#no I am not tagging it with whats in it fandom wise

[thewhumpingbunny]

VENT WRITING.

GOVL chapter 7 alternate scene

As the Emperor writhed on the ground, unable to keep himself from screaming at his overwhelming loss at the hands of the princess he so coveted, Lucia lost her footing entirely. She was immediately caught by that of her beloved husband Elvis, as he knew that she would be dizzy after having used every bit of her energy. He noticed her eyes were having the hardest time focusing, and figured that most likely she would pass out in his arms as he made his way back to Dissidia’s warpzone. 

“Without my power,” Mateus roared, pushing himself upon his palms. “I am nothing! End me!!” He gasped, taking a moment to look at the couple who only gazed upon him with pity. “I- I cannot live like this!”

“What a plonker ye are,” Elvis grunted as his eyes narrowed. The pity had vanished from him, hearing that. “Ye’re too good for mercy, are ye?” He shook his head as he turned attention back to his wife. “No. Ye heard the royal decree. Ye have a job to do, now get back t’ it.” While he would have no issue with ending Mateus’ miserable life for all he’d done in just the last two days alone, he withheld his rage at her order. 

Lucia did her best to force herself to a stand, though it was more than apparent she wouldn’t make it more than a few steps in her current condition. “Mateus, please. Go home.” She spoke weakly, but earnestly, hoping that the warlock would just hear her out. “I will not! I will remain here and find a way to break your curse before I rain hell upon the Palace of Power itself!” He barked at her, as he rose himself to a stand. “Mark my vow. I will not allow this to stand, princess! If you do not belong to me, I will… end all you care for. Your forsaken love will doom not just you and your children, but every citizen of Video Land!”

“Y-you don’t understand,” Lucia said, attempting to step closer to him, but she lost her footing again. Elvis helped her keep her balance this time, instead of simply carrying her weight on him. “This land cannot remain in such a state if Gamers are to have access to any Dissidia game, past, present, or future. It will be reset by the… Deity of Destruction. If… if you meet with him, you will be reset entirely, same as this world.”

“Bah, some deity will not be the end of me.”

“I didn’t say you were going to die…” she clarified calmly. “...I said you will be reset.”

“Ach, lass, we need to get ye back home. Ye still haven’t recovered from yer last, and here ye are, trying to work things out with this lout? Come now, wee bunny. If he won’t listen to ye, he’ll just have to suffer the consequences,” Elvis said gently. “Ye cannae save ‘em all.”

“But-” “All the shit he’s done to ye?! The fact that he’s even seen that there is a whole expanse beyond his Game World has driven the bastard mad. It may be better for the whole of Video Land if he is consumed by yer… deity.”

“It hurts to see him go, despite everything. But, I guess, if that’s his choice…” She looked into those purple eyes once again and smiled. “You did say you would rather die than accept my mercy. If that is your will, I can’t stop you. Mateus, I’m sorry that I… that we…” she took a deep breath and sighed. “Goodbye, Emperor Mateus… Matty.”

Not since he was officially on her team had she called him that. His heart skipped a beat before turning away. After sealing away his magic, preventing him from gaining any more power outside of the Realms of Fantasy, how could she dare even act like she cared! It was preposterous! How dare she even pretend at such a sad smile like that? What the hell was all of this? 

“Can’t even return the favor of a goodbye? Aye, tha’s some right bullshit,” Elvis said. “We’d best be going. I don’t want you caught by the deity, wee bunny!”

“No, he can’t hurt me. He acts under my contract here in Video Land, as I was the one that summoned him in the first place. If we do meet him, you and I will be safe.” Lucia said, finally allowing Elvis to lift her up into his arms.

Mateus watched them go before snatching his golden scepter from the ground. That piece of shit, holier-than-thou prince walked away, carrying the princess the Emperor desired. Ugh. He would do all he could to undo this curse she placed on him, no matter how long it took. No sort of silence would be put on the greatest ruler in all creation! He could at least manifest his six golden wings. As he was ready to take off, he heard the quiet tip-tap-tip-tap of old-fashioned leather shoes against the floor behind him. “Well, I had no idea I would have the opportunity to consume an angel today. How fortuitous!” The voice seemed to have some sort of odd interference, crackling as if being played through a machine at a distance. 

Mateus turned to look behind him, to find a tall, almost impossibly thin being standing there. He carried something of a staff of his own, though it had a strange adornment. Instead of a jewel or fixture to enhance magical power, it was some sort of device he had never seen before. His whole ensemble was blood red, from his bushy hair, classy striped suit, all the way down to the shoes he heard before.

“Are you the so-called Deity of Destruction?”

The lanky red being laughed, showing his sharp yellow teeth. “Is that how the princess described me?! Oh, the flattery! Isn’t she just darling! Allow me to introduce myself! Salutations, I am Alastor. It is a pleasure to meet you, quite a pleasure!” The interference around his voice kept going with every word he spoke. Mateus had never encountered anything like this before, either. What was this so-called deity? “Now. I’m quite the fan of your performance, Your Majesty.” “...excuse me? What do you mean?”

“Why, I’ve been tuned into everything you’ve done! Anyone that causes my bunny this much pain is someone I must follow,” Alastor continued, his smile growing that much wider. The ears atop his head twitched a few times before horns began to sprout from his bushy red hair. “I’m thrilled she has given us the opportunity to cross paths, finally.” They grew outward, expanding far wider than his shoulders, extending with multiple branches as his eyes turned into blazing yellow dials. His limbs elongated, further than any human could survive, but as he transformed, his smile grew just as twisted.

When Mateus flapped his wings to get himself into the air, Alastor snatched him right out of the air with one of his claws. No matter how many times he tried to cast any of his magic, it would fade before it could manifest. He struggled to break free, but this demonic monstrosity had him bound tightly between fingers even longer than he was. Tentacles came from Alastor’s back, wreaking havoc on all of the land around them, and the grip only tightened.

“You- there is no way you could come of her power!” Mateus shouted. “She is filled with Light, and her magic manifests itself in music!”

“Hmmmm,” Alastor mused, continuing to crash about to destroy the Game World of Dissidia like a kaiju. “Not that it matters anymore, does it? She warned you, and you did not heed her.” “If you are not going to kill me, then-” The radio demon gripped the emperor so tightly that he could not even carry the air in his lungs well enough to speak. He stopped his rampage enough to use another claw to rip Mateus’ wings off his body only to toss them in his mouth to eat them. Then, he broke every one of his limbs - both arms and legs - one by one. Alastor slammed the defeated husk upon the ground, face first, with every bit of his strength. Mateus knew this Game World was crumbling around them, and that if he did not die by this demon’s rampage, he would be caught in the negative space. That must have been what Lucia meant when she told him he would be reset entirely.

“I have no desire to kill you, you miserable shit. All you have caused my dearest bunny to suffer shall be paid back to you, one thousand fold!”

Mateus did not know this level of pain before in his life, and without a physical way to escape it, he had no choice but to let it claim him. Darkness beyond anything he himself could manipulate surged through his every nerve, charging through him as if he was naught but a conductor of the worst magical energy. He spat up everything in his body from blood to whole ass organs, but somehow, despite staring at his own lungs and stomach, somehow he was not dead. He could not fathom any of what he was seeing. This couldn’t be happening! This- this was- it was a nightmare he needed to wake from!

“You do not know the HELL you have inflicted upon her. I will be glad to demonstrate for you.”

Words escaped him. His lungs have collapsed. He could not breathe. He could not move. The blood surging through his eyes made it impossible for him to see. All he knew in that moment was pain. And despite his being unable to function, he could still hear his own voice screaming in terror. No matter how hard he tried to force himself to wake, he could not. 

“How long has she had to endure you?” Alastor asked, waving his hand to bring forth even more darkness upon Mateus’ body. “Thousands of years in the negative space is naught but a fraction of a second outside, Matty...”

[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Can't send asks from my sideblog, but this is @chewing-the-drywall

I feel like much of s2 fell into Frenchie's "we put it in the box and then lock it and don't open it again" in the sense that it set up A LOT that I was intrigued about how they would address it, but it either never was mentioned again or was handled poorly.

Examples range from light, like how I wish we saw more of the crew interacting with each other in ways that built on their characters from S1, where in S2 they didn't feel any more developed, or even regressed. (Example, Fang used the word Fingies 2-3 times through S2, and it felt like they were using it almost as a shorthand for his character, rather than making him feel more real and multidimensional as a character.)

100% @chewing-the-drywall. When I first heard that line I had I was so excited for the story to prove Frenchie wrong. Or show how important it can be to put aside problems to stay alive in the moment. But in the end, this one line summarized how the season handled everyone, besides Stede and Ed. Below, is an in depth discussion on where this season decided to spend it's limited amount of time. Instead of focusing on the characters and plotlines they'd already established.

This season had so MANY ideas it wanted to touch on.

Izzy trying to deal with his unrequited love and opening up to a new way of living. The traumatized 'Revenge' crew trying to adapt to a softer way of life again. The abandoned crew learning how to help their traumatized friends. Introducing new characters like Zheng, Auntie, and Archie into our main group. Setting up a conflict to resolve in season three. Along the way, referencing Pirates of history like Ned Low, Mary Reed, and Anne Bonny.

Notice, I've said all this and we're not even at our romantic leads.

Which is fine. Stories are fluid things. As long as the story knows how to flow from our leads to our side characters. Which leads us to how I feel this show took a lot of time away from establishing our central crew-

[Warning- this will be a controversial opinion- I want to know what y'all think about this] Zheng/Oluwande. This seasons habit of retreading old plotlines and referencing scenes from S1.

What S1 did so well was paralleling the side stories with what was going on with Ed/Stede. Usually, highlighting how well Stede/Ed worked by showing how much Ed/Izzy DIDN'T work. Or general hijinks that tied into the plot (Oluwande and Frenchie on the French ship).

Season 2 chose to parallel our main story with what was going on between Zheng/Oluwande as a budding romance and Izzy's slow recovery. The reason Zheng/Oluwande scenes felt like a waste for me in that the story was JUST a retelling the story we watched from S1.

A frustrated first mate(Auntie), and a legendary captain(Zheng) fighting over the captain falling in love with an idiot(Olu). In season 2, much like every callback for me, it felt like it slowed down the plot by pulling us out of the story. Like...yeah, you did the thing again, do you want me to applaud you for it?

I LIKE Zheng and Oluwande as a couple! I like that Oluwande was debating leaving Stede and taking Jim and Archie with him. But at the same time, I didn't care about Zheng until episode 7 when she beat up Stede, showing that yes. She's not just some all powerful woman taken down by a mix of love(the crew in ep3) and thinking that she was above it all (ep 7). She's fast on her feet, smart, and willing to stab someone who gets in her way. She's her own person. But.

Every other scene that established her was about her romance, felt like we could have put Rhys and Taika in there. It didn't feel...unique. It's as if the show only knows 1 way to write a romance between a badass and a bumbling idiot. Again. Oluwande in season 1 wasn't dumb in the same way everyone else was. He was protective of Jim, a bit nervous overall, but he was the person the crew chose to lead them. The season just dumbed everyone down a bit and called it a day.

This comes to the larger issue. When we only have eight episodes I don't want to rewatch the exact same plot beats with different characters. Time spent here ends up taking away from other stories we could have told about trauma and growing as a family and other forms of growing as a family. We didn't need another romance plot line. Imagine taking this time instead to show Lucius reaching out to Pete AND the crew for help. Or Frenchie finally feeling safe enough to play his lute. Or Roach helping Fang get over his thing with cakes-you get my point.

The fact we took all the found family stuff from season one, and pushed it onto only Izzy in S2 means when he dies, all the found family shit falls away. His death makes us realize we've been ignoring the central family we were supposed to care about. Because in so many words, their trauma was ignored.

[I even theorize if Izzy was alive and sailed away with them. Showing how he was taken in and loved by his crew, the ending wouldn't feel so hollow. This crew doesn't feel like a caring family. The person who protected them for months died, wasn't mourned, and then they threw a wedding the same day. Not even a full day to mourn. The 'New Revenge' feels like a heartless crew of characters we barely recognize because they aren't a family like they were at the end of S1. More like coworkers who sometimes fall in love with eachother.]

Trauma, Timelines, and Tonal issues when jumping from Episodes 1-3 to Episodes 4-5.

When the crews meet up, the story chooses to focus on the fun plot. Ed and Stede recovering their relationship, only dipping back into that serious tone when Izzy or Lucius come on screen to 'make things sad' again. I don't think the transition from 'serious' to 'comedy' was handled well.

I don't have an official timeline of the events of season two. But from what I remember, everything happens within 2 weeks.

In episode 4, Stede ignored the vote of his crew- to let the man who was torturing half his 'FAMILY' for at least 80 days- back aboard. This rubbed me the wrong way, as it showed Stede being a selfish prick in a way that could seriously harm his crew. That's when I started to see how not adding a *single* time-skip mid-season would hurt S2.

Imagine if we had a one-week off-screen time skip between episodes 4 and 5.

Maybe it's implied that they stay in that town for a bit. Izzy would a bit more time to learn to move on his new leg and start to open up to those he already trusts. Include a scene of Izzy WITH the crew, maybe laughing about something with the old traumatized crew, even if it's just a 30-second opener. Imply that the traumatized crew would have more time to settle in with the family they miss. Show that yeah, the traumatized crew needs more time to heal. Imply at the start of the 'Ed apology' that Ed and Stede have had more time to talk their issues out.

THEN have Ed apologize. You can even keep the bullshit corporate to show that Ed still has to work for this.

Healing takes time. Setting a series over the span of two weeks after half your cast was tortured by your lead love interest? After five of your main crew thought they would sail off into a storm and die after months of stress and life threatening battles? Why did that shit get shoved to the side so quickly?

Framing episode 5 as the START of Ed making amends with the crew, only to drop the plot by episode 7? Not a smart move. Because let's be honest, 'poison into positivity' in episode 6, referring to the fact that they sold all of Ed's loot to pay for the party, ignores the sacrifices the crew made to live that long. (The death of Ivan, and intense trauma they all need to work through). In a way, Ed throwing this party was him asking the crew to start putting everything away in that imaginary box.

It's Ed retroactively letting himself say 'hey, that time I spent torturing my captives was worth it because we got something good out of it' while still ignoring his own guilt. Ed needed to take accountability for his actions. No more 'I took 'a' mans leg' bullshit. The reason his arc feels so unsatisfying is that the plot easily forgives him. Fuck. I hate what they did for Ed's arc, but that's not the point.

Overall.

My issue with this season is not that it chose to do these topics, it's that it didn't think about the implications of what they were bringing up. It didn't dare to think 'maybe it's fucked if we quickly brush off a trauma like this'. Again. I know we have to blame MAX for cutting off two episodes. But I don't think 2 additional episodes would fix a tone problem seen going from episodes 3-4.

Fucking hell. Each member of the revenge had the potential for their own arc, so it's baffling to see them all reduced to 'well meaning idiot' when they all felt so fleshed out in S1.

When izzy gives his speech about belonging, there's a reason the only image in the show of the crew all together was from S1.

At the end of the day, Season 2 didn't let our surviving side characters grow. This is a mean spirited bit on how I feel the writers see the their own characters.

Stede and Ed are our leads. They won't die, not in this genera. Their shitty actions will be forgiven because it's a comedy, and as long as it's joked about, it holds no weight. They won't die. They won't get fatally hurt. Their trauma will be taken seriously, but it's a 50/50 on if they'll talk about it before breaking up again. They will eventually get a happy ending, their trauma looked at head on, because duh.

Jim, Olu, Lucius, Pete? Characters who used to have defined personalities in S1, but haven't been defined much beyond their relationships with their partners? Whose trauma might be mentioned, but will quickly be 'resolved' in one scene? Shame. Seems like they're only useful as set dressing, But we might make you useful as interchangeable side characters to riff against. Oh, and you're in love! Isn't that cool!

Izzy? I'll just quote Jenkins here. "To have him become a father figure to Blackbeard, and on some level to the rest of the crew, and to see him become the heart of why we’re giving pirates the chance to stand for being able to live how you choose. In reality, they’re thieves and criminals, but what our pirates stand for is a life of belonging to something larger than they are in the face of a crushing, slightly fascist normalcy." So...Is Izzy a pirate and accepted into the Revenge family? Or is he still an outsider? Jenkins gave us a romcom but still defines Izzy's character as that of one stuck in a drama/tragedy. Point and laugh, because tonally these two things clash HARD and will make an audience lose trust in it's writers unless well established. Leading us to the entire issue we've pointed out of not letting your characters actions hold in dramatic weight in your story.

Frenchie, Wee John, Roach, and Fang- Ah. No love interests again...shit. Well. Background actors it is... for now. We'll see. But we need 2 more scenes of the couple breaking up, so MAYBE you'll get some backstory hinted at in dialogue. You all have 1 thing your good at, so that's easy enough to put you where you belong.

Buttons and Swede? Well. They're still alive!! Don't be sad, fans :) The actors just couldn't show up anymore. We don't want our silly happy queer pirate rom com to not end on a happy ending! (Closes the lid of the trash can where they're keep Con O'Neill a bit tighter, thanking God Con was silenced by a strike this entire season from social media)

Do you agree, or disagree? Leave any lingering thoughts down below!

I'd love to chat down below.

[averlym]

HI I DIDNT KNOW YOU WERE INTO ADAMANDI HOLY SHIT. Can’t believe so few people know about this masterpiece of a musical

:OOOOO hai i agree it is criminally (haha yknow bc there are crimes..) underrated!! and really brilliant!!! discovered it literally midway through the week and akdfjgsjhdsjhjgdf

have a doodle of the saints :3

[arcadian-vampire]

Okay here are my botw2 thoughts now that I'm over the Screaming And Yelling period:

-Ganon is ripping up the land, unearthing ancient artifacts, which gives us the floating islands + Zonai tech (though it's also possible Hylia is sending islands into the sky again to protect the Hylians, like before Skyward Sword)

-Ganon going ham has also awakened an ancient Zonai deity- I firmly believe the figure in the mural was Not Hylia. It's also possible that Link and Zelda seek out and awaken this deity themselves, as they don't have enough power on their own to handle the situation this time. Anyway, this deity is responsible for the teal glowy arm we saw in the one trailer, along w the teal spirals and all that (though the spirals could also be 'yo there's tech materials to collect here' or portals to the place that Does Not Look Like Anywhere In Hyrule, or something)

-The Zonai deity works w Link and Zelda to fix things bc Ganon is going WILD here. Fuck the golden goddesses and their triangle of tragedy, it's time to spice things up and add another factor to the mix

-Purah gets to study Zonai tech, yippee, and she helps Link with upgrades and vehicles and all that

-Spirits like in Twilight Princess, sacred flames restoring the Master Sword like in Skyward Sword, there will probably be many more references to old games, tying things together to reinforce the endless cycle of Ganon resurrecting + Link and Zelda kicking his ass

-ALTERNATIVELY. This game is going to break the cycle, somehow. The oubouros won't mean that things are stuck in repeat, it means they're going to finally cut the head off the snake and take things in a different direction

[dootznbootz]

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit mixed about Calypso in EPC. I mean, her songs are good, her singer's quite talented, so I don't have a problem... musically, at least.

But, story-wise, Calypso seems a bit too victim-like in my taste. "I'm not sorry for loving you" seems like it wants to make us sympathize with her and to consider her as Odysseus' friend.

While making her nuanced is interesting, the Epic fandom could be inclined to forget what she did to him in the Odyssey. And how miserable he was alongside her.

On the plus side, "Love in paradise" affirms she's the powerful one and Odysseus later confirms he doesn't love her romantically (plus Athena's 'he never cheated on his wife' line in "God games")

So it won't be detrimental for OdyPen 🥰.

What do you think ?

Oh, I'm definitely mixed about Calypso in Epic. As just like you said:

"While making her nuanced is interesting, the Epic fandom could be inclined to forget what she did to him in the Odyssey. And how miserable he was alongside her."

The Epic Fandom already DOES forget what happens in the Odyssey or think that they are the same thing. :/ I see stuff talking about Scylla in how Odysseus lights the torches and yet, it's tagged as "Odyssey". I love "light up six torches" as it's very dark but also very painful for Epic!Odysseus and that's really fun!

But I get saddened when people think that happened in the Odyssey ;~; as it's one of my favorite parts where Odysseus, knowing that Circe warned him, still goes to put on his armor to try and fight Scylla himself. He tried so fucking hard to save them. And they all grieved later on together. Eurylochus does mutiny in both but in the Odyssey, it isn't because of Scylla or anything. They were all just...Hungry ;~;

That's not even talking about how the Epic Fandom was when we only got the snippet of "There are other ways" ;~;

I still remember when there were jokes about how Odysseus is just like Hamilton and "Couldn't say No to this." Also Circe never did that to "protect her nymphs" in the Odyssey. She did it for funsies as she's a goddess and can do what she wants. That doesn't mean he was happy though.

I DO trust Jay to do well with Calypso's island. While I really am nervous about "I'm not Sorry for Loving you." like very nervous. I think HE'LL also make it clear that Odysseus isn't well or happy. As he has that cut song with the lyrics of:

"Is this some kind of trick? Pretending I can go Because if so, you're sick My heart's already broken"

So even though he cut that song because the beat and the music did NOT fit the situation, I'm very sure he'll have another like it showing Odysseus' despair and suffering.

I just... sighs I'm in a funky situation where I love Epic. I love it a lot. I think it's a genuinely good and fun retelling. I think while some spots are inaccurate, some are still really neat. I just get sad about this almost...disdain towards the actual Odyssey?

"Oh, Odysseus doesn't mention Penelope and Telemachus as much as he does in Epic-" Yes, he does. It's in so many of the metaphors and there's so many moments where he's clearly thinking about them. I love singing Penelope's name longingly too but an ancient epic poem is gonna be a lil different xD

"Oh Polites isn't really in it-" ...And?? That's okay. You enjoy Jay's character he created who really isn't in the Odyssey as much.

"Odysseus is such a manwhore in the Odyssey-" I am beating you over the head with a fucking rock.

Jay is clearly so fucking passionate and cares about this story so so much (he had a MENELAUS SONG (I grieve it's loss every day ;~; THEY CAN BOTH SIMP FOR THEIR HOT AF WIVES)) He had other characters planned!

But yeah ;~; I get so fucking sad every time someone talks about Epic being better than the Odyssey. Like even JAY wanted to clear that up that "hey, the Odyssey is really cool! I mean I wrote this because I love it so much." and yet... people don't wanna know or even TRY to understand what happens in the actual Epics.

I have hope. I just hope the FANDOM follows through.

[sitp-recs]

My AO3 Wrapped: 16 Drarry Recs

This year I’ve embraced a change of pace and read way less than I intended to. This made me feel a bit disconnected from fandom but also allowed me to put this list together in record time so let’s not complain too much 😂 this is shorter and lacking my usual commentary but I didn’t want to break the tradition of sharing my fave reads of the year! Be it for their creativity or peak romance, these 16 amazing fics made my heart beat faster and got me even more in love with Drarry. I’ve read most of them in the first half of the year and it was interesting to see so many fics over 40k, as my usual sweet spot is 10k - 20k. I love the mix of tropes featured here and am very excited to rec authors I’m reading for the first time. ps: I haven’t included any Erised fics since the fest is still ongoing.

Thank you dear creators for sharing so many brilliant works with us this year! 2023 wasn’t my best year fandom-wise, but life has been so generous in other areas that I can’t help but feel humbled today. I wish everyone a lovely start to the new year! As always, please mind the tags and take some time to shower these authors with the appreciation they deserve. Oh, and stay tuned for a rare pair list sometime soon ;)

🍆 Snug by @moonflower-rose (E, 6k)

8th year | touch-starved Harry | soft cock kink

Potter can't keep his hands off himself. Draco can't look away.

🧩 Muscle Memory by @corvuscrowned (E, 8k)

curse breaking | partners to lovers | memory magic

There's something just beneath the surface, just at the periphery of Harry's mind. They've been here before — they've done this before. If only he could remember it.

👹 draco malfoy's substitute murder service by @oknowkiss (E, 10k)

odd jobs | D/s undertones | open ending

When Harry joins the Curse Breakers shortly after his twenty-fifth birthday, he’s surprised to find himself assigned to the Department of Creatures, Cryptids, and Associated Calamities.

🏰 the earth from a distance by spqr (E, 15k)

time travel | Wizarding history | only one bed

“Well,” Harry said gamely, once they’d managed to find the Leaky Cauldron – still under construction but mercifully open for business – and he’d turned up a few knuts from his pockets, enough to get them a room for the night, “it could be worse.”

🎚️ O Come, All Ye Faithful by @toomuchplor (E, 20k)

vicar Draco | established relationship | Church of England

Aunt Petunia died, that was what began everything. Or rather, Aunt Petunia was dying. In the act of dying. In which Draco finds faith in the church, and Harry finds faith in Draco.

🎄 Waking Up Slow by @sweet-s0rr0w and @ihopeyoubothstaysafefromharm (E, 22k)

shop owner Draco | summer romance | light angst

'Twas the night before Christmas, although it’s July / Draco’s a shopkeeper, no-one knows why / There’s hiking and witch caves, freak snowfalls and more / Bad Christmas jumpers, nosy neighbours galore / Narcissa’s here too, but… something’s amiss / And what’s in those chocolates that’s making them kiss?

🚬 Sun Thief by @floydig and BlackRose532 (E, 28k)

slice of life | fast sexual burn | dark humour

It’s 2005, and Draco Malfoy says, “Fuck the Ministry,” Harry works as a handyman in muggle London, and Draco should really stop pissing off the Squib gangs.

🍷 Winner Takes It All by @skeptiquewrites (E, 41k)

break up make up | down & out Draco | hurt/comfort

As with all his friends’ wagers, it starts small. Fifty Galleons for one kiss from Harry Potter is easily done.

🏖️ LA, Who Am I To Love You? by @epitomereally (E, 42k)

Draco in the Muggle World | pining Harry | recreational drug use

Harry’s summer in LA is not going as expected. Pansy Parkinson keeps inviting him to parties in the Hollywood Hills and harassing him to finally go to the physical therapist, Blaise Zabini keeps slipping new strains of his company’s magical weed into Harry’s pockets in hopes of an endorsement, and Draco Malfoy keeps having sex with everyone but Harry.

🫃Shine On, You Crazy Diamond by @lagerloutfic (E, 42k)

fwb to lovers | gay awakening (Harry) | mpreg (Draco)

Harry has probably always wanted Draco, it just took him a few years to figure that out. A story about the joy of discovering exactly who you are and how easy it can be once you do.

🚣‍♀️ Our Objective Remains Unchanged by @citrusses (E, 46k)

rowing AU | enemies to lovers | university setting

Harry Potter, returning member of the Oxford University Boat Club, has two goals for the spring of 2005: beat Cambridge, and beat Draco Malfoy. Perhaps not in that order.

🧶 Polar Night/Midnight Sun by @toomuchplor (E, 54k)

cabin fic | wintery vibes | only one bed

Harry travels to arctic Norway on the trail of dragon egg poachers, only to find he's been assigned to work alongside the only NorMagPol Auror north of sixty: one Draco Malfoy.

🎩 Nights With You by @the-sinking-ship (E, 58k)

holiday fic | fake relationship | mutual pining

Draco is mortified when moments prior to departing for the most anticipated destination wedding of the year, he is cruelly dumped. But when he learns that Harry Potter has, at long last, split with his horrible boyfriend, Draco is certain his luck has changed.

👮🏻‍♂️Rookie Moves by peu_a_peu (E, 75k)

auror partners | slow burn | humour

Aurors Potter and Malfoy crack the case.

🖼️ where all the veins meet by @saxamophone (E, 146k)

sad bois | Grimmauld Place | found family | 8th year

It's the summer of 1998. The battle is over, and Voldemort is dead, but Harry still has more questions than answers. Who is he without a piece of Voldemort's soul in his head? What is he supposed to do now?

📼 Always Already by @aibidil (E, 170k)

time travel | forced proximity | mutual pining

Harry and Draco are perfectly fine, separately minding their business in 2004, when the Unspeakables conscript them into service... in the First War against Voldemort.

[bardofhype]

hi limbus company fandom

so i had a thought. and that thought was "what if the sinners and all their identities had voicelines for when it was your/the manager's birthday" and what was supposed to be a funny "what if" scenario rapidly expanded into me actually thinking about it. so. because it ended up so long, i'm putting all of this under the cut so that no one has to scroll for a mile to read it all in the tag. you're welcome btw /lh

Yi Sang Base LCB: "Another year prolonging your stay in this world… may the rest of it be to your ideal pleasantness, Dante."

Seven Section 6: "The director informed me it was your birthday today, and instructed me to hand you this parcel as a gift. … I cannot tell you why she has it memorized. I try not to bother the director with such queries."

Blade Lineage Salsu: "How old are you now, Dante? … You do not know. I see. Yet another mysterious facet of you to be intrigued by…"

Faust Base LCB: "This is for you, Dante. I hope you enjoy it. … Hm? What is it for? Yes, Faust expected you to ask such a thing. It is your birthday, Manager."

W Corp Cleanup Agent: "Due to the nature of my occupation, personal occasions and celebrations are not common around the work environment. However, I am not bothered with taking a small portion of time to wish you a happy birthday."

L. Corp Remnant: "Birthdays were rarely given much worth in my old place of work- if we were lucky, a few of us would simultaneously take our breaks in order to have a small celebration. Perhaps it may not be so different here… but I hope you have a proper celebration nonetheless."

The One Who Grips: "How fortunate you are, to have lived another full year in this world with your humanity intact! Such a wondrous thing indeed… though, must you still wear that mask, even on such a glorious occasion that's just for you… ?"

Don Quixote Base LCB: "Manager Esquire!! I doth heard today is your birthday! I have collected up the others, and we are planning a stupendous secret arrangement for thee! I hope thee shalt be prepared!!"

W Corp Cleanup Agent: "Doth my ears deceive me? Is it truly your birthday, Manager Esquire?!?! What ho!!! I shall pay for thy next ride on the Warp Train, friend- the greatest gift I could bestow anybody!"

Shi Section 5 Director: "Happy birthday, Manager Esquire!! I have acquired thee a cake and gift! … Ah, I seem to have surprised thee- was I too quiet, walking up to you? Aheh, 'tis a habit of mine!"

Ryoshu Base LCB: "Congratulations. You're now one year closer to the B.D." (boundary of death)

Kurokumo Wakashu: "That's one more year you've survived now. IFFY." (impressive feat for you)

Seven Section 6: "The director told me to give this to you. Use it wisely, or I'll CUT on you." (crudely utilize tranquilizers)

R.B. Chef de Cuisine: "Word travels fast through these streets- H.B.D. I made a special pie this morning, just in case you dropped by… enjoy."

Meursault Base LCB: "Congratulations on another year. … I was only expected to give you a statement like that for today, nothing more."

Liu Section 6: "I was asked to deliver this cake to you. The candles were lit by my flame, so please do not feel obligated to blow them out immediately."

W Corp Cleanup Agent: "I was told today is a special occasion for you. Here- it is a first-class ticket you can use on the next Warp Train you board."

N Corp Groẞhammer: "You may take a day of rest today. For The One Who Grips has deemed it so- and for today is one you must experience in all its purity."

Hong Lu Base LCB: "It's your birthday today? How exciting~! Tell me, Dante- are you going to choose the acres of land, the pony, or the-- Hm? My siblings and I were able to choose between several gifts on our birthdays, was that not possible where you're from?"

Kurokumo Wakashu: "It's a special day today, is it not, Lord Dante?~ Come with me… ah, haha, no need to be so scared. I'm simply going to treat you to the finest dining I know of. Come on then~"

Tingtang Gangleader: "Happy birthday, Manager Dante~ Why don't we hit the casino floor, hmm? I've heard birthdays can be days of immense luck for the fortunate."

Liu Section 5: "Ah, you're just in time- I just finished brewing some high-class tea. Would you like some? I'll even let you have an extra cup for your birthday~"

Heathcliff Base LCB: "Mm. Happy birthday, clockface. As a gift, I'll try not to make too many wounds for you to turn the clock back for today. You're welcome."

Shi Section 5: "If you're expecting much out of me today just 'cause it's your birthday, you can bugger off. I'm not doing anything bloody special for you. … 'Less you're in the mood for some right scran."

R Corp 4th Pack Rabbit: "Oh? It's your birthday today? Bloody brilliant- come with me. As a gift, this hare's gonna teach you how to graze some grass!"

N Corp Kleinhammer: "O-oh- happy day of birth to you. I'll… see if I have time to do something better than that between all the gatherings today…"

Ishmael Base LCB: "Happy birthday, Dante. I'll try to do work without much complaint today."

Shi Section 5: "Happy birthday, Manager. This is for you. … Huh. Did I really catch you by surprise that much?"

LCCB Assistant Manager: "Today's your birthday. An important occasion that's going to make it all the more terrible if one of us slips up… I can assure you that won't be a worry with my presence here."

R Corp 4th Pack Reindeer: "Ah… happy birthday- kgh. Can you make sure not to stir up too big a racket in celebration?"

Rodion Base LCB: "Happy birthday, Dante~ Surprise! I got you something. Open it up whenever you feel like- just make sure to tell me when you do."

LCCB Assistant Manager: "Today's your birthday, yeah? Figured- so I got you something good as a gift. … Hm? Where'd I get the money for it? Oh, don't you worry your silly head about that~"

N Corp Mittelhammer: "A glorious day for you, is it not? The One Who Grips tasked me with delivering you a present today- how lucky for you, fuhu. Treasure it as much as you can, her gifts are worth slaying thousands of heretics for!"

Kurokumo Henchwoman: "Surprise, Dante~ I got you a little something with my protection fee today. Put it to good use now, you hear? Or else my sword will be a bit rash in the next battle~"

Sinclair Base LCB: "Ah- I-I completely forgot it was your birthday today, Dante- I promise, I'll be sure to buy something for you at our next stop."

Zwei Section 6: "I have a package for you, Dante. For all the good you've done for the team… you deserve this gift. Happy birthday, and may I continue being your shield!"

Jefe de Los Mariachis: "I'm doing a special performance tonight- you'll be there for it, won't you, Dante? It's a routine I've been practicing just for you, after all…"

Blade Lineage Salsu: "I hope you have a nice birthday today. I'm afraid I won't be around much- I'm needed today."

Outis Base LCB: "Happy birthday to you, Executive Manager. If you'd like, I will gather the others and have them sing your praises for the rest of today."

Blade Linage Cutthroat: "I see it is a special day for you, Executive Manager. I shall leave you to it, then- I wish not to impede what you have in mind for it."

G Corp Head Manager: "For today, I will grant you a day of rest. Only today, though- try to get out of your duties on any day but this one, and you will regret it."

Seven Section 6 Director: "I'm very glad I was able to catch you- here's some money. Treat yourself to something good today. You've earned it."

Gregor Base LCB: "Oh, hey, happy birthday, Manager bud. You think Vergilius is gonna put a little less pressure on you today 'cause of it… ? Ha, wishful thinking, huh."

Liu Section 6: "Hey, Manager bud. Come find me when it gets dark, alright? It's your birthday and all… and fireworks are much more impressive against a black sky."

G Corp Manager Corporal: "Greetings, Manager Dante, and a very happy birthday to you! I have cleared your schedule for today and have prepared several squadrons to help celebrate this special day of yours!"

R.B. Sous-chef: "Glad you stopped by. I've made a few special pies for a certain someone's special day today- put a little extra love into them, haha. Enjoy."

[kingkenzieofmold]

What if I told you

Henry and Charles are straight

Charles Calvin and Henry Stickmin [Min Seung-Jae] belong to @mai-mai-lim

I would say yes that Henry Stickmin is Straight and for example in love with Ellie Rose. I would also say that Charles Calvin is straight and has a girlfriend. I would also say Henry and Charles lean both ways. I would also say that Henry and Charles are not straight and in fact gay. Sometimes for each other and other times for someone else. That is the beauty of a fandom and shipping is taking canon characters and putting them together because you can. If you look at canon there is no romance in the game and doesn’t really implied romance between any set of character. We as the fandom can read into interactions but at the end of the day. They are just sticks. Literal stick figures from a point and click game.

So instead of asking what if you told me Henry and Charles are straight to instead just looking up the media content you wished to consume or even request a straight Henry and Charles ship. At the end of the day, I am a multi shipper and in wise words of this AO3 Tag:

[Text: I mugged canon in a back alley and rifled through it’s pockets.]

I made Canon my bitch and I am the superior life form and you will bow to my reverence /j

Thank you for coming to my ted talk, I hoped you enjoyed!

[steddieunderdogfics]

This week’s writer spotlight feature is:  steddieasitgoes! @steddieasitgoes has 27 works posted to AO3 in the Stranger Things fandom and 23 of them are in the Steddie tag!

Our anonymous nominator recommends the following works by @steddieasitgoes:

Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)

for a fortnight there, we were forever

honey i'm still free (take a chance on me)

You Were All Yellow

Eat Your Heart Out, Big Boy

"Her fics are SO FUN. I have enjoyed every single one that I've read IMMENSELY and am always talking about them to my friends after I've read them <3" -- anonymous

Below the cut, @steddieasitgoes answered some questions about their writing process and some of their recommended work!

Why do you write Steddie?

Was I supposed to watch Eddie throw Steve his vest – the quintessential 80s romcom moment – and be totally normal about it? But in all honesty, there’s just something about them that compels me. When you dig deep into their personalities and arcs, they’re really two sides of the same coin and there’s so many ways for that to manifest in fic.hen

What’s your favorite trope to READ?

I had to consult my ao3 bookmarks for this one and “getting together” tops my list, which really isn’t a traditional trope but I absolutely adore that mutual pining, idiots in love sort of thing that happens in those fics. Bonus points for slow burns!

What’s your favorite trope to WRITE?

Idiots in love for sure. Again, not a typical trope but I’m pretty sure it’s tagged on just about every fic I’ve written. It’s just so easy to slot them into those roles and banter their way into a love confession. The show is so life and death all the time, that I like letting them be goofy boys.

What’s your favorite Steddie fic?

This is like asking me to choose if I’m more of a Steve girl or an Eddie girl – impossible! But if I had to narrow it down to a top few, I’d say: the most remarkable thing by greatunironic, rounding third, sliding home by througheden, better by you, better than me by palmviolet, and is your light on? By Adure

Is there a trope you’re excited to explore in a future work but haven’t yet?

Outside of fic I’m a huge fan of enemies/rivals to lovers so I think that would be fun to explore between Steddie. There’s a hint of it in Signed, Sealed, Delivered but I think their hatred fizzles out really quickly and I definitely want to play with something where that takes longer to happen.

What is your writing process like?

It sort of depends on the project, but typically I get a kernel of an idea. Somethings that’s a setting, sometime it’s a bit of dialogue, sometimes it’s just ✨ vibes ✨ Then I’ll add it to my jumbled mess of a notes app on my phone and keep adding to it as I get ideas. When I wrote my first fic (Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore) I had no outline whatsoever. I just knew I had this one scene in mind and kept writing and building the world until I felt the moment made sense to happen. Nowadays, I’m a bit more organized when it comes to longer fics. I’ll usually do a bare bones outline with the major beats I want to hit outlined. This gives me enough structure to not feel lost, but also lets the characters breath one the page and make their own choices. Every fic, but the one I’m working on now for the steddie big bang, I’ve written chronologically which helps me because I can see the progression of the relationship dynamics in real time.  For one shots, it’s somewhat similar. I start with a kernel of an idea and a general plot in my head and just write and hope for the best lol

Do you have any writing quirks?

I think I use the same sentence structure a lot which drives me nuts, but I can’t always help it. Motif-wise I don’t think I have a unifying theme amongst all my fics, but I can almost guarantee that there will be some kind of third act break up. Happily ever afters are always going to be in my fics, but I like to make them work for it. Also they do a lot of gazing at each other and things in my fics. So much gazing!

Do you prefer posting when you’ve finished writing or on a schedule?

Generally, I like posting when something is completely finished. But I get antsy and have been known to start posting when the fic is 85% done and then procrastinate on writing the end until my deadline is looming.

Which fic are you most proud of?

I’m proud of all of them for different reasons, but I was really blown away with Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore. I hadn’t written fic in years and had never written a third-person mlm story before. At the time it was also the longest thing I had ever written. It definitely made me fall back in love with fictional prose writing and the steddie community as a whole.

How did you get the idea for Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours)?

It was actually inspired by a ficlet I had written earlier that year and decided to use as inspiration for the full length fic. I was driving around and I kept seeing mail trucks everywhere and I remember getting an image of Steve in those short khaki shorts, carrying a satchel full of mail. And then I remember thinking “I wonder what Eddie would think” and the worms took over. I will say, expanding it into a full fic did take some time though because the ficlet was just vibes

When writing Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours), what was something you didn’t expect?

How long it ended up being lol I think it came in double what I had predicted it to be. I also didn’t expect to write it in the way I did. All my other fics are very traditional in that each chapter is a day or a couple days and it follows a clear timeline. With Signed I really went for a vignette, slice of life sort of storytelling which was a bit difficult initially but I think it paid off in the end.

What inspired honey i'm still free (take a chance on me)?

That one was written for a valentine’s discord server so it was based on the prompt steddiealltheway on Tumblr had submitted. It took me a minute to work out the plot, but I liked the idea of Robin getting to be the wingwoman for Steve.

What was your favorite part to write from for a fortnight there, we were forever?

There was a metaness to that one that was so fun to write. You have Eddie falling in love with Supernatural, a show that was known for making questionable decisions in the end and talking about how fanfic saves the day and that’s exactly what I’ve spent the last two years doing for him lol I love the idea of Eddie being a fandom kid like all of us, and dragging and unknowing Steve into it with him.

How do/did you feel writing Eat Your Heart Out, Big Boy?

At the time I think I just wanted to write something fun and silly because I was deep into Signed, Sealed, Delivered at the time and was feeling bad about not sharing anything. It was like a palette cleanser.

What was the most difficult part of writing You Were All Yellow?

Definitely deciding which yellow objects I was going to use and figuring out how to string them together in a clear narrative arc. It was a puzzle of sorts that took a lot of patience to figure out. It was also a bit reverse-engineered where the objects dictated what the story would be. I think it would have been easier if I had the story first and then found things that fit that narrative.

Do you have a favorite scene and/or line from any of your fics?

I struggle with writing poetically, so I was really proud of this line from Duck, Dodge, Don’t Fall In Love: “He feels like an astronomer falling in love with stars for the first time in the untouchable night sky. Because that’s what Steve is, right? A dazzling force that Eddie can steal glances at but never touch, never reach.” But also any and all smut scenes I’ve written. That was an incredible challenge at first and I literally wrote the first make out scene ever under the covers of my bed lol

Do you have any upcoming projects or fics you’d like to share/promote?

I’m planning to participate in this year’s Steddie Week with some (hopefully) short one shots. And then I have my big bang fic When The Buzzer Sounds that will come out later this year. Other than that we’ll see. My notes are overflowing with ideas it’s all about finding the time and the right one.

Outside of these questions, Is there anything YOU would like to add?

As I write this I’m not sure who nominated me, but I want to say thank you to them! It’s so wild to me that people resonate with the silly stories my brain comes up with and I’ll never take that for granted. There’s so many creative steddie fic writers out there and I’m so happy to be one of them. We really blew up overnight and it’s been so fun watching everyone grow together. And I want to thank all the mods behind this blog for helping share writers hardwork!

Thank you to our author, @steddieasitgoes, and our anonymous nominator! See more of steddieasitgoes's works featured on our page throughout the day!

Writer’s Spotlight is every Wednesday! Want to nominate an author? You can nominate them here!

[candyskiez]

hello hello! I know this has probably been done before and I am possibly not the only one making a list for this this year, but ah well. here's my prompts for it!

you can do this as writing prompts if you want, whatever floats your boat. some specification:

by underrated I mean anything from the show you think is underrated, by the fandom or the show! a character, a scene, a bit of lore you would've loved to see more of, etc etc. anything you want to see more of content wise. by sport I mean any magical sport on the isles, established in canon or you making it up. fake screenshot is a fake screenshot of a scene that didn't happen in canon, imitating the style. and by demon I mean one of the demons on the isles! these prompts are vague so you can be creative, I'm sorry if they aren't the best haha. and for the shitty image quality I'm not the best at formatting.

you can only do a few prompts, or late submissions, or if you find this list way after october ends feel free to do it! no time limit. just have fun! also, you can start early!

happy drawing! tag your works as candyskiez tohtober if that's ok so I can find and reblog your work! excited to see what you guys make :D

[cyber-skeletons]

You asked, we delivered: a sequel to Whoops! We had soooo much fun with this <3

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: None

Fandom(s): Transformers: Prime

Relationship(s): Megatron/Optimus Prime

Characters: Megatron (Transformers), Optimus Prime

Additional Tags: Sequel, Mech Preg (Transformers), Unplanned Pregnancy, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Angst, Magical Healing Cock, Spark Sexual Interfacing (Transformers), Fade to Black, Getting Back Together, Transformers Spark Bonds

Fic below the cut!

In response to learning that Optimus Prime was carrying his sparkling, Megatron called for an immediate ceasefire. Initially it was conditional, limited only to Earth, but one threat from Optimus to make Ratchet the sire and raise the bitlet as an Autobot had Megatron grumbling to all his forces throughout the galaxy to not engage in hostile actions against Autobots or any other species — save for self-defense. Megatron wasn’t an idiot, despite certain claims.

“So when can I see you?” Megatron prompted through a wide grin, resting his chinguard on his palm and swinging his leg where he sat on call with Optimus. “Send me the coordinates to your base and I’ll come over immediately.”

Judging by the sigh on the other end of the line, Megatron could perfectly imagine the petulant look on his sparkling’s carrier’s faceplate (his sparkling, he was carrying Megatron’s sparkling!). As things stood, he could only stare dreamily at the caller ID image of Optimus frowning constipatedly at him. “This trust is very, very tentative, Megatron,” the Prime said tiredly. “And the circumstances of this conception are quite volatile. If we were in any other position in our respective factions, our… dalliance would be considered high treason. I do not think it wise to reveal the location of the Autobot base on Earth to you.”

“Come now, Optimus,” Megatron crooned, tilting his helm and tracing hearts around his picture. “Stop stressing about such things! It’s bad for the bitlet! And you know, separation from the sire is also bad for a carriage. I’m sure your medic can tell you that. We’re going to be lying together many, many times over the course of this next stellar-cycle; can you really not trust me?”

“You have given me nothing to make me believe that you will not offline me immediately post-emergence and raise our sparkling as your heir while you lay waste to my armies.”

“Fine, how’s this: I give you my word.”

“Allow me to rephrase: nothing substantial.”

Megatron smirked and purred, “I like it when you’re feisty.”

“Megatron, be serious.”

“I am deathly serious right now.”

Another petulant sigh. “I would be willing to… t-to…” The sound of a shaky vent came through the call.

“I know, this situation is quite breathtaking,” Megatron chuckled, resting his chin in both his palms and swinging both legs.

Optimus made a noise on the other end of the call as if he were beginning to speak, only for the loud whine of overclocked machinery to sound off immediately before a deafening crash.

Megatron snapped to attention. “Optimus?”

Muffled shouts and yells came through the call, but none of them were Optimus’s voice.

Megatron stood up and yelled, “Optimus, are you alright?!”

The call ended.

--

Megatron was nano-kliks away from ordering the entire Decepticon fleet to invade Earth in search of Optimus when Soundwave pinged him with an urgent comm from the Autobot line.

Making his way swiftly away from the bridge and to Soundwave’s station, Megatron stepped up to his amica’s side and answered the call. “Optimus?”

That grouchy Autobot medic Ratchet’s ID picture appeared instead. “Megatron, whatever slag you’re thinking about doing, cool it. Optimus and the bitlet are stable for now, and the last thing they need is more stress to bring on another attack.”

“Attack? What kind of attack?” Megatron snapped, deigning to ignore the disrespect in leaving out his title.

“Optimus’s forge is drawing extraordinary amounts of power from his frame, far more than any carriage I’ve ever seen. If it weren’t for the Matrix keeping his spark stable, Optimus’s spark would have been snuffed out completely during his episode. As things stand, he’s exhausted and weak, and energon infusions aren’t working.”

“What does he need? You’re a renowned medic, what do we need to do to fix this?” Megatron babbled. “Whatever it is, I will do it. I will raze the galaxy for this sparkling. Just-”

“Will you shut the slag up for 2 fragging nano-kliks?” Ratchet snapped. “Look. I’ve never seen anything like this before, which means that there’s a variable we’re not accounting for. Now what about you of all mechs being the sire could destabilize a Prime so terribly, hm?”

Cold dawning realization washed over Megatron as he rested a servo over his spark chamber. “Dark energon…”

“That’s my conclusion as well,” Ratchet said tiredly, a faint tremor in his voice. “Which is why… it is my… very, very pained recommendation that… you personally attend to Optimus through his term. Optimus has requested as much from berth rest.”

Megatron cycled his optics, then set his shoulders. “He will have a place of honor aboard the Nemesis with full attendance by myself and my finest medical staff. Let me take the ship into Earth’s atmosphere and we will send you coordinates to ground bridge to so we may receive him.”

“Good to know you can be reasonable.”

“Why, you…” Megatron growled with a deep rumble of his engine, but the medic already ended the call.

--

Megatron’s entire army was in position to receive the Prime by that evening. His vehicons and seekers stood at attention in neat lines on the flight deck of the Nemesis, with Soundwave and Shockwave standing at attention and Starscream sporting a sneering grimace-smile that didn’t reach his optics as he idly clapped.

Sure enough, the ground bridge opened up at the end of the runway at the agreed-upon time, and the Prime walked through under his own power, displaying no signs of weakness save for the palor that had overtaken his plating. He looked around at Megatron’s army critically for a long moment, inclining his helm in acknowledgment to a few vehicons and seekers before locking optics with Megatron.

It was the first time Megatron had seen Optimus since learning of his carriage, and even with a sickly palor, he had never looked more beautiful.

Megatron found himself drifting forward, breaking his very painstaking, professional, grand formation to first walk, then trot, then run towards Optimus, a beaming smile on his faceplate. Optimus braced himself as if to meet an attack, only for Megatron to reach out and fold his servos around his abdominal plating, cradling it tenderly.

“Optimus,” Megatron greeted, his plating flared out happily.

“Megatron,” Optimus returned, his optics softening.

“EVERYONE!” Megatron then bellowed, turning around while Optimus cringed and covered an audial. Grandiosely holding his arms out to frame his Prime, Megatron projected, “GREET THE CARRIER OF MY SPARKLING!”

All the vehicons and seekers began clapping and cheering; Knock Out had some kind of human noisemaker for some reason where he sat on Breakdown’s broad shoulders, Soundwave displayed a :) on his visor, and even Shockwave was clapping.

The ground bridge closed behind them, and Optimus grew tense, finnials twitching wildly as he stammered, “This is… very kind…”

“Oh, don’t be shy, my spark,” Megatron soothed, sweeping Optimus off of his pedes and into his arms, prompting a squawk from the usually stoic Prime. “You will want for nothing with me, I assure you.”

“We shall see,” Optimus muttered, though as Megatron walked them down the runway and carried him through the threshold of the Nemesis, a small smile overtook his intake.

--

As night fell over Earth, the planet turning away from its star to sleep, Megatron and Optimus lay in Megatron’s berth after Optimus finished unpacking. He had paltry few belongings to his name, despite his status — only a few physical pictures in frames that he lovingly set up on Megatron’s side table of his team and the fleshlings.

Currently, Megatron was spooning Optimus from behind, arms wrapped protectively around his abdomen.

“How are you feeling, beloved?” Megatron murmured into his neck.

“...Tired,” Optimus muttered back, finials twitching.

Megatron chuckled and spared a servo to trace one, stilling it and inciting a shiver in the Prime. “I know you well enough to know when you’re thinking.” Optimus hid his face in the berth and released a long ex-vent. Megatron frowned. “Your finials always used to twitch when something was upsetting you.”

“That,” Optimus grunted, servos curling into loose fists. “’My spark,’ ‘Beloved’… You used to call me those things, back when I…” He sighed. “I’m not Orion.”

Megatron clenched his jaw, looking away. “No,” he agreed. “You’re not.”

“And you are not Megatronus. Those young lovers are long offline.”

“Is there a point to this morbid thought spiral?” Megatron huffed, caressing the Prime’s abdomen once more.

“You don’t love me,” Optimus croaked. “This, all of this… if it were not for our sparkling in my forge, you would try to tear me limb from limb.”

Megatron paused. “...Would you not do the same?”

“No,” Optimus said immediately. “I wouldn’t.”

Slowly, Megatron let go of Optimus and sat up. Optimus weakly mirrored him, finials pinning back.

Oceans of hatred, betrayal, and resentment roiled between them.

Eventually, Megatron said, dark and flat, “It is as you said. Megatronus is dead. You do not love the mech before you. There is no Champion and his little archivist anymore. If you wish me to cease the epithets, then I will, but do not ever doubt my genuine care for this sparkling.”

“I do not doubt that,” Optimus huffed, the faintest tinge of amusement in the sound as he caressed Megatron’s chassis. “But you’re wrong.” Megatron arched a browplate and sneered. Optimus stood firm. “I do love the mech before me, and not as a ghost. You changed, Megatron — you changed into something, someone dark and twisted and full of hatred, but that is not all you are. All this time, I have ached to touch the part of you that has not been corrupted by your hatred, not to change you into the mech you were but to realize the potential of the mech you could become. And now…” He carefully grabbed Megatron’s servo and returned it to his abdomen. “I have. But I am afraid.”

Megatron tried to stoke the fires of his deep well of anger and rage, but the warm thrumming of the plating beneath his servo broke him and made his walls crumble. “Of me?” Megatron asked weakly.

“You terrify me,” Optimus managed, blue optics so painfully sad, and… dim, flickering. “Not for what you could do to me, but what you could do to yourself. What you have done to yourself.”

Tensing, Megatron tried, “Optimus…”

“Y-You… Our sparkbond, Megatron, I thought the Matrix burned it out but we could not conceive without it, it’s still there, so surely there must…” Optimus started swaying. “There… m-must… hunh…” And with that, Optimus fainted, optics going dark.

“Scrap,” Megatron hissed, catching Optimus and settling him down to the berth. He was having another attack, but — what could Megatron even do? Contact? He could do contact. Straddling Optimus, he gently pressed himself over the frame of his sparkmate like a weighted blanket and frantically pinged Knock Out. He could feel Optimus’s rapid, erratic sparkpulse through his own chest plating, growing weaker and more irregular.

Think think think. Scrap this was bad.

That was when Optimus’s chest plates swung open and smacked him across the face, making him rear back and splutter.

The Matrix of Leadership shined up at him in the darkness, all-powerful and resolute. Behind it, Optimus’s spark wobbled dangerously. And orbiting around it… a small, fragile little flickering light.

Megatron plowed through all his dark, inky compulsions to rip the Matrix out of the Prime’s chest and claim it for himself and instead opened his own chest plates, baring his own spark before pressing their chests together.

It was like being plunged into a celestial pool, spinning through the cosmos surrounded by light and sound and sensation, all of it pointless distraction. Megatron saw Optimus sinking deeper into the celestial sea and fell after him, throwing himself through the blinding rivers of light and leaving darkness in his wake, reaching out for him. Optimus looked up at him and reached back.

The two of them immediately clung to each other, pulling each other flush against their plating, and a supernova went off around them as they sank into each other and became one.

Light and darkness rapidly flashed all around them in cacophonous storms as they felt eons worth of pain hate hurt fear but also longing warmth grief love.

I miss you.

I know.

I’m sorry.

And suddenly, they were apart again, floating in a serene dawn, light perfectly blended with darkness, as a warm light flowed out of their sparks to be kindled into a fragile flame between them, pulsing in time with their synchronized sparks. Each of them leaned down to kiss it, and it flared into an inferno, whipping wind around them harmlessly with a chiming sound not unlike a newspark’s laughter.

Then Megatron was back in his frame, and their chestplates were closing. They stared at each other, optics bright with charge, vents heaving for air as their cooling fans roared. Optimus smiled. Megatron smiled back.

Both of them whipped their helms around at the sound of slow clapping.

Knock Out smirked, a carefully polished browplate arching as he drawled, “Good show, you two, very lovely. Am I still needed?”

“GET OUT!” Megatron bellowed, priming and aiming his cannon while Optimus laughed, and Knock Out shrieked before scrambling to leave so fast he transformed and sped out the door.

“That was unkind,” Optimus chided, immediately calming Megatron by cupping his helm in his servos.

“I’ll show you how kind I can be,” Megatron purred with a rev of his engine, right before he leaned down and kissed Optimus’s lights out.

[sunfyresrider]

First Love/Late Spring - Chapter One

Lo'ak Sully x Fem!Metkayina!Reader

Summary: You would do anything he asked if he said he loved you, but his heart belonged to someone else. Tags: Angst, unrequited love, miscommunication, arranged marriages, fluff, Lo'ak being Lo'ak, sibling jealously. I think that covers it but if I missed anything lmk! Translations: Lor - beautiful, Sa'nu - mama, Evi - child, Skxawng - idiot, Kehe - no, Sanhi - bioluminescent freckles Author's Note: First time writing for this boy/fandom, so critiques are welcomed. This was heavily inspired by Amy x Laurie's relationship in Little Women and Mitski's song (the title of the fic)

“What is wrong?” Lo’ak inquired, watching you pace inside of your marui. You forgot his presence inside your tent, too busy letting your thoughts consume you. “I am a failure,” you huffed out. You had never been as good as your sister at little things, you blamed it on your big fingers. 

She was better at you than everything, always the jewel in your mother's eye. Tsireya could bead, braid, heal, sing, dance and was exceptional at all of it. Her personality was so soft, kind, gentle and wise… Everything the future Tshaik needed to be. It was no wonder the boy you admired from afar preferred her., You probably would too.

You weren’t jealous, at least that’s what you told yourself, It was never her fault. There were perks to being second born: lack of expectations, no overbearing parents, and freedom to do almost anything you wanted. Your mother was still encouraging you to mate with Txayì, seeing as you were the last of your siblings to be promised to someone. 

He was an amazing friend, thoughtful, attentive and extremely dutiful. Txayì always did what was asked of him with no complaints, something you could not fathom doing. In truth, he was far too good for you, and he deserved someone who wasn’t pining after someone she could not obtain. 

You’ve loved Lo’ak since he first arrived at your village seven long years ago, running from the sky people who hunted his family. He wasn’t a mighty warrior like his brother nor was he outwardly charming like his father, but he had a strong heart. Lo’ak brought excitement to your life, adventures you would have never dared to go on before his arrival. 

His human nature, jokes and quirks, are what made him so endearing. You loved his lopsided smile that curved upwards when he found something amusing, the way he used his hands when he talked. It was no secret that your eyes followed him when he walked by, that his voice made your heart flutter or the way his dark hair fell into his eyes. 

If Lo’ak asked you to jump off of a cliff with him, you doubted that you’d have the sense of mind to reject him.  Thinking of him in this way made your heart ache, an invisible pressure on your chest that refused to abate. It was your feelings for him that made you miserable for most of your life. Your crush that you buried, unable to move forward with any other man as long as he lived. You would never want to confess it; he was in love with your sister.

Every moment they spent together slowly broke down your resolve, your infatuation growing into something you couldn't ignore anymore. It seemed Ewya took noticed and decided to ease your torture, cease the pain momentarily. Tsireya had found a mate, one that both of your parents adored. She seemed to have no quarrels about marrying him and leaving Lo’ak behind. 

Both of you were destined to never be able to be with the ones your heart desired. “I am no mighty warrior, amazing singer or dancer. I am mediocre at best… at literally everything.” You turned on your heel, outstretched your arms, “Tsireya can do it all, sing, dance, braid, heal and everything a Tsahik should be. Aonung is a great hunter and warrior, destined to be Olo'eyktan. I’m just the second born, forgotten child with no clear path.” 

You lowered your arms to your side and let out a sigh, trying to find some air that wasn't saturated with the weight of your troubles., You were hopeless. “You know, you are way funnier than both. You could be a comedian or jewelry maker- ow!” You slapped his hand, stern eyes boring into him. “I’m being serious, Lo’ak… what’s a comedian?”  

He rubbed his hand, acting like it was actually injured and not just a playful slap. “It’s a human thing. Listen, I think you’re grossly underestimating how cool you are.” You scrunch your brows at his comment, not sure if you were being complimented or insulted.

Lo'ak's expression turned serious, watching your features closely, “I’ve been second best to Neteyam all my life and after the incident with Payakan my future isn’t looking too bright either.” He pressed his lips together, a forlorn look in his eyes, the one you grew up seeing whenever his brother's name was mentioned.

You let out a deep sigh, “but you swore he isn’t evil right? When the clan realizes you’re telling the truth, you could be known as the first Ttulkun rider and become legend… I want to be great or nothing at all.” Lo’ak‘s brows furrowed together, “so you believe mating with Txayì will bring you to greatness?” 

 “Don’t make fun. I think it would make my parents proud of me at least.” You watched him cross his arms across his chest and pout, it was incredibly cute.  “Odd coming from someone who spits in the face of tradition.” You scoffed and gave him an incredulous look, “I do not spit in the face of tradition... Why do you care anyway?” 

Lo'ak paused for a second, seeming to mull over his thoughts before answering. "I have no issue with it as long you love him.” You sucked in a breath, a sharp pain shooting through your chest. Lo’ak cocked his head to the side, noticing your expression, and quickly added, "and it doesn't seem like you do, not from your reaction."

“And do you have someone else in mind, O' wise one?” You crossed your arms and peered down at him with a smirk. “I’m just saying, If you really think you'll never amount to anything then why not mate with me. Like you said… I’m gonna be the first Tulkan rider.”

Your cheeks were beginning to heat up and you looked away from his gaze. He was joking but you were unable to hide the small flicker of hope that bloomed inside your chest. Your heart started to beat faster, the idea of marrying Lo'ak was enticing, something that would have never occurred to you before now.

You noticed Lo'ak had been more touchy than normal, flirtier even, but you blamed it on the lack of attention he was receiving from your sister. He didn't have any other options and your heart was fragile at the moment, so you played it off as nothing more than a joke. He would always belong to your sister, and you would never be able to hold a candle to her. “I should have known not to come to you with serious matters.” You gave him a disapproving look before continuing.

You stalked forward, picking up the beaded top you made just days earlier. It was a mixture of beautiful blues and white shells, a necklace honestly too beautiful to be worn by you. “Help me fasten this before I have to go.” You were happy to change the subject and focus on anything else.

Lo'ak walked forward, his body moving slowly like he was testing the waters, his fingers grazing your back. His touch sent chills down your spine and butterflies in your stomach. You tried to focus on the task at hand, you're a big girl and you're not a child anymore. “Why are you wearing something like this?” 

Lo’ak’s head hovered above yours, his voice deep, reverberating within you. It was impossible to not feel the heat of his breath as it cascaded down your neck, his hands still on your back, gently running along the edge of your tunic. You cleared your throat, pulling away from him and twirling around. “I made it yesterday, what do you think?” 

“it’s beautiful… you’re beautiful,” his voice trailed off, his gaze was soft and full of something you could not place. It wasn't lust or adoration, more longing than anything else. “Thank you, Lo’ak.” You whispered, almost unable to get the words out of your mouth. You shook your head, forcing yourself back into reality. “I have to go help my mother; I’ll see you soon yeah?” He gave you a soft smile and quick nod before opening the flap to let you leave.

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The return of the Tulkun signaled the return of clear skies and calm seas. Your spirit sister, Äiä, had grown even larger since her last visit. This year she was speaking to you about the next breeding cycle, deciding it was time for her to bear her first calf. You were excited for her, proud of how far she’s come from the lonely calf who stuck to her mother’s fin. 

 She was known for being the most dutiful yet filled with mischief she only showed to you. You spoke to Äiä about your own love life, seeking comfort in your sister. Of course, she preferred the boy who did not bond with the outcast. It was as if Ewya had planned it this way, not allowing you the luxury of happiness.

Even though you spent hours beneath the water with her, it still never felt as if it was long enough. Soon the morning sun faded into hues of purple and orange, signaling the night's approach. You wanted nothing more than to escape into the ocean and be with her.

However, your clan had other plans. You made your way to the mats, already prepared for the night, an empty place set for you next to Txayì. The arrival of the Tulkuns was celebrated every year, a moderately large feast and an abundance of music learned from Ewya herself. 

The food was always welcome and the atmosphere always lively, a nice break from the monotony of daily life. “How was your spirit sister?” Txayì asked, his smile soft yet excited as he sat down next to you. You gave him a small smile, “she is well and hoping for a calf by next year.” He let out a hm, placing a palm on his chin.

"That's amazing, I hope she has a successful mating season." He answered, “I’m assuming you are wanting to follow her suit?” His voice was casual but there was a twinge of nervousness behind it. That was good, you didn’t enjoy overconfidence in men. 

"Perhaps, if that is what Ewya wills.” You responded with a shrug. Txayì gave you a soft nod and a small smile. You’re returned to tearing the fish on your plate apart, staring at the Sulli family sitting across the fire. Lo’ak was staring right back, giving you a sly grin.

You rolled your eyes and gave him a quick wave, only causing him to smirk more. Neteyam grasped his neck, whispering something in his ear with a huge grin plastered on his face. Lo'ak scoffed and playfully pushed Neteyam, sending him into a fit of giggles. You shook your head, forcing yourself to look away from them.

"I think you should start the evening with a dance,” your mother nodded in the direction of the man next to you, it was not a suggestion and more of a command. You begrudgingly rose from your mat and stepped over Txayì, your hand grazed his own as you walked by him, an invitation for you to join him for a dance.

You spun around with a wide smile, outstretching your arms preparing to move. The sounds of the flute and drums sending vibrations through you. You closed your eyes, enjoying the beats of the music as it filled your ears. Your body started to move on its own accord, moving with the music.

Dancing was like swimming, the rhythm flowing through you as the water did, pushing and pulling you to where it desired. You let it carry you, jumping and twirling in its current. Your movements were fluid and elegant as you continued to move with the beat. Txayì’s eyes seemed to be transfixed, captivated by the sight.

 You smiled genuinely as you continued your dance, it felt like an outpouring of your soul. He was not as bad of a dancer as you thought, vastly more graceful than Ao’nung who was tripping over his feet in the corner.  You felt someone's gaze on your back, eyes watching all of your moves. 

Your feet spun you around, staring back at the person who was disrupting your dance. Your smile faltered when you realized it was Lo'ak, his face shrouded in an unknown emotion. You followed his eyes to the man behind you, staring back at him with the same intensity. 

"Who is that?" Txayì asked, his voice low and his tone laced with suspicion. "Lo’ak," you replied, shifting your gaze back to Lo'ak who was now getting up to leave the excitement. You sucked in a breath and met his gaze, placing a hand on his arm. "I’ll be right back."

You chased after Lo’ak, following him further outside the village. His movements began to slow as he reached the tree groves. "What are you doing?" You huffed, trying to keep up with him. "Lo'ak, wait for me," you tried again. “What is your problem?” You snapped at him, planting your feet in the sand.

 He finally glanced at you, his gaze softening ever so slightly. "Nothing,” He muttered, turning around to walk away. "Stop being a brat and talk to me," you grasped his arm, pulling him so he was forced to look at you. He took a deep breath, raising his head as if praying to Ewya for strength. "I don't like him," His lips formed into a small pout, reminding you of a child. “Who?”

"Txayì," he scoffed, “the golden boy,” he mocked. You furrowed your brows together, "what has he done to spurn you?” You asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. "I don’t believe he’s right for you and you’re wasting both your time trying.” Your hand dropped back to your side, face losing its once worried expression, 

“I genuinely do not understand your sudden interest in who I mate with,” you said unamused. He gave you a deep frown and a sigh, his eyes drifting down to your chest. His fingers moved upwards to trace the beads concealing your chest, “this is the one you made earlier, yes?”

Your body tensed, the air between the two of you shifting into something more serious, “Yes but don’t change the subject.” He didn't answer your question, his fingers gently tugging at the necklace around your neck. “It looks really good on you.” You sucked in a breath, your eyes following his.

“You are deflecting,” you said, trying to hold your ground. “Do you really like him,” Lo'ak asked, his voice so soft, it was almost inaudible. His eyes stayed low as he gazed at you, a silent plea behind them. “I haven’t given it much thought,” you started, meeting his stare.

"Not as much as my mother likes him, that’s for sure,” you grinned. Lo'ak smirked back, the air between you once again becoming lighter. "She does have interesting taste in mates," he smiled to himself.  You giggled with him, his demeanor changing from somber to cheerful in an instant. "Was that all that bothered you?”

“Nah. you lied and told me you sucked at dancing like me, but you made everyone else look like real fish out of water.” You laughed at his childish remark. It wasn't often you laughed that hard, a pleasant sound leaving your lips. He smiled at you, his gaze softening as his eyes studied your features. “Ah, I see,” you said, tapping your fingers on your chin.

“You’re just jealous I’m better than you,” you teased. His lips parted in an offended gasp, “no way, not even close. You’ve never even danced with me before.” You giggled as his hand went to his chest. "Oh, great Lo'ak, you humble me." You bowed before him, exaggerating your movements.

"Stop with the theatrics and dance with me already." He moved forward, taking ahold of your hands. "Your jokes are always terrible." You let out another laugh as he began leading. "Better than your pickup lines at least," you joked. His hands went to grip your waist, lifting you up in the air and spinning once. You squealed, he laughed in return, “you’ve never even heard them before!” 

"I didn't need to hear them, I know you too well," you giggled. Lo’ak grasped your hands again, pulling you around in a circle. “This is a human dance! Much more advanced than what you were doing,” he declared. You rolled your eyes, trying not to focus on how warm his hands felt as they held you.

"Whatever you say," you continued to laugh, moving along with him. The two of you twirled around the area, his smile becoming a permanent feature on his face. You noted a few things about human dancing, it was sporadic and spontaneous, you touched each other continuously throughout it, and it was joyful and lighthearted. You had not noticed it before but the music that filled the village seemed to fade, the only sounds being those from your lips. The rest of the world was drowned out as you continued to dance, his body moving with yours, never separating.

You hadn't noticed your surroundings, not until you stumbled into the base of the tree. He moved to steady you, but his balance was far off as well, knocking into you as you stumbled backwards. You let out a sharp gasp, gripping onto his arm for support as you hit the ground. 

He hovered over you, his tail twisted under your leg and his knees incasing you. “I thought you said you were a good dancer,” you groaned. You gazed up at him, his features illuminated by the moonlight, his eyes widened, and his lips parted. "Huh?” 

Lo’ak looked ethereal in the lighting of twilight, his sanhì decorating his face. The air between you shifted, the heat radiating off his body shrouding you. His eyes followed yours down to his lips, your labored breaths synchronizing. It was as if you were in a trance, the world around you becoming nonexistent. You had long since stopped moving, entranced by his presence, his scent surrounding you. He began to lean in closer, his eyes beginning to flutter shut. 

“Little bro! Where did you run off to?!” Neteyam’s voice startled you both. You jerked your head away from him, pushing him off of you as you rose to your feet. Lo'ak sighed in frustration, a hand going to his face, rubbing it gently, “over here, bro!” 

Neteyam rushed up to the two of you, his gaze switching between the two of you, an amused grin on his face.  You stood up, fixing your braid that had fallen out of place. “Neteyam,” you nodded, “I’m going to go back before my mother sends a search party.”

Neteyam moved aside, giving you space to walk past him, his gaze still stuck on Lo'ak. "I see you are taking my brotherly advice," he giggled, glancing at his brother. Lo'ak looked up at Neteyam and groaned, falling back into the sand. “You are a cockblock."

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Ronal roughly pulled her fingers through your hair, untangling the knots that had formed overnight.  You stared out of the Marui, watching the rain drops disrupt the water, the sky was darkening, a major storm brewing.  "Ma evi, you have the unruliest hair out of the clan,” she huffed.

“Can you braid it this time, sa‘nu?” She gave you a quick nod and kept running her fingers through your hair. Your eyes traveled to the horizon, watching Lo’ak attempting tricks with his ilu. Your siblings and all three of his observing him, Ao’nung no doubt goading him on. 

He was so reckless sometimes, always pushing his luck. If something happened to Lo'ak you wouldn't know how you'd cope with the loss. You may just pray Ewya takes you with him instead. You glanced down at the necklace that hung around your neck, a sharp pain shooting through your chest.

The past few nights you’ve been haunted by the memory of the other night, the huge mistake you almost made while in a daze. 

Lo'ak was everything you wanted, yet so far out of your grasp, too far to reach. You were terrified, your future with Txayì was decided, yet your heart still pined for Lo'ak. However, as you watched him interact with your sister, the radiant smile adorning her face, his own just as bright as the sun, you knew the truth. The other night was just an attempt to heal his heart from her previous rejection. 

"You are too quiet," Your mother ceased her braiding and moved her body around yours.  "Apologies, I am just thinking.” You responded, meeting your mothers gaze. Her brows were furrowed together, and her lips were pursed in thought. "Thinking about…?" She prompted you to continue. "Txayì and our future.” You stated, lowering your eyes to the floor, unable to meet her gaze.

She hummed, continuing her work, "I know you better than you know yourself, evi. You are worried about the forest boy and your future with him." You shifted on your mat, meeting her stare. “w-what? No, I just-" You stammered, not able to find your words.

"Let me speak before you lie more to me.” She commanded, a knowing look in her eyes. You sucked in a breath, your body stilling in its spot. “Your father and I will not force you to be with someone you do not want,” she paused, carefully choosing her words.

"But Txayì will bring you much more happiness and stability in the future." She met your gaze, a stern look plastered on her face. “Lo’ak has bonded with the outcast. If you choose him, I fear your life will be filled with pain and turmoil you could avoid.” You sucked in a breath and tried to hold back tears, unable to respond.

Your mother reached forward, placing a warm palm on your cheek, her touch gentle yet strong, just like her. "You deserve to be happy with whom you wish, but you need to understand what you will lose as well as what you will gain and if that is truly worth it.” You gave her a soft nod, not wanting to voice your answer. Your mother released her hand, your face feeling cold in the absence of her touch.

She smiled and moved back to finish your hair. "Meet with Txayì tonight and make your choice later." She tugged at your hair, securing the last of your braids. You felt your stomach churn at the thought and the small bubble of hope that had bloomed inside your chest popping. 

You felt as though you were spilt in two, the currents in your heart ripping you in opposite directions. A part of you yearned for the easy route, the best choice for a promising future. It appeared bright and rosy like a flower that had just bloomed, a vision of Txayì always being there for you.

Your heart didn't agree, however, it pined for the outcast, the Omatikaya boy who held a permanent residence in your mind. It wanted nothing more than to be with him, to live in his chaos and venture into the unknown with him.  It didn’t frighten you, the unforeseen and the dangerous future that would eventually befall your life, but you would follow Lo'ak anywhere, regardless of what would await you, as long as he chose you. 

But he would not choose you. No matter how much you wished for him, he would always pick your sister. You would never be able to compete with her, you didn't possess the same charm or grace as Tsireya. You've seen his eyes wander in the past and you knew it wasn't only the necklace that had him captivated.

You would be no more than second best as always. You would continue to be the shadow to her light, and you could not begrudge him for preferring it. As you stood to leave your mothers gaze followed you, the slight frown she had on her face made your heart sink. "I will go and meet Txayì, sa’nu. I'm sure he has many good qualities I have yet to see." You gave her a weak smile before turning to exit the marui.

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You ventured outside the reef with Txayì, following suit as he spoke endlessly about his own life. It was hard to listen when your mind was some place far away, thinking of someone out of reach.  He was doing his utmost to impress you, wanting to be seen as someone worthy of your time.

And he was worth your time, that is but you were not worth his. It was as your mother had been saying, he was a mighty warrior and a superb hunter. Txayì was handsome, adorned with thick thighs and muscular arms, much different from Lo’ak. You liked to think Lo'ak's features were more refined, more delicate yet still masculine and appealing. 

Txayì proved himself to be loyal, trustworthy, a true leader with a good soul and a promising future.  He spoke about the many great achievements he had under his belt, the great stories he's heard from outside the reef and what he's seen. Txayì seemed to be interested in the few things you spoke of as well, listening intently and absorbing every syllable you uttered. 

The two of you spent most of the morning together, but not once did he make an advance towards you. He seemed to be genuine, but did not possess the charm that Lo'ak did, lacking the charisma and playfulness that made you smile and made your heart flutter. That no longer mattered, you tried to convince yourself.

You had to make a choice soon, to choose what would bring you the most stability, regardless of what you would be leaving behind. "So will I see you later?" Txayì asked, stopping his movements on the shore and turning his head to face you.

"Yes, I’m sure my mother would love for you to sit with us at the evening meal." You answered, giving him a weak smile, unable to commit to a real one. He gave you an enthusiastic nod, "good. I look forward to getting to know you all better.” He placed a hand on your shoulder, squeezing it as he said his goodbyes.

You gave him a quick nod and a tight smile before bidding him farewell. You watched as he left, his form getting smaller as he headed back onto shore. You took a deep breath, trying to calm the nervousness that was building in your gut. This is a good match, you told yourself.

After you had properly cleaned yourself, you escaped to a corner of the beach. The sum was at its highest, its orange glow reflecting off of the water. You dragged a satchel of bead, shells and various materials to make jewelry. Eventually, you needed to craft a courting present for your future mate. But for now, you intended to spend the rest of the day finishing the ones you had already started.

At some point your fingers began to ache from how long you had been braiding the strands of the jewelry together. You had never been meticulous about the bracelets you made but this was a gift. The shells you chose were shades of blue and cerulean, accompanied by nearly translucent beads you stole from Tsireya’s stash. It was coming together nicely, you thought to yourself. 

The soft sounds of sand rusting behind you tore you from your thoughts. Still, you chose to ignore the person quickly approaching. “Why so blue?” Lo’ak’s voice rang in your eyes as he sat down in front of you, legs crossed. A shit eating grin plastering his face. “You’re not funny skxawng,” you scoffed whilst stifling a laugh. 

His eyebrows lifted as he gazed into your lap. “Are those bracelets? For whom?” You tossed the eldest one at him, ignoring his expression. “I never got the chance to give that one to you,” you spoke in a hushed tone. You focused on finishing the most recent one, tying an Amber colored stone onto it. “This is for you too,” you spun around to face him, watching him intently as his fingers ran over the beads. 

Lo'ak looked up at you, eyes widening. You could feel yourself grow more anxious, fidgeting with your fingers and swallowing hard as you tried to keep yourself calm. You spoke fast, interrupting him before he could finish his train of thought. “They’re meant to represent you, the first is to represent the forest when you were an Omatikaya… This one is to represent you as a Metkayina.” 

You were unable to speak as he slowly clasped it around his wrist. He rubbed the surface of it gently, a soft smile painted his lips. “They’re beautiful, thank you… shouldn't you be making these for Txayì?” he teased, speaking in a soft voice.

You shrugged, averting your eyes, “Yes.” You felt a lump in your throat at the thought of him, the thought of your future. “What is he doing these days? I haven’t seen him around.” Lo'ak looked towards the horizon, eyes narrowing as if he could see all of the way to your village. “I would assume he was training with my father.”

Lo’ak stood up, pacing around you and softly disturbing the sand. His tail swayed, as if he was upset hearing about your future mate. You remained silent, only observing his behavior. He spoke again, his voice hushed, eyes focused on the ground. You could see the change in his demeanor, the stiffness in his shoulders, “Don’t mate with him.” 

“Not this again…” you glanced up at him, his face laced with seriousness. You pushed yourself off of the sand and gazed at him. “Why?” Lo’ak stalked forward, placing his hands on your shoulders as if to hold you in place. “You know why, lor.”

You looked up at him, swallowing hard as you felt his warm fingers grip your arms. You stared into his eyes, noticing his dark pupils slowly dilated. Your mouth turned down into a frown, tears threatening to escape your eyes. Lo’ak was giving you false hope, pretending he desired you. “That’s enough, Lo’ak.” 

You attempted to pull away, but he moved closer, trying to pull you back in. He began whispering sweet nothings towards you, his eyes as gentle as his voice. You took a step back and moved out of his grip, "Kehe! Lo’ak! You know better!” your voice trailed off, “I have been second to Tsireya my entire life. I will not be the mate you settle for just because you cannot have her!” 

His face fell, a pained expression appeared on his face as he moved to embrace you. You ignored what your heart yearned for and stalked off in the other direction. Your harsh words cut deep within Lo’ak’s flesh, leaving unseen marks on his heart. He loathed when you were upset with him, especially when he was the cause of it. Lo'ak assumed after the other night you were riding the same wave, obviously not. His tail wrapped around himself as he sat on the sand, the droplets of rain beginning to soak his hair. 

He understood the pain of being second to his sibling and never being someone’s first choice. But he had also wanted you for much longer than you realized. He’ll admit Tsireya was an amazing friend, and truly helped him learn how to be one of the people. But that was all she was to him, a friend. 

Not to mention Txayì would never be able to make you happy, he was too bland and far too perfect. You’d get bored of him after a few moon cycles and regret choosing him for the rest of his life. The thought alone was driving him insane and everyone around him knew it. 

How could he make you see him? To understand just how much he yearned for you too. That you took up the most space in his heart and head, leaving little room for any other thought. He sighed deeply, falling back onto the sand and staring up at the darkened sky. Lo’ak closed his eyes, fantasizing a future that was so close yet completely untouchable. 

To be continued….

[decepti-thots]

here is an ask that is a free excuse to talk about any disco elysium prowldome thoughts you have because i am FASCINATED by it in the abstract but having a hard time nailing it down

so your original tags on the post this relates to specified that CD is Kim (and therefore, Prowl is Harry) and that is what actually made me really interested. because not making the self-destructive amnesiac character CD (who in canon is... that in a different way) was SO interesting to me. i will cut this both for potential DE spoilers and also so people can choose whether or not to read my overlong ramblings. lmao.

so the thing about DE as a text is that it's doing a really specific thing gameplay wise, derived from the biggest inspiration it has mechanically, which is the game Planescape Torment. specifically it is doing this thing where the idea of the amnesiac protagonist as a 'clean slate' is troubled by constant catastrophic interaction with NPCs that knew your player character before they lost their memory, so while you as the player are roleplaying as them as vessels to project yourself onto because of their diagetic memory loss, you are constantly having that fantasy of 'starting over fresh' and total control over them as an agent undermined by the reality that other people remember them, and their influence on this fictional world pre-dates your own.

i think that's SUCH a fascinating lens through which to look at what Prowl does as a character; his constant attempts at- and more to the point failure at- reinvention, because the thing that constantly gets in his way is always... himself. his own past actions catching up to him and his inability to handle that. right? so he's an incredibly interesting kind of archetype to put into this story just because the thing that always undermines him is his inability to get away from his impact on other people. he can change how he feels or who he is, but he can't change what he's done. this is a really great character to put into a narrative role like Harry in DE.

the thing is that Chromedome is not Kim, because the entire point of Kim is to give you someone to make that new first impression on. right? Kim is the character from out of town who knows of you by reputation but has no pre-existing relationship to you as an actual person. who you decide to play Harry as in the moment becomes who Kim knows you to be.

if Chromedome is anyone, surely he's. you know. Harry's ex he keeps alienating by calling her and freaking her out begging her to come back because he thinks they're inevitable and he refuses to tolerate life without her. he's Dora, at least very loosely. (well. he could be Jean, i guess. but like. I do not give a fuck about Jean. sorry.)

so i was thinking this over and like... a DE version of these two where the twist is that you think Chromedome is Kim and this is how these two meet on a case and become (professional) partners, and in reality he's been lying since realising that Prowl has no memory and he is, in fact, the ex that Prowl's limbic system keeps dropping hints he's really fucked up over (and who he has lingering repressed guilt over the knowledge he did in some way fuck over)... i think that's how i see this working tbh. it's fascinating to imagine how Chromedome would like. respond to that. and what his motivations are- both what they start off as and where they end up depending on how things go, and what an amnesiac Prowl decides to do and how he chooses to conduct himself.

there are a lot of things that i think are completely inextricable from DE even in the context of vague wonderings about silly hypothetical fandom AUs. first off, DE is about politics, and the kind of person Harry becomes in the face of his amnesia is tied extremely closely to that. fandom tends to gloss over the fact that a ton of Prowl's negative development in exRiD specifically is also linked to that comic making some points about politics, i feel; it's not that they're subtle or anything lmao, fandom just tends to focus on characters in a very individualist sense that doesn't always line up with what that comic is using them for. Prowl is someone who refuses to relinquish wartime power (and the abuses thereof) in the aftermath of a (from his perspective, still ongoing) conflict. and he is the guy, in DE, who would have been intellectually sympathetic towards the revolution, but he'd also have been working to put it down. (also, this is clearly different from Harry, who grew up in the aftermath of its failure, the generation dealing with an after that was traumatic.) and so much of Prowl's moves towards that tight grip on authoritarian power in exRiD comes from a contextually developed fear- both for himself (if he relinquishes his sunk cost fallacy there are a lot of things he did that were not justified) and for the society he imagines is under constant risk of falling into chaos if he does not. but what does he believe when he doesn't remember all the things that brought him to that point? i mean, the prowl we saw in Shadowplay thinks very differently than the one we see in the present. and specifically Roberts writes Prowl as someone whose initial drive was to try and escape the war and its conflicts altogether. so your angle there is very in line with what DE does with Harry and his amnesia, I think.

Chromedome meanwhile... i think the idea of a post-war Chromedome who has survived his own attempts at self-destruction and come to loathe Prowl playing this role of silent, judgemental observer of Prowl with this ostensible opportunity to change, who lies about not knowing Prowl as a kind of mirror to the way Chromedome has erased other relationships in his life to avoid confronting the pain of them... is really interesting, honestly. (there are versions of this where he is married to Rewind and there are versions of this where Rewind is at least temporarily still dead, and i like both tbh.) does Chromedome want Prowl to be able to genuinely change through this? perhaps the cracks in his story start showing when unlike Kim, he responds with increasing frustration at Prowl actually doing so, a thing it doesn't make sense for him to be bitter about if he's really a stranger. meanwhile Prowl is clearly and immediately latching onto Chromedome as someone he has decided he admires, and declares trust in. (harry idealizes kim a lot; the vision he has of dora, too, calls him out on literally deifying her; and we see in idw canon that for all his irritation with Chromedome now he casually asserts ludicrous stuff like 'you're literally too fantastic at your job for it to kill you' and so on.) had Chromedome comfortably convinced himself that was all bullshit and Prowl has no actual remaining feelings towards him, that it was all just to get Chromedome to do useful shit for him when he snapped his fingers? does seeing evidence to the contrary- that Prowl's feelings continue to be, annoyingly, real and genuine- destabilize him?

god there's a TON more i want to think about here. obviously there are a lot of things DE explores that bringing into this complicates as well. DE talks about suicidality and addiction extensively, obviously, for starters. (which are probably themes most people would automatically project onto Chromedome, which makes this specific configuration really interesting, i think.) the inevitable futility of trying to be an individual who is 'one of the good ones' in a system where that doesn't matter and will never allow you to be. you could probably tie that in with functionism if you wanted, and Prowl's seeming baseline agreement with at least some parts of that system on some level despite it clearly not benefiting him overmuch. right? there's a lot of potential room to engage directly with not just the basic plot setup of DE but its actual themes i think, which sort of surprised me to realise. (and is why it kept bopping around in my head, because that's really the only way i would be interested in a fusion AU kind of thing modelling itself on Elysium; i'm not here for the trope-y setup, i'm here for what DE actually does thematically and the crunchier topics it commits to exploring.)

anyway. please consider. you know that skill check you can get in the last dream with Dora? the one you can 'succeed' and it's really, really bad to do so, actually? yeah. please consider that skill check in this context. ahahaha. I SURE AM

[stargazer56]

WIP Wednesday (with a bonus plea for advice!!)

Bachelor Auction meet cute

SC writing friends, I need your help! I have started writing an AU where Patrick moves to town slightly later than canon. Instead of Asbestos Fest, Ray has convinced the town to hold a Bachelor Auction and he signs Patrick up. It's currently 5,800 words and these two idiots haven't even gone on the date yet.

Here's where I'd love some input. How long is too long for a one-shot? Is is better to break it into chapters, even if they are on the shorter side? Will people in the fandom read a longer one-shot from a new writer (but one whose name they hopefully recognize from all the comments she leaves)? Am I worried too much about this? Probably. I am grateful for any and all thoughts and advice!

Here is an unedited snippet:

Monday morning, Patrick was surprised to see that his first appointment of the day was with Ray. They had spent 3 hours on Sunday afternoon going over all his responsibilities in detail. What else was there to discuss?

“Now, Patrick, I’m not here for business advice or a partner meeting. I am here to talk about the Bachelor Auction for Asbestos,” Ray began. “Many buildings in town are riddled with asbestos. In the past, we’ve held bake sales and talent shows to raise money for remediation. This year, I suggested we try something new and the Town Council agreed!” the glee in Ray’s voice was palpable. “So we are having a Bachelor Auction. You’re in luck! You arrived just before the sign-up deadline and I was able to add your name to the list.”

“I’m sorry, what?” a flustered Patrick asked.

“The list of bachelors, Patrick! For the auction! You are on it. And one of the more eligible names if I say so myself. There are several older bachelors and a few are even married. You are one of the only ones who is young, single and attractive!”

“Ray–” Patrick began, only to be immediately cut off.

“I hope you don’t mind that I called you attractive. But you are a handsome man, Patrick. The ladies,” Ray paused, looked Patrick up and down, and then continued, “and gentlemen will love you. Schitt’s Creek is a very open place, you know. Everyone fits in here no matter who they love.”

“Ray, no one in town knows me. No one is going to bid on me at a bachelor auction.”

I'm not sure who is writing what, but @a-noble-dragon wisely said tag games won't start unless someone begins them. So tagging @ramonaflow, @flowertrigger and @mammameesh in case they have anything they want to share.

[swtorsummerexchange]

SWTOR Summer Nominations

The SWTOR Summer Gift Exchange is now taking nominations!

So what's a nomination and how do you make them?

A nomination is when you request pairings (platonic, romantic, multi-ship, etc) that will be available for use in the exchange's tag set. In other words, it's the pairings that will be available for you to request or offer when you do your signups in a few weeks.

Say you want to request 'Theron Shan/Jedi Knight' for one of your pairings.

Open the nomination link and you will see a page that looks like this:

You will see a list of relationships and fandoms. You are NOT required to fill in the fandom portion of the form. Only the relationship section. The only fandom available for this exchange is SWTOR.

If you want to request a specific pairing, try to browse the tag set prior to nominations to see if something you want to write or request is already part of the tag set.

You only have 20 nominations available so use them wisely. Once nominations are open, I will go in once a day to approve or deny requests.

All of your nomination requests must be SWTOR related. Again, they can be platonic, romantic, multi-ship, etc. If the pairing you've chosen does not appear (for example, you want to request a pairing of Male Smuggler/Male Trooper) and it's not available, contact me and I will manually add it in.

Once you've chosen your relationships, it will look like this:

Continue searching for the ships you want to add until you're happy with your nominations list (up to 20 pairings). Scroll to the bottom of the page and click submit.

When you're finished, you should get a list like this:

A green checkmark means that the pairing is approved. The question exclamation mark needs to be reviewed by the Tag Set owner and approved. Be patient, it will be reviewed and approved as soon as possible.

If you get an error, there is a chance that the ship you chose has an issue being related to the tag set (ex. one of the characters isn't part of the SWTOR fandom). If you're having issues, please contact me and I will see if I can fix it.

You can edit your pairings until the cutoff date of June 23rd 2024.

Need help deciding what pairings to submit?

Well, good news! I've already added all canon romances. That includes class story romances, expansion romances, and the mini flirt romances from certain planets in game (If I am missing any, please let me know.) So feel free to concentrate on nominating OC ships that you may have with friends, platonic ships, rare pairs, and multiship.

If you have questions, please send an ask and I will clarify what I can.

[myokk]

20 q's for fic writers

tagged by @crushribbons love you Laney😙😙😙😙💓💓💓

How many works do you have on AO3? I am a humble baby writer so I only have three...so far

What's your total AO3 word count? 99,211...before I joined tumblr and fanart hell (affectionate) I was writing SO MUCH...I started in January bahahahahhahahahahahahah

What fandoms do you write for? Hogwarts Legacy, but in the future I'll probably do Tomione…beginning of death eaters super evil but sexy 1940s Tom Riddle making Hermione turn evil… (among others). Tbh (fanart-wise NOT writing) I also want to draw harvest moon…stardew valley…x files… I would love to attempt writing for P&P bc I have so many ideas, but I am too lazy to make sure they're historically accurate and it would drive me crazy if they arent so I'll just enjoy them hehe

Top five fics by kudos? I only have three published so far, but the most popular is my Ominis oneshot, legilimency. I have no idea how that one actually got readers...but I'm happy bc I really like it too and I reread it sometimes!! My main fic is actually doing a lot better than I expected too, bc when I started posting I was just shouting into the void and I wasn’t part of the community or anything🥹 the little excerpts I post here too, that go along with my writing, also do a lot better than I expected and it makes me so happy to read your comments💓

Do you respond to comments? yes!!!!! Comments/hashtags always make me SO HAPPY and these interactions are the fun of sharing these things with you all. I get swamped by notifications sometimes so I might respond super late but I always try to bc I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? my main fic...I have a horrible ending planned but I might chicken out at the end and make it happy. in my fanarts I can make them happy so that might be enough for me...and I’ll go with the evil ending muahahahahahaa

What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? the Imelda/Poppy fic. Honestly it's not popular but it holds SUCH A SPECIAL PLACE IN MY HEART...it’s popular to me😤 I reread it a lot...my love letter to Imelda

Do you get hate on fics? I don't think so...If I do I'm out of the loop bahahahhahahahaha. Honestly I've had haters before on other platforms and it's not something that really bothers me bc if I don't personally know someone, I don't care what they think...and like Laney said...if they don't like something they should just make what they want to see instead lol

Do you write smut? yes😳

Craziest crossover? None I Am A Boring Girl

Have you ever had a fic stolen? not that I know of!!!!! But I also just started writing this year. I've had my art stolen sooooooo many times before though on IG and tiktok (not here yet that I know of…). If it's just copying my art I don't mind that much with these fanarts because that's how you learn and a copy will never look like the original but...

Have you ever had a fic translated? nope!!

Have you ever co-written a fic before? No but I'm collaborating with @versailles-black for fanart shenanigans bc our MCs are cousins🥹💓 plus the whole Leo/Bea thing with @the-ozzie …I’m actually considering writing a oneshot about the two of them so I think it counts!!

All time favorite ship I have two...Elizabeth/Mr Darcy have had me in a vicelike grip for my whole life...but so have Scully and Mulder...

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I really really really want to write my Ominis longfic that's a continuation of my oneshot, but it's hard to find the time to write lately bc I've been so busy!!! like...even finding time to do these fanarts is a struggle these days. I still have hope I'll finish it though bc apart from ME wanting to read it there are a few others who are also looking forward to it!!!

What are your writing strengths? no idea🥲

Thoughts on dialogue in another language? I personally like it!!! But only if it's used correctly...I've seen Spanish in fics before where the person CLEARLY doesn't speak it and it drives me crazy, esp if the character is supposed to be Spanish-speaking. Or...when people add random phrases in with the rest English, bc as a bilingual person I feel like it doesn't really work like that lol. I added some Spanish to the Imelda oneshot I wrote and I like to read it when it's done naturally, and if anyone asks me for translation in the comments I’m happy to oblige🥰

First fandom you wrote in? Hogwarts Legacy is my first fandom ever bahahahhahahahahah

Favorite fic you've written? tbh I love all three that I've written so far!!!!!! I can't choose🥹🥹

Laney said there's no 20th question…I love you all😙😙😙

zerooo pressure tags for @kay9leo @writing-intheundercroft @heyitszev @noxxytocin and anyone else who thinks it would be fun to answer🥹💓😙💓😙