#sonder scribbles

[bread--quest]

14 secret love languages the government doesn't want you to know about

i. do you ever think about the voyager records? these little things, floating through space, our message in a bottle from our island in the void? there's no guarantee that anyone will ever hear it, or that they'll even understand if they do, but have i ever told you what we said?

ii. Greetings to you, whoever you are. We are thinking about you all. How are all you people of other planets? Have you eaten yet? Welcome home.

iii. i brought you food. i would like you to eat. i made you food. i want you to live. i am sharing this food with you. i am sharing my life with you.

iv. the word for care in latin is the same as that for worry, anxiety. it is both an adjective and a noun.

v. i love you in checkboxes and data and organizations. i am compiling, i am sorting, i am putting my love into boxes and shapes and panels that make sense. this is what i understand, this is what i can do: i am building a shrine of spreadsheets and slides to you.

vi. maybe if we were somewhat less alike, this could work. maybe if i loved myself more, i would hate you less.

vii. VIOLENCE! VIOLENCE! BITING YOU AND KICKING YOU AND DRAGGING YOU DOWN! GET ON MY LEVEL, MOTHERFUCKER! GET DOWN HERE SO I CAN MAKE YOU FEEL WHAT I FEEL! I WILL DRAG YOU TO HELL SO I WILL NOT BE ALONE! RECIPROCATE ME IN PAIN! I WANT TO SEE YOUR BLOOD!

viii. it is one thing to talk with someone, quite another to be comfortable enough to sit in silence with them. just to exist in the same place and feel no pressure to speak, to know that your mutual presence is enough

ix. when i say you are mine i mean my hometown, less possession more belonging

x. the worst part about being awake is when nobody else is, when it's just you and the darkness and you feel like the only person on earth. the best thing about cities is the glowing squares outside your window, a thousand others unsleeping, their lights spelling out in morse code you are not alone

xi. i love you in the way the moon loves the earth: forever stuck in your orbit, knowing that touching you would mean obliteration

xii. i love you in the way the sun loves the earth: as easily as breathing, and with as little thought

xiii. i love you in the way the earth loves the stars: calling out endlessly to pinpricks of hope. please tell me aliens are real, and they can understand, and they love us too.

xiv. Please come here to visit when you have time. We wish that we will meet you someday. Please contact. We are thinking about you always. Please.

Contact.

[bread--quest]

meowdy! highly recommending every other writer on this chain, they're all excellent!!! and if i may add my own two cents:

how to read a map is probably the most like....highly-recommended of my fics? i've had multiple people tell me it is "THE blaseball fic" and also that it made people cry in real life which is. wild. i do think it's one of the best things i've ever written though so yeah. if you feel like maybe crying about season 24 here you go

the other expansion-era retrospective piece, and the one i would like people to remember me for (next to how to read a map) is strange house we must keep and fill, which is a weird time-jumpy story from the point of view of the sentient apartment the new york millennials all live in. if htram was my love letter to blaseball, this is my love letter to the mills. please please read it even if you don't care about the mills. especially if you don't care about the mills. pretty please

my really really long fic is (ironically) A Quick Guide to Unscattering, In 8 Easy Steps, which was written for the flowers fic exchange! if you want 6 thousand words of schneider bendie in boston making friends, here you go!!

aaaaand not to brag but my friends and i kind of started an au big enough to have it's own ao3 tag now: office au!! aka "what if parker and reader and wyatt were all besties but worse and also they all kept exploding". its so much fun

reading that fic made me HUNGRY FOR MORE. ive read like four blaseball fics ever and i loved them so much but theres so many i dont even know where to start. if you see this and you want to plug your own fic or one you like Please Do. do not be modest i want to hear about The character

[slothpower-central]

Its been a while since I've shown off some Lob Corp stuff...Well I reset my file and now I'm on day 22 and now I have several little guys I am way too attached to so meet some of my little guys!

Ethereal and Lagoon are sisters and Violin and Ethereal are in a doomed yuri relationship (doomed due to the ending of the game [I keep calling them the Ishqueg of the Lob Corp run]) Sonder and Abyssal are besties, with Abyssal doing as little work as possible and Sonder being incredibly hard working. Aurora started as a bright newbie on the information team but after watching her entire department die twice in 4 days, she's traumatized, numb and pretty uncaring towards pretty much everyone. Feather is an acquaintance of Aurora, they wanna get closer to her but Aurora keeps them at a distance so if they die, it won't hurt her. Scribble is super judgy and will bully and judge her coworkers for panicking or dying, she's secretly using it as a coping mechanism. Finally, Comet! He's uh...he's new, I literally just made him, so I have nothing for him at the moment. So yea, these are my little Lob Corp Agents I love them and they are like OCs to me now.

Edit I forgot to add some of the departments they have in my scs may be outdated now lmao

[tracle0]

Great news! I got a short story finished (and also edited, yay) before my school term started again (tomorrow) and in my humble opinion, I think it’s pretty damn great. 

It follows that punk but when he’s younger and not as much of a jerk and I had a great time writing it! Some of it was done on top of a mountain c;

Snippety snippet: 

“Why? What for?” If he’d been asked before this soldier had appeared, he’d have obeyed without question, but now he was faced with their swaying, unthinking posture, with their absolute silence, with the emptiness they filled their space with, and his courage chipped. He took another step away as discreetly as he could.

Not discretely enough. Only the truth could fool Murdock, and he stared at Andy. Something Andy had noticed over the years – Murdock naturally frowned. When he was angry, he stared. “You’ll do as your told.”

He looked at Murdock, then at the mask in his hand, then at the soldier, patient in the way only mindless people could be, then back at the mask in his hand. Commander. It was a Commander mask. Unless Murdock was lying, which he wouldn’t put past his mentor. But if he was telling the truth, then it would all be alright. He wouldn’t, shouldn’t, couldn’t become a puppet.

His reassurances didn’t work. “I can’t.”

Read the rest here!

Tag list under the cut!

@joyful-soul-collector @albatris @thescholarsninja @quirky-squid

[mlwritersguild]

Miraculous Writers' Guild presents: the MWG Official Playlist!

For our August Event and in celebration of our two year anniversary, we asked our members to first submit songs of their choice to the playlist. These songs were anything from ones that remind us of Miraculous Ladybug and its characters, of specific fics, or just songs that make us inspired to write in general! Everyone was allowed to submit up to three songs, and these are the songs they chose! (See the full track list and contributors after the break)

We're so happy to be celebrating 2 years with everyone, and we can't wait to see what the future holds. Happy anniversary MWG and happy listening!

Follow and listen to the playlist on spotify!

1. every little thing she does is magic by the police [by @maggies-scribblings]

2. like i’m gonna lose you by meghan trainor (feat. john legend) [by @team-leo-v]

3. …well, better than the alternative by will wood [by @azuriteartist]

4. limits by little violet [by @azuriteartist]

5. tt by twice [by @marvelousmsmol]

6. le tourbillon by jeanne moreau [by @2manyfandoms2count]

7. follow you by imagine dragons [by @ladybugs-and-black-cats]

8. atlantis by seafret [by mod stsi, who deactivated their tumblr]

9. venus in blue jeans by jimmy clanton [by @alexseanchai]

10. halfway (reprise) by original caste of amélie [by @multimousenette]

11. the moon will sing by the crane wives [by @theladyfae]

12. what’s wrong by half•alive [by mod stsi *SHAMES*]

13. build me up buttercup by the foundations [by @alexseanchai]

14. eulogy by charlie allen [by @marimeetsmischief]

15. amazing by rex orange county [by @deinde-prandium]

16. where do we go from here by original cast of amélie [by @multimousenette]

17. it’s time by imagine dragons [by @marvelousmsmol]

18. youth by daughter [by @team-leo-v]

19. love bug by gfriend [by @xiueryn]

20. la vie en rose by édith piaf [by @strangerahne]

21. pictures of you by the cure [by @strangerahne]

22. lua by bright eyes [by @sunfoxfic]

23. paper rings by taylor swift [by @bugchat]

24. metaphor by the crane wives [by @theladyfae]

25. moondance by van morrison [by @strangerahne]

26. black cat by mayday parade [by @charcoalhawk]

27. papillon by the sonder bombs [by @marimeetsmischief]

28. shut up and dance by walk the moon [by @charcoalhawk]

29. it was always you by maroon 5 [by @2manyfandoms2count]

30. fearless (taylor’s version) by taylor swift [by @2manyfandoms2count]

31. don’t let me fall by lenka [by @thedreadpirateholmes]

32. you don’t know me by ray charles [by @thedreadpirateholmes]

33. hello by weeekly [by @xiueryn]

34. still into you by paramore [by @team-leo-v]

35. the hawkmoth rap by keith silverstein [by @hanaasbananas]

36. feel special by twice [by @marvelousmsmol]

37. cute boys with short haircuts by anneliese van der pol [by @queer-cosette]

38. hurting each other by carpenters [by @alexseanchai]

39. the sun is in your eyes - voice memo by jacob collier [by @deinde-prandium]

40. shallow river by the crane wives [by @theladyfae]

41. glimpse of us by joji [by @bugchat]

42. lay low (acoustic) by david benjamin and conro [by @bugchat]

43. page 28 by sleeping at last [by @sunfoxfic]

44. in case you don’t live forever by ben platt [by @multimousenette]

45. death valley by fall out boy [by @azuriteartist]

46. i’m serious by day6 [by @xiueryn]

47. the lovecats by the cure [by @maggies-scribblings]

48. walk in the sun by mcfly [by @hanaasbananas]

49. on top of the world by barbie [by @queer-cosette]

50. i’m still here (jim’s theme) by john rzeznik [by @thedreadpirateholmes]

51. to the end by blur [by @maggies-scribblings]

52. you, dear by eloise [by @deinde-prandium]

53. dream boy by waterparks [by @miabrown007]

54. daisy by karine polwart [by @queer-cosette]

55. oh! gravity. by switchfoot [by mod stsi *shames*]

56. i’ve got you by mcfly [by @hanaasbananas]

57. rabbit heart (raise it up) by florence + the machine [by @marimeetsmischief]

[raelhbishop]

BALDRY MOTEL SONDER, 20:43 local time

Nightfall has entered the sleepy town. It’s twice the size of Bubbling Brook, but that’s akin to comparing grains of sand to rice. Folks here at least make enough to keep their shacks and trailers presentable. 

A fancy but beat-up ebike enters the parking lot of the Baldry Motel on the northeast end of town. A cloaked figure dismounts and heads to the front desk.

“I need a room for the night. Luxury…” she figure remembers where she is, “… uh, honeymoon suite. You got any?”

The desk attendant nods. “We do. I just need some credentials to book it.”

The figure hands over some ID and an obsidian-colored card.

“Say, are you the K-Sage?”

The hooded figure responds meekly. “I-I’m a friend of his. I’m booking the room on his behalf. He said it’s OK.”

He nods in understanding. “I’ll just need you to sign this.”

He slides a tablet over to the figure. The figure reaches out with her right hand to take it.

“Fascinating ring you’ve got there.”

“Oh, uh, it’s nothing really, just a gift.”

“From K-Sage?”

“Uh, sure.”

Her finger freezes over the tablet. The attendant tends to something under the desk. “Say, you know him better than I. How’s he doing these days?”

“Who?”

“K-Sage.”

She hesitates. “Oh. Uh. He’s gone… bye now.”

“Really? I thought he was gay?”

“Well, he was. But, uh, that’s not important.”

The hooded figure struggles to sign it. She has no idea what to write down. Half a dozen names suddenly rush through her head, ricocheting her attention for a moment. Regaining composure, she tries fishing through her belongings to look for an ID card, then remembers it’s on the desk in front of her.

 “Oh, my bad”, the attendant says sliding a stylus across. The ID gets knocked to the floor. “Just sign here and we’ll get your room key ready.”

The hooded figure stares at the pad, sweat pouring down her concealed brow. 

The attendant jests. “Come on, now, you haven’t forgotten your own name, have you?”

“Oh, of course not!” The figure laughs nervously. “That would just be plain silly!” She scribbles the name “REDKAP” onto the pad, the first and oldest that came to her mind. “I’ve just… had a rough trip heading over here, that’s all.” Her heart pounds as she waits for the response.

“It went through.” 

Redkap sighs in relief. 

“Would you like a traditional key, or one in your PDA?” 

She vouches for the former. Leaving the reception desk, she pivots rapidly across the parking lot in search of the room. As she departs, the desk attendant notices “The Revival” written on the back of her cloak. He thinks nothing of it.

An ebike speeds past the motel, seating a hefty woman, a thinner woman, and a man of metal. 

A few minutes later, Redkap finds her room and throws off her cloak, revealing the attire of a disheveled housekeeper. She hops into the shower and thinks over the day’s events. 

“I can’t believe I just clammed up like that!”, she thinks to herself. “I’ve done this dozens of times – why did I freeze? Why didn’t I just make up something on the spot? It’s not like anyone would know.” 

She bangs her head into the wall of the shower. “Why did I use that name? Now they’ll know! Oh, I’ve really messed it up this time, haven’t I?” 

She hangs her head in shame. “No, it’s OK Redkap, it’s OK. You’ve outran them for this long. Nobody’s suspected a thing so far. You just… gotta run faster. Yeah. You gotta think faster too! It’ll all work out. Those linker pricks will pay eventually. I just gotta keep on running.”

Later, she lies on her bed in a bathrobe, contemplating her next move. A television sits in front of her, aimlessly streaming ads in lieu of a command. She’s in deep contemplation, unsure what to do. For the first time in her career, Redkap seriously doubts herself.

An ad on the TV catches her ears. 

“For years, the Vimalakirti Corporation has been at the forefront of linker technology and mindstream uploading, bringing the desired body for any occasion and for every person.”

Redkap retches at the very name. 

“With our new payment plans, you can have your own perfect body for an affordable price. Live the life you want, with the body that fully suits you.”

Redkap rolls her eyes and mouthes the ad’s slogan as it plays. “Vimalakirti Corp: Perfect Body, Perfect Mind.” She shakes her head, only to discover the ad continues on.

“And now, Vimalakirti Corp is rolling out its own “Vimalakirti Resorts”. Entire planets, designed by linker technologists, for linkers. Live in your own personal paradise with your friends and family, or take a break from ordinary life.

“Our very first resort opens this summer, and Vimalakirti himself will be present to welcome everyone to this designer experience.”

The slogan plays once again in the background, but Redkap’s interest has piqued. She thinks on it for a minute. 

A sinister smile creeps across her face. 

She pulls out a pen and pad and begins jotting down a plan. Her spiked ring sits by the bedside.

The False Vimalakirti

Chapter I

CITY CENTER MUSICOM, 05:52 local time

Musicom is quiet in the wee hours of the morning, and its City Center isn't any different. Containing most of the city's amenities - a stadium, a convention center, customs, the town hall, a bowling alley, just to name a few - it's about the only place folks visit in this backwater town.  

As the sun rises, a man eagerly struts into the City Center, scanning a press pass and taking in the sites. He's an amateur journalist, satchel in one hand and outdated camera in the other. 

He prowls the wide, grey corridors with a mischievous smile on his face - and a strange ring on his finger.

Taking a seat on a bench, he looks around, eying the few people that walk past. He spots an athlete walking slowly into a bathroom.

The journalist opens his satchel and thumbs through prints. He finds one with the athletes' profile on it, and smiles. 

He follows the athlete inside. He waits for the athlete to wash up, then approaches him. 

“Are you K-Sage?”

The athlete nods. “Indeed, I am.”

“Well, it’s an honor running into you here! Say, I’m with the press for a local news crew-"

“Sorry, can’t take any interviews right now.” He motions his hand to the journalist. “Contract policy. Got a busy day ahead of me.”

“Oh, alright then...” As K-Sage heads to the door, the journalist asks, “...but do you think you sign a photo for me? My sister’s a big fan, and she would just love an autograph.”

K-Sage thinks on it for a second. “Well, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.” He smiles. “But keep it a secret, OK? I’m not allowed to give these out for free.”

Pen in hand, K-Sage signs the photo. While doing so, the journalist presses a concealed button on his ring. Spikes appear, breaking the skin and sending a pulse of electricity through his hand.

The journalist pulls out his camera and hits it. As the camera flashes, the journalist kicks K-Sage in the groin, knocking the athlete to the ground. Reflexively, he throws a blow with unnatural strength, hitting the camera and shattering it to pieces. The journalist manages to duck in time, before jabbing the spiked ring onto the side of K-Sage's forehead. 

A surge of electricity passes through both of them. K-Sage and the journalist are frozen for a few seconds. Time itself seems to freeze for them.

Then, the journalist passes out in the bathroom. He lies on the floor, completely unconscious. 

K-Sage rips the ring off his hand and pockets it. He takes the journalist and props him up in a stall, satchel in hand. The deed being done, K-Sage walks out of the stall, striding with the journalist’s mischievous smile on his face. 

He begins plotting where to go next: take K’s ebike, drive into Port, get a hotel room on the way... use a hotel attendant and travel further into the city... wreak havoc at the casino, escape through a janitor... wreak havoc at the beach, escape through an unsuspecting touris-

“K! Where have you been?" 

Lost in though, he bumps into his coach - a short, but intimidating man who emanates "no nonsense." 

"The warm-up starts in an hour, we need you at your station!” 

K-Sage is taken off-guard and stutters, before remembering who he’s in. “Oh, right, sorry. I just, uh, went for a walk this morning, to clear my head, y’know?” 

The coach shakes his head. “You’re going to be doing plenty of that today! You’ve got the all-linker triathalon to attend, for crying out loud!”

K-Sage puts his hand behind his neck. “Y’know, coach, I’m just not feeling all that great right now. Do you think we could, uh, call it off?”

“Call it off?” The coach is baffled. “What’s the matter with you, K? You were fine passing through customs an hour ago!” 

The photo slips out of K-Sage’s attire and hits the floor. The coach picks it up, inspects it, and gives K-Sage a steely look.

“It’s... uh... for a girl I’m dating. A gift.”

“Since when did you stop being gay?”

“Since, uh, since five minutes ago. I’m bi now. Yeah! Bi! I mean, why just try one flavor of ice cream, y’know?”

The coach's face contorts into that of pure bewilderment. 

He looks at the time and groans.

He puts a hand on the athlete's shoulder and walks him to the locker room. “Look, I don’t know what’s gotten into you this morning, but we’ve got a lot riding on this game. I’ll give you some time alone after the game, but you’ve gotta go out there and do it. This is your only chance out of Podunk, kid.”

With a firm push, K-Sage enters the locker room. “Now go out there and kick some dust!” 

K-Sage gulps. 

========

BUBBLING BROOK, 14:47 local time

In the midday sun, a delirious prospector stumbles towards a small town. She is dying of dehydration, clothes drenched in sweat, and mumbling incoherently.

A few yards away, a girl paces frustratedly on the outskirts of town. Her mind is a maelstrom of anger, disappointment, wasted time, and broken promises, further fueled by the unbearable desert sun. 

Watching from the distance, a man of metal stands underneath a water tower. The shadows conceal his otherwise blinding shine.

The prospector and the girl cross paths. The prospector calls out to the girl but can barely speak. The girl, caught in her thoughts, ignores her. She yells out again, but gets no response. Desperate, she walks right up and tries to stop her. The girl loses it, and cold-cocks the prospector in her tracks.

She's taken aback by the force of her own throw. The figure in-front of her is unassuming; heavyset, blue shirt, grey pants. She has no idea who this person is.

She has no idea who this person is. She looks at her fist, then at the prospector, then back at her fist. It feels cathartic. It feels good. Without thinking, she leans over and prepares to take another shot, when her arm is seized in the air. 

A hand grasps her arm, made of cold metal. She turns to look at the body it came from – an equally metallic figure, slender and humanoid, with a visor for eyes emitting a soft red light. It’s the figure of a robot ranger, one of hundreds of machines created to “keep the peace” in this lawless land. To her, it’s nothing more than a soulless bureaucrat, a force to make life harder than it needs to be.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” the ranger says matter-of-factly, “my name is Ranger Atticus, and I would like to know why-“

“Ex-CUSE me, did you just call me a ‘ma’am’?” The girl is seething.

“Affirmative, my apologies. I didn’t mean to cause offense-“

“Who gave you the right to call me a ‘ma’am’? Do I look like a ‘ma’am’ to you?” She retracts her hand from the ranger’s clutches.

“It’s merely common courtesy where I’m from.“

“How old do you think I am? Huh? Do you know who I am?”

“No, I am afraid not.“

“Listen you bag of bolts, you have NO idea what kind of day I’ve been through-“

“Ma’am, if you would please-”

“HERE YOU GO WITH THIS ‘MA’AM’ STUFF AGAIN!” She screams and flails her hands in the air.

“I need you to calm down, miss.”

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF-”

“Miss, I need you to calm down."

“-DAY I’VE BEEN GOING THROUGH? OF COURSE NOT, YOU-“

“Miss, if you won’t co-operate, I’m afraid I’ll have to-“

“WOULDN’T UNDERSTAND, YOU PENICL-PUSHING, HIERARCHY ENFORCING TITANIUM LOAD OF BULL-“

He smashes her hands together and puts them into a handcuff.

“…detain you.”

She refuses this condition, screaming obscenities. “You can’t do this to me! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“You punched a civilian in broad daylight, unprovoked.”

She hesitates. “You can’t prove that!”

His visor changes to display a recording of his sights. The prospector can be seen sluggishly approaching her, running up, and getting clobbered. Even the moment a devilish grin crosses the girl’s face can be seen, as Atticus gets closer. The girl couldn’t believe she was that same woman in the recording… but then again…

“Well, I mean, she was probably just some drunk wandering around. Look at her! Clumsy, a real klutz! Drenched in sweat! Nobody just walks up to someone unprovoked, unless you’re a con-artist or a drunk or robber or some other slime!”

During her defense attempt, the ranger walks over to the downed woman and checks her vitals. He pulls out a flaskfull of water from an anterior compartment and pours it onto their face, then down her throat. He recognizes the face from before, but scans for ID just to be sure. 

“Why are you even saving that bozo, anyways? If anything, you should be applauding me! Hah! Yeah." With some effort, the girl crosses her handcuffed arms, smiling smugly. "Scum like them shouldn’t be attacking our townspeople.”

As she talks, the ranger notices her hands move rather fluidly. Too fluidly, in fact, for most humans. 

He brushes his hands (a preprogrammed anti-static measure) and heads back to the girl. “Even if that were the case, that’s assault, and we don’t tolerate that here in Zone AR-1. But that wasn’t 'some drunk'.” 

He displays the prospector’s ID card on his visor, and the girl turns pallid. 

“That was Mackenzie Schuster, a head prospector in this area. If I know her, she’s likely on a water-hunting excursion.” 

She knows the implications of such an assault. Even on high-tech worlds, that’s a crime with a hefty bail she can’t afford. She tries defending herself, lying her way out, only to end up where she was beforehand: defeated. 

“What’s your name, miss?”

“Mitra”, she says deflated, “Mitra Aldegreen.”

He scans for ID, and finds it matches the name. Though he conceals it, reading her profile gives him a surprise. He motions for Mitra to follow him over to Mackenzie, and takes them indoors. Mackenzie slowly comes to her senses, and Atticus explains the happenings. 

“Prospector, may I ask how you ended up that close to death to begin with?”

Mackenzie tries to regain her thoughts. “Well... I was out in the wastes with my bike and some light divining equipment. Then in the distance I see someone, hooded, on a flashy bike, driving toward me going probably... a hundred, hundred-and-fifty kilos an hour." 

She stops to regain composure. "They pulled over and shot my own bike out, then robbed me blind. They shot my PDA too. The first thing they headed for was my canteen, which they chugged vigorously and pocketed. So there I was, stranded, unable to call for help and unable to guide myself. I remembered seeing the town on the map a bit west from here, so I decided to head over and try and get help.”

Atticus listens intently. Mitra stares blankly, though bits and pieces of Mackenzie’s story trickle into her head.

“Tell me, Mac”, Atticus asks, “could you tell if they were a linker?”

Mackenzie thinks on it for a minute. “I can’t say for certain... Come to think of it, they did try stabbing me with a ring at first.”

Atticus’ visor lights up, signaling interest.

“You don’t think it’s them, do you?”

He rubs his hands together. “It just might be. You two stay here, where it’s nice and cool.” He hands Mackenzie a spare PDA. “You said this was due west of here?”

She nods. Atticus gives a two-fingered salute and heads off into the wastes. He finds Mackenzie’s muddled footsteps. Fusing his mechanical legs into a cycle, he rides off into the distance, gliding across its contours and calculating its twists and turns.

========

[binniesthighs]

what you heard | reader x changjin

a/n: hi. its missing changjin hours also now I am addicted to poly r/ship fics so here is what my brain came up with hehe (pic creds to OPs!) 

what you heard | reader x changjin 

Pairing: self insert, hwang hyunjin x gender neutral reader x seo changbin 

Genre: smut w/ fluffy tones 

Tags: poly r/ship, comfort fic, outdoors sex, friends to lovers, discovery of feelings, idiots in love, with a lil bit of comedy, college au, teehee switch!changbin, switch!hyunjin, switch!reader, they’re all kinda fighting for dominance muhaha (its those bestie vibes ahaha), bratty behavior on all sides, jinnie kinda flips a switch when he gets in the mood (hehe pun intended), spitroasing (r), unprotected sex (stay safe!), sex under the stars hehe, penetration and fingering (r), oral (r & m), face fucking, cumshot, cum eating, that good, good makin’ out, soft and intimate body touching hell yeah, fluffy ending

Word count: 6.8k 

Recommended listening: what you heard by Sonder 

If there was something that you and your two bestfriends were the best at, it was getting your heart broken. 

Hopeless romantics you all were, in one way or another. In fact, it would take even more than your set of three hands to count the number of times that the three of you had come over with a broken heart, seeking ice cream, hugs, or plates to break. 

Changbin was the kind to fall in love slowly, but when he did, it consumed him, and everything that he was. He would become convinced that there was no one better for him in the whole world. He would spend sleepless night writing songs and poetry about those who would occupy his mind. Changbin would write love letter after love letter to never send them, or to have them crinkled into papery balls, and slam-dunked into his waste bin. He would often joke that he was ready to love someone, but he just didn’t quite know how to. Under it all, you and Hyunjin knew that he must’ve been scared if they didn’t love him back. 

Hyunjin fell in love with people at the drop of a hat. It was his “fatal flaw” as he liked to to joke about too. The gorgeous blond man would fall in love over hearts scribbled on coffee cups, smiles in passing, and compliments on days when he had caught the bus late. This man was the kind to sing love songs loudly in the shower no matter who heard him, and would often have a new crush by the week. Unlike Changbin, he had no fear when it came to confessing, but had even worse luck getting someone to take his words seriously. Hyunjin had too much love to give, and never received enough back. 

You, on the other hand, delayed love for as long as you could, no matter how much that you would dream of it. Love came to you in the forms of movies and books, fictional characters and song lyrics. You wrote about the love you had to give in countless journals and on the back of sticky-notes that had been used on the front-side. Love was more of an abstract concept to you. It was never something that you could touch but rather dream about. However, while this wasn’t the worst way to view it all, you still thirsted for something more. A hand to hold, a warm body to tangle up in the sheets with you. 

On this day in particular, you and your friends had gathered for a meeting: your “Unofficial Lonely Hearts Club” as you called it. You couldn’t recall who had called the meeting after the long week that you had, but it was likely what each of you had needed. 

These nights would often start the same: the three of you shoved into Changbin’s pickup, windows down, night air in your lungs, some song on the stereo that Changbin had been into these days. The three of you lived in the typical college city nestled into the side of some mountainside--a stark contrast to where you had come from before. It was the kind of place where people went to forget about who they were before to become new people. For some reason, some crazy fraction of the people who moved there, never left. 

First chance you got, you would move the hell out of there: a place full of so much heartbreak and disappointment…who could dare to stay? 

Hyunjin stuck his hand out the window, making little waves with his palm in the wind. You wondered what he had been thinking of that night; if he was sad or if he was happy. After knowing him for nearly four years now, you knew there was nothing in the world that he deserved more than to feel all the warmth that he had conveyed to others. It was a crime that he never got it back. 

Changbin’s free arm held to the handle above the car door frame, and he flexed and relaxed his muscles as he hung his fingers there. You too wondered what thoughts floated on his mind: if he was making up lyrics or if he was putting together some grad story or gesture only for it to never see the light of day. He too deserved all the love the world could offer. 

Changbin’s car sped up the dirt road to the lookout spot where kids would go to get drunk, high, or possibly both. It was a dreary and empty Wednesday evening, and secretly you hoped that no other rambunctious students would be there to shatter bottles on the craggy rocks. His headlights lit the path ahead, and the car bounced on the rough road with dusty orange rocks. The higher you got to the mountainside, the more static-y the stereo would buzz until soon all that was left were broken lyrics. 

There was one spot you liked particularly: it was a ledge that would jut out horizontally, giving a clear view to the whole of the land below: you would see the white lights from the nearby hospital, and the stadium lights from that god-awful football stadium that had sucked up your student loans. Further, you could see river on the edge of the city-line, and how it would ripple in dark blue sparkles under the moonlight. 

Your two best friends would grab the blankets that were habitually kept in the backseat made of scratchy wool, but this only made them warmer. Changbin also kept a couple camping lamps in his car to light up the dark space of his cargo bed. The weight of your bodies would shake the space and make the car bounce a bit on its wheels when the three of you would cuddle up between eachother to take in the scene. 

On nights like tonight, neither of you would say much, but just look out and feel it all. There was a kind of beauty in the simplicity of the way that everything seemed so still up there, or how time had appeared to stop somewhat. If you were lucky, you could hear the hoot of an owl, or some other critter rustling in the bushes. 

Hyunjin was always the one to sit in the middle, and he would take turns resting his head upon your shoulder or Changbin’s sighing deeply into how they would rise and fall. You hugged your knees to yourself and wondered how many more times you would come up here with them, or if after graduation, it would happen at all. It was painful to consider, but you even wondered if they would be in your life at all after everything ended. 

“I’m sick of being lonely.” Hyunjin said into the cold air. He shifted, looking both you and your other friend in the eyes. “Its depressing and exhausting.” 

“What are you talking bout ‘Jin?” Changbin threw his hoodie over his head.

“I mean moping about people who don’t ever feel the same...feeling sad when it doesn’t go my way...I’m sick of it!! I just wanna like, give up!! Would it be so hard for me to just like, stop feeling??” 

“Oh Jinnie...don’t be ridiculous. You can’t just stop falling in love with people. It’s impossible. Not just for you but...” You exhaled out, “...for all of us.” 

“Yeeeah, I don’t think that you have much control over that.” Changbin agreed. 

“No, seriously!! It’s shit!!” 

You wrapped your arms around him lovingly, nuzzling into his shoulder to sooth him, “I know, I know.” 

“Aren’t you guys sick of it?? The three of us must be cursed or something.” 

Changbin laughed out his little trademark chuckle and ruffled up his friends blond locks. “You’re being dramatic again Hyunjin. It’s not that bad.” 

“Psh! Says you who hasn’t gone on a date in months!” 

“Hey!!” 

You flicked both of your friends on the sides of their heads. “Cut it out, will you? We came up here to relax and forget all that stuff, remember?” 

Hyunjin gave out a sign in his exasperation, turning to fiddle with his little Bluetooth speaker that had definitely seen better days. The last crickets of the season chirped in the early fall air, and the little device booted up with the tiny ringtone that you knew well. 

“Anything we want to listen to in particular?” 

“Whatever you feel like Jinnie.” 

The little blue-white light of his phone illuminated his face, and Hyunjin picked a song that you had likely heard dozens of times before. It was from that artist that he had adored to bits, but only really listened to when he was feeling down. 

“Oh Jinnie.” You hushed, then wrapped your arm around his wide shoulder. “No one deserves you.” 

Changbin let his head fall on the other boy’s shoulder too. When the three of you were close like this with your body heat shared between you, it was cozier than anything imaginable. While you and your two friends weren’t the most touchy of people, there were still times when you could huddle up, and it was no secret that it felt safer than anything. 

Hyunjin chuckled a bit, causing his shoulders to shake. “You know what they say in those movies about people who can’t find love after long?” 

“What’s that?” 

“They say, “By the time that we turn thirty, if neither of us have found love, lets just marry eachother.”” 

Changbin scoffed, “And you’re bringing this up why?” 

“Well, I guess it wouldn’t be the most ridiculous idea if the three of us decided to do that, right? Seeing how the current trend is going?” 

You exchanged adoring and teasing glances with Changbin over your adorably naïve friend. 

“I think you’re missing something out of that equation Jin.” 

His doe-eyes widened, “What’s that?” 

“In all of those movies, it was usually two people who made that promise.” 

“Two people, three people, what does it matter? As of right now, its looking like the only people that we’ve got is eachother.” 

Hyunjin stretched out his hands into his sweater paws and made a little squeak when he cracked his back. 

“What do you say?”

“Hm.” Changbin cleared his throat, “So you’re being serious?” 

“What’s so crazy about it?” Convinced as ever, he counted out the points on his fingers, “We could all live together like we’ve always talked about, we’ll never be lonely and have someone to do things with, we don’t have to be second guessing ever, waiting for someone to call us back...we all already know eachother really well so there will be no surprises...” 

“Oh, so you are being serious about it then?” You ruffled his hair up a bit, just to get a rise out of him like it usually would. 

“I mean...it’s not like it would be hard...right?” 

Changbin sucked at his teeth, “Mm. I guess not.” 

“But isn’t a marriage supposed to be like, having kids, being in love, being...partners?” You added. 

Hyunjin stammered with frantic hands, “W-well, we don’t have to do everything!! Marriage is so conventional these days, we don’t have to follow all the rules, especially since there will be the three of us anyway.” 

Changbin sighed, casting his head up to the ocean-blue sky dotted with silvery constellations and the red blinking lights of airplanes overhead. 

“You’re still forgetting something Jinnie.” 

The blond tiled his head. 

“The part about being in love?” 

The tallest boy shied his hair behind his ear, then tucked his chin into one of the blankets. 

“I mean...I know that I love you guys. I wouldn’t mind spending the time...” 

Your chest buzzed with warmth hearing your friend say it for the first time. It previously had been somewhat of an unspoken phrase between the three of you, but now that he had said it out loud, it felt even more real. 

“Awww, I love you too Jinnie.” 

Changbin scoffed once more and picked with the fraying ends of the blanket. “I guess I do too.” 

The cargo bed grew silent while the three of you chewed on the idea. The longer you thought about it, it started to make sense bit by bit. After all, through all the confusion and the broken hearts, ice cream and broken plates, your little group understood each other better than most. When there were tears to dry, each of you knew exactly what to do. You had loved them all along, you always had. 

“I really love you guys...I think.” Hyunjin finally said, and linked his arms with yours and the other man’s. 

“What are you doing getting all cheesy for, huh?” Changbin nudged him with a smirk. 

“I don’t know, I guess I just never really thought about it like that before.” 

“Like what?” 

“Out of all the people that I’ve “loved” I don’t think that I’ve ever loved them like I have with you both.” 

“What do you mean?” Under the swath of blankets, your knee nudged against his, and he jumped a bit from the feeling. 

Both you and Changbin looked at him attentively and how his lip quivered, and soft eyes glistened from the glow of the lanterns. 

“M-maybe all along...I’ve been in love with you?” 

“Like, in love, in love?” 

“I don’t know...maybe?” He rubbed his eyes like he would’ve had they been lured with sleep. “Maybe I’m just, making things up...I don’t know. It’s getting late.” He laughed out with a tentative breath, “I’m saying things that don’t make sense.”  

Changbin looked out at the stretch of city lights as if he was contemplating the idea himself. 

“I guess that it wouldn’t be impossible.” He said blankly. 

“What!?” You tried to look at both of your best friends as seriously as you could. While your heart started racing, it was as if it was against your will. 

“It’s kinda funny,” Changbin began, “The three of us always complain about how love never really comes our way when we’ve already got it...right here.” 

Logically speaking, it made sense. You and your two best friends really did know eachother better than anyone else ever had. When you had met as scared little 1st years without a clue in the world how to be your own people. You had figured it all out together. The ways that you had showed love to each other had been a bit different--but it was still all the same. If you were to have not met them all those years ago, your life would’ve been drastically different. You couldn’t even picture it. 

Perhaps in all of your little rambles in journals and daydreams, was what you were looking for...them?

“Maybe we were just looking in the wrong place?” You offered, and both of them shrugged. 

“It’s possible.” Hyunjin pulled both of your arms closer to him, and rubbed his cheek into the top of your head, then Changbin’s dark curls. He giggled out, tackling the two of you to lay flat on the cargo bed. It crinkled with a plastic sounding thud, then he wrapped his legs up in both of yours the best that he could. 

Under his arm, you choked a little from his tight grasp, but you eventually let yourself mold into the curves of his body and soak up his warmth. The scratchy wool tickled at your cold fingers, and you soon felt Changbin’s hand come searching for you under the blanket too. It was a bit startling at first, but he reached out to hold your arm, then rubbed small circles into it with his thumb where you rested them on Hyunjin’s chest. 

It was as if he was a bit delirious, but Hyunjin chortled with laugher until he had lost his breath, and his lyrical sounding voice bounced off the cavern of the mountain and echoed up into space. 

“Why do I...weirdly...kinda...wanna make out with you guys right now?” 

Changbin pinched his friend with a teasing grin, “You mean it?” 

Hyunjin pouted with his plush pink lips, “I thought we all just agreed that we were in love with eachother??” 

“Jinnie...” You settled your head into the crook of his neck, right by his collarbones. 

“Damn. Glad I’m not the only one.” Changbin bit a smirk into his lip, then propped himself up on his forearm to gain better ground on you and the other man. 

Your fluttering heart beat it’s way up your throat and into your ears, and your two friends looked at you expectantly. 

“O-outside? Right now?” 

“Yeah, I guess. Why not?” Changbin traced his thumb and index under Hyunjin’s smooth jaw. 

“Aha! So you admit that you want to too!!” Hyunjin beamed and tugged at the sleeves of your own hoodie. 

“I-I didn’t say that...” 

Hyunjin leaned over on his side to face you. “Y/n, how about lets make a deal. We try it out, see how it feels, if it feels weird, we stop and pretend it never happened?” 

“I don’t know Jinnie...this seems pretty friendship ending to me.”

“Isn’t that the point?” Changbin said with a sly grin. 

The tallest boy pleaded to you with nearly needy eyes. “I think that it would feel nice? Besides...none of us have really...felt that...in a while.” 

Changbin’s creeping hands came surveying over Hyunjin’s deep green pullover, and the other boy shivered out a little feeling the touch. 

Hyunjin’s own curious hands reached out to hold both sides of your face gingerly with pink fingertips. 

“I know that I’d like to kiss you...if you’ll let me?” 

Both of your friends waited for you as you took turns checking with both of them. The whole prospect was unimaginable, but now...with both of them in front of you, both more real than anything you could have ever thought up, it started to make all the sense in the world. 

“What do you say?” Hyunjin asked with a dreamy air. It was chilly on that early fall evening, so he tucked up the blankets even higher. It was a simple gesture, but still held multitudes of his care. 

“It doesn’t hurt to try...” 

You felt your face pulled closer to his, and all at once his warmth flooded your lips. It was a strange feeling your friend’s lips on yours like this, but while it was new, it was comfortable. Your friend relaxed himself over you, smiling with the corners of his mouth, and slowly sucking at your lower lip like he didn’t want to startle you with anything too fast. His glossy lips stuck with his favored strawberry flavored Chapstick, and you only wanted to taste more. He hummed with a little happy sound, and his larger hands nearly covered your whole face where he helped tilt your head a little so that he could gift deeper kisses to it. 

Beside him, Changbin shook with a sigh watching the two of you, a different kind of passion growing within him seeing the two of the people that he loved most do something like this. He was a bit unsure at first, but he tucked back his friend’s blonde edges to free the skin of his neck, then sucked little kisses there too. He to was careful, and didn’t want to leave marks, but rather feel the way that Hyunjin’s skin dotted with goosebumps from the feeling and then let kitten-sounding whimpers go from the pressure on his neck. 

While the night itself was nearly too cold to bear, the three of your bodies heated instantly, and you nearly felt as if the sweater that kept you warm was even too much. Hyunjin parted his lips slightly to enter your mouth with his tongue, and it was a feeling so indulgent that you tried to hide from your friend how good he could make you feel out of your own embarrassment. 

Your name slithered from his lips to yours, and you tucked your hands under his sweater, finding Changbin’s hands there too on the other boy’s bare skin. Hyunjin flinched from feeling both sets of hands on his muscles. His abs flared from the attention, and he accidentally bit into your lip feeling the cold pads of fingers on him. 

Now that you had one taste of him your body could only crave more. 

Changbin tilted Hyunjin’s gasping and swollen lips to his own where he took his own turn gifting the other boy his affection. Hyunjin pressed his whole chest into the other man in an attempt to get closer and Changbin’s hands splayed across his back to hold him tightly. The two of them giggled a bit as they roughly worked their way around each other’s mouths. Changbin, a little smaller in the other man’s wide and long arms appeared to swim in him, and the two of them melted between the thick fabric of their clothes. 

Once more your hands went journeying up Hyunjin’s shirt, and you ran your fingers over every curve and twist of his back: from the little dimples above his hips, his ribs, his sweeping shoulder blades and each swelling bit of fleshy dorsal muscle you could get your hands on. You had never realized how curious you had been for him in this way, but it delighted you to feel him this close. 

Legs became anxious under the wool blankets, and tangled up with little regard for personal space, and hips writhed asking for attention that had been kept for them for far too long. 

Changbin moved down Hyunjin’s jaw to give him more kisses to his tender neck, sucking harder this time to imprint little purple marks. You had never taken Changbin to be one to do so, but something told you that he was one to take pride in those that he loved, and wanted them to be his only. 

“B-Bin...” Hyunjin’s voice wavered, no longer loud enough to bounce off the rocks surrounding you. 

From the way that Changbin kissed the other boy, you instantly craved for him to do the same for you. Across the width of your gorgeous blond friend, you tossed around Changbin’s dark and curly strands, and soaked up his warmth to your hand cracking from the cold. 

You called out for him too, and found your hips grinding into Hyunjin’s back, becoming more impatient by the moment. The way that both of them touched you, and each other was...different. There was no fear, no heartbreak, no uncertainty or loneliness. When you thought of it later, it was if the three of you could actually heal from it all for the first time. 

Changbin’s eyes softened hearing you beg for him, and he helped you slide closer to him. 

“Hm. You’re so cute.” He muttered before filling your mouth with his own kisses. Changbin appeared to channel everything that he had in him to give to you--it was no surprise considering the romantic that he was. He was attentive and slow; rough at first, but then melting into something much more infatuating. Hyunjin took his turn swiping his hands up and down your thighs, kneading into the skin, and then tucking up your sweater. He shimmied down your body, pressing soft lips into your belly to make you tremble from the pleasant gesture. He made his way up higher, up to your chest where he exposed even more skin to the cold, but was sure to make up for it by keeping the blankets close. 

Changbin swiped his thumb over both of your lips, smiling as he did so. 

“Have I ever told you that you’re really breathtaking?” He said with a tone so sultry it was a bit laughable. 

“I don’t think so?” 

He too took a greedy hand down your chest where Hyunjin nipped lightly, admiring the way that you had looked under the moonlight. He brought his fingers back to your lips, giving you a tiny and accidental taste of his fingertips, then promptly resumed the kisses that you had asked for. 

Hyunjin worked his way back up your body, stopping at last to lap lightly into your neck with tiny fleeting love bites and delighted in the way that he could see them fade onto your skin--almost like you and him were a matching set now.

Changbin broke his lips from yours, creating a tiny wet sound with a thin string of his saliva on your your bottom lip.

Hyunjin played with the elastic of your sweatpants, gasping out a bit once he saw your legs rub together in the absence of friction. His eyes wandered slowly to his other friend who had grinded his hips down into the cargo bed with a quivering length.

“Are we about to do what I think we are?” He asked, both thrilled and shocked.  

“Seems like it.” Changbin said simply after going to caress the other man’s cheek.

“Damn. I was not expecting this night to go like this.” Your voice shook, either from anticipation, or from the cold--you couldn’t quite tell.

“Me neither...but I’m not mad about it.”

“Friendship offically ruined?” Hyunjin said with a mischievous little smile.

The breeze blew through, wrapped up in the smell of the crisp mountain air. Hyunjin’s little speaker played on with his songs that you still knew the names of. There wasn’t too much light, just the glow from the inside of Changbin’s car and his lanterns, but it was just enough to take in your friends fully--the ones that you had cared for so much, you didn’t even known how much you had. While you would’ve been worried about getting caught on that Wednesday night, this mattered little.

“I’d say so.” You answered, and it was exactly what they had wanted to hear.

The three of you opted to keep your tops on to fight off the elements, but under the covers, you each jiggled off pairs of joggers, jeans and sweatpants. The car bounced once more as the three of you readjusted. As soon as bare legs intertwined and the thin fabric of undergarments got thrown into the mix, you each got louder and more desperate for wandering touches that could quell your desires.

With twisted and oversized socks, Hyunjin straddled both sides of Changbin’s head, letting the other man palm the outline of his dick and squeeze at it harshly until he shivered over the smaller man’s frame.

“Damn Jin...” Changbin groaned seeing the other’s length. “You’ve been packing and didn’t feel like sharing?”

“S-shut up.” Hyunjin whined as the other teased him.

You worked bite after bite down Changbin’s torso, sucking lightly, then harder. After long, you found that it tickled him a little--this knowledge you would save for another time.

He wore baggy boxers which hid the full girth of his dick that swelled with his erection that bopped and only appeared to grow larger once you and released him. Thick veins wrapped around his length, and his tip flared where you grabbed him into your palm.

“I could say the same to you, Bin.” You teased your friend.

Hyunjin turned to see for himself, laughing out, seeing the way that it looked in your smaller hand.

“Bin, what the fuck?”

“...Intimidated are you?”

The other boy tossed his head back, hair getting caught in his hoodie. “No...”

Changbin snapped the elastic to Hyunjin’s briefs just because he liked the sound, then pulled the other’s member out to pump at the considerable length with his fist. The blonde boy choked out a gasp at the strong grip, and Changbin dug his fingers around the other’s waist to bring in him closer.

“What me to suck this pretty dick of yours?”

“Do I even need to answer that question?” Hyunjin snarked.

Further down, you worked your own hand around Changbin’s cock which you had lathered at first with your spit. Obscene sounds of the liquid cupped in your hand, then you worked your mouth down to his gloriously thick thighs. Something overtook you then, and all you wanted to to was ravage them, make them all yours, mark them as yours, and make the quiver all because of you.

Your fingernails dug into the fleshy and squishy skin, and Changbin moaned out forcefully feeling the sting.

“Feels good?” You asked with a wicked grin, then returned to sucking bruises into the inner parts of his thighs.

“You’re gonna...gonna distract me.” He sighed out, still jerking the other boy away.

Hyunjin swiped away the other man’s curly bangs so he could see him fully. He guided his length over Changbin’s mouth, teeth clenched with a tight exhale once he felt the warmth of the other’s tongue lapping up the sides of his shaft.

Your teasing was enough, and you finally granted your friend what he wanted. With a girth as wide as he had, it was somewhat of a challenge, but a challenge that you gleefully expected. He had puffed up your cheeks fully, and you could barely take in half is length without it testing the back of your throat. Still, you focused your breath coming out of your nose, and swallowed him down deeper. Your eyes wetted from the simulation to your gag reflex, but you held on for as long as you could. At last, your wish was granted, and his marked up thighs shook just for you.

“Bin...fuck.” The blond shuddered upon coaxing himself fully into his friend’s mouth. He moaned out sinfully feeling the twist of the other man’s tongue.

To give yourself a moment’s pause, you stopped, gasping over your friend’s slit, teasing your tongue around his head, dipping down to the place where he dripped with beads of precum.

Changbin laughed out breathily, swearing easily and calling out your name too with a rasp to his tone. “S-shit...”

“Getting too distracted?” Hyunjin purred, seeing the other man made a wreck by you. “What about me?”

“S-sorry.” Changbin admitted, wetting his lips and taking back Hyunjin’s cock into his hollowed cheeks.

As you swallowed around him, your friend rutted his hips just slightly, his lust overtaking him.

“Oh fuck, just like that, mm--” Hyunjin cooed, getting lost in his own ecstasy with head thrown back, and his sweater paws melting down to Changbin’s quaking chest where he supported himself.

You worked your hand and mouth up and down around the pulsating vein’s of your best friend’s length, lazily letting him feel your flattened tongue, then switching to let him feel the tightness of your throat.

Hyunjin sighed out heavily as looked down at his friend who had taken him so well. It was almost as if he felt cheated from the crappy head that he had been getting in dirty bathrooms and semi-public dressing rooms. It was dangerous in the way that Changbin would stroke him languidly, then let his drool wet his tip.

Further down your hips, the pent up heat from your own sex ached on the cool plastic of the cargo bed, and you grinded your hips down for any simulation you could get. 

The blonde man whimpered out after long, feeling even hazier the longer that Changbin continued on. “Binnie...you’re...feels really--fuck--so, good...”

It was as if the words hand been a trigger for him, but your friend pulled his length for your mouth, panting out like a dog, while also robbing Hyunjin of all feeling.

“Don’t-don’t wanna cum yet...” He laughed out, “I was really fucking close.”

Hyunjin pouted, then turning back and look at you with a bit of your own saliva running down your neck.

“Your turn now.” He nearly whispered, then crawled down the other man’s body to jerk at him lightly.

“Jin! I-I--” He clenched his teeth.

“Lay down, y/n. Is there any way that you want it?”

“A-anything. Anything that you want to do. I-I don’t care.” You begged, falling under his spell.

“Aw. Cute.” He added once he had seen the purple marks on Changbin’s thighs.

You fell back under the two of them, opening yourself up for them to do as they wished. First, Hyunjin crept down your body with as much care as he could--beautiful in the way the he looked close to you like this. 

Hyunjin’s hand cascaded down your chest, then belly, all the way down to your own twitching and wetted sex, and you keened directly into his touch. 

“Wouldn’t you like my fingers? Filling you up...” He asked softly, finally sinking down far enough so that you could feel his words swirl over your exposed arousal, then pressing light kisses into you. “...as deep as you can take it?” 

“Mm-yes.” You squeaked, opening your legs further for him. 

Your other friend settled beside you, tilting your chin nearer to him. Just barely, his lips grazed over you, breathing in your air with his hooded eyes glued to your weakened form under the hands of the other boy. 

“You’re that excited?” Hyunjin mocked, “We’ve barely touched you.” 

“Quit talking and just get to fucking me, got it?” You demanded, mustering all of your strength. 

“Oh-ho! I didn’t take you for one to bite back.”

Changbin bit a proud little smile into your lip, wrapping his arms around you. The blond man then toyed with your entrance, licking his fingers, wetting them, then pushed them slowly into your needy hole. 

“Ahhh, look at that, so fucking tight around my fingers, You want it that bad?” 

His long and lithe digits filled you up where he started to thrust them in and out, using his free hand to push your jolting thighs back. Your right hand traversed it’s way under the blankets which you had readjusted, all the way down to Changbin’s leaking length which still blushed red. You wrapped around him carefully, promising his to lips that you would go easy on him. 

As Hyunjin curled his fingers, the other man then reached down to rub at you fervently, matching the pace at which Hyunjin flicked his wrist. Your hips lurched feeling the combination of each sensation, and you cried out loudly for the two of them--the sound itself bounced off that empty space where the three of you existed, almost as if you were calling out for the whole starry sky to hear you. 

“I-I think that we were really missing out on something...” You joked with an airy breath and both of your friends joined you. 

Changbin’s teeth caught his lip as your hand squeezed and twisted, and you could see with every ounce of restraint that he had, he was holding back. 

“Way to make me want to fuck you sideways, huh?” He said with a little grin, observing the size difference between your hand and his member. 

Your back arched when Hyunjin reached in even deeper, and you dissolved into the pleasure that he brought you--an amazing kind of all-consuming feeling that shattered your will, and sent you mewling out into your other friends mouth. 

“I-I can’t wait anymore,” You begged, clawing right into Hyunjin’s golden trellises. 

Changbin scooched up quickly, taking half of the blankets with him, thankfully giving the other boy a nod when he let him be the one to use your entrance. With his brutish hands, he flipped you to your stomach, and hiked up your hips too, cold fingers holding them in place. Hyunjin kneeled permitting you access to his cock which as softened slightly, so he pumped himself back into place with his eyes holding yours. 

At first, Changbin teased you with his tip, adding pressure to your twitching hole, then guided himself in bit...by bit. 

The blonde tapped his dick to your lips, holding firmly the back of your neck as you took him in and choked out at the way that the other stretched your walls. Changbin grabbed at your ass in handfuls starting slowly, grinding his hips in little circles to simulate you deeper. 

“Hm. Who would have known that your pretty little hole would be so perfect for me? Guess we really were missing out on something.” 

Hyunjin growled lowly feeling his cock slide down to the back of your throat, brows crossed, and the bottom of his hoodie resting just above his hips. 

“Squeeze my leg if it becomes too much, okay? ...I’m gonna fuck your mouth, okay?” 

You nodded best you could, and he started to thrust carefully, every few seconds you would hold his member to drag it against the sides of your cheeks, causing him to huff out loudly at the fleshy bits of your mouth. 

Changbin quickened his pace, doubling over your back as he lost himself in you, grunting out in his rhythm. From both sides, your best friends used you, resorting to something much more feral as they edged themselves closer. From the motions, the car rocked back and fourth like a bed and it’s headboard. 

You too felt the tension build deeply in your core, and it begged with reckless abandon at your dizzy mind that drew itself closer and closer into the feeling of being utterly all theirs. 

In many ways, you guessed that you always had been--while it had been unspoken at the time. Now, having the two of them wholly like this under the silver sheen of the moon, the cold biting at your skin, then furiously met with your heat, you could no longer see them as the two broken souls whom you had bonded with at first. They were now everything, everything that you had wished and hoped for.

Even now that you had become much more to each other, there was nothing that could take away the closeness that you had shared with them. 

“F-fuck--gonna cum--” Changbin announced while he pounded frantically. The other man rolled his hips into your mouth quicker too, seeking the same kind of release. 

“Y/n?” He said with a broken breath, and you muffled out a moan to let him know that you were nearly there too. 

“Oh shit, oh shit--” 

Changbin grunted out, with a bit of panic to his voice, forcefully removed himself from you seconds before he spilled his white seed onto your hole, then sending it dripping down your leg. 

“Oh fuck--s-sorry--” He gasped out, still jerking his cock while he pulsed. 

“Bin!! What the fuck??” Hyunjin yelled out, his words quickly turned into mumbles of nonsense when you took him down as deeply as you could manage without gagging, focusing only on him even though your sex ached feeling so empty.  

When he had come down after a few moments, Changbin took to fucking your walls once more with his thick fingers, not even caring that he had fucked his white warmth back into you at the same time. Meanwhile, he returned to rubbing of your sensitive flesh, trying to replace the feeling he had robbed you of. 

“Cum for me baby, cum for me.” 

On cue, you came in waves, shuddering over Changbin’s fingers slicked with his cum, just as your other friend released down your throat and the warm liquid painted your tongue. 

His blissful moans turned into light chuckles as he milked himself into your mouth, giving you every last drop. Changbin drove you further, overstimulating you to the point where your knees nearly gave out, and you had to beg him to slow. 

After each of your bodies collapsed weakly to the bed of blankets and rejected clothing, you drew the covers back up over yourselves, feeling the cold seep in once more. Both of your friends kissed perfect adoring kisses into your raw lips, tasting the both of themselves on your skin. While your thighs still stuck with your friend’s cum, it didn’t matter as much now that you had huddled up cozily into their arms. 

“Bin, you asshole!!” Hyunjin jested, and flicked the other boy’s forehead. “You fucking finished before you were supposed to!!” 

“What the hell was I supposed to do?? I’d already edged myself enough!!” 

“You could’ve tried!!” 

“Whatever, it felt fucking amazing, don’t blame me.” He added with a smug smirk, “You felt fucking amazing, y/n.” 

“Did it feel good for you too, y/n?” Hyunjin gingerly asked, falling right back to his soft and adorable composure that you knew well. 

“Like Bin said, it was fucking amazing.” 

“So we all agree then? We won’t forget that this happened?”

You gave Hyunjin a little nod to say yes, and your group of three hugged eachother even closer. You hadn’t noticed it, but at some point, Hyunjin’s music had turned off. 

“So, this means that we’re like, a thing now?” Changbin asked, playing with the drawstring to your hoodie. 

You peppered Hyunjin’s forehead with a tiny kiss. “I’d like to be.” 

He nuzzled into the crook of your neck and reached out for Changbin across the expanse. “Me too.” 

~🌹~

Bunch of (Ro)ses!

@minaamhh @dazzlehoseok @synnocence @jjewibeans @hyunsluvv @unexceptional-h @bobawithchaitea @lechanters @sailorhyunjinz @silencefavarchive @eunaeiekim @lunarskzzz

[last-operator-standing]

Toll Of The Bell

Chapter 3 - Sonder

> Read on Ao3

> Chapter 1 (tumblr)

> Chapter 2 (tumblr)

> Chapter 4 (tumblr)

Summary: What now? He could roll over and accept the fate thrust upon him and die as Adler intended. Starting a new life away from it all couldn’t be that bad either. Or…

Or he could finish the mission.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Warning apply this chapter

Words: 1.8k (7.3k total)

A/N: I'm sorry this one took so long asjdfjf I'm awful at keeping any sort of regular schedule- but i'm going to be trying much harder to keep the chapters flowing :') I'd love to hear any thoughts, and thank you all for the support <3 (p.s. Adler will be here v soon- Promise uwu)

"Please stop staring at me."

Bell has no intention of doing so. He's been staring down Lazar from the moment the man stumbled into the kitchen to join him at the table. The sunlight is harsh despite the closed curtains and the coffee fails to stimulate either agent's mind. This certainly isn't Lazar's ideal morning. The silence stretches on, but the uncomfortable feeling of Bell's eyes on him has him sighing loudly.

"Damn, Bell, alright." Lazar gives in. The chair scrapes loudly against the tile floor as he pushes back to stand, disappearing for a moment and returning with a bag. It piques Bell's curiosity; he was too tired to notice it last night.

A folder slaps loudly against the table and slides a few centimeters towards Bell. The Russian, unable to contain himself, surges forward to snatch it. "You're right about your buddy. Definitely a smuggler of sorts."

Bell flips the folder open and begins rooting through the contents. A picture of Kapano Vang is clipped on the inside. The first page has basic information. Name, call sign, date and place of birth. Bell's more interested in the finer details: A few suspected routes, potential cartel members, a list of what they believe is being smuggled. There's a few recurring words that catch his eye. Golden Triangle Cartel is scribbled at the bottom and underlined twice. Beside it, drawn in bold red ink and circled multiple times, Bell reads PERSEUS?

"What did you see yesterday, in those memories of yours?"

Bell gives a small shake of his head. "It was a bar, I think. He was there." He taps the portrait with a finger. "And someone else who knew us but.. I couldn't remember his face," The Russian gives a disappointed click of his tongue. "Or his name."

Lazar tries to offer a reassuring smile. "Hey, don't sweat it. It'll come back to you."

Bell wishes he could share in Lazar's positivity. He really does. But he can't be sure what brought the memories to him in the first place, or why they were so fragmented. After spending much of the night agonizing over any additional detail he might remember about Perseus or Kapano Vang or anyone else he had seen at that bar and coming up short, Bell's hope started to slip. In the end he could only point fingers at Adler and his MK-Ultra project. "So what's next?"

Lazar doesn't answer right away. He looks thoughtful. Even with their revelation on Kapano Vang and his cartel, they are nowhere closer to finding Perseus than they were before. They are back to square one.

"Well, I could try cross-referencing with MI6 again-" he means Park, Bell thinks with a snort "-and see if they have anything new."

Lazar's looking at him intently and Bell realizes he's waiting for a response. "Oh, uh. Yeah." Bell shifts awkwardly in his seat. "Whatever you say."

A week later, the two man team have no progress to show for their efforts. In that time, Bell's gone over the files at least a dozen and a half times and nothing's changed, nor have any new memories resurfaced. Lazar's cross-referencing has yet to unearth anything new either, telling Bell MI6 is just in the dark as they are.

"This isn't working, Laz." Bell slams the paper back against the kitchen table. His irritation is reflected in the other man's face but Lazar does a better job at hiding it. "We just have to keep looking," Lazar sighs. "We have the answer here somewhere."

Bell clicks his tongue in disapproval. "I've been over these files again and again. There's nothing here. We're not going to find Perseus on some piece of paper-" An idea strikes Bell. Something he never considered before now.

"Bell?" Lazar frowns. "You alright?"

"What if we look for that bar?" Excitement shines in Bell's eyes. Lazar's startled by his suggestion.

"I don't know-"

"C'mon, Laz, think about it. There was more than one Perseus agent there, in my memory." A plan was beginning to hatch in Bell's mind. From the way he's looking at him, Lazar doesn't like where he's going with it. "If we find that bar, maybe we can find one of those agents. Maybe even match some of these faces." He looks down at the file of unconfirmed but suspected Perseus soldiers.

"I don't know about this," Lazar repeats slowly, uncertainly. "If someone recognizes us it could cause some trouble. Especially if they recognize you. You helped stop Perseus the first time. No doubt his people are painfully aware of that."

Bell doesn't want to hear it, though. "It's just a risk we'll have to take," he argues. "I'm a spy, Laz. I know how to keep my head down."

After a bit of back and forth it's settled. First, they'll compile a list of bars in areas known or suspected to be frequented by Perseus. Then, while in constant contact, as Lazar insists, Bell will make his way through each alone and hope nobody recognizes him while he searches for the bar from his memory.

It takes two days to assemble a full list and another day and a half to narrow it down and map a route.

"I'm still not happy about this," Lazar grunts as he drops a duffel bag onto the table. Bell eagerly snatches it and begins shuffling inside. "You worry too much, old man."

The first thing Bell pulls from the bag is a change of clothes. They both agreed he needs something casual. And clean. It would make blending in with the crowd much easier. Too excited about the upcoming mission has Bell stripping where he stands. No time for modesty.

"C'mon, Bell, in the kitchen?" Lazar turns with a light pink tinting his face. Bell grins wide but doesn’t reply. The new outfit fits comfortably. He returns to the bag and roots around for his next prize. There’s a knife with a sheath and a small handgun waiting at the bottom. The knife is removed first. Bell carefully slides it free of its sheath. The blade is unusually slim and dark in color, and sports a dangerously sharp tip with partial serration of both sides near the hilt. Bell’s entirely absorbed in admiring the blade, so much so that he misses Lazar’s amused look until he speaks up.

“I thought you’d like that one.”

Bell returns the smile. “Oh, hell yeah. It reminds me of the one I had in-”

“Hey, Sims! You know reading that shit’s gonna make you go blind.”

“Yep! That’s why I want it alll up here.” Sims shot Adler a lazy grin. The commander slapped the book back against Sims’ chest.

“Bell, you’re with Sims. You usually bring out the best in each other.”

“RPGS! BRACE! BRACE!”

Bell watched in horror as a rocket collided with the chopper beside theirs. It careened dangerously before smashing into theirs, sending their own bird into a death spiral.

Everything was in chaos.

“Grab my hand! I gotcha! I got-!”

“We’ve lost power-!”

“We’re going down-!”

“BRACE!”

Bell blinks hard and his smile falls. There’s a knowing look on Lazar’s face and neither agent speaks a word about it. “C’mon,” Lazar gives a pat to Bell’s shoulder. “Showtime.”

The pair ride in silence. Lazar’s behind the wheel, giving Bell some time to think. He tries to keep the mission center focus, but the memories of Vietnam are overwhelming, fresh in his mind as if they just happened. And they’re not even real. I was never in Vietnam.

The car rolls to a stop and breaks Bell from his thoughts. “Alright, remember, coms on at all times.” Bell rolls his eyes and pops the door, deftly sliding from his seat. “I mean it, Bell!” But he slams the door without reply, turning towards the street. The small earpiece is already safely pressed into his ear and hidden behind his hair.

The checkered brick sidewalks stretch wide on either side of the street. There’s a decent amount of people strolling to and fro, some carrying briefcases and dressed in neatly pressed suits, others in casual attire with seemingly no important place to be. Lazar pulls off, leaving Bell to head for the first destination on his list.

The first thing Bell notices as he pushes into the first bar is the pungent mingling of smoke, alcohol, and sweat in the air. The floor beneath his boots is a glossy hardwood and matches the light oaken walls. The occupants chatter noisily, and although the sound is familiar, the atmosphere is not. This is not the right place. Keeping his appearance as casual as possible, Bell slips through the crowd and retreats out the back door. He glances around to confirm he’s alone before mumbling his findings to Lazar.

One down, seven more to go.

The second bar Bell stumbles into is smaller. There are less individuals milling around and the golden walls are all wrong from the dark cedar panels from his memory. The third bar is even less promising, while the fourth and fifth are so far from Bell’s memory that he’s positive he’s working backwards now.

Bell rejoins the thinning herd on the streets with a dejected sigh. This wasn’t working out. There’s two more bars to check and already it was getting dark. He’d hope for something; A clue, a new memory, a familiar face. Lazar keeps up with words of encouragement but Bell doesn’t have the capacity to share the optimism.

The sixth bar Bell checks holds a notable hushed atmosphere. Right away he’s stricken by the dark atmosphere. It felt.. Tense. Insidious. It doesn’t feel right, but for an entirely different reason. While most of the denizens ignore Bell, a few side-eye him dangerously. He steps to the counter and orders a drink, primarily to alleviate any suspicions from both inside and out.

Bell can’t shake the feeling of eyes boring into his back. It’s somehow different from when he first walked in and was certainly making him more uncomfortable. He shifts in his seat and tries his best to nonchalantly turn and find who the hell was staring at him so hard, but when he looks, he finds nothing out of the ordinary.

The feeling of unease doesn’t leave. He grows antsy and finally after paying with money given to him by Lazar, Bell downs the last of his drink and turns back into the streets. This is certainly not going the way Bell had hoped. The seventh bar is quite the walk from the sixth, allowing him some time to breathe and collect his thoughts.

The feeling of unease melts from Bell’s shoulders the longer he walks. Lazar’s quiet so he turns his attention outward and listens curiously to the broken chatter of the dwindling civilians.

“-think he talks about anything else?”

“Well, it’s not like-”

“Timur?”

“That’s not.. Point.. Why else-”

“Timur!”

“I just think you should consider-”

A hand lands heavily on Bell’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. He turns in surprise.

“Timur!” A man stands before Bell with a lazy smirk and a gleam to his eyes- as if he recognizes him. His dark hair is cropped close to his head and a pair of lightly tinted shades adorns his face. The accent is certainly not Russian, and it throws Bell off guard. “Hey! Remember me?”

[valentineforlemonandcherry]

“Light and Dark” Mood Board

Collective suggestions for story/character soundtracks, face claims, and my pre-writing imagined character aesthetics are gathered here! I’ve had a lot of lovely questions and suggestions for accompanying/inspiring music and visions for characters, so I thought it might be a good idea to make it a post. Please feel free to add to the list or, if anything comes off as a potential spoiler, please let me know and I will delete it. Also, if you don’t agree with the suggestions or see things differently, of course your view is completely legitimate, too! 

❦ Click Here for Light and Dark Home Page (All Chapter Links) ❦

General Atmosphere & Aesthetic:

Memories in the Pensieve.

The Lestrange House.

Lake water.

The Marauder’s Map.

Creeping Frost Crystals.

Soundtrack:

Popular/Indie:

General Story Atmosphere

Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Lorde

Cigarettes After Sex 

James & Reader’s Relationship

Mirrorball by Taylor Swift

Heather by Conan Gray 

Mr. Perfectly Fine by Taylor Swift

August by Taylor Swift 

Cyrille & Reader’s Relationship

Exile by Taylor Swift feat. Bon Iver

Six Feet Under by Billie Eilish 

What You Heard by Sonder

fallingforyou by the 1975

Chase Atlantic 

Artic Monkeys 

James Potter Theme

Home by Dotan

Cyrille Lestrange Theme

With You In My Head by UNKLE

Reader Theme

Blood // Water by grandson

Orchestral: 

The Prince’s Tale / Severus & Lily (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II) by Alexandre Desplat

Leta’s Flashback (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) by James Newton Howard 

Potential Face-Claims:

Cyrille Lestrange: [Harry Llyod - Actor in ‘Game of Thrones’] 

[Otto Seppäläinen - Model] 

Picture Link 

James Potter: [Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Actor in ‘Nowhere Boy’]

(Summarized, Non-Spoiler) Personal Notes I Made Up for the Characters:

Cyrille Lestrange: 

Elusive Eyes | Butterfly Kisses | Aspiring Healer

Serpent Prince | Raven Pendant | Blue Tattoo 

Crimson Binds | Masquerade Love | Whispering Galaxies 

Subversive Games | Stolen Moments | Aquatic Submersion 

Astronomy Tower | Restricted Section | Crystal Cave 

Moonlit Hallways | Empty Stairwells | Silver Frost 

Ancestral Identity | Twin Scars | Shattered Persona 

Enigma & Memory | Permission & Possession | Dominance & Illusion

“Angel” | “Princess” | Low Growls, High Moans 

His lovers have compared his eyes to the Aurora Lights: when they glimmer with emotion, there is a vibrancy unique to him, but it happens only by chance, and very infrequently.  

James Potter: 

Marauder - Prongs | Surprisingly, Head Boy | Adored Son 

Quidditch Captain | Naturally Talented | Secretly, McGonagall’s Favorite 

Heart on Sleeve | Adorably Clueless |  Always An Adventure

Sweetest Intentions | Misplaced Chivalry | Total Confusion Regarding His Own Feelings

Shy Smiles | Clumsy Stutters | Endless Whines 

Sleepy, Cozy Mornings | Hands Always On You | Daises Under The Willow

Soft Love | Stolen Clothes | Also, Stolen Kisses

Emotional & Physical Warmth | Scribbled Love Notes & Sudden Confessions | Messy Hair & Heavy-Set Glasses

“Baby” | “Sweetheart” | “Love”  

You just know he (as Prongs) gets his antlers stuck everywhere. They’re supposed to make him feel grand, but he always forgets he has them, and Peter (as Wormtail) has to scamper up to untangle him from underlying tree branches, the Shrieking Shack doorway, and once, even his own Quidditch jersey, which he’d forgotten to take off all the way before transforming. 

[cream-and-tea]

ALL FALL DOWN EXCERPT. chapter six (seven??) Umbra POV. edited. featuring: yearning! oh my god so much undiluted gay yearning! my self indulgent symbolism and meta ridden dream sequences. just a smidgen of childhood trauma. blood, unreality and vomit mention.

happy birthday to every lesbian! all of them! as a treat to myself i thought i’d share some unbelievably sapphic content from AFD. which is saying something because this wip is 97% pure sapphic content by volume. enjoy!

{transcript under the cut}

Taglist {ask to be added/removed}. @bigboldgold​ @pimclementine​ @dragonwritesthings​ ​ @svpphicwrites​ @semblanche​ @mo-is-writing​ @definitelynotclayface​ @keep-looking-here@wordsbynathan​ @oasis-of-you​ @wildswrites​​ @alicewestwater@plutoslittlecosmos@mouwwie @waysofink @a-completely-normal-writer@wannabeauthorzofija @magic-is-something-we-create

I don’t see anything at first, just feel. Feel warmth and light and the taste of blood on my lips.

I blink open my eyes and the world is bright and blurry around the edges. I’m laying on my back, on the lawn of my childhood house. House, not a home. Never a home. Grass pokes at my legs and arms. The sky is soft and light, a blur of gold and rose and crimson bleeding around the edges. It looks like sunset, or sunrise, but it’s as light as midday and the heat surrounding me on all sides feels like water, thick and hot and clinging to my skin.

I feel a weight in the palm of my hand and when I turn my head she’s there. Her with her skin pale, almost translucent in this daylight. Her with short wisps of hair falling into her face. Her eyes turned to the sky. Her lips parted slightly in a smile, like she’s had some funny thought and is just about to share it. Her hand in my hand, twining us together.

Sonder.

A wave of nausea coils in my gut. Something isn’t right. This is wrong, this is wrong, the colours are too bright. It’s all too bright . She's too bright.

The air smells like overripe fruit and honey and blood. She turns to face me with a dreamy sort of smile on her face. Eyes sleepy from the heat. The air ripples around her.

“Hello,” she says. Like it’s the most matter of fact thing in the world. Like this is somehow normal.

“You’re here,” I say and my voice sounds like it’s coming from far away. I should be angry. I should be so goddamn angry at her. I should be shocked and confused and angry. But it’s just so bright and hot and I feel all sluggish and slow. My mouth is thick with the taste of this place.

“I am.” Sonders eyes are soft, so painfully soft. I want to scream but I’m not sure why. She looks at me like I’m a cracked piece of china, something to cup in her hands and hold even if it cuts. I think I’m going to be sick.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“You shouldn’t be here, Umbra.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snap, she just sighs. It’s somewhere between a breath and a laugh. A sad, sad laugh.

“You don’t make any sense,” I say.

No response. A flat paper fish, like one I scribbled out in purple and yellow in kindergarten, swims past.

“I hate you.” Those words are dead in my mouth, familiar as breathing.

“No, you don’t. Not really.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you though.” Before I can blink she brings her hand up, the one not holding mine. She touches my face (gently, so gently.) Traces my jawline. I shudder under her touch. My skin is soft, saline and if she pressed too hard her fingers would sink into it like melted butter. She doesn’t though. Of course she doesn’t. Maybe that’s why I lean into the touch, almost involuntarily. In the moment, this moment, I think I need it. Need it in some core of me. She smiles and it’s tired and sad, the saddest thing I think I’ve ever seen. I can feel bile hot in my throat.

This has to be a dream.

“This isn’t real?” I breathe out, and hate how the words come out disappointed.

“Yeah. Probably,” she sounds real though, so like her. Grainy and soft and faded out. Like there could’ve been sharpness there, like there should be, but it’s all been sanded down and hollowed out. “You’ll still be the same though, when you wake up. Still stuck. You’re so stupid sometimes Umbra, I wonder if you even know what you’re doing at all.”

She huffs, turning back to look at the bubbling, distorting sky. Something in those gray eyes gone bitter. “We’ll still be all– all fucking trapped running in circles. I’m tired. Tired of me and you. Tired of all the blood.”

“W-what do you mean?” I slur, my words aren’t working right anymore. The sweet, almost rotten smell is becoming unbearable.

“Look,” she says, and gives my hand a squeeze. I look down to where our fingers interlock and all my breath congeals in my chest. They’re coated in blood. From the wrist down. Her hand, my hand, our hands together, dripping in red. I wonder who’s blood is who’s. I wonder if I could pull away from her if I tried. I can’t turn away, can’t move. The air is humming and shifting around me. I can taste vomit in the back of my mouth. The grass feels like a thousand tiny needles stabbing into my skin.

I force my eyes away, and when I turn back to her Sonders face is only centimetres away from mine. So close. To close. Too much. There’s no smile on her now, only the exhaustion. But her eyes are still soft and warm looking into mine.

I draw in a sharp breath as she moves, cupping my cheek with one hand and pressing her lips dryly to where my neck meets my jaw. I’m on fire. I’m burning up. There’s an inferno crawling under my skin. I’m going to die I’m going to die I’m going to–

“You need to wake up,” Sonder whispers. I can feel her say the words, quietly against my skin. I feel the sun and the heat and the blood coating my hand and hers. And then I feel nothing at all.

[bread--quest]

sunny being a spooky little guy in their first ever interaction :eyes:

actually y'know what this is basically at a ending point anyway and i've just been looking for an excuse to post it so. surprise sunny treat!

By Season 22, Day 70, Liquid Friend has more or less gotten reacquainted with the Vault. It and Plasma have dusted off their office and gotten it back in working conditions, said hello to their old friends, and reintroduced themselves to the people who have come here since they left. The Vault's gotten bigger since it was last here, but Liquid still knows its hallways like an old friend, and it knows all the people in here by name at least, if not more.

Which is why it's taken completely by surprise when it rounds a corner to see someone it's absolutely never seen before standing there, happily dusting a wall.

Liquid runs through all the people it knows of in its head. Obviously this is not Uncle Plasma. They are also obviously not Clare (although they do have little wings and a glowing, flickering halo), Parker, New Megan, or Fletcher. They could be Cote, maybe, since Liquid's never actually seen Cote, but that would raise a lot of other questions. Definitely not Nagomi. Not York. Not Chorby, Aldon, Goodwin, Pitching Machine, or Valentine. Not James Mora either.

Well, what the heck.

"Hey there, uh..." Liquid takes a slight step forward. The person(?) turns to face them with wide golden eyes. "I'm Liquid Friend. It's nice to meet you! Are you...lost?"

"Are you lost?" Liquid Friend's own voice says, and Liquid jumps, startled, and thinks for a second it was an echo, but one of the many strange things about the Vault is that it doesn't usually echo, and anyway that was far too pitch-perfect and crisp to have been a quirk of architecture, which means...

"Did you say that?" Liquid says, and this time it keeps an eye on the person so it can tell for sure— when their mouth moves, what comes out is Liquid saying "Say that?" A perfect echo.

Okay. That's a little creepy.

The person moves forward, towards Liquid. They're keeping one hand on the wall, Liquid notes— maybe for comfort? To keep from getting lost? For steadiness? They move like someone who's not quite used to having a body. Their hand leaves a bright gold streak behind it as they drag it along the walls— do they have wall polish on their hand, or something? (...Is wall polish a thing?)

The person stumbles a bit closer and then stops. They don't seem threatening, exactly, but Liquid's getting the willies for sure. It might be time to call in backup.

Liquid turns around and calls "PLASMA? THERE'S SOME KIND OF...HAUNTED BABY OVER HERE!"

Haunted Baby makes a startled yelping sound and Liquid looks back to see them stumble backwards a few steps, plastering themself against the wall, eyes wide.

"Oh no! Did I scare you? Was I too loud?" Liquid says, bubbling in distress.

"Too loud," echoes Haunted Baby, looking very betrayed.

"Aw, I'm sorry," Liquid says, kneeling slightly to be more on their level. It notes a couple interesting things about their appearance—same golden tint to their skin as the Replicas, the little halo and wings that look like a mimicry of a Legend, hair orange-brown but golden-tipped in a way it doubts is hair dye—but mostly focuses on the fact that they look, more than anything, like a frightened little kid. "I'll be more quiet now, promise. I didn't mean to scare you. It's okay. Do you need help? Are you– do you know where you are?"

Haunted Baby visibly brightens– as in, they look happier, but also as in their halo and wings glow slightly and, unless Liquid's mistaken, their eyes get brighter as well. 

"The Vault," they say, in a voice that isn't Liquid's but seems like it shouldn't be theirs either, far too big for that tiny body and with an echo of its own, like the hallway itself is trying to amplify it, and it's Liquid's turn to rock backwards slightly, very startled and the tiniest bit afraid.

"Liquid?" Plasma's voice says, and Liquid finds to its great relief that the voice is coming from Plasma's mouth this time (inasmuch as Plasma has a mouth, anyway.)

"Plasma!" it says, scrambling back to its feet. "I'm so glad you're here." If it was possible for anyone to pinch Liquid, it might ask Plasma to pinch it to make sure it's not dreaming.

Plasma nods towards the tiny figure standing across from them, looking blissfully unaware of the mega-spooky thing they just did. "Is this the...Haunted Baby?"

"Haunted Baby!" chirps Haunted Baby, in Plasma's voice.

Plasma's expression doesn't appear to change much, but Liquid's known them long enough to know they're startled. "Ah."

[cecilsstorycorner]

Sabina Tkachuk ~ The Book of Broken Strings

23 - she/her - trans lesbian - judgment - dark blue string

Story

Sabina has been watching the strings for her whole life. Watching as her grandmother wove the tapestries of peoples lives, experiencing a sonder unlike any other. Growing up in the Neskinchen Forests, she’s well aquatinted with Spirits, and especially those who were once like her. She knows what risk she and her grandmother are taking, staying in this gravity well, but they’re prepared for that chance, and she’s not afraid. Now, after living in one house in the middle of nowhere for her whole life, her grandmother has convinced her to see the world. She can always come back if she decides it’s not for her, but she’s a fiery girl with a lot to offer, if she only let herself go and give it.

Personality

To put it bluntly, Sabina doesn’t have time for anyone’s shit. She knows what she wants, she knows what she’s doing, and if people try to put up a fight, it’s their lost- she’ll just go ahead without them. When she has a thought, she’ll say it as bluntly as you could imagine. Her grandmother never minded, and it was the only way to ever get through to the Spirits, although even that sometimes wasn’t enough. As most ‘tough gals’, though, she cares a lot more than she’d like to let on. She’s got friends now, goddamit, and she’s not gonna let their dumbasses get themselves killed when she has anything to say about it.

AESTHETICS || Snow blowing through an open door, thick shawls, muttered insults just a little too loud, ancient traditions given new meaning, heavy boots, the echo of an axe hitting a log through the woods, eyes peering through your window that you’ve long gotten used to

SONGS || The Queer Gospel - Erin McKeown || Station Wagging - Pretty Balanced || The River, the Woods - Astronautalis

~~

Taglist: @oceancold @zielenbloesem @henrike-does-writing-sometimes @dramaticvoiceover @andiwriteunderthemoon @feathered-inkling @piyawrites @halfbloodlycan @kalis-scribbles @swirley-whirley @chayscribbles

[merryfortune]

Day 11 - Rest Day

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Vrains

Ship: Ema/Taki

Word Count: 1.2k

Warnings: set during the Lost Incident/references to child abuse

  Taki blinked. She was surprised to hear that, but she was thrilled, nonetheless. Well, as thrilled as one could be in her rather precarious position, but she would take what she could in gratefulness. So, she thanked Dr Kogami – who praised her, briefly, for her displacing in work – and then took off.

  Having expected to have been working the whole day, when Taki exited the building, she felt vaguely empty. After all, her mind had been racing all morning with notes regarding what she had wanted to do today. She wanted to check on the Ignis containment units and she wanted to re-examine some observations on one of the children – 004 – as he had been displaying some unusual behaviours and she wanted to cross-examine them with her child psychology textbook that she had finally been able to pick up from the book shop having ordered it a couple weeks ago. But now. She didn’t have to do any of that so the sudden lack of things to do had hollowed her out.

  But all those things could be sticky-taped to her brain and left for tomorrow. For now, for today at least, Taki was going to enjoy herself. After all, the opportunity had presented itself. The only problem was, Taki had no idea how she wanted to spend this rare rest day that she had been given.

  However, as she wandered back with the intention of returning to her apartment to re-plan her day, she passed a café. It was an ordinary-looking café with a forest green façade and Taki realised that, she had never visited this café before, even though it was so close between her place of work and her apartment. She had always wanted to, but it was so hard to schedule such things into her day that she had always passed up on it.

  And with bright eyes, Taki realised that today may as well be that day. Though her stomach did not growl, and her mouth did not water, she still made the choice of entering the establishment. When she pushed on the door, it tinkled with the sound of a bell and she was greeted with the warm, delectable smell of cakes and coffees. Taki smiled.

 With the bell having rung, Taki garnered the attention of one of the workers in the café. She popped out of seeming nowhere, from behind the counter, and she quickly finished tying up her hair. Taki didn’t know why but watching the waitress’ deft fingers manipulate her hair tie and then irritably huffing when her hair flopped back out of place in rebellion made her heart flutter.

  It was a tiny moment of a thing Taki would probably call sonder. After all, she had just inadvertently witnessed a small sliver of the waitress’ inner life, so rich and complex and completely and utterly unknown to Taki, a fellow stranger. But also, because her cherry red lips and long eyelashes were rather appealing too, not just her fluffy, magenta-and-grey dual tone hair. She smiled impishly as she tucked a stray curl behind her ear which came to a peculiar point, Taki noticed.

  “Sorry, I’m having a bad hair day.” she huffed with pouty cheeks.

  “I think you look fine.” Taki replied without thinking.

  The waitress laughed flirtatiously. “You’re sweet. But, enough of that, sit where you want. Or are you expecting company?” she asked.

  “No, just me this morning.” Taki replied as she drew in closer, clutching her handbag.

  “Then, may I recommend the window seat? Good for people watching.” She said.

  “My favourite hobby.” Taki snickered.

  “Perfect. Now, can I get you anything to start? We’ve got blackboard specials.” The waitress said as she chucked her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the menu.

  Taki hummed as she looked up. Honestly, the most appealing thing in this café at the moment was the waitress, but she couldn’t say such a bold thing.

  “I might sit down first, read the menu…” she murmured.

  “Sounds good. Well, just give a shout.” the waitress said.

  “Easy.” Taki said.

  Taki excused herself from the front counter, and all the delicious treats that it had embedded in it and sat herself where she pleased. She took the waitress’ advice and sat in the middle of the window. She propped her chin up and her gaze drifted past to the people on their way to work. She sighed. As fun as the opportunity of having a day off was, she would have preferred to have been at work even if… even if work was how it was.

  It wasn’t a fun internship. Not by a long shot. The details of it sickened Taki to her stomach but the goal outweighed the necessary evils and so, she had committed. And maybe that was part of why she couldn’t enjoy herself here. Even though the waitress and the décor were both pretty and the food seemed utterly aromatic. It’s because she knew, not too far away, six children were going through hell on earth.

  Taki sighed again and her eyes drifted to the menu in front of her, wedged between bottles of salt and pepper. She picked it up and picked through it. She thought about what she had eaten for breakfast and it had been pretty plain as well as savoury, so she found herself drawing closer to the sweets on offer. The hedgehog slice sounded nice but the orange and poppy seed cake could be good too.

  “Excuse me, waitress?” Taki piped up.

  The waitress set aside the broom that she was pretending to use to sweep. She smiled as she joined Taki at the table.

  “Yes, darling?” she said.

  “What would you recommend? The hedgehog slice or the orange and poppy seed cake?” Taki asked.

  “Honestly, I would recommend you neither of those things.” the waitress said with a quirk of her brows.

  “Oh, what would you recommend?” Taki asked, curious.

  “I’d recommend you my name and number.” She said.

  Taki’s mouth dried. “A bold little minx, aren’t you? I mean, you look barely out of high school.”

  “Graduated last year, actually.” the waitress said. “What about you, hon?”

  “I’m in my third year of university, actually.” Taki replied.

  “Oh fun.” The waitress smiled.

  “Do you do this with all your customers?” asked Taki.

  “No, only the ones with pretty red hair.” the waitress said with a wink. “Well?”

  “Alright, if that’s what the waitress recommends, I’m Kyoko Taki, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” Taki said.

  “Wonderful.” The waitress said as she scribbled out her digits on her little notepad which she was probably supposed to take orders with; not give them out. “I’m Ema.”

  “It’s good to meet you, Ema.” Taki said, with a demure smile, as she accepted the little note.

  “But, on a serious note, get the orange and poppy seed cake. It is so much friendlier on the hips and pairs better with all sorts of coffees.” Ema said.

  “I’ll take your word for it. I’ll get a latte thank you, with a slice of your orange and poppy seed cake.” Taki said.

  “I’ll be two shakes of a lamb’s tail then, Kyoko.” Ema said.

  “A very bold little minx.” Taki teased.

  Ema laughed and excused herself. It was bittersweet. This felt like a fated encounter. Taki could feel some sort of importance to this meeting – and consequent flirtation – but she had orchestrated fated encounters before and not all of them were good. Just look at her. A right mad scientist who was enjoying a perfectly wonderful day off on the backs of the suffering of children.

[tracle0]

I’ve had a lot of thoughts recently and haven’t really put them anywhere so I’m gonna just. Dump them all here and hope you enjoy the ride if you chose to come on it. 

I will put it below a cut so if you decide to skip this trip, then you won’t have to scroll.

So first of all, it’s Inktober, which is cool and will keep me occupied until the end of the month. I have been posting the drawings on here, they will be posted in reblogs by week, should you be interested in That. 

After Inktober is obviously NaNo, which has me more hyped than I can say. I get to!!!!!! finally write!!!!! wip4!!!!!!!! 

Which is terrifying!!!!!!!!!!!

I know like. The vague shape of it, yknow? I know most of the stuff that happens in it, but like. How does it start? I think it starts with Mika being pick-pocketed at a train station but I ain’t sure. So that’ll be fun to figure out. 

2019 NaNo - which was DIAS’s year - was very assisted by having a plan written out before everything started. It was basically a chapter summary for every chapter, basically saying what I wanted to write in that chapter. It was handy cause I figured out how to structure (Ant+Leon alternate chapters, Simon gets every 5th chapter) as well as what was roughly gonna happen. At some points I deviated. That is legal. 

That’s a very long way of saying I need to do that again for wip4

Character wise wip4 wise.... mm yeah lotsa thoughts. Lots of little ‘oh start a chapter like this’ thoughts that I need to remember for now. Very fond of thinking about Percival and Abby. They’re gonna be fun. Abby’s gonna be a lot of fun. Percival’s mostly gonna be blankly going along with stuff, until he doesn’t, and then he gets fun.

I think I’ll be good. I’m excited.

I’m double terrified cause I thrive on like... minimal time slots to write in? Like ‘oh five minutes spare during lunch, scribble down some words, then edit as you type them up in the evening’ time slots. It made the NaNotebook something I look back on fondly, as well as keeping me thinking through the day. I don’t do good by having endless time to write, which I’m worried is what’s gonna happen this year. 

Saying that, I’ve been speaking to job people about getting a job, might be able to get one in November, fingers crossed. 

Other news other news - hey do people remember Sonder??? Sonder is a thing, that existed once. I mean, it still does, but I’m not writing it as it is anymore. 

‘Oh that’s very specific phrasing Trade why so specific’ you can blame @joyful-soul-collector for everything I’m about to say. 

So what if Sonder but like... fantasy AU. We take the towns of Sonder and Glalis and make them kingdoms, take the characters and twist them just a bit, take a conflic and see what happens then. 

This would improve. A lot of issues I have with Sonder. First of all, I’m bored of its current plot, so entirely new setting and conflict would be fun. Secondly, it’d fix the POV issue - I had to use Sam as a POV character because she was not infected with The Weird, whereas everyone else was. If the whole thing is fantasy, then The Weird is just life, any POV character would do as long as things are explained. 

This does not mean Sam is being scrapped, it just means she won’t be a POV character. I could use someone else. Say, oh, I don’t know, Andy???? Who, side note, would be a prince. 

Don’t worry it makes me feel as sick as you I’m sure c;

Anyway the main issue with fantasy AU Sonder is I don’t want to write it. I keep coming up with plot to do with it - Atlas being a bastard wizard who thrives on tormenting Andy, they have to go on a quest together to find a cure to a disease that’s struck the lands, oh say that disease comes from the mushrooms in Glalis - but I don’t. Want to write it. 

Yknow what I can do though. Yknow what I’m not too bad at. 

Guys, gals and non-binary pals, I might just make a comic out of this Sonder AU. 

This is very dependent on my interest post-NaNo - so we’ve got like, two months of me stewing on this idea before any canon content will be made. However, I’ve also been stewing on this whole idea for a hecking long time. Thanks, Marko. 

I’ll also make a post about it by itself, and maybe a seperate blog for it, should I decide to pursue this, so if you’re interested... keep your eyes peeled for a taglist or announcement about it.

Beyond that, updates are just about beating myself into doing Stuff again, which I’m glad to report I did, and personal shit, which I don’t share here.

Ciao

[commdesign]

BLAD Inspiration Moodboard

PLAYFUL, FUN, BOLD, BRIGHT, CONTRAST!

One thing that lacked in our blad was the fun aspect. Looking for inspiration, I fell upon the Sonder Magazine double page spreads. What I loved about these images is the use of colour and the scribble element that ties everything together. 

Next Steps

The scribble idea is something that I can explore and experiment on as it would  designs more playful and less restrictive. 

[miafreemangrad602]

BLAD Inspo

As a group we discussed the type of style we want for out BLAD. We want to keep it clean and minimal (not overcrowding any pages, keeping the illustrations minimal, sticking to minimal colours, and using clean type). A photographic heavy style to display the design agencies and keeping the publication information focused would be best for the publication. It would make sure the design agencies are the stars and central focus of the publication.

Here is some of the main inspo for our BLAD.

Sonder

This is a publication I found on Behance and I really like the it has been layed out. It has a main focus on highlighting the photography and often has full pages dedicated to one image. The hue of the images has also been edited to fit into the colour scheme to create a really connected feel across the spreads. The text or has also been coloured to fit the theme of each page. I really like the way this has been done, it makes everything feel really cohesive. The scribble doodle used, works really well as a repeating element throughout all the spreads. It makes the publication feel more playful and is another clear link between all the pages.

ZINE

This is another publication I found on Behance. The way the images and text has been layed out is really cool. I like how there is a pretty clear grid system on all the pages, but it wont always be followed. Having the text and images bleed off the page is really cool and adds a lot of visual interest to each spread. It also helps draw viewers eyes' all around the page. The vertical oriented type also works really well and is something I want to try in my own concepts.

Building Views

As a group, we liked the way this publication layed out the text. I especially like the how the images and image captions are presented. The image captions being placed vertically makes the book feel more interesting and interactive, viewers have more of a desire to pick up the book and turn it around. I also think the captions frame the images really nicely and work well as a border.

Asphalt no.7

This is another publication where the photography is treated as the main focus. Minimal colour is used so the photos have a change to shine on their own. They also scaled the images to fit evenly on each spread and I think this helps the publication feel very cohesive. I love the way the titles have been cut-off by the edge of the page, I think this creates a really cool effect and gets the viewer more interested. As we want our publication to focus mainly on photographs of the design studios and their work, a style like this would help us achieve that successfully.