#thank you so much for liking my starter call!!! i hope this works okay <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[fogsnatched]

No matter what anyone might say, Thalita knows it’s her fault.

Her fault, her fault, her fault. Renato is only here because of her! She told them to run to the beach, she was the one who dragged him into the fog... and now, they’re both damned here forever.

When she arrived here with him by her side, she’d never been so terrified in her life. She’d never truly known fear until that day, never truly knew what pain was until the hook pierced through her chest. She’d struggled against her death until the very end, yet strangely, it was upon realizing that she’d come back to life that the fear really started.

Whatever this place is, it’s beyond comprehension - and not even death will save her from the hellish pain that awaits. In movies and television, there’s always a way back home, even if it’s nearly impossible to reach it, but Thalita knows well that this is real life. Who’s to say they’ll ever get to escape? When she thinks about dying again and again, being tortured without release for years stretching into decades into eternities... what she feels can only be called utter despair.

Right now, she’s been separated from her brother. And while part of her wants to give up, because this is too much to take too much to endure too much to feel- she has to find him again. After all, he’s her little brother, and it’s her fault he’s here. Whatever happens, she has to find him...

...When the woman walks out of the fog, Thalita barely stifles a scream. Frozen stiff, she hopes that the rock hides her shape and doesn’t move at all. She’s never seen this woman before - she’s a different killer to the one that killed her last. What does that mean? How many are there? Will she die in a different, even more painful way?

She doesn’t dare to breathe. But she can’t hide forever.

@profanecenser ( starter! )

[super-unpredictable98]

The Eighth Child (~TUA AU~) - Season 4

Chapter 1: Your Dreams Came True, Now What?

Warning: Strong language, guns

a/n: Hello everyone! I really missed The Eighth Child and I hope you all have as well. We can all agree this season was pure bullshit, so here I am with a very short series of chapters to fix it. Welcome to the final show, hope you all like it <3 also thank you so much @jozstankovich for supporting me and being my guinea pig beta reader

(The Eighth Child Masterlist)

"Of course we're coming, Dieguito!" Victoria said on the phone while trying to tame Fortune's big curly mane. "Tunnie is very excited to play with Gracie and the twins. Alright, see you later!"

"Lunch is ready," Klaus called from the kitchen. He wore a frilly apron on top of his completely normal and absolutely not flamboyant outfit. "No no no! Fortune, don't run, we don't wanna get hurt, right?"

"Right, a safe girl is a happy girl!" She repeated what her father always said.

Something about the pandemic mixed with Fortune growing into her own person, realizing Victoria was no longer indestructible, and Klaus staying fully sober, made him into a complete nut job. He was scared of absolutely anything and everything that could harm him and his family. The idea of dying and not being there to raise his kids was too much for him to even think about.

"You too, Liebling, you're in no condition to run," he caressed her baby bump.

Victoria and Klaus started off their married life as happy as can be, but the real world was right ahead and with his new sobriety and paranoia, it became harder and harder for her to... how should one put it... feel attracted to him.

Klaus was a completely changed man, his wife didn't necessarily like that. But alas, every once in a while, they still had some romance and of course she got pregnant by chance one of those times.

"I'm not sick, Klausie. Don't you remember when I was pregnant with Fortune and we would party all night in the clubs near campus? I was fine and so is she."

"I know, I know, but we were totally irresponsible! The world was different too, no COVID for starters..." He shivered before taking a bite of his risotto.

Victoria sighed, looking at the several cardboard boxes surrounding them. Right after marrying, she used her saved money to rent the apartment she used to rent back in her college days with Klaus, she loved that place and it was special to begin their new lives there.

After about a year, she made enough money with her bakery for a downpayment on the apartment. But now with their second child on the way, it wasn't viable to live in such a tiny place, even though it hurt to let it go.

"Something wrong, Mommy?" Fortune asked, seeing her mother's face. Sadness, conformity, longing, and a little disgust in her eyes.

"No, baby, I'm okay," Victoria sighed, but her husband also noticed that look. It had started about two and a half years ago when he was really focused on his sobriety journey, she seemed to simply lose interest in the person he was becoming.

Every morning, he woke up afraid she'd be gone. Every day when she left for work, he was scared she'd meet someone more exciting that would fill that void he unwillingly left behind. He was terrified she'd leave him like she did back when they were younger.

"Hey, Schatzi, since Fortune is having that sleepover with Gracie tonight, we should do something special," Klaus suggested.

"Like what?" She gave him that vacant look like she was dead inside.

"Romantic dinner, watching a movie, some... special cuddles," he winked.

"Sure," she sighed. Something horribly dangerous happens when your dreams come true... You're stuck with them.

**

"Die Hard!" Diego opened the door to Brigaderia Oito, Victoria's bakery. "How's it going? How's Klus?"

"It's alright, he's... sober," she mumbled. "Ah Dieguito, married life isn't what I signed up for."

"Trouble in paradise, huh? It's tough, marriage is hard work. I feel like everything I do is meaningless, but in the end, we're with the people we love, and we have amazing kids. We built something good."

"I guess so," she nodded, giving him his usual carrot cake with gooey brigadeiro on top. "I just wish Klaus would go back to being... Klaus. Not the drugs you know, but the wild nature, it's like he's broken. We barely ever have sex anymore."

"Ew! I don't wanna hear about that!" Diego pretended to gag. "My two siblings having sex? Barf!"

She rolled her eyes and placed her hand on her belly before turning to get Grace's birthday cake. She baked it and decorated it herself with cute jungle animals.

"Oh, it looks amazing!" He gasped. "How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing, it's part of her present. Only the best for my goddaughter."

"Thank you so much, Vicky," he smiled, giving her a hug over the counter and giving her belly a pat. "Already know if it's a girl or a boy?"

"Not yet, we'll get to know on the next ultrasound."

"Hope it's a boy this time, my little man needs more friends, he's drowning in estrogen."

She huffed and gave him a playful shove. "Keep the cake in the fridge."

"Thanks a million, Vicky! I'll see you later."

"See you later," she turned to pick up the phone. "Hello, Brigadeiria Oito, how can I help you?"

"It's me, Schnucki!" Klaus said into the phone. "I just picked up Fortune from school, she choked on the pulp of her orange juice."

"What? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's okay now, she just had a little coughing fit and was back to normal... it's just, that she got scared and wanted to come back home."

"Klaus! I can't believe you pulled our daughter out of school because she lightly choked on juice! You're gonna ruin her with all this coddling!"

"She was scared!"

"Because she sees you scared all the damn time!"

"We can talk about this later after the party. She's here now and listening."

"Why did you put me on speaker?"

"Holding a cell phone close to your ear isn't good because the temperature-"

"JESUS CHRIST! SHUT UP!" She shouted and only then she noticed there was a client waiting for her. "Just a second, I'll be with you in no time..."

"Why are you like this? Pregnancy hormones driving you crazy?" He asked.

"No, Klaus, you are! Talk to you later, I have to work... someone has to work in this household!"

**

"Why is Mama mad at you?" Fortune asked as she rode in the back of Allison's car with Claire and her father to the party venue.

"Mama is nervous because she's pregnant, that makes mommies a little angry sometimes," Klaus said, adjusting her seat belt for the millionth time.

"She said it wasn't because of the baby."

"Alright... you know, sometimes daddies and mommies fight, my Tunnie baby, but that doesn't mean it's forever and it doesn't mean something bad is gonna happen."

"What if you two split?" The little girl frowned.

"That's not happening, your parents have been attached at the hip since they were toddlers," Allison chuckled. "It was kinda disgusting."

"If you're Aunt Vicky's sister and Uncle Klaus' sister... does that mean they're siblings too?" Claire asked.

"That's a very long very lovely story for when you're a little bit older, Claire-bear" Klaus said before turning back to his daughter. "My little princess, don't worry about mommy, okay? I'm always here for you, and she'll always be here for you too, we love you more than the entire universe. It's just that things changed a little, but nothing that cannot be fixed."

"Hey, guys!" Victoria waved at them once they parked, she was bringing four boxes of party sweets, Brazilian style of course... beijinho, brigadeiro, bicho de pé, ninho e nutella, casadinho.

"Hey! Hey! Don't go around carrying that! You're in no condition!" Klaus took his car helmet off and rushed to help her with the boxes.

"Relax, she's pregnant, not dead," Lila came right behind with the huge bottles of soda.

"Leave it to me," he insisted.

Once they were inside, Grace and the twins came running to meet Claire and Fortune. Victoria hugged her nieces and nephew, as did Klaus before Diego gave them a look and pointed with his eyes to the doll house which was secluded and empty.

"We need to talk," she mumbled.

"Yeah... don't take your eyes off Fortune, Claire," Klaus asked. "Don't let her eat or drink anything with red 40 or 4-MEI!"

"You say as if we didn't sneak out at least three times a week to stuff our faces with doughnuts at Griddy's..." Victoria sighed as she pulled him to the doll house.

"We had superpowers and it was a different time, we were young and dumb."

"We enjoyed life," she sat down on a tiny pink chair. "We don't need to feed our child crack, but if she drank a little coke once in a while, she'll be fine!"

"What happened to us?" He looked up with puppy eyes. "We haven't fucked since we conceived this baby, you look at me like I'm a pile of cow shit, you turn your face when I go to kiss you..."

"It just hurts to see what you became. This isn't the man I married. You need therapy."

"This again? No therapy! I don't need it and we probably can't afford it."

"You're going insane!"

"Give me a chance, okay? I promise I'll make it right tonight when we get home."

She nodded, wanting more than anything to believe him. "Alright, let's see about tonight."

When the couple left the doll house, the entire family was already there, well almost the entire family.

"Oh give me a break... fake Ben is here? Who invited him?" Victoria huffed, she never really accepted Sparrow Ben as a part of the family, because he wasn't. She was even a little happy when he was arrested, meaning he'd stay away.

"Believe me, I didn't wanna be here either," he rolled his eyes.

"Come on guys, no fighting!" Luther emerged from the ball pit. "It's a family night."

"Yeah, you're right, can't let him ruin it... Cincooooo!" She went to hug Five. "Look at you, all grown up! It's like every day you get bigger, come here, little CIA man!"

"I'm not a damn child, you know?" He reluctantly hugged her back. "And I'm not little!"

"Where's Viktor?" She asked.

"He said he was coming," Luther smiled.

"Victoria, can we go outside for a little bit? I'm hyperventilating, this place is so full of people and nobody's wearing a mask," Klaus whispered.

She shook her head defeated. "Just take deep breaths, honey, it's okay. Did you see fake Ben is back? Look, our brothers are here, we're still waiting for Viktor though."

"Vicky!" Diego called from a corner while holding a piñata.

She was happy to leave Klaus to calm down for a moment and join her other brother. "What's up?"

"Does this look like a West Side piñata to you? I mean, it's clearly East Side, right?"

"Um... what's the difference?"

"The fringe, the eyes, the colors! And the fact that Lila told me she'd be on the West Side today and this looks like an East Side piñata."

"Oh Dieguito... don't overthink, it's probably a misunderstanding, let's not jump to conclusions, alright?"

"Maybe you were right, you know? I work all day and it kills me, the kids suck whatever energy I have left, and the in-laws... I'm glad they're alive in this timeline, but I don't want them living in our house."

Victoria nodded, understanding the feeling, but she didn't want their marriage to end because of her own doubts.

"Hey, cariño, come on... I know I didn't like Lila when you first got together, but she really grew on me. She's a good mom and she really loves you. It's just a rough patch."

"Liebling, please... can we step out just a little bit?" Klaus approached them.

Accepting her fate, she nodded and took his hand so they could get some fresh air. But the moment she stepped out, she knew something was wrong, there was a wrapped gift on the pavement and she picked it up.

"From Uncle Viktor?" She read the card.

"Why would he leave the gift on the street and take off?" Klaus wondered.

She started looking around for clues and after some inspection, she found a note on her windshield.

"Your brother Viktor has been kidnapped. Follow my exact instructions and no harm will come to him," she read the contents of the note. "Fucking shit cunt ass motherfucker... let's get the others."

**

After leaving Lila's parents in charge of the party, the old Hargreeves clan and Lila jumped into Diego's van and they headed to the address written on the note.

"Everyone stay behind me, I got a gun," Five announced, pulling his revolver as they entered the dry cleaner corresponding to the number they were given.

"Did you bring a gun to a children's birthday party?" Klaus hissed, his face covered by a gas mask. "Can you smell this? This place is a chemical wasteland."

"Says the man who made me swim in the fucking sewer six years ago," Victoria huffed.

"It's Viktor!" Luther pointed at the short man tied up to a chair with a bag over his head.

She ran and got the bag off. "Oh hey, Vik, long time no see!"

"Hey Vic yourself..." he mumbled as she started untying him with the help of Luther.

"Who kidnapped you? Dad and his goons?" She asked.

"I doubt it, this is amateur hour," Five shook his head.

"I apologize if my methods are a little crude, but it's my first kidnapping," A man came from the back. He looked harmless enough, but he held a gun, so out of instinct, Victoria stood in front of Klaus like a shield. "Hopefully it'll be my last, but I need your help."

"Kidnapping our brother and pointing a gun at us won't buy you much goodwill," Five murmured, pointing his gun at the man.

"It was the only way I could make sure you came here, all of you. I couldn't leave anything to chance, especially when it comes to the Umbrella Academy."

"Wow, haven't heard that name in years!" Victoria scoffed.

"Sorry pal, the Umbrella Academy doesn't exist," Five said.

"Only in our hearts," she completed.

The man put the gun down and opened a box full of artifacts, pictures, newspaper articles, masks, action figures...

"Oh look! The time we saved the Eiffel Tower! Remember?" Vicky smiled. "Zombie Gustav Eiffel!" She said in a silly voice.

"Where did you get this?" Diego asked.

"It was all in this box in the back of my daughter's car. Her name is Jennifer."

"Ugh, I hate that name," Victoria groaned, she had hated this name since the incident that took her brother's life.

"I don't know where she got it, but about a year ago she met these new friends and she started going to these strange meetings. Some very strange people, call themselves The Keepers. And then over time, she stopped talking to me, I believe something terrible happened, because we were very close."

Klaus picked Dave's dog tags from the box and frowned, which made Victoria's blood boil. She was very understanding of that whole thing when it happened, but lately, she didn't need much to get angry at him.

"Put that shit back!" She snagged the chain from his hands and threw it in the box.

"Sorry, sorry..." He mumbled.

"How did you find us?" Luther asked.

"I saw you on TV, Toss N' Wash," the strange man pointed at Allison.

"Ha! See? No small parts," Klaus poked his sister's shoulder.

"I've been watching you for a while actually and I apologize. I'm so sorry! I know you'd probably kill me if you could," the man looked at Victoria. "But she's all I have left, you must know what that feels like."

"I actually do," she sighed. "But we're not the same as we were, we don't have powers anymore."

"Yeah, we're not special," Diego agreed.

"Speak for yourself, tubby," Ben whispered under his breath and earned a punch in the shoulder from Victoria.

"I might not have powers, but I can kick your ass!"

"Give us 24 hours, we'll find your daughter," Five took the box quickly.

"Yes! Thank you!" The man cried. "Thank you very much, Umbrella Academy! I think you're special!"

"Five! What are you doing?" Allison hissed, following him outside. "You know we can't help, why did you do that?"

"Because... of this," Five pulled out a jar of marigold from the box.

**

"What I wanna know is how the daughter of a dry cleaner ends up with a jar of marigold in the trunk of her car," Five wondered.

The siblings decided to grab dinner at a Japanese restaurant and discuss their theories.

"Could it be something to do with Dad?" Klaus clumsily shoved rice into his mouth with the chopsticks (because of course, raw fish was too dangerous to eat with all the contamination risks)

"No, he took away our powers, and for good reason," Victoria shook her head.

"How do we know that's not just glow stick juice?" Diego teased.

"For the sake of discussion, let's say this is legit. Does anyone here actually want their power back?" Five asked.

"No way!" Klaus yelped. "For the first time in my life, I'm sober... and happy. And most importantly 100% poltergeist free."

"You're anything but free, you don't leave the house and you wear gloves and a mask in public," Victoria pointed out.

"At least I'm in control."

"Hmm I smell divorce," Ben taunted.

"Shut the fuck up! You're not even one of us, fuck off," she grabbed the jar of marigold and held tightly to it.

"It's a hard no for me too. I have a bar, a life..." Viktor quickly said to end the discussion.

"You're all such losers, we should be mainlining this shit right now!" Ben groaned.

"Whoever wants powers back, raise your hand!" Victoria stood up. Nobody raised their hands except Ben.

"We have everything we need," Lila shrugged.

"Damn right, and as much as I hate Dad, he's extremely intelligent. He took away our powers because they were the cause of apocalypse after apocalypse after apocalypse. This way we are safe and the world is safe. Majority wins and I'm taking this cause I don't trust you, little weasel." Victoria shoved her finger in Ben's face. "Now let's go home, and stop flossing in public, Klaus, fucking disgusting. You're not making me wanna have sex with you any more by being gross."

Tag List: @salvador-daley @seanfalco

[remnantsofthepast-if]

What exactly you didn't like in new da, if you don't mind asking? <3

Oof, where to start? There're quite a lot of things, not gonna lie, but most of them are spoilers so I'm going to stick to the non spoilery ones.

Let me begin by saying that I do like the game despite its clear flaws, and I understand that it must have been a tricky development with covid happening in between and a lot of important people who worked on previous games leaving. As a (somewhat of a) developer myself, I sympathise with that, but as a consumer I have to judge the end result I bought, and after waiting for a decade I just expected something more than what we got.

Putting my opinion under the cut because I get passionate about it. Hope you have time to spare, lol!

For starters, this game gets rid of the Keep and only has three choices to import. While most of the things in the Keep are not really important (especially since the game takes place in the north), that's already a bad start and rises serious concerns, mainly with the returning characters.

It also butchers half of the already existing lore, and contradicts another bunch of events that happened in previous games, like the Well of Sorrows. Harding talks about how the Inquisitor went to the altar of Mythal (which only happens if the Inquisitor drank from the Well), but then, during a conversation between Taash and Emmrich, they talk about how Morrigan turned into a dragon during the events of DAI (which only happens of she drank from the Well)

The pacing of the first half of the game is excruciatingly slow. There are a lot of parts that are there only to lengthen the game unnecessarily, and it can get very boring very fast.

The dialogues are... okay-ish, I guess? It's very obvious that they wanted to be socially correct. Way too much, in fact. They seemed so focused on being inoffensive that there’s little real conflict between characters or in the plot. There's a part where two characters apparently argue? Except that there's no real argument. I only knew because the game told me, otherwise I wouldn't have noticed because again, nothing really happened. And they were completely fine with one another after one conversation two minutes later.

All the companions feel rather dull to me, and some are incredibly annoying. For example, there was a series of quests regarding Solas that I enjoyed at lot, and the companions would get together to comment on it. It was a serious and very interesting subject, but then one of the characters would jump out of the blue to (try to) make some witty remark that only managed to take me out of the story.

Plus, the childish dialogue most of them have (all of them, really) doesn't help at all. Another problem of being socially correct in a game that's supposed to be dark. Most of the time, conversations with them feel more like talking to teenagers than adults.

And don't even get me started on how awful Taash's character is... And no, the problem is not their gender identity, but how it was handled. This ask I got about Albert/Lavina describes perfectly my problem with Taash.

Also, and this only happens with the spanish translation, why the fuck did they translate Harding's name? Why is the text calling her Encaje instead of Lace!? God, that pissed me off so much I ended up changing the text to english, lmao!

Lastly, what they did to some of the returning characters... Poor Isabela, smh. Thank goodness Morrigan doesn't have that big of a role, and that there's zero mention of the Warden and Hawke.

---

It's not as bad as I read in early reviews (thankfully!), and I'm still having fun with it. But I expected to get so invested that I'd end up making several runs like in previous games. Now I'm only playing once and probably forget about it for a long while. Hopefully when (if) I replay it I won't ditch it like I ditched my second run of MEA.

Anyway, TLDR: Mediocre at best. Good individual game, but pretty bad sequel. The only good thing this game does as a sequel is give those Inquisitors who romanced Solas a happy ending. That's pretty much it.

The name "Dragon Age" weights heavily on it. Probably the reason why I'm judging it so harshly.

Thanks for the ask, btw! That was entertaining xD Shame on me for spending more time writing this than a chapter of my story, lol!

[ivy-diaries]

⌗ kpop daebak show with Eric Nam (part two) !!

ᝰ era: unstoppable

ᝰ characters: Ivy & Eric Nam

ᝰ word count: 2.1k

ᝰ notes: done!! i hope everyone enjoyed it!! lmk if i got anything wrong!! stay hydrated <33

ᝰ taglist: lmk if you wanna be added !!

“Hello ladies and gentlemen, welcome to part two of catching up with ivy. So let's continue. We were talking about how you and yeonjun had met each other. Now let’s talk about your music. How does it feel, now that you are the producer, composer, lyricist and the mastermind behind all your songs? Does it feel different than before?” Eric turned to ivy as he asked her the question after the intro.

“Well for starters, it feels new. I’ve always had at least a person or two in my studio and they’d do the work and I'd just give suggestions but now I'm the one who’s completely responsible for what kind of music I put out. It's a bit burdensome. I won't lie but it gives me a lot of freedom.” she laughs before continuing. “I feel like I can play around with anything and everything until I find what I like before putting it out. And I have 3racha on the hotline so I can ask them any questions I have about producing. I remember I once called Han at like 3 am and he was like ‘what the hell do you want?’ I think he probably wanted to kill me." Eric joins in with his laughter before asking her, “it’s a relief that you have people you can reach out too then.” Ivy nodded, saying yes. Moving on from that, eric started, “we asked your fans, soleils, some questions for you to answer. Are you ready?” she nodded enthusiastically. “Okay, first question! ‘who is your fashion inspiration?’” eric asked her.

Ivy thought for a second before opening her mouth to answer, “honestly I draw inspiration from my everyday life. There isn’t anything particular that I can put a label on as my inspo. I sometimes look at yeonjun and get inspired, i listen to taylor swift and get an inspiration suddenly, i open pinterest and look at my board and randomly get up to choose an outfit for the day. So yeah it depends on many factors.” she concluded. Satisfied with her answer, eric nodded before looking at the iPad for the next question. “What is your favorite food ?” he asked her. “Hmm, to me, since i have very limited options as a vegetarian here but my all time favorite food has to be the tteokbokki that yeonjun’s mom makes. It tastes so good! Her food is my all time favorite after my moms of course. I think i visit her more than yeonjun sometimes haha” she laughs. “Oh yea! I wanted to ask you about that. How do you survive being a vegetarian here? It's really hard. I tried for some time and I went back to the states and I couldn't control it haha” Eric asks her and laughs. Chuckling, she started, “I was just brought up like that. I didn’t wake up one day and suddenly wanted to be a vegetarian. It's not that difficult for me in a sense that I don't find it difficult to not eat any meat but it’s pretty difficult to find vegetarian stuff here. There is not much vegetarian stuff available. And in that sense i'm really thankful to yeonjun’s mom because she tries a lot to make stuff vegetarian for me whenever i visit. It moves me to tears everytime. She’s always trying out new methods to make stuff edible for me and it really touches my heart.” she finishes.

Eric gave her a smile before reading the next question. “What is your description of the perfect date?” Eric asks, chuckling. “There is no such thing as a perfect date. You just have to make sure that the both of you don’t make each other uncomfortable if it’s the first one. But if it’s like a date with like your significant other, I would recommend that you do whatever that makes you both happy. A date should not be fun for only one person. Whatever you choose to do, make sure both of you have equal amounts of fun” she finished. Eric looked at her before asking her a question of his own. “Okay, this is my question. What is the best date that you have gone on?” she chuckled before answering him. “The first one that comes to mind is that one day when we both had the day off and we decided to not waste the day. We got up and we ate breakfast and just headed out. We went to art museums, we went cafe hopping, we had lunch and we walked out and about until sunset and we had a little picnic and we ended the night stargazing. It is the best date we’ve had. I won't lie haha” she laughed as Eric looked with adoration at her as she finished speaking. “That sounds like so much fun!! Okay now to the next question. What is your dream collab stage?” he asked her. She thought for a few seconds “i’d love to collab with Taylor swift. But we all know that’s not gonna happen haha. So realistically speaking, I'd love to have all my girl friends on an album or a song. Like I'm talking inka from stray kids, calista from enhypen, lua from ateez, and haewon from mask and many more people that if i start naming, i could go on forever haha.” she laughs as she finishes her sentence. Eric looks at her with an amused look and reads the next question. “What are your hobbies?” “hmm i’d say i love taking pictures that look really aesthetic. I have been using my old phone that I don't use anymore simply for taking pictures. And oh I love baking! If i’m not home, then i’m probably at the straykid’s dorm or the tubatu dorm baking with felix or soobin haha." She explains her hobbies and waits for Eric to ask her the next question. “What do you hate most in the world?” he asks her. “People not respecting boundaries. I really hate it when people cross boundaries they’re not supposed to cross. Like mainly in this industry where our privacy as idols are not respected. I know that as fans they want to know everything that happens in our life but people have to know where to stop. They have to understand that we can share only minute details of ourselves. They have to understand that it's the same feeling as someone randomly coming up to you in the streets and asking you to spill your deepest darkest secret.” she finished as Eric nodded, agreeing to her words. "Do you prefer cats or dogs?" He asks her the next question. Gasping, she places a hand dramatically on her chest. "You can't ask me to choose!! I know I have two dogs but I promised Inka that I will love cats the same as dogs!! I won't choose between my dogs and the words of other love of my life!!" Ivy says as Eric wheezes at her dramatic behavior next to her. She too chuckles when Eric tries to read the next question.

"What would you have done if you hadn't become an idol?" "That's a very interesting question. Hmm i haven't really given it much thought since from all i can remember from the age of 11 is that I've ever thought about is working hard to become an idol. But it really got to me when I was on break last time. I can't be doing this forever can i? I mean I'll continue being an idol as long as my body allows it and I have a passion for it. But I was thinking about what I will do next if I lose my passion for this. That's when I realized that I had to think of something else too. I think if i hadn't been an idol, I would've probably gone to college in the states and would've been working now. But I've always wanted to open a cafe so I would've probably done that. But I do plan on opening my own cafe one day though!! It's not just a dream of the past. It's a dream for the future too." Ivy finished as Eric looked at her like a proud father. "I really hope you achieve that dream of your jen!" He wished her as she thanked him silently before answering the next question.

"Who is the person you trust the most?" He asked her. Without any hesitation, she replied "mom, dad, my brother, my sister and yeonjun." Smiling at how quick she answered the question, Eric moved on to the next one. "Ooh this is a very interesting question. This fan asks 'since you debuted at such a young age, what were the pros and cons of it? How did you manage school?' " smiling at the question, "they always know what to ask haha." She laughed before answering it. "Of course the obvious pros that came out of it are getting a lot of fans that support me and love me for who i am. A lot of people come up to me saying that my music saved them or that they found me at their lowest and in one way or the other i helped them get out of it and these words really keep me up at night. Yes it was really hard debuting at that age but it's words like these that don't make me regret it. Although yes I do wish I could've debuted a bit later but i was desperate. I thought that if i didn't debut at that time then i couldn't debut at all. But all ended up being good. So I don't regret anything. And about how I managed school, it was tough. It really was haha I remember once when I was back from a music show at almost 2 am but I had a test the next morning so I stayed up preparing for it. I got a good result so it was all worth it but yeah managing school was tough. College was a lot easier though. I loved college." She finished. Eric looked at her with a look of sympathy as he read the next question. "If you had to pick a song to describe your life, what would it be?" "Hmm one song? It's hard choosing just one. Because I feel like there's a time in my life I could say "to my youth" fit the best and there's a time when I can say "blueming" fits perfectly. There was a time when- I can't say much about it but, a song in my upcoming album fit the best. So it's almost impossible to pinpoint one song. She replied. "Are you more of a sweet or savory eater?" Eric read the next question. "I am more of a sweet tooth. I love anything and everything sweet but I do crave savory quite a few times to balance it out. But the majority of the time, I'm a sweet tooth!" Ivy answered.

Suddenly Eric clapped his arms once startling the poor girl. Laughing at her, he says "it's the second to last question." Pouting, she whines at him about how she doesn't wanna go and wants to stay some more. Laughing at her antics, Eric reads out the question. "What's your dream destination?" "My dream destination is probably switzerland. I heard it's really beautiful and I've seen a few videos so I'd love to go there one day." Ivy smiled as she waited for the last question. Eric asked her, "which musical concept do you prefer and why? I feel like it's a good question to end" nodding, she replied. "Hmm I like a lot of concepts but I think I like fantasy and y2k concepts in kpop. But overall I love it when the music tells the artist's story. I love it." Sighing, Eric kept the iPad on the ground and sat up straight.

He could see ivy pouting and as he laughed at it, he said his closing ments and asked Ivy to say how she felt. "I felt so comfortable actually. It's so nice here, the ambiance is really good and you all are soo sweet!! I want to start a podcast here now! haha But anyways, I had such a great time. And it's been quite some time since I saw Eric oppa too so it felt really nice catching up and answering the questions! Thank you soo much for having me!! I'd love to be back one day!! Byeee" she said as the outro of the daebak show played.

[bidisaster-peanut-romano]

Hi there! What do you think about Chad/Bryce?

hello there!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ASK????? probably my fav prep ship 100/10 recommend i love them aaaa lot

what made you ship it?

well, for starters. they're canon. and it was what kinda drew first my attention to them. then i started kind of observing them like little bugs in a jar (i say confidently, as a city guy who's never seen a bug outside of cockroaches) and... i slowly fell for them i guess.

also because i want you to figure. chad and bryce starting to get closer as of second chapter but then chad kind of freaks out bc bryce is not a girl (i hc them as nb personally btw) and. internalized homophobia. so he tries to go with lola who is in fact a girl and the girl everyone wants so she must be a girl he should like and bryce feeling so betrayed but then the thing with lola goes. the way it does. and chad slowly has to prove to bryce and to himself what he really feels. idk there's a lot of potential for angst there

2. what are your favorite things about the ship?

it's about the trust, babe!! also bc i think chad is the only one who knows about bryce's job and. they do not know how to act because we know how the preps' world is all about personal success at the expense of relationship right, and bryce is particularly convinced abt this, so chad could just give out their secret and ruin them. except that he... doesn't? instead keeps covering up, walking them home when the shift is over. bryce thinks they can really trust chad, when they hardly trust themself, and it scares them half to death.

and on the other hand chad, always struggling to understand what he was missing- maybe he should be more handsome? better at sports? learn to play music? chase after the right girls? be spoiled by his parents the way other preps are? so he always talks soo highly of himself in the hope to convince himself and everyone else that he's whole and valid. but then bryce come along and they are perfectly okay just with the way chad is and calls him a moron when chad insults himself as if he was perfect like this???

it's about learning that maybe you can allow yourself to trust and to be trusted and understanding how human connections beyond differences work y'know.

3. is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

this is actually tricky tbf, because i haven't seen a lot of them around- not zero, but still. we all seem to agree that they're great friends before being a couple and that works just fine. so, not really, i guess? but if anyone has any opinions, i'm all ears!!

[ailec-12]

I posted 818 times in 2022

129 posts created (16%)

689 posts reblogged (84%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@napo-con-fritas

@i-will-write

@togetherkru

@evilbeanghost

@meibruges

I tagged 814 of my posts in 2022

#art - 294 posts

#* - 129 posts

#hp - 122 posts

#encanto - 83 posts

#bnha - 83 posts

#severus snape - 75 posts

#quotes - 69 posts

#ask ail - 61 posts

#yagi toshinori - 53 posts

#ask meme - 53 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#once i told someone 'i get why you want to drop this story; that's okay' and they replied very strongly that they were not going to drop it

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

A new chapter is out!

Some very intense moments between James and Sev take place. I hope you'll like it and let me know what you think.

30 notes - Posted July 23, 2022

#4

Prooooompt!! When Sev gets bullied by a group of kids, James is forced to look back and confront his own past behaviour. --- I'd love it if Sirius and Remus are there, too, and I'd love for Lily to get angry at some point. I kind of see this happening during the time where Sev and James' relationship is not so good (which is a very ample period of time, lol), but feel free to modify the idea as you want.

Thanks so much for this prompt, I really loved it! Wish I could've managed to include everything, but I'm delighted you still liked it so much.

Also, shout-out to @evilbeanghost for reading it beforehand and helping me see I was fretting over nothing, hahaha. Thanks, dear.

Also on AO3.

Looking in the Mirror

I. First Warning

It happens during his first week at school and Severus is paralysed by terror as he waits by the headmaster’s door. His fears are confirmed when not only Lily but James, too, turn the corner. He is in big trouble. For starters, he had no idea they would call any parents after just one fight. In addition, he has thrown the first punch, so the bruise blossoming on his own cheek had been written off as self-defence and he is the only one facing serious consequences.

He wants to cry. He wants to run. Instead, he digs his trembling fingers in the wooden bench. As soon as Lily is close enough, she crouches down. Her fingers brush against his unscathed cheek.

“Oh, Sev, what happened?”

“I reckon it’s pretty obvious,” James snaps coldly, stopping just behind her.

See the full post

31 notes - Posted January 9, 2022

#3

I saw this picrew on my dash earlier today and thought it was really cute.

Tagging @hklnvgl, @napo-con-fritas and anyone else who wants to try it out.

42 notes - Posted November 16, 2022

#2

Fic Rec Friday (BNHA edition)

Endeavor-centric

Just Watch Me, by WhiteWinterDragon (WIP, 13k). Rei disappears and Endeavor must take care of their four children.

Splitting Rocks, by iguessyouregonnamissthepantyraid (one shot, 22k). Endeavor gets trapped in a time loop.

Aizawa-centric

All Might's pen pal, by xweapon (complete, 27k). Erasermight. Aizawa sends a drunk email to All Might as he falls for Toshinori.

Gold, the colour of fear, by RedResin (one shot, 2k). Aizawa comforts Eri after a nightmare.

All Might-centric

Been Seen, by siriusfan13 (one shot, 1k). Pre-canon. "Being seen and being noticed are not the same thing. Yagi Toshinori knows this well."

Learning to Trust, by siriusfan13 (WIP, 86k). Gen, whump and hidden identity —not much else I could ask for. All Might wants to get to know the UA staff before revealing his identity to them. Lots of Aizawa and Present Mic as well.

The Torrid Affair of All Might and Yagi Toshinori, by speedwagons-glorious-mane (WIP, 3k). More All Might trying desperately to hide his identity.

misconceptions, by h1lo (one shot, 631). Nana's first impressions of Yagi Toshinori.

When Baby Birds Try to Fly, by pillowspace (one shot, 4k). Nana & Toshi, before she gives him OFA.

Let Them Eat Cake, by academiccockroach (one shot, 13k). Orphan Toshi bites (a lot) as he meets Nana and Gran Torino for the first time.

Breaking Down, by FloFlow (WIP, 13k). Nana deals with her own demons after abandoning Kotaro when Toshinori gets sick.

56 notes - Posted October 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Two truths, one lie

Tagged by @supermarketcrayons, thank you!

My favourite sport is football.

I've never been in New York.

I have a green thumb.

Feel free to guess!

84 notes - Posted July 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[bardass]

40, 56, and 74 for the fic meme

WOO three whole questions, i had to dig up the post again lol sorry it took me so long these are some good questions

40. If someone were to make fanart of your work, what fic or scene would you hope to see?

OUGH well I would obviously be HONORED if someone made art based on any of my writing/of any of my characters, but if I had to choose a fanfic...I would have to say Juno Steel and the Trouble in Paradise for The Penumbra Podcast. Art of any part of it would be amazing but if I were to pick a scene/image I think it'd be really funny to draw Juno biting into a decorative apple and realizing it's styrofoam. OR there's a scene in Part 2 that I haven't posted yet where Juno and Nureyev are in an Earth rabbit enclosure--it is So funny and cute, I'm just a sucker for Juno holding a rabbit.

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

Oooh that's tough. Writing and telling stories is kind of my Thing so there's a lot I take pride in (hence my username, bardass). I guess when it comes to fanfic specifically I really enjoy characterization and mimicking character voices? Like I've done it for fics based on tabletop rpgs I've played as well, so I have a lot of experience writing characters that aren't mine, and according to other people I do a good job! I have a background in acting so I probably pull on that to get into the characters' heads, making their facial expressions and everything while I write. Of course I also tend to put a lot of myself into the characters I write for the most, perhaps projecting some neurodivergencies here and there--but that's inevitable and a tangent. ANYWAY, TL;DR: I do killer character voices that are usually very distinct and that's because I can hear them in my head (haunted by voices) and they just won't shut up.

74. You’ve posted a fic anonymously. How would someone be able to guess that you’d written it?

Lolll okay that's easy, I have So Many calling cards. For starters, it's Italics Central up in here. I got called out for it a bunch in my creative writing course and I try but it's so hard to cut back. Most of it is from internal monologues, which is another easy way to tell I wrote it. I also tend to repeat certain actions/phrases like a character smirking or rolling their eyes (this is especially true for Nureyev and Juno) or I frequently use metaphors and tend toward flowery descriptive language. Another way to tell is if the fic is in present tense because I really like to put the reader in the moment in the characters' shoes. Though one of the easiest ways to guess something is mine is if it's a little silly. I use humor to cope so even the angstiest writing of mine has jokes or goofy moments/shenanigans to break the tension because I love to make people laugh and I write because it's fun! So if a fic has heavy internal monologuing, detailed imagery, lots of whimsicality, and a happy ending, it's got my name written all over it.

Thanks so much for the asks friend! <3

[lovehyyuntold]

hiii <3 sorry it took me like forever to send this to you, i just couldn't find the right words to express my gratitude.

your reblog was so nice, i think i shed a tear or two ngl 😭 i've been writing for a long time, even before this blog, and i have to admit that i've been discouraged a lot (that's why i never finish my stories lmao). anyways, what you said about reading 'lost warmth' made me realise that maybe, all this time and effort i put into this hobby isn't for nothing. really, thank you so much!! there was so reason for you to be this nice to me but you were and i'm just 😭 sobbing really.

your words really made my whole day, week even 🩷 and i swear this is the nicest thing someone has ever said to me. I hope that somehow, i will be able to return all the joy your beautiful self managed to make me feel <3

I hope you have the best day ahead, and don't forget to take care of yourself!! 🩷 i'll be back to scream in your reblogs whenever you post another masterpiece (i'll be the first one there, nobody is beating me 😡)

also, i would loove to read those two stories you mentioned!! if you ever want to share, i'm here <3 getting to read your writing is an honour in itself 🩷

Oh dear, hellow, hi <3

I feel slightly flustered to even answer your ask, ahh. Please, let me tell you, I couldn't even express half of what your writing felt to me at that time. I am so honored, truly, for you to say you shed a tear to my comment, I actually don't even know how to feel right now?

I'm so awkward, help. But genuinely speaking, Lost Warmth absolutely broke me to the core. As odd as this sounds, I can be quite self-indulgent when it comes to angsty stories. Up to the point where my friends call me sadistic as a joke. They believe that it's more challenging for me to write a happier ending compared to a bitter one. Sometimes I find myself in that spot, which I slightly need to work on, but I think that's why your story clicked so much.

Lost Warmth flickered inspiration including another story (that I seem to have forgotten the title too) in me that I ended up writing about the seasons, the feelings these changes emits yet the loneliness stayed. While your story showcased one's feelings that stayed, even after being apart—the love, the memories, its still there, and its agonizing. I cried, heavily. I think I was sitting on the couch one day, a little bit of downpour, and the perfect weather for your fic. I ended up watching and listening to Winter Falls on repeat after. A huge point from this is that, if I had not read your fic, if I had not stumbled upon your story, I wouldn't have received the amount of inspiration I had that day.

I went through my drafts and the dates, I genuinely starting writing winter first—which felt so perfect for each year, winter ends and starts us off. So thank you for that, for posting that story, I wish I had said all of this sooner, I wish more people could share their honest thoughts in stories, because inspiration thrives within these narratives.

hdjshsjsh nice to you? YOU'RE SO KIND TO ME TOO 😭 I genuinely kicked my feet after seeing that reblog, now this ask 🫠

A lil turn in convo, when it comes to writing, discouragement comes in so many forms: writer's block, lack of energy, overthinking, lack of feedback, nobody to talk to when it comes to the story, etc. I really truly wish that every story, even if people don't write their thoughts, it could pop up in our notes, even the smallest telling of an emotion they felt while reading. But anywho, you telling me about your support is the absolute sweetest thing ever, thank you, thank you so much.

I hope to return more feedback to your stories when the time comes 🤗 you take care of yourself as well, okay? I'll come out of nowhere and beat whoever's making your day miserable—you need to have a beautiful one. 🥰

As for my stories, it's actually only one but I made a 100 word story which is why I said two. But it was like a starter pack (I wrote it for a friend, like a little snippet of your story in I guess a different sense?) for the actual seasons story. However, since you're interested, dm me anytime whenever you're ready, and I'll send screenshots from my drafts 🥺🩷

[supermarvel-fics]

So I was wondering if you could maybe write a ler!Loki story, with this "Okay, you asked for it!" As the sentence starter🥺 I absolutely adore your work BTW!

Much Love.. Rhi🖤💚🖤💚

“Okay, you asked for it!” Loki lunged at you, but being an extremely talented and lethal spy, you dodged him at the last second.

“AH! No! First of all, I asked for no such thing! Secondly, this is really childish," You glared at the God, keeping a safe distance between you.

"Darling, I told you when I found out about this little weakness of yours that I'd exploit it if you continued to berate me over losing to Barnes. So, either you don't mind being tickled senseless or you're ignorant enough to have forgotten."

You jaw went slack at his calling out of you. "Well, when you put it like that-"

"My point exactly. So, if you'd be oh, so kind..." Loki took another step forward and in turn, you took another step backwards. It wasn't until a pair of arms wrapped around your waist that you realized that your back had collided into Loki rather than a wall.

"NO! You can't use magic! That's cheating!" You growled as he lifted you off the floor and walked you over to the couch, throwing you down onto it.

"Last I checked, there were no rules to this game, love," Loki said just before pinching at your knees. "Besides, you don't mind this, right?"

"AHA! NOHOHO!"

"No, you don't mind? Hm, just as I suspected," the Asgardian smirked, quickly darting his hands up to your ribs. You squealed and fell into cackling laughter, batting at his hands weakly.

"Thahat's noHOT what I meheant!" You yelled. Loki switched from digging to lightly scratching at your lower ribs, chuckling at how your reaction to the tickly sensation didn't change much.

"Well, you're far from ignorant, so I think I'll choose to believe that you wanted this."

You whined and grabbed at his wrists. "Noho! Stohop teasing mehehe!"

"It's okay, agent. You can pretend you hate it," Loki quipped just before renewing his attack with more vigor at your sides. A giggly scream bubbled from your throat, your head falling back against the cushions.

Loki was right. You had egged him on in hopes that this would happen and even though he already had you figured out, there was no way in hell you'd admit that. This game was too much fun to ruin.

————��———————————————————

love u Rhi!! thank you for this prompt <3

[myherowritings]

PART 5. THE INHERENT EROTICISM OF BUTTONING SOMEONE’S CLOTHES

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 3.0k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. sexual tension !! and umm sexual frustration ;p, not explicit but prob rated 16+, just read the title of this chapter BAHAHA

A/N. sorry this is coming a little later than planned ! :( but i hope the dressing room scene can make up for it u.u tysm for reading and for all the feedback! enjoy :3 xx sof

SERIES MASTERLIST

© myherowritings — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, copying, or translating of any kind is not allowed. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

What were you supposed to wear to a shopping date? you asked yourself. Not that today was a date or anything. Though maybe you sort of wished it were… 

The Naruhata Charity Gala was in a little over a week and Shouto would be coming over to pick you up in less than one hour and you still sat in your room with nothing but a towel on feeling more and more hopeless. 

It was a strange dilemma. He met you in your work apron wearing an unflattering work shirt and work pants. And when you met up over the weekend previously, you never paid too much mind on what you would wear. In fact, you were positive he wouldn’t even care how you looked. So why was it such a big deal to you now? 

Probably because of your recent admission of your growing feelings towards him, you thought crossly. 

In your defense, it wasn’t like it was your fault! Right? Seeing someone everyday… Wanting to see someone everyday… Texting regularly about the most random things, having the most banal objects you saw throughout the day remind you of something Shouto did or said… With all those occurrences it would’ve been practically impossible to not start crushing on him! 

Time passed as you stared at your ceiling blankly. If you kept this up, he was bound to show up in your house and find you half-naked. (Now that you mentioned it, that didn’t sound like the worst idea. But it wasn’t something you’d randomly spring upon someone.)

“Get up, Y/N!” you scolded yourself, rolling off your bed and heading towards your closet. 

In the end, you ended up settling for another variation of your usual go-to outfit and called it a day. It happened to be perfect timing since, by the time you finished getting ready, you got a new message on your phone. 

Shouto: Parked in front of your place

Shouto: Sorry I’m a little early. You can take your time getting ready :)

Y/N: it’s okay i’m ready now!! 

After hitting send, you put your shoes on, gathering your belongings you wanted to bring with you, and headed out the door. Excited to hang out with Shouto again, you walked with a skip in your step down the path until you reached his car. 

“Hi!” You waved through his half-opened, tinted window. To no one’s surprise, his car was a sleek black color with dark, tinted windows, and gold details along the sides. If it didn’t look so oddly sexy you would’ve laughed at how cutely dorky he was for matching his car with his credit card. “This is one hot car.”

He turned his head to the side when you entered the passenger’s seat. “Should I turn the AC higher?” 

“Huh— Oh!” You stifled a giggle when you processed the pun he made. “You’re funny, Shouto.” 

He only looked a little confused. “Thank you.” 

The interior of his car was no less—for lack of better term—sexy than the outside. Leather seats, a large screen for the radio and carplay, and the dashboard and side doors lit up a nice blue color. 

“Pretty!” you complimented, poking at the colorful light.

“Want to pick a color?” 

Your eyes widened. “It can change colors?!” 

Shouto nodded.

“Can it be pink?” you asked intently. 

“Light pink or hot pink?”

“Light.”

He swiftly obliged and with a hit of a touchscreen button, the interior lighting changed from blue to pastel pink. 

“Green!”

It turned green.

“Orange!”

Cue the orange. 

“Purple?” 

Purple. 

Once you were thoroughly satisfied with Shouto showing you the whole color selection (you were almost embarrassed to admit it kept you entertained for a good ten minutes), you settled on a bright turquoise that reminded you of the color of his left eye. 

“Ooh, this color! My favorite,” you said simply, giving him a wide smile. 

A faint blush dusted his cheeks as he developed a sudden interest in adjusting his rearview mirror. “Hm.”

Shouto drove the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, occasionally asking how your week was outside of work and what type of outfit you wanted to wear so he could have a better idea on where to take you. 

“Did you eat?” he suddenly asked when he hit the next stoplight, one hand holding the wheel and the other resting comfortably on the gear shift. 

His hands looked nice and slender and soft to the touch. Pretty hands, you thought but shook yourself out of it because you could go down a rabbit hole of examining his hands and going into detail about them. 

You remembered the single, measly granola bar you had due to your rush getting ready. “I didn’t really eat yet, no. Did you?”

He shook his head and pulled into a food plaza with lots of stores to choose from. The two of you agreed on a noodle restaurant that apparently had some of the best cold soba (once you learned it was his favorite food, you wanted to be able to have some with him and today was the perfect opportunity to do just that) and promptly headed to the location. 

In the shop, a waiter sat the two of you down at a dimly lit booth with the perfect amount of ambience that if someone were to casually look over, they might even mistake this outing as a date. 

You grinned at the thought. 

“Excited for the soba?” asked Shouto, examining the smile on your face thoughtfully. 

That’s not why you were smiling, but it was close enough. “Mhm. And the udon. You can never go wrong with noodles!” 

Yes, you got both udon and soba. But in your defense, where else would the fun in life be if not in sugary sweets and carbs? 

As the two of you waited for your main dishes, you ate some fish cakes and edamame while talking about the ways in which capitalism could be dismantled. Rather sexy of him, if you did say so yourself. 

Before you knew it, you were done with your meal and headed back into his car to go fancy-people shopping. On the remainder of the ride, you asked yourself what color you should pick that would match well with both you and Shouto. After all, nothing said a cute couple who totally liked each other going on a totally real date to a gala like color-coordinated outfits, right?

He parked in front of a street of buildings with a dark glass reaching from ceiling to floor with security guards at the door. Just standing near it made you feel fancy. 

“This is a place my sister told me she liked,” he said, leading you to the store front with his hand on the small of your back to guide you. “I hope you’ll find something to your liking.”

You tried your best not to pay too much attention to the warmth you felt both on your back and your stomach from the fuzzy feelings that spread. 

“Hello, welcome!” the both of you were greeted as you walked through the doors. The interior of the store was lined with designer dresses, some long, some short, and all incredibly stunning. There were only a few other patrons in the store, but all of them looked so elegant as they tried on their dresses. “It’s so lovely to see you again Mr. Todoroki.”

Shouto nodded subtly. “Hello. This is Y/N, my date to the gala who’ll need your assistance today.”

“Hi!” you chimed in at his cue. “Nice to meet you.” 

The worker smiled and made her way over to you. “And you as well. I’m Masuda and I’ll do my best to make sure you leave the store satisfied with your purchase! Did you have a particular style or perhaps color in mind?”

“Umm,” you said sheepishly, looking around the wide variety of clothings and unsure where to start. “I’m not too sure. It’s my first time going to one of these things so maybe something comfortable, but also still...fancy?” You scratched the back of your neck. “Does that even exist?”

“Of course— Just have to find something that feels comfortable to you.” She told you to hold on one moment as she disappear into the rows of fabric. 

As Masuda collected some starter dresses for you to try on, a customer walked by with bags of clothes in her hands, her gaze lingering on Shouto, though neither of you paid her much mind. 

“In this setting, you look almost fit to be a sugar daddy,” you said jokingly, looking around in awe at the sophisticated yet lavish dresses. “You take all your sugar babies here?”

“Only the ones I really like,” he teased back. His voice was deadpan but there was the telltale hints of a smirk on his face to let you know he was only messing with you.

The door chimed to signal that a customer left and by then Masuda had returned with bundles of fabric draped on her arm. She led you away in a hurry and you hesitantly looked back at Shouto who followed in a safe distance. Seeing your moment of panic, he gave you an encouraging smile that somehow was enough to ease a significant fraction of your nerves. This may be new and confusing territory, but at least he was here to help you through it. 

Masuda set a dressing room up for you—it was one of those rooms in the middle of the store with curtains that reached the ceiling and mirrors all around—and placed a bunch of outfits she thought would suit your taste. It reminded you of when a bride would go wedding dress shopping with their family. When you had enough outfits for the first round, she told Shouto to sit down on a leather seat in front of your dressing room while he waited for you to try the different dresses on. 

In a way, it felt oddly intimate: Shouto sitting just a few feet in front of you as you undressed, only separated by the veil of a curtain. Would he offer to help button the back of your dress up, fingers brushing against your bare skin? The thought made you feel almost hot inside as you changed out of your street clothes and into the first dress. 

Unfortunately for you, this dress had no such difficult buttons to reach. 

“How’s it look?” you asked shyly as you emerged from the dressing room. 

The dress was pretty and didn’t feel uncomfortable to walk in, but there wasn’t any sort of attachment you felt towards it. In other words, it was simply...meh. 

Shouto looked up from his phone to take in the sight of you. He smiled. “You look amazing as always.” 

“You think so?” You spun around and curtseyed jokingly and he chuckled. “I don’t think it’s bad, but I’m not sure if it’s the right one.” 

“We’ll be here until you find the right one you want, then. Take your time, Y/N.” 

His voice was normally on the deeper side, but it sounded even more sensual and gravelly at this very moment. You felt goosebumps on your arms and it wasn’t just because of the sleeveless dress you currently had on. 

“T-Thanks, Shouto,” you murmured, turning around and walking back into the changing room to hide the look on your face. You didn’t even know what kind of look you had on your face, but you knew it was one that might give too much away. 

It wasn’t fair that he had to be so sweet and caring and thoughtful and handsome and rich… Most guys you met barely fit into one of those criteria, let alone all five. (Sure, the last two weren’t necessary in your opinion, but you couldn’t deny they were a nice bonus.) It was too bad you had no clue how he felt about you. 

There were moments where he felt flirty and teasing, like maybe he viewed you in a more-than-friends way. But other times he was so polite and proper and you couldn’t help but wonder if he was just being nice because that’s simply the sort of person he was to everyone. 

While you were trying to sort through all your thoughts, you completely forgot to change into a new dress the whole time you were in here. 

You saw a shadow at the floor of the curtain before a voice said, “Y/N? Are you okay in there?” 

Jumping at the sound, you scurried to put the next dress on, a blue one with almost translucent fabric and a delicate neckline. Judging from the proximity of Shouto’s voice and the shadow of his shoes, he was right next to you as you changed. 

“I’m okay!” you managed, hoping you didn’t sound as wobbly as you felt. You held the dress closed at the back, fumbling with the fastens. “I just, ah, needed help buttoning this one up.” 

A light ruffle on the curtain then a pause. “Should I...come in and help?” 

Your eyes widened, not expecting him to actually offer to button it up like you fantasized earlier. You fully thought he might called the worker to aide you just so he wouldn’t risk making you uncomfortable. (Not that he would’ve. At all.) 

“I apologize,” he said somewhat tensely after you didn’t respond. “That was indecent of me—”

“No, no!” you said profusely, poking your head out of the curtain while holding the fabric at the front of your dress to your chest. You tilted your chin to meet his gaze with a determined one of your own. “I’d love your help, Shouto.” 

With a dusting of pink coloring his cheeks, he nodded and entered your dressing room. “This dress is a nice color on you.” His voice was loud against the silence. 

Shouto ran his hand down the length of your spine and then up to unfold the column of buttons on your dress that curved inwards at your movement, his knuckles grazing against your skin like lightning striking water. You jolted at the sudden feeling but he didn’t remove his touch when he felt it.

“Sorry.” His voice was low, almost like a whisper. “Was just getting the buttons out.”

“N-No worries!”

His fingers began working on the bottom-most button at your lower back as he applied a steady pressure on the base of your spine to control the motion. Shouto slowly began his way up, fingertips cold to the touch. But you knew that wasn’t the only reason you felt yourself shiver. As he fastened the dainty buttons with immense concentration (much more concentration than was actually needed to fasten buttons, you were sure), you felt the heat of his breath tickling the back of your neck. You almost couldn’t keep yourself from arching your back in a mixture of anticipation and delight at his constant touch. 

When he finished the last button, Shouto let one hand rest on your hip, grasping the fabric between his fingertips to examine its silken texture. Your breath caught in your throat as you stepped back and bumped into his chest, but he was already there to steady you. 

With his arm on your waist and your back leaning against his chest, you made eye contact through the mirror in front of you. You weren’t sure if the pounding you felt was from your heart or his or a combination of both. 

There was something almost erotic about holding each others’ gaze in the mirror after Shouto just helped you dress, the two of you still not letting the other go despite the task being complete. 

“The dress… You look gorgeous,” he said, not taking his eyes off you for one moment. 

You nodded slowly. It did look amazing on you. And it was breathable and soft. (Plus, Shouto liked it, which made you happier than you’d care to admit.) “The only downside would be I need help getting into it.”

“We could get ready together so it’s no issue.” 

“I’d...also need help getting out of it.” 

You held your breath as his eyes darkened, his grip on your waist tightening ever so slightly in a way that made you curve your back before you remembered you were flush against Shouto and he could feel even the most subtle of movements coming from your body. But by the time you stopped yourself, it was too late. He already felt it and you wanted more.

His voice was hoarse. “I could help you with that too.”

Instead of beginning to unbutton the dress like part of you thought he would, he surprised you by spinning you around to face him, your shoulder blades pressed against the cool glass of the mirror and your palms lingering on the muscles of his warm chest. The contrast of the cold glass and Shouto’s body heat left a shiver down your spine.

“And how do you plan to help take off my dress when you can’t even see the buttons?” you said challengingly, a smirk on your face despite knowing full well your body was showcasing just how affected you were by this situation. By Shouto.

He tilted his head to the side in response to your daring tone, hands swiftly finding their way to your back and unbuttoning the top five buttons. It wasn’t enough to completely expose your breasts, but it was enough to loosen the fabric at the neckline in a way that made you gasp. 

“Seems doable to me,” he commented. 

You tugged him down slightly by the collar of his shirt. “I don’t quite believe you. Maybe you should prove it.” 

A guttural noise sounded from the back of his throat as he cupped your jaw and leaned in closer. You inched forward, eager to meet his lips. But before they could touch, a knock came from the wall next to the curtain, causing the two of you to freeze in your spots, bodies pressed against each other in an intimate flush.

“Hello, Y/N?” said Masuda cheerfully, blissfully ignorant about what was about to happen in a public dressing room in the middle of the store. “How are the dresses coming along? Did you like any?”

“Ah, actually…” you trailed off, exchanging frustrated but amused glances with Shouto. “I think we’ll take this one.”

a/n: so...mirror sex/sex in a dressing room as a bonus chapter? u.u why yes of course. i’m one step ahead; did u even have to ask? LMAO and hm i wonder if y/n’s fEeLiNGs~ are reciprocated skfkfkdg ALSO THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO KISSING BUT DIDN’T I CRY hopefully the wait will be worth it ;3

what to expect in the next part:

GALA TIMEEEE

yes y/n finally gets the fancy candy they so desired

we get to see shouto’s sexy penthouse

shouto says eat the rich >:c

[nurseanddex]

if you're doing sentence starters, 3/27 for nursey & dex?

3. “what did you do?” and 27. “why the hell is there glitter everywhere?”

Dex was going to murder someone.

When he found out who did this, he was absolutely going to murder them.

He had returned from an absurdly stressful final exam, his very last final exam of junior year, thank fuck, fully planning to spend a few hours vegging on his bed and watching Netflix before he needed to pack up his shit for the long drive home to Maine in the morning. But someone decided he needed other plans.

Because someone had decided to set off a glitter bomb in the middle of his bungalow.

Every single surface was coated in a rainbow of ultrafine glitter. The kind that was practically impossible to ever fully get out, no matter how hard you tried. It was all over his bedding and even had managed to get into his dresser and closet and coat most of his clothing with a layer of glitter.

Great, now he had to do laundry because he couldn’t very well go home to his vaguely homophobic family with practically every piece of clothing he owned sparkling in a glitter rainbow. Sure, he was mostly out now but with his family it was very much still a keep it to himself and don’t shove it in their faces situation.

Sighing, he set to shoving the worst hit items into his laundry basket to get started on the arduous task of cleaning up. At least if he had to wash literally his entire wardrobe, he was conveniently located to the washer and didn’t have to lug everything up and down the stairs. He opened the door of the bungalow to go start the load and suddenly found himself face to face with an extremely sheepish looking Nursey.

“Surprise,” Nursey said, offering him a weak smile accompanied by some half-hearted jazz hands.

“What did you do?” Dex growled.

“Well, Chowder and I were talking and we thought it would be nice to do something to celebrate you being made captain.”

“So why the hell is there a mess of glitter everywhere??”

“There may have been a miscommunication over whether we would be getting a confetti cannon or a glitter cannon,” Nursey admitted, unable to meet Dex’s eyes.

“What have I ever done to give you the impression that either of those would be something I would enjoy?”

“Yeah, we uh, sort of realized that? About two seconds after we set it off. We were hoping we could get it cleaned up before you got back but we may have um, fried the vacuum in the process. Chowder went over to the volleyball house to ask Farms if we could borrow theirs.” Dex’s shoulders slumped as he felt the rush of anger go out of him. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t stay mad at what was a misguided but well-intentioned gesture from his best friends.

“Just help me clean this up, okay?” He pressed his laundry basket into Nursey’s hands, “Can you start that load? I’ll see if I can find some brooms.”

It took what felt like an eternity, but between the two of them, they were able to get the majority of the glitter explosion cleaned up. It probably would have gone faster if Chowder had ever made it back with a vacuum, but he must’ve gotten distracted with Farmer. Exhausted, they slumped together on Dex’s bed.

“So you go home tomorrow?” Nursey asked, stretching out his tired limbs.

“Yup,” Dex sighed, “Back to lobstering and trying not to be too obviously gay so as not to bother my family with my ‘offensive lifestyle’ or whatever it is they’re calling it now.”

“Why go back if it’s going to be so shitty?”

“It’s not like I have anywhere else to go,” Dex laughed sardonically, “And really it’s not so bad if I just keep my mouth shut and don’t draw too much attention to myself.”

“You can come stay with me,” Nursey said, surprising himself.

“I can’t impose on your family like that. And I definitely can’t afford to not work this summer.”

“We have plenty of space, you wouldn’t be imposing. My mom’s company is looking for summer help, you could apply there. I don’t know how much you earn lobstering, but the minimum wage in the city is pretty high because the city is so expensive.”

“I can’t just not go home for the whole summer!”

“There will be a long weekend for the Fourth of July, you could go visit then.”

“I don’t know, Nursey,” Dex said, his voice wavering.

“Do you even want to go home? It sounds to me like it makes you miserable.” Nursey’s words caused Dex to deflate, all the fight draining from his weary bones. He couldn’t deny it any longer.

“I don’t, and it does,” he quietly admitted, “but if I don’t go back and help, and prove that I’m still useful, what if they decide there’s no reason to tolerate me anymore? What if they decide they don’t want me to go back anymore?��� His voice broke as tears threatened to spill down his cheeks. Nursey wrapped him up in a fierce hug, trying to squeeze all the sadness and fear out of Dex from sheer force of will.

“If they can’t love you exactly as you are, without expecting anything in return, then they don’t deserve you.”

“Do you really mean that?” Dex said, sounding so small and scared that it made something in Nursey’s stomach twist.

“Of course, Will. You’re fucking incredible. You’re so smart, driven, and hard-working. How could anyone not love you? Trust me, I couldn’t even manage it and I spent the last few years actively trying not to.”

“What?” Dex whispered, wriggling around until Nursey relaxed his grip enough for Dex to be able to lean back and look him in the eye.

“Don’t make me say it again,” Nursey mumbled, “I’m not that brave.”

“You’re the most unapologetically yourself person I know! Being unafraid to be yourself is like the bravest.”  Nursey bit his lip and looked away, unable to meet Dex’s eyes.

“Wasn’t brave enough to tell you how I felt about you for almost three whole years.”

“Then I guess we’re lucky my drunk self is braver than the both of us,” Dex laughed, pulling Nursey into a breathtaking kiss.

_/|\_

“Sorry it took so long, Cait dist-” Chowder stopped short halfway through the door of the bungalow at the sight of Dex and Nursey wrapped up in a tangle of limbs, sleeping soundly. A halo of missed glitter sparkled around and all over them.

“Aw,” he smiled, quietly snapping a picture on his phone, “Infinite fines, bitches.”

[deliontower]

after the field | f.d

First off thank you so much for sending these in and liking my stuff! it means the world to me <3

Title: after the field 

Pairing: Mr Darcy x reader

Summary: you worry about what will happen when you tell Darcy the news you're expecting

Warning: angst, fluff, mentions pregnancy, maybe swearing and i think that’s it 

Word count; 1.691k 

A/N: thank you so much again for sending the request in! i made it into one because I  think it was the same person and they work really well together. please let me know what you think. has been edited but likely missed something (gotta love dyslexia)

 MASTERLIST | REQUEST OPEN  

set after the most happy but you don’t need to read it

The worrying you had done over the holidays and Darcy family coming felt like nothing to the worry you were feeling now, your sleeping had gotten even worse, your eating habits went from nothing to everything in sight in minutes.

You were running on borrowed time. With every passing day your clothes got tighter and tighter, making you feel breathless even when you were sat down doing nothing.

You wasn’t even sure Darcy wanted children. Had he mention them? Does he even like children? You couldn’t remember a time when he had mention them.

And if he didn’t want any? What then? He could easy send you away or move away himself. God. Just the thought of being apart from him was torture what would if feel like if it came true.

“y/n” you looked up from the book in your hands to Darcy who stood in the doorway. “you’re still in your nightgown”.

You pulled your blanket higher over your stomach. “I felt a little ill this morning so I’ve had an easy day” you lied smiling.

You smiled at him again, letting the calm he always brought wash over you. “no” you sighed taking his hand in yours. “I just needed one day to relax and I’ll be just fine tomorrow”.

You studied your face before giving in and nodding, “I’ll have a maid bring your dinner up”.

You kept hold of his hand and squeezed it, “you know I love you so much” you sighed.

Worried past over his face but he covered it quickly with a smile. “of course I do” he brought your hand to your lips and kissed your knuckles. “and I love you too more that you know”.

You kept your eyes on him until he was out of sight. When you were sure he was gone you dropped the blanket to your lap. Your eyes dropped to the small bump that had started to show. Soon it would be too big to hide. Time was running out.

Over the following days you put more space between you and Darcy, hating yourself for every second. The pain on his face when you turn away from him whenever he reached out of you was horrible and you were the one who caused it. during the night you would sleep facing away from him, curling in on your bump to keep it hidden.

You kept telling yourself this was the only way to keep yourself safe. It was the most selfish you had ever been, but you were told yourself is would be better to wean yourself off him slowly than lose him all in one moment.

After three long days for anxiety you manged to find a dress that would fit well enough so you could get around. With Darcy away in town you felt lighter with your secret.

You were flipping through menus for an upcoming dinner, one hand was resting on your stomach, something you had started to do unknowingly. Normally no one was around meaning you were safe. The normal safety was pulled from you.

You looked over to the doorway seeing a maid glaring at you. you straighten yourself moving your hand to the side. “can I help you Sarah?” you asked. When you first moved in with Darcy you made a point of remembering all the staffs names as a sign of respect but now you used it as a power move.

She squared her shoulders looking down to the floor. “no miss”.

You didn’t say anything more signalling her to move along. She did what she was told and left you alone.

You dropped into the nearest chair and sighed. Dropping your head into your hands a sob left your lips.

Darcy had grown more and more worried about you as the days passed. You hardy ate, you moved around in bed all night and worst of all you hardly looked at him anymore. Everyday he question what he could have done to lose your love like he believed he did.

He was tired from his day in town and the endless meeting with his renters. He was walking  through the doors stopping when he saw you sitting in the library, the sight made his heart feel instantly lighter.

“My pearl” he grinned sitting beside you.

You looked up surprised. “my love I didn’t think you’d be back so soon”.

He saw panic on your face but did his best to push the thought away, instead he took the pages from you and looked through them. “Have you chosen one yet?”.

You exhaled a laugh. “it’s between the ham main or the soup starter. The chicken one is out of the contest, I don’t even know how that ended up in the running”.

“yes, I know” he laughed, “I remember how you wouldn’t touch the chicken at our wedding because you were given one as a gift by a child” he said graining a smile from you.

“she looked so sweet as she gave it to me” you smiled lying back.

You both stayed in silent looking at each other. He closed the space between you pulling you in. you didn’t wait to respond to his kiss, immediately letting him take control, you had missed this, missed him.

Your arms wrapped around his neck to keep him close against you. His hands wandered down to your waist. You senses came back into motion remembering what you were keeping from him and pulling away.

Breathing hard you could still feel his lips on you. “this is the right place for this” you tried to make your voice was level as possible with the pounding in your chest. nodding silently he fixing his clothes.

“I think we should go with the ham” he said, picking the pages back up.

You chewed your lower lip. “okay” you whispered. You waited from him to say something else, wishing you could undo the last five seconds and go back to kissing him, laughing with him.

“I think I’m going to call it a night”. You lent over quickly and kissed his cheek. “I love you”.

Darcy’s eyes stayed locked forward as you walked away.

He thought he had finally got close to breaking the walls you had built around yourself then they came back stronger than ever.

“sir may I have a word with you” he forced on the door behind him.

“Of course” he nodded to the maid in the doorway. She came closer and stopped when she was in front of him.

“I know this isn’t my place but I can’t keep it to myself, I believe Mrs Darcy is keeping something from you”

Darcy stiffened, “you’re right it isn’t your place. You may go” he said stiffly. Before the maid left the room, he called after, “you will speak nothing of this”.

She gave him a quick nod and left him alone.  

You pasted your room anxiously. That moment in the library was the most normal you had felt in days, just being beside him and joking like any other day.

“Are you hiding something from me?” you jumped at the sudden voice turning to see Darcy.

You laughed crossing your arms. “Of course not, my love why would you think that?”.

He closed the door behind him and came closer to you. “one of the maids came into the library after you left and said you were hiding something”.

You froze looking at him. In the many sleepless nights you had planned and planned all the ways you could tell him the truth, made speech after speech but none of them were even close to this.

You realised you had been silence to long. “what would I be hiding?” you laughed taking his hand. “come to bed. Its late and I’m tired”.

He took his hand from yours and held your cheek, “are you sick? Tell me if you are!” his free hand took yours holding it tighter. “I’ll get you the best doctor there is” he rambled over his words.

“I’m not sick” you said loudly trying to calm him down. “maybe you should sit down” you sighed.

He held you even tighter. “tell me” he pleaded.

You took a deep breath, “I’ve known for some time now and I’ve been trying to find a way to tell you but nothing has felt right but it seems I have no choice.” You  took his hand from your cheek and placed in over the small bump. “I’m with child. You’re going to be a father” you smiled hoping to get the same response from him.

His knees buckled sending him falling to the floor. You gasped and fell with him holding his cheeks. “please talk to me. I can’t bear to lose you, please my love” you cried letting the tears fall.

His eyes were locked on your stomach his hand limp at his side. He slowly lifted his hand back to the spot where you had put it. You watch worried as a smiled rose on his lips. “we’re going to have a child” his voice was so soft it made you heart flutter.

You couldn’t speak, you could only nod.  

He shook his head helping you stand. “did you hurt yourself when you fell? Let me help you to bed!” he barely breathed as he spoke.

You laughed batting him away. “I’m fine! I’m better than I have been in a long time”.

You didn’t give him time to speak. You didn’t want to waste any more time away from him so you kissed him. savouring all the feelings at came with it. loving him all the more now you had your own family.

He pulled away and looked at you like he had done a long time ago on a field. “you really have bewitched me body and soul”.

“and I love love love you and never wish to be parted from this day on” you grinned finishing the line for him.

[blindbeta]

Different anon here! I have a character who's blindness is incident related, but it's been several years since then and the story isn't heavily focused on his trauma (or at least that specific trauma, as he has others that aren't related to blindness)

This was before I knew injury-based blindness was a harmful/potentially harmful trope though, so now I'm worried that I'll have to rewrite his backstory entirely to avoid writing about experiences I don't have, or pushing any harmful tropes that are already pushed far too much.

What do you think? Could I still use that as part of his story without focusing too much on that specific traumatic event, or do you think it's better for me to discard it entirely?

The Accident Narrative/Going Blind Through Trauma trope and How to Make It Better - (I’m just calling it that because I don’t know if this thing has a name)

My problem with this trope - and the problem many people have with it- is very specific. I’ll try to break it down for you so it is easier to understand. My problem is basically with the execution.

Characters go blind unrealistically often from traumatic accidents in media. Mainly because it creates a lot of drama, which is fair, if cheap. It is also a good story starter if the story will be about them being all sad that they’re blind. These stories usually focus heavily on the blind part rather than the trauma part, and they paint blindness as the worst thing that can happen to anyone. Including death. Sometimes the character grows out of this feeling and sometimes they don’t.

The way you portray this is what changes the narrative.

I like that your story takes place several years after the incident although how well it is done will depend on the portrayal of the resulting blindness. Blindness can be tough, but avoiding considering the incident a tragedy that ended his vision could help. Not having too much of a woe-is-me attitude toward it will also help. Starting the story years after the incident creates beneficial distance.

With this in mind, the story won’t be - about - him going blind and then adapting and possibly being sad, possibly not sad about it. That would be a type of story that is probably best left to blind people who lost their vision later in life. Your story avoids this issue by starting the story well after the incident occurred. When you said you didn’t want to write about something you hadn’t experienced, to tell a story that wasn’t yours to tell, this is what you want to avoid. If you aren’t writing about going blind/being blind, you’re good, at least for this question.

So, you have avoided writing about the experience of going blind (and having that be the focus of your story) and starting the story at another time so your character can have some distance from his trauma. Your story will not be showing your character tragically losing his sight and learning to adapt. -dramatic sniffle-

The other part of this ask that really works for me is the part about focusing on different traumas. It sounds like the character is going to have more to them, and the idea of the Blindness Trauma being not as significant as other more recent traumas sounds good and true to life. It also takes the focus away from any implications of blindness as particularly tragic and all-encompassing. Your character will expirience different things just as anyone else would. Focusing more heavily on other things in his life is a good idea. That, coupled with the distance from the initial traumatic incident makes it okay with me.

What else can you do?

Here are a few other options for you or other readers who are writing incident-related blindness:

1. Have them focus on the traumatic incident itself rather than the resulting blindness.

Yes, going blind can change your life. It can be scary and someone may need to grieve their vision loss as they would any other major change. However, this doesn’t have to be the dramatic take-up-an-entire story thing either.

If you decided to write flashbacks, you can show the character mostly dealing with trauma, with blindness as a reminder of it. This puts the focus on the traumatic incident itself healing from trauma rather than trying to heal from blindness. When sighted people write about this, it comes out as awkward, not relatable, and impossible to separate voice-type things - like worrying about never being able to marry - from the authors own opinion or worries about blindness.

Focusing on the trauma of say, extreme injury can help with that. It is important to make a distinction for the reader, who usually goes in not knowing much about blindness and conceptualizing it as one of the worst things that could happen to them. Make it as clear as you can that the character is upset due to trauma rather than being devastated their life is over because they are blind.

2. Have the trauma happen off-screen / have them not remember it much due to young age

It sounds like this is also what you’re going to do. You could mention the traumatic incident briefly, without too many dramatic details. A few descriptive sentences should be enough. You could write it for reference and only take a few samples from it you liked. This keeps the focus away from drama for drama’s sake. It also disrupts the usual narrative, putting you farther away from the Accident Narrative or trope. You could simply have had the character be too young to remember much detail.

3. Add more blind characters

This one is good for any story. You should always trace your logic for topics like the one you presented or consider how to do things better, but one easy way to avoid readers thinking all blind people are like your character (which they might), you can add another blind character or more who were born blind or went blind at a very young age. Who don’t struggle with being blind generally. This exposes your readers to more ideas of blind people.

When your story is standing on the line between nuanced character and meeting a stereotype, you should absolutely have at least one other if not a few blind characters. In fact, I would be surprised if a story like this didn’t have other blind characters and, if I were reading this story randomly, I might even feel less forgiving or open to what was different about the Accident Narrative this time.

Thank you for asking this question. It is kind of challenging to answer and I had to rewrite this a few times. Basically, you want to do what you can to disrupt the usual portrayals of blindness because there are actually so few and most are made by people who aren’t blind or even disabled. You cannot make this trope or stereotype go away, but you can try to shake it up. Because this can be done differently, to avoid writing about adapting the tragic blindness, I am ok with this type of story.

I don’t know if this one is harmful exactly, but it is frustrating to see and can certainly lead to some harmful ideas, such as blindness only being tragic even when someone was born blind. I have a review coming up for a book called Blind that might be helpful, as well as a post called Tropes I’m Tired Of that I hope will help. Your ask definitely helped me consider more ways this trope could be made more bearable and concentrate on what exactly I dislike about it.

All that said, this is not a post encouraging people to use this narrative in all their projects. Only if you feel like it is necessary and fits the character. I would like for this trope to be less common than being born blind or going blind in a way that isn’t so dramatic and, possibly, abrupt. When most characters go blind through traumatic accidents it contributes to people’s idea that blindness is not only traumatic for anyone at any age, but also cannot be anything but a tragedy.

I really hope this helps. Of course, I would really encourage a few different sensitivity readers with this story. Just to get different perspectives. There is another blind person who also offers sensitivity reading at @sensitivityreaders and it might help to get them or someone else, in addition to me. Because I would love to read this sometime.

-BlindBeta

[goatskickin]

When we last left the Springs-Eternal crew, Patrick STILL wasn’t at the top of the Culinary track. Hope’s mind was continuing to unravel. Justice was working on developing his body, and Mercy was working on developing her sharp tongue. 

What befalls the family in part 2?

“Hi. Thank you for coming.”

“I’ve known you and your mamma for a long time. Of course.”

“Please, come in. Are you hungry?”

“No, thank you.”

“Oh…is this…tea?”

“Sort of. Dried sage from the spice cabinet, and some parsley too.”

*sip*

“Not bad. 

“Heh yeah, but it’s not great either.”

…

“So what was the damage?”

“$1000.”

“That sounds about right. And the body?”

“That’s the thing! They won’t give it back to me. That’s what I’m most upset about - why would I go to the trouble of having her cremated if I didn’t expect the ashes back!”

“I’m sorry Wendy, but I don’t have an answer for that. I am sorry this is happening.”

“I just… I don’t know Koda, I feel foolish asking but…I thought -“

“Wendy, it’s okay. Gracie has been gone a while now. I know what it’s like to lose family.”

“Yes, I know! I’m sorry, I was trying not to make it awkward. I know she passed before the fall. Was it like this with her, not knowing?”

“No, unfortunately it was all too real. Signed her death certificate, cancelled her cards. I know where she’s buried.”

“Right, okay! So why would they do this to me? I have no idea where her remains are. It really doesn’t sit right with me. I have no one to turn to. It’s not like I can call the police. Would this even be a police issue?”

“Forgive me Wendy, if this is going to be a bit, ah, ‘woo-woo’ for you -“

“No, please! I’m just happy to talk to anyone about it. I feel crazy.”

“Gracie and I were married 17 years. You get to know a lot about someone in that time. 

…

…forgive me, I don’t speak about this much. But went Gracie went, her spirit - I felt it. I felt her go for good.

Do you feel that your mamma is still with us Wendy?”

“…that’s the thing, I do! Something wasn’t done right! She’s gone, but not. It’s all wrong. I can’t help her if I don’t know where she is.”

…

“I wish I could help you more Wendy. Everyone deserves a proper rest. 

…

Do you know anything more?”

*sniffs*

“The coroner says she had ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. Now, I know Mamma was no saint, but I don’t think she was meeting up with some beau. She would have talked me ear off about it, for starters.

…

They also said she was hypothermic prior to her fall. That doesn’t make any sense to me! Even with her forgetting and all, she wasn’t so far gone that she’d freeze to death. Always on me about wearing a hat and gloves outside. Sounds fishy. Makes no sense. “

“I see. Wendy?”

*sniffs* “Yeah?”

“Keep trying. Something’s not right here. Seems not a fitting death for your mamma.”

“Thank you Koda. Thank you for coming over.

“Of course. And Wendy?”

“Yeah?”

“Tell Tristan that you love him.”

“WHAT! NO, no I don’t -“

“Maybe I’ve gotten soft in my old age. But you should let people know that you love them while you still can.

…

Good day.”

~~~

First of all, fuuuuuuuuuuuu -

Justice is the only one not sick with the flu. He’s managed avoid getting sick through the power of meditation. He can’t get out of helping out though, seeing as how Patrick needs to work, and Hope is fairly useless.

*cough cough*

“I don’t feel so good.”

Sick or no, the chief of staff still has to go in. 

*hack hack cough*

Mercy brings home a random townie kid who doesn’t know he’s just entered a plague den.

“Augh, it feels like I wanna barf up my lungs.”

“Oh my -” *cough cough hack*

Max in the stray: so you might not need that bed in the future?...

“Mercy, come dance with me! Dance cures all!”

“Go away idiot, I’m writing up a recipe for a flu cure right now and I need to concentrate. I only need 4 more butterfly wings and when my dad get back from work, some red lentils-”

“...and then you make a snowangel and say the magic words, turn around 3 times, and hide the jar of butterfly wings under your bed- +”

Hope finally manages to put on some winterwear. If only to hack over the chessboard on the patio.

Patrick’s meditating through the flu while not working. So no food to share with child townie here.

“Blehhhh I think my flu cure worked too good. Now I’m hot and dizzy, euggh.”

Both Justice and Patrick have been relegated to the corner of the 2nd floor to meditate. Here’s hoping this “isolation” actually works.

“Mom, did you know that in many wars of the past that disease would often kill more soldiers than actual battle? *cough cough sniff* D’you think armies ever tried to bottle a sickness to make enemies sick on purpose?”

“Mercy yes....that’s what a biological weapon is...”

“COOL!”

As they are already sick, Mercy and Hope decide to run outside for a bracing snowball fight.

“It’s freeze a fever and starve a cold, right Mom!”

“Well, no, that’s not it....can’t really remember what it is really though...”

oh

Somehow the combination of Justice and Patrick quarantining and Mercy and Hope spending a lot of time together worked. They must have just passed the sick token back and forth to each other until the illness was through with them.

“LOOK MOM I feel so much better! I can do a cartwheel!”

“Good job honey!”

Couple of geniuses. 

“OOGIE OOGIE OOGIE - what did I miss?”

“Mom, if dad is a chef, why don’t we get invited to the restaurant he works at? Why do we still keep eating hot dogs? Can’t dad bring home more food?”

“Oh, sweetie. There’s no extra food to go around...”

Poor Patrick. He’s highly skilled and meets the friends requirements, but the Culinary career keeps odd shifts (3 weekdays off in a row, for example) so progress has been slow going.

“....”

“...Dad?”

“Yes?”

“Aren’t you going to tell us what’s in these burgers?”

“Oh. Yes...sundried tomatoes and black beans.”

“....”

“...okay, cool, thanks.”

Hope does a lot of sitting in quiet contemplation. All of the studying in the world and now, she sits until her needs are in the red.

With the terrible flu gone, Justice can finally get some sleep.

And Patrick is off again to work. We need a promotion please!

Because I’ve been able to fulfill exactly zero of Justice’s Fortune sim wants, I’ve given him a Romance secondary.

I am hoping that it will help out with his wants panel. Or at the very least, the Massive Attraction perk will get a future spouse to walk by the house.

You know who doesn’t have problems bring friends home?

“I don’t know she just followed me home. She told me that I smelled like hot dogs and I told her she had the ugliest knees I’ve ever seen and she was like “can I come over to have a snowball fight” and I was like “okay, ugly knees.”

Mercy’s vinegar tactics seem to work.

I may have forgotten to mention it, but Mercy here will be resolving our Military restriction. Usually spares up and leave after they grow up, but before Military is lifted, no one’s allowed to move out, or even visit a community lot. 

“Haha, Trisha! I like it when you fall down!”

So she’ll need friends, if only for the career help. 

“Now get up - my strategy is to pummel you with snowballs until you can’t get up.”

Hope’s elder mind continues to slip.

“Oh, a cheese plate for dinner, but what wine to pair with it?”

Oh HO it’s time for Patrick’s first chance card!

SCORE! Does no-cal cooking sound like something Patrick would do at all? Of course not. The extra moolah will be going to putting a 3rd floor on the Witch’s Hut. That’s how you hide your money from Joey the Comb - invest in your property.

“You hit me with a snowball. Leave.”

“Get ready ma! I’ve been practicing, I wanna try out for the Mutant Football League as soon as I can.”

“I’m game! Go for it!”

“Justice OW, how could you?! I am an old woman!”

“Mom, ya wanna play darts?”

“I am done playing with the children today.”

“Sorry about earlier. I don’t really have a lot of people my age I can practice on.”

“It’s okay, just be careful. What are you reading?”

“OH it’s really cool! Did you know that there’s some exercises that were used on prisoners of war? Like physical therapy stuff, but it can also be done by anybody. Pilates, yoga - those kinds of exercises.”

“Yes that’s true. You know, maybe when you’re older you can find work helping people exercise for rehabilitation? I’ve seen it a lot in the hospital - the radiation in the air weakens muscles and bones. Many suffer from muscle degeneration but don’t realize it. That could really be valuable to the community.”

“Hmm yeah maybe. Maybe once I’m retired from being a quarterback I can do that, I guess.”

Kitten Mercy Thinks of Nothing But Murder All Day.

“What if it snowed hot pepper powder instead of snow! That would be funny."

Patrick *finally* makes it to level 8. So close! He brings home a work friend as well.

Justice regales her with is delusions of sports grandeur.

“Baseball.”

“OMIGOD I know, but riiiiiiight?!”

“What do you say we make like an airplane and taxi.”

“To taxi means to roll around at the airport slowly. Did you mean takeoff? I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

Not terribly high up on the list of potential spouses (sorry lady), this Maxis faced townie will probably remain a friend.

Patrick’s not too impressed with his co-worker either.

Mercy continues to be the light and charm of the household.

An unfortunate side effect of Hope being undirectable is that when she finally does go to sleep, it’s where ever she wants.

“Sorry dad, Mom’s in my bed again.”

*zzzzzzz* “no there isn’t any more powdered egg white” *zzzz* “86 basil aioli”

Come on Patrick! Let’s goooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hope’s poor overcooked brain. “Justice, there’s snow outside today.”

“There’s snow outside every day, Mom.”

“EXCUSE ME I GOTTA PEE!”

“You’re lots more fun now that you went all loopy! It’s okay for me to jump rope in the house, right?”

“Hm? Oh yes, sure.” 

“Wanna watch me do a cartwheel AGAIN?”

Hope is a little closer with her second child with the less rigorous work schedule. Now if only she had the common sense enough to fall asleep prior to motive failure...

“...we’ve seen less older people with rotting sickness around lately. I am not sure why; they haven’t turned up at the hospital. They must have found another place to hide out...”

Our poor overworked Patrick is still suck at level 8, because he’s shy a few skills.

This poses an issue, as it’s Saturday. After Sunday, he has the next 3 days off.

Elderhood (and the ability to direct Patrick to skill) will be lost in a few days. Patrick needs to skill up, fast. 

Once he becomes an elder, we need to hope that 1) he remembers to go to to work 2) he finally reaches the top of the Culinary career track. 

Elderhood will also mean that the tasks of the household will fall to the children. 

But Patrick will make the family meal while he still can.

But soon, Hope and Patrick will need to rely on the children to keep everyone from starving to death.

On a lighter note, Mercy gets a play table. Children can’t use purely skilling objects that don’t also provide fun (Animal Show Business restriction). But the play table helps build Creativity and more importantly for the Military - Mechanical. 

*stacks blocks calculatingly*

*zzzzz* “Mom...what are you doing, I have school in the morning...”

“OOGIE OOGIE OOGIE! OOH OOH OOH!”

While Hope is more of a nuisance than a help, Justice and Mercy grow closer.

“Mercy, how much do you weigh? I am counting this as a PR.”

“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

And who happens to walk by, but Rishell and Aiyanna! They were of course invited in. 

“Is that you, Justice?”

“Yes, it’s me Auntie Rishell!”

“Rishell :) don’t say anything rude :) about his outfit :)”

“What, Aiyanna! In these times? I’d never dream of it. The boy can’t help but wear what he has, however uninspired the outfit may be.”

“Rishell :)”

“It’s okay, my appeal with the ladies is all about how I approach them and make them feel. Like, there’s this co-worker of my dad’s -”

Justice recounts his “game” with female acquaintances. Auntie Rishell gracefully cheers his efforts.

Mercy is occupied and unaware of her aunts' arrival.

“What is the key to toppling a dictator? Well, to become an even BIGGER dictator of course! Muhahaha! And have the best weapons of course, and soldiers.”

Patrick makes it to level 9. He’s so close, and yet with the odd Culinary track schedule, getting back to back promotions has been challenging. 

And taking care of the kids all of his adult life meant that while he did have time to skill, he didn’t have quite enough time to top out any skills.

Because the next 3 days are days off for Patrick (and he’s perilously close to becoming an elder), he’s sent back to work immediately. Might as well give it a shot. He might get lucky.

Now Justice’s turn to feed the family the daily meal. With a 4 paltry Cooking points, he actually manages to not burn the hotdogs.

“It’s the package in the freezer that said “Thai Breaker”. I don’t really know what that means? I hope that these are okay for eating.”

“Something is different about you Aiyanna.”

“I could say the same about you Hope! Did St. Circe’s force you to retire yet?”

“Well, they can’t afford to, but no, it’s still all hands on deck.”

....

“I’m serious Aiyanna, you...it’s something....are you alright?”

“Yes.”

“Listen, Rishell is my best friend. I can tell her anything. We trust each other. I’d like to think you can trust me. Are you okay?”

“I am fine. It’s good to see you Hope. I am fine. Just tired from work.”

“Hope, Justice is quite the whiz at chess! What an elegant game! Historical, aesthetically pleasing, so much gravitas. The L-shaped movements of the knights, the absolute power of the queen, the squat little pawns all -”

“Please, please make your move. My butt is freezing.”

"Mercy, can you believe Aiyanna married this dweeb?”

With that bonus that Patrick got from work, the Witch’s Hut gets a 3rd story before the money’s gone.

The only thing on the 3rd story so far is this bar that kept Justice’s aspiration out of the red. 

Patrick comes home from work and bad news - no promotion. Patrick has the next 3 days off and the evening of the 4th, he’ll be aging up into an elder. 

So he’s got to get cracking on skilling so that this family can finally stop worrying about their next meal. It’s going to be a photo-finish!

~~~

That’s where I need to leave it for now. Will Patrick beat the race against father time to get to the top of the Culinary career? Will Justice ever get a girlfriend, or will his spouse be some hapless townie who has the misfortune of emerging from a carpool? Where are Mercy’s manners? 

Stay tuned! Carry On, Woman!

[ginnympotter]

call it even

Chapter 2: for old times’ sake

A/N: uhhh so spoiler or whatever but this has a small amount of pretty mild smut? which i've never attempted i can't believe i'm pressing post on this thing please don't judge me lol you can also read this chapter on AO3

I’m parked between the Methodist and school.

She read the text, looked at herself in the mirror one more time, and braced herself. She took her coat off the hook and as she was zipping it up she heard her mother coming down the stairs. “Ginny, hun, are you going out?”

“Yeah, I’ll see you later,” she said, grabbing the doorknob, trying to get out as quick as she could.

But before she could walk out Molly asked, “You know Harry could have come in, right?”

She looked at her mother’s smug smile and groaned. “Goodnight, Mom,” and swung the door shut behind her.

She walked quickly two blocks down, turned right and crossed the street. It was easy to spot Harry’s old truck, not just because there were only 3 other cars parked on that road, but also because it stuck out like a sore thumb, and also was a staple in so many of their memories. She knocked on the passenger side’s window and opened the car door, hopping into the seat. She looked over at Harry to say hi, and saw him smiling. “Hey, thanks for picking me up.”

“Of course,” Harry said as she shut the door. “But why did you make me park two blocks over?”

“Because I didn’t want it to be awkward, with me staying at my parents’ house, but it didn’t even matter because my mom just knew I was going to hang out with you.”

“Molly knows all.”

“Too much.” She looked over at their old high school building, and then at the field they were parked in front of, nostalgia filling her up. “Nice parking spot.”

“It’s weird working at the school we went to. Where those bleachers are,” Harry responded. She felt a tightness in her throat, feeling both excited and uneasy that he was already bringing these types of things up. “Remember how pissed Molly was when we skipped the prom?”

“Thank God she never found us under those,” Ginny heard herself respond. She and Harry looked at one another, twin smirks on their faces. The school bleachers might not be exactly the ideal, romantic place to lose your virginity, but for them it made total sense. She collected herself before her thoughts would get her carried away. “So, um, where to? Everywhere’s closed.”

“Did you eat already?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, okay, um...maybe we could just drive around for a bit? And then head back to my place for a glass of wine?”

Memories from last year flashed in her mind. She nodded and buckled herself in silently. He started the car, the engine gave a loud and disquieting noise, and then they took off. “I cannot believe this truck is still running.”

Harry lightly tapped the dashboard. “She never lets me down.”

Ginny rolled her eyes and sniggered. She looked out the window as they drove down the roads. “Believe it or not I kind of missed this place. Has it changed at all?”

“The same as it ever was,” Harry responded. “But I know you don’t like it that way.”

His eyes were on the road but she could feel what he meant without seeing his face. “I do, sometimes,” she clarified, hoping he would hear her for what she meant. “Is Dumbledore still principal?”

“Yeah, he is,” Harry told her. “And McGonagall still teaches math.”

“You were always their favorite.”

“Dumbledore’s, maybe,” he shrugged. “But McGonagall? She still goes on about my dad. They have tea together like, once a month.”

“But McGonagall let you get away with basically everything. She was just sly about it.”

“Much to Snape’s chagrin.”

“Oh God, don’t tell me he still works there?”

“Unfortunately.” Ginny blanched, and Harry laughed in appreciation. “He was so pissed when Dumbledore hired me. I just avoid him at all costs.”

“I can’t believe you willingly accepted a job where you have to see Snape every day.”

“I know. It’s worth it, though. I really love teaching,” he said. They halted at a stop sign and he used the opportunity to look at her as he said, “You helped me realize that.”

“I was a great tutee, if I do say so myself,” she smiled. “How about the coaching bit? Did the kids ever recover from their loss?”

Harry drove them around all the backroads as he talked about coaching and working at the school. Much of the anxiety she was holding inside her had slowly melted away as they eased back into their regular rapport. Her heart felt like it doubled in size as he talked about his favorite students (though at first proclaiming, “I don’t play favorites, but…”). He asked her more about life in LA and her first year being a starter.

When they arrived at Harry’s apartment, Ginny hung up her coat and watched as Harry’s eyes not so subtly raked over her body before he turned to his cabinet and took out two wine glasses. She sat in the same spot she did the last time she was on his sofa as Harry listed off various wine options. Harry updated her on all the most recent Tupelo gossip as they drank and reminisced on the different characters they grew up with. Every time he smiled she felt a piece of her heart break, she missed seeing it so much.

Harry must’ve sensed it- or perhaps he heard the crack inside her chest- as one of those times his smile dropped to a frown as he looked at her with concern. “You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Ginny tried, taking the last sip of her wine and placing the glass down on the coffee table. She then noticed the People Magazine cover where she was in a little square on the top right for her interview with them last month.

She picked it up and held it in front of Harry, who suddenly turned red. “Er, I, um-” he stammered, and she laughed.

“Fred and George were just making fun of me for this yesterday at their party.”

“What’s to make fun of?” Harry asked, attempting to recover. “I think you did great.”

“Just a bit corny of a profile, I guess,” she responded. “Can I ask why you have it?”

Harry sighed, giving Ginny a very pointed look.

“What?”

“I have it because I was proud of you,” he replied carefully, taking another sip of his wine. “Is that a bad thing?”

And before she could register exactly what she was saying, the words “You could’ve texted me” flew out of her mouth.

Harry raised his eyebrows. “About the People profile?”

“Sure,” she said. Her brain telling her shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, but her mouth continued. “Or any other time before that. Or after I left this apartment after my brother’s wedding.”

Just as quickly as Harry’s face reddened before, it had now drained of all color. “I, er… I don’t-” he stopped himself, clearing his throat. “You could’ve texted me too, you know.”

“Well, why didn’t you?”

“Ginny,” he said softly, running a hand through his hair. “I don’t want to do this right now. Can’t we just...enjoy our time together while you’re here? Before you leave in a few days? I don’t want to fight.”

“Why didn’t you?” she repeated, more quietly this time.

“You know why,” he said defiantly, in an equally low voice.

“I don’t, actually.”

He groaned, putting his glass down next to hers before looking at her intensely. He looked tired, sad. “Because the only thing I wanted to text you was to ask you to stay. And I couldn’t ask that; it wouldn’t be right.”

She had an inkling that this would be his answer, but it still felt nice to hear him confirm it. “No, I suppose not.”

“And I wanted to text you so many times after, but… I was too afraid of what I’d say. And then too much time passed, and- I don’t know, I’m sorry, Gin.”

“Are you seeing anyone right now?”

Harry blinked, taken aback by the abrupt question. “No,” he said.

“Neither am I,” she told him, and then moved closer to him, so close that their legs touched. “You’re right, you couldn’t ask me to stay. But… how about I stay the night, and we could call it even?”

It took Harry a moment to register her proposal. When he did, he swallowed, his adam’s apple protruding against his throat. “Are...are you sure?”

She decided then to let go of her inhibitions, to act on impulse and burning desire, and placed herself on his lap facing him, her knees tightly against his hips, her hands meeting on the back of his neck, lightly scratching the bottom of his scalp. “I’m sure.”

Harry took a deep breath. “Right, then,” he mumbled, and then his lips were crashing against hers, and his arms moved her impossibly closer to him. She opened her mouth and his tongue swept atop hers; Harry moaned as he did it, as Ginny moved her fingers through his hair and pressed her chest against his. They kissed passionately, slow and hot, then fast and urgent, then slowly again. They fell back into their rhythm seamlessly.

When Ginny pulled away to kiss his neck, Harry’s voice was raspy. “Fuck,” he exhaled. She moved her tongue lightly along his collar bone, up the side of his neck, and to his ear as she ground herself more firmly on his growing erection. He groaned, moving his hands to Ginny’s ass and cupping it. “Fuck,” he repeated. “I missed this. I missed you.”

She was too stimulated to think too much about his words for too long, but nevertheless, they still caused her heart to lurch. And hearing Harry express himself- even just the slightest showing of vulnerability from him- always turned her on even more. She blew hot air on his ear, nibbled on the lobe, and then pulled away to take off his sweater. He smiled in a daze as she got the sweater off of him and discarded it. He didn’t waste another second before throwing off his T-shirt (his glasses momentarily getting caught in the process) and then doing the same to her, so he could have the next several seconds to unhook her lacy blue bra and let it drop to the floor. He leaned back and admired the view of her chest, then glanced up at Ginny before touching her. She gave a quick nod and he let himself feel her breasts in his hands again for the first time in almost a year, massaging them gently, then with more power. Ginny felt herself grow hotter just watching how Harry responded to her. He leaned in and took her right breast in his mouth, using his fingers to play with her left nipple in the way that always drove her mad. She allowed herself to enjoy it fully, moaning as she pleased, arching into him, pulling at his hair as he switched from one to the other.

Before long it was too much, and she grabbed his face and disconnected his mouth from her chest so she could kiss him again. She felt her lips tingle with the touch of his tongue, her skin burn as his hands moved to her back, running down slowly to her waistband, reaching under her pants to touch her bare ass, squeezing and spreading her cheeks gently. God, she loved when he did that. After she kissed him thoroughly enough, and her pants felt too wet to wear anymore, she moved to undo Harry’s belt buckle, which in turn encouraged him to unzip her jeans. She removed herself from him so they could remove what was left of their clothes. Seeing how hard he was for her, full and bare, made her weak in the knees yet simultaneously at her most powerful. She pushed Harry back down on the couch, let her knees give in to the floor, and cupped his balls. “Ginny-” Harry grunted, but before anything else could come out of his mouth she took him in her own, licking up his length, sucking gently as she bobbed her head up and down.

It was only around thirty seconds later that Harry stopped her, pulling her head off of him. “Wait, wait, stop-”

Immediately, she felt embarrassed. “Was that...ok?”

“Oh, God, Ginny, of course, it was more than ok, it was fucking amazing but...but I want to help you out first. Please.”

“Harry, it’s fine-”

“No, please,” he said earnestly. “I want to. I really want to.”

She let go of him and nodded wordlessly. He helped her up, laid her down on the couch, and kissed her gently. He then whispered, “Let me make you happy.”

“You always make me happy,” she whispered back. His features changed from eager to wistful. He kissed her again, much more firmly this time, and then worked his mouth from her neck along her body, over each breast, her stomach, the inside of her thighs, before he reached his final destination. Ginny closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh as he pressed his tongue up and down against her clit.

She didn’t have to think or speak or do anything; Harry knew exactly the way she liked it, no matter how much time in between their sexual activities passed, he never lost track of exactly what made her scream, what made her shake in ecstasy, as she did only a few minutes after he began. As she came down from her high, Harry kissed his way back up her body, until reaching her cheek, which he kissed delicately. “You feel good?” he asked hoarsely.

“Mm,” was all she could respond in the moment, panting from pleasure still.

He chuckled sweetly, kissing her cheek again, then her forehead, then her lips. Once her breathing had steadied somewhat, she heard him speak again. “What else do you want?”

“To fuck you,” she breathed out.

Harry moaned at her words as he pushed his tongue back into her mouth, the vibrations sending tingles down to her toes. “Do you want to move to the bedroom?”

“We can go to your bed for round two,” she told him, smiling widely. “But round one is happening right here, right now on this couch.”

“If you insist,” he said hoarsely, moving over her, wasting not another second. They had already lost enough time.

***

Behind her eyelids, Ginny could feel the light pouring into Harry’s bedroom. She felt a twinge of joy as she moved her arms to find Harry’s torso, but all she could find were the sheets. She opened her eyes and saw that his side of the bed was empty. Her stomach fell as she scanned the room for him. She sat up and heard a bit of clanging around in the kitchen. The bedroom door was half-open. She rose from the bed, opened the drawer where Harry kept his t-shirts, and threw his go-to blue tee over her head. She stepped out of his room and walked down the hall to find Harry, wearing only a pair of boxers and his glasses, his hair as messy as ever, pouring an omelet onto a plate with expert ease.

“Morning,” she said quietly.

He turned to look at her and grinned, looking her over. “Morning. Nice shirt.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave you alone in there. I just wanted to make you breakfast.”

“That’s sweet, Harry.” She went to sit at the island and he waved his hands. “No, no, not here!”

“Excuse me?”

“Breakfast in bed ,” he clarified. “I’ll bring it in, you go relax, I just am finishing up on the home fries and then I’ll bring it right in.”

“You sure?”

He waved his spatula in the direction of his room. “Go on, now!”

She shook her head and rolled her eyes at him fondly before turning around and heading back down the hall. “Fine, but I’m using your bathroom first.”

“Do what you must.”

After using the toilet and brushing her teeth, she settled back into Harry’s bed and scrolled through her phone. Only a few minutes later, Harry entered with their plates, handing one to her and planting a tender kiss on her forehead. Her insides melted at the gesture. She softly thanked him, scooted over and dug in. Harry sat on his side but at the foot of the bed, his legs folded and his plate on his lap, that way he could face her. They ate in silence, exchanging occasional grins. She felt slightly distracted by his shirtless form and the way their feet touched. When she finished she handed Harry her plate. “That was delicious, thank you. Compliments to the chef.”

“My pleasure,” he told her. “I like cooking for people.”

“Perhaps if this teaching thing doesn’t work you can go to culinary school.”

“I know you’re joking, but I’d honestly consider it,” he said as he stacked their empty plates and leaned over to put them on his bedside table. He then sat beside her and grabbed her hand, interlacing their fingers. “What would you like to do today? That is, if you don’t have any other pressing plans…”

“I do have a hot date or two lined up, but I could always reschedule them for next year,” she joked.

“How kind of you,” he replied, picking up her hand and kissing it. Ginny was finding it hard to control herself with all the seemingly small, natural affection he was showing. “But really, anything in mind?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, I thought maybe we’d sleep in half the day- just for old times’ sake?”

Harry chuckled, glancing at the clock. “It’s already 10am. You want to go back to sleep?”

“Well, maybe not right away,” she said, lacking subtlety. “Thought we could do something to tire us out first.”

“Hmm,” Harry pretended to think. “What could that be?”

She grabbed him by the neck and kissed him, and he sighed, using his free hand to cup her face. After kissing each other sweetly for a minute or two, Harry let go of her hand to grab her and pull her onto his lap. He quickly realized that other than his shirt she wasn’t wearing anything else at all, moaning as he grabbed her ass. He deepened the kiss and Ginny became wrapped up in its intensity, returning it right to him, her hands wrapped up in his hair. Although her body was in the driver’s seat, her mind and heart were racing, thinking about how much this man meant to her, how much she felt like herself when she was with him, how much he made her feel like she could do anything. She cherished every second she could steal with him, before all she’d have is memories to replay until the next time, cementing the feel and the taste of him into her brain. She didn’t want it to ever end.

But not before long, Harry seemed to slow down, and then he pulled away altogether. When Ginny leaned back in to continue the kiss, he barely reciprocated.

“Harry?” she asked, breathing heavily. “Are you okay?”

He cleared his throat and nodded. “Yeah, I…” He looked at her and she could see the storm of emotions in his emerald eyes. He leaned his head against hers and exhaled. “I’m fine. But...can we pause this for a moment? Can we talk?”

A wave of dread washed over her as she nodded her head and removed herself from his lap. Sensing her tension, Harry grabbed her hand again, rubbing his thumb across the back of it. “What is it?” she asked reluctantly.

He inhaled deeply, his forehead creased. “When you leave later today, I… I don’t want it to be like last time.”

“Well, that’s easy then,” Ginny told him, attempting a smile. “All you have to do is text me when I land back in L.A. this time.”

“And what would that imply, exactly?” Harry questioned. “Me texting you, that is.”

“It-” but Ginny realized she didn’t really have an answer- or, at least, she couldn’t give the answer she really wanted. “It would mean that this wasn’t just some meaningless thing to you.”

Harry frowned, tilting his head to the side slightly. “Is that what you really thought? Or what you’ll think if you leave later?”

Ginny considered his question. “I suppose not.”

“Of course not,” he corrected her, speaking with conviction as he squeezed her hand. “Ginny… I still-”

“Stop,” she interrupted him. “Don’t say it.”

She wanted to hear him say it, of course she did, but she would never be able to leave if she let him continue. She felt her heart break a bit at Harry’s disappointed expression. “What do you want me to say then?” he asked, his voice quiet but his tone stabbing. “That I don’t care about you? That I don’t miss you? That I don’t think about you every time I try to date someone else? I’m sorry if that’s hard for you to hear, but I have to tell you, I can’t even fathom you thinking for even one second that anything between us could ever be meaningless to me. I’m sorry I didn’t text you. I don’t know how to do this.”

“No,” she said as she put a hand on his leg. She couldn’t take it anymore. He was right, hearing all of that was too hard for her.  Knowing the feelings are mutual “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean… The meaningless thing was an overreaction, alright? I know… we’ll always mean so much to each other.”

Harry sighed, closing his eyes, his thinking face on. Ginny knew that face too well, and she knew he was trying to work out in his mind how to phrase all his feelings. “I just don’t understand why we gave up two years ago. We did long distance from your senior year in high school through all of college and it was fine. I didn’t want to break up. But you were so insistent that this is what was best once you got a spot on the team and I didn’t want to feel like I had to persuade you to stay together and I just…”

Ginny’s heart dropped into her stomach. There was such an ache in his voice… it hurt her to hear. “I don’t know, Harry, I thought… I thought I was doing the right thing,” she settled on. How could she explain giving up on them to him? To herself? “College was one thing, but as working adults? It just felt like we’d never be in the same place, we’d never be able to actually spend time together… I didn’t want to hold you back. I didn’t realize you…that you would’ve… I thought we were on the same page, I’m sorry.”

“No, I should’ve fought harder for us,” he told her, eyes blazing. “It’s not too late, is it?”

Ginny exhaled as Harry squeezed her hand again. “Harry, I can’t stay here-“

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Well, I can’t ask you to wait for me. I don’t know what’s going to come with my career.”

“I don’t care how far apart we are,” he asserted. “I don’t want to be with anyone else- I’ve tried, and I’m sure you have too, but we always end up back here, don’t we?  I want to be with you. We can figure the rest out as we go. It’s us, you know?”

He smirked at the end of his sentence, and all the feelings she’d been holding in for two years seemed to boil over at once. God, she missed that smile. The same smile as the one she dreamed about every day when she was only 11 and he spent every summer day over at their house with Ron. The same smile that he gave her after their first kiss, and after they skipped the prom and hid out under the bleachers, and when he came home to visit from college for the first time, and when he visited her in her dorm, and when he saw her standing in her bridesmaid dress at Ron and Hermione’s wedding, and then when he took it off of her later that night, and when they bumped into each other at the airport a few months ago, and just last night as she curled up against him in his bed and kissed him goodnight.

Tears warned to spill over, and she cursed herself for blinking one free. Harry put a hand on her face and wiped it for her with his thumb. He looked deeply into her eyes, which only caused more tears to fall. He wiped another for her, and then he kissed one away, and then he kissed her lips so gently she could barely register it.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, a hint of desperation in his voice for some type of answer.

She looked away from him, staring down at their knees. “I still don’t know, Harry. I’m confused. Everything you’re saying… I want that, I do, but it just doesn’t… seem practical. And… I mean, if we did get back together, what about everything after that? Do you want to stay in Tupelo forever?”

“Not necessarily,” he responded flatly. “I love my job now but I don’t know if I’ll still want to be here in a few years… But do we need to be making those types of decisions now?”

“Well if we don’t, then what? We get back together and three years down the line we break up because we realize we’re still not on the same page? I don’t want to waste either of our time.”

Harry let out a defeated sigh, causing Ginny to look up again. The fire in his eyes was being stomped out by disappointment. “Gin, listen… all I know is that ever since I was sixteen all I’ve wanted is to be with you, whatever it took to make that happen. That hasn’t changed, not one bit, even nine years later. I know we can make it work. If it’s not what you want… I don’t want you to be with me if you aren’t fully in it. But I want to be in your life. I don’t know what that looks like for you right now, but however it does, I’ll be there. Even if that’s only as your brother’s best friend.” He offered a sad smile as he finished.

But you’re so much more than that , she wanted to say, but felt like that’d just be proving his point, and she still felt too confused and overwhelmed. Selfishly, she leaned in and kissed him, long enough to memorize the feeling for later but quickly enough to prevent any further persuasion from the magic of his mouth. She braced herself for her own heart’s self-destruction as she opened her eyes and said, “I think I should go home, now.”

Harry’s sadness lingered for a moment, before he channeled his expertise of shutting down, his features flickering to blankness. “If...if that’s what you want. Let me drive you home, at least?”

She wanted to say no, that she’d just order an Uber, but her mouth betrayed her. “Ok.”

He let go of her hand and stood up. “I’ll, er, just throw on some clothes real quick, then run and grab yours and leave you to get dressed.”

She nodded and watched him throw on a pair of jeans, an undershirt, a jumper, and socks rather haphazardly. She listened as his feet creaked across the hallway floors, and waited with bated breath as he made his way back moments later, handing her a pile of her clothes. She muttered a “thank you” and averted his eyes as she took them.

“Take your time,” he told her gently, and made his way back out.

The moment the door clicked closed, she clenched her eyes shut and pushed out all the tears she could, so none would escape for him to see when she would have to face him again. She wiped her face and felt the warmth leave her as she got up from his bed, her haven. She threw off his shirt and put on her clothes from the night before, but folded up his t-shirt and stuffed it in her purse. It was an unspoken agreement between them that she could take as many of his t-shirts as she liked; he bought extras just for her.

She looked in the mirror, quickly threw her hair back in a low ponytail, and inhaled deeply, as if the air entering her lungs would give her courage to move forward as she opened up his bedroom door and walked towards the entrance.

Harry had his sneakers on, her shoes lined up and her coat ready for her in his hands. She slipped on her shoes and against her better judgment she allowed him to slip her jacket on for her, arm by arm. She hated the electricity that crackled through their every touch. She did not want to leave, she hated herself for leaving, even.

As if he sensed her self-deprecation, he took hold of her hand after it slipped through the sleeve. “Gin, it’ll be okay.”

She didn’t believe him, of course, it was just his typical optimism in order to protect everyone he loved, Except it made Harry look out for everyone else’s comfort at his own expense.

He grabbed his keys and led them out of his flat. They got into his car quietly. Without taking the backroads, the ride was relatively short, only taking 3 songs on the classic rock station of his ancient car radio to make it back to her home, the Burrow.

He parked right outside, which was a mistake, as her mother was out in the front with their family dog, Pig. She was wise enough to just offer a wave and a smile and resume walking with him.

Harry turned to her and asked in a low rasp, “Can I see you again? Before you fly back? Will you still be at your family’s for New Year's?”

“Yeah, I will,” she told him. “I’ll...I’ll see you there.”

Harry nodded. He clicked the unlock button for the doors. “Just...just think about what I said, alright?”

Ginny swallowed, nodding back. “I will.”

He kissed her cheek, his lips burning against her cold skin, and as he pulled away he leaned over to open her door for her. She attempted a smile in thanks, hopped out of his truck, and closed the door gently behind her.

She didn’t look back as she walked through her lawn, as she heard him call out to her mother, “See you soon, Mrs. Weasley!,” as Pig barked merrily at him and Harry laughed out, “I’ll see you soon, too, Pig!” before driving away.

She was grateful that her mother didn’t pursue her as her legs worked their hardest to get her to the door, through the entrance, and up the flight of stairs to her room, into her own bed, waiting for a sense of safety or relief that never came.

[garrothromeave]

let’s talk about minecraft diaries rebirth.

and why it’s literally amazing. (warning: this will contain spoilers. lots of them. also, long post ahead.)

i think a lot of people hate mcdr because they were expecting a remake; but the point of rebirth is for jess to rewrite it. it wasn't supposed to be exactly the same.

honestly i went into mcdr with a closed mind. as an og mcd fan, i thought that this was going to suck ass and that i'd rant about how bad it was to my friends later. but actually watching it, i just... couldn't help but immediately fall in love with it.

ik im probably the only motherfucker that likes mcdr, but honestly how could i not? for one, garroth and zenix actually have personalities at the beginning. AND; the villagers? actually amazing. donna made me smile, visher made me laugh and cry, brendan was just bein as good as ever. like... i even didn't despise emmalyn with every ounce of my soul like i usually do?? the characterizations of them were GOOD, man.

and honestly, aphmau like--the way she spoke, her whole thing. it was reallyyy well done in my opinion. she was oblivious to things, but it wasn't overdone and wasn't done in a way to make her annoying. she's a very appealing character in mcdr, a main protagonist i do not mind following along with. her dynamics to the characters are really cool and all very unique.  gonna cut it here so i don’t clog y’all’s feed cuz i got a lot to say :)

the early use of aphmau’s powers was actually pretty cool as well, it also really showed how clueless aphmau really was to everything going on around her. AND UH, THE FACT THAT SHE THOUGHT THAT GARROTH FELT FAMILIAR? GOLDEN. absolutely golden.

AND GENE OH BOY, the early introduction of gene? ik a lot of people are upset about it, but god DAMN i love it so much. his role in the story is very important in original, and i cannot express how much joy this brought me learning that he was actually getting the proper attention for it. and the fact that gene and aphmau were working together?? i mean ik gene was just trying to use her to get back to the "shadow abyss" (pretty pog replacement for the nether, gg) but god DAMN i loved every moment of it. i found their dynamic to be pretty fuckin funny to be honest, would absolutely love to see more of it.

i might be biased considering gene is one of my absolute favorite characters, but i honestly think that introducing gene this early on in the story was a good move. again, he's literally the right-hand man to the shadow lord. it makes you really wonder why he didn't have as much of an important role in season 1 or even 2 of the original mcd plotline. also, we get some of that good-ol-fashioned exposition with seeing early on how vylad and gene interact. vylad’s at a very strange point in the story right now; his motives are unclear, even to the side he’s ‘supposed’ to be taking (aka, a shadow knight.)  another early introduction to a character is zane! this, my friends, is good. really good. i’d say that zane is the main antagonist of season 1 in the original series--and he wasn’t even introduced until like, episode 50. it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but him being introduced this early on really gives the audience a better understanding of what threats are out there and what our protagonist will have to encounter in the future. in the original series, there’s not much explanation as to why lords are disappearing/dying left and right--and while yes, that was supposed to be the mystery of it, having some of that early information is a better move in terms of writing. 

AND IVAN?? BEING A PART OF THE JURY OF NINE?? I COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR ANYTHING MORE LIKE GOD DAMN that was a very pleasant surprise i'll just say that, thank you jess :)

and no i did not loop the 4 minutes of screentime laurance got in that one episode haha who would do that i would never do that anyways

SPEAKING of laurance, im so glad jess actually wrote him in this early :) she totally could have just waited for the first time aphmau visits meteli and meets him there, but no! she put him in an early episode. i dont even care if she did it just to shut up the fans about laurance but man that made me so happy seeing him, even if it was only for a bit.

okay i kinda wanna go over the guards real fast firstly; garroth. ignoring how weird the helmet showing emotions is, i really like how garroth is portrayed. he's under a lot of pressure because the village is putting a lot of the blame on him for malik's death, and he's trying his hardest to keep things running. the fact that garroth utterly refused the to take up the position of lord and even got a little snappy about it was actually really cool to see as well. and while he doesn’t have that same “reserved, quiet, observant” feel as the original mcd version of him had, this version of garroth is absolutely awesome. he’s more direct and blunt, is significantly more sarcastic, and isn’t as stiff or as much as a pushover as he is in the original. he even has a sense of humour. also, no homo, but he’s kinda adorable.  plus, the desperation that he goes through during the whole thing is just--it’s really cool to see how hard he’s trying to prove himself and help the village. my rating for mcdr garroth? 9/10. the helmet... the helmet is the main thing throwin me off, i can’t lie. next, zenix. oh BOY do i have a lot to say about this man. first of all, his and garroth’s dynamic is incredible. when i saw how the interacted with each other, my first thought was: father and son. zenix has this immaturity to him that is so fucking fun and interesting to watch, and seeing how garroth scolds him is so fuckin good man. and! seeing how he interacts with the rest of the village... honestly, if jess ever picks this story up again, i would probably cry when zenix (literally) backstabs garroth. HELL, i hope that’s something that still happens, it’d be heartbreaking to witness this character that we’ve come to love hurting his mentor, the man who took him in. he’s just a really good character all in all, and much more appealing than the original mcd zenix. ...except season 3 zenix. no zenix can be better than that one.  either way, zenix is amazing written to be the comic relief and he’s just an all-out lovable character in this series.  finally, dale and brian. yes i’m going to group them up because there’s not much to say regarding them, but i do want to address them. for starters, we have brian; who’s already 16 when the story starts. good on jess for doing that, because in the original aphmau watched brian be born and age INCREDIBLY quick, haha. THOUGH i do feel like there’s a slight connection lost there--one of the hardest things about brian’s betrayal in the original series in the fact that we watched him grow up in phoenix drop. we were there from the moment he was born, to the second he betrayed phoenix drop. BUT OF COURSE, this version is a lot more realistic, so it’s understandable. i just think that if it’s brian who’ll be betraying phoenix drop again (if it even goes down that same route), it won’t hit as hard unless jess really takes the time to grow the connection between brian and aphmau.  as for dale; gotta admit, love it. and like, i think one of the main things about how good of a call it was to make him a drunkard from the beginning is considering how much the village is struggling. the fact that the second-in-command is literally drunk all of the time really conveys the message of, “yeah. this village needs help.” plus, he’s another good comic relief character. i loved seeing molly and dale’s relationship too, it was very funny.  PLUS. we were blessed with a well scene, in which aphmau had to help villagers out of the well. i don’t know about you guys, but that was one of my favorite nods to the original series. i cannot thank jess enough for that, there was a smile on my face the entire time. another amazing thing--visher’s character. instead of just being introduced to this quirky lil merchant who only had one or two interactions with aphmau like in the first one, we got to sit there and really get a feel for someone worth remembering and worth mourning over. we had a reason to be sad over his death, it wasn’t just some npc getting blown up suddenly. this was different, and this hurt.  one of the major things that i hope is to come out of this is for jess to fix the major mistakes she had when writing the first series. she’d expressed how unhappy she was with some of the decisions she made, and i’m glad that she’s getting that second chance to undo the things she didn’t like. this series also gives her a second chance to really, really dig into characters and their motives. like, gimme laurance backstory in better detail. or like, garroth and zane’s relationship from back when they were kids? or how vylad died and who killed him? etc etc. she’s already done an excellent job so far, and i can’t wait to see where this goes. that is, if she ever continues it. god, i wish there were more episodes so that i could seriously let you guys know how beautiful of a series this is. there’s so much i want to say about rebirth, but i think i’ll stop here. i might say some more shit about it later, but if there’s anything i’d want you to take away from this, it’s: give minecraft diaries rebirth a chance. there’s a lot of potential, and this is a chance for jess to really change things for the better! ... but again, that is if this ever is continued.