#tho they have this one dialogue like “hey - what are you doing this late at night kid” UM SO HE DOES CARE UMMM UM ☝️☝️ AKSSKJDHDVBDB

[jils-things]

so i listened to all his voicelines last night

[funkyplantguy]

Saw u doing asks and realized I was late and then thought “hey why don’t i ask anyways bcs you can use this as an excuse to write whenever u want”

Soo here I am ‘:D

I LOVED After Midnight, actually read it a couple times now, and saww that you’ve been wanting to write more of it, and I rlly would love to hear about either how Scar and Grians first actual date goes or future relationship.. Literally anything u write I will read :3

Also the background/cub and mumbo burst in was incredible and i keep thinking about one liners from it that had me dead 😭✨

Also also I’ve been thinking of drawing a scene from when they were at the party, or just Grians outfit, bcs idk what it was but I keep picturing him with mushroom vibes like this- 🍄 What kinda outfit did you have in mind tho im curious??

OMG MAGGYYYYY IN MY ASKS ?!???!??? HELLO HELLO HELLO BELOVED HELLO !!!

WAAUUUUGH thank you!!! after midnight is something that i absolutely did not intend to be anything more than a one-off smut for scarian smooch fest, but something which has (happily) become more! i'm planning at least two more one-shots in the same universe (a first date fic for scar and grian, of course, as well as a first time fic for cub and mumbo), and then...who knows! maybe i'll have them go on a road trip, or something silly like that. it's kind of nice to just have a "basic" au (since almost midnight is just. a college au, essentially) with which to just have a good ol' silly goofy time with between my other projects/zines/events! and i'm so honored and flattered that people have enjoyed it in the way that they have <3

HAHAHAHA YEAH - i absolutely adore writing dialogue; i was giggling the entire time writing that scene to be so honest with you. i also adore cub and mumbo. cumbo <3

WAUUUUGHHH?? MAGGY ART???? MAGGY FANART???? i weep and sob and cry. you are SO correct with the mushroom vibes - i pictured him in a maroon corset top (something strapless) and a short, tight black skirt. maybe some thigh-high boots, too? honestly, go wild - you've Got The Vibe, our brain cells are connected and i will GREATLY cherish any art you may or may not make for this silly little au <3

[justjensenanddean]

Jensen Ackles and Jeffrey Dean Morgan | New Jersey Convention, Main Panel (April 16, 2023)

(x)

“hey dad! times been good to ya” (x)

when jensen and danneel had crushes on each other but were tied up with other people jensen wrote her a note that said “not now. but someday” and she still has it (x)

jdm was on jensens first date with danneel bc JENSEN INVITED HIM BC HE HAD NO IDEA IT WAS A FIRST DATE (x)

jensen: jdm got off a motorcycle in slomo and i saw hilarie’s jaw on the floor. she had no idea who he was (x)

fan: fav backstage moment from cons jdm: when i told everyone i was having a daughter bc i wasnt supposed to  (x)

jensen: when we announced the end of spn and at SDCC there were 7000 people and i told jared “take this in. this is it”  (x)

*everyone arguing over an answer* jensen; glad we figured that out. great job jdm: im still confused (x)

jensen got in trouble for sharing info abt a project last con so he will not be saying ANYTHING (x)

fan; SOLDIER BOY COMING BACK? jensen: uh…….no comment  (x)

theyre talking about their daughters jdm: mine will be the death of me jensen: one will be the death of me and the other will take care of me jdm; mine will be twerking over my grave jensen: HOW YOU LIKE ME NOW DADDY  (x)

.@JDMorgan : the year I did #Supernatural and Grey's Anatomy changed my life #SPNNJ (x)

.@JensenAckles getting the part of Tony in West Side Story in high school was life changing - after his baseball coach talked him into doing it. (x)

(x)

the drama teacher at Jensen’s school wanted him to be in the spring musical and his baseball coach was like “you’ve played with me for three years. go give this a shot i promise we’ll be in the front row”  (x)  a talent scout was at the play and told jensen that he had it and he should come to LA and he went “lol take a hike” (x)  THE ROLE WAS TONY IN WEST SIDE STORY!!! and his whole baseball team was like “woah ” (x)

jensen: getting into the industry is harder now that it was back then jdm: i dont even know how to get an agent now jensen: yeah dont ask us for advice  (x)

Question: Jensen, what was your favorite thing about soldier boy? JDM: the codpiece. *crowd laughs* JDM: sorry, I thought you were asking me.  (x)

the boots soldier boy wore on the show are the same ones that dean wore on spn. they’re called carolinas  (x)

jensen: jdm texted me when i was getting fitted and he was immediately like “SHOW ME THE COD PIECE” and i was like “perfect timing i have five of them lined up which one” AND JDM SAID “PICK THE BIGGEST ONE” (x)

fan; nash was amazing. is there hope for touring in the future for radio co? jensen: thanks it took a lot of drugs jdm: he’s not lying  (x)

jensen: touring might be aggressive but anything is on the table  (x)

jdm: i watched it online and i remember texting you being like “what the fuck is going on that was amazing” (x)

jensen looked at steve and said “this is a bad idea we should leave” right before going on bc louden swain KILLED and they didnt wanna follow that  (x)

.@JensenAckles : even tho it was a vengeful mission, John set out to right a wrong. In The Winchesters we wanted to show John before that trauma.  (x)

jensen says the pilot of spn “holds up today”  (x)

fan: whats your fav format to play in (movies, tv, voice acting, etc) jdm; whatever has the best writing. we knew supernatural was going to be good by the first ep (x)

jensen turns towards tv bc he doesnt know where it’ll go and where it will end (x)

jensen: ive done soap operas and that was 20-24 pages of dialogue a day (x)

APPARENTLY ONE TIME JENSEN TAPED JEFF’S DIALOGUE TO HIS CHEST AND HE WAS LIKE “WE GOTTA GET THROUGH THE DAY LOOK AT MY TITS”  (x)

JENSEN TALKING ABOUT FRIENDS AND HE YELLS “PIVOT” (x)

jensen: i heard “anyway you want it” in the car and almost got out before the second chorus hit bc i thought i was late for stage (x)

fan: go to karaoke song? jensen: have u ever done karaoke? jdm: never in my life. i think you asked me once and i said “goodnight 👋🏻 ” jensen: right but it was more like “goodnight 🖕🏻  (x)

(x)

[facewithoutheart]

Ten Questions for Writers

Thanks for the tags @shrekgogurt, @artsyunderstudy, @youarenevertooold, & @roomwithanopenfire I’m enjoying all this navel-gazing a whole bunch actually & I’ve done this before but it’s been awhile… sooo

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 169 (niiiice)

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? ~950k (yikes) although some of that is Birthday Man and collabs with people from WIP fest. Don’t ask me to do the math tho; that’s mean.

3. What fandoms do you write for? I’ve written for HP, Check Please, and RWRB although right now I’m mostly a CO writer with a toe dipping into 9-1-1. I have one Captain America fic posted and some WIPs I don’t know if I’ll finish. Nobody look at that AFTG fic; it’s pure crack.

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Whoo boy do I have thoughts here. I want to be the kind of writer who replies to comments and I harbor so much guilt that I’m not; I know I miss out on opportunities to connect with readers, and I genuinely appreciate comments so much; I hoard them in my inbox like a greedy lil affirmation dragon. I write to engage and connect. So, like, I know I should but at the same time I hate forcing interactions. I like them to spawn organically. I keep my circle small because I get really emotionally overwhelmed and then I feel guilty when I can’t give people what they deserve. And I’ve also never been comfortable with compliments or gratitude, I don’t trust them. So here’s a bulk of emotional trauma no one asked for to say: I don’t reply to comments as often as I feel I should and I’m trying to release the guilt I feel about this while also recognizing that not commenting probably has a direct negative affect on my ability to meet my goal of connecting through writing and at the same time my mental health probably couldn’t withstand the pressure I would need to place on it to get to where I’m replying to comments regularly. Hi I’m a mess who’s trying to love herself and often falls short of that goal; aren’t we all?

5. Have you ever had a fic stolen? No.

6. Have you ever co-written a fic before? So many actually! I didn’t think I’d ever get to a place where I trust someone else to the level this would take but I’ve been really lucky to work with some amazing writers even if not all of those works went anywhere. I actually don’t even think I could realistically tag all the people I’ve collabed with bc I’m afraid I’ll miss someone and isn’t that amazing? Personal growth; we love to see her.

7. What’s your all-time favorite ship? Oh man. I want to just be lame and say it’s me and Mr. Face 🤣 I shipped us when no one else did. Um! Snowbaz is always going to have a special place in my heart, but I’m really leaning into Buddie right now because of age and wanting to explore people in their 30’s still figuring out their lives while battling PTSD and late-in-life sexuality realizations. For, um. Reasons.

8. What are your writing strengths? I do like my dialogue a lot; dialogue is often where I start my scenes and I develop from there. I think I’ve done a good job of honing my ability to vary action/dialogue/internality a lot. I also think I keep people engaged or maybe I just keep myself engaged which is good enough for me. Sometimes I’m funny although sadly not as much recently.

9. What are your writing weaknesses? I struggle with remembering to add in physical descriptors. (Like oh shit have I ever mentioned this character has eyes?) Logistics are a frequent source of pain. (Wait, where were their hands?) I think my plots are kind of basic and boring; I don’t come up with really vivid and detailed concepts. I use the wrong words for things. I really hate detailing out backstory. I have to reread my fics a million times to maintain character consistency. Etc.

10. First fandom you wrote for? Hey Arnold. I wish I could find those fics; I bet they suck.

Tagging 10 peeps @sillyunicorn @mostlymaudlin @martsonmars @bookish-bogwitch @cutestkilla @ivelovedhimthroughworse @thewholelemon @palimpsessed @aristocratic-otter & @you-remind-me-of-the-babe

[bigalockwood]

Hey hey Lia 💜,

I only just realised that you were doing the fanfic asks, so I am a little late, but I am wondering about 8,17, 18, 27, 29 and 37 ( I know these are a lot of numbers, so feel free to just answer the ones you want to)

Wishing you a so wenig stressig wie möglich weekend!

Sophia thanks for sending so many!! I love talking about writing 💜💜💜

8) Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

This took me ages to decide. I'm actually not even proud of it because I think it is necessarily particularly well written, but because it's a topic I have very strong feelings about and it felt so validating when I saw how many people resonated with it!

“No, you misunderstand, they didn’t out me. They just asked me about my sexuality and, you know, it was necessary. It’s the sort of thing they’d have to ask me for damage control.”

“Wille, I get that your life can be sort of strange at times and that it often follows different rules and all that, but that is, by definition, still what it means to be outed. I’m glad it didn’t feel like another violation of your privacy to you, but they still shouldn’t have done that,” Simon said, vehemently.

[...] “I’m sorry. I wished people stopped acting like they have any right to know our sexualities. [....]

17) Do you write your story from start to finish, or do you write the scenes out of order?

Depends on the story! Royally Whipped I'm mostly writing in order since I don't have much time to write the chapters, so I'll only write down ideas for future scenes. For my new WIP I've written parts of different chapters already. In the chapters themselves I jump around and hardly every write one in chronological order.

18) Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?

No. I have a very, very rough outline, but it mostly only has specific scenes or emotional stages I want to write towards. I never keep to any outlines and overthrow them within minutes after making them, so I no longer bother with them lmao.

27) How do you feel about collaborations?

I did one ages ago, when I was still in school. It was a lot of fun and I'd definitely be open for it again, but it certainly takes up more time and you need someone you can trust in.

29) If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Honestly? The answer is none, just because I don't think I could do any of my favorite stories justice. Not because I think my writing is bad, but because I love them as much because of the special something they have thanks to the author who's written them. Wouldn't say no to a sequel or prequel written by them though asfdhsfdkja

37) Talk about your current wips.

I've briefly talked about my next projects here. But my BIG WIP's right now are Royally Whipped which is very close to being done (probably two more chapters) and then #Simon's revenge.

Some people have been asking for a social media chapter for RW, which is extremely flattering, and I love reading those, but don't even know how to begin putting one together. So, that might happen, if I ever get my shit together (or someone else volunteers to do it ahsjfdasj).

Simon's renevge is a AU where Wille isn't Prince (still rich tho) and meets Simon under... interesting circumstances. Simon is seeking revenge on someone else and poor Wille becomes emotional collateral damage. It'll be less fluffy than RW, though hopefully just as fun. It's very gremlin!simon (channelling all his dodgeball energy). I have a moodboard that I might post soon and maybe some snippets leading up to it's release, if anyone's interested.

[j2zara]

YAAAAAAY EHEH I GET TO SEND YOU A BUNCH OF ASKS 💖💖💖💖💖(<- these ones are just me being excited)

💖📥👀📊🍰🌝💻🧠

HIIIII SORRY THIS TOOK ALL DAY im so exhausted which is why i feel like my answers are not the best but here u go

💖 What do you like most about your own writing?

Argh…. Ngl i sent this one to more than one person in the circle of perverts bc I want to force ppl to say nice things abt themselves and now i gotta do the same thing. I feel like my answer before this year would’ve been my dialogue!!!!!!! Like. I do think i’m good at that. It’s hard to even say that because I feel like when I do enjoy a good quip and i feel like whenever i reread my original stuff im like “oh. I’m so marvel brained”. I don’t think dialogue is my strength in cloneverse tho.  At least. I don’t think it stands out. But otherwise that’s what i would land on.

Maybe it’s bc i’ve been in a very sorry for myself slump lately bc my current wip is giving me such a struggle but i don’t even know. Before now and my latest wip driving me crazy I would’ve said. Maybe coherence or theming? Like i don’t even know if thats a thing i CAN say like is it possible to be good at themes? Sorry im being so hard on myself rn I think if i were to look at my writing i would say i think it’s halfway decent but i don’t know the answer to the question…

📥 What is your fave fic to receive comments/messages on?

Oh this is an interesting one. For such a long time the answer would’ve been my old Talentswap fic for DR, tbh it always was like. Surprising and honestly kinda nice to get like a random comment of someone being like ‘hey i just discovered this! Sad its not updating but i really enjoyed it!” something like that. And I think b/c it was multichap it was very interesting and different when ppl were reading Almost for sure.

My secret weird answer is IYWD. Like. I’m at peace with the fact that its practically dead and nobody is gonna find it again i guess but a small part of me still considers it my favorite thing i’ve done in a long time so nobody does comment anymore but. That would be the thing i secretly kinda want. I’ll take literally anything tho obviously i love anybody that ever comments on anything.

👀 Do you have any WIPs that you would never let see the light of day? If yes, what are they about?

I have a Love is Blind au for a fandom I’m not gonna mention. Idk i might’ve mentioned it somewhere but eh. Its like ten chapters but only the first 5-ish are done i’m kinda 

And i’ve talked abt this this isn’t really a. Like. Oh I’m hiding this forever thing but. I have a DR Togakure hookup fic that’s written like. To take place during a naegiri wedding like in the post first game canon. And it is one of my favorite things i’ve ever written even tho it is smut, ngl my friends have been trying to convince me to post it and i might but im genuinely terrified nobody is gonna read it and im gonna be. Sad about it

📊 Current number of WIPs

Lol um… lj3porter fic. I’m two sentences into twelfth night coded j2 wooing Jace for Porter fic. Unfinished creeper Jace + j2porter fic…  a Jace topping Zara zarajaceporter fic. A fic that is in the IYWD verse that’s like a prequel that’s normal SB related. And if we could old fandoms I have semi abandoned talent swap (the ch 3.3 doc is like 10k lmao). Love is blind au.

If we’re counting original projects. My fantasy pseudo taming retelling. Horror comedy / locked room mystery called Date / Die. I have a. Sports romance (don’t look at me). And my weird lofty rom com thing that is this decade spanning story and used to be abt a “platonic” romance but idk I was like. They’re best friends they’re the most important ppl in the world to each other and they like having sex does that make this a normal romance. Maybe. Maybe not.

So ten. Yikes.

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

This is such a weird pull b/c i haven’t read it in years but Wing Man is a Bokuaka fic thats one of my fav of all time that makes me so happy idk its so like. Sweet and tbh i feel bad i never commented on it i really should bc they deserve to know i still think about it. but i just don’t reread fic all that often even my favs.

Actually that’s a lie i just remembered! I’ll cite something recent and i’m a little shy to cite something from the circle of perverts but also this is completely sincere i know i jokingly call @innskeep bambi’s LJ3 fic the perfect piece of fiction all the time but i do reread it… I just like them. I think it’s really cute and i like my little guys…  I love getting J3’s pov so much like i genuinely think its so comforting and special…

🌝 Who is one character you haven’t yet written for that you would like to?

I won’t lie I have a total DurDawn soft spot so like. I do think it wouldn’t fun to write something small for them. Also fucking hilarious as zukkacore that I’ve never written zukka and like. In my heart I would like too but they’re almost too precious for that? It’s hard to explain. Actually another answer might be for Mailee I actually think Mailee is soooooo underrated as a ship bc they have so much potential to be good for each other that wasn’t able to foster under azula’s thumb so I like that slightly toxic edge 

💻 Do you do research for your fics? What’s the deepest dive you’ve done?

I do a little bit of research but honestly not at much as i should. Last super deep dive i did was on the different filipino mythologies and history throughout the different regions bc ithink that subject is so interesting. but that has nothing to do with the sb circle that was for my own stuff. Lately I had to look up a little bit of elvish for something sb related lol. im such a fake fan of LOTR i love it but i’ve never actually read the books

🧠 What’s an idea you have that you can’t quite call a WIP yet?

A few! I’ve talked abt Jace hireling au I think that would be fun. And I joke abt Clone gamechanger au all the time and I SAID I wanted to try and make it work so like. Maybe. I’d love to try clone gamechanger au i think its funny and cute and i wanna do something indulgent.I feel like i’m forgetting something. Jess has real estate in j2porter vegas roleplay so i kinda wanna try maybe doing J2porter 50s housewife roleplay as a sort of sequel? I still like the idea of doing a You’ve Got Mail Shop Around the Corning fic. And. I feel so so so so indulgent wanting to write LJ3 stuff but like i just like them. I don’t know what i would wann write for them but i just like them

[tau1tvec]

hey, maybe you have some advice..but how do you make your gameplay pictures so beautiful? The colours, your sims faces don't look awkward even if they aren't posed, the interior/setting always matches the vibe. Your game looks so so beautiful! Every time I'm playing for fun and take screenshots I feel good. But then I see all those posts on my dash and begin to feel bad about my own.. I want to make my game look magical too. You inspire me to play the game again, every one of your posts is so magical to me and also captures the beauty of gameplay itself. Sorry if this is too much/confusing

Okay, I’m gonna use this ask as an opportunity to be real with you, and anyone else who’s reading who also needs to hear this.

I know it’s common for everyone who’s asked this to be like, “oh no nonny, don’t do that, don’t compare your stuff to other ppl’s stuff, you’re fine the way you are,” and that’s all well meaning and sweet, but sadly this is the real world and society sucks. ✨

Despite how good it is to hear that what and how you do things shouldn’t matter, it doesn’t change the fact that social media doesn’t really care about that, and isn’t built around that mindset. In general, not comparing yourself or your work to others is incredibly difficult to do. Even I do it occasionally, impenetrable self-esteem isn’t a thing, it’s something that’s fragile and easily broken, sometimes without our ever even knowing until it’s too late. So I realized the best way to look at it, is to remove some of the negativity from it.

Controversial take, as a creative, comparing your work to others doesn’t always have to be a downer experience… it can be good, and enlightening even. The great thing about consuming media is that it can do so much for us, the appreciator, like bring us joy, bring us sadness, start a conversation, or stir inspiration, that last bit especially.

Lean into those inspirations, and no I don’t just mean other sims content. Rewatch your favorite old movies, replay your favorite old games, start a Pinterest board, go through some old family photos, create a Spotify playlist that transports you somewhere you’d rather be. Examine them, study them, focus on the colors, the lighting, the textures, there’s formulas in all kinds of media, even your mom’s old Polaroids, aim to create your own.

Learning is a never-ending journey. You can never learn enough about anything. There are so many tutorials on YouTube, and hell, even on here, if you feel like you’ve got somewhere you can improve, don’t be ashamed to do so, and change is good, bc the great thing about change is that you can do it again, and again, and that’s totally okay. Don’t be set in your ways when it comes to content creativity, it’s too beautiful a hobby for there to be any one way to be.

I think the one reason why I love Simblr so much over all other sims communities, is bc everyone here does things their own way, and everyone ( at least I hope ) appreciates each other for that. This adds variety to my dash, and makes it all the more enjoyable to look at. My game looks the way it does bc that’s how I see it in my head. I’m heavily influenced by Hayao Miyazaki, Guillermo del Torro, and old 90’s movies. I lean into the bright colors, I lean into the ideal big kitchen, I lean into the excessive neon lights, and I lean into the cringe dialogue, bc that’s what brings me joy, and that’s what brings me nostalgia.

The Sims itself brings me joy and nostalgia too, and that’s why first and foremost I enjoy playing it, lol, everything else… having a space online to share it with others who also enjoy playing it is just an added bonus.

Now as for the funky faces, there are mods out there that minimize the awkward grin, whether they still work idk tho.

You can also try putting a little more space between the bottom of your sim’s nose and their top lip, it might look weird in CAS, but this will help avoid a lot of the wonkiness from the over-exaggerated smiles in-game.

Learning to love sims for all their quirks, bad animations, and goofiness is also a good tip. 😆

[mikka-minns]

Hey Minnie! Hope you don't mind me coming into your inbox to ramble, but I had a realization and a theory that I think you might appreciate.

So, I know we always complain about Dominic as The Guy Who Can't Write MK, and I do think he's part of the problem, but I think the real final boss of Bad MK Writers is Shawn Kittelsen.

He wrote the MKX comic, and is thus responsible for "Cassie was the result of a one night stand and Sonya never loved Johnny before MKX" (which is a bullshit interpretation of their dynamic), Hanzo "Sub-Zero is Beyond Saving Let's Just Leave Him For Dead" Hasashi, and probably other awful shit (oh wait, now I remember. Killing off a bunch of characters unceremoniously, for really no reason other than blood. That's just a shitty use of resources)

He started working on the games in MK11, and I'm pretty fucking sure he's responsible for Kotal/Jade (weird because it has no buildup), past Sonya being an unrepentant bitch (telling the father of your future daughter to get a vasectomy when you know said daughter personally is bitch behavior. As is not reading a mission report all the way through. Sonya is an emotionally repressed soldier, duty comes before everything for her. That's kinda the point of her arc in MKX??? But now she's suddenly incapable of understanding the idea that military service is about duty and sacrifice), the weird sexual threats Shao Kahn dishes out (because what the FUCK NRS? That's never been an aspect of the character before. Forced marriage, yes, but you'll note that he has no offspring of his own. Also, that's just a little much for the tone of MK), and probably the Sindel Retcon.

I have no idea what we're getting at, other than "Dominic is semi competent at writing" and "Shawn might just be on par with Stephen King, but only if you're comparing his writing to the sewer scene in IT."

Dont worry, i dont mind at all! I do appreciate this!☺️

And yeah, Shawn is apsolutley to blame as well. I think that the whole NRS writing team hates the franchise tbh(not the whole, but the Ones who write the most important stuff for the games and media). I did hear he was one of the main writters for mk11.

You are right tho, his interpretation of the characters that he did in the comics is pretty much what is ruining them the most(before mk11 ofc). I first found mkx the game and then the comics and without the knowlage of what comic!Hanzo did, i Just Kinda Thought he was Just a vengfull ass, but then the comics are what made me hate him.

I realy want to know what all of these mfs are smoking, cuz it doesnt seem like its good for them.

I also heard that mkx the game and mkx the comic were in production at the same time, so whoever was in charge of making sure they are on the same Page didnt do a good job, since the comics are not even complitely Canon at the end. Mostly cuz they didnt fit in with the game's narative and the characters were off(even they noticed, but a little too late). The "Cassie is a product of a one night stand" is one of them, cuz, in the game, some of the dialogue seems to indicate that Sonya was realy in love with Johnny and they only divorced later cuz of their marriage problems.

Some of their choices for mk11 are just disturbing. Someone Thought of that and actualy presented it and then someone ALLOWED it!

And Ed Boon seems to not give a flying f about what people do to the franchise he has built. Just stands around and hopes it makes him money.

In advance, i apologize if i ended up a bit biased and its complitely alright and understandable if Someone disagrees with me. I am in no way a profesional and probably just letting my emotions do all talking. (imma be honest, im mostly mad cuz the torture Kuai and then make him the bad guy or imply his life is easy)

[having-conniptions]

My thoughts on THC ep 8

The new pairs?? Amazing. I'm so glad they switched it up

Fuaiz and Ta's VegasPete scene could have been so gut-wrenching but the cowboy costumes and background killed the whole vibe. They really made it hard for them. I couldn't take them seriously at all and started to laugh during a scene that I expected to make me cry.

When Mio and Copper held hands before their scene and Tong said that's what Mile and Apo always do <3<3<3

Mio and Copper were so smart to use the coat instead of a knife - and then even quickly explained why there was only one coat!! They definitely could have been a little more "aware" of their (imagined) surroundings, I agree with the judges there

Mio and Copper's reactions during JJ & Jet's scene (they were fangirling so hard and I GET IT)

JJ AND JET BLEW MY TITS CLEAN OFF HOLY SHIT they added dialogue in order to adapt to the scene change and even the new stuff was sooo in character!! And JJ actually went for the kiss... their performance really pulled me in and the tension was so palpable... I might need a second to recover from JJ as Kinn...

The fact that Mile had to clear his throat and collect his thoughts before yelling "cut" says it all

HOWWWWWWWW did we get from "there was supposed to be a kiss there" "yeah, but he seems hesitant to do it" to THIS- holy SHIT New and Bump what the FUCK

Also, the "actors are over 18 years old and got permission from their parents" LMAOOOO imagine *calls mom* "Hey mom is it okay if I kiss a boy and then he pushes me on a bed and goes to town on my neck?"

Mile yelling "cut" before it gets too spicy lmao too late the fanfic is already being written

"We rehearsed 100%. I thought we only performed 60% of it today." WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN NEW IF THAT WAS 60% THEN WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE THE OTHER 40?????

Also New trying to collect himself after the cut - not just as Bump gets off of him but even after he gets up. Same, babe, same.

TONG ASKING THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS because let's not forget these are inexperienced actors who didn't have an intimacy coordinator helping them so DID YOU TALK ABOUT HOW FAR YOU WOULD GO is the first question anyone should have asked (ideally before even starting with rehearsals but okay)

LMAO Tong and Apo being like "you deadass didn't have to make out for real tho - when we film we use camera angles and imagination" yeah um you literally could have told them sooner

I feel kinda bad for New. He always gives 110% and ends up trying too hard and it seems like his only response to problems/failure is to try harder and harder. He gets so lost in the characters he has trouble coming back out of them and ends up overacting and losing sight of essential points. He's doing it all and he's doing too much.

Everyone made so much progress. Even the ones that didn't do that well learned something from it. They should all be proud <3

[fourteentrout]

Howdy and hello! Back again with some more questions!!

What kind of things draw you to fics? If you could have The Perfect™ fic, what would it encompass (and not just reading-wise, but writing-wise too!)?

What are things that you like to make sure is captured when you write and draw Tamlin and Rhysand? What aspects of their characters do you want to sit and stew over?

And! Tell me about your other interests in ACOTAR! What else do you ship? Who are your favorite characters? Least favorite or ones that just didn’t click with you?

Hey cowboy! Nice to see you back! Sorry about the late-ish response lol, but as you'll see, I have a lot to yap about, so. That's why.

On to the answering!

Omg The Perfect fic...that's HARD. I'm really attracted to anything character driven--I love it when a work delves deep into a character's psyche. Their motivations, their internal conflicts, what makes them tick. Fics that explore this in both prose (?) and dialogue are my SHIT I love seeing characters interact but also seeing like why are they acting this way? What is the driving force behind their reactions, their impulses, their calculated moves? Etc.

HOWEVER in a PERFECT world, a fic that smoothly marries both character driven and plot driven aspects of the story would be peak. Being able to inject a character's entire like essence into the action and plot itself is something that I wish I was automatically good at, and it's something I'd like to work more towards as a writer.

I also often do like a happy ending but open endings are also very fascinating to me, I really like it when an author sorta leaves it up to the reader. Sad endings tho...I have to be in a very specific mood, ykwim?

As for the aspects of Tamlin and Rhysand I like to capture...I really love the sort of orbital essence of their pairing. The fact that they're lives are sort of intrinsically tied, and even from the start, when they're younger--them sort of having this connection they have with no one else. They just Get each other, and then their lives are changed forever, and they still are in the same position as before--legitimately no one else could understand what the other went through as intimately as they do. But they can't connect with each other over it anymore, and that kind of breakaway is so harsh that there's literally no resolution.

And that always makes me think about like--how does attraction fit into this? Lust? Love? Care?

I also always like to stew over their individual relationships with control. How Rhys is always in control of himself, his power, and Tamlin can't seem to get a handle on his, when really, I think they'd like to be the opposite. I often think about Feyre's observation of Rhys in the war, when he really gets to unleash himself, the way his energy sort of shifts in that moment. And Tamlin, how instead of him being able to move easily into a release of control, has it wrestled from him by his own power. He never wanted to be High Lord, nevermind a tyrant, but he just doesnt have the control of his power that Rhysand does. I love the way they're counterparts (almost foils I think) to each other in this aspect.

Other acotar interests, let's see...well I'm mad into Azris right now lol. They're fantastic. I love the way Azris fans saw like, max, 2 on-page interactions with them and RAN with it.

I also, im afraid, am a sucker for Nessian. I do think there's a lot of really shitty aspects of how their relationship was developed in canon, but there are some fics out there that are just so much more fitting for their characters that I can't help but love it.

I also kinda love the Band of Exiles. They're like the resident throuple in my mind. Lucien is a fav of mine and I think it's great that he's developed this friendship with two humans after being someone who kind of detested their kind from the start (out of grief for Andras). I also think he meshes with them better than anyone in the night court, and that's nice to see after he sorta got his life turned upside down.

I also really love Emerie and Gwyn. Friendship is magic.

Anyways, thank you again for popping in! As always I can't keep my mouth shut lol.

[sol-consort]

Tone indicators are added to dialogue in Andromeda and it was the best thing they ever did. Also I’m surprised that you accidentally romanced Liara because for me she asked “hey are you trying to fuck me?” And I was like “what? No?” Because I wasn’t and she never brought it up again. The only reason I got out of the accidental Ashley romance was her blowing up before it could get finalized

Yeah I'm planning to pick up Andromeda on the next sale, it's fun knowing there is still more out there!

Also installing the minigame skip mods literally is making ME2 so much more better. In ME1 i would get bored and put on youtube videos in the bg while doing side quests of searching planets but whenever I try to do that in ME2 the quest or story gets too interesting and I would rather pay attention to it.

It made the game and story flow smoother too. Still not a fan of the hide and seek gameplay but I like the new powers system and how each thing has a counter now. Like cryo bullets against hordes or the electric ones against shields, inferno for barriers etc.

I like the respec system, pretty nice! Just wish we could use it on companions too bc god knows I regret half of these upgrades. Still only have two snipers and I'm annoyed about it.

I miss exploring the citadel. Kinda wish we could pop in to say hello to Udina too or different embassies like before. I like the new elevator system, it's better to teleport rather than just....stand waiting.

They blurred some lines in paragon and renegade choices which I like. I actually find myself picking renegade now when I want to be a badass rather than it being the "blatant racist and mean" choice, it still is that sometimes but at least it has more weight now yk? While the paragon does make you look like a coward at times rather than a noble hero, love that.

Kinda hate the ammo system tho. A sniper only has 10 bullets and I can't carry more. I tried the armours that increase ammo capacity but because the siper technically only has 9 and 1 in hold, it gets rounded to 0 from 0.9 and doesn't effect the snipers ammo at all. Forced me to have better aim tho so there is that silver lining.

I wish we had more fun quests tho. The first game was full of them like the fan or our background quest. The new one has a lot of amazing quests but they all feel like full buffets that need time to digest rather than jump from one to the other, that's where these mini quests come in.

I do miss being able to explore an empty planet, too. Like our paths are much more linear lately whenever we go planetside. But I understand they had to sacrifice it to increase the quality, and I say it paid off. They wanted to innovate rather than make a copy of the first game.

Also sometimes it feels like there is a lot of tell rather than show when it comes to Shepard's popularity. I do want to see that memorial on Elysium, I do want to sign someone's autograph and I want someone to fill me in on the aftermath of my death for fucks sake. Tell me how the world kept spinning, tell me exactly how everyone reacted.

[elmatadorisgay]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I saw this posted by one of my moots and I thought it looked so fun!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

45 in total, 39 in Football RPF(the fandom I write for on this blog)

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

somewhere over 188k words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

mostly Football RPF but I did write Hetalia in the past

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Desperation; John Stones/Ruben Dias

There's Only 5 Beds; various liverpool ships

Football Halloween Special 2022; various ships

Gaurdian Angel; John Stones/Ruben Dias

Dave is Coming Home; John Stones/Ruben Dias

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

sometimes I do other times I don't, I read them all but it depends how I'm feeling that day or if its something that needs a response

6. What is a fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I don't have many angst fics at all but probably Jealousy is the most angsty one I have bc Trent and Hendo almost break up in it.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

idk its too hard to pick most of my fics are happy endings

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I don't usually but I get a hate comment on occasion. I usually delete them tho bc I don't need that kind of negative vibe

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes lots of it LMAo maybe a little too much sometimes. I write basically anything and ig m/m constitutes as a kind of smut so I'd say that. I like doing almost any kinks.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

No. I don't think they would turn out well. Plus Im not in enough fandoms to do that anyway.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so which is great!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No but I'd love to have it done if someone asks to translate one of my fics. It would be great for more people to see my works!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Not yet but I am looking for a co-worker for a Marco Reus centric fic I've decided to title King Glass Bee

If anyone is interested here's the link to the post where I fully explain the fic to what I know I want in it so far:

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Oh god I really can't choose. There are so many ships with great dynamics that I absolutely love. I have explained before what my top 5 or 10 favorite ships are in the past

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

probably Late Night Talking or Mackem Flings I kinda lost interest in both of those so I doubt I'll be finishing them anytime soon.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I think Im really good at characterization, showing feelings, mood and descriptions of objects and people. It's probably bc I kinda over analyze things LMAO

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

some specific figurative language stuff is what I struggle with like the Show don't tell rule, I also tend to ask lots of questions about my writing if Im even slightly unsure about one thing or the other in my writing

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done it a few times and I really like it. To me it makes the characters feel more human and dynamic. I don't speak many languages so I usually get another person or a good translator tool to check me.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Oh GOD you guys are gonna ridicule me when I say this but it was a youtube group called the Derp Crew

20. Favourite fic you've written?

I've written so much good stuff in the past few months and stuff that's a really hard question for me. Right now I really love Arsenal Camp(an arsenal centered fic with ships), Home is Between Your Arms was also super fun and I really liked the Alltober oneshot I did with Andy and Mo

Also anyone that sees this post can feel free to do these questions if they like!

[hs-is-loml]

I've Never Stopped. (c.f)

masterlist

Pairing: Conrad Fisher x Fem!Reader

Summary: coming back to Cousins for the summer after skipping out last year after a rough breakup with your ex-boyfriend, conrad fisher. you hoped that maybe both he and his family had forgotten about you, but it seems like you’re in for a treat.

Warnings: lots of dialogue. swearing. angsty mention of a breakup. little kiss. fluffy ending tho. UNEDITED

a/n: the timeline that i have doesn't fully match with the actual series. also if you feel like you're seeing this twice it's because this was going to be two parts but i ended up liking it as one!

word count. 3.5k

“You’re coming back this year, no more moping around about it, and that’s final,” your mom tells you.

“But what am I even suppose to do this summer while I’m there, it’s not like I have anything planned.”

“Actually, I signed you up to be a big sister this year for the debutante ball.”

“Wait, what?” you question.

“I knew you would say something like that so I got you something to do while we’re there.”

“Fine, whatever.”

You were sat at table two by Paige, the lady hosting the event and instructor. All the girls were mainly welcoming to you. Asking you questions like if this was your first time in Cousins and why they haven’t seen you around. You brushed off a majority of the questions but told them that you had skipped out last year due to college admissions. Which wasn’t a complete lie since you went to go tour universities like Upenn, Columbia, NYU, and Yale. You got early admission into Columbia and it started beginning of July of last year. 

You learned the girls' names which are Nicole, Shayla, Gigi, and a couple others. You tried your best to not give a reaction when they mentioned the infamous Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. You noticed the chair next to you was still open at your table. 

“Hey, are we missing anybody?” you asked the girls.

“Yeah, this girl is a new deb this year,” Nicole replied to you.

Out of the corner of your eye, you see Belly Conklin and Jeremiah Fisher walking into the room. You wanted to sink down to the floor to disappear but it was too late. You saw Jeremiah dodge Paige and make his way towards you all giddy. You saw the girls around the table slightly fix their dresses thinking he was coming toward them. You keep your eyes glued down to the table but looked up the second he called your name. What a rookie mistake.

“Y/N! You’re back, man, Conrad is not going to believe this. We missed you last summer. Are you back for good or you going to disappear again?” he rambles to you as he gets closer. He hugs you from behind your chair and kisses your cheek. You blush immediately and notice that Gigi is glaring at you from the table.

“Hey, Jere,” you mumble out.

“I’m glad, you’re here.”

“You know, me too,” you found yourself admitting out loud.

“Okay, I gotta go before Paige has me kicked out, but I’ll text you,” he says rushing out the door.

“Hi, Bells,” you greet the oh-so-familiar girl taking a seat next to you.

“Hey, Y/N,” she replies, smiling at you. 

“So when were you going to tell us that you know, a certain lifeguard…” Nicole teases you, trying to ease the tension at the table. 

“Family friend, you know.”

“But that’s it, right?” Gigi asks you.

“Yeah, of course. He’s like my little brother.”

“Y/N, wait up!” you hear from behind you seeing Belly.

“Belly?”

“I don’t want to push you or anything, but I just want to you know that I think Conrad would really enjoy a visit from you, we all would,” she says bashfully looking down to her feet. 

“Bells, I miss you too, but he was the one who broke up with me, remember? I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“Think about it, okay?” she tries again

“Maybe.”

“CONRAD, GUESS WHAT!” Jere yells barging into Conrad’s room. 

“What, Jere?” Conrad says, tiredly looking at him from his bed.

“She’s back.”

“Who’s back?” Conrad questions him.

“Who else, Y/N!” as those words left Jeremiah’s mouth, Conrad found himself getting whiplash from getting up so quickly.

“You sure, it wasn’t some girl that just looked like her?” he asked.

“Oh, it was her,” he hears Belly add from the hallway. 

“You’re shitting, me,” Conrad says exasperated falling back down to his bed. 

‘Ding’ Jeremiah takes his phone out of his pocket to look at the text message he had just got. He looks to Conrad who had his head stuffed into a pillow then went back out of the hallway to call for Belly. 

“Hey, Belly, you wanna go get ice cream with, Y/N?” that got the attention of quite a few people in the house.

“Of course, when?” “Wait, Y/N’s back?” “You’re going where?” all directed towards Jeremiah who seemed occupied on his phone texting back. 

“Bells, later before dinner so like in 20-30 mins. Steven, yeah, we saw her today at the deb lunch thing. And, umm, Conrad, we’re going out with Y/N,” Jeremiah blurts out in a rush. 

“You think I could go?” Conrad asks. 

“Yeah, me too,” Steven adds on.

“Steven, yeah sure that’s fine. I don’t know, Conrad.”

“Come on, I’m sure, she won’t even care,” Conrad pushes.

“Fine, but you better not make her feel unwelcomed. Don’t be selfish here, we all miss her you know,” Jere gives in.

Your breakup with Conrad didn’t just affect you two but the families too. Your dad didn’t really like Conrad after finding you in your room crying when he had broken up with you. You were thankful for your parents especially your dad considering he was your shoulder to cry on during it. He made sure your mom didn’t push you too much during the weeks after everything happened. You loved your mom, but she never really got the hint when to stop at times. After the breakup your family still went to Susannah’s Fourth of July party that year, breaking the news to everyone you skipped out of going to Cousins because of college admissions. Everyone knew that it was deeper than that. 

When Conrad had broken up with you it was truly out of fear, you never knew that. You believed that he didn’t want to be with you anymore and didn’t care enough to give you a valid reason for it. Nobody really understood why he did it. It was so out of the blue since it seemed like you two were so in love with each other. They never expected for Conrad to turn so cold to you right before the summer, well neither did you. 

What was going through Conrad’s mind was the fear you would find someone better than him at the universities you talked about. He thought to save himself the pain and do it first. He broke up with you thinking that you would move on and be with some college guy. He loved you too much to see you fall into the arms of someone else while he wasn’t there. He trusted you, but that didn’t stop his fears from overwhelming him. What really pushed him over was when he found out that his dad cheated on his mom while she was going through chemotherapy. 

He was so scared to lose you that he lost you in the process. 

You sat down outside of the ice cream parlor, nervous to be spending time with them again. Jeremiah had responded to your text saying he and Belly would both be going. You looked around to see if Jere’s car was around but you see a red jeep pulling up from down the street. 

“Shit,” you muttered to yourself.

You prayed that maybe Jeremiah just took Conrad’s car instead of his, but it seemed like the world was against you when you saw him coming out of the car.

“Yo, Y/N, I didn’t believe Jere when he said he was coming to meet you,” you hear Steven say first approaching you. He pulled you into a hug whispering into your ear. “Don’t worry about him, okay?” 

You appreciated Steven in moments like this.  You guys have a very brother-sister relationship and he always tried to look out for you. He won't admit it out loud but he was so furious with Conrad screwing up with you. He called you immediately when he found out last you. You've been helping him with trying to prepare for Princeton without anyone knowing. You reassured him that he could do it.

“I’ll try,” you whisper back while hugging him back. 

“Y/N!! Oh, have I missed you,” Jere says tackling you with a hug after Steven stepped back.

“You saw me earlier, you know,” you laughed at him.

“Yeah, but for like a minute, so that doesn’t count.”

“You guys could let her breathe,” Belly says behind Jere waiting her turn to talk to you.

“Hey, Bells,” you smiled at her.

“I’m glad, you thought about it,” she says to you quietly.

“I didn’t though, I texted Jere thinking only you and him would be here,” you whisper into her ear as you two hug. You glared at Jeremiah, but he didn’t seem to notice or maybe he just didn’t care. 

“Oh, sorry about that,” she responds to you nervously as she lets go.

You felt the world stop for a second when you locked eyes with the one and only Conrad Fisher. 

“Hey.” 

“Hello, to you too,” you replied monotoned. You didn’t want to give him the pleasure of giving him a reaction to his presence. 

“Let’s get ice cream, shall we?” Jeremiah says cutting the tension between you two as you turned your head to look at him. 

“Yeah, let’s head in,” you said changing back to your usual tone.

“So, how’s uni?” Steven asked once you guys headed back outside to sit down.

“It’s interesting, to say the least…” you started

“Any hot people?” Jeremiah said, wiggling his eyebrows at you. You felt Conrad’s eyes bore into you when Jere asked the question.

“Some, but frat boys aren’t really the best at relationships,” you answered.

“YOU GOT WITH A FRAT GUY??” Belly gasped.

“No way, you gave a frat a chance, Y/N,” Steven added.

“It was just a fling. Nothing that serious, really. We went out for like two weeks before I broke up with him,” you said looking at everyone sheepishly. 

“Was he good?” Conrad challenged.

“Excuse me?” you said puzzled. You couldn’t believe the nerve he had to ask you that.

“Conrad, chill,” Jeremiah gapped at him.

“Belly, how do you feel about being a deb?” you asked Belly trying to move on from the subject.

“Umm… I don’t know honestly. I’m really nervous about it but I’m glad you got assigned to be my big sister cause I don’t know what I would do without you,” she rambled on.

“Bells, you’ll be great. There’s nothing to worry about and if anything happens we’ll do it together, okay,” you said as you squeezed her hand affectively. 

“I can’t believe you’re a big sis, Y/N,” Steven joked with you.

“Yeah, my mom made me deb last year in New York. Then she signed me up to help here.”

“That sounds like her,” Conrad said quietly.

“Did you have fun last year?” Jere asked.

“I did actually. It helped take my mind off things,” you answered while making eye contact with Conrad for a sec before turning your attention back to Jere.

“Someone escorted you?” Steven voiced out.

“Yeah, I have a friend Luke who took me.” as you said that you heard Conrad scoff at the name. 

“Hey, we have to head back soon but what if you came to dinner? Please think about it, mom misses you,” Jere begged you.

“Yeah sure,” you agreed already regretting your decision. 

“You want one of us to ride back with you?” Belly asked with a mischievous look on her face.

“If one of you want to sure,” you had a feeling where this was going.

“Conrad will go with you,” Jeremiah stated while Conrad stared at him wide-eyed.

“Whatever, I guess, you’re driving though,” you add turning to Conrad.

“Okay,” he muttered out.

The driving was filled with tension. Neither of you talking to each other but sneaking side glances hoping no one will notice. 

“Columbia, treating you good?” he asked while looking to the road.

“Better than you did,” you said bitterly

“Y/n/n, don’t be like that.”

“Be like what?”

“I’m sorry,” he said so quietly that you barely heard it.

“For what exactly?”

“For making a mistake.”

“Conrad, stop.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You know what you’re doing and stop it.”

“What am I doing?”

“You trying to make me forgive you after everything.”

“Can you?”

“That’s not the point. Why should I give you the decency of forgiveness when you couldn’t even give me a damn reason.” you scoffed as he pulled in front of the house.

You walked out of the car and headed towards the door, taking deep breaths to calm yourself down. You got to the door and debated on knocking but instead chose to walk in trying to not make any noise. You heard Conrad shuffle behind you but ignored him. You walked into the kitchen and saw Laurel and Susannah cooking dinner. You sat down at the counter not wanting to disturb them. 

“Y/N! You’re here!” Susannah says happily to you. She lowered the heat on the stove and went to you for a hug.

“Hey, Y/N,” you hear Laurel say while you are engulfed in a hug from Susannah.

“Mom, you can let her breathe now,” Conrad told his mom.

“Connie, be quiet for a second. Let me just admire her, she’s so beautiful.” you blush at her words.

“Your mom was telling me that you got into Columbia last year right?” Laurel asked.

“Yeah, early admission.”

“That’s exciting,” she replies.

“Now, why haven’t visited us yet?” Susannah questioned you.

“I’m sorry, I’ve been busy getting stuff together to be a big sis for the ball,” you answered giving an excuse for the summer only.

“Oh, Belly was telling me about that. She’s really glad that she can spend time with you again. She’s always looked up to you,” Laurel said smiling warmly at you.

“I missed her.”

“Well, we’ve all missed you,” Susannah told you slightly glaring at Conrad behind you, pulling you into another hug. 

“Yeah.” you hear behind you. 

Nothing was ever in your favor. You sat right next to Conrad and had Steven next to you and Belly in front of you. The room was filled with awkward tension seeping from both you and Conrad. You talked to Steven quietly as everyone else had their own conversations. 

“How’s the application process?” you asked Steven.

“Dad, says he thinks I can get in with some financial aid and I’m going to apply for a couple scholarships.”

“A couple scholarships for what?” Laurel sparks interest in your guys’ conversation. 

“I’m applying to Princeton,” Steven told her. Everyone dropped their side conversations and paid attention to Laurel and him. 

“I thought you gave up on that.”

“No, Dad and Y/N think I can do it if I get some help so I thought it was worth a shot,” he says to her slowly quieting his voice by the end of it.

“Laurel, Steven will be fine. If I could get into Columbia on a full ride, I’m sure he can too,” you try to reassure her.

“Yeah, and Y/N would only be like a 2-hour drive away too if I ever need anything,” Steven adds on. 

“Steven, I think that’s great for you, hun,” Susannah says sweetly.

“You going to let me steal your sweatshirt?” Belly asks Steven excitedly. 

“As if,” Steven scoffs.

“Hey, Bells how do you feel about a Columbia hoodie?” you say to Belly trying to make up for Steven’s rudeness.

“Really?” 

“Yeah, of course, I’ll bring it next time.”

“So you’ll be here the next time?” Jeremiah says jokingly.

“I'll be around.”

“That’s great, sweetheart. It would be nice having you around again,” Susannah tells you as you feel Conrad’s stare from your side.

“How’s football, Conrad?” you asked trying to make small talk. 

“I quit.”

“Oh.”

“You still doing volleyball?”

“Yeah, I’m trying out for captain next year.”

“That’s good.”

“Can we talk?” you hear Conrad say behind you.

“Sure, give me a sec. Jere, she really likes you don’t mess it up.”

“I won’t!” Jeremiah yelled walking back into the house.

You and Conrad sit beside the pool as everyone is inside. You kept a distance between you two but Conrad seemed to inch closer to you by the minute. 

“What’d you want to talk about?” you said breaking the silence.

“I never meant to hurt you.”

“You see, Conrad that’s the problem you did.”

“It was for the best.”

“What do you mean for the best, I was in love with you.”

“I loved you too.”

“Sure didn’t seem that way when you said you wanted a break.”

“Y/N, I was scared okay.”

“Scared for what exactly, Conrad?” you snapped him not getting where he was going with this conversation.

“We would’ve never lasted with you in college.”

“Well, now we’ll never know.”

“You seemed to move on pretty quick so I guess I was right.”

“Oh fuck you, Conrad. I had my heart broken because of you and all you think is that.”

“You were going to leave me.” Conrad implied as his voice cracked.

“What?” you said looking at him and making eye contact. 

“You would’ve found some college guy and probably notice how much better he is than me.” 

“Conrad, I don’t understand.”

“I was so fucking scared, Y/N. I thought maybe if I broke up with you first it would save me some of the heartache. I think it only made it worse.”

“What do you mean ‘broke up with me first’? Conrad, I would’ve never done that to you and I’m offended you don’t have any faith in me.”

“My dad cheated on my mom okay,” he said to you looking down towards the pool. 

“Oh, Con, I’m so sorry,” you grabbed his hand. You felt him tighten his hold against yours when you tried to pull back.

“I found out a week before we broke up.”

“Oh," you muttered under your breath as everything started clicking in your mind about how your breakup went down.

“I’m sorry, Y/N. For everything.” 

“I know, Con,” you said. 

Conrad Fisher always had that effect on you. No matter how much you tried to deny it you would always love him. For that, you would always end up forgiving him in the end. You wondered if he still had any love for you back.

“You know I never stopped loving you,” he said quietly, reconnecting your eyes. It was almost as if he read your mind.

“No. You can’t do that, Conrad. It hurts too much,” you said feeling tears fill your eyes. 

“I should’ve never done what I did.”

“Conrad, stop.”

“No. I need you to know I regret it okay.”

“You’re only saying this cause I’m back,” you said as the tears fell from your eyes. 

“I’m not. You know I tried visiting you once a couple weeks after everything but you were rehearsing with Luke,” he told you as he raised his hand to wipe away your tears.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” you flushed as you saw him stare at your face slowly taking you in admiration.

“I thought you would be better off without me,” he said rubbing his thumb against your cheek.

“Con,” you found yourself slowly leaning into his touch.

“I’ve always adored you.”

You tried looking away from him but you felt him gently grab your chin and tilt it up towards him.

“You’re an ass.” you laughed trying to put your nerves away as you looked down to his lips before traveling your eyes back to his. 

“I love you and I am sorry,” he whispered to you as he pulled you in. 

“Con, this is wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong. It’s only us,” he said inches away from your lips. 

He put his lips against yours and grabbed your face closer to him. You found yourself kissing him back wrapping your arms around his neck. It was as if you could feel the emotion Conrad was putting into this kiss, it felt like he was giving it his all. As if it was to make up for the past.

“Always know how to make a girl blush,” you said against his lips. You felt the vibration of his laugh as you said it. You missed hearing it. He pushed his lips back onto yours with the same kind of passion as before.

“Only you,” he responded as he pulled back leaning his forehead against yours. 

“Do you really think this is smart?” you muttered.

“It was stupid of me to ruin what we had in the first place.”

“Okay.” and with that, he grabbed your face into his hands.

“You. You’re the one I love and I promise I won’t make the same mistake.”

[sweeter-innocence-fics]

Surviving Sokovia - Chapter Seventeen

Pairing: Pietro Maximoff x Reader

Work Summary: 

You were a Sokovian orphan living on the streets of Novi Grad, until Strucker offered you a choice.

Now you are a part of his human experimentation programme, trying to survive an entirely different world of horrors. The kind boy with the beautiful eyes is the only thing that keeps you going.

This story contains dark themes. Please read the notes on chapter one for more details. Dialogue in {these brackets} is in Sokovian.

Chapter Summary: The baby's coming.

Series Masterlist

Word Count: 3322

Read on AO3.

Masterlists.

Taglist: @mcximffs @noz4a2 @rottenstyx @xlucyintheskywithdiamondsx @lanemarvels @marrigold-2002 @kathrinchek @ifilwtmfc @officiallykuute @the-skys-musical-echo @mrs-kai-anderson @ang3l1te @missryerye

Taglist info.

Previous Chapter

Notes:

Hello hello, sorry it's a week late, I've been busy with NaNoWriMo. But here it is: the LAST chapter. Thank you for going on this journey with me. Enjoy.

Also, warnings in this chapter for: childbirth, fear of a dog hurting a child (nothing happens tho dw Odeta would NEVER), references to overprotectiveness, pain and blood, medical stuff, very very brief reference to the attempted rape in chapter 8 of this fic. But it's mostly fluff.

---

Since you and Pietro had returned from your honeymoon, you’d become a little less shy around the other Avengers. They were mostly polite to you, but kept their distance, which may have had something to do with Pietro’s fiercely protective – some might say overprotective – hovering.

So sometimes you ate dinner with the other Avengers. You never said much. You weren’t as comfortable with English as either of the twins. You spoke it fairly fluently, but having to translate every sentence in your head was exhausting.

Today, you were sitting in the rec room, a bowl of cereal resting on top of your bump, and Odeta curled up at your feet. You chewed and swallowed slowly. American cereal was a lot more sugary than what you were used to back home, and right now, you felt as though you needed the boost.

A textbook lay open but forgotten on the side table next to you. After the battle of Sokovia, you had mused that you might like to become a medic. It seemed to be something you were good at.

SHIELD jumped at the chance. Since you were nine months pregnant, they had given you books and allowed you to work through them on your own schedule. There would be classes, eventually, but again, on your own schedule.

Given how flexible and permissive they were being, you assumed ulterior motives. Sure, the idea of having a super-powered medic was enticing, but if you stayed, that meant Wanda and Pietro stayed too. Not that they’d shown any desire to leave. Still.

As you took another bite of cereal, you felt a cramp in your lower abdomen. It was probably a Braxton-Hicks contraction. God knows you’d gotten used to them over the last few weeks.

You set your half-eaten cereal down next to your textbook and pushed down on the sofa, trying to get to your feet. Walking around usually helped. It felt like a bad period pain.

Odeta got to her feet as well, and watched as you tried to stand up. She was antsy, like she wanted to help you but didn’t know what to do.

“{It’s okay, girl},” you said, trying to sound soothing, but it was hard to catch your breath. As soon as you were on your feet, you were going to pet her, and then maybe take her for a nice walk around the compound.

Or at least, that was your plan.

Pop.

You felt a gush of liquid escaping your vagina, beyond your control. Before you had a chance to feel embarrassed, the pain of the contraction flared up.

“Oof,” you said, your face contorted as you fell back into your seat. You clasped your hands over your belly and rocked forward, trying to manage the pain.

Odeta began to bark, and then ran from the room. Hunched forward, you put your hands on the back of your head and tried to breathe.

“Hey, are you alright?” You looked up to see Steve Rogers standing in the doorway, staring at you. Odeta was by his side, anxiously pawing at the ground.

“I think my waters just broke,” you said, and you watched the colour drain from Captain America’s face. “Can you help me up? I need to walk around.”

“Of course.” He stood over you, clearly unsure how to help. You shuffled forward in your seat and he put an arm around your shoulders. Very carefully, he pulled you to your feet.

As you stood there, clutching at your stomach, you noticed that there was a wet patch where you’d been sitting on the sofa. Steve was very politely pretending not to notice.

Suddenly, this all felt very real. You were going to have a baby. Tears sprang to your eyes, and in spite of your best efforts, began to roll down your cheeks.

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s okay,” said Steve. “F.R.I.D.A.Y? Call Pietro. Tell him he’s needed here.”

You closed your eyes and clung to Steve’s arm. It hurt. A lot.

Suddenly, a familiar hand was curling around the back of your neck, and then Pietro was pulling you into his arms.

“Shh, shh,” he murmured, stroking your hair. He was sweaty. He’d just come from some kind of physical training. You wanted to melt into his warmth. “{What’s wrong?}”

“{The baby’s coming}.” You felt him freeze beside you. “{They need to clean up in here. I- I made a mess}.” Embarrassment flooded you.

“{Don’t worry about that. I’m gonna take you to the medbay, yeah? Stark will send a cleaning crew}.”

With Pietro’s arm around you, you started walking towards the medbay. Odeta made an inquisitive noise and bounded in front of you. You stopped walking.

Captain America was still standing by the door, hovering awkwardly, like he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing.

“Steve, can I ask a favour?” you said, and he straightened up immediately.

“Of course.”

“Could you watch Odeta for a little while? I was just about to take her for a walk. I think she’s feeling a little pent up.”

“Absolutely.”

“{Go with Steve, Odeta},” you said, waving her towards him. “Thank you, Steve, you’re a lifesaver.”

“Any time.”

*

When you arrived at the medbay, the doctor directed you to lie down on the bed and put your feet up in the stirrups. You froze, staring at the bed. Your mind flashed back to every medical test, every experiment Hydra ever did to you. You remembered the doctor’s unwanted hands touching you.

Pietro must’ve noticed your discomfort, because he asked, “do we have to do it this way?”

The doctor looked at you sympathetically. “I need to check the dilation of your cervix. But I could get a female doctor or midwife to do it if that would make you more comfortable?”

You swallowed. “Okay.”

Pietro helped you change into the hospital gown while the doctor was out of the room. His hands were trembling so much that they looked blurry.

“{Piet? Are you okay?}”

“{I just… can’t believe this is actually happening}.”

“{Are you scared?}”

“{Yes}.” He said it so abruptly that it surprised you. He was normally so reticent to show any kind of vulnerability. “{Are you?}”

“{Terrified}.”

He helped you up onto the bed. While you waited for the doctor, he pulled up a chair next to you and rubbed your stomach soothingly. You closed your eyes, and another contraction starting. You gasped in pain, and Pietro was on his feet instantly, cupping your face in his hands.

“{What’s wrong, sweet girl? Did I hurt you?}”

“{Contraction}.” You grabbed his hand and squeezed. If it hurt him, he didn’t show any sign of it.

When the second doctor came in, she introduced herself. You lay back and tried not to think about anything as she checked your cervix. It didn’t hurt, but it wasn’t a pleasant sensation. Pietro was very tense beside you.

“That’s about 5cm,” said the doctor. “It’ll be a little while yet. The team will keep checking on you regularly to ensure everything is alright, but you can relax for now. I’ll have someone bring you something to eat to keep your energy up.”

“Thank you,” you said, breathing a sigh of relief.

With Pietro’s help, you pulled your legs out of the stirrups and shifted into a more comfortable position. Just as you’d sat up, Wanda came into the room.

“{Is it happening?}” she asked.

“{It’s happening},” Pietro confirmed. “{Well, sort of. They said it will take a while}.”

Wanda pulled up a chair. “{Well, I’m here. Anything you need, I’m here}.”

The two of them sat with you, keeping you company as you ate the light meal that a nurse brought you. Wanda remained in her seat, but Pietro couldn’t seem to stay sitting down. If there was ever a break in conversation, he was pacing and wringing his hands. It was starting to stress you out.

“Piet,” you said, and he was by your side in an instant, holding your hand.

“{Yes, my love?}”

“{Do you want to go for a run? Wanda can keep me company, and it’s not like anything’s happening right now}.”

Pietro scoffed at that. “{I’m not leaving you while you’re in labour}.”

“{The pacing is getting really agitating, Pietro},” said Wanda. She stood up and began to herd him towards the door. “{If anything happens with the baby, we will call you. Go use up some of that energy. Okay?}”

He looked at you over Wanda’s shoulder, and you nodded.

“{You could check on Odeta? I feel bad for foisting her onto Steve like that},” you said.

“{I will},” said Pietro. “{Call me if anything happens, okay? Anything}.”

“{We will},” said Wanda. Pietro sped from the room. She leant against the wall and sighed. “{I love my brother but he can be exhausting}.”

“{I love your brother too},” you said. “{That’s why I married him}.” You giggled. Even though you’d been married a couple of months now, it still felt surreal to say.

She returned to her seat beside you. “{Do you need anything?}”

You sighed. You didn’t think there was anything that concrete that would help right now. You were just stuck in waiting mode.

“{Just keep me company?}”

“{That I can do}.”

“{So… How are things going with Vision?}” It wasn’t something you could talk to her about in front of Pietro. He didn’t like or trust Vision, and you were getting sick of the two of them arguing about it.

“{Really well}.” She gave you a shy smile. “{I thought… I thought that maybe once Pietro was better, I would feel different. Like maybe I only liked him because he was kind to me when I needed him. But it’s not just that. He’s smart and he’s funny and sweet. And I think he really likes me}.”

“{I think he does too}.” You had seen the way he looked at her. “{I’m happy for you}.”

You were about to say more, but then another contraction hit you. You gasped in pain and threw out your hand.

“{Contraction?}” Wanda asked, grabbing your hand and squeezing it. Too pained to speak, you just nodded. “{Okay, okay, just breathe with me, okay?}” You tried to match her breathing. It helped a little, but it still hurt. You rode out the wave of the contraction, squeezing her hand, and when the pain subsided, you slumped back onto your pillows. “{Better?}”

“{Better.}

When Pietro returned, his hair was wet. He had changed into comfortable, clean clothes, and there were damp patches around his collar. He stooped to kiss your forehead, and you caught a whiff of his shampoo.

“{Did you shower?}” you asked, pushing a lock of damp hair behind his ear.

“{I hope that’s okay? I was sweaty after running around}.”

“{Of course it’s okay}.” You tugged him towards you so that you could kiss his cheek. “{How is Odeta?}”

“{Steve is happy to look after her for the moment, but if there are any issues, Tony has staff on hand to look after her. You don’t need to worry, my sweet girl}.”

He pecked you on the lips, and your eyes fluttered shut. “{Good}.”

*

To your eternal gratitude, the doctor let Wanda stay with you and Pietro throughout the birth. One of them stood on each side of the bed, clasping your hands tightly in their own.

“{You’re doing so well, sweet girl},” murmured Pietro, “{I love you so much}.”

You began to sob then. You had heard plenty of stories of women screaming horrible things at their husbands during birth, but you didn’t have that urge. Any anger you might’ve felt turned to despair. You were afraid. You weren’t ready for this. You were too young, and so was Pietro.

Gasping, you squeezed Wanda and Pietro’s hands again. Your chest was heaving with sobs, and you were stalled.

“{You need to breathe, sweetheart},” said Wanda, smoothing your hair out of your face. You were drenched in sweat, certain you looked a mess right now. You gasped and shuddered, but couldn’t steady yourself.

“{Breathe with me},” said Pietro, and the two of them started doing the breathing the doctor had showed you. You tried to mimic it, but sobs kept breaking through, disrupting the rhythm.

“{It hurts, Piet},” you whimpered.

“{I know, baby. But you’ve got to breathe}.”

“{You don’t know},” you said, feeling too weak to say anything else.

“You’re almost there,” said the doctor. “Push. Push.”

“I am pushing!” you yelled. Your heart hurt. You felt like you might die. Pietro was holding you, his arm around your shoulders and his hand gripping yours. He was whispering sweet words to you, but you could barely hear him. You pushed.

And then it was over.

You heard your baby crying, and your jaw dropped. Even through the haze of pain, something primal activated within you, and you knew you had to hold your child. Pietro wasn’t looking at you anymore. He was staring at the baby that the doctor was holding. It was a boy. Your son.

“You still need to pass the placenta,” said the doctor. A nurse brought your baby over and placed him into your arms. You blinked.

Nothing in the world could’ve prepared you for how you felt in that moment. He was so tiny and precious and strange. He barely looked human, and it would be a while before he could open his eyes. You could see Pietro in the ridge of his brow, the shape of his nose. Your heart had never felt so full.

They were still telling you to push. You did as you were told, although it now felt like you were just a gaping wound down there.

The nurse ushered Pietro over to cut the umbilical cord. His hand was trembling as he did so. When he was done, he stepped back, and Wanda grabbed his hand.

You don’t know how long they let you hold your son, but soon, the nurse returned to you.

“We’re just gonna get him cleaned up for you, okay?” she said. Reluctantly, you let her take him from your arms. Immediately, you felt empty. “And weigh him and just do a couple of minor tests. It’ll just be a couple of minutes.”

You watched forlornly as they took your son away. Pietro was by your side immediately again, taking your hand and kissing the top of your head.

It felt like an age before they handed him back to you, with all the blood and goop wiped free from him. The severed umbilical cord was tied in a knot, and they’d put a diaper on him. You lifted him up to your face and inhaled his smell.

“{Can I hold him?}” Pietro asked quietly. You had almost forgotten he was there. For a moment, you felt guilty. Pietro had been your world. But you had a son now. Your world was bigger.

Carefully, you passed him into Pietro’s arms. His eyes were very wide as he stared down at his son.

“{He’s beautiful},” he whispered.

*

Once he’d had his first feed, your son was a bit more active. He flailed and kicked around, trying to discover this strange new world around him using all of his limbs. He grabbed Pietro’s finger in his tiny fist and squeezed, and Pietro’s mouth fell open. You’d never forget the look in your husband’s eyes in that moment.

For your part, you were exhausted. You relished holding him, but you also enjoyed the breaks you got when Pietro and Wanda both took turns. Your entire body ached, you were hungry, you were sore and your nipples were leaking. You just wanted to sleep.

After a couple of hours, the doctors said you could go back to your room. You were exceptionally sore, but you could walk, so you managed to make it mostly unassisted.

Wanda held your son so that Pietro would be free to catch you if you stumbled. As soon as you got back to your rooms, the baby began to fuss and cry. Pietro plumped up some pillows for you on the couch, and Wanda handed the baby back to you so that you could feed him.

“{How are you feeling?}” Pietro asked, stroking your hair out of your face.

“{More exhausted that I’ve been in my life. And like I need a shower}.”

He made a sympathetic noise, and murmured, “{Soon}.”

When your son had calmed down again, Wanda took over. She was taking to her duties as aunt very quickly. She rocked him and cooed at him while Pietro helped you shower. The baby was still calm when you emerged, so you got into bed.

“{Wake me if he needs anything},” you said to Pietro, voice hazy with sleep.

“{I will, my love}.” He kissed your forehead.

As it turned out, you didn’t need Pietro to wake you. As soon as your baby made a soft crying sound, you were awake instantly, your breasts sore and leaking. At least you’d managed to get a few hours of sleep.

“{Give him to me},” you said to Pietro, who was trying to rock him back to sleep. He handed him over, and then shifted another pillow behind you so you could sit up more easily. “{Where’s Wanda?}”

“{Asleep}.” Pietro settled down next to you on the bed. “{It’s late. She said to call her if we need anything, any time}.”

You exhaled, eternally grateful for aunt Wanda.

*

When your son started being able to keep his eyes open, you decided it was time to introduce him to Odeta. Pietro was nervous about the idea at first, but Odeta had always been gentle with you. Besides, Pietro would be there. There was no way she would be able to hurt the baby with his superspeedy dad running interference.

Wanda opened the door, and Odeta bounded over to see you, barking. It had been days. She had clearly missed you. At the commotion, your son opened his eyes and began to cry.

“{Shh, shh, my love. My sweet boy},” you murmured. Odeta back off immediately, looking chastened and confused. She stared at the tiny bundle in your arms. “Odeta?”

Cautiously, she took a step forward. And then another. When she got close enough, she sniffed at your son. Pietro was right beside you, ready to act if anything went wrong. Odeta nuzzled against your hand. You petted her gently.

“{Odeta, this is Olek. Olek, meet Odeta}.” The two of you agreed that you were going to name your son after Pietro’s father. It had seemed right. Wanda had teared up when you told her.

Olek stared at Odeta. He reached out his tiny hand and touched her nose, and then pulled back when he found that it was wet. Odeta stayed very still throughout the exchange. Carefully, you guided Olek’s hand so that he stroked the fur at the top of her nose. Again, Odeta stayed frozen. When you were done, Olek closed his eyes, and went straight to sleep.

From then, it was hard to drag Odeta from Olek’s side. She slept under his crib, with the posture of a guard dog. It brought you a lot of comfort to know that if anyone wanted to hurt Olek, that would not only have to go through you, your super-powered husband, and an aunt with mind control powers, but also a faithful guard dog.

And sometimes those early weeks were hard. Your body ached with the pains of childbirth. Your breasts were constantly sore and swollen and leaking. And sometimes you couldn’t stop your son from crying, no matter how hard you tried.

But you got through it. Because you weren’t alone. You had Pietro. And Wanda. Odeta. The rest of the Avengers.

And more importantly, you knew you could get through it, because you were a survivor. You had survived Sokovia, after all. You all had.

---

Notes:

Thank you for reading. Who knows, maybe some day I'll write a sequel, but I definitely need a break rn

[prismadog]

looks like I'm on a roll for writing fics and whatnot cause I just busted out a Double Life fic featuring our poor little meow meows Jimmy and Tango.

Here's a link to Ao3 [idk why by ao3 feels green to me]

warnings: mostly dialogue, no swearing tho Tango does say "bullcrap" a lot

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

the Canary and the Coalminer

It was late, really late, but Jimmy was wide awake, more awake than he’s ever been. How can he not be with all that’s happened since the start of the game? Since his first death? How can he be okay when he’s the cause of another person’s death? When he holds that same person’s life in his hands?

How can he just be okay with any of this?

Tango died because he’s bound to Jimmy. 

Plain and simple.

If Tango was with anyone else, neither of them would be on yellow right now. If Tango weren’t tied to Jimmy, then he’d still have his first life - Jimmy probably wouldn’t, being the canary and all that, but at least Tango wouldn’t be yellow.

But someone else would.

If Tango wasn’t his soulbound, then someone else would be, and they’d still be on their yellow lives because they would be bound to Jimmy.

“Hey,” a quiet voice says in the dark. “You all right over there?”

“Yeah,” he croaks out. “Fine.”

“You know that the bond is more than just our lives, right?”

Jimmy glances over - in the darkness, he can just barely make out Tango’s figure on the bed. “What?”

Blankets shift and a light flickers on. Tango looks at him, leaning on his arm, yellow eyes unblinking. A stray thought of ‘red suits him better’ flits through Jimmy’s mind before disappearing.

“The soulbond, I feel what you feel, and that’s not just pain and hunger. It’s emotions too, it seems,” Tango says. “I know you’re upset because I can feel it.”

“Oh,” he looks away. “Sorry, dude.”

“What’s wrong? What’s eating you?”

Jimmy plays with the edge of his blanket, thinking, ‘how can he tell him’? “If I tell you, promise not to laugh?”

“Promise.”

He inhales deeply and releases it slowly, as slowly as he can. “I’m a harbinger of death,” he says. 

Silence.

For one tick.

Two ticks.

Three.

Then it’s broken easily by a loud cackle. 

“I’m serious!” he exclaims, sitting up to face his partner. “I am a harbinger of death. I’m a bad omen.”

Tango just laughs more, body shaking. He’s trying to say something too but the words just get lost. 

“You promised you wouldn’t laugh.”

“Sorry, haha, sorry,” the other player sits up too, trying to force the chuckles back. “Sorry, it’s just, that’s such a stupid thing to say.” A few quieter laughs escape him.

“It’s not stupid when it’s true.”

“You really believe that?”

“Of course I do,” he says. He’s not looking at Tango anymore. “It’s what everyone says, and they’re right. I cause others to die.”

“Bullcrap.”

He looks at him again, feeling Tango’s disbelief in his chest. “It’s true! Why do you think you died earlier?”

“Ninja Creeper to the face?”

“No! It’s because you’re soulbound to me! To the harbinger of death!”

The man just chuckles in response. “You’re no harbinger of anything.”

“I am!” Why doesn’t he believe him when the proof is right in front of him?

“Okay, Mr. Harbinger, why do you think you caused my death?”

“Because you’re soulbound to me. I always get people killed.”

Tango hums. “Not a good enough answer. Tell me more.”

Jimmy just narrows his eyes. “And tell you what? All the times I’ve caused others to die? How my death causes everything to go to hell? How my very existence means that everyone else will die?”

“Yes. Tell me all of that.”

Infuriating. That’s what Jimmy’s thinking right now. “Fine,” he grumbles. “There was 3rd Life where I was the first one to permadie and everyone started fighting, like really fighting, like to the death. Then there was Last Life where I again, died first, and again, everyone went all kill-crazy. Then there was Grian’s 100 hours hardcore series where my being there caused him to die. And now there’s Double Life where just being bonded to me caused you to die first.

“Do you get it now?”

Tango hums again but Jimmy knows that he still doesn’t believe him. “Bullcrap.”

“It’s not bullcrap! It’s the tru-”

“Bullcrap!” he cuts him off.

“I’m being ser-”

“Bullcrap!”

“Stop it and listen to me!” Jimmy exclaims while Tango just chants, “Bullcrap. Bullcrap. Bullcrap.”

He grabs his pillow and throws it as hard as he can at his partner, his partner who very easily catches it with a grin on his face. They stare at each other for a long moment.

“Are you done?” Jimmy grumbles.

“Only if you’re done spouting utter nonsense.”

“Why won’t you believe me?”

“Because you’re wrong?”

“I’m not though!”

Tango plays with the pillow, kneading it between his hands. “You are. You’re wrong. I don’t know why you think you’re this harbinger of death, but you’re wrong.”

“I just told you why.”

“But that’s not really a reason to think that. It’s all just circumstance and coincidence.”

“It’s not.”

“It is.”

“3rd Life -”

Tango interrupts, “Everyone was going to war already. Kinda hard not to when there was the Red King and Joel, both of which were extremely mad and kill-crazy.”

“And Last Life?”

“Last Life was chaos from the start. All those extra lives made people crazy.”

Jimmy frowns. “They weren’t crazy until I permadied.”

“They were. How did Grian die in his hardcore series?”

“Grian, Joel, and me were in a woodland mansion and a pillager came out of nowhere. It killed Grian immediately.”

“Then that was Grian’s fault, not your’s. Play with fire and you burn the whole forest down.”

“But -” his pillow hits him in the face. He glares at Tango who just smiles back.

“No buts. You guys went in there, it’s only logistical that someone would’ve died. The fact that it was Grian doesn’t mean a darn thing.”

“Okay, fine. What about when you died earlier? Got an “explanation” for that too?”

Tango grins at him. “Hubris and stupidity,” he laughs. “I made the choice of going into the caves without anyone to watch my back. If I had been a little more careful or even taken someone with me, we wouldn’t be on our yellow lives right now.”

“You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”

“I do.”

“And there’s no convincing you?”

“Nope.”

Jimmy drops his face into his pillow and grumbles incoherently. When he resurfaces, he asks, “Why aren’t you like the others? They all believe that I’m the canary, that I’m a bad omen, so why can’t you?”

“Because it’s complete and utter nonsense?”

“It’s not!”

“It is.”

“How? How is it nonsense?”

Tango plays with the edge of his blanket. “The thing ‘everyone’,” he uses air quotes, “calls you -”

“The canary in the coal mine?”

“Yeah, that. People get that phrase wrong all the time. A lot of people seem to believe that the canaries always died in the mines when exposed to the gas down there, but they’re, for the most part, wrong.

“I mean, some probably died. But a lot of miners took care of their canaries. They had these special cages made where they could close the bird off from the big bad nasty poisoned air and give it good ol’ fresh as a daisy oxygen to help it feel better. Kinda like a spacesuit but for canaries.”

Jimmy stares at him for a long moment. A special cage for canaries that’s like a spacesuit? “How…” he starts but trails off immediately. Is that common knowledge? Why does Tango know that? 

“Oh! I learned about it from a guy on Hermitcraft!” Tango chuckles. “We have this really awesome old guy who practically lives and breathes mining. He knows everything there is to know on not only mining, but also the different kinds of stone and ores that’re in the world. He told us once about the whole ‘canary in the coalmine’ thing and how miners actually took care of their birds.”

“I…I see.”

Tango nods. “So, everyone calling you the ‘canary in the coalmine’ or ‘harbinger of death’ or ‘bad omen’ is completely wrong.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because while it’s true that canaries were used in the mines, they didn’t always die. They were just a means to tell the miners that there was danger up ahead, like a warning system. They protected the miners and in turn, the miners protected them.

“That’s why you’re not a bad omen, Jimmy, or a harbinger of death. Yes, you die, but that’s not your fault, and it in no way means that you caused the other players to die.”

“But -”

Tango cuts him off with a loud ‘uh-uh’. “No buts. I’m speaking truths here and I won’t have you putting yourself down anymore, got that?”

“But, Tango, I -”

“No,” Tango interrupts, eyes narrowing. “It’s not your fault others died or the world went crazy. You are not to blame. The fact you died first only means that you didn’t have someone to watch your back or stand by you.

“But hey, if you really wanna be the canary,” he stands and joins Jimmy on his bed, “Then I’ll be the miner that keeps you alive.”

He just stares at him, his heart beating in tune with Tango’s and all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings blooming in his chest. He’s not sure if those feelings belong to him or Tango. “Tango,” he says quietly, softly, his heart melting.

And Tango just smiles back at him. “So, whaddya say? Will you protect me and I protect you?”

All he can do is nod. He feels like crying. All the lives before, everyone teased him for being the first to die. And now he has Tango who’s not teasing him or blaming him for his death earlier.

“Y-yeah,” he says, voice cracking on that simple word.

His partner holds out his arms, “Cuddles?”

He can’t help but laugh and wrap his arms around the other player. Tango’s embrace is strong, strong but comforting and warm.

They are partners in this world together. 

They are soulmates, bonded together until the end of their lives.

And they will protect each other until their last breath.

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

[yjhariani]

Movie Night Banter

Jason Todd X Reader (GN) Word Count: ±760 Warning: Mostly dialogue. I am not used to writing in this form of sentences, might be awkward.

A/N: This is another chance where I submit to my Kahlil Gibran obsession and I do need something to make me feel better about myself lately so I write something that I can indulge something that I learn from college into. As always, further context and resource will be at the end of the piece.

Sometimes, movie night goes emotional. This time, surprisingly, is because of a book to film adaptation. Book to animated film to be exact.

It does sound like something not even Damian would choose to watch. However, it all started last night. Also, yes, Damian was involved.

"This week's theme is book to film adaptation. I say we go with The Portrait of the Lady on Fire," Jason begins.

"No."

"Anything Stephen King?"

"No!"

"Give me suggestions, then," Jason whines.

"My friend just returned from Bali and they did recommend some local books and films. I think they mentioned something about 5 cm and Rainbow Troop. You know, it's just that Rainbow Troop one isn't about queer people," Y/N explains.

"We have foreign film next week," Jason shrugs.

Y/N takes a moment, really thinking about what they think will make Jason be a little emotional.

"What about," Y/N puts a finger on Jason's chest, "The Prophet?"

"I don't think the Bible counts as a book in this category, darlin'," Jason chuckles.

"First, I'm glad you got that right. Kahlil Gibran indeed was a Christian. Second, it's nothing religious. Third, let's invite Damian," Y/N lists, with a mischievous smile.

"What?" Jason raises an eyebrow.

"Oh, Mr I-Spend-My-Free-Time-Reading-Poetry never touched The Prophet?" Y/N scoffs, but immediately cringes, "That sounds wrong."

"Oh, that one," Jason exhales.

Y/N nods in confirmation.

After a moment of consideration, Jason nods.

"Okay. We're not inviting Damian, tho," Jason states. "Can you at least give me a recap of the book? I don't think I'll have time to read it."

"I can't. It's too complex. I'm surprised you haven't read it," Y/N says.

"It's not really my domain," Jason admits.

"One time you made an elaborate presentation about Mahmoud Darwish because you interpret his poem differently from Damian," Y/N recalls.

"We don't talk about it," Jason points out.

***

Now, almost twenty-four hours later, Jason and Y/N are in the middle of the film and Jason aggressively pauses the film. He brushed his hair back with his fingers as he leans forwards, putting his elbows on his knees.

Y/N follows the gestures, a little concern. They put a hand on Jason's back.

"Are you okay?" Y/N asks.

"I can't continue watching this," Jason says, turning towards Y/N, his eyes darkened. "I need to read the book first and that," Jason points at the screen, "if we ever... get married, I want that to be read in our wedding."

Y/N lets out a chuckle.

"Now, give me the book," Jason seriously says.

"Oh, Jason, we can continue watch—"

"I can't," Jason insists. "I need the book!"

"I don't have it, darling," Y/N calmly says. "There's ebooks on the internet."

"No! I want the book," Jason clarifies.

Y/N looks at Jason, seeing his frown. There is a sense of need in his eyes. With that, Y/N holds Jason's hand.

"Damian has it," Y/N informs.

Jason huffs out a blow of air.

"I'll head to his place, then. I'm sorry we have to cancel tonight," Jason says.

"Oh," Y/N chuckles, "I'll keep watching and by the time you return, I'd have finished the movie, sobbing my eyes out, and you're a few pages into the book, also sobbing your eyes out. We'd be crying together all night long. Won't that be romantic?"

"I won't... cry," Jason emphasised.

***

Y/N wakes up with Jason cuddled on their chest. Looking at the window, they see that it is morning already, with the sunshine sliding underneath the curtain.

"Hey," Y/N softly greets, brushing Jason's hair with their fingers.

As a response, Jason lets out a hum without opening his eyes.

"Were you up all night?" Y/N asks.

"I finished the book and watched the movie," Jason murmurs.

"Yeah?" Y/N replies. "How long'd you cry?"

"I didn't cry," Jason insists, "longer than fifteen minutes."

Y/N exhales a bit of air through their nose.

"I won't tell anyone," Y/N promises before pressing a kiss onto Jason's forehead.

Jason lets out a hum before he mumbles, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Y/N replies. "Now, I'm gonna get up and cook breakfast."

"Let's be together when the white wings of death scatter our days," Jason quotes.

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it goes," Y/N chuckles.

"Just... five minutes? Until I fall asleep?" Jason bargains.

Y/N cannot help but smile.

"Alright," Y/N agrees, once more kissing Jason's forehead, which Jason returns with a kiss on their chest.

The Prophet (Book; Project Gutenberg)

The Prophet (Movie; Trailer)

On Marriage (from the book)