#now im going to have thoughts about this for the foreseeable future

[oddcatharsis]

new street himbo in town

[changbin-froggy-jimin]

Shoutout to my friend who got me a job and I’m moving apartments to be closer to the job and I’ll be living in the same building with her and we both bonded over ATEEZ but I lost my special interest in ATEEZ like a week ago and kinda kpop as a whole because I saw Shadow the Hedgehog on the big screen and now he’s all I can think about…. I really don’t know how she’s going to react when I tell her I don’t care about it that deeply anymore, I don’t think this girl has ever heard of a hyper fixation before

[plaidos]

hello! i saw in your pinned that you and your partner are looking to move to the states due to the transphobia in the uk and was curious if this last week has maybe impacted that and what you think is best for staying safe in the coming years?im non binary and doing the opposite - im moving from the states to the uk and its like. cool cool rising transphobia everywhere feels good feels comforting (/s) and obviously it is even worse for trans women! anyways maybe the answer is uhhh none of my business which is totally cool but i just wanted to hear your thoughts bc im kinda like oh this whole world is getting increasingly hostile and its hard to stay positive!

even with the new transphobic legislation under the trump administration, new york city is safer than the UK for trans women. period. also my partner already lives in the states, so the only reconsidering would be whether i go there or she comes here or we both go somewhere else (which is a lot less feasible).

i need you to understand that in the US right now courts are blocking attempts for Trump to move trans women into men’s prisons. in the UK, there is no question about it — trans women just go to men’s prison. this is just one example. here’s another: not disclosing you’re trans in the UK before you have sex with somebody can be legally considered rape by deception. which obviously is going to affect even people who do disclose.

from where i’m sitting there is absolutely no question about it. in the UK the so-called leftwing party is arguably even more transphobic than the right wing parties — I’d argue much more, even, considering that they’re rolling back trans legislation that the Conservatives put in place

i promise promise promise you things can be worse than outside your door. whilst “terf island” may be a nasty, unhelpful & cruel joke to the trans women living here, the situation it’s referencing is 100% true. in every practically university in the UK there are open terfs working and teaching there. just anecdotally, I was sexually harassed on the bus by a terf, my last cisgender ex-girlfriend introduced me to a terf she was friends with at her birthday party (and she somehow didn’t even twig her as a terf until I pointed it out).

like from context and the way you’ve phrased things i’m assuming you’re TME, so if the UK truly seems safer to you i say go ahead, everybody’s circumstances are their own. but if you want HRT or top surgery in the foreseeable future, expect to be on a waiting list for years if not a decade. also the trans scene here is utter shite. but again no offence if youre not a transfem you probably wouldn’t even notice (it’s fine if not thriving for nb folks cafab ime) so, grain of salt

[binarystarhero]

hi i just wanted to say- bsh is absolutely incredible and ive found myself deep in hyperfixation for the past week over it (i . may or may not have gone through blogs when i originally found out you had privated the asks from your dev tumblr + combed multiple for crumbs of ray lore hPOSDHIS). but like . it is so so lovely and im glad i finally gave it a shot. ive replayed it over a dozen times the past week and ive kicked my feet like a teenager with a crush whenever i thought of him!! i found this blog a bit less than an hour ago and reading the asks i missed has been THRILLING.

also like?? the wound scene in particular is INSANE? because i remember reading through it the first time and being struck with the most insane urge to be like . what if mc sank their fingers in a bit . bc its so insanely erotic to me oDOFHSID. when i saw the ask from another fellow ex-catholic i felt so vindicated ab the brainrot over the side wound and im !!! the fact he's forcing mc's hand into parting his flesh , , , i read up on the reasons behind it but also . the fact that it could that beneath the annoyance and resentment in the moment that him shoving their fingers into his wound could also be seen as a desperate bid for connection, for understanding that mc, in that moment, could not possibly comprehend has me going insane .

also !!! hes so fucking cute when the player meets him first in game??? like its so awkward and it endears me soooo bad . like "i prefer it that way" only to audibly say "lets just stop talking" had me in TEARS . i bet he rehearsed that interaction for hours and was mentally cursing himself for how it actually turned out lol

ALSO . the fact that ray is so off-put by the mint latte's color makes me hysterical . bc in this modern day and age matcha has become so popular (and idk how it is in bsh, but im just headcannoning it as the same in my head) so the fact ray is so perturbed is delightful . like damn . u rlly are an old white man (affectionate). it makes me want to have him try desserts from my culture (which can be bright green among other colors) and its so !!! it makes me so genuinely delighted to have had this little interaction with him and also knowing he enjoys watching the great british bake off . i want to see the inside of his fridge so bad .

OH on that note, did ray not have a lot of exposure to different cultural foods after he debuted as a hero? i know he grew up in a gov. facility and then lived in oklahoma with steel sherrif, and can cook well now, so is his culinary know-how mainly derived from western cooking standards/varieties?

oh- and did you have a cologne in mind for ray? its mentioned offhandedly in bsh that mc finds his cologne pleasant, and i wanted to know if you had one in mind when writing the scene/scents that you associate with ray!!!

and also- you mentioned ray has had sexual experiences in the past- does he have experience being pegged/penetrated? for . scientific purposes . of course .

(dont feel pressured to answer all these questions but im just so curious about ray and his backstory- i adore him so much sidofiUSDFH)

ANYWAYS im digitally sending you so many flowers and hearts, concrete. binary star hero skyrocketed to the top of my fave visual novels and i know its going to be consuming my mind for the foreseeable future LOL

Thankyou for your ask, it's so lovely and thoughtful 💕 I'm so sorry you had to wait so long for me to bring back the asks!

"That him shoving their fingers into his wound could also be seen as a desperate bid for connection," - Oh absolutely! The whole game Ray is searching desperately for that connection in a way that is so inhuman it inherently separates himself from the connection he desperately wants. I also love that section of the game because it does feel like a snippet that is so thematic of Ray's whole character in that way.

"i bet he rehearsed that interaction for hours and was mentally cursing himself for how it actually turned out lol" - Yep, he rehearsed it in his head a bunch and still fucked it up, in that moment he really wished he could kill himself lol.

RE: the mint latte - Ray just does not get out that much because he is so busy with work and even if he had the time he isn't really sure what he would do or where he would go. So that being said, Ray absolutely wouldn't know what matcha is 💀. He is an old man, not necessarily in age, but absolutely in being out of touch with current fads and events.

Did ray not have a lot of exposure to different cultural foods - He hasn't, most of his cooking knowledge is pretty western. But he would be absolutely delighted to try a bunch of new foods he hasn't had before.

did you have a cologne in mind for ray? - Nope, I would have to do some research to figure this out lol.

does he have experience being pegged/penetrated - All of his previous experiences have been pretty vanilla, but that is due to him not being fully invested in those experiences/partners and mainly just preforming for what his partner wanted. So he hasn't been penetrated in any of his previous sexual encounters... but with MC though he may be skeptical he would be willing to try (smirk)

[luvyeni]

CELIBATE ♱. ── ( 정성찬 )

𝓲𝓿 ⦂ after a horrible terrible breakup with your ex; you swore off men, you were gonna be celibate for the foreseeable future … then here comes sungchan with a terrible first impression …

𝕼 ㅤ𓈒ㅤ𓈒 chapter eight. down , real bad .ᐟ

how was this your life right now? all you wanted to do was come home and get out the sticky coffee stained clothes…

after sungchan sent the text telling you to go the store cafe; you walked as fast as you could to your designation, you could hear the feet behind you speeding up, which made you do the same. “yn.” you heard a voice just as you reached the cafe. “yn.”

you swung around about to swing from the person — but you don’t; even though you wished you did. “geonu?” he smiled. “geonu what the fuck is wrong with you, i thought i was being followed.” he rolled his eyes, which pissed you off. “don’t be ridiculous, it’s just me.”

“yeah well i didn’t expect you to be following me at 11pm at night.” you scoffed, walking straight past him, only he grabbed your arm. “i just want to talk.” you snatched your arm away. “have nothing to talk about.” you said. “yn!” you heard a loud voice coming down the campus towards you. “sungchan.” he really came? he did and he was running towards you. “are you okay?”

he didn’t even care if he sprinted all the way from the gym to the cafe; he was out of breath and sweaty, but he found you and that all that matters. “im fine.” you said. hearing the annoyance in your voice, he followed your eyes, landing on the dude in front of him. “what’s going on right now?”

“he was the guy “following me” so fucking annoying.” the boys smug smirk threw him off. “come on baby– don’t call me that.” your voice made sungchan stand in front of you protectively. “let’s go.” sungchan said , geonu scoffed. “yn you really can’t be serious with this loser.” he said. “hey.” he hit sungchans shoulders like they were old friends. “you really hit the jackpot with this one.” you stomach twisted up in disgust. “that one right there is a freak.” sungchan wanted to punch that guy. “just tell her she’s pretty and she’ll give it to you.” the smirked on his is what set sungchan off.

“okay , shut the fuck up.” sungchan said; you grabbed the back of jersey. “let’s just go okay?” you said, but it fell on deaf ears when geonu pushed him. “or what?” he pushed him again. “geonu stop it.” you said. “no i want to see your little pussy boyfriend stop me.” he pushed them again. “come on, stop me.” before you could even de-escalate; sungchan pushed geonu a bit too hard, which caused him to stumble; and in retaliation geonu punched him in the face.

sungchan punched him back and they began to fight before the campus security ran over holding geonu. “sungchan.” you stopped in front him , your hand on his chest. “enough.” you said sternly. “look at the state of you, you’re bleeding.” grabbing his wrist. “i said let’s fucking go now.” you dragged him away. “yeah , keep walking , like a good boy for her!” geonu who was bleeding from the mouth. “she’ll be back!”

you muttered all the way back to your apartment; dragging sungchan like he was a toddler who just did something he wasn’t supposed to. “my life can never be simple.” he watched you jam the key into your doorknob. “it’s alway some complicated shit going on.” you dragging him inside. “sit.” you say , leaving him in your kitchen. “im gonna go change.”

leaving him in the kitchen; you grabbed everything you would need, making your way back into the kitchen where he was walking around. “I told you to sit down, if you pass on my floor im calling the cops and going to my room.” you dragged him to the seat. “you know i'm getting real tired of you dragging me.” he said, holding his nose. “deal with it.”

you held a rag to his nose; he winced. “my god i hope it’s not broken.” you whispered. “please eunseok chucked a basketball at my nose it i was fun , this nose can withstand anything and and i mean anything.” he winked and you scoffed. “apparently he didn’t hit you hard enough.” you said. “and neither did geonu , your nose isn’t broken, but you will need to ice it and you will be in pain for a few days.” you explained. “but that’s the consequences of getting into a fight.” you turned to walk away; but he had other plans, his hand went to your waist, turning you towards him and pulling you against him. “sungchan!”

you couldn’t lie you enjoyed that and he could see that, he smirked. “mama.” he started , you slapped his arm. “don’t call me that.” but he could see that name was something you also enjoyed. “you like this don’t you?” he said. “you keep playing these little tricks.” his forehead was pressed against yours , your waist was pressed against his. “but in reality you want this.” his lips ghosting yours. “all you have to do is say give it to me and you can have it.”

and you almost gave in; you really did — but then you heard wonbins agitating voice in head telling you couldn’t even last 3 months. “is that so?” he nodded. “just say i want you.” he whispered , the air was so tense. “well in that case.” his hands on your waist got tighter. “i want you…”

“to take this band aid and go home.”

you laughed seeing his expression change. “you are a cold human being.” he said looking at the band aid. “hello kitty?” you scoffed. “ this or this choose i have class in the morning and you have to go.” he dramatically sighed taking a band aid. “not even a kiss goodbye?” you walked him to the door. “can you even be trusted with just a kiss?” you teased. “can you be trusted with a kiss?” he said. “no I wouldn’t i would probably drag you to my room and have my way with you.” and with that you closed the door on him.

the boy huffed; pressing his forehead against your door. fuck he was down real bad.

🍃. taglist … @dollechan @thisrandombitch @daegale @shimochibun @gacktsa @jungwonsstrawberry @hanninova @nlewst @pxnklover @secretiny @sunflowers1610 @jvngw0nlvr @valentinebby @kittykyuuu @mmjh1998 @saranghoeforanton @chwesuh-imnida @yuyita-rosier @niniissus @17ericas s @i03jae @kookieswithjung @ethelia @dorritoni @nickiminajleftasscheek @xcosmi

𝕼 ㅤ𓈒ㅤ𓈒 previous. celibate masterlist. next. .ᐟ

©️LUVYENI

[layanomaly]

GUYS GUYS GUYS

You know how during the earlier episodes we still had theories of how “teen” couldve been Nicholas scratch??? well yeah despite having read the comics I didnt know much about him cuz I was mostly into “house of M” and “children’s crusade” Volumes

And so I did a sort dive into his character 

AND I FOUND OUTT 

THAT IN THE COMICS

HIS CHARACTER HAD A REALLY DEEP CONNECTION WITH THE SALEM SEVEN 

AND HE ALSO ENDS UP BETRAYING AGATHA!!!

WHICH WAS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY I REALLY BELIEVED COULD “TEEN” BE NICHOLAS WITH ALL THE THEORIES ABOUT HOW HE MIGHT END UP BETRAYING HER AT THE END ROAD

Soooo coming back to the recent eps and what mightve happened between Agatha and rio-

AND IDK WHY I DIDNT THINK OF THIS SOONER or idk if anyone else has thought of it either 

But what I THINK might’ve happened between them is that as we know rio is BASICALLY death personified aka lady death and so I think Rio foresaw the future where Nicholas, once an innocent boy, would grow up to betray Agatha, likely influenced by the darker forces or ambitions as in the comics.(and before you ask "can lady death foresee futures???"....and honestly idk but she IS a cosmic entity and my theory is that before reaping souls she can sort of see glimpses of a persons future and when nicky died she saw his )

Knowing this, Rio, as a reaper of souls and irrevocably in love with Agatha- took a painful but calculated action—she reaped Nicholas’ soul while he was still innocent, believing that this would spare Agatha from the heartbreak of his future betrayal. Rio wanted Agatha to remember Nicholas as the sweet boy she loved, rather than the twisted figure he would become.

Which is probably why she didnt tell Agatha about this and let her hate her for not bringing Nicky backk

BUTT Agatha who was unaware of her motivations turned to the dark hold and quote on quote “hid behind all that dark magic” in an attempt to bring Nicholas back (Which is when I think the rumours about Agatha sacrificing Nicholas for the dark hold started to form since these event took place one after another)

And The Darkhold, feeding off Agatha’s grief and determination,(like it did to wanda) began corrupting her, pushing her toward dark magic and chaos.

And in her blind determination, Agatha became a threat—not only to herself but also to the balance of life and death that Rio upheld.

Which is why I think rio was out for Agatha in the first ep But the complexity of their relationship complicates matters

Which creates this tragic cycle and I just jhebfsekufhbvwev KILL ME PLEASE 

Rio acted out of love to protect Agatha from Nicholas' eventual betrayal, but in doing so, inadvertently set Agatha on a dark path that now forces Rio to stop her. Both are driven by love for Nicholas but so tragically misaligned in their goals.

[edit: alsooo im completely on board with all the theories going on about how rio is after billy on the road since he cheated death yadayada but i saw a lot of people asking as to why rio was after agatha in the first ep and i hope this outlook answers thatt......oh and when i say "after agatha" i didnt mean it in the sense that she wanted to see her hurt but more in the sense that she cared so much about agatha that she didnt want to see her get corrupted by it]

[sugar-omi]

Piggybacking off your last hc. Step 4 Cove DEFINITELY repays the favor when you are older. He forgives but he won't forget it. Once he gets more open and smug about it he waits until you aren't expecting it.

"Now you understand how I felt." With the biggest grin on his face. Absolutely ruining you for the foreseeable future.

YES YES YES THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IM ALWAYS THINKING ABT !!!! i think this is from after i posted *this post. this draft has been sitting here awhile, im so sorry....

tags : NSFW, gn reader, dom/top cove, mayhaps a tad ooc, high libido cove+reader,

older cove becoming more confident in pleasing you, becomes less shy about all his desires and how much he wants you.

and now it's his turn to ruin you.

afterall, you edged and overstimulated him so many times. you've shamelessly begged for just one more round or "just let me get you off once, please?" and you two still ended up sneaking away from your friends or family for a quickie.

now it's his turn to beg for a quickie before you go to work.. "i'll make it worthwhile so please?..."

between those puppy eyes and the promise of the best head you could and will ever get in your life, you can't exactly say no~

even if he doesn't end up pulling you into the bed for a quick round before work, you end pulling him in.

one morning you were showering, cove on the other side of the curtain, fluttering about trying to get ready for the day

and you really did try to ignore your urges. you thought if maybe you just waited for him to finish brushing his teeth, you could shower in peace.

but distance makes the heart grow fonder, even if the only distance is a few feet between the shower and your bedroom, and your heart is your aching sex.

even when you slip your fingers into your cunt / wrap your hand around your cock, it isn't enough. you're e just fucking yourself on your fingers / into your hand so pitifully you can't ignore it anymore

cove almost laughs when you call for him, all pitiful needing him, needing his cock. anything. you just need him to make you cum

he'd be so torn between giving in and fucking you over the counter, and hopefully he either isn't dressed or isn't wearing his best pants because otherwise they'll end up soaked in water

doesn't matter, though, since he gets to see your lewd satisfied expressions in the mirror, and he gets to see you limp, melting into the counter after you finish

but he'd definitely consider leaving you pent up..

kisses you and tells you that you can do it when you get home, and if he's feeling bold, he'll outrightly tell you that if you behave, he'll fuck you once you get home <3

mmm we talked about this a long time ago, but not being able to cum without cove...

after all those years of bringing cove outta his shell sexually, practically training him to please you, and making him crave your body...

you didn't realize you were doing the same to yourself.

after all, you were the one fucking cove senseless and practically milking him.

sucking him off in the middle of your date, all the hot birthday sex, fucking him or being fucked by him...

oh and especially when you made him cum over and over again, pulling all you could from his poor cock until he all but sobbed about how he couldn't cum again

you loved how much he craved you, spurred on by the raging horiness of most teenagers, the two of you feeding off each other in that way, and hs tauntilizing partner

but now it's totally backfired on you, now you just feel restless when you finish by yourself. almost needing your boyfriend in order to have a satisfying orgasm

and some nights you do, more specifically the nights you and cove are apart

doesn't matter which one of you is away for work or just on a trip, cove preens when you call him, all breathless and needy, trying and failing to get yourself off

encourages you to tell him more, tell him how you need him.

i wonder if he'd make you facetime him so he can see how needy you are, see how much of a mess you make of yourself

promises to fuck you once you or him gets home

oh and he holds up to that promise, the luggage hitting the floor and he closes the door louder than he'd have liked, and fumbles to blindly get the locks and chain done up

will fuck you until there's tears in your eyea, if not rolling down your cheeks.

if he ends up fucking you all night, and you finish many more times before him..

well you did help build up his stamina, so you can't really blame him for being able to keep it up so long

he'd be happy to remind you of it as well!!

he'll have you caged between his arms, his hips pistoning into yours, the bed hitting the wall and you're on the verge of tears...

all while he's growling about how you spent so long teasing him, almost using him for a fucktoy when you were helplessly horny in the dead of night

how you used to always pull him aside or sneak in, how you two would take advantage of every second you had alone...

although he's happy to be gentle, that way he can enjoy pulling orgasm after orgasm out of you, and can devour the sight of your lewd expressions and loud moans

don't feel bad, though, for corrupting your sweet boyfriend, you two are soulmates after all, so you two can handle each other in desperate times like these, right? <33

[veilkeeper]

The Sacrifice of Souls, Part 2

alt title: why im putting corentin in the torment nexus

this is the second instalment of a 2-part essay series. the first part focused on the events of emmrich's quests, as well as my analysis and critique of his quest line overall. this part will focus specifically on the effects these choices have on the romance, as well as my thoughts on how i'm handling the events for my emmrichmancing rook, corentin.

spoilers ahead! beware that both essays are going to assume you have completed The Sacrifice of Souls and at least one of the follow up quests, Heir to the Dead or Will and Testament. if you have not, i suggest returning to this later and playing it out yourself.

so let's start with the most important question of the day:

what happens to the romance after the sacrifice of souls?

good news! no matter what you pick, the romance can continue on unabated. there's just some long-term details and tone changes that need to be considered.

if you choose to save manfred, be prepared for parenthood. previously, the game had poked at the idea of manfred being emmrich's kid, but now that manfred is talking and progressing at a rapid pace, he is in full "magic-flinging skeleton son" territory, and a romanced rook is going on that journey with emmrich. there is also now a near certainty that rook is going to outlive him—regardless of your personal headcanons, the game assumes that rook is younger than emmrich, and now that he's locked into a mortal lifespan that's something that needs to be considered. especially since, as discussed in part one, emmrich's fears of his own mortality haven't really been addressed at all.

but if you're into co-parenting a rambunctious skeleton with an older, gentlemanly necromancer (which, let's be real, is what most people signed up for when they hit those first flirt options anyway), then this path is probably exactly what you were looking for.

that said, let's talk about the lich romance angle. i was worried when i went down this path that the romance would just immediately end, but it actually doesn't! emmrich certainly wonders if it will—before he undergoes his rites, he has a conversation with rook about how they'll navigate a relationship once he's undead. he says that his senses will change, the way he feels (not about rook, but literally the way he feels) will change, and his body will be different. but they agree they can make it work, so hell yeah.

and if you like the whole "immortal lover" trope, there's some stuff here to like. the lich lords, when you arrive to bear witness to the rites, refer to rook as "challenger of the gods, volkarin's beloved", and emmrich waxes poetic about how even after rook passes, the way he feels about them will be immortalized alongside him. there's also a very sweet kiss before he goes into the rite, and rook has the opportunity to tell him they love him, just in case he doesn't come back out. and afterwards, they have a powerful, immortal skeleton boyfriend, so for the monsterfuckers in the audience.... nice.

so what's the catch?

if you're looking for a fairly unambiguously "happy ending", and if you like the idea of your rook parenting for the foreseeable future, saving manfred is your easy option. on this path, rook and emmrich will have many good years together before he dies. there's absolutely still room for angst here because of emmrich's unresolved issues, but there's definitely a more... domestic, low-key quality to this path.

the lich romance has some pretty glaring obstacles, and that's probably a big part of why a lot of people doing the romance might not pick this. first of all, he wasn't joking, he's literally a skeleton. he can put on a glamour for polite company, but he is a skeleton. realistically, intimacy is going to be complicated by that. on top of that, as a lich for the mourn watch, he's going to have certain duties that he can't get away from. myrna herself asks if they're going to be seeing less of emmrich now that he's a lich, and his answer is basically not yet. at some point, some time in the future, he is going to have to go into the necropolis to begin his lich duties and he won't really be coming back out after. so in a very real way, there is an invisible timer on the relationship where it'll basically be dead in the water unless rook makes some serious lifestyle changes* to accommodate that (assuming they're allowed to). so there's some built in angst with the lich romance that may or may not be your preferred flavour, because his job might end their relationship long before rook's mortal lifespan even becomes a consideration.

*theoretically a mourn watcher rook is going to have an easier time with that particular adjustment, but i'm speaking from my perspective as a LoF rook

decisions, decisions

this is the part where i start talking about my rook, but do us both a favour and keep reading, because believe it or not there is still some emmrich analysis in this part, and it might inspire you to do your own dissection for your rook, too.

so my rook is corentin laidir, and from the moment emmrich said the word "lich" he's been quietly freaking out about it. largely because of the whole "you're going to leave me to be a lich in the necropolis" thing.

i had hoped that resolving emmrich's quest line would give me a very clean solution to the lich freak out issue, and it does! ....if i liked the ending where we save manfred. which i don't. controversial opinion, but i don't actually care about manfred enough for corentin to be his second dad, and from a roleplay perspective i don't think corentin would advocate for bringing manfred back.

but on the other hand, the lich!emmrich option is quite literally corentin's nightmare. what corentin wants, at his core, is for emmrich to accept both manfred's death and his own, whenever it may come. he wants emmrich to understand that running from his own fear of death like that is beneath him. is it honouring death to defy it like that, even (supposedly) in the name of service? corentin would argue no, if he could bring himself to argue with emmrich about anything.

selfishly, corentin is also afraid of what eternity means. sure, emmrich says now that he'll always remember corentin and what they have, but what about a thousand years from now? he's afraid of being replaced, and of becoming insignificant to someone who is so, so important to him right now. in this life.

so the question becomes: do i choose an imperfect, happier ending that maintains emmrich's mortality, or do i throw corentin into an emotional blender?

why i'm putting corentin in the torment nexus

one of the problems of being a creatively-minded person while playing decision-based games is that there comes a time when you have to make a choice:

do i work with the options available to me, or do i pull out my scalpel and gut this thing?

and in moments like this, where neither option is quite right, i have no choice but to get surgical. pick what's interesting, and frankenstein that thing into something that works well enough to carry me to the end.

and the fact of the matter is, the lich path is just more interesting to me in this case because it's an angst machine, and because it makes sense for him to get stuck in it. if i dig into corentin's character, in that exact moment when a decision is made, there's no world where he's going to tell emmrich to give up on his life's work just to bring manfred back and stay mortal. but there is a world where he'd recognize that telling emmrich to give up on his life's work for a guy who loves him who he met five minutes ago is a dick move, and then he'd get completely caught off guard when emmrich says he's going to start preparing for his rites now.

so where does this leave corentin?

here's how i'm handling the situation for the time being, unless something comes along that completely revolutionizes how i feel about all this.

every time emmrich has talked about becoming a lich, it's always been a vague future thing with no real timeline attached. in hindsight, it's pretty clear that the only thing delaying the process was himself—emmrich was uncertain if he was willing to risk the danger of the rites. this uncertainty, however, has left corentin with the impression that even if he was 100% sure and raring to go forward, there would be tests and preparation that needed to happen first, and there would be time before the rites could happen.

so when the question of whether or not to save manfred comes up, corentin does what any good boyfriend would and he tells emmrich that he's dedicated his life to potentially becoming a lich, and he needs to be really certain before throwing that away.

corentin is allergic to being a bummer; even when he's really struggling with something, he feels like he can't talk about it if it'll upset someone else. emmrich is desperately afraid of death, and corentin is desperately afraid of being alone, so he's gotten very good at keeping himself... palatable. so when emmrich responds to his encouragement by saying that he'll start preparing for the rites immediately? well, corentin feels locked into the supportive boyfriend schtick. he feels like he has to be unerringly supportive and not question emmrich's decision, even though it is definitely something that effects him, too.

the whole time emmrich's preparing to become a lich, corentin is thumbs up "you got this babe!"-ing his way through it, all while frantically trying to squash down the feeling of impending doom. because he is 100% completely convinced the other shoe is going to drop at any moment and emmrich is going to go to the Lich Corner Store for cigarettes and never come home.

though it should be noted, the skeleton part of "skeleton boyfriend" is really the least of his concerns. it's just everything around that.

and where does this leave emmrich?

he doesn't know it, but it leaves him with a pretty miserable boyfriend. they're going to have to reckon with corentin's issues at some point.

just like they're going to have to deal with emmrich's. becoming a lich is maybe not 100% a good thing, at least not right this second. he says that he "thought he knew its price," and in keeping with that banter i linked in the first part, he seems unprepared for the reality of losing people. it feels a little like he's rushing into it headfirst before the grief can hit him full force and he can get cold feet.

i'm really curious how he's going to feel if something happens to corentin (or almost happens), and it gives him a reality check on his boyfriend's mortality. losing manfred is already unimaginably hard... is he prepared for what it's going to be like when he loses corentin?

because i don't think he's realized that he isn't, yet.

[starlightshadowsworld]

So in Season 5 episode 2 when Fukuchi is at the UN there’s a dude fanboying over his adventures.

He lists several of them off and one of them is “the elimination of hundreds of thousands of subjects of the werecreature experiments in the republic of Kenia.”

Werecreature experiments

We know of one werecreature and we also know he was experimented on as a child. Granted Shibusawa seemed like he was doing his own thing for Fyodor.

So this could’ve been a separated thing or related but either way it has to have involved Atsushi, right?

You don’t just throw out the phrase ‘werecreature experiments’ and not have it be related to the only werecreature in the show.

Especially not the main character.

And while it was the orphanage, we know Atsushi has survived multiple attempts on his life as a child.

As for Fukuchi he was planning to kill him on that boat prior to Akutagawa showing up. And then tried to convince Akutagawa to kill Atsushi.

Perhaps to finish the job he started all those years ago.

If Atsushi was involved in these experiments his parents could’ve also been test subjects as other weretigers. But they could’ve also been scientists.

And that’s what the headmaster was referring to when he said by the ‘this doesn’t even count as abuse when compared to your parents.’

Like yeah im making you nail your own foot to the floor but at least I didn’t make you a monster. Because yeah these these experiments could’ve been what gave him his ability in the first place.

Maybe Atsushi was one of if not the only successful experiment. Fyodor wants him alive after all and him being the guide is because of his ability.

Atsushi was abandoned inside a rubbish bag in a bin by his parents. Perhaps the place was attacked by Fukuchi and they were trying to hide Atsushi.

Even if Atsushi wasn’t apart of these experiments, if there were any other weretigers it seems like Fukuchi killed them.

He’s the only werecreature and that’s why the police and the Agency (up until they met Atsushi) thought Atsushi was a normal tiger during his rampage. No one immediately considered he was a werecreature, an ability user because their aren’t any.

As for the location, they may have meant Kenya but it’s possible this place is made up for bsd. It wouldn’t be the first time so there’s also that.

Also that conversation said that many of Fyodor’s exploits were made into movies so just imagine Atsushi having movie night with the Agency and finding this all out.

If his parents were scientists and involved with this then it’s fair to assume Atsushi remembers what they did to him. Given his reaction to Fitzgerald talking about them.

But given his initial trust of Fukuchi i don’t think he knows about his involvement.

Fuck this man really decided he was going to take everyone away from Atsushi, didn’t he?

Shoutout to the wonderful @crowscadence for letting me know about this because I had no idea this was said.

This is now going to rot in my brain for the foreseeable future because what the fuck?! Not to mention the casualness of which this information was delivered.

[xsweetcatastrophe]

You broke me first

part 27

cill: bad news.

zoe: uhoh. what?

Zoe hated text messages like this. It’s bad enough he was leaving soon, how much worse can it get?

cill: it was more than just a wardrobe fitting.

Zoe: ???

cill:

Zoe laughed at the picture, staring at the signature pesky haircut he’s been subjected to all this time during this series. He hated it, he hated the upkeep, and he hated growing it out. Zoe knew he was relishing in the last couple of days of his normal hair before the inevitable happened.

Zoe: wow they really went short on the sides! Better wear a hat you’re gonna catch cold over there.

Cill: i’ll be living in hoodies with the hood up for the foreseeable future.

cill: how you feeling, bunny?

Zoe had taken a sick day from work today. She didn’t feel good, had the chills, and had zero appetite. She was camped out on the couch with a cozy blanket, a cup of tea and the remote while being under the care of her trusty live-in nurse - Scout, of course.

Zoe: a bit better. definitely a lot better than this morning. Scout has been taking care of me. Might actually take him out in a bit and get fresh air.

cill: don’t go outside if you’re sick. i’ll do it when i get home. did you eat anything?

Zoe’s heart still fluttered when he said home. THEIR home, where they live together, even if it’s just the time being.

zoe: i had some ramen noodles for lunch. maybe ill take a bath. i want to change the sheets too just in case whatever i have is contagious, dont need you getting sick.

cill: i’ll take care of the sheets and Scout. you just rest and take a bath. when i get home we’ll talk about dinner.

Zoe: can i suggest a pizza?

cill: not a chance.

zoe: worth a shot.

Zoe smiled and put her phone down on the couch. She looked at scout who was laying the couch by her feet sound asleep. She sighed and was hoping he’d want to go out.

“Scout… hey, wanna go out, boy?” Zoe whispered, nudging the sleeping dog with her foot.

Scout yawned, looked at her, and rolled over and went back to sleep, facing away from her.

“sheesh, okay then,” Zoe mumbled. she peeled back the blanket she was under and stood up to stretch. She was still in her pajamas, which was a baggy band t-shirt that came down to just above her knees. She hadn’t showered yet, was sure she smelled gross and she definitely felt gross. She made her way to the linen closet and pulled out a fresh towel and made her way to the bathroom.

She hasn’t been able to take a bath since she took a bath at Cillian’s in his ginormous, pristine, white bathtub. Her bathroom seemed small and dirty, and didn’t seem as relaxing as Cillian’s bathroom felt. But, she knew the warm water would make her feel better, so she decided to make the best of it, as she turned on the hot water faucet. She decided to grab a bath bomb and a lavender candle to make it more cozier.

She stripped off her T-shirt and panties and lowered herself into the warm water after dropping the bath bomb in. She had the candle lit on the corner of the edge of the tub and she was already starting to smell the lavender fill the room. She cursed herself for forgetting a second towel to fold and use as a pillow for her head, so her dirty T-shirt would have to suffice.

She relaxed and lowered herself even lower into the water, exhaling and closing her eyes. Her tub made Cillian’s look like an olympic sized swimming pool, and she had to bend her knees out of the water.

“If i close my eyes and pretend im anywhere else, its not so bad,” Zoe thought, feeling the water gently slosh around her legs. She heard the jingle of metal on metal, and she opened one eye to see where it was coming from. She was greeted by two big brown eyes staring back at her from the bathroom door.

“don’t tell me NOW you wanna go out,” Zoe said to Scout. Instead, he nudged the door open farther and made his way into the bathroom, peeking into the tub. Zoe pat his head, thinking he wanted some attention. Once he realized she was wet, he cowered away from her hand. He instead circled on the rug outside the tub and lay down, seemingly wanting to nap close to her.

“awww,” Zoe said softly, closing her eyes again. “good boy.”

-

“hey.. baby.. hey.. HEY,”

Zoe jolted awake, water sloshing over the edge of the tub. She opened her eyes to Cillian kneeling next to her on the outside of the tub, hand gently shaking her shoulder.

“I forget you sleep like a rock. I was calling your name when i came home, and i found you in the bathtub like this,” Cillian laughed.

Zoe sat up and awkwardly stretched, her neck now in pain from the awkward angle.

“I didn’t think i’d doze off, I just wanted a quick dip to warm me up”

Cillian looked at his watch. “well, you texted me saying you were taking a bath 2 hours ago, and that water is barely warm anymore,” he said, standing up and grabbing the towel she had placed on the vanity earlier. he opened it in his hands and walked towards the tub. “come on, up.”

Zoe stood up and started shivering almost immediately. Cillian was quick to wrap the towel over her, rubbing her arms to warm her up. He then opened his arms and took her into them, holding her against his body.

“Can’t have you drowning on me, I’d miss you too much,” he said into her hair, giving her a kiss to her temple.

“I miss your bathtub in your old house,” Zoe mumbled. “That was heaven.”

“I’ll build you a bigger bathtub in the new house,” Cillian mumbled back.

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s just hard to come back to what you’ve always known once you had a taste of luxury, that’s all i’m saying” Zoe replied.

“well when we’re in the new house you won’t have to worry about taking baths in small bathtubs again,” Cillian said giving her a quick kiss. “I stopped at that restaurant you like in the next town over and brought home some soup for you, and something for myself. I’m gonna walk Scout to the corner quick so he can pee, you get changed and meet in the living room, yeah?”

Zoe smiled. “thank you. that sounds good.”

Cillian walked out of the bathroom towards where Scout was and grabbed his leash while Zoe made her way to her bedroom. She grabbed some new underwear, some sweatpants and one of Cillian’s old T-shirts that would be extra baggy and extra comfortable. She put on some socks and made her way to the living room where she saw the takeout containers on the coffee table.

Zoe went to grab some bowls, plates and utensils and placed them on the coffee table. She grabbed bottle of water for herself and Cillian and made herself cozy on the couch.

While she was trying to find something to watch, Cillian came home with Scout. Scout ran to his basket of toys and pulled out a plush giraffe and began shaking it.

“Dog has so much energy, i swear we RAN home,” Cillian said, kicking off his shoes. He made himself comfortable next to Zoe and started unwrapping the containers.

“How did everything else go today?” Zoe asked, ignoring his shaved head. She already knew how that went.

“ummm…” Cillian started, hesitant to continue. If he was trying to hide something from Zoe, she picked up on it immediately. Something was up.

“what?”

“Well, for one, your magazine called. They said I have to do the interview all over again, with someone else,” Cillian said.

“that sucks, did they tell you who?”

“Some girl named Cindy? Cynthia?”

Zoe groaned. “great. good luck with that one. Where i ended up in bed with you by accident, she’ll try and sleep with you for real,” Zoe said.

“I think it’s over Zoom so you have nothing to worry about,” Cillian laughed.

Cillian cut up some chicken and took a bite. After swallowing, he continued.

“there’s uh… there’s more”

Zoe sat in silence, waiting for him to continue.

“My manager, Mary, is going out on maternity leave, and we’ve been having a hard time trying to find someone in the interim, but her and Hannah went to the same college or sorority or whatever, and she volunteered to do it while Mary is out. So Hannah is gonna be glued to my hip for the next couple of months. And apparently … I’m leaving for London on Monday.” Cillian said the last part very fast and very softly.

Zoe could hear her heartbeat in her ears.

be cool, be cool, be cool.

“oh wow… monday? that’s … in 3 days.” Zoe said.

Cillian put his fork down and grabbed her hand.

“I know, love, but it’s not permanent you know that. and we’ll talk every day. multiple times a day. I’m coming back.”

“i know.” Zoe said, forcing a smile. “I’ll coordinate stuff for the house for you while you’re gone, with all the furniture deliveries and stuff.”

“I appreciate it. thanks love. I already made you a key” he said, digging into his pocket.

“Assumed i’d help you move while you’re off being Tommy Shelby?? how’d you know i’d say yes to helping?!” Zoe joked.

Cillian smiled. “I was making you a key, regardless.” he leaned in and gave her a kiss, placing the key in her hand.

“So you and Hannah are gonna be quite the team…” Zoe continued.

“Yeah,” Cillian replied, “I had no idea she had managerial experience. But she started in the industry as a manager and pivoted into PR, so..” he continued, shrugging his shoulders.

“Cillian and Hannah, the dynamic duo,” Zoe said, taking a spoonful of soup.

“Yea,” Cillian chuckled, grabbing another mouthful of food.

“I mean, hey, what could go wrong?”

tags: @lau219 @shopgirl6us @cillianmurphyvevo @borntodiemp3

[zirkkun]

hello i've briefly returned from my long hiatus

i'm. working on stuff? if you noticed i unfollowed you it's because i'm massively narrowing down the stuff on my feed. it doesn't mean i have anything against you! im just trying to keep my social media feeds more curated. i've gotten a massive spike of anxiety even thinking about going anywhere online other than a couple of my friends' dm's and tiny servers on discord lately. but i want to be able to share my work. being able to share my work and allow my thoughts to impact other people is what gives me the greatest joy... i've just been so scared to share anything really because i gained such a panic that anything i would say would open the floodgates for harassment of any kind, no matter what i said or even what i didn't say. i've not been directly hurt by this, it's mostly just an unending fear of imagining the worst possible outcome. but i know a lot of people who have, some of which are my closest friends, and the internet isn't... as fun as it used to be.

it's taken me ages to even want to make this post at all. it's arguably the last time i will be bluntly honest about my feelings directly for the foreseeable future, because i no longer feel safe doing so with anyone other than a couple few close friends. i'm not saying this to point any fingers or try and say others are the problem, i'm simply stating my feelings to explain why i've taken the actions i have. i'm gonna be making a lot of changes to how i post things and reorganizing stuff around so it will hopefully be a lot easier for me in the future to be less frightened to even open any social media page, and in turn, i'll still be able to share my works with people who adore seeing them or who may even need to see them, depending on the content. but if i become more closed off to messages and asks and stuff, well, I apologize, but i'm not in the mental headspace to handle it right now.

i appreciate everyone who has stuck around here despite my absence. the amount of people still following me even though i've barely posted anything in ages is... astounding to me. thank you. whether or not it was intentional hoping i would come back or you simply forgot you followed me ages ago, thank you.

hopefully this change ends up being for the better for everyone.

[artists-ally]

{Train Wreck} HUGE UPDATE!!!!!

~~~~~

OKAY. LISTEN. IM BRINGING IT BACK. I'M BRINGING THIS SERIESS BAAAAAACK. It has been far too long since I have updated it. I know. I'm sorry my loves. Thank you to everyone who has kept asking about it, I haven't forgotten it. I promise.

So, what does this mean? I am going to take down the current parts for this series and revamp them a little, give them a bit of a makeover. I know exactly what I want this series to be now, and with the way the first two chapters are, I can't make it work. Don't be alarmed when you see them gone from my masterlist, they will be back.

I know I have a couple other WIP's y'all are waiting on, a lot of requests, but this is all I want to write right now. So deal with it 😭

I have decided I'm going to kinda go balls to the wall here on Tumblr and only allow myself to write one series or one fic at a time. I cannot have multiple projects open at once, I get incredibly burnt out trying to have so many ideas, and it's just not good for me. So, for the foreseeable future, I will be writing for Train Wreck and Train Wreck only. I hope you all will understand.

I will be finishing this series, as well as my She Gets The Flowers, Right? for Lucien. Just going through my masterlist one by one and making sure everything is completed before I start anything new.

BUUUUUT, I am beyond excited to start this series again. I went through it today on google docs and thought to myself "why did I ever stop writing? This is fucking brilliant." I absolutely adore Ira and Cassian's story, and what eventually will become Azriel and Ira's next. Just be patient, I promise I will bring this series to the next level. Again, thank you for all the support on this series and my other fics, I haven't forgotten them. I have taken a much needed break from posting on here, but I am back. And I am so ready to do this.

[gt-zel]

The Boy in the Walls Hiatus Update

Hey yall, heres an update for The Boy in The walls, since so many people have been asking for an update.

Recently i have been feeling very unmotivated regarding The Boy in the Walls, its been almost 4 years since i started writing it and i just keep dreading trying to write the next chapter. I know y’all have been very supportive regarding the hiatus but I’m afraid the story might not get an ending in the foreseeable future.

I am so happy that the story has gotten so much traction and for the lovely fans who have been the main motivation and cause for me continuing it. However, in the past two years my mental health has been slowly declining and it has grown to an all time low.

Im not sure how many of you have read the story about Winter and Claus, but my close friends know that it was an attempt to stifle my unhealthy coping mechanisms. The story started out with the purpose to vent out any self destructive thoughts i have.

But unfortunately this hasn’t been enough, i am going to therapy and seeking professional assistance with my struggle. But for now i will have to announce that The Boy in the Walls will not be getting an ending within the foreseeable future, i am sorry to all the people i will disappoint by saying this.

Thank you to all who have followed me on this journey so far, i hope to see you soon once my health is stable.

[the-s1lly-corner]

I'M SORRY I KNOW I SHOULD'VE LIKE PUT THIS IN THE SAME REQUEST BUT AFTER I READ YOUR TIMXDECEASED!READER I GOT AN IDEA..

BUT IDK HOW THIS WORKS LIKE WHAT IF SHE GOT REVIVED OR SMTH (OR LIKE IDK SHE DIDN'T EXACTLY D*E JUST WENT MISSING OR SOMETHING BUT GOT DECLARED DEAD?)

AND BTW

I love the way you write and thank you thank you so much for Doug my request:3

Remember to rest and stay hydrated mwa I love you!!<333

-🙀 anon

Tim x reader who went missing but returns!

UEUEUEUEUE thank you!! i was so nervous that the post was going to be kind EUGH!! since im rusty with MH and my brains foggy on the lore + still experimenting with how i write the og/mh versions of tim !! admin grew up with creepypasta first marble hornets later (though its been a blast getting into mh!! yahoo!!) that said i hope you enjoy this as well!! previous post/post in question!

just like a lightning bolt i was struck with the image of tim and reader hugging, studio ghibli style. you know. like getting INTO it

though.... would it be in character? in not sure, actually..! because on one hand i can see him being happy to see you still kicking, after being supposedly "dead" for lord k nows how long, but i can also see him cautious... like are you a threat? are you going to pull some stuff? i think it depends on how far into the whole mess of MH that this would take place in

thinks

god know because you know how in the other post i mentioned that he would make a little memorial... thing for you. like its just a space somewhere with your picture and some stuff you like/had. thats going to be fun to explain to you. probably takes it down when youre confirmed to still be alive

do not tease him about it. i do think that would actually cause some issues. like i thought about this as a joke but can you imagine how messed up that would be, to try to joke with him about that?

therapy. you guys both go to therapy. i mean he needed it even before you showed back up, but i doubt you just suddenly coming home is going to erase all the grieving he went through

"youre just as beautiful as the day i lost you"/ref or however the quote goes

oooooooouuuugh imagine its been so long and you guys have the rekindle your relationship if you guys want to make things work

i dont know, the admin just enjoys tropes like that. same energy as the "we knew each other in a past life and have once again found our way to each other" but in a different font... kinda...

if this is post-MH you guys both grieve together over all that was lost/who had died, as well as generally trying to recover

i do think that after the initial shock he would ask a few questions... though im not actually sure if he would interrogate you... i can see both, actually. on one hand he wants to know exactly what happened to you and where youve been, but on the other hand hes just so exhausted that he doesnt think he can handle the truth for the foreseeable future

baby steps, you know

[psiroller]

youre like the pam to my jim (preview)

im on my office romcom au bullshit folks. itll be a oneshot and basically pwp but here's the lead in to wet ur whistle.

dunmeshi/chilaios/dom!laios/eventual bdsm club shenanigans/2.2K

cw: blue collar blues, language, not so unresolved sexual tension, questionable workplace romance between a superior (chilchuck) and his subordinate (laios). this is not used for leverage (laios is actually the dom in this scenario, inverting the power imbalance) but i thought id mention it. they keep it professional on the clock (USUALLY)

Though he’d rocked up to the office less than an hour ago, Chilchuck’s workday had already run long. All the printers had gone offline, and he had to spend a few hours troubleshooting with Kuro how to get them operational; there had been a software update, apparently, that rendered the very outdated inter-office network unusable. Of course, this meant an hour on the phone with the district manager trying to get their network updated to the company-wide standard, something that had been blown off for a year and a half; the way she reacted to his request, Chil might as well have asked her for her firstborn. All he could get for his trouble was a tepid “I’ll look into it”. This meant running around handing out USB sticks like holiday cards so his employees could get something done, and lots of lines at the printers into the foreseeable future, and naturally their budget for office supplies had been cut, so it all came out of his pocket.

The whole department was behind on their calls, but Chilchuck fought back the urge to go around crabbing at people to catch up. It served him well, as Marcille approached him in the afternoon and informed him that the phone lines were down, and the voice mailbox wasn’t functioning, and there were angry customers on the line. Another call to Kuro, who was really stretching the limits of his contract, and it turns out that the phones had also been pushed a software update that made them incompatible with the inter-office network, and they would have to take every call in two rings or they would be automatically parked on a line that no longer existed and be summarily hung up on.

Mr. Tims announced he would be taking a lunch. He blasted a cigarette in the parking lot and returned to his desk to sulk, face in hands, dreaming of days when their lines were all directly connected and they didn’t have to go through the song and dance of software updates, firmware updates, network security updates, OS updates, wireless headsets, broken wireless headsets, lost wireless headsets and keycards and lost keycards and broken keycards and daily performance numbers and corrective action reports and work smartphones with keylogging software in them and mouse movement monitoring and—

Chilchuck went back to work. He used his personal cell to call up the DM and informed her of the raging clusterfuck that had become his department—and probably the whole branch—now that the office network was effectively obsolete. She sounded on the verge of tears—apparently her other branches had also fallen victim to the endless onward march of the digital millennium, and she was at her wit’s end trying to fix them all at once. Every stress-deadened neuron in his withering brain proclaimed: serves you right. If you had fixed this when I first asked, we’d all be stressed out at the usual operating baseline. He wished her the best and hung up. He stared blankly at his desktop calendar, seeing that the next district meeting was in three days. His vision briefly fuzzed over and he fantasized about leaping onto the table and screaming, just screaming until his throat was raw and his face was purple and they had to have the orc from the main branch’s operational compliance department drag him out.

 Chilchuck went for coffee. He was risking time theft, but his DM had bigger problems, and there wasn’t much he could do. The frantic calling died down, Marcille having performed some kind of forbidden ritual to pacify their frothing customer base. During his walkaround he saw most of the floor taking calls, even folks who normally ducked phone duty, so she must have gone around recruiting people to her cause. Chilchuck made a note of that; he’d have to compensate her somehow for taking on what should have been his job.

Laios, however, was nowhere to be seen. This rankled Chilchuck; Laios rarely missed a day except for the handful of times Chilchuck had to send him home for being deathly ill, so of course the day he had to miss, there was catastrophe. His cubicle was empty, he wasn’t in the break room, he wasn’t in the parking lot putting out an engine fire on his piece of shit motorcycle, not at the watercooler. Nothing. He checked with Marcille if he’d called out, and she quirked an eyebrow up at him.

“No? He’s in the server room, with Kuro.”

“Kuro?”

“Yeah, he said he went to help.”

Mr. Tims ground his teeth. “That’s not his—I’ll go talk to him.”

Marcille smirked. “Sure you will.”

Chilchuck glowered at her, but Marcille faced his evil eye with insufferable smugness. He remembered all too soon that she saved his ass this morning, and he had to close his open mouth and walk away.

“We’re even now,” he growled.

“Nope! Still getting that Starbucks gift card!”

She was right, but he wouldn’t be admitting it. Chilchuck stormed out of his department and down the hall, sliding smoothly into a closing elevator with a few other disgruntled employees, taking a frankly infuriating number of stops at basically every floor until he could ride it all the way down into the basement. When the doors parted, hot, stuffy air flooded in. Chilchuck winced and loosened his tie and waistcoat as he stalked the rows of servers, the heat only getting worse the longer he lingered, until he found Kuro kneeling with his arms in the guts of the worst cable management imaginable, Laios helping him separate out the lines to keep track of each spaghettified clump of wires.

“Chil!” Laios said, getting a growl from Kuro that probably meant be quiet in Western Kobold. “Oh, uh, sorry. Mr. Tims! How is it up there?”

“Bad,” Chilchuck ground out. “Of course. We could really use a hand with the calls up there, you know.”

“Oh, are the lines working again?”

“Enough to receive them, but not enough to park them, so it’s a disaster for customer satisfaction,” Chilchuck said, trying to manage his volume. “So what are you doing down here? I don’t recall you being in IT.”

Laios slopped some sweat off the back of his neck with the palm of his equally sweaty hand. His dragon-patterned tie had been loosened enough to nearly slip off his neck, just enough to stay in code, and he’d tucked the end of it into his pocket to keep it out of the way, having forgotten his clip again. The heat in their dilapidated, poorly ventilated server room made his business casual button-up cling nicely to the curves of his chest and solid core, the one bright point in Chilchuck’s day so far.

“Oh, well, I wasn’t getting anywhere with my work… I mostly had a bunch of bills to print and mail out today, so naturally that was going nowhere. I had my personal USB on me, so I tried to get it done manually, but Namari was hogging it for her shipment printouts because apparently their system is kaput in the warehouse… and when I checked again everyone was using it. Some of the newer printer models don’t come with USB ports, so some of the more up-to-date departments were mooching off ours.”

“I thought the lines seemed a little excessive,” Chilchuck grumped. “I don’t think I’ve seen those things used more rigorously than they have been today.”

“Yup, that’s why. So I caught Kuro running between the floors trying to troubleshoot his latest Band-Aid fix, so I’ve been doing all the stuff that doesn’t require a tech degree, heh.”

“Laios okay with software,” Kuro chimed in. “Break hardware.”

“Yeah,” Laios said with a frown. “But the part was replaceable!” He beamed, cutting off a lecture. “Good thing Kuro hangs onto spare parts.”

Chilchuck’s eyes narrowed, and he turned to the real IT technician of the pair. “Is he actually helping, Kuro? Or are you humoring him?”

“Nice to have extra hands.” His tail wagged loosely, bushing the cuffs of his slacks. “He runs up to other floors. Checks employee access and network strength in offices. Saves time.”

“Alright then. Keep up the good work.” Chilchuck met Laios’ eye. Laios winked at him. Chilchuck blushed and ignored him, heels clacking on the cheap linoleum as he walked away.

Chilchuck hopped on call duty, having found everyone in their place and doing what all could be done. His customer service voice got a workout that left him feeling tense and jittery, every call opening with a frustrated sigh or straight up yelling. After a few quick resolutions and a handful of longer, 20–30-minute stretches of troubleshooting and over-the-phone customer cocksucking, the landline made a happy little beep, the flashing lights next to every line dying out one by one as they were parked. A dialogue box popped up on his PC: Connected to HP-5669964.

“Hey, Chil!”

Laios strode into Chilchuck’s office, startling his boss for a second as he rounded the desk in a few long strides. A big hand clapped down on Chil’s shoulder, jostling his arm and spilling coffee on the crisp collar of his shirt. Chilchuck grimaced.

“What.”

“We fixed it!”

Chilchuck eyed Laios suspiciously and set his mug down.

“How the hell did you…?”

“Don’t get too excited, it’s a temporary fix,” Laios chuckled. “But we narrowed down the problem to some kinda software incompatibility. Shuro rolled back the servers to an earlier restore point, so it’s like the update never happened! Of course, the update’s going to get forced on us again once the clock rolls over, but we can just do that tomorrow, too. If you want, I can come in early to-“

Mr. Tims raised a finger. “No. We’ll take care of it tomorrow when we usually punch in. Not everyone’s a morning person like you, Laios. It’s going to be 10 AM before anyone’s awake enough to do any work, so that’ll cover the time it takes for the servers to spin up.”

Laios leaned forward on the desk, hanging over Chilchuck’s high-backed ergonomic chair, one he had to shill out for himself. “What?” Chilchuck hissed, glowering up at him.

“I’m not hearing a ‘thank you’.”

Chilchuck scoffed. “For doing your job? You’re not doing this just for me. You’re being paid.”

Laios’s cupped Chilchuck’s cheek, hand engulfing half his face, which flushed and burned in Laios’ palm.

“Watch it, Touden,” he growled, arms crossed. Laios’ thumb stroked his cheekbone; Chilchuck didn’t swat him away. “We’re both on the clock.”

“Chil,” Laios said, in that honey-sweet tone that meant Chilchuck was about to be nagged. “You’re burnt out.”

Chilchuck blinked up at him, dark eyes shadowed by dark rings that Laios traced, up to his subtle, deepening crow’s feet. “Huh? No I’m not. This has just been a frustrating—” Laios’ fingers pushed into Chilchuck’s hair, shaking it out, raking blunt nails against his scalp. “—day. I’m not… you don’t have to…” He slumped into Laios’ big, warm palm, calloused but gentle in handling him. “… what was the question again?”

Laios chuckled. “Nothing. I got it handled.”

Chilchuck snapped back into reality and bit into the meat of Laios’ thumb to try to get him to unhandle it. Laios took it like a champ, pulling his hand out of Chilchuck’s mouth and cradling the whole of Chilchuck’s head in his palm, raking it back and forth, mussing up his hair, which Chilchuck reached up to fight off; his arms disobeyed him, flopping around like limp noodles until he gave up and relaxed into it.

“I can see you through your office windows, y’know. You looked like you weren’t having a great time. So I figured I’d help take care of it, ease your mind a little.” Laios’ smile had a sad quirk to it. “You look a little pale. You didn’t have cigarettes for lunch again, did you?”

Chilchuck grimaced. “None of your business.”

Laios sighed. “That’s a yes.”

“It’s just a rough week, Laios,” Chilchuck said. “I’ll be alright.”

Laios’ hand trailed down, framing Chilchuck’s chin with his thumb and forefinger.

“You’re coming home with me tonight,” Laios said, meeting Chilchuck’s eyes with that relentless force, gold boring into him. Sometimes Chilchuck wondered if Laios’ eyes ever got dry; he hardly ever blinked.  “We’re getting food into you, and a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, we’re going to the club to work some of that tension out of you. Understood?”

Chilchuck’s pupils blew wide. His thick eyebrows pinched and he grimaced, unable to look away. Laios’ body curled over him, blocking out the office, the noise, the chaos. Chilchuck sighed, dropped his arms into his lap, and let Laios carry the weight of his skull.

“Oh, right,” Chilchuck realized, his eyes bright. “It’s Friday.”

Laios grinned and patted Chil’s cheek. “See? The fact that you forgot means you’re burned out. See you at six.”

Chilchuck threw paperclips at Laios until he left his office. At 6 PM, they met up on top of the hood of Chilchuck’s old Mustang; his tongue tasted like black coffee. Laios smiled, making it hard to kiss him deeply; Chilchuck got impatient and started biting. Marcille speedwalked past the car and neither of them noticed or cared.

[viccharine]

hi guys long time no post! in an attempt to get rid of art block, I drew one Ryan Ross portrait everyday for a week. here are the results lol

commentary under the cut:

I’ve been in an art block for about a year or so (read; I haven’t made any art im serious about for like a year), so for some reason I wanted to reignite my love of portraiture using Ryan Ross—why Ryan Ross, you ask? no clue, just felt like it. could have easily been Patrick Stump tbh. so anyway, I wanted to get better at using references so everyday I picked a picture of ryro off of Pinterest and drew it for a week.

here’s what I learned:

(above) this is day 1 vs. day 7 —I don’t think I can quite call this an improvement as opposed to me getting used to drawing again (I don’t think my skill level has changed, just that it took me a while to figure out how to use a pen again)

for the sake of consistency, I only chose pictures of him from this specific era (headband, vest, tie, dress shirt), but it’s so interesting to see how Ryan Ross has changed (appearance-wise) throughout the years. i would say the peak of his fame was his teenage years up to early adulthood, so this era of his life is remarkably well documented. for better or for worse, this is notably a time of a lot of change for most people (speaking from experience), so I can’t imagine what it feels like for all of those changes to be documented on the internet

along those lines, I can’t imagine what it’s like to be perpetually a teenager in the eyes of the internet. almost every image of him on Pinterest is in the pre-split panic era, which is unsurprising but it makes he hard to remember that man is well into his 30s now. there’s this weird pseudo-infantilism and martyrdom of Ryan Ross on the internet because (as mentioned before) the peak of his fame was when he was a teenager, and he essentially disappeared from the internet when he was a young adult. I wonder what it’s like for your legacy to be your teenage self? my teenage years were probably the worst years of my life, I can’t imagine being solely known for 17-18 year old me. me drawing seven portraits of like a 20 year old Ryan Ross obviously does not help combat this perception of Ryan Ross, but I figured that I’d post it anyway (if not for the art, then for the learning experience) —to make a long thought short, it’s a little odd to see such a big difference between Ryan Ross and his legacy/reputation on the internet. I think a lot of us have a hard time remembering that Ryan Ross is a 37 year old man, not a symbol of pre-split panic.

art wise, the biggest lesson here is that progress is not linear. which, to be fair, I feel like this is a very common saying. but I think the day four portrait is my favorite, and the day five portrait is the worse. go figure

as a side note, my theory is that every artist goes through a phase where their style focuses on one or two of the elements of art. I think im currently in my line and shape phase (and will probably be for the foreseeable future)

anyway, those are all my thought. thanks to u if you read through this entire thing, lolz, I appreciate u lots of

see u all next time <3