#so im just stuck listening to them talk about all the stuff they like

[gayeddiejuice]

🚨🚨 boots on the ground reporting 🚨🚨

ok just got off the phone with my friend, she is the mvp called me as soon as she clocked out while she walked to the train.

ok. first things first i asked. we’re they nice? and she said YES she said they were probably the easiest table anyone had she felt bad for everyone else cause she kept seeing all the handlers running back and forth and she was just chilling pretty much. she said they dinner was pre ordered but they didn’t eat much of it cause they probably ate at the pre party event. she was also like “did you know oliver is vegan?” LOL anyways. as the main handler the job is to make sure the vips have everything they need, so for example she would take all their food orders and then send it to the kitchen and then there’s a team of waiters who bring the food, the handler never leaves the table you have to be there in case they need anything.

she said since their team preordered most of the food it made her job so much easier, she basically just stood by their table all night just in case they needed anything. she did order lots of drinks tho she said they drank A LOT 😂😂 but it was mostly for all the people that kept coming over to their table, apparently they were super popular people from other shows kept coming over to talk to them. also lots of the other guests which is mostly just the advertisers, that’s the whole point of the party abc/disney has all these celebs there to mingle with advertisers to get them to sell stuff on their network. and she said everyone wanted to come to the 911 table!!

after the dinner portion the actual party starts and that’s when things get hectic cause the vips always scatter and if you’re their handler you gotta know where they all are at all times. i do not miss this job btw it gave me major anxiety.

during the party they pretty much stuck together which made her job so much easier and she said they all remembered her name when she only told it to them once when she introduced herself. listen she doesn’t know anything about this cast she kept calling them the girl and the asian guy or the two hot guys. which. yall. she said they were all extremely beautiful she said she kept blushing cause ryan (she fell in love with him btw) kept calling her by her name and asking her questions and he kept organizing the plates and glasses on the table to make it easier for the wait staff to pick up.

other than that she said later in the night she kept losing track of them cause again they were so popular 😂😂 mostly aisha, she said she seemed to be friends with EVERYONE and she said, i repeat she knows nothing about rpf she didn’t know what her words would mean, she said ryan and oliver (the two hot guys) hung out together the whole night especially once kenny left, she said he left at like 8 right after dinner, and aisha kept going to talk to other people but ryan and oliver stuck together all night. I said oh im so sure. 🤭

that’s pretty much it, i asked if she could hear their convos and she could but she didn’t really pay attention cause she didn’t recognize any names. she did say that they were all cracking jokes all night and they laughed a lot which idk warms my heart 🥹🥹

btw ryan and oliver did leave together and i think they were going to either go somewhere else with other people or they were having like an after party at the hotel? cause they kept telling people yeah we’ll see you “after” she didn’t really catch where “after” was but when they said bye to aisha ryan said “see ya at the hotel” and oliver told her to not take too long 😂😂 so idk I guess they’re still partying.

[kncrowder88]

Watching "The Vault" again has me stuck so much on the Hetty-Elias stuff. Like I paused the episode because of how it plays out (before all the wedding chaos and even then).

Just, up to this episode Hetty has a variety of lines that hints to her past. But there is like .... very little that actually speaks to Elias. No name, no big hints beyond the remove her husband's portrait line and the Halloween eps line of "wasn't your husband also your cousin?". We get the child labor stuff, the "like slept on gold rich." "We did that once", past vs present culture refs, etc but Elias is very little commentary. But even those two moments "my horrible husbands portrait" and "was your cousin" basically tells her a bit.

Then, this episode comes along, and its a "my husband must have been trying to squander away MY riches". Not his. Not theirs. But hers, she specifically specifies that he likely built the vault to steal HER riches (which again tells us a lot about the dynamic) without her seeming to mean to. Then the combination, its the anniversary she gives and she has the smallest of smiles, a shifting movement to her - its this sort of "of course it be our anniversary we were man and wife" but she's shifty and despite the facade, the need to believe her own lie .... its disproven so fast and she has to "fine try"

And like.... every single person is just there around her "like yeah this makes sense. Course her robber baron husband would try to hide away money and then use their anniversary as the .... oh wait guess he didnt" not one of them is giving skeptical looks or glances of "girl please we know". And when Elias steps out, everyone jumping back, this whole facade of behavior continues between them. Its so clear she doesn't want him there (but also like how does Elias even know its been 130 years?) but she is holding to this semi-sorta obedient behavior of "i will insult you but not completely imply that I desire your presence to no longer exist"

Then he hits on Albeta mere seconds later and its like a tonal shift happens. Every present (well besides Jay) is just watching this couple reunite without a flicker of "nah this seems wrong" until Elias moves at Alberta all sweet talk. You get Hetty's blank face, glance away from the two "really right in front of me" reaction and Alberta's "oh hell no" response (her mind likely having rhe various puzzle pieces having the missing ones slip into place right then too).

The next scene we have is Sas, Thor, Pete, and Trevor as a witness to a marital spat between the two. And that IS what it is. Hetty this episode is very much in "wife" mode. At the vault she held up a small shield but she slipped back into her dutifully wife mode (not fully but had Elias not flirted and immediately reminded her she likely would have fully). Now, im not against Hetty having support but its the way they are watched (like the ghosts observe livings as if they are a TV show to be enjoyed - even whispering in the background all "bet he asks about the maid").

Elias expresses an annoyance about being a ghost, about how he paid the church and signed a whole contract (really wonder what that contract was honestly). Hetty at this point has just been rather "listen to the rant, then move along" visage only to hear that and slip out a "was i a part of this contract or was this a one person trip?" And he gives the whole union, mob riot excuse (commentate on by their observers) and then a "i dont think I like your tone". Its this argument that gives us the "obedient wife" line and.....

At the end of it we get a "not to excuse it but like how hot was the maid?" From Trevor to which Thor and Sas give gestures of their opinions (behind Hetty's back - reminding us they witnessed this marriage as ghosts).

Like, not one ghost actually really has her back up to this point. She really has to stand their as they pull a "how hot is the maid" line AFTER also hearing that her husband had been willing to sign a contract to get into heaven but not include her. After they just learned he got locked in a vault for these behaviors and used one of his affairs as the combo.

And yeah I get it "comedy show" but Hetty is struggling and finally stood up for herself (just as small bit - there is a reason Isaac had a bit of a smile as she told Jay off in the possession episode and enjoyed herself for once) .... and the MEN around her immediately went to "how hot was the maid?" Not "Hetty you did good" she is once more hearing the words of men JUSTIFYING her husbands actions. (No amount of not to excuse/justify removes the fact its what is happening. It's a "I mean if she's hot" response to cheating)

Her facade is being chipped away at, she's being humiliated and tormented before those she had been coming to trust and rely on, and .... Elias is yet again winning. Honestly glad its the argument they have and his whole "not gonna change" thing when talking with her that got him sent to hell. She got to witness him tell her he would ALWAYS be this way - with the intent of always believe he owned her - only for the universe to go "nah we got Hetty"

[fags-and-freaks]

Debating on making a selfship blog VS just keeping it here. Cuz on one hand, would get rid of the nagging that nobody wants to see it. On the other hand? I'd probably forget about it and stop posting immediately

[gnarpmster42069]

light - a. arlert

cw: nerd!armin, study partners, fluff, gn!reader, lazy!reader, no established relationship, friend crush, based on the wave to earth song.

a/n: armin listens to w2e, nobody can tell me otherwise

wc: 500

“okay.. explain it to me one more time.” 

armin stares at you blankly through blond strands of hair, “I’ve explained it five times already.” 

you whine dramatically. you’ve been stuck on this same question for the past hour. it’s not your fault that history is so boring! 

you let your head rest on the cold surface of the library desk. “im just gonna do this tomorrow..” you mumble.

armin looks on at your hopeless, slumped state across from him and he takes a deep sigh. he knows you have the potential to finish all of your work with ease if you actually put in the effort.

he adjusts his glasses, clearing his throat before he speaks, “here, I have something for you.” 

you peek your head up in curiosity, expecting some answers or possibly some snacks to take your mind off of things. to your disappointment, armin pulls some flashcards from out of his backpack.

your brows furrow and you let out an exasperated sound. “please not again.” 

“yes, again.” he dismisses, being used to your usual behavior. he holds the cards close to him so that you’re not tempted to read the opposite side of them. 

“okay.. who was hirohito?” he asks, looking up from the card.

your usually rampant brain goes blank. you really need to pay attention in class more. “uhm..” you drag out under your breath, squinting at the ceiling as if it’ll give you the answer. 

“come on, you know this one. we spent, like, two weeks in class talking about him.” armin stares at you in anticipation of your answer.

you blink a few times, desperately racking your brain. nothing. you shake your head, “I don’t know, it’s not ringing any bells.” 

he flips the card around to read ‘emperor of japan in 1926.’

you raise your eyebrows in acknowledgment, “oh yeaahh, I remember now!” you say, unconvincingly. 

armin lets a hand travel up to his head to massage his temples. “he was emperor from 1926 to 1989. it’s interesting; he had the longest reign in the entirety of japan’s imperial history. he seems to be very controversial though…” 

a smile forms on his face, contagiously enough for you to do the same. the truth is, you did know the answer. you just needed an excuse to get armin to rant about whatever nerdy stuff he was into. 

the way he seemed so passionate about everything was your favorite thing about him. it was enough to get your heart to race. however, his facts were flying right over your head. 

he waves a hand in front of your face, attempting to get your attention. “are you listening?”

“oh sorry, you were saying?” you smile cheekily, letting your head rest in your hand. 

written by chloë💟

[miniimight]

Gotta admit the way you write midoriya is just so... Literally can't find the words to describe it. I had this scenario I wished to request of you it's okay if you don't want to do it. Midoriya with an significant other that hears people taking about them, not deserving of him and how they are using him for his fame and all, then he teaches them a lesson?

DEFENDING YOU the gossip around the office gets on his nerves a lil bit

with izukuuuuu :heart: + gn!reader

notes absolutely in love with this request ! thanks for reading my stuffs <3

a while after you were revealed as his girlfriend, izuku was faced with many backhanded comments about his relationship. sure, they were few and far between, but when they did happen he felt his self-control diminishing way faster than usual. especially if that person had the balls to say it to his face.

to be completely honest, he thought that everyone else should mind their own fucking business. he doesn't kid around when it comes to the people he cares about. the fact that he wants and needs you is enough.

but, nonetheless. people will still run their mouths.

it was another casual day in the office. you had the day off work and he was stuck at the agency headquarters, flipping through paperwork.

you were excited to see him. izuku had been holed up in work for what seemed like forever, and you were so happy to get the chance to spend time with each other during the coming weekend.

as you walked through the halls, you noticed the eyes following you. they were hard to miss, but they were part of the routine at this point. you soon found yourself in the elevator, head ducked as you pulled out your phone.

izu: you coming up soon baby?

you: yeah, i'm like 5 mins away

you: okay im in the lobby, heading up rn

izu: yayyy can't wait to see you, love :3

you smiled softly to yourself. when you looked up, the elevator was packed; all you could see were the backs of the seven or so individuals in front of you, pushing you into the corner. your stomach felt a little uneasy, thinking about how you'd have to tell these people to move to let you through, but you remembered izuku was on the top floor. there was no way they were all heading there.

the hushed voices of a few employees made your heart pound.

"you're talking about deku's s/o?"

"yeah! aren't they... i dunno. a little out of his league?"

"i'm saying! like i'd get it if they were maybe a model or something. but they're literally just a civilian. how disappointing is that? like uravity is right there."

"i'm sure they're just using him for his fame. he's in the field so much with other badass heroes, they probably barely get to see him. if deku wasn't deku, they'd dip in a heartbeat."

they all laughed.

you wanted to stop listening. flood your mind with meaningless thoughts to distract you. but you couldn't resist tuning in, feeding your insecurities and doubt.

the ding of the elevator saved you. they filed out of the elevator, leaving you with the cheerful jingle of the lift.

you were quiet as you walked down the long halls of the top floor, their words echoing in your mind. you knew they weren't true—and god, would izuku reassure the fuck out of you—but negativity was negativity. and negativity had a way of finding cracks and slipping through.

the giant glass doors slid over the tiled floor soundlessly, yet izuku's head popped up from behind all the papers and files at your arrival.

a huge grin bloomed on his face as he sped over to you, paperwork forgotten. "hello, honey. did you get up here okay?"

"yeah," you smiled and held up a takeout bag. "i got some snacks for us."

izuku's calculating gaze bore into you as he gingerly accepted the bag. "you alright?"

"hmm?" you tilted your head in confusion. of course he noticed. "yeah, i'm good." the last thing you wanted to do was stress him out even more.

his brows furrowed. he stepped closer to you, his hands resting on your waist. "don't lie to me, sweetheart." his tone was scolding but his eyes were gentle. "what's bothering you?"

you pursed your lips, sighing. "just a couple people talking about us, 'n how i don't deserve you—"

you felt him stiffen, his expression going cold.

"how i'm using you for the fame, blah, blah, blah." you forced a smile, trying to play it off in an amusing light. "you know, the usual."

izuku was tightlipped, responding only with a "hmm."

he was staring at the wall behind you, eyes narrowed as if he'd seen a villain or something. you knew that expression well.

you cupped his face, guiding him to look at you. "hey. it's okay, izu, i'm used to it. don't mind them, alright?"

izuku's gaze softened and he leaned into one of your palms, the other lifted off his face by his own hand. he pressed a little kiss to your wrist, rubbing his hand up and down your arm soothingly as you both walked out his office.

he decided to drop it, and just love the shit out of you as an apology for experiencing such disrespect. even if he did everything in his power to make sure everyone knew he belonged to you just as much as you belonged to him, he still felt guilty when people attacked you.

he still had many questions: who were they, what floor did they get off, and how can i discipline them? he usually felt sympathy for when employees messed up, but suddenly... he wasn't against firing them all.

the ride down to the lobby was filled with many adoring employees who giggled at the sight of the pro-hero, a phenomenon you were also very familiar with.

soon, you were gliding through the lobby, so close to freedom when he picks up on the idle chatter he hates so much.

"i think that's them!"

"it is. woah, his s/o is way more dull when you see 'em next to each other."

izuku grit his teeth. his eyes glanced down to you, seeing the way you blinked and pursed your lips. he suddenly paused. you walked forward a couple steps before you were tugged back by his stationary hand.

you looked at him curiously. "izu..?" your eyes darted around, lingering on the three that said those things about you.

he smiled, bending over you as he kissed your lips gently, pecking your forehead as well. "why don't you go to the car, love? i'll catch up in a second."

you gave him a warning look, noticing how he was drifting to where the three sat. "izu... really, let's just go."

he kissed you again and your head was swimming. "i'll only be a minute, angel. go on." he pat your back and watched as you left the lobby. when he turned around his expression was completely different.

he walked over to the three people, who instantly straightened at his approach. they shared glances with each other, both a little scared and confused.

"hello." izuku smiled, but there was no indication that he was happy. "i'm deku, and you all are..?"

they meekly listed their names, to which izuku took mental notes and nodded.

"great. uhm, i overheard you talking about my s/o?" he cocked his head to the side. "please, i'd love to hear your thoughts." he chuckles. "i'm kinda obsessed with them, or whatever."

"o-oh..." they stutter and avoid his gaze, cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "no, it was nothing, really."

"hmm? nothing?" izuku and his months of public appearance training only made him more intimidating when angry; the joyless smile he wore as annoyance bubbled through him was ten times worse then any outright show of anger. "are you sure?"

"yes! promise." one nods eagerly.

he laughs mirthlessly and the three weakly chuckled along, thinking they were out of trouble. leaning close to them, his voice dropped into a low hum. "i'd like to keep it that way, yeah? let's not make them sad just so you could feel like you have an opinion about something that does not concern you whatsoever."

the three held onto each other, eyes rounded with shock as they listened to the pro-hero before them.

izuku's head tilted ever-so-slightly. "well?"

they began to trip over each other with their agreement, yes, of course! we wouldn't dream of it. consider it done! whatever you say!

izuku flashed his famous smile. "glad we got that sorted out. and just so that we're crystal clear, if i—or anyone for that matter—catch you talking down on my s/o again..." he pursed his lips, his eyes narrowing in thought. "i'd hate to have to terminate your contracts... it's a lot of paperwork, you know?"

they shook their heads, bowing deeply to the pro-hero. "never again, sir!"

"great!" izuku chirped. "bye!"

[]

your leg bobbed nervously in the car, wondering what izuku was doing and if you should go in there and see for yourself. just as you were about to act, you saw his green hair bob over the cars beside you, eventually coming into view.

you exhaled in relief as he slipped into the driver's seat, sighing happily. he turned to stare at you, leaning dreamily over the steering wheel. you smiled, though your eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"you're so pretty." he sighed.

"i—" you blinked, laughing. "thank you, baby."

"i'm so lucky to have you..." he continued, leaning over the compartment separating your seats.

you giggled, matching his energy. "mhmm."

he gave you a lopsided smile. "you deserve everything i have and more."

your face felt warm as you shy away from him, knowing why he was spouting all these affirmations. his fingers hooked under your chin, tilting your face. his hair brushed against your forehead as he captured your lips. he grinned at you when he pulled away, staring at you with such adoration.

"so..." you ignore your racing heart and try to regulate your breathing. "are you gonna tell me what happened?"

he squished your cheeks before turning back in his seat, starting the car. "nope!"

you smiled and rolled your eyes, uncertainties gone and doubt erased. in the end, you weren't ever bothered. and strangely, you never saw those three faces again.

© miniimight ! thanks for reading <3

[bbywtfamidoing]

My brain is infected so yours should also be infected. (If you want to count this as an idea or a request PLEASE feel free but I also just really wanna share) sorry if it’s kinda long

Smosh doing like a really big charity stream, it's like 24 hour sleepover themed and Damien's there and reader is like crew or something and at one point they all decide to play a brand new game on live, that the reader is like OBSESSED with, but reader is also kind of insecure about talking about there hyper-fixations/infodumping/feel like they talk to much and are annoying or something so they have a hard time talking about there interests with others, but Damien is perceptive like that (He’s so in love with them it’s unfair) so he knows they at the very least like, and have played the game before so they invite her over to sit and play on stream with them and she sits next to Damien and they both end up just geeking out all night while playing and reader tries to like apologize and be like ‘im sorry if I talk to much about this you can just tell me to shut up if you need to haha’ and Damien’s like ‘no I like listening to you talk, this is great’ and eventually everyone else is like ‘nah man youre commentary is actually making this game make WAY more sense lol’ and eventually at some point as it gets later reader is the cuddly affectionate, giggly type of tired and ends up falling asleep on Damien and Damien’s like 😮 “what do I do??” L

they're both crushing on each other so hard but neither of them have said anything and they’re both so comfy and cozy and pretty and cute in their PJs and it’s so fluffy and cute and PDBSOBFLABDOSBCONS

I am unwell. Thank you for listening <3

You’re so real for this- and my friend I’ve done it. I may continue this at some point but I’ll post what I have here!! Hope you enjoy!!!

When they found out that The Last of Us was being played it was chaos at Smosh, so as soon as they were approached about being apart of the stream to help with parts that they could get stuck in- they were all in. Jacked in and ready to play, Shane and Spencer sat with Courtney and Damien and you sat together and eventually Amanda arrived to set with drinks for all. The games screen was on and the animation of a old broken down window with a curtain blowing in the wind, it was time to play and Damien held the controller as it started snd the subtitles were on screen as Amanda watched intently, with a quirked eyebrow as she processed the introduction to the fireflies. Now what the part they were all waiting for, the story- but Amanda asked questions consistently “Actually, it’s not a normal zombie outbreak like walking dead! It’s based off of a strange fugus called Cordyceps that kills bugs and basically eats at their brain so that the fungus can basically shoot out spores to spread it quicker. But any and all bread products is where the outbreak began-“ they paused and felt their face flush at the explosion of information

They seemed to go quiet as the game started, playing as Sarah as she woke up at the phone ringing. Shane carefully moved to joystick as he was prompted to, Courtney looked at them “Hey- we don’t mind you know? It gives us more story to follow.” They smiled at the other and nodded “thank you Court.” Damien carefully set a hand on their arm “I like hearing you talk about stuff you enjoy.” He spoke softly as they leaned forward and watched the screen intently.

Some time passed as Shane panicked and played Joel as he ran with Sarah in his arms after the car accident, You made quick work of explaining where to go so he didn’t get killed fast- he screamed at the Q to E and shoved the zombie away.

A group all speaking quickly and getting nervous as they were shoved into the bar by Tommy as he made his way around the bar to meet them. Making quick work as they ran down the hill and the SWAT officer yelled, quickly you sat up and watched the scene intently. Knowing exactly what was going to happen as Damien watched as the screaming and yelling at the screen began- Shane’s mouth hung open as Courtney leaned against him with a hand over their mouth

Tears in others eyes over the scene, as it lead to the screen the load into the game. Quickly you picked up “They had to retake this scene so many times that Hana Hayes the actress- who was 14 at the time of doing mo-cap was emotionally exhausted by the end of it. Oh! And the actor that voices- Joel voiced by Troy Baker was the youngest to audition for his role!” Damien nodded as he listened intently and Courtney smiled “That’s impressive work though- I think if I was alone I’d be sobbing-“ they chuckled softly wiping at their eyes as Spencer rubbed their back to console them.

A few hours in and the stream was getting pretty long at this point, you did your best to keep your eyes open but being around friends always made you feel safe and comfortable as you leaned against Damien who happily let you and hummed, after about another 30 minutes the stream was getting set hi to focus on another group and Damien moved to look at you and paused “Uh- are they asleep?” He didn’t wanna risk waking them up and quirked an eyebrow up as Courtney nodded and Shane covered his mouth “I was wondering where the facts and stuff went- we’re kinda keeping me off edge playing.” You heard them talking about you and groaned as you shifted and wrapped an arm around Damien and rolled your eyes “You guys suck-“ you huff and look up to see Damien looking down at you with a soft smile as you nuzzled against his chest to hide from his gaze and force the flush from your face to go away. Shane laughed and Courtney playfully ‘awed’ as Damien wrapped his arm around you “This is bullying-“ he joked and you chuckled as you sat up “We can play more later- it’s past my bedtime I’m such an old man.” The stream moved over to Angela, Arasha, Noah, Kieth, Ian and Anthony. Thy were playing the Quiet game and Ian was holding the noodle and had the blindfold on since he won the last pit challenge game.

The gaming group went to go get food and get into comfy clothes quickly, Damien in a baggy Smosh Tee-shirt and pajama pants, you in a tank top and a purple fuzzy sweatshirt that had bunny ears attached at the hood with matching pajama shorts. He saw you and his smile brightened for a moment but as soon as you look at him his gaze quickly moved away as he ignore the heat in his cheeks at just how cute you looked. You watched him for a few moments and approached him and playfully poked his chest “Hope I don’t look to ridiculous.” You chuckled as Courtney, Spencer and Shane came out in onesies- Eeyore (Shane, it was the biggest one they could find that wouldn’t rip at the seams) , Winnie the Pooh (Spencer, cause I mean come on) and Piglet (Courtney cause they knew they could make it match their makeup for the day.)

Shane moved forward and looked at you “Hey, your stealin Spencer’s vibe!” He teased softly as you turned and squinted at him and poked his chest “Fucker- I look more like Bonnie then I do any Winnie the Pooh character.” You huffed dramatically as Courtney saw you “Yes! Bonnie core!”

[mockerycrow]

pt. 1 pt. 2 — ghost x gn!paramedic!reader

take this as an apology for no fics im SORRY

after a good cry, you let ghost take your belongings from you—your work bag, your little pouches you have attached to your belt. he sets it all out on the dining room table for you to see, for you to know where your stuff is. he then oh so gently intertwined your fingers and you allow him to guide you to the bathroom. you feel so detached; your face hurts yet it’s numb, your skin burns yet it’s just.. not there. simon takes your pens from your front pocket of your uniform and he makes sure to put them on the sink counter. simon then lifts your chin with his fingers, your eyes floating up to his.

you make eye contact with him, your eyelids puffy and heavy. his big brown eyes roam your face, searching every inch for anything your expression could give away.. and he’s also likely looking at your stitches. “can i undress you, love?” simon asks so quietly and kindly. it takes you a moment realize he was talking directly to you. you blink before you nod, and simon is calm and methodical as he helps slide off your dirty uniform. he helps you take off your under layers and your undergarments, folding all of this onto the counter. “let’s get you into the bath, yeah?” simon murmurs before he presses a soft kiss against your temple. he doesn’t seek a response from you as he leans forward and quickly turns the knob for the tub, the water rushing out of the bath faucet.

you watch him, simon who has seen you through sickness and health, the worst, the bad, and the better; yet he’s stuck with you throughout it all. you both have difficult jobs, honestly neither of you really expected to last this long—a civilian paramedic and a soldier? an unlikely couple, conflicting schedules, etc. but simon has stuck by you. called you during holidays, called you whilst he had time, you called him when you have the time—you spent your nights finding memes and puns you know he would enjoy, maybe share a few with his mates. he spent his nights worrying about you, listening to your twenty minute voice messages that had a story to tell at one point but you lost track and you side tracked at least three different times. “if that ain’t love, i don’t know what love is” is something you think to yourself as simon asks you if the temperature of the water is okay.

[f0mgl3]

i have been...listening to javiers voice lines because theres just not enough content about him and im obsessed... so i wanted to share the things ive noticed about him! :D (and ill compare his voice lines with other character's)

Bro does NOT bother to hide it when he's irritated. He's actually pretty mean LOL He raises his voice pretty fast whenever he "greets" someone when he's annoyed. He says stuff like, "WHAT, (gang member)?" or "What you staring at?" or "Don't even start." pretty agressively. He even calls Uncle a waste of space 😭😭 (he also snaps at Dutch too! Not exactly being mean towards him, but raising his voice and asking him if he's gonna do something about the things going on)

John, on the other hand, greets people normally when he's annoyed. His tone is just different but he still actually greets people LMAO (which is the same for a lot of members) while Javier is just snapping at everyone 😭 The only person he doesnt snap at is MaryBeth i think. While he's yelling at everyone to be quiet and leave him alone, when he's speaking to MaryBeth he's literally like "You seeing this? This place... How do you deal with these idiots?" 😭 Instead of snapping at her, he's ranting to her. Which is kinda interesting cause I thought instead of MaryBeth it would be Tilly (because its implied they have something going on) but nah he snaps at Tilly too.

Lots of members make kinda passive agressive and mean comments about Arthur staying in camp for too long, but Javier is actually concerned! He doesn't make any mean comments, genuinely sounds concerned when he's saying it's not like him to stay in camp for so long, and he actually asks him if he's okay!!! I know its like... the bare minumim, asking someone if theyre alright when they're not acting like themselves, but the other camp members sound like they dont really give a damn 😭 so its very nice to hear javier caring.

Javier genuinely sounds confused and offended if Arthur wears a strange outfit LMFAOO ITS SO FUNNY ACTUALLY other members are amused or confused and Javier sounds offended lmfaooo

Also another thing I noticed! Javier likes it when Arthur joins and sits next to him by the campfire. Other members will ask him to sit down aswell, yes, but some of them will do it in a way that kinda implies "bro why you moving around so much c'mon have a seat and relax" (sadie, for example) lmfao but javier doesnt make any comments about arthur moving around a lot, he just asks him to join him. Uncle, for example, if he's annoyed, he won't want Arthur to sit down next to him. He'll say stuff like "if you sit down, dont expect company" or "you gonna come ruin this for me too?" But Javier, if annoyed, will still ask him to join him and kinda rant to him about stuff. He'll say stuff like "You joining me here?" "Always fun times around here." "I dont know why I bother sometimes."

He won't ask Arthur to join him by the campfire in beaver hollow 😔 He'll ask him if he's feeling alright, and he'll say "won't even sit next to me no more. 😒" which is kind of an invitation in a passive agressive way if you think about it😭 but like man. that line makes me think about arthur and javier's friendship. they were actually pretty close friends before beaver 😔 the way they speak with each other and act around each other, you could tell they were close and liked each other's company. yk how arthur was supposed to be meaner and colder but the developers changed that? yeah, there are deleted voice lines of that mean, cold arthur speaking with javier in which arthur is ranting to him about things and they have a little argument. javier is defending john and he says something like:

javier: "anybody would think you've given up on us all. the way youce been acting in camp recently. people been talking."

arthur: "people, huh?"

javier: "not me. i just hear things."

arthur: "yeah? sounds to me you've been talking too."

javier: "ever since we got stuck up here (colter) its like you just dont give a damn about noone no more!"

and like ik this is them not getting along but to be honest, to speak like this with not just someone but arthur (who's got a very high position in the gang and remind you, this is the colder version) you just gotta be close with him. he's not scared of him, he's just calling him out on his bullshit and he's comfortable around him enough to be able to do this.

in conclusion javier is a mean asshole when he's annoyed (also he DOES NOT like to be stared at, it makes him very uncomfortable and he gets agressive when he's annoyed) and him and arthur used to be pretty good friends before both of them started to believe theyve been betrayed by the other. :(

[hellodaydream1111111111111111]

Some yummy HxH headcanons that are mostly Hisoillu

Hisoka is a pretty good cook and cooks for Illumi whenever he comes over however, when he’s alone the kitchen isn’t even touched and he just orders takeout.

Illumi is no longer allowed in the kitchen because he will burn water.

Hisoka is not getting his deposit back as he has painted all his walls pink, replaced all the doorknobs with heart shaped ones, stained the bathroom red with hair dye and most definitely messed up the ceiling above his bed by throwing cards at it when he’s bored.

Hisoka is a maximalist so his apartment is very cluttered it’s clean but there’s stuff everywhere, Illumi was appalled the first time he came over.

Illumi barely has anything in his room other than books but he does have a rather large collection of moths and beetles that he pinned.

Hisoka buys most of Illumi’s clothes, terrifying Kikyo.

Illumi has to set aside 20 percent of his assassin money to bribe Milluki and Kalluto, unfortunately when mother’s precious baby Kalluto is involved there’s only so much threatening he can do.

Silva has forbidden any of the Zoldycks from smoking however that doesn’t prevent Kikyo for running off into the forest, only to be caught by one of her children.

Kalluto is a clean freak and everything in his room has a place.

Milluki didn’t mind watching Kalluto when he was a toddler because he was quiet and didn’t pitch fits however he found it amusing that Illumi looked like a tried mom most of the time with Killua and Alluka both running about.

The Zoldyck children never really interact during the daytime however like normal siblings they find each other in the kitchen at 3 am making cereal and eventually end up in Milluki’s room playing Mario cart.

Illumi never told Kalluto and Milluki that he was married to Hisoka but Kalluto found to from the phantom troupe in ways he definitely didn’t want to, he swiftly told Milluki and they got enough pizza to send a horse into a coma.

Illumi wakes up really early but if he could he’d sleep all day.

During summer Illumi avoids the sun like the plague and Hisoka doesn’t put on nearly enough clothes.

Hisoka has a pile of magazines just on the floor next to his couch.

Illumi gets cat called a lot and Hisoka finds it hilarious.

Machi and Illumi dislike each other and Kalluto is stuck in the middle of their feud.

Killua and Gon like to sit in fields together and listen to music.

After Killua and Gon separated, Killua and Alluka met up with Bisky so Alluka could learn the basics of nen. Bisky yelled at Killua because he didn’t know how to do Alluka’s hair and she showed him how to braid it.

Since Kalluto is around the phantom troupe so much he’s started talking like them and Illumi constantly has to remind him not to use foul language.

Everyone talks to Kalluto about their problems because they think he won’t tell.

Illumi doesn’t know slang and so he is constantly confused when speaking to Milluki, he has to text Hisoka for answers who will gladly jump at the chance of causing drama.

Kurapika constantly gets emails from Hisoka about random stuff.

When Killua found out Hisoka and Illumi were married he was eating dinner with Gon and he immediately curled up into a ball and kept repeating “Im related to a clown…”

Gon gets grasshoppers and collects them in jars, he gets very sad when Mito tells him they are not allowed in the house.

Leorio makes a lot of gay jokes.

Hisoka really dislikes Kikyo.

When Gon and Killua have sleep overs, they usually get tangled in blankets and fall off the bed.

Whenever Gon does something stupid Killua tells him he’s “Engaging in fatherless behavior”

Chrollo stole an ambulance and named it the spider-mobile.

Chrollo drives the spider-mobile and every time they see one of those crosses for people who’ve gotten into an accident on the road he pulls over and prays for them.

Phinks bet Kalluto that he couldn’t eat a spoon of hot sauce with a straight face and lost 50 Jenny and his dignity.

[phoenixeclipse-lmkau]

HIIIIII im a new asker and i dont really talk english so sorry if i say stuff wrong.... love ur work so much at it got me hyperfixated, sure i dont really stand the shadowpeach but i respect u a lot <3333

anyway! sorry if it sounded dry or offensive omg, btw btw, i was just wondering... How would they react to have an autistic reader, saw a similar ask but with adhd, but i wanted this to be with an reader hyperfixated on monkeys! like, they cant stop yapping about them or doing references every. god. damn. minute, bonus if maybe Wukong or Macaque says something that stuck into reader and they cant stop repeating it... Another idea is maybe an autistic reader that sometimes is super talkative but then suddenly non verbal and tries to distance from everyone, i sadly mostly do that, i dont know why, but its often misinterpreted as me saying "i dont wanna be your friend anymore" or something, i just wanna get their reaction <3, also its for the warlord cursed au ! Sorry if i didnt especified, love u.

i feel like i did this wrong

First of all, you did this perfectly fine. And no, it’s not offensive in anyway. Everyone has their preferences and this is mine and you’re just sharing what yours is. I don’t see a problem with that. Unless you were being purposefully rude, which I don’t think you were.

Now the monkey duo loves listening to reader. If you’re a yappy all the better they would love that. They can spend hours listening to you and any of your hyper fixations. Now, if they were hyper fixated on monkeys the duo would be more than happy to explain any questions or even show exactly what she wanted to see.

now on the term of if she tried to push them away for space, they would not like that. They don’t like being pushed away. Hopefully the reader would explain that she just wanted space and, in that scenario, they would give it to her. Of course, they might have a clone or two that is watching her without her knowledge.

Of course, even though they give her space doesn’t mean they like it. They wouldn’t push her to spend time with them, but they would be very pouty. They give sad faces and ask her to spend time with them.

[z0n1x]

shitty soundpage commentary 2!

part 1:

https://www.tumblr.com/z0n1x/775758866285838336/ok-meowrther-fucker-where-doing-this-where-making

all the good stuff is under the cut!

IS HE FINALLY GONNA GET HIS BEC KILL??

why is bec blanc glowing yellow???

LMAOOOO THEY LOOK SO SCARED

its lalonde suicide time!!!!

huh i guess hope can do like anything so protecting the point with it isnt out of the question but then why didnt jake do something like this earlier

also you cant see it but jane is MASHING that button the laser goes like 5 different times

why does one of them have funko pop proportions??? did jade do that?

her goose is FULL ON CHARCOAL at this point

okay what the fuck?? maybe like with all the bodies she considered all of the dead soldiers one organism and “healed” all of them by fusing them together???? or maybe it’s just cool and im over thinking it

hmmm wouldn’t the dead trolls eyes turn white? maybe i heard this wrong but i thought dead troll bodies eyes turned white when they died and their ghost self reflected this

also THE LITTLE :3 FACED OLIVE TROLL EVEN IN DEATH LOLL

the true biggest loss….. his pizza also is he wearing cat paw slippers?

what if….. we were both D:, and we ran into the sunset together 0////0

after everything….. you can still see your mustache

how does the mustache…. you know what ill go with it

“riiiiiight here please you cant mess this up there is literally 0 chance you cant hit this unless jane has started building a death star”

awwww shit jasperose was right :/

how the hell did she get johns phone???

god the artstyle difference is crazy

also i just noticed (vriska) got a tavros style haircut

HELL YES THEY FINALLY GET TO LEAVE

lmao

I CANT CONVEY HOW COOL THIS MOMENT IS GO WATCH IS YOURSELF!

blue (vriska) shading (light) compared to earliers purple (rose) shading on roses face

just a cool detail

HOLY FUCKING SHIT

hmmmm im stuck between thinking this is just like extra godtier vriska or ult!vriska…

let me say though that the way that she stole rose’s knowledge of what was going to happen away from her is very thief of light-y

and of course stealing the spotlight…

bec blanc is way bigger than i thought if theres someone in there piloting it when their that small

AHHHH WITH KARKAT BEHEADING IT AND THE BLOOD RED COLOR ALREADY BEING ALL OVER BEC BLANC ITS JUST SO COOL

hmmmm new fire motif? im into it but it feels sort of out of left field for vriska

this new design is so cool yall

ohh lol i get it sun over the moon

but also with the increase in red in the design and her trying to message terezi i wonder if shes going to talk about terezi more since a big accent color for terezi was red and they had matching red shoes and stuff

i do like what they did with the eight to infinity thing and im glad theyre using it more in this new era of vriska if youll pardon my bs

also: more fire

AW SHIT SHES GOING FOR THE BIG GOAL

AAAAAAND

SHE SCORES!! (????????)

WILL IT BE JUST! WILL IT BE HEROIC (probably not) FIND OUT NEXT TIME LIKE IN A MONTH!

lol if you read all of this thanks for listening to me quote memes and badly theorize for a bit!

and if future me is reading this to see what i thought was going to happen: did i get anything right? ;3

part one: https://www.tumblr.com/z0n1x/775758866285838336/ok-meowrther-fucker-where-doing-this-where-making

byyyyyye!

[acediaofthestars]

So I've been reminiscing about my playthrough of In stars and time and this is a totally normal thing to do.... right? Anyway, god does the game really make you feel like Siffrin (Yes, pun intended)

btw spoilers and lots of yapping incoming

Now I mainly tried to keep my loops as long as possible at first because I read like a lot of regressor manhwas and novels and know some of the tropes of a time loop. I.e you can't stop looping, you get desentisized to dying yada yada all the good stuff and I was pretty confident I wouldn't fall into those tropes. Then the act 2 twist happened. Which I practically knew would happened since I knew for a fact that this time loop ain't that simple.

Act 3 went on mostly the same. I still looped to Dormont and whenever the requirements for the friendquest was needed, I would still do the house in full for it. I brute forced Bonnie's quest by picking an answer and just savescumming if I'm wrong because I ain't going to the banana just for that. And for Mirabelle and Odile I scoured the house in one go and beat the king so I didn't have to loop. After the friendquests I did the house in full and fuck man was that loop sad. I got the memory of sadness in that loop and the fact that doing all that progressed nothing to stopping the loops made me immensely frustrated. this started my slow but painful descent.

At first it was small, After talking about the king's stars I beat him then looped from dormont immediately to floor 1 just to interact with the papers then went through the house interacting every headache book again hoping to read them. Now at this point I looped to specific floors for one thing and even didn't loop to Dormont occasionally. Skip straight to the betrayal and at that point I lost all fucking hope, I was like a wandering speck during act 4 I would loop to anywhere just to learn even a smidge of something. After getting the memories I immediately read the book in the library and looped straight into floor 2 just to read the headache book in the secret library. Promptly remembered the storage room then looped back from floor 2 to 1, then looped into floor 3 for the headache door and used the star crest for the observatory. Fun fact! FUCK FUCK FUCK I SPENT AT LEAST 20 NON-CONSECUTIVE LOOPS GOING TO THAT ROOM HOPING AND EVEN WISHING THAT I COULD JUST READ THE NAME ON THE NEWSPAPER, FUCK LET ME LEARN ANYTHING!!! PLEASE LET ME OUT!!!! Ahem, I then talked to the head housemaiden, then looped straight to the king then beat the king and talked to Euphrasie, then beat the king and talked to Euphrasie, then went through the friendquests, beat the king with my family then talked to Euphrasie, then beat the king and talked to Euphrasie. EUPHRASIE TELL ME SOMETHING, ANYTHINGGG, TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO DO!!! LET ME OUT OF THE FUCKING LOOPS I BEAT THE KING, I TALKED TO MY FAMILY, EVEN LEARNED WHAT WISHCRAFT IS HERE SO. WHY. AM. I. STILL. HERE?

may- maybe the wish craft books had something else i need! lets read them again!!! so i looped back again, andagain

andagain

and againandagainandagainandagainandagain andagainagainaagainagaianaagLETMEOUTainagaianaagainandgainandagainandagainITOUCHEDANOTHERTEARagainandagainandagainandagainINEEDTOREADTHENEWSPAPERandagainandagainandagainandagainandagain

and... eventually I managed to read the books in the correct order, i beat the king and talked to the Head Housemaiden.... she didn't say anything new WHYWHWYWHWYWHWYHWYWHYWHWYHWYWHWYWHYWHWYWHYWHWYWHYiknowwishcraftWHYWHWYWHYWHWYHWYiknowyouknowWHYWHYWHWHYpleasetalktomeWHYWHWYWHYWHWYWHYWHY

I WISH YOU COULD JUST SAY SOMETHING NEW... She said something new? quick I gotta listen to this................... forgive vaugarde? BLIND IT ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL IM STUCK HERE FOREVER? THAT CANT BE TRUE PLEASE I- NO, SIFFRIN SHOULDN'T BE STUCK HERE THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING PLEASE HELLLLPPPPP MEEEEEEE.

I, uh, broke during act 4. I'm pretty sure I spent 50 hours on act 4 alone since I did everything I could do and looped so much that my loop count went from 30+ at the end of act 3 into 100+ loops at the ending of act 4. I don't have great memories of act 4. From the constant looping at the observatory just to attempt learning the name of the country or the countless times I did the friendquests,sharpened the keyknife and beat the king hoping for something to change. I eventually stopped caring enough to do the friendquest because they were too long for me to handle even with the ability to skip the entirety of it. I kept zoning out more and more and even zoned out in reality during the 2nd time I watched Mirabelle's quest because I forgot that I didn't press the skip button for the cutscene. Act 4 got me so used to dying that I didn't even bat an eye when I let the king kill Siffrin just so I didn't need to loop straight to dormont after talking to Euphrasie. I hated talking to her, I also stopped going to the clocktower because the constant cowardice of Isabeau made me so mad that I didn't want to experience that again. Eventually the only thing I did at dormont was get the long thingy,thingy talk to Loop and then use the banana.

Act 5 made me so sad and frustrated that I tried to skip as much as possible and even had a misconception that Siffrin killed their family during the discussion at the Clocktower. Safe to say I was bamboozled when they came to rescue Siffrin. Eventually the culmination of both I and Siffrin's suffering made breaking out of the loops even more cathartic.

[atiny-for-life]

I need to rant about German politics for a second.

Finally - FINALLY - they decide the AfD is right wing extremist in its entirety! FORK FOUND IN KITCHEN - THANK YOU - if they'd moved any slower, we would've been going backwards in time, motherf- WE COULD HAVE HAD A SPD/Grüne/DieLinke COALITION, you dipshits - AAAAAAH!!!

Like, dude, Weidel has called Hitler left wing while actively talking to Elon Musk. Höcke has said extremist stuff a la HITLER on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS - hell, even his own party members couldn't differentiate between Höcke's and Hitler's quotes. Members of the party have also been closely associated with right wing extremists from across the world for YEARS (remember Potsdam in 2023?) - not to mention the whole Remigration bullshit and all the convicted criminals that are or were members of the AfD.

Meanwhile we've got Jens fucking Spahn from the CDU who wanted everyone to treat the AfD like they're not fucking FASCISTS which is so bad even friggin' SÖDER was like "woah, slow down" and that guy's a monster himself.

For years now, the CDU have been turning into the AfD with their hatred for refugees and immigrants, they're sexism and homophobia, their transphobia and disregard of human rights. If they're is a hell, you're going there, Friedrich Merz - have fun.

The friggin' spike in right wing hate crimes over recent months. The murder of Lorenz A. at the hands of police who SHOT HIM IN THE BACK 3 TIMES (a 21-year-old black KID shot in the back - the eleventh victim at the hands of police this year alone - last year there were 22 victims which was the highest its been in 41 YEARS!!!).

And, dude, if I even just think about all the ways in which we've failed the people in Afghanistan, I wanna cry. And if you're German and you don't know why that is, please watch this video and listen to their story:

I'm fucking tired, man. This is just the 20th century all over again, except on steroids because we know where we're heading and yet there's still people who are too asleep, too uneducated, too ignorant and selfish to see it.

Anyway, if you're stuck in this country like me, please try to stay on top of the news and, if you find out someone locally is set to be deported, make sure to sign any petition you come across and help in any way you can to create a ruckus so they might be saved.

In my area, there was recently a family taken in the middle of the night and they were from Syria and got deported to fucking SPAIN while their eldest daughter was left behind since she had managed to find a job. They literally took them at night because they knew the community would've stopped them otherwise!

And in Hamburg, a 12-YEAR-OLD CHILD is set to be deported and the class has been gathering signatures to save her. Please sign the petition here if you can:

But let's also remember the good. There are endless protests and demonstration on the regular so we're not alone in this - far from it. I'm pretty sure this is the most active I've seen communities be in my entire lifetime:

[mysterious-ocarina]

No Control

marauder!Sirius Black x fem!reader

(A/N 1, im american so i’ll prolly get alot of british slang wrong, or just call stuff by what americans say) ( A/N 2, this is kinda an au where Sirius doesn't move in with James and is stuck with the Black family. I had a lot of trouble figuring out what family to put the reader in that would fit my plot and I just ended up putting you in the nott family. I guess if you really wanna think about it (pls don't think too hard about it), your brother is the father of theo nott?) (A/N 3, check this out if anyone wants an explanation of why i've been gone from tumblr for so long)

Warnings: definitely angsty but with some sprinkles of fluff, lots of mentions of abuse (nothing graphic is shown, it's just described to have happened a lot in the past), this is an arranged marriage trope but not enemies to lovers trope, lots of misogyny (lately i've been feeling angry at the world and it's views of women so here is me trying to comfort myself. Sirius black is a woman lover fr). let me know if there is anything else i need to tag cuz this is my most serious fic yet

Main Masterlist HP Masterlist Requests AO3

(5.6k words)

Sirius Black. A name that's known by the majority of the Hogwarts population. And a face that is known (maybe a little too personally) by many wizards and witches at Hogwarts. But not to you.

You've only ever heard about the notorious Sirius black and the gang of hooligans called the Marauders. You've never got to meet any of them personally. You occasionally would see some of them around, but never Sirius. As a Slytherin, you often ran into his brother, Regulus, but you've never really talked to him either, only ever exchanging pleasantries. 

It was actually kind of surprising that you've never talked to the Blacks before. You both came from pure blood, supremacist families and both you and Sirius were known to be a bit rebellious against your families (or just rebellious in general).

But none of that matters, when your parents force you to come home for the holidays and basically shatter your resolve. 

At Hogwarts, away from the prying eyes of your family, you were most like yourself. Rebellious, outgoing, funny, and even kind. But under the roof of your family's expensive manor, you were nothing more than a quiet, obedient little girl, who's value was determined by whichever man was in charge of her. The perfect, pureblood daughter.

Just as your mother was and is, you are basically a slave to your own blood, specifically your brother and father. And as soon as you're married (arranged to a pure blood. no doubt, without your consent) you'll have to be an obedient little wife for your husband. 

The perfect, doting, obedient, docile, pureblood wife. It was all a load of rubbish, you thought, but you would keep the facade up in order to keep the abuse at bay. You learned pretty early on that speaking up for yourself and speaking out of turn was not going to be tolerated.

You were silently eating dinner with your family. Your father and brother were quietly speaking about matters that even if you and your mother cared, neither of you would be allowed an opinion on.

“Honey, we’ll be having important guests for tomorrow's dinner. So make sure you look your absolute best,” your mother spoke to you. She gave you a sympathetic smile knowing the “show” you both would have to put on in front of guests.

“Okay. Am I allowed to know who these guests are?” you swallowed down your food. You were filled with nerves, thinking about what kind of important guests you were going to have.

Your mother bent down closer to your ear, “I’m not supposed to be telling you this-” she shot a quick look to your father to make sure he wasn’t listening, “but it’s the Black family. I’m not sure why they are coming. All I know is that it’s important business with one of their sons.”

You put your fork down on your plate, placing your hands down on your lap in front of you. You let your thoughts wander and only grew more worried. What kind of important business did one of the Black brothers have with your family? To help a little with your nerves, your mother placed a comforting hand on yours before going back to her meal.

The rest of your night was uneventful after that, until you went to bed. You stayed awake for longer than you should have, your mind way too loud to allow you to sleep. You ran through a list in your mind about the millions of different “important business” that the Black family could have with yours. But none of it made sense why they would eat dinner with us. Usually important business was settled in your father’s study, as it was improper for the ladies to be present.

Eventually, you were able to fall asleep and then the next day would start. You woke up late, which was extremely unappreciated by your brother, who was expecting his morning coffee like usual. You were promptly punished, not only by being woken up by him screaming at you, but also with a beating.

You spent the rest of the day trying to find an appropriate outfit for the dinner that would cover the red marks and newly forming bruises on your arms. Your mother lessened the pain of the marks a little during the day but there wasn’t much else that you could do.

Sometimes when you both sat and drank tea, you would often dream together about running away from all of this. The blood supremacy, controlling men, and just downright evil families. But those thoughts and dreams were quickly quelled when the sound of the men's voices could be heard, calling for the maids- I mean women.

Both you and your mom knew, these were only dreams. It was impossible for purebloods to leave the life that they were born into.

You and your mother waited in the foyer, waiting for the guests to arrive. Your dress was rubbing against the lashes on your skin, making you scratch your arms in irritation but soon stopped when your mothers hand landed on yours.

“You’ll only make it hurt worse. Plus, you know you can show any discomfort in front of the guests,” she said softly. She was trying her best to sound comforting but it only served to remind you of the show you both are forced to put on and the lives you’re stuck living.

A knock was heard and muscle memory forced wide, fake smiles onto both of your faces. Your mother opened the door and welcomed the Black family, “Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Black. I hope you had safe travels here.”

As soon as they crossed the threshold, you were in front of them offering to take their coats. They handed them to you as Mrs. Black spoke, “Thank you for having us, Mrs. Nott.”

“My daughter will show you to the dining room while I finish up making dinner,” your mother informed before quickly making her way towards the kitchen.

After you finished hanging up Mr. and Mrs. Black’s coats, you finally had the chance to look at the two Black brothers. Being in his house, you immediately recognized Regulus, who gave you a tight smile. You then looked over to who you assumed was Sirius.

He certainly was as attractive as the girls at Hogwarts always seemed to make him seem. But he wouldn’t make eye contact with you. He was looking toward the ground, still keeping his posture ramrod straight. He had the same look and body language as someone who had just been beaten for disobedience. A look you were familiar with.

Before anyone could get angry with you, you spoke up, respectfully, “If you would follow me, please.”

With your head down, you brought the family to the dining room. Your father and brother both stood up to shake hands with the Blacks. You stood behind your seat, waiting for the men to sit down first. Your father and Mr. Black sat down and engaged in conversation. You watched Regulus take the chair next to his father and looked to see where Sirius was. You were surprised to find him right next to you.

You backed up, unsure why he was standing there. Of course, you would give up your seat if he asked you to. But all he did was pull the chair out and motion for you to sit down. You sat down and thanked him as he pushed the chair in, “Thank you, young master Black.”

In the corner of your eye, you saw your father give a nod at your use of the title. Salazar, you sounded like a damned house elf. But that was the proper way you were to address him.

Sirius scrunched his nose at the title but gave you an understanding smile, “You’re welcome.”

He surprised you once more by taking the seat directly next to yours. You kept your mouth shut, knowing it was best to keep your curious thoughts to yourself, but you did shoot him a kind smile.

Dinner started without a hitch, conversation mostly being between Mr. Black and your father, your mother and Mrs. Black conversing a little bit with each other too. You, your brother, and both Black brothers mostly stayed silent and ate the meal.

Throughout the entire dinner, when nobody was looking, you had been rubbing at your irritated arm in discomfort. You don’t know how long Sirius had noticed but he grabbed your hand under the table just as you were going to bring it back up again. He continued to eat his meal with his other hand, looking like he wasn’t holding your hand under the table at the moment.

At your confused glance, he leaned closer to your ear, whispering, “I know what you’re doing. It’s just going to make it hurt more, the more you keep messing with it. Just squeeze my hand instead.”

He went back to eating, glancing around to find that no one noticed him whispering to you. You squeezed his hand a bit hard as you went back to eating too. Instead of wincing or doing anything to show discomfort, all he did was rub his thumb soothingly on yours.

The butterflies Sirius stirred up in you was enough to distract you from your irritating arm for the rest of the dinner.

“Now,” your father started, rubbing his napkin on his mouth and setting it down on the table, (the universal sign for “stop eating and listen to me”). “Mr. Black and I have recently come to an agreement.”

Sirius squeezed your hand in comfort as his father spoke up, “Seeing as Ms. Nott is the same age as my Sirius, we have arranged for the two of you to be married. It will be after the both of you graduate from Hogwarts.”

Those words echoed in your head as you looked up to the two fathers in shock. Your silverware clattered as it fell from your hand onto your plate. You must have been breaking the bones in Sirius’ hand, holding it as tight as you were.

Despite the fact that you knew it was a bad idea, your adrenaline forced you to speak up, “You can’t do that, father. You can’t just force me to marry someone that I just met.”

The tears in your eyes didn’t fall, years of “training” keeping them from falling.

Your brother gave you a harsh glare at your disrespect. Suddenly your father stood up, slamming his hands on the table. Staring straight at you, his commanding voice not loud but still thundering all the same, “I can, and I will. Do not forget your place in this family and this world. You will do as I say until you are married. Then you will be your husband’s to command.”

In a haste, you let go of Sirius’ hand, placing your hands on the table to stand up. Sirius, thinking quickly, kept you from getting up by grabbing your legs under the table. That didn’t stop your mouth from speaking harshly, “I am nobody’s to command or control.”

Before you could say anything more, your father reached across the table and slapped you across the face. You held your cheek in shock. He’s hit you before but never in front of guests. The entire table sat in shocked silence.

You looked down at your lap, willing your tears not to fall. You noticed Sirius’ hands clenched in his lap, he looked like he was shaking in anger, but his face had a practiced neutral expression. Regulus’ eyes were wide as he looked at you but had no other reaction at the scene that just transpired. The both of them knew not to speak up.

Your brother had a satisfied smirk on his face. You could just hear the thoughts in his head right now. Thank Salazar, someone put her in her place, his face screamed.

Your father sat down and looked towards Mr. Black, “I’m sorry for my daughter’s behavior. I hope you can forgive me for her impudence.”

Mr. Black simply waved his hand in dismissal, “It’s alright. I understand how women are.”

Picking up his whiskey glass, your father sighed, “It’s a shame we can’t put off the marriage to fix her. Maybe your son will be able to crack her.”

Mr. Black took a swig of his whiskey too, “We can only hope. If not, I can think of a curse that surely helped to fix up my Sirius.”

Sirius tensed up next to you. Your father had never used the Cruciatus Curse on you, but it was clear what Mr. Black was referring to and your father seemed to quite enjoy the idea. The two men simply laughed as if that curse wasn’t named an Unforgivable Curse. They laughed, as if your pain was nothing more than entertainment to them.

The dinner went back to normal for the two men and your brother, not noticing the tension felt between the rest of the group. This time, you grabbed Sirius’ hand under the table and rubbed it soothingly. He let out a shaky breath and squeezed your hand.

Losing your appetite, you spent the rest of the meal sitting in silence, holding hands with Sirius. Your thoughts ran completely wild. You were going to be married to him, for the rest of your life, and you had only spoken once. You didn’t even speak. He whispered to you and you listened. Thinking more about it, there are worse boys that you could have been forced to marry.

At Hogwarts, Sirius was known for being rebellious and against his family's traits and values. Salazar, the boy was sorted into Gryffindor, the opposite of his entire family. But what if that was just in the public eye. You didn’t know anything about Sirius except for what you’ve heard from others. For all you knew, the moment you and he were alone, he would revert back to his family’s pureblood values and abuse you just as most pureblood husbands did to their wives.

No, you quickly thought, stop it. You tried to think about the entire situation with a rational head. Throughout the entire dinner, he did nothing harsh towards you. He offered comfort when your arm was bothering you. He kept you from standing when you argued with your father (who knows how much worse the situation could have escalated if you actually, physically stood up to him). He did his best to offer you comfort without your families knowing it.

He’s not an abuser, you rationalized with yourself. You felt the way he tensed up at the mention of the Cruciatus Curse. He would not be like your father or your brother.

After dinner, you were sent straight up to your room. Before you were separated, Sirius softly spoke to you, “Don’t worry, darling.”

His smile reassured you by a fraction, as you got ready for bed. Maybe all of it won’t be so bad.

You didn’t see Sirius, or his family, at all the rest of the holidays. The next time you did see him was on the train back to Hogwarts. You were simply looking for an empty carriage to settle in, when you noticed Sirius coming towards you.

He grabbed your suitcase and brought it to what you presumed was the carriage he was going to be in. You simply followed him, shrinking under the glare that some of his fangirls were throwing your way.

Once the door was shut and you were alone, he finally spoke up, “So, how are you?”

You sat in the seat opposite of him. You were unsure how to proceed, so you took the safe option and responded, “I’m fine, master Black.”

He opened his mouth in shock, before quickly wiping the look from his face, he basically pleaded, “Please don’t call me that.”

“But-” you went to protest, but he cut you off.

“At least, don’t call me that when we aren’t near our families,” he dismissed what you were going to say. All you could do was stare at him. It really did seem he wasn’t like his family.

Growing embarrassed under your stare, he shyly spoke back up, “I hope you know that you can act like you normally do when you’re around me.”

You looked away from him, face flushing, “This is how I normally act.”

He leveled you with a look, “We both know that’s not true. I don’t know you well but I’m sure you have a number of choice words to call me.”

Seeing the amused smirk on his face, your facade broke. You slightly smirked right back at him, “I don’t have any words to call you… Our fathers on the other hand…”

Sirius’ smirk turned into an almost awestruck smile. Before he could say anything back at you, a gaggle of boys had burst into the carriage.

“Pads, you’ll never guess who sent me a letter during break,” James Potter excitedly said. He went to sit across from his friend only to just now notice you. You gave him a sweet smile.

“Who’s this?” James asked, sitting next to Sirius and throwing his arm around him.

Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin followed James into the carriage, taking their seats. Everyone gave you curious but welcoming looks.

Sirius gave you a look, which you nodded to.

“Put up a silencing charm. I’ve got a story to tell you,” Sirius replied, causing the boys to perk up.

The next hour or so was spent with Sirius explaining your arranged marriage to his group of friends. You were relatively silent, not yet comfortable talking to his friends. He left out the parts where you were abused and berated but didn’t spare the details of his own abuse. It seemed he was comfortable sharing what he goes through to his friends. And evidently you too, since you were there listening too.

This was how you found out that he knew about the betrothal before you did. Apparently, he found out just moments before going to the dinner. He tried to refuse his father (the same way you had, you noticed) and received a beating for his insubordination. That would explain the look he had when you first saw him.

You cringed a little, hearing that he was hit but he gave you a reassuring smile. His friends were also really kind and sympathetic to the entire situation. No wonder he seemed comfortable sharing his familial trauma with them, they were extremely supportive.

“Can they really do that?” James questioned, from next to Sirius.

You sighed and crossed your arms, “Unfortunately, yes. There isn’t anything that we can do to avoid it.”

Remus looked up thoughtfully, “Is it possible for you guys to run away from your families?”

You thought about it, “Hypothetically, we could run away from our families and the blood supremacy world, but it would be extremely difficult.”

Sirius spoke up, “Trust me, I’ve debated it my entire life. If we ran away from our families, no doubt we would be financially cut off from them.”

You added, “Not only would we have to somehow have enough money for a place to live, but we would also need to find a job, to keep the place to live. And trust me, families like ours have a lot of power in the wizard world. One word from them, and no one would want or be able to hire us.”

Peter muttered, “That’s horrible.”

Sirius sighed and slouched in his seat, “You’re telling me.”

“Thinking about it, Sirius, you need to put your womanizing ways away. A married man shouldn’t be parading around with any woman that gives him attention,” you added with a teasing smirk.

“You make me sound like a cheap whore,” Sirius replied with a pout.

“You’re not?” James was quick to rebuttal, causing you to laugh at the offended face Sirius gave the both of you.  It didn’t take long for the entire group of you to dissolve into laughs and giggles.

Sirius smiled at you, teasingly, “Well how about you? I’m sure your long line of lovesick fools will end up sobbing at the news.”

You glared playfully at him, “I don’t know any lovesick fools. I actually swore off dating a long time ago so this doesn’t affect my love life at all.”

Remus looked at you in bewilderment, “Went from swearing off dating straight to marriage.”

“Quite the jump,” you simply offered in reply. “At least I’m stuck with Sirius and not some blood supremacist twat like my brother.”

“That is true,” Remus reasoned. “You could have been forced with someone who actually believes the rubbish their parents feed them.”

You felt comforted by Remus' words, confirming that Sirius wasn’t like both of your families.

The rest of the train ride was spent getting to know each other. It wasn’t hard to become friends with Sirius and his buddies. The longer you spent with them, the more comfortable you became with the idea of becoming Sirius’ wife. Don’t get me wrong. You still didn’t want to be forced to marry someone that you didn’t know or love, but you were comfortable knowing that he felt the exact same way.

Who knows? Maybe you could fall in love with Sirius the same way a plethora of other girls had.

The rest of your seventh year at Hogwarts went alright. It didn’t take long for rumors to spread that you and Sirius were to be married but for the most part, the gossip didn’t bother either of you that much. It’s not like the rumors were false, so what was the point in denying anything.

The only downside was the threats that a multitude of Sirius fangirls made in your direction. Nothing too serious has happened to you yet, but you knew soon enough that it would be too much for the wrong girl. Turns out, that time would come soon enough. 

You were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, Regulus sitting across from you. Since he was to be your brother-in-law, the both of you became friends. You would also find out that he wasn’t like his parents either. He just wasn’t as outward of this fact as Sirius was. Watching what Sirius has put up with, he knew that he wasn’t brave enough to rebel and deal with the consequences.

Earlier in the week, a parcel came by owl for you. In it was a Black family heirloom, a wedding ring. You were told that you had to wear it from now on, even though you guys were still only engaged and not married. Of course, you didn’t argue, though.

You sat staring at the ring. On one hand, you hate what it symbolized. It was your own sick image of slave shackles that tied you down. On the other hand, “It really is quite pretty. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought Sirius picked it out just for me.”

Regulus looked up at you as you spoke. He was confused for a moment until he noticed you glancing at the ring on your ring finger. He swallowed his toast and took a sip of his black coffee, “Well… I mean, it is charmed.”

You gave him a confused look, which only made him look back at you even more confused. His eyebrows raised, “You don’t know?”

“Know what?” you questioned. You looked at the ring and tried to think of what kind of charm it could have been.

Regulus smirked back at you, “Well, Mrs. Black-” you glared at him, only making him smile harder at you, “-When the ring was first made for our grandmother's grandmother, or some other old bat, it was put under some kind of spell. 

“It was always meant to be an heirloom and it was charmed to always look the way that the husband, the male with Black blood, wanted it to look. Hypothetically, it was supposed to be a symbol of great love because the husband should know what kind of ring their wife would like to wear. But with our family being the kind of family it is, it was mostly only ever worn as a symbol of possession.

“Rarely, did the husbands care enough about their wives to know what kind of ring they would like to wear,” Regulus finished his story. He was giving you an unreadable smile.

You stared back at him, your expression almost as unreadable as his, scoffing at him, “Well most jewelry is going to be pretty.”

“Yeah, but doesn’t that look like the perfect ring for you,” he smoothly replied.

You simply ignored him, finishing your breakfast. You did your best to ignore the fluttering feeling in your chest at the thought that Sirius knew what your perfect ring would look like.

The ring on your finger only served as a reminder to all the girls at Hogwarts that you were to be Sirius’ wife, a fact that was not very well received by the female population. Before you had the ring, the most that would be thrown your way was dirty looks and glares, something you could easily handle. But as more and more people noticed the ring on your finger over the next week, the more serious it became.

You started to receive so much hate mail, that you started to only ever open up letters if they had the official Nott or Black seal. Most of the letters only said foul things to you. Not many people were aware of the arranged part of the marriage, mostly only pureblood Slytherins and Black’s friends knew about that, so a lot of the letters consisted of them berating you and wondering how you got the notorious Sirius Black to fall in love with you (A love potion being the most common guess. Because why would the perfect Sirius Black want to be with a nobody girl like you).

People really are dense these days. How could people possibly jump to any sort of conclusions when no one has ever seen you guys kiss… or even hold hands for that matter. The both of you were friends by now, of course. But that’s it. You guys didn’t just magically fall in love now that you are betrothed.

Well… one of you wasn’t in love. Over the course of getting to know Sirius more for the past few months, feelings did start to stir within you. But you always tried to squash them down as soon as you felt them. Which only made you hurt more.

You were going to get married… without your consent… to a guy that you’ve started to truly care for… despite the fact that he could never care for you the same way. It was all kind of sad, when you really thought about it.

You thought about how you were probably, inadvertently, just a symbol of his slavery to his family and their beliefs. Just as he was inadvertently a symbol of your slavery to your family and their beliefs.

But you were able to look past that. So maybe he would be able to look past it too and see the silver-lining to this whole thing.

Breaking out of your thoughts, you muttered a quicked Incendio at the pile of hate mail in front of you, burning it to ash. Slipping your wand back into your robes, you continued to eat your dinner in relative peace.

If only it could’ve stayed in peace. Two girls, a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff that you didn’t even recognize, sat down on both of your sides. Your confusion was apparent, only widening the smirk on the two girls' faces.

Understanding what was going on, you rolled your eyes, “Do you guys need something?”

“What’s your secret?” the Ravenclaw girl inquired.

You simply continued to eat your food, unaffected by their intimidation. Dryly, you responded, “Whatever could you mean?”

The girls looked at you in disgust, before the Hufflepuff spoke up, “We want to know how you got someone as amazing as Sirius Black to fall for you. I can’t think of anything good about you.”

With another roll of your eyes (if you had a galleon for everytime you rolled your eyes because of these kinds of girls, you would be rich) you cooly replied, “Have you tried, having a personality? I’ve heard it does wonders in making people like you.”

Both girls huffed at your attitude before standing up. The Ravenclaw haughtily informed you, “You better watch your back, Nott. Wouldn’t want anyone to damage Sirius’ goods.”

Using her wand, the Hufflepuff spilled sticky juice all over you, leaving you floundering in shock. You sat for a second seething in anger, only growing more furious as the gross liquid seeped more into your clothes.

By now, most of the great hall was already watching what had happened but at the glare you threw at everyone, people were quick to go back to minding their business.

You got up quickly, making your way out of the Great Hall. You heard footsteps behind you and someone calling your name but you were too blind with rage to bother turning around to find out what they wanted. You had had enough of the girls in this school looking down at you for something that wasn’t any of their business.

You were almost to the girls washroom, when Sirius grabbed ahold of your arm. You quickly whipped around, seething, “What the hell do you want, Black?”

He faltered, unsure how to handle what was happening, “I saw what happened. Are you okay?”

You glared harshly at him, “Do I look okay to you?”

Gobsmacked, he hesitantly replied, “Well, what can I do?”

“Oh gee, Black,” you spit at him. “Maybe you could fix your fanclub who seems to think that I’m Satan incarnate herself.”

Your anger in the moment kept you from thinking rationally, you mocked, “Oh perfect Sirius Black. He’s so hot and amazing. How could a slag like you end up with a man like him?”

Sirius stood, shocked at your outburst but kept silent and let you continue to tear at him, “I’ve heard it all, Black. Your little group of fangirls are so deep into their delusions that they can’t even see that we aren’t in love. The only thing that they are capable of seeing is that I’ll be your wife, consensual or not.

“Those girls don’t even realize the pain it brings me that I’m forced to do this. Those girls don’t see the pain my family has put me in, time and time again. Those girls don’t see the pain they cause me with their vitriolic jealousy,” You finished your rant off, poking at his chest with each sentence. Breathing deeply after explaining how this all made you feel, you watched as he processed everything you said.

He seemed unsure of how to continue, until anger and what looked like insecurity started to cover his face. He moved your hand away (very lightly, you noticed) and started to step towards you as he raised his voice back at you, “Well what do you expect me to do about literally anything about this situation. I’m sorry that having to marry me is the worst thing that ever happened to you.”

“Sirius,” you sighed, regretfully.

But he was quick to continue before you could, “No, you got to tear me out, so now it’s my turn. Trust me, this hurts me too. I know how horrible our families and their rubbish traditions are. You are just as familiar with the abuse as I am, meaning that you know just as well as I do, that there isn’t anything that either of us can do against this.”

He took a step back and a deep, calming breath. He looked at you with an expression that was unreadable, “I wish there was something, anything, that I could do to help us feel less trapped but there’s nothing to do.”

You took a step closer to him, “Nothing about you, is the worst thing to ever happen to me. Really, if anything, you’re the best thing to happen to me. It’s because of you, that I feel less alone.”

At your admission, Sirius let out a breath of relief, as if you just lifted the world off of his shoulders. Was he really that worried about being a burden to you? You spoke up again, “I’m sorry for yelling at you. None of this is your fault and I shouldn’t have let my anger out on you.”

Sirius sighed, muttering the scourgify charm. The sticky juice was instantly cleaned off you and you already felt a little bit better.

Sirius grabbed your hand, holding it in both of his, “It’s alright. I understand what you’re going through. But we can get through this together.”

“You’re right,” you responded with a soft cry. You fell into his chest and softly cried out your frustrations. Sirius stood there, soothing you as best as he could, unwilling to let you out of his embrace.

“How about tonight, you meet me in the astronomy tower? We can do whatever, it doesn’t matter what. We can just hang out and forget about our families for once,” Sirius offered. He still had his arms around you in comfort.

Once your sniffles subsided, you hugged him just a little bit tighter, “That sounds amazing, Sirius.”

(A/N, I was thinking of doing a part 2 if you guys are interested. I was thinking it would be after the marriage but you guys still dance around the feelings you have for eachother. maybe you guys find a way to run away together too. i dont really know, yall let me know what you think)

[murkysirenblue]

Humpty ⊹ ࣪ ﹏𓊝﹏𓂁﹏⊹ ࣪ ˖

In your opinion, you had always lived a relatively normal life.

You were a fisherman, as were your forefathers for as long as it could be recorded. You lived alone in your little cottage by the sea, and rarely found yourself caught in precarious situations. A storm like none you’d ever seen before quickly changes that, and now housed in your tiny cottage is an injured yet vicious mermaid. With such a beast subdued, all lines of predator and prey are blurred- who is the hunter and who is the hunted?

Never forget where you belong on the food chain. (Title from Mitski)

Heres my boat inspo but im too lazy to talk about the sails

http://www.nefa.net/nefajnr/archive/peopleandlife/sea/fisherfolk.htm its the (M.V. “Trustfull” under the motorboat category

Chapter 1: Chapter 2: Chapter 3: Chapter 4: Chapter 5:

A sailor would never be able to predict the sea.

Skies shifted quickly from light blues with gentle winds to storms that could engulf entire fleets. Frevent waves crashed against your own little wooden boat more times than you could count. Tempestuous winds would strike you down to the deck amidst a storm with a loud thud- an injury more to your pride than yourself. 

But despite these turbulent waves, those storms with no visible way out, you thanked the sea for leaving you alive to tell the tale.

The sea was your life, your livelihood. Yet you were no great sailor, with no great ship. A mere fisherman, as was your father before you and his before him. A nickname befitted you, dubbed by townspeople behind clasped hands and through whispering lips, ‘Hermit Fisher’. You enjoyed peace, time on the sea and in your secluded cottage, you found no issue with your way of life. You sighed, shuddering and clutching your coat closer to your body as you trekked through the cold fog towards the boat dock. Today was one of the many days you ventured out to the ocean- you lived out the fisher part of your nickname quite frequently. 

A biting coldness pervaded throughout this little island you called home more frequently than not, even during the heights of summer. Winds whisked through rocky cliffs, sending harsh icy gusts throughout the isolated land. As you walked down the dirt track you listened, hearing sea birds cry overhead- their calls mingled with the sounds of the waves that crashed against the base of the cliffs, their violent icy waters molding them like clay. Familiar clouds hung above you, dark grey and ominous as they so often were. Tugging within you yelled two thoughts. The first one begged you to stay home, to prevent pride from persevering and to not put yourself at risk. The other merely told you to bring a raincoat. 

You, of course, travelled onwards, for you were no fair weather fisher. A gut feeling told you these next few days would bring a good haul, and if it wasn’t too windy on the sea then lady luck was on your side. 

You restocked the boat just yesterday- enough to last you a week. You had emergency rations plus a whole sea of fish in the water below. A plan lay in your pocket to be out for six days as well as the path you’d take. You’d go just a little ways past the Crone’s Finger, however if the weather made a turn for the worst you had another plan for what path to take homeward.

Bobbing up and down on gentle water was a familiar red boat- your one. Its scarlet red paint was slightly faded on its pine wood exterior, but vibrant enough to stand out against the ever expansive blue. Along the bottom of the ship in white paint read ‘The Salmon Seeker’. Your great-great-grandfather had named the ship in hopes of fishing lots of the stuff, or so the family legend said. 

Unfortunately for him, all there was to be found for you was herring. Your father and his as well all found themself stuck with a similar issue, your father often floated the idea of a curse. Superstition was a sailor's best friend after all. Often you considered changing the boat’s name, as if to spare yourself from any more jokes at the town market- yet the humour in it held you back from doing so.

As you inspected your boat, footsteps followed by a familiar head of thick orange hair found itself in the corner of your eye. You quickly turned around, a smile spreading on your face.

“Well, who do we have here,” you mused.

“Mornin’ Yuu, figured I’d meet you here before you left,” Ace said, throwing a lazy arm around your shoulder, “And also to get that key,” 

You reached into the pockets of your pants, retrieving a small chain of keys and placing them into Ace’s open palm, “Make sure you don’t break my windows this time,” you teased, poking him in the chest.

“Well you forgot the keys that time! How else was I supposed to get in?” He quickly came to his own defence, a playful pout on his face.

“Typically by checking under the mat for the spare ones,” You replied.

Ace quickly muttered something under his breath before quickly changing the subject, “So, getting any salmon this time round?”

“You know it,” you slapped his shoulder lightly, a gentle laugh leaving your lips, “Say, where's Deuce? You’re usually attached by the hip,”

“Eh, he had to go into work early, you know how Riddle is sometimes,” he sighed, “And before you ask, no, I’m not slacking,”

You and Ace made simple conversation as you finished up your inspection of the boat, running your gloved hands against the outside of the boat. The coating of pitch was cracked, with small bits peeling off as your rubber-covered fingers made contact. You made a short mental note to buy another can once you returned.

“Don’t worry about Grim’s breakfast today- he’s already been fed. He’ll be expecting his dinner at 6 though,” You said, heaving yourself onto the boat.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be yowling at us till we do,” Ace said in his typical relaxed tone, “Try not to die this time round?” he said with a wink.

“Always,” you winked back.

You entered the steering room with one last wave to your friend, finally beginning to head out to the fog covered sea. The scent of salt was thick in the air, carried by the early morning breeze. The fog quickly made the view around you murkier than the depths below, and it didn’t take long for the red-head’s waving form to disappear amidst the wraith-like tendrils of mist. A cone-shaped flash of light occasionally appeared overhead, and you silently thanked the lighthouse keeper for operating the beacon.

If you were considered a hermit by the townsfolk, you could only imagine what they said about him.

It was operated by one Idia Shroud, the lighthouse having stayed in his family for generations. He was so rarely seen, that son of theirs. Only once or twice had you ever even seen Idia in town. Though you hadn’t much else to say about the man, you felt appreciation for the light flashing above. 

Despite the surrounding dimness, the sea looked to be calm, with the waves playfully bopping your boat up and down as it journeyed through the blue. It was a comforting rocking motion, like a mothers cradle. You’d known the sea long enough to know that the conditions in the open ocean were far better than the ones surrounding your home- all you had to do was traverse the misty grey haze. The winds felt slow and humid, a good sign that any schools of fish would be larger than usual. Windy days led to them being split up into smaller groups against the harshened currents. 

You leaned against the wheel, waiting as the propellor pushed you through the greyish blue expanse. You’d occasionally catch sight of another boat's light through the dizzying mist, but not much else.

After what felt like hours of waiting, you finally found an end to the fog. Passing through, you looked back on the wall of grey that engulfed the area, spilling out slightly along the top of the water. You coughed slightly as you breached through, eyes trained on its almost wave-like appearance. Soon all that fog was but a memory, and you pulled out your map and pencil. It was an older map, covered with dates and small markings of where not to go and where bigger schools met up and what seasons you should go where. You drew small dotted lines spreading out from your island, tracing along a larger, older circle. It seemed as though your home were encased in a dome of fog. It ended at roughly similar coordinates each day, and rarely did you see it dissipate. 

You liked to track where it ended, searching for a hint for something. You weren't sure what you were trying to solve, or how anything connected- you knew you had to work it out though. 

As you left the sight of the misty wall, you began to lower your net in the water, watching as the hemp material all but disappeared as it sank into the depths. There was a lot of waiting in this job. 

As you drifted, you looked out at the dull sea- the clouds overhead having turned everything into a blueish grey. It was lonely at times; boring at others. Minutes turned to hours and hours to days. Days and days of looking out at nothing but blue. Sevens, it was lucky to even run into a merchant ship- anything to keep you from going crazy. As time ticked by, you were left wondering what to fill the empty minutes with. Tic-Tac-Toe? No, it’s no fun to play by yourself. Filling in the Captain’s Log? There wasn’t really much to write about either- not even far fetched theories on the nature of the misty dome. And you didn’t particularly feel like doing that kind of work anyways.

You sighed and looked out at the sea, pondering the idea of hiring a deck-hand. You were sure Ace and Deuce would be happy to hang around on a little journey out to sea, if only to escape their boss from having their heads… Actually, considering the amount of meticulous tasks there were, those two probably wouldn’t be the best to hire. You also doubted Riddle would even allow them to spend that long away from work to fool around on your boat anyways. Perhaps your cat - a gluttonous grey chartreux- could stand to see where you went so often for days on end. However, the more you spent thinking the more you realised what a disaster that would turn out to be. Fish, Grim and hard work would not be a very good mix.

Sighing again, you looked out into the surrounding ocean - after all there was very little else to look at. You leaned on the edge of your boat, looking up at the seabirds that occasionally flew above your boat. Their loud calls echoed through the expanse of the open seas as they dived down below looking for their next meal. It all felt like a careful, frenzied dance. Like the outstretched arms of spinning dancers just shy of missing each other. Their wings whirled as the oceans twirled, opening its mouth for them to enter within. They would launch out again, fish of all sorts wrestling against them as they were made a meal. Everything danced, everything moved around, spinning and spinning into each other- your own personal vicious ballet to view. 

Suddenly, there was a pause in it all. A flash of light. Then a splash of a long, slender scaled tail. Everything felt as though it stopped, and you couldn’t help the gasp that escaped your lips as you stood up straight. You surveyed the sea with a critical eye, leaning over the edge as you tried to force your eyes to see past the blue barrier of the darkened ocean. You spied black tendrils, something pale and a bright flashing emerald green. The scales when they had breached earlier were gleaming, managing to catch what little light the sun provided. You stood back from the edge, throwing your hands away as though burned. 

Could such tales your father spoke of be true? Could it have been…

You were no stranger to tales of mythical creatures. In taverns you had often overheard tales of 30ft long tentacles ripping great hulking ships in two as though it were nothing, legends of whirlpools the size of whole countries sucking fishing boats into its mass. Stories of sirens driving sailors mad with their voice along. And quite frequently of mermaids, most of such from your father. 

Could it have been a trick of the light? Could such an impossible sight be a cruel joke your mind was playing on you? Sailors were often plighted by ocean madness, could it be ailing you? But with such a calm, darkened ocean there was no possible way you could mistake something for the view you just saw. 

Half fish, half human- something your father avidly believed in. You let out a shaky breath as you took another step back from the edge. Petty beasts, you corrected. No matter what role they played in the stories spun by him whilst at sea together, whether they were healers, guides, all powerful; they were always spiteful at heart. Without feelings, without empathy. Accursed and too far removed from the Sevens love. 

You tried to recompose yourself, ignoring your rapidly beating heart. You closed your eyes briefly, remembering an encounter with two passing merchants from the Scalding Sands. Kalim and Jamil, if your memory served you right. Kalim had been excitedly telling you he once saw a mermaid- with scales of amethyst and a beautiful face- just a ways past the Coral Sea. Taking a swig of your drink, you prayed to never see such a beast. He didn’t understand, others did.

You knew all too well what became of people driven by delusion. Stuck in sights they couldn’t prove they’d seen.

After more minutes of staring into the expanse of blue below bore no change to the surface and what came from it, you breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps it merely was a trick of the light. You wouldn’t be swayed by delusion or superstition, you thought, taking one last look back as you returned to the steering room. Maybe you should fill your logbook out after all.

There was no fog out here, but dark clouds remained above. You felt an odd itching feeling build within. The air felt dry around you, but there was still a pleasant warmness to it. You’d been sailing long enough to know there was nothing good about that. You left the steering room, deciding to bring your net in one final time. It had been a full day out at sea already, and your initial gut feeling was correct- you had a good haul. However you would have to cut the journey short, for you wanted to make it back before whatever was brewing above hit. You heaved in your catch- all herring as usual.

Part of you felt almost disappointed nothing ever came of that long tailed mer- creature, but another, far larger part of you was relieved to not bring such a bad omen onto your boat. With your catch, you made your way down into the cabin to pack them away in ice-filled crates. Your step backing a bit more speed than usual and a furrowed brow were the only visible signs of your worry. 

It felt a bit silly to believe that the ocean could sense fear the same way a predator could- that it could smell the trickle of nervous sweat running down your forehead, or feel the increase of your heartbeat vibrating through your body like a snake hiding beneath sand, waiting to strike. Yet despite knowing how irrational this fear was, you still attempted to keep up the brave face to cover the increasing worries seeping through you. 

Looking down, each fish was stacked into a crate, their scaled bodies writhing against each other as the cold sent them slowly into shock. You once heard someone call herrings 'silver darlings’ at the markets once, for their scales were as slick and as bright as liquid mercury. Ever since you were a child fishing with your father you had seen schools of them shimmer beneath the golden setting sun. The soft yellow light radiated off their scales, penetrating past the blanket of darkening blue above them. Standing by your father, he would smile down at you. Fleeting moments that had long fled, and you were grown now, left to appreciate the sight alone.

The herring’s stare had also long unnerved you. They seemed to look right through you with those bulging, cold dead eyes. They were nearly as large as their head, with uneven black pupils surrounded by a moat of silver. The pupils weren’t perfect circles like most creatures- hell, not like most sea creatures, giving them an awkward gaze. When you would scale them, oftentimes the vessels near their eyes popped, leading to them being filled with blood and turning the silver iris a dark red- as did their flesh when they were smoked. A ‘red herring’, you chuffed.

You shook your head- you were getting distracted. As you stacked the crates, you secured them in place with a tan hemp rope. The storm brewing above told you many things. That you would be getting saturated, that you probably should have bought that can of pitch this morning, and that if you didn’t secure everything now you would be very pissed at yourself later. 

Looking over at the ladder that led to the deck, you noticed a couple fat droplets of water had splattered across the floor and began to stain the ladder a darker colour. Sighing, you grabbed a yellow raincoat from a shelf securing it on as you quickly made your way up the ladder, almost an eyesore- you had bought it from the Al Asim merchant.

Procuring a key and padlock from a shelf below, you locked the hatch leading to the cabin as you exited. As you popped your head up, you could already see dark waves beginning to build up as the skies turned black above. You had anchored the boat early, and that was the only reason you hadn’t drifted away yet. After turning on all the boat lights you could, you rushed to the bow side, deciding if you should unanchor or not. On one hand, you could remain secure to the seabed, and hopefully not be bashed around too much by the waves. The seabed wasn’t too deep, but it would still take about 5 minutes for you to unanchor; it already began to rain, you didn’t have long till the storm decided to hit. 

But on the other hand, the anchor could be ripped out by the waves if they were harsh enough, and you would be in a very precarious situation. Also depending on where the waves hit, your boat could take a lot of damage. If you were to push it enough now, you might be able to get away before the worst of the storm hits. You were a few hours away from home, and you weren’t a fan of returning late in the night. However the more you spent thinking about it, the less time you had.

You let out a huff as you decided to bring the anchor in, listening to the rusted chain rattling as you strained to pull it up into the boat. You heaved and panted as the boat now began to rock to-and-fro amidst the navy waves, with white foam occasionally spraying across the deck and soaking the few exposed parts of your body. Your rubber gloves clutched onto the chain as you used your full body force to pull it on board, silently praying you wouldn’t lose your grip or slip on the rapidly wettening ground. Your teeth were clenched so hard you near feared they would shatter had you not done this hundreds of times before.

Lead grey clouds let out deep rumbles above as they sat across the skies, a fully darkened suffocating mass. Splutters of rain fell harder and colder as the minutes pressed on, and you shivered despite the layers of clothes you wore. Your boots squeaked against the slippery wood below with each step, your heart near palpitating as you tried not to fall.

You anxiously watched the stygian waves around you, relief spreading through you as the anchor finally revealed itself from the embrace of the sea. “Finally,” you wheezed as you locked it back in place, a dull ache spreading through your tired arms. Looking around you, you wished the clouds from this morning were enough to persuade you from going out to sea. You weren’t a fair weather fisher by any means, but you were foolish to doubt the storm brewing.

And as such, whatever God of Storms existed decided to unload all they had on you. Waves were beginning to build all around you- far worse compared to before pulling up the anchor. Rain was pelted down as well, dying your world a dark and vicious grey haze. You would have to get to the steering room soon to even have a chance to get yourself out of here. Spying something from the corner of your eye, you look to the left, just in time for a leviathan wave to crash beside the boat, throwing your little ship like a ragdoll with its sheer force. You quickly gripped onto the railing, practically hugging it as you used everything from your fingers to your arms to remain on the boat. You were sure your fingertips were turning white as you clutched with all you had, waiting for the spinning to stop so that you could dash into the steering room that sat at the other end of the boat. Your heart pounded against your ribs as you tried to calm your breath.

The boat suddenly began to tilt upwards at the bow, and looking down past the railings you saw another large wave begin to build up towards the sky, slowly pulling your boat up at its base. Your heart dropped. From the sheer size and speed, it was likely a rogue wave. This quickly shifted to a ‘get into the steering room to have any chance of living’ situation. You would, quite simply, die if you were to stay out here. The chances of survival even in the steering room began to dwindle too, you knew it deep down.

Grabbing a spare rope, you made a run for it. You all but swung the door off its hinges as you barged into the room, swiftly slamming it shut. You clutched the steering wheel and pulled the level below to full throttle, feeling the vibrations of the propellor as it whirred to life amidst the chaos around. You tried your best to power the boat across the water, pulling the wheel to turn the boat as fast as possible.

If you were to go forward away from it and take the full force of the wave from the stern-side, you would be completely wiped out- same case for the bow-side. Repairs would be costly as well, if you were to even survive. Taking such a blow across the side would be your best option, and hopefully if the Sevens were to smile down from above onto this poor fisher's soul, you could make it out before such a thing happens. As you navigated through the swirling ink all around, you tied yourself to the steering wheel with your rope; if only not to lose your balance amidst the shaking sea below. Thunder rolled above, near deafening as the noise rang through your ears. Your father always knew how to stay calm in storms- you wished desperately for any kind of guidance in a prayer spoken through gritted teeth.

Just as you neared the whirling edge, the curling mass of water above decided to give in, crashing down on itself with a noise not unlike the thunder above. Water quickly blackened the windows in front of you and began to seep through the cracks in the door. You cursed loudly, oh shit, oh shit, oh fuck. In hindsight, you should have bought more seels. Actually, you could have done a lot more in hindsight.

Everything then began to groan and creak as you felt the boat begin to tilt even more. You grabbed onto whatever you could and braced yourself as it then rolled over, again and again and again, as you were blown several metres across the abyss. You tried to remain upright the best you could, but even as it finally stopped spinning and something other than water could be seen through the window, your ship continued to be roughhoused by the conditions around you. Suddenly you lost your footing, smashing your head against the ship's wooden wheel- the world turning black again, as though your head was underwater.

—

Somewhere on a lonely little island in the middle of a stormy sea, two men sat in a quaint little cottage slouched by a cosy fire; its warm glow the only thing illuminating the decorated space. The ginger one of the pair looked out the window, watching out as rain pelted loudly against the glass panes. Time was passing on still, and the night began to grow late. There was nothing to do but sleep. He sighed, bored as he looked over at his usual accomplice, a worried look staining the bluenettes face.

“Yuu is fine, Deuce - they’ve handled weather like since before they could even walk,” he said, a relaxed grin hiding his own uneasy feelings.

“I know, but it feels weird that we’re relaxing in their house by a fire while they’re stuck doing Sevens knows what in the freezing cold alone!” He said exasperated, startling the sleeping grey cat, “Sorry Grim,”

Grim merely mewed in return, promptly falling back to sleep.

“See, Grim isn’t worried about them- you should follow in his paw prints,” Ace said lightheartedly.

Deuce scowled at him in return, and the two promptly argued to the background of distant thunder and rolling waves against jagged cliff-side rocks.

[yuurivoice]

I totally agree on the boo not needing to be the center of the universe. I mean even listener ASMR as a whole kind of comes from the whole fly on the wall concept that then diverts into a fourth wall break! I think it's actually really interesting how lots of people love this kind of stuff (me included) but typical video game or movie fourth wall breaks make them uneasy (Also me...) Maybe it's the thrill, or maybe it's just the difference on how the piece of media portrays the atmosphere!

one thing I would like your opinion on tho, is what you think of like?? mary sue type beat characters?? That's definitely not the right term, and in no way am I implying that's what boo is I just don't know what term would be better to use to explain the type of character im trying to explain lmao 😞 I feel like when every bad thing that happens is centered around the listener, it makes for a boring narrative, but I also think that when nothing at all bad happens to them ever, it kind of turns the character invincible, and like less human? if that makes sense at all 😭🙏 Not so much as major traumatic life events, but like.. listener fumbling and missing an opportunity, or just minor inconveniences that kind of reminds you that oh right they exist. like anyone can trip on a root and eat dirt, and it's equally hilarious! I think that's probably a very delicate balance, and I think you stay on that tightrope pretty well! I was just wondering

Have an amazing day!!

I think there are levels to this answer so I'll work through some layers.

From a creator's POV, a sad (or happy) truth is that your average listener is looking for and expecting a very simple, accessible, straightforward experience. I think this can often lead to unambitious writing, hitting all the high spots and delivering a basic package to the listener. I was certainly guilty of this in many cases, and since becoming more experienced and less strained by my ADHD, I've been able to take more chances and time. But a lot of folks might not have the desire to!

Next layer is, writing for a listener character is hard. Writing it BADLY is hard. Writing it well is a challenge. I'm not even talking about making them a character or having them be interesting, I'm talking about the mechanics of telling a story with an entire character who doesn't speak, but DOES speak. You have to master context clues, master your understanding of the audience (ie can they read my context clues?), and challenge yourself to get creative with how you deliver information. It's really tough!

A hindrance for me was that so much of what I do hinged on a romantic scenario or outcome. I was stuck in the "well how does this end up getting horny" of it all. Which has made me a career, so I'm not complaining, but also I recognize how one note it can make a character like Rook for example. Boo has the advantage of being the bridge between two characters, their influence is a big deal, their choices have significant impact. Rook is solely dealing with Auron, which makes for great smut, a bit of drama, and romance as we have dug more into Auron's character...but Rook hasn't DONE a ton OR had much happen to them. We're getting there, and thankfully there's a core audience that has bought all the way in purely on the basis of the romance hitting right. But we're getting to the fun stuff and soon my philosophy change will also reflect on Rook.

Casper was the first listener that really had a dose of "I need you to do/be something for the plot" and it has worked out really well. It was my first case of knowing they had stuff going on that wasn't readily known or made clear but needed to be hinted at. They had a job, a reason for it, a reason for not being obvious about it, and it impacted the world around them. That was good practice.

As for just stuff happening more, I can't speak for everyone but I can absolutely admit that I put a hard cap on the amount of shit going on in my audios for a long time because editing and sound designing all that mess is so much time and effort. For me, as I struggled to focus and get work done for so long, I couldn't just...add a little shenanigan or two, because it seemed like soooooo much work. It would put me off of doing it all. And then it becomes a cost analysis. Do I potentially waste days of procrastination and misery on 30 seconds of a thing in an audio that no one would miss if it wasn't there? Do I do it when there's a deadline looming as well? When I haven't got an upload for Monday?

...you see how easy the choice to ditch it becomes. I reckon there's probably a lot of that going on as well. Plus! I always want it to sound good, and I didn't trust myself to make shit sound good anyway. I would have felt in many cases I actively made the content worse.

Ultimately, I think people just want a pretty voice to talk at them. But there's vast potential for storytelling and adventure AND pretty voices talking to you! 😂

There is a strong crop of creators who are doing good work and honing their craft. It took me 8 years to get here. I finally hit a level where I feel I'm doing the kind of work that I can truly sit back and say I'm proud of it, that I'm not critical of or have any excuses for. It's challenging, and tricky, and time consuming. Not to mention I wouldn't even be here without tons of help.

I think that ultimately writers have to consider not what makes a listener cool or active or unique, but what makes them impactful and helps you tell the story you want to tell. And sometimes that means listener just needs to be talked pretty to and imagine they're being whisked away on a pirate ship, or snuck away at a ball, or in the middle of a meet cute at a bookstore. Less can absolutely be more. But when you do want more, you have to figure out what listener wants. Why do they want it? How do we convey that to the listener in ways that aren't always just being spoken to and told how to feel?

The rest will follow.

A fun example I've got right now is what I'm up to with Faust's Evalas Origin and the listener there. I actually got to apply a little more of my "oh I guess I CAN put in the effort to show this" philosophy by realizing i could add an entire sequence that was purely a listener interaction without the main character so we wouldn't have a "oh you're telling me what happened" moment and instead the listener gets to experience it from their POV before paths converge.

That's the one benefit of entries that won't require as much art, I can lean more into the audio doing the storytelling instead of the visuals.

Okay. Wow. Big yap. There ya go. 😂