#just depends on if i decide to include more businesses/buildings

[gerbits]

gonna work on a lil character page for grimcoast harbor what do you guys think, $5 to view??

[pinkacademiaprincess]

Hiiiii! what extracurricular activities do you do?

Renaissance Woman: Being Well-Rounded via Extracurricular Activities 👩‍💼🧠🎨🏅

hi, ty for the ask! i’ve done many different extracurricular activities through the years. in high school i did dance, choir, ceramics, and i took elective classes in coding/ statistics. in college i’ve joined a book club, various accounting/ business organizations, honors program, research, and i take extra courses in interesting subjects like psychology and sociology. i’ve also worked part-time most of the time since i turned 16.

if you’re wanting to decide what kinds of extracurriculars to do, i’d say to try to make it a variety. and pick things that you are actually interested in doing and will be able to truly commit to. don’t spread yourself thin and don’t make yourself do anything you reeeally don’t want to do.

i try to have a mix of the following:

physical activities

a sport or exercise class is a great form of extracurricular activity because it keeps you active. depending on the activity it also develops your teamwork and collaborative skills. you can also build strong bonds amongst your teammates/ workout buddies. find something you truly enjoy & can see yourself committing the time to!

academic & career advancers

this can include clubs based on a field of study/ career path, academic/ business organizations, educational electives, practicing a relevant skill, and so on. these are useful if you’ve got a career path or field in mind and want to learn more about it. if it involves a group setting you can find like-minded people with the same goals. these types of programs also provide tools, resources, & guidance for success.

hobby/ fun

some of the most fulfilling extracurriculars may be something you just enjoy as a hobby. for me this was things like choir, ceramics, and other arts. i enjoy artistic stuff as a creative outlet to help relieve stress, and although i don’t want to be a professional singer or sculptor, i still highly benefited from those activities. they spark creativity and force you to use different parts of your brain.

money-making

i definitely consider having a job to be an extracurricular activity since it can go on your resume/ college applications/ etc. any job will help you build useful skills. if you’re in a position where you don’t need to work, i wouldn’t recommend getting a job tho, especially if you’re a student bc your time could be spent on your studies. i recommend seeking other extracurricular activities through your school instead if you have time.

[hroscek]

Hello ! I have been following your account for a while and totally in love with your theories and headcannons <3 I’m wondering if it’s possible to make a few headcannons about Dottore working out at the gym ?

Omg thank you so much!! It really means a lot <33 I love feeding fellow Dottore fans with whatever they desire. Here you go pookie, just for you.

🤍Il Dottore workout headcanons🤍

Slightly ooc and silly btw! Also I'm not that into fitness so excuse any awkward wording or mistakes (I run a Dottore fanblog, it's shocking if I leave the house more than once a week).

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Despite being mostly known for his intellectual abilities, Dottore also prides himself on his combat abilities. He is well educated on the topic of human anatomy and fitness. Being The Doctor he is responsible for creating the Fatui soldiers' training guide, maximizing each new recruit's progress toward becoming a worthy soldier. He is also likely behind creating and guiding the harbingers' workouts and combat training, focusing on each of their strengths and weaknesses to create truly powerful beings.

While he does spend most of his time on his research, Dottore is aware he can't skip out on his physical form. That's why he created a specialized workout schedule. His main focus was making sure it doesn't eat up too much of his time (he is a VERY busy man) while getting him ready for a variety of situations. I believe his main goal would be building strength and cardio with a healthy mix of flexibility.

If the leaks are to be believed he wields a claymore, which requires some intense core and arm strength so he'd put in some effort to be able to maneuver it effectively. This would include the standard combat training (most likely with specialized dummies, robots or unlucky segments) but also working with weights and agility training. From the in-game model we can tell he works most on his arms, shoulders, core and chest.

Another important component would be cardio. This helps him keep in shape and monitor his physical well being. It also helps him gtfo if a situation becomes too risky even for him. Most of this is realized with him just running on a treadmill or a similar exercise.

Lastly, he would likely practice some form of flexibility training to aid in his combat (and keep away the back pain). He definitely does some form of yoga, which doubles as an opportunity to do some meditation or pondering™ on his latest experiment.

He prefers to do these workouts alone, likely having a specialized gym in his lab. If he is away or can't access a private spot he will have his guards empty a room for it. He even designed a portable gym setup with the essentials that he brings on missions so he doesn't fall behind.

One time Childe suggested the Doctor show him how to do an exercise on his plan (believing that he'd be able to get a sparring match with a 2nd harbinger out of it) and he hit him with a death stare that could kill a man trough the mask. The poor kid decided to avoid him from then on.

He wouldn't be caught dead working out with other people if he can help it. He sees his body as sacred and it's upkeep is a very private matter to him. If he went to a modern gymbro type gym he'd most likely fake his own death and flee the country (or planet).

He is also one of those psychopaths that workout without headphones or music.

In contrast the segments don't adhere to a strict workout schedule, seeing as their bodies are constructed with combat in mind. Nevertheless they use working out as a way to relax after a mentally taxing period or as bonding with other segments. The younger segments have occasional fights and bets between each other in who's better at a certain sport or activity, usually settled by dropping everything to go measure just who's best.

The segments also have a more fun approach when it comes to taking care of their "bodies". Depending on their personality, some are very open to trying different disciplines and games. One of the teenage segments is actually surprisingly good at horseback riding (one time had a silent hour long race with Kaeya while riding around Mondstadt. They never learned who the other was, but will continue to praise their abilities when reminiscing). Some older segments find never ending joy in exercise tapes and even filmed their own (strictly controlled to make sure it never leaks).

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Thank you for reading and a HUGE thank you to whoever sent the ask <3 It really does mean a lot to see support for my content and I love receiving ideas on what I should cover. I hope this satisfies your Dottore gym urges well enough and sorry it took a while. I didn't post for a bit these days because I'm working on something kinda big but I'm not sure if I'll post it so don't get your hopes up please (a bit of a perfectionist so if it's not perfect it'll never see the light of day). In conclusion, I love getting asks so if there's ANYTHING you wanna share or suggest please do so. I really don't judge.

⟡

[kasdan]

𝐸𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝐹𝑢𝑟𝑦 {𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝟥}

join the taglist | series masterlist | main masterlist

a/n: i would like to give a fair warning that i have no idea how tf guns work and tried my best with explaining things the best i could so sorry if things aren’t accurate. i hope you enjoy<3

Summary: you’re finally free but then are taken by a strange man who tells you he’s here to help you.

Pairing: frank castle x reader

Warnings: kidnapping? depending on how you look at it, police bc they are a warning in themselves, blood, ptsd, angst, guns, frank being the baby girl he is

Word count: 3.5k

Chapter song: Hello Cold World by Paramore

I try to get as far away from the crumbling building as possible, but I find it harder than I initially expected. There are even more sirens out of the building, and something loud and spinning above me with a stream of bright light coming out of it.

I feel a cool sensation wash over me as the light comes closer to me, and it moves so fast that I don’t have time to even try to hide from it. I lift my hand over my eyes, attempting to cover them from the brightness. My heart pounds as the light stops right on top of me, my mind racing with possibilities. However, one of the possibilities my mind came up with did not include the light turning away from me and moving behind me.

I’m confused, thinking surely something would have happened when the light saw me. I don’t dwell on it any longer as I quickly make my way in the opposite direction of where the thing went.

I’m breathing heavily, my body greatly fatigued, but I force myself to continue, getting fully out of the facility, which is so close that I have to press on. The closer I get to what I believe to be the edge of the exit to the facility, the more lights I see flashing blue and red. I see a group of people next to the lights and rush behind a small building, where I’m able to pick up part of a conversation.

"We were told an experiment went wrong here, and the building started crumbling down on itself. What kind of an experiment does that shit?" I hear another person answer them, sounding bored.

"I don’t know, but why were we told to secure the permitter for an experiment gone wrong, and what up with the helicopter? Can’t believe I was woken up for this." My eyebrows crease in confusion. Did they not know that I was the experiment? If they’re here, why wouldn’t they be told?

I’m too busy in my head to notice the other voices coming closer to where I am, and it’s too late for me to try to do anything but to press myself up against the building and let out a small gasp.

They stop for a second and look right at me, and I stare back wide-eyed, heart pounding, and I wait for them to grab me, start to yell for the others, draw their weapons at me, anything, but nothing happens. They continue talking and walk right past me, like I’m not even there.

I watch their backs as they walk through the barricade and over to the other side. I’m confused again, as this is the second time tonight that I’ve been glanced over and completely ignored. I don’t understand why people are just walking past me like I’m not even there. Aren’t they supposed to be looking for me? Even if they didn’t know if they were looking for me, I would think finding a person here would raise some suspicion at least. 

I look down at my hands and notice a light purple glow radiating off of them. It’s the same kind of aura that I saw around myself in the building before it collapsed. I think back to the power that I was able to summon and wonder if that wasn’t the only thing I am able to do. I decide that I should just test the theory and hope that I am still able to produce the strange shield that I did before if it doesn’t work.

I try to steady myself as best I can before taking a deep breath and stepping out into the open. I can see lines of the flashing red and blue lights, causing me to squint to be able to see slightly. I can see groups of people standing around talking and wandering, all of them seeming to be in their own world.

I can see where the people are getting in and out, and I slowly make my way over to it. Soon I’m where the barricade opens from, and I hesitantly stand in front of it, wondering if anyone is going to notice me standing there. 

My question gets asked when someone goes up to open the door. I back up so I don’t get hit, and the person coming out walks in, immediately turning around to close the barricade back up behind them. I don’t have time to worry about being seen as I quickly rush to get through to the other side before I am closed in again.

I’m able to squeeze myself through the gap just in time before it’s closed off to me. I look back as the door shuts and the person who walked in turns to walk around the corner, disappearing from sight.

I look around at all the people around me, none of them taking a second glance at me. I look back down at my hands and can still see a faint purple glow, but it seems to be getting fainter. I have to get out of here before whatever power I’m harnessing wears off and people are able to see me again.

I don’t know where I’m going or what to do, so I aim to just go where my body takes me. I can feel my body starting to shut down as I walk, but I force myself to get further and harder to find.

It seems like I’ve been walking forever, but I know it can’t have been that long. I eventually see lights and buildings in the distance and hesitate to go further. There are likely a lot of people there for the number of buildings there are, and I think to turn a different way but stop myself. I figure anyone looking for me wouldn’t expect me to waltz into an area with a high amount of people, so I walk towards the buildings and lights.

I try to avoid the brightest places and maneuver my way through the shadows of the buildings. There don’t seem to be that many people here from what I can see, but I don’t let my guard down as I work my way through.

Not long after I start walking, I feel my legs start to collapse under me, and I brace myself against a building. I know I’m not going to be able to keep walking for much longer, so I try to find a spot for me to stop for a bit. I find a small area in between two buildings, and I stop there, practically collapsing on the ground against one of them.

I can barely feel my limbs as I brace myself against the wall, and now that I’m sitting, I can feel the full effects of the events that happened. I look down at my arm, and there’s dried blood that trickled halfway down it from where the creature scratched me. It doesn’t seem to be openly bleeding that much anymore, which I consider a plus. My shoulder aches, and I’m pretty sure I pulled it or did something to it while trying to reach for the gun while being pinned down. I look down at the gun I still hold and weakly make sure to snap the safety on before managing to put it in the waistband of my pants.

I breathe out and close my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall. I can feel my body shutting down, finally reacting to being tased multiple times and being slammed against a wall, and I can’t bring myself to stop from falling asleep. I have the image of Ellie as that creature in my head, with me shooting and killing her on repeat, and I vaguely remember the feeling of water trickling onto my skin before falling into complete unconsciousness.

I can feel my body shaking slightly as I let out a small groan and work to open my eyes. It seems to be a harder task than I thought; my body is still aching and not wanting to move.

I hear a strange, constant rumbling sound and lift my arm up as if to try and make it go away. However, instead of hitting a brick wall like I was expecting, my hand rubs against something cold and smooth. This causes me to open my eyes fully, and instead of seeing the buildings where I left myself, I see a ceiling with walls closing me in. There’s a blanket draped over me and a pillow under my head as confusion engulfs me.

Confusion soon turns to panic as my breathing picks up. They found me. They found me, and now I’m being brought back to be locked up. Or what if they’re not even going to lock me up anymore and are just planning to get rid of me? I’ve caused too much damage, and now they’re scared of me doing it again. But why am I not restrained? My body doesn’t wait to catch up with my brain before I’m jumping up, not expecting the ceiling to be that low and almost hitting my head on it as the blanket on me falls to a heap on the ground at my feet.

I’m not expecting the ground to be shaking and moving, and I lose my balance and crash back to the ground. I hear a faint "shit" from above me as I can feel myself being pushed slightly to the side before the movement stops completely. I hear a door slam and footsteps walking around to the door where I am, and I force myself back into a corner as far away from the door as I can get.

The door opens, and a blinding light streams through, causing me to whip my head to the side and bring my arm up to try and block it out. Every time I try to open my eyes, I can feel them burn before I have to shut them again. I’ve never seen this kind of light before, and I was forcing myself to try and get used to it so I could try and work to defend myself against this person.

Suddenly I hear the door shut, and my eyes shoot open to see that the person has entered along with me, holding his hands out in front of him. My breath hitches as he goes to take a step forward, and I try to push myself further into the corner.

"Hey, hey, I’m not gonna hurt you." He speaks in a soft tone, bending down on one knee without moving to get any closer to me. I look down to see the purple aura around my hands again, but it goes in and out like it’s trying to stick but can’t. I see the man look down at my hands, where I was analyzing, with a confused look on his face. Can he see the glow?

"Are you okay?" He asks, and I look up at him, his brown eyes staring into mine. He wears a slight smile, and it makes me feel an almost calming sensation, like I want to trust him. Wait what? No. Why would I even think about trusting this stranger who took me? He’s probably trying to lure me into trusting him so he can strike when I’m caught off guard.

I tense up as I think about it and prepare myself to get ready and fight my way out, even if I know my body probably won’t be able to handle it right now. I remember the gun and reach behind me to grab it, but I find it’s not there.

The person notices the movement and lets out a breathy sigh. "Yeah, sorry, couldn’t take any chances. I’ll give it back once I know you won’t try and shoot me." He lets out a small laugh and looks down, shaking his head. I don’t say anything, opting instead to put my hands in my lap and start fiddling with my fingers, a nervous habit I’ve picked up with my time in the lab.

The man lets out another small sigh and moves to open the door again. He stops when his hand is on the handle and turns his head to look back at me. "I promise I’ll tell you everything when we’re somewhere safe." He says this before turning back around to push open the door.

This time I’m expecting the bright light to stream through, and I’m able to keep my eyes open slightly, but I'm still not able to open them completely. I see him jump down slightly to get all the way out of the compartment, and with his back still towards me, I act fast. 

I get up as fast as I can, fighting through the wave of dizziness that I experience, and bolt out of where I was being kept. I push into the man, who stumbles to the side, caught off guard by the contact, and jump out. I try to keep my balance, but my legs still aren’t trustworthy enough to hold me up well, and I fall on my knees, feeling a sting on them. I don’t have time to think about it as I push myself up and start running in a random direction.

I hear the man curse behind me, and I don’t glance back as I push myself to run as fast as I can. I don't know where I’m going, and nothing looks familiar to me at all, and it looks like there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around. I try to push my way into the covered area to hide myself, but before I can get there, I feel an arm wrap around my chest, and my body falls back against another.

I try to pry the arm off of me so I can move, but it’s too strong, and I squirm to try to get free. "Please, I’m tryin’ to help you." I hear the voice of the man who took me behind me, and my mind is screaming at me to get free and run, but my body is exhausted, and instead it ends up slumping against him.

"Please." I manage to speak, and for some reason tears well up in my eyes again, but they don’t fall, making my eyesight blurry.

"You’re okay. You’re okay." I hear from behind me as I feel the man release his hold on my chest and bend down to bring an arm under my knees, lifting me up into him with his other arm supporting my back. My head is against his chest as my body falls limp in his arms. Any warnings in my head about this person disappear as he walks with me in his arms back to where we once were. My body felt like it was floating, and I wouldn’t be able to try to escape again even if I wanted to.

We get back to where we were, and the man hops up onto the ledge and places me back down on the pillow where I was before running. He grabs the blanket that was lying on the side in a ball and places it back on top of my body. He takes one last look at me as he jumps down again, and this time he is able to successfully close the doors back up behind him.

I hear another door open and close above me as the rumbling sound from before comes back, and my body is slightly shaking from it again. I try to close my eyes and relax again, but my mind is too alert, and so I end up staring at the wall as this stranger brings me to an unknown location.

After a while, the rumbling stops again, and I hear the stranger get out. I find enough strength to be able to push myself up and lean against the wall. I follow the sound of the footsteps coming around to the back, where I am, and hear a latch sound as the door is opened again.

The stranger stands there as he looks at me, and I continue to stay against the wall, not moving. C'mon, I got a room for us; no one should look for you here." He holds out his hand as a motion for me to take it, and I hesitate for a second before slowly moving over to take it. I have nothing left to lose anyway. He helps me down from the ledge, and my legs wobble unstably as he goes to hold me steady. Once I gain my balance, he looks at me before he reaches to grab the blanket that was used to cover me and wraps it around my shoulders. "Maybe just wrap yourself with this until we’re inside." 

I look down and just now notice that my clothes are stained red with blood almost completely, some of it being my own and most of it being from various other people. You can see rips in the clothing, leaving parts of my skin vulnerable to the air, and I do my best to wrap the blanket around me, trying to cover up the worst parts.

The stranger seems satisfied with this as he closes the door and latches it, leading me away. He walks close to me, and I do my best not to walk too slowly and annoy him. He doesn’t seem to be bothered by my pacing, though, as we walk down this hallway of sorts, passing by a variety of doors. As we’re about to pass another door, someone walks out of it, and I jump, the stranger grabbing my arm lightly to pull me next to him. The person coming out of the door doesn't even acknowledge us as they grunt and start walking down the way we came from.

The stranger's hand stays on my arm as we continue walking and eventually stop in front of a door. The stranger releases my arm as he reaches into his pocket to grab something and pulls out some sort of key before using it to unlock the door in front of us. 

The door opens, and he motions for me to enter as he puts the key back into his pocket. I slowly make my way into the room, surveying my surroundings. The room itself looks to be around twice the size of the cell that I’m used to, not including the door that looks to lead to another room. 

Instead of the pure white walls that my cell had, these are a little darker than that, with pictures hung up on some of them. I hear the stranger move around me and place a bag on one of the two things with pillows on them that took up most of the room in here. I hear him unzip the bag, and what I see inside is a range of different guns. I instinctively take a step back, and he looks over at me. He chuckles and shakes his head before saying, "Relax, darlin’ if I wanted you dead, you would be already."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" I quip as I watch him take out a pile of clothes from the bag. 

"Who said I was tryin’ to?" He asks as he holds out the clothing that he took from the bag out to me. It’s astonishing how different he seems from when he was seemingly trying to comfort me before to now. Does he have some kind of ulterior motive? If he does, I should try to figure out what it is, right? And if I’m actually safe here, like he said I would be, it seems I was in my thoughts for too long as I heard him whistle and wave his unoccupied hand in front of my face.

"S-sorry." I barely get it out in a whisper as I grab the clothes being handed to me. I can see his face visibly soften at this as he shakes his head.

"Don’t worry bout it." He speaks in a dismissive tone before motioning to the door to the other room. "You can shower and change into these. They’re all I got at the moment till I can get you some in your size." I look down at the clothes and realize that it looks like he’s given me some of his clothes to change into. "I’m gonna head out and get some food for us; I should be back before you finish showering; the place is just next door." 

I stand there as he moves to go towards the door before remembering something. He pulls a gun out of his waistband and hands it over to me. I recognize it as the gun that I stole from the guard and move to take it from him. I move the clothes in my hand under my arm and grab the gun from him. I pull the slide back to check to see if there’s ammo in it, and when I’m satisfied with what I see, I snap it back shut, locking it in place. I look up to see the man amusingly looking at me. “Just in case.” He says as he nods his head towards the gun he gave back to me. After this he turns to open the door.

"I’m Frank, by the way." He mentions before turning back and leaving out the door, closing it as I hear the lock move into place.

@sleeperthelazy @hathay @lunaticgurly @casa-boiardi

buy me a coffee ♡

[snarky-magpie]

You are one of the few people who ship prongsfoot and Jegulus. How do you keep that up in the fandom and what is so appealing for you about both Jegulus and Prongsfoot? Elaborate

Hi nonnie, thanks for such an interesting ask (and also thanks for confirming my vague impression that most people choose one or the other ship but rarely both), and I apologize for the incoming wall of text.

How do I keep that up in the fandom—well, tbh, mostly by staying in my corner and not interacting with the fandom all that much. Connecting with people doesn't come naturally to me in general (hello undiagnosed autism), so this is my usual mode of operation anyway. However, Jegulus shippers have been mostly lovely, even though they don't seem to engage much, which I'm guessing is partly because they have so much material to choose from, so it can get kinda overwhelming and impossible to interact with everything and everyone. I did meet a few great people through Jegulus, though, and I treasure those friendships highly. When I tried to interact with the prongsfoot people, I was quickly taught that Jegulus shippers are not welcome. (I mean come on, this is ridiculous, it's just making imaginary people fall in love, it shouldn't be this divisive). It almost soured me on the ship altogether, but I love James and Sirius too much, so I just decided to stick to my lane, quietly write about them, and not get involved in this part of the community. It makes me a little sad, but that's the way things are.

Anyway. Now onto the more fun part, what I find appealing about both of these ships. To me, they're two different sides of the same coin, sort of. I believe I already mentioned this once, but Jegulus has a lot of inherently popular tropes going for it:

Enemies to lovers

Dating/pining in secret

Best friend's brother

Grumpy x sunshine

Sport rivals (quidditch or any other sport in modern AUs)

Second chances (in case Regulus joins the DE and then changes his mind)

Starcrossed lovers (pun intended)

Redemption arc

Tragic endings (if that's your thing)

So despite the characters never interacting in canon, there's a lot to build on and that's what makes the ship so attractive to a lot of readers and writers, myself included. Also, precisely because these two characters never really interacted in canon, we have so much room for interpretation, and almost nothing of it can be called wrong (I mean, it's fic, so it inherently can't be wrong, but still.). If you squint, you can even imagine Jegulus IS canon. Do we know who James dated before Lily? Nope. Him so obnoxiously crushing on a popular girl could very well be overcompensating. So yes, there's a lot to play with.

Prongsfoot, on the other hand, has a lot of basis in canon (I know this doesn't have to matter, but my OCD brain kinda likes it when things align with canon. That doesn't mean I agree or support JKR. She can rot for all I care.) James and Sirius are canonically besties. And not only besties, they're completely unhinged about each other. We only see them interact rather briefly, but it's clear they're devoted to each other. (I particularly love the moment when a girl eyes Sirius hopefully and he completely misses it because he's too busy ogling James.) Sirius is the only one who can make James behave. James is the one Sirius runs to when he needs sanctuary. They created freaking two-way mirrors to communicate when the other was in detention because they're so co-dependent an hour or two without speaking to the other is just too long. I know people argue with "yes, because they're brothers" - excuse me, do you actually have siblings? This is not sibling behavior :D (Also, they're not. Sirius lived with the Potters for about a year when he was 16 before moving out, and that's that.) Tbh, I don't understand why this ship isn't top-tier popular because, in any other fandom, it would be, but here, Wolfstar stole their spotlight, and the rest is history. Probably partly because we don't actually see James and Sirius both alive at the same time. (That's just my guess, though.) Speaking in story tropes, they're the epitome of friends-to-lovers, (possibly bi/gay awakening), soulmates, oblivious idiots. I'm generally a big fan of the friends-to-lovers dynamic, so that's probably what attracts me most to this ship.

So for me, as a writer, it's fun to explore these different facets of the characters—because the James from prongsfoot is not the same James who loves Regulus (although sometimes it's confusing to keep all these headcanons separated in my brain, and they start to influence each other, lol). It's also fun to write the different dynamics, so I don't get bored.

TL;DR: Both ships are great for different reasons, I wish people were more tolerant of other ships (and characters), and I've got a long prongsfoot and jegulus story coming in case you're interested. Cheers, and once again, thanks for the ask.

(PS. this is what happens when someone tells me to elaborate.)

[binnie-bitch]

In Your Arms - Stray Kids Fanfiction

Pairing: Bang Chan/Female Reader Tags: Fluff, Angst, Unrequited Love (but it’s not actually unrequited), Love Confessions, Implied Sexual Content Word Count: 4k Summary: You’re in love with your friend Bang Chan, but you’re afraid to confess. A/N: This is a commission for @thefangirloncrack  Also the second time I wrote a reader fic (Technically the third, but we don’t talk about the first), but it was fun to write! I should write more reader fics. It’s different and trying out different things is always good. Anyway. Please enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~

Bang Chan smiles at you over the table. Bang Chan, your friend, and the bane of your existence, who agreed to sit down and study with you despite being busy with his own school projects. 

You know he has an essay due this friday, and yet, here he is, in the library, with his gentle eyes and warm aura. His body heat radiates where your ankle is squished between his legs. You have given up freeing yourself from his grasp ten minutes ago. His puppy eyes are hard to resist. It also doesn't help that his friend Changbin drags him to the gym every week.

Chan taps his pen on the back of your hand the moment you look away. You would never complain if he saves you from a headache that comes with trying to comprehend another academic text.

"Do you need something, oppa?" you ask.

"Y/n," he drawls, "are you free this weekend?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"What are you planning?"

Chan's smile molds into a grin. "A party! Well, it's not my party, but I'm invited."

"And you don't want to go alone?"

"You like parties!"

He isn't exactly wrong, but not right either. You don't hate parties. You can stomach them every now and then, but only because most of them involve Chan. He has made a habit of inviting you when you never said no before. You can't start now.

"I guess I have time," you say carefully.

"Great!" 

Chan practically bounces in his chair as he gives you the details, and doesn't stop beaming until you both decide to leave the library. He gives you a hug before you part, like he always does. You might never learn how to not melt into his warmth. Your heart also never stops aching when he pulls away, and you swear that one day you'll break and keep him close for just a little longer.

When you first noticed it, you had just decided to try dating again. Chan was so encouraging. He had been ever since you met, that fateful day where you were crying in the back of the library over some stupid guy from history class. And he kept being there for you when no date went well.

But that's the problem, isn't it? Chan is sweet. So annoyingly sweet. No man had a chance when you started comparing them all to Chan. It's all too easy with him. Including falling in love.

That's how you find yourself rummaging through your closet on Saturday evening in a fruitless search for a good outfit. Whatever a good outfit means. Does it even matter what you wear? It's not like Chan will care. Every other girl at that party is going to be much prettier-

Fingers snap right at your ear. You shriek and jerk away, tripping over a pile of shirts. Minho just watches you fall with something akin to guilt. Or maybe boredom. You can never tell with him.

"Okay, that answers my question," Minho says.

"Question? What question?"

Minho sighs. "If you're listening."

"Oh. Sorry. I was-"

"Thinking about Channie-hyung?"

You shut your mouth immediately. Heat rises into your cheeks, and you bow your head, but Minho's attention is relentless.

"You know, y/n, maybe you should just tell him."

Eyes growing wide, you perk back up. "Absolutely not!"

"Words are a powerful tool. Bla bla. Whatever. He's not a mindreader."

"I don't *want* him to know!"

Minho rolls his eyes and takes his seat back on the bed. With his suffocating presence gone, you push yourself back to your feet, and continue your search. But building that pile of clothes won't help you.

You stare down at the shirts and pants, a colorful mess so unlike Chan. He once said that he appreciates your style. It's a nice contrast to his neverending closet of a black void. He seems to appreciate a lot about you, always giggling and blushing when confessing these things. 

You haven't returned those words yet. They always linger in the back of your throat, but the many things you appreciate about him marinate in something much deeper than they do for Chan. If you dare to spill your thoughts, there is no saying what else might bubble up with it.

You glance at Minho.

"What if he doesn't like me back?"

Minho smiles as if you’re a puppy left in the rain. "Then you can move on at least."

"But what if-"

"Y/n, you think too much. Give your pretty head some rest and just do things."

Just tell Chan? It sounds so much easier than it is. You can't help but imagine all the ways this could go, and none of them end with you in Chan's arms. You want to be in his arms. You want to-

Minho scoffs, pulling you out of your wandering mind.

"If you don't tell me now, it might be too late."

You frown. "And if I do tell him, he won't be my friend anymore."

"Chan? Not your friend? Please." Minho waves his hand. "He'll get over it. You both will. And then you can go and find someone else."

A sigh falls heavy from your lips. Minho is right. You have been looking for the right outfit for an hour now, and for what? Chan won't have a moment of utter awe like a guy in a teen movie when the girl comes down the stairs in her prom dress. If he doesn't feel the same as you already, there is no hope it will change.

Admitting defeat took bravery, and you like to think you're very brave.

"I'll tell him tonight."

Minho gives you a thumbs up. "You got this!"

—-------

You absolutely do not got this. The moment you arrive at the party and Chan hugs you, it's over. All that confidence from before dissolves like cotton candy in water. He's so warm and his voice vibrates through your whole body and his smile has you weak in the knees.

"Hey, y/n! I'm so glad you're here," he says, guiding you into the house that was already overflowing with drunk college students.

You let him push you, because your body refuses to do anything else. Chan is wearing a tight black shirt and leather pants, and you can't help but take in his muscles. With his collection of hoodies, you rarely get the chance. But it also reminds you of how unbelievably attractive Chan is. He's kind and hot, and there is no way you can compete.

As you slip through the crowd towards the kitchen, you hold onto Chan's hand like a lifeline. There is a constant buzz under your skin like a colony of ants and your head overflows as you try to remember your plan. You can't pick through your thoughts with the constant booming music and the heavy mix of sweat and alcohol in the air. 

It’s too much. You can’t focus. You can’t-

It all melts away when Chan turns back to you, beaming brighter than the sun. He’s so close, you can smell him. Sharp and woodsy, like wandering through the forest after it rained. It grows stronger as he leans in even closer, hot breath stroking your ear, and chasing a shiver down your spine. You hold your breath.

"Do you want alcohol or water?" Chan asks.

You exhale softly, ignoring the disappointment nagging at your chest.

"Alcohol," you say, tilting your head so your lips brush his cheek.

Chan tenses. You feel it where you're still holding his hand. His expression is impossible to decipher as he pulls back, but you're sure there is something akin to the excitement filling your nerves.

He smiles.

"I'll mix you something!"

You nod, and follow him to the kitchen counter. Dozens of different bottles cover the top along with packs of plastic cups. Chan takes one of the cups. You look away when he reaches for the vodka bottle. It's more fun if he surprises you.

You watch his face from the corner of your eye. His brows are knitted together, and the tip of tongue peeks out between his teeth. He's so concentrated, you don't dare to say anything, but the music alone is distracting enough to keep your thoughts at bay.

His bright smile is back when he hands you your drink. You accept the cup, but hesitate at the green liquid that's actually in there. Chan watches with many expectations and you take a careful sip. Apple and vodka immediately overwhelm your senses. You shudder, but swallow anyway, and Chan laughs.

"Too much?" he asks.

"No," you purse your lips like you've just bitten into a lemon, "it's good, just a bit strong."

"I can make you another!"

You laugh and quickly pull his hand away from your cup. Just to prove your point, you drink more, and hope that the kick of alcohol will help you later.

"See? It's fine. Thank you, oppa."

Chan laughs too. "You should thank my friend Jaehyun. He taught me how to mix."

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever meet him."

"You might today. He's around here somewhere."

"Later." You hand Chan an empty cup. "It's your turn."

"I have to drink too?" 

You pat his shoulder, giggling. "You should try your own concoctions."

"Fine, but only because you complimented me!"

You keep giggling as Chan gets busy mixing again, but your insides are twisting like you're on a rollercoaster.

Everything that is Bang Chan holds you hostage. You can't look away from him even when you try. Like a moth to flame, you lean into the heat oozing from his body. The urge to trace his muscles tingles at your fingertips. You grip your cup tighter, and it crumbles a little, spilling some of the liquid. 

Minho is more than right. You need to know, before you lose your mind. If Chan doesn't like you back, you at least know, and maybe get over your feelings. Otherwise, if you don't say a word, there is always that small chance that maybe Chan feels the same. And you know that as long as that chance persists, your feelings and yearning will persist as well.

"Oppa."

Chan meets your eyes. You take a deep breath.

"Oppa, can we go somewhere more quiet? I need to tell you some-"

"Chan!" 

You freeze at the melodic voice carrying through the kitchen. At the same moment, you also watch Chan's expression change. He smiles. He smiles like he so rarely does, only when he's incredibly happy and excited. And he smiles like that for the girl joining you at the kitchen counter.

And then she kisses Chan.

The plastic cup cracks and deforms between your tightening grip. More liquid spills over, sticking to your fingers, but you don't care. No one points it out. Chan is too busy hugging that girl that you've never seen before. Or maybe you have. She's beautiful. You would have remembered her, wouldn't you?

She looks at you with cupid bow lips curled into a sweet smile.

"Are you y/n?" the girl asks.

You nod.

"Oh!" The girl claps her hands together. "Channie told me so much about you! It's so nice to finally meet you. I'm Sana!"

You stare at her, blinking. She holds out a hand, but as you fail to take it, Sana slowly pulls back, expression faltering. Both of you look at Chan. Realization seems to finally dawn on him.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry!" He bows his head, laughing nervously. "I wanted to introduce you to Sana today, but this is not how I planned it."

Sana gasps. "You didn't tell her about me?"

"Well, no? I wanted to!"

"What… Who…" You inhale sharply. "And who are you, Sana?"

"Chan's girlfriend!"

Girlfriend. Girlfriend. Girlfriend-

The word bounces in your head until it throbs at your temples. Your next breath stutters, your throat tight. Whatever you could have said gets stuck and even as you swallow, you feel like choking. 

What even was there to say?

You straighten your back and slowly put down the cup on the nearest surface. Concern twists Chan's face, but you can't look at him for more than a few seconds. Your eyes burn at the edges. You take another deep breath, swallowing, chest tight and heart heavy.

"I need. I need some fresh air."

That's all you can get out, and even then your voice breaks at the end. Whatever protest Chan tries to give, it doesn't reach you through the white noise building in your ears. 

You squeeze yourself through the crowd. You try to remember where the front door is, but your vision blurs and your head hurts. Somehow, you do actually manage to get out of the house, and a sob breaks out from deep within your chest. 

You blindly walk away from the music, the voices, and Bang Chan. Alcohol buzzes hot in your guts and you feel sick, but you can't stop. Your feet carry you all the way to your dorm and even then your body refuses to just throw up. All you can do is fall into your bed and succumb to the tears.

—-------

Minho was wrong, actually. Knowing for sure about Chan's feelings doesn't help at all. It's actually worse. As they say, ignorance is bliss. It gives you all the room to be delusional, to cling to a hope that maybe there could be more. 

There can't be more.

You're not even sure that there can be anything anymore.

You can't call Minho that night. He's just as much as Chan's friend as he's yours. You burdened him enough with the knowledge of your feelings. Crying to him was only going to make things worse. 

So you don't. You don't tell anyone. You ignore their messages and calls. Chan even comes knocking on your door. You bury yourself under your blanket until he leaves. On Monday, you avoid Chan like the plague. Minho is harder to dodge. He outright hunts you down during lunch break.

It's nice. Telling someone. It doesn't take away from the weight on your heart, but it soothes your mind. A little. Just enough that you don't feel completely insane for crying about this. Minho holds you and it's the first time in so long that it's not Chan who comforts you through a heartbreak.

It's also Minho who invites you to another party two weeks later. 'Inviting' is a strong word. He knocks on your door two hours before the party starts and tells you to pick out an outfit. You don't ask why. You're too tired to argue. Maybe going out helps. Maybe you can drown yourself in alcohol until your heart stops aching.

This party is again at a stranger's house. You find some familiar faces from college, but you don't know half their names. Minho drags you to get some drinks and then leaves you for 'important business'. Not that you particularly care when you’re here to drink anyway. You sit on the kitchen counter and watch everyone else enjoy themselves, because what else are you going to do? Try to dance and mingle with the crowd? You don’t know them. You don’t want to know them.

You're halfway into your second beer when a guy takes the open space next to you. His knee bumps yours and you meet his eyes. You vaguely remember him. 

Hyunjin? He's definitely one of Minho's friends, but you never really talked. He's pretty though. You want to run your fingers through his blonde hair, but that might be the alcohol speaking. It has loosened both your heart and mind, not enough that you can't make decisions, but enough that you can actually smile back at Hyunjin.

"Hey," you say.

"Hey," Hyunjin says sheepishly, clinging your beer bottles together, "you look a little lonely."

"So you thought you would give me some company?"

"Maybe."

You snort, amused, but not really that endeared. Not that you don't appreciate it, but you're not really in the mood to talk. But you don't really have to talk.

"I would feel less lonely with a kiss," you drawl, not sure if this was the right way to go.

But Hyunjin leans in closer and his hot breath ghosts over your lips and you just want to forget. So you slip a hand into his hair, tugging at the soft strands. Your mouths and tongues meet in a touch devoid of emotion. 

This is to scratch an itch. Nothing more. Yet, guilt eats at the back of your head. You kiss Hyunjin harder, but that small voice won't shut up, and Hyunjin tastes like beer and cookies and you wonder if Chan would taste better.

You pull away, breathless. Hyunjin stares at you with expectations that you can't fulfill. You slip off the counter, about to say something that could get you out of this, when you suddenly catch sight of Chan.

"Y/n."

"Chan."

"You…" He glances at Hyunjin, lips pursed, and then meets your eyes again, "Can we talk?"

You don't want to. That's a lie. You really want to talk, but you're scared. Your body is on fire and yet icy cold as you wrap your arms around yourself.

Chan steps closer and reaches out. Hesitantly, you mimic him, and he takes your wrist.

"Sorry, Hyunjin-ah," Chan says, but you know he doesn't mean it.

Then he moves. Still held by his strong hand, you follow. He squeezes through the crowd and you barely keep up. When you stumble, he catches you, smiling faintly. 

"Where are we going?" You ask.

"Somewhere more quiet."

“Chan-"

"Y/n, please."

You slowly nod, and Chan resumes walking. He only slows down as the crowd thins out and you reach the bottom of a staircase. For just a moment, Chan looks at you, eyes darting all over your face as if trying to find something. He seems to have found it and smiles again.

The upper floor is almost empty. Only a group of girls are standing in front of the bathroom. One of them is talking through the door, probably to a friend. They give you concerned looks as Chan pulls you past them towards another room. You wave at them, smiling, and one girl nods and gives you a thumbs up.

If this was worthy of a thumbs up remains to be seen.

Finally, Chan stops. He lets go of you and closes the door. You take a few deep breaths, your heart running a whole marathon, and it definitely doesn't help that Chan dragged you into a bedroom. A quiet place for sure, but you feel dizzy from the sudden wave of thoughts crashing over you.

"Sorry."

You look at Chan. "What?"

"I'm sorry," he repeats, scratching the back of his head.

"Why are you sorry?"

"I- Well- Maybe we should sit down."

You hesitate as Chan takes a seat on the bed, but he pats the space next to him and his puppy eyes still make you weak. So you sit with him. Your shoulders brush together, and you're immediately filled with his body heat. As your heart flutters, you close your eyes and indulge in that sensation that you’ve missed so much over the last two weeks.

Yeah, there is no way you can get over Chan any time soon.

Chan clears his throat.

"I didn't plan to do it like this, but then Minho said you're here and…"

"Of course. This is why Minho dragged me here."

Chan chuckles. "He really wants us to make up."

"You don't even know what you did wrong."

"I do, actually."

Probably Minho's doing too, but right now, you can't blame him. You would probably do the same. 

You sigh. There is no way out now.

"You didn't actually do anything wrong, oppa."

"I kind of did."

"No," you insist, "I should have told you sooner."

"I should have realized sooner," Chan says.

"To be fair, I really tried to be subtle about it-"

"That's not what I mean," Chan puts a hand on your thigh and the touch burns through your pants, "I should have realized my own feelings sooner, y/n."

You whip your head around so quickly, you're surprised your neck doesn't break. It does hurt a little, but you can't spare a thought for it, your mind too busy trying to comprehend what Chan just said. 

*His* feelings. His feelings?

You blink slowly, eyes wide, but your brain refuses to understand anything. If you're wrong, if you misunderstood…

Chan looks away. A red hue dusts his cheeks and the tips of his ears. You mindlessly reach out and pinch one of his ears, getting a giggle out of him. He also manages to meet your gaze again and his eyes spark with so much honesty, your heart stops for a moment.

"Y/n." 

His voice is so low and he's so close.

"I really like you, y/n."

Is this real? You pinch yourself, but no, you don't wake up. Chan is still there, an expression of so much hope and guilt and…love.

You swallow hard.

"What about Sana?"

"I broke up with her."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"When?" you ask, very much ignoring the crack in your voice.

"A few days after the party. Well, she broke up with me." Chan laughs a little. "I don't know. I think she could tell what was up with you and she told me to really think about what you mean to me. It was kind of bizarre, but yeah, I did think. A lot. And then Minho came to me and…now we’re here."

You can't help but laugh as well. Of course Sana could tell. And of course Chan didn't get it. You wonder if it would be weird if you thanked Sana for this and decide that yes, it would be weird. It's enough if you thank her in your head.

You sigh softly and cup Chan's face, thumbs tracing his warm cheekbones.

"I'm sorry for avoiding you. I was so upset, but like not at you. At myself. I thought… I thought it was all lost."

Chan nods. "It's okay, but you don't have to worry. Nothing is lost."

He tilts his head and presses a kiss to your palm. The spot tingles, his lips plush. You want to kiss him so badly.

"I like you too, Bang Chan," you whisper.

Chan giggles and envelops your hands with his'. He's so warm all over. His smile, his laugh, his touch. 

You pull him closer and his eyes widen in surprise. This time, you giggle.

"Oppa, will you be more than my friend?"

Chan hums thoughtfully. "And what should I be?"

"Come on! Don't make me say it!"

"Nope, no idea what you want from me~"

You huff, pouting, and you refuse to play along with his game. So instead, you breach the last bit of space between you and finally kiss him.

It's gentle. That's all you can think of. It's gentle and almost hesitant, like you're both not quite sure how this works. Chan's lips are as soft as you imagined and he tastes like cherry chapstick that probably belongs to Minho. You tried it once, but it was too sweet. Not this time, though. Not on Chan.

Slowly, you pull away, and Chan leans his forehead against yours.

"I want to be more than your friend," he whispers.

"What does that make you then?" you tease and he laughs.

"Your boyfriend?"

"I would like that very much."

You kiss again, not sure who leans in first. It doesn't matter. Chan wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you so close that you feel like you're melting together. Every piece of clothing that is taken off heats you up more until you're dizzy again.

You don't care whose bed it is when Chan rolls on top of you, your lips slotting together like two puzzle pieces. His hands roam your body and it's hot, so hot. You're candle wax in Chan's arms, molding under his flame and sticking to his fingers.

It's where you belong. It's where you always belonged.

[rriavian]

Ok so here is a snippet of today's Corintheus week fic! I do intend to post it later on but am currently struggling through the edit (and I still need to decide on a title!) so I'm sharing this a little early :)

For the prompt: Undying devotion ‘this time, do not let go’ wherein Dream agrees to take part in a charity auction.

@dreamlovescori thanks for another amazing prompt!

-

Lucienne was the one who informed Dream about the auction.

The winter celebrations had always included an event for charity, the chosen organisation rotating each year, decided by an office vote taking place at the beginning of September. Dream had implemented an early deadline to ensure they’d have time to book—rarely an issue given their standing contract with the venue—as well as time to plan the scheduled festivities. It was an evening of various events both competitive and otherwise. A paint and sip had been made popular enough that it returned year on year, karaoke was also an office favourite, and depending on the mood there was sometimes a scavenger hunt.

It always ended with an awards ceremony.

The winners were voted upon in the first few weeks of December. That part was only for employees—though select clients were invited to celebrate at least the first half of the evenings events—a light-hearted way to celebrate the years achievements. It was an important occasion, not only an opportunity to network but a time for relaxation before the end of the year.

Anticipation had been building in the office for weeks.

Jessamy had scheduled a meeting to discuss the arrangements, prompt as always, the invite reaching Dream’s inbox at exactly 9:05am on December first.

This year had been a particularly busy one, the celebrations arranged for a date right in the midst of it all. In all honesty, Dream didn’t tend to pay much attention to the preparations, just ensured the funds were available and then allowed his employees to plan it as they wished. He’d almost forgotten about it entirely, had been reminded when Matthew had quite cheerfully given an update in the most recent team meeting. The subsequent email reminder that had been sent around listed out exactly what the schedule would be for the occasion.

Dream would much rather be onboarding the new client.

A latecomer to be sure but that could not be held against them—a novelist pitching a phenomenal detective story Dream had devoured in a few hours and immediately agreed to publish—the contracting process revealed to be far more complex than initially anticipated. It appeared his client dipped into different markets the same way Dream did; this the first novel, not the first venture, one such enterprise a dabbling into a franchise of horror themed escape rooms that was going very well. It may have added weeks of work to the end of the year but that was just part of the job. There was much to be done before the year was over, all needed to ensure a smooth transition.

Yet it was also Dream's responsibility to attend his own charity event. He would not risk creating an impression that he didn’t think it was important.

Still, when Lucienne knocked on the door of his office and explained that there had been a last minute adjustment he’d been sceptical. Then when she’d elaborated on how there would now be a charity auction added to the schedule Dream had stared at her a moment too long to claim neutrality.

“What sort of auction?”

There was much he could donate.

But Dream had his suspicions that this was an occasion of another sort.

“Not one you’re used to.” Lucienne’s smile was amused, but kind, she’d seen what his concern was without him needing to say it. “For your time. A dinner, to be precise.”

Dream frowned. “Who would want to take me to dinner?”

He didn’t try and hide the perplexity in his tone. Lucienne laughed; fond, not mocking, and so it did not rankle despite how it was clear she was laughing at him. “You might be surprised about that.”

“I don’t think I will be.” Dream replied. Then nodded briskly. “Very well. May I request a favour?”

“Depends.”

“Would you bid?” He asked. “To ensure that—”

Dream trailed off, frowned as he realised how he’d intended to end the sentence, unsure where the sudden insecurity had come from. He was not worried about being forced to spend time with someone intolerable—that was already a part of his job—nor was he concerned about no one bidding at all. That was already somewhat certain. Yet something about an unknown entity had him needing to ensure he would spend the evening with someone he knew.

Further explanation didn’t end up being required.

Lucienne’s smile was soft. “Of course. I presume you’re paying?”

The tone turned sly at the end, the gentleness a cushion for it. Dream laughed quietly, tension uncurling. “I will fund your donation.”

He waited a beat before changing tact.

“Now. About the new client.”

[lillaluna]

just game ch.1

Pairing: Scaramouche x Xiao x f!Reader

Tags: nsfw (mdni!) unspecified relationship, modern au, threesome, blowjob

After a hard and busy day at university, for you and your friends a quick game of something distracting and relaxing online was something ordinary, but coincidentally the "quick game" that evening lasted for several hours.

The three of you lived in the same building of the student dormitory, but it was much more convenient to play together online. Tonight was filled with endless rounds of poker.

"Can you hurry up?" Snorted Skara tilting her head back, waiting for Xiao's move.

"You know what, unlike you, I actually analyse my cards and try to play including my brain," Xiao replies rolling her eyes and then smirks when she hears you chuckle. "All I'm saying is that I didn't win last round for nothing, and before that."

"Beginner's luck," you say, arching your eyebrows at the bridge of your nose in a sign of doubt at his skill than earns you a smile from Skara.

The game continued and the three of you bantered and laughed at each other as usual, making Scaramouche's next words a little dubious.

"Xiao. I swear to you, if you win this round too, I'll go to bed now and block you."

"I bet you just want to jerk off, don't you?"

"Of course, what else would I be thinking about but jerking off," Scaramouche jokes in a mocking tone, making you burst out laughing.

"You're thinking about her more than you're thinking about what's for dinner."

"So that's our bet for tonight?" you ask, not waiting for the guys to continue arguing.

"Does the loser have to jerk off in public?" asks Xiao, and the light of the monitor screen reflects in his eyes in the dark room as he waits for an answer.

"I agree." You shrug and hear Skara sigh slightly before agreeing with the two of you.

"You're just fucking nuts."

Suddenly there was a lot more depending on the poker game than some fake money. Ironically, Skara is on a losing streak, and he loudly curses every horrible hand that follows his incredible attempts at bluffing.

"We're all going to enjoy this spectacle," Xiao slyly chants as a new giveaway occurs.

Now there was only one choice of who would win, and the options were that it was either you or Xiao, however each of you were glad that at least you had spared yourself the embarrassment of losing and fulfilling such an embarrassing condition.

You decided to go va-ban, just confident that with your straight flush there was no way you could lose. And so you did, until…

…until you saw Scaramouche's cards. Royal fucking flush.

"Shit," you exhale. Game over for you.

"Uh-oh… Someone's not very happy, is he?"

"Shut the hell up…" you say, defeated one step before you win.

Xiao's in first place, Skara's in second, and you… you had to honour the terms of the bet. Terms that you yourself suggested. Is it safe to assume that the trap has been sprung?

"You don't really have to do that, you know, you can just poof," Skara says with a smirk. It stretches so caustically across his face when you show him the middle finger.

"Fuck you guys," you shudder nervously at the thought of having to do something like that.

"Seriously, you don't have to…" says Xiao, each of his words getting softer and softer as you snort and correct the camera, pointing it at your lower body. The guys gaze slides down your legs and stops on your thighs that were only covered by a long t-shirt.

Yes, at that moment, any other normal person would have backed off. But a clear realisation immediately ran through your head that if you didn't fulfil your own condition, for months you'd be haunted by the guys' taunts, which would definitely contain the words 'baller' or 'twaddle'. The second thought was to watch their reaction. You could bet again that these two just wouldn't put up with such blatant behaviour on your part.

Your gaze moves from one guy to the other. Each of them seems to be holding their breath, waiting for your decision. You exhale noisily and remove your hand from the mouse you were still clutching. Scaramouche swallows, and Xiao watches your every action with a darkened look.

Is this arousal?

A blush rushes to your cheeks as you think about having to bring yourself to orgasm in front of your friends, but…. But it's a small "but." You feel a rush of heat in your lower abdomen and somewhere deep in your subconscious you realise that the thought turns you on.

All that's left is to take a couple of steps to jump into that abyss. You run your hands along the inside of your thighs. Your fingers slowly glide over the soft surface of your skin, reaching the edges of the long t-shirt that covered your panties.

"You really don't have to…" Skara's voice got lower, and you could clearly sense the anticipation creeping in. Whatever he was saying, one of his hands was no longer in the frame, and Xiao's camera switched off altogether.

The air in your room suddenly became so thick, tension hovered in the air, it seemed like you could touch it with your hand. You were still fighting with yourself, but the vulgar thoughts were assertively pushing all reasonable arguments out of your head.

You lift the edges of your T-shirt, exposing your spread legs to your friends. Your pussy remains covered only by the thin black lace. You hear Xiao sigh sharply, and then exhale slowly, a low croak escaping his lips and a slight smile touching your lips. You shift your gaze to Scaramouche, and unlike Xiao, he seems to have stopped breathing altogether, keeping his eyes on you. That gives you another wave of warmth, and a wave of goosebumps rushes through your body. You don't even realise why the perverse thought of masturbating yourself in front of your old friends makes you vibrate with anticipation. Slowly you pull your panties aside, revealing your vagina.

It must have been that crucial moment when the jokes were somewhere behind you. Scaramouche leans back in his chair noisily exhaling, you can notice his hand under the table and how he makes a few rubbing motions. Xiao's camera switches back on and you see his heavy languid gaze, one of his legs is thrown over the table, hiding what he started to do with his hand, but you knew.

It seems now, the three of you are starting a new game.

"I… I won't let you win again, you know that…", you manage to squeeze out as your hand slides down your vagina collecting moisture, a deep sigh leaving your body. You start rubbing your clit in circular motions before introducing two fingers inside you.

"Shit…" Xiao's whisper barely reaches your ears as his palm covers the lower half of your face.

"What a bunch of sluts…" you say, and a groan escapes your lips as the sounds of your wet satisfaction get louder and louder. Your breathing hitches and you cover your eyes, no longer caring what the two guys watching you think. You've already crossed the line of embarrassment and now you wanted only one thing, to bring yourself to orgasm.

Your free hand slides under your t-shirt to your chest, and with slender fingers you squeeze your hardened nipple, causing you to moan once more. Somewhere beyond your arousal, you hear Xiao and Scaramouche's breathing grow deeper, one of them wheezing languidly. The sounds of them jerking their cocks at the sight of you and your arousal completely overwhelms you.

You are brought out of your trance by the suspicious silence in the room. When you open your eyes you see that the windows where their names and faces should have been have gone black. You blink and frown. On one hand it's what you originally thought, they just haven't crossed the fact that you decided to fulfil the terms of the bet after all. But on the other hand…

What the hell? They left you with guilt and a really fucking huge, desperate desire to cum.

A few minutes had passed when you heard a furious knock on the door, which was immediately repeated almost startling you.

"…It's us." You heard Xiao's voice from behind the door.

You froze, the familiar voices making you even more nervous. You smoothed out the creases in your T-shirt that didn't exist and shuffled towards the door. When you open the door, you try to make your face look as casual as possible, but a blush of embarrassment and excitement floods your cheeks.

Xiao and Skara are leaning against the doorjamb on either side of the door, their eyes downcast, both of them avoiding your gaze.

"Is something wrong?" you ask deliberately cheerfully, but Xiao just walks slowly into your room past you without asking or permission.

"What do you think?" answers Skara to your question, his hand finding your waist as he pushes you aside to close the door behind you, then presses you against it afterwards.

"Tell us what that was…" says Xiao standing on the other side of Scaramouche and completely blocking your escape routes. You swallow the lump in your throat, Xiao's face so close to yours that you can feel the warm air he exhales. Your eyelashes flutter, and the warmth you thought had already receded in your stomach begins to spill anew.

You feel Scaramouche's warm hand on your neck, and he runs a finger up your skin, and then outlines your chin.

"I…I…" you try to mumble, while Xiao lifts the edge of your t-shirt and strokes your thigh, tracing the edge of your panties below your navel. You feel your thighs involuntarily clench, which brings a smirk to the guy's handsome face.

Scaramouche turns your face to his and without preamble greedily presses his lips to yours, and for a second you stare dazedly into his eyes, but Xiao's hand diving into your panties makes you roll your eyes and moan in muffled pleasure.

The persuasion of the kisses at the door intoxicates you, and now you're already naked and so docile, standing on the bed in this vulgar pose. Skara is holding your hips from behind and Xiao is positioned - next to your head. They already knew how they were going to fuck you, Skara, imagining it as he watched you pleasure yourself. And now you were on all fours with your arse up in front of him so he could get a good look at his cock plunging into your tight little vagina.

Your hands gripped the sheets tighter, your knuckles turning white as Scaramouche slowly began to push his cock inside you. The guy groaned, slapping his palm against your arse before sliding his hand down to rub your clit in a circular motion.

"You like it like that? It looked so fucking sexy when you did it for us online. I got so turned on…" He wheezed, feeling your pussy clench around him at those words.

"I'm actually here too, you know," Xiao says, and his thumb plays with your bottom lip before he opens your mouth. The tip of his cock penetrates as your muffled mooing from Skara entering you vibrates along his length, making him moan and tilt his head back. "Damn…you suck so good…."

"Don't make me tell you about this tight cunt…" moaned Skara, one hand gripping your thigh and the other burrowing into your hair as he fucked you so deep and hard.

"I'm going to fuck you next" exhaled Xiao heavily. His eyebrows furrowed and he bit his lower lip as he looked down to see your mouth encircling his cock.

The wet sounds of your vagina and the ringing slaps of Scaramouche's hips, accompanied by the slurping sounds of your mouth around Xiao's cock, create the sinful sounds of a lewd symphony that makes you start to lose yourself beyond pleasure.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck…" Skara moans, seconds away from staining your pussy white. You nod hastily making mooing noises, needing to feel his cum inside you. With one final thrust, Skara pressed your hips against his, spewing his seed into you, and you moaned contentedly covering your eyes and taking Xiao's cock deeper into your mouth, this prompting the guy to fill it with the sticky thick substance.

Maybe losing wasn't so bad after all?

[anonyanonymouse]

Ship List

Retrospring is going down, so there's not much point to keeping my carrd up any longer. This was like the only thing I had on there, so I decided to move it over and use the opportunity to talk more about these guys! Ships will include ortho, incest, age gaps, ect. I'm open-minded with this stuff. Love to play with my dolls (characters), and I love things that are taboo and uncomfortable!

Any first year combo I include Ortho here! And I like them as just a polycule too. They're a very sweet friend group and I always enjoy seeing them interact with one another

Riddle/Jack Positions could switch, I just like Jack's puppy crush on Riddle in I think his ceremonial robes card and the stitch event

Azul/Riddle

Floyd/Riddle

Ortho/Riddle Shorty on shorty <3 I think Riddle could be very embarrassed about it, but Ortho is super overwhelming when he tries to convince someone about something, so that could get Riddle in a lot of trouble... I also love seeing Ortho with emotionally unstable characters. In a darker au, I'd see him gaslighting them into thinking they're dependent on him, like his older brother

Malleus/Riddle I like their interactions in Malleus' union birthday card and in Riddle's ghost marriage card. Another character I think would be super overwhelming to Riddle, but also, he respects Malleus a lot and could easily build a very sweet dynamic with him!

Jade/Trey I'm devastated this fic may have been deleted because I was going to link it here, but it completely convinced me of these two </3 I just want Jade to manipulate Trey into being weirder

Rook/Trey I just want Rook to manipulate Trey into being weirder

Cater/Cater

Ortho/Cater Another emotionally unstable character I want Ortho to gaslight into depending on him... But he is also a very hype character, and so is Ortho, so they could have a lot of fun! I can see him making deals with Ortho to get his help improving his reach on the algorithm

Azul/Deuce For everyone in octavinelle, I just really like the idea of Deuce being taken advantage of by them. He's a good boy, and they are not

Jade/Deuce

Floyd/Deuce

Malleus/Deuce Their interactions are really fun. Malleus loves this weird boy who is so down to fight him the second he thinks Malleus is making a go at him, and Deuce getting all embarrassed and confused from receiving Malleus' affection is soo good!!

Leona/Ruggie

Leona/Epel

Leona/Silver Just once I need to read a horrible fic of Silver getting nonconned the hell out of by Leona for his affiliation with Malleus

Rook/Ruggie

Jade/Azul I like the idea of Floyd and Jade sharing Azul, but between the three of them, Jade/Azul is my favorite combo by far

Floyd/Azul

Ortho/Azul Same reasons as Riddle and Cater, but Azul wanting to make Ortho his younger brother for business in his union birthday card adds a cool and fun flair

Jade/Kalim See Gold Earrings by sepsis

Rook/Jade They're going to do horrible things together and I'm so happy for them

Jade/Silver FAVE!! Jade is such a weird boy about Silver. I want to see him poison and injure Silver just so he can tuck him in and feed him his favorite food and give him kisses to make it better, and Silver will be so grateful, the poor oblivious thing <3

Rook/Epel

Malleus/Epel I need Malleus to obliterate that tiny little man

Lilia/Epel Shorty on shorty <3 I also need Lilia to obliterate him

Silver/Epel My original rarepair. I used to obsess over them a lot more. I still think they could be cute, though!

Ortho/Idia If only I could be more passionate about them!! Lots of good content out there, and I do passively enjoy them and their codependent awfulness whenever I pass by ship art and occasionally fics. Love them

Malleus/Idia I think they're going to have some pretty good moments when we get further on in book 7!

Lilia/Idia

Ortho/Malleus I delight over this ship. I'm suprised I haven't spoken about them more, but their interaction in book 7 was INSANE. Ortho could truly be an equal to Malleus, in a lot of ways, especially when time passes and their long lifespans become more apparent. They could fight each other and fuck nasty too. I used to have Malleus as the dom here but it could be either, and I like it when Ortho tops a lot so I switched them

Malleus/Silver MY OTP my bread and butter my everything. They're the only ones I can ever seem to write fic for!! They're the opposite of each other, they're the same, they're brothers, they're prince and knight, they're going to kill each other, they're going to love so sweetly, they're going to fuck nasty. Love love love love them I hope you always know that I am obsessed with them like nothing else

Lilia/Silver I love LiliSil a lot too!! You'll see me talk about them on my blog from time to time. Lilia is so complicated and such a little bastard, it makes it so fun to imagine all kinds of things happening with this kid who loves him more than life

[shihalyfie]

So uh...Digimon Seekers being a web novel will be interesting.

It's an interesting format for sure. I'm guessing they're trying to find a way to keep "constant content" going in light of the loss of the anime timeslot and all that (the card game's doing well, but there's only so much it can do by itself).

Speaking of which! Let's talk about the elephant in the room, which is Digimon losing its timeslot and Ghost Game not getting a follow-up anime! In previous occasions, every time Digimon lost a timeslot and the anime went on hiatus again, that meant the franchise was in danger of dying (again), but...as of earlier this year, Digimon is now Toei's third best-selling IP internationally. So it is highly doubtful that the anime is going back on hiatus simply because things aren't doing well.

So, what's actually going on?

We're used to the idea of "Digimon should run back to back if it does well," and that's true of series that are explosively popular (which Digimon is not right now, even if it's not on the verge of dying either), but in actuality, the Fuji TV 9 AM slot is a high-demand one to the point most franchises don't get to run for three years on it consecutively. That kind of thing is rare enough that Japanese fans familiar with the timeslot have commented that Digimon has probably accomplished a lot getting to keep it for the last three years. There are only two IPs that have ever gotten to run for four consecutive years or longer on that slot: one is Dragon Ball (I think "not being as profitable as Dragon Ball" is hardly something to freak out about), and the other is Digimon itself.

That financial report I just linked says that Digimon is Toei's best internationally selling IP including overseas sales. While we've had a lot of reports recently about Digimon's financial success, they all specifically note that it means internationally and not just Japan -- and, granted, that's still important especially because Toei and Bandai have been trying to aim for more of an international market in recent years, but that's what's telling us that the video games and card games are what's carrying Digimon now, not necessarily the anime, which currently has very little influence outside Japan besides the Crunchyroll simulcast (and probably some East Asian language dubs), and I imagine that doesn't contribute very much. And the Adventure: English dub doesn't seem to be coming out anytime soon...

Like I've said, the card game is doing great, and sets have been coming out in Chinese and Korean as of late.

So while I'm no financial analyst, I'm guessing they've decided to put a hold on the kids' anime right now because it's not a very good outlet for their current best option, which is to focus more on building an international market and solid base. That doesn't mean kids' anime will never come back, and it also doesn't mean the franchise isn't already in a much better situation than it was when Frontier, Savers, Xros Wars, and Appmon ended, because the recent success of the video games and card games gives them a lot more of a foothold to do more business ventures, and maybe they can funnel that into actually getting partnerships to dub future kids' anime if they want to do that again. Moreover, it's true that in the past, the franchise would hit life support every time the anime stopped, but that's because the franchise was dependent on having a running anime for attention, which is not the case now because the card game has been doing fine independently of the anime. So I think it's pretty easy to understand that having an ongoing kids' show won't be the best option for them at the current moment, and meanwhile Digimon Seekers is coming out in multiple languages at once, so you can see what the strategy is here.

Of course, I think much of Digimon's best content is in the kids' shows, so I hope it comes back (and I'm certainly not a huge fan of the idea of the only anime we get being from that pipeline that's focusing on nostalgia stuff with Adventure branding), but that's how I see it for now.

[random-introverted-blog]

Introvert, Introvert, Introvert. Where are you?

Well, let's see. Do you have a day or two to kill?

First and foremost: none of the stories are dead. I'm back to actively writing HS-HQ. Flickers, I plan on fully involving my bestie on in all parts of the process. She is wonderful and working on her own story To Defy The God's and all you Shadowheart girlies should absolutely check it out. So damn good 😳😩.

I'm also building a new Shadowheart x OC story, which includes a Durge x Astarion. It's called Estranged and I can't wait to share more. This one has been my baby for the last 3-4 months and I'm stupid proud of how fleshed out the details and lore are for the OC, including their backstory and how it interacts with the main game.

That said; the last few months haven't been easy.

At the end of April, I was mentally preparing for June. June is the busiest month at my job. No days off, 11-13 hour days, super stressful workload, the whole nine yards and then some. I had about 2k words for Chapter 11 of HS-HQ but I wasn't really enjoying it, and I got stuck. And that combined with the impending stress, the blog took a backseat.

I can not stress to you how much I hate June at my work. Anything would be preferable to working that many hours. Overtime pay in my state is a legal requirement, so it's not like that's even a big deal. They have to pay me for it. But even with the pay, I miss so many family events, opportunities, life in general in June.

Trigger warning: self harm/Dark humor

And the lead up to June this year I was saying I would rather play in traffic, stab my hand with my box cutter, break my foot, jump off the roof, anything except work another June (this was my third June).

My (other) bestie even offered to run over my foot with her car and I considered it, honest to God.

Where am I going with this?

Ahem.

End of Trigger Warning

Ladies, gentleman, and gentlefolk.

'Twas the night before Monday, June 10th, about 11pm. I had just gotten a new A/C for my room. My old one had given up the ghost many moons ago and was just window dressing at this point. The new one I had was a portable, not a window one. But I needed one short notice for the heat wave we were suffering and, as I mentioned, June is a busy month. What sleep I could get, I didn't want to spend just trying to sleep in my hot, wooden panel bedroom.

How this situation came to be, I won't explain, but I wound up carrying my old A/C unit out of my bedroom and down the stairs to get it outside and in the front yard. The goal was to get it out of the house and deal with it later.

I'm a 5 foot, 3 inches lady and I'm not a twig. The A/C, although more bulky than heavy, was still manageable for me to lift. I couldn't see my feet, and that was the only significant problem.

And it was the only one that mattered 😌.

I'm on the last 4 of 15-ish steps and my foot decides it too, would like to give up the ghost.

Did I think I was closer to the bottom than I was? Probably. Did I think "fuck, I'm dead, this is how I die, this thing is going to crush me"? Also probably.

My mom was behind me. And apparently my head hit the dry wall too, but I don't remember that. My body slid down the rest of the stairs. I land at the bottom and my foot is sore. A/C landed on my stomach, but honestly, only a cut or two was visible on my legs. My foot was swollen something ugly and bruised, but eh, whatever.

Until I tried to stand up.

That's right, ladies, gentleman and gentlefolk.

Following an ER visit at 1 am and a doctor's appointment, my foot/ankle was undeniably shot. I couldn't put weight on it if my life depended on it.

I still can't fully walk right/normal on my foot, but I think that's because I've spent about 2-3 weeks wearing a boot and my foot isn't at full strength.

With that said, I am back; I am alive, and I will be sharing what I've been working on relatively soon. Such as the new story, Estranged...

And a little something called

Ahem.

His Star - His Queen Chapter 11 teaser?

This chapter is going to be shorter, just to get back in the saddle and reestablish myself. The first major blow to my writing schedule was writer's block. I knew what I wanted, but not how to get there, and it killed me. So Chapter 11 has been gutted more than once.

Normally, every two chapters we switch POVs, but for some reason, I got stuck on Astarion's. And in all honesty, I think you guys/gals/pals are more interested in seeing what's happened to yourselves [Tav] than the shenanigans Astarion and Jester have gotten themselves into. So we'll check in on how you guys are handling the maestros composition of his masterpiece...

P.s: I'll try and respond to my inbox, comments and DM's later tomorrow night, I've seen and heard all of you, including on AO3.

[stellahikaru]

State of The Starry Path Hotel #1 (February 9th, 2024)

Hello everyone! Stella Hikaru here! Welcome to my first Tumblr blog post! In order to hold myself accountable and document my content creation journey, I decided to make a weekly long form post on Tumblr about my path on becoming a Vtuber. Why Tumblr? Well it’s because a) I can’t afford a custom website at the moment, plus I would have to use another site to direct traffic to it anyway, b) Twitter, the main hub for Vtubers, has a character limit and I don’t want to make like 50 tweets in a row once per week, my ADHD ass can’t handle that, and c) I just want to do it on Tumblr okay? Weekly posts will be every Friday and I might do roundups at the end of the month and year (I haven’t fully decided yet). My main goal is to look back on these posts someday and see how far I’ve come in bringing up The Starry Path Hotel.

Anyway, here’s what the general format is going to be:

Mini Life Update

This is where I’m going to touch on a little bit of what’s going on in my life when I’m not running the hotel and how it impacts my content creation process. 

Content Creation Progress Update

This is where I’ll post any updates about what I am up to content wise and what goals I accomplished. This could be anything from Youtube videos to updates on commissions I requested to the creation of new accounts. 

This Week’s Goals

The goals that I’ll have for the week. These will be smaller, more achievable goals that will either build up to the monthly goals or be standalone 

This Month’s Goals 

The goals that I’ll have for the month. The weekly goals will mainly build up to these. 

This Year’s Goals 

These are the goals that I have for the year. These will be longer term goals that most of the weekly and monthly goals will build up to.

Final Thoughts

Basically going to be a final roundup on this week’s post and how I’m feeling about what I want to do this week. 

I may add or change stuff depending on what works and what doesn’t but this is what I’m going to stick with for now. With that bit of housekeeping on the way, here’s the first week’s blog post!

Mini Life Update

I’m currently in my final semester of college and I am taking SIX classes this semester including a very time consuming capstone class plus I have to stay on top of my extracurriculars. One might say that trying to become a Vtuber was a bad idea but I’m too stubborn to give up now! We’re starting to get into the busy point of the semester and schoolwork is taking up a LOT of my time. I don’t even have time to play FFXIV anymore. ;-; Hopefully I can get the Valentine’s Day event emote though! Anyway with school taking priority, I don’t have a lot of time for Vtuber activities. So far I’m only able to stream once a week but since Twitch’s discoverability is crap and my VODs are only saved for seven days, your girl isn’t growing as much as she would like. But hopefully that changes soon!

Content Creation Progress Update

Since this is my first post, I’m going to include some stuff that I have been up to for the past few weeks. First, I have been streaming every Saturday at 2 PM EST on Twitch. You can find the link for my Twitch on the Social Media Page of my Tumblr blog. So far I have been doing coworking/chatting for part of the stream and then playing games after a couple of hours. I’ve been playing Cult of the Lamb on stream and having a lot of fun! 

The next major update is that I commissioned a chibi Vtuber model! While my current model looks fine, I want to upgrade from a Vroid model. However, as a college student with basically no income, there’s no way I can spend a few thousand dollars on an updated character design and full Live2D model. So I managed to find an artist doing chibi Live2D models and commissioned them using the I don’t know when I will have it but I hopefully should be ready to reveal it in mid-March.

Now onto the goals!

This Week’s Goals

Make a VOD channel for my Twitch VODs and upload my VODs to that channel: I was on the fence of if I wanted to simply upload my Twitch VODs on my main channel or create a separate channel just for Twitch VODs and upload them there. After weighing the pros and cons of each option, I decided to make a separate channel. This week, I will make a different channel and upload all of my past VODs on there as well as any Twitch VODs going forward.

Make a Carrd for Twitter and Bluesky: While I can easily link all of my social media on Twitch, YouTube, and Tumblr, I can’t do the same for Twitter and Bluesky due to the character limit. I want to make a Carrd for myself to use for those two sites and put the links in my bio this week.

Brainstorm for YouTube videos and choose an idea for the 1st one: I’m hoping to make one YouTube video this month and this week I need to choose an idea so I can start scripting. I’m also going to brainstorm ideas that I can use for future YouTube videos this week.

 This Month’s Goals 

Make 1 YouTube video: I want to make YouTube content that isn’t just Twitch highlights (nothing wrong with that kind of content, I just want to make something different) so this is one of the main goals I have for myself this month! I don’t know what it will be about but I’ll post more about it in future blog posts.

Look into ways to take donations: While I am waiting to get monetized on YouTube and Twitch, I would like to have a way for people to financially support me if they choose to do so. This month, I will be comparing different sites for one time donations (i.e. PayPal, Ko-Fi) and choosing which one would suit my needs.

Continue streaming once per week and try to do guerilla streams: As I stated, I currently stream once per week on Saturdays and I want to maintain this consistency. However, I want to see if I can do some guerilla streams during the week since I will need to stream on 7 different days in a 30 day period to get Affiliate on Twitch and with my current schedule, I fall short of the requirements. 

This Year’s Goals 

Get monetized on YouTube: I want to eventually make money off of my content so I’m hoping to get monetized on YouTube this year. This is going to be a tall order, but I hope I can keep working towards this with my weekly and monthly goals!

Become an Affiliate on Twitch: I think this goal is a bit more achievable compared to getting monetized on YouTube but I still need to meet the requirements. I will also be working towards this with my weekly and monthly goals! 

Gain 100 followers on any social media besides YouTube or Twitch: I actually am over halfway to 100 followers on Twitter as of writing this, but I still don’t get a ton of engagement on my post. In addition, most of the followers I have gotten are those annoying GFX bots and it’s a little bit disheartening. I also want to build up a following on Tumblr and Bluesky as well! 

Make a community Discord server: Once I build up a community, I want to create a Discord server for people to hang out in. However, I want to wait until there is a demand for a Discord server. This goal is lower priority compared to the other goals but I hope that this does end up happening this year!

Final Thoughts

If you read through the entirety of this post, THANK YOU! Future posts will hopefully be more concise (I spent WAY too long writing this) but I am making no promises. I hope that I finish all of the goals that I set out this week! Now I gotta finish the assignment that’s due tonight that I definitely did not put off doing to write this post, haha.

If you like what you see, make sure to reblog this post and follow me! I would also appreciate it if you follow me on my other social media, especially on Twitch and YouTube! I will be streaming on Twitch tomorrow at 2 PM EST! I hope your stay was bright and your journey is filled with light!

[amethystina]

how do you feel about soulmate AUs?

I'm definitely in favour of them! But I haven't really written any myself, amusingly enough?

Not because I don't like them, but because I don't always manage to add that little extra pinch of intrigue that will make me invested enough to prioritise the story over all my other ideas. Soulmate AUs are a bit predictable (which is both good and bad, depending on your angle) and somewhat rigid in their structure, which means I can't always explore the characters, plot etc. as much as I usually would in my writing.

All that said, I really enjoy reading them, especially if they have an extra twist or some added rules/complications, or if the people involved just behave in an unexpected manner when faced with their soulmate. But I also really like the more loose ones? The ones that don't include soulmarks and stuff like that, just that irrefutable knowledge that these two people are Fated To Be Together. Like, star-crossed lovers etc.

Sometimes you just want the comfort of knowing that two people are meant to be and all will be well in the end.

Which means I would LOVE to write a Soulmate AU at some point, I just need to figure out the best and most interesting way to do it. Because it's not like I don't have ideas, I just need to decide which ones would actually be worth keeping x'D

I mean, for example, even during the short time I've been writing this reply, I've already been struck by a Soulmate AU idea for The Devil Judge (sorry if you're not into that fandom, Nonnie xD) on the concept of: "some, but not everyone, will dream of their soulmate before they meet them." And Yo Han dreams of Ga On (the adult version, since that's when he'll meet him for the first time) from a young age and just goes "Oh, well, that's Isaac, naturally." So he assumes his brother is his platonic soulmate. And doesn't really bother to confirm it with Isaac because why would he?

But then Isaac tragically dies and, naturally, the death of one's soulmate is definitely cause for an intricate, slow-build revenge plot.

But then, ten years later, everyone's favourite baby deer comes onto Yo Han's radar and just IMAGINE the HILARITY of seeing Kang "I am the Abyss" Yo Han go: "HANG ON A FUCKING SECOND. THEN WHO'S THIS GUY?!"

Internally, of course.

Cue a confused — and thoroughly annoyed — Yo Han trying to figure out which one of the two is the actual person from his soulmate dreams. He would be so incredibly pissed off x'D

(But also, on a deeper level, imagine the shift he'd have to go through mentally when he realises his soulmate might NOT be dead after all. So maybe all those feelings, yearnings, hopes, and dreams he's been suppressing and trying to shut out for years AREN'T lost to him after all?)

And, naturally, it would be Yo Han's POV, so who knows if Ga On has dreams too? It's not like Yo Han would swallow his pride enough to just ask. That's beneath him. Also, he's busy with his revenge — he shouldn't be thinking about soulmates, dammit!

... I just have a fondness for Yo Han having a hopeless (and in this case fated) attachment to Ga On but also being pretty dang exasperated about it, I guess? So sue me.

But yeah.

TLDR: I love Soulmate AUs! :D

[flailingfrog]

Nikole and Kit: Will Reading

TW : BBU/BBU-adjacent setting, dehumanization, conditioned whumpee, mentioned character death as a central focus

-

So Nikole’s inheriting everything. There’s no way Nikole isn’t inheriting everything. She’s the only kid, her mom never particularly cared for any of her cousins, Dad’s been dead—Who else is it going to go to?

Don’t take her the wrong way: she’s obviously ruined inside from her mother dying. There’s a hole in her life now, a hole where used to sit a woman who could be depended upon to wear a stupid purple quilt coat with her pet in a stupid orange quilt coat sitting next to her at a formal fucking dinner, Mom… and that hole could be, if not filled, then at least stuffed with her mother’s formidable collection of assets. The house alone has to be worth, what, two mil? And she must be able to get something for the Platonic.

This is what Nikole’s thinking about as she waits to meet with her mother’s lawyer and read the will. Holly’s here, too, maybe getting one of those aforementioned quilt coats. There isn’t a good place for her to sit in here that Nikole doesn’t have to look at her, the walls cramped to make the waiting area more like a mini hallway than its own individual space, the plant at the end barely aiding in the illusion. If it was anyone else, maybe she’d be a bit nicer, but she can admit to herself that she is not the bigger person when it comes to Holly—Maybe it’s the way her and Mom could get going on about quilting, or her weird crochet projects—She crochets teeth, and not cute teeth like you might find on a sign advertising a dentist. Teeth that seem designed to disturb Nikole in specific—or the way she seems to think her tie dye crocs are an appropriate choice of shoe to wear to everything, including a will reading, or, honestly, one of a thousand other ‘quirks’ Nikole finds distasteful. She doesn’t like her. Sue her. She’s polite to her face and that’s what matters, right? She can’t decide what she’d prefer: Her next to her? Directly across? Anything but this barely in her eyesight thing she’s doing?

Judy opens the door leading to the offices, serving them both a smile warmer than the weather outside. “Sorry for the wait, ladies. You ready to get to business?”

It’s enough for Nikole to forget about Holly, at least for the moment. She picks her bag up from the chair next to her. “Whenever you are.”

She leads them down the hall, the same beige as every other room Nikole’s ever seen in this building. The sparseness of the halls, unpersonal look of the front office, doesn’t follow into Judy’s office, all bulky dark wood furniture covered in books and files, paintings of boats everywhere.

They all take their seats, Judy teasing the manila folder her mother’s will is in. Theatrics. “First of all,” she starts, eyes flicking to Nikole, “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

The hole in her threatens, for a brief moment, to swallow her. She smiles easily, swallows down it and all the agitation that threatens to flow out from it. It just wouldn’t do to get agitated. “Thank you.”

Judy nods, as if she’s done something important, and opens the envelope. Of course, Judy already knows what’s written there—She helped write it. “Now,” she begins, “Daphne’s will is a bit… unusual.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Holly’s face sets like she knows what Judy’s talking about, which isn’t fair considering Nikole certainly doesn’t.

“I need you to know, Nikole, I really did urge her against this, but she insisted the two of you were the most important people in her life and she needed you to get along.” Her face has been twisting into something as she keeps talking.

Nikole’s own face stays neutrally polite, even as the intense urge to shake her and demand she get to the point begins to overwhelm her.

Judy’s eyes search her face, only increasing the urge, but when she finds nothing, she sighs and passes the document to Nikole to read as she speaks. “Holly is receiving $25,000 from one of her savings accounts, you can see which one in the papers there. She’s also the executor and trustee of Paul and Kit’s… trust.”

Nikole can read all that well enough, granted in much more legal language, but she looks up at Judy regardless, attempting to maintain her same veneer of politeness. There’s a reason Judy hesitated, and she’ll be damned before she makes it justified. “The pets got a trust?” Sure, there’s other things making her insides sting, but none of the other ones are taking her money right now.

For the first time since they’ve entered the room, Holly speaks. “It’s not unusual for concerned owners to provide for their pets in the event of their death. And your mother loved those two very much.”

Nikole stares at her. “But fifty percent of what’s left after the house and your cut? That’s not right.”

“Well, Kit’s not exactly a dog. She’s got to be taken care of for a long ti—”

“Did you tell my mom about this?” It seems the kind of thoughtless, wholly destructive thing Holly would do.

“Your mother was worried about them. I gave her an option to protect them as best she could.”

Heat burns at her neck and face. Holly’s voice didn’t even waver. She really believes this inane shit. Nikole shuts her eyes, smiling tightly.

For a long second, there isn’t a single sound in the room.

Then, Judy says, “Your mother wanted you to care for them.”

She’d read that part. Frankly, she doesn’t want to. But the money… It kept coming back to the money, which, again, should’ve been hers in the first place.

Of course, Holly has to speak. She’s so gentle, like she doesn’t hate Nikole’s guts as much as she hates hers, as she says, “You don’t have to. I understand you’ve never liked her. I’m more than willing—“

And really, more than anything that’s what seals it. Because fuck Holly, and fuck the way she’s acting like she actually cares what Nikole might feel, especially when she knows it’s more about some stupid boxbabe than her.

“No, I’ll do it.” She turns to Judy with the most winning smile she can muster, but she must fall flat given the uncertainty that’s returned. Nothing she can do about that. “Who can deny a dead woman’s final wish?”

So Nikole guesses she has a pet Platonic now.

-

@angst-after-dark

[pizzacatdelight]

My Birthday

Yay, today’s my birthday! I turned 28 years old! And avoided the dreaded “27 Club” where some of the biggest musicians from the 60s’ and 70s’ died when they were 27 years old! (They mainly died due to massive drinking, doing drugs, etc.…)

My 27th year on this planet was not a good one. Early this year, I quit my toxic part-time job at a well-known pizza restaurant that I won’t name. I got scammed into paying for my own equipment for a new job I thought it was a job, but wasn’t. So, I lost over $2,000 because of it and I have to freeze my credit scores to keep the scammers from opening any new credit cards under my name! Then there’s the fact I can’t even find a job that would even hire me due to both my disability and my limited skill list! I even got rejected from getting Disability (or SSI); two months later because of the fact I even had a job!

At home, my youngest niece graduated from high school in June and instead of going to University, she’s working a full-time job at Sally’s Beauty in order to save up money to buy her own car since the car her mom gave her last year and it‘s too expensive to go University right now. My only nephew started 11th grade last month, which means once he graduates in 2025, mom’s planning to sell the family house. She told me and my older sister this back in March/April where after she sold the house; she’s planning to (probably) move to Oregon to get away from the politics of conservative Texas and to retire. Of course, we’re going to move with her as she’s planning to buy land and build a condo house where my sister and I can live on one side of the condo.

For my hobbies, on the other hand, they’re doing great! I beat over 15 games this year, which include “Pokémon: Emerald”, “Hypnospace Outlaw”, “Fire Emblem: Three Houses - Cindered Shadows DLC” and “The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog”. “BAD END THEATER” became the first Steam game where I 100% all the achievement. I preordered “Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” a few days before it came out in May and played it on release day. I remembered staying up all night going around Hyrule, completing the Shrines and not being dicks to the Koroks who only wanted to be reunited with their friends. I��m looking forward to the release of the remaster of “Super Mario RPG”, which comes out in less than two months! I saw four LPs of the game in the past and played it myself for the WiiU. I can’t wait for it to come!

My webcomic is going along. I just finished Chapter 9 and I’m currently taking a small break from it to focus on making this site. I changed how I publish my comics, where I used to release 6-7 pages at a time. But now, I have changed it to 2 pages per week, which means I’ll get more views compared to what I did before. I’m planning to post the links to my webcomic here; I’ll have to find the motivation to do so.

I also made a Tumblr account in June after Reddit decided that they're going to start pricing the 3rd party apps that use its’ code (Apollo, you will be missed). While things are great on Tumblr, I have to get used that most of everyone there is very left-leaning compared to Reddit, where everyone is either in the center or right-leaning, depending on the subject. Yes, I know there are left-leaning people and subreddits there, but it’s the right-leaning groups that are the ones who make the headlines. At least the fandom on Tumblr is way nicer compared to Reddit, where you get attacked for saying or doing something that the fandom subreddit doesn’t like. It’s the reason why I was too scared to either post or comment on Reddit.

Then early this month, I made a NeoCities website and learned how to code again after 11 years. It’s not easy and sometimes it’s even frustrating when you want to do something cool to your page and the code won’t work! At least coding is a skill I can use when I try to look up jobs since it’s one of the most important skills that businesses need. And I also started to blog to write about my thoughts as well. I’ve been doing it on Tumblr for a while, so now I have two sites to pour it all out.

As for what I will be doing for my birthday, it’s not going to be much as I tend not to ask for a lot. I know mom normally gives me a $50 Amazon gift card so I can buy something nice for myself. And I already have plans to make brownies for desserts since we have so much flour and a huge box of brownie mix is in the cabinet.

So yeah, my 27th birthday wasn’t that great, but it could’ve been worse. I hope my 28th year will be a little better and things will improve.

[n7punk]

Selling a Dream Fic Notes

Selling a Dream (SaD) is done! This one took me way longer (and was way bigger) than I expected, but it was lots of fun. I'm gonna miss these girls, I already do, but BOY is the fic long enough 😂

Epilogue Life:

Adora continues focusing on cosplay and traditional photoshoots for her career, taking on commissions as well sometimes (more on that later). With the reboot now on, and thus the studio focusing on their new iteration of the characters, Adora doesn't do any more official work with the studio (at least as a host), though she is invited to a few events as an influencer. Adora continues to use the original She-ra as her signature cosplay, though she does recreate the new She-ra outfit too and wears it occasionally, but the other one is beloved (by her and older fans), it's what she's known for, it's more revealing (read: gets better traction on Instagram), and also, you know, Adora looks like the original She-ra so she's a good match for the cosplay whereas another amazing cosplayer would be a better fit for reboot She-ra/Mara.

Adora has warmed up to professional modeling now it's something she chooses and sometimes she has a lot of fun doing it, but it can be a little hard on her self esteem depending on the director/requirements, so the part of her "job" (confluence of jobs, more like) that really makes her happy is being influencer/cosplayer - especially the cosplay part, and especially doing "casual" photoshoots with her friends/for Instagram where she doesn't have to be perfect or fit the vision of a stranger. Her commissions let her dip her toe into the prop business sometimes (if they involve props, anyway), though she has no desire to return to it full time.

When she and Catra move in together almost a year into their relationship, Adora officially joins Wildcat Workshop and starts coordinating her commissions through there. She works partially at home (mostly for sewing/basic cosplays), partially at the BFS workshop (also cosplay, especially with more advanced elements, and light propwork), and partially at the workshop. She still goes over to the BFS house (now just Glimmer and Bow's house technically, but they all decided before she even moved out that it would always be the BFS house, especially with Catra now included in the squad) to spend time together/work together (and use the laser cutter). She has also built up a good friendship with Scorpia, plus a closer one with Entrapta, so she has a really great place to work no matter where she goes or what she needs.

Sometimes Adora helps on projects (that aren't hers) at Wildcat Workshop, but an average day might see her and Catra waking up together, going into the shop for a bit, and then Adora heading over to BFS to work on cosplay with Glimmer and Bow while Catra continues her work. Or that order might be reversed, depending when Glimmer/Bow are going to be home. Come evening, Adora and Catra will head home together or go hang out with one of their friends.

Catra's career is only just beginning. Once she has worked on one show(/for one propmaster) it's a lot easier to get work on others and she ends up making a steady business between commissions and propwork. When season two of the reboot rolls around, they hire her again for a few more key pieces, and Adora has a greater hand in helping with the builds this time around now she is an official employee.

Catra ends up admitting she loves Melog after he stops eating one day and they find out he has an intestinal blockage when they take him to the vet. It turns out fine and they're able to clear it without surgery, but she decides he should live with her and Adora after that because they can monitor what he eats better there. He sometimes goes with Adora when she goes to the BFS workshop because he's easily bored, but he's also very willing to let somebody lead him around and thus is pretty easy to take places.

At Catra and Adora's place, they end up with an entire closet dedicated to costumes. Catra cosplays with Adora (and Entrapta) a bit more here and there, though she does it the same way she did it with Entrapta before now and doesn't do any in-character events or anything (even if she kind of plays along with Adora when she is acting in character herself).

As implied in the fic, Scorpia and Perfuma start flirting via text and very quickly fall into a relationship, which makes it a bit easier for her to warm up to Adora as she becomes a frequent face at the workshop. Entrapta, despite doing her damnedest otherwise, doesn't build or hack anything that gets her prison time. She is definitely on a list, though. Overall, Wildcat Workshop is successful and they're all able to find work that let's them stay and build together. At one point they discuss moving to a bigger space, but, well, this one is important, not just to them but to Entrapta long before they showed up, so they always just end up cleaning, rearranging things, and maybe downsizing or relocating unnecessary materials/equipment. All of them end up with extra materials stowed in their garages for when needed, though.

Playlist:

This fic didn't have a playlist, though I was listening to Fletcher's "Girl of my Dreams" album a lot for the first half of it. For the second half, it was a few songs on loop: "Uh Oh" by Tate McRae (CH6, 7), "Nonsense" by Sabrina Carpenter (CH8), and "Dressed To Kill" by the Wombats (CH8, 9).

Chapter 1:

I did not think the premise of this AU was specific/unusual until readers told me so, but in hindsight "Cosplay AU" isn't even a tag, so maybe I should have known that. I genuinely thought the cosplay creation process was common knowledge within fandom as a whole and not just cosplayers themselves. I knew some of the machine talk was specific, but I definitely underestimated things.

Adora's social media presence is split three ways, technically. Instagram (feed/posts): Photo shoots/photos of herself, both in cosplay and out of it (typical hot influencer shit), along with some workout posts and the occasional build video (she uses reels for those). She also does announcement posts (a con she is going to be at, an event she is going to be hosting, new prints dropping, etc) on there and her stories, but once they "aren't relevant" (like when a con has passed) she deletes them to keep it clean. She does a lot of thirst trap posting because she likes the validation, but it's also great for engagement. Instagram (stories): cosplay/sewing/builds and con "liveblogs". She saves all her costumes and con stories into playlists or whatever they're called so people can go back and look at the making process for one character or a particular con. Her main focus for her "career" is on her Instagram. It's the only place she has really monetized, with like sponsored posts on occasion and stuff (she also sells prints and posts when they're going up). Her Twitter is more "personal" where she just tweets about whatever, interacts with her friends more (at least publically, she's in her friends DMs and stuff on Insta), and generally feels less "pressure" even though she still has a lot of followers. She'll also livetweet cons on her twitter sometimes, and she has more nerd shit on there than on her insta.

Catra mostly posts photos and videos from around the shop (now that she has left the Horde, that mostly didn't fly when she was there) and of commissions/builds/personal projects. It's basically a portfolio page for the shop. She does some videos of builds, mostly timelaspes or focusing on one small part of the build because she can't give away all her secrets. Her stories lean more towards shop shenanigans, and she also shares her friend's posts there. If she does a cosplay shoot, it will end up there unless she really wants to show off the prop, and then it will make it to her main page. Her Twitter is a mix of more casual posts and photos of builds, but she wouldn't treat it as casually as Adora does hers just because it is still her business social media and she needs to seem put together, if not professional. Adora's business is being hot LOL.

I find it really disruptive to my immersion when another property is brought up in a fanfic. This includes mentioning it as a fictional thing, or "cameos" from other characters. I don't know why, but it really throws me off and that made using real characters for their cosplays an instant no. It's usually weird to me to have something else IRL be fictional within an already fictional universe, hence the main property for this fic... basically being the original property of the show.

Catra only got one of Adora's presents, but because Adora messaged her every birthday she knew she sent two. The first one she sent to their old apartment, where Catra was no longer living. Later that week, Catra posted a photo of her hanging out on the balcony of her new place with a caption about how much she liked having a balcony now, basically signalling to Adora that she had moved. Adora considered resending the present, but she didn't know if that would be creepy and tenacious, so she waited for the next year, this time sending it to the Horde workshop with Catra's name on it. Catra got that one.

Adora was a litol buzzed when she sent the New Years message, hence the spelling. Catra was too, and she almost replied to it.

They both changed their numbers after leaving the Horde; Catra immediately, and Adora like a month later after she got a flaming voicemail from her ex-boss upon him seeing she had secured a job that, a month ago, would have been the Horde's.

Like 50% of my knowledge for this fic was from Simone Gertz/Laura Kampf/Evan & Katelyn videos (all maker Youtubers), like 40% from the cosplayers and sewists I've followed over the years, and then like 10% Mythbusters.

Melog was a "new arrival", hence why Catra was reluctant to claim him yet. He was actually born in the shop shortly before they cleaned it up, and had slipped in and out of the area, but he was Extremely Cautious of them, so it took a few weeks for them to even notice A Cat in the area, and a few more for them to suspect it was the same cat living nearby, and then they slowly realized he wasn't just mousing in and around the shop when the garage was open, but that he was actually living there. And then there was the slow process of charming him, which was made easier by how long he had been hanging around. He was already accustomed to them, and fairly young/tameable, but he had only just been "tamed" when the fic started (Catra had been in her shop for six months total).

Adora's whole deal in this AU is based off a professional cosplayer I met when I was like, 12 at a con who I have NEVER been able to remember the name of, just that I think it started with a J.

Adora's username is a reference to an (I think) well known Adora cosplayer, whose feed partially served as inspiration/reference for this AU. I gave some of the characters more "generic"/professional handles since social media is important to their jobs, but it also just made coming up with usernames easier. I hate coming up with usernames even for myself.

Catra hung up so fast after Adora said she tries to show she respects her now because she realized she was right and she wasn't ready to deal with that.

I had a lot of fun thinking of what personal touches Catra's workspace would have, because every workshop I know of has some kooky shit from a goofy build, or a prototype that didn't work out or that they just don't want to throw away.

Chapter 2:

Between rereading an old fic and writing summaries for SW&D to match TOHT, I was kind of feeling writing chapter summaries again even though I know I used to hate writing them (and wow, it's still hard). Anyway, I decided to throw in some odd ones from the "perspective" of the cosplay for this fic to match the chapter titles.

I use the pleading emoji a lot, and I see it a lot, but like 1 out of 20 times I see it I want to pick it up in my hands and squeeze it until it pops so it stops looking at me like that. I can't explain it, but it feels like a very Catra instinct to me so I included it.

"If Catra was any of her other friends, she wouldn’t hesitate to tell her how hot she would look as Skeletor, but it’s Catra, so Adora can’t just say things like that no matter how badly she wants to." Mayhaps that is why Catra doesn't think you love her. You fucking idiot.

BannetCon was named after a guy named Bannet. He did some important things in the video game industry and then founded one of the first video game conventions on the West coast accidentally. It's been around for a long time.

The jacket I described for Catra is based on a real one (but like, taken up to 12, and that jacket already started at 11), but it was a one-of-a-kind piece that sold on Etsy so the best record of it now is random Pinterest posts.

"I'm not She-ra without [the lights]" Yeah it's Adora so she's still insecure XD She-ra/cosplay in general has been a big crutch for her interactions with the public (as is discussed in the next scene) and she was on the verge of a panic attack at the thought of having a dead or a damaged prop for the panel where she would be talking about cosplay in front of everyone. She did end up talking about the battery dying and other mishaps that happen at the panel and how you have to adapt on the fly with stuff like that and how a simple "casualwear" cosplay is always good to pack, but with the danger passed and the prop working, it was easy for her to talk about - because she had her crutch.

The panel Adora was on was called "Cosplay & Community".

While writing this chapter I had to shove Marlena's body back in the closet. It just flopped out I don't know what happened. In the process I made Adora autistic on accident.

Chapter 3:

Glimmer's paint job on the mannequin head looks like a bad knockoff of a Monster High doll. My dress form doesn't even have a head and I still throw a cloth over it to make it less creepy. The arms are detachable and one time my mom *screamed* when she was helping me move stuff and saw the hand hanging off the top shelf of a closet.

Adora's VHS set up doesn't actually take up a lot of room because she has a pretty small CRT TV and the player is right on top of it, with the boxset displayed there. She likes having it because if she is in A Mental Place™️ where she wants/needs to be watching She-ra, then she likes being able to just ball up in her room and not venture out to do it - both because it's more comfortable (physically and emotionally) and because she doesn't have to enter the living room and alert her housemates to her mood. Then they'd try to help.

I don't miss VHS because it was a pain, but also, I do have some Nostalgia I was working out.

Adora was 100% lying and scrambling when she said she wanted to send the thirst trap to Bow for Totally Normal Shoot Equipment Reasons.

Starla and Adora (like 95% of the viewers) both shipped She-ra and Teela so it made sense to go all in on a ship photoshoot, but also lowkey Starla was just like 👀 yeah I'll climb that. Her brother knows this, and loves her, so he put up with it.

Adora did pay for the sword, even though it didn't end up being ridiculously more than Clawdeen's material/time costs, partially because she believes in compensation, partially because she doesn't want to strain their friendship, and partially because Catra didn't exactly want a Clawdeen costume from her, especially not the way Adora wanted the sword. Catra didn't charge her full price, though, just something close to the difference between the costume and the sword's costs.

Some stuff about the She-ra show: I've only watched like, two episodes of Xena, so mostly I only have cultural knowledge about it and used it as a touch-point for the live-action take on a warrior princess. The She-ra show in-fic had some plot similarities with the original She-ra/He-man shows, kind of a fusion of the two shows with He-man elements in general (partially because this just made sense when half the She-ra characters were already in the fic as "real people" and partially because I wanted to play with them).

The overall villain was just "Prime", but certain seasons/arcs were focused on other villains. Skeletor was a servant of Prime that had shown up in earlier seasons and was then the big bad of season three and made minor comebacks here and there until season six when he had a prominent role alongside Prime again.

Season three was set in an entirely new location, the Crimson Waste, which had been referenced a number of times but never seen. It was also shot at a new location to give the appearance of a desert, the plot roughly being that Skeletor managed to kidnap Teela "between seasons" and brought her into the heart of the cursed desert where he thought She-ra could never survive as a being of light and love. She faced opposition from both Prime's minions, the harsh landscape filled with mutated creatures, and the criminals who had been banished there and survived, forming an outlaw society that Clawdeen was the self-declared queen of. She was an anti-hero figure for the season, but She-ra would not have been able to rescue Teela without her help in the end. She was a Huntara-like figure in the desert.

Season 3 was shorter by a few episodes than the other seasons, due to the whole "written around a pregnancy" thing. The show ran for 6 seasons with just over a 100 regular episodes, 2 special episodes (Christmas episode and a drug PSA episode because it was That Era) and two TV movies.

The second TV movie came two years after the show ended and introduced She-ra's long-lost brother He-man. It was wildly hated for fucking with (or outright contradicting) the lore so much and is generally regarded as a cashgrab for more toys. Teela had to be written out of it because her actress didn't even return for it, officially because she was focused on her family, but pretty much everyone knows she was very attached to the franchise and would have only wanted to be part of a good movie. She-ra's actress did return (there wouldn't have been a movie without her), but she was unfortunately closely associated with She-ra and having trouble finding any prominent roles because people just looked at her and saw She-ra (similar to what happened with George Reeves and Superman) so she kind of felt like she had to. Her worry turned out to be somewhat misplaced and she managed a fine acting career in supporting roles after that, but she was never a headliner again.

Most people consider the movie non-canon, Adora included. After all, it establishes that at some undisclosed point after the series ended, She-ra and Teela parted ways because She-ra went out seeking information about a family she knew to be dead and for some reason Teela just... stayed behind?? With the implication at the end of the movie being She-ra then goes on to have adventures with her brother now instead of the woman she loved for years? Yeah it was a set-up for a sequel show that never happened and it was unacceptable. Adora has never run into a He-man cosplayer at a con and she would probably break character around them because it would be awkward, though she would take a photo with them if they asked, she just wouldn't do a photoshoot. People would probably call her a fake fan LOL.

Chapter 4:

This chapter was supposed to cover weeks/months. Instead it covers *checks watch* a day. I intended to get all the way to the con, to the first day with them going to sleep and the next chapter focusing on it through to the entire end of the con. Yeah. Uh. Oops. I didn't account for how fucking horny they would be.

Adora's sword had a lowkey "preview" in the stories from the set, but they were from so far away it didn't even come across as a different sword, although in retrospect the proportions were off and the lights were definitely different. Still, the majesty of the reveal was kept intact.

Scorpia didn't message Catra until they were already all but making out, and Catra didn't even have her phone on her, so she didn't see it until she got in the car after they were all done.

The Larry the Lobster joke was from a whole exchange with Meta, that would later play out in Chapter 6, but was set up here in chapter 4. Also I'm like 90% sure Larry the Lobster is from Spongebob but I don't even know for sure tbh because I didn't watch it. I just vaguely get the joke and think it's funny.

They were on the roadside for about an hour, but that includes solo shots, their pair shots, setting up and planning out shots, and then packing everything away and saying goodbye afterwards.

Glimmer sat in the backseat hoping Adora would join her there and they could have their "confrontation" there, but Adora saw a free passenger seat and went "sweet". Glimmer couldn't tell her to sit in the back without tipping her off.

Catra is a flirt, but not nearly as much of one as Adora thinks she is, because Adora's sample is so skewed. Catra flirts with her so much, and she does see Catra flirt with others sometimes, so she assumes Catra is always pretty flirty, which just isn't true. Catra also doesn't have the same intent with others that she has with Adora, which Adora is totally blind to.

Chapter 5:

I hate coming up with handles, as stated earlier, so I just kind of muddled around and gave Perfuma "ivyscousin" as in "Poison Ivy's cousin". Not directly stated, so it doesn't break my immersion too much.

When Adora asked if Scorpia knew who Perfuma is she was mostly asking because Perfuma has a Very Strong Brand as an advocate for trans and women's rights, especially in the fandom/entertainment/cosplay space ie stuff like "Cosplay is not consent" and respecting a cosplayer's personal gender identity no matter what gender(s) they choose to cosplay. She's known for hosting similarly to Adora, but her focus is on queerness, whereas Adora is known more in her fandom circles and for being a maker, and thus hosts fandom-related events and cosplay workshops. Adora was also lowkey asking if Scorpia knew she was trans (something Perfuma is also vocal about). She wasn't sure if Scorpia was or not at that point, but she did suspect given things like her display name and Vibes she got.

Adora's difficulties communicating here are partially related to her autism. She says something factual or literal and neurotypical people draw a different conclusion/correlation based on it, leading to her followers thinking she's dating or her booking a single room on accident.

It's also part of why they can get so close to crossing the gap and then either Adora pulls up short, doubting her read on the situation, or she does something that makes Catra pull up short because it seems like Adora wants her too. That's also just because they're best friends in Lesbians tho.

Catra sleeps naked to minimize fur-pinching potential now she has her own bedroom, so when she knew she would be sharing a room with Adora, she pulled out the matching pajama set as quite literally the only pajamas she owned.

When I was planning this AU I was like "how funny would a hotel mix-up be" and joked to my friends about sprinkling in All The Tropes for this one. I absolutely could have written the same thing with them having two beds - they would still share during the day to watch the TV since it was at the foot of only one of them, etc - but... it was more fun to write there was only one bed.

Chapter 6

Catra smiles when Adora mentions the chisels because she's remembering how much she likes them and how many times she has used them.

When Adora goes to a con, she usually tries to wear Just The Character's Costume and hold Just their props. It's easier when she's at a con with someone who doesn't mind carrying a bag (or when the character has pockets, which isn't that common for her), but that's her general goal. If she wants to buy stuff, unless she's worried about it selling out immediately, she usually waits until she's about to leave the con anyway (to go to lunch or something) and then gets a bag (sometimes buying one, sometimes bringing a drawstring bag or something, whatever works) and does a sweep through the hall picking up everything she's scouted throughout the day. Then she'll go to lunch, dropping the stuff off at her hotel room if it's close or keeping it in the car until she leaves for the night otherwise. They were doing their vendor sweep before going to lunch on Saturday in this case.

Entrapta actually hates having crumbs in her bed and Catra has watched her get out of bed after going to sleep and strip it to remake it more than once at midnight, but there's a disconnect there between "don't want crumbs" and "don't do the things that make them (eating in bed)".

PGS is Pacific Geek Show, a con Adora and Spinnetossa both went to but never found time to meet up.

Adora's "mindless glower" is her autism stare, where she's trying to figure out the thing she's supposed to do/say to come across as a socially attuned human. She just thinks she's socially awkward and a bit worse at interacting with strangers in general.

The line about the reboot tarnishing memories of something she loves is just a factual concern, but it's there because that was the exact reason I didn't watch the new She-ra show at first.

The reboot itself, however, was not at all meant to be a meta reference and was entirely there to set up Catra getting the prop job. Adora meeting Mara on set was one of The Scenes for this fic, the last one both chronologically in fic and to occur to me.

I went to Clare to ask about what exactly Masters of the Universe meant because I didn't want to "misuse" it here even if She-ra in the fic universe is pretty different from how it is IRL.

The fic summary mentioned consequences and now, in chapter 6, we finally get to them.

I have weirdly specific headcannons about porn for them. Adora does watch it, sometimes, mostly to figure herself out/what her kinks are, but because sex is focused on her partner for her, it doesn't do a lot for her aside from introduce her to stuff. Catra doesn't like watching it, it makes her kind of uncomfortable, but she does enjoy nudes/lewds that people post and might look at them while getting off.

When Adora did watch porn, trying to figure out her kinks or prepare herself for theoretical future sex, she definitely found herself gravitating towards stuff featuring magicats if it was an option and she couldn't decide if it was worse to be projecting her friend onto it/thinking of her while watching or to just have a thing for magicats, because then she was like oh no what if I'm fetishizing them and had a small spiral (the answer is she has a Type that she might have even if she hadn't grown up with Catra, but she was also definitely Projecting).

She saw the tail thing years after she first pulled Catra's tail, and she knew tail-pulling could be a bullying thing, not to mention seeing it on TV portrayed just as a rude - or sometimes straight up disrespectful - annoyance, so she knew it wasn't universal even before porn prompted her to look it up and found it was pretty common but not universal. She just immediately wrote it off as something Catra didn't have.

I talked about this in the author's notes, but chapter 5 was supposed to run all the way until they woke up together on the second day of the convention, chapter 6 was supposed to be that entire second day, with them in the hall, the tail pulling, and both of them getting off and cuddling together that night, talking about emotions, falling asleep together, etc, and then ideally also include the panel with Perfuma as a final "comedic button" on the two convention chapters. I did not think that was such an unrealistic expection, and yet.

The tail-pulling leading to a makeout against the wall and them rushing up to their hotel room was The Scene for this fic and the entire reason it exists, though when I was writing it I became extremely partial to the photoshoot chapter as well.

Chapter 7:

This smut is 0% what I planned, but tbh I didn't have much of a plan except Catra curling around Adora and getting her off, and then Adora got all giggly. Even after two years, these two find new ways to surprise me/have sex that I wasn't anticipating.

Catra: "Adora's going to make us move for dinner." Adora literally the next scene: "We can stay here until it's time to eat." Catra had her number lol

In my earlier fics I kind of had a running thing about Catra not wearing underwear, but I stopped it because I felt like I had to repeatedly bring it up every time there was smut or it would seem like I "forgot" to remove Catra's underwear as part of it. For this fic I kind of returned to it, but with a twist by having it be that thongs are the only thing comfortable for her (which is absolutely a thing). Adora's just a bikini briefs girl, but she does wear thongs or no show underwear (or very rarely, go without) if a costume or photoshoot requires it.

I find Perfuma really interesting because she's positive but she works so hard for it, to the point where at times it seems (to Catra) to be a little disingenuous, when really it just means that she's trying hard to be "good," and that taking work doesn't make it any less genuine, it just comes across as more suspicious to Catra.

Catra gets to be a little protective of her friends. As a treat.

Perfuma is not too classy to say fuck, she just only uses it in certain contexts.

I had to retype like two chapters worth of notes here because my computer restarted and I hadn't saved.

Chapter 8:

I got kind of "stuck" on chapter 8, not because of anything to do with it, but because I fell down a Mass Effect hole and did a replay through the entire trilogy while writing it, so progress was slow. Once I finished, I wrote in 2 days more than I'd written in the last 2 weeks. Then of course I had to get sick/have health issues for another two weeks, slowing me down again.

Catra's in a small bedroom next to Entrapta's master because it's actually supposed to be the office, but she was the last to move in, so it's what's left. It used to be Entrapta's secondary work/storage space, until they got the shop all cleared out and organized and there was actually room for stuff there.

Side note: Entrapta loves sharing space with people who - on some level, at least - understand her. She's had room/workmates in the past who just couldn't handle her and those small incidents added up to her working alone in a steadily-deteriorating workshop because nothing else had worked out. Like, she had friends of course, but she usually only saw them IRL a few times a year. Living or working together every day had not been a success.

Adora taking the pencil out of Catra's hand again isn't so much a callback as maintaining continuity, but it's there to show how far they've come since the first chapter. Catra doesn't even really notice it.

Mara's wife is of course Light Hope, and she is looking into the camera with a dead stare to show what she thinks of this, but at the same time she has agreed to it because she loves her wife's enthusiasm, no matter how shitty and plastic the costume is. Teela's outfit is, as typical for the series, missing pants (the lack of pants in the original She-ra/He-man is fucking ridiculous y'all) and also strapless and thus lowcut, so it wasn't something Light Hope was going to just wear, hence her donning it over her clothes, which kind of completed the joke of being "forced" into this despite everyone (who knows them, at least) knowing she agreed to it.

She-ra's original actress was, at the time of the series filming and airing, officially an "ally". There were implications and rumors of course, but she didn't come out until over a decade later. It was pretty much one of those open air secrets, but she was already under national scrutiny portraying something very queer on TV and didn't want to deal with more.

"Leatherman" is a brand of knife multi-tools of some repute.

Catra proposing to bring Adora in was basically "Look, I'd be an absolutely terrible partner if I didn't do my best to bring her in on this. Besides, she's great at finishing so I might have her weather some of the props." She had to kind of trickle the requests out so she didn't seem like a crazy fan or something, but the fact that Adora was already known to the brand - as both a superfan and an occasionally host/brand rep for them - helped a lot with getting the screen test delivery set up. Anything they approved with Adora could eventually be promo, at least once it wasn't secret anymore.

Chapter 9:

I heavily considered including chapter nine just in the ending of chapter 8 since it was short anyway, but the time skip made it feel better to do as something separate. Also I would have had to pad out two Adora POVs in a row, which is easy enough with social media posts or some texts, but I wanted the "cliffhanger" moment so it would sink in for the reader similar to how it did for Adora.

There's a few weeks gap between the end of Chapter 8 and when all the props were done and ready for shoot.

I decided to capitalize "she's going to host multiple Lives" about this to make it a little clearer I'm talking about Instagram Lives, even though no one capitalizes it in casual conversation. They also don't add "Instagram" to the front of it, making that feel more awkward, so I went with the capitalization to make things clearer. I might change this later tbh (like on a subsequent read).

Adora did get a bit of a headstart thinking about how she would make the new She-ra costume, which let her draft some ideas, but she didn't actually start making anything until the first official photos/trailer dropped, both for NDA reasons and because having photos to reference is really important if you have her level of dedication to making something look right. Memory is inherently faulty, and it would be easy to remember two strips of armoring instead of three. She had materials lined up and ready to go once it was time.

I was going to make the director "he" (a vague ND insert, since that's what he's favoring these days), but then I worried people might picture a, like, old hollywood dude ordering the lesbians around for the remake of this very queer show, so I just had them be nonbinary. Their name is Diana because of Diana Huh from crewra and because it is ND's middle name (the D part).

Catra is allowed to say the studio she's working for, though she really isn't supposed to, and she had no intention of doing so until much later. Once the show's embargo (for reviews and the like) was up shortly before premier, she was allowed to actually talk more about what she worked on, and after the first episode airs she posts some photos of the sword cosplayers love her for (other than Adora, who already has everything she needs - and already loves her). Adora, for her part, gushed about the show and getting to visit set like crazy on her Instagram stories once the show was airing.

In the extended show credits, Wildcat Workshop is listed under props (along with everyone else who was part of that production team), and under Wildcat Workshop it lists the names of everyone there, plus Adora, as she was technically a consultant on the sword project. Not with a paid contract or anything, but she was signed onto the NDA and helped Catra spitball some ideas, as well as offer input whenever a design tweak was needed. Basically, Catra worked with the studio, but Adora also worked with Catra.

Mara isn't really "in the show's fandom", especially not online, but she does have a boxset and enjoys it in her personal life. However, she heard about Adora when they were in pre-production because the director was talking about the sword some cosplayer made that proved practical effects could photograph/film well and make the show a little more timeless than the original (the magic effects are really dated), and when they pulled it up to show Mara, they realized the sword was actually made by a propmaker (thanks to clicking through Adora's tag, which they hadn't done before, just assuming it was another cosplayer since she was also credited as Clawdeen). That's the inciting conversation that eventually led to Catra being hired, mostly because when Diana went to the propmaster asking about it he was just like okay why don't we just hire that person to do it then? (Propmasters don't necessarily make the props for a production, often commissioning, buying, or renting them, and this way no one else had to figure out how to reproduce a similar effect, even if they ended up needing to make some changes for it to hold up to the stress of production). Mara has had a scroll through Adora's Instagram following that conversation, as well as later seeing a video of her hosting that fan night from when the production team were later discussing letting her onto set per Catra's request because it was mentioned she had done work for them in the past and been reliable.

The show does end up being good. Different from the original, but with the same heart behind it, just a little more "serious" and modern. Adora loved waiting week-to-week for each new episode - something she never got with the original - and she really likes the new version, but the original will always be more special to her for many reasons. Mara is an amazing She-ra, obviously.

I considered ending the chapter with a final social media post or two from when the review embargo was up, but that was a big timeskip and I thought might be confusing and make it seem like Adora didn't keep her word/respect the NDA. The gist was that Catra posts a photo or two from the build of the sword, like a glamor shot and one progress shot, with a caption talking about how fun it was to work on the project and what an honor it was. Adora then shares that post to her story and the fans who only follow her just lose their minds over her dating the person who made the new sword. Adora also posts about visiting set and gushes about meeting Mara on her story, but she tries to be normal and professional about it while she does so, even though it's very obvious how excited she is.

The effects for the sword Catra made aren't identical to Adora's version of the prop, but it does have lights even if their placement and trigger mechanism are a bit different, as well as their colors and modes. The show will be using digital special effects as well, but combining that with practical makes it look all the better.

No original outline, this was pretty close to everything I planned initially, it just ended up being a Lot More than it was in my head. The only thing that changed is initially, instead of them cosplaying She-ra and Clawdeen, they were supposed to all be part of a group cosplay involving both their friend groups (which is what roped them into talking and having the conversation where they kind of made up in the first place), and Adora & Catra just happened to get a pair of characters that were dating. That was a vague idea in my head that changed once I started writing.

Next Project: I would love to tease my next AU here because I'm pretty sure of what it's going to be, but I'm going to be real with myself: I'm actually probably going to do some scattered one shots (AU and canon) since I have like a dozen WIPs clinging to my ankles.