dont know. When I started researching it I assumed MLP had to have some competition in this market. Like, just look at the fashion doll world, for instance; Barbie came onto the scene in the 50s, essentially creating the fashion doll toy nice as we it today and now there are many individual brands like Bratz, Monster High, LOL OMG, Disney Princesses etc etc that have taken inspiration form Barbie yet still have their own identity, providing competition and maintains the fashion doll su genre of toys.

Meanwhile MLP just... doesn’t have that.

I mean sure there were a few toy lines that tried to replicate their style and success, like those “fakies” like the Lanard ponies, those Cabbage Patch Kids ponies, and those Bratz Ponyz etc. Plus you do see those funny dollar store knock offs from time to time. But for the most part, especially in the modern day, My Little Pony doesn’t have any other competition in the Horse Doll niche like you see Barbie has in the fashion doll niche.

Granted, there are a few good reasons for this; conceptually, I guess designers find it easier to think of possible themes for a n 11” female figure to explore, eith a horse, even a cute stylised one, I feel like they’d have more limited options when crafting a theme, backstory characters etc. (Though, i dont know if that’s entirely true. I’d say that the horse dolls we know, I.e. mlp, have only really fallen into the thematic category of “pet toy”, fantasy or slice of life play sets, but that’s for another post...)

the second bigger reason I think is that the competitors in the past I mentioned earlier borrowed to much from MLP and its style. The candy coloured coats and manes of the horses, the rump symbols, the posed bodies etc, they were basically identical to MLP without doing much to innovate or actually carve out an identity of their own. There was also the fact that these Pony or horse centric toys were spin offs or side lines to other more popular non-horse centric dolls (Ponyz and the Cabbage Patch Ponies being good examples) which meant they were often just used as accessories to capitalise off MLP’s success.

So yeah, long story short, I’m surprised to learn how few actual examples there are in the “horse doll” sub-genre of toys...

[lo-55]

Playing With Fire

While playing a perfectly innocent video game you get thrown into a dangerous world on the brink of incineration! At least you’re surrounded by a bunch of hot people. If nothing else you can shower them with copious, well earned affection. 

You come awake with a start. 

Everything is just a little off kilter. Like your eyes aren’t focused or you're wearing someone else's glasses. It takes you a few long minutes to realize that you’re staring down at a piece of paper. 

It’s listed one through eight, with a check box next to each number. 

At the top you see ‘Company Preference List’, and beneath that is your name scrawled in your own handwriting. But, when did you write it? And what was the list? You look up to find yourself in a library, surrounded by a bunch of other people all dressed in orange uniforms. You look down and find yourself in the same one. You recognize it as the Fire Force boiler suits. 

You touch your cheek slowly. Then poke the corner of your eyes. You’re not wearing your VR visor. And you’re not holding handles either. Are you hallucinating? You were playing the game, in the middle of some side quest. Did the game reset? This looked like a scene from the start of the game. It followed the beginning of the series, but through the eyes of a random side character researching Haijima on their own. There was some kind of revenge plot and a lot of stuff about their big sister, but you hadn’t gotten to the full reveal of the tragic back story yet. They interacted with the main characters plenty, but mostly they spent their time in their own squad, the fourth. 

You were halfway through the game, and now you were back at the start?

You look around for something to tell you what’s going on. You try to poke the menu button, but you’re not holding controllers. So all you really end up doing is poking the air between your hands with your thumbs. You’re starting to panic, when something shiny catches your attention. 

When did you get that ring? 

Plain silver on your forefinger. You poke it and gasp when the world shifts minutely. 

A flicker of fire, a figure dark against the light. It warps in and out of your vision in a split second. 

Right. Tragic back story. 

The ring was from their (your?) older sister. Now disappeared a-la-infernal fire. You were like the reverse Shinra. 

Wait. 

Shinra. 

Your head snapped around quickly from one person to the other. Most of them were boring background characters. No, no, no. Boring. Lame. Basically grey blobs. 

Were you going crazy and you couldn’t even enjoy it?! 

“Uh, hey? Are you okay?” 

Your head snaps sideways to find bright red eyes peering at you in concern. 

Red eyes. Black hair. 

You stare hard at him until the corners of his mouth start to twitch and curl upwards. 

“H-hey. Why are you staring at me?” 

Abruptly you reach over and cup his cheeks. His face is hot beneath your hands. You can touch him. You can feel the heat of his skin. He’s blushing something fierce. 

“You are… adorable,” you declare. 

He turns bright red and squeaks at you until you finally let him go. 

“What?!” 

“Did I stutter?” you prop your chin in your hand and look him over. Yep. Definitely cute. You just wanna squeeze him. But, you should probably do other things first. Like figure out what exactly is going on. 

Not that you can come outta the gate with ‘hey I was playing a video game and now I’m stuck in it, also I thought you weren’t real? What gives yo?’ 

Even you aren’t that impulsive. 

Actually, in real live you’re not very impulsive at all. That was what made games so fun, especially open world ones where you could do basically whatever you wanted. IRL you were more withdrawn than anything, even when you wanted to be social. 

Now… You could be whoever you wanted, right? 

Did you even have to follow the plot? Could you put a preference for another company and go there? Or would you still end up in the forth? And what about your abilities? In the game you’d had a choice at the beginning between a second gen ability and two third gen powers. You’d ended up picking at random, since they all seemed cool and you hadn’t been very far into the anime yet at the time. 

How would you even use those powers here, assuming that you could? 

“Sorry, I was spacing out,” you finally said, “What were you saying?” 

“Oh uh,” Shinra looked away, his grin still pulling at his face. “I was just asking if you were okay. You were looking at the form for so long, but whenever you talked about joining a company before you always said you would go to the fourth. Not that we talk a lot, so I wouldn’t know if you wanted to go to the fifth or the sixth or the seventh or-” 

“Babe, you’re rambling,” you cut in, starting to smile yourself. Even though you’re beyond confused something about Shinra puts you at ease. Everything about him seems so… warm. And yeah, the smile could be off putting. If it wasn’t so damn adorable. 

“O-oh!” aaaand he was blushing again. 

You look down at the paper, your brows furrowing. What are you even supposed to say to this? 

“I dunno,” you said at last, “I guess I was reconsidering. There’s a lot of companies, and a lot of options out there. I might end up going a totally different path if it’s not too late… What about you?” 

“Me? Well I didn’t really have a particular preference, but I heard that they’re trying to send more people to the eighth this year. Since its such a new company, and so small.” 

“Mmmm. That’s true. Maybe I’ll go there,” you muse. It would put you smack in the middle of all the action, and you could see the sweet Iris, and the too-hot-to-be-fair Maki. You could stay with adorable Shinra and the well meaning dumbass that was Arthur. Not to mention the two guys in charge. If you could get Obi to bench press you- 

Nope! Bad! Focus on the task at hand. No thirsting over captains right now! 

“I was thinking the same thing,” Shinra admitted, looking down at his own paper. 

“Yeah? I guess such a small company would make it easy for you to stand out and come a hero, right?” 

Shinra looked startled. You offered him a sweet smile and turned back to your paper and picked up your pen. 

You marked your preferences. 

Eighth, seventh, fourth, second, fifth, sixth, third, first. 

“The eighth and the seventh?” Shinra asked, peaking over at your sheet. 

You shot him a grin. “They both sound like fun to me. Hey, Shinra?” 

“Yeah?” 

Your grin grows wider. “Let’s both do our best, and save lots of people okay?” 

Shinra’s smile is small, but true. 

“Okay.” 

You bump your fist to his to seal the deal. 

~ 

It had taken you a couple of tries to find your dorm room. 

Your body seemed like it knew what it was doing, even if your mind didn’t. You had to explain away your frazzled state to the woman in charge of your wing, a nun who’s name you couldn’t recall to save your life, as nerves. She had looked dubious, but hadn’t questioned you when she pointed you to your room. 

Probably thinks I’m hung over, you thought as you stepped inside. If I didn’t know better I’d think I was drunk enough to hallucinate. But it’s all way too real. Just what happened? One second I was playing the game, and then my phone went off, and then it was all dark. After that I was in the library. 

 It was making your head hurt thinking about it. 

You poked around the room. If you remembered right you’d had a roommate, but she’d already been assigned her company a week early. Her dad was some top brass in the military, so off to the second company she went, 

You made sure the door was locked before you started riffling through your things. 

Books, papers, clothes. Personal items. 

You had a collection of antique keys for some reason, and a blanket shaped like a tortilla that was warmer than most space heaters. There was an old lighter with a hawk engraved on it in one drawer. When you touched it you got the sudden smell of pipe tobacco and a man laughing far in the back of your mind before it was gone. Just like when you touched the ring earlier. 

Memories that weren’t yours. You had stepped into someone else's life. 

When you looked in the mirror you found the face that your had designed for your character staring back at you. There was a thin ring of white in your eyes, cutting through their color and marking you as a pyrokinetic. 

Shit. Each of those abilities had a different eye. Which one was the circle? There was a circle, a pointy cross, and teardrop because the designer was some edgelord. Which power does this mean I have? Wings? Magnet sand? Or the spear torch thingy? 

You wished this could have been more like Fate/Grand Order. Then you would just have to keep track of your teams abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Not your own. 

Fuck. 

You spend a long time in your room, packing up all of your belongings. None of them really belong to you. They belong to your character, and they’re only familiar in the sense that you’ve thrown them over your shoulder when you were looking for something specific before. Only now if you throw them they won’t puff back to where they were before eventually. You’ll actually have to put this stuff away. 

Damn it, you’ve never liked packing. 

Still, you carefully rolled your new found clothes into baggage burritos. They were pretty plain, all in all. Oh well. You could make adjustments later if you really wanted to. Was it a game mechanic you haven't unlocked? Full customization? You could pick gender and hair, and the eyes depended on your pyrokinesis. Maybe at some point you got to change clothes too. 

You’d figure it out. 

You hoped. 

Your head was still reeling the with the idea of what was going on, but for now, with nothing else you really could do, you decided to go with it. 

Once you had everything all packed up you left your room to do some exploring. You tried to keep track of where you were going in the big fire station/training academy, but before long you were hopelessly lost. 

You stumbled upon a training room, where a familiar boy with a dorky pony tail was slashing a glowing blue sword through a training dummy. The poor dummy fell to the floor in pieces. 

You watched him for a few minutes before he noticed you. 

“Oh,” he said, “It’s you.” 

Which was… pretty lame, if you’re being honest. 

What, did you one pop his delusional bubble? 

“Yep,” you popped your ‘p’, “It’s a-me.” Mario. “What did that guy ever do to you? Try to challenge the great Knight King Arthur on a troll bridge?” you meant it to be a joke, but Arthur actually lit up. 

“Hardly! This was merely training. A Knight King must always be ready to defend his people!” 

“Of course,” you nodded along, playing with him. “And soon you’ll be embarking on a great quest to your new company, right? Do you know which one?” 

“I didn’t bother with those silly preference sheets. Let whichever company requires a knight most vie for my presence.” 

You were honestly impressed Arthur even knew the word ‘vie’. Wasn’t he kind of a loon? 

“Mhmm, mhmm, I see,” you nodded seriously. “Then in case, I might see you in my own company.” 

You wanted to ask him to spar, if only to see Excalibur in action more, but you still weren’t sure what your power was or how to use it. So you ended up bowing out. 

It took you another hour to find your way  back to your room. 

Whoops. 

You don’t really sleep. You lay down and try to wake up, and hope that come morning you’ll be back in your living room with a vr stapped to your head and this whole thing will have been a (not so terrible) dream. 

Keep Dreaming. 

~    ~

[0poole]

Soul

Breaking news, everyone: Pixar made another slapper.

I’m gonna get it out of the way first, but the only (and yes, only. Not like someone trying to say “only” even though they have many more nitpicks that they just don’t want to talk about) problem I had at all was that the super high realism of the settings of Earth kind of made the more cartoony faces of the people look a little more off. But, it’s kinda like the same thing people were talking about with that cat in Toy Story 4. It looks super real, which is impressive, but I feel like it was almost too real compared to the faces. Obviously it was too real compared to the supernatural settings because that was intentional, but yeah. It’s not even a big problem, it’s just the only one I can think of. I do think the realistic renderings of hair, light, water, etc at least work with cartoony stuff, but apart from that it looked almost like it could’ve been a photograph, with no exaggeration in the buildings or anything else.

I mean, I love the faces, so I definitely wish they went the extra mile showing extra personality and character in the buildings, as faces do with characters. Considering the faces matter like a bazillion times more, I still think they knocked it out of the park on the visuals. People with more investment and knowledge into the topic already said that the faces of any of the people of color felt cartoony and unique while also being true to life and respectful (My family recently stumbled onto some old animations from the 30s and lemme tell ya... We’ve come a long way), but seriously the characters that sold me on the visuals were the Picasso-esque beings who may or may not be the Gods of the universe maybe?

Spoiler boundary of course. It’s definitely worth a watch.

And that’s honestly what made the realistic world so much better. When the accountant guy went into the real world to set the count right, it was one of the most fun I’ve had just watching something. The sheer contrast between him and the world was so much fun, and it even solidified that those beings weren’t even acting in a different dimension or anything. They’re literally just beings that exist, meaning that all the other parts with the unborn souls and such are just as real as Earth. Or, even better, they’re the ones who can just casually rip a hole in dimensions. As far as depictions of Gods go, if they are even Gods at all, I think they’re one of the best I’ve ever seen. They feel like they could actually be how Gods actually exist, since all the commonalities of Gods involve supernatural power, which would suggest they’re supernatural themselves. I mean, I have a story with Gods in it too and they’re basically just that although admittedly a lot less imaginative.

With those guys being my favorite design, second place definitely goes to the lost souls, although obviously for more subjective reasons. 1) They’re purple, 2) They have one eye, 3) That eye is yellow which I always think is the best compliment to purple, 4) Tentacles, 5) Creepy in a kid’s movie. Franky, I would’ve made them a lot creepier, but even then they’re super creepy, if not visually then in their behavior. They’d just be kind of sad if they were just mumbling around, but since the first introduction to them starts charging at the main characters like a deranged monster. Considering how weird everything in that dimension is, finding something that isn’t nearly as innocent as everything else instantly invokes fear, since you have no idea what that thing can and wants to do to you. Sort of similar, I would’ve also made the “In the Zone” moments a bit more crazy and colorful, like when Joe fell through the void between the road to the Great Beyond and the You-seminar (is that how it’s spelled?), but these “I would do it differently”s might just be a fault of my design ideas or just subjective interests. I would’ve watched 2 hours of pure, nonsensical abstract worlds like the You-seminar with no explanation to how they work.

I definitely have a relief with the story, mostly entirely revolving around 22′s character. I was kind of worried she’d be too childish to really enjoy, but I feel like she was done really well. All the major historical figures’ remarks on how hopeless she were both funny and also really tied into her character “flaw” at the end as she was a lost soul. It might not be the most unique character archetype of all time, but it definitely makes sense, with all the people bringing her down implanting in her mind that she was an anomaly, and after a while was just sort of following it. Plus, she seemed genuinely interested in Joe’s weirdness, instead of being super mindlessly irreverent. And her being able to expand Joe’s understanding about his own world, like with the barber and his student, brings her up as more than a whiny, bratty child in the scope of the story. She didn’t JUST learn.

Even though I kind of expected it from the get-go, I’m also relieved that the movie didn’t shy away as much with the dark elements of death. It was kind of suggested that this wasn’t going to be a perfectly casual romp through a magical afterlife like Inside Out was with the mind because of the unborn souls unabashedly saying “Hell” in the TRAILER of the movie. I feel like that alone made the story super interesting, because it shows they’re actually going to be a bit more serious with things instead of just simplifying the unknowable complexities of the before & afterlife. Even with the dead souls going into the Great Beyond, it was a mix of being weirdly peaceful for some and super scary for others. My family thought it was peaceful for the most part, but my mom specifically though it was terrifying, and even though it’s a lot more peaceful than almost all other depictions of death, I can’t blame her. The souls were just kinda accepting it, like they’d been brainwashed or something, but still acknowledged that they were dead and were going into the afterlife. Plus, Joe, being the main character who we are supposed to sort of reflect in a way, was super freaked out by it, so that could easily suggest it’s to be afraid of and the other people are the weird ones.

I think the true message of the story being so strange was better too, because it would’ve been so boring if it fell into a super basic message we’ve heard millions of times. I feel like it has a similar sentiment to the basic messages, but is at least a more interesting way of saying it, if it is even like that in the first place, because it’s also somewhat vague in a good way. I think my brother/mother misinterpreted and simplified things a bit too much, where they thought it was sort of like a happier way of saying “accept your lot in life and don’t change it.” I could probably go on a full other rant about why I think this is wrong, but part of it is I don’t really know how they came to this conclusion in the first place, considering with that scene with that guy who threw the computers off his desk as his lost soul was cured (I guess you could call it that?), who obviously realized he wasn’t okay with his lot in life and was destined to change it. I think they sort of misinterpreted “the spark” and other things it as a 100% for-real, this-is-how-the-real-world-works sort of way, and not as much as a fictional way of saying things. Not necessarily symbolic, but I guess symbolic also? It has some of the same weird logical problems as the Cutie Marks from My Little Pony, except they’re obviously better since Cutie Marks determine your life down to your very job some of the time, while “sparks” are more vague and seemingly up to you. They’re more like when an unborn soul realizes there’s something on Earth they want to figure out, not necessarily their hobbies or jobs. For example, they kind of cited the barber character as the one who supported their point, but I think he does the complete opposite. He wanted to be a vet, but he ended up being a barber. But, they sort of assumed his “spark” was to be a barber, and that his personal interests didn’t matter because the “spark” forced him into a less favorable job. But, in reality, I feel like his “spark” is more his interest in love for the people around him, which is why he decided to get a more practical job to support his daughter (wife? one of the two) when he really needed to. Plus, he still enjoys being a barber because his devotion to love lets him connect to people as he cuts their hair. After all, he seems to be succeeding in his goal, since Joe was just like “Hey, let’s go see this guy he’s the exact guy we need!” People who don’t show love and interest for others don’t make that kind of impression in people’s minds. I feel like if we knew each story of everyone’s life down to the last detail we could fully determine what the mechanics of the world and its people are meant to say from a fictional context, but with such a limited selection I don’t think you can say something so sure. Sure, every choice in a movie is made specifically for a purpose, but I feel like if a movie tries to hard to be like “Oh but don’t worry here’s an exception” a million times it gets bogged down by its own attempt to make the message as obvious as possible.

Anyway...

There are also a lot of neat little details I loved, like how even though they did this for basically no other point in the movie, they made sure to include people from all around the world in that mess of dead souls, firmly sort of putting in the idea that the entire globe is in a sense one single entity that leads to the same place. They could’ve so easily just made everyone speak English for that throwaway scene, but I feel like including people from all around the world was very beneficial. Even the EXTRA little things, like the path to the Great Beyond looking like the neck portion of a guitar with the metal bits that separate the notes, or the facial features of the Gods blurring when they turned their heads in the other direction.

But yeah, who would’ve guessed Pixar made another good movie, right? Even then, Soul’s in the upper echelon of Pixar films. I really hope they (and Disney) realize they can go bonkers with a movie and still benefit/survive from it, since they’re so damn rich and inherently profitable. I think AAA animated movies like this that are the perfect amount of artsy are few and far between, and we need more of them. If anything, I hope they get more artsy, but I guess I’ll still never say no to a fun fantastical romp either. Basically, Pixar has looped me into watching any and everything they produce because it’s never “bad” I think. In the grand scheme of quality, even their worst work (Cars 2) is still not “terrible,” per se, even if it feels like it exists more as a cash grab than a genuine tale.

[a-very-fond-farewell]

The forbidden crack! Untamed prompts: 19/?

Wedding Planner AU [xicheng edition]: “Chickens on the Loose”

[let me have this]

Jiang Cheng doesn’t believe in love and that’s precisely the reason why he plans other people’s special day. The most extravagant, the boldest, the loudest, the better. Because if there’s something he got to accept over the years is that people aren’t willing to pay for something realistic, but for something unattainable instead. Over-compensating bland, ordinary reality with fantasy and dreams is his job and he’s well aware that no one can compete with his genius. Not with his father owning a catering and food chain company. Not with his mother being the most sought out wedding gown fashion designer on the market. They taught him everything there is to know on how to make other people’s dream come true before the inevitable envelope of a dainty, innocuous divorce application can make its way in a once happy household. Better make the satisfaction last, because Jiang Cheng will only accept advanced payments in cash, no monthly installments allowed.

His sister YanLi may have married honoring tradition over useless exaggeration, but what did her love bring aside from suffering and neglect? Marrying into the richest family in the country to the heir of a textile empire has given her nothing but sorrow and a husband too proud and distant to even visit her regularly. Jin Ling growing up without a father, spoiled rotten by the wrong side of the family who lured him into their shining world of nothingness day after day. At least Jiang Cheng’s family did rise from nothing and learned to trick the rich into relying on useless services soon enough. But Jin ZiXuan and his family had never worked once in their life and didn’t know how to take care of their loved ones. Not that Jiang Cheng’s parents could do any better, their marriage a wasteland where no love could grow, but at least they were honest about it. Better enjoy a dream while it lasts.

That is why if even Wei Ying’s marriage were to turn out to utter shit like YanLi’s, at least it will not be Jiang Cheng’s fault. Everything needs to be perfect, from the vows to the tea ceremony, from the food to the color scheme, from the seat arrangements to the music. Hell, some of his stepbrother’s requests may be too much to handle for most, but not for Jiang Cheng and if Wei Ying wants a parade and a whole week worth of celebrations, Wei Ying will have exactly that.

Hence he will not, under any circumstance, allow anyone snooping around as he plans the wedding of the century. No, not even the fiancée’s overprotective older brother asking people for blackmailing material on Wei Ying behind Jiang Cheng’s back. Not even if he pays him in nature, no ma’am.

... . ... . ... . ...

Lan Huan is the best divorce attorney in town precisely because he believes in unconditional love. That’s why he doesn’t see the point of two people (or three people, on one memorable case in Europe) spending the rest of their life together if change is inevitable and something to be expected. He would much prefer to get the best deal out of it for his clients and prevent children to suffer from it in the process.

Judges fear him and his diplomatic smile that can never hide his tunnel vision drive for victory. His trusty private investigator Nie HuaiSang is equally terrified by his assets, but still feeds him with the juiciest details whenever Lan Huan asks for favors, discreetly requesting the younger man to do background checks on this or that subject. Settlements may be nice, but not if the (soon to be ex) husband or wife in question can be easily found guilty of adultery, gaslighting, or even violence. Not on Lan Huan’s watch.

That’s why his world gets completely turned over the moment his younger brother Lan Zhan announces his intention to marry a man he hasn’t known for a full three months yet. Truth to be told, Lan Huan had never seen him this happy: glowing with something akin to adoration, affection dripping from every pore, love spilling all over just by mentioning one name, Wei Ying. In case this rascal happens to crush his precious baby brother’s heart, Lan Huan needs to find dirt on this man and squeeze everything he has out of his dead cold hands the second his brother files a request for a divorce.

But for some reason Nie HuaiSang cannot seem to be found for the job this time around. Not unlike most of his other contacts and informants, who have seemingly disappeared at the mention of his brother’s fiancee’s name. If this Wei Ying is such a big fish in the sea to make even Lan Huan’s most loyal colleagues dissolve into thin air, then he must find the answers by himself.

And if it means to bomb the wedding preparations to get shit done, oh he will. He’s not above flirting to get what he wants, but if this Wei Ying turns out to be a good person in the end... well. Lan Huan prays things won’t get too messy to proceed with the celebrations in the end. Hopefully, that is.

[fun stuff under the cut.]

NHS went to uni with Wei Ying and he knows LXC won’t find anything on him bc WWX himself is a blackmail master and will 100% diss you in front of your children calling you out on your deepest secrets so no. NHS will not mess with that and he urges to do as much to all LXC’s informants and sources.

JC looks scary but his staff loves how dedicated he is and they make bets on when he’s going to lose it and sleep with someone out of frustration. although they think he gets more turned on by going over every point in his check-lists at times...

LXC’s colleague always ask him if he’s dating anyone, clearly to set him up with someone (who will not be of LXC’s liking, he’s sure). to which he answers by smiling and lying saying he has a terrible personality. since nobody believes him, he asked his friend Meng Yao to make a scene at the firm once: (all too pleased to mess with his bestie’s reputation) Meng Yao murder-walked into the office and demanded to meet LXC, only to cry in front of everyone and smack him across the face for cheating on him. THEN his sister A-Su made her sudden appearance and smacked LXC’s other cheek lamenting the same, ridiculous thing. the two siblings gaped in fake horror at each other before spitting on LXC and storming off of the building.

NMJ laughed his ass off for weeks after the sharade. he started dating A-Su not long after (with both JGY and LXC’s blessings) bc he was mildly impressed by her willingness to jump on the opportunity to make a fool of both LXC and her brother at once. LXC thinks they are a good match, but he worries A-Su might be too tiny and full of undiluted mischief for NMJ to be able to handle her antics.

NMJ used to date LXC, but they were too driven and competitive to let their relationship get in the way and in the end they stopped seeing each other. they still care deeply for one another, but they love their jobs at the firm too much and making things messy at the office wasn’t worth it. A-Su knows about it and doesn’t feel left out because of it, glad that they settled into their respective lives while still being loyal friends to each other.

JGY tries to set LXC up with a new woman every week, saying he would benefit from having a cute wife taking care of him. but LXC doesn’t know what business JGY has to talk about women that way when Meng Yao’s been a raging homosexual since the first time he has landed his eyes on another boy in kindergarten. too many crushes on boys to even be aware of how many hearts he has broken in his life. all those pretty girls falling for his looks, poor kids. only JGY’s younger brother Mo XuanYu could rival his victim count, but barely so.

ZiXuan is secretly keeping an eye on his half-brothers and half-sister while he works as a representative for his family company and this is mainly the reason why he has distanced himself from YanLi and Jin Ling in these past few years. he would like to approach his three half-siblings and maybe have a chance to rekindle lost relationships, but by stressing over it he is losing sight of the found family he actually has. YanLi wants him to come around, eventually, but she knows how lonely ZiXuan has been with no siblings and how secretly jealous he is of the bond that she has with her family. so she won’t pressure her husband, but she feels lonely nonetheless.

the two wangxian lovebirds are too happy to notice the mess LXC is making and they don’t even realize he’s there until like, three days before the actual wedding.

LXC may be a shark but he’s not subtle. JC doesn’t know what he does for a living but he assumes he has too much time on his hands, hence not someone worthy of his time. but LXC always causes troubles on the venue or messes up with the flower arrangements or prods for information to the wrong people and JC is over it.

“if you don’t have anything better to do help me find the sommelier so I can ask him what’s wrong with him and if he studied anything at all” or “if you have so much time to waste be useful and learn how to make flower crowns for the children to play with” or “if you can sit on your ass all day at least look over my nephew while I go look for someone to emotionally bully to let off some steam.”

Jin Ling is five and even more bossy than his uncle and orders LXC around to be his pony when JC should babysit him at work. LXC discovers the boy is JGY and A-Su and Mo XuanYu’s nephew and that JC doesn’t what any of them to interact with Jin Ling. but LXC secretly lets them hang out with the boy when JC is too busy to notice.

JC and LXC get closer the more the latter understands that there’s not much dirt on Wei Ying (aside from some questionable pictures taken during a university party back in the days, but that’s beside the point). LXC appreciates how crafty and ingenious JC is, always helping others around instead of just shouting orders...even if his temper is atrocious at times.

JC forces LXC to take dance lessons with the lot of the main family members and LXC meets JC’s mother for the first time. she is competitive about her dancing skills and Wei Ying tries to win her over by asking her to show everybody how it’s done by leading her ex-husband in a tango. after publicly humiliating her ex-husband (and making him fall in love with her once more), she insists on practicing a waltz with LXC and basically threatens him to cut off his balls if he dares to lead JC on with his charms.

LXC realizes he’s been playing and flirting too much with the man for him not to notice, but JC seems oblivious. no. he’s completely oblivious and kind and beautiful as he dances with Jin Ling and twirls him around in delight. LXC played too hard and now he’s in too deep.

the only source of drama in this would be JC finding out LXC let Jin Ling hang out with his other uncles and aunt despite the warnings. JC was starting to trust the man... and LXC stabbed him in the back. he would have much preferred not to discover it from his nephew (who let it slip that LXC “told him not to speak of his uncles and aunt to Jiujiu”), because he would have given LXC a chance to explain himself otherwise. but no. JC cannot have good things apparently and now he’s heartbroken without even knowing why.

without the lucky charm that is JC (holed up in his flat eating junk food to forget the pain of being an afterthought in other people’s lives), everything goes to shit three days before the wedding: the chef quits, the tea set for the ceremony breaks, one of the maids has accidentally torn apart one set of wedding robes and so on.

the venue gets flooded with live chickens when a truck transporting them breaks down in front of the building and the chicken escape. Jin Ling is loving every second of it, but everything gets destroyed in the ruckus and JC’s hard work is ruined.

Wei Ying is heartbroken and Lan Zhan silently accuses LXC of being the cause of this and urges him to fix the mess unless he wants to receive the cold shoulder for the rest of his days. but LXC is a cowards and spends his time actually fixing the broken things or replacing them or finding seamstresses to help with the garments and so on himself. anything but facing JC and be rejected.

ZiXuan comes to his senses and blurts out that “he really just wanted to have a loving family” the moment JGY, A-Su and Mo XuanYu come check on LXC. they hug and cry and laugh and YanLi gently reminds them that this is not about them right now and that they should help with the preparations if they have so much time on their hands. her mother is very proud of her and nods appreciatively at ZiXuan’s shocked and weirdly intrigued expression after being humiliated so boldly in front of everyone. the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree indeed.

the day before the wedding Wei Ying threatens to call the wedding off if JC doesn’t show up for his big day: not because he’s the planner, but because Wei Ying wants him close on his happiest day and he will not have it any other way.

LXC goes to fetch JC in his apartment himself the night before the wedding and they yell and they make peace and then they make love and then they woke up late the next day and they have to rush to the venue.

Wei Ying is livid until JC appears and then they celebrate the wedding of the century. A week of celebrations later Lan Zhan deadpans that they actually got married already like, one month in after meeting each other, but Wei Ying wanted a big wedding and he didn’t want to deny his husband a single thing.

JC tries to strangle his brother as the last family picture is being taken.

give me an award already.

[multisugars]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 — when their s/o gets a tattoo

𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧 — Hiii can i request a outsiders reaction where they react to their gf getting a tattoo that she’s been trying to hide or something!? TY ❤️

i freakin love this idea!! thanks for requesting xx

𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮

during your freshman year of high school you and a few friends had given yourself stick and poke tattoos please don’t ever try this it’s actual torture it was a small butterfly on your wrist, you actually really liked it but since you and darry had been dating you’ve never showed it to him. you don’t believe he’d be too bothered by a little tattoo but it’s more embarrassing than anything. the wings are uneven, it’s slightly faded and definitely looks like it was done by a child.

one night when the two of you are working on supper darry asks for your help.

“hey babe can you grab the salt?” he asks politely.

“here you go,” as you hand him the shaker your sleeve had risen up above your wrist.

he spots the butterfly and you try to change the subject before he can ask you about it.

“so uh are the boys going to be home in time for supper? maybe we should make extra..”

“y/n,” darry cuts in. “it’s okay.”

“it’s just a stupid little th- wait what?” you ask.

“it’s just a tattoo i don’t care about it,” he shrugs. “i think it’s cute.”

he pulls your arm towards him, turning your hand so he can see the tattoo in its fullest, he trails his long fingers along the worn out lines of color.

“it’s part of you, that’s why i love it.”

𝙨𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙥𝙤𝙥

it wasn’t your proudest moment. last night, when you went out with friends you all made the spontaneous decision to get matching tattoos tramp stamps to be more specific. it seemed like a fun idea at the time, but waking up in the morning to a burning pain and some kind of wrap around your lower abdomen made you want to punch yourself. through out the day you tried your best to hide this from sodapop. you were doing okay until he hugged you from behind, the friction of of the wrap made a weird squealing sound as your shirt was pushed against it. this draws sodapop’s attention, before you can stop him he already has your shirt lifted up.

“Y/N WHAT EVEN IS THAT?!” soda gasps when he spots the rather large tattoo on your lower back.

“NOTHING JUST PUT MY SHIRT DOWN!” you barely manage to escape his grasp.

you stand with your body against the wall, eyes wide while you try to think of a believable excuse.

“is that real?” soda asks walking towards you. “lemme see it..” he reaches for your arm but you run.

“no way! it’s too embarrassing!”

“y/n!!! get back here!” he calls after you.

“you’ll never catch me- AAAH!” you scream as soda picks you up throwing you over his shoulder.

𝙥𝙤𝙣𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙮

“my god y/n are you serious?!” ponyboy leans down to get a closer look at the tattoo on your ankle.

“it was a spur of the moment kind of thing!”

it really was to, your sister had been back from college for a visit. every summer you two have always gone to the pier where they have a whole bunch of fun festivities, this year you saw that they had set up a tattoo tent, that also offered henna. the two of you picked a design that looped all the way around your ankle, you first believed that it was a henna design but after you heard the tattoo gun start and make contact with you skin you couldn’t change your mind. luckily for your sister, she told the artist not to make hers permanent.

“it’s actually not that bad,” pony says which undoubtedly makes you feel a whole lot better.

“you really think so?”

“i do,” he smiles warmly as he leans down once again, this time to roll your pant leg up so it’s now visible. “show it off.”

𝙙𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙨

“ouch dal stop it!” you wine pushing him away.

you had just gotten a tattoo of stars behind your ear it was still extremely sore, especially when dallas was trying to kiss you there. he hasn’t yet realized it, which has been your goal. when it heals all the way that’s when you planned on showing him, but you can see he’s getting a tad bit suspicious because he knows how much you love when he leaves tiny kisses behind your ear wink wink. he looks at you with confusion spread across him face.

“are you rejecting me right now?” he smirks.

“no i’m just not in the mood,” you turn on your heel walking at a fast pace in front of him.

you can hear him laughing from behind you, he didn’t seem to be falling for your petty attempt of an excuse and from the years of dating you’ve never been able to successfully lie to dallas without him knowing. this has ruined so many birthdays you’ve planned.

“not in the mood huh?” dallas whispers when he finally catches up to you. he brushes your hair out of the way exposing your bare neck.

“woah what is this?!” he exclaims as you feel his cold hands run along your skin.

“it’s a tattoo..”

“when did you get it?” dallas asks clearly shocked.

“yesterday night! i wanted to surprise you..”

“consider me surprised.”

𝙟𝙤𝙝𝙣𝙣𝙮

“it’s beautiful y/n,” johnny admires your new ink from a safe distance. he doesn’t want to touch it out of fear that it’ll hurt you since it’s still fresh and healing.

“thank you,” you blush. “i think she would love it.”

you try to hold back tears as you think about your grandma who had passed away just a few weeks ago. this wasn’t something you felt like you had to hide from johnny, since you told him everything. he was always so supportive of your decisions and has been there for you ever since her passing. you decided to get a pair of angel wings in her honor, it was on your ribcage which you later found was one of the most painful spots to get a tattoo.

“do you need some ice or somethin?” he asks concerned at the redness of your skin.

“no no it’s fine, it’s suppose to be a little swollen.”

“well alright,” johnny pulls down your shirt laying back down beside you.

“maybe someday we can get matching ones!”

“i’ll get back to you on that one,” he laughs.

𝙩𝙬𝙤-𝙗𝙞𝙩

two-bit honestly couldn’t care less about you having a tattoo. it was something he found endearing since he was the only person that knew about it. when he felt like being a tease he’d run his hand along your thigh where your tattoo was. he would though make jokes about it when you were around the gang or family since you were the only one that would get it. most times he’d beg you to get his name done somewhere on your body, but you tell him no.

“cmon i’ll get your name to,” he offered excitingly.

“absolutely not! what if you fall in love with someone else huh?” you question. “then you’d have to explain why you have another girls name on you.”

two-bit shakes his head. “that would never happen.”

“oh yeah? and why not?” you ask playfully.

he reaches into his pocket, pulling out a small box. you look at him shocked. this can’t be what you think it is? can it?

“two-bit are you-”

“i’ve been wanting to ask you this for awhile now.....”

𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚

he wasn’t one for keeping secrets, and neither were you. as soon as you showed him the start of your sleeve on your arm he squealed with excitement, since obviously he is also a fan of tattoos. he was taken aback at how long you kept it hidden from him since you always slept in the same bed together and usually wore a tank top. when the two of you met up with the gang later in the day it wasn’t long before he let the news out.

“y/n got a tattoo!” steve blurts out.

“what no way..” dallas turns to you shocked.

“wanna bet on it?”

you take off your sweater exposing your upper arm and the room fills with loud gasps.

“wow steve she’s tougher than you,” darry adds. “her first tat is way bigger than yours was.”

“shut your trap!” steve says shoving darry’s arm.

“didn’t know your girlfriend was such a badass,” dallas said as he lit a cigarette.

“now you do,” you retort.

[oliviastan17]

Just a dream (4/7)

Warnings: 18+, fluff, shit ton of angst (it’s no fun when everything goes smoothly), smut, language, 

Length: 3.4k

A/N: This starts off when you get back from being in New York with Seb in Part 3. Two dreams combined into one story because I’m not mean and didn’t want to leave you with a cliff hanger. You’re welcome. DO NOT POST ON ANY OTHER WEBSITE! Feel free to reblog.

“Hey!” Chris said as you walked into the office building of the company producing his next project.

“Woah, what happened to you?” he asked after taking in your appearance. You were wearing black leggings with a baggy sweatshirt and running shoes. Your hair was up in a pony tail on top of your head and there were bags under your eyes.

“Long night. Can we make this quick?” you asked as you rubbed your temple with your hand.

He nodded looking concerned. He walked you down the hall and into a room with large rectangle table and 15 or so people looking through piles of paper.

Production meetings are the worst. This was the one thing you hated about your job. Why can’t you just be given a script so you can start ordering and searching for props? If you have questions, you’ll call and ask. Instead you are going to be stuck in this room with these people for hours going on almost no sleep.

You start mindlessly reading through the script as you drown out the voices in the room. After making small notations in the script whenever you did hear anything of value, which was few and far between, you checked the time and quietly cursed to yourself. It’s only been 30 minutes. Shit.

“Y/n?” Chris’s voice broke you out of your thoughts.

“Yeah, I…uh…I should have everything ready in about 2 weeks,” you offered. You had no idea what the question was but everyone seemed pleased with your answer so that was lucky.

Two hours later and you were finally free. You snuck out while Chris was busy talking with the director. All you wanted to do was just go home.

When you walked into your house you dropped your bag and binder with the script down on the floor, kicked your shoes off and shuffled into your bedroom. You crawled into bed so grateful you were able to finally close your eyes.

Your doorbell rings 10 minutes later. Who the fuck is at my door? I’m not answering. Whatever it is it can wait.

A minute goes by and the bell rings again. Nope. I’m not home.

Then you heard the loud knocking that didn’t seem like it would go away on its own so you begrudgingly got up to answer it.

Before you even got to the door you heard Chris say “Come on Y/n. I know you’re in there.”

“Why are you always trying to ruin my life?” were the first words he heard when you opened the door. You tilted your head back and turned around walking over to your couch.

“Um…hi?” Chris responded as he closed your front door. “What did I do now?”

“I came home 2 weeks ago from New York so I could come here and work on your movie and then you kept pushing the meeting back a couple of days. And then another couple of days. And then another couple of days!”

“It wasn’t my fault Y/n! I tried…”

“Oh I’m not done!” you interrupted him. “Then you post some pictures of when we went out to dinner with Morgan and now Seb is acting like a complete moron. Has been for 2 days.”

“What’s his problem?”

“Our problem…” you corrected, “is this long distance thing. It’s been 2 weeks and we’re falling apart.” You collapsed on your couch and leaned your head back.

“I’m gonna need the whole story,” he said as he sat down with you resting his arm on the back of the couch and facing you. So you told him. You had talked to Sebastian 3 nights ago telling him that you just got back from dinner with Chris, Morgan and a few other friends. The next day he had happened upon Chris’s pictures. One where your friend Morgan had his arm around you. Sebastian somehow thought since you didn’t mention that Morgan was a man that you were being a little shady.

“Oh I see where this is going.”

“Yeah, so when he asked how I knew Morgan I said we dated for in high school but that we stayed in touch and he helped get me my first job because his dad is a set designer. Blah, blah, blah. God, should I have left out the dating part? It’s been 10 fucking years! I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“Don’t tell him I said this but what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

“I don’t know. I thought he was overreacting so I said if I was going to cheat I would be smart enough to make damn sure you didn’t take any pictures. He didn’t appreciate that answer. And he wasn’t listening to anything I said so I hung up on him. It’s just been angry texts and one long ass phone call all last night.”

“Man Y/n. I’m sorry. How did you leave things?”

“I said I had to go to work and I would call him later.”

“So what are you going to say?”

“I’m honestly too tired to even think about it right now.”

“You really do look like shit.”

 “Thanks so much. I’ve been awake for over 24 hours. What’s your excuse?”

“Alright, I’m going. I just wanted to check on you. Let me know if you need anything.”

______

 After he left you finally collapse in your bed and get some much needed sleep. You wake up at 6pm, take a shower and make some dinner. You call Sebastian but it goes straight to voicemail. That’s not reassuring. You turn the tv on for some background noise and start to go through the script making a list of items you need to order, find, or somehow build.  An hour and a half goes by and then there’s a knock at your door. You look through the peephole to see Sebastian is at your door.

“Hey,” you said when you opened the door. He pulls you in for a hug. “I called you.”

“I was on the plane.” You pulled away and he kisses you. “I needed to see you. We need to talk.”

You gestured for him to come in and you both sat on the couch.

“Listen, I overreacted and I know that. I’m sorry. I went a little crazy at the thought of being without you. It’s just…I let my mind wander and all these negative thoughts came in and I couldn’t stop them fast enough. Then you hung up and I…I just…I love you and I had temporary insanity or something. I’m so sorry. But I need to know if you meant what you said.”

“Meant what?”

“That you couldn’t handle doing long distance for a while.”

“Oh…I mean I guess it kind of depends on your definition of a while.”

He was picking at his fingernails and looked down when he replied, “3 months?”

“You got the part.”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath before meeting your eyes.

You scooted over to be sitting closer to him and grabbed his face as you said, “I’m really happy for you.” 

You leaned in to kiss his lips so he’d know you meant it. He had been talking about this story he fell in love with since you first got together. But you also knew the filming was in Paris. It would be an intense shoot. He could probably only make it back to you 2-3 times a month if that. One day off wasn’t enough time to fly here and back.

He didn’t say anything. He just searched your eyes looking for your answer.

“Well, we didn’t handle being apart for 2 weeks very well, did we?”

He dropped his head and nodded slowly.

“So maybe we can learn from our mistakes,” you offered. “I’m sorry too. I could have handled things better.”

He felt relief at your answer.

“When do you have to be there?”

“My flight back to New York leaves in 2 days. I have a day to pack and then I leave for Paris.”

“Okay, we have 2 days to figure our shit out,” you said as you stood up, grabbed his hand and led him into your bedroom where you spent hours trying to make up for the time you were about to spend apart.

 ______

That time had come. You were taking him to the airport. You weren’t sure when you would see him again.  He would let you know the schedule when he figured out what it was. So this was goodbye for right now.

Standing on the curb you had your arms over his shoulders and around his neck while you stood on your tip toes. You were trying to commit to memory how it felt to have his stubble against your cheek. As you loosened your grip you let out an unsteady breath. He took your face in his hands and kissed you as you brought your hands up around his wrists to keep them there.

“Love you,” you said barely breaking the kiss.

“I love you. We can do this,” he said doing the same.

When the kiss ended for real you looked up into his furiously gorgeous eyes and nodded. “We can do this,” you agreed.

Several kisses later he finally had to force himself to step away.

“Call me when you land.”

“I will,” he said as he kissed your cheek, turned and walked into the airport. You watched him walk away until you couldn’t see him anymore and then you turned around, got in your car and let the tears fall.

 ______

Things were good for the first 2 visits. He flew home once for a grand total of 18 hours. You flew out there once for 36 hours. It was better than nothing right?

Then there was the 6 hour time difference. Calls went missed due to work or need to sleep.

Then the assistant you hired to help with Chris’s movie stopped showing up. You hired another one but truth be told she wasn’t all that bright. You were single handedly doing the work of 2 people. You were doing your best to not let Chris down. He had vouched for you so you felt like you owed him something. You saw that you could have 3 days off (thanks to finally hiring an assistant you trusted to fill in for you for one day) and so you booked the first flight out.

Then the jet lag hit. And it hit hard.

You weren’t getting a lot of sleep at home because you were so busy. Flying out there meant losing 6 hours and you underestimated how exhausted you actually were. Jet lag always made Sebastian loopy, almost drunk. It made you mean.

“It’s like you’re not even trying!” His voice was raised in frustration.

“What do you mean I’m not trying? I’m here aren’t I?”

“And you started picking fights as soon as you got here!”

“That’s not true. You’re just mad because I don’t want to go out with your friends.”

“No, I said it was an option. God forbid they want to meet the ‘wonderful woman’ I’ve been talking about. Do you know when she’s going to make an appearance?”

Twenty four hours later you both reached your limit.

“We said we would do this until it stopped working. It’s not working anymore Seb.”

He didn’t say anything. He just stared at you for a minute. He didn’t agree, but he didn’t ask you to stay either. So you left.

That was 2 months ago. Chris had told you that Sebastian was back in New York as of a week ago. He gently suggested you call him to which you replied, “Stay the fuck out of it Chris.” You were serious and he could tell by the look of your face.

You had finished working with Chris and the wrap party was the next day. You were obviously going to go but you couldn’t bring yourself to ask him if he invited Sebastian or not. You’d be a nervous wreck if you knew he was coming and disappointed if you found out he wasn’t. It might as well be a surprise.

You were meeting your Mom for dinner and she could tell something was bothering you.

“There may be a possibility that I might see Seb tomorrow night,” you awkwardly said.

“You might?”

“Chris might have invited him to the wrap party. I feel like it’s best if I don’t know until I get there.”

“Honey you never told me exactly what happened with you two.”

“I don’t know…we…we lived in 2 different states. The distance thing wasn’t working.”

“So he couldn’t live here because…”

“Most of his work, auditions, interviews or whatever were in New York. That’s where he has the best opportunity to work. I wasn’t going to ask him to give that up.”

“And you couldn’t move to New York because…”

“Because your dumbass son can’t take care of his kids without me!”

“What?”

“He calls me at least 3 times a week asking for help. The kids stay with me at least once a week. He’s been completely lost since Jen left.”

She had a shocked look on her face.

“I had no idea he was that bad. Why doesn’t he call me?”

“He always makes some excuse that you live too far away.”

“Oh please! Fourty five minutes is not that far! Was that the only thing keeping you from moving?”

“Basically yes. It is the main reason. I know I could find work in New York so yeah.”

“Honey, when are you going to realize that you deserve to be happy? You need to start living your life for you, not for what other people want you for.”

You took a minute to think about what she just said.

“Holy shit,” you exclaimed. “Why the hell couldn’t you tell me that months ago?”

“Well I didn’t think it was something you needed to be told! Looks like I may have 2 dumbass kids!”

“Oh my god.”

“You let me deal with your brother. Just figure out what you want.”

 ___________

The next day you did your best to keep busy. You even cleaned your house which is way out of character because someone comes once a week to do that for you. You only clean when something is wrong.

You got ready for the party and tried to take deep breaths to calm your anxiety on the drive there. You spent two hours at the party not because it was fun but because you were hoping Sebastian would come. Your anxiety started getting the best of you though so you decided you just needed to leave. He probably wasn’t coming anyway.

Once you got home you searched for your vaping pen for 30 minutes. You had gotten a medical marijuana card a while ago to see if it helped with migraines. It didn’t but you thought maybe it would help your anxiety. You couldn’t find it so you settled for a cigarette and sat outside on a bench near your front door lost in your thoughts. You watched as a car pulled up in your driveway and then Sebastian stepped out. You were relieved and terrified at the same time.

 “That’s a bad habit,” he said walking up your walkway.

“I’m aware,” you said as you offered it to him. He sat down next to you and took a drag.

“I saw your car leaving as I was walking in.”

“Oh. You didn’t stay long.”

He shook his head and shrugged.

“Uh…how was Paris?” you asked awkwardly.

“Uh, it was good. Glad to be home though, you know?”

“You want to come in?”

He nodded and you walked in your house. You grabbed a couple of waters out of your fridge and brought one to him.

“Seb, I’m…”

“I shouldn’t have let you leave Y/n.”

His words shocked you. You had shown him and side of yourself that was normally hidden and not attractive. You wouldn’t have blamed him for wanting you to leave.

“No, it was my fault. I shouldn’t have been such a bitch. I’m so sorry I fucked everything up.”

“Not you. We fucked everything up,” he said looking at the ground.

“I guess it’s too late for me to decide I want to move to New York isn’t it.”

His head shot up. He didn’t expect those words to ever come out of your mouth. He knew how much you helped with your niece and nephew. Without thinking he closed the distance between you in two steps, brought his hand up to the back of your neck and kissed you. It wasn’t a soft kiss. It was kiss he had been wanting for 2 months. He was hungry for it and so were you.

As he came up for air he asked, “What changed?”

“My mom helped me realize some things. I’m so sorry it took me so long.”

“Remind me to buy her a car or something.”

It was so good to feel his beard on your skin again. It was a little longer than what he normally wears but you didn’t mind. You both stumbled your way into your bedroom. Between him taking your shirt off as he was kicking off his shoes while your hands were undoing his belt you almost fell. He caught you and walked you forward until your back was against the wall. As he buried his face in your neck he smelt your perfume. He had missed it so much. He could smell it on his sheets for a week after you left.

His hands trailed down the sides of your body until he had picked you up and you wrapped your legs around his waist. With his lips never leaving yours he shuffled over to the bed and fell on top of you. He stepped out of his jeans as he was undoing yours and slid yours off.  It felt so amazing to have you lying naked under him again. He missed your hands on his body but he missed touching you even more.

You knew he liked to be in control and would rather give pleasure than receive so you let him. He brought his hand between your legs checking to see how ready you were. You were more than ready and he decided not to tease you so he slipped two fingers inside you and started making a ‘come here’ motion. You broke the kiss to take in a deep breath as your neck arched your head back. He brought his lips to your ear and told you he loved you.

“Oh shit,” you moaned as you took his face in your hands and brought his lips to yours. He massaged your tongue with his in a deep kiss while his hand continued to do magical things to your body. Without removing his fingers he kissed his way down your body until he was gently sucking on your clit.

“Oh god, Seb” you cried as your back arched and you came. He was used to hearing you pant and moan to let him know you liked what he was doing but tonight was just a series of expletives you cried out when he did something you liked. Hearing you made him need to be in you right now.

He started to slowly move in and out of you knowing you were probably still sensitive from his previous act. Your bodies were made for each other. You fit together so perfectly. You held on to him so tightly because you needed to make sure this was real. You needed to make sure you weren’t dreaming.

You were both breathing hard as he was thrusting himself deep in you. He grabbed your leg and brought it up so that the back of your knee was over his shoulder which put him at the perfect angle to hit every spot he needed to. As he sped up he felt you tighten around him as your back arched again and the sound you made had him coming right after you.

He brought his face to yours and kissed you so sweetly you wished it would never end. When it did and he slid out of you he collapsed on the bed next to you. You rolled on your side to face him as he turned his head to smile at you.

“I can’t lose you again,” he spoke softly.

“I’m afraid I’m going to wake up any time now,” you said as your hand graced his beard.

“I’m here. And I’m not leaving. I love you.”

“Love you back,” you smiled.

Next Chapter

Tags:

@jeremyrennermakesmesmile​

@stangirl-fangirl264​

@sideeffectsofyou​

@allsortsofinterests​

@superhero-missouri​                   

@stuckysbabe​

@juliijah​

@thejemersoninferno​

@melannie77​

@farfromtommy​

[hollerace]

Why I Write--Feb 19, 2021

Dear Curbsiders: Of course, I give my thanks for your eyes, hearts and comments. Many have asked about the veracity of my stories. Yes, I prefer just to scribble ‘em and toss ‘em up there. But this one, I can say, is pretty much true. I can’t say “Square Biz” because those words are still sacrosanct in my old ‘hood and denote 100% truth. Yes, I have changed names and non-pertinent details. But it happened just like this, in 1986. Why I Write “The Lounge!” said Wooie, and we all agreed. The boys from Park City had journeyed to New Haven that Sunday in one of our unplanned, unannounced dining experiences. Of course, a trek to the Elm City could mean only one foodstuff—ahbeets. The misshapen pies from Modern had satisfied and, looking for a nightcap, we headed back down 95 to where we belonged. Osric’s Lounge had been around for a couple of years. The joint had existed under several monikers over the years, and the West End address was far from posh. But a retired English prof from Campion U. had bought the place, and with some minor tidying and poorly wrought woodwork, he had himself a jernt. I was with Wooie, Pete The Pipe, Ricky Meat, Plumber and a couple of other guys. I made no reference to a Danish courtier, which would have gone unnoticed. “Hey, Racky’s onna stick,” said Pete The Pipe, which designated notes of adventure and raucous behavior. Racky Rakoczy had made a living tending bar at various spots around town. With a smile as big as the world, a contagious laugh and mitts big enough to handle several vessels, he would bring his own crowd wherever he worked. He had the way of making you believe that you were one of his long-lost best buds, every time he saw you. As he did that night. “ACE! THE CHAMP IS HERE!” Bouncing from behind the bar, he delivered a powerful, breath-robbing hug, Wooie said, “Oh, the Champ. Here we go.” Yes, I was still living this down. <><><> A little background. About a year before, through a series of events, I had appeared on a game show. And won. And won again. After eight shows, I had reached the final “plateau” and left the show, having won all their prizes. People were still making a big deal of this, especially after reruns thrust me again into the spotlight. My boys—rightly so—had already grown tired of this and busted on me whenever possible. I also managed to write my first published article. Vox Pop, a weekly entertainment paper, had recruited me to pen the TV story and ran it on the cover, to much hoo-ha. I was grateful to be in print and had already fielded some kudos for same. But that, as they say, is another story. <><><> The lighting at the Osric was far from generous, and I found a dim corner to sit and nurse my Rolling Rock. Racky kept announcing my presence, and several well-wishers stopped by to chat. I shied away from answering trivia questions—even when I knew the answers. At last call, Racky would get everyone a final drink and then go sit near the only access to the inner side of the bar, an opening by the never-used stage. Since no one was pouring, no one could order, and people got the hint and left. Most of my crew had already hit Spruce Street. I tried to wave good-bye to Racky, who had returned to the sinks to begin his closing routine when I heard the voice. “You Ace Holleran?” From behind, none too kindly. The tone made me freeze. I turned to answer. The guy was pretty close to my face. “DROP EVERYTHING!” The voice was gravel; it stung. I instinctively showed my empty hands, looking for my absent boys. Racky held his hands in a “calm down” pose. He said, “Relax, Bobby.” Bobby, the original speaker, looked nowhere near relaxed. A dark mane of bushy hair; rippling muscles on exposed guns; lots of prison ink. I was far from a hard guy, and a ripple of fear found its way up my back, traveling neckward. But then, he smiled. So did Racky. “Drop everything and write,” said Bobby. Racky laughed. Out loud. He said, “That's my brother, Bobby, Ace. Everything’s cool.” I felt far removed from cool. Bobby wasn’t done. “You should be doin’ nuttin’ but writin’. I read your piece in the Vox Pop. Two, tree times. An’ believe me, I doan’ read.”

“True dat, Ace. He doan’ read,” Racky added.

Bobby said, “I mean, I was away when you wuz onna show. I only seent it once, twice. But you done good. And the article, man, was better than the show. You like, invited us inna your life. I doan’ know from nuttin’, but you should be writin’, man.”

At that point, Ricky Meat came in to fetch me. A quick look around seemed to calm him. Bobby retreated; I left the bar without handshakes, feeling elated more than relieved.

Wooie asked me what had transpired; I decided to keep the incident private. Until now.

<><><>

I never returned to the Osric. The owner developed a penchant for the sport of kings. He loved his ponies, and they were his downfall. And he sold out; the bar became somewhat more edgy and decidedly leathery. We knew that we would not be welcomed in a place called The Man Hole.

I did see Racky a few years later. We were both guests at an upscale wedding at the Brookmere Hunt Club, a lily-white enclave for the bored and privileged. “C’mon, Ace, let’s get some champagne and small sandwiches. You know we won’t be sitting down for some manicott’.”

I had to ask him. “How’s Bobby?” I feared the answer.Racky looked away, toward the croquet pitch. “He’s away … again, Ace. But he still talks about you, about your writing.” We ate and drank, with no further mention of his “away” brother.

It was then I realized that some words, written or spoken, have lives of their own. When delivered so well, launched so experly, they become strong, vibrant touchstones. And they are easy to recall, bringing strength, love, whatever we need from them.

If you are lucky enough to receive such gifts, keep them close. Withdraw them every once in a while, and see if they don’t still shine as brightly as ever, imbuing you with a glow of their own.

That minute with Bobby occurred thirty-five years ago. Like it was yesterday.

[dinoyoongi]

Confirm or Deny (1)

SYNOPSIS: You’re a member of the rising group FRNZEE. You’ve been dating Namjoon for years when Dispatch releases an article exposing your relationship. Your company confirms the relationship. Big Hit denies it.

PARTS: ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR |

PAIRING: Namjoon x You

GENRE: Romance, Angst

WARNINGS: Language, brief mentions of sexual situations

WORD COUNT: 3363

AUTHORS NOTE: I’m not sure how many parts this will have - I’m just going to write until I’m satisfied and break them up in chunks. Please show it some love if you like it and want more! And yes, this is inspired by the very real “scandal” between iKON’s Yunheyong and Momoland’s Daisy. 

________________________________

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,” a deep voice butchers the celebratory song as its owner ducks down to slide his body into the car. Despite the spacious backseat, he's scooting his body so that he's pressed up against yours. You can't help but giggle, playfully covering your ears. Namjoon chuckles. “Alright, I get it. I should stick to rapping.”

“No way. Jungkook who? You are the real main vocal of BTS,” you tease, leaning in with puckered lips.

He laughs loudly, meeting you halfway and giving you the softest, sweetest kiss. The satisfied grin on his face when he pulls away has you melting to the seat. “Hello. Happy Birthday, Sweets. How was your day?”

“It's not my birthday yet, you goof.”

“I know, but I feel bad that I can't see you on the actual day so I'm going to be extra obnoxious about it tonight, okay?” he offers and you accept with a grin. On the other side of the partition, the car revs to life and begins to move. Namjoon entwines his fingers with yours, toying mindlessly at your various rings. “Did you finish recording the new song?”

“I did! I'm the only one done with vocals, actually. The producers were really happy with what I did so unless I'm needed for extra adlibs or backing vocals, I mostly have the next few days free.”

“I'm excited to hear it. That's a really good team of producers so I have no doubt that it'll be a hit.”

“I hope so,” you bounce slightly, the thought of performing the new track on stage overloading you with a mix of excitement and anxiety. “I knew the second I heard the demo that this should be the title track. I think it's my favorite song we've ever recorded.”

“Can I get a special preview?” Namjoon asks, leaning in with the most pathetic puppy-dog eyes you have ever seen.

You laugh, giving him a soft shove away from you. “No way. You have to wait with all of the other fans.”

“Even if I give you your present early?” he bargains, holding a small, white box up to his face. You pretend as if you're considering his deal, tapping your finger against the side of your mouth in contemplation. Thirty seconds of this pass before Namjoon groans. “Times up! Deal is off the table. Now you'll have to wait until after dinner for your present. I hope you're pleased with your decision.”

You laugh at his dramatics as the car comes to a stop in front of the restaurant. “However will I live with the regret for the next hour and a half?”

___________________________________

Two hours later, after plates of steak, crème brulee and many glasses of wine, Namjoon slides the white box to your side of the table. Opening the top, you're startled when you see the logo for the luxury brand on the front. Eyes wide, you glance up to your boyfriend in shock. “What did you do?”

He shrugs as if he didn't just potentially drop thousands of dollars on you. “Happy Birthday, Sweets.”

With the most delicate touch you never knew you were capable of, you slide the velvet cover off of the top. The gasp is automatic when you see the necklace that is nestled in satin. A black amulet adorned with a large gold moon and several smaller, silver stars sits on a rose gold chain. It's beautiful – easily the prettiest piece of jewelry you've ever laid eyes on. But more importantly, it's you. Somehow this small trinket encompasses your style, your personality, your tastes – you. And Namjoon …

“Did you design this?” you ask in awe, blinking dumbfounded to the man in front of you. He grins sheepishly, his cheeks tinting red before giving a curt nod.

“Is it okay? I tried to do something that I knew you-”

Before he can finish his sentence, you're already on your feet and crossing the table, wrapping your arms around his neck. The move takes him off guard and he wobbles in his chair, gripping you around the waist to keep you from tumbling. He's surprised to see your eyes full of moisture when he pulls you back to look at him. “Hey, hey. What is this? Why are you crying? Do you not like it? I can get you something else!”

“No, you dummy,” you cry, punching him weakly in the chest. “I love it so much but I don't deserve it. Why did you do this?”

You're pulled onto his lap where you bury your face into his neck, the familiar scent of his cologne soothing your sudden mood swing. “What do you mean you don't deserve it? Y/N, you've been my best friend and best support system for almost nine years. We've gone through so much together and I would literally give you anything in the world. You deserve that and more. I love you, Sweets.”

You sniffle, his words wrapping around you like the coziest blanket. “But my group isn't popular like yours. I can't spend this kind of money .. I can't … I can't give you these kinds of-”

He effectively shuts you up with a searing kiss. When he pulls away a few seconds later, whatever words you had were gone. “I don't need you to buy me anything, okay? I just need you.”

The skin of your cheeks start to burn and you know that your cheeks are probably fifteen shades of red at the moment. Namjoon is the king of making cheesy, romantic comments but you wouldn't have it any other way.

___________________________________

“Do you really have to go?” you whine, pulling on his arm with a death grip. “You can come back to my dorm and stay the night – Ji-na is away filming Law of the Jungle so I have the room to myself.”

Namjoon groans, dropping his head onto your shoulder. “C'mon, Sweets. Don't tempt me like that. I have a four o'clock wake-up and there's no way I'd get any sleep if I stayed with you.”

You sigh, heavy and dramatic, your grip on his arm tightening as you lean closer. “I guess you're right. Well then, something to tide me over until next time?”

You're not sure where the abrupt confidence comes from, but you're suddenly swinging a leg over his lap and vigorously diving into his lips like a vampire frenzied for blood. He inhales sharply against your mouth and you take advantage of his parted lips to slide your tongue against languidly against his. You feel the vibration of his deep moans from his chest and the hardness of something else from his lap, both of which are pressed so deliciously close against you. Namjoon has to forcibly tear himself away from your mouth, breathing ragged and heavy with swollen lips. You grin at your handiwork.

“You,” he mumbles, gasping for breath as he adjusts himself in his pants. You giggle at the sight. “You are trouble and I will pay you back for this with interest.”

He says it as a threat but you both know it's a promise of the very, very nice things that he'll do to your body the next time you both have a night off. You're already mentally counting down the days. Pulling his face mask up over his chin and making sure his hood is fully concealing his upper half, he opens the door, taking a few long glances around before stepping out. He's almost completely out of the vehicle before he remembers something and leans in again. You crawl across the seat to meet him halfway.

“We'll find time this week for you to stop by, okay? I know Yoongi and some of the other boys have gifts for you. Although,” he pauses, smirking proudly when he catches a glint of the amulet dangling from your neck, “I feel sorry for them. Their presents won't get the same reaction as mine did.”

Your hand instinctively reaches for the pendant, thumb rubbing fondly against the gold. You roll your eyes at his cockiness. “You don't know that. What if Yoongi gets me a pony?”

“Wait – did you really want a pony?”

You laugh loudly, craning your neck upward to chastely kiss his lips before shoving him out. “Go. Rest. Kick ass at the photoshoot tomorrow, okay? I love you.”

“Love you too, Sweets. Text me when you get home.”

You're given one more sweet smile before he closes the door, tucking his chin to chest and spinning around to hurriedly jump into a different car that sits behind yours. Leaning back against the seat, you pull on the pendant again, sighing happily as you already begin to miss the man who gifted it to you. As the car pulls away, neither you, Namjoon or either of your drivers spot the large camera peeking over the top of a fence nearby.

Behind the camera, a man grins.

____________________________________

“Happy Birthday!” a chorus of chaotic voices ring out as you step into the kitchen a few days later. Your group mates surround the dining room table, a large cake in the middle lit with exactly 24 candles.

“Cake at nine o'clock in the morning?” you ask sarcastically, receiving six set of eyeballs rolling in return. Namjoon doesn't call you Sweets for nothing. You're the queen of all things sugar. You make your way around the room, wrapping each of the girls in a warm hug of thanks. There's a feeling of contentedness as you approach each girl. You trained with Big Hit for three years before the scandal with Glam saw the removal of every female trainee. Although they transferred you to another entertainment company, you couldn't help but feel as if you were losing everything. You had cried so much after you first practice at Hot Star Entertainment. You cried for all of the hard work you lost; you learned so much and established yourself with so many of Big Hit's trainers. You cried because you already missed Namjoon; the two of you had been pretty much inseparable since the day you were introduced as fellow trainees. You cried for the girls you trained with; they were your closest friends and you had all drawn up so many scenarios in your heads about debuting together. But in this room, surrounded the remaining six members of FRNZEE, you can't help but feel like you hit the jackpot.

“Make a wish and blow out the candles!”

Hovering over the cake, the heat of the candles warms your cheeks. You close your eyes, pulling from your gut everything you currently wished for. Only one thing stands out and you wish for it with everything in you. I wish to keep being this happy. You exhale and prepare to blow the candles, when a door suddenly slams open. The noises startles you, your eyes popping open, seeing a very frantic manager standing in the doorway. Staring directly at you.

_________________________________

BREAKING: FRNZEE's Y/N & BTS' RM Reportedly Dating

FRNZEE's Y/N and BTS' RM are reportedly dating! Dispatch has acquired several exclusive photos that show a man rumored to be BTS leader RM, exiting a car that was shared with FRNZEE's Y/N. Several of the photos show the man kissing and laughing Y/N before getting into a different car. Y/N and RM trained together at Big Hit for three years before all female trainees were removed due to ex-Big Hit girl group Glam's scandal. It's reported that the two have remained close and have been dating for years.

Big Hit Entertainment and Hot Star Entertainment have not yet released official statements confirming or denying the news. Look out for more updates soon!

Numb. That's all you feel. Your eyes frantically scan the words over and over again, hoping that if you looked enough times, they'd just disappear. How did this happen? The two of you were so careful. You're always so careful. You've been having secret dates and meetings for nine years without any incidents. Namjoon. How is he? Is he angry? Is he worried? Is he upset with you? He always spoke of someday announcing your relationship to the world; when BTS' fame fizzles a bit and they wouldn't be so impacted by the relationship status of one of the members. As it stands now, so many of their fans would abandon him for having a girlfriend. It's a hardship you learn to cope with when you're an idol. Like it or not … your life is not completely your own. That's why you're so careful. That's why every meeting is planned so cautiously, the details of location, driver, car, times and so much more are combed through with the keenest eye to ensure all privacy is secured.

Your phone vibrates on your lap. Without looking at the screen, you swipe the green bar and raise the device to your ear. “Y/N! Did you see the article?”

At the sound of Namjoon's panicked voice, your tears are instantaneous.  

“Namjoon, I'm so sorry,” you sob. Pulling your knees to your chest, you hide your face in the denim of your jeans. Hands rub soothing circles over your shoulders, your head, your back. Your members are just as stunned as you are. “I don't know how this happened. I'm so, so sorry.”

“Sweets, no,” Namjoon mumbles with a heavy sigh. On the other end, there's chatter in the background and you know he's probably in a similar situation as you. “It's my fault. I didn't look closely enough when I got out of the car and I definitely shouldn't have opened the door again to talk to you. They've got a clear picture of your face. Nobody can deny that it's you.”

“I know. I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about you. Is Big Hit upset? Will you be in a lot of trouble?”

“Big Hit has known that we're dating for years. They just expected us to be a lot more careful so they're disappointed. At this point, I'm not sure what's going to happen.”

“What are we gonna do?” you whisper. Namjoon's chest throbs at the sound of your voice, quiet and defeated.

“We're going to get through this, okay? This is today's news but tomorrow there will be a bigger scandal and people will forget all about us. Please don't stress about this, okay? You've got your comeback to focus on. Make sure to rest.”

“I will,” you promise. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Sweets. I have to go now but I'll call you later when I hear from the company,” he tells you. The chatter from the background picks up and he sighs heavily. “And Sweets? Happy Birthday.”

You're still feeling numb when you hang up the phone. Ji-na wraps an arm around your shoulder, her concerned eyes meeting yours. “What did he say? Is he angry?'

You shake your head. Despite the current hurricane swirling over your head, you muster a small smile. “He's the best. He's just worried about me.”

Ji-na taps your hands lovingly. “Does Namjoon have a brother? Maybe one that's single?”

The two of you burst into giggles. You melt into Ji-na's side, soaking up the comfort in her sisterly embrace and cheesy jokes. You were one year older but between the two of you, she has always felt like the unnie. When you're sick, she makes you porridge. When you're sad, she buys you candy. When you're struggling with a particular dance move, she spends extra time in the studio going over the choreography with you so that you're not doing it alone. You would get through this with her and Namjoon by your side. You didn't have any doubts.

___________________________________

“Y/N.”

Head snapping up at the sound of your manager's voice, you see him standing in the doorway, phone outstretched to you. “They already submitted a statement.”

Ji-na glances between the two of you, confusion marring her features. “The article was only released an hour ago, though. How can they submit a statement that quickly?”

You nod in agreement. “And they didn't even speak with me about this. I know they're aware of my relationship with Namjoon but how can they comment on this without asking me?”

Your manager stays silent, pushing the phone into your hand. You frown at him for a few seconds longer, hoping his face will give you some kind of warning as to what you're about to read. You give up and look down at the illuminated text.

Your heart drops to your feet.

BREAKING: Hot Star Entertainment confirms relationship between FRNZEE's Y/N & BTS' RM!

“They really confirmed it,” you mumble to yourself in awe. Is this really happening? You knew that this would go one of two ways – either they'd confirm or deny. Those were the only two options. Either your relationship with Namjoon would go public or you'd keep planning secret dates.

“If you think about it,” Ji-na interrupts your self-ramblings softly, “they didn't really have a choice. There is photographic evidence of you kissing him. They could deny that it was Namjoon but what good would that do? Every netizen in the world would be on your ass trying to crack the case on who was in the car with you. It's less messy to just come clean.”

You nod in agreement. Of course, she's right. You'd never have a peaceful comeback with a photo of you kissing a mystery man floating around. You'd be hounded on every interview and variety program you appear on. And … would going public with Namjoon really be that bad? You're prepared to lose some fans and you're sure he is as well. But no more planning dates months ahead of time, no more sneaking around as if you're criminals running from the law, no more wearing hideous dark hoodies and baggy clothes on dates.

It sounds amazing, actually.

You've just given your manager's phone back when one of your fellow members runs into the room. She skids to a halt when she sees you, taking a moment to compose herself in the doorway before stepping calmly into the room. Her eyes move from you, to her phone, to you, to her phone.

“What's going on?” you ask hesitantly. Her throat dips with a large gulp and the hair on your arm instantly rises. She's nervous. Why is she nervous?

“Big Hit released their statement too,” she squeaks, handing the phone to your manager. Your breath hitches in fear when your manager's face drop with shock. Ji-na snatches the device away from him, her eyes glancing over the article quickly before settling her gaze on you.

“Y/N ...” she trails off.

“What is it? What's wrong? Was he kicked out of the group? You guys are scaring me,” you snap. When nobody hands you the phone, you kick yourself off of the wall and fumble to your feet, quickly grabbing the phone from Ji-na before she can move it out of your path. You don't even have to fully read the headline before you're falling to your knees again.

BREAKING: Big Hit Entertainment denies relationship between FRNZEE's Y/N & BTS' RM after Hot Star Entertainment confirms it!

Minutes after Hot Star Entertainment released a statement confirming the relationship between the two idols, Big Hit Entertainment has released their own statement denying everything. “RM and Y/N have been friends since they were trainees at Big Hit and remain close but are not involved in a romantic relationship. RM denies being the man in the photograph.”

Hot Star has yet to comment on this news. Stay tuned for more updates!

He denied it? He denied you?

“Y/N, don't jump to conclusions. Big Hit probably released this statement on their own just like our company did. He wouldn't do that to you.”

“The comments are so brutal. Oh my god.”

“That's the director calling me. I'll be right back.”

“Y/N, are you okay? Do you want me to call Namjoon for you?”

“Y/N?”

“She doesn't look so good. Ji-na, go get a glass of water and a wash rag!”

And then everything goes black.

READ NEXT CHAPTER --->

[discordisagoodnoodle]

If you don't mind going into detail, I'd love to hear why you dislike Starlight. I didn't watch her episodes besides her first appearance, so I don't have a strong opinion. She does come off as Twilight 2.0 and kinda OP from what I've seen though. I mean, she oneshot Discord in a fight. Yeah he came back 10 minutes later, but that seems extremely strong for a unicorn

Ok so here's my official Starlight hate post I guess. Long post warning ahead

REASONS I'M NOT VERY FOND OF STARLIGHT:

ONE: I actually didn't hate her as a villain. Like, she wasn't my favorite but I didn't hate her and then- we find out the reason that she is an ACTUAL CULT LEADER (and like I know people compared her more to a communist which if you're not thinking too hard the equal sign makes it seem like that, but her actual actions parallel a cult more) and the fact that she literally tried to erase a whole ass timeline is because her friend had to move away??? Like really??? It was...very bad. Kind of a shame, because with better writers a cultist villain could have been a lot more interesting. In fact, her premiere episode on it's own was,,,fine, and if Starlight was simply defeated and never showed up again I wouldn't have a problem with her.

I'm actually gonna go on a side rant here because I really reaally REALLY hate how they made a villain like Starlight and redeemed her. The fact that her actions as a villain so closely resemble a cultist on its own wouldn't be an issue, *but then they had the audacity to act like her being sad MATTERS when she destroyed people's lives in a much more realistic, much more uncomfortable way than guy who wanted to take over world lol and fucking redeemed her* Can I just say how discomforting it is when people write redemptions like that? Watching the pony villain equivalent of somebody who's committed horrible acts of abuse and indoctrination to others get redeemed is UNCOMFORTABLE. IT'S VERY UNCOMFORTABLE. DO NOT LIKE.

TWO: She feeeels sad and that's enough for her to be labelled Deserves Sympathy And Redemption. See, this on it's own wouldn't be as big a deal if...again, she wasn't made to parallel real world bad people? Like, if Starlight was just a run of the mill dickwad in charge of the town doing run of the mill dickwad things, we'd be having an entirely different discussion. OR if she wasn't the cult LEADER, but a member of the cult who was groomed to fully believe in it, and slowly had to be unindoctrinated. But, as it stands, no.

THREE: Her power level. In the premiere, Starlight in shown to be a stronger than the average unicorn with some niche knowledge that's helpful to her. In the finale and onwards, she's...on the same power level as Twilight, an alicorn princess who's main field of study is magic itself. This is kind of an issue in power scaling that the show has had in general, but it was compounded onto Starlight in a very intense way in which she's basically always the strongest person in the room, hooray Starlight! (And despite the fact that Discord being blasted was intended by the writer to be Discord letting Starlight hurt him, you can kind of see it with him winking, that scene wasn't very obvious about it and made it look like Discord, literally the most OP character in the whole show, was suddenly less powerful than Starlight? Lmfao ok.)

FOUR: Starlight always has to be the strongest, smartest creature in the room. You remember the season six finale where Starlight was labelled leader (despite the fact that she really shouldn't have been, hot take I guess.) of everybody and also she was the only person who ever had any ideas and also all of her ideas worked basically, and she figured out the Plot Weapon of the day? That happens in the show far too often, and it's boring. Plus the fact that it too often stupidifies other characters in order to make her look better, makes me very annoyed!

FIVE: Her personality consists of, feels bad, anxiety, and being the best all the time. I'm bored just thinking about it quite frankly. It is absolutely not fun watching Pony Cult Leader remind me she was a cult leader and also how bad she feels about it! I don't care!

SIX: The show acts like she's super amazeballs at friendship, and she's not. (Also, the whole...friendship as some sort of tangible skill you can achieve and Be The Best At instead of just learning interpersonal skills? No thanks fam.) Like...Starlight should not have been a guidance counselor, one, because being The Good Friend ABSOLUTELY does not make you qualified for responsibility of the mental health of actual children, two, even if it did, she's not that amazing at being the Good Friend! She...still does a lot of shitty things. Or before that, when she got a """friendship medal""" for saving Equestria and suddenly deemed a Friendship Master? WHAT?! Those things have ZERO CORRELATION. Very bad.

SEVEN: the fact that she'll get treated better than other reformed villains (cough cough Discord) by everybody around her despite...also doing shitty things is really annoying and a huge double standard! Stop that!

THINGS THAT ON THEIR OWN I WOULDN'T CARE ABOUT BUT SINCE I'M ALREADY NOT FOND OF HER JUST ANNOY ME:

-She's rich. Eat the rich.

-I'm actually not fond of her design. It's not the worst...but I don't love it...

-The fact that she's another Twilight clone not clone like with Sunset. Especially because they kept making jokes about how Starlight and Twilight are so similar haha! Like,,,god just stop it's so boring.

I uh. I think that's it. Maybe.