#really pulling on my own space out experiences here lol

[lexicorp]

Transformers Earthspark: Another Place, Another Prison

Unicron is ultimate cosmic boogyman and it's great and I rlly couldn't resist getting him in the lore-

The opening scene for this chapter is decently inspired by that one scene in TF kingdom with the disk bs. I like giving him both those intense and subtle notes. It's really the TFP vs Armada for me again lol.

Other than that fun stuff, the rest of the chapter is Starscream interacting with Jackie and a couple of the Maltos. Our lad is struggling so much with all the slag he's got in his processor. It was /so/ gd tricky writing this chapter with it's style of pacing and reflecting his fragged up mental state with him being dissociated and jumping between points in time in his head. Navigating the other's character's behavior and his towards it is certainly wild af too istg.

This chap got so long-

Previous Chapter: Obligation

First Chapter: The Need For Read

Next Chapter: Distractions

Chapter 14: Not All Scars Can Be Welded

There was this surrounding, choking, all consuming pressure. Then, Starscream’s optics fell upon the planet-sized force looming before him. He was capable of nothing but to stand in limbo amongst the shards of metal, rock, and dim stars who were the only promise of anything else beyond this carnage.

It was Unicron. 

This couldn’t possibly be real. The Planet Eater, Chaos Bringer, harbinger of doom, and twin to Primus himself. Here? Now? Impossible. Yet his cursed spark dared to foolishly argue otherwise.

Starscream squinted into the light emanating from the serrated pit that illuminated him, and someone else. Meridian. That wretched creature in the state he’d been when he should have perished. Hardly human at all, with all his disgusting augmentations, combining what bit of organics he had left within his mechanical frame. It was impressively worse than his original body. Mandroid indeed. He should have stayed in that smelting pit where he belonged. 

Unfortunately, Meridian remained. Talking with Unicron. As if the pest could offer anything to a god. 

What were they saying?

Against Starscream’s better judgement, he attempted to drift closer. Although he still made certain to find a sizable asteroid to hide behind. Perhaps they were distracted, and hadn’t noticed him yet.

“There is no need for you to come here yourself, Unicron.” Meridian was apparently attempting to uselessly plead his case. “With what power you have given me now, we are perfectly capable of ridding Earth of any remaining Cybertronians. That is all that matters.”

His answer was a chaotic cacophony of hissed whispers that could hardly be parsed out from one another. Some words. Some screams. Some cracks that Starscream could practically feel what, or who, they belonged to. The noise attempting to strangle his processor with its weight. 

Then, a proclamation distinguished itself with cold certainty. 

“You fail to comprehend my purpose. Meridian.” 

There was a chilling silence. Starscream had gripped his optics and forced them shut. But he could still see it. Those whispers too, still reverberating in his audials.

…

Then suddenly came Meridian’s voice in turn, croaking out his demand yet again. The ignorant fool. “Your purpose is no concern of mine. I only need you to help me destroy those Transformers. MY purpose, is to rid the human race of their vile influence. The destruction of Earth as a whole is hardly an option. If you want to devour a planet, why don’t we go for Cybertron? Surely that would be more worthwhile.”

 “I will spare your pathetic planet, IF…you destroy the Matrix.”

The Matrix? Why would Unicron make any sort of bargain with this mandroid? Did the Matrix of Leadership hold power that threatened even the Chaos Bringer himself? 

A flicker of amusement came to Starscream at the thought of Unicron being afraid of a glorified, privileged trinket. What, would the Prime opening his chest plate to flashbang them into oblivion all it would take? He couldn’t help but laugh. Out of all the powers of the Primes, and Primus himself; that was what the Planet Eater was fixating himself on now? Sure, Optimus Prime was insufferable, but Starscream thought it absurd that he’d again be set to be a savior against the oldest evil in Cybertronian history. 

“Of course.” Meridian stated with falsely placed confidence and a trace of annoyance. “I’ll make sure to leave nothing left of them, this time.” 

Such promises. 

Did this arrogant hunk of flesh and scrap really believe he had the capability of doing such a thing? Starscream hadn’t been able to destroy the Autobots with the power the corrupted stone had given him. How dare this fool think he could do any better. What advantage did he think he had? The pathetic glitch was only a figment of Starscream’s impressive imagination. With what army? With what weaponry? Clearly Mandroid’s plan had only gone so far as “I want them dead” and nothing towards how he was even going to accomplish it. If he thought that he’d suddenly be able to single handedly take the Prime and the others down–just because he had weaseled his way into Starscream’s circuits by some will of Unicron–he was going to have a rude awakening. 

Starscream wasn’t going to be a part of this nonsense. This story his processor was concocting in his recharge this time was certainly a unique one, but hardly believable. He was quite certain now that this was only an odd nightmare. Visions of Unicron and this Mandroid conspiring some slag about the Matrix? Please. Ridiculous. How unrealistic can you get?

He didn’t need to stay here. How did lucid dreaming work again? Did he only have to think of a door or–

“S t a r s c r e a m.”

Meridian was gone. Starscream was now where he had been instead. Right in front of Unicron. And getting closer. Like he was the next in line to be devoured. 

Unicron spoke Starscream’s designation like it was a javelin made of frozen titanium. Sent straight through the spark, and pulling him forward as it remained locked inside his frame. Forcing his attention directly into that Primus damned Pit. Clicks of those jagged spires within Unicron’s maw were like ticks of a metronome for the encore of harsh whispers echoing from within it. Talking directly to him. The chaotic bouts of knowledge urged themselves to be known in a way a parasite ached to feed on its host. Taking more than anything that was given. It constricted any of Starscream’s own thoughts with only this visceral, impending promise. With a command that aimed to carve its way into his code. 

He didn’t want to hear it.

It wasn’t real. 

Unicron wasn’t real. He refused to believe any of what he was seeing would happen. It couldn’t. He wouldn’t be a part of it.

“Y o u  W I L L  s e r v e  y o u r  p u r p o s e.  T h e r e  i s  N O  e s c a p i n g  i t  S t a r s c r e a m.”

No.

This…WAS real.

And yet. As his optics and audials burned and glitched wildly to spite him. As his vents refused to open. As he felt the sickening sound of the entrance of the destroyer’s mouth closing behind him. 

Starscream ripped his helm from his servos, and as soon as he truly witnessed what was inside with unwanted clarity; he woke up.

***

Starscream shot straight to attention with a sharp gasp paired with an intense need to transform, and jet out of wherever he was now. But when he attempted to do so, his systems countered the command as soon as the blasted thing on his ped got in the way. Instead, his thrusters sputtered and launched him back against a wall.

The crimson lightning was flickering erratically, some of it taking on an oddly more violet hue. Starscream attempted to focus on his servo, feeling out the solid surfaces at his wings and peds. Then began refocusing his optics to what was around him. The berth in this ridiculous room the Malto’s made him. The posters with his seekers and that one with Megatron getting shot in the faceplate. That stupid Bumblebee lamp he now recognized he held a shard of. There were those two human adults, too. Twitch, and the hum of her rotors. She was holding a rather protective stance in front of her guardians... 

Then there was Wheeljack. “Primus Starscream, ya always know how ta make an entrance, don't cha?” His servo was extended carefully at a respectable distance with no weapon in sight. “Ya really gotta stop tryna break my things as soon as I fix ‘em, y’know.” Wheeljack nodded to the device that’d interrupted Starscream’s escape. Right…

He stared blankly at the servo and the mech attached to it. There was a mech attached to it. Starscream was in the Malto’s underground residence. The future still plagued his processor, no better than the past. Yet what he needed, was the present. He needed to know that THIS was what was real. No Megatron. No Unicron. 

Starscream’s wings shuttered and he managed a shaky in-vent. That strange strategy Hashtag had shown him, could only do so much it seemed. It was painfully hard to focus. He felt numb. While at the same time like he could purge his tank at one wandering thought. So, he tightly gripped the sharp fragment of that porcelain lamp until he could feel a light drip of energon from his digits, while he lifted the other in an undecided attempt at taking Wheeljack’s offer. Part of him wanted to know with concrete certainty that it wasn’t an illusion. Another dreaded the thought of the potential, undesired answer. 

So he hesitated. Locked in place. His gaze focused on scrutinizing Wheeljack’s faceplate. Searching for a clear solution that could give him the confidence to take that chance. It shouldn’t be so hard. Starscream was air commander, and leader to the Decepticons; he could take a mech’s fragging servo. It’s never killed anyone before. Wheeljack was harmless enough anyway. Unless he had a shock switch in his palm or somehow rigged it to blow. Although the former sounded far more like something Skywarp had done. There should be nothing to worry about. Acknowledging this mech’s non-threatening gesture wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“You alright…? Are ya gonna take my servo or what? Did ya knock your processor loose again?” Wheeljack fidgeted as he was apparently not too fond of the staring contest that Starscream was clearly winning. “Y’know ya gotta get up for me ta take a look at that.”

Starscream shuttered his optics and finally took hold of Wheeljack’s servo, who instantly helped pull him up from his awkward position. Even moving to intercept when Starscream faltered with a wave of dizziness. It was odd. Not just the uncomfortable air of concern, but the physical contact itself. He was led back to the berth to sit down again, and he began to recognize the toolbox and energon pack hovering nearby on a cart. That was why Wheeljack was here. Starscream had gotten into an altercation with Megatron, of course he’d needed repairs…

He released the lamp shard and remembered how his servo hadn’t been there in his last memory file before he went offline. Now, the only thing wrong with it was his minor, self-inflicted cut. Starscream distantly wondered if his buzz saw had been replaced. When he attempted to transform it out–nothing. Unfortunate, but unsurprising. 

Wheeljack took the shard and gave him a firm look. “I’m gonna need ya ta say something Screamer. I ain’t exactly an expert on processor damage, but your helm was pretty banged up there. You can hear what I’m saying right?” Twitch, too, flew up to land on Wheeljack’s shoulder and held an inquisitive, expectant expression.

Starscream looked up at them and attempted to operate his vocalizer. He couldn’t have forgotten how to speak. That would be absurd. But he couldn’t think of the correct words. What was he supposed to say?

 “Uuuuhh…” After a ridiculous moment of frustrated confusion at such a simple thing, something clicked, and he finally remembered. “Yes! Yes. I am…present. I’m fine. I’m sure your repairs were quite sufficient, Wheeljack. Although I will say I am surprised I have not found any experimental augmentation in place of my servo after your tinkering. How unlike you.” He smirked at the inventor with an air of disappointment, and a hope for any sort of entertaining conversation.

There was a predictable glint in Wheeljack’s optic at the prod. “Oh you bet I thought about it!” He pulled up his holoscreen and sifted through a slew of blueprints for potentially devastating or overly equipt servos. “Like this one! How cool would it be if you could have a built-in grappling hook?? A magnetizer ray? A projectile shield generator? Or! Or, get this. Each digit could activate a different function if you clicked it right! You could have a little blowtorch, a welder, a scalpel, a screwdriver with adjustable sizes, a laser pointer, a tiny little gun that shoots paint or condensed notecards–”

“Oh!” Twitch inserted herself in front of the screen excitedly to select a servo of her choice. “Don’t forget this one! A super stinger based off of Bee’s! It’d stasis lock ‘em for twice the time, and could have melty laser ultra charge mode!!”

Wheeljack sighed wistfully. “Aw but Prowl didn’t want me givin’ ya any more weapons. It’s a waste of a perfectly good opportunity to upgrade if ya ask me. I for one think that they should have allowed me to at least beta test my newest blaster model. I mean, what’s the fun in fixin’ things if ya ain’t gonna make em better?”

Starscream examined his plain servo again. He didn’t particularly have any urge to change it. He only wanted his own gear back. All the same, such additions could be quite interesting. “I couldn’t agree more. It truly is such a shame that they would continue to restrict your creative instincts in such a way. I certainly wouldn’t be opposed to offering my services, if you so wish.”

“Eh, eh. Don’t make it sound like a deal now. You know I can’t resist testing my tech; but even if it pains me, and I don’t like it, Prowl might have a point.” Wheeljack paused as he seemed to only be attempting to convince himself of this so that he wouldn’t defy his superiors orders. He squinted his optics, “About the weapons at least…”

“Yeah, I mean, Scream can’t really be trusted with a firearm—But you know who totally CAN handle it Dad 2??” Twitch fluttered next to Wheeljack’s faceplate with pleading, mischievous optics. “Me. It’s me. Please. I want a literal firearm. I need it.”

 “Oh nuh uh, young bot.” Dorothy spoke up as she came closer to them from the door, and looked up with a stern glare. “You are not getting a flamethrower or some unstable laser arm attached to you. Do you realize how dangerous that'd be? No. You are perfect the way you are. No experimental upgrades.”

Starscream scoffed. “What, do you not find her capable of operating anything more than a meager base form blaster? If she is not given the opportunity to even attempt it, it is quite insulting to assume. Sure, Wheeljack’s device could backfire, melt the rest of her arm off, or send her flying into oblivion; but isn't that the thrill of discovery? Why not let it play out.” He looked to Wheeljack expectantly. Such a remark would surely get him revving. If not in some form of defense, then perhaps he’d even agree with him. The explosive technician had always been one for pushing the boundaries of practicality. And, he knew it often came with the sacrifice of equipment through trial and error. A loss of a limb was nothing if only an annoying inconvenience. It’d be an informative experience for the little drone. 

Instead, Dorothy’s stupid conjunx inserted his extension to her opposition. “While I am just as excited about the idea of the stinger of the future–that does not sound safe. Couldn't you test it out from a distance? Or without attaching it to yourself?” 

Wheeljack hesitated a moment in contemplation. That was far more boring than his sudden bouts of incessant rambling. “I suppose my drones respond quite well to field testing. I don't see why not. Twitch could still be my assistant, from a safe distance.” He winked at her, and Starscream felt a touch offended at being ignored. 

He glared at those disgusting humans and an image flickered in his processor. Meridian as he was with G.H.O.S.T, and Mandroid as he was in the end. He was there one moment, and gone the next as Starscream adjusted his optics. Primus he needed to realign his attention on whatever stupid slag was being discussed beside him…

Twitch was apparently happy with that compromise, and now was energetically whirling around them in her alt mode. The others seemed to find something amusing. Then his servo was lifted by some force he didn’t immediately connect the source of. He felt that constricting, weightless pressure again. He tried to focus on the material being wrapped around the insignificant injury, but his digits felt strange. He gripped the edge of the birth until he could finally feel the scrapes his claws dug into the metal.

The clicks in his audials suddenly turned to snaps of another mech’s digits. “Hey now, stay with us here Screamer. I really gotta take another look at your helm.” Wheeljack reached for a scanner and dent detailer. “Twitch asked ya a question.”

Starscream blinked to shake the odd lighting and blurriness from his optics. “What?” 

“I asked what happened with you and Megs!” Twitch abruptly popped up far too close to his faceplate with her servos on her hips as she leaned forward.

He flinched and instinctively pushed her away. “Why don’t you ask him? It’s not as if you will believe my tale of events anyway.”

Twitch scoffed with a rev of her rotors and crossed her arms in a huff. “Maybe I will if you’re gonna be a jerk about it!”

“Hold on Twitch.” Dorothy of course needed to assert her own opinion on the matter. Clearly she was gearing up a backhanded affirmation of her bias for her pet warlord. “Starscream, we still want to know your side on the matter. If we’re going to make this work, we need to be able to trust each other, be honest, and work it out when bad things happen.” 

Or…not? Why would Megatron’s agent be interested in playing the part of an impartial judge? What was this slag? Make WHAT work? He still couldn’t figure out what this even was! They say one thing, then flip around with some other fragging angle like they couldn’t even decide what they’re own intentions were! He wasn't the one misunderstanding these things. Right? No. No, they just…were trying to mess with him. This was some sort of trap. 

He’d love to play along, really. His first instinct had been to do just that when he’d first entered this little box of familial load of scrap. But it was an impossible charade to keep up for long. They wouldn’t believe him. Especially if he constantly got hung up on every little nonsensical sentiment they threw at him.

Starscream again found difficulty in parsing out the words from all those chaotic bouts of data in his processor. “...You can’t be serious.”

“Why not?” Wheeljack retorted plainly as he reached over to meddle around with Starscream’s helm. “The whole point of this is for ya to eventually come on our side, right?”

“You expect me to believe that’s what you all are doing this for!?” He smacked away Wheeljack’s servos and attempted to stand, but only fumbled a bit of distance between them on the berth. “All for your sudden interest in becoming allies!? This only came about because you realized that I wouldn’t remain a passive prisoner so easily. With whatever had infected my spark from Quitus’ blasted Emberstone, you’re afraid of me. Admit it. And you couldn’t think of any better way of keeping me in line than this slag! I’m not stupid. You can’t–” He was shaking again with those sparks of lightning being incapable of deciding whether they wanted to be crimson or violet, and he choked out a laugh. “You can’t make me believe this again. I…I know Megatron only wants me around to–to be his–I–all any of you want is to control me for your own goals! Well I don’t! And if I said that I was only trying to gain some distance between myself and that deranged tyrant, you’d call me a coward. If I said that I had only defended myself, you’d justify his actions like everyone always does. Because, oh right, it must have been Starscream’s fault–Megatron never lashes out unprovoked! I TOLD him to leave me alone! HE NEVER LISTENS!”

Wheeljack held his servo’s up defensively. “It’s alright Starscream, calm down. We’re listenin’, promise. Ya don’t needa yell. I’m right next to ya.”

Starscream put his own servo up to his helm and forced his vents to cycle in a rhythm he tapped out with a digit. He was calm. He was a professional at keeping his Primus damned composure. They were the unreasonable ones. 

But…it wasn't growing into a screaming match. Wheeljack wasn't throwing any of his tools. Dorothy, for whatever reason, had actually advocated for hearing him out. That just didn't make sense. It all didn’t feel right. It was wrong. They were…wrong. 

“I’m not yelling.” He snapped defiantly, and maybe he had been, but no one ever heard him otherwise.

“But–Megs HAD to go and get you ‘cause you ran off!” Twitch sounded confused and upset, even as she began to detail that same slag yet again. Now that made more sense. “You guys didn’t have to fight about it! Megatron wouldn’t–”

Then, Dorothy interjected again. “I know Megatron is better with his fists than his words on some days, and I know you two have quite the history of this sort of thing. So, it sounds like you weren’t even trying to defy our arrangement, but just got spooked and bolted when Megs showed up. Is that right?”

Did she really…well, even if she did, clearly all it would take was one little thing for her to show where her allegiances lied once again. All the same, he felt a different sort of pain within him at the thought. He wanted so desperately for anyone to listen to him, to understand. He’d thought Hashtag had understood, but now he wasn’t sure where they stood, and couldn’t shake the feeling that it was his fault. Like he ruined one good thing he could have had with her. Now, his helm and spark was a slagging mess, and he couldn’t do it again. He didn’t want to sabotage even the mere chance that…maybe this human might actually be more than he first thought. As unbelievable as it may be.

Starscream couldn’t look away from her. It was absurd. He couldn’t get himself to respond. He didn’t want to admit he feared Megatron. He didn’t want to appear weak. He was already shaking and probably looked stupid. 

He tried to straighten his posture and pull his servo from his helm to tightly grip the other on his lap. He fixed his wings to be neutral. Everything was still spinning, but he could handle it. He could answer them, and maybe Twitch could achieve a similar understanding as her guardian. 

“...Something like that.” Starscream adjusted his expression to be professional, paired with his calculated presentation. His claws began to dig into the minute lacerations through the patch, and it aided in focusing his processor. “I had assumed he was here to enact some sort of repercussions for my lackluster performance in this whole redemption slag. Surely I’ve crossed off a plethora of deplorable actions over the course of this trial period. Attacking Bumblebee that one time over a stupid game…I’m sure plenty other things as well with whatever parameters you discussed with him when I arrived. Although he certainly doesn’t often require an excuse to toss canonfire in my direction. So, my intent was to avoid that, then my condition instigated things. A warning shot does not equate to an invitation.” His vocalizer was distant, although he could still clearly define it as his own, which was an oddly comforting thought. 

“I…guess that makes sense.” Twitch looked uncomfortable as she folded her arms across her chest plate in a similar manner Hashtag often did. “But he wasn't going to do that. You haven't been THAT bad. I expected worse honestly.” Her snark returned with a smirk as she tilted her helm.  

Dorothy sighed. “I admit I did as well. THAT was what me and Megatron had been discussing that day. He was actually trying to convince me to give you a chance, Starscream. Calm my nerves. I was…hesitant to let you near my family.” She held onto her conjunx’s servo more tightly, and he returned her cue by leaning closer before watching Starscream carefully again. “But, I agreed because it seemed important to him. And…I remembered what I had told Nightshade. Everyone deserves a second chance. I promise that we aren't keeping score of every little thing you do. As long as no one gets hurt, you are allowed to be, eeh… well. You. We’re all navigating this “redemption slag” the best we can.”

“Yeah! Megatron isn't gonna beat you up for calling Uno stupid, that’d be dumb!” Oh the little drone would be quite surprised to hear the stupid things that had elicited that reaction from her beloved buckethead. 

 “Ah yes, it would. Wouldn't it?” Starscream acknowledged Twitch’s ridiculous comment before turning his attention back to the human. He had to force his wings to be neutral again when they attempted to tense with that Primus damned electricity behind him. “It’s equally difficult for me to believe that a human would be so willing to offer such patience, and not jump at the chance to put a bot in their place. It seems to be so invigorating for you, after all.” Mandroid glitched across his optics again, and he glared at the spector as he gripped his servo more harshly. 

Dorothy’s faceplate wrinkled in an odd way. Perhaps she was offended. “G.H.O.S.T doesn't represent all of us. They're gone for a reason.”

Wheeljack was beginning to pack up his tools. “Yeah those folks were quite the control freaky type. Always in my business and worryin’ bout my inventions like I was trying to blow us all up or something.” 

“And Dr. Meridian was…troubled.” Alex added. “While I may not like you Starscream, I’d never enjoy inflicting that sort of punishment. That's just wrong. Although I am certainly not above grounding a grown bot if I have to!” 

“I’m already grounded.”

That made the human falter. “What? No you're–well–were we going to ground him for running away?” He looked to his conjunx for guidance. 

Dot blinked in confusion before coming back to her senses. “No. No, it was just a misunderstanding. Honey–” She was apparently actually referring to Starscream with such a ridiculous pet name. Humans were full of surprises– “grounding is like when you lose privileges after doing something wrong. Like when Mo and Thrash broke her window, we took their electronics away. That sorta thing.”

Starscream squinted his optics. “That still sounds quite accurate to my current level of restrictions.”

Twitch began to laugh. What about this was so funny? “OH MY GOD HE IS! Screamer’s grounded!” She began to absolutely lose it over this revelation. Did she have a screw loose?

“Huh…” Dorothy also seemed to be doing quite the equation. Her effort to correct Starscream on his knowledge of their terminology, only seemed to make her question her own. “I guess…wow.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her helm, looking a bit amused herself. “Okay, I guess that's about right. Theeeen the worst you’re gonna get is a timeout in your room or something, I don’t know.” This made Twitch laugh louder. “If anything, we’re just going to talk about it. Alright? There's no hitting each other. We use our words in this family.”

“Hm. Unless you count Megatron under that classification, I’m not convinced.” Starscream crossed his arms. Tapping a digit to an irregular rhythm as soon as he felt himself drifting again. 

“I promise Megatron isn’t going to hurt you. He just wants to talk. We were actually discussing before you woke up about deciding on a good time you two could try and figure things out. He really does want to fix things, and regrets what he’s done in the past. You just have to give him a chance.” She seemed…genuine. Even so, it was a foolish wish for him and Megatron to come to any sort of understanding.

Starscream scoffed and rolled his optics. “Megatron feeling any sort of regret for his actions? You’re joking. The slagger is a professional at rationalizing any inane decision he makes. He might want to talk to me, but I certainly do not wish to speak with him.” A malicious grin grew on his faceplate. “Let the mech suffer if he so desperately wishes to bask in my presence. I don’t owe him anything.”

Dorothy looked disappointed. “We won’t push it on you if you aren’t ready. But you two do need to talk at some point. You know you can’t avoid him forever.”

Then, as Wheeljack was beginning to exit the room, he was intercepted by Twitch. “Aw, are you leaving already??”

Wheeljack and Starscream locked optics as a moment of pause permeated the room. “‘Fraid so Twitch. My work here is done and I still got plenty of things to do back at base.” He looked away and disappeared around the corner with his supplies in servo. “You’re welcome to come with if ya want.”

Twitch looked to her guardians for permission. “You guys okay with uh…Can I?” She gestured back towards her mentor with a clear want to follow but laden with uncertainty.

Dorothy nodded. “You have fun dear, we’ll be fine here.”

Twitch hesitated another moment before disappearing as well.

“Heh.” Starscream chuckled as he leaned down with a servo on his knee to get a better look at the two humans he was now left alone with. “Confident little creatures, aren’t you? Do you not realize how easily I could crush you right now?” This only strengthened his assumption that this room wasn’t some innocent little box for him to stay in. Why else would they feel so secure? Or perhaps they simply underestimated him. That would be a fatal mistake.

Dorothy crossed her arms and looked unimpressed. “You won’t do it. You’re smarter than that.”

She was right. Although Starscream still leaned back again in a hint of surprise.

“Now. I’ll let Megatron know that you aren’t ready. We’ll just focus on making things better between us here. You still need to make up for what you did, and we will help you get it right. For now…how are you feeling?” 

“What is that supposed to mean?”

Alex was the one to answer. “If you don’t tell us when something’s wrong, or explain your…different thought processes; we can’t help.”

“Plus, it’s to show that we care how you’re doing.” Dororthy added, “Y’know, encourage a bit of that “think about other people’s feelings” biz that Bee was trying to tell you about.”

“That’s an odd thing to fret over in words.” Starscream flicked his servo dismissively. “I already said I’m fine. What else do you want?”

“More than just an “I’m fine”, maybe?” Dorothy gave him a bit of sass with a grin like they were having some sort of banter.

 “An extensive list of my condition would be excessive. I’m sure such a thing would only bore you.”

“Try me.”

Starscream attempted to analyze any hint of deception in her stance. Anything that would allude to an ulterior motive. Surely this gesture couldn’t be as plain as she made it out to be. Besides, he still couldn’t understand why she cared. A flat assurance that one’s state of functioning was stable, was satisfactory enough. Why would it matter the specifics? He was operational, that’s what mattered. Sure, things weren’t exactly optimal, but expressing such things only served as a show of weakness. He wasn’t going to give her any details that she could use against him. Yet clearly she wasn’t about to back down. So what could he say to get her off his back about this “feelings” slag?

“...I…admit I am a byte shaken by recent events. My current situation isn’t exactly one I had anticipated. Certainly FAR from anything I would like. Your bunch of brats are constantly either avoiding me, or throwing any amount of scrap in my faceplate they find amusing. Or would you rather me say how absolutely delighted I am for this gracious opportunity?” He quirked an optical ridge and crossed his legs with a servo to his cockpit. “Your unyielding hospitality knows no bounds! My fleshy little friends. I’m sure that my accursed spark will be righted in no time with such noble creatures at my disposal.”

Dorothy shook her head, a note of fondness growing in her expression. “Yeah, sure, alright Screamer. We’ll work on that.” She and her conjunx began to leave as well. That was far from the expected response.

He wasn’t quite sure what he HAD expected. Annoyance? Defensiveness? A proclamation of his response being horrid, and dissatisfactory? Perhaps he had expected for their conversation to escalate in some way that would require him to up his suck up meter. Or throw a bit of extra shade their way. Not such an artless statement alluding to some assurance of improvement! Bland is what it was. Bumblebee was far better at this.

Then she continued from the doorway, “Why don’t you get some rest? You’re welcome to join us outside when you’re ready. But don’t push yourself. Bee has a small stash of energon in Nightshade’s lab. If you want any, just don’t go and hoard it all or something.” 

“Yes, yes. Stealing bad, and whatever else it is you are insinuating.”

She rolled her optics at him with a grin before the two humans vanished from view just like the others. He’d attempted to keep them in sight as long as he could. Part of him didn’t want to be left alone with his thoughts. Sitting here, alone, in this blasted room didn’t sound particularly relaxing. He’d much rather DO something. Perhaps he would take them up on the offer to get some fresh air.

Embarrassingly, as soon as he tried yet again at the effort of standing on his own, his stabilizers immediately flared warnings in his processor that sent him crashing down. He couldn’t possibly be this disoriented still. That was pathetic. 

Starscream maneuvered towards the wall, and used it to guide his direction as he stood. Then traced it towards the exit. At the very least, he could scope out that energon to store some of it away in his berth’s compartments. Not enough to be overtly obvious, but enough to ensure that if they decided to withhold fuel as a means of indirect punishment in the future, he’d be prepared. 

He needed something to focus on outside of all the useless slag riddling his processor. Anything else. He didn’t care what it was. After he acquired his stash of fuel, perhaps he could find some sort of object he could lean on for the surface. It needed to be inconspicuous of course. It wasn’t like he needed assistance walking…maybe he’d just rely on structures for stability instead. 

There was no Megatron. No Unicron.

Things actually seemed to be improving. Somehow, he seemed to be winning the favor of that odd human femme. This might not be going as badly as he thought. Maybe he could work with them. A strange thought indeed, but not a new one.

He just needed to not think about everything that could go wrong.

[unacknowledgeable]

Serial killer reader x yan!Batfam (bc who doesn’t like seeing reader finally go batshit crazy?)

This idea has been bouncing around my head for a while, so Imma toss it out here. A slim layout of it and testing the waters ig lol

 WARNING for disturbing imagery, animal abuse, broken bones, mentions of child neglect (obviously)

Reader arrives at the manor at the ripe ol’ age of 8, near fresh off the crime scene of their mothers murder

None of the transition is handled well, which, its Gotham so what do you expect really, so no real systems are put in place to help this child not only deal with a brand new environment, but also having just watched your mom brutally murdered in front of you

Bruce is already  5 years deep into batmanning shenanigans, with Dick 4 years into being robin

Since you weren't as obviously volatile as Dick was when his parents were murdered, Bruce didn't really see letting you in on the nightly activities as necessary

You never really pushed hard for a relationship with Bruce, believing that he was distant because you were not a choice, unlike Dick.

Your mom used to get like that, sometimes. she’d always been truthful about you being an accident, would close herself off for awhile, but at least she always came back, or she use too

You had Alfred, sure, but his experience with grieving children mostly involved allowing them to swear vengeance on all crime sooo, he’s more of a “I'll try to solve your problem, even though what you're needing is someone to comfort and listen to you” 

But you can't really fix the problem of a very dead mother

So you’re never really given a space to process, and it definitely festers

So what is a small child left to do with no real outlet for the terrible things they've witnessed? Well… recreation is a start.

You were left to your own devices quite often, and the manors grounds are so so big, so it's easy to see how you got away with your… activities, for awhile

Squirrels, birds, frogs, any animal small enough to fit into your tiny little hands, all met their end by them

It isn't until you’re a few years into your new school, that you catch a bird and show your classmates just how fragile and “cute” its bones were, and the funny little tweets it made when you snapped them

And your friends try to stop you, saying its wrong and mean, that the tight grip you have on the bird is "hurting” it, that you’re crazy and horrible

So you decide to just show your friends how wrong they are, that it's just a game

Soon, the teacher comes running over at the sounds of shouts and screaming, and finds a child with a broken arm, and a robin with a broken neck

With the reader stood above them, yelling that their friends aren't playing the game right

……………………………………

Alfred is the one who comes to get you, as Bruce is busy with something and he’s just absolutely beside himself, how did this happen? How hadn't he noticed anything?

He rushes through the necessities, assuring that all damages will be paid for, agrees to have you transferred to a different class then the boys whose arm you broke instead of being expelled (the wonders of unimaginable wealth)

The drive back to the manor (manor, not home, never home) is quiet, the silence is suffocating, for both of you, 

You’re mostly confused, you never really hid your “games” while at the manor, at least not on purpose, you'd just always wash up before going inside, not wanting to get anything dirty

And Alfred is angry, mostly at himself, he prided himself on his ability to see everything, to always know, but this? He was completely blindsided.

So yes he's angry, not really at you, but you don't know that, you can only see the slight shake of his shoulders, the white knuckled grip on the wheel, the frown pulling his wrinkled face and the furrow of his brow

And all you hear is the quiet, ”Never do such a thing again”, as the car pulled up the driveway to the manor

That very night, Bruce brings Jason to the manor

And the urgent conversation Alfred planned on having with Bruce fell to the wayside

That's some of what I’ve got so far lol, there's… a lot more honestly. The brain worms are hard at work. Hope you enjoyed!

[sloanesallow]

Sebastian Sallow Headcanons

So I've seen some of my moots do one of these and decided it was my turn, even if nobody asked. 🤣

These are all ideas that are present in stories I’ve already published, or ones that are forthcoming in Void. A lot of this is word-vomit LOL. I’ve credited anyone that I’ve been inspired by, but otherwise, similar head-canons to other creators are coincidental.

Disclaimer: My opinions are mine. They might also be yours! They might also be somebody else’s. Or not. That’s the fun thing about fandom. We can all have our own thoughts! Disagree? Cool! Just don’t be mean about it. :)

Sebastian is left-handed.

Actually, ambidextrous. So while it’s probably an error in-game, if you take Sebastian with you to Hogsmeade, in the Three-Broomsticks he stands up to defend you with his wand in his left hand. I’ve just decided to run with it and think his left is more dominant than his right, but he can use both.

Sebastian is on the spectrum.

Because I am on the spectrum, it’s hard not to write this nerdy little boy as somebody who obsesses over data and information. Sebastian is a numbers guy. Counts stuff in his head; keeps lists. Obsessive about his note-taking and will throw away a page if he thinks his penmanship isn’t perfect enough. I put in a previous post that he’d be the type to stare at a jar of jelly beans and know how many are inside with one glance.

Sebastian is very intelligent but oh so stupid (affectionately)

For some reason, the only comparison I can think of right now is a weird combination of Abed and Troy from Community. You know the friend that seems to always be in weird, preventable situations and says the most out-of-pocket things but will turn around and quote Shakespeare. He probably is the smartest person in the room but isn’t humble about it. Sebastian is book-smart and thinks he’s street-smart (insert John Mullaney here) but his life experience is actually quite limited. Yes, his parents died (and he may have witnessed it to some degree), but I do think he might have been sheltered in some capacity. Which brings me to my next point:

Sebastian’s feelings are intense, and sometimes misguided

Sebastian would benefit from therapy, no joke. He likely wasn’t given the space to process his parent’s death, so it’s no wonder he SPIRALS when Anne gets sick. His desperation comes from a place of fear, but his inability to cope leads to some very unfortunate circumstances. And yes, Sebastian can be deceptive and manipulative, but I don’t think he acts this way on purpose, but because he doesn’t know any better. He acts first, thinks later, and this can lead to tension in his friendships (MC/Ominis). It’s also why so many authors write him as somewhat possessive when pairing him romantically with MC (or anyone, really). I tend to write him as being disinterested in romance (too busy) until it smacks him in the face and he chases that high obsessively. However, I think it takes a long time for Sebastian to recognize what real, healthy love is.

Sebastian would never be an Auror

I’ll die on this hill. Sebastian would probably not ever want to work for the Ministry, and distrusts authority, even as he ages and matures. Regardless if you think he acted in self-defense or not, he still killed his uncle with an unforgivable. That’s scary. And dangerous. A kid knowing and practicing Dark Magic? Even if he never does it again, he wouldn’t risk his life by flaunting himself in front of the Ministry. Also, Solomon was an Auror. Now, I’ll admit I have him working with the Ministry in some capacity in my fics (curse breaker), but for the most part, he is a free agent and does what he wants (in true Sebastian fashion).

Pocket cookies

Always has some kind of snack in his pockets for emergencies. I’ve had this come up several times now in my fics (see below) and it’s a running joke. I just love the idea of him pulling out a cookie to offer somebody in their time of need.

Other little things:

Triple Scorpio??? I did this on accident when making a birthday (November 8 1873) for him and CoStar said based on my made-up birth chart he was Scorpio Sun/Moon/Ascending which according to my astrology babes, is uhhhhh insane.  

Allergic to lavender???? Don’t ask.

He's just a silly, goofy guy, okay?

[kalims]

Hi, there! :D

I don't know if my request will be taken into account but you mentioned that it's okay to try.

I am not throwin' away my shot >:D (sorry my indoor theater kid comes out from time to time)

Type: Headcanons

Reader: Neutral

Scenary: The NCR boys see that a student from Noble Bell College or RSA who has been trying to flirt with the prefect, in a bold move steals the prefect's (first) kiss. How would they react and what would they feel?

I feel like it would be a rollercoaster of occurrences and complete chaos in NCR xD

If my request does not convince you, you can discard it without problems, but if not, take your time and without pressure, thank you 💐🌼✨👍✍️I love your TWST fics they always make me smile .

whisk away

premise. despite your many efforts of evading your seeming admirer, they remain persistent in their pursuit. you've considered just leaving them in the dust without an explanation whatsoever but you're too stunned to process the fact that they've just kissed you without a warning. next thing you know there's a murderous aura approaching.

characters. silver, jade, deuce, kalim, vil

note. you didn't really specify which characters jhshs so I took the liberty of scouring your blog and just put the ones you seem to like ^^ and I kid you not, used a wheel for the other 2 lol (so sorry, was gonna post this earlier but got busy since presentations came up so I only finished now.)

silver

has a mixture of shock and anger. which is mostly for your sake honestly, he wasn't gonna intervene cause he felt like you would wanna deal with it on your own so he feels the absolute mortification slipping into his bones. if he wasn't fully awake, then he definitely is now!

fully ready to talk some sense into that idiot who has no sense of space, hello?

last time he knew, you weren't really dating anyone. silver would know if you did, cause you both talk practically everyday and a lover would be something he should be aware of... unless you didn't talk? I mean, who else would just kiss you like that?

someone unpleasant. he decides. one look at your face and he knows immediately that it wasn't something you expected as well.

just pulls up with a rare look of anger directed to the student, brows furrowed, shoulders tense and all. everyone's used to the serene, calm look on his features so seeing him look so different probably put off said student so they scampered after a promise made by silver if they dared to stick around.

"leave, or find out what happens if you don't."

gone is the anger *poof* and is fretting over you now. are you okay? do you want him to knock some sense into that idiot? literally tell him anything, order him to do anything, and he'll do it (within reason) my guy is just here for your sake tbh.

kinda gloomy cause damn, that was your first? he wanted both of yours to be first and some grade a hole just decided to shatter all that. it makes him all the more irritated so if he can't have your first kiss, he'll just take your second, and every single other kiss you'll give.

jade

take the murderous aura and multiply it tenfold!!

jade doesn't really need to reach you and make his presence known by a few words cause it seems like everyone but you within 10 feet radius of him is sensing the murderous aura he's emitting. if it's not feeling that, then it's seeing the eery dark smile present on his face.

and he seems to be having a death march towards a specific direction so everybody knows where to avoid atleast. cause it seems like anyone on his path is gonna get trampled and no one likes a messy hall.

student in front of you pales, deluding themselves that maybe he's just heading somewhere behind them to vent out that rage or something but they glance behind and almost piss their pants when there is in fact, no one present near anywhere and he's getting closer.

so... they wanted to live so they just bolted out. an experience with one of the tweels won't be good news, and if jade is the one who has them in his sights... they'll take the head start thank you very much.

with the students face memorized and tucked into a corner of his mind he smiles almost innocently at you when you spot him and strike the most casual of conversation.

well, that's under the guise atleast. he's shooting you subtle questions about that person to which you reply innocently. oblivious to the grave you're digging for them yourself.

oddly enough jade started being strangely affectionate, a hand on the small of your back, maybe on your shoulder, arm, or a pat on your head as gratitude. but he seems to like kissing the back of your hand a lot...

*turns his head in their direction after kissing your hand*

deuce

I'll be perfectly honest. he doesn't really have much of an impact in terms of the intense aura that should have been felt. he looks a normal degree of angry, that's why the person hasn't gotten chased off even with the clear signs that deuce will be swinging a fist at probes.

unfortunate that's exactly what the person does. despite your clear reaction of disgust they still use you to rile up deuce. cooing at him while reaching for you, and chuckling about how they didn’t even know him, nor is it any of his business to interfere between two... lovers?

oh so they wanted to impact? they're gonna get one right now 👊 since it seems like they want to get to know him so bad they can get well acquainted with his fists, you know?

he made a promise to himself not to get involved with these type of mishaps! or at the very least resort to more peaceful methods than using violence as a sort of communication. the guilt eats him up a little but he thinks he'd never stand for someone who would disrespect you so blatantly!

almost comically, he looks like he spouts a pair of ears that of a dog's and turns to you. looking more apologetic compared to the fiery look he had a second ago, if he had a tail it would be tucked between his legs out of shame or something.

"I'm really sorry," he says. sulking. deuce apologizes to you, not for his choice of knocking out this random in the middle of the street but because of the fact that he did it in front of you. (also he's kinda jealous...)

if asked, he can, and WILL do it again.

don't blame him though! discreetly whisks you away to grab a bite. having literally no regards to the body looking like it's soul got knocked out laying, and looking out of place on the ground. maybe someone will check on them but definitely not him, they deserve it!

kalim

gasps loudly. "noooo!"

which is like a public proclamation that seeing that did everything but please him. which also means he's basically admitting he's jealous in an indirect way, might as well just say he likes you or something (he probably will if asked because he thinks it's nothing worthy of hiding.)

bounds up to you asking who that is quite loudly to the point where it would seem like he just stumbled upon you cheating on him. it doesn't help that he actually looks sad, teary and all. jamil is off, having paused in his trail since he was previously chasing the boy who ran off.

now he isn’t sure if he wants to get involved now. this is so embarrassing.

lowkey other student would just look back and forth to you, then to kalim. the latter in question unintentionally ignored his existence to be honest, since he was too busy shaking your shoulders and probing the answer of you.

"why would you kiss a stranger...?" he trails off, you did answer. kalim is genuinely wondering to himself if it was that easy cause damn, he scratches his head. that made no sense (says the guy who is making no sense.)

he makes it so obvious that he's pondering with the finger under his chin, eyes lost pointed at the air and the unnecessary loud humming... at this point the atmosphere became more awkward because you and the student is staring at him in bewilderment.

drag him off please, and explain it to him elsewhere. public is NOT a good place. so instead of him saving you out of a situation like this, you save him? talk about being built different...

vil

what in the sevens... he surely hopes his eyes are working correctly lest he needs contact lens, or glasses for that matter. either way he'll positively be as beautiful as he ever was.

although he's very pleased that someone notices the extent of your beauty, there are... other ways to express fondness admiration for you, and vil just can't respect someone who doesn't seem to have any shame for themselves for pressing on boundaries.

so this... fool clearly is a mere taint on your image!!! rid of them immediately! you needn't dirty your pretty mouth, rook does love cleansing the world of dirt like them so it's for the better good if they just never dare to appear to your face ever again.

what better way to hurt someone than aim for their pride? *trash talks so good about their attitude that they actually be pondering their life choices*

don't get him wrong. he doesn't like them, like at all. vil can full well do more damage by nit picking details about them they probably aren't even aware of but he'd never willingly give another person a reason to be insecure about themselves, even if they did terrible things.

plus, there's better ways to teach someone a lesson. they'll learn.

who wouldn’t be scared of an angry vil? they scampered away pretty quickly from a few words, even quicker when he mentioned rook but it's their problem to be paranoid whether the hunter is following them or not to be honest.

frets over you right after. living the dream.

[windvexer]

Theme and Action: a tarot method for brainstorming plots, setting, and characters

I find a lot of story brainstorming spreads to be clunky and rigid, so I did a little experimenting and came up with a method I like a lot. I haven't done a ton of testing yet but I thought I'd share what I have.

Basically, it's a two card draw from a deck split into majors and minors. Each draw always has one major card (theme) and one minor card (action).

When you have a question, like:

What are some ideas for the next scene?

Why would that character behave that way?

What's the defining characteristic of this vampire clan?

What do the people in this society fear most?

Why is this scene dragging?

What does this character need to feel more real?

You would draw one major card and one minor card!

Themes and Action; what it's about vs how it manifests

We could call these cards a bunch of different things depending on exactly how the question is framed, but Themes and Action are good enough.

Basically, the major arcana card gives subtext or context, and the minor arcana card provides specific incidents. Like this!:

"In my vampire setting, what is the most important thing in vampire culture?"

Theme: Death

Action: 10/Pentacles

Interpretation: (Theme) The most important thing in vampire culture is the process of dying and the equalizer of death itself. (Action) This has resulted in cultural rituals where death is treated as a sacred adoption or initiation into a new family/estate.

(I really drew this test spread and it really was death lol)

We can swap out the Action card to see a different outcome:

Theme: Death

Action: 5/Swords

Interpretation: (Theme) the most important thing in vampire culture is the process of dying and the equalizer of death itself. (Action) the horror of death and loss has never been overcome in this society, and it must be dealt with as an individual - because vampires process the pain of their own deaths by taking it out on each other.

Here's a different example. In an urban fantasy book where a witch solves ghost mysteries, pacing is dragging and we need our next scene to be exciting. But despite a foot chase after a suspected ghost poacher, the scene doesn't feel fast paced or exciting. The question is, "how do we spice this up?"

Theme: Hermit

Action: King of Cups

Interpretation: (Theme) instead of a crowded street, the character will be isolated and without normal support. (Action) she'll be trapped in a closed space with the story's main villain, who most closely connects with the King of Cups

Another swap, this time switching out the theme card:

Theme: Empress

Action: King of Cups

Interpretation: (Theme) the scene feels boring because it's action without development. Show the main character's personal development and give her a 'level up' moment. (Action) have the ghost poacher lead her to a premature showdown with the main villain, whom she faces bravely for the first time.

This is already long so I'm not going to go on and on with examples but so far I've found this method to be pretty versatile.

Try interpreting Theme and Action as literally as you can within the context of the story!

If you're writing a story about a flower princess who sleeps on a dewdrop in the mystical Gnarlwood Forest, the Sun card will mean one thing.

If you're writing a story about vampires, the Sun card probably means something very different.

Major arcanas can be literary themes, like the moon representing deceit within society, but they can also be literal; in a werewolf story, the Moon card might represent the celestial body that controls the lives of certain people.

The most important thing for me is to avoid interpreting the cards in a general self-help sense.

The cheerful villagers of prosperous Splitsky Castle are waiting for you to invent a festival so a mysterious stranger can come to town and get the plot going.

The question is, "what kind of festival gives me the right setup to pull off the plot point I want?"

The theme card is the Magician, so ideas for the festival could be:

A festival honoring magic users (if they exist in your setting)

A festival honoring the resourcefulness of the villagers

A festival of stage magic and trickery

The action card is the 6/Cups.

Probably, the festival is not about healing your inner child with Jungian shadow work. More contextual ideas might include:

A festival where children are chosen to be trained in magic

A festival celebrating teaching the next generation important skills

A festival meant to delight and entertain children with stage magic

Developing related factions or foils

Draw a major arcana card to identify a certain Theme, maybe along the lines of:

What do they hold to be sacred?

What do they not care about, or hate?

What is their most cherished virtue?

What is the defining feature of leadership?

When they sing about home, what is in their songs?

This theme will be the same for both entities.

Draw different minor arcana cards to show how each entity expresses that theme.

Conversely, work in the opposite direction: keep the minor arcana card for both entities, and swap out the theme card.

Finding Action cards when you know the Theme

Holding the deck so that it's facing you, thumb through the cards until you find the major arcana card that describes your theme. The most recent minor arcana card that was on top of it, even if separated by other majors, is the action card.

Reversals

I tend to read both cards as upright and reversed, and just apply whatever meanings are most relevant. In my experiments using reversals ended up being too finicky and specific, and limited my creativity.

Complex Concepts and Plots

For a complex reading, like plotting an entire novel or building an entire character, I have found more utility in doing many pair readings rather than doing one large spread with many pairs.

My tests so far have suggested that the most creative freedom is found in asking specific questions, like "what is this character's driving motivation," and "what is her quirky hobby," and "what makes her put up with her annoying best friend," rather than trying to build a giant spread that includes all of these things at once.

As a caveat, in plot spreads, I will sometimes put pairs down without returning them to the deck, and then connect Theme/Action pairs with single action cards to suggest events that connect the dots.

[xlatrina]

(Pt. II.2) Friends to Lovers HCs w/Homicipher x GN!Reader

Tags: Platonic + Romantic HCs, Friends to Lovers trope for basically every LI, Likely OOC for some LIs*, Mini Scenarios (so HCs are kinda plot-driven), *Multi-Part Series, entirely SFW

Also, changing tenses in some cases + not proofread again... sorry!

*Some of the LIs are likely written OOC (Out Of Character) mainly due to a lack of substantial in-game appearances (at least in my opinion!). 

*Split into multiple parts because I’ve come to realize that these HCs are muuucccchhh too long 😅 BUT!! I’m too lazy to shorten them sooo… YEAH lol

Part I (Big 🙆‍♂️)

Part II (Mr. Chopped 🪓)

Part III (Mr. Crawling 👣)

$$$

Mr. Chopped (First Half/Second Half)

Cont.

Mr. Chopped is the type to get super lost in his stories. So lost that his face often morphs accordingly based on whatever he’s babbling about.

When he tells you about the state of his missing body, you watch his face morph from shock to sadness, to confusion, to an adorable pout, and then to excitement.

When he tries to explain his first few encounters with Mr. Silvair (which were rough, since Mr. Silvair appears to be the one who separated Mr. Chopped from his body in the first place), Mr. Chopped’s face morphs from fear to distrust to shock to joy.

This little man is just so darn expressive!

His feelings for you grow as you open up to him more and more.

You tell him about your experiences at work, and you tell him about an internship you finished some time ago (relative to whenever you ended up trapped in the Apartments).

You then tell him about some of your hobbies.

When you suggest doing one or two with him, he beams up at you with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen on him!

He’s probably blushing so baadddd at the thought of it lol

One-on-one personal time for an even longer period of time than usual???

An activity you enjoy that you choose to only ever share with him and him alone??

Even though he’s just a head and you have literally so many other options who all possess bodies and can get around on their own to at least some extent??!

WHAOXOANALXNDLFLDBAHAGVSBSKCKFLDM

At some point, he convinces you to follow his directions to a particular room. 

When you get there, you find yourself feeling a little uncomfortable.

“Here darkness,” you say. “We together go find light?”

“Is okay,” Mr. Chopped says. “Go that way! Hurry! Fast!”

You listen and approach a small square in the wall.

Briefly, you wonder if Mr. Gap might be in there, but it seems like the hole is empty.

“Enter! Enter!” Mr. Chopped bounces in your grasp excitedly.

You enter the crawl space and pull yourself through.

Soon, the darkness morphs into a faint whitish color.

Your heart jumps at the senses being triggered as you approach.

You finally come across a small hole, and through it, you peer at a sight you haven’t seen in a long time, your mouth agape as Mr. Chopped watches you excitedly.

The sound of clicking on stones draws your eyes to the heeled shoes strutting back and forth past the hole.

There’s the sound of chatter, laughter, shouting, horns, music…

Something smells good. Sooooo good…

Fresh food. Something’s being grilled…

Damn! Your mouth is starting to water!

“This place where?” You ask, pressing Mr. Chopped closer to your face. It was a super small space, after all.

“This place go to other area! Not know where area is, but if possible, me want to go!” Mr. Chopped grins at you, and you can’t help grinning back.

“Wow…” you say. “This is so cool. I wonder if those people will notice me if I reach out to them, though?”

Mentally, you waved the thought away just as quickly as you thought it.

After all, you promised your friends here some weeks ago that you’d stay. And while you could certainly always change your mind, well…

At the moment, you don’t really have a desire to leave.

“I’m happy you decided to share this with me, Mr. Chopped.” You smile sweetly at him.

“What you say? You happy?” He asks. You giggle at him.

“Am happy together we come here. Am grateful you bring me here. Am lots happy!” You say.

Mr. Chopped's face grows into a deep purplish color.

Mr. Chopped lets out a happy sound, his eyes pressing up into a cute squint.

“You happy!! Me lots happy to see you happy!! This place here for you and me now. We come together here now! You understand??” Mr. Chopped asks.

You giggle, and say “Okay, me understand now.”

…

I think I got carried away there LMAO

Anyway, I feel like with all of that being said, after hanging around you for a while and developing a mutual crush, there will eventually come a time when Mr. Chopped gets tired of this long period of unknowing…

Like, you two are OBVIOUSLY super close to each other —much closer than either of you are to anybody else there!

Y’all are at a point where y'all hesitate to even call each other friends!!

And to be so real with you, my guy…

Mr. Chopped has just straight up stopped calling you his friend!!

And it’s kinda awkward for others…

Cuz like… what exactly are you two???

At some point, Mr. Chopped will probably more or less ask you.

“You enjoy me, and me enjoy you. But together we not friends. You and me together what??”

Because you didn’t immediately answer in like 0.02 seconds, he immediately became fussy and demanded to be taken to Mr. Silvair.

And once you take him there, Mr. Chopped dismisses you, so… yeah…

A few days pass and you start to really miss Mr. Chopped.

I mean, he can’t possibly be that mad, right?? What even happened back then anyway to get him so mad in the first place??

You decide to go see him.

You don’t plan on apologizing because, like… what exactly would you be apologizing for??

But!! You want to get to the bottom of your sudden dismissal that day!!

And if come to find out you did offend him somehow, then you’ll apologize—because it most certainly wasn’t your intention.

Anyway, he wasn’t hard to find, thankfully. He was chilling in the lounge next to the infirmary room, which means Mr. Silvair was likely in the operating room doing… Silvair things in there.

He’s nodding off, going in and out of sleep.

It’s literally soooo adorable to look at.

But you’re here on a mission, so no getting distracted!!

Anywho, you startle Mr. Chopped, and he fusses at you accordingly.

But you cut to the chase, demanding to know why he was so upset the other day and dismissed you like that.

He pouts and says something like, “Me give question, and you not answer!” 

Suddenly, he smiles at you. “But is okay, I give answer for you!!”

“Huh?? What you mean?” You ask.

Joyfully, he responds, “You and me together now! You understand?”

OH WOW.

Erm…

Well.

You now have a boyfriend, and that’s just what it is. 

But hey!!

At least your boyfriend is super cute!! And fun!! And connected to a pretty smart, innovative guy like Silvair!

And!! Mr. Chopped absolutely adores EVERYTHING about you!!

You and Silvair are the closest people to him.

But, between you and him…

You’re obviously a little more special to him than Mr. Silvair!

[Part I (Mr. Big 🙆‍♂️) | Part II (Mr. Chopped 🪓, First Half/Second Half), Part III (Mr. Crawling 👣)]

[uhgood-girl]

why jikook?

i've been asking myself this a lot recently bc well, why them? why not tkook? or ynmin? hell, jihope even, they're underrated as hell honestly, have you seen that hot tub video? hobi was ready to unhinge his jaw to swallow jimin whole (and who (jk) could blame him.)

but jikook, in a not joking way, hits different. they always have. it's been years at this point that i've been deep in this rabbit hole (within the larger bts rabbit hole, my god, how deep does it go) but i don't recall making the conscious decision to fall in.

maybe a little background?

i'm a fake love army. actually, if we're getting technical, i'm an outro tear army bc it was in the comments of the freshly released fake love music video that i saw someone recommend outro tear if i enjoyed fake love and then it was over for me. extremely not fake love at first listen, who's voice is second on this track? i NEED to know. i'm a yoongi/rapline bias to this day. fake love still fucks though, don't get me wrong, it's a never skip for me.

for that first year and then some, i consumed backlogged content like it was my day job. i am a prone to hyper-fixations hermit, basically, who was going to stop me? my therapist? nah, she picks her battles.

i watched everything i could get my grubby little hands on like someone would be testing me on it later. (shoutout qdeoks, you were so real) i didn't open stan twitter for the first time till probably the end of 2018, really just in time to be slapped in the face full force with the shitshow that was a hate campaign against these boys i was deeply invested in by then, the likes of which i had never experienced in an online space up to that point. it was a truly, truly wild era, don't ever let anyone tell you differently.

all that to say, i've been here for a hot minute and i developed my own first impressions on bts and the members as individuals in a vacuum. no one had to point jikook out to me, they stuck out on their own.

potentially relevant disclaimer before we continue: i am really really queer. i grew up in the united states conservative deep south and had to change high schools my sophomore year bc i was outed and then violently ostracized for being in a relationship with my same sex best friend at the time. it is safe to say i have a lot of feelings about and experience even when it comes to having to be low key (understatement lol) about who you love. i am not here just to make my barbies kiss.

actually, on that note, jikook wouldnt even be my chosen barbies out of bts. if we're in true fantasy delulu hours here, i would want yoonjin to be real. god, that would be the stuff, they're so old married as it is. peak romance.

i think the first place jikook ever truly caught my attention were the memories dvds. jimin has always been a sweet, bby angel taking care of all his members but i remember thinking that he seemed to pay a little extra, special attention to jungkook. and of course, why not, jk's the maknae after all. all of them have always been doting on him and deservedly so. but in those briefly shown really serious, quiet moments, jimin was often first in line. a spot very easy for him to obtain tbh as jk never seemed to be very far from him anyway. maybe if you've never in real time lived the satellite jeon accusations (hi pandemic army, bless you, i hope you make it to 2025 when we have them all back without restrictions) you might find them easier to dismiss but it was so consistent back then in all of the content being released. and once noticed, i don't know how anyone ever un-notices it. but i was in deep before i even realized the water was boiling.

should i talk about why not tkook? or ynmin, for me? i'm just pulling those as examples bc i know they're the popular contenders here but all joking in the beginning of this post aside, none of the other members interpersonal relationships, in any configuration (sadly, RIP yoonjin romance), have ever struck me as anything other than puppy crush/deep friendship/family. and that's not bc i don't think over half of those men aren't queer in some form or fashion because WHEW, that is an entirely different post and we simply do not have the time to unpack rn but it's not for lack of looking.

i started in a vacuum, but i have by no means stayed there, i walked in all of those front doors and sat down and said "convince me." i've got the time and lack of life, i am ready to be won over. what have i missed?

to this day i still regularly try and check my own confirmation bias, i'm obviously looking for jikook at this stage but i'm still ready on my toes if any of the others want to get crazy. (yoonjin i am rooting for you, we're all rooting for you)

and i'm not here to really persuade or sway anyone one way or another either. there are a 1000 other blogs on this site that can probably offer you better explanations, specific clips, and detailed break downs of moments throughout the years and even then people are going to see what they want to see. i just wanted to write some of my own thoughts down finally.

though...i guess if i had to point to any one single piece of "evidence" it would definitely be tried and true gcf tokyo? but if watching that the first time didn't ring through you like a gunshot, i def don't think there's anything i could say beyond that.

honestly, i think so much of "why jikook" for me boils down to the pit in the bottom of my stomach that i used to get when i first began to notice them. when i got past the initial warm fuzzies inspired by the sincerity of their interactions, my immediate second emotion was concern.

i remember the first time i heard some of the other boys make an offhand joke about them being a couple and i got anxious, fast. i thought hide, hide better, please be safe. i began to pay extra attention to the other members in general too when jikook would do things and felt like i could sometimes see a similar anxiety to my own in their expressions. for a long time, i just worried about them and where i saw other people rejoice in their more obvious moments, i was slow to celebrate.

despite my initial hesitation, it's now been about 5 years since the first time they ever made me double take. they're a few years younger than me but i feel like we've been growing up together. (parasocial? idk her.) they're less conspicuous these days, and for lots of obvious reasons, but i feel like overall, their confidence in themselves and each other is quite high. i know that's probably a funny thing to say in light of this last week especially, but i stand by it. i've seen this song and dance before. i have managed my own expectations in the past, taken full steps back only to be beaten anew over the head so many times with enough "coincidences" i felt borderline foolish to try and deny anything. jikook are truly some sort of neuro-spicy pattern recognition drug, i swear.

and i've never really gotten to talk about any of this with anyone before! i'm shy irl, and shy online apparently bc i have just been lurking around the outer lines of this circle this whole time like some creepy creep but i've decided i'm over it. fuck it. growth.gif. idk that i have anything important or new to contribute to the conversation but my god, no one else seems to let that stop them so i might as well take my turn on the soapbox, no?

so 📢 JIKOOK REAL (?) jikook sus. jikook make bandaged queer little heart go boom boom.

[the-golden-comet]

✨OC Facts Tag✨

Thank you for creating this tag game, @mysticstarlightduck ! And thank you for the tag @theink-stainedfolk , @illarian-rambling , @thecomfywriter , @topazadine , and @saturnine-saturneight ! I’m excited to try it out with my OCs! 💛✨

Rules: Make a list of fun facts about your OCs. Like a headcanon list, if you will! Except it's actually canon lol.

Let’s start with Peter Hart

Facts about Peter:

Shot himself through the back of his calf as a teenager. He got scolded relentlessly for it by Davey and Georgie who were quick to patch him up.

Before getting with Benjamin, I put Peter down as “treasuresexual” Yeah. Really. 😂He didn’t have any eyes for anyone other than Benjamin, making Peter canonically homosexual.

His moniker “Peter The Golden” holds many meanings. To rival pirates and ports, it’s on account of his golden hair and black-and-gold aesthetic. To his crew family, he is “The Golden Hart”

Peter was always a rascal from early youth to adulthood. Often times, Peter would get caught and arrested for pickpocketing residents in his hometown. Sometimes, Officer Ralph would bring Peter home to his scolding mother in metal cuffs. Other times, Peter spent the night in the clink. Due to his mischief, Officer Ralph and Mary Hart became acquainted with each other often, and eventually got together.

Facts about Benjamin:

Has an insanely high alcohol tolerance. He got used to the wine and frivolities of parliament when he was around all the royals.

Is bilingual in English and French. He can hold conversation with another bilingual crewmate Jacques du Lorraine. He’s also hurled insults at Peter in fluent French, causing Jacques to nearly double over in laughter.

Is the shortest and smallest member of The Golden Phoenix Gang. Most members of the crew are around Peter’s height of 196-199cm, though with VASTLY different builds (Davey has more of a dad bod, and Peter is just ripped). Benji, on the other hand, rests at 170cm with a very thin build. Canonically, he is a twink.

Is both the luckiest and unluckiest member of The Golden Phoenix Gang. In a tabletop game, he would either roll 1s or 20s. Nothing in between 😂

Moving on to YWIMC:

Facts about Noah:

Is originally from a small farm town in Georgia. He took voice lesson training to try and hide his southern accent, but when Noah lets his guard down and gets comfortable, it can sometimes slip through.

Double majoring in History and Architecture. He’s 23 and already in grad school, which should say a thing or two with how hard he works himself and almost can work off of fumes alone

Has Autism Spectrum Disorder (level 1). This is canon and heavily alluded in the story from his sensory processing difficulties, to his aversion to crowds, social anxiety, hyper focus on his studies, special interest in bridges and architecture, difficulties in expressing emotions, and finding the comfort of home to be his most productive and happiest space. ASD can be expressed differently in other people (I have it), so I pulled from my own experiences to write Noah here.

Facts about Ali:

Ali had a rich father who tried to get him to be a sultan/powerful influential figure in Saudi Arabia. His father arranged a marriage for Ali, who fled the day of.

Is a practicing Muslim. He is halal, observes Ramadan, and yes—prays from the Quran. A lot of his character is identity struggles; his religion says that his sexuality is sinful, but that’s how Ali was born, and that’s what makes Ali happy. This creates an internal conflict with how he tries suppressing his desires, and often wonders if he should have sacrificed his own happiness to appease his father, and his god. This dichotomy is very complicated, and has been a challenge to write….but he will get a happy ending with Noah 👍

Has had previous masters with wicked hearts die horrific and ironic deaths. For example, one of his masters wished for 70 wives who were all virgins. His death? Stabbed 70 times while he slept, each wife stabbing him once. Another master wished for glorious fame and fortune, only for dissenters to stone him to death. Ever heard of the tale of The Monkey’s Paw? That applies here.

That was a good exercise. I’m going to tag (no pressure): @gioiaalbanoart , @wyked-ao3 , @sunglasses-in-the-bentley , @honeybewrites , @drchenquill , @aintgonnatakethis , @willtheweaver , @jev-urisk , @noxxytocin , @thatuselesshuman , @theverumproject , +open tag for whoever else wants to divulge some facts about their OCs! ✨

[lumarisart]

Meta & TikTok

With how the US is trying to digitally colonize the online space, I think it's soon going to be time for me to shudder the doors of my Meta accounts - if not delete, then just abandon them. TikTok with its likely ban will set a precident that the USA can bully into selling to them any foreign-controlled site, game, social media, or store that it wants to by claiming "data privacy" - which is rich given the USA regularly has to send out warnings to citizens about data breaches of its OWN companies. So yeah, it's a dangerous step in a direction I'm not happy about. META is cozying up to the Orange, and has stated it wants to be the next Elon's Bastardized Twitter. I knew it was going to happen back when they introduced their own version of "being verified" as a subscription service. The service is just working as normal instead of throttling and shadowbanning your posts and profile. I don't think that algorithm throttling has happened full force, but I already see my posts barely getting seen as it used to, and that was the last place I got regular commission work. Upon further reflection though, MOST of my current clients are people who know me/have followed me a while/have commissioned before. So the question - do I REALLY need META for my business to continue? Or is it already shot in the barrel and I should begin cutting it out? I think the answer is clear. I won't pay to make a service work as it should, and I'm sick and tired of billionaires thinking we'll just roll over. Well, ya'll made cost of living so fucking expensive, what makes you think I'd part $20 a month for your shitty user experience?

I'm not a fulltime artist, I'm part time and work a day job. Still, my art pulls in $200-$500 a month and that's nothing the shirk, that's half to all my groceries in a month (I'm a parent and have 5 pets, food is expensive!) NOT TO EVEN MENTION the removal of protection for anti bullying and harrassment of minorities and sexual identities. I'm nonbinary, and ALL MY books are queer. The way the cesspool, ALREADY bad, is going to be even more embolden? It's a fucking joke.

So anyway, expect more of me here. Tumblr and BlueSky are looking to be better than the alternatives. I'll also be revisiting DeviantART more often, as my art still gets seen there the most. Take care everyone, hope I don't annoy yall too much lol

[wolfofcelestia]

Idk if u have seen this one yet but i need to hear ur thoughts :D

I hit the ask button to early but i thought of u when i saw that post on twitter since it'sabout zayne! 😭 🤭

Thanks for thinking of me!! And giving me a reason to yap lol 😭

Right off the bat, I need to say that I think I'm an outlier in the fandom because I do not believe Astra exists in any world except Foreseer's world so I am going to disagree with a lot of things in here lmao

Warnings: Long post, me being kind of a bitch when I defend my man asdflakdfj

Don't take any of this seriously because this is just one fan theory vs another fan theory but. My theories are better because I don't discredit Zayne's feelings to fit my narrative

I don't believe it being our "first" lives or not really makes a difference because... if you look at time and space and all that, time is irrelevant. It's a loop that feeds in on itself. One life could be considered a first or a last life. History will repeat itself again and again, so our Zayne and our MC are just one drop in a whole ocean of time and space

The LADS music video included the mobius strip prominently and what it symbolizes seems to align with this train of thought

Regardless, to say that Zayne's feelings for MC are only because of their past lives discredits why he fell in love with her in the first place. This seems to be a reoccurring thing with this person's Zayne theories - they discredit Zayne's feelings.

He is his own person with his own feelings, not just a plot vessel for other versions of himself.

I believe Zayne was born a normal human being. Whether he stays that way is yet to be seen. MC may have something special about her that prompted the scientists to experiment on her, or she, as an orphan, may have just been an easy target. But again, I don't believe this has anything to do with Astra.

Like I said, I don't believe Astra exists in every world. But let's step back a bit

Foreseer isn't allowed to love because he has a duty to carry out as Astra's mouthpiece. He can't get distracted from his duties by falling in love. Astra sees Foreseer getting distracted as him deliberately going against him. Thus, he's punished.

But why would Zayne falling in love in any other world receive punishment? Even if Astra does exist, if Doctor Zayne falls in love, what betrayal has he committed for him to receive divine punishment? It does not make any sense

Take Master of Fate. He IS a god. Him loving MC is akin to him loving something he must destroy for the good of the world, but it is not forbidden. He would not be punished for loving her. The worst that could happen would be MC being killed by the other gods, so (another theory of mine that contradicts this person's theory), him sealing her away to hide her in their own private pocket dimension was the only way he could both keep her safe and love her

Take Dawnbreaker. He loves MC uncontrollably, but where is his punishment? She was separated from him from the beginning. This is not an active divine punishment

Astra does not exist in every world, nor would he punish any and every Zayne for being in love if Astra is not directly slighted

The first actual facts in this list of "Facts" lmao

Clarification though: Zayne cannot connect to Dawnbreaker at will, nor vice versa. Zayne is not even sure who he is

If Dawnbreaker could connected to Zayne whenever he could, he'd be a lot less depressed, but as of this point in the story, all he can do is hope that he dreams of her whenever he falls asleep

This person's wording is a bit hard to understand, but if they mean that Dawnbreaker and Zayne exist in alternate universes like two sides of the same coin, at the same time, then I agree with that, especially since Dawnbreaker isn't considered a myth.

I really don't understand why people keep pulling Astra in here. Zayne, as in Doctor Zayne, doesn't want MC to be near him because his evol can go berserk when he can't control it. This is due to him overworking himself

But Zayne loves MC and she is the only cure to calm his evol and convince him to take breaks from work when he otherwise wouldn't, further calming him down and keeping his evol under control

Things don't always have to be super cryptic. Sometimes a doctor just wants to keep the person he loves safe, regardless of his own feelings

I don't remember anything in the story that mentions anything about that last sentence. But this world does seem to revolve around protocores, what they can do to people, and what they can do to the world (see: that big hole in the sky)

I have not read or seen this article? This section seems to just be taking the Jungian idea of the collective unconscious and throwing "energy" into the mix. This is a whole nothing burger to me tbh. I don't know what they're trying to say here. MC and Zayne are going to change the world?

Or Zayne and MC just love each other in their current lifetimes. In the myths, they never mention either of them feeling familiar with each other

Scanning through the rest of this section gives me nothing else.

Is it that hard to believe that Zayne and MC would fall in love with each other despite not knowing, or even having, a past with each other? Sure, they would fall in love in every lifetime, but it's not because of that repetition that they fall in love. Down to their cores, they just fit together.

An interesting thought, something I don't agree as canon but it's a nice idea.

I agree with this section up until this point. Which is like 2 sentences into the theory lmao

If I'm understanding this person correctly, their theory is that MC is the personification of Life, and Zayne is the personification of Time, like gods. Yeah, it's an interesting thought, but I don't see it as canon

There are many allusions in this story to various mythologies (notably Greek mythologies) so LADS's story reflecting that isn't that wild of an idea. But until we get confirmation of any of this, I just see this as fanfic

I agree that the aether cores are special, but the aether cores belonging to MC? That's pretty farfetched to me

And, as I've said, the way I read Master of Fate's ending is completely different to how this person read it, so I just stopped reading this section here.

Is it?? So hard?? To believe that Doctor Zayne loves MC because?? He just?? Loves her??? He loves her for who she is?? And not because she overcame these wild stories in her past lives??

I don't agree with the first part but I can see Dawnbreaker and Zayne collaborating

One of my theories I've written about before was that Dawnbreaker may be the key to saving MC, in every world. Because he doesn't have an MC of his own, his desperation to reach her would lead him to finding ways to transverse time and space with the intention of helping her. He may not be able to control where he lands up, so wherever he lands, he looks for MC and helps every version of her until he can reach the girl he loves

Oh boy, we're going off the rails here. Okay...

If Zayne had an aether core, he would know eventually because through his medical training, there would be no doubt that he, his classmates, or his professors would've noticed. Maybe they practiced using the medical monitoring machines on each other or maybe Zayne got a test result one day that told him he had a core in him that was doing some crazy things to his insides, but I don't believe that someone could go their whole lives without knowing they had a core in them. He is just another human with an evol, so I agree with this...one sentence.

The aether core is something we have to sacrifice? I don't think so. It was put into us against our will. Who exactly are we sacrificing it to? If anything, it was sacrificed to US. Regardless of all that sacrificing thing, the aether core is not a singular item anyway. It's a class of powerful cores. If protocore = prototype, then the aether core would be the finished product

If Zayne is Astra, why is Astra just using himself as a pin cushion when Foreseer catches feelings? If Astra loves MC, why would this warrant punishment? Zayne would want Foreseer to treat her well and give her the love she needs, and in turn, he would want to see Foreseer be loved in return

If Astra is the collective consciousness of all Zaynes, that raises even more questions as to why he's punishing Foreseer for catching feelings

This whole idea of Astra = Zayne makes absolutely no sense to me tbh

The idea of a higher being reaching into every possible reality is something I'm not opposed to but I still don't believe that Astra exists in any world besides Foreseer's. Outside of his myth, there's been no mention of Astra, so until we get confirmation of that, I just don't believe that EVERY ZAYNE IS FORBIDDEN TO FALL IN LOVE

Because again... if Astra = Zayne, why the fuck would he punish himself and keep both him and MC from being loved?

So lmao... yeah I'm sorry for dunking all over this, but a lot of this just does not make any sense to me. There were mentions of an article and things being claimed as "fact" that I've never heard of so if you have any proof of this, feel free to send it my way

But I mean. If someone has to discredit an entire main character just to claim something as "fact" and build an entirely new story around him, I just can't agree with it

Anyway, here's a Zayne lmao

[nanaten]

I'm sorry for not requesting a drawing with this space, but I just have to ask... what is the appeal of Clausten? I am not trying to be mean or anything, I legit am very curious.

I can kinda understand Nesscas, it's the result of fledgling mother fans from Smash going "these two would be cute together" (at least that's how I always took it, apologies if that seems rude), but Clausten feels kinda like... those same mother fans finding out about claus and ninten and going "gasp! leftover stripe boys" and mashing them together like... idk what a good term is for this.

Again; sorry for misusing this space, i kinda just want to understand this ship. Not dogging on you or others for enjoying it, just wanna understand it.

I suppose while I am here, I guess I could request a doodle of Lloyd. Maybe of him blabbing about Superman comic stuff to Ninten or what have you. Lloyd needs more appreciation.

Also sorry this may be a mess to read, it was just kinda stream of consciousness

Hi! No need to apologise, I think this is a very good question!

I understand that the ship, on a basic level, doesn’t really make much sense at all! It began as a crackship enjoyed by a small percentage of the mother community and slowly developed into what it is now— a ship with many enjoyers, but not many that know exactly why they enjoy it.

I want to preface this by saying, I do not speak for every person who enjoys Clausten. I am just one of many, and this is all my personal perspective. Thank you for enquiring about it, honestly, because I love speaking about them. So, here we go!

First and Foremost: It’s a crackship— so more than any other reason I can give, it’s just plain fun! These are two characters I love and adore with my whole heart, so it’s just fun to have them interact, and of course, it’s fun to view them as a potentially romantic pairing! Ninten is my favorite character of all time, and Claus is my favorite in Mother 3 specifically, so it’s like a personal wish fulfilment to draw them together.

It’s fun to not take strict canon all too seriously. I pull my silly guys from the source material and I mess around with them whichever way I desire B).

I definitely don’t think it’s entirely fair to view Clausten as, like, Nesscas leftovers either, lol. Ultimately these characters are all very different in terms of stories, how they’re written etc, and both ships have very different qualities that make them loveable in their own right! Liking ships like Clausten has alot to do with how you view these characters— What do you gather their personalities are, how compatible would they be, etc? And the way I characterize Ninten and Claus, atleast in my head, make them very compatible. (Ninten being adventurous, outgoing, snarky, and boyish, and Claus being similar— but more reserved, and more careful as a product of his experiences.)

And finally— I really think them as people— not my own view of their personalities, but judging based on canon events— that the two are very similar, and could find solice in their similar experiences. I think the characters are weirdly connected, in a way, for starters— Claus, if you think about it, is Porky’s second Giegue/Giygas. A new puppet, a new ace, a new strength that he takes away the humanity of.

Ninten, being directly related to Giegue, who I can imagine feels somewhat responsible for the corruption of Giegue alongside what comes after the events of Mother 1 , is also connected in some way to Porky, and then Claus. This is basically an extended way of me saying “Their stories are linked in the overarching tale that is the Mother series”.

Claus’s feelings towards Ninten would be complicated initially, or atleast I think so— for his inability to defeat Giegue weirdly, inadvertently caused a chain reaction that lead to the events of Mother 3. (Giegue lives —> Invades Eagleland —> Porky Gets corrupted —> Giegue is then defeated by Ness and Co by going to the past but Porky Escapes —> Porky goes to the future, Mother 3 time —> The Plot Of Mother 3 Happens You Get It). The two’s distant but important connection in the story of the games leads to some extremely interesting food for thought, or at least I think so. How would Claus view the situation? How would Ninten feel after finding out what happened to Claus? How would the two bond over this weird experienced they’re both tied in?

And that is made all the more interesting to me when possibly viewing it in a romantic lense, or atleast something that could become romantic. It’s complicated and messy and there’s so much history behind the two, it’s interesting to think not only about how they’d meet and how they’d feel about eachother, but how they would handle romantic feelings— how a relationship between two very troubled people could work and be okay, and help them mutually heal.

All this is to say, they’re tied in the story and I think putting the two in a romantic relationship is very interesting. Also, it’s just fun :’)

(This post is a TOTAL mess, it’s midnight and I should be sleeping, but I got too excited to write about them hahaha. Thank you so much for the question! Also, I’ll make my next post a big lloyd appreciation, I like to draw him. Thanks again! X))

[basedonconjecture]

Author Ask Tag

thank you for tagging me @ofcrowsanddragons & @thedissonantverses <3

What is the main lesson of your story?

If I had to distill it down to a single point it’s that identity is self-determined. We are a patchwork of influences from culture, family, experiences and a plethora of other things but no one can tell you who you are but you.

What did you use as inspiration for your story?

Since it’s a canon re-telling of Veilguard, that’s probably the largest source, haha. I’m fascinated by the Crows and the politics of Antiva, at large. Others are doing some truly fascinating work fleshing out Antiva as a setting for their fics that I’m truly in awe of, honestly. For me, personally, I really want to preserve that level of soapy drama that's baked into the Crows as we see them in the game so I'm looking at Italian historical figures largely through other fictionalized versions of them (Showtime's "The Borgias" and Netflix's "Medici" but also lighter fare like Casanova since romance is featured heavily in it as examples). My brain is often circling around Machiavelli, as well, and there's some ancient Roman philosophers floating around the proverbial vision board. By and large, however, I'm pulling a lot -- a lot -- from Shakespeare (the title of my last posted chapter is a reference to Julius Caesar and I had a real Neve-With-the-Conspiracy-Board moment there and there's a half written sleep-deprived breakdown of why somewhere in my phone's notes if anyone's ever curious lol) for, what I think, are obvious reasons. There’s a heavy theatrical element to the Crows and the storylines attached to them in canon but also the way Shakespeare moves people around each other, obscures information from them that is obvious to the audience, masked players, and identity etc. It’s grand monologues and tight interpersonal scenes where there’s as much being communicated in what’s not said as what is. There’s a play-within-a-play aspect to Lucanis’ companion quest line that I loved from the jump so I’m just…expanding on that with my Rook de Riva. Leaning into the aforementioned melodrama. 

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, or help them grow as a person?

At outset, Selora is half trying to prove her worth, essentially. She’s spent most of her life with the Crows purposefully flying under the radar, actively making herself look like an underachiever, to work with Viago all with the belief she was an essential Crow because of it. Getting kicked out sent her into a tailspin in trying to get back and really undervaluing herself (struggling with her identity outside of Being A Crow) but, along the way, through the people she meets and the much harder lessons of leadership, she learns to trust her own inner voice, it becomes less a matter of clinging to a life she knows and more claiming her right to be there. She loves the Crows, she loves Antiva, and the people there and probably falls closer to Teia in being a bit idealistic about it. There’s probably a few topics I will touch on tangentially (particularly in regards to family and what repairing those kinds of dysfunctional relationships can look like) but if there’s anything I can impart it’s to take up space. Whatever else they come away with, I do hope that’s among them.

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Oh, gosh. It’s currently at 15 -squints- and we’ve not even recruited Davrin, yet. I’n hoping to cap it at 50 which will require some finagling on my part, likely, but it’ll take however many chapters it takes.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Dragon Age: The Veilguard rookanis fic posted on Ao3, that you can read here :)

When did you start writing?

I wrote my first book at 6 years old! It was for school, alas, but pretty much as soon as I started reading I started writing. I’ve been a storyteller in one medium or other my whole life. It was a regular hobby starting in middle school, when I started also doing forum roleplaying (I have no idea what the current terminology is these days) and has followed me all the way into my 30s now. I used to write little skits for different drama groups from middle school into college as well as original fiction, poetry, etc. I have completed one full length fantasy novel and the ever growing incomplete novels gather dust in various WIP folders.

Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr?

Write. I know it’s oft repeated but it’s the most consistently universal advice I’ve ever run into. Writing is a muscle, it has to be built and can only be done by doing. Even just aiming for a few words a day (like 50 or 100) can really help! I will personally also set a timer as opposed to having a word count goal, like a 15-30 minute sprint, and whatever comes out is what I get done for that day. You’d really be surprised how often that gets the pistons firing to write more without feeling like I’m burning myself out. 

But! Some other advice: if you’re feeling really unmotivated and nothing else (consuming other media, listening to playlists, etc.) seems to be helping, try changing up your environment. I don’t necessarily mean going to a coffee shop or something (writing in public is impossible for me, personally) but I am sometimes way more productive writing on my phone, for example, or writing by hand than sitting at my laptop or PC. Seriously, try changing your environment or your mode of writing.

---

tagging: @mythals-whore, @introvertedfangrl, @dymme, @operative-arrow and anyone else! (sorry if you've already been tagged, haVE ANOTHER)

[verbenaa]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

Thank you so much @preciouslittlebhaalbae for the tag! I loved reading yours, and this was so fun to do!

When did you start writing?

Well, I feel like I’ve always been writing something since I was able to! I always wrote little stories as a kid, and had notebooks full of ideas and such as a teen. I stopped writing in college and it's taken me over a decade to feel confident enough again to return to it. I had never actually written fanfiction though, despite reading it since I was a preteen until this past december. it's been a great experience so far!

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

I love sci-fi! I mostly read fantasy, but I do indulge myself in that as well when my interest is sparked. I do, also, love a good historical romance when I am feeling indulgent 🤭

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

There's not really a particular writer or anything I'm emulating, if anything I try to not emulate anyone and simply write with my own voice. I've also never had my writing compared to anyone else before, either!

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I write all over the place, haha 😅. On a perfect day, I get to start writing in the living room on my favorite spot on the sofa with my coffee, but it's rare I get the opportunity. I tend to write a lot instead at the built-in booth in my kitchen or at my desk…but truly I will write wherever I can. I have been known to pull over into a parking lot and jot down something really great into the notes on my phone lol. The one place I don’t usually write is in bed though, as I am a sleepy girl by nature and just being near my bed lulls me into the sleepiessss.

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Hmmm, well I can't say I ever just 'muster up a muse', so to speak. I typically get ideas randomly and I can't ever force them to come. However, I do obviously love to listen to music to help set the mood, I am a chronic daydreamer, and I use pinterest a lot as a tool to help hone my focus. When I start feeling a little lost in my vision, I find it helpful to return to my playlist and the to eden pinterest board to sort of 'reset' my mind, so to speak, and get back into the proper mindset.

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

I like repetition, specifically in threes. I also really enjoy working with themes of sex and intimacy and how they intertwine. Trust, as well, has been a recurring one throughout my work. I also love a good musical reference here and there, too!

What is your reason for writing?

Because I have words and stories begging to be set free and can hold them back no longer. Because I want to prove to myself that I am capable of creating something, even if it's just a silly little fanfiction. Because I hope someone out there will enjoy it and maybe it will leave an imprint on them in some form or another!!!

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Any and all comments!!!! I have recently been having a real bout of lack of confidence, so going back over my comments has really helped keep me going and remind myself that there at least a few people who are enjoying my work!

I have a deep love for comments though where people point out specific parts or lines that they loved and I find this to be beyond satisfying. It's so lovely to know specifically what resonated with someone or what part they really, really enjoyed. It's a very validating experience! Few things bring me more joy than getting to read comments. I neeeeed the comment serotonin! (please leave me comments)

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I...don't know? Hopefully approachable, willing to chat? That I have somewhat of a nice grasp on what I'm writing about??? That I am at least a decent writer????

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I've received a lot of comments about my ability to set place and my imagery, so I feel confident about that skill. Also not bad at writing smut 😏.

How do you feel about your own writing?

oof. this is...a tough one, haha. I tend to be very unsure about my own writing and am also prone to confidence issues and imposter syndrome, hence part of the reason why I've been writing so much slower the past few months 🥲. I oscillate between thinking I'm writing something good that will be enjoyable or thinking that it's awful lol. honestly I can't let myself think overmuch about it and instead I just try to write, write, write and then press publish when I'm done with it 😅. I can be quite self-critical. I need to chill lol.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I write for meeee! So far, all the stories I've told have been ones I have wanted to read myself. to eden is completely self-indulgent, as are the oneshots lol.

I could probably do a ted talk about why, exactly, I felt compelled to write to eden when there's a million other amazing Astarion/Tav fics out there and what specific aspects of the Astarion/Tav relationship I have been so eager to explore, so if ya want that LET ME KNOW ✨

Tagging @elinorbard @khywren @ladyduellist @inkymoonbunny @xxnashiraxx and anyone else who wants to join in, I would love to learn about all of you!!!

[significant-narratives]

is william nylander a leo rising or anything like that? I feel like he’s leo-adjacent

alas we do not have a birth time for willy (at least, not that i know of) so i can’t say for certain. i am however willing to walk with you on this path as a bit of a thought experiment! also this got really long, sorry i have chronic Can’t Shut The Fuck Up disease

now, a few disclaimers before we get started:

1) i generally don’t love trying to guess rising signs — this isn’t a judgement on anyone who does, i just find it particularly difficult to do lol. so take everything i say here with a grain of salt

2) i subscribe to the belief that a rising does influence/color the rest of an individual’s chart, so keep that in mind as we delve into this.

3) i am by no means an expert when it comes to astrology and don’t claim to be, and i do pull from various sources when needed to supplement my own knowledge. i am here to have a good time and that’s all! if you have any questions about the sources i use feel free to ask.

okay with that out of the way. willy as a leo rising is interesting! if we look at what such a placement would entail we can see a lot of ‘willy-like’ traits: there’s the courage, confidence and protectiveness associated with any leo placement. high charisma, extroversion, directness. as an ascendant the ‘fixed energy’ of leo tends to manifest in a need to achieve success and stability, and then maintain it. body awareness is another one — understanding how you look and move through space (usually linked to a strong sense of personal style).

(more of a side note, but in terms of physical characteristics, leo risings are often described as tall and broad shouldered, with expressive eyes and strong bone structure. i don’t place as much weight on this aspect of a rising sign, but it’s interesting!)

so, from all this, you could make a strong case for willy being a leo rising! however there’s one crucial thing that isn’t clicking for me: an individual’s rising sign tends to be linked with a public mask / a lens through which they see reality. and i don’t think the way willy presents himself to the public, or what glimpses we’ve seen of his worldview, is quite aligned with leo rising energy specifically.

his white knuckle grip on his ‘i am Chill and Calm and Going With The Flow’ attitude is a little out of line with how leo energy tends to manifest (imo). like one thing about a leo — what you see tends to be what you get and they’re not ashamed to show you that. they’re not (in my experience) all too concerned with persona-building or shielding themselves from being seen. they’re picky about who they give their time and energy to, sure, but like. that’s not quite the same thing. you feel me?

so if he did have a leo rising… i feel like in theory we wouldn’t see a lot of willy’s tendency to keep things very close to his chest and generally not Feel Things In Public. like, think about it. how much do we actually know about william nylander. and how much of what we know came from him. half of the off season content we get that features him comes from alex’s gf’s insta! he’s out here posting pictures of lizards and aesthetic topless photos. it took him eight years and finally securing his place in toronto for the foreseeable future for him to be willing to get even a Little vulnerable with the press and admit just how important toronto is to him, how strongly he’s put down roots here. again you could argue this protective quality is a point in favour of a leo rising placement… but he is also a taurus sun… also is this a good time to say i don’t feel like i’m picking up on that ‘leo rising energy’ trickling down into the rest of his chart? i feel like with a leo rising you’d see a very different manifestation of his gemini venus or libra moon, for example, but that’s just speculation on my part.

it’s also possible the general ‘leo adjacent’ energy you’ve mentioned picking up from him is that gemini venus / aries mars combo of his (i will hold my tongue and not say the word that i’m thinking in my head rn).

tl;dr my verdict on willy having a leo rising: it’s possible but not my favourite choice for him personally! to me i’ve always felt like he gave off water rising energy… (op are you saying this because you are a taurus sun scorpio rising you ask. to which i will say: no comment <3)

[alpineshift]

okay, I have no idea how coherent this is going to be, so bear with me, but here are my thoughts on jealous!Jack...

first and foremost, we must set the scene. I think my favorite thing about Devils games is that Nico is always finding himself in a situation. This is really due to the fact that he's always net front, always going into the dirty spaces, always in the midst of puck battles, and isn't afraid to use his skating ability to outsmart an opponent.

I'm thinking specifically of these moments: Exhibit A, Exhibit B, Exhibit C.

and I'm just imagining Jack either on the ice or on the bench watching things like this happen all game, every game. Like Nico's a one man charm offensive right and he doesn't this turn this charm off on the ice or off the ice, and so Jack day in, day out, is not only seeing his own teammates fall all over themselves trying to impress Nico or get a head pat from Nico, but the media who are also a little bit in love with him, and now also dudes from other teams.

and you add this to Jack's mile long praise kink, and you get Jack being Jack and then all of his cellies especially from the 2022-2023 season involve him making sure to get his hugs/pats/praise/love from Nico. he loves that attention and he wants to make sure everyone out there knows that although Nico may be a charm machine, its Jack who Nico belongs to and vice versa.

casual possessive hand on Nico's number, skipping the celly line to go straight to Nico and then getting cockblocked by Colin Miller, casual possessive bear paws around Nico in the singles corner of a team photo, scooching across the bench to get his head pats

just love the idea of like Jack needing to balance the fact that he knows Nico is the Captain and he knows Nico needs to make time for all of the Devs boys, but Jack also wants his Nico all to himself.

and Nico always indulges him. every time Jack uses his stick to get Nico's attention, on the bench, during a celly, during a conference before a face off, after a game, any time Jack wants Nico's attention, Nico will always give it. its a symbiotic relationship.

but basically, everyone's a little bit in love with Nico right. like look at him. and look at how everyone in the league interacts with him. everyone's definitely a little in love with Nico, and Jack knows Nico only has eyes for him, but it does drive him a little bit bat shit that all of these people are constantly getting put under a spell by Nico's dimples and his cow eyes.

there's also this silly little headcanon I had back when Timo first joined the team last season about how Jack maybe felt a type of way about another guy joining the team that Nico has history/shared life experience with. maybe Jack decides to learn Swiss for like five minutes to try to understand what Timo and Nico are laughing about in Swiss German all the time.

I dunno, there's a lot going on in my noggin about this. its my absolute favorite because like Jack was THE boy at the USNTDP and everyone kind of circles around him and he's a first overall and on the Devils, the team, the media, the narratives circle around him. and you put that together with the magnetic pull of one Nico Hischier and oh boy whats Jack's brain doing now huh?

this is getting far too long, so I'm gonna just shut up now, very sorry for like word vomiting in your ask box, ahahaha!

trust me I have SO many thoughts about this. so many.

the way I am CHOWING DOWN on this...help me...I literally went and made myself a tea so I could tuck in and unspool your ask in its full glory. THANK YOU. this is my jealous jack bible now LOL

reading this has made me realize Nico is basically a capybara LOL. chill, cute, friend shaped, minds his own biz, universally beloved and makes buddies across all animal kingdoms. none of us are immune to the Nico CharmTM, least of all hockey players, least of all jack hughes. that backhug picture of them from the team gathering gets me every time. I love to see it.

the layers are there and they are so endearing. I'm living for your Timo headcanon bc I recently had the experience of seeing a Timo pic on the devil's social media and went "oh whoa holy shit he's good looking" so I can project this feeling onto Jack, who's torn between wow he's good looking to him and nico are real close and idk how to feel about that levels of internal conflict. meanwhile those two are just gabbing on about absolutely nothing of importance hfnshffn.

I love that you shared all this with me!! thank you!! I too can go on for days daydreaming of the lore and the webs and the intricacies!! come back whenever you want and leave more charming nuggets in my inbox ❤️

[oftenderweapons]

Like Crazy | PJM

Pairing: Jimin x reader (nicknamed Princess)

Wordcount: 2.1 k

Genre: fluff, slight angst, light smut, established relationship

Rating: 18+, minors, do not interact

Warnings: unprotected sex, mentions of grinding, mentions of handjob (male receiving). Angst involving military service and taking a break from the relationship.

A/N: To the nonnie who requested this draft -- I'm sorry, but I went off plot with your request, mostly because I can't imagine them being out to the public, but I'll add to this so I can imagine how the *good* fans might react. Also, since I imagined this song interpreted a certain way between them, I don't think this particular take they have in this fic would be recorded and published. I'll reply more pertinently to your ask in a separate post, don't worry. But I wanted you to have *this* fic because I want you to know some stuff that happened in their storyline, and I want you to know how I imagined them interpreting this song together. Sorry again, feel free to send me an ask to shame me LOL

As usual, here's my masterlist and the fic is below the cut.

ILY and enjoy 💜✨

Jimin was moving smoothly in front of you, every muscle of his body hitting every stress and release of the music. He was hypnotic. You could have spent hours watching him move. 

It was only partially a physical experience, and conversely, it was mostly a mental, emotional experience. You could feel him move. 

You mirrored his steps clumsily once the chorus hit. He was cute, giggling, fooling around with you. You touched each other carelessly in some sort of childlike game. And once the second verse came on, he switched. 

He was dancing for you.

His movements turned lustful, lazy. He was touching himself the way you touch him, taking more time in a tempo rubato. Slow paced, sultry, prolonging movements past their beat, letting them melt into spaces they shouldn’t. The choreography you’d seen plenty of times, with its sharp accents and crisp lines, was turning into a breathy harmony of blurred lines, of sultry curves. 

While he seemed frustrated and torn on stage, playful and embarrassed on his several tiktoks, and dark, somehow greedy on the Studio Choom final cut, here before your eyes, he was lusty and indulging. He seemed to really give in to every movement, as if allowing himself to be touched, to be moved, to be seduced by his own hands. 

When his hand moved across his ribs on the second chorus, it looked as if he was really caressing himself. He was giving, and giving, blooming under his own palms. 

You wished you could touch him that way, you’d missed him so much. 

“Oh, sweetheart,” you told him, watching him, and watching. You couldn’t stop tracing every line of him with your eyes. The song was ending, and you wanted more. 

He looked in your eyes as silence finally settled in.

“Come,” he said, reaching to you with his hand and dragging you close to him. He made the song restart. 

He took slow steps as he danced close to you, leading you with a hand around your waist, hooking you close to him. 

“Remember our first dance?” you asked him as he leaned close to your mouth. 

He nodded. “Sometimes I think about it, when I struggle finding myself.” 

Longing was like electricity between your lips and his. “Does it… This song…”

“What about it?” he asked.

“No, later…” you said, avoidant. 

“Okay. Later.” He parted from you just to let you hit the chorus. Staring at each other in the mirror, you noticed his hand, moving from his belt loop to his pelvis, suggestive, an innuendo matched by the lowering of his eyelids, his pupils getting darker. 

You were moving, looking at the mirror, but you weren’t looking at yourself. You were rather making eye contact with him, your bodies getting closer once the second verse started, his solo with the dancer — which had felt so wrong when you looked at it on video — changed entirely once he was dancing with you. His hands were all over you, pushing, pulling, desperate. A hand on your thigh, the other carrying your knee closer to his hip, his waist, your pelvis colliding with his in a way that stole your breath and made your torso snap forward, in his hold. Then, he was pushing you back, making you dip low behind you, lowering you to the ground before his body was climbing over yours in wicked seduction. 

And then he stood, moving on with the choreography, leaving you breathless to pick up after yourself. 

The second chorus had no pretense of sobriety, it was loose and lusty and desperate, your hands moving freely over your body in a way that translated much better in your own vocabulary of desire. 

He could read it effortlessly. 

You ditched the plans for the outro just to keep dancing with each other, going back to that night, when breathing the same air, and feeling each other’s skin and looking at the way your bodies moved together never felt enough. 

Your nose was touching his, his hands were spread over your ribs, your legs were complicatedly tangled together and when the music ended this time, neither of you wanted to start again. 

You were both breathing heavily and both your hands felt criminally free, so you grabbed his face and kissed the hell out of him. 

Neither of you was lying when you met passionately, your mouths devouring each other, wet and hungry, his body, electric and strong against yours pushed you towards the mirror, and you wanted, you wanted him so much. 

Words were failing you as you asked, “Gimmie— Please—”

You didn’t know what you wanted, you didn’t know what to beg for. You were only grateful that he wasn’t mocking you for your desperation; infact, apparently he had this renewed purpose ever since he got you back. Since that night, everything was fair game. 

He ruled over you, and he knew it, and he had no other request but having everything he’d missed so dearly. 

“What did you want to say, earlier?” he asked, panting, his voice angelic, aethereal like he’d been while singing. 

“What?” you asked back, confused, dizzy with excitement and need. 

“Earlier. Don’t act like you don’t remember,” he teased you. 

You bit your lip, your body pinned by his own, and mostly by his gaze. 

“There’s something I wanted to ask you. About this song.”

He nodded. The days without you had been delirious. Like some great lie he’d told himself as an excuse to be afraid to stand by your side, to continue staying by your side. He’d tried to rip the band-aid off before you would do it on him. He was about to enlist, and it felt easier, to let you go instead of keeping the both of you chained to a promise that was going to have more downsides than perks. 

But was it worth it?

He’d just caused the both of you the darkest despair, and then the enlistment had been postponed due to the pandemic. And he’d lost you, over nothing. 

“Go ahead, ask me.”

Your eyes were turned down, to the floor. “Did you write this song about someone you saw while we were off?”

He froze in your arms, then caught your chin. Made you look him in the eye. “No, Princess.”

You nodded. 

He hated himself for making you this insecure. How could he? How could he deserve you, after what he’d put you both through? “It’s about the night we met again.”

You found the courage to hold his gaze. 

“At the club. Our eyes met across the room. I kept celebrating with my friend, but— I didn’t last long.” He kissed your chin. “I went home, by myself.” His hand caressed the length of your thigh, the side of it, down to your knee, and picked it up. He wanted you glued to his body permanently. He thought he’d never spent this much time between your legs before, not sexually, nor romantically, and now he craved it continuously. He wanted to take a day off and just lay the closest he can on top of you. “I went home by myself, and I fantasised about what could have happened. If I had had the nerves and if I hadn’t let go of you. Touching you, being inside you, kissing you. Having you all night long. Being yours still, endlessly.”

You traced the lines of his face. You’d had sex in this room before — his small dance room at home — and it had been hot, but now you just wanted the closeness of his bedroom — your shared bedroom, where you had slept together in the past, and now again, found in each other once more. 

“You sure we’re doing this right?” you asked him, combing his hair back while he kissed his way down your neck. Missing you had helped him appreciate some small details of you more, especially the ones he feared forgetting. Little beauty marks, moles, scars; places where your skin felt softer, places where he could touch you innocently and still cause waves of goosebumps over your entire body. Places where the ruthlessness of your body gave way to luscious forests of pleasures, endless deserts of scorching want, rich oceans of admiration, and devotion, and love. 

He liked you rough and reckless and harsh, and he liked where he could find exceptions to that shark character of yours. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I can’t stop wanting you,” he confessed with a giggle, teasing the waistband of your joggers with his eager fingertips. 

You grabbed him sternly by his own waistband, and started pulling him in, twisting the two of you around as you began to walk backward towards the bedroom. 

“Jimin,” you moaned, almost with a hiccup at the way he stole your breath with tiny nips at your throat. 

“Love,” he moaned back at you, and your knees went weak. “Are you gonna give me the night we could have had?”

You purred and bit at the base of his neck. “One day, I will give you all the nights we missed. But tonight we have just tonight, and I’m gonna make the best of it.”

There was a certain power in love refound. It soared in your veins as you undressed him, and it sang in his heartbeat as he did the same to you. 

It was tender and liquid as his fingers caressed your chest with devotion, his eyes caught as if it was the first time still. 

His hips went wild as your hands reached for him, touching him lovingly, unrushed, precise and skilled. He stopped you with a grip around your wrist, just in time to convince you to grind against him, like that first magical, perfect night, when he’d taken and given, and you’d met him, again and again, flowing inside him just as you allowed him inside you. 

Your bodies seemed to perfectly sing to each other, until you couldn’t stand the distance any longer. 

“Can I? Inside?” he asked, so, so gentle. He touched your face as he asked, cupping your cheek, kissing you deep, deeper, his lips sinfully plush, his teeth a harsh and pleasant contrast. 

“Yes, please,” you replied with a breathy, light tone, your words barely loud enough. 

He let himself kiss you deeper — impossibly so — as he grabbed his sex and placed the tip to your entrance, the movement so smooth as he slipped inside you. 

A guttural gasp caught you, but he smoothed it out with a fond galaxy of kisses spread all over your face and chest. 

“I’m so sorry I let you go,” he confessed, catching you in his arms, holding you as tight as he could. He rolled you over so that he was on top, so he could give you a break from all the effort as you’d been grinding on top of him for a solid ten minutes, and your legs had to be tired. 

He could take over, and he wanted to. He needed to make it up to you. 

“I’m so sorry,” he repeated. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t call you out on your bullshit. I’m sorry I didn’t hold you back.” You wanted to keep talking, but he was working you good, and it was hard to find words that made sense. 

“We’re good now,” he hummed. “You’re good now. Am I good to you?”

“You’re just, so good,” you confirmed, adding to it. “You’re fine. You’re perfect. I missed you. This. Us. Sex with you,” it was like you were an avalanche, coming apart with words first, and then your body, gradually getting sloppy, losing control. 

Your hand moved in between your bodies, to the apex of your slit, teasing the sensitive skin there.

He looked at your hand, at your bodies joining. “I missed it too. I missed your body. God, I missed this so much,” he groaned. “I’m gonna—”

“Go,” you reassured him. 

He went wild and there, you followed, your voice hoarse as you cried out his name, your lips parched from the panting, the gasping over every sensation he caused inside your body. 

Once he collapsed on top of you, you just held him there, letting him catch his breath, soothing him with tender strokes of your hand over his body, over his dirty blond hair.

You let him rest inside you, close to you, and confessed. “You know I love you,” you whispered. 

And after some seconds during which you thought he was already asleep, he replied “I love you, too, you know.” And then he added, “Like crazy.”

It made you chuckle, just barely. You nodded to yourself. “Like crazy.”

If you liked how this fic made you feel, remember to tell the writer -- yeah, we get a huge sugar rush from that 🥹✨