#this is a starter list for new people coming into the fandom

[blakbonnet]

✨ Meow's OFMD Blog Rec List ✨

Fanartists @mjulmjul @neine @aha-my-villainous-thoughts @beansprean @cliopadra @emcolbs @adriart @haflacky @hey-there-hunter @illustoryart @monica-rysik-art @blackbeardskneebrace @shonyadrws @not-nervous-jester @ramsranch @mossgroves @feriowind @tabbystardust @lauravian @lydiajoypalmer @lookitsstevie @y2jenn @artmadval @midearthling @obscurelocalstranger

Gif/Vid/Editors

@stedebonnets @bizarrelittlemew @montygreen @rainbowbonnet @saltpepperbeard @sherlockig @startreklesbian @merriell @abigailpents @userstede @xray-vex @snake-snack-stede @ella-doe @abigailpents @dickfuckk @boyofthebarrel @izzyhandsy @tomwambsgns @napneeders @bluntbeard @luciusspriggss @gayfail

Curators

@antiquesroadkill @meanmisscharles @xoxoemynn @skysofrey @vampirebutterflies @ourflagmeanslgbtqia @stedebonnit @youshouldseemeinadeerstalker @boytwentyten @captain-stede @captain-flint @darkinerry @flightoftheconnie @frrenchie @chestnutwind @girlbossblackbeard @red-sky-in-mourning @follovver @wearfinethingsalltoowell @stedebonnit @jaskierx @chuplayswithfire @emoteach @palavapeite @un-monstre

BTS/Updaters

@queeraspirates @ourflagmeansbts

[aethon-recs]

Tomarrymort Starter Pack: 10 Recs for Getting Started in Tomarrymort

I've compiled a list of 10 medium to longfic recs that I think represent a great on-ramp to the Tomarrymort ship, as inspired by @sitp-recs’ Drarry for Beginners rec list. These are the fics that I would use to on-board people to the ship �� gorgeous writing, superb characterization, and just as enjoyable on the first read as the 20th reread. 

As always, I am stunned by the talent in this ship! I tried to pick a good mix of different themes/tropes/settings, with a focus on elements that make for a good introductory work: the characters are recognizable; the setting skews more recognizable; both characters in the ship are a meaningful part of the story; the ship is central to the story; and the fics are for the most part complete (or updated within the last year). 

(Standard rec list disclaimers apply: please mind all tags and warnings on AO3 before reading; this blog abides by the age-old fandom axiom of don’t like; don’t read; recs are in alphabetical order by title.)

This is Part 1 of a 3-part series — I also have an Intermediate reading list and Advanced reading list coming up for readers who have been with the ship for a longer time.

For now, please enjoy these 1.3 million words of absolutely brilliant Tomarrymort reads that I hope will keep you hooked until the very last word:

*

Tomarrymort Starter Pack Recs

A Dangerous Game by @cybrid (E, 284k, WIP)

Setting: Canon Divergence – Book 5 Premise: If Tom’s diary horcrux gains a body at the end of Harry’s 5th year (instead of his 2nd), and then promptly kidnaps Harry and holds him captive over the summer. Lots of smut ensues. Why I rec it: The characterization is truly stunning — Tom Riddle is undoubtedly a psychopath — manipulative, thrill-seeking, kind of an irredeemable shithead — but he’s also dazzlingly charming when he chooses to be, someone whose presence Harry quickly grows addicted to. Their relationship can get incredibly toxic and fucked-up at times, but Harry has top-notch instincts and can hold his own against Tom. The plot is absolutely gripping, with the threat of (the main) Voldemort, who has set his sights on reclaiming his wayward horcrux, looming in the background. 

A Future Without a Face by @dividawrites (E, 115k, complete)

Setting: Time-Travel (1940s) Premise: If Harry travels back in time to Tom’s 5th year at Hogwarts, and Tom becomes obsessed with the new transfer student and wants nothing more than to possess him every way. Why I rec it: A 1940s time travel fic told entirely from Tom Riddle POV! Divida absolutely nails psychopath Tom — how he quickly gets singlemindedly focused on Harry, how the idea of possessing Harry consumes him, how he has no compunctions about doing completely fucked-up and destructive things to achieve his goals. There is so much tension between them from the start, so there’s not much of a wait to see some hot Harry & Tom action — and the conflict and tension only continues to build and build in dramatic fashion throughout the rest of the fic.

Either must die at the hand of the other by @metalomagnetic (E, 260k, complete)

Setting: Post-Canon Premise: If Voldemort survives the Battle of Hogwarts and is initially kept prisoner in Azkaban, until Harry takes him into Grimmauld Place under house arrest. Why I rec it: This fic is an incredible exploration of Voldemort at his most terrifying. Even if he starts off the fic with his magic temporarily blocked, he is no less powerful without his magic. The force of his personality is powerful enough for him to chip away at Harry’s initial resistance — @metalomagnetic manages to write one of the most charismatic, brilliantly manipulative, and psychologically devastating versions of Voldemort I’ve ever read. Harry ends up in a good place by the end of the fic, but the journey to get there is a roller-coaster of emotions that have permanently imprinted onto my soul.

In Somno Veritas by ladyoflilacs and @lordansketil (M, 158k, complete)

Setting: Canon Divergence – Book 6 Premise: If Harry starts appearing in Voldemort’s nightly dreams during Book 6, and Voldemort becomes obsessed with Harry after realizing he’s his horcrux. Why I rec it: This is one of the most unique fics I’ve ever read in this ship! Every scene is told in alternating POV between Harry’s POV and Voldemort’s POV, so you get to see how every scene unfolds from both of their perspectives. Voldemort is so intense and just as terrible as he is in canon, so his character is not at all sugarcoated, and Harry has so much compassion and heart and manages to fall in love with Voldemort anyway. The writing style is gorgeous, with richly detailed and emotionally-laden prose. Also, one thing that pleasantly surprised me is how funny their banter is! There were definitely a number of times where I laughed out loud in the middle of an otherwise really intense scene. Bonus content: also comes with a lovely sequel that made me melt.

Inevitabilities by @shadow-of-the-eclipse (T, 103k, complete)

Setting: Same-Age AU Premise: If Harry and Tom attend Hogwarts together and go traveling around the world after they graduate. A betrayal leads to their break-up, but after many years, Harry returns to find Tom in Britain, and the two of them are drawn back together again. Why I rec it: An excellent same-age AU with unhinged dark Harry and just-as-unhinged Tom. Their relationship starts out quite dark and twisted and unhealthy — and only devolves from there. The fic ends with the two of them as equals — utterly devoted to each other — but in an incredibly fucked-up way: “He loves Tom like a forest fire; wild and all-consuming, he wants to devour Tom, to claim him, to mark him, break him.” Isn’t that absolutely breathtaking?

love is touching souls (surely you touched mine) by @toast-ranger-to-a-stranger (M, 34k, complete)

Setting: Time-Travel (1940s) Premise: If Harry gets thrown back into the mid-1940s and meets Tom Riddle as a young man just graduated from Hogwarts working at Borgin and Burkes. Why I rec it: When Harry accidentally travels back in time and chances upon Tom Riddle as a fresh graduate, he realizes this is his chance to make a difference. While Harry is only in the past for a brief interlude, he leaves enough of an impression to change the trajectory of Tom’s life. The dynamic between Harry and Tom is rife with tension and witty dialogue, and the story is set during Christmastime, which lends a very festive and heartwarming atmosphere for falling in love with each other.

No Glory by @obsidianpen (E, 254k, WIP)

Setting: Voldemort Wins AU  Premise: If Voldemort figures out Harry is his horcrux when Harry surrenders in the Forbidden Forest, and decides to keep Harry instead of killing him.  Why I rec it: This fic showcases the absolute, terrifying genius side of Voldemort, in a universe where he wins the war and captures Harry at the end of book 7. I am stunned at how skillfully @obsidianpen portrays Voldemort as a brilliant political strategist — the courtroom scene where he manipulates the story and the audience so well stands out as a top 10 fanfic moment in my mind. Harry and Voldemort’s relationship is chilling from the very start, and grows even more unhealthy as Voldemort gets addicted to Harry’s touch due to the presence of the horcrux, but Harry later learns to turn that to his advantage.

The Fire, Burning by @parsimmony (E, 35k, complete)

Setting: Canon Divergence – Book 6 Premise: If Voldemort discovers Harry is his horcrux after Book 6, and kidnaps him to keep him captive by his side in his bed, inside of a lovely greenhouse setting full of friendly snakes on the grounds of Malfoy Manor. Why I rec it: The prose!! I am swooning over the prose! Harry is Voldemort’s captive in this fic, but he is so much more than that — and the emotions that gradually blossom between them have so much richness and depth and are utterly moving that I’m still drowning in the depths of intimacy that were portrayed. Their relationship unfolds in such a gorgeous and unrushed way, and the setting is so unique too — a lush and overgrown greenhouse that’s exploding with exotic plants and friendly snakes around every corner that imbues the fic with a very romantic, dreamy quality.

the pleasure, the privilege by @being-luminous (M, 20k, complete)

Setting: Canon Divergence – Book 6 Premise: If Voldemort is doused with Amortentia keyed to Harry, and starts sending Harry bizarre and gruesome courting gifts, like the bodies of the Dursleys.  Why I rec it: Breathtaking prose! Voldemort somehow ends up more terrifying when he’s trying to woo Harry than when he’s trying to kill him. Every single sentence had me on the edge of my seat, as Voldemort’s ‘gifts’ become more elaborate and devastatingly dramatic, until Harry basically has no choice but to respond to his overtures. The ending is incredibly clever in how it parallels certain plot elements of book 6, with an added Harrymort twist. 

The Untouchable by @treacleteacups (M, 75k, complete)

Setting: Canon Rewrite (Books 1-7) Premise: If Harry starts out his first year a little bit more suspicious and a little less wide-eyed and guileless, and subsequently gets sorted into Slytherin. He has many of the same encounters with Voldemort along the way as he does in canon, but his interactions with Voldemort will end up leading him down quite a different path. Why I rec it: A snappy, fast-paced full canon rewrite that still manages to fit in all the essential Tomarrymort plot points, between Horcruxes and Hallows and the major events of books 1-7, in a compact 75k words that doesn’t at all feel rushed. It’s a delightful journey following Harry’s character evolution from an overlooked, peculiar child who relies on wishy-washy wish magic to a confident (and still endearingly peculiar) young man who can challenge and hold his own against the great Lord Voldemort. Voldemort’s obsession with Harry deepens with every encounter that they have, as he finds ways to continually insinuate himself in Harry’s life and his mind and his dreams.

*

[zahri-melitor]

I think one of the more hilarious (to me) things about people saying ‘I can’t read comics because I don’t know where to start’ when they’re already in the fandom reading fics is that they’ve already demonstrated the skill to pick up a story partway through and hold multiple storylines as simultaneously true in their mind.

Putting aside all of the other access issues, you HAVE the skill to just work out what’s going on from context, as you developed that reading fic in a canon you don’t know! You don’t need a reading list! Just go pick up a comic and see if you like it, just like you’d pick up a fic and decide if you like it or not.

Heck I’d even suggest just obtaining those first reading choices in a free manner (library/borrow from friends/certain websites) while you work out what you like.

And that’s BEFORE doing something as straightforward as going ‘ooh everyone writes fics about This Incident, why don’t I go read it?’ as a method of choosing what to read. (Now personally I’m of the opinion that people’s favourite stories are usually a generally terrible choice to start reading new canons, but there’s no such thing as a perfect starter and you can always come back with more context to enjoy properly once you’re hooked)

[pinkberrytea]

✨Writing Interview Tag Game✨

Eeee tysm for the tag @nyx-knox and @honeybee-bard! 🥹🙌❣️

When did you start writing?

I used to write fanfiction when I was 13 years old, but as an adult, this is actually my first time dabbling in creative writing! I released my first work back in April, crazy to think it’s been barely four months since I started!

Are there different themes or genres you enjoy reading than what you write?

Horror and mystery are actually my favorite genres, though I'm not sure I'd be able to pull either off? I should give it a go one day, maybe!

Is there a writer you want to emulate or get compared to often?

To be honest any comparisons at all would make me plenty happy since I barely consider myself a writer 😅 There are some people in the fandom who are endless sources of inspiration for me though, all authors in my recs list and ao3 bookmarks, for starters.

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

No BG3 merch sadly, yet!

What's your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Just daydreaming honestly. Also listening to music helps plenty! Researching lore and brainstorming ideas with friends too. But mostly just daydreaming!

Are there any recurring themes in your writing? Do they surprise you?

Hurt and comfort, and also angst. Lots of it, for some reason. It does surprise me how angsty all my writing ends up coming across, but I try to balance it out with some melodramatic fluff, I guess? I do want to try my hand at some less serious/more lighthearted themes eventually though, branch out a little!

What is your reason for writing?

Coping, mostly. Also as a sort of therapy, to sort out my feelings about themes that are important to me and that I’ve been processing through media. And no less relevant, simply as a self-indulgent outlet! I write what I myself would like to read.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment you find particularly motivating?

Every single comment is incredibly motivating for me, but of course, I do twirl my hair and kick my feet whenever someone tells me about which passages they liked the best and how they specifically felt about a certain scene. Also, whenever people pick up on a detail I was sure would go by unnoticed!

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

I want my readers to think of me as a friend, as someone who is always accessible and up for talking about writing, be it mine or just in general!

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

Oh, this is a toughie. I have a very flowery and verbose style, though I’m not sure that’s a strength? I guess it could be, depending on your preferences. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, really.

How do you feel about your own writing?

I don’t think highly of it from a technical standpoint, but I do pour my heart and soul into every single piece, and that makes them all special to me.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, or do you write purely for yourself, or a mix of both?

I can sincerely say I write mostly for myself, otherwise I wouldn’t even be able to write anything at all because I don’t think I could live up to anyone’s expectations. Though of course, the feedback I receive on a piece may in fact influence whether I feel inspired to expand on it or just move on to something new. Even if I’m typically my own main target audience, comments are always greatly appreciated!

No pressure tags ✨ @locallegume, @judasiskariot, @inkymoonbunny, @starryjuicebox and @kalmiaphlox!

[amberskywrites]

Power Outage

Fic Masterpost | Ao3 Link

Fandom / Genre: Stardew Valley / Angst with Ambiguous/Open/Hopeful Ending

Pairing: Maru & Sebastian

Prompt: Requested by @incendiarybomb :

Prompt list 19, #2 and #12 || 2) "I hate you." and 12) “Take my sweater, you’re freezing.” with Maru and Sebastian because these two deserve some sibling bonding time ;-;

Warnings: Hypothermia, Mildly toxic family relationships/Implied strained relationships, Near-death experience, lmk if I need to add more!

Note: I am. So ridiculously sorry for how long this took to get to. It also took a major turn from what I was expecting - but ultimately I'm satisfied and I hope you enjoy! I will say though, I definitely gotta spend more time with these two characters. Also. I live in a place that never snows, so this is definitely not accurate.

Summary: An unexpected blizzard leaves everyone in Pelican Town snowed in, and for Maru and Sebastian things take a turn for the worse.

There was a blizzard in Pelican Town.

Normally, this wouldn’t mean a thing. Everyone within this little town could handle a blizzard, freak weather phenomenons were nothing new. Sometimes it was a regular Tuesday, and everyone just went about their day. Sometimes a blizzard meant everyone gathering in the town square and just enjoying the frigid weather and bountiful snow.

This blizzard was decidedly not normal.

For starters, it was mid-spring.

And secondly…

“Dammit farmer…” Sebastian muttered, hanging up the phone and slumping over the shop counter. Of course the farmer somehow caused a blizzard by experimenting with magic alongside the creepy wizard. 

Wasn’t the guy supposed to keep them in check when it came to magic?

It was a Friday, and Sebastian had been planning on going to the saloon like usual, but the farmer had asked to stop by after closing for some “emergency materials” for a “top-secret” project. Judging by the patterns bought, Sebastian had money on it being something to embarrass Lewis.

Since his mom was working on the farm, and Demetrius had headed to the saloon anyway without her, and Maru had spent all day helping Harvey with appointments - and apparently scraping the farmer off the floor after they had over exhausted themself - his mom had asked if he would run the store for the day.

And now he was snowed in with Maru of all people indefinitely.

He huffed, pushing himself off the counter. There was no point in staying at the counter if no one was going to show up, the farmer had confirmed his mom was safe and a quick phone call to the saloon revealed they were all snowed in too, but all safe. He scribbled a note for Maru - because as much as he may not like Demetrius, Maru very much did, and she’d likely want to know both he and their mom were safe - and slipped it under her door before retreating to his room.

It was dark and even through his hoodie he shivered. The heating had kicked the bucket about an hour into the storm. He beelined for his closet and hauled the small, spare heater they kept in the house - or rather, one of two, this one designated to his closet because the other apparently took up too much space in the shed to put it with the other one.

Shoving it near his bed, Sebastian grabbed his gameboy and climbed under his covers to pass the storm more quickly.

---

A knock on his door stirred Sebastian from his near-sleep state, and he blinked at the bright light emitting from the gameboy just a few inches from his face. Groaning, he listened, but after a minute there was another more insistent knock.

It was still dark in his room, the window still blocked out by at least a few feet of snow. It couldn’t be his mom or Demetrius.

Sighing, he sat up. “Come in.”

Maru opened the door, holding a lantern in front of her. Sebastian blinked, taking in how small she looked, swallowed by a heavy blanket she had bundled around herself.

“Yeah…?”

“Um,” Maru started, tightening the blanket in one hand and trying to adjust her glasses at the same time. “The heater upstairs isn’t working. I was wondering…”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at her when she trailed off and didn’t finish, just looking at his heater. He wasn’t going to give it to her and freeze himself down here.

After seeming to realize he wasn’t going to answer, she swallowed and looked back at him. “I was wondering if I could stay down here with you and the one that works?”

“Oh,” Sebastian slumped slightly, before shrugging. He didn’t think she’d want to stay down here with him. “Sure, I guess.”

She brightened, shuffling further into his room and settling on the floor by his bed, close enough to get some heat from the heater without pressing directly against it. Sebastian watched her hunker down into her blanket, making herself as small as possible to wrap it more securely around as much of herself as she could. On her lap she left enough room for a book, and left the lantern close enough for her to see the text somewhat okay.

Maru didn’t say anything else, so Sebastian resettled under his own blankets to resume his game.

---

The silence didn’t last as long as Sebastian would have liked.

About half an hour after invading his room, he could feel Maru staring at him. When ignoring her didn’t make her stop, he finally looked up with a huff. “What?” he finally snapped out.

She seemed rather tense, like she was trying not to move too much. “Nothing, just - having the heater that close to your bed is a safety hazard.”

“So? I’m cold, it’s keeping me warm.”

“I know, but if it sets your blankets on fire-”

Sebastian sighed loudly, and moved the heater away from his bed. “I hate you,” he said as he moved it a few inches, no real heart in the words. “Better?” he asked when it was finally in a better place.

Maru wasn’t looking at him anymore, but her blanket bundle shrugged, and she rehid herself under the massive thing.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and got back to the game.

A few minutes later, there was a quiet murmur of words that Sebastian just barely heard.

“I just want you to be safe.”

Sebastian grimaced at how small her voice sounded, and the sniffle that followed only made him flinch a little more. Sure, he made his distaste for her pretty common knowledge, but that didn’t mean he liked causing her to cry. But what would she even be crying about-

Oh.

But she didn’t really believe him, did she? Surely not.

But also…

He supposed he never really gave her any idea otherwise.

Maru didn’t say anything else.

Sebastian didn’t dare open his mouth again lest he just dig himself a deeper hole.

Eventually, they both fell asleep.

---

The thing about the heaters they owned was, they were small. And old. And meant to work alongside a burning fire - or rather, run when they couldn’t safely burn a fire while they slept. It wasn’t meant to run for an entire night. They’d learned that ages ago, when they had run them an entire night and woke up to them dead and needing some internal repairs.

Sebastian woke up cold, and when he opened his eyes, his room was somehow even darker. Squinting, he fumbled around for his gameboy just so he could illuminate a bit of his room, and cast it around.

He cursed under his breath at the sight of the dead heater, the supplies to get it working again in the shed that they definitely couldn’t get out to at this moment. It wasn’t smoking, so Sebastian figured it was relatively fine - it wasn’t broken completely, it didn’t decide to combust.

He turned his light towards where he last knew Maru to be, and wasn’t too surprised to still see her bundled under her blanket. But what he was surprised to see was her awake and shivering. She looked up towards him when he cast the low light onto her, and her glasses were off her face. She blinked slowly at him, breathing slowly, and he could see her breath - he hadn’t realized it was quite that cold, hadn’t processed seeing his own breath.

“Maru?” he asked, sitting up straighter. She just blinked at him again, her brow furrowing slightly but not by much. A harsh shudder ran through her, but she didn’t pull the blanket tighter around her. “Maru, are you alright?”

“I…” she said slowly and quietly, “I don’t…” she trailed off, and he watched her try to speak, but the words were jumbled and too quiet for him to hear over the sudden rushing in his own ears.

He scrambled out from under his own blankets to the floor in front of her, hesitating only a moment before he pressed his hands lightly to her cheeks, then her neck, feeling for her pulse, her own voice filling his memories from ages ago when she was first learning about medical science and preparing to apply to be Harvey’s assistant.

He ignored how cold her skin was to the touch, how she barely tried struggling away from his own frigid fingers - or rather, she tried, but all she managed to do was barely shuffle herself away, slumping against his bed more than anything.

Shivering. Difficulty speaking. Slow breath. Weak pulse…

He cursed, louder this time. He racked his brain, looking around his room - but his room probably wouldn’t help at all. Less chance for cold to creep in compared to upstairs, where the wood was a good defense against the cold but had more crevices where it could slip in compared to his basement guarded by being underground. But the cold had already seeped in here, and once it was in it never left.

They wouldn’t be able to light a fire, but maybe he could get her warm again faster upstairs?

But wasn’t moving someone also dangerous?

Maru’s head fell forward suddenly, and Sebastian jolted, catching her. She was so cold.

He shook her, gently. “Maru, come on. You gotta stay awake. You know better.” She blinked her eyes open as he pushed her back a little, and after a beat she nodded ever so slightly, sighing with a harsh tremor. “Hold on, okay? Just. Here, take my sweater for now, okay? You’re freezing.” He shimmied out of his sweater, and with minor difficulty slipped it over her head.

“Okay,” he mumbled, barely feeling the cold sting his now exposed arms. “Okay. This is fine, just… next step.” He swallowed thickly, just staring at Maru shiver and trying to remember how she described helping someone experiencing hypothermia.

He growled in annoyance at himself, as he seemingly could think of everything other than what he actually needed to remember, and he reached up to pull at his hair just to see if that would get his brain working.

She stared right back at him, her face pulling into what he thought to be her mildly frustrated scrunchy face, but it wasn’t as expressive as that, her face was probably so cold she could barely feel her muscles struggling to move. She was trying to say something, and it took Sebastian a good 30 seconds to understand what she was trying to mumble.

“fl…at.. la…y..ured…”

He blinked at the slow, slurred words, but after a moment it clicked and he jolted up off the ground. “Flat- you need to lie flat, okay. And layers. Right.” He looked around his room and cringed, again wondering if it was best to stay down here.

But she needed to lay flat, he needed to lie her down flat, and the memory of her stressing “Gently. Handle gently,” rang in his ears. Carrying her upstairs would be anything but gentle.

Would it even be warmer up there?

He shook his head. He should get her as warm as he could right now, and see if he could move her after she wasn’t in so much danger of freezing to-

He squashed that thought immediately.

“Okay,” he said again, just to fill the silence. He darted for his dresser and pulled out as many warm clothes he had, pulled his extra hoodies off his hangers, and retreated back to Maru, dropping them into a pile beside her. He hesitated for only a second before unzipping a few of his looser hoodies and reaching for her, slowly working them around her, pulling the hoods up and drawing the hoods closed as much as possible without obscuring her face. “Okay, he repeated. “I’m going to move you, alright? In a second. I’m gonna- these are gonna be between you and the floor, along with your blanket, them I’m gonna move you.”

And he did just that, spreading the remaining warm clothes over the floor after tugging on a single jacket for himself, and wrapping Maru’s blanket more securely around her shoulders, he moved behind her and eased her back onto his chest. Very slowly, with arms holding her steady, he leaned down with her just to ensure he didn’t move her too harshly, and carefully moved out from under her so he could lay her down on the clothes.

He pulled his blankets and sheets off his bed too, ignoring anything that clattered off for the moment, and laid it all over Maru. He stared at her, clenching his fists, trying to think if there was anything else he could do.

More blankets, he thought, because even if his blanket and hers were thick, they were just two blankets. He’s sure his mom and Demetrius wouldn’t care if he snagged theirs in a rush if it meant helping Maru.

“I’ll be right back,” he promised, keeping his voice low even though there was no reason to. But it felt like if he spoke any louder, he’d somehow hurt her more.

He dashed up the stairs, to his mom’s room, and yanked off with slight difficulty the heavy quilt and sheets. Bundling them into his arms, he was about to dart back down to Maru, but he paused just as he was about to pass the lab.

Didn’t they have a first aid kit in there?

Would it have anything that could help?

It was worth checking, wasn’t it?

He glanced to the stairs before dropping the blankets for now, and booked it into the lab, swiftly opening all the cabinets he could until he found the first aid kit they did keep in there, because his mom refused to let them into the lab until they got one.

Sebastian grunted as he hauled the blankets back into his arms and raced as quick as he dared down the stairs. He dropped everything near Maru and set to work draping the extra blankets across her, and even grabbing his pillow and taking off the pillowcase just to put something around the top of her head where the blankets didn’t quite reach well enough.

She was still shaking, and breathing somewhat slow, but already it wasn’t quite as slow as before. He settled close enough to her head that he could see her face, and was struck by the fact that his gameboy was still the only thing giving light into his room.

He glanced around, and spotted the lantern she had brought in, knocked over in his haste to get everything out of the way. He reached and dragged it closer, flicking it on and keeping it close. Then he remembered his phone.

It was, miraculously, still on his nightstand. He didn’t get up from Maru’s side, just stretched to grab it before hunching over and turning it on. He hoped he could still get service despite the power knocked out and being in his room.

He pulled up the clinic’s emergency line, hoping Harvey hadn’t gone to the Saloon that night, and clicked call.

The ringing was agonizing even as he busied himself with pulling the first aid kit into his lap and starting his way through it, even if he might not be sure what he was looking for inside it.

Harvey sounded tired when he answered, but alert enough, and Sebastian guessed it was because of the emergency phone in the clinic going off. He didn’t pay attention to what Harvey actually said at first.

“Maru’s got hypothermia,” Sebastian said, hunching further into himself and technically over Maru. She was still awake, luckily. “I- we’re snowed in, and the power’s out, and the heaters broke. When I woke up, she was freezing. I got her blankets and as many of my hoodies and coats I could get. Is there anything else I can do?”

Harvey was very, very quiet for a lot longer than Sebastian liked. But when he finally responded, voice a little higher pitched and worry clear in his voice, the frustration Sebastian felt dissipated just slightly.

“You’ve done well, Sebastian. Stay with her. I… I also seem to be snowed in for the time being, but I think Lewis or Marnie may have something that could clear snow. I’ll call them as soon as I can and get you guys out of there. If you have a first aid kit in the house, see if there’s any warm compresses. Apply to her face or chest, do not under any circumstances put them on her arms or legs, as much as they may be freezing, it will only cause more harm. Stay with her. Have you called your parents?”

“Not yet. I- Demetrius is at the saloon, Mom’s at the farm.”

“Alright, I’ll call Demetrius after calling Marnie and Lewis, you see if there are any warm compresses and call the farmer.”

“Don’t Marnie and Lewis go to the saloon on Fridays?”

“Marnie already called me earlier asking for advice on keeping Jas warm, she’s home. Now call your mom, let her know what’s going on, and I’ll call you with news about what’s going to happen from there. Continue getting Maru warmer, slowly.” 

The phone clicked off as Harvey hung up, and Sebastian dialed the farmer’s number. Once it was ringing, he kept the phone between his shoulder and ear and now looked through the first aid kit with a purpose, sifting through until he could hopefully find some compressors. 

All he could really do now was hope for the best.

[joy-eris-joy]

Hello! My name is Joy Eris, but please call me Joy!

This is just my blog for whatever hyperfixation captures my attention at the moment, so expect my fandoms to always be in flux.

Be respectful and we'll get along fine!

I’m a Lutual too, which means I run way too many RP blogs. Check them out!

Lutualverse OC Accounts

@exorcist-ava 🚬

@seraphim-sarai 🦢

@seraphim-adina 🐇

@exorcist-milan420 💥

@prince-pruflas 👑

@lost-rin 🪶

@lost-elam 🦣

@archangel-michael-of-heaven ⚔️

@sinner-xiao 🐶

Lutualverse Canon Character Accounts

@ask-modeus 💙❤️‍🔥

@ask-king-paimon ✨🦉

@ask-keekee 🐈‍⬛🗝️

NRWE (Non-Canon Reality Warping Entity) Accounts

@ask-peter 🏡 @ask-daria-morgendorffer 🤓 @the-burglar-from-sims-1 💰

@joyer-is-joy 😈

Lutual Statement

After a pretty rough week with a lot going on, the Lutuals have decided that moving forward we will be a bit more selective regarding certain things. We love sharing our characters and developing new and interesting storylines for people to read and interact with and want to continue doing so while protecting ourselves and our mental health. Please see below on the things we expect moving forward.

Asks, anon or not, will be deleted on sight and the sender blocked if they fall into any of the following categories:

NSFW - finding the characters hot is fine! Telling the mods what you want to do to those characters sexually is not!

Violence - show typical violence may be part of storylines or backstory to inform characterization! Graphically describing violence you would like to see done to the characters doesn’t! To vent frustrations with characters, please throw a bible at them; the mods will get the message just fine.

Hate Speech - the Lutualverse is a fun spinoff of the Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss settings and isn’t the place for social or political commentary. We’re just here for the various shades of queer relationships; if you’re not, kindly move along.

Spam - many Lutuals utilize their queues for asks and submissions; if you sent it once, we probably got it and will answer asks and post submissions in due time. Sending more than once will just confuse Tumblr and annoy the mod.

To better form a cohesive, consistent universe with multiple storylines, the current Lutualverse is a set roster you can find here, all of whom have been vetted as 18+. As the blogs, storylines, and shows are 18+, it is recommended that minors do not interact. We are not accepting applications at this time to join the Lutualverse, though individual mods may respond to starters at their discretion; these events will not be canon to the universe.

It has also come to our attention that some blogs are claiming to be part of the Lutualverse despite not being official members.

While we appreciate that people enjoy our work, we DO NOT appreciate being impersonated or having unaffiliated members claiming to be part of our canon.

At the time of writing, the ONLY Lutuals are as follows:

@joyerisjoy

@able-juice

@silvireal

@texanredrose

@kambiteydragon

@moreaustars

@hazbin-hoe-tell

@canibalistic-brownie

@greybazzy

@seecatrun

@pseudobun

@atttwoood

@paperroxas

Any new blogs or members will be announced by ONE OF US and will be LISTED on the Lutuals roster.

Any unaffiliated users claiming to be part of our verse WILL BE BLOCKED.

Again, we would like to stress that we enjoy the interaction and support. This is to protect us and better craft compelling stories. Thank you for your understanding.

-The Lutuals

My commissions are always open, so feel free to DM any time about them!

If you like what I do, consider supporting me on my Ko-Fi!

Any amount is appreciated!

[foxytonic]

New Pinned Post!

Howdy! I'm Jay! (she/they, 29, genderfluid, bisexual) This is my main blog, where you'll find fandom content, shiny rocks, spooky shit, funny stories (usually by other people), and whatever else catches my fancy. I run a shit-ton of RP blogs, but only a few of them are active at any given time. I also have a writing blog and an RP meme blog that I occasionally update. Outside of Tumblr, I have a full time job at a fast food joint (hate with a burning passion), and I play a lot of Dungeons & Dragons (love!!!), and I try to just live my life. I'm a disabled punk who's really tired of living in a Red State, but can't bring myself to leave because this is my home, and there are still plenty of good things about it, like roadrunners, armadillos, cacti, cave systems, and prairies! Wish I could get out and see more of it.

Some guidelines for following/interacting with me:

No bigotry of any kind. That means no racism, no homophobia, no antisemitism or religious discrimination, no TERF or radfem bullshit, no man-hater nonsense (even from so-called feminists), and no sexism. Don't like, don't follow. You whine about it, you get blocked instantly. I will not suffer hateful fools!

If you regularly post about politics, US or otherwise, please tag it. Same with the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. It's not that I don't care! I think it's shitty what's happening over there, and the fact that America is on the wrong side in what is essentially World War III is fucking disgusting, but I do not have the funds or mental capacity to donate to every fundraiser that shows up on my dash, and seeing people suffering and feeling guilty for not being able to help has made my depression a lot worse over the past year. This is the reason why I've shut off my inbox.

That being said, if you have questions or want to chat, my DMs are always open! It might take me hours to respond because of my work schedule, but I will at least try. I am a very awkward and shy person. It takes me a bit to start coming out of my shell, and even then, I tend to be a social chameleon, matching the energy and interests of those around me. It is extremely difficult for me to truly be myself around someone else. Please be patient with me.

I do have Discord! If you want it, you can always DM me, but I admit that it's no longer my preferred method of contact, unless you want to voice chat. I'll join a server if I'm invited to one that interests me, but I won't always be active. Something about large groups of people being intimidating even on the internet!

As I said, I run way too many RP blogs, and I'll list the active ones below, but if you want to play with them, either shoot me a DM or send in a starter or five. I'm not exclusive, but I do tend to follow my partners back. I'm fine with playing with Anons, too!

Active RP Blogs

@quaintnecromancer - Arguably my most active blog! Jett is my necromancer OC, and definitely my current favorite character to play.

@haunted-ex-rocket - My newest blog! Averis is a Pokémon OC based on my Pokémon GO! avatar, a rakish Ghost-type trainer from Kanto who used to work for Team Rocket but defected when he stumbled upon the Giovanni-funded Mewtwo Project.

@cursedphoenix - Another of my favorite OCs! Tancred is a witch who was afflicted with a sleeping curse after losing a duel to his evil mother. Over three hundred years later, he woke up, and is still trying to adjust to the modern world after decades of living in it. I used to write both him and Jett over on @covenunited , but that blog is no longer active due to loss of muse.

@feathers-n-fangs - Griffin is my vampire/warlock OC, and I love him a lot! He also has a Pokémon AU, among others.

@mage-of-black-robes - my Raistlin Majere RP blog!!! Heavily influenced by the Russian musical The Last Trial, but he also has a ton of AUs.

I’ll try to add more blogs to this list as I gain muse for them, but I make no guarantees.

[spoocys-glade-of-dreams]

dearest spoocy how do i master the art of roleplay

- Healthy communication with your fellow roleplay partners is the most important thing about Roleplaying.

- Make sure to read the rules and muses pages of those you wish to seek out for roleplay. I've had one or two folks coming in that I had to politely decline roleplaying with because I fell under something that was in their "Do not interact" criteria (Not all DNI's relate to something that could be harmful. Some people just put DNI for things like enjoying specific fandoms or media.) Respect the rule list.

Most rule pages include no godmoding during interactions. Godmoding can fall under two different categories:

Being overpowered/untouchable

Deciding things about the other person's character.

Even the deities I portray in roleplay are not untouchable. They all have a weakness somewhere. Jano's is light sources. Polokus can be corrupted by Nightmare Influence or even fall into insanity, ect. Even the Knaarens have a way to kill em and not all of them share the same methods.

I always ask my rp partner if it's okay to do something with their character before I write it. I also make it clear to them when it's okay to kill a character for the story plot.

Never force ships on them either. I have the shipping status of my muses written on my roster. It indicates if a muse is open for shipping or not. Otherwise, ask first before jumping into ship interactions like that.

Big one too is DON'T METAGAME!

-copy and pasted from another source: OOC being "out of character" and IC being "in character"

Metagaming is simply taking knowledge that you gained OOCly and bringing it ICly. For instance, a friend tells you a plot that went on between a friend and someone else where you were not involved. Any knowledge not gained through RP is not knowledge you know ICly.

I talk about all kinds of story plots and spoilers with my rp partners over dm's all the time. I even leave them little cookie crumbs or just flat out tell them "This is what will happen" if they ask about something. I give them the option of choice. Not everyone is willing to spoil things for you and would like to surprise you.

- Don't insert yourself into starters or roleplays that do not involve you or is not marked as an open starter. Most Roleplayers don't like when uninvolved blogs or parties try to insert themselves into a roleplay or reblog them to comment on it. If you must comment on them, use the reply feature over reblogging it. Not all starters that are posted on Tumblr are open ones.

An open starter usually implies everyone's free to join it. Private ones are kept between specific persons. Better safe then sorry: if you see a starter that has a specific blog tagged, don't reblog and don't try to insert yourself into it. It's a good way to get yourself blocked by both parties.

- Do not pressure your partner to get responses out on a schedule. You never know what's going on in their lives. They could have gotten a new job or are simply unable to find the drive to write. Be patient. Be considerate. Be understanding.

- A muse's intent or actions does not always equal the mun's. Some of us portray really nasty villain characters. Some of those villains or characters may do things that are offensive or violent in nature. This does not mean the mun delights in doing these actions themselves. I have at least two muses that are despicable with their actions and I'm often raging in dm's with my friends about how much it hurts to write some of that stuff sometimes.

- Research or ask what roleplay formats are acceptable with your partner. My format is a mix of semi line and para. It means i tend to write responses in whole paragraphs or shortened paragraphs. Some blogs frown upon using other formats. One-line format means you tend to respond in one sentence. Semi-line is pretty much a small and short paragraph.

- Don't Machine Gun Roleplay. Machine Gun in roleplay means there is constant talking and talking without a chance for the other party to respond. This is something I suffer with! I have a bad habit of having a character go in long talks and I will often ask my RP partners if I need to shorten it so they can respond. We work around this by allowing the character to respond between "transitions" to the next thing written in the previous response. Never hurts to ask your RP partner if you need to fix something if you aren't sure.

- If a blog has an age restriction and you are younger than what is required DO NOT INTERACT WITH THEM. Do not interact with any of that material. It can get us adults in trouble if you try to engage in that kind of roleplay or content in general. This is not just for roleplay! Adults online should not interact with minors that try to engage with their age restricted content. It's encouraged to block them! That could be anything from suggestive content, Full NSFW, or gore content.

some blogs may even be marked as 16+ outside of the USA, but you should never be engaging with or posting NSFW content until you are 18. End of story.

[mvsicinthedvrk]

a friendly psa about (some) asian names ✌️

this is not me coming to you as an admin (though this message has been admin-team-approved), this is me coming at you as an ollie, who is tired. and i am going to attempt to kindly educate, because i have been playing wei wuxian for three years, and there are still occasionally people who call him 'wei.' pls believe that i know it's not intentional and that it's definitely not meant maliciously, but it's still tiring. so!! i wrote this nice little guide to (some) asian names, and i am hoping you will read it, and potentially learn something about a different culture, if this is new to you 💕

east asian names are usually (not always! but usually!) structured as surname + given name. (aka family name first, then first name). so for example, my chinese character who is named mo xi, he's from the mo family, and his given name is xi. i mention this bc i have seen so many starter calls, etc, where people request from my characters using their last names, and i would love for this to stop. for my character named feng yu, his family name is feng, yu is his given name. that's why feng yu's brother is feng xin. they have the same surname, and that surname comes first 👍

**however!! this structure is not a broad-strokes rule; it doesn't necessarily apply to all asian characters or all characters from asian countries/fandoms. a lot of people still submit their apps for asian characters and prefer to list them on the taken/ooc pages with "given name + surname" in that order, so it's best not to make general assumptions. for example, sunny is listed on the ooc as playing an anime/manga character named madoka kaname. in this case, the character's given name is 'madoka' with the last name 'kaname.' how can you tell? if you look on the character's wiki page or on sunny's blog, either place will tell you that she does in fact go by 'madoka.' (so: you wouldn't want to assume that it's flip-flopped just because it looks like an asian name).

therefore, when writing with someone and trying to figure out how to write an asian name appropriately, generally the best thing to do is ask yourself: how is the other person structuring this character's name in their replies and starter calls? and can i look on the character's wiki page to figure it out if i'm unsure? finally, if neither of those help you, you can always just ask your writing partner. personally, i know my dm's are open and i'd rather someone come to me and say 'hey i was wondering how should i write X character's name' rather than see someone call them the wrong name, which makes me sad :((

finally, a note specifically for CHINESE names!!

with chinese names specifically, in mandarin you usually do call someone by their full name, even if it's someone you've known for a while. so whether i was longtime friends with wei wuxian or whether we just became friends recently, i would still call him 'wei wuxian.' this may seem overly formal, but i promise it's not.

now, it is acceptable to call someone by only their given name as long as their given name has more than a single character (syllable). so if i wanted to could call him just 'wuxian' it would be technically fine-- especially if we're talking/writing in english, that's fine. 👍 wen kexing can be called 'kexing.' chu wanning can technically be called 'wanning,' etc. it is odd for strangers, but if you know the person or especially if you're friends/close, it's definitely alright. (there's actually a lot of rules about nicknames/ closeness/ seniority and things like that, but without getting too complicated, you can assume this is generally fine.)

HOWEVER, if someone's chinese given name is one character (usually written with one syllable in pinyin/english), you really shouldn't call them just by that name. it's not technically rude, exactly, but it's awkward and off-putting at the very least. that's not what you call them. xie lian is 谢怜, with both names as one character each, so 'xie lian' can't just be called 'lian.' he can either be 'xie lian' (full name) or something like 'a-lian' if you really want to give him a nickname. likewise, pei ming cannot be called 'ming' even though that's his given name. he needs to be called 'pei ming' all together. mo xi is always called mo xi (never 'xi'), qi yan is always called qi yan (not just 'yan') etc. if you're not sure at a glance whether a chinese muse's given name is one-character or not, simply call them by their full name to be safe.

again, this might sound like a lot of work, but if you just look at my tag for xie lian or read whatever reply of mine you're working off of, you'll see me call him 'xie lian' in the narration, and you can just follow along with that. and once you figure it out one time, then ur good for any later interactions as well.

and that's it !! if you have questions, feel free to ask and i'll try my best to explain! don't feel bad if you've misnamed characters in the past, but i would really appreciate if people keep this in mind moving forward, because it will make my life so much more peaceful and relaxing. thanks for reading; i appreciate your time!!

[hiccupmistress]

I've often been quite a fan of Star Trek's fandom wiki, "Memory Alpha". At first glance, its a very well-kept wiki, where people are quick to add new information, and the occasional attempt to spam the wiki with false or inflammatory information is quickly struck down.

However, when you take a closer look, its a rather nasty and pompous place.

For starters, character pages used to list a character's gender in the main info box at the top of pages. However, when Star Trek: Discovery introduced the franchise's first properly non-binary character, Adira, a few wiki contributors threw a temper-tantrum and now character pages do not list gender in the info box, and instead its mentioned in the main body of text if its considered "necessary".

Then there's the problem of the Wiki's framing device. Yes, a wiki, a site for which the main purpose is to be a resource of information decided it needed a framing device. The idea is that "MA is written from a POV from the distant future." Why is this a problem? Well, recently, a contributor opened a discussion article, (for those who don't know, this is a special page for the benefit of contributors to discuss potential changes to the way the wiki is run), talking about the way pictures on character pages are organised.

Currently, Memory Alpha will include two images on the top info-box of prominent recurring characters. The latest-chronological image at the top, and the earliest-chronological image at the bottom. The user on this discussion page posited that since the current "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" is a prequel show that is taking time to flesh out characters who had very little screen time in the original series, that certain characters, such as George-Samuel Kirk or Robert April should have images swapped around so that the "primary" or most prominent depiction of the character is at the top. They used the examples specifically because, GS Kirk's only appearance in the originals was as a dead body, and Robert April's only appearance was a single episode of the Animated Series, and he's a different ethnicity, they claimed that "Adrien Holmes is meant to be the definitive portrayal of April".

This was met with nothing but backlash, the first quote I put in this post about "MA is written from a POV from the distant future" was used to justify why the later chronological appearances are listed at the top. But frankly, that doesn't hold water with Sam Kirk, because why would a future archive of historical information use a picture of someone's rotting corpse to depict who they were? And more importantly, this is where the whole thing of Memory Alpha having a framing device becomes a problem. Its all very quaint that the wiki has its lore, but at the end of the day, Memory Alpha isn't the SCP Foundation, its not archiving its own special set of original worldbuilding or anything, its a wiki for a bunch of TV shows and movies! Its primary purpose is to be a resource so fans can find out information. As the OP of the Discussion Page pointed out, anyone coming in to Star Trek through SNW who comes to look at Sam's MA page will see a dead body, kind of a spoiler if they're not already familiar with TOS.

Now yes, wiki pages will always have spoilers on them, that's kind of the point, but given his TOS appearance is just Shatner in a fake moustache, playing a corpse, there's really no need to classify that as the "most recent" iteration of the character.

Then of course, there's the Robert April thing. Of course someone chimed in to whine that changing April's ethnicity is "motivated by a dislike of character's original race. For fans who respect continuity, Adrien Holmes will never be the definitive Robert April. I've got nothing against him but I wish he played a new character." which is eye rolling. Someone did point out that live-action shouldn't trump animation. I can agree with that. There are certain circles who would tout that live action film or TV is inherently better than any other media, be it animation, comics, books, games etc, which it really shouldn't be held as, all forms of artistic expression should be held with the same respect, but, its nothing but red flags to whine that SNW hates white people because they cast a black actor as a formerly white character who only appeared in one episode animated on a budget of debt. And considering most of SNW's cast is white or white-passing, its hardly "a dislike of the original race". And guess how many people called out this user for whining about Adrien Holmes? None at all!!! Over the years, I've seen more Star Trek fans boasting that they never bothered watching TAS than I've seen say anything nice about TAS, so pretending to care that Commodore April is now a person of colour comes across incredibly disingenuous. (Not to mention the writer of the original Animated Series episode in which April has appeared has gone on record praising the casting of Holmes as live-action April, so really what does it matter if some 1970s micro-budget animation cells are contradicted)

Even with that aside, people were still arguing that the one-off animated appearance of April should still be at the top of his wiki page because "We're a future historical archive"

The point and TL;DR is a fan wiki should be a resource for real life fans in the real world first and foremost and have any framing devices second. Memory Alpha and the majority of its contributors don't seem to understand this. Maintaining some stupid illusion of being an in-universe archive seems to be more important to a lot of those people. And, between stuff like the gender tag mentioned at the top of the post, and the attitudes towards things like ethnic diversity, I don't really feel comfortable continuing to even use the wiki, much less contribute to it, as I have done on occasion. The admin at that wiki could really do to crack down on the gender-critical and racist-dogwhilstle-y users and have a serious think about whether they want to be running an actual wiki or an ARG disguised as a wiki, because the framing device BS is unnecessary as it is quaint.

[broke-on-books]

☕️ WNSD

🎶 We're coming after you, We're gonna solve that mysteryyyyy 🎶

No okay but I loooovvvveeeeee What's New so much oh my god. It's probably the iteration of Scooby I've seen the highest percentage of episodes of (excluding SDMI) and if I had to pick my favorite Scooby series of them all. More than any of the others really (although a little WAY), What's New was the Scooby of my childhood, and so many of its episodes are just total classics for me as well.

I think WNSD is very beloved by the Scooby collective (and for good reason) but honestly STILL is underrated in my mind, especially the early episodes. I absolutely adore some of the little "plot twists" of the WNSD era and how creative it could be within the confines of "the Scooby formula". I mentioned many of these in another post recently but having unexpected solutions/elements like "the monkey did it!" or "we caught the wrong guy! We need to go back!" every few episodes just blew my brain wide open as a child (especially the second one there. I'm STILL in shock on that one) and are underappreciated by scooby fandom. (Despite WNSD winning the favorite scooby series poll I did lol)

Being my favorite doesn't mean that What's New is perfect though. There are still some moments I don't like, or that, while useful for a joke, fall flat for me character-wise. One example I think I've talked about before is the scene where they split up differently and Fred is left alone searching for clues with Shaggy. The punchline of this is the idea that Fred and Shaggy just don't have anything in common to talk about, going along in awkward silence until Fred asks Shaggy if he 'saw the game last night' to which he says no and they continue on in awkward silence. For me, that's not my favorite joke because I do believe that Fred and Shaggy are good friends and DO have lots to talk about, and while not my favorite interaction between the two, I can still mesh it pretty easily into my own personal canon with a few simple Watsonian explanations. Ex: They were both overthinking it and didn't know what to say, Fred grabbed a conversation starter from his go to list (he's been working very hard on his social interaction skills, okay?! Only 3/4 of them are about nets/mysteries/the gang/the Mystery Machine!) and struck out big time.

No but as I was saying as much as I adore WNSD, nothing is perfect, and at times (especially in some movies) What's New also suffers from the WAY/TSDS cultural................. awkwardness that comes from the "white guy dressing up as native/cultural legend" plot line.

OH AND THE SOUNDTRACK. What's New rightly gets its due (lol) for having an absolutely killer theme song (and sequence too!!!!) but I think it should get extra points on top of that as well for the chase music in each episode. What's New easily has some of my favorite chase music (leading to some favorite chase sequences) which makes watching it an even better time (some of those songs are catchy!!!!!) And I just love the way it handles music in general. What's New really just finds creative ways to explore and make interesting all aspects of the process, and move between them subtly and infrequently enough that it doesn't feel forced or thrown at you, but as a genuine exploration of what can be done with Scooby by people who care about it. (And while we're talking about music?!?!?!?! THE HAUNTED MYSTERY MACHINE EPISODE???????? 🤯😵🥰💘)

To me, What's New is just a really good show that is kind of seen as being "simple" (plan lol. Sorry I keep doing that but I can't help myself) or basic but really is much more creative and complicated than it looks when closely examined. It's a series that I think gets a lot of love while at the same time still not getting enough for everything it accomplished. Also it has some of my favorite Scooby castings out there. I mean, COME ON! Casey Kasem Shaggy at the same time as Grey Griffin Daphne? With Frank Welker Fred AND Scooby along with MINDY COHN (<3333333333333333333) Velma? Don't get me STARTED.

Anyways I just have SO much love for this series all the time. All the time. 24/7. Hope that answers your question on how I feel about it

[chickensarentcheap]

Lost and Found- Chapter 5

Fandom: Extraction

Pairing: Tyler Rake and Esme Drummond  (established OFC. Although you can just read this one and know what’s going on)

Warnings: profanity, smut, NSFW (you’ve been warned)

Tagging: @tragiclyhip @muchadoaboutcj @youflickedtooharddamnit @secretaryunpaid @residentdormouse @starryeyes2000 @asirensrage @munstysmind @themaradaniels @arrthurpendragon @ocappreciationtag​ @occommunity​

My tag list is OPEN. Please just ask to be added if you want :D

Link to Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43179357/chapters/113863714

THREE MONTHS LATER

“You sure you don’t want to tag along?” Tyler asks, as he emerges from the bathroom;  scrubbing aggressively at his hair with the towel slung around his neck.   “There’s bound to be something at the new place you can tackle.”

“As much as I’d love to go and get a jump on plotting out my gardens, I really need to stay behind.  We move in a week!  Seven days! And I feel like I’ve barely put a dent in the packing.  Like…”  Settling her hands on her hips,  Esme blows her bangs out of her eyes and stares down the mess of cardboard boxes littering the shack.  “...it’s only been ten months! Since we moved in together.  How did two people who came into this relationship with nothing end up with so much…stuff?”

They’d stumbled upon the place online during a late-night search when sleeplessness had gotten the better of them. A small, two bedroom, plus den starter home on a half acre of land in Broome; freshly painted slate gray clapboard with crisp white trim around the windows and mustard yellow front and garage doors.  A spacious backyard in dire need of landscaping;  spacious enough for a couple of gardens, a small pond, and a section that could eventually be used as a play area for children.  The inside proudly boasting some of its original woodwork and charm;  crown moulding decorating every ceiling and wainscotting taking up residence on the living room and dining room walls.  A quaint, comfortable place that still needed a few essential updates; a new roof, central air, and some minor foundation work.

 When approached about a cash advance needed for a healthy downpayment, Nik had graciously offered the money- no strings attached- instead. Declaring it was what Tyler was rightfully owed; Mahajan had short-changed them in Dhaka after all, and Tyler had more than earned the full sum of his fees.  And perhaps she’d been spurred on by lingering guilt of her own; haunted by the choice to leave him and Esme behind on the bridge and the decision to not return for them.  It had been her own brother that had gone against her ruling;  deciding on his own -after retrieving Ovi and ensuring his safety- that he was going back for them.  Even if it meant losing his own life in the process.

“I’m not being blamed for it.”  Tyler tosses the damp towel in the direction that takes up residence on the couch. “ You’re the one that owns twenty pairs of Uggs and only wears the same two all the time.”

“They’re my favourites,” she reasons, and tosses a roll of packing tape in his direction.  “And I refuse to take criticism from a man that owns nearly thirty pairs of board shorts, yet lives nowhere near the water.”

“Hey, we’re in Australia. Board shorts are perfectly acceptable everyday attire. And besides…”   Wrapping his arms around her from behind, he presses a kiss to the side of her head. .  “...in a week, we’ll be a lot closer to the beach.  All those board shorts will come in handy.”

“Guess I’m going to step up my game, huh?  Get a few new bathing suits.  Cute. But sexy at the same time.”

“Only if I get to come along on this shopping spree.  You know, so I can get invited into the dressing room.”

She casts a scowl over her shoulder.

“So I can put my two cents in, Esme. Get your mind out of the gutter. What is it with you?  Sex, sex, sex. That’s all you think about.”

“Pot meet kettle! You’re like a perpetually horny teenager!  I can’t even bend over to scrub the bathtub without giving you a woody.  That is not normal. Not at your age.”

“Well maybe if you didn’t bend over to scrub the bathtub in just one of my t-shirts…”

“Your t-shirts are huge on me. They cover everything. Like wearing a dress.”

“They WOULD be huge on you. If you didn’t tie them in a knot around your waist. And then you’ve got the nerve to walk around here like that.  With your bare ass hanging out.”

“I like to clean in minimal attire.  If things are really dirty, I don’t want  all these extra clothes getting  grubby.”

“Yeah… sure…”  Playfully tugging on her ponytail, he plants a noisy kiss on her cheek. “Likely story. We both know you’re full of shit. That you do it just to get me riled up.”

“I will neither admit nor deny that claim.  I can’t help it that you’ve got hair-trigger hormones.  That you just have to get the tiniest peek of a butt cheek and you’re ready to go.   Hell, half the time, even a stiff breeze in the room is enough to awaken the beast.”

“The beast, huh?”  Grinning, he rubs the scruff of his beard against her cheek;  his hold on her tightening when she squeals and squirms against him. Meeting no resistance when he slips a hand up the front of her tank top; feeling her entire body shudder when calloused fingertips glide across her stomach.   “You realize calling him names doesn’t upset him, yeah?  That all it does is feed his ego?”

“His ego or yours?”

“Well,  it IS a confidence boost when your dick is called ‘the beast’.”

“Would you rather I call it Mini Tyler? Tiny Tyler? Baby…OW!” She jabs her elbow into his stomach when he pinches one of her nipples.  “Fucker! That hurt!” 

“Normally you can take more than that.  Much more. Normally you’re ASKING for it.”

“They’re sore,” she pouts. “I swear I’m stuck in some endless loop of PMS.   It’s been five weeks!  Headaches and crazy mood swings and night sweats and now my poor boobs!  But nothing. Absolutely nothing.  It still hasn’t come.  No period in sight.”

“Maybe…”  His palm slides down to her stomach.  “....the test you took was wrong.”

“I took three of them.  Two were quite clearly negative, one was on the fence.  More a ‘no’ than a ‘yes’.  And you heard what the doctor said.  It’s likely stress. Anxiety.  We’re taking a  big step.  Owning a house…together… is huge.  We’re starting a whole new life.    I’d worry if it didn’t cause some kind of emotional upset.”

“Maybe just take one more.  Can’t hurt, right?”

“It’s only going to say the same thing, Tyler. There is no baby Rake on board.  Not yet, anyway. And it’s not like we’re trying.  We’re not planning on being parents, right? Not this soon. It would have had to have been an ‘ooops’.  I mean, we’ve been careful.”

“There’s been a few times we weren’t as careful as we could have been. But things happen, yeah?”  Affectionately patting her stomach, he heads for the kitchen and snags a clean mug from the drainboard by the sink. Pouring himself a cup of coffee before leaning back against the stove.  “It’s not like it would be a horrible thing.  If we had an ‘oops’.”

“Can we even afford an ‘oops’?”

“We’re not exactly poor.  I’ll be going back to work soon.  Bringing in a somewhat steady income.  And I’ve got that interview with the fire department next month.  If that goes well and I pass all the physical stuff…”

“You shouldn’t have a problem there. Doctor says you’re ‘good to go’.   In better shape than you were before Dhaka. Even with your wonky lung.  It’s kinda hot, you know.”

“My wonky lung?”

“You as a firefighter.  Women love men in uniform.  The thought of you in all that gear and all hot and sweaty?  It paints a very nice picture in my mind.  And does funny things to my insides. Fireman Tyler.  You’re going to have to bring all your stuff home  and do a strip tease for me. Really get the blood flowing in my nether regions.”

“I have to go to all that work?  Whatever happened to just looking at you a certain way?  That much has changed in just eight months?”

Rolling her eyes,  Esme folds down the flaps on the cardboard box in front of her;  frowning as she pats down the pockets of her jeans and fails to find the marker she’d been previously using.

“You’re losing it,” he teases, and snags the object in question off the kitchen table.  “You put it there. Ten minutes ago.”

“My brain is mush!”  she  laments, and catches the marker as it’s tossed toward her.  “And you’re not helping by walking around like that.”  

“Like….”

“Like that!” She waves a hand in his direction; gesturing toward his lack of attire; his long, athletic frame clad in nothing but a pair of faded and tattered jeans that sit  -still unbuttoned- extremely low on his hips.  The hair at his temples and the nape of his neck still damp from his shower;  a mixture of both sweat and water droplets glistening on smooth tanned skin. “All buff and beautiful and hot and shit.”

Grinning, he takes a swallow of coffee. “And you say I get worked up easily.”

Sighing, she hastily scribbles both contents, and what room they belong in on the cardboard box. “My hormones are totally out of control.  More so than usual.  Which is another reason it’s better if I stay behind. You’ll get your shit done, I’ll get my shit done.  We spend the weekend in the same house? No one is getting a damn thing accomplished.”

“So pretty much like every other weekend we spend together.  Or weekday, for that matter.”

“Well if you weren’t so hot…”

“Maybe you should have hooked up with someone uglier.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have seduced me,” she counters, and playfully sticks her tongue out at him.

“Still playing that game, huh? Are you still going to be lying about that when we’re in our eighties and the great-grandkids are asking how we met?”

“Who are you trying to kid? By the time we reach that age, neither of us will remember that shit.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m not the one whose brain is already mush.”

With a dramatic grunt, she sets the box on the floor by the couch and then grabs her empty tea mug from the coffee table and joins him in the kitchen. Filling and plugging in the kettle before journeying towards him.  “You’re a shithead, you know that?”

“I do. But like you always say, I’m YOUR shithead.”

“Yeah, I supposed I’ve laid my claim to you. And momma didn’t raise a quitter so…”   Standing in front of him, she places her hands on his hips; concern furrowing her brow as she looks up at him.  “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m just hanging out, saying dumb shit to see what kind of reaction I can get from ya. You’re predictable.   It’s like taking candy from a baby.”

“You just seem a little…I don’t know…off.   You haven’t really been yourself the last couple of days. You’ve been quiet and…”

“I’m ALWAYS quiet.”

“More than usual.   And you’ve just seemed kind of…I don’t know…disconnected.   Is everything alright? Are you feeling okay?  I know you’ve been sleeping a lot better, but I can’t exactly read minds so I don’t know what’s going on in yours and…”

“I’m fine.  I feel good.  Better than I have in a long time.  Why are you…?”

“Is it us?  Is there something not quite right?  Did I say something wrong? DO something wrong? Did I…?”

“There’s nothing wrong.  Not with me, not with us. Everything is fine.  Believe me, I’d tell you if it wasn’t. If there was something wrong, you’d be the first to know. Why are you being so paranoid?”

“Hello? Have we met?  It’s who I am.  It’s what I specialize in.�� Paranoia.”

He knows it’s much more than that;  yet another side effect from the years she’d spent with Mark. The constant walking on eggshells; plagued by the worry of doing or saying something wrong that would incur his wrath.  And while she knows he’s nothing like that and would never, ever, raise a hand to her, the fear still very much lives very much inside of her.

If her trauma has taught him anything, it’s the true meaning of love and acceptance and patience.   The abuse that she’d been put through filling him with the need to prove that not all men are the same;  ready, willing, and able to be in the leg work that will not only help her heal,  but strengthen the bond that already exists between them.   And he’s determined to right the wrongs of another man;   wanting nothing more than to erase those bad memories with happy and beautiful ones of their own. 

“Esme…”  Laying his hands on her shoulders, he gives them a light, reassuring squeeze.  “... there is nothing wrong.  Things are good. Things are VERY  good.   I’ve just got a lot of shit going on in my head.  And none of it’s bad, I promise.”

“Things like…”

“Like how much I’m looking forward to getting this part of our lives over and done with.   Starting  fresh.  This is the REAL start to things.  To a life together.  Guess  I’m just anxious to get it going.   I’m excited. Maybe even a little spooked.”

“There’s some pretty big changes happening all at once.  We bought a house, I’m going back to school in the New Year,  you’re totally changing careers…”

“Not totally.  I’m still gonna catch jobs here and there from Nik  And this firefighter gig isn’t a sure thing. If I don’t pass the intake interview and the physical stuff…”

“You’ll pass.  With flying colours.  And then I’ll be able to brag about my hot ass firefighter boyfriend.”

“Yeah, I imagine it’s not easy to brag about a hot ass MERCENARY boyfriend.”

“For your information, I happily brag about you regardless of your line of work.”

“I know for a fact you don’t tell people I’m a hired killer.  And I don’t blame you. That’s not exactly the kind of guy you bring home to mum.”

“Eventually the whole truth will come out.  It’s going to have to at some point.  It’s getting harder and harder to lie to them; they’re starting to ask more and more questions and I’m starting to have a rough time keeping my stories straight.”

“Well, maybe when we go there in the new year, we’ll tell them how things really went down.  IF that’s what you want to do.”

“It’s a hard thing to bring up, you know? It’s not like I was truthful about the work I was doing in New York City.  They don’t know what kind of world I was caught up in.   I had convinced them that I was in business.  Handling difficult clients from all parts of the globe.  When they find out what I was doing and how we really met…”

“Is it really going to matter? How they react?   It’s not like you’re tight with them. And we don’t live close by; they can’t just show up on our doorstep and cause all kinds of shit.   We tell them and however they take it? That’s on them. Not on us.”

“I just want to go there and drop the bomb and that’s it.  And I want to tell them about the house and us starting a new life here.  I just want them to get their thick heads that I am NOT coming back.  That’s not my home anymore.  It hasn’t been in a long time.”

“They’ll deal, Esme.  They’re all adults.  If they can’t handle what you’re doing with your life and who you’re doing it with, that’s their problem. Not yours.”

Sighing, she curls both arms around his waist and settles her head against his chest. “You’re always so wise and diplomatic.”

“I don’t know about that.”  Rubbing affectionately at her shoulders, he drops a kiss on the top of her head and then wraps both arms around her tiny frame; hands locking together at the middle of her back.  “What I do know is that if they start their shit, I’m squaring up. Your mother so as much looks at you in the wrong way…”

“My knight in slightly tarnished armour,” she gushes, and reaches down to squeeze his butt.  “If anything, Christmas dinner will be very interesting this year.  Just promise me that if you get the urge to throw someone through a table, it’ll be after dessert. Because if I don’t get at least one slice of nonna’s pecan pie…”

“I can’t make any promises.”

“Party pooper.” Her eyes close as she leans her entire body against his;  enjoying the  familiar scent and the warmth of soft, tanned skin, and the way a calloused palm repeatedly moves in circles against her back. 

“I should stay home.  Move things to next weekend. I don’t like the idea of you being all alone, out in the middle of nowhere, when you’re feeling this rough.”

She glances up at him, pouting dramatically. “I’m not feeling rough. I’m feeling needy.”

“Good enough reason to stick around, if you ask me. It’s not that big of a deal; putting things off for another few days.  Won’t hurt to stay home and wait on you hand and foot until you’re better.”

“The only thing that will make me feel better is getting everything done.   Once all the packaging is finished and the house is totally move-in ready and we actually get in there?  I’ll be back to normal in no time.  It’s stress.  I’m just anxious to close this chapter and start on a new one.  That’s all.”

He stares down at her pointedly.

“I’ll tell you what. IF I’m still feeling out of sorts after we move,  I’ll take another test. As many as you want me to.   But I am telling you, it’s NOT what you think.  I am NOT pregnant.  I know my body, Tyler. I know how screwed up things get when I’m anxious or stressed.  This isn’t the first time this has happened;  skipping periods and feeling like shit.”

“I still think I should stay home.  Just to be on the safe side.  The thought of being a few hours away while you’re here by yourself…”

“You’re just being paranoid.  I’ll be fine.   I am more than capable of taking care of myself. And besides, I won’t be totally alone.  Lucy’s here.  She’s great company.  And a pretty damn good snuggler.  In a pinch.”

“I just don’t feel right.  Leaving you here.  By yourself. If something happens…”

“Tyler…”  She squeezes his hips.  “...we talked about this.  With the therapist.  The first time you went away with Koen. For that fishing weekend. When you were practically making yourself sick with worry.  You started getting nauseous and dizzy and panicky…”

“ It’s not like we’re living someplace where help is right around the corner.  Or even half an hour away. If I’m not here and something goes wrong…”

“I know you worry about me.   And you know that I appreciate it and love that about you; the fact you want to keep me safe and sound.  But remember what we talked about? At counselling? About how sometimes you go a little overboard?  Get a little overbearing?”

“This isn’t the PTSD.   I’m not in the middle of a flare-up.  Or whatever the hell the doctor likes to call it.  I just got a bad feeling. That I can’t shake. If there’s one thing I’ve always been able to rely on, it’s my gut.  And my gut is telling me that something is NOT right.”

“I think you’re just nervous.  There’s so much going on. We bought a house and we’re getting ready to move soon,  you’ve got your intake interview and your physical coming up for the fire department. Not to mention you’ve got this whole baby thing stuck in your brain.  You’ve got a lot going on in that beautiful head of yours.”

“If you’re going to fight me about staying home, then at least come to Broome.  So I can keep an eye on you. Just in case.”

“In case of what?  Babe, I’m fine.  There’s nothing wrong with me.  It’s just the stress and being anxious to get things finished.  I’m just a little battle of nerves. Mostly good ones. Excited ones.  There is nothing for you to be worried about, I promise.”

He nods slowly, considering her words. Fully aware of his propensity to be overprotective and suffocating; driven by a powerful need to protect her against anyone and anything.  Even in Dhaka, he’d been prepared to sacrifice his safety—his life—for hers; a woman who’d wandered unexpectedly into his life and immediately made a huge impact upon it. Months later,  that desire to keep her safe and sound still exists; more powerful and consuming than ever.   And it HAS  been talked about in therapy;  twice monthly sessions together at a trauma counsellor in Broome.  His experience in Bangladesh coupled with his second chance at life and love…REAL LOVE…causing his worry and paranoia to constantly simmer.  

Perhaps she’s right.  Maybe his concerns over leaving her alone are nothing more than a byproduct of his trauma.  His near death experience and the scar on his neck both serving as constant reminders of how close they’d come to never getting a chance to take things further than that dirty hotel room.

 “You’ll call me?  If anything goes wrong? Or if you see or hear anything out of the ordinary?”

“Of course I will.   But what’s going to go wrong? I’ve been alone here before.  For a couple of days at a  time. This is just one day extra.  I’ve got a lot to keep me busy, you’re leaving me the truck I need to get into town or just want to leave the house.  I’ll be fine, Tae.  You have nothing to worry about.”

A smirk tugs at the corners of his mouth.  “Tae?”

“Well, you came up with a really cute nickname for me and turn around IS fair play.  What? You don’t like it? It’s stupid?”

“Not stupid at all. It’s just…I don’t know…different. It's the first time…in a hell of a long time….that anyone’s called me anything but my full name.”

“Your ex never used sappy terms of endearment for you?  You were never ‘babe’ or ‘baby’ or ‘honey’ or anything like that?”

“You’re the first to ever utter those words.”

“Now that’s just not right.  It’s all part of being a couple.  Part of being in love.  Indulging in cute shit like that.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly the ‘cute’ type.”

“Oh please, I know you’re Mister Big, Bad, Mercenary Man, but you have your moments. Where you’re damn cute.”

Smirking, he pushes a hand through her hair; long, dark tresses slipping through his fingers.  “You know, if that secret ever gets out…”

“Don’t worry. It’s safe with me.  I’ll take it to the grave.  So you’re okay? Me calling you that? Tae?  I was going to go with Ty, but…”

“That would not have been a good move.” His father called him that. Mostly to mock him while he cried over the death of his mother and how much he missed her. Sometimes even while  he was beating him senseless before  locking him in the shed for days on end as punishment; left with nothing more than cardboard to sleep and a bucket to piss and shit in.

“So Tae it is.  And it suits you.  It’s cute but it’s got a bit of an edge and…”

“A BIT of an edge, huh? Man the insults are just rolling out today.”

Rolling her eyes, she smiles up at him.  “I’m going to be okay.  While you’re gone.”

“I know.   I just worry.  I can’t help it.  It’s just who I am. Just the thought of leaving you here…out in the middle of nowhere….”

“As much as I love you for always protecting me, I can take care of myself.  And it’ll give us both a chance to get shit done.  Sooner all of this is taken care of? Sooner we can start on our new life.  And it’s going to be amazing.”

Cradling her face in his palms, he leans down to kiss her..  Long and languid; the slow movements of closed mouth upon closed mouth.  “You know…”  Leaning back against the countertop, his hands find her hips and pull her into him “...I was thinking.  About this whole you going to nursing school thing.”

“What about it? You changed your mind?  You don’t think it’s a good idea?”

“You kidding? I think it's a great idea. You’ll make an amazing nurse. What I was thinking about is how you’ll be wearing those scrubs all the time whenever you’re not home.  So maybe….”  His hands slip from her hips and down onto her ass;  palming it gently before tightly squeezing.  “...I should get you something to wear behind closed doors. You know, some kind of sexy little nurse’s outfit.”

“So that’s why you were so agreeable when it came to me going back to school,” she chides.  “Why you were so excited I picked nursing.  You’ve got some freaky little fetish.”

“I didn’t say that. Did I say that?”

“ Admit it, you’ve got a thing for pretty little nurses.  You love the idea of them waiting on you hand and foot,  poking and prodding at you, giving you sponge baths.”

“No. I love the idea of you being a pretty little nurse and doing all of that for me.  Especially the sponge baths.”

“Yeah, I seem to recall those being quite popular. Weird how you never enjoyed getting them from the nurses or PSWs in the hospital. How you didn’t even want them touching you. How it always had to be me.”

“That’s because your sponge baths were the best. You were really good at giving them.”

She arches a brow.

“And because yours usually came with ‘extras’.  And happy endings. Very happy endings.”

Scowling, she attempts to wriggle out of his embrace; laughing when his hands clamp down on her ass and pull her even tighter against him. “You’re a pig.”

“Maybe. But you enable me, so what does that say about you?”

“That I have sketchy taste in men?” She lets loose a squeal when he pinches her butt. “If I’m totally honest, it is because I have absolutely no self-control.  Not when it comes to tall, ripped, tatted up Australian men.” 

“That is a much better answer.”  

He kisses her once more and she eagerly responds;  their lips and tongues hungry and forceful   despite the activities that had kept them busy and in bed for the better part of the morning.  A beautiful mixture of desperate and aggressive sex and attentive and languid lovemaking; a testament to the intense sexual attraction that has always existed between them and she hoped always would. And she shivers when calloused fingertips glide across the small of her back; his large, strong hands disappearing under her shirt and sliding up her sides.

She giggles when he pulls out of the kiss and his teeth nip at her bottom lip,  then tries to step away when his fingertips brush against the underside of one her breasts.  “Alright…enough. There is no time for that.”

“There is always time for that.”

“Keon will be here soon! You’re not even dressed. You’re barely HALF dressed!”

“Why put on clothes when I was just planning on taking them off again?”

“I knew it.  You had planned to seduce from the second you got out of the shower.”

“Way before that.” (Hands on her hips as he pushes her backwards across the kitchen, meeting no resistance) “Before I even stepped in the shower.”

“You really are a six foot three, two hundred pound ball of walking hormones.” 

“I know that’s not a complaint coming out of your mouth.  And it definitely wasn’t complaints coming out of you earlier.”

“Far from complaining.” Her ass collides with the edge of the table, and she laughs when uses an arm to sweep everything off the top. A mixture of old newspapers and magazines and  dirty breakfast dishes all tumbling to the floor. “Eager, are we?”

“Like you said, Koen will be showing up.”  Effortlessly hoisting her up onto the table,  he kisses her; his mouth devouring her own as he uses his body weight to push her down onto her back. “Better to get things started sooner than later, yeah?”

“What if he gets here while we’re in the middle of things?  He won’t think twice about just walking in.  What if he sees me? In all my naked glory?”

“Who says you’re going to be totally naked?”

“You are so fucking dirty, you know that.”

“In all the ways you like the best, baby.”  

Aggressively pushing her legs apart, he stands between them; lifting the bottom of her shirt and pushing down the waist of her pants to reveal a bare stretch of skin.   Lowering his head, he presses soft, moist kisses just above her pubic bone; slowly travelling from hip to hip.   Her entire body shuddering when the tip of his tongue traces a circle around her navel;  her hands burrowing in his hair when he pulls the piercing between his teeth.  Her  back arching off the table when he laps at the intent of her belly button; gasping loudly when he pulls back to blow a stream of cool, steady air on the moistened area.

“We’re really taking a risk,” she muses, lifting her hips off the table in order to aid him in removing her pants;  his lips feasting on every inch of bare skin he uncovers.  

“That’s what makes it so fucking hot.  Or, hotter than usual.”

“Is it possible to even get any hotter?” she chides,  as he yanks her pants down her legs and tosses them onto the nearest chair. “ I think our sex life is already pretty damn hot.  And extremely healthy.”

“I’d normally say you can’t improve on greatness.  But we can try, yeah?”

“I guess there’s always some room for improvement. But…fuck….”  Her eyes flutter closed as he sucks and nibbles at the inside of one thigh.  “....you and that mouth.”

“If it’s not the accent coming out of it, it’s what it can do.”

“Mix the two together and I practically self-combust.  Jesus…”   She bites down on her bottom lip as his teeth nip at some of her flesh.   

“Not even he can help you now.”

“Speaking of that mouth…”  Reaching down, she aggressively yanks at his hair. “...you’re running it an awful lot for someone working on borrowed time.”

“No foreplay?”

She shakes.

 “That’s a first.”

“Sometimes a girl just wants to get railed.  Fuck everyone else.  Sometimes you just gotta get right to it.  So let’s go. Pitter-patter, let’s get at ‘er.”

Smirking, he stands and hurriedly drops his jeans, impatiently kicking them aside.  “Baby, you really know to set the mood,”

“What would you rather I say? Bust out something from a cheesy smut novel?  Something from one of those granny favourite bodice ripper books? About your big cock and wanting it in my love tunnel and…”  

The remaining words are cut off when he grabs hold of her hips and flips her onto her stomach; fingers biting into the flesh as he pulls her towards him.   Not giving her a chance to react as he pushes inside of her;  groaning when he buries himself to the hilt.  And she whimpers when he pulls out completely and then slams back in; the brutality of the thrust causing her to cry out and her nails to claw at the tabletop.   

It’s hard and fast from there on out. His thrusts punishing as one hand tightly grips her hair and keeps her head pressed against the table; the other slipping between her and the wood in order to find her clit.   Rubbing vigorously at the sensitive, aching nub until he feels her tighten around him;  screaming his name as her orgasm hits strong and fast.   The clenching of those inner muscles sending him hurtling towards the edge;eyes closing, chin dropping to his chest, and fingers biting into the flesh of her hip as he cums deep inside of her.   Waiting until their trembling bodies settle before pulling out and stepping away; pressing kisses across the small of her back before running his palms over the curves of her hips and ass.  And he bends down to pull up his jeans; the denim at the back of his knees when he hears the telltale creak of the shack’s loose floorboards, followed by Koen’s deep voice.

“Jesus Christ! My eyes! My fucking eyes!”

Esme gives a startled, embarrassed shriek and reaches over the edge of the table; frantically searching for her pants.

Smirking Tyler continues pulling up his jeans; turning to his friend as he buttons and zips them).  “We used to piss standing beside each other in Afghanistan.  You’ve seen my bare ass before.”

“And I wish I never had! No one needs to see that! At least not sober! Of all the times to walk in, why couldn’t have been her bare ass hanging out?”

“Because I’d have to kill you, that’s why. Turn around, you drongo. So the lady can get dressed.  There’s nothing here for you to see.”

“Why didn’t you knock?!” Esme accepts Tyler’s hand as he helps her off the table,  then snatches her pants out of his hand.

Koen gestures towards the exit. “The door was wide open!”

“ We live in the middle of nowhere,” she reminds him. “We always leave the door open!”

“That sounds like a you problem, not a me problem!”

“You must have heard what was going on! We weren’t exactly being quiet! Why didn’t you just wait on the porch?  Or text us and tell us you were out there?!”

“I wasn’t expecting the two of you to be going at it!  I didn’t think I’d wander in and get greeted by his bare ass!  I’m traumatized.  I’m going to have nightmares!  You’re going to have to pay for my therapy!”

“Like seeing Tyler’s ass is the most horrible thing in the world.  He happens to have a very nice ass.  You should consider yourself lucky.  Blessed, even.   You’re privileged to see it in its natural state.”

“You’re disturbing!”  Koen tugs at her ponytail as she leaves the kitchen; straightening her pants and smoothing down the front of her t-shirt as she goes.   “You know what would make me feel better? What would make everything right in the world again? If you dropped your pants and showed me your ass.”

“You wish! In your wildest and wettest!”

“I won’t lie, I’ve had a couple of those.”  He shoots her a flirty wink, then chuckles and jumps out of the way when Tyler scowls and attempts to slap him upside the head. “Wait a minute…wait a minute…hold on a second…”  Snatching her by the neck of her t-shirt, he pulls her into him and then slings an arm across her slender shoulders.   “I need to ask you a very serious question. One that’s been keeping me at night. For quite a while.”

“And that would be?”

“Why the hell does such a pretty,  sweet thing like you hang around with the likes of this guy?  What has the world come to?  A cute little Sheila willingly putting up with a drongo like him?”

“It’s simple.  He knows how to find the clit.  Each and every time.  Even that first night.” 

“So do I!”

“Unfortunately, I guess I’ll never know if you’re telling the truth or not.   I’ll never be able to find out firsthand.”

“I mean, if you want to find out, I’m game. I’m sure the big man wouldn’t mind if I stepped in just once.”

“Actually…”  Snagging a belt that’s draped across the back of the couch, Tyler slips it through the loops of his jeans. “...the big man DOES mind. He minds very much.”

“He never learned the golden rule,” Esme chides. “That sharing is caring.”

“I’ll share my food and my money.  My girl? Off limits.”

“You’re a fucking asshole,” Koen grumbles. “I thought you loved me.”

“I do.  In some warped and twisted brotherly kind of way.  But her? I love her more.”

“He loves me,”  Esme singsongs as she wanders towards the sleeping area;  grabbing the t-shirt he’d laid out earlier off the top of the dresser.   “He thinks I’m pretty. He wants to kiss me.  He wants to put his babies in me. Grow old and grey and miserable with me.”

Smirking, Tyler catches the garment she tosses in his direction. “Don’t push it, Munchkin.”

“Don’t listen to him,” she addresses Koen, as she smacks a palm against Tyler’s ass.  “It’s all true.  He does think I’m pretty. He does like kissing me. And he most certainly wants to put his babies in me. He has a breeding kink.”

Koen grimaces. “There are some things I do not need to know.  And that’s at the top of the list! What is wrong with you two?!  Always smiling at one another, touching each other, making out and shit. One day I’m going to find you out front and I’m going to have to turn the hose on you.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” Esme scoffs, then steps back as the two men begin gathering the necessities for the four days in Broome;  various sizes of tool kits and duffle bags and two of the extra pillows from the bed. 

She follows as they leave the shack;  the wood of the front porch and then the sand blazing hot against the bottom of her bare feet.   It remains a struggle;  getting used to the suffocating heat of the summer months. Still underestimating the power of the sun’s rays;  dehydrating quickly and routinely burning herself on the metal of her seat belt  Yet not once has she missed the cooler temperatures that growing up in Colorado had provided her with;  the fresh, crisp breezes that would roll in from the snow-capped mountains.   It had stopped being home a long time ago; her father’s death in her late teens robbing her of a safe and secure life under the watchful eye of someone who loved her.   

And though her time in New York City had been wonderful and she’d once vowed to make it her forever home,  she doesn’t find herself reminiscing about those days.   The old Esme dying on the bridge in Bangladesh that day ten months ago;  replaced by someone much more confident and courageous who hadn’t thought twice about making a  brand new life for herself.  Far away from the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple and even further removed from her family. Somehow -in the midst of chaos, danger and fear- finding that companionship and love that others had always waxed poetic about.  Yet she questioned the true validity of.  

“You’re sure you don’t want to tag along?” Tyler asks,  as he drops the last of the duffle bags in the bed of Koen’s pickup truck and turns to face her.  “Still time to change your mind.”

“I think it’s better if I stay behind.   Just go balls to the wall and put a real dent in the packing. Maybe even get it done. THAT would be nice.”

“Don’t kill yourself trying to finish up. We’ve still got a few days once I get back.   No sense making yourself feel worse trying to look like Superwoman.”

“That’s Wonderwoman to you,” she chides, and flexes her biceps.  

“I was thinking more Mighty Mouse, but okay…”

“Jerk,” Esme grumbles,  and playfully swats at his chest.  “Always with the short people jokes.”

“Everything I say, I say with love.”  Smoothing wayward strands of hair away from her face, he cradles her cheeks in his palms.  “You sure you’ll be alright?”

“I’ll be just fine.  I’ve got lots to keep me busy. And Lucy to keep me company.   Try not to worry too much, okay?”

“Isn’t that what I usually  say to you?”

“Usually. I’ll be alright, Tyler. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.  I was doing it long before you came along. Although I have to admit, I’m glad you did. Come around.”

“Things didn’t turn out so bad, huh?  I think we’ve done pretty good.”

Smiling, she affectionately pats his butt. “We’ve done very good.  You guys drive safe.”

“I’ll call when I get there.” 

When he presses a long, soft, slow kiss to her lips and pulls her into a hug, she melts into the embrace;  her eyes closing as her arms circle his waist, and her cheek rests against his chest. And she holds on for longer than usual;  hands gripping the back of his t-shirt as she relishes the feeling of hard muscle and the warmth that radiates from his body and his familiar scent. Smiling when his lips meet her temple and  he whispers:  “I love you.”

“I love you, too.   Be good. I don’t want to have to come and bail you out of jail.”

“My drunken bar brawl days are long behind me.” Running a fingertip down her nose,  he lightly taps the tip. “I’ll see you when I see you.”

“Yeah, you will.” 

She reaches for his hand when he steps away;  briefly squeezing before their fingers glide along each other and eventually lose all contact.  And she steps back and offers a wave as he slides into the passenger seat; her arms crossing over her chest as she stands in the dirt,  watching them pull away.

*****

He’s been gone for three days and she’s been miserable the entire time;  feeling empty and lonely despite the mountains of work that she submerses herself in.   Filling the void by randomly texting throughout the day; keeping each other updated on the progress at both houses, and then always speaking before settling down for the night. And it hasn’t been an easy adjustment for either of them; sleeping in separate beds and being under separate roofs when they’ve been practically inseparable for ten months.  

Things at the new house are going smoothly;  the two men busying themselves with laying down the new flooring,  painting the kitchen and master bedroom,  and expanding the front porch and the back deck.   Even plotting out areas for her to turn into gardens in the rear yard;  Esme determined to nurture her ‘green thumb’ by growing various fruits and vegetables and brightening the landscape with colourful flowers.

After their morning ‘check-in’ with one other, she takes Lucy into town with her.  The border collie happily riding alongside of her in the passenger seat of Tyler’s old beat truck,  then treated to breakfast at the only restaurant in town. Esme spoiling the dog with her own plate of bacon and scrapes from her breakfast;   routinely dropping pieces of toast and eggs onto the concrete floor of the patio.  Afterwards, they pick up more plastic tote boxes and cleaning supplies and then wander the small downtown core;  gazing through shop windows and pausing for each child that requests to give Lucy a ‘pat and a cuddle’.

It feels good to return home; still plagued by the health issues that have been nagging at her for weeks.   Random bouts of nausea and persistent headaches;  near crippling fatigue accompanied by horrible cramps, but no actual period.   Instead of returning to work, she elects to nap instead;  slipping into one of Tyler’s hoodies and a pair of warm, comfy sweats before curling up with Lucy in the middle of the bed.  

She’s disoriented when she wakes;  her limbs feeling impossibly heavy and her head swimming as she makes herself a cup of tea before tackling more of the packing.  And she stands at the kitchen sink and looks out into the backyard;  repeatedly dipping a tea bag into a mug of boiling water as her eyes survey the land.  The parched earth and the withered bushes,  the barren trees and the range of mountains that loom in the distance.  While not a  picturesque view by any stretch of the imagination it had still become familiar and welcoming; the sights and the sounds that accompanied not only the beginning of their life together, but the modest and simple home they’d manage to create together.   Not much by society standards;  a little shack that had seen better days. But it had been under that rusted tin roof that they’d truly come to know and understand and know one another. And grow together.   

It’s when she goes to turn away from the window that she hears it; the crunching of tires upon dirt and gravel.  And her movement stills as she listens;  feeling the hair on her arms and the nape of her neck pricking at the sound of a car door slamming.   And she reaches for the handle on the drawer closest to the sink when she hears footfalls -light and rhythmical- on the front porch; Lucy lifting her head from her afternoon meal and letting loose a low, concerned growl.  Visitors are extremely  uncommon in the middle of the outback and usually a cause for concern;  there are no other houses for miles,  and no mail and package delivery to the door.  And no one in their circle of friends and colleagues would ever show up unannounced.  

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”   

The voice from the doorway commands attention.  And respect.  Calm and collected.  Dripping with the confidence that comes with power;  the ability to control every person and every situation without even so much as a flicker or fear. 

“Believe me when I say it isn’t in your best interest to react badly to my visit.  It won’t end well. It never does. For anyone.”

 Fingertips brush against the handle of the loaded Glock kept for safety in the drawer, Esme bites back a defeated sigh as she slides it closed and turns to face her company.  Tall and slender and dressed inappropriately for the sweltering Australian weather;  a sleek,  black pantsuit and silk blouse covered by a charcoal gray trench coat;  balanced upon their shoulders like a cape.  Their dark hair cropped close to their scalp and a tattoo -done in cursive- decorating the left side of their neck; expression emotionless as chestnut eyes scan the humble accommodations. 

“Esme Drummond.   It wasn’t easy.  Finding you.  One of the harder challenges I’ve faced. When you ran away,  you certainly ran as far as you possibly could.”

She fights to control the emotions threatening to overwhelm her.  Nervousness. Fear.  Forcing herself to remain calm, cool and collected;  recalling those days she’d come face to face with evil and had lived to tell about it. “I never ran away.  I had no reason to.  I was spared.  Given a second chance.  And I took it.  This is just where it led me to.”

“A second chance you didn’t earn or deserve.  A grand injustice occurred. And I’m here to fix it.  I’m an adjudicator.  Sent by the High Table. I…”

“I know who you are.”

“Then I assume you know why I’m here.”

“I was cut loose.  Excommunicated.  I haven’t been back to The Continental,  I haven’t done any work for anyone associated with them.  I’ve kept my distance. Like I was told to.  I found other employment. I never…”

“I’m not here because of something you did or didn’t do. I’m here because you never deserved the second chance you were given.”

“I went before the High Table.  I defended my case.  I had people speak on my behalf. John Wick and Winston…”

“Never should have been allowed their time before the High Table in the first place. It was an erroneous decision. Allowing them to come to your defence. Many others have broken High Table rules and have paid the price. They weren’t given the same treatment you were.   It is a stain on the High Table. One they are desperate to wipe out.”

“It’s been three years.  Why…?”

“We had a lot of seats open up.  Meaning we have many new members.  Powerful ones.   Who aren’t as understanding or forgiving as their predecessors.   And with new faces comes new business.”

“And that has to do with me because…?

“One of the first orders of business was to review prior decisions. Regarding those who had broken High Table rules.   People who had been given reprieve instead of punishment.  And your file just happened to be on the list.  Although to be honest, you likely would have continued to fly under the radar. Had you not resurfaced…quite spectacularly…in Dhaka.”

Esme frowns) “Dhaka? What does Dhaka have to do with this? What…?” 

“Word gets around. Especially in our circle.  The defeat of someone like Amir Asif is something to be praised.  Celebrated,  even.  And it wasn’t exactly subdued was it?  The way everything went down.  It certainly was an attention grabber.”

“Admittedly, things didn’t go exactly as planned. They got a little…messy.”

“To say the least.  You practically shot up and  burned the entire city down.”

“To be fair, I had help.  And I didn’t really do the dirty work.”

“That’s right. You had a partner.  An accomplice.   Someone watching over you.  Keeping you safe.   That means you were, what?  Aiding and abetting?  You can take the girl out of the criminal underworld but you can’t…”

“Do we really have to take a trip down memory lane? It’s not exactly my favourite thing to relive.  Dhaka isn’t going to be on any highlight reel of mine.”

“It really wasn’t ALL bad, was it?  Those stories have been passed around as well.  About you and the mercenary.  You were never known as someone who mixed business with pleasure.  All part of ‘turning over a new leaf’, I presume?  Unless…”

Her eyes narrow.  “Unless WHAT?”

“Unless it was part of the game. Maybe you knew latching onto him would be the only way you’d get out of there alive.  You had to find a way to guarantee safe passage out of Dhaka, so you decided to do whatever it took.  Even if it meant keeping his body AND his bed warm.   It’s clever.  You’re even more devious than I originally thought.  I admire it.”

“That’s not what happened.  Not even close.”

“I highly doubt that your behaviour was genuine.  That it was love at first sight.  You knew the danger you were going into and you knew you had to do whatever it took to secure your survival.  Isn’t that what you do? Con people?  Have them believe everything you say is true? For your own benefit?”

“It’s what I DID,” she stresses.  “I’m not in that life anymore.  I gave it up.   Back on that bridge.  I left the old Esme behind. I’m not her anymore.”

“So you’re admitting it. You used him.  Fooled him. In the same way you did so many others.”

“What happened between Tyler and I was real.  Everything I felt, everything I said, everything I did, was genuine.  There was no pretending. No lying. No manipulating.  It was all real.   And I don’t care what you or anyone thinks.”

“You do realize that Dhaka was a mess for many reasons, don’t you?  You killed one of ours.  Someone that was in very good standing with the High Table.  Who had made allegiances with the likes of Amir Asi in order to benefit everyone involved.  And things were going so smoothly until you showed up there.  And stuck your nose where it didn’t belong.”

It suddenly makes so much sense. Nik’s reluctance to call Gaspar;  arguing with Tyler that it wasn’t a good idea that they call his old friend and colleague for help.  “Gaspar was in the circle?  I thought he retired. Walked away from the game.  I thought…”

“He walked away from the private sector.  Got into something more lucrative.   And then you came along and put a few bullets into him.  You just can’t keep out of trouble when it comes to us, can you?”

“I didn’t kill him. I didn’t pull the trigger.”

“So the mercenary did.”

“I never said that.”

“Well considering there were only two of you capable of pulling off such a feat….”  The adjudicator’s eyes widen; a smirk tugging at their lips. “Unless it was the boy.”

“What happened that night has no bearing on what’s going on right now.  I’m not telling you a thing. Not about what went down at Gaspar’s house. Not about Dhaka in general. I know what happened. WHY it happened. In the same way I know that everything that I felt for Tyler…everything we talked about and experienced together…was real. You can’t take that away from me. No matter how hard you try. No one can.”

“While Gaspar’s untimely and bloody demise may not play a direct part in why I’m here, it holds relevance.   You were there when it happened, you did nothing to stop it, and you refuse to say who was directly responsible.  Therefore, it adds to the reasons you should be punished. And you will be. Punished.”

“And you came all the way here to tell me this?  It couldn’t have been handled through a phone call? An email even?”

Their face hardens.  Eyes darkening. “Believe me when I tell you that when it comes to this matter, snark is not in your best interest.”

“And what is?  What are my options?”

“You have none.   At least none that will save you from your punishment.  You have forty-eight hours. To get your affairs in order.  I highly suggest you use that time wisely.  If you fail to check in to The Continental in New York City by noon Monday, I will return.  And I won’t be alone.  If you run, we will follow.   There is no place you can hide where we won’t find you.   Am I making myself clear?”

“And if I don’t show up? In New York City?”

“You will be physically escorted there.  Or you will be handled right where you stand.”

“Eliminated, you mean.”

“Along with anyone that dares to help you.  If anyone gets in our way, they will be handled as well.  So if you know what’s good for you and for HIM, I suggest you tell the mercenary that he stands down.  If he even tries to challenge us or stop us,  we will ensure his ending is as horrific as possible.  And I’m sure that’s the last thing you want.   You have the blood of many men on your hands. I’m certain you don’t want to add his to it.”

“You’re right. That’s the last thing I want.”

“Forty-eight hours,”  The Adjudicator stresses.   “Don’t be foolish enough to think we won’t follow through.  That if you don’t comply,  we won’t come back here.   I suggest you get your affairs in order.  And do exactly as you're told.”

“If I show up, I want a guarantee.  That nothing will happen to Tyler.  If I do as I’m told, you have to promise me that nothing will happen to him.   He doesn’t deserve it; to suffer because of my mistakes. He’s a good person.  A good MAN.  And he doesn’t need to pay the price for something I did.”

“I underestimated you.  Perhaps you weren’t just doing a job.   There’s something in your eyes.  In your voice. When you talk about him.   And I can tell you’re scared;  terrified of the thought of something happening to him.  Love?  Is that what it is?”

Esme nods.  “Do we have a deal? That if I turn myself in, he’ll be left alone?”

“I will handle that end of things when I report to the High Table.  But you have my word;  you show up, he remains safe.   But if he even tries to defend you or get in our way…”

“He won’t.   He won’t be an issue. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Fair enough.”  The Adjudicator turns on their heel and strides across the kitchen. “Forty-eight hours.  Or we WILL come for you.”

“Is that a threat or a warning?”

They pause in the doorway. “Neither. It’s a promise.”

[mimistjames]

mimi st. james — an independent, fandomless original character created by kenna. sideblog to @melodyplucked est. dec 1st 2023

the posh princess

links: PROMO | MEMES | STARTER CALL | STUDY

affiliates: @inspotlight (and other blogs), @pcetstcrtured (and other blogs)

psd credits: my own, plus (as of june 15, 2024) wonder bread by pinkinnards

guidelines and important info under the cut.

i'm kenna, i'm 23, and i'm currently residing in the eastern timezone. i have a full time job, and i have responsibilities and commitments outside of rp. please respect that and be patient with replies- i'll always be patient with yours.

memes are the easiest way to start new interactions with me. send them in! i love having multiple things with people, exploring different dynamics and scenarios and such.

i'm not going to write out a banned list a mile long, but- i do have a lot of fcs i will not write with for one reason or another. please respect this.

triggers are tagged "trigger //"

i will not interact with blogs which romanticize certain subjects, or play certain things such as incest/stepcest, non/dub con, etc. you will be blocked. no racism, whitewashing, other erasure has any place here.

if i block you do not come trying to circumvent the block. it's really frustrating. i will not hesitate to turn off anon if i need to. receiving anon hate is really frustrating and that kind of behavior has no place here.

mimi is fandomless, and i'll put her in plenty of fandoms if the opportunity arises. her base is mostly that she's english- born in london, her family's business has another big office in manhattan, so she lived there for four years when she was growing up while her father was getting it up and running and her brother was in high school, before she went back to london. she travels a lot, and could find herself just about anywhere- doing just about anything. she has the kind of money where she doesn't have to do anything. very posh but very sweet.

this blog will run primarily on a queue posting once a day. i am on the eastern timezone presently, and so the posts will come out at 12 noon eastern standard time. there will be exceptions of course, but- for now that's the plan.

mimi is an oc i've had for years technically- i believe since 2020 when i was writing her older brother logan, she was an npc for him. i'm not even confident that mimi was her name back then. she means a lot to me and she's had a lot of development in the past year or so- so i'm excited to do more with her.

[captainseamech]

//I mentioned a few days ago that I had some things going through my mind and that I was building up courage to tell you guys that and... I think this is finally the appropriate time for such. It's nothing against anyone here, I promise you that. It's more about myself, really.

This post is written with small text font to make it faster to read (since I typed a lot), but if you want me to leave it all on a regular font feel free to tell me so and I'll fix it. And if there's any misspelling or grammatical error bear with me since I do be a bit sick still and... I might fix later (if I remember to do it) so my English might be worse than ever in this post. I'm sorry in advance.

.... for the past couple days since New Years hit us in the face I've seen my mutuals just... moving blogs and all that to start fresh aside from ships, relationships and the like and honestly, that kind of motivated me to do such since I'm... frankly unhappy with how this blog is looking recently, but I'm also in quite a big dilemma since I hate making choices and I wanted to be more open with you guys for a moment. Again, I've been thinking deeply on whether making this post or not but I think it will be worth it in the end (or I just wasted some of my time typing, who knows.)

On one hand it'd make me feel better and refreshed to move from here, starting with a theme, carrd and all that fancy stuff; especially with a better organization of my tags from the beginning since I feel my tags are... all over the place as of currently in comparison to my other blogs; as well as I'd have a way better sense of making my verses since I just... well, kind of hoarded lots of them with some that I barely dont use (if not straight up abandoned behind one starter call and/or headcanon post since I made them specific to one 'dead' fandom or whatnot). And also that I, somehow, get some quite mean/meaningful intended anons here for things that I did or not so hopefully moving places would make them disappear or even just appease them.

But on the other hand... this blog of mine has so much memories!! This is my oldest blog (November 2017!!) on this website, old peeps that were mutuals with me that still lurks in my followers list because the good times!! I had with them in the past!! before my hiatus are just!!!! And like, recently a few old mutuals of mine have been coming back to this site on a way or another with their older tumblr blog, or even just!! Keeping them there!! For the memories!! I put so much hard work on this blog and my writing over the years, especially with Cat (@/faultfindingfirebot) being such an old mutual of mine and developing our characters together!! All the memories with that ship is just!! Lurking here!! Everything is here!! With a simple mouse scroll through their blog tag!!

I know that moving blogs doesn't necessarily mean having to delete this blog, but still!! All the memories (even the cringe ones) are here and I just!! Don't want to lose this treasure y'know? I started on tumblr with this blog and I hoped to die on this hill still here! Maybe I'm just unnecessarily being emotional over this clusterfuck of a messy blog, but still! There's development from both me and the way I write my character with so much joy and not carrying much about fancyness! But apparently fancyness has become a major point in every rpc, to the point of really making me feel legitimately scared and/or hesitant to approach because some writers really despise mobile writers somehow... and it doesn't do wonders to my anxiety honestly.

So... Again, it might sound stupid of me to be emotional over this blog instead of quickly moving on like normal people should but as I mentioned repeatedly before... The memories that lures around this blog are one of the most important things that I could've asked for and this is why I'm opening up to you guys because I want to establish more communication with my mutuals publicly since I always sucked at keeping a stable conversation with each and everyone.

I reckon it might sound straight up weird for me to feel attached and just not do it like a normal person would and move blogs already without letting one's mind out but... I really, really cant help it at all. And I just couldn't stop it from happening too, even though I tried my best to avoid it. But scrolling back on this blog sometimes to see all the good and bad things me and High Tide has gotten through is just... developmentally nostalgic in a way, and sometimes I like to relive the old times no matter how cringe it seemed with both new and old time mutuals.

TL;DR: Should I just stop whining around and move on to try new experiences or stay here where I always belonged?

[gwydionmisha]

I need to do a general disclaimer.

I do not follow things celebrities say outside of a queer context close enough to know what their political opinions are unless they do something really egregious and obvious (EX: Mel Gibson, JK Rowling, Jeffery Epstein, etc.) that even I can't miss it. I don't watch TMZ, read gossip magazines, and my social media is basically Dreamwidth, Tumblr, and one hobbyist bboard for a hobby I can't afford and lost energy for but where I have friends so i stay marginally involved. I've never joined Facebook or X(Tw)itter.

I have no idea who said what about what's going on in Gaza right now. I'm not willing to take anyone's word second or third or forth hand that someone said something terrible without investigating it personally, the same way I fact check other claims about wild statements in the media by politicians, or abuse allegations, or what have you, because I don't like how that game of telephone tends to play out. It is way easier for me to go look up assault allegation coverage or coverage of fashy things a politician said an evaluate for myself than to sort out fact vs fiction on a gossip site or my learning how to pick through a Celebrity Xitter. I have a good idea of what news sources for larger regular news are reliable about what and what their biases are than i do for entertainment news, since mostly i just use that for obits.

I can't do it. There are not enough hours in the day for me to do things I need and/or want to do already.

I don't want to do it. For example, I didn't join twitter before it became a neo-NAZI propaganda platform. Why the fuck would I do it now so I can't check what celebrities are saying about something that infuriates me and rips my heart out, which I am already having to strictly limit genuine news intake on. Making myself do something I have ethically objections to (using Xitter) and has a massive opportunity cost and also is really bad for my mental health is a non-starter for me.

This is not a judgement on people who do care what a particular celebrity said about it; it's just a statement that i don't have the mental bandwidth to keep track of this stuff.

I have no idea who's cancelled for saying what right now. If you tell me, odds are I will have forgotten in a few days because there are a ton of things I care about more that I am keeping track of. (Which is more important: me knowing which politicians are saying what and what policies they are espousing or keeping track of what C and D list celebrities are Xitting about it? I know which matters more to me, and it's one or the other).

Think of it as information triage.

Remember also that at last check a few days ago, the things coming out of my queue on the fandom side for TUMBLR went in around the 26th of October. I've been running about two weeks lead time for a while. Even if I did hear about and investigate something someone said, the effort I'd have to put in yanking them out of queue is a big fucking hassle. I could be spending that time on something else, so I generally don't. My Tumblr programming for aesthetic stuff is waaaay behind, which is a thing that happens in early November because I love October, but it wears me the fuck out. So my Tumblr is mostly fandom and politics just generally right now. The hours I would have to spend to research and deal with figuring out who is cancelled and why and weeding shit already in the hopper, I'd much rather spend reloading the aesthetic side of my tumblr queue because I find the sorting process soothing. (I have a whole system involving time slots, season, time of day, special events.)

So please don't @me for not knowing who everyone's angry at right now.

[sacrificialblackdragon]

Hello everyone and thank you for following and / or lurking !   I am REKI, I am a 29 year old female, with two jobs and three cats, who has been roleplaying for a few years. This is an INDEPENDENT & SELECTIVE blog and is meant for a 21+ AUDIENCE. TRIGGER THEMES ARE PRESENT AND WILL BE TAGGED !   I used to have a Hak blog but have long since forgotten the URL. ; A; My best friend actually got me into the series and I collect the manga. Sadly, I am missing a few of the beginning volumes. Please hit that like, follow or reblog button if you would like to interact with Hak!! Rules Below:

RULES, LAWS, IMPORTANT STUFFS.FIRST AND FORMOST! I love ALL pairings. I will not tolerate any hatred towards any character.

1) These rules are subject to change.

2) There will be no hate messages on this blog. Meaning if I get sent a hate message it will just get deleted. I will not waste my time brooding over your message so you are just wasting your time typing it up.

3) No god modding. Understandably my characters can’t win EVERY single battle and will not win everything. I usually like taking a few and then your character takes a few. I will always, ALWAYS, come to you and ask how the end of the fight will turn out that way I can write accordingly.

4) Writing. I don’t expect a novel back if I write a novel, and sometimes I do. However, I do expect something to work with, please do not respond back to me if I leave you with a detailed post only for you to give me a one liner, it just kills the mood. – In addition! If you would like to respond to an ask please link the ask on a fresh new post, and tag me just in case, that way it looks more appealing. I do that with other roleplayers. C:

5) Original Characters. I love original characters, I personally suck at writing and developing them so for all of you original characters out there I applaud you. However, please don’t use me to come up for ideas of your original character, that’s not my job. If you like for a starter please understand that I will be staring at your character about page for a long, long, long time. It’s a little difficult for me to write for an original character so please be patient!

6) Ships. Here we go … This is a huge one for a lot of people. I am a Multi-shipper or trash – I’ll accept either lol. You are free to jump in my inbox or IM me and be like “Hey baby. You and my muse * suggestive eyebrow wiggle*”. I will most likely be like “FUCK YES LETS GO!” and bam! We ship. But here is my problem with most people: I have a lot of ships that I absolutely adore however, if you don’t like the ship me and my roleplay partner are doing you can either unfollow or shut the fuck up and ignore it, black list it – whatever. I’m saying that in the nicest way possible. I’m tired of people complaining that they “Hate this ship but I saw it and read it so now I’ll bitch on my blog about it.” Calm down, grow up and again, unfollow that person or ignore the post. Plain and simple or else you’ll probably be hearing about it from me. I have been in too many fandoms where this goes on.

7) Exclusives/Relationships. I am a-ok and more than happy to exclusively ship when it comes to main ideas and plot, but please remember that I am only one person and I do like interacting with other people. Exclusives doesn’t mean you own me in anyway. Exclusives to me normally mean that you are a close friend and most likely already have my discord. The more was talk IC or OOC the more likely I will pick you as an exclusive for main plots.

8) Reblogging when you have no permission. During my time of roleplaying on many sites tumblr is probably the worst for this rule. Anyone who reblogs threads, asks or any other communication between my partners that they are not tagged in will be kindly asked to delete the post. If not deleted within 24 hours you will be blocked from my page and I will not remove it.

9) Nsfw. Is only available for people who are of age and adults. I am 29 and I do not take light of being tricked when it comes to age. I will be asking your age if it is not in your mun section or anywhere visible, I will not be held liable if you are lying to me. You MUST be of legal age, please ask if you are interested in rping nsfw.

10) Personal Tags & Passwords. I don’t do personal tags or passwords. Final answer, if you follow me then it means you understand that I will NOT be tagging any personal tags.

11) Triggers. I don’t expect people to tag my trigger mainly because it only happens around Halloween time. I understand people are in the spirit but I absolutely hate seeing scary things pop out at me. It leads me to paranoia and I just can’t sleep at night. Anything paranormal I can’t handle, which is why I can’t watch scary movies. If I do see this on my dash it does lead to an unfollow, but not a block.

12) Icons. These icons have been created by me, but I do not claim that the art is mine. Anything from the managa or fanart I do not claim to be mine.

13) Other. Other than all of this “Don’t do this, and don’t do that” I really just want to have fun with each and every one of you. Thank you so much for either reading or skimming over my rules.