#not like a hard stance i’m taking just exploring some ideas

[jerreeeeeee]

i don’t know if i’m ever gonna write the fic but i’ve been thinking abt like. the eternal stockade. the implications. lup, a lich who was trapped in a dark featureless cell for a decade completely isolated with nothing to keep her sanity but her own mind. she has to put people in the eternal stockade. how many liches does she see herself in. how many liches started out just like her. how many liches are truly too far gone. and the only liches we ever see other than her and barry are edward and lydia. they’re certainly evil, but mad? they seem pretty sane. they’re not, like, tattered echoes of souls, they’re definitely still people. even as much of a grudge as lup surely has against them, wouldn’t they remind her incredibly strongly of herself? do they deserve to be trapped just like she was? for eternity? isn’t eternity what turned john to existential despair in the first place?

[shepherds-of-haven]

Sorry if this has already been asked before, but have you ever thought about writing a sequel to SoH? I know you said it would be a stand-alone book, but I think a sequel where we explore different continents would be extremely cool. I just love these character so much and idk if I’m ready to say goodbye. I know we still have a bit left but still…

Hi there, this message has been sitting in a long queue of messages I've fallen behind on answering for a while now, but I just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to send it! It ended up being extremely thought-provoking for me, and you may have single-handedly made me reconsider my stance on a Shepherds sequel! XD

I always planned on this entry being a standalone game, though I was toying with the idea of eventually writing a sequel that follows a separate cast of characters (aka different protagonist and companions, though with room for potential cameos with the old characters). Pretty much like how Dragon Age does it! I won't go into the potential plot details now, but I was thinking it might take place sometime between 10-15 years in the future, and it would follow "a new generation" of Shepherds in a different locale. I've sort of hazily cobbled together ideas for the story/main premise, but companions outside of the main protagonist have eluded me at the moment--I really need to focus on this game, its DLC, and my next book first, so I haven't given it too much thought!

However, your comment has unearthed some feelings I've been having about a potential sequel, too! It's hard for me to feel like I'd be ready to say goodbye to the cast, as well... It's so easy for me to write them because they've been in my head for so many years, and starting an adventure in the world of Blest with different and new characters admittedly feels a bit strange. It's like having to hang back a grade while all of your friends graduate high school and then looking around at the incoming freshman class like "welp, I guess you guys are my friends now! 😒" lol. I'm torn on the issue: I don't want to not challenge myself or refuse to move out of my comfort zone as a writer--in short, I don't want to be the kind of writer who recycles the same characters and material because doing something new is daunting to me, and I don't want you all to feel like I'm making endless sequels/trying to recapture old magic and should just move on to something new, either--but I do love my cast and I'm not sure yet if I should definitively say, "No, their chapter is done with this game and it's on to the next!", because I can see so many adventures happening to them even after this story is over!

The problem lies with endings--there are so many different endings planned for this game that I hesitate in treating any of them as the true or canonical one, but otherwise trying to account for all of them in a sequel feels quite impossible to accomplish when I wasn't planning on a continuation--along with other logistical concerns that I can't get into at the moment. Like, what if you end the game with all of the Shepherds except Halek dead? What if your friend ends the game with all of them alive, but the MC is dead? This game alone is already 1 million words, but a direct sequel would probably wrack up hundreds of thousands of variations based on all of these choices in its first chapter alone! 🤔

That's why I figure DLC is the happy medium here: you can expand on or create new content and adventures for the characters, but slot them into the timeline wherever you wish, like in between Chapter 7 and 8, etc. And episodic adventures might keep things small and streamlined enough that I can update them more consistently, rather than hacking away at one giant sequel game!

Aaaaaanyway... All this is to say: I have a lot to think about! Absolutely nothing has been decided yet (not even close), but these are just some of the things I've had rattling around in my head. Thank you again for your sweet and honest words: I'm glad you're so fond of these characters and would miss them. I would, too! But whatever ends up happening, I know this game won't be the last time we see them. :)

Thanks again!

[witchfall]

superposition

[Fallen Hero series. Mid-Retribution.]

[Flystep. Daniel POV with River Basri. Takes place after the coffee date at some point, but before dinner. ~1000 words.]

[Sort of a writing exercise...mostly an exploration of Daniel and their dynamic.]

She slips so easily into cold imperiousness. 

It's the single tell Daniel gets before River slips low and swings out a slender leg. 

He doesn't move in time. In the same breath that warmth leaves her eyes, she becomes an arrow of confusing intention, bizarre enough that he nearly falls over, forgetting himself, before he tumbles, weightless, back into another opening stance.

But then she stuns him again — by giggling. 

Once, light as air, trilling like a bird call. Easy to miss, but he doesn't because someone should notice these things, shouldn't they? She covers her mouth with her hand, fingers long and thin. Beautiful. This is how art works. Everyone finds their own meaning in the sunrise.

He grins—

Her fist snaps right for his shoulder but pulls back before she hits collarbone. Taps twice. A warning.

That's...new. Since they started getting coffee, she’s started giving him tip-offs. Warm-ups. Space before she sends him to the ground.

"Did you forget you can fly?" she asks. The tiny upcurved corners of her lips for once reach her eyes. "You could have built momentum and got me on the ground."

Blood rushes to his face. "Bad instinct, I guess."

"You were in your head again, weren't you?"

She asks, like she doesn't already know. She tries so hard to pretend, like she’s practiced with a script. He knows that a little too keenly. 

"Yeah," he says. Sheepish.

The light leaves her eyes. "I'm your enemy right now. Remember that."

His body goes taut. Why does it have to be like that, exactly, so serious and exacting? Who taught her that the only way to live is by fighting every second for it? Where do you rest, in a world like that?

"Good," she says, and his blood turns to ice. "Get mad, if you have to. Whatever works."

And yet, she has no idea. 

He launches into a flurry of blows, momentum from the core not the arm, prompting her to twist away in surprise. He never goes first, and he knows she'll appreciate the tactical maneuver. But something itches where he can't reach it. She's a mind-reader with an incredible blind spot. 

She can see every contour of his emotions except the ones that apply to her.

They enter the old routine; he swings, she dodges with perfect grace, born to the dance. But she is right, that anger can be useful, so he lets a little of it through. 

How can I make it so you will laugh without covering your mouth?

Who hurt you? 

How do I stop it? 

How do I stop it, before you hurt yourself bad enough you don't come back?

Is that what you're afraid of? Did he think that, before—

His skull suddenly rocks back, whiplash from a fist to the chin. He falls from some edge inside himself, furious and keen, before he remembers gravity doesn't have pull on him anymore. Just other people. His hands clench hard and snap outward. 

Just other—

River goes flying. Across the rooftop, skittering like a stone on water, too fast.

"No!" 

The word is torn from him worse than a reflex. He doesn’t remember the push-off into flight; in the next instant, his back is to the sky, arms tight around River’s middle so she doesn’t fall, momentum pushing them further into the sky. 

He swore it to himself when she fainted that he would never make her afraid again, but here he fucking is, mind screaming one harsh note, a single word, then four: Mistake. Mistake. You are a mistake.

“Daniel. Daniel.” Hands grip his forearms. Her back is curled into his chest still, stunned. “It’s okay. We weren’t that close.”

Lies. Why does she choose now to lie, instead of throwing the truth at his feet like she always does so he’ll lay down like a dog? They are in the fucking air. There’s barely an edge of rooftop below them. “I’m so. I’m so sorry. I’m so…we should…”

“You’re squeezing too hard.” Cold imperiousness seeps back into her voice. He deserves it. It also brings him back to earth, in every single sense. She is taking control of the situation. That’s what she does. “Put me down.”

They both return to the rooftop. His senses return to him akin to exiting a tunnel. His stomach churns. His fingers feel numb.

“I’m done today, I think,” he manages. 

She is a single arm’s length away from him, her head tilted slightly to the side. Her mouth curves downward, matching the trajectory of her gaze, which is affixed to his feet, still cemented to the ground. It’s moments like these he remembers what it feels like to be pulled so fiercely down, so harshly down that it might as well be law. Humans aren’t supposed to fly.

Everyone should orbit something. Even him.

Hubris kills. He saw it happen.

“You’re really mean to yourself,” she mutters.

“You’re one to talk,” he says, before he can stop it.

But then, fuck—

She laughs again.

She sparkles a little, when she laughs. Her freckles catch the sun and her eyes wrinkle slightly, though she hasn’t laughed enough for it to leave lines. Her face is so barren when she thinks no one is looking; but there’s a raw beauty to this, like moon quartz, that means it has to be real.

Fuck. He hopes she didn’t hear that one.

“You’re right,” she says, smile lingering.

He laughs. A balm. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Ortega you said that.”

Her smile turns conspiratorial. “I’ll give it to you this once.”

“He won’t believe me.”

“Exactly.”

He floats again, a little bit. He catches himself in the act, drifting toward her.

And she lets it happen. She lets it happen.

“I’ll get you down,” he says, before his mind runs somewhere else.

They are halfway down the building when she says: “It’s okay.”

A step outside the script. It comes out clumsy and poor.

He holds her just a little closer, all the same.

[bluedalahorse]

I took 24 hours off, did some writing for school (just revising a poem, but I’m going to do a second poem or more tonight if I can manage it) and have managed to mentally sort through what’s upsetting me.

And the conclusion I’ve come to is: I’m actually really, deeply sad that I can’t write fanfiction right now.

I mean, I’m also way off my routine, and having my period, and going back to work after a long, needed vacation away soon. But the fanfiction thing is part of it.

I used to assume that original writing and fanfiction writing scratched the same creative itch. I thought I would be okay switching over to original writing! To be fair this might have been true at another time, in another fandom. But I think for YR fandom it’s different, because I’m essentially writing the things in YR fandom that I have to write by myself if I want them to exist at all. And that’s the way I practice fandom for YR—by creating my own stuff, and by exploring the characters I’m most interested in exploring.

Having that personal sandbox of fanfic is so important, because it gives me a concrete thing to do instead of flailing and going “why isn’t there more fic for me??? why can’t I convince people that [random idea] would be such a cool direction to take [character]’s arc in?” For instance, I’ve been upset lately because I can’t find much in the way of fic that takes a more hopeful stance toward August’s future, or fic that proposes an AU or future where saraugust has a different outcome. (I like how things ended in canon, but their backstories are compelling and their faces are cute and I’d like to see them smashed together more.) A lot of the August fic right now is August/Vincent (which I don’t ship romantically, even if I have tried, just to have something to read) or it deals with August having suicidal ideation (which is personally triggering for me to read about.)

I’m also in a place where like… outside of canon and Heart and Homeland and conversations with a few trusted friends, I don’t actually think I’m interested in wilmon at all right now. I hesitate to post this, because I know it’s kind of annoying to point out that you don’t like a massively popular thing. I don’t mean it in a malicious way, and I’m trying to be truthful about why I feel isolated. And I guess what’s really going on here is, like, 50% overexposure to the pairing (which is my fault, and curable with filters and hiatuses) and 50% some of the culture that’s sprung up around them (which I guess is what I do wanna address, for whatever that’s worth.) For some fans, hating August and Kristina and only ever seeing/writing them as villains is an extension of the culture of shipping wilmon and part of the fun. For some fans, hating Sara for so long post-s2 (and some fans still do!) was an extension of shipping wilmon and part of the fun. For some fans, sorting characters into good and evil camps based on how they affect wilmon is an extension of shipping wilmon. And then there’s been the intense parasocial focus on Omar and Edvin (and to some extent Felicia?) that’s sprung up in some corners of the fandom, which bleeds into the wilmon shipping culture. I know a lot of individuals don’t ship wilmon in some or all of those ways. Unfortunately a lot of that “baggage” in the shipping culture has soured wilmon for me for the time being. I’ve got the pairing blocked and I feel like I’m still dealing with like, the way those things impact the broader YR fan culture and how people interpret the characters and such. It feels very hard to escape.

When I’m able to write fanfiction, I sort of have like… an outlet. Like I can write a fic where August or Kristina or Sara or Nils or Vincent is as complex as I want them to be. I can write a fic where Felice gets to be more than a “good friend” or a romance cheerleader. I can write a fic where Linda gets to be human and make mistakes and isn’t the perfect mom who ships her son. I did write some of those fics and I feel amazing about it! And even if I never finish or post a fic in full, it’s okay, because at least I’ve still gotten to play with the fictional toys I love, and have fun. It’s a bonus if I get to connect with people about it.

But right now… I feel like I’m watching everyone play with the YR Barbies and I’m behind a glass wall sitting on my hands and can’t play. And I feel like people keep dismembering the August Barbie and scribbling on him and putting him in the microwave (a wholly valid way to play with August Barbie I guess, but I have other plans for him that I can’t carry out right now, and that makes me sad.) And there’s some Barbies sitting in the corner untouched that I have excellent ideas for.

I guess the ultimate solution is that I need to do some more intentional stepping away from tumblr like I did in the spring. Not leaving completely, but like, having a set time of week I get on and a set way I engage. Talking to individual folks more on discord when I can. I’m going to take another 24-48 hours to think about it and then put my plan into motion.

Since I can’t play Barbies right now, I think it will just help to not see the Barbies being played with in front of me. If that makes sense.

For all that I unloaded a lot of messy venting here, I do hope everyone’s weekends are off to a good start.

[lumpsbumpsandwhumps]

Parental groups r weird, but I got the feeling like ppl r again violently trying to accomplish their own goals using children, to show off the school or their high morals u know. That’s may sound alien, but if I’m still a teen, and I actually want to discover the world myself, derive my own views and opinions, can I like go without those lessons of gender studies etc. Like I don’t want teachers/relatives and random people telling me what to do and what to think, I want to have a right to choose my own courses and be free with that. Bannings r stupid, but it’s even dumber to be fed forcibly with something I’m not ready to consume or waste time on. Does this go only in one direction?

I mean I'm definitely one who thinks there are happy mediums in every conflict, but most sides take the stance of "my way or the highway", so it's hard to really satisfy anyone without completely alienating the other.

I think it's important to at least approach the ideas of gender studies, sexualities, etc with developing teenagers because that's when they really start to discover themselves. Some kids struggle with labeling new feelings or confusion they might experience, so it would help to give them a stepping stone, which they can then decide to pursue further with elective courses if they feel it resonates with them or just out of curiosity. And, even if none of those ideals apply to them, it's still good that they acknowledge such things exist and normalize it.

They don't have to be full blown core classes from grade 6 to 12 about the entire history of transgender identity, just a semester similar to health class that kids can later on select electives on if they want to continue exploring those topics, or never touch again. You can throw in the story of the Stonewall Riots during the civil rights lesson without turning it into propaganda as to why you, a 16 year old, must now label yourself as transgender. You can finally acknowledge the contributions women have made in the STEAM field that had been ignored or miscredited to men. You can read the letters or love poems of famous authors and say they were written to their same sex partner and leave it at that.

It's not about forcing kids to be one way or another, it's about exposing them to different ways of thinking and normalizing the outcomes.

[sallow-graves]

The Prettiest Star

Chapter 3: someday

cw: miscommunication, kissing, mentions of abuse

“Well, that’s bloody menacing, isn’t it?” James sneers, turning over the card in his hand. He and Sirius cluster around the crate while Remus undresses, peeling away his uniform to get ready for bed.

“‘This brew is not poisonous.’” Drawls Sirius, plucking a vial of the blue potion from the crate. “Why would someone need to write that if it wasn’t poisonous? If you didn’t expect it to be, you certainly fucking do now.”

James nods, agreeing, taking the note to his bed, adjacent to Remus’, to grab his wand. Remus slips into his pajama bottoms, and sinks onto his mattress, shirtless. “Who could have given me this?”

“No idea.” Sirius mutters. “But it reeks of something vile.”

Finally, James returns, pressing the tip of his wand to the card. “Aparecium.” He mutters, charming the note to reveal a hidden message.

Remus crawls forward towards the foot of the bed, leaning over the note as James holds it out for the other two to investigate, minutes stretching on as the note stays exactly the same.

James points his wand down at the case itself, nodding for Sirius to replace the vial in his hands back into the crate. He shuts the lid, then whispers, “Specialis Revelio.”

Again they wait, and again, nothing changes.

“No charms.” James mumbles. “The hell would this be used for?”

“Sniffing it.” Sirius says, grabbing another vial and uncorking the lid. He inhales, shutting his eyes before instantly recoiling at the smell. “Oh, ghastly! That’s putrid. Definitely do not drink this.”

“Moony,” James tucks his wand into the waistband of his pajamas, reaching up to readjust his glasses. Remus glances up at him, frowning a bit at the sight of his cracked lense. James could fix that, easily, but hasn’t. Remus wonders why. “You haven’t got any of those wolf senses left, have you?”

Remus shakes his head. “Too long after the moon.”

“Damn.” James says, taking the open bottle and cork from Sirius’ bony hands. “You know what that means, Padfoot.”

Despite the tension between them, Sirius softens at the nickname. “Yeah, yeah, I’m doing it.”

Remus always likes watching his friends transform the way they do. He can never see his own transformation during the moon, and never really knows what it looks like beyond how badly it hurts, so watching the animagi morph in a matter of a few painless seconds is very interesting.

Sirius cracks his neck, then shrinks, features morphing quickly to that of a canine’s, black fur sprouting from his skin. If Remus blinked, he would miss it, peering over the bed at the large dog that now sits amidst a pile of James and Remus’ dirty laundry.

Much like Sirius, the dog sits pristinely, delicately waving his paw for James to fork over the potion. He sniffs it, a few times for good measure, then James backs up as Sirius quickly morphs back to his full height, switching from dog to man in a very impressive half a second.

“Can’t tell what it’s made of.” He says, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. “But it’s bloody foul. If I were you, I’d just toss the whole crate out that window.”

He points, to emphasize his stance, and Remus can’t help the way his lips twitch in the ghost of a smile.

In the low light of their dorm, Sirius is strikingly beautiful, still, even in his pajamas. They’re technically James’ pajama bottoms, Remus recognizes, patterned flannel that’s a bit too loose on Sirius’ dainty hips, but the t-shirt is his. An old, ratty black shirt with bubble letters spelling The Kinks, formed amidst the Union Jack.

Remus was with him when he got it, from some muggle consignment shop in London last summer. James was caught up with some book he was searching for, so the other two had split off to explore the other shops.

The memory is a very good one. Remus misses when they could laugh together like that.

He doesn’t really register when James recorks the bottle and replaces it in the crate, staring a bit too hard at the sliver of Sirius’ pale hip, exposed as James’ pants slide down a bit on his small frame.

“Moony,” James says, and Remus looks up, blinking. James rolls his eyes. “Merlin, get a room.”

Remus’ cheeks flush. He refuses to see if Sirius’ do too.

“Like I was saying,” James clears his throat. “I’m off to bed. Moony, do not drink these. Or drop them out the window- not until we figure them out. I’ll ask Slughorn tomorrow for the spell that reveals potion ingredients. I don’t remember it now.”

He pushes past Sirius, who picks at the hem of his shirt, exposing a bit more skin. “Maybe you could ask Lily.” He mumbles, and Remus’ veins heat beneath his skin.

Slowly, he looks up at Sirius, blinking in astonishment. “Is that… meant to hurt me?”

“What?” Sirius turns to look at him, too. “No.”

“You sure? ‘Cause-”

“Merlin, no.” Sirius rolls his eyes. “I meant because she’s good at Potions, and in Slug Club. Best in our class, aside from Snivellus.” He nudges the crate with his knee. “Wouldn’t be surprised if that prick whipped up a potion to kill us all, given everything.”

As loathe as Remus is to drop his attitude, Sirius actually makes quite a good point. He’ll ask Lily first thing in the morning.

He wants desperately to roll over and sleep, but Sirius lingers by the leftmost post of his bed frame, tapping a finger idly on the wood.

A part of Remus, a desperate part, wants to just drop everything and invite Sirius to bed, hold him tightly till they both sleep off their grudges.

But, he knows they need to talk. Like Lily said, he needs to understand.

“Sirius.” He says, clenching his jaw. The way Sirius whips his head up, like a sick, lovestricken puppy, makes Remus want to sob. “Earlier. You said you wanted to talk.”

Instantly, Sirius straightens, cheeks flushing. “Yeah. Yes. I do. Moony, I-”

“Can I have some time to think about it?” Remus asks. “I know it’s awkward. But I’ve spent a few days being angry. Now that the moon’s worn off, I’ve a clearer head, and I need to think. Is that okay?”

Sirius blinks, tucking a string of black hair behind his ear. “‘Course. Thank you for telling me.”

Reluctantly, Sirius retreats past James’ bed to his own in the far corner. Remus heaves a sigh of relief, grateful to have some time. He knows, he can feel deep inside his stomach, that if they talk now, Remus might scream at him. He just needs a few days to simmer down.

In the morning, Remus lingers in the common room as the others head to breakfast. He knows Lily has a tendency to oversleep, missing the first hour of breakfast on more than one occasion. Thankfully, he’s quite right about it, even without having to check the map, standing quickly from his place by the door to greet her.

“Morning,” Lily yawns, still tying her red hair back into a loose pony. “Sorry.”

“No worries. Good morning.” Remus smiles. “I can wait, if you need.”

She waves him off. “What’s up?”

“Can we talk? Somewhere private.”

Lily nods, waving him forward, now, guiding him to the far corner of the common room, by the fireplace. Remus gets the kettle on while she sinks to the cushions on the floor, leaning against the wall to wake herself up some more. When they’re finally settled, tea in hand, Lily raises her wand and whispers “Muffliato.”

Remus is not familiar with that charm, himself, but he and Lily have used it before during their mutual vents. The buzzing is soft enough to not distract them, but prevent others from hearing their conversation.

“Is everything okay?” Lily asks, more awake after her morning chai.

Carefully, Remus pulls one of the vials from the inner pocket of his robes, passing the bottle to her dainty hands. “You’re very gifted with potions. We were wondering if you can tell us what this does.”

“We?” Lily asks, eyebrow raised as she swirls the vial at eye-level, watching the blue mist twist and distort itself within the glass.

“Yeah. Me, Potter and Black.”

Lily smirks, but doesn’t question him, uncorking the vial. Blue smoke wafts from the lip, filling the air with the, unfortunately familiar, at this point, putrid stench. Lily doesn’t lean in to get a better understanding of it, waving her hand in front of her scrunched features in disgust. “Blimey,” She says, quickly replacing the cap. “That’s awful.”

“Do you know what it is?” Remus tips his head, covering his nose with one hand. “I haven’t got a clue.”

Lily nods, trying to catch her breath from the stench, making sure the cork is in tightly. “Aconite. Dreadful, poisonous flowers.”

Poisonous. Remus frowns. Why would he be given such a large quantity of it? If someone were trying to poison just him and his mates, surely they wouldn’t have sent twelve vials of it.

“I thought that’s what he was brewing last Potions.” Lily mumbles. “You missed it, but Slughorn berated him for being off task.”

Remus blinks. “Who?”

“Severus.” She sighs. “I’m surprised he was able to get it to work. For his faults, he’s brilliant with Potions, that’s for sure.” She pauses, thinking. “Well, actually, what’s really surprising is that he had the courage to give it to you. What did he say?”

Blinking, still, Remus hands her the note. “Nothing to me. Dropped it on our doorstep.”

She reads it, and laughs a little, shaking her head.

“You’re awfully… calm for sniffing poison.”

Lily shrugs. “The flower’s poisonous, but the potion isn’t. You can drink it, if you’d like, but not now. And it definitely won’t taste good when you do.”

“What is it?” Remus asks, desperate.

After a beat, Lily looks past his shoulder, making sure they’re truly alone. Then, she whispers.

“Wolfsbane.”

She hands the vial back to Remus, and he cradles it in his hands. “Wolfsbane.”

“Yeah… heard of it?” Lily asks, tipping her head.

Unfortunately, Remus has.

Wolfsbane is a rumor, a myth passed between dark arts experts, a temporary cure to lycanthropy. Technically, it's about as close to a cure as anyone has been able to find, though the potion only allows the werewolf to keep their own mind during their transformation, rather than being overtaken by the beast’s bloodthirsty urges.

Slowly, he nods. Then, “Have you?”

Lily nods, too. Despite the charm, she still whispers. “It will help.” Remus still stares at her, so she speaks even lower. “Don’t look so confused, I’ve known for years.”

Still blinking, Remus struggles to understand. “Did… did Snape-”

“No.” Lily says. “I figured that’s the part you were leaving out yesterday, but I promise, he hasn’t said a thing to me.”

“So, how do you-”

“The staff,” Lily pauses to clarify, “the professors, they really lowered the standards on the O.W.L.s for werewolves. They only teach us how to tell the difference between a magical wolf, and a regular one. But, the textbook really goes into great detail, how to spot lycanthropy within humans.” She smiles a bit, sheepishly. “I always assumed they must’ve struck it when you started here. Most students only do the reading they’re assigned, but I like to learn.”

Remus swallows. “You read about it.”

She giggles a little, still visibly a bit sleepy. “It’s not hard to figure out once you read it. Reserved nature, short temper, in pain around the full moon. Scars, eyes, the whole thing. I knew after I read it.”

“Really?”

“Mhm.” She nods again, remembering. “We sat together in Charms, first year. I forget which charm we were practicing, but we were working together, and I saw your eyes shift. Your pupils dilated and changed, just like I had read about. The next day, you weren’t there, and I knew it was the full moon.”

Subconsciously, Remus raises a hand to his eyes. “My… pupils?”

“Yeah.” Lily laughs, louder now, as she grows more comfortable speaking about it. “Some werewolf you are, not knowing your own tells. You should really read about your own curse, Lupin.”

Remus supposes, in a way, it makes sense that she knows. Aside from his roommates, Lily is the only person to not ask questions about his scars or his disappearances.

“I don’t scare you?” He blurts, wishing he could recall it the second it’s said.

Thankfully, she shakes her head. “Not at all. Maybe a little, at first, but you’re such a sweetheart, I’ve always felt safe with you. You wouldn’t hurt anyone on purpose.”

“I could have killed Severus.”

“But, you didn’t mean to.” Lily smiles, setting her tea to the side to put a warm hand on Remus’ forearm. “That’s probably why he made you the Wolfsbane. If you drink it on the day of the moon, you’ll keep your mind when you transform, and you won’t be a danger to anyone, not even yourself.”

Remus slumps a little, against the bricks of the fireplace. For someone as wretched as Snape, it certainly was nice of him to brew such a complicated potion for him. Even if it was to keep other people safe, Remus is deeply grateful for it. He rolls the bottle over in his hands, blue mist swirling.

“Since we’re airing secrets,” Lily adds with a smirk. “Can I ask you something?” Remus nods. “The Marauders- are they animagi?”

Despite his best efforts, Remus smiles, too. “What gave it away?”

Proud of herself, Lily rejoices, balling her hands into little fists to mask her excitement. “Potter was a bit too cocky when we were learning the Patronus Charm. He was so sure what his would be, and conjured it perfectly on his first try, when others took days or weeks to even get a flash of light. And, I already knew you were a werewolf. Your friends becoming animals to keep the wolf company is the next logical step. Oh, and you all call him Prongs. Not subtle.”

Laughing with her, Remus shakes his head. “I remember that. We were all coming up with excuses to get out of it, or bungling the incantation on purpose. That charm is elementary to us, now.”

“Oh, sure, but Potter’s such a show-off, I bet he was begging you lot to let him have a go.”

“He was.” Remus grins. “You know,” He says, still chuckling. “It was actually James’ idea to do it. Took them three years to get the potion right, since Pete kept swallowing the mandrake leaf. I kept telling him, he didn’t have to, but he said he just wanted to be there for me during the full moon. He didn’t want me to suffer by myself. Once he mastered it, he had to help the others with theirs.”

Surprisingly, Lily softens, hearing that, the corners of her mouth twitching as she smiles. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Remus watches her, eyeing the flush in her cheeks. “You know, James is a good person. He’s a bit cocky, yeah, but he saved Severus from me, and yelled at Sirius on my behalf.” Lily’s smile falls. “He said that… hurting someone was the last thing I ever wanted, and that it was Sirius’ fault I’d carry so much guilt afterwards. I’ve never seen him so angry before.”

“He saved Severus?” Lily asks, green eyes wide.

Remus nods. “He said he was already there, but I know James was going after him. Sirius thought it would be funny, I suppose, to send Severus to the place where I transform, and James tried to get to him before I did. He had to wrestle me off him, without turning into the stag either, so Severus wouldn’t find out about that. Then he must’ve gotten him out of there before he did transform, so he could use the prongs to jab me back into the room.”

Lily doesn’t say much else, besides nod, but Remus can see the pink spreading beneath her freckles, her smile returning. She coils a finger round a lock of red hair, taking a gentle sip of her tea.

They miss breakfast completely, so Remus doesn’t get a chance to find Snape until supper.

The great hall is filled with students, of course, packed together like sardines. Remus can see where his roommates have cleared a spot for him at the Gryffindor table, but he makes a line straight for Slytherin, eyeing a head of greasy black hair, seated far away from everyone else.

“Severus.” Remus says, surprised when Snape’s shoulders tense in shock. He turns slowly, his face missing its usual haunting sneer. Instead, he frowns. Remus doesn’t let it get to him. “Thank you.”

The chatter around them dims a bit, equally surprised. Remus can feel his friends staring at him, agape.

“Yeah.” Snape says, waving him off. “Just keep your claws away from me. Drink one the day of, two if you feel it’s to be a bad one. When you run out, I’ll brew more, but you have to gather the Aconite.”

“Alright. Cheers.” Remus says, extending a hand.

Again, the surrounding Slytherins hush. Even a few Ravenclaws turn to watch.

Hesitantly, Snape reaches to take his hand. Remus gives it a hearty shake before turning to head back to his own house’s table.

Not surprisingly, his roommates gawk at him like children in a zoo. Remus tries to pay them no mind, filling his plate with food as it appears before him.

“Uh,” James says, tipping his head. Remus notices the lense in his glasses is fixed. “Mate?”

“Yeah?”

“You were just talking to Snivellus,” Peter whispers, not noticing the food on his chin.

Remus hands him a napkin. “Yeah.” He lowers his voice. “Lily told me about the potion. It’s actually… a good one. I’m going to drink them.”

“What? Moony-”

“It’ll keep my mind during the moon.” He says, cutting into his steak. “If I drink it before, I’ll keep my head. It’ll still… happen, but it’ll be me in there.”

He has to be vague, amidst all the students, but they seem to understand him well enough. Sirius’ mouth has not stopped flopping open and closed, and Peter still has not wiped his chin.

“Sorry- did you have a lobotomy for breakfast?” James blurts, astonished. “Snivvey made you something to help you? After everything that happened?”

Remus merely shrugs. “I think he made it so I can’t hurt anyone else. But, I’m grateful, regardless.”

“Merlin,” Sirius finally curses, blue eyes blown wide. James and Peter nod, agreeing, but Remus glances past them, watching Snape turn to glance back over his shoulder.

Briefly, he catches the glimpse of a smile, but it quickly fades as Snape whips his head back to his own meal.

In the evening, Remus lingers outside the grounds, settling under the tree beside the lake. Most of his day involved a lot of thinking, which is a bit exhausting, and he just needed some air to finish clearing his head. The sky is dark, which his canid eyes have grown accustomed to, looking out over the pitch black lake to see as the stars overhead glimmer against the surface.

He looks up, resting his head against the bark, and staring up at the moon.

It’s in the last quarter, now, half lit and surrounded by a cluster of clouds, gray in the night sky. The stars surrounding it twinkle, bright enough to shine through the smog. On its own, the moon is not so frightening. It’s actually very peaceful to see, even just the last half of it amidst its monthly rotation. There’s a part of him that always expects the moon to harm him, no matter the phase, light burning his skin or prematurely calling to the beast.

It rumbles somewhere within him, but Remus keeps his gaze on the moon. He’s never seen a full moon, ironically. Not as himself. He’s caught glimpses of it, as his head fogs with the bloodthirsty howl of the wolf, but never stared into it. He and the full moon have never occupied the same space together. It’s always the moon and the beast.

Perhaps, on the next rotation, if Snape’s potion really does work, Remus will let himself see the full moon for the first time.

Or, perhaps, he’ll be too scared to even look.

A stick cracks somewhere behind him, but Remus doesn’t jump, waiting for the intruder to drop the invisibility cloak slung round his shoulders.

When Sirius steps out of it, he’s in James’ pajama bottoms again, map in his left hand, wand in the right. In the darkness, his hair blends into the night sky, but the stars glimmer over his skin, giving him a ghastly look, hollow cheeks casting dark shadows over his slim features.

“S’cold out here.” He mumbles. Remus glances at the map while Sirius struggles to gather the cloak in his arms. “Oh,” Sirius clarifies. “Sorry. I just wanted to check on you.”

Remus nods, watching Sirius struggle. The map crumples beneath the cloak’s weight, so he smiles, scooching over against the tree’s trunk, and patting the grass beside him.

Despite the darkness, he can see Sirius’ eyes sparkle, dropping quickly to his knees to budge up beside him.

It is a bit cold, especially for Sirius’ thin nightclothes, so Remus takes the cloak to splay it out over their legs like a blanket, smiling pleasantly to himself while Sirius stiffens, awkward.

As he settles in, Remus reaches into the inner pocket of his robes, digging for his beat up carton of cigarettes. He sticks one gently between his teeth, grateful when Sirius holds up the tip of his wand.

“Incendio.” Sirius whispers, and his wand tip ignites, lighting the cigarette and illuminating his own features in a flash of red and orange.

Remus takes a long drag, sucking the smoke greedily into his lungs, letting the heat warm him from within. As he exhales, smoke billowing, he passes the cigarette to Sirius, who thanks him quietly, shutting his eyes to breathe in the warmth just as well.

They sit in silence together for a few minutes, watching the lake and sharing their smoke. Remus can taste Sirius’ chapstick on the end of the cigarette, flooding with a different kind of warmth.

When it’s out, he tosses the burnt tip into the lake, listening as it sizzles against the water.

“What happened?” He asks Sirius, breathing another long string of smoke.

Slowly, Sirius sighs, dragging his knees up to his chest beneath the cloak, wrapping his arms around his shins to lean forward and rest his head. “I’m really sorry, Moony. I really fucked up this time. I took things too far, and it just got out of hand.”

“What happened?” Remus asks, again. He feels more hurt than he does annoyed. Or angry. Remus is not angry anymore.

Shutting his eyes, Sirius flinches, visibly trying to calm himself. He speaks slowly, deliberately, as if explaining his intentions will cause Remus to strike him.

Remus knows why he acts this way, of course, but he wishes he made Sirius feel safer. He wishes the abuse Sirius has endured wouldn’t rear its ugly head so often when they’re alone together.

“Reg and I were fighting.”

Remus blinks, confused, turning to look at him fully as he recounts this. He knows Sirius’ relationship with his brother, Regulus, is very strenuous, but Sirius keeps their arguments to himself. Remus tends to avoid the subject of Sirius’ family altogether.

“I, uh, I told him that I’m not coming home this summer.”

“What?” Remus says.

Sirius sighs. “I’m not going back there. I’m not going to be around my parents- or that family ever again.” He raises his head, propping his chin on his knees to look out at the water again. “James invited me to live with him, and his family, just for the last summer before seventh year. Then, I’ll figure something else out, but I just can’t go back there. Ever again.”

He pauses, taking a breath. Remus resists the urge to run a soothing hand down his back.

“I wanted Regulus to know, before they found out. I know he hates me now, I know he’s got all these friends and a whole life without me, but I thought he should know. He was mad I’d leave him behind, and I told him he could stay with the Potters, too, James told me he could if he needed, but he just blew up.”

Remus doesn’t have an answer for any of this, staying quiet to listen. To understand.

Sirius huffs. “I was mad at him, and it was after supper, and we had some beer leftover in that keg from the Quidditch Rally, so I was just… drinking. James and Peter were going to go with you for the moon, and I felt so awful for missing it. I never miss one, Moony, I want to be there for you for every one, but James told me to stay behind. He said I wasn’t doing well enough, and that wouldn’t help tame it, and it just… would be better for me to stay.

“Snivellus overheard us. It was stupid, and we should’ve been more careful, but he came up to me after James left, all aggressive, demanding some answers. I told him if he wanted to know so fucking badly he could just go to the Whomping Willow himself. I didn’t know he was going to figure out how to get past it, and I didn’t expect him to get hurt. I thought it would be fun to get pissed and watch the Willow fling him about like a ragdoll, but he slipped right past it. I tried to run in to stop him but he was faster, and I’m no good at stopping the Willow without James.”

“Oh.” Remus says.

Sirius turns to look at him, still pressed into his knees. “I’m really sorry, Moony. I didn’t want it to go so far, and I just… it was so stupid. I was stupid. I’m sorry.”

Remus looks back out at the lake, then back towards the castle. If he squinted, in the darkness, he could just make out the twisted branches of the Whomping Willow.

He inhales. “I don’t want to hurt people.”

“I know.”

“Dumbledore built that shack and planted that tree so no one would go near it, so I couldn’t hurt anyone.”

“I know.”

“That includes Snape.”

“I know,” Sirius breathes. “I know that. I wasn’t thinking. James put it best, I didn’t care. I should have cared, Moony.” He pauses, briefly, sitting back to dig into his pockets. Remus grabs his own carton of cigarettes, offering one to him, which he takes greedily. When it’s lit, he speaks through the smoke. “I apologized to Snape, again, after. And before, I asked Dumbledore if I could cover his detention, and James’. I can’t win back points for Slytherin, but now I’ve got all their sentences.”

Remus watches him, gray vapor billowing around them as it disappears in the cool night air. “I’m not mad at you.”

“Really?” Sirius’ eyes widen, softening in surprise.

“Yeah. I was, at first, but I think that’s the wolf talking.” Remus turns his nose up to look at the moon again. “It makes me angrier than I like to be.”

“I’m sorry.” Sirius says again.

Remus shrugs. “Thank you for telling me the truth. Maybe, in the future, we’ll be more careful about what we say outside our dorm? Maybe Lily can teach us that concealing spell she has.”

“Of course, Moony. I promise, no more werewolf talk outside of our dorm.” He pauses when Remus snorts. “Well, I mean, starting now. Sorry.”

“I didn’t know you’re going to live with James.” Remus says.

“I know, I’m sorry for that, too.” Sirius sighs. “We’re still figuring it all out. I thought I could make it through the year and see how it felt, but the more I think about it, the more I’m certain I’m never going back.”

Remus nods, absorbing this.

“Are you upset with me?” Sirius asks. “James offered last year, if you wanted me to live with you, we could-”

“No.” Remus smiles. “I’m not upset. That’s not something you have to share with me if you don’t want to, I just didn’t know.”

Sirius blinks at him, sitting upright fully again. He lets his legs slip back down beneath the cloak, pulling it up over his free arm. “I want to share everything with you, Moony. I was going to tell you, once it was sorted with Reg.”

“I know.” Remus clenches his jaw. “You know… why I was hurt, right?”

“Yeah.” Sirius’ eyes darken. “You thought I told Snivellus your secret. I didn’t, I promise, it was just a dumb joke, but I can’t imagine how you could forgive me after something like that.” He pauses, taking another drag. When he passes the cigarette to Remus, Remus just holds it, watching the embers flicker. “I know it’s hard for you to open up to people. I know it was hard to be open with me. I would never betray you like that.”

Remus doesn’t answer, but he believes him. Sirius is very loyal, possibly the most loyal person Remus has ever met.

The silence between them grows comfortable while they watch the lake again, stars shining over the soft, rippling water. Slowly, the cigarette burns down to a nub.

“I’m scared of losing you.” Sirius whispers. His voice trembles.

Beneath the cloak, Remus takes his hand, squeezing his cold fingers tightly. “I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”

The cigarette burns his fingers, so he flicks it into the water like the first one. Sirius watches him with teary eyes. “I love you, too.”

Remus pulls Sirius’ hand out from under the cloak, kissing the back of his knuckles before reaching across him to pull the cloak up over his shoulders. When he lets go, he drapes his arm round Sirius’ neck, pulling him close into Remus’ side, smiling softly as Sirius nuzzles into him, snuggling up close.

“Mm,” Sirius’ grin spreads, shutting his eyes. “That natural werewolf heat.”

Remus rolls his eyes. “You just said you’d stop talking about it outside the dorm.”

“Starting tomorrow.” Sirius laughs, glancing up at him peacefully. “I promise.”

His feet brush up against Remus’ pant leg, slipping beneath the fabric and pressing to his skin. “Cold!” Remus shivers. “Where are your shoes?”

“Left ‘em up there,” Sirius nods at the castle. “Saw you were by yourself and had to get out here, fast as I could. It’s alright because I’ve got my own personal furnace right here.” He slips his cold fingers beneath Remus’ sweater, yelping in surprise when Remus pinches his shoulder to get him away.

As the night goes on, Remus still watches the sky, the clouds circling still, idly framing the moon with a pleasant gray hue. Sirius watches it, too, staring up at the night, his head nuzzled perfectly into the crook of Remus’ neck.

A warmth, aside from the heat of his skin, blossoms in the pit of Remus’ stomach, happy to have understood him. As awkward as things have been, Remus has missed him dreadfully, grateful to be able to move past it. As hurt as he was, a part of him knew it was unlike Sirius to hurt him so blatantly.

Briefly, he presses a sentimental kiss to Sirius’ hair, not surprised when he sits up, pale cheeks flushed pink. His blue eyes flutter, lashes standing out starkly against his pale cheeks as he inches closer, pressing his lips to Remus’ own, passing the taste of stale ash to his tongue, and a deeper warmth through his body.

The clouds part, and the moon illuminates the side of Sirius’ face as he pulls back, painting him a brilliant, shining white. Like the stars above, Sirius’ twinkling smile brings a new, permanent sense of comfort, a layer of protection forming around Remus’ heart.

He reaches out to tuck a few strands of black hair behind Sirius’ ear, watching the way he shivers. “My star.” He says, smiling, unsurprised when Sirius goes for his lips again, effectively knocking them both backwards into the grass, completely hidden from view beneath the invisibility cloak’s charm.

To the naked eye, the lake is barren, accompanied only by the moon and its stars, and a scattering of cigarettes floating in the water.

[crystalelemental]

Apparently Reddit is doing some Pasio Awards thing, where they have people nominate the best options in particular categories.  It’s neat, though definitely lacking any like...consistency.  “Best” is ill-defined, seeming to cover literally any criteria, so you have people arguing based on performance, interest in the duo, or even just the character’s outfit.  Which feels a bit wonky.

Anyway I’m gonna share my stance on it all because I love talking.

Best Masterfair In any realistic, combat-focused answer, it’s SST Red.  He can literally solo the entire game.  This is not an exaggeration.  Every LG stage can be soloed by him at 3/5.  There is no other unit that comes close to his level of power.

But that’s lame, and units that can do everything without issue are no fun.  So I have a hard time saying that he’s actually “The best” in any other sense.  “You’re gonna say SS Kris, aren’t you?”  Not if I’m being entirely objective.  Like, yeah, if I’m being the way I am, I absolutely think she’s the best, but that’s for later.  In this category, I’d say SS Lyra.  100% flinch is neat, but not functionally distinct from sleep.  What puts her apart, however, is that this being a natural passive makes it so you can queue the next move before your opponent can change their action.  This means SS Lyra is the perfect disruption machine, because she pulls this off but doesn’t throw off your turn order.  Even more significant is that she does all of this with no gauge cost if Grassy Terrain is active.

I think this it’s the fact that Lyra is, at once, a powerhouse sync nuker and unbelievable lockdown utility that can shut down a majority of the game, that sets her apart.  She’s a unit who can benefit literally any team composition.  This is something I feel SST Red doesn’t do.  He’s a solo machine, but he’s not really that helpful to anyone outside of Electric Terrain.  Paralysis is one-time use, and the defense drops are nice but take longer to set up than a Leer bot or Lucian would.  As a result, SST Red feels very specific, and very...almost reliant on 3/5?  Like he can do a lot 1/5 too, but he’s no longer solo master, and then weakens substantially.  And Master Fairs, in my mind, are differentiated from PokeFairs by their 1/5 sufficiency.  Their best tools are available at 1/5, most often.  SST Red’s are very much not.  So I’m giving this one to Lyra, whose 1/5 utility is unbelievable even at base.

Best PokeFair My vote’s on SS Cyrus.  Similar reasons to SS Lyra, in that his utility alone is incredible, while being backed by great sync damage.  But I think this also counts in terms of like...the cool factor.  I love Gen 4, and that includes Explorers of Sky.  So the combination of Cyrus from the main series and Darkrai from the mystery dungeons games was a really, really cool idea.  I adore this combination.  Nothing has beaten it all year.  Not for lack of trying, but you know.

Best Seasonal I am contractually obligated to say Winter Jasmine.  And legitimately, I can't think of anything that comes close.  She's an ideal unit; perfect design, perfect partner, fantastic role with broad application.   Absolutely nothing compares.

Best Special Costume It's Rosa.  Look, there are only five of them, and the teatime alts are good but come on.  SC Rosa's ridiculous.  Top performer for Grass-type DPS and Sync damage, and packs special defense debuffs per attack to the tune of -2 per hit, also hits special attack -2 per hit, but also can use the special attack debuff as part of her AoE -2 evasion debuff.  She's a perfected Cresselia counter.  Then you add in that her trainer move carries an effective Dire Hit All effect for team support even when she's not the primary focus, and then also packs Potion with a potential Friend Mend to remove status...Rosa does a metric ton in a single unit.  A top performer in a heavily contested typing, with tremendous utility besides.  10/10, best SC.

Best Spotlight If anyone tries to tell you it’s not Lucian, it’s because they’re in the pocket of Big Gacha and are trying to sell you more microtransactions.  "But what about Courtney?  Ground Zone is so good!"  For a single type.  A type that she supports decently but not well without Ingo present, because of her tremendous gauge issues that are wildly compounded alongside SS Giovanni and Maxie.  Comparatively, Lucian is a blanket support with nigh-universally beneficial traits.  Special defense drops are tremendous, and attack drops are great for any team's survival.  But then you pack in speed buffs as well.  And now it's like wow, that guy's pretty good, but it must be tough to decide on what to use when.  What's that?  Oh, he does all of that in a single move, that's only a one-bar spam?  Oh okay, very normal, thanks Lucian.  This is a guy who enables Pecking Order, Smarty-Pants, and Inertia sync nukers, all at the same time.  He enables every special attacker.  He counterpicks purely offensive stages like Cobalion and Tapu Bulu.  And that’s before you realize this is all 1/5.  You don’t need anything beyond the one copy.  But if you get him 3/5?  Now he’s one of the top sync nukers in a wildly competitive typing.  And this dude is in the general pool.  You can pull for him with free scout tickets.  This is a PokeFair they accidentally demoted.  Lucian rules.

Best Masters Day Expansion This seems to be specific to general pool 5* expansions, so I'll do common grids separate.  In which case...it's Kris.  I think there's a good case for Cynthia, who got a tremendous overhaul on her sync, but Kris was downright lifechanging.  +150% sync, +50% move, fixes all accuracy issues, gets a massive +40 attack bonus, and can even self-buff crit.  Base Kris is nuts now, and I'm living for it.

Best 5/5 Expansion Lysandre.  Everyone's saying it, and they're right.  Lysandre was a fantastic pick for Gauntlet, thanks to his constant recovery effects.   Dude's legitimately great. His main problem was always low sync damage and lack of multipliers on an already weakened 4-bar move.  Lysandre's grid expansion handles everything, providing tremendous buffs to both types of damage, as well as Downside Up, which is just hysterical.   Including all of this in one set that also allows him to keep Healthy Buffer 5?  Lysandre has become an absolute menace.  Nothing short of CS offense parameter syncs can stop him.

Best Outfit There are so many good ones, but I think I'm gonna say Champion Serena.  Bit of recency bias, but it's so good it made me pull for Greninja.  I, known Greninja Hater, pulled for a Greninja, because Serena's outfit was so good.  I can't think of anything that outdoes that.

Best Sync Pair "Okay, now it has to be SST Red."  And it would be, but same rules apply to "Best Master Fair."  In that I do not value what he does that much.  I recognize he solos the game.  I also feel like bypassing all need to teambuild or strategize is a problem, not a benefit.

So we're setting that aside, in which case, my selection is obvious to anyone who's been here for like a week: it's SS Kris.  I'm going to differentiate "Best Pair" from "Best Master Fair" by stating that the master fair category will look at their total range of effectiveness and their relative success within that role.  In which, Lyra is uncontested.  She helps so much, and does something only she can do.  But Best Sync Pair, I think, is going to be more about how significant an impact they had, and how unique their particular niche is.  Flinch chaining and sleep chaining are not new.  Yes, Lyra is by far the most successful.  But we're looking for range of success.

SS Kris does.  Uniquely, SS Kris does.  Ingo and SS Morty are the other two with similar success, alongside the new Champion Calem.  But it is SS Kris who actively salvaged multiple targets.  Clair, NY!Lance, Winona; units that desperately needed the Rain, but also needed massive offensive support, and held types that were outside of the natural Rain multiplier for Water.  There are a lot of these.  And like all of Johtrio, Kris functions perfectly at 1/5 thanks to natural MP Burst.  All she needs is first sync, and she's able to get three uses of Rain Dance, and even guaranteed caps special attack/crit.

I will acknowledge Kris' flaws.  She does take longer to boost those needed offenses, and needs to utilize rain early for stacks of special moves up next.  I am aware.  But the range of impact that Kris had was far beyond anything any other sync pair has provided me.  She is unreal, being perfect for Rain, the literal savior of multiple units, and often an ideal pick for specially offensive units broadly due to her unique combination of moves up and offensive parameter buffing.  Kris is just perfect.  Unless you're physical, in which case, take it up with Ingo or Calem.

Best Common Grid (my own addition) I am putting this in contrast to "most effective common," which is still Roxanne.  Girl really just needed MPR and Endure, and by god she got it.  But her grid also sucks and is costly and poorly laid out, so no.  We need another.

And I'm saying it's Cheryl.  Cheryl's kinda fallen off here, but I do still love and respect her.  Cheryl's grid got amazing tools, including the coveted natural Vigilance.  She was able to cap special attack, and buff speed while doing it.  MPR on a Potion that buffs defenses made her tremendous in Gauntlet.  Really, if it weren't for her pitifully low physical defense, Cheryl would be unreal.  But every common suffers some kind of horrific flaw, and that's Cheryl's.  Truth be told though, she can handle a surprising number of physical hits in Gauntlet, just not CS with offensive parameters being as they are.

[enneamage]

do you think there’s a reason tubbo seems to be so ignorant beyond his privileged upbringing? like does his personality factor into his lack of knowledge/research about certain topics? it’s fairly hard to grow up as a teenager in this day and age and be completely unknowledgeable about certain world issues yet he is. is he just stubborn? does he just not care enough to look into it/does he not know of the right resources to look into things? is it some other reason entirely?

So, there’s layers to this one.

I'm actually not familiar with what “world issues” he seems to struggle with, other than the things that lead to the Tory allegations. Since I'm not a regular viewer I won't be able to give specific examples, but it looks like he falls into a broader pattern so I'll have a guess at that.

The question of how he hasn’t passively gained information because of his time on the internet might have something to do with his dyslexia. While there are more social video and audio platforms than there used to be, the majority of the internet is still written text, and when I think back on how I learned about “World Issues” and the general attitudes people had about them, it was 99% scrolling and reading.

Now I’m not saying he can’t read, but reading things is going to be more of a struggle for him than a simple, passive scroll on whatever the website he’s on, so he’s going to be more selective with what he pays attention to. In general, he may be someone who's learning style / way he needs to be taught is different from the post format of the kinds of websites that talk about these things. This leaves him at the mercy of his social circle and the people who make regular contact with him, making it easier to get caught in a bubble. This assumes that he’s even following the kind of people who post about “world issues” to begin with, the social justice movement is big online but it isn’t as hard to find a niche that doesn’t hold those beliefs / talk about them as one might think from the inside. From there, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, so he can’t be proactive about it.

If the question is 'why is he so abrasive/indelicate when he doesn’t understand something and it makes him uncomfortable', that we can blame on the heavy Eight wing and being raised an English boy. It may be possible for him to take a ‘can’t be bothered’ stance on certain issues because of his nature. He wants to be a nice, caring person, but from his perspective he may not see the point in emotionally / intellectually investing in things that don’t involve him if they cause him grief.

Tubbo seems to lean towards interrogating ideas when he encounters them. While this might come off as rejecting or combative, it might not necessarily be the case. From what I’ve seen of him, he likes to take ideas apart and stress-test them to see if they make sense before he accepts them into his existing worldview; he's exploring. While this probably has a nails-on-a-chalkboard effect for people who are more aware of how sensitive handing topics like that in public is, it’s an effort to give the concept a fair shake. From there he can sometimes get stuck on a detail and struggle with being re-directed, but chat-on-streamer conversations lack nuance by their nature, so that just digs the hole deeper.

I know people say ‘go google it,’ but honestly it’s not that easy to google things and find the best in-depth resources. Goggle can give you the facts, but it won’t always give you the broader social context or the attitudes or a good idea of how many people think one way or the other. Usually being around to witness the bigger social media conversation is a part of how people get this passive knowledge that it feels like ‘everyone knows’, because everyone in your circle is talking about it. If he’s got that removal from the cultural stew, a Wikipedia article isn’t going to be able to properly catch him up.

[ridingthetiger2022]

Year 2, TED talk assignment

Listen to at least 3 TED-talks. These must be either business related (at least 1) or related to your personal (professional) development. Do NOT use subtitling if that is available…

Give a personal response to the talk in 120 – 140 words.

Give 1 – 3 quotes from each talk and indicate why you chose these.

Ted talk #1 “Nationalism vs. globalism: the new political divide | Yuval Noah Harari”

This TED talk came up after finishing my Yale lecture. The subject caught my attention and it seemed like a good follow up on the subject discussed in the lecture I just finished watching. This was the case, however, the TED talk very quickly became hard to watch. The cause being that the speaker, Mr. Harari, started to undermine the severity of the problems faced by today’s youth. The following quote may serve to clarify what I’m trying to say here:

“For the first time in history, more people commit suicide than are killed by crime and terrorism and war put together. Statistically, you are your own worst enemy. From all people around the world, you are most likely to be killed by yourself, which is very good news.”

Suicide is a big problem in our current day, and in many cases it can be directly traced back to a major societal issue brought forward by neoliberalism. This being the lack of meaning people feel today. Nowadays people are task with imbuing there life with meaning by themselves. You are the architect of your own life. This idea is wonderful to some, but dreadful to many. People struggle to find a purpose to life. Where in yesterday’s world purpose was a societal given, this simply isn’t the case anymore, with all its consequences.

Ted talk #2 “The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed | Bill Gross”

In this TED talk, Bill Gross goes over the 5 elements for successful start-ups: timing, the team, ideas, the business model and funding. He explains how his view on the most important element changed over the years. Where previously he though the idea was most important, he soon came to realize that without a great team an idea can’t flourish. Later on we learn his current stance: timing. Timing is of the upmost importance for start-ups. When we look at some of the most successful start-ups out there, the one thing that made them succeed is their timing. As a personal response to this TED talk I must say I agree with Mr. Gross. I think timing is very important for a start-up, but I don’t think that it is timing alone. A combination of timing, a great team and a good idea is what can lead to a start-ups success.  

“I believe that the startup organization is one of the greatest forms to make the world a better place.”

“If you take a group of people with the right equity incentives and organize them in a startup you can unlock human potential in a way never before possible. You get them to achieve unbelievable things.”

Ted talk #3 “Two reasons companies fail -- and how to avoid them | Knut Haanaes”

Knut Haanaes begins with an example of a company that for a long time dominated their respective market, and then all of a sudden vanished in just a couple of months. The company was called “Facit”, a Norwegian company that manufactured mechanical calculators. The reason for the companies demise was their failure to adapt. In the last few months engineers at the company would test the accuracy of their own mechanical calculators with cheap, electrical calculators manufactured in Japan. To succeed, a company needs a healthy balance between exploration and exploitation. Exploration being the innovative drive and the quest to find new, revolutionary things. Exploitation being taking the knowledge that already exist and making ‘good’ better. An example of exploitation would be making sure the trains run on time, whilst exploration would be inventing a new type of train. Mr. Haanaes continues by explaining how exploitation works for short-term success, while exploration focusses on the long term. Balancing is difficult, because there are so many traps that keep us where we are. Two of them being:

The perpetual search trap. We discover something, but we don’t have the patience or the persistence to get at it and make it work. So instead of staying with it we create something new. Examples are not limited to companies, take a look at education systems, health care or even defense. They change so often that the previous changes don’t even have time to settle and thus don’t get the chance to properly succeed.

The success trap. When we know something well it is hard to change.

“Here are two reasons why companies fail: they only do more of the same, or they only do what’s new”

“Exploitation is taking the knowledge we have, and making good better. Exploitation is about making our trains run on time. It’s not risky, in the short term. But if you only exploit you’ll lose in the long term.“ I chose these two quotes as I view them as a good summary of Haanaes his thought. With the first quote he answers the title of the TED talk right away and, in doing so, grabs the viewers’ attention with both hands. The next quote I viewed as necessary to explain what Haanaes meant with exploitation, as I experienced some confusion when first hearing the term.

[beyondspaceandstars]

“We Go Way Back”

Relationship: Yelena Belova x Reader Warnings: angst, attitude, possible vague Black Widow spoilers Summary: Your and Yelena's date night takes an unexpected turn when a surprise guest shows up at your shared apartment. A/N: So. I saw Black Widow on thursday....i loved SO much.......maybe even found a new comfort character..........and now here we are :) please enjoy

Masterlist

You were just finishing up dinner when two arms snaked around your waist. You giggled, staring down at the sautéed vegetables, as you leaned into your girlfriend’s touch.

"Smells good," she mumbled against your neck. Light kisses were beginning to litter your skin.

You sighed. "Thank you, love," you said, giving everything a final stir before turning off the burners. You went to start carrying items to the table, thinking your girlfriend would let up on her hold on you, but that ended up not being the case.

With a joyous laugh, you playfully scolded her, "Yelena, please," you smiled. "Do you want to eat or not?"

She hummed. Her hands drifted now to your sides and began creeping their way to your hips and thighs. "Depends on what you had in mind."

You let out a faux surprised gasp. "You’re shameless." You shook your head and peeled her hands away from you. She let out a little defeated sigh but you just shot her a playful look and continued with your initial mission of setting the dining table.

Thankfully, this time, Yelena lent a helping hand as opposed to lending her hands…elsewhere. The latter was a common occurrence, especially before date night dinners, such as ones like these. There had been one too many meals you were forced to reheat everything after you let Yelena get carried away.

After the food was placed — a nice spread of local meats, fresh produce, and bakery bread — you began working on getting plates and cutlery. Yelena had taken it upon herself to start breaking out the wine. She brought out two bottles you had just bought that morning based on the recommendation from the butcher. You maybe took cooking and dinners a bit too seriously, hoping everything was right especially when it was for your love.

You set out the cutlery just as Yelena finished pouring two (hefty) glasses of wine. You shot her a smile in thanks and began filling each of your plates. You did have to pat yourself on the back a bit, everything smelled wonderful.

Once you two had full plates and eager stomachs, you sat down and dug in. Yelena immediately let out an exaggerated moan as she practically devoured the meat. You blushed at her enthusiasm.

"This is wonderful, dear," Yelena praised and took a sip of her wine. "Very reminiscent of my momma’s cooking."

Your ears perked up at your girlfriend’s mention of her family. She did that every now and then, slip in random comments about them. You liked trying to explore it but knew the topic was a delicate one. You trod carefully.

"Yeah?" You asked, moving some vegetables around on your plate. "Did she cook a lot?"

Yelena shrugged. "We’d have dinners together, all of us, pretty much every night."

All of us. You had heard so far of a mother and a father but could there be more? Or were you reading too much into it?

Eventually, you settled on, "Family dinners sound very nice." That was enough, you thought. Just safe but still engaged. You eyed Yelena as she continued to eat. She hadn’t noticed you stalled or, well, she probably did, but wasn’t saying anything. You took large gulps of your wine, impulsively.

Just as your liquid courage was getting to you to maybe inquire further about your lover’s family, a hard knock at the front door disrupted the entire dinner. Both of your movements stopped abruptly. You looked between the door and your girlfriend.

"Were you expecting someone?" You asked.

Yelena shook her head. Her fork dropped with a loud clang as she pushed away from the table. In quick, determined strides she collected the gun kept in the side table in the living room. You watched her, quite stunned by her response. You don’t think you ever actually saw any of her guns come into action. When you first moved in, she just explained they were a precaution. You never asked what kind of precaution. You feared you were getting your answer now as Yelena walked to the entryway.

Gun drawn, pointed dead on with the wooden door, she called out, "Who is it?"

"You can put the gun down." Surprisingly, that was a female voice answering your girlfriend’s demand. Your brows furrowed in curiosity. You watched for Yelena’s reaction but she was still so stoic and intense.

Yelena scoffed. "Are you sure?"

Probably a bit foolishly, you decided to chime in. "Love," you said, "is everything okay?"

The female on the other side of the door spoke again, this time with an element of shock in her voice. "Love?"

Yelena let out a dramatic sigh as she relaxed her stance and surrendered her gun, placing it on the little table in the foyer. What seemed to be a bit reluctantly, Yelena opened the door forcefully.

Despite the mystery woman finally being revealed, it answered approximately zero of your questions. There, in the doorway, stood a redhead whose unamusing expression mixed with a slight smugness matched your girlfriend’s. The two just stared at one another, neither dared to move, as if they were challenging one another to try it.

Curiosity finally getting the best of you, you stood from the dining table and slowly made your way to the front door. Your fingers fumbled in nervousness as you stepped with caution.

"Hi, there," you said with a weak smile and gentle wave. The redhead’s eyes flicked over to you only briefly. Still, you continued, "Are you alright? Do you need something?"

"Oh, do I."

Yelena shook her head. "The only thing she needs is to leave."

You turned to your girlfriend, "Who is she?"

"Natasha," the redhead explained. "Me and your love here," she nodded towards Yelena, "we go way back."

You didn’t know how she had the air in her but Yelena let out another ridiculous sigh and stomped away. Like some defeated child, she took her seat once more at the dining table. You had never seen her like this before, so unattached and dismissive. You wracked your brain on how to mend this.

You turned back to Natasha. "Please, come in." Natasha took the offer quite well and gave you a nod of thanks before entering the apartment. You followed her into the dining room.

"We were just starting dinner," you explained as you raced for the kitchen, grabbing Natasha her own set. "Sit, have some food."

Natasha mumbled a "thanks" as you began filling her plate now with food. You even offered up some wine despite Yelena’s weird look she shot you when you reached for it. You ignored her odd behavior and took your seat once more. Somehow, the tension from the situation just got worse. Neither woman was eating now.

You cleared your throat as you prepared to dig into your meal once more. "I hope it’s still warm. If not, I can pop everything in the oven to warm."

No one said anything.

"Alright then…" You shrugged. "If I may, how exactly do you two know each other?"

That was the question that opened the flood gates. Yelena turned to you abruptly. "She’s my sister."

"Sort of," the redhead quickly retorted.

Your jaw went slack. Your appetite completely abandoned you now as your interest was greatly piqued. "Your sister?" You asked and looked between the two women. Well, they didn’t really look alike…

"Not biologically," Yelena explained. "We just kind of…lived together for a while."

"I see," you nodded. You scraped your fork against your plate, awkwardly. "If I may again, what brings you here, Natasha?"

The question certainly made Yelena perk up as she stared down her sister — or, whatever they considered each other. You resisted the urge to grab her hand under the table, unsure of what level of affection she was comfortable showing in front of this woman.

"Some business to attend to." Short and sweet. You felt these two were definitely related on some level.

"This couldn’t have waited until the morning?" Yelena gritted.

Natasha shrugged. "I guess it could’ve but then, apparently, I would’ve missed out on this lovely dinner with you and your… your, what? Girlfriend?" She took a bite of food. "Hmm, tastes close to someone else’s cooking." A shrug. "Anyways, I didn’t know you dated."

"You don’t know a lot of things."

"Okay!" You explained, trying to salvage whatever was left of this civilized conversation. Natasha and Yelena shared a look before turning to your flustered state. "We’re very happy you dropped in, right, love?" You glanced at Yelena. "And you’re more than welcome to stay, Natasha. I’m afraid all we have to offer is the couch if that would be okay."

Natasha glanced behind you at the living room before nodding. "That would be great," she smiled.

***

It wasn’t until you were standing at the kitchen sink cleaning the dishes from dinner that Yelena approached you to talk. Natasha was off getting ready for bed and your girlfriend hopped on this opportunity.

"I’m so sorry," she said as she stood beside you, taking on the role of the dryer in your little dishwasher assembly line. "I-I don’t even know where to begin. I’m sorry she dropped by, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about her—,"

"Love," you shook your head, giving her a sympathetic look, "it’s okay. I’m not really mad you didn’t tell me or that she’s here. From what I gather, it’s a complicated relationship."

Yelena let out an annoyed huff. "You have no idea." A beat. "But, still. I shouldn’t hide these things from you. She was a big part of my life and now you… you’re a big part of my life. It’s only fair."

Your heart warmed at her admission. She could be quite the affectionate one when she wanted to be. Quickly, you leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She tried hiding her blush but failed beautifully.

"For what it’s worth, she seems very interesting," you shrugged. "I think she could be fun to get to know. Probably has a few embarrassing stories about you as a child."

Yelena gasped. "Don’t even think about it."

"Too late," you giggled, mentally marking that down as a subject for conversation. A brief silence passed over you two as you finished up with the dishes. Reaching the end of the chore, you said, "So, should I be on the lookout for any other siblings?"

Your girlfriend chuckled. "No," she admitted. "Natasha is it."

You let out a content hum in understanding. "One day we should have them all over."

"Them?"

"Yeah," you nodded, "your whole family. A nice, big family dinner. That could be exciting, right?"

Yelena rolled her eyes. Whether it was playful or not, you couldn’t quite tell. "That’s certainly one way to describe it."

[writeforfandoms]

How Did You Love 2

Find my masterlist and series masterlist

Here we are with chapter 2! We're not really getting more answers this time, but we are getting more interaction. You will get answers eventually, I promise!

Also, Thief's nickname here was helped along by @ohheyitsokay who suggested a more casual nickname rather than a title, and I got clever with it.

Also of note: the little village described is supposed to be Holly Village, Highgate, London.

You get a chance to explore and talk with your new companions. Things go... Well, they go.

Warnings: swearing, alcohol, consumption of alcohol, grief, some panic.

Word count: 1.9k

F!reader

For a moment you all just kind of… stared at each other. You were pretty sure you were still in shock, because things still weren’t quite registering properly.

“I need a drink,” cowboy hat muttered, and never had a drink sounded so appealing before.

“Seconded,” you muttered.

“Allow me, ma’am.” The cowboy held out his elbow for you with a charming grin that you were certain was just for show. But you appreciated it nonetheless, tucking your hand into his elbow. “We arrived a bit before you did,” he told you as he led the way into one of the houses. “I had a chance to do some poking around.”

“How much before me?” you asked, unable to help yourself.

“Well, depends,” cowboy said, pouring two generous drinks. He handed one to you with a wink and a smile. “I got here first, had a coupl’a hours before galaxy-person showed up.”

“Where were you before this?”

He shrugged, grimacing and taking a swig of his drink. “Not sure,” he admitted. “Can’t think ‘bout it too hard. It hurts.” He tapped his glass against his temple, and you nodded in understanding. “What ‘bout you, sugar?”

“I’m on vacation,” you told him, grinning a bit. “Well. I’m supposed to be, anyway. This kind of ruined those plans.” You took a sip of your own drink, paused, and looked at the glass in surprise. This was good stuff, very smooth.

"Not from 'round here?" His smile was a little sympathetic, but mostly amused.

"Nope." You shrugged. "You?"

"I'm from Kentucky. Name's Jack." He tipped his hat at you.

"Sorry, I think my manners were shocked out of me." You chuckled and gave him your name before taking another drink.

"So, what do you plan to do?" Jack leaned back against the wall, stance casual and relaxed, but his gaze was intense.

You snorted. You couldn't help it. "Bold of you to assume I have a plan," you drawled.

"Too soon?"

You jumped at the new voice joining the conversation and turned to find another man. He was wearing a suit, a little scruff on his jaw and a little moustache above his lip. His eyes were warm, compassionate.

"Sorry," he murmured. "Didn't mean to startle you."

You snorted. "Well, so far there have been a lot of things startling me today, so you're pretty low on the list." You shook your head. "I'm not even convinced this is real yet."

"That's understandable." He stepped in closer, one hand cupping your elbow again, in the same place as before. He was the one who'd stepped in to help before.

You smiled at him, a little awed at the quiet kindness. "Thank you."

"I'm Marcus."

You gave him your name in return, and he squeezed your elbow gently.

“Is that helping?” he asked, looking at the glass in your hand.

You shrugged. “I think so. I mean, it’s not making things worse. I realize that’s a low bar but right now…” You shrugged again.

Marcus nodded. “Seems like you need some processing room.”

“Yes. Yes I do.”

“The houses are furnished,” Jack piped up. “The couple I went into, at any rate. From what the galaxy person was saying, they should all be.”

You nodded slowly. “Not a bad idea,” you mused. Not that you were particularly tired, but you were overwhelmed. You needed time for all of this to percolate.

Which did leave you with the question: where did you want to stay? You could go the easy route and just stay here. Or you could look around further.

“I’m gonna go…” You trailed off and waved a hand vaguely at the outside. And then you started walking before you had a chance to steep in the embarrassment of your lack of social graces at the moment.

Whatever, it had been a really weird day, you were allowed to be a bit off kilter. You dodged the other four easily and took off, going across the lawn to the house directly across.

And there you paused. You could look inside the house, explore the interior, find a place to lay down maybe. Or you could explore the grounds, figure out the perimeter of this place, get the lay of the land.

All it took was a glance back at the group to make up your mind. Grounds it was. You went to the side of the house, investigating the wall that separated this little place from the rest of the city. You investigated the outside of the house itself. And then you repeated the process, poking your nose into every nook and cranny you could find. It helped, actually. You were so focused on exploring and memorizing the layout of this place and marking different spots of interest that you could ignore the men and the… unusual circumstances.

The grounds were beautiful and well-kept. You had no idea who kept them, but the bushes were not overgrown, the lawn was neat and tidy, and the houses were all in good repair. There were no cracks or openings in the fence that you could see. All in all, a beautiful property.

A pretty prison, a small part of your mind murmured. You closed your eyes, counted to five, ignored that thought, and moved on.

After the grounds, you started poking into the houses themselves. As promised, they were all furnished, and had food and drinks. (All of them had alcohol, you noticed with a detached sort of amusement.) Each house had at least two bedrooms, and some had up to four.

So there was plenty of room for the seven of you. Hell, you could each have your own house, if you wanted.

At least for however long this lasted.

Then you'd go back home.

The grief hit you and very nearly bowled you over. You blinked rapidly, your breathing a little shaky, and stared up at the sky until you felt more stable. The sky was mostly clear, with some clouds slowly skating along. No rain.

You took one last deep breath and let it out. You were okay. Things were okay.

And then you got back to exploring.

The sun sank slowly, and your tummy started to grumble at you. There were three houses you hadn't seen yet…

Hell with it. The houses were pretty identical apart from coloring. You were claiming this one now.

A call of your name from the doorway had you trotting down the stairs. Jack stood just outside the house, hat tipped back a bit, thumbs tucked in the pockets of his jeans.

"The group of us figured we'd have dinner together," he told you, holding out one hand to you.

"Oh. Sure." You took his hand, letting him lead the way back to a different house.

"We went ahead and told them all your name," Jack said, tugging you a bit closer. "I'll point out who's who for you."

"Much appreciated." You smiled a little. "Saves me some trouble."

Jack chuckled. "'course, sugar," he murmured. "There's a lot goin' on."

"No kidding," you muttered.

"You know the two of us," Jack continued, nodding to Marcus. "We've also got Dave, Ezra, Frankie, and…"

The last man smiled. His jacket was the first thing you noticed about him - red velvet. Very nice looking. "You can call me Fox."

You snorted. You couldn't help it. "Sure," you agreed. You eyed the table. "Who cooked?"

"I did the burgers," Jack told you, pulling out a chair for you. You were momentarily distracted by that - you couldn't remember the last time anyone had done that for you. You sat, and Jack pushed your chair in for you. "Marcus took care of some of it, Frankie did a bit." Jack shrugged with a charming smile as he took the spot next to you. "It was a group effort."

Ezra claimed the spot on your other side before anyone else could. His blonde streak was even more prominent from right next to you, and his smile was bright but… off. You felt like he was maybe not showing his emotions. Not that you blamed him. You wanted to keep some things close to your chest.

"Pleasure to officially meet you," Ezra said, aiming that smile at you.

"You too." Your own smile was a little rueful. "My manners probably aren't entirely up to snuff, I apologize."

He waved your concern away. "Not to worry," he excused. "I'm not fussed over manners, of the table variety or otherwise."

You smiled, charmed despite yourself. Marcus ended up across the table from you, with Fox down at one end on Ezra's far side, with Dave at the other end on Jack's far side. Frankie was next to Marcus, ball cap pulled low on his head.

Dinner was quiet, which really didn't surprise you. None of you knew each other, and this was a highly unusual situation, and you were pretty sure all of you were wary of sharing too much.

And then something changed. You didn't know if it was something in the air, or if he just got bored of the quiet, or what, but Ezra launched into a story. Something about some mischief he and his younger brother had gotten into as children, involving a tree and some undergarments.

By the end of the story, everyone was done eating, and you were in stitches. Marcus was laughing too, and Frankie had a hand over his mouth, his shoulders shaking. Jack was chucking, as was Fox. Dave, however, was merely watching everyone, dark eyes observing everything.

You stood, still chuckling, and started gathering up plates. "You cooked, I'll clean," you said before any of them could object.

"Then I suppose I should help." Fox stood as well and gathered up the rest of the dishes, following you back into the kitchen. He waited until it was just the two of you, the water running, to speak. "You seem very calm about all of this."

You couldn't help yourself. You snorted. "Oh just wait until tomorrow," you muttered. "I'm pretty sure I just hit so far past shock that I came back around to calm. I doubt it'll last until tomorrow."

He chuckled. "Even so, you are being remarkably adaptable."

"Thanks, I think?"

"It was intended as a compliment."

You chuckled. "Thought so. Suppose I'll learn to recognize that better as I get to know you."

He hummed rather than respond with words, sounding pensive. The two of you finished the dishes in quiet, and you surprised yourself with a yawn.

"I think I'm gonna retire for the night," you told him. "See you tomorrow?"

"I suppose you shall." His smile was rather enigmatic.

You nodded to him and left, quietly slipping out the front door. It was cool outside, and quieter. The noise of the city was muffled in here, and you could almost forget that you were actually in London still.

It didn't take long to get to your chosen house and up to your chosen room. To your surprise, you found your suitcase sitting neatly at the foot of the bed, with all of your things inside.

Shaking your head, thoroughly bemused and very much done with today, you changed and fell into bed. You were out cold in minutes.

--

Taglist (let me know if you want on or off, I know this might not be everyone’s cuppa tea): @saradika @fandom-blackhole @shoopidly @pedrocentric @beskarprincessjenny @sarahjkl82-blog @cannedsoupsucks @liviiii98 @adriiibell @seasonschange-butpeopledont @sunnydunnydays @princessxkenobi @thirddeadlysin @pbeatriz @oonajaeadira @kiizhikehn-cedar @green-socks @withakindheartx @linkpk88 @janebby @anditsmywholeheart @evyiione @ohheyitsokay @amneris21 @recklessworry @the-feckless-wonder @kotemorons @myguiltypleasures21 @javierpinme @grogusmum @eri16 @idreamofboobear @pintsizemama @pedrostories @stevie75 @luxmundee @kirsteng42 @alexxavicry @elegantduckturtle @bruxasolta @pjkimrn @jaime1110 @trash-dino-5000 @theanothersherlockian @mandalwhorean @mswarriorbabe80 @lowlights

[akaashisupremacy]

New Beginnings

Summary: Having broken off your engagement for an arranged marriage with Gojo, your relationship is in shreds. Will you be able to find peace in each other again?

Notes: Gojo Satoru is good-looking, all powerful and beyond good at his job. I’ve always wanted to explore something he struggles with 

Gojo Satoru  x reader

Multi-fandom Masterlist || HQ Masterlist || Ao3 version

Genre: ANGST AND PINING, exes to friends to ??, commitment issues lol (wc: 1.3k) tw: mention of blood, infedelity-ish

“Sensei, why are we heading to the infirmary?”

Right after Gojo Satoru arrived at the den Itadori Yuuji was staying, Kiyotaka burst in and whispered something in his ear. Gojo’s eyes widened and he immediately set off with Yuuji tailing him.

“What happened to her?” Gojo exclaims.

The three arrive at the infirmary to see you writhing in pain and screaming in agony. There is dark red blood on your side. Gojo looks like someone had been clawing nails at a chalkboard. He hates to see you like this.

Kiyotaka looks for a healer. Yuuji goes to hide. Gojo tries to undo your makeshift bandages. You’re in a blur of pain.

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

The next thing you remember after your aborted mission is Gojo Satoru’s concerned eyes watching over you. You’re in the Jujutsu Tech infirmary. Your wound is still fresh as hell.

“She’s really beautiful, sensei.” Itadori Yuuji comments quietly from your bedside.

“She is.” Gojo agrees. Your eyes are closed, yet you sense his presence seated on a stool by your bed.

“Is she a former classmate?” Yuuji asks.

“Among other things. She used to be my fiancée too.”

Yuuji probably scrambles at his stance, “Your what????”

Gojo turns to him, “To be clear it wasn’t a love match. We were arranged to be married by our families by 21, but we broke it off.”

Whenever either of you say this, it always leaves more questions than answers.  

Your eyes flicker open. You wince as you try to sit up. Gojo immediately reaches out to aid you. Your hands swat him away.

“Welcome back?” He cheekily greets.

You sniff and look the other way. Why did he have to work here?

Beside him is a young student with pink hair. He must be Yuuji.

“Go get her something to eat from the kitchens.” he tells his student, “Something gentle on the stomach and nutritious enough to get her strength back.”

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

Seeing Gojo Satoru is  a different kind of pain. You once thought you were to be married to this man. Because you knew it was your obligation to your family, you learned to love him.

You both enter Jujutsu Kaisen at 15, Gojo a year ahead. It was the most painful three years of your life. Gojo was a popular and inexorable flirt. His attention span for romances was short although he was never short on female attention.

He cared for you very much. He protected you, assured you and was one of your best friends, but you’ve come to accept that he could never love you romantically or be faithful. He just wasn’t interested.

It hurt you deeply of course. You had tried so hard to love him and he couldn’t do the same for you. Was something wrong with you?  You felt deficient. You took the blame onto yourself.

When you were about to graduate, you decided to take matters into your own hands.

“Gojo, I’m going back home this Sunday, probably for the last time.” you approached him while he sat on a stone bench. He had just come back from a mission.

“Any reason it sounds so dramatic?’ he raised a brow.

“I’m breaking off our engagement to my clan leader.”

Gojo was so taken aback he didn't know how to react. His mouth hung open.

“You don’t love me and I don’t think you can.” you sighed, looking away.

Gojo fiddled with his hands, “I do, just not romantically.”

It bothered you that he loved you like family. How could you be married to him if he couldn't see you as more than a friend?

“I don’t know why you haven’t come up with this idea yourself honestly.” you frowned. You can feel yourself glaring more intensely than you had wanted to project.

A gentle gust of wind blew by, ruffling the hairs on your head.

“I have,” he quietly admitted, “But I was afraid you’d take it personally and I was trying to find a way to spare you the anguish.”

You shook your head and kicked a pebble, “There’s nothing you can do to spare me.”

“I’ll go with you. If you do this alone, your clan will exile you. Maybe if they see that it’s mutual maybe they’ll be kinder.” he resolved. The arranged marriage was important because it solidified an alliance between your families. Breaking it off meant you were essentially having your own insurgency against your clan.

But they weren’t kinder. You were still exiled. It was hardly a surprise. At least you were relieved of the prospects of loveless marriage.

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

“Can you not watch me eat?” You weakly snap at him.

"I can see you’re still pissed at me.” he acknowledges saintly.

You angrily stuck your spoon on your porridge with all the strength you could muster

“Every time I see you I’m reminded of how I failed to make you love me,” your voice is peeling with emotion, “And how my clan kicked me out because of it.”

Gojo opens his mouth to talk, but nothing comes out. Instead he nods understandingly. He goes to grab you more water.

“Every time I see you hurt like this, it reminds me how I fail at protecting you too.” he murmurs, “I know we’re no longer engaged, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m supposed to keep you from harm.”

He talks with his back away from you, as if you could see through him even without his eyes.

“You didn’t fail at anything,” he continues, “Things couldn’t work out between us because of me. I’ve long since known that I’m not into romantic relationships—at least not in the long term, monogamous way that leads to a wedding and a family. But if I could…I promise…it would be with you.”

“Maybe in a different life.” He adds, reigning in his emotion.

Your face softens at his words. You reach out to hold his hand and he holds you tenderly.

“I didn’t mean to cause you the pain that I have.” he whispers, his voice hoarse.

Tears fall down your eyes. You’ve always carried the blame on yourself. Hearing that from him lifts imaginable weight from your chest. You didn’t realize how badly you needed his apology.

He reaches into his pocket for a handkerchief and wipes away your tears.

“We’ve wasted so many years lost in our own pain.” you mumble back, looking away from him.

“We were too young to deal with the cards that we have been dealt then.” he replies, “You should be kinder to our younger selves.”

He lightly squeezes your hand and for a moment you’re both silent.

“Yeah, I guess I should.” you said with a small smile, “I wish we could press a reset button to start over.”

You hear footsteps entering the infirmary. Itadori Yuuji sees the two of you, hands still entangled in each other. He tries to walk back as if not having seen you.

You both pull away. Strangely you don’t feel embarrassed at all.

“Yuuji, go get a wheelchair. We’re taking our guest for a walk. It’s a beautiful day today.” he instructs, eyes still locked at you. Yuuji nods, glad to be sent away.

He turns to you grinning, “That kid was stunned at how beautiful you are. He told me so on the way back. He only likes Jennifer Lawrence so I guess you’re at par with her.”

You both chuckle and laugh.

“I’ve always wanted to be mistaken for a celebrity.”

“You’re more badass in real life though.” he tilts his head.

“You didn’t need him to get a wheelchair. I can try to walk.” you insist, pushing against the bed rails.

Gojo stands to help you, “The doctor clearly said you need to save your strength. You can walk when we get to the garden.”

“I can’t believe we’re bickering already.” you roll your eyes.

Gojo snorts. You crack a smile. He helps you swing your legs down the bed. Today you start anew, an attempt to reshape how your relationship should’ve been. Today, you finally get some new beginnings.

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

General taglist: @itstheee-ha-chan @kaizumi@holaaaf@glxar@francxsca

Series Taglist: @kageyamakock 

Like this fic? Check out another Gojo fic here.

The rest of the series: Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4 || Part 5 || Part 6 || Part 7 || Part 8

Heyyy if you made it this far. Let me know your thoughts and if you’d like to see the next chapters 🥺 Writing this fic had me feeling so many typa ways hahahaha and I just need to share it with people. 

[dannyphantom-justiceleauge]

This may be a minor gripe but something that has kind of bothered me about discussions and depictions of Dan is how often people seem to forget that Dan isn't just an older evil Danny, he's a combination of Danny and Vlad's ghost sides. Like people always talk about him like Danny threw away his humanity and turned evil but that's not even true. Sure, we can say that Dan is the result of Danny's action but that's a little unfair. (1/2)

(2/2) Him cheating on a test, coincidentally putting his loved one's in a position where they could be killed, is absolutely not his fault. Letting Vlad take away his ghost powers with a strange contraption might not have been the smartest move, but we are talking about a grieving CHILD here, of course he isn't going to make the best decisions. If anything Vlad's the one to blame here, and even then, it's not like he could predict what happened

---

you aren't wrong, my friend. it really isn't entirely danny's fault and the whole 'if you cheat on a test, you'll loose everything you love' moral is confused at best. i think as fandom we find it more interesting to look at danny's potential evil and moral struggle with himself. so simplifying it to be dan is a worse case scenario of danny makes the conflict less abstract.

particularly because when it comes to self blame danny isn't going to go easy on himself just because it was excusable mistakes.

i think another talking point should be how danny is the target of the time assassination more than vlad is, even though vlad is part of the evil whole. you could argue that danny is the catalyst of his friends death and vlad inventing the claw things. but vlad invented the claw things. maybe because his human side survived and acted relatively harmless from then on? or maybe it's because the observants based on the available evidence recognized danny as more of a threat. i think that fits actually, for all vlad tried to be an evil mastermind, his achievements outside of terrorizing a teenager and theft isn't particularly impressive. danny was the one who got shit done. all his fights he finished one way or another and i could see how that would bleed into dan defeating everyone.

the real question is how to we fix this. ideally we could shape this idea so it's less confused, though i do honestly find the dynamic of half danny, half vlad interesting. if for not other reason. than two half ghosts make a whole. actually that's something else to be said about dan. his self-loathing is what led him to killing his human half, another negative aspect coming from danny.

i wonder if we could frame it like fusion, from su. obviously dan isn't stable or healthy, or based on love. he's most comparable to malichite. but with less internal debate. dan took the best and worst of both of them. danny's determination, danny's fighting ability, danny's anger, danny's sarcasm, vlad's anger, vlads lack of morals, vlads schemes, vlad's control. heck, vlads desire to rule the world. i don't think we ever got that from danny.

maybe if vlad was more involved in the fight with dan it could have been used as an opportunity to compare and contrast their characters. to go we're not so different you and i. danny gets to recognize that he has that dark potential. vlad gets to be humbled by the fact that what he wants isn't good for anyone, especially himself. and to be fair, we do see some of that humbling with future vlad, but none of that character growth is given to present vlad, so, really it's just another vehicle for danny angst. it also depends on what you want to do with vlad though. he's a fascinating character and could be given redemption under the right circumstances or be a character who has the opportunity for redemption but chooses not to be redeemed every time.

that fits him and makes him both a more pathetic and despicable villain. it's hard to pity someone who ignores the opportunities to heal and grow.

as for danny, he becomes far more aware of the consequences his actions, especially his selfish and cruel ones can have. because that potential was always there. he has a history of abusing his powers. perhaps for this specific incident him abusing his powers can be something less understandable than almost cheating on a test that he couldn't study for through no fault of his own. (maybe i just have flexible morals?). maybe it could be something more character relevant, like he did something particularly vlad like, maybe he set up a prank at the nasty burger to get dash but it set off the explosion that killed his family. or maybe he did something particularly cruel and manipulative. there are better catalysts than a test. either way he recognized that he should never go that far again and strive to avoid being actively cruel.

he also has the opportunity to recognize that vlad does have a human half, even the one he's fighting everyday. he can face some conflict in it's not entirely clear what trait belongs to vlad and what trait belongs to him. he can empathize with vlad and he can recognize that situations aren't always in black in white. those who fly the highest, fall the hardest, after all.

it can be a growing experience. and while making it solely a danny goes bad and learns not to do evil kind of story. maybe we could cut vlad from the equation and just have danny face himself, full evil refection. i think exploring both vlad and danny through this fusion is far more interesting. especially because we can build on what's revealed about vlad in these episodes, in later ones. danny sees a future where vlad chills and that maybe his vlad could get their. later he see vlads past and what he lost to become who he is.

and then there's vlads turning point episodes. i don't know when motherly instinct took place but maddie fully recognizing he's a bastard and rejection him, was a turning point for his sanity, and danny helped it along. then we have danny rejecting him repeatedly, then we the clone episode, which we can all agree was a desperate move on his part, that danny once again thwarted. and we can all agree that this was the cannon turning point for his character where he stopped fighting for a family and started trying to be danny's villain. in that episode, i think danny could potentially pity vlad enough to try and reach out. he's not going to justify what vlad did and he's not going to apologize for stopping him. he went too far. he hurt danny and dani, he crossed a moral line that can't be justified even with his desperation. but if he changes...

he lost this time but if he changes, maybe they'll reach the point where they're ready to accept him.

i think the same thing could be said about his relationship with jack and maddie. if he changes, if he reaches out. if acts like less of a crazy fruitloop, his friends would be there for him. jack is still trying to be there for him, even if he's being oblivious about vlad's faults. vlads the one driving wedges into his relationships and pushing everyone away.

and that's so freaking human and understandable.it would be such a cool thing to explore with his character.

i could also see a potential arc where after valerie finds out vlad and masters are the same person she tries to get close to him, both to sus out how evil he is and to understand him as a halfa. afterall danny got her to acknowledge dani as human enough, the same would apply to vlad/plasmius, right? only he's a bad person and the more she uncovers about vlad masters the man, the more she realizes it's not the ghost half that's evil. but this is a double edged sword because, vlad is getting attached to her and encouraging her to be more evil. he's encouraging her to go darker and darker in her fight against ghosts and her fight specifically against phantom. to the point where she finally draws the line and says, i'm not doing that! boom exploring the moral ambiguity of her character and getting her to take a hard stance on her morals, because there's a line too far for her.

and boom a further breakdown of vlads character because he finally had someone outside the fentons to redeem him. she could have helped pull him out of the hole he'd been digging himself into. she wanted to help him. he got attached to her, but he and his bad decisions decided to dig himself deeper instead. so once again he's 'abandoned and betrayed'.

from that point, i think it'd be time for him to finally face jack head on. not through manipulative schemes. not through veiled threats and insults. but the full confrontation of 'i always hated you. you ruined my life. you're the reason i lost everything'. which is really just his own self loathing speaking. and jack... empathetic jack can see that vlad desperately wants help. and jack would offer it to him. jack would try to hug it out and apologize and give vlad the love and friendship vlad's been fighting to steal this whole time.

and vlad would reject it.

he'd probably lash out a jack and go into a full breakdown/world destroying attack. could finally put the stolen crown to use and try declaring himself king and embracing his megalomaniac thing and actually be a threat this time. and THAT would be our series finally. everyone teaming up to fight 'king vlad'. danny probably finding out that he's technically king because he beat pariah dark but the matter being a bit confused because he had help. val and danny trying to find the ring of rage or at least find someone who can make one. secrets are out. i imagine vlad, upon revealing himself to jack would out danny to make danny as sad and alone as him. except nope, his family still loves him and val has had the character development to come around to him. (she's still gonna punch danny for lying for so long.) the ghosts will come and help because no one wants another tyrannical kind and vlads obviously off his rocker.

ah, the could have beens

anyway, i didn't mean for this to become a full vlad character analysis and rewrite when we were supposed to be talking about dan, but hey, i'm a simple creature. i like good writing, and i have to rewrite things myself, so be it. - Hestia

[ddarker-dreams]

Wanderlust. Yan Diluc x Reader

Warnings: Typical unhealthy yandere behavior. Word count: 1.2k.

For such an expansive land, you’ve come to know every nook and cranny in Mondstadt. 

The best shortcuts to take to avoid hilichurl camps, which time of year the local produce gives a bountiful yield, even the names of traveling merchants that come and go. This intimate knowledge is a testament to years spent in this nation. What bloomed as pride in your heart warped into prickly thorn-covered vines, that chain you down in place. Familiarity became mediocrity. 

Each day blended with the last like watercolors, an amalgamation of harmless shades, as inoffensive as the last. This discontentment with life had you lamenting to the Knight’s of Favonius’ Kaeya. Somehow piecing together your troubles through drunken ramblings, he had offered you advice.

“Why not travel?”��

It was a simple suggestion, said half-jokingly, that resonated with you the rest of the night. After feeling his words follow you a week, you relented. Bag in hand and ready to see the world. Goodbyes were temporary, you know you’ll be back, it’s a matter of when. Excitement flutters in your heart -- excitement that you haven’t felt in years -- at what is to come. The limitless possibilities, memories to be made, and possible experiences aplenty. Friends old and new alike had wished you well on your journey.

Now all that’s left is to take it. 

You hadn’t even made far in the path to Liyue when he showed up. 

Blocking the sun from your view, Diluc stands tall, his face is relaxed, unlike his rigid posture. He looks down at you through thick eyelashes, adjusting his gloves. You don’t move, confusion clouding your senses. Why is Diluc here? Where your other companions had sent you off in kind, Diluc did no such thing. Not that you had expected sugary words from the notoriously impassive man, but having known him a majority of your life, came an expectation of getting something. Even a lackluster “Good luck”, would’ve sufficed. 

Did a guilty consciousness bring him here? For some reason, you doubt it.

He jumps down from the hill on which he stood, landing softly on the grass in front of you. The air feels tense with unspoken emotions. Your heart leaps into your stomach, hammering without relenting. Diluc’s stare is smoldering. Deep, vermillion hues never depart from your own gaze. Taking a deep breath, you decide to break the silence.

“Is there something you need? I don’t think I left an unpaid tab at the tavern.” 

Diluc doesn’t acknowledge your lighthearted comment. “You truly intend to leave?” 

The question, though inoffensive on a surface level, is a trembling lid over boiling water that threatens to overflow. 

“Not permanently. I just want to explore.” You respond, shifting your weight from one foot to another. Why do you feel like a child being scolded by their mother? Diluc takes a step closer to you, presence imposing.

“Explore, huh,” he says more so to himself than you. Another step. “I was hoping you’d abandon this troublesome idea.” 

You don’t want to hear anymore. If he came here only to belittle your ambitions, then you’ll leave, simple as that. There’s no reason for you to stand here and deal with this on what is meant to be your eventful day. Dealing with Diluc’s protectiveness is a thing of the past. He grabs your wrist when you go to walk past him, your Vision subconsciously activating at the unwarranted touch. Gust swirls around you both until you calm your emotions. 

“You’ll be endangering yourself for no reason.” 

A noise of frustration leaves your lips, eyebrows knitting together in displeasure. “I can handle myself. Listen, I don’t know what’s wrong with you lately, but you have no right to boss me around.”

His grip tightens when you try to tug yourself free. 

“I’ve seen it all myself,” Diluc’s voice is dignified and unwavering, in contrast to your disgruntled tone. “You don’t know how dangerous the world is. How much evil there is. Stay, it’s far safer here.” 

You want to be understanding of his sentiment. Diluc might not be open in his feelings for others, but you’ve come to learn he expresses his care in more subtle ways. He’s lost a lot -- you remind yourself -- but hasn’t everyone? It doesn’t give permission to enforce your views and desires on others. It’s like he hasn’t learned anything. 

“I’m not a naïve, defenseless child. I’d appreciate it if you stopped treating me like one.” You wish you didn’t have to be harsh. Diluc’s stubborn as his adopted brother, even if he’s better at hiding it. With a final pull, you manage to free your hand. It’s unfortunate that you’re leaving on tense terms, but it’s his own doing, you reason. There are better ways to express concern over someone’s safety than to make unreasonable demands. He’s always failed to recognize this.

You fool yourself into believing he’ll let you leave until hearing the sound of metal cutting through the air. Cold, hard steel presses again your neck, and you freeze in your tracks. What is he--

“If I had wanted it, you’d be dead by now,” Diluc is impossibly calm, walking in front of you while maintaining his claymore against your neck. You shiver at the sharp blade hovering above your skin. “You’re not weak, no, but you’re not strong either. This foolishness will be your grave.”

No longer will you withstand this insult, having had enough of this back and forth. Any self-restraint you had remaining snaps, as do you. “How can you be so oblivious…? Is this not the exact reason why I couldn’t be with you anymore!?” 

His grip around the hilt of his blade tightens. That struck close to the heart. You still feel vindicated in your actions, having been pushed to this point due to his actions. Chest heaving, you test the waters by moving forward, only for him to remain unwavering in his stance. The blade stops just shy of piercing your flesh, your resolve as firm as his. 

Diluc doesn’t respond to your enraged exclamation. Whether it’s because words escape him, or the ones he has to say are too hurtful, you’re uncertain. His eyes narrow when you move again, lips contorting into a deep grimace at your challenge. Craning your neck in the same direction as his blade, he moves it just far away as not to puncture skin. Despite Diluc’s harsh words, he’s still soft on you, it appears. 

He clicks his tongue. “Stubborn as you’ve always been.” 

“I’m leaving whether you like it or not, so stop making this so difficult.” 

“So I’m the difficult one?” Diluc tilts his head, finally lowering his blade. “Maybe so. But if being difficult is what keeps you alive, then so be it.” 

You’ve seen him in action before. His swift, agile movements followed up by roaring flames have always been a breathtaking sight, making you question if he’s even human. The air smells of burnt ash as he springs forward. Everything is dark and you feel far too light, your brain not even registering his movements before it’s too late. At his movements, you fall unconscious, only to be caught in his arms before reaching the ground. You feel like you’re floating as Diluc secures you firmly against his chest. 

“Hold it against me if you must. But… I cannot let you part from me yet.”

The wind that was meant to extinguish his flames had only served to fan them. 

[tinyinvadr]

Y’all, I finally have g/t OCs! I had the hardest time coming up with characters, but I finally got something that works! I might try and draw them later. I’m not a great artist, but I at least wanna have one picture of them!

Anyway, this is a story about a troubled kid who’s desperate for some form of escapism from their everyday life, and they end up in another world where everything’s giant and befriend a tired college student. Found family, fluff, and hurt/comfort ensues!

Ch. 2 Ch. 3

Robyn and Jack

Chapter 1

There were stories about what lurked in the woods behind the school. Monsters, spirits, crazed axe murderers, your typical playground rumors. No one knew for sure what was really back there, because supposedly, any kid who’s ever gone past the fence has never returned.

My teacher used to tell us horror stories all the time about kids who went missing in the woods. I had my doubts, considering she had a tendency to go on long, ranting tangents about how everything fun is bad. But, unlike her stances on junk food and violent, age inappropriate video games, all the kids pretty much agreed with her that going off into the woods is dangerous and not worth the risk.

Except for me, of course.

When you’re the kid everyone hates, taking your chances with an unknown demonic creature is absolutely worth it if it means you can get out of being picked on by your entire class during recess.

My plan was simple. All I had to do was get the door to the fence open, and then, I’d make my escape.

The moment I was dismissed from the cafeteria, I darted out the door. I was never the athletic type, but I can be surprisingly fast with the right amount of motivation.

Soon enough, I was on the edge of the soccer field, running short on breath but refusing to give in until I successfully escaped.

The rusty metal latch on the fence’s door felt cold and raw against my soft hands. I pulled as hard as I could, attempting to build up strength by pushing myself off the fence with my leg, but it was no use.

“Teacher!!! Robyn’s trying to open the gate!!!”

And just as I feared, I’d been spotted. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a nearby soccer ball and threw it over the fence before the gym teacher got there. I really didn’t want to resort to this, but the time had come to channel my little kid powers.

I burst into tears before the teacher could say a word. She looked unamused, but I had to stick to my guns.

“MY BALL WENT OVER THE FENCE!!!” I cried.

“Alright, alright, shhh! I’ll go get it for you. But you should know you’re not allowed to go back there.”

I only had one shot, and I had to time it just right. I stood there, waiting impatiently for her to open the gate. It felt like time was moving in slow motion, and then, finally, my moment arrived.

The gym teacher unlatched the door and stepped through, and as soon as she was out of my way, I snuck right behind her back and ran for it.

I had the biggest smile on my face as I ran into the depths of the woods, feeling the dead leaves and twigs crack beneath my feet. This was freedom. This was adventure! This was… a stupid idea…

In all honesty, I didn’t expect to get past the fence, so I didn’t really plan for what exactly I’d be DOING once I escaped. My best course of action would be to hide out until school is over, then head back and catch the bus home, but that would get boring pretty quickly, so I decided to explore a little to pass the time.

There wasn’t much out there. Just birds, squirrels, and lots of trees. It was actually kind of peaceful, nothing scary about it.

The trees seemed to go on forever, and when I turned around, I couldn’t see the school anymore, even though I hadn’t been walking for that long.

Feeling creeped out, I started to head back, but I saw something out of the corner of my eye that I didn’t notice before, as if it just appeared all of a sudden.

It was a big, dark, spooky cave. I knew I should’ve steered clear of it, but I couldn’t help but check it out.

I guess there’s a part of me that wanted to journey past the fence for a reason other than ditching school and avoiding my bullies. I was… kinda, sorta, maybe hoping to fall into some crazy fantasy. I mean, come on, I’m a misunderstood outcast who’s forever young at heart, where’s my magical adventure?

So… I peeked inside the cave. And walked in a little. Okay, a lot. I didn’t think it would go that far back. But the further I walked, the less it felt like a cave, and the more it felt like a tunnel, because a light started to shine through the other end.

I kept going, picking up speed. This was it, this was my adventure! I ran and ran and ran and…

I faceplanted the moment I got to the other side.

When I pushed myself off the ground, I realized that I was somewhere strange. The grass was tall and thick, rising just above my head. If I were only a little taller, I could’ve seen what was beyond the grass, but I’ve always been short for my age. Yeah, it’s the worst.

I pushed my way through, trying to see if there was anything other than overgrown grass, when suddenly, I bumped into a large black wall.

The wall was strange. It was a hard solid, but soft to the touch, like a fabric. Curiously, I walked around the wall, only to realize that it was a giant backpack.

I figured it was a sculpture of some sort, like at that art museum my parents took me to that one time. But it was just like a real backpack, only bigger. I really didn’t get why someone would feel the need to make one so huge, but it was cool to see.

Of course, I had to test it out to see if the zippers worked. I grabbed onto the zipper of the front pocket and pulled. It was surprisingly easy. I usually have trouble with normal-sized zippers ‘cause the fabric’s always getting caught in them.

Then, of course, I had to check and see if there was anything inside of it. It was a bit of a struggle to climb into the pocket considering I was an 8 year-old with no muscles whatsoever, but I managed, somehow. Sadly, there wasn’t anything in the front pocket. I was about to climb back out, but then, it happened…

Something was suddenly dropped inside the pocket, and then it was zipped shut. Before I could even think about trying to escape, the entire world shifted, and I slammed into the hard object that was just placed inside.

This backpack was moving. Something was moving it. Or… someone. And whatever it was had to be big.

A wave of dread came over me. This wasn’t fun anymore, I was better off back at school.

Unfortunately, zippers can’t be undone from the inside, so I’d have to find another way out. I felt my way around the dark enclosed space, and pressed a button on the large object that was in there with me.

It suddenly lit up, and I quickly shut my eyes from the intense, blinding light. I opened them again to a squint in an attempt to see what exactly was in front of me, and it appeared to be a gigantic cell phone.

The shaky motion of the backpack finally came to a stop, only to be replaced with the feeling of a running motor. I was in a vehicle.

I kept trying to convince myself that this was some sort of amusement park ride, but I knew better. This was my fantasy adventure, though it wasn’t what I was expecting, and at that point, I really didn’t want it anymore.

Just a few minutes later, the motor stopped, and I was back to the shaky motion again. I was starting to feel carsick (or, backpacksick, I guess) but I still couldn’t find any way out.

Finally, the motion stopped. But of course, I couldn’t get even a minute to rest, because the zipper started to pull open. Ready or not, I was about to meet the owner of the backpack.

A massive hand appeared in the pocket, grasping for the phone, but it got me instead.

I was pulled out, and immediately met with the face of a giant. All I could do was scream.

“What the-?! What are you-? Why are you-? HUH???”

I kept incoherently screaming and squirming, trying desperately to get away, but it was no use.

“Okay, okay, stop screaming. I’m way too tired for this right now.”

“I… I-I’m sorry! Please don’t kill me!”

“Kid, just calm down. I don’t know what your deal is, but I’m not gonna hurt you, okay?”

I tried to steady my breathing and focus on the giant’s face. He didn’t look angry. Maybe a little annoyed, but he mostly just looked like a tired college student. Not really anything like the man-eating monsters from the stories.

“Can you put me down?” I asked, on the verge of crying for real.

“Okay, but don’t run off. I just wanna ask you a few questions so I can send you back where you came from.”

I nodded, willing to go along with whatever he had to say as long as it would get me home quickly and I could avoid irritating him further.

He carefully placed me on the floor, but even at a kneeling position, he towered over me. I think he noticed I was shuddering, so he got down on his belly, getting as close to my level as possible.

“Okay, so… human, right?” He asked, casually snapping his fingers and pointing at me. The motion kind of startled me, but I kept my cool, since I could tell he was trying his best not to scare me.

“Uh… yeah, that’s right. Giant?”

“Yep, yep. We don’t really call ourselves that, though. It’s kind of a derogatory term, but I’m not gonna hold it against you ‘cause you’re just a kid and you probably didn’t know that. We’re actually called bigfolk. Anyway, how’d you get here?”

I was about to tell him I ran away from school, but I was worried he was gonna pull a typical adult and lecture me about it, so I just gave him the short version.

“Well, I found this cave in the woods, and when I walked through it, I came out the other side, and then I found your backpack. I-I didn’t know it belonged to anyone, I thought it was just a big sculpture or something. I had no idea you even existed. I thought gi… er, bigfolk, only existed in fairytales.”

He gave a slight scoff. “Typical humans, trying to cover up history.” He muttered to himself. “Anyway, let’s head back to the park so you can go back through that cave.”

He held out his hand, waiting for me to climb on. I hesitated, still kind of unsure about trusting someone so much bigger than me, but I figured if he wanted to do something horrible he’d have done it already.

After I was safely seated in the center of his palm, he slowly got up, and placed me in his shirt pocket. It was a lot more comfortable than the backpack, and I could actually see out of it.

“Stay hidden while we’re outside. I don’t want anyone freaking out.”

With that, I ducked into the pocket and curled up in a little ball. It was nice, it felt like I could probably take a nap in there. Maybe ending up in this world wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Soon enough, we were back at the park. “Okay, so, where’s the cave?” He asked. I popped my head out to look around, but strangely, I didn’t see the cave anywhere.

“I… I don’t see it. Are you sure we’re in the right spot?”

“Yeah, we were both just here ten minutes ago. Are you sure this is where the cave was? I’ve been coming to this park since I was a kid, and there’s never been a cave here to my knowledge.”

It had to have been in the park. Any further and I wouldn’t have even made it to his backpack.

“It just disappeared. But, h-how am I supposed to get home? I don’t even know how the cave brought me here in the first place, it doesn’t make any sense!”

“Hey, chill, remember? I’m sure it’s around here somewhere. You’re gonna have to keep looking on your own now, though. I have a lot of homework to catch up on, and my shift starts in a couple hours, so I don’t really have time to help. But if we ever run into each other again, let me know how it went, okay?”

He started to reach for me, but I shoved his hand away.

“What?! You can’t just leave me here! I’m a kid lost in a world I know nothing about where I could easily be killed at any moment! Do you have any idea how terrifying this is? Oh wait, you don’t, you’ve never been small before.”

He chuckled. “Wow, okay, had no idea you were this sassy. But I guess you do have a point. How about this? You can stay with me for today, then tomorrow, we’ll come back here to look for the cave again.”

I really wasn’t sure about staying with some random bigfolk I just met, but since the alternative was him leaving me at the park to fend for myself, I really didn’t have a choice.

“Y-Yeah, that would probably be best.”

I ducked back into the pocket and got comfortable again as we headed back.

“Oh, by the way, my name’s Jack.”

Jack. The giant is named Jack. I know I shouldn’t have laughed, but I couldn’t help it.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, nothing. Anyway, I’m Robyn.”

“Heh. Nice to meet you, Robyn.”

[anonymousfiction211]

Training exercise

Summary: Loki is training you. However, one training session takes another turn.  Word count: 2.186 words Warning: Smut with a bit of knife play, teasing, sub Loki & dom Loki A/N: Thanks so much for al the likes and reblogs :)! Really appreciate it. If you have any comments, suggestions or ideas don’t be afraid to contact me. Hope you like this one.

Loki had you in his grip, his knife was against your throat. That was the third time in the last 10 minutes. “You are not paying attention” he sighed. He released you from his grip. You turned around “I’m tired, can’t we continue tomorrow?” you asked him. He just shook his head “It is important to practice every day, I told you this when you asked for my help” I know, I know… you thought a bit irritated. “Again” he said.

You changed your stance, standing in the first position. Loki was waiting for you. He looks hot today you thought. You took a deep breath. Don’t get distracted by him. Loki attacked first, with his left hand up high. You blocked him. With his right hand he moved his practice knife towards your stomach. You took a step back, making him miss. You tried to stab him in his shoulder, but he grabbed your wrist. You tried to punch him with your free hand, but he grabbed that wrist too. He crossed them, making you turn your back to him. He pushed you closer to him “You really are terrible today” he purred. “Whatever, it’s not like this is a real fight. Just a stupid drill exercise” you grumbled. However, I don’t mind you holding me like this.

There was a green glow around his practice knife, it turned into a real knife. “Let’s make it real then, shall we?” he hissed. He pushed you off him. You turned around, he looked angry. “Loki… that’s not… you know I didn’t…” you started to stammer. He suddenly stepped towards you, his knife went to your arm. Just in time you jumped back. “You could have cut me” you shouted at him. “You wanted real” he shouted back to you. He was moving fast, and his attacks were getting harder to dodge. He already had punched you in your stomach, gasping for air he tried to slice your throat. You blocked his knife with your practice knife. The real knife sliced right to yours. “This isn’t fair” you screamed. You were starting to get terrified. “Fights never are” he said irritated “now try to attack me, before you won’t be able to anymore”

You were starting to get angry. You tried to punch his face, but he blocked you. When you tried to kick him in his groin, he grabbed your leg and made you fall down on your back. You didn’t have time to recover, because he was on you a millisecond later. His knife was against your throat once again. “You’re death” he said. You were really angry with him now. “Last time I checked I was still breathing” you said annoyed. “Last time I checked I could cut your throat in a second, you won’t do much breathing after that” he quipped back with a smug face. Gosh, I want to punch him in his smug face and then kiss him you thought. He released the knife from your throat and was getting off of you. Right then you took the upper hand and push him to his back. In the process of doing this you sliced your shoulder against his knife.

He looked shocked at you. You were sitting on top of his hips, hands on his chest. The band of your tank top was cut, exposing one breast a bit more than the other. It was a shallow cut, but there was some blood trickling from it. It stung a bit, and you were breathing heavily. He grabbed your wrist and sat up right to get a better look at the cut. “That was stupid” he mumbled. You gave a tug at your wrist, but he didn’t release you. He held them together with one hand. The other one he used to heal your cut. In one smooth motion it was healed, but he didn’t remove his hand. His hand stroked the healed cut again and went a little lower. “Better?” he asked. When he looked at you, you saw that his pupils were dilated. He was stroking the place of the cut, making it very hard for you to formulate an answer.

You felt yourself starting to blush. You nodded and got off him as quick as you could. You wanted to walk away, but he grabbed your shoulder “Maybe you should lay down? You look a bit flushed” he said. He walked you inside, still having his hand around your shoulder. You noticed he pushed you a bit closer, which you didn’t mind at all. He led you to his chambers. “You sure?” you asked. You had a crush on Loki for years, but it did take a while to form a friendship. He started to train you a few weeks ago, that improved your friendship a lot. But you never had been inside his chambers, he didn’t want people to. “I think I overworked you a bit, so I want to keep an eye on you” he said. When he opened the door for you, he winked at you. That made you blush, and you avoided his gaze.

“Go lay on the bed” he said. His bed was huge. You walked towards it and lay on top of the sheets. Loki was taking off some of his armour, only wearing his pants and a shirt. His abbs are really visible. You went to lay on your side, so you couldn’t look at him anymore. Loki walked towards the other side of the bed and laid next to you. He was looking at you. You looked back at him “What’s wrong?” you asked him. He put a strand of your hair against your ear. You tried not to lean into his touch, but failed. I hope he doesn’t notice. “Are you finally going to tell me why you were so distracted today?” you looked at him in horror. You couldn’t tell him, you shook your head.

“How did you know?” you asked. “I would be a terrible teacher if I didn’t notice it. You hide it well, but not well enough for me. But maybe you wanted me to know subconsciously.” He moved a bit closer to you. His hand was stroking against the place where your cut was. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?” You felt yourself move closer too, wanting nothing more than to lay closer to him. “No, thanks for healing me” you said. He moved his hand away, you were a bit disappointed. “You know, I know something that could make it better” he smirked. “What?” you wondered. He put his hand on your hip and moved closer. He closed the distance between you, his lips almost touching yours. You stopped breathing and looked up at him. “May I?” he whispered. You nodded and he pressed his lips against yours. He started to kiss you slowly and you felt butterflies in your stomach.

Your hand went to his neck, pulling him more down to deepen the kiss. He responded by sliding his hand from your hip to your lower back, pulling you more towards him. He broke this kiss and when his lips left yours you moved with him, not wanting to stop. He chuckled at your action. “Better?” he asked with a playful tone in his voice. You bit your lip. “Yeah, but how long have you known?” you asked him. “I read your thoughts when you seemed distracted, figuring out what was wrong. I don’t mind holding you so close either” he grinned at you “but you really should be able to defend yourself against my attacks by now” he said more serious. “Maybe you should show me a few more moves” you said teasingly. “Happy to oblige, darling”

He kissed you passionately. His hand went to your hair and he tugged at it. When you moaned he pushed his tongue inside your mouth. He was taking his time, exploring every inch of it. He broke the kiss and pushed you down hard on the bed. He was laying on top of you in a second. “You need to learn how to anticipate actions, get control of the situation” he told you. “I know, it’s just, it’s really hard to concentrate when your teacher is that hot” you smirked. He laughed at your comment. He started to kiss your neck, trailing up towards your ear. He sucked at your earlobe, making you moan. “New exercise: you don’t get to come, until you have gained the upper hand” he whispered in your ear. A green shimmer appeared and both of you were completely naked. You gasped, but Loki started to kiss you. Goosebumps were forming on your skin, from the cold, or from Loki’s actions, you did not know or care.  

Quickly you discovered that Loki was skilful. Every kiss, every stroke, every squeeze was deliberate and calculated. He had you a panting mess in five minutes and extremely wet in the next five. He knew exactly what he was doing to you. You didn’t mind, especially since your hands were finally roaming his body. It didn’t take Loki long to get hard from your actions. He placed his body, so you weren’t able to move much. His fingers were stroking your clit, dipping between your folds. He would push two fingers inside you, finding that spot. Stroking you, almost sending you over the edge. But every time he sensed you would come, his would stop. He would kiss you, stroke your breast, pinch your nipples. He repeated that three times and you were almost sobbing. You wanted to come, badly.

You tried to spread your legs, but he wouldn’t let you. You tried to push him inside you, but he wouldn’t let you. The only thing he let you do was go through his hair, caress is back and stroke his cock. But after stroking his cock for a few minutes he would grab your wrists and put them above your head. “I thought I taught you better than this” he purred. When his hand moved down to your sensitive clit, you couldn’t take it anymore. Not again you thought. You didn’t know what came over you, but you saw a dagger on his nightstand. You grabbed the dagger, locked your legs in his knees and rolled him over. He grunted while you pushed him on his back, straddling his laps, knife against his throat. You locked eyes, both panting heavily.

“Good girl” he grinned. You felt his cock twitch. You noticed something change in his eyes. He likes not being in control. You put more pressure on the knife, he hissed. “Hand under your head” you told him. He narrowed his eyes and for a moment you thought he wouldn’t listen. But he did, he put his hand under his head. You slowly trailed the knife towards his chest, you felt his hips buckle underneath you. You smirked at him “New exercise: you won’t get to come until you back me for it”. His eyes widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but you put the point of the dagger on his chest. Not enough to pierce the skin, but hard enough so he would feel it. He closed his mouth and nodded at you. “Good boy” you purred. You put his cock inside of you. You rode him, alternating your pace from slow, to fast, back to slow. Every time Loki buckled his hips you stopped. Every time his hands moved from under his head you put more pressure on the dagger and told him to lay still.

After a long time, you were still riding him, slowly. Then you heard Loki saying “please”. His voice cracked when he begged you. You decided to comply and rode him faster. “One hand on my clit” you said. Loki immediately obeyed and was stroking your clit, gritting his teeth. You saw he didn’t want to come before you. He was trying hard. The orgasm you had shot through you and you came screaming his name. Loki came right after, pumping in and out of you a few more times. You cleaned yourself and when you came back you saw that Loki was dressed in lounge pants on his bed. He handed you one of his shirts, which was way too big for you. You put it on and laid next to him, head on his chest. He was playing with your hair. “Didn’t take you for a submissive type” you finally said to him. You looked at him and swore you saw him blush for a second. “I’m not, but I don’t know in here… a bit, maybe” he said while motioning at his room. You noticed he didn’t look you in the eyes. “I like it” you said “I am definitely paying more attention next time we train” you smirked. He looked at you, you saw doubt in his eyes, but was replaced with relief. He kissed your forehead and you nuzzled yourself closer to his neck. “Why did you think I wanted to train you in the first place?” he said.