#last year i was just an alternate thank GOD i got in this year lmao

[trevination]

AYEEEE GOT INTO MY SCHOOL DISTRICT’S HONOR CHOIR 🫶🫶🫶

[wangxianficfinder]

Fic Finder

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1. Looking for a smut fic I remember reading. WWX was testing an invisibility talisman and ended up in the jingshi in time to watch LWJ masturbating, and rode him after he fell asleep. LWJ woke up and made WWX get rid of the invisibility after a bit. I think it was a roleplay between the two but I'm not fully sure

FOUND! Clinomania by malkinmalkout (E, 6k, wangxian, Voyeurism, Masturbation, Somnophilia, misuse of talismans, PWP, Riding, Oral Sex, binding, Happy Ending, canon typical non-con)

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2. Hi! So I'm looking for this one fic, I remember that it was set in post-canon & Wangxian go to help this village, I remember that the Juniors (all four) followed them without their knowledge & the village had a barrier preventing people from leaving, the village had a curse where they got to see their close-ones negative memories, the juniors learnt of what actually happened to WWX & the villain turns out to be a "god" like on Dafan, it had 4 chapter (I think) & was finished. @i-like-snakes-and-spiders

FOUND? Down comes the night by danegen (E, 67k, wangxian, Alternate Universe, Canon Era, inspired by From, Horror, Sharing a Room, POV LWJ, no jiangs, a whole village of OCs, tiny mention of past wwx/omc, Happy Ending)

FOUND? unhappy stories with happy endings by Last_for_Hell (M, 30k, WangXian, Memories, Memory Fic, Kinda, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, sexual content maybe, References to Torture, PTSD, Characters Watching Their Series, kinda, but not entirely, very light consensual non-consent)

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3. good day! 😊 I read this fic before and I know that I've bookmarked it but I can't find it in the list. So the story is after wwx fell, baoshan sanren and lan yi rescued him, nursed him back to health, and waited for him to wake up. I remember that when he woke up, they also taught him cultivation (he got a new sword). He also hid his face (i think he also wore a different name and different voice(?)). There's a yi city scene where xxc asked them who they were because he cant see, then bssr is also with them at that time. thank yoooooou! 💓💓💓

FOUND! Until The End by abCEE (M, 365k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, war changes people, resulting to OOC, no pinning, Established Relationship, Mpreg, Good Uncle LQR, a little grey LWJ, a bit of JC bashing from LWJ, BAMF JYL, 16 years of yearning, mainly CQL verse but has scenes from the novel as well, LSZ is WangXian's Child, WWX Has a New Golden Core, Canon Rewrite, Happy Ending, Fix-It of Sorts)

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4. hi, I hope you can help me find this fic I've been looking for, I'm sorry I don't really remember much, just that WWX can cook non-spicy food but he does it on purpose, it might have been because of his time in the streets? or because someone would take his food? (maybe JC???)

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5. I cannot for the life of me remember anything else about the fic but I think it was cql based with lwj as chief cultivator? wwx returned to cloud recesses and the first thing he did was beat someone up for saying horrible things about lwj. I can't remember if it was multichapter or not so it might have been in the middle of a longfic?

FOUND? 🔒make this chaos count by devotedbones (E, 15k, WangXian, Post-Canon, CQL Compliant, canon compliant until the very last scene of episode 50, Getting Together, First Time, First Kiss, Hand Jobs, Chief Cultivator LWJ, a flute used as a melee weapon, Fist Fights, Gossip, Self-Worth Issues, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining, Mentions of Canonical Abuse, Minor Misunderstandings, [podfic] make this chaos count, by devotedbones by inkpens)

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6. this may as well be an itmf for its general nature, but it's actually a ficfinder! except. i only remember a single detail LMAO, and it's that wwx and lwj consider all four juniors to be their children, blood relation be damned. I'm so sorry i have literally nothing else to go on 😅 i think there's a similar theme in 'tragedy is not the end' specifically with zizhen, but not the exact detail im looking for... thank you for the help!

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7. Hi, first of all I want to thank y'all for the hard work, and I wanted to know if a fic has been deleted or if anyone has it, I don't remember the name but it was a time travel fic where Qishan Wen win the sunshot campaign and asked for war prizes (?) Zewu-Jun goes instead of his brother, Yanli is alive, they all have them captive, Meng Yao betrayed them and ultimately sided with the Wen's who were winning the war, and I think no one remembers Wei Wuxian, something like that, it would be great if someone could help! Thanks so much 🩷🩷

FOUND? The Way It Wasn��t by KouriArashi (T, 72k, WangXian, XiYao, Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fix-It, (eventually haha), Slow Build, Family Feels, Moral Ambiguity, Eventual Happy Ending)

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8. Hi!!! Its me again!! Thanknyiu so much again!!! This time im looking for a time travel fic with lan qiren as the timentraveller. Pretty sure him and wen ruohan travelled together and MAYBE involved with each other??? Im not so sure but i do know that lan qiren time travelled. Sorry its not much thats all i remember hehe @sirius-bus1ness

might be one of Nirejseki's works. They wrote several on that subject (including in a big anthology work, so finding it might take some time)

FOUND? Cursed Couple by shorimochi (M, 121k, LQR/WRH, CSSR/WCZ, Time Travel, Canon Divergence, Out of Character)

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9. Hello, I am looking for a fic but I only remember a scene from it

It was a fic wwhere wwx died and there was a scene where a-yuan was crying while laying above wwx's grave in the burial mounds. Thank you!

FOUND? To Offer a Heart by WhiteCrane (M, 111k, wangxian, major character death, Sad WWX, Hurt WWX, YLLZ WWX, soft wangxian, Cinnamon Roll WN, WWX Whump, WQ is a good sister, WN is a good brother, everybody loves wwx, yunmeng siblings, Triggers, Suicidal Thoughts, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Heavy Angst with a Happy Ending, Taking care of WWX, Give WWX a break, Canon Divergence, Disturbing Themes, Changing Perspectives, Eventual Smut, Eventual Romance, Grief/Mourning, Temporary Character Death, Getting Together, Redemption, Sibling Bonding, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Brotherly Bonding, Brotherly Love, Brother-Sister Relationships, Parent-Child Relationship, Sad and Sweet, Tragedy, BAMF WWX, BAMF JC, BAMF JYL, BAMF WQ, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Everyone Needs A Hug, WIP)

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10. Hi Mods (＾◡＾) I really hope that you can help me find some fics I've been looking for! (＾◡＾) if you can't that's ok, if you can then many thanks in advance! y'all are awesome!

A) this one is set during CR studies, and wangxian go on a date? in Caiyi and I think WWX gets emotional about something they are talking about? and I know they hug, and WWX don't want to let go.

B) this one wangxian gets married, WWX marries into the Lan, and there are a lot of rules specifically for married people/how to be in a relationship, I'm pretty sure that is a very big part of the story

10A)

FOUND! 🧡 Stunted, Starving Juvenility by TomatenMark (E, 712k, WangXian, WIP, Fix-it of sorts, Talisman master WWX, Not JFM Friendly, Study Arc, Getting together, Fluff and Angst, Engagement) The scene described sounds like something that happens pretty early on

10B)

NOT FOUND! Into the Oubliette by Ruixx (M, 124k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, graphic depictions of violence, underage, Growing Up, Fix-It of Sorts, Arranged Marriage, Time Travel, Sibling Bonding, Adopted Sibling Relationship, Canon Divergence, Light BDSM, Breathplay, WWX protection squad, Sunshot Campaign, War, Politics, Hostage JYL, Visions, LXC Redemption, general LWJ, Internal Sect Politics, Good Uncle LQR, Lan OCs, No Golden Core Transfer, Empire Building, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence)

NOT FOUND! seldom all they seem by Fahye (E, 25k, wangxian, Canon Divergence, Arranged Marriage, or rather Arranged Betrothal, followed by Weapons-Grade Thirst)

FOUND? Wouldn't fall for someone I thought couldn't misbehave by failedcharismacheck (M, 15k, WIP, WangXian, Marriage Proposal, Fluff, Protective LWJ, Domestic Fluff, Kissing, POV LWJ, Hair Brushing, Implied Sexual Content, soft horny)

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11. Noncon tw. Looking for a fic where when the wens burn lotus pier, they threaten to rape yanli but Wei Wuxian offers himself instead. So the wen soldiers rape Wei Wuxian in front of the Jiang sect,l. Yanli cries

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12. Looking for a specific fix where Wei Ying is dead and the sects come together to watch through his memories and end up finding out for selfless he was. @aviidaviibiitchboii

FOUND! Misunderstood by Silver_Flame_2724 (M, 250k, WIP, WangXian, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Heavy Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, Canon-Typical Violence, Self-Worth Issues)

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13. Hi, I'm looking for a modern au where Wei Ying is a grad student in an orchestra and A-yuan is dropped off at his door by his cousin Mo Xuanyu. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan get together while caring for A-yuan and end up getting married. A-yuan has a fear of airports in this fic because of his abandonment issues. This was on AO3 but I can't seem to find it. @amindonbreak

FOUND! The Simplest Way Forward by harriet_vane (E, 70k, WangXian, Modern AU, Accidental baby acquisition, Kid fic, Green card marriage (but not really), Slow Burn, Endless Pining, Happy ending, [Podfic of] The Simplest Way Forward by knight_tracer, Translation into Русский: Самый Простой Путь Вперёд (The Simplest Way Forward) by grand_R, Spanish Translation, Turkish translation )

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14. hello! im looking for specific fic, where after burial mounds wwx thinks he's dead. instead of joining sunshot campain he storms nightless city and kills all cultivators without anyone knowing it was him (exept meng yao who survived but is wounded)

he then "haunts" yumeng for a while until he runs into wen quing and takes wens to burrial mounds

eventually ppl find out and together with meng yao they outsmart jgs to pardon all wens @chellsky

I can't find 14, but I do remember reading it; they ended up pretending Wen Qing was the one controling the dead and killing the Wen, and they faked her death

FOUND! can't find a way home by KouriArashi (M, 109k, WangXian, XiYao, XuanLi, ChengQing, Canon Divergence, Angst, Family, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Politics, Family Feels, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Developing Relationship, Canon-Typical Violence, canon-typical political bullshit, Mental Health Issues, Eventual Happy Ending, Descriptions of suicide, (caused by dark magic))

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15. Hello! I'm looking for a fic where Sizhui's bio parents are alive and come to Cloud Recesses looking for him (post-canon, iirc)

Hello! I'm #15 from the latest fic finder. I'm quite sure that the fic was on ao3. It may have been inspired from the angstymdzsthoughts posts but it was a proper fic posted on ao3

NOT FOUND! This Post by angstymdzsthoughts Mad idea, could 15 be from angstymdzsthoughts?

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16. Hi! I was reading a really interesting story about LWJ being cursed and WWX helping him and I lost it! Arg, now I'm so curious to know how it ends, I hope you can help me!

The story is about LWJ being cursed with a change in his private body parts. (The curse changes his p to a v). Then WWX notices this and decide to help LWJ and the way to revert the curse is that LWJ has to have an org@sm.

Can you help me? I'm dying to know how to continues!! 🤗🤗 @wangxiansgirl

FOUND! Coming Back to Yourself by acernor (E, 21k, wangxian, Vaginal Fingering, Cunnilingus, Oral Sex, Pining, Gender or Sex Swap, Vaginal Sex)

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17. Hi! Looking for a fic wherein wangxian married and suddenly Mo Xuanyu woke up again in his body, he fell in love with Lan Wangji but Lan Wangji just ignore or formal with him. Mo Xuanyu heartbroken tried to bring back Wei Wuxian Soul on his body

I feel like this might be in the angstymdzs collection, since I think it's was inspired by one of those asks?

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18. Kind of random, but I’m trying to find a fic I read awhile ago that featured hagfish? My memory of it is kind of vague, it was a college au and wwx was some sort of biology major i think and there were hagfish. Compelled to read it again because of hagfish reasons.

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19. Hello! I'm looking for a specific fic which I've seen in a few people's bookmarks but for some reason neglected to even mark for later. It's a modern AU where LWJ is looking for a pet sitter for his bunnies and is recommended WWX's pet sitting/walking venture (no dogs allowed ofc). Can you help? 🐇 @linderel

FOUND! A Single Note by airinshaw (E, 19k, WangXian, Modern AU, Getting Together, Mutual Pining, Kissing, Anal Sex, Fluff and Smut, Light Dom/sub)

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20. I search a fic where Jiang Cheng tries to ask Lan Xichen to marry him and Lan Xichen is super offended by it. Nie Huaisang may have done something to make JC fail even more in his proposal.

FOUND? To Take A Wife- Or Perhaps A Husband by Admiranda (T, 2k, one-sided LXC/JC, one-sided NHS/JC, JC's canonical homophobia, JC's canonical inability to get married, Decides to solve his problems with spite, not JC friendly, We all love NHS in this household, JC's canonical blind spots, Post-Canon, JC's canonical classism)

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[carabas]

Dragon Age Veilguard liveblogging, through the end of the game -

Bianca's broken pieces really were left on Varric's bedside table this whole time, not sure if that's better or worse than if she was part of Rook's hallucination.

And now it's Bellara's turn to send me codex entries from the future, talking about wishing Harding was here now that we've... solved all the big endgame problems that we absolutely have not solved yet? Spoilers, Bellara. i mean, i did already expect to defeat the big bad and save the world in the end. This does rather squash hope for Harding making a last minute Titan-magic-fueled reappearance though.

Talking to Emmrich about when we stopped Solas's ritual back at the very beginning of the game. "It was a team effort. Me, Harding, Neve. And Varric." And the conversation goes on to be specifically about Varric and mourning, no more mention of the others, but that list of names laid out like that is hitting me - Rook is the only person on that list who is not missing or dead. I mean, I've got my fingers crossed for getting Neve back. But the specific people who were lost were the entire team Varric put together, no one left in the Lighthouse ever met him, Varric's team is gone except for Rook.

Talking with Lucanis, Rook questioning if he actually got out of the god prison, this could be more of the Fade... i'm just. flailing in the general direction of the mental Ossuary about this.

And also thinking about all the Dread Wolf's legends about traps, and Rook following in the Dread Wolf's footsteps in this too, both in his own story and as this foundational part of this love story, Rook as the person who opened the door for Lucanis

Also Lucanis wanting to hear Rook talk, "your voice is a comfort" - Rook's voice actor is pretty great, I get it. Pretty sure my love for Rook is mostly due to Alex Jordan's delivery.

Assigning the team to different missions with the allies we've gathered and seeing that play out in this big final battle - feels like everything we did mattered, Dragon Age has really learned from Inquisition's mistakes on this front. Honorary Crow Taash, omg, they get to fulfill their childhood dream!

SOLAS. incoherent flailing in delight about the Rook-Solas confrontation, but WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON'T TEAR DOWN THE VEIL, the gasp I gasped, YOU TAKE THAT BACK. Turning on Rook in order to escape the trap wasn't a betrayal, we knew he was going to do that, Rook himself repeatedly said he was going to do that, this is a betrayal. What are you thinking, talk to me Solas... oh, fine, i'm too happy about fighting side by side to be that alarmed right now. One cataclysm at a time.

Bellara thinking over all the questions she had for Solas and what she really wants to know is why he killed Mythal ;_; my girl. i'm so glad I brought this team. And Solas also refers to Spite as a spirit of Determination!! I was starting to wonder if that comes up in this game at all if you don't happen to bring him to fight in the Hall of Valor but Solas points it out too, I'm so happy about this. Lucanis and Spite refusing Solas's offer to separate them, oh my god, everything I want all the time in this game!! except the veil coming down i guess.

BIG WOLF MONSTER SHAPESHIFTER BOYFRIEND i still can't believe they put that in the trailer IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY THE RETURN OF SHAPESHIFTER WIFE, this game is for shady apostate enjoyers specifically

Oh thank god it was a trick lmao, Veil tearing down plan is still on, why did I doubt that, of course it was a trick.

TEN YEARS SINCE INQUISITION. TEN YEARS. and they get their happy ending, lavellan's role in this story was everything i could possibly have dreamed of, no words.

my solavellan heart is very full.

...my mage-rights-obsessed, spirit-loving heart on the other hand is having mixed feelings. i am not surprised the veil did not come down but i did not feel great about turning solas away from that purpose, not without offering him some kind of alternative, someone else picking up the duty he's finally laying down - Lavellan says the people he has wronged are asking him to stop, and indeed some of them are, but the spirits are still so desperate to get back into a world they were separated from that they twist into demons and abominations, Cole in Trespasser was so delighted to discover the Veil was not natural and that he wasn't a wrong thing... but then all my reasons for wanting the Veil torn down come from the previous games and not from Veilguard, why would that be in the ending when it wasn't in the previous hundred hours. Lots of smoothing over of previously complex subjects happening in this game, most of which I'm happy to roll with, but this one's so central to Solas - and the reason this game otherwise works for me even with all its changes in style is because it usually seems to have been built entirely out of love for Solas.

Anyway. I was so incredibly tempted by the option to try to trick the Dread Wolf himself. I want Rook to follow in the Dread Wolf's god-imprisoning-trickster footsteps so badly. But Mythal. And Lavellan's hope for talking Solas around. The lasting reunion for Solavellan that I'd hoped for but wasn't sure we could truly get. So. I haven't looked up what the other endings are like yet, maybe trickster Rook can be something for my Dorianmancing Inquisitor's worldstate.

That post-credits scene - I feel properly rewarded for doing all the sidequests and they've got villains set up for another game if they want them, but by Dragon Age standards that's not even slightly a cliffhanger. The four-game-long story is over. I don't know how I feel but I'm feeling it.

Oh, there's no playable epilogue. I appreciate Bellara's codex entry from the future now.

...okay so I wrote out those last few paragraphs and then actually I couldn't stand having talked him into giving it up, I went back to play through what happens if Rook tries to trick the Dread Wolf and I feel better lmao, it solved my mixed feelings by giving me another, different set of mixed feelings, the mixed feelings balance each other out. I had a blast with this game, we're ending on an odd note, i'm going to be chewing on this for a while.

[bysithis]

Writing prompt number 14!

Writing prompt 14: A quest gone very, very wrong

ahh thank you!!! <33

this piece is about my girl madlen – loyal thieves' guild member and all-round babe. in this case, i am interpreting 'quest' rather loosely as. y'know. crime.

also. this got, uh. longer than i meant for it to lmao. but i hope you enjoy! thanks again for the fun prompt :3

Madlen's career within the Guild, as short-lived as it was, had just been going too smoothly.

That must be it, she tells herself. Things were going well for once, perhaps for the first time in years, and so, of course, the gods see fit to shit in her dinner. All of them. All at one. She isn't sure which one to blame in particular, so what choice does she have but to tar them all with the same brush?

Yes, that's my lot, she thinks, grimacing. A platter of golden, glowing, divinely-wrought shit. Perfect.

From outside her cell, she hears the grating whine of poorly maintained hinges and the soft thud of leather boots as one of the guards enters the jail. It must be lunchtime, she guesses, and guesses correctly; after a couple of minutes, a dented tin plate is shoved beneath her door. For the first time today, she pushes herself up from her rickety old cot, going to retrieve her meal.

What do we have today, then? Bread: dry, stale. Standard. And – by the gods. An entire inch of cheese, just for me?

A measly dinner, but one she should be grateful for, as the guards are so fond of reminding her. Sighing through her nose, she goes to sit back down on the edge of the bed, balancing her food on her knees, picking off a bit of mouldy crush from her bread.

The most aggravating part of this is that it's not even her fault. Madlen had spent weeks stalking her mark – weeks. Following them from dawn till dusk, learning their routine inside and out, noting when they'd be home and when they'd be out. Fortunately for her, they were a creature of habit, each day the same as the one before, operating as regularly as a Dwemer automaton.

Unfortunately for her, however, they must have lost a cog somewhere: the Fredas before last, that schedule deviated.

That day, the mark came home earlier than expected. That day, the mark wasn't alone. And so, that day, young Perennia Fulced – on the arm of some big, burly Nord, with straw-like hair and eyes the colour of granite – had the misfortune of coming home to find a thief in her bedroom.

Madlen, on the other hand, had the significantly greater misfortune of taking a punch to the nose – apparently, Jarl Beer-Belly of Whiterun had no qualms about hitting a member of the fairer sex – and a short trip to the local jail. Her new home, apparently, until such time as...

Well. However long the Jarl decides. If only she'd had the coin to pay the fine.

Maybe I can escape. It isn't the first time the thought has crossed her mind. No lockpicks, but there were other ways to get the job done; that wouldn't prove an obstacle for too long. But where the hell are my things?

Again, the squeaking of hinges as the guard leaves. Madlen looks down at her remaining bread, pressing her lips together. What, no dessert?

The first few days here she spent in a panic; she had never been to prison before and really hadn't made any plans to visit. So, when that rusted-over door clanged shut behind her; when she heard the key turn in the lock; when, later that first night, the man in the cell over started whispering to her, voice hissing through the damp silence—

When all that happened, she didn't take it all very well.

Now, she is at least calm – mostly, just because she decided she would be. It's better than the alternative. And, besides, things could be worse. Bread and cheese may not be the meal of kings, but she's lived off of less.

A little while after dinner, the door outside swings open again. Madlen, lying back in her cot with the plate resting on her stomach, doesn't bother getting up. Light, barely-there footsteps approach her cell, stopping outside the barred entrance. Still, she doesn't bother even to look up.

'If you've brought more cheese, great,' she says, staring up at the ceiling. 'If you've brought more bread, forget about it. Half of it was mould.'

'I hope you don't think I've come all the way from Riften just to bring you your supper, lass.'

At the familiar voice, Madlen's eyes widen, head snapping in the direction of the door. Finding herself met with a familiar face, she bolts upright, sending the plate clattering to the floor and bits of mouldy bread flying everywhere.

'Brynjolf? What—' Cutting herself off, she gets to her feet, crossing over to the door. Staring out at him, she wraps her fingers around the cold iron bars, leaning in as close as they'll allow her, as if to prove to herself it's really him standing there and not some trick of the light.

'What are you doing here?' she finishes, voice lowered to a hush, eyes tripping down over his face, over the familiar quilted doublet, down to the dusty tips of his boots, and then back up.

Brynjolf smiles, the skin at the corners of his eyes creasing. 'Pleased to see me?'

'I'll say.'

'Then I hope you'll be equally pleased sharing a carriage to Riften.'

'Oh, I'd be ecstatic,' she replies. 'I hear it's a lovely trip this time of year. But, Bryn—'

Predicting Madlen's question, Brynjolf holds up a hand. 'I know a guy who knows a guy. Let's leave it at that, shall we?' He pauses, giving a meaningful look around. 'At least until we're out of here.'

That time comes mercifully quickly. Brynjolf left after just a couple short minutes, replaced by another visitor an hour or so afterwards – one of the guards, an unsmiling lad with a terrific case of helmet hair. The friend of a friend, Madlen wonders, giving him a once-over? Or just a man doing his job? Either way, he does a fantastic job of looking like he doesn't want to be here. A sentiment with which Madlen can empathise entirely.

Soon enough, she's handed her pack and led outside, the guard all but shoving her out the door.

'See we don't meet each other again,' he warns, voice cold. When Madlen turns to retort, he's already disappeared back inside.

Probably for the best, she reflects. I'm not chomping at the bit to visit again.

Brynjolf meets her at the head of the stairs leading down to the Wind District. Behind him, the city of Whiterun basks beneath a high, pale yellow sun, too small and far away to chase away the bite of the wind, but welcome, all the same. Besides, after days spent cooped up in the stifling stone underbelly of Dragonsreach, Madlen welcomes the chill in the air, nipping at her cheeks and nose.

'There you are,' Brynjolf says, conversationally, as if he's just been waiting for you to come back from a trip to the market. 'I was beginning to think you'd given them some lip and changed their minds.'

'Me?' Madlen intones, arching her brows; she's in high spirits – and it shows. 'I would never.'

With a shake of his head and a low chuckle, Brynjolf turns, taking the first few steps. 'You're a bad liar, Madlen.'

'Given my trade, I should hope not.'

'I hate to bring up the recent past, but you got yourself thrown into Dragonsreach dungeon, lass. You might want to give your trade a second thought – or a first one, for that matter.'

The words are spoken lightly enough, but they sting a little, like soapy water finding a fresh cut. Madlen's immediate reaction is to go on the defence. To explain herself. To tell Brynjolf what really happened. Instead, she takes in a lungful of sharp, clean air, slinging her pack over her shoulder and falling into step alongside him.

'How did you find out?' she asks at length. They've reached the bottom of the stairs, now, Dragonsreach looming behind them.

'A little bird told me.'

'Ah, of course. Such gossipy waterfowl we have down in the Rift.' Here, she pauses, glancing across at him from beneath long, pale lashes. 'I was surprised to see you. Guess I figured...'

Another pause. Brynjolf waits, patiently, for her to finish, gaze fixed straight ahead of him.

'Well, you know,' she continues, picking her words carefully. 'I've not been with the Guild all that long. Didn't think I'd be worth the trouble.'

At that, he draws to a slow stop, turning to look at her. 'Is there a question in there?'

Madlen purses her lips. 'Do you go to such lengths for all you new recruits?'

For a while, he doesn't answer, the silence stretching for just long enough that she starts to wish she hadn't bothered asking. And then, finally, he smiles, humming a quiet laugh. Starting to walk again, he half-turns, tossing an answer over his shoulder. 'Just the pretty ones.'

A younger, less experience version of her might have blushed at that. As it is, Madlen just rolls her eyes. 'Oh, ha.'

'To tell you the truth, lass, Mercer was against it. Bailing you out.'

'Oh.' Somehow, Mercer's thoughts about it all had barely entered her mind. 'Why?'

'It's like you said. You're new. So new you've still got a shine to you. I look at you and I see potential. You just need a little breaking in, you know? Like... like a pair of boots.'

'A pair of boots? Gee, thanks.'

He ignores her, continuing, 'Mercer... doesn't see what I see. Not yet. Doesn't mean he never will. Just give him time.'

'I guess.'

'You can give me a full report once we hit the road. Then maybe we can figure out a version of events that'll satisfy him.'

'Sure.'

Madlen lapses into quiet, then, looking ahead at nothing in particular as the two of them trot down the stairs towards the market. As much as she may not care for the man, she's not so stupid as to think Mercer's opinion immaterial. In the coming weeks and months, she'll have to work hard to earn back his trust – though, given how little of it she'd apparently won in the first place, that hopefully wouldn't take too long. Silver linings.

'So,' she says, finally. 'You really came all this way just for me?'

Brynjolf smiles, a crooked thing. 'Well, not just for you. I came for the meadery, too.'

Madlen snorts. 'Gee, thanks.'

'And I need someone to help me carry all those bottles.'

'Yeah, yeah.'

'Just wait till I've paid for them before you leave, yeah? Don't want you getting done for stealing twice in as many weeks.'

'Oh, for the love of Mara...'

[stellae-de-baphometis]

Hello!! I am extremely new to demonolatry as I have very recently discovered it and I would like to know if you have any resources for beginners to read/watch that are helpful. Don’t worry about it if you don’t or if you simply don’t feel like it, I don’t mind!! Ty and have a nice day!!!!

Hey there! Terribly sorry for answering this so late. Xx So I've only been into Daemonolatry for about a year now, though I have learnt a lot thus far and I'd be more than happy to share some really important pointers to aid you in walking this path. ^.^

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So first and foremost before I get into the main blogpost, I really cannot stress this enough...

Please educate yourself on closed practices and steer clear of cultural appropriation in your personal practises. There are a group of people in the Daemonolatry community who appropriate the heck out of Jewish daemons, especially Lilith. Judaism is a closed practise and therefore it's only respectful to not incorporate Judaism into your personal practises. Appropriating Judaism is actually a form of anti-Semitism, so please be mindful and respectful of these things! 🖤

I'm ashamed to admit this but I actually used to think it was completely fine to appropriate Jewish daemons last year, thanks to subreddits like r/DemonlatryPractices who would constantly try to push propaganda about Lilith being a "Mesopotamian Pagan Goddess" and other excuses for appropriating her. That same subreddit decided to attack me when I merely mentioned (on a completely different subreddit, mind you) that I disagreed with them appropriating Lilith, and in turn I got witch-hunted so that's great lmao. 🤡

Please avoid that subreddit at all costs, it's an absolute cesspit of cultural appropriation and passive anti-Semitism, and honestly they exhibit cult-like behaviour if you do so much as simply disagree with the appropriation of Jewish daemons. It's pretty disturbing... But yeah anyways sorry for rambling lol.

I'd also recommend avoiding people and organisations such as S. Connolly, V.K. Jehannum, Satan & Suns/Sons, BlackWitchCoven, The BecomeALivingGod Forum, The Satanic Temple, Joy Of Satan Ministries, The Order Of Nine Angles, scarletarosa (a user that literally exists here on Tumblr... yikes), etc. They engage in Jewish appropriation, and some of them even have ties to Nazism, racism, and other forms of bigotry too.

Some other Jewish daemons/spirits that you should avoid appropriating alongside Lilith are; Naamah, Agrat Bat Mahalath, Eisheth Zenunim, Samael, Abyzou, and the Grigori / Watcher Angels.

There are many other closed practices too, but if you'd like to do further research I can leave that up to you. ^.^

Okay sorry about that huge ramble lmao, just thought I would get that out of the way before getting into the main post because I think it's an important point to make and I don't want you to fall down a cultural appropriation apologist pipeline like I did at the beginning of my practise lol. Xx

Anyways, let's talk about The Infernal Divine!

+: GIF Credit :+

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So we'll start with some really basic stuff. What exactly are daemons?

It's not commonly known outside of Daemonolatry that daemons themselves actually predate Christianity. The term 'demon' (alternatively spelled 'daemon') comes from the word 'daimon' which originates way back in Greek mythology. Daimons were a type of tutelary deity as well as guiding spirit whose divine nature was that of both mortals and deities. They were also sometimes regarded as bringers of knowledge, wisdom, and destiny. In this sense, they could be considered deities in their own right.

Contrary to popular belief, daemons are not evil and never were to begin with. It was only until the coming of Christianity that daemons as well as other gods were vilified and ostracised due to the cultish, radical, monotheistic mindset a lot of Christian extremists held back in the day. Lucifer himself was a "demonized" Roman god also known as Phosphorus, associated with light and the planet Venus. From that description alone, I don't really get evil vibes lol.

In my opinion, our world cannot simply be split up into just black or white, and daemons are no exception. Daemons aren't evil, but they aren't completely love and light either; They're neutral. Much like humans as well as the universe itself, the Infernal Divine are various shades of grey, and all daemons are unique and differ in personality.

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So with all this in mind, what are some good resources that don't endorse and/or engage in appropriation of closed practices?

The YouTube channels ESOTERICA and ReligionForBreakfast have great information on the history of various religions and practises!

~ Book Recommendations ~

Livre des Esperitz

Dictionnaire Infernal

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum

Pandemonium: A Discordant Concordance Of Diverse Spirit Catalogues

I personally am working towards being a daemonolatry resource myself, but I haven't been able to post much lately due to my mental health issues. I also took an active break last year, as it was pointed out by a friend of mine that my belief of thinking it was fine to appropriate closed practises was obviously problematic, and so I took time off from posting in order to educate myself and delete any problematic blog posts I had made endorsing that in the past.

But nonetheless, I hope that what I was able to provide in this post was helpful! I wish you well on your spiritual path. 🖤

❀ ~ Many Blessings ~ ❀

-Korv

[serenescribe]

Ao3 wrapped 🥳👏

6, 10, 12, 29

ao3 wrapped [writers edition] [2024 edition]

6. Favorite title you used most of my titles tend to be song lyrics, so they're nothing too notable, but i quite liked the once (and many) prince(s), if only because it's a play on the title "the once and future king" in reference to king arthur!

the irony is that i didn't quite remember where i heard it from, nor the significance behind it, until i took an arthurian class recently ;; apparently the once and future king symbolises the fact that king arthur is said to come back and save britain in its time of need. given that au's silver and how he keeps reincarnating over and over for the sake of his people who cling to him as a symbol of hope... yeah, it's quite a fitting reference

(alternative answer: i am so stupidly proud of naming a fic about periods red wine supernova. sorry, i am not immune to silly names)

10. What work was the quickest to write? oh god, i don't fucking remember LMAO. i write fast in general, so that's one thing, but you're also asking me to remember how long it took me to write stuff earlier this year when i have the memory of a goldfish

that being said, it's my most recent fic but i definitely remember spending not more than 2 hours, 3 at absolute maximum, on i'm sat there, holding on for the bomb. it didn't take me THAT long and i was kind of surprised how quickly i wrote it. so in recent memory, it's the quickest o7

12. How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year? ha. haha. ha. ha

well i'm taking glaciers into the new year with me, bastard child that it is. i've still got that locked in the freezer epel fic that i REALLY want to return to and finish someday, somehow. i've got another bthb fic focused on adaine that i just about barely started but haven't continued, and i have an ortho fic that i'll probably chip at slowly with the intentions of gifting it to my best friend once it's done, whenever that may be. and that's just everything off the top of my head.

this is actually more wips than i'm used to holding at any one time. i'm usually more of a "focus on and finish one fic" writer...

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year? technically already answered here, but seeing as you're a twst girlie... i guess i'll share a little bit that i really like from the aforementioned ortho fic (though do NOT expect it to be finished anytime soon when my priorities lie elsewhere for now!)

i like the dichotomy in flow! i like how i went from one very long, rambling, run-on paragraph to a shorter one, and then one single sentence with four lines. it's a fun rhythm, and it really makes that last sentence hit all that much harder.

anyways, i'll get back to this someday. contrary to my very diasomnia focused past, i do love a lot of the twst cast, and i'm especially fond of the shrouds — it's just that idia's mode of speaking has put me off writing them for way too long ;v; thank god ortho doesn't speak like that (though i will have to tackle the elder shroud eventually... uuugh maybe that's why i'm procrastinating returning to this)

[baticeer]

BG3 asks: 2, 12, 40, 52, 61, & 104

2. What is their class (+ subclass) and why did you choose it?

Vennet is a wizard. In the actual game I played as Necromancy school, but I think for the lore she should probably have been Transmutation, since she's supposed to be an alchemist. I just didn't want to respec bc I love spamming undead summons lol and I thought I'd lose my spells learnt from scrolls (idk if that is actually how it works).

The original tabletop version of Vennet was a Pathfinder 1e character (for a campaign that never got past session 1 but she was still living in the back of my mind for years...) so she was an alchemist there and I chose wizard because it was the closest and is also my favorite 5e class to play.

12. How does your Tav feel about Us? Did they free them, maim them or leave them behind?

I love Us! Vennet freed it, out of curiosity more than anything because she was pretty disoriented waking up on the Nautiloid. I didn't know it was possible to find Us in act 2, so I never saw it again in my save, but I like to think that in my canon story Ven got Us as a pet and it helped her cope with her part-illithid transformation. And that postgame the Emperor takes Us home with him (he deserves it!)

40. Did your Tav agree to kill the Guardian or did they go talk to them instead?

After seeing Lae'zel almost get killed by the Zaith'isk and only being saved by the guardian's interference, Vennet thought it seemed obvious which one of those two should be listened to, and resisted tooth & nail to the idea of giving up the artifact to the githyanki! She definitely didn't try to stab her guardian when they met inside the Prism [thank god, bc you can't fuck emps if you do lmao] and mostly just. Yelled at him to stop being vague and asked a bunch of questions demanding explanations that he didn't want to give yet

52. What does your Tav think of Dame Aylin?

hmmm I think these are Vennet's takes on Aylin approximately in order of significance:

a powerful ally. glad we freed her and have her on our side. No strong personal attachment to her but we need all the help we can get

she's kind of A Lot with all of the going on about nobility and love and how great she is, sheesh

[sigh] have you seen those muscles though... if Isobel wasn't around... Would

61. How does your Tav feel about Baldur's Gate? Is it their home? Is it their first time in the city?

It's definitely not her home, she's from Menzoberranzan and not only is it her first time in the city but the BG3 plot is also her first time on the surface world for any length of time more than a day or two. She finds the Gate pretty overwhelming, it is more than 2x the size of Menzo (which is the biggest drow city on Faerun) and the ocean also generally makes her uneasy (it's Too Big! we don't have that underground!). She finds the surface world in general kinda... what's the opposite of claustrophobic? Everything is so big and bright and outdoors there is no cavern ceiling over your head, how do you cope!

Post-game, she doesn't ever live in Baldur's Gate permanently but spends a good amount of time there to visit friends and do Society of Brilliance business. She does have affection for the place due to her history there (she calls it her "second birthplace") and also because she loves the Emperor and ofc his city is very important to him.

Waterdeep is even bigger than Baldur's Gate but Vennet is a little more comfortable there because it's not as "rough" and there's more species diversity (the Gate is still pretty heavily human-dominant but most Waterdhavians won't look twice at a drow walking down the street). She still prefers to be in the Underdark and her and Gale alternate their time between living in his home in Waterdeep and her wizard tower in the Underdark.

... aaaaas for that last question, omg, I don't even wanna explain "who did your Tav romance" because it's so silly complicated and I think I've mostly explained it in previous posts before LMAO, but the TLDR of it for those who have not heard my yapping is-

started out romancing Astarion bc she found him attractive, they were very unsuited for each other and she just is not what he needs at all, they finally broke off their weird toxic situationship in act 3 after killing Cazador

Gale fell in love with her, she rejected him when he confessed in game because she was not In Love and was scared of commitment

she was fascinated with the Emperor and did sleep with him ingame but their relationship isn't quite romantic; after she eventually goes through ceremorphosis with his help, they'll have a weird Illithid Psychic Hivemind Bond(tm) lol... he's family, essentially

her true end romance is Gale, postgame after becoming a mind flayer she goes to visit him in Waterdeep and they begin a relationship, they have a lot to navigate btwn her difficulty with commitment and the general weird challenges of having a romance btwn human & illithid, but it all works out eventually and a few years down the line they'll ultimately get married; for more see My Upcoming Fanfic that I swear I am writing and will start posting Soon

[husbandogoddess]

Hello! I know you must get a bunch of questions, I hope this isn't a bother. I've gotten into visual novels a year ago, & well a few have caught my eye. Your demo game Candied Hearts was wonderful! I have always loved fictional men, lol.

Peppermint is SOOO cute! His flustered face after saying he was looking for someone's lost honey bunny was precious! (The fact that he believes in the Holiday Gnome is adorable!) It's so sweet when he removes the cotton candy from your hair! I love his voice so much. Peppermint doesn't have much confidence in himself & despite being a captain, no one takes him seriously. But, I know this sweet prince could be a wonderful ruler. Even as he defends his abusive father, it's realistic...Peppermint is clinging onto a past memory of who his father once was. But part of me doubts that his father was ever like that...(Who exiles their 13 year's old son?) I believe it's an image that Peppermint created himself to help cope with the abuse.

I will admit, Lakritz is fine, he is an interesting & mysterious character. Reginald's route has me curious as well, will we find out why he picks on Peppermint? Probably not. But! I'm sure it will be an entertaining route. I love Candice as a female protagonist, Its so refreshing to see a female character stand up for herself! The dialogue was so much fun & I couldn't help but laugh 😊 Peppermint is such a darling! When he gives you chocolate coins & pats your head, my heart. (God, this man really is a prince.) I can't wait for his route, I just want to hold his hand, tell him no matter what happens..he'll be okay & that he is enough.

(One last thing, I swear!)

I saw a video from the visual novel corner it was about an early idea of Peppermint being a yandere? I do think it was for the better that it was scraped because he's perfect as is. 🩷

But part of me wonders what Peppermint would be like as a yandere in some alternate universe. (Good on paper, but I would literally cry if I got isekaied into a game with a yandere.😭) However, I can't get this thought out of my head. Would it start out how we originally met the kind caption? Once he develops feelings, what would he be cable of? Sorry about the long ramble...I just really want to know what he would be like.

Thank you for making such a wonderful game! I have always loved art and creative storytelling! This story was a delight & so immersive! (I just got Tumblr a few days ago, so I'm still trying to figure this out!) I got it because of passionate creators like you! Thank you so much for your time. I hope you & your team are doing well! 😊

Hey Anon! First of all, no need to apologize for the long message! I actually love receiving messages like yours, they give me an excuse to ramble LMAO. Before addressing what you wrote, I wanted to thank you for sending me your kind words and gratitude for the game. As a game developer, I often get lost in development and lose faith in myself, so receiving such kindhearted support from fans like you warms my soul, and helps not only rejuvenate me, but the team as well. So once again, thank you! I'm incredibly glad you love the main cast so far and that you were able to pick up on the nuances of their characters. Like you said, Peppermint is indeed a victim of abuse, so like many in his predicament who feel trapped, he excuses his abuser's behavior by creating a false reality for himself or using small remnants of the "good" King Karamel's done to show that he isn't all that bad. I'm sure you can guess what some of those morsels of good are though if not, they are talked about in his route! Like you said, it's all a way for him to cope. At such a young age, the only person's love he knew was Lakritz', and then he was exiled. All he had left was his cold-hearted father who could care less for him. Though, I'm sure with your help, you'll be able to remind him what love really looks like (platonic and romantic). Lakritz is definitely a mysterious character, though you'll find out more about him and his reason for wanting revenge on his route. I also want to flesh him out more in the common route in the revamped demo, since he didn't get as much screentime as his brother.

You'll actually get to know why Reginald picks on Peppermint! And trust me, Reginald's route will be an entertaining, sweet treat. ;)

Candice is such a fun protagonist to write, so I'm glad you enjoy her as well! I told the team from the jump I wanted her to be a strong character who isn't afraid to stand up against injustice.

YES, YANDERE PEPPERMINT! So, because the characters are heavily inspired by characters from Candyland (i.e. Mr. Mint -> Peppermint, Lord Licorice -> Lakritz), Peppermint was originally going to have an axe like Mr Mint and we played with the idea of that weapon being for more...sinister purposes. However, once we actually got to outlining and fleshing out these characters' backstories, the less sense it made for Peppermint to have this secret, dark and obsessive personality.

I can't say how your interactions with Peppermint would've played out if we went the yandere personality since we scrapped the idea early on in the writing process. HOWEVER, I will say that we joked about him handcuffing you somewhere in castle dungeon LMAO

Thank you AGAIN for the kind words, glad you love the story and the art! I hope you play the revamped demo and full release when they both launch soon!

[milkovichrules]

its tag game wednesday thursday!! thank you for tagging me lovely people ☺️ @iansw0rld @transmickey 🖤

if you could switch bodies with anybody for only one hour who would it be and what would you do? im a shortarse so someone big and tall would be fun... maybe a wrestler... probably baron corbin hes hot

what's your most trivial / dumbest hot take? mmm... maybe that every person should watch at least one animated thing (smth not made for kids like where the wind blows or arcane) and one thing from a non-english speaking country/with subtitles

if you had to teach a college course what would it be in? probably makeup artistry? its my one and only practical skill and I would've been a licensed artist if our teacher hadn't quit her job halfway through lmao

season 12 of shameless is suddenly happening and you've been out in charge! what plot point(s) are you gonna make happen? its the mickey and debbie show now and there will be various wholesome shenanigans but fr get carl outta the police force, maybe into college and that can be a nice bonding thing for him and liam studying together. oh and they definitely keep the house, maybe lip and deb get on good terms by fixing up the place together. debbie maybe runs into alex again and they give it another go? ian and mickey have wacky comic relief with their neighbours (the possibilities are endless) and probably think more seriously about starting a family and definitely get a cat or dog I just want to bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy

who would be your godly parent (can be any mythology)? I took a percy jackson quiz for this one and got Hephaestus, Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes, which sounds cool as shit (roman equivalent is Vulcan too?? hell yeah)

what's something you love about yourself? my eyes are really cool I think, they're mostly green but also have some blue and brown

describe your day in 5 emojis: 🥱👩‍💻☕️🎧📑

what shameless character do you think you could beat in a fight? mmmm either no one or the tiny social worker lady from season 3 lmao

tell us two truths and a lie, we'll try to guess the lie! I'm farsighted, I can speak a bit of norwegian, I love roller coasters

do you have a pet/pets? if so, how did they get their name(s)? I have two cats, artemis and athena, they're sisters from the same litter. my fiancé named them because she loves mythology (I'll put some kitten pics under the cut💕) alternate names were william the bloody and willow (if we got a boy and a girl, from buffy), april and miriam (from coraline), and teacup and lucifer (from the cat lady/downfall)

show us a meme (or picture) that captures your essence: middle one is irl only I love to be Perceived Online

what's your typical coffee / tea / beverage order? oat milk latte, iced if it's warm out

use a song to describe the last five years of your life: I really don't associate the stuff I listen to with my own life so these are just things I was really into that year:

2019: butterfly - loona 2020: lady wood - tove lo 2021: too late - the weeknd 2022: stayaway - muna 2023: hard times - ethel cain / death of me - pvris

Tagging: @softmick @golden28s @m4ndysk4nkovich @abetterdaaye @heymrspatel @stocious @callivich @jrooc @sgtmickeyslaughter @gallavichlover19 @depressedstressedlemonzest 🖤

kitten pics as promised (artemis/arti is the black and white one, athena/aggie is the tortie)

[jaynovz]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💗

Oh hi, thanks so much for sending this!

did the twin flame bruise paint you blue aka Break Up AU:

My favorite story of all time is of course my monster of a Silverflint mod au/novel. My pinned post gives a more thorough summary of this extravaganza, but basically: Silver and Flint meet back up at a holiday party a year-ish after a devastating break up and the cycle of heartache and desperate unhealthy codependency begins again.

This took over a year of my life to write, it nearly fuckin killed me lol. it's my greatest accomplishment. Complete with two interlocking timelines, alternating POV, a shitton of introspective kinky porn, doing the hardest parts of original fiction and fanfiction at the same time, and writing an ambiguous ending that feels the way that canon does.

and I nailed it imo. please enjoy the pride of my life (so far!)

the sweetest devotion, hitting me like an explosion aka Cupcakes AU:

Funny, sweet, and sad all at the same time. Mine and @brinnanza's baker Flint and guitarist Silver rom com, complete with an INTENSIVE beat for beat structure that like, god I’m so fucking proud of and was def the precursor for learning how to write Break Up AU.

I love this verse intensely, it holds a special place in my heart. It's basically the only time the boys get a happy ending :P

Also exists in podfic form!

in this garden there’s no feeling aka Hanahaki/flowers au:

Written as a prompt for Beach Blanket Blacks Sails Event in 2021.

This might actually be the piece I’m most proud of from a canon Silver character study angle. I really crawled deep into his head for this (derogatory). It was also VERY VERY difficult technically/structurally. Got to explore the Howell-Silver dynamic the way I always wanted while executing the hanahaki trope in… a very Silver-y way. 

This is not for the faint of heart lol.

a stained glass variation of the truth aka the Silver backstory: 

Yeah I'm still putting this one. This may be the most deeply personal piece I've written to date. In many ways it's my fucking heart and soul. A character study and a writing exercise, just one potential “what happened to Silver,” by no means a definitive take since that doesn’t exist. But I wrote this to get into his head more, or to have him get into mine maybe lmao, to fully embrace and understand him as a character as much as possible. It was hard, excessively researched, gave me fits, and was fucking PAINFUL EMOTIONALLY lol but I love it to pieces.

Also was the first podfic I ever recorded, if you would rather listen.

sipping on your lips, hanging on by a thread aka Milkingfic:

I talk a lot about John fucking Silver around here, but this story is a full on thorough Captain James Flint brain swizzling. I'm so proud of this character study of Flint as shown through magic freak lactation. Yep you read that right! I made it work and it's fucking brilliant if I do say so myself. Featuring Silverflint becoming partners through strife much earlier, humor, reveling in joyous sensation, and Big Flint Gender Feels.

Oh also, it's really REALLY hot.

--

Thanks for asking! My answers had changed a bit from the last time I did this challenge and it was really validating to see how far I've come since then. Mwah.

[divorcingjimmatthews]

season 2 episode 5 reactions as i watch

huge spoilers obviously

(this is mostly for myself to have somewhere to scream as i go, its LONG AF youve been warned)

RANDALL IS SCARING ME SO MUCH LIKE PLEASE DONT BANG ON STUFF WHAT IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY MAKE THE TALISMAN FALL I AM HAVING A HEART ATTACK WITH THIS SCENE. RANDALL STOP STOP STOP YOURE GOING TO DIE DUDE

(straight up cant watch the rest of the episode because i paused it and cant bring myself to unpause lmaooo. from ends here for me i guess)

ok its over thank god

JADE STOP DRINKING SOMEONE HELP THIS MAN. hes even sleeping with the fucking journal like please he needs 20 interventions

also dammit he actually moved to the bar i accidentally manifested it LMAO

can the show please stop torturing this man with the hallucinations please and thank you

TABITHA IS IN MAMA WOLF MODE LETS GO

boyd defending sara... knowing what happened to his wife and what she did... oh man. this hurts. knowing tabitha also lost a child before turns the intensity of all this to eleven millions

LMAO ok someone calling tabitha out for her basement hole and its consequences at long last. i love tabitha but like it has to be acknowledged

"That part i cant help you with" dang Good Line

honestly cant even imagine how sara is feeling i dont know what id be doing in her situation like just watching it stresses me so much.

ETHAN BABY :'(((( im sobbing

KRISTI IS SO PRETTY oh my god i am so bisexual right now. she cant just do this. the shirtttt. i think im seeing the sweetest and most beautiful woman in the world

dhsjfhsh marielle doing the same thing with the shirt that i had the reader do in my fic i cant even

"For a long time it smelled like you. Now it just smells" i laughed so hard

"Youre still you" 🥺

SARA GIRL WHAT ARE YOU DOING ARE YOU TRYING TO GET K oh yeah wait she probably is

oh its her house ok god i thought she'd gone to the matthews'

NEW HOUSE WHO DIS

cant belive an extra got one of the few houses this is so funny to me for no reason

this scene gosh. ouch. ouch. im taking 2 damage per second watching this episode

JADE. the bottles. jade my beloved this is point of no return level stuff. mrs Liu please come get him home

VICTOR

victoooor

"You dont look good" im losing it

thank you victor

victor 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 i love him. the sweetest

JADE IM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU DONT BE LIKE THISSS

"WAIT" i fucking cant i love this man

"This took me all fucking night" jade never stop being the funniest mf on the planet please

jim calling tabitha tabby is so sweet it got me

"Faith. In you" oh boy. Oh man. Oh boy oh man. This scene. How is this show hitting every singe fucking note.

donna brought up abby omgomg

OK BUT CAN YOU BLAME HIM FOR WANTING TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE THIS TIME

(maybe)

(arghhhh this is so hard)

"only monsters live in the woods" ethan i love everything you say. go my boy

(sara voice) okay

"The trees theyre changing" i love how victor is 100% harmless but could NOT be any more ominous lmaooo

CAR GRAVEYARD

"When i was alone i moved the cars because i didnt want to see them. Theres a lot more behind the rocks but those were already here" GODDAMMIT

no but victor is literally the sweetest man on earth. you were rightfully angry victor !! jade now you apologise.

"okay" ill kill him

victor sitting on the car 🥺🥺🥺🥺 im going to cry

what a scene. my god.

SARA HAS ONLY BEEN THERE FOR A COUPLE OF MONTHS?

"Do you live here in town" ELGIN i love you

poor julie if she knew her crush is out there flirting with the local murderer

"I like what i like and i like owls" based. thats me writing 300 jade posts per day

oh boy this scene (me about every scene)

"THAT PART ALWAYS SEEMED A BIT LIKE WISHFUL THINKING TO ME" im. ill be processing for 3 years

"Did you do something that needs forgiving?" elgin my sweet boy

jim rightly proud of his badass kid

"you put hate inside me" :'(

is she gonna give her her stuff damn shes too nice

a part of me is feeling like shes gonna smash it tho lmao

SORRY FOR DOUBTING YOU MRS LIU

i am starting to assume that everyone forgot about tobey so jade is never even gonna know that it was sara lmao

KENNY

oh my god kenny

im hurt seeing him so hurt

TOWNSPEOPLE CAN WE GIVE KENNY A BREAK OVER HERE PLEASE WHAT R U STARING AT HES VERY RIGTHFULLY MAD HE HAS EVERY RIGHT

oh elgin

elgin youre too sweet

elginnnnn

everyones gonna hate you elgin 😭😭😭 i am suffering for you

KRISTI BECAME EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL THIS IS NOT A DRILL

now please do jade

"KRISTI WHERE ARE YOU GOING BABY STOP"

KRISTI NO NO NOOOOOO

i love her so much

"People liked him, then he changed" dont do this to me

"I am at the end of my rope" oh god

TABITHA??????

holy fucking shit im going to die of heart attack

this doesnt have captions i dont know what the creepy ghost children are saying

I WAS LITERALLY THINKING I WISHED TABITHA AND JADE WOULD INTERACT AND LOOK AT THIS NOW

i knew jim would not vote box lets goo

BOYD WHY

Randall ????

OKAY that tabitha and marielle scene from last episode was bothering me so much i cant believe i didnt think of this

what an episode my god

[vitaminwaterreviews]

Girls' Generation - Oh!

Overall this album was teetering on the edge of becoming boring and repetitive, but it did enough for me. I definitely enjoyed the experience, and now I have a good idea of what SNSD B-sides sound like which is good knowledge to have gained. But yeah, I knew they were synth-pop, but the synth-pop songs are SUPER synth-pop. The songs that weren’t synth-pop were generally really good, even the slow jam was nice. The Taeyeon-Jessica duet was the highlight of the album – I feel like we don’t get unit songs nearly as much in kpop albums these days. Have Red Velvet ever had a unit song on an album? Have aespa? I know Twice did on Formula of Love, but even then it was divided evenly so everyone got exactly one unit song. Anyway that’s a bit of a tangent. If I was Key I’d feel a bit hard done by, I hardly even noticed him in the song he was on. Good album, not a Great album, to be honest I’m not sure I’d give this Album of the Year if it came out today. Average score of 7.4 (excluding Gee and Genie ofc) which feels about right. It’s miles better than the pre-SNSD stuff, it’s nowhere near Pink Tape.

Okay, I’ve cooled down a bit since yesterday, but I’m still fairly certain that Pink Tape is probably my favorite kpop album of all time now. Anyway, let’s see how it compares to the only girl group album to ever win Album of the Year:

Oh!

So yeah, believe it or not, I’ve never heard this song before

Opening reminiscent of I Got A Boy

Okay so I obviously don’t speak Korean, but I feel like SNSD had a very “cute” singing accent? Like, Orange Caramel do the same thing I feel. Any Koreans in chat wanna comment on whether their singing voices are particularly aegyo?

This chorus is actually really fun

The “oh oh oh oh” part feels really synthesized but I like that a lot

Wait hold on are they cheerleaders or football players?

No high notes? Taeyeon? Jessica? Where you at?

OH GOD ITS RUN DEVIL RUN lmao teasing the repack

Also it’s really telling that I know the repack title track but not the original title track

7/10, it was pretty good but nothing special. It’s no Gee, definitely no IGAB

Show! Show! Show!

Okay just for reference, I don’t know any SNSD B-sides

Actually wait I do know Lazy Girl so I guess I only know one SNSD B-side

Starting synthy

WOAHHHHH starting out with a bass drop lmao holy shit

The song as a whole feels kind of flat to me?

The hush section is nice but the chorus just feels like more verse

Yeah, they burned their drop. Like they started the song off as loud as they’re gonna get, so there’s n-

Okay nvm I guess there is somewhere left to go

The bridge 100% just saved this song

Who does the English speaking bit? Tiffany? Jessica?

Actually I do wanna know, I’m gonna look it up

Oh it’s both of them alternating, alright

8/10, the bridge and last chorus Totally saved it

Sweet Talking Baby

This is a song that I’ve heard of which means it must be good

…huh

…okay? Yeah okay, I like this, this is nice

Strings everywhere

The chorus reminds me of something

A bit of electric guitar in the post-chorus, I think that’s the first time it’s appeared on the album

But yeah, strings absolutely everywhere. This feels super disco

Nah, we did not earn that modulation

7/10, the intro was cool and then it was just decent

Forever

Whisper into my ear like

Omg is it slow jam time?? We didn’t get a slow jam on Pink Tape (thank fuck)

I think it might be!

Where’s the beat at

There it is

Dude I’m sorry but this style of music is so predictable. Like it’s cool initially, but I’ve heard this exact same formula for a song across every single group so far except f(x), and maybe aespa?

The area around 2:50 is nice

Oh this sounds really Disney

Y’know, this won me over somehow

7/10 which is about as high as I can put one of these

Be Happy

This album is so … what’s the word

Loud? Aggressive?

Nah more like Blunt. There’s no subtlety here, just Raw Emotion

Why are they yelling “be happy” at me so aggressively?

I haven’t spoken much about the instrumentation because it feels like very standard SNSD instrumentation

Yeah when they say “be happy” I am not convinced, they make me a bit scared that I’m not happy, they sure don’t sound happy

Like this isn’t a happy song, its a jam, but jams aren’t necessarily happy

This is why I like the Korean lyrics, because then I don’t get lyrical/music contradictions

6/10

Boys & Girls

Oh it’s with Key

Instrumentally it’s not that special

Woah Key is super processed here, he sounds nothing like how f(x) used whatever SM guy they borrowed

(At least they’re crediting their male artists by this point)

Chorus isn’t too special, we appreciate the slap bass I guess

Was that all that Key got? He was there for like two lines wtf

7/10, I guess

Talk To Me

Lol what is this, harmonica?

Okay wait whatever’s going on here it’s a great break from their synth sound

I see you there, bass

The percussion is excellent, piano is nice

This is actually such a good song wtf

Caramelllll

The sweet and pretty vocals over this beat is really fun

A HARMONICA SOLO

Okay wait who produced this?

Machan Taylor, not a name I know yet

And apparently this is just Taeyeon and Jessica which is So cool

9/10, that was such a cool song wtf

Star Star Star

Korean counting, whispering, the piano is fun, the strings are dramatic

OH NO SHES CRYING

Okay, I’m interested

Apparently these people produced Gee

There’s like, No percussion going on, I really like that

Yeah, if you’re gonna make a ballad, make it like this

I still don’t have much to comment on, but I enjoyed this a lot

8/10

Stick Wit U

Well this sure is a different vibe

I dunno what to make of the instrumentals, they feel different from the rest of the album but I cannot place why

“Go!”

The pre-chorus is fun. Bouncy, cute

Not sure about the chorus, what part is meant to be catchy?

That bridge felt kinda forced

Outro is fun

7/10, not bad, not special

Day By Day

They do use quite a bit of classical inspiration in this

Oh!

Well this is hardly classical, this is a jam

The chorus isn’t nearly as fun as the verse

That feels true a lot actually

But yeah, the guitar, the percussion, I like the verses

I wish the chorus was more syncopated

I’m curious what this one is about lyrically, it’s hard to gauge

8/10

Gee

10/10 obviously, this is the greatest kpop song of all time

Genie

8/10 tbh, this was never my jam but I do quite like it

[incendiobrock]

Pranked You ;) {Colby Brock}

Request: Hello sweetie! I was wondering if you could do a story where the reader and Colby aren't dating YET but there is yah know, chemistry and tension. But one day sam decided to pull a prank on Colby and it involved EVERYONE. So basically he makes it seem like he woke up in a different world or something where stuff is different. For example: him and reader are dating (you can choose whatever other stuff happens, lol) but once Colby figures out the prank, he pulls reader aside. They have a small argument before reader blows off on him, in which he says "I've never wanted to kiss you as badly as I do know" and that's how they admit their feelings! Thank you! And can't wait to see what you write love

A/N: Hi! Thank you so much for your request, sorry for the wait, I have been very busy with school and work. I hope the wait is worth it though! Get ready for a long imagine, I’m pretty sure this is about 3,000 words. I hope you love it! I just realized that I tried to keep this imagine gender neutral but I forgot that I accidentally put some she/her pronouns in it, I’m so sorry!

Warnings: Angsty, Cussing, Mentions of alcohol, implied smut

------------------------------------------------------------

It was just like any other day for you. You woke up around noon because you were exhausted from the day before. Between working, going to college, and trying to keep somewhat of a social life, everyone could see just how worn out you would get day to day. So today you decided to treat yourself with a few extra hours of this beautiful thing called sleep.

Your phone rest on the bedside table and of course checking it and replying to the unread messages was the first step of your morning routine. The first messages you saw were from the group chat that consisted of you, Kat, and Tara. Apparently, while you were sleeping, Tara and Kat had a whole conversation about a girl’s day that they wanted to plan for you three. The last text sent was from Kat and it read, “I can’t wait for y/n to see all these messages in the morning. We planned the best girl’s day while she was probably passed the fuck out in her bed lmao”.

You smiled sending them a text back alerting them that you are indeed alive and down for all the plans they had created. In fact, you would be seeing them later at Sam and Colby’s place for a couple’s dinner/pool/movie date night. Jake would be there as well, and although you were tragically single, you loved all of them to death and hanging out over there was like the most elite sleepovers you would have with your best friends as a child.

A new text appeared on your screen just as you began to emerge from the comfort of your bed sheets, “God finally you’re awake. I’ve been waiting for Kat to tell me you answered her message all morning. I need your help tonight with a prank. Colby is never going to see it coming”

“A prank? I thought you guys didn’t do that anymore...? But I’m in ;)” You sent back. Out of all the trap girls and all the boys, Colby and you got along the best. Ever since you first met, which was years ago at this point, Colby and you have been inseparable. You tried so hard to avoid your feelings for him, in hopes to not develop a crush that ended up ruining your friendship, but Kat picked up on it right away. She told you constantly that she could easily set you up with the beautiful blue-eyed boy, but you insisted that things would happen naturally if there was truly something there between the two of you. And so, you went on, day by day, falling helplessly in love with the sweetest boy you have ever come to know.

Sam sent a message telling you to head over to their place as soon as possible. You swore that you basically lived there already. You were at their house way more than you were at your own. You couldn’t imagine living further than 15 minutes from them. After what felt like a century to Sam, you arrived at the house. Your hand loudly knocking on the big wooden door.

“Hey y/n! How are you?” Kat asked, pulling you into a big hug as she opened the door. You smiled and hugged back at her kind gesture, “I’m good! How are you? Do you know anything about this prank on you know who?” You questioned her. She glared at you, silently telling you to lower your volume. “Y/n! Colby is right upstairs be quiet!” She whispers, laughing at you almost blowing their cover immediately upon arrival.

Kat was quick to take you by the arm and drag you to the theater room where Sam was already sitting on one of the opulent red couches. He greeted you, telling you that he wanted to film your reaction to him telling you what prank you were going to pull. You agreed and sat down on the sofa facing the blonde. “Colby’s taking a nap right now upstairs because he was up super late last night editing one of our Sam and Colby videos. I figured we could use his exhaustion to our advantage and try and prank him that he woke up in some sort of alternate universe. I figured you could go into his room and set up a couple cameras, and I’ll keep two hidden in the living room where me, Kat, Jake, and Tara will be, so we hopefully get his full reaction. I want you to sneak into his bed and like cuddle him or something and when he wakes up, I want you to pretend that you’ve been dating him for a long time now. He is going to be super confused but just try and convince him that it’s true. If he ends up downstairs, we will go along with it too. I really want to see if he will think that it’s real after a while.” Sam explained.

You felt your face burning as your cheeks became a deep shade of red. He couldn’t be serious right? He wanted you to pretend that you were dating Colby? “I- Uh… I don’t know Sam won’t that be a really mean prank?” You tried to play it off, hoping that you didn’t just annihilate all your efforts to keep your feelings hidden. “You guys are like best friends, I don’t think he could be mad at you for such an innocent prank.” Sam replied. You began to feel incredibly flustered at the thought of having to be so affectionate with Colby. The room started to feel like a sauna as the sweat began accumulating all over your body.

Sure, you and Colby had cuddled before, but it was extremely platonic… Plus, it only happened in very specific moments, like last Wednesday after you had a couple of drinks, and everyone was sat watching a movie where he wrapped his arm around you so you could rest your head since it could barely hold itself up. You snapped out of your thoughts quickly realizing that Sam had been waiting on a response from you. You knew Sam was stubborn, he wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. Your eyes met back with his and the only thing you could get yourself to do was slightly nod your head ‘yes’.

“Perfect.” Sam smirked, getting up to turn off the camera and hand it to you so you could set it up in Colby’s room. You already knew that he was thinking about how many points this would score him for a Sam and Colby prank war if it turns out the way he is wanting.

Before you knew it you had made it all the way up into Colby’s room where you had strategically hidden the camera, facing it towards the sleeping boy in his bed. You let out a deep sigh, trying to prepare yourself for what was about to go down. “If this ruins everything for me, I am going to kill you Golbach.” You whispered, knowing the deep sleeper wouldn’t hear a single thing. And so, the prank began.

You took a gentle hold of the silky black sheets and quietly slipped into bed right next to Colby. There was no game plan in your mind, you didn’t even think up a storyline about your fake relationship for once he woke up. You squeezed your eyes shut in fear as you quickly wrapped your body around his, resting your head under his chin as he slept on his back. He twitched slightly, bringing his arm up, lazily holding you back. The breath caught in your throat, this was already hard enough for you and now he is cuddling you back? You glanced up to see his face, his eyelashes were slightly fluttering, and his soft lips had a slight part in them. He was still fast asleep. You decided to try and wake him up by moving around in his arm slightly, hoping the movement would pull him out of his dreams.

“Y/n?” His voice rung through the room, deep and raspy. He sat up slightly, glancing around the dark lair that he called a bedroom, but his arm still remained around your frame. “W-what are you doing here?” He stuttered, visibly confused by the sight of you in his arms.

“What? I can’t cuddle my boyfriend?” You answered, shocked that you could even get those words to come out of your mouth. His eyes widened at your response, pure shock etched into his face. “Boyfriend?” You felt his heart start to race as he replied.

His arm dropped from your body as he delicately pushed himself out of bed. He was now hovering over you as he stood by the bedside table. There was a clear glass with some water sitting on a coaster on the table. His strong hand wrapped around it as he brought it up to his mouth, downing the rest of the water that was in it. You could tell by his body language that he was beyond confused. The glass clinked as he practically dropped it back onto the nightstand.

“Am I dreaming or something? Since when was I your boyfriend?” His eyebrows furrowed as he continued to look at you for some answers. Your heart sunk thinking about how mean of a prank this truly was, at least from your point of view. “Baby… Are you serious? We’ve been together for years now, are you feeling okay?” You said as you threw your legs over the side of the bed, pulling his hand into your own.

Your thumb gently rubbed circles onto the back of his hand, but only for a couple seconds before he pulled it away. “Is this a fucking prank or something?” He asked, irritation evident from his tone. You shook your head ‘no’, it was becoming hard to process words. You knew this was upsetting him, but Sam had you promise to make the prank last for as long as you could.

“I’m sorry- I have to get out of here really quick.” Colby said, making his way out the bedroom door. You said nothing back, hoping that Sam would end the prank for you as Colby made his way down the stairs.

“Hey brother! You’re finally up. Where’s y/n? I thought we were all doing a couples movie night?” Jake interrogated as Colby glanced to see Sam, Kat, and Tara standing over in the kitchen. Colby brought his hand up to his face rubbing his eyes, there’s no way that Jake is saying this too. Colby began to think that he was seriously going crazy. And then everyone else joined in on the conversation. You could hear them loudly as you stayed glued to Colby’s bed.

Sam began to ask if Colby was feeling alright, and you heard Kat say that maybe we should take Colby to the hospital in case he was losing his memory. You felt the panic in Colby rise as he was deflecting everyone’s concern insisting that he wasn’t losing his memory, and that he definitely wasn’t going crazy. He knew for a fact that you two weren’t dating, and none of them could convince him otherwise. “Dude, she’s gonna hear you up there. You’re going to break her heart. You really don’t remember?” Sam pushed.

You finally had enough. You raced out of Colby’s room and rushed down the stairs. You stopped immediately upon entering the kitchen, seeing everybody else still standing there surrounding Colby. The energy switched as they all looked to you, Sam pleading with his eyes for you to keep going. “I’m so sorry Colby, it was just a prank, please don’t be upset.” You couldn’t handle it any longer, the pain on his face was too much for you to bear. You watched as he scoffed back, “I knew it. Fuck you, guys. I’m going back upstairs.”

You felt horrible as you watched him stomp back up to his room, slamming the door shut behind him. Tears stung the back of your eyes, this was all your fault. You excused yourself from the group and somberly made it to Colby’s door. You preceded to place a faint knock on the wood, “Colby? I’m so sorry, can you please open up?” Your voice was so soft, it would’ve been hard for him to hear if he hadn’t already anticipated your arrival. The door swung open as Colby quickly made his way back over to where he previously sat on the couch.

You stayed frozen at the door for a couple seconds, hoping to brace yourself for the angry boy inside. You took hold of the cold metal doorknob, pulling the door shut behind you. You tip-toed your way over to the sofa and took a seat far from Colby. Your mind was running a hundred miles an hour as you tried to concoct a coherent sentence. “What the hell were you thinking? Did you seriously think that I would find this funny?” He spat in your direction.

“It wasn’t my prank, Sam just wanted me to help him out.” You said back, desperately trying to reason with him. He sarcastically laughed, running a hand through his dark hair. “I didn’t ask who’s prank it was y/n.”

You gulped, it felt suffocating in his room. The dark ambiance that normally felt inviting suddenly seemed like your own personal hell. “Colby, I didn’t want to hurt you I swear. I was trying my best to keep everything lighthearted. I could never hurt you.” Your voice was so delicate, it was so hard to speak. The tears were still threating to make an appearance, and that was the last thing you wanted.

“But you did, y/n. That’s the thing. Whether or not you ‘meant’ to hurt me, you did. And everyone else was in on it to. Did you even try and tell Sam that this prank wasn’t a good idea? Did you even think, for a split second, that this was incredibly immature? You were all treating me like I was losing my damn mind, trying to convince me that we were dating when we clearly never were.”

His words hurt, but they were all true. You had never been together, what were you thinking pretending like you were? All to satisfy Sam? To help him get a head start on the prank wars by completely crushing Colby’s heart? He is your best friend for crying out loud. “Look Colby. I never wanted to do this, okay? Did you ever stop and think that maybe I didn’t want to be doing this either? You mean everything to me. Why would I ever purposely hurt you? Especially after everything we have been through. All the ups and downs, the messy breakups, all the fights. I love you so god damn much and I hope you know that I would never, ever, hurt you like that.” By this point the tears were streaming down your face. Your previous spot on the couch was long discarded as you now stood right in front of Colby, praying that he knew you were being serious about not hurting him.

Your eyes searched his for any glimpse of a sign showing that he believed you. His bright blue eyes looked a lot more intimidating than usual. You couldn’t tell what he was thinking, his expression not giving you any clues. Finally, he responded, “Is it wrong that I’ve never wanted to kiss you as badly as I do right now?”

And finally, there was your sign. His eyes no longer looked intimidating. In fact, they had completely changed into something much different, lust. You quickly took a step closer to him as he took a stand right in front of you, placing his strong hands on either side of your face. He roughly pulled you in, causing your lips to crash together with loads of passion. They fit perfectly together, better than you ever imagined them. They worked in sync as the feeling inside of you was igniting a fire. He was so rough, but surprisingly still gentle. Acting as if one wrong move would completely break you. Your lips remained locked as he pushed you backwards, surprising you as your back made contact with his plush bed. He was on top of you, hungrily continuing the kiss.

You both pulled apart abruptly, gasping for air after your heavy make out session. “I guess now’s a good time to let you know that I am absolutely, one hundred percent, in love with you.” You stated, starring deep into his eyes. “Then I guess now’s a good time to tell you that I feel the same.” He responded, bringing you back in for another passionate kiss. You pulled back again, “So, does this mean I can finally see those handcuffs I keep hearing about in action?” You asked him, slightly laughing. “Only if you promise to keep quiet.” He winked back. And that was the start of your amazing, long awaited relationship.

[makeste]

BnHA 323: “I Don’t Know How to Explain to You That You Should Care About Other People”

Previously on BnHA: Kacchan was all, “Izuku, I’m sorry.” Bakugou Stans were all, “[sobs for a week straight and tearfully awards him the Nobel Prize for character development].” Deku was all, “[faints in Kacchan’s arms].” Iida was all, “[trying to decide if Ochako genuinely tried to kill him a few minutes ago].” Horikoshi was all, “NO TIME FOR HUGS WE MUST GET BACK TO UA.” The civilians holed up at U.A. were all, “WE TOOK A VOTE AND DECIDED THAT WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE JERKS ABOUT THIS AND MAKE A BIG FUSS ABOUT YOU LETTING DEKU BACK INTO THE SCHOOL.” Deku was all “[stands there looking like he expected nothing less and breaking my heart more and more with each passing moment].” Ochako was all, “that does it, looks like I’m gonna have to do something about this... next chapter, that is.”

Today on BnHA: Flashback!Rat Principal is all “I just want you all to know that I spent nine million dollars turning U.A. into a giant Battleship-style grid that can burrow underground and zoom around in a giant subway maze because Horikoshi lacks a grounded understanding of both civil engineering and economics.” Back in the present day, Jeanist is all, “EVERYONE TAKE HEED, MY COMRADES AND I HAVE DEEMED IT EXPEDIENT TO CONVEY THIS AUSPICIOUS YOUTH BACK TO THIS STRONGHOLD. WE ANTICIPATE THAT WE MAY DEPEND UPON YOUR GOODWILL AND ACQUIESCENCE TO THESE TERMS.” The civilians were all, “NO.” Ochako was all, “EMPATHY, MOTHERFUCKERS, DO YOU SPEAK IT?!” The civilians were all, “oh shit.” Anyway so Ochako is a giant badass, but I’m a little worried that she’s going to get struck by lightning. Please come down from there.

so before we start this chapter, I would just like to apologize for having not posted the ch 321 recap yet, and would like to reassure everyone, and especially Iida who is staring at me with Sad Wobbly Guilt Trip Eyes, that I will get to that as soon as I can

OMG FLASHBACK??

yes please Horikoshi please show us more of class 1-A and their Deku intervention strategy jam sessions

oh dear

Iida you are too pure and good for this cruel world. [sprays the U.A. civilians with a water bottle] NO. BAD CIVILIANS! NO OSTRACIZING SCARED AND EXHAUSTED CHILDREN IN THE HOUSE

EXCUSE ME RAT PRINCIPAL WHAT’S WITH THESE MIXED MESSAGES

???

RAT PRINCIPAL: he’s free to return to us at any time!!

ALSO RAT PRINCIPAL: but it’s too risky for him to return to us

?? ??????? ?????????????????????

so now he’s going on about how strong the U.A. Barrier is, and how it’s comparable to the defensive capabilities of Tartarus. this would have sounded a lot more impressive before chapter 297 lol

OH!!!! HELLO, WHAT’S THIS!!!

A TIMELY CALLBACK TO A CERTAIN MYSTERIOUS EVENT WHICH HASN’T BEEN REFERENCED SINCE USJ? [U.A. TRAITOR MUSIC INTENSIFIES]

so now Rat Principal says he upgraded U.A.’s security systems with his own “modifications”, whatever the fuck that means. I mean look, I’ve been saying for a long time now that U.A. is the best place for everyone to hole up, don’t get me wrong. but that was mostly on account of there not being any other practical alternatives. but you’re making it sound like you figured out a way to actually make it Decay-proof or some wild shit like that

-- hold up, DID YOU ADD A FORCE FIELD. DID YOU TRICK THIS SCHOOL OUT WAKANDA-STYLE YOU CRAZY MARSUPIAL. HOLY SHIT. because that would actually be perfect

LMAO

WHAT KIND OF GALAXY BRAIN BULLSHIT. “NAH THERE’S NO NEED FOR A FORCE FIELD, LET’S JUST PUT WHEELS ON IT”

oh okay so the whole campus is basically capable of burrowing itself underground. that’s insane lol I wonder how they pulled that off. probably got poor Cementoss working overtime

blah blah blah so basically the entire campus is split into a grid and each section of the grid is capable of its own independent movement. lol this is just the Merone Base from KHR. you thought no one would notice this casual plagiarism ten years after the fact, but YOU UNDERESTIMATED YOUR AUDIENCE, HORIKOSHI

“joke’s on you imma just lampshade it” WELL ALL RIGHT THEN

“look at me I’m so fucking self-aware” fucking swear to god. I can’t believe this man is my favorite mangaka of all time smdh

“excuse me, I wasn’t finished describing all the rest of this bullshit yet,” Rat Principal breaks in impatiently. “we also added a steel wall all around the underground of the campus that’s 3000 steel plates thick. that’s fifteen fucking meters of solid fucking steel just fyi. and if anyone fucks around with any part of it the defense system will activate immediately! and also all of the plates are independently motorized, whatever the fuck that means!! in conclusion you’re gonna need a fucking tower crane to suspend all of your disbelief by the time I’m through with this paragraph”

“also Shiketsu is almost as reinforced as U.A. but not quite because we still had to make sure we were better.” but of course. and apparently the two schools are connected via a secret tunnel as Hagakure mentioned earlier

LSDKFJLSDKJFLK

“WAIT WHAT” LMAO YOU HEARD HIM, NOW INASA CAN VISIT YOU BOTH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT AND TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE WEIRD DREAM HE HAD. GOD BLESS YOU HORIKOSHI

(ETA: moment of appreciation for Shouto and Katsuki having the same thought at the same time and making Knowing Eye Contact and saying the exact same thing out loud in perfect unison like the best friends they are. what a blessed day.)

so Tokoyami is all “but wait if you engineered all this shit all the way back during the Band arc how did you even know that Tomura’s quirk awakening would become a thing, Horikoshi -- uh, I mean, Principal Nezu”

and Rat Principal is all “lol idk”

“basically I just woke up one morning and was all ‘say, you know what this school really needs? a fifteen-meter-thick underground steel wall, and the ability to break up into little pieces that individually zoom around wherever the fuck they want.’ jesus christ. lol if money and common sense were apparently no obstacle why didn’t you just teleport U.A. to the fucking moon or something. maybe I should shut up before I given him any ideas

dsfaelkjldkjgl

you heard it here first, folks, all of this cost a grand total of nine million U.S. dollars. well technically it cost “more than” nine million dollars. never has that distinction been more important lmao. are we sure this barrier was really made of steel and not cardboard? who the hell sold it to them, Ea-Nasir??

this is my favorite manga series of all time. yes I am ashamed

“in conclusion please do your best to reach Deku-kun” SO WHAT WAS ALL THAT NONSENSE ABOUT IT BEING TOO RISKY THEN. anyway thank you for this super informative and edifying flashback, Horikoshi. I will cherish it always. I don’t even want to read another translation of this absurdity lmao, there’s something special about it just the way it is. pretty sure Horikoshi just had a cracked out fever dream one night and transferred it to the pages of the manga verbatim

anyway so back to the unruly mob

not their finest moment. please excuse me while I cover poor Deku’s ears and give him a good shoosh pap

oh wow the parents are out here too

is Mitsuki trying to hold Inko back?? that’s the last thing this fandom needs right now is more Mitsuki discourse fffwlkjs. and even Jiroudad, scientifically proven to be the best dad in all of BnHA, is just standing there silently looking vaguely unhappy. way to rise to the moment you guys

MONOMA

so this settles it for me that Aizawa is not at UA. I know a lot of people have been wondering about his whereabouts, and if I had to wager a guess it would be that something happened with Shirakumo/Kurogiri. I can’t think of anything else -- even the loss of an eye and a limb -- that would keep him from his kids at a time like this

anyway but this is excellent Monoma content right here though. I love that he apparently adopted Eri after a single interaction with her. also WHERE IS SHINSOU DAMMIT. THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW

and Kouta’s there too looking like he wants to run over to Deku but Ragdoll won’t let him :/

it’s gotta be pretty upsetting for him to see his hero like this and not having anyone stand up for him. [taps megaphone] IS THIS THING ON. OKAY YEAH IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING. AHEM. PAGING URARAKA OCHAKO. GONNA NEED YOU TO GET OVER HERE ALREADY AND MAKE THAT BIG DRAMATIC SPEECH WHICH YOU ARE CLEARLY DYING TO MAKE. IF YOU DON’T DO IT SOON I’M GONNA HAVE TO STEP IN, AND YOU REALLY DON’T WANT ME TO DO THAT SINCE MY SPEECH WILL NOT BE VERY GOOD OR INSPIRING, AND WILL PROBABLY JUST CONSIST OF “HELLO, YOU ARE ALL STUPID, PLEASE SHUT UP AND GO AWAY”

so now Mic is telling them to calm down. at least someone’s speaking up here, geez

OH MY GOD

MY MAN JEANIST OUT HERE DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST: MAKING EVERYONE FEEL GUILTY AND JUDGED

OH MY GOD HE IS GIVING SUCH A LONG AND BORING SPEECH LMAO IS YOUR STRATEGY TO PUT THEM ALL TO SLEEP OR WHAT

truly in awe of this man’s ability to take messages which could easily be conveyed in ELI5-speak, and stubbornly convert them into incomprehensible language the likes of which you need a graduate degree in order to understand

“hey guys, so originally our plan was to use Deku as bait for the villains, but that didn’t really work and also we realized it was kinda dumb and was probably gonna get him killed, so we brought him back here instead.” was that really so hard, Jeanist. also are we all really just gonna sit back here and watch Jeanist take full credit for Bakugou’s plan just like that lmao

(ETA:

WHERE DID ENDEAVOR GO AND WHO IS THIS DIABOLICAL MASTER OF DISGUISE. lol I genuinely didn’t notice this because I was too busy digging through thesauruses trying to rewrite Jeanist’s speech; many thanks to @class1akids​ for pointing it out and making my day immeasurably better. take it easy there Dick Tracy.)

“anyway so please stop being dicks and let him fucking rest so he can save all your ungrateful asses” what an impassioned and inspiring plea. time to see if the masses will listen to reason

narrator: they did not listen to reason

oh my god finally Ochako is doing something. YEAH OCHAKO WOOOO SHOW THEM HOW IT’S DONE

hmm

this entire chapter is truly and utterly nonsensical to me lol

(ETA: on my second readthrough I’m fucking dying at how she stole the megaphone right out of Mic’s hand lmao. and how Kacchan is all “fuck yeah nothing I appreciate more than some quality fucking larceny.”)

oh I see she was jumping on top of the main building so as to scream down at them all more impressively

“ANYWAY DEKU IS PRETTY COOL ACTUALLY, YOU GUYS ARE JUST MEAN” couldn’t have said it better myself Ochako

lol uh

gotta say I did not have “Ochako reveals the secret of OFA to the entire U.A. Citizen Clown Parade” on my bingo card for this week. it’s a bold strategy cotton let’s see if it pays off

SDLFKJSL

“NO, SERIOUSLY, HAVE YOU LOOKED AT HIM YOU GUYS. YOU THINK HE LIKES RUNNING AROUND DRESSED LIKE A RUSTED OIL DRUM?? HE DID THAT FOR YOU YOU UNGRATEFUL SLOBS”

so she is basically explaining the entire Deku Angst arc to them and explaining what a good and selfless protagonist Deku is, YES, PREACH

OMG IT’S THE GIGANTIC FOX LADY

not to insinuate anything, but what exactly were you doing standing out here with the hysterical mob, Gigantic Fox Lady? you’re better than that

-- KACCHAN SIGHTING!!

sdlkfjl. thanks for weighing in with that helpful and important observation. where have you been for the last five minutes. were you asleep. was it Jeanist’s speech

never mind, now he’s yelling at the civilians so I instantly forgive him

THE FUTURE NUMBER ONE HERO, EVERYONE. THANK YOU, THANK YOU. HE’LL BE HERE ALL WEEK

“anyway so I’m just going to end the chapter here” lmao seventeen pages truly do go by so fast. at least he didn’t try to force in a cliffhanger at the end this time. dare I say, growth

so I guess the civilians are either gonna have a Kamino and/or Fukuoka-esque moment where they remember how to be decent people and apologize to this poor young man, or else they’ll remain unpersuaded, and so Kacchan will have to knock a few of their heads around until they become more inclined to be reasonable. either option is fine by me lol

[tennessoui]

39. Kissing tears from the other’s face. (if possible Anakin kissing Obi-Wan?)

hell yeah i can do that! so....this may be a bit of a continuation of KUWSK because I've wanted to write one for a while now and at first I was going to do ANakin proposes and Obi-Wan just starts crying and anakin panics thinking he broke Obi and the kids are definitely going to kill him, but this is a tad more ridiculous.

if you've never read KUWSK honestly more power to you this au took over my life over the summer (ao3 link) (my tumblr tag), but basically all you need to know is obi-wan was an old crotchety divorced man and then he let the skywalkers (Anakin and the toddler twins) move in to his too-big house and the skywalkers basically adopted him and anakin fell in love but it took them like two years or so to get together even while obi-wan just became the twins' new father.

this is set mmmm when the twins are about 8 in this, so the kenobi-skywalkers (not actually married) have been living together for about 4 years and obikin has been together for about two years.

lmao just realized how much of a build up this is oops anyway

(1k because this is a preview of something that will go up on ao3 very soon)

No one's ever really accused Anakin of being a patient man, not even Anakin himself, but he's realized by now that he can wait for things that he knows implicitly are worth waiting for.

Obi-Wan Kenobi, for example.

Tonight, for a much more specific--and explicit--example.

When Obi-Wan had come home from campus with a flyer for a regional kids sleepaway summer camp tucked in between spring quarter exam papers, Anakin had been a touch skeptical. Obi-Wan had shrugged when they'd talked about it later, out of earshot of Luke and Leia.

Eight year olds, after all, rarely get a huge opinion in what they do over the summer.

"A month?" Anakin had asked reading over the flyer for the seventh time. "That's practically the whole summer. We'd have no time for Magic Eight Ball trips then."

"Thank god for that," Obi-Wan had muttered under his breath.

"You had fun and you know it."

"I think I wrote a New Roommate Wanted ad in my head at least twelve different times," his partner had corrected. "Look at their website. It's affordable, progressive, safe....my grandfather used to send me to these sorts of summer camps all the time. I loved it."

Anakin had thought uncharitably that Obi-Wan had probably loved it more than the alternative of spending the whole of summer either waiting for his father to remember him or doing his schoolwork.

“Fencing?” Anakin had asked as he leaned forward to stare at the scream of Obi-Wan’s laptop. “You want to give Leia a sword?”

“I’m sure they don’t let the children fence, Anakin, be reasonable,” Obi-Wan had scoffed and turned the computer back to him. “Look, they have a values statement. Friendship, honor—a commitment to helping kids and young adults reach their full potential through outdoor experiences.”

“That sounds like a labor camp, Obi!” Anakin had waved his arms around. “Look, there’s a lake. They would hate swimming in a lake. We can just take them to the pool—”

Obi-Wan had shut the laptop and reached out his hand. Automatically and completely instinctually, Anakin had interlaced their fingers.

“Won’t you sleep on it?” Obi-Wan had murmured, tugging Anakin close. “You know they can get pretty lonely during the summer.”

“But there’s two of them,” Anakin had said rebelliously. “We got two of them so that wouldn’t happen.”

Obi-Wan had pressed a laughing kiss against his forehead. “They’re not dogs, Anakin love,” he’d said. “They want their friends. The Organas take their daughter to the beach most of July, the Larses and their boy fuck off to the desert for god knows why, and ah—which of their friends—the bug one, the….”

“Biggs,” Anakin had muttered, still all bone-light from Obi-Wan’s use of Anakin love. “Biggs Darklighter.”

“Yes, well, I was talking with his mother at the last Open House, and apparently they spend most of their summers in Alderaan with her mother. Sickly, you know.”

Anakin had been too distracted marveling at how well Obi-Wan had managed to slip himself into the lives of the twins—at home, certainly, but at school as well. He’d never missed a parent-teacher conference since that first time Anakin hadn’t been able to go and he’d sent Obi-Wan in his place to take notes on the most important matters.

(Of course the man had returned with thirteen pages of notes, having somehow charmed the twins’ teacher into showing him around the classroom, giving him the names of each child the twins interacted with the most as well as where they all sat, the names of the books she’d been reading them during Storytime, the names of the books Leia and Luke had seemed to like the most, what they seemed to do during recess, how nutritious the lunches were, if she thought that perhaps homemade lunches were better for a growing child than the cafeteria options, how much did Luke speak up in class, if Leia seemed to excel in her art class as much as she did at home or if the teacher thought that perhaps Leia’s nascent distrust of authority flared out when at school and if the teacher personally that this might become a problem later on, depending how it is addressed by her authority figures now, of which the teacher is one?)

(Anakin had never felt more like a smitten fool and somehow a bad parent when he’d accepted the notes and read through them all. “Obi-Wan,” he’d said, upon reaching the last page. The man had had ink on his sleeve. Anakin had wanted to kiss him silly, though he hadn’t been allowed to just yet. “Obi, you know she’s five, right?”)

“I suppose I’m just not fond of the idea that when school starts again, all of their friends will have interesting stories and Luke and Leia won’t have anything to share.”

Anakin had held his tongue that they would if they did another Magic Eight Ball Roadtrip. He liked their bed. He liked it a hell of a lot more than sleeping on the couch. And besides, he had had the idea that they probably weren’t just talking about Luke and Leia anymore.

“They’d probably want to do this more than hang round the house all summer with just me anyway,” Obi-Wan had smiled that half-deprecating sort of smile that always made Anakin want to kiss it off him. “What with you at work in the office for now.”

Anakin had opened his mouth automatically to remind Obi-Wan that probably there was nothing the twins—and any Skywalker—would want more than unrestricted, undivided Obi time.

And then he’d remembered. He’s a Skywalker. And if they sent the kids to a summer camp two hours away by car, he’d be the only Skywalker to have unrestricted, undivided Obi time for a whole month.

“Yeah,” his mouth had said as his mind filled with pictures of what he’d do with all of Obi-Wan’s unfiltered, unfettered time and attention on him. “Yeah, that’s a good point. Okay. Sure. Sleepaway summer camp, it is. They’ll love it.”

Obi-Wan had beamed at him. Anakin had only felt a little like the worst parent in the world.

[fortheloveoffanfic]

Same Auld Lang Syne

John Wick x Reader (A/n- lmao wrote this when I should have been studying. Inspired by an angsty Christmas song that I've always loved Same Auld Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg

Masterlist

Warnings- Angst

It couldn't have been her, or maybe it was just the fact that it had been a good ten years since they’d last been in the same room. Maybe zip code too, he’d heard that she’d moved. She was just standing there, near the frozen foods section, comparing the back labels of two different brands of butter, she’d always been like that, determined to ensure that she was always making the best possible purchase. For a moment, John contemplated just letting her be, let her go so they wouldn’t have to dredge up bittersweet memories that they’d both tried burying in the past, but when he turned to walk away, it was like his feet wouldn’t take him in the opposite direction and eventually, John succumbed, turning to go say ‘hi’. It was just ‘hi’, maybe they’d catch up a bit and move on, he could manage that. Right?

Just as he’d approached her, John inhaled deeply and when Y/n didn’t seem to notice, he reached out to touch her upper arm. Touching her used to second nature, that day it just felt like he was getting into her space, “Y/n?” He probed, just as his fingers brushed the sleeve of her thick coat.

“Huh?” She spun to face him, only confused for a minute but quickly going bright with recognition afterwards, “John,” she breathed with an awed smile, “Oh my God, hey,” without thinking, they both reached out for a hug.

That, that felt the same. She didn’t feel the same, but the warmth of their embrace, the feeling it roused inside, was the same. Y/n was safe; she was his home. Or at least, she used to be.”Hi,” he smiled when they parted, “It’s been so long.”

“It has,” she grinned, seemingly still in shock that they were standing face to face, after all this time, “What has it been? Seven, eight years?”

“Ten,” he corrected. Ten years, six months and a handful of days since he’d last seen those eyes and heard her voice, her laugh. The laugh he’d fallen in love with so long ago. After he’d seen her that last time, he didn’t think he’d ever seen her again, a friend of a friend had mentioned that she was taking an out of state job and instead of going to her and asking for a second chance, like he’d planned to, John had let her go. He’d let the best person in his life walk out of it.

“Right,” Y/n’s fond smile persisted, "Well, the time certainly hasn't changed you, you look great."

Quickly he licked his lips, nodding in thanks, "You do too," he huffed nervously, "You look..." As beautiful as the day they met, and as the day she left him, "Amazing."

"Thanks," she chortled softly, blushing, and after a moment, a stretch of awkward silence befell them. “Uh, I should take these to check out,” she glanced over her shoulder at the half filled shopping cart, “The line was really long when I got in,” an expected fact, considering it was Christmas Eve and the supermarket was bound to be packed with last minute shoppers. “But we should grab coffee or something, catch up a bit. If you want to, of course,” she added the last bit hastily.

He’d really only meant to say a quick ‘hello’ let her know that he’d seen her, but with the offer put out there, coupled with that hopeful look in her gorgeous eyes, he couldn’t bring himself to refuse. Besides, the alternative to coffee with the one that got away was going home to an empty house. An empty house that they used to share. “Sure,” John obliged, “I’ll walk with you to check out?” It was more of a question for permission than a statement.

“Great,” She beamed, and Y/n grasped the handlebars, starting to push it down the aisle as John fell into step with her. The whole place was crowded, so by default, they were caught in a slow pace as they navigated through the throng.

All in all, it had taken just over thirty minutes to get their items checked out, bagged and then packed into their respective cars. There was a coffee shop near the store, though, presumably because it was past noon on Christmas Eve, the place was already closed. After walking up to the other end of the compound though, they discovered a small restaurant. They didn’t serve coffee, but there was a bar that was serving mulled wine in commemoration of the season, and with a couple glasses between them, they claimed a booth near the back.

“It’s been so long,” Y/n chuckled after an initial sip, “How have you been?”

In a moment of vulnerability, or probably the desire to fix something that was long behind them, John contemplated telling her the truth. And the truth was that he’d been good, but not half as good as he’d been when they were together; he was a little lonely most times, and sometimes, he’d wondered if he should pick up the phone and try to get her number from the operator. But he didn’t, John couldn’t embarrass them both like that, and instead he fudged the truth, just a little, “I’ve been good,” he covered his faltering expression with a sip from the cup, “Retired now, so I’m just...restoring books whenever there’s the opportunity.”

“You’re retired?” Her eyes went wide and a surprised gasp seeped off her lips. A long time ago, that had been one of their many problems, Y/n had never liked his work, not completely because of what it did to people, but because of what it could do to him. “That’s great,” she quipped tightly, “Must’ve had a good reason,” she added softly, and he couldn’t tell if there was a bitterness there, but seemed like it.

“I….” She was the reason, John had gotten out hoping it would bring her back, but it hadn’t, it was just a thing that he’d done for someone that would never know how much they really meant to him. “I used to,” he admitted, and glancing at one of her hands on the table, toying with the handle of her glass mug, John reached out for it without thinking too much. He didn’t keep it there for long though, just long enough for him to meet her eyes as he repeated, “I used to have a great reason. The best one.”

“John,” Y/n sighed, licking her lips, and she looked like she was at a loss for words. It wasn’t necessarily the reaction he was expecting, then again, John didn’t know what he should have expected to begin with.

“What about you?” He began once more, pulling his hand away from hers, “I’d heard that you moved.”

Y/n nodded, visibly pushing past her earlier thoughts with an audible breath. “I did,” she perked up, “For work…..” When she hesitated. John didn’t quite understand why, though, her next revelation cleared it all up, and drove a knife through his heart, “I met my husband there.”

John couldn’t tell if the sky was falling in on him or if the floor beneath his feet had given out, but something had happened and suddenly he couldn’t breathe. Of every wound he’d ever acquired, every broken bone he’d ever survived, the pain of his heart breaking right there, as he sat in that chair across from Y/n, was worse than anything he’d ever felt. "Husband?” He croaked.

“Yeah,” Y/n smiled again, but that time it didn’t quite reach her eyes, “My husband. His veterinary clinic was right across the street from my office, we got coffee at the same place every day, and the rest is just…..” She shrugged indifferently.

“That’s…..” He drew in a large gulp of his wine, trying to wash the bitter feelings down, “That’s um……” Nice? He couldn’t say it was nice. It didn’t feel nice. “I’m glad you’re happy.”

That time, he was certain that her face fell. Y/n had always been exceptional at hiding her feelings, but John used to be -he still was- one of the few people that could tell what she was really feeling. “Yeah,” her voice shook, “He’s so sweet and....he’s probably the nicest guy I’ve ever met,” upon noticing the way her words could have been perceived, Y/n reached out hastily, grabbing his hand in an affectionate grip, “I don’t mean it like that. It's just, Paul is the nicest guy anyone’s met.”

Nodding in understanding, John noted how her gentle grip didn’t waver, and he couldn’t seem to control the next words that just tumbled past his lips, “Do you think about us?”

She was genuinely stunned for a solid minute, “John,” Y/n stuttered, “I uh…”

“I’m sorry,” just as quickly as he’d asked, John wished he could take it back. That wasn’t okay, she was married, and they’d been finished for so long that most times, he must have been a distant memory to her.

“No, no,” her hand was still holding his, and John felt oddly reassured by the prolonged gesture, “Its okay,” she shrugged, “I just…...I do, sometimes. I think about all that stuff we talked about.” The happily ever after they always fancied but never had.

Licking his lips, John glanced down at the red hued beverage, a decorative slice of orange floating at the top. Most times, when he thought about how things had ended between them, and his role in it, John was plagued with inconsolable guilt, and that afternoon was no different. “I should have been better,” he reached for his glass with his free hand, turning it at the base with his thumb and pointer, eyes still trained downwards, “You deserved better,” she had better now.

“We both should have been better,” she countered sympathetically, “I should been more patient, you were doing your best-”

“Not with you,” it was true, he’d always assumed that she’d just be there. That Y/n would just wait for him, the way she always had. “And you were the only person that deserved it.”

Pressing her lips together, Y/n let her eyes slipped closed for a moment, though, when she reopened then, John noted the glassy sheen there, “Don’t do this, John” she caressed the base of his thumb with the soft pad of hers, “It was a long time ago.”

But if he’d been different then, they wouldn’t be there right now, like that. She would have stayed, they'd have been together. “Yeah,” he sighed heavily, pulling his hand away and bringing the glass to his lips once again, “You’re right,” she was right, and she’d moved on, “Long time ago,” he dismissed, finishing his drink, only for Y/n to do the same soon after.

Things had seemed to go back to awkward afterwards, and a thick tension weighed down the silence. Neither of them knew what to say, and suddenly, Y/n was a stranger to him. It had crept up on him, but once the thought was there, John couldn’t seem to shake it; he and Y/n were strangers to each other. Strangers who used to be so in love that it was hard to even fathom that they ever fall out of it. Strangers who used to know everything about each other, though by then, John didn’t even know her last name. Y/n was a stranger; a changed woman who had the memories of the person he loved, and he suspected that he was the same to her. Except, John would have liked to think that he hadn’t changed, not really, there had never been a reason to after she’d left.

“I should go,” softly, Y/n eventually broke the silence, “Paul and my parents are probably waiting for me,” Y/n added, reaching for her purse to leave money for her drink, only for John to tell her that he’d cover it. “I’ll see you around John,” stopping briefly when she reached his side of the booth, Y/n bent slightly to kiss the side of his lips and John reciprocated, his fingers brushing her arm, feeling her warmth permeate through the layers Y/n was bundled up in.

“I’ll see you around Y/n,” he returned, wishing he didn’t have to let go. It wasn’t long after that did he see her make her way outside, holding her coat closed at the front, head down as she walked briskly up the sidewalk. She looked a little upset, he thought, and just as Y/n disappeared from view, John’s shoulders slumped, feeling a renewed ache as the woman he’d spent the past ten years thinking about walk out of his life, again.

*****

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