#once upon a trainwreck

[shiftingmuse]

...I literally have to rewatch OUAT entirely to relive and remember the trainwreck they created for these characters. Season 1 was perfection, it was the most beautiful start for a show. Then shit went to hell and back, and then back to hell...and then they created the underworld for the series itself.

*nods*

I did like Hades, but shite the further you get into the series the worse it got. I'm not ready.

[valorums]

RELATIONSHIP DYNAMIC TAGS

╰──➢  ⠀the crowning jewel of the republic ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑽𝑰𝑺𝑼𝑨𝑳𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀songbird trapped in a gilded cage⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑪𝑨𝑵𝑶𝑵𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀all i ask of you⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑨𝑺𝑲𝑩𝑶𝑿 𝑹𝑬𝑺𝑷𝑶𝑵𝑺𝑬

╰──➢  ⠀wishing you were somehow here again⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑨𝑺𝑲𝑩𝑶𝑿 𝑷𝑹𝑶𝑴𝑷𝑻𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀this is the queue of no return⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑼𝑬

╰──➢  ⠀far too many notes for my taste ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑺𝑪𝑹𝑰𝑷𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀why have you brought me here? ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑫𝑨𝑺𝑯𝑩𝑶𝑨𝑹𝑫 𝑮𝑨𝑴𝑬

╰──➢  ⠀it’s over now; the music of the night ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑨𝑹𝑪𝑯𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑫

╰──➢  ⠀a hot mess inside a dumpster fire inside a trainwreck ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑶𝑭 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹

╰──➢  ⠀gaslight. gatekeep. girlboss. ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑶𝑹𝑰𝑮𝑰𝑵𝑨𝑳 𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑲

╰──➢  ⠀we’ll go from there ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑫𝒀𝑵𝑨𝑴𝑰𝑪 𝑴𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀i make my own sunshine ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀𝑴𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑵𝑮𝑺

╰──➢  ⠀press conferences with secretary valorum⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀ 𝑷𝑼𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑪𝑰𝑻𝒀

╰──➢  ⠀some things never change ⠀⠀ ✧ ⠀⠀𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑹𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑳

( 𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / dooku’s protégé ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀even the shadows are worthy of love ⠀⠀—⠀⠀fallesto

( 𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / house serenno’s lost heiress ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀once upon a december ⠀⠀—⠀⠀fallesto

( 𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑳𝑼𝑺𝑰𝑽𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / prophetic and dyadic ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀the redeemer and her chosen one ⠀⠀—⠀⠀forcenexus

( ��𝑳𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / force sensitive ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀force suppressed⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon divergent

( 𝑨𝑳𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑵𝑨𝑻𝑬 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / modern ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀first daughter of the united states⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon divergent

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / the phantom menace ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀first daughter of the galactic republic⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / the clone wars ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀the republic’s greatest hope⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / rise of the empire ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀architect of the republic’s demise⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / rebellion sympathizer ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀the twice condemned traitor⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

( 𝑴𝑨𝑰𝑵 𝑼𝑵𝑰𝑽𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑬 / resistance general ) ⠀⠀ ଽ ⠀⠀never underestimate the elderly⠀⠀—⠀⠀canon compliant

[tallteenturtle]

Even when the Evil Queen was wearing a more movie inspired outfit she managed to avoid looking like she had been vacuum sealed into a trash bag.

And even though tv Snow White didn't have the classic blue & yellow dress at least she didn't look like she just walked out a Spirit Halloween.

one side of this post is the costume design from a big-budget theatrical film meant to live up to the hype of the first animated film ever made for wide-release and another side of this post is the costume design from an abc soap opera where dwarves hatch from eggs and i think you guys will kill me if i tell you which is which

[meanbossart]

Hi RJ! I hope you are having a great time with your partner! Sorry if this has been asked before, but I was curious what DU Drow’s thoughts are to Astarion marking him like he did to himself. I know you’ve mentioned that Drow did a lot of the scarification as a teen to cope with things, and in your Bhaalist AU Drow has Astarion do some of the face marks. But I saw the art with Astarion’s bite marks on Drow’s ass and I doubt Drow was unhappy about that lol. Does he like having permanent marks from his partner? Do they ever bring any sort of blood/knifeplay into their relationship? I’d be super interested to hear Drow’s thoughts about it! And alternatively what you think Astarion would feel about it.

Your art is absolutely gorgeous and you are easily one of my favorite artists of all time. Your mastery of body shape, facial expressions, telling a story through character design, everything makes me swoon at your art. I’m so invested in your freaky man, RJ, I love him and as someone with a master’s degree in clinical psychology I want to dissect his brain and study him under a microscope

Thank you so much for your kind words!!! Happy to have a specialist in the field here watching this trainwreck LOL

And that's a very interesting question! Besides for his forearm scars (which were a weird show of dominance in his bhaalspawn days) DU drow's facial and chest scarification were actually done by Orin, and as you can guess he is very into the idea of being permanently marked by his partner - definitely the kind of guy to get your name tattooed on him six months into the relationship.

He does have an inkling of good sense and propriety, though. It's kind of a pillar of the character that he knows how to operate in society in favor of coming across as pleasant and only an acceptable level of eccentric, which is to say that he has the vaguest idea that requesting that Astarion mutilate him for his own pleasure might not bode well. This, as it is the case for everything else, is my own take on the character, but Astarion does not strike my as someone who would want to permanently harm their partner once he's made a genuine emotional bond with them. DU drow realizes this, plus there's the whole treating-him-with-kid's-gloves complex which leads him to believe this would be a sensitive topic, given Astarion's own background.

But DU drow often fantasizes about the scenario, specially during sex or moments where he is emotionally overwhelmed with his love for him. It takes him some time to make the connection between his own scars and what they mean about past relationships, but perhaps at some point an opportunity would arise where he makes such request - and he would do it because it's important, and because he has to for once in his life trust Astarion to either A) participate enthusiastically or B) Allow him to choose to take on the discomfort of his own free-will, and see it as a sign of love and compromise rather than the helplessness he imposes upon him.

And I think that depending on how it was presented, Astarion would do it. He wouldn't do it on a whim, or just to get DU drow's rocks off, but he would do it if he saw that it was something that he really needed, and for good reason. He wouldn't like the process, but he would appreciate having that trust put on him and to have the chance to care for his partner, to have him ask him for help, as weird as the request might be.

[raeofsunrise]

skate to me

pairing: clapton davis x gn!reader

summary: !BASED OFF A REQUEST I FORGOT TO ATTACH THIS TO! clapton was absolutely astonished when he saw that the person who skated right by him in the hallway was right here, next to him, in his science class.

warnings: light cursing, i think?? i’m not fucking sure at this point

word count: 1.0k

author’s note: so sorry it took me like a whole month to get back! 😭this has been crazy ass couple of months, and i just couldn’t get anything out if i tried. i honestly think that i might take a break on writing for clapton and characters like mike, simply because i don’t think i have any motivation to write for them. i don’t wanna let you guys down, but i also don’t wanna write crappy fics, either. i’ll say on a separate post who i’ll be writing for. thanks so much for your guys support! and with that, enjoy ☆

clapton thought he was the only one who skated through the hallways of grizzly lake highschool. it wasn’t like he gatekeeped it or anything, but it was his thing. and everyone knew that.

so when he felt you brush against him in the hallway this morning, he barely got a glimpse of your shoes and purple hoodie before you skated away. it frustrated him—

wait, skated?

he thought he was crazy. he had to have hallucinated those rollerskates. but the sound when you rushed by him, those had to have been rollerskates. but nobody else but him did that. that was his thing. besides his ego being a bit affected, he was more excited than anything. maybe he could make a new friend. he’d never met anyone else who skated, especially at school. but where did you go? no, more importantly, what class were you in? clapton was not famous for being patient, so this would be difficult.

he begrudgingly made his way to science class, upset that he might not see you until passing period, where the hallway would be filled with what felt like thousands upon thousands of people. no way he was gonna see you during that. and if he tried to find you during lunch? he’d definitely look like a total creep. so this was a lose lose situation. he’d never be able to talk to the stranger with the skates.

this made clapton’s walk to class even more frustrating. throughout the whole day, all he could hope for was to hear your skates against the ground. but he didn’t. not once. it was the end of the day, and he was heading to his last class. clapton was just about done with everything when he saw a pair of skates next to a desk. and just above that desk was a purple hoodie. and even more above that was probably the most gorgeous person he’d ever seen.

he was practically just standing and staring in the doorway. of course you weren’t staring back at him, he thought. you were busy listening to music and getting ready for class, getting your notebooks and everything.

clapton didn’t move until another student shoved him out of the way so they couldd get through, muttering something under their breath in the process. clapton couldn’t care less, though. because there was an open seat next to you and what perfect timing was it that he was the only person who hadn’t sat down yet? this coincidence made him believe that maybe there was a god. maybe it was you.

his mood an entire 180 from how it was less than 2 minutes ago, he sat down right next to you, waiting for you to notice him like an excited child.

not noticing someone had sat next to you, you weren’t expecting someone to be right next to you. normally, as far as first days go, people liked to haze the new kid. so someone looking eager to talk to you was not a good sign.

“hi,” you say slowly, going to look at him.

“hey there, gorgeous.” he said. as soon as that came out of his mouth he knew that was a big yikes. (ayo?? 😟)

your eyes widened. what the hell was his problem?

“woah, coming off a little strong there, aren’t we?” you ask.

how could he save this already trainwreck of a conversation? if he could even call it that.

“sorry, don’t know why i said that. i just, uh,”

shit, shit, shit! think of something clapton!

“you skate, right? that’s pretty cool. i do, too.” he held up his skate board.

still suspicious and not at all buying this “no ill-intentions” act, you pull your skates closer to your desk.

“yeah, i do.”

he continues, “well i just thought that since we both skate we could—“

but he was cut off, as class had apparently started while you two were conversing and your teacher was not happy with either of you.

clapton heard the teacher say both of your last names, followed by a very stern “detention!”

this wasn’t anything surprising to him, but one look at you told him that this was not how you were expecting your first day to go.

you rolled your eyes and shot him a dirty look.

“thanks a lot, davis.”

so instead of a trainwreck, his attempt to talk to you was a total and complete fuck-up.

great.

——————

the end of class came painstakingly slow, and he saw you hurrying to head out so you didn’t have to walk to detention with him. i mean, could he blame you. he practically screwed over your entire day.

clapton always took himself as an optimist, so maybe he could still save this. right?

as you put on your skates, unaware that this might land you in even more trouble, you felt someone tap you on your shoulder.

there was nobody else left in the classroom besides you and the person who you did not wanna see. so you turn around, and with no surprise, there was the douche who landed you in detention.

“oh, are you here to get me suspended, too?” you ask.

he couldn’t help but laugh a bit.

“yeah, i deserve that. sorry about all…this, by the way. i really didn’t mean for you to get in trouble.” he said.

damn, you thought. he’s not a bad actor.

you smiled a not-so-friendly smile back at him. “sure, you didn’t.”

you try to skate away and out of the classroom, but he catches up to you on his skateboard.

“no, seriously! i just wanted to talk to you. i’ve never met anyone who also skates, and i just thought you were really cool and pretty and—“

you stopped skating ahead of him a while ago, but he didn’t notice that, so he kept skateboarding right into an open locker’s door.

you let out a laugh that definitely let every teacher in the vicinity know you weren’t where you were supposed to be right now, but you couldn’t help it.

clapton got up, rubbing the side of his face.

you walk up to him and pat him on the cheek.

“okay, i believe you.” you say, crossing your arms afterwards.

he lets out a smile that you’re pretty sure you’re gonna have to get used to.

“anything i can do to make it up to you?” he asks.

you take off your backpack and shove it in his arms.

“carry this for me?” you say.

“that’s the least i can do.”

[mxnhoo]

surprises! (k. sn)

synopsis : sunoo was ghosting you the entire day, and you wanted to have a day out with your mom to take your mind off of it, and suddenly there was.. a surprise?! pairing : kim sunoo x reader genre : romance, fluff, sunoo is mad mad mad sweet it makes me want to cry, not proofread w/c : 2.6k a/n : hey guys, just had a quick idea and had to do something about it. idea is from @/hatsunenica on tiktok. worst part is, it's currently 1am and i need to wake up at 7am tomorrow LOL ignore the mistakes, hope yall enjoy. KINDA HATE IT THO COS IT'S KINDA CLICHE

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

You rested on your bed, feeling exhausted after crying non-stop for hours. You were just laying down lifelessly, your phone beside your head. The room was dim, the only light source being the lamp that was resting on your nightstand. Your pillow and sheets were stained with your tears and snot, leaving an obvious outline and you stared blankly, resting on your side. You received a notification, making your phone screen turn on, and you instantly sat up to see the notification, but was quickly met with disappointment when you realised it wasn't from the person you anticipated it to be. Quickly looking at the time before your phone automatically turned off, you realised how early in the day it was for you to be crying like this. Heck, it was only 6am in the morning, the sun has barely rised and you're already feeling a trainwreck of emotions, it's insane. Disappointment and hurt only filled you as you think back on the reason why you were crying in the first place.

Sunoo was not responding to any of your texts or calls, and it was making you feel worried, scared, fearful, to the extent you were crying this badly. He stopped responding to you from 3pm from the day before, and it made your overthinking worse.

Was he tired of you? Was he ghosting you? Did he not love you?

But to make it worse, you two weren't even in a relationship, so you felt like you didn't have the need to get upset over this. Your eyes slowly closed and you drifted off to sleep, feeling completely exhausted after being up for majority of the night, trying to contact Sunoo.

The sunlight made it's way to your room, and upon the brightness increasing, you started to gain consciousness. Opening your eyelids, you are met with the ceiling, and you had to take a few seconds to just stare and recall what happened. You heaved out a big sigh and shook your head, trying to shake the thoughts away. You sat up on your bed and quickly check your phone one last time, and once again, no notifications. You wanted to cry again, but there were no more tears. You put your phone on silent and Do Not Disturb, not wanting to come into contact with it for a while.

You throw your feet over the edge and realise how your journal and pen was resting on the floor. You probably accidentally kicked it down during your sleep after you journalled how you felt, writing down all the things you felt down to release your pent up emotions. You pick the journal up, reading a few lines from the entry you made yesterday.

"i miss your touch, i miss the way you call my name" "i wish you would just say something" "i love you sunoo."

And upon reading the last line, you slammed your book closed, immediately putting it on your nightstand. You shook your head once more, letting out a long sigh. Suddenly, your bedroom door opened, and you turn your head towards the door. It revealed your mom who was looking elated, and she spoke out, "Darling, let's go out today! Dress up nice, okay?"

You wanted to refuse, you wanted to say no so you could just rot at home in your self-pity, but before you could respond, your mom had already closed the door on you, leaving you no choice. Maybe a day without your phone will do it. Maybe you'll feel better.

You softly screamed and set your foot on the floor, standing up and stretching, ready to carry out operation "Day Without Phone Or Texting Sunoo". You knew your mother would take you out to breakfast, so you made your way to the bathroom to start preparing to shower.

Dress up nice? You definitely did. You were shutting your eyelids close as you spray the setting spray on your face after having put on a full make-up look. You slowly put down the spray and opened your eyes, looking at the table mirror in front of you. You grinned as you realised how prettier you have gotten, feeling more confident in your own skin. Today, you wanted to just forget about all of your problems, and you were definitely going to do it in the prettiest way. You stood up from the chair to take into view of how you completeluy looked. The sundress you were perfectly complemented your body well, showing off your good shape and your make-up that was just finished off making you look like a princess. Goddess, even. Feeling happy at your look, you opened the door to see your mom who was already dressed up, sitting on the couch and waiting for you.

"Ready to go? Let's dine at your favourite!" she exclaimed. You nodded, already feeling detached from your problems, and you quickly snatch your bag that was hanging near you as you folloewd her. Your phone was still nicely resting in your room, and you glanced towards your room one more time before closing the front door beside you.

Breakfast at your favourite cafe -- Dreamy Drips, which served the best pancakes, and afterwards your mom bought french toast too, which was nicely accompanied by an ice cream flavour of your choice, chocolate chip.

Afterwards, you and your mom walked around the street, admiring the view and just chatting. Occassionally, Sunoo appeared in your mind and it always made you want to break down, but you focused on the person who loves you with her whole heart -- your mother. You smiled at her, laughing at the jokes she made.

Shopping at your favourite bookstore was also one thing you two did, feeling like you were in paradise. You felt ecstatic at the sight of filled-up bookshelves, and it was almost as if all your problems were non-existent.

A cat-cafe was the next thing you and your mom went to. You absolutely loved cats, wanting to own one so bad but not having enough time to take care of it properly. You caressed the cat that was resting on your lap, and you smiled at your mom who was now taking a photo of you.

Lunch was the next thing. You two ate at a sushi restaurant, completeley devouring the food at sight. When you were completely filled up, you burped loudly and rubbed your stomach, your mom laughing at you.

This time, you and your mom ended up in the mall. You walked past stores, liking how they all have their own styles and different products. You occasionally entered stores to see the different things that they sold, copping a few items here and there.

After a long day, your mom announced that she wanted to go home. You agreed, feeling exhausted yet refreshed too, and she called a taxi. On the taxi ride home, you expected her to be chatty, recalling the simple moments you and her shared earlier in the day, except she was constantly on her phone and constantly typing.

"Who was she texting that she's typing like that?" you thought to yourself. You shrugged and looked out of the window, watching as the car you were in drive past the buildings. Your mom was probably texting your dad.

Upon reaching, you and your mom step foot outside the taxi, and you were about to walk up to her so you two could walk in the house together, but she quickly looked up at you.

"Darling, I have to deal with last-minute things, take the keys!" she exclaimed, smacking the keys to your palms before going to the opposite direction. You didn't even have the chance to say anything before her silhouette started to gradually become smaller, and not visible. You sighed, holding your bag and the plastic bags from the shops you shopped at today, walking up to the front door. Your rings clinked loudly and you unlocked the door, stepping foot inside.

Immediately, you noticed how the aroma of the whole environment was different. It smelled like.. vanilla? You tilt your head in confusion, raising an eyebrow and closing the door behind you. You turned on the light switch and instantly noticed something on the floor. Red.. petals? You observed as it trailed to your room, and you cautiously look around to see if anyone was there, but you were met with nothing. You attentively stepped to the front of your room, twisting the knob and opening the door.

There he was. Sitting on your bed, in a suit, holding a bouquet of your favourite flowers - roses, and balloons that were sticked onto your wall that spelled out, "Will you be my girlfriend?".

You dropped the plastic bags you were holding and brought it up to your face. Your jaw dropped and your eyes widened, processing the sight that was right in front of you. Sunoo was chuckling, as he nervously scratched his neck. He stood up from the bed, and started stepping towards you, until you called out, "Stop right there!".

Upon hearing your callout, he immediately halted to a stop, his eyebrows raising as he felt slightly puzzled. "I-I just.. need to process everything.." you added on, slowly bringing your hands down back to your sides.

He chuckled and responded, "You can take your time, I'll always be here, okay, Y/N?". Your heart skipped a beat at his words, and you felt a blush creep up your cheeks and ears. You finally processed the sight in front of you, and cleared your throat. "S-so.. what is this?".

He finally took the steps towards you, holding up the bouquet and smiling at you oh-so handsomely. He replied, "I wanna ask the prettiest girl out, and it so happens to be you".

You still couldn't believe your eyes, but you slowly took the bouquet into your hands and sniffed the aroma of the roses. They smelled so beautiful. Your eyes started welling up, and upon seeing your emotional state, Sunoo started to panick, "W-wait, why are you cryin-?"

Tears finally rolling down your cheeks and you cried out, "I thought you hated me! I thought you didn't like me anymore and I thought you found someone else! I couldn't stop crying earlier today because of my overthinking!".

Still panicking, Sunoo quickly brought you into an embrace, and patted your back. "Shh, I got you, Y/N."

You continued to cry, now your tears staining his suit, not being able to hold back your tears anymore. He continuously whispered sweet-nothings into your ears as he patted your back and caressed your hair.

"Was this why you were ignoring me?" you asked, voice cracking at the last few words. Oh man, Sunoo wanted to slap himself for breaking your heart and making you cry like this. He quickly leaned back and cupped your face, "Yes.. I wanted to surprise you and make you really happy, but I didn't expect you to be over me not responding. I'm sorry, okay, baby?". He pecked your forehead, and looked at you with such a reaussuring gaze.

You finally looked at him, eye-to-eye, and you noticed how handsome he looked today. The way his hair was nicely slicked back, eyes looking genuinely worried for you, and you melted into his gaze. With your free hand, you caressed his cheek and finally smiled.

"There's the smile I love so much." he grinned, a pink tint on his cheeks showing.

"I got you a gift, mind if I show you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, signalling if it was okay for him to pull away, and you nodded "Not at all, what is it?".

He grinned and stood back from you, walking towards the other side of your bed and picking up a box that was blocked in your view. As you watched him, you look at the bouquet of roses he gave you and smiled, placing it down on the table near you afterwards. He walked back to you, holding the box with both hands, and he handed it to you.

"What's inside, hmm? I wonder what it could be!" you said, your heart currently feeling so ecstatic at the moment. You opened the box and is met with a variety of things.

The first thing you pulled out was a digital camera that looked brand new, and you looked at Sunoo with shock.

"Is this the digital camera I wanted?!" you asked, feeling completely excited. He nodded and you continue, "But isn't it $300?!". Your eyebrows furrowed, worried about the cost.

He shook his head, "Nothing is too expensive when it comes to you."

You pouted your lips, melting at his words as you place the digital camera box inside the box and took out the next thing.

A stack of polaroids that were joined compiled together by a rubber band. You placed the box on the table that also had the bouquet and removed the rubber band, seeing all the polaroids.

The first polaroid was of you when you and him had gone out to study with a group of friends. You didn't even know he took a photo of you.

Second polaroid was of you studying when you went to the library to study with him and a few others

Third.. fourth.. fifth.. and it went up to a 10th.

The 10th one was a polaroid of you at the cafe, when you and him had agreed to hang out alone. You remembered it clearly, he asked to take a photo of you on his polaroid camera, and you shyly smiled at the memory. The 10th one had permenant marker writing at the bottom, and it wrote "The moment I knew I was in love with you."

You gasp and you looked at him. When you and him had went out that day, it was 2 years ago. He had been in love with you for so long?

You tied a rubber band around the stack of polaroids and placed it back into the box, and now the last thing was.. mail. A lot of it. You questioned Sunoo, "What's all of this?".

He shyly smiled, scratching his neck, "I wrote a love letter for you every single time I couldn't stop thinking about you." Your jaw dropped again, and you looked inside, realising the insane amount of letters inside. You could easily say there was 10, no, 25, maybe even 50. That is insane.

"I hand-made all those flowers in the bouquet, y'know?" he smiled, fidgeting with his hands, feeling worried you wouldn't like it. You whined out, your heart melting at him and feeling so happy

"I love it, Sun, I love all of it." you cried out, feeling emotional. Upon hearing your words, his face lit up, and he immediately brought you into an embrace.

Sunoo cleared his throat, before asking the big question, "Y/N, will you be my girlfriend?".

You smiled at him, feeling so emotional that the boy your heart has been yearning for was finally asking you out, and even reciprocaiting your feelings.

"Yes, Sun, of course!" you exclaimed, wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him for a kiss.

You were kissing him for the first time, and his lips felt so soft, so gentle. He held your head oh-so gently, and he was tilting his head to be able to gain more access. The way you two were moving in such a rhythmatically way showed the chemistry between you two, and you wanted time to just stop right here. Your heart was rapidly beating, and you felt like it could explode any moment. You felt so joyful, cheerful, delighted, elated, jubilant, ecstatic, all the snynonyms for happy. There were no words spoken, but it was so clear how much the two of you yearned for each other. The warmth you felt was like no other.

After a long minute, you slowly pulled back. Resting your forehead on his and looking right into his eyes, you smiled, "Sun, I love you so much."

He chuckled and replied, "I love you too."

[katabay]

GILUBONG SA DOMINGO

UG MAO ANG KATAPUSAN NI—

okay, so there's a moderate trainwreck of ideas happening here, especially because this is the set up for a future thought I have not talked about yet!

first, the solomon grundy part is because for some reason, in my mind, it was always about a guy who got married and then died immediately after from a "mysterious" illness, and I'm pretty sure the Cain Saga Solomon Grundy chapter only reinforced that in some deep part of my brain

this! story! is about! a young man from the provinces who gets married to the daughter of the spanish governor and dies soon after. more or less, his wife murdered him for the land that was in his name, even though it was shared in the community without hierarchy, and she (with her father) intends to turn it into a sugar plantation.

and it's also about the engkanto, the 'not like us.' (so here's the thing, I know people have translated/compared engkanto to fairies, and honestly fuck that. my mom has always translated engkanto into english as 'not like us' since forever, and it's a better fit for our region than any comparison to european fairy folklore.) in the last panel with the mother, the man with the long hair is the engkanto in this story. so, the story:

once upon a time, there was a field, there was a harvest, there was a young man. and one day in the middle of the harvest season, there was a handsome stranger. every day he would invite the young man to come with him, offer him gifts, entice him with conversation. then: the young man got married. soon after, he died. his life has been stolen so the land can be exploited, and the handsome stranger is one with the land. this is now a story about retribution

this is playing off of the tinamnan gabe story a little, but I have diverged significantly because this is going to be about folklore horror, and it's also technically a prequel story for something else.

I've seen the tinamnan gabe story retold online and I've seen people cite the book it's recorded in (Negros Oriental and Siquijor Island Legends, Beliefs and Folkways), but I don't have access to the book so no additional citations for this RIP 😔 (while I heard a lot of similar stories to this one growing up, in a forest instead of a field, I still wish I had access to the book for a lot of reasons, but especially because I like reading things. I want to read the book!!)

to conclude this, I also want the mom to get revenge for her son. ideally, when I pin this idea down further, it will be about folklore horror AND revenge.

⭐ I have a tip jar (ko-fi)!

⭐ and other places I’m at! bsky / pixiv / pillowfort /cohost / cara.app

[bonefall]

the cats of the park is just frostpaw finally getting some therapy

tbh tho I feel like them being separate from clan life would help her immensely. They’re not so wrapped up in this culture of battle so they have a new and refreshing perspective (and also frost doesn’t have to worry about ulterior motives because they are STAYING AWAY from THAT trainwreck that is the clans)

RE: Nothing in BB!ASC is set in stone until the arc is done BUT

One excellent thing ASC has done with the Park cats that is commendable, is that they're treated as legitimate. Not inferior or malicious. They're just another culture that Frostpaw is going to learn from. The bar is UNDERGROUND but we've finally hopped over it.

So I'd want to keep and acknowledge that.

I think I might have an interesting idea for Frostpaw's journey. Also, side note... I'm thinking BB!ASC will rename every book because these titles are actually awful, im sorry. So I'd call this one ASC: The Source of the River

Gonna jot these down;

So, to begin with, Frostpaw calls the human. While being heavily sedated, she has her first vision of Riverstar.

FROSTPAW DOES NOT HAVE A SPECIAL CONNECTION TO STARCLAN.

She NEVER would. Screw that. Instead-- learning to connect to this vision of Riverstar, to her ancestors and their wisdom, is a SKILL she would learn.

Frame the journey less as Riverstar's Side Quest and more as Frostpaw chasing the Revelation she had while anesthetized.

So when she wakes up, she's thinking about how incomprehensibly VAST Riverstar was. She can't even imagine how there's enough space in the world to contain such a being.

Even the Lake itself... the lake is just a droplet, being suckled like a kit on the teat of the Southern Inlet river

For a second, her troubles seemed like a small flea on the nose of a great, cosmic being. But as she reconnects with the mortal plane after her dream, the flea becomes an infestation. She doesn't know where to begin, or how she can save her Clan.

She thinks back to Riverstar. The river that feeds the Lake. Was that what he was trying to tell her? That she has to follow it to the source?

STOP 1: RIVER WARD

The BB!Tribe is massively overhauled. The Tribe of Rushing Water defines themselves as three Wards (Cave, Mountain, River), connected by living on the same stretch of river.

From them, she learns about connections. They are simply able to call upon each other for all they need, there's no need to "appoint" someone to manage everything.

Families and friends hold each other accountable, networking and negotiating constantly. When the group must act as one, it casts stones.

Their Stoneteller is a religious leader, but all cats connect with their ancestors by personally interpreting omens, even without needing to go see him.

(Contrast to BB!Clans, whose Clerics are the KEEPERS of holy knowledge, and it is a sin to interpret StarClan's will on your own)

Yet, there are downsides. She can see ostracised cats who skirt at the edges of the Ward, especially the descendants of a particular group (called Flicks) that she learns once tried to invade the River Ward.

Though they welcome travellers and have a positive view of Clan cats as "family," she learns that they freeze out those who break taboo. Even for smaller offenses-- social faux pas and personal disputes have caused rifts within the Ward.

And the personal omen interpretation means that two cats can try and justify their feelings with religious commands, leveraging any "soothsayer" (particularly religious cats) connections they have like a social pissing match, unless they're both willing to get dragged to Stoneteller.

From all this, Frostpaw learns that she CAN connect to Riverstar and her ancestors, even if she can't speak to them... and that she must LISTEN. Not allow herself to twist her ancestor's words.

And all the Wards are connected, by the source of a river. Suddenly she answers her question.

"How could the world be big enough to contain a being like Riverstar?" Because water isn't all in one place. It's everywhere. It pools where it can and flows where it cannot.

And yet-- a single people is connected by its water. Three wards, one River. Five Clans, one Lake... three siblings, one belly.

Her heart aches thinking about Curlfeather.

She thinks of when quarreling Tribemates are brought to Stoneteller to arbitrate, and be taught the truth. Brought up the river, to its source at the waterfall.

That has to be it! The source, the BEGINNING.

Stop 2 would be WarriorClan as she heads south, but I'm not sure what they'd teach her yet lmao. Monkeystar says "Hi! Do you want to learn how to play a kazoo"

STOP 3... I'd want to rename the Park Cats. Maybe the New Park cats.

(evil brain: "Neopark. Make terrible petsite joke. Be reincarnated as a lotus flower)

There would also be a BIG recap of Ancient Park culture, and the River Kingdom. Frostpaw knows they had KINGS.

And a lot of aspects that modern Clan cats have-- ceremonial sparring, mentors and apprentices, the Law of the Deputy... those came out of the River Kingdom, before its collapse in the Code Era.

But these cats are NOTHING like the glorious tales of a Kingdom warrior. In fact... this is THE park!

THE park that was destroyed, which King Arc-of-Park lead his people away from. How could it have been ruined if it's still here?

(Reality: the Park was shrunk and landscaped. It was destroyed in that time to the perspective of cats. Maybe she'll have some visions of the past through meditation...)

But the survivors, and those who chose not to follow their King... they remained. And they continue to thrive.

Like canon, have them teach her the ability to meditate. Unlike Tribe cats, meditation is about SIGNS, not OMENS. Omens are physical. Signs are psychic.

(Also i like Bee so im probably gonna keep him as Frosty's yoga coach)

She sees Riverstar a few times, has details of Curlfeather's scheme revealed to her in enough chunks to piece together,

but is eventually bowled over when her best, most productive meditation yet... results in a black shadow.

He has a shining pearlstone adorning his head, and deep, wet pools for eyes. Very few other features can be made out, besides his paw, which is shockingly normal compared to his wraith-like body.

Somehow, Frostpaw understands she is looking at a Patron. But she doesn't know who he is until he tells her, he is King Arc-of-Park.

Though remembered, he is not invoked often. The details of his appearance are lost. All that remains of him is his paw-- carried on in a few expressions and the -paw suffix. The one which Frostpaw herself currently bears.

Since Riverstar, his beloved son, so rarely speaks in straightforward terms, he has come to give Frostpaw her answers.

But before she speaks, trembling with desire for finally FINALLY getting the truth, almost frozen by the sheer volume of things she needs to know, he stops and tells her,

"You have earned the truth, Frostpaw. Be not afraid to ask for what you are owed-- but we only have time for three questions, and I shall ask three in turn."

Question 1: "What did you need me to learn?"

"Many things. How to find your own answers. The perspective of the thousand eyes you've met. The wisdom that only a pilgrimage can bestow. I, too, was no leader before I brought my people up the river, and now you too must save RiverClan. Have you learned what we sought to teach?"

She feels unsure... "I don't think I can know if I have, until I go home."

Even though he has no mouth, she can hear his smile, "That is a yes, child."

Question 2: "What am I learning about RiverClan and its history, if these New Park cats are nothing like my Kingdom ancestors?"

He hums, "You have come to the source of the river, and are vexxed to not find the water that is already swirling downstream? No cat stands in the same river twice, for it is not the same river, and they are not the same cat. Are my people gone, Frostpaw, or do they live on?"

Stunned, her jaw hangs open ever so slightly. She thought she knew the answer right away, but his simple question becomes a riddle on her tongue.

He tells her not to worry. She does not need to answer his questions immediately, as they're running out of time. Ask your last.

Question 3: "...did my mom love me?"

IMMEDIATE, "she did. Child of my distant blood, she loved you like a king loves his prince. Ferociously, ambitiously... selfishly."

He cradles her face in his one, massive, silk-soft paw, like he's reaching out of the shadows, across time itself. His last question, "She put you in a terrible position, didn't she?"

A lifetime's worth of love and agony bubbles out of the kid, "SHE DID. She DID and I never did ANYTHING to deserve this, I did everything she told me, and I just wanted to make her happy, and... and i miss my mom."

When she returns from her trance, she's crying.

But her companions are here to help her unpack all of what she just learned.

Will probably end up letting her recruit a little DND party lmao... maybe one cat from each pit stop. Heartstar shouldn't be the only girlie who's allowed to get expansion packs.

Make a little found family here that Frostpaw returns home with.

RE: NOT. CONFIRMED YET. NONE of this is BB canon yet. Just thoughts I need to get down.

[incorrectbatfam]

Can Bruce read his gremlins a bedtime story?

Once upon a time—

Ugh, no. Go back and try again.

Jason, let the man read.

Not when it sounds like that. It's Sleeping Beauty. A fucking five-year-old can do it.

Alright, starting over. Once upon a time, there lived a princess in a castle.

Where else would she live?

I get what you're saying. Where was I? Right. When she was born—

Can we go back for a second? What kind of castle are we talking about?

Not again.

A good story has detail, Cass. Now give me the layout. Is it more mid-century or a little earlier? What fortifications do they have? Do the floor plans allow for guards to covertly sneak around? Are they prioritizing enemy intimidation or civilian—

Mid-to-late-century, reinforced walls with hidden cannons and watchtowers, they have underground tunnels, and civilian trust because their only enemy is Maleficent. As I was saying—

What's their contingency plan?

Tim!

The story is the contingency plan, you wet sack of hamburger meat.

Wow, spoiler alert.

Someone called?

I thought you went home?

And miss this trainwreck? As if. Too bad Tumblr doesn't have more colors because Duke would love this.

Huh?

It's a fourth wall thing. Don't worry, I've been working on my impression of him.

Let's see it.

Please don't.

"My name is Duke. I cry at Lord of the Rings."

In his defense, Frodo and Sam have a beautiful friendship.

Back to the story. When she was born, her parents threw a grand jubilee where all the kingdom and its fairies was invited. The fairies all arrived with presents—

You think they would have a baby shower before the baby is born, right? What, the first few days they're just going without diapers?

This was the Middle Ages. They believed in leeching the humors out for a common cold.

Also, you can throw showers after the kid arrives. Our own dad did it.

At least you weren't the guinea pig. Try explaining to a bunch of important rich people who brought gifts that actually, there is no baby, it's me and I don't need diapers or footie pajamas.

Says the guy wearing a Kid Flash onesie.

Says the one in a Superboy shirt and conspiracy theory pants. Pick a side.

I have two hands and I'm not ashamed.

Okay, there's a lot to unpack there—

Jason married Roy!

What?!?

It's for tax benefits. Not all of us can own a multi-billion-dollar corporation.

Your name's on the will.

Yeah but I'm never gonna get it 'cause Bruce isn't gonna die long enough for me to use it.

What do you mean?

He's talking about the retcons. You should ask Duke, he can see into other dimensions.

Ooh.

Ahem, I believe Father was telling us a story. I speed-read it so I know they all die at the end, but I'd like to hear your delivery.

Damian, you're reading this morning's obituaries.

Same thing.

Truelove'skissbrokethespellandtheylivedhappilyeveraftertheend. Terrible job everyone, now lights out.

[winwintea]

how wayv would react if you showed up at their doorstep covered in bl**d with a g*n

how wayv members would react if you showed up at their doorstep covered in bl**d with a g*n. PAIRING ▸ wayv x reader 

TRIGGER WARNINGS ▸ mentions of: bl//d (o) and g/ns (u), very angsty

AUTHOR’S NOTE ▸ i watched the winwin and ten lovely dance cover again and cried because im an emotional trainwreck... REGARDLESS. idk actually how this prompt came to me but damn

Qian Kun

Kun’s lips are pursed together, his eyes widen at the sight of you. With your blood stained cheeks, mixed with your murky tears, you were covered head to toe in… red. He looks you up and down before demanding angrily, “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?” His voice is loud and clear, and you can’t help but choke up a few sobs in response, unable to answer him. Kun grabs the gun out of your hands, and embraces you in a tight hug. This time his voice begins to crack and it’s a lot softer, “What did you do…?”

Ten

Ten was so caught off guard by the blood, he didn’t even notice the gun in your hands. “Holy SHIT! What the hell, y/n?” Strings of curses followed, but you couldn’t do anything but just sob uncontrollably. Ten gazes into your teary eyes. It’s hard to see your face clearly, since it’s covered in blood. Although Ten had no idea what you did, you had come to him for help. He grabs your shoulders and presses his face close to yours, and gives you a comforting smile, “Come inside. I’ll get you cleaned up.” He would be your rock. He would be your shield. He would protect you. Always.

Dong Si Cheng

Winwin has mixed feelings as soon as he sees you at the door. He’s definitely shocked, but hides it well. The gun was directed towards Winwin, but your hands were shaking, trembling. You were a wreck, a blubbering mess. He places his hand upon yours, slowly lowering the gun. “Why don’t you put the gun down and tell me what happened?” His voice has a soothing and calming edge to it. He embraced you in a hug, rubbing your back, as he whispered in your ear, “It’s going to be okay.” And that’s almost enough to make you believe his words. Almost.

Xiao De Jun

Xiaojun cursed as soon as he saw you. “Woah…” He held his hands up in defense, eyeing you carefully. His eyes nervously glanced around the area, wondering if any of his neighbors might take notice. You remained silent, your shaky fingers still wrapped around the gun.  The scent of blood fills the air, which Xiaojun notices as quite fresh. Once his shock has worn over, he finally breaks the silence, “Are you going to tell me what happened or are we going to be here all day?”

Wong Kun Hang

Hendery is just at a loss for words. The first thing he says to you, trying to process everything going on in front of him is, “Oh. That looks… messy.” (no shit) Hendery stands there awkwardly, not sure of what to do. He looks into your eyes and stares back at his reflection. There’s nothing left he realizes. Whatever you did, whatever caused this mess… didn’t matter. You would never be the same. The person he once knew, was gone. Lost forever. And he could never get you back. 

Liu Yang Yang 

Yangyang hadn’t expected you to turn up at his doorstep, much less covered in blood. “I’m trying not to freak out… but is the blood yours?” You shook your head, and he stared at you, in awe for a second. He put his hands around your shoulders, and felt how much you were shaking. Not wanting to disturb the neighbors, he brought you inside, wrapped a towel around your body, and quickly filled a bucket with water so he could wash you off. “Yangyang…” You called out to him, your voice still trembling, “Do you trust me?"

[witchofthesouls]

As much as I love poking fun at Tarn and his entire dumpster-on-fire-on-top-of-a-trainwreck personal life and interactions, he's a compelling character since he was directly warped by Megatron.

Tarn is so hung on Megatron because he was purposely designed that way by Megatron's own hands.

The entire standoff between them is the only reasonable end because the D.J.D. aren't the culmination of Decepticon ideals. They're supposed to enforce Megatron's own cruelties as he spiraled out of control and inflicted the very authority that suppressed the lower classes. They're the zealots in Megatron's dream of freed Cybertron from the Functionist warped religious dogma.

Megatron lost his way and then ensured that the faction went with him rather than install fail safes. Megatron fell for his own mask and ensured the revolution devoured them completely.

I wonder what would happen if a new Decepticon Warlord rose to power and took Megatron's mantle by their own rights? How would they deal the entire mess, especially if they were absolutely begrudging and looking for a way out? How would Tarn deal with it? Lost and adrift in a new order?

Tarn wouldn't be able to accept not being a weapon. He lived his entire self based on lie after lie that it became his entire truth. He can't.

I think it would be interesting if the new Warlord gave Tarn his deepest wish in the worst possible way. A mission that not even cunning Starscream, nor steadfast Soundwave would be able to know and undermine. A confident that he once wished Megatron would have taken upon Tarn...

Should they stray their path, should they turn their methods upon their kind, they want Tarn to kill them because he would have the best chance out of everyone else.

[ask-team-misfit]

*Destino swaggers up with their usual smug grin, putting a paw on Lief's shoulder.*

Destino: Wow, Liefiboo, you really messed up there huh? What is your problem? For shame I say. For shame. If it were me, I wouldn't loose control like that. Come on. It's like you have no idea how to interact with other Pokémon. It's just so hilarious. Are you ever going to get better? Probably not.

At Destino’s touch, Lief yelped, jumping a bit. He whirled around to face the Absol, his look of shock becoming annoyance as he hissed their way.

Lief: “You? Seriously?? Of all the times for you to come back, it really had to be right now?”

[ ID: A grayscale bust drawing of Lief slightly angled away from the viewer towards the left. His eyes are narrowed in an annoyed glare. His mouth is open, as if in the midst of a tangent. Lief's appearance is as described here. End ID ]

Lief: “And ‘Liefiboo’? Really? How’d you even get in here without me hearing y–”

aro-pokeverse asked: (@ask-the-shiny-pokemons) Noelle approaches Lief with a bit of irritating look. She's in a bit of a shock when she saw an Umbreon got almost killed by him. "WHAT THE HELL??? I know you're tryin' to safe someone's life after the incident, but seriously what the hell are ya thinking? Also I saw someone closer to me doin' the same thing..." She makes a worried face. She's very quietly speaks to him: "Sorry for yelling... It's just... I dunno how to describe it... But, please calm down... take a deep breath... and please tell me more about "her"... If you can't tell, well, that's fine as long as ya don't cause any trouble..."

[ @ask-the-shiny-pokemons ]

Clearly, with Lief distracted on his musings over Destino, he didn’t hear Noelle come in.

Upon her shout, he again jumped a bit.

[ ID: A grayscale drawing of Lief similar to the previous image. He looks shocked, or fearful. A couple of sweat drops are present on his face. His mouth is somewhat agape and shaky. End ID ]

Lief: “Seriously, can any of you not sneak up on me like this?? Coming all this way to scold me, in my own home…!”

He paused to take a deep breath. Then one more. His fur and antennae both relax once again.

Lief: “I-if you ask me, this is all their fault. If they hadn’t…”

He shot a glare at Destino as he said the above, only to trail off.

He wanted to continue on in his tangent, fault them for starting this trainwreck–but he couldn’t. Even as he tried to look angry at them, stay angry at them.

It didn’t last. After all, he knew the truth of things very well.

Lief: “No. Not really… this part is definitely all me.”

He sighed, defeated.

Lief: “I’d explain myself here, but how does someone explain seeing stuff that’s not there three times in a row? And I know, not an excuse. Maybe I need more sleep.”

[ ID: A grayscale drawing of Lief similar to the previous image. He looks sad or concerned, appearing to have some troubling thoughts he's refusing to speak of. He's looking away to the right. End ID ]

Lief: “And that last part is… well, I don’t know how much of that you heard.”

[ ID: A grayscale drawing of Lief similar to the previous image. He appears dismissive, glancing away towards the right with very narrow eyes. He's visibly flushed all over his face, with the blush shown in color. End ID ]

Lief: “Actually scratch that, if you heard anything of what I said before then, that’s creepy. But who I mean by ‘her’ is…”

He took one more breath. It’d be a moment longer before that blush faded from his cheeks.

Lief: “Mama. My mama. She was tough on all of us, but she taught me a lot. She was a Flareon hybrid.”

He gave a soft huff, turning back around to continue tending to Vahni’s wounds.

Lief: “I’m mostly over it, you know. She’s been dead for years, and it’s kinda just how things are out here. Though I guess by ‘mostly over it’, I actually mean I no longer blame myself for what happened.”

Lief: “So are you happy now? Do you mind coming back after I clean up this mess? I still don’t get how you’re all getting in here without me hearing you…”

[heliads]

Hello! Sorry if this request is too vague, please let me know, but I wanted to request a Tony Stark x reader Soulmate AU

Thank u have a good day/night :)

it was a little vague lol which is why i had the people vote in a poll. your soulmate au is that every time soulmates are close but don't meet, they repeat the same day until they do meet. enjoy!

masterlist

Tony Stark is beginning to think that he’s lived through this day before.

He’s no stranger to deja vu, or not as much as anyone else, at least. Usually, his days and nights are so bizarre that he has no problem differentiating any given set of twenty-four hours. Aliens only tend to invade the planet once every few weeks, inhumans only go bad once a month, and so he has time in between ends of days to tell which Monday is which.

Still, there’s today, and Tony swears that today has already happened. He woke up this morning, bleary-eyed and not in his own bed. He’d stayed up past his necessary bedtime in the lab again, a practice which is frowned upon by most but produces the results he needs. Maybe that’s why his head isn’t clear. Either that, or someone’s trying to kill him again.

Tony opens his eyes in a mess of gears and wires and thinks, didn’t he just clean that up? Rhodey’s been after him recently to get his shit together, which obviously hasn’t happened yet, given the fact that Hurricane Machine Parts has had yet another landfall on his chosen sleeping desk. Tony blinks unhappily at the bits and bobs scattered helter-skelter in front of him and chooses to solve his problems the usual way, by sweeping everything into a nearby bin and pretending everything is fine.

An alarm goes off on his phone and Tony glares at it before the panic surges. That’s not meant to wake him up, that’s meant to get him out the door in time to make it to a conference. Tony is giving a speech on, well, something he was supposed to remember. Something important. In the end, does it really matter? He’ll say something snarky and possibly brilliant, then pepper in the fact that he’s Iron Man and saves everyone’s asses on a weekly basis so no one can complain. It’s a wonderful scare tactic.

Tony is aware of the fact that he should know what he’s doing, but why should he care when no one else does? Regardless of what he says, he’ll get the same reaction. Everyone in the audience is just there in the hopes that being in the proximity of a billionaire will improve their own trajectory in life. 

Tony used to pour his heart and soul into press conferences and scientific discussions until he looked out into the audience one day and realized that no one was paying attention in the slightest. They were pretending marvelously, of course, even had him fooled up until that point, but their focus was just superficial. They nodded along self-importantly with every one of his bullet points, but their heart wasn’t in it, so why should his? 

Besides, he gives one of these talks what feels like every day, so it’s not like he’ll have anything new to say anyway. Tony did one of these exact things yesterday, even slept late too. He can’t remember where this conference is being held, nor where yesterday’s was, or even the location of tomorrow’s talk. He’ll ask Happy in the car. Surely his head of security should be aware of where Tony is going.

One rushed morning routine later, Tony is in the car, knuckles clenched bone-white around the steering wheel. Happy has to give him course corrections only three times, increasingly let down with each one. Tony reads between the lines in each and every pursed lip, wincing with the disappointed side eyes. Yes, he’s a trainwreck, yes he’s worse than ever, but does he really have to be reminded of that right now?

Tony makes it to the function in time, smooths his tie and waves soullessly to the press. A woman greets him at the door. Her lipsticked smile says, We’re glad to have you! Her pained stare says, Why are you only here thirty seconds before the show begins?

Tony has no excuses, so he doesn’t give them, only recites the usual dialogue about how delighted he is to be at this conference. You know, the conference. The one for this day, the day that’s different from all the others. 

Tony settles into his seat on stage once the moderator introduces him. The funniest thing happens as he waits for the crowd to finish cheering. Although this could be just brushed off as Tony obviously not being as focused as he could be, he swears that this moment seems familiar. The moderator is wearing a rather lurid lime green coat, and wasn’t it just yesterday that Tony was thinking to himself that the man resembled the Grinch if he tried to go corporate?

Tony tears his gaze from the moderator to the crowd. No, this time he’s sure of it. The woman in the front row, left aisle, with the navy jacket asked him a tough question on the possibility of nuclear energy in the future just yesterday. The balding man on the far right nearly knocked himself out trying to get Tony to take a photo with him as he left the event. This is all the exact same as it was before. He has been here before, and if his suspicions are correct, he will repeat this exact same day again and again until he can get something right. Something crazy. Something like a soulmate.

God, Tony didn’t really think he’d get to this point. Soulmates are hypothetically for everybody, but it wouldn’t surprise Tony if they would skip a guy like him. It’s said you can go your entire life without meeting your soulmate, that you end up falling in love with whoever will make do and doing your best to forget that you were slighted by fate’s best gift to humanity. Something about Tony always seemed to fit that bill to a T. Maybe he’d manufacture destiny by finding someone he could love instead. He has always liked to Macgyver his way out of difficult problems, so conjuring up a soulmate out of conjecture would not be his worst hat trick.

Yet here Tony is, stuck in the soulmate loop. There’s only one way to know for sure to know that you’ve met your soulmate. More specifically, there’s only one way to know that you’re meant to meet your soulmate on a particular day:  you can’t get out of the same set of twenty-four hours.

The lore goes like this:  if you end up in close proximity to your soulmate without actually meeting them, you’ll have to repeat the same day over and over until the two of you make contact. Tony’s parents apparently took five days to get to know each other, but that’s on the low end. He’s heard of bad cases that took months of the same damn day for two people to finally figure each other out. And in a city like this, a place like New York? There are quite literally millions of people who could possibly cross Tony’s path. God, he might even be here for years.

It’s a flawed system, that’s for sure, but Tony has no way to fix this. None at all. The only thing he can do is start going about the process of fixing things. So his soulmate’s somewhere in this day, and it’s someone he’s never met. Maybe they were in the parking garage at the same time as him. Maybe they’re somewhere in this conference center. Maybe they were walking outside Stark Tower when he goes home for late night work.

There are so many places and so many possibilities that it’s starting to freak Tony out, so much so that he almost misses it when the moderator starts asking him questions. Were it not for the fact that Tony’s already lived through this once, he might have stumbled a little. Thankfully, he remembers enough of what he said last time that the words flow like water, giving Tony some space to think about his soulmate instead of which brand of coffee he attributes to giving him the most energy to seize his day. That’s a stupid question anyway.

This also helps him the next day, and the next day, and the next. One week of todays later, Tony is ready to scream. He knew the process of finding one’s soulmate would be difficult, but he didn’t count on it being this difficult. Tony is already going out of his way to meet new people, but even then, how would he know which stranger of dozens is actually his soulmate? 

At this point, Tony would settle for just getting out of the loop altogether, soulmate be damned. Maybe that’s not the right attitude to have, but it’s his nonetheless. Every day, he works late into the night, and every morning, all of his progress is gone. Tony can’t even note his discoveries on his phone because his memos clear out overnight, all those breakthroughs vanished into pixels of days past. Happy tells him that he looks tense. Tony fights the urge to hurl himself through a glass window. Such is the way of life.

He tries to look for the bright side of things, if he can’t think about anything else. It’s nice that he gets so many days guaranteed without threats made on his life. If he sticks to schedule, Tony always makes it to the crosswalk in front of the conference center right when the walking man appears. There’s this pretty girl in the back of the auditorium who always gives him this encouraging smile when he takes the stage, like even though Tony starts each show feeling like a trainwreck, she knows he’s going to be alright no matter what.

There are resources available to him. Tony’s had plenty of time to look. There are scores of websites online dedicated to people stuck in a loop and trying to find their soulmate. So long as you don’t mind making the same post every single morning, you can tell people where you’re located and see if you can track down someone in your vicinity. Tony’s been visiting them as of late, hovering over discussion boards like they’ll give him any sort of clue.

Four weeks of the same day. Four weeks of getting nowhere. Tony runs into traffic so he can stare into car windows. He lurks in coffee shops. Pepper thinks he’s going insane, but she changes her mind every twenty-four hours when the day resets, so he doesn’t have it in himself to care much. He just needs to get out of this day. He just needs his life back.

Some part of him wonders, too, who this person must be. Would they be kind or clever? Are they trying half as hard to find him as he is? Have they given up on him already? Tony would like to think that they’re fighting a battle for him, but who truly knows in the end. All he remembers is the same day over and over again.

Then, just when desolation is starting to kick in, Tony sees something. It’s a message on one of a thousand soulmate finding sites. Anyone stuck in today for a really long time? Thirty-three repetitions and counting. I’m in NYC if anyone else is out there. I keep going to Tony Stark’s conference at 10am, but not even his motivational speeches can keep me hopeful for much longer.

Tony almost chokes, then laughs, then lets himself wonder. Thirty-three days sounds about right, and if they’re in the audience of one of his shows, then maybe–

He hits reply before he can stop himself. Also in NYC, also 33 days. 

Tony doesn’t dare say anything else. On the car ride over to his conference, Happy asks him why he looks so confused. “It’s like you’re excited about something but you’re trying to pretend you’re not. What, have you annoyed another competitor into folding?” His head of security comments.

“No,” Tony mutters, “and besides, that was only one time. It’s not going to happen again.”

“You tell yourself that,” Happy chuckles, and then they’re at the conference center and they don’t have much to talk about anything, business ventures or soulmates or otherwise.

Tony checks his phone before he goes onstage. The person has responded to him. Wait, really? Where are you?

Tony glances around him. One of the event hosts, that passive aggressive woman, is coming to escort him to the stage, so he doesn’t have much time. Conference center. The one where Stark is speaking.

Then he’s on stage again, repeating the same stupid answers for the same bad questions. Now that he’s been here a couple dozen times, Tony can confirm that they really, really need to get better topics for him to discuss. He would be dozing off were it not for the fact that his soulmate might actually be somewhere in this building. Maybe somewhere in the same hall.

The interview ends, and Tony dares breach public etiquette by pulling out his phone. The stranger has replied again. I’m there too! What’s your seat number? Maybe we can finally break out of this.

Actually, Tony says, I’m the one on stage.

Tony looks around for someone, sees no one, tries to hide his despair. He stands on that stage for a little too long, past the point where the moderator is standing there blankly, grin frozen and eyes wide with the same expression everyone gets when someone does something they shouldn’t in a public setting.

One of Tony’s aides appears out of nowhere, gently tugging on his arm to get him to move off stage. Just as he goes, though, he hears a shout from somewhere in the back of the auditorium.

“Wait! It’s me!”

Tony cannot describe it, this certainty looming in his chest, but he knows it’s his soulmate. They’re here. He whips his head around even as his aide yanks him away. Tony sees a blur of faces, someone pushing through the crowd in the aisle, but the face–

Nothing. No one he can recognize. No one he could find later. They’re a woman, that’s all he’s learned. Tony frantically checks his phone, sees a message saying that she’s figured him out. Tony tries to fight to stay around longer, but now Happy’s determined he’s delusional and Tony is all but packaged into his car and driven away. He’s put on house arrest once he gets back, Pepper and Happy taking turns asking what the hell has gotten into him. Tony tries to explain, but they don’t want to listen. No matter how many times you’ve repeated the same day, you wouldn’t be acting like this. Please be rational.

Tony doesn’t want to be rational, though, he wants to find his damn soulmate. He tries to message his soulmate that he can’t get out of the house, but she’s not answering her phone. Just before the day ends, Tony memorizes her username and prays she’ll have the same one the next iteration of the loop.

He messages her the second he wakes. Is it still you?

Yeah, she says, my phone died, sorry. What happened?

My friends staged an intervention. Apparently I’m acting irrationally.

He can practically sense her laughing on the other end. Repeating the same day 34 times will do that to you.

That’s what I tried to say, he replies, but did they believe me? No.

There’s about a minute pause, and then they message again. Do you think we can do it today? Try to meet again?

I think we can try, Tony says, and that does it.

They make plans. Tony gets ready early. He lingers backstage, waiting, checking his phone every ten seconds. Happy must pick up on this tension, because when he approaches Tony about eight minutes after they arrive, he lingers on the edges of Tony’s peripheral vision, not wanting to interrupt whatever is clearly wrong with him.

“What is it?” Tony asks, distracted.

“There’s someone here for you,” Happy says slowly, “They say they’re your, uh, soulmate. Should I just tell them to leave?”

Tony feels his eyes grow wide. This is not the first time someone has tried to meet him by playing the soulmate card. He gets it:  he’s rich, he’s distracted, of course someone would try it. This, however, might be the first time it was real.

“Yeah,” Tony says, “it’s them. Where is she?”

Happy blinks, surprised. “Wait, you’re serious? It’s actually–” At Tony’s exasperated hand waving, Happy hurries himself along. “Sorry, sorry. She’s waiting by the door.”

Happy might be saying something else, but Tony doesn’t hear it. He’s already spinning around, walking as fast as his dress shoes will let him. There’s a woman standing by the east exit. She looks nervous, and half a second after he sees her Tony realizes that she’s the pretty woman from his show. He saw her every single day, and he never even knew it was her.

Tony wondered what it would be like to meet your soulmate after so many days of waiting, if there was any way of knowing for sure that it was them. So many weeks later, Tony has an answer:  you feel it in your chest, right between your ribs, an electric shock that makes his entire body stand alert.

She must feel it too, because all of a sudden she looks up from where she’s been scanning the crowd and her eyes land on him. She smiles, and it’s because of him. No other reason. Just him.

Words are hard to come by. Should he say something impactful, the perfect sentiment for such an important moment? Surely this is a time for something to remember. Tony’s been repeating this day for a while, though, never truly believing it would come to an end, so when his mental wheels stop spinning, all he can do is something simple, something real.

“Hi,” he says, “I’m Tony.”

She grins at him. He doesn’t know that he’s ever seen an expression so sweet.

“I’m Y/N,” she replies, “it’s great to finally meet you.”

marvel tag list: @thatfangirl42, @rogueanschel, @mycosmicparadise, @ellobruv, @callsign-scully, @with-inked-solace, @sher-lokid7, @amortensie, @23victoria, @watchreadfangirlrepeat, @gods-fools-heroes, @w1shes43, @deafsuperhero, @fadedver

[buckyownsmylife]

Fuel to the Fire - Chapter 16

The one where Andy isn’t the type of man you can deny, even if what he wants is for you to become his mistress.

Andy Barber is a feared mobster and your best friend’s husband. There were more than enough reasons never to look at him twice. But when he lets you know that he wants you, there’s little you can do to stop the terrible trainwreck you know it’s coming your way.

for general warnings and author’s notes, please go to the fic’s masterlist.

You weren’t in the habit of arriving late. Usually, Andy would pick you up on his way to work, and you’d arrive together. But he’d been so thorough on the way he’d used you the night before, he thought you deserved a few extra hours of sleep.

So he asked his driver to go pick you up around 10 AM, so you could join him in his office. Work had been coming easily to you. It was mostly just answering calls and letting Andy do whatever he wanted to your body, whenever he could find the time.

In all of your time there, you still hadn’t had a chance to make any friends or interact with any of the other employees, so it came as a surprise when you heard your name from the lips of the woman leaning over Andy’s desk when you got to his office that morning.

“I mean… I thought you weren’t interested because you were married,” she almost whispered, yet it was still loud enough for you to hear. “But now that she’s here, I know I have a shot.”

Andy laughed at that, and you smiled victoriously over the shoulder of the woman, who you recognized as Andy’s previous secretary. She’d obviously been nurturing feelings for him, and believing all she had to do was to get him alone in a room so that he’d enact upon them.

“Y/N.” He called you, much to your surprise. But of course he had noticed your arrival, the man noticed everything. “Would you care to explain to Bridget why I’m not interested in her proposal?”

You stood there in front of them for a little while, trying to figure out what it was that Andy wanted you to say. Bridget looked mortified and furious, all at the same time, her chest heaving with the power of her breaths, and you wanted nothing more than to tell her off.

So that’s what you did.

“Mr. Barber already has someone to satisfy him,” you informed her in your best professional voice. “Not that you could ever fill in the role, anyway.”

Bridget almost ran out of the room, and you turned to Andy, waiting to see if it was what he wanted.

“Come here,” he ordered, one arm stretched out to you. “I want to eat this little pussy.” It was his way of congratulating you, you knew that now. But the door was still open, and Bridget’s table had a perfect vision of Andy’s, so you hesitated.

And in that second of hesitation, Andy’s eyes darkened.

“Now.”

You stumbled in his direction, not thinking twice about following his orders now that you had inadvertently disappointed him.

“Undress.”

One by one, the pieces of your clothing fell off, making a mess out of his office’s floor, but he didn’t seem to care, so you didn’t, either.

You liked the way he looked at you when you were completely nude. It was like he was fucking you with his eyes, letting you know all of the nasty things he was going to do to you later.

“Hop on the table.” The second you were on the furniture, he was onto you, spreading your legs even further so his shoulders would fit in between them.

“I want to kiss you right here,” he said, already pressing said kiss on your clit, only to tease you and provoke an ungodly amount of lubricant to come out of you, in your need for him.

He knew it and he loved it.

“Relax, baby,” he spoke as he spread his hands on the inside of your thighs, licking his lips at the sight of you all open and ready for him. “I’m gonna take care of you.”

The flash of light surprised you, and you opened your eyes to find just a glimpse of Andy’s phone right before he hid it away inside his pocket once more.

“For later,” he explained, even though he didn’t have to. He was the boss, in the office and in your relationship. His word was law to you.

It wasn’t until the third or forth orgasm that he brought you that you realized his gaze was on Bridget the entire time.

[skullsmuldon]

Do you think Monique's soccer career didn't work out because of her flat feet? I just realized that in her latest video. In addition to that and it might be solely me but she is trying very hard to be sexy + the cute girl next door and it is so not working for me. All I see is someone who is coming across like someone who doesn't know who she is or what she is supposed to do with her life, while trying to be a trophy wife to a once upon a time hollywood hottie who cannot face his own ageing and vanishing hairline

I have no clue why it didn’t work out for her. She was never a star athlete at university to begin with and always, if at all came in for minutes from the bench. That’s knowledge available from the stats on the soccer website. The press calling her a former soccer player made it sound to be more than it was imo. Because they also called her an alumni when we all know she is a drop-out who never finished Uni or got any degree. I wouldn’t be surprised if DDs team made sure she wasn’t called a dropout with his Hank moody character being fresh in ppls mind.

As for the rest, I think she will always be insecure and that’s where the cringe content is coming from. Like you said trying to hard and having no clear direction are just contributing factors to the whole trainwreck atm. The best thing for her actually would be if DD marries her so she at least is financially secure.

I don’t care if ppl call it mean or say we don’t know but if she wanted to have a career or her own business it would have happened already. DD has contacts and the money to support her starting her own business. But that would also mean you can’t drop everything for when your sugardaddy calls you up for a week abroad here and there when he feels like it and that is exactly why I personally believe DD is content with her being dependent on him + follow his every whim whenever he feels like it. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[theerurishipper]

This is going to be long so I can understood if you ignored it just see it as me venting my frustrations with her character. I'm just about done with her which sucks since I use to love her a lot. Sorry for sounding negative in this ask I sent you hope it wasn't a bother.

You've successfully swayed me into becoming a staunch supporter of Chat Noir; how audacious of you! Just kidding, of course. I now grasp your perspective regarding the complexities of Marinette's situation. In the past, I never delved into their dynamic and, admittedly, held some reservations about Chat Noir for frequently causing problems and adding stress to Ladybug's plate, a sentiment that seemed prevalent in the fandom and one I once shared.

Honestly, Season 5 was my breaking point. That episode where she powered down and tried to talk some sense into Gabriel? It made me see her in a whole new light. If it were any other parents, she'd be all action, no chat. But because it's Gabriel, Adrien's dad, there's this glaring bias, and it's been a massive letdown for me. She made her bed, and now she has to lie in it. It's not just Ladybug who's drawing my frustration but also her dedicated supporters. Some, who use Marinette who's age I assume to be around 14 often use her age as a shield. It's strange to witness this phenomenon in the Miraculous fan community, where her character's age is consistently invoked as an excuse. They seem to forget that she's a fictional character, brought to life through pixels and scripted character arcs. I've been a fan in various mediums, but the Miraculous fandom takes the cake for clinging to this age excuse. It's like they think 14 and the stress of her trauma are the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free cards. But hey, what else is new in the world of fandom, right?

Back when I was a ripe old age of 14, I did some growing up, and now at the age of 21, I can confidently say Marinette's actions don't resonate with me at all. I'm all about that honesty, and I can't see myself pulling off any of her shenanigans. I mean, why keep secrets in the first place, especially when you've been partnered up for ages? If we're in the same boat, risking our lives and all, it just seems unfair to leave the other person in the dark when we stumble upon something fishy. That's just basic BFF code, isn't it?

I had some optimism when Season 5 rolled around, but man, it just felt all kinds of wrong. There was something off about it, and Adrien... oh boy, he's like a completely different person from Season 1. I mean, he actually had some color in his skin – talk about a glow-up! He used to look so much happier as Chat Noir. Now, it's like he's tiptoeing around, walking on metaphorical eggshells.

And don't even get me started on the LadyNoir dynamic. It's like a trainwreck in slow motion, and it stinks. I mean, I've watched Totally Spies, and those characters, they had their own stuff going on, but they had each other's backs. It's crystal clear that Miraculous Ladybug is missing that camaraderie.

Her portrayal as a romantic interest, whether in or out of her superhero costume, has been notably lacking. In neither capacity does she appear to be a suitable match for Adrien, and her dynamic with Chat Noir has been fractured to an irreparable extent, leaving much to be desired.

This indeed raises a pertinent question – how can they be considered soulmates or destined for each other when the connection is this lackluster? Adrien seemed to have a more promising dynamic with Kagami than with our primary female protagonist. In Season 5, it appears as though they simply forced them together without genuine chemistry or compatibility. It's all about what he caters to her Marinette the star!

Her performance as a superheroine leaves much to be desired. I find myself questioning her role as the protagonist, particularly given the abundance of problematic situations within the show, many of which are left unaddressed. There's a conspicuous absence of meaningful connections with the victims, with only fleeting interactions following the vanquishing of the villain. The absence of emotional depth is striking. I can't help but wonder why she's the star of the show. There's a disturbing amount of abuse happening, and the lack of follow-up with victims is baffling. It's like they defeat the bad guys and call it a day, no emotional depth, nada.

Upon witnessing her actions in the finale, I reached my breaking point. She ranks as one of the most disappointing female magical heroines when compared to Bloom, Luz, and Iris from Lolirock. Her treatment of her partner left me deeply disheartened, and I remain uncertain about what her fans could possibly rescue to redeem her character.

Thank you for reading~

Feel free to vent, anon, it's never a bother!

I'm glad my points resonated with you! I'm not posting all this to try to change anyone's mind, but it is nice to see that people are considering what I have to say.

And I agree with a lot of what you have to say! I will say, though, that I don't really think Marinette is to blame all that much for Gabriel winning. It's not her fault that he stabbed her in the back. She gave him a chance and he ruined it, and that's all on him. And one more thing I sort of disagree with is that Ladybug doesn't form meaningful connections with the victims. I think it's rather unfair to expect her to form deep emotional connections with every single person she saves. Both Ladybug and Chat Noir do spend some time comforting the victims after the fights, but I think they can't be expected to stick around and solve every problem. I hope this doesn't seem rude, it's just my take.

But I agree largely with everything else! I especially like this point:

It's not just Ladybug who's drawing my frustration but also her dedicated supporters. Some, who use Marinette who's age I assume to be around 14 often use her age as a shield. It's strange to witness this phenomenon in the Miraculous fan community, where her character's age is consistently invoked as an excuse. They seem to forget that she's a fictional character, brought to life through pixels and scripted character arcs. I've been a fan in various mediums, but the Miraculous fandom takes the cake for clinging to this age excuse. It's like they think 14 and the stress of her trauma are the ultimate get-out-of-jail-free cards.

This is so right. Like, Marinette is a 14-year-old, but that isn't really an excuse? It's an explanation and a valid one, certainly, but it's not an excuse. At any rate, it's not the fact that she's making mistakes that's the problem, it's the fact that she never seems to learn from them. I admit this is a writing issue and Marinette is, at the end of the day, the mouthpiece for the writers, but it does not help me connect with her like I used to. Using her age as a constant excuse does not fly after a certain point of time.

At the end of the day, whatever Marinette does is portrayed as the right thing to do, and it makes it more obvious than ever that she's not a real approximation of a 14-year-old. She's a character in a children's cartoon who serves as the writers' mouthpiece, and whatever is coming from the writers' is some weird ass shit.

And I also very much agree with your assessment of the Ladynoir dynamic. It really sucks how low it's fallen. It was a major draw of the show for me, and now it's been reduced to nothing, all to prop up the least interesting side of the square. It's too bad.

Thank you for your ask!