#maybe the more general term ‘flare’ works

[kiragecko]

[Images of the Core 4.

Tim is labeled, ‘big shirt, big pants’, and is wearing a baggy long sleeve covered with an even larger t-shirt, very baggy sweats, runners, and chunky headphones around his neck.

Bart is labeled, ‘big shirt, lil pants’, and is wearing an oversized t-shirt partially tucked into shorts, with mismatched socks and shoes.

Cassie is labeled, ‘lil shirt, big pants’, and is wearing a halter top with giant early-2000s hip-huggers (low-cut baggy pants).

Kon-El is labeled, ‘lil shirt, lil pants’ and is wearing tiny shorts, a tight belly shirt, shoes, and socks.

The four images are shown again under the cut without text.

End ID.]

core four political compass based on this post by @aliteralchicken. op is asking the right questions

[cobraaah]

Sebastian solace x gn reader (fem anatomy but like,, they/them pronouns if that's alr,,) smut,,, breeding kink,, or something like that,, preferably with emphasis on size dif and power imbalance,, and perhaps some degrading? PLEASE IM BEGGING SOOOOO HARD

Pairing• [Sebastian ♡ Reader]

A/N• YES!! I originally was gonna do something like this in the first place, so it worked out! I had multiple ideas on how his anatomy would work , like some 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 ideas. But I decided to keep it tame since I don't know how 𝓕𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂 you guys are. I still don't know how warnings work, LOL.

Warnings• Smut 18+, breeding, size dif, power imbalance, degrading

Word count• 1.1 K

Discount

Reaching door fifty wasn't the easiest, considering you accidently angered Eyefestation, and you managed to actually survive Pandemonium on a whim. With you being rushed multiple times by Angler and Blitz, you never had the right opportunities to check for data, leaving you with a measly one hundred intel. With a deep breath pushing open door fifty, you're met with the familiar voice of your condescending fishy friend, Sebastian. "Hey, over here." His voice rang through the vent beside you, sounding unexciting as ever. Popping open the vent and crawling through you're met with the tall hybrid, towering over you. As your eyes locked on his bored ones, his fins flared out slightly upon noticing it was you. "Oh! Hello my little minnow, what may you be looking for today? I stumbled upon this black light, it's pretty rare, four hundred Intel for it." A small smirk came on his face as a frown formed on yours. "What's the problem? Couldn't reel in that much Intel so far? Normally, you come in and buy everything, but it seems you're lacking today." A soft tsking noise can be heard from him as his tail flicked. You bit the inside of your cheek, eyeing the black light strapped to his tail. It could come in use against those annoying squiddle later on. "Could you maybe give me a . . discount?" Managing to look back up at him, his gaze still boreing in on you. Silence covered the room as he stared at you before laughing. "A. . A discount?"

His laughter quickly died down as he realized you weren't joking with him. "Awh. . oh.." He glanced off to the side with his eyes squinted, he pops his clawed fingers in a fidgeting motion as he seemed in thought. His esca flickerd for a moment before he turned back to you, "I have a proposition! How about I give you a very generous discount since you're not an annoying parasite like the rest of the little divers they send down here. ." His voice trailed off to something more luscious. "In exchange though, you give yourself up to me?" A patronizing grin formed on his face as he saw the soft blush creep onto your face. Your mouth moved, but nothing came out in protest, just soft stutterd "I. ."'s and "Wha. ."'s fell from your mouth. The embarrassment at the idea picked at your brain. "Are you stupid or something? Did you forget how to speak?" The snarkness in his voice makes your stomach flutter. "I guess. ." Timidly accepting his terms, his grin comes back, briefly flashing his sharp teeth. "Well then, shall we get started, my dear?"

Sebastian is leaned against the wall, he's already ripped off your diving gear, leaving you bare on top of him. With your back flushed against his chest, two of his lower arms hold onto your waist, covering it completely, holding you in place. "Seb. ." You softly mumble out as your head is tilted down looking at how his tentacle like cock slithers out of the slit a bit under his lower abdomen where his tail like body starts. His unoccupied hand grabs your chin rather roughly tilting it up, his hot breath pants against your neck. His long tongue emerges from his mouth licking along your neck before mumbling something incoherent you couldn't catch onto. You feel his cock rub against your stomach in a sort of rutting motion, pre slicked onto your stomach as Sebastian let out a groan. He slowly guided his cock inside you, you gasp at the unfamiliar feeling of the arrow like head pushing its way deeper into you. The stretch making you gasp as he finally lowered you all the way. He lifted you up effortlessly and pushing you back down, using you like you were nothing. You whimpered at the feeling of him biting down on your shoulder to muffle his groans. Your mouth forms a 'o' shape as the head of his cock kisses your cervix and the small bumps on the underside of his member rubbing against spots you never knew existed, making your vision haze with pleasure.

His thrusts pick up, using you effortlessly. "Fuh. . hah.. fucking take it." He groans against the nape of your neck. "Jeez. . humph.. m'gonna fuck you till you're stupid. You won't mind right?" His patronizing tone resurfacing as you respond with choked gasps and whimpers. "Aww you can't even form any words, you're so fucking dumb. My dumb little toy." He harshly groaned against your ear, feeling how you're walls clenched around him as he said that. "Such a dirty, dirty little thing." He nipped against your neck as he neared his climax, your eyes open up slighty as you hear a soft thumping noise. Glancing over you see Sebastians tail wagging against the floor. "Drive me so crazy. . m'gonna fill you up. Yeah?" His voice wavers into soft hitches as you feel him twitch inside you. The feeling of one of his hands dragging down your stomach to the clit, roughly flicking the pad of his finger back and forth, desperate for your release on him. That familiar burning feeling in your stomach quickly builds up. With a few final flicks of his finger you let out a whimper as you reach your climax and cum around his cock. He twitches inside you for a final time before roughly slamming you down all the way on him, groaning against your neck as he stuffs your tiny cunt full of his cum. He holds you down for a few more moments before his grip on you softens.

Both of your soft pants and breaths fill the room as you come down from your highs. Gently lifting you off of his retreating member, he helps you get dressed again in your gear. "And heres your promised discounted item, my sea fireflie." A sofend grin formed on his face as he picked the black light off his tail and handed it to you. "Th. . thanks.." You mumbled as you leaned against the table next to him, having a hard time standing up. "Maybe discounts for you will be more frequent. Don't cha' agree?" A snicker left him as you collected yourself. "Thanks Seb." You mumbled your goodbyes to him and crawled back through the vent. "Goodbye." He said, dragging it out longer than he should.

[ladamedusoif]

able

(Joel Miller x disabled F!Reader)

Pairing: Joel Miller x Disabled F!Reader

Summary: "I just don't think she'll be able for patrol". But then it's just you, Joel, and your trusty walking stick in the middle of nowhere...

Content/warnings: Reader is disabled (she has rheumatoid disease/arthritis in addition to panic attacks, she uses a walking stick as necessary); Reader had a sister; Reader is an art teacher; strong violence; blood; description of panic attack; references to impact of chronic illness and disability; references to medication; references to disease and death; non-canon compliant; Jackson!Joel; strong language; ableist language and abusive language

Rating: Mature; 18+ MDNI

Word Count: ~3.7k

A/N: After making a plea earlier in the week for people to actually write disabled Reader fic, as opposed to forcing writers to feel they have to tag literally everything in an able-bodied Reader story, I knew I had to put my money where my mouth was as a disabled, neurodivergent writer with various mental health things going on here and there. And this one-shot is the result.

This one is a little personal. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid disease about ten years ago, and Reader’s experiences are informed by my own (though, thankfully, I haven’t had to contend with an apocalypse that meant I couldn’t access the medication that has kept me going). She’s also inspired by @agentjackdaniels, who acted as consultant extraordinaire on walking sticks and panic attacks, and suggested the Joel picture for the moodboard. Thank you, Luce, for this, for fighting the good fight for representation in fic - and for beta-ing the story. 

(A note on terminology: rheumatoid disease/arthritis are sometimes used interchangeably. ‘Arthritis’ often sounds like it’s ‘just’ osteoarthritis to people who don’t know the difference. Rheumatoid, unlike osteoarthritis (which is shitty in its own ways), is a systemic, lifelong, chronic illness and an auto-immune disorder that affects the entire body, not just bones and/or joints. So personally I use ‘rheumatoid disease’ as it conveys more of the impact of the condition. It's also often seen as an 'old person' disease but this simply isn't true - not that this stops mobility aids being modelled by people in their 80s all the time...)

Please follow my writing blog @ladameecrit and turn on notifications to stay up to date with my work.

Dividers by @saradika - moodboard by me

You weren’t supposed to make it.

Twenty-odd years in the apocalypse with your fucked-up joints and no steady supply of the meds that kept you going, pushing through the cycles of fatigue, and fighting off your own goddamned immune system as much as you were fighting clickers and raiders. 

You really weren’t supposed to make it. But you had Annie.

You were sharing an apartment when the outbreak happened, a quirk of shitty personal circumstances - she’d just broken up with her long-term boyfriend - that probably helped save your life. Annie was the all-action sister - the kind of person who thinks there’s nothing weird about spending your weekends doing triathlons and “Tough Mudder” challenges, who had a perfect bill of health your entire lives, who bounced out of bed in the mornings while you cracked and creaked and stiffly manoeuvered yourself into being. 

The good days generally outweighed the bad in the years between your diagnosis with rheumatoid disease and the initial outbreak - or maybe you had just gotten used to the aches and pains and the occasional flare-ups of fatigue. You invested in a walking stick to help on those days when mobility was particularly bad: solid, heavy, and carved in a pale yellow wood. It felt like a comfort in your hand, more a sign of strength, to you, than of weakness. 

Annie helped you through the panic attack that consumed you on outbreak day, working with you to regulate your breathing and relax your tense muscles until you could finally say what was on your mind.

“My meds. What am I going to do without my meds?”

Nothing a quick smash and grab at the local pharmacy couldn’t fix. It was the first of many, stockpiling the little yellow tablets you relied on and taking as many packs of over-the-counter painkillers as you could carry. Useful currency in the apocalypse, as it turned out.

All-Action Annie was never going to cope with life in a QZ. She got the two of you out after months of planning, nights of whispered talk about a town out west that was normal - or something close to it, anyway. She hadn’t entertained your protestations about you slowing her down, holding her back.

“You think I’m leaving behind a girl who’s so handy with a weapon?” she’d teased, pointing to your walking stick. “Be real. We’re busting out together.”

The infection took hold in her about three days from Jackson. Fuckin’ barbed wire, tearing a jagged line through Annie’s hand and leaving behind an old-fashioned kind of threat to life, the kind penicillin had mostly dealt with. But that was then. This was now. 

She died in an abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, you holding her hand until the end, talking to her about your childhoods and trying to keep smiling until she closed her beautiful eyes. 

It took all your strength to dig her grave. And then, somehow, you found more.

You weren’t supposed to make it. But you did. 

Jackson stands before you. 

He sees you for the first time in the community dining hall, talking animatedly to Maria as you hungrily devour the food set in front of you. Eyes wide, face grubby, clothes ragged. Half-wild, he thinks, like most of the new arrivals. Like him and Ellie, once upon a time. He returns to his bowl of soup and his own thoughts - at least, until he’s interrupted by Maria.

“Joel? Want to introduce a new member of the community, just arrived.”

He doesn’t quite know why he’s surprised when he realises you’re leaning on a sturdy hand-carved walking stick in a solid, light yellow wood. Maybe it’s because he knows how physically hard it is to get here. Maybe he just assumed folks who needed a stick wouldn’t have been able to manage the journey. 

For a second he can hear Sarah’s voice in his head, chiding him for focusing on what a disabled person can’t do instead of what they can. 

“Joel?”

He snaps out of his reverie and looks from Maria to you. “Uh, hi. Sorry, just…sorry. Forgot my manners.”

“I was just saying how glad we are to have someone who can offer some art education in the town, isn’t that right, Joel?”

Your eyes are warm and mischievous as you meet his gaze, silently conveying your amusement at Maria’s rather brusque manner. It’s all Joel can do not to laugh.

“Sure is. You’re an artist, then?”

You shake your head. “Not a real one. I was an art teacher, before. Long time since I created anything, though, so I hope I remember how.”

He smiles softly, his gruff exterior receding a little. “Bet it’s just like riding a bike,” he says, before his face falls as he looks at your walking stick. “Oh, shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean… Shit. Hope I didn’t offend.”

“As it happens, I can ride a bike, Joel. The apocalypse just doesn’t give me much cause to.”

You leave him with a smile and a wink as Maria ushers you to meet other townsfolk. He watches you as you walk away, the tap-tap-tapping of your stick beating out a new rhythm in the heart of Jackson.

You think of Annie every morning when you wake up in the little house you’d been assigned. Sometimes, as you potter around the kitchen, still revelling in the novelty of making yourself morning coffee for the first time in two decades, you even talk to her. You tell her about the town, the townsfolk, your work in the community vegetable garden, your art classes. 

“Honestly, An, you wouldn’t believe how popular they are,” you tell the Annie who, in an alternate universe, is sitting at the kitchen table with her own mug of coffee. “I’m setting up extra sessions to cater for demand.”

There’s something uplifting in how hungry the people of Jackson are to make art, no matter their experience or existing skill level. They’ll draw stuff from memory, they’ll dutifully work on a still life, they’ll even traipse outside with you, wooden sketching boards in hand, and make rapid-fire sketches of the goings-on on Main Street. 

Joel doesn’t join a class - but the teenage girl Maria refers to as “Joel’s kid” does, all potty-mouthed and enthusiastic and pretty damned talented, to boot. Ellie tells you how she’s pinned up the drawings she’s proudest of in their home, “like our own fuckin’ art gallery or some shit.” 

You pull up a tall stool and sit beside her, resting your stick over your thighs. “Joel’s got his guitar and those dumbass model figures he paints,” she continues, leaning around her easel and squinting at the woman who’d volunteered to act as a life model for this week’s classes. “But this shit? This is real art.” She adds a little highlight to the woman’s sweater and leans back to assess the work.

“You probably got exempt from patrols, I’m guessing. On account of the stick, an’ all.”

“Maria asked, and I signed up happily. I got all the way here, didn’t I? I’m sure I can manage patrols. And it’s the least I can do - they’ve even found me some of the medications I need.”

Ellie nods, somewhat convinced, and returns to sketching out the contours around the model’s jaw.

The day of your first patrol arrives. You bundle up and set out early for the stables, allowing extra time to get there on account of the flare-up you’d been experiencing the day before. 

You arrive early - just in time, in fact, to overhear a heated conversation between Joel and Maria.

“She’s doing enough, ain’t she? I just don’t think she’ll be able for patrol.”

“You’ve seen her out and about, Joel. She’s mobile. She’s competent. She’s good with the horses. She got all the way here, the last stretch on her own. What more proof do you need?”

“You’re seriously gonna send a woman with a walking stick out on patrol?”

“I seriously am. Sent you and your bad back out, didn’t we?”

“That ain’t the same and you know it.”

“Just saddle the horses, Joel. And, in case you’re wondering - yes, I paired you together deliberately, just until she gets settled.” You hear her footsteps recede as she leaves him.

You had misjudged how much your already-limited grip would be further impeded by the gloves you’re wearing. The stick clatters to the ground.

“Who’s there?”

You emerge from the shadows. “Me. Sorry.”

Joel rolls his eyes and gruffly points out the tack and supplies.

The first patrol passes in silence. You wonder what happened to the softer man you’d caught a glimpse of the first day you arrived.

On the second patrol, you ask him questions about himself. On the third patrol, he asks (fewer) questions about you. By the fourth, you’re having something approximating normal conversation. 

“Sarah loved to make all kinds of stuff,” he ventures, leading the way on his chestnut horse. “Those beaded bracelets, that girly Lego in the pink and purple, all of that. My girl had enough Magic Markers to supply a whole elementary school. Maybe two.”

You can hear him smile, even without seeing his face. His shoulders relax a little as he recalls the memory.

“So she was a creative kid?”

“Creative, sporty… she could do anything. Made the school soccer team, she was so proud. Just a…” He pauses. “A great kid.”

There’s a few beats of silence, punctuated only by the sound of the horses snickering and the steady rhythm of their hooves on the ground. 

“What about your sister, was she arty like you?”

You’d told him about Annie on the last patrol. This was the first time he’d asked about her explicitly.

“She was the sporty one. I think that’s why I survived so long, truth be told. She was so strong and fast and tough as fuck.”

He chuckles, the burr of his voice resonating in the cold air. “Sounds like a good balance, though.”

“It is - it was. Was.” Your voice grows quieter as you repeat the word to yourself, chest starting to tighten. The horse slows, responding to the tension of your body, as Joel continues to trot on, not realising you’ve come to a halt behind him. 

And then the tell-tale snapping of a twig, the sound of footsteps, and the realisation there’s someone else there, emerging out of the woods. Two someones. 

Raiders. 

The panic attack that has been building inside you gives way. An innate fight or flight response kicks in as you roar his name. 

Joel turns and charges back towards you, just in time to see you take out one raider with a crack shot from your pistol. He slows the horse and readies his rifle, staring at the other man who is now trying to haul you off your mount.

“Get the fuck off me, motherfucker!” You flail against him, desperately shifting your weight to the other side of the saddle to try to shake him off. 

Joel takes aim. 

You think you’ve kicked the raider off. And that’s when you hit the ground.

He can’t take the shot now, not with her half-hidden from his view and audibly fighting off the man who’s dragged her to the ground. Joel is still a little distance away, slightly too far to see exactly what’s happening. 

Why didn’t he hear her slowing? Why didn’t he realise she was further behind than she ought to be? Why did she slow in the fuckin’ first place?

Joel quickly dismounts, rifle in hand, moving closer so he can get a clearer shot at the guy who’s now standing over her. The horse’s elegant neck obscures the raider’s hands from Joel’s vision - he has no idea if he’s pointing a gun at her or not. 

He thinks he has a clear sight on the guy’s head, provided he stays in the same position. He readies the rifle. 

Suddenly, the raider disappears, letting out a primal roar before he hits the ground. 

“You fucking cunt!”

Joel can see she’s standing now, the man prone before her. As he rounds the horse he sees her lift her cane, hands securely gripping the pointed end of the stick. 

She brings the solid, weighty handle down on the raider’s leg with a sickening crunch. Even Joel recoils a little at the sight and the sound.

“F-f-fucking…c-c-cunt!”

Thwack. The other leg. 

Fuck. She knows exactly what she’s doing.

”Keep calling me that, and I’ll keep the blows coming.”

Holy fuck. Who is she?

”C-c-c-cripple.”

”Excuse me?”

The raider props himself up on his arms. “I said, cripple. Fucking crippled cunt.”

“You shut your fuckin’ mouth.” Joel cocks his rifle. 

The stranger sneers at Joel. “Awww, he’s actin’ the big man now. Weren’t too quick gettin’ back down here to save your cripple woman, were ya?”

Before Joel can react, she swings her stick over her head and brings it down on the man’s skull with a furious scream that seems to come from the very depths of her being. 

She screams and screams as she hits him, over and over, eyes wild in her blood-spattered face. Joel recognises this: in himself; hell, in Ellie. It’s the moment when the floodgates open and all those years of pain blend together and zone in on this convenient target, an avatar for everyone and everything who had forced loss and trauma upon you. 

He roars at her to stop, but knows she can’t hear him. It’s just her and the raider, now: her rage and fear and grief finding their expression through a walking stick turned cudgel.

A single shot ends it. She turns sharply, as if snapped out of a trance, and sees the smoke leaving Joel’s pistol. 

“Hey. Hey. You alright?” His broad hands grip your biceps as he looks into your eyes.

Yes, you tell him, yes. You’re fine. But Joel keeps asking. 

“Talk to me. Are you okay? I’m worried about you. Please, just talk to me.”

You are moving your mouth, but no sound is coming out. The familiar vice is tightening around your chest. You look down at your blood-stained hands and you struggle to breathe. 

“‘M dying, Joel. Can’t breathe. All the blood. So much. Why can’t I breathe?”

Oh, he realises with a pang. She gets these things too. And I know how to help.

“You’re okay, you hear?” He’s rubbing your arms gently, keeping his gaze on you. “You’re alright. Breathe along with me, okay?”

It’s difficult to find the rhythm, at first. Joel’s hands find yours and squeeze them in time with his breath.

”In through your nose, that’s it. Slow and steady. Now out through your mouth.”

He can see your muscles starting to visibly relax. A wave of relief courses over him.

”Yeah, that’s it - you got this. You got this, good girl, you’re just fine. Gonna be alright.”

When he’s confident your breathing has settled and the panic attack receded somewhat, he gently guides you away from the body of the dead raider, one hand holding your horse’s bridle and the other holding yours. 

“Why don’t you have a seat for a minute, huh?” Joel gestures to a long, low tree trunk lying near the forest’s edge and opens his saddlebags, rummaging until he finds a cloth, a battered hip flask and a bag of dried apple slices.

”Here.” He wipes the blood as best he can from your hands and proffers the flask, settling his substantial frame beside you on the log. “Have a sip or two, just to relax you a little bit more. Got a snack, here, too.”

You flinch at the taste of the liquor, but take a second sip regardless. The apple slices barely taste of anything in the afterburn of the moonshine. Joel nibbles on some jerky and stares into the middle distance. 

You take a break from patrol, agreed with Maria, and a few days off your art classes. It was tempting to keep going, to return to the light and airy studio and to your students. But you feared a relapse.

And your body needed to recover physically, too. You ached from head to toe, fingers and toes puffy and swollen and movement seriously restricted. You ration out the supply of medication you’ve secured since getting here, and use hot water bottles and plenty of rest to try to ride out the flare in your arthritis.

Three days after the incident, there’s a knock on the door. You hobble to answer it, leaning on your trusty stick for support.

”Came by to see how you were doing. Got you some things if you needed ‘em.”

Joel is standing on your front porch, holding a jute grocery bag. He pauses, as if waiting for you to give him permission to say more.

”That’s so very kind of you, Joel. Come in, won’t you? I was able to set a fire so it’s nice and cosy.”

He watches as you lead the way into the living room, noting how much slower you were today. Guilt laps at his conscience. He said she shouldn’t go on patrol. He knew.

”You want me to bring these into the kitchen for you?”

“That would be a great help. Thank you.” He’s glad to see you smile, after the trauma of the patrol. “If you want a drink, I’ve got some tea and coffee in the cupboard just to the left of the sink.”

He pops his head back into the living room. “What would you like?” 

“A tea would be perfect. Mugs are in the cupboard to the right.”

You wrap yourself back up in your blankets on the couch, making room for Joel when he returns with the drinks and a couple of cookies, sent over by Ellie as part of his care package for you. The mug feels like a comfort in your aching hands, its heat assuaging the inflammation ravaging your joints.

He sips his coffee and you sit in silence for a little bit, watching the flames dance over the firewood. 

“Have you, uh - you been okay, doing okay, since…”

Joel stares into his coffee cup and then looks at you, a little awkward. You smile, hoping to reassure him.

”I’ve been okay. Just the physical pain and exhaustion, mostly. And - well, you saw it. The panic. It can leave you drained.”

He nods and takes another swig of his drink. “I know. I - I’ve had times like that, too. Real fuckin’ scary, when you’ve never gone through it before.”

You study his face for a moment or two, noting the little scar on his temple, the lines on his face, the stern expression completely undermined by the warmth of his deep brown eyes. For an instant, he seems so vulnerable, this strong, tough man sitting on your little couch. 

“I haven’t had an attack like that in a while. But then, I hadn’t done anything like that in a while.”

This time Joel turns to look at you properly. “Not your first rodeo, huh?”

You giggle at the turn of phrase. “Not quite. Let’s just say my stick did a lot of work over the last twenty years. He wasn’t the first to feel the brunt of it.”

Joel nods, and you feel strangely relieved that he doesn’t seem surprised. “Doesn’t get easier, though, does it?”

“It does not. Which is why it’s better to avoid having to do it.”

”I agree. Gotta say, though, I - I was worried you wouldn’t be able for patrol, y’know?”

You arch an eyebrow at him. “I know. I overheard you, remember?”

He blushes. “Aw, shit. Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I just didn’t want anything happening to you, what with your - condition, and all.”

You sigh softly, not really noticing the affection in his voice. “Most of the time, I’m fine. Y’know? I’m slower, but I do okay. I get tired more easily, but I manage. I didn’t come here to be a drain on the community.”

”You aren’t.”

”I know, but I want to keep it that way. I want to pull my weight. I’m able, Joel.”

He huffs in agreement. “Not like I’m a perfect specimen these days, either. Knees, fuckin’ back, deaf in one ear…” 

You chuckle. “And you thought I wouldn’t manage patrol? Anyway, you’re not doing so bad, are you?”

He gives you a little smile, but that constant sadness still haunts his eyes. He stares at his coffee for a moment.

“You knew what you were doing, though.”

”I did. But I didn’t feel like I could stop.” You sip your tea, swallowing hard. “And I’m scared that makes me some kinda monster. You know?”

Oh, he knows. He knows it too well.

”You aren’t a monster.” Joel resists the urge to put an arm around you. “You just… something snapped, I guess. All that - well, all that hell you’ve gone through. It… it changes you. But it doesn’t make you a monster.”

He realises you’re crying before you do, spotting the fat tears that roll down your cheeks. He finds a clean handkerchief in his jeans and offers it to you. 

Fuck it. 

“Can I - can I put an arm round you? Just for some support?”

Your eyes light up, tears or no tears, and you nod enthusiastically. Joel is warm and comforting, his broad chest and strong arms a kind of anchor in the emotional storm. You nuzzle against him, and he gives you a little squeeze on the arm.

”You’re a really brave woman, you know that?”

His voice is quieter, more intentional. You look at him quizzically from under your lashes, unused to praise of this kind. For an instant you think about asking him what he means. But the safety you’ve found in the broad arm draped around you is all you need right now. 

You nuzzle a little against his chest, and watch the fire dancing for the rest of the night. 

[storm-angel989]

Hi!! I was wondering if you could do valentino x teen reader where as, teen reader is in her rebellious era and how valentino would handle the situation?

Thank you in advanced! i love your works and i hope u have a great day!

Hi friend,

So I tried to make this different from my others- rather than going through a hair dying, secret piercing rebellion, what about those of us who decided we wanted to change the world without truly understanding why the world was the way it was? Those of us who tried to protest, to fight against the way life is run? 

Enjoy!

<3 Mandy  

Valentino stared at his daughter in disbelief. Disbelief that she would be so bold. Disbelief that she would dare to question the very thing that brought them the comfort and safety they surrounded themselves with. Disbelief that she honestly thought she would get out the door, let alone get away with dressed….

Dressed like that. 

“It’s a statement, Dad,” Reader snapped. “Now move, my friends and I have plans.”

“If you think for one second my daughter, Vox and Velvette’s niece, is going to involve herself in anything that has to do with canceling soul bound contracts you’ve got another thing coming,” Valentino retorted. 

“Hell is paved with the labor of unpaid souls,” his daughter replied as she crossed her arms over her chest. “And it’s about time my generation does something about it.”

Valentino took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, “put your tits away. And then we can talk about your misguided ideals.” 

“Aren't you the overlord of lust?” She growled. “Shouldn’t you be so proud that I…”

“I will not tell you again. No daughter of mine will leave this building dressed like…like…” Valentino couldn’t bring himself to say it.

Readers eyes narrowed. “Dressed like what, Dad? Like one of your whores? My point exactly, you wouldn’t want your daughter dressed like this! Those souls are someone's daughter, someone’s..”

Valentino felt his temper flare, and it took every single ounce of his self control to not explode right then and there. How could he have raised such a disrespectful brat? A child who dared to desire to shout about things she knew nothing about? A child who so blatantly disrespected everything her family had worked so hard to build. 

“Go to your room,” he said finally, “now.”

“I hate you!” She screamed. 

To his relief, she whirled around and a moment later, he heard the door slam. With a sigh, he turned back to the table and tossed what remained of his now cold breakfast into the trash. 

“You’ve got your hands full today, don’t you?” Vox remarked as he took a drink of his coffee. “Good call on keeping her home.”

“Where did I go wrong?” Valentino asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “Anyone?”

Vox and Velvette exchanged glances. To Valentino’s irritation, Vox smirked and Velvette rolled her eyes.

“If you have any ideas, please, I’d love to hear them,” Valentino said sarcastically as he flopped himself back into his chair.

“I mean, Val, you’ve always been so good at keeping her out of the dark side of hell,” Vox began slowly. “Maybe it’s time you show her what life would be like if we didn’t…if we didn’t offer the employment opportunities that we do.”

“Or! Better suggestion, if you don’t want to traumatize the poor kid,” Velvette interjected, “offer to let her sit in Vox’s office and read through any contract she’d like. See the terms and conditions and see that really, we’re doing all sinners and hellborne a favor. And we pay them. Better than most, I would think.” 

Vox choked on his coffee and in one fell motion, his cup slammed against the table. “You want me…to take whatever evil that swept up my sweet niece…into my office and let her loose on our contracts? Just let her know all the dirty details?”

“Obviously, keep the worst ones tucked away, but give her a chance to see…even the slightly more in our favor agreements,” Velvette replied. “Shove some common sense into her face. That’ll help.” 

“If it’s the best idea we’ve got…ugh,” Valentino grumbled. “When exactly will she find her common sense again?”

“Sorry Val, if she’s anything like us…it’s gonna be awhile,” Vox answered with a grin.

[thesecretsofthedivine]

Pick a Pile Reading | What Do People Admire/Find Beautiful About You? ☄. *. ⋆

Business Carrd 🍶🧺

Paid Services 🍇⭐

Tip Jar 🍾🎱

*Disclaimer: This is a collective reading - take what resonates and leave the rest. If this resonates with you, please show support by reposting (with credit), tipping, or booking with me! :)

*Exchanges with other intuitives/readers are available via dm's

──────

PILE 1 COLLECTIVE

7 of pentacles. ace of cups. the magician.

channeled songs: sh-boom - the chords. starstruck - christopher wilde. magic - bob. where you lead - carole king.

people admire how much of a visionary you are! your aesthetic sensitivity, long-term goals, personal values, business skills, creativity, and optimism are some sources of your beauty. people find you to be very physically beautiful in general though. maybe it’s the advice you give or the pleasant sound of your voice, but your charm is undeniable. people also appreciate your unique flare, work ethic, and emotional intelligence. it’s clear you have big dreams and capabilities. something about you is dependable and trustworthy to others. you have tinkering energy and raw talent. people recognize the positive impact you make regardless of the environment. you may often be in a fixer-upper, alchemist, support system, teacher role. people admire your dedication and feel more connected to their dreams/purpose because of you. your energy is healing and uplifting. the sincerity in your heart is a gift and allows others to find hope/relief in you. you’re a trailblazer, philanthropist, humanitarian that does the world good simply by existing and sharing your light. your self-assured outlook is infectious and the way you make life feel like a party is irreplaceable. people admire how much of a safe space and muse you are, tied all into one.

PILE 2 COLLECTIVE

knight of cups. 2 of wands. 9 of wands rx.

channeled songs: perfect (exceeder) - mason. the heart wants what it wants - selena gomez. come & get it - selena gomez.

you are a natural flirt and an object of affection, whether you know it or not! you've got sweetheart/crush/eye candy energy. people love to simply know and be near u. it can be hard to read your mind because of your gentle/feminine/passive nature, which tends to keep the thrill or mystery alive! you're someone that can appear intimidating or too hot to handle, but your inner self is much more reassuring and grounded. people find your resilience, charm, social status, patience, thoughtfulness, style, and mysteriousness to be beautiful. it’s giving hot but unavailable/bad bitch or bad boy. you can be quite protective with your energy/time, which people admire. you know not to settle and to treat yourself like the prize. you often intimidate but intrigue others. cat's got their tongue when they look at you! you embody the beauty standard or simply have that “it” factor. you leave people wanting more and struggling to move on from you. you’re unforgettable and mesmerizing, which is beautiful. you’re like a still and elegant work of art that people would go up to admire in a museum. sometimes it can seem like you're a shiny toy that everyone wants a chance to play with, but you’re not easily impressed.

PILE 3 COLLECTIVE

queen of swords. 5 of wands rx. knight of pentacles. knight of wands.

channeled songs: look at me, i’m sandra dee - grease soundtrack. something that i want - grace potter.

your composure, morality, clear judgment, inner beliefs, and stimulating conversation are really attractive to others! people feel that you have a way with words or a commanding presence without actually exerting force. you’re strategic and wise beyond your years, which makes people want to respect you. others also admire your resilience and thoughtfulness. you can easily find answers to problems or have an unmatched intuition to those around you. you’re in it to win it, which makes u dedicated and passionate. for some, you may relate to the underdog. even with life’s tough challenges, you always persevere. people admire your loyalty & find your mind attractive. you may tend to keep to yourself or people could view you as having a big ego, but your tunnel vision blocks out all that noise. you're admired for the way you defy expectations and others’ authority. you are the boss of your own life and a force to be reckoned with. your identity is a mix of stoic tradition + edgy rebellion, which can surprise people at times. your tenacity, analytical traits, high spirits, and capacity to lead are beautiful. you have natural leadership skills that make people want your approval or loyalty. your aura is dominant and elusive so people know better than to stand in your way or do anything other than tag along for the ride.

PILE 4 COLLECTIVE

8 of swords. 9 of swords. 8 of pentacles. justice (libra).

channeled songs: i’m a mess - bebe rexha. mind over matter - young the giant.

your past, independence, emotional maturity/depth, complex mind, shadow self, and resilience are focal points of attraction. you are a survivor who takes their time in opening up/letting go. people admire the capabilities of your heart and feel a lot of sympathy for you. others may feel that you are too much of a people pleaser or often underestimate/overwork yourself, which makes them want to show up for you. the more reluctant with embracing confidence you are, the more people want to advocate for your potential and growth. others feel like you deserve all the privileges and platforms that you may have been previously denied. you deserve to take up space. people tend to develop a karmic attraction to you where they want to see things through or can’t bring themselves to leave your life. you are hardworking and deserving of everything good, which can enhance other people’s desire to provide and show up for you. if life has not been fair to you, this inspires generosity and admiration in others. people feel protective and want to advocate for you. your fairness and respect for the balance of life is also beautiful. people enjoy how even-tempered, considerate, honest, and reflective you are. they see you as the work hard, play hard type. “went from nothing to something”, apocalyptic energy. you’re on your grind and everyone wants to be a personal cheerleader to you. you fight the good fight and others believe in ur potential because of how beautiful your heart is + how much you’ve overcome. your willpower is also a defining statement/testament of your core identity.

[ghostr0tz]

I would very much like to hear your Vox headcanons

Takes a deep breath before opening my mouth cartoonishly wide.

Definitely was disabled during life but probably hid it pretty well. I feel like Vox was sick a lot growing up.

Having a body thats both mechanical AND flesh? Yeah that sounds like an actual nightmare to live.

The only upside is Vox using his electricity for weird electrotherapy. And sometimes he gets annoyed and overdoes it when he doesnt immedietly feel better.

Vox makes his own aids and equipment, and deals with most of his health issues by himself too unless its too bad.

Makes sure his aids are at least stylish in the VoxTek branding. But he doesnt sell them probably. Those are his. Made for himself.

Probably has arthritis and definitely Hypermobile and generally his body just HATES him tbh. Maybe EDS or even POTS. Chronic migraines too (you would too if you had a screen for a head!!!!!) Doesnt have a pinpointed diagnosis though. Vox just sort of Deals with his symptoms.

He didnt start having as much chronic pain until he really started focusing on upgrading himself and everything etc.

Hmmm....I feel like Alastor has arthritis so it was one of the things they bonded over when he were on good terms

I feel like it wasnt the root cause when he was alive but polio WAS kinda ....a thing...that was going on..

Teleports any chance he can get over walking long distances.

He wouldnt consider himself housebound but he kind of is? Not in a traditional sense, its more out of choice. He never really leaves the V tower unless he has to. Lives there, brought his work there so he didnt have to leave, literally moved his closest friends in, and then moved THEIR work in. Why would he leave he has everytbing he'd want.

Thats not even a headcanon Vox just. Did that.

I feel like he gets flare-ups pretty easily. Constantly overworking and getting generally just getting worked up over things (ALASTOR).

Probably prefers crutches and canes over a wheelchair when it comes to mobility aids. I feel he'd feel too short idk. but the idea of him in a wheelchair is very cool to me. Nerdy Evil Supervillian

Okay thats all for now thank you for letting me infodump tehe

[midnightactual]

The former name for Bankai, Shinuchi (真打) does mean "True Strike" in terms of its individual characters (the uchi, 打, is actually part of what katana are properly called in Japan, uchigatana, 打刀) but also as a compound it does mean "Headliner", as in star performer or main performer. (As a point of reference, Mugetsu being translated as "Moonless Sky" is a poetic reading of the compound, not the individual characters, so both readings are probably apt.)

What Isshin and Ichigo call "the Final Getsuga Tenshō", is 最後の月牙天衝, saigo no Getsuga Tenshō, which is more like "the end of Getsuga Tenshō", and there's a distinction between those two things in English. How does a Bankai end? Grandly. So in English, given the theatrical flare of Shinuchi, it was probably more appropriate to call the ability class a Grand Finale, with regaining powers being a Curtain Call.

Japanese doesn't seem to have direct translations for those terms, and it doesn't really matter anyway since they would be replaced by something ending in -kai, in the style of Shikai and Bankai. But what do those mean anyway?

Shikai is 始解, Bankai is 卍解, but the Bleach Wiki is wrong as usual. While Shikai indeed can mean Initial Release (解 is more like "untie" to get release, and it more generally means "solution"), 卍 is not "final". (Which is good because it saves Kubo from more weird allusions to the No-No Germans, as he's already deep enough in that hole with the Schutzstaffel.)

Rather, 卍 is youth slang. For the guy who supposedly named the thing, Ichibē seems uncertain about it (Chapter 609):

These translations seem quite accurate. Maybe he pulled it from the future without fully understanding it, since he can just do that:

Anyway, I want you to know that Captains are running around saying the equivalent of HYPE RELEASE, KEWL SUMMON, AWES SOLUTION, EPIC STYLE, or OFF THE CHAIN and that they are huge dorks.

So, what might you call "End of Bankai?" I think it should be slangy like Bankai itself is. I'm kind of partial to using this:

おつ (otsu) Short for お疲れ様でした (otsukaresama deshita), meaning “you worked hard” or “good job.” You can use it as a slangy goodbye. 乙 This obscure kanji, which translates as “moth,” is now used as a shorthand for お疲れ様でした, which we talked about earlier. Why 乙? Because it’s read as おつ, which is the same slang term we covered above that means “you must be tired” or “thanks for your hard work.” You’ll see this as praise for someone online. Like when someone posts the answer to the clickbait title of an article in the comments to save you a click.

乙解 looks the part, as it sort of looks like an even more stripped down 卍解, and calling it "Goodbye Release" is appropriately bittersweet for what it is. However, Otsukai sounds kinda lame, and the alternate readings of ochi, itsu, kinoto, oto, kanaderu, meri… all kind of don't work. It should be three letters, like shi and ban, and Otokai also sounds sort of weak.

Admittedly, Kubo did do this thing with Hakka no Togame, where he just subbed in a completely different pronunciation kana for a kanji, so you could have 乙 and use kana to say it was read another way...

Another possibility might be 終解, Shukai, with 終 also being owaru, as in owari da, which you've heard an endless number of anime characters say, usually meaning, "It's over!" or the like. That feels also kind of slangy, in a slanted way.

[nevermoreconfessions]

Prospero is my favorite character for many reasons and one of those is the fact he's from the first work of Edgar Allan Poe I read, therefore it has a special place in my heart. Having said that, his spectre disappoints me, AT THE TIME. It's true I don't know what the authors have in store but thus far, his spectre lacks severely to me. Spoilers for Masque of Red Death ahead, but he's based off of a story where a Prince hides away from a plague that torments his land until that "Red Death" enters the castle and follows him through a series of colored rooms, each one representing different things depending on how you read it. His spectre is not giving me any of that. It's a generic plague doctor with a staff as his most "unique" design choice. It tells me he lived through A plague but it doesn't tell me anything else from him just by looking at it on top of it being the weakest in terms of flare. Even Will's has more flare and that's...saying a lot. I trust that eventually the design might... make more sense to me and it might go through changes but as of right now, it's the most boring to me and that's a shame because I adore Prospero and anything related to him but I couldn't honestly say his Spectre is my favorite when it doesn't even look like anything more than a regular plague doctor... Especially since the staff is easy to miss or just doesn't add much. The rats could be a bonus too, but rats weren't really much of an element in the story either....

PS: I really don't mean this as hate or harsh criticism, it's just an observation and a mild hope someone sheds a new perspective on this that maybe I missed?

Can I call you PoeAnon? I'm calling you PoeAnon.

Oh, PoeAnon. How I love you, because this is what critique looks like. And you know what? I get what you're coming from. In a way, I actually agree.

Dear PoeAnon, here's what Prospero's design and abilities tell me, in regards to who he is and how he died —

Let's start with the whole Plague Doctor thing he's got going on. Personally, I love a good plague doctor, and I do think that the spectre could've used a little extra pizazz; but, here's where that design gets truly interesting —

The rats.

Yes, those damned rats. Let me explain.

It tells a great amount of how he died! Did you know that the Plague was spread by rats (then, fleas)? Apparently, the Catholic church was like, "Deport those cats, they're evil," and rats ran wild, spreading the plague like wildfire — the plague subsequently hit Italy, where Prospero is said to be from.

So, to me, it appears that Prospero died of the Plague in Italy, where he might have worked as a doctor in efforts to treat said plague. Or, he was the patient. (I think he was the patient who either died of the plague, or in surgery.)

To emhasize that he died of the plague, let's talk about the poem for a moment. The "Red Death" is a fictional disease that causes "bleeding at the pores."

Prospero is known to have a fear of blood — he gets queasy seeing his own blood, to be exact. Fits well, right?

I'll admit — I don't really understand the bat wings or the hourglass symbols on his staff.

I'll assume that the hourglass symbolizes death — namely, "running out of time," because getting the plague back then meant that you were counting your days. The bat wings stump me, though I assume it's because bats can carry some pretty serious diseases, too.

All this to say: I do like Prospero's spectre. As I said, I have a soft spot for Plague doctors, though I do understand that desire for more.

I wish I had more to go off of, too. But it's still a neat design, in my opinion! It's a classic, honestly.

What do you think, Nevermore tumblr?

[becauseplot]

Still feel is one of my fav fics ever and it made me so happy to see more stuff from this AU! Your post-osnf headcannons are sooo good!! Actually im a big fan of your ordem headcannons in general tbh

If you dont mind sharing more on it...Can you maybe tell us a bit more about your ideas for the effects the symbol left on Thiago? Like, is he still connected to it or to Santo Berço somehow?? I find this consequences stuff really interesting and id be cool to hear more about it

Aw thanks!! I'm glad someone's getting some enjoyment out of my rambles <33

I can go a bit deeper, of course! Warning for the fact that this does get pretty sad and heavy, sorry :(

So Santo Berço really is gone. Equipe E destroyed it. The effects that Thiago is now dealing with are essentially mental scarring: a mix of normal human PTSD with a paranormal "flare" to it. The Symbol has seared itself not just onto his back but onto his mind as well. His dreams of the Symbol are due to trauma and the fact that, just as he suspects, he was never meant to escape it. It is stuck with him now. Anything touched by Death cannot go back to the way it was before, after all.

I kind of like to think about his mental state in terms of Ordem's "sanity" system as well. He recovers plenty of "sanity" while in injury recovery, since he's given time to rest, away from stressors. Eventually, he starts to do work for the Order again, but he quickly learns that he can't handle stressful, paranormal events like he could before (systems-wise, he has a permanent de-buff/disadvantage in the sanity checks) and missions---even the short one he starts out with---just put too much strain on his body. So, he winds up becoming part of the Order's cover-up team, helping fudge official reports and write up those "logical explanations" that Veríssimo sometimes references.

It's a role that's...much easier on him, after everything he went through. He does notice a pattern between his stress and the frequency of the Symbol dreams, so it's much better this way. He will, on rare occasions, help his friends out in the field with intel gathering (perhaps encountering a Horror on the way, which is never fun), and with he gets to serve as a sounding board for Liz's investigations, both her personal ones and the ones she does with the Order.

There are...other effects of the symbol. That he doesn't like to talk about. He's taken a sickly comfort in swirling designs, ever since he woke up in that hospital; back when he dealt with the nightmares on his own, before Liz and the others knew about them, he used to go to bed with reminders to himself ("Your name is Thiago Fritz, you live in São Paulo with Liz, she's in the bedroom upstairs...") written on his arm surrounded by swirls in the hopes they might calm him down enough to think and read it. He ponders his father's pocket watch more than he should, taking solace in the even, steady tick of time moving at the right pace as much as he does watching the second hand go around and around. He finds himself tracing circle after circle after circle with his finger when he's lost in thought or anxious about something...

He finds himself taking comfort in it. The Symbol. The thought makes him feel ill.

Over the months between osnf and opd, his mind slowly starts to deteriorate. Anything touched by Death cannot go back to the way it was before, after all. The frequency of the dreams has always been correlated with his stress and thus fluctuates, but on average they start to get more frequent, and the more intense ones happen more often, and it slowly gets worse, and worse, and worse until---

---he "zones out" one day, thinking of the Symbol. Thirty seconds, nothing much, it must just be on his mind. Then, he starts to fully disconnect from his surroundings, in his own head, pondering the Symbol for a minute or two. The white void starts to creep into his vision sometimes, reality losing meaning and definition, for several minutes at a time. Minutes turn to an hour, two hours, more, if no one is around to pull him out of it.

Thiago, as much as he hates to admit it to himself, is very, very tired. His mind and body are worn out, abused, overused. The thought that he's been living on borrowed time ever since Santo Berço comes more often than he'd like. At the worst of times, he feels like he's orbiting and closing in on some final, finite point. But he'll never tell his friends this because he knows it'll scare them because fuck, it scares him too. (Though, the times where it doesn't scare him are...even worse.)

[end0parasitic]

What are your headcanons for, let’s say…. Cynte, Pravi, Karis, and Luce? (U can add more characters or not answer for one/some of them if you’d like)

Just general headcanons bc i can’t think of specific kinds lmao

i am honestly bad at headcanons lol, most of them r solely visual. but! i definitely have some for all of these characters (and a bonus one!)

cynte: first of all insomniac, that’s a headcanon a lot of people seem to share. i feel like it flared up after karis left him, following a period of almost constant sleep and being withdrawn. i once saw a headcanon of him having heterochromia, and i think that it has potential. also, i like to think that he has a few cybernetic modifications, maybe as a religious thing like eve (the protagonist of wrought flesh). oh, also a strict upbringing! if not at least a very stressful one. i do not think that he was pressured to succeed, but i do think that he desperately wanted to escape something and already grew up in a very religious environment that prioritized success through intelligence and hard work.

praví: my boy has a very small role in game, so i think he’s mostly headcanon for me lol. i had a few back in the day, like he had a major sweet tooth. knit sweaters was also one (still like this one). one specific to me i think was that he used to take q-melanin (thing in wrought flesh that the villagers take cuz it allows them to photosynthesize) when he was child and used to live on a majorly desert planet as a poor colonist. also i like the idea that he’s very technically smart but can’t solve puzzles (projecting lol), while cynte can do both if a little forgetful of some advanced things and protocol. i like the idea of him not having a god/goddess he’s devoted to.

luce: first of all, surrounded by butterfly imagery since this post lives in my head rent free. i drew this luce on a whim and this is honestly how i see her in my head, this might be my fav design of her i’ve ever done even though it’s pretty simple. i like to think that in her childhood, she was seen as kind of a bad omen by the people around her, if a very kind one. like a lot of bad stuff happened around her, and she seemed to be at the center of it, but she really was just a kind person trying her best. the isolation and constant suspicion and harshness got to her and it all culminated in the parasites taking notice of her. doomed by the narrative vibes. also, i think she’s very familiar with tools from computers to scalpels to guns.

karis: oh this man has been hurt before. i wouldn’t be surprised if he had a long term relationship with someone a lot more wild and magnetic than he was and then got his heart ripped out by them, and then moved on to cynte, and then left him too. i get the vibe that he was born on a very carefree planet, a metropolis with a good government, and the people were generally very wild and hedonistic, but he never was. only drinks socially, never smokes. he was definitely a lot kinder to luce than praví and cynte were, maybe they were friends. i think of him as not only smart enough to be a scientist, but also smart enough to know how to talk his way into things, whereas cynte gets by on sheer devotion.

eve (my nickname for the protagonist of wrought flesh): i think her cult generally goes by burn bright and fast, meaning they tank all of the damage they get and die young and gloriously, and that’s what she’s primed to do. i like to think she’s very accomplished and already kind of ascended to hero status, but not truly godlike. she’s looking for something that has been watching her like the way you watch a bug crawl too close and move to shove it away. she’s like an ideal warrior cultist.

in conclusion: i’m normal abt them. trust me bro.

[infranthrax]

Hey! Can I please request some Espio the chameleon x reader headcanons? Any type is fine <3 Tysm!!

sure thing! it’s gonna be my first time writing for espío, so just be patient… matter of fact this is my first time writing for sonic/co in general 😌 kinda made general headcanons for this.

creating new memory… just a moment… ✨

𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍

espio the chameleon x gn!reader — general headcanons!

espio is very closed off— not mean closed off, he just doesn’t really like getting close to people. you can say espio is an introvert, and while working with the others of the chaotix is enough to highlight his day, he prefers the quiet times, ones filled with peace where he can just sit and be.

as a newbie that gets into the chaotix, espio intrigued you from the start and you made a goal to try and befriend him. though, espio may see this and go, hmm…. this is odd.

cautious yet curious, he doesn’t seem you at all threat yet, but he likes to keep all newbies close as to keep an eye on them. this also goes for you. he doesn’t like traitors and doesn’t do well with betrayal or being lied to, as honesty is a principle he follows religiously.

it takes him the longest to figure you out and if you were to try and step out of line he would be quick to correct you.

one day you approach him and give him flowers, and ask him to be your friend. you think he’s so cool and, it would be so cool of you to befriend this dude. he’s just so happenin. and he just sits there with warmed cheeks and accepts your gift of friendship. either this, or he’ll let you off slowly and ask you to allow him to think. you might think he’s being too serious, but he’s simply very much work oriented and would most likely prefer to keep things professional between the two of you as to not cause disruption.

as your “friendship” grows however you get to see more of his self absorbency show through missions— how he’s prideful and how he obtains pleasure through the thrill of the heat of a situation, all the while still being crucially agile and level headed. this only made your admiration grow, making you think, where can I get confidence like that?

the same would go for espio seeing you in combat alongside him and vector. you would often learn from him and that would set him up a little, seeing as though you were taking his influence. sometimes however this isn’t exactly a good thing because he himself knows he can be rather impulsive, but it’s usually out of his strong sense of duty and passion for justice keeping, and that same passion he likes to see in you.

when he felt as though he was ready to cement your friendship, one morning you would wake up, get ready and be ready to head out the door only to find some flowers laying on the ground, with a little note.

“sincerely, espio.”

you would take the flowers in your hands and hug them, feeling accepted by the chameleon at long last.

friendship with espio is very calm and reserved— a very relaxed and smooth pace kinda journey but still worth it. espio likes to watch movies with you during your time off and he also likes to take walks. you both go out to different parks sometimes just to roam around, maybe get something to drink or a bite to eat and just talk to each other. the little things mean a lot to espio and he’s not hard to please.

he’s not a touchy feely kinda guy though, so he gets stuff if you try to hug him, touch him, attempt to cuddle him, etc. not that he doesn’t like it it’s just that he doesn’t exactly know how to respond, but he accepts it anyway.

overall, pretty good boy in terms of friendship and commitment. if you were in trouble, he’d come in a heart beat. he would expect you to do the same despite his ego flare. he’s too proud to admit he needs help.

he’d be the type of person to ask you for help in a text, then unsend it, then send it again, then unsend it, then send it again. poor guy.

i imagine that espio can cook decent food, that being used a bit loosely since he prefers to cook when vector and charmy are gone. this leaves him with no interruptions. asian cuisine is his specialty and if you have any recipes for him and or if you wanna cook dinner with him for the team, be his guest. he doesn’t mind, just as long as you help clean.

other than that he just orders takeout because vector bombards him.

you dear to yourself. (and so does he,) that he’s the only member of the chaotix with a decent head in his shoulders. (because that’s true anyway lol.)

[sansmeanswithout]

ok versions of horror based on different axes time!

information on the types of axes from source 1 source 2 source 3 source 4

Name: Hatchet

Named after:

A hatchet is a general all-purpose axe, and is the kind of axe that most people own for light jobs in the yard. These can range enormously in price, from just a few dollars to $100+. They are relatively small compared to some other axes, with a chunky handle most commonly made from hickory wood. The head is weighted, with a flared shape that comes to a sharp-tipped blade. Balance is very important for a good hatchet, as an overall balanced feel will help to produce more accurate swings and cuts, making jobs much quicker and easier to complete. A hatchet is used for felling small trees, and for chopping and splitting logs.

Things about him: inspired by the sans known as Brass and the pure bite bittys which are made by @boe-someone Hatchet is a more absent minded and anxious version of horror he often bites because of instincts or being startled. he's generally apologetic afterwards. during the famine he is much less apologetic for his biting unless it's someone he's actually still on good terms with like his papyrus. he's also pretty fast when biting maybe comparable to the speed of a frogfish.

Name: Grub

Named after:

Also known as a ‘cutter mattock,’ a grub axe has a head with an axe on one side and an adze on the other side. The axe blade will be at a vertical angle, while the adze blade, which is the longer of the two, will be at a horizontal angle. The name ‘grub axe’ comes from the way the tool is used, as it is great for grubbing in compacted soils and rough terrain. These tools are very useful in the garden, as they can dig holes to set new plants in or break up resistant roots of old plants.

Things about him: Grub is much more coherent than other horrors and doesn't disassociate as much. his head injury mainly affects his memory for names and faces. he enjoys working with his hands and has a bit of a green thumb however that didn't help much during the famine due to Snowdins cold and his papyrus not wanting to leave Snowdin. Grub is face blind and relies on peoples and monsters clothing to identify them.

Named: Maul

Named after:

These axes are specifically designed for splitting logs into kindling. They have a design very similar to a felling axe, with a long wooden handle to give a good swing. When using a splitting maul, you should use a downward swing, not a sideways swing like that used for a felling axe. Unlike felling axes, which cut against the grain of the wood, splitting mauls cut with the grain, which is what results in split wood rather than chopped wood. The head of a splitting maul will be much heavier than a felling axe, at around eight pounds. The head takes the shape of a chunky wedge, with one sharp end and one blunt end, though the sharp end doesn’t need to be particularly sharp in order to be functional, as it is the shape and weight of the blade that will do most of the work. Because of this, splitting mauls need to be sharpened much less frequently than other axes, as they can work well even when fairly blunt.

Things about him: Maul is a horror who didn't adapt much to the changes in the underground after his head injury thankfully his papyrus is more stable and he's taken to caring for Maul. Maul oftentimes is in a disassociated state and going through the motions of routines. he often goes back to routines from before the famine which leaves him vulnerable leading to his brother getting him a child leash. he's small and skinny because he often refuses the small amount of food available because he struggles to stomach the reality of the famine.

Name: Tomahawk

Named after:

Tomahawk axes originate from North America, where they were first used by Native Americans. They have a rich military history and have been used in battle since their creation, by both sides in the American Revolution, and later in the Vietnam War. These axes resemble hatchets, but they have a completely straight handle and are noticeably lighter. The straight handle makes them easier to release in combat to throw at an opponent, and the sharp blade makes them useful for a range of jobs, including digging, prying, chopping, and splitting. Though tomahawks are popular among soldiers, they have more recently become fashionable for camping. They are lighter and smaller than hatchets and are therefore easier to carry around. They are multifunctional, able to be used for a range of bushcraft activities. Tomahawks are also popular for use in knife throwing competitions, where they have their own category.

Things about him: inspired by birdtale which is Greyscales (aka sablescales) on ao3 yes he has bird wings specifically those of an ivory billed woodpecker. he can fly but he isn't allowed to for his own safety as after his head injury he lost his depth perception and sense of direction. he's really fragile but extra light on his feet. he's very skilled in combat and has a hobby of woodworking.

Named: Adze

Named after:

An adze is technically any hand tool that has a sharp cutting blade, but the original adze dates back to the Stone Age. These ancient tools are generally used for woodwork, to carve and smooth out wood. The blade of an adze is set at right angles and is very sharp to carry out refined and detailed carpentry. There are many types of adze, but they can be categorized into two different groups, hand adzes and foot adzes. A hand adze should be swung with just one hand and will have a short handle to accommodate this. A foot adze will be swung with both hands, and have a longer handle. The name ‘foot adze’ refers to the point at which the head usually lands, around foot or shin height.

Things about him: Adze is a sorta jack of all trades master of none. before the famine he was interested in nearly everything including wilderness survival and cooking. after his head injury he became very protective and a bit feral. he took his papyrus deep in the Snowdin woods once things started getting really bad in town.

Named: Shepard (also known as Shepa)

Named after:

The shepherd's axe is a long thin light axe of Eurasian origin used in past centuries by shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains and in other territories which comprise today Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Hungary. The features of a shepherd's axe combine a tool with a walking stick, that could be used as a light weapon. It has symbolic historical and cultural connotations and is still used as a prop in many traditional dances, for example the odzemek.

Things about him: Shepard also known as Shepa is a more calm horror. he's very protective but not just of his papyrus, he actually managed to keep some of Snowdin together despite his head injury. he acted as a lookout and guardian to his group before the barrier broke. his head injury mainly affects his balance and he uses a cane.

[a-drama-addict]

chloe for 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 20 heehee :3

[ask game] YEAHHHH CHLOE TIMEMEME!!!!!

1. What kind of person is your OC in a crisis? Are they calm and collected? Do they panic? Or are they chronically the cause?

I mean. She is calm, usually. She likes to pretend she's calm more than anything, she wants to be well adjusted and collected during a crisis so bad but she just can't be. So she just. lies through her teeth and pretends to be calm (not amazingly)

2. Is your OC a loner or a social butterfly? Are they satisfied with how they come across to other people?

Social! Chloe likes going out a lot, enjoys making friends and even acquaintances on the regular! She's sillay like that (not relatable). As to how she comes across to other people she just doesn't.. really care? I mean she cares a little, but the general public's opinion? Eh.

4. Does your OC have a failed friendship or relationship they still think about? What happened? Is it an unresolved regret or is there a chance for reconciliation?

Hm. Carver.

It isn't failed in a sense that they don't care for one another, or that they don't love each other, or that they don't grow to understand one another. It's just the regret that their issues were never really about one another as people, just.. about the situation. The carelessness in which Chloe wanted to live and in the anxiousness Carver knew she had to live. The clashing of those two factors was intense most of the time, but it is still something she regrets. Regrets not being able to... just be with Carver in the way she wishes.

5. Does your OC have a signature weapon and/or attack? How long did they train to master it?

Blood magic for sure- but specifically kind of... slashing her wrists/palm open and infusing her blood with ice magic so she just kills bitches with blood shards. (IS this possible? i dont know its cool though). learned it from her bestie merrill <3

8. What was your OC's most embarrassing moment? Does it still bother them or are they able to shrug it off?

Hmmmm probably when she was a teen, like seventeen maybe, she tried asking out a girl for the first time ever and oh was it so scary. She had hyped herself up all night "You got this, you've got mom's looks plus dad's charm has to work!" and this would've worked if Chloe didn't get so nervous her magic acted up. And burnt every flower she picked to a charcoal-y mess. She managed to pick SOME only for it to flare up again in the moment when she gave them. she was dying internally

9. Is your OC laid back or do they thrive on drama? What role do they play in their group of friends/associates?

Chloe's pretty laid back, usually acting as more of a... passive bystander to personal dramas within her friend group. Fenris and Anders want to kill each other with hammers? Okay, she's gonna drink ale with Isabela, Varric and Merrill.

11. What does your OC believe in? God(s)? Monsters? Love? The power of unbreakable bonds of friendship to overcome any obstacle? The ability of money to open any door? Or are they indifferent?

Chloe's pretty indifferent. She believes in people, in the good of people. She really wants to believe in it, she doesn't know what else to believe in.

13. How important are romantic relationships to your OC? Do they prefer casual sex, short flings, or long term relationships? Do they want to get married or are they content with what they have? Or do they have no interest in romance whatsoever?

Chloe's relationship with romance is complicated. She yearns for it on a deep level yet doesn't know how to act around it, she can't stand the thought of marriage and yet if she is in a relationship all she wants to do is marry the woman she is dating.

When she gets with Isabela it's all very "Hell yeah the hottest woman in all of Thedas is about to sit on my face" but when she catches feelings it's like... "Can we please hold hands i want you to my mom during dinner. if that's okay. i'm sorry that was so cringe i can show my dick instead"

She does prefer long term relationships. she can't imagine not wanting it

14. How important is friendship to your OC? Do they prefer to have one or two close friends or a large group of casual friends? Or do they prefer their own company over that of others?

SHE LOVES HER FRIENDS!!!!!! SHE LOVES HAVING AN INNER CIRCLE AND OUTER CIRCLE OF FRIENDS!!!!!!!! SHE LOVES BEING IN BIG GROUPS OF PEOPLE AND BEING IN THE COMPANY OF HER LOVED ONES!!!!!!!

15. What places hold significant meaning or memories for your OC? Do they have a positive or negative association with those places?

Kirkwall. It's like, yeah obviously. But so much of what Chloe is and becomes, it's all tied to that rotten city isn't it. She's met everyone she cares about in recent memory there, met the love of her life, learned everything she could about her magic, and truly experienced a semblance of freedom. It's both Hell on earth and paradise at the same time

20. Has your OC ever done something terrible and lied about it? Did they run away or blame someone else for it? How long did they maintain the lie and did the truth ever come out?

mmmm no. Chloe is pretty upfront with all her actions even if they ended up being terrible. She owns up to the way she helped Anders, unknowingly, get supplies for blowing up the Chantry. She hates that about herself, but can't lie about her involvement. It's things like that, she couldn't ever truly lie about things of her fault. she could lie about the size of the statue in her honour while standing right in front of it, but never things she has actually done (this is where she and Varric clash a lot)

[recurring-polynya]

How did your vocabulary get so big for writing? I'm always astounded at how you manage to make dialogue scenes so diverse and interesting. Do you have any general tips for writing dialogue and diversifying the words used?

Aww, thank you, Anon! Dialogue is my favorite thing to write, so it's always nice to hear that people think I'm good at it!

Answer below the cut because, obviously, I am a windbag when it comes to the subject of language

I want to say that it comes of reading a lot as a child--I was pretty much never without a book between the ages of 7 and 18. I also have a master's degree in an engineering discipline and worked in a scientific field for 15 years. My husband studied mathematics, my sister is a lawyer. I live in an area that has a very level of educational achievement in the country. Most of my friends are nerds in a variety of esoteric fields. On the other hand, one of my mother's favorite stories about me is that when I was in kindergarten, the principal told her that she enjoyed talking to me because I talked like an adult, so maybe it's just something about my brain.

I think it's a combination of the fact that a) I love words and turns of phrase and b) I am steeped in an environment where I am exposed to a lot of them. I like the way words sound and the way they feel in my brain. Selecting words is one of my great joys in writing, and I am happy if that comes through at all in my writing. Believe me, when you have a big vocabulary, you gotta write, because when you talk like this out loud and you haven't gauged the register of the room correctly, you sound like an insane person (this happens to me a lot).

So! Tips! The first thing I want to say is that there are lots of kinds of writing, and more words or bigger words does not necessarily translate into better writing. A large vocabulary can be a very dangerous thing. Accordingly, my first tip is about building one, and the rest of them are about using them with proper care and safety precautions.

Collect words. Whenever I read, if I come across a word I don't know, I look it up immediately. Pay attention to the way your favorite writers use words. File away your favorites for your own use. Don't be afraid to use cross-genre vocabulary words-- I use astronomical and fluid mechanics terms in my writing constantly. I do not recommend doing crossword puzzles for this purpose, because crossword puzzles tend to love words that no one uses in real life.

When I am writing, I usually have a tab to thesaurus dot com open in the tab next to my document. I have the OneWord Thesaurus extension installed in my GDocs, but I don't like it, I like thesaurus dot com. That being said, I use the thesaurus as a tool for exploring words I already know and picking out the one that feels the best for the situation. Basically, it goes like this: I am writing a sentence, and I say "I want a word like stoicism but that feels too academic" and then I explore the words until I settle on one that has the right feel. Or, I will want to use "flare" but I used "flare" last sentence, so I look up "flare" and say, "oh, 'blaze' has a similar feel, but it different enough" and then I decide which sentence gets "blaze" and which sentence gets "flare." Do not pluck words out of the thesaurus that you don't know and stick them in your writing. Don't do it! Even if you look up the definition, words often have unspoken meanings or rhythms or directionality that you may not be aware of, and it will be very obvious that you picked that word out of a thesaurus. I mean, please look up that word! Store it in your head! Pay attention for seeing it used in the wild! But don't use it right away.

You specifically asked about dialogue, and vocabulary is one of a number of tools you can use in giving your characters distinctive voices. In general, though, you should be spending your energy scaling it back, not embroidering. One of the reasons I don't write Ikkaku a lot and Zaraki even less is that I usually have to make at least three passes over their dialogue to simplify it and not have them say a thing just because I would say it. I have to do this with Renji a lot, too, and I never feel like I am completely successful. I complain a lot about writing Byakuya, but I love writing his dialogue, because this is the only place in my life where I get to use words like "churlish" and "jejune" (Jejune is a word I picked up from reading too much David Foster Wallace fyi). Probably the character I speak the most like irl is Akon. All that being said, remember that every character is going to have certain interests or experiences where they may have a specialized vocabulary! Renji may be a meathead, but he's also a sword-nerd and actually very knowledgeable about his job, so it's okay to have him speak a little bit technically when it comes to shinigami crap or fighting stuff.

I said earlier not to use words you don't know, but it's absolutely okay to go learn some specialized vocabulary based on what you're writing about--swordfighting, baking, historical royalty titles, the made-up magic system that is specific to the media property you're writing in. I visit the Bleach wiki so much that Google has stopped keeping track of how much I go to individual pages. I hate watching video, generally, but I will go watch how-to videos on things like martial arts and arm wrestling to figure out how to describe things and learn the common terminology.

Words have rhythm and mouthfeel as well as meaning and connotation. The biggest, fanciest word is not always best. One syllable words with hard consonants are strong and cutting and fast. Longer words with n's and g's and s's are luxurious. I mentioned earlier collecting vocabulary from writers you like, but songwriters are very important, as well. Mike Doughty uses words in an absolutely insane manner that I am obsessed with, but I also really like Neko Case and Tori Amos and Paul Simon.

A few notes on dialogue tags, because I feel like this is a place where a lot of people think they need to use their vocabulary words. (a) There is nothing wrong with "said"/"says." Yes, it gets boring if you use it too much, but the nice thing about it is that it is basically invisible. Fancy dialogue tags detract from the substance of the dialogue itself. Sometimes you want that, but sometimes "said" works just fine! Other good, staple dialogue tags are "reply", "answer", "ask", "agree". (b) You can use the same dialogue tag repeatedly for effect! Think about someone telling a story that goes "So I said...and then she said...and then I said..." Repeated "saids" are excellent giving an exchange a quickfire, staccato feel. Or once, I wrote an exchange between Nemuri Hachigou and Byakuya where all Nemuri's dialogue tags were "asked" and all of Byakuya's were "answered" because it was an insane conversation between a science experiment child and one of the most important men in Soul Society about what his favorite color was and it really accented how seriously both of them were taking this. (c) For additional dialogue tags, I like words like "mutter" or "grunt" or "sang" or "teased." They are simple words that tell you how a thing is said. Fancier synonyms for said, like "respond" or "elucidate" or "disclose" sound very much like you went thesaurus-diving. (d) If you find yourself grasping at increasingly strained dialogue tags, give your characters little actions instead! "I don't know." Renji scratched his head. "What do you think?" My number one writing trick is to have your characters eating constantly so that they have things to do to create pauses and make small motions.

If you write in a style that has a built-in POV, your entire narration should, to a slightly lesser degree, follow the vocabulary style of the POV character. I just said not to use "elucidate" but I might use that in a Byakuya POV section, because he would use "elucidate." As a corollary of this, remember when I said that sometimes words have directionality? There are words that you would only use to describe yourself and different words you would use to describe others. If a character thinks their friend is being stubborn, they might use words like "grunt" or "grumble" to tag their dialogue. POV characters can use words for themselves that describe intent, but because they don't have perfect information about those around them, you want to use words that describe appearance for others, that are (possibly imperfect) proxies for their emotions. My favorite example of this is that I will have a POV character tell a lie, and tag it "I don't know what you're talking about," Rukia lied. This only works if it's Rukia's POV, (unless the other person is a bad liar and Rukia can tell they are lying). It's funny, and it's funny because of the asymmetry of information that you get as reader because of the POV the author has chosen.

I hope any part of that was helpful!!

[the-fluffiest-trainer]

Like this? I just talk and it... oh, yes, it's writing the words! How does it know how to do that?

Uh, well, hi everyone? Can I delete that earlier part? And that too? This would be so much easier if I had those "hand" things to actually press all these tiny buttons...

Let me start over. Hi everyone, my name is Fluttershy, and I... don't really know what I'm doing here? Or where "here" is? Or anything about these two legged people with their hands and their fancy devices that write for you when you talk into them, but at least they all seem nice so far, and that's good. This girl named Shauna gave me this device and she says I'm in a place called Kalos, but I've never heard of it.

Apparently there's a professor who knows about me already, and sent four kids out to find me? That's nice of him, and maybe he knows more about how I fell into this world. If any of you, whoever it is in here that I'm talking to, uh, however that works... if you know anything or have any advice, and... I don't know how I'm going to actually hear you, to be honest, but I guess this thingy takes care of it?

I wish my friends were here. Maybe they are? I remember Twilight, fighting for all of us but we couldn't help her, and... something... and then falling from the sky, and I barely got my wings under me before hitting the ground in this strange little town. I should definitely go find this Professor Sycamore and see what he knows.

(OOC info under the cut)

Hey everyone, this is a pokeblogging rp blog for Fluttershy from MLP:FiM. She has no idea what pokemon (or humans) are and honestly, out of character I don't either because I've made it to nearly 30 without ever playing a pokemon game before now. At the recommendation of a good friend who's also into the pokeblogging scene here, I'm starting with Pokemon X. This blog is in the same universe as Gwyndolin from @moonlight-eternal, mostly because I didn't want to have to learn everything about two different games, but sometimes plot events will affect both blogs.

In general the blog is typically lowish stakes and sfw, and I'm open to interaction with any other pokeblogs, Fallers or otherwise (just be nice and everything should be okay). Given the plot of Pokemon X, some higher stakes will occur occasionally when dealing with Team Flare. Tags "#mid stakes pokeblogging" and "#high stakes pokeblogging" will be used as appropriate.

Twilight Sparkle is also here, having Fallen into Kalos several months before Fluttershy. Others of the Mane Six have landed elsewhere in the pokemon world and have been mentioned, but have not appeared on the blog.

Pelipper mail is on! This includes standard mailable objects, abstract things like "catness", horrible nightmares, you know, the usual for pelippers. I can't guarantee I'll post all of them given plot reasons but I try to address most of what comes in.

Headcanons / conventions taken with this timeline include:

All pokemon are sapient, but most cannot communicate in human language. Fluttershy's talent of speaking with animals carries over to pokemon as well.

Fluttershy is the equivalent of mid to late 20s in human terms, but the kids she meets are still kids, maybe mid teens or so.

Consistent font colors used:

Fluttershy: Standard black text

Visual description in videos: [Bracketed italicized black text]

Arden (Fluttershy's delphox): Orange text

Twilight: purple text

Lysandre: Orange bolded text

Team Flare members: usually red text

Shauna: pink text

AZ: green text

Hoopa (eebied Discord): Pink bolded text

Gwyndolin (@moonlight-eternal): pale lavender text

"Gym leader" "Donn": dark purple bolded text

Fluttershy's pokemon team:

Arden: delphox, trans girl, even fluffier than Fluttershy herself. She craves violence. She operates the holocaster sometimes for typing or taking videos.

Talia: gardevoir, girl, forcibly adopted a trainer so she can battle and eventually evolve.

Sienna/Muffin: skitty, girl, caught by Twilight and then given to Fluttershy via Professor Sycamore.

Keseph: amaura, girl, resurrected from a fossil in Ambrette Town.

Osha: absol (shiny), girl, found in the woods around Geosenge Town trying to warn about some sort of danger there.

Derpy: pelipper, girl, delivered herself as mail. Probably not an eebied version of the mailpony Derpy Hooves, but who knows?

Twilight's pokemon team:

Luna: espeon, girl, found Twilight right after she Fell and never left.

Raya: lucario, girl, sought out Twilight based on aura senses and led her to meet humans for the first time.

Spike Jr.: crobat, boy, given as a gift by Lysandre.

Crystal: lapras, girl, given by a pokemon breeder on Route 12.

N/A

N/A

Content warnings for this blog, current and future:

Canonical events of Pokemon X

Mentions of past apocalypse, though not in the pokemon world

Trainers can be affected by pokemon moves if improperly targeted

Occasional high-stakes plots which may involve injury and/or death, for both pokemon and trainers

Relationships between non-pokemon and pokemon (sapient and consenting)

Other notes:

Sometimes I take liberties with game mechanics in favor of writing something that makes more sense from a perspective of actually living in this world and seeing pokemon battles and such. This may include:

I will typically ignore the physical vs special distinction for moves, stats, and so on, and also usually Natures and Abilities.

While types do exist, I consider the advantage factor to be less than the games' value of 2. Probably more like sqrt(2), so super effective moves do 141% damage and not very effective is 71%.

On some occasions, I may even ignore a type matchup if narrative reasons or simple common sense contradict the game logic.

Stat and EV values, experience levels, all that numeric data isn't a thing, pokemon just get stronger with practice in nonquantitative ways.

In general, all this basically means I'm taking an approach closer to the anime than the games. I have no prior experience with either, I just want something that makes sense and doesn't require being Autisms Georg about pokemon just to run a blog.

Story arcs so far:

Intro arc (no tag): Fluttershy arrives in Kalos and takes the position of player character, up through meeting Sycamore in Lumiose.

#reunion arc: After hearing from Sycamore that Twilight is also around, Fluttershy seeks out her and her research team in western Kalos. She finds out more about how exactly she Fell.

#screamkitty arc: Fluttershy foolishly ventures into the wilderness around Geosenge Town to investigate a terrible noise, and eventually acquires a new pokemon.

#darkened souls arc: Shauna asks for help with a mysterious pokemon ailment, but neither Fluttershy nor Twilight can figure it out. Aliana of Team Flare hypothesizes that another Faller may be involved.

#seeing a ghost arc: An error is found in Twilight's math, and the correction suggests that one member of the Equestria group actually Fell three thousand years ago. AZ shows up with a revelation.

#betrayal arc: After seeing someone across the multiverse defeat a hostile Lysandre, the ponies investigate and confront their world's version.

#calm before the storm arc: Fluttershy travels to Anistar City alone to meet with Professor Sycamore and the kids, while Twilight remains in a precarious position in Geosenge.

Other tags:

#ardenposting: Generic tag for posts Arden makes, or otherwise features prominently in.

#infinite princess glitch: The ponies visit the City of Otherworldly Dreams (Laverre) and Twilight starts experiencing phenomena she can't explain.

[theloverscardtarot]

Evan & Fran

General Energy

The Fool: An exciting new relationship. Someone might be ignoring red flags. Going along the course without a care in the world carrying all their baggage.

6 of Wands: I feel like someone feels victorious. This could never work between us, but then it does. Maybe Fran, like a lot of Evan's exes, felt like she bagged her celebrity crush. They may have both felt like it was a win-win situation. Both getting what they want out of it. At least at first.

King of Wands: I feel like the King represents Evan. Energetic, a natural leader. I feel like Ev wore the pants in the relationship. He is an exciting partner, though he has a temper. However, It flares out as quickly as it ignites. This tells me they may have had some deep feelings for each other. Everything seemed pretty positive in the beginning. The king is also generous with time and resources. We know he got Fran a job through AHS and also it was during covid, so I'm assuming they spent a lot of time together.

Evan POV

3 of Wands: He was feeling pretty sure about Fran. He saw potential in the relationship and he was excited to see what would happen. He may have been trying to see how Fran fit in with his life plans. Which, it was covid so not a whole hell of a lot was going on. But he did integrate her into his work. He felt committed to making it work and maybe they were discussing relationship goals.

Temperance: Well, he is a patient man lol. He feels empathy towards her and there is balance and harmony. He may have felt deeply connected to her. He is not going to extremes to show how he feels but it doesn't mean the feelings aren't there.

The World: He feels satisfied and loved by Fran. He is actually feeling pretty proud to be in the relationship, contrary to what some pictures look like to us! He was happy, at least in this moment!

2 of Swords: This is where things start to get a little hairy. He has blinders on and is ignoring red flags. He is trying to decide if she is good for him or not. I feel like he's torn between sex and a relationship he can see as long term.

The Chariot: He is taking the reigns when it comes to the relationship. He may be a bit authoritative with her or tries to control certain aspects of the relationship. He might see her more as a conquest.

The Lovers: There may have been something specific that he bonded over with Fran. He feels like they have a closeness because of it. They most likely have a very strong sexual chemistry. They have cared deeply for each other. Maybe even said I love you. Possibly Evan said it first.

Wheel Of Fortune: This tells me his feelings about her or the situation was constantly changing. Good and bad, back and forth. "The wheel is always turning" Ultimately, I feel like he constantly struggled with how he should feel about her.

2 of Pents: At one point Evan was trying to juggle Fran with other aspects of his life. Work and family. This may have been when he was starting to prepare/filming for Dahmer. I'm sure he struggles to give Fran his full attention. Also this could be him juggling his decisions. Should he stay or should he walk away.

Fran's POV

6 of Swords: Fran is in a transitory state. I think this is her schooling. She met Evan as she was finishing up her degree. Possibly she was coming off a relationship.She has baggage from the past that she is willing to drop to be able to move forward with Evan.

2 of Wands: Fran is stuck between 2 decisions. Intuitively, I feel like she had plans and goals she was ready to pursue after she finished school and then here comes Thee Evan Peters. The card depicts a man holding a globe. Maybe she wanted to travel or was just excited to see what the world offered and then Evan came in. She may have felt torn between starting a relationship and pursuing her dreams.

10 of Swords: She is feeling betrayed, backstabbed. This could be infedelity from a previous relationship and she is going into this one worried it will happen again. This could also indicate that she feels like she is failing with Evan too. She's putting in a lot of effort and not getting it back.

4 of Pents: I'm not sure if Evan ever cheated on Fran, but something is making her feel paranoid. It's making her clingy and jealous. It could be based in reality, or it could be a lingering fear from the past.

What went wrong?

5 of Wands: Conflicts and arguments. Make up sex is the only form of intimacy. Tensions are high and both of their egos are getting in the way. I feel like they are both stubborn and it's never their fault. One or the other may be taking daily frustrations out on their partner. It's becoming toxic.

7 of Swords Side: (U) Someone is not being open and honest with the other. This card is the moon in Aquarius, which is both emotional and cold. So, I feel like this is Evan. His emotions may be heavy and he withdraws instead of expressing them. Fran might feel like Evan is being selfish in some way. She may even think he spends more time working than with her. (R) This indicates Evan being his non-confrontational self and not being honest to spare Fran's feelings. It could be little white lies that turn into bigger problems. Someone could be complaining about the other behind their partner's back. There are disagreements about daily routines and hobbies.

7 of Pents Rev.: Someone is putting in a lot of effort and not getting it reciprocated. The romance feels stagnant. Someone is more invested than the other. Someone is trying to rush aspects of the relationship even when they know they, themselves are not ready. Someone has ulterior motives based on money and recognition. I feel like this is Fran. She may look at Evan as a trophy.

10 of Pents Rev: Someone is losing focus on what is important. Someone may have an overemphasis on material things and it's hurting the relationship. Fran? She may be irresponsible with money and that could be aggravating Evan. She wants Evan to promise her Security and stability and wealth and he is not doing that for various reasons.

3 of Cups:They feel like they are harmonious together and they possibly feel like best friends. I feel like if this started out as a FWB situation, that they are realizing that's what it should have remained. Maybe they are not meant to be more than that.

4 of Cups: ok, I'm laughing only because I kinda know what Fran comes off like online. This card suggests someone is self-absorbed and is acting ungrateful ( remember when Fran bitched cause Evan wouldn't buy her an expensive camera?) . Ultimately, it could be making Evan feel neglected and isolated in the relationship. She may have a "woe is me" mentality and thinks Evan has wronged her in a way. The romance could feel stale and like someone is too much in their own head and is not emotionally available.

Queen of Pents: One or both are seeking nurturing and warmth from the other person. They want to build a happy home life and be domesticated. Maybe this was not reciprocated.

The Heirophant: This card suggests to me that this started out as a one night stand and it turned into a 2 year thing. Someone wants something more traditional and the other doesn't. I'm not sure who feels what way. Someone's feelings are still leaning towards a platonic dynamic. From what we know, I assume this is Evan.

Queen of Wands: This suggests someone is spiritual and intuitive. I know Fran reads tarot. She may have uplifted Evan in a way that was different. I feel like maybe they had the same sense of humor. Quirky and a little raw, sarcastic. This suggests she fit well into his circle of friends. He may have been attracted to her boldness and bluntness. However this is fire energy and I can only imagine when the passion was going in the wrong direction, fights vs sexual, that things were not very pretty.

How does Fran feel about Evan now?

6 of Pents: I think now she realizes that he is and was a very charitable person. I feel like he may have helped her financially somehow. More of the important issues like bills rather than her just wanting a camera. So most likely, there are things we don't and will never know.

King of Cups: She wants happiness for him and cares about his well being. He was a loyal person to her and she knows it. She accepts his flaws and mistakes and will always care for him. She felt devoted to him. And she will probably always have a soft spot for him.

7 of Wands Rev: Welp, this cards suggests that Fran sees Evan as the sole cause of the breakup. I think we saw this in one of Shams readings. She had no intention of giving him up. She blames him and refuses to admit her own flaws in the downfall of the relationship.

4 of Wands: Its possible Fran thought Evan was her soulmate. That he might have been the one. She also celebrates him. I think this means she celebrates the fact that she dated him. I think she likes the attention this brings her.

How does Evan feel about Fran now?

Queen of Cups: If they had been on the same page, same maturity level and stayed together I feel like they would have been a power couple. Evan sees Fran as someone that was supportive of him. And I think there's a good chance she was. He adores her for who she is and he may still feel this way. The brutal truth of this card is that he may have considered reconciliation with her at one point. He may be over it now. But he often thinks about her.