#some workings and ramblings on a project I've been slowly working on

[kneelingshadowsalome]

literally can't stop thing about highschoolsweetheart!au where darling is 24/7 clinging onto a slightly annoyed/frustrated könig's arm, autistically chatting his ear off about random things like cute cat videos that she saw, dinosaurs or art, gushing about how much she loves him, how utterly handsome he's looking and that they're absolutely meant to be!! 🥺 always nuzzling him and pressing sweet kisses to his face.

until... maybe he snaps and shuts her up :// not in a nice way. maybe i'm projecting here, but i've been silenced before and it did nasty things to me. (bit of advice for unknowing peeps, don't make autistic people stop rambling, if you can help it. let them down gently if you must 💌)

back to our sheep... she suddenly shuts in. doesn't chat as much as before, slowly sticking to only utilitarian stuff. avoids his gaze oftenly, gradually starting to keep her distance, stops initiating affectionate things. she still absolutely adores him, but she's hurt, heart constricting in her chest. thinks she's doing him a service by listening to his 'request' at shutting the hell up, thinking she's making him happier. she's still itching to babble, making an active effort at stoping herself from going back to her rambling habits.

how would könig feel? react?

imagine what would it be like, if after some time of this distance, at a social gathering or something, he sees a man approaching her. another MAN!! how is this possible?? and he's... he's asking her about things? looking interested in her talk, eyeing her up and down??

would you do me the honour of tormenting this poor man for me? :33

Her ramblings were cute at first, then they started to go in one ear and out the other. König has a budding tinnitus from work and only wants to rest, but she skitters to him like a lovesick cat, climbs into his lap, and starts to talk his ear off about attachment styles and some pop psychology.

The enthusiasm in her eyes is what bothers him the most – he’s hit with envy, bright hot and red, because he has no time for intellectual interests these days. There's nothing but gun oil and gym to keep him busy. He was supposed to become either a philosopher or a fighter, but since they said philosophers can’t get pussy, he chose the other option (and still got little to no pussy), sad wanker as he was back then.

He either doesn’t know what the hell she is talking about or, he would want to discuss with her about the subjects she’s into, so much in fact that it would soon become an autistic competition of its own. But the deeply ingrained memory of being called a scrawny nerd is keeping his mouth shut even now, when he’s approaching his mid-thirties.

So he tells her she should read an actual book about the subject and stop filling her head with nonsense layman theories.

It hurts; it fucking burns, the mute, helpless stare she shoots at him. She scoots away, sorely upset, and won’t come back to him before the evening fall.

There's no cute noises and kisses peppered all over his face, no dangling from his neck and prattling away about the differences between C. S. Lewis and Tolkien; no videos where a cat tries to fish the last pringles with its paw or memes that remind her of him. There's just a broken girl and a knife in his heart, but he’s too ashamed and proud to apologize.

And so she comes back to him when he won't go to her, the deep yearning always overthrowing her pride. It feeds his self loath by gallons: she's better than him, always has been.

She hugs his middle when they lie down to sleep, forehead pressed against his upper back. She’s too small to reach the back of his neck, but she won’t wriggle upwards like an adorable little worm to place a kiss there like she used to. Just falls asleep with a sigh, holding him tight.

His sleep arrives only after hours have passed, and the knife inside his heart has finally done its duty and euthanized the whole organ.

They never talk about it: but she prattles far less nonsense to him now. He nearly breaks the silence one day and asks her about the Myers Pigs test or whatever it was called, see if she would crack open from her shell and laugh. He could coax her to tell him what her newest interest is nowadays, what makes her eyes bright and shiny when he’s away. But he’s too fucking ashamed, too goddamm proud to tell her that she’s annoyingly cute when she talks so much and that he fucking loves her for that. That she’s the silliest girl he’s ever met and if he had a hat, he would take it off every time she wanted to share another monologue.

If he had the balls, he would ask if she had all this madness inside her when they were kids but never had the courage to spill it out… If he's the only person she has allowed to see this side of her without fear.

...

He returns to the party after having a smoke – a bad habit everytime he knows he's about to down a few beers – only to see she’s engaged in a heated conversation with some other guy.

Or, the guy is asking questions, while his girl is about to burst out of her dress from the eagerness to tell him everything about some new hyperfixation of hers. Something she hasn’t really shared with him; not anymore...

The knife is still in his heart, it seems, because it twists. Violently.

He looks for a weapon to defend himself: an empty beer bottle, a knife on the table, an untended umbrella by the door; his fists, ungloved. It’s just a routine check, a simple habit that was hammered in his system years ago, and of course this is not the time or the place for violence. He just… fantasizes about stabbing that guy in the liver with some blunt cutlery, pounding his ribs to pieces until his knuckles bleed with jealousy. He even fantasizes her screams when she sees what kind of a man he really is: a weak wanker who turned into a pitiful beast of a man.

These flashes take only a second or two, then he squares his shoulders and goes to get his girl back.

“How about we dance,” he offers his hand to her, palm up like the other guy was made of air – or not even that.

Her eyes light up with surprise, pure, undiluted hope, her interest in her chat companion now completely gone.

“You... You want to dance?”

His lips compress into a thin line, his nostrils flaring from the need to either claim her right on this floor or turn and beat the competing dick beside him into a pulp.

Then her hand finds his, her soft little smile pulls him back, her eyes now shining to him and only him.

It’s a slow one, the song, and he only notices it when she lifts her hands and cups the back of his neck. Tingles shoot down his spine and send a curious little twitch down his dick – even his testes pull up a notch. They’ve fucked a thousand times, and still, she has this effect on him... All she needs to do is smile and touch his neck, and his body answers; he’s hers.

“Does this mean you like me…?” She asks with a playful smile when his hands come to naturally claim her waist.

“...What?”

“You saw me with that guy and came to whisk me away.”

He tries to avoid her stare, fakes to steal a glimpse at the other pairs dancing, but it’s challenging when she looks at him like… like that.

“He was drooling all over you back there,” he mutters.

“...Oh? So you came to save me?”

“You have difficulty saying no.”

She's relaxed, while he's stiff, the adrenaline leaving him slowly and with a rising boner. It doesn't help that she's drawing little circles on his skin, right there where it tickles and sends more pulls down his cock.

He tries to breathe deep and slow, but it doesn’t really work much. There are times when he gets a hard-on from her playing with his hair or brushing a set of fingertips across his nipple, and then there are times when he really wishes she wouldn’t do shit like this. Not when they’re at a party and he almost had a temper tantrum in front of everyone.

“König… You never dance,” she says with a weighted stare. He answers it with a heavy glare of his own, eyes that should tell her enough about his true feelings for her.

There’s a thin line between love and hate, but never has he felt this undeniable truth as acutely as he has with her...

“If you don’t stop with the tickling I’m going to have to take you upstairs for a fuck.”

Her tiny little fingers stop immediately, but her eyes shine brighter than ever before. From shock, love, or awe, who knows. Then she picks up that annoying habit again, a bit too keenly to convey any kind of actual fear.

“You’re begging for it, aren’t you...?” He comments with genuine contempt.

“...Yes?” She answers with a breath of a smile, pure love in her stare.

He grunts as if tired, then scoops her up, right there on the dance floor and takes her upstairs when everyone can see.

“You like me. Admit it,” she babbles when he carries her inside some guest bedroom and kicks the door shut, with her snug and smiling in his arms.

“Yes, yes. You can tell me all about everything when I’m done with you.”

“All about everything?” She giggles as he throws her on the bed and starts to take off his shirt. Her eyes shoot to his pecs, then to his fingers when he unzips his pants. There's no lie, no deceit in that stare, just adoration and want.

“First you have to be quiet. Think you can manage that?”

She opens her pink little mouth, then shuts it, starts to nod like a broken doll.

When he eventually slides in, the poor doll whimpers, just like he thought.

"Hush," he gruffs, but doesn't cover her mouth.

He can have a little taste, a sip, a treat... Because the knife in his heart stops rattling only when he makes love to her – he does that often, even if he calls it 'fucking' in his mind.

[secretsandwriting]

Obsessed

Ethoslab x gn reader

Where Etho is sick and the reader is dragged in to take care of him

As per usual, I've attempted gn reader but I am used to writing fem so if I messed it up let me know and I'll fix it

(UNEDITED)

You weren’t sure why you were pinged by Gem to meet at Etho’s base as soon as possible, but there you were, landing a few steps away from Gem in front of Etho’s base. She turned around, clearly relieved to see you.

“Etho’s sick.” That wasn’t good but you weren’t sure why that required your immediate arrival, Gem seemed to catch on to your unsaid question. “He’s refusing to believe he’s sick and won’t let anyone help him. Tango said he’s way too warm to just brush it off, and since Etho listens to you a little better than the rest of us I asked you to come.”

“I don’t know if he will on this, especially if he wants to get back to his redstone.” You followed Gem into Etho’s base and found him arguing with Tango and Pearl, both trying to get him to lay back down while Etho tried to get past them to work on whatever he felt was calling his name. Which left only one method that would maybe work.

“Etho?” He whipped around and smiled through his mask at you. 

“Hey Y/n! Want to come look at my farms if Pearl and Tango would get out of the way?” You held up some papers. 

“Actually, I have some plans I’ve been testing for a farm but I’m not sure if I have the numbers right. Would you mind looking over them with me?” Etho paused and his gaze flickered between you and the papers.  

“Of course!” With that, your fate was sealed. Etho ushered you to the kitchen table and the papers were laid out and he started pouring over them, figuring it out in his head and mumbling it out. It didn’t take long to hear the effects of his fever. His rambling made no sense. Less sense than most of his redstone rambles. While he was talking, you gently placed your hand against his forehead. Etho froze before ever so slightly leaning against your hand. 

Tango was right, he was burning up. 

“Alright, that's enough. You need to get some rest, your fever is high.” Immediately Etho protested, “I’ll make you a deal. If you listen to what I tell you, I’ll take care of you. If you don’t, I’ll ask Doc too.” He weighed his choices. “Head to bed, I’ll be there in a minute with some things.” Etho jumped up and headed to his room, he was out cold when you went up three minutes later. 

You took that time to get everything you needed together and make some light food for when he woke up. Knowing full well a sick Etho would take advantage of any open second to get away and go back to work and once he started it could be almost impossible to pull him away. 

Etho was out until the next morning, and as predicted, he tried to escape out the window. Thankfully you had blocked all of them off so he couldn’t but he still tried. Begrudgingly, he accepted the tea and sipped on it slowly while he ate his soup. 

When you checked his forehead, he leaned into your touch more than he had the day before, he was also quite a bit warmer then he had been. Hoping you were wrong, you gently pushed his hair off his forehead and kissed it. It was worse, though you were pretty sure the sudden flush in his cheeks was not from the fever. 

Etho whined and complained when he was sentenced back to bed but immediately calmed down when you offered to read something to him. Settling down under a large pile of blankets he fell asleep to the fairy tale you were reading to him.

The next time he woke up, he was delirious and to make it worse, he kept trying to get up to go work on some redstone project. Nothing you tried would convince him to settle down and at least stay inside. 

“You wanna know what will keep me inside?”

“Yes Etho, I do!” Etho’s expression morphed into something you weren’t sure you wanted to know and he leaned a little closer to whisper to you.”

“A kiss, and not on the cheek, it has to be on the lips and you have to cuddle with me.” Oh boy, you had a feeling you knew how this was going to end.”

“I will give you a kiss on the lips and cuddle with you, if you listen to me and you can collect it when you're better and no longer contagious.” He pouted at the last part but seemed to accept it as he settled back down in bed and fell back asleep. 

Three days later, Etho was better and you left to go back to your base for the first time in 6 days. It was nice to finally shower in your own home, and it would be nice to finally get a full nights sleep again in your own bed.

What you didn’t expect was for someone to join you.

“It’s just me.” Etho. “I am here to collect my kiss and cuddles.” Of course Etho would remember that, why did you even agree to it i- Your thoughts were cut off by Etho pulling you closer to him.

“I’ve wanted to do this for years.” Etho whispered before closing the space between your lips. It was a short kiss, but damn was it good. You could feel the questions in the air, questions you weren’t sure if you knew how to answer. So you did the only thing you could think of that could possibly answer a few of them without having to find the words.

Placing your hand on his cheek, you pulled him back for another one. You could feel his smirk through your kiss and his arms tightened around your waist. 

“I didn’t know you were so obsessed with me.” He teased, before you could fire a response back he continued, a little more serious, “It’s ok though, I’m obsessed with you too.”

[allthingsfangirl101]

Out of The Blue – Keys

Masterlist

I walked into my apartment and kicked off my shoes. I went upstairs and changed into a pair of leggings and an oversized flannel. The second I got downstairs, I collapsed onto the couch.

Right out of MIT, I got a job as a traveling coder. I meet with business professionals and owners and help them build their websites. After the first meeting, everything I did could be done from home.

I grabbed my laptop off my desk and took it to the family room. I put on the TV show I was currently binge-watching and slowly started working on my newest project. I was finishing up for the night when I glanced over and saw how late it was. I was just about to close my computer when it dinged. With furrowed eyebrows, I checked my email.

Walter McKeys.

My heart flipped and then plummeted into my stomach. I haven't talked to Keys since college. We were in a lot of classes together. We constantly studied together and helped each other with our homework. I was the one who gave him the nickname "Keys". He gave me the nickname "Buggy". He used to say that I was annoyingly good at finding and getting rid of computer bugs.

Memories came flooding back as I read his email.

Hey Buggy, It's been a long time. I'm sorry for this random email, but I've been thinking a lot about you lately. That's probably weird. To be honest, I don't really know how to explain why I'm emailing you. I've never been very good with words. I'm only good with code. You know that. How many times did we have to do a presentation and all I could do was the coding part? You were always the one who did the presentation and the talking part.

Sorry. I'm email-rambling. Anyway, I've been having this issue with a code and AI. I finally made the connection and figured out the problem. I only figured it out because of you. I know that doesn't make sense, Buggy, and I'm sorry. Please watch the video attached and maybe, just maybe, it'll make more sense.

Sincerely, Your Keys

As I finished the email, my breathing was unsteady, almost coming out in short gasps. I reread it over and over again, my mind spinning with questions. I opened the attachment, but for some reason, I couldn't play it. When I finally pressed play, Keys popped up on my laptop screen. From the looks of it, he was at his office late at night.

Why would he film this at his office and send it to me despite how late it was?

That question made me finally press play. I held my breath as Keys started talking.

"Hey, Buggy," he smiled at the camera. "I know this is kinda weird, but I need to get some things off my chest. I'm not sure if you know this but for the last year, I've been working for Soonami on a game called, "Free Life". Lately, I've noticed something. . . Strange. Before I explain, I need to confess something. A while ago, I created a game with a friend of mine called, Life Itself. To be honest, Y/N, I used part of your code from our senior project."

Keys looked away from the camera and sighed. When he looked back, my chest tightened at the look on his face.

"I'm really sorry, Y/N," he whispered. "I should've. . . I changed it a little bit. Your code was focused on programming. All I did was adapt it for gaming. I'm sorry. I know I should've called and asked for your permission. I really hope that doesn't make you hate me."

He cleared his throat and took a minute to get his thoughts back on track. "Anway," he continued, "Soonami bought "Life Itself". They claimed to have shelved it, but my friend Millie found proof that they didn't. For you to understand what happened, I need to introduce you to Guy."

I smiled when his scream split and I saw the character he started talking about. "He's supposed to be an NPC, but something changed. Now, from the beginning. . . Guy's behavior is much more complex than it should be, thanks to our code."

My heart jumped when he called it "our code".

"But he's still stuck in "Free City,"" he continued. "He's still stuck in his life, this loop. And then, something changes. He comes to life. Why? And then I remembered. One of the characters from "Life Itself" was this guy that I nicknamed, "Lovelorn". And he was someone who was designed to never meet the right person. It was essentially the building blocks of the character. But he never stopped hoping that he would meet "the girl of his dreams". So I had to base this girl off of someone. . . and who better than the person that I was sitting next to every day? You."

My breathing sped up and I felt my heart jump back into my throat as he continued to explain to me what was going on.

"But then, one day, he meets Millie in "Free City", and once he sees her. . . he can never be the same. He was supposed to feel doomed, but instead, he feels alive until eventually, he is alive. Millie changed him. You wrote the code that was able to be changed by one person. One connection. You brought him to life, Y/N. You wrote the code that brought him to life. And he was alive because he met the one person he'd been waiting for his whole life. And I had to make it realistic, so. . . I based it off of. . . You. The woman of his dreams. . . she was the same as mine."

I hit the pause button, my heart beating against my chest. I ran my fingers through my hair as I tried to put my thoughts together.

"But Millie is the one who met him," I mumbled under my breath. "She's the one who brought him to life. . . I just wrote his code."

I grabbed my bag and headed to my car but stopped when I realized what time it was.

I went to bed but as soon as I got up, I found Soonami's address. I anxiously drummed my fingers on the steering wheel as I got close. I signed in at the front desk and headed up to the offices. The entire time I was in the elevator, I kept repeating what Keys said in the video.

"Hello, gorgeous," a guy smirked. "I'm Mouser. And you are?"

"Not looking for you," I said harshly. "Where's Keys?"

"Not here," he shrugged. I sighed as I ran my fingers through my hair.

"You got an address?"

* * * * *

When I pulled up to Keys' apartment complex, my nerves made me freeze. I wasn't even sure what I was going to say to him when and if he opened that door. I barely found the courage to park my car and head up to his place.

I got to his door but hesitated before knocking. I held my breath as I waited for him to answer. The longer it took him, the closer I got to turning around and running away. I was just about to when the door opened.

"Y/N," Keys stuttered.

"Hi," I said, my voice softer than I wished. "We need to talk about that video."

He sent me a small smile and nodded. I took a shaky breath when he opened the door and moved aside for me to come in. I walked in and instantly started nervously playing with my hands.

"Have a seat," he invited me.

"Nice place," I mumbled as I looked around but didn't sit down.

"Thanks," he chuckled, clearly embarrassed. He cleared his throat before attempting to break through the tension. "So, that video. . ."

"Millie brought him to life," I cut him off. "Not me."

"It was your code," he shrugged with a small look on his face.

"You said I was the woman of your dreams," I continued, "but your friend Millie is the one who brought him to life. Not me. So according to that, she should be the woman of your dreams."

"But she's not," he said, slowly taking a step closer to me. "Millie has a lot in common with you. She loves bubblegum ice cream, swingsets, and Mariah Carey. So yes, Millie is the one that Guy ran into, but it was the similarities that he fell for. In fact, if you had run into him in the game, you would have brought him to life."

"Keys, this is. . . I don't understand. . . I just. . ."

I cut myself off when he leaned in, his face inches from mine. "I know I was rambling," he whispered, "but there is one important part in what I said."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've had a lot of time to think about this," he continued. "You're the woman of my dreams, Buggy."

Before I could say anything, Keys leaned in and gently pressed his lips to mine. My mind was swimming as I slowly kissed him back. He broke the kiss with a small smile on his face. We looked into each other's eyes as we struggled to catch our breaths.

"I know this was completely random," he whispered with his forehead pressed to mine, "but I couldn't stop thinking about you, Buggy. Every day I fixed the coding issues with Free Life, I thought about you. I haven't stopped thinking about you since the night we graduated from MIT."

"That video. . ." I whispered but didn't continue.

"Was my cowardly way of admitting my feelings for you," he said with a small chuckle as he leaned back. I held my breath as he reached forward and gently grabbed my hands, slightly pulling me closer.

"Say it," I said under my breath.

"Say what?" He asked, slightly tilting his head.

"Confess to me what you confessed in the video."

Keys smiled as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

"You are the woman of my dreams," he whispered. "I created the character Lovelorn and kinda based him off of me. I designed him to never meet the right person because I was worried I never would. As I was creating him and "the girl of his dreams", I started basing her off the first girl that came to my mind. You. I thought about what I felt as we sat next to each other and worked on our senior projects. I thought about how I felt when you helped me with my code. I thought about how badly I wanted to be more than just coding partners. You, my dear Buggy, are the woman of my dreams."

I grabbed his face and pressed my lips to his. I felt him smile as he tightened his arms around my waist and kissed me back. We let out matching laughs as we fell back onto his couch. He hovered over me, looking deeply into my eyes.

"I've missed you, Buggy."

"I've missed you too, Keys."

[starlightrosa]

Hey! I got one for digital circus! If you’re not wanting to do it thats totally cool!

With Caine being AI and not having a previous life outside the circus, I think he would be rather confused and intrigued by tickles once he found out about it. And knowing Caine, he’d probably wanna test it out on all the circus members just cause their reactions would be amusing to him and fluffyness would ensue!

That is all, have a wonderful day Lovley!

Smile For Me

Summary: Caine's a bit fed up at the fact that his circus crew just will not smile. So he takes it upon himself to make them smile, and along the way, he finds out some very useful information about each of them.

Word Count: 2.2k words

Warnings: censored swearing, Caine is a teasy AI, cute alert.

A/N: ahhhhh nonnie i'm so sorry this is late! I've been so busy, and then I got sick which took me out for a while :( thankfully i'm no longer bedbound and managed to complete it this morning <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Caine was a bit fed up today. Everything just seemed so dull. His circus cast weren’t having fun at all. His adventures weren’t being well-received, and everyone just seemed so gosh darn grumpy! Caine tried to get everyone used to the circus when they first arrived. He assumed wacky fun was how to make anyone laugh or even a smile to appear on their faces. But Caine didn’t hear a single giggle from anyone, nor see a grin. And it was starting to frustrate him.

Sure, he might only be some lines of coding and a program within a game, but why was it so hard to bring smiles to these kinds of people?! Something had to give, and Caine pondered this even as he worked on his top secret project in the Void, his Wacky Watch beeping occasionally to track the crew’s movements, ensuring they were staying in the bounds of the circus. And luckily, they all were.

Maybe it was the project annoying Caine, but his fingers twitched as the AI pulsated with extra energy. This sometimes happened, but it felt worse this time. He needed a way to get out this jumpy energy, so out of impulse, he left the project alone and teleported into the tent. Right near Ragatha, who was walking by.

“RAGATHA!”

The doll screamed and hit the floor pretty hard, landing with quite an audible ‘OOF!’ noise. Caine gasped and flew to her side, the AI checking if she had been hurt.

“Gracious, my dear! I’m so sorry if I startled you! Are you hurt? Oh, what am I saying? You hit that floor most hard indeed!” Caine rambled, his gloved hands softly checking for sore spots.

“I’m fine Caine, plehease just- AHAHAHA!” Ragatha squealed, as she felt Caine poke into her side, right above her hip. Caine retracted his hands.

“Is that a sore spot? Oh dear, Ragatha! I’m so very sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“No, no. You didn’t hurt me, Caine.” Ragatha assured, biting her tongue against further giggles.

“Well, then… what was that noise that left your mouth, if not a pained noise?” the ringleader asked.

“Oh, I’m just kind of ticklish there, Caine. You got me by surprise.” Ragatha explained. Caine blinked, taken aback. A question mark appeared out of the top of his head to further display his utter confusion. That was a word he didn’t know.

“Tick-lish? Tick-uh-lish? What is… what is tick-lish, Ragatha?” Caine asked, sounding the word out slowly, to try and get a deeper meaning of it.

Ragatha sighed, a small smile pulling at her mouth. “Okay, so the plural is called tickling. Basically, you touch someone and if it makes them laugh, it means that they’re ticklish. And when it comes to tickling someone, you can try mostly anywhere. There’s different tickle spots for any person, if they are ticklish. Like a person’s sides, hips, ribs. Anything, really. It just kind of differs between different people.”

Caine could feel his digital fingers wiggling on instinct the more that Ragatha explained to him. It sounded fun, plus it sounded like a surefire way to make someone laugh! Which was exactly what Caine was after when it came to his circus crew.

“Might I tickle you, Ragatha?” Caine asked, his voice very blunt and to the point. Ragatha’s smile turned wobbly as she softly held her hands up in front of her.

“Caine, don’t be silly. I-I’m not ticklish.” she lied. Caine didn’t believe her at all.

“My dear, you just told me you were. I don’t think lying to me is going to get you very far.” he said, even as he snapped his fingers. His ringleader outfit changed to a cowboy outfit, complete with a digital rope appearing in his hands. He lassoed Ragatha like a cowboy and pulled her into his arms, the ringleader holding Ragatha in a soft hug, her back pressed against his hip as his gloved hands snuck along her back.

“Yee-haw! I got me a ticklish dollie in my hands! Whooooo, boy!” Caine cheered, his AI voice switching to a Texan accent very briefly. Ragatha pursed her lips hard against the laughter bubbling in her throat.

“Y-You sound rihidihiculous, Cahahaine!” Ragatha teased, wriggling softly in the ringleader’s grasp. Caine gasped in mock offence.

“Oh, how very rude! Why, such rudeness is not permitted in my circus!” Caine declared, as his hand that was not holding the doll squeezed into her left side. “Is it ticklish here?”

Ragatha gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth, muffled giggles going into her hands as she closed her real eye, the button one remaining stubbornly open. Her shoulders bounced softly as she fought to keep her laughter quiet. Caine’s eyes shone a little. There was some laughter, that he coaxed out of the ticklish ragdoll. Good gracious, finally!

“Why, your laughter is sweeter than angel food cake!” Caine stated. Ragatha couldn’t exactly blush, but she felt her face grow warm all the same.

“Hahaha, Cahahahaine! Lehehehet gohoho of mehehe!”

“If you say so.” Caine said, letting her go as requested. Ragatha sighed as she dusted her dress off. She really had not expected that to work. She thought for sure that Caine was just going to ignore her and keep tickling.

“This is most intriguing. I must go test this on the others!” Caine said, his AI mind buzzing with theories as to the other members’ tickle spots.

“Go do that. But leave Pomni alone. She hates being touched. Like, she really hates it.” Ragatha murmured softly.

Caine could see she wasn’t joking and he nodded. “Alright. I shan’t touch Pomni. But the others are fair game, right?”

Ragatha nodded, and Caine’s eyes shone with mischief. “Lovely. Bye now, Ragatha.” he said, flying through the circus, on the hunt for another circus member to tickle silly. And then he saw a purple ear disappear around a corner, and he chased after it.

“Hey, Jax!”

The purple rabbit turned around. Upon seeing Caine, he looked very irritated. “What do you want, Caine?”

“I want to ask you something, Jax!” Caine said, adjusting his gloves a small bit as he looked upon the taller one.

“Which is? Make it snappy, I’m a busy guy.” Jax responded.

“Are you ticklish, Jax?” Caine asked, his mismatched eyes focused entirely on Jax’s face. Of all the things Jax was expecting Caine to ask, that most certainly was not one of them.

“Uh-“

“I take it that’s a yes!” Caine said. “So now I’m gonna tickle you.”

“Oh, no the (SPROING!) you’re not!” Jax called back, running off. Caine flew after him, the ringleader chuckling mischievously.

“Running was a bad idea, my friend! If you just stayed still, this would have been so much easier~”

“(HONK!) YOU!” Jax shot back even as he turned a corner, panting softly as he turned his head, rapidly looking for somewhere to hide. But to his dismay, when his head turned back around, Caine flew towards him and trapped the rabbit in a tight backwards hug.

“Gotcha, Jax!” Caine declared, his fingers immediately going to work, spidering up and down Jax’s sides. Jax spluttered out a string of incoherent curses before the bunny fell into laughter, squirming desperately in Caine’s arms.

“CAHAHAHAINE, STAHAHAP!” Jax cried out, hiding his smile. Caine saw him doing this and tutted, the AI chuckling to himself.

“Let me see you smile.”

“CAHAHAHAINE, YOU LITTLE (SPLAT!)” Jax cursed. Caine sighed. How rude.

“Now, is that any way to talk to me? Where’s your manners, Jax?” Caine asked, one hand grabbing Jax’s hands and pulling them away from his mouth.

“CAHAHAHAINE!”

“Your laughter is oddly endearing. I think I may just have to tickle you forever.” Caine stated clearly. Jax spluttered in protest.

“FOR (DOING!) SAHAHAHAKE, STAHAHAP!” Jax pleaded. Caine chuckled and let go of the rabbit immediately. Two down, two to go. He wasn’t going to touch Zooble or Pomni, so that only left Gangle and Kinger.

“Where’s Gangle and Kinger, Jax?” Caine asked, still feeling that ticklish itch in his fingers. Jax scratched his head a bit as he calmed down from the giggle fit that Caine had unceremoniously shoved him into.

“And why the (SPLAT!) should I tell you?” Jax asked defiantly. Caine just shrugged.

“If you like, I can just tickle you again, since you seemed to enjoy it~”

“Uh, I think I last saw ‘em chatting to each other at the main stage.” Jax said, immediately spilling to avoid a round two from Caine. Caine was a good tickler, and Jax didn’t exactly want to get on the wrong side of that again.

“Good. Alright, bye.” Caine chirped, twirling his cane as he went to go find the last two at the main stage.

Kinger and Gangle were engaging in a conversation about bugs it seemed. Gangle had on her tragedy mask again, and Kinger was talking about butterflies.

“-See, Gangle, there are about 17,500 species of butterflies known to us, 750 of those species in the United States alone. This one is a tiger swallowtail, or known to us as Papilio glaucus, native to eastern Northern America. You can recognise them by the black and yellow marking on their wings!” Kinger rambled, getting a bit lost in his insect hyperfixation while Gangle let him carry on.

Caine came up and waved to them. “Hello, you two!” he greeted. Gangle squeaked and her hands instinctually came up to cover her face, while Kinger turned around.

“EEK! Oh, h-hi Caine…” Gangle murmured.

“Hi, Caine.” Kinger greeted. Caine flew down to meet them.

“What are you two doing on this fine day?” Caine asked.

“Oh, I was showing Gangle my butterfly collection! I have tiger swallowtails, skippers, metalmarks, monarchs. You name ‘em!” Kinger chirped happily. “Anyway! How can we help you?”

“Are either of you two ticklish?” Caine enquired.

Gangle squeaked and hid her face deeper in her ribbony hands. Kinger hummed and then nodded, not seeming to catch the teasy tone in Caine’s voice.

“Well, we both are, yes. Gangle more so than me. But why do you ask?”

That was all the answers Caine needed. He grabbed one of Gangle’s hands and one of Kinger’s hands, gathering them in the same hand to hold them each tightly. Preparing to go for Gangle first, he chuckled as he softly began to spider along her ribbony stomach. But to their shock, Gangle squealed and wrapped herself tight around Kinger’s abdomen, already squirming a little with anticipation. But then Kinger started to softly laugh.

“Hahaha! G-Gahahangle, stohohop! Thahat tihihickles!” Kinger pleaded softly. Caine begun to have an idea. If he could play his cards right… he could tickle them both at the same time.

Kinger or Gangle? Kinger… or Gangle? Hard choice. But considering Gangle was right there… yeah, she would work.

Caine chuckled mischievously as he switched his focus to Gangle, walking his gloved fingers along her ribboned hands. The red ribbons she was made of felt soft on his hands, and the giggles he heard from her indicated that Gangle was feeling all of this as well.

“C-Cahahaine! It tickles, it tickles!” Gangle squealed out. Caine laughed along with her as he kept up the tickles. Kinger was getting tickled too from Gangle’s wriggling, which ended up tickling him.

“Who knew you two were so ticklish?” Caine teased, smirking. He didn’t even have to tickle Kinger, Gangle was doing that for him!

“GAHAHANGLE, STAHAHAP!” Kinger cackled, the two falling back onto the floor. Caine followed them down and kept tickling Gangle, which caused the poor ribboned miss to laugh harder. Which in turn meant more squirming. And THAT meant more tickles for Kinger.

“I CAHAHAN’T!” Gangle argued. “AHAHAHA! CAHAHAINE!” she screeched. “NOHOHOT THEHEHEHERE!”

“Oh, not here? Not on your ticklish little ribbon legs? Why ever not?” Caine asked, where he was tickling the backs of Gangle’s ribbony knees. “They feel so soft here! I could tickle them forever.”

“PLEHEHEHEASE NOHOHO!” Gangle shrieked, squirming for all she was worth. Her high pitch laughter intermingled with Kinger’s deep chuckles, creating a melody of laughter that Caine adored.

“Hah! Okay, okay. I’ll stop.” Caine said, gently letting go and helping Gangle unravel herself from Kinger. Caine felt happier seeing his circus crew smile, if only for a fleeting moment.

“I’ll leave you two to it.” Caine grinned, that ticklish energy in his hands finally dissipating, with the ringleader making to leave. Only to be caught by Kinger’s hold.

“Uh-uh. What about you, Caine? Are you perhaps ticklish?”

“Preposterous, Kinger. I am just AI. Lines of coding. Impossible for code to be ticklish.” Caine declared, trying to put on a bravado. In truth, he didn’t know. But by the look on Kinger’s face, he was going to find out one way or another.

“You sure about that, dentures?” came a voice from behind him. Caine was filled with a sense of anticipatory dread as he saw Jax and Ragatha slowly approaching, their hands outstretched and wiggling. Kinger grabbed him and hoisted Caine in the air, as the circus crew took their places around him, ready to all rally against the ringleader. He gave them laughter, so they were gonna dish it right back.

“Now, let’s be reheheasonable here! P-please! PLEHEHEHEASE! WAHAHAIT! JAHAHAX! RAHAHAGATHA! KIHIHIHINGER, GAHAHANGLE STOHOHOP! NO NO NO NOHOHOHO!”

[supreme-leader-stoat]

This is my—unfortunately, rather incomplete at the moment—submission for @inklings-challenge 2024 for Team Tolkien. My chosen genre and themes are Secondary Fantasy World (i.e. a story that takes place in a world totally disconnected from Earth) and "instruct the ignorant," as well as a bit of "council the doubtful" and "comfort the sorrowful"

At the moment, the story is essentially just the opening scene. With that in mind, I'll be posting some notes and commentary at the end outlining the rough direction that I plan on taking the story for anyone who wants to know how things unfold in the likely event that it takes me a while to write the rest of it. And I do hope to write the rest of it; it's been a bit slow going due to writer's block and my health working against me, but this is the most invested I've felt in a writing project for months if not years, so for that I'm quite grateful to the people who set up this challenge.

Well, you came to read a story and not my rambling, so I think I'll leave it there for the moment. Without further ado, please enjoy the prologue of All Things Great and Small.

-----

Battuhya couldn’t breathe. Not because of the heavy formal robes she wore, with her clan’s signate murals embroidered along the back and sleeves. Nor because of the heavy scents of spiced meats and fragrant woods that filled the royal feast hall like low-hanging clouds gathered in a valley. She couldn’t breathe because the attention of the entire room was suddenly focused on her, and on the long, bare arm that stretched out to point at her.

“That one,” the Ketar said confidently. “I can feel her affinity for the secret arts. Truly, such power must be a blessing from the gods. I would be a great fool to let it be squandered. Yes, I think it must be her.”

Battuhya resisted the urge to spin around and try to see who behind her the Ketar was indicating. Surely, surely she couldn’t mean her.

Slowly, deliberately, Battuhya’s father stepped in front of her, half-shielding her from the view of the court. “My apologies, revered Ketar,” he said, not quite managing to keep the hard edge from his voice. “I mean you no disrespect, but I fear you are mistaken. This is my eldest daughter, and I have chosen her tutors myself. Her education is extensive, but I’m afraid that it does not extend to such obscure subjects as sorcery.”

The woman waved her hand dismissively. “I speak of potential, not of prior learning. I intend to oversee her training myself, and I will see to it that any deficiencies in her knowledge are corrected.”

She turned towards the royal seat, expectant. The king’s dining mat was separated from the rest of the feast hall by a massive curtain of blue silk, lit from behind in a way that cast a massive shadow across the fabric. For as still as it remained, that shadow might have belonged to a statue and not a living man.

The high steward, seated just in front of the royal veil, impassively swept his gaze across the room. Battuhya thought that his eyes seemed to rest on her for a moment, but he moved on so quickly that she began to wonder if she had imagined it. “You ask for much, Ketar,” he said, the sound of his voice quieting the sea of whispers from the onlooking crowd. “The daughter of a President is no small price. Perhaps you should consider your choice further.”

“Oh?” Said the woman, raising her voice theatrically as her lifelight flared in challenge, clearly visible even in the bright light of the feast hall. “Is this how His Majesty honors his promises?” As if to punctuate her question, a log in one of the nearby ornamental braziers gave off a loud ‘pop’ and a cloud of sparks, eliciting a few startled yelps from the noble ladies standing closest to it. “For services rendered, I was given leave to select an apprentice of my own choosing from among His Majesty’s subjects. Surely, he would not now forbid this old woman from passing on her legacy?”

The Ketar and the steward held each other’s gaze, and Battuhya sensed something pass between them, an understanding of some sort. It was subtle, something she doubted she’d have noticed if she hadn’t grown up in the court, and even then, she could only guess at what the exchange meant.

“His Majesty always honors his promises,” the steward said. “Those who would imply otherwise are counseled to hold their tongues, lest they lose them. Come here, girl,” he said, raising a hand in Battuhya’s direction.

Slowly, on feet that felt like they belonged to someone else, Battuhya began to walk forward.

“You do not have to do this,” her father hissed under his breath as she passed him.

Even through the dreamlike numbness of shock, she felt her heart swell. Her father loved her enough to challenge the will of the king, of a god’s reflection on Earth, if it meant sparing her this. But she loved him, too, which was why she couldn’t let him. The relationship between her clan and the crown was too tenuous, too strained these past few years. Refusing here and causing the king to lose face would bring down retribution on her family, maybe even spark a war.

She didn’t tell him any of this. To speak, to even look back, would cause her nerve to break. Instead, she moved forward, one step at a time, before falling to her knees at the base of the steps that led to the royal seat.

“Do you understand what is required of you?” the steward asked.

She wished she didn’t. Understanding made it harder. She would become ketar. The word meant either “clanless” or “heretic,” depending on how it was used. Often, both meanings went hand in hand. Everything she was, everything she had been raised to, would be stripped away. Her home, her family, even her prospects of marriage.

“I do,” she said.

“And do you accept this charge, to serve your new mistress to the fullest extent of your abilities?”

“This servant hears and obeys,” someone else said. It must have been someone else, you see. The voice that said it was far too calm to belong to someone with the storm of emotions that Battuhya felt trying to tear out of her chest.

“Then rise,” the steward commanded, and rose to his feet at the same time she did. “Hear this final proclamation in the name of your king. You are remanded to the care and teaching of this Ketar. From this day forth, you are no longer a subject of this realm.” He clapped twice to mark the end of the proclamation.

It’s funny, Battuhya thought. I never realized before now, but it’s the same sound a judge makes when they condemn someone.

A hand settled on her shoulder, and she looked up to see the satisfied face of the Ketar. The other Ketar.

“Come along,” the woman said. “I expect that we’ve caused enough commotion for one evening.” She turned and strode away, and Battuhya had no choice but to follow.

The crowd parted before the woman like a school of fish in front of a boat, leaving a clear path behind her. Some gave Battuhya looks of concern or pity. Other gave apprehensive looks, looks that said they still didn’t quite understand what had just happened, but were worried they would be swept up in it just the same. A few didn’t look at her at all, people she had once called friends or allies who were already treating her like a stranger now that she had no official standing in the court.

She didn’t know what look her father gave as she walked away. She couldn’t bring herself to look back at him.

As the heavy doors of the feast hall closed behind her with a decisive ‘thud,’ she wished she had been able to.

-----

The Ketar’s study was a small room located far from the feast hall, tucked away on the north side of the palace. Battuhya stood just inside the door, unsure of what to do or say as the Ketar rifled through an assortment of jars and wooden boxes by the light of a lamp, cursing softly under her breath. Eventually, she found what she had apparently been looking for, grabbing a small handful of dust out of one of the jars and tossing it onto the log that sat in the study’s small hearth. Then she held her hand out towards it, palm forward and fingers splayed wide, and began chanting in a strange, alien language.

Battuhya’s breath caught as the room was enveloped in a bright flash, like the sun itself had suddenly dropped down the chimney. By the time she blinked the spots out of her eyes, red-orange flames were cheerfully licking at the log, casting light across the room. Magic. Battuhya had seen magic before; it wasn’t unheard of for travelling Ketar to ply their arts on the streets or, more rarely, in court, but this… this was something else entirely. Seeing magic from a distance, in the full light of day or a crowded feast hall, was a very different thing from seeing it up close, almost alone in a dark and quiet room.

The first thing that Battuhya thought, upon getting a good view of said room in the firelight, was that it reminded her terribly of her father’s study, with the stranger details only jumping out on a closer inspection. The right-hand side of the room, from where she was standing, was lined with two bookcases that reached all the way to the ceiling, and two equally tall wooden cabinets, which was where the Ketar had found the powder to start the fire. On the left was the hearth, flanked on either side by wide bureaus covered in a collection of curios; glass bottles in shapes she had never seen before, animal bones (including, she noted with a repressed shiver, what looked like at least one human skull), and a curved piece of polished ivory with strange carvings all along it. Turning her eyes upward, she saw two stuffed birds suspended from the ceiling in a facsimile of flight, both around the size of a goose. In the middle and towards the far end of the room was a heavy wooden desk with a comfortable-looking, high-backed chair. The only things behind it were the room’s single window, and a table holding a cage so large that Battuhya thought that if she were to lay down on her side, she would be able to fit inside with room to spare. An animal of some sort sat huddled on a pile of straw and fabric against the far wall of the cage, though in the dim light of the fire and with her eyes still not fully recovered from the sudden flash, she couldn’t clearly make out where the fabric ended and its body began. The only part of it that was completely clear were its eyes, bright in the firelight and far too clever and intense for Battuhya’s liking.

----- ----- -----

So, that's what I've written so far. I was inspired to try my hand at a take on a "the protagonist is unexpectedly chosen to become a wizard's apprentice" story. The twist here being that Battuhya is not someone being freed from her previously dreary and downtrodden life, but is someone for whom learning magic is, if not a downgrade, then at the very least a sudden and unexpected exile from the society she's known her entire life.

Everything from this point onwards is spoilers for bits I haven't written yet.

If the Ketar's conduct seems a bit overblown, that's on purpose. While she does have access to a tiny bit of true magic (I'll let you guess what it does, the hints are already there in what I've written), 90% of what she does (and by extension, what Battuhya will learn) is chemistry, pharmacology, or performance art.

The 'animal' in the cage is something that Battuhya would call an "imp from the underworld," something that can (allegedly) bargain away its magical powers but can steal your soul if you aren't careful while making said bargain. As the story goes on, it rapidly becomes clear to readers—and eventually Battuhya herself—that it's essentially just a very tiny person held captive by the Ketar. Or, perhaps more accurately, she's what we would recognize as a normal person, and Battuhya and her world simply operate on a far larger scale.

Battuhya and the "imp," as might be expected, eventually overcup their mutual apprehension of one another and strike up a friendship, of sorts. Among other things, the imp teaches Battuhya thing about her mistress' powers that the latter keeps close to her chest, as well as some of the history and beliefs of the imp's people. While from the perspective of Battuhya's world they came from underground, from their perspective they climbed into the sky one day against their God's prohibitions and found themselves in a land of giants with stars in their skin, something like a cross between the Tower of Babel and Jack and the Beanstalk. That's another strange thing; the imp only believes in a single God, something that's rather alien to someone who grew up worshiping her king as the earthly reflection of one of a pantheon of gods.

Eventually, Battuhya uncovers a plot in the court that ties into why she was chosen as the Ketar's apprentice, and the two hatch a plan for escape to freedom. Among other things, their plan involves the miraculous power the imp's people received from their God for protection upon arriving in this world (I did say the Ketar has access to a bit of real power) and a lot of the more mundane tricks that Battuhya has picked up over the course of her training.

[dearestaussiechannie]

☆ I have a secret to tell you pt. 2 ☆— Han Jisung

word count: 2k

paring: Jisung x afab!reader

genre: fluff

warnings: afab!reader, boyfriend!Jisung, college!AU, Roommate!Minho, some cursing(Fuck,Damn), pet names (baby, my love), mentions of sex, making out, mentions of yelling, comfort, if I left anything out tell me, kinda proof-read

Authors note: HI! this is part two of "I have a secret to tell you" that I wrote and this will actually be the only other part of this story that I do. I really appreciate the love that you guys are giving my work♡

It’s been 8 months since you and Jisung confessed to each other and to say things were going well would be an understatement. Things continued like before besides the fact that your weekly “games nights” were now “date nights”. Tonight was one of those nights. You had both agreed to meet at the coffee shop right off campus for a study date tonight since you'd both had big tests coming up. You had chosen a flowy shirt paired with some skinny jeans before grabbing your bag and making your way there. 

It wasn't a far walk from where you lived, so you made it there a little earlier than the time that you'd both agreed to meet but when you got there, Jisung was already there but with someone else. You’d seen him before but never got the chance to meet him properly. The coffee shop was quiet as you made your way over to the table, putting your bag beside your boyfriend, wrapping your arms around his shoulders when you kiss his cheek.

You feel him tense under your arms, looking over at you quickly with wide eyes. “Excu- oh! Hi baby! I meant to tell you I was here but I bumped into my friend. This is Chan.” He says as he pulls you into the chair beside him. You hold his hand tightly in yours when you look across the table, meeting the eyes of his friend as you wave.

“Hello, it's very nice to meet you. I've heard lots about you and even a song about you.” Chan says which makes Jisungs face turn bright red before he buries it into his book, embarrassment filling his whole body. “I take it that I shouldn't have said that..” Chan says as he rubs the back of his neck and his phone starts to ring. Not soon after, he's saying his goodbyes to the two of you.

You get up from the chair beside him before moving to the one across from him, smiling before you put your books on the table. “So, you wrote a song about me?” You ask him as you dig through your bag for a pencil. “Do you want a coffee? I'll go get you a coffee. The usual?” He asks but before you can answer him, he's gone. You laugh, shaking your head then opening your book to find the material you had been studying earlier.

After Jisung had brought you back the coffee he got you, he focuses on his textbook, both of you writing your notes in silence for about 30 minutes before you can't take it anymore. “Han Jisung.” You say, making him look up a bit shocked. “Yes my love?” He says confused, reaching his hand across the table to you. “A song about me? That you played for your friend Chan?” You say, leaning your head into your empty hand.

“I didn't think he'd say that to you. I played it for him last week when he asked what project I was working on.. He didn't know it was about you but he just kept complimenting it and I had to tell him.” He rambles to you, rubbing your knuckles with his thumb. His face turns red again. You can't fight the giggle when you see it, slowly pulling your hand away, starting to put all of your things away.

He looks up at you, confused when you stand and put your bag over your shoulder. He stands with you, putting his things away and looking across to you before walking over and wrapping his arms around you. “Where are we going?” He says as he takes your bag. “Wanted to go back to one of our places and hear this song that you wrote.” You say walking up to the counter, ordering you both of your normal coffees to go. 

Once you get the coffees, your walk back to his apartment was fast, walking in only to be met by Minho cooking in the kitchen. “Did you get me a coffee or was I forgotten by my friends again?” He says before either you or Jisung can get your shoes off. “Sorry Minho, I forgot after Chan said something that made me embarrassed so I had tunnel vision.” Jisung says before pulling you quickly to his room. 

He quickly sits at his desk, opening his laptop and finding the song file, handing you his headphones. Once you've put them on, he presses play. As you listen, the smile on your face makes him smile as well as he runs his hands through his hair, giggling softly. Once the song is over you take the headphones off and cup his face, pulling him into a kiss.

He kisses you back, hands falling to your hips. When you pull away, he leans into you for more but you stop him, hands still on his face. “God, you're so talented Sungie! The rap part.. Do you even breathe?! The vocals!! You sound like an actual angel!” You ramble to him, looking into his eyes with so much pride and excitement before you kiss him again. 

Your words stick to his brain, playing over and over while your lips are on his, moving like they were made to mould together. His thumbs rubbing your hips makes your face heat up, humming against his lips while your hands move from his face into his hair, nails softly scratching at where his hair fades. This invokes a groan from him and the sound makes your thighs squeeze together.

“Shut the damn door! I’m still here, you know?” Minho yells from the hallway, making you jump out of your own skin. You hide your face in the nape of Jisungs neck, pulling him closer to you. “Sorry Minho!” He yells, rubbing the back of your head before slowly getting up and shutting the door. He walks back over, rubbing your lower back and smiles. “So you like the song?” He asks and it makes you laugh as you nod your head. “I love it, wanna listen to it again.. May I?” You ask him, putting the headphones on. 

He presses play before kissing your head and stands up, walking to the kitchen to get some snacks. “Dinners on the stove. Stop eating junk all the time.” Minho says as he sees Jisungs hands full of junk food. Jisung nods before he gets two plates, making you one as well before walking back to his room.

When he gets back, you still have the headphones on but your head is bobbing a bit aggressively for the beat of the song he'd put on for you. He puts the plates on the desk before he looks over to his laptop, eyes widening when he sees that you're listening to a different song that he's written. He presses the spacebar, making it pause so that he can have your full attention. “Snooping through my files, baby? That's not very nice, you know?” He says before closing it and moving the plate of food in front of you.

“I’m sorry.. It's just I could listen to you rap for hours. Who are these other vocals? They sound amazing!” You say back to him, looking at the plate and then to him. “I’ll only tell you as long as you say that I sound better.” He says, slightly pouting. “Sungie, yours sounds the best! I just didn't know that you recorded others.” You say before taking a bite of the food that you know the guy in the living room made.

“It's Minho's vocals. I asked him to sample it for me until I can find someone else to do it but to be honest, I don't think anyone else can sing it better than he did.” He says before eating with you. Honestly, you couldn't agree more with him since you'd heard Minho singing before in the kitchen while cooking. The two of you eat in a comfortable silence, finishing about the same time. Once you're both done, you stand and take the dishes to the kitchen, seeing Minho at the table. 

He's covered it in whatever it is that he's working on, tapping his pencil on the table. You walk over to the sink, washing your dishes before putting them away, walking over to Minho, putting your hand on his shoulder looking over what he's working on. “The answer is right here.” You say to him before patting his back, hearing a sigh leave him. “I've been stuck on this question for 10 minutes and it takes you 5 seconds to find the answer.” He grumbles as he under lines where you pointed in his book, running his fingers through his hair. “You're welcome. Also, you have very pretty vocals, Mimo.”

Once back in Jisungs room, you see his fingers swimming across the tiny keys on his laptop, tapping his foot and humming. You walk over to his bed, laying down and stretching out on your stomach as you take in the smell of him on his sheets. Your eyes close and you hum, feeling the bed beside you dipping. You look over and see Jisung crawling into the bed with you.

“Wanna watch a movie?” He asks, voice just barely above a whisper. You nod before rolling out of the bed and going to his closet. “Yeah, can I steal your clothes?” You ask, not waiting for an answer before starting to pull things out. You choose a hoodie and some boxers, stripping from the clothes you had on to the ones you had picked out before crawling back into the bed beside him.

“You look so cute in my clothes, I'll never get over it.” He says putting his hand over his chest while scrunching his face with a smile. You do the same with a small laugh before cuddling up to him, laying your head on his chest as he rubs small circles into the small of your back. He turns his tv on, playing Howl's moving castle, a favorite for both of you, before tapping your chin to make you look up at him.

You look up at him but before you can say anything, you feel his lips pressing against yours. Humming against them, you make a small ball in his shirt as he tucks hair behind your ear, lips never leaving yours. “You looked really really good at the cafe earlier, baby..” He whispers against your lips, pulling you closer to him by your hips. You shiver from the feeling of his breath across your face.

“Thank you, so did you.. Those ripped jeans and beanie that I got you.. Perfect mix.” You say before kissing him again, your tongue grazing against his bottom lip. He lets your tongue dance with his, hand rubbing your inner thigh softly. He gently pushes you onto your back, moving on top of you, never breaking the kiss until he starts to kiss down your jaw and neck, hands slipping into the hoodie you put on.

“I know I always say that you look cute when wearing my clothes but it really turns me on..” He whispers against your skin, squeezing your breath softly, causing a whimper to escape your lips as you pull at his hair slightly.

“YAH! I am still fucking here! I just wanted to go to the bathroom NOT listen to you making out and shit!” Minho yells, banging on the wall that's between Jisungs room and the bathroom. It causes you to giggle, pulling Jisungs hands out of the hoodie and you squish his face a little. “Well, if you'd ever leave, maybe you wouldn't have to listen to my sex life Minho!” Jisung yells back, shaking his head, hands now laying by your legs.

“I fucking live here! Go to her place! She has NO roommates!” Minho spits back as you hear the bathroom door open, the sound of footsteps getting lighter before disappearing, signaling that he's back in the living room. You look down to see defeat written all over Jisungs face, giggling before you kiss his forehead.

“It's okay we can try again at my place tomorrow, okay Sungie?” You say, making him smile and nod while he crawls off of you. He pulls you to lay your head on his chest again, playing with your hair. You finally actually start watching the movie, quoting parts to each other until it ends.

He puts on another movie before realizing that you're passed out snoring softly, making him chuckle. “Sleep well, my love.”

©️ dearestaussiechannie, all rights reserved.

Taglist: (to be added, comment or message me♡)

[pale-opal]

So

What writing projects do you have in the works?

👀

!!!

I am so glad that you asked this question! I honestly have a lot of ideas, and I have been wanting an excuse to talk about them for a while. So if you don't mind me rambling for a little bit:

So the first thing that I've been working on is a sequel to the first fic that I uploaded for this MMX rewrite that I've been working on (an AU called Collision Course). I'm trying to get a backlog of 30 chapters together before I release the second part, and I'm on Chapter 20 right now. I wanted to have it released well before this time, but I kept hitting walls with some of the chapters that came before the current one. However, I think I should be good once I reach Chapter 21 (the story will start to reach a point that I've been really excited to work on). I'm hoping to have it out before the end of the month.

@crystalclear365 and I have started planning for this one fic that we decided to write together - I won't go too far into it because we both want it to be a surprise, so all I will say is that I hope you like cooking shows. >:)

I also like to write essays sometimes, and there's been one that's been sitting in my drafts for way too long. I want to have that out by the end of the month, too (it's been a blast working on it, but I want it gone). I have other ideas for essays past that, but I think it would be best if I finally finished this one first.

I also have a bunch of AUs that I've been mentally workshopping for good while. Here are a few that I want to talk about:

There's a slice of life human + modern AU that involves Shadow Man being neighbors with the Wily family, along with shenanigans such as Bass skipping school on a near regular basis, Piano and Waltz (cut characters from the Megamix manga and the Dreamwave comics respectively) being in girl scouts, Snake Man trying to set Shadow up with Berkana, Star Man being a community theater teacher, Wily being a deadbeat (if there's anything most of my AUs have in common, it's that Wily is a terrible father and Shadow Man will adopt nearly all of Wily's kids if you let him), Zero and X being lab partners, Blues being a runaway... there's a lot going on. I'm definitely going to have to make a proper post explaining this one at some point (and not just because I feel like I'll implode if I don't write something for it soon).

I also have a human + zombie AU that has a bunch of lore, so I can't talk about it too much without giving it its own post - so to sum it up, a bunch of the characters from the Mega Man series got turned into zombies during the apocalypse, got found by some scientists that are being led by Gate, got experimented on, got some of their sentience back while losing some of their zombie-tendencies, and escaped. Now it's everyone else's problem. It features events such as Red learning how to love and be less selfish after half-zombie Axl looks at him one day and goes "Yup. that's my dad now.", Shadow Man adopting half-zombie Zero (because of course he does), Snake Man slowly succumbing to the infection because he took too long to amputate his bite (oof), and Lunime trying to convince all the other former infected to rise up against the humans. And the half-zombies can speak to those that are fully infected, while all the humans get to stand around watching like this:🧍‍♂️

I have a vampire AU I haven't put much thought into. I do have a few details though: Red is Axl's biological father in this one, and Axl is half-vampire (Red is human, though. And an ex-vampire hunter. So he's going through it). Blues is a vampire hunter who is really good at his job, but hates doing it. Shadow Man's family act like rejects from the Addams family. Dr. Light is a retired hunter. I want to write a oneshot for Mouthwashing at some point (I saw a playthrough of it not too long ago and I may never be the same (/pos)), but I'm still working out the main plot beats. There's also a bunch of lore I have for my OCs, but to talk about that would take hours (seriously). I have some other oneshot ideas for the Mega Man franchise as well, but I'm saving those for special occasions (one of them I am saving for April Fool's Day. It is November. Bear with me). But uh... yeah! That's about it. Thank you again for asking! I hope I didn't talk too much. 😅

[tohakumaru]

it's been a few months since i've been posting again after a long break. i'm very grateful for everyone who has been here all this time & as well as new viewers of the blog (it's been 7 years ongoing, can you believe?!). i'm a full time corporate wagie, so it means so much to me that this little incoherent passion project has any kind of viewers at all. i hope you enjoy the work - i really couldn't have kept going without your generous & kind words all these time.

i think the recent weird bird animations have attracted some new viewers to the blog, so here is a new compilation pinned post for introduction.

it's not real estates/postcards from nowhere - a paper town named nowhere, at nowhere, for noone in particular, but anyone can stay. residency application once again open, currently processing outstanding paperworks...

folk bengtsson is still sitting in front of his fireplace, trying to remember though he should really forget. with your encouragement his ramblings might be put to paper one of these days?

the biographies are being slowly updated as we go along

and finally, weird bird is walking, trespassing and falling asleep. as it always does.

here're some links if you want to find me elsewhere:

website - instagram - youtube - (inactive) kofi

have a lovely day!

[solari-writes-things]

Hi! Will you write for Fenrir from r6s? Not a whole lot of people like him so I get it if you don't wanna. But if so: could I ask for some general dating sfw/nsfw headcanons? Unless you would prefer we just ask from the prompt lists? I can do that too!

✧ Solari Says: Hey, doll! I'm sorry this took so much time. It's holidays, and I was going through a blog change so it took a lot of time to figure out what I wanted before I put more effort into making thumbnails and suchlike. I hope you enjoy what I've put together for you, though, after all this time!

🛑 WARNINGS: NONE. 🛑

masterlist. // rainbow six. // request here.

Emil is a man of both curious, but jaded nature as it stands.

Dating him is a slow start, but something that is highly rewarding once he fully trusts to involve himself.

He buried himself in his work at first, sort of playing aloof when anyone makes any sort of advancements towards him. Being played by Deimos has made it near impossible for him to fully accept someone is being entirely truthful with their intentions.

However, it does remain logged in the back of his mind. He doesn't forget these things, he has a mind like a steel trap.

Once they've proven themselves to be fully trustworthy, Emil's true colors will begin to show. He will slowly become heartwarming and attentive, studying every close detail he can.

Those attempts of trying to ask him out? He'll constantly call back to those. He remembers them all, and has adored the ones he's eyeing for a long time-- but it's just the nature of his past that has kept him at bay from acting on it.

He often buried himself in his work when he thought about it, really, as sort of a way to cope with the idea he might begin to trust again.

Once dating, he likes to keep company and ramble.

He appreciates sitting down and being able to talk about the things on his mind. His latest discoveries, his interests, his current pet projects. Even if the person doesn't understand a lick of what he says, he just likes feeling like he's being heard and genuinely appreciated for him and not just his intelligence.

However, that is not a one-sided street. He will do the same for the one he's seeing, not wanting for them to feel left out in the sort of catharsis it makes him feel. He can only hope they feel the same.

Date nights are usually nights in. He's not an outdoor body, he never had been before. He was usually too far into his work to really want to be outdoors-- and even more so since his trust has been broken so far before.

The once in a blue moon he does have the urge to go out, his date is close to his hip. He never really wraps his arms around them, really, but it's small gestures. A hand on the small of their back, hand holding, the works.

He's not big on P. D. A, though. Usually it's just those small gestures he'll do, nothing more.

In private, he will do kisses on their head and leaning on shoulders. Hugs and cuddles are prominent, for certain.

Usually it's at a small, but rather nice restaurant. Maybe a movie, if it's something his date is interested in. He might not be a cinema person, but he enjoys learning about the things his date likes. It spins the cog in his brain, learning more information, no matter what the subject.

He doesn't mind when his date keeps him company while at work. It's even more of a compliment when they seem interested in what he's doing-- going hand in hand with the rambling. Albeit, being cautious the first couple times they've requested to do so.

Emil manages to squeeze in little surprises for his date. Small gifts of things that his date likes in passing-- as long as they're conventional and he knows his date will use them.

Jewelry and such is still on the table, as long as it's something he knows will be worn around and such. He isn't a fan of gifting someone things that just get forgotten.

Being as committed as he is, once he begins to date someone, it takes a lot for him to want to stop. His patience is sky high with the right people and it takes a lot to get him angry.

Many could see it as being a pushover, but he isn't. He just knows and understands that people are not cookie-cutter, by a long shot.

Regardless, he adores the person he is deciding to see. He wouldn't change a thing, not by a long shot-- and hopes that they intend to stay with him for a long time like he wants.

◈ rainbow six tag list - @sazafraz :|: @angelaiswriting :|: @kind-wolf

if those you wish to be included in the tag list, feel free to leave a comment or DM. If you wish to be removed, please feel free to do the same.

[charlotterhea]

About me

Always writer, sometimes artist, hopeless Snamione shipper, hate-sex Snack shipper, wholesome Severus/Ron/Hermione shipper (I need a shipname for them...). Yes, I have some weird ideas but all of them live rent-free in my head and my heart. ^^ I love to chat! I'm looking to be a part of a community of obsessed fans, so feel free to reach out! Aaand I'm German. So should you ever find yourself in need of help navigating the German language or just need a phrase or two for your story, I'd love to help. :)

About my stories

AO3 (and in case you speak German: ff.de)

I've been writing for almost twenty years now so there are a lot of stories on my profile. Since I decided to translate my German stories a few years ago, I am slowly working my way through them, but not all of them are available in English yet. However, I've also found a lot of joy in writing English stories, so at this point, there are some that don't exist in German as well. ^^

To read some more rambling about my stories, follow me beyond the cut. ^^

Long stories

I'm a sucker for long stories, both reading and writing. I normally have a hard time keeping it short and that shows. So here are my long stories.

"Inter Spem et Metum - Between Hope and Fear" (English | German) Rating E, Snamione, complete, 380k

On her first evening of 5th year, Hermione happens to be out on the grounds when Professor Snape returns from a Death Eater meeting, badly injured. She has to help and has no idea that this one evening will shake up her life.

One of my longest stories - and my first Snamione ever. It got a thorough revision some years ago and if you're interested in reading more about me rambling about this story, here is a detailed post about it. ^^

"Advocatus Diaboli" (English | German) Rated E (And I mean it! Heed the tags!), Snamione, complete, 180k

Three months of torture, two people, one house, no way out - but a lot of time.

Another old one of mine, my second long Snamione, it was revised as well. It is also my darkest, most brutal story. I've written about a lot of dark themes but here I crammed them all into one story. Be prepared!

"Devoted to You" (English | German) Rated E, Snamione, complete, 53k

Severus is so badly injured that he hovers between life and death. Hermione saves his life with an unknown potion, but suddenly there is a connection between them that especially Severus doesn't like.

This one, on the other hand, is a bit more on the lighter side of themes. If you want to see Severus experience period cramps, go read this. XD

"Medicus-Series" (German) Rated E, Snamione, complete, 243k, translation coming soon!

A trilogy of medical-centric stories, culminating in an intense third part that is really, really heavy. Although every part contains difficult themes, the third was by far the hardest to write. Mind the tags!

"About Magic" (German) Rated E, Romione/Snamione, complete, 372k

'Unheilbar' ist auch nur ein anderes Wort für 'unmöglich' und wenn Hermine eines gelernt hat, dann dass in der magischen Welt eigentlich nichts unmöglich ist. Oder es zumindest nicht bleiben muss und wenn es mal eine Situation gegeben hat, in der sie darauf gezählt hat, dann diese. Die Frage ist nur, ob die magische Welt ihrem Anspruch gerecht werden kann und wenn ja, zu welchem Preis.

My last long project that I love to bits although it wasn't as huge a success as other stories of mine. Not a typical shipper story, very plot-heavy, and the story that most felt like writing a real novel because it has such a dense plot. I'm proud of my writing style in this one and I'm looking forward to translating it someday. ^^

"Ein Funke und Zunder" (German) Rated E, Draco/Neville, complete, 67k

Draco bekommt einen Auftrag von Snape, dem er allein nicht gewachsen ist. Eine kleine Erpressung verschafft ihm die Hilfe, die er braucht.

An outlier amongst my stories in more than one way. First: the pairing. It is a story I wrote for someone else and they wanted this pairing. The plot sounded fun so I wrote it. Second: the tone. I know, it's uncool to laugh about your own humour but really: I was exceptionally funny in this one. XD This story is peak teenage comedy/angst/coming of age/coming out/coming to terms with yourself and I will never be able to write something like that ever again. ^^

"Das geheime Opfer" (German) Rated E, Lumione, complete, 77k

Das Ende des Krieges steht kurz bevor und noch ist nicht entschieden, wer triumphieren wird. Hermine ist getrennt von Harry und Ron und bekommt Anweisungen, die das Blatt zu ihren Gunsten wenden können. Und obwohl diese Anweisungen von Severus Snape stammen, zögert sie nicht – eine Entscheidung, die sie noch Jahre später bitter bereuen wird.

Another outlier, another story I wrote for someone else. I don't exactly dislike Lumione but it's not what my muse thrives for so I usually don't write it. But I had a lot of fun writing this one and it is the source of one of my Lucius headcanons: that man is pants at Occlumency but he can see auras. It seeped into my image of him, so much so that I'm always confused when I see him depicted as a talented Occlumens in other stories. XD It's a fun concept and I used it in all of my stories whenever Lucius plays a role ever since.

Medium length stories

For a long time, medium-length stories weren't really my thing. I wrote either one-shots or long stories, with few exceptions. But in recent months, I grew fond of them, especially of the four-chapter version. *lol* Don't ask me why, it started with Tempus and, then came Souls and I'm working on another four-chapter story again. Guess it's a thing I do now... ^^

"Tempus Gratiae" (English | German) Rated E, Snamione, complete, 24k

Professor Snape disappears for a week during Hermione's 6th year. Without a trace. Then he returns and everything is as before. Except for a few details that arouse Hermione's curiosity. But only seven years later the mystery begins to unravel.

A fun little story written for an advent calendar, I think, with the theme 'A Place in Time', so, of course, I had to write time travel - but with a twist. ^^ I love playing with time and this was my first plot playing with it. It is a bit more complicated than it had to be strictly speaking, but that was also due to the fact that a friend gave me some prompts to work with so it's not entirely my fault. XD

"Our Souls at Full Moon" (English | German) Rated E, Snamione/Snulciber/Romione, complete, 36k

Tricks have consequences, forgetfulness an aftermath. And those usually don't affect the ones who deserve it.

This story has a special place in my heart because it was a pain in the ass to write, okay?! I had this plot bunny that wouldn't shut up and absolutely no time to devote to the 100+k words it would have become had I written in how I usually write stories. So I took a different approach and made it a story in drabbles and double drabbles. But not only that! I also tried some tips about writing I found shortly before I wrote this and that initially gave me the 'Yeah, well, that's not for me' vibe. Still couldn't stop thinking about that either, though, and so I experimented a bit. Not sure how good the English translation is. My beta sent back a lot of 'not sure what you're trying to say here'... *cough*

"Otherside" (English | German) Rated E, Severus Snape & Severus Snape/Snamione, complete, 21k

Meeting himself on the curved surface of a prophecy sphere was the last thing Severus had expected when he went to work that morning - and that was only the tip of the iceberg that would be his next 36 hours.

My story for this year's Questival Fest and another time travel sort of thing story. I'm normally not a fan of adventure plots, all the action stuff is just not for me, I'm more the relationship writer. But when I saw the prompts a bunny scampered into my brain and it made me laugh only thinking about it so I had to write it, yk? -.- But I did so whinging and bitching all through the action part! It's still funny, though. XD

"Shadowside" (English) Rated E, Snamione, complete, 25k

On her first day as an Unspeakable, Hermione finds that there are thirteen doors in the anteroom of the Department of Mysteries, not twelve. And it seems as if she is the only one who is able to see it.

Kind of part two to "Otherside" but both stories can be read on their own as well. My story for the Unspeakables Fest. I was low-key pondering to write a bit more about Hermione and Severus getting together in that universe and when I found a prompt that suited my plan, I decided to do it. ^^ Had a lot of fun exploring Hermione's friendship with Padma in this one.

"The Bat, the Weasle and the Know-It-All" (English) Rated E, Hermione/Severus/Ron, ongoing one-shot series, 31k so far

My answer to all the Ron!bashing in the Snamione fandom. There once was a Kinktober and my decision to write two smutty ficlets for that occasion. And then there was Ron suddenly being part of my Snamione pairing and then my brain couldn't stop thinking so the two smutty ficlets turned into five so far and what can I say? I love those three. They make such a wholesome triad... I have some more chapters planned but not written yet. Every story is satisfactorily finished though so if you're brave enough, give it a try!

"Pawn to Pawn" (English) Rated E, Sybill/Severus, complete, 43k

After Fate has shown her a devastating prediction of the future, Sybill finds herself responsible for preventing it from coming true. Unfortunately, that means getting involved with one Severus Snape.

A what-if treated seriously, I guess... XD Not my pairing but I grew surprisingly fond of this Sybill and had a lot of fun writing this, except for the last chapter. Guess I'm a bit tired of canon at this point, I need to go more off the rails with my stories. ^^

"36 Questions" (English | Deutsch) Rated G, Pre-Snamione, complete, 21k

The Ministry - literally! - orders Hermione to marry her new old potions professor. And because even she can't solve unsolvable problems, as much as she'd like to, she tries the next best strategy: minimising the disaster.

I always wanted to write Severus and Hermione going through that list of 36 questions to fall in love but the only scenario I could imagine causing Severus to acquiesce to that was Marriage Law and didn't want to write a full Marriage Law story because there are already so many of them! So, eventually, I decided to only write this part of my Marriage Law story and make it open-ended! Complain as much as you want, I will not continue this, I just wanted to see how those questions get them and now I know. XD

Short stories

What can I say? I love short stories. It's just so satisfying to begin and finish a story within a few days instead of a few months (or years...). Plus I love writing short stories for people I like so I collected quite a few short stories at this point. Guess there's one for everybody. ^^

"Awake O Sleeper" (English | German) Rated G, Severus Snape & Hermione Granger, complete, 3k

A soliloquy takes an unexpected turn.

A story of mine that's so old that I don't even remember how it happened or why. It was a story I dedicated to a former fandom friend, probably for her birthday? I don't know. It's a cute story, nothing bad happens here. ^^

"The Snapes" (English | German) Rated M, Snamione, complete, 4k

The Snapes were the most remarkable couple Elliot Quinn had ever met – and he didn't only mean that in a positive way. Well … to be honest, he wasn't quite sure how he meant it at all.

I do remember how this story happened, though! When I was posting my last long story, I offered a one-shot for every 100. comment I got, and this story was one of them. The writer of said comment wanted Snamione in couples therapy, and because I wanted to give that theme a twist (and because it had to stay a fucking one-shot!), I wrote from the therapist's pov - who is a Muggle. XD I had a lot of fun writing this. :D

"Silent Voices" (English | Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 4,6k

There are moments you have to keep silent. And ones you don't.

Another old one of mine that uses Legilimency - another favourite thing of mine to play with - in a slightly different way than the source material suggested it works.

"Red Passion and Pavlov's Dogs" (English | Deutsch) Rated E, Snamione, complete, 5k

Hermione will never be able to tell anyone what she does on Friday nights. Not even George.

Another 100. comment one-shot and I love this story to bits even though the two major impulses didn't come from me. The reader wanted not-so-rosy Snamione, preferred smutty, and I still had this headcanon about Pensieve bars churning in my head that I found in a Tumblr post so I combined those. And let me tell you, the mood in this story is what I crave. That's my vibe! XD The Tumblr post is linked in the story, by the way, just in case you're interested. Love that idea!

"Aurora Borealis" (English | Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 5k

The appearance of an unexpected person at the annual celebration of the Dark Lord's fall turns Hermione's emotional life upside down and drags a long-repressed past back into the light.

I've always been fascinated by polar lights and this story is my love letter to them.

"A Ridiculous Decision" (English | Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 6k

Severus can't believe it when Hermione Granger returns to Hogwarts two years after the end of the war to teach Muggle Studies. He tries to unravel the mystery behind this ridiculous decision and finds first nothing (convincing) and then a lot (unexpected).

You know what's another thing I love? Twisting clichés and often used tropes. Here it was the soulmate trope that I had to twist around and I had a lot of fun writing it. :D

"A Fighting Heart" (English) Rated M, gen, kind of complete for now, 6k

In a world in which Voldemort wins the war, Ginny finds herself being the property of Severus Snape - a position that turns out completely different than she'd expected.

I have this plot for a long Voldemort wins story in mind that I plan to write one day and last year for Whumptober I wanted to dip my toe into this plot and this kind of first chapter or teaser happened. It has an open end at this point in the sense that Voldemort doesn't get killed but I think you can pretty well read it as a one-shot as well and at this point, I'm thinking about making the whole story this kind of one-shot type chapters that are kind of complete but construct a whole story in the end. We'll see. So far, this is what I have and maybe the story will one day step up through my categories. ^^

"Look No Further" (English | Deutsch) Rated M, Snamione, complete, 8k

When the damaged west wing of Hogwarts takes its toll on the wards, Severus has to realise that there's nothing that can be done about it anymore. The wards will crumble and since he is the Headmaster, they will kill him in the process. Hermione, however, is not ready to give up like that.

My story for last year's SSHG Holiday Prompt Fest. To be honest, there was this prompt that screamed 'and then they fucked!' and my need to twist clichés kicked in and I had to make it something entirely different. XD It got a tad bit too dramatic considering it's meant to be a Christmas story and I'm not happy with the first scene, but I do like the relationship Hermione and Severus have in this. <3

"Beethoven und Gremlins" (Deutsch) Rated G, Snamione, complete, 1,3k

Alltag mit Severus Snape war wie … Beethoven auf einem Rockfestival. Und Alltag mit Hermine wie … verheiratet sein mit einem Gremlin.

Another 100. comment fic, my shortest one, I think. The reader wanted some domestic fluff with a married Snamione and this is what I came up with - on my second try. I swear, I'm pants at fluff. If there isn't a decent amount of drama, I just can't. >.< But I think this turned out fine and I like the metaphors I came up with. ^^

"Nur ein kitschiger Moment" (Deutsch) Rated G, Snamione, complete, 2,5k

Hermine will nur diesen einen kitschigen Moment an Weihnachten - unglücklicherweise hat sie dafür die falsche Familie.

While we're at fluffy 100. comments fics... This is another one but this reader also wanted children! Can you even imagine how hard I suffered through this?! -.- Well, I did my best. And it was the first time writing a Snamione child in their teens. Interesting experience... *lol* But this story set the name for a possible Snamione son that I will probably use for every son I will ever give them from now on even though the story probably won't connect. XD

"Beteiligte Parteien" (Deutsch) Rated T, Pre-Snamione, complete, 3,6k

Nach einer Gedenkfeier im Ministerium mit sehr viel Alkohol stellt Hermine fest, dass sie schwanger ist. Und so wenig sie es auch selbst glauben kann, es kommt am Ende ihres Ausschlussverfahrens nur einer als Vater in Frage.

Wanna guess? Yes, another 100. comments fic. XD And one of the stories I got the most complaints about because I refuse to write a sequel. The commenter asked for this scene specifically and I don't see the need to write more because there are already a ton of Snamiones with this premise! No need for me to add my own... Plus I would twist it anyway and you would hate me for that so it's better this way for all of us. XD

"Welcome to the Maldives" (Deutsch) Rated G, gen, complete, 5k

Bill reist für eine Fluchbrecher-Konferenz auf die Malediven und trifft dort jemanden, mit dem er nicht gerechnet hatte.

A thank you one-shot for my former beta after she beta-read my last long story for me. Yes, I love writing one-shots for my readers, okay? But this one was a challenge. My former beta is a huge fan of Bill Weasley and has written tons of stories with him and so I was kind of scared that I'd screw this up. XD But I think she was quite happy with what I made of her wish. This story caused me to research a lot of stuff about the Maldives that I will probably never need again and only because Severus mentions in ISEM that he would love to have a house in the Maldives but we're not always getting what we want. My beta wanted to know how his life would look there and so I wrote this. ^^

"Immer Ärger mit dem Chef" (Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 5k

Severus Snape hatte den Fehler gemacht, Hermine Granger als seine Assistentin einzustellen – und trotzdem ist er nicht gewillt, eine ihrer zahlreichen Kündigungen anzunehmen. Ein Kongress in Dublin bringt schließlich Licht in dieses Paradoxon.

Another old one that happened because we were playing "Duck, duck, goose" in the forum I was active back in the day and I was stupid enough to release a duck. Of course, I got goosed and this story was what came of it. ^^ It features business owner Severus and employee Hermione. It's also idiots to lovers and I probably should translate this one day... ^^

"Der Morgen danach" (Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, ~500 words

Wie der Titel schon sagt: Der Morgen danach. Und Locken.

Oh, look! This is my shortest story! *lol* That's because it was only a tiny scene to explain one of my old fanarts. Severus had curly hair on that one (because I used Orlando Bloom to put Rickman's face on it) and that had to be explained of course. ^^

"Eigentlich..." (Deutsch) Rated M, Pre-Snamione, complete, 3k

Eigentlich hättest du ihn ja liegen lassen sollen…

Back in the day, there was a LiveJournal community called 120_minuten (120_minutes) and they posted a word prompt every Sunday, iirc, which you had 120 minutes to write a story for. This story happened because of one of those prompts. Sadly, I don't know if I'll ever be able to translate it because there is no good translation for the German word "eigentlich", which was the prompt and is therefore heavily featured in this story. It's even the title! So, I don't know how to accurately translate this but it was fun writing.

"Cocoon Crash" (Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 6,5k

Sie waren Schüler und Lehrer, Feinde, Verbündete, Geliebte. Doch als sie Eltern werden sollen, kehrt die Feindschaft zurück.

Another "Duck, duck, goose" story, this time lovers to idiots to lovers. It's the story of a pregnant Hermione and a stubborn Severus and some friends who decide that they belong together so they force them on a paperchase. It's both funny and heartbreaking and I probably need to translate this one because I like it. ^^

"Was er ist und was er war ..." (Deutsch) Rated M, Hermione Granger & Severus Snape, complete, 4,2k

… das wird uns erst beim Abschied klar. Hermine erkennt einen anderen Menschen in ihrem ehemaligen Lehrer, als sie zu kennen glaubte. Und dieser Mensch hat noch etwas für sie geplant.

This story leads us to another thing of mine, a tradition I had for a while. Which was: Write a one-shot right after the fireworks on New Year's Eve. I did this for a couple of years, starting the year with a story, and this is one of the stories I wrote on one of those nights. As you can guess, I'm not a partygoer and tend to "celebrate" at home. *lol*

"Omnia Tempus Habent" (Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 4k

Zeit ist ein konstantes Konstrukt; es lässt einen Dinge in einem anderem Licht sehen, Entscheidungen überdenken und so manches akzeptieren. Das meiste davon, ohne dass man es bemerkt.

This story is so old that I know absolutely nothing to say about it - and that means something! The only thing I can say is that I sometimes confuse it with 'Silent Voices' and that it was my first Snamione one-shot, I think? Anyway, it's ancient, it's anything but my best, but I guess it earned its place on the list. XD

"Das kleinere große Übel" (Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 3,5k

Severus hat die Wahl: Entweder Babysitting oder Kosmetika in Muggellondon kaufen. Er überlegt nicht lange, doch schon bald beschleicht ihn die Befürchtung, dass er es doch hätte tun sollen.

One of the two crack!fics I've ever written because my beta at that time asked me to write it and how could I have denied her that wish after all the crap she corrected for me?! Right! I couldn't. So I sent Severus to Muggle London to buy makeup for Hermione. Well... XD

"The Scientist" (Deutsch) Rated M, Snirius, complete, 2k

Ein analytischer, wendiger Verstand ist bezeichnend für einen Wissenschaftler. Severus Snape hatte immer geglaubt, einen solchen zu besitzen. Nun ja, auch Wissenschaftler sind nicht gefeit vor Irrtümern…

My only Snirius (that I still somewhat like) so far. It isn't really canon-compliant as it messes with what Severus knew in Book 3 but oh well... It wasn't written to be canon-compliant.

"836 Sekunden" (Deutsch) Rated T, Snamione, complete, 3k

Severus Snape stirbt beim Endkampf und alles, was Hermine bleibt, ist die Erinnerung an 863 Sekunden.

A story about grief. There's nothing else I can say about this. If you want to cry and feel awful, go read this.

"Sockensehnsucht" (Deutsch) Rated T, Molly/Arthur, complete, 5,2k

Sechs Schwangerschaften, sieben Kinder und am Ende eines jeden Monats nicht mehr als acht Knuts in der Tasche. So gründet man eine Großfamilie!

Did you ever wonder how Molly found out about each of her pregnancies? No? Well, I still wrote a story about it. *lol* It's a '4 times she was and 1 she wasn't' type of story (only that it's 'six times she was and 1 she wasn't') and I had a lot of fun writing this although almost nobody reads it because nobody's interested in that pairing. XD

"Zitronenbonbons all over again" (Deutsch) Rated G, gen, complete, 2,2k

Ein Blick in das Büro der Schulleiter nach Band 7.

The other crack!fic, at least measured by the stuff I normally write. Maybe it's only comedy? I felt pretty goofy writing this, though. Severus and Albus as portraits are a different kind of hysterical. O.o

"The Valley of the Shadow of Death" (Deutsch) Rated T, Minerva McGonagall & Severus Snape, complete, 3k

Minerva hat Severus' Schauspiel im siebten Band nie durchschaut. Oder?

Another New Year's Day story and one of the few stories I wrote that feature Minerva and Severus as friends - but during year 7, so it's not wholesome and fluffy but tragic. Still... ^^

"Auld Lang Syne" (Deutsch) Rated T, Ginny/Harry, complete, 3,2k

Der Jahreswechsel ist nicht nur eine gute Gelegenheit, um einen Blick in die Zukunft zu werfen, sondern auch, um sich zu erinnern.

Yes, NYD story yet again! I said I did those for a couple of years. XD But this one is a tragic one! Not only because it's more on the sad side but also because nobody reads it! And do you know why that is? Because the German site I post on only implemented a kudos feature a couple of years after I posted this story and now it only has 4 kudos and everybody thinks it's bad but it's only old! It hurts my heart to see that story being completely ignored although it features one of my favourite songs and is canon-compliant and causes the perfect kind of heartache. 😭 Was a special kind of amazing when I got a new comment on this story the other day. Finally some recognition for this story. XD

"Der lange Weg zurück" (Deutsch) Rated E, Snuna, complete, 4k

Der australische Regenwald scheint ein geeigneter Ort, um unbemerkt zu leben, wenn man eigentlich tot sein sollte. Und ein guter Ort, um nach etwas zu suchen. Und ein perfekter, um vor etwas wegzulaufen.

I wrote this story for an advent calendar and revised it about two years ago to post it on my account as well. My only Snuna so far. It is special but I think every story with Luna is. *lol*

And this is it so far. I'll update the list when I write something new (and I will, I just can't stop). Hope you found something interesting to read and if you did, I would greatly appreciate kudos and comments! 💚

[jellybeans2099]

A preview

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x Spiderperson! Reader

Warnings: None

Summary: The reader is a bit of a mess and Miguel is not having it

A/N: I'm working on something kinda related to Release but more fleshed out. Here's a little taste of what I have so far. Let me know if this is something you all would be interested in.

Seeing Miguel for the first time honestly felt like a jump scare. His 6'9 stature and his overall physic made him feel like concrete wall come to life. It was your first real day at HQ after months of saying no thank you to the invite. Peter B was giving you a tour while rambling on about something related to Mayday. It was impressive to say the least, but to say you were impressed by it was a stretch. The architectural choices and overall use of tech was just not really your thing. You gotta give props to it though, seems like a really cool place. Stepping into his lab was almost disorienting and you felt an unexplainable urge to leave. Probably coming from the man taking his sweet ass time getting down to the ground.

"So nice of you to finally join us. We've been trying to get you here for months now, or so I'm told. I don't keep up with this stuff much these days."

When he steps off the platform he isn't even looking at you. You're just another recruit to get on his nerves it seems like. How irritating considering you didn't really wanna join in the first place.

"Yea I gotta say I wasn't super interested in joining but I've got nothing left to loose so I figured why not?" He finally gives you a glance. You can tell your response caught him off guard.

"Ah so this is just something to fill in your free time?"

You see his eyes slowly start to fill with frustration. He thought you weren't taking this seriously and to be honest you weren't. It felt a lot like a fragile man inflating his ego with importance. You wanted to push his buttons just a little bit more.

"Yea in a way I guess it is. Walking around here though, it seems like a real big passion project of yours so I'll say I'm impressed. Still not really my thing with all the tech but it's cool."

You see a tinge of full anger in his eyes and there you have him exactly where you want him, actually paying attention to you like you're not just a speck in his day. As quick as you see it, its gone in a flash. He composes himself and begins to give you the low down on why you're here. This is how things will be with Miguel for the rest of your time here, you pushing all of his buttons and him trying to suppress any reaction to keep his "cool". 

The next few times you arrive at HQ for a mission you make a point not to see him. Dismissing any briefings to a simple 3 paragraph message in some database while chilling at home in your own universe. You honestly couldn't care less about the happenings there, not when so many things in your own universe needed attending to. Which is total the lie you tell when you ping home instead at the end of a mission. The others didn't know that but Miguel surely did which is why you fucked off in the first place. You just really liked pissing him off. It was almost compulsory watching how the tone of his messages got harsher and harsher in tone.

[osleeplessflowero]

// this might be one of the most random oneshot ideas i've conjured up. enjoy! - Reader has They/Them pronouns as always! - Soul type is up to interpretation. :] - a..COUNTRY AU?! (don't leave me alone with certain country songs or this happens. i don't even like country that much but- well- some songs are pretty good!!) - this is indeed a crossover AU so the nicknames will be used like usual

A warm breeze blows through the air, hitting your skin. The sky is a bright blue, comforting to see. Barely any clouds are visible. You slide off your jacket, tying it around your waist due to the hot summer heat making it unbearable to keep wearing. You dust off your pants as you walk down a familiar path, your boots covered in mud from working on some personal projects.

There's a small smudge of red paint on your cheek from working on giving an old barn a new paint job, though you don't seem to mind it. You'll worry about that later. Right now? You need a cold drink before you can keep going.

You finally make it into an all-too-familiar small town, waving to some friendly faces as you pass by. Recently there's been a lot of new faces around here, not that you mind. The more company the merrier. Just means things'll be a little more lively.

You walk up to the newest monster-run bar in town, stomping your boots and getting off the mud on the bottom so you won't track it in on the floors. When you don't see anything, you walk inside and wave to the fire monster cleaning off some glasses. He gives you a little wave back as you look over the menu.

"Hey, Grillbz. You got anything new? I could use something good 'n cold. This heat's been crazy."

"..I think I know just what you'd like." He turns around, beginning to get a drink ready for you. You smile at this. You'd gotten pretty close with Grillby, he'd always been so understanding and willing to listen to you ramble about the littlest things. He might not've responded that much, but the fact he was listening was enough for you.

"You know me so well." You grin, resting your arms on the counter.

"..Of course I do. I am an expert at reading people." "Fair enough. ..Plus I've told you a lot-" "..Mhm."

The bar isn't super lively since it's earlier in the day, it usually gets more full around night time. It's a lot more peaceful right now, only a few patrons sitting in some booths and talking about this and that. You have no idea how Grillby could possibly run this place alone. He really needs to hire some more staff..

You hear the little bell over the door ring, slightly turning to see who just walked in.

A tall skeleton makes his way inside, his hat slightly tipped down. He takes a cigarette out of his mouth and puts it out in an ash tray, walking over. His black boots thump against the floor lightly as he does. He rolls up his bright orange sleeves on his button-up shirt and dusts off his grey jeans before sitting down and lifting up his head. You realize you've been staring a little longer than you meant to, looking back towards Grillby's direction.

His eyelights slowly move over to you, his eyes lazy. Since you're the only other person currently sitting at the counter, he may as well say hi, right?

"heya." He greets, a calm tone to his voice that's pleasing to the ears. "Hi," You reply, not having expected him to talk to you. There's a short pause, before you decide to try sparking up some conversation. "You new in town? I don't think I've seen you before. I tend to remember faces."

He chuckles at that. "yeah, me and my friends recently moved in here with the crowd. seems it's not much of a small town now, huh? it was pretty empty when we first got here."

"Oh, yeah, it was pretty empty before. Hardly anyone showed up here. At least the business owners are thriving now with all these new customers. Plus that just means there's way more friendly faces around." You smile, leaning a little on the counter as Grillby slides your drink over to it, you taking a grateful sip and thanking him.

"...I take it you want your usual?" The fire monster asks the skeleton, pushing up his glasses. "you got it, grillbz." He points at him with one hand before he turns to make his drink of choice.

"oh yeah. should probably introduce myself, huh?" He tips his hat to you. "name's stretch. nice to meet'cha."

You politely tell him your name, tipping an invisible hat. "Nice to meet you too."

You both chuckle at this before you take another sip of your drink, letting out a content sigh.

"Stars, you're amazing at this, Grillby. So good..I guess that's why your bar's currently the most popular one. Well, alongside 'The Spider's Web: Bar and Cafe'. I personally like your stuff more-" "...The Muffets are good business partners. I'm not worried about a competition, I just want to sell good food and drinks." "Fair enough, you're too good Grillby." A faint smile appears on his face before it disappears into his flames.

Stretch has an amused smile as he watches the interaction, waiting as Grillby slides over a glass with honey mixed into some other stuff. You raise a brow, smiling a little. "Honey? That's an interesting choice."

"nyeh heh. syrups and condiments have a bit of an alcohol-like effect on some of us skeleton monsters. i like honey, so i asked grillby to mix it into the drinks i get here." He raises his glass, tilting it a little to Grillby before sipping from it.

"Oh, I see. That's pretty interesting, actually. I'd never thought of a concept like that. Then again..I don't think I've met a skeleton monster before today." "so i'm the first one, huh? that's pretty neat." "Yeah.." You finish off your drink, lightly sitting the glass down and grabbing your wallet to pay, sliding the money under it and stand up.

"Well, I'd better get back to paintin'. Barn won't fix up itself." "a barn, huh?" "Yeah, a friend of mine asked me to fix 'er up a bit. Poor thing's been left in bad shape. But with some helping touches from me, she'll be back to how she was before." You smile. "I guess this means I'll be seein' you around, huh?"

"yeah. oh, hold up." You pause as he grabs a pen from his pants pocket, writing something down and sliding it your way. You look at him curiously when he stands, taking a swig of his drink and sitting the glass down to pay in gold. He gives you a short wave before walking out.

You look down at the napkin he wrote on, seeing.. HOLY SHIT HE GAVE YOU HIS NUMBER-

Part 2 Coming Very Soon!

[spontaneousglitterbees]

Stick A Pin in This

Welcome friends, acquaintances, and curious strangers! Call me Bea/Glitter if you like, and this is my personal blog. I post art/writing/music on occasion, but most posts are probably multifandom reblogs.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Just want to say hi? Ask is open!

If you're just looking for my stuff, I'm still working on making sure everything is tagged (since I recently started Making More Stuff) but it's probably under #glittersart or #synthv.

I have an Ao3 account! Formerly calculatingMinutiae, now spontaneousglitterbees

Current sideblogs and projects include:

The Ghost of Glimwood Tangle, a Pokemon fic universe wherein Allister is a ghost. Sideblog @2sp00ky. Has a playlist, current chapters posted to Ao3.

The Pilotlight, a Homestuck fic surrounding the untimely demise and un-demise of one Mituna Captor. Sideblog @calculatingminutiae. Has been in my head for years and is slowly, slowly happening. Also on Ao3.

Currently I've been working on a Danganronpa post-game AU, where the ndrv3 kids go to Hope's Peak. Welcome to the Talent Acquisition Project Pilot. Tagged #TAPP AU or #TAPP AU adjacent. Parts to date are now listed under the cut.

Ten Steps Back

A Marked Man (also on Ao3) (In-game)

Cat-alyst (Intro. Bishop)

First (Color) Contact

Pre-contact (Earlier that day)

Boys Will Be Boys

It's a Jacket Day (Doodle Dump 1)

The Setup (Miu Pt. I)

Intervention (Miu Pt. II)

Catharsis (Miu Pt. III)

About Maki (ask)

Seeing the State of Things (AU Lore 1)

Cecil Sweep (non-canon of course but can you imagine)

Friendship? (ask sequel)

Not a comic just tired

Stop It. Get Some Help. (not comic but a fic) (also on Ao3)

Doodle Dump 2

Miu's Tattoo

Who Wore It Better (Outfits 2)

How are everyone's injuries? (Lore dump 1)

This Heart of Mine is Guilty (Not Remorseful) (also on Ao3)

Welcome to the New Age (Ao3)

And There Will Be Cake

And you always will be.

About Therapy Animals I

Enter: Chihiro

Enter: Alter Ego

Ace ring

A conversation (1)

Ref for TAPP!Maki

"You've got to be kidding me" (Ao3)

The K1B0 Rescue Squad

TAPP AU-adjacent (mostly answers and ask games)

Outfits 1 (Kokichi x3)

Outfits 3 (Kokichi and Shuichi)

Emojis 1

Emojis 2

Emojis 3

Glitter rambles about Kokichi for a while

Oops pokemon time

Did the barbie and ken thing

Active TAPP WIPs

Ch. 2 of Welcome to the New Age (fic)

Some Assembly Required (comic)

[northern-passage]

honestly same...I also only stick to reading the same ifs I've been reading since like 2 years ago + as a disabled lgbt person this community has gotten to toxic to interact wth tbh

hmmm putting this under a read more but here's some ramblings about my personal experience as well as some advice if anyone wants it

before i started writing tnp, when i was just a reader, it was very easy to curate my space and avoid a lot of the nastier people (especially back when the forums were the main space for people to talk about IF. i didn't go on the forums at all) and i was very much outside of the fandom and followed only like one artist whose recommendations i started off with before finding more stuff on my own.

once i became an author though it is impossible to avoid certain groups of people and it's really hard to hold on to that comfortable space. over the last like 3 years now my audience has definitely changed and dwindled a lot due to my.... Big personality but before that i had to endure a lot of harassment, people stalking me, people harassing my friends just for being my friend, almost constant transphobia and racism, and even now i still have people that seem to just camp in my inbox waiting for any opportunity to try and hurt me/get a reaction out of me.

i've been pretty open about all of this stuff happening too which most people also don't like, though that seems to be pretty standard across any fandom when you try to talk about how bad they are. i'm never really surprised when other authors delete without any warning or they just slowly stop posting and never come back. it's definitely something i've wanted to do more than once and still think about sometimes. even now after finally seeming to find my "niche" and a more understanding audience, it's really hard and i struggle with finding inspiration and motivation because of how people have treated me.

unfortunately i think it's always been this way, it's the nature of sharing work online and especially with IF feeling so "collaborative" people really feel entitled to it. and i also see readers facing this same kind of harassment, too, so it's definitely not just an author problem.

my advice is to just block and ignore people as best you can and just stay in your own little bubble with your friends or at least people that you trust. if you're an author going through any of the things i mentioned then just know there are a lot of other authors that have had to go through it, too, and that you should also just block and ignore to the best of your ability. just because you're an author doesn't mean you have to tolerate it. i used to respond to a lot of messages which is why i feel that a lot of my harassment lasted for so long, because they thought it was "funny" to upset me, but the more you respond and give them attention the more they'll keep doing it. so just block anons and move on (i know i make it sound so simple. trust me i used to be really bad about it, now i try to take at least a day or two before responding and usually by that time i realize how stupid it is and i just delete it without any fanfare)

at the end of the day though it's your decision, and your well-being comes first before anything else. i say this to both authors and readers, there's no reason to force yourself to stay in a place that makes you uncomfortable or is triggering. sometimes it's better to just let go and move on, though i know that's easier said than done. i'm a prime example as someone who still logs into tumblr daily despite trying really hard not to do that.

and i'm not saying to give up on your work, but rather that writing privately is always an option, and it's what i've been doing now with my other projects ever since i took siren's call down. i know the desire for outside validation can be overwhelming but i think it's important to remember that you should be writing this for yourself first and that there's no harm in keeping your work private until you're ready. tumblr is fun but there's also a lot of problems that can be difficult to deal with while you're also trying to keep motivation and creativity up to write your story, and it can be really discouraging.

like i said, your first priority should be yourself, and if you have to step back away from tumblr/fandom then you should & you shouldn't feel guilty about it.

all of that to say that there are nice people out there, too, i've made really good friends here and i really value their friendship and their understanding, especially when i was going through the worst of it. and there are a lot of readers who have been very kind to me and that have sent me very nice messages and drawn lovely art over the years and i always try to focus on that over everything else.

it can be really easy to get overwhelmed by all the negativity and hostility which is why it's so important to find your people and be supportive of each other.

[fbwzoo]

I can't share the 30-some pictures I did with my FB post, going from last December to this December. So I'll just use this one - which I just took after a quick harness training session in which she bounced across half the couch to meet me & wagged for the first 15 seconds, and before she made me put my phone down for a bout of snuggle scritches. 😭🥰

This is such a long post, I'm going to put it under a cut. But today is the 1 year anniversary of Emma coming home to us, and I am FULL of emotions over this little dog. So if you want to read my rambling & think with me how far my baby has come in a year.... read on!

One year of my Emma. 💙💜 I didn't really expect to love this dog so much, velcro dog and all. She is definitively My Dog, and I never had a choice in the matter. I think that was just gonna happen, ever since I first saw her adoption post 1 year & 9 months ago. Every time I saw her posted again, I wanted her. It was meant to be! 🥰

And now I look back on the year & think about it all. We changed a bunch of things in our household for this little dog, and all year, we kept adjusting & improving where it was needed for her & the other animals. I love my family so much, and I'm so grateful to have found these other people who love animals & are so willing to adapt as needed for their happiness too. Everyone in the house agreed to take on a project dog, and everyone stepped up to help her settle in.

It's weird too, bc it often doesn't feel like we've DONE that much. But when I tell someone new about her, or spell it out for myself, I'm reminded that we've done the work, even if it mostly didn't seem like work. And we gave her what we knew we absolutely could, what she needed most - time and space. We went at her pace, let her lead us, and it's been truly amazing to watch her over this year.

Emma has gone from being very worried to terrified about any & all human movements, unable to be pet or touched, quick to be on guard at any small change in position. Terrified of loud noises and too much activity. Barking at Joel to try and make him go away. Pottying in the house on pee pads because outside is scary. Only laying in a lap if the lap was covered with a blanket.

All of that.... to a dog that spends 98% of her time relaxed, happy, and ready to be involved. She greets us with alert barks instead of guarding barks, tail wags, bouncing, and licks (okay, mostly me for some of that but still). Everyone in the house has been able to pet her. She actively loves to be pet by Jack in bed & me anywhere when she wants snuggles. She plays with her dog siblings and with me. She discovered the joys of yard zoomies early on & never looked back - she potty trained faster and better than Spring!

She knows and likes our household routines. She LOVES food, and it's the quickest way to her heart! 😂 But she's learned some manners too, like not snatching food with any opportunity! She's gotten more comfortable being on the floor. She still likes to chew more than our other two, and has gotten really great at managing big emotions by redirecting to a Benebone!

We're not the best at active training, but even so, she makes us & me look good! She's interested now, when the treats come out, and wants to see what to do to get some. She interacts with new objects, she is doing great with harness training.

She has opinions now!!! And she will tell you!!! Especially if they involve dinner time! 😂 I still can't believe she demand barks now, and it's been too cute for us to bother stopping for the most part.

I've thought about goals for her over the next year, and I definitely have some big ones. Continue harness training until I can put it fully on her & take it off. Leash skills & comfort with them. All of that slowly, so slowly leading up to trips out of the house - to do vet happy visits, check out some SniffSpots, and go visit her sister at foster mom's house. I also want to introduce some pattern games to help with all of that.

And we plan to start having people over to the house again! Not sure how often or how many, and we may have to alter pace based on how she does. But she's so often surprised us with her resilience, so I think we'll do okay! (And obviously all visitors will be required to follow rules around my pup, or face the mama bear wrath 😂)

But mostly....I just can't wait for another year with this extremely sweet, loving, exuberant little dog that is working so hard to find her confidence. We're all so very proud of Emma, and love her so much. 💜💙

I also included a thank you to both rescues & Emma's foster mom, for all of their time, work, and hoops to ensure that Emma would be safe. They genuinely gave us all the information we needed to make sure we were prepared, and I am even more grateful for that after seeing how rare our experience is in my fearful dogs group.

[thesoulesscollection]

Oooooo Soulless!!! Tell us more about Choc, Carol and Reginald! The people want to know!📸📸🗣🎤📷📸

Thank you for this lovely question. 😌🤲. I'm currently rotting my brain with Choc anyways so I've been wanting to do this. Also, thank you personally for allowing me to ramble and sorry this took me a while. I'm like mentally all over the place. 

Now they're growing on me now, as an odd couple dynamic I'm starting to love. This is kinda an Au I'm playing with since the ship is slowly growing on me. Hope this is what you asked for and it's enjoyable to read. 

The three are in a polycule. Kinda hard to explain here what they got together. Kinda somewhere in the queer spectrum 

Carol and Reginald were already in an existing, established relationship for some time prior. Where Choc was introduced way later on into it by Carol, smitten with him, “He makes me laugh” A line she uses to explain it. 

Reginald was hesitant to bring the man into their relationship, the two of them have a close bond and so he had felt out of place when the idea came across. 

^ I like to think that Choc & Reginald have an antagonistic, rivalry sort of  relationship. They get on each other like oil and water. Nearly always at each other's throats.

^ Understandably wary, it took quite some time for Reginald to really get at ease around Choc and was aloof with the man. (Choc appears to be more than he seems) 

^ Similar to an old married couple arguing but add onto some vicious snarkiness into the mix like you wouldn't believe. Unfortunately Carol has to act as the middleman between the two with the last brain cell.

Whereas Choc gets along surprisingly well with Carol who does enjoy that he can make her smile and the day a lot brighter so easily. 

Choc enjoys gifting the pair incredibly corny shirts with cheesy images or sayings that he gets from somewhere, he doesn't say. Carol loves them but Reginald cringes from it. Says it's not in his style, Choc thinks it's him being a finicky, prissy hardass

Whenever Reginald is busy at work or flying the airship, Choc is throwing out a pun/joke to pass the time. Nonstop chattering on his end, some jokes at the chief's aggravated expense

Out of the three, Choc is the type to initiate more intimacy and affection, while also taking stuff that belongs to them since it reminds him of the other two. 

Now onto a short one shot of the three together. It's simple and not the best but hey, I liked it. This is my first time actually writing Choc so you'll get to see him in more depth;

***

Reginald so desperately wanted to bash his face into the wheel of the airship but he resists the temptation. 

He never seems to shut up, he keeps going and going on, his voice projects loudly in the spacious area. His highly infectious laughter rings in the chief's ears. 

“Hey, chief. May I say something? I'm really worried about the airship’s well-being” Choc said, a toothy smile on his face, gold fangs out on display. The chief in question, eyes squarely up ahead, his only response, a tired grunt as the man shrugged, continued. “With the bright light from the sun reflecting off your forehead, aren't you worried as I am that it'll blind someone?” 

Suddenly, Reginald hears the chuckles by the other members in the room range from muffled and polite to outright and proud. He is shaking, tightening his hold on the wheel. Whatever Carol sees in the candy maker is beyond him. 

“What? I'm genuinely concerned here. Can't I be that now? Getting worse by each passing day. Can see my own reflection” As the joke is made worse, Choc leaned in, in playful mockery, checking himself out. 

“Kinsley. I am trying to fly. So please. Not at this precise moment do I want to do this with you” 

Choc hovers above him then stands, a smirk stretches the lengthy scars on his sun kissed face, “It's alright, Reg. It's a joke. C'mon now laugh with us” He laughs, roughly patting the chief's tense shoulder, “It's quite alright that you're so follically impaired” 

Another rumble in the room gave Reginald a stronger desire to hit something. However, in his fortune, his eyes flicker over to the corner of the room and sees Carol standing next to the door. She is smiling stiffly it seems, not laughing which Reginald is so relieved for inside and soon she's by them, tugging at Choc's sleeve to get his attention. 

“Choc. C'mon. Let him be,” She calmly states to the man, who in the good forethought nods and goes with her. “I need you for something anyways so come” Her hand is outstretched for him to take and he does, not before he takes a curious glance behind, catches the Chief's eyes. The expression on the candy maker's face is unreadable and Reginald couldn't stand it.

“Thank you” Reginald whispers, barely loud that only he knew Carol can hear him. She hums. 

How he's going to get along with that joke of a man, he doesn't know.