#placeholder tag h

[wintrii-shadows]

so that's all the kandi I have right now that's for me in no particular order. um. i'm sane what do you mean

the zoidberg one was bc my brother said it'd be funny to show to my science teacher so hehe seven eleven is one of my nicknames now the green w is for weezer and is part of a friendship bracelet set I have with three others the stars on the very right,, two of those are for charlie and niffty :3 got some kin bracelets n stuff in there too nuzi and dizzy bracelets + stars

OH MY GOD I FORGOT TWO OF THE BRACELETS. welp too bad I guess..

[dog-motif-priest]

i think i would make an excellent pet priest tied up in someone's basement tbh

[strawberrybaat]

It's not the end of the world if you do this, fanfic authors, BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! TAG IT CORRECTLY!

In extreme cases, people are going to fuckin block you, others are just gonna be annoyed and scroll(it's me, I'm the scroll)

I see this shit mainly in smaller fandoms, where it's just an OC X canon, BUT THEY ACTUALLY LABEL IT LIKE THAT! OR FUCKIN HAVE AN X READER CHAPTER IF ITS ONESHOTS! SAME WITH AUTHORS TAKING REQUESTS!

[kits-ships]

Music ask game! 🌘: Feels like their lullaby to you

this f/o doesn't have a tag but i wanna do this for them anyways :3

🌘: Feels like their lullaby to you

->despair - leo.

and even though i think about you day and night i'm not sure if this whole love thing sounds quite right 'cause it's not romantic, i swear i'm not gasping for air i want you to be here, but please don't come near

sorry but im a sucker for the 'i love you but i don't want to admit it / i'm not really sure how to go about this" trope. its so cute and something about it feels very pure and makes my heart hurt. in this case, f/o is just too stubborn to admit their feelings even though their actions say otherwise.

[sonicenvy]

there is a new scourge on AO3 that I discovered recently...

that scourge is "Placeholder fics". This is thing, where someone posts a "fic" on AO3 with a summary and tags (and sometimes even a complete tag), but when you click on the "fic" the content of the "fic" is something like:

"coming soon" or "in progress" or "an idea I'll write someday"

This is a scourge on AO3 tags that directly violates TOS Section IV, as it is spam (sect B) and inappropriate content (sect H) (not, strictly speaking a fanwork).

If you see these "placeholder fics" on AO3 REPORT THEM. It is easy to do.

Link the fic in report and in the description, you can write something like this:

The linked "fic" is a so-called "placeholder fic" where the author posts a work to a tag and the only content is the words "In progress". The "fic" appears in tags, yet contains no content, so I would consider it to be spam. Thank you!

(This, btw is the actual thing that I wrote to report one of these a few weeks ago)

If you want to get jazzy you can even mention that you believe the "fic" violates TOS IV.H (which is what the AO3 mod told me in the email response to my report) or TOS IV.B.

You can report anonymously if you want afaik. Once you submit a report the AO3 moderators will get back to you at some point to update you on that report and action taken.

This is a simple way that YOU can make AO3 better today. If you see a "fic" that violates TOS in any way, REPORT IT. There are literally millions of fics on AO3 and the moderators can't possibly go through all of them without YOUR help.

I suspect that the people who are posting these "placeholder fics" are probably very young people who are very new to fandom and fanfiction and do not know better. If you are reading this post, and you are one of these people, know that I don't hate you, I just want you to know that what you are doing is a violation of the AO3 TOS and that it fills AO3 tags with spam, preventing readers from finding actual fic to read. There can be (and certainly are) MANY fics on AO3 with the SAME names, if that's what is motivating this.

AO3 isn't a social media site, it's an ARCHIVE for fanfiction. If you want to communicate with your following that you are planning on writing a new fic, use your tumblr, your reddit, your dreamwidth, your substack, your pillowfort, your livejournal, your bird site or whatever the fuck you have to do this. Link your socials in your bio on AO3 if you must. Mention it in the author's notes on your latest work. IDK, just don't post empty "fics" on the ARCHIVE.

[catopoliscat]

sweet dreams, good morning / fem!reader/kento nanami.

you and your boyfriend nanami usually showered at different times. this morning, he decided to join you.

tags: nsfw. 18+. fem!reader. afab!reader. established relationship. shower sex. penetrative sex. no set timeline but presumed canon!verse. fingering. creampie. unprotected sex (wrap it kids). nanami had a little dream about you. no use of y/n or any other placeholders. ever.

wc: 3.6k.

a/n: inspired by some nsfw pieces @jimwackthesecond sent to me of nanami on discord, ty babes I'm still throbbing about it

mdni.

It was rare for Nanami to join you like this. 

Even after months of living together, of being by each other's side; of cooking, eating, drinking and sleeping next to one another—showers together were rare. It wasn’t any conscious decision, really, just a difference in routine. You preferred to shower in the mornings. Nanami preferred to shower in the evenings. Small moments of solace and quiet amidst the hot water and soap. A moment of solitude between lives so tightly intertwined. 

Today, however, Nanami had surprised you. 

You were halfway through your usual semi-methodical routine, soap suds still clinging to your arms and chest, when you felt the door open. A cool gush of air rushed through the fog of the warm bathroom for a moment, skittering up your back in a gentle caress. You shiver, hearing Nanami’s familiar footsteps, but think little of it. You had thought you had been quiet when you had slipped from his sleepy embrace, wanting to give him a longer lie in bed for once—but perhaps you hadn’t been quiet enough.

Any moment, you had expected the tap to start running, the sound of toothpaste being uncapped and bristles against white teeth. Instead, the sound of rustling clothes just about reaches your ears over the sound of water thudding against the tiles beneath your feet, and then comes the slide of glass, a footstep and—

—strong, warm arms encircling your waist tightly, as if you might disappear into smoke if he let go. 

You smile softly to yourself as Nanami presses up close against your back, hard pectorals slotting against the ridges of your shoulder blades. The heat of his chest is a strong match to the warmth of the water against your front, seeping into your bones and warming you from the inside out. 

A nose nudges at the crook of your neck, moving upward before soft lips press against the spot right behind your ear. You chuckle softly, leaning back into the caress, eyes fluttering shut. 

“Not like you to shower in the morning,” you murmur, barely audible over the rush of the water. 

A low hum is your response. The arms wind tighter, and a large, calloused hand settles on your navel. His thumb brushes up and down in a languid, repetitive motion. You shiver slightly.

“I had an incentive,” Nanami replies, his voice a husky rumble, throat still thickened with the remnants of sleep. He presses another kiss against your skin, his lips lingering this time. “You don’t mind?” 

You chuckle again, shaking your head as you settle it back against him, feeling the hard ridge of his collarbone against your skull. “Of course not.” 

Even after all this time together, seeing each other at your most vulnerable, Nanami was always aware and respectful of boundaries, even unspoken.

A contented silence settles in the bathroom, broken only by the spray of the showerhead. Morning sunlight spills through the frosted, dewy glass, reflecting off the mirror that paints a portrait of a couple, very much in love. Nanami’s thumb continues its gentle caress, a soft swipe up and down that becomes as familiar to you as your own heartbeat. His other hand rests against your ribs, just underneath your breast, but makes no move to touch or cup it just yet. 

A sleepy comfortability takes over you. Between the heavy warmth of the water and steam, as well as the steady thrum of Nanami’s heartbeat behind you, you find yourself leaning more and more into his form. He supports you easily, hands tightening just slightly to bear more of your weight. You start to distinctly remember why you rushed through showers in the morning—sleep still clinging to your mind like condensation on glass. 

It was a weekend, though. Neither you nor Nanami had any work or missions, no business or meetings. There was no world to save. Not today. 

“I could fall asleep like this,” you mumble, eyes still shut. 

Another feathery kiss, against your shoulder this time. “Do you want to go back to bed?” 

Although the idea of crawling back into still-warm sheets is appealing, you shake your head. This was enough. More than enough. 

You wind a hand down your body, settling it above Nanami’s own where it rests against you. You don’t hesitate to intertwine your fingers with his, and he doesn’t hesitate to hold them, giving them a small squeeze. 

With his one thumb now restricted, his other thumb takes over its brother's repetitive motion, occasionally brushing against the underside of your breast. Although initially accidental and easily forgotten, the movement gradually becomes more intentional. Daring. One particular sweep brushes over the swell of your breast. The next is even higher, just across your nipple.

An involuntary breath leaves you as the slight sensation causes familiar goosebumps to erupt across your skin. Your lips part slightly as you arch into the touch, the curve of your back pushing your hips back into— 

Ah.

A soft puff of breath leaves Nanami’s lips as your ass brushes against his cock, the hard length rubbing up against the cleft. His grip tightens on your hand, and you can feel his responding shudder. He quickly moves his hips back again, keeping his chest pressed up against you instead.

You smile to yourself, a touch wryly. Nanami wasn’t easily worked up, and certainly not in tender moments like this. You can’t help but wonder if this is the product of just the proximity, or something more. 

“I’m flattered that my sleepy morning self has this effect on you,” you drawl, a layer of amusement in your tone that you can’t quite shed. 

“I’m sorry,” he mutters, as if he has anything at all to apologise about. “I…” 

You feel his lips open against the skin of your neck, but he shuts them again. That makes you raise an eyebrow, your eyes blinking open to squint against the steamy bathroom. You try to angle your head to get a look at him, but the angle is difficult. When you try to turn your body to face him properly, however, his arms tighten around your waist, preventing you from doing so. 

It wasn’t like Nanami to be this… reserved. Not this far into your relationship. 

“Nanami?” 

Another gush of air flutters against your wet shoulder, something close to a sigh of resignation. “I dreamt about you,” he finally says, the words imprinted against your skin. “This morning.” 

Ah. 

A wet dream? Hardly something to be self-conscious about, you think. Especially when you were clearly the star of said dream. Nanami was always oddly prudish around certain things, however. Traditional, in some senses.

“Oh? How rude, we hardly know each other.” 

You can almost feel the responding eye-roll in response to your teasing humour. He gives a small squeeze to your intertwined fingers, as if telling you to take this seriously—though you refused to. A dream was a dream, and you were less concerned with the fact he had one and more concerned with what exactly was in it. 

“I’m a thirty-year-old man,” he grumbles. 

“Who’s still human,” you remind him. You push your hips back again, pleased to feel Nanami’s cock still very much hard, nearly pulsing, against the swell of your ass. He exhales a slow, steadying breath, but makes no move to pull his hips away again. “Tell me about it.” 

Another small sigh against your shoulder. You can practically feel his hesitation, unwilling to unveil the explicit nature of his dream just yet. 

You push yourself back against him again, a slight movement of your hips that has his cock pressing a little deeper against your skin. You buy yourself a small grunt in response, a choked sound that hitches in the back of his throat.

“Come on,” you chuckle, the sound a little throaty now. Sensing he needed a little more push, you unlink your hand from his to lay atop his other one, guiding it up to cup your breast properly. “Did I at least look good?” 

“Mm.” He gives your breast a small squeeze; a well-practised, perfect amount of pressure that always makes your thighs clench together. “So beautiful… as always.”

“Where were we?” 

Another hesitation, though shorter this time. He occupies the time by kneading your breast slowly, massaging it almost in his calloused palm. “On a beach. It was just us. White sand, palm trees, lapping waves… the sun was so warm.” 

You smile at the picture he paints in your head. “I’m sure we made it feel warmer.” 

You feel a shuddering breath against the back of your neck before he hums in agreement. You can only imagine that whatever memory of his dream is replaying in his mind is a good one, because he presses his cock against you more firmly. 

“Yes,” he mutters against your nape, before pressing a hungry, hot, open-mouthed kiss against the skin there. “You have no idea what you do to me.” 

By the way he’s groping at your breasts and ever-so-subtly grinding his hips against your ass, you would say you have a general idea. You want to press him for more details on his dream. What did you do to rile him up so? What did he do in the dream to make him pursue you to the shower when he awoke? 

All those thoughts and questions are disappearing from your mind, however, as the hand against your navel is drifting down between your thighs. Your lips part in a soft exhale as he cups your heat, his middle finger running down your slit almost teasingly, smearing the dripping shower water along with your own arousal. 

Another shuddering breath fans against your neck as he dips his middle finger between your folds. “You were so wet, so tight around me,” he whispers, his words almost swallowed up by the sound of the shower and your own heartbeat in your ears. “It was maddening. I… I couldn’t stop.” 

He circles your clit once, causing your hips to twitch and a soft moan to leave your lips, before he dips his finger down, pressing it against your entrance before sinking inside. You both seem to moan simultaneously as your inner walls clench tight around his thick digit.

“You were so…” He swallows thickly around another groan. “…loud. Insatiable.” 

In, out, in, out. He thrusts slowly, languidly, as if savouring every contraction, every syrupy moan that left your plush lips. Slick gathers quickly, and before long the sound of his thrusting finger becomes wetter and wetter. A second finger soon joins the first, his palm pressing against your clit as his ministrations quicken, your thighs shaking in response. The steam of the shower, the heat of Nanami at your back, the fog of lust in your mind and the increasing pulse between your legs—it makes your head swim, your mind hazy and uncoordinated. 

He curses as you grip his fingers particularly tight, as if imagining the sensation around his cock instead. You feel a pressure against your nape, and you dully realise it's his forehead, hot and wet with sweat and water. “Please,” he murmurs, his low voice hot and wanting. “Can I have you? Here?” 

Even after all this time, he still asked—still cared enough to ask—even though your answer was always the same. 

“God, yes,” you’re replying before he’s barely finished his question, every thought in your mind evaporating into the same steam swirling around you. 

You’re leaning forward, arching your back before he even makes any move to position you, both of your palms resting against the cool tile of the bathroom wall. Shower water sprays across your shoulders and the back of Nanami’s neck as his head follows your descent, forehead now planted between your shoulder blades. His fingers don’t stop their ministrations, but his other hand does disappear from your breast. A moment later, you gasp as you feel his fingers slip from you—replaced instead by a familiar pressure. 

His cock, thick and heavy, presses against you, hesitating for only a moment before pressing forward slowly. The thicker head slips past the tight ring of muscle with a sharp stretch, your lips falling open in response as a ragged moan leaves you. No matter how many times you had done this, Nanami’s cock was always a stretch, making each time seem like the first all over again. 

“God,” he gasps, his jaw falling open against your shoulder blade. “P-Perfect… so perfect.” You can feel him practically shaking with restraint as he pushes forward slowly, oh-so-fucking-slowly, until his hips finally meet your rear. As always, he gives you a moment to adjust, no matter how wound up or turned on he is—his one hand bracing against the wall near your own, the other winding back around your waist to circle your clit with slow, languid movements. 

You’re shaking too, you realise, hands slipping on the wet shower wall. You clench tight around his cock despite his attempts to relax you, too wound up and dizzy with arousal to care about the discomfort. Bucking your hips back, you try to press him impossibly deeper, as if you weren’t already full of him. 

He groans at the attempt though, the slight friction you grant him causing his fingers to stutter against your bud. Quickly getting the hint, he pulls back just a few inches before sinking back into you again, just as slowly as before. You both moan again at the delicious drag, before he starts to set a slow, steady rhythm—pulling out a little deeper every time until the tip threatens to slip from you with each thrust. 

You had expected something quick, frantic perhaps. The dream he had seen had clearly riled him up. But Nanami was still Nanami—slow and methodical, passionate and loving. 

Long, hot puffs of breath fan against your neck, matching the slow, sensual rhythm of his hips against you. You can feel his eyebrows knitted against your back, and in your mind's eye, you can already picture his expression perfectly. Flushed skin on his high cheekbones, the sweat on his brow, the slight scrunch of his eyes and parted lips. 

Every thrust pushes deep, his slow pace ensuring that you felt every inch of each push until he bottomed out, only to repeat the whole cycle once more. His hand on the wall slips, bumps against your own, and with trembling fingers he places it on top of yours, pinning it against the wall before intertwining your fingers tightly. 

“I love you,” he groans, his voice thick and gravelly. “I love you, ngh—“ He pushes deep again, stills for a moment as he grinds against you, before withdrawing again. “I love you so much.” 

You meet his every thrust, pushing your hips back until your skin meets his with a satisfying ‘pap’. The slow, deep pace is driving you insane, deliciously perfect and yet wildly maddening. You can feel the heat pool in your gut with every stroke, the warmth blooming hotter and hotter like the slow lap of waves, threatening to consume you. 

You’re greedy, you know. You need more.

You push your hips back in a quicker rhythm and Nanami’s hips stutter in response, his rhythm thrown off. He hisses, clenched teeth brushing against your nape. The fingers on your clit disappear, a strong hand grasping the plush flesh around your hip instead, steadying you. You expect him to stop you or slow your rhythm down, but he doesn’t. Instead, he stops thrusting altogether, allowing you complete control of the pace as you fuck yourself on him. 

He’d always allow you to take what you wanted from him. 

“Ah, y-yes, yes—“ you pant, forehead pushing forward to rest against the cool tile. You tilt your hips, angling Nanami’s cock to prod against the exact spot you need him. He curses in response to the harsh clench of your walls around him, his hips bucking forward involuntarily. “Kento—“ 

“Tell me what you, ngh, need,” he grits out, now matching your rhythm until the clap of your flesh starts to match the pour of the water. The hand on your hip slides up, caressing your waist in loving strokes before winding around, palming at your breast again. “A-are you close?” 

“Yes!” You start to push back harder, more frantically. Nanami instantly matches it, thrust for thrust, the head of his cock dragging against your sensitive point with almost pin-point accuracy. He pinches, tweaking your nipple in a way that makes your thighs shake. “Harder, I need it—“ 

You don’t even have to say another word before both of Nanami’s hands disappear, only to grip your hips tightly. You feel the warm of his chest leave your back as he straightens, replaced by the spray of the shower water instead. A moment later, his pace becomes almost punishing, the hard lines of his Adonis belt hitting against the flesh of your rear with a smack. 

You practically reel, something guttural and primal leaving your lips as you arch forward, bracing fully against the tiled wall in front of you. You can feel your flesh ripple, your breasts jolting with the wet smack of flesh against flesh. Even now, he’s careful never to push harder than you need it, but experience and attention allows him to get it perfect. He was always perfect. 

A chorus of ‘just like that’ and ‘yes’ leaves you in a symphony, your eyes rolling and eyelids fluttering simultaneously. It doesn’t take long until you're practically clamping down on his cock like a vice, your lower stomach clenching impossibly tight as ragged, fractured moans tear from your lips. Distantly, you wonder if you’re as loud as you were in his dream—or maybe louder. 

Nanami doesn’t fair any better, harsh grunts and choked groans leaving in him in rhythm with the clap of his hips. With each thrust, it seems his body hunches further inward until he’s practically curled over you, his grip tightening on your hips, thumbs digging into your skin. Deep moans smother against your shoulder as lathers you with kisses, half-formed praises coating your skin with his love. 

“I’m close, my l-lo-“ He chokes up, curses, hips stuttering as he tries to maintain the hard pace. He starts pulling your hips back to meet his, cock plunging seemingly deeper and deeper—  

Stars are exploding behind your eyes a second later, your abdomen clenching and rolling as you cum hard around him. You call out his name, you think, jaw falling slack as Nanami continues to thrust and thrust you through your climax, pushing you toward oversensitivity and fast. You’re clenching down on him tighter and tighter, unable to stop as you babble nonsensically, delirious and drunk on steam and release. 

“S-Shit,” he hisses, his voice barely there, just breathless and torn. “So b-beautiful, so perfect, I love you, I love—“ 

A second later, Nanami’s following you over the edge; a deep, broken moan leaving him as his cock twitches and throbs, spilling into you. He continues to move, his hips erratic and rhythm broken, just bucking disjointedly as his voice cracks and splinters.

You’re trembling, he’s trembling, both of you panting and moaning weakly as Nanami continues to grind against you, albeit slowly. You rest your forehead against the cool tile in front of you for a moment, your hot breath making the ceramic fog up—before Nanami’s arms wind around your waist, pulling you back up and against his chest. 

Your thighs are shaking, body nearly limp in his arms, but he supports you once more easily. Soft kisses and brushes of his nose rain down against the crook of your neck as his hand brushes up and down your stomach, his cock still throbbing weakly inside your warm grip. You let your head loll back against him, a tired, contented smile on your lips. 

You reach a hand up and behind you, fingers fumbling for a moment before his head leans into them. You card your fingers through the short, wet strands behind his ear, a small sigh fluttering against your ear in response.

“We should shower together more often,” you murmur, which earns you a small, slightly breathless chuckle, the rumble of his chest vibrating against your back. 

Eyelashes flutter against your neck as he closes his eyes. “We should.”

“In the evening though,” you add. Between the hot water and well, everything else, your body was sated but drained. “I really could fall asleep now.” 

The idea of stepping out of the warmth of the shower and Nanami’s embrace only to get dressed and continue with whatever you had planned for the day wasn’t an appealing one. As if sensing this, his arms hold you tighter, unwilling to break the moment, or your intimate connection, just yet. 

“Then do,” he murmurs against your ear, before pressing a soft kiss to the shell. “I’ll take you back to bed.” 

And you know he would. You know that if you were to fall limp in his arms right now, he’d carry you; dry you off and settle you amongst the sheets again as if you’d never left them. It wouldn’t even be a question. 

You stay awake though, body still thrumming with remnants of your connection and your muscles at ease. Tilting your head slightly, capturing a glimpse of his profile, you raise an eyebrow.

“…so?” 

Nanami meets your gaze, raising an eyebrow in turn. “So?” 

“Was it as good as your dream?” 

He closes his eyes with a tormented sigh, burying his nose back into your skin. “…it always is.” 

You let out a laugh of disbelief, angling your head to try and face him better despite him seemingly burying his face in your skin deeper, unwilling to meet his gaze. “Always?! How many dreams have you had about me like this?”

You feel a small nip at your neck, just a brush of teeth really, but that seems to tell you that these ‘dreams’ of his were far more a regularity than the stoic sorcerer was willing to let on.  

masterlist.

[neko-naruto]

from hero to the hunted

Summary: a brief glance into the ways John Dory coped with the isolation, and how the hell a Pop Troll managed to survive for twenty years in the mountains

Warnings: gutting a massive fish (it gets a bit gross), grieving, check Ao3 port for full tags

Authors Note: I've been thinking of how in the fuck he survived out there in isolation since I saw the movie, now I've written about it so I can sleep easy at night. anyways! hope ya'll enjoy and if you do consider dropping a reblog or checkin the ao3 port, it really means a lot

"It's just me and my armadillo now, I guess," John Dory said, out loud, too himself, even though no one else existed in this empty forest. It was just him and his armadillo, which he was going to kill for meat, but chose against it when he realized she was sort of... Hollow.

She didn't have any meat, she was just an exterior, why she was like that he didn't know. And he would've left her alone, forever, but she decided to nuzzle up against his leg and chirp at him and he couldn't deny that. Only a monster would deny that, so he picks her up and starts on his way to carry her through the woods so she doesn't step on anything sharp.

It's kind of stupid, adopting an armadillo for no reason other than 'she looked at me and made sound' but he's a big brother. He's the oldest brother, he's spent his entire life before leaving being the caretaker. Their parents just paid attention to each of them equally and it didn't feel like enough, so he decided to start taking care of his little brothers too. Packing lunches, doing laundry, just being as good a brother as he could be before the band started.

And now it's been four years since he left, he's twenty one and he's probably going a little bit crazy with the isolation. Just a little bit nutty, a minuscule amount of absurd with how much he hasn't interacted with anyone or anything in years. Maybe that's why he's picking up this little creature and carrying her around like she's his little sister. He needs a placeholder to fill that void of a little creature in his life, that'll fend off the depression if nothing else.

"I'm gonna call you Rhonda," John stated as he placed her down on a log and started on foraging on some small twigs and slightly larger rocks for a fire pit.

Rhonda just chirps in response.

-/-/-/-

"I think it's a big one!" There's a laugh on his voice as reels in dinner for the night. It fights, thrashing and kicking up a massive splash of water every which way.

Rhonda is quick to amble over and bite the back of his vest tugging him just a bit whenever he lurches forward. Step by step she slowly pulls him back while keeping the cord from snapping with the tautness of it.

"Thanks girl, I'll save you the liver," John promises, it elicits a purring chirrup from Rhonda. He yanks the rod one last time and the fish is in the air, falling down to the ground in seconds, "Hold it down for me."

The armadillo does as told, pressing one paw on the tail fin to keep it down despite it's writhing. She bats it once or twice with her other paw while John grabs his knife, although it's more of a cutlass compared to the size of his body. He drives it through the eye and holds it until the fish stops moving, Rhonda steps back, resting on hind legs as John works.

He works smoothly really, digging the tip of the knife into the tender underbelly of the fish and running it up to the base of the jaw. Blood is minimal, but it still drips from the frayed flesh as he pops on his goggles. He takes a deep breath before diving into the complete and utter darkness. It's dripping with whatever rests inside of a fish's organ cavity and it used to make him feel like vomiting, but that was a long time ago, back when he could still carry Rhonda in his arms.

It's a pulsing and oozing mess, but he persists, cutting the cords and just hauling them out like they're anything but organs. He takes extra care with the liver and tosses it to Rhonda specifically before sliding out and moving onto cutting off the head.

"I hope you like that liver, this guy was living offa swamp scum," John commented as he lopped off the head, severing the spine with a practiced ease to his motions.

He's twenty seven now, ten years into his isolated life in the mountains and the forests and the swamps. He doesn't know how much longer he's gonna stay out there for either, he's probably a freak to the average Troll society now. He's happy here anyways. He has Rhonda, he has his sword, he has a group photo of him and his brothers before everything went wrong.

He's absolutely odd these days, positively so, talking a shocking amount of thoughts that enter his head. Eating whatever plants don't look poisonous and having Rhonda hit him with those defibrillator paws if he passes out from said plant. Cutting open giant fish and other assorted creatures that he comes across. He can store most of his stuff inside of Rhonda anyways, he could sleep in her if he wanted too, but the nights are never cold enough he has to leave her alone at night.

"Hey girl, can you get a fire going for me?" He asked rather loudly as he worked on trying to wedge some of the bones from delicate fish flesh. It was a tedious process but he'd rather do so than risk Rhonda choking on some bones.

There's a loud rumbling purr before Rhonda walks off to get some sticks.

-/-/-/-

It's a bad night, age thirty and he's spending another night laying awake thinking of his brothers and he left them. He thought he dropped this habit on his sweet, sweet twenty sixth birthday where he found an abandoned barrel of lager. He drank himself into a waking coma that night and came too about a week later, semi naked and covered in tinsel and hay. He still shudders to learn where that tinsel came from, but even more so about where the fuck the hay came from.

He's sleeping inside of Rhonda that night, the cold bite of winter air too much for him to bear. He's stuck staring at the ceiling with his few mementos of what his brothers were lay beside him plastered to a wall. He knows they've changed by now, for fucks sake, he's changed, albeit, probably for the worse considering how feral he is. He eats meat, he's always on the run from some monster, he talks to his armadillo van, he definitely wouldn't be able to just assimilate back into society.

John heaves a sigh, tears are hot on his face and his body shudders as he exhales. He misses his brothers. He misses the nights he'd spend falling asleep nestled against Spruce cause he stressed too hard over the song line ups, or he worried too much about his brothers in one way or another. He misses having Floyd there to try and calm down, he regrets not listening to his younger brothers worries and soothing words. He misses all the jokes and the choreography that Clay would carefully craft for them, he misses their secret handshake. He misses Spruce, he misses Floyd, he misses Clay, he (somewhat) misses Branch.

He doubts they miss him, he broke the one law of eldest sibling: never leave you baby brothers. He shattered it, he ran off to the mountains and he's been in said mountain for thirteen years hiding and scavenging. He left, he abandoned them to go be 'brolone' and he's experiencing a intense wave of regret again when he was sure he was over it.

"This is fucking stupid,"

He's an idiot, he thought he'd be fine alone. He adopted an armadillo, he killed her parents, her siblings, he killed all of them and took her in to replace his brothers. He can't go alone, he's not built like that. There's no more stress to keep all of his pieces together, he's gotten so comfortable in the mountains the wilderness fear has gone down too much to act as a substitute.

John just rolls onto his side, away from where his few memorabilia of his brothers exist. Out of side out of mind. He's crying because he lost his favorite vest to the woods, not because he lost his brothers due to his own hubris. Definitely not, and maybe if he tells himself that lie enough times he'll believe it.

[izzys-frantic-fanfics]

welcome to our twisted spine

this blog is just somewhere for our friend group to keep our frantic fanfic creations categorized. if you find something here you enjoy, great! if u find these funny, follow! do whatever! we're just here for a nice time

here's how our tagging system works;

AUTHOR tags will tell you who worked on which fic. these tags will also be used when posting art created by a particular author from our group! these are as follows:

#author sam

#author kauria

#author mims

#author lera

#author penn

#author ehl

#author heiko

#author H [PLACEHOLDER]

MOD tags will tell you who made the post (but this person may not always be the author of the fic/art/whatever else!) these are currently as follows:

#mod sam

#mod mims

each post will be tagged with the characters and fandoms related to that post. additionally, we will use these extra tags for other stuff:

#ask - for asks, if we ever get any

#creations - for art and other stuff related to the insane shit we decide to write

#ramblings - for posts unrelated to our fics, and just ppl yapping about who knows what

#suggestive - for any post that gets a little raunchy

#NSFW - for any post that gets outright NSFW, but you could have guessed as much

[capybaraonabicycle]

CHARACTERS/CARTOONS THAT I THINK ARE VERY ME-CODED BUT I CAN'T POSSIBLY EXPLAIN HOW

Thank you so much for the tag @trekkingaroundasgard! This was difficult but very fun! (I stole Chidi from your set, because he is basically THE character where I went 'Me! :)')

[ID: images of the characters Chidi Anagonye (The Good Place), Clare Devlin (Derry Girls), Jane Penderwick (The Penderwicks), Jane Bennett (Pride and Prejudice), Jase Connolly (that is: his voice actor) (36 questions), H. G. Wells (Poeparty), Perscitia (placeholder image) (Temeraire), Osgood (Doctor Who), Minoo Falk-Karimi (Engelsfors trilogy) end ID]

There is no official art of Perscitia so to avoid having to steal I put a night sky. She's a green and blue dragon, you can find gorgeous art on the web.

Tagging: @jennyandvastraflint @spacewives-in-spacetime @none-ofthisnonsense @the-12th-doctor @marvellouspinecone @likefish @silly-witch @pia-writes-things @crepuscule-pourpre and whoever comes across this and fancies doing it <3

[omniblades-and-stars]

WIP WORD GAME

Rules: You will be given a word. Share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that starts with each letter of that word.

I was tagged by @commander-krios and my word was TRUTH. I managed to find all of these from the WIP that has the placeholder name of Holding Onto Hell.

T - The ground beneath his feet was coated in thick, oily, blue-gray ooze. It burned his nostrils like too much ammonia.

R - Rotten fucking bastard.

U - “Up and at ‘em, Skipper,” Ashley said quietly, crouching in the rubble near Jane’s face.

T - They walked in the mausoleum of a cruel and uncaring god, disturbing its rest.

H - He seemed quite content to just stand there and watch Jane prepare to make an enormous ass out of herself.

Tagging: @teamdilf, @sparatus, and @thetrashbagswasteland, your word is (hold please while I go to the old faithful random word generator...) COMEDY.

[bullet-prooflove]

WITSEC Part 2: Alone - Will Halstead x Reader

Prequel: Moments

Part One: Got You

Tagging: @daniacat​   @misscharlielulu​   @cosmic-psychickitty​   @tonio-dawson​     @brianbabygirlzvonecek​   @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff​ @ikbenplant​     @gummybabey​    @rosaliedepp​    @annieradcliff​   @mrspeacem1nusone​   @sowrongitslottie​   @readingbookelf​    @earthtolottie​   @crazy4chickennuggets​   @cixrosie​     @halsteadloversworld​   @zaidatorcuatomorgado​   @horny-and-sad27​    @oneandonlychicago​     @lxna-mikaelsxn​   @1234-angelika���   @wolfers-stuff​      @directioner5life​   @bradshawsdarlin​  @aaronhtchnrs @mysoulisasunflower @luckyladycreator2 @willhalstead-rhodes @zephyrmonkey @bluecrush129 @thespottedcreature @celilice1 @whoreforhondo

Will’s life is a chaos.

It’s not just that he’s been thrust into the Witness Protection program, it’s seeing you again after all this time. He hadn’t known that you were back, not before the shooting but now it’s all he could think about. He wonders how long you’ve been back in Chicago. He rubs his hands over his face, palms scratching over the stubble of his cheeks as he looks out of the window of his apartment in Central City, Phoenix.

It’s warm here, too warm and he hates it. He’s a Chicago boy at heart and the heat, it gets to him. He runs the AC 24/7 in a bid to get some relief from the oppressive temperature. He thinks the electric bill will drive the FBI crazy and he takes a sick sense of satisfaction in it.  

He knows he has left a mess back in Chicago. He sees the images flipping through his head like some obscene scrapbook.

Natalie crying her heart out on the steps of the church, hands clasped over her heart as she begs for him to explain.

You outside the warehouse, silent and dutiful with smudges of Tim’s blood marring your skin from where Will had touched you with copper-stained fingertips.

The disparity wasn’t lost on him.

Two different women.

One that he was technically still engaged too.

And the other…

A woman he was so frighteningly in love with, it felt like he was being ripped apart all over again when he was put on that plane to Phoenix. The connection the two of you had, it was forged on a deeper level than anything else he’d ever known and that hadn’t changed in your absence, he was a fool to think it had.

After a month trapped here in Arizona, he could see that Natalie had only ever been a placeholder. He had still been hurting. Their first kiss only two months after you’d left. He had still been feeling your absence acutely.

It had started casual, a couple of drinks, then a few dates. He almost forgot about you in the hustle and bustle of his life, the world turned, patients came and went. He was in a good space, looking forward to becoming a husband, and a stepfather when his world imploded. The cracks he had papered over began to show. The foundations of their relationship had been rocky to begin with, he just hadn’t realised how much until he looked back.

There were red flags, little things he should have realised that were indicators of problems to come. Like telling him to shave his beard because she hated it, sneaking out in the early hours of the morning before Owen woke up. Each and very compromise chipped away at his self-esteem because in his heart he knew he wasn’t good enough, but the problem was Will Halstead wasn’t a quitter. He kept on trying to please Natalie, to make things perfect, because perfection was what she desired and living up to that standard meant that she wouldn’t leave him.

When he got caught up with the Burkes and the FBI he had lied. He had kept it all a secret, tried to deal with it himself, because the whole thing, it would have been too much for Natalie. He had done what he could to protect her, and it had all come crumbling down.

He knew it would have been different if it was you. He would have come to you straight away, he would have told you everything, the two of you would have figured it out. Instead, he was here alone in an apartment in Arizona, contemplating all the wrong turns he had taken up until this point.

He should have gone with you to Virginia, but he’d just taken the attending job at Chicago Med and his mentor Doctor Rowan’s health had been declining. It wasn’t the right time. You had understood that.

These thoughts, they went around his head in circles driving him crazy. He was stuck in stasis and the world was carrying on without him. There was no determination of how long he would be here, his life was essentially on hold. He couldn’t progress, he couldn’t move on. He was simply stuck in the moment.

Throughout the day he managed to keep his anxiety under control, but it was always there writhing like a leviathan in the pit of his stomach. At night it was worse. When he did sleep, he dreamt of Tim Burke pulling the trigger, the gunshot reverberating throughout his body as crimson blossomed across his shirt. He could see the smoke from the gun, taste the cordite in his mouth, feel the bullet burrowing into his flesh. He always woke with a jolt, a racing heart and empty lungs as he stared at the cracks in the recently painted ceiling. Sometimes he reached out for you. It was an instinctual, visceral need, a comfort he sought out during his deepest strife.

It broke his heart when his hand hit cool sheets anf he realised you weren’t there, that no one was.

Big Fan of Will! Get added to his tag list!

Like My Work? - Why Not Buy Me A Coffee

[ferdvonvestra]

If You Marry Me, Would You Bury Me? Would You Carry Me? (To The End?)

🌸 Read on AO3 🌸

Tags: M/M

Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)

Relationships:Tartaglia | Childe/Zhongli (Genshin Impact), Tartaglia | Childe & Zhongli (Genshin Impact)

Characters:, Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact), Zhongli (Genshin Impact), Baizhu (Genshin Impact), Qiqi (Genshin Impact), Il Dottore (Genshin Impact)

Zhongli/Tartaglia, Alternative Universe- Modern Setting, Hurt/Comfort, h/c, Implied/Referenced Torture, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, alternative universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, implied/referenced zhongli and baizhu are exes, they're still on good terms though, someone give Tartaglia a hug, Depressed Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact), Mental Health Issues, zhongli and Tartaglia are engaged, Il Dottore is probably ooc, I don't really know anything about him, Apologies, Northland Bank (Genshin Impact), Mentioned Ningguang (Genshin Impact), Possessive Zhongli (Genshin Impact), Title from a My Chemical Romance Song, Song: To The End (My Chemical Romance), Comfort/Angst, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Swearing

Zhongli’s coupe snaked through the parking lot at the Northland Bank. Winding through the various parked cars and valet staff spotted across the asphalt, the anxiety that had been coiling in the pit of his stomach grew tighter. Each car that he passed was distinctly not the eleventh harbinger’s powder-blue convertible.

Zhongli banished the thought. Childe said he was here, so he was here. It didn’t do either of them any good to have Zhongli skulking through the parking lot, and probably drawing attention from the bank’s expansive security detail.

Looping back to the main driveway, he pulled up to the valet station and stepped out of the champagne coupe, quickly exchanging the key for a ticketed placeholder, and walked up the short stairs to the main door.

— — —

“I have some news you won’t like” Ajax mumbled against Zhongli’s cheek, pressing an apologetic kiss to his temple.

Zhongli gave a hum of disapproval, languidly stretching and shifting on the mattress, pulling Ajax tighter against his shoulder.

“I’m going to be gone for the next few days, work stuff. I’d wiggle out of it if I could, but it looks like they actually need me.”

“Where are you going?” Zhongli whispered, half asleep.

“I’m staying local, actually.”

Zhongli’s gaze met Ajax’s, a budding confusion showing in his expression.

“What do you mean?”

“I have an assignment at the Northland branch here in Liyue, but they’re having some higher-ups come in, and it’s going to be nothing but politics and policies for a few days. Between keeping up with my with my actual work and the sheer amount of political jockeying I have to do, Ekaterina said to just plan on passing out on one of the couches in the back every couple days.”

“They torture you” Zhongli huffed,  closing his eyes and snuggling even closer into Ajax’s side.

Ajax’s expression iced over, guilt stabbing through his chest. He already hated lying to Zhongli, but the poetic irony of his lover’s declaration almost made it feel worse somehow.

———

“I’m here to see Tartaglia”

“Name?”

“Zhongli”

“I’m sorry, he doesn’t have any public appointments scheduled today, are you sure you’re here to see the harbinger?”

“I don’t have an appointment “ Zhongli replied, “it’s urgent and I couldn’t get ahold of his direct office.”

“I’m sorry, but unfortunately I won’t be able to schedule you for a walk-in meeting today. If you’d like I can set an appointment later this week-“

“I’m his fiancé” Zhongli interrupted “it’s a family emergency. I need to see him.”

“…I, one moment.”

Zhongli fidgeted with his engagement ring as the receptionist dialed an extension and waited for the line to pick up.

“Hello? Yes, I have a visitor for Tartaglia. Yes I- I understand however I have an unusual situation-Sir, what would you like me to do about- one moment.”

The receptionist held out the telephone to Zhongli with an apologetic smile.

The building worry threatened to suffocate him as he took it.

“Childe?”

“Hi sweetheart-“ by Celestia, he sounded tired, “what’s up?”

“You’re okay” Zhongli sighed with relief, Even though he’d tried not to think about it, he knew how dangerous Childe’s career was, and he had been fearing the worst.

“Yeah, I’m okay” he chuckled, “I’m at work, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I was just… worried. You haven’t answered my calls in a couple days and I was worried-“

“-shit, I’m so sorry!” Childe interjected, “fuck, I left my phone at my desk and I honestly haven’t been back to check it, by the Archons, I must’ve worried you sick-“

“It’s okay” Zhongli insisted, “You’re okay and that’s all the matters. You are doing alright, my love? You’ve never stayed this long at Northland, I’m concerned.”

“I’m fine, really “ Childe replied “a little more tired than usual, I’ve been going pretty much non-stop the past… what has it been now, four days? I lose track of time in here.”

“Where are you, Childe? I thought you said this was all meetings.”

The dull buzz of the telephone hung in the air.

“I.. I’m here at Northland, truly Zhongli, I know you’re worried but I’m just working away from my office.”

“Your car isn’t here” Zhongli replied.

Childe was faster to cover the second time “Ekaterina must be out, she sometimes takes the car to run work errands or pick up lunch-“

“Can I see you?” Zhongli pleaded “Just for a minute or two, I won’t keep you long, I just- I need to know you’re okay.”

Another pause.

“I… one second-“ Zhongli heard the soft thump of Childe’s palm covering the other end of the call and his muffled voice. He couldn’t make out what Childe was actually saying, just the timbre of his voice. He didn’t recognize the muffled reply Childe got, but his heart sunk at the agitated tone.

Zhongli heard more thumping as Childe adjusted the phone again,

“I’m sorry I worried you, of course it’s okay for you to see me, would you give the phone back to the receptionist? I’ll let her know it’s okay and someone will take you back- I’ll see you in a minute, okay? I love you.”

“I love you too” Zhongli barely registered handing the phone back to the receptionist, or the short conversation she had with Childe before hanging up. It was all he could do just to still his heart and not bolt through every hallway until he found Childe himself.

— — —

“You know, despite your incessant whining, taking a break isn’t going to make this any easier. In fact, it’ll actually most likely delay my research, we’ll probably have to reset at least the last hour’s worth of endurance testing-“

“What the fuck else was I supposed to tell him, Dottore?” Childe snapped back, “thanks to you I’ve been gone nearly a fucking week, and if you would’ve given me, I don’t know, maybe two minutes to check my phone in the past forty-eight hours, we wouldn’t even be fucking dealing with this-“

“Whatever you need to tell yourself to feel better, it’s not improving my research”

“Shove your research up your ass- and clean this shit up,” Childe gestured wildly to the blood-covered blades, blunt weapons, syringes, and various research equipment that was scattered about the room, “you think a phone call is bad? I don’t think even you want to know what’ll happen if he sees all this.”

Dottore stared back at Childe with what could only be described as a malevolent smile as Childe wobbled to his feet and limped out the door.

How in Teyvat was he going to fix this, he thought. Catching his murky reflection in the metallic hallway wall, he could see the maroon and purple gashes and bruises that mottled nearly every inch of exposed skin.

Wincing as he made his way down the hall and into his office, he prayed that he at least beat Zhongli and the receptionist to the room. He needed every available second to try and come up with some rational explanation as to why he looked half-dead.

Panicking, he quickly pulled a spare coat from a nearby closet and shrugged it on, hoping to cover as much of the damage as possible. He tugged at his pant legs to try and cover his bruised, broken ankles, and quickly summoned a small orb of hydro energy to try and scrub as much blood as he could from his face.

He barely had time to lean against his desk and feign relaxation before a very worried Zhongli was ushered through the door.

“Hi Xiangsheng-“ Childe was instantly silenced as Zhongli flung his arms around his neck. It took everything in him to not scream out in pain from the agitation to his various injuries, locking his jaw tightly and burying his face in the crook of Zhongli’s neck to hide the fact that his eyes were watering against his will.

“What’s going on?” Zhongli pulled back, gingerly resting his hand on Childe’s shoulder and absentmindedly toying with the end of his hair.

“It’s work” Childe soothed, willing his jaw to relax and forcing a weak smile “you know how it is.”

Zhongli’s eyes flickered to the top of Childe’s head,

“You’re bleeding-“

Pushing his hair off of his forehead and thumbing over his scalp, Zhongli frowned at the blood picked up by his fingertips.

“Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Zhongli begged, “You look exhausted, for some reason you’re wearing a coat in the middle of spring in Liyue, you haven’t talked to me in four days, you seem like you’re avoiding something, you’re clearly injured with no obvious cause, please- just, let me in…”

Zhongli cradled Childe’s face in his hand, his troubled expression softening as Childe leaned into his hand,

“I want to be there for you” Zhongli murmured, “even if there’s nothing I can do to help, I’m worried, please.”

Childe sighed as he hung his head forward, his temple leaning against Zhongli’s collarbone,

“Alright… I wasn’t lying when I said I’m stuck in meetings, that was at least the first day. There’s this… researcher- well, he’s really a doctor but that’s not the point-“

“A doctor?” Zhongli asked

“I think, that’s what he calls himself anyway- besides the point, he’s here for research, and… research with, me, specifically.”

“…Elaborate”

“The Tsaritsa, the other harbingers, basically everyone in her majesty’s service know about my… qualities, let’s say, from my time in The Abyss. But, beyond a surface level understanding and examples from my time in battle, nobody really knows the extent of what I can do, not even myself, to be frank, so there’s a doctor, here, on the Tsaritsa’s orders, researching my particular case. It’s happened a few times before, the past few days has been… endurance testing”

“Endurance…?”

Childe sighed, “it’d…. It’d be easier if I just showed you, I don’t want to get into the details, just… promise you wont freak out, okay?”

Slowly, Childe pulled away from Zhongli, rolling his shoulders with a small wince, he carefully shrugged off the hastily-grabbed coat, letting it pool at his feet as he unfastened his uniform top.

“…Ajax”

Childe flinched, avoiding Zhongli’s eyes,

“Really, it looks worse than it is-you and I both know I have above-average stamina, this was just… seeing how far it would go.”

“Ajax, look at me.”

Childe met Zhongli’s gaze with guilt tearing at his core, quickly morphing into genuine fear as he saw the barely restrained rage in Zhongli’s expression.

“What exactly was the goal here? I’ve seen corpses that were in better shape than you right now. Was the plan to just torture you to death? Let enough blades slice into you until you succumbed to blood loss? Beat you unconscious to see how many times you could take it before you didn’t wake up?”

“I have a duty to the Tsaritsa-“

“What would’ve happened if I hadn’t come here?”

…Childe didn’t have an honest answer to give him.

Zhongli slung one arm under Childe’s shoulder and tilted to carry most of his weight,

“We’re leaving-“

“I’m still not done with the research-“

“Drop it.”

Childe shuddered at the burning rage laced through Zhongli’s latest statement. He was quite afraid of Dottore, and even more afraid of what the Tsaritsa would do when she found out he disobeyed a direct order, but both paled in comparison to the sheer terror he felt at hearing that in Zhongli’s voice

— — —

“Qiqi, forceps, please”

“Forceps”

Childe hissed in pain as the shrapnel buried in his ribs was wiggled around and out of his flesh. Slowly, every bit of embedded weaponry was meticulously outlined and fished out of his skin. It’d been at least an hour and a half and he still wasn’t done.

That wasn’t even considering all the other categories of injury still to be addressed.

Zhongli’s hand ghosted gently over Childe’s, rubbing small circles into the iron-tight grip his knuckles had on the bed railing.

“Thank you again, Baizhu.” Zhongli said, “truly, I’m beyond words.”

“My pleasure” Baizhu replied “I must say, I’m fascinated that you’ve not only managed to not succumb to your injuries, but also still somehow stay conscious. If you wouldn’t mind, I’d be interested in researching-“

“Absolutely not” Zhongli said coldly. Seeing the surprised look from both Childe and Baizhu, he sighed

“I apologize, I mean no disrespect, that simply is not a possibility.”

“It’s no matter” Baizhu said breezily, seemingly ignoring the suppressed whine from his patient as he pulled a particularly tight suture “I’ve already made quite a few discoveries just in this work so far.”

“Lovely” Childe hissed through gritted teeth, earning a sharp frown from Zhongli.

“I should warn you” Baizhu continued, “While I have no problem respecting your privacy, I am required by oath to report this to the Qixing; the amount of damage I’ve assessed is clearly criminal assault.”

“Consider it done” Zhongli replied “I will be discussing this with the Tianquan Ningguang myself.”

“Xiangsheng-“

“This is not up for debate.”

“Can you just-“ Childe groaned as he sat up a few centimeters, earning a firm push to the shoulder from both Baizhu and Zhongli “think about this for a second?”

“It has already been decided.”

“For just a moment” Childe said, “think about the political implications of that; for one minute, honestly.”

“What part of criminal assault are you not understanding-“

“So the Qixing get involved, yeah?” Childe retorted “even if they make a private investigation, word will get out that Liyue is making a direct accusation against the Tsaritsa; at least the leaders in Mondstat will find out, if not the general public of Teyvat.”

Childe sighed, head pressed against the pillow and massaging his temple,

“Think about how anyone in the Schneznayan service is going to react to that. Both  countries have sacrificed too much- you have sacrificed too much for an active conflict to start over me fulfilling my duty-“

“-I need to step out for a moment” Baizhu interrupted, “Qiqi, please fetch three rolls of gauze from the store room.”

“Gauze.” Qiqi repeated softly as she walked around the foot of the bed and out the door, her lilac braid trailing lazily behind her. Baizhu’s footsteps echoing across the tile behind her faded into a suffocating silence.

“…My love-”

“Don’t-“ Childe interrupted, “please, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Zhongli inched his chair closer to the bedside, watching as Childe screwed his eyes shut, angrily swiping his knuckles across his tear-stained cheeks.

Archons, he was in so much pain.

“My love…” Zhongli carded his hand through Childe’s damp hair, “What you have gone through, is completely beyond your duty to the Tsaritsa. While your loyalty is undeniably admirable, you don’t have to do this-“

“-I owe her my life-“

“I am owed your life as well-“ Zhongli argued.

Childe blinked back in surprise, confusion written across his face.

“I made a promise to share the rest of my life with you,” Zhongli’s free hand coming to Childe’s cheek, “share, Ajax, not sit idly as you risk your life again and again-“

“-you know me” Childe interrupted, his voice tight with unshed tears, “you know who I am, you know what I am… You know how this is going to end, how I’m going to end-“

“Stop” Zhongli interrupted “I will not hear a word of this. You deserve kindness, Ajax. You deserve a chance to live a normal life-“

“Nothing about this is normal” Childe murmured, “nothing about me is normal. My entire life has been one freak string of luck and if you’re looking for normal then I’m sorry but you picked the wrong person-“

Zhongli’s gaze was drawn to Childe’s hands, knotted in the white sheets, he watched as Childe fidgeted with his engagement ring, the ring sliding further and further down his finger as his shaking hands seemingly fought with his own mind about what he was even doing.

“Shh” Zhongli reached and took Childe’s left hand, gently flattening his palm and sliding Childe’s engagement ring back to its rightful place, “Baobei, look at me.”

Childe’s cobalt eyes, glassy and rimmed red with tears, met Zhongli’s steady, tawny gaze.

“I made a promise,” Zhongli said “to you, to myself, to Celestia itself, that you are who I am going to spend this life with. You, Baobei, wholly and utterly you, not the version of yourself that never went through your hardships that lives in your own mind.”

Childe hiccuped, fresh tears tracking down his face as his grip on Zhongli’s hand tightened.

“You are resilient, my love, not damaged, or broken. You have lived through things no one deserves to endure, that others could not endure, and yet you found your way to me.”

Zhongli pressed a soft kiss to Childe’s temple, feeling his beloved tremble slightly beneath his lips as the harbinger fought to breathe between shuddering, tearful breaths.

“I’m not going anywhere” Zhongli murmured against Childe’s skin, “I promise.”

Childe cried out as he threw his arms around Zhongli’s shoulders, burying his face in Zhongli’s neck and sobbing in earnest now. Zhongli held him steady, murmuring quiet nothings in Childe’s hair and wrapping both arms around his waist.

—

Zhongli had made peace with the fact that he could not go back and change the past. Archon that is was, it was a gift he still did not possess. Godhood, he found, was not ultimate power.

The future, however, he had decided, was his to mold as he wished. His ego had calmed with time, shifting from the War God Morax to Rex Lapis, the God of Contracts, before finally becoming Zhongli; the closest he had ever come to one of his mortal subjects. He had little want to transform the very earth and people upon it these days as he had in his youth.

Little, but not none.

As Childe clung, trembling, to his body across the cold metal of the hospital bed, Zhongli made another vow.

The “doctor”, would pay for what he did. The Tsaritsa herself would pay for her orders, and Zhongli would see it through as he lived his chosen life:

with his beloved at his side.

🌸

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading! I will admit, this one has been sitting in the drafts for a while lol. I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go with it at first and I wanted to publish it after it was completed, rather than updating in segments. Kudos and comments are always appreciated, and if you're interested in seeing my other work, please check out my author page here on ao3 or any of my other platforms through my carrd! [https://ferdvonvestra.carrd.co]

[skyllion-uwu]

Old school forums really are the best place to find information on software, that was a really easy tutorial to follow. Unfortunately the author seems to have never made any follow-ups so I'll have to look for other RPG Maker tutorials

Anyways, I'm making a short RPG to get a feel for RPG Maker 2003, which is also an excuse to develop my isekai parody OCs. It's called "I died & woke up in a fantasy world?!" but that's a placeholder title for now since it's. Not the catchiest. Anyways, it's a prequel to "Hit and Run! In this Mundane World", so it'll be based on Shiko's adventure through Phitania to (though more likely just be like one small snippet). I'll just be tagging it under "h&r!" since it's part of that story. I'm just going "FUCK IT WE BALL" as I make it so we'll see what happens! I definitely need to rewrite the intro since Shiko is out of character in it

I also wanna make a couple YNFGs, one being an idea I've been calling "W?" (Short for Who What When Where Why?). There's another that I should make sure I can make since it was more like a hypothetical one my friend and I were talking about and I wanna make sure I could actually work on it so I'm not talk about it but anyways I wanna make that into a real thing too

I need to look into how to add my own assets, but I got a bunch of free music off the rpgmaker website that can be used for non-commercial releases so that's nice! Need to learn pixel art too but right now I just want to get a feel for the software and using it before I start going "I can't work on the game because my art sucks"

[autistic-partisan]

#stimabc: a single word stimboard prompt list (wip)

if anyone wants to do this: prompts can be interpreted as broadly or strictly as you want. feel free to change any of them for yourself, the only important part is that you have a one word prompt corresponding to each letter. you dont have to credit me, but if you tag me here or @nanmo-wakaran i can reblog your boards (i only reblog to the latter blog. i won't reblog boards that don't properly credit their gif sources, or if i am in op's dni. anyone can join tho i don't think this is a super original idea)

a is for alien

b is for blood

c is for clear

d is for dragon

e is for egg

f is for fly

g is for ghost

h is for hero

i is for ice

j is for jelly

k is for key

l is for love

m is for meme

n is for neon

o is for occult

p is for pink

q is for quiet

r is for rose

s is for science

t is for train

this is kind of a placeholder so that i can link it now and just update this when i have a full prompt list.

[nimuetheseawitch]

WIP Tag Game

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet of it or tell them something about it.

Thanks for tagging me @marley-manson!

I have Stargate and MASH WIPs right now and a lot of them have placeholder names, so here goes:

Stargate Atlantis

Dear John

Dear Rodney

Rodney McKay Goes to Maine

Teylabeth PWP

Homewrecker

AMTDI

Oceanographer fic

Stargate SG-1

5 times Vala was married and 1 time she fell in love

M*A*S*H

First Reunion

Letters to Trapper

Letters from Home

BJ is the worst

Lying BJ

O Club AU

FlaggBurning Fic

There are also a handful of very shelved WIPs that I probably won’t ever get back to (including a Star Trek Voyager idea), so you can also ask for one of those, and I’ll give you something random from the WIP graveyard!

Feel free to tag yourself!

[scaryscarecrows]

Antoine: Highly praiseworthy, priceless one. Antoine is named entirely for an officer of Napoleon, though he developed his ride-or-die tendencies later.

Frank: Free. I was thinking of M*A*S*H at the time, though given that 'Frank' is a family name for him (the first Frank was the first landowner in their family!) that...fits well.

Mark: Warlike. (Many Marks I have known are dickish. Maybe that's why.) Mark is a placeholder name for me, it's just this time, it stuck.

Trent: The flooder. 'Trent' just seemed like a good name for a Big Dude.

Jimmy (James): the supplanter. Line of sight, guys. I was literally looking at my Captain America/Winter Soldier Pops at the time.

Riley: either 'woods clearing' or 'courageous/valiant'. I just liked the name, but honestly, the second one fits.

Kitty (Katrina): pure. No. Kitty's name was chosen in conjunction with Jonathan Crane's--if he's named for Ichabod, she's named for Katrina. Literary Katrina dodged a bullet, though. Ten kids and moving out west? FUCK that.

Dove: bird of peace. Dove's name was chosen for two reasons: one, to fit in with Oswald's fondness for birds and two, because 'soiled dove' is old-timey slang for 'sex worker', her old job and a massive shaping force of her life today.

Not mine, but still fun:

Jonathan: gift from God. UH-UH. He is a scourge unto your home, as is his right.

Jason: healer. Maybe? He healed Bruce, a little, from being overly angsty without Dick around. And then look what happened, so I don't know.

Tagging anyone who wants it, because I'm doing this right before work and I gotta cruise!

OC Name Meanings

I've done this before agessss ago, and I have since added some OCs so I figured I would do an updated version!

Rules: Share your OC's full name and the meaning/origins behind it. Then (if you'd like) include any insights or symbolic meanings about their name you wish to share, or just your reasons for giving them the name that you did!

Please note that I am not a name expert, and most of these origins and meanings were found through simple internet searches, so apologies if any of them are wrong!

Tagging: @cillmequick @moral-terpitude @red-riding-wood @shelbydelrey @rysko @brummiereader @peakyswritings @look-at-the-soul @runnning-outof-time @cassieuncaged @peakyltd @call-sign-shark @zablife @scaryscarecrows and anyone else who would like to participate!

Lucy Josephine Winters (Peaky Blinders)

Lucy Origin: Latin Meaning: light, light bringer

When choosing Lucy's name, I was looking for something that would fit with the time period, but also had a modernness to it, since Lucy is a very modern woman for her time. I've loved the name for a long time, so it was an easy choice. I also really loved the meaning of "light bringer," since she very much is a continued source of happiness for Tommy throughout the series, and generally has a very warm, bright presence. I also liked the little nod towards Lucifer in her name! (Had I not already had an OC named Lily, I would have considered using that as well as a reference to the demon Lilith, who Lucy in many ways parallels).

Josephine Origin: Hebrew Meaning: Jehovah increases

I'm gonna be completely honest here, I picked this name primarily because I liked the way it flowed with her first and last name, and it fit in the time period her series takes place in. It also felt like the type of name her father, a deeply religious man, would have chosen to give her. He wanted it to be her first name, but her mother convinced him to use it as a middle name since her heart was set on naming her daughter Lucy.

Winters Origin: German, Dutch Meaning: winter, cold season

I've been in love with this surname since I first started making OCs as a kid, and I was ecstatic to finally get the chance to use it. I wanted something that would connect Lucy to nature, and I particularly like the imagery that her surname invokes, and how the harsh cold of winter somewhat offsets the softness of her first name. Lucy certainly has a softness and warmth to her, but she can also be cold and incredibly merciless, particularly to her enemies. At the same time, there is a beauty to winter, despite the cold, that I think also fits Lucy and her unique, almost untouchable beauty well.

Vanessa Charlotte Sullivan (The Dark Knight Trilogy)

Vanessa Origin: English Meaning: butterfly

I love the name Vanessa so much, and she was very much the type of character who popped into my head more or less fully formed, name and all. I liked the amount of nickname options it gave me, and the symbolism of the butterfly fits very well with her transformation at the beginning of her series, from an innocent, abused child into a psychopathic serial killer.

Charlotte Origin: French Meaning: free man, petite

The symbolism of this name was just too good to pass up: Vanessa is very free and wild in her inhibitions, and also very tiny (don't tell her I said that, though; she might stab me). I also think it's very chic-sounding, and Vanessa very much cuts a classy figure, especially during her time as a psychiatrist at Arkham.

Sullivan Origin: Gaelic, Irish Meaning: hawk eyed, little dark eyed one, dark eyes

Again, the symbolism here was just perfect. Vanessa's dark eyes are a very important feature, as is the way she is able, through seemingly just a simple glance, to understand so much about a person. Her observation skills are part of what makes her such a good scientist and doctor, and such a dangerous adversary should you end up on her bad side.

Alice Claire Emerson (Inception)

Alice Origin: German, French Meaning: noble, exalted

Alice is, despite her quiet nature, very brave, but I mainly chose this name because I liked to connection to Alice in Wonderland which I felt to be very fitting considering her work in dream sharing.

Claire Origin: French Meaning: bright, clear

Like with Lucy, Alice has a very warm presence about her. She's fun and sweet and just brightens any room she enters. She's Robert's primary source of love and happiness, and I liked how the meaning of this name conveys that.

Emerson Origin: English Meaning: brave, powerful, child of Emery

Emerson just flowed well with her first and middle name. It's another one of those surnames that I just have always liked the sound of, so I jumped at the opportunity to use it.

Daisy Meredith Preston (Dunkirk)

Daisy Origin: English Meaning: daisy, day's eye

Daisy is practically the embodiment of sunlight, which daisies are strongly associated with symbolically. Her warm, calming presence is part of what makes her such a good partner for Henry (the Shivering Soldier). I also used @henry-wilson's headcanon that Henry is a botanist, and therefore wanted to give the OC I planned to pair with him a flower name to connect to him in that way.

Meredith Origin: Welsh Meaning: great ruler

This is one where I actually focused more on the origin rather than the meaning. Daisy is from Wales, and so I wanted at least one out of her first and middle names to reflect that. I also felt that it flowed well with her first and last names, and fit the time period her series takes place in.

Preston Origin: English Meaning: priest, son of priest, farmstead

I didn't take the meaning of this name all that much into account when choosing it; mainly this was all about how nicely I felt it flowed with her first name. But considering her role in helping Henry along in his recovery after the events of Dunkirk, I suppose you could consider her almost a holy or redemptive figure in some ways.

Rosemary "Rose" Eleanor Mason (In Time)

Rosemary Origin: Latin Meaning: dew of the sea

Rose's full first name was really just a way to get to the nickname Rose.

Rose Origin: Latin Meaning: rose

In case you couldn't tell already, I'm a sucker for flower names. I love them so much, and I was just dying to use the name Rose because it's one of my all time favorites. Rose is spunky and a bit more rough around the edges than some of my other OCs, so I felt the imagery of a rose with thorns fit her very well!

Eleanor Origin: French Meaning: light hearted, shining light

This was picked less for symbolic reasons, and more just for flow with the first and last name.

Mason Origin: French, English Meaning: stoneworker

Rose comes from a very poor upbringing, and I liked how this surname reflected that. It also continued to represent her work as a Timekeeper, even after her escape from poverty, as she continues hard labor that it often just as difficult as trying to carve into stone.

Lily Elizabeth Callaghan (Platoon)

Lily Origin: Greek, Latin, English Meaning: lily, pure

This is one of favorite names of all time, so of course I gave it to my first official OC. The delicacy, both in the sound of the name and the imagery it encourages, works very well with Lily. She truly is in many ways a fragile, pure flower.

Elizabeth Origin: Hebrew Meaning: God's promise, God is my oath

Elizabeth is another name I really liked, and I always thought it would make a pretty middle name. I debated making it Lily's first name, since Lily can be a nickname for Elizabeth, but I ultimately made it her middle name. I admittedly didn't pay much attention to the name's meaning when I picked it; I just thought it was pretty.

Callaghan Origin: Irish Meaning: bright headed, contention, strife

To offset the extreme softness and fragileness of Lily, I gave her the surname Callaghan which, while maintaining the theme of softness throughout the name, has a bit more bite in its meaning. I liked the contrast between the meanings of "bright headed" and "strife" which I think does a good job symbolizing Lily's opposing natures. Lily is a warm, sweet person, but she's also a little standoffish and shy to an extreme that can come across as cold. The meaning of "strife" helps to convey some of her internal struggles.