#many more than the Mayor lists here

[askblueandviolet]

Tú, alcalde. ¿Hablas español? Eso sería genial :D

"Yes, I know many languages! Mandarin, cantonese, english, brazilian, french, italian, and of course, spanish!"

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[coryosmin]

Personal Secretary -

Young President Snow x Secretary Reader

About: President Snow is someone that prides himself on being a loyal husband and amazing President to the country of Panem. However, he does have quite the sweet spot for his secretary.

word count: 2,300

Warnings: NSFW Content, MDNI, cheating (not on you), unprotected sex, p in v sex, praise, quickie, etc.

“Gem of Panem,

Mighty City,

Through the ages you shine anew.”

You stood at your desk with a hand on your heart as the sound of the Capitol’s anthem played over the speakers. It was eight o’clock in the morning, the time the President had arrived at his office. This was a routine that happened each and every morning, to show one’s respect for their country and the mighty city of the Capitol.

“We humbly kneel,

To your ideal,

And pledge our love to you!”

Everyone was facing the flag of Panem, speaking the words to the anthem in unison as it played across the building. A few years back, barely anyone knew the anthem. It was a song made during the dark ages and only recently had it been brought back when Coriolanus Snow came into power. Something about showing pride for one’s home.

“Gem of Panem,

Heart of Justice,

Wisdom Crowns your marble brow.

You give us light,

You reunite,

To you we make our vow.”

You had always felt prideful for your city. Having been born and raised in the Capitol, gone to the Academy, gone to the University, you had been a star pupil in the eyes of your educators. Your family had been quite prominent but it was your skill set that really made you become the right hand woman to the President of the whole nation of Panem.

“Gem of Panem,

Seat of power,

Strength in Peacetime, shield in strife,”

You had gone to school with Coriolanus Snow, though you were a year behind him. You worked hard to make something of yourself outside of your family’s affiliations. Your family was known for investing in high fashion items, owning many of the high end fashion stores in the Capitol itself. And while your father had wanted that life for you as well, you wanted to become something else. And you did.

“Protect our land,

With armored hand,

Our Capitol,

Our life.”

When the anthem ended, you all went back to your work. It wasn’t easy being the secretary of the President. His schedule was quite tiresome most days. And today most certainly was one of those days. You focused on the papers set in front of you, sorting through them and seeing which ones were important enough for President Snow to take a look at. By ten in the morning, you knocked on his office door to give him his schedule.

“Come in,” came the authoritative voice that was Coriolanus Snow. The President of Panem had been elected about a year ago when he was just twenty-four years old and recently married to Livia Cardew, a woman he simply married for convenience and nothing more. In fact, he hated Livia Cardew quite a bit. Though she doesn’t know that and the nation doesn’t need to know that. And now, here he was, twenty-five years old and working hard to ensure that the country is running smoothly. And you? You were very patriotic towards your President.

“I have your schedule for the rest of the day, sir,” You said as you walked into the office, closing the door gently behind you and walking over to his desk. President Snow was sat at his desk, dressed in a navy blue suit with a red rose in the pocket. His hair was slicked back, making him look even more handsome than usual. Your heels clicked with each step you took and Coriolanus was very obviously staring you up and down. “And a list of messages to give you,” You added.

Coriolanus licked his lips before looking at your face. “Go on,” he said, using a hand to signal you to speak.

“You have lunch today with the new Head Gamemaster to discuss ideas for eighteenth annual Hunger Games at twelve p.m, a meeting with the mayor of District One at one p.m, a phone call with the Head General at two p.m, and an address to the nation at three p.m about the sewage system,” You explained, looking down at your notes before looking back up at Coriolanus. “After that, you have a Gala to attend tonight at eight o’clock with your wife who is wondering if you will be coming home for dinner.”

Coriolanus sighed, running a hand over his face as he thought over everything. “That’s quite a lot for today,” He exclaimed. “Tell Livia I will not be having dinner with her tonight.”

You nodded your head. “Right away, sir,” you said, giving him a polite smile.

“You’ll be attending the Gala as well, correct?” Coriolanus asked.

You nodded your head in confirmation. “That’s correct, sir,” You replied. “My whole family will be attending.”

“Good,” Coriolanus smirked at you. “I’ll see you later then, Miss L/N.”

“I’ll see you later, President Snow,” And with that, you left his office to get back to work.

When you arrived at the Gala dressed in a ravishing black dress that accentuates your curves, you knew that you were officially the best dressed at the event. Your hair was down and styled to perfection. Your makeup was done elegantly with a red lip. You walked into the event, immediately greeted by other prominent families within the Capitol. You greeted each and every one of them with a smile and a kind greeting. Only the best from a high member of society.

You looked around the room, noticing President Snow across the room with his wife standing next to him. His eyes were immediately on you. You gave him a smirk as he did a slight tilt of his head, signaling to follow him. He excused himself from Livia before walking towards the bathrooms. After a moment, you followed.

Your relationship with Coriolanus Snow is a bit of a complicated one that had begun when he was voted in as President. Being a year below him during school, the two of you interacted only briefly. But he hired you based on your family’s name and your high grades from the University. After your hiring, it was safe to assume that there was more to it. He would always look you up and down, taking in your beautiful form. And you didn’t hate it one bit. Coriolanus was an attractive man. And you were very patriotic.

About two months into his presidency, the two of you stayed late to work on an address that was going to be given the next day. A late night with your boss with dinner had led to the two of you talking about anything and everything unrelated to work. And that night, he fucked you on his desk without any regrets. That was the start of an affair that neither of you wanted to end.

You made your way to the bathroom, knocking on the door. You heard the faint “come in” of Coriolanus’s voice. Before walking in, you looked around to ensure no one else was looking. You opened the door, walking into the room before quickly closing it behind you and locking the door. As soon as you did so, Coriolanus was pinning you to the wall, his lips immediately on yours.

You let out a soft sound, kissing Coriolanus back with the same hunger and passion he was giving you. You brought your arms up around his neck as he wrapped his arms around your waist. “You look so beautiful tonight,” he murmured softly, pulling away to look into your eyes.

You gave him a soft smile. “Thank you,” You said, kissing his lips. “You look quite handsome yourself,” You added, looking at Coriolanus’s dark green suit.

Coriolanus sighed. “Livia wanted me to wear it,” He said, slightly annoyed, “I think it looks horrendous. But I must be a supportive husband and follow through with my wife’s wishes.” Coriolanus dipped his head to kiss your neck, using his hands to explore your body.

You laughed, nodding your head. “What a wonderful husband you are,” you said a bit sarcastically.

Coriolanus hummed against your skin. “The best, really,” he said just as sarcastically. He lifted your dress over your hips. You chose not to wear anything underneath the dress which Coriolanus believed to be an excellent decision. “This is quite helpful,” he murmured softly. “Makes things easier.”

“Did it just for you,” You murmured back.

“You’re so good to me,” Coriolanus said. He pressed himself against you, letting you feel his hard on through his trousers. “We have to be quick,” he said a bit unhappily. Coriolanus didn’t like to do quickies as much as he loved taking his time with you. He adores making you feel just as good as you make him feel. “But I promise tomorrow evening will be ours,” he added.

“I’ll hold you to that promise,” You smiled. “How do you want me?”

Coriolanus unbuttoned his pants enough to reveal his hard cock. He too wasn’t wearing any underwear. He licked his lips as he thought about your cunt. “Turn around for me.”

You obliged, turning around with a hand on the door of the bathroom. Coriolanus wrapped an arm around you, dipping his head to kiss your neck as he guided his cock to your entrance. He eased himself inside of you, causing the both of you to let out shaky breaths. You put a hand over your mouth to avoid moaning. “You’re so wet for me,” Coriolanus whispered into your ear, moving his hips slowly at first. “Wish I could take my time with you.”

“Always ready for your cock,” You whispered back, licking your lips.

“Mmm, yes you are,” Coriolanus replied, snapping his hips faster.

You gasped, trying to keep yourself from moaning like a slut. There were people just outside the door and it would be an all-time scandal if the people of Panem found out that the President was having an affair with his secretary.

“Gotta stay quiet for me, baby,” Coriolanus said shakily, thrusting his cock in and out of you tight cunt at a relentless pace. “Ah—fuck, you feel so good,” he almost whined in your ear.

You didn’t reply, not trusting yourself to not moan loudly if you uncover your mouth. Instead you met his thrusts with your own movements, his cock hitting your g-spot perfectly. Coriolanus was moving hard and fast, burying his cock inside of you so good. You threw your head back, closing your eyes in the process.

Coriolanus began kissing your neck, sucking on your pulse point. “Gonna cum inside your tight pussy,” he whispered against your skin, thrusting his hips frantically. You could tell that Coriolanus was very close with how breathless he sounded and how he was holding back his own moans. You felt yourself getting closer, the repetitive thrusting into your g-spot sending you close to the edge.

“Gonna cum, oh my god—“ Coriolanus whispered harshly, close to just moaning out loud as he started spilling inside of you.

With a gasp, you clench around Coriolanus’s cock, gushing as you come. You felt the liquid dripping down your leg as you arched your back against Coriolanus. He fucked you through your orgasm, rocking his hips to milk the both of you. And when you both finished, he pulled out, immediately stuffing his cock back into his pants and zippering them. You were both breathing heavily as you took a moment to just lean your head against the bathroom door. Coriolanus, oh-so-kindly put your dress back down perfectly before turning you around and wrapped his arms around you.

“I needed that,” he murmured into your ear as he pulled you close to him, kissing the top of your head.

You smiled lazily, leaning against Coriolanus as you hugged him back. “Me too,” you replied. “They’re probably wondering where you are,” you sighed.

“Mmm,” Coriolanus made a noise of acknowledgment. “I wish I could just take you home,” he said, breathing in deeply.

It was always moments like this that made you wonder if Coriolanus Snow, the President of Panem, loved you. He always treated you like he had the utmost feelings for you. He would take you out for dinners, buy you gifts, care for you in such a way that only a lover would. But ultimately, you knew that wasn’t the case. Because Coriolanus Snow was incapable of loving another person. That’s what he told you, at least. Regardless, you didn’t mind it whatsoever. Because you’re his secretary, his true right hand woman. And that’s all that mattered, right?

After a few moments, the two of you pulled away and gathered yourselves. You cleaned yourself up, making sure nothing was on your legs while Coriolanus fixed his hair. He gave you one soft kiss. “I’ll see you,” he murmured against your lips.

You smiled, kissing him back. “See you, sir,” you replied.

Coriolanus smirked before walking out of the bathroom. You stayed back for a moment, fixing your lipstick and your hair in front of the mirror. And after a minute, you walked out and back into the party as though nothing happened. You glanced at Coriolanus, who was talking to some military official, and then looked at his wife, who was looking at you.

That’s when you knew Livia Cardew wasn’t as oblivious as she made herself out to be. And you? You simply winked at her and smirked before turning your attention to a random Capitol citizen.

[disfrutalakia]

Arkanis Lore and where it stands at October 31! A quick rundown by me Kia disfrutalakia

Ok hi hello guys, so I'm assuming that you guys know me from qsmp times and I'm also assuming that most of you are not into Arkanis be it because of the language barrier or lack of time, but you still want to watch your favorite cc in the event tomorrow? Well, I'm here to help, under the cut will be a rundown of the main story (I won't get into characters individual lore, only if they tie into the main story which most do to be fair) plus links to some resources that you can use to understand Arkanis!

This is by no means perfect and was made from using stuff from my own memory, which is not the best, others can feel free to add onto it as they wish <3

1 - What is Arkanis?

Arkanis is a portuguese speaking server that started back in September, it's powered by twitch and was started by Boiss Studios and Ostra Content, it has a heavy focus on rp.

2- Who are the creators in Arkanis?

As of now we have 25 creators in the cast, this includes ex qsmp participants like Pac, Mike, Bagi and Felps as well as some faces you might recognize from purgatory like Guaxinim, Himaru, Gabepeixe. The complete list of creators is bellow:

Pac, Mike, Himaru, Febatista, Bagi, Matt, Felps, Yayah, Guaxinim, Cherry, JVNQ, Choke, MeiaUm, Guhzera, Gabepeixe, Quel, Coreano, Wuant, Maethe and FunBabe were the first batch of creators that we met.

Last week there was the addition of new members consisting of Moonkase, Malena, LBeatriz, NickLink, Al3xey and Kazzio.

Most of the members are brazilian except for Kazzio and Wuant who are portuguese.

3- What's the story of Arkanis?

The story takes place in the small city of Valigma, and it starts with with mayor Jota hiring people that are known to us as specialists to help the town.

Valigma used to be a beautiful town and very rich but recently things have been going wrong, with the water being poluted and the citizens wearing a strange kind of mask.

4- Rundown of what we have by now (this will contain spoilers skip to section 5 if you don't want them <3)

After the specialists arrived in town, we are quickly introduced to the mayor, Jota, who has been in power for 8 years now being in the end of his second term when we meet him, he appears to be a strange sort of character who hides many things although at the time the specialists weren't sure of what.

Apart from Jota we also have two other big characters Bia Raux and Araldo. Bia is a witch of sorts who was banished from the town due to the chaos she caused while Araldo is the owner of a factory that produces batteries in town.

A big part of the story focuses on arkanya, or what we would call magic in our world, a type of energy that lets the person who controls it cast sort of spells that can either be for something good or something bad, there is always a consequence to using it tho

One of the first big events in Valigma was the discovery of ghosts, small creatures that are consistent of pure arkanya and don't have any memories from before their deaths, they form a bond with the specialists calling them their parents even

Remember Araldo, the factory owner from earlier? Yeah he comes into play now, since the beginning he seemed like a suspicious kind of fellow, not showing up to speak with people and forming a sort of rivalry with Gabepeixe, there are cases of Araldo trying to dig into Gabe's lab and even trying to stop him from the creation of machines, not wanting the specialist to become more powerful than him.

You guys will have to forgive me here cause my memory is not the best, but there was an occasion where Araldo cast a illusion over the specialists where they got to see what would happen if they went against him, including robots who destroyed the town. This ilusion. due to needing certain power led to the death of Alice who was the mayor's secretary.

This occasion led to the discovery that Araldo was also capable of using arkanya just like Bia.

That event deeply effected most of the specialists making almost all of them distrust Araldo and even go directly against him by allying with others like Bia and Jota.

For the safety of not only the specialists but also the ghosts who they called children JVNQ made a truce with Araldo, he wouldn't attack them for 25 days and the specialists wouldn't go near the factory in return

Things seemed to be working out, that is until one night Bagi and Gabepeixe (two of the specialists who hate Araldo the most) decided to sort of challenge him or at least taunt him and broke into the factory (which remember, it was banned) and stole/destroyed a creative motor that was powering up the place, nothing happened at the moment but the next day all the specialists were called and Araldo did the most horrible thing, he killed Amora and Denix (two of the ghosts I will introduce them in the next point) draining all of their arkanya and making them dissapear.

This led to three important events, most of the specialists began to choose real sides it was either Bia or Araldo. Jv trying to get Denix back (his son) strikes a deal with Araldo and is taken for days while Choke strikes a deal with Bia to begin her training

Currently Araldo status is banished from the town and his factory is no longer part of Valigma, he remains a big threat tho.

Now what about Bia? Well, she is a witch and seems to have connections with the town from before it was made even, she is extremely powerful and even if when we met her she seems to be weaker than normal she is no less of a threat.

Bia has one objective, to destroy Valigma and she will do that doesn't matter who stands in her way.

She has recently been gaining the trust of many people in town, due to the act of bringing Denix and Amora back.

And what about Bad and Fit? Where do they fit into the lore? Well the truth is, we don't know. the character Bad seems to be playing (Mister X) had never been talked about before, so they are pretty much fresh and new, we don't know how their stuff connects yet

5- Ghosts

As I mentioned earlier, there are small entities in Valigma who are tiny ghosts that act as children for the specialsts, they include:

Denix - The first one to be found, his parents are Gabepeixe, Coreano, JVNW and Yayah

Gris - The second one to be found, her parents are Guaxinim, Quel, Maethe and Mike

Amora - third one to be found, her parents are Bagi, Felps, MeiaUm and Matt

Milo - the fourth one to be found, his parents are Pac, Himaru, Guhzera and Febatista

Tucupi - the last ghost, his parents are mostly Choke and Wuant

6- Links to help you with Arkanis:

First of all, the summaries made by Tayr (one of the founders) are essential and probably your best resource to understanding the story without having to watch all the stream: Link to his channel

Second the Arkanis wiki, it's not complete but can help with knowing the characters better a little bit: Link to the wiki

Now you guys won't like this but, their twitter or bluesky, it's where they post the schedules for the week and do important announcements, personally I try to post all they announce in here: Link to their twitter Link to their bluesky

Their youtube where they post all of the cutscenes that are shown in game: Link to their youtube

And of course the beautiful Arkanis tag here on tumblr <3 it's a small one but it's a good place to find art and some liveblogs!

[coff33andb00ks]

İdk i just got hit with this shitty idea 😭😭 drabble list thingy 5 40 60 64 and 70. BUT WITH ACADEMIC RIVAL OSCAR? IDK ITS KINDA STUPİD BUT STİLL 😭😭

driver + number = drabble <3

warning: author knows nothing about academia 😳

"Idiots, they're all idiots."

You glanced up at the sound of his voice, perplexed. Then, realizing he couldn't possibly be talking to you, you turned back to your work. You'd come here in the hopes that you'd be able to finish your paper without the distractions in your dorm, and so far–

Thud.

The heavy backpack landed on the tabletop with much more force than necessary and you glared at its owner, who - horrifically - was pulling out the chair across from you. As usual he was wearing his stupid burgundy shirt under his stupid black hoodie, and his hair was falling into his eyes with that stupid little swoop.

The only thing stupid about Oscar Piastri was his lack of style.

"You don't mind do you?" he asked, already settling into the chair with his coffee.

"I'm annoyed, to put it mildly," you muttered, staring at the backpack crushing the corner of your pencil pouch.

"Ah well, the feeling's mutual." He pulled his backpack towards him and threw down a copy of the local newspaper. Odd, that he actually read a physical newspaper instead of getting his news online like everyone else born after 1985.

You carefully maneuvered your pencil pouch closer to yourself and tried to focus on your paper. Intent to ignore him, you managed to type out two whole sentences before he snapped open the newspaper. Darting your eyes towards him, you watched the morning sunlight dance over the angle of his jaw.

Too bad he was such an insufferable know it all. Half the students that you knew from the classes you shared with him called him Hermes Granger behind his back, he was that bad. Always had the correct answers in lecture. Always top marks. Always, always, always, while you were just behind him.

Except the one time, but he'd been in hospital due to his roommate Lando accidentally tripping him and fracturing his rib, so that didn't really count.

"Did you hear about this?" he asked suddenly, thrusting the newspaper in your direction.

You looked from the paper to him, half expecting him to pull it away before you could take it. He didn't though, and you turned it so you could read the small headline.

No Evidence of Foul Play in Missing Money

Frowning, you read the small blurb about thousands of dollars that had seemingly vanished from a local charity. "How can there be no foul play?" you asked after reading it through twice. "It was there one day and gone the next."

Oscar nodded. "Exactly. And you know who's on the board, right?"

"Dude, I barely know my roommate's name most days..."

"Yeah I reckon you've got too many classes–"

You narrowed your eyes at that, missing half of the rest of what he said.

"–the mayor."

You snorted on a laugh. "Are you insinuating the mayor stole the money?"

He wasn't laughing. Or smiling. In fact, you were pretty sure you'd never seen Oscar smile. Well, that pained half smile when Lando dragged him to a party, but otherwise...

"You can't be serious," you said. "He's the mayor. He's got plenty of money."

"Does he?"

Rolling your eyes, you slid your laptop close and tried to focus on your work again. "Didn't have you down as a conspiracy theorist."

"It's not a conspiracy theory though?"

"The mayor, who lives in a mansion and drives a Ferrari, stealing ten thousand dollars from a charity?"

"People in power have stolen less. He's very good at hiding secrets. Like his brother's company being behind the factory buyout last year? The government doesn't want you to know this, but every one of them are crooked."

"What do they put in your coffee?" you asked with a roll of your eyes. "Do you get a tinfoil hat to go with it?"

He scoffed. "I thought you were smart."

That surprised you. You didn't think Oscar thought about you at all. "So what do you suggest, Oscar? We storm city hall and demand the mayor give the money back?"

He pursed his lips and dipped his head to one side as though to indicate the idea had merit. "Or we could sneak in after hours and poke around."

"Break into the mayor's office," you clarified.

He nodded. "Tonight after dinner?"

"Set off alarms, get arrested, and go to jail."

He winced. "Yeah, maybe not our brightest idea."

"Excuse me, did you–"

"But we can still do dinner, yeah?"

"Idiots. They are all idiots." / "I'm annoyed, to say it mildly." / "The feeling is mutual." / "The government doesn't want you to know about this." / "Not our brightest idea."

[swanimagines]

HER QUEEN | REGINA MILLS

Summary: Imagine working as a maid in the castle and having a crush on Queen Regina, and her developing a crush on you in Storybrooke.

You always knew Regina wasn't the kindest person in the Kingdom - in fact, she was considered a monster by a lot of people. Which was why so many people were baffled how you weren't scared of her at all, you were even eager to see her and seemed to get along with her better than most of her other servants.

You didn't know yourself why were you so fond of her at first, before finally realising that you actually had feelings for your queen. And it was quite hard to hide, so much so that you had great difficulties with not confessing it to her - you knew she wouldn't react well. She practiced dark magic with Rumpelstilskin and she'd just think of you as weak.

That was why you forced yourself to keep your feelings secret, but every day they just seemed to grow, larger and larger, until you felt like you were going to burst unless you told her. But as you were still sure that you'd just break your heart, you chose to ask Regina for some time off from your duties. She had always given you more leash than she gave her other servants, so you knew she'd say yes.

So you traveled to the other side of the kingdom to your family and tried to clear your head while there - not knowing there was a curse coming to wash over you all.

---

"Hello again, Mrs. Mayor," your cheerful voice rang through the house. Regina's lips curled upwards upon hearing it and she walked up to her entrance hall, seeing you ready with your mop and rags with a bright smile on your face. "How are you today?"

"Good, thank you," Regina replied, her voice warm and happy. You were one of the only people in her Kingdom who she didn't doom to an unhappy ending - you were still sort of her maid, but she was always warm and welcoming to you. You seemed to genuinely enjoy her company and your presence made her feel things she didn't know she could feel - or maybe she had just hidden them from herself back in the Enchanted Forest.

"How is Henry?" You asked, curious as you started to clean the floor. "He is such a wonderful boy."

"Oh, he's fine," Regina said, smiling softly at your praise. "He got an A+ from the English exam this week."

"He is such a smart boy," you said, smiling. "So bright and happy, a joy to have around."

"Thank you," Regina said, smiling as she took a seat on her sofa. "He's growing up so fast. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to cherish the moments. It's just gone by so quickly."

"It has," you agreed. "I don't think I can imagine Henry being a teenager yet."

Regina smiled softly at that - it wouldn't be but another five years and Henry would already be a teenager. Eight years had gone by so quickly, even when time had partially frozen in place here.

And Regina didn't even really think - she just blurted her next words out. "Would you stay for a cup of something hot and a warm apple pie? It's getting chilly out there."

You paused at that, looking at Regina. She almost regretted her words for a moment, thinking she managed to weird you out, but instead you broke into a wide smile.

"I would love that."

---

Requests are always open! FANDOM LIST | PROMPT LIST(S) | RULES (READ!!!)

[heavenlyraindrops]

Change With the Seasons| Stardew Valley| Sebastian x Reader

♡♡♡♡♡♡ Chapter One: Moving In

♡♡♡♡♡♡

A/N: This is just gonna be a cute romance between Seb and the Farmer, aka Reader. If It’s also available on AO3 and Quotev. I’d visit the masterlist if I were you, since it contains trigger warnings + the story blurb (summary/ synopsis)

♡♡♡♡♡♡

Chapter Summary: After moving in and getting accustomed to life at the farm, you happen to meet a certain someone on a rainy day by the docks.

♡♡♡♡♡♡

The wind whistled through the trees, snaking its way through your hair and causing the leaves to skitter. Immediately the breeze died down as soon as it picked up. 

You had just finished speaking to Major Lewis. Robin, the carpenter, however, had decided to stick around for some more conversation, an idea you weren’t completely against yet weren’t completely welcoming towards either. 

“You should definitely get to meeting all the townsfolk,” Robin said, eyes surveying the wooded, overgrown land. They flicked back to yours, and she smiled. “It’s not everyday we get a new person here in Pelican Town. So they’re all very eager to meet you.”

You smiled and nodded, as she continued:

“And you should meet my kids too. They live with me in the Mountains, oh, the mountains…”

As Robin went off on a long rant on how wonderful and fresh the crisp air of the mountains were, you looked out at the farm stretched before you. It was covered in rocks, wood, overgrown grass and trees. You winced at the thought of having to clean it all up. 

“Anyways, I won’t keep you any further!” Robin smiled, and left. 

You proceeded to dump your luggage on the bed, which creaked under the weight, and rolled your sleeves up. The first thing on your list today, you decided, was to go into town and see how it was. You had, after all, dropped your safe, stable life in Zuzu for this. 

The walk to the village wasn’t too long. You picked up a daffodil along the way, with no other reason than finding it pretty. Immediately you arrived at what seemed to be a clinic. You peered in, but it was closed. The building next to it had a large sign. Pierre’s General Store. A calendar nailed to the wall caught your attention- it was listing all the events and birthdays in town. A specific day seemed to jump out at you: Flower Dance. 

You’d have to ask Mayor Lewis about that. 

You put your hand on the door handle to Pierre’s store and pushed, but the doors refused to budge. It must have been locked, too. You checked your watch. It was only seven. That explained it. 

You wandered down a little, taking in the buildings and houses. You squinted at a small figure in the distance, loitering near a couple of flowers. Seemingly very interesting in them. 

As you moved closer, you realized that it was a little old woman, tending to the flowers. She smiled at you, and you smiled back. “You must be the new farmer. Welcome to the community, dear. I’m Evelyn. You can call me ‘Granny’ if you like.”

You flushed at her kindness. “Alright, Granny.”

She smiled and nodded, before heading inside a small blue house, claiming to go bake some cookies. 

You exhaled slowly, staring at the flowers. The spring sun seemed to glow off of everything, yet the breeze was cool. You felt a faint smile growing on your face. You’d like it here, in Pelican Town. You knew it. 

-

A week had passed. So had your doubts. 

Everyone in the town had been kind to you so far- so far, being the keyword as you hadn’t met many people yet. You’d woken up that morning with rain lashing down, pattering on the roof, echoing through the small cottage. With watering your rather small number of crops being taken care of, you’d decided to devote the day to fishing at the docks, ever grateful for the rather flimsy bamboo rod Willy had gifted you. 

The rain was pouring down harder than when you had left as you arrived at the docks. Your hair stuck to your forehead, slick with water, droplets of it rolling down your cheeks. You carefully picked your way across the docks, which had grown slippery. The sea was choppy, and occasionally hit against the supports of the docks but they were fortunately high enough from the water level. Yet still a few salty drops sprayed onto your face now and then. 

Being as drenched as you were all ready, you just decided to sit down on the edge of the dock, before casting out your rod. You didn’t even notice the man already sitting next to you amidst the whirling wind and drops of rain and seawater. You shivered, cold, before glancing to the side and-

“Oh!” You jumped in surprised, almost toppling off the dock and into the angry sea. “H-hello.”

The man stared at you in silence, the black strands of hair obscuring his face, making it unable to be seen properly, before turning back to the sea. “Hey.”

You’d never felt awkward with the people in Pelican Town until now. You forced a nervous smile, tilting your head. “Sorry, I didn’t see you there. You don’t mind if I sit here, right?”

He dug his hands into the pockets of his black sweatshirt, the moody look on his face deepening. “Whatever,” he muttered, then said under his breath, “The ocean’s better enjoyed alone, though.”

Your own frown hardened into a scowl. “What’s that supposed to mean?” It hadn’t even been ten seconds since you’d met this guy and you were already starting to feel a growing dislike for him.

“Nothing,” he said. You noticed the eyeliner around his eyes getting slightly messed up from the rain, and stared hard back out at sea. So much for everyone in the twon being nice. You must have jinxed it, or something. 

“What’s your name, anyways?” You asked, taking another stab at being friendly. 

“Sebastian,” came the blunt reply.

You stared at him again, for a moment. He caught you staring, and raised an eyebrow, an action which for some reason made your heart pound. “What?”

“Nothing.” You turned your attention back to the fishing rod. The weather was becoming harsher now, your clothes completely drenched through with droplets rolling down your face and arms. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed, making you jump and let out a small noise. Sebastian smirked and you glared at him. “What?”

“Nothing,” he said, clearly mocking you in such a subtle way you wouldn’t expect. You scowled, feeling something tug at the rod. It was a soggy newspaper. Feeling your face burn with embarrassment, you picked it up and scrunched it up in your hand before getting up and stomping down the dock, back towards your farm. 

“Nothing,” You muttered, mockingly. That day, you decided. 

You do not like Sebastian. 

[fortuna-et-cataclysmos]

In defense of s5 finale

I hear and see a lot of people expressing dislike of the season finale, some also in the tags and comments of my analysis/speculation posts. So I wanted to further expand on this.

Gabriel's victory -being remembered a hero despite everything wrong he did, especially abuse to Adrien- has left a sour taste in many people's mouth; many blaming the scenarists and not shying away from calling it "bad writing."

But I think that that was exactly what the scenarists wanted to do? The perfect world Gabriel leaves behind is unsettling, unfair, and I think that the creators have done their best to show that implicitly but clearly. I think that we are supposed to be irked by the finale.

Why do I think that? Because there were a lot of small things that gave the message that, as @emsylcatac iconically put it, "this is the bad place." I touched upon some of those in my previous post on how this was a victory for Gabriel and Lila, and a defeat for Ladybug. I'll try to list them more clearly here.

Gabriel a hero

This is the one thing everyone has the most problem with. At the end, Gabriel was declared the hero who gave his life to defeat the Monarch, who was none other than himself. Some artistic choices here are so over the top that I believe they were specifically made to irk us.

If the silver statue itself wasn't enough, the exact quote of Caline Bustier is:

All the rings that have been highjacked by the Monarch have been recycled into a statue in honour of the great Gabriel Agreste.

Then Tsurugi Tomoe goes on to say:

Beyond the visionary entrepreneur and genius creator that he was, we are celebrating a hero today.

See, everything bad about Gabriel has been flipped. If you count literally exploiting people visionary entrepreneurship, sure, he was that. And genius? He couldn't get the miraculouses of two teenagers for an entire year despite having all the resources, and he ended up succeeding only with the help of another extremely powerful person (Tsurugi Tomoe) and even then he ended up dying himself.

As of creator, he was literally a destructor. He destroyed Paris more times than anyone can count, and everything was fixed every time only thanks to Ladybug. Let's not also forget how he destroyed the Miraculouses to exploit their power.

Adrien's comment about his father

This is another thing many people have had problem with. It is so outrageous that I won't believe the creators would expect us to take at face value.

At the end, Adrien acknowledges that his father died to take down the Monarch, and says:

I don't know if one day I'll manage to become like him.

Lo and behold, the man who had emotionally neglected and abused his son to no end has turned into the said son's hero and role model. Adrien not only looks up to him, but also wants to make an active effort to become like him. Hell, he even doubts if he can be as good as him.

No way this line can taken at face value. There are many children's shows with abusive parental figures nowadays (like She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, the Owl House) that have all handled the conclusion to that abuse generally well. The watchers' expectations are high in this respect; the scenarists would know that such conclusion, if not ironic, would not satiate the expectations of the spectators.

Lack of accountability: Gabriel and Tomoe

As many many people have pointed out, the general lack of accountability in this season finale is infuriating. So Gabriel mentally tortured THE ENTIRE WORLD POPULATION and not only never faced consequences in life, but also is remembered as a hero in death?

What about Tomoe?

Not only she has not faced any repercussion for being basically a supervillain, but also she is still a respected public figure who can go and make a speech backed by the mayor, in front of the freaking French flag. If that doesn't irk you, I don't know what will.

Worse is that, she goes as far as saying in her speech that:

I'll make sure to continue his legacy.

So she'll continue to be evil. Great hint that she'll continue being an antagonist in season 6.

As you can see, the new world that has been created is extremely unfair and problematic. No way this can be "the good place," an actual "happy ending."

Everything is fixed! No problems anymore!

Also, you'd realise that the world is perfect, a little too perfect. It is like a green utopian dream.

Caline Bustier has been the mayor "only for a few weeks" (direct quote from the episode), and she has already fixed all the problems possible in Paris. Not only that, she has also solved inequality and class struggle (again, mentioned by herself). Let's make Caline the President of the World already.

Funny that LITERALLY ALL THE PROBLEMS of a city could be solved, while the exact same episode showed Majestia, the freaking Supergirl of the ML universe, acknowledged in her nightmare that:

Even with all my superpowers, I'll never manage to solve all the problems of the world.

Well, Bustier says that she has no superpower, that people working together can accomplish that. Kudos to her and her democratic spirit. But like, perfect city in a few weeks? Even Mayor Bourgeois who wanted to send all the trash of Paris to space would realise that that's impossible.

There is no perfect solution, yet the world is perfect

Ladybug acknowledges that there is no perfect solution to Gabriel's situation. Trying to bring back his wife, he has caused irreparable damage to himself and to Nathalie, effectively leaving Adrien an orphan. He still hopes that Ladybug can fix it all. But she can't because of the nature of the wish: for one thing gained, another thing should be lost. In Ladybug's words:

There is no perfect wish. Every time a power is used for personal gain, it causes catastrophes. (...) We'll find a solution, but it will never be as perfect as one would wish.

Interesting, given that the world ends up being completely perfect?

All the problems are solved, literally everyone is happy, Marinette and Adrien are finally together. But the wish was made for personal gain, no? So where are the consequences? Where is equivalent exchange? The catastrophe, the price of the perfect, green, just world? I think we'll see that in season 6.

The dream world

The new world is seriously giving me weird vibes. Like it is a movie set. For those who have watched The Good Place, you'd know how in the town everything feels a bit too bright, artificial, perfect. I get the same vibes from the post-wish world.

The Agreste mansion is covered by green vines?? Way to hide the atrocities that were planned and happened here.

Here is a screengrab I found on the internet from The Good Place (the ladybug is a funny coincidence lol)

I am getting the exact same vibes!

Also, I have expanded on that in my post on "running out of time" theme, but basically in the ML universe usually the "real" stuff are associated with the night and the rain while things that happen in the sun turn out to be fake or erased/forgotten. So the feeling that I get from this finale is that, this new "perfect" world is not genuine; that the seeming happiness it brings will be soon destroyed (I doubt erased), just as it happened in other fake reality episodes like Chat Blanc, Ephemeral, Oblivio, or Jubilation. As I argued before, this is not a permanent victory. Hell, it isn't even a real victory, not with the secret Marinette is left to keep from Adrien.

Not a real victory

Another thing that makes me think that this ending is not genuine is the lack of Chat Noir in the finale. Yes, I am a fervent Ladynoir stan who was hoping for some Ladynoir action (if not reveal) and was hugely disappointed by the lack of Chat's engagement in the final fight, but now that I think of it, this may have been on purpose.

Notice how in Conformation, Ladybug says:

Our only way to win against him is to fight him together.

And yet, soon thereafter, she is catapulted into a fight with the Monarch.

Notice also it wasn't her choice to unify the miraculouses and face the Monarch alone. She had to, because Chat Noir wasn't there.

Let's remember that this show spent the entire season 4 explaining how Ladybug assuming all the responsibility alone leads to disaster, how she needs Chat Noir to share the burden with him.

Let's also remember how in season 5, especially at the beginning of it, we see Ladybug change her behaviour towards Chat Noir: she gives him more responsibilities (the Bunny Miraculous, the identity of certain holders if I am not mistaken), and how at one point she confesses that Chat Noir has been very serious and responsible lately (and then promptly develops a crush on him).

So taking on the Monarch herself is really against everything they have built up in season 4 and the beginning of season 5. That's why I think that this "victory" is so wrong: it was "won" only by Ladybug. Maybe if Chat Noir were there, he would have prevented the Monarch from making the wish (hypothetically, then we would have an entirely different timeline). If his identity were revealed the way Marinette's was, Gabriel could have controlled him through his amok. In any case, their defeat or victory would have looked very different from this.

In the end, we must remember that this world is far from being a victory for Ladybug: she has, after all, LOST. She couldn't stop Gabriel from making the wish. And while this world looks perfect, and we got what seems like a forever happy after ending for Adrinette, their happiness is set in a non-genuine victory and world.

So I think we shouldn't be angry with the show-runners: there is a reason why this ending feels and is wrong. If it were all wonderful, it wouldn't be the season finale. It would be the finale, period. And I believe that everything that has been disturbing us in this season finale will be addressed, if not consist of the core conflict of season 6. Let's all take a deep breath and turn to fan fiction or fan art till we get the new season now :) (at least that's what I'll do lol)

[3d-wifey]

And They'd Find Us In A Week - Chapter 10

Pairing: Finnick Odair x Reader Word Count: 6.5k Synopsis: Here! Playlist: Listen up! Tag list: - @melancholicmelanin, @yvy1s, @glomp-me, @honethatty12 A/N: a lot of yall are gonna be mad at me, but let me cook real quick. Trust 🙏🏾

Past (xi) - You

[21 & 22] - DISTRICT ELEVEN

You tighten your coat around you, burrowing into the warmth as you walk. 

To the left of you, dairy cows moo distantly, some grazing the open land while others stay tucked away in their barns. To the right of you, you pass empty victor houses. Once upon a time, District Eleven used to produce an immense number of victors. Certainly not as many as One or Two, but a strong contender right next to Four. It makes sense. Compared to what the citizens here have to face day to day, the arena is a welcome change. And tributes from Eleven develop a skill set that’s meant for survival at a very young age—one step away from being careers in your own right.

Eleven has always been incredibly rebellious. But after the Uprising a few decades back, which the citizens refer to as the First Movement, Eleven lost any good standing with the Capitol. In its place came droves of Peacekeepers and more oppressive rules than there were people. With them came the inability to train children, malnourishment, and conformity. They make sure to teach all about it in school, making sure students know just how far their district fell. Once a powerhouse worthy of rubbing shoulders with the best of them stands one of the most ‘primitive’ and militarized districts in the nation.

The remaining houses are left without any upkeep and are abandoned to fall apart.

As a victor, you're afforded some leniency by the Peacekeepers, but not much. Just enough that they won't find it suspicious that you’re carrying a blanket-covered wicker basket. Regardless, you keep it close to your side, and it knocks into your calf with each step. 

Winter is the worst time in Eleven, though it doesn’t last long. It doesn’t snow often since it’s so far south, but the ice is just as bad—if not worse. Not many people can survive the subzero temperatures, let alone crops. So, though it seems impossible, what little rations they give the people are shortened even further. The only plus is that it isn’t harvest season—there are so many crops to collect that children are pulled out of school for weeks at a time to help.

You remember what it feels like to be hungry. To be forced into the orchards to harvest pears, apricots, and Mandarin oranges—some of the only crops that can weather the cold, small hands stiff and your stomach numb with pain as you endured the freezing winds. You had friends when you were younger, other children that worked alongside you. Very few of them survived through the winter.

They give victors more food and money than they have any right to. So once a month, you pack up food that you, Chaff, and Seeder have gathered and journey to the poorest part of the district. You don’t take it all at once. That’s far too risky. You spread out the trips over several days at different times so the Peacekeepers on the clock don’t notice a pattern.

It’s not an easy walk by any means. You reside in the wealthy part of Eleven, and you use wealthy in the loosest sense of the word. The mayor’s family, doctors, Peacekeepers, landowners, and victors. Your destination is almost on the complete opposite side of the district from the Victor Village. Far away so the rich don’t have to see the harsh reality that the citizens live in.

It’s never been explicitly said that you can’t give out food, but it’s certainly implied. You try not to think about what they’ll do to you if you’re caught.

You wave at the few people you pass and avert your eyes as you walk past the whipping post. There’s only one. The Peacekeepers line up anyone who’s committed an offense and thrash them one by one. Most of the time, the people are innocent. Everyone has to watch. No one can intervene. It’s stationed beside the deck they conduct the hangings on.

People avoid the area if they can.

You pass open farmland and empty cotton fields. The further you walk, the more run down the buildings become. Until the houses aren’t much more than shacks guarded only by the hulking trees surrounding them. You relax. The Peacekeepers don’t patrol here. They’re certainly supposed to, but even they can’t stomach the squalor. 

The kids spot you first—they always do. Little heads pop up from behind trees, shouting your arrival. 

“She’s here!”

You laugh as they surround you, jumping up and down and shooting rapid-fire questions your way. You know that more would greet you if they could, but they likely can’t move. Huddled up in their homes and crippled by hunger or the cold, but probably both. The commotion draws adults toward you. An older woman with graying curly hair and sunspots on dark brown skin steps out of the gaunt-looking crowd. Elm, she's the de facto leader here. 

A man, Maple, smiles and takes the basket from you and walks into one of the buildings in the far back to stash the food away. You pull more wrapped food out of the hidden pockets on the inside of your coat and hand it off.

You have a system in place. You’ve been doing these deliveries for a long time. You trust them to distribute the goods to those who need them the most. Everyone here looks out for each other. Even if the kids aren’t theirs, an adult won’t let them go hungry if they can help it. It truly takes a village. You would know. After all, you used to live here.

The Shacktowns mainly exist because there are too many people in the district, having reached overpopulation decades ago. Living here is preferable to having to pay for food, clothing, and a house that’s seen its fair share of price gouging. From what you’ve seen, the clothing in the Shacks is somehow worse than what Districts Ten or Twelve get to wear. It’s all ill-suited for the temperamental cold. So, in exchange for working in the fields and forests under horrible conditions, the people get free housing and food. Clearly, both benefits are incredibly lacking.

It’s all the illusion of choice, anyway. Only three percent of the population works outside of the fields, that’s including the Peacekeepers. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t work on a farm, a grove, an orchard, or a plantation.

Elm pulls you into a hug once your hands are free, and you lean into her warm embrace. She’s been as old as the dirt on the ground for as long as you’ve known her, but it feels like she’s rapidly declined every time you see her. She’s well and truly sick, and she has been for a long time now. No one knows what it is or what effects it’ll have on her. Medicine isn’t readily available here. And you don’t think something that simple can help her anyway. Sadly, she isn’t the only one. You just hope this information doesn’t get out.

If anyone orbiting the elite circles found out just how many people were sick here, they wouldn’t send them to the Capitol to get help. They’d see it as a waste of resources. They’d let them suffer and die or have them put down if they’re feeling benevolent. Again, Eleven is heavily populated. The lives here have very little value outside their abilities to work. If they can’t do that, what purpose do they serve? 

What use is a horse with a broken leg?

She pulls away, hands on your shoulders as she looks you over. “You look good, healthy.”

“I can’t say the same for you.” You raise a brow at her hunched frame. She’s a tall woman with the endurance of a mule. She’s a decade younger than Mags, but she doesn’t look it. But, as you’ve learned after touring the districts, manual labor ages people. 

“And you,” you lean back as she wags her finger in your face, “inherited that mouth from your daddy. It’s gonna get you in trouble one day.”

"You’re getting worse.” You note, ignoring her attempt at diversion. The kids disperse, running back to the forest they were playing in. You know they won’t go far enough to reach the thirty-foot-tall fence, but you still worry. The gate is guarded to the teeth with trigger-happy Peacekeepers who won’t hesitate to shoot on sight.

“'M fine, honey. Don’t worry about me.” She waves off your concern, and you frown, stuffing your hands into your pocket when a breeze comes through.

“My offer still stands, Elm. There’s plenty of room in the house. Me and Mama would love to have you.” She practically raised your dad, and she even made the broom your parents jumped over at their wedding. Hell, when you were born, she was the first person to hold you after your parents. She’s family, and it kills you to leave her out here.

She shakes her head, and you know this argument is going to end the way it always does. “You know that’s not fair. They need me out here.” She pats your cheek and finishes with no room for argument. She’s stubborn, so going in circles about this will get you nowhere. You shift your jaw, agitated.

“And while we’re talkin', I think you should skip next month’s delivery,” your jaw drops. “Let me explain before you start assumin'. You know we appreciate everythin' you do for us, but you need to lay low for a while. You’re pushin' your luck comin' out here as often as you do, and if you get caught, you won’t be any help to anyone.” She makes a convincing argument and effectively cuts off your protest before you even start. 

You sigh. Seeder and your mom have been telling you the same thing.

“Please? Do it for an old woman’s peace of mind.” She pleads, squeezing your shoulders.

“We can’t afford to just stop coming out here entirely, but I guess it doesn’t always have to be me.” Chaff had offered to start delivering in your place, or to at least switch off who makes the trip each month.

You’re barely able to make ends meet for the people here, and this is only one Shacktown of hundreds.

“Just...start lookin' out for yourself more, alright?” She asks, and you agree with a scowl. You refuse to call it a pout, though Finnick definitely would.

You don’t stay for long. You need to get back before it starts getting dark out.

On your way back, you stop by the bakery like you always do. It’s a good halfway point between your two destinations—you’ll have something to show for your trip as well as an alibi, just in case you get stopped. 

You order two loaves of seeded rolls, another loaf of sourdough, and a blueberry muffin for your mom. Sage, the worker behind the counter, wraps the baked goods and pauses. “It’s dangerous. What you’re doin'.” He murmurs under his breath, so quiet that you wouldn’t have been able to hear him if you two weren’t the only ones here. He hands you your stuff, waving off the tip you attempt to give him. “But it’s good. I don’t think I’d be brave enough to take that kind of chance.” 

“It’s brave enough that you offer me food to give to them.” You say and mean it. What you do is only a secret to the people who aren't supposed to know. It's not just you, Seeder, and Chaff who contribute. Sometimes, people give you food and clothes to donate—among other things. Sage has spent many nights making extra bread and pastries just so there’ll be enough left over for you to deliver to the Shacktown.

Most jobs in Panem are passed down through families, such as Caesar Flickerman, who took his profession from his father, Julius Flickerman. And Julius inherited it from his father before him, all the way back to Lucky Flickerman. 

Old Mr. and Mrs. Pitsone never had any kids of their own, so the mayor allowed them to adopt one of the many orphans running around the fields to train in the art of baking. They picked Sage. 

He’s a meek boy despite his height, skittish and paranoid, but very kind. With light hair and even lighter skin that’s rare to see in Eleven, it’s no wonder he stood out amongst the other kids. He and his parents live above the bakery in a small home, though luxurious by Eleven’s standards. 

You used to be sweet on each other when you were much, much younger. A kiss on the cheek here and there as you worked side by side. Nothing special, but the most childish you were allowed to be. You were so envious when they took him out of the fields; you all were. He wasn’t one of you anymore, he got to work on the inside. Nobody wanted to be around him, so he was ostracized. You, angry and young, wished it was you. But now, you only wished it had happened sooner. You wished you had kept in touch.

He rings you up, and you gather it all in your basket before he stops you. 

“Oh! Wait here for a second.” He goes through a door behind him that you know leads to storage. You lean forward and hide a handful of coins on the little shelf under the front counter where you’re sure he won’t find them until it’s time to close. You hear rummaging and boxes moving before he comes out with a wrapped parcel tied with string. “I saved a few chocolate croissants for you. We usually run out of those in the mornin', but I know you like them.” He gives you a closed-mouth smile. Small, but real.

You try to picture a world where the two of you ended up together, running the bakery until you’re old and gray—maybe if you hadn’t been reaped. But you can’t imagine a universe where you aren’t in love with Finnick Odair. 

“Thank you, Sage.” The bell above the door jingles as you walk out.

“Be careful!” He calls from behind you.

Walking back is always hard, having to leave them all behind to suffer while you’re allowed to go back to your stupidly big house. With its giant pillars and long, stretching brick walkway framed by old willow trees that curve into each other and make an arched tunnel. And it’s in the middle of this tunnel that you see Peacekeepers guarding either side of your front door.

Your heart stops and then starts again at a runner’s pace.

Did they…find out? You were so careful, how did they—

One of them spots you lingering a few feet away and waves you closer. You walk forward, closing the distance. And then you take hesitant steps up the old stairs, tensing up in preparation for rough hands dragging you to the whipping posts. Instead, one just opens the front door for you. That’s worse. That means your punishment is on the inside. You’d rather take your chances with the whips. 

They shut the door behind you but don’t follow you. You place the basket of goods on a nearby hallway table and walk into the living room to see your mom sitting on the couch by herself, flanked by three guards, safe.

“There you are, baby.” She tries to smile at you, a play at normality, but it creaks and shakes like a house in a tornado. “We have a very special guest. He’s waitin' for you in your study.” She nods to the double doors further down the hall with even more Peacekeepers. You know who’s on the other side before the doors even open, and you really would have picked the whipping post over this.

Coriolanus Snow sits in your office—inside your home, almost seven hours from the Capitol. Snow traveling that distance? That's nothing to scoff at. 

He sits with his back to you and turns when the doors shut behind you. You feel like you’re a guest in your own home.

Seeing him sitting behind your big mahogany desk is akin to seeing a fox in a chicken coop. It’s dangerous. Foreboding. It has you looking for blood-soaked feathers. Nothing good can come from it. And for him to be so comfortable in the spot where you write your letters to Finnick makes your skin crawl. It’s wrong. He shouldn’t be here, in the one place that's truly yours.

“President Snow.” You say in greeting. You wrack your brain for any mentions of him coming to visit you and come up empty. Maybe there was a letter you missed, but you doubt it.  

It’s dusk. The setting sun shines through the windows behind him, bathing him in golden lighting that would have made anyone else look angelic. 

“You’re back,” he props his elbows up on your desk, steepling his fingers together. “Your mother said you were off to the bakery. You were gone for an awfully long time. Is it far?” Nothing on Snow’s face gives away his true intentions. If he knows about your little escapade, he’s doing a very good job of hiding it.

“Yes. It’s almost a day's walk,” You reply truthfully. When he does nothing more than hum in return, you’re quick to fill the silence. “I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”

“Oh, it’s no fault of your own, my dear. I’m sure if you knew I was coming, you’d have postponed your little trip, yes?” You nod like a bobblehead, and he leans back, most likely confident that he has your full attention. Again, you can’t tell if he knows about the donations. If he does, he clearly doesn’t care enough to mention it. Surely, he didn’t come all this way just to sleep with you. But what else could he be here for?  

“Your mother was a fantastic host in your absence.” He lifts his teacup in mock cheers to you and you clasp your hands together behind your back, nails digging into thin skin.

“I’ll… I'll be sure to pass along the message.” You smile, pressing your nails deeper into your skin. Had they been any sharper, you would’ve drawn blood. It’s quiet as you silently observe each other. The only sound in the room is the tick of the grandfather clock and a few birds outside the window, happily ignorant of the cyclone forming inside.

He finally breaks and speaks, though break probably isn’t the right word for it. Rather, he allows you to breathe by saying something, “Do you know why I’m here?”

Under the weight of his unrelenting stare, you eventually shake your head no and it feels like admitting defeat. Like you’re not smart enough to catch on to his train of thought and you both know it.

“Of course you don’t.” He tsks, and you lower your gaze, ears growing warm. He stands and takes poised, measured steps to where your feet are rooted to the floor. He towers over you, literally and figuratively. 

“I am here,” he circles you like a vulture, “to remind you of your standing. Hear me when I say this, as there will be no room for misconceptions. You are incredibly privileged.”

You think you do a very good job of refraining from gawking at him like he’s grown a second head, even though that’s definitely the reaction he deserves. What privilege could he possibly be talking about? You, who grew up in the poorest part of the most oppressed district. You, who’s been whored out for the safety of the people you love since you were sixteen. You, who’s lucky to see the man you love more than once a month. 

You’re privileged?

"Now, I've allowed you a certain amount of freedom that not many are rewarded. Namely, your relationship with Mr. Odair," he nods to your desk where your letters from Finnick are hidden. Perhaps not as hidden as you thought. "I’m sure you know communication between the districts is forbidden. You get away with it because I allow it. Because you are obedient, because you don't ask questions when given a task, because you have a value that many like to indulge in." Snow rubs his gloved thumb against your bottom lip. You know better than to flinch away. 

"But you are not irreplaceable." He drops his hand and turns towards the room. Your lungs are cool with the breath you’re finally able to take. You should be used to his presence, and you usually are, but only when you can prepare yourself. He’s completely blindsided you. 

You nod clumsily. “I know.” Really, you do. You knew Snow knew about you and Finnick, but not to what extent. You also wondered how long it would take until the both of you got pushback. You just weren’t expecting it to happen like this.

He toys with the few picture frames you have set up on your shelf. He glances over the picture of your parents on their wedding day and a framed photo you took of Finnick in the Capitol, beaming a big grin at the person behind the camera—you. Instead, he goes for the magazine you have propped up. The first cover you and Finnick were on together. Life in the Spotlight as Told by Panem's Hottest Victors.

“Do you? It appears to me you believe yourself invincible. I assure you, you are not.” He turns to you, magazine in hand, and taps Finnick’s face on the cover. You bite your tongue so hard you taste blood. “And neither are the people you care about.”

Your throat is dry, tongue fitting uncomfortably in your mouth. You swallow and it goes down rough.

“I don’t think that at all, President Snow. I apologize if my actions came across that way. If there’s anything I can do to remedy that…?” You trail off rather pathetically.

He chuckles and cracks the first smile you’ve seen since he’s been here, and it’s almost worse than his scowl. "Always so eager to please. This is not a reprimand, just a reminder. You toe the line, but as long as you do not cross it, we shouldn’t have any issues." The heels of his sensible shoes click against the wooden floor as he comes to stand before you again. "So long as you keep up your streak of good behavior, you’ll be permitted to carry on the way you have.”

“Yes, sir. I…I understand.”  

He hums and goes to walk past but stops. "I know you do, good girl that you are."

Your fingers twitch.

"Ah, I almost forgot," he pulls an envelope from a pocket on his waistcoat. You know who it's from by the color alone, the color of sand. "You have mail." He smiles again, sharp and cruel in its kindness. It's still sealed, held between his middle and pointer finger, but you're certain he knows what the letter says already. You take it hesitantly along with the magazine.

He walks out without any farewell. The doors shut behind you. You hear shuffling and steps, but you only untense once you hear the front door open and shut. You wait there for what has to be at least thirty minutes before you even think about opening the letter.

My Star,

At the time that I’m writing this letter, it’s been two months since I’ve last seen you. I think this is the longest we’ve been apart in the past seven years. Only two months and it’s felt like a century. It’s been agonizing. It makes me wonder how I was able to survive without you for sixteen years.

I got the picture you sent me. I worry I’ll wear it thin with how often I touch it. In the absence of having you near me, I trace the slope of your nose, the curve of your lips, the slant of your eyes. I carry you everywhere I go.

My hands should be in yours, fingers laced together. Instead, I use them to write to you now.

I hope I can see you soon. Dreaming of you can only tide me over for so long. 

-With all the love in the world and beyond,

Finnick O.

You lean back and slide down the door. You groan, knocking your head against the wood. You never thought Snow would go as far as to threaten Finnick’s life. Especially with all the popularity he’s cultivated. It doesn’t make any sense.

You lift the letter to your face, tracing his signature. You glance at the magazine. You were both so young here, couldn’t have been more than sixteen and seventeen. Your youth is encapsulated forever on a teen gossip magazine.

You rest your forehead against him, the glossy cover cool on your skin. Your body is still trying to disperse the rush of adrenaline Snow brought with him.

“You and me.” You sigh. You’re going to need all the strength you can get. For him though, it’s all worth it.

Past (xi) - Finnick

[21 & 22] - DISTRICT FOUR

Ocean water burns his eyes as he swims to shore, his muscles strain and burn as he pushes against the current. The hot sand sticks to his wet feet as he walks up the beach and he waves to a few surfers who call out to him. It’s getting colder, and everyone wants to get in the water while they still can.

Finnick has always believed that good things come to those who wait. He prides himself on being a pretty patient man, but—and there’s always a but—patience is as good as dust when it comes to you.

It’s been four months, going on five, since he’s last seen you.

He’s been seeing you less and less over the last two years, and at this point, he’d be lucky to catch a whiff of your perfume. He doesn’t get it. It’s not like he’s lost any standing in the Capitol, and based on your letters, you’re still in high demand. 

Besides, it’s not like either of you can request to come to the Capitol at the same time.

He drags himself up the stairs to the Victor Village, wood creaking under his weight. When he gets to the top, he turns left instead of right—actually heading back to his beach house for once instead of Mags’s. After taking a shower, he plans on going into town with Annie. She hadn’t asked him to and she’s been doing pretty well, becoming more lucid. Yet, there’s no telling what’ll trigger her—whether it be some kind of commotion that sounds too much like a canon or someone’s outfit that too closely resembles what she wore in the arena. He’d rather be safe than sorry.

Plus, he’s expecting a very important letter any day now.

When he finally gets to the sand road in front of the village, he hears the horn of a ship in the distance. He glances behind him and spots the biggest fishing boat in the district. The Cod Be Ever in Your Favor. He scoffs. That thing’s been around longer than he has, and it’s a rite of passage for everyone to go out to sea on her at least once. 

His father was a deckhand and he adored the job like it was his lover. He was rarely ever home—something Finnick was very grateful for. He never inherited that passion for the high seas and he had to learn the hard way that he’s much more adept in the water than above it. He’s crossing his fingers that the old relic capsizes one day. He’s not hoping anyone gets hurt or anything, but he will be celebrating the day that hunk of junk gets turned into scrap metal.

“On your right!” Finnick jumps to the left as a man on a bike zips past him.

Cars aren't driven down here. It’s too close to the ocean, and the cars manufactured in Six aren’t built to handle the terrain. But they’re substituted by the electrical bikes fashioned specifically for the coastal towns of Four.

Palm trees sway in the stiff wind before a line of three-story buildings. He has no immediate neighbors; the beach houses on either side of his lay empty and desolate. Tributes from Four aren’t that rare compared to lower districts—the latest victor being Annie. But, with being a wealthier district, comes access to more substances. Morphling overdoses are the leading cause of death for victors in districts one through six. Followed closely by alcohol poisoning and, well, the Capitol itself. Just in the past five years, the population dropped from seven to three.

He remembers them. 

Emilia Killroy was found washed up and bloated on the shore. Rían Hugh was struck by a car further into the city after stumbling into the street. He was so drunk he wouldn’t have felt it. 

Lottie MacHale and her son, Lukas. Lukas left the games mentally and physically disfigured. His game was a disaster that led to the untimely death of the previous Gamemaker and the implementation of Seneca Crane. A winter tundra that froze two-thirds of the tributes. The frostbite took the entirety of Lukas’s left leg and all the fingers on his right hand. He was found by his mother with a needle in his arm sans a pulse. Truly, it was a wonder he lasted as long as he did. 

It didn't take long for Lottie to follow him. Drowned in her vomit after drowning in her liquor, but everyone always said she died of a broken heart. 

He remembers them all. 

He slams the door shut behind him, eager to take a shower. His swim trunks are laden with water, getting dragged down his hips from the weight. Saltwater drips between his wet feet on the hardwood floor and weighs down his hair. He slicks it back so he can see where he’s going as he walks past the living room. 

He pauses, taking a few steps back to see…President Snow sitting on his couch? Finnick leans to the side to glance down the hallway, and—yep, Peacekeepers are milling around his back door. He bets as soon as he came in a few sprang out from wherever they were hiding to guard the front door behind him.

“President Snow. This is a surprise.” And far from a pleasant one. Finnick smiles, mask slipping into place, but Snow has unbalanced him. “What’s this all about?” It can’t be anything good. He can’t say he’s ever heard of Snow making a house call.

“I apologize for barging in on you like this, Mr. Odair, but this is an urgent matter.” He crosses his ankle over his knee, and Finnick hedges into the room. Cautiously, feeling like a wary animal walking into a trap.

Briefly, he’s reminded of something you told him. You had mentioned off-handedly that you’ve eaten frogs in Eleven. He couldn’t wrap his mind around how you’d get the frog into the hot water while it was alive and you said you have to trick it. You put the frog in the water while it’s still cool, and then slowly raise the heat without it noticing. Eventually, the water is boiling and the frog is trapped. 

“And what matter is that?”

Snow stares at him thoughtfully for a moment, and in Finnick’s experience, that’s never good. He hums before speaking, and Finnick imagines steam rising around him as Snow cranks the heat up. “Are you aware of what purpose keeping the districts isolated from each other serves?”

“No, Sir, I don’t.” He lies, but he’s sure Snow will give him his own twisted, convoluted reason. Finnick is well aware that Snow enforces this rule because it keeps the citizens ignorant. Ensuring they only really know about their district means there can be no real unionizing. 

“Panem as a nation runs on a very delicate balance of hope. Too little, and the people become despondent. Too much and the people begin to think—the people begin to rebel. For the citizens to see two victors from drastically different districts have such an intimate relationship complicates things.”

“...You think we’ll spark a rebellion? Just by being together?”

Snow releases a raspy breath that might have been a laugh once upon a time and the water is getting hotter. “I think it will lead to people envisioning a future where such things are allowed. I know you will cause a rebellion. You see,” he sighs, “the civilians are as subdued as they will ever be. But this will have them questioning their circumstances. It will take them out of the ‘us vs. them’ mentality they have against each other. It will make them wonder just how much they have in common and that leads to them seeing each other as people. It doesn’t help that you are both such influential figures. They will rebel, from One to Twelve, and they will all share the same fate as Thirteen.” 

“Is this…because she’s from Eleven?” He knows, thanks to you, that the people of Eleven are particularly defiant in the face of the Capitol’s oppressive ruling and always have been. Understandably so, considering no one feels it more severely than they do. He holds back a scoff. To think he thought Four was rebellious. At most, Four has the privilege of throwing temper tantrums, knowing they’ll face no real repercussions. Eleven, on the other hand, riots knowing they’ll be punished grievously.

Snow, again, takes a moment to watch him. “Her being from that particular district does make a rebellion far more likely, yes.” He pulls a forest-green envelope from a pocket inside his blazer. The exact letter he’s been waiting for. He doesn’t acknowledge it, so neither does Finnick.

“Of course, you can continue as you have, and I’ll take it upon myself to handle it. However, I doubt you’ll like the solution I have come up with. She's one of my most popular female victors. And I can admit, I have grown rather fond of her." Snow chuckles, and Finnick feels sick. He looks down at the envelope clutched in Snow's hand and pictures your arm in its place. He doesn't want to think about what happened behind closed doors to make Snow grow so fond of you. "It would be hard to replace her," Snow nods along to himself, "but not impossible." The room is quiet for a moment before Finnick asks, "What are you saying?" After working so closely with Snow for so long, you learn his language of non-speaking. You hear the silent threats in between the carefully crafted rebuttals. You feel the weight of his deliberate silence. So, Finnick knows exactly what Snow's saying. Snow knows this, too, which is why he says, "Don't act daft, Mr. Odair. It doesn't suit you." He's twenty-two years old—a grown man—but suddenly, he’s fourteen again—sitting in that chair, backed against a wall as Snow forces him to sign his soul away. He’s still that scared kid. He’s never outgrown him because he never got the chance to grow up—not if Snow had any say in the matter.

“As I said, this can only end in pain. It’s up to you to decide who will end up bloody. The lives of thousands over the life of one. Surely, you understand that.” He doesn’t. Finnick doesn’t understand it at all. It doesn’t matter what the other option is, he’s picking you every time without fail. He can’t imagine doing otherwise. He doesn’t want to.

“Unless you can think of something else, I don’t see any other way for us to proceed past this.” Snow moves his hand in a sweeping motion, the closest thing to a shrug that he’ll do. Finnick doesn’t understand why he came to him. He clearly favors you, so why threaten your life?

“Why me? Why are you making me choose? Wh-why,” he looks down to the floor, to the space between his feet, “Why not her?” If there was a choice on who would survive between you and him, he wants it to be you. Is that selfish? To wish you were the one given the choice instead of him. It feels unimaginable to live in a world without you, so is that cruel to expect you to do the same? 

To love is to be human. To be human is to be flawed. And there’s no one more flawed than Finnick Odair.

“You’ve been around longer.” He raises his eyebrows in another almost shrug as if it’s all so simple. “It only seems fair.”

Fair.

Fair.

When did he start caring about what’s fair? He didn’t even think that word was in Snow’s vocabulary, and, honestly, it still might not be because he isn’t using it right. There is nothing fair about this situation.

Snow uncrosses his legs and leans forward, a glint in his ghastly eyes. He looks worse every time Finnick sees him, and he wishes he could get any satisfaction from it, but he just feels as sick as Snow looks.

“It doesn’t,” Finnick shakes his head, “It doesn’t have to come to that. I’ll…I’ll handle it. I–I’ll end it.” The words are out of his mouth before he can even comprehend them, mouth moving faster than his brain, and by the time it catches up, it’s too late to snatch the words out of the air. They float between them, and they are terrifying.

Snow nods at the idea and…and...

It’s over. It’s all over. It was over as soon as Finnick sat down across from him, maybe even before that. 

“See that you do. I trust you’ll take care of this issue without my stepping in.” As Snow stands, he holds the envelope up to his nose and takes a long, obnoxious sniff. "Hmm, it even smells like her." His nauseating smile turns Finnick’s stomach. “Spritz of perfume? A nice touch.” His steps are unhurried, and he takes his time approaching Finnick’s tense form.

“And Finnick?” He pulls away before Finnick can take it from him, playing with him even now. “Go easy on the poor girl. I imagine she’ll be quite torn up over this.”

The water is boiling.

The water is boiling, and it’s too late to get out.

Finnick says nothing, but Snow isn’t expecting him to. He hands him the letter and walks to the door without a backward glance.

Two Peacekeepers follow him out, the door shutting behind them softly, and that nags at him. How dare they ruin his life and leave like—like this was just a social call? As if this isn’t crumbling his foundations, the same foundations that support the home he’s built with you.

Snow handed him a box of matches and told him to burn that home to the ground.

He looks at the envelope, wet with his fingerprints, and Finnick…

Finnick rushes to the bathroom to vomit.

-

A/N: why'd y'all let me cook 😕😕😕 come yell at me in my inbox!!! damn y'all were Peeta and Katniss b4 Peeta and Katniss 🤭��� and sage is such a peeta variant, all these Peeta variants falling in love with you uh, an actual lil author's note moment: when watching Catching Fire, I noticed the people in District Eleven dress like black people did in the 1950s and 60s while incorporating elements from the Antebellum South. Since most of the people that live there are black and indigenous and Eleven is the most oppressed district, it makes sense. It’s interesting what the clothing the people in different districts wear says about the culture there and what kind of culture Suzanne Collins based that district on. The Shacktowns are the District Eleven equivalent to the Seam in District Twelve, but even Katniss was surprised by how badly the people lived. She basically said it made twelve look like a paradise in comparison. When I mention the rich elites in Eleven, imagine them being around the same financial standing as Katniss was before she was reaped. So…not much.

[lizzaneia-elizalde]

Male Yandere Husband x Pregnant Female Stepford Wife Reader

(I don’t think you’ve done anything like this yet? So if not, think you can try?)

I want him to be a master manipulator, but really delusional in a loving/devoted sense. Believing that what he’s doing is for our best interest, as well as the baby’s. That includes confining us at home, always being with us 24/7 when we’re outside our home, etc. And generally getting us to be 100% dependent on him, (like we already weren’t heavily dependent on him before…)

Thank you!!! 💝

Yandere! Husband! Politician x Pregnant! Fem! Stepford! Wife! Reader

SORRY IT TOOK ME LONG TO GET THIS REQUEST DONE!

I had a hard time incorporating the yandere stuff with such a willing reader, but I tried LOL.

This one's only got two sections, since the both of you are married already, so it went straight to the yandere-ness.

But here ya go! Requests will be back on once more!

BTW, the master list is up now! It's my pinned post.

Yandere! Politician name: Maximus

Maximus.

Just like his name, he was the greatest Politician out there. Whatever that means.

He's charming, intuitive, generous, kind, and compassionate.

Every election season, if you ask people who will they vote as a mayor or whatever position Maximus ran as, they'll say

"Isn't it obvious? Of course it's Maximus!"

So it didn't faze the people that he won whenever he ran.

As young as he is, he's always been active in the political sphere. From the student council, he's always been in the highest positions out there. Secretary, Vice President, and President.

Hell, if you ask him to do treasury, then he'll gladly accept and do it much better than the current treasurer or auditor. No specks, no crumbs, a clean liquidation sheet.

And when he graduated as the University president, local parties flocked towards him to invite him in their political party.

So many choices for the great Maximus.

After many days of researching and finding out the dirt, secrets, strengths, and weaknesses of each political party, he chose a party suited for the straight laced man.

That, and that you were there.

You were the unlisted assistant of your father, who was running as vice mayor, and is finding a mayor to be with.

This was perfect.

Maximus has always liked you.

Scratch that.

He always loved you.

You were the daughter of a well known governor inside your city. Pristine, shy, quiet, and always had a smile in your face, everyone back in school liked you. You were the epitome of etiquette and manners. If parents want somebody to compare to their child to belittle them, it would be you, little miss perfect.

Both of you live in a small city, almost a town size. So everyone knew each other, and you both lived in the same district.

it's just that he didn't fly under your radar from how busy he is.

Unlike your father, you never joined politics. You just sat there, studied, did some small knitting projects or sewing. Maybe even drawing if you felt like it.

At first, Maximus didn't really pay you any attention, until he heard your conversation with your friends.

"What? Seriously?"

"I am serious." Your melodious laugh echoed through the empty halls. It was already 5pm, and only a handful of students are left.

"But... That's so traditional lol."

"I know, but really. I just want to stay at home, serve my husband, take care of our kids... You know, the gist."

"But, you said you'll do Social work, Home eco, or culinary in Uni. So what's up with that?"

You just smiled at your friends until they said "oh..." in understanding.

Those courses can help develop your home rearing skills.

"I mean, sure. If you're happy with that." One of your friends finally broke the silence, followed by "meh's..." "eh..." and grunts of approval.

"Thank you for accepting for who I am." You smiled once more at them and they gave you an understanding grin.

Then and there, Maximus became curious about you.

Maximus also had a traditional way of thinking. Not all women, but his wife should just be staying pretty in his home, while taking care of their children...

He knew that only a small percentage of people would be open to that notion, and he was fine with it.

It did made him feel lonely sometimes. He's always dreamt of a domestic life, but the woman is always a faceless grey glob. He just can't see somebody in his life who would be willing to be like that.

So when he heard your conversation, that night in his dreams, he woke up sweating and confused when the faceless glob greeted him. But rather than the glob, it was you. Smiling with two children who looked like the exact perfect mix of the both of you.

"What the fuck..." He breathed out of his mouth, shaking his head.

Now, every night, his dreams were infiltrated with you.

And that started in highschool, all throughout University, up until you both graduated.

Your paths never crossed once more, since he's in AP classes most of the time, both of you were on different blocks in senior highschool despite having the same strand, and he chose Political Science in University while you did BS in Home Economics. But he always peeled his eyes for you. Dismissal, lunch, even breaks.

His friends teased him for having such a long time crush, and he just laughed and waved his hand.

And when the both of you graduated, he's about to confess his feelings when he saw you talking with a man, with eyes so wide and filled with adoration.

He felt his heart break.

He was numb, standing there and looking at you interact with the man who was smiling down at you with a ruffle on your hair.

He felt irrationally jealous.

Wait, him? Jealous?

He never felt jealous.

Did he?

He doesn't know anymore.

All he could see is you holding a bouquet of lilies and smelling it while the man hugged you.

He wants to rip the man limb from limb, desecrate his body, and feed it to the alligators.

Why is he wrapping his arms around you like that? He never heard you getting a boyfriend?

And he has a lot of connections to know.

Then he scoffed, like a breath of fresh air rushing into his lungs.

He needed a break.

When did he act like this? When did he become so...

He doesn't even know what it's called.

He's always been a good man. One that doesn't know anger, jealousy, possessiveness...

But what's this? Feelings that stirred inside him threatened to spill out.

So he ran away before it would get worse.

Years later, seeing your name in that certain partylist, he knew he had to join it. Just for a one sided closure he needed.

"Hello! You're Y/N right? You went to the same... School as me!" Maximus said, leaning his upper body to meet your face. His face soft, gentle, and mellow.

"O-oh! Hello sir Maximus! I knew we did, but I didn't know you knew me..." You shyly answered, your thumb brushing against the back of your other hand.

Maximus gulped.

He didn't realize how much he is missing you.

His eyes scanned towards your desk and his eyes widened a bit when he saw the man once more with you in a photo, but this time, with your father and mother.

So, with his trembling lips from the sudden hope bubbling inside him, he pointed.

"Is that your family?" He whispered and you nodded with a soft smile of adoration.

"Yes. I love them a lot." You said, caressing the photo. "That's my dad, mom, and my big brother."

"Oh! That's amazing. It's rare to see a tight knit family nowadays. I mean, families falling left and right, can't people just communicate and--" Maximus rambled, not even caring if the things he's saying is insensitive. He was just so happy that he actually has a chance to woo you.

"Is that so? I mean, my family had fallouts, and sometimes communication is not enough. Actions speak louder than words, of course." You said, carrying the conversation further.

Maximus grinned before taking a seat beside you and talking about deep, familial stuff. With him sprinkling hints of him being a traditional man.

You didn't miss the hints, evident from the blush forming on your cheeks and the shyness emanating from your words faltering.

And he found it adorable.

Once you both ran out of things to debate, he held your hand gently.

"Hey, y/n, what do you think about going on a date with me?"

The rest is history.

"Darling, I'm home!" Maximus yelled once he got inside the mansion. "Today was a bit of a mess..."

Maximus heard an excited gasp and shuffling before he saw you waddling towards him, with a 7 month pregnant belly.

"Welcome home, darling." You greeted him with the smile he loves.

You took off his coat and hung it on the rack, before guiding him towards the kitchen.

"I helped cook today! The dinner for this night is lamb ch... Maximus?"

Maximus has a frown on his face, looking at you with such a disapproving look.

"Darling, why are you working in the kitchen?" He gently asked, caressing your belly. "You're pregnant, you need to rest always!"

You shrunk down a bit, sad.

"But I want to serve you again..."

Maximus' eyes softened at your words before giving you a loving kiss on your forehead.

"I know, darling. But that's what the chefs are for right? The servants too. I hired them to take care of you. Of us." He said, guiding you to the couch and gently sitting you down. "I don't want you getting tired. You're already being burdened by being pregnant and nurturing our child."

You nodded, easily swayed by his words.

"I know... Give me a kiss?" You asked, tilting your head up. He chuckled and gave you a soft peck.

"There. Now stay there, alright? We'll be eating here in the living room. You're already walking too much." Maximus said before hugging you and going to the kitchen.

Once he got to the kitchen, he grabbed a knife and threw it at the chef that was already cowering in the corner.

"Why did you let Y/N work?" He growled out, his eyes sharp, deadly, and authoritative.

Ever since you got married to Maximus, his protectiveness shot through the roof. He doesn't like it when he doesn't know where you are, he doesn't know when he doesn't know what you are doing, he doesn't like it if you talked to people he doesn't know personally.

He installed cameras, mics, and planted people around you that he knew he can scare into submission.

Especially now you're pregnant, he's making sure you always stayed beside him.

When did he become so twisted, from the nice, generous, and kind politician, to something like... Him?

"S-sir, the madam insisted on cooking for you!" The chef trembled out.

You were a rare type of woman who was so open to just being at home, and be the wife he needed to see every time he goes home.

He can't let you go.

Ever.

Maximus sneered and bit his nail, eyes sharp with thoughts.

"I need to drill in more thoughts into her pretty head..." Maximus grumbled.

You were already so willing just being inside the mansion, and so open to his manipulation that you weren't aware of.

He told you that you don't need to go out, that the world was a scary place for a wife like you. And that whenever you go out, you needed to be by his side.

He's already working so hard serving the city, and serving you is a bonus, and a privilege.

He's so occupied with taking care of the place both of you growing up, yet had the time, love, affection, and care to single you out and shower you with his attention. Why would you need to do anything other than serving him as his wife? That's blasphemy, and selfish.

He drilled that in your mind.

And you were so accepting of the fact too.

"If she insisted on helping in the kitchen once more, tell her 'what would sir think?', okay?" He spat out at the poor chef before suddenly smiling. "Don't tell anybody this, or else your family gets it."

He walked away with a triumphant smile and grabbed the food from the counter.

He walked towards you, and saw you scratching your cheek softly confused and scared, almost.

"What's wrong, darling?" Maximus asked, worry etched on his face as he sat down beside you.

"Oh, uh, I just..." You gave him your phone, which was ringing with the number of the exclusive nursery room designer he hired. "C-can you talk to him? I don't know what to do..."

Maximus shivered, seeing you so dependent on him.

Clueless on what to do, on what to say.

He smiled before taking the call for you, with his hand holding yours.

You didn't even start eating yet, waiting for his words to start.

His cute little wife can't even eat by herself.

How... perfect.

This was his perfect life.

With the perfect wife.

And he'll be damned if he didn't protect this.

If he didn't protect you.

So just be swayed with his words and put yourself in his palm.

He will make sure you are well taken care of, and that your pretty little brain will not hurt from thinking too much.

That's a promise.

[ape-apocalypse]

Road To The Kingdom - Firestorm Tie-In Novel

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm is a prequel novel written by Greg Keyes for the second movie in the reboot trilogy. It takes place soon after the end of the first film, about a week after the apes escaped into the redwood forest beyond San Francisco and the Simian Flu began to cut through the human race. This novel is a fantastic bridge between Rise and Dawn, giving us more insight into characters we met in the first movie who will feature in the next, as well as fleshing out the fall of society. 

The book does very well juggling between the two massive plots of Caesar's apes avoiding their human hunters and the Simian Flu tearing through the city. Though we don't see Will or any other humans we met in Rise, they give us many new human characters: a reporter trying to make the connection between the escaped apes and the new virus, an emergency room doctor dealing hands on with outbreak casualties, and an ape researcher and a former hunter who have been brought in by Gen-Sys to capture Caesar's group. While I thought I wouldn't care about the humans because the apes are always my favorite characters, all these humans in different locations and with different stories keep the story from dragging; I ended up enjoying the final days of humanity almost as much as Caesar's story. The book also gives us the first introduction to a human character who will become important in Dawn: Dreyfus, the leader of the human colony played by Gary Oldman. Going into the movie, his backstory isn't very clear other than he was in some position of power before the end and he lost his wife and children. But the book goes really deep into his story of a former police chief running for mayor and wanting to protect humans. Rereading the book in 2024, the parallels of the Simian Flu with the Covid outbreak definitely rings true (much like the YouTube shorts).

But no matter how good the human characters are, what I enjoyed most about this book was seeing Caesar and his escaped apes start to adapt to life in the wild. Even while they're being hounded by the humans chasing them, they have to figure out how to care for sick/injured apes and where to get food without humans to feed them. A great moment for Caesar is when he thinks to himself that he never thought beyond escaping from the human city; his realization that there is more to figure out than just dodging humans shows how he goes from accidental ringleader from the sanctuary to the wise authoritative leader of the apes of the next two films.

Though surprisingly, the true star of this book isn't Caesar; it's Koba. We get numerous detailed flashbacks of Koba's life before ending up in the Gen-Sys lab and receiving the brain enhancing drugs. From the death of his mother to being an abused TV star to arriving at the labs as a test ape. In the films, Koba's hatred of humans shines through and is unquestionable; you don't need the backstory to understand why he carries a grudge against all humanity. But reading the details really did break my heart. And getting his backstory revealed as he learns to work with other apes, as he proves his loyalty to Caesar by rescuing injured apes rather than wrecking vengeance on humans, you actually have hope that he could be happy now that he was free with other apes. 

Another great part of the book is getting to see the very beginning of Caesar and Cornelia's courtship. Since one of my disappointments with the films are the forgotten female characters, I was glad to see Cornelia here, challenging Caesar's orders when it came to taking care of injured apes. Though her role is still small, I liked seeing her get a little time to flesh out her character.

Firestorm is officially labeled as a prequel (which is why I have it listed first as I'm trying to go in chronological storyline order), but I actually enjoyed reading it after seeing Dawn. While I think it can still be appreciated in any order, I liked getting to meet Koba in the movie and seeing him as a great complicated villain, before then learning his backstory and growing your sympathy for him, while also thinking about how tragic it is that he couldn't let go of his hate. Whatever order you decide to read them in, Firestorm by Greg Keyes is a wonderful expansion on the movies that I would label as required reading for fans for the expansive and enjoyable story it shares.

Intro / Previous / Next

[the-olympics-olympics]

Weird Olympic Moments Tournament

To celebrate (?) the Paris 2024 Olympic Games starting in a few weeks, I thought I'd run another Olympic-themed poll tournament. This time, we're diving into history and getting to know some of the stranger, lesser-known stories of the Games.

Polls will run for a week, and the tournament should last until around early September if I'm doing my math right. The first polls will begin Monday, July 15th.

At the end, we'll award a gold, silver, and bronze to the top three.

After many hours on Wikipedia and the IOC website, here's the list of moments I came up with:

Horse vaulting

Pigeon racing

Sarajevo venues damaged in war

Mayor of Montreal says "The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby," then proceeds to host one of the most financially disastrous Games in history

George Eyser wins six medals after being run over by a train

Solo synchronized swimming

Crowd gets pooped on by 25,000 pigeons

Flame is taken to top of Mount Everest

Margaret Abbot dies without knowing she made history as the first US woman to win gold

Brazilian team has to sell coffee to afford the trip to Los Angeles

A teenager's "dumb idea" becomes Olympic tradition (athletes marching together in closing ceremony)

St. Louis experiments with "purposeful dehydration", denies water to marathon runners

Kanakuri Shizō takes 54 years to finish his race

Mt. Vesuvius moves the Olympics to London

They stop doing the Olympic salute for some reason

IOC President compares a terrorist attack to a vote to ban a racist country

The Olympics goes 88 years without letting women run marathons

Olympic flame transmitted via satellite

Northern Rhodesia declares independence during Olympics, changes name to Zambia

Vancouver 2010 cauldron malfunction

Montreal 1976 stadium is finally paid off in 2006

The curse of the Beijing 2008 mascots

Everest climbers get gold medals

Sochi snowflake malfunction

They hold the Olympics in 1906, then later say it doesn't count

Colorado kicks the Olympics out

Flame hidden from view after anti-gay law

Summer Olympics held during Winter

Haiti and Liechtenstein discover they had the same flag

Riot at the 1924 rugby match

McDonald's gives out more Big Macs than they expected

Chamonix 1924 retroactively named the Winter Olympics

Doves burned during cauldron lighting

Torchbearer takes olympic flame down a ski jump

Medals made of e-waste

Shooter aims for wrong target, loses gold

Olympic torch passed on International Space Station

Alien addresses crowd

Figure skating debuts at Summer Olympics

Olympics held on two different continents

Rio organizers lose key to stadium gate

Baron de Coubertin wins a gold medal under false identity

1960 winter games held in city named for an ethnic slur

Obstacle Swimming

North Korea considered to co-host 1988

Housing complex for American soldiers during the occupation of Japan becomes the Olympic village

Torch design changed mid-relay

Cauldron lit by flaming arrow

Last three seconds of basketball final replayed three times until results changed

St. Louis threatens to hold their own Olympics if they don't get named host city

Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat

Balloon racing

Delirious man carried over finish line by coaches, wins marathon

Summer Olympics held in November and December

Olympics postponed for COVID

Blue screen of death appears during opening ceremony

Marathon runner attacked by priest

Guy kicks referee in the face and (maybe) ends up on a stamp

Jet pack flies over stadium

Centennial games not awarded to a very confident Athens

LA 84 gets in trouble for commercializing the torch relay

Olympic flame relit with cigarette lighter

Rower stops for ducks

Nazi propaganda becomes Olympic tradition (torch relay)

Did I miss a great weird moment? Send it to me in an ask and I might do a round 2 or something!

I chose the moments based on my own personal bias (lol)

Heads up that there is one that involves the death of animals, but I will tag any polls with that #tw animal death

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything else tagged, and how to tag it!

Also, a disclaimer that I'm tired and scatterbrained and I work full time, so if this gets a little disorganized I apologize. Shouldn't be too bad though.

Let the games begin, and whatnot

@tournament-announcer :)

[fandomfics]

The Trouble with Love

Part 6

Pairings: Cooper Howard/The Ghoul x John Hancock x Fem reader

Description: After your brush with death, you face a new challenge. Communication.

Master List here

⚠️ WARNINGS ⚠️

No smut, sorry (next one though 😉)

Mentions of suicide, insecurity, violence, drug use, alcohol

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

Hancock lays in her bed, immobile from his recent trauma. This is torturous for the charismatic mayor of Goodneighbor, if he can't get high and wander town talking with the people, helping solve asinine problems, he can't push his own problems away. He's alone with his own thoughts far more than he would like to be, especially at this moment. He saw the pain and disappointment in her eyes when he came to and almost felt regret for his actions. Almost.

The regrets of his past molded him into a man of action, he would no longer stand idly by as others were subjected to pain and torment. Possibly watching the love of his life suffocating slowly, not knowing if he would spend eternity with her remains, he just fucking couldn't.

He had never thought of himself as a particularly important person. Goodneighbor didn't need him anymore, the people took care of each other now. He jumped at the chance to leave town, told her it was because people in power don't deserve to be comfortable for too long, but it was more than that. He felt like he was no longer needed, he played his part, there were no lines left for him.

She is important. She has been a blessing to the Commonwealth in so many ways. The hero that everyone knows, except herself. She calls herself a merc, and that may be in the standards of the time she came from, but here in the wasteland her morals are clear. She gave him a renewed sense of purpose, she is his savior. She is more important than he could ever be.

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

After retrieving the locket John had for you in his office you make your way to The Rexford. With the amount of wounds and crushed bone he's going to be bed ridden for at least a couple days, time enough to figure out where to go from here.

Your love for him is more than you ever thought you could feel again, and this mess is complicated. You want to punch him, kiss him, kick him out, hold him tight, scream at him. Mostly though, you just want everything to be normal again.

"This is nice and all," you say holding the necklace aloft in front of you, "but it doesn't make up for anything."

"I don't expect it to," he looks down at his hands with a weary smile "and I would understand if you didn't want anything to do with me anymore."

"Do you know how long it took me to not have nightmares every night about what happened to Nate?" You ask as you sit beside him on the edge of the bed, tears welling in your eyes, "Too fucking long. You made me live that again. I woke up across from my dead partner for the second time in my life." The tears start to flow freely. Hancock reaches up a hand to wipe the tears from your face but you flinch away. The pain etched in his face as you recoil punches through your chest leaving behind a hollowing pain of your own.

"I'm sorry love, but I don't regret it." He looks into your eyes, determined for you to see he means what he says, "Send Fahrenheit up. She can help me move to the statehouse. "

You sit in stunned silence, his words cut deep. When you finally move it's towards the door, "Cooper will help you too. " You say without looking back.

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

A few hours later you lay in Cooper's arms, curled into his chest crying as his hand strokes your hair.

"I just don't understand why he couldn't listen, why he had to do that."

"Let me give ya some insight Darlin', your death is permanent. Him and I, we have a li'l more of an advantage, but we would still risk it all to save you."

"You're on his side?"

"Ya gonna tell me that ya wasn't ready ta risk yer life ta save his? Like ya always fuckin have?"

You pull back, ready to fight him, tell him it's different, but you can't find the words. He's right, you were willing to die to make sure Hancock lived. All three of you would die to save each other, a blessing and a curse in a dangerous world.

"I-I...would have died for him too." You whisper. The pain still ebbs and flows through you, and you squeeze your eyes shut "Fuck."

Cooper shushes you and pulls you in tighter, "Yeah sweetheart. Get yerself together, let's go see him."

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

"He said he doesn't want to see either of you." Fahrenheit says through gritted teeth, hand on Cooper's chest.

"Bullshit, you think-"

"Cooper, it's fine," you say cutting him off "can you just tell him I'm sorry, and I want to talk through this?"

"Sure." She says simply

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

Shattered bottles and empty chems litter Hancocks office in the statehouse. He lays on his couch wondering how much he'll need to forget everything while his legs heal up. From the open window he hears Cooper raise his voice before being cut off by hers.

He knew this whole thing could go sideways. No one ever stayed after things took a serious turn in the relationship. That short time of bliss was the happiest he'd been in his life, but it wasn't worth the pain he caused her. The gut wrenching feeling in his stomach persists, even after hearing her, he knows he can't be with her. He can't even go a couple weeks without fucking things up. It wasn't fair to her, he doesn't deserve her.

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

"I don't understand where his mind is at, but I want to...what if he never wants to talk to me again?"

"Then there's nothing ya can do, sweetheart. Ya hurt each other. Pretty bad too. Just give it some time."

"I have. It's been three days. I can't do this anymore, it's so fucking painful."

You march back into the statehouse to find Fahrenheit in Hancock's office, door wide open as she shovels trash into a corner. The place looks like a tornado swept through and brought a pharmacy and a liquor store with it.

"Where is he?" You ask softly

"He left as soon as he could."

"Where?" Your voice becomes more urgent.

"Wouldn't tell you even if I knew."

You storm out of the statehouse in a huff, Cooper close on your heels as you quickly make your way into the third rail.

"Two bottles of whiskey Charlie." You exchange caps with the bot and grab a couple glasses from the counter before you make your way to the table closest to Magnolia.

Cooper eyes you as you open a bottle and pour him and yourself drinks. You get through half the bottle by the time the songstress has finished her set and wave her over. she eyes you and Cooper suspiciously as you slide the unopened bottle of whisky to her.

"You know the way to my heart," she says with a wink "now what can I do for you honey?"

"John talk to you before he left?"

"Yeah," she looks a bit puzzled, "came to drop off some papers. Gave me the bar."

"What the fuck....Coop, what is he doing?" You turn to your partner, eyes wide. Something is wrong. "Mags, where did he go?"

"Didn't say, exactly. Just that he might not be back for a long while. I did overhear him talking to Fahrenheit though. Something about going back to where it started."

"The strongroom."

You thank Magnolia and rush to the exit.

"Ya think he's really goin there?"

"I hope so. We need to hurry, I have a bad feeling...."

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

It's not difficult to traverse the tunnels that you helped Bobbi dig when you first arrived in Goodneighbor. There are a few radroaches and mirelurks, but you and Cooper manage to take them out fairly easily. Time seems to slow in your haste, you feel an eternity passes before you reach your destination. You spend the entire journey spiralling from one terrible outcome to another. When you arrive at the strong room you hear gunshot after gunshot, no sounds of people, just metal on metal as bullets ricochet off of train cars.

You peak your head into the room and see Hancock, bottle in hand, shooting at nothing.

When he pauses to reload you call out to him.

"John, it's me."

"Leave."

"Quit fuckin' around Hancock." Cooper yells sternly as he walks up through the opening, exposing himself to the other ghoul. "Let's just have a quick chat, and if ya still want nothin ta do with us, we'll go."

"Fine, if it will get you to leave me alone." He says before taking a hit of jet.

He sits by a fire in a rusty old lawn chair, in the dim lighting you see his expression. He looks... empty. You run to him, falling to your knees at his feet, looking him over, he stares into the fire without acknowledging you.

"John please look at me." You plead, tears in your eyes. You see something stir in him but he doesn't look at you.

"Fine." You whisper, "then just listen."

He seems to focus harder on the fire as you continue.

"You hurt me, but I hurt you too. We both fucked up. I should have listened to what you had to say, talked through it...trusted you. I would do anything for the people I love, why wouldn't I expect you to do the same. I'm sorry I let you do that alone. I shouldn't have let you go back to the statehouse to heal alone either. I'm sorry. "

He rubs his eyes with one hand and leaves his face buried in it.

"Okay."

"That's all? Really? Are you done...with me?"

His silence is deafening.

Out of nowhere Cooper is in front of Hancock and his fist slams into the side of his face . "The least ya can do is give the lady an answer!" He grabs a fist full of Hancock's coat and pulls his arm back, readying another strike. At the same moment you move forward to keep him from hurting Hancock anymore, his elbow collides with your chest and sends you to the ground knocking the breath out of you. Cooper looks back to you registering what just happened, giving Hancock an opening.

Finally something in him snaps and he pulls his gun up and shoots Cooper in the shoulder. He stumbles back in surprise and releases Hancock, who is immediately at your side.

"Are you hurt?" He finally seems concerned.

"No, but I'm fucking confused."

Cooper now kneels at your other side and reaches for your hand to pull you up, "I'm so sorry darlin', ya'lright?" you slap his hand away and stand on your own.

"Go wait in the fucking hole" you snap, pointing to the way you had come from. He sulks off to the opening and disappears. With your hands on your hips you turn back to Hancock.

"I don't matter, but you do. I don't want you out here risking yourself for me when I get caught between life and death. If I go, it's fine. I've done all the good I can do in this world. Within two weeks together you've nearly died and I've caused you so much pain.... Even if I knew you could never be hurt physically, I just can't do this to you. I don't deserve your time. It was a dream to think any different."

"Ultimately I can't force you to stay, but all that was bullshit. You saved me, and I was upset about it, until I realized I was trying to do the same thing. Because you matter. You are so fucking important to me. We can make this work, we just need to be honest and talk through our shit. I don't want to do this without you. Just a few days not knowing if you wanted to ever see me again was agony."

"Sunshine, I want to see you every second of every day." He cups your cheek in his hand, "that's why I left. So you couldn't convince me to be selfish and stay."

"My life is at risk is the wasteland whether you're there or not. I want you to be selfish. I want you to be happy. I want you to be with me."

He is hesitant, you see the struggle in his eyes, but he just can't help himself. He pulls you close and kisses you deeply and you melt into his touch.

"We're gonna have to set some ground rules on sacrificing ourselves for each other though." He says as he finally pulls away.

You nod as you grasp him tightly.

[hanayori89]

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

*Castle Town*

You leisurely perused the lively stalls situated in Castle Town's main square. The sun and its audaciously blinding rays were now at the top of your list for reasons why you couldn't wait to convert. You scowled to yourself as you continued to get lost in the activity around you. All of the time you had spent here, and you never actually visited the main square of Castle Town.

The more you meandered, the more you began to regret your visit. You dawdled along, sandwiched between throngs of vendors and curious customers, feeling more alone than you ever thought possible. Everyone here had someone.

Whether it be a parent, sibling, child, friend,

Or lover.

Your eyes rested on the petrified statue of the Triforce standing proudly in the midst of the square, offset by a grand fountain. Surrounding it, sprinklers drizzling crystalline water drops only served to remind you of Link's eyes.

And the importance of the golden symbol he bore on his hand.

You thought of Telma and Renado. You thought of how apparent their love was. Here you were traveling down the same road where fear seemed to be the tour guide. But the longer you stared at the Triforce statue, the more you couldn't help but succumb to fear.

Ilia's prestige as the mayor's daughter, combined with her deep history as Link's friend, made her a daunting rival. The advantages she seemed to possess certainly stood at the apex of your fear. Her biggest advantage was that at midnight she remained in her cute little Hylian body, while you turned into a creature of the shadows.

You felt claustrophobic. You had to get out of the main square, where your thoughts suffocated you more than the surplus of people. Telma insisted you take the day off. But with nothing to do but think, you decided to go back to her and beg to work.

As you ran back towards the bar, your body met with a force harder than the cinder block walls that constructed Castle Town. Its impact forced you to fall back on your behind, amongst the sidewalk.

You squinted upwards to see the frightened eyes of Aryn.

How wretched! You wished right then that you were in your Twili form. Then you could disappear into the comfort of the shadows. You jumped on your feet, readying yourself to run. He called out to you. What he said next made you freeze in your current stance.

"Y/N! Wait! Please! I will not try anything! Mr. Link would have my head if I did!"

"Link?" You gawked at hearing his name.

Aryn slowly nodded; his eyes darted around with caution. His persona conveyed a sense of paranoia. "I don't know if he told you, but regardless, I'm sorry. I do owe you that much."

You blinked in confusion. "Told me what?"

"Ah shucks." He placed a hand on his forehead in self-annoyance. "I didn't know Mr. Link wouldn't say anything. We made such a ruckus; I feel it couldn't be much of a secret." He began frantically searching the crowd. When he decided the coast was clear, he continued. "Mr. Link and I had a mini scuffle in the alleyway the other day."

A scuffle? Link fought with Aryn? Why would he keep that from me?

Aryn nervously blabbered on. "Some words were exchanged. In short, I wasn't even allowed to say your name. I don't know what's going on with Ilia and Mr. Link; all I know is that I've never seen anyone get so mad over a girl. In fact, I better be going because if he sees me close to you, he will turn me into the castle. Anyway, sorry."

"Wait!" You tried to catch Aryn, but you couldn't even catch up with your own thoughts. You were too perplexed. Why had Link had a public tiff with Aryn? You darted in between bodies, hoping to reach him. But eventually his back vaporized amongst the many souls aimlessly walking the streets. If you wanted to find out what happened between Link and Aryn, you'd have to go directly to the source.

Wherever the source was.

As you made your way back to Telma's bar, you felt a strange tinge of hope. Maybe the brawl was on your behalf? All this time, you couldn't figure out why Link didn't react. Why could he never seem to show you his true feelings? Then something like this would occur.

He would hold you close, only to push you away. He would say one thing, only to say nothing at all.

He would kiss you, only for him to disappear with his fiancée. Without a single word.

Where he's supposed to be. But I can't help but wonder, does he care or not?

You made your way back to Telma's, asking the goddesses to give you another sign. A concise one.

Little did you know, the next sign couldn't be any clearer.

***

You breezed through the door of the bar only to find Telma, her face stiffened into stone. A customer was clapping from another table.

"Telma! More mead? Hey! Are you listening?"

Another table, where a couple sat, began to chant and slap their hands on the table's surface. "MORE MEAD, PLEASE! MORE MEAD!"

It's not even that busy in here. What is going on?

You raced over to an unresponsive Telma, grabbing some empty mead glasses from tables on your way.

That's when you saw it.

The goddesses' sign.

Hanging up on the back door was the dress Link bought you.

Link?! He was here?!

You hugged it to your chest, swearing you could smell the faintest scent of him woven in between the threads. That's when you felt it. The back of the dress was smooth. There were no snags from the Aryn incident. You could hear Link's gentle voice in the back of your mind.

"Your dress is ripped. I know somebody in Kakariko who could fix it."

So, that's why we went to Kakariko! He wanted to surprise me.

Your eyes sweltered with fresh tears. His action moved you to a realization. And that was that even if Link ended up being the one to break your heart, it would be worth every shattered piece.

"T-Telma," you choked. "L-Link- was he here?"

"Renado." She responded absentmindedly. Your crying ceased immediately when you remembered the voracious patrons and the alarming demeanor of Telma. You ran over to her, holding your dress bunched against your constricted chest. "Telma, what's wrong?"

"Renado was here." She reiterated it in the same empty tone.

"Renado? Did you talk to him?" You saw the glint of something shimmering scale across her fingers. Your eyes focused on the source of the sparkle.

A ring.

"T-Telma..." you cupped your hands over your mouth.

"Renado asked me to marry him." She looked at you, her eyes widening at the shock of saying it.

You both stood staring at each other, speechless.

"You said yes?" Your voice came out careful and calculated, not wanting to scare her with too many questions.

Her face transformed before you into a silly grin devoid of her usual confidence and sass. It was a look of genuine happiness. She began to laugh in the same raucous manner as the other day. She grabbed a spoon and began banging it against a glass.

"EVERYONE! LISTEN UP! I SAID YES!" She began to furiously clank the spoon against the side of the glass. Everyone who had been disgruntled put their tantrums on hold. This was about Telma.

Cheers started to erupt as Telma continued to announce. "THIS ROUND IS ON ME!" What started out as cheers quickly turned into a gale of rambunctious laughter and applause. Some glasses were smashed on the floor, making everyone erupt into a higher octave of cheering.

"Come on, Y/N!" She wrapped a sturdy arm around you, still tapping the spoon on the glass.

"It's time to drink!"

As she whisked you away towards the drafts of mead, you felt a piece of paper underneath your foot. It was slightly wrinkled, sporting dirty shoe print smudges on it. You kicked it to the side, bemoaning the amount of detritus strung around the bar.

You kept your dress snuggled against your heart in appreciation. Telma was right. This was a time to celebrate.

There would be plenty of time to clean up the trash later.

Edited: 6/8/24

It looks like feels conquered fears for Telma and Renado. The two have cast their doubts aside in the name of love. It seems you are having trouble doing the same.

With one wedding you are dreading comes another you are looking forward to attending. As your confusion for Link's feelings bubbles beneath your surface, you're left to motivate yourself to move forward towards your own goals.

As you wonder where Link is and what he is up to, the answer seems to be closer than you think.

Check out my other completed OOT Zelda work- No Woman Beyond

[astra-galaxie]

how about some hcs about YOUR favourite ship :3 ramble away queen

Finally, my royal status is being recognized!👑 (/jk😅)

You know, the hardest part about this request was deciding which ship to pick! I love so many of them that I don’t think I have a #1 fav… So, I’m picking one of my favourite canon ships (because adding non-canon ones to the choices would make the list even longer), and that ship is Lady Highmore X Leopold Rochester!

(I love these two so much despite NEVER talking about them! We were ROBBED of seeing their relationship! There should have been a wedding, not a- okay, I’m shutting up now…)

Here are my Lady Highmore X Leopold Rochester headcanons!

They love to dance. Even before getting together, they shared many dances as friends at various parties in Concordia

Minerva got them several matching outfits, all of which Leopold enjoys wearing, as she has impeccable taste in fashion!

Even though they both come from upper-class families, they enjoy spending time together doing simpler things like picnics and walking through the city together. Of course, they still prefer things more in their class range, like watching horse races and fancy parties, but getting to spend time together without the fuss of other aristocrats is nice

Leopold loves rambling to Minerva about the latest advances in science and technology. And while Minerva might not understand most of what Leopold is talking about, she enjoys watching his face light up in awe and wonder as he tells her about the newest invention he’d seen

Combined, they have enough books that they could open a library. Minerva and Leopold love reading, and most evenings, they would cuddle up together on the couch in front of the fireplace, drinking tea, eating biscuits, and reading together. Sometimes, one will read out loud to the other

After getting together, Leopold quickly discovered how knowledgeable Minerva was when it came to Concordian gossip. He’d always known she was quite the gossip, but now that he saw her almost daily, he realized that was an understatement! Minerva seemed to know everybody’s business before anyone else, and now, by proxy, so did Leopold!

They initially kept their engagement private, telling only their closest family and friends until they were ready to go public. Most were happy for the couple, but some (cough Horatio cough) either hated the idea of them getting married or couldn't care less. But they did have some thrilled family and friends like Bernadine, who was so excited about the wedding

Had they been able to get married, their wedding would have been the biggest to date in Concordia, given the two wealthy, highly prominent families they come from. Unlike other Rochester weddings that were more private affairs, Leopold and Minerva would have had an extensive guest list that would include all their friends, even if some might not be considered “proper” friends by other Rochester standards

In a world where Leopled didn’t die, he would have been so proud to see Minerva made Mayor of Concordia. He also would have been so happy to tell people that he was the Mayor’s husband, so much so that he would soon become known by that title, not that Leopold would mind

And done! Sorry, I took so long to answer this… Between deciding which couple to pick and making the time to sit down and focus on the headcanons, it took me way longer than I would have liked!😓

I hope you enjoyed my choice of ship and its headcanons! These two deserve more content and love, and if I have to be the one to give them that, I will!

[serickswrites]

Make Me Your Villain XXVI

Master list link here (includes chapter links, summary, and character bios)

Warnings: unconsciousness, restraints, blood, wounds, gore, cpr, mcd, grief

As the light faded around Nova and Jude, a shout from the crowd gathered outside of Sluagh erupted. Nova smiled grimly as she stared at Jude’s unconscious form at her feet. She had won. They had won. She sagged with relief as chaos erupted around her.

She could hear the sounds of civilians bursting through Sluagh’s doors. Heard the sounds of Henry talking to the civilians as they arrived. Heard the sound of cuffs fastening around Jude’s wrist. They had won.

“He won’t be hurting anyone anymore where he’s going,” the chief of police said as he and a group of civilian policeman carted Jude away. Jude lay still and unmoving as they cuffed him to both rails of the gurney. “Thank you for saving us, ma’am.”

Henry nodded, his good hand gripping Nova’s shoulder tightly. “Just get him out of here before he wakes up. Or he won’t be waking up.”

The chief nodded. “Really, thank you. Both of you for everything. Thanks to Liam,” the chief paused, and looked to Nova, “I am sorry.”

Nova rose to her feet in an instant. Liam. She slipped on the tile as she raced out of Sluagh. “Where are you going?” Henry called after her. He hurried to catch up.

“Where is he? Where is he, Henry?” Nova didn’t look back. She had to get to Liam.

Henry caught up. “I’ll go with you. He’s…he’s in the town square.”

Not far from here at all. Nova didn’t stop running until she could see the small crowd gathered around the stage at the base of the flag pole. Didn’t stop until they turned and stared at her. The mayor stepped forward. “He was always trying to protect us. We didn’t know. We believed. Oh God, we believed the monster. Liam is the true hero. I am so sorry for you loss, both of you.”

Nova elbowed past the mayor, not caring that she knocked the woman to the ground. “He’s not dead. I can save him. I can save him.” She scrambled to release the lever on the flag pole. Her fingers shook and trembled with exhaustion.

As she growled her frustration for a third time, a hand appeared on hers. She looked up to see the man with the red hair that Liam had saved all those years ago. “Let me help,” he said gently.

Nova stepped back, as she stared up at Liam’s body. His broken, bloody body. “Hang on, baby,” she murmured. Henry and three other people Liam had saved joined Nova on the stage and carefully they lowered his body to the ground. Henry choked back a sob as they gently laid Liam down. His pale, empty eyes stared up at nothing. His blood was still wet on the corner of his lips, the time freeze Jude had placed on him only just ending. The cavernous hole in his chest was larger than Nova remembered, deeper than she thought. She tried scan his pain, to scan how many injuries she had to heal once she brought him back, but she couldn’t find anything. She just had to get him breathing again. Then she could scan him once more.

This wasn’t real. He wasn’t dead. She could save him. She quickly cut away the tape from his wrists, freeing his hands. “Come on, baby, come on.” Nova began to glow again. “Come back to me. Please, come back to me.”

Nova desperately tried to shove her power into him. “Come on, baby, come on,” she repeated, trying to shove her light into anywhere she could. She ignored the tears streaming down her face. Ignored the crowd that had gathered around her. She only had eyes for Liam.

“Please, please, please,” she begged. She desperately tried to heal the hole in his chest, to reknit the skin, and to heal his destroyed heart. She desperately tried to call his soul back. “Come back to me, please, Liam. Please, God, let him come back to me.”

Liam’s words from yesterday came back to her. Heartbeat. She needed a heart beat. “Start compressions,” she ordered Henry.

Henry looked at her, tears filling his own eyes. “Nova, I can’t. Nova, I—“

“Then get out of here if you aren’t going to help me,” Nova roared angrily as she placed her hands over the hole in Liam’s chest. Her fingers barely spanned the hole’s entirety. She gave one tentative pump, crying out as his, somehow still warm, blood flowed beneath her hand. “Please. Please. Please.”

Henry didn’t leave. None of the watching crowd did. But none of them tried to help her. Why was no one helping her? “Nova,” Henry’s gentle voice came.

“Don’t say it,” she said as she glowed again. Surely this counted. Surely her powers would work now. But as she tried to shove her powers in once again, tried to scan where needed to be healed, and she came up blank, Nova froze. No. No. NO. NONONONONO.

“I think it’s truly impossible to heal the dead. Death is the final thing that claims us all. Your power is life and to bring life. But you cannot bring life back where there is none.”

“Nova, you said it yourself,” Henry said slowly, his hand squeezing her shoulder.

“Jude took his heart,” she said as it felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest.

“He’s gone, Nova,” Henry said as he knelt down next to her. “Liam is dead.”

Liam is dead. Liam is dead. LIAM IS DEAD.

Nova wasn’t sure if she was screaming in her head or out loud. All she knew is that she was screaming. She threw herself across Liam’s chest, not caring if she was covered in blood, or if other people were there. She didn’t care about anything anymore because Liam was dead.

She didn’t know how long she lay there, sobbing on Liam. She held his face, stroked his hair. Did anything to try and coax him back to her. Did anything but close his eyes. She couldn’t bear to close his eyes. Because this was the last time she would stare into them.

But he wasn’t there. They were just eyes. Eyes of the palest blue. Eyes the color of the sky at dawn. But they weren’t his eyes anymore. Because Liam was dead.

Tags: @dutifullykrispyland@jesssmolfur@parad0xical2@st0rmm@keeper-of-all-the-random-things

@pigeonwhumps@gala1981@allylovessweets@whumpitywhumpwhump @giggly-evil-puppy

@cravesunconditionallove @mousepaw @jumpywhumpywriter @ay5ksal @celestialsoyeon

@hufflepuffwritingstuff2 @anightmarishwhump @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @knightinbatteredarmor @pedro-pedro-pedro-pedro-pe

@whump-me-harder

[ruggiethethuggie]

Sterling Cooper || Stardew Valley

wc: 2550 tags: fem!reader, she/her pronouns, Sterling Cooper, fluff, first meetings, alcohol consumed (by adults obv), reader is mid 20s, a bit flirty if you ask me hehe, never proofread ~we type and upload

Walking to the local general store was the last thing you wanted to add to your to-do list for the day. If only you had gotten up earlier, then maybe you would’ve noticed sooner that you were out of seeds to be planted for this season. No seeds means no crops, and no crops means you would be struggling to maintain the little level of sanity you had after taking on your grandfather’s long abandoned farm. The autumn season was beautiful here in your new home of Pelican Town. It was much different than the typical rustle and bustle of the city life you had before. But working in the corporate world had become too much stress. Not that this new flourishing farm was any less stressful, but the townspeople were always willing to help and you knew your grandfather would be proud that you were doing this for yourself.

Luckily, the farm wasn’t too far from the heart of the town where all the little stores and businesses were. It was just on the outskirts, maybe a mile or two outside the town limit, but you didn’t mind the walk. Walking was much more pleasant than sitting at a desk all day. Every day you fidgeted in your seat, anxiously awaiting for some way to leave and get out of the hell hole that was the corporate life. If not for that letter you remembered your grandfather had sent you, then you would probably still be stuck, the metaphorical chain still attached to your leg from the desk you were assigned to. It was a huge leap for yourself. Taking on an abandoned farm? Since when did you know anything about farming or crops or profit margins? The truth is that you had zero idea what you were doing, zero idea if this would even work out in the long run, but you wanted to have faith in yourself. You needed this change badly.

You checked your watch, almost 2pm. The store was still open until 5pm, so you had more than enough time to get there. Thankfully, you weren’t noticing your lack of seeds on a Wednesday or else you’d be out of luck until the next day.

The door’s chime bells dinged and donged as you opened the front door of the store and walked inside. Ever since moving to Pelican Town, you had told yourself that if you were going to buy seeds, you weren’t feeding the wallet of that scoundrel, Morris, at stupid Joja Mart down the road. You’d much rather contribute to the small community businesses. The mom and pop shops were always your favorite in the city; here, it was the same. You were no stranger to the aisles of Pierre’s; however, this was the start of a new season. The layout changed a bit each time, making room for the new seeds and items for sale. As you looked towards the counter, you could see Pierre speaking with Mayor Lewis. The conversation looked … intense? More than likely something about taxes and what not, so you didn’t want to really interrupt just to ask where the new season’s seeds would be.

You went down the first aisle, browsing through the shelves. There were so many new fall things that caught your eye, you almost forgot your real reason for coming to the store. As you turned down the next aisle, where hopefully those pesky new seeds were at, you bumped into another who was moving to the aisle you were on. You stumbled back a step or two but were able to catch your balance quickly.

“Oh, gosh! I’m so sorry, miss! I wasn’t looking where I was going. I hope you’re okay.” A hand reached out to assist you from the person you ran into. Clearly neither of you were paying any attention coming around the corner.

You brushed off his extended hand. “No, no. It’s fine! I wasn’t paying attention either, I’m sorry, too. I’m fine though, thank you,” you said with a smile. The man in front of you looked relieved that he didn’t hurt you in the head on collision you two had had. He was wearing a white button up, where the sleeves were so casually rolled up his forearms, with a black apron and a nametag on it. “Oh! Do you work here… Sterling?” you asked as you tried to read the scribbled name on the tag. He patted over his nametag and laughed. “Yeah, I do. Sorry, I know this chicken scratch ain’t the easiest to read. My name is Sterling, Sterling Cooper. And you are?” he asked, his smile was as radiant as the sun outside. “Oh, me? My name is Y/N. I just moved here awhile ago, took on that old farm down the road. It used to be my grandfather’s and he passed it on to me.”

“Ah, so you’re new here, huh?” he chuckled. “I used to live here as a kid and then moved to the city. I just moved back not too long ago either. Ole Pierre was nice enough to let me have my old job back from my teenage years.” As he said teenage years, you stared at him and laughed. He honestly didn’t look that old, but he talked as if he was pushing his 30s. “Teenage years? You mean like 2 years ago?” you jokingly said. He shook his head and snickered at your words. “I know this face looks fresh and new, but I promise I am 27. Those teenage years feel like a lifetime ago.” Twenty-seven? He didn’t really look it, but you were going to take his word. You laughed at his response as you stood there. His sapphire-like blue eyes sparkled the more he smiled. It was hard not to admire him, but you were here for seeds- not some maroon haired, blue eyed store clerk that you just met.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” he asked to break the silence between you two. You noticed he had a cart next to him that was full of new seasonal items. He must be stocking the shelves, I bet he knows where the stuff is at, you thought to yourself.

“Actually, that would be amazing?! I’m looking for some of the new fall seeds so I can get ahead on planting them on the farm. Just some things like artichoke, amaranth, bok choy- oh and pumpkins, of course! It wouldn’t be fall without those,” you chuckled as you read off your small list you had made for yourself.

“Well, let me see here,” Sterling said as he turned around and dug through the cart behind him. He was almost tossing stuff to the side in his search before finally finding a few seed pouches and turning around. “I’ve got the amaranth and bok choy seeds right here, but you’ll have to go down that way to get the artichoke and pumpkin seeds you need.” He offered you 4 small pouches of seeds, which you gladly took from him. “Thank you so much, Sterling! You’re so handsome!” The words just seemed to roll off your tongue without you even realizing it. You stood there like a deer caught in the headlights, embarrassed that you just said that out loud. Sterling, shocked as well, stood there silent with his mouth open- almost as if he was going to respond but couldn’t find the words to say.

Without saying anything more, you hurriedly walked past him and put your head down as you made your way to where he said the other seed packs would be. You could feel your face get hot with anxiety. You told yourself that next time you needed help, you were just going to interrupt Pierre or wait however long it took to get assistance from him. There was no way you would even think about asking Sterling for help again. You picked up the other packs of seed and damn near ran to the front counter. All you wanted to do right now was pay for your things and leave without talking to anyone else, especially not any other store clerks here. 

“This it for you today, y/n?” Pierre said as he took the packs and started ringing them up. “Yeah, for a while at least. Hopefully I can get these planted today and have a good start for the season, y’know?” You spoke the words, but your mind was elsewhere, and Pierre could tell. “You okay? I can get you water if you need, you look like you should sit down or something.” You shook your head at his words, you didn’t need anything more from the store- you needed to go home and plant these seeds and, maybe later, hop into Gus’ bar and relax with a drink or two after today’s efforts. “Well alright then,” Pierre said with a sigh. He gave you your total, and you passed money over the counter. It took everything in you to not snatch the bag from him as you rushed to leave. But before you left, you decided to torture yourself even more and sneak a glance at Sterling, who was still stocking the shelves in the aisles. He was very handsome, there was no denying it, but why, oh why, did you have to say it out loud?

You were standing at your kitchen sink, still cursing yourself internally about being weird at the general store, while you washed the dirt off your hands. The seeds were finally planted- at least one stressor for your day was gone, and with the homemade fertilizer you had whipped up, you hoped that this coming harvest would be bountiful enough in profit to hold you over til the cold winter months were through. After the day you had had, you just wanted to relax, so you changed out of your dirty, farming attire and slipped into some comfy,everyday wear. A nice drink and slice of pizza from Gus’ would make anyone’s day better.

By the time you arrived back in town, it was roughly about 9pm- a young night for those out and about at the saloon. You walked inside and approached the bar. “Oh, goodness! Y/N! Been a bit since you’ve come in, what can I get ya tonight?” Gus cheerily said as you sat down. “Can I get just a rum and coke and then let’s do a slice of that Gus’ famous pizza,” you hummed as you tapped your fingers on the counter. “Comin’ right up!” Gus turned around and started prepping the oven and grabbing an empty bottle to make your drink. The atmosphere was already making you relax; Gus had felt like a long distant uncle since you met him. He was always someone you could rely on that would listen to your woes and try to brighten your day in any way he could, which was usually with that pizza you loved so much.

As Gus put the drink in front of you, out of the corner of your eye you could see another person leaning on the bar as they sat down. “Hey, Gus! Can you get me an ale? Actually- make it two!” the voice sang. It didn’t take long to figure out who the person was that took the seat beside you. “Ah, absolutely, Sterling! Let me check this pizza and I’ll get ‘em served.” Sterling nodded as Gus went about his business and then turned to face you. “Did you get your seeds planted alright? Pierre said you didn’t look so good when you left the store earlier.” He put his hand on his cheek and leaned on the counter, smiling as he waited for you to answer.

“I’m fine,” you said as you glanced over at him. “They all got planted. I just … felt a little light headed. Yeah, lightheaded. But I’m fine now.” You traced the rim of your drink with your finger and then took a sip of it. The awkwardness from earlier in the day was still there for you, but he acted like nothing was wrong- or like you didn’t weirdly blurt out a compliment and run away when meeting him the first time.

“Lightheaded?” Sterling chuckled. “If that’s what you say it was, then I’ll take your word for it.” Gus placed the two ales in front of Sterling and went to the other side of the counter to take more orders from the townspeople waiting. “Don’t think this is a pickup line, but do you come here often?”

“Come here often? Sounds like a pickup line to me,” you teased. “But no, actually, I only come every once in a while- usually when it’s been a long day and I just need to relax. Why? Do you come here often?”

“Wow, first you call me handsome and now you’re asking if I come here often? Was it me that made you lightheaded? I’m flattered.” He grinned at you with a smile so delicious you thought that the few sips of your drink were already clouding your thoughts. As he took a drink of his ale, he could sense you still felt some type of way about the exchange earlier. “I mean, you called me handsome and I couldn’t even say anything before you scurried away. What if I was going to compliment you back?”

“So it was a pickup line. I’m not interested,” you said harshly, your brain and heart pulling you two different ways. “It wasn’t a real pickup line, I swear it,” he said as he held his hand over his heart in sincerity. “But what if I said I was interested? Then what? What if I wanted to tell you that I also think you’re stunning and I’d like to get to know you more, if you’d allow me?”

“Gus, is my pizza ready? Can you box it for me?” You practically shouted as you ignored Sterling beside you. You stood up from your seat and fumbled in your wallet to grab the money for your food and drink. “It’s like that?” Sterling asked with a surprised look on his face. “I have to get back to Shane anyway, he’s probably laughing at my failed attempt right now. I hope I’ll see you around though.” You watched him from the corner of your eye get up from the counter and grab the two drinks and walk over towards the fireplace where you could see Shane standing. 

As Gus took the money you handed him and put the box in your hand, he didn’t let go of it. You looked up at him confused. “He’s a nice guy, really. Been through some hard times, but I wouldn’t cross him off your list just yet.” He gave a wink to you and let go of the pizza box. “Thanks, Gus,” you said quietly. You looked over your shoulder at Sterling and Shane, laughing and drinking their ale together. The way he looked when he was happy, smiling and laughing, it was like sunshine in human form. You downed the remaining bit of your drink, which truthfully wasn’t even that much, and left the saloon with even more on your mind than before you came in.

© please do not copy and or repost my work as your own, my brain is massive and these are my thoughts.