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gyusimp · 8 months ago

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°•Lord Muzan feels tired after work

Finally the one-shot I promised! I changed the initial idea so I basically rewrote the whole thing again because of a dream I had and it gave me all the inspiration I needed lmao it even gave me an idea for another longer fic with Muzan. I ended up doing it in the canon Taisho Era so enjoy!

Art credits for the creator (not mine)

It wasn't physical fatigue that he felt, after all, the progenitor of demons was tireless. He was rather fed up. Fed up with his employees, his servants, humans in general and how exhausting it was to be the only perfect and intelligent creature among them. His day had been full of problems today.

The current role he had was that of a young and rich businessman, owner of a company importing foreign products whom he murdered in order to carry out his plans and continue increasing his fortune. He forged a few papers, impersonated some people and murdered others and so the company was his now but that included all his stupid and useless employees. He was so fed up with damn humans, sometimes he avoided dismissals, it depends on their mood and how efficient they were at some point then Muzan fired them, otherwise he just called them to his office simply to kill them.

Then a few months later he met you, a young and beautiful woman in the business world with a company dedicated to natural medicine and importing medicinal plants. You were an essential piece in his plan to conquer the sun. He married you when he had the chance to but you eventually found out that he wasn't human. How come you were still alive then? You discovered it on your own, you didn't make a fuss or try to run away from him, you simply let him know that you already knew through small clues or ways of acting, like you were in charge of closing all the curtains in the house during the day but you didn't ask the servants to do it for you. Your loyalty to him remained despite knowing what he was and that was not lost on Muzan.

One night, he told you what this was all about, if you hadn't left despite knowing his condition then you had to stay alive. Muzan gave you the choice if you wanted to become a demon or not but whatever your answer was, you had to serve him for your entire life. The fact of being immortal did not tempt your human weakness but you told him that by having the ability to walk under the sun, you could be his eyes in the light of day and help him do different things so you both ended up accepting. You were legally his wife, so in front of everyone Muzan treated you as such although there were times in private where he was still a little soft on you, plus, he is an attractive looking man which led you to feel some things more for him , taking on mind his demonic nature.

Today had been a terribly long day, the fatigue in Kibutsuji's body caused the veins on his forehead to stand out strongly under his skin, his red eyes appeared and his pupils turned into vertical slits like a cat's. He took off the black trench coat he was wearing and left it on the coat rack at the entrance, his fangs grew to normal size after having hidden them all day, as did his sharp blue nails, making one of his servants tremble who should have already gone home. The man next to him was observed with indifference, his skin was pale and he was sweating coldly having seen the small transformation of his master, then he remembered the stories of those man-eating creatures that the women of his town told the children.

"A monster! This man is not human!! MISS KIBUTSUJI, THERE IS A DEMON IN THE HOUSE!" the man shouted trying to alert you.

His shrill screams tried Muzan's patience and when the man turned to walk up the stairs towards you he was cut into pieces in less than 2 seconds. The reddish and thick liquid splashed Kibutsuji's face making him sigh and wipe it with a handkerchief as well as his hand, the drops dripped on the stairs and when he walked next to him he moved it with too much disgust using his foot and continuing his way towards your room upstairs.

Like a gentleman, he knocked on the door before entering and upon hearing your voice he entered the room. You hadn't heard anything but his murderous look told you that he wasn't in the best of moods so you didn't say anything. You went to the bathroom in the large room and put on a pearl-colored sleeveless sleeping dress with a matching silk robe. Just like your husband, you preferred to dress in a Western style, you left your hair down and went out. You found him sitting on the edge of the bed, with both hands together mumbling some things, noticing how stressed he was and without saying anything you knelt on the bed behind him and started massaging his shoulders. You were involved in the world of medicine since you were little, so you knew the points where stress usually accumulates. Feeling your hands exerting pleasant pressure on his body, Muzan couldn't help but tilt his head to the side and put aside everything he was thinking, he took off his tie and closed his eyes, sighing tiredly. You continued caressing his neck, shoulders and back until slowly his muscles relaxed and his veins stopped showing under his skin.

"Can i...?" You asked, bringing your hands to the collar of his shirt.

You unbuttoned the entire garment and got rid of it completely leaving his naked and well-worked torso exposed, you continued massaging his shoulders and back until he felt good enough to close his eyes and lay his head on your chest, feeling your breasts very close to him. Your hands were soft and light, with a sincere and warm touch making his thoughts go elsewhere. While you continued doing your thing, he got rid of his belt and unbuttoned his pants without you realizing it, then grabbed your wrist with some force and brought you in front of him so that you were sitting astride his lap. As soon as you sat down, he took it upon himself to stare at you and open the robe you were wearing to see your breasts under the thin fabric of the nightgown and how your nipples were beginning to stand out. He took off your robe and then grabbed the hem of your nightgown to pull it up and take it off as well. A few seconds passed, he lightly patted your thigh to make you lift your butt so he could get rid of your panties as well, leaving you completely naked under his gaze. He gently took your hand, still looking at you, and brought it up to his face to caress it against his cheek and kiss your palm elegantly.

"You are a rather attractive woman...worthy of bearing my last name." You felt so lucky when he took the time to compliment you since you knew his disdain for almost everything.

You melted at his touch, at his kisses, but an unusual sensation on the skin of your hand made you look in that direction. You saw how a mouth began to form in Muzan's palm with teeth, tongue and everything. You knew about all the changes and transformations that his body was capable of so it no longer surprised you at all since he also knew how to use those changes to your advantage. Muzan smiled at you with seductive malice and with his free hand he grabbed your waist while the hand with his mouth went straight between your legs, placing his palm just below your pussy. You couldn't help but moan and startled a little when you felt his warm breath hitting you, you felt his tongue come out from his palm and begin to suck and lick all your folds. You looked at Muzan with a huge blush as you grabbed his shoulders. While his palm was in charge of your center, he brought 2 of his fingers to your hole, making you arch your back as you felt him enter and arch his fingers inside you. Both sensations made you begin to moan his name and move your hips on him to increase your own pleasure as he hardened dangerously beneath you. His entire mouth sucked on your pussy, playing with it with his teeth and pressing your clit against his tongue over and over again as he moved his fingers and the mouth on his face kissed and bit your neck and collarbones. You were starting to get very wet, the saliva and your juices between your legs making you feel very hot and slippery. Muzan's free hand took you from behind to bring you closer to him and caressed your back until it went down and reached your butt, then he went to your bust and began to knead one of your breasts between his fingers, causing you endless moans.

"Aa-aah...Muzan! Aah!" You could barely speak properly.

You rubbed your center on the palm of his hand while the mouth beneath you devoured you completely, you listened to the wet sounds that leaked beneath you and imagining the dirty scene aroused you more and more. The simple act of letting the Demon King fuck you as he pleased turned you on no matter what. Muzan was going too fast and every rub on and lick on your folds was killing you, you clung tightly to his shoulders making scratches that regenerated immediately feeling your orgasm getting closer to the point of not even being able to stay upright. Your head leaned down, leaving your left hand on his shoulder while you held on to the bed with your right as if your life depended on it, never stopping moaning or moving.

Muzan watched you from above, proud of the mess he made of you, of how he was able to lower such a prestigious and elegant lady to such a level, making her beg for more as if she were a prostitute. You were close, he knew it by the way you squeezed his fingers tighter than before and he didn't want to let this moment pass him by. Muzan grabbed your chin to make you look into his eyes.

"Look at me...you're about to cum, aren't you? I want you to look at me..."

You tried to raise your face towards him but lust was stronger than your five senses, your body was heavy with pleasure and you could barely open your eyes properly. You didn't heed his request and that might make him angry so this time he held you tighter, digging his nails into your soft flesh making your cheeks sting.

"I told you I want you to look at me when you do it...it's an order." He demanded.

You clung to his shoulders without stopping moving and he increased his speed, you squeezed him again and just when you felt yourself on the edge you looked down but forced yourself to half open your eyes and look up again just as you screamed of pleasure as you feel all your whitish and slippery discharge come out from your core, wetting all of Muzan's hand under you where his mouth did not waste a single drop.

"Your taste is very pleasant, dear. I would never get tired of it." He licked his lips.

You were shaking in his lap, sweating all over your body, and a huge blush came over you again when you looked down and saw the mess you had left in his pants. Muzan smiled evilly at you and pushed you on the bed to change places and position himself over you after having completely gotten rid of all his clothes.

Your hair was a mess on the bed, your chest rose and fell trying to normalize your breathing and you could feel your sensitive folds throbbing after such a strong euphoria. You finished having your orgasm, you were wet and slippery and Muzan wasn't going to waste that.

"It's my turn, precious."

He told you, showing you his fangs in a smile and in less than you expected he opened your legs to position himself in the middle of you, he took one of your legs behind your knee and placed it on his shoulder without letting go and then entered you with a single thrust making you moan intensely. He didn't care that you had not yet adapted to his size, he began to stretch you and move repeatedly inside you until he aroused you again. You could hear his soft moans and grunts in your ear as he moved, you took him by the shoulders again and adjusted your legs so you both felt better.

Even though this was only the second round for you you felt almost dead tired, your legs and waist were starting to hurt and you envied the way your husband wasn't even sweating. A pleasurable sensation formed inside you as you felt the crashes of each of his thrusts against your clit and the pressure you felt on it again and again causing you to stretch your toes and squeeze Muzan very tightly again. He loved feeling you that way, you drove him crazy with pleasure and you noticed how the veins appeared again on his back and arms but this time it was due to the strong arousement he was feeling. He had the nerve to lift his head from your shoulder and moan heavily as he closed his eyes and increased his speed, feeling you suck him deep.

"Fuck...you're perfect nngh, you're even better than those 12 fucking idiots." He moaned, complimenting you.

You loved pleasing your husband and even more so seeing that you were doing a good job. Knowing that you could manage to put the Demon King in such a vulnerable state turned you on more, making you eagerly wait for his orgasm and the second one on your part, but on the other hand it made you nervous. Muzan's arousal was as strong as 10 men combined every time he fucked you and his release was just as intense or even more so, so when he tilted his head back after you cum again, you felt a huge amount of his falling inside you reaching the bottom of your insides, spilling the rest between your legs until forming a whitish stain on the bed, under the two of you.

The way Muzan felt his scent permeate your flesh once again made him feel powerful, it was a way of claiming you as his because no matter how many times you showered or cleaned yourself, how many days went by without him fucking you, Muzan let his cells inside you, so that any creature that knew of his existence would also know that you belonged to him.

#muzan x reader #muzan kibutsuji #demon slayer muzan #kimetsu no yaiba muzan #muzan smut #kny smut #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #demon slayer x reader #demon slayer smut #kimetsu no yaiba x reader

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chukys-mouthguard · 6 months ago

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Kinda Tempting

Genre: a big mixed bag of all the things

Word count: 4.4k

Featuring: Mat Barzal x female reader x Matthew Rempe

Warnings: cheating, secret relationship

Summary: you recently left your position as the media manager for the Islanders behind, along with your boyfriend Mat Barzal, for a position with the Rangers. And their new rookie Matthew Rempe causes quite the stir both on the ice and off

Author’s note: I rewrote this like 4 times…hopefully it’s good. This will be a little series, so things should pick up. I feel like establishing background and stuff is always hard. Hopefully you all like this? And I’m sorry I literally picked two guys named Matt, could I have made that any harder on me and you lol

If someone told you that you’d be working in the NHL while also dating one of the hottest stars in the league, both in skill and looks, you would’ve never believed them. But here you were. The head of the media team department for one of the biggest teams in sports, and also the girlfriend of none other than Mat Barzal.

The two of you met during your first season leading the media department for the New York Islanders, and you made it your mission to get him to not hate doing the stupid challenge videos and dumb quizzes that every team made their players do. And by the end of that season he’d become a pro, eventually fessing up that he only enjoyed seeing you pop up with your iphone because he knew it meant an excuse to see you.

Now it certainly wasn’t a walk in the park getting the stamp of approval from the organization, but Mat reassured you he wouldn’t let you get fired over it. And they eventually came around to the idea, only for you to get a job offer from their rival New York Rangers 2 seasons later. Despite the move from Elmont to NYC only making your distance roughly 2 hours depending on the day, it had proven to be difficult on the two of you. Your schedules never the same, not even enough for phone calls or facetimes. Sometimes going months without seeing one another.

Thoughts plaguing your mind on whether or not he still loved you, if he’d been seeing other girls behind your back. When you look as good as Mat Barzal it’s hard to imagine him not having tons of girls throwing themselves at him. You didn’t want to think of the worst, but you saw how other guys in the league made things work with their girlfriends, so why couldn’t he do the same with you.

Luckily today was the stadium series game between the New York Islanders and the Rangers, meaning an opportunity to finally get to see your boyfriend after almost two months. And to say it was a big game was an understatement, you just hoped Mat would actually make time to see you, and reassure you that things were good between the two of you.

You arrived to MetLife stadium a few hours early, the media grind keeping you on almost the same schedule as the players. Your first assignment of the day was documenting the debut of Rangers rookie Matthew Rempe, though looking at this guy you’d never guess he was a rookie. He’s 6 foot 8, literally towering over every guy on the ice, and probably off of it too.

After he finished up a few interviews, you saw him making his way past the crowd of reporters, looking a bit lost as he scanned the faces around. You assumed looking for you since he’d be told ahead of time he had media content to film today.

“You must be Matthew Rempe.” You walked up to greet him and he smiled down at you, “How’d you know?” Eyeing him up and down you rolled your eyes as if he was someone easy to miss or not notice. “Let’s see, all the headlines talking about a 6 foot rookie debuting for the Rangers, I’d say that was the giveaway.” The two of you laughed as you started down the hall, walking towards the Rangers tunnel that led to the ice. “I’m sorry I didn’t even introduce myself, my name is y/n. I’m the media manager for the Rangers, and unfortunately for you, you’re gonna be seeing a lot of me this season.”

The rookie simply smiling down at you as you two walked together, “something tells me I might be okay with that.” Fighting the blush that threatened to grace your cheeks, you continued on explaining what it is he’d be filming. He listed to you explain things somewhat, but then he sort of zoned out. Paying too much attention to your smile when you laughed, the excitement in your voice when you talked about your job. Not to mention he was taken aback at how beautiful you were. Your hair failing perfectly over your shoulders beneath your Rangers beanie. He was captivated by you, but tried to keep his cool.

“Okay, so we are gonna do just a little introduction. Whatever you feel like saying, introduce yourself, tell us where we are, all that fun stuff.” Rempe quickly snapping back to reality, stopping at where the tunnel began to open up to reveal the stadium. He simply followed your lead, waiting as you took out your phone and cued him to start whenever he was ready.

“Hey Rangers fans, it’s Matt Rempe here. Getting ready to make my debut at the Stadium Series here at MetLife. It’s time to bang some bodies and bring home a win!” He pumped his fists as he emphasized his final words for the camera, you signaling that was a great take. Next, moving over to the bench to do a couple sit down questions.

“Perfect, you are really a natural Matthew. I’m impressed! It took some of the other guys years to get comfortable with doing all the media stuff.” He smiled as he stood up, once again towering over you. “Well you made it really easy, made me feel comfortable and all the nerves went out the window.”

“Well good! I’m gonna go edit this now and we will probably have it posted within an hour, just in case you wanted to see it.” “Oh perfect,” Matthew began reaching into his pocket before pulling out his phone, “can you text me once it’s up?” You took his phone, not thinking anything of it, you had plenty of his teammates phone numbers. It becoming a thing for guys to want to send embarrassing clips of each other for their group chats. “Sure thing, there you go! Shoot me a text so I have your number and I’ll get you the link as soon as it’s up.”

You smiled as the two of you headed up the tunnel, some of the islanders players making their way out to see the ice. The second you saw your boyfriend’s face walking toward you, all of your professional game day demeanor went out the window and you took off running.

As you took off up the tunnel, Matthew was a bit confused, not realizing what was going on, he continued walking as his eyes followed you. Soon seeing you jump into the arms of Mat Barzal from the Islanders. His heart sunk a bit, of course she’s not single, he sighed to himself as he pulled out his phone. Trying to not seem so awkward when he walked past the two of you kissing. Flashing a smile when you mentioned that you’d text him after you finished editing the things you two just filmed.

Why was he so shocked to see a beautiful girl like you dating someone? Maybe it was shocking that you were dating one of the top guys in the league, who also happens to be on one of the Rangers rival teams. He’d felt a bit foolish for thinking that a girl like you would not only be single, but ever give him, a rookie, the time of day like that. Heading into the locker room, he threw on his headphones and started to get zoned in for the game.

It had been about a month since you’d seen Mat, and you couldn’t contain your excitement. He smiled at you as he braced for your hug, cutting it short before giving you a quick kiss. “Mat, come on, it’s been almost two months. Aren’t you happy to see me?” He nodded to his teammates to walk without him as he stayed back, “yeah of course I am, but I’m also trying to get focused. I’m sorry I’m not jumping up and down like you.” His laugh caught you off guard, as almost if he was making fun of how excited you were to see him.

“Sorry for being happy to see my boyfriend. Well go get focused, I don’t wanna be a distraction to you” Dropping his hands you’d pushed past him, doing your best to hide any emotions you had and ignore the feeling of just wanting to cry.

“Y/n, babe come on don’t be like that!”

Mat stood in the tunnel yelling after you, but he didn’t bother to chase you. Knowing it wasn’t the time or place, though when was the time and place for you two anymore?

Finding a warm area tucked away at the stadium, you took out your laptop and started editing, anything you could do to get your mind off of Mat and how annoyed you were. .

Beginning to edit the footage you took of Matthew, a smile crept across your face. Everything about Rempe was infectious. His thick Canadian accent as he spoke made you laugh. The little phrases and things he’d say when he got excited about the game and this opportunity. Pulling out your phone, you shot him a text, not sure if he’d respond since he was probably getting warmed up.

“Soooo, when is it considered too early to make Matthew Rempe, let’s bang some bodies merch? Lol”

Sitting in his stall, Matthew heard a quick ding over his music, slightly cursing at himself for not turning his phone on do not disturb. He had been getting tons of texts from friends and family about his debut, and while he appreciated it, they were distracting for sure. He went to simply swipe the text away, figuring he’d respond later. But he stopped as he saw your name displayed on the screen.

He chuckled to himself at the text, typing out a quick reply before heading off to stretch with some of the guys.

“Ehhh, not sure how entirely appropriate the merch would be. People who weren’t in on it may think it’s like a sex joke or something.”

Finally seeing a reply from Matthew you laughed out loud, quickly typing a reply before you put the finishing touches on your social media post.

“Oh lord I can see the headline now, Rangers merch sales at an all time high after rookie proudly endorses banging bodies.”

As soon as you got your content edited and posted, you shut your laptop and got everything packed back into your bag. Deciding you were in desperate need of caffeine if you were somehow gonna make it to game time. The Rangers kept a stash of energy drinks in their locker room, half the time you swore just for you because you never saw the guys drink them.

“Oh no, here she comes! She’s gonna ask us to do a tik tok!” Vinny Trochek calling out to the guys playing soccer and they all pretended to scatter. Being the media girl the loved giving you a hard time, but you knew it came with the territory. “Very funny Vinny, just wait until you see the embarrassing shit I’ve got of you ready to post!”

Trochek making a face at you as you popped in the locker room to grab your drink.

buzz buzz

“You know, if you were sneaking in the locker room to try and catch a glimpse of me shirtless or something, you could’ve just asked ;)”

Practically choking on your Celsius you wiped your mouth as you stared at the text you receive from Matthew. He truly was something else, his flirting not at all subtle. Though you didn’t mind, he was a ten for sure. Though you knew he probably was a player and had girls drooling over him.

But after the not so warm greeting from your boyfriend, you welcomed a little flirting.

Exiting the locker room you locked eyes with Matthew giving you a shit eating grin as you tried to hide the blush on your cheeks. He smiled to himself as he bit his tongue, turning his attention back to the guys as they finished up their game of soccer.

The final horn sounded, ending one of the most exciting games you’ve seen in awhile. The Rangers somehow pulled out the win, coming back from down 3 goals to take the game in overtime. Rempe got his first fight in his NHL debut, and the media content you got from this game was endless. The thought of all the editing you’d have to do tonight buried in the back of your mind as you focused on trying to find something to eat in the catering area near the locker room. Lucky for you, some of the guys were always kind enough to set food aside for you, knowing you rarely ate when working the games. Not even by choice, but simply because you were responsible for catching anything and everything on camera and posting in real time.

You munched on some french fries as you scrolled through the comments on your post of Rempe’s debut, laughing at all the girls drooling over him through their screens. Continuing your scroll you hardly noticed the scratched up knuckles reaching in to steal a fry. “Matthew Rempe how dare you!”

He shot you a cocky grin as he tossed the fry in his mouth, “Sorry, I had to, you were asking for it.” Rolling your eyes you finished off the fries, then reaching for your bag only to be stopped by Matthew. “Here, as an apology for stealing a fry, let me carry this for you. It’s the least I can do.” Smiling softly you obliged, letting him hold the bag as the two of you headed towards the parking garage.

“Oh, nice fight by the way. Didn’t feel like wasting much time huh?” He smiled proud as he shrugged, “Better to get it over with early, gets the nerves out you know?”

As you approached your car, he pulled your bag from his shoulder. “Not seeing the boyfriend or anything?” Checking your phone, you’d never heard back from Mat whether or not he’d want to see you tonight. “Probably not, I’ve got a lot of editing to do and…” your voice trailed off as you tried to make up a believable excuse as to why your boyfriend couldn’t see you. To which Matthew saw right through, “I couldn’t help but notice the two of you earlier, trouble in paradise?”

Letting out a huff you tossed your bag into your passenger seat as you laughed, “how much time you got Rempe?” An apologetic smile crept across his face as he saw you holding in a lot. He wanted to just hug you, let you cry if you needed to. He’d only just met you a few hours ago yet he felt like he was meant to. Like you needed him to come into your life and somehow make it better. “Well, my family is in town and I definitely have to see them. We are grabbing dinner. But, I can certainly make time later tonight?” Nodding your head you walked over to the drivers side of your car, Matthew offering a quick hug to you, sensing you needed it. Which you did, very much so. He closed the car door before leaning down and resting his arms on the frame as you started it up. “I’ll text you when I’m done with my family? Pinky promise.” He held out his pinky which was quadruple the size of yours, making you chuckle as you wrapped yours around it. “Don’t make me sit around my phone waiting for a text you don’t plan on sending Matthew Rempe.”

He laughed as he walked away from your car, “you kidding? I’ve already got our conversation pinned in my messages!” Shaking your head you rolled up the window, pulling out of the garage and heading out on the traffic filled road for your drive home.

As much as you loved your job, sitting on your couch and staring at the same repetitive clips of the Rangers for hours while editing really got old fast. Trying to fight your exhaustion you closed your laptop, pulling out your phone to try giving Mat a call. He texted you after the game, a half hearted apology that truly did nothing more than make you roll your eyes.

Hey it’s Mat, I can’t come to the phone right now, leave me a message.

Typical Mat, phone on do not disturb after a loss, and you probably won’t hear from him until later or even tomorrow if he’s really in a mood. It had unfortunately become the norm, and while you hated it, you couldn’t say much about it. You did sign up for this somewhat when decided to date a NHL player, and one who happens to be one of the top names in the league. He bears a lot of weight on his shoulders from his franchise, and it’s been taking a toll on him for the last year or so. Spilling over to affect your relationship, though he won’t agree. He thinks things are as good as they’ve ever been. Despite the two of you barely speaking, rarely ever seeing one another now, and we won’t even talk about the lack of anything remotely sexual. Not even the occasional nude could get Mat going, so you’d stopped trying to change him. Accepting that maybe this was who he was now, but never building up the courage to just walk away.

The buzzing of your phone in your lap snapping you from your sad thoughts, as a smile now appeared on your face after seeing Matthew’s name pop up on your screen. “Thank you for calling y/n’s phone, how can I help you?” Matthew chuckled on the other end of the call, “I am really hoping that y/n is available and still wants to talk to me after the long day she had? I might even have dessert that I am sure she’d love right about now.”

“You want to come over?” Your tone sounding a bit more harsh than you intended, just a bit shocked that he was offering to stop by versus just talk on the phone or text. “Oh, um, I don’t know. You seemed a bit down earlier, and I just felt like you could use some cheering up. Plus you said it yourself, I’m gonna have to get used to spending time with you so might as well get a head start.”

Before he could finish his sentence you’d texted him your address, telling yourself to say fuck it and have him come over. You refused to sit and sulk over your boyfriend any more than you already had.

“Sweet, I’m only like 15 minutes away. Me and the cake will be there soon!” You cackled into the phone as Matthew quickly regretted his words, “I meant like the dessert, not my ass or anything. Oh god! Look I’ll be there soon okay?”

Embarrassed, he hung up while you continued your laughter. Packing up your computer and cleaning up your place a bit, not sure where your sudden nerves were coming from. It’s not like Matthew would be expecting a five star mansion to be hiding within your small NYC apartment. And before you could double check the clothes you’d thrown on the second you got home, a knock came at your door. The last thing you expected when opening it was Matthew to now be in gray sweatpants and a hoodie, his hair still somewhat damp from his postgame shower, looking even better than you’d remembered. To put in plainly, he looked hot.

“I hope you like vanilla cake with chocolate frosting!”

He beamed as he carried the cake inside, setting it on your kitchen island then taking in the apartment. Nodding in approval as you went to grab two glasses, offering water which Matthew kindly accepted.

“So,” he started as he took a seat on your sofa, “cake first or did you want to tell me your life story to get that over with?” Grabbing the box of cake along with two forks, you took a seat next to Matthew before handing him the extra utensil.

“How about both?”

“Okay so, why don’t you just breakup with him? I mean, I know that’s easier said than done, but you don’t seem very happy.” Playing with the hem of your sweatshirt as you finished telling Matthew the gist of your love story with Mat, and his reactions were all what you’d expected. “I don’t know, I mean, I love him. It’s not easy to break up with someone you love. And I keep telling myself it’ll get better.”

“When? Once he wins a Stanley Cup and finally eases up a bit from his Mr. Perfect persona and attitude? How long is that gonna take?”

He had a point, you truly had no clue when Mat would change and start being like himself again. You missed the karaoke nights with him and your friends, movie nights at your place, dinner dates, even just sleeping in the same bed as him. You missed him, but something tells you he didn’t miss you.

“Look, I’m not trying to be an asshole. Hell, I just met you like 10 hours ago yet somehow I am in your apartment sharing cake and talking to you about your relationship troubles. I don’t know how we ended up here but I’m not mad at it.” A smile crept on your lips for the first time in the past thirty minutes as Matthew rested his hand on your thigh. “All I’m saying is, if you were my girlfriend, I would’ve sprinted down that tunnel today to hug you and kiss you. I would’ve come to see you after the game no matter if my team won the game or lost by twelve goals. You’re beautiful, funny, super fucking talented at your job, and from the few hours I’ve been around you, I can see how amazing you are.”

You hadn’t noticed yourself tearing up until Matthew reached out to wipe your cheek. “I’m not trying to make you cry, now I feel bad. Should I make you laugh?” He pouted his lips at you, doing his best to earn a smile.

“Like being so for real, if I was your boyfriend and I got to see you today after like a month, we would’ve had to go somewhere private at that stadium cause there’s no way I’m not getting my hands all over you the second I see you.”

Shaking your head you grabbed the forks and cake box from the table, walking them all to the kitchen as Matthew laughed at his words, though not denying them. “Well, as amazing as that sounds, I couldn’t even tell you the last time Mat did any of that.”

Matthew practically choked on his water as you rinsed off the forks, “what?”, then putting them aside to dry. “Don’t tell me you haven’t even been having sex with him, he’s your boyfriend y/n! Like…is he gay?”

“Matthew Rempe!”

“I mean, I don’t know,” he shrugged as he joined you in the kitchen, “I’m trying to wrap my brain around how a guy could be dating a girl like you, and not be even having sex with her. Like I get the not seeing each other as much because of being in two different cities, the limited phone calls and stuff, but going months and months without sex!? I’m not trying to cause a stir in your relationship or come across disrespectful, but I would one hundred percent not be able to go a month without getting my hands on you and- actually, let me stop myself before I say some things I shouldn’t.”

Your jaw practically on the floor as he retreated, quickly sipping his water so he didn’t have to speak. “No, actually I think you should continue. I’m kinda tempted to hear this.” You leaned back against the counter as you crossed your arms in front of your chest, a smirk on your face as you could sense Matthew’s nervousness with you getting closer to him. He eyes you up and down from behind his glass before that signature cocky grin crept across his face. His hands now on either side of your waist as he looked down at you.

Everything in you was telling you to stop, to not let your interaction with Mat lead you to do anything you’d regret. But hell you’ve been in this cycle for months. Constantly waiting for the day your boyfriend starts acting like your boyfriend again. And you were also a woman with needs. If a 6 foot hot man in your kitchen wants to gas you up and show you what you’ve been missing, how are you to say no to that?

“Well for starters, I’ve been trying my best to not stare at your ass with these little shorts you’ve got on. Not to mention keeping my hands off your legs, which I can’t believe you were hiding underneath your jeans all day cause wow.” To say you were enjoying his compliments was an understatement.

“Anything else?”

His fingers now brushing your hair back from your face as he could see your breath catch in your chest, you were nervous. He could see it on your face, your heart telling you that it wasn’t a good idea. But your body language telling him that you’d been missing this.

“I didn’t come over to do this, or fuck up your relationship. I promise you that. And if you want me to stop, I’ll respect that.” His hand cupped your cheek as he waited for your sign to stop, but nothing came.

“I don’t think anything you do right now could fuck up my relationship any more than it already is.” You smirked as his lips finally pressed to yours, the butterflies in your stomach bursting as you brought your hands to his hair, deepening the kiss as he picked you up, your legs naturally wrapping around his waist.

A laugh escaped your lips as you saw how high you were off the ground in his arms, joking that he could help you be able to clean the top of your fridge from up there. Matthew shaking his head as he brought your lips back to his. Only to be interrupted by your phone buzzing on the counter.

“Oh shit, boyfriend’s calling.”

You rolled your eyes as Matthew handed the phone to you, only to silence the call and toss your phone back onto the island.

“Guess I’m a little busy right now.”

#matt rempe #matt rempe blurb #matt rempe fic #matt rempe imagine #nhl fanfiction #nhl imagine #mat barzal fic #mat barzal blurb #mat barzal x reader #matt rempe x reader

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chaosisalwayscrying · 10 months ago

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i NEEEEEED a chris or matt x british reader cos there just never is any and i just want. i’ve asked before but they lowkey just kept on saying “it’s chewsday innit” over and over again ��

LONDON GIRL

⇥ synopsis : matt goes to with his girlfriend to the place she grew up, london

⇥ warnings : none :)!

⇥ extra : ummm i hate this 😝 its been pushed back sm cause of school AND i rewrote it sm cause i hated it. i hope this is good enough 😕 ty for the request anon!!

⇥ masterlist !

⇥ taglist !

you and matt had met at an influencer party, after you had just moved in with friends in LA from london. they were big in the influencer scene and decided to drag you out. of course, they ditched you in favor of drinking and flirting with whoever possible, but you weren't interested in even speaking until matt ran into you.

when you turned, it was like love at first sight. he frantically apologized for almost knocking you over, and when you spoke and he heard your accent, he fell harder. your thick accent was so attractive to him, and he was asking for your number before his brain could even process it.

you gave it to him, figuring that nows the time to make new friends.

and now, a year later, you're in a happy 8-month long relationship. matt was nothing short of amazing, he pampered you and make you feel special every day.

so, when you decided to go back to london for week to visit, you drag matt, chris, and nick with you too.

"are you sure its ok we come back to london with you pretty? dont you want to visit family and go around alone?" matt asks, watching you from his place on the bed.

"i wanna show you all my favorite places matt, and we can explore and shop with your brothers!" you return, a wide grin on your face as you turn to look at him. you were in the middle of packing you and matts clothes in a suitcase.

matts heart swells as you smile at him, before asking for the tenth time if you wanted him to help.

"no it’s ok, i like to pack stuff. plus i wanna organize it. we already set out our outfits so i just have to pack them" you say, turning back to the suitcase and placing a shirt on your side.

"oh! actually, can you go pack the toiletries? i wrote out a list of all the stuff, it should be on the vanity with the bag" you ask, not turning as you hear him get up and shuffle around.

"of course, ill be back" he said, coming up behind you and kissing the junction between your neck and shoulder.

“thank youuu!” you say in a sing-song voice as he walks out, blush burning on your cheeks from his actions.

by the time you had packed you and matts things, it felt as if your whole wardrobe was packed up all over again. when you had gone upstairs to check on chris and nick, nick was sat on top of the suitcase as chris tried to zip it, making you laugh for a good few minutes.

once you stopped laughing at their expense, they practically begged you to help them reorganize and pack, to which you obliged with a smile.

—————

landing in london was like sweet relief, the plane was uncomfortable and there was a lot of turbulence, and you had gotten so dizzy and nauseous at a point you had to lock yourself in the plane bathroom.

the plane rides were brutal, from la to boston, then to london in the same trip was sure to take a toll on anyone, but the triplets had never flown that long before and it was definitely taking its toll. chris could barely order the uber for all of you, and matt almost missed your shared luggage and grabbed someone elses.

the next few days were chaotic, magical, and felt completely unreal. you and the boys started off your week by exploring some little shops close to the hotel, not wanting to go too far because of the jetlag still wearing off.

the day after that, you dragged the boys around to all the tourist locations possible. nick and chris were so eager to get cool pictures and film for their channel, that you and matt were able to have nice quiet moments and cute pictures (courtesy of nick and chris).

when you were near big ben, chris and nick had gone off to an obvious tourist shop to get stupid shirts and whatever else they could find, leaving you and matt on a bridge nearby as the sun began setting.

"y'know," matt began, turning from the sunset to look in your eyes. "i’m really happy you invited us on this trip. seeing the place you grew up from your perspective and exploring your favorite spots feels so special. i love you" he smiled, leaning in for a kiss right after.

the kiss was soft and sweet, matt holding your hips as your hands rest on his cheeks. as you part, you hear obnoxious cheers from certain boys a few feet away. you blush furiously as matt turned around with a playful scowl on his lips.

“you guys suck!” he calls, a chuckle breaking his angry facade. he turns back to you and playfully rolls his eyes, though in his head he was hoping his brothers got photos of them in front of the sunset.

“im glad you’re having fun, matty. i was scared you’d hate london” you smile, finally responding to his previous comment. matts expression morphed into disbelief, which made you laugh.

“hate london? i love it here! minus most of the food, but other than that i love it here baby, im so happy you invited us.” he smiled, leaning in to press another kiss to your lips.

you smiled too, happy that he and his brothers were having so much fun in london, a place so beautiful and near to your heart.

ove the next few days, you and the boys explored the city some more, finding cute boutiques and cringey tourist shops alike. all the shopping you did made it hard to repack your bags and fit everything, and you had to get nick and chris to sit on your suitcases to get them shut.

you would say the trip was a success, you got to revisit all your favorite places and make them even more special as you made new memories there.

⇥ TAGS !

@sturnioloshacker @rac00ns-are-c00l4 @hertvgirl @cupidzsq @sturnnie @leah-loves-lilies @billkaulitz0630

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lorebeth · 6 months ago

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Hello. I was wondering if you could make a platonic Honkai Star Rail story with the reader being Jing Yuan's child and but they ended up running away to stay with their mother because they keep messing things up especially after Jing Yuan and the readers mother got divorced. it takes awhile but a few months later the reader suddenly returned to the Loufu because of some disaster where the reader had been living with their mother and Jing Yuan also wanted to talk the reader so he would finally be able to apologize to them especially after he accidentally saw the diary they kept on their computer. (I was kind of inspired by the first episode of The Owl House season three Thank To Them for this request but If you're not not comfortable with writing this that's completely alright and I wish you a good morning/afternoon or goodnight☺️)

I nearly cried bro I accidentally deleted everything I’m gonna sob but I rewrote it!!

IM SO SORRY IVE LITERALLY BEEN DEAD I SWEAR THE SECOND I WROTE FANFICS I GOT YHE MOST DEADLY COUGH OF MY LIFE I WAS SICK FOR THREE MONTHS STRAIGHT 😭😭😭 I HAD WHOOPING COUGH ISTG

My exams started a little while ago too and I had a request before this, I HOPE THIS IS GOOD ENOUGH AND IM SORRY ITS SO LATE OMG I DIDNT MEAN TO DROP OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!!

TW: mention of bad coping mechanisms - no outright mention of sh, yanqing and reader share a sibling bond, jing yuan is kinda ooc in my opinion… I genuinely think there’s a paragraph missing somewhere and a bunch of spelling mistakes so please bare with me 🙏🙏🙏 Yanqing referred to as brother multiple times near the end!!!

It all started after the divorce. Your grades plummeted and your training sessions with your father became scarce. Your footing during combat was mediocre at best and you found yourself closing off from friends and even your own father.

He was worried about you from the beginning, never wanting you to be at the centre of the messy divorce especially during one of the most stressful weeks at the Luofu no doubt. The IPC had arrived on short notice and demanded immediate attention, leaving your father to worry about not only them but how you felt and your mental state too.

How he showed his care however… It was not the best. He would make sure others spent time with you in his place, whenever you wanted to see him, you would be notified by a guard or one of his subordinates who would be tasked to hang out with you that he was unavailable and you wouldn’t see him until later.

This did not make you feel better, instead you got into contact with your mother again, her reaching out and asking to spend time with you. You didn’t know how to feel and had mixed emotions but ultimately coming to the conclusion to give her a chance and slowly working up to a happier relationship with her again. Not only were you disappointed at your father but also your mother.

She told you all about her new home and how it resembled the Luofu so much, how she would be delighted for you to join her one day. You liked that idea a lot! Especially since you had a feeling that your father’s subordinates didn’t want to babysit you anymore.

You worked on yourself and started training again, this time not with your father. The IPC had left weeks ago and promised to come back to settle matters with your father once and for all. You didn’t care about that though, you still hadn’t seen your father in a week up until the point of training.

“That’s right, Y/N!” Yanqing praised. He had become one of your closest companions and you both had a sibling-like bond: he knew you better than anyone else and you vice versa. He had become your pillar and knew all your secrets, even about the unhealthy coping you had developed and how to better maintain your emotions and habits during the tough days.

Jing Yuan knew of you two’s training sessions and had guards keep him posted on your location at all times. He didn’t want to admit it, but he kept himself away from you at the fear of being neglectful and disappointing you again. He remembers the last time you both were in the same room, you had begged to play chess with him. He had pushed you away, saying;

“I’m busy, Y/N. Please go find someone else.”

He in fact wasn’t that busy, he just couldn’t bare to see you and thought you were disappointed in him. He replayed that scenario in his head multiple times the entire week he’s gone without seeing you and at the back of his mind is the broken relationship with your mother. He cannot bring himself to forgive what he had done to your mother to make her leave, and he was worried you would eventually leave him as well. In desperate attempt, he would send you trinkets and clothing to try repair the missing attention he couldn’t give you, but you stopped taking them after a while. His heart couldn’t bare to see you upset at him, so he buried himself in his paper work. Surprising all those around him, especially Fu Xuan. She was extremely impressed and scared. She had no clue when he became so serious about his work and almost drowning himself in it.

Fu Xuan knew it had to do with you. She was one of your mothers closest friends and knew that you went through one of the toughest situations of all, your parents both fighting for custody and ultimately putting you in the middle of their arguments. She also had to hang out with you in place of Jing Yuan sometimes, knowing exactly how you felt and being able to read you like an open book. She couldn’t help but feel angry at your father, cursing him and his stupidity. For a General, he sure was an idiot for denying you the love and attention you deserved, instead making others give it to you when you instead needed your father.

You fucked up. Earlier this morning in a final attempt to reconnect with your father, you walked in on a meeting of his. You had no clue he had visitors and you went everywhere in the house trying to look for him. He never let you get involved in meetings - stating you were too young and shouldn’t worry about such trivial matters. You tried to respect his wishes every time, knowing he was a well respected figure and you didn’t want to mess that up for him.

“So, this morning I received word from-“ the voice of your father stopped as you opened the door to his private study. His closest subordinates sitting around a table, waiting for him to finish his sentence. Everyone turned to look at you and you felt your face get hot, your knees wobble and tears prick your eyes. You screwed the fuck up.

“I’m sorry! I was just-“ you couldn’t finish off the sentence, you felt your throat closing up in panic. You made eye contact with everyone, noticing pity and sympathy in their eyes. You hated it so much… But what caught you the most off guard was the hard expression on your fathers face. His eyes calculating and holding an emotion you couldn’t decipher. You wanted to explode on the spot.

Quickly and almost aggressively, you slammed the door behind you, shaking the hinges and wanting the ground to swallow you whole more than ever.

The look in your fathers eyes. Was he disappointed with you? Did he have enough? Did he not love you anymore? Were you being too pushy about hanging out with him? Why was he looking at you so coldly? You wanted to cry and sob and forget about everything. Go back to the days before the divorce. You wanted everything to be the way it was. Going out with your mother and father, being showered with love and affection, being given small trinkets that your father said reminded him of both you and your mother.

You felt yourself spiralling again. You needed to go see Yanqing and quick.

“Oh Y/N…” Yanqing nearly pleaded with you. He knew that look on your face, your swollen eyes and your weak frown, he was immediately sympathetic and knew something bad happened between you and Jing Yuan.

Yanqing himself considered Jing Yuan his father in a sense too and you his sibling, so he knew you well enough to grasp you and Jing Yuan’s connection. He also loved your mother as his own and the divorce hit him pretty harsh as well. But he understood they fought about you the most, and how helpless you felt. He never held that against you and tried his best to make sure you were safe and as happy as could be, but right now? What the hell happened?

“What happened? Do you want to talk about it?” He held you in his arms as you felt your tears never ending.

“I think father’s upset with me…” you couldn’t help inhale air with small hiccups and double takes, staining Yanqing’s shirt with your salty tears. You wanted to pry away and apologise but you felt too weak and mentally exhausted. You felt stupid and not worth it, not worth your father.

“I’m sure it was all a misunderstanding, Y/N! He loves you, of course he does!” Yanqing offered, he help you tighter and you felt all your emotions explode again, crying harder than before.

“You should have seen the look on his face- he stared and stared with that cold look!” you wrapped your arms around Yanqing’s back and clung onto him hopelessly.

“I- N/N…” he started, only for you to cut him off.

“Y’know… I’ve been thinking about moving with mother…” you sniffled, having calmed down much more than before. You felt Yanqing freeze around you.

“W-what do you mean?” He uttered in disbelief.

You dropped your arms slowly and looked up at the young boy, wiping your tears and holding his hand in your own.

“Let’s face it. Things haven’t been the same since the divorce. Father’s been avoiding me like the plague, sending everyone but him to come hang out with me. For Aeon’s sake, he didn’t even come to the park like we always used to on the First Full Moon of the month…” you whispered, emotion turning your voice hoarse and painful, as if thorns were tightening at your throat.

“But- but it could get better! I’m sure if I spoke to him, he’d understand!” Yanqing stared at you with determination in his eyes, his hope shining bright.

“I don’t think it will. Not after today. I promise to come visit you, I swear it! I just- I don’t want to embarrass myself more in front of father than I already have. I don’t think he deserves that.” you state gently.

For the first time in a few weeks, you felt excited. Not that hanging out with Yanqing and sending letters to your mother wasn’t fun, but you genuinely wanted some where new to explore, a different atmosphere away from the burden of trying to please a father who couldn’t even bother look you in the eyes. You needed a change of pace.

“I promise I’ll write you to everyday!” You beam at him. The boy looks at you with uncertainty in his gaze and sadness. After losing your mother, he didn’t want to lose you too. But he knew it would make you happier than ever. And plus, he loves reading your spelling mistakes. It’s a win-win in his book.

You had left nearly 3 months ago, keeping your promise and sending voice recordings to your brother and small videos here and there, as well as handwritten envelopes with flowers from the beautiful planet your mother came to. She had told you it’s history and how they had been rebuilding themselves as an Oasis in the making. Her mother, your grandmother came from this beautiful planet and you couldn’t help but notice how similar you looked to the natives here. You felt at home, much more than you ever did on the Luofu.

You hadn’t told you father about your departure, having opted to pack you bags immediately and call your mother, asking for a quick and easy way to travel to her home world. She accepted immediately and welcomed you with open arms.

You eventually told her why you left and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “That man wouldn’t know discipline and responsibility if it hit him with the entire Luofu itself! How he’s made it all these years is beyond me. I’m sorry you experienced that my love. I’m glad you’re with me now.” She would scoff at your father’s actions and always pat your head, getting ready to go to work or take you out during her days off. She would also help you record videos for Yanqing and would mention how she missed her son dearly, always calling him hers and asking if he’s been eating well, showing in her own way she cares.

You didn’t want to know about your father and Yanqing never told you, waiting only to tell you when you asked. Which never came.

Eventually, you had made friends with the locals, learned your native tongue and made sure that everyone was happy, having been placed to understudy your mother and work alongside her in the Guild to provide for the elders of the City. You also volunteered to as many soup kitchens as possible and helped with poverty wherever you could. Your mothers home was beautiful but the economy was rather poor, leading to the fittest to provide for the elders and young children.

You returned home one day after a successful evening at the kitchen only to have received three distress signals from Yanqing and one from your father. You felt sick to your stomach and as if you were about to faint.

Quickly you opened your signals and heard voice messages come through.

“Y/N! Please! You need to come back to the Luofu right now! It’s Jing Yuan! He’s- he’s been in critical condition since this evening!”

“Please! Fu Xuan is panicking and it’s throwing me off… I- I don’t know what to do! Please…”

“He’s finally okay! He’s in a stable condition… it’s been hours! Please tell me you’re okay, Y/N! He’s been asking for you… Please return to the Luofu…”

You didn’t dare open your father’s one. It was staring at you as if cornering you . Ready to eat you alive.

“Y/N. You should return.” Your mother said beside your doorframe. She had heard everything and wanted to make sure you were okay.

“I- but…?” You started, only to be met with your mother’s questioning gaze. You knew you should go visit your brother and father, Yanqing was worried and your father could have died. You had to see him.

“Okay…” you couldn’t help but worry.

The air was different on the Luofu than your mother’s planet. It was crisp, almost as if there was electricity in the air, waiting to strike at any moment.

As you made your way down the streets to your home, you felt a familiar presence and turned around to see Yanqing running at you full speed, nearly knocking you down ass first onto the pavement.

“Y/NNN!!!!!” He nearly sobbed. It was endearing and a little too tight of a hug, but you reciprocated.

“Hey there, Yanqing! I’ve missed you.” You felt your eyes tear up. You had truly missed your brother and wanted him to be safe.

“I’ve missed you too. I really hope you’re happy. But..! Please- Jing Yuan- he’s been so tired and I’ve never seen him this restless. You have to go see him.” The boy stopped hugging you to stare at you with complete sadness.

You felt as if your body was in fight or flight, wanting to drop kick your brother and run for the hills of your mothers home planet. But that would be uncivilised and you’d feel bad later.

“Okay…” you agreed with apprehension.

You had entered your father’s house. Everything was the same way it was when you left. The same colours, same tapestries, even the same stupid old vase you hated and wanted to break on multiple occasions at the ugliness of it. You truly didn’t miss this place one bit but at the same time missed all the memories and the unfulfilled promises.

As you walked the final step of stairs and walked to the end of the hall, you were met with the door of your father’s bedroom. He had shared it once with your mother and you nearly sobbed at the sight of it. Last time you had been in his room was when you had a nightmare and wanted your mother, having snuck into the bed to be with her.

You quickly pulled off the bandaid. Knocking softly three times and rethinking doing it again having garnered no reply.

Just as you brought your hand up to knock again, a hoarse voice spoke out. “Come in.”

You felt your stomach do summersaults and wanted to evaporate into thin air. But you had to pull the bandaid off completely, no?

You opened the door gently and closed it behind you, walking to your father’s bed and having made eye contact with him half way through your walk. His eyes were glassy and he was in his bed with bandages all over his chest, arms and even one on his neck. You nearly broke into tears.

“Y/N…” he uttered softly. His gaze piercing yet soft. He missed you dearly and wanted to reach out desperately to apologise for how he treated you. But you weren’t here to hear his excuses.

“Father…” you couldn’t hold it back and the tears started flowing again. Jing Yuan slowly rose up and took your hand to his chest, pulling your entire body towards him and laying you on his bed, kissing your forehead and holding you tight. You wrapped your arms around him and kept apologising, remembering how you had left without a word and wanting it all to have been a bad dream.

“You’re my child, Y/N. And I should have treated you better. I did not mean to chase you away or make you feel incompetent. I adore you and you are one of the only good things in my life. My life’s purpose.” He whispered into your hair.

“I- I should have been there when you were upset. I am sorry for neglecting you. I wish I had spoken to you more and kept the relationship.” He held you tighter, as if afraid you would disappear any minute.

“I’ve read your diary, Y/N.” You freeze. Oh shit. He started to pet your head and you feel tears blind your vision.

“Father- you weren’t..!” You can’t finish due to the hiccups taking over your body. He only pushes you away to look into your eyes carefully.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. You were never the reason me and your mother didn’t work out. You will forever be my top priority, and I am so sorry you felt otherwise. You are my child- my one true love. I will never stop fighting for you, nor your brother. Please, give me one last chance to prove to you my dear child.” His eyes were glassy and he had extreme eye bags, a curtesy of his non-existent sleep schedule.

You didn’t know how to reply. Of course he still loved you, even after the lack of communication on his behalf and your insecurities leading up to the emotional turmoil in your relationship.

“You’re my father. Of course I’ll always give you a second chance..” you whisper against him again.

You had a feeling that everything was going to be okay again.

#honkai star rail #Honkai #jing yuan #jing yuan x reader #platonic jing yuan #Jing yuan hsr #hsr Jing yuan #x reader #yanqing #yanqing hsr #yanqing x reader

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mariacallous · 7 months ago

Text

Content warning: This article includes scenes of physical and sexual harassment and assault.

The trouble in Antarctica started in Boston. It was August 1999, and Stanford geologist Jane Willenbring was then a 22-year-old self-described “country bumpkin.” She had just arrived to start her master’s in earth science at Boston University. As an undergrad with an oboe scholarship at North Dakota State University, she’d studied beetle fossils found in Antarctica and learned how, millions of years ago, the now frozen continent once pooled with freshwater lakes. “That’s not so different from the conditions we might expect in the future,” she says. She wanted to explore this critical science. “It seemed really important for future global climate change,” she says.

Of all the geologists, few were more renowned than the one Willenbring had gone to Boston to study under: 37-year-old David Marchant. Marchant, a scruffy professor at BU, was a rock star of rock study. He was part of a research group that rewrote Antarctic history by discovering evidence of volcanic ash, which showed that Antarctica had been stable for millions of years and was not as prone to cycles of warming and cooling as many thought. To honor his achievements, the US Board on Geographic Names approved the naming of a glacier southwest of McMurdo Station, the main research base on Antarctica, after him.

Willenbring says Marchant had insisted on picking her up at the airport, an offer she thought was nice but strange. It got stranger when he started making her feel bad for his gesture, which she hadn’t asked for. “I’m missing a Red Sox game,” she recalls him chiding her. “You really should have picked a better time to fly.” He asked whether she had a boyfriend, how often she saw him, and whether she knew anyone in Boston or would be alone. In a few months, she’d be heading with him on a research trip to Antarctica and the region with his big chunk of namesake ice. “It was almost like a pickup line,” she recalls, “‘I have a glacier.’”

But it’s what happened in the glacier’s shadow that led Willenbring to take on Marchant and become the first to expose the horrors faced by women at the bottom of the world. A report released in August 2022 by the National Science Foundation, the main agency funding Antarctic research, found that 59 percent of women at McMurdo and other field stations run by the US Antarctic Program said they’d experienced sexual harassment or assault. A central employer, Leidos, holds a $2.3 billion government contract to manage the workplaces on the ice. One woman alleged that a supervisor had slammed her head into a metal cabinet and then attacked her sexually. Britt Barquist, a former fuel foreman at McMurdo, says she had been forced to work alongside a supervisor who had sexually harassed her. “What was really traumatic was telling people, ‘I’m afraid of this person,’” she says, “and nobody cared.”

With a congressional investigation underway, Willenbring is sharing her full story for the first time with the hope of inspiring others to come forward and claim the justice they’ve long deserved. But even now, decades after she first got into Marchant’s car, she can’t help asking herself how, and why, the nightmare happened in the first place. “You never hear a women-in-science panel where people are talking about stuff like I do,” she says, “because they’re smart enough to fucking run.”

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fault-classic · 2 months ago

Text

It's been a little while, what have I been working on?

My latest work went into making some pretty significant tweaks to the battle results screen. Really starting to tie things together now, but it's not quite finished yet! That's not all, though.

Back in May I was experimenting with RPG Maker's "weather" system. I had implemented a map-specific "overhang" layer that framed the edges of rooms with black space. That prevented weather effects - like snow particles - from displaying beyond the boundaries of the room.

The frogs are just my debug objects for turning the snow on and off.

But it's not like I wanted it to snow indoors - after I had the overhangs figured out, I rewrote the behaviour and graphics code for the "snow" particles to create these dust particles that float around aimlessly.

This ought to make the catacomb interiors feel appropriately dusty - and make the environments feel less still and lifeless in general.

They even display on the battle screen... though sometimes they tend to crowd around the left side of the screen because of the panning and sliding during the battle intro animation. I'll have to fix that at some point.

During May and June, Vito got a complete set of battle sprites and an attack animation.

And so did Yolei. Oh, and the dog enemy is also new.

The dog enemy is very evasive, but also cowardly and not very tough.

It is capable of the "flee" action, something that slimes and skeletons will not do.

At the end of June I added a MAJOR quality of life feature. When Ashley is facing something on the map that can be interacted with or talked to with the action button, a quotation bubble with an exclamation mark will pop up above their head. No ambiguity! No more pixel hunting or mashing the action button in front of every random tile!

I didn't save any screenshots in July, it was a busy month I guess. But in August I got back to work.

Remember this old sprite? From February of 2023?

Well, I'm revisiting this enemy type with more practice under my belt. Here are some gifs I recorded as I was figuring them out and implementing their assets and abilities.

As armored enemies, they are very hardy - the weaker party members will have a hard time damaging them with basic attacks.

In addition to their basic attacks, all undead enemies can perform a skill that inflicts "fear" status on one party member, which depletes their morale over time...

Here's the same battle running with the mood lighting and dust effects turned on. While I was fiddling with the code, I was also able to configure the target animation to not play if the skill misses. It looked sloppy otherwise.

At some point I put a big, animated door on the front entrance of the debug dungeon. I used this door as a testing model for other interactive doors to use later.

I also spent the last few days of the month filling out Nana's spellbook with some more spell animations. "Dazzle" inflicts dizzy on the entire enemy party. Dizzy enemies have a chance of hitting the wrong target with their basic attacks - including their own allies. Hitting a dizzy target with a basic attack will also knock them down and stun them for one turn.

"Fume" poisons one enemy with a cloud of noxious gas, dealing damage over time.

I should of course note that since skeletons don't breathe, they can't be poisoned in the final game - I was only using this one to demonstrate the animation here.

that's all for now!

#rpg maker #indie game #game dev #gamedev #pixel art #sprite work #animation

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x-birdsong-x · 2 months ago

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Curious what you have to say about Adams

Edit: speed-rewrote/rearranged this at 10pm in a burst of anxiety-driven rambling because my coursework started up again. posted it as is because i probably need to take a break and it's been in my drafts for a few weeks. there's not really an ending here this is one big post with me rambling about my underdeveloped blorbo

I've rambled at my buddy @/willowpelt about Adams for weeks now n I think any of my House moots know how very autistic I am about her,,,,

Adams is stubborn. And petty. And sheltered. She's short-tempered and avoidant and nowhere near as trusting as she likes to think/say she is. She does not make it easy to get along with her.

Her moods are about as reactive as early-season Chase, the closest any later character ever gets to being similar to that; the smallest thing can set her off and she's snapping at everyone like a cornered cat for the rest of the day (god knows what made her angry in the first place half the time). She can get physically destructive when she's angry enough and refuses to get physically destructive when she's angry enough until her upgraded dad tells her to and gets her a rage room to destroy with a baseball bat. Her reaction to House asking if she's still angry before that is to shut up and stare at him. She swings between Fight and Freeze depending on the situation. The one time she reads House even mostly correctly is when she tells him he took the first deal anyone offered him Because He Wanted To Punish Himself. The only time she even near-successfully lies to House (or Chase) is when she is lying about her family, and Adams is Not A Good Liar. She can not lie to House or Chase or even Foreman to save her life.

She's completely Insane in ep 1 and is drastically toned down after that for literally no reason -- She gets attached to House before he gets attached to her and within two minutes of him calling her a dumbass she decides he's her Free Dad Upgrade and she'll never listen to anyone else ever again. She spends a good few seconds just pouting at him and then sulks for a good few hours when she finds out he briefly (indirectly) lied and then drops it completely when she's done. She gives him Vicodin when she's already on incredibly thin ice with her actual boss- and she doesn't like being in trouble here. She gets herself fired doing House's test and still finds a way to get a note smuggled into solitary just to tell him he was right. She's happy to meet up (for what she thought wasn't even work) with him when he first contacts her before ep 3 and sticks around from there.

Ep 5 is where she and Park are dramatically watered down even further just so Chase and Taub can play House-translators in a way that wasn't at all necessary given the way it's done covers misunderstanding House in ways Park and Adams literally never did.

And then there's ep 6. I project on Adams like a little whiteboard. I get mad when I think about her parents. Icicles by the scary jokes most Adams song of all time

This

Was Not

Her Fault

"You took the first deal they offered you because you wanted to punish yourself" is the only time she accurately reads House, the only time she almost manages to lie to any of them is when she's lying about her family. House spends their interactions this episode poking his second-to-newest daughter with a stick, as he does, and it gets little to nothing out of her except that her parents totally didn't do anything

When she does give him an answer, she starts it, and only when she has the opening to tell him He's Wrong, it was All Her Fault.

Honestly Adams would need years of therapy even if she hadn't had another episode after this (And Parents wasn't even her assigned episode, it was mostly Taub's)

The way Adams carries this around is genuinely so fucked up. Your sixteen-year-old with anger issues did a majorly impulsive thing. Something snapped and she went missing for two months and got into a very confusing very Not Good situation. She's not the type of person to have told them where she was- or at least where she stayed- while she was gone but I literally don't care if she didn't tell her parents that part of it I literally don't care if she got home and said she just stayed with a friend you can not tell your kid that She Did A Bad Thing that It Was All Her Fault that You Can't Believe She Did That that She Was Always The Problem There that She Caused All That Trouble to the point she believes it so strongly to the point she carries so much guilt so much desperation for absolution that when a kid who did the same thing who is the same age she was shows up she spends every second of it making everything worse by going This Is How It Has To Be This Is What You Need To Do Next

Runaways my beloved mess.

Why is this character-driven episode stuffed full of everything they needed to get into the season before Nobody's Fault/Chase covered months in-universe? Why are we following House running around without his ankle monitor all on-screen? Why is he taking the whole team with him to all these places? Why is Wilson here to say House is protecting Callie because he feels a connection with her but House never interacts with Callie at all past the opening? Why wasn't Foreman's relationship with Anita put in the episode before this - where it would've fit infinitely better because a point there was the patient's wife having feelings for her friend? Also I swear to god that reveal of Foreman going to that boxing match with House at the end of Parents did more for Foreman and House's relationship than any of this here.

Why is Chase so out of character and/or non-existent?

In context this one was Callie lying to keep covering up what her mom was really like, but this still feels ooc for Chase to me. Once they know about it, Callie's home life before she left is more fitting to Chase's situation with his mom and his sister than any other patient Chase has ever been matched up with and the one line he directly gets about Callie at all implies he doesn't believe her?

The most in-character thing Chase does in one of his so few significant appearances in this ep is be brutal when Adams tries (again) to go to him for reassurance/advice.

Chase doesn't ever hold back with her and I find it funny

The way Adams was handled here could have really worked if the episode had focused on what it was meant to focus on - if this one episode hadn't been used to scramble to tie up these other things pre-Nobody's Fault - if this other stuff wasn't taking up So Much Time in Someone Else's Assigned Episode.

I rewrite Runaways for fun- one version generally and one Much more self-indulgent version for the Warrior Cats AU because taking how Adams is handled in Parents - even moreso if they'd let her stay Crazy like she was in ep 1 - it could have worked as well to have had her be the one causing trouble through basically acting the way House does in the canon version of the ep, motivated by keeping Callie away from her mother, rather than causing trouble by doing what is, for Callie, the opposite of what she needs/wants.

Callie is given such a hard time here and Adams actually leads to multiple of those hard times but Callie still talks to her about Everything. Callie latches on to Adams as her safe person and looks for her opinion specifically when it only gets her nowhere and gives detailed versions of why she left/how she feels about her mother to Adams alone. They're so firewatcher's daughter to me,, nothing scares me more than the stranger at my door who I fail to give shelter time and worth

These two were the perfect matchup,, House read Callie like a book within minutes of first meeting her. He had this exact theory about her before he said it out loud. She's avoidant and stubborn and initially doesn't trust any of them. She swings between Fight and Say Nothing.

Callie at sixteen reached a breaking point with her family and ran away, got into (for her personally) a better situation, and then runs away again to get out of the hospital when the chance of being sent back home comes with it.

House read Adams like a book within the first day of knowing her (given he mentions noticing her getting bored in the three months she's been there - he'd done so much earlier than that without even talking to her). She's avoidant and stubborn and a whole lot less trusting than she thinks she is. She's Fight or Shut Up.

Adams at sixteen reached a breaking point with her family and ran away, got into an even worse situation, and then ran away from that to get out of it when going back home became the clear better(safer) option (and that really fucks with your mind when all you're told is that you did something wrong in the first place)

Adams blames herself for everything that went on when she was sixteen. She doesn't look back on any of it and see a reason for her leaving that she doesn't see as play stupid games win stupid prizes. But Callie's not doing that - She's found more stability away from home than she had at home, she's going to school, she still sees her friends, she's living on her own and knows what she's doing and where she wants to go even with the pushed-down emotions toward such a severed attachment to her mom.

Lightly counting the tiny retelling she starts here is watered down with the brightness turned up (succeeded by her being surprised that Callie still goes to school):

The way Adams responds to Callie is so much of her echoing. She spends this whole episode projecting right down to you think her mother wants to feel responsible for her daughter's problems?

It's you could at least let her in the room it's she's your mom and she's finally acting like it it's your mom knows she messed up and she's determined not to do it again and beyond the existing conflict Callie is upset that her parent is not listening to her(me too girl)

Adams' parents did something to make her snap before she ran away

And that Rebellious Phase is something Adams never really lost?? She's completely insane in ep 1. She and Park do a test House didn't want, she tries (and fails) at lying to Foreman for cover for House, she destroys a whole room with a baseball bat with only House telling her she's allowed to in ep 4. In Nobody's Fault she and Chase do a test House didn't want. Ep 18 she gives the kid a treatment House didn't want. She's yes a bit of a pain in Chase. She's stubborn as all hell in (parts of) Post Mortem and Runaways itself. Ep 8 and others she's just,, in One Of Her Moods.

Callie's actually fitting in some way for each of the team. Adams - ^^^ I'm autistic about them / Chase - caring for addict mom while just being a child himself. Dad unavailable in some way. Runaways is Adams' episode, but hell if Chase isn't actually involved in my rewrites / House - mentioned in the episode by Wilson / Taub - still adjusting to being a dad, struggling to feel an attachment to his kids and Callie is mentioned to have been closer to her dad than her mom / Park - Devotion to family / It's mad how Callie is (at least one of) the most developed patient(s) in the season even when the episode spends so much time on irrelevant stuff.

And with that - and again the way Adams is handled in Parents - The way Adams was handled here actually could've fit better for Park given that devotion to family and how they responded to the patient having left his family in ep 3:

vs.

I dunno. Have Adams cause trouble by pushing back at everyone who mentions getting Callie's mom involved.

That said I actually love Adams' last scene in Runaways I'm a complete sucker for the tone of these scenes (Parents, Runaways). Callie's parallels with Adams continue. House again tells Adams she's super fucked up. House tells Adams he doesn't care if she's fucked up. Adams has another crushing sense of unfinished business relating to that part of her life.

I'm obsessed with her. She's soaking up all my trauma like a sponge. I don't even remember when I first got so attached. She should be allowed to hit her dad with a baseball bat.

Adams also tells Chase she's seeing a trauma counselor post-Nobody's Fault and in the words of Willowpelt: "her therapist has it cut out for them and Adams doesn't even know it"

#yes there is a massive chance at least 90% of this stuff was completely accidental in the writing #you can pry c-ptsd adams from my cold dead projecting hands #house #house md #hatecrimes md #malpractice md #jessica adams #< she's my little fidget toy i lovbe her. something something typical of me to put us all to shame something something #greg house #gregory house #chi park #robert chase #<tagging house cuz he's most mentioned out of the others park for what i said at the end and chase for mentioning his lines in runaways

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sharkfoodstore · 4 months ago

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the best "comic relief" character of all time forever without question she is great and you should love her thank you [spoilers for misericorde]

Every single Misericorde fan loves Darcy. She is one of unquestioned fan favourites, second probably only to Hedwig herself. I have never met a single person who has had a single negative thing to say about her, and I highly doubt they exist. But I've also noticed that among fans there's less serious discussion about her compared to the others, which I think is a bit of a shame cause I think she's also one of the best written characters, in a game with nothing but well written characters. And I just wanna ramble about this character for a bit cause she literally rewrote my personality for months after I played it and I just wanna talk about it.

Part 1: Getting to know Darcy

This is the line that introduces us to Darcy:

In context, after playing the whole game, this line is kind of patronizing and rude. But with literally prior interactions with her, we don't have the context to understand that, especially with the goofy music in this scene.

youtube

After this we get more dialogue where Eustace gets mad at Darcy for doing drugs before service. Again, we don't know Darcy OR Eustace yet. Replaying it, I get the sense that Eustace is moreso concerned about Darcy, given Eustace's other actions later in the story, but without knowing her yet it seems we have a pretty standard comedy duo. The silly one who gets them into situations, and the serious one who gets frustrated at the other's antics.

It's here where I need to talk about one of the major running trends in misericorde: first impressions. Misericorde cleverly draws on our knowledge of pre-existing tropes to get us to assume things about characters, only to subvert these later. This is the case for pretty much every character. Flora is just a rebellious kid, until she reveals that she's incredibly smart and is the first to figure out that something's up with Hedwig. Angela is mean for no reason, until she reminds us that someone in the Abbey has just been murdered so of course she's paranoid (though to be fair yeah she's also just mean lol). By calling on these tropes before subverting them, we're invited into Hedwig's shoes. Hedwig is an incredibly judgemental person, who easily assumes the worst in people and struggles to get over her initial impressions. And without realizing it, we're led to believe her impressions of people.

So, what is Darcy's first impression? Well, she's a stoner. She does drugs because she thinks its fun. She's a silly comic relief character. Now, if that was all she was, that wouldn't be bad, she'd be a pretty enjoyable character. In fact, I would say that her being somewhat of a stoner IS part of her character (if she was around today she would 100% love weed). But there's one more dimension to her drug use. But we don't learn more about that for a while.

Then we get to her next big scene, her vision.

First important thing to note about this scene is that it has some absolutely iconic Darcy dialogue.

I love her so much.

Second, this is where we start to learn more about Darcy. Most notably, her drug use is more than just for fun, it's to bring on visions. I am deliberately treating her visions as real here, and not calling them hallucinations brought on by whatever she's drinking for one important reason: Darcy 100% believes in her visions.

This is one of my favourite parts about her. Her spirituality is taken incredibly seriously by the VN. I'll get into this later, but man it is so nice to see a character like Darcy be taken seriously in this regard. I feel like in any other story a character like her who is strange and has visions would be played off like a joke. I can think of quite a few characters like that. But not Darcy. There's a scene later on where she's coaching Hedwig through interpreting what she saw in a vision and it's just great.

Firstly because Darcy is an absolute treasure, as per usual.

But secondly, because Darcy is suddenly put into this kind of sage role for Hedwig, guiding her through her spiritual experiences. Think about the first meeting with Darcy, where she was treated 100% as a joke. Now Hedwig, the character who spends literally the entire story lecturing other people about religion, has turned to Darcy for spiritual help.

Darcy throughout the story is slowly revealed to know more and more. And Hedwig begins to take her more and more seriously. From their first meeting, to Hedwig learning about her visions, to their conversation while on sheep herding duty, to here. This is almost presented like a twist, where Hedwig finds out that Darcy's knowledge complete outshines Hedwig in some areas she would previously consider herself the expert in. But, at the same time, Hedwig doesn't care too much. She's never like "I was shocked to see Darcy know so much about theology" except for one line about how authoritative she looks, because by this point Hedwig has gotten very close to Darcy, and has had a very slow arc of realizing that beneath the surface Darcy is brilliant and kind and a lovely person underneath a silly exterior. It's no wonder that Darcy is one of the few characters that Hedwig has nothing but praise for in her ending notes.

Honestly, Hedwig says it better than I could, right?

Darcy is actually rather unique from some of the other characters with secret sides Hedwig finds out about, because she doesn't hide who she is. Hedwig assumed the wrong thing about her, but that doesn't make sense, right? Because she never pretends to be less intelligent than she is. She's extremely open about all of this, she never hides any of what makes her such a wonderful character. So why did Hedwig, and by extension the audience, get the wrong idea about her? Well, it's pretty simple when you think about it. It's because

Part 2: Darcy has autism.

I'm not going to list out every autistic trait Darcy has. It's never named because they live in the middle ages, but her monotone speech (represented really creatively by a lack of capitalization and punctuation in her text), abnormal speech patterns, misunderstanding of social cues, irregular sleep schedules (she looks SO tired all the time), etc, are all pretty clear signs that she's autistic.

And this representation means a lot to me. Like, more than I can put into words. She isn't treated like a child, her autism doesn't make her magically better at things than other people, she isn't some kind of genius who nobody can understand, she's far from emotionless, has meaningful friendships with the people around her, has a girlfriend totally-just-a-close-friend who cares deeply about her, and is generally decently liked among the nuns instead of being a major burden to be around like some autistic characters are treated in media.

However, the VN also doesn't pretend her autism doesn't hurt her in some ways. Most notably, her relationships with the other nuns. They like her, but there's a concerning trend among them, where they don't seems to see all the stuff I talked about in part 1.

Remember this?

Katherine has known Darcy for years, and this is all she can say about her. She doesn't bring up that she's a talented gardener, sees visions, is the best cook in the abbey, or anything else. Darcy is just very special. Which, yeah, she IS very special and we love her so much but is that all Katherine really has to say? I said Darcy isn't treated like a child by the narrative, but at the same time, the nuns overlook her point of view on important matters. They use the bloody cloth she found as evidence, but don't seem to care much about her doubts about the story.

This even applies to Eustace, her closest friend who she 100% secretly dating. Eustace is overly protective of Darcy. This makes sense, Eustace has lost friends before and is terrified that she will lose them again, but with the autism reading in mind it isn't hard to see Eustace as perhaps going too far in sheltering Darcy.

So, obviously, this connected with me a lot. Darcy is someone whose surface level traits she cannot control lead to her being misjudged and looked down on, and I relate heavily in that regard. Our shared struggles with neurodivergence had me feeling a lot of empathy with her, but despite that, Darcy is also in a community that accepts her. Hedwig admires her, Eustace loves her, and people around her treat her differences as charming and just part of who she is rather than something to be fixed. And when I first read it that meant, and still means, more to me than I can express here. Darcy is an autistic woman who's autistic traits are never sidelined: there's never a scene where she gets so serious that she stops talking in her trademark Darcy mannerisms, despite still being allowed to take part in heavy scenes. It was so incredible reading about an autistic woman who had many of my own traits, and was just allowed to have them, and was loved and respected while carrying the traits I was expected to mask. She made me far more confident in carrying those traits, and helped me learn that if I find the right community I won't have to mask at all, just like her.

By the end she's someone Hedwig has grown to care deeply about. She's one of Hedwig's closest confidants, a distinction few characters in the story share. I think this is because of their shared experience. Hedwig is also someone who sees the world differently from other people, due to her sheltered upbringing. She's someone whose simple understanding of the world and morality is crushed under the weight of humanity's complexity. And as she learns, Darcy isn't someone who lacks complexity, but Darcy is someone who rarely feels the need to hide who she really is from Hedwig. Hedwig sees the depth within Darcy really quickly, and in turn, Darcy loves spending time with Hedwig. The deep unspoken connection and mutual respect is a treasure to read about, and was one of my favourite parts of reading volume 1.

Darcy is someone who I think many autistic people will see themselves in, I know for a fact that I did. She's such an absolute treasure to read about, is one of my all time favourite fictional characters, and I cannot WAIT to see her again in volume 2.

...please don't let her be the culprit please please please please : (

#misericorde vn #misericorde

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cozyjae · 2 years ago

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lovefool- j.suh 🌻🌷💐

info: johnny x reader, dad!johnny, parents au, pregnancy

wc: 2.2k

a/n: helllooooo everyone! i honestly didn’t think i would ever be back posting on this account but i rewrote this piece recently and wanted to share… just my usual pure fluff ❤️ i hope u enjoy!

Your thing with Johnny is really good, sometimes it just feels too good and too right. Everything feels like it’s fallen so effortlessly and perfectly in place. You definitely don’t want to jinx anything, but after eight months of officially dating, Johnny has been absolutely everything you wanted and needed in a guy.

It’s easy to talk to him, to laugh; to tell him anything. Johnny wants to get to know you, to understand and help you. During moments like these when you lie in bed together, when he holds your waist, and when you pet his bed head and he smiles sleepily— you never want Johnny to leave.

Johnny lays beside you now, smelling like your clean sheets and his usual wood and sea salt cologne, warm fingers tracing different patterns against your hip.

You both have been slowly convincing each other to get up eventually and tackle your lazy Sunday plans of grocery shopping and putting together your new Ikea desk. But it’s been over an hour of falling back asleep and slowly blinking awake and neither of you has made much progress yet.

“You ever think about having kids?” Johnny asks suddenly, making you glance up and twist in his arms to look at his sweet face and dazed eyes.

“Yeah,” you whisper, watching how intensely curious he looks. “Sometimes.”

You subconsciously match his small smile, thoughts of an incredibly wholesome future together making your heart unfairly twist in excitement and want. "You’d be such a good dad,” you continue and Johnny grins instantly. “Like an actual dilf.”

“You think so?”

“Oh yeah,” you laugh, hand running down his bicep, “you’d be hot, babe.”

“And like, a good dad?” Johnny emphasizes, making you bite back laughter.

“Yeah,” you admit easily, rolling over to kiss him. “Of course, you would be.”

Johnny just looks at you like you said something entirely captivating and consuming.

“What?” You smile, pressing your lips against his jaw gently.

“I just want it so badly, I don’t know.” Johnny bends his arms to rest them behind his head. He watches you, suddenly peaceful and content. “I want so much with you.”

4 years later

You wake up to the muffled sound of Johnny’s voice, momentarily wondering if he’s on the phone. You smile to yourself when you listen closely and hear his softer and higher tone. You make your way to your kitchen, leaning against the doorframe, appreciating the scene in front of you. Johnny is carefully holding your daughter, Julie, with both arms, walking around the kitchen, while simultaneously trying to make eggs.

He has messy bed hair- similar to yours, a now permanent fashion statement in your household, and stubble dotted along his jaw. You listen to his soft whispers and your heart swells as your baby’s small fingers cling onto his white undershirt and her chubby hand grasps at his arm, softly patting over his floral tattoo.

Johnny has his back to you so you stay unnoticed, enjoying the serene beauty of your husband and daughter together. Julie was already almost eight months old and time felt like it was flying by, even if the sleepless nights felt long, and now, time alone and a longer than five-minute shower felt like a luxury, you couldn't and don't want to remember a time without Julie.

You love watching Johnny with her, love watching the way he so gracefully and perfectly assumed being a father, how attentive he was, and how much he doted on her and took care of you. How he started cooking most days, how he read a ridiculous amount of baby books, and how he insisted on making sure you got a minimum of a few hours of sleep a night.

You watch him bounce Julie gently, leaning against the doorframe as you smile until your daughter spots you from behind his shoulder. She reaches out and giggles with a tiny grin and Johnny turns around, mirroring her smile, which looks enduringly similar to his own.

“Need help?” You ask as Johnny laughs. “There's probably a more effective way to make breakfast but...”

Julie stretches her arms out towards you and reaches over to grab her from his hold. "Coffee?" He asks, knowing your answer.

"Yes please," you smile down at Julie, her soft hairs and long lashes. She leans her head against your chest, already comfortable in your arms. You watch Johnny stand on his tiptoes to grab a coffee mug and you press a kiss to the crown of Julie's head.

What a nice morning.

“Come take a picture!” Johnny says and your daughter giggles and toddles over to you, hurrying as fast as her tiny legs can carry her, bound in a large winter coat, mittens, and ear muffs. A tiny chubby arm extends out to you a wordless ask for stability and help. You smile as she struggles to wrap her small arms around your shoulders, tiny hands grasping your jacket. Her full pink cheek smushes against yours, as Johnny takes a picture, “Your first snow this year, baby!”

“Careful,” you call, reaching out to grasp her hand as she pulls herself into you. she wraps her arm around you, hugging you tightly. you brush back a loose strand of her hair as Johnny repositions the camera, moving around for the perfect picture.

"Snow!" Julie repeats loudly. She had just started talking and loved impressing everyone with her linguistic skills, taking her limited vocabulary very seriously as she already loved to talk and communicate with the two of you.

“Smile!” He says excitedly, grinning behind his large camera.

Julie listens, grinning with a smile that has always looked exactly like her father’s, and smushes her cheek closely next to yours. Your arm finds its way to the small of her back holding her securely as Johnny takes a picture.

“Perfect,” he mutters, more to himself, watching his family in front of him.

“What’s the surprise?” Julie cries, toying with the hem of her shirt. Her anxious gaze darts back and forth between you and Johnny, upset that you both know something she doesn’t.

At three years old, Julie hates feeling like she's being excluded from something. the hardest part of her routine now attempting to convince her that it's bedtime and neither of you would dare have fun without her.

Johnny hands her a small transparent piece of film. Your daughter plays with it gently, turning it around in her palm. “What does this mean?” She questions, not able to stay still and scooting towards you with wide, curious eyes.

Johnny holds her close to his body, wrapping an arm around her as she gives him her full attention. “It means in a couple of months you’re going to be an older sister.” Julie blinks with her mouth open, still in shock. She has friends in preschool who were younger siblings or already had younger brothers or sisters. Johnny's cousin recently had twins and Julie was completely fascinated by how tiny they were and that there were two babies.

You knew Johnny always wanted Julie to have at least one other sibling and the timing had finally felt right for the first time since Julie was born a few years ago.

“Really?” Her voice grows louder in pure excitement, looking at you in awe before her eyebrows furrow, confused, pouting. “Why not right now?” She pouts, immediately turning to her father for an explanation. He laughs loudly, “That’s not how it works, baby," he pulls her into his lap, noting that patience is still hard a hard virtue for a three-year-old.

You're tucking Julie into bed a few nights later when she brings up the baby again.

“There’s a baby in there?” Julie asks, pointing to your stomach where a small but noticeable bump began to show.

“Yes sweetheart,” you laugh as she smiles widely, “wow,” her big eyes fill with excitement and curiosity. She reaches out and lays a small, warm hand on your stomach, “hi baby.”

You smile at your daughter, already knowing what a great sister she will be. She gripes the comforter tightly as she moves to your side to cuddle you closer. “Love you,” she mumbles, eyes tightly shut, trying to lull herself into sleep.

“I love you too,” you say quietly and you eventually think she’s successfully asleep, tucked tightly next to you until she whispers cutely, “I love you baby.” You feel a small tap on your stomach and watch her gently pat your stomach. She snuggles closer, satisfied and closes her eyes for a peaceful sleep.

“Look!” Your daughter calls as she thrusts a picture towards Johnny, a pink and purple fingerprinted flower. He takes her in his arms, “for me?”Johnny asks shocked, looking at her art. Her arms find his shoulders. “No,” she giggles, “for Mommy!” She finishes, still laughing at Johnny’s reaction.

Johnny pretends to look hurt, pouting, “Well, can I have one too?” he asks. She thinks about it, face twisting, “Okay!” The little girl decides and Johnny’s smile grows instantly. “Thank you, baby.”

She frowns, chiding her father with a grin, “I’m not baby.”

“You’re not?” Johnny asks surprised and she nods approvingly. “Yes, the baby is in mommy right now,” she explains, looking at him to confirm he understands.

“Ahhh,” Johnny nods knowingly, smiling tugging on his lips, “I see. You're right. So smart." Julie hides her smile, leaning against Johnny's shoulder.

“You’re still my baby though, right?" He asks as Julie buries her face into his neck, giggling. “Yes,” she laughs, muffled by the cotton of his t-shirt.

The three of you watched Nemo while Julie was incredibly invested in the story, watching while sitting in Johnny's lap and letting him braid her hair. You're sitting close to them, a blanket draped over you and Johnny watches you sleep peacefully.

Julie sighs against Johnny's chest as he pats her shoulder. "Let’s go to bed, Jules."

She lets Johnny hoist her up and carry her into her room, the one down the hall from yours, with the pink walls and newly upgraded twin bed.

"Daddy," she whispers, clutching her favorite teddy bear. "Will you still love me even if I’m not a baby anymore?"

Johnny blinks and brushes back stray hairs from her face with a soft smile. "Of course, I could never not love you, never ever."

"Ok, Daddy," she smiles to herself, seemingly satisfied.

"Will you still love me?" He asks and Julie giggles.

"Yes!"

"I had to make sure!" He defends and Julie squeals, wrapping her arms around his torso and squeezing tight.

"Jules, Mommy and I will love you forever."

“The baby is going to be small,” Johnny explains, walking Julie through the hospital halls as she swings their arms back and forth excitedly.

“Okay,” Julie bounces. "Isn't it cool, daddy, that baby and I have the same birthday month?"

"Wow," he looks down at Julie and her bright, excited eyes, "it really is."

"But we have our own days," she continues, "I think it was meant to be." Julie decides, stopping when Johnny does, in front of your hospital room.

"I think so too," he smiles, squeezing her hand gently and opening the door carefully.

"Wow," Julie gasps, consciously trying not to run up to the hospital bed where you hold a tiny bundle.

"Hi, Jules," you smile, "do you want to meet your brother?"

She nods with wide eyes, already on her tippy toes to try and peer over the tall bed. Johnny instead sits down in the chair next to you and lifts her into his lap. "Here," he murmurs as you carefully pass over your newborn.

"Hi," Julie stares at the small bundle, "Daddy," she gasps, looking up at Johnny. She touches the baby tentatively as Johnny's arm wraps around her waist. Julie is already hyper-fixated on her sibling, on her brother.

"What's baby's name?" She whispers like she's scared of disturbing him.

"Jordan," Johnny says quietly, meeting your eyes with a small, content smile.

"Hi Jordan," Julie smiles, supporting his head gently, turning to look at you. "Do you think he already knows how much I love him?"

You nod, "I think he does." Julie nods with a smile, like that reassures her and you watch her hold her brother, feeling like your family with Johnny felt so complete.

#nct imagine #nct blurb #nct fic #johnny suh fic #johnny suh imagine #nct dad au #nct blurbs #nct scenario

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its-in-the-woods · 4 months ago

Text

Coyote Head - Part 5 - Livestock Is Deadstock

master list

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Pairing: Cooper Howard x Lucy Maclean

Includes many other characters from Fallout

Synopsis: Calf check doesn't go as planned. But brings out two main characters closer.

MINOR GET OUT. Rating/Warning: Animal/people death, Stillb0rn animal, Horror, blOod/G0re, nightmares, Alternative Universe, Slow Burn, Death, Aging, Family Feuding, Eventually (I swear to the universe it will happen): Older Man/Younger Woman

Note: that I will not be spoiling any of the reading. So you have been warned. I will keep my tags relevant without spoiling what is happening in the story.

** Thank you for your patience! I basically rewrote this entire chapter about 4 times before the characters were happy with it. Little under 4k words. Enjoy*

Flag in hand, Lucy watches the Mama cow as her little munchkin makes a fuss. The thing is squirming, mooing, and rolling trying to get anywhere but where he was. Cooper works quickly, tagging, vaccinating, and wash of minerals. Then go as fast as possible before Mama charges.

“You're a’right Mama, you won’t be mad at me in a few months,” Cooper chuckles, as they speed away in the side-by-side.

“Forgot how testy they could be” Lucy smiles, scanning the horizon for any signs of fresh calves.

“Don’t tell anyone, but I like it when they are a little wild,” Cooper’s face lighting up with a big smile at the comment. Lucy feels her heart jump as she smiles back at him, noting that down for later.

“Makes them good Mamas, especially with all the coyotes around,” Lucy adds, pointing towards a mama calf standing near a bundle. “I think there is one there.”

Cooper adjusts his direction with a gentle turn of the wheel. His eyebrows furrow as he aims towards the Mama cow; surprised when she doesn’t move as they come close. Lucy’s stomach clenching as dread washes through her. The cow stood squared up to them, her eyes looking down at the ground where the calf lay, something was wrong.

“Com’on sweety,” Cooper says to the heifer, as he carefully gets out of the ATV, “Let us take a look -”

Lucy gasps, as she looks at what should be a calf. Instead of an alive calf, there is what looks to be a mummified body on the ground. The cow was standing there looking at both of them, tail flicking but not moving. Lucy puts the flag down, walking to squat down on the other side of the poor thing. The body was a dark ochre color, the entire thing looking like it had been vacuum sealed in plastic. No eyes, or ears, just hollowness, legs tucked in head tucked down. If it had not been so shrunk it would almost look like it was alive.

“Oh dang,” Cooper sighs, bending down to look at the mummy. “I am sorry girl,” Cooper raises his hand, Lucy watching carefully as the cow comes over and bumps his hand. His forehead furrowed as he rubbed her nose gently, looking back at what should have been a alive calf.

“Lucy write down her tag number, we will get Woody out to check’er. Once we’re done we’ll mov’er up to the barn. Make sure there is nothin’ left in ‘er.” Cooper says quietly rubbing the cow's nose and face, the cow leaning into the comforting hands of its owner. “You did good Mama, sometimes it happens.”

Lucy did as she was told, grabbing the notebook to write down the cow's ID number. As she watches Cooper comfort the animal. Most cows were protective of their offspring, but this one seemed to understand what was going on. Or maybe it just knew Cooper was trying to help, the thing leaning its head into his chest.

“We’ll move it, into the back of the ATV. Can’t leave it out’er, don’t need to draw any more predators.” Cooper said quietly, moving away from the heifer slowly.

The two of them work as quickly as possible to move the poor creature. Mama snorted and stomped a few times, Cooper letting her smell it before they put it into the box of the ATV. Lucy watches the cow for a moment as they drove away. The bovine's long bellows made her heartache, if cows could cry it would have.

“Do you think they understand?” Lucy asks, wiping her tears away. Grandpa Tim had always said the cows knew more than they’d ever know. She hadn’t been sure at the time, preferring to deal with more facts than fiction, but watching the cow made her wonder.

Cooper shrugged, hazel eyes shining as he dug in his pockets for a smoke. Lucy grabs the lighter from the cup holder, handing it to him. Wondering if she should ask for one herself, deciding against it at the last second.

“Think they understand as much as any animal.” Cooper breathes out a puff of smoke. “I like to let’em see the body, make sure they smell it, keep’em calmer. At least with my herd, unless we’re tryin’ to graft. Then gettin’ the grafter there ASAP takes priority.”

Lucy nods, a sadness pitting in her stomach as they drive over to the next calf. Thankfully on their feet and running as they drove close, Mama whale-eyeing them as they approached.

***

Lucy stayed and helped Cooper move the cow over to the main barn. The barn wasn’t anything fancy, with a few stalls for anyone sick and, a cow shoot to help make handling anyone easier. Cows spent the majority of their life in the field, or forests. They got health checks, hooves checked, moved, and sorted into different fields. It kept them happy and healthy. Nothing was perfect but this was the way it had been done for many many years. A practiced ritual, at the end of the day, the cows always came first.

Woody was surprisingly close to their area when Cooper called. The big man drove a white cargo van covered with hand-painted animals on all sides. The vehicle was fully loaded with anything he might need. He was one of the few large animal vets in the area, and getting him over quickly was a rare surprise.

The man had a riot of dark brown curly hair, a big smile, and a shaggy beard. He was almost always in some kinda overalls. At the moment they were purple with embroidered cows. He was looking at the calf, blue gloves moving it this way and that. Woody frowned, glasses perched on the end of his nose. The body was stiff, more like a rock than a body, it was also surprisingly light. How the cow had birthed it without difficulty was shocking.

“Well, it’s not common. But not the first one I’ve seen.” Woody sighs, removing his gloves and washing his hands in the sink by the side door. “The cow in the shoot is the one that gave birth?”

“Yah, pretty sure. She was standing over them,” Cooper swallows, and walks Woody over to the bovine, she had been put into the shoot for easier examination. The cow acted as if nothing was wrong munching on some hay. “We checked eighty percent of the herd this mornin’, rest are deeper in the bush. But no one else looked distressed.”

Woody looks her over, checking her body condition before sliding on some shoulder-length gloves. “Alright now Mama, be gentle on me. Just got make sure there is nothin’ left in’re okay.” Woody reached into the cow, Lucy standing near the head of the cow to make sure she was comfortable. Hands running against the creature's big head, scratching behind her ears as Woody

“Well, everythin’ feels fine. I am going to take some tissue samples, do bloods too. Make sure there is no infection or anythin’ else that might of cause this. She had twins last year right?”

Woody asked, as he degloves and went over to his vet kit. The man had always had a knack for remembering the ID tags of a herd.

“I’d have to check the record book, but I believe you’re right, yes. Two heifers, both healthy. “

Cooper replies, as Woody draws blood and takes what he needs.

“I will give her a few shots, keep her separate until the tests come back.” Woody said, “Just to be on the safe side. Once we know she’s safe we can put her back into breeding rotation.”

Cooper nodded, “Well thank you for comin' out so quickly Woody, I know you're a busy man.”

Woody smiled, “Not a problem, Coop, if anything else pops up let me know.”

***

The drive into town was mostly peaceful, Lucy trying to avoid the thought of going home. The place felt less and less like home, maybe it was the lack of Grandpa Tim or constant nightmares. Gripping the steering wheel she turns down the main street of town; willing those thoughts away as she heads to the piece-together building that was the hardware store. She had already dropped off the paperwork at the new accountant, the woman seemed excited about the piles of neatly organized boxes. Lucy couldn’t have been more grateful to hand it to someone else. If the rest of the plan fell into place Lucy would have the holes repaired and a fresh coat of paint put on by the end of the week.

Three sheets of drywall are strapped into the back of the truck, along with a few pieces of lumber. Screws, putty, paint, along with a texturing brush, and various other bits and bobs go into the back seat. Lucy felt somewhat confident she could handle the task at hand. Her hands itched to call Cooper, double-check that she had all the things she needed. Her mind ran back over this morning, the way Cooper’s face had fallen seeing the dead calf. Cattle ranching was hard on the best days, livestock meant deadstock, but that didn’t mean it hurt any less. No, she’d let him be like he didn’t have enough on his plate.

“Hey, Lucy!” Lucy turns out of her daydreams, to see a tall lanking person with a buzzed head walking towards her.

Lucy squints, realizing it was her friend Dane from high school. “Holy smoke, Dane! Is that really you!”

Lucy trots over to her friend giving them a big hug. They squeezed her back before letting go to look Lucy over.

“Jeez, Lucy. You look the same as when you graduated!” Dane smiles, leaning against the side of Lucy’s truck. “I haven’t seen you in forever. I heard about Tim, really sorry ‘bout that.”

Looking away Lucy composed herself, still strange to hear people give condolences. “Yeah, cancer came in fast and hard. Just happy it’s over you know. Don’t think I look quite the same, but thank you, look at you all grown up.”

Dane rubs the back of their buzzed head, a blush staining their cheeks. “You’re too kind Lucy. Still adjusting to everything. Dad has been good, Mom- still getting used to it, but I am happy.”

Lucy grinned, “Good, don’t let anyone hold you back. You stayin’ in town now?

“Oh, uh-no, just making some extra money before I start working as a heavy-duty mechanic in the fall.” They said beaming with pride.

“No dang way! That’s great to hear.” Lucy smiles back, happy to hear her friend was doing well,

“We should go for coffee sometime, or maybe get some food. Be good to catch up.”

“Yes, definitely.” Dane nods eagerly, “I actually if you got any tractors you need to be worked on. I'd be happy to take a look at them.”

“Really?” Lucy said, remembering that she had been neglecting to phone the tractor dealership.“I actually got two, think late eighties, haven’t been used in probably three or four years.”

“Oh, I would love that! Always loved old equipment. Why don’t I come by this Saturday? Hazard a guess you are staying at your Grandpa’s place.” Dane replies a sparkle in their eye at the idea of getting to work on the farm equipment.

“Yep, I am there! Got the same number too. Give me a ring before you stop by.” Lucy said, more than happy to have an old friend drop by. It would be good to have company, plus she could get her tractors up and running.

“I will see you then, Lucy,” Dane said as they walked away, Lucy hopping into her truck before taking off herself. Happy to know a friend would be dropping by that weekend.

***

Lucy sits on the edge of the kitchen counter looking at the drywall she’d managed to get in. It wasn’t the greatest job but with a little mud and paint it would look good as new. Well, Lucy hoped it would. She took a pull of her beer, desperately wishing she had picked out some crappy Chinese food before coming home.

Her hands taps at the counter, her arms were too sore to keep going right now. Tomorrow she’d hopefully get the mudding done, her hand dug into her pocket and pulling out her phone.

Opening it up, she clicks on the messaging icon opening up a text thread with Cooper. Just as quickly closing it, placing the phone on the counter.

“No, we are not gonna bother the man,” Lucy hums, slipping off the counter and going into the laundry room and opening up the big chest freezer. Rifling around she found some ground beef and frozen mixed vegetables, it would pass as dinner.

Sitting on the couch she flicked on the TV, scrolling through the different apps to find something to watch. Somehow there never seemed to be anything of interest, instead, she flicked over to some Lost, a guilty pleasure. Did the ending satisfy? No, not at all. Lucy preferred to imagine something different. Maybe something happier, or less flippant.

Her phone buzzed beside her plate of food, Cooper Howard, popped up across her screen. She put her fork down and flipped it open, swallowing as she hit the message icon, a small grin pulling at her lips.

Cooper: Hey, thought you should know the Mama from this morning is doing good :)

Lucy smiles, was she smiling more since meeting Cooper? Shaking her head, she was happy to know the cow was doing okay. Having a stillborn mummified calf could mean that something was seriously wrong inside. Or it could mean nothing at all, that was the tricky part about livestock.

Lucy: Hey, thanks for keeping me posted, hope she continues to do well.

Cooper: Did you end up getting the drywall?

Lucy waits for a moment before replying: Yeah, got most of the holes filled in

She winces at the framing of the words but tries not to overthink it. Wasn't like there were many other ways to describe what she was doing.

Copper: Want to do a calf check in the morning? I will come help with the mudding.

Lucy smiles, she was not going to turn down the offer of having Cooper over: Deal. What time tomorrow?

Cooper: 6 am, I can pick you up

Lucy felt her cheeks redden at the message, she typed out: Why don’t you come over tonight- Then promptly deleted it, her hand coming up to cover her face. What was she thinking? No that would not do, like the man needs more on his plate.

Instead, she wrote: Sounds good, I will see you then.

Turning back to her food, Lucy tried not to let her mind run too much. Cooper was sweet, kind, caring, and goddamn gorgeous. She worried at her lip, remembering the way the cow had booped Cooper’s hand. How he’d comfort her, the man was something else.

She rubs at her face, having missed most of the episode she was on. Sleep was on the menu, it was already well past ten, and five am would be coming like a freight train.

Looking over at her room Lucy feels a shiver run up her spine. Shaking her head, Lucy went over grabbing a blanket, pillow, and her charging cable. Keeping the kitchen light on, she left Lost playing as she curls up under the blanket. She’d work on sleeping in her room later.

***

The alarm went off loud enough that Lucy fell off the couch, confused as to where the hell she was. Blinking a few times, remembering that she had crashed on the couch. Groaning, she grabbed her phone, turning off the alarm, wanting nothing more than to curl back up under the blanket. Instead, Lucy pushed herself up onto her feet. The coffee pot switched on, she made her way to the bedroom. Stopping at the entryway, her body refused to go any further, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.

Lucy pushes her hand in and turns on the light, eyes blinking at the bright space. No shadows moved, nothing peered out from behind the closet door. Yet she still couldn’t move. Turning her head she looks out the door, her mouth falling open in a silent scream.

Outside the door, across the deck, in the shadow of the forest were two glowing orange eyes. Standing roughly seven feet off the ground, the eyes stare back at her unblinking. Lucy was scrambling backward trying to get away as she trips and falls over the laundry basket crashing onto the floor with a loud bang. Her screaming rang in her ears as she lay splayed out on the floor. Lucy’s chest heaving, her eyes squeezed closed as she tries to will the image away. Shaking on the floor, Lucy pushes the laundry basket away to look at the patio door. Whatever had been there was gone, no eyes, no creature, nothing.

“What is going on?” Lucy shutters, staring out the door for another minute. “Okey dokey,” She let out a few breaths focusing on lowering her heart rate. “Time to get dressed, Lucy.”

Dressed in leggings and a big shirt, she finds her overalls and slips them on with a big sweater. Filling her biggest to-go coffee cup, she takes several sips of coffee finally feeling somewhat more alive. Trying to convince herself that the orange floating eyeballs from this morning were sleep delusions. Or something other than a creature staring into her house from the forest.

A knock on her door cleared her mind, she threw a few bits and pieces into a bag. Snagging her coffee and keys she opens the door to see Cooper standing there. He has a tan leather jacket on, a white cowboy hat, and perfectly fitted jeans. His face breaks into a crooked grin when he sees Lucy in the doorway. Her face goes flush as he looks her over the same way she just had.

“Good mornin’ Miss MacLean.” Cooper drawls, his tongue darting out over his lips, making Lucy feel warm all over. She could get used to him looking at her like that.

Lucy swallows, “Morning, Mr.Howard. Ready to be on our way.” Happy that her voice didn’t break as she moved through the doorway, locking it behind her.

Cooper held out his arm, Lucy doing her best not to trip over her own feet, as she took his arm. The two walking down to his truck, it was still running and warm inside against the cool spring air. He opened the door for her, and she hopped in.

***

The calf check was thankfully uneventful, Cooper driving the two of you back to his family farm. His mom, Dorthoy, asked Cooper to bring her over for breakfast. The home was country chic in every way, two-story, white, with a large vaulted front window facing west.

A deck wrapped from the front door around the back, and the yard was filled with Dorothy's plants. Still dormant now, but come spring the whole place would be filled with flowers. Coop pulls up beside the other vehicles on the dirt road, just outside the separate garage.

Janey came running outside, in pjs and gumboots, shouting excitedly for her Dad. Lucy smiles as Cooper scoops up his daughter and swings her around in his arms.

“Eeee” The little girl giggled, Mathias poking his head out the door and watching the two.

“Hey Mathias,” Lucy smiled at the older boy, he frowned but walked out, socked feet not going further than the front mat.

“Hey buddy,” Cooper smiled, ruffling his brown hair. His frown deepened as Lucy came into the front door.

Lucy toed off her boots, thankful her overalls were mostly clean. She placed her bag by the door before following Cooper deeper into the house. The smell of bacon and coffee made her stomach growl.

“Are you having breakfast here?” Mathias questioned, standing in the dining room. Hands on his hips, looking at Lucy with narrowed eyes she moved into the kitchen.

“Mathias, don’t be rude,” Came the chipper voice of Dorothy, she was a stocky woman, with perfectly pined grey hair. Her face marked by the sun with crow's feet and smile lines, she could have easily played Mrs. Clause.

“Good morning, Mrs. Howard,” Lucy beams, as she helps grab cups and plates for the table. Setting them out as Janey grabbed forks and knives for each seat.

“Lucy, please call me Dot,” Dorothy smiled, filling each cup with coffee. “We’re all family here,”

Lucy and Cooper finished setting the table, bacon, eggs, and toast piled onto dishes in the center of the table. Richard Howard came in slowly, leaning heavily on his cane. The man had once stood at the same height as his son, now was stooped over with pain as he came to sit at the head of the table. Lucy felt her heart clench, an all too familiar sight before her. A flashback of Tim, the man who had once ducked through doorways stooped over as he shuffled from his bed to the bathroom. She swallows but does her best not to stare, helping Janey get seated instead.

“Good to see you, Lucy,” Richard said with a small smile, wincing as he shifted in his chair. “Thank you, for helping Cooper.”

“Not a problem, Mr. Howard.” Lucy says as she helps Mathias scoop food onto his plate. He was still glaring at her, but she let it go. Kids would be kids. It wasn’t like she didn’t understand what it was like to lose a parent.

***

Lucy waves at the kids as they load onto the bus, Mathias waves back with a small smile. Janey had clung onto her Dad, practically having to be peeled off the man to get her onto the bus. They both climbed back into the truck as the bus left.

“Sorry about Matt,” Cooper added as they drove to Lucy’s place. “He has had a rough go, gets uncomfortable with new folks.”

Lucy shrugged, “It’s okay, little guy has been through a lot. I was similar at his age.”

Cooper nods as they turn down Lucy’s driveway, “I try to do my best with him, but he knows his Granddad is dying.” He swallows as he parks the truck, “Little guy can only handle so much.”

Lucy reaches over squeezing Cooper's arms, “You’re a good Dad, Cooper Howard.”

Cooper swallows looking out the windshield, his knuckles going white as he grips the steering wheel. "I feel like I am drowning most days. Hated having to move them so far." He rubs his jaw, "But we couldn't stay either."

Lucy keeps her hand on his arm, listening to him patiently. His shoulders were drawn tight like he was carrying the weight of the world.

"I am sorry," He murmurs, "We should - ah - go in."

"What if we help each other?" Lucy says, her mouth running before her brain can catch up. "I know, you have so much going on. With the farm, being a Dad, your own Dad. Plus you throw me into the mix with all my wack-a-do problems. Doesn't make it easy." She stops, trying to find out where this train of thought is heading. "But, umm, maybe between the two of us, we could make things work. Two heads is always better than one, and we work well together."

Cooper watching her with an unreadable expression on his face. Lucy felt her stomach twist, wondering if she may have gone too far.

"If that's something you might like to do?" Lucy looks away, moving her hand away to get out of the car before more words spill out of her mouth.

"Lucy," Cooper says, his voice so soft it's almost a whisper. "I would like that. Be nice to have someone who gets it."

SIX

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tag list: @toogaytofunctiondangit

**As always likes, comments, shares are soooo appreciated, you can find me Ao3 as well

** Want to be on the tag list let me know

** Most of my fics will be updated once a weekish possibly more often depending on how much writing I can get done! Want to keep the quality and make sure I am putting out my best work.

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merrinla · 1 year ago

Text

Just reading the epilogue file that didn't make it into the game and comparing it with the full release. So many questions. So few answers.

In the previous version of ending scene, six months later, you and your companions gathered around the campfire with the Withers and everyone told how he was doing. Halsin was talking about "nine whole wagons of children" he is now taking care of. And this line is marked as a non-romantic answer.

At least at first it was a line for a player who didn't romance Halsin. Moreover, the answers of other companions are also marked as non-romantic. Many lines are incomplete and in |such modules|. For example, Minsc and Jaheira's answers look like this:

Minsc: |MINSC BLOCK| Jaheira: |JAHEIRA BLOCK|

Usually a line is marked if there is an alternative line in the dialogue. In this case, two romance flags are turned off (=False) at once. If Halsin is your only love interest (State_PartneredWithHalsin) and if you romance someone else and him (State_PartneredWithHalsinSecondary). In theory, there should be two alternative answers. This doesn't mean that nine wagons of children aren't mentioned. But whatever he was planning to say, the developers rewrote this ending.

At the end of the game after the pier, you meet with Halsin in the room and discuss what's next only if you romance him. Then he'll tell you that line about orphans.

youtube

And a bit different dialogue for those who have become an Illithid.

youtube

There is also a special dialogue for Origin Karlach. To be honest, I don't like it because he sends her to Avernus alone. But what confuses me even more. Whatever answer you choose it will be marked as if you chose death. And this is the future flag. No idea what the point is.

As another example, in the ending with spawn Astarion some of the answers are also marked for the future. If we look for a way to walk safely in the sun again. And if Cazador is alive and we're going to hunt him.

In other words, the game remembers your choice. But why, if this is the end? That makes sense for epilogues or dlc. Most likely the first.

But who knows. Dataminer Chubblot (this guy is amazing btw) found a bugged epilogue scene in the game where the Withers tells the fate of your companions. In the video he mentions Minsс, Halsin and the player.

Sleep, rest, revel. But be ready. For thou mayest yet be needed.

Sounds like a hint. Although the scene looks pretty raw. I'm not sure if they will finish it.

A player who has become a mind flayer should hardly hope for a continuation. A small consolation for Halsin fans, in this epilogue you stay with him.

Meanwhile, I will cross my fingers for future content.

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers #halsin #halsin romance #bg3 datamine

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furious-blueberry0 · 5 days ago

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Ok so, I realized that the canon Clan War didn’t really work in my AU, so I rewrote it

Kiiinndaaaaaa, I made an outline of what is gonna happen! Here it is lol:

Tor is exiled from his family because of his political ideas, and Jaster welcomes him on Concord Dawn, where they start to collaborate in building a mercenary group.

Tor’s ideals start to get more and more extreme, things get heated and the Mercenary group is splitted.

Tor’s half becomes Death Watch and Jaster’s half becomes the True Mandalorians.

Tor wants to take control of Concord Dawn, so that he can have enough resources and warriors to really start a new Age of Conquest, just like the good old times.

He starts a war against Jaster, who he sees as the ultimate traitor, and who built the True Mandos as a way to stop Tor’s mad dream.

Concord Dawn becomes their battleground, and the fights do not only bring death to the mandalorians, but also to the innocents who have no role in this war, but see their homes get destroyed either way in the conflict.

Arla(10) and Jango(5)’s home is destroyed and their parents are killed. Their father had agreed to hide some of Jaster’s wounded warriors in his home, but Death Watch found out and killed them all. Arla and Jango survived by hiding in the fields.

Jaster and the others heard of what happened hours later, and found the children at night, still hidden in the fields.

The fights continue for a few years, Arla and Jango become part of the True Mandos, and neither Jaster nor Tor seem to want to stop the conflict.

The Governor of Concord Dawn has tried for years at this point to make the Assembly care about what’s going on on his planet, but his cries of help, for resources to make these two groups stop destroying his home always fall on deaf ears.

At this point Satine is part of the Assembly, and she becomes interested in what’s going on Concord Dawn, she too tries to talk about it to the rest of the Assembly, but she also does not have too much luck.

She decides she is going to help the Governor of Concord Dawn with the resources of her House, and her and her father, Adonai, go to the planet and try to assess the situation, talk to either Jaster or Tor, and decide how to bring back peace and normality to the planet once and for all.

Adonai and Satine spend 2 years fighting with the True Mandos, to try and arrest the members of Death Watch. Jaster would like to kill them all, but Adonai reminds him that he is already on thin ice for collaborating to the destruction of the planet for his squabble with Tor, so he better behave.

Adonai is killed by Death Watch, and now the Assembly finds the situation on Concord Dawn really interesting, and wants to stop it.

House Vizsla is accused of helping Tor, which was not true, as Lod Vizsla said “If we had helped that wretched cousin of mine, he would have won and destroyed all of you years ago!”, which was not a statement the others in the Assembly liked.

Things start to get heated, House Vizsla fears other Clans might want to attack them, and so they start ammassing more military resources and also keep an eye on old alliances.

The other Clans see this as the proof they were guilty, and so they also start amassing power, in case the others attack.

For one year the conflict is stalled, the two groups on Concord Dawn are waiting, their squabble is becoming bigger than it originally was, and they do not know what the Houses and the Clans are going to do with them. And so they wait.

In this year new alliances are formed, and everyone prepares for the conflict that is going to happen.

Satine’s mother left Mandalorian Space when her husband died, leaving her daughters Satine (18), Meera (8) and Bo-Katan (1) all alone.

Satine leaves her sisters under the protection of Clan Aath, ancient ally of House Kryze, who has various safe houses outside of Mandalorian Space, and where they are sending various children of various clans to safety.

For months nothing moves, everyone’s holding their breath, waiting for the moment the spark will ignite the fire of war.

And the spark comes to life:

Clan Keen, a small clan with almost no power, neither political nor economical or militaristic, had been promised safety by Clan Saxon, ally of House Vizsla, and this alliance was supposed to come to life through the marriage of Andra Keen (13) and Allard Saxon (15).

But the Keen did not want to be allies of the Vizsla, preferring an alliance with Clan Eldar (who was an ally of House Kryze), and so they accepted the proposal of marrying Andra to Ila Eldar (13).

Clan Saxon saw this as a traitorous act, and so, the night after the wedding, they attacked the home of Clan Keen, and killed them all (not Andra, she was with Ila and Clan Eldar)

This event was the spark that ignited the next 3 years of war.

Wrote all this during one of the most boring lessons I ever had at my Uni lol, at least it gave me the time to be creative

#star wars #mandalorians #clan war #all is well au #star wars prequels

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immeasurablesaladagere · 3 months ago

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can u make one where little House is transmasc and gets rly dysphoric while little (maybe cuz he got his period?) and cg Wilson comforting n reassuring him

Hi, here you go! Sorry this took so long and isn't a super big fic, I rewrote it multiple times and couldn't get it quite how I wanted it haha. It gave me a challenge in a good way, so I hope it turned out well!

Also kinda struck a chord because I'm questioning myself and always get more dysphoric(?) when I'm regressed.

-----

Word Count: 549

Summery: House is regressed, on his period, and has a very big question for Wilson. Hooray!

-----

“Wilson?”

Wilson looked up from his book. House was lying on the couch upside-down, watching SpongeBob’s latest adventure with a blank expression. His hot water bottle had long cooled off by now and he was lazily slapping it against the carpet.

“Yeah, buddy? Do you want your water bottle warmed up again?”

The slapping stopped. “Why can’t I be an actual boy?”

Oh boy, what a question for ten in the morning. “You are an actual boy, House.” He said, hoping for the slim chance that he could get away with simple assurances this time instead of talking about the semantics of society’s relationship with gender with a seven-year-old.

But of course, he was talking about House here and even while regressed he wasn’t fooled by platitudes. He needed answers. Complicated, oh so complicated answers. “No, I’m not. Real boys don’t have periods ‘cause they don’t have a uterus. Only girls have a uterus.”

Wilson sighed and bookmarked his page, knowing he wouldn’t be picking his book back up again any time soon, and moved to sit next to him on the couch. He probably should have expected this. House’s dysphoria always reared its head when he was regressed, or maybe he just lost his inhibitions about hiding it, and House had been quiet after he had changed pants and shamefully asked for a hot water bottle for his cramps after breakfast.

“Well that’s not always true. Do you remember that man you treated a few months ago? How he was born with both boy parts and girl parts? He was still a boy, wasn’t he?”

The man had come into the clinic with severe abdominal pain, and after the usual battery of tests came up with nothing, House had taken interest. It turned out that the man was born intersex, with a blind uterus that had gone unnoticed until an ovarian cyst ruptured. One hysterectomy later and he was able to go on his way.

House wriggled himself upright and toyed with the seal around the plug of the water bottle. He didn’t look convinced. “Yeah, but it’s different. He had the boy parts too, I don’t.”

“Sure. But if he had both parts, how did he know he was a boy?”

House stopped fidgeting, and Wilson could almost see as the gears turned in his head and he came to an answer. Still, stubbornly, he shrugged and pouted at the floor.

“Because he was a boy in here.” Wilson pointed to House’s forehead, “His brain knew he was a boy, just like yours does, even if he had different body parts, just like you do. That’s what really matters.”

“But…”

Wilson cut him off before he could come up with a new way to put himself down. “And your name is Greg. Would a girl like being named Greg?”

To his relief, that managed to work a small smile out of him. Now that, House couldn’t argue with.

“Hey, are your cramps feeling better? How about we go get you some ice cream, anything you want.” He offered, and House perked up like he’d said “car ride” to a puppy.

A wide smile came across House’s face. “Anything..?” He asked, in a tone that said you’ll regret this later.

That was future Wilson’s problem, he decided. “Anything.”

#sfw age regression #sfw agere #agere blog #age regression #fandom agere #fanfic #house md #house md agere

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dailydemonspotlight · 5 months ago

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Since we're keeping with the theme here, how about one for Loki? A silly little guy that may have started an apocalypse and can transform into anything he wants, be it animals, genders, or animal genders? That's prime Pride Month material

Loki - Day 51 (Request)

Race: Tyrant

Alignment: Dark-Chaos

June 10th, 2024

Trickster gods are a rather common sight in most mythologies- people always love an underdog story, stories about characters who rise from the depths below and strike out their own niches through their wits and manipulation of coincidences- and this one is no exception. Commonly cited as the archetypal trickster deity, though highly debated as to his very existence, today's Demon of the Day is one of the most famous members of the Nordic pantheon, a god who needs little to no introduction- Loki. This deity appears back and forth in pop culture, no matter where you look- from Marvel movies to spotlights in podcasts, sitcoms, and video essays, it's not hard to see why he's such an infamous figure throughout. As the Æsir of chaos, a shapeshifter, and a perpetual underdog, he's a common sight in stories regarding Norse myth... but not the mythology itself.

As mentioned before in my Idun spotlight, Norse mythology is frustratingly archaic to research- there are precisely two sources to work off of, neither of which truly being primary, as almost every primary source has been lost through either the eternal game of telephone history is, actual fragmenting, or a simple inability to read runestones. As such, the only two sources most contemporary scholars have to work off of are the Prose Edda and the Poetic Edda, a pair of tomes who are strained, to say the least. Both collections of tales, rather infamously, have been bastardized due to the fact that their authors were both Christian, and cared little for historical accuracy- instead, they rewrote as they saw fit, giving way to frustrations such as the insertion of a 'one above all' god that was never mentioned in any actual stories and is almost purely believed by scholars to be a future retcon of capital-G God into the text. However, this issue only pervades the text in some aspects, and we can look at it as a relatively accurate collection. However, what this has to do with anything is that Loki is a... controversial topic in some areas in the scholarly world, which I'll get into later.

In the mythos surrounding Loki, he was the son of a jötunn by the name of Fárbauti and a hitherto unmentioned goddess by the name Laufey. Laufey's existence is also seen as somewhat controversial- while mentioned as a goddess, from what I can tell, she's only mentioned in reference to Loki, which could entirely mean she's only been added in the Edda's in order to explain away Loki's origins, or, in another possibility, she could exist purely on the fringes of the mythology. Either way, though, this is just the start of several reigning problems with the presence of Loki in Norse text, and one of the most glaring ones in my eyes.

An observation borrowed from Overly Sarcastic Productions' excellent video on Loki is that he is incredibly hard to research for a myriad of reasons- his name roughly translates to 'The Entangler' for a reason, as his mythology is a confusing web of contradictions and baffling ideas, even in the few sources we have to work off of. While I won't repeat her points wholesale, in short, Loki's existence is hard to even verify- it's entirely possible he was a later retcon to explain some unexplained aspects of the mythology, such as how Ragnarok would come to be. Speaking of... what the hell is the deal with Ragnarok and Loki? Aren't I good at segways?

Moving away from the debated existence of Loki, we should center on his role in the mythology from what we know from the Edda's, which is quite a bit. While Loki may be hard to research for a myriad of reasons (refer to the OSP video above), we have several confirmed sightings of this cryptic cryptid of Scandinavian stories, starting with his general role as a mixed practitioner of both being good and evil. While Loki is most well known for his role in perpetuating Ragnarok, the literal apocalypse in Norse mythology that it almost all circles around, he's not a wholly good or wholly bad figure- no, he's a wholly mischievous one. I'll save the Ragnarok talk for a future DDS, such as one on Fenrir, so we can focus on Loki in the day-to-day lives of the Æsir, which is that of being an absolute pest. As a shapeshifter, this genderfluid icon is prone to several bouts of mischief, including but not limited to:

Starting the entire bout with Útgarða-Loki,

Turning into a fly to bother the smithing dwarves,

Becoming a pregnant horse,

Eating a burning apple and becoming pregnant,

Causing the death of Balder, a major point in the start of Ragnarok,

and entering the god's banquet, crashing their party, and being an awful drunk.

Yes, the pregnancies are just... a thing. Don't ask. Overall, though, Loki served as a troublemaker in every sense of the word, stewing up chaos wherever he went. Which included the research of him. Again, as mentioned before, and to quote 20th century scholar Gabriel Turville-Petre, "More ink has been spilled on Loki than on any other figure in Norse myth. This, in itself, is enough to show how little scholars agree, and how far we are from understanding him." Even the exploits listed above are debated somewhat, and many of them don't appear in some canonicities, while others do. The hot debate regarding Loki has been smoldering for centuries, with some proposing him as the God of Fire, others proposing him to be a retcon of Lucifer himself, and still others believed him to be a trickster figure. However, the most interesting of the four popular theories to me has to be one about him possibly being a Hypostasis of Odin.

"Cool, what does that mean?" I hear you asking. Hypostasis is a hard to explain term, to say the least, but it effectively means something that exists to support something else. Think of the Holy Trinity of Christian myth- The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all support each other in simultaneously being god and not each other at the same time. In effect, this means that Loki could, theoretically, be an aspect of Odin to support his own existence- without Loki, there would be no Odin, and vice versa. This theory, first proposed by Folke Ström, however, has been hotly debated- three others also have quite a lot of credence from around the same time. While I personally find the hypostasis theory the most fascinating, the other three have several credentials as well- Jan de Vries concluded that he may be an archetypical trickster god, while Anna Birgitta Rooth came up with the idea that he was originally a spider, a storyteller, and a weaver.

Hilariously, the fourth conclusion about Loki at the time, one written by Anne Holtsmark, says that no conclusion could be drawn about Loki, making a neat little bow over this entire debacle. Fittingly for a trickster god, research into Loki and his continued existence is incredibly difficult. It's almost ironic, in a way. A common consensus now is actually quite a bit more simple- the idea that Loki is one and the same with the creator of humanity in the text, Lóðurr. The main argument in support of this lies in the idea that, in the Edda's, a set of three Æsir appear often together- Odin, Hœnir, and Loki, who each appear together in Haustlöng, Reginsmál, and a ballad by the name of Loka Táttur. The idea this theory supports is that each of the three- Loki, Odin, and Hœnir- created different aspects of humanity. Loki made the tricky and cunning side, Odin the loyal and intelligent, and Hœnir the commanding and violent. Odin and Hœnir are well marked as being creators of humanity alongside Lóðurr, and it's entirely possible, given the similar pronunciation of Loki and Lóðurr, that it was another epithet for Loki.

Overall, though, Loki is confusing, and I don't even know where to begin on this past the damn Wikipedia article, so I'm cutting this short before I get a headache. Loki is well documented, sure, but those documents are so filled with blots of ink that it makes it hard to look into. So many leads about Loki simply head in circles upon circles, up to the point one may find their own head in their ass in their research- when even the scholars whose jobs are to investigate find this topic frustrating, you know it's bad.

Now, impromptu venting out of the way, how is he represented in SMT? Honestly, I'm not a big fan of his original design- it's cool, sure, but it feels too plain and like a Dragon Ball antagonist to really stick out in my mind. However, the other interpretations throughout the series stick the landing on this tricky trickster far better.

My personal favorite has to be the Soul Hackers design, but Persona 5's is far from bad either- Akechi's Loki looks demonic and cruel, while the Soul Hackers Loki looks far more tricky and conniving, painting well into his role as, well, a trickster! The long blonde hair and bat-like wings make him intimidating and mysterious looking all the same, plus I'm just a sucker for blue and yellow. Mostly appearing as a magic attacker, befitting of his role in the mythology as a tricky shapeshifter, he's a definite favorite of many in gameplay.

#smt #shin megami tensei #megaten #persona #daily #ask #loki #dont feel bad anon but this one was exhausting lmao-#i'm a tad bit burned out due to it sorry #so yeah thats why its a bit of a late upload

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