#to be clear 95% of my asks are fine

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

I occasionally get asks requesting that I analyze/critique very specific fan content and it's so weird. My policy - as stated in my pinned post - is the same as Jacques'. I am not here to fight with or critique other fans. I'm here to have fun analyzing a bad TV show. The first is bullying. The second is not.

You guys do understand the difference between punching up and punching down right? That dunking on a multi-billion dollar commercial property is massively different from dunking on a small-time creator who makes very little or no money off of the work that they're sharing for free? It doesn't matter how bad something is, just because something is out in the public sphere doesn't mean that public criticism is appropriate. There's also a huge difference between critiquing a fan theory that's pervaded the fandom and critiquing a specific person's theory/take.

This is why you'll only see me reblog fan content that I agree with, people who directly responded to my stuff/send me an ask, or things that come from official sources. That last category is always reblogged with no comments or neutral comments because it's posted by a fan, not an official source, so I'm saving it for reference and will give my negative opinions on a post that isn't directly linked to the fan's activity feed unless their original post made it clear that they were also negatively inclined to whatever they posted.

The only exception to the above is if the ask is complementing another fan in a way I agree with (ex: I loved the way X talked about this and it matched the issue you brought up in Z post, but is there a way to fix this?) That's not bullying. That's a positive and appropriate interaction. So long as that's the approach you're taking, you're probably fine. Don't overthink it. I can always just ignore your ask if it crosses my boundaries.

I'll also point out that, while it's fine to critique commercial properties, it's really not okay to send that critique to those involved with the property unless they're directly inviting it. Sending uninvited critique to a creator is always rude and incredibly arrogant no matter how successful they are. They didn't ask for your feedback, so don't give it to them. Share it with that property's fandom and have fun! You're not going to fix Miraculous by harassing the writers on the website formally known as Twitter.

Basically, have manners people! And also remember that I'm a person with a life who does this for fun and for free. Sending me a YouTube video and asking me to watch it then give feedback is wildly inappropriate on multiple levels.

But like, do you really purposely ignore fanart that has Adrien in it?

Why is this what you’re all so fixated on? (not just you, I’ve been getting other asks about this)

If I like an art, I will reblog it

If someone specifically links me to art (or any other fan work really) unprompted and puts me on the spot to give my opinion on it, regardless of whether I like it or not, I will not respond to it

I’ve said it before regarding someone asking for my opinion on another blog’s essay, I do not want to directly critique fan content. If I organically happen to come across fan content that I do feel like critiquing, I will do so in a vague manner and not name any urls so as to not put the creator in a position where they’re in any way pressured to respond or defend themselves. Quite frankly, the only reason I recently posted that one ask with a link to a video essay on it was bc I was too lazy at the moment to screenshot and blur out the link and make a separate post to notify y’all that I do not go anywhere near ML yt and don’t plan to anytime soon.

So no, I do not go out of my way to ignore art of specific characters, I just don’t appreciate being pushed to interact with it

[evie-sturns]

needed this - Matt Sturniolo

summary: after a month-long business trip, you finally return home to your boyfriend matt. you find out he hasn't came since you left, obviously you have to help him.

warnings: smut, very sub!matt, overstimulating, swearing.

-------------------°°••....••°°--------------------

i've been away with work for just over a month, meaning matt's had the house to himself, i'm finally arriving home this evening.

7:54pm

i twist the key into the white door, pushing it open. the scent i'm so used to filling my nose. "matt!" i call out, placing my bag down by the front door and bending over to unstrap my heels.

"i missed you." he says with a grin, speed walking up to me and wrapping his arms around me. i bury my face into his chest, "how was it?" he asks with a wide smile.

"it was good! how was the empty house?" i say, grabbing matts hand and dragging him upstairs.

"lonley as shit without chris and matt aswell, they've been filming with other creators for ages." matt says with a sigh as we walk into our shared bedroom.

"oh yeah, i saw that tara and shit meetup with them" i say, pulling my minidress off over my head.

i can feel matts eyes laying on me as i scavenge through our closet for anything comfier to wear, giving i've been in dresses for 5 weeks straight.

matt clears his throat, "movie?"

i nod, "yeah, yeah just pick whatever you want sweetheart."

matt flicks on the tv at the end of our bed, i unclasp my bra, letting it fall to my feet. i grab one one matts shirt, pulling it down past my head,

i jump into bed beside matt, my leg resting across his waist and lap as i cuddle to his side. the netflix intro blares through the room

"jesus christ!!" i laugh, grabbing the remote and turning down the volume. "my bad." matt says with a smile, shaking his head and pulling up the white fuzzy blanket over us.

-

8:23pm

i shift the leg which is laying across him, i feel matt grow tense under me, "you okay?" i whisper, looking up at him. "yeah- no yeah- yeah no i'm good." matt stammers, i laugh slightly,

"matt whats wrong?" i say with a giggle, "no- no yeah, shit i'm fine." he says again, his cheeks a deep red as he fidgets with his rings.

"matt." i say with a serious tone. "stop!- i'm fine!" he says, getting worked up.

i sit up in bed abrubtly, the blanket falling off my body, i look down at matts crotch,

hes hard.

he yanks the blanket up over his lap, i pull it back down and straddle his thighs, staring into his eyes. "why are you hard?" i ask quietly, "i'm not!" he instantly replies, his eyes drifting away from mine.

i palm him through his sweatpants, squeezing lightly, he lets out a breathless groan. "so.. what was that?" i tease him,

"i dont know? just your leg moving.." matt says, rubbing his eyes with his fists,

"you got hard from my leg?" i laugh slightly, he nods.

"thats okay." i assure him, reaching for his waistband and toying with it, his breathing intensifies quickly, "why are you so sensitive?" i ask, "just been different since you left a month ago" matt says quietly

"different like how?" i push,

"haven't- you know.." he sighs, "i don't know actually." i reply cheekily.

he doesn't reply, his eyes fixed on my hand which is resting just under his waistband. "tell me the last time you touched yourself" i say, matt goes redder somehow.

"month ago." he says, barely audible "thats okay." i say, tugging his waistband down. "please.." matt whines slightly, "i know." i say, pulling his waistband down to his mid-thighs.

"you want this?" i ask, lifting my self off his thighs to pull my panties off, "jesus, obviously." he says, i shoot him a 'watch your tone' look and he instantly goes quiet.

i sit up, hovering myself above matts tip, which is now red. his hands stay by his sides, i'm 95% sure his brain is so fogged he doesn;t know what to do with them anymore.

i grab his cold hands, placing them on my waist. i stay sitting above his tip for a few more seconds, its tempting to see how worked up i can get matt. he trys to guide me down, but i resist.

"please." he says, "matthew, stop whining and tell me what the fuck you want." i say, "please, you know what i want" matt says shyly, i stay still, waiting for him to practically beg.

"ride me, please?" he breathes out, i can see his stomach jolting up and down from his desperate breaths underneath his white sweater.

i nod, moving my hair to one side and slowly sinking onto matt, he squeezes his eyes shut, his hands dropping from my waist and balling up the white fuzzy blanket. i slowly take more of his length before bottoming out, sitting comfortably on his dick as matt lets out small whimpers

"you alright?" i ask, grabbing his hand which is squeezing the sheets.

he nods his head, "look at me, matt." i say, he opens his eyes, letting in small breaths. "calm. down." i say, he nods again as his top teeth sink into his pink bottom lip.

i slowly start to bounce on him, his eyes stay fixed on me as i quicken my pace. i throw my head back as i balance my hands on his thighs behind me.

"close- really close." matt squeezes out, "no, not yet matt." i tell him.

"i can't, oh my fuck-" he whines, his grip on my waist tightening, the cold metal of his rings pressing against the warmth of my skin.

"you can, and will." i say, placing a hand on his stomach to balance myself as i continue to ride him. he lets out soft groans as he throws his head back into the pillows, his hair flopping.

"your okay, your doing so well." i say with a small moan as I repeatedly hit my g-spot.

suddenly i feel matt release, coating my insides. matt rubs his eyes "did i tell you you could do that?" i say, looking into matts eyes.

"im sorry, shit- i'm so sorry." he rambles, instead of pulling off him, i chase my own orgasm. he groans from overstimulation, "too much, sensitive-" he says,

"is it my fault you came early?" i say as i sit down on his cock, rubbing my clit against his pelvic bone.

he shakes his head, somewhat arching his back off the bed as his hands dig into my waist. i let my head falll foward as i look down at matts hands,

"fuck it hurts." matt says,

we have an established safe word, he knows he can use it whenever he needs, but he's not.

"you want me to stop?" i ask, he pauses for a moment before letting out a breathless "no. fuck please dont-"

i continue to bounce on his length, i feel the pit in my stomach growing as my cheeks flush, matt has mutiple tears falling down his cheeks.

"i think i'm close-" matt says, my eyebrows twist with a small laugh "again?" i question, "yeah- shit." matt groans .

i clench around him, i think thats enough for matt to finish. the knot in my stomach snaps as i feel matt finish again. i collapse down onto matts chest as i attempt to catch my breath, he reaches down and pulls out of me with a wince.

"you okay? did i hurt you?" i say as i rest my face on matts shoulder.

"yeah- no im fine, needed that a lot." he says, his fingers tracing mindless shapes on my back.

after a handful of minutes i sit up on matts lower stomach before lifting myself off him, stepping down onto the plush of our carpet. "c'mon, lets get you cleaned up." i say, wiping matts face with one hand, matt stays still on the bed.

"matt? stand up" i say, matt has a small smile on his face, he wipes his eyes before starting.

"i cant.. stand."

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

[katnissdoesnotfollowback]

WIP Wednesday ~ WIP File Game

Um hi there. *waves nervously* Soooo over the past two months, I've been tagged multiple times by different people to partake in various WIP Wednesday posts and WIP file games. Sadly, I haven't had as much time for fandom as I would have liked recently, and I've just let those tags sit there unanswered. Thank you for thinking of me @mega-aulover, @unnamednarrator, and @thesweetnessofspring.

I'm going to use this post to answer both types of tags, and the people I tag in turn, please choose which version you'd rather play, play both!, or play neither.

First... a snippet from chapter 40 of Spellbound:

“Peeta! Let me go!” There’s the metallic thunk of a heavy round. Hands yanking on my wrists. I stare at the body. His jaw blown off, silencing him forever. Eyes empty. Hollow. Gone. “Peeta?” That’s when the trembling starts. I blink and the shadows recede. His face gone, replaced with Haymitch’s skull gleaming oddly in the flashlight on the cave floor. The jawbone fallen at an odd angle.  Fingers dig into my wrists. Deep enough that it hurts. The pain in my wrists and my knee somehow grounds me. Pulls me away from that day in the sun baked streets and back into this one. “Peeta?” Katniss asks. I can barely make out her shape in the gloom, and I shake my head. Who dropped the flashlight? When did we wind up on our knees?  “I’m fine.”

And now for the more difficult part. Here's a list of my current WIP files. If it's listed as a story on AO3, I hope to finish it this year. If it's listed as not yet posted to AO3, then I'm hoping to start posting it/finish it this year. The third list is a bunch of random ideas that may never see the light of day, but I've included them for funsies.

Feel free to send an ask to receive a snippet if I have one, a summary, a long winded excuse for why it's still not done yet... I'm working tonight but I have tomorrow off and will answer asks then!

Stories on AO3:

Outside Chance

Outside Expectations

Outside the Lines

Spellbound

Where the Stars Crumble to Life

One Last Hope

Everything You Are

Ampersand (Series)

Fickle Games

No Reason

Holiday Havoc Ensues

Smutercising

Stories Not on AO3:

Bound to Get Burned

Caught in the Net of the World

The Courtship of Lambs

Crush My Bones with Bittersweet

Grief Catches Us All

Hand porn

In the Waiting Dark (the Red Moon Rises)

Kiss Me In the Dark

Making Dents in the Wall

Septimus

Sin Bin

Small Turn Ons

Spiral & Collission / Ellipses & Ignition

Tangled AU

Through the Eyes of My Love

To Know, Not to Be Known

Turning of the Seasons

You + Me

Random Files:

Anyways

Arrive Broken

The Art of Peeling Pearls

Autumn Delight

Awkward

Bed Head

Bend Me, Shake Me Any Way You Want Me

The Cold Side of the Bed

Dear Diary

Everlark on the Prairie

Fluffy Menace

Full Zeroes

Holiday Pet Sitters

Hypocrites

Kiss Me in the Dark

Kissing Clause

Last Dance

Long Have I Waited, My Darling

Love in the Library

Nude Dude Foods

On Lockdown

Peeta POV

Scrawled Upon My Skin

Shattered Into Ash

Seven Feathers

The Strong Arm of Justice

The Touch of Time

Under the Pink Sky

Yes, Chef

And Finally, for the Truly Brave (I mean it, don't do this if you have very clear lines of what you find acceptable in fanfiction), I will answer questions about my folder titled "What Is This Shit?!?!", where I put all of the weird, dark, morally questionable fic ideas that I'm certain about 95% of you all would absolutely hate. Actually some of them are not that bad, but others really are a dumpster fire. Send a number between 1 and 66 for a potentially unpleasant surprise, if you dare.

Now for the tags! I tag @mega-aulover @unnamednarrator, and @thesweetnessofspring because it's been over a week since each of you tagged me mwahahaha. Also tagging @shesasurvivor @louezem and @burkygirl (I've seen you lurking in my notes, don't think I didn't. Hope you've had a restful break from fandom and glad to see you around here again.)

[bookish-bogwitch]

Thank you @roomwithanopenfire, @rimeswithpurple, @blackberrysummerblog, @nausikaaa, @larkral,

@hushed-chorus, @alexalexinii, @monbons, @whatevertheweather, @run-for-chamo-miles,

@artsyunderstudy, @mooncello, @brilla-brilla-estrellita, @forabeatofadrum, and @aristocratic-otter for the tags over the past few weeks. I've had a crazy month (90% in crazy a good way) and too frazzled to come up with my own WIP posts, but have enjoyed reading yours and being included.

Here are six ten moody little sentence from Chapter 11 of Basil Pitch's Diary. (In case you missed it, I posted Ch. 10, September, a few weeks ago, then fled the country.) Baz is hanging in in Niall and Dev's room:

The last time I was here with Niall, he’d told me to hold out for more than ear scritches and the occasional carrot. Now we sat on his bed with a chessboard between us. “Baz,” Niall said quietly. “What are you doing?”  “Beating you.” I moved my queen to menace his remaining bishop. “With Snow, I mean.” Niall did that thing where the rook and king hop around, which shouldn’t be allowed, and I realized he’d won. Again. Somewhere, in a parallel universe, there is a me who grew up with someone to play against, demolishing a Niall who never went to math camp.

Below the cut: musing, a posting plan, and more tags.

Musing: I've actually written a ton since the last chapter even though I've been AWOL, but for a while no matter what I wrote, Baz felt out of character. I'd write a scene, like it, and then think "but why is he doing this?" Then I'd rewrite with Baz behaving completely differently, and that also felt OOC.

I worried that I'd somehow doomed myself with inconsistent characterization, but then I figured it out: Baz at this point is deeply inconsistent. He presents himself to the world one way, he tells the reader / himself that he's something else, and deep down he's a secret third thing. And sometimes his masks slip.

To some extent this is every unreliable narrator. But boyo has REALLY tangled himself up at this point. Something's gotta give. Until it does--which it will, soon--I have to be very clear in my mind, even if Baz isn't, about which Baz is driving the Baz at any given moment.

A lot of you can do that sort of thing intuitively. I can't. So I've been building this out (showing you just the headers b/c spoilers):

This might stultify some (most?) of you. For me, though, it's freeing. When my brain isn't trying to keep track of everything, my imagination can unfurl.

"'Everything'?" you ask. "This isn't that plotty a fic." It's not, but it's already 2.5x longer than anything else I've written, which means developing skills I haven't needed before. Anyway, my BPD chart and I are having fun. We're very happy together.

Posting Plan

I pushed myself to get Ch. 10 up before leaving home for three weeks, because Ch. 9 had ended on such a wretched note. While I was happy to have gotten it up, I didn't love the self-imposed time crunch (though betas @cutestkilla, @facewithoutheart, and @thewholelemon were fuckin' heroes). Feeling rushed had me stressing and second-guessing choices that were probably fine.

My plan now is to pause updates until I have at least a very rough first draft of the final chapter, then post it all at regular intervals. I know a longish pause means some folks who'd been reading along will wait until it's complete, if they return at all. To those folks--sorry, and I get it, and thank you for reading in the first place, and I love you.

Tags and shy waves to @brendughh  @beastmonstertitan  @carryonsimoncarryonbaz  @carryonmylovelies  @creepyspice

@comesitintheclover @cows4247 @confused-bi-queer @artsyunderstudy@chen-chen-chen-again-chen

@chronicallyhomoerotic @drowninginships @dragoneggos @excalisbury @emeryhall

@erzbethluna @ebbpettier @fight-surrender @fatalfangirl @gay-at-ikea

@fiend-for-culture @forabeatofadrum @foolofabookwyrm-activated @arthurkko @j-nipper-95

@gekkoinapeartree @goblindad-emoshit @henreyettah @hertragedyconnoisseur @hushed-chorus

@icarus-n-flames @ineffable-grimm-pitch @ic3-que3n @ionlydrinkhotwater @iamamythologicalcreature

 @ileadacharmedlife @ivelovedhimthroughworse @shrekgogurt @im-gettingby @youarenevertooold

@monbons @mooncello @raenestee @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @messofthejess

[jeneseoquoi]

nct 127 | '95 line + bad days

(note: johnny & yuta went to support taeyong’s shalala mucore prerecording so i had to take the moment to write a little something about my favorite trio. hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it! if you enjoyed it, tell me in the tags/comments/ask box. and if you want me to write it for any of the other members, let me know and i'll try my best to get it done! a little long so most of it is under the cut.)

johnny: "are you okay?" you questioned, cornering the tall man in the kitchen.

johnny had barely spoken to you when you got home from work which was odd. it was even more odd when he spent the past fifteen minutes slamming any and every drawer & cabinet door in the apartment.

"i'm fine." he says, grabbing a random pot from the cabinet and pushing past you.

"are you suuuuure?" you ask as he opens and slams yet another drawer. "you seem a litt-"

"i said i'm fine!" he cut you off sharply causing you to furrow your brows at his obvious passive aggressiveness and tone of his voice.

"okay look, i know you well enough to tell that you're not fine. i get if you don't want to talk about it right now, but you could just say that instead of slamming around everything in our house and raising your voice at me."

he stayed silent, opting to gaze at the floor to avoid your glare.

"i'll be in our bedroom if and when you're ready to talk." you say, pushing past him toward the hallway.

it's less than an hour before you hear a faint set of knocks, followed by the bedroom door creaking open. you look up from your position on the bed to see your sheepish looking man. closing the book in front of you to acknowledge his presence, you wait for him to speak first.

"i'm sorry." he pouts, "i had a shitty day at work, but i shouldn't have taken it out on you." you nod accepting his apology before opening your arms to him.

"come here. you wanna tell me what happened?" he nods, making his over to the bed and settling into your arms. he tells you about his day, snuggling in closer as you thread your fingers through his hair.

"thank you for listening babe. i really needed this."

"of course baby," you cup his cheeks, "i'm always here for you no matter what."

he smiles, leaning up toward you. "i love you."

you smile back at him, before pressing your lips to his.

"i love you."

taeyong: "tae?" you called, slowly opening the door to the bedroom you share. he doesn't answer, but the blanket on your guys' bed clearly outlines his frame under it. making your way over, you carefully pull back the blanket to see your boyfriend face first into his pillow.

"is everything okay love?" you gently nudge him, taking a seat on the bedside. he finally turns to face you, revealing his puffy, red eyes. a clear sign he's been crying.

"oh my god! taeyong! what happened?!" he shakes his head, letting you know he doesn't want to talk about it, but you know it's weighing heavy on his heart by the sheer sadness in his eyes.

you take the moment to hold your hand out to him which he hesitantly takes. "come on." you say as he allows you to drag him out of the bed, and into the bathroom.

you turn on the shower, undressing before stepping in, and he follows suit. you face him, watching as the water cascades down his shoulders and you know he's trying so hard to keep the tears at bay.

"it's okay. you can cry in here and nobody will know. not even me."

as if your words broke the dam, tears start to spill from his eyes as the sobs rack through his body. you wrap your arms around his waist, pulling him into a hug as he nuzzles his face into your neck.

it's a while before taeyong finally settles into your embrace, his sobs turning to quiet sniffles. he buries his face further into your neck as if to muffle his next words, but you hear it clearly.

"thank you."

yuta: you know he had a bad day. he'd practically said as much when he got home. still, he was doing his best to keep up a happy persona.

tonight was your guys' monthly date night and you know how much yuta (and you) look forward to spending the much needed time together. see, even though you guys finally live together, it's not often the both of you get to do something special with each other due to his pretty strict, busy schedule. that's why early on in your relationship, you made a pact that no matter what, unless he was away on tour, you guys would have at least one night a month dedicated to a special date night.

these nights mean the most to yuta, so you could understand how he would be frustrated that of all days for him to have a bad one, it had to be on day night. yet, even though it was evident to you in his mannerisms and eyes, he refused to let on that he was even a tiny bit upset. which, to be honest, was making you feel a little worse. you never want your partner to suppress his feelings for your sake.

throughout dinner you tried to subtly ask him about his day or how he was feeling, but knowing your tactics, he brushed them off or just plainly changed the subject.

dinner and dessert went by with no luck of getting yuta to open up, and before you knew it, you guys were walking out of the restaurant and toward his car to make the journey home.

he opened the passenger door for you, before shutting it and making his way around to get into the driver's side seat.

"yuta." you called. he hummed in response, letting you know that he was listening. "can you look at me?"

he turned his head to face you, confusion present on his face. you reached over the center console to lace your fingers with his and continued.

"i know you had a bad day. and i know you think by hiding it, you're saving our date night, but i want you to know that you never have to pretend you're okay with me. i appreciate you trying your best to be happy for tonight, but i'd much rather you stay true to how you're really feeling, even if it's date night."

he sighs deeply, squeezing your hand, then bringing it up to his lips.

"you're right. i shouldn't and won't hide from you. i promise to tell you all about it on our way home."

[tokischaaaaa]

in mandy’s newest vlog she shows a full length mirror infront of hamzahs bed and i was wondering (if you’re comfortable of course) write something smutty about that 🥰🥰🙏

ofcc <333

espejo;mirror

!hamzah x !poc reader

warning! : smut, fluff

word count!: 698

it's a friday night, 95 degrees, i ain't got ---

y/n was gearing up for a late-night shopping spree at a new mall a few blocks away with her friends. her bag was packed with all her makeup essentials, but she couldn't use the bathroom mirror since hamzah was still in there.

instead, she decided to use hamzah’s full-length mirror, which stood next to his bed, to prime her face and start her makeup routine. as she began applying her foundation, the bathroom door creaked open, and hamzah emerged, a cloud of steam trailing behind him. his eyes landed on her, curiosily.

“is that what you're wearing out?” hamzah asked, his voice tinged with an unspoken concern.

y/n glanced at herself in the mirror, taking in her red tank top emblazoned with the flag of españa and her tight levi shorts. “yeah, why?” she replied, now curling her eyelashes with precision.

hamzah’s expression darkened slightly. it was clear he wasn’t pleased. “i promise it looks better when i'm standing,” she added, rising from her seated position.

“stay seated,” hamzah ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument.

y/n stayed seated, locking eyes with hamzah through the mirror. she decided to tease him a little, reaching farther than necessary for her brush, making sure her thong was visible as she did so.

hamzah's eyes darkened with desire as he got on his knees, tugging at her jeans to signal her to take them off. she smirked and complied, slipping out of her jeans but continuing her makeup routine. her focus wavered, though, as she felt hamzah's manhood press against her, slipping inside her with a slow, motion.

it was a shock, but a welcome one. she adjusted quickly to his rhythm, deciding to tease him further by reaching for her mascara, the act causing hamzah to moan in response. she moved into a child's pose, applying her mascara while moving her hips in a circular motion, keeping hamzah on edge.

“stop playin’ with me, y/n,” hamzah groaned, his voice thick with need.

y/n smirked, continuing her slow, tantalizing movements until hamzah flipped her onto her back. he bent down, holding the back of her neck, and inched their faces together, capturing her lips in a deep, hungry kiss.

their makeout session intensified, hamzah's hips moving in a circular motion, amplifying the ecstasy already felt from their lips. their kisses grew sloppier, and hamzah’s thrusts became more powerful. y/n pulled hamzah’s neck into her chest, tugging on his hair, urging him to go harder.

hamzah’s hand roamed up her body, sending shivers down her spine. his lips left hers, trailing kisses along her jawline and down to her neck, sucking and nibbling, leaving marks in his wake. y/n gasped and moaned, her fingers digging into his shoulders.

"i'm close," hamzah whispered, his breath hot against her ear.

y/n nodded, signaling him to release inside her. with a final deep thrust, he groaned, his release filling her. he collapsed on her chest, slowly withdrawing from her, leaving them both breathless.

“can you stay home tonight? i'll take you out another day,” hamzah pleaded, playing with her hair.

y/n huffed, “fine, but i still want to finish my makeup.” she crawled back to the floor, resuming her makeup routine.

not before hamzah positioned himself between her thighs, eyes gleaming with a mischievous idea.

“do you want a makeover?” y/n asked, proposing a new way to spend the night.

hamzah chuckled, “if it means more time with you, sure.”

y/n smiled, leaning in to kiss him softly. "let's see what we can do," she said, pulling out her makeup kit.

hamzah watched her intently, admiration in his eyes. as she applied the makeup, they laughed and talked, the intimacy of the moment deepening their connection.

“how do i look?” hamzah asked, grinning as she finished.

“gorgeous,” y/n replied, her eyes twinkling with affection.

he pulled her into his arms, holding her close. “thank you, y/n,” he whispered.

“anytime, hamzah,” she replied, resting her head on his shoulder.

the night might not have gone as planned, but in each other’s arms, it felt perfect.

tokischaaa speaks: sorry if these are short :< but anyway keep sending requests lol this writing helping my brain be mad proactive lol

[hexcrystals]

“Can’t be silent on one and not the other, so I can’t support you” but can you yourself support both? ARE you yourself supporting both? These people love to whine about people not doing enough but I don’t see those same people posting about both. Like did that commenter on Taika’s post make any post themselves about the hikoi? Does their advocacy end at making posts, as if that’s the full summation of activism? They really don’t realize how hypocritical they are. “I can’t support you on this” fine, whatever, but are you yourself supporting the people he’s posting about? If the answer is no, you’re just as bad as you claim he is. (And to be clear I think advocacy shouldn’t be fully encompassed in posting the way these people seem to, but in trying to work within the parameters of their goalposts, I kinda can’t help it)

(Also the “you” above is not you, Lyse, but the people who make such hypocritical comments and grand conjectures. Not sure if that was obvious in my vent so I wanted to clarify!)

no i fully get you

the first thing to start with is that posting isn’t activism lmao so all of it is invalid anyway but policing other people’s posting is like. super not activism

nobody has the energy or time or strength to champion every single cause. nor should they. spreading yourself thin trying to help everybody is actually helping nobody

and people are obviously perfectly within their rights to support palestine, but when they say shit like ‘i can’t support you on this bc you were silent on palestine’, what they’re really saying is that they believe palestine is the only important cause and everyone else can eat shit basically

and it’s fine for palestine to be the only important cause to you. but you can’t ask everyone else to stop all other forms of activism including advocating for communities they themselves belong to. and you can’t use your own support (or lack thereof) of those causes as a bargaining chip to demand the correct type of performative activism for palestinians

and they know this. you never get an answer when you turn it around and ask them okay what are you doing for sudan? what are you doing for ukraine and the congo and uyghur muslims in xinjiang?

the reality is they’re doing nothing. and in 95% of cases they’re also doing nothing to help palestinians. because posting on the internet and leaving shitty comments on taika waititi’s instagram posts does not actually make a blind bit of difference to the people suffering in gaza, no matter how loudly you shout that you’re doing it in their name

[watchmorecinema]

The story of Microsoft's meteoric rise and IBM's fall has been on my mind lately. Not really related to any film, but I do think we're overdue for an updated Pirates of Silicon Valley biopic. I really think that the 80's and 90's had some wild stories in computing.

If you ask the average person what operating system your computer could have they'd say that if it's a PC it has Windows, and if it's a Mac it has macOS. All home computers are Macs or PCs, but how did it get this way?

In the 70's everyone was making home computers. Tandy was a leather supply goods company established in 1919, but they made computers. Montgomery Ward was a retail chain that decided to make their own store brand computers. Commodore, Atari, NEC, Philips, Bally and a million other assorted companies were selling computers. They generally couldn't talk to each other (if you had software for your Tandy it wouldn't work on your Commodore) and there was no clear market winner. The big three though were Tandy (yeah the leather company made some great computers in 78), Commodore and Apple.

IBM was the biggest computer company of all, in fact just the biggest company period. In 1980 they had a market cap of 128 billion dollars (adjusted for inflation). None of these other companies came close, but IBM's success was built off of mainframes. 70% of all computers sold worldwide were IBM computers, but 0% of it was from the home market.

IBM wanted to get into this growing and lucrative business, and came up with a unique plan. A cheap computer made with commodity parts (i.e. not cutting edge) that had open architecture. The plan was that you could buy an IBM Personal Computer (TM) and then upgrade it as you please. They even published documentation to make it easy to build add ons.

The hope was that people would be attracted to the low prices, the options for upgrades would work for power users, and a secondary market of add ons would be created. If some 3rd party company creates the best graphics card of all time, well you'd still need to buy an IBM PC to install it on.

IBM was not in the home software business, so they went to Microsoft. Microsoft produced MS-DOS (based on 86-DOS, which they licensed) but did not enforce exclusivity. That meant that Microsoft could sell MS-DOS for any of their competitors too. This was fine because of how fractured the market was. Remember, there were a lot of competitors, no one system dominated and none of the competitors could share software. Porting MS-DOS to every computer would have taken years, and by that point it would be outdated anyways.

IBM saw two paths forward. If the IBM PC did well they would make a ton of money. Third party devs like Microsoft would also make a lot of money, but not as much as IBM. If it failed, well then no one was making money. Either way the balance of power wouldn't change. IBM would still be at the top.

IBM however did not enjoy massive profits. It turns out that having cheap components and an open architecture where you could replace anything would... let you replace anything. A company like Compaq could just buy their own RAM, motherboards, cases, hard drives, etc. and make their own knockoff. It was easy, it was popular, and it was completely legal! Some people could order parts and build their own computer from scratch. If you've ever wondered why you can build your own computer but not your own tv or toaster, this is why. IBM had accidentally created a de facto standard that they had no control over.

In 1981 IBM's PC was worth 2.5% of the marketshare. By 1995 IBM PC compatibles were 95% of the marketshare, selling over 45 million units and IBM had to share the profits with every competitor. Apple is the only survivor of this time because the Macintosh was such an incredible piece of technology, but that's a different story for a different time.

And Microsoft? Well building an OS is much harder than putting together a few hardware components, so everyone just bought MS-DOS. With no exclusivity agreement this was also legal. That huge marketshare was now the basis for Microsoft's dominance.

IBM created a computer standard and gave the blueprints to every competitor and created a monopoly for Microsoft to boot. And that's why every computer you buy either is made by Apple with Apple software, or made by anyone else with Microsoft software. IBM is back where they started, having left the home computer business in 2005.

It's easily the biggest blunder in computer history. Other blunders have killed companies but none were quite as impactful as this one.

This story, and many others I know of, I first read in "In Search of Stupidity", a book authored by a former programmer and product manager that was able to see a lot of this first hand. I make no money advertising this book, I just had a great time reading it.

[tlbodine]

Overthinking: The Headless Ghost

The Headless Ghost came out in November of '95, and somehow skated past my radar entirely as a kid. I don't even remember this cover. I went in blind, not knowing quite what to expect, and I came out feeling....well. I both liked and didn't like this one.

First, the Plot: Duane and his friend Stephanie are town menaces. After getting a taste of how fun it can be to scare people, they've taken to sneaking out of their house after dark and roaming the neighborhood, pranking their neighbors -- making weird noises, throwing props, leaving stuff in mailboxes and through windows, etc.

They also love the nearby haunted house, Hill House. No, not that Hill House. But a house on a hill, that gives tours. The kids are such regulars there that the tour guides know them and let them in for free.

The story with the house is that once upon a time a sea captain was lost at sea and returned to roam around his house looking for his wife who didn't wait for his return. Then later a kid named Andrew is killed by the ghost and takes over haunting the place, searching for his head, which was removed and hidden somewhere inside. Story goes that until he finds his head, he's tied to the place.

On a late-night foray through the house, the kids meet an older teen named Seth who asks if they want to see a ghost for real and arranges to meet them tomorrow. They show up and go on a head-hunting (heh) quest through the house.

Predictably, Seth turns out to be the ghost after all! He's just borrowing his head (?) and wants to take Duane's instead. Gulp. But the kids manage to evade his murderous impulses and find his head....in time for a different ghost to show up, because hey, ACTUALLY Seth wasn't really the ghost, gotcha! He is the tour guide's nephew just trying to scare the kids.

But Duane and Stephanie are good and spooked, and they decide to give up scary stuff for a while. Later, though, they go back to the house for a visit and get a tour...but bump into some cops on the way home, asking them suspiciously what they were doing up there. Turns out the house has been shut down for months...and the tour guides might be ghosts as well.....OOOooooOOOoooo

Overthinking It: Okay. Here's the thing. As you can surmise by the plot summary, the actual plot of this book is pretty thin and frankly riddled with holes. The end twist doesn't really make much sense, the double-helix ghost reveal is kinda dumb, and I really struggle to believe that these kids are able to sneak out of the house night after night to go roaming around after 10:30 pm without getting caught.

However!

This book does something interesting with its structure, and I do enjoy when Stine experiments with form. It's something he actually does quite a bit, which I think is really cool. He certainly could have made the books even more formulaic than they are -- as formulaic as people tend to assume they are, I think -- and still done fine. But sometimes he gets a little experimental.

This book is layered with stories. Most of its pages are actually dedicated to ghost stories -- retelling things about the house. You hear multiple different ghost tales in here, and the whole book sort of celebrate the oral tradition in a neat way. It's never entirely clear what is true and what's made up, and there's no way to really know. It feels charmingly authentic, and I really liked that about it.

If You Liked This, THESE Will Really Give You Goosebumps:

If ghost stories layered on ghost stories, told by someone who might also be a ghost, is your jam, then you should watch Kwaidan.

The central conceit of this book also made me think of the entire concept of Screaming Skulls, of which there have been some movies made but they were not very good. Still, scope out The Screaming Skull to see what I mean.

I also kept thinking about The Fog while reading this. No reason, really, just a vibe, but go watch it and tell me I'm wrong.

[serfuzzypushover]

It's the "Mituna Anon" again, but you can call me / us "Post" or "Script" (I'm a system). Using anon because it won't let me ask from the blog I want, it's forcing me to use my base blog, UnU, anyways- :3

Have another me projecting onto Mituna head canon dump about like- Seizures and disability stuff:

Mituna with PNES (Psychogenic Nonepileptic Seizures).

Mituna who is actually clear and coherent sometimes.

Mituna with Dyspraxia / Fine Motor Control issues.

Mituna who was traumatized by what he saw and always had slight issues and overworked himself to a state that triggered all these other issues like a regression.

Mituna who acts childish for the same reasons someone with dimentia might be. He gets scared but he can't put his thoughts together anymore so he just lashes out or wanders off.

Mituna who needs a caretaker because he definitely will hurt himself on accident if he doesn't have one.

Mituna who doesn't really realize how bad of a state he's in until it's too late and he's already doing something unsafe or has gotten hurt.

Mituna who uses a wheelchair, cane, and crutches to varying degrees as needed.

Mituna who wears like skater pads and a helmet for his own safety because man trips over, bumps into, and falls on all the things because he's usually in a dissociative or derealization blur / haze and nothing around him really feels real or like a threat.

Mituna who basically feels like he's high 95% of the time because that's how seizures can feel sometimes, everything is far away and it's all kinda blurring together and he's dizzy and it's fucking confusing and upsetting but also he's too blurry to actually care that hard so he's just kind of existing. (I have had a seizure that felt like being high, I swear this is a real thing.)

Mituna who gets frustrated that he needs someone to watch him because it's really close to Beforan Culling if someone starts being a little too protective. (Even if you actually need it, it can suck to be in need of caretaking and help when you used to be more capable, or usually are more capable. It can feel like being treated like a kid and it's why *I* pick my caretakers and I hate random people in public trying to help me, they treat me like a kicked puppy and I am in fact, very conscious in my head it's just very hard to communicate or function.)

(Also here's the blog I actually post stuff like this on I guess: https://www.tumblr.com/ps-scene-setting)

ouughh yesss yes these are all great!!

[nuza3minalqabail]

What would you say about those on the manhaj who befriend those who believe d to be khawarij? I know some who stay friends with them just because they don’t openly slander them or because they say that they’re still Muslim so it’s fine to have a disagreement on something in the deen. I think some as well have been friends with them before they knew their views and find it hard to just leave them if, like I said before, they don’t slander them but seen them as khawarij.

Sufficient for you is this hadith:

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:

I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, "Man follows his friend's religion, you should be careful who you take for friends".

(‏رواه أبو داود، والترمذي بإسناد صحيح، وقال الترمذي‏:‏ حديث حسن‏)‏‏

Today you may think you are upon the haq and tomorrow you may think they are upon the haqq, may Allah grant us thabat and protect us from misguidance, so do not be careless about this matter and take it very seriously. Perhaps you can keep them, if you really must, but at a distance with the intention of dawah, but at the same time be careful. If they are not well recieving of any dawah concerning clearing up misconceptions about D then don't push it for your own safety and keep your views neutral in front of them and drift away from them as much as you can to protect your imaan.

However if your reason for keeping them around is merely sentimental then no, distance yourself gradually but definitely, don't let it drag on too long before you actually leave their company and if you have to endure seclusion and being friendless for some time until you find people who do not accuse with falsehood and slander (yes slander bc making ppl out to be khawarij even if they don't curse or insult them with other words is enough of a slander) who Allah Azza Wa Jall praised in the quran then so be it, at least you don't have to be with people who choose to be ignorant and gain sins for simply not looking beyond the lies and deception of the media and the slandering tongues of so called "mashayekh".

Allah says in surah An Nisa verse 95 to 96:

{Not equal are those believers remaining [at home] - other than the disabled - and the mujāhideen, [who strive and fight] in the cause of Allāh with their wealth and their lives. Allāh has preferred the mujāhideen through their wealth and their lives over those who remain [behind], by degrees. And to all [i.e., both] Allāh has promised the best [reward]. But Allāh has preferred the mujāhideen over those who remain [behind] with a great reward -

Degrees [of high position] from Him and forgiveness and mercy. And Allāh is ever Forgiving and Merciful.}

Me personally I'd leave them completely no matter what and ask Allah to grant me friends who recognize the haqq and follow it, and recognize baatil and avoid it. Until then my gheerah for the muj could never let me befriend a people who think of them as oppressors who unrightfully make takfir on muslimin and spill innocent blood. The muj dedicated their lives for this deen, for the sake of every Muslim, for my sake and your sake, they left their families and homes and live like fugitives and risk their lives and limbs, they held the responsibility of the aching ummah while the majority are sleeping, they endure pain and fatigue and sadness Allah alone Knows how much, how can I sit in the presence of those who will be the opposition of the muj on yawm al qiyamah when they come with their wounds smelling like musk and about to enter Jannah, and they take their haqq from all those who wronged them in this dunya?

What will I answer to Allah for having such company and not enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, not clearing up the name of His Awliyaa, but instead befriending those who defame them and assume of them the worst? And to end this remember there goes a saying "a person can be told a lie several times until he believes it", you have no guarantee for yourself that you won't fall for the same lies they fell for and are blinded by about the muj, and with that comes alot of losses, for often those who slander them end up having major faults in their aqeeda whether it be ghuluu or irjaa', so take precautions and guard your imaan more than anything and guard your eyes and ears from what could potentially misguide you.

[theonlyren]

Ryme City Gengar

This is Kati

She's my Gengar partner.

DISCLAIMER: The following is my account of how I came to own my Gengar, Kati. It is a true story, however, I have falsified names and omitted the direct address of relevant parties in this story for their “protection.” Please do not seek these people out or harass them. They are not worth your time or energy. This is not a happy tale, especially if you like Ghost-types, are a Hex Maniac, or have a shred of common decency. Now, without further ado.

Consider the Gastly.

Gastly is one of the most well-documented, well-known, common ghost types across the regions. It’s in Oak’s original Pokedex and even shows up in Laventon’s old field journals. Its body is 95% gas, and it’s one of the lightest known pokemon in the world, to the point where a stiff wind will make the thing vanish (it’ll re-materialize later just fine, though). The remaining 5% of it is somewhat less clear. It could be argued that this 5% is undoubtedly what gives the Pokemon its Ghost typing. Some believe it is the souls of those its gas has killed, others believe it’s the ghostly essence of graveyard grievances, or forlorn memories of departed people or places.

All Kati remembers is waking up in front of the grave of a girl named Catherine.

I was backpacking through Galar at the time, I had the clothes on my back, the spares in my pack, some few thousand Pokedollars, basic Pokemon care and healing supplies, a phone, and my Eevee and Zorua, Vivi and Aka, respectively. I was looking for a place to crash for the night and wound up at a village in the southern edge of the region. Extremely quaint, very lovely, and I ran into the residents of a very old chateau, whose family had lived there for generations. They were trust fund kids, basically. The husband, who we’ll call John Doe, lived in the estate with his wife, Jane, his parents - his father being the local (and, if you’ve been following my Chatotter, a certain) reverend - and his grandparents. I met John and Jane at the town's only pub, and they were utter sweethearts; to this day, I still wish them well and the best for them. Upon telling them I was the son of Pokemon Rangers, and an Arceist, they asked if I could help them with an issue they’ve been having at the chapel.

Now, to a normal person, this probably would’ve set off every red flag in the universe. Supposedly rich family is inquiring about an outsider for “help”? Boi they’re about to steal your Pokemon and lock you in the basement. Turns out, something being locked in the basement was the issue. I initially declined, but then John made an offer to pay me a… moderately life changing amount of Pokedollars, provided I could solve the issue, which- er, piqued my curiosity enough to at least humor the couple. I figured I had Aka with me, and if things become sketchy he could use a clever illusion to help bail me outta there.

This village I went to was absurdly secluded, they hardly ever received tourists or travelers. The local authorities were in the back-pocket of John’s parents, which he was quick to explain as he led me to the estate. Once we arrived, he played me off as a guest of his wife’s side of the family, and I was introduced to this man’s elders.

I know the saying goes to respect your elders, but one look at this man’s family told me everything I needed to know about why John trusted an outsider with this. These were the most miserable, leery-eyed, snobbish, conservative-ass, “only polite because I have to be” motherfuckers I have ever had the discomfort of meeting and breaking bread with. The bread was the only good thing about their dinner as well, come to think of it, with unseasoned vegetables, beans, and… ok, the shepherd’s pie was alright, but still.

Later that night, John led me out as if to politely escort me off, but detoured around the back of the mansion to the village’s church, where we went through a cellar entrance.

And that’s where I would meet Kati for the first time.

As he opened the door, I saw paper talismans on the interior side. Cleanse tags. Prayer tags. The like. They dotted the stairwell down, to a locked door, which my escort unlocked to reveal a room, lined - wall-to-wall - with tags. And sitting, suspended in a cage, also laced with these tags, was a Gastly.

Cleanse Tags have long been a staple item for the traveling trainer, useful in helping ward off unwanted wild encounters, if a little uncomfortable for most pokemon to hold. A ghost type can handle holding one for the sake of their trainer.

An entire basement lined with them is torture of the highest order. Especially for a ghost.

This Gastly was well and truly trapped. Being locked in stasis inside a Pokeball would’ve been a kinder fate. Everywhere in this room that she could look, she saw searing wards and condemning reminders that told her in no uncertain terms that she was an unwelcome monster. She could not escape this place, the talismans well and truly suppressed any and all ghost energy she could even try and muster. No phasing, no vanishing, no shrinking or morphing, nothing.

John wanted her freed.

I was quick to agree.

It was clear the man was wrestling with the idea of freeing her for a while, and, when I pressed him about why the poor thing was locked away in the first place, he explained that the Gastly had been locked down here for generations, his late great-(great?)-grandfather had apparently caught the thing at the local graveyard, “communing with Giratina,” if you believe such malarky. So his family took it upon themselves to “catch” the ghost and seal her away in their church to cleanse or contain the sin within her, to the point where it’s become an obsession for the family, and they’ve never known peace since. So it was, she remained down there for something to the effect of over eighty years. 

At least three generations of Does is apparently what it took before one realized “hmm, maybe this Gastly down here is fine???”

So of course because things had to be dramatic, we heard the upper cellar door open the moment I tore enough tags off the cage to get the Gastly out. John told me to get my Zorua out and hide as he’d go distract whoever it was. I did so and told Aka to blend us into the wall. John went up, tried to tell his father the Gastly had escaped, and when he angrily came down to verify, well.

The Gastly didn’t like seeing the old man’s face.

She gassed my face to break free and immediately went for the old-timer. The illusion broke and I now had an angered reverend cursing my name, breaking every rule of engagement, since “the next coming of Giratina” was on the line as he threw his entire fuckin’ team at me. A “prize” furfrou, a machop, and a houndour. 

Trying to remember the fight as best I can, Vivi was strong enough to take out the Houndour, but the Machop made quick work of Aka. My new Gastly friend managed to poison the Machop in turn, but a bite from the Houndour nearly took her out instantly. Vivi weakened the Furfrou and Machop with a quick Swift, but, well, at the time my two team members were both weak to fighting, so the Machop was quick to take him out as well.

It was at that point I discovered the Gastly knew will-o-wisp as it cursed the Machop with its flames, taking it out, and I had an idea.

It was time to run from a trainer battle.

I kicked the Houndour in the face (sorry pup!) and told Gastly to set the remaining tags on fire. With the ones I had already desecrated, she had strength enough to set the room ablaze, which freaked out the reverend father and his pokemon enough that I was able to throw an empty pokeball at the Gastly to “catch” her, lob her out of the cellar as she struggled to break out, and get the absolute hell out of there.

John was waiting in a car outside. An extra broken-and-lobbed pokeball later to get the Gastly away from the reverend, we were driving from the estate and I had a very angry Gastly I was trying to calm down in the backseat of a speeding vehicle. It took a while, but she calmed down when it became clear we were tearing her away from that awful place.

John dropped me off at a graveyard, presumably (and, I would later find, purposefully) the best spot he thought to release the Gastly, - cliche, I know, - he wired me the money, and sped off. The Gastly tore itself free from me, and hovered at one particular grave. It was an old headstone, weathered and faint, but I could just barely make out the name “Catherine” on it. I sat near her as she stared at it. And we stayed there for a while; long time. Appropriately, I think we left at about midnight, when I offered her one more Pokeball and the chance to travel with me, safely, and see the world she was locked away from. Gave her the name “Kati” then and there, both as a shortening of her old name, and because it translates to “Pure.”

We beat feet from that village and never looked back. 

My backpacking journey was a lot more comfortable after that, I’ll say that much. Dude gave me bank.

But, here we are, me and the reverend, locked in something of an awkward stalemate where if either of us try and report what happened, we have to inadvertently confess to crimes we ourselves committed. Pokémon Abuse for the Does. And uh, Arson and Pokémon A&B for me. Trainer Disengagement too, but that’s a misdemeanor more ‘n anything. The fact that both of us have a decent amount of influence, should things get legal, doesn’t help either. Haven’t been back in or extradited to Galar since, and it’s basically been something like a 10 year cold case, so I’m not too concerned about this actually biting me in the ass, but the Reverend Father Doe sure is getting spicy with me on Chatotter.

He can rot for all I care.

Kati’s mine.

And she can burn through any holy tag you throw at her, now.

[deadeyedaisy]

Tales of Destiny ~PROUST~ Forgotten Chronicle rough summary

I wasn't sure where else to post this, and Tumblr seemed like the one that would get the most use out of it.

So, I streamed my blind run through TODDC with Kio for the past several months. I ended up getting really into TOD from how much cleaner the presentation of the story and characters were over the PSX version, and was really frustrated that nobody had translated the drama CD, which had been hiding like 95% of Leon's characterization until the remake came along.

I kept a notepad of stuff to talk about during those streams. Sometimes it was off-topic things, sometimes it was little tangents about parts of the game that I thought of over the week until we'd play again. Sometimes it was summaries of supplemental material that was never localized. But most of the time, that material was translated by a fan.

Nobody has fully translated Proust. I wanted it to be translated. So I listened to it as hard as I could and summarized as best I could. The following are the unedited notes as I wrote them to be read during stream, rather than a direct translation or anything formal. I'm not good enough at Japanese to fully translate it. I'm so not good at Japanese that there's probably a lot of errors throughout this summary, too. I hope someone eventually comes along and gives us a full translation.

Also note that I'm not great at recognizing the voices of anyone that isn't the main cast of protagonists, so I probably mix up the antagonists or the generals' identities a lot.

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

So I went back through the drama cd, and I think I've got a few more little details. I could be wrong about a lot of this since there's no translation and I am really fucking bad at Japanese. But this should actually clear up a lot of misconceptions that we, or I had throughout this entire game. Foolish me for just believing everything TVTropes told me instead of trying to comb the drama cd myself.

(track 1-01 Thunder + track 1-03 Lullaby) Chris tried to escape with both children, but Hugo sent the goon squad after her?? and they managed to take Leon and mortally wound Chris. She drags herself back to the mansion to see Leon again and asks him not to hate Hugo, because this certainly isn't the same kind person she married. [I previously summarized it based on this post, which does a much better job of summarizing track 1-03: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/136918641610/so-after-the-horrible-sad-feels-from-the-emilio]

(track 1-02 History That Was Forgotten is just Leon saying the title of the CD)

(track 1-04 Yes, My Lady) Less than 2 years before the game starts. The girls in Leon's class aren't very good at dance lessons yet, so he complains to Marian that all the girls are stupid-- oh but not you Marian, it's only other girls that are dumb. lol I can't catch why Leon's mad at Hugo this time, but Marian sticks up for Hugo, since he's the one who pretty much discovered how useful Lens could be to further technology and make modern life easier, and has for the most part made it all affordable. She's also grateful that he hired her when she had nothing. Marian wants Leon to make friends with the girls because she's worried he'll be all alone. Leon says he's fine alone and that he'll only grow stronger, and to distract Marian, decides to teach her the dance he learned, calling her "my lady". At the end, he says he'll be fine as long as he has Marian. Hugo walks in on them and Leon quickly makes an excuse but Hugo just puts him down for hanging with the staff and tells him to get to sword practice. Leon seems excited for it. Leon whispers to Marian that they'll practice dancing again. Marian says she's looking forward to it, but when he leaves, she sadly mumbles that he's a pitiful child. (Not in a mean way)

(track 1-05 True) [Oops I didn't cover this one. It's just villainy anyway. Who listens to Proust to hear Mictlan-Hugo monologue?]

(track 1-06 Man of the Mask) I forgot about this detail and its MASSIVE importance. In the original, Leon and Hugo's relation wasn't known for a long time. In the remake, their relation is paraded around loudly. Hugo will not let anyone forget that Leon is his son, and Leon's motivation is to not be a nepo baby. But in the original, specifically in the drama CD, Hugo doesn't want their relation known. He doesn't want Leon around while he's doing business because it might reveal their relation. He reprimands him for coming home while he's doing business and tells him not to come home so often. Leon was actually excited to let him know of one of his missions' successes, on his 15th birthday no less. Chaltier tries to comfort Leon when he's basically told to gtfo, but Leon tells him he's not sad at all, and that he just wants to be acknowledged by someone as skilled as Hugo. His cadence is fairly fond as he says all this, but he's awfully insistent about it. Like thou-doth-protest-too-much insistent. Leon thinks he saw a masked man, but Chaltier says he doesn't sense anyone. They go on their way, but a filtered voice of Hugo calls Leon's name.

(track 1-07 Emilio) The following track makes it more clear that yes, he was actually very fucking upset about it. I already talked about this track since it was one of the only 2 tracks that were fully translated by someone else. Where Marian has a little private birthday party for him and he breaks down. With the added context of the previous track, the breakdown makes a bit more sense. He's just been told and brushed off again by Hugo even after so many smashing successes. Took it upon himself to put up a strong front in front of Chaltier. Then Marian does this gesture of kindness that I guess makes him feel like he's being treated like a child or mocked, and that's the last straw. Marian is of course calling him Emilio, and he refuses that name because Emilio is worthless, nobody needs Emilio, and he's all alone. He insists he's Leon Magnus, because he's at least useful as a tool for Hugo. Marian doesn't like him calling himself a tool. Says he's her precious Emilio. And Leon cries. [Previously summarized based on this post, which actually has a full translation!: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/136880537875/jeredu-spoilers-for-tales-of-destiny-for]

(track 1-08 Family) Next track takes place a year later and has Leon being the wunderkind beating everybody and being taken under Finley's wing. They've all got praise for him but are a little put off by him being so uptight. Late at night, Leon sneaks into Marian's room through her window because of the lecture he got about COMING HOME TOO OFTEN jfc. He's excited to tell Marian about officially working with the knights, and asks to dance with her. I think I skipped a bit. Leon only started trying to become a knight because Hugo told him to, so that he'd have a pawn within the castle to help further Oberon's goals. I think he moved out of the mansion after the last track to dedicate himself more fully to cementing his position there?? I'm probably wrong. But he's been a lot happier this way. Later that night, Chaltier tries to suggest that Leon just continues living like this and become a full fledged and honest knight instead of working for Hugo, because all of the generals seem to like him and are nice people. Buuuut Leon's already fallen asleep. Boo

(track 1-09 Nightmare) Next track has Leon and Finley talking and they think Greybaum's sus. They meet with Greybaum and Chal also thinks he's sus. That night, Leon has a nightmare where a man is telling him he can save Rutee. Except Leon doesn't know who Rutee is yet, or her name. The man is wearing a mask like the one from the mansion. It seems to be the real Hugo. He attacks Leon when he knocks his mask off I think?? and I guess Leon wakes up and is back at the mansion temporarily? I have no idea what's going on here but Hugo's not doing great and Leon rushes to his aid but Hugo basically tells him to gtfo his house again. I think real Hugo is fighting Mictlan, because Leon says something about Berserius. Belserius. Berselius. Fuck it. Scene change and Leon's at a tavern or something. The waitress fawns a bit, showing his good reputation has spread. Leon thinks about the nightmare and what the heck a Rutee is. Then he overhears some guy talking about a demonic lens hunter dude and the waitress is like oh nah you mean that girl Rutee? and Leon all but trips over himself to go aggressively interrogate the waitress. The guy she was talking to gets mad and tries to attack Leon and a fight starts. Finley shows up and slaps Leon and reprimands him and I think threatens him?? But Leon got the information he wanted out of the waitress.

(track 2-01 Masquerade) Next track. The villains talk stealing the Eye of Atamoni. A masquerade ball is held in Seinegald. Leon's all ready to be big bad security but Finley says he should blend in and dance. But he ain't got no fancy clothes! So Finley arranges to get him some fancy clothes. He's about to arrange for a partner too but Leon's like nah I got a girl for this and yoinks Marian up. She's worried she's not allowed to attend such a party, but Leon assures her she's part of the mission so it's fine. She tries to make excuses to not go but he shoots them all down. He sounds like he's having just oodles of fun on the carriage ride with her to the ball. He's laughing and smiling and it's just great. This moment is probably literally the happiest Leon will ever be in his entire life lol He… sneaks her in through the BACK DOOR and gets stopped by guards who ask who dis. And he says, "my partner" and they say they can't let randos in and he says NO SHE'S MY PARTNER and they say :/ that's not good enough bro, come on, and Marian takes his arm all suggestive like and says "What part of partner don't you understand ;)" and they let them in??? okay But Marian hasn't received her dress yet, so Leon's waiting for her to get dressed. And Chal teases him a bunch implying Leon's nervous to see her in her fancy dress. Leon tells him to shut up but Chal notes he's blushing really hard. But, Leon suddenly sees the masked man again, and this time Chal sees him too. Leon attacks but he disappears. He hears the voice and he's big mad 'cause he thinks he's being jerked around so he shouts a lot. Marian hears him shouting and rushes to him and real-Hugo goes whoops sorry about that I guess lmao and goes away. The ball gets into full swing and allll the girls are wowed by how pretty Leon's partner is. Marian says she feels awkward and Leon tells her she's beautiful, but she still doesn't think she should have come. He asks her to dance, she tries to make excuses not to, but he keeps asking, calling her "Lady" again like when they danced alone ;A; aaaa So they dance, and Leon is just so entranced and whispers that he wants to go far far away together to a place with only them, that's quiet and warm. He says something like he lost such a promised place inside of him a long time ago, but feels that it's also right there with her, and he's about to say something that MIGHT have been a confession, but they're interrupted by an attack and are separated. SO YEAH I'D SAY HIS FEELINGS FOR HER ARE PRETTY ROMANTIC. HOLY SHIT. I felt like I was listening to one of those listener-POV CDs where they do nothing but sweet-talk you, gosh. Whether his feelings are actually romantic or not, he's still just entirely fucking smitten with her. oh my god.

(track 2-02 Venomous Snake) Next track, I have no idea what's going on because I'm not familiar enough with all the villains' voices, but it's villain stuff. I think it's Greybaum mostly, and they're messing with King Isaac, the Phandaria King. And Greybaum is evil monologuing but Leon was hiding in the room and ambushes him. Hugo shows up before Leon can do any damage and something happens or is talked about, idk, villains get away. Leon's like what the fuck, dad, they tried to kill the king. Hugo says Isaac's spent too long in office and ain't doin his job right no more. So it's fiiine just let it go, besides, Graybaum's gonna be a useful tool. And the word "tool" sets Leon off 'cause it's always about tools with Hugo, and Hugo goes YEAH, A TOOL, A TOOL JUST LIKE YOU. I'VE BUILT HIM UP AND I'M TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HIM, JUST LIKE I DID TO YOUUUU. And he demands Leon apologize but Leon says no, he's done being Hugo's puppet, he's going to live for himself, he's not going to accept this shitty fate anymore, he's going to carve his own path and make a place for himself in Seinegald. And Hugo goes "Ohoho what silly thoughts Finley's put in your head. Sure, you could do all that, you could escape me no problem, you're good enough for it, but I wonder how Marian is doing~ Sure hope she's okay after getting separated from you. It's just such a scary world out there, you never know when or where such a fragile little thing like her could get got." So basically the ongoing threat on Marian's life has begun. It's not explicitly stated, but obviously the implication is that Leon could leave and take Marian with him, but Hugo will get to her one way or another. Then it's just 20 full seconds of Leon desperately calling and looking for Marian.

(track 2-03 Requiem) Next track, he finds Marian and clings to her and sobs in relief that she's okay. She says yeah it's okay I'm fine, but Leon just cries harder. Later after he's calmed down, he brings up that far away warm place he spoke about. He wonders where that could even be anymore. Probably somewhere further than the moon. He wonders if he can go there. Then it's very suddenly Finley's funeral. People are crying. The priest is praying. People are swearing vengeance. Hugo, Chaltier, and Finley's voice echo in Leon's head. Hugo coercing Leon into poisoning Finley. Chaltier asking him not to do it. Finley telling Leon they're alike in that they both lost their parents at birth. That he'd like for Leon to think of him as his father, because he thinks of Leon as his son, I think. Hugo reminding him where his place is, and that that's never going to change. Finley succumbing to the poison, in disbelief that it was Leon, and desperately asking why. Leon's sure he's never going to get to that place. Hugo and friends do some villain talk and make some snide remarks at Leon, and he just says it's fine. He's defeated at this point.

(track 2-04 Rutee) Next track has Leon on his way to Cresta to look for whoever Rutee is. Chaltier recognizes the name a little but doesn't remember. Rutee runs into him and runs away, but Chaltier recognizes Atwight on her back right away and they give chase. Rutee's giving gifts to the kids at the orphanage, is asked how she made the money for this and she's like "eehh I worked really hard :D" Chal finally remembers Rutee was the name Chris spoke of before she died and he's super excited that Leon's not all alone, that he still has his sister. But Leon just runs away. Chal's like what the fuck, where are you going, and Leon says it's been 15 years, so it doesn't matter, they're not family. Chal keeps trying to get him to go back to Rutee, insisting she must have been looking for her family for a long time, and that he should reach out to her. Leon admits that he's scared that Rutee won't accept him. Chal tells him that's stupid. Leon admits he's scared of Rutee also betraying him like Hugo did, and cries that he's truly all alone. The track ends.

(track 2-05 Flow of Fate) Next track, it's revealed Greybaum's theft of the Eye of Atamoni was actually not in the plan. He did that on his own and betrayed them. They plan for Leon to lead the investigation and gather the swordian users. Leon asks if Hugo knows who wields Atwight, and Hugo, like a fox, says mmmyessss. During Leon's first real meeting with Rutee, while she goes off on him, he's thinking to himself that he wishes he met her sooner, but he's too dirtied to face her for real by now. Chaltier insists to him that it's not too late, but Leon refuses. A bunch of scenes of Leon traveling with Stahn's group pass. Leon thinks about how Rutee has good friends and a home and family to return to, and feels even worse that he can't be happy for her. He hates himself for it, but he can't help it. Chaltier tells him he could become a part of her family. Leon says it'd be nice, since he's being shown such a warm place, but he can't escape his fate. More scenes pass, and Leon is moved by Stahn's resolve. He thinks maybe he was wrong about fate, because everyone is fighting. More scenes pass, and Leon is even moved by Batista and Greybaum, because they went against Hugo. Even if they couldn't win against their fates, they still tried. He's confused and doesn't know what to do, but Chaltier doesn't have answers for him. The only thing he knows he can do is protect Marian. The only reason he has to keep living is Marian.

It continues in the mines. Hugo and friends say they need to buy time to escape Stahn's group. He tells Leon to stall them as long as possible, and then detonate an explosive. Tells him exactly what will happen, down to the sea water flooding in. So Leon absolutely knows he's going to die if he agrees to do this. Leon asks to be alone with Marian, as his first and final request as Hugo's son. Marian observes that Leon doesn't want to go through with this. Leon says it's fine, he'll just do what he's told. He asks why Marian is here, why she's still a maid for Hugo. Marian answers it's because Hugo was trying to save the world, or whatever. She owes him a lot. So she'll do whatever she's told, too. Leon asks what'll happen if he dies. Marian says she'll probably never stop crying. Leon asks how much, for how long, because it's not possible to cry for him for her whole life. Says she'll probably cry for a bit, but eventually she'll meet someone he doesn't know, fall in love, get married, and have children, and she'll forget all about him, and then he'll truly be gone and not exist anymore. He'll disappear. Leon cries, really hard. He pulls himself together, apologizes, says she should go. She goes, but she calls after him that it was fun. That being with him was like a dream. He says quietly to himself that, yeah, it was like a dream to him, too. (The wording is different from the opening song! Important to note because the remake did a full on title drop in its climax. The opening song is 「夢であるように」, but the wording here is 「夢みたい」. But it's still probably a 100% intentional reference to the opening song.) [I cut off here because I previously summarized these two posts about the end of this track, which is an exchange with Chaltier: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/136997902840/i-dunno-if-its-possible-to-fall-in-love-with-a https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/137057162215/checked-with-a-friend-who-knows-more-japanese-and]

[I yada-yada'd track 2-06 Father, Friend because I already summarized it previously based on this post: https://jeredu.tumblr.com/post/143045097730/i-finally-typed-up-a-summary-of-father-friend]

(track 2-07 -Epilogue- Yes, My Lady) In the final track, Rutee is visiting Marian. She asks Marian to live with her. Marian declines, saying she has to keep Emilio's room clean for him for when he comes back. Rutee says he's already gone, but Marian interrupts and asks Rutee to dance. She teaches her how to dance. She calls Rutee "My lady" like Leon did with her.

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

May I just say, if Leon retained his character from the drama CD in the remake, he absolutely would have broken down crying after Stahn convinced him they could work together to save Marian. And maybe hugged him or held his outstretched hand with both of his. While crying. Drama CD Leon is a huge crybaby and I'm so here for him. I was disappointed he didn't get to cry through the remake.

And also that hot damn, Hikaru Midorikawa was allowed to emote SO MUCH MORE in the drama CD than in the entirety of the remake, not even counting all the crying he does.

[gamerbearmira]

Saa ba ba bagu saa bagu bagu

GUYS I HAVE CONTENT...THIS...Is all I got. I was so tired and I slept like all weekend 😭😭 but I'm gonna try and do more stuff. Also Christmas. Got my mom $95+ gift and it still hasn't come 😭 so im stressing over that

BUT OTHER WISE WE ROLLINNNNNNN ❗❗❗ I've got some bug au. Thus came to my kind. I also have other snippets I've been working on, but thus what I finished WITH ART.

LES GOOOOOO

-----

Luisa snuck out of her room, her wings buzzing gently as she went towards Mirabel's room. She carefully made her way down the hallway, opting to walk rather than fly so as to not cause too much noise.

Once up to Mirabel's door, she gently opened it, wincing when the door creaked a bit, but it was fine. As she stepped in, she was shocked to see Camilo already there, talking to the girl.

"Luisa?" Mirabel asked, looking at her older sister. "Why are you here? N-Not that I mind!"

Luisa blinked for a moment before closing the door behind her. "I...I wanted to see your new wings. I didn't get to see them earlier 'cause I was too busy."

Camilo looked at his older prima, three of his six arms enthusiastically waving at her. She waved back, and Mirabel slowly slid out of bed, standing up. Camilo walked over to Luisa, giggling with a spark of mischief in his eyes.

"They're so cool," he whispered to her as Mirabel prepared to display her wings.

"Ready?" Mirabel asked and Luisa nodded. Camilo nodded too, even though he had already seen them, several times.

Mirabel focused for a moment, and then her wings began to lift. It took her a moment, but she eventually managed to lift them, though it was clear she was still getting used to it.

Luisa's eyes lit up as she looked at the wings, her smile side as she looked at the delicate appendages. She walked up to Mirabel, looking into her sister's eyes as if asking for permission. Mirabel nodded and Luisa's fingers gently touched them.

"They're so pretty," Luisa said softly, mesmerized by the sight. Mirabel giggled, quietly thanking her sister. Camilo appeared, his six arms immediately tracing the patterns on her wings. Mirabel giggled again, feeling a ticklish sensation as her sister and cousin touched her wings.

"They look like abuelos don't they?" Camilo asked and Luisa looked at him and then the wings before thinking back to the painting of their abuelo in the hall. They really did when she thought about it. Maybe the patterns were a bit different, and his looked a little lighter, but otherwise, they were identical.

"They do!" Luisa smiled. Mirabel carefully folded her wings, sitting back down on the bed with Camilo joining her.

"Are you gonna join our sleepover?" Camilo asked, rolling on the bed. Luisa hesitated for a moment, fidgeting on her feet. She usually stayed in her room, so she could get ready as fast as she could and go out to work.

"Please, Luisa? Just this once?" Mirabel pleaded, and both she and Camilo gave her wide. Well...one wouldn't hurt, right? A

"Ok," Luisa said, giggling softly as she joined her younger sister and cousin on the floor. One sleepover wouldn't hurt.

-----

THE TRIO...I LOVE THE TRIO <3333 guys they're my favorite fr fr

I wish the art was a little better but. My hands hurt and I can't find my ipad charger 💀 so I tried my best and I hope this makes the cut❓❗

ANYWAY. MORE LATER. MAYBE AN ASK OR TWO IDK <333

[wandafiction]

Can't Catch A Break - Just Us Chapter 96

Warnings: None

Word Count: 5498

Series List | Chapter 95 | Chapter 97

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

"We brought cupcakes!" I shout through the cabin as I stamp my feet on the floor to clear the snow off my boots, turning around to see Wanda closing the door behind us. 

"Are you sure you didn't make babies?" I hear Kate shout back and I hear Wanda choke on air behind me.

"Why would they be? Ew! No, no no no! My brain has been scarred!" I hear one of the boys shout and me and Wanda look at one another both as pale as the other.

"Kate!" I shout back, shaking my head to try and get the color back in my face.

"Sorry!"

"Say that to me, not to them! Oh the images you have planted!" I see Tommy walking out of the back room, with a sheepish looking Kate, as he rubs at his temples. 

"Sorry everyone?" Kate squeaks as I hand the cupcakes off to Wanda quickly taking my boots off and sprint towards her.

"Ah, no! I said I'm sorry!" Kate hides behind Tommy who grumbles about being used as a human shield, but I stop my chase not wanting to hurt him while I beat Kate up. 

"Tommy, it's okay. Let's just go pour bleach in our eyes." Billy joins them dragging his brother towards Wanda. 

"Please don't hurt me." Kate squeaks out and I stomp my foot on the floor making her run towards the boys and Wanda.

"Stop right there missy." Wanda's head tilts and Kate stops in her tracks.

"I'm sorry, okay. I forgot the boys were here for a second." Her head whips back and forth between me and Wanda.

"Fine, okay. Just please watch what you say around them next time, please." Wanda sighs in defeat, rubbing the bridge of her nose. 

"Sorry Wanda. Do you want me to take the cupcakes?" Kate asks softly, trying not to make the Sokovian mad, as I slowly make my way to her side. 

"Sure. Boys why don't you go get a cupcake for yourself before dinner." Kate grabs the cupcakes without another word and the boys both nod, following Kate into the kitchen.

"It's okay princess. No need to stress, just breathe." I rub my hands up and down the outside of her arms, as she releases a sharp breath.

"I know, I know. I just didn't want them to know." I smile down at her as she rests her forehead against my chest.

"They are teenagers princess, they aren't stupid. I mean I walked in on Laura and clint making lila. I think you would much prefer to have the boys be suspicious instead of walking in." 

"I don't want them thinking about it at all." She mumbles against my shirt, and I smile as I weave my hands through her hair.

"They are teenagers Wanda, they learn about it in school as well."

"But they are my innocent little babies. They don't need to know anything about anyone, especially us. Actually they don't need to know anything till they get themselves a partner." I laugh as Wanda continues to grumble about the matter.

"Well when the time comes you can give them the talk." Wanda tilts her head up so her chin is now resting on my shoulder as she shakes her head.

"No, we can give them the talk. I'm not doing this by myself."

"I was never given the talk or been given the talk. I don't know what to do." Wanda's brows scrunch. 

"Laura and Clint never gave you the talk?" 

"No, Laura didn't think it was necessary when she walked in on me and Sarah. Guess it's Karma for walking in on her and Clint." Wanda laughs a little in surprise.

"It sounds like you guys don't know what knocking on doors or privacy is." I lean down giving Wanda a few pecks as she giggles against my lips.

"Or I thought I thought home alone because they were at work but they in fact decided to close early….both times." I shudder at the memories.

"Well I'm just glad our doors have locks on them." I hum against Wanda's lips as I continue to lightly peck at them.

"Maybe we should sound proof it too." I mumble against her lips. 

"Really guys, right in the doorway." Wanda instantly buries her face into my chest when she hears Eleanor's voice.

"We were just talking, Eleanor." I defend.

"Yeah, sure, you definitely weren't eating each other's faces." I roll my eyes, but when I hear a groan I look over my shoulder to see an annoyed looking Tommy.

"Sorry Tommy." He folds his arms over his chest.

"I came back to ask you two if you wanted a cupcake but I come out here to hear Eleanor saying that. My ears and my brain have been scarred. What's next, my eyes?" 

"I would hope not." I say it before I even realise and Wanda sucks in a breath against my chest as Tommy rolls his eyes.

"Good, don't let me need to scoop my own eyes out. I need to go bleach my brain and clean my ears. I will be back." He smirks at me so I know he isn't really that mad, maybe a little creeped out but not mad. 

"There should be some bleach and Q-tips in the bathroom upstairs...maybe you can….you nope, just go eat your cupcake." I shut myself up remembering he is just 14 and I can't give him a snarky remark, especially about this and especially not in front of his own mother.

"Right." He narrows his eyes at me and seems to drop it. "So back to my original question, which is the reason I left the kitchen. Do you want a cupcake?" 

"Yes please Tommy." He nods at me then leans his body slightly to see his mom still hiding her face in my chest. 

"Mom, would you like a cupcake?" All Wanda does is nod her head, and I see a glimpse of her deep red blush.

"Eleanor?" Eleanor turns to look at Tommy.

"I will come with you, I have to check on the dinner anyway." Eleanor looks back at me and Wanda, rolling her eyes, before walking to the kitchen with Tommy and I look down to Wanda.

"You okay princess?" Wanda once again nods against my chest. "Princess?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She moves her head back off my chest, I have to hold my tongue to not call her a tomato as she starts fanning herself to try and cool herself off. 

"Someone a little embarrassed?" I giggle as Wanda flips me off.

"What were you going to say to Tommy but stopped yourself?" 

"Nothing important." I wave her off.

"Baby. What did you want to say?" She gives me puppy eyes, but I don't fall into the trap.

"Nope. I'm not saying a thing." 

"Baby." I shake my head, zipping my lips shut. "Baaaaby. I wuv roo." 

"Dammit you know I can't deny that Baby voice of yours." She beems up at me, standing on her tiptoes to kiss my lips.

"Now what did you nearly say to our son?" 

"Uhm, well." I rub the back of my neck before deciding just to say it, her wording not even registering with both of us. "I was going to say if he didn't want to see anything he could borrow our blindfold." 

"Y/n." Wanda grumbles and I smirk when I see a pink tint color her cheeks. 

"You asked."

"I knew it!" My head whips around to see Kate a few metres behind us with a smug grin on her face and I feel Wanda stuff her head under my top, her cheek against my skin as she hides herself. We really can't catch a break.

"Kate." I give her an 'are you serious' look and she holds her hands up defensively.

"Hey I'm not the one with…" She looks around to make sure the boys aren't in ear shot. "Kinks." 

Kate doesn't manage to duck when something is flung towards her face and I burst out laughing as her jaw hangs open in an offended manner. I turn to look at Wanda who has her hand covering her mouth as she laughs behind it. I hadn't even noticed she had snuck away from me and grabbed one of the hoodies on the coat rack, which was now currently in Kate's hands as she pulls it of her face. 

"Wanda." Kate fakes offence.

"Kate." Wanda mocks and it makes Kate's jaw drop more. 

"Y/n she is being mean." Kate whines.

"Hey, you started it." I hold my hands up in surrender and Wanda smiles at my answer poking her tongue out at Kate not a second later. 

"How am I the youngest here right now?" Kate throws her hands in the air but not before attempting to throw the hoodie back at Wanda. Both their jaws drop as I reach out an arm and catch the hoodie before it even gets close to Wanda's face, who quickly composes herself as I lower it and she tilts her head towards Kate.

"Oh fuck." Kate sprints off and Wanda makes chase, all the while I just shake my head and hang the hoodie back up. 

I head towards the kitchen, laughing when I see Kate holding Tommy up by his armpits, literally using him as a shield as Wanda tries to get past his body to get to Kate. Tommy seems to be having the time of his laugh as he is laughing along everytime Kate moves his body left to right, his arms and legs so relaxed they sway dramatically in the air. Eleanor and Billy are eating a cupcake each as they sit on the kitchen counter, both of them smiling every time Kate takes a step back -bringing Tommy's body with her - when Wanda nearly gets past.

I sneak up behind Kate, since her back is facing the entrance to the kitchen, and I see Wanda hold in a smirk not to give away my plan. Eleanor and Billy both take another bite of their cupcakes hiding their smiles behind the chocolate icing. Once I am right behind Kate I quickly push my hands into her armpits lifting her up the same way she is lifting Tommy. Her reactions are quick as she pulls Tommy close to her, wrapping her arms around him so she doesn't drop him, and I start bouncing up and down with them both. 

After a minute or so I put Kate on the ground, who in turn puts Tommy on the ground but as soon as Tommy is out of her reach I wrap my arms around her. I lift her feet slightly off the ground, her legs start kicking in the air as she tries to wiggle out of my grasp.

"Get her!" I shout into the kitchen.

Wanda is the first to attack Kate digging her nails into her side, making sure she isn't actually hurting Kate as she stops every few seconds. Tommy grabs her legs by her shins, lifting them up and locking them under his left arm while his right hand starts tickling her feet. Billy jumps off the counter running over to join the tickle attack, he decides to go for the neck. 

Kate is now squirming around a lot, her laughs echoing around the kitchen as tears start to roll down her cheeks. Eleanor makes her way over, and I smile when I see her dip her finger into the icing of her cupcake. 

"Mom, no, no, no!" I laugh at the slight fear I see in Kate's eyes as she tries to move her head away from her mother's chocolate covered finger but it is no use as Eleanor easily smothers her cheek in chocolate.

"Oh this looks like fun." I turn my head to look over my shoulder to see Janet who has a mischievous smirk painted on her lips. 

"Grandma J, please no more." Kate says breathlessly between laughs.

"Too late." Janet plants her lips on Kate's clean cheek and starts blowing raspberries. 

"Stop, stop. I'm going to pee. I'm going to pee." We all stop and I place Kate quickly on the ground who sprints out the room.

"Is she okay?" Wanda's eyes follow Kate as she darts out of the kitchen.

"Oh yeah, but she's not lying she is probably trying to get to the bathroom on time." 

Wanda hums in acknowledgement, smiling to herself, walking up to me and wrapping her arms around my waist. She pushes her face into my chest, snuggling as close as she can letting out a content sigh as she closes her eyes. I lift one hand up to Wanda's head and start scratching at her scalp just the way she likes it, while the other wraps around her shoulder holding her close. I smile to the other people in the room as they coo at the sight, the boys deciding they want to make it a group hug as Tommy hugs Wanda's left side and Billy hugs her right: their arms wrapping around both both and their mom.

I feel Wanda let out a small sigh planting a small kiss on my clothed chest, her hands moving under the back of my shirt so her hands can rest on my bare skin at the small of my back. Her fingertips start gently dancing along the skin, it's so delicate and acute I hardly feel it. 

"Tired princess?" I feel her subtly nod against my chest and I tilt my head down to rest my lips on the top of her head. "We will have dinner then we can head back to the cabin, we have another early flight tomorrow so up at 5 again."

"Next time we are taking the jet. No getting up at 5am." Wanda mumbles into my sternum.

"You're the one who said no jet." Wanda tilts her head so her eyes look into mine.

"Well I changed my mind. I don't like early wake up calls, so jet next time." She smiles at me silently telling me it isn't actually a demand, but she is open to the option.

"Okay." Our moment of peace is interrupted when Kate comes singing and dancing into the kitchen.

"Who loves food! I do! Who wants food! I do, I do! What sort of food? Any food, any food." Her voice trails off as she finally looks up to see us. "Oh, hey guys. So how long is the food going to be?"

"Go sit, all of you. Me and Eleanor will bring it to the table." Janet ushers us out of the kitchen, the boys detaching themselves from me and Wanda as they follow Kate but me and Wanda remain stuck in our spot.

"Carry me." Her voice is quiet but I see Janet give me a soft smile meaning she heard, miming the word 'cute' to me. 

"Of course princess." 

I press a kiss to her forehead head, her hands remove themselves from my top so they can wrap around my neck. My hands move down to her thighs, hoisting her up and her legs wrap around my waist. Her head turns around her eyes going wide when she sees the other two smiling at us, an embarrassed blush covering her face. 

"I'm sorry for seeming so needy." She looks up at me with a pout obviously not liking the clinginess she is feeling with other people watching. 

"You two go sit. We will bring it out." Janet says completely dismissing Wanda's worry by ignoring the fact which makes me smile because Wanda stuffs her face into the crook of my neck and I mime out a thank you to both women. 

"I've got you princess." I mumble into her ear as I walk us towards the dining room. 

I sit down on a chair, moving Wanda to sit sideways in my lap as her head rests against my chest but she makes an effort to open her eyes so she can interact with her boys. I start to scratch at her scalp again to try and help keep her calm so she doesn't start panicking about showing her clingy side again. 

"You okay mom?" Bill sits on the chair next to me leaning is head on my shoulder.

"Yeah, just a little tired."

"Oh I get snuggly too when I'm tired. It's a shame I have no one to snuggle." Kate states making Wanda smile since they aren't teasing each other for once.

"You'll find someone Kate." Wanda pulls my free hand into her lap and starts fiddling with my fingers. 

"How do you know that? Do you know someone?" Wanda shakes her head.

"No, unfortunately not. Yelena and you would be platonic soulmates that's for sure, if you ever met her. Nats exploring her wild side at the moment and Sharon is...well I don't know what Sharon is doing but your not her type. And the guys I know are like in their 40s so, they also get a no and most of them are not worth even trying anyway."

"Well damn, that's a shame. But it sounds like Y/n has made new friends because of you. Congrats Y/n." I roll my eyes as the boys and Wanda giggle.

"Yeah, whatever. But Wanda is right you and Yelena would be best pals."

"Well I can't say no to new friends. Oh how's Zak doing?" 

"Omg you know Zak?" Wanda sits up more in my lap and excited smile on her face, now a little more awake at the mention of his name.

"Yeah, who doesn't know Zak? If you know Y/n, you know Zak or the other way around. If they both weren't gay I would say they would have made a nice couple." Wanda laughs as Kate rambles about Zak the boys adding things on from how he was at the dinner.

"He can be a diva though." I point out.

"I mean yeah, but it's Zak it's like his whole thing." Kate defends him. 

"Okay, dinners up." Janet makes her presence known as she walks into the room holding two plates on each arm, setting them down in front of me and Wanda, who chooses to sit on the free sit to my left, and the boys who are sat either side of us. 

"Thank you Janet, this looks amazing." I pick up my knife and fork, ready to start eating but waiting for the others to get their food. 

"Yes, thank you Mrs Bishop this looks lovely." Tommy says as he pulls his chair under the table properly.

"You guys can start Eleanor is just on her way and please call me Janet boys. Any family of Y/n's gets to call me so." Janet motions for us to start as she takes a seat at the head of the table. 

"Okay, well thank you Janet." Tommy corrects as he looks at his mom for permission to start.

"Go ahead boys." They both immediately start cutting their food and hum when they taste it. 

"Woah, this is so good. What is it?" Tommy takes another bite.

"It's a meat taco salad, nothing to complicated." She brushes it off as Eleanor enters with their food, taking a seat next to her daughter. 

"I assume its game meat?" Wanda asks as she takes her first bite, eyes going wide as she hums at the taste as well. She hardly finishes her first mouthful before she is putting another fork load in her mouth. 

"It is yes." Janet keeps her answers short and vague not knowing what the boys reaction to eating game meat might be, but they don't seem to care as they have hardly taken a breath between bites. 

"Aren't you going to eat Y/n." I brought out of my wierd trance by Kates voice, her eyes darting between me and the food and I see Wanda's worried eyes on me from my peripheral. 

"Sorry, yeah, just caught in the moment." I scoop up I forkfull, the moment I bite down and taste the meat I know exactly what it is.

"It's a very rich meat." Wanda points out as she scans the red meat on her fork before putting it her mouth making me giggle at her curiosity. 

"It's very red too." Tommy points out copying his mom's actions. "Whatever it is, its really good."

"Is it caribou?" I question before taking another bite, Janet simply nods as she has her mouthful. "Game or farmed?"

"Game." I hum in acknowledgement as Eleanor answers for her mother and I raise an eyebrow at Kate in silent question who nods in return. I send her a proud smile and one grows on her face to.

"So this is wild deer, sort of?" Billy asks taking another bite, obviously not bothered by the fact.

"Yeah it is." Janet places her fork down as she wipes her mouth with a napkin allowing some of her food to settle before continuing, she said it makes sure she can eat it all.

Because the moment you feel full, you stop and two minutes later you're hungry again so instead stop before you get too full and then continue once that feeling goes down. Life lessons with Janet. I don't actually know if it works or if she is just being quirky, I'm too much of a food lover to stop eating a meal halfway through to finish it 5 minutes later.

"Well this is definitely better then shop brought meat. And it's cooked really nicely." Tommy compliments as he finishes his off and wipes his mouth clean with the napkin provided. 

"Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it." Janet has now chosen to drink some water, something about helping the food mix and digest. Like I said I've never tried this but Janet swears by it. 

I don't know Google it because I've been too lazy to over the years.

"Yes thank you. It was lovely Janet." Wanda remarks placing her knife and fork down on her plate. 

Soon everyone else has thanked Janet for the food and finished, and now we are all just sitting around letting the food go down for a second before we disappear off to our cabin. My left arm is draped over the back of Wanda's chair, my hand on her shoulder while my other one rests on the edge of the table drumming away to a random beat in my head. 

"So when are we going to see you guys next?" Kate asks with a little worry in her eyes.

"Well we will be staying in New York so whenever you come down and visit." I inform my friend.

"Okay well I will be down the end of next week…"

"So will we." Janet and Eleanor interrupt Kate. 

"Okay well we can arrange to meet up. Maybe have a small meal or we can do a whole big thing at thanksgiving." Wanda offers. 

"We can organise something once we get back, that sound good to you guys." Kate puts out there and we all nod and agree. "Great, well I can only cook packet mac and cheese so one of you will have to do the cooking." 

"Packet mac and cheese is so good though!" Tommy shouts excitedly earning a laugh from everyone around the table.

"Right! Wanda I love this kid." Kate high fives Tommy across the table. "You too Billy." Both of them high five too and the smile on Wanda's face is insane but I can see her tired eyes.

"I hate to cut this short, but I think it is time we head off. We have an early morning tomorrow."

"Of course, of course. We will all show you out." Janet stands from the table making her way out of the room and the rest of us follow soon behind. 

We walk to the front door, the four of us grabbing our coats and shoes as Kate holds the small container of the remaining cupcakes which she hands off to Wanda once he is ready. As soon as the container is out of her hand she engulfs me in a hug, that had so much force behind it I stumble backwards slightly until Billy and Tommy manage to put a hand on my back to stop us from falling.

"You okay there Hawk Eve?" I ask as I wrap my arms around her.

"Yeah, just going to miss you." I smile down at the younger girl.

"We are literally going to plan something for next month."

"I know, but I'm still not over the missing you from before." Kate admits shyly.

"Okay, well we can do coffee once a week when you get back to New York." 

"Sounds good." Kate leans back looking between me and Wanda. "I'm happy for you."

"Thank you Kate." She plants a kiss on my cheeks, but suddenly looking at Wanda expecting a bad reaction but when she sees only a smile she relaxes. 

"Love you, bi...stinky." I slap Kates arm playfully but she jumps back pretending it hurts. 

"Love you too kid." Kates jaw drops buts she chooses to ignore me and hug the boys bye instead while me and Wanda say our byes to Eleanor and Janet. Kate shuffles a little when it comes to saying bye to Wanda not sure what to do, but when she is pulled into a hug she relaxes. 

"Bye Kate. Its been a pleasure meeting you." Wanda says genuinely, I see her whisper something in Kate's ear and Kate whispers something back and they embrace each other more. 

"It's been lovely too meet you Wanda. I will see you soon." 

"See you soon Kate." They both pull away from the embrace, Wanda grabbing my hand as we start to walk out the door.

"Text me Kate." I shout up to her as we start getting into the car.

"I will. See you all soon." She waves her hand above her head enthusiastically, the boys returning one with the same energy before climbing into the car.

"Okay back to the cabin." I say to no one in particular as I reverse the car back off the driveway as the other three wave to Kate, Eleanor and Janet.

"Bye!" The sound echoes through the car as the boys shout out the window until we are driving away. 

"Thank you for letting us hang out with Kate. She is really fun! And the archery thing is so cool, like, she is so awesome." Billy rants and raves about how they shot at different targets and Kate showed off all the tricks she has been teaching herself to seem cool. It must be working because a 14 year old just called her cool...so….

"Yes thank you mom. And thank you Y/n for bringing us." I smile at Tommy through the rearview mirror for second, my hand finding home on Wanda's thighs and her hands immediately start fiddling with my rings and fingers  

"I'm glad you liked her and enjoyed her company. Like I said before she is a hyper puppy but she means well." 

"She's 19, let her be." Wanda tries to defend her apparent new friend.

"Says the one who was chasing her around every two minutes." Me and the boys giggle as Wanda shrugs with a smile.

"It's fun to act like a kid sometimes." I give her thigh a gentle squeeze.

"I'm only joking princess. There is nothing wrong with the fact, it was actually funny and cute. It's also really sweet you get on with her and the other two." 

"Well I did go all Sokovian on Eleanor for a second but we will skip past that fact." 

"Indeed we will." 

~~~~~~

"Night Boys." I whisper to then as we enter the cabin, Wanda in my arms half asleep.

"Night Y/n. Night mom." 

"Mhmm, night boys...love...you." Wanda mumbles as she tries to open her eyes, forcing herself to stay awake. 

"You really are tired today aren't you." All she can do is nod. "Let's get you to bed." 

I carefully carry her upstairs making sure we don't fall, or I don't drop her. I go to the door to see its already open, one of the boys must have done it for me, and make my way into the room kicking the door shut. I sit Wanda up on the edge of the bed, but she is that tired that her body just flops backwards onto it and I have to hold in a laugh. 

"You okay princess?" Wanda opens up her eyes giving me a lazy smile as I bend over to look at her with an amused one.

"I'm okay. Just want cuddles and sleep."

"Okay. First we need to get you changed. No clothes night tonight?" I offer knowing how much more she craves skin on skin contact when she is clingy. 

"Please." 

"Of course. I've got you." I start with her socks, as she tiredly mumbles random shit to herself while her hands dance in front of her face like it's helping to explain whatever nonsense she is saying. "What did you and Kate whispers to each other earlier?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Ealier you and Kate whispered something to each other and then hugged each other tightly."

"I don't recall." 

"Princess." I drag it out in hopes she will give in but she shakes her head.

"I plead the fifth." She squeal as I leave a sloppy kiss on her lips.

"Fine." I say with a smile so she knows I don't actually, desperately, need to know.

"I love you baaaaby." Her voice cracks with rasp as she falls more into a sleepy state.

"I love you to princess."

"I'm not on my period by the way."

I kneel at the edge of the bed starting to take her pants of as I give her a very confused look. She lifts her head of the bed, looking down at me copying my confused look before her head flops back down.

"I just mean, last time I was like this clingy was on my period. But it's not that." I kiss her now bare thigh as I pull her pants down and she giggles at the feeling of the wet kiss and start to pull her underwearoff too. "Tickles."

"Well I know it's not your period, because you only had yours 2 weeks ago is I think. Do you know what it is?" I kiss her thigh again smiling when I hear her giggle and her hand tries to, and miserably fails to, swat my face away. 

"Mmmm, maybe the intense sex. I just feel very clingy after it, don't know why. Also you haven't had a period yet. What's that about?" I laugh at her sleepy state as her words slur together a little as I move to sit on the edge of the bed to take her shirt off.

"That is a very high possibility. It probably has something to do with the release of hormones including oxytocin - the cuddle hormone - which explains itself." I manage to slide the shirt off her body, without much help from the sleepy woman, and easily take her bra off next. Skipping over her question completely.

"Well that explains it." 

"Right let's get you under the covers." 

"Thank you for looking after me baby." Wanda's eyes are now fully open looking at me, as I wrap one arm under her body and lift her up the bed. 

"I will always look after you princess."

"Even when I'm old and grey."

"Even when you're old and grey." Her eyes close as she gives me a very sleepy but very happy smile.

"I will look after you too. Just me and you." I peck her lips as I climb into bed next to her, pushing the covers out from under her body and then over ours. 

"Just us." Wanda hums while nodding her body gravitating towards mine. Her head finding home on my bare chest as one of her legs bends to rest between mine as the other lays partially across my left one, her foot resting on my shin. Her right arm hooks itself under my body as her left one rests on my chest, her fingers tracing patterns under my right boob.

"Is that going to be our couple mantra?" Wanda mumbles against my chest.

"What, just us?"

"Mmm. Like people says I love you more. Or they say always and forever. Or I read this book where they say I'm with you. So can just us be ours." She tilts her head back to look up at me as I lift my head to look down at her.

"Just us princess." She smiles at me before planting a wet kiss on my bare chest.

"Just us, dorogaya…..just us."

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

[darthkvznblogs]

Understandable if you don't wanna answer, but are there any elements from HP you'd still be willing to use in the background like Dementors or locations?

It's fine, I'll answer since it's relevant. I'll also use it as an opportunity to humbly request no more HP-related asks going forward, if you'd be so kind. It's bad enough that I couldn't completely excise it from the Kverse without a major rewrite I can't afford the time for, but I don't want to give it any more real estate in my blog - even if fanfiction doesn't financially benefit the author, I think it's clear we're living through times where we can't afford to give support, direct or indirect, to malevolent, hateful individuals and groups.

Thankfully for my purposes, the vast majority of creatures in Harry Potter's magical world have a basis in real life myths and legends, and I have spent a good bit of effort behind the scenes codifying new "secular" versions of them for the Kverse, detached from the series' influence. Places and people are a different matter, of course, so I've had to move, change, or nix a not insignificant number of planned events and interactions that were set in stone half a decade ago (the Kverse could be in elementary school by now, pretty wild to think about how long I've been at this). I've also replaced the sort of "magical school" element I needed with lore from a different fandom, which I'm pretty excited about!

The Kverse may not be completely clean in this regard, and I own that choice, but it's a 95% sort of deal. If the franchise changes ownership sometime (and maybe addresses some of its very valid criticisms), I may reevaluate, but I'm not holding my breath. As things stand now, don't expect more of it in my writing.