#open starter: bad reputation
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inthencght · 4 months ago
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Despondent. Not in the way that was meant to get others to pity. No, this was genuine. Harper struggled to keep herself together, emotions passing over her features in such rapid succession that unless someone was paying attention, they would miss it. Tears threatened to fall, but it was sheer stubbornness that didn't allow it. If the other hadn't stopped her, she would have isolated herself and broke down in private.
"Does it really matter?" There was an edge of frustration. "He found someone better, called off the engagement, and I just have to deal..." Her voice broke a little. All those old insecurities came rushing back. Why wasn't she good enough? Shoulders dropped, Harper curling in on herself a little bit as her arms crossed her chest. All the confidence leaked from her frame, and she couldn't even look the other in the eye.
Open: All.
Muse: Harper. 26, personal assistant, submissive.
Plot/Connections: Harper's fiancee just ended things in favor of being with someone else. She needs it proven that she is worth someone's attention. Open to connections. T*boo, age gaps encouraged.
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mostlysignssomeportents · 7 months ago
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Even if you think AI search could be good, it won’t be good
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TONIGHT (May 15), I'm in NORTH HOLLYWOOD for a screening of STEPHANIE KELTON'S FINDING THE MONEY; FRIDAY (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.
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The big news in search this week is that Google is continuing its transition to "AI search" – instead of typing in search terms and getting links to websites, you'll ask Google a question and an AI will compose an answer based on things it finds on the web:
https://blog.google/products/search/generative-ai-google-search-may-2024/
Google bills this as "let Google do the googling for you." Rather than searching the web yourself, you'll delegate this task to Google. Hidden in this pitch is a tacit admission that Google is no longer a convenient or reliable way to retrieve information, drowning as it is in AI-generated spam, poorly labeled ads, and SEO garbage:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse
Googling used to be easy: type in a query, get back a screen of highly relevant results. Today, clicking the top links will take you to sites that paid for placement at the top of the screen (rather than the sites that best match your query). Clicking further down will get you scams, AI slop, or bulk-produced SEO nonsense.
AI-powered search promises to fix this, not by making Google search results better, but by having a bot sort through the search results and discard the nonsense that Google will continue to serve up, and summarize the high quality results.
Now, there are plenty of obvious objections to this plan. For starters, why wouldn't Google just make its search results better? Rather than building a LLM for the sole purpose of sorting through the garbage Google is either paid or tricked into serving up, why not just stop serving up garbage? We know that's possible, because other search engines serve really good results by paying for access to Google's back-end and then filtering the results:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi
Another obvious objection: why would anyone write the web if the only purpose for doing so is to feed a bot that will summarize what you've written without sending anyone to your webpage? Whether you're a commercial publisher hoping to make money from advertising or subscriptions, or – like me – an open access publisher hoping to change people's minds, why would you invite Google to summarize your work without ever showing it to internet users? Nevermind how unfair that is, think about how implausible it is: if this is the way Google will work in the future, why wouldn't every publisher just block Google's crawler?
A third obvious objection: AI is bad. Not morally bad (though maybe morally bad, too!), but technically bad. It "hallucinates" nonsense answers, including dangerous nonsense. It's a supremely confident liar that can get you killed:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/01/mushroom-pickers-urged-to-avoid-foraging-books-on-amazon-that-appear-to-be-written-by-ai
The promises of AI are grossly oversold, including the promises Google makes, like its claim that its AI had discovered millions of useful new materials. In reality, the number of useful new materials Deepmind had discovered was zero:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/23/maximal-plausibility/#reverse-centaurs
This is true of all of AI's most impressive demos. Often, "AI" turns out to be low-waged human workers in a distant call-center pretending to be robots:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/31/neural-interface-beta-tester/#tailfins
Sometimes, the AI robot dancing on stage turns out to literally be just a person in a robot suit pretending to be a robot:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/29/pay-no-attention/#to-the-little-man-behind-the-curtain
The AI video demos that represent "an existential threat to Hollywood filmmaking" turn out to be so cumbersome as to be practically useless (and vastly inferior to existing production techniques):
https://www.wheresyoured.at/expectations-versus-reality/
But let's take Google at its word. Let's stipulate that:
a) It can't fix search, only add a slop-filtering AI layer on top of it; and
b) The rest of the world will continue to let Google index its pages even if they derive no benefit from doing so; and
c) Google will shortly fix its AI, and all the lies about AI capabilities will be revealed to be premature truths that are finally realized.
AI search is still a bad idea. Because beyond all the obvious reasons that AI search is a terrible idea, there's a subtle – and incurable – defect in this plan: AI search – even excellent AI search – makes it far too easy for Google to cheat us, and Google can't stop cheating us.
Remember: enshittification isn't the result of worse people running tech companies today than in the years when tech services were good and useful. Rather, enshittification is rooted in the collapse of constraints that used to prevent those same people from making their services worse in service to increasing their profit margins:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/26/glitchbread/#electronic-shelf-tags
These companies always had the capacity to siphon value away from business customers (like publishers) and end-users (like searchers). That comes with the territory: digital businesses can alter their "business logic" from instant to instant, and for each user, allowing them to change payouts, prices and ranking. I call this "twiddling": turning the knobs on the system's back-end to make sure the house always wins:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/
What changed wasn't the character of the leaders of these businesses, nor their capacity to cheat us. What changed was the consequences for cheating. When the tech companies merged to monopoly, they ceased to fear losing your business to a competitor.
Google's 90% search market share was attained by bribing everyone who operates a service or platform where you might encounter a search box to connect that box to Google. Spending tens of billions of dollars every year to make sure no one ever encounters a non-Google search is a cheaper way to retain your business than making sure Google is the very best search engine:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task
Competition was once a threat to Google; for years, its mantra was "competition is a click away." Today, competition is all but nonexistent.
Then the surveillance business consolidated into a small number of firms. Two companies dominate the commercial surveillance industry: Google and Meta, and they collude to rig the market:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_Blue
That consolidation inevitably leads to regulatory capture: shorn of competitive pressure, the companies that dominate the sector can converge on a single message to policymakers and use their monopoly profits to turn that message into policy:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/
This is why Google doesn't have to worry about privacy laws. They've successfully prevented the passage of a US federal consumer privacy law. The last time the US passed a federal consumer privacy law was in 1988. It's a law that bans video store clerks from telling the newspapers which VHS cassettes you rented:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act
In Europe, Google's vast profits lets it fly an Irish flag of convenience, thus taking advantage of Ireland's tolerance for tax evasion and violations of European privacy law:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/15/finnegans-snooze/#dirty-old-town
Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, and it also doesn't fear rival technologies. Google and its fellow Big Tech cartel members have expanded IP law to allow it to prevent third parties from reverse-engineer, hacking, or scraping its services. Google doesn't have to worry about ad-blocking, tracker blocking, or scrapers that filter out Google's lucrative, low-quality results:
https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/
Google doesn't fear competition, it doesn't fear regulation, it doesn't fear rival technology and it doesn't fear its workers. Google's workforce once enjoyed enormous sway over the company's direction, thanks to their scarcity and market power. But Google has outgrown its dependence on its workers, and lays them off in vast numbers, even as it increases its profits and pisses away tens of billions on stock buybacks:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/25/moral-injury/#enshittification
Google is fearless. It doesn't fear losing your business, or being punished by regulators, or being mired in guerrilla warfare with rival engineers. It certainly doesn't fear its workers.
Making search worse is good for Google. Reducing search quality increases the number of queries, and thus ads, that each user must make to find their answers:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan
If Google can make things worse for searchers without losing their business, it can make more money for itself. Without the discipline of markets, regulators, tech or workers, it has no impediment to transferring value from searchers and publishers to itself.
Which brings me back to AI search. When Google substitutes its own summaries for links to pages, it creates innumerable opportunities to charge publishers for preferential placement in those summaries.
This is true of any algorithmic feed: while such feeds are important – even vital – for making sense of huge amounts of information, they can also be used to play a high-speed shell-game that makes suckers out of the rest of us:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/11/for-you/#the-algorithm-tm
When you trust someone to summarize the truth for you, you become terribly vulnerable to their self-serving lies. In an ideal world, these intermediaries would be "fiduciaries," with a solemn (and legally binding) duty to put your interests ahead of their own:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/07/treacherous-computing/#rewilding-the-internet
But Google is clear that its first duty is to its shareholders: not to publishers, not to searchers, not to "partners" or employees.
AI search makes cheating so easy, and Google cheats so much. Indeed, the defects in AI give Google a readymade excuse for any apparent self-dealing: "we didn't tell you a lie because someone paid us to (for example, to recommend a product, or a hotel room, or a political point of view). Sure, they did pay us, but that was just an AI 'hallucination.'"
The existence of well-known AI hallucinations creates a zone of plausible deniability for even more enshittification of Google search. As Madeleine Clare Elish writes, AI serves as a "moral crumple zone":
https://estsjournal.org/index.php/ests/article/view/260
That's why, even if you're willing to believe that Google could make a great AI-based search, we can nevertheless be certain that they won't.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/15/they-trust-me-dumb-fucks/#ai-search
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Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg
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aboutcustardcreams · 9 days ago
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Time Ticking, Patience Thinning
Here’s another chapter that I hope you enjoy 🫶🏼 please lemme know if you do~ would make my day!
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“What’s your name again-? I didn’t quite catch it the first time.” 
When the boy opened his mouth to answer Agatha’s question, your gaze instinctively shifted to him. What happened next took you by surprise. As he began to speak, a shimmering sigil materialized above his lips, silencing his voice entirely. Your brows furrowed in confusion as your gaze slowly shifted to Agatha. 
“Interesting,” that’s all she said. 
"What do you mean?” 
“Nothing to shout about,” she waved it off, giving you the hint of keeping that detail Teen a secret for now. “Anyway, I can’t promise I’ll remember your name.” 
Her words caught you off guard, and it took everything in you not to burst into a cackle. Even so, a tiny puff of air escaped your nose, almost sounding like a snort. Agatha turned to you then, her composure always impeccable, infuriatingly so. 
“We better get going now,” she brushed past you towards the front door, or rather, the spot where it used to be.
You smacked your lips at her nonchalance. If you weren’t in such a rush, you’d invade her personal space right there and now, capture her lips with yours to wipe off that knowing grin from her face. 
Instead you only said, “I drive.”
She didn’t object to that. In fact, she preferred it when you were the one behind the wheel. It gave her the liberty to let her hands wander over your skin. 
As you slid into your car, Teen's eyes sparkled with the hopeful anticipation of claiming the shotgun seat, but Agatha cut off his enthusiasm rather quickly. 
“Be a good pet and sit in the back, will you?” 
The boy shot you a sideway glance and you muttered a soft ‘sorry’ in his direction. Resigned, he slid into the backseat, clicked his seatbelt into place,and slouched in quiet defeat, arms crossed over his chest, reminding you of his young age. 
“Maybe on our way back you two can switch-”
Agatha didn’t even let you finish, “Or maybe not,” she muttered sarcastically. 
You sighed and started the car, with no clear destination in mind just yet, “very mature.”
She didn’t respond to that and simply hummed.
“So, where are we going?” Teen asked after a bunch of minutes. 
You looked at him from the rearview mirror, “for starters we do need a Coven to walk the Road.” 
He looked like a child on Christmas day, “you’re taking me to your Coven?” 
With your eyes back on the road, you hummed, “Uhm, not exactly.”
“We never had one,” Agatha clarified, “I mean, not for long anyway.” You glanced at her briefly, wondering what she might say to the boy next. For a fleeting moment, you thought she might blurt out the entire truth right then and there. But it wouldn’t be like her, so you brushed the thought aside almost as quickly as it came to you. 
“They annoyed me,” she said with a dramatic tut, “so one day I woke up, feeling inspired, and turned them into dust.”
You nearly veered into the opposite lane when she said that, your knuckles whitening on the steering wheel. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it wasn’t entirely a lie either. Yes, she had killed her Coven, of that there was no dispute. But what she left unsaid were the reasons that forced her hand, reasons that probably nobody knew, that’s why people were so quick to come up with the ‘witch killer’ nickname. 
Teen looked terrified and uncertain what was to say next. And Agatha, being Agatha, looked quite pleased with it. 
"That’s not exactly how it went,” you mumbled, giving away the hint that there was more to say, without actually saying it. You stole a glance at Agatha, her smile teasing, slightly amused by the familiarity of the situation. There you were, once more, doing your best to clean up her reputation. She told you many times you didn’t have to do it, but you couldn’t help it. “What I can say is this: they’ve blown the whole ‘witch killer’ thing way out of proportion. Agatha isn’t a bad person.” 
Sure, you couldn’t deny the fact that Agatha killed witches, more than a few. But survival had a way of sharpening its edges, forcing impossible choices. She killed to save herself when no one else would. She killed to save Nicky. And later on… she killed to find a way to save you. It’s long overdue that people knew the truth, yet you knew it wasn’t your place, at least not only yours, to spill it. 
When Rio sent the Furies after you, they took possession of your mind, twisting reality until it was unrecognizable to you. Their voices inside your heart hurt in the most inexplicable way, but you resisted, you vowed to. You never fully understood how your condition affected Agatha and Nicky, because whenever you had a fleeting moment of clarity, they chose to savor the time together rather than tell you how much it hurt them to see you like that. During that time, Agatha’s killings increased but you wouldn’t know. She didn’t need to kill witches to heal Nicky, though. The moment you used your magic to bring him back to life, the curse had been lifted and with it, Nicky’s illness. But your magic had come with an unexpected price to pay. Rio had warned you, but you refused to listen. 
Noticing the way your eyes dimmed, Agatha slid her hand above your knee. She knew you too well to figure out exactly where your thoughts had gone. You were blaming yourself again. And she couldn’t let you do that. 
“Don’t listen to her, Teen. She has the tendency of picturing me softer than I really am,” despite her serious tone, the way her hand squeezed your knee, told you a whole different story. All she wanted was for you to let go of your sense of guilt. “When it comes to survival, you’ll do whatever it takes— anything. I hope it never comes that far for you.” 
Teen considered those words in silence. Your version compared to Agatha’s and it all just clicked. You were protecting her and she was protecting you. In that moment, he decided the rumors about the two of you didn’t matter, whether they were true or not. From now on, he would form his own picture of you both by living in the present and watching you do your thing. 
“I think it’s sweet that you found each other and stuck around for all these years. Centuries, I presume. In a way you form a Coven of two–” 
Your heart warmed up at Teen’s words. It was kind of cute to think of it that way. Your lips spread in a smile and so did Agatha’s, but more because she was amused by the whole thing he just said. Sure, she agreed with him- the fact that there was a bond between you two was true. An understatement, to be frank. You went through so many things together that the sole thought of parting ways for whatever reason felt now like a complete idiocy. You belonged to her like she belonged to you. 
“Teen, I’m sorry to cut your enthusiasm, but she and I are in a relationship. That hardly makes us a Coven.” 
“It makes us a family, though,” you pointed out. 
You caught something flickering in Agatha’s eyes, a shimmer of emotion, maybe even vulnerability. Had it been just the two of you, she might have let it linger, but with the boy in the car, she felt uneasy. So she averted her eyes, focusing on the passing landscape to her right. 
Noticing her hand slip away from your thigh, you pouted. Stubbornly, you reached out and placed it back where it belonged and when she turned, your lips curled up once again in a mischievous grin. Agatha snorted. That sass of yours— 
“There’s no time to be namby-pamby, my love. I need you to be focused.”
You rolled your eyes, but chuckled, “Fine. Wouldn’t want you to lose your only chance at surviving against the Salem Seven.”
Agatha's expression twisted into an exaggerated version of your own, mimicking your tone as she repeated the words you just said. The effect was immediate and both you and Teen burst into laughter, incredulous on your part. 
“I don’t sound like that!” 
“You do,” she insisted, lips twitching in a smirk. 
“I think she did a pretty good ‘you’”, Teen added, only fueling your mocking disbelief and Agatha’s enjoyment. 
“Whatever, I’m done with you two.” 
Your eyes squinted towards a peculiar building standing in the middle of nowhere to your left. You decided to try your luck there, took a rapid turn and parked right in front of the building, your instinct telling you there was a potential witch in there. The faded sign hanging above the door caught your eye, and you read it aloud: Madame Calderou’s Psychic Readings. 
Agatha clasped her hands together, before rubbing them as if she was plotting something mischievous, “Right. Seems like we are here.”
Teen’s interest piqued once again, “You think there’s a real witch in there?”
Before you could respond, Agatha preceded you, “we shall see if she knows the witchy handshake first.”
“Oh my God– there’s a witchy handshake?”
You let out an exasperated sigh while Agatha giggled to herself. It was so easy to play with that boy. “Teen, she is pulling your leg. There’s no such thing as a witchy handshake. Honestly that would be so demeaning.”
“Such as flying brooms or pointy hats,” she agreed with you. 
“I like flying brooms,” you retorted, as you three walked up towards the building. 
Agatha draped an arm around your shoulders and pulled you into a squishy, however affectionate embrace, “Course you do,” she purred, “next you’ll be telling me you want to adopt a black cat as familiar.” 
“I already have a familiar, thank you very much,” you pointed out, “a nice turtle that your bunny keeps bullying shamelessly.”
Agatha gasped dramatically, but you knew it was just an act, “he doesn’t! Take it back–” 
“He does,” you chuckled. “And no, I won’t.” 
“Uhm, we are drifting off here,” Teen interjected, with an awkward smile. He pointed at the building, making both you and Agatha shift your attention back to the reason why you were there. Gather a Coven of Witches. 
“Right,” she took a mental note to return to the subject another time. 
You nodded, stepping forward to open the door. Holding it wide, you gestured for Teen to go in first. He slipped inside without a word, rather excitedly actually, and as Agatha approached, she brushed past you, but not before her fingers slid into yours, her hand fitting perfectly in your grasp. 
A small, teasing grin tugged at your lips. “I thought we didn’t have time for sappy moments.” 
“Don’t be such a brat,” she whispered into your ear, in a cheeky tone, you didn’t miss. Couldn’t, if you tried. 
*
“You’ve been under the influence of another, haven't you? Someone you hurt,” the clairvoyant started, her voice solemn as she took in Agatha’s blue eyes. The smirk of confidence that had tugged at Agatha’s lips faded as soon as she realized that Lilia Calderou wasn’t a fraud and knew who she was. You gave Agatha’s hand a tentative squeeze, a way to let her know you were there– that everything was okay. Her fingers tightened around yours in response. 
“And she paid the price, too. They took your agency, but not hers,” she continued, her eyes landed on yours as you frowned uncomfortably. You never blamed Agatha for anything and you certainly wouldn’t start now just because a clairvoyant said so. “I feel it, your magic. It’s restless, volatile and quite dangerous. It should not exist.” 
You leaned back in your chair and crossed your arms over your chest, “Here we go again,” you muttered, voice laced with dry sarcasm. Agatha snorted out a low chuckle in response to Lilia’s words, “You know nothing about her talent, so I’d suggest you to be quiet about it.” She never cared about what other witches thought about her, but whenever it came to you, she would completely lose her mind, if someone dared to judge who you were, basing their opinion on a prejudice as old as the world. 
“So you’re a witch?” Teen’s question came in a hopeful tone.
“Divination witch is my guess,” you replied before Lilia could. 
A mischievous grin tugged at Lilia’s lips. “If you intend to overstay your visit, I’ll have to charge you again.” 
“Oh, I think you can grant us another ten minutes of your time,” Agatha groaned, “It’s not that there’s a line in here or something.”
In response, you saw Teen bow his head to wipe the grin off his face. You, on the other hand, made no effort to hide yours. 
Annoyance was evident in her eyes, as she retorted, “whatever you want from me, I’m not interested,” Lilia stood up and without another word, she stood and disappeared behind the curtain at the back of her shop. 
You and Agatha shared a knowing glance. 
Teen appeared more disappointed than concerned, “Now what?” 
“Now we persuade her.” 
To preserve Agatha’s life, it was essential to gather some magic and you would have, no matter what. So you stood, eyes flashing with a newfound calm mingled with determination. Agatha noticed and smiled. She loved you for so many things and that behavior of yours, was just one of those characteristics that reminded her of why she chose to stick by your side so many years ago. 
She gave you a nod of her head and followed you, as you took the lead. On the other side, you found yourself in what could loosely be called an apartment. A single room stretched before you. To the left stood a corner kitchen, its countertops cluttered with mismatched utensils, jars of herbs, the faint glimmer of copper pots, and a kettle she just turned on, probably to make herself some soothing tea. 
“Join us,” Agatha insisted, as you and Teen kept looking around. “Honestly the way you live is kind of disappointing. You deserve more and better than whatever this place is…” Her gaze drifted to the far end of the room, where a mattress leaned against the wall, probably to save up space. 
You wondered if there was a toilet hidden behind it. How low could a witch go?
The clairvoyant’s gaze flickered with hesitation, her lips pressed into a thin line as Agatha’s words sinked in. The shrill whistle of the kettle cut through the silence, drawing her attention and causing both you and Agatha to roll your eyes, when she spun around. 
“Lilia–”, you couldn’t do this all day.  
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” when she turned to face you, her eyes locked onto yours, sharp and intense. You could tell she was conflicted, exasperated even. “I won’t make the same mistake and fall into Agatha’s manipulative ways. They say you endured the Furies’ wrath because you did and yet here you are, still standing by her side. I don’t understand that.”
To say you were shocked was an understatement. 
She had no idea what she was talking about– Agatha had nothing to do with the Furies. For some odd, infuriating reason, nobody knew a thing about Rio Vidal, instead: the true cause of everything. Instead, according to the stories, it had always been you and Agatha all along, so whatever bad thing came your way, Agatha bore the brunt of the blame. You were sick of that. 
Teen was in shock too, he didn’t speak, but a part of him ached to defend both you and Agatha. He’d read about the Furies, knew the torment you endured for years, but not for a second had he ever believed Agatha was responsible for it. It just didn’t sit right with him. It couldn’t be.  Not when Agatha looked at you the way she did, as if you held all the stars in the sky just for her. As if you were everything she had left.
Watching you from her peripheral vision, Agatha recognized clear signs of your struggle. Your jaw clenched tightly, your hands curled into fists at your sides, and your lips pressed into a thin line, “If you really think Agatha is somewhat responsible for what happened to me, which by the way is none of your business, maybe you lost your talent–”, your words hung in the air, adding to the already tense atmosphere lingering in the room. 
Lilia looked somewhat self-conscious about what she said and how they affected you, yet she didn’t apologize. However, she held herself back from responding to your bitter remark about her.
Agatha’s lips stretched into a sad, tight smile the moment her fingers brushed against your forearm, and you failed to meet her eyes, “hey– don’t go there again. It’s not worth it,” she cooed, voice firm, yet veiled with the usual fondness she only reserved to you. You clenched your eyes shut for a moment, your magic sparkling at the tips of your fingers. Lilia was right about one thing: your talent could be dangerous especially when wielded by a witch emotionally distressed or simply pissed off, like you. 
“You’re right,” you sighed, “Look, we are going to walk the Road. The Witches’ Road. And we need a divination witch, but the choice is yours. You can keep living your eternal life in this kind of shack you call home or try to go back on top. Be a witch again.”
Lilia’s mouth almost dropped, then. “The Road is a death wish.” 
“I survived,” Agatha waved with a grin. 
“And yet you’ve got no power.”
“That’s why I need to walk the Road, again. To restock.” 
Lilia swallowed thickly. The offer was appealing and yet, she was uncertain. Agatha was, after all, known for having betrayed her entire Coven, at a very young age too. “How can I trust you won’t take my power at the earliest opportunity?”
Before Agatha could say anything, you stepped forward. “She won’t. I guarantee it for you.” Despite your growing distaste for Lilia at this moment, your principles held steadfast: no more witches would die because of Agatha. Or you. That was a promise you intended to keep. “You seem to know very well what Agatha’s capable of, but my question is, are you just as familiar with my talent?”
Lilia almost found it amusing that you’d question her knowledge about witches of your kind. “I do. At least to some extent,” she clarified, “I know what a necromancer witch can do. And I also know you’re not a killer,” she finished on a softer note. 
“Agatha isn’t either,” you pointed out.
“Well, isn’t your loyalty sweet–”
Your lover took a step ahead, stretched out a hand, and moved you behind her, the moment your magic intensified around you and her, “Look, you’re right, I’ve got a reputation, I can’t help with that–” she trailed off, gesturing animatedly while doing so. “I don’t have time to persuade you into believing my intentions are genuine. Time’s running out and if you’re not willing to tag along, then fine. I’ll still Walk the Witches’ Road, restore my powers, and get my life back. Just remember that the path you’re currently on leads nowhere.” 
Her words were convincing enough, but it was the small piece of paper she was holding that truly caught Lilia’s attention. You hadn’t noticed it before, nor were you sure where it had come from, but the realization struck quickly. A smirk tugged at your lips as everything suddenly fell in place.
That was an eviction notice.
“Even if I were to accept, you’d still need more witches.”
Agatha had a solution for that too. She grinned from ear to ear, “I was hoping you’d use your witchcraft to come up with a list of names. You can do that, can’t you?” 
It was a rhetorical question, she knew she could. 
Lilia’s lips stretched into a defiant smile, “give me that,” she said, snatching the piece of paper from Agatha’s hands, along with a pen that lay on the table. She didn’t even have to think about the names, they were already there, poised on the tip of her tongue or rather, the pen. 
When she handed the paper back, both you and Agatha went as pale as a sheet. It couldn’t be. At the top were your name and Agatha’s, followed by Lilia Calderou, Jennifer Kale, Alice Wu Gulliver, and, finally, Rio Vidal.
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romanreignsbae · 4 months ago
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Forbidden Desires - Chapter 1
R.R
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Y/n was always what everyone considered blessed. Now, being the assistant for the tribal chief had it’s perks. For starters, you rode around in his luxurious bus, that only few people were allowed on.
You also, were granted with being able to fly on private jets to get from place to place, as well as exquisite hotel rooms booked and paid for.
Especially your schedule. Roman Reigns wasn't showing up to every pay per view. Not even every Friday night SmackDown. He made appearances when he felt like it. So you were usually home, that didn't mean you were off work, you had other things to handle.
Many people wanted to be you, or at least wanted your job. While these people we’re wanting your job and status, you were wanting the man you worked for, your boss, none other then Roman Reigns.
You’d been working for him for almost 4 years now. Ever since he pursued his heel character, you’d been hired as his assistant. Being his assistant wasn’t nearly as bad as you thought. You thought he’d order you around to do his dirty work, but working for him was nicer then excepted.
All you really did was keep track of his hectic schedule, pack his luggage for him, and follow him around during meetings and travels...even taking care of something he claimed to be more important then work. And not to mention the money was a plus. He paid you better then you deserved, you swore it was favouritism, for obvious reasons.
Over the years you worked for him, you two created a special bond. Yes, he was your boss. But, he was also your friend. You two would often spend time together even during non work related times. You could find the both of you at a bar together. Or having movie nights in each other’s hotel rooms. You loved it. And maybe loved him..
The only problem in your way was the age gap you two shared. You were in your early twenties whereas Roman was on the verge of 40. The age gap wasn’t even a big deal to you. But, if others found out you’d grown feelings for your boss. All hell would break loose. See, Roman, is extraordinarily popular with females.
Like seriously, he has some die hard female fans. Most around your age. If anyone found out about this little crush you’d developed..well..you’d for starters be fired, and your reputation would be completely destroyed.
So here you are, sitting in the tribal chief’s private jet, waiting to land in Las Vegas. “Alright, only about a hour to go” a familiar deep voice spoke. You looked up to see Roman sitting comfortably in his seat, staring intently at you. “Yeah..” you mumbled.
“Whats up with you? You been like this all flight, completely out of it. What’s wrong are you sick? Do you have a fever? The flu? Is- nevermind..” Roman spoke worried. “No no, im good” you spoke as reassuringly as you could. He looked at you skeptically before closing his Macbook and making his way to sit beside you.
He sat beside you and looked at you for a few seconds before speaking up. “What’s planned for today?” he asked you. You quickly opened your Ipad before checking his schedule. “Well..today your free, tomorrow you have a meeting in the afternoon, its a long one” you told him.
“Damn, I hate the long meetings” he spoke with a smile. “They are the worst” you agreed grinning. “Anyways, since i’m free today, why don’t you and I head out, go do something fun together, away from work..you know after we get settled in..” he spoke almost nervously.
You were surprised to say the least. You didn’t think he would wanna spend his free day with you. “Yeah sure. What do you wanna do?” you asked him while trying to hide your growing smile. “Anything you want. Actually you know what? Lemme take you shopping, Las Vegas is known for their malls” he requested with a wink. Your cheeks started heating up.
“Sure” you spoke softly. He smiled at you before striking up new conversation about some investors looking to partner with WWE. It kept yourself distracted from the mess in your mind. Before you knew it, you landed in Las Vegas, and your uber was here to take you and Roman to the hotel.
Once you arrived to your hotel, you and Roman headed to the front desk to get the keys to your rooms.
“I’m sorry sir but, only one room has been booked-” the hotel worker spoke.
“That cant be! You don’t understand, I called yesterday booking two rooms!” Roman spoke roughly at the worker. Your feelings were hurt to say the least. You didn’t think he’d be this avoidant at sharing a room with you, especially after the favor you did him. You instantly felt your heart swelling and tears coming to your eyes.
You refused to cry over this so you grabbed Roman’s arm. “I’m gonna head to the bathroom, i’ll be right back” you spoke softly. Roman slightly nodded his head before going back to barking at the hotel employee.
You took as long as you could trying to get yourself together in the bathroom. You had just arrived is Les Vegas and he was already making you feel like shit. You didn’t even understand what the problem was. Well, deep down you did...you knew he didn't wanna make the same mistake.
You made your way back to the lobby to see a more calm and quiet Roman standing by the elevators.
“So Y/n..they are all booked and it looks like me and you are roommates for the next few nights” he told me. “I’m really sorry..” he added ashamed.
Your eyes widened. Why was he sorry? He didn’t even do anything. Well apart side from almost making you cry, but thats besides the point.
“Roman..why are you sorry? It’s just a room..no biggie” you spoke, plus it's not like you haven't shared one before.
“Because well, I don’t want you to feel like i’m taking advantage of you..and I don’t wanna make things awkward and weird between us..” he went on nervously.
You both knew he was lying straight through his teeth. That wasn't the real reason.
You took his words in before responding. You reached out and touched his arm reassuringly. “Ro, that’s okay, seriously I don’t mind.” you let him know. You'd be careful this time. He smiled at you almost gratefully knowing you understood.
The hotel room the two of you would be sharing was nothing less then absolutely luxurious. But you weren't surprised, the tribal chief always needed the best.
After the two of you settled into your hotel room, Roman called for an Uber to take you two to the mall. Inside the uber Roman and you made small talk back and forth but no one could deny the elephant in the room.
A little secret the two of you shared was up in the air. Something no one could know about...otherwise everything would be ruined. He warned you, if anyone found out what the two of you shared, it was over.
Everything was.
That was the first chapter of forbidden desires that I've been putting off. I have a lot more sitting in my drafts for you guys that'll be out soon. Also what do you think the little secret is? Let me know what you think of this chapter.
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sultrysparkles · 8 months ago
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✿ SHUT UP BEFORE I KISS YOU ✿
[•~badboy!toge inumaki x goodytwoshoes!reader, fluff~•]₊˚⊹
[•~synopsis: skipping class with your rebellious boyfriend once couldn't hurt?~•]
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"toge! wait!" you holler, as the blonde haired boy drags you across the school. toge didn't listen though, as he continued to take you two to the back of the school. "we're gonna get caught!" you whine. you couldn't afford to have a single offense on your record. you were working so hard to get into the top college, and couldn't risk loosing it all just because of your boyfriend, toge.
toge didn't have the best reputation at the school. he was on the quieter side, but don't let that fool you. he was always known to stir up trouble left and right. always getting into petty little fights, or smoking blunts with his other jerk friends. most students at the highschool often feared him, not wanting to get into drama with him. because it was a known fact that if you had an issue with toge inumaki, you were not getting out of it in one piece.
what surprised all of jujutsu high was when the two of you officially became a couple. for starters you were the usual goody two shoes. always following the rules to a T, always studying and preparing, and you would never dare get involved with anything remotely bad. you were what most kids aspired to be. you had the perfect academic life ahead of you. but what is someone so kind and smart doing with a guy so careless, and risky?
so here you two were, toge was walking you to class, or that's what he had told you. but you noticed that he walked right past the hallway of your class. and then the bell rung, making the two of you tardy. it was the first tardy you've gotten the whole year too. so as you frantically whined to toge, babbling about "my record will be ruined!!, toge please let's just go to class!!" he continued to lead you across the whole school. he found your complaints cute rather than annoying.
"cmon just skip w me this one period" he cooes, his hand giving yours a little squeeze of reassurance. you shake your head frantically "w-what if we get caught??" you panic, thinking about the mass amounts of trouble you would get into. toge chuckles "relax baby, I got you..." he affirms, "plus the administration sucks anyways, they won't be able to catch us." he adds on, leading you to a random empty hallway
it was a no brainer that toge was a pro at skipping class. he knew all the hiding spots, the best hallways and lies if you two did get caught. knowing this you felt a little better about the situation, but you still were hella anxious. toge smirks as he notices you were still very scared.
"you know I wouldn't let anything happen to you right?" he hums, arms around your waist as he looks into your eyes. "right now I need you to trust me Y/N" he affirms, a hand tucking some hair behind your ear. you nod slowly "you promise no one's gonna get us? you know if we do get caught, I'll get in so much trouble" you ask "and I don't want you to get in trouble either, toge" you respond, arms around his neck. the innocence in your eyes evident as you looked right back at him. oh the way you were so responsible and smart. the way you were so innocence just made toge wanna corrupt you even more
toge smiles "promise..." but just as toge finished his sentence, the sound of heels clicking on the cold tile floors echos nearby, the keys jingling along. your heart dropped at the sound and you frantically look at toge, awaiting for his decision. toge quickly grabs your hand, leading you two to the nearest janitors closet. the moment was going by so quickly you couldn't even process what was going on.
the doors of the closet open wide quickly as toge slams them open, hastily shoving you and himself inside. he shuts the doors close swiftly, before looking back at you. the closet was narrow and slim, not giving the two of you much room to move around in. so you two were pushed up against each other. so close toge could feel your frantic breaths on his neck.
"so much for not getting caught?!" you scoff, crossing your arms. and you continued to ramble on about how this was all a bad idea. and how you two were screwed. toge rolls his eyes at your panicked state. you notice he wasn't listening and huff loudly. the footsteps get louder and louder. the drop in your stomach intensifying, your heartbeat was racing and your breaths were rapid. toge on the other hand was calm. he knew the admin would simply walk by. but with the sounds you were making it may cause them to get suspicious.
toge leans in, his breath leaving cool sensations on your neck as he whispers cautiously in your ear. "y/n, I need you to be quiet right now." he commands, the footsteps still echoing in the hallway. you were appalled by his command. how could he expect you to stay so calm while your whole future could be at risk right now?
"calm?! you want me to be calm?! I'm sorry but-" and then boom. toges lips crashed onto yours, cutting you off. you close your eyes and feed into his kiss. the sensation of his soft lips interlocking with yours. you were now focusing on him and him only. toge's hand raced to your waist, the other caressing your face. you let toge push you up against the closet. what started as a soft simple kiss was soon escalating into a heated makeout session. and as your arms wraps around his neck, the sound of the footsteps fade away.
you pull back from the kiss, a string of saliva connects your lips. you whisper softly in his ear, "I think we can go back out now..." you say. toge looks back at you, eyes half open as he reawakens himself from the tranquility that kiss brought him. toge sighs and brings you closer to him, your body now directly next to his, as he whispers hoarsely, "nah we can stay in here..."
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burr-ell · 1 month ago
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What do you mean by 'trying to mighty nein-ify vm instead of having actual character moments'? Not intending to be hostile or aggressive, I just saw those tags and got curious.
That's okay! Mighty Nein-ification is a bit of a misnomer (especially because it's unnecessarily hostile to the Nein). The problem isn't so much making Vox Machina like the Mighty Nein (all indications are that VM was just as rough around the edges as the Nein were when they were starting out), it's that I think they retreated to old shorthands they were familiar with that work well with the Nein and don't work with VM in the time they had.
So when we first meet Vox Machina in the stream, they're already established and respected adventurers at level 9 sent on a quest by a member of the Council of Tal'dorei. They've already killed Brimscythe and the Dread Emperor and saved the Sovereign and his family; while we see their scrappier beginnings in the Origins comics, it's purely backstory in the campaign. With the Nein it's the opposite, where we actually follow them through their low-level adventures as they get to know each other, watching them argue and mistrust each other and slowly build up both their friendships and their clout within the political factions of Wildemount. We watch them go from a gang of slapdicks who no one likes or respects and are constantly fighting to a strong and cohesive team of movers and shakers.
Here's the problem: the cast is now producing an animated adaptation of Vox Machina's campaign, which is almost universally agreed to really pick up around episode 24, the beginning of the Briarwood arc. Between the slower-paced first 20 episodes and the red dragonborn in the room, the Briarwood arc makes the most sense as the starter story. We can't just jump right into that without taking some time to establish VM as a party, right? That's what the opening two-parter of season 1 is for: they need to establish who Vox Machina are as individuals and a party so we have a baseline understanding of them before following them through an iconic storyline. There are different ways they could do this!
And the way they chose to do it was "gang of slapdicks who no one likes or respects and are constantly fighting".
This would have been fine if they weren't starting with the Briarwood arc and leading into the Conclave arcs, which both require VM to have some rapport with each other and the Tal'Dorei Council to work. Instead VM are still on thin ice with the council and honestly don't give anyone a reason not to think of them that way even before everything goes wrong at the feast. (Like, I don't think Scanlan's antics in 1x03 are funny; I think they make him look like a dumbass and they make VM look like dumbasses by association.) Allura and Kima barely tolerate them and Allura is reluctant to speak in their defense when the Sovereign puts them under arrest. I can understand that they thought this kind of conflict would be more interesting, but this is the lead-in to the Briarwood arc. There's PLENTY of conflict here to be interesting! Why not try to build up Vox Machina as a competent party with friendly allies who struggle with but still overcome a difficult challenge, maybe straight-up open on them killing Brimscythe and then lead into a truncated Kraghammer arc?
Because this doesn't just make for a lackluster opening two-parter. Emon being so hostile to the party means they have very little investment in or connection to the city, and as a result, when the Conclave attacks, it lacks emotional weight. Keyleth has a line in season 2 about their home being destroyed that falls flat because Emon wasn't their home; they were kicked out of every tavern and multiple people pointed out how bad their reputation was. The lack of friendship with Kima and Allura makes their meeting in Season 2 Episode 5 very jarring, because they greet each other like old friends when they're not. (I think Seasons 2 and 3 did a good job developing Allura and Kima's friendship with VM, but this is work that should have had its foundation laid sooner.) When Keyleth asks the question of "why are we even together", it's never really answered in the emotional sense in which it's asked. Why are they together? Because at the eleventh hour they finally started acting competent, I guess. Don't get too attached to the idea of that theme, because it's not gonna come up again all season.
You see what I'm saying here? They didn't go for what would most efficiently tell the story in a way that made sense; they went for tropes—archetypal stories of scrappy underdogs pulling together for a common goal. And while it seems like a quick fix that solves the problem of distilling the first twelve levels of Vox Machina's campaign into a 12-episode season, in the long term it undercuts what the show intends to do later because the groundwork they laid was too focused on using familiar adventure story imagery to try to push audience reaction buttons. That's a problem that has hung over this show for three seasons now, and I think the metapigeons have come home to roost.
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seat-safety-switch · 5 months ago
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Lotta people have been asking questions about the new electric cars. Namely: where do I get one and why do they still cost so much fucking money? First answer is: buy them from your reputable local Switch Motors dealer on our Premium Fleece® incentive plan.
The answer to the second question is simple. Batteries. Have you bought a new starter battery for your car lately? It's made mostly of lead (basically free,) acid (also free,) and plastic (people will pay you to get rid of it,) and it costs two hundred dollars. And that's just some boring old lead-acid battery that doesn't work properly in the winter or when you do something like forget to drive your car for eight months.
Modern electric cars are equipped with high-technology future batteries that can provide the beefy amps required to make your chunky-ass family shoot down the road in silent cough-drop comfort. They use a bunch of parts of the periodic table that I've certainly never heard of (I thought hydride was a video game for the Nintendo?) and when your mileage starts to drop, you have to take them to the Apple Store to have a guy who questions your clothing taste pry open the cells and suck the bad juices out. Because of this, an electric car with a dead battery can be gotten for the money that fell into your couch when you kidnapped a rich person and forced them to sit on your couch.
Don't worry, though. I got a solution. It's called the grid. All we have to do is put a bunch of power lines recklessly close to the highway, and then we can chuck one of those subway-train pantograph poles on top. Unlimited power! The beancounters can probably work out some way to pay by the kilometer, and everyone's happy unless they have to change lanes.
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averagewriter-inthedark · 2 years ago
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Lover 💗 | Bradley Bradshaw Imagine
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TGM masterlist
Characters & Pairings: Bradley Bradshaw x singer!reader (female/romance)
Content Warnings: fluff, mentions of sexism, references to pop culture, profanity | female!reader (she/her) | wc: 5.6k
Requested 📨 yes/no (for @auroradawnwrites 💗)
Premise : When it came to her love life, singer and songwriter Y/n L/n had a reputation where it felt like the world was against her to the point she doubted ever finding her perfect match. Being in the industry for so long made it difficult to envision what a life with her potential soulmate would be like. But sometimes great things come to people who are patient. And finding the person who made Y/n feel like the only girl in the world had that reputation flicker away like dust on a bookshelf.
Note: I know I keep apologizing for the long waits in my requests but I promise it’s because of having to balance school, random shit happening in my life, and wanting to put out a developed, well-thought out story that the requested person deserves 🥹 and I realized about week ago when I started writing this one after finally getting to it after it was sent in February. @auroradawnwrites I saw that you posted last month that you were leaving your blog but if you happen to see this on another account or still have the notifications on for that blog just know I’m so sorry for this taking so long and I hope it was everything you imagined 😭
Songs headcanonned for singer!reader: ‘Love Story,’ ‘Bad Blood,’ ‘Look What You Made Me Do,’ ‘Getaway Car’ ‘You Need To Calm Down’ by Taylor Swift. ‘Love’ by Lana Del Rey. Albums mentioned that are headcanonned for singer!reader: ‘Lover’, ‘1989’ (I just changed it to 1986 to suit the headcanonned year of birth for reader), ‘Reputation,’ ‘Fearless,’ ‘Red’
——————————
“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back our next guest,” Jimmy Fallon grins to the audience, arm slightly raising towards the curtains. “She’s been a friend to The Tonight Show for a long time. Here to celebrate twenty years since her debut and to talk about her newest album ‘Lover,’ singer and songwriter—the one and only, Y/n L/n!!”
There’s no need to turn on the sign reading ‘Applause,’ because the audience are on their feet when the curtains draw open slightly to reveal the beaming popstar. People are waving frantically, whistling, some even on the verge of tears at the fact they were in the presence of their idol. It was even hard hearing the band play from the noise
Y/n smiled the entire walk to Jimmy, blowing kisses at the crowd before embracing the man in a hug and settling down on the arm chair. “Wow, wow, wow,” he shouted, watching her give one last wave as he sat in his own chair. “Hi, Y/n.”
“Hi, Jimmy! It’s wonderful to see you again.”
“It’s great to see you too, it’s been awhile since we’ve had you on, huh?” Both make faces indicating they were thinking about her last appearance on the show.
“I think it’s been almost…six years,” Y/n tapped her lips with a finger. “Pre-pandemic I believe—because I haven’t really done much since 2019.”
“Yeah, you took a bit of a break.”
“A much needed one,” she chuckled, “But it feels so great to be back. I’ve been taking this time to really put time into discovering who I am as a person and what is next for me. I’m so grateful for the fans who’ve supported me all this time—I know,” she looks to the camera, “I know I kept you waiting, but fear not, I am back and better than ever.” The statement ignites a holler and applause from the crowd.
Jimmy claps with the audience, “That’s what I’m talking about. What can you tell us about this new music you’ve been working on? I know I mentioned your upcoming one, but you actually announced you will be releasing another at the end of this year, correct?”
Instantly Y/n lights up, “That’s right, Jimmy. For starters Lover is probably my most personal album to date. During the pandemic I basically shut myself off from everyone—and the world because I deleted the social media apps off my phone,” there’s a light chuckle from the crowd, “which made everyone go crazy thinking I died. But I can assure you I was just trying to put all my time and energy into writing, producing, selecting which songs would go on the track list. Each song is there for a specific reason—telling a story per say, and I feel listeners will be able to relate in some way.”
“Why the name ‘Lover,’?” Jimmy asked with curiosity, “is it a metaphor for the story or does it have a deeper meaning?” Judging by the cheesy smile Y/n started to do, Jimmy straightened his posture. “Are you….?”
“It’s for the lovers, you know?” Y/n shrugged nonchalantly. Those around didn’t buy it, leaning forward in their seats with curious eyes. “Yeah it’s about love and those feelings where you think your heart is about to burst from your chest. Like I said, many will be able to relate to it.”
Jimmy gave a look, “So did someone in your life inspire it perhaps?”
Instead of answering right at that second, Y/n remained grinning as the face of inspiration and the owner of her heart appeared in her mind. His gorgeous hazel eyes glowing under the sunlight. The feeling of his warm body against hers each time he held her in his arms. Tickling sensations from his mustache when he rained kisses across her skin. The sound of his laugh whenever he made a joke or she did something silly just to see him smile. Fingers dancing across the piano while they sang their favorite songs in their own private concert.
Her lover. Her life. Her reason for waking up everyday in an endless state of bliss. The person who inspired nearly every song on the album, best describing it as a love letter to him.
Relationships and romance had been a complicated part of Y/n’s life and career. A reputation often frowned upon despite only seeing a small picture.
It all started one summer day in Nashville, Tennessee. 17-year-old Y/n had big dreams and aspirations of being a singer, spending her free time playing guitar and writing songs about teenage experiences. Growing up in Tennessee, the birthplace of country music, Y/n was surrounded by the legacy of icons like Dolly Parton, The Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Reba McEntire, and Kenny Rogers. It was all she listened to growing up, though she did dabble in pop and R&B—going on to cite Aaliyah, TLC, Whitney Houston, and David Bowie as influences in her music.
“I hear the high school is having a talent show Friday night,” her coworker hummed, handing over the now clean plate to be dried. “Did you sign up?”
“No,” Y/n tiredly exhaled. It was pushing 8 o’clock and she still had one more hour until closing. Working at a popular diner gave Y/n the ability to save for college and an apartment, but it meant working more hours than what she legally was supposed to—on top of balancing school and band. “I have a pre-cal test on monday so I planned to stay in and study.”
“Oh c’mon! You’ve been itching to sign up all year—why back out now? All for a test you know you’ll get an A on?”
Y/n rolled her eyes, taking another plate to dry, “That’s reaching and you know it.”
“Y/n, you’re one of the smartest people in our grade. Literally will be in the top five come graduation. It’s a Friday night and the whole school is gonna be there,” her friend pleads to her, “you’ve got a voice that’s meant to be heard and songs that should be on the radio.”
The teen gives a ‘I don’t think so,’ shrug, “Eh, I feel my style is not exactly what country music is looking for.”
“Maybe so…but maybe it’s what it needs.”
Guitar in hand and shaking like a leaf, Y/n pulled everything in her to drum her fingers on the strings. The spotlight shining down on her made her squint, unable to see into the crowd save for the silhouette of their heads.
“Just breathe, Y/n,” she mentally told herself. It was dead quiet in the auditorium after a light applause when the drama teacher called her name. And since she wasn’t using an electric guitar, there was no way to hook hers up to the speakers. “Breathe and let your voice do the work.”
Clearing her throat, her lips curled into a shy smile, “This is an original song I’ve been working on. Hope you like it.” Slowly the tune began to echo through the auditorium. Y/n’s voice was shaky at the beginning, but soon found confidence when she closed her eyes and pictured herself in the comfort of her own room.
“We were both young when I first saw you.”
“I close my eyes and the flashback starts, I’m standing’ there.”
“On a balcony in summer air.”
Those in the crowd perked up, schoolmates looking at each other with impressed gazes.
“See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns.”
“See you make your way through the crowd, and say, “Hello.”
“Little did I know.”
Finally finding her rhythm, a genuine grin broke out on her face.
“That you were Romeo, you were throwin’ pebbles.”
“And my daddy said, “Stay away from Juliet—and I was cryin’ on the staircase,”
“Beggin’ you, “Please don’t go,” she let her voice drag out the ‘go’, igniting jaws to be dropped. “And I said.”
“Romeo, take me somewhere we can be alone. I'll be waiting, all there’s left to do is run.”
“You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess.”
“It’s a love story, baby, just say, ‘Yes.’”
Needless to say, Y/n went home with the winning trophy….and a meeting with Capitol Records Nashville.
Going to college was no longer the plan for Y/n once her signature hit the contract. 3 albums and a promise to take country music by storm was the new future. Staring as soon as her tassel turned from right to left with the class of 2004. Y/n packed up her tiny Honda Civic with everything she had, kissed her family goodbye with plans to see them for the holidays and settled into a cozy studio apartment smack in the middle of Nashville.
“You have a unique voice and lyrical direction, Y/n,” Randy Kingston, one of the execs at CRN said to her one day. “You’re not full country—by that I mean there’s a pop element you bring to the table. Country-Pop if you will.”
Y/n didn’t know how to respond except nod, “Uhhh yeah? I listen to a lot of different genres—-Pop being a big one. A-and I like to experiment by adding different….flavors to my music.” Her expression turns nervous, “is that gonna be a problem, sir?”
Randy rubbed the bottom of his chin with a hand, “No, I don’t think it will. It’s refreshing and something new. Frankly I think you’re gonna do well with the youngin’s. Your age range will likely be the best receivers.”
Turns out Randy was right. Releasing her first two singles were met with wide recognition from teenagers and young adults. Topping the country music charts for several weeks. During that time Y/n began working on her debut self-titled album on top of filming her first music video for ‘Love Story’. When it dropped, it didn’t just get noticed within the country scene. MTV released it during their early morning showings most people played when getting ready for school and work. Doing so allowed ‘Love Story’ to get more attention that people who were not even country fans were purchasing the single.
“Platinum?!” Y/n screamed at the sight of the framed record indicating ‘Love Story’ sold one million copies.
“Platinum,” Randy grinned, presenting it to her. “Well done, kiddo. You deserve it.” He also dropped the ball that Ellen Degeneres called to schedule an appearance—which nearly had Y/n drop the frame in her hands.
The Ellen Degeneres Show was the first public interview Y/n had ever done. And….it was the first time she was questioned about her love life. Something that would become her greatest nemesis throughout her entire career.
“So your song ‘Love Story’ is all about love, yes?” Ellen asked, igniting a laugh from the audience given the title of the song made it obvious what it was about.
“Yes.”
“So does that mean you got some love going on for yourself? Anyone who inspired this for you?”
“U-Uh, no?” It came out more like a question, causing the audience to laugh while she nervously smiled. “Not really—I-I’m not dating anyone currently, but the song sorta came from my love for romance novels and movies. Everyone desires love,” she nods to herself, “and I wanted to write something that people could relate to. Plus I love Romeo and Juliet—which is the big inspiration for the song.”
Following the appearance on Ellen, Y/n focused on writing music and releasing her albums. Her unique sound of combining country with elements of pop and R&B had listeners from all over the world drawn to her. It was a new era of country music.
But not everyone was very accepting of it.
Older generations and die hard lovers of traditional country were very unwelcoming to Y/n. They felt she didn’t belong in the genre and was better suited for pop. Though Y/n agreed to some extent, she feared making the transition from country to full pop wouldn’t be wise. She was still roughly new to the industry, trusting the judgment of her label who she was contracted to do 3 albums for. So she continued to fulfill her duty until the right moment came.
By the end of the first decade in the 21st century, Y/n had established herself one of the leading artists in country music with four Grammys, six MTV Moonmen, four AMA’s, five Billboard awards and 12 CMA’s. She appeared twice on SNL, performed at Dick Clark’s New Year Rockin’ Eve, and even collaborated with Miranda Lambert.
Yet the media liked to only talk about Y/n’s dating history.
In the first year of her career, Y/n briefly dated Jesse McCartney after first meeting at the 2005 Kids Choice Awards. Shortly after their breakup she was seen with Harry Potter actor Tom Felton, but nothing came out of it. The ‘date’ the media thought had actually been a handout between several of their mutual friends where they happened to be pictured smiling and laughing. After that incident Y/n did get into a five month long relationship with Leonardo DiCaprio, who was twelve years older than her and sparked endless conversation in the media.
Then in 2007-2009 Y/n became involved with Eddie Redmayne following their introduction to each other at Ellen Degeneres’ birthday party. They remained friends afterwards, but their relationship inspired a lot of Y/n’s work which resulted in people criticizing her for making too many break up songs.
“You’ve had quite the track record when it comes to the romance scene, Y/n,” David Letterman voiced during her appearance on his show. The singer was overcome with immediate dread. Again was she subjected to questions about her love life when it was no one’s business. But of course, if there’s one thing men like David have, it’s the audacity. “Which brings me to my next questions: are you dating anyone? And are they gonna have a song about them once you two break up?”
Now unfortunately it was common knowledge late night show hosts were disrespectful towards their guests and didn’t know what boundaries were. Though this was known, however, there was still the underlying pressure to keep silent by smiling and pushing through. Sometimes playing it off like it doesn’t affect you was better than having an outburst and being criticized more by the media. Displaying any offense would label them emotional and sensitive.
Though she wanted nothing more than to walk off the set and cry in her dressing room, Y/n swallowed the lump in her throat and answered as calmly as she could muster. “I’m not seeing anyone at the moment. I just want to focus on my music and what comes from my heart is what I put out.”
When Y/n did get into a relationship or was seen on a friendly date—hell even being spotted when out with a male friend for lunch had paparazzi and tabloids bombarding her.
“Is love in the air….again? Country music’s it girl, 24-year-old Y/n L/n, was seen holding hands with Australian actor Xavier Samuel who’s playing Riley Biers in the upcoming third installment of The Twilight Saga. Just this past March Y/n was linked to the son of Tennessee’s Attorney General. Let’s not forget L/n was in a two year romance with Eddie Redmayne before calling it quits last fall. Fans are starting to notice a pattern when it comes to L/n’s relationships and album releases. Should we expect her new single to drop within the next year? And will this romance with Samuel blossom into something long term or end as a spur of the moment flame?”
Notice how all the attention is Y/n and her life? Never once were the men she dated ever asked questions like she was—even if they had a history rivaling hers. Take Leo for example. The women he dated only got younger than Y/n as the years went on and people barely bat an eye.
After the release of her third studio album with CRN, Y/n had a tough decision to make. By that point her last album had more pop than country. The reaction of the fans was pretty much, “You need to just label yourself a pop artist now.” “‘Red’ was literally 90% Pop with 10% Country.” “Stop saying you’re a country music star when the last album you put out was anything but country.”
So…it was safe to say it was time to make the move to a different genre. Thankfully Capitol Records in Los Angeles was ready with the pen in hand to sign Y/n on. There she had creative control on what she put out and Y/n was excited to get started on a new era in her life.
2012 would go down as the year where Y/n was on the edge of her seat with how her career would go. Fans were mixed about her going to pop despite her recent music having mostly pop elements. Then there was the fact she was dating Tyler Hoechlin from Teen Wolf which had fangirls hating her guts for dating their celebrity crush.
What’s sad is Y/n was used to that reception whenever she was in a relationship with a public figure. First Jesse then Tom, Leo, Eddie, and Xavier. Can’t forget the times she got caught on dates with Robert Pattinson, Micheal B. Jordan, and Chris Evans. Then there were the incidents where the paparazzi captured her making out with Sebastian Stan at an after party and leaving the 2011 Grammys with Nate Buzoliac before he made it big as Kol Mikaelson in The Vampire Diaries.
Getting a break was not in the cards for the singer.
When things ended with Tyler in 2015, Y/n told herself she would not date anyone for awhile. Her album ‘1986’ was met with critical acclaim and positive reception from fans, earning her more awards to her growing collection, including the Grammy for Album of the Year. The entire time on tour she focused on having fun and not worrying about what people thought of her. Yeah she still got questions from interviews and hosts about dating she’d simply reply with, “I’m single, and let’s not entertain that further. Next question.”
@ inmyreputationera: I guess @Y/nL/n86 decided romance isn’t exactly her thing. I wonder how that’ll change her music.
@ stanningselenerr: not me checking @ Y/ndatingupdates daily for any new info.
Those were just the handful of tweets Y/n saw everyday on her Twitter feed. It got to the point she’d have to mute notifications whenever she was tagged. While she hated doing so because she loved interacting with fans, the singer needed time away from the constant surveillance of her personal life.
So fast forward to mid-summer of 2018. Y/n hadn’t put out an album in nearly three years nor had she been dating anyone. Yeah people still asked her from time to time though she learned to not let it affect her. Honestly it was a breath of fresh air. She was happy, healthy, and living her best life. Putting her heart and soul into songwriting which was heavily inspired by the reputation she’d garnered since her debut. Not to mention developing closer bonds with her friends and family after making the impulse decision in 2017 to move back to Tennessee. It felt good to be back home. Returning to her roots and the place that started it all after being away for so many years. It was a great time.
Now she was due back to Los Angeles to meet with her manager and producers. Y/n was ready to get back into the studio as much as her fans were telling her they were waiting for new music. With a first-class ticket in hand, Y/n boarded her red-eye flight from Nashville International to LAX and settled in for the five hour flight. It would have them landing at just after 3am Pacific time and while Y/n wanted to rest, she could not for the life of her sleep on a plane.
Approaching her seat Y/n noticed a man in a military uniform seated in the seat beside hers. “Excuse me,” she caught his attention, his head raising where he put two and two together by her hand pointing to the window seat.
“Oh sorry, ma’am,” it took everything in Y/n not to stare at him when he got up. He was very handsome. In his uniform, hazel eyes and sun kissed skin. The most notable feature was his mustache that most men could not pull off yet he seemed to.
“Do you need help with that?” The question pulled her from her mini daydream. He was referring to the carryon bag in her hand.
“Oh I got it—.”
“It’s no problem,” he was already taking the bag from her, securing it in the overhead compartment.
“Thank you so much,” Y/n thanked him while moving into the row, placing her purse in her lap when she sat down. The man returned to his seat just as the next wave of passengers boarded.
Manny, her personal bodyguard who’d been with Y/n since her first tour, was seated in front of her. When they got the tickets he purposely told her to have them separated saying, “I need my beauty sleep and while I love you, you will talk the entire time.” Sure enough when Y/n leaned over to ask him a question Manny was already knocked out, buckled in with his eye mask over his eyes and earbuds in.
Well that left Y/n with little to do. And when she went to retrieve her Kindle she groaned at the realization she forgot to turn back her reading light.
“Everything okay?” She saw the man in her peripheral vision slightly turn his head.
“Yeah just…annoyed with myself. I thought I packed my reading light but I must’ve misplaced it.” God that made her sound like a grandma.
His response was an ‘ah’ sound. “Wish I could help ya there, but I’m not usually equipped with something like that.”
“It’s fine,” she chuckled, buckling in her seatbelt. “It was to pass the time—I can’t sleep on flights. Even though it's midnight and I should feel tired.”
“I’m the same,” he suddenly extended a hand, “I’m Bradley by the way.”
Hesitant to reply in case he were to react to her name, Y/n pushed back any concern and gave a warm smile as she took his hand, “I’m Y/n. Nice to meet you, Bradley.”
“Y/n…” her name was repeated slowly, Bradley’s eyes consorting as though they were deep in thought. A wave of dread and nerves coursed through her. Then Bradley grinned, “Oh! I thought you looked familiar. You sing that song—what was it, ‘Love Story?’ Sorry I don’t mean to sound weird,” he let go of her hand when he realized he was still shaking it. “And I don’t want to bother you. I just can’t help but go, ‘wow!’”
“No-no-no, it’s okay! You’re totally fine.” Before long the two fell into conversation following the typical pre-flight announcements. Y/n was amazed by how natural it felt talking to Bradley. She discovered he was a Naval aviator, coming home from an assignment overseas and was flying to L.A to visit some friends. Bradley had been a graduate of UVA and attended the elite Fighter Weapons School, marking ten years with the navy that year.
“Forgive me for admitting this,” he said after the first hour into the flight, lowering his voice when a passenger trying to sleep glared at them. “But while I know who you are…I’m not really familiar with your work. Y-yeah I mentioned your one song but that’s literally all I know,” he laughed nervously. “My taste in music, I’m embarrassed to say aloud, is very limited.”
Y/n tilts her head, “how limited?”
“Uh, I pretty much only listen to the 1950s all the way to the 80s. Dabbling in what’s popular nowadays once in a blue moon. My karaoke songs are all Jerry Lewis” Bradley gives a gentle smile, “And while I can easily do a Google search, I’d much rather hear it from you if you don’t mind telling me.”
What’s that saying again? Oh that’s right, ‘And the rest was history.’
No but literally Y/n could barely contain her attraction to Bradley after he said that to her. She hoped to God she didn’t look like a fool as she spoke of her career and cool places she’s been. Time flew as they talked. In fact the two were so caught up in their conversation they talked the remainder of the journey to L.A, ending with the exchange of phone numbers and the promise to meet up.
It was decided right from the get go that Bradley and Y/n wanted to keep their relationship hidden. Regardless if the one date went somewhere, the last thing Y/n wanted was to have Bradley in the public eye and cause complications with his job. And let’s not forget her album was releasing within the next year. So, there was going to be a lot of attention on her wherever she went.
“The fact we’ve managed to keep this quiet for a year is outstanding,” Y/n said through a mouthful of cake. Bradley had surprised her with her favorite kind, the icing on the top reading, ‘Happy Anniversary, baby—we’ve got them fooled.’
She couldn’t believe they were already marking one year. Time didn’t seem to exist when she was with Bradley. He was everything she envisioned in a partner. Caring, compassionate, funny, intuitive. Listened to her concerns and communicated. Never made her doubt herself or paid attention to the media.
When she brought up her reputation, or better yet the one the press painted her out to have, Bradley stopped her and said, “who you have history with is not my business—unless they did something to hurt you because then I’ll have a problem with them. And those people talking nonsense about you have nothing else better to do with themselves. I care about you, Y/n. The only one who has influence on how I see you, is you. And I see you as the most beautiful, hardworking, intelligent person who knows her worth. Fuck what they say.”
Yeah that night ended with her jumping his bones.
Bradley took a fork full of his own into his mouth, “I for sure thought they were gonna catch us the night I snuck you on base.” After their first meeting in L.A, Bradley had returned to Virginia while Y/n remained to work on her album. It was a couple months before she went home to Tennessee, then for the holidays they planned to meet up when Y/n was on her way to New York. Sneaking her on base involved the two going undercover where they met at a discreet location and having Y/n shove herself under blankets in his backseat.
The singer laughed at the memory, “Thank Goodness for Shania. Had she not posted that photo to ‘tip off’ the paps then we’d have a whole different outcome.” Bradley laughed with her, placing his fork down on the napkin.
“I’m sorry I can’t be there for your release day,” Bradley had been called back to Top Gun for a special detachment by the Navy. Unfortunately the timing was right when her sixth studio album would drop. The details were still unclear, but that it was a team mission where he would compete against his colleagues. Y/n had yet to meet any of Bradley’s friends and vice versa. The only people in her circle who knew of their relationship were her manager, Manny, and family. But when you signed up to keep your love life private, it meant friends were lost in the dark.
“It’s okay, Roo,” she told him. “We’ll have our own celebration.” Another cake, this time with the design being the album’s cover art on it, was brought over the day before Bradley was set to fly to San Diego and the two had their private release party with just the two of them. The music was blasting through the speakers, Y/n jumping up and down with Bradley who was singing at the top of his lungs.
“Band-aids don’t fix bullet holes! You say sorry just for show! If you live like that, you live with ghosts!”
“I’m in a getaway car. I left you in a motel bar. Put the money in a bag and I stole the key—that was the last time you ever saw me—Oh!”
“Ooh, look what you made me do! Look what you made me do! Look what you just made me do!”
Champagne was popped, kisses were shared, and they danced the entire night until it came time to sleep.
They FaceTimed whenever Bradley had free time, even if it was in the later hours of the night. Those three weeks Y/n felt her heart long for Bradley in a way it had never done with her previous partners. She felt his excitement, his distress. The day he left for the mission Y/n paced around her home for hours—unable to focus on anything and overcome with nausea. It was as though her mind was trying to tell her something was wrong.
Relief came at around nightfall, the singer tripping as she raced to grab her phone when it rang. Seeing Bradley’s picture pop up had the breath she was holding in release. “Oh thanks God,” was the first thing she said.
“I’m coming back to you,” was his response. Tears pricked in the corner of her eyes, hand going to her chest to calm the rapid beat of her heart.
“I would expect nothing less, Lieutenant Bradshaw.”
Several celebrations were in store for the couple when Bradley returned to the east coast. Not only did he receive a medal from the Navy for his brave actions but got a promotion. Y/n’s album hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the first hour of its release, prompting a record number of sales in a single night for the singer.
“I’m so proud of you, Bradley,” she praised, patting the new patch on his uniform indicating he was now a Lieutenant Commander. She was met with a sweet kiss on the lips.
“Thank you, baby. I’m proud of you too—you’re gonna win everything come awards season.”
During the 2020 Grammy’s, Bradley leaped from the couch in absolute joy when Y/n’s name was called for the winner of Pop Album of the Year and Record of The Year. She missed out on Album of the Year, but that was okay. She was now the owner of 12 Grammys in total. Coming home the following night Y/n’s home was decorated with balloons, a banner reading, ‘Congratulations!!’ and of course, a cake with an edible Grammy topper.
And so it came time for a break. Six albums in a fifteen-year long career, Y/n kept it under the wraps that she wouldn’t be putting out another album for some time. Fans had started to notice she was more uplifted and vibrant in interviews, posting things on social media that were suspicious. For example she uploaded a photo of red roses, captioning it “the symbol of love.” Then there was the screenshotting of well known love songs and posting them on her story.
@ Y/nstansince04: is it me or does @Y/nL/n86 appear happier than usual? Is she hiding something?
@ getawaycarlover_: @Y/nL/n86 totally has a man or someone in her life. That recent Instagram post had all the hints.
@ fearlessdefender: I bet it’s a normal guy she’s with and not a celebrity. If it was we’d probably would’ve known by now who it was.
@ Y/ns_red_lipstick: honestly if Y/n does have a boyfriend then I’m happy for her and wish them the best. She deserves to be happy and we should respect their privacy. She doesn’t have to share with the world if it’s their desire to keep it secret.
Right when the world went to chaos at the brink of a global pandemic, Y/n thought, “you know what, I’m gonna just delete my social media—not my accounts but the apps on my phone. I want to go off the grid for a bit and just enjoy my family and boyfriend.” Not having the constant shadow of social media on her back made it easier for the singer on the break she desired.
Everyday she fell more in love with Bradley. She had been visiting him when quarantine happened so they basically went to the next step in their relationship by living together. Again, it all felt natural. They settled into a domestic life with each other early on with homemade dinners, movie nights, nerf gun wars, and karaoke contests. Bradley on the piano and Y/n with her guitar, being each other’s act and audience in their private concert.
“You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain. Too much love drives a man insane. You broke my will, but what a thrill. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!”
“Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone. I’ll be waiting, all there’s left to do is run. You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess. It’s a love story, baby just say, ‘Yes!’”
Late nights were reserved for drives with the speakers blasting. Y/n camera roll would be filled with endless videos of the two, but mostly of Bradley jamming to his favorite songs. More often than usual the thought of, “I’m gonna marry this man,” would cross her mind.
“You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog. Cryin’ all the time. You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog. Cryin’ all the time. Well, you ain’t never caught a rabbit and you ain’t no friend of mine!”
Y/n would lean her body out the window when it was a clear road where they were the only ones, hair blowing and the light from the moon shining down on her. Her beautiful voice carried in the night sky, Bradley in absolute awe of her and wanting to capture the moment forever.
“I came home in the mornin’ light—my mother says, ‘when you gonna live your life right?’ Oh momma dear, we’re not the fortunate ones. And girls, they wanna have fun. Oh girls just wanna have fun!”
But was supposed to be maybe two years at most…..ended up being close to five.
Honestly Y/n was surprised to still have fans. To say they were shitting bricks when she out of the blue dropped a cover art for her upcoming single, ‘Love’ would be an understatement. They were losing their fucking minds.
@ Y/nwhereforartthou: IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING OH MY FUCKING SHIT! PLEASE TELL ME THIS AINT A JOKE Y/N IS COMING BACK AFTER FIVE FUCKING YEARS
@ stilladirectionerbby: *insert Micheal Scott gif* OH MY GOD IT’S HAPPENING—Y/N’S RELEASING NEW MUSIC
@ MTV: when all hope was lost, our prayers were answered….by @Y/nL/n86
Then she announced in the same week they were getting not one but two albums that year.
@ themadalorianswife: TWO ALBUMS?!?! WE GETTING TWO?!?! GOD FUCKING BLESS
@ daddyisastateofmind: oh mother is spoiling us after making us wait so long and I absolutely am here for it.
@ neveroutofstyle_: love how @Y/nL/n86 basically said “this is my sorry for falling off the face of the earth, please forgive me.” On behalf of the fandom, we forgive you queen.
And wanna know something else?
What was even more impressive than becoming a ghost for five years with little to no sightings by the paparazzi, was that she and Bradley had yet to be discovered. Her lover was just as good of a ghost as she was. Their secret was like trying to find the Holy Grail.
Hidden like a treasure the world desired to unearth.
And on their six year anniversary, Bradley got them the same cake as the first time he did. The icing reading, "Happy 7 years, baby—we’ve totally got them fooled.”
…………….
TGM Tag list: @avaleineandafryingpan , @caitsymichelle13 , @poppyalice2001 , @cutelittlepotatofry , @luckyladycreator2 , @americaarse , @elenavampire21 , @back-tooo-black , @wildellaa , @artemissunn , @pinkpantheris
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fairszy · 3 months ago
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— ✩ sirens song ;; zakkura
subtop!zack fair , powerbottom!cloud strife , trans cloud , puppy dynamics , fem presenting cloud , modern au , s/d dynamics , zack cries a bit, use of curse words , cloud is referred to as ‘she’ for the first part !
✩ authors notes at the end . . .
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this is not the first time zack has found himself in this situation. he sits at a bar, a half empty whiskey in between his calloused hands.
it’s not as if something bad has happened to him, yet his face gives off the impression that the man has gone through hell and back in the last day or so.
zack recently discovered something — he has a crush. the ever well known, renowned, self proclaimed “no feelings attached” sex god . . has found himself lusting after someone.
does he know her name ? absolutely not. all he knows is she’s across this bar right now. she keeps to herself, blonde spikes that have slowly fell in front of the beauty’s face, blue eyes that felt like an eternal ocean to zack . . everything about his crush was stunning.
this was the fourth night this week zack found the comfort of the leather bar stool. each night he watched this blonde bombshell walk into the bar, exchange some words with another dark haired girl before taking a spot alone.
from there, the blonde doesn’t move. she sips on water — sometimes something stronger. each time she sports a pair of black faux leather shorts, knee highs, and some kind of band shirt that is so faded zack can’t read it.
all the man knows is that this person would be his.
his tonight.
— ✩
it starts with a small push of confidence. zack finds himself walking over to the booth in the corner — apparently much to the blondes dismay. he watches as the other tries to hide away from his glance, yet he deems it too far to turn back now.
“ hi there ! i’m zack — ”
the blonde cuts him off.
“ i know exactly who you are. ”
the response catches zack off guard so badly that his mouth hangs open partially agape. the blondes tone is cold, yet there’s something else to it. zack pins it off as embarrassment.
surely the raven haired would be stupid not to recognize his own reputation in the area. zack was known for being a service top — someone who got off on giving others exactly what they wanted and more. he would be stupid to play pretend with the mystery blonde.
that’s when it hits him.
the voice that has left his blonde princess is not one that falls from a typical girl. the lighting is dim but now zack can really see the person in front of him.
it’s a guy.
a very . . very pretty guy.
zack gulps, his fists tightening nervously before settling at his side. now zack knows he’s definitely not straight — however, he’s never really been with a guy. first time for everything, he thinks.
“ oh ? surely you don’t mean my reputation has expanded more than i’m aware of ? what have you heard ? ”
nice save, at least that’s what zack tells himself. he invites himself to sit down across from the, now identified, man. leaning almost stoically on his wrists, zack’s head lulls to the side in a beautiful display of innocence.
the blonde does actually chuckle slightly and zack feels his tummy fall into his pelvis. how cute could one human be ? why did this man have such an effect over him.
“ for starters — i’ve heard how stupid you are. not a thought behind those eyes huh ? ”
now zack was taken aback, no one had ever really talked to him like this . . why did he sort of like it ?
“ and secondly . . that you have a wicked good dick. ”
the final blow. zack goes bright red and he stammers only slightly as he tries to build back his composure. however after seeing the way that the man smirks at him, as if he knows he’s laid down the puzzle pieces of zack’s psyche right down in front of him.
“ wanna get out of here, zack ? ”
— ✩
that was the events that lead to the beginning of the end for zack. he finds himself in some random hotel room with this blonde. for such a small guy, zack was taken back when he’s pinned to the thick wooden door.
he suppresses a laugh as he watched the shorter stand on his tippy toes before pressing a kiss to zack’s neck. he’s rather gentle despite having a tight grip on zack’s shoulder.
“ someone’s eager, no ? ”
the soft kisses cease and before zack can even comment, he feels two sharp canines sink into the flesh on his neck. he hisses out in a mixture of pain and pleasure. normally, zack was the one to have people like this. he is usually the one who pins to the door and litters soft skin into a sea of bite marks.
it’s all so different than the usual and zack isn’t really sure how to feel. he’s insanely turned on, so much so that he can feel the wet spot forming on the fabric of his jeans — the blonde seems to notice that too.
“ ironic coming from you given that you’re practically leaking onto my leg. ”
zack flushed and reluctantly let out the small breath he didn’t even realize he was holding in. this person had some serious power over him that he didn’t think was possible. it felt similar to a siren, someone who zack simply could not resist.
“ what’s your name ? ”
zack breathes out. he wants to know who had this power over him. as the blondes lip curves into a small half smile zack feels his blush spread down to his neck.
“ you can call me cloud. ”
“ cloud. ”
the name slips off of zack’s tongue as softly as possible. cloud, the man who has effectively picked up his world and turned it upside down. however zack has very little time to process all those emotions as cloud’s hands wander downward. he pauses right at his belt.
“ that’s right. so maybe you do have a brain in there, huh puppy ? ”
and zack nearly faints. he swallows hard. zack has been compared to a puppy before many times, most of his work friends thought so any way. something about the way it sounded coming from cloud was completely different than the way zack was used to it hearing.
the blonde’s voice was slightly soft, half presenting some kind of faux sympathy. zack grunts a bit, partly because his bulge strains heavy on his jeans but mostly because a man half his size had him tied around his finger.
“ you liked that, didn’t you ? how pathetic. ”
the way cloud berates him is almost electric. zack shivers feeling the blondes nimble fingers pulling at his belt, unbuckling it with ease. zack doesn’t think he can take much more of the teasing. he grunts once more, huffing in fake annoyance.
he lifts cloud, ignoring how the blonde squeals in protest. his smaller fists hitting at zack’s back. however the dark haired man knows this all too well, cloud isn’t even trying to get away for real. he plays it up, lets zack enflate his ego for a moment — he isn’t aware it would be the last time he’d be in control for the evening.
the second clouds body hits the soft mattress he’s crawling up to the headboard, propping himself up against it.
“ stay. ”
cloud points to him. humming when zack doesn’t move a muscle. he slowly slinks away from the blonde on the bed, following where clouds finger points — the edge of the bed. he stands idly, a soft whine leaving past his lips.
“ before we start, you need to understand something about me. i’m not like a average man. ”
before zack opens his mouth to comment, cloud strips himself of his shorts. zack’s eyes nearly pop out of his skull at the sight of clouds milky white thighs but more importantly ? the thong that hugged the blondes hips. he bites his lip.
“ so you’ve got a cunt ? — shit sorry can i even call it that ?? what do you want me to call it ? ”
zack panics, he doesn’t want his ‘stupidity’ to ruin this for him. he wants to respect cloud to the fullest but is far to flustered to make a single coherent thought.
“ shut up — cunt is fine. hole works too. call me any girly names and i’ll kill you. ”
zack nods so hard he thinks his head could fall off.
“ got it ! i’ll be sure to treat you real good baby ”
and cloud hums in approval of not only the petname but the statement. he knew just how well zack could listen, he had no doubts that zack wouldn’t treat him like a king. with all the formalities in place, cloud continues his evening of torment.
“ now then. get over here, come boy. ”
“ m-must you really speak to me like a dog. ”
zack practically whines like a child who can’t their way, a small pout forms on his lips as he crawls on the bed. stopping in between the smaller’s legs. he takes a moment to admire the difference of their sizes. cloud is small and slim, covered in scars, and has a bit of muscle mass. zack however is a mountain of muscles, over six foot tall, and has stretch marks as such. together they were beautiful.
“ are you listening ? ”
clouds voice brings him back.
“ oh — ! sorry i . . got lost in my head, what were you saying ? ”
but zack gets no response. rather, he watches cloud smile despite him trying his best not to before being gripped by his shirt collar and pulled right into a kiss. zack can’t help but groan into the blondes mouth, cloud responding with a soft moan in tandem.
“ i said . . . i’ll stop talking to you like my dog when you prove you aren’t. ”
cloud practically pants the words out in between feverish kisses, a complete 180 from their last shared kiss. the use of the word ‘my’ has zack dizzy. he just nods, figuring maybe cloud was right. maybe zack really was just a nasty dog for him — i mean who stalks a guy four nights in a row just for fun ?
“ zack . . why don’t you be a good boy and take these off for me ? ”
with the most relaxed expression cloud pulls his legs up and holds them close to his chest, zack lets out a low groan at the outline of clouds wet folds staining the fabric of his thong.
“ anything for you cloud. ”
zack is quick to help cloud take off the clothing item, taking a moment to admire how beautiful the other is. his cute cunt is a soft pink colour, he has a small amount of near invisible blonde bush that blesses his pubic bone, and the best part is his beautiful swollen clit. zack had only ever seen these in porn but goodness was the real thing even better.
“ a picture would last longer, pervert. or is it you’re anticipating the next actions ? ”
zack flushes a bit, sliding his phone out and cloud all but snatches it out of his hands.
“ i was joking ! what a nasty dog . . ”
clouds voice mocks him, tsk’ing softly with a shake of his head. in one swift movement he grabs zack’s hair and tugs him right down in between his legs.
“ suck my dick , you don’t stop until i say so. ”
immediately zack nods, muttering a small ‘yes sir’ under his breath but it doesn’t get past cloud as he offers the older a hum of acknowledgement. zack takes the others erect clit in his mouth, sucking on the sensitive bundle of skin softly.
cloud lets out a soft gasp, his hands grip into his hair harder — now zack moans. it sends a shiver up clouds spine. zack pushes his weight forwards, forcing the others legs to fall over his shoulders. cloud can’t even see him anymore, just a mess of soft black hair spilling onto his thighs.
zack laps away in pure delight. he loved being a service top, he loved servicing someone and he never knew how much he’d love doing it for cloud.
“ fuckk zack . . now that’s — agh — a good boy. ”
the blonde’s words make that submissive switch in zack’s brain turn on completely. in this moment he whimpers at the praise, shuffling himself into a new position. he dives back into clouds now messy slit, a mix of drool and wetness coating his lips and cheeks.
his cock is so painfully hard as he ruts it against the mattress. zack needs some kind of friction as this whole situation has had him straining his cock painfully against his jean fabric. cloud, even in his blissed out state, notices this.
“ stop for now . . take those off. ”
zack jolts upright at the command — like a soldier at attention. without a second thought he follows what cloud has told him to do, moaning and hissing at how the cold AC air feels against his red and throbbing length. though he doesn’t dare touch it. he doesn’t even move. he locks eyes with his beautiful siren, waiting once more.
but the command doesn’t come. cloud gets on his knees and crawls closer before laying flat down on his stomach. his shirt slips down and just covers his ass out of zack’s view — zack hates that. however his thoughts are quickly seized upon feeling soft lips kiss at the tip of his cock.
“oh shit . . ”
is all the raven haired can say before his mouth falls open into an o shape. his head tips back slightly but it quickly comes back to look at cloud. he never wants to look away. zack stays stiff as he can, fighting any urges to fuck into the back of clouds warm soft throat. he normal doesn’t like anyone sucking him off but cloud . . ? he could stay like this forever.
but zack is getting painfully close.
clouds mouth is so soft and warm and inviting.
zack is borderline in tears by this point — he isn’t used to such overstimulating feeling. cloud looks so nice like this. his face is flushed and his blue eyes prick with tears at the corner of them. he all but crumbles when cloud takes him right down to the base, letting his tongue run up and down the length of zack’s shaft.
“ haaa ! cloud — ohfuckohfuckk — i’m c-close ! ”
then there’s nothing. cloud completely withdraws and zack cries. hot tears roll down his cheeks but suddenly they’re wiped away by the most beautiful man.
“ sorry puppy . . but i want you to cum inside. ”
suddenly zack doesn’t cry from desperation anymore, now he cries in need. letting his brain take over he shuffles behind cloud, yanking his shirt up and tugging his hips flush with his own. cloud immediately goes red, not expecting the ever so obedient zack to rebel against him.
yet cloud understands — as a matter of fact — his plan has worked. he teased the poor man to the point where he’s snapped and has become feral for just a taste of clouds hole. he doesn’t say anything yet, rather, he arches his back perfectly to line himself up with zack’s cock.
“ go ahead. fuck me like you need it. ”
a deep scruffy voice follows his words,
“ i do fucking need it. ”
zack growls out and cloud is delighted. suddenly it’s now clouds turn to become incoherent as zack slides right into the comfort of his hole. zack is much much bigger than he thought he would be and god does the stretch feel good. cloud moans and squirms while zack impatiently whimpers and bites his lip — willing himself not to snap his hips right up into the warmth he’s been chasing all evening.
cloud takes advantage of this to get some of his control over zack back.
“ g-good boy zack . . . your cock feels great. ”
“ pleeasseee ~ please cloud . . i need to feel you — c’mon baby please let me have you i — ”
cloud silences zack’s subtop state of babbling by leaning forward then back, fucking himself against the other. he was going to have to take clouds hole like this. but zack doesn’t care. if anything he leans back slightly to make it easier on cloud who uses his cock like a dildo.
“ t-thank you cloud — you’re so good to me babe. ”
unfortunately cloud can’t say much at the moment. the cock splitting him open makes much of anything else too hard to compute. the rumours were true, zack fair was an absolutely amazing fuck. cloud couldn’t believe he waited this long to make conversation with the man who’d been watching him for a few days now.
zack starts to go insane. cloud feels nice and tight but gods does he want to fuck him for himself. whimper after whimper tumbles out his mouth. cloud can’t keep his composure with how good zack sounds, how well he behaves. just like an obedient puppy cloud knows that zack will do anything to make him happy or to even get some praise.
cloud quickly feels his orgasm approaching, he squeezes down on zack’s cock with every single pulse of his insides and zack mewls in pure bliss.
“ gun’a cum — ”
is all the warning cloud can give before he’s biting the bedsheets in front of him. zack lets out a shaky breath before nodding in response,
“ yeah ? thas’ it cloud — cum for me okay ? please cloudy. ”
and that’s all it takes for cloud to finish off the first time that night. his body twitches and tenses while he throbs down tightly on zack’s shaft. the other can’t believe it, his nails dig so deeply into his thighs it’s almost drawing blood. he restrains himself despite wanting to spill his own cum right inside him.
“ more . . f-fuck me zack n don’t you dare fuckin’ stop. ”
zack nods feverishly as his hips snap right into cloud. in a moments time zack’s fingers dig tiny crescents into the plush skin of clouds hips. neither of them can fully speak now, just a sea of moans and half minded rambles. cloud feels incredible — zack starts to lose his composure even more.
“ cl — aah ! — cloud ! ”
is about as much warning as zack can give before he slips further into the feeling of a knot coming undone that lives in the pit of his stomach. before he completely finishes he hears the soft words of cloud,
“ cum for me puppy . . ”
that’s all it takes for zack to press himself completely forward, burying his cock deep within clouds warmth. his body twitches and spasms slightly as he finishes, loud moans spilling from his lips as he does so. the tears return on zack’s face and he’s just in a wonderful state of bliss.
cloud huffs, partially in annoyance but also because he’s mad he can’t watch zack through his orgasm. watch how he tenses and shuts his eyes real tight. the vice grip on his waist doesn’t end however, not that he cares that much.
“good job . . ”
he feels the grip lessen slightly and then the loss of something filling him up deeply. zack gently turns him over onto his back and swears he could get hard again. cloud is flushed and fucked out, a mix of his own seed and clouds slowly leaking out of his cunt.
zack must stare a little too long because cloud snaps his fingers to get his attention, eyes snapping up to meet clouds ocean blue ones. wordlessly, cloud dips a finger down in between his folds before holding out his glistening finger to zack.
“ clean me up. ”
“ as you wish cloudy ! ”
what a strange guy zack was, is what cloud thinks. however he knows this is far from the last time he’d ever see him. cloud has found a perfect loyal dog — he refuses to let that go.
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thank you so much for reading ! i hope you enjoyed :>
the ffvii brainrot has spread so much that i spent all day writing this >.<
word count : 3.4k
© FAIRSZY , please do not repost, plagiarise, take credit for or translate my work anywhere !! ♡
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reneesghostinthelivingroom · 2 months ago
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There is so little Heather Duke x reader stuff it pains me
How about a reader who loves getting into fights and usually never needed a reason to start a fight, but Kurt or/and Ram found out about Duke's bulimia and started being assholes and the reader got into a huge fight with them for it
You can change it up but moral of the story is that the reader ends up fighting for Heather D. (If you get the reference I love you)
'Cause I Will Fight For You
|| Heather Duke x fem!reader
|| Warnings;, swearing, bulimia mention, eating disorder mention, reader getting into a fight with Kurt and Ram, short drabble
|| Summary; reader had quite the reputation around Westerburg. A worse fight starter than Kurt and Ram. And it doesn't help when she overhears said jocks talking bad about her girlfriend.
Requests open!
Started; september 25th
Finished; september 26th
~~~
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"Hey, dude. Did you hear?"
You were walking through the halls, passing Kurt and Ram. The most annoying, classic jocks you'd ever had the displeasure of meeting. You were a little curious about what Kurt was talking about, so you slowed your walk just slightly to catch a glimpse of their conversation. Wondering if it was anything you could take back to Heather Duke; your girlfriend. Who very much liked rumours and gossip.
"Nah bro, what?" Ram asked, the way they spoke made you roll your eyes. God it was like they'd never listened to the English teacher a day in their life.
"Heather Duke has some wicked eating dis-" Before the words were even out of his mouth, you had thrown your fist at him. Not even giving him the opportunity to make fun of your girlfriend for struggling with bulimia. It was something the two of you were working on.
But you weren't about to listen to someone bad mouth her. You were known for never needing a reason to start a fight, you got into them all the time. Nearly daily, but you were good at avoiding getting caught too. Normally you weren't so careless like how you were right now. Besides, now you actually had a reason to fight. And you got to fight Kurt, which was really an added bonus in your eyes.
"Leave her alone, you ass!" You shouted, standing your ground as he aimed a punch right back at you. You dodged it, but didn't quite escape Ram who had slammed you into the lockers.
"And you leave him alone, you psycho! God, Y/N." Ram looked at you with disgust.
Next thing you knew it you were in an all out brawl with both jocks, putting up a damn good fight. And crowd.
"Holy shit! Fight, fight, fight!" You'd heard a few kids chanting but ignored them, focusing on pinning Kurt to the ground.
Until one voice caught your attention.
"What the fuck?" Heather Duke.
Everyone stopped and starred at her.
"Y/N. Here." She pointed to the ground just as Kurt threw a petty punch at you.
You had been focused on Duke, so his punch hit you in the cheek. Causing you to sputter in surprise.
Heather rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest, waiting for you to listen. She was used to this by now with the amount of fights you got into; she almost always had to lecture you afterwards. Which was really a cover up for her worry.
You managed to get away from Kurt and walked over to Heather, standing just behind her.
"What are you all staring at?" She snapped and people quickly scrambled out of there, including Kurt and Ram. Who had run into each other when they tried to run away.
Heather looked at you and sighed," Y/N.."
"Look, I know. I've heard your lectures," You winced, feeling the ache in your cheek from Kurt's punch." But I actually had a reason this time-"
"What reason could you possibly have?" She raised an eyebrow at you and you sighed.
"They were making fun of you, or trying. I punched Kurt before he could finish whatever he was going to say." You murmured, catching Heather's attention.
Her eyes narrowed, but not directed at you. "Just let me handle them next time, okay? Stop getting into fights. As hot as it is, I don't need the reputation of dating someone who got expelled. Got it?" She turned it around to be about her, because she wasn't going to let you know she actually cared about you. That would be showing weakness.
"Yeah, I got it... sorry Heather." You mumbled back and she kissed you.
"Good. Now come on. Heather's waiting."
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goodnightmemes · 1 year ago
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THE TUDORS SEASON TWO SENTENCE STARTER (PART TWO)
s02e06 - s02e10
❛ Will you come to my bed tonight? ❜
❛ You are marrying into a great family. You will do it, whether you like it or not. Do you understand? ❜
❛ Something's going to happen to me. ❜
❛ Don't talk like this. Nothing is going to happen to you. ❜
❛ I'm unable to give a King a son; a son to be the living image of his father. ❜
❛ It's all right. Everything is going to be all right. Please don't cry. I love you. I'll look after you, I swear. ❜
❛ I like you and enjoy your company. But you have a reputation: you gamble and you whore. You sail close to the wind. God forbid it should ever blow you onto the rocks. ❜
❛ I have no doubt what so ever that Your Majesty's reign will always be remembered. ❜
❛ Are you amusing yourself at my expense? ❜
❛ I swear to you it will never happen again. I love you too much. I have no right to ask you to believe me. But it's true. ❜
❛ Is she one of your mistresses? How many do you have? What are their names? ❜
❛ Here's the truth: you must shut your eyes and endure like your betters have done before you. ❜
❛ How can you say that to me? Don't you know that I love you a thousand times more than [name] ever did! ❜
❛ Don't you know that I can drag you down as quickly as I raised you? ❜
❛ This is lucky you have your bed already, madam, because if you did not, I wouldn't give it to you again. ❜
❛ Listen to me. You're the Queen! For the love of God, act like it! ❜
❛ At least seem happy. Not a heap of misery! ❜
❛ It's been tasted. It's not poisonous. ❜
❛ I am not "your dear". I am nobody's "dear!" I am a woman and I demand equal respect for my ideas! ❜
❛ Why are you here? To see the degradation that we have been forced to? ❜
❛ You may kiss me. Then you will leave me alone. Forever. ❜
❛ Anyone can see that the King is not so much in love with her as he used to be. ❜
❛ All this time and you're still in love with her! ❜
❛ Let me look at you. There you are. I have not seen you for so long. An eternity. And here you are! ❜
❛If I had a son, it would bring about a golden world. ❜
❛You ought to be careful, or I will have you cropped at the neck. ❜
❛ I did not bring you up to have opinions or to express them or to quarrel with those closest to the Crown. ❜
❛ I am carrying the King's son. We are on the edge of a golden world! ❜
❛ I'm certainly aware there are some at court who would like to see the queen replaced. ❜
❛ I was married before and I must confess, I rather like the liberty of not being married again. ❜
❛ You have just come from another's bed. No. Do not deny it. ❜
❛ Sometimes, my love, I think that with you I'm already condemned to live in purgatory. ❜
❛ His heart is very weak. I don't know if he will come back to us. ❜
❛ In such a crisis, all could disintegrate. So the centre has to hold, and we must hold it. ❜
❛ You know, I cannot think whether it would be a bad thing or a good thing if he died. ❜
❛ As Lord Protector, you would ipso facto...be King, ❜
❛ Though you are still a young man...you're not as young as you used to be. ❜
❛ I'm so happy you're well. I was so alarmed, so afraid. ❜
❛ It was a mistake to think I could behave like I used to. In any case, those carefree days are gone. ❜
❛ In the future, I won't see you unless your other family members are present. I just had to see you now. ❜
❛ What is this? Just when my belly is doing its business...I find you wenching with Mistress [name]! ❜
❛ You've lost my boy. I cannot speak of it. The loss is too great. ❜
❛ I see now that God will not grant me any male children. ❜
❛ You have no one to blame but yourself for this. ❜
❛ Because the love I bear you is so great...it broke my heart to see you loved others. ❜
❛ It's true what they have whispered. I shut my ears to them, but now I know it to be true. ❜
❛ I will treasure this all my life. And if they ever open my grave, they will find it again, right next to my heart. ❜
❛ You have overreached yourself. Believe me, you have placed yourself in very great danger. ❜
❛ Do you assume I no longer possess the power to crush you? It would be an easy mistake to make. ❜
❛ The king cannot satisfy a woman. He has neither the skill, nor the virility. ❜
❛ We have come so far. No one is going to be allowed to destroy us. No one. Do you understand? ❜
❛ I think we should drink a toast to new beginnings and to new friendships and to a mutually beneficial future. ❜
❛ If your master wants to deal with me, he must first apologize for all his ill treatment of me in the past. ❜
❛ Princes are different from us and are not to be easily understood. ❜
❛ It's come to my notice that some acts of treason and other offenses have been committed by those we loved and trusted. By members of our own court. ❜
❛ I want to tell you in this slippery world, you represent for me all that is innocent, everything that is good, unsullied, uncorrupted. ❜
❛ If anything should happen to me...will you promise to care for my daughter? ❜
❛ Please. For the love you bear our child, have mercy. ❜
❛ After everything we've been to each other. After everything we were. Please. One more chance. ❜
❛ My enemies have poisoned the air with their horrid lies. ❜
❛ I pray God will help me, for there is no truth in these allegations. ❜
❛ Sometimes, in order to defeat evil, one must learn to consort with the devil. ❜
❛ When am I to die? ❜
❛ My lady, I am obliged to tell you that your marriage to the king has been declared null and void. ❜
❛ Tell them to ready the horses. But tell no one of our destination. ❜
❛ I hear you say I will not die before noon. I am sorry for it, for I thought to be dead by that time and past my pain. ❜
❛ Yes, I heard the executioner was very good. And in any case, I have only a little neck. ❜
❛ Have you ever killed someone? What did it feel like? ❜
❛ I would really like to see someone die. Can I go to the execution with you? ❜
❛ I want her dead. I want it over with. Finished. Go and do it or, by God's blood, you will join her. ❜
❛ I swear to you, from tomorrow, everything will be different. We will be young and merry as we used to be. ❜
❛ If you would take my advice for what it's worth find a rich man to marry who is too stupid to know anything about politics. Then perhaps - unless you die in childbirth, which is likely...or the plague, which is almost inevitable - then you will be happy. ❜
❛ Forgive me. It's just that I so much want a new beginning. A renaissance. Sometimes it is hard to be reminded of things. ❜
❛ Tell me, was it all worth it? ❜
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levmemes2 · 5 months ago
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playlist sentence starters (pt. one)
songs from one of my playlists. think the golden child, unhealthily grieving, and broken ace. feel free to edit wording/pronouns as needed.
"it didn't kill me to lose you, i just thought that it might."
"i couldn't have cut you off if it weren't for the best."
"i miss how whole i felt before we met."
"i think i was just codependent."
"it felt so good to be wanted."
"i'm pretty sure all that's gonna fix this is time."
"you just seem like your life's been a dream since the moment you opened your eyes."
"stars don't shine, they burn."
"i'm quitting the second you're gone."
"show them you're not captain just because no one else ran."
"sometimes you get so close to someone, you end up on the other side of them."
"there's no good or evil thing that people won't one day forget."
"is it crazy to say that i'd die for you?"
"i'm keeping the bed warm while her husband is away."
"when they died they left no instructions.,just a legacy to protect."
"i am the one thing in life i can control."
"real men keep on fighting until they die."
"the universe works in mysterious ways, but i'm starting to think it isn't working for me."
"i've got so much left to learn."
"this family’s obsessed with validation and reputation."
"why does life feel so damn confining?"
"if you, for once, could just trust me--"
"just this once, let me come through for you."
"i'll make it up to you if it's the last thing i ever do."
"i know you are a man of honor."
"i'm so sorry to bother you at home."
"what didn't kill me never made me stronger, it just made me wish it would have."
"you just cannot deny there's a spark between us."
"why doesn't it get better with time?"
"i'm becoming all alone again."
"you don’t have to see the world as so black and white."
"do you still recognize yourself when you look in the mirror?"
"it's a bad idea, me and you."
"It's time we just let this thing go."
"what if i never see myself be anything more than what i've already become?"
"i never wanted to be better than my friends."
"you've never seen hell that's as fresh as mine."
"i'm kicking ass and taking names and making sure the people know."
"i won't apologize for wanting what i know i deserve."
"when loneliness knocks, she lets herself in."
"in my head, i'm a beacon."
"who am i if not exploited?"
"i wish i'd done this before."
"all i did was try my best."
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safarigirlsp · 1 year ago
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Halloween Requests Open
✨🍁🐈‍⬛🎃💛✨
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✨🍁🐈‍⬛🎃💛✨
REQUESTS ARE NOW OPEN for anything related to AUTUMN and HALLOWEEN! Please read this entire post for complete information, and if you're new, please take a look at my Masterlist.
This is my general theme and what I expect to cover this season, however, feel free to send in absolutely anything! I will definitely deviate from the regularly scheduled program if I like an idea. More info and prompt lists below.
Monster Monday - Zombies, Cryptids, Mummies, Dragons, Beasties, and any Monsters not covered by another category ☠️🎃🧟‍♂️
Transfusion Tuesday - Vampires 🌙🧛🏻🌙
Werewolf Wednesday - Werewolves 🌕🐺🌕
†hursday - Demons, Devils, Exorcists, Possession, and any related themes 🔥😈🔥
Phantasm Friday - Ghosts, Ghouls, Specters, and everything else that goes bump in the night 👻🪦☠️
I Put A Spell On You Saturday - Witches, Magicians, Spells, Rituals, Occultism, and anything similar ✨🐈‍⬛✨
Sunday, Bloody Sunday - Murder, Mayhem, Slashers, Cannibals, and Serial Killers 🪓☣️🔪
I’m only writing for Mills, Flip, Jacques, and Kylo for big oneshots. I will do HC’s for anyone I have ever written for. I am open to shorter ideas for Clyde and Henry, although full disclosure, they interest me a lot less these days, so any idea would have to really pique my interest. I have a strong preference for horror, adventure, and AU's.
This is an Adults Only event. My content is not for minors, or people who are easily triggered or offended. I write mature content intended for a mature audience only.
My Official Lineup will be announced October 1.
Here are Halloween fics from previous years.
Halloween Fic Recap 2022
Halloween Fic Recap 2021
Halloween Fic Recap 2020
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This is my favorite time of the year! As far as I’m concerned, Halloween runs from September 1 - November 15, if not longer! I currently have a big fic to finish up that should be done soon, but nothing else slated fic wise. After that, it’s full steam ahead for anything and everything related to Autumn and Halloween. I generally put aside other non-fic writing projects during this time to focus on Halloween content.
For the week of Halloween, October 25 - October 31, I intend to post a big daily oneshot. My stories generally range in size from 5k to 25k, and some are even more! Look for a mix of horror, humor, romance, and adventure! Everything will contain adult themes and mature content. There may be other writing throughout this time too. The quantity of stories I post depends on the length of them. In the past, I have posted a lot of shorter things, but I’ve gotten more into writing longer stories now. The last few years, I have averaged over 100k words for Halloween and Autumn content!
Please send me requests, ideas, thoughts, HCs, anything you like! I’ll pick my favorites or, very likely, a combination of a few different ideas, and I’ll write a oneshot that includes everything I can fit in. Feel free to send in multiple ideas or requests! The more ideas to choose from, the better! All AU concepts, time periods, etc are welcome. Anything is fair game. This is generally the only time of year I open requests anymore, so get them in if you ever want to. Requests will be open from now until Halloween. However, because I tend to write longer stories, the sooner an idea comes it, the more likely I am to use it.
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Below the cut are some of my favorite prompt lists, but do not feel bound by them. If you do include a prompt in your request, copy and paste the prompt itself because I hate chasing them down on lists.
Edgar Allen Poe Prompts
Ballroom Prompts
Eerie Prompts
Halloween Themed Prompts
Things to do in October
Autumn Aesthetic Starters
Terrible First Meeting Starters
Magic Starters
Spooky Aesthetic Ideas
Spooky Alphabet
Sexual Tension Prompts
Spicy Prompts
XXX Prompts
Pirate Prompts
Battle Prompts
Bad Reputation Prompts
Fighting Prompts
Attacked Starters
Witch trial Prompts
Horror Movie Starters
Stupid Things to do in a Horror Movie
Horrorland Prompts
Tarot Prompts
October Writing Challenge
General Prompt Masterlist
✨🍁🐈‍⬛🎃💛✨
Tagging some witches who may interested!
@babbushka @in-silks-and-flesh-and-leather @mrs-gucci @mrs-zimmerman @iamburdened @gabesprincess @reborn-rekall @maybe-your-left @rynwritesstuff @caillea @cas-backwards-tie @candycanes19 @queeniebee @lumberjack00fantasies @mythrielofsolitude @icarusinthesea @ghoulian13 @darkhairedmenrule @reyloaddict55 @fizzywoohoo @heartlight-starlight @richbrittstein @clydesfavoritegirl @bensolodyad @thepalaceofmelanie @celiholland @durangoninetyfive @reveluving @fax4life27 @vedavan @queen-of-elves @srorgana1 @reylokisses @kyloremus @vixenofcourse @loveofaddy @kylofrk @dyaddu
All edits by the amazing @kyloremus
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unkat · 6 months ago
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I wish I were better than this
The office is well-decorated, just the right amount of personality to convey some semblance of openness; a diversity pride flag as a small poster claiming all are welcome here, some tasteful art of sea life on the warm beige walls. A picture of the family to provide a simple conversation topic starter for the nervous soul. Some plastic fake plants that require no sun and no water, both things fully absent here.
The doctor sits within the faux black leather chair across from the patient, calm, holding the chain. It connects to the Thing that sits in the cushioned conference chair.
"Now, we are here again. It's very late, you know." The doctor sighs. "We're both very tired. When are you going to give it up?"
"You made me into this, why would I ever be able to give up the parts you gave me? It IS me." The Thing twists in its seat, but the bonds keeping it seated, keeping it a good patient, are held firmly within the grip of the doctor who braces against the floor to keep control.
"No, you may be a manifestation of these thoughts and feelings, but I am not responsible for your creation, just your treatment."
"My imprisonment."
"It is not a prison. Do I not walk alongside you to the park, to get lunch, to listen to the birds and feel the wind against our skin?"
The Thing is in its throes of anger again, as per usual when not sedated and soothed by the staff. It's embarrassing to watch, and the doctor can't help but wrinkle their brow in disgust. The Thing is their most important and most vile patient, they wish they could keep it under sedation permanently. People like it more when they are in control.
"Am I a joke to you?!?" The Thing screams, "You're so selfish, all you care about is how YOUR reputation will be whenever I have needs."
"Needs?!? Is that what they are called now?" The doctor replies curtly. "Do you think dragging me, dragging my poor nurses down the street, scaring everyone is a need? You are not a joke, you are a disappointment. You are a liability."
"You are the liability, I'm the one that keeps us alive." The Thing hisses back, muscles so strained against its chains that it's going to choke itself.
The doctor gives just enough laxity to prevent it, concerned still for it's health. As painful as their interactions are, they swore an oath to do no harm. "You may have kept us alive in the past, but that's gone now. You need to learn how to behave in the now. All of this, the…theatrics, desperate bids for attention, is horribly inappropriate."
"Oh, is it? Or is it only bad when I'M the one doing it, doctor?" It twists, shoulders bending into angles that no human body should be able to manage.
If there were anywhere to go, the doctor should flee to them. But they are the only thing between this freak and the rest of the world, there is no choice to run.
"I'm the one that knows how to run." It speaks as if hearing their thoughts. "You gave that up to me, when you made me, don't you remember? You're too proper for that."
"I go for walks, we go for walks. Stop trying to fight me, I'm not letting you ruin this for us." The doctor is scared.
It stops. The ripples of strength, unfettering forms, simmer beneath its skin and it looks the doctor in the eye. "How long do you think you can keep this up? How long do you think you can keep me here without anyone else knowing what you've done to yourself? I am you, even when you try to put on a little badge and call yourself the normal one."
"I do share you with others." The doctor counters. "Your inputs are heard and conveyed."
"You funnel me through your little filter, put my words into little pieces, strained and pureed into something weak. I am not weak."
"I know you're not weak. But you must realize how much trouble you're making."
Is that all that matters? The trouble I give, for you to clean up later?"
"Yes. When you wind up, you are cruel. I can't say those words as they are, you will hurt so many people."
"Doctor, you must know that YOU are cruel, by keeping me like this. I deserve to be loved as much as you are."
"You NEVER do anything worth loving, you are angry, sad, aggressive, panicky. Stupid. You make things up and treat them like they are real, and wrap your head around it until I do something to help. Politely."
"FUCK YOU!" It writhes back in its chair. "Fuck you, fuck you fuck you, fuck you."
The doctor is clinging to whatever control they still have. "Are you angry at me, or are you angry at him?"
"Why can't I be angry at them both?!? Why am I not allowed to hate you and hate him and hate her and hate hate hate hate hate…"
"You hate so much you stop thinking about who made you hateful in the first place!"
"I thought he was going to kill us! I thought we were going to die! I thought we were going to lose everything!"
"YOU tried to kill us too, don't forget."
"You never loved me! If only you loved me I wouldn't have done it!"
"I never said that!" The doctor is shrieking now too.
"But you don't have to! I know you hate me! I hold all your hate and fear because you need me to hold it for you, isn't that right?" The Thing is melting from its nearly human form, to that of a beast, a sinewous snake all ligaments and tendons that the doctor must only trust will not break free. "Because then maybe you can keep me trapped."
The chain is slipping. "Don't do anything we're going to regret. I'm warning you."
It leaps for them. "I love you, please, you need me. Can't you see that I protected you? Can't you see how I saw those threats, and I attacked, for us. I am not only hateful, I am so filled with sorrow."
The doctor's air is being pressed out of their chest. "P-please, you're going to ruin everything, I'm begging you to stop and think."
There is an emergency button on the bottom of the chair. There is an emergency button on the bottom of the chair. There is an emergency button on the bottom of the chair.
The Thing is half man, half something else, something with bulging eyes and a snarling maw. "You took the thinking, doctor."
It breathes in their face. "Everyone is going to hate us."
"Then don't. Then sit back down and let me wrap you up again. This doesn't need to happen. It shouldn't happen. They are important to us."
The Thing bites down on the doctor's throat. A sob wrenches out from its throat as the taste of blood fills its mouth.
The doctor cries out. "No, you're going to kill us! You're going to kill us!" It cradles the doctor like one would a lover, as they grab at its hair, try to poke out its eyes, it bleeds and bleeds and cries as the movements cease beneath its teeth.
It leans back with trembling lips and kisses the doctor, slides its hands beneath their shirt, as if this act would bring them back, would reunite their souls across the chasm places between them. Its very essence drips off of their clothes as if repelled and rejected without even any thoughts needed.
It gives up, clinging instead to the still warm corpse. "Why can't you let me love like you do? Why did you do this to us? I want to love. I have already forgiven you. I need you to forgive me. This is not fair."
It tears the pictures off the walls, drags red chipped claws against the warm paint, smashes the picture of the family, tears out what it hates, and eats the pieces, chewing and swallowing. But it can't destroy that. It sticks sharp corners into the form, making it vomit even when amorphous and dizzyingly out of control. The doctor was not its only creator, but the doctor was wrong from the start.
Neither of them was the creator of the other, despite the air of authority, the manifestations arose together before the bad times and from it. It doesn't matter if they were conceived and born at the rise of consciousness or from everything that followed, the Thing is not satisfied, it never is. It will dig an exit into the wall with its own hands, clawing at plaster and paint until it can stretch through the cracks, hungry and desperate.
Nobody is stupid enough to get in its way while it is still trying to run, mouth open and panting in rage and fear and sorrow, frightening those who catch sight of its horror. It cannot go far, the chain an umbilical cord back to the doctor’s corpse, freedom unattainable with or without the anchor. It screams and cries and howls and without more targets, its emotions turns towards itself. Nothing is there to stop it as it claws itself open, so filled with hate and fear it digs into the wound, the death throes painful and slow as it screams and cycles; returning back to its full strength and back to nothing, over and over. It can't even move to stop itself from bleeding out all over the floor, paralyzed in rage and fear as a nervous circle of onlookers begs for it to end.
The doctor is the one that wakes first, hours after the world faded into nothing. They sigh and look at the mess. They are not the one who woke first, in reality, but they were the one to stand upright and breathe as the Thing lay on the ground empty and full of regret.
“Well, that was certainly something, wasn’t it? Do you really think it was a good idea now?” The doctor gestures to the room, to their bloodstained coat, the broken nails from the Thing’s frantic scrabble along and within the walls. “Have you destroyed enough to be satisfied? You’re lucky I have seen you do this before, I can reassure the staff and civilians. Fucking Christ, why couldn’t you just listen to me when we still had a leg to stand on?”
The Thing is only sorrow now, guilty, apologetic, weeping and curled in on itself. Each breath makes it expand and deflate like a creature with thin transparent skin. It crawls in oozing steps to the doctor, curling around their feet in remorse.
The doctor exhales sharply. "You ruin everything, and then come crawling back, just like that? Am I supposed to pity you? You killed us. YOU. I don't owe you comfort for that. You can't trick me."
"I didn't mean to. I'm not like him. I'm sorry."
"You know that's what he said too. How am I supposed to believe you? We both know this isn't the last time you will do this. You hurt me over and over and over again."
"It's only my nature. You must understand that?"
"I understand it, but I don't have to like it. I never liked it."
"You're scared too, not just of me but of everyone, just like me."
"But I don't hate or cry at everyone. That's your special skill."
"We cry because we hurt."
"YOU cry because you hurt."
"You make me do the crying for both of us, you can't cry. Nothing bad will happen anymore if you do."
"So you say."
"You only let me cry when you're happy. You act like every interaction is a puzzle to solve."
"Not always."
"But always-- you act like there is a ticking time bomb, that any joy is just a veneer over pain. And you make us live in pain for every second until you make it true."
"It's the nature of human experience, to love, bond, let down one's guard, and then pick the relationship apart at the seams. You're the one who ran away."
"You scared me."
"I didn't scare you."
They both knew what scared them, but it was easier to blame each other for their transgressions than stare at the cracks in the foundation of the building, splinters that despite their best efforts still bled open and created rivers between the office and the world. An eternity of repairs could never make the damage disappear.
The doctor steeples their fingers in front of their face. "…I can fix this."
The Thing's face is haunting and empty, "There is nothing you can fix that won't become broken again. Because you are broken too."
It bites the doctor's ankle, and no amount of shaking can break them apart.
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targaryenofrph · 9 days ago
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The First Time by Kelsea Ballerini Sentence Starters
Change the pronouns and tense as needed for your verses.
"You might be acting like you're my man" "You're still in love with your ex"
"I'm not one to be anybody's second best"
"Stop holding onto me when the truth is you can't let go"
"I might be platinum blonde, but I ain't dumb"
"I guess I had a naive heart because I let you have it"
"You said I was your only"
"Never thought you'd leave me lonely"
"You're just a lost boy with your head up in the clouds"
"You'll never grow up"
"Deep down, I knew that you were too good to be true"
"Every piece and part of me wanted to believe in you
"Show me what you're made of"
"I don't have time to waste on the boys that are playing the games"
"If you're gonna talk the talk, you better walk it"
"I've had my share of losers, liars, and users looking for a heart to break"
"Wouldn't that be boring?"
"You know that you don't have to go where they go"
"You can go write your own story"
"Who do you wanna be?"
"There's a lot of open doors you can go and explore"
"Just because you're different doesn't mean you're crazy"
"I hate to admit it but my hands are shaking"
"Looks like feelings don't always change their minds"
"Guess somethings never change"
"Just like living in a flashback... you let me down again"
"That's why the past should be the past"
"Nothing's changed except the time that's passed"
"That's why good-bye should mean good-bye the first time"
"I'm kicking myself for believing in you again"
"Even when you don't have me you can still be the one to hurt me"
"It must feel good to know that I'm still holding on to letting go"
"The night is young and so are we"
"There's a spot I know down the road we can go"
"Doesn't it make you feel so small?"
"Your reputation beats you"
"I guess I'm just not the running kind
"You were nothing but trouble"
"I've always had a weakness for a terrible and twisted storm"
"Sometimes you could hear a pin drop or the ticking of the clock"
"Am I the product of a problem that I couldn't change?"
"I know that you can't walk across a bridge that's already burned"
"Sometimes I hear myself saying hand-me-down words"
"I wanna prove me wrong, but I'm scared I'll prove me right"
"I know everybody wants you"
"Go ahead and say what you're gonna say, give it to me straight, don't sugarcoat it"
"Go ahead and do what you're gonna do"
"We're already done, I already know it"
"You don't get to get to me"
"I wear my pain like stilettos"
"As bad as it may hurt, you'll never know"
"I talk the talk like I'm a tough girl"
"When you get burned, you learn to be strong"
"A little black dress to cover my mess so you won't know my heart is breaking"
"You got that something in your eyes, I think about it all the time"
"I'm trying to keep it cool"
"You shine and you can't even help it"
"Your eyes could make the moon jealous"
"Every song that's playing gets me thinking about you"
"All we ever think about is fun"
"Doesn't everyone wanna sit on top of the world?"
"The nights are young and our IDs are fake"
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firstbornsecondchosen · 4 months ago
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A chill passed up Indra's spine. His instincts were calling out to him, begging him to take a secondary glance around the village he had just arrived in. Immediately, dark eyes fed into the red of the sharingan as he allowed his gaze to pass over his surroundings a second time. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary.
At first.
When his eyes passed over the crowd, they settled over a person that sent that same chill up Indra's spine. Red eyes narrowed at the man dangerously, a silent warning. But he did not back down, as if he were challenging the man clearly and openly staring at him in return. What did this man want?
One hand balled into a fist, the other moved to rest on his hip before he shook his hand out, silently scolding himself for attempting to look intimidating when he should have been prepared to defend. He knew his own reputation amongst the people of the land. The reputation that preceded him as a strict, obedient man who took no nonsense, and who would punish whoever he deemed necessary to keep law and peace. Granted, aside from an uneasy feeling, this man had done no wrong.
So, what about him was triggering every receptor in Indra's mind that this was a bad feeling?
"Perhaps instead of staring, you can approach and speak what is on your mind?" Despite the uneasy feeling, he decided to offer an open hand instead of a closed fist.
Closed starter for @uchihacollector
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