#tbh it could use a lot of editing now but hey!

[koqabear]

Hiii congrats on 2k sol obsessed with everything you write!!!!💓 Could I request revisiting emo boy? Like what their relationship is like after and dates and how sex is like? Maybe beomgyu’s band really blows up and he’s quite busy, how does oc respond to this? And with smut? Tysm!!💝

playlist // beomgyu's encore outfit hehe // cont. of hey emo boy!

 “The day of your one-year anniversary with Beomgyu was expected to be spent away from each other— but not if either of you can help it, far too in love to let anything get in the way of you two.”

bassist!beomgyu x fem!reader // wc: 6.6K (everyone stfu rn) // genre: band au, opposites attract trope, established relationship, smut, tooth rotting fluff tbh, MDNI.

warnings: they are in love and it’s fucking GROSS!! barely edited, the two have hella piercings hehe (bg: snake bites, tongue, eyebrow // mc: smiley & nipple piercings) pet names (sweet thing, pretty, etc.) use of the L word bc they are literally obsessed w/ each other.

smut warnings: hard dom! gyu, sub!mc, needy sex sorry 😖, marking, manhandling, dry humping, biting, breast play, possessiveness, unprotected sex, bg picks the mc up, scratching, dacryphilia, dumbification, a lot of kissing lol, degrading, slight praise, fingering, creampie, cum eating…? lmk if i should add anything !

Notes: happy (late) birthday to the fic that’s probably my peak… this story single handedly changed the course of my blog me thinks. thank you to everyone who was just as affected by emo gyu as i was. 

Being in a committed relationship with Choi Beomgyu, bassist of Tomorrow x Together and an absolute unattainable heartthrob, was not very easy. 

It was at first; with their blossoming career, it was more about the music than their looks. Fans were loyal simply because they liked their sound, their message, the way their concerts were filled with such energy and passion it left their hearts beating with adrenaline after— but of course, it’s hard to not notice the absolute eye candy on stage; low-lidded gazes, dark stage lights that barely highlighted their stunning features, and clothing that was just as alluring and flattering as the rest of them; inevitably, their popularity sky-rocketed, for better and for worse. 

Beomgyu was left with more money than he knew what to do with. Most of the time, it was used to spoil you, his pretty girlfriend he brought with him everywhere because he was just too obsessed with you— it made his band members wonder if he simply had attachment issues by how much his world revolved around you. But no, you were just as bad as him; present during rehearsals, always in the studio to cheer them on or give them a second opinion on a new song; it wasn’t long before you ended up befriending the rest of them as well, a tight bond forming simply because of all the things you went through together. 

As unfortunate as it was, they weren’t the only ones forced to bear with negative and hateful encounters from the public; while they had their experiences of being mistreated early in their career, you had to deal with immature or creepy fans that had taken a liking to harass you— inboxes on all social media platforms flooded constantly, your number even leaked once as you were forced to buy a new phone all together from how badly you were being spammed— Beomgyu had been quick to lash out and tell them to leave you alone if they didn’t want a lawsuit on their hands. 

Overtime, they adjusted to their popularity. Schedules slowly became filled to the brim, their dream now a reality as they spent months on tour— and while you were more than happy and proud of them and their flourishing career, it’d be a lie to say it was all one happy and perfect life. 

You hadn’t seen Beomgyu in ages— decades, centuries, eons— in other words, two weeks. 

The band had more interviews and performances than you could keep up with; if they weren’t on some random talk show, they were at a photoshoot, getting interviewed for the next issue of a magazine you’d undoubtedly have on your coffee table the day it came out. Promotions, nights at the studio, it all added up— and before you knew it, your one year anniversary began to creep up, and all hopes to celebrate it properly dwindled down in your heart— but, having him here with you today was enough. 

You didn’t blame Beomgyu; you weren’t angry or upset, because it was simply something neither of you could control. And though it did suck knowing you wouldn’t be able to spend such a meaningful day together, it felt a little better to know that you weren’t the only one hung up on it. 

On the contrary— you think Beomgyu might be handling this worse than you. 

“Baby, baby please,” he cries, refusing to let go of you and cuddling closer to you instead, a mess of tangled limbs and blankets as he cups your face fondly, “pleaaase I know you said I shouldn’t feel bad but please come on tour with us this week, I think I’ll seriously die if you’re not here this time.”

“Gyu, baby, I really shouldn’t—” you say quietly, only to get cut off by his excessive whining and teary eyes. His bottom lip is jutted out in a ridiculous pout, squeezing your cheeks and holding back a smile at the way your lips puff out as a result; you attempt to push him off you, only for him to retaliate by rolling entirely on top of you, a loud squeal escaping you at the feeling of his weight pressing you into the mattress, his stupid face hovering over yours as he continues to plead you quietly. 

“Pleaaseee?” he whines, pressing his flat palms against your cheeks and getting your lips to puff out again; he ignores your half-hearted protests for him to get the fuck off, choosing to punctuate his every word with a kiss instead, his piercings a sharp contrast to his plump lips that crash against you with every word. 

“Please?” kiss. “Won’t you,” kiss. “come with us?” another kiss. 

“Please. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease—” 

He’s practically suffocating you at this point, refusing to pull away and mumbling the words against your lips, laughs breaking between the two of you as you yell at him to get off, that you can barely breathe with him on top of you; you’re pushing at his shoulders weakly as he continues to tease you, your unabashed laugh contagious as he quickly finds himself smiling as well— he only pulls away once he hears you yell a loud fuck, okay! Hovering over you with bright eyes and a wide grin. 

His arms snake around your waist before he’s rolling over, successfully switching so that you’re the one on top of him— he ignores the loud and exaggerated sigh of relief you let out. 

“It won’t make much of a difference though,” you say quietly, hiding in the crook of his neck as you confess your doubts, “You’ll be too busy and exhausted the whole day, I really don’t want me to be added to your list of concerns.”

You went on tour with him, once— but you learned it was better off to not be anywhere backstage with him during those times, the boy too concerned and constantly doting on you to remain focused; any mistakes he made hitting much harder, a subconscious pressure to be perfect and give his all only trifolded by your presence.

“What? No,” he says immediately, sitting back on his elbows and causing you to look up at him in response; his brows are furrowed and he seems a bit baffled by your comment, shaking his head adamantly to emphasize his point, “I like having you there. I know you like being there, I want you there— I wouldn’t be asking you to come with me if I thought you were a burden.”

He managed to pull out the exact words you were trying to skirt around— your face heats up at his reassurance, much too intimidated by the intensity of his gaze as you bury your face into his chest instead; his chest bounces from the laugh he lets out, flopping onto his back once more and hugging you close, bodies pressed flush against each other and one of his legs thrown around your waist in a childish attempt to pull you even closer. 

“Plus, don’t you wanna visit Europe with me?” he asks, a teasing lilt to his voice as he feels you nod shyly; he knows just how much you enjoy the travel aspect to his career, constantly asking for pictures or to facetime while he’s gone, “I wanna show you all my favorite spots this time, and not through some glitchy facetime— I wanna spend time with you, sweet thing.”

“Ugh, shut up,” you groan, hitting his chest weakly as he simply laughs at you softly, “you’re so corny.”

“You love it,” he coos, rubbing a soothing hand up and down your back, biting back a smile at the way he can feel your breath even out— you remain silent. Partly because you’re falling asleep from his touch, and partly because he’s right. 

⤬⤬⤬ 

Europe is breathtaking— you’ve never been so grateful for Beomgyu’s stubborn, persistent mind. 

The tour has gone as perfect as always, spending a few days at their shows before you simply resigned to stay at the hotel instead; after seeing that Beomgyu was so distracted trying to look for you during a show that he missed his cue (and played the notes wrong to another song) you found it better to wait for him and see him after instead— ready to help him wind down and relax after another energetic, adrenaline-inducing show. 

Most nights consisted of you practically carrying him to the bathtub; cooing soft reassurance as he whined about how tired and sore he felt, shampooing his hair, massaging his scalp and tense shoulders— most of the time, he’d fall asleep then and there, and it’d be another hassle to wake him up and get him out. You’d lure him out of the tub and wait for him to change into your matching pajamas— hello kitty ones, his idea, not yours—  and greet him in the bed with a warm embrace and lips that peppered kisses all over his face.

It was during these moments you found humor in the contrast of his stage persona to his true self; from his usual attire, chokers and ripped clothes, wardrobe consisting of black and multiple piercings that decorated his ears and face, your thumb brushing over his newest eyebrow piercing fondly— versus the man that slept soundly in your arms now, long hair tied back and cute pink barrettes clipping back his bangs, donned in hot pink fuzzy pajamas— and you’re sure that if his band members saw him like this, they’d never stop teasing him. 

You didn’t have to wait long to confirm that thought; Beomgyu didn’t bother changing as he met up with the others in Yeonjun’s room for breakfast the next morning, tugging you along and remaining unfazed at the way his band members burst out laughing the moment he entered the room— you felt a bit bad at the way you found yourself laughing as well, even more so because you’re the only reason he’s found himself dressed like this. (But again, he was the one who bought these clothes in the first place.)

“Happy anniversary, you two,” Yeonjun muses, smiling at the way you’re the only one who seems to process that, chirping out a cheery thank you! as you proceed to drag Beomgyu to the couch, “I feel bad that we have a concert today, ___. As vomit-inducing as it is seeing you two, you do deserve to spend the day together.”

“It’s okay,” you immediately say, brushing his teasing comment off and holding back a smile at the way Beomgyu is still struggling to gain consciousness, more tired than you thought as he simply stares at his waffles for a moment before finally digging in, “at least he’s spending the day doing something he loves.”

“Gross,” Hueningkai says, scrunching his nose playfully before laughing at the glare you send him, “you two are so mushy, it’s painful.”

The rest of the day leading up to the concert is spent peacefully; once Beomgyu has gained enough coherence to fight back against the member’s jabs, he’s pulling you away to show you new sights and stores he discovered from his previous visits, spoiling you beyond belief and buying anything you look at for a second too long; you end up with more bags than you know what to do with, and Beomgyu refuses to let you carry a single one as he proceeds to take you one of his go-to restaurants, as he told you; saying he’s been wanting to bring you here since the moment he found it, smiling brightly when he sees you enjoying the food as much as he did.

To say he’s reluctant to leave you to go to the concert venue is an understatement; you think he might start crying at any given moment as he stares at you with shining eyes, unable to let go of your hand as he stands by the door of the hotel room— not quite ready to leave yet, but knowing that he must eventually as he chooses to bring you in for another slow, loving kiss instead. 

“Are you sure you’re not coming tonight?” he asks you, trying to hide the sadness in his voice and failing miserably.

“And make you fuck up your setlist? I don’t think so,” you try to joke, only to panic slightly at the way his eyes gloss over; your hand immediately jumps up to cup his face, laughing softly at his expression as he simply pouts at you ridiculously. 

“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” you grin, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before you lean over to his ear, voice dropping to nothing but a whisper as you let your lips brush against his ear, “I’ll have a nice surprise for you tonight, so you better give your best show out there, okay?”

The low lilt of your voice is enough to have him perking up immediately; mouth parted slightly as he stares at you, unsure of what else to do but nod pathetically, knowing he won’t be able to control himself if he thinks about what you might have in store for too long. 

With one last chaste kiss, he’s leaving— and only because Soobin was pounding at the door, telling him they’d be late if he didn’t go out this instant— you think he might start crying as he gives you one last pouty glance, waving to you sadly before he slips out the door. 

You’re left alone, the room suddenly much lonelier and quieter than it was a few seconds ago— and you laugh, checking the time and running to your suitcase to get your makeup and outfit for tonight. 

A revealing shirt, a mini-skirt that’s a bit alarmingly short— you’re pulling out a sparkling, pink outfit like it’s nothing, throwing it all on and doing your makeup as you check the time absentmindedly; your phone lights up while you’re in the middle of doing so, and a notification reads that the staff are waiting for you outside to take you to the venue once you’re ready. 

Beomgyu loves performing knowing you’re in the audience more than anything; it’s something he’s made blatant to you, knowing that despite his mistakes, despite his small distractions, his energy always goes out the roof the moment he spots you there. So you knew how distraught Beomgyu would be to hear that you’re not going to the show tonight despite being able to, but the thought of surprising him is much more enticing than you’d like to admit. 

With one last check of your appearance in the mirror, you grab a jacket before you go; Beomgyu’s favorite oversized zip-up, the clothing item a stark contrast to the rest of your feminine and bright attire— and you smile, adjusting the purse on your shoulder before you’re off to the hotel lobby, where the staff are waiting and ready to escort you safely. 

The venue is almost full by the time you get there; you’re escorted straight to your barricade seats front and center, smiling shyly and waving at fans that seem to recognize you; your face feels hot and you walk faster at the way they get excited at the sight of you, not used to the fame that comes with being Beomgyu’s girlfriend— hell, you really don’t know how Beomgyu does it. 

You’re more than relieved once the concert begins, any attention that still lingered on you immediately getting stolen by the boys that appeared on stage; you winced slightly at the loud screams all around you, unable to help the way you eventually joined in— morphing into another fan in the crowd, the venue much too dark for any of the boys to recognize you just yet. 

They looked stunning in their concert outfits; the professional, matching and dark outfits tailored perfectly to each member, intricate with chains and rosaries and pretty layers. Your eyes widen as you watch Beomgyu walk to his position, taking note of his hair that has now been dyed back to black— you hadn’t realized how long it’d gotten until now, the layers framing his face and falling into his eyes as he goes to push back his bangs with a delicate hand. 

There are no introductions tonight— the music begins immediately, loud and abrasive and making the crowd jump along excitedly, screaming the lyrics and reaching out to try and get one of the members to pay attention to them— on the contrary, you try to remain hidden, looking away and bowing your head every time Beomgyu’s gaze sweeps around your area. 

God, you wish Beomgyu didn’t turn into such a ditz whenever he spotted you in the audience— because then you’d be able to enjoy more of their concerts, addicted to the borderline euphoric feeling you get from attending them, only for it to be multiplied as your eyes catch onto your boyfriend performing, your heart pounding against your chest at the sound of his voice ringing out into the venue— a surge of pride and love fills you as a grin spreads on your face, and it isn’t until you notice a member walking around that you’re able to look away from him.

Looking up, you make eye contact with Hueningkai. 

His mischievous smile and raised brows are immediately returned with a violent shake of your head; telling him to not say anything to Beomgyu, rubbing your hands together pleadingly the moment he glances back at the said man— then he turns to you, sending you a playful wink before he’s off to another section, not without sending you one last teasing grin and a wave; you’re glancing at Beomgyu in a panic, unsure if he’s spotted you, only to be relieved at the sight of him too concentrated on playing to even look up at the crowd.

It isn’t until the encore that they’ve all begun to move around, (save for Taehyun and Soobin, bound to their instruments as they’re resigned to simply wave at the crowd when they can) changed into more comfortable outfits during a small intermission— Beomgyu is decked in baggy jeans and an equally baggy shirt, long hair messy and makeup smudged as he walks along the stage, smiling and waving at fans that reach out for him— he plays his bass so effortlessly as he does, truly mesmerizing as he stops a few times to interact with fans; the sight has your heart fluttering hopelessly. 

But the closer he gets, the more you’re buzzing with nervous energy. Gripping onto the barricade tightly, having stood up long ago with the rest of the fans that are eager to get their attention. Beomgyu’s eyes scan through the crowd thoroughly, smiling cutely and returning hearts until he spots you. 

He freezes entirely. 

He’s no longer playing bass— he’s just standing there, in complete shock as he stares at you. You can only muster to give him a sheepish wave, an uncontrollable grin on your face as you laugh at his dumbfounded expression, trying to yell at him to go back to playing. But he doesn’t, and you’re jumping slightly at the way he takes off his bass and jumps off the stage, security frantically following behind as he rushes over to you.

His hands are on your face and he’s pulling you in for a kiss quicker than you can process; you hear the screams of the crowd around you, but Beomgyu’s got you in his hold so tightly that you’re unable to pull away, left to give in and melt against him as he kisses you for a little longer. Your face feels as though it’s on fire by the time he’s pulled away, his own alight entirely with joy as he grins at you, your head still in his hands as he leans against the barricade excitedly— you think he might just jump over it any moment now.

“You’re here?” he says exasperatedly, eyes scanning you frantically as though he were imagining you, “why didn’t you tell me, you should’ve— I would’ve—”

“Beomgyu,” you cut him off, placing your hands over his and laughing at the way he can only stutter stupidly, brushing his hair behind his ear fondly— watching the way his eyes crinkle cutely as he smiles, your own sweeping over the array of piercings that decorate him, hello kitty earrings glinting under the light— and pry his hands off your face, ignoring the pout he sends you as you scold him instead. “Get back on stage!”

Your words seem to snap him out of his reverie; his head is whipping back to look at the stage, at the way his friends can only laugh at him teasingly and yell at him to get back here— the way Yeonjun yells directly into the mic is slightly embarrassing, shrinking at the way all eyes are on you as the man’s words ring out the venue— Beomgyu, get the fuck back here!

He’s only able to leave with one last chaste kiss— the crowd is screaming at the sight, and you’re resisting the urge to cover your face in weak hopes that it could take all this attention off you— but you’ll bear it, especially with the way Beomgyu mouths a cute I love you! before he’s jumping back on stage. 

The poor boy is unable to take his eyes off you for the rest of the night— but on the bright side, there are no missed cues or wrong notes played. He’s just entranced with you for the rest of the encore, his energy seemingly replenished with the way he jams out to the music; mouthing the lyrics even when it’s not his part, maintaining eye-contact with you during songs he knows you’re particularly fond of— and suddenly, the idea of spending his anniversary at a concert isn’t as depressing as it was earlier tonight— because now, he had you by his side. 

⤬⤬⤬

“Beomgyu— Beomgyu please, not here…” you whine, unable to do much but bite your lip and swallow back whines that threaten to escape you, left to Beomgyu’s mercy as he immediately led you to his dressing room after the show— the said man is much too focused on kissing and marking your neck to listen, soft hair brushing against your face as he pulls you flush against him; back pressed against the wall, arched prettily from the way his hands snake around your waist and press your lower half against his— you’re holding back a groan at the way he’s already hopelessly hard against you. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you’d be coming? Hmmm? Just wanted to be a tease? Was this your little surprise?” he asks, biting at your skin and huffing out a laugh at the whine that escapes you; your hands are gripping onto his shirt tightly, fisting it in your hands and wrinkling the material as he lets his teeth sink slightly near your collarbones, “god, you look so good tonight, you’d really expect me to be able to hold myself back?”

His hands are wandering down your waist; over the swell of your ass, fiddling with the hem of your mini-skirt before he’s venturing under it— feeling the way you shiver against him the moment his hands squeeze at the soft flesh, fingers decorated with rings cold against your skin as he comes back up to kiss you. It’s rough and desperate, lip rings scratching as he kisses you with such hunger it leaves you breathless; he grinds his cock desperately against you, eliciting a small gasp from you and allowing him to slip his tongue inside— the piercing that decorates it scrapes along your mouth, unable to help the way your knees weaken at the feeling of him— his touch is everywhere, leaving you dizzy and lightheaded as you can only melt against him, allowing him to press you flush against the wall with his own body; your miniskirt is riding up along your hips as he situates himself between your legs, panties already a mess as he begins to rut his cock into you. 

“Are you sure you want to wait now, pretty?” he asks, looking down at you with low-lidded and fucked out eyes— he punctuates his words with a particularly harsh thrust, laughing at the way you yelp and tighten your hold on him, “I could stop everything right now, send you back to the hotel like this and make you wait, just like you said— is that what you want?”

Oh, he’s cruel— even more so because you’re left shaking your head no deliriously, your mind fogged with such need that your eyes are glossing over at the very thought of not having Beomgyu inside you right now; your voice is pathetic as you plead Beomgyu to finish what he started, throwing a hand over his shoulder and entangling your fingers into his hair as you pull him back into you— he’s more than eager to return the kiss, tilting his head and pressing himself more against you as a hand reaches down to your thigh; grabbing the back of your knee, guiding you to hook it around his waist as he begins to rut into you mindlessly.

“So cute, my pretty girl,” he mumbles against your lips, eyes trailing down your low-cut top to spot his favorite zip-up, a smile tugging at his lips as he merely sends you a cute smile, “did you miss me that much? Already so needy from a little bit of kissing— god, I love you so much…”

You think he’s mostly talking to himself at this point— spewing nothing but filth as his hands shove your shirt over your chest, grinning as he remains impatient enough to not take off a single item of clothing, choosing to push tug your bra down harshly before he’s swooping down to mark your breasts with a cruel smile.

“Looked so fucking hot out there, just made me wanna take you backstage and fuck you there,” he confesses, listening to the choked whine you let out, his pierced tongue playing with your hardened nipples, leaving them swollen and sensitive. He’s looking up at you with doe eyes that contrast greatly with the way he sticks his tongue out for you, letting you watch the way he circles and toys with the cute jewelry he bought for you earlier today, pulling away with a coy smile and leaving them soaked with his spit— he blows softly on them, watching with tentative eyes as you keen at the feeling. 

“God, you know I’ve been wanting to do this every time I see you at one of our shows? To make sure that everyone that looks at you knows just who,” he rolls his hips into you, nice and slow and letting you feel the length of his cock press against you as you flutter your eyes shut from pleasure, “you’re here for?”

“Fuck, gyu,” you pant out, snaking your hands under his shirt and up his back, grabbing at his shoulders and pulling him into you— as if there’s still space between the two of you, as if you’d die if you weren’t touching him at all times, “‘m only yours, only want you…” 

He’s sneaking a hand down to move your panties to the side, the two of you much too desperate to shed off any layers— and as you listen to the clinking sounds of his belt, undoing his jeans and pulling out his hardened cock, you busy yourself by sucking and biting at his neck, listening to his stuttered breaths as you suck and tease at the joint of his neck, his most sensitive spot as you bite at it playfully— you’re only pulling away at the feeling of Beomgyu grabbing at you hair and tugging you away, letting out a baffled laugh at the satisfied look you give him in return. 

“Want everyone to know you’re mine,” you coo out softly, grinding your pussy slowly against Beomgyu’s tip that teases your entrance, your mouth falling open at the feeling of him mirroring the action, running along your folds and swiping at your clit, “all mine, my pretty boy…”

He laughs fondly against your lips at that— bringing you in for a slow kiss, feeling the way your mind goes blank the moment his tip slowing enters you; he’s swallowing a soft moan from you as he bottoms out slowly, keeping himself deep inside and grinding his hips slowly against yours— and he stays there, a tease like always as he watches your brows furrow and your lips pout, telling him softly to move, to do something.

“Mmmh, all yours,” he mumbles softly, pulling out slowly to let you feel the way every vein runs against your walls, clenching and fluttering against his length as he hisses at the feeling, “I’m yours, belong only to you, fuck…”

He’s not able to keep this agonizingly slow pace up for long— as much as he wants to tease you, to have you crying and pleading for him to fuck you stupid, he isn’t fairing that well himself— so it isn’t long before he’s beginning to snap his hips into you, cock curving and aiming for that spot that has your knees buckling, pretty nails digging into Beomgyu’s shoulders and biting at the skin in order to try to stabilize yourself.

“Such a perfect cunt— fuck, ah, just wanna fill you up, wanna see it dripping down those pretty thighs— stupid fucking skirt can’t hide anything, ugh—” his voice is deep and breathy as he continues to talk into your ear, his hands sliding down to the swell of your ass before he’s holding it there— lifting you up, forcing you to hook your legs around his waist as you’re left to his mercy; his chest is pressed flush against yours as he fucks you, and you can only bury your face into his neck to try and muffle your sounds, the rough way you bounce from his thrusts causing your nails to slip and scratch down his back— he hisses at the feeling, only to be spurred by the stinging sensation it leaves behind. 

“So loud, shit,” he laughs meanly, grinning at the way you only bury your face into him more to try and muffle your sounds, “want everyone to hear you? All the staff, the members— I’m sure they’d like to see what a pretty doll you are for me.”

You shake your head at that— but your body gives you away as your cunt clenches around him pathetically, the wet sounds of skin against skin filling the room and undoubtedly filtering outside— but you remain persistent to keep your moans to yourself, choking back on sounds of pleasure as Beomgyu only begins to fuck you rougher; your silence is a challenge, one he’ll gladly take as he begins to roll his hips into you just the way you like it. 

“Come on pretty, I wanna hear you,” he purrs into your ear, a hand snaking around to rub at your clit while the other remains firm on your ass, “don’t you feel good? I can make you feel even better— so, so so good, just let me hear your cute little sounds.”

You’re playing hard to get. And Beomgyu takes absolute pleasure in it, watching the way you shake and dig your nails into him helplessly, your body being wound up from how good he fucks you; your thighs are sticky and shining from your arousal, poorly concealed pleasure only fueling Beomgyu’s ego further as he reaches up to tug your head out from it’s hiding spot.

He thinks he might just cum on the spot; your makeup is ruined, tears of mascara running down your cheeks as you merely let out soft hiccups of moans, your lips parted and brain completely empty as you stare at him— he smiles at you in return, capturing your lips in another kiss as his hand begins to trail down; toying with your breasts, nimble fingers pinching and rolling your nipples as you jolt and whine into his mouth at the sensation. 

“Gyu— gonna— need to, ah…!” the choked whimpers you let out aren’t enough for Beomgyu, and he only slows down at your request; fresh tears stream down your cheeks as you plead softly, breathy voice barely above a whisper as you whine quietly to keep going, don’t stop, please gyu, pleeaaase…. 

“Hmm? What’s that? I can’t hear you, baby,” he murmurs softly against your lips, slowing to nothing but a grind as he presses himself against you— pelvis grinding against your clit, the feeling making you tremble as you dig your nails into his shoulders once more. “Come on sweet thing, tell me what you need.”

You’re telling him— begging, pleading, breathy whimpers and soft cries escaping you as you roll your hips into him, biting your lip and sighing exasperatedly at the way he simply watches you with dark eyes, slowing down until he’s simply bottomed out inside you. 

“What do you want?” he asks softly, breathy voice intertwined with a lilt so sweet you’d almost think he pities you— and by the way he’s looking at you, he just might, swollen lips caught between his teeth to try and suppress a smile. You’re still weak and quiet as you try to voice your wants, looking at him through wet lashes, a pout on your face as your hands run absentmindedly up and down his back.

“Wanna cum?” he coos, pretty hand reaching down to circle and pinch your clit teasingly, “Want me to fuck you? Fill you up? Hmmm?”

All you can do is nod along to his words stupidly— and obviously, it’s the very last thing your boyfriend wants, abandoning your clit and reaching up to grab your face roughly; fingers digging into your cheeks, forced to look at him as he merely glares at you and speaks through gritted teeth. 

“Tell me,” he says, voice sharp and dangerous as he narrows his eyes, “use your words— or, don’t tell me I’ve fucked you dumb already.”

He’s unhooking one of your legs from his waist at that; you’re stumbling slightly, leg too weak to let you stand as you merely cry at him to wait, bringing him closer to you in fear that he might pull out and leave you like this— his fingers still dig into your cheeks as you speak, drool building up at the corners of your pouty lips as you stutter out exactly what you want— what he wants to hear.

“Want you to fuck me, use me— wanna cum, please,” you cry out, eyes squeezing shut as he shakes your head teasingly, as though to say and what else? “Want you to cum inside, baby please, just wanna feel good—”

You’re rambling at this point. But Beomgyu enjoys it nonetheless, telling you to keep going as he begins to move again; slowly at first, allowing you to feel the drag of his thick cock against your walls as your words become stuttered through weak moans, the sight making your boyfriend laugh as he slowly begins to pick up his pace. 

“Like it when I fuck you like this, yeah?” you’re nodding in confirmation to his words; staring at him with pleading eyes, whimpering a soft harder, faster, that the man is immediately obliging as he coos at the way you yelp at the sensation. “Want it harder? Hmmm? Want me to fuck you ‘till you can’t even walk—? Have to carry you out of here, let everyone see the way your sweet cunt is filled up by me?”

All you can do is nod to his words at this point; whimpering a weak yes, yesyesyes, want you to fill me up, use me, more more please—

Everything crashes down on you unexpectedly; your eyes are shutting tight and you think you might just black out as your orgasm hit you suddenly, cunt squeezing and fluttering around Beomgyu’s cock as he groans at the sensation— he lets you ride it out, cooing soft praise into your ear before he’s pulling you in for another kiss; you’re barely able to kiss him back, moaning into his mouth and letting him do whatever he wants with you.

It isn’t long before he’s cumming inside you as well; you’re so tight he can barely move, your cute whimpers and warm cunt guiding him through it as he fucks into you slowly, making sure none of his release slips out as he continues to fuck you, even after he’s become horribly sensitive. Then he’s still, lips still on yours and arms wrapped tightly around you as though he’s afraid to let you go.

“You okay?” he asks quietly after a moment, still lingering close to you, taking in your appearance with tentative eyes. You nod softly, still attempting to catch your breath as you chest heaves against his; he huffs out a soft laugh, caressing your cheek fondly before he’s going to fix your clothes— your mini-skirt remains up on your hips, his cock still bottomed out inside you as he coos about how good you were for him, caressing any skin he can get his hands on (which is a lot, considering your wardrobe) with a smile.

“Pretty girl, so perfect,” he coos, finally pulling out and tucking himself in before he’s going to fix your clothing; not without slipping his fingers inside your cunt one last time, watching with hungry eyes as you curl into him and cry that you’re sensitive— he’s only satisfied after his cum is left snug in your pussy, smiling darkly at the way he brings his fingers up to your mouth for you to clean— you do it without any hesitation, and Beomgyu swears he might just be getting hard again. 

“Love you so much, thank you for coming to see me today,” he says instead, bringing you in for a warm hug and a loving kiss; you merely hum tiredly in response, hands slipping out from his shirt only to be thrown over his shoulders leisurely.

Your face feels hot the moment he’s trying to get the two of you to leave back for the hotel— because your legs are absolutely not cooperating with you. 

“Holy shit, I was joking about that whole fuck you till you can’t walk thing,” he laughs, only to get cut of by the way you hit him in response— he’s letting out an exaggerated whimper at that, rubbing his arm and telling you sorry, sorry baby, with a cute pout.

“Ugh, I don’t want anyone to see me like this, fuck,” you mourn, only for Beomgyu to pull you into his side firmly, sending you a smile that’s not as reassuring as you wish it was. 

“I’m sure no one will notice,” he says simply, swinging the door open and immediately being met with Soobin passing by. 

He slows down at the sight of you two, glancing at your appearances briefly before he keeps walking. 

“Try to keep it down next time please,” he yells out, turning the corner and disappearing from your sight before you can retaliate. You feel slightly mortified by his words, but Beomgyu isn’t affected in the slightest as he leans over to murmur softly into your ear.

“Should we continue this at the hotel, pretty?”

You don’t answer his question. But he already knows the answer, sending you a giddy smile and intertwining his fingers with yours as he leads you to where the staff car is waiting for you two— and you hold back a smile of your own as you trail (limp, kinda) behind him. It’ll be a long night, but you couldn’t ask for a better way to spend your anniversary, no matter how unconventional it is.

[fernsnailz]

Not sure how much meat this question has to it but if back in 2006 you were the one that spearheaded the shadow the hedgehog game, how would you have done it?

i'd want ShTH 2005 to keep the same core energy its final form ended up with, but tbh there's a lot i would have done differently lol. here's my 3 step plan for how i would have directed it previously/would direct any sort of reboot or remaster

1. TIMELOOP!!!!!!

i'm not the first person to come up with this idea and i won't be the last to talk about it, but the gist of this point is that ShTH's story makes WAY more sense when you treat it like a timeloop. you finished a story path and end up back in westopolis? great job, you're at the beginning of the timeloop again. it's a smart way to make this wack story a little more cohesive.

i would LOVE to further utilize the timeloop concept for this game because it could be a very simple addition to add flavor OR it be the core of the game's story and gameplay. small things like shadow going "hey wait, have i seen this before?" when he's going through westopolis for the third time can hint at the narrative, and once shadow realizes he's in a loop he's motivated to find EVERY path in search of the full truth. every new story path could be treated as a new game+ as shadow starts to consistently remember more from previous timeloops, carrying over certain weapons, abilities, and memories from his previous experiences.

one really cool idea i saw a while ago on here (edit: FOUND IT! i'm talking about this post) is someone's ShTH timeloop pitch where after a few resets, silver starts to show up and tells shadow to stop messing with the timeline. this continues, and eventually silver becomes a final boss of some of the paths. this idea has never left my mind since i saw it and i need to find the person that came up with it they mean so much to me

i have more timeloop thoughts but i will move on for now

2. simplify or rework the morality system and levels

this is my big gameplay critique - there is A Lot to do in ShTH and very little of it is consistently fun. i have grievances with the morality system i talked about a while ago, the gist of my opinion boiling down to "the system removes agency from shadow and the story doesn't fit within the morals you choose anyway." i'd either MASSIVELY rework the morality system to make it feel worthwhile or just throw the whole thing away. unfortunately i don't have many pitches for what to replace it with since i haven't played that many games with branching stories - maybe the story paths you go down are based on BIG story decisions shadow makes during boss battles or in cutscenes (?) like choosing which boss to fight, which characters to save, what moves or weapons to use, stuff like that. i just want the stuff that leads to branching stories to be more impactful and a little simpler.

this also applies to the levels, of which there are... a lot. and maybe there should be less? i think it would be smart to cut down or combine some of the levels, then really flesh out the ones that matter. and given the non-linear nature of ShTH, i think a version with levels more focused on exploration and combat would fit the game better than the linear mission-based gameplay of the original.

3. MORE GUN

listen man. they advertised this as the sonic game with guns and in my opinion i think they could've done better. i mostly just want a more fleshed out weapons system with upgrades, a little customization, better controls, etc. just put the merchant from resident evil 4 in there and have him accept rings and i would be happy

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

those are the big points i would personally stick to, but i do have smaller points i would consider as well, including:

make black doom seem competent

explain who the chaotix are working for and fit it into the story

no more "kill this many enemies to progress" missions. please

super shadow can have a gun now

[eggdrawsthings]

Hi! I wanted to ask a question and I wasn’t sure if it was too personal or not so just ignore this is you’d rather not answer, but I was wondering if you went to art school or got a degree in it? I really want to start learning and maybe one day start a career in animation and wasn’t sure whether I should spend time and resources getting a degree. I know it’s going to be different for everybody and nothings a guarantee for this field but since I love your style and technical skill I was curious whether you had done that and what were your thoughts on it or if you are self-taught.

Hey anon! No worries it's all good!

Ig I should quickly go through my art journey so you can have an overall look of why I went to art school lol.

So I'm from Vietnam. I think back in 2013 I went to a small art school in Singapore (they were the only one that gave me a scholarship). My major was 3D modeling actually, but during my final year, I realized I only wanted to draw characters for animation. I could already draw decently, so I just read The Silver Way book and built a character design portfolio on my own during this time. I was lucky I got a job as a concept artist at a small animation studio there so I learned a lot from the job. I also did a lot of self-learning and took Woulter Tulp's Expressive Character class on Schoolism.

Then after 3-ish years of working, I got sick of the tiny and dying animation industry in Singapore. I wanna do sth more than just preschool shows and I was severely underpaid lmao. So I quit my job and took the MA VisDev program at AAU. It's a little more affordable cuz u can do 1 year online and the second year on-site. The reason I went to this school even tho i could just take a VisDev class online was cuz i need the visa so i can try to break into the industry in the US.

Now back to your question. Is art school a must? No. Should you still take it? Maybe, depends on your situation. If you can afford it then hell yeah by all means. Art school is great cuz you have professors and peers to help guide you along the way so you won't get lost while trying to figure out your shit. And to have a few years just experimenting and focusing on art is a great experience. Plus you can make a lot of meaningful connections in school and it will help you a long way after you grad. But if you have to go into debt to go to art school, then don't. There are places like Schoolism, CGMA, and Warrior Art Camp where you can pick what class and from whom you wanna learn. If you are not from the US and wanna break into the industry here like me however, then yeah getting a degree is a better bet cuz you can use the student visa and OPT to hopefully get a job here (it's still very very hard tho ngl im struggling rn as we speak lmao). Also, you need a BA to work overseas so there's that too. The hard truth is studios prefer to hire locally than some rando from somewhere else and have to wait for them to relocate and shit, (unless you are exceptionally good and they'd do anything to have you, but that is super rare lol).

Even though I did go to art school, I have to say most of my skills are from self-study. It requires a lot of self-discipline but I'm pretty much obsessed with drawing and I draw everyday so it's not a problem for me. But my friend is not good at that, so she found art school/classes helped her better cuz there are deadlines and instructors to help guide her to reach her goal. So it depends on your learning style tbh.

There is this chart that can help you consider your options. Im sorry it's a very long answer, cuz yes everyone's experience is different. Feel free to drop me another ask if you still have anymore questions tho ^^

Edit: I must also add, though there are online classes and ways to self-learn animation,I do think it only truly benefit you if you know exactly what you wanna do in this industry (for example I already knew i wanna become a character designer for 2d/3D animation specifically so any books/classes i took I tailored it to fit my goal). If you are unsure what you wanna do, then maybe even a cheap animation course will do better, and then you can take extra online classes on the side.

[34saveme34]

Snowtrapped 2 but it's emotional instead

I barely edited this thing but I must post it <3 I like it too much tbh

anyways light touches of suggestive, and references at snowtrapped obviously, although they don't outright talk about it, no cover this time we die like men

anyways word count: 4602

It started like any other day. With the usual arguments following them, as they perpetrated the intense part of their dynamic. 3 agitated 4, 4 agitated 3, hijinks ensued. It was how it always went these days. The 2 were fine with this… for the most part. The worst part of this was that both of them were sensitive but still liked to mess with each other. They had to walk a thin line for nothing bad to happen. And boy, was that hard. 

It was a snowy day, and 3, 4 and friends went to an especially snowy place as a vacation. They all deserved it. Although, the snow could bring out memories for the 2, it was a bit easier now to push it to the back of their heads. It was the past. It was a different time. They were different. They felt different. They’re friends at this point! Although 3 seemed to deny it a lot, 4 could see through that. Which is also why it was so tragic when he accidentally pushed 3 too hard and had to again see the man upset by his own actions. It always reminded him of the past. Something he had a complex relationship with, as it was something that affected him to this day, with all its differences, similarities and furthermore things that would just confuse him. Confuse him in so many ways. He wished he had answers. Maybe he wished a bit too hard. 

As their snowy hijinks, which they were doing with their friends brought them to an all too familiar situation: being snowed in. No escape. Only each other’s company. It was almost like faith that it was only those 2. Or maybe it was planned, who knows.

“Ugh…” 4 got up as he fell in pretty hard, he was on top of 3, more or less.

“Get off me, you bitch!” 3 quickly pushed him off, annoyed at 4. 

As they got up, looking at the door, both realized what happened. And that they were stuck together.

“You’ve got to be kidding me” both said at the same time which made the 2 glare at each other.

“This is all your fault!” 3 yelled at 4.

“Mine??! How would it be mine?? I wasn’t the one launching a whole damn avalanche!”

“Shut the fuck up” 3 sat down, grabbing at his face. It seemed he was trying to keep at least some sanity.

“No, you shut the fuck up!” 4 said, also sitting down, facing away from 3. 

Truly maturely they stayed like this for a while not uttering a word. But soon, the cold set in.

“Hey… 3…. m… my man” 4 sat beside 3, who looked at him cautiously.

“Yeeees?” he squinted at 4, not trusting him for a second.

“I’m cold”

“Well, shit, 4, I don’t control the weather!”

“No, I mean-”

“I’m definitely not desperate enough for that yet…”

“Yet?” 4 teased him, for which 3 hit him hard in the head.

“Stupid”

“In the meantime while you get over that, we could try and get out somehow. At least try.”

3 sighed as he got up.

“You’re unfortunately right…”

“Maybe we could even find a meme and use it to get out!”

“Yea, good thinking” 3 mumbled it a bit, although 4 could still understand.

“Don’t know why you need to be so defensive about me being right”

“YOU do the same thing as well”

4 was about to protest but realised that 3 was kind of right.

“Oookay…” 

They started really examining the place. Not much food, no meme in sight, a single blanket folded neatly in a closet.

4 took it for himself fast.

“Hey, you hogger!” 3 glared at 4.

“As I said before-”

“I’m not cuddling your stupid ass!”

4 looked down to his feet. He knew that it was just their thing but.

“I really thought we got further…”

“What did you say?” 3 looked at him with an expression that was hard to read.

This scared 4. He wasn’t sure what to do, repeating it felt like a hard task, so he just stared.

“You can’t just talk in half sentences, 4”

“I just… thought you’d be more comfortable with me at this point”

3 was about to protest but thinking about it, he really should’ve been less stupid about it.

“I can’t just- I’m tense, okay, I’m tense! Are you happy now that I told you??”

4 chuckled.

“You never really tell me. I just have to guess myself how you feel”

“Well, you aren’t the easiest case yourself- it- ugh, I don’t want to go into it, definitely not right now-”

“Into what?”

“It doesn’t matter, forget about it”

“3…”

“Don’t 3 me”

4 sat down with the blanket under him so it wouldn’t be as uncomfortable to sit. 3 paced around for a bit. Tried to use his hands as shovels to maybe get out then quickly gave up. This kept repeating. It was kind of tiring to watch. 4 was on the verge of commenting on it. But he could see that he shouldn’t: 3 looked close to snapping. He knew that look. It was upsetting.

Especially as 3 seemed to tire, having to keep up with the cold, now he was starting to feel it too. He leaned against the cold wall, trying not to let the cold get to him. 

4 was watching him. It was awful to watch. He could see 3 slowly slipping down against the wall. 

“Alright, that’s enough” 4 had enough of this as he wrapped his arms and blanket around 3, who didn’t have nearly as much fight in himself as before.

“Dude…”

“What?”

“...Thanks.” 3 lightly leaned closer into 4 arms. That was shocking to 4. He wasn’t sure how to feel.

Sure, he insisted on 3 joining him, but he… never really considered what he would do once he did. He never considered what would happen if 3 didn’t fight him. The comfort made him weird. He wanted to stay somewhere deep in his heart but decided to just slip right out of the blanket and just put it on 3.

“Oh..?” 3 looked at him, the weakness in his eyes showing. He looked painfully genuine.

“I’ll try myself this time”

3 glared then looked away from 4. It was hard to tell what he might be thinking.

4 tried to separate the snow. It was easy, the snow was soft yet cold, and the more he would shovel with his hands to the side, the more would fall in. He panicked, which made him feel agitated as he started to get faster with it. He got so fast the snow of the ceiling fell on him, leaving him colder than ever.

3 rolled his eyes.

“I always think you can’t be more stupid but you always manage to prove that wrong”

“Sh-Shut U-Up” 4 was practically shaking from the cold. Who knew he was so sensitive.

3 sighed and got up. He brushed the snow off of 4. Usually such casual touch wouldn’t be this bad for him but the isolation was getting to him. He cared so much. But, right now, especially right now, he didn’t want that to come out. He didn’t want his caring side out in the open, for 4 to witness and tease. 

to his surprise 4 only gave him a soft smile before adding a few words to his reaction.

“You didn’t need to do that, I can take care of myself”

3 was disappointed.

“I don’t want to be in the same space with a dead body”

“Hey now, you’re already thinking of me dying??”

“Well… It would be funny now that you say it” 3 grinned.

“I don’t find it funny”

“When did I say I care?”

“I see through you, my friend, I do”

“You’re as blind as a bat actually”

“I’m not, I got the 20/20 vision going for me!”

“Crazy if true, considering how much you’re on your pc”

“SAYS WHO”

“ME”

The 2 glared at each other. For quite a few painful seconds. The tenseness in them took over as they started to fight physically.

Although it was one of those little slap fights. It felt less like a fight and more like a comedy bit.

The 2 separated, although 4 found himself cold again. He stared at 3 without realising.

“What?” 3 asked, in a defensive manner as if 4 was about to strip him with his eyes. The thought sent a shiver down his spine. It just further reminded him of past events… But they were different now, it wouldn’t happen.

4 took a bit but he did manage to snap out of it.

“Huh? Nothing! Nothing at all”

“You’re cold, aren’t you?”

“Noooo, what gave you the impression?”

“You shivering”

4 facepalmed. 3 was right, he couldn’t believe how obvious he was.

“Come here, I did say I don’t want to be stuck with a dead body”

4 resisted first but the cold got to him, he had to. He didn’t like it but he had to.

“Jeez, I didn’t think you would be this cold”

“Why did you think I was shivering”

“... Fair point”

4 leaned into 3’s chest, trying to get closer in a less uncomfortable way. It was really hard though, considering how they were just a few moments ago. He was too tired and cold to care though. He even wrapped his arms around 3, having a secure hold on him. 4 didn’t like how comforting this felt. Something about cuddling 3 felt different. Suddenly  the memories hit him again, of the past. It made him feel a bit gross for his thoughts. He wouldn’t ever wanna think of 3 that way. Not again at least.

The 2 stayed silent for a while, it felt illegal to speak. Even though both of them still felt tense. 3 felt too weird in all this, he had to comment on it.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you enjoyed this”

“What?? You think I do?” 4 looked offended.

“You were cuddling me with the same glee Eggdog would and oooh he loves me a lot” he talked with with his baby voice at the end when mentioning his child. Just simply the thought of him made him feel happy.

4 rolled his eyes.

“I’m just trying to stay warm, really. If I liked cuddling you, I’d do it  outside of dire situations like this”

“Like I’d care if you would… stupid”

“Would you?”

“No!”

“Oooh, but it looks like you would” he found 3’s reaction just a little bit entertaining. Indulging a little shouldn’t hurt much!

“Shut up! I wouldn’t! Even the hand holding feel unnecessary”

“Well, we had to do that, to save the world and all that stuff”

“Okay? Doesn’t change a thing. I don’t like to do it”

4 stared at 3, unimpressed. 3 felt a bit nervous.

“You’re as annoying as ever” 4 said as he got up “You know what, I rather freeze”

3 felt that struck at his heart. That HURT to hear, christ. 

“The fuck you mean you’d rather freeze??”

“If you don’t want to be near me so badly, then I won’t bother you. I can try and bury myself in the snow so you don’t have to face me dead cold”

“Jeez, how kind of you to- HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND??? You THINK I WANT THAT??!”

“FELT LIKE IT”

“YOU DUMB IDIOT”

“DUMB AND IDIOT MEANS THE SAME THING”

“YES, I’M POINTING OUT YOUR SPECIALLY LACK OF SMARTS”

“FUCK YOU”

Aaaand they fought again. This time a bit more violent as 3 pinned 4 down.

“Any last words?” 3 was tired so he didn’t sound as threatening as he would’ve wanted to.

“You’re gay” 4 teased as he pulled 3 down on him with the little strength he had left. Unfortunately, this way they were left to stare at each other, it was kind of hard to pay attention to anything else when they were this close. 3 didn’t look amused. 4 chuckled.

“Gotcha”

“And you said you don’t want me near”

“I would push you off if I had the energy to”

“Nice excuse”

“It’s a reason, not an excuse”

3 sighed as he fully laid his head down on 4’s chest. He was now truly too tired to care.

“Why can’t we just get along”

“Cuz you’re a piece of shit”

3 looked at 4 again, clearly unamused.

“Like yourself, of course”

4 found it interesting how 3 deflected by calling him an ass too.

“Maybe, yeah… I don’t know why really”

“We’re just like this? I guess, I don’t know. We should be, right?”

“It’s… what’s the best, right?”

3 thought for a bit, some hard words on his mind.

“We’re… friends”

“I… I know”

Air felt heavy, as the 2 were trying to comprehend each other, what were they going for.

“You know…” 3 started, already feeling his face heat up “Ever since we became friends, it’s been… a bit less fun to be a villain. Juuust a smidge”

4 found himself smiling, hearing that his heart just warmed up whole.

“Glad to hear that…”

“It’s something I struggle with it a lot though”

���Why so?”

“Who… am I if not your local villain… who would I be?”

The question caught 4 so off guard, staring shocked at 3. He never thought 3 could feel that way. He kind of felt bad for a lot of the things he’s said and done now. He gently grabbed 3’s face by his cheek, by which he noticed 3 being a bit more hot. He was sure it’s just them slowly feeling weird from the cold.

“Hey now, don’t say that… you’re so much more… a cool streamer, a great meme guardian partner… a great friend, maybe… my greatest”

3 was practically turning into a heater from the compliments. But it definitely didn’t mean anything. 3 collected all his courage, to ask one thing he wanted to know.

“Your greatest?”

“Yea… pretty much”

“Isn’t it Mario for you?”

“You’re… different”

“Different?”

“Well, you know- yeah, you’re a friend in a different way than he is to me. You’re just… different… I guess, we just work differently”

“You mean the meme guardian stuff?”

4 glanced to the side, it was hard to guess what he could mean by that.

“That too”

“You know… I do kind of find it weird… that we have to hold hands to use our powers.. or at least touch”

“Yeah… but I don’t think you would be this close to me without it”

“Let’s not even think about that”

3 looked kind of bummed about the idea.

“Awww, you’d miss being friends with me that much?”

3 growled, though too tired to act.

“You say that like you wouldn’t”

“Of course, I would miss it so much” 4 said, hugging 3. The air being not so tense felt nice. It was easier to express himself.

3 was in deep, Jesus. He could barely think, besides lightly hugging back. 

“You could’ve warned me at least”

“Nope, it’s more fun this way”

“But you said you care about me”

“There’s some privileges you’ll never get”

“Tch… stupid”

“Ahem… Tsundere”

3 stared at 4, a single word making him feel energy come back to him. Out of anger of course. God, that made him so so angry.

“Not that word again, no, shut the fuck up. No one wants to hear that, idiot”

“I wanted to hear it personally” 4 chuckled.

“For what? You’re implying you’re my crush or something? You’re wrong then, bitch” 3 got up, angrily pointing and gesticulating. Oh, that touched a nerve, didn’t it.

4 raised an eyebrow.

“I didn’t say that… Only you did, just now” 

3’s face was painted with realisation, as then colour drained from his face. Oh no, he did not fucking do that!!

“The word is literally used that way. How am I supposed to take it then? Why did you call me that anyways, asshole” 3 turned away from 4.

“I just found it fits… even in a platonic way. It’s so obvious you want affection but you still push people away”

3 looked back at 4 then away.

“Just like that” 4 sighed.

“You… YOU” 3 turned back “ You ALWAYS think you’re the bigger and better person”

“Well, I am right now? I’m not the one misinterpreting shit”

“You just have this air around you, you know? Like you always think you’re the god of this show! That nobody is better than you, especially me, I’m really tired of that. Really fucking tired”

“Are you really getting mad about me calling you a tsundere??”

“IT’S MORE THAN THAT”

“HOW CAN IT BE MORE???”

“IT’S A PATTERN… a long going one” 3 stared daggers into 4. It was like a whiplash compared to what they had previously.

“What pattern???”

“Stuff’s always about you. You’re always trying to one up me as well. It feels like whenever you butt into something, it becomes about you.”

4 stared. He didn’t know what to do with that information.

“You’re so weird. First you say you wished we were friends earlier, now you berate me”

“Because you can’t shut the fuck up when you need to. Maybe if you did, we would get along better”

“Well, MAYBE, if you stopped being an ASSHOLE, that would help a lot more”

“MAYBE. IF YOU STOPPED BEING SUCH A WHINY BITCH IT’D HELP EVEN MORE”

The 2 stared at each other, unsure whether to feel angry or sad. 

“You know where it hurts, huh? You know me so well you know EXACTLY what to say to make me angry” 4 spoke, anger seething through him.

“Not hard when you get upset about everything!!”

“You make me more than upset”

“Oh yeah? What do I make you, huh? Tell me”

4 looked down.

“Confused. And sad. You make me sad”

3 stared at him.

“That’s it? Really?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Well, now I god damn do, not like I care about your thoughts”

4 had enough, as he got up and pushed 3 against the wall. It was cold, just as cold as 4’s stare.

“Do you REALLY want to know, 3?”

3 tried to look anywhere but 4. 4 grabbed 3’s chin.

“I… I guess… I can’t really back down now, can I?” 3 was visibly nervous. 

“You make me so… bad. I feel bad, each time. I don’t know why”

3 still tried looking away from 4. This was starting to feel uncomfortable.

“So… you don’t even know how I make you feel, huh?”

“Well, how do I make YOU feel then? Huh?”

“Tense, very tense. Especially right now, with backing me into a wall and everything”

“Ah-” 4 stepped back, giving 3 his space back. He felt a bit embarrassed about what he did. He realised what that looked like now- he was glad it was only 3 to see him do something like this. Since considering how they were, this was definitely not getting out from between the 2 of them.

As they stood there, they felt cold again. 3 thought for a bit then grabbed the blanket and threw it over 4’s shoulder as he then leaned into him, shoulder to shoulder. It wasn’t too much to handle at least. 4 stayed silent but he didn’t move either. His head seemed to be full of thoughts. 

“Hey… I’m sorry, 3… I gotta learn how to control myself around you”

3 looked at him, with a questioning look.

“I mean yeah but… what the hell do you mean? Around me”

“You just bring the worst out of me”

“Well… I can’t argue with that”

“I think… I do the same to you…”

“Hmm…”

Both stayed silent for a while, then 4 spoke words that had no right to hurt so much.

“It feels like we’d be better apart…”

3 didn’t even know how to react. He just… stood there. 4 couldn’t look at him for a bit, feeling his own words even claw at his own heart. But when he did… oh, he wished he didn’t.

He didn’t want to see 3 so sad, tears running down his cheek. His lips trembled looking back at 4 before punching him in the face.

“WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT??” 

4 stumbled but didn’t fall. He was never able to say the right words.

“I… well” he felt himself getting drawn to tears as well “We… fight so much…”

“I care too much about you”

“I know but… look, it feels like we never get along… I care too and the idea hurts me too…” his tears came too, matching 3.

I just- I can’t do this-” 3 started pacing and suddenly decided to get back to the snow again, desperately wanting to get out.

4 felt guilty. He felt awful. He thought this would give him some peace of mind but it didn’t. He thought, he thought very hard- how could he solve this? How could he make this right for 3?

“How could I… make this right for you?” 4 asked, his voice weak.

“By shutting the fuck up” 3 continued shovelling the snow with desperation. 3’s hands felt cold. Way too cold. But at least it was almost distracting him from 4’s stinging words. 

4 hated looking at what 3 was doing. He turned away, trying to close him out but the quiet sobs and the soft noises of the snow being shovelled by hand was too prominent in his mind. He wasn’t able to close it out, not even a little bit. He clenched his fists. He must do something. Anything. Just stop this.

3’s hands were starting to hurt so much he could barely take it. But it didn’t make him want to stop. What stopped him was 4 grabbing both of his hands and pulling him away from the snow. And 4 wasn’t easy on him, having strong grips on both his hands. As 4 felt just how cold 3’s hands were, he held on even more, pulling 3 close.

“I can’t… I can’t just watch you hurt yourself.. you mean too much to me”

“I thought you wanted us apart”

“Want and need are different”

3 looked ahead of himself, embracing he was now trapped in 4’s hold, as much as he didn’t want to be.

“Are you saying you need me?”

“Yes”

4 replied so fast, it made 3 feel a bit hot again. 

“So… you need me, even if I… cause you to be worse?”

“I need you because I…” 4 stopped. 3 paid attention for a bit, waiting for an answer. The more seconds passed the more tense he felt.

“Don’t leave me hanging, dude!” 3 spoke nervously, he hated feeling this uncomfortable.

4 just didn’t move, not until he whipped 3 into a deep embrace, pulling as close as he could. It was the kind of hug you couldn’t escape from, no matter how much you wanted to. It was tight, scary, full of emotion yet somehow fulfilling. 3 slowly hugged him back. It still wasn’t quite as comfortable as he wished it should be, but the tightness definitely helped. He wished it would be just that easy to press the bad things out of him.

This lasted a while, neither wanted to speak. Neither knew what to say. But they both had a lot on their minds. But they chose to remain this way. At least for a while, some peace.

4 slowly pulled out a bit, looking at 3. 3 only noticed a bit after, his face still red from crying and the cold. The 2 just stared at each other. Felt like no one else existed to them but each other. It felt so obvious. It felt so obvious what they wanted, it was written all over them. Just a single thing on their mind, a simple yet disastrous wish. Something so easy yet so hard.

3’s grip tightened on 4 as he pulled him in, it happened so fast, yet 4 followed along immediately. The desperation finally kicked in. They needed each other so so badly and it showed. And when they’d pull away, they’d just pull right back in. Their lips touching were too addictive. It was a rush of excitement neither have felt in a while. 3 was the one to end up against the wall, then quickly switching to 4. 3 had a strong hold on 4 that made him feel weak. He didn’t know that feeling weak by someone could feel so good. It felt like it should be a crime.

They slowly let go, although they didn’t want to. Especially since they then had to face each other. It felt… weird. Where did this come from? Why were they both so into it?

“So… that happened” 4 awkwardly scratched his neck.

3 facepalmed.

“Is that all you’re gonna say?”

“Umm well… I guess I always liked you, heh,... uh… yeah”

3 couldn’t keep a straight face, he laughed. He found 4 ridiculous, yet somehow cute.

“I love you too, idiot” 3 replied finally, after leaving 4 hanging with just laughing.

4 looked down then back at 3. He was visibly getting so giddy it was a joy to watch. 3 pressed a kiss on 4’s cheek. 4 could explode the world with the happiness he was feeling. This whole thing really made him realise what he was feeling, as it was previously an unknown thing to him. He didn’t realise, even though he felt it badly. He’s a fucking idiot.

3 knew very well but it wasn’t exactly something he liked to think about. It was already hard to make friends, let alone admit his feelings for his ex rival. 

“I’m… glad you do, 3”

“Do you know how hard it was to keep this away from you??”

“Uh.. no? I think you hid it well”

“That was the intention”

“Yeah… you know, I only realised just now”

3 blinked at 4.

“You.. You can’t be serious”

“Why can I not be?”

“Whatever… I’m just glad you feel the same”

“Yeah… we’re still trapped though”

“No shit” 3 sighed.

The 2 rested against each other. At least now they had less reason to be tense about that. 

“I mean… the others know we got stuck, right? They should be able to help then…”

“I sure do hope so”

The 2 thought though, anything they can come up with. 3 had an idea float in his mind, now feeling like it’s less embarrassing to suggest.

“Hey so, 4… you know how we channel meme energy with touch?”

“Yeah?”

“What if… it’s possible to channel it with kissing as well?”

4 rubbed his chin then with seemingly zero hesitation, he pulled 3 in for a kiss, and concentrated. Maybe a bit too hard at that, or maybe it was just such a powerful move that the energy practically blew up around them. Their prison was gone. Literally, they blew the whole thing up with their meme energy kiss.

“Woah” 3 chimed up quietly, trying not to look too impressed but… meme explosion?? 2 of the greatest things together??

“Yippee we’re free we’re free!!��� 4 hugged 3 and jumped up and down.

That’s when the crew noticed the 2, with 4 jumping around crazy. That’s just how it is with them sometimes. At least they chilled out now! It’s been needed for a long while now.

[brosser-les-dents]

Hey, do you know of any drinks I could replace soda with? I drink it almost daily, which I know isn't helping how shit my teeth are. I almost always get the answer water, which like, sure, but I do already drink water, and drinking it when i want soda doesn't actually help much (I just go and grab a soda instead, because the two drinks are very much not comparable).

A couple things firstly. Yeah, water is ideal. But we work with ourselves. We want to start off by figuring what about soda is it you're loving and preferring over the water.

Is it the hit of sugar? Is it the fizzy? Is it the specific flavour of the soda you are drinking? Something else?

If it's the sweet taste, maybe consider drinking something like water and a little bit of juice. You can start with half juice, half water and then reducing how much juice and adding more water. Or maybe if you do absolutely crave one specific soda, you get the smaller can versions of it and take one sip soda, one sip water. Maybe you start getting used to cutting the soda with some water, or more ice so it gets watered down a bit. And slowly bit by bit, ween yourself off or down to a lot less than everyday.

The thing is, we know sugar is addictive, so if you do drink full sugar soda every single day, there's a high chance you've also got a sugar addiction right now, so doing a slow ween off may work for you. As someone who has weened themselves down to a lot less sugar, I have lots more to say about it if you've got questions.

If it's the fizzy you like, maybe try a flavoured soda water and some juice. Or just flavoured soda water. I also like those packets of vitamin c for adding a little bit of fizz and sweet to water. (TBH, I don't think they really have any health benefits, I'm drinking them purely for taste.) edit: mentioned in tags you can add a flavour powder or vit c packet to soda water, and it's what I've been doing lately and I love it. Really helps cut down on the sugar.

Since this is a brush your teeth blog, we always gotta bring it back to teeth. The thing to remember about soda is that's it's wreaking havoc on your teeth on two levels, it's got a tonne of sugar but it's also super acidic because of the carbonation. So however you wanna handle finding an alternative to soda, always having water with soda will benefit your teeth. That way the acid and the sugar is being rinsed off regularly. If I'm drinking something really sweet or acidic, I always try to have a drink of water between every drink of the acidic/sugary drink.

I really hope this helps. If there is another reason that soda hits the spot for you, send me another ask and maybe we can see if there's another thing we can try. Good luck!

And remember to brush and floss, everyone!

[n0v4t33z]

The Piece of Eight - Assimilate and Assault

Pairings: Capt. Hongjoong X Female Reader , Crewmate San x Female Reader (Overall not chapter specific)

Genre: Pirate AU, Romance, historical-ish (not really), Action, Angst, Non-Idol AU

Word Count: 5.1k

Tags/Warnings: For Mature Audiences, Violence, Language, mentions of blood and gore, Highly Suggestive at times (This is a warning for the whole story overall)

Chapter specific: Some suggestive conversations?, straight up violence for some of it (HERE'S YOUR WARNING IF YOU DON'T LIKE GRAPHIC VIOLENCE), enemy says vulgar shit to y/n, lots of blood, y/n's PTSD makes a small appearence, Mingi being a little weird (let me know if there's anything else)

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT!!

Spotify Playlist ⚓ | Masterlist 🏴‍☠️

Author's Note 💌: Hi I finally had some time to edit and post this lol it's very short but it gives you a peek into MC's first day with the teezers. Also I had to change the color scheme bc Tumblr wanted to be mean and remove the yellow text option so I chose orange bc ateez. Tbh I've been so tired from work I've been procrastinating editing this and i've just been working on the most recent chapter of the story which is easy writing but I decided I need to at least post something so I hope you enjoy this chapter and please look forward to the next one! - N 🌙

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A few hours later I wake up and it’s dark. Eledonia was also now gone from the horizon and as I look around at the endless dark sea I realize a blanket is wrapped around me.

It was most likely Seonghwa since Hongjoong did say he’d be coming by later to show me to my room. I keep my gaze fixed in the direction of Eledonia and now is when it sinks in that I will not be seeing my family in awhile. I sit there welling up in my own thoughts until a gentle tap on my shoulder disturbs them, it was Seonghwa. 

He gives me a soft smile and says “Hey, you’re awake now. Let me show you to your room so you can sleep comfortably.”

 I get up and he helps me with my bag while I silently follow behind him with the blanket still wrapped around me since It was quite chilly. We walk down to the crew’s quarters which is located towards the front of the ship. I walk down and I notice nothing was separated, everyone was sleeping in the same room.

 I could see six figures fast asleep in their own beds then Seonghwa leans over and whispers “Go ahead and sleep on my bed, I’ll be keeping watch tonight up in the crow’s nest so I won’t be using my bed. Don’t mind everyone else, sleep well okay?” 

He sets down my things next to his bed and gives me a smile and a nod goodbye. After I’ve quietly settled down on Seonghwa’s bed I notice it’s quite comfortable, more than mine back at home. Which led to me falling asleep pretty quickly.

 In the morning I’m woken up with voices, all of them belonged to the six figures on the beds last night which obviously belong to my crew mates. Since I have a habit of sleeping with a blanket over my head I lay perfectly still and pretend to be asleep then I hear someone say “That’s not Seonghwa. Is that y/n? The Captain’s new protector?”

 For some reason I’m terrified now that I’ve made my existence known. Someone then answers “Nah I don’t think it’s her, why would she be sleeping in here? I’m sure that’s probably Seonghwa being lazy.” 

Suddenly, something presumably a pillow is thrown at me followed by “Get up Seonghwa or you’re not getting any breakfast!” Followed by someone pulling the blanket from over my head harshly then complete silence. 

I open my eyes and and realize 6 men standing around the bed I’m laying on with some of them with their mouths agape. Then someone says “What the fuck? She’s sleeping in Seonghwa’s bed?” 

Slightly irritated from how embarrassed I was I sit there in silence glaring at them. Followed by Mingi chuckling then reaching over to grab my arm  “Hey let’s g-” Before he’s even able to finish his sentence I grab his wrist and twist it “Don’t touch me.”

 Immediately he pulls his hand away and massages his wrist and says “She’s feisty.” The man with puppy like features looks over at the blue haired male “Mingi stop..” 

I throw the pillow at Mingi who gets bonked in the head then manages to catch it “Look, just- can you understand how I was woken up? Like that was such an aggressive and rude way to wake up it was so uncalled for so, can you blame me? Especially your so called superior, you’re really going to disrespect him like that?”

San looks over at Mingi says “I agree with her, that was rude. Especially towards someone who’s not used to the way we play around” 

Mingi playfully punches San in the arm “Loosen up San, it was a joke.” San turns and looks over at Mingi with a glare. 

Wooyoung raises his eyebrow “Wait, so are you really the Captain’s protector?” I bite the inside of my cheek “Yeah, otherwise what else would I be doing here.” Mingi responds “Our-” Yunho immediately covers his mouth “No, stop. Quiet, no”

 Everyone else erupts in laughter. I roll my eyes then I get up and grab my backpack “If you’ll excuse me I need to change.” Wooyoung smiles “Sure.” Someone in the distance then says “You pissed her off, she was so nice the last time we saw her..”

 I walk out of the crew quarters and It just so happened that Seonghwa was walking in that direction and I’m stopped in the middle of the hallway leading to the stairs to go back upstairs.

 “Hey, I was just about to go wake you and introduce you to your other crew members.” I stay silent for a few seconds then I respond in a low voice “No thanks.”

 Seonghwa grabs my arm “Wait, why not? What happened?” I shake my head and pull my arm away from his grasp “I’m going to change..”

 I walk upstairs towards the deck to look around and head towards the room the Captain walked into last night. Surely he must be in there right?

I knock on the door and carefully enter the candle lit room “Captain?” 

 He glances over at me and removes his glasses “y/n? Good morning, I didn’t think you’d come here so early. I heard you stayed up pretty late.”

 “I did, but I’m a light sleeper so I woke up pretty easily.” I sit on the leather chair in front of his desk softly squeaking from my weight.

“That reminds me, can I tell you something? I don’t want to be worrisome on my first day here but this just kind of bothers me.” Hongjoong nods giving me a concerned look “Did something happen?”

“Yeah kind of. Your crewmates are assholes, they threw a pillow at me thinking I was Seonghwa, is that really how they treat your first mate?”

 Hongjoong lets out a small laugh “Well, yes but the respect is there don’t worry that’s just how they get along. As for the way you were woken up..” he trails off and lets out a sigh “I’m sorry about that, if you want you have my permission to scold them if they get on your nerves as they tend to have their moments of not being the most pleasant to be around.” 

What? No way he’s letting me scold them?! Is that how much he trusts me? I mean it’s a given the man trusts me with his life, why wouldn’t he when it comes to just standing up for myself and straightening out a couple of grown brats…

”Oh, um. Thank you for that.” Hongjoong’s eyebrow slightly raises “Anything else?” I awkwardly stipple my fingers for a few moments “Um, do you have food? I’m kind of starving” 

Hongjoong smiles “Yeah, second floor below deck. Breakfast should be going on right now. I’ll walk you there.” I look over at his desk and notice he’s writing something immediately feeling guilty for making him stand “oh, uh. No captain, it’s okay. I should learn my way around the ship by myself.” 

Hongjoong hums and I continue “Besides, you’re busy doing Captain things..I really don’t want to bother you.” Hongjoong puts his black polished index finger on his lips and hushes me “I promise you’re not bothering me darling, I’m more than happy to show you around. I’ve got plenty of time.”

I stand up and smile “It’s okay Captain, I think it’s best for me to learn things on my own. You are the Captain after all, I’m sure you’re quite busy erm…Being a Captain.” 

Hongjoong smirks then looks at me fondly “Alright, but in case you need someone to guide you Seonghwa and I are here. Don’t forget that.” I quietly nod then he continues “Once you’re done with breakfast go ahead and head over to the crow’s nest and keep watch. I’ll put you in charge of that. If you spot anything let Seonghwa know immediately. ”

 Hongjoong reaches into the side drawer of his desk and hands me a golden spyglass “Thank you Captain, I will.”

  I glance down at it then back up at him where he then motions for me to leave “Alright, go. If you need anything Seonghwa will be there to assist.” 

I bow, slightly intimidated by him not because he's scary but more or so because of how well he carries himself. 

When I exit the captain’s quarters I carefully examine the spyglass. Must be brass or something judging from the nice weight to it. 

Regardless it was so beautiful It had an engraving on it, the same one as the one on Hongjoong’s arm band. I guess this means it’s his, that’s cool. He trusts me even with his personal items.

 While I walk across the deck my stomach growls then I sigh. If I remember correctly Hongjoong said the kitchen was on the second floor? 

I head downstairs and as soon as I enter the mess hall it becomes dead silent. I knew it, I knew it was going to be this awkward. At least Hongjoong isn’t here it would have been much more embarrassing. 

San pats the seat next to his and gives me dimpled smile “y/n, sit here. I saved this seat for you.” 

This man is making me want to smack him. Pretending to be nice. Why is he so flirty? I can only imagine how cringe he was with the girls back in Eledonia. They probably ate that shit up too. Ugh.

 I sit on the seat next to San on the other side to my right was Wooyoung who immediately stands up. To my recollection he's the cook, he was the one wearing an apron while cooking back in Eledonia and the one who gave me the delicious peach tart.

 Seonghwa then brings everyone’s attention over to me“Evreyone, you weren’t properly introduced but this is the Captain’s protector Her name is y/n.” 

The tall one with blue hair and glasses which was Mingi if I remember correctly says “Ah yes, the cute doll back in Eledonia.” Wow, he must have a thing with dolls but honestly I'm not mad at it. 

“You’re cute, I know why Hongjoong chose you now. I think Hongjoong likes cute girls. Cute..” Everyone silently stares at him then Yunho looks over at Mingi in disgust. “Maybe you should stay quiet you’ve used the word cute one too many times for my liking.”

 Yunho looks over at me and gives me a concerned look “He’s weird please don’t listen to him. Anyway, hello y/n It’s nice to see you've decided to join us.” I slightly raise my hand from the table to acknowledge his greeting and take a bite of a piece of bread from a basket. 

From the corner of my eye I notice the guy with Jongho back in Eledonia, Yeosang if i'm not wrong. Looking at him closer now I notice he's got very gorgeous features, one of them being a cool looking birth mark on his left eye (which I didn't notice) , his face being almost too perfect to be real with soft brown hair that compliments him very well giving him a very princely and delicate appearance. 

He stares at me without saying anything which is intimidating noting how gorgeous the man is. The stare wasn’t out of hate, it was more or so out of curiosity until he finally speaks “Who trained you?” 

Slightly taken aback I almost choke on my bread but manage to play it off. He speaks Eledonian, like Hongjoong only much more fluent. “My grandfather, an Eledonian veteran. Why?”

 He gives me a small smile and shakes his head “I was just asking, I’m Yeosang. My apologies for not introducing myself when we first met.” I shake my head “It’s okay, no worries. I appreciate you introducing yourself..” 

San furrows his eyebrows “Hey Yeo, you speak Eledonian? I didn’t know that.” Yeosang glances at San while resting both elbows on the table and his hands laced together “Who do you think taught Hongjoong?” 

Shortly after being gone Wooyoung comes back with a bowl and a cup of tea and gently sets it in front of me. “I hope you like it, it may be a little spicy depending on your spice tolerance but it should still be good.. ” 

I silently nod and take a sip of my tea then Seonghwa says “So y/n, how’d you sleep? You didn’t get seasick?” I pick up my eating utensil and mix my food.

“Well, besides being woken up in the rudest most uncalled for way ever. It was actually pretty comfortable, more than my old bed so I fell asleep almost instantly.” The whole table stays quiet with exception of a few of them clearing their throats and awkwardly adjusting themselves in their seats.

 Seonghwa looks over at the rest of the guys and forces a smile when he looks back at me “Well at least you slept well up until that point.” I shove a spoonful of food in my mouth and nod, San remorsefully speaks “So um, about this morning. Sorry we thought you were Seonghwa and we kind of ambushed you without your permisson.”

 I shrug taking another sip of my drink “What’s done is done, it’s fine.” Jongho, the very well built dark haired male with a very friendly face says in an apologetic tone “We should have honestly checked before we pulled something like that. I’m sure that’s the reason you’re being so cold towards all of us which we understand.” 

Woah this guy hit the nail on the head with that one. “You’re right, you guys were assholes but now with the Captain’s full permission if you ever cross the line with me again I have his personal blessing to kick your asses.”

Mingi says under his breath “Ah, that’s so hot..” San looks over at Mingi like he just insulted him and flatly says “No..” 

Seonghwa glares at both males, something told that pissing him off wasn’t a good idea. As it is he’s already intimidating. “How about you both calm down and behave. You both act like you didn’t just meet up with women back in Eledonia” 

Wooyoung giggles looking in San’s direction playfully nudging my arm so that I could watch the whole ordeal go on. “Seonghwa’s right, weren’t you two the ones who were flirting away and getting back rubs from Eledonian women later in the evening?”

 San crosses his arms in front of his chest “They were just back rubs!” Everyone looks in his direction then Wooyoung fires back “You and I both know you’re lying about that, that's not the only thing that was getting rubbed”

 I roll my eyes at how utterly embarrassing this whole conversation was getting and continue to eat my food completely tuning out the conversation happening. Everyone explodes in laughter while San sits there festering in annoyance and Mingi awkwardly laughs it off with the others.

 Once they settle down a bit Jongho says “That’s true one of them didn’t come back until midday the next day so that says alot about what actually happened.” I eat the last of my food and drink the remaining tea from my cup and I get up not caring we were all in mid conversation.

“I’m done eating. Wooyoung, the food was delicious.” I give Wooyoung a smile and in return he blinks “Oh, you ate fast.. Do you want seconds?” I shake my head and get up “No thank you, I’m full.” 

San turns to me and looks at me a bit sad “You’re leaving already?” I nod dusting my lap off from the leftover bread crumbs “Yep, see you around.” 

Before anyone has a chance of saying anything else I excuse myself from the clearly very private conversation going on in the background. I guess I'm going to have to get used to conversations like this, men are so… Weird.

After that chaotic breakfast I find my way back to the crow’s nest, it was a nice change of environment. I wonder if this is the only thing I’ll be doing while we’re at sea, then again there is no one I need to protect Hongjoong from anyway so I guess it makes sense I’m in charge of keeping an eye. 

After a few uneventful days of me keeping watch, which were either cargo ships or just other ships in general who weren’t of intrest. I basically lived up at the crow’s nest and only really came down to shower or use the bathroom since Wooyoung would usually bring up my food while on duty. 

Today was a different story, on the horizon I could make out a ship in the distance then I look into the spyglass and notice a ship with a peculiar flag. Unlike our flag, theirs was red with a skull on it except this skull had two spears crossing behind it then my stomach sinks. 

I quickly climb down then I run over to Seonghwa who was talking to Mingi and in between breaths I say “I don’t know who they are but we have company from the north east.”

Seonghwa quickly puts down the book in his hand and runs outside onto the deck then pulls out his spyglass, and stares at the ship for what felt like forever “The Scarlet Sailors… The Captain needs to see this.” He turns to me “Prepare for battle these pirates are quite tough, ring the bell.” 

It’s like a switch instantly lit up I run over to the bell and ring it as loud as I can while Seonghwa runs into the captain’s quarters to alert the Captain. My first looting with the crew and I’m not going to lie but I’m scared. What if I die not even three seconds after stepping foot on that boat.

 Meanwhile the whole ship goes hectic to prepare everything and a few minutes later Hongjoong steps out and looks through Seonghwa’s spyglass with a big smile on his features “Evreyone, looks like we hit the jackpot. We will strip them from everything.” 

He hands Seonghwa his spyglass back then looks over at me and gives me a bright smile “Use this time to practice, don’t worry if you kill them. The government doesn’t care, so neither should we. Also, unless I call for you do your thing I’m not useless.” I hum and touch the gun on my holster then I smile. Here’s my chance to show off.

 As the ship gets closer Jongho aims the canon at the ship and shoots directly hitting the ship in the front of the ship he then signals San and Yeosang to do the same permanently disabling the ship due to Jongho’s successfully being able to break the main mast of the ship. 

Right as Yunho and Mingi begin to set up the plank a few people of the enemy begins to shoot at us causing us to hide. 

Seonghwa gently squeezes my shoulder “Good luck, and please protect our Captain.” I turn and give him a smile for the first time in a while “No problem.” once the plank is clear I notice the captain of the ship immediately heads over towards Hongjoong.

 He’s not useless he can fight, I just need to clear these people out then I can help him. I shoot my gun at any of the crew mates running towards me until I have no ammo left after that I pick up a sword from one of the bodies on the ground then I climb up one of the shrouds of the ship. 

Before jumping I take a deep breath and jump down onto a crew mate who was about to shoot Yeosang in the back so I proceed to stab him in the back of the neck with the blade exiting through the other side of the man’s throat.

 When I pull it out of the man’s neck the sound alone of the man choking on his own blood causes Yeosang to turn and notices the man on the floor then he looks back at me and smirks.

I pick up the man’s gun and shoot the man behind Yeosang and I smile. I notice a scary looking man about to gang up on Wooyoung who was already busy with a sword fight so I give Yeosang a two finger salute and while running to Woooyung’s aid I shoot the man on the side of the head causing him to fall to the ground limply.

 While I look around to see if I could assist anyone I feel a hand pull me back by the hair and begins to crush my throat with the other then I put the barrel of the gun under the bearded man’s chin and I pull the trigger causing him to fall back. In the midst of me running away I see another huge scary bald man with a cigar in his mouth begin to walk towards me with evrey intention to kill.

 “You can’t go around killing people like this little lady, you’ve been a bad girl.” I smirk then I pull the trigger of the gun only for it to be empty then I let out a frustrated groan so I grab the sword again then he lets out a laugh. 

"You wanna fight with swords? Alright, I'll do you a favor before I kill you then although I can't guarantee I won't fuck you up pretty girl." He grabs a sword from the nearest body And does a few practice swings. 

I run towards the man and swing to aim at his midsection but he successfully blocks my sword and knocks it out of my hand. The man lets out a laugh and grabs me by the wrist and pulls me towards him then he rests his blade on my neck, pressing just enough for me to acknowledge the blade on my throat drawing some blood.

 The smoke from his cigar hitting me in the face while I lay completely still “What a shame I have to kill you I really wanted to fuck that pretty little face of yours-”

 Feeling complete disgust by the vulgarities this man was saying I pull out a dagger hiding under my belt and stab the man once in the midsection then another right in the eye causing him to drop his cigar to the floor and scream in agonizing pain.

 “You fucking bitch! I’ll kill you!” I pick up the sword I dropped and motion the angry man to attack "Come and get me you ugly troll.." 

The man leans in and swings his sword in my direction grazing my arm only managing to rip the fabric of my sleeve. I parry the angry man and unfortunately for the man his anger combined with only having one eye grants me an opening to lunge and slash followed by a stab right on his stomach causing him to fall on his knees and drop the sword on the ground.

 I pick up the cigar he dropped from the floor and push the end of the lit cigar into the wound in his eye.

The man screams in pain and clutches onto his face squirming on the floor until I pick up the shot gun off of a body and shoot the man dead. It's over, finally. 

I slowly close my eyes and let out a soft sigh, when I open my eyes I look at the state of the situation and see the captain of the Scarlet Sailors had been defeated or more so shot in the face. 

The rest of his crew only a handful were left alive and were are all tied up while San kept watch the rest of the guys were quickly hauling alot of supplies and money onto the ship.

 A few minutes go by of me being confused and not really knowing what to do si I decide to help San keep watch on the rival crew mates. From a distance I hear a whistling noise only to realize it was Hongjoong, who was looking in my direction and motions me back onto the ship.

 Both San and I walk back to the ship, leaving the rival crew on the boat. It still hadn’t dawned on me how brutal this whole situation is in reality. How my first encounter with true violence would be the one to light a fire in me that won’t be put out which will put a crack on my moral compass.

Once we get on the ship I begin walking towards the bathroom before Yeosang stops me “Hey, are you okay? That slice on your neck is bleeding.” I gingerly touch my neck then look down at my hand to see it coated with blood.

 Of course internally i’m panicking but I can’t let anyone know that the captain’s protector is a wimp, so I hum quietly while looking down at the blood. “The bleeding will stop, I’ll be fine.”

 Yeosang shakes his head “You have to go get that cleaned or else it’ll get infected.” I smile and wipe the blood with my finger on my inner wrist.“I’m going to shower so no worries the wound will get cleaned, thanks for your concern though.”

I give Yeosang a soft smile and before I even see his reactiom I walk over to the bathroom and close the door behind me and I begin to undress.

While I’m undressing I notice my hands are shaky, it must be the adrenaline still coursing through my veins. Growing slightly irritated because of how flimsily it made my hands feel I clench both my hands together and sigh. 

Slowly a small smile forces itself onto my features “I did a great job today, for my first day. I can’t be entirely disappointed.” I stand in the warm water staring at the ground with the slight sting on my neck from my wound. 

Suddenly I get flashes of all the people I’ve killed today and I will admit I do feel remorse for what i did as I’m only human but what Hongjoong told me keeps repeating itself in my head “The government doesn’t care, and neither should we.”

 Which means technically they aren’t the government since pirates are anti government but they did begin to head straight towards us and willing to attack us so we were in full right to attack them back.

This wasn’t wrong was it? Am I just overthinking everything right now because of the amount of people I just killed? I don’t know honestly, all I know is my body is reacting to it.

I start to feel slightly dizzy and a bit light headed so I sit under the water to rest a little bit. How can I be so weak I’m reacting like this, what happened to my grandfather’s training? No wait, his training didn’t include how to cope with killing people. 

After a long maybe 5 or 10 minutes of me feeling weird I eventually finish showering and tightly wrap the bathrobe around my figure and step back out onto the deck. It’s as if Yunho was waiting for me outside of the bathroom he hurriedly walks towards me “Yeosang told me about your wound.” 

I brush out my hair with my fingers “Oh, I’m fine.” He rolls his eyes and puts both his hands on my shoulders and turns me in the direction of the crew’s quarters “Yeah, I’m not taking any risks then you die on us and the Captain will get mad at me for not doing my job which is attend all the injuries our crew gets.” 

I sigh slightly rolling my eyes but not enough where Yunho notices “Yeah, okay then.” When we go down to the quarters he sits me down on the first bed entering the place.

 “Sit, I’ll be right back.” He walks over to a small cabinet in the room and pulls up a chair next to me. He gives me an awkward smile and points at my robe.

"Can you um, pull it down a little bit?” I nod and grab the soft fabric of the bathrobe and gently pull it down exposing my neck but still covering my chest. 

He clears his throat and silently begins to clean my wound up until he probably get tired of how painfully awkward it was so he breaks the ice and says “So, I saw you fighting and you’re pretty good. I now understand why the Captain was so hellbent on you joining us.”

 I awkwardly smile at Yunho “Yeah.” He chuckles and awkwardly smiles back  “You looked like a cat on top of those shrouds, weren’t you scared?” 

Stiffly I nod trying not to disturb what Yunho was doing “A little but when you’re set to kill you just kind of forget evreything around you and you just focus on your task.” Yunho hums “I see, just remember to be careful. You’re meant to protect the Captain and if you get hurt you’re neglecting your purpose.” 

Well that’s a bit.. Outright. What a strange way to tell me to be careful. “Okay, i’ll be careful. I'll try my best not to worry the Captain.” 

After a few more minutes of awkward small talk and him cleaning my wound he finally finishes and dresses my wound then puts away his first aid kit. I pull my bathrobe back up and I head over towards the door.

 I really wanted to say thank you but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to say anything until I finally manage to say in a very low almost indistinguishable mumble “Thank you.” Yunho turns back to me and says “Did you say something?”

 Great, he didn’t hear me. I look so dumb right now. Immediately I shake my head and walk out without another word. I stand by the railing looking out onto the sea, unfortunately It hasn’t even been a month yet and I’m already kind of sick of seeing nothing but water.

 I might as well learn to get along with everyone even if that means I have to fake my personality. They can all be afraid of me but if I keep this up and keep being so quiet and unaproachable I’ll not only get bored but I’ll be miserable. I also can’t latch onto Seonghwa and the Captain the whole time I’m here I need to make friends even if these guys are a bit…Weird.

 I hear steps approaching me from behind and a familiar voice emerges behind me “I’ve brought you some clean clothes. I don’t know if they’re your style but Hongjoong chose them. I’m sorry we didn’t give these to you earlier and you had to go into battle with your personal attire. I am sorry your old ones got ruined.” 

I turn and it was Seonghwa, skin with a slight sheen of sweat on his exposed skin which was just his neck and face with a small cut under his eye and a busted lip. “Ah, It’s fine. I’ll keep those clothes as a memento of my first battle with The Piece of Eight.” I shake my head and see his slightly worried expression shift to a small smile.

“Good job out there by the way. Yeosang told me you saved him twice and you helped out Wooyoung. I also heard you took out the juggernaut first mate of the Scarlet Sailors.” I nervously laugh “Thank you, I was only fulfilling my duty.” 

He hands me my clothes and smiles “This might have been your first battle but it certainly won’t be your last.” I look down at the clothes and I couldn’t tell first glance if I was going to like them. It wasn’t until I actually tried them on I saw and could definitely tell Hongjoong chose them. 

Very high fashion, it’s a very nice blend of their style just a bit more feminine. I like it. It was a black blazer with a beautiful pin on it the shape of an hourglass with silver detailing and a top that was a black fitted vest and some black pants , boots and.. A wide brim fedora. 

Kind of an odd choice, I thought pirates wore those weird looking hats? Not Hongjoong though, I can tell this man goes against what everyone expects of him. He forges his own path even with the smallest of things as simple as clothing. Something tells me I'm working for right man, the right cause.

✦•·····································•✦•·····································•✦

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[romanarose]

Darkness on the Edge of Town: Chapter 1

Joel Miller X Reader

Chapter 2

Masterlist

Summary: While heading home for a mandatory lockdown, Joel stumbles on something he wasn't supposed to see with FEDRA guards and steps in. This, unfortunately, lands with him spending unexpected time with a young woman. Oh, and there's only one bed.

warnings!: attempted gang rape, physical hard with a gun, mentions of blood, canon typical violence, lmk if I missed anything! EVENTUAL SMUT

A/N: This was supposed to be a one shot. Now I'm not sure how many chapters we're looking at. Three minimum. Also, I KNOOOOWWWWW this follows the biggest Romana trope: Protective! Man protecting a woman. I will not apologize.

EDIT: This was originally posted as an OC fic, because I had bigger plans for it, but I honestly lost a lot of steam on it. I was going to give up on it tbh but someone sent an ask asking about a chapter 2, and I hate to disappoint! So I'll be condencing the story and making it a reader fic. hoping you guys like it! ****************************

As the sun was setting, Joel walked to his home, trying to savor the last of the outside he’ll have for the next couple days. The local government had made a mandatory few day quarantine for no discernible reason other than to exercise control, remind the citizens who was in charge. A week, give or take, without work wouldn’t be great by any means, but Joel and Tess at least had a partnership, so they weren’t completely on their own. This week, however, Tess was gone. She was making a trade with Bill and Frank when the lockdown announcement came out, and Joel had to radio over for her to stay there until it ended. This meant that he had a week alone in his tiny apartment room without Tess knocking on his door for one reason or another.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” A woman shouted from the alley he was passing.

Joel’s survival instincts said to keep walking; wasn’t his business, wasn’t his problem, wasn’t him or Tess or any of their allies. He didn’t need to get involved. But Joel knew right from wrong, and as much as he liked to pretend to himself he wasn’t a good person, that he wasn’t the same person he was before Sarah died, he couldn’t keep walking. Plus, Tess would kill him if she knew he walked away from this. Turning down the alley, he saw you being pushed and pulled by some soldiers; all men. One pulled you by the shirt so you were flush against him, and you shoved him off yourself, making the young man hit the alley wall. This action earned you a pistol whip, causing blood to come out of you forehead as you cried out, stumbling backwards into the arms of another man, and Joel couldn’t stand back any longer.

“Hey!” He shouted, striding further into the alley. One of the soldiers grabbed your arm, keeping her to him and away from Joel. “What’s goin’ on here?” He said, eyeing the men. He was more or less familiar with them, some he knew their names, some he didn’t but recognized their faces.

One man he had dealt with, a trouble maker who liked to use his power to his benefit and was surround by rumors of his treatment of women. Nothing could be proven, and no real accusations were made; they wouldn’t go anywhere if there had been. His name was Ross, a younger man than Joel was by a few decades, one of those who had been teenagers when shit went south. That age had been terrible in the ‘before’, a time of confusion and soul searching for anyone, and all that had been interrupted by losing everything. This created a lot of inner turmoil that never settled for most. Some killed themselves, some managed it, some became god awful people.

Ross spoke, eyeing Joel with a smirk. “Curfew, Joel, you know the rules.”

“She’s still got ten minutes.” Joel spoke firmly, his stare intense on the younger man, letting him know he wasn’t backing down. His eyes connected with yours. Joel wasn’t an idiot, he knew there were different dangers in this world for women, something he’d likely never have to worry about outside of concern for Tess.

Not phased by Joel the way many others were, Ross continued his hold. “She lives on the other side of town, she’s not getting there on time. But don’t worry” He laughed lightly. “We’ll escort her”

If Joel wasn’t certain what they were planning, the way they laughed and smiled at each other told him. With a grunt, you kick your leg hard against his shin repeatedly, causing him to shout and push you off of him to stop the assault on his leg. Joel took the opportunity, grabbing your dirty shirt and yanking you back behind him. Surprisingly, you smack his arm in return. “Don’t fucking touch me!”

“I’m trying to help you” Joel grumbled to you.

“I don’t need it” But none the less you stood behind his broad body.

Ross was less pleased now. “Lockdown is in 5 minutes, how you gonna get her home before then, Joel?”

Joel hesitated. This was the last thing he wanted this week, a week where he had an excuse to stay home, be alone and wallow in his own misery, but there was no way he could live with himself if he just left you. “She’ll come with me”

Ross eyed him, obviously irritated that he’s losing. “You didn’t seem like the type to take in a charity case… or do you have some ulterior motives.”

Joel didn’t play games. Turning on a heel, you were now in front of him and he pushed you forward and out of the alley quickly. “Go”

You shoved him off you, whispering harshly. “Stop fucking touch me!”

“Go” But he kept his hands off you.

As they turned the corner, he heard Ross call out to them. “Four minutes Joel!” His voice echoed mockingly. “Better hurry!”

But Joel was already speed walking.

“Where are we going?” You scrambled after him.

“My place.”

You stopped in your tracks. “I’m not going with you.”

Turning around only briefly, he took one long stride towards her, pointing his finger. “You have two choices. Go with me to my shithole,” He pointed back towards the alley. “Or you can do with them. Up to you.” He saw you glare at him as he turned back around; he did his part and you were an adult, you could make her own stupid choices.

He heard you footsteps. You quickly followed him.

Joel and you barely made it in time.

The room was… a room.

One bed, a beat-up old lounge chair, a dresser, table and two chairs. The ‘kitchen’ was a small stove with a single burner, but it didn’t look very used; the microwave did. To the left there was a door, presumably to the bathroom. You stood in the doorway awkwardly, body tense and stiff.

Joel gestured vaguely around the apartment and grumbled something she didn’t quite understand, but she assumed it didn’t really matter what he said.

“Nice place” You said, looking around.

Looking slightly defensive, he replied. “No one’s making you be here”

You frowned at him. “I was trying to be polite, but fine, you live in a shithole.”

“Yeah, well, this shithole is where you’re stuck for the next few days, unless you wanna risk it with Ross” He said with a little bite, before feeling just a bit bad. When he glanced over at you, you were harshly glaring at him. “I’m Joel” He muttered under his breath.

“Yeah” You scoffed. “I picked up on that between you yanking me around”

Joel turned to face you, crossing his arms in annoyance. “You’re welcome” His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Undeterred, you crossed your arms back, hips cocked as you stood in defiance, seeming to consider your next words. Then, as nervousness flickers around your face, you seemed to realize the position you were in. Looking away and to the floor, you spoke softer. “Thank you. I know this isn’t… ideal”

“Don’t worry about” He grabbed a flannel shirt and sweats from his drawers and tossed them abruptly at you, then motioned for the bathroom. “Showers o’er there. There's… um…” He hesitated. “Under the sink.”

You furrowed your brow, confused. “What’s under the sink?”

Running a hand through his hair, Joel turned away and pretended to be suddenly very interested in the lamp. “You’ll see.”

“Sounds like a threat, but okay.” You murmured as you shuffled into the bathroom before stopping and turning around, telling him your name.

He gave a nod, barely acknowledging you as you disappeared into the bathroom. This was going to be a long fucking week.

When you took in the dingy bathroom, you decided to see what he was talking about beneath the sink. When you opened up the small cabinet, you found possibly the last thing you were expecting to see in the bathroom of the world's grumpiest man. Pads. The initial surprise you felt was quickly overtaken with a swell of warmth. You wondered about the type of man he was before the outbreak. The last 20 years had broken some of the best people down, the need for survival tearing people apart… but you firmly believed good people remained good deep down, someone inside them, even if it only came out when necessary. And today, as you faced down a group of men with evil intentions, it was clear that this was a situation he couldn’t ignore. You’d seen a lot in your years, more than enough for several lifetimes.

The bath felt nice, even if it was cold, as did his clothes, as well worn as they were. When you padded out into the one room place, you saw him standing over what could barely be called a stove.

“It’s just shitty canned soup, you can have some. I don’t got a lot here, but enough to get us through.”

“Thank you. I can pay you back once I get home”

“Hm.” Was his non committal answer.

A pause.

“And thank you for stopping-”

“Don’t mention it.”

“I mean it-”

Joel whipped around, his eyes intense and alight. “I said, don’t mention it.”

You shut your mouth but glared at him, letting him know he was being a dick. And yet, you really weren’t in much of a position to complain, were you? He had saved you from an attempted gang rape, the act of which caused him to have to put you up in his home, share his clothes, his water, his food… All the while giving no indication he had any ill intentions of his own. How many people would do this for a stranger?

He got his food, sitting at the table and once again gesturing vaguely towards the ‘kitchen’, prompting you to get food for yourself. You didn’t feel you weren't exactly wanted at the diner table, so you looked around for another place to eat, moving over to the chair. It wasn’t the worst thing she’d sat on, but it wasn’t the best either. A new problem was glaring as they ate in silence.

There was only one bed.

You piped up. “I can sleep on this chair.”

“Yeah” Was all he responded.

Clearly, he meant for you to sleep there anyway. It was going to suck, but it was better than whatever was planned for her in the alleyway.

Wordlessly, he walked off and shut the door to the bathroom and it wasn’t long before she heard the water running to take his own cold bath. Amazing bedside manner, really. Top tier. You tried to remind yourself you were looking a gift horse in the mouth, and brushed off your bitterness. When Joel immerged, he didn’t look at her as he walked past.

“So,” You started.

“No.”

“How long have you-”

“No.”

“Do you at least-”

A loud groan as he scrubbed his face, signaling you to stop.

You sat there, staring at the wall while Joel went about his business before you heard him call to you. “Hey. C’mere”

You turned around, eyeing him suspiciously. “Why”

“If you want your fucking forehead infected, that’s on you”

“Wait!” You scrambled up, walking over towards him where he had some basic first aid. “Sorry, I-”

“Sit” He directed to the chair at the table, not making eye contact.

Doing as you were told, you sat down at the table, looking up at Joel as he bent over you. You winced as he applied the disinfectant. “You could sit-”

“No” Despite his harsh tone, his touch was gentle, careful, and moving away when you winced.

“So” You tried to start a conversation again. “Joel. That’s Hebrew, right? Are you J-”

“Stop.” Joel briefly put his hands down, standing straight up. From your view on the chair, you suddenly realized how tall he was. His eye contact, when focused on you as it was now, was all consuming. “We’re not friends, we’re not going to come out of this as friends, we’re gonna be lucky if we don’t rip each other's head off. So how about you stop talking, and I stop wondering if I can drown myself in the bathtub every time you ask me a question.” When you didn’t argue, he oh-so softly applied a bit of antibiotic ointment, careful not to waste the little he had.

“Well, that was a bit blunt” You commented as you studied his face. Handsome, older; graying but not falling apart. His accent was southern, but where? You could not place, but that would explain his sense of duty.

“You asked if I was Jewish an hour into knowing me, and out of nowhere. I don’t think I’m the blunt one here” Joel muttered again, but this time there was a hint of… something else. Not quite playful, there was nearly no change in his tone, he was just as gruff as before, but the way he spoke indicated it was almost a joke. Almost. But not quite. He stood up without another word and washed his hands of the antibiotic cream and remaining blood that had oozed out. Grabbing an extra blanket from the drawer, he tossed it at you aimlessly and hit the light.

“Go to bed”

“It’s 8pm”

“Go. To. Bed.”

“Old man”

This received no response from him, but you laughed to yourself.

“Good night Joel.”

A loud sigh was the only response you got.

**************************

I'VE NEVER WRITTEN FOR JOEL SO PLEASE BE NICE! I don't know a whole lot about this universe or the world building so I'm so sorry if this is wrong. But I love Pedro so so so so much and I love TLOU so far!!! Please leave a comment if you like what you see so I know people want more, and reblog if you are so inclined! It's the only way to spread my work on this sight!

Shocker. The fic is titled after a Springsteen song. Joel Miller Listens to Springsteen, Melloncamp and Petty and I will not be taking criticism at this time.

And! Be sure to check out my other Pedro character fic, Take Your Time with my boy Frankie Morales! Tagging some I think may be interested, if you aren't interested in Joel fics just comment to be removed!

My love, @welcometostayingawake @trinkets01 @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @luciannadraven33 @howaboutcastiel

[brilliantfantasticgeronimo]

(vibrates) it's slug time

loving the slang... "tightness all day long" "today is toasty". also love that "babes" survives way into the future. 15 this is ur legacy. "that woman was her sister" incest implication??? 2 minutes in

TURN LEFT /triggered

the design in this is impeccable.

this is so sims coded.... from the creators of "doctor who is a tv show" theory we bring u-> "doctor who is a videogame"

if u were disappointed with the focus on magic this ep this ep is rlly giving classic scifi parody lol

CRAZY DAYS

there's a lot of wordsmith-ing in this ep….eyes emoji

i love ruby sm now she's so resourful in every ep

this episode is like "this is how an anniversary multi-doctor multi-companion multi-master webcam special could still win"

ok but seriously. ppl are gonna be like "phones bad is dumb of course people look where they are!!!" bro. they dont. and yeah it can have deadly consequences. there's a reason "dont text and drive" campaigns happen.

ruby has done SO many callcenter type jobs forreal.

SLUG TIME SLUG TIME SLUG TIME.

DR PEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

this episode is amazing

"is that thing something to do with you?" bitch (i got a bit spoiled that she's a racist (damn "looking at tumblr for 2 secs to vibe check" habit) so im looking at this with more hindsight than u are supposed to sdlkfjd)

bluie light celeste and gold motif in ruby and the doc's backdrops? also fifteen in orange <3333333 my beloved

the interior design is ON POINT this ep "you dont know how to walk without the arrows?" "condescending much?" bitch

this episode is so fun lol

"fifteen nd ruby react channel" realness (WHICH…..HEY…….DO U KNOW WHAT PPL REACT TO………………………. T V SH O W S (clown make up fully on))

ruby has done so much service calling jobs forreal lol the sheer patience

the doctor really wanting to lose their minds here but having to hold it together is peak doctor sdkjfsd (also very realistic of the struggles i expected a black doctor to work thru)

there's a bit of a theme of instinct vs programming going on here.

"surrounded by this woodland forest thing. it's like, really natural"

hashtag obsessed with it the catharsis im feelin tbh. 2 ppl being like "yo mass killing is rlly wrong" while the cacophony of the internet ~fun goes on and on. where's the [fiction]

ITS LIKE LOVE ISLAND THE PLANET. BRO. bro im so WIRED IN /clown make up intensifies

penny pepper bean still strong holding the 12 ppl still in the tory party together in the year something something

"ruby and the doctor struggle to lie in the moment" is my favorite recurring trope

the doctor using the sonic as a remote right there……………….. im running out of clown make up ya'll

"you did NOT just "@everyone" realism

no one ever listens to the goths….

until its too late…

its interesting that there's no cameras in their feeds, tho. right? like. that's the layer i think it's profoundly different to irl in this satire / social crit. ppl are *locked out* of the real world bc they're looking at their screens, but they do that bc the screens are a constant waterfall of billions of camera footage either of individuals or coporations or institutions. always producing "content". so like is not that ppl dont "see" anythign irl but they see it all thru a filter or thru editing,,,, but its fine i get what the satire is going for slkdfj but yeah. i think thats why it may feel a bit "not quite capturing" of the current ~digital ethos

fifteen so close to losing it- fifteen if u want to go for a bit of a timelord victorious i wont judge. u can have it. as a treat.

doctor who is a videogame energy bbc merch idea -> zombies run type podcast but it's the doctor and ruby telling u where to go for a job so u dont die. (russel get on this)

YOU STILL HAVE BATTERY PROBLEMS

"this is your fault!" iconic. classic who

so many ppl have presumably died so far. god bless. we needed an ep like this. proper high body count who feels good. feels organic.

rip the au where these were the beatles. thats 1 theory im really gonna mourn for the rest of the series lol

plaza 55…… orphan 55 reference???

great abrogation sounds important.

"i will get out out of here. i promise" obligatory doctor mirroring moment.

oh shit.

"thi iss SO manual"

"hands off" I LOVE THEM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The doctor x companion x some bland guy love triangle DREAM omg

"he says they're saving us to eat for last (snob voice)maybe we're the most tasty" scream. this ep is so fun.

pentecost's style was so on point.

wasnt her battery running out? (i may have missed something sldkjf)

bro stop hitting the fucking gas pipes oh my goddddd

holy shit. RICKY NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

that was brutal.

racists are gonna hate this episode so much lol

fifteen getting to experience all the microaggressions/outright aggressions thirteen didnt. yay progress(???) "thats voodoo" holy shi t

"maintain the standards of finetime" rtd was pissed when writting this lol

fifteen is not doing all rightkids.

ncuti's "who's my doctor? he's a black man" prophecy comes FULL CIRCLE

fifteen looking at US tho…………… this is a tv show man. this is a tv show. this is - *im struggle against my straight-jacked as im graddged back to the cushion-walled cell*

the plot twist of this ep………… phones good actually. thank u phones. u are doing a service.

CONCLUSIONS!

so there's a lot of ways to chop this one…

"racism and capitalism still exists in the future" is a trope that it's kind of limiting / always grates me in some ways (it feeds into the anti-racism of ppl whose politics doesnt trascend idealist philosophy -> that is, it is an anti-racism that can't conceive of an end to racism bc it doesn't actually have a political project that address the material causes of racism and just tries to fix the "natural prejudices" away with "education". in other words, it cant portray a word without racism bc it cant *conveive* of one.) . however i think im more open to it this time / this series since s11 onwards the focus has been so much on telling stories about the present with scifi make up on. and i think this one manages to do that rlly well. ___

another vertice to look this one on is whether... is it really "doing anything" to have racism portrayed on screen (and other bigotry) in a scifi story? if u already experience racism or understand it happens, who is served by this? it's hurtful to watch and it's like missing the chance to "show a different world" is possible thru scifi. and the counterargument to that is on a """""color blind"""""" 2020s world it is rlly cathartic and re-affirming to have stories that *show* the realities of the world, and that dont shy away from showing those realities in fear of them coming off as "over the top" (bc they arent. some ppl will still walk away from this ep thinking "haha fun satires" but like. this is literally how White Rich People Talk. in real life.......) and again in this one time i think it works really well bc doctor who has… probably never done this? lol there's moments with martha and ryan for example, but never going this hard on it. but im open to discussion tbh. i think the angle of "is this a story about racism for white people to learn or is it a cathartic for *black / brown people to experience catharsis in" is gonna be one for fruitful discussion in the future. ___

besides the socio-political points,,,, bro this episode was a thrill ngl sdlkjf like so many simple, excellent moments like the girl walking into the light post. the made up slang and the real slang!!!!. the excellent interior design. "ruby and fifteen react to doctor who". just lots of fun little details. the execution was really inspired.

character point -> tbh fifteen at the end feels like a bit of Growth from like, ten at his worst moments -> "he's not the person you would have chosen to survive, but if you could decide who lives or dies, doctor, that would make you a monster"

also kinda wonder how this episde will hit for newbies / Not Us. i think a lot of its gut punch comes from dw never doing this before and so the strenght of subverting those expectations. is this an story that stands on its own w/o all the 60 years of context? we'll have to show it to our normie friends and see lol

[nothingenoughao3]

Hello, I read your fic Dreams in the Necromancer House and just wanted to say I'm really enjoying it. The images are so vivid, I don't know how you do it. And so I was wondering if I could ask where did you get your inspiration from. As in, if you add references about certain books or history or traditions where do you find them? Wikipedia? I'm just curious about how to do research. Specifically the tag that says Lovecraftian cults, tbh I have no clue about the H.P.Lovecraft universe. I just think it's really interesting.

Also, I am probably going to read it again because I'm sure I've missed out on some details. Anyways, have a nice day.

Hey, thank you for the thoughtful ask! This is the sort of question writers dream about receiving.

Here is the not-so-secret and not-so-glamorous process for how I compile references for my works (not just this one--this L4D2 series took a LOT of research, and so did that one SuperBat fic).

For me, the earliest creative process is kaleidoscopic: I'll have multiple scenes that don't seem like they all fit together spinning around in my head, and "the plot" is what happens when I try to make them all line up and become one coherent thing. Usually, there are the Scenes Of Pure Inspiration which arrive out of nowhere, followed by the Scenes Of Pure Necessity that have to happen to support the Pure Inspiration, and then one or two Scenes Of Damn Wouldn't That Be Cool that come up as I play different scenarios out in my head. Once it's over, I'll probably discuss the Scenes Of Pure Inspiration from "Dreams" more in detail.

Then I start doing outlines. Yes, I construct outlines for my fanfics, just as I do for my original works. There are far too many tiny moving parts in a story for them not to be contained in an outline--even if you move them to a different spot later, the damn things'll get lost in the sofa cushions if you don't keep them in a container of some kind. (I hope this metaphor hasn't gotten away from me.)

Dreams has three outlines--the one I wrote while still generating ideas, the one I wrote to establish timelines more firmly, and then an annotated one that has all the references I've sprinkled throughout the story. So I do consider this to be a vital part of the process. There will be a fourth notation file I generate when I do my final editing pass after it's all published, too! That one will cover me stating stuff about character histories and little story details, so that (for an example that really happened) I don't have Armitage giving a flask of whiskey to Herbert which later turns into a flask of Everclear.

Now where does the research bit come in? For me, when I do my extremely-detailed outline or when I start writing.

For details regarding history, science, politics, and the like, I generally rely on Googling, same as anyone else (excluding results after the year 2021 if I'm not finding what I need). Better than this, though, is books. I used to collect books that were writers' references--one of my favorites was a guide to poisons, both "the most likely poisons used in a murder mystery" AND "how to design your own poison/toxin/venom". Also guidebooks for TTRPGs, sacred texts, gardening guides, etc. I currently have a book series called "The Home Doctor" that teaches you how to do baseline veterinary and human medicine (according to the early 1900s). I don't have that because I plan on using it for its intended purpose, but I did use it to research a L4D2 fic where someone's leg gets amputated--and I even had the characters in the fic owning those same books!

What really matters for a story like Dreams, though, is thematic feel. I think folks will forgive me if I were to mention a musical band that didn't exist in 1987/8, but far less so if I didn't nail the feel of 1987/8, or of cosmic horror. So while I am writing a story, I immerse not only in the source material (if it's a fanfic), but also in music, movies, books, comics, and etc. that "feel right". I'll draw off those media for further inspiration, because let's face it, creativity is knowing what to steal and how to steal it. (I didn't say that--Tarantino did.)

The key here is that I don't stop interacting with research and creative works when I'm not writing. I'll flip through my books or go down a rabbit hole of "what the hell is THAT scientific concept about" or learn about magical rituals every day that I can. If the compilation of research material looks easy or fast when I do it, it's because I'm always doing it and I know how to narrow it down!

For Dreams, I could go "Oh, here's a list of all the stories and movies and etc. I want to build off of" because I already had all of those things in my mental wheelhouses. If you wanted it, here is a specific list of the actual non-Lovecraftian works that thematically support and inspire Dreams in the Necromancer House:

Prince of Darkness (1987)+

Hereditary (2018)*

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (2019)

Stir of Echoes (1999)

Mandy (2018)

Skeleton Crew, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, and Everything's Eventual by Stephen King: specifically, "Nona", "1408", "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut", "Gramma"+, "Autopsy Room Four", and "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French"

Black Butterflies and Heatseeker by John Shirley: specifically "Cram", "Tahiti In Terms of Squares", "The Almost Empty Rooms", "Woodgrains"

The King in Yellow by Robert Chalmers

Twin Peaks

Music: "We Will Commit Wolf Murder" by of Montreal, "Leather Jacket" by Ben Folds Five, "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette, "Over & Over" by Rio Romeo, "No One's Around To Help" by JerryTerry

The Arkham Horror board game

"The Mysterious Stranger/An Angel Named Satan" from The Adventures of Mark Twain

And since you were asking about Lovecraft's universe, here are the stories that went into this particular tale. All of his stuff is treated as being in the public domain, so you can easily find it on sites like Project Gutenberg or wikis:

"The Case of Charles Dexter Ward"+

"The Thing on the Doorstep"+

"The Dunwich Horror"+

"The Colour Out of Space", as well as the film adaptation Color Out of Space (2019)

"Pickman's Model"

"The Call of Cthulhu"*

"The Shadow Over Innsmouth"*

And of course, "Dreams in the Witch-House"+

The ones marked with an * are the most detailed stories regarding what I mean by "Lovecraftian cults", and the ones with a + are good demonstrations of wizardry/magic systems that supported this work.

[efingart]

May I ask how did you come up with your Bell oc? She's amazing and even though I have my own Bell can't stop obsessing over yours haha, made me wish there was more than one Bell :3 also I love your art, you're the best!

Hey anon, oh thank you so much. I'm so happy you like her. It's really so cool to hear that you care about her 💙

I don't think I ever sat down to think about her creation. It's like she came fully formed out of my head like Athena.

I don't know how long you've been in the fandom, but she's been with me for a few years now. So I've had the benefit of time to develop her as a character and work on her overall look. Hell I didn't have a faceclaim for her for a year. And I've written, oh, a lot of words about her and a few comics lol. Also tons and tons and tons of drawings. Here's one now:

Also, I'm amazed at how things fell into place with her. For example, in the original JWIN comic (which is now just Chapter 1 of the fic) I just on a whim decided she liked milkshakes. And then I decided to look it up. Apparently, milkshakes were super popular in Soviet Russia. I had NO IDEA. But of course, now I had to run with it. And now I actually see there are people posting recipes for Soviet milkshakes. I think I'm going to have to make one.

If I had actually set goals for her development they would have been to fit her into canon events, the time period, and make her likable and relatable to my audience. And to me. She's definitely the kind of character that I gravitate towards. And I needed for Frank and for her to like Frank. I wanted to give both of them a little something better than what canon gave them. And given that I played Black Ops 1 and 2 after Cold War it just seemed like a natural fit.

Anyway, I wish I was a little more organized so I could give you a better answer. I'm always happy to answer more questions or clarify things because I know this wasn't the most detailed answer. Or if you have any questions about Mila in particular always feel free to ask!

And thank you so much, I'm really happy you love my art. That means the world to me, truly. I know I say that a lot but I do mean it genuinely 💙

EDIT: Oh hell I got so wrapped up in thinking this through I completely forgot. There is more than one Bell. I don't know how you feel about multiverse theory anon but when CoD gave us the choice to name and choose our own Bell it opened up the door to new universes and new outcomes. There's more than one Bell. If you want your Bell to hang out with mine or someone else's that works too.

Tbh I have been thinking about another Bell in The Boys Universe and Mila is there too.

[kaiseinx]

Tennant (Reverse: 1999)

(request from : @dvivian )

( note : I'm sorry if there's a mistake about Tennant's personality or character in here, i was doing a research but i found out in a lot of her edits she kinds of flirty, i also found an edit where she said her thought about dress, she certainly didn't hate it but kind respect it even tho she doesn't wear one, so if something is wrong you can easily correct me by commenting about my mistake :D i also take some of her dialogue in game for this (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠) )

you're just a normal human, the difference is that you're attracted to a fictional characters, you certainly didn't know why, but you just like it and didn't really bothered by that fact.

you're always see the ad of a game called "Reverse: 1999" and since you're curious about it you decided to play the game, but before that you also see some people commenting about the game story being boring and just skipping all the story because it's not their liking. but you just ignored it and downloaded the game, you prefer to see and experience it by yourself instead of judging it before playing it, tbh you also like the game art style.

you're laying on your bed waiting for them game to be done downloading..

once you start playing it you pay attention to the story, and along with that you also fell in love with one character, Tennant.

you just like her, her personality, her way of talking, her fashion style.

you always search an edit or a fanfic about her, you only found a few of it but you kinda wish that there's more of it.

today, is like other day. you're laying on your bed while playing Reverse: 1999, suddenly without a warning all the lights in your house shut down. you're a bit shocked and quickly put your phone down, and try to get up to get out from your room, but before you can do that you felt someone pulling you wrist before you could see who is that, the person suddenly said

"oh.. why are you trying to run away from me my dear? i thought you liked me?"

you knew that voice.

you totally recognize that voice.

you suddenly turn around and see the person.

it's true. it's her. the game character that you liked.

but.. how did she get here..? is this even possible? how?

you're to busy with your thoughts and forgot about her, you're back to reality when she suddenly said

"shush, my dear, let us enjoy this moment. this beautiful, short, enchanted moment"

that made you wonder.. how did she recognized you?

is this even real or you're just hallucinating right now?

you quickly pinch your cheek and it hurts.

"ouch, that must be hurt"

she said, looking at your cheek that has a pinching mark.

she caress your face and leaning close to your ears and say

"would i have the honor to invite you for dinner the next time we met? no, not in the game. but in here, your world. it'll be my pleasure to do so"

she looked at you, your face is red. like super red. she chuckle before taking your hand and kissing the back of your hand.

"i mustn't stay here for too long, make sure to answer my dinner invitation. I'll be waiting for your answer, my dear"

and with that, the lights is on again. you're sitting on your bed dumbfounded. thinking that your imagination is too real to be true.

until you hear a notification sound and grab your phone to see it

it's a notification from the game which says

"we had a good, beautiful, short time. but surely you wouldn't ignore my dinner invitation right my dear?"

oh. you're sure you can faint right now if it wasn't because another notification from your classmate that says

"hey, you're done with your homework? can i copy it if you're already done?"

(now, it's up for you to decide. is it a hallucinations that looks so real, or is it really happening?)

(sorry if it's too short, i really wanted to make it longer but since i didn't found any information about her personality and i even try to download the game but my storage says no lol, kalau butuh versi indo nya bilang aja, nanti ku translate terus ku upload yang versi indo :D)

[willingcannibalvictim]

RvB vore headcanons: Blood Gulch Chronicles Edition

RED TEAM

SARGE

-old man

-would eat blues as a way to establish dominance

-might also do that with his own team for similar reasons

-rants to prey about “the good ole days where milk was a nickel” and WAR

-tries to get all spooky scary when pred but just doesn’t land it

-unlikely/unwilling prey. makes him feel like less of a leader

SIMMONS

(i actually have some good headcanons for this one with evidence to back it up)

-a CHRONIC insomniac

-skinny queen, amazing prey

-due to his cyborgness, he has robot organs, meaning robo stomach (air conditioning yesss)

-also has oil saliva (which is a little gross but hey)

-noms grif most often out of the reds

-due to his (headcanonical) insomnia, he often can’t get to sleep easily, but finds that grif nomming him calms him down and helps him sleep better

-checks up on prey like every 10 minutes bc he’s just a nervous little guy :3

-speaking of grif…

GRIF

-chronic eepy

-mmmm chubby pred my beloved oooo yesss <333

-tends to nom Simmons either bc a) he can’t sleep or b) idk man bros hungry

-sometimes engages in accidental vore bc, once again, chronic eepy

-rubs tum to comfort/calm prey down, especially if unwilling

-weight in his stomach knocks this man out in like 2 seconds

-when prey, also falls asleep within 2 seconds. like he could get nommed for protection purposes after running away from some guy trying to kill him and just loses all the adrenaline immediately.

-extreme cuddling fan <3

-chubby pred = soft and warm tum.

DONUT

-amazeballz :O

-gets flustered pretty easily, this goes for being pred or prey

-ONLY and i mean ONLY noms when ppl ask. doesn’t nom unwilling prey for a few reasons

-1) prey kick which he is REALLY sensitive to and 2) feels really ashamed when prey gets really scared and doesn’t know they’re safe

-enjoys tum rubs from prey. calms him down.

-similar to Simmons, checks on prey a bit too often

-sees vore as a really intimate thing so he gets really fluster when nommed and his words get all shaky and auwuquwuq

-just a little guy :3

BLUES

TUCKER

-doesn’t mind prey that’s unwilling and puts up a fight

-he’s had to deal with kick before if yk what i mean 😏

-he’s a lover, not a fighter, and doesn’t enjoy the idea of holding prey in his tum for periods of time that they’re uncomfortable with

-occasionally gets bit cocky when nomming prey, to prey’s annoyance

-he’s a bit of a jerk but overall harmless

-as prey, firmly believes the superior answer is hands first like a little fucking bitch

-if unwillingly nommed, he fights a bit but gets a bit tired after like 5 seconds

-just a little guy

CHURCH

-the most tsundere middle aged man in the entire world

-usually unwilling prey. that man is NOT going down without a fight

-denies any allegations of enjoying being nommed (he’s a LIAR! LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE!!)

-noms prey for two reasons mostly 1) prey won’t shut up 2) protective purposes

-epsilon church? now that’s a whole other story i’m not going to get into here

-also denies nomming prey for any purpose other than those two reasons (once again, FUCKING LIAR!!!)

CABOOSE

-he’s such a silly little goobernut i have so many hc for him. holy moly

-100% noms other to protect them

-pretty much everyone on the blue team is half his height, so nomming them is pretty easy

-rants to unwilling prey about things they like in an attempt to calm them down

-tbh he does a lot of things for unwilling prey in an attempt to calm them down

-does it work? sometimes!

-slightly hums to prey and rubs tum for comfort

-actually the most teddy bear of a pred ever conceived.

-noms Church mostly despite his protests. Church settles down after a while and gets used to it.

-he’s just a little guy 🥺

-out of the blues, his tums actually REALLY soft and comfortable. it’s like laying on a giant pillow that is alive and moving and encased all around u.

TEX

-holy shit she is a BITCH

-unwilling prey? SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE!! willing prey? SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE AS WELL!!!

-she will not take shit from anybody

-100% pred all the time

-similar to Sarge, uses vore as a way to establish dominance in a group

-if she noms you and she KNOWS you prior to nomming, my dear that is a sign of utter and complete respect and intimacy

-if prey is unwilling and kicking/screaming, can and will punch her stomach to get the point across of “shut up, will ya?”

-also uses vore for protection of her colleagues (aka blues)

-“this place is full of mean ladies!”

OTHER AFFILIATIONS

DOC

-yooooo doctor

-stomach fluids have healing properties, something he greatly takes advantage of

-really cares about prey he’s nomming and, like many others, noms for protection

-noms after battle or fight to aid wounded prey (this includes nomming multiple prey at once. i see u tooo)

-however, doesn’t nom the reds or blues together unless they know each other and are on good terms. they will have a “GIRLS ARE FIGHTING!!” moment. that isn’t very comfortable for all parties

-enjoys vore as a prey because it makes him feel safe and protected. huge extreme cuddling fan.

-stomach is warm, but in a way where it’s comfortable and won’t make prey overheat

-out of the reds and blues, other than grif and caboose, his tum is probably the most comfortable.

-tummy rubs? tummy rubs ooooo ^^

————————-

and that’s all for now! i’ll do one later with the freelancers we see in rvb (dead or alive)

[vaporsystem]

hey im still here lol what if we name ourself Eula lol

or maybe just Yulia if we wanna be normal

We wanna have a like "la" sound but all the normal names with that are boring so lol Some of us have normal names but its fun to pick something weird, i dont wanna be a like "laura" or something.

also one of us drew us but like good actually so here lol im still not sure which one of us is the one thats so good at drawing, like i guess probably a lot of us but i get too bored which is why i did the doodle last time lol

anyway we've all been like trying to work on our stuff more again so like we've been having a lot of conversations and trying to spend time with each other and stuff and its kinda weird sometimes because its like ill be talking to someone but then im also them talking to me so its a little weird but it really feels like a lot of stuff is like way less blurry which is cool!!!

Its been really easy to feel myself come and go and i think some other people too and also i told some other people to interrupt """"the main one""""" whenever they post here so hopefully they'll do that cause like its SO easy when we're here for some reason even if we know a bunch of people could see it. the other one was talking about like making a website and we wanna probably like give us all blog spaces so we can all have our own spots but like idk how public itll be cause its weird lol but i think we need it cause like its so fun to be alive idk how else to explain it :p

tbh the main one might not even be like a person that might just be our like autopilot dont even think about whos fronting mode cause like ever since helix popped the cap its been like yo we just gotta like take a minute to think about it more than not at all, yknow?

but either way like ive been mooooostly fronting these past few days and its cool because like its pretty easy to be happy and like we'll go to sleep and when we wake up ill still be here and its like waoua what is this but it makes me feel so like solid (not like that)(unless)

also idk if other people can do this but like we did play around with like what shape we wanna be like in the brain place like we did be like "what if we were pony" and it was fun but like so limiting lmao i wanna have arms and hands i think so we'll be like gremlin for now lol

parts of us were saying we seem femboy coded but like idkkkk idk im not feeling the like any/all vibes that people are saying we give off but also she/her feels so basic... maybe we could be the one to use neopronouns...... A lot of us dont like it but i guess they/them for now???

anyway we'll shut up now but like we wanted to confirm we werent like a one off mental breakdown kinda thing!!!!!!!

okay but one edit i do get like really dizzy whenever i talk so idk what thats about lmaoo

[boqvistsbabe]

Update!!!!!!!!

Hey Y’all!!

Here is the start of hopefully monthly updates. I know in my last update I said I was going to be more consistently here and active. Obviously, that didn’t happen lol. Trying to hold myself to that rn. So this is probably going to be the format for all of my update posts, just so they are easier to follow.

Refresh:

So I am almost completely done with the blog refresh. I think all that is left is updating links and getting some other posts (ex: theme days) made/redone. Most of that got put on the back burner due to how long they were going to take lol. But hopefully, over Spring Break, I’ll be able to get those done (no promises, another thing I’m trying to do, is be more realistic about what I want to get done by when so). 

Writing/Other Content:

Ik I said I’d write more. Once again didn’t really happen. Well, I have written a decent bit, but never finished anything. There is one fic that I am going to try and work on after this week (midterms lol) and have someone look over it (the first time I’ve had a beta reader, look at me go lol). Like the blog as a whole, I am trying to organize my writing, like requests and my ideas and what is going out when etc. (@ any of the other writers if you have any suggestions of what to/where to organize my stuff so it doesn’t get all confusing and mixed up you should def let me know). Speaking of requests, I am going to try and do at least two requests a month. That doesn’t sound like a lot but for me, that feels like something I can realistically do. I will be doing old requests first because even though they are years old at this point, I liked the ideas so I genuinely want to write them. I am still going to be accepting new requests (esp because sometimes that helps spark creativity/help with writer’s block so feel free to send in any ideas!!) but I will try to get those older ones done first. As for any other content (playlists, moodboards, IG edits, drawings, etc.) I am also taking requests for those so feel free to send in any of those requests too. 

Another Blog?!

As of rn the second hockey blog has not been “released”. I want to catch up on things for this blog before I throw that into the mix and try to grow that as well. I am hoping to add that sometime this summer. Also, I do technically have a sideblog already (@samistheman) which is normally where I reblog random things, and I don’t really have tags for that blog I just kinda willy-nilly reblog there (it used to be mostly PJO stuff but now that’s kind of here because of how much of it there is lol).

Life Update:

College is a lot rn. I’m doing 17 credit hours and tbh do not know what possessed me to do that. At first, I was doing pretty good, but now not so much. Like I said earlier I have midterms this week. If y’all didn’t know this, I’m shit at taking tests so not doing great rn. Thankfully one of my classes ends on Sunday so at least I don’t have to worry about that. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life recently that is impacting a lot so trying to navigate that as well. I am moving out in May, which is yes months from now but there is still a lot that I need to do beforehand. Anyway, I’m going to a college hockey game on Thursday and I am super excited. I haven’t been able to go to a game since October. Also little fun update, I’m going on a weekend (work) trip to Boston. Super excited for that. I’ll be getting to go to a Celtics game and a Red Sox game (I’m a Royals girlie tho). I’ve never been to an NBA game so that’s for sure gonna be really cool. I’ve been to many MLB games before but this will be my first at a different stadium. Anyway, I think that is it for this update. Hope y’all are doing well!!

As usual, if y’all ever want to talk dms/inbox are open <3

I am going to tag some moots, I am totally forgetting some people so I am sorry for that (if y'all could reblog that would be amazing)

@2manytabsopen @krugstrash @jimmystrudel @andreburakozy @sidneycrosbyhoe @fallinallincurls @timstuetzle @typical-simplelove @ilyasorokinn @drei-mrssvechii

[sam-glade]

hey sam, happy STS!

you have a lot of really good worldbuilding resources and do a lot for your stories - do you have a go-to strategy when it comes to research (especially for something you haven't looked into before), or is it a bit different every time?

my own strategies atm are very uhhh scattershot tbh TT_TT

(--@space-writes)

Hi Space! Happy STS💜

Now that I've created two (and a half) settings - two worlds, one of which has two stories set in different eras - I'd say I have a consistent strategy, and sure, I'm happy to share it, but I make no promises it'll work for anyone else😅 'Scattershot' is a pretty good description.

I usually start with some elements of the setting that make me want to put a story in it. In Days of Dusk it's the metaphysics, with the superpowered weapons and long lifespan. In The Fulcrum, it's the larger than life structures inhabited by a sentient species that couldn't have possibly built it. I treat these ideas as axioms, and take them as given. I only need a handful of those, and the rest is exploring the consequences.

There are three parts to it:

Trust your intuition

Tl;dr: put down whatever comes to mind, explain it later, if needed.

It starts with how I draft stories. I'll come up with a location or two and describe it in detail in the first few chapters. As I draft them, I try to avoid the notes in square brackets to fill in the details later. Instead, I trust my intuition and put down the first thing that comes to mind that would make this particular place and scene unique. If I'm really unsure about it, I might make an editing note for later to check it, but 9 out of 10 times, it sticks.

I'm talking about the little, localised things that make the place/character/ritual distinct and memorable. Accents, talismans, decorative vessels on the shelves in the house, etc. Basically, whenever a description starts sounding too bland and generic, I'll come up with something - anything - on the spot. It's a first draft, it doesn't have to be perfect.

I'll use Gifts of Fate as an example. The first scene-setting description is this:

The downpour started when they were half way to Beetletun. The ground turned to mud, and the leaves of the bushes that crawled up the sides of the causeway drooped heavy with water. No wonder that there was nobody else in sight, on the road or in the orchards and fields stretching to either side of it.

For the plot, I needed it to be on an empty road and with rain, but otherwise, it could have been just fields - that's boring. Ok, fields and copses of trees to break the monotony? Still not distinctive enough to stick in the reader's memory. So, on a whim I arrived at orchards.

So now Aritia, the region where Lissan's from, is known for its orchards; they're an ubiquitous element of the landscape.

Causes and Consequences

I've come up with a detail, now I'd like to explain it, so that it's consistent with adjacent elements. I usually do that when I'm passing time irl, e.g. in a queue or on public transport, not looking at the document. I'll pick at a detail and keep asking why it is this way and what else it affects.

This is loosely based on the Five Whys method though quite often I won't go as deep with the questioning, and expand in the direction of consequences.

To take the orchards from the previous section, what does it entail? Quite a few of Lissan's neighbours work in the orchards. Let's weave this in then - a person Lissan runs into in the pub is a son of one of the local apple growers. Also, there's plenty of apples to go around, so in the beginning of the second book, Lissan and Marta (his sister) talk at home as they do chores - turning what's left of the late apple harvest after winter into jam.

At no point I'spell out that apples are the primary goods produced in this region.

This is also where going down research rabbit holes and chains of Wikipedia articles comes in handy. I'll look up especially the technologies that I put in on a whim, to make sure what are the prerequisites for them and that they're reasonable with the level of development of the society. I'm not talking about modelling how science and technology developed in your setting on history, but rather understanding why it happened IRL and translating it to the priorities and values of your setting.

For example, in the setting of Days of Dusk, people turn to ash in the moment of their death. That's one of the rules of the setting which I don't want to change. As a consequence, you can't perform autopsies, and that stunts the development of medical sciences. Ouch.

Another example: I wanted lamps lighting the streets in the main city featured in the story. Ok, so what sort of fuel was used in early gas lamps? Where did it come from? Coal is one of the options. Ok, so let's say this region is coal-rich, and there are mines. Why are they mining it extensively in the first place? What are they using it up for? Factories - so let's say we're at the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution. Let's add a factory to the cityscape.

Of course this could have gone in a different direction - gas can be obtained from other sources, like wood or peat, and each option would have different consequences. E.g. on the landscape - wood comes from forests, peat from moors.

Either way, if the overall appearance of the setting was pre-modern, I'd have much more trouble explaining it, but it's still doable! Are they fuelled by magic? Where does the magical energy come from? And so on.

You can keep asking these questions forever, but the last part is:

Be lazy

It's very easy to go too far with following the threads of cause and effect, and I'm afraid it's one of the cases where your mileage may vary. Most people won't notice or at least won't be pulled out of the story by anachronisms, some will. How egregious they need to be to break immersion, will vary.

My rule of thumb is to pick one main thing about the location and add no more than 2-3 relevant details per scene in which it features. Hence, Aritia is Lissan's home and we return there quite often, so it's a lot more fleshed out than a village where Lissan stays for two chapters, recuperating, and doesn't really leave his host's house. In the latter, I've no idea who the local lord is or what's the main export of this area. It doesn't matter.

I only come up with the details when they're needed. A very obvious example would be hypothetical methods of space travel which the society will reach in a millennium, when right now it's an early-modern setting.

I didn't name the lord to whom Lissan's home village belongs until 2/3 of the way through the book, when Marta was talking about the lord at length, filling Lissan in on what he'd missed. I vaguely knew that there are the five princedoms, but only two of the princes feature in Gifts of Fate, so I didn't even come up with the names of the others until I reached a scene in the later books, when they all make an appearance.

I also don't put the names of the cities, rivers, or regions on the map until they come up in the story. Then and only then I note them down so that they'll be consistent.

Finally, you'll see extensive worldbuilding questions lists, which are overwhelming and frankly, I find them incredibly unhelpful. They're usually divided into sections like climate, government, religion, culture, etc., and sure, it's good to be aware that these aspects of the setting are a thing, but I don't believe that they're all important in every story. Most of the categories can be described in vague terms, and adjusted as needed.

So, e.g. in Gifts of Fate, there's a conspiracy within the army and the plot relies on military technology being misused, so I'm exploring the magic system in detail, as well as the military. There's a single chapter of courtly intrigue (I couldn't resist a ball), so I completely skipped etiquette and customs among the upper class, only describing fancy outfits. Also, there's nothing about political factions and tensions between the different princedoms. It's not relevant. The religion also is a very background thing, so a couple of rites are mentioned in vague terms, but at no point I mention a pantheon of gods (there isn't one) or a creation myth.

I hope that helps😊

[that-was-anticlimactic]

20 questions for fic writers

tagged by my beloved @zukkaoru & @lesmiserablol <333

tagging (with no pressure): @beachytablecloth, @fabro-de-omres, & @milf-harrington (so sorry if you've already been tagged!)

1. how many works do you have on ao3?

69 which... is honestly more than i was expecting? i think it helps that my goal is to post a fic once a month mostly bc that's my motivation to keep writing even when i'm busy/stressed!

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

396,183 - omg i am SO CLOSE to 400k ahhhhhhhhh

3. what fandoms do you write for?

uhhhhhhh many??? right now, it's a lot of bsd/bnha, but it's always a plethora of things, haha! my first was prolly ninjago tbh

4. what are your top five fics by kudos?

hey, little songbird, give me a song

you never quite say (but i hear)

lost in love and lost in feelings

Deeper Than Words

for a new world to begin, the old one must fall

okay the #1 for that is honestly so real that is one of my absolute favorite things i've written EVER lol, same with #2! the rest are... idk #4 is AWFUL - like one of my first atla fics and also my first time writing a ts fic (i have gotten SO MUCH BETTER AT IT NOW)

*note: i started this in like nov or early dec, and #5 changed! it was the zukka goose fic but now it's actually one of my favorites iugytfyhujiko

5. do you respond to comments

i used to be good at it. then i got stressed bc of school. and then i was suddenly like "uhhhh idk How to respond???" i think the thing that got me was i didn't know how to reply to the distressed comments on my sokka falling fic so i just. accidentally stopped.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

oh here in the garden (let's play a game) 100% rip to sokka sorry babes ilysm hate to do it to ya, love the angst tho <333 rip to everyone who missed the major character death tag lol. well... that or a spring and summer song, too brief rip to geto in the +1 oops... oh shoot... it could also be take me where my soul can run... hm...

7. what is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

this was hard, but imma go with i was a child and she was a child bc it's based on one of my favorite childhood memories! rip to zuko and his ice cream tho :/ but azula is VIBING the whole time oiuygfcgyhuij

8. do you get hate on fics?

not really? i did once have someone try to correct me and say that i wrote sokka with ocd instead of tourette's but it was in the bookmarks and it made me laugh lol. i also got this comment on my kubokai kaidou with ts fic: ".. the self projection is heavy in this one ... -_-" so idk if that counts lol

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

nope :)

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

uhhhh not really? i wrote ninjago equestria girls crossover oneshot in middle school but i never finished it and it SUCKED lol

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

not that i know of?

12. what's the longest you've spent working on a fic? and the shortest?

uhhh i wrote a 7,600 word fic in three hours while i had covid? that's prolly the shortest? i count that as shorter than anything i may have finished faster bc i had covid lol but longest? ummmm over a year? multiple years? idkkkkkk the jay with ts fic i posted was something i wrote in 2019 and i edited it (a lot) and posted it in 2022 so??? that maybe?

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

uhhh i did with friends in middle/high school, but those never left the docs! also grace and i have. very many much so aus lol

14. what's your all-time favorite ship? from all fandoms?

RARIJACK!!! it was one of my first hardcore ships, and also was my introduction to queer ships!!! renga is a close second, but rarijack just is really important and special to me for sentimental reasons that put it above renga and others! i am also on a seroroki kick right now. it's not my all-time favorite, but the brain rot seems never ending right now lol

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

GOD SO MANY i have a folder in gdocs just for ninjago fics and there are folders within the folder for different types of wips i'll never finish - i have That many: "no substance", "baby girls", "drafts"... etc...

16. what are your writing strengths?

uhhhhhhhhhh ngl i'm in a place right now where i feel like the answer is Nothing (writer's block has been Bad recently), but i think something i'm good at in a very specific way is making readers feel the discomfort of characters? like idk i've been told that the way i write ts and tics (specifically tic attacks) makes the readers feel uncomfortable in like a "wow i didn't know it felt this way" kind of way??? i like to think i'm good at characterization??? idkkkk

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

ummm setting and scenery & connecting parts of a story, especially if they're parts that i'm stuck on/transitions are prolly my biggest ones???

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i mean go for it as long as it's respectful and like... you tried making sure it's accurate?

19. first fandom you wrote for?

uhh rainbow fairy/a-z mysteries... but that was like very briefly on paper. first time like... for Realsies was ninjago

20. favorite fic you've written?

oh 100% hey, little songbird, give me a song. it's just really special to me and writing it helped me cope with a new tic i had. but one that i wrote more recently is fantasies i'm not sure that i'm worthy of which is a ritsu-centric fic and is prolly tied as my favorite fic i wrote in 2023. the other one would be sun comes streaming through the window (& i can't sleep anymore) which is my 21k word kenji-centric fic lol but that one is like... i'm more proud of it than anything, which is what puts it up there.