#think I finally got most of this out of my system. maybe I'll come back to it like I keep doing with the star trek au I've never posted

[desertparallel]

later....

[wonton4rang]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Love me, leave me ¡!

pairing: bnd legal line x reader.

warnings: +18, smut.

summary: bnd legal mtl to like/ have quickies.

note: another thought that i had to get out of my system.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

sungho; he is one to make love instead of having sex so i don't really see him into quickies. but let me tell you!! when you guys went to the gym that day, doing your workout as always but today he was feeling you more so you guys weren't even five minutes in when he took you to the changing room and fucked you raw agaisnt a wall. and it would happen sometimes when he was stressed or just too horny to keep going about his day without burying his cock deep in your pussy </3

riwoo; i can see him stopping dance practice just to come up to you and lay down by your side, leaning more than usual on you, laughing softly at the things you said and you noticing how often he licked his lips. so you just asked "all good, hyeok-ah?" your hand landing on his thigh and poor thing would just crumble and let you know how hot he felt, asking you to please help him out. and he would fuck so good :(

jaehyun; myungjae is messy so quickies with him would be too, that's why i think it wouldn't happen very often, maybe when he was horny during a party or even at a meeting, going to the bathroom and making you ride him at a bathroom stool while he cutely moaned your name over and over, dropping his head back and cumming almost immediately. you would even have to cover his mouth to avoid the noise going out of the bathroom, feeling his cum inside of your pussy went you lifted up. he looks like a mess, so sweaty and still panting slowly while he sweetly repeats "thank you so much, baby" :')

taesan; i don't think that this one would be completely against it but it wouldn't be his first choice either. but i can definitely see him slowly indulging you and dragging you in to make you feel as horny as he was just so you could ask him to fuck instead of him telling you about it. with time you would notice how his eyelids were lower than usual, his hands sneakier than ever, and so you will finally understand and give in faster, laughing and telling him "if you were this horny, you could've told me" after y'all were laying on the couch, cuddling and sharing soft kisses and laughs :D

leehan; yes. that's it. he would take quickies way too serious. it wouldn't be his go-to option but he will definitely do it more often than the others, leaning in your ear and whispering "if we don't go in the next thirty seconds i'm bending you over and fucking you here and now", you obviously got up and he followed you closely when you got to a room in the second floor of the house you guys were at (it was a party this time), he fucked the shit out of you. and that would happen often, like every 3/5 times y'all went out or were just having a normal day together.

basically it goes:

MOST.

leehan. self-explanatory, i believe. he likes them and he does them often.

jaehyun. i perceive him as a very needy boy so i believe it would happen often even though it wasn't y'alls favorite.

riwoo. normally he wouldn't think about it but when the time comes and he just can't hold back, he loves them. so he goes in the middle, because like jaehyun i believe he can be very needy.

sungho. as i mentioned before i every post that sungho is included, i see him as a very "stablished relationship, serious yet not boring" type of boyfriend, which means he likes to fuck you at home or directly on his bed. he doesn't hate quickies but they would almost never happen.

taesan. i'll say this for the nth time, for now, i don't see taesan as a very sex drived person so quickies don't go with him, i also believe he is rather organized so having sex randomly would make his stomach ache :') it would happen, yes, but don't get used to it because it won't happen often.

LEAST.

[jjkilll]

-——-✫ I THINK HE KNOWS | JJK ✫-——-

— pairing | basketball player/frat boy jk x tutor y/n

— summary | Jungkook is failing math and you tutor him between classes. You didn't think he ever caught you eyeing him, but after the way he teases you, you think he knows.

—  warning | virgin reader, oral sex (f receiving) jk #1 munch

— word count | 2.6K

— song | I Think He Knows - Taylor Swift

Jungkook wasn't the most studious student. Partying late and having an 8am class just doesn't mix too well.

It's mid-semester and Jungkook is failing math, there you sit at the front desk of the tutoring office as he begs for your help. A hot guy begging to spend time with you talking about math? You were beyond down.

So for the next few weeks, Jungkook came in after practice to work on his assignments with you. He'd usually be hot and sweaty but somehow still smell good. His long hair is usually tied up with the shortest pieces escaping in the back. His hands were something you'd stare at often. His hands were big and his fingers were long and thick you'd think about how they'd feel inside you, you're fingers were nothing compared to his. "Y/n" He called snapping you out the the trance you were in. "Oh sorry, yeah what's up?" He tilts his head catching your eye. "You seem distracted." He spoke. "Umm, it's just... I was." You give up trying to lie. His eye contact makes you nervous. "What's got you so distracted then?" He brushes his hair back with his hand. "I'm just daydreaming, I guess." You glance at his paper, "You are so close with number 7, look back at the last step." You say looking away from him.

He looks down at his paper, going back to fix his mistakes. After your session, you say goodbye and tell him you'll see him next week before finals. He begins to walk away but stops all of a sudden. "Hey, Y/n?" He says turning back and walking to the desk leaning over it. "I'm having this party tonight, I just thought maybe you'd want to come. I never see you anywhere but here. You don't even have to stay, you know, if that's not your thing." He says. He's right, parties are very far from 'your thing' but you wanted to see him outside of work, and he was inviting you. You ponder for a moment, no homework to be done, you cleaned your apartment the morning prior. Tonight you could choose you and your comfort movie, or some alcohol and a hot guy.

"Umm. Yeah, I'll stop by." You say with a small smile. He flashes you a small smile and wink. "I'll keep my eye out for you. I'll send my address." He turns leaving and you aren't sure if you're actually prepared for what you've signed up for.

✫ -----------------------✫

"I don’t think beer pong is my thing." You say looking toward the group of people looking at you and Jungkook. He waves them away telling them to go on without him. 

"Oh, that’s fine. Minecraft?" He asked his eyes bright, he looked happy to see you. You think back to the conversation you had with the boys at the front door. One of them said something about Jungkook having a crush on you. It had to be the alcohol in their systems because in no way did this man have a crush on me. He never even looked at you that way. "I’m down." He nods grabbing your hand once more and rushing up the stairs. You stop at his door as he pulls out a key and unlocks it. He walks in and you follow in behind him. "Welcome to my room, pretty cool right?" He asks with a smile. His room was decorated with band posters and tapestry, something you would’ve never expected from him. "It’s dope, I didn’t know you were into Mac." You say pointing to the Mac Miller poster above his bed. "The man’s a genius, anyone who doesn’t think the same has to be deaf." You chuckle at his joke, "Sit anywhere, you want the beanbag?" He asked pointing to the blue one in the corner. You nod and he quickly drags it over for you to sit. "I’m glad you came." He spoke turning on his TV and setting up the controller handing one to you, then finally sitting beside you. "I’ve been wanting to get to know you more, I thought maybe you thought I was like those other horrible frat guys. I just suck at math and have a hard time saying no." He chuckles and you join him. "I was shocked you invited me, I don’t usually get invited to things like this. Especially by guys like you." He hums, "Guys like me?" He questioned. "I just mean, every girl is dying to get to know you. You wanting to get to know me is a first." He pouts. "I’m kinda overlooked until someone is paying to do their bio projects." You laugh. "Well, I’m not using you, I promise. I got a head start on my math study guide for the exam. Just if you were curious." You nod. 

"So what do you want to know about me?" You ask. "Everything, I guess. What’s your favorite movie?" He asks to break the ice. "The Truman Show." You respond simply. "No fucking way…" He almost shouts. He quickly rolls up his sleeve revealing a fresh tattoo with the famous quote. 

"And in case I don’t see you…" He starts.

"Good morning, Afternoon, and Goodnight." You finish. "See I knew you were cool." He says nudging your shoulder. "I try but my exterior doesn’t scream ‘cool girl’ Even your friends called me a nerd." You laugh but Jungkook doesn’t. "Who?" He snaps his neck toward you. "Jimin, I think his name was." He shakes his head. "He’s an idiot and you’re beautiful." He says quickly. You blush at his compliment. "Thank you." You say softly.

" I mean it." He says surely. "I’m sorry about them, they’re just mad I want someone who cares about their future instead of someone who’s only into frat guys for status." He realizes after he finishes his sentence that he confessed to you but tries to play it cool. Inside that man is shitting himself. 

"So, it’s true?" He hums at your question. "What?" He tries to act clueless. "You like me?" He swallows thickly. "I do. I think you’re pretty and smart, and you’re witty. I like that. You are the only cute girl with some brain cells on this campus, I’m sure of it." You laugh. "Well, I like you too. I just think we’re from two different worlds almost." He sighs, you said the one thing he feared. "I think we’re more similar than you think." He says reassuring you. "Maybe." You say looking at him. "I was staring at you. Well, your hands." He tilts his head confused. "Most times when you think I’m daydreaming I was staring at you. God that sounds weird." You laugh faintly, sliding your hands underneath your glasses and covering your face. "Sometimes, When I’d wave to you passing by, I didn’t even have to go that way. I just wanted to see you. So I guess that makes me weird too." He says scooting closer to you. You move your hands away, your face red from embarrassment. 

He sits in front of you. His eyes were soft and warm. Then you suddenly gain the courage to do something you never thought you would. You sit on the ground in front of him, and he flashes a cute smile. You peck his lips quickly. You almost instantly regret it after he says nothing. His eyes are stuck on you and he’s unreadable. He quickly pecks you back and stays close to you. A small smile grows on your face. "You are so cute." He says. Your cheeks flush. He kisses you again this time deeper. His lips are soft and sweet from his chapstick. You’ve never made out with anyone before but you follow his lead, kissing his lips as hungrily as he kisses yours. 

"You’re such a good kisser." He says breaking the kiss. "Really? I’ve actually never done this before." His eyes widened. "You could’ve fooled me, you’re a natural." He says before pecking your lips one last time. "Yeah, I’ve never done anything with anyone before. I told you I’m not the hottest thing smoking." You joke. "I’m also a virgin, if you were wondering." He hums. "I hope this doesn’t sound weird but I just have to know… but, have you never like… had an orgasm before?" You scoff. "What?! Now that’s just crazy. I have a vibrator. I’ve just never had anyone else… get me there." You realize how much of yourself you’re revealing. Jungkook falls silent not reacting to your previous statement. "Before I suggest what I’m going to suggest, Will you go out with me?" He asks. "I want to get to know you more Y/n. Seriously." He finishes. "Yes, I want to get to know you too." You say with a smile. He’s giddy and pumps his fist and whispers a small ‘yes’ to himself. 

"So, what were you going to suggest?" You ask. His neck starts to heat up after was reminded of how this conversation came about. "Oh… maybe, I could… you know… uh give you an orgasm. Only if you want to and if you don’t that’s fine, and I’m not mad." You smile as he tries to clean it up. "I mean, I don’t know… I don’t know." You stutter, unsure of how to tell him you’re afraid he might judge you.

"If you don’t want to I understand, but if you’re nervous, I promise that I won’t hurt you. I’m not that type of guy, I really hope you know that." You nod quickly. "I know, you’re a great guy Jungkook. I’ve just never shown anymore this part of myself. I don’t want you to see me and change your mind. I’m not as pretty as the other girls." He holds your hand.

"I don’t know who told you that, but you are one of the most beautiful girls I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’d never judge you." He spoke. His hand lifts your chin so he can look you in the eyes. "Any guy would be lucky to have you. I would be the luckiest." He says with a smile. "Okay." You say. "Don’t just say okay because you think this is something I want. I just want to make you feel good and comfortable. I want you. Whatever that looks like." He smiles. "No, I want you." You say. "Are you sure?" He asks again. "Yes Jungkook, I’m sure and I want you. 

He kisses you deeply making you lean backward on the beanbag. "I’m going to make you feel are beautiful as you look Y/n." His words make you throb, you feel yourself aching for him. He grabs your hip, pulling you in closer as your lips reconnect. You loved the way he touched you, he was soft and gentle. Your hips buck in excitement, craving him. You moan into the kiss. "You are so cute, God I can’t with you." He says breaking the kiss. "Arms up," He says tugging at the hem of your shirt. You follow his instructions and lift your arms. You almost want to cover yourself before he says, "You are so beautiful. Such a pretty girl, I don’t understand how someone hasn’t snatched you up already. Such a smart and beautiful girl." He whispers his last sentence grabbing at your waist. He stands grabbing your hand and helping you stand with him. He kisses you again, this time you’re closer than ever. You stumble back onto the bed. "Lay back for me, love." You follow his instruction and you prop yourself up on your elbows. He grazes the button of your jeans, "Can I?" He asks. You nod quickly. "Words, love. I want to make sure you’re comfortable." He says surely, no trace of jokes or playfulness in his voice. "Yes, please. I want you so badly." You whine. "I’m here, love. Let me please you." He says unbuttoning your pants and pulling them off. He stands leaning over you placing a light peck on your lips. He rubs you over your panties and your breath hitches. "Does this feel okay?" You nod but stop yourself, "Y-yes. Feels g-good." Only you have touched yourself before his strong hands and soft touch is making you brainless. Your breath is shaky as he rubs your thigh. "Can I take these off?" He pulls at the side of your panties. "Please, please touch me." You beg, unable to recognize your voice. 

He slips your panties off, tucking them in his pocket. He kneels in front of the bed grabs your waist and pulls you closer, putting your legs over his shoulders, giving him the perfect position in front of your heat. He lets spit drip from his mouth onto your wet cunt. You gasp at the nasty sight. "Fuck…" you mutter. He licks a long stripe up your cunt before wrapping his lips around your clit. You whine as he eats you. He wastes no time swirling his tongue around your clit. You’ve never felt pleasure like this before, you’re mush under him. Whining and moaning as he fucks you with his tongue. "I-I think, I’m close." You say breathlessly as he moans onto you. He looks up at you his eyes dark, only focusing on pleasing you. "Come for me, love. Make a mess on my tongue." His words are so dirty and it turns you on to no end. He flicks his tongue on your clit and you’re closer than ever. You moan as you come undone on his tongue your body pulsing as you come but he told you in place. He kisses your thighs as you come down from your high.

"Come here." You say and he quickly stands leaning over you. "Thank you." You say breathy kissing him gently. "You don’t have to thank me, love. I only want to make you feel good." He smiles.

"I’m just glad my instincts were right." He says, "I’m not sure, I’d have if I didn’t guess." You tilt your head confused. "What do you mean?" You ask sweetly. "I noticed you staring a while ago. I thought you liked me. I’m glad in right." He says sitting beside you. You look down and he boner leaves a tent in his pants. "Y-you’re…" You start. "It’s fine, it’ll go away." You grab his tattooed arm, "I can help you. I don’t know how but you can teach me right?" You suggest. "Tonight was about you, dear. Maybe another time. Okay, don’t think you owe me anything." He smiles gently brushing your hair back. 

"I’ll be back." He stands walking into the connecting bathroom. He comes back with a warm towel cleaning you up. He wasn’t like the other guys. He was a sweetheart, he cared for you. He wanted to make sure you knew it.

He takes your panties out of his pocket sliding them back onto you. "You’re too good for me." You say brushing over his hand. "You deserve everything good, don’t you know?" You really weren’t sure, you never had someone feel this way about you. You nod, he made you feel so pretty. You couldn’t believe someone like him was into you. You were glad he was. 

"Still down to play Minecraft?" He asked putting your jeans back on. You smile. "Of course but…What about the party? Aren’t you the host?" You ask. He shrugs. "I am but there’s enough alcohol down there to keep an alcoholic going for years." He jokes. "I want to stay here with you anyway." You smile picking up the controller.

You couldn’t wait to see what the future held for you and him. You smile as he smiles at you. You know everything is gonna be just fine. You’re so glad he knows. 

✫ -----------------------✫

a/n: hope you like, i had super hard time writing this as my laptop has decided to give me issues the moment i enjoy writing... anyways. feedback and requests are appreciated.

[slocumjoe]

danse's romance route has some potholes

so, this post woke me from my slumber, have a ramble

This has always been a weird point for me, but I never got around to really figuring out what it was exactly until just now. I think all of the romantic candidates have out-of-place flirting, at least here and there, but Danse consistently has dialogue options to flirt with him at exactly the wrong fuckin time. The odd thing about Danse is that, most of the time, the normal Good/Yes answer is more romantic or sincerely affectionate than the flirt.

So, the Flirts.

The only Flirt that works is when he talks about his fear of losing people, and Sole says, "I care too much about you to do that to you." It's the first Flirt, and he responds by saying you've given him "something to think about." I've gone on about how Danse has never truly felt cared for. Sole's voice acting also sells this Flirt by being somewhat timid, unsure of saying this, but wanting him to know.

Danse's talks go Kreig > Cutler > Haylen > Help Im A Robot. The first time you can flirt with him is in the Cutler chat, where the "I care about you" line comes up. It's not out of left field from the conversation. It's affectionate, it doesn't overstep, but it pushes the line and makes Danse consider "oh shit, there's a lil something something going on here."

The "Would you hold me?" line is much less subtle.

Danse talks about how he doubts himself after Cambridge and Sole's reference to him hugging Haylen makes it seem like they've just been waiting for him to shut up to use that line on him. It's out of place, it circles back to a topic we've moved on from, and it's so overt it sucker-punches everyone involved, including the player. It's blunt.

The other options of "I'm here whenever you need me" or "I'm glad you feel better" are less flirtatious, but they imply more direct concern and care for Danse. Both lines are about Danse, and Sole being there for him. The actual Flirt is what Danse can do for Sole. This is such a weird nitpick, I know, but it comes off not as romantic, but more like Sole is trying to hook up with him. That would work with someone like Hancock, or maybe Piper, but Danse's romance involves more subtlety and slow-burn elements. It's too forward.

So, in his final talk...

It's literally "Kitten I'll be honest, Daddy's about to kill himself" "haha no don't kill yourself you're soooo sexy"

It comes right after he's having a lot of emotions about his reason for living. This is not the time to put the responsibility of a relationship on someone. Again, this is a flaw of the 4 Affinity Talks system. If you're just going for a platonic relationship with Danse, his talks work great, but his character arc is unfinished anyway. They have to shoehorn romance in there, and it doesn't have the room to develop naturally. It's why Sole has to explicitly say "Would you hold me ;>".

The strangest part is that his neutral/Friendly dialogue options are more affectionate and relationship-building. Again, the other options in the Haylen talk comfort Danse and reassure him.

Honestly, I think the best option, for all romancable companions, is within arms reach. You know how, if you don't romance someone, they'll bring up their last talk again and give you a barn door of an opening to broach the subject of a relationship again? Just. Do that/ It's literally what I did when I romanced Danse; don't romance him as soon as possible. Let it marinate.

The second chance to romance him goes the exact same way, eyebrows to space and all. It just takes place after Danse confesses how close he feels to you and trusts you and not RIGHT AFTER BLIND BETRAYAL.

It's easy to fix the pacing just by not going for the smooch ASAP, but the flirting is awkward. It's worth noting that the line before the Haylen flirt "It's comforting to know that I can speak to you as more than just your commanding officer" has it's own Flirting tag on it. Danse flirts with Sole here, canonically.

A cheap and easy rewrite is Sole echoing the sentiment with something like, "It's comforting to know that you're more than my commanding officer." This leaves room for interpretation. What else is Danse? Sole has an idea, but leaves Danse to wonder about it. It also confirms to Danse "yes, we have a personal bond and this isn't just a work thing."

I think the core of Danse's romance is this dude realizing that he's loved and cared for, truly. Cait has a similar arc, but hers has different complications and contexts than Danse. Danse needs a slow-burn romance full of soft moments and instances of Sole reminding him of his own humanity, even long before the synth thing.

It's worth noting that the "i care too much about you" line is still kinda overshadowed by the "But I wanna be a mutant" joke. That joke makes him laugh, he jokes back without missing a beat, and it's a cute little bonding moment between him and Sole. Romance isn't just overt flirting, it's the little things that make you think the other person is special. How many people do you think can make Danse laugh? Especially about becoming a Super Mutant, right after being told about Cutler? Danse thinks Sole is funny. He thinks it's a cute little joke. He's charmed.

Then Sole sucker-punches him with an explicit ask of physical contact and emotional exploration and the moment is lost. For the Halyen talk, you could have an option where Sole asks, teasingly, if this is going on the report, and Danse laughs and contemplates what Maxson would think. Maybe he even comments about how rumors spread on the Prydwen, implying that he knows there is something between you two for people to gossip about. This would later tie in to The Reveal, where Maxson says the same thing.

[wolfnight2012]

"We'll be Fine" is the new "Open Arms"

(but I don't think Telemachus will be a Polites-like character, though I do have suspicions that some of his songs/motifs/or at least one scene in the final saga all work as a call-back to Polites/Open Arms)

But anyways!

While I am not claiming a 1:1 comparison, "We'll be Fine" sees Telemachus in a Polites-like role with Athena, who has assumed a post-Troy!Odysseus like role in regards to her guilt over how she ended things with Odysseus in "My Goodbye"

We've got:

an ecstatic declaration of friendship (new vs established)

We've got the positivity/look on the brighter side/things will work out

AND most importantly (imo) we have the Call to Action! The "You have the power to change things/it doesn't have to be this way/life can be better if you work to make it so

Polites gets Odysseus to consider "Open Arms" at the end of his song (though, tragically, he dies before he can teach Odysseus how to effectively implement this belief system & Odysseus then fucks it up during the Ocean Saga)

Telemachus gets Athena to reach out to Odysseus. "Maybe, its time that you lend a hand/I don't think he'll mind"

Athena was not going to reach out on her own. (maybe it was pride, maybe shame, maybe she thought she'd thoroughly burned that bridge & there was no hope for reconciliation) but Telemachus helps her realize that is not true.

On a similar note:

The Wisdom Saga as a whole argues for "Open Arms" over "Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves"

(Especially in regards to the saga's main character: Athena)

So! I spoke a bit about how Ruthlessness was not mercy upon Odysseus (or Athena) here, BUT, now that I think about it, it's not so much that the Wisdom Saga isn't about "Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" but rather, that it IS about the sentiments expressed by Polites in "Open Arms"

(I've currently got a breakdown of "Open Arms" half-finished in my drafts, I'll link it here once I finish & post it)

But also!

The Wisdom Saga is the first saga, without a single song promoting Ruthlessness.

The Troy Saga has them using a wooden horse to kill sleeping Trojans & the killing of the infant + Eurylochus suggesting they "Strike first/raid the place"

The Cyclops Saga has Polyphemus trying to lay waste to Odysseus's entire crew + Athena telling Odysseus to finish off the threat

Ocean Saga has Poseidon

Circe Saga has Circe's decision to treat all strangers as possible threats to her nymphs & turning them into pigs

Underworld has Odysseus' decision to become the monster

Thunder Saga is the first saga where every song (except Suffering) explicitly promotes Ruthlessness

The Wisdom Saga breaks this pattern

Legendary:

Even though Telemachus is singing about fighting monsters, it comes across as very idealist. This is not an aggressive song. Telemachus doesn't sound blood-thirsty or vicious. He wants to live up to his father. He wants to be able protect his mom

He dreams of fighting monsters (an intangible threat for a kid who's never left his island) but it's clear he's never so much as been in a fight before (Little Wolf is the first time he tried it)

"So I could bring the world some light" vs "We can light up the world"

Little Wolf:

Once again, this is not an aggressive song (not on Telemachus' part)

Telemachus is being egged on/taunted by Antinous + the suitors on one side & encouraged by Athena on the other (both of whom are more aggressive than Telemachus)

Telemachus is on the defense. He's unsure. He never expresses a desire to kill/destroy Antinous beyond his desire to want to keep his mom safe

Athena comes to help Telemachus without seeking anything in return! She's not seeking a new warrior of the mind/A new kid to mentor (Telemachus shows none of the promise of his father)

She's simply giving her help. ("Why should we take when we could give?")

"Have you forgotten to turn off your heart" vs "One young wolf has a larger heart than all these men combined" she saw Odysseus' heart as a weakness/distraction, while now she realizes it can be Telemachus' greatest strength

Even the suitors!! Antinous just wants to humiliate/agitate Telemachus. He's being cruel, but not ruthless. He lets up as soon as Telemachus is defeated/shown his place. He's a "bully" but not a "monster" (at least, not yet[??])

Then we get to "We'll be Fine" which, as I mentioned above, is essentially the new "Open Arms"

We'll Be Fine:

Athena lowers her guard & essentially bares her heart to Telemachus! She tells him about this mystery friend, about her regrets, the (semi) truth about why she helped him! ("You could show a person that you trust them, when you stop and lower your guard")

Telemachus takes this trust & greets Athena with open arms, offering her his friendship, his comfort & his advice

His positivity echoes Polites' from "Open Arms" as does his belief (despite T. living under the stress of the suitors & P. having lived through a war) that everything will be fine

"Maybe, it's all gonna turn out great I know we'll be fine"

"Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart"

"I know it's light you'll find"

"No matter the place, we can light up the world"

Tbh, even though it's not a direct lyrical callback, I'd argue Telemachus' advice for Athena to reach out to her friend "Maybe, it's time that you lend a hand, I don't think he'll mind" is a thematic callback either to "Here we have a chance for some adjustment, Give it a try, it's not that hard" (it's not to late to make things better via your own actions/choices) or "Kindness is brave" (you want good things to happen? Take that first leap. Don't react with fear/be paralyzed by regret)

Love in Paradise

Just like Odysseus is convinced to (at least) consider an "Open Arms" approach by Polites, Athena has been convinced by Telemachus to reach out to her friend

God Games

Athena decides she CAN "Replace [her guilt] and light up the world" by helping Odysseus

She leads from the heart with the other gods! ESPECIALLY with Ares & her declaration of Telemachus being her friend!

All 5 of her opponents respond well to Athena's arguments, she's not just using logic, she IS appealing to their heart/sympathy as well, because SHE is doing this from a place of emotion/caring

"He can still build a future with those who miss him" "His son's my friend"

"Never once has he cheated on his wife"

Once she wins, we get Athena "goddess of wisdom/master of war" once more.

She declares herself triumphant in Zeus' game & demands her prize (which sets Zeus off)

But when Zeus strikes her down, Athena humbles herself, she lowers her guard, she leads from the heart, and she doesn't demand. She doesnt even ask. She pleads for Zeus to let Odysseus go. Heart/affection on full display.

Athena gets NOTHING from this. She's no longer demanding for a reward/recognition as the witty winner of Zeus' game, ("I played your game & won" vs "Please, let him go") just asking for Odysseus to receive help

THIS is when Zeus relents. Not when he strikes her down so hard that Ares fears her dead. Not (and I hate using visuals to analyze MUSIC, but I'll give myself an exception) when Athena's armor starts to crumble. Not when she bleeds. Not when she crawls. When Athena pleads for Odysseus, that's when Zeus falters.

And

Don't read past here if you don't want spoilers/titles/speculation for upcoming sagas!

It works.

We KNOW Hermes will be sent to Odysseus to get him off Ogygia.

And, while it seems (at least to me) that in "Wouldn't You Like" Hermes appears to Odysseus of his own accord/for funsies, "You're being given one final option" (from "Dangerous") sounds like this isnt a social visit.

Hermes is here as a messenger. And I doubt the gods are going behind Zeus back for this one.

My guess? Zeus relents. With the caveat that they'll intervene to get Calypso to let Odysseus go BUT, he has to make it off the island/back home by himself.

But still. Athena's heart-felt plea works. Her pride as the clever goddess of wisdom who beat her father's game got her struck down. But leading from the heart & pleading for her friend's release succeeds.

And this is why I think (narratively) we need to close off the themes established in "Open Arms"

At the end of this post here, i talk about how it'd be nice to get some sort of closure for Polites' philosophy. Maybe with Odysseus' final confrontation with Poseidon. Maybe with Telemachus.

But after the Wisdom Saga?

I no longer think it'd simply be nice. I think its necessary for narrative closure.

The Wisdom Saga just showed us Ruthlessness was not mercy for Odysseus, who is tormented by the deaths of his crew & is now suicidal after being trapped on Ogygia for 7 years.

Ruthlessness was not mercy for Athena, who can no longer sleep at night.

Ruthlessness does not get results for any of the main characters featured in the Wisdom Saga

The philosophy Polites describes in "Open Arms" however, DOES get results.

Its what leads Athena to help Telemachus. Its how Telemachus convinces Athena to reach out to her friend. It's how Athena convinces the other gods (possibly even Zeus) to help/release Odysseus.

I now think we need one last callback to those themes. Either by Athena, by admitting she was wrong back in "Warrior of the Mind" and "My Goodbye" to demand Odysseus turn off his heart (she was not able to turn off her own heart!! She can't sleep at night! + heart is how she wins the God Games!)

OR by Telemachus, Odysseus optimistic son, who (as of the Wisdom Saga) has nothing monstrous or ruthless about him.

Maybe Odysseus gets carried away as he kills the suitors, or goes after someone who surrenders & Telemachus steps in to rein him in.

Maybe Telemachus simply reminds Odysseus of Polites.

Idk.

But I can't see "Open Arms" featuring so heavily in the Wisdom Saga's themes/narrative for there to be narrative satisfaction without one final, definitive callback in the Ithaca Saga

[imaginejamesandsirius]

Regulus is younger than canon, and Sirius is finally promoted to run away from home after he comes home in 1975 and finds his brother covered in bruises and discovers their mother had used the cruciatus on him. He turns up at the Potter’s with no prior warning with a six year-old Regulus in tow.

Established James/Sirius, lots of hurt/comfort and angst, and Regulus is adorable and Sirius will do literally anything for his baby brother.

((A/N: Warning for non-specific child abuse in keeping with the prompt))

"Hey. How are things at the death house?"

Sirius snorts. "This isn't the death house, this is the grim house. Death house is over in Wales, I'm afraid."

"Ah, my mistake. It's easy to get confused when your father died so recently; you understand."

Sirius should maybe not find that funny, considering how recently that death was. But his father was a distant figure at best, and at most realistic, a weird hermit that sometimes showed up during the winter hols to state that Sirius was bigger than before. He laughs, then glances over his shoulder to make sure his mum didn't hear that-- all clear. He looks back to the mirror. "It's fine. Well," he corrects a moment later, "it's weird. Mum's been acting so strange, and I swear, it's as if Regulus doesn't even exist. He's six. I remember being noticeable at six, but I never see him running around or yelling or anything I did at that age."

"Maybe he's just a quiet child. I've heard they exist," James grins.

"We're Black's. Making a scene is in our blood."

"He's got time to learn. And it's only been a day. Maybe he's intimidated by you or something. How's your mum acting weird, anyway? Is it because you didn't go to the funeral?"

"I dunno." That would be a plausible explanation, but he's not sure that's it. She sent a Howler when he didn't show, and that's usually enough to get it out of her system. Sirius chews on his lip as he tries to think of an example. "Just off. Like when you tell a joke and they do laugh but there's a pause that shouldn't be there. It's not something you can put your finger on, but you can sense it."

"I think I know what you mean, but your mother is kind of always like that to me." His head turns, listening to something Sirius can't catch, then he's waving goodbye. "Mum's calling me, got to go. Remember to ask your mum when you can come spend the night. I miss you."

"I'll ask her first thing. Love you."

"Love you too." James presses a smacking kiss to the mirror that makes Sirius laugh, and then he's gone.

Sirius heads to his room and cleans up a bit. Merlin, did his mum tell Kreacher to not clean his room while he was at Hogwarts? He didn't pay it any mind last night because he was tired, but there's a layer of dust that shouldn't be here. Come to think of it, Kreacher didn't make dinner last night, either. Has he seen Kreacher at all since he's been back? There's no way he died; Mother would've been more upset about that than her husband, and he would've heard about it.

What probably happened is that she got pissed when Sirius told her where she could shove her plans for his future and told Kreacher to not do things for him. It would explain the room, and if he's not supposed to do things for Sirius, then avoiding him is the best route. Damn it. That does sound like something she'd do. Sirius sighs and settles in for a deeper clean than he planned, because who knows how long it's been? 

His housekeeping spells are a bit shoddy but he does alright. He unpacks, switches out the photo in the picture frame by his bed. It goes from one photo of him and James to a different photo of him and James. The pictures look so similar, he notes. They took it at the same part of Hogwarts, but it hadn't been on purpose, so there's the same archway, flowers, even the same family of birds. The only thing that looks different about it is the signs of aging, losing just that more baby fat and getting taller. Their smiles are the same, though.

"Oh shit," he says after seeing the time. He almost missed dinner.

Or at least that's what he thought until he gets downstairs and doesn't see anyone. Nothing on the table, no one in the seats. "Mum? Regulus? Mum?" Nothing. "Kreacher?" Still nothing. He frowns. That's odd. "Mum?" he calls again, checking the sitting room. When he finds no one, he throws up his hands. Guess it's just him for dinner. He heads to the basement-- that's where the good stuff is. A nice cut of meat, a bottle of wine...

He opens the door, and there's the nearly imperceptible pop of a silencing charm being broken followed by screams. "What the-" Sirius races down the stairs, eyes widening in horror at what he sees. Between one breath and the next, his wand is in his hand and he stuns his mother. She collapses, the spell lifting off Regulus simultaneously. Regulus is gasping for breath, the effort interrupted too often with sobs and whines of pain. "It's okay, it's okay," Sirius promises, although he doesn't know how it's going to be okay since their mother seems to have lost her fucking mind and there's no one here for him to ask for help.

When Sirius picks him up, Regulus clings to him, small hands fisted in his robes with a strength he shouldn't have. He figures that out when he tries to put Regulus down so he can re-pack what he just unpacked and can't get him free. There's no time to find a better solution, so he shifts to holding him with one arm and has his wand in the other. It's a hack-job of packing, but his room is in his bag, and that's what's important. He goes to Regulus's room-- in a poor state of disrepair, really what happened to Kreacher?-- and does the same there. 

Regulus's tears are silent now, but there's still the occasional gasp of pain as Sirius moves. This is more than the Cruciatus Curse at work. He needs a healer, but Sirius can hardly show up at St. Mungo's like this. He's not an adult, and Regulus is so young that they'd insist on calling Walburga in which would just make matters worse. He needs- James. Yes, that's true, he needs James. James is good at healing spells and knows more of them than Sirius does, and although he never planned on taking the Potter's up on their offer, they'd long since told Sirius that he was welcome there anytime.

He isn't looking forward to going through the floo holding someone, but he doesn't have a lot of options right now. Regulus is too shaken to use the floo on his own, and he won't let go of Sirius to try. 

He grabs a handful of floo powder, steps inside... and then is ejected back into the room at Grimmauld Place. "Bugger," he mutters. Mum must've closed the floo. Why would she do that? It made no bloody sense- but then he can't expect her to make sense at all right now, since hurting Regulus is also senseless. Why would she...? Just why?

The floo isn't an option. He doesn't have money for the Knight Bus ever since Mum stopped giving him an allowance when he was thirteen. He doesn't know how to take a Muggle bus, much less if it could get him from Grimmauld Place to the Potter's house. That leaves flying, he realises with a grimace. There are brooms in the cupboard under the stairs and he grabs one. He's not fond of flying and he's never done it with a passenger before, but he has no other choice.

"We have to fly, and then we'll get you some help, okay?"

Regulus gives no response. Shit.

Sirius doesn't think about much as he flies. Mostly he's worried about Regulus falling off the broom if he suddenly decides to let go of Sirius's robes, and the rest of his thoughts are occupied with wondering if James will be happy to see him or just stressed out. 

He doesn't give any thought to how it'll look to the Potter's when they open the door and see him holding a shaky six year old, asking for help, but then he's stood there, looking at them as they take in the sight he makes, and it occurs to him that calling James on the mirror wouldn't have gone amiss.

*

After a hundred different healing and diagnostic spells-- who knew Mrs. Potter trained to be a healer after Hogwarts?-- Regulus is doing better and is asleep. Of course, he's asleep on Sirius's lap, so even though all he wants is to curl up on top of James, he can't. Mr. and Mrs. Potter are in the other dining room, discussing what to do from here. Sirius thinks his mother must be under the influence of a spell, but he knows they don't believe that. Whether she is or not, she won't be able to take care of Regulus any time soon-- even if she could, there's no way Regulus would want to go back. And Sirius doesn't want to be in the house with her either.

"What are you thinking?" James asks. He keeps his voice down to not wake up Regulus. Sirius does the same when he responds.

"That this is fucked."

"Yeah. Bit of an understatement," James says with a grimace. "That stuff I said on the mirror-"

Sirius shakes his head, cutting him off. "You couldn't know. No one could've guessed my mum would turn barmy overnight." He glances towards the door to the dining room, hoping that something will slip through from the Potter's conversation and he'll know what they're thinking.

"What do you think will happen?" James asks, following the direction of his thoughts.

"I dunno," he replies, but it's a lie. Barely a second later, he adds, "Emancipation for me. Housing Regulus with the closest relative willing to take him in. Cygnus and Druella won't do it, they said they were done being around kids after me." And they meant it. "Bellatrix would, except she doesn't want any kids. Andromeda's next in line, and she'll say yes, unless Ted has some problem with it. So I guess I find somewhere to stay, and he goes off with Andromeda."

"If you're emancipated, couldn't you take him in?"

"Legally that would work, but we've still got Hogwarts."

"Stay here."

Sirius stares at him. He wants to and hopes more than anything that it's offered to him officially, but... "Your parents-"

"Would let you. Mum and Dad adore you. This is probably what they're talking about in there. C'mon, you know they wanted more than one kid. After tonight, they might have two more, and they’ll be bloody thrilled."

*

Several years later

"We're summoned to Hogwarts," Sirius says.

"Again?"

"Yep. What do you think he did this time?"

"Nothing worth us getting dragged up there," James groans. "We got up to all sorts when we were in school, and they only called our parents in once. Regulus isn't half as bad as we were."

"Yeah, well we didn't get caught."

James blinks, thinking that over. "I forgot that bit," he says candidly, making Sirius laugh. "He's in Slytherin, shouldn't he be better at sneaking around?"

"Yeah, I asked him about that, apparently it's a myth. Snape was not the best sample to base the rest on, he says. Or he's playing the long game and lying to me, but I really think they don't care as much as we thought."

"Huh." James looks like his entire worldview has changed. Sirius remembers having the same reaction when Regulus told him. It's made Sirius wonder why Slytherin has the terrible reputation because they largely don't break the rules, but Gryffindors are viewed as better when they broke the rules, often just to see if they can get away with it.

They floo over to Hogwarts, and Professor Dumbledore is there to greet them. "I hope this didn't interrupt anything important."

"It's fine," James says.

"Do you want to tell us what this is about before we get in there?" Sirius asks, loping his arm through James's as they walk. 'Disgustingly domestic' is what Regulus calls them, and Sirius is happy to keep proving him correct.

People say that Regulus is in his 'rebellious phase'; Sirius doesn't believe it. He's not rebelling and he's not acting out, he's having fun. Experimenting, even. Loosing five dozen roosters in the Great Hall sounds hilarious, and Sirius is sorry they didn't think of it when they were in school. And the hair dye thing? Completely harmless. Giving all the house elves twelve hours off made Sirius lose his composure laughing-- something he tried not to do while in the office being told about it-- but Regulus wanted to see what would happen to the running of the castle without them. Freeing the hippogriff in Care of Magical Creatures was an accident, so it hardly counts, even though he got detention for it.

There's a wide range of possibilities, and Sirius doesn't know which kind they're expecting today.

"I'm afraid it's a rather delicate matter. Mr. Black has asked that you not be told anything without him in the room, and given the nature of this... incident, I agreed."

James and Sirius share a worried look, and they're thinking the same thing: we're too young to be raising a teenager. Wasn't it just yesterday they were walking these halls themselves? That feels like the truth, but simultaneously, it was a lifetime ago. Sirius is only ten years older than Regulus, but shortly after graduating Hogwarts, Mr. and Mrs. Potter had died, leaving them alone with the responsibility of raising him. They asked for help from Andromeda where they could, but she had her own child to raise, and their schedules were never so aligned that they could ask for her assistance at the drop of a hat.

Sirius squeezes James's hand and gets a comforting squeeze in response. Right. They can handle this, like they handled everything else. Regulus threw them curveballs sometimes, but they always worked through it in the end.

[noroi1000]

Honored One Shot no.15 - @mc-reborn

Flowers for my Woman

Summary: Gojo guessed you were in a bad mood. He started sending you flowers while he was at work.

Warning: Perverted Gojo

"Good morning. I have flowers dedicated to (l/n) (y/n)." Said a young boy in a yellow flower shop uniform.

You stood by the open door of the house and looked at the dark roses you like so much. All nicely decorated and prepared for you to take it.

Gold decorative paper around the flowers, green and blue ribbons for more color. Flower petals sprinkled with small particles of glitter for an even better effect.

A young boy handed you a bouquet and asked you to sign the acknowledgment of receipt of the flowers.

"Thank you very much. I've got a car full of flowers, so I'll be going now."

You watched him with more open eyes as he smiled as he walked over to the car to check the address for the next order.

You looked at the bouquet curiously, wondering who it was from.

To finally see how a little chibi card hangs on the ribbon with the face of Satoru in a blindfold who sends you a heart.

You smiled knowing he always knows your favorite things.

Satoru always picked your favorites. Always the best. And he very often had a feeling when you were having a bad day.

And because life plays tricks sometimes, he knew he had to be there for you when you needed him. Especially after a hard day and after all the unpleasant, bad times you can go through in life.

That's why you were so happy that he sent you beautiful flowers. But you wonder why he did it. After all, he will come home to you in the afternoon. So why did he send it?

Or maybe he'll be back later today and wanted to give you a present as an apology? Well, that would be sad because you were really hoping that he would come home and you could spend the whole evening with him. Your mood with him will definitely improve and everything will be so perfect. You are sure it will.

You love him, and you love him because he always thinks of you.

"Uhm, Miss?"

You looked at the young boy who was nervously looking at the list.

There were all the addresses he's supposed to deliver the swapped flowers to.

It's all computer generated after someone places an order. Perhaps it was a bug or something else. But there were the same addresses everywhere. The same address. The address where he gave you the flowers. This is your address.

Your home.

Did they have a bug in the system?

"Most of the flowers I have have been marked for delivery to this address..." he said, pointing to a sheet of paper.

You looked there and indeed. Your address was on the card.

Either they made a mistake or Satoru ordered more flowers than he should have... More than one bouquet. It was a whole car of flowers!

"Could I see a bouquet? I think I know how to check it." You said and put down the bouquet you already had.

The boy led you to the car and pulled out the strangest bouquet in the whole delivery.

Yes... Until everything was for you. There was no doubt... Satoru just wanted to give the supplier a heart attack so that he would think he had broken something.

You saw a bouquet of white and black flowers. And also blue ones. Among the blue ones were black and white roses. And that thing formed the shape of his blindfolded face.

You smiled nervously and looked at him.

"I don't think there is a mistake here." You said calmly and pulled the bouquet to your chest.

You really need to talk to him about this...

"So I'll start pulling out the flowers. Should I put them indoors or outside?"

"You can help me bring this home."

So after a long time of pulling bouquets out of the car, you were finally alone.

You've been going through all the bouquets. From the pretty but simple ones to the most sophisticated and exaggerated ones.

They all had something to do with your boyfriend. One was arranged as his face, the other had a sticky note. Everything was different.

But you can be sure that no matter how it looks, when he comes home you will thank him and have a nice evening with him.

And in the meantime, you arranged the flowers in vases so you wouldn't have to throw them away so quickly. It's so pretty. And it was certainly expensive. You do not want to get rid of such a gift from him. Because you like it.

A few bouquets in the living room, a few in the bedroom. Each cupboard had a vase or pot of flowers on it. And it added to the surroundings quite a nice look. It's not empty, it's not that much either. This adds natural beauty and charm.

You couldn't help but think of Satoru with the flower on his ear looking at you in such a cute and loving way.

Speak of the devil. As soon as you started thinking about him that way, he showed up.

The front door opened and he ran over to you and wrapped his arms around you from behind.

"What was the reason for your bad mood?" he asked and started kissing your neck softly.

His lips nibbled your neck gently.

"How did you know I was in a bad mood?" You asked, placing your hand on his hair as you let him do what he wanted.

He was now acting like he was hungry for love and touch. His body clung so tightly to yours.

"You don't send me a heart emoji like you always do when I send it."

You laughed.

"Did that help you understand that I'm in a bad mood?"

"Yes. You know... You never forget to send me a heart."

"Aww, okay, baby boy. Next time I promise I'll send you hearts."

"What do you think of flowers?" he murmured into your ear, his lips hooking over your sensitive skin.

"Did you need that much?"

"I wanted to see your smile."

You turned to him and stood on your tiptoes to kiss him.

"I'm smiling, baby."

He smiled harder.

"I know." his fingers circled your waist.

And then you reached into the pink bouquet and pulled out one flower, putting it behind his ear.

"cute."

"You're cute more. I'm handsome." He leaned in to you again, pulling you tighter into his broad arms. "Are you in a good mood now?"

"It depends on what you want." he hummed, tracing patterns on his uniform. He put his mouth to your ear.

"I've been wondering since morning what it's like to fuck you when there are flowers around."

You felt a slight shiver run down your spine.

So there was a hidden meaning behind his innocent behavior.

"There are flowers in the bedroom too." You purred, staying close to him.

"Do you want me to fuck you hard or sensual?"

"No matter what I choose, you choose hard."

"Because I know you love the feeling of my big cock hard and deep inside your tight pussy. Flowers for my Woman were to make you feel better. Now you make me feel better, baby~"

[amerricanartwork]

RW Headcanon: Goodnight, Moon

AHHH YESSSS, now that that Lilypad essay is done I can FINALLY share these—!

Hey, @ghostlycoze! So you remember a few months ago how I made that drawing acting on the Moon beepsnort headcanon, and how in my last reblog I eluded to the possibility of drawing out some of your headcanons again? Well, it looks like that time has come, and this time I've got not just drawings, but lots of additions to another headcanon of yours!

This time, it's from your tags in these three posts, which I also saw a while ago! Yet for some reason I began thinking about it again recently, and as is my nature with ideas I like, I decided to develop it further, and even draw it this time!

Also, just to preface, you'll see I did a bunch of notes beside the actual drawings as well. I'll share the picture and roughly type out the notes (in case my handwriting is a bit hard to read) as well as whatever info I couldn't fit on the page. Some of the text also just says "robots" rather than "iterators" because some of these ideas are stuff I actually imagine applying to robot characters in general! Maybe I'll make a post on that someday...

With all that out of the way though, the actual headcanon is under the cut! Hope you like it!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

What are iterators like when they’re sleepy? Do they even get “sleepy” the way we humans do? This headcanon answers that question with a focus on the iterators’ puppets. Much of this info is also framed in the context of a hypothetical “worm-off-the-string” scenario, since I believe that’s the main situation where sleep and getting tired would actually matter to the iterators.

Firstly, when iterator puppets are low on power, until they find a place to recharge they usually enter a power-saving state where, to conserve what’s left of it, their energy is temporarily redirected away from some of their less-important processes. The side-effect of this, however, is that iterator puppets show symptoms of drowsiness kinda like humans! Whereas humans may yawn, stretch, or rub their eyes when sleepy, iterators will often make sloppier/less precise movements, close their lenses a little, and may even have a harder time thinking, since they sometimes shut off some processors and other cognitive functions until they can recharge. The most common symptom, however, is slurred speech, coming from less power given to their speech-forming software.

Another very-common sign of iterator sleepiness is frequent beeping, often in place of words. This is because, like slurred speech, beeps take much less energy and processing to make than analyzing data, formulating a complex response, then vocalizing it clearly. Beeps are thus far more efficient for conveying simple emotions and reactions than words. Looks to the Moon in particular gets super beepy when she’s tired because she and other early models relied more on beeps for communication — they were made back when things like vivid emotion weren’t as taboo in Ancient society, and iterators were meant to be more friendly and openly interactive with their citizens — so she’s more used to beeping to easily express her emotions. 

As a side-note and mini-headcanon (wow, real headcanon-layering action here), while even the newest iterator puppets can beep, the older iterator models, as a result of this design influence, also have a much greater “beep-vocabulary” with a wider range of sounds that shrunk with the generations. Their beeps are thus a lot more expressive as well, with some sounds even being similar in nature to animal noises or regular speech! I imagine the entire range of their beeps would closely resemble shorter versions of the “droidspeak” sounds of the astromechs in Star Wars.

But, back to sleepy iterators. 

When it’s hibernation time, iterators enter a “sleep-mode”, where almost all of their systems are shut down and recharging becomes the primary objective. However, compared to how I imagine other robots, iterator puppets have a unique way of recharging. Rather than shutting off completely and absorbing power from an external source, iterator puppets have a few key systems within them that remain on even during sleep-mode. These systems, just like those in their superstructures, are capable of converting nutrients into power directly. They emit a soft, rather comforting whirr while the puppets sleep — the only sound iterators make while sleeping, and comparable in nature to stomach sounds during digestion. Otherwise, though, the only other systems remaining on during sleep-mode are a few basic senses, and a program that decides when to “wake up”. The presence of this program also means, uniquely to iterators again, they can wake up on their own, rather than having to be powered back on by someone else like other robots. Overall, these systems are yet another aspect of iterator designs that make them far more biological than many iterators (*cough* *cough* Pebbles *cough*) would like to admit.  And in my imaginings of a “worm-off-the-string” AU, systems like these are one of the main sources of both physical and internal conflict for these characters.

Also, since most of their systems are off during sleep mode, iterators sleep, both figuratively and literally, like statues. Whatever position they fall asleep in is the position they remain in the entire time unless a.) someone moves them or b.) they wake up and move on their own. This also means (unfortunately, if you thought these ideas would be cute) that iterators do not snore, shift around, sleepwalk, sleep-talk, or dream while in sleep mode.

That’s about it for this headcanon as it applies to iterator puppets overall. Now, I’m gonna get into how I imagine Looks to the Moon specifically likes to sleep.

In addition to getting very beepy, Moon also gets very cuddly when sleepy, though some of this comes from her affectionate personality. However, it's also due to a lasting trauma from her collapse. Of course she's learned to tolerate the rain over time, yet after spending so many cycles being rapidly drowned over and over in her can — with endless disorientation and senses so out-of-control from being disconnected from most of her superstructure, no one around to comfort her save for the occasional wandering creature, and the knowledge that her own beloved brother was responsible for this — it’s still left a fair amount of bad memories with her, especially from those cycles most recently after her collapse/revival, and this general unease often resurfaces with the sound of the rain. Therefore, whenever the rain comes, this trauma serves as another, more internal reason Looks to the Moon always wants to fall asleep holding onto/being held by someone, or at the very least while sharing the shelter with someone she loves. 

On a more positive note, since I’m now officially a Lilypad shipper, I imagine that No Significant Harassment is Moon’s default choice of cuddling partner! It can be a little hard to get in position — I imagine Moon always likes to be the little spoon despite her being slightly taller than him — but they manage! Moon pretty much always falls asleep first, because, as the oldest model of the group, and having sustained the most damage post-collapse on top of that, she simply doesn’t use power as efficiently as the others do and therefore gets tired much more easily. In some ways, the poor thing even feels a little guilty about it; she’s supposed to be the leader of this group, and yet here she is, tiring out after less travel and growing drowsy before the rain even starts! Luckily, Sig makes an effort to ensure her she’s more-than worth keeping around, because after every awful thing the world has thrown at her kindness, the least she deserves is some quality guilt-free nap time! And sometimes, if they want a little alone-time (or if Pebbles gets too fed-up with their lovey-dovey gestures), it’ll be just the two of them, and perhaps their slugcats, cuddling together in the shelter. 

And speaking of slugcats, Moon’s second choice of cuddles is Rivulet! Being very soft, warm, and equally cuddly, she makes another good source of cuddles for Moon. And sometimes, if Hunter’s also around and willing, the two join forces with Sig and Hunter for a big, soft, cuddle-filled slumber party!

Still, though, Sig is definitely no. 1 provider of snuggles for Moon. But he loves her dearly, so for the most part he doesn’t mind! Since she falls asleep first, some of his favorite moments each cycle are from just watching her and holding her close as the rainfall echoes from outside; she always looks so beautiful when she’s relaxed, and having her in his arms makes him feel like he can protect her no matter what. So he never really minds when Moon, slurring her words, tiredly asks for him to hold her while she enters sleep mode. 

That is, except when this happens and he’s stuck in that spot for the next several hours…

A few more ideas to this headcanon:

Moon’s third choice of cuddles is Five Pebbles. It’s a bit interesting, because in basically all other scenarios Pebbles insists on sleeping alone in a separate shelter, even though he’s actually rather touch-starved (though it'll be a while before he admits it). Moon is one of the only people he’s actually willing to sleep with, besides occasionally Artificer (in which the feeling is mutual and no one else must be in the room). If I someday decide to ship Pebbles with someone, I imagine he’d also be willing to sleep with them, again, only if no one else is around to see it.

To elaborate on the last point and shift to Five Pebbles’ perspective, the reason why Pebbles always wants to sleep alone is because, as I imagine the worm-off-the-string story so far, Pebbles’ biggest internal conflicts are learning to accept all those “worldly attachments” the Ancients so strongly rejected, and overcoming his god-complex and fear of relying on others. And one of the main ways this manifests is him being so deeply embarrassed to be dealing with these basic survival needs — like yet another one of the savage beasts roaming the world, after having been a vast mechanical god so far above those primitive creatures — that he refuses to let others, even his friends and family, observe him in such a “pitiful” state whenever possible, and resolves to try and overcome it alone. 

To further continue this idea, this is why Moon sometimes insists on sleeping with him. Even though he’ll have to overcome these conflicts on his own, it doesn’t mean he has to be alone while he does it. She makes an effort during these and other moments in this scenario to assure him that it’s okay, no one’s gonna judge or punish him for living this way, and she’ll always be there if he ever decides to accept some help. Pebbles always falls asleep with his head buried in her chest and holding onto her very tightly.

The iterators often like to sleep with their slugcats, who in the AU also stick around a lot to help guide them as they figure out the ins-and-outs of organic survival. 

Both Moon and Pebbles tend to sleep in a curled position. It's actually very similar to how slugcats generally sleep!

Pebbles is quite the workaholic in general, but it also means he has a hard time falling asleep — not because he doesn’t get sleepy, but rather that he often denies it or its significance in an attempt to get more done that cycle (and because, again, he’s “too advanced” for animalistic things like sleeping). The group often has to literally drag him to bed to get him to sleep, and Sig often teases him when his lenses start drooping and his syllables begin to stretch.

In extreme cases, where almost all of their power has been exhausted, iterators won't just slur their words anymore, but their speech will often lose coherency overall, like a spoken case of very drunk typing .

When sleepy, Moon not only slurs her words, but has a tendency to say rather strange and very silly things. It’s another side-effect of less power being used to actually think through her words. There have been many instances where the whole group erupted in laughter after Moon made a really out-of-left-field comment!

Oh, and here's one last quick doodle based off one of the ones above:

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Aaaand that's all for another headcanon! Even though it took me a whole week to do the drawings, it was SO fun getting to develop this idea, especially since sleepy Moonie is such a cute concept! I am so glad that you shared that little idea, Ghost!!

And speaking of which, if you've made it all the way down here, Ghost, may I invite you to add any more ideas to all this, if you want? I'd especially love hearing ideas for the other iterators' sleeping habits (how fast they get tired, what position they like to sleep in, who they usually sleep with, how they wind down before bed, etc.)! I mainly focused on Moon and a bit of Pebbles at the end, since I'm still trying to get a read on Sig and Suns's personalities (especially Suns), so it'd be fun to even further expand on this idea in that regard! Of course, you don't have to, but it's a proposition!

But regardless, I hope you and anyone else who made it to the bottom enjoyed my contributions to the idea! And be sure to keep the adorable headcanon ideas coming!!

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Bonus: Here are the full sketchbook pages, in case anyone was interested in seeing the completed layout! I think I'm gonna be making more of these kinds of drawing/explanation combo artworks!3

[fillingthescrapbook]

Let's Talk About: Mentopolis and Case Closed

This is arguably the best Dimension 20 finale of 2023… so far. Sure, Dungeons and Drag Queens gave us one heck of an emotional ending that was elevated by Jujubee's personal stakes in the story. The Ravening War was a fun romp through time that delivered cinematic-quality twists, plot developments, and tension-filled moments in the finale. And Neverafter's finale was more scary serious and needed a lot of processing.

Mentopolis though… With the mix of catharsis and a table of players that really focused their talents on the fun of role-playing… This finale was just so enjoyable. It gave me everything I didn't even know I wanted.

And the whole episode was truly bonkers. The fight, the player decisions… Danielle/Anastasia Tension glugging down some room-temperature vodka after a wild chase, Hank/The Fix setting the mood with some genre-appropriate steam, and Freddie/Dan Fucks making the ultimate in-character choice of distracting the enemy with his diamond-hard balls.

Trapp rolled the most cursed Nat 1 from Dimension 20 history--and still survived! Siobhan found the best coda for the whole adventure.

And Alex… Alex has done something no other Dimension 20 player has ever done for me: they made me cry for four episodes straight. Maybe five. I'll have to go back to what I said in previous talk-abouts. But Alex was very masterful with how they delivered their emotional gut-punches. As well as the physical ones Conrad delivered.

Hank didn't want to get left behind either. His final scene with the reunion? Magnificent. And the "did you know" speech in the fight that wasn't meant to be menacing but still managed to scare the shit out of everyone (including myself who is watching months and months after they finished wrapping)? Inspiring.

I need to see Alex, Hank, and Freddie in future Dimension 20 seasons. I would love for them to be together, but I would love it even more if we see them interact with other Dimension 20 cast members and/or newcomers. I want Hank to come back in a season with Murph and Emily. I want Alex on a season with Aabria as the game master, and maybe with Oscar Montoya as a fellow player. And Freddie… Freddie, I feel, could fit in with any table composition. I want to see his chaos with Zac and Lou's though. Or Zac and Ally's.

And I want Danielle partnering with Siobhan again. Maybe in another Good Society-run season by Aabria. Maybe in a different system run by Jasmine Bhullar. I feel like we only got the tip of the possible shenanigans we could've gotten from the two… Thinking about it now, what if Murph guest DMs a side quest season with Danielle, Siobhan, and Emily?! The possible combinations are endless.

While I fantasize about possible casts for future seasons of Dimension 20, I leave you with a few gems I will treasure from the finale of Mentopolis:

"The greatest pleasure is punching your boss."

"Mr. Fix? Duck!"

And "57. My favorite number."

See y'all next time. In the stars. In the soup. In the dome.

[verbosebabbler]

Made a mockup of a theoretical Zampaniosim gameboy game. @jadedresearcher

This was really satisfying to make, just seeing all the parts, the character sprites, the background, the UI, all come together to form a cohesive whole. I love mockups and concept art and creating something of my own that has that affect on me was great.

I have ideas on how the game would play. Basically, it's a position based combat system that will have some looping system of preserving experience points and levels. I'm not going to make it real though, I don't have the game making experience to try that. But I liked having the mechanics in mind for if I want to make more screenshots from this fake game.

As for why I chose these characters to focus on, I just see a lot of potential in how their motivations can clash. Just, the pathos of it all. I'll explain more below the cut

Peewee, after enduring several lifetimes of watching the world around him, everyone he knows, and even his own body be corrupted by forces outside of his control, gets some semblance of hope with the forming of the new universe, the :hatched_chick:, that he may be free from this torment. Only for a heinous echidna universe to sprout into existence, siphoning and slowly killing this new universe. Then, after being thrusted into this corrupted world, finds himself even less in control, being directly puppeted by beings beyond his understanding: the Observers... us.

While he was initially forced into being the adopted father of these kids through both the Observers and the nebulous concept of relevancy that kept these kids around (unlock other lamia), Peewee does end up actually developing parental feelings towards these three lamia kids.

But his sole purpose for being here is to destroy this universe from the inside. To maybe make things go back to the way they used to be.

But for Rebel, Rod, and Melon, unlike most of the other characters in this series, this is their world. It's the only world they've ever known, and each have their own motivations for protecting it.

Melon's is most obvious, and what got me started thinking about this storyline in depth. Melon is an eco terrorist, destroying business with harmful business practices towards the planet and nature.

Then there's Rod, who seems to have a connection to the echidna of the echidna universe itself, always carrying around an echidna doll. And Rod is the most externally compassionate of the three, so he'd likely be the one to rally the others to work together.

Finally there's Rebel. Less obvious with his thorny exterior, but Rebel is the one of three that's most connected to the people of the outside world, making friends with some of the mall characters. And the little peace symbol on his pocket betrays his true feelings.

And with all this it turns out that their father figure wishes to destroy it and everyone in it, including them.

So each has to fight between their own feelings of familial care for each other, and their own goals to either protect the world or destroy it. There's just so much drama here worth exploring.

And for sticking around, here's some alternate color palette versions.

[peachymilkandcream]

Second Chance|Levi x Evelyn AU

Request: A second chance one shot with Evelyn and Levi. They broke up but he’s been stalking her ever since conveniently showing up when she’s at her worst because he’s been waiting for this.

(A/N: The request is from me haha, I wanted to do something a little interesting and different so I hope you guys like it! I might have to do a part two, or a full series if anyone's interested, just let me know!)

WARNINGS: noncon/dubcon, graphic descriptions of violence, domestic violence, manipulation, mind breaking, yandere behaviour/themes, forced marriage, forced pregnancy, wishing rape upon someone, misogyny, mentions of child abuse, blackmail, revenge porn, murder, second chance, stalking, etc.

================================================

Evelyn had been blissfully free from her ex for months now. The only ties to him left the occasional time checking his social media and seeing what he was up to. It wasn't for being hung up on him or anything, it was more so making sure that he was moving on himself and was finally over it. Levi hadn't been entirely thrilled about the news that Evelyn wanted to break up and was kicking him out of their shared apartment.

He had been upset and brooding the whole time, asking her again and again if she was sure she wanted to do this. They could go to couple's counselling, work things out. This was a mistake, she was throwing away a whole relationship for what.

When he asked the reason she couldn't give a straight answer. The truth was he was controlling, everything from the way her hair was cut to her most recent manicure was all decided by him.

Currently her nails were being redone, Levi had sent her with a particular color, one that he later confessed with pride was the shade of his tip. That was the final straw, she was done with everything being about him and sex. Granted, she had lost her innocence to him and he never gave her a reason to hate it, but still. She was tired of that being all he cared about.

On his socials Levi was partying it up, showing him with his friends, going out to dinners, and acting as if she didn't exist. Her pictures with him were still up, but he supposed he couldn't make him go back and delete every memory over the past two years just because of them.

It brought her relief, she thought that he would be distraught, showing up at her apartment every day until she took him back. It was good to seem him move on in a healthy way.

She never had to worry about him again.

================================================

Levi hadn't moved on. Since he worked from home he set up one of his monitors for work and the other for the security system he had installed in their apartment before he left. He wanted to make sure no man came and tainted her from him. Levi wanted to see and hear what she was going through and know if she missed him, if she wanted him back, or if there was a weakness he could find.

So far nothing good had happened. Thankfully she was in a so called healing process so she wasn't interested in other men just yet. He had time.

With a sigh of finality Levi finished in time with his love, he had been watching her take care of herself through the camera, not mentioning another man's name either. He was sure she missed that aspect of him, even if she didn't admit it. Levi had left an imprint on her life that couldn't be so easily erased. He would come back and win her affections.

After Evelyn had finished she got a phone call with her friend, leaving it on speakerphone.

"So have you been missing Levi?"

"Well there's certain things I miss, but I'm better off without him."

"Move on girl, date some guys, hook up. Levi was your only guy so you need to get some experience."

"I don't think I'm ready for that just yet."

"Okay fine, but eventually. What about that cute guy at your work?"

"Warren? He's kind of out of my league."

"Are you serious? Levi was way hotter than he was and you had to end it with him!"

"Maybe, I'll give it a go. He's nice enough."

"Seriously, get out there. Have some fun, use protection."

"I will, you don't have to remind me."

"I think I do, I don't know but I wouldn't put it past Levi to baby trap you, and it worried me sometimes."

"Levi didn't know I was on birth control, it's okay."

"Good. Just try to forget about him."

"I will. Talk to you later."

They hang up, Evelyn looking happier, while Levi couldn't look more enraged. How dare she put ideas into Evelyn's head?! That was his girl, and now he had competition to work with? And she had been going behind his back this whole time. Evelyn would pay for this. He wouldn't take it lightly.

Levi would get back with her, and he would make her pay for what she'd done. Evelyn would love him again.

[elly99]

Golden Hour

Part 4 of 5. Check here for more details.

"Wake up!"

Your phone screamed a recording from one of her Phoning lives. There was no better way to be woken up than by one of her morning calls. It helped you miss her less. And it made you love her more.

You'd been looking forward to this day all week. She was finally coming home. You barely slept last night. All you could think about was her. And that was still the case as you scrambled to get ready, the adrenaline keeping you going, despite running on only three hours of sleep. It was time to make her breakfast like you promised.

You had just begun preparations when you heard the bell ring. Your heart nearly jumped out of your chest. You were not expecting her this early. You could not have run to the door any faster, but she knew your code and was already in the hallway.

"Good morning, bunny!" Her eyes light up when she sees you and she immediately runs to you with arms outstretched. She gives you the tightest bear hug and you feel all your anxiety squeezed out of you. All you worries fly out the door she just came through. She was home and nobody could be happier than you.

Except maybe her. "I missed you so much," she whines, still hugging you tight. "I missed this."

"I missed you, too, Min. So much." You finally take a step back to appreciate how beautiful she was. Not that you were surprised. "Babe, you look amazing! I love your highlights!"

"Aw, thank you! And you look adorable, baby! Did you just get out of bed? Your hair looks funny again," she says giggling.

"Yeah, you got here so early! I've only just started on breakfast."

"Sorry, I just missed you too much. Had to get here as soon as I could." She gives you a quick peck on the lips.

Then you realize you owe her something. You cup her face with your hands and give her a gentle kiss in return, closing your eyes and letting time slow down. "I love you, baby."

"I love you, too. Thought you forgot about that one."

"Luckily you reminded me," you wink and spot her blushing a little. "Wanna sit down? I'll just finish prepping breakfast."

"No. I'm going to keep hugging you and you can't stop me."

Not that you'd ever try to stop her hugging you from behind while you prepare food.

"What are you making?" she asks into your back.

"French toast! I also got you some vanilla ice cream and watermelon for later if you want."

"Oh my gosh, really?" She tightens her hold on you.

"Of course, babe. I know you love those."

"I love you more~!"

You almost drop the bread on the ground.

It takes a bit longer to prepare a meal with a clingy bear on your back, so breakfast turns into brunch. But it didn't matter, because with her here, you felt you had all the time in the world.

At the table you both talk about your week, feed each other, laugh together, and you realize you want nothing but this in your future. You just wanted her in your life forever. To see her smile everyday. To make her happy every chance you could.

Even as you put the dishes away, she back hugs you. Even doing the most mundane things, she manages to make you feel like you're in a dream. Despite being fresh out of bed, she tells you you're beautiful. And despite you knowing it already, she never fails to remind you that she loves you.

"Wait on the couch, baby. Let me just get something."

She comes running back carrying your stuffed bunny in one hand and her hair brush in the other.

"Oh, hey! It's Tokki!"

"Take good care of him, ok?"

"Of course I will!" you exclaim, holding the toy close. "I just realized we never named the bear I got you."

She starts brushing your hair. "Oh, I named it after you. I just forgot to tell you. I hug it to sleep every night," she says calmly.

But you were anything but calm after that. "Why are you so sweet, Minji-yah~?" you squeal.

She mouths the words, "I love you," then gets off the couch and hooks up her phone into your stereo system.

"Minji baby," you call. "I have a problem. Can you help me?" you ask, pouting.

She looks up from her phone, flipping her hair slightly, and smiles at you. "Come here," she says gently, beckoning you over. "Come dance with me." Ethereal piano starts playing.

I was all alone with the love of my life She's got glitter for skin, my radiant beam in the night I don't need no light to see you shine

You feel butterflies throughout your whole body. You quickly stand up and practically run into her arms. She holds you by the waist, pulling you close, and in a soft whisper she asks, "What's the matter, baby?"

Completely red in the cheeks with how tender she's being right now, you lock your hands around her and answer shyly, "I'm a little obsessed with you."

"I see," she says, grinning. "Ok, don't worry. Dr. Kim will help you." She leads the dance, pulling you gently back and forth. "What are your symptoms?"

"Um. I miss you all the time. I keep thinking about you. About hugging you. Kissing you. Listening to your voice and your laugh. Watching you play with your hair. Seeing you smile. I didn't get much sleep last night cuz I was so excited to see you again."

"Hmm. It doesn't seem like a huge problem to me," she teases. "It just sounds like you're in love."

You laugh softly. "I guess I am."

You slow down time In your golden hour

"I've been listening to this song a lot, actually. How did you know?"

"Well, in my professional opinion, it seems we're soulmates. I can read your mind."

"Oh, yeah? What am I thinking about now then?"

"Me. Hehe." She gives you a cheeky smile.

"I mean, yeah, but that's obvious. What exactly am I thinking?"

"Mmm, you're wondering whether or not I'm obsessed with you, too."

Goosebumps. "How did you know?"

"Like I said, I can read your mind. Don't you trust Dr. Kim?"

"With my life," you reassure and pull her in for a kiss. "So, are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Don't make me say it again, bro."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she smiles and kisses you back.

You fight the urge to just melt into her arms and instead try to give her your best puppy dog eyes. "Are you obsessed with me, too?"

She stays silent for a while and looks straight at you. Then with a soft smile she nods cutely and pulls you in for a hug. "I'm in love with you."

Can you even imagine falling like I did for the love of my life? She's got glow on her face, a glorious look in her eyes My angel of light

As the song fades out, your small steps come to a stop. Standing still in each other's arms, you bask in the lingering warmth of your first slow dance together.

"Why haven't we done this before?" you ask. "I loved it. I love when you take the lead."

"I'm glad! I really did want to dance with you. Been thinking about it for a while now."

"You were totally trying to rizz me up, weren't you?"

She laughs. "No~! Why would I need to do that, silly bunny? You're already mine," she says with a smirk on her pretty little face.

Who needs makeup when Kim Minji can make the brightest colors appear on your cheeks with just a few words?

Satisfied with her knockout blow, she lowers her arms from around you and takes hold of your hands. "You wanna cuddle and nap, baby? Since you said you didn't get much sleep last night. Doctor's recommendation!"

"I'd love that. Will you be the big or little spoon?"

"Neither. We're the same height, bro."

"You know what I mean!"

She lifts your hands up and plants a kiss on each of them. "I'll be the big spoon so you can sleep."

How was anyone allowed to be this perfect?

Now in her arms, on your bed, windows glowing in the afternoon sun, it was almost the exact same situation you found yourself in a week ago, when you pondered satellite metaphors. But this time around, in her golden hour, your thoughts were at peace. Cozy under the blanket with just her, you left no space for any unrest. You melt into her embrace and quickly let sleep take over.

You wake up to the sunset streaming through your window. You hear her gentle snoring and didn't want to wake her, but you realize that you'd both slept through dinner time. So you slowly get up from her embrace to sit beside her. She looked so pretty sleeping peacefully like this. You couldn't help but play with her hair. You knew she loved when you did. Sure enough, your gentle touch wakes her from her slumber.

"Hey, baby bear. We overslept. It's past dinner time."

"Let's order some food then. What do you wanna eat?"

"You choose! I made brunch, so it's your turn."

"Ok, I'll try to find something interesting," she says, already scrolling through her phone. "Can you spoon me in the meantime? My turn to be little spoon."

She didn't even have to ask. You gently lift her up so you can wrap one arm around her and pull her close.

"And keep playing with my hair, please," she says adorably and smiles when you oblige. "I love when you do that."

It was so soft. Just like everything else about her. Just like your heart for her.

Cuddling in comforting silence, waiting for your food to arrive, she asks, "Have you still been worrying about us?"

"A little."

"But why, my love? You know I love you, right? No matter what."

Your lips curl into a smile. "I know," you say as you kiss her cheek.

"So don't worry. I'm not going anywhere," she whispers and smiles back at you encouragingly.

"I just worry about people finding out. Like, I'm always so scared and I wish I didn't have to be. I know you just like staying home on your off days, and I love resting at home with you, too. But it just makes me sad every time I think about something couples do and realize we can't."

"Like what, baby?"

"Um, like, traveling. I've been thinking about going to Spain with you and seeing all the places where you shot your music videos. Or, like, dressing up nice to go on fancy dates with you. Like to that museum you visited with the members! Or even just going to the cinema and cuddling in the dark while watching a movie."

"We can do that last one at home, silly," she giggles. "And we can try to do more of those things, too! We just need to be careful."

"Aren't you scared?"

"I am. But then I remember I have you and I know everything will be ok. You're all I need."

All you can do is smile and hug her tighter. You, too, had everything you needed right here in your arms.

"You've been thinking about a lot, haven't you?"

"Of course! Haven't you?"

She pauses. "Honestly, I just think about being with you and that makes me happy."

You felt an arrow shoot straight through your chest. Speechless, you bury your face in her neck, smiling profusely.

"I know what you mean, though, baby. I want all of those things, too."

She gently takes your hands and holds on tight, like she'd never let go.

"The right time will come eventually. Then we won't have to hide anymore."

You had never believed in palm reading, but looking at the way your fingers interlocked in the golden light, the way your hands fit perfectly in hers, your future never seemed clearer. It was her. It would always be her.

"Just wait for me, ok?"

"Of course, baby," you reply softly. You didn't care that it was impossible to pull her closer to you. You tried anyway. "Always."

It would be hard, but you'd wait an eternity for her.

"I'm in love with you, Min."

It would be hard, but it didn't matter. Because you were all alone with the love of your life.

[certifiedwomenkisser]

one bed - 1997 daron malakian

OK SO. this is possibly the cringiest thing i will ever write BUT PLEASE MY GUILTY PLEASURE IS THE ONE BED TROPE I LOVE IT SM 🙏

one-shot, reader is gn!! :D

(it got rlly sloppy towards the end but i was so tired when writing this so please forgive me 😭)

daron held open the door to you and his shared hotel room, you thanked him and walked through the doorway before stopping when you got into the room, daron, who was still behind you closing the door, noticed you stop

"hey, what's wrong? is the room ant infested or someth-"

you both stared at the room in front of you, the room itself was fine, the view from the window was actually quite remarkable, the only glaring issue, was the bed, or perhaps lack thereof.

there was only one bed.

how exactly did you end up in this situation? well, you had met daron by chance at your job in the coffee shop in your town, one day he came in to order a coffee and just kept coming back, a simple relationship between a barista and a regular at a coffee shop quickly bloomed into a friendship, which led to you meeting the members of the band he was in (system of a down), you went down a treat and you quickly became friends with all of them, which led to you tagging along with them to their latest concert.

thinking serj was the most trust worthy member, you all decided to put him in charge of setting up accommodation. he booked up a quaint little hotel in the town where they were preforming, everything was well and good, of course until now.

you should've known better than to trust serj, the asshole probably did it on purpose. you were hoping that this was a harmless prank and that he wasn't aware of your crush on daron. you thought you had been slick, maybe slipping up here and there, but surely not enough to be noticable? you looked to daron to see what he thought of the situation

"serj definitely did this on purpose, right?"

he turned to look at you

"oh, 100%."

he sighed before putting his bag on the floor

"well, i suppose i'll sleep on the floor"

"no, no, you don't have to do that!"

"yes, i do."

"no you definitely do not!"

you squinted your eyes at him, determined to win this debate

he sighed once again

"you know what? we can finish this discussion later, i can't win when you're like this"

he chuckled, you giggled back

"haha, i win!"

"for now."

"yeah, yeah. sure."

you both left your room before meeting up with serj, shavo and john in their room, in which they indeed had three seperate single beds each

"so, how do you like your room?"

serj asked teasingly, oh, he knew what he did alright.

"i think we're missing a bed serj, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

you punched his arm lightly, he shrugged innocently with a devilish look in his eyes

"not a clue."

serj, shavo and john started laughing while you and daron just looked at each other, embarrassed.

once it was getting late, you and daron went to your room.

he turned to you to attempt to win the debate from earlier

" i am sleeping on the floor"

"are we really still on this? daron, i genuinely do not mind, i'll sleep on the floor"

"i don't want you waking up with aches though!"

the argument went on for another 5 minutes before, somehow, daron finally won, but not without you insisting that he took your pillows to use as a sort of makeshift mattress.

you got yourself comfortable in your bed, you looked at the pillows on the floor beside you, this was ridiculous. you wouldn't mind sharing with daron, in fact you wouldn't mind in the slightest, but you weren't sure where his boundries laid, perhaps he didnt want to share with you because he preferred sleeping on his own? maybe he had a partner that he hadn't told you about, and he would feel bad about sharing a bed with someone else.

before you could get any deeper in your thoughts, the bathroom door opened and daron walked out. he was wearing a tight wife beater shirt with some loose shorts, you couldn't help but stare, the shirt he was wearing showed off his lean build perfectly, and of course, his face was looking pretty as always, you felt your face heat up slightly, you cleared your throat and awkwardly tried to hide your face.

daron, who seemed oblivious, just smiled at you and walked over to the window to close the curtains.

"are you really sure you'll be fine on the floor?"

as daron sat down on the pillows he looked up at you and smiled

"we've been over this, i'll be fine, i promise"

you couldnt help but fold at that smile

"fine."

you turned over to turn off the lamp on the bedside table before turning back over to face daron, who you could now barely see in the dark.

"goodnight daron."

"goodnight."

you werent sure how much time had passed, but you knew that it had to have been a while since u originally said goodnight, since there was no light behind the curtains anymore, daron had been tossing and turning the whole time. you leaned over the bed slightly and whispered

"daron.. daron!"

he turned over to face you

"yeah..?"

you could hear the grogginess in his voice

"please get into bed, ive heard you tossing and turning, you are gonna get no sleep at this rate"

you heard him grumble some excuse in his tired voice

"no, daron, i dont want to hear it! you're preforming a concert tomorrow, we can't have you falling asleep on stage."

he sat up, face inches apart from yours, just staring at you. you couldn't tell if this was supposed to somehow convince you to let him sleep on the floor, or if he was just that tired.

"come on, daron"

you sat up on the edge of your bed and held his face in your hands

"please?"

he was very clearly avoiding eye contact with you for a couple seconds, then he finally looked at you and sighed in defeat, too tired to argue now

"ok, ok."

you smiled at him and helped him pick up the pillows from the floor before setting them up on your now shared bed. daron climbed in beside you and sighed contently as he fell back into the mattress

"now you'll hopefully be able to catch some sleep"

"yeah.."

awkward silence.

"thanks for letting me share the bed"

"no problem dude.."

more silence.

"well, goodnight!"

"yeah, goodnight."

a couple minutes of silence pass, now that you finally had daron in a bed with you, you didn't want to let this chance go. you turned so that you were now facing him

"daron?"

"yeah?"

now that you had his attention, you weren't sure how to ask for what you wanted

"uh... this is probably a stupid question and you can say no if you want and i dont be offended.."

daron looked slightly concerned

"what's up?"

"do you... wanna cuddle?"

you said that so quietly that daron barely heard you, you were so embarrassed that you even dared to ask the question, your face began to really heat up now

"sure.."

daron said back, almost as quietly as you. he had also wanted to cuddle but didn't know how to ask. he awkwardly held open his arms for you. you quickly crawled over to him, laying your head on his chest and laying your arm across his abdomen, while he draped his arm over your body and left his hand at your waist

"are you comfortable?"

you asked, nervous about daron's sleep being more interuppted by you.

"yeah, im good, you?"

you smiled and rubbed your head lightly against his chest

"great."

you both smiled, content laying with each other

"well, i suppose this is the final goodnight" daron chuckled

"yeah..."

"goodnight then."

"goodnight.."

you paused for a couple seconds

"i love you."

you thought you said it quiet enough that daron couldn't hear you, but he heard alright.

that singular phrase kept him up all night.

[marco-newgate]

Marco X CisFem Reader

4

"Do you know what's happening here?" Ace whispered to Thatch.

"No idea." The eldest replied.

Sabo passed through quietly with a sleeping Luffy on his back.

"He's totally stealing my friend." Ace pouted watching you grip Marco's shirt in your sleep.

The two of you ended up lying down completely on the sofa. Marco had one arm draped around your shoulders while the other was tucked between the side of his head and the couch. Your face was buried in his chest while you seemed to clutch his shirt for dear life.

"Will you shut up yoi." Marco whispered, eyes still shut, "She's finally actually sleeping."

"I'll take her to her room." Thatch crossed the room while Marco gently uncoiled your death grip on his clothes.

You stirred and grimaced as you were lifted away from your heat source and carried down the hall to your room under the stairs.

"What time is it?" You yawned as Thatch placed you on your mattress.

"Close to midnight." He replied, "You crashed on the couch. Try to get some more rest."

He pulled your blanket up to your chin.

"You're such a good mom Thatchy." You gave him a cheeky smile.

"And you're an awful child." He brushed your hair out of your face and stood, "G'night F/N."

"Night." You murmured rolling over in search of warmth.

You'd managed to sleep the entire day away. For a moment you wondered what Marco had been up to all afternoon and felt a bit guilty for falling asleep. It was much needed though. You hadn't managed more than two hours at a time every night for the last few weeks. Waking up angry or sad and pacing or reading until it was time to get ready for work.

Worse, you had no appetite. Thatch had tried to remedy that with making your favorite things but just a few nibbles and you were done.

Two years didn't seem like much to most people, maybe not long enough to be this depressed. But it was a brightly burning passionate relationship - or so you'd been lead to believe. You had stayed up late with each other making plans, a house, marriage, little curly browed babies - the whole nine. And poof it was gone.

Stupid.

That did it. You were wide awake now.

The door slowly creaked open and softly shut as bare feet padded across the faux wood floor.

"Ace...did you not learn from this morning?" You asked sternly.

"I knew you were awake." He whispered rolling into the bed with you.

"What do you think you're doing?" You flopped over to face him.

"Marco is trying to steal you from me." His face was dead serious.

"Well firstly, I don't know what that means. And B. I don't belong to you." You jabbed your index finger into his chest.

"You were my friend first!" His bottom lip jutted out.

"We're still bff's. I'm not understanding the issue." You furrowed your brows.

"Well you went straight to him this morning and you guys were pretty cozy on the couch."

"I did not and what?" You remembered leaning on him before you passed out but surely he didn't sit there all day with you.

"Yeah... You were all curled up on him when we got home." His lips curled into a mischievous grin as he scanned your bewildered expression, "That sneaky fuck."

"What?" You felt your cheeks heat up.

"Nothing." He sat up, "Wanna play a game?"

"Ok... But something I'm good at." You slipped out of bed and turned on the TV and game system.

___________

"Hey F/N." Marco knocked stirring you, "Have you seen or heard from Ace?"

"Present." Ace mumbled dangling halfway off your bed.

The door swung open and Marco marched over to the raven plucking him up by his shirt collar.

"Wha?!" Ace sputtered his ruby eyes snapping open as his own body weight worked against him.

"Why can't you let F/N alone yoi? She told you not to come in here yesterday." The blond scolded, stopping when he heard you laugh.

Not sarcastic chuckles or fake airy laughs you'd been famous for as of late. It was a good hardy laugh that echoed off the walls as Ace fought his way out of his brother's grip. Marco turned to you his half lidded eyes widened enough for you to see his clear blue irises.

"Sorry..." You started, catching your breath, "I couldn't get back to sleep so we played video games all night."

Ace gave Marco a smug glare before the blond dropped him to the floor.

"That's fucked up F/N, you didn't even try to help me." The raven stood with a pout.

"Quit being a baby yoi."

"He's just jealous." You stretched, "He thinks you're trying to steal me."

Marco turned back to his younger brother ears slightly flushed and murmured something you couldn't hear.

"No way!" The freckled male protested.

"Hey, you guys bicker somewhere else. I wanna get in the shower."

Marco stalked out catching Luffy as he raced toward your door.

"She needs a bit yoi."

Ace deflated shoulders slumping and followed his brothers out.

"What's on the agenda today?" You asked emerging from your room.

"I was going to go to the store for Thatch while he's at work." Sabo replied from the sofa.

"Mind if I tag along?" You plopped down next to him.

"Me too!" Ace and Luffy called from the floor eyes still glued to the tv.

"We can all go I guess?" Sabo stood and grabbed his keys.

The five of you piled into Sabo's jeep. Luffy sandwiched himself between you and Marco in the back seat because Ace cheated and called shotgun from the kitchen.

The moment you arrived at the store it was chaos. Luffy climbed into a cart that Ace was recklessly steering.

"We're adults right?" You bumped Marco's arm.

"Some things never change yoi." He smirked.

Sabo split the list between himself and you agreeing to meet up at the checkouts in 20 minutes. Ace took off running hopping onto the bottom rack of the cart and riding it through the store nearly missing a child and a display of cans.

"No wonder you always look tired and Thatch has gray hairs." You chuckled to the older brother.

"Say that to his face." Marco laughed.

You could hear Luffy's cackle three aisles over.

"We're gonna get kicked out aren't we."

"Not if we hurry and pretend they don't belong to us yoi." He took control of the cart while you guided him through the aisles.

It didn't take too long for you to gather the items Thatch had scribbled down.

"I think that's it." You crossed the last item off triumphantly.

"I have to get one more thing from the pharmacy."

"I don't want to be with you when you buy condoms." You joked.

"Shut it." He deadpanned, "I'm not getting condoms."

You followed him down the pain reliever aisle to an end cap that was stocked with nicotine gum.

"He chooses life!" You snaked your arms around his torso pressing your forehead into his back as he reached for a sweet mint flavored pack.

"You said it was gross right?" He cleared his throat making you retract your arms.

A loud crash echoed through the neighboring houseware department.

"We gotta get outta here."

[the-sour-patch-crew]

Okay, maybe I won't make one BIG post. I'll do a couple of separate ones as they come to me.

First one that comes to mind of course centers around my daemons. Daemons are easy for me to talk about and everything about them comes so much more naturally and makes so much more sense.

TLDR: My daemons were precursors, and I think acted as building blocks and even the final bridge, of my endogenic plurality becoming traumagenic and my adventure into having OSDD

I do believe that I was predispositioned to plurality because of my neurodivergancy and perhaps trauma and escapism related to it. But, I don't think I realized just how close I was to being an OSDD system until my daemons started to multiply.

When I started to gain multiple daemons, I thought it made sense. I wasn't a CDD system so I didn't have alters splitting during those couple of years when I was under severe stress and almost daily trauma. I had daemons, so my daemons were splitting.

My daemons are aspects of myself. Facets almost. They are the personification of different thoughts and traits that I have. So when I needed things most, they would appear to try and fill that need. I don't think it clicked just how serious it was though until I got Lynnette.

Lynn was without a doubt the most intense daemon I had. I considered her the bulk of my subconscious. The daemon who was tired of my shit and was going to get through to me. She was brutal. She was cutthroat. She and Cayde *hated* eachother and often fought. She was the closest thing to a persecutor I had ever had.

But she also wasn't one in many ways. She never sought to hurt me or put me in danger. She realized that the ways everyone else was helping me was not actually solving anything, so she was the first one to stop playing nice. She was the embodiment of my intrusive thoughts, but she also countered them with logic. It was a really interesting dance.

But anyway, I ended up with 4 daemons who also ended up becoming what we called a daemon system. They had a single daemon persona they would take when synced together.

This daemon was named Æshe.

Which, is a CRAZY not coincidence becaus the very first member who was here because of trauma was Ashe.

But when I think back on it, yeah, my brain at the time hadn't quite reached the threshold of splitting off completely separate individuals. Alters just weren't possible yet or perhaps wasnt needed. So it was doing what it could with what it was familiar with at the time, which was using my daemons to cope. My sense of self held out as long as it could until one day it just flipped and boom, what was likely only ever C-PTSD growing up got kicked up to the next level.

I think that if I wasn't already hardwired for plurality at that point I don't think I would have developed OSDD later on in life. It wasn't a huge leap, but it still took a LOT before things trickled in from one to the next.

The headmates I had prior to my late in life trauma were from daydreams and hyperfixations. They were not tied directly to any specific or ongoing trauma. If they were, well, it was never apparent. They came and went with only minor passive influence. They behaved and felt *so* different than Ashe and the others. I cannot even describe it without doing it a disservice. But it's so potent and so obvious.

My daemons have been the most consistent mental companions. But, when the BIG STRESS happened, they disappeared. I could not reach them and if I did, they were so weak and frail that Cayde could do little more than flutter our chest (the location I associate with him) and that was it

Which makes SO much sense. Because one, yes stress and trauma and heavy dissociation and emotional disconnect will do that. But Ashe was still here and FAR more prominent than before my daemons disappeared. Which, if my daemons were tied to my sense of self and identity, then it makes sense that they disappeared when my sense of self split from that trauma. My mind did that whole fun splitting event and was in shambles while we tried to slowly recover and pick up the pieces. It took ages afterwards for me to return to my former self. But when I did, my daemons returned.

My plurality has never been the same since.

[tia-amorosa]

Sunset Died - Alto/Landgraab Household

Pride and hidden remorse (Long… very LONG PART, sorry^^)

What is gone is gone and can no longer be restored. So the Altos had to get used to the fact that the right wing of their villa no longer existed. And they were forced to make good use of the remaining space. But that's not the biggest problem. “Damn, my back is killing me!"/ ”Oh, you have nothing else to complain about?”

“you're not used to being pregnant anymore, Vita”. Yes, it came very unexpectedly, but some time ago Vita noticed a change in her body. “I actually thought that we had ticked off the subject of children"/ ‘why didn't you just get yourself sterilized back then, that would have been the easiest thing to do’/ ‘I just didn't want anyone to cut open my body’….

Nancy looked at her with a slight grin. “But surprisingly, your husband reacted very positively. Who knows, maybe he'll get his heir to the throne now"/ ”oh please, he can't wait to finally know what it will be. “/ “It's not just him who would like to know, but also the other wimen who are pregnant,. Vita… you've been able to request so much so far from them, why not… an ultrasound machine?”…

“You know very well that it's not that easy to get such expensive things.” Nancy looked at her seriously with narrowed eyes. “That's nonsense, and you know it. When was the last time they got in touch?"/ ‘hh, I don't know, I think last week’/ ‘And how long are they going to stall us?’. Vita held her fingers to her forehead in slight despair. “Until Nick gives in at some point, but he won't”.

“hh, Vita…you must have noticed by now that people are getting restless. Winter is coming, some of themare having offspring again…” Nancy spoke with a slight tremor in her voice. But Vita just rubbed her hands together nervously and shook her head. “You heard her, people should help themselves…"/ ”But that only works up to a certain point. Give them what they want over there and we'll have peace and quiet here again!”.

Vita looked at her, almost snivelling. “You know Nick's unbridled pride, he doesn't want to give up everything"/ ”But he has to if everything is to return to normal here, Vita. Please think of the children. My son doesn't have any friends because he's sick all the time and he spends far too much time with us adults. Do you want your child to grow up here in such circumstances?”

“Of course I don't want that, but…”. But then the front door opened and the women abruptly interrupted their conversation. “I'm not coming at a bad time, am I?"/ ‘No, you're not, I think we've said everything that's important for now, haven't we, Vita?’/ ‘hh, of course…’. The conversation would certainly have gone on, but when Nick was around, Nancy preferred to hold back on serious topics. She was very sensitive at the moment, and not just because she had lost everything. She was also waiting for her husband and looking after her son in the meantime.

In the still relatively large house, it wasn't difficult to find someone else. “Oh, here you are, what have you been doing, my darling?"/ ‘I've finished reading the green book’/ ”the green book? Oh, about the craftsmen"/ ”Yes, that's really interesting. It tells you how to repair a heating system properly…"/ ”And now you want to do something like that? Yesterday you wanted to be an astronaut…"/ ‘Maybe I'll be a bit of everything’. She had to laugh. “haha, I think so too”.

A little later. Gerhard is also back home and is immediately besieged by his son. “Handyman, you say?"/ ‘yes, then I can fix something that's broken for everyone else.’/ ‘I actually thought you might be a professor one day’/ ‘no, professors sit at their desks all the time, I don't want to sit around all the time’. Gerhard was just about to say something, but his wife can stop him “don't even try to talk him out of it”.

Malcolm withdrew again and looked for a new book. “Where have you been?”/ “I had a look around the area. People are hardly outside anymore and spend most of their time indoors"/ ”Isn't that normal when it gets cold? They don't want to get sick, if only because of the shortage of medication. Hh, Gerhard. You should know best, you were a doctor”…

“right, I WAS."/ ”you could be one again, if only you wanted to. Morgana's having her baby soon, so she'll be out for a while. And Jamie won't be able to do everything on her own. Can't you talk to Nick again?”. Gerhard looked at her with a deep breath. “Nancy,…"/ ”Why don't you do something intelligent for once and stop dancing to his tune all the time, Gerhard? It's really starting to get too tight for me here.“.

Of course, Gerhard knew that his wife was suffering greatly from the current housing situation. “You know we can't go anywhere else…”. His wife looked at him with a look of disbelief. “That's nonsense, there's still enough choice here for us to find something of our own. I know you miss the villa, but it doesn't exist anymore. And let's be honest… Does our son have to be in this unsettled climate all the time? He finally needs his own room…"/ ‘Mom..“

“Nancy, I only want the best for us too, but as long as Nick isn't willing to cooperate, it has to go on like this…”. Nancy shook her head frantically. “No, it doesn't have to! Vita will have your baby soon and … If you don't talk to him, I will"/ ‘Of course, since he listens to you so well,’ Gerhard said ironically.

“He'll have to. He can see for himself that it can't go on like this…"/ ‘OK, whatever you say, then try it, but don't come crying to me…’/ ‘Mom!’. Malcolm interrupted his parents' argument in a loud voice. “What… What's wrong, Malcolm?“/”Please don't argue, I've got a stomach ache again…"/ ‘See, Gerhard?’. She turned to her son while Gerhard took another deep breath, he realized that his son wasn't feeling well. He was very sensitive.

“Calm down, all right? Take a deep breath, hhh, and breathe oouuut again…”. Gerhard watched him. “Has that… happened a lot recently?"/ ‘He notice a lot of things here, is it reprehensible that it makes him feel bad?’. Gerhard already realized that the behavior between him and his wife was having an effect on his son's psyche. Then he spoke in a calm voice. “I'll try again, but I can't promise anything, okay?”. She just nodded and continued to look after her son..

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

End of this Part

@greenplumbboblover 😊