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imaginespazzi · 4 months ago

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Part 2: And Even Now

Masterlist - Part 1 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11

Because I'll never let this go (but I can't find the words to tell you)

(In which a deadline-averse writer actually lives up to a weekly deadline)

Pairing: Paige Bueckers X Azzi Fudd

Themes: Angst, Pining, A little bit of fluff I guess?

Words: 6.9K (back to my usual)

TW: Swearing (I think that's it?)

A/N: Hello my lovelies <3 Happy Monday! Nobody get used to me actually updating on a proper weekly basis because really, let's be honest you're all lowkey shocked I'm actually living up to this too but we'll see how long I can make it last. As you read, let's just all remember my favorite three words: For. The. Plot! Editing and I continue to be sworn enemies so you'll definitely find typos along the way and feel free to point them out so that I can fix them. As always, let me know what you liked, what you disliked and what you'd like to see next. Have a wonderful rest of your week my loves <3

February 2033

Azzi’s heart is beating a million miles per minute as she gets into her car. She’s just invited Paige into her world and even if she knows that it was the right thing to do for her team, the full force of what she’s just done is starting to hit her. The plan had been the exact opposite. In fact the plan had been to avoid Paige at all costs while she was here in Oakland. Azzi had spent nearly a decade building this new world of hers that was devoid of anything Paige and it had taken Ohemaa an hour, explaining why Paige was the last domino they needed to fall to win a championship, to convince Azzi to bulldoze her own walls.

Banging her head against the steering wheel, Azzi lets out a frustrated scream. She’d been the picture of calm and composed while talking to Paige, but internally an earthquake had started rumbling within her the minute she’d finally laid eyes on the blonde. It was unfair that age seemed to have no effect on Paige, unfair that she still made Azzi’s stomach do somersaults, unfair that that stupid smirk made Azzi nostalgic for a feeling she used to call home. It’s funny really. There was a time in Azzi’s life where she didn’t know how she’d survive without seeing Paige every day. But now if the blonde does accept her offer, Azzi thinks, seeing Paige every day, might just be her poison ivy.

The sound of her car doors opening shakes Azzi out of her pity party, as she rushes to compose herself before Stephie sees her. Through the rear view mirror, she watches as her daughter happily climbs into her car seat, a giddy smile on her face. And all the stress and anxiety seems to evaporate.

“What’s got you so happy Stephie bean? What did you and Aunty Leen do?” Azzi asks, so focused on Stephie’s grin, that she misses Colleen, who’s just let herself into the passenger seat, shaking her head.

“Aunty Leen lost me,” Stephie says coyly and Azzi immediately turns to Colleen whose head whips around to look at the little girl in the back seat.

“Stephanie Katarina Fudd are you lying on my good name?” she hisses.

“Stephie,” Azzi chides, catching on quickly “did you run away from Aunty Leen again?”

“She was boring me Mama,” Stephie whines, sticking her tongue out at Colleen, “and if I didn’t run away, then I wouldn’t have met Miss Buecks.”

Oh.

She told me she thinks I’d look good in purple.

Azzi’s breath hitches in her throat. She hadn’t quite registered that Paige’s words from before meant that she must have met Stephie, too busy finding a way to get out of the gym that was starting to feel just a little too hot. It only clicks now as Stephie starts to ramble about how she’d ran into a stranger in the chill room. But it’s not the idea of Stephie and Paige meeting that sends a shiver creeping up Azzi’s spine. No, it’s that enamored smile on Stephie’s face. It’s the way Azzi’s little girl’s eyes light up just saying those two syllables Miss Buecks. Maybe it’s genetic or perhaps just a Fudd family fatal flaw but Azzi can see a fourteen year old version of herself, blooming in Stephie. She’d hidden it well, behind exasperated head shakes and exaggerated eye rolls but falling in love with Paige Bueckers had been just a little to easy back then. Apparently, it still was.

“She was really nice Mama,” Stephie gushes and Azzi’s hand tightens on the steering wheel, “is she gonna come play for your team? I told her she should.”

“So I heard,” Azzi murmurs and she can feel Colleen’s eyes immediately shifting to look at her.

“You talked to Paige?” Azzi’s best friend asks, a skeptical lilt in her voice.

Azzi shrugs, “I ran into her in the gym.”

“And what exactly were you doing in the gym?”

“Looking for Paige,” Azzi says sheepishly as Collen makes an indiscernible noise.

“Did you ask her to join your team Mama?” Stephie chimes in eagerly from the back, unaware of the way that the childlike hope in her voice is putting her mother on edge. Azzi has built an impenetrable fortress around her own heart but she’d never considered that perhaps she should have built a moat around Stephie’s too.

“Yeah baby, I did,” Azzi admits slowly and this time Colleen lets an audible gasp, except it’s drowned out by a series of exhilarated squeals erupting from the backseat.

“MISS BUECKS IS GONNA JOIN MAMA’S TEAM,” Stephie screams, practically bouncing on her seat as she begins to repeat the phrase in a sing-song voice.

“Hold your horses, kid. She hasn’t said yes yet,” Azzi warns.

Stephie smiles secretly, “but she will Mama, I know she will.”

It makes Azzi feel lightheaded, the amount of trust Stephie seems to already have in a stranger. There’s a part of her that wants to crawl into her daughter’s mind and erase the memory of blonde hair and blue eyes because she knows, she knows better than anyone, that once you walk through that door, there is no coming back. And Paige would never willingly hurt Stephie -even after a decade apart Azzi has that much faith in the blonde- but that doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t break her heart any way.

Colleen turns to Azzi, a look of unmistakable concern on her face as she makes a show of putting her hand against the darker-skinned girl’s forehead, “are you feeling okay?”

“Oh fudge off,” Azzi groans, swatting away her best friend’s hand

“Azzi let me get this straight, you’re telling me you asked your e-x-g-i-r-l-f-r-i-e-n-d to join your team?”

“Look at you spelling Col, I’m so proud of you-”

“Don’t start,” Colleen shoots her a look and Azzi sighs, “what happened to going into Ohemaa’s office and making sure that didn’t happen?”

“I did what I had to,” Azzi shrugs, “I put the team first.”

“And what about-”

“Colleen please,” Azzi begs softly, a wave of tiredness washing over her, “it’s done okay. And it might not even matter. She might not even say yes.”

Colleen opens her mouth and then sighs, seeing something in Azzi’s face that convinces her not to push. There isn’t anyone else in the world who knows Azzi better than her best friend, except maybe the woman they’re talking about. Paige would’ve pushed, she always had. Pushed and pushed until Azzi was letting herself free fall off a cliff, only harnessed by Paige’s promise to catch her before she hit the ground. And then one day Azzi had unclipped the harness, and it was their relationship that had come crashing down.

“Mama,” Stephie’s inquisitive voice calls from behind and Azzi hums in response, starting up her car, “you knew Miss Bueckers when she was littler right?”

“I knew her when she was younger,” Azzi corrects gently and knew feels like an understatement. They’d lived in each other’s skin, carving themselves onto parts of each other they hadn’t even known existed until the other had come along.

“Same thing Mama,” Stephie huffs, “was she still so pretty then?”

And as pictures of a younger Paige, beautiful and vibrant like the sun shining on the pavement after a thunderstorm, dance through her mind, Azzi can’t stop the soft smile that flitters across her face.

“She’s always been the prettiest.”

***

Paige isn’t feeling particularly talkative when her phone rings, Talia’s name flashing on the CallerID. Her senses are still drowned in all things Azzi and she’s not quite ready to be rescued from the ocean of memories that have suddenly flooded her entire being. She wants to lose herself in them, let herself be drawn back to what was. Paige has spent the better part of the last decade running away from her past but today, for the first time, all she wants is to let this slideshow of nostalgia keep on playing through her mind.

“Talia if you’re calling just to say I told you so,” Paige sneers into the phone, finally picking it up after the ringing starts to give her a mild headache. She’d texted Thalia almost immediately after speaking to Azzi, a simple i think i could make the Valks work, purposely leaving out what, or more precisely who, had convinced her.

“I would never,” Talia says with a hint of amusement, “if I started telling you I told you so after every time I was right, I fear I’d never have anything else to say to you because I am in fact, always right.”

Paige rolls her eyes, “alright then if you’re done gloating.”

“I didn’t call to gloat,” the manager’s voice is more serious now, “I called to tell you that I talked to the Liberty and they have an offer.”

“The Liberty don’t have cap space,” Paige says slowly, stomach suddenly queasy.

“They don’t have cap space this season,” Talia corrects, “but things are gonna change for them with Sabrina retiring after this season and they can move a couple of other things around to give us what we want next season.”

“What exactly are you saying?”

“I’m saying that the Valkyries don’t have to be anything more than a pit stop. I know I pressured you into this but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been trying to figure something else out for you behind the scenes.”

“And I assume you’ve talked to Ohemaa too then?”

Talia scoffs, “do I look like an amateur agent to you? Of course I have. This works for them too. If all goes to plan, they have the rights to Atlanta’s #3 pick in the draft and if the mocks have gotten it right, they’ll get Angie Davis.”

“The Stanford PG,” Paige breathes out.

“Exactly. She’ll get a year developing under you and then hopefully they won’t need you next year. And you won’t need them. Everybody wins.”

It sounds like the perfect solution. The Valkyrie’s would get what they need out of her and she’d get what she needed out of them. Then they’d part ways and Paige’s past would no longer be a factor in her present once she got to New York. One year and then everything would fall into place the way she’d wanted it to. It should fill her with excitement or relief or maybe even both but instead Paige feels nothing but unease, like she’s sealing herself to a fate of never truly having a home.

She rubs a tired hand across her face, “what if I don’t want to leave after a year?”

“Then we can talk about it in a year. You’re not signing anything other than a one-year contract with the Valkyries right now and letting both them and the Liberty know that you're keeping your options open,” Talia says, her tone perfectly business-like.

“Good,” Paige lets out a small sigh of relief at knowing she isn’t about to get herself legally bound to anything, “that’s good.”

“Why don’t you sound more happy about this Paige?” an irritated timbre slips into Talia’s words, “you were practically begging me to find you a way out of this and now that I have, it seems like you would rather I hadn’t.”

“The Valkyries are a good organization. Good front office, good GM, good coach, good facilities and you know how much I’ve always loved the Bay Area. Every time we’ve come here to play, the atmosphere has always been amazing. This place breathes basketball and I just wanna be a part of that,” and Paige means every word of it, even if there are other reasons at play.

“But you already knew all of that before you went down there Paige so cut the bullshit. Why exactly are you suddenly on board with all of this?” Talia asks, her voice hardening and Paige hates that her manager, who had really been more of a friend for the last couple of years, knows her just a little too well.

“I met someone-”

“Oh fucking hell,” Talia groans, “please tell me you’re not making career decisions with your pussy.”

“Don’t be crude Talia. After all these years, I think you’d know me better than that. I met a little girl,” an uncontrollably smitten grin flickers across Paige’s face as she thinks back to her conversation with Stephie, “and she- she made some good points about why I should be a Golden State Valkyrie. You’d be surprised how smart little kids are these days.”

Thalia’s voice is drenched in skepticism when she speaks again, “you met a little girl? Where?”

“At the Valkyries training facilities,” as soon as she says it Paige wishes she’d lied.

“What was a little girl doing at-,” another loud groan echoes through Paige’s phone and she can practically picture her agent fighting back the urge to facepalm, “please tell me you’re not talking about Azzi Fudd’s daughter.”

“I can’t tell you that,” Paige says, trying to keep her voice light.

“Jesus fucking christ Paige so you are thinking with your pussy then. You’re telling me you wanna join GSV because your ex-girlfriend’s daughter thinks you should? Do you hear how insane that sounds?”

No, Paige thinks, I want to join because my ex-girlfriend thinks I should. Except she’s pretty sure that wouldn’t go over any better with Talia. She knows it sounds insane, knows it’s a little pathetic the power Azzi still has over her, knows that it should have taken more than just Azzi’s little speech to change her adamant no into a resounding yes. But the truth is that the only good reason she’d even had to not want to go to GSV, was rooted in Azzi and once Azzi had removed that barrier, the decision had never seemed clearer.

“You said it yourself Tals. It’s been years. This isn’t about her and me. It’s about basketball and it’s about winning,” Paige says finally, even if the words don’t sit sound right as they waterfall out of her mouth.

“So this has nothing to do with Azzi Fudd?” Talia inquires.

“Nothing other than the fact that she’s the best shooting guard in the country and together we can be the best backcourt in the WNBA. Azzi Fudd,” it’s the first time Paige has said her name in a long time and it ignites a fire on the tip of her tongue “is my past and she’ll never be anything more than a future teammate, not again. Besides,” Paige’s stomach churns as the next words leave her mouth, “like you said. GSV doesn’t have to be anything more than a temporary pit stop.”

***

Putting away her weights, Azzi uses her forearm to wipe away the beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She hides a smile as her eyes fall on Stephie. A look of pure concentration marks her daughter’s face as she puts her full little body into lifting a set of 2kg weights. It’s become their Sunday routine. Azzi comes to the Valkyrie’s fitness center to train and Stephie follows along, pitter pattering behind Azzi and trying to mimic every exercise her mother attempts.

“Mama,” Stephie gushes as she catches Azzi’s eyes in the mirror, “I did twenty today. I think I can do the 3kg ones next time.”

Azzi laughs, walking over and bending down to give the little girl a high-5, “oh yeah? You think you’re ready to move onto the next level.”

“Yeah I am!” Stephie cheers, trying to flex her biceps, “look how big they’re getting.”

“Oh my god baby they’re almost bigger than mine,” Azzi says dramatically, flexing her own arms right next to Stephie’s.

“Just give me a year,” Stephie promises, giggling as she wraps her arms around her mother’s neck, “I’m gonna be the strongest Fudd.”

Azzi lifts her up with ease, pressing a delicate kiss against her daughter’s hair as the little girl settles into her side, hands immediately playing with the “S” necklace around Azzi’s neck.

“When Miss Buecks joins your team, do you think she can come ex-cise with us too?” Stephie asks shyly and Azzi sighs as she grabs for her gym bag.

She should have expected the question really. In the hours that had passed since Stephie had met Paige, the older woman’s name seemed to have risen to the top of the little girl’s vocabulary. Every little thing they’d done since had been accompanied by the mention of Miss Buecks, either a plea to have Paige join them next time or Stephie gushing about how she just knew Miss Buecks would be good at this too.

“You know kid, I’m beginning to think you might like Miss Buecks more than me,” Azzi teases with a lightheartedness she doesn’t feel. But she won’t let her own discomfort bleed into Stephie’s excitement.

“Don’t be silly Mama,” Stephie pulls at Azzi’s cheeks, “you’ll always be my favoritest.”

Don’t worry Az, you’ll always be my most favorite. It’s Paige's voice that echoes through her mind, casual and carefree and so, so honest. And she needs to stop doing this, needs to stop her brain from tying her present to the threads of her past, needs to stop her heart from letting Stephie and Paige be pieces of the same puzzle. It’s a dangerous wish she’d let bloom in secret for years but not all wishes are meant to come true, some are meant to tragically wilter in the darkness until they turn into a wistful what if.

A shrill “MISS BUECKS,” breaks Azzi out of her thoughts as the child in her arms starts to wriggle out of her grasp the minute they step out of the fitness center. As soon as Stephie manages to get on the ground, she’s running before Azzi can get a word out to stop her. And all Azzi can do is watch as Paige turns around at the call of her name, neutral face breaking into a luminescent smile as she catches sight of Stephie running towards her.

“MISS BUECKS,” Stephie squeals again, tiny hands outstretched as she picks up speed.

“STEPHIE,” Paige matches the excitement in the little girl’s voice, swinging her into her arms and spinning her around before finally holding her firm against her hip.

“I missed you,” Stephie confesses, “did you miss me?”

Paige's eyes soften as she nuzzles Stephies nose, “of course I did.”

Azzi feels paralyzed as she watches the scene unfold in front of her. Stephie excitedly chatters about some random topic and Paige seems mesmerized by the most mundane stories. And Azzi’s not sure if she’s floating or sinking, but she knows if she lets them, the tears begging to be released from her eyes could flood everything around her. Her hands fist of their own accord as she takes a step towards Paige and Stephie and it’s like a nightmare and a daydream all at once.

“Mama look,” Stephie notices her first, “Miss Buecks is here.”

Paige looks over Stephie’s head and as cerulean blue eyes pierce into Azzi’s dark brown ones, she wonders if Paige is thinking of it too, of the future they used to talk about while curled up in one of their UConn dorms as their hands traced forever into each other’s palms.

“I can see that Steph,” she musters up a polite smile, “Hi Paige.”

She gets an equally polite smile back in return, “Hi Azzi.”

Her name sounds different on Paige’s lips and Azzi misses the way Paige’s eyes used to twinkle just saying it, the way her lips would curl around that one word like it carried the meaning of life itself.

“Miss Buecks,” Stephie turns Paige’s face away from Azzi, hand resting against her cheek, “did you say yes to joining Mama’s team?”

Paige’s eyes flicker towards Azzi again, before coming back to rest on the hopeful little girl, “I did. I just signed the contract.”

Stephie screams, arms wrapping around Paige’s neck and Azzi expects Paige to at least flinch, but the blonde simply laughs, hugging Azzi’s little girl back with equal fervor.

“I take it you’re happy,” Paige whispers.

“I’m-,” Stephie crawls out from Paige’s neck to look at Azzi, “Mama what’s that big word you use es-est-”

“Ecstatic,” Azzi whispers, trying to pretend that Paige’s announcement hasn’t knocked the wind out of her. Hell has just become official and Azzi had personally invited it.

“I’m es-tatic that you’re joining Mama’s team Miss Buecks. I told Mama that I knew you would. I'm gonna cheer so loud for you,” Stephie says, unaware that her innocent words feel like shards of broken glass piercing at Azzi’s skin.

“That makes me ecstatic Stephie,” Paige says softly but there’s a hint of something else there that Azzi can’t quite place; the realization that she’s no longer as well-versed in the notes of Paige’s voice hits her like a hailstorm.

“Welcome to Golden State,” she manages to stutter out and Paige’s eyes drift to her before warily looking down to her outstretched hands, “I think we’ll make a good team.”

“I’m counting on it,” Paige nods as she reaches out the hand that’s not holding Stephie. And the moment they touch, it’s still electric, like lightning during the first thunderstorm after a drought. They stare at each other and Azzi wonders if Paige is thinking it too, thinking that if only they’d held on like this eight years ago when they should have. Blinking away droplets of what happened to you and me forever, Azzi reluctantly lets go of Paige’s hand, ignoring the way the feeling of it still lingers, like it’s destined to etch itself onto Azzi’s palms.

“Well Stephie bear, I think it’s time for us to go home,” she says slowly.

Stephie crinkles her nose, “we’re not going home Mama. We’re getting ice cream,” she turns to Paige with a serious expression on her face, “we always get ice cream after ex-cise. Mama says it’s good for the soul.”

“She’s right. Ice cream is good for the soul,” Paige smiles, giving Azzi a knowing look.

“OH,” Stephie shrieks, “Miss Buecks you should come with us so we can cel-bate you coming to Mama’s team.”

Azzi’s eyes widen, immediately getting ready to shut that dreadful idea down, “Miss Buecks is busy baby and she probably wants to celebrate with her own family.”

And if the word family makes Paige flinch, Azzi pretends she doesn’t notice.

“You don’t wanna cel-bate with me Miss Buecks?” Stephie asks and Azzi knows that even if Paige had intended to decline Stephie’s offer, once her daughter gives her those big sad eyes, the already people-pleasing blonde won’t say no.

“Nobody else I’d rather celebrate with,” Paige caves and Azzi sighs, switching her bag to her other shoulder. Some things would never change. Some things about Paige, she would always be able to predict.

“Yay,” Stephie cheers, finally slipping down from Paige’s lap, only so she can lace one hand in Paige’s and the other in Azzi’s, “let’s go cel-bate.”

***

It’s the first time they’ve been in a car together in a decade, and still the instinct to reach out and grab Azzi’s hand as she drives, prickles against Paige’s fingertips. She tries to focus on the road ahead, tries to focus on whatever story Stephie is telling from the backseat, tries to focus on anything but the woman in the driver’s seat who used to be her passenger princess.

“You’ve turned into a pretty good driver,” she quips slowly, trying to lighten the tension between them, “I’m only just a little bit scared for my life right now.”

Azzi cracks a small smile, “are you ready to admit I’m a better driver than you?”

“Not a chance.”

“Mama’s the best driver in the world,” Stephie chimes in loyally, “was she a bad driver when she was littler?”

“Younger,” Azzi corrects immediately, “and I was always a good driver, Steph. Don’t listen to Miss Buecks.”

Paige scoffs, “don’t believe her Stephie. She once nearly killed me.”

“I did not. I can’t believe you’re lying to my child.”

“Am I?” Paige cocks her head, “so you didn’t nearly back into me that one time during Christmas?”

“That doesn’t count,” Azzi protests, “I didn’t even know you were coming to surprise me. How was I supposed to know you were going to be right outside the garage door while I was trying to pull out.”

“There are these things on your car called mirrors Azzi, think maybe you should try and use them sometimes.”

“It was dark and I was in a hurry.”

“Where could you possibly have had to go that late on Christmas?”

“I was going to surprise you,” Azzi exclaims, “but you beat me to it so,” her voice fades off as an awkward silence cuts into the easy banter. The memory of that night is clear in Paige’s mind. Christmas 2021 when they’d been teetering on the edge between something and everything. They’d decided they’d meet up the day after Christmas to exchange presents, leaving the day of it just for their families. But the whole day had passed and Paige had been consumed by nothing but missing Azzi. And as soon as night fell, her mind was made up to go see her best friend. She hadn't known just how much Azzi had missed her too. Not until now. It’s funny, Paige thinks, they’d once been the kind of people who didn’t know how to exist when they spent a day apart. Now they were the kind of people who’d fought to spend nearly a decade apart.

“Miss Buecks,” Stephie cuts in again, voice inquisitive, and Paige doesn’t think she’ll ever get tired of hearing the little girl call for her; it fills her with a warmth she didn’t even know she had the capacity to feel, “Mama said you’ve always been the prettiest, even when you were littler.”

Paige’s eyes dart to Azzi, a smirk playing on her lips as she watches a pink hue spread across the brunette’s cheeks, “she said that?”

Azzi doesn’t say anything, hands tightening on the steering wheel as she finally maneuvers into a parking lot.

“She did,” Stephie confirms, “and she said you were really good at bask-ball and really smart. And then Aunty Leen said something in her ear and Mama got all shy.”

“Right Stephanie. I think that’s enough talk about what Mama said,” Azzi says as she finishes parking and starts to unbuckle her seatbelt, muttering something about inflated egos under her breath.

“Nah Stephie,” Paige grins as gets out of the car, “I like hearing what your Mama said about me.”

It earns her a glare from Azzi and that only makes her smile harder. Paige is no stranger to praise and compliments but it’s always meant just a little more when it came from Azzi. And she’d never admit it to anyone but every time she’d come across a clip of Azzi praising her over the last couple years, she’d let the clip loop for far longer than she should have.

“You know what Bueckers,” Azzi says, “you’re buying our ice cream.”

“That’s not fair Mama,” Stephie chides, “we’re here to cel-bate Miss Buecks. It’s her treat so you have to pay.”

“Yeah Azzi, it’s my treat so you have to pay,” Paige mimics, high-fiving a beaming Stephie.

Azzi looks between the two of them, an offended expression on her face, “my own daughter,” she gasps, “betraying me. I see how it is.”

“You’re the one who says we have to be fair,” Stephie says, nudging her mother slightly so she can clutch her hand and then turns to look up at Paige, “was Mama really pretty when she was littler?”

“Younger” Azzi corrects again, before focusing on Paige, “and you don’t have to answer that. She’s seen photos of me from before.”

“But I wanna know from Miss Buecks,” Stephie whines.

“Stephie,” Azzi warns, an edge to her voice.

“She was the most beautiful girl in the world,” Paige says softly and two sets of dark brown eyes immediately flash up to her. The California sunshine makes Azzi glow but really that’s nothing new; Azzi has always been the brightest star, at least in Paige’s galaxy, and she can’t help but let the next words slip through her lips, “she still is.”

***

Azzi thinks Paige has never really known the impact of her own words. Whether it was the missiles she fired when angry or the shower of flower petals when she was feeling complimentary. And it seems like time has done nothing to change that because Paige continues to walk towards the ice cream parlor with absolutely no recognition of how Azzi’s heart has just burst into flames.

She still is.

It shouldn’t affect her the way it does, shouldn’t elicit any reaction more than just a cocky smirk but instead those three little words seem to imprint themselves on her cochlear, ringing around her like static as she tries to keep a façade of nonchalance.

The ice cream parlor is bursting with people and it doesn’t take long before both Azzi and Paige are being asked for pictures. Protective instinct kicking in, Azzi reaches to grab for Stephie to keep her from getting lost in the crowd, only to find her already securely tucked into Paige’s side. Azzi watches as Paige interacts with the fans -she’s always been a natural at that- and somehow manages to keep Stephie entertained at the same time, conspiratorially whispering things to her in between interactions and making her giggle. It hurts and heals something inside her at the same time. The thing is, since Stephie was born, Azzi has done this whole thing alone and she’s never regretted it, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a part of her that hasn’t always wished for a partner, someone else who would protect her little girl with her. Like Paige is right now. But this is a mirage, a fever dream that isn’t Azzi’s to dream.

So she looks away and hides her tears behind a dazzling smile for a photo with a fan. She’s gotten incredibly good at that.

“What’s your favorite ice cream flavor Miss Buecks?” Stephie asks excitedly when they finally manage to reach the counter.

“Oh um-” Paige scratches at her neck, “I like cookies and cream.”

Azzi guffaws at the lie, “your favorite flavor is cookies and cream?”

“Yes Azzi,” Paige glares, “I love cookies and cream.”

Azzi raises an eyebrow before dropping her voice down to a whisper, “why are you lying?”

Paige sighs, “I don’t want Stephie to think I’m weird.”

“Oh Paige,” Azzi can’t help but smile before turning to Stephie, “Steph what flavor are you getting?”

“Mint chocolate chip,” Stephie says excitedly, eyes fixated on the green ice cream and Paige’s mouth falls open a little bit as Azzi smirks at her.

She turns to the cashier, “we’ll have open mint chocolate chip, one strawberry and one-”

“One more mint chocolate chip please,” Paige cuts in and both Azzi and Stephie look at her.

“I thought you wanted cookies and cream Miss Buecks?” Stephie asks with a confused expression and Azzi barely manages to bite back her laugh.

“I uh-,” Paige begins sheepishly, “I didn’t know they had mint chocolate chip. That’s my most favorite.”

Stephie is contemplatively quiet for a minute before a grin breaks out on her face, “Mama did you know Miss Buecks and I have the same favorite ice-cream flavor?”

“I had absolutely no idea,” Azzi says, winking at Paige as she pays for their ice cream.

They opt to sit outside on one of the picnic benches overlooking the nearby park. Azzi is distinctly aware of how they might look to anyone walking by right now, like a family. Normally, ice cream Sundays are spent with Stephie rambling and Azzi listening but this time Stephie has someone who’s just as much of a chatterbox as she is. Paige hangs on to every word that comes out of the little girl’s mouth, answering questions and giving replies as if this is the most important conversation of her life.

“Mama and I go to Stanford games all the time,” Stephie’s saying as Azzi tries to get out of her own head and zone into the conversation instead, “I’m gonna be a- what’s it called again Mama?”

“A Cardinal,” Azzi supplies helpfully.

“I’m gonna be a Card-nal,” Stephie says and Paige gasps, turning to Azzi.

“Oh my god you’ve raised a traitor,” she moans, shaking her head.

Stephie scrunches her face, looking rather offended by that moniker, “I’m not a tray-tor.”

“Steph sweetheart look at me,” Paige says, her voice the epitome of seriousness as she holds the younger girl by her shoulders, “what are we?”

“Humans?” Stephie asks innocently and Azzi laughs.

“No Stephie we,” Paige uses her finger to point at her and Azzi, “we are Huskies. UConn Huskies. And what do we bleed?”

“Oh I know this one,” Stephie says excitedly, “we bleed blue.”

“So do you wanna be a boring old tree or do you wanna be a big, strong Husky who bleeds blue?”

“I wanna be a Husky,” Stephie cheers and Paige cheers along with her. Azzi rolls her eyes but it doesn't quite match the smile on her face. And then Stephie’s racing off to the swings, leaving Paige and Azzi alone for the first time in a long time.

“Did you just manipulate my child into wanting to go to UConn?” she nudges Paige.

“Of course not. I just made her understand what’s best for her and that’s UConn,” Paige nudges her back, “just like it was for you.”

“Yeah, it was,” Azzi says softly and they both know she means a lot more than just UConn.

“You um- you have a little bit of ice cream,” Paige points nervously to the edge of Azzi’s lip, hands reaching and then hesitating. And Azzi knows that she should at least attempt to wipe it off herself but she stays deathly still as Paige’s thumb finally makes its way to her face. It’s a featherlight touch that the blonde traces across her lips, their eyes transfixed on each other, neither of them breathing. And they’ve had far more intimate moments than this one but something about this, right here, feels apocalyptic.

“I meant what I said before,” Paige whispers, “you’re still the most beautiful girl in the world.”

She gulps before starting to move away and Azzi feels a panic course through her blood as she hurriedly grabs the blonde’s hand. And she’s not supposed to do this; she should tell Paige not to say things like that but instead she’s pulling the blonde closer, hand firmly clasped around her wrist.

“Azzi,” Paige breathes out, like she wants to stop and start something at the same time. They’ve never really known self-control when it comes to each other.

“I meant what I said to Stephie too,” Azzi whispers, “you’ve always been the prettiest.”

***

September 2029

Wings 82 Valkyries 77

Paige almost falls to her knees as the buzzer sounds around the arena. The crowd is on their feet cheering as the Dallas Wings beat the Golden State Valkyries in a hard-fought semi-finals game 5 to advance to the WNBA finals. It takes a brief second and suddenly she has teammates circling all around her as they bask in their well-earned glory.

“One more series to go. Wings in three,” Satou cheers and the whole team echoes after her. They’re not known to be the closest of teams but at this moment, they almost feel like family.

Paige is exhausted as she’s ushered to do a sideline interview and she tries really hard to keep the irritation off her face when she realizes it’s Holly Rowe. The questions are generic and some are downright annoying, but Paige’s media training has always been stellar, and despite the fatigue rolling off her body, her answers are heartfelt and charismatic. The interview can’t be longer than three minutes but it feels like a lifetime before she’s finally walking away. Focused on the ground beneath her and trying not to cave into the exhaustion on her way to the media room, Paige doesn’t notice when she goes barrelling into a firm body.

“Shit I’m so-” the words are stolen from her mouth as Tim Fudd turns around but it’s not him that attracts Paige’s attention. It’s the little girl cradled in his arms, a little girl who looks exactly like the fact that still haunts all of Paige’s memories. Tiny brown eyes stare up at her and Paige is mesmerized by this tiny creature who seems like she could captivate the whole world if she wanted to.

“Congratulations Paige,” Tim says slowly and Paige tears her eyes away from the baby to look at the man who had once been the person who made it a mission to make her laugh whenever she was on the verge of crying, “I’m really proud of you kid.”

Paige’s eyes sting and she doesn’t know if she wants to run away or beg Tim to give her one of his patented bear hugs, “thank you. It really does mean a lot. She-,” her eyes flicker back down to the little tiny bean, “she’s beautiful.”

“Yeah she is,” pride shines in Tim’s voice, “you wanna hold her?”

“Oh no it’s ok-” Paige begins but before she can finish, there’s a baby being placed in her arms and everything around her seems to come to a standstill.

“Her name’s Stephanie,” Tim says softly and Paige laughs because of course, of course Azzi would name her daughter Stephanie.

“Hi Stephanie,” Paige coos, reaching out a finger to tickle the little girl, gasping when Stephanie's small chubby hands grasp it. And then the baby giggles, smiling at Paige as if she’s given her a gift and Paige swears she’s never loved a sound more in her life.

“Can you hold her for a second while I go find Katie?” Tim asks and Paige shakes her head in panic but he’s already off before she can stop him. And then it’s just her and Stephanie, standing outside the media room. There’s people cluttering in and out of the rooms around her, the whole lobby is bustling with sounds but all Paige can focus on is the girl in her arms.

“You’re so cute,” Paige whispers in a baby voice and Stephanie giggles, “yes you are, yes you are. I wanna steal you so bad.”

“I don’t think you can win a WNBA championship from jail,” a familiar voice says from behind her and Paige feels her stomach tying itself in knots as she turns to look at Azzi, “maybe try and kidnap my child after the finals?”

There’s a smile playing on Azzi’s lips but a storm brewing in her eyes and Paige knows that if she rests a heart against the darker-skinned girl, she’ll find it beating to the same hyper rhythm as Paige’s.

“Congratulations Paige,” Azzi says softly as she takes another step towards her, “you guys deserved it.”

“Y’all made it hard as hell-I mean shit-no fuck,” Paige swears and the child in her arms giggles as a litany of curses fall from her mouth.

Azzi bites her lip, raising her eyebrows in mock exasperation, “in front of my kid? Seriously Bueckers?”

Paige winces, ready to apologize until Stephanie begins to babble “B-buecks,” she giggles, clapping her hands, unaware of how the two adults in her vicinity both freeze, “Buecks. Buecks. Buecks.”

“Yeah sweetheart,” tears prickle against Paige’s waterline, “that’s me,” she looks up at Azzi whose own eyes are watery, “she said my name.”

“Yeah,” Azzi’s voice wobbles, “yeah she did. She’s- she’s a quick learner.”

“Just like her Mama,” Paige whispers, staring at Azzi and she wants to freeze them in this moment, like a still-motion picture she can hang up on her walls and keep with her forever.

“Mama,” Stephanie burbles, eyes darting between the two women, “Mama. Buecks. Buecks. Mama.”

“You’re so smart Stephanie,” Paige whispers to the little girl, tickling her stomach. She looks up at Azzi with a smile only to find the brunette frowning at Paige’s hand. Confused Paige follows the line of sight until her own eyes catch onto the diamond that’s shining on her ring finger and she can feel her heart drop, “Az-”

“The media’s waiting for you Paige,” Azzi says, the lightness of a few seconds ago replaced with a hard edge.

“Azzi,” Paige whispers again and she doesn’t know why her tone sounds pleading, doesn’t even know what she’d pleading for but she can feel something slip away from her again.

“You probably want to go celebrate with your wife,” Azzi spits out the last word like it tastes bitter and sour at the same time, and it lands somewhere in between them, creating a wall that puts them on different sides. And Paige should let it go; she should pretend it’s just a normal sentence uttered without any malice, should pretend that she can no longer read the cadences of Azzi’s voice but instead of putting up a shield, she shoots an arrow.

“You don’t get to say it like that,” Paige hisses.

“I didn’t say it like any-”

“Yes you did and you don’t get to do that,” Paige presses, “not when you didn’t want to marry me.”

Azzi flinches. The words, soaked in mistakes of the past, hang like a dagger in between them, ready to sever the thin thread of cordiality that they have tried desperately to maintain.

“You’re right,” Azzi says finally, her voice ice cold as she reaches for Stephanie, “I didn’t want to marry you,” the dagger twists, “so how about you give me my child back and go find the woman who did.”

#pazzi #paige bueckers #azzi fudd #wcbb

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tangerinesgirl · 6 months ago

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Hi! Can i request vampire Frank smut where he and the reader had been flirting the entire night, and at the end he is a vampire and has killed all the others(including lambert and abigail) and the reader is the only human left, hut since Frank took a liking to her ,he ends up asking him to stay with him and they end up fucking to "satisfy the flirting" plssssss (ur an awesome writer btwww)

Fuck Around, Find Out

**SPOILERS FOR ABIGAIL (2024)**

Reader x Frank (Abigail)

Word count: 1.3k

Rating: 18+, nsfw, explicit

Warnings: flirting, smut, choking, violence, language, technically p in v but no explicit reader body parts mentioned, Frank being feral, rough sex, some hints of enemies to lovers

Notes: tysm for the kind words! 💕 Sammy uses they/them pronouns for reader once, but otherwise reader has no specific gender, so everyone can enjoy this fic! Some use of Y/N.

🦇

You freak out. Everyone freaks out. You've all just put a death sentence on each others heads by kidnapping a freaking vampire. Did Lambert know? How could he do this to us? Lots of thought are going through your head. You snap out of it and see Frank choking and threatening Peter. The whole operation has gone to shit.

Frank drops Peter as he admits defeat. Frank has clearly lost the plot too, you decide you have to be the calm voice in the commotion and maintain composure.

"If you put your hand around my neck, you'll lose it", you snap at Frank, letting him know his actions were completely out of order.

"Oh yeah?", he swaggers over to you, putting the back of his palm on your cheek, stroking it. "And...what about putting my hand around a different body part?"

A click. Frank looks down, your gun pointing directly at his crotch. "I don't know. Try it. Fuck around. Find out."

Frank is clearly impressed, he tries to hide it but you can see the glint in his eyes. You squint as you smile at him sarcastically. He backs away, with his arms held up in surrender. You holster your gun in the dip at the back of your jeans. Frank swipes a hand through his hair, either in exasperation or to try and maintain a calm appearance somehow. As he does so he gives you a subtle wink, and gives each member of the crew a plan to take down the ballerina vampire.

Frank, Sammy and Peter essentially tumble down the stairs after their encounter with Abigail. You and Joey look at each other as if to say "we told them so", and start working on the casualties.

You walk over to Frank, "You know this is the second time I've saved your life tonight".

"I wouldn't count a pencil to the hand as a fucking life saving event."

"Hey lead poisoning can be very fatal."

"You know there's not actually any lead in-"

You pull the stake out of his leg in one swift motion, Frank cursing every deity under the sun. You quickly bandage his leg up to use as a tourniquet, it's not great but it'll do for now, at least it's stopped the bleeding. Frank looks at you with gratitude, but is too self-righteous to say anything. You look at him and can't help feeling more attracted to Frank seeing him disheveled like this. You quickly snap out of it and start tending to Peter's wounds.

As you're working, you can't help but see Frank in the reflection of a bookcase looking directly at your ass. You smile to yourself and turn around, "Hey we're supposed to keep grab ass to a minimum, remember?" Frank smiles and looks you up and down, clearly thinking unholy thoughts. Your body shivers as he does, goosebumps appearing on your skin.

Sammy chirps in, "Yeah, they're right. You were fully checking them out, you weren't even subtle dude."

Frank barks at Sammy, "I think the rules have gone out the fucking window now. And maybe you should mind your own fucking business and flirt with Peter some more."

"Sammy is flirting with me?" Peter is dumbfounded, but low-key delighted.

Frank rolls his eyes. You swear if he rolls them anymore tonight, they may as well turn into marbles.

You back away from Frank, slipping on Lambert and Abigail's blood, the warmth seeping through your jeans, you try to find purchase with your feet to try and stand up. Frank is clearly relishing in his new found life, this is what he's always wanted afterall. Pure unadulterated power. He feels his new fangs with his teeth, moaning, you feel awkward yet somehow aroused watching him, maybe you should leave and give him a moment. He snaps out of his daydream as you start to stand up. Frank tilts his head, curious, looking at you like a wild animal and smirks. "Like what you see?"

You don't say anything. "Come on Y/N, we had such a good thing going earlier. I can tell what an impression we made on each other...what I made on you."

He grabs your shirt and pulls you closer to him, he takes a deep sniff of you. "I can fucking smell it on you." You recoil as you can smell Frank's blood on his breath, but it's also somehow...hypnotising. Primal. "I mean you've clearly got me going, I've got you going, we have chemistry... We just need to get it out of our system. Don't you agree?"

You think over the events of the night, you can't help but feel somehow more attracted to him? Even if it is totally wrong, after seeing him stab a guy quite literally in the back. But seeing Frank just being given eternal life and the power he's always hungered for... and he's choosing you?

You nod slightly.

"I'm going to need you to use your words."

"Yes sir."

Frank wastes no more time and crashes his lips into you like a man starved. You try to grip on to his face or his hair, but you can't find purchase as the blood makes your hands slip. The metallic taste invades your taste buds as Frank kisses deeper, pushing you against the wall. Frank's hands roam your body, his hands slide down the back of your jeans, grabbing your ass as you grind into him.

You unbutton and remove your jeans and underwear and start to undo Frank's zipper and pull down his pants. You can't help but widen your eyes at the size of him, and he notices, this will only fuel his cockiness even more. His lips smash back into you, he can barely keep himself off you as he moans into the kiss. Frank briefly snaps out of it as he feels your hand on his member, positioning him at your entrance. Frank lifts up your legs to wrap around his waist, and pushes himself into you.

The air escapes your lungs as he thrusts inside you in one push, your back slamming against the wall. The size of him hurts at first, but he fills you up oh so good. Of course Frank is bigger than average, he clearly knows, it's all in his attitude. Frank thrusts into you, moaning every time he does. He puts his hand on the wall behind you to try and push into you deeper, but the wall swallows his hand up, leaving a huge hole in the brickwork. Frank still needs to know the limits of his new vampire strength.

Frank gets agitated and aggressively picks you up, him still inside you. He swipes his arm to remove all the items off a nearby desk and lays you on top of it. He grabs your legs to forcefully move you to the edge of the table as he continues to fuck into you. You can feel the table buckling underneath you. You try to tell Frank when-

The desk collapses on the floor, you still on top of it. Luckily Frank's hands were still underneath you, cushioning most of your fall. Frank doesn't care in the slightest, the only thing that matters in the world right now is fucking you. He continues to pound into you. You swear he growls in your ear at one point. You can feel yourself starting to clench around him as you reach your peak. Frank notices and puts a hand around your neck, squeezing slightly. This is exactly what you needed to send yourself over the edge, you cum around him, hard. Your legs wrapping around his waist, your walls squeezing him tight.

Frank lets out a gutteral moan as he arches his back as he cums inside you. The warm liquid starting to seep out of you. He feels amazing, all of his senses heightened. He comes down from his high and takes himself out of you. He dips two fingers into the pool forming underneath you. He runs his fingers along his fangs and licks them clean. He mumbles an "oh yeah" under his breath. Frank looks at you, spread out on the floor, the room a complete mess. It really is a sight to behold. He bites his lip, "I think I might just keep you".

#abigail movie #abigail 2024 #frank abigail #abigail spoilers #abigail #frank x reader #frank Abigail x reader #reader x frank #reader x frank abigail #adam barrett #fanfic

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sunderwight · 6 months ago

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crack scum villain theory: there is no "original" Shang Qinghua

how this works is, neither the world of SV nor the world of PIDW actually existed in any tangible sense before Airplane died. Airplane dying was actually the catalyst for the system, and whatever unfathomable cosmic entities are behind it, to recreate the world from the novel. that's why Airplane transmigrates into an infant, and also why the world mostly follows canon up until Airplane interacts too much with actual plot-relevant characters, and accidentally butterfly effects Shen Jiu into a fatal qi deviation. At which point the system determines that a dead Shen Qingqiu makes fulfilling the basic story requirements impossible or at least dangerously low in terms of odds, and brings in the second play (User 002, Shen Yuan).

SY is able to earn more points from the system than Airplane, but that's mostly thanks to his proximity to the protagonist not actual preferential treatment, and he seems to have more concrete restrictions on his behavior and limits on his mobility (OOC lock, entering into an already-established character, and of course being forced to ensure that Luo Binghe goes into the Endless Abyss) (this does make it ironic that he ultimately changes the most things). whereas Airplane seems to have more freedom to do as he pleases. the system doesn't even seem to dock him points for accidentally contributing to the death of a vitally plot-relevant character.

so the SV world was originally supposed to more or less just be the same as the PIDW world. it didn't change to any significant degree until Shen Jiu died.

I suspect, then, that the PIDW world which followed canon didn't exist as any kind of separate reality until Shen Jiu died of a fatal qi deviation and had to be replaced. at which point the system -- perhaps hedging its bets -- created two splintered timelines. one being the original sandbox for Airplane to play in and continue to alter, the other being a manufactured reflection of the story's original outcome, possibly to serve as some kind of emergency back-up character bank or reference outline.

which means that the PIDW version of this reality isn't a full and cohesive world. though of course the people there don't know that. it's mostly just a tool for the system, which is why we first encounter Bingge being utilized as an enforcer. Bingge and everyone else who exists in the PIDW reality, they all remember their past as the story and are at the end point of what Airplane had written, but none of it actually happened. they instead sprang into existence at their narrative end point.

since the Shang Qinghua of Airplane's novel died well before the end of the story, characters in the PIDW have various recollections of a "Shang Qinghua" and his death, but they are vague and ultimately do not reflect the tangible events of a world the way that the SV timeline does. they are artificial memories based on a story. PIDW Shen Jiu likewise never really existed, although SV Shen Jiu did. similarly, all the history of the SV world that supposedly happened before Shang Qinghua was born never actually happened either. that's all constructed as well, which means that in a weird kind of a way, no one in the world can actually be older than Shang Qinghua either. they can only have manufactured memories that give them that impression. which means Airplane is the oldest being in that entire universe. he'd even be older than his own parents, because they were created to be his parents the moment he was born.

so there's no other Shang Qinghua. everything prior to Airplane's transmigration in the SV world and prior to the last PIDW chapter in the PIDW world is like when a video game designer seeds a dungeon with a skeleton and a bunch of notes about how some lone adventurer got lost and died there. at no point in the game was there ever actually a live adventurer in place of that skeleton.

that's "original" Shang Qinghua. he doesn't exist, because in one reality he's only ever been a version of Airplane, and in another he's a skeleton in a video game dungeon.

#svsss #scum villain's self saving system #scum villain

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yassminesboo · 3 months ago

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Lookism chapter 514: little rant

This is stupid as fuck at this point, genuinely one of the worst lookism chapters i've read so far.

I've been here since 2020, I've felt a lot of things when reading lookism, excitement, giddiness, sadness, suspense but never have i ever felt actual "what the fuck is going on" rage ever while reading lookism.

Nothing in this whole "hunt for gun" arc makes sense, like literally nothing adds up. first we've got the ENTIRE verse assembling like the avengers to take down gun, like we're talking extras that haven't appeared in years. Then these seemingly amazing strong characters that went through so much character development and training arcs get the floor wiped with them, absolutely erasing all the progress they've made so far and get taken down within literally three panels. Not to mention how they deal fatal blows and this man hits super saiyan poses and gets up like nothing happened? Then he proceeds to randomly and casually plunging off a cliff above the mountain forest and lands on the highway in 0.00001 sec mid fight without taking any fall damage whatsoever and gets right back to swinging.

Anyways fast forward to the ridiculous fight he had with johan, which i find to be absolutely ridiculous johan should have 100% won that and the fight should'nt have been prolonged that much, not only was johan in perfect health and his vision was restored, but gun was also getting more and more "tired" and his state was pitiful. But SOMEHOW he still won that. Okay. Cool.

And now fast forward to today's chapter: gun's DUMBASS turns down goo's offer and now they're fighting. So naturally you'd expect gun to lose because goo is relatively equal (as stated multiple times by the narrative) to gun, and gun is in a pitiful state broken arm basically became a flesh and bones smoothie, not to mention his organs must have turned into slime from the amount of hits he has taken. His left eye is popped and bloodshot, his neck is sliced, he even has CLAW marks down his lower torso and forearm, excessive blood loss and nasty bruising everywhere... so obviously goo who is 100% in good shape and is proven to be a very powerful and impactful character will win right? Haha.

*internally screaming throwing up sobbing rolling on the floor in rage and despair*

HOW THE FUCK DID HE END UP ON THE FLOOR SQUISHED LIKE A BUG WITH A SWORD PIERCING THROUGH HIM???? The whole fight made me ENRAGED, i lost it when he blocked the sword with his mouth AND bit it off like are we sure we're still in a slice of life manhwa and not a horror one? I lost it even more when his mouth that was torn ear to ear because of the sword magically healed in the next panel like nothing happened, like that sword didn't just cut through his flesh. Speaking of swords cutting through flesh, how did goos sword sharp enough to cut through metal and concrete walls get stuck on his ankle? Dies this man have titanium bones or something?? How did the sword get stuck on the FLESH not even the bone itself. And the fact that he just walked it off again like nothing happened.. somehow goo only landed like two clean hits and gun magically dodged all the other ones.

Then PTJ proceeds to pull up the double suicide to end the fight in which BOTH goo and gun were stabbed but goo somehow is the one who ends up being squished on the floor like a bug.

This is unacceptable, idk wth ptj was expecting us to get hype after gun some fucking how is capable of weaseling himself out of every corner he's backed up to this is starting patterns that are very similar to jjk.. which i don't like at all. I'd like to say for the one billionth time again that PTJ writing gets progressively worse from the years, which only consists of stalling and dragging the arcs instead of moving on to other plot points, extreme plot armor, adding in an unbelievable number of minor characters, background characters, and extras just to neglect them after a few chapters. Some characters who supposedly were from the "main cast" were gone for YEARS dude, and the lacking female character writing (some may argue with this because it is true there are female characters that are badass and are really good written, but most are created only for the purpose of helping a certain male character with character development. Which he literally directly says on his author note for viral hit in which he says all the female characters form the main cast even the nurse were created for romantic interest, which is an insane thing to say.)

Anyhow, if you've read this far thank you for coming to my ted talk 😓. I know some things i said might be controversial but i just needed to let out some steam, because this is getting ridiculous. Everyone can see the pattern now like there is no way that he's so overpowered that the entirety of the verse wasn't able to take him down.

#idk how to tag this #lookism manhwa #lookism #gun park #goo kim #this is a girlblog #atp idek who the main character is #PTJ make sure to zip guns pants up when you're finished #ptj universe

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one-idea · 10 months ago

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Nika reincarnated and the King of Hell.

I don’t know how many of you are Zelda fans but Luffy being the sun god Nika could go crazy hard with the Skyward Sword storyline.

For those of you who have not played Skyward sword no worries I’m changing enough of the plot it won’t matter to much

Let’s say there is the legend of Nika. A legend pass down of the sun god who came to earth to liberate slaves and return joy and freedom to the world.

Most of the texts has been lost but the oral tradition keeps the story alive. However it is not a totally accurate account.

They tell the story of Nika’s exploits on Earth. Including his help from other gods/angels/deities.

But the most famous tale is the story of Nika’s fight with the King of Hell. The fight to free the people of this world. Nika was able to seal away the King of Hell but was fatally wounded as a result of the fight.

However the true version this tale had been lost to time. The current version is missing quite a lot of detail. Including the fact that Nika, perhaps knowing he would be needed again or just wanting to be with his friends and loved ones once more, sacrificed his immortality so that his soul could reincarnate as a human.

Thousands of years later Luffy is born.

After Luffy unlocks Gear 5 he starts to get these weird visions or feelings. It starts out while he’s sleeping but he’s starting to get them while he’s awake. It’s starting to worry the crew. One minute he will be standing there talking to them and then the next his eyes are locked on the horizon, but they aren’t really seeing anything and he’s not responding to their calls.

It’s only for short periods of time, and Luffy tries to brush them off with the crew, but he’s really starting to freak out. Because he’s seeing things that he does not remember happening.

When they arrive on the next island Luffy gets separated from the others. Maybe a cult follower of Nika. Maybe an old friend, someone who already remembers their past life with Nika and is here to help Luffy as he unlocks his memories. (Maybe Shanks or Sabo, someone Luffy would willingly go with and trust them when they say his crew will be fine)

Meanwhile, while Luffy is going on a journey of self discovery, the crew is losing their minds

Specifically Zoro. He’s been having weird dreams since Enies Lobby when he unlocked his Asura form for the first time. They were few and far between but they always freaked him out because why was he fighting Luffy in those dreams?

It’s been getting worse since he gained Enma. Every night since picking up that sword he’s been having weird dreams. Something that used to happen once a month at most is now a nightly occurrence. And then when he unlocked the title King of Hell he started getting them in the day. And he’s starting to freak out. Because he’s starting to remember their previous lives. But nothing makes sense. There are some memories where Zoro?Asura? and Luffy?Nika? Seem to act like they do now, there are some memories where they seem closer (memories that make his cheeks burn) but there are also memories where they seem to be at each others throats and fighting to the death. But that seems to be only one memory, the one memory that won’t leave him alone.

And he’s been wondering for weeks if Luffy has been remembering to. If the pauses where he zones out are actually him being plaguing by visions to. But he’s to scared to ask, because what if the only memory Luffy has of past Zoro is them fighting? Or what if Luffy isn’t seeing visions and Zoro is just crazy?

And now Luffy has gone missing and they need to find him but they keep getting to him to late. Luffy’s moved on to the next temple, next location, and they are always just a step behind their captain.

(Note other crew members are remembering things from their past lives as well. I haven’t placed them all yet but they were definitely around with Nika in the past. Now what role they played is up for debate. A different god/ one of Nika’s angels/ or just a person who was loyal to Nika in the past, someone he liked enough to tie them to his soul when it reincarnated.)

Once they reunite Luffy and Nika have fully merged. The crew can tell he’s different. But they don’t have long to talk. Something is coming. Whatever happened in the past is about to come again and Nika has to hold it off until the crew is ready to fight. (Till they remember what he does) he goes to do this but swears to them that no matter what happens or what they remember he’s still their captain, he’s still their Luffy.

And the he’s gone again. Somewhere they can’t follow this time. Not until they remember. Not until their enemy is defeated.

As they go on their quest they all start to remember different parts of the story. Which could lead to one of them (probably Sanji) remembering the final fight between Asura and Nika. But he has no other context so it just lead to him and Zoro fighting because he thinks Zoro is their enemy or at least he used to work for him, because Asura dealt the fatal blow to Nika which started this reincarnation crap.

It isn’t until they put the whole story together that they find out Asura was possessed when he fought Nika. It was an unseeable betrayal because it wasn’t a betrayal. Once Asura delt the fatal blow to Nika he snapped out of it. He followed Nika’s decision to sacrifice his immortality in the hopes that they could be together again.

The main enemy is probably Imu. An ancient deity who Nika sealed the powers of long ago. Enough time has passed that the seal has weakened and that is way Luffy has to hold the seal while his crew gets their memories back.

I love Zelda and I think this could be a lot of fun taking elements of both skyward sword and Tears of the kingdom to make it work.

Obviously the whole crew had their roles in the past life. So did Ace, Sabo, Shanks and others

I kinda like the idea of Shanks being Luffy’s guide to his memories while his crew runs interference with the Strawhats. One of the great parts of Skyward swords story is your always a step behind Zelda and Impa never lets you forget that you were to slow to save her. That if Impa wasn’t there Zelda would be dead, and Link would have been to slow and weak to stop it. The idea of Shanks crew (and maybe Mihawk) taunting the Strawhats with the fact that they are to slow or weak to protect their captain has a lot of drama to it. Luffy’s safe, Shanks’ wouldn’t let anything happen to him, but the fact that they (the Strawhats) are to slow to help him over and over has to hurt.

This could also work really well with Sabo in this position. Sabo helping Luffy with his memories while Dragon taunts the crew.

I also love the idea that for centuries Asura was blamed for Nika’s death and Zoro and the crew learning about it with no context. Zoro would lose his mind at just the idea that he could ever be the one responsible for killing Luffy in a past life. Of course it’s not the full truth as they later find out but that moment would be awesome.

Let me know what you guys think. I want to talk about this more.

#one piece #monkey d. luffy #straw hat pirates #roronoa zoro #one piece zolu #zolu #shanks #sabo #vinsmoke sanji #sanji #sun god nika #listen as someone deeply obsessed with Zelda this was only a matter of time. At least I didn’t follow the tears of the kingdom plot #strawhat reincarnated gods au #skyward sword zolu au

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veliseraptor · 4 months ago

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July Reading Recap

A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge. I can see why people said this one had Adrian Tchaikovsky vibes because in terms of the worldbuilding and the alien species involved it absolutely did. I was not super enamored of the part of the plot that wasn't on the Tines' world (which was...an important part of the plot), but my investment in the politics of the Tines and the worldbuilding around them made up for it. I'm curious about the apparent sequel and whether it's worth reading - does anybody know?

Thousand Autumns: vol. 5 by Meng Xi Shi. I have finished Thousand Autumns and my verdict on it mostly hasn't changed from what it's been throughout: enjoyable but not really fully clicking for me. I liked it! But I didn't love it, and I don't know that it'll stick with me the way other books have, or compel me to do a reread.

A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome by Emma Southon. Maybe I just don't have a sense of humor, but I felt like this book was trying too hard to be funny/clever and it landed wrong for me. It was interesting, certainly! And I learned some new things from it, and probably will go on to read the author's other book (about women in Ancient Rome), but this one tonally was not a winner, for me personally.

Ballad of Sword and Wine: vol. 1 by Tang Jiu Qing. Rereading this one (Qiang Jin Jiu, they're really going off in their own direction title translation-wise there) with the official published translation even though I am also binding it, because I can, I guess. And I still deeply appreciate how unhinged Shen Zechuan is, but in, like, mostly a way where it's not obvious to most people until they've known him for a little while. Also the sheer amount of politics, which I'm following better on this second readthrough. I think it'll be rewarding to reread.

The Pomegranate Gate by Ariel Kaplan. One of two Jewish fantasy books I read this month, just by chance (I wasn't intending on a theme, they'd both been on my to-read list for a while). I liked it a lot! I thought it was going to be a stand alone and feel a little funny about it being a series (I'm always looking for more stand alones), but I am also looking forward to more of it.

The Devil & Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession by David Grann. I've really enjoyed the other David Grann books I've read/listened to (The Lost City of Z, Killers of the Flower Moon) but found myself fairly underwhelmed by most of the essays here. It's not that they weren't good (they were) or interesting (most of them were), it just didn't feel like they were that good or that interesting. Maybe I just like his full-length books better.

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland. It was fine? Not as good as I'd hoped. I called the twist which was satisfying for me personally. I don't know if I'm going to be reading the sequel. Most of the POV characters I liked fairly well, which is the main thing this book had going for it, but one of them bored me to tears and that inflected my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez. This book earned its five stars by making me cry in the last 20%. Overall a beautiful book, though, relatively quiet; I wasn't sure about it early on but then it hit a turn that really got me. Makes me want to read his other book. The summary on the back really does not do the book justice but I don't actually know how I would explain it better, and I recognize that makes it a difficult recommendation.

When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb. This one was really good and a lot of fun. Very Jewish, too, which was enjoyable and not something I run into all that often in fantasy books. Just...very charming, entertaining, a joy to read.

I'm currently reading Godkiller by Hannah Kaner though I should be reading Edenville since I have it checked out from the library (I'll get to it!). I keep meaning to get back to reading more nonfiction (or realistic fiction) and then getting distracted. My plan for upcoming books, though, includes The Ratline, To Shape a Dragon's Breath, and (after years of having it sit on my shelf) Beauty Is a Wound. We'll see how on task I stay or if I end up wandering off to other stuff.

I'm currently looking for horror and mystery/thriller recommendations, though, so if anyone has any of those I will take them.

#reading recaps #sometimes i read things

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flam-burr · 5 months ago

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Should absolutely post about raka 👀

*slowly coming out of my hiding* I-I should?

Yeah, I should!

*loud crashes ensue*

I missed you.

A/n: Hello! Hi! I'm very happy somebody actually cared enough to like that post and send a question. A question! The first! *giggles* So, this story is a take on @goddamnitlopori 's post, which stirred a lot of thoughts and sent me back to writing after so long. Thank you <3

Plot: He knew males of his descendant changed when the alpha died, he had seen it happen when he was younger. He had expected it to happen, someday, eventually nursing the idea of being able to see in himself what he had lost that terrible day.

But now it felt… wrong.

Raka starts shifting from a beta to an alpha.

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

Wind brushed gently through the lonely orangutan’s fur, the fresh scent of grass and earth bringing relaxation after a long day.

In the past he had sometimes neglected the simple pleasures of life, too caught up with his work to think there could be something more important than that, but it is known that one doesn’t fully appreciate what he has until he loses it. Or, in this case, goes terribly close to do so.

Raka closed his eyes, breathing deeply and basking in the euphoric sensation that being alive gave him.

He still didn’t fully believe his luck, but he thanked Caesar everyday for that log that stopped his rush towards the sea and gave him a chance to survive. He even kept a shard of it. Nothing big, just a reminder that now hung to his neck, where Caesar’s symbol used to be. He often entertained the thought of carving that same symbol in the wood, but some nostalgic part of him thought it was better not. It would never be the same as his old pendant.

He hoped Noa and Mae took care of that old thing, wherever they were.

He prayed for it to bring them the peace that used to bring him, even though he was quite sure the two would give each other way too much of a headache to be actually useful.

The orangutan sighed, chuckling at the thought of his old travel companions as he finally opened his eyes and made his way to the river - a way calmer one than the last - and carefully sat by the shore.

He dipped a hand in the cold water and started bringing it to his mouth when a glimpse of his reflection stopped him in his tracks.

Raka wasn’t one to indulge in this vanity. The rare times he had seen his face were for a purpose, like drinking or washing. Glimpses of fur and dark skin he could picture quite clearly with the eye of the mind to recognise himself if he saw his reflection-

But this one wasn’t his.

The reflection was wider, broadier, its neck was dark and started to be evident under the reddish fur. It looked more like an alpha male than a beta.

It looked more like… him.

Raka got struck by the realization.

Something awakened in his chest, stirring and clawing its way towards his heart as he sat, frozen, staring wide-eyed at the image in the water.

Had it been already this long since his death?

Raka tried to remember how many sunsets had been since he met Noa. Even taking in account having lost one or two after his almost fatal swim, it hadn’t been that long. He should have had more time to… he wasn’t really sure for what, actually.

He knew males of his descendant changed when the alpha died, he had seen it happen when he was younger. He had expected it to happen, someday, eventually nursing the idea of being able to see in himself what he had lost that terrible day.

But now it felt… wrong.

The chin was wrong.

The nose was smaller.

His fur didn’t fall this way on his face.

His eyes weren’t that shade of green.

Raka looked for his village in his new features, but he just wasn’t there.

The image shook and trembled.

Raka furrowed his brow as more drops fell into the water and he lifted a hand to his face.

Slow, salty, big tears rolled lazily along his new face to hang on his chin until they finally fell, blurring his sight and giving him some kind of mercy from the pain that tried to eat his racing heart.

Raka sniffed and lifted his gaze up. Over the blurry layer, he saw the sky was on fire, painting itself with the most stunning reds and oranges as the sun went slowly to sleep and night awoke.

It was beautiful.

It was merciful.

It didn’t stop the memories from coming.

Memories of long nights spent around the fire flooded his mind. Some were full of discussions, talking, attempts to crack the old writings in the new books they found. Others carried the sensation of a warm embrace, a scent strong and earthy, filled with a sensation of protection and eyes of the right green that watched upon him like he was the most precious of the treasures they hoarded.

Like all the answers they looked for were right there, in the space that existed between their lips, waiting for them.

Raka let the memories pass through him, welcoming the bitter-sweet pain they brought but wishing it was never there, and before he could think he gripped the wooden shard by his neck and held it close.

He traced the unfamiliar shape with his fingers, occasionally catching on some unrefined parts that hurt.

He winced. His old pendant was smoother, safer to hold.

But this one was good. This one grounded him.

Breath after breath, stroke after stroke, his heart slowed. The pain was there - always there -, but it ceased to try to suffocate him, leaving its place to a warmer feel and Raka mastered all his courage to lower his gaze once again.

His village looked back at him from the water, eyes puff with tears and sorrow.

He stared.

Trembling, Raka tried an experimental smile and his heart dropped with recognition.

The orangutan laughed, sweet huffs gradually turning into sobs, but happy nonetheless.

“Hello… friend.”, he said, voice raw with an emotion he didn’t think he could feel anymore.

“I… missed you.”

#kingdom of the planet of the apes #raka #planet of the apes #rise of the planet of the apes #fluff and angst #canon divergence #mourning and loss #Raka get's to see his village again #Raka is alive #body changes #gay apes #lost love

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recreationalfanfics · 2 years ago

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Yandere Adventurer vs. Yandere Femme Fatale Drabble

Based off of these Yandere Adventurer and Yandere Femme Fatale Hcs. Big Question: Which one of them could get it?

You watch in shock as your co worker is being held by two officers, tears running down his face as he SWEARS he hadn't stolen those artifacts, but his pleas fell onto deaf ears. Your standing in front of the University doors, watching as everything went down along with everyone else, and unsure of what to make of the situation. It had been such a perfectly normal morning too, you and Richard talking about things from favorite historical events, to the most ridiculous ones that sound too unhinged to be real yet they actually happened. Then the police barged in, accusing him of stealing one of the relics that went missing when Jesse brought them back.

Jesse Reeves was an amazing human being, in your eyes. Not only was he smart (depending on the situation), he was a charming yet brave and daring man who had been to all types of places. Searching for lost treasures in the most wild parts of the world, stopping villainous plots and organizations in the Artic, and even discovering lost ruins in the deepest parts of the oceans. Now, he held the not-so-impressive title of being your best friend after meeting him during a grand opening of a new exhibit he brought back for the University.

You don't know how you became friends with someone as amazing as him but you weren't complaining! And you thought you had a friend in Richard but now, as you watched him vehemently try to deny stealing the artifacts and get shoved into a cop car, yelling and kicking and trying to break open the window with his shoulder, you weren't sure what to think of him.

Jesse, on the other hand, leaned against the brick wall entrance with his arms crossed, and wearing a smug grin on his face.. When Richard saw him, his eyes were filled with betrayal but soon flared with anger as he yelled muffled cusses towards the blonde man, but no one could hear him. Nevermind believe him that THE Jesse Reeves would steal something from the museum when he had loyally been bringing back relics for them for ages, nevermind to frame a boring old co-worker like Richard who hasn't even worked a full month at the university. Yes, no one would believe Richard if he told them, but they really should've.

With a taunting wave, Jesse then stood up straight and walked over to you, reverting to his more bubbly personality as he stood next to you.

"Now, what in the wide world happened here?" He asked, a very convincing clueless look on his face.

- Yandere Adventurer now realizes the full extent of his feelings for you after that stupid co-worker is away and taken care of. He doesn't just love you, he's completely enamored by you! Out of all the treasures in the world, you're the most precious one he's come across, and he's decided that he wants to keep you to himself.

- Yandere Adventurer does get annoyed when you say that you'll miss Richard though. Why? Yeah, he might've lightened your workload but that was just about all he was useful for, at least, in Jesse's eyes he was.

"I mean, I didn't expect HIM to have been behind the theft. He seemed genuinely excited to work here." You wondered aloud, still unsure what to think about the events that transpired in the early morning.

"I bet he was, probably 'cuz he was fixin' to get his fingers on those artifacts." Jesse suggested, a bit of a scowl on his face. You assumed its because he's upset that he had such a hard time finding the thief only for it to be revealed it was someone who worked in the same department as the both of you. However, that wasn't why he was scowling. He just wished you'd talk about anything OTHER than Richard but, no, it turns out that bum was still on your mind, "Look, darlin', maybe we should think about something else besides good ol' Richie. Somethin' like...my next adventure."

You groan when you hear that, "Shit, I forgot! You're going to leave for Venezuela next week! Which means I'm handling the archives by myself again...and Richard just started reorganizing the documents too!"

Stop talking about him already.

"Actually, ya might not have to worry about the archives for a while there," Jesse began with a playful smile. Raising a curious eyebrow, you tilt your head a little, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean...I've been thinking about it and I was wondering if ya might wanna go adventuring with me this trip," Your expression changes and he can see the hesitancy in your eyes, "NOW! NOW! It ain't gonna be as long as my other adventures and it might not be as dangerous but even if it was, I wouldn't let anything bad happen tah ya! S'just, you know, I like my adventures and I like you...so it'd just...it sure would make my day if ya at least considered it!"

You bit your lip anxiously and looked to the side. You were a historian but you were more of the "doing research on the computer in an air controlled environment" kind of historian, not the kind that went through death traps in nearly collapsing temples that had ancient curses on them. Like Jesse was.

However, the hopeful look in his sky blue eyes makes you feel guilty. You want to deny his offer but could you, in good conscience, dim that glow in his eyes. In fact, Jesse was COUNTING on that. You were too much of a sweetheart to let him down and Jesse knew that not even you were able to resist his charm.

"C'mon, it'll be like a vacation! You'll get tah see so many different waterfalls, tons o' great good, an' you'll get tah get a little up close and personal with history! Shoot, we can both have our names on the discovery plague an' everythin'! Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Jesse, I-"

"Both of you, in my office. Now." The headmaster of the University, and your boss, interrupted.

Even if you never saw eye to eye with him before, you were happy that he had intervened now and went with him. Jesse, however, was less than pleased. Still he followed along with you into the hallway, although there was a scent that hung in the air, one that smelled eerily familiar to him.

Yandere Femme Fatale who had been stalking you for a while, actually. Not long enough to know you were friends with her former flame but enough to memorize your schedule by heart and enough to fall deeply in love with you.

She had applied for the job of Archivist assistant, only to be enraged when she found out someone else was chosen. Oh well, she could just plan out their death but first things first, she'll have to kill the employer who had put a hit on you in the first place. The reason why this guy wanted you dead?

Apparently he couldn't take rejection well.

It sickened Yandere Femme Fatale, the way how entitled men think they could have whoever they wanted just because they inherited some pocket money from daddy. Don't worry, darling, she'll make sure you'll never have to worry about them now that she's there.

"Jesse, (Y/n). This is Scarlette Le Claire, she will be the new Archivist assistant."

Jesse froze up upon hearing her name. You, however, were entranced by the woman sitting in one of the seats facing the principals desk. She was applying lipstick to her plush lips when her dark eyes noticed you from her compact mirror. She shut it before standing up.

God, she was tall and even more gorgeous.

She extended a gloved hand in front of you, one you were nervous to take because of how expensive it looked, but you didn't want to be rude.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you." She greeted warmly, her voice sounding like honey to your ears and God, she smelled so nice.

Jesse, however, was far from entranced. He knew personally that wherever that woman went, someone was bound to get hurt. Misery and death followed her wherever she went and he wasn't gonna let any of that touch you. He also was uneasy about the look in her eyes, he recognized it from all the times she chose money over him. Greed. Insatiable greed that will never be enough for her.

He didn't like that she was looking at you like that.

"Now, (Y/n), I'm going to need you to step outside with me. Since you'll need to train Ms. Le Claire."

You're too hypnotized by the woman in front of you that you don't respond or react, at least, not until Jesse whistles to capture your attention. With a confused "huh?", you turn and look at him and he points to the door where your boss was waiting rather impatiently. You apologize and run out, taking one last look at the woman and giving her a sheepish smile. The moment you walk out the door, Jesse is glaring her down.

"Got' a lotta nerve coming here, Scarlette. If ya got a problem with me, we can settle it elsewhere."

Scarlette rolled her eyes and fluffied her hair, making sure it looked good for when you came back.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Jesse. Not everything is about you." She scoffs. Jesse narrows his eyes and walks up to her, "Then who is it about?"

Scarlette's eyes flicker towards the door, where she can see your silhouette talking and nodding. Then she looks back at Jesse, who didn't even have to look back to see who she was looking at.

"You ain't laying a hand on (Y/n), ya hear?"

"And what if they come to me willingly?"

"They won't." Jesse argued, not really believing in his own words. He saw how you looked at her, the way you looked at him the first night he met you.

Scarlette didn't respond, she simply smiled as her eyes flickered towards the door again, patiently waiting for when you'd come back in. After being informed that you'd have to train Scarlette, Jesse's offer to Venezuela immediately went to the back of your mind as you excitedly told her you'd show her around. She hooks her arm with yours, not even bothering to pay attention to Jesse anymore.

Like she said, this wasn't about him.

This was about making you hers.

#Yandere Femme Fatale #Yandere Adventurer #yandere x reader #yandere imagines #yandere headcanons #yandere scenarios #tw yandere #fem yandere #yandere female x reader #yandere female #yandere male #male yandere #male yandere oc #yandere male x reader #male yandere x reader #female yandere oc #Oc: Jesse Reeves #Oc: Scarlette Le Claire

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realmoondragon · 21 days ago

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i’m going to dump hollow knight au/oc world building stuff on the world now. no backstories, we’ll do that some other time.

so for the gods, every god has a foil.

white lady-shade lord,

the radiance-NKG

unn- a long dead god of bugs.

why dead? because this god was the one who created the inhabitants of hallownest. they made all of the bugs and gave them sentience. (yes, not pk. more on that later). But, they used too much of their power. Gods are full of their ‘substance’ it’s like how humans are full of water. but since they used too much, they weakened and died. Before death, they gave the remains of their power to Unn, and that’s why Unn can create life from plants.

the main characters in this AU are Grimm and Pk. this whole thing was inspired by @bluegekk0 ‘s au, so a huge shout out to them. grimm and pk live with hornet, ghost, and holly in dirtmouth.

WL had been ruling over hallownest for centuries, when PK showed up. WL knew about wyrm’s kingdom conquering habits, and when this one offered to co-rule, she cautiously accepted, not wanting a fight. Luckily for her, PK didn’t really do all that much. he tried, but he got anxious really easily from the royal duties and literally just like socializing and existing.

before Pk had shown up, the radiance had been slowly forgotten by the moths, just because they weren’t as interested in her. So, she plotted and schemed in silence. Eventually, she figured out a way that she could steal her ‘foil’s’ powers for herself. So, she did. NKG lost the majority of his power, and is now grimm. that’s a whole other can of worms.

Anyway, radi used this newfound power to create the infection. WL came up with the vessel plan, and created the vessels. she had them on her own. she convinced the dreamers the same way canon pk did, and hornet came from the ‘dalliance’ between WL and herrah. WL actually suggested it, not because she cared about the kid but because she wanted that spiderussy. so it’s pretty obvious that WL didn’t really care about hornet. whole other thing.

She put a bunch of eggs into the abyss, asking the Shade Lord to hollow them out and full them with void. it complied, and the vesssls were made. Holly was one of the few that hatched, complete with a mutation to give it a tail. (it/they for the vessels) After the climb, WL trained them in much the same way as canon, and put them in the black egg.

This worked for a while, but eventually the radiance overtook them. Their fatal flaw? duty to serve hallownest. unfortunate. even without any love being shown, they still had emotions (bc everyone has emotions).

Pk was the one to fight the radiance in holly’s head, and only barely won. he’s a great fighter, but went in overconfident. he now havs lifelong scars and doesn’t have the soul capacity to use soul magic. he got amnesia after the fight, and recovered in dirtmouth. after remembering everything, he realized he liked this better, so he stayed in dirtmouth with grimm, holly, hornet, and ghost, who had by now hatched and came up to dirmouth.

AND THATS THE TIMELINE.

pray for me i typed all this on my phone.

bye

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lorainedoesthings · 6 months ago

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A RANDOM TGR IDEA I HAD

focuses on gordon n thomas for the majority, but also looks into the engines' relationship with thomas; and what they (don't) know about our fav blue tank engine

tgr somehow lessens the severity of a boiler explosion (thats instant fatality for crew, nearby people and in this case prolly gordon too) so i'm gonna pull some shit out my ass to make it a crownsheet failure and not a wholeass boiler explosion

so the crownsheet failure (and not some fucked up "boiler explosion") puts him (gordon) out of the race

sorry but after i found out it was supposed to be a boiler explosion i lost my shit because thats not how that sh!t works (if it was done properly we wouldve lost gordon for good probably which is just.. no.)

since thomas happens to be in the neighbourhood he takes gordon back to sodor/the steamworks (idfk where the race actually took place 😭 - probably gonna have the accident take place on sodor for logistics's sake)

so gordon's crew are hospitalised/hes out of commission for a bit because of his crownsheet (and a waterguage failure or smth, which led to the crownsheet failure)

flying scotsman decides not to be a little shit of a little brother and offers to take gordon's express trains over until gordon + crew are better (enough) to work again

scotsman also stays in tidmouth for a while

post gordon & crew recovery there needs to be an event which leads to thomas becoming a workaholic to not think about past events, most notably he offers to take percy's night mail train a lot more often

this then leads to some gordon-knows-shit-about-thomas-that-the-rest-dont-know moments @ tidmouth (other engines (looking at you edward) will also have other things to say)

scotsman is still staying there because plot (will think of how at some point)

the 'original' crew (thomas, edward, henry, gordon, james + percy) get the lore on thomas, and i want to use this oppertunity to explore thomas's past as a second spec LBSCR E2 as well as his friendships with the crew

the amount of ✨guilt✨ the rest feel after hearing all the thomas lore (hes the last of his siblings left, got sold to sodor cheap/barely after he was built, was built for shunting)

[personal hc/ideas] had a lot of issues w tender engines on the mainland, not helped by gordon/james/henry either when he first got to sodor

(even though he was sodor's first official purchase i'm gonna turn a blind eye to this because i want the aspect of the strike trio's behaviour to be explored, it also gives them all more depth i think?)

edit to the point above; the strike trio could have seen him working and were like: lets bully this little tank engine even though he's been here longer than us; so Thomas is now still one of the first on Sodor/first of the NWR's official purchases

one night, when thomas arrives late, the rest feel guilty (levels vary) and thomas comes to the conclusion that when he was working they had a chat about what they all knew about him ect and he offers to debunk/elaborate on shit

that last point will prolly be the last chapter or i could add an epilogue post apology arc n theyre all chill n working

I thought of this TGR idea a while back and now it's half living in my brain rent free..

#ttte flying scotsman #ttte henry #ttte gordon #ttte edward #ttte james #ttte percy #ttte thomas #ttte #i have ideas for this #i wanna hear thoughts please #ttte the great race #rambling but i wanna turn this into a fic #i need more depth into the 1-6's friendships #specifically their relationships with thomas #thomas and friends #thomas the tank engine

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thedragonagebigbang · 3 months ago

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Bang Creator Interview: Tumblr: @fatale-distraction | AO3: Fatale_distraction | Wordpress: History Will Say This Was Just a Book Blog

The Collaboration period has begun! In these quiet months before works are due, we want to foster a sense of excitement, camaraderie, and celebration among our participants. To that end, all participants were given the option of a formal interview by our mod, Dema, or an informal “ask-game” survey. We hope you enjoy getting to know our phenomenal creators as much as we have!

Woman single-handedly ruins decades of work using one simple technique you won’t believe!

Fataleity and Dema talk rarepairs, Swayze-coded Cullen, punk rock Solas, and Shenanigans

Dema: Starting very, very basic: how long have you been in the DA fandom? What about it inspires you to write?

Fataleity: Gosh, it’s probably been around fifteen years or more? I played DAO not too long after it originally came out and while I haven’t always been active in the fandom, I’ve been a fan since then. I’m super inspired by the characters and the lore, in particular anything relating to the elves. I love that the DA universe took typical elven lore and kinda flipped them upside down.

Dema: Do you have a favorite bit of Elven lore? Or if “favorite” isn't the right word, a piece of lore that particularly struck you?

Fataleity: Along with everyone else atm, I am really fascinated by the Evanuris and the idea of Ancient elves like Abelas and Felassan. I also love that each Dalish clan has different customs, different levels of knowledge, etc, but are still connected by a common history and language, lost as they might be, and try to lean into that in my writing.

Dema: So, you played all three games more or less as they came out, but when did you start writing fic for DA? What prompted you to start?

Fataleity: It’s been a while, but I believe it was around the release of Inquisition that I started actually posting. As far as writing, it would have been from the start in private notebooks or sharing with a friend of mine. Inquisition’s release was when I started getting into the tumblr fandom and seeing others posting their work, and figured if others were going to, why shouldn’t I?

Dema: Oh wow, right from the beginning! You’re an OG! What was your first published DA fic about?

Fataleity: It was a short one-shot of Leliana and Zevran during Inquisition. They crack me up as a couple. It was mostly banter and porn tbh, very little if any plot, lmao.

Dema: Oh my god, this was a pairing I did not know I needed until this moment. Fabulous, thank you.

Fataleity: You’re welcome. It’s a good one.

Dema: So do you tend to be more inspired by the canon characters or by your OC's? Or if not "inspired" per se, do you write more of one than the other?

Fataleity: I wanna say it's about even? I’ve noticed that recently I’ve been writing more from the perspective of canon characters than I did when I first started writing, even when writing about OCs. I think it's fun to try to emulate their voices, and also their reactions to some of my OCs ridiculous behavior.

Dema: Who is your most ridiculous OC?

Fataleity: My Inquisitor for sure. She’s the youngest of a very large Dalish family so she’s a little childish for her age, very affectionate and kind, but she has a powerful sense of justice. She’s best friends with Sera and the Chargers, so she gets herself involved in all kinds of shenanigans.

Dema: Gotta love the shenanigans. Did she romance anyone?

Fataleity: She romanced Solas primarily, but I have also shipped her with Krem and Fenris. I did a few OT3 fics of her, Krem, and Solas that I think came out pretty sexy.

Dema: Krem is under-shipped, I fear.

Fataleity: I do my best to fix that. I’ll put him with anyone who will treat him softly. Or not. Depending on his mood I guess. He deserves the world and more.

Dema: Thank you for your service. This is like asking for your favorite child, but do you have a particular canon character you really love to write?

Fataleity: Krem for sure. Great narrative voice, great jokes, and since he’s not as canonically developed as other characters, there’s a lot to play with.

Dema: Do you do anything in particular to get into the heads of the canon characters? I find that's such a challenge (a fun one!) to adopt the voice of a character I didn't create, and am always curious how other people do it.

Fataleity: Getting super familiar with the source material is obviously very important. For some characters that’s easier than others, so I will also rely on similar characters from other media that I feel resonate strongly to the character I’m trying to portray. Also simply putting myself in the character’s shoes. “If I was this particular character with this particular background, how would I react to this particular circumstance based on my prior experiences?” I feel like I’m also pretty influenced by whatever media I’m consuming at the time. For instance, writing 90s Cullen around the same time I rewatched Dirty Dancing, he ended up VERY Swayze-coded.

Dema: Omg, incredible. Is there any non-DA media inspiring your fic for the Bang?

Fataleity: I’ve been listening to AURORA’s newest album a lot. My partner and I are also watching a lot of comedic detective shows recently, so I feel like that sense of humor is going to be a big influence by the time this is done.

Dema: Man, I feel like any follow-up I ask to that question will have to be redacted, ha! What's the most out-there piece of media that has inspired a fic for you?

Fataleity: I don’t recall if there was a particular piece of media that inspired this, but I created a Y2K dragon age AU specifically so I could cram the characters into specific period-appropriate outfits, specifically young Solas as an early 80s late 70s punk kid. I think It might have stemmed from rewatching That 70s Show. This is also where Swayze-Cullen came from.

Dema: Was there a musical number. Please say yes.

Fataleity: I tried to shoehorn my Lavellan into having a band on top of everything else, so there were definitely musical numbers. Krem was playing the solo from Freebird. ABBA was involved.

Dema: Amazing. God, I am dying to see some Solas 80's punk fanart now.

Fataleity: I would die. I would pay blood, sweat, tears, money, and my first, second and third born children.

Dema: Anarchy patch on his leather jacket…

Fataleity: Piercings. The piercings alone, man. I made him a college professor so he got rid of most of the piercings, but he kept a few. “The ones that would hurt most if I wanted to get them done again.”

[Dema and Fataleity have an increasingly suggestive emoji exchange.]

Dema: Sorry, I'm incorrigible.

Fataleity: As am I.

Dema: Do you find you write a lot of AUs?

Fataleity: I think I imagine more than I actually put down in words. My favorites are definitely different time periods. I’m a sucker for costuming.

Dema: Same. Costumes tell you so much about the culture and the characters! Do you tend to have visual references when you are writing, beyond what is provided by the games?

Fataleity: If I have a particular outfit or setting in mind, especially for AUs. For those I’ll have Pinterest boards or the like. If I’m doing something more based around existing settings, I’ll look up a reference as needed, but I don’t tend to have, like, a vision board or anything for those.

Dema: If you have any visuals for your Bang fic, will you give us a teaser?

Fataleity: https://unsplash.com/photos/purple-flowers-near-mountain-during-daytime-S73YlRU8hy0

Dema: Oohhh the vibes! I’m looking forward to it. On a very different note, if your bang fic had a clickbait title, what would it be?

Fataleity: “Woman single-handedly ruins decades of work using one simple technique you won’t believe!”

Dema: Perfect. Thank you for your time, Fataleity!

Fataleity: Of course, this was fun!

#fandom big bang #dragon age #dragon age fanfic #2024 interviews #writer interviews

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clarste · 1 year ago

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This may be too much work, so feel free to disregard this ask if so, but: Do you mind summarizing the plot of TH19? I've tried to piece it together through the translations I've been able to find online, but I'm not having much luck :')

Sure, why not. Spoilers below the break.

The incident that drives everything is that as a side-effect of what Chimata did in Touhou 18, some piece of land or whatever has lost its ownership, and theoretically a bunch of spirits are fighting to claim it. But the only spirits that matter for the plot are Yachie, Saki, and Yuuma, the three Animal Realm yakuza leaders from Touhou 17, who are using this as an opportunity to invade the surface. They each recruit an agent from Gensokyo to help them out (Biten, Enoko, and Chiyari), because Animal Realm spirits don't have bodies which limits what they can do on the surface.

However, Zanmu, a famous oni from Hell, doesn't like the idea of spirits from the Animal Realm taking over the surface. Not because she thinks they have a chance, but because if they cause too much chaos up there, the armies of Hell won't just sit back and watch, and would intercede as a peacekeeping force or whatever (Hell continues to be the USA, metaphorically). And that's bad. So she comes up with a plan to stop the animal yakuza, and that plan is basically the entirety of the game, because Zanmu is a nigh-omniscient genius chessmaster who can easily manipulate everyone from behind the scenes. That's not like, a magical power she has, she's just that good. A recurring theme is that everyone is "dancing on her palm" and that everything that could possibly happen has already been accounted for in The Plan.

Anyway, the basic gist of her plan is to insert double agents into each of the three animal yakuza gangs (Biten, Enoko, and Chiyari) and have them waste the yakuzas' time until the incident sorts itself out naturally, ie: the land's ownership naturally reasserts itself for whatever reason. So the new recruits' job is just to pretend to be bumbling and useless and prevent anything important from happening. And they do it because they are all absolutely loyal to Zanmu for various reasons, but hold no particular grudges against the yakuza and do seem to intend to stick around afterward. This part of the plan goes perfectly.

The next part of the plan is for Zanmu to personally beat up the three yakuza leaders, showing them that they never stood a chance to begin with so they won't even think of trying again, and then pretend to be the mastermind herself and lose to Reimu on purpose in order to reassert the status quo where Reimu always resolves incidents. However, what both Suika and Reimu intuit (and you can only use intuition against Zanmu, using logic will just fall into her trap) is that Zanmu has an ulterior motive here, which is to establish herself as an absolute being in everyone's minds, which would eventually lead to her naturally taking control over Gensokyo and running it like a zoo, an endangered animal preserve. "These creatures are too dumb to take care of themselves, and therefore I need to be in control."

Now, this is bad, but Zanmu is way too smart and strong to actually go up against directly. So the best Suika and Reimu can manage is to mess up her plan ever so slightly by not letting her lose on purpose to Reimu. IE: Zanmu wins the fight, doesn't get her perfect storybook ending where Reimu is the hero, and is forced to realize that she is not 100% infallible. Just 99% infallible.

Suika's plan also relies on Hisami betraying Zanmu, which doesn't make much sense on paper because she is completely loyal to her master, but she does it anyway because getting scolded is the only time when Zanmu pays any attention to her, and she desperately wants senpai to look at her, so it's like... Zanmu fatal flaw is not maintaining her personal relationships or something. While she did account for some "mischief," it takes a perfectly strange sequence of events for exactly one thing to go ever-so-slightly wrong.

Edit: I suppose I should add that the game is written like one of the recent fighting games, in that it assumes you've read all the story routes more or less in order, which is gated by needing to clear them to unlock others. So if you're reading the story translations out of order on a wiki that might explain your confusion. The game also kind of lies to you in the profiles, in that they provide information that is deliberately misleading in order to set up twists that occur in-game.

#touhou #touhou juuouen #touhou spoilers #unfinished dream of all living ghost

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isfjmel-phleg · 11 days ago

Text

October 2024 Books

Flower Fables by Louisa May Alcott

Alcott's first published book. Rather didactic little fairy stories, but charming in their way.

Hospital Sketches by Louisa May Alcott

A memoir of her time as a nurse during the Civil War. Not a very long book, but it showcases her skill in humor and pathos.

Foundling by D. M. Cornish

Very impressive world-building! Maps, illustrations, a glossary that adds another hundred or so to the page count. In the midst of all this, the story and characters got a bit lost for me, though, and I had a hard time keeping up with it.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Like the eponymous family, I went to Birmingham earlier this year and had a moving experience touring the 16th Street Baptist Church and the park across the street. So I went into this book expecting a historical fiction explorations of the events of 1963. And yes, it does deal with that; it's thematically important, but most of the book is about Watson family drama, particularly the narrator's relationship with his determinedly delinquent older brother, and it's quite some time before going to Birmingham even happens. The family dynamics are the heart of the story, and it accomplishes that well. It was just very different from my expectations (which is an observation, not a criticism).

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

This one hit home emotionally for me more than the previous title. I can see why it won the Newbery. The balance of Bud's tragic circumstances with humor throughout is effective.

The Sky Over Rebecca by Matthew Fox

A beautiful story that made me sad. It's looking for answers to issues of death, but tragically the worldview can't find them. It's a lovely friendship story, though.

The Ghost Sitter by Peni R. Griffin

Told from the perspective of a young ghost who doesn't realize she's dead and has some unfinished business to address before she can move on. Not my favorite of Griffin's works that I've read, but a poignant little story if you can look at it as an exploration of the role of the ghost in folklore.

Otto from Otherwhere by Peni R. Griffin

Very different from the previous title, about a boy from an alient planet who gets stuck on earth for a while and has to try to assimilate--which is difficult because he doesn't speak English and he doesn't entirely look human. Maybe not the most original premise, but an interesting story.

The Deadly Daylight by Ash Harrier

I spent a lot of this book waiting for the girl with the on-the-nose name and the potentially fatal sunlight allergy to find out that she instead has light-based superpowers that were being suppressed her whole life...but this is not that sort of story.

It's a mystery. A pretty striking one, with memorable characters. There was a content issue that I could have lived without, but on the whole an enjoyable book, and I would be interested in reading the rest of the series if they ever become available in the US.

Patricia's Secret by Ruth Daggett Leinhauser

I think I added this book to my tbr because it's about a girl living on an air force base in the 1950s, and as someone who grew up on base for most of my childhood, I was curious to see a fictional depiction of military family life from several decades before my time. There's some dated attitudes (toward girls, which is era-typical), but it's a cute story.

The Secret of Goldenrod by Jane O'Reilly

Girl makes friends with a talking/sentient doll she meets in the spooky abandoned old house that her father is fixing up, and actually maybe the biggest plot twist is that this is not a scenario for a horror story, the doll is not evil, and it's actually a whimsical fantasy interwoven with a more dramatic story about family dynamics and how a hostile town gets a change of heart.

The Patron Saint of Second Chances by Christine Simon

A Wodehouse-like scenario of deceptive/misunderstanding shenanigans, but told in a much blander style than Wodehouse's. The humor of the story would have shone more with some livelier prose.

The Lost Library by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

A very charming story that took me by surprise sometimes! I think I could tell which chapters Mass must have written--something intangible that reminded me of her style in The Candymakers.

Rufus by Catherine Storr

A weird, weird story about a troubled boy who steals an artifict that somehow enables him to alternate between his own present and ancient times, which is a character development opportunity. Not my favorite of Storr's, and I'm not totally sure what I think of.

The If Game by Catherine Storr

A boy whose emotionally distant father is keeping important family secrets from him suddenly finds himself able to walk through doors that lead him into an alternate version of his life. The fantastical elements serve the main story, which is about the protagonist's complicated relationship with his father. It definitely intrigued me.

The Underground Conspiracy by Catherine Storr

I as an adult could tell exactly what the teenage protagonist is getting roped into, long before she realizes it, and it was worrying. Sort of a mystery or thriller? As ever, Storr writes interesting character dynamic.

The Mirror Image Ghost by Catherine Storr

Less of a ghost story and more of a time-slip story. There's family drama in the main storyline, connecting with the story of the grandfather, who managed to escape Germany during WWII although the rest of his family didn't. There's a lot to unpack in that background, and Storr isn't afraid to opt for the more complex and challenging options in the outcome of the narrative.

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

Stroud's prose is as ever beautifully polished. I enjoyed Bartimaeus as a narrator, with all those footnotes. I just couldn't get into the story, so I don't think I'll be finishing this series.

The Necromancer's Apprentice by Beverly Twomey

A charming story exploring themes of grief, with a very creative approach to what a necromancer does in this fictional world.

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells (reread)

I love Murderbot but I really struggle to adapt to the terminology of technical sci-fi, which presented some challenges when I first read this series. This time, I am deliberately taking it very slowly and carefully, without having to worry about due dates. I understood this one much better this time around! and enjoyed it.

The Locked Garden by Gloria Whelan

I am not immune to intriguing-looking middle-grade books with "Garden" in the title. This turned out to be interesting historical fiction set at a hospital for patients of mental illness around the turn of century, but the garden of the title is much less central to the narrative than its presence in the title would suggest. I appreciated that Whelan had every opportunity for a cliched outcome but does not take it.

Comics

Hilda and the Troll, Hilda and the Midnight Giant, Hilda and the Bird Parade, Hilda and the Black Hound, Hilda and the Stone Forest, and Hilda and the Mountain King (reread)

I had a random hankering for this series. It's suitable for fall.

Justice Society of America 2007 Vol. 3-4

The overabundance of characters continues to be this book's primary flaw. There's never enough space to adequately develop character arcs for everyone. Grant (the reason I'm reading this) gets a moment in the spotlight when his severely scarred face is restored...by a villain, which results in Grant's joining this guy's cult and developing Acquired Situational Narcissism. Potentially interesting stuff, but it's not followed through on. By the end he's back to square one, except with a girlfriend now. No further exploration of the consequences of his destroying his father's house, for instance. Going to leave everything to nonexistent fic writers, I guess.

The Flash #750 (special edition)

I have no context for what was going on in the main story, but the various short pieces were fun, as was the reprint of Barry's first appearance in the 1950s.

JSA Vol. 10

Someday I'll get the full context for this series, but I bought this volume for its story involving flashbacks to the original JSA team, including Grant's father.

Justice Society of America, Vol. 1: The New Golden Age + issues #6-12

Twelve issues was not enough space to develop everything that was going on in this series, and honestly I was more interested in the Lost Children angle than I was the main plot about the daughter of Batman from an alternate world. (I love the batfamily, but they don't need to be in the JSA book, let alone half-taking it over.)

#random personal stuff #hi I once again have Opinions they may or may not be correct

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