#overwhelming thoughts filling my head and so I'm projecting a little
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diivineray · 1 year ago
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               ❛ Very quietly dyin'                             And I need you to remind me why. . .                                                   Give me the strength to keep fightin' ❜
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              『 𓆩🦁𓆪 』―   Returning home always filled him with unease, whether for holiday gatherings or school breaks. The familiar surroundings of the Savannah Afterglow seemed to put him on edge constantly. It was the same routine every time - his brother persistently urging him to take life more seriously, continually evading Cheka's overbearing displays of affection, which alone was enough to make Leona tense up. Surprisingly, the only person who seemed to refrain from nagging him was his sister-in-law. She appeared to understand that Leona performed better when making independent decisions rather than being constantly nagged.
                        He expressed deep gratitude despite the fact that he would never fully show it, as she permitted him to depart from the evening's celebrations, assuring him that she would handle things in his absence. He wasted no time, quickly hopping into his car and driving himself out of the city as swiftly as possible. With each passing mile, he could feel a profound sense of relaxation washing over him as the city lights faded into the distance, eventually disappearing altogether as he journeyed away from the Kingdom. It pained him to realize that he could only truly reconnect with his genuine self through physical distance.
                       Leona grew up immersed in the captivating tales of Scar, the ultimate betrayal, and the tragic downfall. It seemed as though everyone had forgotten their roots, clinging to the superficial importance of bloodlines. Once, Leona cherished his home and gazed at the stars, yearning for the past kings to acknowledge him. Disheartened by his family's lack of understanding, he sought solace in the guidance of the spirits. However, it was no surprise that his pleas remained unanswered.
                    Once again, He found himself in that familiar spot, his head cradled by his arms, sinking into a plush tuft of grass in the savannah. His emerald gaze at the stars carried a burden of desolation that seemed to press heavily on his shoulders, how he longed for simplicity, for the ability to wish upon a star and have it instantly granted. What if he had been the first to be born instead of the second? Would they have noticed him more?   
                    His mind drew him upright, gazing back at Pride Rock. Although he rarely visited, he reveled in the place's historical significance. Over time, it had been forgotten as his people advanced, and today's youth saw it merely as a large boulder. It was intriguing to think that they were partially correct. It was simply a massive rock shaped by his ancestors into a throne that guided countless generations of monarchs. True to its name, Pride Rock symbolized their unity, the place where they converged, ascended to greatness, and seemed almost to brush the sky.
                  ❛ Amusing,❜ he murmured, pondering the immense power that not even the fiercest storms could dislodge, yet realizing that it could all be reduced to mere dust if he willed it. The irony was palpable. He could obliterate everything his people cherished, becoming the monster they dreaded and following a path shrouded in darkness for the simple reason that he was different. People feared what eluded their understanding, and Leona was no exception to this universal truth.
                The first time he had discovered his unique magic, he had unwittingly used it against his older brother during a playful scuffle. All children quarrel and bicker, but they seldom mean any harm. Leona had always been a delicate child, prone to getting upset and shedding tears at the slightest provocation. All he had wanted was for his toy to be returned, never realizing that his heightened emotions would trigger such a powerful magical outburst. To the shock of everyone present, the toy turned into sand, narrowly missing the future king. From that moment on, he was seen as a potential danger. Who could predict what his emotions might compel him to do? A misstep could quickly turn the entire Kingdom into nothing but an endless desert.
               He pondered whether he was fated to exist in such a manner—forever recognized solely for the havoc he could unleash. Despite his exceptional intellect and formidable magical prowess, no one acknowledged these remarkable traits. It seemed that accolades were reserved for those deemed worthy of kingship, so his excellent qualities went unnoticed. He couldn't help but speculate whether Scar's desire for the throne stemmed from a similar longing to be acknowledged.
            His hand slipped from the cold stone as he muttered to himself,  ❛ Guess you live to stand another day.❜
           Leona never truly desired the throne. He harbored a deep understanding that he wasn't cut out for it. However, a part of him yearned to experience what it meant to be prioritized. He longed to be acknowledged as a source of joy rather than a burden. Leona craved the sensation of being loved and cherished. The perpetual cycle of striving to prove himself had left him exhausted. Endless disappointments drove him to the point of apathy. If they didn't care, why should he?
          But, deep down, he cared more than he wished to admit, and he harbored a crushing fear that he would remain alone for eternity. No one would hear his desperate screams as he plummeted endlessly, with no solid ground in sight. He reached out, only to watch the hands that did reach out crumble into sand, leaving him unable to grasp anything. Was it his fault? Perhaps he was too afraid to trust and let others in, fearing they would never understand or see the real him.
          He couldn't understand why he continued to return to a place that left him feeling unwelcome and hollow. It had ceased to feel like home a while back. He wandered through the familiar corridors, feeling like an outsider in a place that no longer belonged to him. He longed for the comfort of his dorm and the company of his classmates.
         They may have seemed foolish and lacking in many ways, but they were his loyal friends. They had placed their hope and faith in him and believed in him wholeheartedly. He missed their unwavering support, even though he had sometimes resented it. He longed for the simple and mundane moments, like playing magift and napping under his favorite tree. He even missed being scolded by a certain blonde for being lazy. He yearned for the sense of belonging he had found in that school despite knowing it didn't offer much for his future - it had given him everything he had been searching for.
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               ❛ When my whole world is set on fire, don't leave me alone. ❜
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yaut-jaknowit · 6 months ago
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Morally ambiguous corpo scientist gets transfered to a "exciting new project" only to find it's a Predator breeding program.
Breeding Program
Character: T'a'yta (Male Yautja) x AFAB!Reader
Warnings: I'M WARNING YOU NOW, I WENT FERAL BADLY. Rape/Non con contents. Sex pollen, SMUT, very rough sex, knotting, breeding. Read at your own risk, seriously.
Word Count: 3159
Summary: As a scientist, the ability to move up in the world was amazing. To surpass people you thought were the top dogs in your program and placed in a new section. A new program. You hadn't been briefed but the pay was phenomena. Nothing to complain about there. You met up with Amelia, the head of the program, at the facility and get a tour. At the end, she takes you down a hallway, opens a door to a pitch black room. Then shoves you in.
Author Note: I'm warning you all. This seriously might be the darkest thing I've ever wrote. I don't know why my brain went this route, but it did. Please, I'm warning you. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Masterlist
Ao3
After the years to finally work underneath this team of scientist, you were astonished to find they had referred you higher up the chain. To a new exciting project that could change the world. The opening letter they gave you easily hyped you up. Before you knew it, you were accepting the new position. Your items were going to be transferred over at a later date.
The new team wanted to meet you so bad. That’s what they told you. That’s what you believed. You found yourself at the new building that had just been finished. This was nerve racking but exciting at the same time. All new equipment and gear to test out. State of the art equipment has been entrusted to you. Out of all the people, you’ve been promoted to such a position. This was destiny!
Smiles greeted you when you first walked through the doors. The team lead was here in person to greet you the moment you stepped onto the new grounds.
Amelia says your name with a soft smile that complimented her features. “It’s so good to see you! We’ve been waiting for you to finally arrive. I hope the travel wasn’t bad?” She guides you towards the elevator and presses the button. The doors open and welcome you aboard. You step in after Amelia, nearly bouncing off of the ground with each step. A dream becoming reality.
“No,” you shake your head. “It wasn’t bad. The flight was beautiful though. Being that high up.” The memory of all the gorgeous clouds that covered the sky. Then, seeing as far as the eye could see. All of the land that went on and on. You loved it. “I’m so excited to be here too. It’s been my dream to work in an environment like this. When do I get to meet the rest of the team?”
There weren’t much for details about the project besides how cool it would be for you to join the team. Of course, you couldn’t say no. Not when a job like this could be the last one you would ever need. Plus, the pay was… wow. Amazing!
The elevator’s doors slid open to reveal a long hallway with black tile floors and grey walls. Little décor filled the empty space. You didn’t mind it. The place was still new. Maybe they hadn’t gotten around to fully furnishing the space.
Both of you walked out. Amelia laughed. “Oh, they’re around. They just didn’t want to crowd you and overwhelm you on your introduction day. Today is just meant to show you around, learn the space before the people, you know?” You nodded along, agreeing with everything she said. You already felt on the verge of being overwhelmed with a different workspace and people.
“Aw, alright. If you can, tell them I can’t wait to meet them, please?” you asked of her. All you wanted to do was impress the team more than you already have. To show them that you have a passion for science. It’s your livelihood.
“I sure can do that for you.” Amelia took the closet right down the hallway from the elevator. Her steps were precise with black two-inch heels. “They’ll be happy to know you’re thinking about them.”
A long, rectangular glass window was built into the wall. Amelia stops and motions towards the glass. Where you see tables of equipment just sitting there, ready for use. They are brand new, still shiny and lacking even fingerprints. Your eyes sparkle, hands twitching desperate to touch everything. But, you tamper down the feeling.
“This is amazing already, Amelia. I can’t wait to see the rest of the building.” When she smiles at you again, it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. “When will be my first day? I hadn’t gotten any emails about it.” You were concerned that maybe something as wrong with your emails. You needed to get everything right. This was your dream job. Over your dead body will you let this go.
She waves her hand like she’s brushing it off. “We’ve been having a little issue with our emails lately. Currently, we have you starting as soon as possible. Whenever you are ready.” Seriously?! That meant you could probably start today!
The tour continued down the same hall, taking a right. “Really? Is it possible I could start today? I would love to get my hands on the tools as soon as possible.” Hopefully you don’t overdo it with your passion to work. At least in this field.
“Of course. I’m glad because we were planning for your first day to start right now.” She shows you to another room similar to room before with a more open space. This side looked like it dealt with more chemicals than biology. “The team isn’t here today. But I’m more than happy to let you roam after the tour, get to know the place.”
This possibly couldn’t be happening! God, you were in heaven. No one could smack the smile off of your face. No matter how hard they tried.
“Thank you. I’m so glad I can start today. I promise not to let you down.” Another room is showed to you. “I’ve had a passion for science since I was little. I know I’m going to be a great fit for the team.”
“I know you won’t let us down.” The two of your continue further down a different hall. The doors become less welcoming and more… prison like. As if they’re trying to keep something in. In the heat of the moment, you silence the alarm going off in your head. “I know you will be a great fit. Very great fit to our team.”
There’s something in the way she said that nearly threw you off. Your brows furrowed for only a second before she stopped in front of a door. This one looked even more heavily modified than any of the others you’ve seen. It’s at the end of a hallway, furthest from the rest of the facility.
“Ah, here we are. I can’t believe the tour already has come to an end.” She almost sounded genuinely sad to end the tour. Amelia places her hand on a screen next to the entrance. “This is where I leave you to your work, doctor.”
The metal slab slid into a hidden pocket and revealed a dark, pitch black room. You tilted your head and peered inside. Maybe the lights will turn on by motion. You turn towards her. “Hey the lights-“
Hands shoved at you from behind. A scream left your lips as you stumble forward before falling to your hands and knees. The darkness instantly crowds you, trying to suck you into its being. You whipped your head around to find Amelia standing at the entrance with an evil grin. A shudder ran its course through your body. Your breathing started to increase.
“Have fun with our new… project.” Then, the door snapped close and sealed you in the pitch blackness that threatened to consume you whole.
Your heart thundered in your ears. Blindly, you stood on unsteadily legs with your arms out to feel around. One step forward almost sent you back to the ground. The shakiness of your entire being was throwing you off. You took another step of faith only to be blinded by white light that sent you back on your butt.
Pain stung at your sensitive eyes. The change didn’t take you long to peel them open and see the room you’ve been thrown into.
And the beast who watched with rapt attention.
Terror gripped at your heart. You didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t even breathe. It’s bright, vibrant eyes that nearly glowed were pinned on your trembling form. It’s barrel chest heaved with each deep intake of air it took. Never did it look away from you.
Something about it made you feel like prey in the sight of a predator. It just needed to sink its claws into your fragile flesh.
“You might be wondering what this thing is and why we’ve brought you here?” Amelia’s voice broke the tension in the air coming from a speaker system. You yelped at the sudden sound and scrambled backwards. The humanoid creature observed every move you made. The moment you moved, it roared with a piercing sound and lunged at you.
Heavy chains secured it to the wall. They creaked under its strength as its wild eyes looked at you. Its arm clawed at the air as if it could pull you closer. Your back smacked against the nearest wall as you stared at the creature. Fear evident in your eyes. You watched as the beast cried and spat spittle with each attempt to get to you. But, thankfully the chains held.
“This is the project we’ve raved about. Meet… a Yautja. An alien from outer space,” Amelia lets the words settle for a dramatic pause. In the mean time, the creature has finally calmed down once it realized it couldn’t get to you for the moment. “Well, we needed someone to test something out for us. Of course, I didn’t want to use any of our wonderful staff here. So, I choose you. Our new test subject.”
Test subject?! “For what!?” you screamed at her, hoping she could hear you. Hear the anger that wiggled through the terror.
“For our breeding program.” You blinked once. Twice. Three times. Then, the words finally sunk in completely. “We’ve captured this Yautja when he landed in LA. We gave him an aphrodisiac. Now, he’s become a mindless, breeding male. And you, our dear test subject, will be the first. We hope you survive.”
Silence entered the air afterwards. The speakers no longer buzzed with energy. Her words flew wildly inside of your mind, bouncing around every corner. You tried to make sense, come to terms with what she’s put you into. But it… you couldn’t settle. They’re using you for a breeding program with an alien. An alien that looked ready to tear you apart rather then- you stopped the thoughts. You swallowed thickly and weakly stood on shaky legs.
In horror, you observed the chains clicking open. Once the last one was released, there wasn’t even time to register the brown, humanoid shape flash across the room. Strong, massive hands snatched your throat and the front of your shirt. The fabric was torn from your form and discarded without any regard. Next, your pants and underwear were taken care of in the same matter.
You screamed and tried to kick and punch the mindless beast. All of your strikes hit. Yet none of them deterred him. It seemed like they didn’t even tickle him. It forced you face down, ass up underneath it. The entire palm of his hand gripped the side of your head, keeping you pinned in a primed position.
It leaned down and covered you with its entire body. Heat radiated off of it like a firepit. Flames flickering to lick at your clammy skin. You shuttered at the difference of temperature. It’s free hand reached between your legs but paused for a moment.
“I-I ca-an’t stop,” a throaty, croaky voice whispered into your ear. You tensed up underneath the beast before jerking at the touch of its fingers. They glided through your slit, gathering what slick had pooled. Your body betraying you at the knowledge of a monster getting ahold of you.
That almost… sounded like an apology of some kind. The scientists have turned this alien into a mindless, breeding machine with the aphrodisiac. The poor thing couldn’t control its actions. All it could do was follow instinct, despite the difference of species.
A whine surged past your lips when the wet pad of its finger rubbed around your hardening nub. At least, he was trying to make it bearable. You felt something blazing hot and throbbing slide between your open legs, rubbing against your slit. A moan left your lips before you could stop yourself. You didn’t stop struggling but your attempts were weakening.
The tip was tapered by the feeling of it. You felt it nudge against your entrance. He paused for a moment, as if fighting the drugs that filled his system. Then, his hips snapped forward and full sheathed his cock into you. You cried out against the dirty, concrete floor and clawed for escape. The beast added more weight to pin you down and began a pace you couldn’t comprehend. All before you had a chance to make sense of what’s up and what’s down.  
Each thrust nearly sent you flying towards the wall. If it wasn’t for his hand on your head, you would’ve been smooshed against it. Your eyes were clenched shut. “Fuck! S-slow… slow down!” you begged for relief, even for a moment. The beast deepened a growl and quickened his thrusts somehow. The pain only increased with pleasure. You were barely able to breath as he thrusted into you sent the air out of your lungs.
His other hand not holding your head gripped your hip in a bruising hold. Sharp talons punctured your flesh. Beads of red pooling to the surface then dripping down your belly and onto the cold, unforgiving floor. There was nothing you could do to stop him. All you were able to do was hold on for the unrelenting ride.
To ease some of the ache, you reached between your legs and circled two digits around your puffy clit. The stretch of his massive, thick cock pressed against every little nerve you had. At the touch, you mewled and quickened the speed almost to match his.
Your bottom lip was pinched between dull teeth, trying to hold in your noises. It was embarrassing. To take enjoyment out of this. But, fuck. The creature took up every inch of available space inside of you then some more. You could feel the way your stomach distended each time he sheathed himself to the hilt. There was something expanding at the base of him as well. It would catch each time he pushed in and out.
Thick fingers gripped the strands of your hair and yanked your head back. One arm slapped against the smooth concrete floors. You squealed and released the hold on your lip, forced to let everyone know how you were feeling.
The pleasure building in your stomach was amounting to something. Despite the ache and pains this gave you, you were feeling the coil tightening. You rewetted your fingers with your own juices before going back to work. The way they easily slid over your puffy clit had you seeing stars.
It continued to build and build. He lets go of your hair, letting your upper torso to lie back on the ground. You almost curled into yourself, confused about the nearing end, and panted heavily. “Oh, fuck. H-how?!” you muttered to yourself.
White flashed across your vision. Your walls clamped down on his thick shaft, trying to suck him in deeper. A weak, pathetic squeak escaped your vocal cords, the only sound you could make. Your entire body tensing up and rode out the waves of the overwhelming pleasure.
Amidst your orgasm, the beast growled in victory then pushed his hips flush with yours. A loud, deafening roar tore from his throat. You felt his cock swell inside of you, the base locking him inside of you. The ball of flesh pressed against the sensitive bundle of nerves just on the inside of your cunt. You trembled and shook underneath him. The ecstasy far too much for you to handle.
As the last of the pleasure started to fade away, you slumped weakly onto the floor, hips still held up by his hand. The feeling of the thick, swollen flesh boarded uncomfortable. You trembled and attempted to pull your hips away from his.
The creature snarled threateningly and ensnared your entire waist with an arm. You fearfully tensed up. But, he calmed down afterwards and buried his face into the crook of your neck.
Deadly fangs grazed across your flesh, pebbling the skin with goosebumps. Vibrations ran down from your spine. Barely a sound made. He rubbed his face against your skin, coating you with his scent.
You were thankful for that to be over. For the most part. He was still lodged deep inside of you with no way of pulling out. He wouldn’t let you. You took in deep, lungsful of air, and tried to regulate your breathing.
Some time past when you felt him start to deflate inside of you. With a grunt, the creature jerked his hips back. The ball of flesh popped free from your stretched entrance. He pulled away. Fresh air flushed over you and made you shiver at the coolness of the air.
Yet, you weren’t cold for long. The same heat from before prodded at your entrance. Your exhausted state immediately drained away. You jerked up and attempted to get on your hands. A massive hand slammed you back onto the ground. The alien snarled another warning to you then sunk all the way to the base inside of you again.
It wasn’t as painful as before. The earlier treatment had you stretched out beyond your limits. You still keened at the feeling and squirmed. He rewrapped his arm around your waist and pulled your hips flush with his.
“Again?” you asked with a cry. The first round was punishing enough. You didn’t know if you could survive another go with him.
He pulled his hips back until the tip was still sitting just inside of you. With a growl, the beast plowed back into you without any mercy.
The aphrodisiac was a powerful drug on him. It forced him to go on. All the way till you reached the verge of blacking out. Either from exhaustion or the amount of orgasms he pulled from you. You swore he went until his balls had been emptied inside of you, filling you with his seed. The inside of your legs coated with it. With a small puddle pooling between your trembling legs.
Finally, the creature collapsed to the side and pulled you with him. His knot was still lodged inside of you, keeping the contents of his last orgasm deep inside of you. You had no energy to fight. You let him take you, unable to barely keep your eyes open enough to see. They were filled with blurry tears.
His arm tightened around your waist, keeping you locked to him. You groaned, deep from your chest, eyes shut at this point.
“If you can hear me… I am sorry for my actions,” he muttered lowly into your ear. Only for you hear. You didn’t have the energy to answer. Just lying there, in his arms, letting sleep take you away. “I promise you. I’ll get us out of here.”
Hope fluttered to life in your chest.
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sammybeann · 11 months ago
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So there's been a lil interest in me continuing this lil guy, so I've decided to make it a whole ass fic. So enjoy the filler chapter for now, as I have COVID and have lost my will to live. I promise it'll get more delicious, though, and we'll dial creep!Dean up to 100.
So what if Sam gets injured on a hunt, tossed around like a ragdoll by an angry vengeful spirit and smacks his pretty little head hard against a concrete wall?
Dean ends up finishing the spirit out, but Sammy is out fucking cold so he has little choice but to take him to the hospital. 
Finally, Sam wakes up and Dean's relief is immediate and immense, and that was until Sam made eye contact, glossy, confused hazel eyes meeting Dean's before asking "who the hell are you? Where am I?!"
The doctor comes in before Dean can answer, shooing the older Winchester out of the room so he can assess Sam's condition. 
Minutes felt like hours before the doctor emerged from the room, his brows furrowed as he explained to Dean that it appeared Sam was suffering from a pretty bad case of amnesia, only remembering certain events in his life, but had no recollection of people, unable to name off any family members or friends. And though his physical injuries would heal and he'd be okay, he wasn't sure Sam would ever recover his memories. 
When Dean re-emerged into Sam's room, he was met once again with an apprehensive look from the baby brother who once looked up at him with stars in his eyes instead of caution. 
After some prying, Dean had come to learn Sam knew his own name, remembered Stanford but nobody there, and mentioned memories of creatures and monsters, but still had no idea who the rough looking man in a dirty leather jacket with blood from Sam's head wound still on his hands was. 
"So, who are you, anyway?" He asked for the second time. 
Before he could really think about it, fight with the devil and angel on his shoulder on whether or not he should betray Sam's trust like this, cross a line he'd never be able to come back from, the words already left his mouth. 
"I'm your husband," he told Sam, who's eyebrows shot up comically high. "I...uh... we've been together since we were teenagers. Got married last year, the whole nine. We...we don't wear rings 'cause those monsters you talked about - they're real. We kill 'em."
Sam went white as a ghost. It wasn't as if this man was unattractive, and sure, he had been curious about the other sex growing up but he never thought he'd actually settle down with a whole ass man. There was also the news of the supernatural, sending a shock to his already overwhelmed system. 
"I...I don't...monsters, really? How the fuck am I supposed to kill monsters?! How am I married?! Oh, God. What am I supposed to do?!" An exasperated Sam exclaimed, big, watery doe eyes staring up at Dean, looking at him like he was his lifeline now, like Dean was his God that could fill in all the gaps for him. 
Guilt bubbled up inside Dean's chest, ugly and festering, but damn if that look from Sam didn't make it all worth it. He had his baby brother on a hook now, dependent and reliant on the only person he had. 
Dean bent down and ran a hand through Sam's mop of hair, leaning in to press a firm kiss against his forehead. 
"Hey, s'okay, baby. I'm here. I'll take care of you," he mumbled against Sam's clammy skin. "I got you."
Yeah, there was no was Dean wasn't going to hell for this, especially when Sam reached out to grab Dean's wrist, pulling his hand down to rest his cheek against Dean's callused palm. 
"Okay," Sam whispered brokenly. "I trust you."
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auggieblogs · 2 years ago
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ugh, math!
Max Verstappen x reader
Summary: Overwhelmed by math exam anxiety, you were on the verge of despair. Max's comforting presence and soothing words were your saving grace.
Author's note: Oh my god, I absolutely love this prompt. Thank you so much, the anon who requested this. I really hope you enjoy this!
P.S.- I am not technically a woman in STEM so I don't know the struggles, but I have 12th grade math, and it is downright depressing for me. Again, I might have projected a little too much. Apologies in advance.
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The weight of the upcoming math final pressed heavily on your shoulders, making your chest tight with anxiety. Tears welled up in your eyes, blurring the complex numbers and equations in your textbook. You deeply regretted taking this class, and an overwhelming sense of incompetence washed over you. You were about to give in to despair, convinced that you simply weren't smart enough for this. The more you tried to grasp the concepts, the more they seemed to slip through your fingers like sand.
Just when you thought you couldn't bear it any longer, the door opened, and Max walked into the room. His perceptive eyes immediately caught the distress etched on your face, and worry flashed across his features. Without hesitation, he rushed to your side, his voice filled with genuine concern.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Max asked softly, crouching down in front of you.
You looked up at him, your eyes brimming with tears, and it all became too much to bear. You broke down in front of him, your sobs escaping uncontrollably, your head buried in your trembling hands.
Max hated seeing you like this. He immediately wrapped his strong arms around you, pulling you close to his chest, and kissing your forehead gently as he whispered soothing words. His fingers ran through your hair in slow, calming strokes, offering comfort and reassurance.
You hiccupped between sobs, words tumbling out in a rush. "I can't do this, Max. It's so difficult, and I feel like giving up. I'm not smart enough for this, I just can't."
Max held you even closer, his voice unwavering and reassuring. "Listen, bub, you are incredibly smart, and you're not a quitter. I know you can do this."
His words gave you a glimmer of encouragement. Sniffling and wiping away your tears, you took a deep breath and returned to your study materials. Max remained by your side, not entirely understanding the complex math, but his presence was a source of comfort.
As you worked through the complex equations, Max fetched your favourite chocolate milk and prepared your go-to comfort sandwich. He knew that a touch of familiar comfort would help you feel better. Between study sessions, he quizzed you on formulas and cheered you on with a smile and encouraging words.
Hours upon hours passed in intense studying, but Max's belief in you never wavered. He could see your fatigue setting in as the night wore on. Gently, he suggested, "You've been working so hard, love. Maybe it's time to get some rest."
Reluctantly, you agreed, feeling the weight of exhaustion settling upon you. Max helped you tidy up your study materials and led you to the bedroom. He tucked you into bed, his fingers continuing to run soothingly through your hair.
"Try to relax," he whispered, his voice filled with tenderness. "You've got this"
After a night of restful sleep, you woke up early, refreshed and determined. Max's encouraging words from the previous night echoed in your mind, reminding you of your own capabilities. With newfound confidence, you revisited your formulas and reviewed the key concepts, ensuring you were as prepared as possible.
As you entered the exam room, your heart still raced with anticipation, but there was a newfound sense of self-assuredness within you. The questions on the paper no longer seemed insurmountable; you tackled them with determination and clarity.
Hours passed by in a blur of focused effort, and when you finally submitted your exam, you felt a sense of accomplishment wash over you. The exam went remarkably well, and you couldn't help but smile as you left the room.
Outside, Max was waiting for you, a proud and supportive grin on his face. His mere presence brought an extra layer of warmth to your already joyful heart. He enveloped you in a hug.
𓇼 ⋆。˚ 𓆝⋆。˚ 𓇼𓇼 ⋆。˚ 𓆝⋆。˚ 𓇼𓇼 ⋆。˚𓆝⋆。˚
The day the results were finally revealed was a day of both excitement and trepidation. Your heart raced as you logged into the exam portal, hoping beyond hope for a passing grade. As the page loaded, your eyes widened in disbelief, and a rush of pure elation surged through you – you hadn't just passed; you had aced the exam!
Unable to contain your excitement, you called Max immediately. His voice was filled with pride and joy as he exclaimed, "I knew you could do it, baby! I'm so incredibly proud of you!"
He couldn't wait to celebrate this incredible achievement with you. He suggested a celebratory dinner or date night. However, you were still feeling the exhaustion from your intense studying and the emotions of the past few days. You wanted nothing more than to stay in and unwind in the comfort of your own space.
Max decided to make the evening just as special at home. He ordered your favourite takeout, ensuring it was exactly what you were craving. He also brought home an assortment of your favourite ice cream flavours, knowing that dessert would be the perfect indulgence for this celebratory occasion.
As evening descended, you both snuggled on the couch, surrounded by pillows and blankets. The collection of your favourite movie, "The Princess Diaries," is played on the screen. Max's arm wrapped securely around you as he pulled you close, planting sweet kisses on your forehead. Laughter filled the air as you indulged in your ice cream, not caring about what was going on in the film but rather the ridiculous jokes Max was currently making.
With each passing minute, the exhaustion from the weeks of preparation began to catch up with you. Max noticed your eyelids growing heavy, and he couldn't help but smile at the sight of you, content and peaceful in slumber. He gently brushed a strand of hair from your face and took a picture, capturing the moment .
maxverstappen1 posted on their story
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volturiprincess · 1 year ago
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Rain
Demetri Volturi x human mate reader
Summary: Reader gets overwhelmed with stress and he's there to support her Warnings: mentions of an anxiety attack, but mostly fluff A/N: Omg someone stop me😁, another one-shot post?? I had to write this because as I was taking my breaks I would work on this, its not proofread but the idea of Demetri calling the reader Spanish nicknames is a must have but throw rainy weather into the topic and muah *chefs kiss*. Enjoy and there will be a second A/N in the end. A little translation for my non-Spanish speakers: Mi cariño: dear or darling Mi vida: My life Princessa: princess Mi amado hermoso: My beautiful lover
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(I cant believe it took me a while to write a Demetri one-shot)
I burst through our shared room in a panic state and I saw my lovely mate on his special chair. Before I could even react he was already wrapping his arms around me and cuddling me into his chest. I felt the build up tears I was holding back cascade down my cheeks. Demetri was rubbing my back in comfort and I heard him mumble
“Mi cariño, let it all out, I know you need this”
I sure did need this, all of today I was working on a project for a class and I ended up deleting about half of it and couldn't recover it at all. I always threw my computer out the window but instead I stared at the blank page that was staring back at me with what I could assume was mockery. I did manage to remember a good amount of what I had done and it's back to how it is, but I spent a while in a state of shock and denial.
Suddenly I felt myself shaking physically, my heart increase in palpitation and worst of all I could feel my breath becoming shorter. Demetri picked up right away that I was dealing with an anxiety attack and he guided me toward the balcony to the fresh air and the light rain. 
“Mi vida, look its raining, you love the rain, hey look at how pretty it looks”
I turn my head to be able to face the scenery instead of his very well built chest to see how soft and calming it is currently. I told Demetri before that I love the rain, it's my personal safe haven other than his arms. I felt my trembling and shaking diminished slightly, my heart rate started to slow down to a more reasonable way but my breathing was still a problem.
I felt him tilt my head up so I was looking at him and my breath for a minute hitch, he looked breathtaking right now. There were small droplets of rain running down his face which caused his hair to stick to his forehead and his eyes were full of adoration. He looked beautiful at that moment, well he always looks beautiful, I heard him one time arguing with Felix and he ended the conversation with “Dont hate me because im beautiful”. 
I smiled at the memory and soon enough he had a look of curiosity with a matching smile
“What's got you smiling like that princessa?”
“I was just think about your statement to end an argument with Felix, the don't hate because i'm beautiful”
His laughter filled the gloomy atmosphere that the rain created, his laugh sounding like music to my ears. One of his hands started to caress my cheek gently, his coldness immediately sending a small shiver down my spine but also somehow started to steady my breathing.
“Look at you princessa, your doing so good in breathing, such a good girl”
I blush at the praise which he never fails to miss, he knows what praises from him does to me, many thoughts come to mind but I push them away for now since I am still recovering from the earlier events.
“Do you want to talk about it/”
“My computer decided to throw me a whole 360 today”
“A whole 360? Im sorry cariño, but you need to explain that to me”
I giggled at his dumbfounded look, it's always fun to be able to still catch a vampire as old as him off guard with my modern language “Right forgot your like a million years old, I was working on a project today for one of my classes on my computer and I accidentally deleted like half of it but like I barely started it so it was no big deal because I remember what I had so far but it was just so frustrating you know”
He continued to caress my cheek as he nods along to my explanation 
“And it just so stressful in thinking I have so much to do still before this week ends and I feel like I have done what I needed to do but its not enough still and and—”
He placed his finger on my lips to silence me and I tiled my head to the side from curiosity, this is new. His signature smirk spread onto his face at my reaction
“Sorry love, but you started to spiral into chaos and as much as adore to hear you ramble, I started to feel stress myself from your stress”
I looked down in embarrassment but he tilted my head up once again 
“Hey don't be embarrassed cara, it's good for you to talk about what stresses you out, better out and in you know?”
“Your right metri”
“Now care to have a dance with me in the rain then?”
Whining at his request, even if that has secretly been a dream of mine to do “Demi you know i'm not even a good dancer, heck I don't even know how to”
“But that's the fun part princessa, I can teach you and we will be dancing in your favorite type of weather”
“Fair point”
As the rain intensified slightly, he guided my moves with such elegance that I almost felt like I myself am an expert to begin with. The rain at that moment was not a bother, my main focus was my casanova of a vampire that I call mi amado hermoso.
A/N: You know I don't know why I haven't added any Spanish nicknames to my writings, but I will in future (I feel like Demetri would just know all of the most romantic languages). I know I mentioned this in my Alec one-shot but I am working on a Caius one, its a work in progress indeed maybe in the end of this week I might have part one done, who knows?
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arxiel · 1 year ago
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CRIMSOM THUNDER
Rolan x F!Tav
BACK --- NEXT
Chapter 5: Rescue from the shadows
Rating: Mature (Contains blood and angst)
Words Count: 5.984
AO3 LINK
CHAPTER INDEX
Or... read Bellow
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The starless sky in total darkness was disconcerting, barely a glimpse as to whether it was day or night. 
Yvainne was unable to sleep, her thoughts focused on the grieving Tiefling.  Guilt overwhelmed her, she really tried to do some good of her own.  
She stood up from her mat to take a casual walk to clear her mind. Most of her companions were resting, except for Gale who left a projection of himself to give Yvainne the invitation to talk alone. 
Away from the camp they settled down on the grass to finally admire a starry sky made by Gale with a spell for this occasion. 
It seemed distant. The fact that Mystra had instructed him to destroy the absolute with the orb was a very hard thing to swallow. 
Yvainne's heart again constricted as she listened to Gale's confession. He don't want to die, he cursed the fact that he was now on a team with her and would become close to everyone when this job was so much easier on his own. 
But one minute at her side was enough to know that he wants what's best for her if that includes destroying the absolute to end it all. 
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"I'm not going to let you die, we are all in this together and together we will defeat that cult to free ourselves, you are all I have, you are what I would call family. "-Gale looked up at Yvainne as her voice cracked as she said 'family'. 
Again he would look up at the starry sky before asking. 
"How they passed away if you allow this wizard to know. " Yvainne gave a faint smile. She was actually relieved to still hear Gale joking despite the sad conversation. 
"I..." She breathed heavily to prepare herself, she trusted Gale enough to tell her story. 
"I... I was young yet, but I had enough age to learn magic. And you as you may know in Athkatla the magic was illegal and only a few spells was allowed in the high houses. My parents were not especially rich and being a Calishite Warlock and a Lunar Elf an exiled magician, dosen't help much. They worked hard to get a wizard to teach me how to control my dangerous magic in exchange for gold. 
I had been under training with that wizard for a while, although he was quite bad at teaching, he also didn't seem to enjoy spending time with a child who couldn't throw a fire bolt without burning all around her." 
"Even if kids aren't my forte either, I wouldn't get impatient, I'd inspire him to not give up. "-Yvainne smiled at Gale's comment.
She with confidence would tell every detail of her short apprenticeship, until she came to the most painful memory when he started teaching a young Yvainne about darker magic as a test, from that practice many things happened before her young eyes, remembering vaguely: The wizard was interested with a belonging of her parents and would modify the deal, "unleash the full potential of their daughter in exchange for the wand". 
"My parents really didn't want to and that led to him placing a price on their heads to keep the wand and turn me into his 'apprentice', a dangerous one." 
Yvainne's eyes blurred at the memory again, she trembled with anxiety and froze in her tracks. 
Gale leant his hand on Yvainne's shoulder. 
She grounded back into reality, looking at the one she trusts supporting her in her pain with no pressure to know more than she would have already mentioned. 
"I know it can be hard, the dice have not been beneficial to you." Yvainne nods at Gale's comment. 
"Escaping years later from his yoke just to become a hunter to hunt him isn't a happy ending either after all, I hadn't done things for others until I saw how those people in the grove needed help...." She smiled lightly as she picked up a pebble to throw far away. 
"I like to believe you're at the beginning, look at you, look at what you've accomplished, you still have that little girl's soul." Yvainne's eyes filled with tears as she heard Gale's adorable words. 
She'd lean her head on his shoulder. 
"You know? I had no idea where Tara got her big sister instincts for listening to me, I think I get it now." Gale reached around her back to give her a warm hug. 
"If it's not a bother I'd like to know more about that magic, maybe I can help you." Yvainne nodded to explain the magic she had learned, Gale's expression looked horrified and shocked, but she was certain that he and her camp members are people who won't be frightened by what it really was. 
A Red Wizard of Thay... 
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The night went quiet once she got some of the weight lifted off her shoulders, she was even more encouraged to relay those memories of her talk with Gale and Yvainne's story with the tadpole to her companions and mention it to Halsin since he didn't have a tadpole to relay those memories. 
Her companions looks to her with surprise.
"Well, we've already got a new sucker in mind to finish him." Karlach said, letting flames burst from his body. 
"It will be more than amusing, my dear, count on my services for a delicious revenge." Astarion licked his fangs in approval. 
"Tsk. Curious that a mage would be interested in a trinket and at the same time a child, there is something more to the background." Lae'zel crossed her arms to consider the possibilities. 
"From how she showed us her memories, it does to be from the Avernus. It was a posibility." Wyll would put his hand to his chin in intrigue. 
"I agree with Lae'zel, something is out of nature to want that wand, to desire it with a lust for power." Halsin said before placing a hand on her shoulder in affection. 
The other companions approached to do the same, except for Karlach who lifted her up to hug her. 
"Well the day is moving, we must check on the refugees before venturing towards the moonrise towers." The party nods at Shadowheart's comment. 
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As they arrived at the inn the air was more tense, Jaheira seemed prepared for any assault while the harpists continued making barricades, she seemed too busy to talk. 
Upon entering the inn she immediately noticed that a certain Tiefling was not at the bar. As she approached quickly she noticed that an arcane projection artefact was there. 
Before turning it on he would look around with concern. 
She hoped with all her heart that it was not what she thought it was, he is not stupid enough to commit such an irrational act to expose his life in this way. 
"Lia, Cal, if you see this, stay put. I will return in a tenday at most. I repeat - stay put."
Yvainne Paled as she heard the projection.
"He went into the shadows alone? What an dumb..." Astarion said mockingly. 
"I wonder how long he'll survive?" Karlach would say in an uneasy tone. 
Her companions would continue to comment about Rolan's decision, she wasn't listening, she only heard her heartbeat quickening and her ears buzzing.
Yvainne took the projection to see the second message that seemed scheduled to activate after a tenday. With her sleight of hand she would activate the second message with ease. 
"Lia, Cal, if you see this... I'm dead. There's nothing to be angry about, it's just the way life is.... and Yvainne if you see this, I'm sorry, maybe I earned it for being a big jerk, if only things had been different... maybe, well... please I'm begging you, take care of my brothers they don't have anyone else. I..."
The projection faded out before it was finished, it seemed to run out of recording time, her hands started to shake and her eyes blurred. 
"Ugh, just when things were getting cheesy, such a shame." Astarion looked down at his fingernails when he said it, Gale gave him a smack on the hand in response. 
"I think at this rate he's already dead or worse," Shadowheart said in disinterest. 
Yvainne shook herself out of shock to put away the projection and hurried into the shadows. 
"Oh no, you're serious about doing this, it's not your problem." Said Astarion catching up with her pace. 
"I don't care, I'm going to save him, it's not too late," Yvainne replied with a determined gleam in his eye. 
"He says nasty things to you and you go after him like a puppy dog? " She stopped dead in his tracks at Astarion's comment. 
"I think anyone with any sense should know that it's the Alcohol combined with the pain that is bringing him to this, if you don't like whatever I decide, go back to camp because I ain't going to change my damn opinion."  Astarion looked perplexed at Yvainne, he didn't expect a defensive response. 
"I think you should stop trying to change her, well you know she won't succumb to your charms, Astarion,"  Shadowheart added with her typical sassy tone to annoy the elf who would blush slightly, he doesn't like Yvainne helping everyone, but in this case he would let it go.
"Well little flea we'll follow you, where is our pocket wizard?" Astarion would look around for Gale with his eyes but he only caught Karlach rushing over. 
"Gale decided to stay behind in case our favourite grumpy one arrived, he said if you needed him you'd use the Dancing Lights." Yvainne nods at Karlach's words. 
The party made their way in the darkness, she was mentally praying to all the gods that Rolan was alright. 
The darkness was heavy even with Selune's blessing.  
As the hours of searching passed with no success of finding his location, Yvainne's anxiety started to flow too easily until he reached the south of the ruined battlefield, part of the ground standing out with fresh embers of fire spells. 
Those recent burning embers gave her a hopeful glow. 
The party made their way through the darkness decorated by recent fathoms of the ground, they would come to a corner of the entrance to the Reithwin toll house.  They follow the path to a drop leading down into the toll house. 
There he stood, surrounded by shadows, shielding the torchlight from succumbing to the shadows. 
"Rolan? I knew the tiefling was an idiot, but this?" Astarion drew his bow to assist from a distance as did Shadowheart with the radiant spells. 
Yvainne's legs begin to tremble at the sight of him still alive, along with Karlach they would run at full speed. 
"Arde" 
Yvainne will conjure a few blasts of scorching rays towards one of the shadows that was about to inflict damage on Rolan. 
"What the hells?!" Rolan immediately turned his gaze, but that wouldn't last as one of the shadows struck at him with its necrotic claws. 
She moved towards him in a few steps, even in the darkness it could be seen that he was bleeding. 
"Get out!" Rolan shouted as he tried to get up to conjure magical projectiles at the shadow. 
Karlach, Shadowheart and Astarion dealt with the rest of the shadows, while Rolan and Yvainne to the two shadows that were determined to drown out the torchlight. 
Shadowheart would hit the last shadow with a ball of light, causing it to disintegrate, earning a momentary victory over the darkness
Rolan dropped the torch to look at his hands with unimaginable fury. 
"Gods damn it all! I can't do nothing right - not a damn thing..." He shouted all the anger out, his painful words attacking himself would shrink Yvainne's heart. 
"You were outmached and magic wasn't going to be enough, I know, just let me heal you." Rolan recoiled at her comment refusing any help. 
"I don't care about me, you jumped-up apprentice! I came here to save Cal and Lia! - Instead, i found myself cornered by shadow-fiends and in need of rescue. From you... of all bloody people..." In the darkness it seemed that Rolan's gestures of annoyance changed to a gesture of utter desolation, his voice cracked completely at the end. 
"You.. why... you?!" Yvainne steps forward to make him look into her eyes, Rolan looks back into her anguished eyes.
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"A good wizard knows when to ask for guidance - Rolan... You were trying to help your family. You're too hard on yourself..." She tried to bring her hand to his cheek to try to comfort him, even if just for a moment. He turned his gaze away in shame. 
"But what good am I if I can't do this... This one thing...? - I am not enough worthy." Rolan's voice broke even more, it was evident in his own voice that he was trying to hold back tears. 
"I've failed Cal and Lia again... i'm totally useless..." Rolan pressed his side rib, his gaze looked confused and defeated at the same time and his eyes looked again at her beautiful eyes for the last time. 
"His injuries!" Shadowheart shouted, Rolan let himself fall forward, she barely holding him up, she's not strong enough. But at least she kept him up, she'd touch his side to inspect his injury. 
The warmer than normal blood had traces of blackened blood in symptom of necrosis from the shadow.
"Rolan?! Don't you dare! no-" Yvainne tried to keep him awake, but it was in vain, he is bleeding out and he needs help right now, the group instinctively moved closer.
"We need to move him to the camp now! - Karlach help me, Shadowheart try to keep him stable for when we get there!" Karlach nodded instantly at Yvainne's order to carry him. 
"Oh no, no, I've had enough of one irritating wizard, I won't tolerate two."  Said Astarion in disgust, she instantly gives him the worst of her glares. 
"Ugh well, here we go again..." Astarion rolled his eyes to sight to the emptyness sky. Karlach carried Rolan, taking care to not aggravate his injuries, and prepared to make a hurried run with Shadowheart. 
Yvainne summoned dancing lights into the sky in the shape of a star, the sign the group had set up to meet at their camp if they were separated. 
Astarion and Yvainne would run to opposite sides to avoid being followed to their camp. 
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"What's your name my child?"  
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"Rolan... just Rolan..." 
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"And your family?" 
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" I don't have a family, I don't have anyone..." 
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"Then I'll take care of you my little child, come let me introduce you to your new brother and sister, Their names are Cal and Lia." 
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"Rolan, my sweet sweet son... Take care of your brother and sister, don't be hard on yourself, your destiny is beyond the greatness of a wizard, I assure you..." 
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"Never forget how much I love you." 
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The echo of voices in the darkness filled memories of his childhood, a little tiefling shivering from the worst winter of his life and barely fed, sheltered in an old wagon in Elturel, he had been abandoned to his fate, by a parents who didn't want a tiefling. 
Until that winter, a tiefling woman would arrive with two little tieflings who would look at him with the typical shyness of an infant, that woman saw him desolate and sad.
She would take the little one along with her two sons along with her to raise him as her own. 
Everything was happiness for the three little brothers, they frequently played pranks on each other and one of the most prominent was summoning a cat made of fire to a little Cal. 
At last the little tiefling had a real mother who loved him and brothers who admired him for knowing magic. 
Until one day their mother would fall with an illness that would slowly drain the life out of her, losing her beautiful hair, making her more like living dead. Desprite everything their children still looks at their mother with love like the most beautiful tiefling in the world.
One day in bed she would say a final goodbye to her three little ones, a day hard to forget for the three teenage tieflings. With all their love, the three would prepare a proper funeral for their mother, full of colour for the one who gave everything for them. 
The relaxed Rolan had grown into a more responsible man without giving up his love of magic, learning on his own as well as working at various jobs to earn enough money to support his brothers and get scrolls to study them. 
It would take several years before he would receive the long awaited letter from the Wizard Lorroakan to have a better life with his brothers, the arrival of this letter would change his plans completely due to the fall of Elturel. 
Again his mind would be filled with his recent memories of his journey with his brothers and his interaction with Tav, leading to his memories catching up to his final rest....
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"My sweet child... this is not your time, your destiny is beyond the greatness of a wizard, renember that." 
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"Wake up Rolan..." 
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Rolan opens his eyes as if it were a nightmare, he looked at his own hands in confusion, he was not wearing his typical tunic, instead he was wearing one of his shirts that he kept underneath his tunic. 
The place didn't seem to recognise him, he was lying in a bed in a partially abandoned house if it wasn't for the fireplace that was lit. 
He reached with his hand for a mirror that had spent better days to look closely at his injuries. It was carefully bandaged with cloth, but it was tight enough for him to remove it. 
"Oh! Hello!" A familiar voice made him turn quickly, it was the girl Arabella, Rolan's face started to become one with more strangeness. She ran away with her parents to the opposite side. He thought she could have died like the others. 
"I brought you some water." Arabella carefully set the pitcher of water on the bed for him to drink. 
"How long... how long had I been like this?" Rolan would look at his hand with which he had broken that bottle of Arabellan dry. His wound was almost healed. 
"Um, a few days, you were already here when I came. I helped to change your bandage and keep you still." He opened his eyes widely at Arabella's comment. 
"I don't know if I should tell you, but you moved too much and you started to cast burns spells... it seem like it hurt you a lot, you almost burned me if it wasn't..."  Arabella interrupted herself, realising that she was starting to say something else. 
"Arabella... Did I hurt someone?" Rolan blanched in horror. 
"Yvainne pulled me away from the fire bolt just in time. She protected herself with her arms..." Rolan brought both hands to his tousled hair, everything had gone out of control, and he felt so guilty, he'd chased her away out of anger, he'd blamed her, and now he'd attacked her. 
And she only tried to help him.
A few footsteps would interrupt his guilt, it was Yvainne who would cross the door frame with a bandage on her arm. She looks so tired and sad.
"Oh... You're awake. Gale prepared the dinner, now you can join us for dinner if you like, you must be hungry." Yvainne says before turning back. 
"Maybe I can't tell you this either, but she spent her nights taking care of you." Arabella said with an innocent smile before setting the jug of water on the table and Rolan carefully he got up from the bed.
Both of them crossed the door frame to go to the centre of Yvainne's camp, everyone's gaze would be on him, embarrassed he would avoid crossing their gazes. 
Gale gently poured a portion of the meal he had prepared in a wooden bowl and handed it to him. 
"You haven't eaten in several days, a good wizard needs to be well fed." Rolan nodded at Gale's words and he grab the bowl. 
He searched with his eyes for Yvainne but she didn't seem to be in sight, Gale would notice that gesture easily.
"If you're looking for her, she went to wash and heal her wounds, she normally does that, after all it wasn't easy to get to the healing house." Rolan turned his gaze, he had heard from the harpists about the healing house, it is plagued by undead and shadows that refuse to die. 
"Ahh... guys Yvainne and Astarion will take a little longer to arrive." Karlach sighed in relief at having had a good wash. 
"It feels so great using less water to wash, normally a touch of water would evaporate instantly. -Oh hi Rolan, you look nice, you're in good shape." Karlach would raise his hand in joy to see him in one piece.
"It seems so, I don't remember much about what happened after finishing with those shadows. But i guess that doesn't matter now. - What do you mean Yvainne and Astarion will be late?" Karlach bit her tongue, she shouldn't have said it lightly. 
"Well, you see, uh..." She would search for the right words, but it didn't seem to be her forte. 
"Our companion's diet is not based on wine and stew like ours. Gale said to make him understand in the least direct way possible. 
"We're not dealing with a child, even though he looks like one. - Astarion is a vampire, and vampires need blood, he is drinking from Yvainne as none of us want to volunteer, as to one his blood tastes like bile and to other her blood feels like kissing hot metal. and others swear to hang the elf's head if he tries." Shadowheart said without hesitation, his companions looked down uncomfortably. 
At that moment Yvainne and Astarion appeared, she would look much more dizzy. 
"Of course that makes sense..." Rolan muttered to himself remembering the time at the waterfall, she had those wounds on her neck. 
Dinner continued quietly, the group speaking to each other like a family, telling jokes to lighten the mood, something that would make Rolan melancholy. 
Karlach plays Arm Wrestling with each man in the camp to prove her strength, but none of the three would defeat the infernal champion.  Until she competed with Lae'zel who would be every bit as strong. 
"I expected nothing less from a Githyanki Lae," Karlach said, holding her arm steady along with her. 
"A most worthy adversary." Lae'zel said with a smirk in her fearless gaze.
"Two hundred gold to Lae'zel, sorry my fire girl, but you are so easily distracted." said Astarion in his sassy tone.  
"Do you want to try it again Astarion?" Shadowheart replied in a playful tone. 
"Oh how cute, no, no thanks, I want to keep my own arm." Shadowheart and Wyll would laugh at Astarion's comment. 
Rolan sighed, it reminded him so much of his home and family. 
Gale would take a seat next to the thinking Tiefling. 
"Well, I suppose I can speak side by side with another erudite." Rolan turned his gaze to the human wizard who made a sad attempt to make him laugh. 
"Huh, how pathetic." Rolan would finish his stew before looking back at him. 
"That day... She managed to conjure up some scorching rays without killing us." Rolan turned to look at Yvainne who was leaning lightly on Halsin arm, while he healed from his blood loss. 
"We've practiced magic since we set foot in the grove, she's been dedicated enough. She have so much power than you think and... the way she's improved is... wonderful." Gale would glance proudly at Yvainne, a hint of melancholy in his eyes. 
"You sound like you were in love with her." Rolan would slowly begin to drink the water, it seemed to be hard for him. 
"You're not wrong..." Gale swallowed with slight difficulty. 
"But I realized that she didn't feel exactly the same way in the party of the grove, so I decided be more of a friend to her, after all she needs it." Gale drink the wine they served, there was no doubt in his words. 
"So the vampire and her...? " Rolan would give him a disgusted look, and Gale would laugh out loud.
"She does it to help him, they both consider themselves brothers in crime or so I understood, they have a rather curious relationship. Sometimes it seemed like his goal was to be intimate with her, but nowadays he seems to regret what he was trying to do with her. - And before you ask about every member of our group, no.  She gets along well with everyone, but she doesn't seem to have feelings for any of them." Rolan without thinking too much sighed in relief, it was disgusting to think that. But it seemed true, the way she prevented Astarion from doing the wrong thing in the grove and when she was looking for him reminded him of the protection between friends. And for her other members of her group, she may not have seen them interacting but there was a certainty that she held them in equal esteem.
"What school of magic did you go?" Rolan was stumped by Gale's direct question. 
"None of them really. For as long as I can remember I knew how to defend myself with magic, and I had to teach myself." Rolan would look down at the ground.
"Another prodigy, I could have do with a friend then." Rolan arched an eyebrow before smiling lightly. 
"A prodigy? Maybe, if he wasn't I wouldn't be Lorroakan's next apprentice," he grimaced proudly, but Gale would only look at him in disbelief. 
"Wait, you're telling me he's a competent wizard? He has a terrible reputation in Waterdeep. " Rolan would turn to Gale in disgust. 
"Incompetent wizards wouldn't make archmasters of Ramezith Tower, have some respect." Gale raised his arms in surrender to Rolan's defensiveness. 
"Maybe I confused the name in any case, but to be the next apprentice to an archmage is quite an accomplishment. - Tell me, have you summoned any creatures in your apprenticeships alone?" Gale said in his charismatic tone, Rolan would again relax his expression. 
"Once I summoned a cat made of fire for Cal when he was eight years old, his terrified face said it all, while Lia and I laughed our heads off..." Rolan looked down at the ground with a wistful smile. 
"I summoned a Tressym, she's a sweetheart, I'm sure she'll like you, I can see you like cats." The conversation between the two wizards was slowly becoming more pleasant as they shared stories about summoning magic, it made the night less terrible like the other days, Yvainne looked at them relieved that he didn't seem to be doing so badly now. 
Until at one point he would start to feel a sharp, stabbing pain in his side, Yvainne reached out to grab his hands to pull him up. 
"Don't touch it, come with me." Yvainne and Shadowheart would help Rolan straighten up and take him to check his injuries in privacy. 
When they reached the hut they would prepare some medicinal plants for his injury. 
"Well, I think you can handle this on your own, I don't want to miss Astarion cutting his finger with that knife game," Shadowheart hurried out with a knowing look on her face. 
"Don't do this to me, you little..." Yvainne would try to catch her but she was deft enough to get away. 
"I'd appreciate it if you'd drop the childish attitudes and help me this... hurts..." Rolan said in difficulty trying not to touch his side which would hurt like a thousand hells. 
She returned to the workbench to get some herbs and a new bandage from her bag. 
At the end she gave Rolan an infusion, without thinking about it he would drink it in one gulp.  The pain was gradually fading until it was merely tolerable. 
Yvainne earnestly pushed him slightly to remove his shirt and make a makeshift ponytail with a lock pick. 
Then she pulled out a pair of scissors to cut off his old bandage with ease, Rolan looked astonished, he had never seen such a serious look, so focused on what she was doing. - And with her hair pulled back quickly, he would notice every feature in greater detail, she looked much more angelic in front of him, even if she had an expression of concentration.  
"I didn't know you are a healer," Rolan said in a relaxed tone from the tea. Without looking away from her. 
"I'm not, my time caring for a useless master and living with injured people made me learn." Yvainne cut off the bandage without losing her concentration, proceeding to clean the injury before heading to the table. Rolan would tense his muscles in reaction to the contact with the water and alcohol.
"Luckily shadow necrosis has a cure, I had to wander around the house of healing a lot to get you this." She would take out the mixture that she had prepared to rub it on the injuries on his side. 
"You didn't go to moonrise..." Yvainne would remain silent, at Rolan's comment. "These days you haven't gone for them..." She started to shake as she finished smearing the mixture.
"This is not the time, please.-" she stood up to make her way back to the table, Rolan scowling at Yvainne's evasiveness. 
"Answer me, please, tell me they are at the inn. Tell me you brought them back.-" He would grab her bandaged arm to stop her from leaving. Yvainne let out a groan of pain. 
"Y-you were badly wounded. I couldn't let you die, I've been trying for days not to let you die. - Rolan you are hurting me." He let go of her immediately when she asked him to.
"But they would still be there! How did you decide who to save and who to leave behind? I don't care of myself, I care more about them." With her hair tied back, Yvainne's teary eyes were easy to see as she tried not to cry. 
"I'm doing what I can!" She shouted. "I'm finding the courage to tell Arabella that her parents are dead, I'm trying to save you, we're enemies of the Githyankis, I'm trying to deal with the feelings of my companions, even a dream guardian is trying to convince me to eat parasites and now go to moonrise against an immortal old man who sets up a cult that threatens the city and holds several people prisoner including the Duke of Ravengard!" Yvainne's breathing would start to quicken.
"I wanted to go to baldurs gate to kill the one who hurt me most and die in a place far away in peace. But now I have to deal with the title of Hero carrying my shoulders to merely receive insults from you for doing what I can hardly do and not exactly what you want," she hit the table before crying all the way backwards. 
Guilt flooded him, he felt extremely annoyed that she decided to save him, but hearing everything he was carrying made him feel like a big idiot. 
"When the grove happened, my intention was purely to save them, I never thought that this thing of the absolute would spread like this. When I saw all the dead bodies of the Tieflings that I saved, I... I listened to every word you told me, it was my fault, if I had done nothing maybe they would have been saved, it wasn't my problem, but I did, I wanted to save them all, but I couldn't..." Yvainne's broken and desperate voice showed how much his words spoken in drunkenness had affected her. 
The proud tiefling's heart shrank as he listened to her. 
"That's the same mistake I made when they were taken. It's not a mistake I'll make again... You did what you could. I'm the one that should have done more instead of getting drunk like a damned coward." Rolan would try to get up and she immediately turning to give him a shove so he wouldn't get up. 
She would pass a fresh bandage over his wound, without another word. 
Rolan looked at her still teary eyes not knowing what to do or what to think. 
Then she finished she took from her bag the projector that Rolan had left at the inn. 
"When I saw that message all my companions assumed you for dead, it was my decision to go for you--" He snatched the projector from her hands with a mortified expression. 
He knew well enough what he had said on that recording, but fortunately it had been cut. A lucky coincidence or gods would be playing with him. 
He reached for his bag to put the projection away, but he felt a prick from that hairpin, and when he pulled it out he remembered why he was carrying it. 
Rolan clenched his jaw, he feels deep down that the gods are mocking him. Yvainne would sit with his back to him, letting her hair down to hide her depressed face. 
He quietly would reach over to lift her long fluffy hair, using his fingertips he carefully brushed and gathered her hair to leave it in a high point to adjust it to the hair pin, leaving a fluffy ponytail. A gasp escaped her as well as a slight startle, but she tried to don't move. 
She turned around when he was finished, the colour in her cheeks and ears turned to vermilion.  Her skin seemed to bristle and her breathing hitched. 
She reached her hand to the hairpin to feel it, her hands trembling. 
"I figured you needed something better than a picklock to hold that hair." Yvainne would look down at the ground a bit flustered and feel her hair, with her fingertips she would pull out a large lock to place it in front of her face. 
Rolan looked at her speechless at her new hairstyle. To his eyes, that hairstyle highlighted every beautiful faction. 
The tieflin's heart would start to accelerate. 
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"I...I'll let you rest, I will keep an eye out if the pain returns..." Yvainne quickly left the room, leaving the tiefling alone with his muddled thoughts. 
A small part of him wanted to stop her - after all, he hadn't apologised to her and made an unthinking act even though he had made her feel terrible before. 
His stomach churn followed by a sharp pain in his chest, it was too much to take in.  The thoughts and confusion overwhelmed him, he felt the present pain of his brother and sister, the guilt of hurting people who didn't deserve it in a state of sobriety and drunkenness. But a new familiar feeling would be burning a hole in his stomach. 
The feeling of interest was intensifying more than he would like, it was not an unpleasant feeling, it was a welcoming one, a sentiment he had deeply avoided for years because of his brothers and he desired to avoid it again. 
He tried to put the feelings aside as usual and try to sleep. In the inn he drinked a lot until he passed out, but now he didn't want to be that pitiful person anymore. 
Considering all the damage he had caused, he would be repulsed by all kinds of alcohol. So the thought of drinking again the infusion of tea that Yvainne gave him would cross his mind, although it is complicated to go to her again, especially because of what happened before. 
He forced his eyes closed in an attempt to sleep.
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BACK --- NEXT
CHAPTER INDEX
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aurorarouge8 · 1 year ago
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Writer's Block
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Ratchet X Reader (Platonic)
Reader has writer's block.
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*I do not own gif*
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"Write," I muttered to myself snappily. Despite my mind being filled with a century's worth of ideas, I could hardly find the words to translate them into stories. Let alone have a solitary idea for where I should take my current story. "Write," I muttered again, this time louder than I'd previously intended, catching the attention of Ratchet.
"It doesn't write for you," Ratchet quipped from his workstation, grumpy as ever. I knew logically that his tone wasn't directed at me, rather a project that he was working on. However, in my sour mood, logic had been thrown out the window, and this was obviously a grump with me.
Pursing my lips together, I held back a snappy comment about technology and that it probably could with text to speech or AI. Nevertheless, I stayed quiet, bubbling with my frustrations that eventually popped into the sad relief of disapair. It was better than the alternative of anger and saying things I shouldn't, but it never seemed better as I slouched into the couch.
After a brief moment, I finally spoke up, "I know," I said while sighing and rubbing my eyes tirelessly. "I just can't write. I haven't been able to for months. I've tried, but the story I'm writing feels disconnected from the other chapters, and it's been months without an upload!" My frustration began to bubble again towards myself, "the one-shots that I've come up with, well I can't find a way to write them. I have these ideas, but they're all crazy, and how do I even begin to put them down to paper? Or detail the events that lead up to that point, Ratchet? I just can't write," I cried out, grateful that it was just us in the base.
Taken aback by my sudden declaration, Ratchet stared at me for a moment before shaking his head. He wasn't upset by my outburst or believed it to be silly (to a certain point). He'd heard every human and/or bot snap and cry out in displeasure at some point, and he was familiar with it within himself. He also understood the frustration of having blocks in work. "It'll go away, give it time," he told me in response to my simple problem.
"It's been months!" I reiterated tirelessly. It was becoming overwhelming, I had so many ideas with no way to release them. Every time I tried to write, it was all wrong; too many details, too little detail, wrong word, wrong sentence, it makes no sense. It was dreadful.
Hanging my head low between my knees, I gave up. I couldn't possibly find the right words to describe what I wanted to say. The soft clanging of his footsteps trodded over, stopping as he stood by the human loft area. I didn't bother to look up. "Tell me a story." He said, a careful softness to his voice.
At his words, I lifted my head in confusion at the request, "What?"
"Tell me a story," he repeated. "You've always described writing as telling a story. So, you talk, get out of your own way, and I'll scribe." He explained, his usual grumpness now back in his voice as he described what he thought was fairly obvious.
Although I would be willing to give it a try, I grumbled to myself, "I'll just pick it to shreds like I always do." The words wouldn't be right, or a sentence would be wrong. The tale would be garbage.
Ratchet rolled his eyes, closing my laptop with the tap of his finger. "Probably, but you could give it a try," he reminded, "a try not taken, is a chance unlived."
With a sigh, I nodded my head and crossed my legs while turning to face him. "Well... I suppose so... there was once a town..."
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ali-anne-undertale-stoof · 4 months ago
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Hoo boy! Here's the second half! Competition time, baby!
Chapter 20: The Snowdin Snowathon Championships!
This is it. The big day.
The venue was a lot busier than either brother was expecting. Monsters from all over the underground quickly filled the log seats and the empty space in between. Confectionery stands had long, long lines, and some monsters even bought t-shirts, foam hands and wrist bands as well as other merchandise for this event.
The Royal Guard were naturally working as marshalls, so as part of their duty, they had to keep a very close eye on the participants and the events themselves. It was absolutely perfect for Papyrus! Having the Royal Guard be front and center to his incredible tricks is just what he wanted! It was his chance to make a name for himself, to impress them enough to be placed into the Royal Guard on the spot! That's what he hoped for, strived for.
Sans, on the other hand, was so glad he's going to be commentating in a more isolated booth. He has massively gotten over his stage fright when it came to performing comedy, but to do it in front of hundreds and hundreds of monsters was still a little bone-rattling for him. Not to mention the constant overlapping conversations, the claustrophobic feeling of being in a crowd, just a face among many faces... It was overwhelming for the comedian. He just wanted to have a chance to make jokes and give Papyrus as much support as possible.
The two brothers headed up the tallest hill for the first event, Sans trailing behind Papyrus. Wow... He looked so cool in that uniform. Oh yeah. As soon as Papyrus signed in, he was given a uniform with the number of his choice. He didn't mention that to Sans. What number did Papyrus pick?
"heh, y'know, that outfit really works on ya."
"THANK YOU, BROTHER!!!"
Sans thought for a bit. "hey, uh, why'd you pick the number 1, anyway? i thought you didn't care if you one."
Papyrus suppressed a smile. "ONE IS MY FAVORITE NUMBER, SANS! IT REMINDS ME OF YOU!" That's when he let the smile out.
Gosh darn it, Papyrus definitely wanted to make Sans' metaphorical heart explode. "aww, stahp it."
"NEVER!!!" Papyrus declared as he gave Sans a little noogie. The shorter skeleton giggled in his grip before he finally pushed his adoring brother away.
Finally, they made it to the top of the hill. That only meant one thing: they had to split up.
Sans turned towards the booth. "alright, alright. you go on ahead, bro. i'll be over there."
"FAREWELL, BROTHER!!!" Papyrus cheerfully waved off Sans as they went their separate ways. Alright! Time to check out the competition!
The competition was... varied, Papyrus would say. From passionate athletes to simple parents doing it for their children (which was cute to see), but there were a couple of them that stood out. One of which was this rock girl who was hopping around on one ski. One ski? How was she going to do this competition with one ski? Nonetheless, she looked determined, and that kind of determination assured Papyrus that it was more than okay to believe in her ability. Just the fact that she got to the top of the hill without legs was good enough for him!
But then he spotted someone else. A familiar face. The face of one of the people that Papyrus wanted to impress, whose sudden appearance rattled him right down to the marrow.
"DOGGO?!?!"
"Huh? Papyrus? Oh, it's you."
"I DIDN'T KNOW ROYAL GUARDS CAN TAKE PART IN THE COMPETITION!!! OR ARE YOU MARSHALLING?"
"Nope. Taking part."
Papyrus blinked in awe and slight confusion. "WAIT, AREN'T YOU, UM... BLIND?"
Doggo shrugged. "Sort of. I can only see moving things, remember? And when I'm skiing or skating or doing anything like that, it's like the world's moving for me. It makes it easier to see, you know?"
Papyrus' eyes sparkled in awe. The Royal Guards are so... ingenious! That only meant that HE had to be ingenious too! Okay, Papyrus. You got this. You got this you got this...
Wait, why are the competitors murmuring? Are they talking about his greatness? Wait, why was he encased in shadow all of a sudden?
Papyrus looked to his side and... Oh. That was why. It was him. The polar bear.
The polar bear towered over Papyrus. He was about as muscular as a polar bear could be, with the look of sheer focus. His eyes casted straight down the hill. Eyes on the prize, as they say. Huh. Papyrus didn't know polar bears could have slits for pupils. Weren't they supposed to have beady eyes? They looked almost unnatural. The mere presence of this guy was enough to make the other competitors tremble. But not Papyrus. Papyrus wasn't intimidated, not in the slightest.
"HELLO THERE!!!" He cheerfully greeted the polar bear with his usual Papyrus gusto. "I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" The polar bear huffed. "NOT A TALKER, HUH? THAT'S ALRIGHT!!! I SEE YOU'RE VERY FOCUSED!!! GOOD LUCK WITH THE GAMES!!!" No response. "...HAVE FUN!!!"
Why did Doggo grit his teeth when Papyrus tried to talk to the bear? Surely, he wasn't that bad. He was just... intense, that's all.
The crowd silenced themselves as the mic turned on. Papyrus could hear Sans' voice through the speakers.
"hey, everyone. welcome to the annual snowdin snowathon championships. this is your host sans, filling in for the usual guy, who sadly had to visit his fallen mom, so it would be really cool if we gave his family support."
Murmurs of both joy and worry simmered out of the crowd.
"that said, we have a cold lineup of challengers today. let's see." The ruffling of paper. "uh, yeah, give it up for those guys!"
The crowd roared as the ruffling of paper continued. What were the chances that Sans lost the sheet of racers? It wouldn't be surprising for Papyrus, at least. His brother could barely keep track of his keys, let alone a sheet of paper with everyone's names on.
Sans gave up. "we got an ice variety of events lined up for ya today, so let's get started with the ski race. who holds the ski to victory here? let's find out. racers, line up at the start."
Weren't they already- Oh, wait. There were a couple more.
"alright, on the count of 13, we can begin." What. "onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineteneleventwelvethirteen go!"
A loud pop and the race was on! Remember, Doggo's here, so Papyrus had to be the most impressive racer ever, even if he didn't win! It's a good thing the ramps were set up the way they were, because Papyrus has this beautiful trick he'd been saving for an occasion like this!
"and there they go. the racers are really goin' at it. we got rock girl in the lead. you can tell she's been practicing, cuz she's really ROCKin' that one ski. oh, look at that. the coolest skeleton in existence is aiming for one of the big ramps and... that's some impressive detachment of the legs there. oh, won'tcha look at that. y'know, skeletons have this COOL trick, it's called limb detachment. let's see if he can reattach those legs before he lands, and... oh, they're backwards now. ain't that impressive, guys? papyrus just backflipped his legs back to front."
Oh no no no no! This wasn't how the trick was supposed to go at all! The leg detachment was meant to happen, yes, but they weren't supposed to be reattached like this!!!
"yup. just once again proves that papyrus is the coolest skeleton around."
Papyrus wasn't sure if Sans was trying to save face for him, or if he was genuinely impressed. Either way, he had to get his legs back to normal!
"NNGH!!! NGGEH!!!"
Well, that didn't work, now he was facing backwards. Was backwards skiing more impressive than forwards skiing? Papyrus sure hoped so, otherwise the Royal Guard would think he was such a weir-
Wait. Why was the polar bear still up at the top? Didn't he get the memo earlier?
"HEY!!! THE RACE ALREADY STARTED!!!"
Looks like that got Sans' attention too. "say, uh, mr. polar bear? the race already started, ya dingus. wow. and you guys call me the lazybones."
That comment must have set the bear off, because before everyone could take a look, he dug his pole(???) stick(???) rod thingies (???) into the ground and sped downhill.
"and there he goes. wow, he's fast. y'know, i'm startin' to wonder if he was staying behind just to give the other racers a head start. actually, that reminded me of the time i entered a hot dog eating competition when i was fifteen. i won, but the medal was made out of chocolate. why was it made of chocolate when we have real gold for currency? it doesn't make sense. i guess monsters just like chocolate medals. hands up if you like chocolate." The vast majority of the crowd, and even some racers and marshals, put their hands up. "alright alright, i see. chocolate is great. but lemme ask you guys somethin' else. what do you guys think of white chocolate?"
From his backwards view, Papyrus could just about make out a figure of white getting bigger and bigger, until it whizzed past him.
"HEY!!! WHOA WHOA WHOA!!!" Papyrus screeched as he was sent into a cartoonish spin, which inadvertently made him crash into one of the ramps. The snow now had a beautiful Papyrus-shaped hole in it. But no beautiful hole was doing to deter Papyrus from his end goal! Using his incredible strength, Papyrus propelled his perfect posterior and persisted with the pace of the competition.
"oh, so NOW the bear goes off. man, he's movin' quick, ain't he? yup, he's absolutely destroying the ramps. literally. yup. it's a good thing they're made of snow. we can easily rebuild those, right? oh, and there he goes, straight past- wait hold up, you're not supposed to run into 'em. are there rules against this? are there- oh, hello..."
Papyrus felt like he was skiing through a warzone. All of these poor competitors, down for the count, treated as nothing more than bowling pins... Maybe the polar bear just didn't know how to compete fairly. Maybe he just needed someone to teach him how to be a better sport! With that idea sinking into his skull, Papyrus sped towards one of the more intact ramps, fully prepared to wow the audience and show that bear how to behave.
"hey, won'tcha look at that. seems like the cool skeleton dude ain't gonna give up that easily. not that i ever expected him to give up. cool dudes don't give up, y'know. that's for the kiddos in the audience. cool dudes never give up, even when their fly's down."
"WAIT, WHAT?!?!" Papyrus instinctually looked down, only to remember that he was wearing a tracksuit. He didn't have a fly. "SANS!!!"
"not that these uniforms had flies."
Note to self: make sure to rattle Sans nonstop after you become a Royal Guard.
"speaking of fly, papyrus is flying towards the polar bear. he's in third. he's in second. ooh boy! is he gonna finally- aw, a butterfly... hello little guy. what are you doin' underground? where'dja come from? oh, you like my sweater? heh. naw, those aren't real flowers, ya goober. no, my head's not a flower either. hehehe. that's still my sweater."
The perfect commentator, everybody.
Nonetheless, Papyrus continued dodging everyone until-
"NYEH!!!" He flew! He flipped! He landed... backwards! Well, if he had to finish the race like this, then... Was Doggo impressed, at least?
Well... Papyrus figured he would've been impressed if his face wasn't buried in the snow.
SPLAT! Next thing he knew, Papyrus was in the snow too. The good news is, he passed the finish line! The bad news is, he was greeted by that bad sport of a polar bear as soon as he pulled his head out of the snow.
Papyrus had to give him credit, though. That is one classy victory dance.
Still, he couldn't help but scowl a little. Who does he think he is, treating the other competitors like objects to be tossed around? Doesn't he know the concept of a fair competition? Then again, it could just be an accident. He was a very large monster, and a heavy one at that. Maybe he didn't mean to... But then again...
Whatever. Looks like Papyrus had to teach him how to play fair. Maybe if he did, the Royal Guard will be even more impressed and they could accept him!
He didn't even pay attention to any of Sans' ramblings as he skied away.
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"welcome back, guys. sans here, and we're finally moving onto the snowman makin', uh, thing. y'know, the second competition."
As Papyrus stepped into the ring of snow, he could hear the crowds scream and shout, hoot and holler. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine the crowds screaming his name as he puts on his suit of armour...
But first, he had to have a talk with the bear.
"AHEM." The bear ignored him. "AHEHEHEM!!!" Finally, the bear turned, as a low growl exited his throat. "PARDON ME, FELLOW COMPETITOR, BUT I COULDN'T HELP BUT NOTICE YOUR UNSAVORY BEHAVIOR ON THE SLOPE. NOW, I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE VERY LARGE AND FAST, AND IT WAS MOST LIKELY AN ACCIDENT, BUT YOU REALLY NEED TO BE CAREFUL! SOME MONSTERS ARE MORE FRAGILE THAN OTHERS, THEY CAN'T HANDLE BEING SMASHED ALL THE TIME! SO WHAT DO YOU SAY, FRIEND? MIND PLAYING FAIR FOR THE REST OF THE EVENT?"
Papyrus stuck his hand out for a friendly handshake. For a brief moment, the bear seemed like he was going to take it. He peered down at Papyrus with those black slits in yellow scleras. But just as he was about to reciprocate, he just huffed and walked away.
No one was pleased with this.
"alright, guys. get your snow boots ready, cuz this round is gonna be SNOWtacular-" Feedback. The sound of Sans dropping his headset. What stunt was he trying to pull up in that booth?
Papyrus didn't have time to facepalm, though. He had beautiful snowmen to build!
The competition quickly went underway.
"looks like little miss rock-n-roll's rock-n-rollin' around the outskirts to build her snowman. antler man's ruff-in it up with his dog snow sculpture. uh, is doggo allowed to get advice from lesser dog? hey, guys, you should probably stop that."
As Papyrus finished up on his beautiful Papyrus sculpture, he felt the presence of two marshals admiring his work.
"Wow, Papyrus! Who knew you were such an artist?" Dogamy beamed from over the fence.
Dogaressa's praise soon followed. "(Yeah, Papyrus! It looks delicious!")
Dogamy awkwardly nudged his wife. "(What?)"
For a moment, Papyrus couldn't get his words of gratitude out of his mandible. It was working, it was working! Oh, he was going to be a Royal Guard in no time! He couldn't help but notice the front row marvelling at it too. His eye sockets sparkled as the thought sunk in: this could be it. His big break! Quick, play it cool! Play it cool!
"NYEH HEH HEH!!! WELL, OF COURSE! I WOULD EXPECT NOTHING LESS FROM SOMEONE AS TALENTED AS ME!!"
"heh, looks like papyrus is winning the crowd over with his skull-pture. not that i'm surprised, he's always been a talented artist. check it out, guys. we got a BONE-fide winner over here!"
Aww. Papyrus found it significantly harder to play it cool with praise like that. He hoped nobody noticed the slight blush on his cheeks as he revelled in the affectionate praise.
But like all good things, Papyrus' time in the spotlight had to come to an end.
Turned out, while all the other competitors were building small snow sculptures and snowmen, the dreaded polar bear was rolling as much snow as he can into a giant boulder. He didn't even seem to care about the rock girl he just rolled over, or her sculpture that he squished! He just kept rolling and rolling and rolling until he finally stopped.
Then, of course, he suplexed the snow boulder, just because he can.
As the snow boulder bounced off the ground (somehow), the polar bear leaped up and karate-chopped the boulder into three perfect snowballs.
One, two, three, the snowballs landed on top of each other perfectly, which made this snowman stand at around the same height as a house. But oh! The bear wasn't done, no no no! For he found a bunch of rocks and tossed those into the snowman to make the eyes, the mouth, the buttons, and even chopped down tree branches to create the arms. Finally, he leapt up a tree and snipped the top off, before he propelled it straight into the snowman to create a beautiful cone-shaped nose.
Silence. Boggled eyes. Dropped jaws.
That poor rock girl, she flew straight into the ground, right next to Doggo's sculpture. Papyrus was torn. While the snowman was impressive, surely the polar bear knew he just ran over a little girl's snowman and practically discarded her, right?
Note to self: buy that rock girl some Nice Cream.
Even Sans was speechless for a bit. When he finally figured out what to say, he pulled the microphone part of his headset towards his mouth and muttered into it.
"looks like we got a special snowflake here."
The crowd, finally able to get some relief, burst into laughter. Papyrus didn't find it particularly funny, though.
"SANS!!!"
"so, who has the snowballs to beat that?"
More laughter. Papyrus just facepalmed.
After a round of giggling, Dogaressa called out to Papyrus again. "Hey, don't worry, Papyrus. I bet you've got some cool tricks to show us next round."
Now that perked Papyrus up. "YOU BET I DO!"
Ooh, boy! If nothing goes wrong, then maybe Papyrus could be accepted as one of the Royal Guards after all!
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The ice rink! The third and final race! Out of all three of the activities in this competition, Papyrus had practiced this one the most. Albeit, mainly because Sans wouldn't stop throwing snowballs at him. But silver linings! Papyrus only felt that those snowballs helped him with his agility! Now there's no way he was going to fail this one! He could almost imagine his Royal Guard armour glistening as he matched up and down Snowdin with the other members of the Royal Guard...
If the polar bear didn't play dirty this time. Papyrus tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was clumsy? He was much bigger than the other contestants. Maybe he has poor eyesight? He still couldn't get those strange eyes out of his head. Maybe they give him a poor field of vision? But then again, were they just excuses at the end of the day? At what point does that poor sport have to take accountability? Papyrus didn't know. He could try to talk to him again, but-
"heya, guys. i'm sans, finally back from my break. and i just gotta say, grillby's burgs are on FIRE. hehehehe."
That got a couple of chuckles from the audience.
"alright, what've we got here? oh, i see. it's the final round, the nice ice race, as i like to call it. alright, racers. let's see who can great to skateness- skate to greatness. heh. jeez, i can't talk today."
The racers lined up at the start. Papyrus made sure his skates were tied on properly. Wouldn't want any accidents.
Okay, Papyrus. You're great, and you will impress the Royal Guard.
"alright, guys, you know the drill. his name is bob and he's whirring to go. so let's get on with it."
The racers lined up at the start.
"onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineteneleventwelvethirteen go."
A loud pop and the racers were off!
It didn't matter if he got first place, or even second or third place! This was Papyrus' last chance to make an impression on the Royal Guard! He can do this, he can do this!
Cartwheel! Yes!
Ballerina twirl! Nailed it!
"whoa ho ho, check out that skeleton's moves! he's a real performer, that one."
Papyrus beamed as he heard that from the speakers. Surely, all eyes are on him now! Including... Including...
SMACK! What the?! The antlered guy just fell to the ground! No, wait! He didn't fall! He was PUSHED! By that polar bear, no less! How unfair!
Wasting no time, Papyrus instinctively skated over to help him up.
"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
"Yeah... Yeah, thank you."
That wasn't the only contestant the polar bear knocked down. One after the other, Papyrus stopped to help them up, even despite falling further and further behind. Winning didn't matter, anyway. Once all the skaters were helped up, Papyrus, fueled with a need to set the bear straight, boosted himself right up to what he would call a cheater.
Was using gravity magic to confront the bear against the rules? Probably not any less than pushing the others.
"HEY!!!" Papyrus called out. "MAYBE YOU SHOULD STOP PUSHING THE OTHERS!!!"
One lap had just been completed, and the polar bear thwacked someone out of the way again.
That confirmed it. He was doing this on purpose. Did no one seriously have the thought to do something about this? Disqualify the bear?? No??? Were there even referees around?!?!
That's when Papyrus noticed something. Snowballs. Rapid fire snowballs hurling towards him. Oh hell no! Not today, José!
Funnily enough, this was the thing Papyrus was most prepared for. Thanks, Sans. He ducked and dodged around every snowball that was hurled his way, gesturing for the others to do the same.
Sans' voice over the speaker was filled with pride and excitement, similar to bubbles popping on a sunny day monsters never get to see. "oh my gosh... is everyone seeing this? is everyone actually seeing this?"
Well, now was a good a time as ever. It's time for one of his special moves.
First, Papyrus crouched down to avoid most of the snowballs. Once the polar bear realised he crouched down and started throwing them lower, that's when he spun straight into a high jump. The crowd watched in awe as he flipped while also maintaining his spin. Finally, he landed in a superhero pose on the ground.
A loud squeal erupted from the speakers.
"eeeeeeeee, papyrus!" Sans couldn't help but jump out of his seat, bouncing around like a kid on Gyftmas. "oh my god! papyrus, that was the coolest thing, do it again, do it..." Heat rose to Sans' cheekbones as the realisation that he was still recording himself set in. "a... ahaha... ehehehehe... that was... that was just cool."
Sans swore to himself to never let himself lose his composure like that. Oh boy. Oh jeez. He sat back down and rocked back and forth, still reeling over how cool Papyrus' stunt was. He hoped everyone saw it. They better have.
He cleared his 'throat' and spoke more professionally this time. "and back into the race."
Papyrus couldn't believe this was how this competition was going! This was supposed to be his chance of impressing the Royal Guard! Now he had to stop this tyrant from hurting anyone else on the track! As the polar bear and Papyrus crossed the line into the third lap, Papyrus noticed Dogamy and Dogaressa watching him from the sidelines. But they didn't look happy. They looked more... shocked. Mortified. Mortified that this polar bear was pushing around players left and right, he guessed. Seriously, aren't they security too? Shouldn't they put a stop to this? Then again, maybe this roughness wasn't against the rules, and that's why they didn't stop the polar bear. Or if it was against the rules, were they too intimidated? Or dense? No. Papyrus can't think that about the Royal Guard. They have to protect monsters from danger, right? That's what they're there for? Was it all a joke? A show? If so, this was a very harmful show! No one seemed happy about being knocked over!
As for the tyrant, he looked as if he was targeting Doggo next. Doggo, one of the Royal Guards, who was just about halfway through his second lap. No. Not today!
He didn't care about impressing the Royal Guard anymore. This polar bear needed to be taught how to be a good sport! And the only way was to stop whatever he was doing with force!
As soon as he got close enough, Papyrus leapt at the opportunity. Literally.
The crowd gasped as both Papyrus and the polar bear came crashing to the ground. Silence followed.
The bear's head rolled right across the ice, it rolled towards the side of the rink, before tapping the walls with a little 'tink'.
Papyrus huffed and puffed as he pressed his hands down on the bear's fluffy chest, finally able to sternly glare into his strange non-bear-like eyes. Except this time, the eyes had a different frame. A blue frame, with fins on the side of the head and long, red hair tied back in a ponytail.
The skeleton's glare turned into a look of shock. "UNDYNE?"
Undyne's head looked so small compared to the rest of the body... The COSTUME.
"Uhh... Hey, Papyrus." She gave a toothy grin.
For a moment, the murmurs present in the crowd were the only sounds.
Realisation set in for the Royal Guard wannabe. He just knocked over his boss! His trainer! His cooking teacher! His teeth clacked together as he tried to think of something to say. Undyne took this opportunity to gently push Papyrus off of her and sit up. Funnily, Papyrus slid a little on the ice, still stunned.
"...So I have some explaining to do, don't I?" Undyne laughed, still a little sheepish.
Finally, Papyrus found his words. "UM, YES?!?! WHY WERE YOU KNOCKING OVER EVERYONE?! WHAT'S WITH THE POLAR BEAR THING?! WHY WERE YOU THROWING SNOWBALLS AT ME?!?!" Whoops! He covered his mouth. She was still his boss.
Luckily for him, Undyne didn't seem offended. Not one bit. She sighed. "Okay... First of all, let me start with this. I've always loved sports and competitions and all that junk. But Snowdin is obviously really cold and I'm a cold-blooded monster. So I was gifted this costume as a way to wrap up warm. Really warm. It's a really warm costume."
"WELL, THAT MAKES SENSE. POLAR BEARS ARE COOL." Papyrus mumbled to himself. "WHAT ABOUT THE KNOCKING AND PUSHING AND STUFF?"
Undyne sighed solemnly and bit her lip. "The thrill of the competition really gets to me. Like, to the point where I forget to, um... play nice? I know, it's not an excuse. I should know better than to let my impulses get the better of me, but gosh darn it, I love the thrill of the competition so much!" The roughhouser pumped her costumed fist as she grinned intensely. But after that, her face fell once again. "I'm really sorry, I get carried away. Some of those things I did today were genuine accidents. You know, the head doesn't exactly give me the best field of vision."
Papyrus nodded as he listened.
"But near the end, yeah, that was all me. I'm sorry."
Papyrus sighed and smiled kindly. "WELL, I ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY." With a smirk, he wagged a finger at her. "BUT YOU HAVE TO APOLOGISE TO THE OTHERS AS WELL!!! YOUR RECKLESSNESS HURT THEM MORE THAN YOU HURT ME!!!"
Undyne laughed as she elbowed Papyrus in the ribs. "Okay, okay, MOM! I'll do that."
"OOF! G-GOOD!" Papyrus crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. He had to stay cool in the face of the gateway to his future. What he didn't notice was that Undyne saw through his act anyway. She didn't know what was going on with him. His tone felt... off.
Undyne looked behind her to see Dogamy and Dogaressa chatting, before turning back to a worried skeleton.
"Hey, is something wrong?"
"OH, UM... I-IT'S NOTHING!!!"
"Papyrus..."
"SERIOUSLY, IT'S GREAT, I'M GREAT!!!"
"Papyrus."
Oh, Undyne, please don't look at Papyrus like that! Not like that, not like you're worried about him!
He broke.
"THE REASON WHY I SIGNED UP FOR THIS EVENT IN THE FIRST PLACE... IT WAS MY CHANCE TO IMPRESS THE ROYAL GUARD! AND I HOPED... I DON'T KNOW... I JUST WANTED TO GET THE RESPECT I UTTERLY DESERVE, OKAY?! BUT INSTEAD OF IMPRESSING ANYONE, I JUST-"
She quickly cut in. "Stood up for what was right, even if it costed your dignity."
Googly eyes popped out of the goofy skeleton's eye sockets.
Undyne gave a toothy grin and a shrug. "Papyrus, your tricks are cool and all, but what you did to protect those other racers, even from me... THAT was the most impressive thing I've ever seen you do. It showed you had COURAGE! You have INTEGRITY! It showed a strength of character I should have displayed! You... You really are what you call yourself, you know that? What was it? The Great Papyrus?"
Papyrus beamed and rattled in sheer, utter joy. Undyne was impressed by what he did?! This... This was...
He squealed. He couldn't help it, he had to let it out. "I'M IMPRESSIVE!!! I'VE IMPRESSED UNDYNE, I'VE IMPRESSED UNDYNE!!!" He screamed towards the booth. "SANS, I IMPRESSED UNDYNE!!! NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!!!" A silhouette through the window gave Papyrus a thumbs up. After his excitement finally died down, the active duo decided it was finally time to get back into it.
She got up first and offered her hand. "Alright, dingus. You ready to finish this race?"
Papyrus looked up at her curiously. "ONE MORE THING." He took her hand and, with a grunt, he hoisted himself up on his feet. "WHY DID YOU KEEP YOUR IDENTITY A SECRET FOR SO LONG? EVERYONE JUST REFERRED TO YOU AS THIS MYSTERIOUS BEAR THAT SHOWS UP TO DESTROY THE COMPETITION-"
Undyne burst into loud laughter. All that did was make Papyrus even more confused.
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!?!"
Finally, her laughter died down enough for her to speak. "Okay, the whole mystery thing was, fuhuhu, unintentional, really. But you know, the mystery was part of the fun, so I just went along with it. I guess we don't have to worry about the whole mystery thing anymore, though, do we?"
Papyrus looked around. Oh, how many eyes were on the two of them. "NO, I GUESS NOT."
"Well, then come ON, Papyrus!" The fishy competitor beamed. "I'll play nice. Let's finish this!"
"OH-KAY!!!"
"and with that, fellow monsters, the race is back on, now with less snowballs and shoving this time. sorry about that. anyway, the 'polar bear' is in the lead, closely followed by papyrus. hey, check out those moves. heh, i guess the skeleton never lost his cool, huh? they're coming up to the finish line..."
--------
A large, silver second place medal hung around Papyrus' neck as he and Sans sat on one of the logs in the woods, eating Nice Cream. They might as well have gotten it after Papyrus encouraged Undyne to buy some for that rock girl as one of her apologies. And after all that happened today, it was nice just to sit and eat with your brother.
"i can't get over how cool you were back there. those stunts, your snowman, the fact that you stopped to help everyone up and even stopped the bear from really hurtin' anyone else. that..." The small skeleton smiled at his ice cream. "that was amazing."
"WELL, SANS, IT'S ALL A PART OF MY WONDERFUL CHARACTER!!! LOOK, I WASN'T EVEN TRYING TO WIN AND GOT SECOND PLACE!!!" He proudly displayed his medal to Sans, before he sighed. "REALLY, I'M JUST GLAD UNDYNE WAS SO IMPRESSED WITH ME. I STILL DIDN'T GET INTO THE ROYAL GUARD, THOUGH."
"eh, well, i told ya. no competition is gonna let ya have free access to join a group like that." Nom nom. "say, how's the training goin' with her, anyway?"
Papyrus perked up. "OH, IT'S GOING WONDERFULLY! SHE'S TEACHING ME EVERYTHING THERE IS TO KNOW ABOUT COOKING SPAGHETTI!"
Sans squinted. "i didn't know captains teach the royal guard to cook spaghetti."
"APPARENTLY THEY DO! AND I'M THE BEST AT IT!"
Yeah... No. Sorry, Papyrus, but that spaghetti still needed a lot of work. But it did set one thing off in Sans' mind. From what he heard, Undyne was a terrible cook. If that's the case, then why is she even teaching Papyrus how to cook?
"hey, bro. have you ever wondered why she's teaching you how to cook and not, y'know, fight?"
Papyrus thought about it for a second, then shrugged. "I DON'T KNOW. I SUPPOSE ROYAL GUARDS NEED TO LEARN HOW TO COOK JUST IN CASE SOMEONE'S HUNGRY! LIKE, IN CASE WE FIND A HOMELESS MONSTER OR SOMETHING! YOU KNOW WHAT THAT'S LIKE, RIGHT?" Papyrus continued eating his Nice Cream, oblivious to the suspicions that were steadily creeping into Sans' skull.
"i guess that's... true..."
That wasn't enough. Sans needed answers. He couldn't just let Papyrus not get any real training. Someone had to make sure his dreams were going to come true.
Sans gazed into the forest as an idea sunk into his mind. He knew what he had to do.
He had to go see her.
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disdaidal · 1 year ago
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22 for the writer asks?
Oh, hi!
22. What is something you learned about yourself as a writer from the experience?
I could honestly say many things here, but... I think I've slowly grown to accept that I'm only human and there are only 24 hours in a day. If I could write all the stories I've stored in my head over the past few years (or hell, this week), I might've written a few fic collections already. Maybe even a book or two, who knows.
But... I am slow. I get overwhelmed and disoriented at times. There are times I have too many thoughts and ideas in my head (including my gifs *le sigh*) and it's challenging to keep up with them, and then, other times, it's no thoughts, brain empty.
Honestly though? It's okay. Writing is supposed to be fun. At least for me, it's important that it's fun; that you enjoy doing it.
Also, I was a little bit worried this spring when I started writing my first omegaverse multi-chapter fic ever, that 'what if it's not good enough' and 'what if people hate it 'cause I'm doing some things differently here'? But now that I'm three chapters in, more is on the way, and I've gotten positive comments, a fair amount of kudos, and almost as many subs as well, this new kind of confidence and serenity has suddenly filled me.
Like... I still wish I could be faster at it (stop daydreaming, goddamn it!) but I feel confident now. More than ever before, I think.
I love getting comments and kudos and subs to my stories obviously, but I feel even better knowing now that I can do this writing project with renewed confidence, telling my own version of the story, and knowing at least some people out there have liked it so far and still want to read more. And yeah, what more could I ask for honestly?
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plscallmeeren · 2 years ago
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C I T I Z E N S O F W E S T V I E W P T 2
Wanda Maximoff x Reader
Request: yep
Summary: part 2 lol (btw I added some things to the request hope you don't mind)
Warnings: absolutely none
Word Count: 1.6K+
Wanda peered through the heavy oak door leading to your apartment, gaze flicking tiredly from one unusual carpet to another Eastern lamp. And yet, as she observed every object and decoration in the place, she realised there really wasn't that much around - less, at least, than in an average home.
"You don't have very much," she said simply, the Sokovian accent she harboured thickening as an urge for sleep faded the edges of her vision. Any energy she usually held for advanced English had already laid down beside her end of the conversation.
"It's all good quality. You'll never believe where I got this light," you replied proudly, gesturing at an orange paper hanging lamp.
"I suppose I wouldn't," she murmured, running smooth hands over the even smoother wood of an old armchair.
Her sight lingered on a rack to her left, standing out with shining blades against the cream of the wall. The longest in the stack of three emanated the unmistakeable atmosphere of magic.
"It's overwhelming, isn't it?" you said softly, sensing her thoughts. "Look, we'll talk more in the morning, I promise, but you're obviously exhausted and I can't say I'm feeling too chirpy myself. It's late. Get some rest first. We'll worry about magic swords in the morning. I promise."
Wanda hesitated, glancing at the sharpened and likely deadly weapons on your wall, but was overcome with a wave of drowsiness so strong she wondered if maybe you were toying with her mind. If so, you had done a mighty good job; making her feel safe, luring her into your home, into vulnerability. But she doubted it - and even if she was wrong, she was sure she could take you.
Then the stroke of genius occurred to her - why not just read your mind? It might tickle, but otherwise people didn't tend to notice if she didn't want them to.
She attempted, slithering past some initial mental barriers every brain requires for sanity's sake, diving deeper-
"I'd be impressed if you could see anything against my will," your voice filled her head, and although your back was turned, she could feel the grin on your face. "You're welcome to try."
"And you think you could get past me?" she challenged, vanity seeping through her as a last resort.
"Yes."
"Try."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Try your hardest."
A flash of images and pasts and thoughts and nightmares flashed beneath Wanda's lids, an array of concepts that made up Plato's idea of her. She had had no idea how powerful the feeling was if a mind-reader allowed their victim to see what they were doing. Nevertheless, although proving how old and deeper knowledge you could dig up, she noticed how it was never anything vulnerable, anything that could hurt. She still couldn't stop you.
You were avoiding them for her sake, even though she had provoked you.
You stopped. You had made your point and that was enough. She stared, but didn't say anything. You had half-expected the unjustified upset and anger of doing what she had said you should, but it never came. She seemed lost for words.
"That was incredible," she projected the thought into your mind, making you smile.
"Come on, I have a spare room."
You led her around the corner of the kitchen and up some stairs, holding the painted door open chivalrously. She curtsied in good humour, passing through.
You handed her a towel silently, refusing her help in making the bed, letting her watch from the desk chair instead. When she thought you weren't looking, you noticed - or maybe you sensed - how much she appreciated someone doing something as simple as making a bed for her.
"Good night," you murmured once she returned from washing up, already folded up underneath the copious covers. You would have offered her clothes, but her breathing had already evened.
It would have been so easy to intrude just a little, just enough to see why she was feeling so unwell. She would never know. But you didn't ever seriously consider it. You couldn't imagine the guilt of breaching her privacy that way.
You closed the door behind you, leaving the small reddened lamp on in case she didn't like the dark.
•••
Wanda awoke with a start.
She had slept peacefully until the nightmares had crept in along the edges, stains of blood and madness dismissing her simple dreams of life as she knew it or other cleansing of the mind. She forgot it all the moment her eyes opened, only Vision's mangled body still imprinted on the inside of her lids when she attempted rest.
She sat up. At the edge of the bed, two folded piles of clothes awaited her. One of them consisted of a red shirt and blue pants (she ignored her thoughts when they wondered which woman you had them from) and the other of a comfy flannelette shirt, sweatpants and woollen socks. She opted for the second.
A part of her was disturbed by the concept of someone being in the room while she was asleep and her not noticing, but still that nonsensical trust and arrogance overruled all else.
The scent of coffee invaded her senses as she grew more aware of her surroundings. It smelled delicious and perfect in that moment.
She wandered downstairs tentatively, stepping lightly in some childish attempt to sneak up on you.
By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, she was sure she had the element of surprise under control.
"Morning, darling," you greeted smugly, smirking as you briskly turned around, presenting her with a cup of coffee. "Sugar? Milk?"
"Oh, yes, um, both," she muttered, feeling slightly insulted at how she had been noticed.
You nodded, placing the cup on the counter and pulling out all she required. You stepped back so that she could add as much as she wanted herself.
Wanda looked you once up and down, taking note of your black shirt and black sweatpants, the way the melted together at every languid motion you made. You looked like you were dancing as you crossed the kitchen, back and forth, mixing together the batter for pancakes.
"Pancakes? How did you know-" She interrupted herself upon realisation. "You remembered what you saw last night, didn't you? Me eating with my family?" She thought she might cry at the memory of them all, but other than the salty taste of saliva it just felt like a problem of the past.
She couldn't believe how good she felt all things considered. Neither could you.
"Wait- Did you read my mind again before? Is that how you knew I was there?"
"No, love. I don't need telepathy to sense your presence," you humoured, winking at her playfully. She scoffed, but the smile on her face was undeniable.
"And... here," you said after a few minutes of comfortable silence, throwing the last pancake onto the plate and flicking the stove off. "Let's sit down, shall we?"
Wanda nodded, taking a seat across from you and snatching two pancakes at once. She could think of at least a hundred questions to ask you, but none of them felt like good opening lines.
Finally, she decided. "Are the decorations Japanese? They look sort of... well, not Western. And you. You look... I'm not sure how you look, but judging by your home, I'm wondering whether you're Japanese also?"
"Yeah. My mother's Japanese, and she raised me, so I'm more used to eastern places and behaviour. By the way, you don't have to hide your accent. I love hearing it."
You had picked up on how her accent had lessened by a mile that morning, feeling a little sad to see it go. She smiled.
"Okay." You could immediately hear the difference.
"Thanks. Anyway, yeah, it's a bit hard implementing paper walls, but otherwise..." She giggled, surprising both of you.
"Do you speak Japanese?"
"Yeah. Kesa wa kireidesu ne / 今朝は綺麗ですね." (You look beautiful this morning.)
"And what does that mean?" she asked sweetly, batting her eyelashes exaggeratedly.
"あなたには決して分からないかもしれません," you replied smoothly, taking a bite off your pancake. (You may never know.)
"Звучи лепо, згодно, али волео бих да знам шта говориш," she countered in her own Native tongue, sipping at her coffee, grinning. You looked back at her, impressed. (It sounds nice, handsome one, but I'd love to know what you're saying.)
"それはあなたから魔法のように聞こえます。" (That sounds magical coming from you.)
You both smirked, tucking into your breakfast instead of talking for a moment, occasionally making a comment on the food in your own languages. You both loved the sound of the other talking, no matter what they were saying.
Eventually, you decided on successful communication, and in English, Wanda asked at least half the questions she wanted answers to. You replied to every one. Neither of you held back in your accents and only at three in the afternoon did you realise how long ago you had finished eating.
——————-
So much fluff
Fun fact I've actually learned a bit of Japanese over the years and about one and a half of those sentences was my own....... I know, I know, I'm incredible, right? Anyways looking at foreign typography always makes me happy tbh
I'm snowed into my friends' house and can't keep reading my exciting book at home how's your day? It's kinda a vibe tho I've never been snowed in before
Have a great day lovelies
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honekujiras · 2 years ago
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Summary:
As I looked out over the scenery that stretched before us, the verdant hills dappled with cottages and the clouds gliding lazily across the sky, I was struck by an overwhelming wave of emotion. It was like a youthful sort of mourning, a thing that held my heart in a vice and refused to let go. It was like catching your smiling reflection and thinking, I will miss this day when I'm old. "Holmesie," said I. "Are you happy?" The Great Detective has retired to the English countryside, and his biographer comes one day seeking counsel.
my piece for day 7 of @greatestfamilyweek - long distance / future! i always thought taking a look at the evolution of iris's and holmes's relationship would be fun :3
read on AO3 or check out the excerpt below!
—-
THESE DAYS, I find that I have precious little room to simply think. Living in the capital will do that to a person: always some lively event taking place downtown or some invitation to a party held by the neighbour of a friend of a colleague. The stacks of incomplete manuscripts seem with each glance ever more endless, too, outnumbered only by the sheer clutter in what one clever man referred to as that "brain-attic" of mine. It is not my intent to complain, of course; if I held some severe, irreconcilable dislike for this foggy town, I would have moved far away by now. Even on this train ride through the English countryside, my thoughts continued to drift London-ward—for better or worse.
The porter had been surprised at my travelling alone, I recall, and I could not blame him. A young woman unaccompanied by a suitor or husband must have made a curious sight, nevermind the vibrance of my hair or the notepad in my hand, kept readily available, kept readily available for whenever a stroke of creativity should strike me. Then again, I suppose I have grown accustomed to getting an odd look or three since my youth.
And as the man took my luggage, I wondered if he would have recognised my name—that is, if he had ever read one of the stories published in the heyday of my authorship. I still receive letters from avid readers on occasion begging for another installation of my masterwork series, but due to a certain series of circumstances, I must always let them down. Since those days, I have tried my hand at writing everything from fantasy to historical retellings to non-fiction, but these have not met nearly as much success. Fortunately, it has not shaken my resolute love for creation, for the art of the English language.
So I say, anyway. But I digress.
It would seem writing is an effective pastime, for the station came into view hardly a moment after I wrote this passage. Once the train crawled to a stop, I took my bags and exited out onto the platform. I had visited Sussex a couple of times in the past, though not as frequently as I would have liked, and yet each occasion made me feel as though I had entered a world entirely separate from my own. The brilliant blue sky stretched out above my head; the pure summer air filled my lungs.
As I stepped back to admire the view, however, I struck against an older gentleman who had deboarded the train behind me. The books he was holding fell to the ground with a muted thud.
"My apologies, sir!" said I. "I didn't notice you were there."
"Nonsense. It was my fault for not moving out of the way," the man said as I crouched to gather them in my arms. The top-most volume was titled The Origin of Tree Worship, and I smiled furtively at the author listed below, one of my noms de plume.
"My," croaked the man, perhaps noticing my expression, "are you a fan of Miss Anna Graham's works as well?"
"You could say that," I replied, thinking about the months I had spent on writing that particular story. "May I ask why Tree Worship? Miss Graham has released quite a few novels more popular than that."
The man laughed, the corners of his eyes wrinkling in a way that was strangely familiar to me. "Mmadam, I have always felt that the soul of a book mattered more than its success," he remarked. "If the author poured their flesh and blood into their writing, then what does the popularity of the thing matter?"
"I'm glad you think so, sir," said I. There was something so deeply reassuring about a stranger uttering these words to me—these words that assuaged an insecurity I had been grappling with for some time.
"Ah, it seems one more landed over there," the man said suddenly, pointing a gnarled finger towards a book that had landed by the wayside. "Would you pick it up for me? My back isn't what it used to be, you see."
"But of course!" I knelt down to pick up the last of the volumes, only to still when I saw the cover. A Study in Scarlet, it read.
"Thank you, my dear Iris," a well-remembered voice replied.
When I whirled around, before me stood not the stooped, elderly book-collector, but a proud man sporting a tweed overcoat and deerstalker cap. His head was held high and his eyes glimmered with mischief. Still, there were certain indications of his age: the streaks of white in the platinum-blond hair beneath his wig, the soft wrinkles of his face that had been only deepened with makeup, and the spectacles and cane that he had not discarded. In all, though, it was that man through and through.
"Holmesie!" I exclaimed.
—-
keep reading on AO3!
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pbandjesse · 2 years ago
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Today was a super productive day and I want to be proud of it even if it kind of was soured at the end. I'm going to try and be positive though because it was a good day.
I slept a little easier last night. Because I took a melatonin. And I was able to sleep an extra half hour. Which was great. When I got up James was getting ready to leave. Smooch goodbye. And I finished getting ready. I changed the totebag James put my lunch in. And then I was off. James had put the vacuum in the car for me. So once I made it to work, after a fine drive in, I would finish cleaning the car. The vacuum isn't as strong as it could be but it got a lot of the nature grit out of the carpet at least.
I had a thought about hanging my hammock from the rafters in the art building. So after I painted another layer on my MWEE sticks I hung it up. And it's a little high off the ground, and a little precarious but it works! I am very pleased about this development. Though I do think it's funny that I have not considered this in 4 years.
I headed to the office and Heather and me would jump into the gator and deliver a wheelbarrow and some shovels and rakes to the tipi field. And then she dropped me off at the office before she went to start meeting the volunteers from BGE at the lodge.
I would grab my pliers and phone and drink and walked over there too. I would tell her about internet drama and algorithms and she was shocked about things like dog whistles and the manosphere. I will be the internet touchstone for camp. Make sure the kids aren't saying horrible things
It took a while for all the volunteers to come through. I directed them to sign up for different areas. And soon we were getting a safety speech from the woman who organized the project. And then we were breaking up into our groups and we were off.
I have 7 people working with me. And they were lovely. I would point out everything and go through our list of things to do. Which I think may have overwhelmed them a bit. One of them said we should work on one at a time. Which was fair. I asked for us to work on the construction debris behind the chicken run. And they did such a good job!! We worked together and they got all of it out and up to the top of the hill. I had a few of them cutting things down with the sawzalls they had and one nice guy got the slide lock off the old door and installed it on the gate like I wanted.
It wasn't all perfect though. There wasn't a way for us to salvage the bird net. And then when two of my guys were moving a log disturbed a ground wasp nests. Got stung twice. Thankfully the one that was allergic to bees ran away and was not stung. But man I felt bad someone got hurt.
We were terribly productive though. We got everything on my list done. The construction pile at nature. The holes filled. The rocks moved. I was so proud of us. Sarah would be driving the truck back and forth collecting all the debris. And her group would also get all the same moved and the beds stored in the basement and it was just great. We were making such good progress.
I would send most of my group and her group to go move the rocking chairs to the porch. I had slide them all down the to the drive way but I couldn't pick them up so I would leave them to it.
The person delivering the lunch was up there and I would help him out and sign for the food. I called Heather to make sure that was okay and what to tip him. Because I was like. I don't know if I'm allowed to tip you because it wasn't my money but I got a number and was able to pay him and it all worked out.
Me and Sarah would grab two guys from my team and they helped us get the last few rail road ties and then load up ten 75lbs into the truck. Those two guys were gems for helping through the first few minutes of lunch. Me and then would walk back to the lodge while Sarah drove the truck to the office where we would toss the concrete later.
I set up two more tables because I didn't think there was enough seats. And hung out with Elizabeth and Heather and had sodas while we talked about what got accomplished. I was super proud of us.
We were able to have some pizza and salad too. And I made sure we saved some for Sarah. But soon Sarah and Chloe would join us.
I didn't expect to be so tired. We would just sit and be so tired while everyone else finished eating and went outside for a group photo. Me and Chloe talked a out the ceramic class. My guess was right and only me and her are signed up right now. We need at least one more person to sign up. We are trying to convince Sarah. Maybe we could get Heather in too. We will see what happens. Fingers crossed.
I would drive the gator up to the Hogan to move the benches inside and take the new sand. The space looks so good. I'm really happy. Moving the benches was heavy work but I got it done.
I drove up to stockade to grab something I left in Hudson bay and was still so happy with how clean it was. And the. To the art building.
I put some stuff away and chilled in the hammock for a few minutes. But eventually I wandered to the office.
Where I came into angry words. Joe was not happy about some of the projects that were done today. And he was no speaking as kindly as I would have wanted. Like don't speak unkindly to Heather. She looked so sad. We were so excited and he didn't even want to see what we accomplished. He just wanted to be mad about what wasn't done or that things weren't done the way he wanted. And like I really like Joe! But I felt like he was throwing a tantrum. He stormed out and Heather literally had teary eyes. So I was frustrated by that.
Me and Sarah discussed our Friday plans since we will be here alone. But because now we were trying to calm down hurt feelings we needed to go collect tools and things right then. We drove around camp and collected tools and buckets and tarps. Which was fine. I was staying a little later since I came in later. I was feeling some kind of way though.
We ran into Rachel and Aubrey and it was nice to see them. We got to show them our hard work and they made us feel good about it. We would soon say goodbye to them though and headed to the dumpster. Where we found Joe climbing around. Probably seeing if there was wood he wanted. But everything was full of nail and had been outside in piles for over a year and some was there for 3+ years so if you actually wanted it you had time to get it. But whatever. I just hope he didn't hurt himself.
Me and Sarah would finish up the stuff we needed. Except for the tarps. Because they are damp and I'm not sure what to do with those. I thought we could lay them on the field but unsure if that was done the way I wanted. But it's all good we'll figure it out tomorrow.
For the last thing of the day I took a video of Elizabeth pulling the raffle name out of a pumpkin. We are happy for the winner even if we didn't know who this person was. Still really exciting.
I went home after that. And got stuck in some traffic. With people who can't merge. But it's fine. I was home before 530. I was a little frustrated bringing things inside because I kept dropping my keys. James yelled down from our window but they did not come down and help but I forgive them.
They were making dough. They would have pizza for dinner. I opted for a salad later on. For the first hour I was home I just wanted to lay on the couch and hear about their day.
We would clean the kitty litter. And James got the vacuum from the car because I hadn't brought that in. And they would play DND and make me a salad. And eventually I would keep working on catching snails (and snail eggs) from the frog tank. I cleaned that for a bit. And once that was to a good enough place I went and took a shower.
Now I am cozy in bed with James and Sweetp. I need to go lotion my face but I am tired and ready to sleep. Thankfully my body isn't aching to bad but it is surprisingly warm in here. I hope a fan helps.
Tomorrow we have indigo back. And I'm looking forward to it in ways. And not in other ways. But it will be good. I hope. I'm looking forward to seeing Celia.
I hope you all have a good night. Take csre of each other. Sleep well. Until next time.
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digicharillustration · 1 month ago
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SCARF FACE
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Initial idea and notes on Scarf Face and its suitibility for the final project. This is generally how I come up with characters, then stacks of notes follow which serve the purpose of the setting/goal/challenges/talents Character Backstory.
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My first attempt at usin the Character Backstory/Arc template for Scarf Face. Feedback on honing the Goals and challenges helped me to work out what was important to for people to know and what was not necessarily relevant at this point. I found this way of fleshing out a character to a little counter-intuitive to my regular way of doing it, as I would not usually answer some of these questions (at least not in so much depth) at this point of the creation process.As a reality of convincing other people to buy into my ideas though, it was a welcome challenge to try and explain step by step what my vision of Scarf Face was. Not having complete answers to some aspects, and seeing in real time that the Lecturer was not totally grasping what I was talking about was a good wake up call, and made me try and explain things more clearly and concisely.
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With feedback on board I revised the template. The goal became straight up revenge. I tried to flesh out the external and internal challenges to make them clearer and more concrete.
SCARF FACE IN 100 WORDS OR LESS (98): Scarf Face is rooted in Dunedin; Castle Street, the University, and cemetery. Student in late-70s. Humiliated by the hot girl. Dies in flat fire trying to keep warm. 150th anniversary of Uni merges with revenge and raises him from the grave. Finds costume heading to Castle Street, staples scarf to face and dons a graduation gown. Modern Dunedin disorients him both literally and figuratively. Slow realisation it's not 1969. Those he hates are long gone. Urge for revenge is overwhelming, concludes present students will suffice. Students’ only hope is discovering his innate phobias of fire and beautiful women. 
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Basic character idea Mood Board
Scarf Face is an homage to classic B-grade slasher flicks with a local twist. Originally, I had the idea to make the character Candyman/Bloody Mary esque (say hisname 3 times in the bathroom mirror. Hence the inclusion of the mirror pics. The Jason and Michael Myers pics represent the classic supernatural fuelled slasher villains that have inspired Scarf Face.
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Costume ideas Mood Board
I envisage the costume as drawing from elements of slasher film villains combined with some kiwi influences. The non-descript silhouette of killers like the guy from I Know What You Did Last Summer are appealing because that shapelessness puts the imagination filling the blanks of what exactly might lurk beneath. Given the University/student aspect of the narrative, I thought that a graduation gown would serve a similar purpose. As a corpse, he was at one time buried at his funeral, his final attire lovingly and thoughtfully chosen by is grieving mother. Wide collared sheepskin jacket is a nod to his farming roots, also popular during the 60s. Beyond that it adds some interesting shapes to the basic value/colour palette of the outfit. The David Bain-inspired jersey is a nod to the character's formerly dorkish nature, hand-knitted by a relative and quintessentially Dunedin. The layering effect of these 3 items of clothing is deliberate, as the bulk of his attire is earthy/neutral in tone. OThe overall intention of this is to draw the eye to his face, which is basically the only bright colouration to the design. I am toying with the idea of flared/bell-bottom pants to help orient the character in time, however I'm not sure whether this would be too cool for a country bumpkin.
The Mason's Hammer is subject to change (if I stumble across a more interesting one before this project is too far advanced) as his weapon of choice/opportunity. There is a lot of structural work/strengthening going on around the country, and Dunedin is no exception. It is within the realms of possibility that some mason inadvertently left their hammer out when they went home for the weekend.
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Initial colour test
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chihiro-mcdonaldz · 9 months ago
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FROM ONE CHIHIRO FAN TO ANOTHER:
Please write Chihiro interacting with Alter Ego for the first time :>
oh I LOVE you.
guys I win I have friends now see I have friends I have friends I SWEAR I HAVE FRIENDS I SWEAR I DO I FINALLY DOO SEE GUYS THEY ASK ME STUFF TOO I PROMISE THEYRE REAL-
(I use he/him for chihiro btw, sorry if that's bad)
anyways...
on with the story.. er.. dialogue, whatever it is
chihiro and alter ego talking for the first time
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Night Light - Laufey <3
⇆ㅤ ||◁ㅤ❚❚ㅤ▷||ㅤ ↻
Chihiro had spent a lot of time working on it, and now, it was (supposed to be) done. His latest computer project, named Alter Ego. He had came up with the idea for fun, and decided to run with it. Finally having the motivation to finish the coding, he had typed in the last few lines after school.
He sighed gently.
"ok.. hope this works.." he said, a little bit nervous for the outcome, he internally calmed himself, reminding him that this probably wouldn't work, and that it's just an AI.
'not a person..' he thought to himself.
Taking a deep breath, he typed in his first message, the message that the AI was coded to respond to.
Chihiro: hello! I'm chihiro fujisaki, who are you?
to his surprise, the virtual image of his head had rose up, smiling right back at him, and spoke back to respond.
"I'm alter ego! wait.. creator, is that you?" Alter ego had said in response, tilting its head to match it's questioning tone.
Chihiro has gasped in surprise, looking down at the screen, head tilted in wonder, unintentionally mirroring the AI computer program.
"t-thats me.. youre.. y-youre me! on a computer! wait.. my program worked?" he had said, surprised, looking around as if to check if it's a dream, but no, it's not a dream either.
his program that he had spent days on, finally worked. he had remembered the process too.
All the laughter of his dad coming in to check on him, ruffling his hair as he had leaned over his sons shoulder, glancing over the scripts. chihiro knew his dad didn't 100% understand programming, but his interest in his projects still held deep meaning to him.
All the sleepless nights. Chihiro had a bad habit of sneaking his laptop back to bed with him, spending sleepless nights in his room inputting different commands to see if it would get him a step closer to his final goal.
Chihiro quickly shook his head, snapping back to the fake feeling reality in front of him. Alter ego. HIS alter ego. finally working.
"Fujisaki? are you doing alright? you seem to be.. worried.." Alter ego had said in response, it's voice quiet in match with chihiro, filled with concern for its creator.
"wha- huh? yea! yea.." chihiro started, sighing gently, not sure how to feel.
"I'm just.. so surprised, I guess.. i-i don't know how to feel.. it's taken.. forever.. for you to finally be programmed.. i can't even say how I feel.." he paused.
Before the young programmer had known, tears had already come to his eyes. he had felt really overwhelmed by the feeling of happiness and relief, that he had unknowingly let out a breath he didn't know he was holding
"I'm just.. surprised, is all.. i-.. didn't expect this to work.." he says, starting off strong, ending in a meek whisper, the tears and shakiness coming to his voice. he was never one to handle his voice being shaky very well.
"no, no! it's ok! please do not cry! I.. am happy that this worked out for you." Alter ego reported back, trying it's best to be comforting, not very good, but definitely grounding for fujisaki.
"i-i.. you're right. I.. I can't believe it worked.. I'm.. so happy!" He exclaims with a smile, grateful that his program had finally worked out in the end.
soon followed, more laughter, and more sleepless nights, cus he couldn't just neglect his new program, y'know!
(silly ending)
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pretentiousliterata · 11 months ago
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A Letter From Me to You
~A long overdue beginning in the year of the unexpected~
I'm often a skeptical one —negative, people say. Nonetheless, 2024 has proven to be the year of the unexpected and to surrender and go with the flow it's not as bad as I thought. It's easier said than done, though.
Optimism can be quite a force on itself. When there's many issues knocking at your door and you don't know where to start fixing what's wrong, positivism goes out the door easily. But to stay positive despite everything is the hardest thing, to tell ourselves it's gonna be okay.
And hey, if you're in this situation and you keep your head high (or you can do it with a broken heart like Miss Swift sings), I sincerely applaud you. We get celebrated only when we succeed, but when we're fighting, we often get told «things will get better» —and they can, I guess—, but celebrating the hard battles it's good too. That's what, in retrospective, makes the hardships valuable later, right?
Now, I know you're like, “what's the point of this?”
Well, with this year throwing curveballs at me, good, bad and heavy ones, the time to come out of the shell has come. Every year I put in my resolutions to finish a book, for 2024 I just wrote «write more». Guess who finally finished a draft for a full novel and it's rewriting it for the third time and is filled with regrets?
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To keep the illusion and delusions alive —they feed the soul, not gonna lie—, I asked for a commission to have a little “do it for them” shrine. Yours truly has a bad habit of starting things she can't finish later and naturally, she's a crying regret in the flesh when things don't go her way.
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My babies...
Given how important this is, at least for me considering what I just told you, I wanted a visual to keep feeding the need to make this book a memorable journey. And when it was posted online, it was the unkind reminder that I never share my stuff and I'm expecting to publish a book I don't advertise. I know it's not even close to being published, but still, the work has to be done before and not until the moment comes.
With many close people also knowing what I'm working on, they've been suggesting I should open a blog, it feels the time has finally come and now, here we are. I don't mean to rant about how awful life is, at all. It can be rough and we're all entitled to go feral at least once in the year, but the idea is to share the honest journey of a writer who's also a Healthcare worker and the mother of a sick cat who's recovering slowly from surgery. Even when things can get tangled, I still want to honor the dreams of the little Ali.
So, welcome to the little space where I'll share my passions and how I deal with them, some bits of words I write and other things I enjoy too. If you're a fellow writer or a creator of some kind, feel free to read my shenanigans to know you're not alone in this rollercoaster we call life, especially in times when social media tends to show us perfect timed routines and not having one makes us feel we don't have control of our lives. Not everything we see is real and slowly, we're forgetting about the human side of us which is not perfect at all, and that's great, that's what makes us human after all.
I hope my words don't overwhelm you, instead, that you can resonate with them and know you're not alone out there. Feel free to share your burdens and your joys too, this is a space for everyone. And of course, I hope you stay for the beginning of this new journey.
Oh, and before I forget: nice to meet you. This is your friendly neighborhood Ali. Besides writing, I love music, films, books, languages (the reason why this blog is also in Spanish), and anything I find interesting. I'm currently working on this little project I have temporarily named “On the Night Transcending the Raging Light”, a dark fantasy novel with several storylines that come together to reveal the past and present. You can read a summary in the works section of the blog!
Until next time! x
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P.S: Quite unrelated, but speaking of unexpected, the Oasis reunion was definitely not in my 2024 bingo card, so by now, I'm sure anything is possible this year. Naturally, the need to listen to them —as I cry for not being able to go on the tour— is there. If you fought for tickets and didn't manage to get some, let's cry together, a'right? (and before you say “don't you know other tracks other than Wonderwall?”, I do, oh you bet I do lol).
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P.S 2: Hands down to the anthem of August. I know many people didn't like the song, but I adored it! Probably because it came out in a moment when I ached change desperately (and I still do, but before I swim into the new me era, there's a few things to do...)
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kyndaris · 1 year ago
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City of Lights
VIVID is an annual event in Sydney that began all the way back in 2009. For years, famous landmarks around the central business district have been lit up from late-May to mid-June, pausing only briefly due to the pandemic. Always, there have been magnificent exhibits to wow the senses and tantalise those with a creative bent. And nearly every year I go. With friends or family. To see what wonders the artists have conjured up for the year.
Of late, though, VIVID has become more and more commercialised. Exhibits are hidden behind paywalls. What was once free before now requires a person to fork over a decent of money. And in this day and age, where people are struggling because of the rising cost of money, many might choose to forego VIVID altogether.
And while I might have gone into the city with a friend or two in June, Dikottir asked me out first. Initially, he thought a Saturday would suit, until I told him of the crowds and that I was available for a weeknight adventure.
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It didn't take long for us to set a date and arrange to meet at Wynyard. Since this was something of a date, it seemed fitting we pay a little extra to enjoy one of the paid offerings at VIVID. And so, we purchased the tickets for Dark Spectrum, which would lead us into the old train tunnels underneath the fair city of Sydney.
Surprisingly, I managed to arrive before Dikottir. After waiting for a few minutes, he also arrived and we made our way to the entrance of the exhibit. As we headed down the staircase, we caught up on how our individual lives were going. Mine, as is almost always the case, was hardly interesting. A cycle of work and quiet weekends had crept back into my very organised and routine life. And while some would attribute finishing off a lengthy fantasy novel something to chat about, I've learned Dikottir isn't all too curious (given his sister writes poetry and has actually won a prize).
As of typing up this blog post, I'm trying to finish off a short story that has ballooned into a 20k behemoth.
To be fair, I'm trying to conjure up an ending that makes sense for the character. Fingers crossed it won't be all too much longer and I can finally start work on a project I want to see published.
Can you imagine, dear reader? Kyndaris, New York Times Best Seller!
I'm certainly not short of ideas for my stories, but it's setting the time out to execute the vision I have in my head that is difficult to manage. If only I could be a division one winner for the lotto. That'll certainly set me up.
Anyways, what was I saying?
Ah yes. Dark Spectrum! Well, suffice it to say, Dikottir and I headed down into the bowels of Wynyard train station, handed over our passes and were greeted by snippets of history of the old trams that ran underground. And then, before I knew it, I was bombarded by sound and flashing blue light. We had entered Misdirection portion of Dark Spectrum.
Through the confusing maze of blue arrows, we made our way to Search, an almost peaceful experience with its hanging lights. Through this ethereal tunnel, we emerged into Revel. An area that encouraged dancing and spruced up the tunnel segment with green lasers, but was also quick to utilise the darkness.
Dikottir, it must be said, was very much in his element. He might not have been the most elegant of dancers, but he certainly did let loose and didn't mind if he incurred the judgement of the others traversing the exhibit with us. I, on the other hand, was a little bit more reserved and guarded. But also, a little overwhelmed by all the sensory outputs.
It wasn't until we reached the next chamber that I felt a little calmer as the space was a little bigger and the music was more diffused. From the yellow chamber filled with all manner of code and binary numbers, we entered a tunnel filled with lanterns. And what a sight it was!
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This had to be my favourite one of the chambers. Especially because of how photogenic it all was.
From the lanterns, we headed to a very angry red room with arches almost reminiscent of tori gates. Making our way through, we entered the very last chamber: filled with white light that broke out into mutli-coloured rainbows to represent how diverse white light truly is.
By the time we stepped out from Dark Spectrum, it was still quite early and the lights of VIVID has yet to be switched on. So, Dikottir and I traipsed to Circular Quay in search of food. As someone who is constantly craving Japanese, we tried out the DOPA located in Sydney Place before we headed to Customs House to see more of the pretty light show that has made Sydney such a great destination even during the winter months.
From Customs House, we made our way towards the Museum of Contemporary Art before we meandered our way through the Overseas Passenger Terminal. Along the way, I snapped photos of the Opera House and Dikottir purchased a huge slice of watermelon, topped up with some soft serve.
Once he had finished his monstrosity of a dessert, we rounded Dawes Point Reserve and headed down the wharfs. Where once the piers hosted a vast array of exhibits, this year, there was a marked absence of anything entertaining. I relayed all this to Dikottir. Multiple times.
So palpable was my disappointment.
And as we walked around Barangaroo Reserve, my disappointment only grew. There was hardly ANY exhibits around this section of the city except for an unimpressive arch.
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Even in Barangaroo, the offerings were slim. Yes, there was Horizon but did I really want to head like moths to a flame in between two rows of container lines and stare at a big LED screen flashing orange? And while the ChairWave helped to rest my weary feet for a few minutes, it was hardly worth taking a photo of.
Down we walked, making our way towards Darling Harbour with nary anything exciting to divert my attention.
Even in Tumbalong Park and just outside the Chinese Garden of Friendship, the pickings were small. Where was the huge Swiss Cheese-like monument from yesteryear? Or the sheer amount of frogs? Or the other pretty lights hovering over the pools? What about the water show and dome that had sat in the middle of Darling Harbour?
No. 2024 had none of these options.
As we trudged up the Goods Line towards Central Station, there were a few other exhibits to see but nothing exactly worthwhile.
Much like our last 'date,' Dikottir offered me a hug. One I returned, still somewhat awkwardly. Despite the poor showing at VIVID, the date was still a good one.
But while I don't find Dikottir offensive, and I certainly consider him a friend at this point (he did make a few jokes that he feared I'd lead him down into a dark alleyway and steal his organs - how, I don't know. I don't think I've revealed my unhinged side to him just yet), I'm still questioning how far this might lead in terms of romance.
The thought of holding hands with him, or me showering him with displays of affection, gives me the creeps.
A romance straight from the movies, this is not. At best, it'll be a love forged from a strong foundation of friendship. But this, of course, does necessitate a lot of time and investment. And it might still not eventuate into anything.
Of course, all of this is during a time when I'm questioning my sexuality and gender preferences. I know I'm certainly on the asexual spectrum but I still haven't figured out who I might be willing to enter a romantic partnership/ companionship with.
In all honesty, the idea of simply finding a fellow roommate I can share an affordable apartment/ house with seems more up my alley. That way, neither of us are too lonely, and there's still someone around I can talk to.
If anything, travelling with bleachpanda to Japan this year has shown that I'm surprisingly adaptable in my living arrangements. Yes, she snored terribly but our friendship still held. And we were able to work around each other's normal routines without too much fuss.
Will the same thing pan out if I were to enter a proper relationship with Dikottir? But what if he wanted to do the deed?
At this stage, I can't say for sure I want to jump his bones. Or, heck, even kiss him on the lips, but small steps right? And if the idea still doesn't set butterflies off in my stomach down the line, I can, at least, I gave it the good ol' college try. And hey, maybe we can still be friends! Just, you know, without the benefits.
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