#uh hmu if interested

[gothamcityneedsme]

uhh any umineko fans im mutuals with interested in a slightly damaged maria figure.

[homenecromancer]

my great-grandmother did this weaving, probably in the 1950s or 1960s — it hangs from a length of wooden dowel, the driftwood pieces are essentially ornamental. the whole thing is maybe 20 inches long, 13 inches across (51 x 33 cm)

[picnicbask3t]

(Places down a carved pumpkin but full of candy for you.)

Happy October! Joe Month!

AHHHH YAAAAAH OMIGOSH YAY CANDY 💜💜💜💜💜🎃 thank you sm anon!!!!! Happy October !!!! im loving it already, spooky month is forever !!!!!! joe month !!!!!!!!

im currently at the beach (hence the setting), since it’s going to be super hot today!!!!! (trying to tolerate the sand.)

i hope to enjoy halloween with you all 💜💜💜

[goosewriting]

Dinner Disaster

summary: after some flirting, reth finally asks reader out for dinner, but it doesn’t go as planned (follows the dinner disaster quest)

relationship: Reth x gn!reader

warnings: spoilers for Reth’s backstory and interactions, smooching

word count: 5.1k 

A/N: literally no one asked for this but this game is consuming my very being to a molecular level, and this man is a big reason i’m obsessed. btw if any of you play palia or are interested in playing, hmu and we can add each other lol this is set some time after the flirting starts, after reader gets involved in his uh, side business. this is more or less how the quest played out in my head so, yeah, enjoy~

Navigation: Part 1 (you're here) | Part 2

(english is not my first language. constructive criticism and grammar corrections are very appreciated!)

— — —

Since you developed a real green thumb, to the delight and pride of Badruu, you have some extra apples from your tree that you don’t know what to do with. So, as with most of your garden surplus, you decide to bring them to Reth, who will surely find a good use for the produce.

You spot the freckled Majiri behind the bar when you enter the Inn, thinking that he’d probably make an apple pie with the fruit, and that you’d surely get a slice. Your mouth waters at the thought. You wonder when the cook will teach you the recipe; maybe you should ask him. 

Reth’s working the register, finishing some transaction with another human customer, when you place the wooden crate of apples on the bar, and proceed to take a seat on the stool you usually occupy when you visit him at the Inn. Reth gives the apples a curious glance, and talks to you over his shoulder as he hands the customer some change.

“Thanks, babe,” he says without thinking, and you both freeze at his words, as does the human who just paid for a recipe. They shoot you a quick look with raised brows, then silently turn on their heels and walk out of the Inn. Reth slowly turns to you. 

“Sorry, that kinda slipped out,” he says sheepishly, unable to meet your eyes. “Are we at the babe status yet?”

To be honest, if he had asked you first, you probably would have said no. It’s not your favourite pet name, and he could surely come up with something better. He often calls you sweet tooth, which you’ve actually come to like a lot. But hearing him call you ‘babe’ so matter-of-factly out of nowhere… You’re surprised to realise that you actually like how it sounded, how it sounds coming from him.

“I mean… If you want to be,” you answer after a moment, deciding to tease him a little. “Sure thing, babe.”

Except that it backfires and it ends with both of your faces burning up, which he tries to play off by clearing his throat. 

“Yeah, I’ll still have to get used to it, too,” you chuckle, bringing a hand to your face in an attempt to cover up how flustered you got. “But I like it when you say it.”

“Noted,” he replies, then looks around the Inn to see if someone else will approach the register. As there’s no one else, he fully faces you, leaning slightly over the bar. “Say, what are you up to today?”

“Oh you know, the usual,” you reply, starting to count on your fingers. “Hunting, fishing, foraging. Then tending to the vegetable garden. I also need to craft a new chair. Why?”

“A-are you busy later tonight?”

You prop yourself up on your elbow and give him a lopsided smile. 

“I’m never too busy for you,” you offer, and he smiles amusedly at your answer. “You have anything in mind?”

“I was thinking we could have dinner. At your place, maybe?” he asks. “I’ll take care of the food and everything. You just have to show up.”

Up until now, no one has actually visited your house. Sure, you upgraded from your first precarious tent to a proper building, and the Majiri came by every so often to say hi or bring you something, but no one has actually gone into your house. And for some reason the thought of Reth not only being at your place but also being the first one to do so, it makes you a bit nervous… but in a good way.

You realise that he’s still looking at you waiting for an answer, fidgeting with a loose nail on the wooden crate still on the bar. 

“I’d love that, actually,” you reply.

“Great!” He looks actually relieved. As if I would have said no to you asking me out, you think, smiling to yourself. He’s so innocent sometimes. Reth takes the crate and shoves it under the bar somewhere. 

“Then let’s say around 6pm?” he proposes.

“Sounds good,” you agree with a nod. 

Ashura enters the Inn, giving you a warm smile and a wave from afar as he spots you. Given that it’s his boss and you shouldn’t be distracting Reth from work, you take it as your cue to leave.

“See you later then,” you say in a low voice so Ashura can’t hear you.

“Don’t miss me too much,” Reth gives you his usual goodbye. He winks at you and you merely roll your eyes as you turn to exit the place. And just in time, so he can’t see your flustered face. You can’t remember when exactly the winking started, but it never fails to make you weak in the knees.

Once down at the plaza, you refocus on your tasks for the day, mentally making a list of the things to buy, resources to mine and places to go. Then you head for your first stop with a spring in your step. Tonight can’t come quickly enough.

— — —

You come home with a backpack full to the brim of crabs, plants, stones and other goodies. As you set down your things on the grass with a grunt from the weight, you see your palcat coming out of the house to greet you.

“Hey there,” you say, crouching down to scratch her head. She purrs and meows happily. You recently got this companion, and it’s been nice having someone at home to come back to. She often accompanies you when you go out as well, but this morning she was feeling especially lazy and cosy so she stayed in bed. You walk to your storage crate, starting to put everything away, and your cat looks at you with a light tilt to the head as you tell her about your day.

“Oh and actually,” you finish your retelling with the big news. “We’re having a visitor today.”

“Mreow?”

“Yeah, him… So you have to be on your best behaviour, you hear me?” you tell your cat with an accusing finger pointing at her. “We have to make a good impression. If you’re good, you can have lots of treats later, okay?”

She meows again, and you like to think she just agreed; bribes with food always work, after all.

There’s still some time until six, so you tend to your garden, clean yourself and change into a new set of clothes, the nicer one. It’s the only one you own, and it was a gift from Jel. In fact, all the clothing you have was given to you by him in some way or another. You make a mental note to prepare a gift for him for helping you out so much.

Next to your house there’s a nice spot among the trees, near the pond, where you can hear the trickling of water. You grab a big blanket and a lantern, and set everything up for a picnic corner. Even if whatever Reth brought was more of a “plates and cutlery at the table” kind of meal, you could still come out here after and look at the stars a bit. Then, maybe you’ll find the courage to make a proper move on him… You imagine the both of you sitting on the blanket, illuminated only by the warm glow of a candle and the gentle moonlight, you take his hand, he leans in, and… 

You mentally slap yourself to get rid of those thoughts, cheeks ablaze. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, you reprimand yourself. He may be a bit of a flirt at times, but Reth doesn’t strike you as the type of person to take such feelings lightly. So you have to make sure that he even is into you in the first place. Like actually into you. Suddenly your whole mental scenario shifts, and as you take his hand, he pulls away, disgusted. But wait. Dinner was his idea. He even called you ‘babe’. Surely he must have some interest, right? You’re not just… a side piece? 

Before you can spiral down further, you hear your name being called, although it’s not the voice you were expecting; this one is higher and has a slight lisp. You turn around to find Auni by the gate to your yard. You jog up to where he stands, smiling curiously. Sure, he delivers the mail twice a day, but usually you just find the letters in your mailbox as if they magically appeared; you never saw him actually deliver anything. You wonder if he has a new cool bug to show you.

“Hey Auni!” you greet the boy as you approach him. 

“Hi, I have a delivery for you,” he announces, holding out something for you to take.

“Oh, what is it?”

“Reth paid me in cakes to have this brought to you asap, said it was really important.”

“Oh?” 

You take the letter from him with a thanks, and he says his goodbyes. Why would Reth send a letter when he’s supposed to show up himself? Maybe it’s a treasure hunt kinda thing? 

You open the folded piece of paper, which isn’t even in an envelope, recognising Reth’s handwriting, but it’s even messier and more hurried than usual. The curious smile on your face disappears, your brows furrowing as you read.

Hey, I feel like a HUGE jerk for doing this, but I have to cancel our plans tonight. Something came up that I can’t ignore. Next time we see each other I promise I’ll explain.

- Reth

It feels like your whole body suddenly runs cold, and your hands drop to your sides, your eyes looking ahead at nothing in particular.

Your cat, who had poked her head out the door when she heard Auni, seems to sense the shift in you and approaches, meowing softly, as if asking if everything is okay. You look down at her, and give a light shrug.

“Looks like we won’t have visits after all…” you explain, reading over the letter one more time, then letting out a deep sigh. “Let’s get you something to eat, c’mon.”

She seems to know those words, as she immediately stands up and circles around your legs. Following you inside, she waits for you to get the bowl ready, and once you set it on the ground, she happily digs in.

“Well, at least one of us got a nice dinner.”

You stroke once from her head to her long bushy tail, to which she comically lifts her behind, then you decide to turn in for the night and head to bed, not really feeling hungry despite the eventful day.

— — —

The next morning you wake up to the sunlight shining through your window and fully hitting your face; you forgot to close the blinds the night before. With a squint, you look down at the weight you feel on yourself and find your cat curled up on your lap, which gets a sleepy half smile out of you. 

Picking her up in your arms, you go to close one of the blinds, then make your bed and head to the kitchen for breakfast. You start your routine like normal, having breakfast, taking care of the garden, going through your inventory to check what you need and what you can sell. You take your time, though, not really wanting to head into the village just yet. 

By the time you’re ready to go, it’s almost noon. Usually you’d be at the inn in the morning to say hi to Reth and chat a bit before starting your day. And while you really don’t feel like talking to him after leaving you hanging yesterday, you also know that he’s probably beating himself up about it, even more so if you haven’t been seen all morning. So after heaving a deep sigh, in hopes of letting all anger and frustration exit your body, you walk through the gate down into the village. To your surprise and delight, your cat follows this time.

You make your way towards the central plaza, exchanging greetings with those who walk by you, stopping to have a short chat with Chayne, whom you probably don’t talk to enough. You make a mental note to remedy that.

Somewhere in your mind though, you know you’re just stalling; you should just get it over with. Reth probably has a good explanation. Besides, you don’t want to be mad at him or give him the silent treatment or anything. You miss him, and you do want to see him. You’re just… disappointed. 

Taking one last deep breath as you stand before the Inn, you look down at your palcat and give her a nod. She meows encouragingly. You walk in through the open door, relieved to find it mostly empty. There’s very few people sitting at the tables in the corner, and Ashura isn’t at the reception desk. 

Your eyes find Reth’s behind the bar, and he freezes for a moment. You approach him like you normally would, about to take a seat on your usual stool.

“Wait,” he says before you’re able to fully sit down. You merely shoot him a questioning look. He lowers his voice, shooting a quick glance at the people eating at the tables. “Let’s talk in the back.” 

Reth scribbles something on a piece of paper and places it next to the till, indicating for you to follow him with a nod of his head. You pat the seat you meant to take while commanding your cat to hop onto it, and she does, so you tell her to stay there and wait. Then as you walk to where he said, you take a quick look at the paper; it reads “back in 5”.

You follow Reth into the back room, and you both come to stand in the farthest corner; since there are two archways but only one has a door, this will have to do to stay away from prying ears and curious eyes. You both talk in hushed voices.

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” he says with a sigh, scratching his neck. He drags his eyes up to meet yours, scared of what he might find.  “Please don’t be mad. Are you mad? You can be a little mad. I’m such a jerk–”

“Hey, no need don’t say that,” you interrupt him, and you just look at each other in silence for a second. “I mean, I’m upset, but not in a ‘mad at you’ way. More in a… ‘I was really looking forward to it and was bummed that you had to cancel at the last minute’ way.

“I was really looking forward to it too, it’s just…” Reth runs his hand over his face with a groan. “Yesterday was kind of a mess.”

“What happened?”

“Ashura caught me sneaking into the back rooms after hours. I panicked, so I lied and said I was actually planning a party for him, as a thank you. He liked that idea, so he got off my back, but now I actually have to throw him a dinner party with other people.”

You look to the side, unable to stop the scoff that escapes you. But it isn’t a mocking or offended scoff, it’s more of an amused sharp exhale. 

For a moment, you think back to how you kind of ended up roped into his side hustle of smuggling illicit goods (especially Flow and ancient artifacts, which are very illegal), which is why he was sneaking around in the first place. You’ve been covering for him with Ashura and many others for a while now, and while at first it was more of a personal favour, now you're in too deep. Not that you mind, though. If you’re being honest with yourself, it adds a bit of an exhilarating factor to everyday life. You’re not entirely sure yet about the actual power and meaning of Flow in this society, but it seems to be connected to humans in some way, so you’re at least a little bit interested in it. If you have to investigate and interact with it in secret, then so be it; you also want answers as to what happened to humanity and how you landed here. Besides, it’s one more thing you two can bond over. Literally partners in crime. The thought makes you smile to yourself.

“You’re kind of bad at this whole criminal thing, you know?” you tell him with a playful grin. “Getting strangers involved, almost being caught by your boss.”

He doesn’t seem too amused. 

“I know, I’m…” his demeanour shifts from annoyed at and with himself to almost shy, and he looks down as he bites the inside of his cheek. “I guess I’ve been distracted lately, is all.”

You hum in response, somewhat intrigued. When his gaze comes back up to meet yours though, eyes filled with yearning, the look he gives you makes your heart skip a beat, and suddenly you’re all too aware of how close you’re standing to each other. You need to wrap this up.

“So is there anything I can do to help you out?” you ask him.

“What? No, you really don’t need to. You’ve already saved my hide so many times,” he’s quick to dismiss your question. “Besides, cooking is one of the few things I’m actually good at, so I got that covered.”

Suddenly he looks like he just thought of something that you could in fact help out with, but he doesn’t want to say. You give his upper arm a soft push with your fist.

“C’mon, out with it,” you encourage him with a playful smile. 

“Well…” His eyes linger for a second where you touched him. “I need to prepare everything, so I can’t be out and about actually inviting everyone to the dinner party.”

He takes out a paper from his pocket and hands it to you. You skim over it, seeing a list of names.

“If you could invite everyone and let me know how many guests will come, I can make sure to cook the right amout.”

“Got it,” you reply with a nod. “I’ll ask around and probably send Auni back to let you know. He told me you’re paying him in cakes for special deliveries. Think you can sneak another baking session in today on top of dinner? On my tab.”

“Sure thing,” he chuckles, then gets serious again. “And hey, I really am sorry. I’ll make it up to you.”

“Reth, it’s okay, really,” you say, and he’s so close and he looks so sad, you want to hold his face so badly. In fact, your hand is already going up, but you pull back midway, fidgeting with the collar of your shirt instead. “Just… be more careful next time, okay?”

“Yeah…” he sighs. “And thank you, for the invites. I owe you. Again.” 

“Yes, you do,” you chuckle. “Maybe I should start charging you with interest.”

He starts patting down his pockets. 

“I don’t have any cash on me at the moment,” he says with a smile, playing along. 

Your answer comes quicker than you can anticipate and you’re unable to stop your words. 

“I was thinking more along the lines of kisses maybe…”

Both of you look at each other a bit shocked.

“Oh. O-oh,” is all he stammers.

Whatever confidence came over you for you to say that, immediately dissipates as Reth turns several shades of pink darker. The tips of his ears look like they might actually catch fire any moment.

“But we can talk about payment later,” you’re quick to add, and clear your throat. “I’ll uhm, get your invites out. You better start on that food.”

“Right. Yes,” he says stiffly, and you both put some space between each other. “Thanks again. And sorry too. And–”

“Reth,” you cut him short again, giving him a reassuring smile. “It’s okay. See you later.”

“B-bye.” 

You exit the backroom, calling for your cat, who walks around the bar to find you, and you make a hasty exit through the back, walking down the stairs to your left. As you pass the river, you consider for a moment jumping into the water to cool down. Maybe that would get your heart to slow down again. You fist your shirt over your chest where you can feel the pounding against your ribs. 

An inquisitive meow from the side gets your attention back, and you look down at your companion, who’s looking up at you confusedly.

“Right. We have a job to do,” you say and go to take out the paper with the list from your pocket, except that it’s been in your hand the whole time, and it’s now crumpled and slightly damp because of how clammy your hands were. You cringe a bit at that, commanding yourself to calm down at once. Geez, get a grip on yourself, you think.

It takes a while to track Auni down after everyone else, given that he’s always out on his mail route or out and about exploring, probably trying to catch some bugs. When you finally find him, you give him the list of people who plan to atttend Ashura’s dinner, and send him to Reth to deliver the news with the promise of getting his sticky hands on more cake. This seems to do the trick, and he happily jogs off with the new list stuffed into a side pocket of his gigantic backpack. You look after him as his figure gets smaller and smaller, wondering how he’s even able to carry all that. His equipment is bigger than himself. 

With a shake of your head, you bring your attention back to your own equipment, and get your bow and arrows ready. Today you’re hunting chapaas; Hassian asked for some meat and fur earlier this week and you haven’t been able to deliver yet. 

— — — 

You get back home relatively late, and when you do, the flag on your mailbox is up. Setting down your haul next to it, you get out several letters, looking for a message from Reth. And lo and behold, there’s one from him, this time properly written and folded into an envelope. 

He says that in the end everything worked out, to which you sigh in relief. Ashura doesn’t suspect a thing apparently, and everyone had a great time. He tells you to meet him at your “private spot” tonight, he has something to give you. 

You look at the time, then down at yourself; you’re looking pretty shabby after hunting for hours on end, kneeling down in mud and such. So you quickly change into clean clothes, wash your face and prepare food for your loyal cat. As she happily munches away, you grab your jacket and leave again. Nights can get pretty chilly here, you’ve learned. 

It doesn’t take long for you to make your way to the inn, given that you’re essentially bee lining for it. Checking that no one’s following you or sees you enter the inn from the back, you quickly take a left and go down the stairs towards the storage room. Reth gave you the key to it, so you unlock the door and enter, quickly closing it behind you. 

When you turn around, you’re met with the cook on the other side of the room, stopping whatever he was doing on the table, and he stands up to come and meet you.

“Hey sweet tooth, thanks for coming,” he greets you. 

“Hey,” you smile up to him but he looks tense. “Is everything okay? I thought you said the dinner party worked out? “

“No, it did. It’s- It’s not that,” he curses under his breath at himself. 

“What is it then?”

Reth sighs, and you can tell he’s trying to find the right words. So you give him a moment to gather his thoughts, waiting patiently.

“You know… I’m not used to asking for help,” he starts explaining. “Even as a kid, I wouldn't, and I didn't expect others to help, either. It was always just me and Tish against the world. And now there’s you.”

His cheeks flush ever so slightly, and you can start to feel yours mirroring his.

“Here you come, busting into my life,” he says with a soft smile, but it quickly vanishes. “And even though I keep messing up… somehow you’re still here. You’re not sick of me yet.”

You want to interject, as that “yet” doesn’t sit well with you, but he doesn’t let you.

“And more than that, you've put yourself on the line for me, more than once. I honestly don't understand why you keep putting up with me but… I really do appreciate everything you've done and how much you've helped me out, and Tish as well. But the cartel… I- I don’t want you to get hurt because of me. And I don’t want to scare you off either.” He lets out a shaky breath. “Whatever is going on between us, I don’t want to lose this. So let me make it up to you.”

He steps aside to show you what’s on the table: a container with your favourite food. 

“And I know this is barely enough for everything–”

“Reth, please stop,” you interrupt him before he can spiral further, your voice soft. “I’ll take the food, thank you. It looks delicious. But you really don’t have to try to make up for any of the, uh, side business stuff. Sure, the dinner didn’t work out, but if you say we just have dinner another day, then that is enough for me.”

You step a little closer, your hand tentatively reaching out for his.

“And you don’t have to worry about scaring me off.” Your voice is nothing more than a whisper now. “I also don’t want to lose what we have. I’m not going anywhere.”

Reth looks down at your hands as he shyly intertwines his fingers with yours, and when his eyes come back up to meet yours, they’re full of something… new. His gaze flickers down to your lips for a second and back up, and you wonder if he can hear your erratic heartbeat. You’re standing so close to each other right now, it wouldn’t take a lot to close the gap.

“That said, though, about that payment I mentioned…” you trail off.

His jaw clenches, and he looks to the side, pulling back away from you ever so slightly.

“Are you sure about this?” he questions rather bitterly. “About me?”

“What do you mean?” you ask. He sighs, eyes cast down at the floor.

“People will talk. They probably already are. With my reputation and all… I strayed from my Path. Most days I’m convinced people don’t even like my soup. I’m nothing more than a scoundrel.”

Your free hand comes up to gingerly hold his chin and turn his face to make him look at you.

“First of all, I don’t care what people say,” you start refuting his arguments. “Maybe I still don’t understand Majiri tradition, but I think you should be free to choose your own path with no expectations, and change it if you find it doesn’t suit you. And I like your soup. Also, I think being a scoundrel is part of your charm. Is that a bad thing?”

He doesn’t reply immediately, and when he does, his voice is so small you almost miss it. 

“You’re too good for me.”

You pull back slightly to fully look at him, and it breaks your heart a little how earnestly he means that. So you let go of his hand and hug his torso instead, burying your face into the crook of his neck.

“I don’t know what happened that makes you think that, but I will try my best to show you how wrong you are. You deserve good things, Reth. Whatever it is you want, you’re allowed to pursue it.”

He hugs you back, tightly, so you place a kiss to the only place you can reach, which is his jawline just below his ear. You feel him tremble, but if it’s from relief, anticipation or something else, you can’t tell.

“Right now what I want is you,” he says after a moment. 

“Then what are you waiting for.”

Reth lets go only enough for you to come back face to face with him, and he doesn’t waste a second to capture your lips with his. At first it’s shy, new, a sequence of soft pecks, testing the waters. When your hands travel up his chest to cup his face, he relaxes a bit more, kissing you more confidently. His hands slip underneath your open jacket, holding onto your waist and pulling you to him. 

His kisses grow more intense, hungrier, and his tongue finds its way to yours. You can’t help the low moan that escapes you when he presses you further into him, and he practically swallows it. 

As he takes a step forward, you take one backwards, then another and another, until your back hits the door, and you’re being squished between the rough wooden surface and Reth’s body trying to get impossibly close to yours. The impact makes you grunt, and he responds with something between a sigh and a growl, moving away from your lips to attack your neck. You welcome the break to take a breather, panting, and you remember something.

“Wait,” you say between breaths, and immediately Reth stops his soft bites and licks on your throat, also out of breath, and worry starts spreading on his face.

“W-what? Is this okay? I–”

Your hand on his face gently covers his mouth to stop him from talking, while with the other you turn the key below the doorknob to lock the door, which you had forgotten to do when you arrived.

“Just don’t want to risk getting interrupted, is all.”

You take a moment to admire his slightly dishevelled form: the bandana is a bit askew, his pupils are blown out, his cheeks and ears a deep pink. You probably don’t look much different, to be honest. He looks at you expectantly, waiting for you to give him permission to continue. 

“Let’s move away from the door, maybe–” you start, and within an instant, strong arms are picking you up under your thighs, carrying you over to the other side of the room and setting you down on the table. 

“Better?” he asks, placing a kiss to the corner of your mouth.

“Better,” you reply with a smile.

“You said you’re charging me with lots of interest,” he mumbles into your skin as he starts again where he left off earlier. You can only hum in response. “And I plan on paying back what I owe.” 

You pull back a little to look at him, and the newfound confidence and assertiveness in his eyes and voice send a pleasant tingle down your spine. 

“I’m very much looking forward to it.”

— — —

A/N 2: what? goose being attacked by brainrot over a freckled red-head who seems confident on the outside but is actually riddled with insecurities and does some illegal stuff to keep his family safe? huh, bet no one saw that one coming 🙄 guess i have ONE TYPE, smh.

A/N 3: if this is something you'd like to see more of, feel free to let me know and i'll add palia to my taglist fandoms for you to sign up :D palia has now been added to my taglist! link in my pinned post~

[daydream-believin]

a real stand up guy ba dum tss

summary: you get stood up by an internet man. douxie, your waiter and secret admirer, remedies that jackass’s mistake.

warnings: uh. swearing, alcohol, i’m too lazy to proof, the yooj. oh and doux doesn’t know how to handle this crush without getting slightly into stalker territory sorry. its a red flag but i think its cute. you may not think its cute.

a/n: tumblr was glitching while i tried to post this so idk how many paragraphs i accidentally erased. i mean i tried my best to make that number 0. but anyways if something is off let me know. the challenge for this one is that im not allowed to use italics. which you should know was very hard for me agshjfkgjdjh

taglist: @moppetwithamanbun @alovesongshewrote @blixeon @prismarts @fantasyiswaybetterthanreality @ukuleles-and-roses

okay quick psa i know it’s been years so if you want off the taglist just hmu. also if you were on the taglist and got taken off thats bc tumblr says you don’t exist anymore

uh this was a request. i’m not doing requests tho dont think that. looking back yeah that ask if from march 2022 and this doesn’t even match up to what you asked 😂 im so sorry @rose-writes-shit

you took a peek at your watch. 7:34 o’ clock. letting your head fall into the open palm of your propped up hand, you sighed.

coffee meets bagel boy was supposed to have met you at 7:00.

of fucking course. you let your plucky pink-haired coworker convince you to download a fucking dating app and make a profile, just for the only guy who had actually been interested enough in you to ask you on a real date to stand you up. makes sense.

it’s not like you’ve ever had luck with these kind of things. it’s not like you’ve ever had luck period. your kind might be the black cat of humans.

you’ve spent way too long eating the free bread at a mr. benoit’s of all places. it was the “classiest” establishment in the certain suburban hellscape of california you inhabited, albeit. you took in the scenery for the millionth time that night with a renewed sense of disgust. at least now you had a legitimate reason to hate this place.

your waiter slinked over, and you could tell he felt bad for you with the awkward shuffling gait to the pity grimace on his face.

“so, uh, perhaps more bread?”

you rolled your face towards him, arbitrarily throwing animosity his way with your dead eyes, just because he was there. but soon your compulsive desire to be the funniest pathetic wretch in the room won out.

“i’m considering burning this whole place down right now, actually,” you joked.

he grit his teeth, sucking in a breath, “could i perhaps convince you to do that on a night i’m not closing, instead? tomorrow is my least favorite coworker’s turn, for your consideration,”

“hmm,” you pretended to think, “i’ll do that then, it’s only kind,”

“thank you for your generosity,” he grinned, “now, are you still waiting for someone or?”

-

douxie had been watching you for over half an hour now. not creepily. he swears. he just got a little excited when he saw you come into the restaurant is all.

anddd maybe he might have badgered the host into giving you one of his tables. but again, he was just excited. he’s been looking for an excuse to talk to you for the past three months, after all. forgive him for jumping on the opportunity.

he maybe fancied you. just a wee bit. perhaps a rather large bit. or at least, the version of you he’s cooked up in his head from the way he sees you interact with people at house parties and the things he’s heard from zoe.

but he’s sure he’ll love you. as soon as he gets to know who you actually are. which, hopefully, is about to be sooner rather than later.

he did not anticipate this situation, however. whatever benevolent deity blessed him on this night decided to throw a jar of pickled herring in with the otherwise yummy pastry filled gift basket they left for him.

not long after you arrived at 6:56 pm, not that he marked the time you came in or anything he just happened to glance at the clock around that time, he watched you, how they say, deflate. your demeanor shifted from antsy to sad to downright annoyed.

you were dressed nicely. not fancy, not pretending like this wasn’t a benoit’s. but nice. orderly. like you wanted to make a good impression on whoever it was you were expecting to meet. so either a date, or mayhaps a job interview.

not that you didn’t look nice or orderly on other days. you just weren’t in your hex tech uniform shirt. or in the incredibly casual clothes you wore when he saw you around. you were just. clearly cleaned-up, is all.

whoever it was, it was obvious that they were not coming. doux applauded you for being patient enough to wait this long, but again, they obviously weren’t coming. which, if it was a date, was good for him, but bad for you. very bad for you.

and honestly who does this person think they are? letting you down like this? horrible. disgraceful. this person was a grade A jerk-off. they have to be dead from the neck up to leave you waiting here like this, publicly embarrassing you as you sat at a table set for two all alone at one of the busiest restaurants in town. shame on them.

he was glad you seemed to be in the joking mood, however. and about arson, too. oh, he’s always had a soft spot for arsonists.

he hoped you’ll forgive him for having to do his job. if it was up to him, he’d give you all the bread in the pantry just so you wouldn’t leave. but alas, he had to deal the killing blow.

“now, are you still waiting for someone, or?”

your eyes drifted downward to the empty wineglass in your hand as you swirled it sarcastically as if it were still full.

you sighed, “yeah, no, it’s clear he doesn’t plan on showing,” you looked back up at him ruefully, “i’ll order now. i shouldn’t have waited this long for an internet man, anyway, huh? could’ve made it less pathetic.”

“i don’t think there’s a way to make these things any ‘more’ or ‘less’ pathetic,” he began taking out his notepad, ready to write, “because i wouldn’t call it pathetic at all. getting stood up is a thing that’s done to you, not because of who you are, but because of who someone else chooses to be… unless you stole this guy’s car or something. then it’s your fault.”

you laughed. genuinely.

“no, no, it’s a first date. i haven’t known this guy long enough to steal his car yet. but thanks… that’s. a better outlook than mine. kinder,” you apologized, “… uh, can i have like, the cheapest bottle of white wine you’ve got back there? the whole thing this time.”

“i take it back. that definitely made it pathetic.”

while you shared a laugh, douxie mentally congratulated himself. you had just given him the information that a) you were single and b) you were into men. a good day to be a charming single man, then. he had a chance.

“so are you ordering any real food as well? or did you plan on just having wine and bread for dinner? have to say, i don’t think that’s wise, love.”

“well i suppose i gotta, since, i’ve, uh, eaten three baskets of complimentary bread,” you stumbled over your words for a second there, “and i’m sure it’d make the manager mad if it didn’t, right?”

“right you are. he’s uh,” douxie lowered his voice, “he’salreadybeenonmydickaboutyou so yeah, you gotta. plus i’m just— you should eat something, yeah.”

you awkwardly turned your attention to the menu as you did that thing where you hold it and pretend to look over the menu as you order like you forgot or something, “the duck confit sounds good for tonight, i think,”

douxie snorted.

“no, no, that wasn’t a joke,” you shook your head, smiling fondly, “i actually just like duck, i promise. no sarcasm. i do understand the irony though. i get it.”

he didn’t completely believe you, “well then, one order of duck confit, coming right up. be back shortly, love.”

doux grabbed the breadbasket on his way out.

when he glanced back to throw you a short and unnoticeable but longing stare, as he paused in the kitchen doorway, you were fidgeting with the flowers on the table. he should get that order in now.

-

when your waiter came back with food, he placed two plates down on the table. you looked at him like he had suddenly grown a second head as he took the other seat as well.

“what are you—“

“i called in a favor with the owner. i’m still working but, i’ve got a bit of free time now. if you don’t mind me joining you,”

you shook your head in astonishment.

“not at all,” you smiled, still absolutely flabbergasted that this man would do something like this for you, “you’re douxie, right? zoe’s mentioned you a lot.”

“oH—,” he coughed, “oh, uh, she has?“

“yeah,”

he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “only good things, i pray?”

“oh, sure. sure. good things,” you took a demure little sip of your glass to torture him with the pause implying the contrary.

he swallowed audibly. nervous, then. what dirt did zoe have on him. you watched as he awkwardly shoved up the sleeves of his shirt, perhaps feeling a bit warm now. it was cute.

you’d be sure to ask zoe all about him later. how could you not. this was the most interesting thing to happen all year. and it’s december.

you racked your brain for what you knew of this guy for conversation topics.

“you’re in zoe’s band, right? the lead guitarist.”

his face lit up at the mention of it, “oh, yes. you’ve seen us?”

“once or twice, i believe.”

it wasn’t really your thing, live music. you mostly hung around the back of the bar when you got dragged to shows. you liked loud, sometimes. just not often. it really depended on how your brain was feeling that day.

“well, you’ve gotta come to the next gig, then, at least. i’m sure zoe’s already invited you?” you nodded. “the venue’s holding a wee little music festival, it’s going to be nuclear,”

“ah, that’s fun,” you smiled. that sounded like hell but now that two very enthusiastic wizards have invited you, you don’t have the heart to weasel your way out of it. you’ll bring the “XTREME” ear plugs.

“but yeah, the bands great. i love that i get to play with my mates now. a team that works as well together as we do is rare, so i really appreciate them.”

“speaking of,”

doux hummed inquisitively.

“what’s going on with zoe and that new girly y’all’ve got on the drums?”

“oh,” he paused to take a sip, narrowing his eyes mischievously, “they’re boning.”

you clasped your hands together excitedly, “thank you! you’ve just won me a betting pool.”

he almost had to spit the wine back into his glass,“hhhh. how many?”

“oh, just the entirety of the hex tech arcadia staff.”

“i’m not sure she’ll be happy to hear that.”

“which is why you won’t tell her, mr. casperan,” you placed your hand over his with a cheshire cat grin.

well, he couldn’t argue with that.

dinner progressed. alas, you can’t say you lingered as long as you wanted to on conversation. you were kinda rushing things because you felt a little guilty doux was getting someone to cover for him while you had your little date. was this a date. it had to be. as mentioned, he’s going out of his way for this, and you can’t imagine he’d go through all this trouble because he wasn’t interested in you. but then again, you couldn’t believe he was interested in you either.

“do you like cryptozoology?” douxie tried his best to ask nonchalantly while he scratched the bridge of his nose to look a little less interested. he was feeling a bit energized since talking about the band. you had been paying attention to him like he’d been paying attention to you, if only in passing.

“a tad more than the average californian wizard, why?”

“well, later this weekend, i’ve got a job exterminating a goblin infestation in the next town over,”

“snelling?”

“yeah, snelling. the guy i was partnering with told me he was backing out this morning, so now i’ll be going it alone. and im sure you know how fighting goblins alone usually goes.”

“makes it easier for them to gang up on you, yes.”

“see, that’s why i’m asking if you’d be interesting in taking his place?”

“well, i’ve got the weekend off and nothing to do,” he knew that, he got the hex tech schedule from zoe every week(to know how to schedule band practice. and, if he also took a peak at your schedule, it was purely accidental. yeah.), “so, i don’t see why not.”

doux grinned, both relieved he wouldn’t be fighting goblins alone, and feeling clever that he found an excuse to spend more time with you, “perfect, i’ll text you the details? but, oh, i don’t have your number do i?”

you were about to ask why he couldn’t just tell you in person right now, but he said that soo hammy. it took .01 seconds to understand what he was doing. you snorted.

“okay, okay, here,” you held out your hand and he gladly placed his unlocked phone in your hand. you made the contact and sent yourself a text of the first emoji he had in his recents, which happened to be🫀. ah, a goth romantic. you gave him back his phone.

“perfect. thank you, love.” he tucked the phone into his chest dramatically before placing in back into his pocket.

you rolled your eyes fondly, “you know, goblin smashing isn’t exactly my idea of the perfect second date, you might have to turn up the charm.”

“oh, i’m sure i’ll make it worth your while,” he let his head fall into his palm propped up on the table, gaze going soft, “so was this a perfect first date, then?”

you laughed, “hardly. all things considered. but—“

“but?”

“but i’m glad it happened this way. i’ve had a good time, mr. casperan.”

he grinned in agreement, “me too.”

you put your hand on top of the one he left resting on the table, and he took the opportunity to take that hand and gently lay a kiss to the top of your knuckles. he lingered for a moment, eyes shut tight to take in the tenderness of the moment.

alas, he has to go back to work now.

doux pulled out your chair and helped you to your feet. you thanked him as he started stacking the dishes.

“should i—?”

“no, god no,” he chuffed, “i’m the waiter, remember? i work here.”

“oh yeah.”

that reminded you. you shuffled for your wallet, but he stopped you.

“i’m paying for dinner, love. go enjoy the rest of your evening, i’ll text you after i close.”

“you sure?” it didn’t really sit right with you, considering he probably took a pay cut by not working the whole time you were on this little “date.”

“well,” he paused, and placed the dishes back onto the table for time being, “you could leave me a tip, if you know what i mean. just a teeny thing—“

“c’mere,” you snickered as you pulled him down by the lapels to kiss him.

chaste, just a peck. but perfect and sweet all the same.

when you pulled back, you watched as douxie held his eyes closed for just a moment longer than he need to before letting that blinding all encompassing smile bloom across his face.

“well then, a very goodnight to you, y/n l/n.”

[zarirawrie]

My intro ! :3

HIIII obvi you've seen my sillay post, but obvs thats not how I thought I would make friends.. anyway heres an intro from your truly !! :3

My name : kenzaria ( ken-za-ri-uh)

nicknames : kenny, kenken, baba, ria, riri, zari, zariri, kera. ( or you can calll me.. mommy alpha, little omega, ekitten, daddy omega. /jjjjjj)

age : 13-15

prns : tbh idc what u call me, as long as its not like xie/xer.. idek how to pronounce that..

hobbies : volleyball, writing, watching tv, listening to music, texting my ekittens.. /hj

interest : kpop, anime, haikyuu, soobin, defo not cooking, writing stories, sometimes drawing, making characters, other things..

likes : sleeping, kpop, txt, tws, soobin, haikyuu, CSM I LOVE CSM PLS FOLLOW ME NOW IF U LIKE CSM, jjk ( dni jjk stans im scared of you guys) calling people baby, laughing, i love my humor if you have my humor we can be bffs forever, music i love music chat hmu, women. ( pretty self explanator)

dislikes : emo omegas, people who can't take a joke, kpop antis, football players (honestly just men in gen) boy group antis, meanies, soccor, mahito from jjk ( i hope his feet get cut off) stupid people.

reasons why you should bmf : im literally so funny... i have every app in the app store we can talk on.. ( snap, insta, tumblr, guilded, discord, imsg, whatsapp, roblox plz) i need someone to rant too im literally begging at this point. you can be my main alpha.. smirks. IM NOT A WEIRDO I REPREAT I AM NOT A WERIDO.

dni : sukana and mahito stans, ybc enjoyers, that bf webtoon enjoyers, gangmemebrs, haikyuu haters, people who ACTUALLY call suga : sugamama, hinata : innocent baby, tsukishima : salty beanpole, etc. MHA STANS. I DISLIKE YALL DNI!!!!! girlgroup stans.. i dont have the physical time for u fools.. WELL THATS IT!!!!!!!!

plz be my fwiend >_< we can be da best duo eva!!!!! xoxo

[lightspren]

I’m uh.

I’m done.

I finished my first draft of my book. I now have a readable book

so. if any friends/mutuals are interested in beta reading hmu LOL. I’ll read your stuff or or or edit your resume or whatever in return.

[totallyanactualperson]

|Master post of all my accounts + intro|

Discord- pochita_2000

Intro time- my name is Autumn, and my main interest right now is hetalia. I like problematic fiction and especially problematic ships so if you don’t like that scroll. My favorite characters are Belarus, Liechtenstein, and Hungary, among others. I like so many ships it would be crazy to name them all here but I like mostly ships including my favorite characters. I like chainsaw man, bungou stray dogs, murder drones, jujutsu kaisen, and like I said Hetalia. I like other stuff too but I’ll mostly post about the main 5. I’m uhhh really awesome and not judgy just shy. HMU!!! I FOLLOW BACK TOO SO UH YEAH👍

[dontbuymeperfume]

the way i would love to do casual ic texting rps between people as angel dust (and potentially other characters who knows lmao). well, uh— feel free to hmu if ur interested! NO MINORS.

[condensedenderman]

Oh boy oh boy lookie here it's Posts I Never Wanted To Make Time, yaaaay

Hi friends. So our car is Broken and our bank account is Broke and I'm currently the only one in the house making money on a regular basis and idk if I can keep paying the bills so uh! I have opened!! Actual Real People Human Money Commissions! :'D

As you can see I offer linework, flats, and colors + shades!! Hmu if you're interested!!

THINGS I DRAW:

Your ocs. give Them to Me

Dragons!! I love me some dragons

FNAF stuff!! Including stuff from the new game!! Security Breach my beloved

Hermitcraft stuff

Life SMP stuff!!

Warrior cats stuff including ocs!! But only up to the fourth series, I never read the rest of the books lmao

THINGS I WON'T DRAW:

Hermit/Life/Trafficshipping

Gore

NSFW

Mecha

SAMS content. I know it's super popular in the Daycare fandom but i never really got into it, sorry :/

THINGS I WILL MAYBE DRAW??

Body horror. I have some very specific like,,, squicks, so if you want me to draw something just ask first and I'll clarify if I'm willing to do it or not!!

These lists/rules are subject to change!! Also if y'all aren't able to afford anything (believe me, I Get It) please just reblog this so I can get some traction!! Reblogging my other art is also super helpful and appreciated <3

[decepti-thots]

for reasons anyone currently following the state of the OTW may be able to guess at, i'm going to be mirroring all my currently-posted fic over the next month or so on a Dreamwidth i've set up. (i'm still posting at AO3, but i'm mirroring everything for redundancy, basically.) and while i'm there, i'm thinking of cleaning up some meta and perhaps re-posting it. i'm curious, does anyone have any interest in that being put somewhere all tidy and spellchecked and uh, Not Written On My Phone At 2AM, and if so if you have any particular thing you think would be cool to see get that treatment i wrote uhhh. hmu i guess?

(my thinking is that tumblr's tagging and searching functionality is atrocious and i routinely can't find my own properly tagged posts, so at least this way it will be on just. a static goddamn webpage. LMAO.)

[emperor-palpaminty]

Rayshe’a (3)

A rebellion is brewing. And you may (or may not) now be involved. 

Mandolorian Fives x Female Senator Reader. No use of “y/n” and also not proofread because we (don’t) die like fives. Go check out this rad art by @ujalayi​ and sing the praises of their art forever and go follow them. i made a tag list based on people who responded/showed interest in the previous 2 parts!

yes i know the gif is djin. i just need some good mandalorian gifs. shush. Also shoutout to the mandalorian name generator i relied on that this whole chapter. also if yall have mandalorian OCs HMU and i will throw them in because the extension of mandalorian culture i know is from the EU. 

Wind knocked out of your lungs. The words hit your ears but thrummed against your eardrums, but didn’t register.

Fives winced. “You good?”

A laugh, short and high, left your mouth. “I- I thought your just said you’re going to kill Chancellor Palpatine.”

The clone nodded. “Well... yeah.” He shrugged, the armor shining in the dim lighting of the meeting room. The crows feet by his eyes wrinkled with his expression. “We are.” 

“Oh.” You inhaled. Your hands tightened on his metal bracers. “Oh.” The word was repeated. “You’re planing on-”

“Going to.”

“Kill the chancellor.” You finished. 

Fives grinned again, hands squeezing your waist through the ornamental robes. “Yeah. You’ve got it.”

His smile was some anchor to something near reality. He was dead, or supposed to be. Now he wasn’t. And he was planning on killing the chancellor. “You realize how- how just-” Your hands left his forearms and your gestured as if trying to gather your thoughts close. “How mad that sounds?” You settled on, gaze snapping back to his eyes.

“Yep.” Fives nodded. The long and dark curls brushed his forehead with the motion. His thumb traced over a corner of the decorative belt on your hips. 

“Didn’t that kill you the first time?” Your throat was dry suddenly. “Everyone heard that you were hunted down because you tried to kill him already.”

The smile flickered on his lips briefly. “Well, that isn’t... untrue.”

“And you’re trying again!”

“Finishing the job.” Fives said, words strong but less emotional and not nearly as stressed than yours. “You have no idea what he’s planning, cyare.” Fives’ jaw rotated and his fingers wrapped in the loose robe draping into the belt. He was pulling himself into you, trying to reel himself into clear thoughts but clearly chasing your presence. “It’s evil.”

“Oh, did he just tell you this?” You shook your head, the long earrings nearly brushing your neck. “Willingly?”

Fives hummed noncomitally. “Uh.... maybe.”

“Fives.” Your brow narrowed. 

“Yes.”

A heavy sigh left your chest and you looked away, trying to stiffen your lips. “You’re alive. I’m still recovering from that alone.” Your gaze returned to his armor, finger tracing over the blue pattern on his breastplate. The matte blue paint was dark, contrasting heavily to the glistening armor. Something about him and his new presence, this new Fives, left you breathless. And yet, with this new Fives, the leader with the new name, there were fragments of the old one you knew. Your lips formed into a shape, trying to push out words. Slowly your gaze pushed up to his, trying to form the words in your throat into anything coherent. Something about what happened to him, how he lived, how he got to be in the new position he was in- any logical questions any reasonable person would have. 

Instead, you managed a very shaky and fragile, “I missed you.” 

Under your hands, the Mand’alor deflated. His chest eased and he gathered you, the same brown eyes that had haunted you for months, years now, skimmed you. “I missed you too.” Fives held you with a close desperation, eyes flickering over you. “Force, I have missed everything about you.”

Words died in your throat as he pulled you in again, kissing you once more. You drew in a breath and grasped his shoulders. Something clawed in your chest. You had him again. Here. You leaned back and wrapped your arm around him, fingers tightening in his dark curls. Despite the death, the new armor, the new life, he still tasted like Fives- mint and chocolate lingered on him as his arms tightened around you, a hum leaving his throat. 

You pressed away from him, mind reeling. “I’m still trying to be mad at you.”

“Keep trying.” Fives hummed, head tilting as he kissed you again, shorter, briefer, a promise of things that were and things that would be. 

Anger and reason be damned. You chased his mouth again, hands landing on his cheeks. Reason was not existent any more. Reason said he should not be alive. You yanked him down, kissing him again. Again. Again.

Fives held you so tight your ribs nearly caved. His touch was still as passionate, as warm as it had been when he was still a soldier for an honorable republic. 

There was a polite sound behind you. One you recognized as a throat being cleared. You pulled away first, the back of your neck hot. Your eyes dropped from Fives’ face to your hands, now resting on his chest. Fives kept his hands on your waist, simply looking over your shoulder. “Mabol.”

“Rayshe’a,” You recognized the voice greeting Fives, and glanced back, watching as the Zabrak nodded her head respectfully towards him. Her orange helmet rested on her hip, her expression more relaxed than previously. If she had been embarrassed walking in on you both, she did not show it. "We have heard from some of the clan leaders. They're on the hologram in the war room."

Fives nodded. "Thanks, Mabol." He looked down at you for a moment. "Would you escort our guest to her quarters?"

You looked up at Fives again, head tilting as your hands dropped from him. "My quarters."

"Unless you would rather share." Fives raised his brows. Your face heated up again as Mabol nodded.

"Come along... Senator." She motioned to you, flicking her fingers. You looked up at Fives, slipping out of his arms. Fives smiled after you, watching, and you felt his eyes on your back as he left the room. Mabol tugged the orange helmet back on as she entered through the main room again, passing the dias and moving towards a narrow hall. You followed closely.

"You know he's planning on killing the Chancellor."

"Yeah, I do. We all do." The zabrak walked with a sure confidence. "That's why we're joining under him. And he's our Manda'lor."

"Isn't that a really hard process?" You quickened your pace to keep up. "Elected, or..."

"No. He's our Manda'lor." She repeated. After you said nothing she sighed. "He holds the Dark Saber."

"Oh." You mumbled. "Is that all it takes?"

"I don't make the rules."

You fell silent again. The rooms were all dark as you walked down the hall, the darkness of the Coroscaunt underworld enclosing around the Mandalorian hideout. "Is this an old base?"

"We have a presence everywhere." Mabol explained. "Including here."

"I never expected Mandalorians to be made up of such a diverse group."

"We're Mandalorians." She stated. "Divisions are few among us." She paused at a metal door, typing in a code. There was a buzz, and the door lifted. "Your quarters."

You blinked as you looked at her, cautiously. Slowly you entered, looking around as the lights flickered on.

"I'm sure Rayshe'a will come visit you later." Mabol stepped out of the room. "You'll have someone outside at all times. Stay in here until you're told otherwise by myself or Rayshe'a."

"Rayshe'a." You repeated softly. She said the name simply but with a clear dignity. "You've been calling him that." You winced. "It's his new name, I guess."

The helmet betrayed no expression, unfortunately, and the door slid shut behind Mabol. Alone with your thoughts again.

You turned to the room, quietly, looking over it. It did resemble a large barracks, with a few touches to feel less militaristic. Your hand smoothed over the small couch, well loved, but soft to your touch. Your eyes drifted to the bed- it was simple, larger than a cot, and sitting on it was a nightgown, folded up. You recognized it when you touched it; the material was unmistakable. Hand-spun Alderaan silk was cool against your fingertips. You owned one other nightgown, a soft white material a personal favorite of yours. 

“I have always liked how this silk feels. I need to go by Alderaan again.”

“Someday, we can both go.”

Thoughtful, tactful, Fives. He had been planning this. You laughed quietly and picked it up, holding it close. “Fives,” You said out loud, knowing you were alone in the room. “I am mad at you. I promise, I’m trying to be so mad.”

-

The hologram fizzled out, and Rayshe’a stood with a hand resting on his belt. He gave a soft breath, running a hand in his hair. Knowing his senator was safe brought him more relief than anything else- despite the remaining checklist, her well being had been a massive weight for him. Fives had died- Rayshe’a, Te Mirdala Mand’alor, Te Oyatug’yc Mand’alor - he had risen from the ashes of his brothers, victims to the plot surrounding the manipulation of their inhibitor chips. 

The Chancellor will burn.

“Lord Mand’alor.” Tanal’s gruff voice resounded behind him. “You look unwell.”

“Thanks for the concern, Tanal.” Rayshe’a said, voice falling flat. “Just... thinking.”

The Togruta’s presence behind him was a strong and silent support. “Thinking of what?”

Rayshe’a leaned forward, elbows resting on the holotable. His gloved hands clasped, and his chin rested in his hands. “About our next steps.” 

“If I know you as well as I think, Rayshe’a, then our next steps are secure.” Tanal moved up to his leader. A montral rested over his shoulder and on his chest, and the one growing down his back was battered, torn, twisted and gnarled with battles. “Another day of fighting is secure. Haatyc or'arue jate'shya ori'sol aru'ike nuhaatyc.”

Rayshe’a knew Mandalorian well now- every clone knew it, and he had continued learning it, speaking it, breathing it as he had grown in his new role. “Only issue is, Tanal, there’s more than one enemy out there.”

“This is true.” The Togruta walked by Rayshe’a as he moved towards the dias. “But once we squash this large enemy, the other ones will scatter like bugs.”

With a hum, Rayshe’a sat down on his throne. The main room was empty now, everyone likely out gathering intel or getting drinks, celebrating their camaraderie. “Easier said than done.” The leader sighed, lowering his helmet onto his lap. 

“It’s the senator.”

Rayshe’a’s eyes snapped up at Tanal, a tongue pressed to his sharp teeth as he looked down at his leader. “I’m only glad she’s safe.”

“She’s a senator. Is she not loyal to the Chancellor?”

“No.” Rayshe’a leaned back in his throne, a heavy breath heaving from his body. “She’s loyal to a true republic. Unity and peace.” And me.

Tanal gave a grunt that was not discernable to Rayshe’a. “You trusted the Chancellor. Will she not betray you too?” When Rayshe’a narrowed his brows, Tanal raised his hands. “I don’t want to go against your wishes or question you. I wouldn’t dare be insubordinate. But-” Tanal’s white markings brighetened in the neon lights as he walked towards the window. “I wish you to be cautious.”

The Mand’alor stood, a weary smile resting on his lips. “The concern is appreciated, Tanal.” He walked towards the dormitory hall, the door sliding open. “I’ll be retiring for the night.”

Tanal nodded as Rayshe’a exited, and moved between the doors. The hall was dark, but the silence was welcome. His pace slowed by Mabol, who was leaning on the door way for the Senator. “Mabol.”

“Rayshe’a,” She nodded lazily, voice modulated through her helmet. 

“How’s she been?”

“Haven’t heard from her.” Mabol shrugged. “Had a lot of questions, though. I wouldn’t be shocked if she’s showering or napping.”

Rayshe’a nodded, a fist under his helmet clenching slightly. She is here. She is safe. “Thanks, Mabol.”

“Want to come visit her later?”

“No. If she wants to come see me though, if she has questions...” Rayshe’a shrugged. “She’s more than welcome in my quarters.”

“You knew her before, didn’t you?” Mabol crossed her arms. A smirk laid in her voice dormantly, ready to tease.

Rayshe’a allowed himself to smile- Mabol was trustworthy, cool, and calm all the time. In his new family, his clans, he saw fragments of those he knew- bits of Commander Tano here, spinters of the Generals there, even some brothers... “I did.” 

“She thought you died.” The mandalorians knew what became of Fives, the origin of their leader.  Te Oyatug’yc Mand’alor.

Rayshe’a shrugged, stepping away from the door. “Lots of people did. Still think I’m dead.”

“They’re in for one hell of a shock, then.” Mabol called. Her shoulders rolled back as she leaned on the wall again. Her casual tone hid her excitement, the thrill of rebellion and vengance.

Rayshe’a looked back at her over his shoulder, chuckling. “They sure are, kid.” The helmet under his arm was heavy most days, a constant weight on his head. But clones were not meant to survive. Clones were meant to be used, then die, and be thrown out. 

Not for longer. For his brothers, for the republic, for freedom, Fives would have to claw his way out of the ashes. Rayshe’a was newer- stronger, harsher, and when the Mand’alor looked in the mirror he saw some remainders of that soldier he once knew. From the wound in his chest splintering out, Fives had burned away and only the Resurrected Mand’alor remained. Rebellion, leadership, fighting all required some coldness. 

But not for his senator. Not for her.

------

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[iobartach]

have a quick(?) rambling / shallow(?) dive on the verses i got for this blog, bc boi i got some thinkings ;

soo i've got three 'core' canon..ish... verses so to say, which are;

comhrá an bhaile mhóir seo

pre-atsv miguel, covering young!miguel, alchemax!miguel, vigilante!miguel, etc. all earth-928 based. basically covers everything before he goes messing with multi-verse tech. probs will be slightly more quippy & approachable here? i just can't write quips to save my life. 🥴bourbon's human!lyla also plays a big role in this, they're quite close!! as for the inclusions of dana.... hah :') xina though, yes. he still despises both george & tyler with a passion, and relations with... conchata... and also even gabriel are, for this verse... rockyyy... to say the least.

trasnaigh an rubaicón

the main boi. and the default verse for crossovers especially. atsv based, with miguel being a leader and an absolutely changed and grieving man. i'm really enjoying putting him all over the place, especially in the present. take heed around him. main objective is stopping anomalies, and making sure more dimensions don't, uh,,, get destroyed,,, also gabriel's still alive... r-right, movie? you wouldn't kill him off too,,, would you, movie? :')))

fear as am

kind of one aimed mostly at 616 / comics things. might occasionally use this at random, but it's more for interactions with chars who are 616 based and not mcu / movie affiliated. my spin on this is it follows the premise of necessary evil , where stone basically fucks him over and strands him in the past, but with atsv!mig instead of comics!mig. still ironing out the details how this happened. (maybe the portal functionality of his dimensional gizmo got blocked or something?) idk, still needs work!

now for the au's!!!

an chéad chéim eile

prototype au. absolutely hit the ground running with this! tysm, sen! premise is miguel becomes an evolved -- replete with all the body horror such a transformation could possibly entail ( read - he gets spidery limbs 👀 ) i gotta yell at u, sen & abraxas (heyo 👋) more about this, but if more folks are also interested... hmu 👀

is fearr a fhios ag athair

a venture crafted w/ gabriella-trn1042's spider!gabri. alt take on atsv verse, whilst also amping up the 'miguel goes fucking around with genetics again' vibes. as close to villain!miguel as i might dare get, with the core premise of miguel turning a variant gabriella into a spider creature , with mig himself doing a good ol' heel-monster turn himself. loaded with angst and body horror. heavy on 'the fly' vibes, if you've seen that movie. been thinking of opening this up to other plots, if i can keep the core of this au intact... any takers? 🤔 gonna add a caveat tho that anything for this verse will likely need to be plotted.

laoch imithe dul ar strae

overwatch au. i... had a kernel of an idea for this verse... but i forgot to write it down. 🥴 may need to work shop this -- think i had the vague idea of saying it's scientist!miguel w/ gene implanting work existing in this au, but makes him a target of talon and the like?

lúb bheag i slabhra mór

kinddd of a corpo!miguel / cyberpunk 2077 au? might just split this out into separate verses eventually, but this is one that i'm currently trying to cook up ( inspiration is... mmm :') ) basic premise for this , if leaning into cyberpunk 2077 side, is miguel's an arasaka stooge, with links to the relic biochip. ik, ik.. i... need to work on it. 🥴

ocras buile

bleach au. basically zombie!miguel, turned by contact with sternritter gigi's / giselle's blood, when alive. that's... about the extent of what i have for now,,,, needa plot / use it more!

ag troid ar nós an

kengan ashura au. made simply bc i could and i just,,, loved the thought of having miguel brawl for alchemax ,,, sue me ,,, 👀 i could also go the whole nine yards and say that, pssst, maybe miguel's a corporate raider in this au, enhanced by his one gene imprinting tech ... trust me, give me an inch, i'll take a damn mile 😂so if anyone's interested...? 👀

----

anddd that's it for now!!! will there be more au's in future? probably! i just can't think of anything extra, aside from a wrestler au?

i'm always open to ideas and suggestions for aus tho? 👀 even if i don't know the fandom, i might still give it a try! you never know!!

[mellicindi]

Hello! I was wondering, how do you plan fics? I remember reading Life is Not a Hallmark Movie and thought the storyline was amazing. So I was wondering if you could explain your process for outlining?

Hi! Thanks for the ask~

I wish I had a more helpful answer, but the truth is that I didn't have an outline for Hallmark fic. I published each chapter as I wrote it, without really knowing what would be coming in the later chapters. (There were a few notable exceptions that I could talk about in more detail in another post, if you're curious.) I've tried tons of methods of outlining before for other stories, and would consistently find that even if I was really excited about the outline, the characters just wouldn't behave according to my plans. If I forced them to, the writing fell dead in the water. Hallmark was sort of an experiment for me, to see what would happen if I tried flying blind. I was honestly shocked at how much easier it was for me to write when I didn't plan ahead. That said, I think there were a couple factors that helped me actually finish it:

I had a very clear intention of the feelings I wanted to evoke. That being, a story about two people who are very lonely in different ways, overcoming their hangups and falling in love. Bittersweet, but ultimately heartwarming.

I was already familiar with the structure of romance novels. So, though I didn't outline, I knew that the general shape of the story would be: meet cute --> characters grow closer --> point of crisis forcing the protagonist to acknowledge his feelings --> getting together --> some sort of betrayal/crisis that tears them apart --> reconciliation and true happy ending.

I had a lot of tropes to work with. Because it was a parody of a Hallmark movie, there were a few scenes I knew I wanted to include, even if I didn't know the details of how/why they would unfold. (ie, a fancy Christmas party, an airport reunion scene, etc.)

I JUST LOVE BINGQIU SO GODDAMN MUCH. Seriously, I just want to dissect Shen Yuan's brain, and I myself am already in love with Luo Binghe, so writing about falling in love with him was natural sldghidfgh

So, I had an emotional core, a general structure, key scenes, and characters I was madly desperately unhealthily obsessed with.

After that, I focused on storytelling principles. The first is always following a chain of causation. Another is the +/- method. These are useful for pacing, and keeping even simple scenes engaging. I love rambling about storytelling principles, so hmu if you're interested in a write up about anything!

I also had a document called 'vague future ideas' that was just that: either potential plot points or snippets of dialogue that were floating in my head. Some made it in, some didn't. I tried to keep it to short bullet points as much as possible, just a collection of vague things that could happen, but not getting too deep into any of them. This was mostly helpful in figuring out which things should not happen, tbh XD Like, at one point, I was thinking LBH would actually succeed at getting on the airplane, and there would be some sort of time gap, and rather than LMY explaining about LBH's past, SY would have to like, go on a sleuthing spree and figure out where LBH ran off to, and... uh, yeah, glad I dropped that in the brainstorming phase lol!

So yeah, sorry if that wasn't super helpful for the question you actually asked. But, as for outlining methods I used in the past, here are a few that helped me the most (keeping in mind that I tend to prefer looser methods, which certainly won't be the case for everyone!):

One Page Plotting, which is quite similar to the Story Circle

Both of these break down the story into 8 major beats. I find thinking about stories in quarters more intuitive than in thirds or fifths, so I prefer these over the 3-act or 5-act structure.

Flashlight Method

A nice middle ground between plotting and discovery writing. Probably best used if you're familiar with the conventions of the genre you're writing in to use as a mental map.

I also want to shout out Ellen Brock's youtube channel. It's a treasure trove of useful writing advice from an editor's perspective. If you're into really intensive outlining, I'd recommend her videos for methodological plotters. Her ongoing series on story structure is also wonderful.

Thanks again for the ask! LMK if there's anything you'd be interested in seeing me go more in-depth about. I'm just a big 'ol storytelling nerd lmaooo

[turtlecleric]

3+7? 👀

khayaaaaa <333 omggg

3: What’s your favorite fic that you’ve written?

This is actually uh. Hard for me to answer.

My favorite ever that I've written?? A venty sanders sides fic I wrote back in 2018 called hold me (wrap me up). I'm not going to link it because I sincerely doubt anyone is interested, and it's also extremely triggering. But if you really want a link hmu and I'll be happy to share it.

My favorite TMNT fic that I've written? A ~6k fic called on my own about 2012!Raphael getting captured during the whole Don Vizioso (spelling??) thing. I LOVE 12!Raph. My SON, my CHILD, my BOY. He's my favorite and therefore he suffers. (This is not an x reader fic, and since this blog is specifically for x reader stuff, I'll once again not link it. And once again if you're actually interested feel free to hmu)

My favorite x reader TMNT fic is probably... the bad future symphony thing I wrote where Leo takes care of Donnie on a bad grief day, if that counts. There's not even a reader in that one, goddamn it, sorry, but I just [clenches fist] love angst. So much. And I'm really proud of it.

7: How many ideas for fics do you have right now?

WELL there is, of course, a part two that I'm working on for 07!Viole(n)t (Leo and Raph sharing you in bed). That is what I am uh. currently procrastinating. BUT I'M WORKING ON IT I SWEAR LOL.

There's also Good Girl, the nsfw Bay!Raph x Reader ficlet that I've been trying to finish for... weeks at this point. Sneak peek of that is here. It's not going to be long (none of my stuff ever is) but for some reason I just can't get it done.

There's a (not x reader) rise fic that I started and never took anywhere, and it's basically your generic "time passes differently in the prison dimension, and now Leo is back and recovering" thing. But really most of the time when I get "ideas" for fics, ESPECIALLY when it comes to x reader stuff, it's inspired by something someone else made or said that I grab with my grubby little hands and run off with in a frenzy of activity lol so I don't have a list of "fic ideas" that I keep or anything like that.

I feel like. I answered with way more than was necessary here. Sorry [cue sweat drop] but omg khayaaa thank you for the ask!!!

[anonymous0possum]

QoL and other small stuff mod

okay one of the reasons I bit the bullet and finally made a dol account is to get community input/feedback on a mod i'm working on. so uh- Hi, if you have things you wish you could do easier please send me an ask with requests ! RN I have: Bike Ride - In progress, you'll be able to buy a bike and then be able to travel across the town without a fuck ton of clicking. You can bike down the farmroad (2:00) and if you have the forest road you'll be able to bike it as well. You can also buy robin a bike! This doesn't really do anything rn and tbh not sure if it'll stay unless people can share ideas for stuff to do with robin jsdoif ((bike icon is placeholder hence scribble))

Sell your fucking flowers - Planned. After reaching a certain (undecided) ammount of buisness fame you'll be able to also sell your flowers at the factory, for 1/4 instead of half the price like produce.

Extra Information - Planned. An Extra Extra Stats tab that shows you stats not shown otherwise (kylar's parents trust, prison guard and scarred inmate's love, etc) A list of what antiques you do and don't have accessible outside of the museum. Probably other stuff.

Everything will have individual settings so you can pick and choose what you want. Kinda like individual addons. if you have any input or suggestions please share. Ideally the goal is to make things easier for the person playing not the player character.

(( also if you'd be interested in writing events for the bike rides hmu sjiodfj, complete creative freedom unless you want direction ))