#they did in fact not need to fight the alchemy

[number-onekidqueen]

heyy !! i hope ur doing well (: can you write a luke x gn!reader where they are chubbier and short and luke Lovess the height x size difference but they thinks like making fun of them but in reality he’s just teasing ): they open up to him about past issues regarding that and he comforts them and says he’ll protect them ): maybe a bit of protective!luke

𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐲?

Luke castellan x gn!chubbier!shorter reader

Summary: Luke loves to talk about all your physical differences and how you still fit together perfectly. But you have a few bad memories. 

Anon, I am sooooo sorry this took so long, I've had a mad case of writer's block lately, and I no time. It's kinda short and sweet (if you get what I mean *wink*) but I hope this is what you were picturing, and that you enjoy <3

warnings: mentions of fatphobia, mentions of insecurity, panic, teasing.

“Hey shawty!” 

Immediately, you stiffened. Even if you recognised the voice as one you trusted - Luke, your boyfriend of nearly a year, who you loved dearly - the nickname still made you feel cold all over. But Luke didn't mean the nickname in that way, you were sure.

Right?

You didn't have much time to ponder it however as a warm hand materialised around your waist, pulling you into him. You let the sandwich you had been making for lunch settle onto the table, freeing your arms so you could reciprocate his embrace, although rather stiffly.

"How you been?" He murmured into your hair, while he peppered kisses on your scalp. And then he noticed. He pulled away from you, still gripping your shoulders but gazing at you with concern. "What's wrong?"

You decided to drop it. He wouldn't have meant it that way. Even if your boyfriend before had, Luke wouldn't do something like that. "Nothing," you replied, forcing a smile, "you just caught me by surprise is all."

There was a pause in which he scanned your face, searching for signs you weren't telling the truth. He still appeared wary, but he seemed to let it slide for the moment, scooping up your sandwich plate and tugging you along to his table. Loud greetings hooted about, as his fellow Hermes siblings noted his and your appearance.

Your suspicions were confirmed as you sat, after saying hello to everyone, when he clasped his hand in yours, resting it on his knee. This was something he always did when you were feeling overwhelmed or sad, to reassure you that he was always there. He hadn't been convinced by your facade then. Damn.

Beginning to eat your sandwich, you were wincing at the near-stale texture of the bread, and how hard and dry it was in your mouth. Chiron must be running on his last few loaves and forgot to get extra supplies. You were glad for the distraction of Chris, who was always happy to explain his schemes with grand theatrics, and hand gestures that often tipped over glasses. That and Luke's wild laughter from beside you got you through the unpleasant meal.

"-and you won't believe what happened next, and even though it is coming from me, it was pretty damn impressive-"

"Ok man, I'm gonna interrupt your yap session right there while I can. Anyone getting seconds?" Luke asked, holding up his own plate.

"No dude, I'm sooooooo full, how are you not?" Chris groaned, laughing.

"He didn't steal my bag of jerky, Rodriguez!" Someone down the table accused.

"Hey, that was in the middle of the cabin floor, it was fair game!-"

"I'll have some," you volunteered, turning to Luke, and accepting his hand to help you rise from the benches.

"See, lucky I can be a big back with them!" He laughed, walking away with you and back to the table filled with food.

You weren't hungry anymore, at all. Every delicious, hot meal on the table that had tantalised you only moments before now seemed like soggy sticks. Luke had mentioned stuff about your body twice now, in such a short period. You were sure he meant it now. He must be just like your ex in that respect, even if he had treated you better. He felt the same as your ex had done. Even after all this time, your body wasn't good enough- you weren't good enough-

"Hey, you can't decide? Try the macaroni, I just had a bit and oh my Gods-"

"Uh- I don't really feel too hungry anymore." You said awkwardly, gulping down your insecurity.

"Ok," he said slowly, and there was his brown eyes again, deep and full of questioning. "Are you sure everything's okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's all fine just... not hungry." You smiled weakly, praying he would drop it as he did earlier. Your stomach rumbling punctuated the silence. He frowned at you, second helping forgotten and pulled you to the side of the dining pavilion, near some dense bushes where you wouldn't be seen.

"Hey. Please tell me what's going on," he begged, squeezing your hand. When you looked in his eyes, you knew you were a goner. You cracked.

"Do you still- like-like- do you still like me?" you mumbled, gazing down at your feet.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused, "Y/N, I love you, so yeah, of course I still like you."

“I- just- I- I know you didn’t mean any harm and I know you only meant to tease, but it just reminds me of my ex sometimes.”

"Wait, what? What does?" He urged, pulling you closer.

"Just the... you know, like little comments- it's just-it's kinda like the stuff he used to say that hurt my feelings."

He pulled away from you, face hardening. 

“What did he say to you?”

“It was nothing, just he commented on my weight constantly and how much shorter I was than him and sometimes- look it doesn't really matter. It's just that the 'hey shawty' and 'big back' and all that, it shouldn't, it's stupid of me, but it reminds me of him... and like, I know it was a mistake dating a guy that was older in the first place, but the biggest mistake I made was letting him say the stuff he said."

"Don't you dare call yourself stupid," he began sternly, "because if anyone here is, it's me. My gods, baby, I'm so sorry I said stuff like that, it was just a joke or a little pet name to me, I-I didn't know it reminded you of that-ugh, if I had known I would've bleached my mouth out."

You laughed a little, and his face brightened.

"You know I don't wanna be anything like him, right? Man, if he was here I might have a hard time stopping from doing something to him, what a dick."

Laughing again, you nodded, smiling at him.

"And, you know you're also perfect right? Like who cares if you're shorter or a different shape to me? That's what makes you, like you, and I love you for all of it."

He kissed you swiftly, sweetly. It was warm, and you were both smiling through it. He was Luke, not your crusty ex that had broken contact the minute he got accepted to college. And he would always love you for who you were, you were sure of that now.

He broke apart, your noses brushing. "I love you," he whispered, each syllable falling softly on your upper lip.

"I love you too," you whispered back. He backed away reluctantly, holding your hands in both of his tightly.

"Ok, let's get you some macaroni now, because I'm not kidding when I say that it hits-"

And you let him lead you back to the chaotic normality of camp, with all of the delicious food and comforting people you loved.

[jess-the-vampire]

Professor Caduceia and Snakely

Checked out the storyboard for the deleted s1 episode "Homesick"

You can read it here : https://t.co/WpZJFWbR48

I just loved these cut villains, one whose design def seemed like it was given to raine when they got cut. (I wonder if the color palette was similar, but we don't have a reference to that so idk)

Thoughts on the cut episode below:

An episode where king and owlbert of all characters bond is kinda neat, especially since it provides owlbert himself a bit more character here.

The opening is def far different from any of the final ones we ever see in the series, in fact it feels like it should be taking place during the episode but it can't be given we see hooty from being sick to not being sick in pretty chronological order?

A focus on the healing coven was nice to see, especially since we never got that in the show itself, and get some idea of their powerset and what they do magic wise.

So Manny was an ambulance driver, and Camila was a nurse in this. People originally assumed camila was a nurse when the show started, and it makes me wonder if that was changed between seasons at some point cause clearly the crew decided to change her profession and it's unclear why.

you can use your palisman as a communicator? and an umbrella? I do think it's so weird that even at the very end of the show, they establish brand new rules for palisman. Like them being able to shapeshift into objects is straight up not explained and just sorta....happens in the show, like i feel like hunter would have no issue hiding flap if this is a thing. (It also kinda makes stringbean's ability slightly less unique) Like this is displayed in these boards, but they kept it even in the show itself, and i think palisman might need a proper rulebook.

On that same note, owlbert uses magic in this board, like we kinda knew palisman could do some magic without a witch, but this is the only time we've seen one use it to fight another witch that wasn't the batqueen. Like owlbert tries to full on blast people in this. I don't know if removing this episode makes this ability less canon in the world itself since they still can do magic in the show, it's just worth noting that palisman, according to this board, CAN fight back, even if they're not incredibly strong it seems. Certainly the kinda thing that makes you think on other episodes tbh.

This episode also brings up the idea that eda actually CAN and DOES bring human food to the BI, which never happens in the show, in fact luz implies she gets to eat very little options there, so this idea seems no longer canon?

The demon hunters at one point don't even seem to recognize owlbert as a palisman, which does not entirely make sense given they seem to be mostly common to the townsfolk, so I'm kinda glad for that plot hole being gone.

Caduceia makes it out like the emperor's coven forced her to teach? and she thought handing over a house demon to belos would get her out of teaching as if it were some kinda punishment or job she was made to do? I have questions

side note, house demons are called rare in this, like they're not common, not sure if this still applies in the final show, but yeah.

there's some very sweet moments in this with luz and eda especially, but also some funny moments, and some jokes that land a little less....i don't think we needed Caduceia to be kissing her snake like that from that angle, even if it was meant to be a little uncomfortable.

one reason i think this episode did get cut? we got a glyph in this

a healing glyph, which has some ties to water based on it's symbol

i'm guessing since they kept the main glyphs element based, a healing glyph would of stuck out and been a bit weird. Like it just heals people, it doesn't produce water despite looking close to the alchemy symbol for water, and well....we already got ice so this would be redundent.

so yeah, this episode introduced a new glyph that saved them in the end so it would of come back in future episodes, but to keep it simple that would mean cutting the entire episode as a whole just to keep the four.

Since they enjoyed Caduceia's design so much, they must've repurposed it for raine somewhere down the line.

very fun insight into a scrapped episode.

[fairy-writes]

Okay I gotta make this 2nd request really really good, really unnerving, really PAINFUL.

May I request prompt #14 with *either* Edward Elric or Rengoku (it's too difficult to choose!)? And may I request this be written for a female reader too please? Make this as painful as possible. I want to feel my heart wrenching and writhing and shattering inside!

LEAVING

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!!

__________________________________________________________________________

Prompt: “You don’t need to do this!”

Fandom(s): Fullmetal Alchemist

Pairing(s): Edward Elric x Reader

Word Count: 0.9k

Genre(s)/Tag(s): Female!Reader, Leaving, Confessions

Notes: I already did a oneshot similar to this prompt for Rengoku a while ago, so it’s time to give our favorite blond boy some attention!

I’m slowly passing away from burnout, so this is short to save my brain.

__________________________________________________________________________

You fell in love with Edward Elric when you were fifteen.

Your mother claimed you were too young for love, and perhaps she was right. Maybe it was because you were also interested in alchemy. Maybe it was because he was something new. Either way, all you knew was that your heart skipped a beat whenever you saw the infamous alchemist.

The two of you actually hit it off rather nicely, considering you called him short. But hey! Maybe he knew it was an actual accident, or perhaps it was a certain armored younger brother who knew you two were going to be working together for the time being. After all, you were one of the only alchemists in your tiny town besides your recently deceased father, and they were, as always, chasing leads. 

So, he forgave (not necessarily forgot), and the two of you got to work decoding your father’s notes.

“Hey, Edward?” You asked tentatively as you looked up from your book. Alphonse had stepped out to get the food for both of you who actually had a body. 

(Yes, you knew about the whole human transmutation thing, but like meeting the Elric brothers, it had been an accident.)

“You know I said you could call me Ed.” He mumbles, not looking up from his notes. He hastily scribbles a sentence like his life depends on it, and you know you’re going to have to help him decode his own handwriting later.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” You mumble, your thoughts slowly dying as you stare blankly at the page in front of you. 

It's then that he looks up from his book with a frown tugging at his lips and his golden eyes dull with exhaustion. The two of you (plus Alphonse) had been at it for hours. Days even!

You were lucky to have been trained somewhat by your father when learning alchemy. While you didn’t know everything, you did know a few of his secrets on how he coded his notes. So, it was even more of a reason to keep you around.

If only he would stick around after the fact. 

You were utterly enamored by the time you were seventeen. 

You had been with the brothers through thick and thin and turmoil and joy. You had comforted Edward through nightmares and Alphonse through the whole “not having a body” thing. Well… As best you could anyway. It was hard to comfort someone with no idea what it was like to not have a body. 

But as Father’s plan became more known and extreme, you noticed that Edward was leaving you behind more and more. And it wasn’t a coincidence. You also noticed that the brothers evaded your questions whenever you demanded to know why they were leaving you in the care of the Rockbells or the Hughes’.

You weren’t a child, dammit! You could take care of yourself!

But bringing this up to Edward did no good. In fact, it made things worse. 

Edward broke your heart when you were eighteen. 

“You don’t need to do this!” You cried, grabbing his arm to try and stop him from leaving. Again. This time, it was serious. He was going to fight Father. And he was planning on doing it without you. Sure, he also wasn’t bringing Winry or Granny Pinako. But the difference was you actually knew alchemy. 

Edward pulled his arm from your grip and kept heading toward the door. His jaw was clenched; he was obviously grinding his teeth together. But you persisted. 

“Edward, please!” At this, he finally rounded on you, and you flinched at his angry look. 

“The answer is no. I can’t have you getting hurt.” He snapped, and you took an unconscious step back at the ferocity in his voice. 

But then you steeled yourself and tried to reach for him again. 

“I can defend myself! You know this! You trained me yourself!” You pleaded, but he was shaking his head. 

“I trained you against something small like a mugger in an alley. This is something that is way above what you can fight against.” He retorted, pulling his arm again so you couldn’t latch onto it. 

You felt like a whiny ex. But Edward’s life was in danger and he didn’t seem to grasp that yet. Or maybe he did. You had no idea what was going on in his head. 

But the back and forth went on for what seemed like an eternity. 

Until…

“I don’t want you—” You’re cut off with a sudden kiss. Edward tasted like sunshine and unbridled anger. Like electricity and sorrows. Like he was leaving you and never coming back. But at that moment, you didn’t care. You kissed him back desperately, trying to convey how you had felt for the last three years. 

His automail was cold against the side of your face and his flesh hand was warm like the very sunshine he tasted like. He held you gently, cradled you even. And when he broke away, his hands cupped the back of your neck. 

“I love you too much to lose you in this.” He whispered, his eyes closed as he leaned his forehead against yours. 

“And you think I don’t?” You whispered back. 

But that didn’t stop him from pulling away. 

“If you leave…” You didn’t have the heart to finish your sentence. You were done? You weren’t even together. You were leaving? That was a lie, and you knew it. 

Edward shrugged his shoulders and turned away, pausing only when he got to the door. 

“I’m sorry.” He said, and so he left. 

And took your heart with him.

[bosbas]

Chapter 14: honestly, who are we to fight the alchemy

series masterlist previous part || epilogue

pairing: colin bridgerton x enemy!fem!reader WC: 2.7k words

Warnings: period-typical gender roles, healthy amounts of pining, idiots in love!!, slow burn burning a little quicker now, some smooching

Summary: It took precisely two days in England for you to utterly despise Colin Bridgerton. It took him approximately twelve hours after that to hate you right back. But he doesn't care that you're the only person in the ton who doesn't like him. You're set to marry someone else anyway, right?

A/N: soooo bittersweet nearing the end of their story </3 sorry for my absence!! but i hope these two getting their lives together is worth it

August 6, 1816 – And finally, this author would have been remiss not to notice a certain Bridgerton’s lovesick behavior at the Worthington ball yesterday evening. And though I’m certain no one who attended the ball would be remotely surprised by this information, the members of the ton who did not can rest knowing that Colin Bridgerton seems to remain utterly captivated by Y/N Montclair.

The pair danced together twice despite not officially courting. This would be highly unusual if the look in Mr. Bridgerton’s eyes whenever he was near Lady Y/N was not a very familiar one. It seems that this season might not be a complete disaster for Lady Y/N after all, given that one man is still fighting for her hand. Whether or not she knows that Mr. Bridgerton feels this way remains to be seen.

“On y va,” said Louis, grabbing you by the arm and dragging you out the front door (Let’s go).

You blinked, surprised that the rest of your family was already piling into a carriage headed toward Bridgerton house. Heavens, you really needed to start paying attention.

The past few days– ever since your father told you Colin would be a suitable match, to be exact– you had been so deep in thought you’d barely managed to function. The possibility of marrying Colin Bridgerton, if he even wanted you, was a daunting one, and you had opted to devote hours of thought to this very notion.

In fact, your pondering had been so extensive that you hadn’t even managed to read Lady Whistledown. After a summer of religiously reading the gossip sheet, you had somehow missed the last two installments without even remembering to look for it at the breakfast table.

Hopping into the carriage alongside Louis, you mulled over the previous night’s ball. Colin had asked you to dance twice, which was highly unusual for two people in polite society who weren't courting. However, you reasoned that he probably was trying to compensate for all the time he spent being a nuisance. Besides, he was a great dancer, and you really didn’t mind.

Especially now that you were friends, it was exceedingly easy to spend time with him.

But did you love him?

The question lingered in your mind, unmoving and unrelenting.

Wouldn’t you know for sure if you did? Was your uncertainty indicative of something deeper? A fundamental lack of romantic feelings for Colin, perhaps? Your sister, Isabelle, and her husband were completely in love with one another, and you weren’t quite sure you felt the same way about the third Bridgerton.

---

As soon as you stepped through the garden door, your eyes immediately scanned the garden, searching for Colin. Finding him engaged in some sort of competition with Gregory and Benedict involving three Pall Mall balls and a fencing sword, you giggled to yourself as you started toward them.

“Y/N,” a hand on your arm interrupted your purposeful walk.

You turned to see Eloise’s excited face, and you couldn’t help but return the smile.

“Hello!” you greeted, kissing both of her cheeks as she dragged you toward a shadier spot.

As she launched into a lengthy explanation about her latest read, you listened to your friend intently. Of course, it had only been a few days since you’d last seen her, but the two of you always found something or other to discuss, and you found yourself in deep conversation with Eloise before you knew it.

What felt like a few minutes later, but was probably closer to an hour, you felt a tap on your shoulder.

“I didn’t know you were here,” said Colin, not sounding entirely happy with you. “I thought you would have come by and said hello by now,” he mumbled, eyes downcast.

You smiled fondly at his pouting face, unable to help yourself as you looked at this grown man completely worked up over the fact that Eloise had gotten to you first.

“That would be my fault,” laughed Eloise. “You don’t have a monopoly over Y/N, you know. But I fear I’ve talked her ear off already, so I’ll leave you to it.”

Colin rolled his eyes but bent down to kiss both of your cheeks anyway.

“It’s lovely to see you,” you said softly, eyes fixated on his long eyelashes fanning over his face. He really was very handsome, when you thought about it.

You had to physically clasp your hands together to keep from reaching out to him once he pulled back, and you scolded yourself for forgetting your manners. This was certainly not an appropriate way to act as an unmarried lady!

“You’re not upset with me, then?” asked Colin, looking you up and down.

You laughed. “Why would I be?”

“I dunno,” he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I suppose I was just used to it after so long, I don’t know what came over me.”

“Well, we’re friends now,” you reassured him. “So there’s no need to worry.”

“Right, friends,” Colin repeated after you, not entirely pleased with the way the words felt coming out of his mouth.

Suddenly, you heard a scream from across the garden, and a bright blue ball shooting in your direction. Turning around just in time to see Gregory’s horrified expression, you came face to face with what was certain to be a Pall Mall ball directly to the face.

But a strong pair of arms grabbed your waist and pulled you away. For a moment you couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened, and you were simply enjoying the feel of Colin’s arms around you as he hugged you tight to him.

Realizing that he had saved you from what would have most certainly been a black eye, you turned your head up to look at Colin. But he was already looking down at you, his grip still tight as he held you to his chest.

“Are you alright?” he asked, eyes not letting go of yours.

You nodded slowly, not trusting yourself to speak because you were so mesmerized by his eyes. He let out a sigh of relief, loosening his grip on you ever so slightly.

Hearing Gregory’s footsteps approaching, Colin quickly let go of you and cleared his throat awkwardly. But he couldn’t find it in himself to let you go completely, so he settled for leaving a hand on your waist, thumb rubbing up and down comfortingly.

Needing to keep feeling his touch, you raised one of your hands and reached across your waist, placing your hand softly over his and loosely interlocking your fingers.

“I’m so sorry!” yelled Gregory once he reached you. “I wasn’t looking and I swear I would have never hit you on purpose and-”

You laughed, cutting him off. “It’s quite alright, Gregory. Though I’m not certain your mother would agree,” you teased, nodding to where Violet was sitting, clearly furious at her son.

“Oh, no,” he groaned. “I’ve got to go save myself,” he said seriously, immediately taking off running across the garden and away from his mother.

You heard Colin laughing at Gregory’s antics next to you, and as you turned around to watch him with his head thrown back and a roguish smile on his face, you took in a sharp breath.

It might have been the sun shining through his hair, the mirth in his eyes, or the fact that he had just saved you from a very painful fate, but you felt like you were seeing him for the first time. You felt a tidal wave of realization so strong come over you that you had to take a step back.

“Oh,” you said softly, barely audible. Oh.

You loved Colin Bridgerton.

That’s what this feeling was. Feeling completely safe around him, so comfortable being yourself, and wanting more of him in any way possible. The need to feel his touch, the pull you felt toward him every time he was near you, and the desire to keep speaking with him for hours– it all made sense now.

You loved Colin Bridgerton.

Of course you did. It was frankly astounding that you hadn’t realized it sooner. But you couldn’t ruin the friendship you’d built with him over some silly feelings, could you?

Despite wanting to run into Colin’s arms, you knew you needed to get as far away from him as possible right then. So, you excused yourself to sit on a more secluded bench where you could think freely about the consequences of your realization.

---

It had been two hours since you had last spoken to Colin, and he was getting antsy.

Everything had been fine. Or at least that’s what he thought. Gregory had catapulted a ball directly at your head, and he had grabbed you and pulled you out of the way. And then refused to let go of you. All because he was too taken with you to remember how to act properly as a member of polite society.

Colin started pacing. You had probably figured out that he loved you. His behavior today had been a dead giveaway. There was simply no possibility of you still not knowing of his feelings for you, and Colin was three seconds away from losing his mind.

You had found out and now you were probably avoiding him, how dreadfully embarrassing. He needed to fix this now. Before your family went home and you never let him see you again.

Wringing his hands behind his back as he approached the bench you had been sitting on for the past two hours, Colin cleared his throat softly.

“Do you have a moment to speak?” he asked, overly formal as he navigated uncharted waters.

You nodded in response, gesturing toward the empty seat next to you. “I suppose we should,” you assented, the past few hours of nerves completely soothed by Colin’s presence.

“I very much appreciate our friendship as it is,” stated Colin. “And I really can’t apologize enough for my conduct earlier in the season.”

“Oh, Colin, that’s not-”

“No, no just let me finish. Otherwise, I won’t have the courage to get it out.”

Colin swallowed before continuing.

“I… I know that you want to marry a titled man and I know I don’t have a fortune. I am a third son with no talents and… and yet, I love you anyway. And I am so sorry. I promise I never meant for this to happen, but I love you. I do.”

You stared dumbly at him, butterflies erupting in your stomach as you realized that he had the same feelings for you as you did for him.

Admittedly, it was a bit entertaining watching him get all worked up over nothing, you mused. But it seemed like he was determined to keep speaking, so you only nodded as he continued.

“Y/N, you are all I think about, and all I picture as my future,” Colin said, eyes not quite reaching yours. “And I’ve never come across someone quite like you, who makes me feel the way you do. I know it’s horrible timing and it’s not at all my place to feel this way or to tell you. You must understand that I am so sorry, but I love you anyway.”

Then, lifting his worried eyes to meet yours, he started reaching for your hand, stopping himself before his fingers touched yours. “I hope you can forgive me because I would be more than happy to attend your wedding and see your dreams realized. But, believe me. I’ve tried, and I can’t help it. Not with you.”

“Colin,” you whispered, hand reaching out to touch his cheek.

He shook his head in response and closed his eyes, clearly pained by the thought of seeing you with anyone else.

“You can send me away if you like,” Colin assured you. “If you tell me to never speak to you again, I will. I’m so sorry. I just needed you to hear it from me.”

“Colin,” you repeated this time a bit more forcefully.

His eyes shot open, and he furrowed his brows at your smiling face. “Yes?”

You giggled. “I think I’d like to kiss you now.”

“What?” he said, dumbfounded.

“I’d like to kiss you now if that’s alright with you,” you said, biting your lip as you held back a laugh.

Colin took a second to process what you had just said. You nodded at him, confirming that you did, in fact, want to kiss him, and his face broke out into the biggest smile you’d ever seen on his face.

Placing a hand on your cheek, he fluttered his eyes closed and put his lips on yours. You brought a hand behind his neck and pulled him in closer, amazed at the feeling of finally kissing someone.

You rather suspected you had wanted this for a while, you thought, your lips moving in sync with Colin’s. How on earth you had managed to keep your hands to yourself before this you had no idea, but as the kiss deepened, you brought your hands to his shoulders and pulled Colin in, wanting to be as close to him as humanly possible.

Suddenly remembering why you were kissing in the first place, you pulled away from Colin, who whined softly as you leaned away from him, chasing your lips with his.

“I love you, too, you know,” you said, pecking Colin as he stared at you like you had personally hung every star in the sky.

Colin groaned under his breath, breathing deeply as he once again placed his lips on yours. “I love you,” he said between kisses, not ready to let you go long enough to say it properly. “So much.”

You smiled into the kiss, slipping your tongue into Colin’s mouth and tentatively exploring the new feeling. How you had ever lived without this was beyond you, but you supposed you had never really wanted this before you met him. Even at the beginning of the season, when you supposedly hated him, you could recall more than a few times you had felt this exact desire.

“I hope you don’t plan on defiling my daughter if you don’t intend to marry her,” came your father’s deep voice from behind you two.

Instantly separating from one another, you both coughed awkwardly and tried to disentangle yourselves.

“Marry her?” sputtered Colin, momentarily forgetting that your father had walked in on the two of you kissing a mere ten seconds ago. “I could do that? You would let me marry her?”

Your father laughed. “Even after that," he said, gesturing in Colin's general direction, "it would still be an honor to have you join our family.”

As you watched him walk away, Colin squeezed your hand, laughing gleefully. “Did you hear that? I get to marry you!”

“Were you not planning on marrying me after kissing me?” you scolded, tone only half accusatory.

“No, I mean– Well, I was just–” he rushed out, eyes searching yours frantically.

“It’s alright,” you laughed. “I was only joking.”

Colin let out a sigh of relief, kissing you firmly on the lips. “You never cease to vex me, woman.”

“Isn’t that what you like most about me?” you teased, biting down on his lip softly.

He groaned, unable to contain his desire for you. “We’d better get married tomorrow if you’re going to keep doing that.”

Then, separating himself from you slightly, Colin turned serious again. “You do want to marry me, don’t you? I know I obviously do, and your father said I have his permission, but do you want to?”

You bit your lip, full of affection for the boy who stole your heart. Even after kissing him and telling him you loved him, he still wanted to ensure that you wanted to marry him.

“I think we’d make a good pair, don’t you?” you said, nodding at him.

“I’ve thought that since the moment I saw you.”

“Well, we got there in the end didn’t we?”

“And I’d do it all again just to be able to marry you,” Colin assured you, kissing you on the nose.

—

previous part || next part || buy me a ko-fi!

I no longer have a taglist for this fic, but turn on post notifications for @bosbas-library to stay updated when I post!

[tthelady]

Genshin Impact 5.6 Spoilers

I finally had some time to digest the 5.6 archon quest, and I'm kinda loving and hating it. Overall, my opinion is that it was rushed.

The quest was about 2 hours long, and in it, we got so many insane lore drops yet never got the chance to digest them properly before we moved on to the next big thing. I think they should have made Paralogism into two archon quests (5.6 & 5.7) or made 5.6 longer (like using those two time skips).

One of the things I wished they did was expand the lore more, especially the Gold devouring the Shade of Life.

Dropping this bombshell of a lore drop on us and then saying "thank you for your help" and ending the conversation is crazy.

Another thing I wished we had was the chance to explore the the court room and see Albedo in jail ourselves. This should have been a new area for us to explore instead of us just teleporting in and put of it.

And Dahlia introduction to the scene was low-key, really disappointing. This is the first time we see him in the game, and he barely gets any time to shine, and considering his position, he definitely should have gotten more screen time.

Also, there's og Durin, I did not like how he was handled at all. How are you gonna call him a child in one breath, then say that he needs to be killed in the next, and his pure and nicer version on him will live and take over.

I thought og Durin and mini Durin would be merging together and that we'd get the chance to atleast talk with og Durin. Lowkey hoping that og Durin and mini Durin ended up merging together instead of one of them dying.

On another note, mini Durins human design already looks so good.

Some of the things I absolutely loved about this quest though was the lore drops (I'm still screaming about them like HOLY FUCKING SHIT OH MY GODD), the hexenzirkel, seeing them again and doing their trial was so much absolutely loved it. I so loved the fact that the trials were the plans from the Knights of Favonius, this should their unity and teamwork so well. Seeing the ragbros fighting alongside each other had me kicking and screaming. Also loved the part where we went around helping different characters and talking with character throughout the fight on mondstadt it reminded me of Natlan during the fight against the abyss (one of my favorite parts). Also that cutscene of Albedo doing alchemy that was so fucking good!

We got two time skips where we could have been getting information and doing more things. The first time skip was between Albedo's first and second trail. In those two days, we could have spent gathering more information, actually meeting talking to Albedo ourselves, going to see all the locations marked on his map, expanding the new lore more. Maybe even learning through meeting Albedo that he didn't trust everyone and kept talking in code (since no knew yet who was under Durin's control).

The next time skip happened between getting Durin's core and the start of the Windblume festival. Between these two days we could have spent seeing about Albedo put things together and since we barely got anything for the festival this time we could have altleat used those two days to help put the festival together after the fight.

They either should have done this Interlude chapter in two archon quests with 5.6 focusing planning and gathering information about the situation at hand and expanding our knowledge of the new lore. We should have used the time between Albedo's first and second trial for that. While 5.7 would have started on his second trial focused on the execution and aftermath. Either this or they should have made 5.6 a bit longer instead of skipping two days ahead on two different occasions. We should have used those two days to expand our knowledge.

Overall, I liked the new archon quest. It had so many amazing lore drops. But I do think its pacing could have been much better. I also think my expectations for this quest were a bit different and high, and I got a bit disappointed with how quickly things ended. But other than this, it was great.

[22ayla21]

Jiaoqiu x Reader

You have known Jiaoqiu since childhood. You liked his mischievous and cunning nature, and it’s not surprising, because he is a fox, and although you are a long-liver, you are an ordinary person from Yaoqin.

As the years passed, although you were friends, as you grew older you were busy with your work. Jiaoqiu as a healer in the alchemy commission, and you as the owner of a small traditional-style cafe. Over the years, Jiaoqiu matured and no matter how you look at it, he was still an enviably handsome man. It would be a lie to say that you liked him too, but remembering his character at times... Yes, it’s better that you don’t need such a thorn in the form of a sly fox who always loves to tease.

Later, you were stunned by the news that he would quit his business due to a broken heart. You tried to support him, to bring clarity to his clouded mind from love, but in the end you had a big quarrel, which is why your long-term friendship collapsed.

Even if Jiaoqiu later realized his mistake, he understood that you were unlikely to accept his apology, because then he told you a lot of unnecessary things, which he really shouldn’t have done. And although he smiled at others with his signature grin, when he saw you, this smile disappeared. He felt very bad at heart for his words.

At some point, he even came to terms with the fact that he had lost someone so close to whom he would trust his life. Until one day you came to his pharmacy.

There was no face on you. My eyes were swollen from crying, black circles under my eyes from insomnia, and I just looked tired. Jiaoqiu was horrified to see you like this. The smile that always accompanied him disappeared.

- (Y/N)? - the fox hesitantly pronounced your name. You didn’t look like yourself, even if it was that you were offended by him, you weren’t so upset. What happened to you while you were quarreling?

To be honest, you didn’t want to come to him, especially in this form, but you knew that the only person (fox) you could trust was Jiaoqiu. Taking a step towards him, you said with a voice hoarse from crying:

- My mom died...

- What?... - Jiaoqiu’s shock was impossible to describe in words. He knew your mother as a strong and resilient woman. He won’t deny that your mother scared him at times, but despite this, she cared for and sincerely loved the mischievous little fox with whom her daughter was friends.

- This morning at 8:20, my mother died in intensive care. For the last year and a half, she was sick with something, all the healers from the Alchemy Commission could not help her, - a minute of silence in which Jiaoqiu did not believe your words. -... I don’t believe... I don’t believe that she died!

Falling to your knees, you began to cry hysterically again. You didn’t want to believe that such a strong and healthy person like your mother died from illness. She had never in her life complained that something hurt her or that she felt bad. Even the commission’s doctors were surprised at how strong your mother’s body was, with all this amazing willpower that helped her in the fight against the disease, but even this did not help. Experienced doctors, a strong body and the desire to live next to her beloved daughter did not help her overcome the disease.

Jiaoqiu himself didn’t fully believe in your words, but seeing how you were crying hysterically and didn’t believe what happened, the only thing he did at that moment was hug you. When you lose someone close, it is a terrible pain that even time cannot heal. He knew that you were strong, that perhaps you could cope with the loss, because your parents passed on two strengths to you: your mother’s perseverance and your father’s patience.

Jiaoqiu hugged you until you fell asleep from powerlessness. Taking you in his arms, he carried you to his home so that you could rest, although looking at your condition, he understood that you wouldn’t be able to rest much, so he decided to stay next to you in order to calm or support you if something happened.

As you understand, the situation described in the story is directly related to me. As someone who has lost a loved one, I will simply say: value the time you spend with your loved ones, because you will never know when Death will take them away from you. No one expected that my mother would die, even those closest to me, we all hoped for the best, but even so, an absolutely healthy person developed cancer. Well, I... I still don’t believe it, I’m still waiting for my mother to call me and say that she’s feeling better, but she won’t call me again...

Appreciate the time spent with loved ones.

[zetsubobu]

Tag game!

I made a twst oc alphabet for fun that you can do with your ocs and tag others in!

Feel free to either answer all of these at once or let your followers ask you a letter!

A- alchemy: how skilled are they in alchemy lessons? Does crewel like them?

B- bonds: who do they get along with the best? Is there someone they can't stand? What are their relationship with their family?

C- clubs: what clubs are they in? Did they perhaps form their own club?

D- dream: what does their happy dream from book 7 look like? Do they need help in order to wake up or realise that something is off by themselves?

E- end of school: what are their plans after graduation? Do they want to get a job or continue their education?

F- flying lessons: how well can they fly with a broom? Do they play in a spelldrive team?

G- glory: what is their biggest achievement? If they don't really have one, is there something they praise themselves for?

H- history of magic: how well do they know history? Do they pay attention in trein's class or fall asleep?

I- idolising: who of the seven (or other canonical disney character) do they look up to and respect the most?

J- jealousy: is there someone they envy? Why do they envy them?

K- kindness: how do they treat the others around them? Do others like them or perhaps have a negative perception of them?

L- love: is there someone they have their eye on? Is it a full blown crush or simply someone they occasionally eye? Does their love interest reciprocate their feelings?

M- mental stability: how well are they doing mentally and emotionally? Do they have any mental illnesses or other troubles that bother them?

N- night owl: do they go to bed early or stay up late? If so why do they stay up late (work or insomnia)?

O- overblot: would or have they ever overblotted? What resulted in that and how did they handle it afterwards? Did someone they are close to overblot?

P- pacifist: do they handle their problems with brute force or do they try to handle things by talking? Do they make up their mind quickly or consider other people's opinions in how to approach something?

Q- questions: what is something the others around them often wonder about regarding your oc? Are they mysterious to others?

R- right: what is something they absolutely believe in? Can that belief be shaken or disproved?

S- species: are they human or are they another species like fae, merman or beastman?

T- tutoring: do they tutor someone or do they need tutoring? What subjects do they tutor/need tutoring in?

U- unique magic: what is their unique magic? Do they have discovered it already or not like ace?

V- venture into darkness: are they couragous? Do they flight or fight when faced with danger?

W- wildcard: a random fun fact about your oc!

X- xenium: what would they gift strangers or friends?

Y- youth: what did their childhood look like? Were they happy growing up? Are they still in contact with people from their childhood?

Z- zest: what excites them? Do they easily get excited or does it happen once in a blue moon?

I will do it later with marvolo!

For this tag game I tag: @oyatochie @oya-oya-okay @sleepy-meep @esmerulia-chantelle @cheerleaderman @deerla-charming and anyone that wants to do it!!

[inkbomber]

okay my spoilery [movie3 and my fic] chaos theory [not that one] + godhood scribbling on the wall of my cell [largely incoherent] rambling below the cut

CHAOS THEORY THOUGHTS — CHAOS ENERGY — FRIENDSHIP, LOVE, UNDERSTANDING ABLE TO TRIGGER CHAOS CONTROL MORE EASILY

THAT’S ALSO WHY HE NEEDED THE SATELLITE SHIT, ORIGINALLY THIS WAS A PURSUIT OF CHAOS CONTROL AS PERFECT ENERGY SOURCE

ROBOTNIK CAN’T SAY I LOVE YOU, BECAUSE WHAT IF HE’S LYING? WHAT IF HE SAYS IT, AND THEIR LINK DOESN’T HUM? IS HE EVEN CAPABLE OF LOVE? WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR STONE TO BE THE ONLY ONE WHO LOVES HIM?

OH MY GOD.

ROBOTNIK NEEDS TO MAKE MUSHROOM COFFEE AND LICK THE QUILL TO GET HIS MIND WORKING FAST ENOUGH TO LOOP ON IT’S OWN, LIKE SONIC HAD TO BREAK A KIND OF SPEED BARRIER WHERE HIS PHYSICAL POINT IN SPACE TIME WAS IN TWO PLACES AT ONCE - HE’S NOT CRAZY HE’S NOT FUCKING CRAZY FOR ANY OF HIS SCIENTIFIC DECISIONS HE IS IN FACT THE SMARTEST MAN IN THE FUCKING WORLD HOLY SHIT

THIS GUY WAS ABOUT TO BREAK RING TECHNOLOGY WIDE OPEN, THIS IS A MAN WHO NEEDED AN EMPIRE’S WORTH OF RESOURCES TO OPEN HUMANITY UP TO IT’S FULL POTENTIAL, DUTY IS LOVE IS POWER THEY REVERBERATE OFF EACH OTHER IN A WAY THAT ACTIVELY SPARKS ROBOTNIK’S ENTIRE EXISTENCE HIS TIMELINE PLUCKED HIS TIME IN EMERALD MODE A LITERAL INCARNATION OF [THE UNIVERSE] HE IS ALL OF HIM IN THESE MOMENTS

IT IS HIS [literal] GOD COMPLEX THAT MAKES HIM CRAZY.

STRONG EMOTION REVERBERATING THROUGH PEOPLE WHO ARE COSMICALLY LINKED CAUSES A FEEDBACK LOOP ON THE BEINGS THAT ARE CONNECTED, TRIGGERING [CHAOS POWER] USAGE

BEINGS THAT ARE ENTANGLED ARE CONSIDERED THE SAME BEING BY THE UNIVERSE, HENCE WHY SONIC AND SHADOW CAN GO GODMODE AT THE SAME TIME, AND WHY ROBOTNIK’S LIGHTENING DOESN’T INJURE STONE

ROBOTNIK YELLING AT STONE [stone seeking to understand him, as always] HAD SIMILAR EFFECT, WHICH IS WHY THE QUILL STARTED GLOWING IN STONE’S POCKET AT THAT MOMENT OH MY GOD

THE JOLT FROM THE QUILL SPEEDS ROBOTNIK’S MIND UP ENOUGH TO LOOP THAT FIRST TIME AS WELL BECAUSE HE AND STONE KISS AND MAKEUP AT THAT POINT, [STRONG EMOTION] HE’S SO FUCKING READY [THEY’RE BOTH EXCITED, THIS IS THE THING THEY’VE BEEN TRYING TO FIND FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS, IT’S UNBELIEVABLE THAT IT WAS DROPPED IN THEIR LAP LIKE THIS] HOLY SHIT

ROBOTNIK HAS BEEN FUCKING HIGH AS A KITE FOR MONTHS, SELF-ANALYZING SIX FUCKING WAYS FROM SUNDAY, AND COMING UP WITH INSANE NEW CHAOS THEORY STUFF, INCLUDING HIS FOCUSING, PURPOSEFULLY, ON HIS FEELINGS [LOVE, IDIOT] FOR STONE

AFTERALL, ATOMS THAT ARE ENTANGLED AGREE ON THEIR STATE, THEY THOUGHT ABOUT EACH OTHER EVERY DAY, ROBOTNIK DREAMED OF STONE EVERY NIGHT. I WONDER. IF. THEY EVER DREAMED TOGETHER? DID THEY HIT JUST THE RIGHT COSMIC CHORD, AND THE QUILL GLOWS IN HIS GRASP AS HE SLEEPS? FUCK.

STONE GETS KNOCKED OUT AND ROBOTNIK HAS TO RELY ON WRATH TO GET HIM THROUGH THE FIGHT

FUCK! SHADOW USING HIS LOVE FOR MARIA TO EXERT CHAOS CONTROL - I SWEAR THIS SHIT IS LITERALLY CANON OH MY GOD

THAT’S THE POWER OF LOVE BABY

7 EMERALDS, 7 SINS, EVERY BAD OR GROSS IMPULSE

ROBOTNIK REQUIRING BLOOD SACRIFICE LMAO, WONDERING HOW MUCH OF ALCHEMY IS ACTUALLY APPLICABLE, SCIENTISTS HAVEN’T ALWAYS BEEN CALLED SCIENTIST [fucked as any church] THEY WERE PHILOSOPHERS, MEDICINE WOMEN, WITCHES, SAINTS - half beloved, half reviled

THE EMERALD IS A CONTROLLER

HAVING LOVE IN YOUR HEART WILL SAVE YOU FROM THE OTHERWISE CATACLYSMIC EXPERIENCE OF BEING A HUMAN BEING

CHAOS USERS BEING LITERAL INCARNATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE’S WILL, ROBOTNIK FORCING HIMSELF INTO THAT POSITION THROUGH HIS LOVE FOR STONE AND ABUSE OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD, HE IS THE BEST, HE IS THE SMARTEST, HE WILL SURVIVE THE BLAST THROUGH HIS STRONG EMOTION, MANIPULATING HIS OWN LOVE OF STONE INTO A PURE SORT OF CONTROL, SHADOW SURVIVES THE SAME WAY

ORGANIC CHAOS USERS ARE SOMEHOW PROHIBITED FROM KNOWING THE NATURE OF GOLDEN GODHOOD

STONE REFINES THE BADNIKS ENERGY SOURCE, COPIES SONIC’S QUILL STRUCTURE, COLOR OF ENERGY GETS CLOSER TO BLUE THE CLOSER HE GETS [I LOVE YOU PURPLE BOY]

THE SONIC UNIVERSE IS A LOVING UNIVERSE

[astonmint]

straight from the tortured poets department !

➘ the tortured poets department!au featuring the grid

✶ in honor of taylor swift’s 11th studio album’s one-year anniversary. it will forever be the album of my life.

max verstappen -> who’s afraid of little old me?

this might seem annoyingly cliche, but bear with me – the song perfectly matches the persona the media has crafted for him

this aggressive, ill-tempered champion who cannot regulate his anger

likewise, it also fits the idea of max being manipulated into a grand prix-winning machine because of his abusive dad’s ways

and the fact that many people try to justify these horrible actions perfectly aligns with the song’s themes

charles leclerc -> loml

“il predestinato” – the title given to him by his fans

the idea that he is the “chosen one” fits this song so well, especially with the doomed angel narrative that has been slowly forming over this season

ferrari was his biggest dream, but so far... not everything has gone the way he wants it to.

also the song itself is a sad piano ballad, and charles can literally play the piano.

lewis hamilton -> clara bow

as a 7-time WDC, he has achieved things previously thought impossible

yet, every year, there always seems to be speculation about a “new hamilton”, as if the original icon isn’t thriving even to this day

lewis has faced so much discrimination, fighting tooth-and-nail to achieve the glory that he has

this song is so brocedes-coded, especially, “the crown is stained but you're the real queen”

lando norris -> fresh out the slammer

he has had to handle years of being scrutinized by the media, and all his haters claiming that he doesn’t know how to drive, that he’s wasting his time with mclaren, when better teams want him to drive for them

but with mclaren’s recent success?

it shows that everything he wanted was right there, it just needed time to be cultivated -- you can’t rush greatness

oscar piastri -> the alchemy

he has this sweet book boyfriend vibe to him that this song gives off, even if it is a little wattpad-like

also, he’s always been called the second driver of mclaren, but his recent success (4 wins in 3 years) proves that he isn’t just a pretty face

he’s also known for his quiet, chill guy demeanor. he doesn’t want the spotlight, but it finds him anyway because of how incredible he is

lance stroll -> imgonnagetyouback

the aston martin reference? too easy.

but, if you want more detail.

he has this unshakeable vibe to him, that he doesn’t let the haters get under his skin.

he is in it to win it, and he’ll do whatever it takes.

also, you never know what is going to happen next with him. will he crash into the barriers? will he score points? it’s a mystery!

carlos sainz jr -> so long, london

overall, the song is giving carlos' split from ferrari

despite the fact that he's an insanely talented driver (in 2023, carlos was the only driver to win a race besides max), he is constantly passed over for some shiny talent that is “better”

he thought that ferrari would be his endgame, but it wasn’t.

▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀▄▀▄▀▄ ▀

𓂃˖ ࣪⊹ did you enjoy this? comments, likes, and reblogs are immensely appreciated .ᐟ

꩜ want something else? send me a request in my inbox .ᐟ

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Sanctuary - Chapter Six.

Thank you so much for your support on this, guys. And now, after being the meanest queen of the cliffhanger last week, I will deliver what you've been patiently waiting for!

Summary - It was a crime that shook the metal community and beyond to its core, the Solna Satanic murder case blowing apart the lives of many. With Lucas and Nils - frontman and drummer of popular metal band The Hanged - trialed, found guilty and subsequently sentenced, few were inclined to believe either deserved any offerings of a second chance. Lucas, in particular, did not consider himself worthy until salvation came in the form of a letter.

Words - 3,990

Previous Chapters - One Two Three Four Five

Warnings - 18+ content, minors DNI!

“Alright, man. You have to think about every unsexy thing you can here, save blowing your load before you’re even inside her. Shit, this isn’t easy. She’s too fucking sexy.” 

The staunch words Lucas had with himself as they continued to kiss, Erika seating him at the foot of her bed before stripping to nothing before him were very much needed. A woman with that kind of confidence had always been a huge allure; coupled with the fact that it had been twelve years since his last sexual encounter, and it made for an extremely potent alchemy. 

In order to hold himself in some kind of control, he attempted to make it very much about her, hands roaming her curves, only leaving her skin when she pulled his vest over his head. Pushing him back on the bed, her tongue swiping up the centre of his defined chest, it seemed Erika’s need to please him was a powerful force to battle against.  

As was the lust that wound tightly through him because of it.  

His brain became foggy, desire consuming him, the touch of a beautiful woman returned to his body leaving him powerless to fight against it. A low, hissing breath escaped his throat at the feel of her mouth closing to suck his nipple until it pebbled, a soft bite sending waves of pleasure skipping over his nerves.  

Sitting up, she smoothed her hands over his pecs, down onto the chiselled planes of his abs, her eyes stormy with desire. “You have to be about the sexiest man I have ever fucking seen. Wow.”  

The desire lit in him had caught at her edges, both of them burning in the same wanton inferno, Erika biting her lip with a soft gasp as he gently groped her tits, folding to begin laying kisses over his magnificently ripped physique. Undoing his jeans, she slid them down, taking his tight, black boxers with them.  

Having him there before her, naked upon her bed had been a fantasy that had played in her mind for years, and now there he was. The object of her lustful teenage fantasies, looking at her like she was the most beautiful thing on earth.  

Parting his thighs, she knelt down on the floor, the sheepskin rug at the bottom of her bed cushioning her knees, wrapping her hand around his cock. It was truly perfect, not overly long but very thick, Erika feeling her insides slick further at imagining being parted around such girth.  

Keeping her grip gentle, she began to stroke him, watching his eyes fall shut as he groaned, deep and lust soaked. “Ahhh, fuck.” he hissed on a breath, his abs tightening, bouncing hard when her tongue met the crease of his left hip. Soft kisses peppered over his lower abdomen, her hand continuing to move in steady rhythm on his shaft, eventually taking those kisses to the head of his cock.  

His entire body stiffened, eyes scrunching shut as she fed him slowly into her mouth, feeling him twitch against her tongue as she took her hand away, gently scraping her nails down his heavy thighs. Her mouth was stretched to capacity to take him, her lips sinking to the base, his dark blonde pubes tickling her nose before she slowly slid her mouth back up, softly pulsing her lips along his shaft as she ascended.  

It was hard to keep her hunger for him in check, letting him pop from her mouth, tongue running down the vein thickening the underside of his hardness, his groan making her walls clench with want. Oh, to simply move astride him and sink down. It was an urge she fought hard against, returning her mouth to him again though and repeating the same slow, sensuous action of making him disappear into her throat.  

For Lucas, though, with his heart hammering like a war drum, on the receiving end of probably one of the most skilfully administered blowjobs he could remember having, it was too much. With his nerves frayed on the pleasure that ripped through them like a sweet knife edge, chest rising and falling rapidly, he grasped her upper arms and hauled her up until she was astride him again. 

“Feels too good,” he murmured, kissing her blindingly. “Let’s concentrate on you for a while, yeah?”  

Humming into the kiss, her nails stroked swirls at the sides of his neck, his hands gliding down her back, one moving to slip between her legs. His insides tightened to feel how wet she was already, her soft little moan as his fingers delved between the petals of her cunt making his cock pulse hot.  

To touch a woman again intimately; he knew he’d missed it, but it wasn’t until that moment as he began to stroke her, fingertips rotating a light circle of her clit, that he truly realised how much. Her kisses went to blaze, tongues rolling together as she felt the heat of it skip over her bones, panting into his mouth. Twelve years had done little to hamper what was very obviously an impressive aptitude for arousing a woman out of her mind. 

Those talented fingers then slipped down, dipping into her hole, just enough to make the stretch of them shoot up her spine like a shockwave, settling in her brain, the sensation dizzying. Breaching her further, she mewled against his tongue, a slight crook raking against endless paths of nerve endings, pressing the heel of his palm against her clit.  

Fuck... fuck... 

Each slide of his fingers back and forth in her heat fractured lightning beneath her skin, her hips purling against his hand, mouth moving to his neck. She cried out, all soft heat, teeth softly marking the side of his throat with a little bite, Lucas moving her onto her back, arranging himself to lie flat between her legs.  

His pupils blew out rapidly as he watched the trawl of his fingers, glossy wet as they raked at her puffy cunt, wasting no time in replacing them for his mouth. Oh... oh gods above him. How he’d missed the way a woman felt against his tongue.  

The rolling groan that reverberated through his throat threshed heat straight to her chest, the feel of his mouth all over her cunt eating her greedily – yet not sloppily at all – intensifying the golden glow of ecstasy. Those groans only loudened, a continuous sound rich and full of indulgence, sucking upon her hungrily as he suddenly began to chuckle.  

“Sorry,” he spoke, releasing her folds with a little slurp. “I’m not usually this noisy, but fuck, I missed pussy.” 

Reaching for him, she stroked his shortly shaven hair, nails raking over the flecks of stubble. “Don’t apologise! Unless you couldn’t tell by the fact I’m probably drowning you a little, I’m having a damned good time.” she assured him through her soft laughter, Lucas going right back to what he was so enjoying.  

The press of his tongue against her little bud had her panting, the stimulation perfect, her legs quivering as he held them firmly splayed in each big hand. Pushing against her opening, he tongue fucked her, his cock so rigid it throbbed with sinful pulses, the feel and taste of her exquisite. 

Pleasure roared down her spine, pooling at his tongue, his groan at feeling her dampen his mouth so deep and gritty, it made her stomach roll over. It only intensified when he returned his licks to her clit, thumbing the hood, making it stand out to each careful beat of his tongue. Using the tip to flicker rapidly, he then alternated, sliding in a gentle circle, her legs tensing rigid, her wail making him smile against her soaked folds.   

“Oh, my fuck. You’re so good!” She whispered, eyes fluttering shut, nails trailing his scalp as she writhed against the heavenly ministrations of his mouth. He licked at her with all the precision and skill she’d touch herself with, her body humming with ecstasy, hardly able to believe how good he was.  

Twelve years had not diminished his skills as a lover, it would seem, although Erika had no idea just how tightly the nerves were gnawing at his insides at that moment. He knew she’d be understanding, but all the same, he didn’t want to disappoint the woman who’d been there waiting for him, for that very moment.  

It flowed fluidly between them, though, Lucas emerging from between her legs to kiss her heatedly, murmuring something about condoms as his hands stroked her breasts. She didn’t break away from those sinfully hot kisses while reaching for the drawer beside her bed, pulling one out and handing it to him.  

His look of trepidation as he pulled it out had her in soft fits. “Stop being so nervous!” 

“I can’t!” he cringed, laughing awkwardly. He had to admit, though, her good humour was dissolving the tension a little as he pulled the condom on. “Okay, are you ready for the best twenty seconds of your life?” 

She arched an eyebrow. “I was promised twenty-five.”  

He smiled, a little grimaced, shaking his head as he sat back on his heels, pushing her legs apart to splay her and with a fluid push, sinking in.  

Lightning forked his spine immediately, feeling the hug of wet velvet clutch around him, the way her mouth dropped open and the little blissful sob that fluttered out only intensifying it. The way she looked at him made little storms rage through his chest, falling to her, mouth meeting hers in a kiss of swirling, burning desire as he began to move back and forth steadily.  

“Fuck,” she whimpered, “oh, fuck, your cock feels so good!” 

Immediately, it sent a bolt through him, the tangency lost as he slipped out with a burst of laughter. “And you just nearly turned me into a ten second wonder. Stop it.” 

At least he could laugh about it, Erika giggling hard, exploding when he emerged from the side of her neck at the pained look on his face. “Just take it slow and pull out if it gets too much.” Stroking his face, she kissed him, nails tickling his beard. “It’s fine, don’t stress.” 

Arrowing into her again, he dragged her walls slowly, his hands grasping the beautiful orbs of her breasts, her little gasps making his insides sizzle. The heat of her had him melting right to his very marrow, kissing from one side of her neck to the other, Erika juddering with delight beneath him, turning her head to receive a kiss of scorching lust.    

Her nails clawed his back as he filled and emptied her deliciously slowly, wailing as she was speared so deeply, she felt his balls press into her with every thrust, her back curving in response to ruinous way in which he fucked her. It was scalding, the way his body slid against hers, moving one of her legs up and somehow, managing to hit her deeper.   

Clutching him, her hands were everywhere, panting against the smoky kisses they shared as she was arrowed into repeatedly. He stared down at her, nuzzling her softly, watching the way her bright green eyes danced in flames of pure sin, his heart skipping on a couple of beats.  

How had he gotten so lucky, to be free at last and there with her? The moment had kept him going for so long, resting his forehead to hers, fingers trailing her cheeks as he kissed her deeply.  

“Oh, shit, oh! You feel so fucking good, gonna make me come so hard!”  

Those wails pulled him headlong out of any kind of control, hips pounding against her as tingles surged sharp beneath his skin. The fluttering of her walls around him as she came apart had him cresting, the force of his orgasm knocking him sideways.   

Looking down at her, he smiled, chuckling softly at her blissed-out face. “A solid two minutes. Better than I thought.” She didn’t reply, gaping, looking a little out of it. “You okay?” 

“I’ve never come from penetration alone before,” she panted, “or that fucking quickly. Fuck, if that’s what you can do to me in two minutes, I think I’m about to have a really, really good afternoon.” 

Oh, how she wasn’t wrong at all. Once the man found his stride, he was boundless. 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, ohhh!”  

She’d never been with a man physically strong enough to literally hold her on his forearms as he fucked her against a wall with such ease, but there she was, being pounded to the beat of Rein Raus by Rammstein blaring from her speakers. Fitting, given the subject of the song itself.  

His fingers dug in at her hips, slowing, daggering her slow as his teeth gently nipped at the side of her neck, both sweat soaked and panting hard. The slow punch of his cock hit her deep, sent sparks flaring through her blood with the rolling rhythm of it, her nails dragging down his wide back.  

Speeding up again, he set the kind of unforgiving pace that drove thoughts from her mind, anything else other than how it felt to have him inside her, his body pressed tightly to hers completely eclipsed. Staring at her, she felt entranced by the flashfire blue of his eyes, his teeth gently tugging a bite at her lower lip, moving her from the wall and taking her to the bed.  

Lying back, he happily let her take control, hands touring her tattooed curves as she rolled her hips against him, glimmers suffusing every nerve ending as soft moans dripped from her mouth like honey. 

“That’s it, baby,” he encouraged, reaching to push his fingers between her full lips. “Give me all those pretty little noises while you ride me hard.” 

Sharp, hard thrusts met each of her downward movements, the thick of him spreading her wide, remaking her around him as the pleasure skittered over her bones, loving the feel of his hand gently gripping her neck as she stared at him alluringly.  

The deep grind of him had her aching with tension, his other hand moving to her, thumb rubbing at her clit, evoking the kind of wails that made him throb as he dragged her sweet spot. “Come on, beautiful. I wanna feel you come on my cock.” 

Rubbing his thumb harder, he felt her tense around him, Erika throwing her head back as her release fractured beneath her skin and rushed through her like a torrent. Pulling her down against his chest, he held her clasped to him, driving up into her so hard, she screamed in his ear. 

“Fuck, I’m coming again, fuck, Lucas!” It hit her in unabating waves, left trembling against him as he pounded every wave of his release into her soaking core, both rendered completely breathless. 

“You’re such a fucking good fuck!” she finally panted, kissing the side of his neck, feeling his cock still gently twitching within her. 

He grinned, easing her onto her back and pulling off the condom, knotting it and throwing it into the bin. “I didn’t want to say anything before, because I wasn’t sure I still would be. But yeah, I am.” 

She grinned at the wink he gave her, tickling the side of his back with her toes. “Those skills aren’t the type someone forgets, not even after twelve years.” 

Moving onto his front beside her, he kissed her shoulder a few times, chasing the pink flush over her chest with his fingertips. “Well, I wasn’t sure. It pays to be humble.”  

Truly, he had no need to be. Not after what she’d been receiving on and off for the last few hours.  

They lay together kissing and talking, their tired bodies illuminated in the afternoon light casting long shadows across her bedroom, Erika watching as his eyes began to grow heavy. When the rhythmic stroking at her waist ceased, she turned to see his face shuttered in sleep. 

“I think you earned that rest.” she whispered, throwing the sheet over him and creeping from the bed, grabbing her sweats and a small, clean tube top before heading out for a shower.  

She was mid-way through applying body lotion after getting out when her phone began to trill at the side of the sink. 

“Just making sure you’re not dead!” 

Nina. Because of course, it was Nina. 

“That joke is in poor taste, doll.”  

“Sorry, couldn’t help myself!” It seemed not. “Look, I have to make light of it somehow. I’ve been so bloody worried about you all day.”  

Erika softened then, hearing the concern in her voice. While she might have trusted Lucas, Nina didn’t, and that was fine. She didn’t know him, after all, didn’t see the change in him. “No need to worry, but I get why you did. I’m absolutely fine, alive and well, as you can hear. To use one of your famous British-isms, though, my fanny is absolutely knackered.” 

There was a pause. “Oh, oh so you did go all in?” 

She loved Nina to death but wasn’t in the mood for being chastised in a motherly, “that isn’t what I advised you to do” way. “Having sex with the man I’m dating isn’t going all in. I can still be getting to know him while I do. In fact, sex is an important part of that process.”  

Again, there was a pause, the sound of air being huffed out audible down the line. “You’re right, you’re right. Sorry, mate. I need to start trusting you a little bit, don’t I? It's like what Carrie said, you do you.” 

“Apology accepted,” she replied, keeping her voice light while underneath, she felt a little needled.  

“So, where are you, his place or yours? How was your day with him? I’m done being a twat now, back to supportive Nina.”  

Erika liked that she saw the folly of her opening statements, feeling herself unclench a little as she began to dress. “It’s been wonderful, yeah. He’s been wonderful, we’ve had a great day together. And we’re at my place. I just got out of the shower, and he’s passed out in bed.” 

Nina sighed, hearing it clearly. “I’ve pissed you off, haven’t I?” 

“Little bit.” Honesty was always the best policy. 

“Look, can we start afresh tomorrow? I’m sorry, I understand that me and my big mouth probably took the sheen off things for you. I need to work on that.” 

Yes, she really did. “Okay, see you tomorrow. Love you.” 

“Love you too, girly.” 

While the sentiment was genuine, it was delivered crisply, Erika hanging up and leaving the bathroom, heading into the kitchen. It was while she was pulling a cold can of soda from the fridge that she heard her bedroom door open, Lucas’s voice following. 

“Mind if I use your shower, beautiful?” 

“Go for it,” she replied, “there’s fresh towels in the cupboard under the sink.” 

“Thanks, won’t be long.” 

While he showered, she stewed in her fury, muttering to herself while sipping on ice cold soda. A few minutes passed before she saw him approach in the kitchen window reflection; Lucas able to see that hers was not a face of happiness until he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her cheek.  

“What’s the matter?”  

“Nina,” she sighed, leaning back against his bare chest. With the heat still high, she didn’t blame him for only re-dressing in his jeans. “She called while you were sleeping and made a couple of comments that pissed me off to be honest.” 

His arms tightened a fraction before he turned her to face him. “Talk to me, tell me what she said.” 

While he moved to seat himself up on the counter, she leaned back against the fridge opposite. “Well, she began the phone call with “just making sure you’re not dead!” which was fucking disgraceful if I’m honest,” she began, Lucas interjecting. 

“Can’t say I blame her, I mean, she’s your best friend and I’m a murderer. I understand why it pissed you off, though. What else?” 

Not even a flicker of anger in him. God, she wished she had some of his emotional maturity. Not that she was particularly immature, but it didn’t take much to spark her temper. “So we talk a little and yeah, obviously I told her we had sex, and she’s all like, “oh, so you did go all in, then?” and taking to me like I’m a fucking teenager, not a woman of thirty who can make up her own fucking mind about a person. A person she doesn’t even know!” 

Seeing her spiral into anger, he reached for her, pulling her between his legs and hugging her. “Baby, calm down,” he soothed, stroking her back. “You need to expect she’s going to be protective over you, y’know? What kind of friend would she be if she wasn’t, hmm? I’d be, if I was her. Did she apologise?” 

“Yes, but she shouldn’t have said it in the first place. It was poor taste!” 

His hand continued stroking, her muscles remaining clenched tight. “It was, I’ll give you that. I can see it from both sides here, though. If she apologised too then that’s something, right?”  

“Lucas, how can you be this nice and accepting over someone who only sees you as a murderer?” she cried, her frown deepening, beginning to gesture with her hands before bringing them to rest against his thick shoulders.  

His reply was simple. “Because to Nina, that really is all I am. She doesn’t know me, but she will eventually. Give her a little grace, baby. She’ll come round when she does get to spend some time with me and see for herself I’m not just the crime I committed. Some people handle what they’re not comfortable with using dark humour, too. I bet she’s the same, right?” 

She was, actually. He’d hit the nail on the head. “How are you so fucking perfect, hmm? How?” she exclaimed, watching him shake his head. 

“I think it’s very well established that I'm far from it,” he began, widening his eyes a little, taking the can of soda from her hand and swigging back a sip. She moved away for a second, delving into the fridge and grabbing one for him, Lucas taking it with thanks. “Prison gives you a lot of time and patience, patience with other people and all their flaws as well as yourself and your own. Don't be too harsh on her. She just loves you is all.” 

“Yeah,” she sighed, resting her forehead against his chest, “I guess you’re right.” 

Hooking his fingers beneath her chin, he lifted it, pressing a kiss to her lips. “I am. It’ll be fine, you’ll see. Now, do you want to order us some dinner in and I’ll pay, or shall I just take you back to bed?” 

Her smile grew in an instant. “Both? First then second?” 

“Done.” 

God, he was so, so lovely. Such a patient, level-headed man. Erika was determined not to let anybody take the sheen of that for her either, although she knew inevitably someone likely would further down the line. For that moment, it was just about them, though. Them, a Thai takeaway, and then him indeed taking her back to bed. 

“I just text Alex,” he told her later that night, climbing back into bed after using the bathroom. “Said I’d see him in the morning if you can give me a ride over there before work?”  

“Yeah, of course I can.” 

“Good, because I don’t want my first night falling asleep as a free man without you in my arms.” 

She was certain she’d discover plenty of things to the contrary eventually, little quirks about him that would bug her to death, but for then she was firmly sticking to the notion that Lucas Borgström was indeed perfect.  

A/N - Did you like what you just read? If so, please reward your author with a little comment or a reblog. Your support would mean so much to me!

Next Chapter

[dyaz-stories]

I know this not WIP Wednesday but let's pretend it is because I want to share something! I've written a gentle 1k for who are we to fight the alchemy today, trying to get back in the swing of things, so here's a little sneak peek at Kagome and Gojo's interactions for the next chapter.

“Wow,” Gojo said instead of a greeting, “it’s like you don’t even want to talk to me when you have nothing to ask me to do. Am I not even good enough to be your taxi anymore?”

It was like she could hear his pout in his voice. Kagome dropped her bags to the floor, wanting to do nothing more than to collapse on her bed.

“Sorry,” she yawned. “I know you’ve got your own stuff to deal with.”

As a matter of fact, the last time they’d talked, he’d had to cut it short because, in his own words, ‘a curse the size of a small asteroid was heading for New York’.

“I didn’t want to distract you or—”

“Oh, please, distract me.”

“—or add more things on your plate,” she finished.

There was a moment of silence, which lasted long enough for her to wonder if he’d received intel about another ridiculously high-powered curse. That was to say, it lasted somewhere around 3 seconds, which, with Gojo, was like an eternity. The man was physiologically incapable of keeping quiet.

“I can handle it,” he replied after a while, sounding vaguely offended.

“I know,” she said, starting to change into her pajamas, “but it’s not really your responsibility, right? I can’t just shove my problems onto you and expect you to deal with them. That’s just not right.”

More silence.

“It is my responsibility,” he answered at last. “When I decided to keep Choso alive—”

“Decided is a big word, since that’s the only way this was gonna go,” she interrupted him, “and no. I brought him to the temple, I’m the one who’s been pushing for him to meet Yuuji. That’s all on me. You don’t have to carry that on top of,” she waved vaguely towards the distance, even if he couldn’t see her, “you know, soul-eating, poison-breathing, fire-spitting curses.”

The silence was seriously getting unnerving.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “Guess I don’t have to.”

He didn’t sound convinced. Well, she supposed he did have a lot to handle — a lot that only he could handle. She knew how that felt. He just needed to see that when she said she could take something, she meant it. She wasn’t the bragging type, and she knew her limits. Okay, sure, she was a little tired, but that didn’t mean they had even come close to testing them since she’d met him.

“Hey, d’you think next Thursday works for Choso?”

She sat straight up on her bed.

“Seriously?”

“When am I ever not serious?”

She rolled her eyes, refused to humor him.

“Oh, that’s going to make his day, Satoru. Thank you so much. Will you come, too?”

“As fun as it would be to let Yuuji handle that on his own, I think I’ll tag along, yeah. You wanna go for some more ice-cream? That’d be a good outing for the kids.”

“That does sound—”

“You finish at two on Thursdays, right? We’ll come get you.”

“That’s perfect,” she said softly. “Thank you. I mean it.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll find a way to have you repay me. I own your soul now.”

“Hm, there was no contract, sorry, you’ll have to find another to get it.”

“Wait a minute—”

“I have to go to bed, now. Good night!”

“Don’t you dare—”

Kagome was grinning from ear to ear when she hung up. Gojo seemed to have that effect on her, didn’t he? She kind of enjoyed it, just like she enjoyed the soft warmth that spread through her when she talked to him. She didn’t see a point in dwelling on it just now, but she did.

Whether it was the good news or the conversation with him that was responsible, she got the best night of sleep she’d had in weeks.

[charles-leclerc-official]

Every Grand Prix in 2024 as a Taylor Swift Song

A 24 song playlist to capture the 2024 season vibes. Each song is meant to capture something unique about each race or to convey a notable moment.

Now this is Charles and Ferrari biased, I am not giving Mclaren the happy endings here.

Bahrain: New Romantics

"We team up, then switch sides like a record changer"

"Please take my hand and // Please take me dancing, and // Please leave me stranded // It's so romantic"

Start of a new season with hopes and also old rivalries. Let's go, everyone's excited even though the race was a disaster for most teams with their cars falling apart, but baby heartbreak is the national anthem, so stay hyped!

Jeddah: Fearless

"'Cause I don't know how it gets better than this // You take my hand and drag me head first // Fearless"

Ollie did jump in that car fearlessly.

Australia: . . . Ready For It?

"So I'll take my time // Are you ready for it? // Oh, are you ready for it?"

This was the race that in hindsight was the beginning of a tone shift, Ferrari 1-2 and the whole world saw that the Red Bull car/team wasn't perfect.

And in hindsight I don't think any of us were in fact ready for it.

Suzuka: Dancing With Our Hands Tied

"I, I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us So, baby, can we dance // Oh, through an avalanche?"

Hard fought race on many sides, especially Yuki and Charles who had the defining drives this race.

China: The Way I Loved You

"Breaking down and coming undone, it's a roller coaster kind of rush"

"But I miss screaming and fighting and kissing in the rain"

Rain means we needed some rain metaphors, and also this is when we started to really see some fighting on track between the Ferraris and also between Lewis and Max and Max and Lando. A lot of clashes happened here that would foreshadow tensions later in the season.

Miami: This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

"This is why we can't have nice things, darlin' // Because you break them, I had to take them away"

This is the song the safety car was playing when it came out where it did.

Imola: Out of The Woods

"Are we out of the woods yet? Are we in the clear yet? Are we in the clear yet, good"

A race with many questions. Max barely held on to his lead, Ferrari wasn't sure where they were with the upgrades, a lot of questions left to ask after a fairly uneventful race.

Monaco: Long Live

"Long live the walls we crashed through // How the kingdom lights shined just for me and you // I was screaming, 'Long live all the magic we made'"

Really no other song can come close to capturing the Monaco win.

Canada: This is Me Trying

"I've been having a hard time adjusting. I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting."

Another race of struggle. Not just for Charles and Ferrari as a whole, but this was not an easy race for anyone. A lot of things fell apart. Merc messed up, Mclaren messed up, Checo and Red Bull massively messed up. This was the race of the strugglers.

Spain: Anti-Hero

"I have this thing where I get older but just never wiser"

"It's me, hi, I'm the problem, it's me"

A lot of problems cropping up again, and again, they are familiar battles that still have yet to find resolution.

Austria: Bejeweled

"Best believe I'm still bejeweled when I walk in the room I can still make the whole place shimmer"

"I think it's time to teach some lessons"

Max did teach some lessons, and George did come out of this still bejeweled.

Britain: The Alchemy

"I haven't come around in so long, but I'm coming back so strong"

"So when I touch down // Call the amateurs and // Cut 'em from the team // Ditch the clowns, get the crown // Baby I'm the one to beat"

Taylor wrote this song so it could be played for Lewis' return to the top step. Doesn't matter the rest of the field behind him was having the worst race of their lives, Lewis was the moment.

Hungary: Getaway Car

"It was the best of times, the worst of crimes. I struck a match and blew your mind. But I didn't mean it, and you didn't see it."

"No, nothin' good starts in a getaway car"

Yeah, Oscar bites it turns out. Nothing good starts in an orange car.

Spa: Haunted

"It's getting dark and it's all too quiet and I can't trust anything now. And it's coming over you like it's all a big mistake."

Inside George's head after his win was taken due to the team's mistake.

Zandvoort: I Forgot That You Existed

"I forgot that you existed // It isn't love, it isn't hate // It's just indifference"

There's only one orange army, and it aint Mclaren.

Monza: Sweeter than Fiction

"I will say, "I knew it all along" // Your eyes are wider than distance // This life is sweeter than fiction"

"Proved me right, proved me right when you proved them wrong. And in this perfect weather, it's like we don't remember the rain we thought would last forever and ever"

Charles winning after so many thought it was over, proved a lot of people wrong and reminded the sport why winning in Monza only matters in red.

Baku: Should've Said No

"Yesterday I found out about you. Even now just looking at you feels wrong."

"You should've said, "No" // You should've gone home // You should've thought twice 'fore you let it all go"

I mean, intense race, with crashes and an illegal car part scandal that will forever taint the race result? Yeah seems like the classic infidelity song captures the strong emotions from that weekend.

Singapore: Vigilante Shit

"You did some bad things, but I'm the worst of them"

"I don't start shit, but I can tell you how it ends"

Max stole the show in Singapore, not only with his drive, but also with his response to sweargate. It didn't matter who won or how, this is where Max stopped playing nice with the media and the FIA this season.

Austin: I'm Only Me When I'm With You

"Well, you drive me crazy half the time, the other half I'm only trying to let you know that what I feel is true. And I'm only me when I'm with you."

Only team worth winning with is red, Charles and Ferrari together in the chaos of this season for the highs and the lows, this being another high.

Mexico: Castles Crumbling

"And I feel like my castle's crumbling down // And I watch all my bridges burn to the ground"

"Their faith was strong, but I pushed it too far. I held that grudge 'til it tore me apart."

A lot of things falling apart this race. Similar to Canada in many ways.

Brazil: Wonderland

"And life was never worse but never better"

"Flashing lights and we took a wrong turn and we fell down a rabbit hole. You held on tight to me 'cause nothing's as it seems and spinning out of control"

Hard to find a song that captures the duality of the high that Max and the alpines experienced alongside the chaos and pain felt by the rest of the field, but life was never worse but never better is as close as I can get.

Vegas: The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived

"Were you sent by someone who wanted me dead? Did you sleep with a gun underneath our bed? Were you writing a book? Were you a sleeper cell spy? In fifty years, will all this be declassified? And you'll confess why you did it And I'll say, 'Good riddance'"

This seems pointed, but Charles basically recited the bridge to this song in his post race radio. That was the standout moment that people were talking about. Now I also think it fits as this was Max's fourth win and that win sent a message to all the small (likely british) men who questioned his fitness as a champion and tried to stop him at every turn this season.

Qatar: I Bet You Think About Me

"Mr. Superior Thinkin' Do you have all the space that you need?"

"I bet you think about me when you say "Oh my God, she's insane, she wrote a song about me" // I bet you think about me."

Hard to encapsulate the George vs Max of it all in a single song. But the tone of this one I think fits the petty vibes.

Abu Dhabi: I Can Do It With A Broken Heart

"Lights, camera, bitch smile, even when you wanna die"

"All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting "More" I was grinning like I'm winning, I was hitting my marks 'Cause I can do it with a broken heart"

Charles drove like that for the fool's chance at the constructor's, and then they made him act in a stupid movie. In any case losing the constructor's was heartbreaking, but we continue on because it's Ferrari and we come back next year stronger.

That and I think the song is a good finish to the season where so many just had to keep going even when it was hard (physically and mentally)

That's my playlist. Congrats on surviving whatever the 2024 F1 season was.

Hopefully 2025 makes for a banger playlist too.

[dayfaresthenight]

Louis Francois-Bell

Name: Louis-Francois Bell

Alt Names: Aculia Bell (Alter)

Special Titles: Alter, Priest, Hunter, Cleric, God Of Free Will, God Of Arcane Arts, God Of Healing

username: MemoriesOfArchalia

Nicknames: Louey, Bat Wings, The Black Crane

Chronological Age: ???

Age: 18

Pronouns: Any/All, But Perfers Male Pronouns.

Sexuality: Pansexual.

Gender: Genderfluid.

Species: ???

Disorders: C-PTSD, DID, Anxiety, Conduct Disorder, Hypersexuality

Physical Disabilities: Immunocompromised, Slight Weakness in Right Arm, Slight Burn Scars on Arms and Legs

Active Addictions: None.

Recovering Addictions: Self Harm, Alcohol, Weed.

Religion: Daisyism.

Job: Cleric In-Training.

Majoring in: Psychology

Lives in: His Pocket Dimension. Lately, he has been staying with Daisy more often.

Languages: English, French, Runic, Several Ciphers, Ada, Feyish.

Height: 6'0

Accent: Posh and well-spoken, similar to an old Vamperic Count.

Monster Form: ???

Animal Form: A Gray Fox.

Spirit Form: A Sickly and pale boy in a gray hoodie.

Spirit Level: Acceptance.

Powers: Everything She Can do, I can do.

Weaknesses: ???

Strings Form: A Sketchpad that he keeps by his side at all times.

Soul: A Blazing Pink, with slight gray outlines.

Weapons: An absolute clusterfuck of various occultic weaknesses, everything she has.

Wands: ^

Alignment: Neutral Good. (Can be a little silly at times)

Text Color: Bold Black.

Main Animal: Foxes. I'm a big fan of Raccoons too.

Main Hobbies: Puzzles, Debate, Magic, Socializing, Alchemy, Art, Harp, Violin, Writing, Chess, Hunting.

Favorite Food: Mhm. I'm not a picky eater. I'm a fan of Sweets and Spicy things, however.

Favorite Flower: Daisys.

Scent: A faint Blueberry smell, slightly charred ash on occasion.

Handedness: Left Handed.

Blood Color: Red.

Awareness: Fully Aware (Effect: Neutral)

Birthday: Techincally, September 24th. For simplicity's sake though, June 21st.

Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSZlAltkYoc

Playlist: WIP

Fun Fact: He shares memories with Aculia, although holds some different opinions and worldviews then her.

Special Interests: Psychology, Magic, Chess, Classical Mystery Novels

Stims: Bouncing his Legs, Clicking his Pen. A lot of more subtle stims.

Comfort Objects: His Sketchpad, a Daisy Plushie that he has, his main staff, and a Silver Ring with a Grayish black gemstone in it. It means everything to me.

Extras: Alter of Aculia.

Family:

David Crane (Biological Father) [80%]

??? [Mom] [Deceased]

Daniel Crane (Biological Uncle) [80%]

Jonah Francois (Father) [100%]

Daisy Bell (Girlfriend, Future Wife) [100%]

Are Yoru (Girlfriend) [99.9%]

Alice Thoroughgood (Girlfriend, ???) [100%]

Eyeris Catarcat [Friend, ???] [90%]

Venus Violet (Father In Law) [75%] [Complicated Feelings.]

Zailyn Bell (Mother-In-Law) [100%]

Jessa Bell (Mother-In-Law) [100%]

Ebrofour (Father-In Law) [90%]

Radio Bell (Father-In Law) [0%]

Gratifying Days (Brother-In-Law) [75%]

Emily Bell (Sister-In-Law) [75%]

Friends: Alexander (Close Friend) [90%]

Kagayaki (Friend) [75%]

Romance: Daisy Bell, Are Yoru, ???, ???

Enemies: As long as you don't harm my family, I don't give a shit.

Patrons: Daisy, Daisy Bell.

Reincarnations: One.

Brief Personality: Compared to his other half, Louis is a lot more calm and reserved. Very polite and always willing to be supportive in time of one's need, with the uncanny ability to understand someone on a deep, deep level at just a glance

One can tell though there is a bit of anger brewing underneath his surface, although it is something that he has been recently able to fight back more and more. Family does wonders...

Brief Backstory: [To be Written]

[stealthnoodle]

How to Scrape Your Way Through Honour Mode and Look Reasonably Good Doing It

I won't say I beat Honour Mode on my first try, because my Dishonour Mode playthrough served as a critically useful dry run, but I will say that the first character I made with the intention of completing Honour Mode properly did in fact complete Honour Mode.

Below are the 13 most important lessons I learned along the way that made this possible.

1) Do not be Mothman.

You really want to minimize fights and maximize available vendors. Ask yourself "What would Mothman do?" and then do not do that thing.

2) Do be a half-orc.

Fights can go real wrong real fast, and in the early game, you are perpetually one bad round of combat away from oblivion. In my case, the harpies critted Shadowheart to death, and then every chucklefuck in my party failed their wisdom save at the same time. The other two members ate more multiattacks than they could handle, and then so did Pizzazz, but she held on with one single precious hit point after the last blow. She dug herself out of the hole with heal potions and her fists of righteous anger.

Pizzazz being a half-orc saved the entire run here. Having Death Ward once a day comes in fucking clutch when you're below level 5, and tbh the hardest part of Honour Mode is getting to level 5.

The harpy fight was also when I realized the need for a critical strategy:

3) Make one party member your panic button.

I only really needed this trick in the early game (I cannot emphasize enough how most of my close calls were before level 5), but it saved my ass several times. Panic early, panic often.

Pick the party member who has the least to contribute to a fight and park them where they can't get drawn into initiative. You can leave them all the way back at camp, or if you're me, just put them far back in hiding so it's easy to pull them in to help with late-fight cleanup if things are going well (or to finish a fight in the goofiest way possible, see above). Either way, their job is to run crying to Withers if everyone else dies.

Speaking of which…

4) Exploit Bone Daddy's indifference to being pickpocketed.

You can get back whatever "the price of balance" is by yoinking it right out of Withers's pockets. If you fail the sleight of hand check, no worries; you get pulled out of hiding, but he doesn't react at all, and you can just squat back down and get right back in there.

5) Tell Jesse you need to cook.

Potions of Speed are the goddamn Philosopher's Stones of this game. So I made Gale a Transmutation Wizard, made him proficient in Medicine, and put him in charge of alchemy. Just clearing the gnoll zone got me pretty well set for the first two acts.

Getting double heal pots sure doesn't hurt, either.

6) Start a local chapter of the Warding Bond Cleric Club.

This is something I discovered was possible while I was fretting over prepping for the end of Act 2, because last time was such a clusterfuck. You can hire three hirelings, give them fun names like Ouchie Magnet, Sexy Pincushion, and Yoohoo Loviatar, get them to cast Warding Bond on the party members you actually intend to use, and enjoy the full benefits of it out in the world while your hirelings stand around bleeding at camp.

Any buff that lasts until the next long rest and doesn't require concentration works like this, fyi. Death Ward and Longstrider are also especially handy (and once you get to level 11, Heroes' Feast). Setting this up is tedious enough that I only did it a few times during the game, when I was going into situations I couldn't easily extricate myself from in case of emergency. (So the Mindflayer Colony, the Iron Throne, the Steel Watch Foundry, and one last time for the Temple of Baal.)

7) Break big battles up into bite-sized skirmishes.

Why would I fight all the cultists at Moonrise Tower in a grand climactic battle when I could sneak around before finishing the Gauntlet of Shar and pick off my future foes in packs? Since they're not hostile yet, it's pretty simple to wipe them out one room at a time, using Minor Illusion to lure guards away from their posts. Then I got the joy of showing up with Jaheira and all her Harpers to curbstomp the two (2) guys I missed.

Also good for removing all the intellect devourers before you pick a fight with Mindflayers in the Mindflayer Colony and for surviving gnoll swarms. Sometimes you even get lucky and a hyena falls into a hole, somehow.

8) Fill your camp with literal tons of explosives.

See a smokepowder barrel? Pick it up and send it to camp. Do this consistently and you will have deeply nervous party members every time you light a campfire, probably, but you'll also have a way to cheese boss fights that you're worried about. I chugged elixirs that raised strength before the end of Act 2 so that I could bring a dozen smokepowder barrels with me to the Myrkul fight and absolutely trivialized it.

9) Become a partial illithid.

Mourn your aesthetic and commune with that frosty little worm. (Take Volo's amateur eye surgery, too, btw. Just fuck yourself up.) The powers are worth it. A truly hardcore player would also get their companions to dip a toe into ceremorphosis, but I started by asking Astarion, who fucking loves regular tadpoles, to try it, and his response made me feel so bad that I abandoned the cause entirely.

10) Start your day with a delicious and nutritious Heroes' Feast.

So I never really read the description closely because sometimes I'm just like that, but thanks to the Warding Bond Cleric Club, I started paying closer attention to buffs and holy shit??? Thoroughly Stuffed is a baller condition, and it also makes food. I didn't have to go grocery shopping even once! Having three bonus clerics with spell slots to burn also meant the 6th-level cost wasn't coming out of Shadowheart.

11) Accept that late-game enemy saving throws will mercilessly fuck you.

It feels real bad when you cast a 6th-level spell that operates on saving throws and your target shrugs it off with 0 damage. Spells with attack rolls are usually better bets, and Artistry of War is a wizard's once-per-short-rest MVP. Open Hand Monk Pizzazz was consistently my best damage dealer, especially once I looted the Bonespike Gloves from Strangler Luke.

12) Skip the high-risk low-reward quests in Act 3.

Consider your party composition and tactics and whether any optional quest line is worth completing for its rewards. Cazador, the Sharrans, and Ansur are non-trivially difficult fights that I didn't need to subject myself to, so I didn't. But there's real good shit under Sorcerous Sundries, so of course I cleared out that vault.

Hell isn't actually that bad on Honour Mode (no, really! The restoration faucets have unlimited uses!), but it's not a sure thing and I could live without the rewards. Had a tense moment passing the DC 30 Persuasion check with Kith'rak Voss later, but he chilled out and even let me borrow his dragon's breath.

The only unnecessary hard fight I did was the Steel Watcher Titan, which was a bad call on my part; I kinda wanted the crossbow and I really wanted to keep the runepowder bomb in case I needed it, but Mothman didn't do this fight, so I was not prepared for the Hellfire Steel Watcher Titan's bullshit. I won, but it was a closer shave than it should have been.

Then I ended up not using the crossbow at all.

13) Thank Gale for his sacrifice.

The Netherbrain is fucking nasty on Honour Mode. Fuck Karsite Grip. Fuck Aegis of the Absolute. Does it feel bad to make Gale sacrifice himself? Yes. Would it feel worse to lose the run right before the finish line? Also yes.

I brought every explosive I had with me (which required two rounds of strength-boosting elixirs, because the game hits you with a long rest before the Astral Plane) just in case Gale got cold feet and I burned all my inspiration fucking up the persuasion roll, then went through the sewers to avoid the larger fight. Someone (Gale, so I couldn't be too mad) failed a stealth check and aggroed them all anyway, but Pizzazz covered the ground to the brainstem in like three rounds and everyone warped up after her for the cutscene, so no harm no foul.

Then Gale volunteered—nay, insisted on blowing himself up and I felt bad! Real bad! Not bad enough to change course, but Pizzazz's face was also my face during epilogue:

P.S. At least for me, the achievement procced after the epilogue, credits, and post-credits scene, and I was tense af the entire time. But not so tense I couldn't be sad about Gale (oh no he wrote me a letter) and Astarion (oh no he's still in hiding because of Cazador). Luckily my big hot wife was there to support me.

Anyway, let's load an old autosave on another campaign and check out those golden dice, shall we?

Ahhh, my horrible son

[madam-whim]

Hi! I have some OC asks for you :D 📓,🌲 and ⚔️ for any of your choice!

Oh I'm going to answer these for Arri since they suit her best!

📓Basically, for Arri, it's the entirety of Within Temptation's "The Fire Within", courtesy of a dear friend of mine, who sent it to me and just said "Arri :)"... And he was entirely right, the whole thing screams Arri during the Imperial City showdown. We did a whole Arri-themed analysis with this song. Though the lyrics probably give a major thing about her away, so maybe if you don't already know it, don't listen with an Oblivion/HoK context in mind.

🌲She does, in fact, have a few favorite spots, though she only gets those after about 20 years of never staying in the same place for long! One of them is Martin's bedroom (which, to be fair, is going to be their shared bedroom) at Cloud Ruler Temple. Arri and Martin are two southerners, with him being having been raised around Kvatch and her being from Bravil, and they both hate the cold. And so that room eventually ends up being the coziest and comfiest place imaginable, with so many blankets and pillows, and she adores it. Her other favorite place would be her garden, where she grows her alchemy ingredients, flowers and practically any plant she might like. She even has a greenhouse, where she can grow things that require a bit of a different climate.

⚔️Arri and conflict... that's a bit of a funny thing. She does cultivate this image of being a bad person who's always ready for a fight and who goes actively looking for it. She pretends to have constant anger issues, she's picking (verbal) fights with just about anyone, she's yelling and cursing and just being plain rude. She's rarely ever serious about it, it's just a thing she does to make people hate her so they don't get close to her and possibly get their lives ruined (due to the curse she believes she's under). In reality, though, she is a kind person who does not, in fact, start fights. But she sure does finish them. She is the most protective person you'll ever meet, and she will fight anyone who threatens someone she cares about. Daedric princes included. If she's really emotionally in it when it comes to a verbal conflict, you can tell because she's either going to be completely flipping out, voice cracking and close to tears, or she's going dangerously quiet and appears kind of calm and collected, but the look in her eyes means death. The first happens when she is also scared or hurt, and the second happens most often when she's witnessed a grave injustice. Physical fights? Well, she fights the ones that have to be fought. She doesn't go into any of them unprovoked, but she will attack first and strike from the shadows because she was trained as an assassin and she needs that element of surprise to be at her best. She sneaks past anything that can be avoided, but if she needs to take someone out (say, for example, Mythic Dawn agents) to protect someone else, she will do so without question. Her professional assassin days have long since passed, though. She doesn't kill for money and hasn't in a very long time - she was literally a teenager when she was in the Dark Brotherhood.

[the-ranting-blog-for-izzy]

Aight I'ma try to put together a comprehensible rant of the entire lore of my pizza tower blog/Crystal pizza tower au (including the stuff that hasn't happened)oh to explain this a bit more easily I'm going to be putting it in two sections, section 1 will hold full explanations of each character and section 2 will include the arcs

I'mma start by doing just one character at a time, this one is going to be for PizzaHead/Totino

TW ABUSE, DARK MAGIC, AND DEPRESSION. (THERE MAY BE OTHER STUFF THAT I MISSED)

PizzaHead's charter explanation:

BackStory: So as we all know Totino used to live in a circus, but what none of you know is Tina was actually a homunculus created with a mixture of alchemy and dark magic~ (more on this topic later on) for now let's stay on the circus topic! Now let's just say his life in the circus wasn't exactly.... Friendly, in fact it was extremely abusive! In fact Totino would often get tased when he failed an act, the same went for his sister Archie, but this thing is Totino remember his life at the circus is perfect bliss, with NO abuse happening at all. "why is that?" I hear you asking, well the thing is whilst in the circus his traitor has a dark spell onto the entirety of the circus members, leaving them to only experience this perfect fake bliss that the creater manufactured for them so they wouldn't fight back.... Now let's skip forward until both Totino and Archie are 14 (this is when the circus burnt down) The twins mom said that they could light the fireworks that night, Totino exactly right off to the box where they are kept all the fireworks a lighter in hand, now since neither of the twins knew how to safely light fireworks so Totino and I'm lighting the firework in his hand inside of the tent, this as you can imagine, led to a lot of chaos.... This fire killed everybody but four people, Totino, Totino's mom, Totino's creator, and his auntie. Now let's skip to about a week later, Totino and Archie has been on the run, trying to find a place to safely stay at. They ended finding a under ground basement (Totino later as a adult would build the tower over this basement!) Now thankfully there ended up being a medibox in this basement (the reason they needed this is because Archie got severely injured by the fire) but unfortunately to Tina was too late, the infection that Archie had was too strong in she ended up dying in Totino's arms.... No this loss of his sister permanently harmed Totino mentally, it left his brocken, no, shattered. Lets skip to how this effects him in present times, over the many many years that Tino has lives the loss of his sister is still haunted into the point where you gave him crippling depression, made it where he could barely care for himself for the tower that he had built, so he built a robot (Digi/PizzaFace) to help care for the tower and to help make sure that he cared for himself. He went on for many years like this until that he ended up becoming fed up with being so fucking sad, he decide that he needs some human reaction to distract him from his morning, so he opened up the ask blog! Now this did legitimately help, a little... Unfortunately since you don't want to be all sad and mopey around people he ended up becoming a separate persona, a happy-go-lucky version of himself that he used to ignore his problems, but unfortunately his problems were too much for him to ignore would like to him gaining incredible amounts of anxiety making it hard for him to keep hiding his problems, at least untill he met random l, or more like when random met him. His love with random I give him something here and experience for many many years, Joy, pure joy. It also get from one other thing, hope, the hope that maybe he could get past his past, but since he was still using his persona to hide his problems he couldn't fully get past it all, if fact he couldn't get it past it at all, slowly waiting time to become back to how we used to be, depressed and tired (Random, this is in fact what you're currently witnessing inside of the Ask Blog! Which is also why Digi ask you to go help him as you're currently one of the only people who could really help him out of this hell hole....)

Now let's do something a little simpler, I'ma start using a bit of the format that I used to explain my OCS! To help explain Totino's character a bit more to people who haven't been in the blog.

Design details:

Adult ⬇️ Kid ⬇️

Okie let's start what's the kiddo since there's only one thing that I want to point out, reason his eyes are blue and pink like the usually ours cuz that's when he was under the dark magic spell the crater set him under!

Okie now let's do adult Tino's design! The the first one is what he looks like when he is fully dressed/ using his fake persona, he wears gloves to hi the fact that he has paw beans and uses makeup to hide all of his (are there brown or green but I haven't decided on a color yet) scales. He also uses a LOT of hair gel to smoothen down his fur and to make it look like he has a pizza crust thank you by specifically doing his hair. He uses quite a lot of makeup to hide all of his scales, but he also uses to make up to hide his raccoon mask pattern that he has around his eyes! Oh and instead of normal for he has rabbit paws :3 (you can see all these extra details in the secondary adult photo)

Personality: silly, goofy, fake, sad, depressed, gullible, dreamer, hopeless romantic, easily embarrassed, surprisingly romantic, good to romance, smart, thanks a little too literally sometimes, smarts before self care and personality, very science'sy, not city smart AT ALL, scared of people, and introverted.

Extra Info: him and random ( @random-obsseser) are both together as lovers! (I'm the number one fan btw :3) Totino's number one wish is to bring back his sister, his second one is to be human (he hates his current form...) his creator used three bits of animal DNA when creating him, Raccoon, Rabbit, and Dragon! He in fact does chitter like a raccoon when he wants something, need something, or is feeling a strong emotion (specifically fear, anger and sadness) he purrs when he's happy. He considers every single clone/creation that he has made to be his children of sorts (yes in this au he still creates cheese slimes and clones!). He has about a billion dollars to his name, but he uses all of his money to continue making the tower better and not for himself most of the time. You can in fact distract him with shiny objects or a laser pointer. He has a giant duck plush named Francois. He has a pet dog (one of his own creations) named Bibi! She looks like this ⬇️

Aight that's all :]

(I can't wait to share these goobers with the world EEEEEE!!!)

@mrfellsans @random-obsseser @chaotichyperfixations @cutechan555