#kind of not like really in that snippet but like adjacent

[sammygender]

sam college food!

last time i posted about sam eating disorders my irl friend who follows me on here messaged me like 'crazy ass sentence'...... so hi if u see this <3. anyway lets get to it

i think i started writing this when i was in the middle of doing an essay? which is really funny because the last one i talked about i also started writing in the very notebook i was using to try and memorise quotes for an exam. so i guess my method of coping with academic stress is to write about sams problems with food. which makes a lot of sense.

the concept here was sam going to college and being kind of excited, in like a normal healthy way, to get to choose what he actually wants to eat. and im not sure where i was going with this except it wouldve turned unhealthy somewhere along the way. i think i was going to bring jessica in somehow. shrug emoji. anyway heres a snippet

Meat was weird too—some bits chewy, some bits gristly, some bits tooth-breakingly tough—and he hated mincemeat, had once thrown up after eating a microwave lasagne cause he just couldn’t stomach the feel of it in his mouth. Burgers were okay he guessed but he didn’t like them usually and they got worse every diner they went to. Sweet things were better but even that was hit or miss—sometimes ice cream was gritty, and Sam had to be honest, without Dean present he could admit he didn’t even really like pie—too messy to eat. Anyway. Sam’s point was: food was overrated.

[ventique18]

I don't think I'm going to cover the climax of the story. I think it's best consumed actually reading through the entirety of it, so just snippets would sour the experience.

But overall I think it was amazing fun, if a bit low stakes compared to, say, Glorious Masquerade. Skully was a really compelling character and has the sort of goosebumps that makes you really uncomfortable due to how adjacent with reality his sociopathy is. But he wasn't nearly as much of a threat as Rollo was, who actually made a move to turn everyone into magicless beings and therefore obliterate the entirety of the Fae race in conjunction. Skully is an actual child, after all, and acted like one to the end.

I think the main highlight of this event was the lesson it wanted to teach about parasocialism. It's an actual issue that's so rampant nowadays. I believe twst tackled it brilliantly, with how the main victims are teenagers (Skully and Sebek) who you can't really blame for feeling this way about their idols. They're children who desperately want someone as a role model to grow up into. I love how they presented two boys who suffer through the same problem, but tackle it in completely different ways-- with Skully as the destructive kind, and Sebek as the healthy one.

I hope more kids would read this event so they could get started with accepting that this problem is real and that they should not be ashamed of it, and be guided on how to navigate their feelings about it in a healthy way. 😊

[revelboo]

oh hey- that fic with tf1 megatron and that "pull" between him and reader, is that a spark/soulmates thing or more of an accidental conjunx adjacent kind of bond? cuz either sound really cool nd i know you'll handle whatever it is phenomenally, and thank you for the food

Wasn’t sure how well this sort of snippet would go over, but wanted to write one. It is a spark/soulmate thing based on an idea a friend of mine had about how interconnected a Cybertronian’s spark is to their world. That their spark might suffer and weaken without that connection to stabilize and feed off of. That a spark could bind to a soul to heal itself.

It Had to Be You Pt 6

TFO Megatron x Reader

• What does it say about him that you can work your way into his processor and he can’t get you, a weak, soft little thing, out. That when he enters his quarters, he knows exactly where you are. That your continued resistance bothers him. He’s supposed to be the strongest, the one who’ll tear all the corruption out. Fix Cybertron. What will his forces say when they discover he does have a weakness? That he’s so fascinated with a little human? That he needs you.

• Gritting his denta, he slams his fist into the wall hard enough to crumple the metal. That empty ache is back. It’d been better before he found you, when he’d just been used to that sense of missing something vital. It hadn’t bothered him so bad then. Touching you acts like a balm, making him whole. But only while in contact with you. Whenever he has to leave you, that jarring emptiness rushes back in worse than before. Wearing away at him day by day.

• You’re getting stronger, but you still can’t reach the top of the box he leaves you in like a little kitten. The walls aren’t smooth, but subtly grooved. Less of a handhold than the climbing walls you’d been terrible at as a kid, but with your bare feet and hands you can manage to get about halfway up. You’d dragged your pile of blankets over so that every time you do fall you’re not hurting yourself at least as your muscles strain, sweat slicking your skin. There’s not really a plan beyond escape the box, escape him. Because every day, the need to feel those warm servos on your skin becomes more visceral. You crave that contact and hate it at the same time. He’s done something to you, poisoned you somehow until you need him. Look forward to the next time you’ll see him.

• Door sliding silently open, he stalks over to your enclosure and freezes. Clinging to the side, reaching for a new handhold, you stop moving. Sensing him the same way he’s always aware of you and falling as soon as you meet his optics. The anger is immediate, forcing his servos under into shaking fists. He shouldn’t be surprised that you’re trying to run away. Always fighting him, always resisting. “Where is it you think you’re going to go?” He asks, speaking slowly and deliberately. Focusing on the words not the fury. “Do you really think I won’t just find you again?”

• You stay where you fell in the blankets, because you can’t breathe, can’t move under the weight of that cold, disappointed anger. Because those words tear at you and make you feel guilty for wanting freedom. Craving his touch and fearing it. You can hear his heavy steps as he approaches and you curl onto your side in a tight ball, feeling and hating that sense of belonging that makes you want, need, to reach out to him. Your body betraying you.

• “You still don’t understand,” he growls, reaching in to pick you up and feeling how tense you are, the way you tremble against his servos. Still fighting him even though he knows you can feel that same connection. You have to. He cradles you to his chassis directly over his spark, soaking in the feel of you. Uses a servo to pin your cheek against him even as he needs more. More contact to ground himself, to ease that ache. “You’re mine, little human.”

• The world drops sickeningly and you think he’s dropped you, but you never hit the ground. The world’s gone sideways somehow, your captor smaller but still so much bigger than you. One big hand cupping the back of your head to press your face against his chest. The other arm curled around you, servos tightening on your hip as you try to understand what just happened. Pushing against him to try and get some distance even as your struggling mind comprehends that he’s changed size somehow. That his hands are on you, his grip possessive and so much worse with him closer to your size, because there’s a new awareness of him that you don’t want. The hand at the back of your head shifts, servos tunneling in your hair as that other hand pins you along his frame. His heat soaking into you as you stop struggling, that rightness singing through you even as you want to fight it. Because he’s right, you are his. And you hate it.

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[hephaestiions]

day 7 of @hprecfest — the best of your OTP

wit's end with this prompt, went through all my oldest bookmarks to pinpoint what about harry potter & draco malfoy sank its fangs into me eleven years ago and— look—

i can't remember the first h/d fic i read, but it would have been from @dictacontrion's daily drarry quotes initiative— a splendid system queueing delicious h/d snippets that ran from 2013 to early 2022. dicta wrote many of my early h/d favourites, the stuff that really got me into this ship, but the DDQ initiative was my first exposure to what prolific reading & fandom engagement looked like. DDQ led me to dicta's curated recs here on tumblr and here on LJ— gorgeous selections that were a crash course in learning my tastes.

hungry for more lists (still didn't quite trust myself with ao3/ffnet's search functions), i found @capiturecs' meticulous & immensely navigable LJ rec archive + rec tag & @gracerene-recs' drarry tag. i still go back to these, especially for older fics i don't see recced all that much anymore.

@drarryspecificrecs' reccing & fic finding catalogues running since 2017 are something else; their work on their main blog, on @drarryspecificrecsdaily & as part of @lostdrarryfics (if i'm not mistaken) is an enduring force in this fandom. their consistent contributions put so many underrated fics on my dash i wouldn't encounter otherwise, and it's always a joy to get the tag notif when i post something on ao3. (also here's a drarry reccers masterlist curated by LDF, i haven't checked out everyone on it, but go forth & enjoy!)

@bridenore has been reading fic on a scale i can only aspire to, their continuously updating rec tag is such a diverse list of reads across tropes & fests. @mxlfoydraco's one-stop-shop masterlist is also glorious.

@thedrarrylibrarian's friends of the library initiative is such a fun take on showing love to fanwork & building community— every rec, interview & adjacent commentary felt like having a warm mug of hot chocolate with a friend. here's the masterlist!

i'm also loving the collaborative brilliance of @drarry-reccage ('get recced!' is phenomenal energy)— seven pals putting time into fresh recs. individual tags: @cailynwrites' tag here; @dontthrowsticksatme's tag here; @garagepaperback's tag here; @kk1smet's tag here; @mallstars' tag here; @pl0tty's tag here; @sweatersinthesummer's tag here.

i also love @sweet-s0rr0w's recs (masterlist & tag); i love how inventive she is with themes (the collaborative sex scene rec initiative is fucking inspired). sweet is also doing recfest, check out the tag!

@ghaniblue's monthly reading lists are always fun & fresh + acari's rec tag includes their recfest entries, featuring some drarry, some other ships (including rarepairs), so go have a look!

in general, i've always loved creative recs, so @onbeinganangel's embroidery recs were some of the most fantastic stuff to ever cross my dash (i was lucky enough to get one for my birthday a few years ago & it changed my life). wistfulrats themed recs + commentary were also brilliant. this author list by @bogglebeans was also wonderfully unique & had great takes.

and! of course! @sitp-recs whose blog & person are both gems, whose participation in this fandom is an absolute beacon of light. liv reads & recs with such infectious enthusiasm & i only realised how much of a love song reccing could be for works & creators i enjoy and admire through following her. here's her masterlist of masterlists & every link is delightful. liv also runs incredibly, incredibly kind initiatives, the hidden gems series stands out, as does running @yours-drarry blog which is a platform to send appreciation to fandom participants, so if you've got some love to show someone this holiday season, hop on over!

this is by no means a comprehensive overview of all the reccing that goes on in this fandom, i'm probably missing much more than i've counted (speaking of, if you rec & i've missed you, let me know and i'll follow your tag). but among the many things i adore about h/d fandom, the robust reccing culture occupies one of the top spots, not only because it shows appreciation for creators but because it's such a distilled display of excitement for participating in fandom— all of us poking each other and being poked to go look at that cool, brilliant, fantastic thing, jittery to wax poetic about it. reccers held my hand in fandom when i didn't know what i was doing, relentlessly cheered (other) creators on, cultivated a participative space for readers & lurkers and set the bar in so many ways.

to everyone who keeps the h/d fandom alive— reccers, but also writers, artists, podficcers, fest moderators, editors, cheerleaders, readers, lurkers, everyone, everyone, past & present: you are the best of this ship.

for all the love, time & effort you've poured into this space, thank you.

[normal-enderman]

Guys I found this amazing youtube channel called Joey Josselson and he's just this tall nerdy guy with a monotone voice who is very autistic about reptiles and every video is just him going to buy new reptiles to keep and he takes such good care of them and knows about all the different needs of the different species. And he has several snakes that could kill him instantly with one hit but he fucking adores them.

And he also has a snake called Technoblade, has a lot of the same mannerisms and vocal cadence as Technoblade and you can tell he must have really liked the guy. And when he goes to buy reptiles, usually there's lots of short snippets of footage because he gets socially awkward filming in front of people for a long time. Bro. I love this YouTube channel so much. I kind of want a gecko now. What the fuck Mr Technoblade-adjacent reptile-loving man.

[cherrygorilla]

Ok, so you may or may not have inspired me with your Outsiders post to interrupt my usually sparse story post schedule and indulge in my own obsession with a certain musical. And as chaotic and random as it sounds, I promise it is good haha. But even if you disagree, please just let me vent and get all this out of my brain so that I can go back to writing the next part of TMM 😂

Alright, I've loved Starlight Express ever since I saw it when I was around... 7 or 8, maybe? It used to be my favourite show for years, and (fun fact) it was actually how I found out about fanfiction haha. I never wrote anything properly for the show, just like one or two pages in a random notebook when I was, idk 11 ? But it was around that time that TBM then came out, which I was obviously more drawn to writing-wise - I suppose because it gave me more freedom with stories and characters, since this show is just...you know...about trains lol.

And from the few times I've mentioned it before, I know it probably sounds insane, but if you just suspend your disbelief and accept it for what it is (a bunch of trains singing and falling in love), it is a lot of fun hahaha. I like to think of it like a mix between Cats and Cinderella, but the basic gist of the story, so you can have at least somewhat of an idea of what's going on lol, is that Control (a little kid - I don't think they have a name, they're literally just known as Control) sneaks out of bed one night to hold this big race between all his toy trains to find out who is the best - so the story essentially takes place within his imagination, as all the trains come to life to tell the story. It's like Cats in the regard that most of the first act is everyone kind of introducing themselves in turn. There's Greaseball, the champion diesel train, Rusty, the little steam engine who wants to race with the big trains, and Electra, the electric engine of the future - and a bunch of other trains and coaches, but I won't bore you with all that (just yet 😉). So, to cut a long story short, it's basically a big competition between those three main trains to see who's fastest, with Rusty being the obvious underdog, and hence the centre of the Cinderella story element.

The plot itself is nothing groundbreaking, and neither are the songs tbh, but it's just such a fun show that I can't help but love it anyway. I mean come on, the whole thing's done on roller skates - that's pretty damn cool! And although I've loved it for years, it had taken quite a backseat for a while, but the recent revival that has recently opened in London has really reignited my obsession with it all over again 😆 Because how do you make my favourite pairing in the whole show even more iconic? ...you turn them into lesbians 😎 Plus the costumes were all reimagined by Gabriella Slade, who did the costumes for Six, and they look SO cool!

Now, a big part of why I loved your Outsiders post so much was all the story ideas/similarities for characters you included, but I can't really do that here because (once again)... they're all trains, and none of them are really that deep or serious anyway. BUT, what I did think might be fun, would be going through who I think each of our characters would be good at playing if they were (for some bizarre reason) to ever put on the show - because I do have some strong opinions about that haha. And, as a little bonus, I have written some little random one-off story snippets that are Starlight Express adjacent that I'll throw in at the end lol - more as a reward for you wading through all my nonsense than anything tbh. But they were fun to write too haha.

So yeah, welcome to the insane workings of my brain - and pull up a chair; this could take a while 😅

Ok, I think the best place to start would be with going through the characters in the show and, like I said, matching them up with potential characters of ours I think would be good at playing them. I'll sort of elaborate on 'why' for each one too to help keep things entertaining from an outside perspective lol - and hopefully to help back up my arguments for each lmao. Because, let's face it, none of our characters have particularly...train-like characteristics. 😂

First up we've got Rusty, who's essentially the show's main character. Most of the conflict in the show centres around him; the 'better' trains all totally disregard him, a lot of the coaches tease him, and although he loves Pearl, she's more interested in the newer, more exciting trains than boring, quiet little Rusty. BUT, as with all Cinderella stories, he comes out on top in the end; he wins the race (I would say spoiler alert, but it's also like...duh 🙄😂) and gets his dream girl. He's a really likeable underdog character throughout the story though, and he does put up a good fight to come out victorious, which I appreciate - he doesn't just lay down and let everyone walk (well, roll 😉) all over him.

Now, who do I think would be good to play Rusty? Well, as I mention later on in the one-shots, and have potentially mentioned elsewhere too, I weirdly feel like Riven would really like the show. Maybe he has some childhood nostalgia linked to it like I do - maybe his dad took him to see it when he was younger since it involves skating? I don't know all the details, but something within me tells me Riven would like this show lmao. And so, in the spin-off scenario where our characters put on this show (which is the one I'll always lead with in these things), I think he'd want to take a leading role in the directing side of it - and probably spear-headed the campaign for putting it on in the first place tbh haha. BUT, I feel like a lot of people at Camp (because yes, I think they'd do this at Camp; I don't know when else they would all want to put on a show like this lmao) would think the whole thing was an insane idea, and wouldn't want anything to do with it (because it kind of is an insane idea). SO, I think that Riven would not only end up directing most of the show, I also think he'd have to step into Rusty's skates - which wouldn't be as daunting as he initially expected since he knows the show so well already. Plus, besides the backstory element, I just think he'd be a really cute Rusty; his auburn hair is perfect for it, he's a quietly determined guy, and he's an experienced skater, so he'd have no trouble taking on such a demanding role in terms of the skating.

So yeah, Riven would be my first pick. BUT, this new revival of the show that's being performed in London is playing Rusty and Pearl (his love interest, who we'll get to in a minute) in a much more innocent, shy way - and it's freaking adorable. And I think if we were leaning into more of that version of the show, Royce would make a brilliant Rusty if Vivien could be his Pearl. I don't know how likely he'd be to take on another leading role after being thrown into Hairspray like he was in your last Camp Wanamaker story, especially one that required him to be on roller skates the entire time, but I think he'd really nail it with that more innocent, down-trodden interpretation of the character.

But if everyone was willingly getting involved in the show, and they wanted to lean more into the old-school portrayal of Rusty and Pearl, that feels a little older, and more heavily romantically driven, then I feel like Miles and Carrie make SO much sense for those parts. The whole 'chasing after a girl you think is out of your league' thing has both Miles and Rusty written all over, and I think Miles would, again, play that fluctuating determination and defeat really well. Plus, I know this doesn't really mean anything, but his struggles for money do parallel Rusty being this rundown, tattered, but persistent little steam train pretty well... 😂

Ok, now we'll move onto Pearl. Pearl is the newest coach in the little kid's collection, and is therefore the most sought-after racing partner (since all the trains need to race with a coach - idk why, it's just part of the story I suppose lol). Sometimes she's a 'first class' coach, sometimes she's an 'observation car', it doesn't really matter - all that matters is that all the trains want to race with her, and although she has a soft spot for Rusty, who has loved her all along, she gets seduced by the flashiness of his competitors, and it takes her almost getting wrecked in the final race for her to see sense. She can be a little naive sometimes, or will sometimes just blatantly play the field (depending on how you play her), but her heart is always in the right place, which is what still makes her so likeable.

Again, for Pearl I've got multiple options for who could play her, but I'll start with Juliet. The new all-white version of Pearl's costume that they use in the current Bochum production just screams Juliet to me: that sleek sophistication and quiet confidence, but also a touch of flirty, girly charm is so her! And I think she'd make a great leading lady - which is why she's my pick for that spin-off scenario version of the show. Pearl has some great songs, which would be perfect for Juliet to show off more of her voice, with her wanting to be a singer eventually, and with you hinting at Riven and Juliet maybe having a little bit of a fling or something in your last STDP post, having them play the two leads here seems like a perfect fit for them! Rusty thinking Pearl's way out of his league, but Pearl falling for his kindness and good heart anyway - that just screams Riven and Juliet to me! Pearl also has a strong sisterhood-type friendship with the other coaches, which I think really works for Juliet too. And Pearl does try to stand up for what she thinks is right when the bigger trains start taking the competition a little too far - so I think Juliet could bring a great deal of her own strength to her portrayal of the character as well.

Now, my second choice for Pearl, links with the second choice for Rusty above, which is, obviously Vivien. I feel like the new London revival Pearl was MADE for Vivien to play; the whole space-y vibes of the show, the fact that they made her purple, and the fact that they made her this happy little ball of excitement, with a touch more innocence than previous Pearls - she's perfect for Vivien. And the awkwardly adorable, friends-to-lovers arc Rusty and Pearl have in this new revival was practically written for Royce and Vivien lmao - I just think they'd be able to play them brilliantly. And again, like with Juliet, I think Vivien's fiestiness would allow her to bring a lot of strength and determination to Pearl's character that isn't always there - she can sometimes be played quite airy and 'damsel-in-distress-like', but I think Vivien would really ground her.

And my last choice for the role is Carrie - she's not my favourite pick for the role, and I think she'd be better at other parts (as we'll see in a minute lol), but as I said earlier, if Miles is playing Rusty, I think Carrie would make an amazing Pearl opposite him. Their dynamic just fits them so well - Miles pining for her but not feeling like he's good enough, Carrie being blinded to her true feelings by other options (in this situation I feel like Eric would make a great Greaseball lol) but coming around in the end - it's just perfect! And, I truly believe that the song Pearl sings in the original London production, Only He, can only be bodied in the way it deserves to be bodied by my girl Carrie haha. I'm not a big fan of Next Time You Fall In Love, but I do quite like I Do (the replacement options for Only He), and I think Juliet and Vivien would do great renditions of them, but there's just something about the thought of Carrie singing that song that just makes so much sense. I've got an idea for her to sing it in a legitimate story too (that's how obsessed with that song I am lmao), probably linked to the heartache referenced in the little drabble I'll post below, but I feel like she needs to sing it for an actual audience too haha. It's just such a beautiful, powerful, swelling theatre ballad - she'd kill it!!

Alright, now we're getting to the good stuff. This is Greaseball: arguably the main antagonist of the show because, although most of the characters rag on Rusty, a lot of them do so to show their support for Greaseball. They're the reigning, undefeated champion when it comes to the races, so they have quite the ego on them. They're brash, and cocky, and a little brute-ish, but they're also incredibly competitive, which often gets in the way of their better judgement, resulting in a total disregard for everyone else (including their undeservingly loyal girl, Dinah). They're a total showboat and narcissist, but they do have a dopey, lovable side that Dinah helps to bring out towards the end of the show, which does help redeem them haha.

Now, there are two ways that Greaseball can be played: the traditional way, or the new way. For the traditional way (the sort of wannabe-Elvis, old school rockstar portrayal), Butchy feels like an obvious pick. And although I don't think he's anything like Greaseball's character, you know if he had to play him he'd take to the greaser caricature like a duck to water lmao. Plus, if Mick was playing Dinah (which, you'll see in a bit, I think works perfectly for her), they'd make an adorable duo in the show, and I think they'd have a lot of fun hamming up the roles to make them even more ridiculously cartoonish. And if Mick was his Dinah, I think Butchy would do the whole 'crawling back to her with his tail between his legs' schtick soooo well - he'd just melt into a puddle for her the second he apologised for being such a brute haha. The only thing that's holding me back with Butchy is that I don't know how good he'd be at being so mean to his friends - especially if someone like Miles or Royce was playing Rusty haha; he's just too nice! Plus, I don't know how well he could roller skate lmaoo.

OR, the other way Greaseball can be played is like how they've done it in the new London revival of the show: by making her into a fiesty little lesbian. And this is the role I feel like Carrie could really excel at. I just think she'd have sooo much fun with all the showboating and playing up the bravado. It's so different to anything else she's played before that I think she'd have a great time getting to try it out too - and I think she'd really enjoy getting to lean into playing a villain as well. I'm just obsessed with everything about the London revival Greaseball - her costume is so cool, her attitude is so iconic, the way she's adapted the character I just, uh- it's brilliant! And as cool as it could be to try out a male Dinah by getting Miles into some frilly gingham (lol), I think having either Juliet or Mick be her Dinah would work really well. I'll get into why I think Juliet would be a perfect Dinah later, but her dynamic with Carrie if they were to take on these roles would just be perfect; Juliet's mild scolding of Carrie's bruteish behaviour, but her unwavering loyalty regardless, Carrie's brushing off of her affection for the sake of winning, but then realising she didn't know how good she had it with Juliet by the end - aaaah, I love them. But for the spin-off scenario, where Juliet would be playing Pearl, my pick for Dinah would have been Mick - again, I'll elaborate more on why that works so well for her in a bit, but there's something about Mick and Carrie being paired up romantically like this that just entertains me so much, and low-key kind of intrigues me too haha. In my head, the way it would have played out was that they'd approached Butchy with the offer for the role first, hoping that if they also offered Mick to be his love interest, he'd be more likely to accept it. But after he dismissed it so blatantly, and they couldn't get anyone else to convincingly fit the role, Carrie was called upon to take his place - and to get back at Butchy for not even considering the part, Mick decides to take the Dinah role anyway, but doesn't tell him. Because imagine his face when he realises that this role they'd said couldn't be played by anyone but him was not only being played by Carrie, of all people, but that his wife was playing her love interest (and was practically throwing herself at Carrie the whole show)! They'd have so much fun torturing him with it, I just know it haha. And omg Carrie would have a whale of a time with Pumping Iron lmao. Plus, her skating skills can finally come in handy for something lol; she'd be throwing in all the tricks.

Alright, so here's where I started grouping people together because I realised I was rambling far too much about the rest lol. As cool of a character as Electra is concept-wise, I don't think I can talk about them in that much depth haha - they're just not one of my favourites! I don't feel like they have that big of an impact on the story tbh; it feels mostly Rusty/Greaseball centred to me, but it's nice to give Greaseball a bit of real competition in the races I guess haha. Their futuristic, diva-ish vibe is really interesting though, and the fact they have their own entourage is pretty iconic too. But with that all being said, I just don't think there's any of our characters that really fit their archetype, even just in terms of who'd be best at playing them - especially males, since that's what Electra has typically been played as (even though they're nonbinary in the new London revival). I thought it might have been fun to get Donny to play them in the spin-off scenario, because I like to think he's a good enough actor to pull off any role haha - and like with Carrie and Greaseball, I think he'd have a lot of fun with doing something totally different to any of his other roles. I don't quite know how it would come about that he'd ever get involved in an amateur production like this, but in my head I thought it would be cute if, besides Carrie's constant begging and pestering about how they don't have enough people to fill out the cast, he's swayed by the fact that his son's in his 'train' phase at the moment - and so he agrees purely for shits and giggles and getting to make his son excited hahaha. Plus, I think he and Carrie would have a lot of fun getting to play rivals for once instead of lovers lol. And I just know they'd really lean into the comedic side of One Rock 'N' Roll Too Many. But besides Donny, I really have no other good picks. I thought if it was maybe the situation where Butchy was playing Greaseball they could do a female Electra and cast Carrie - because she'd do a fabulous job at selling the glitzy, diva vibes and overall over-the-top dramaticness of the character, and a female Electra would be incredible - but like with Pearl, it's just not my favourite pick for her. More out of necessity than anything haha - although it would be perfect to have Butchy and Carrie playing enemies like that lol.

And then the second one on this list is Poppa/Momma McCoy, who's an old steam engine that takes part in one of the races to help encourage Rusty and prove that steam trains aren't outdated after all. The role has been played by both male and female actors, but it tends to lean more female lately. And whilst I'm sure Grandpa George would happily help the kids out with their show, I have much stronger feelings on different female characters taking on the role.

Firstly, how iconic could it be if Nonna Dawn surprised everyone who wasn't helping out with the show by rolling out to sing Momma's (Poppa's) Blues?? Because that's my main pick for the spin-off scenario and I feel like Viv's face would just be a picture lmaoo. She helped out quite a bit with the stuff in the playhouse in Camp Wanamaker too, so she obviously likes theatre, and she just has that kind of fun, mischievous charm about her, so I feel like when Riven and Carrie would approach her with the idea, she'd love it - especially with that added element of surprise for the audience. And the whole mentor/advice-giver role Momma takes on in the show would work perfectly for Dawn; she's like the embodiment of the voice of reason haha.

My second pick, if you wanted to play Momma a little younger, like the London revival has done (with her playing both Control's mum, and Momma), would be Charlie, because she took a big role in helping out at the playhouse in Camp Wanamaker, and obviously cares a lot about theatre. And she has a really close relationship to Carrie and Riven, so I feel like they'd be able to talk her around to taking part eventually. My only thing holding me back is that part of my feels as though she'd want nothing to do with the production because she'd be too scared someone was gonna get hurt since the whole thing's done on rollerskates - her pseudo-motherly instincts couldn't cope with the stress lmaooo. And if it's in the spin-off scenario, where in my head Vivien's organising a rival production (probably of The Outsiders since you're enjoying it so much atm haha), I feel like Vivien would have already snagged her to help with directing on her project.

And my last potential pick for Momma, in an AU version, and one where Royce or Miles was Rusty, would, of course, be Mrs Murphy. I don't know how she would have done with performing, but Momma obviously takes on a motherly role to Rusty, and the freight/fuel trucks too - so Mrs Murphy taking on that role opposite one of her actual sons, and helping to give them the confidence they need to succeed, just makes so much sense to me! Pretty unlikely scenario, but a fun one to consider nonetheless haha.

Ooh ok, more of my faves again haha. Dinah used to be my all-time favourite growing up, so I have lots of opinions about her. But basically, she's another of the 4 coaches (along with Pearl), and her main role in the show is that she's Greaseball's racing partner (and therefore, essentially also their romantic partner). They have a kind of strained relationship most of the show, because Dinah's totally head-over-wheels (😉) for Greaseball, but Greaseball's also being fawned over by pretty much every other coach, and is reluctant to give in to Dinah's affection for fear of showing any weakness to their opponents - so they can be pretty mean sometimes. BUT, they do have a really cute moment when Greaseball loses in the end and goes back to Dinah to apologise, realising that they still love each other without all the glory of being champions.

She's a pretty confident character though, and is good at standing up for herself when she doesn't think something's right - but she's still able to show her softer, more vulnerable side, which makes her a really well-rounded character imo. There are a few good options for who I'd want to play her though, and although I mention later that Carrie would be a good Dinah, I only think she'd really get cast in the role if she it was an externally produced show, since she only ever lands secondary parts haha. I think she'd be a great Dinah, don't get me wrong, but I just think that if all our characters were in the show, there are better choices for her.

My first one, as mentioned earlier, would be Mick. The brunette hairstyle she's been given lately, as opposed to the blonde, works for Mick so well, and with red being her favourite colour, taking the red from the new London costume but applying it to the more traditional gingham style - aaaah, she'd look adorable. Plus, like I said above, having her play this role opposite Butchy just makes so much sense - but, having her play it opposite Carrie (like she would in my spin-off scenario) would be brilliant. I just think they'd have so much fun with it, especially knowing how weird it would make Butchy feel watching them together, and oddly, I feel like it would help their friendship grow even stronger😂 It's just such an iconic pairing, and I really think they'd do it justice. I think she'd make a really strong-willed Dinah, and as unsteady as I think she'd be on roller skates at first, I think that'd make everyone all the more impressed when they saw her racing and dancing around with everyone else haha - Riven and Carrie would work their magic with teaching her.

And with Dinah being typically played as a sort of 'Southern Belle' type, the obvious pick for Dinah, and one that also makes a ton of sense to me, would, of course, be Juliet. And if she wasn't playing Pearl, this is definitely who I'd have her play. I think she'd be able to lean into the more sensitive, emotional side of Dinah, whilst also keeping a bit of the strength that Mick would bring to her - and you just know that if Carrie was her Greaseball they'd be in their element playing lesbain lovers 👀😂 They'd peak here, I feel. This and Maureen and Joanne in Rent - they'd be untouchable.

I didn't even know whether to include CB in this or not since he's been taken out and put back into the show so many times, but I reference him in one of the one-shots so I thought it was best to. Basically, he's a caboose coach that, in the second act, reveals that he's got a little evil streak behind his oh-so innocent appearance, and that he's actually notorious for wrecking the trains he races behind. So, (although I don't think it's ever actually explained why lol) he teams up with Greaseball and Electra to trick Rusty into racing with him, only to try wrecking him in the big final race. Naturally, it doesn't work, but hey, he acts as a zany little extra antagonist, which I'm never going to complain about haha. 

Like I mention later on, I think Riven would feel kind of drawn to this role - especially because of the softer side we see with him when he comforts Dinah after Greaseball ditches her (for being too moral for their dirty racing tactics lol). Plus, there's that 'red' motif again that would work with his auburn hair - and I think he'd be able to play that coolly sly, kind of crazily sadistic twist well because of how chill he is normally. That switch would be so jarring! But, perhaps an even more jarring option, I think Bentley could also do this part really well. He'd be the perfect, innocent mask to begin with because he's so little and smiley - but then I think he'd have a lot of fun getting to flip that on its head and be the complete antithesis of his usual ball of sunshine personality to be a little crazy criminal instead. Obviously he's nothing like that normally, but acting-wise, if he felt confident enough with it, I think he could really do it justice! And it'd make an even cooler contrast if one of his brothers was playing Rusty; that betrayal would be even harsher!

Alright, now onto the coaches. Let's try to speed through these because I already know I've wasted far too much of your time lmao. If you're still reading at this point, I'm actually pretty impressed 😂 The coaches have changed a bunch over the years, mostly for things going out of fashion (*cough cough* Ashley the smoking car lol) - but the current ones in the London revival are Belle the sleeping car and Tassita the quiet coach. Since these are smaller, more generic parts, I don't really have as much to say about them. But, for Belle I thought that Jade might be a good pick, because I know she can sing since she's in Riven's band, and idk, maybe she naps a lot? 😂 Either way, even though she's said before that she can't act to save her life, I don't think she'd have to act a great deal in this role - but she can sing and skate, and that's enough to give her the confidence to agree to help out in my book haha. And for Tassita, who's the first coach to ever be played by a male performer, which is pretty cool, I thought August might be a fun pick - you know, because he's such a quiet guy himself lol. Besides that though, I've always thought he'd be a good performer (he was originally going to have a part on Find Your Voice after all), and although, like Jade, I don't think he'd have a great deal of confidence at first - especially in a role that still appears quite feminine when he's not totally secure about his sexuality - but I think they'd be able to tweak both the part and the costume until it was something he'd feel comfortable doing. And once he started working on it, I think it'd be really good at bringing him out of his shell! Plus, I like to think he's got a really good voice hidden behind all that shyness - so this is an excuse to finally bring it out into the open hehe. 

Other coaches that could be worked in from other productions are Buffy the buffet car, Duvet the sleeper car (an alternate to Belle), Carrie the luggage car (what a coincidence lol), or, the original Belle the sleeping car, from the original London production way back in the 80s. Belle didn't really do a great deal plot-wise besides help motivate Rusty, and Dinah and the rest of the coaches in the second act when they're ditched by the trains they race with (please, Starlight Express producers, bring back the Rolling Stock reprise; it's iconic lmao) - but if for some reason they wanted to use her in the show, I think Charlie would be a great pick for her. She'd give her all the old-school glamour and girl-power she deserves haha. And I think she'd look iconic in that red costume. 

Finally, my last category: the freight/fuel trucks. Well, actually just the fuel trucks. I thought about including the freight trucks too, but tbh, I don't really have any strong opinions on any of them, and this post is already far too long, so I just left them out lol. But, like the coaches, the fuel trucks are just more racing partner options for the trains. Some have bigger parts than others, but their main purpose is providing fuel (shocking, I know ha). They're new to the London revival though, and tbh I like them more than the freight trucks; they feel more central to the plot - even if it did make the song Freight significantly worse lmao.

And speaking of central to the plot, Hydra, the hydrogen fuel truck is the new reason why Rusty wins the final race (because before it didn't really make that much sense tbh lmao); he's now powered by hydrogen steam, which gives him the advantage over his opponents. And throughout the show, despite the other fuel trucks ragging on Hydra for being too new and dangerous in comparison to their more reliable fuel sources, he ignores them and stands by his belief in his fuel. The only pick in my mind for Hydra because of this though is Ethan - and although I have no idea if he'd ever have any remote interest in acting, especially in a musical theatre production, you know he's so loyal to his friends he'd do anything to help them out if they asked. And, I think he'd just think the idea was so weird he'd be down to participate just for the hell of it lol. But Hydra's way of not caring what anyone else thinks of him, and sticking to his own beliefs, is so Ethan to me - plus, they just have that same, chilled, laid back vibe. And, naturally, they both have that kind of green motif 😉🍃 So yeah, for me, Ethan has to be Hydra - and no matter who's playing Rusty, I feel like he'd vibe enough with all of them for him to jump at the chance to help them out like Hydra helps Rusty in the show. And it'd finally give him an excuse to use those roller skating skills I know he's hiding somewhere despite his usually terrible clumsiness ha. 

For Porter (the red coal truck) I think Zack could maybe play him? Not completely sold on that idea because I don't think he'd really vibe with musicals, but if August roped him into helping out I think he'd begrudgingly agree - and Porter basically does nothing anyway, so he couldn't really complain lol. And for Lumber (the blue timber truck) I picked Erica - not only because her blue hair would look sick with an all-blue costume like that, but also because the thought of Jade and Erica flirting as their characters during the little bickering section between the coaches and the fuel trucks in the song Freight had me weak at the knees. So if they were both in it, their characters would 100% be in love, no questions asked - I need flirty trucks and coaches hahaha. 

So then the final role I'm passionate about is Slick, the oil truck, which is the new London revival's answer to CB, since she not only takes on his main song, but also the whole concept of wanting to race with Rusty to wreck him and help out the competition. This revival also gives her a monetary aim though, which is good for giving her more of a motive, I suppose. I don't really know how trains are supposed to use money, but it's at least a reason, which is more than we had before lmao. I think Abby would be such a good pick for Slick though - I'd want to make her a little more girly, giving her some different hair (like my little reference picture, or maybe something like some fun bubble braids or something - like oil bubbles 👀) and a more feminine costume - but I think having a pretty important role like that would help bring out her confidence with performing a lot, without totally throwing her out of her comfort one with a big main role. I think she'd like the added challenge and fun that the villainous twist Slick has would bring though; it'd give her something a bit different to play with. And with Slick's colour palette mirroring Greaseball's, and her being an oil truck, makes me thing that Abby would really want to lean into making Slick a little Greaseball fangirl, who is constantly looking up to her and wanting to impress her (and hence giving her even more motivation to wreck Rusty and help Greaseball win the race) - which I think would also nicely mirror how much Abby would look up to Carrie (an established actress already) if they were to ever meet. I just think it works really well for her, and I love how the show's leaning more into mixing the genders of the coaches and the freight trucks - even if the costumes are still leaning more feminine and masculine respectively, I think our characters would have more fun tailoring them to each performer's preferences. Because come on, Abby being a pretty girly, but still menacing, little secondary villain would be so cool - she needs to let her rebellious side shine!

Excuse the TMM spacer lol, I'm too lazy to go make a new one lmao. Anyway, if you made it through all that, you really are a true friend haha - because that was soooo much insane rambling. But, I do feel better for dumping it out of my mind and onto a page. Maybe now I can finally stop obsessing over it and get back to writing the stories I should be working on. But hopefully this was a little fun post to switch things up a bit! And hopefully you at least liked it half as much as I enjoyed your Outsiders post haha. If, for some bizarre reason, you actually are interested in the show, then just let me know because I have a slime tutorial (*wink wink*) of the new revival I'd happily send you the link to, because I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. But even if not, like I said, this was just a bit of silly fun to give all these ideas a home. It's not a complex show, and it doesn't have particularly elevated songs or characters, but the orchestrations are clever, the costumes and theatrics are amazing, and it's all done on roller skates - so it'll always have a special, fun spot in my heart hehe. I've linked a video of the megamix at the end of the new London revival for you to get a bit of a vibe of what the show's like without having to watch the whole thing too if you want hehe - at least this way you can see some of the skating and costumes in action! And, as promised, as a reward for sitting through the insanity of this post, here are two little drabbles with our characters as a reward.

The first centres around the song There's Me, and a pairing I think works particularly well for it, that I'm dying to see/write more of - it's also plucked out of that Camp Wanamaker spin-off I wanted to do that I'm not sure will ever materialise. But consider this a sneak peek into what would have gone down lol. And the second is a litle bit of what the chaos the concept of Riven and Vivien putting on rivalling productions would have brought about haha. For context, I think although Riven would have bagged Carrie for his show straight away, Vivien would have furiously retaliated by claiming everyone else in their cabin for hers - hence the competitiveness that ensues. Enjoy! Hopefully they're not too weird to not still be enjoyable anyway 😅😂

The dusty deck creaked as a scuffed, black Converse nudged into her periphery. But her eyes never left the lake - as grey as the thick blanket of clouds overhead, and as bleak as her outlook. 

"The laundry house, really?" the voice demanded, pausing to give the girl a chance to explain herself. 

She did not. 

Sighing, the guest realised this was going to be harder than he expected. After all, he wasn't used to her being this…subdued. "You know, I just think it's a testament to our friendship that I was the only one who knew to look for you here," he offered with a playful smile…that went completely unnoticed. Frowning as the girl continued to ignore his very existence, he let out another sigh, this one as he lowered himself down and took up the space beside her, nudging the sole of her now off-white sneaker with his knee to draw her out of her thoughts. "Come on, Carrie. I'm trying here," he said. But when he leant forwards to try to get a clearer look at her face, and found her cheeks marred with glistening tracks in her foundation, and her puffy eyes speckled with remnants of her mascara, his frustration waned. "You can't hide from them forever," he gently added.

"I want to," Carrie murmured.

"You don't mean that," he tried.

"I do; at least that way I wouldn't be able to fuck things up any more than I already have," she limply insisted.

"You didn't-"

"Don't give me that, Riven; I know I did," Carrie said, cutting him off with an exasperated huff. "I shouldn't have done it, I shouldn't have yelled at them like that. But I was just in such a bad mood after that class, and I was so fed up with everything, so then to come back to all that I just…"

"...Let all those years of bottled up frustration out?" Riven offered.

"Something like that," Carrie mumbled, dropping her gaze to her lap, knowing that if she actually made eye contact with the boy her resolve would start to crumble in an instant. 

"Hmm," he began, murmuring his understanding as he took his turn to look out across the lake. "I heard it wasn't pretty."

Although Riven was no longer looking at her, he saw her dark blonde curls trembling out of the corner of his eye as she shook her head.

"I'm so embarrassed," she admitted, voice barely above a whisper. A fresh tear plopped onto her thigh as she kept her watery gaze steady, praying she'd be able to get a handle on her waterworks for once. "They hate me for sure now."

"They never hated you, Carrie," Riven promised, turning back to her again as though it would persuade her to believe him. 

But Carrie proved to be as stubborn as ever, completely bypassing the comment with a mournful smile she still couldn't bring herself to lift from the floor. "All that time I spent trying to win them over…down the drain, all because I had a shit day and lost my cool."

"I don't know, I'd still say you're pretty cool," Riven tried with a playful lopsided grin, bumping her shoulder until she turned to see it for herself.

When she did finally turn to face him though, it was with that flat, annoyed frown that always just egged him on more. "This isn't a joke," she grumbled, but Riven's little chuckle said otherwise. 

"I'm not saying it is," he countered. "I'm just letting you know it's gonna take a hell of a lot more than one dumb argument for me to stop thinking you're cool. Come on, you're Caroline Cole: entertainer extraordinaire-"

"Why are you doing this?" Carrie stopped his playful bolstering in its tracks with a weary sigh.

"Because I want to," Riven said, standing firm in his optimism. "Come on, I hate seeing you like this," he pressed on fitfully, uneasy with her uncharacteristic despondency. She was usually the life and soul of the party in that playhouse, now she had all the energy of a wet paper towel. Hoping to distract her with a little healthy competition, he added, "We should be out there crushing Erica's cabin at volleyball right now."

"Well forgive me, but I'm not really in the mood," Carrie flatly retorted.

"What are you in the mood for?" he challenged, with a primarily jovial tone, but a hint of creeping frustration. "Moping about like a kicked puppy?"

"Yes, actually," she snipped. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news but I can't be the 'smiling showgirl' 24/7…" Her frown twitched into the faintest of wistful smiles as her voice trailed off, carrying her focus back into the turmoil unfolding within her own head. "I'm allowed to have emotions, I'm just not allowed to show them," she went on to explain with a quiet, self-loathing huff. "'Cause that's when things always turn to shit."

All Riven's teasing intent slipped away, seeping into the damp wood beneath them, as it began to dawn on him that there may have been more to her dramatic disappearance than what he'd initially thought. "...This is about more than just you yelling at the boys, isn't it?" he slowly asked, treading carefully, as though to not set off a bomb.

And yet, Carrie dropped one on him anyway.  

"I think Miles and I are gonna break up, Riv."

The words hung in the muggy air between them, not daring to be believed.

Stunned, hazel eyes settled on Carrie's profile, unable to tear themselves away until she explained herself. So, she began to talk. Slowly but surely, she unravelled the tangle of thoughts in her head, laying them out before her friend, praying that his sensible, perceptive mind could help her make sense of them. "It's just��not felt right this summer. It's like he's…pulling away, or something," she started, still avoiding eye contact at all costs. At least that way she could keep a handle on her tears, even if her mouth did start to run away from her instead. "And the arguing with Royce never helps, but it's just been getting worse instead of better and I can tell he's getting frustrated with it, but I'm trying and nothing's working and I don't understand why and that's making me frustrated, which makes the bickering worse, I just-" She stopped to snatch a breath, only to blow out all her remaining self-confidence with it. "I feel like I've got no fight left anymore. I can't see it getting better. And when I know Miles would always side with his brothers, and everyone else would side with him if things went south… I don't know, it just kind of stings, I guess; one wrong move and I lose them all. No matter what I do, I'd still be left out on my own."

"Don't lump me in with that."

Startled, Carrie lost her focus and turned to the boy; she'd been so lost in her own thoughts she'd forgotten she wasn't alone anymore. But even when she searched his expression, his comment still made no sense. "What do you mean?"

"Well don't say I'd never speak to you again if things with you and Miles didn't work out," he explained as though it was the simplest thing in the world. "Which they totally will by the way, but that's beside the point," he tacked on as that playful chuckle of his started creeping back into his voice. "Of course I'd still speak to you; you can't get rid of me that easily."

"Really?" Carrie asked, wary despite the hopeful glint in her ocean eyes. 

"Yes, really, idiot," he snorted. "I'm not just friends with you 'cause you're dating Miles, you're my drama buddy," he went on to explain with a grin holding nothing but fond sincerity. "You're the only one that keeps me sane in that playhouse, and even then you're so ridiculous I can only take you seriously like 60% of the time. Plus, I did see you naked that one time-"

"I was not- it was just my top."

The frustrated tone shining through in the way she had cut him off, and the way she had hurriedly returned to avoiding his gaze, struck Riven down. "Oh my god, you didn't even laugh at the bikini story. This really is bad," he said - again, half-joking, half-genuinely-concerned. Reaching behind him, his fingers closed around glossy wood as a teasing smile started to tug at his lips. "I didn't want it to have to come to this…"

Hearing fingers start plucking at guitar strings, Carrie's bewildered frown deepened as she turned back to him. "What are you doing?"

"I can't help it, you've left me no choice," he chuckled, cheesily grinning back at her and continuing to lazily pluck out a melody. "I'm not leaving until I've cheered you up - even if that means resorting to music."

"Come on, Riv," Carrie wearily groaned, not nearly as amused by the offer as he'd hoped she would be. "Stop, I'm not in the mood. Can't you just leave me alone?"

The plucking stopped and Riven sat the guitar fully back in his lap, his own brows now starting to furrow. "They really got you this time, huh?"

Carrie sighed as she dropped her gaze to her lap again. "I don't like to show it normally 'cause I know they don't always mean it, they just want to get a rise out of me," she slowly confessed. "But it was…different last night. It's felt different since we arrived."

"I really thought you guys were getting somewhere," Riven softly mused, just as perplexed by the sudden nosedive in amiability as the others in the cabin.

"So did I," Carrie agreed, smiling painfully down at a knot in the wood. A million things she wanted to say swirled in her head, but none of her thoughts were quite able to be fit into words - nothing that could make a coherent sentence anyway. She didn't know whether to get mad, and let the rest of her pent up anger spill across the deck until she'd rid herself of it completely. She didn't know whether to just push it to the back of her mind again, put on a brave face and swan back into camp as though nothing was wrong at all. She didn't know whether to stay hidden, avoiding everyone at the cabin and all her problems at the same time. At least that way she wouldn't have to face them again, or have to try to explain herself and her inexcusable temperament to Miles. God, he was probably so mad at her right now. 

More and more thoughts flew through her mind, hitting the walls of her skull like rabid animals until her head pounded and her resolve broke down. Helpless tears started to slip from her eyes as the hopelessness of her position washed over her all over again. She felt a hand on her back that brought her back to her senses in an instant though - having forgotten, yet again, that she wasn't alone out here. She sniffed and hurriedly patted away the tears, trying to salvage what little of her makeup still remained. "Guess I'm not such a heartless bitch after all," she offered, managing a melancholy chuckle at her predicament that, although was an improvement, still did nothing to show Riven that she was feeling more like her usual self. 

In fact, he just felt more concerned than ever. Carrie was strong-willed and stubborn, bold and exuberant - not the shying, insecure, tearful shell of a girl before him. He'd already suspected that her confidence had been knocked this summer thanks to the rather personal disruption at the playhouse, but this was worse than he thought. And he couldn't stand by in good conscience and watch her fire be extinguished. 

Setting his guitar back into position, he began plucking at the strings again. Carrie shot him another questioning look, with a slightly annoyed huff, but he stuck to his guns and kept playing, offering her nothing but a cheesy, comforting grin in response. "Complain all you want," he chuckled. "But I'm not gonna stop playing." 

Although Carrie just rolled her eyes, she did manage a small, resigned laugh as she gave up on the pushback. And soon, to her surprise, lyrics began to accompany his playing - as gentle and reassuring as his own intent.

All alone, you think you're on your own You think there's no one in the world who cares for you That isn't true, there's me May not be, the one you want to see But if you need someone who's kind then look behind And then you'll find, there's me

I'll be near, standing by Never fear, you can cry But in a while, you will smile And I'll be there to see

By yourself you have to cry yourself Nobody else can cry the tears you have to cry But I will try, there's me Until then, when you're okay again You'll look around, find I'm no longer there I'll still be near somewhere You're not alone, there's me There's always me

I'll still be near somewhere You're not alone; there's me There's always me...

The soft, yet cheeky smiles Riven kept shooting the girl as he sang, paired with the meaning behind the words, and the added special meaning to them both, meant that by the time his strumming faded to silence, Carrie was finally grinning back at him. 

"You really came all the way out here to serenade me with a musical theatre song from the 80s?" she asked with a teasing chuckle, wiping away the last traces of any tears with the heel of her hand. 

"It worked, didn't it?" he teasingly fired back with a satisfied smirk. 

"Touché," she giggled, before hitting with a further pointed eyebrow raise. "But Starlight? Really?"

"Again: it worked, didn't it?" he retorted with a snort of laughter she was all too happy to reciprocate.

"You are way too attached to that show," she chuckled, teasingly bumping his arm.

"It's about roller skating trains - how can I not be attached to it?"

"I don't know, ask literally anyone else at camp," Carrie snorted back, referring to the many attempts the pair had made to try to get even just one of their friends to give the show a chance.

Knowing exactly what the blonde was talking about, Riven just shot her a grin. "They'll come around eventually, trust me."

Giving an equally confident, yet slightly more playful grin back, Carrie conceded with another giggle before continuing. "And when they do, I think you've proven you'd make an excellent CB."

Riven pressed a hand to his chest. "I think that might be the nicest thing you've ever said to me," he said with a comically dramatic earnestness that just had Carrie rolling her eyes again.

"Shut up, I compliment you all the time," she retorted, and her smile only broadened when Riven showed no signs of pushing back. "I'm serious though; if you ever manage to convince Nonna you don't need to be sectioned for suggesting we stage the show, I think you'd be great."

Biting back a laugh, Riven instead decided to lead with sincerity. "Only if you'd be my Dinah," he bargained with a fond, yet knowing grin she, again, gladly shared. But it wasn't long before he started rambling again. "But I'd sacrifice that if it meant you could be Pearl…"

With an affectionate shake of her head, Carrie playfully sighed, "I never play the lead - I can't break my streak now, you know that."

Taking his turn to roll his eyes, he retorted with. "Pearl is not the lead; the whole show's about Rusty."

"Ok well maybe you can play Rusty then, Mr Know-It-All," Carrie teasingly fired back as the pair fell back into their typical, theatre-based ramblings - idly chattering away without a care in the world as the wind pulled the clouds across the sky.

It wasn't until Carrie saw the sunlight skittering across the lake, and heard the distant chatter of counsellors start up again, that she realised her head had finally stopped pounding, and her chest no longer felt as though someone had carved a giant hole into it. Astonished, but grateful nonetheless, Carrie turned back to Riven with a smile. "Thanks for coming to find me, Riv."

Grinning contentedly back, he replied, "Well, I don't like thinking of you being sad. You're like my fun, crazy, big sister - I can't have you moping around like a sadsack."

"You really think of me like a sister?"

"Of course. We don't always understand each other, and I tease the shit out of you at every opportunity I get, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you. You always make me laugh, you're insanely talented, you give the best advice, but you're honest when you need to be - you're everything I'd want in a big sister. Plus, like I said, you're my drama buddy. The shit we put up with from those campers has bonded us for life, whether you like it or not."

Unable to hold back her laughter any longer, it spilled out from her grateful smile as she reached out and wrapped him in a big hug, nestling her face into the well-worn cotton of his hoodie. 

"And you give great hugs," he playfully added, mumbling through her mane of frizzy, golden curls.

"Thanks, Riv," she murmured between giggles, letting herself melt into the comforting reassurance of his embrace.

"Any time, Care Bear."

Sitting back, scouring his half-finished painting with an acutely analytical gaze, Bentley didn't even hear the door to the art barn open, let alone the footsteps that followed. He squinted his eyes, tilted his head from side to side, screwed up his mouth in concentration… And then his vision went dark.

Blinking, eyelashes brushed against an old t-shirt masquerading as a blindfold. But before he could try to question the ambush, a quiet voice broke through his haze of confusion.

"Alright, listen to what I say, or this is not gonna be pretty."

A chuckle couldn't help but slip from Bentley's lips, immediately relaxing as he recognised the voice. "Is that your attempt at sounding threatening?"

"I was actually trying to be reassuring," August countered with a bashful chuckle of his own.

"Oh, well then consider me reassured," Bentley laughed, still idly toying with his paintbrush. "As reassured as anyone can be when they're randomly blindfolded on a Wednesday afternoon. What are you doing anyway?"

"I need to take you somewhere, so put the brush down and get up - but don't go too fast; I've gotta make sure you don't bump into anything," August ordered, tying the old t-shirt in place before clumsily helping the blonde stand, taking him by the shoulders and leading him towards the door.

"Where the hell are we going?" Bentley asked, after they had navigated the stairs in a (somewhat) successful manner - consisting of only one giggling fit, and one almost-total-collapse - as he felt them move from the wooden deck to the uneven grass. 

"I'm not allowed to tell you, but it's nothing bad, trust me."

"Who's forcing you to kidnap me and parade me across camp like a prisoner?"

"You'll find out in a minute," August chuckled, steering him around a tree stump. "But just know that it's nothing bad."

"Well I'd hope not - I'd hate to think you'd willingly be involved in leading me to my demise," Bentley snorted, before continuing with his idle rambling. "Who's roped you into taking me captive anyway?"

"I don't know if I can say; they didn't give me much briefing, and I don't think they expected you to be this…chatty."

Bentley laughed. "Well then they should have sent a more intimidating kidnapper."

"They didn't want to scare you, they just needed you away from Vivien," August admitted, immediately falling silent for a few steps. "...I don't know if I was supposed to say that."

"Ohhh, ok then, so I'm being taken hostage by the competition?" Bentley chuckled through a smirk as he began to piece the puzzle together.

"...Maybe," August confirmed as he rounded the blonde and started to lead him up a new set of steps from the front to make sure he didn't lose his footing. "But if they ask then you figured it out on your own - you didn't hear it from me."

"Well it's not like I had many options; it was either that or some weird camp event I didn't pay attention to the announcement for," Bentley laughed to himself as he blindly stuck his foot out, almost completely missing the step until August repositioned him. "What do they need me for? Information about how our rehearsals are going? And how are you in cahoots with them anyway? Are you abandoning our show for theirs?"

"What? No, just… Hang on, gimme a second," August fumbled through his excuses, fighting to nudge the door open with his foot before carefully pulling his friend inside. "Alright, we're here. Just sit down and listen to what they've got to say, they'll explain everything," he continued, keeping his voice down as he offered the boy further reassurances he was sure he wasn't supposed to. 

Once Bentley was situated on what felt like a metal fold-out chair, August gave his shoulder one last reassuring squeeze before untying the old t-shirt and lifting it away from his eyes. Oddly though, even with the blindfold removed, Bentley could hardly see a thing; whatever cabin they were in had black-out cloths draped across the windows, leaving the room in complete darkness. Well, at least that explained why it had taken August so long to navigate him across the room. 

"Uhh… Hello?" Bentley tried, calling out into what felt like a completely empty room if the thick silence he was met with was anything to go by.

But before he could question his situation any further, a light sprang to life beside him, so bright he had to jerk his head back to save himself from temporary blindness.

Wincing, he tried to take in his now significantly more illuminated surroundings, only to find that he was sitting at a scuffed, fold-out table, occupying the very lamp that seemed to give off more light than the sun itself. Other than that, the rest of the room was swimming in darkness, creating a rather effective interrogation set-up, which he suspected the masterminds behind his kidnapping had hoped for. 

And speaking of these masterminds, just as the afterimages were finally starting to fade from his vision, a figure rolled out of the darkness and up to the table. Yes, quite literally rolled. 

They set their hands on the tabletop in front of him and presented the boy with a smug smile. "Hello, Bentley."

"What are you doing?" Bentley asked, snorting out a laugh at the surreal nature of the entire situation. 

"We have a…preposition for you," Riven slowly explained, his smug smile only broadening. 

"We?" Bentley questioned. "There are more weirdos than you tied up in this thing?"

Suddenly the lamp head was wrenched back, sending the beam of light directly at his face, once again making him jerk his head back. "And just who do you think you're calling a weirdo?"

Eyes watering from the visual assault, Bentley squinted through the brightness until he found a tanned hand clamped around the lamphead. Following it up, he found an all-too-familiar, shadowed face, framed by a mane of unruly golden curls. "Not you?" Bentley offered with a lopsided smile.

Thankfully, the gesture was enough to appease Carrie, who tilted the lamphead back into position - but not before she shot the boy a satisfied smirk in response. 

"You got any other questions? Or can we get down to business?" Riven asked. 

"Uh, yeah: what's with the kidnapping?" Bentley fired back, sporting an amused smirk of his own. "You so worried you'll lose the bet you're turning to torturing the competition?"

"What? No! We just needed you away from the boss," Riven laughed, his comically threatening act disappearing in seconds as he referenced his pint-sized figure skating partner. "Like I said, we've got a preposition for you."

"Couldn't you have just asked me in the dining hall? Or in my room or something?" Bentley went on to ask, still having to squint from the light.

"Well yeah, but where's the fun in that?" came Riven's snorted reply, to which Carrie just grinned and nodded in agreement.

Bentley shook his head at the pair, evidently equally matched in their passion for dramatising the most menial things. "This is so dumb," he breathed, fighting back a smile at the ridiculousness of their whole set-up. "What do you want then? What's this preposition thing?"

Carrie and Riven exchanged a glance, giving each other a confirmatory nod before turning back to the blonde. "…We need your help."

"With what?"

"With the show," Riven clarified.

"The show? Your show?" Bentley spluttered, eyes darting between the pair, looking for any evidence of jesting, yet finding nothing. "I don't understand," he slowly continued. "Why do you want my help? I've got no idea what I'm doing with all this theatre stuff. I'm out of my depth with Viv's show as it is. Plus, I already agreed to be in her's - I can't help out the competition."

"Why not? I am."

Bentley's ears pricked up as a new voice entered the conversation, and to his amazement, when he turned to follow it, he saw a grinning brunette emerging from the darkness on Carrie's right. 

"Mick?! You jumped ship?" Bentley asked, gawping at the grinning girl as though she'd just grown a second nose. "Does Viv know?"

"No, I didn't jump ship," Mick chuckled as she perched on the edge of the fold-out table. "I'm helping out with both."

"What? Why?"

"'Cause I wanted to," she snorted simply. "It's not like there's rules against it. This whole thing's just for fun anyway."

"Yeah, it's not actually a competition - we just both wanted to put on different shows," Riven added.

"Well could you let Viv know that? She's treating this like we're at war - we've all been sworn to secrecy," Bentley said, chuckling at his friend's competitive spirit.

"Oh we know, we already tried to get Mick to squeal but she wouldn't budge," Carrie said, sharing a knowingly playful glance with the brunette.

"And luckily, they had a cool job for me besides just being their spy," Mick cheekily added. "Or else all the effort it took to brainwash me would have been for nothing."

"Which is…?" Bentley tried.

"I'm building the stage," Mick revealed with a proud grin. 

Bentley's eyes went wide. "You guys need to build your own stage?"

Riven and Carrie shared another knowing smirk. "If we want the show to be as awesome as it deserves to be then yeah, it needs a custom stage," Riven confirmed.

"And since Butchy and Miles refused to even hear us out, Mickie stepped up to the plate to handle it all on her own," Carrie added, looping her arm through the brunette's with a fond grin. "And she's doing a way better job than either of those two bozos would have done anyway." 

"Well, I don't know about that…" Mick said with a roguish chuckle. "But I am doing a pretty damn good job."

"Does this mean you're helping with both shows too?" Bentley then asked, turning behind him to look for the friend who'd brought him here, who could do nothing but offer him a sheepish smile. 

"...Yeah," August slowly admitted, before adding a quieter: "You know I'm terrible at saying 'no' to things."

"So your solution is just doing twice the work?" Bentley asked incredulously, the information just serving more of a purpose to fuel his growing need to help August grow a backbone. 

"Well they're not big parts-" he tried to reason.

"You're actually in both of them?" Bentley demanded, his eyes practically popping out of his head when he saw the knee and elbow pads the boy was sporting. "But you don't know how to roller skate."

"They're teaching me," August chuckled, shooting Carrie and Riven a grateful smile. And when Bentley's disbelieving gaze found theirs, they just offered him smug grins and little waves, showing off their own elbow pads as they did so.

Bentley's shock jumped to a whole new level when he spotted Mick's elbow pads though. "You're in it too, Mickie?!"

"Well I didn't like how quickly Butchy dismissed them when they asked him to take part," Mick began, smirking at the very thought. "So I thought I'd teach him a lesson about not judging things at face level."

"Well, we should have known not to expect his neanderthal brain to be able to comprehend such complex concepts as 'having fun'," Carrie retorted with a cheeky dig Mick luckily started to laugh at.

"I've gotta admit, it did sound really corny at first. But once you get past the fact it's all about trains, the show is pretty fun," Mick confessed.

"Duh, of course it's fun, we're directing it," Carrie added, gesturing to the auburn-haired giant behind her, who just laughed in his approval. 

"The whole show's done on roller skates - I still don't understand how anyone could know that and not automatically think it's awesome," Riven said between his chuckles. 

But at that revelation, Bentley's eyes started to grow wide again. "Hold on, you're not expecting me to have a part in your show too, are you?" he asked, horrified at the very idea. "I barely have a handle on what I'm doing in Viv's already, and that's just one show. Plus, I can't even roller skate so-"

"No, we don't need you to be in it," Riven cut in with a chuckle before the blonde's anxious ramblings could make him run out of breath. 

"Unless you want to be in it, then we'd totally find you a part," Carrie tagged on with an encouraging grin. 

"And teach you how to skate," Riven added with a mischievous smirk. "If we can teach Mick, we can teach anyone."

And although Mick's playful whack of Riven's arm did help him relax a touch, Bentley's stance on their offer was still firm: "No thanks, I'm good." But his curiosity was still running rampant as the others giggled at his reaction. "Well if you don't need me to have a part in the show, then what did you need my help for?"

"We wanted to see if you'd be willing to help us with designing and making the costumes," Riven explained.

Bentley thought he had to have misheard him. "The costumes?"

"Yeah," Riven chuckled at the boy's expression. "What's that face for?"

"I don't know the first thing about making costumes - I've never worked with fabric in my life."

Riven and Carrie exchanged another glance. "That's kind of why we need your help," Carrie started.

But when Bentley just looked more confused than ever, Riven went on to explain. "None of the stuff in the playhouse storage bins will work because, well, they're just regular people clothes, so we need to design our own stuff. Juliet's already said she can help construct any actual clothing garments we need, but our main problem is how to actually use the outfits to make us look like trains."

Bentley's thoughts came to a screeching halt. "Wait…you guys are the trains?"

"Yeah."

"You're acting as trains? Singing trains?" They had to be pranking him, right?

"Uh, yeah," Carrie said, sharing another quick glance with Riven.

"What did you think the show was about?" he snorted.

"I don't know, I thought you were just like people working on a railroad or something," Bentley retorted with an incredulous splutter.

"Well we're not, we're the trains," Riven chuckled.

"Yeah, why else would we need to do the whole thing on wheels?" Mick added with a playful wiggle of her skate-clad foot. 

"So what? You want me to…make you look like trains?" Bentley warily asked. "Like with big chimneys coming out of your heads and stuff?"

Fondly rolling her eyes at Bentley's poor attempts at stifling his laughter, Carrie stepped in to try to explain the proposal a little more clearly. "No - we just need to capture the vibe of trains - you don't need to shove us all in cardboard box models. We can show you the costumes of the official productions so you can get an idea of the sort of things we're looking for, but we don't have a huge budget, so we're gonna have to get creative - hence why we came to you," she finished with a proud grin. 

"All we want you to do is draw up some concepts that make us look enough like a train to sell the illusion to the audience. And as long as they're moveable enough for us to skate in, and can be constructed from stuff we've got access to, the rest of the design can be totally down to you," Riven added.

"So basically you've got free reign to make us look as ridiculous as you want," Mick tacked on with a chuckle. 

"But try to be a little nice with it," August gently offered from behind, which just set Bentley off to laugh more.

He did have to admit that the offer sounded quite tempting. After all, he'd never worked on anything like costume designs before - and from the sounds of things, this concept would let him get pretty creative with it; these weren't just average costumes - in fact, they were probably more sculpture than costume anyway. But there was something still holding him back. "I don't know, guys. I don't know if I've got the brain space to work on two shows at once-"

"Oh please, Bentley - come on," Riven pleaded. "We'll look like complete morons out there if we don't have good costumes."

"We will," Mick earnestly confirmed. "Trust me, It's not pretty."

"Well if I'm on Vivien's side then don't I want you guys to look like complete morons?" he asked with a mischievous giggle.

"Maybe, but where's the fun in a landslide victory?" Riven countered with a smirk. 

"Come on, Benny, please," came Carrie's attempt at begging. "I'll sit with you and help you learn all your lines whilst you work on the costumes."

Bentley's ears pricked up. "...Really?"

"Mhm," she confirmed with a kind nod. "And I can give you all my tips for breaking down the script into easier parts to manage; I know they can seem really daunting when you try to go through them all at once."

Now that sounded like an offer he could get behind. He'd already been toying with the idea of asking Carrie for help with the seemingly impossible task of learning his lines, but had chickened out every time. There were just so many - it was like they all blurred into one every time he'd even open a page. And he hated the thought of letting Vivien down because he couldn't get his brain to work how he wanted it to, so if Carrie could actually help him get through a scene without having to look at his script the entire time… Maybe it'd be worth giving up a few pages of his sketchbook to designing train-transformer-wannabes.

But he couldn't let them think he was that easy of a target… "I don't know guys, it just doesn't feel right going behind Viv's back like this-"

"Oh come on, Benny, please," Carrie tried again, with a touch more dramatic desperation.

"I'll do your dish duty for the rest of summer," Riven attempted to bribe.

But that just spurred on Bentley's reluctance even more. After all, he was rather curious about what else he could squeeze out of the pair to help sweeten the deal. "...I'm listening."

"You can have the rest of my pudding cups with dinner each night?" Riven offered. "And you don't have to go behind Viv's back," he added. "Don't go and tell her outright, but if she asks you about it then you're totally free to tell her. And if she's not happy about it, you can back out any time you want."

"Well, okay, but I still don't know if I'll have the time to-"

"If you say 'yes' we'll get you that rare Spiderman comic you want," Riven threw out in a moment of sheer desperation.

Bentley's heart skipped a beat. Damn, they really did want his help.. "...Seriously?" he breathed, eyes widening at the very prospect.

"Sure, Carrie'll cover it - won't you, Carrie?" Riven confirmed with a smirk as he gave the blonde's shoulder a squeeze. 

Shooting him a sharp glance, she hissed a tight: "I will?"

"Of course you will," Riven verified, his mischievous smirk only broadening as Carrie's mildly murderous glare was replaced with Bentley's whole-hearted satisfaction.

"Alright, done. Pass me a pen and some paper," he said, sealing the deal with a barked laugh and a cheesy grin before either one of them could back down on their offers again. 

"Welcome aboard, Bentley," Riven replied, shooting him a victorious smile as he reached across the table and shook the boy's hand. 

But just as Riven and the others were starting to unload all their ideas for potential costume concepts onto Bentley, with what he found to be startling levels of enthusiasm, the room's main lights flickered to life, illuminating a seething head of green hair in the doorway. Before Bentley could question the girl's sudden appearance, or could let his eyes adjust to the drastic shift in brightness though, she called out to her band partner with thunderous urgency.

"Riv, you've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do; I just looked up this 'Belle' character you want me to play - care to tell me why she's described as 'ancient' and 'peeling'?" an outraged Jade demanded. "Or why you thought I'd be so perfect to play her?"

Rolling his eyes and just laughing off the girl's anger, Riven quickly tried to appease her with a teasing: "That's not the version of her we're using, dummy. And don't you dare try to tell me you're not perfect for her - you nap all the fucking time."

As Riven and Jade broke off into their own friendly spat, and Mick and Carrie started up their own conversation about what Mick had been practising last on her skates, Bentley found himself turning to August - this time taking his turn to wear the awkwardly sheepish smile. "Why do I get the feeling I've signed up for way more than I can handle?"

"Oh come on, don't worry, it'll be fun," August reassured before offering a joke to further set him at ease. "And hey, at least you're getting a backstage job and a comic book out of it - all I'm gonna get is on-stage embarrassment and massive quads."

The guffaws spilled from Bentley's lips before he could stop them - and after glancing around to watch Carrie clumsily catching Mick (who looked as if she'd just stepped on a banana peel in an old cartoon) before she could fall, and Riven playfully bickering with Jade in the doorway, he started to think that working with them on this project might not be so bad after all. Plus, a whole costume concept all to himself? He could definitely have some fun with that…

[smolandweirdwriter]

hi hi hi show me your adaine/naradriel vision pls

Their father's worked together often, and Adaine hated Nara. She thought she was a scatterbrained, spoiled idiot. And no, none of this stemmed from a place of jealousy. That would be absurd.

“Nara is a bitch” is quite possibly the only thing Adaine and Aelwyn had ever agreed upon before Adaine’s sophomore year of high school. 

As children, Adaine would be forced to spend more time around Nara than Aelwyn, because she was the youngest and had to “earn the opportunity” to socialize with the adults as an equal (or some bullshit to that effect, anyway). She and Nara and other kids would basically be lumped together towards the end of a table at dinners and things while Aelwyn would sit a smidge closer to the adults, smiling and simpering and being the Perfect Daughter. Adaine would try not to talk to Nara, who honestly just… Didn’t get the social cues of I-Don’t-Want-To-Talk-To-You that Adaine put across. She was fairly sure Adaine disliked her and didn’t understand that. In her mind as a child Adaine Abernant was the epitome of cool. She was clever, but she also argued with her father and talked back and didn’t seem to care about the opinions of others. Nara really, really wished she could be her.  She wanted to impress her. She didn’t want Adaine to dislike her—so she tried talking to her. Which, of course, Adaine loathed. 

When Adaine moved to Solace, it took only a few years for Naradriel to fade to the back of her mind. Childhood memory is a fickle thing. She does not remember their home in Fallinel, does not remember more than snippets of dinners with her father’s political rivals and allies, does not remember moving. She does not remember Nara.

Until. She sees Nara on Tracker’s lap and a flood of memories return.

This bitch, Adaine thinks. There is no way—no fucking way—Tracker would ever fall for her. 

She continues on with that mentality, albeit hiding it, because she knows how important Nara’s father is and how he might give her what she wants. (Angwyn loathed that he needed to report to Lord Kestadine Narmorith, and he always ranted at great length about the other's deceit and political betrayal when they were both moving up in the Fallinel government. It's not until Adaine sees the words "Princess Naradriel Narmorith" in Tracker's Instagram post that the connection hits her. It's funny. She's never agreed with her father on anything. Yet they both hate the Narmorith family. Princess isn't really a proper translate anyway--Fallinel isn't a monarchy, the positions aren't inherited through blood. Magic--power--reigns supreme there, for thousands of years, or however long someone wants to hold their position in rule. Nara's just the daughter of a rich and powerful elf. She's a political tool, of course, which makes her princess-adjacent, but the official title, which does not have a true translation in Common, can be attributed to any of the children of someone on the Court of Stars.)

Adaine meets Nara. She's a bit naive, and Adaine is quick to call her stupid as many times as possible because it makes more sense than the other less sensible words that pop to mind and flutter to life in her stomach and blood when she sees her sister's new girlfriend, but she's also kind and she seems earnest enough. She's a bit try-hard, though. 

Still. It seems like Tracker's been leading her on a bit, from the way Track looks at Kristen.

Which, of course, is entirely Tracker's business. Adaine's never even been in a relationship. It's not her place to judge Tracker.

Adaine had pictured Nara's father to be, well, similar to her own. Perhaps a little closer to how he treated Aelwyn than how he treated herself, but a normal elven father nonetheless. He wasn't.

He wasn't. 

Kestadine Narmorith was a patient father. He agreed to Adaine's demands. He listened. 

Adaine is lightheaded from the sheer shock that her problems might be solved so soon, that she might not have to fear failing her wizarding classes, that if it doesn't work she might fall into an even worse hole of failure, and that a man her father had hated was a good parent--she cannot focus. 

She stumbles out of the meeting to gasp quiet thanks to Nara, and just...Can't process. 

Nara has a crystal now, for whatever reason. They exchange numbers. They start talking.

[patchwork-crow-writes]

Thoughts on Kris x Ralsei

This is so long I had to split it up into parts - this is Part 1, which looks into how the roles that Kris and Ralsei are given contributes to the idea of their romance. As more parts are written, they'll be linked below in this handy-dandy TOC!

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After <- (You Are Here!) Part 1.5: I Believe Your Choices DO Matter Part 2: A Pair of Star-Cross'd Lovers Part 2.5: In Another World, We Could Have Been (Just) Friends

Okay, so.

Wanted to elaborate a bit on my viewpoint of this ship, because I don't think it's something I've ever really discussed before and I think it's actually a very interesting dynamic (or at least has the potential to be, depending on where the rest of Deltarune goes).

So, Kralsei is cute, isn't it? It's fun to hug the fluffy boy and watch him melt into incomprehensible stuttering and blushing. All the little signs he's really, really into Kris, all the cute little snippets of dialogue you can initiate with him, all the alone time they spend together, in both chapters... honestly, the game makes it hard not to root for this pairing.

And yeah, it's cute... in a very surface-level, don't-think-about-it-too-hard kind of way. But once you start thinking about it... hoo boy. There is. A LOT to unpack here. So much more is going on just under the surface, and once you see it, it's difficult to un-see it. And in my opinion, it makes the Kralsei dynamic so much more nuanced, more compelling, and potentially quite tragic.

Now, a disclaimer: it's fine to like this ship on a surface level. No real harm is being done, these are fictional characters and it doesn't matter what reason you enjoy it for - if it provides comfort to you and gets you through, then more power to you! This is more me sorting through my thoughts on the subject and is not a judgment on how others approach it. With that said, and in the spirit of full disclosure, this will go into slightly uncomfortable territory - picking apart the idea of destined love, the deconstruction of common romance tropes, how outside manipulation might play a part, and even the potentially incest-adjacent nature of the relationship. If you don't want to deal with any of that, you can stop reading right now, and that's okay. Please continue to enjoy Deltarune in the manner that is best for you, and thank you for your attention thus far :)

If you're still with me, then please click the read more and we'll get started.

Part 1: And They Lived Happily Ever After

The first thing you have to understand is that Deltarune is utterly determined to cram the notion of Kralsei down the player's throat. The game is not subtle about this in any way, shape or form. Everything from the narration, to the dialogue, to major game events, to item interactions, and even the roles that Kris and Ralsei play both in the story and the party, serves to reinforce the notion that these two are very likely to end up romantically involved with each other in some way.

Let's look at the characters first. Kris is portrayed as the noble knight - stoic, unwavering, courageous, a natural leader - clad in medieval-inspired plate armour and wielding a sword and shield. And Ralsei is the archetypal princess - demure, dainty, kindhearted, nurturing - who uses magic to heal his allies and pacify enemies.

I did not mistype there - Ralsei is a prince, but the characteristics associated with him are more commonly found amongst female healers in JRPGs. Think Fina from Skies of Arcadia, or Marle from Chrono Trigger (minus the temperment), and you might have an idea of what I'm on about.

Think of knights and princesses for a moment. Imagine St. George slaying the dragon to save a helpless damsel. Imagine Lancelot and Gwenevere. Robin Hood and Maid Marion. Link and Zelda. Squall and Rinoa. Every single fairy tale involving an imperilled princess and a knightly rescuer. For a more modern take, imagine The Bodyguard. Ness and Paula. I could go on, but then we'd be here all day.

Suffice it to say that there is a pretty entrenched tradition surrounding these archetypes - a male-coded, phsyically-adept, courageous, stoic, action-oriented figure, is paired with a female-coded, magically-adept (depending on the medium of course), less-physically-capable by comparison, emotional, and more passive foil. The (male-coded) knight protects and rescues, the (female-coded) princess nurtures and soothes.

It is a very, VERY emotionally-charged dynamic, by its very nature. Through their acts of service to their protectee, the Knight displays their devotion and care for the Princess, and is in turn emotionally-enriched and cared-for. There is a great deal of physical and emotional vulnerability between them, and it is therefore ideal for romance stories.

Look at Kris and Ralsei again, through this lens. Kris is immediately put into the role of Knight, and Ralsei quickly establishes himself as a classic Princess. Almost instantly, before you've even become aware of it, you've made the connection - they're going to fall in love, because that's what ALWAYS happens in these stories. Ralsei supports and encourages Kris, both in dialogue and in battle, and Kris...

...Kris, uh...

...they...

...hug Ralsei sometimes...?

...they... they give him a ribbon...?

...no, that can't be right.

But it is right, for two reasons. One, Kris doesn't have to do anything. The roles are already established, and Ralsei is playing his part like a pro. And two, Kris doesn't do any of those things in the first place - you do. It's the player who hugs Ralsei, who gives him the ribbon, who picks the dialogue options, who makes the connections. You're the Knight in this scenario, not Kris.

Because Kris doesn't get to make that choice. Kris has to do what you tell them to do. And many of us have already jumped to the conlusion that this romance is happening, becuase that's what always happens. The Knight and the Princess fall in love. They get married. They live happily ever after.

So we ship them, because hey, it's cute, and it's easy. I can't stress enough how easy the game makes this. I'm fairly convinced that Ralsei was designed by comittee, like the Funzo toy in that one episode of the Simpsons. Like he was created with the sole purpose of being the most disgustingly adorable, lovable, awkward little cinnamon bun that ever existed. Like he was created to generate the maximum emotional response in players. It's the cuteness response dialled up to 11, and we are almost hard-wired to want to protect this little bundle of fluff from any and all danger, because lookit how sweet and adorable he is! The glasses make his eyes look all big, his fluffiness is reminscent of that of baby animals, he stutters and fumbles his way through dialogue, and you just want to scoop him up and put him in your pocket or something.

And so, we're more than happy to fulfil the role of the Knight to Ralsei's Princess. Whether Kris actually wants to or not. Because it does become increasingly obvious that outside of our influence, Kris is still their own person, with their own goals and desires, but no real agency with which to pursue them. Would that we could know what they truly want, but we are never presented with an opportunity to find out.

The thing is, Kris is not particularly... knightly. They play pranks on their friends, they swipe sweet treats from their mother, they seem to enjoy getting a rise out of people, and particularly from Asriel, if the story about "dropping the lizard into the pit to jump higher" is any indication. They sleep through class, yet by Berdly's grudging admission they are the "third smartest in the class". The only reason they go to church is so they can drink the "sick fruit juice". They don't seem to have any issue with prank-calling their mom, while she's taking about them with their tutor, while they're standing just out of sight, while they're balancing a trash orb on their head.

Nothing about this behaviour screams "Knight." If anything, it would make more sense for Kris to have become a Rogue-type character upon entering the dark world. So the question remains - why is Kris forced into that role? And to what extent is the seemingly "fated" romance between Kris and Ralsei part of that role?

Folks, we have barely scratched the surface here. If I keep writing here this will become a novel, so I have to stop for everyone's sanity. But I will follow up soon, looking into the ideas of Purpose and Destiny and how they relate to Kralsei in-game. If you've stuck with me up to this point, let me just say thanks, because wow I wrote a lot here, and it's probably a bit rambly and says the same things two or three times, but I just. Had to get this onto the page in some way or another, so... here it is.

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next one :)

[crematedcow]

Snippet #2 (DEMO)

Time to give what the majority voted for :) Finally I can show another part of the demo! The snippet before was from the Prologue, this time I decided to show somewthing from the Chapter ???, which is kind of like Chapter 1 but not really!

CHANGES MIGHT STILL HAPPEN

You have everything you need; all that remains is to leave this space. Your gaze ascends toward the expanse of the clear sky, its brilliance piercing through the aperture in the earth. Yet, a lingering thought persists — how much simpler and faster your descent could have been, had a lengthy rope been at hand. And yet, here it is, swaying lightly before you, a tangible manifestation of exactly that. Then realization dawns: this rope, unfurled and hanging, is not yours. “Angelica! Company!” The urgent cry shatters the stillness, drawing your attention to the source — a faint silhouette peering over the edge from above. Squinting, you discern the outline of a figure, barely discernible against the luminous backdrop of the sky. With no time to dwell further on these thoughts, a rustling nearby draws your attention, and you glimpse the figure of a woman emerging from behind one of the scattered ruins. Youthful in appearance, she appears to be in her mid-twenties, her dark complexion contrasting against the pale backdrop of the surroundings. Clad in attire that appears to mimic the looks of the everyday person, she fails to capture the essence entirely though. Her garment, crafted from pearly white fabric, boasts extravagant ruffles around the sleeves. While devoid of fancy patterns, it exudes an air of parody — an attempt at adventure attire for those who have never left their humble abode. Leather padding adorns the right side of her chest, juxtaposed by a piece of metal armor awkwardly positioned around her hip — all of it a fashion statement rather than any functional protection of vital areas. Though undoubtedly fashionable, her presence in such a desolate place leaves you perplexed. The stranger approaches with a radiant smile, her voice lively and exuberant as she greets you. "Well, hello there! What a surprise to find someone else down here," she chirps, her enthusiasm drowning out the distant calls from above. With a casual flick of her foot, she scattered loose dirt around her worn boots, hands finding their way to her hips in a gesture of both resignation and amusement. "We didn't spot another rope hanging down the opening, so we sort of assumed..." Her words trailed off, leaving the implication unspoken yet hanging in the stale air of the ruins. You prepare to respond, but she forestalls with an energetic clap of her hands. "However you arrived here, have you by any chance come across a golden bracelet? It's about this thick, with some green stones embedded in it..." She launches into a description of the accessory, gesturing with her hand to mimic its appearance. Your head shakes in response, memories of your meticulous search from before resurfacing. Not even the faintest glimmer of such an item do you remember seeing, not even amidst the array of artifacts in the adjacent chamber down below. The woman's demeanor visibly deflates at your admission, before energy sparks in her from either irritation or excitement. "That means the bird still has it!"

Ah. Bird. You know what she was dealing with. This was something Je-owls tend to do. Given her description and the mention of crystals in her bracelet, it certainly also explains their interest in it. “That’s Je-owls for you,” you say to her in return, but her thoughts seem to be somewhere else to fully comprehend what you are saying. She just smiles. "I'm Angelica, by the way. And the screaming woman above us is Medora, my friend," she introduces herself, extending a hand towards you in greeting. However, before the handshake can take place, a sudden shout from above interrupts her. Angelica pauses, laughter fading into an awkward chuckle as she withdraws her hand. "Sorry about that. Medora can be a bit overly cautious when it comes to strangers," she explains, a sheepish smile gracing her lips. "But I have a feeling you're alright! I mean, here we are, chatting away in this abandoned cave. I'm still in one piece, so that's a good sign, right?" she adds, her braided hair swaying gently as she speaks. You offer a reassuring wave, silently signaling that there's no need for concern. Angelica's attention quickly shifts as she gazes back towards her point of entry into the cave, then back to you. "So, you mentioned something about... Geo owls?" "Je-owls," you correct her. The woman nods slowly. "Right... Right! And you know some stuff about these... Je-owls?" she inquires, and you nod in affirmation. "Yes, quite a fair bit. They likely took your bracelet to their nest in some of the stones here to feed on it, and-" Before you can finish your explanation, Angelica gasps in shock, her eyes widening with alarm as she quickly retreats to her previous position. "So, it's really inside this pillar!?" she exclaims on her way, her tone tinged with distress as she rushes towards the broken pillar you had examined earlier, where the empty nest had been. But that was before, and this is now. The chance is high, that its inhabitants were back. Your eyes widen in alarm as you speak up and reach out to stop her, but your warning falls on deaf ears. With determination, Angelica plunges her hand into the depths of the pillar, oblivious to the danger lurking within as she yells. "You will not eat what's mine!" What follows unfolds in a blur. It is so fast, you are barely able to register it. A sharp cry pierces the air as Angelica recoils in agony, withdrawing her hand from the marble and clutching it to her chest. In a flurry of motion and feathers, a multitude of small owls burst forth from the opening, their rapid flight colliding with Angelica and sending her tumbling to the ground. What began as a dozen birds quickly multiplies into a flock of over fifty, their wings beating furiously as they fill the cavern with the thunderous echo of their wings hitting the air. In mere seconds, the cave descends into chaos. The cacophony of flapping wings drowns out your thoughts, rendering them inaudible amidst everything. Attempting to maintain focus proves useless as the relentless onslaught of birds jostles you from all sides, threatening to topple you over with each collision just as they did with Angelica. The once-distant light from the sky dims abruptly, as if obscured by a dark cloud that seems to materialize out of thin air. It's not until you gaze upward that you realize the truth — the sheer multitude of birds has eclipsed the sunlight, casting you and everything inside this cave into darkness. You must leave now.

and here we meet the wonderful Angelica and Medora! Also special guests: the Je-owls :D Points to anyone who knows where the names of the two ladies comes from without googling ✨ Hope this snippet leaves you interested in the MCs world!

[verflares]

ough woke up to like 100+ new followers... even after pruning the bots !! um thank you very very much!! 😭

i have a pinned (which you should probably also read especially the last paragraph that would be nice) but i guess it'll be nice to do a little infographic post too. if only because the new attention brought by 'one drawing i did tht broke containment' is making me kind of nervous lol

as you might've already guessed i mainly draw, write and post loz here. i have very little interest in drawing anything Besides loz right now so. what you see will be what you get 👍 i don't really post or draw anything lu-related but it Is adjacent to my interests by proxy so i do enjoy it when i see it ^_^ i dont see a difference love is love. as they say

i am also very much an amateur!! i only started learning how to draw again in december after pretty much not touching a tablet for years. you'll probably see stuff that looks wonky or rough because of that but i am trying to tell myself that it is ok. i am cringe but free as they say :)

other than loz though i do unfortunately play and have over 3500 hours in ffxiv. i'm also posting a lot of dunmeshi right now... you might see baldies gate or whatever games i'm playing at the time (my chatter tag is personal.txt). i also like pokemon and i love biology and animals :) i have a cat named mittens

um what else. i play dark knight/summoner in xiv. my favourite zelda game is probably skyward sword. anon is off right now but you can send questions i love yapping and talking about whatever ^_^

here's a small snippet of my pokemon collection. thanks for reading and thank you for stopping by :)

[into-the-fraymotif]

hey, i like your content. fraymotifs are probably more forgotten stuff than kernelsprites and prototyping. anyway, you got ideas for united fraymotif of Page of Light, Maid of Doom, Rogue of Mind, Witch of Heart, Mage of Space and Bard of Time?

Page of Light using information and luck for defense

Maid of Doom creating death and doomed fates around

Rogue of Mind attacking with electricity and transmits thoughts

Witch of Heart manipulates souls and uses them for his own purposes

Mage of Space predicts future and knows where to hit for maximum destruction

and Bard of Time breaks timelines and time to make clones and duplicate objects from other lines

thank you in advance and good luck in promoting your blog!

Thank you! I really appreciate the kind words. You were my first follower, so I'm really glad you've stuck around! Lots of moving parts to this Fraymotif, and it seems that you have an idea what everyone's doing. I will warn you that my interpretations when it comes to Classpecting are a little different, but overall, it's pretty similar.

Brighter Days for the Unison al Coda

Page of Light [one who becomes and becomes fully realized through information, relevance, and fortune] + Bard of Time [one who allows the destruction of and invites destruction through time, change, and activity] + Witch of Heart [one who manipulates and manipulates through emotion, essence, and the self] + Maid of Doom [one who serves and serves through death, decay, and finality] Mage of Space [one who understands and understands through space, creation, and passivity] + Rogue of Mind [one who redistributes and redistributes through reason, order, and consequences]

Brighter Days (Good times to come) + Unison (multiple voices or instruments playing the same note in the same octave) + al Coda (meaning "go to the coda", in reference to music notation that sends the player back to an earlier part in the piece to repeat it.)

The Bard allows destruction both through Time, but also through being active as a component of the Time Aspect. From this, the active Classes (Page, Witch, and Mage) will have a slight "tint" if you will of Time-destruction. Bonus Bard Boosts (TM) ensue.

The Bard sort of weakens the distinction between timelines enough for the Rogue takes a bunch of adjacent near-future possibilities and give them to the Mage. The Mage (who can't really do anything with raw outcome data alone) manifests them into physical time-loop bubbles, which the Mage conjures into physical space, overwriting pockets of the area around them. These bubbles basically are a fully-immersive loop wherein some or all of the Mage's allies fight the Targets in various ways in snippets of alternate near-future events.

The Witch takes all instances of each Target both in and out of these bubbles, and modifies their in-game ID value (because SBUB is still very much a game at Heart) until they read as the same identical unit. The Maid then "flags" this ID value to update all of the connected Targets' health vials simultaneously, causing any damage dealt to one to reflect on all other instances. All of the instances being attacked on loop in the time bubbles around rack up exponentially across all other instances thanks to the Maid.

The Witch harnesses the Page's self-realization, and forces it to break past the barriers present in their personal journey, sort of similar to how Aranea got Jake to do a Hopey thing but more direct and targeted. The Rogue again gives knowledge of the various possible futures to the beefed-up Page, and with aid from the Bonus Bard Boosts (TM) for passively destroying Time, the Page uses their command over relevance and fortune to defy the intended "alpha timeline" by just enough to force canon to follow the events of the Fraymotif.

The Maid has to serve Doom as the basis of their powers, but they cant just go about facilitating the end of the current timeline with how relevant the Page and their allies are at the moment. The solution to this is to get the Mage to teleport them out of the scene (and possibly into a wall, wherein they may waste away from a potassium defeciency), giving them the privilage of dying off-screen, irrelavent. Before the timeline can succumb to its ill fate, the Rogue takes the looped outcomes all around the place and uses the gaping hole in the timeline that the Bard forgot to close up (time slipped away from them and they weren't able to get to it yet) to toss the outcomes back where they found them. The Page's Lighty Thing dies down as the Maid and Witch work in tandem to work the limiter back onto the Page.

The Targets from this timeline are brought back by the Mage, but up in the air so they take fall damage, ending the Fraymotif.

To be completely honest, I thought I had published this one already, but I just saved the draft. My bad lol

[surprise-based-teddy-bear]

Fandom: Baldur’s Gate (Video Games) Rating: Explicit Relationships: Astarion/Tav Additional Tags: POV Astarion, canon adjacent, Manipulation, Trust Issues, PTSD, Trauma, Dissociation, Implied/Referenced Past Abuse, of all kinds, Canon-Typical Violence, Blood and Gore, Vampire Bites, Drug Use, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, figuring out feelings, Slow(ish) Burn, Eventual Romance, Occasional Sexual Content, most of it warped by past trauma, Astarion Being Astarion, Soft Astarion (eventually), everyone is bad at feelings, Everyone Needs A Hug

A snippet for your previewing pleasure:

Astarion crept through the woods, silent as a shadow. His hunt had been less than stellar: only a pair of half-grown rabbits huddling in a burrow. It was enough to keep him going, but as he made his way back to camp he kept his senses pricked and his steps light, in the hopes of one more snack before the end of his hunt. Instead he picked up on something unexpected: a woman's voice, humming a melody. Curiosity made him follow the sound to a small clearing, where Neline sat in the grass under a full moon. She swayed gently, humming to herself. Her back was bare except for the white band of a short bodice; he spotted her frumpy tunic in a crumpled heap by her crossed legs. Astarion's curiosity burned brighter. Quietly, he approached. Neline kept humming. She wasn't picking or sorting weeds. She didn't have her lute with her either. He couldn't see anything that would explain what she was up to. "What are you doing out here all by your lonesome?" he asked once he stood at her side. "You ought to be more careful, darling. These woods are full of dangers." Slowly, following the languid sway of her hummed song, she angled her head in his direction and greeted him with a bleary smile. "Are you here to protect me from those dangers, or are you one of them?" Her eyes were puffy and red, pupils blown wide; her speech was slow and lilting. He didn't see any bottles or detect any whiff of alcohol; likely she had concocted something from those herbs she kept collecting. Astarion tutted. "Really, you ought to know the answer to that by now." "I suppose I do." Her eyes focused on him for a moment. The knowing look in them caught him by unwelcome surprise. But her gaze had already returned to the sky, the flicker of clarity gone. Perhaps it had never been there in the first place. After all, she wasn't kicking or screaming or otherwise making a fuss. "Or maybe I don't care." She sighed and sank down onto her back in the grass, her arms spread wide. "It's nice, isn't it? Not having to care about anything." "Nothing at all? Not even that pesky little worm wriggling around in your brain?" "Oh, hush." She waved him away with a listless hand. "Let me forget."

[luckycharms1701]

Salutations fellow enjoyer of the shelled martial artist reptiles!

I saw the most recent anonymous request you had about having an open inbox and as such would like to make a small inquiry for some HCs?

My request is as thus: How would our dear masked heroes deal with having a S/O that is waiting to have physical intimacy until marriage? Especially how do you think they would deal with Spring with such a partner?

Sex is quite the bonding moment (or so I have heard) and a great deal of fics and snippets have to deal with something of that nature. Which is completely normal and fine mind you, but as someone on the demi/ace spectrum it can be a little more difficult to place myself in these scenarios as I personally am waiting for a little bit longer than most to engage in that moment.

So I was curious of your input. However, no worries if you're not feeling up to it of course darling, just wanted to pick that brain of yours if you're feeling up to par.

Thank you again!

oh no anon-chan. you have activated my trap card. time to give everyone whiplash lmao

thank you so much for asking this. as someone who is on the aroace spectrum (surprise!!), i do understand your struggle, believe it or not *shoves all the horny posting i've been doing lately under the rug*

so below are some headcanons for how the rise turtles would handle having a partner who wants to wait to have sex, how they would manage their mating season, and a bonus! one way they would bond with you instead

General: Mad respect. It doesn’t matter how they personally feel about it, they will respect your wishes in this department and do their best to treat you properly. How they do that differs with each turtle though.

Raph:

He’s going to be a little confused at first. Once you explain that it’s not him and there’s no disease or injury involved, though, he is 100% on board. He does get a little anxious about being supportive in the right way. You’ll catch him looking at you nervously when anyone so much as mentions sex-adjacent topics while you’re in the room, trying to gauge your reaction and what he should do.

Raph is… well, a very physical turtle. It’s going to be a bit of a struggle for him to not take things further when he’s ready. But he is also very determined when it comes to you and respecting your wishes. You will have to get used to him leaving a situation every once in a while when he feels the urge. He’s always apologetic about it. Totally the kind of turtle to ask your permission before masturbating to thoughts of you, despite how it makes him blush and stutter to do so.

When Raph is in his mating season, he disappears. He won’t tell you where he goes, and he won’t let anyone else tell you either. He does not want you to find him, he is uncertain he would be able to handle the temptation. Once his season is over, however, be prepared for cuddle central. He still wants that closeness, so you spend a lot of time in his arms.

One of Raph’s favorite things to do with you is read. No, really. The two of you discovered that it is easier for him to focus on the story when you read to him. He loves to listen to your voice. You’ll snuggle together with his bears in his bed and read all kinds of books together. Now that he has you to read to him, he’s finished so many books.

Leo:

He’s going to have a lot of questions. He’s going to have emotions about it too. Hopefully you will talk about it before you have to reject his advances, because that is definitely the worst case scenario. You will have to make sure that he doesn’t feel insecure or rejected. It’s going to be a long conversation. However, once he understands and is secure in his place in your life, he has your back. He’s so smooth about removing you from potentially uncomfortable situations that you barely even notice he’s doing it.

His love language is physical touch, so he always seems to have a hand on you. However, never once does he ever touch you in a way that is suggestive or makes you uncomfortable. When you cuddle together he is a perfect gentleman. If things ever head in a way that might turn hot and heavy, he’ll stop. You may need to give him a moment, but he’ll be okay. Will masturbate to thoughts of you without asking and then feel guilty about it. May or may not admit it to you.

When Leo’s in his mating season, he asks you to please stay away from the lair for the duration. However, he cannot go without you completely. He is constantly texting and calling you. He will hang up on you suddenly sometimes, if you do or say something that turns him on. He’ll apologize when he gets back in touch with you again. Once his season is over, he immediately finds you. He’ll be almost constantly in your presence for a few days, he missed you a lot.

Leo really likes to train with you. It started as a way to teach you self defense, because he worries about you. As time went on he realized that he really enjoyed the time spent together doing something physical but not sexual. It serves as a way to touch you and get his physical needs under control without pushing your boundaries. Plus, he gets to show off a bit, that’s always a bonus.

Donnie:

Nothing appears to really change after you discuss the next steps of your relationship with Donnie. He was very accepting and supportive when you spoke about it. This is just another facet of the person he loves. He doesn’t feel the need to ‘defend’ you from uncomfortable situations, he knows you can take care of yourself.

Donnie does get a little weird about touching you for a while. Doesn’t want to overstep on accident. You’ll probably have to have another talk with him about that, a little more in depth on where the boundaries actually are. He’ll probably start checking in periodically, to see if the boundaries have changed any. Won’t masturbate to you at all, he’s going to wait with you.

He is okay with having you around during his season. He’d rather see you than not. However, he will leave if something happens to arouse him. He’s always going to warn you when he’s getting uncomfortable, so you know to not come over. His lab is completely off limits. Seeing you there among all his creations is particularly pleasing for him.

Dancing. What else? Donnie loves to dance with you, anything from silly jumping around to dance battles to salsa. One way you have of pulling him out of his lab (that almost always works) is to ask to learn a new dance together. Nothing gets him to laugh more than when the two of you are learning a new dance. However, his favorite way to dance with you is a waltz.

Mikey:

Mikey is going to be a little put out at first. He was really looking forward to exploring new horizons with you, and he’s not the most patient of turtles. But anything that is important to you is important to him, so he’ll get over it quite quickly. There’s a lot of other things the two of you can do together after all! Mikey will take some time to observe you and see how you react to potentially sexual undertones to figure out if you need his help or not. He’s very good at changing the subject or pulling you away because he has to show you something right now!

Talking with him doesn’t change the way he touches you at all. He still slings his arms around you at every opportunity and snuggles close on the couch. He does get hypervigilant about how others touch you though. If there’s even a hint of inappropriateness he is immediately pulling you away. He gets a reputation as a jealous boyfriend, but it’s not his fault all these strangers keep putting their paws on you! He doesn’t care what others think of him as long as you are comfortable. He’s absolutely shameless about asking if he can masturbate to thoughts of you.

Mikey avoids you for the most part when it’s his season. He gets whiny and needy and he really doesn’t want to push you. He asks his brothers to intervene on your behalf if he does start getting pushy. It’s the only time he hesitates before touching you, gauging his own response to you so that he doesn’t accidentally do something to make you uncomfortable. You’ll often put your phone on speaker and listen to him chatter while you go about your day.

One of Mikey’s favorite things to do with you is meditate. He struggles with the practice, and only makes it through because he knows how important it is for controlling his powers. But when you’re there with him it’s so much easier. The two of you will sit back to shell and lean into each other. Matching breath with you really helps him, and he likes that doing this together makes him feel closer to you. Sometimes he’ll hold your hand while you meditate together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

head bonks: @yorshie @avery73 @justalotoffanfiction @thejudiciousneurotic

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 30 – FIX-IT

SERIES: Post-Infinity War Snippets by romanoff

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 7,059 Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD

Reasons why I love it: At this point, it's probably no secret that I love everything that romanoff has ever written, and this collection of one-shots includes some of my favorite fics of theirs. The pain is so raw and real, and since Infinity War was one of the first Marvel movies I ever watched (I know, I was a late bloomer) this part of canon is especially near and dear to my heart. I really hope you check them out, because they're all amazing.

This series consists of:

ashes to ashes, dust to dust

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 2,133 Tags: Loss, Mentions of Tony/Pepper, Emotional Hurt/Comfort

Summary: Written for the prompt: hi i don't know if you're active on this blog but i read your last prompt on ao3 and i was wondering if you could give me some tony/steve angst post infinity war?? any closure will do no pressure thank u bye Steve and Tony seek closure with a conversation.

Reasons why I love it: Well, shoot me in the heart, why don't you? Seeing Tony so broken after what happened in Infinity War just breaks my heart, even more so than the movies did. And the way Steve approaches him is so tender despite everything. I love this fic so much, and if you're looking for some canon-adjacent angst, this one is a must-read!

all that remains

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 1,269 Tags: Loss, PTSD, BAMF Nebula

Summary: Nebula and Tony are left on Titan, united by a common goal

Reasons why I love it: I love how Nebula's response to trauma and grief is to become absolutely ruthless in pursuing her revenge, by any means necessary. And her introspections about Tony are super interesting, they really paint a picture of who they both are in this universe. I love this fic, and I bet you will too!

earth's greatest defender

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 818 Tags: Civil War, Flip Phone, Misunderstandings

Summary: Written for the prompt: 'your post-IW snippets are killing me in the best way AHHHHHH - could you write the call scene between bruce and steve, with steve thinking at first that it was Tony calling? that would be amazing, thank you!' Steve gets the call sitting in an old motel outside Albany.

Reasons why I love it: I've recommended this fic on its own before, but you bet your ass I'm going to do it again. The dialogue in this really gets under my skin, Steve's pain is so palpable. And I love that last sentence at the end, it's just the right kind of gut punch to leave off with. The angst is amazing, and if you want to get a little crushed today, definitely read this one!

when the dust settles

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: M Words: 2,839 Tags: Team as Family, Heavy Angst, Fluff

Summary: What’s left of the Avengers regroup and offer each other some much needed support.

Reasons why I love it: This is so fucking sad and yet strangely cathartic at the same time. I know this doesn't really scream fix-it, but to me it still kind of does. Because with the team back together again and relearning to trust each other, I like to believe that in this timeline, they really do manage to save everyone. I love all of these fics, so I really hope you go and experience it for yourself!

[radios-arcade]

pssst hi hello it’s your turn to receive asks now :D can you tell me about your ocs?? i’ve been intrigued by them since i saw your artfight profile, literally all of them look so cool… do you have complete stories in your head for them? :0

omg hello :3 oh gosh there's a lot of them JKLGHLK. They do all have stories! some completed some in the works, it fluctuates over time lol. I should *probably* write it down at some point other than in my friends dms lol. I'll go from least serious story to most serious :333 The cats are Mune, Bea, Jake, and Marvin. Their story is basically just a classic band story but with cats lol. mune and bea are childhood best friends, bea plays guitar and mune sings. They met jake while trying to find someone to play drums for their band. He's the middle child of six, he's used to being pretty quiet until you get him talking about something he likes (like drums, he's a very one note man/pos). Marvin is a friend from school, really very much the impulse control so they need him around lol. Bea knitted him fingerless mittens for the winter so he could still write with them on and now they all call him mittens. (he's a sphinx) hmmm one fun fact about all of them just to round it off (dont want to go overboard lol) Bea: loves to skateboard, knit, room is covered in local band posters Mune: into goth fashion, boba, yoga, and girls/j Jake: likes drums. Likes animal crossing. great with kids Marvin: enjoys colorful patterns, bugs, and swimming the mers are part of a story where mers are just kind of integrated into the natural world, they just exist, but theyre not well studied yet. elhadi is a shark mer, sheyyu is a ray, and spec(pronounced spess) is a deep sea mer, which at this point in evolution has branched off significantly from more shallow water mers(who moreso rely on mimicry). Sheyyu is the oldest and most protective, elhadi is the youngest. They live in the harbor of a small fishing town, all the locals know and respect them. All of them can shift into a semi-humanoid form, although with varying results. Okay snippet of fun fact for each :3 Elhadi: can never stop swimming! she will die :3 likes humans the most. the two braids in her hair represent her two siblings who have died. despite these descriptors she is the most cheerful and friendly lol. Sheyyu: does not like humans except for maybe two. has a scar from a harpoon. strongest of the group, knows how to herd fish. Spec: was experimented so has quite a few scars from that. Likes to swim with elhadi at night to keep her company. likes soft textures okay last one jSKLGH would take a v long time to explain ngl but the JIST of it is scooby doo series turned actual horror, mixed with gravity falls. I'm sure that's not confusing at all/j. We have Logan and Cassius, they're siblings. Logan has visions of the future and Cassius is able to see anyone's 'true form'. that means if you've made a deal with something, if youre something in disguise, ect ect. you cant really hide from him. Ghost is their guy in the chair, he lost his leg in their first expedition out and decided to stick to computers after that. Woke up with no memories one day in the wrong family, still wrestling with that. M has lived in the town it takes place in her whole life, has ties with a lot of the creatures that live in the woods there. okay one fun fact about each sjdkglh Logan: favorite color is pink, has a cat name shadow, shortest in the group Cassius: has a girlfriend named Mickey, dyes his own hair(although not very well lol), tallest in the group Ghost: has a service dog named Juniper, likes making collages, the calmest in the group M: has a creature her family cares over she calls Brother who is vaguely fae adjacent, knows the town like the back of her hand, strongest in the group tysm for asking that was nice to get o ut of my system lol

[gemmahale]

🫐🍐🍍 for the fanfic writers ask please and thank you :)

Fruit Fic Ask Game!

Hi Skelly! 💚 These were fun, thank you!

🫐 What’s your favorite underrated thing in your fandom? (A ship that only you seem to write for, a character there’s almost no fics about, a trope that criminally hasn’t been written yet, etc.)

I think @glossysoap said it best when she said "Best Girl Wins" tropes - it's almost fun to see these military men bested by a civilian, when written well. That and Gaz/Ghost and Price/Soap. Gaz/Ghost/Soap has been on my mind a lot lately too...for reasons. 😉 Otherwise, I feel like I have a wonderful diversity of fics that surround me - trans-inclusive/LGBTQIA+ stories, unique crossovers/AU's, and interesting canon plot ideas - that I think are wonderful and delightful and should be seen by more people.

🍐 Is there anything in canon that you absolutely hate and love to fix in fics? A wrong choice made, a fuck-up in characterization, a misunderstanding never cleared up, a conversation never shown onscreen, etc…

This one should come as no surprise, lol. Soap's death in MWIII. I think it was poorly written and the more analysis I see (from different POV's - martial artists and weaponry experts, plot progression, etc.) it makes me more and more grumpy, lol. Otherwise, I love getting to see Gaz and Ghost interact beyond the snippets we do see. Idk if that's a fix-it, but I feel like there's good mutual respect there that's less common to see in canon. (Maybe 1 or 2 non-verbal scenes?)

🍍 What kind of AUs do you like? Are there any AUs you hate or just generally have beef with?

Oh man, I fucking love AU's. I don't think I have anything I don't like or have beef with. (It's kind of a "I know it when I see it" type thing for me, sometimes I don't vibe and I don't fully know why.) But I think the really fun ones are when it's supernatural/supernatural adjacent in the canon world. There's so many different ways to spin it that there's an endless wealth of resources.