#weekly theme: d&d parties

[hmshermitcraft]

(Various ships, D&D Parties theme)

Third Life was supposed to be relaxing. A fun side series in between sessions for a bigger campaign. Instead, everything immediately devolved into chaos. Because of course it did, this is D&D after all.

Ren and Martyn went insane. Scar tried to have a monopoly on sand. Cleo and Bdubs were building a castle. Half the players were doing their own thing. None of them were even trying to follow the story Grian came up with!

He now realizes he should have seen this coming a mile away.

But it wasn’t all bad; his character got to romance Scar’s while they were in the desert together. Scott and Jimmy’s characters were so cute together it was almost painful. (Jimmy’s actual boyfriend Tango was totally not jealous at all) Apparently Ren and Martyn were crushing on each other for ages and they finally sort-of confessed? Their characters did, at least. There was—something happening between Impulse and Bdubs’s characters.

-💫🌠 Anon

Grian appreciates that it was an absolute mess and yet he's still excited to do it all over again. This time with even less of a plot!

Maybe it's a little mean to say that they'll be the same characters but without the existing relationships but... Grian wants to see even more chaos.

Eventually they're just all going to end up in a big relationship. It's inevitable, he thinks. He's not sure he minds.

[eddiesguitarskills]

It can’t all be bullshit Part 2

Read part 1 here

Eddie Munson x fem Reader x Steve Harrington (unfortunately no Steddie in this)

Summary: pinning after your best friend can be hard, especially when he doesn’t like you back. You were trying to get over a crush the last thing you needed was another.

AN: this is all I've written for the story, so I won't be as fast updating. Also, I'm sorry I write a lot for female-presenting readers it's just I find it easier to write it like that, especially with my dyslexia. However, if you guys want I can start reuploading the story with non-gender descriptions just might take it longer to edit it.

Warnings: Angst, use of Y/n, mention of break ups, miscommunication, sexual themes but no smut readers discretion is advised. Drug and alcohol use, and swearing.

word count 3.7kish

Monday morning came around quickly, which you were glad about. The sooner you could get away from that awful weekend, the better. Eddie hadn’t remembered anything from that night, or if he did, he didn't mention it. You were also glad that you didn’t want another argument, and you definitely didn’t want details on his love life. Not that you hadn’t thought about it, your brain was too cruel to not make you dwell on it, you also thought about Harrington was he okay? Not that you cared about him of course just one human looking out for another. If you happen to be looking around to see if he made it to school that would be out of curiosity not because you cared. Thankfully his locker was near to yours so you would eventually see how he was, to be honest with how the gossip spreads in this school you would hear about it eventually if the king and queen of Hawkins really had broken up. 

I don't hear anything about it until a week later at lunch. You were a little late as you had been stuck talking to your English teacher, Miss Plant, and you felt too rude to leave despite the rumbling in your stomach. As soon as you got to the table, a conversation began. “Do you reckon his head hurt?” Eddie joked. “Whose head?” you said while sitting in your seat beside Eddie. “The king when he fell from his throne”. You were beyond confused. Were they talking about a new campaign? You couldn't remember a king in your current D&D campaign. Maybe you had been too busy dazing at your leader at the meetings to notice if there was a new character. You didn't want to feel stupid, so you nodded like you understood. It wasn't until the conversation continued and you heard the mention of Nancy Wheeler you understood. You knew Eddie and Steve didn't like each other, but some of his words seemed too harsh. You saw what Harringtons' wrath could be like, and you didn't want Eddie on the receiving end. You picked at your peas, not daring to look up, and you knew how they would all tease you about nagging again. “Maybe we shouldn't talk about this”. Eddie raised his eyebrow, stopping his rant. “Why are you scared?” he challenged. You shrugged back.

Everyone was surprised. You hadn't nagged, you hadn't come back at him, you had stayed remarkably calm. Eddie wanted to see how long it would take you to snap, but he didn't have a chance when Chris, taking the hint, changed the subject. “So when’s the date, Eddie?” Not realising this would be the thing to make you snap. Since when did he have a date? Indeed it wasn't with what's her face from the party? You thought he didn't remember anything from that party, and if he did, why hadn't he apologised to you yet? “Well, she wanted to come over on Thursday, but I don't know” he looked at you to gauge a reaction; that was your weekly bowling night. Don't shout. It's okay. It's only the night you look forward to most, and you don't have much to look forward to. It doesn't matter. Well, maybe it does, but not to him anymore. “Have fun” you say standing to leave the table, dumping the food on your tray. Any hunger you had felt had gone and was replaced with nausea.

You needed somewhere to hide because you weren’t going to the next period. You needed someone to cry or scream or both. So you disappeared to Eddie’s spot in the woods. You hold onto yourself for warmth, looking down, trying to be careful not to trip on the twigs hidden in the mud. You finally make it to the table without an accident when you see out of the corner of your eye a guy. You pray it's not Eddie or someone here for a deal. It was the last thing you needed. You weren't sure if you would keep your cool this time round, especially with the stupid tears that kept lining your eyes.

“I didn't think anyone else would be here”, he spoke. It wasn't Eddie, but it was someone you also didn't want to bump into. You hoped after that night you would never have to come face to face with Harrington again. “Sorry, I can go,”you say, hoping to make a swift exit. “No, it's fine, I don't own the woods”.

There is an awkward silence. You debated getting up to leave, but you were stuck there frozen. “Looks like I’m not the only one having a shit day.” You don’t dare look up. Yeah, you were having a bad day, but it didn’t feel right to compare it to a breakup. “Mine nothing compare to yours”. You look up quickly. You didn’t mean it to sound that way. “No, I meant I’m fine. I’m sorry about what happened”. God, did you sound as dumb as you thought? “So I guess everyone knows now”. You shake your head “just because I know doesn’t mean everyone knows”.

He weakly chuckles, but there is no humour behind it: “It kind of does. It’s made its way down to the bottom of the food chain”. Steve’s eyes widened. Shit, he didn’t mean to sound like that. “No offence”. He couldn’t help being how he was. Having to put up an act for so long makes it hard to realise when he was being a dick. “None taken”. You shrug. You were used to the name-calling by jocks, so his words felt like nothing. “So what happened to you?” You twiddle with the ring Eddie gave you on a chain. “Don’t worry about me”. Steve smiles. “It’d be nice to worry about something else for a change. So is it a guy?” You laugh at him. “Do you think all girl's problems revolve around a guy?”. He nods.” Well, that is very guy-like of you, but yeah, you’re right. This time, it’s a guy.” Steve’s face lights up with a smirk. “I knew it! So what happened.” You go to speak but look up, realising it is not a friend you are talking to. It’s a popular kid. Even worse than that, it’s the king of Hawkins high. “Just typical guy stuff.”

Steve took the hint you didn’t want to get into it, so they changed the subject. “I know you don’t owe me anything, but Can you not tell anyone I was here? If Principal Coleman finds out I cut, I’m dead” You almost wanted to laugh; the Principal would find out, but looking at his face, you knew he was deadly serious. “who would I tell?” He shook his shoulders. “I don’t know”. You smiled. “Exactly. I’m gonna have to start charging you for all the secrets I keep”. He looked utterly lost. “Huh?”

Eddie sauntered over, his metal lunch box in hand. He could only see Harrington and the back of a girl’s head. So he didn’t know who it was. “My spots are popular today. I’ve even got King Steve, and I assume his new plaything here.” You turn around to face him. Now was not the time for his antics. “Leave it, Eddie” you sneered. The boy’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Absolutely not” he grabbed your arm and pulled you out of the woods away from Steve.

After many tries, you finally got out of Eddie’s grasp. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”. The boy rolled his eyes, “saving you”. You repeated his facial expression, “I didn’t need saving”. He tutted and slung his arm around you. “You were about to be Harrington’s next prey; trust me, you needed saving.” You pushed him off. “We were just talking”. Eddie looked at you like he was telling off a child, not a friend and definitely not someone he fancied “That’s how it starts”. You hated that he treated you like you didn’t know how the world worked. “I don’t see why you care”. He shook his head. “I’m your best friend, of course I care”. There it was, the famous last words of any crush. You were officially friend-zoned, and you would never get out of that. You felt deflated, so you just nodded and followed him to his van and then trailer.

A month later you were going to another party this time it was your idea. Getting over this crush had been more challenging than you had planned, so you decided to do something the opposite of what you usually would. Tonight, you would act like all the other teenagers and drink till you forget. Or find someone to help you forget. When you told Eddie you were going, he insisted he took you despite your protests. How are you supposed to get over someone when he doesn't leave you alone? You had bought an outfit for tonight because your usual outfit of jeans and a tee didn’t feel fitting. So you bought a red tight spaghetti strap dress, you thought about wearing heels you put them on, but as soon as you wobbly stood up like Bambi on ice, you realised it wasn't the best idea, so you put on your black trusty Converse. It's nice to have familiarity and not feel like Bambi on ice when trying to catch someone up. You hear several impatient beeps outside; you would think you had made him wait for hours when he had only just arrived 30 minutes late, of course. Life is always on Eddie’s schedule. You just wanted to get to the party and out of his sight, so you grabbed your bag put on a layer of lipgloss and ran outside to Eddie’s van.

He had the window down. He looked at your outfit and shook his head. “You’re gonna freeze”. You were sick of his new habit of babying you; was this what you sounded like to him? Was this just him mocking you? The girl from the last party poked her head out. “I think you look hot. I’m Sasha (sorry if this is your name she is nice though) by the way”. You nod. “Y/n”, he brought her, of course he brought her. She was nice. Why did she have to be nice? It's easier to dislike someone when they are a bitch, not a beautiful soul like hers. You were even more jealous now you wish you could be more like her than you. You got into the back of the van as Eddie drove (over the speed limit) to the party. Sasha was super friendly along the way and kept asking you questions to get to know Eddie’s best friend more. The boy stayed quiet, in thought. He was struggling to keep his eyes on the road as he kept looking at you through the rearview mirror in disbelief. 

When you finally got to the party, you found your way to the punch bowl, the pair not leaving your side. You picked up a red cup, filling it with the content of the bowl, whenever that may be. Before you could even put it to your lips. Eddie took the cup from your hands, pouring it back into the bowl, Tutting at you. “Are you okay tonight? You’re acting weird”. God, you were sick of his stupid face and stupid comments, but then it struck you this was your way out from the couple, from him. “You know I’m feeling a little weird. I’m gonna go to the toilet… it’s probably because of my period”. It was a lie, but you knew it would stop him from following you.

You went up the stairs and poked your head into a room, hoping it would be the bathroom. Unfortunately for you, it wasn’t; Steve Harrington sat on a bed, his leg tapping anxiously and anxiously. why did you two seem to have a universal magnet. “Sorry”. He looked up at you. You went to leave but were stopped by his voice calling, “Wait, you’re the girl who ditched me”.

“The girl?” You repeated him. “I have a name. It’s y/n, and I wouldn’t exactly call it ditched.” He laughed, getting up and shutting the door behind you. “What would you call it? I know it’s not your fault, though, was your boyfriend jealous?”. You glare at the thought, “he’s not my boyfriend”. He laughs. “Does he know that?” You turn to leave. “I’m not in the mood for whatever this is”. He holds your hand not too tightly, so if you want to go, you can, bringing you to the bed to sit down. You are stocked by yourself that you don't push him away, but the gentleness of this action makes your heart flutter. Maybe Steve Harrington could help you forget. “So he’s the one that made you cry”. Maybe not. You put your hands on your face, embarrassed “Is it that obvious?”. He pulls your hands away from your face, shaking his head. “He’s an idiot if he doesn’t see how beautiful you are”. You want to smile at his words, but they make you cringe. “Is this how you get all the girls?” He sighs. God, he had just been broken up with; maybe it was too soon to mention girls. “I’m sor-“ he puts a finger to your lip. “You apologise far too much”. You nod. “I just don’t want you to bite my head off again”, you mumble, fiddling with the end of your dress.

“When did I do that?” He had no clue what you were talking about, so why did you even mention it? “It doesn’t matter” you keep your eyes down. He uses his hand to lift your chin so you’re looking at him. “When did I do that?” He says as genuinely as he can. He was trying to be better, a more likeable guy, and if he wanted to do that, he needed to right his wrongs. “It wasn’t your fault; it probably just seems worse in my head because I wasn’t enjoying myself…and Eddie was being a dick and-“ he puts his hand on yours to calm you. “It was Halloween; I think you and Nancy had just had an argument. I guess you needed someone to take your rage out on, and I just happened to be there”. He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head. Annoyed at himself, he couldn’t look at you. “It’s fine; I swear it wasn’t that bad. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here. You just told me to fuck off and said bullshit a lot”. He looks over at you. “So you know what happened with Nancy?” you nodded “I got the gist”. He nudged your shoulder with his “thanks for not telling anything”. You laugh. “As you said in the wood, I’m the bottom of the food chain. I've got no one to tell.”

He wanted to beat himself up; he had fallen so far into the idea of popularity that he became what he swore he would never be a dick. “You aren’t, and I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like that.” You squeeze his hand. “Don’t go soft on me. I'm quite content being there . It means I can fade into the background”. He holds both of your hands and looks you up and down until his eyes land on yours. “Someone like you isn’t meant to fade into the background”. You don’t know what comes over you; maybe it’s how nice he’s being, that you had never been called pretty by a boy, or how handsome he looked, but you lean in and kiss him. Maybe it’s because you recognise the broken mess hidden behind his eyes. You instantly realise what you’ve done. You couldn’t blame alcohol for this. You had still never drank. You’re about to pull away when Steve brings his hands to your hips and pulls you onto his lap so you’re straddling him. “Where” kiss. “Do you” another peck “think” another “you’re going?” You giggle into his mouth and further the kiss. Your hips were rolling against his, which was out of your control, not that you or Steve minded. You were so lost in the moment that you didn’t taste the beer on his lips until he put his tongue in your mouth. You tried to ignore it, but after a few moments, that’s all-consuming your brain: the metallic taste of it. 

Steve could tell you wasn’t really into it anymore, so he pulled away. He started to feel insecure. He hadn’t kissed a girl since Nancy had. Had he already lost his touch? “are you okay? Didn’t you like-“ you shake your head animatedly. The action makes your whole body shake against him, making him moan. God, he was super embarrassed now. He moved you off him before anything got more awkward, especially if you were to feel the semi he was sporting. Jesus, why were you so in your head about everything you had a way to forget, and you ruined it? “I really liked it” he refused to look at you, too self-conscious about the situation. He kept his eyes on the ceiling fan above him. “It’s fine, y/n”- you feel awkward, too, so you keep your eyes on the door in front of you. “I just get so in my head sometimes, and I don’t drink, so I tasted alcohol and- I don’t know” You got frustrated at yourself not being able to find words. You sounded like a complete idiot. No wonder Eddie didn’t want you. 

Steve looked at you and started laughing, even though he thought you were stupid. “Wait, so the Alcohol is cock blocking me?” He wasn’t laughing at you. You felt a relief wash over you. He was laughing at the situation. His laugh was so contagious and charming you don’t think you’ve ever heard it. Before you know it, you can’t help but laugh too. “What did you think you were a bad kisser or something?”. He hit your shoulder playfully. “Of course not” He joked. 

There were suddenly loud moans from the room next door. You both look in that direction and laugh again. You do a silly impression of the moan. Steve stops laughing and stares at you, surprised at how good you are at making that sound. She must have had a lot of practice faking it to be that good, he thought. The moaning next door suddenly got louder. You raised your eyebrow at him “wanna play a game?”. You don't know what had come over you, but something about him relaxed you. You didn't feel the anxiety you would feel around your friends, making sure they were safe. You just wanted to have fun. You hadn’t been like that in so long.

Free to just be yourself. He raised his eyebrows back. “I'm listening”. You moan again, louder this time. He didn't expect that. He wanted to laugh because it came from nowhere, but it turned him on. “Come on then”. (totally inspired by Easy A here) You whisper. He got the hint and moaned, too, not as loudly, though. You kept doing this back and forth, both getting more exaggerated and louder. It was hard not to laugh at how ridiculous you sounded. Next door suddenly got very quiet. “I think we won”, he nudged your arm. You burst out laughing. He had never noticed you before, but he was glad he had you tonight. He needed a laugh. He doesn't remember the last time he had actually had fun with worrying about the consequences.

There was a bang on the door. “Are you in there, y/n!?” you suddenly stop laughing and roll your eyes upon hearing your best friend’s voice. “Looks like your boyfriend’s jealous again”, Steve joked without thinking. But he then started to panic that maybe you weren’t friends yet. Was it his place to jok- you smack his arm. “Shut it, bullshit boy” you tease back. He would have hated hearing that from anyone else. But from you, he didn't mind. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it's because there was no malice in your voice. Perhaps it's because you had made his awful night better. His week is better. There is another bang on the door “y/n!” you glare at the door. Of course, he had to ruin your fun.

Wasn't it bad enough that he was breaking your heart? “I should go before he bursts a vein or something”. You get up to leave despite the voice in your head telling you to stay.  “Thank you for tonight. I really need it”. You kiss his cheek. He smiles, feeling his cheek getting warmer and his heart beating faster. No, he wasn’t ready; he couldn't let this happen like this. “ I'm trying to be better, so I don’t want to lead you on. I don’t want a girlfriend”. You shake your head, going to leave the room, and scoff, “In your dreams, bullshit boy”. He shouts after you, hoping you can hear, “I'm not sure about this new nickname”. 

Outside the door, Eddie has his hands on his hips like a parent. “Were you just in there with Harrington?” he says the name like it’s venom. “Yeah, so” just because he was your best friend, he had no right to tell you who to hang out with. You used to think his protective side was endearing, but now it was annoying. You couldn’t say anything about who he hung out with, so he can’t say anything about who you choose to spend time with. Well, that’s what you thought, but Eddie had other ideas, “are you trying to kill me?” He asks like it’s a serious thing that could happen. “Oh yeah, top of my to-do list” There you were, the person Eddie loved, the one with a comeback for everything, but now wasn’t the time for him to bask in your teasing contest that he lived for. No, when there was only a door between you and Harrington, that was too close for comfort for Eddie. He wasn't sure what the new relationship between you and the ‘king’ was, but he didn't like it one bit. 

Taglist : @yourdailymemedelivery @kitkat80 @mewchiili @xprloki

@daisy-munson @exploding-bonbon

(if you wanna be added to the tag list let me know)

Masterlist link here if you are interested.

[sambuckylibrary]

TFATWS Anniversary Event 2024

The @sambuckylibrary will be holding a The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Anniversary Event! The event will start on March 18th and run until April 28th. During that time, we will be reblogging and sharing the work you guys create here on our blog.

This event is not just for the creators, but for the commenters. You can post fanfiction, art, moodboards, edits, podfics, fic list recs, comments, etc. It’ll be a low-stakes event. No need to sign up. Just remember to tag @sambuckylibary in your post for each fill, and we will be tracking #tfatwsanniversary2024 for reblogs.

If you are posting on AO3, please add it toTFATWS Anniversary Event 2024 Collection.

Each week will have a different theme with prompts from Monday to Friday. Each prompt will also come with a badge you may use for it when you post. The weekly themes and their prompts will be:

For the text version of the information above as well as the FAQ and rules, check the information under “keep reading”.

WEEK 1 (March 18 - 24): THE WINTER SOLDIER TO PRE-INFINITY WAR

MONDAY: “I don’t think he’s the kind you save.”

TUESDAY: Sam Searches for Bucky

WEDNESDAY: “Can you move your seat up?”

THURSDAY: Team Up at the Airport

FRIDAY: On the Run

WEEK 2 (March 25 - 31) : INFINITY WAR TO PRE-TFATWS

MONDAY: Laying Low

TUESDAY: Reunite in Wakanda

WEDNESDAY: Soul Stone

THURSDAY: Victory Party

FRIDAY: 6 Months of Ghosting

WEEK 3 (April 1 - 7): The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

MONDAY: Couple's Therapy

TUESDAY: “Let me just walk you through a hypothetical.”

WEDNESDAY: Madripoor

THURSDAY: “You’re just gonna set me up like that, huh?”

FRIDAY: The Cookout

WEEK 4 (April 8 - 14): Post-TFATWS

MONDAY: Meanwhile, on the Boat...

TUESDAY: Divorce Arc

WEDNESDAY: Skrulls

THURSDAY: Better Thunderbolts Ideas

FRIDAY: Better Captain America 4 Ideas

WEEK 5 (April 15 - 21): AU Week

MONDAY: No Powers AU

TUESDAY: Period Piece

WEDNESDAY: Sci-fi/Fantasy AU

THURSDAY: Based on a Movie

FRIDAY: Ghost/Zombie AU

WEEK 6 (April 22 - 28): Sambucky Week

MONDAY: Didn’t Know They were Dating/Friends with Benefits

TUESDAY: Redwing

WEDNESDAY: Hurt/Comfort

THURSDAY: Separate, Long Vacations

FRIDAY: Dealer's Choice

FAQ

What is this?

It’s a SamBucky event.

Is there any pressure?

No pressure at all.

Can I fill more than one prompt with one piece of art/one fic?

Yes! You can fill one prompt with one piece of art or fic. You can try to fill all five prompts that week at once with one piece of art or fic. You can do any number in between.

Are there any prizes for making anything for this event?

Just the satisfaction that you made something cool.

Is it just SamBucky?

Yes please, just SamBucky. There can be side ships, but the main ship should be SamBucky.

How long will this event run?

It will run from March 18th and run until April 28th.

I heard there are badges I can use for each fill?

There are! You can find the badges here.

RULES AND GUIDELINES

What are the guidelines for the bingo?

I will be borrowing some of this from the MYSU Valentine’s Day Bingo 2022 Guidelines, since they were fantastic.

For Everyone:

1. Remember to @sambuckylibrary in the post as well as #tfatwsanniversary2024.

2. Please also tag the prompt you’re filling (for instance, if the square is “Redwing”, use “#redwing” as one of your tags when posting about it on Tumblr).

3. If you’re uploading to AO3, please:

a ) Say somewhere which prompt you’re filling.

b ) Add it to TFATWS Anniversary Event 2024 (TFATWS_Anniversary_Event_2024).

For Artists:

1. Create at least one piece of new art that can’t have been posted anywhere else before this.

2. All visual art forms are welcome:

a ) Gifsets, at least 3 gifs.

b ) Aesthetic boards or moodboards, at least 4 images each.

c ) Drawing/painting, that is not a sketch.

d) Fan video.

e) Graphics edit.

For Authors:

1. At least 500 words.

2. Posted on Tumblr or AO3.

3. Can be part of a series, but should work as a standalone.

For Podficcers:

1. The podfic should at least be 5 minutes long.

2. It should be posted on either Tumblr or AO3.

3. The podfic can be of a fic made for the event, a fic not made for the event while still adhering to the prompt, or a notfic.

For Fic Rec Lists:

1. You must have at least five fics or podfics on the rec list.

2. Make sure to give brief descriptions of the fics or podfics as well as their rating and wordcount.

For Commenters:

1. Any amount of comment counts, from a heart emoji (“❤️”) to an essay.

2. We would rather this be about what makes you happy and joyful about reading than any scathing critiques.

Things to be mindful of when creating:

For Sam

Avoid framing Sam only as a caretaker or emotional support for Bucky. Be mindful of Sam acting angry or aggressive in an out-of-character way and falling into the angry/sassy Black man trope (check out the MCU source material to help with character traits).

Avoid decentering Sam as a main character and refrain from focusing entirely on Bucky.

In art: avoid whitewashing Sam’s skin and research drawing Black characters.

General disclaimer: Race affects every aspect of his life, including interacting with police/government and the white structures of the world when it comes to performing his duties as Cap and simply being a Black man that lives in the U.S.

For Bucky

Avoid phrasing “flesh/normal/human hand” to refer to the contrast between his prosthetic arm and his right arm. The phrasing is ableist. You can simply refer to his prosthesis when relevant, otherwise use “right/left arm/hand”.

For more information, please check out this document suggested by @ninesdb on how to write Bucky as an amputee. @ninesdb is also open to questions if you have any queries not answered by the google doc.

Specific Tags:

Avoid tags in AO3 like “Sam Wilson is a Gift”, “Sam Wilson is a Saint”, and “Bucky Needs a Hug”.

Have fun and we look forward to your TFATWS Anniversary fics!

- The Mods

[baldurs-writers-3]

Horror: A Baldur's Gate 3 Fanfiction Rec List

This week, we have Horror! Check under the cut for seven fics that explore some of the darker and more frightening elements of Faerun, and as always, comment and kudos if you like them!

Hand, Hearth, and Home by ElleKhen (393,131, Explicit) Content Notes: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Body Horror Pairings: Astarion/Male Tav

This fic covers the backstory and in-game story of a warlock who was raised by a shadow-fey-possessed church. After being infected by the mind flayer tadpole, he meets a dream guardian who appears to him as a childhood friend and first love who he thought dead. As his party goes on with their quest, he is also forced to face the consequences of his shadow-cursed existence, and what that means for the people he loves.

Reccer says: I love that this fic is full of visceral, angsty smut and exciting action. But the author always follows up the hurt with comfort. They especially approach the Astarion romance with so much care, and do a great job of writing his voice. Due to the nature of Church’s magic, there are body horror elements especially when the story covers the events of Act 2. This fic expands upon the Shadowlands, Shadowfell, the Raven Queen, and shadow magic as a whole to depict terrifying sequences Church must face with his companions (and lover) beside him. I learned a lot about that particular D&D lore that way, and it made Act 2 feel a lot bigger and scarier than it originally felt.

A Dream of Silence by AbigailMoment (2,683, Mature) Content Notes: possible main char death Pairings: astarion/tav

An interactive story, where you have to save Astarion from a horrible nightmare of worst thing that Cazador ever did to him

Reccer says: Very well written with tons of replayability. Also you get to pet his hair

What Could Have Been by Bella1433! (119,228, Explicit) Content Notes: Dark themes, there are archive warnings Pairings: Tav (named) X Astarion

The maze scene, the race through the city. Astarion is a terrifying vampire lord in this fic!

Reccer says: Vampire lord acting like a vampire lord and being terrifying! Using his powers

The Tyrant, the Assassin, and the Corpse by aqeldroma (3,241, Explicit) Content Notes: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Murder Pairings: The Dark Urge/Enver Gortash

After the Hall of Wonders, the Dark Urge visits Gortash to test him in another way. When she finds someone already in his bed, the night turns predictably violent.

Reccer says: Pre-canon Dark Urge and Gortash pairing, set back when they are testing each other's limits. The horrific things happen to everyone in their orbit, naturally.

Hunger is Satisfaction by CountTavula (25,904, Explicit) Content Notes: Very dark content Pairings: Tav X Astarion

The psychological horror in this is extremely high and surprisingly so.

Reccer says: Its a thriller, psychological horror, not even a dark fantasy most times, just...dread

The Vanishing of Astarion Ancunín: The beginning by Gally (3,526, Mature) Content Notes: None Pairings: None

A glimpse at his last few days of life and the first terrifying minutes of his new unlife.

Reccer says: He wasn't an evil man, he wasn't a great man... he was just a man.

Bathed in Sound by Nikolai_237 (1,005, General) Content Notes: None Pairings: Karlach/Tav

In the Feyweird, not all is dangerous but most is unsettling. For instance, sometimes you find your partner just sitting in the middle of a bunch of floating whale skeletons.

Reccer says: This is my first concept fic for the Feyweird, my psychological horror playground, and for some reason people seem to like it. I enjoy writing creepy stuff and I love weaving horror into my work.

The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ!

Next week, we’ll be returning with a character rec list, this time for Lae’zel! 

[senselessviolets]

"don't wanna be alone."

Roman Roy x Original Character

Rated T (Angst/Feels, Drabble)

Word Count: 1.6k

AO3 Link

WARNINGS:

Cursing, canon typical humor, descriptions & themes involving PTSD/depression. Roman is kind of a dick.

Author's Notes:

Heavily inspired by "Calling U Back" by The Marías. I realized there was some unintentional overlap between this fic and the headcanons about being Rome's assistant that I made so shared universe I guess? /s

Set during Caroline's Wedding in Italy at the end of season 3.

Summary: After a business trip in Turkey ended with her and her boss being held hostage, personal assistant Maxine Lee has some big questions to ask herself; why has he now gone cold on her? Will they be able to work through these unresolved feelings? And most important of all---is the paycheck really worth it?

I could feel two hazel beams searing into my back as I stood across the party from him. There was nothing that stated in the e-vite he forwarded me that I was to be his armpiece for Italy. And yet, Roman’s unshakeable gaze nearly had me feeling guilty or at the very least—unresolved. I knew jetsetting was going to be a part of the job and my brief stint in PR for the luxury fashion label ALMEN had gotten me well acquainted with travel of the sort. Instead of preparing statements for reporters about the brand’s upcoming collection for the spring-summer season; I was having to be a pincushion for the World’s Wealthiest Brat/Fuckboy.

It was a rather impromptu thing in the beginning. My father had gone to Wharton with Waystar’s CFO Karl Mueller and according to him; they “go way back.” Funny how Karl’s name had never once come up until his youngest daughter needed a cushy job in the city. All because someone (me) had to bite off a little more than they could chew. 

“It’s, uh, nice that you stuck around even after the whole Turkey…thing,” Cousin Greg emphasizes, using his hands.

The briefest mention of Turkey had my stomach doing flips. I didn’t speak to Roman for weeks after. Beyond the now bi-weekly video calls with my therapist; I became something of a recluse. I didn’t dare to leave my apartment. The meals I did remember to have were left at my doorstep. I convinced myself this leave of absence was helping me cope and all it was doing was prolonging the inevitable. Sooner or later, I was going to have to face him even though the last time he would’ve seen me, my face was hot and wet with tears. Tears I’d done everything to keep from spilling over.

There was just so much uncertainty at that moment. Being the lone female companion on that trip left me more vulnerable. In ways that Roman, Karl, or Laird weren’t or would ever think about. Beyond that, I was the most objectively expendable member of the group. I wasn’t a big-name banker like Laird, much less a high-level exec like Karl. If I were them, I would without a doubt choose me first to get thrown overboard if it came down to it. 

I wouldn’t fucking think twice about it, in fact.

But Roman, as powerless as even he was at that moment, did everything he could to assure me that wouldn’t be the case no matter what. He was sweet. Why’d he have to be so fucking sweet? There were a couple of nights I’d spent awake in bed, eyes trained on the dark ceiling above me asking myself that same question over and over again until I either drifted off to sleep or the ache in my heart dissipated. Usually, it was the first one.

“It’ll…um…no, d-don’t…don’t cry. Please. You’re gonna be okay, w-we’re gonna be okay actually. Yeah. I mean, w-we got Laird. He’s like a fucking behemoth. And I know he sorta…got pulled away but we do have Dave. Dude is jacked. Y’know Colin? My dad’s security? Dave’s that but not as scary. We’d be covered. We a-are covered. We got you, Max. I got…,” he assured, almost rhythmically, “...I’m gonna…make sure you stay okay, okay?”

Was it incredibly verbose and clumsy? Yes. 

Did it make me feel any better in that moment? Somewhat. 

It was something to hold onto when there wasn’t anything else; it was something. I remember feeling weak and sick. All these powerful men occupying various corners of this decadent hotel lobby and here I am; a little girl dabbing snot into her sweater sleeve like I was eight years old again, legs criss-crossed in the church pews during my mom’s funeral service. Being utterly alone had been the bane of my existence for some time. Not just simply being by myself as I actually preferred that a lot of the time. Some mindless Netflix binge and takeout was enough most nights. “Utterly alone” to me meant being nothing in the eyes of the people around you. An organism, a space-filler—being interminably interchangeable. Roman had done what he could to assure me I was the opposite at my most terrified.

Though I didn’t owe him anything and I was on his payroll and a result, had received the fruits of my labor—I felt innately that I was indebted to him. An entire year later I had still yet to rid myself of this feeling. There was a heaviness to it. It usually occupied any prolonged gaps of silence in between our conversations. It was tangible to me but I often wondered if it was for him too. 

I figured it was; otherwise, he might not be as much of a hellish prick as he had been to me lately. He’d spontaneously request revised versions of the business plans he’d drafted. Late into the night, he’d call me, harshly demanding I send over the revisions. At a certain point, I realized he wasn’t even checking to see if I had sent them or not. Like he just needed somebody to bitch out for the hell of it. I remember when I shrewdly accused him of doing so during one of his random calls, this one occurring around 2 AM.

“Do you even read my fucking notes? I feel like you don’t otherwise I wouldn’t be fuckin’ calling you at odd hours of the night to remind you to do your fuckin’ job.” he chastises, in a voice that’s made gravelly due to the phone and fatigue. 

I was calling from my bed, propped upright by some pillows with my bedside lamp turned on. Likewise, I could tell Roman was sprawled out on his mattress due to the shifting of the bedsheets the mic picked up. The sound of sleep was always palpable in his voice. 

“Well, if you bothered checking if I’d sent them over before calling to bitch me out for not sending them at all; it could save us both the fucking headache, yeah?”

“...lookit you, being all big-bad-bitch out of nowhere. Was wondering when I was gonna bring that outta you. I’m legit so proud of you right now, Max. Keep killing it, Kween!” Roman taunts, “Makes you wonder where this Max was when we were living it up in Turkey way back. Okay, okay, if you can admit right now that the only reason you were putting on the waterworks then was that you were weeping over the possibility of losing your meal ticket…I’ll leave you alone. Promise.”

What kind of twisted ultimatum was that? 

Unfortunately, my throat becomes too dry all of a sudden and I’m unable to question what possessed him to ask such a fucked up thing this late at night. Instead, I’m only able to bid him a choked-up farewell and hang up. 

“...I-I’ll send you my next round of revisions soon. I appreciate the follow-up call. Thank you, Roman. Have a good night.”

It wasn’t exactly a secret that Roman could be incredibly cruel with his words when presented with the opportunity to be. I’d had a litany of expletives hurled at me over the most minor of mistakes. That’s not even including the constant sexual innuendo but even he had the common sense not to push things too far with that. For all of his kindness; there was always an edge. Gestures of appreciation were undercut with sarcastic comments and name-calling. “Thank you” was most commonly followed by a well-timed “fuck you” or “fuck off” if he wanted to evoke his father’s bitterness.

  This was by all means the norm.

But that’s why Turkey had been so different. That’s why it had been sitting in my craw so strangely these twelve-odd months. Sure, he had been trying to keep things light-hearted and get a smile, better yet a laugh, out of me since things were so dire. However, there was no “edge” to be found. No rug to be pulled out from under me and him to snicker at. 

Cliche sure, but I could just feel the difference. 

I could feel him trying to make a genuine connection which I’d come to surmise was typically quite difficult for him. Then again that seemed to be the case with most who shared his status; especially his siblings. His little-spoken-of partner Tabitha was evidence of this failure to connect. As were his handful of Raya dates that ‘never panned out’. 

He was my boss. I was his first-ever assistant; meant to ‘help him acclimate to the increased levels of responsibility he hoped to gradually take on.’ At least that was how Ms. Kellman further described the position in my follow-up interview. While having Waystar’s General Legal Counsel conduct my second job interview was beyond intimidating, I was under the impression she was attempting to mentor him. Clearly, the two had history and that was none of my concern. Though I’d be lying if I’d said I hadn’t thought about asking her what his deal was. If he’d ever been the way he was at the hotel in Turkey to her. Maybe he had. 

Or maybe she wouldn’t know a serious, genuine Roman if he was looking her dead in the eyes. 

He was a confounding person who contradicted himself all too often. It made him impossible to decipher sometimes and intolerable to be around other times. And yet, I was stuck making the same mistake I suspected many individuals that came before me had too made; trying to make sense of this person named Roman Roy while at my core hoping that maybe he’d break through and be better. 

If not for me or his would-be-girlfriend or his deeply flawed family—at the very least for himself. Because regardless of all he’d said or all he’d done, it’s what he deserved.

End.

{ Feedback is always welcome! Let me know if you want to see a follow-up to this! <3 }

[magicalgirlagency]

Favorite YT channels?

🇧🇷 Arquivo Mortal Kombat (channel dedicated to everything related to the Mortal Kombat franchise, with random livestreams on a weekly basis);

Party Crashers (this almost feels like cheating, 'cause this channel consists of five different youtubers, lol);

Amaury Guichon (a.k.a.: The Chocolate Guy. Pretty self-explainatory);

Flowers & Ambience (relaxing media-themed playlists);

🇧🇷 Crash Bandicoot Brasil (a brazilian channel about Crash Bandicoot that has recently returned from a 3-year hiatus!);

Lythero (shitpost-flavored gameplays with stellar animated skits and guests!);

Planet Clue (previously known as KKClue. A channel about kidcore stuff, like niche games and toys);

Cooking With Fred (solid Binging With Babish replacement. Does shorts where he replicates meals from cartoons and anime);

🇧🇷 Vila do Chaves (collection of several videos with trivia about El Chavo del Ocho and other creations of Chespirito);

Friendly Space Ninja (pop culture-loving and aspiring artist who blabs about whatever's hot on the telly. Love to listen to him complaining about bad shows);

Momopurin (artist who draws cutesy stuff, including Magical Girls);

PricklyAlpaca (artist who does highly detailed designs and DIYs based on specific prompts);

NintendoComplete (despite the name, it showcases more than just Nintendo games. It has longplays and remixes of various video game tunes);

Kerchie (toy collector and designer, but a majority of her content is toy collecting/showcasing, mostly Polly Pocket toys, both old and new);

Lavi Alraune (vtuber, self-entitled Mandrake Maiden, who plays video games and heavily interacts with her viewers via chat);

Hanako's Kitchen (japanese housewife showing what kinds of meals she prepares for her family on a weekly basis);

Mani Land (korean kidcore channel that showcases toy reviews and resin DIYs);

Dreamy Dice (a beautiful collection of D&D dice sets done in resin);

🇧🇷 Tio Gordo (shitpost-y gameplays and lives, huge Crash Bandicoot fan);

Ara's Today (kawaii stationary vlogs and ASMR vids! 'Nuff said!);

CHARIBO ART (artist who does ASMR vids of their drawings, from line art to coloring);

GTV Japan (mini-doc videos about video games and other obscure japanese media in the style of a TV show!);

🇧🇷 Kraven the Raven (an alcoholic raven who talks about criminals, cultists, lowcows/horrorcows and other internet oddities, traumatizing himself in the process for the sake of entertainment. Oh, and he's also a lawyer);

Wholesome Games (collection of teasers and trailers of cute and cozy indie games);

MOTHER Forever (niche channel about the MOTHER/EarthBound series, plus occasional showcases of MOTHER-like indies);

Nananaji glo. (showcase of many gadgets, old and new, with an aesthetic feel);

Toasty Tok (cozy and cute TikTok compilations about mundane stuff);

🇧🇷 Nostal_Gi (channel about Lost Media and other nostalgic stuff);

Syam (heavily Obey Me-centric channel showcasing almost every Pop Quiz Event and Devilgram Story from both OG and Nightbringer apps);

GameBoy Mart (youtuber who does GameBoy console customs, with occasional giveaways);

Garfield Archive (channel dedicated to the archiving of classic Garfield stuff, with FULL EPISODES of Garfield & Friends and almost every Garfield Special!);

MILFGOD (drawing timelapses of cute older women, accompanied with soft-spoken personal stories);

GinjaNinjaOwO (art channel from the creator of PRISM);

Japanese Stuff Channel (channel about tasty treats and gachapon from Japan);

World of Longplays (a YouTube essential with buttloads of longplays of video games from almost every console, and it's still growing...!)

🇧🇷 Nunca Te Pedi Nada (channel about a little bit of everything, from vlogs to educational left-aligned things);

Miura Ayme (vtuber, cosplayer, band vocalist and seiyuu of Obey Me's Asmodeus);

Razor & Zenon (russian channel that does gameplays and walkthroughs of Sonic The Hedgehog hacks/ROMs);

🇧🇷 Raquel Nery (the life shares of a young autistic woman studying to become a medic. Very charismatic and cute!).

[6of575]

so mr am (@/234am) has been hosting a lil dnd campaign for a few of us!

its been SO much fun, and mr am has consistently gone above and beyond in providing amazing enfishment for our small little group to gnaw upon within our virtual enclosure

i thought, both as a thank you to him, and coz sort sort sort i like to arbitrarily sort its fun, that i would release little scraps of our adventures here as i go through and document/preserve our ongoing shenaneries

the campaign itself is homebrew and ffxiv-themed; the party meets up weekly on d/iscord and consists of four players (myself, my wife*, @/blatantlyqueer, and @/meredactyl), and four main characters (mordant, fhloe, e-yuk-pen, and sohna) that are (mostly) au versions of themselves (fhloe is the exception and was crafted specifically for this)

the campaign itself is ongoing and currently still in Act I--

which thus far has solely centred around being stuck in The Torment Nexus aka Palace of the Dead, where bad and naughty characters get put through the pear wiggler and we collectively get to see what falls back out :)

the whole campaign is basically themed around this:

from what mr am has told us, there is An Lot content planned, so we can likely expect to see our characters go to lvl 20 and potentially further!

basically, this is four absolute walnuts (affectionate) knocking barbies together making four supposed strangers fumble their way through hell, looking for both answers and a way out

while our dm makes this face the whole time: >:)

yoshi-p voice: please look forward to it

*ironically the only veteran dnd player in the group, but one who solely has experience with 3e and earlier; she joined up to have fun and learn 5e together with us

the rest of us either have limited experience or zero

its babys first dnd campaign and has been a wild ride so far for everyone involved and i cant wait for more!!!

[slutwithagut]

Post #2

The amount of cigarettes I’m smoking is insane for someone with no income! It’s time to ration. It would be cheaper to roll my own… but I don’t know how to roll. Maybe now is the time to finally learn? I digress. We will worry about that at a later time n date.

I have a close friend who employs me to give him rides home from work. Usually every Monday he needs a ride home from work around 8:10 pm because he goes in at 8 something the next day. Occasionally he asks for rides from the local trolley stop that’s about a 10 minute drive from my house.

I bring this up because my weekly income is about $28 on a good week.

So I need to chill on the tobacco.

Things were easier when I smoked spliff bowls (mole bowls, moke bowls, party bowls, whatever u wanna call them) which is cannabis mixed with tobacco. I’ve purchased a great many bags of bugler tobacco. It’s much more cost effective then buying a pack of cigs. The bugler pouch is roughly good for about 30 cigs versus the 20 you find pre rolled. It costs $7/$8 while a pack of cigs is $10/$11

I had purchased a joint rolling machine and filters earlier this year to roll my own. I found it just didn’t hit the same. I also proceeded to break the joint roller. A common theme in my life. Breaking useful objects due to carelessness and or intoxication. If only y’all knew me when I did XANAX and drank heavily while popping. I broke so many things… three lovely bongs, a babyliss hair straightener, bottles, and endured countless bruises and scratches. I also strained some of my personal relationships as you don’t give a single solitary FUCK when your xanned out.

So moral of the story is I am going to start rationing out my cigarettes.

I might buy a vape but I have to go on the black market for one and it seems like such a hassle.

Smoking cigarettes may seem glamorous and look cool. It feeds my oral fixation. But it makes you stink. I literally need to buy gum, scented hand sanitizer, and a small bottle of body spray so I don’t smell bad.

Wish my luck my loves! It ain’t easy trying to kick my vices.

It’s also 12:19 a.m. while I write this. My brain is tired but my body is on high alert. I do suffer from insomnia and weed helps that a lot.

It’s tough to learn how to live my life with out mind altering substances. I also find myself becoming more irritable. I might need to up the dosage on my medicine. I also kind of want to ask my doctor for sleeping pills… but it seems wrong? Since they have a potential for abuse. It would be nice to actually be able to fall asleep around the same time every night. I’ll probably be up until 2 or 3.

If I fall asleep before that I usually wake between 3 and 4 to pee. Then toss and turn till 6 or 7. Get up, smoke a cigarette and if I’m lucky fall back a sleep for a bit. I awake groggy and feeling worse than when I first woke. But still I nap after waking up. It’s a vicious cycle.

I’m going to start wearing my FitBit smart watch to bed again so I can track my sleep. It lets you know how many times you wake up, how deep your sleep was, etc. and it gives you a sleep score for the night. I want to see if my sleep is truly fucked up enough to constitute medicine. The less pills I’m on the better. But sleep is important and staying up late with my thoughts is not the most pleasant experience.

At least now I have you guys to talk and write to, to pass the time.

Restlessly,

D

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"THOUGHT WILL BE GIVEN PROBLEMS OF THE DOMINION," Hamilton Spectator. September 2, 1933. Page 7. ---- Canada and World Crisis Theme of Conference ---- Non-Partisan Gathering to Open at Port Hope --- Interesting Program Has Been Drawn Up ---- Canada and the World Crisis is to be the theme of the Liberal summer conference, unconnected with any party organization, to be held at Port Hope next week, from Monday, September 4, to Saturday, September 9. Of "an unofficial nature as far as partizan politics are concerned," and having "no connection with any party organization," the conference has been called in "recognition of the fact that the rapidly shifting events of the past few years have not only brought to light problems hitherto ignored, but have also drawn within the range of government problems of a new order," according to the program.

It is expected that about 200 people from all parts of Canada, including political leaders, economists, and business and professional men, will attend to study Canada's national problems, which are set forth in the carefully prepared and comprehensive program. Among the Canadians who will speak are Rt. Hon. W. L. Mackenzie King, Hon. Vincent Massey, Hon. T. A. Crerar, Hon. James Malcolm, Hon. W. D. Euler, and F. S. Chalmers, editor of the Financial Post.

Notable Visitors Visitors to the conference will be Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert Samuel, G.C.B., M.P., and T. E. Gregory, professor of economics in the University of London, author of works on economic problems, from Britain; and Hon. Raymond Moley, who recently resigned as assistant secretary of state to edit a new weekly; and W. Averell Harriman, chairman of the N.R.A. committee of New York state, from the United States. The observations of these men on Canadian problems are keenly anticipated.

Although the members of the committee are Liberals, and many members of the federal and provincial Liberal parties are expected to attend, liberal-minded men and women of all party affiliations are welcomed, the program states. It is the belief of the promoters that "the application of many political principles has become obscure, and many political formulas which have served in the past have been rendered obsolete." The summer conference is "designed to direct organized thought to the present-day problems of government in the widest sense of that word."

Interesting Program The program is an interesting one, embracing addresses, lectures and round table discussions, and a conference dinner on Friday evening, the subjects to be discussed including: Canada's Foreign Policy, The N.R.A. in Operation, Electoral Reform, Federal-Provincial Relations, The Future Economic System of Canada, Unemployment, Canadian Banking and Monetary Policy, The Significance for Canada of the American New Deal, Canada and the Far East.

[skullgrind]

SUMMONING DEATH: Starting off the mix this week with creeped out DEATH METAL from Mexico. This is Finnish/Swedish death worship but with it's own level of vile vibes. Cover art by Raul Gonzalez Serrano. Check out their cover of Darkday by EDGE OF SANITY if you like this track.

HADIT: Headed over to Italy for a bit of the cosmic horror DEATH METAL next. This is the first of two releases by I, Voidhanger Records in this mix and I am always impressed by the stuff they put out there. A lot of diverse examples of what DEATH METAL can be. Cover art of the cosmic black hole with pony by Raffaele Salzillo.

ENDLESS LOSS: Heard you like a bit of the "bestial" BLACK METAL eh? Well here you go we got that coming right up next out of Australia. If you like the sounds of TEITANBLOOD or DEMONCY this should be right at home in your ear holes. Spooky underground death crypt and mausoleum cover art sets the tone nicely.

VENOMOUS ECHOES: Alright here's that other release by I, Voidhanger Recrods I mentioned and it's a unique one. Take a bit of MORBID ANGEL and throw it in a cosmic horror blender with PORTAL and you're on the right track for this BLACK/DEATH METAL. All of this racket is made by just one musician! Fantastic cover art by 0ndes fits like a glove with the audio assault on the senses.

SHITSTORM: For a weekly mix called THE GRIND this damn thing hasn't had enough GRIND in it as of late. Here's some that I was "late to the party" on from Miami, Florida. Plenty of shit to be pissed off about and make songs under 1 min to yell out your frustrations. This is just a taste of the first two tracks but the rest is just as solid. Recommended.

CREEPING DEATH: Next up we got DEATH METAL out of Texas. I'm sure I must have put this band in a mix before but I can't recall. This is the title track from their release last year. Heavy sounds, riffs, bit of a groove, what else do you need?

CRAWL: Here we have that crusty Swedish DEATH METAL the kids crave. You might have heard this band's stuff on a split with FERAL but this it an upcoming full length. As I write this there are only 3 tracks to preview ahead of the release but they all crush heads. If you like BLACK BREATH or BLOODBATH you will enjoy this here. Spooky cover art by Sam D Larsson.

OBRIJ (Обрій): And closing out the mix this week is some strange doomy DEATH METAL from Ukraine. I know nothing about this band but when I heard this track I immediately replayed it again so that's all I can say about it. Really like the cover art here too. The title translates to "The Yellow Prince" so maybe it's some kind of cosmic horror thing too? We got a lot of those this week. We'll call it a theme then.

THAT'S ALL FOR THIS WEEK. ENJOY THE DEATH AND COME BACK NEXT WEEK FOR MORE!!

THE GRIND - 3/29/24 MIX (COSMIC CREEPS)

FRIDAY at 8pm EST you know the drill. PLAY IT LOUD

[hmshermitcraft]

Skizzpulse for the theme?

Impulse and Skizz have been inseperable from the moment they set off on the road together. It's always been their best insurance policy, looking after each other and keeping their eyes out for trouble. They know how to work with each other better than they would alone.

It also saves a lot of money, to only need one bed each night...

[acerace]

...you have opened my eyes to a vast universe of VintageBeef lore that I was unaware of. I knew about the New Hermit Order, of course, and the UHC invention, and I've watched a few of his CTM things but -- I will take all the info and lore you feel like giving out because Beef is amazing and my knowledge is so small.

Vintagebeef my beloved <3

So the thing is, right, until about 2016 I only watched two (2) youtubers- Vintagebeef for Minecraft and aDrive for Pokemon (and funnily enough both of them are named Dan irl). So I've watched most of Beef's videos over the years and have a general knowledge of most of his stuff, except because it's been like a decade I don't remember where most of the lore comes from XD

The thing with him is that he doesn't do Lore tm the way other mcyters often do lore- he doesn't have an extensive RP series to draw from like Grian, doesn't have a solo world with steadily increasing amounts of lore like Etho or Zisteau, and while he's played on SMPs and been involved in storylines before it's not really the focus of his episodes unlike with Evo or Legacy or Empires

So where does that leave us?

IRL, Beef always has multiple series running at the same time. Often he's playing on an smp while doing a singleplayer, often modded, series as well as a CTM or modpack with a group of friends. For example, right now he's playing on Hermitcraft, doing weekly Pixelmon and Building a Zoo episodes, and a CTM map with Slip. And to me, this translates to one thing: Beef is an adventurer. He travels frequently- he explores a world and when he decides he's done, he leaves for the next one. That's the basis of my personal interpretation of his series and his character for my writing.

Ok so reading this back, this got extremely long and didn't explain much in the way of lore, somehow? If anyone has any additions to add please do so, I am very definitely leaving out a lot and would love to see what other lore people remember and are using for Beef! I didn’t include the Hermitcraft stuff since my memory of season 4 is blurry (his base was themed after the Martian, that much I know, and he and Iskall were buddies :D) and most of the s5 NHO lore is best watched from Bdub’s perspective from what I remember, and the only s6 stuff is a single line in Hermitgang and then the Area 77 arc with its possibility of an NHO reunion which we did not get rip. And s7 of course had the cloning machine and also the Podzol Party as the main lore. So all the original rambling is still below the cut though it is very long, and I'm gonna bullet point the main stuff here instead:

Actual canonical things:

Invented UHC and was the only survivor of the first ever uhc (Mindcrack UHC s1)

Married to an ender dragon (one of the UHCs I think), later father to a different dragon (Mindcrack season 3? I think?)

Might not have legs if you choose to take that joke as canon (Mindcrack s2)

Was a wizard (RAD)

is a zookeeper (Building a Zoo) 

Had a wife and kids (Sims in Minecraft)

Part of the Trial of the B Team court case (Mindcrack)

NHO founder, founder of the Podzol Party (Hermitcraft)

Created a cloning machine that sort of works (Hermitcraft)

Played the Forest which is I believe the first time he and Keralis played together (look up the trigger warnings for this one, it's a horror game)

Was the creator/owner of Sourceblock SMP (featuring some familiar faces if you know Legacy, Empires, or MCC) and there is literal magic from a mysterious sourceblock of water that teleports people and summons mobs and probably more stuff that I haven't seen yet since I'm still watching it myself

Things you can infer:

Good with animals (Life in the Woods, Pixelmon, Ark)

Is a car nerd (irl and all of the car games he's played)

Is a highly experienced adventurer who has traveled through dozens of worlds both vanilla and modded, across multiple dimensions (Twilight Forest, the Aether, the Betweenlands, Limbo), completed dozens of monuments, fought in blood sports, survived apocalypse after apocalypse, tamed dinosaurs, and played a lot of prop hunt and golf with your friends

If you're looking for what to watch for lore purposes, I'd say the Mindcrack UHCs and Team Canada's RAD series are pretty good, definitely Sourceblock and HC s5, plus the Diversity CTM maps and Ruins of the Mindcrackers maybe? And Mindcrack Prank Wars for the chaos and the origin of Team Canada. And if you can handle horror than the Forest is fun and if you don't do horror you can watch the Pojkband play golf or prop hunt they're hilarious I love them sm I want a Pojkband reunion So Bad 

Beef's first series was a singleplayer series in beta 1.4_01 though he had played the game extensively before that, and was a big fan of Guude, having watched his own Minecraft videos. The series was functionally a hardcore one where if he died Beef would delete the world and start again! I haven't actually Watched this series so idk if he died or how often lmao. When Guude made Mindcrack, which was btw one of the very first Minecraft SMPs, he also hosted a competition for people to join, and Beef submitted a video (which is still viewable on his channel I believe!) and won, and was added to Mindcrack in season 2 :D (fun fact, Guude said that even if Beef hadn’t won he would have added him anyway) 

Two running jokes emerged from Mindcrack- pulling a Vintagebeef and Beef doesn't have legs. The first is a reference to Beef dying of fall damage (I believe the exact instance was him trying to jump into his swimming pool and failing spectacularly) and after the incident, every time someone died of fall damage they were pulling a Vintagebeef. The second joke comes from Guude, who joked that the reason Beef wasn't going to a convention was because he didn't have legs, and then he pranked Beef's base by building a giant pair of legs at the entrance to his castle so you had to walk between them to get into the base. This joke has long since died and both Beef and Guude feel pretty bad about it iirc because there were people who genuinely thought Beef was disabled and were emailing him supportive messages and stuff oops. So if you go looking on the Salad or find old Mindcrack fics, you might see references to Beef having prosthetic legs!

Mindcrack also brought about the creation of several Player groups- Team Nancy Drew, Team Canada, and GOB to name a few relevant to Beef. Team Nancy Drew consists of Beef, Pauseunpause, Guude, and Baj, who formed to investigate a prank on one of the members but I forget who. They're named Nancy Drew after the detective! Team Canada also formed in retaliation to pranks, with it consisting of Beef, Etho, and Pause, the three Canadian members on the server (not including Adlington who moved to Canada but never joined the group). There was also a Team America who pranked them with American flags everywhere. GOB is Guude, OMGChad, and Beef, who played stuff like the Ragecraft, Pantheon, and Monstrosity ctms together but that's way down the line lol

Team Nancy Drew is also notable for inventing UHC. It was Beef's brainchild but it was the four of them who first played it! The first UHC had the four of them working to kill the dragon with no natural regen, with everyone dying but Beef, who "won" the UHC. The second uhc was still dragon focused and iirc is where Beef married the dragon? Memories are hazy but they do kill the dragon in this one I think. UHC was then revamped as a pvp event and became a regular Mindcrack game every few months, featuring most of the Mindcrackers and several special guests, including Dinnerbone, who as we know Thanos-snapped Doc's arm out of existence as a result of Doc killing him in one of them

In one of the seasons of Mindcrack, Beef invited swedish Mindcracker and good friend Anderzel to go caving with him and invented ABBA Rules caving, where the winner takes it all. ABBA Rules is a game where each ore (and also dungeon loot like nametags) is assigned a point value and the person with the most points at the end wins and gets to keep all the stuff collected from the game.

In Mindcrack season 3?, Beef punched the ender dragon in an... awkward area, so when the dragon died and left the egg behind, Guude said Beef was the father of the egg XD I don't remember if I watched s3 so I have no idea if anything Happened with this concept but *history of the world voice* you could make lore out of this!

So Team Canada has played a Lot of CTM maps (which fun fact were pretty much invented by another Mindcrack member, Vechs, with his Super Hostile series! Super Hostile has a bunch of things called "Zistonian", which are references to another Mindcrack member Zisteau, who has a very wild singleplayer series with even wilder lore but I digress). In Ruins of the Mindcrackers, they had a running joke that Beef was Etho and Pause's mom, which is a joke we can leave in the past actually /lh. They also played all the Diversity maps, Sky Factory, Terra Restore, Uncharted Territory uhhh and a couple more ctms and adventure maps! Each map kinda has its own story so in Diversity 3 for example they were trapped in a simulation? I think? Team Canada also recently played the Roguelike Adventures and Dungeons modpack, aka RAD, in which Beef was a wizard with a magic staff that could do anything from summon lightning to control hostile mobs.

Sourceblock SMP is a vanilla survival 1.14 series that ran for one season and the series starts with each of the Players being drawn to a strange sparkling water source that, once they touch it, brings them to the Sourceblock world. It also summons a giant zombie at one point. There's probably more lore for this series but like I said I haven't watched it all the way through yet 

He has a Patreon server called VintageCraft and has done a series or two on there as well, and played a few UHCs with them, so lore that how you will! 

Beef also played a few popular mods, notably Pixelmon, Life in the Woods, and Feed the Beast, with LitW being singleplayer and the other multiplayer. He's also recently played the Zoo and Wild Animals mod a lot. He did a short series with the Minecraft Comes Alive mod where he married one of the villagers and had two children, so that's canon now :D he’s played a Lot of Pixelmon starting when the mod first came out iirc (he chose Turtwig in his first series and built a Grass gym, then made a Normal gym in another series in uhh 2016) and he still plays to this day. Quite a few Hermits played on his Pixelmon servers with him, like Wels, Etho, Iskall, Stress, Slip, Zueljin, and also Guude and Phedran (a Mindcrack adjacent player and creator of the LitW modpack) and a few Mindcrackers on the older servers 

Mindcrack and friends played a lot of other games too- 7 Days to Die, Ark Survival Evolved, Unturned, to name a few, so you can pull a lot of lore out of these as well. Speaking of friends and non-Minecraft games, Beef teamed up with Pause, Keralis, and Slip (a former Hermit) to play the horror game the Forest, which saw them stuck on an island trying to survive against terrifying mutated human... things. They played it a few times as the game updated but as afaik it's the first time Beef played with Keralis and possibly Slip and since the game starts with the Player's airplane crashing, that could totally be how Beef first met them in-universe 

I... think? that’s everything I mentioned in the tags? There is probably way more stuff I’ve forgotten that stems from inside jokes and things that happen within each series, but I hope that was a) helpful and b) at least somewhat comprehensible lmao 

[noforkingclue]

If you’re still taking Ghosts Thomas Thorne prompts, reader is given the house (looks after her niece/nephew), as reader and 3 best friends bring the house back to its former glory - the ghosts think that the child is reader’s baby (or babe?), they call people ‘sweetie’ or ‘hon’ a lot. Someone can see them, and they have a constant stream of TV Series arriving weekly (Game of Thrones, Cheers, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory) etc. Is that too much? I’m

This isn’t too much at all! Thank you so much for the request :D

I’m accepting requests for every fandom on my masterlist. If there’s anything else you think I might like to watch/add please feel free to let me know! I’m always open to watching new shows/films!

Just a warning about period typical attitudes from Fanny.

Title: A New Love

Everything tag list: @greenrevolutionary

“Have you seen who has just come in?” cried Fanny as she swept into the room, “This house is falling more and more into disrepute by the hour!”

“What’s happened now?” asked Julian, “Another new carpet in place?”

“Worse,” Fanny bristled, “Alison and Mike have invited someone so stay!”

“Another person,” said Pat, “Oh how nice.”

“Nice?” Fanny turned her wrath on Pat, “Nice? She has children with her!”

“That is lovely.” Said Pat, ever the optimist

“And she isn’t even wearing a wedding ring?”

“Err,” Pat said, “I don’t see-“

“Children out of wedlock!” cried Fanny, “Alison has gone too far this time. This… person is going to have to go.”

“What is going on here?” asked Alison, “I heard raised voices and-“

“She has to go!” Fanny demanded before Alison could finish her sentence

“Err, who?”

“The person you just brought in,” Fanny said, “I will not have an unmarried woman and her ba-“

“Woah, woah, woah,” Alison said, “Are you talking about y/n?”

“I do not know her name.”

“The children are her niece and nephew,” Alison said, “And even if they were her biological children I wouldn’t be forcing her to leave. She lives here now.”

“Well, shouldn’t they be with their parents?”

“They’re going through a very messy divorce,” explained Alison, “Y/n thought the children need some stability so she’s being a neutral party and looking after the children until custody is sorted out.”

“A divorce,” Fanny got even angrier, “Well I never!”

The other ghosts watched her and she marched out of the room. Alison looked deflated as she looked around at the others.

“Well?” she asked, “Are any of you-“

“Alison there you are! Who are you talking to?”

Alison stiffened as you entered the room and all the ghosts turned to look at you. There was a soft thump as Thomas, who was lying on the sofa, rolled off of it.

“Umm,” Alison said, “I was on my mobile.”

“Right,” you said although you weren’t convinced, “Mike’s looking for you. We have some ideas about the guest bedrooms and thought you would like to hear them.”

“Sure.”

As Alison walked away with you all of the ghosts were watching you intently.

“Who was that?” asked Thomas dreamily, “The vision who just entered the room? A beauty like no-“

“Oh great,” sighed Pat, “Here he goes again.”

 *

 While it took some time to adjust to living with Alison and Mike you were happy to say that you had finally settled in. You were paying your way by helping them do renovation work as you used to own a successful business before you sold it. You wiped the sweat off your brow at you looked at the plaster work you had just completed.

You could see why Alison and Mike wanted to keep the house. It was a beautiful period property and you couldn’t help the pang of jealousy settle in the pit of your stomach. However, there were certain goings on in the house that made you question yourself.

In certain areas you always smelt burning but it was never the same place twice. When you brought this up to Alison, advising her to get the electricals seen to, she assured you that everything was fine. The lights flickered at random times, you swore you saw objects move and you were convinced that the house was haunted. You looked up sharply when you heard a familiar theme tune echo through the halls. You looked around and couldn’t see your niece or nephew and quickly paled.

“Shit, shit, shit,” you cursed quietly, “I really hope that they aren’t watching that.”

You ran towards the main living and reached it just in time. Your niece and nephew were in the room and you quickly grabbed the remote and turned off the TV. They were way too young to watch those sorts of programs.

“What have I told you hon,” you said as you took their hands, “To stay where I can see you.”

“TV.” Said you niece

“Not this show dear. It’s for adults.”

You looked up as Alison and Mike burst into the room.

“Shoot,” said Alison, “I am so sorry y/n. I thought we had turned the TV off!”

“Accidents happen,” you said as you led your niece and nephew out of the room, “Just remember what I said about the electrics. Now come on sweeties,” you said to the children, “Let’s get you a snack!”

Alison waited until you were out of ear shot before turned to glare at the ghosts.

“Ghost thing?” asked Mike

“Oh yes,” said Alison angrily, “No more Game of Thrones.”

“But we need to know what happens,” said Pat, “It’s unfair.”

“Now listen here Alison,” said Julian, “I think you’ll want to hear-“

As the room erupted in arguments Thomas separated himself from the group and walked towards the door. He sighed mournfully as he watched you play with the children. If only you could see him like Alison could then everything would be perfect.

 *

 It was peaceful night and Alison was relaxing with Mike. Just as she raised her glass of wine a scream echoed through the house. She sat up with a jolt and Mike spilled his glass over the carpet.

“Alison!” you screamed running into the room, “Mike!”

“Yes?”

“This place,” you looked around as you pulled your dressing gown around you, “Is haunted.”

“It is.” Said Alison

“What?”

Alison and Mike stood up and Alison put her arm around you. She gently pushed you down on the sofa as Mike handed you a glass of wine.

“There are ghosts.” She said

“Seriously?”

“But only she can see them.” Said Mike

“Are there any in the room with us?”

Alison looked around. Thomas and Kitty were sitting next to you and the others were surrounding the sofa.

“A few.” She said

“A few? How many are there?”

“Umm,” she said, “Anyway, sorry about keeping this from you?”

“I’m just worried about the children.”

“Oh you have nothing to fear,” said Pat even though you couldn’t hear him, “We’ll look after them.”

“Yeah,” said Alison, “They’ll be safe.”

“Alison,” Thomas hissed, “Alison.”

“Shh.” Said Alison

“I didn’t say anything.” You said

“I was talking to Thomas.”

“Who.”

“He’s sitting next to you.”

You jumped and looked to your right.

“On your left,” said Alison, “Kitty is sitting next to you.”

“Fuck.”

“Language.” Said the Captain and Fanny at the same time

“Oh Alison,” said Kitty clapping her hands, “Ask y/n if she’ll be my friend.”

“Kitty wants to know if you’ll be her friend.”

“Umm��� sure?”

“Oh goodie!” cried Kitty

“Alison, what about me?” asked Thomas

“I’m not sure Thomas…” said Alison

“What? What’s he saying?” you asked

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I want to know,” you said firmly, “You can’t keep these things from me.”

Alison shared a look with Mike who shrugged.

“Your call.” He said

“Alright,” Alison took a deep breath, “Thomas thinks that you are…”

“Yes?” you said

“The most beautiful, sorry, exquisite person he had ever met.”

“Wh… what?” you said blushing

“And he is wondering if you- oh I’m not saying that!”

“Saying what?” you said

“He wants to know if you want to be able to see them.”

“How did you manage to see them?” you asked

“I fell out of a window.”

“And almost died.” Said Mike

“Umm no,” you said standing up quickly, “No, definitely not. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to check on the twins and have a lie down.”

You quickly left the room. Alison closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Well that could’ve gone a lot better,” she said, “And Thomas don’t you dare follow her!”

“Separated by time and death,” said Thomas ignoring Alison, “Unchangeable barriers to our love!”

“Oh dear,” said Alison, “I should probably warn y/n.”

“No idea what was said,” said Mike, “But that’s probably a good idea. With what you told me she’s going to need all the luck she can get.”

[gammagoop]

more details for all my dedicated readers

skizz has worked like 200 different jobs, so it's a running gag that if anyone needs help with something they'll ask skizz, no matter what it is

^ skizz gives grian, joel, and jimmy advice for their bakery endeavors

there needs to be some kind of allegory for them killing each other in the canon -- maybe everyone's really into weekly dodgeball or something

mumbo never actually appears in the show, but is brought up a lot by grian. he often says things like "i miss mumbo" or "i wish mumbo were here". not everyone is convinced that 'mumbo' is actually a real person. scar swears he's met mumbo before, but that's honestly just more evidence that he doesn't exist

almost everyone in this au lives on the same apartment building, rather than separate houses, so the next few bullets will be about that

obviously cleo, bdubs, and scar all live together. etho doesn't live in the building but his living situation is never shown on-screen. he's just shown arriving at the complex

pearl and bigb are roommates and live next door to cleo

grian and jimmy are also roommates. joel used to live there too but moved in with lizzie a little while after they started dating

^ jimmy plans a goodbye party when joel moves out and grian helps him set up for it. jimmy is like teary-eyed “we’re gonna miss you joel! goodbye!” and then joel is like “okay” and walks to his new apartment across the hall

im not sure if skizz, impulse, and tango would all live in that same building as well, but if they do it's on a different floor. they don't all live together but they live very close to each other

scott and martyn are roommates

ren doesn't live in the complex, but is often crashing at various people's places. sometimes he'll mention that he's been staying with his friend 'doc'

grian would make most sense as landlord since he owns the limlife server but i dont think that makes sense narratively so maybe its just never mentioned

ok back to the non-living situation points

scott and cleo are the most openly queer characters, though lizzie being bi is mentioned once or twice. even though etho and joel dated, they're both usually included amongst the heteros

various other related-mcyts show up for specials. oli in specific initiates a musical episode

there's a valentines day special in which bdubs and scar try to set etho up on dates so he can find a new partner (etho is not very invested in this mission)

^ the rest of the side plots are pretty chill. joel and lizzie go on a fun date, cleo enjoys some alone time, some of the other folks organize a platonic valentines celebration

^^ bigb brings cookies, grian asks him if he wants to be part of the bakery coalition, but bigb tells him no because baking is just a fun hobby for him

^^ the episode ends with most of them at the party. bdubs and scar show up looking tired and worn , presumably the etho dates went pretty badly

scott and jimmy have a very on-and-off relationship that's mostly dictated by scott. for a lot of the show it's played for a joke, but there is a more serious plotline in which jimmy sets a boundary against it. scott hadn't been messing with him maliciously, of course, but there was a lack of communication between them-- especially because jimmy didn't quite know how uncomfortable he'd been. they come to an understanding that leaves them as mostly just good friends

in terms of jobs, we've established that cleo is a zumba instructor and TIES work in IT. but for the others:

^ pearl is a cleaning lady, of course, and makes good money doing it

^ bdubs works in retail but hates it. scar is a door-to-door insurance salesman but has dreams of working in a theme park (disney)

^ joel and jimmy are coworkers (outside of the bakery) but im not 100% on what they would do

i think that's all i have for now! if you want more from this au, check out this drawing cloud did! :D

limited life 90s sitcom au

[roamwithahungryheart]

Hi everyone!

After much deliberation, I've decided to do a special one-off writing challenge. The challenge will run from today until my birthday on June 29th, when I'll post a masterlist of all your amazing stories!

The theme for this challenge is parties.

I've taken prompts from the Reedsy prompts list (which is a great site that also holds weekly contests!) and it's a free-for-all, you don't have to claim anything, just go wild and enjoy it!

Rules & prompts below the cut:

Challenge Rules:

Pick either a character, pairing or group from the following:

Grey's Anatomy

Younger

The Avengers

The Justice League

Chris Evans & characters

Henry Cavill & characters

Pedro Pascal & characters

Pushing Daisies

Twin Peaks

Star Wars/The Mandalorian

Please include a 'read more' after the first 500 words of a long entry (no minimum word count, max word count 2,000)

Just to be inclusive and make sure everyone's comfortable, this will be a smut-free challenge. Keep it fluffy & fun!

Challenge Prompts:

Write a story about a character who’s nervous to attend a party - their first in a long time.

Write your story about two characters tidying up after a party.

Set your story at a party that has gone horribly wrong.

On the long flight to your best friend's destination bachelorette, you pass out, drooling, on the shoulder of your seatmate. When you arrive at the wedding, you are mortified to discover that your seatmate is the best man, and you spend the rest of the wedding weekend trying to avoid him.

Write about someone who gets a last-minute deal on a hotel room for their friend's party, only to be told when they arrive that they're sharing a room with a stranger.

By the time this party is finished, three people's lives will be changed forever.

Write a story in which two people who know each other are introduced — but neither person admits to knowing the other.

Write a story about someone trying to find the perfect birthday gift.

I look forward to seeing what you come up with & partying with you all! x

Permanent taglist: @hiddelstannerbarnes @redlipstickandblacktea @just-one-ordinary-fangirl @optimistic-dinosaur-nacho @djeniiscorner @its-tortle @k347 @ixalit @iguessweallcrazyithinktho @cevansfics @capchrisevaans @thedamageofherdays @musette22 @mcubabydotcom @worksby-d @chuckbass-love @bluemusickid @fallinforevans @hellobeautworld @katiew1973 @just-dreaming-marvel @disaster-dean @rebthom89 @navybrat817​ @just-dreaming-marvel-2

@sirisshamelesshoelibrary​ @denisemarieangelina​ @thesecretlifeofdaydreamss​ @deanscherry​ @celestialbarnes​​ @the-iceni-bitch​ @caplanbuckybarnes​​ @caplanreads​​ @autumnrose40​ @patzammit​ @mxsamwilson​ @hevans-angel​​ @elvenfforestydd​ @harrysthiccthighss​ @cherry-gemz​​ @brattycherub​ @brattycherubwrites​ @angrybirdcr @blossomslibrary @uncensored-steve-the-platypus @honeyloverogers @cloudystevie @steebsbabygirl

@whisperlullaby @pedropascaldice @hlkwrites @astroboots

[gameofdrarry]

Wizards Hearts Smut Recs: First Time

Wizards Hearts was a four-month-long Drarry reading fest. Players were given a playing deck of 52 tropes, and were asked to find 52 different fics to read and comment on to fill their decks. To prevent the same few fics from being read, fics were restricted to only being used for the game three times before being considered ineligible for further points. The tropes and submissions list can be found here. Players could opt in to an additional suit of 13 cards, all themed around various popular smut tropes.

Check out the masterlist of fics for this trope below the cut!

📜 Another Heart Whispers Back by slytherco Rated:  Explicit Words:  53,693 Tags:  Friends to Lovers, Auror Harry Potter, Potioneer Draco Malfoy, Pining Draco Malfoy, Oblivious Harry Potter, Virgin Harry Potter, Unrequited But Not Actually Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Casual Intimacy, Humor, Comedy, Blind Date, First Dates, Bets & Wagers, Meddling, Love Confessions, Idiots in Love, Making Out, First Time, First Time Blow Jobs, Rimming, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Post-Coital Cudding, Shower Sex, Tattooed Harry Potter, Magical Tattoos, Taste of Smut 2020 Summary:  At twenty-five, Harry Potter is still a virgin and sorely lacking in options to change that state anytime soon. To help him find a plus one for Ron and Hermione’s wedding, and maybe kill two birds with one stone, Harry’s friends set him up on a series of blind dates. The only problem is, there’s something not quite right with each of their candidates. “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back. Those who wish to sing always find a song. At the touch of a lover, everyone becomes a poet.” ― Plato In which Harry learns that some things are worth waiting for, that looking and seeing are two very different things, and that his heart’s song has been heard a long time ago. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Heart's Honest Truth by bixgirl1 & carpemermaid Rated:  Explicit Words:  16,020 Tags:  Hogwarts Eighth Year, Awkward First Times, Truth Spells, Alternating POV, Magical Accidents, Getting Together, Magical Theory, 2017 Draco's Merry-Making Mini Fest See work for more tags Summary:  "Don't you think I would have gone to Pomfrey if I thought she could help me?" "Then what can I do?" "I nee--" Malfoy broke off with a soft grunt and a pained expression. He took a shaky breath and tried again, his voice wobbling. "Will you touch me, Potter?" Draco is cursed to speak in questions. Well...Spelled, thanks to the stupidly improper archival practices of the fourth century. Harry Potter is there to save the day, but Draco isn't going to give in to his help so easily. Fortunately, the method of saving might be more satisfactory than Draco expected this time. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 When All Your Dreams Come True by Drarrelie Rated:  Explicit Words:  9448 Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Hogwarts Eighth Year, PWP, Porn with Feelings, Threesome - M/M/M, dubcon, Mistaken Identity, Pining, secret crushes, Plot Twist, virgins, Birthday, Draco Malfoy's Birthday, Birthday Presents, POV Draco Malfoy, Birthday Sex, Birthday Smut, Sexual Fantasy, First Time, First Time Bottoming, First Time Topping, Don't copy to another site, Fanart Welcome, Podfic Welcome Summary:  Six weeks ago, Draco gave his friend-with-benefits a most unexpected and precious gift for his birthday. It's only fair Blaise should reciprocate if given the chance, right? ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Take a trip into my garden by Andithiel Rated:  Explicit Words:  5974 Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Porn with Feelings, Established Relationship, Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, First Time Bottoming, Draco in lingerie, Bisexual Harry Potter, Rimming, Anal Sex, Really there might be too much feeling for it to count as pwp, As usual when I write, Enthusiastic Consent Summary:  Harry has only been dating Draco for about two months, but he’s already obsessed with the git. And he knows that today, Draco has something special planned, something that includes him being dressed in skimpy lingerie. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Inside Your Mind by lazywonderland Rated:  Explicit Words:  36376 Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Top Harry, Bottom Draco, Harry Potter POV, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Bullying, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, FlirtingVirgin Draco Malfoy, Loss of Virginity, First Time, Anal Sex Anal Fingering, Smut, Angst, Overstimulation, Submissive Draco, Rimming, Multiple Orgasms, Protective Goyle, very very minor d/s elements, revolving mostly around subspace, Dominant Harry, Forced Orgasm, and lavender's alive bc i said so Summary:  Goyle's taken it upon himself to act as Malfoy's personal, one-man guard and Harry can't help but feel like it's only making the bullying worse. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 By Your Hands  by GiRa Rated:  Explicit Words:  7625 Tags: Smut, Fluff and Smut, First Time, Virgin Draco Malfoy, Established Relationship, Bottom Draco Malfoy, Top Harry Potter Summary:  After being together for months, Draco wants to try going a step further with Harry. The only problem is that he actually has no idea what he's doing - but thankfully Harry is more than happy to guide him through it. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Sexplanations (Of the Horrible Sort)  by bixgirl1 Rated:  Explicit Words:  7048 Tags: Hogwarts Eighth Year, Secret Sex, Secret Relationship, Humor, Snark, Confused Relationships, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Dirty Talk, sex injuries, Semi-Public Sex, Embarrassing Situations, Bottom Draco Summary:  Harry's willing to put up with a certain amount of injury, as long as he and Malfoy can keep doing... whatever it is they're doing. Maybe. Mostly. Especially if there might be more to it than sex. Based on a tumblr headcanon. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Gentlewizard Club by Sophie_French Rated:  Explicit Words:  28129 Tags: Pining, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Sharing a Bed, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, First Time, Humor, Explicit Sexual Content Summary:  Draco wants what Draco wants. And if he has to snuggle up to Harry to get it, well, surely, Draco can handle that. Problem is, not sure Harry can. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 You Set My Soul Alight by parkkate Rated:  Explicit Words:  54075 Tags: Post-War, Auror Partners, Case Fic, Enemies to Lovers, Mystery, Adventure, Romance, Pining, Getting Together, Sharing a Bed, Banter, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Loss of Virginity, First Time, Mildly Dubious Consent, Consent Issues, Secrets, Misunderstandings, Miscommunication, Sleep talking, Frottage, Rimming, Face-Sitting, Intergluteal Sex, Anal Sex, Switching, Blow Jobs, Fluff, Angst, references to suicidal thoughts, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, References to Depression, Mental Health Issues, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Minor Character Death, Arguing, Reconciliation, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Angst with a Happy Ending Summary:  Students are going missing at Hogwarts, but that's not the only mystery Draco is determined to solve. Something’s going on with Potter. He can deny it all he wants. Draco is going to find out what it is. Unfortunately, trying to get to the bottom of it has some unexpected consequences and if Draco isn’t careful, he’s going to jeopardise their mission. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Sincere Gratitude from the (Heart) Hand by _Melodic_ (Sae) Rated:  Explicit Words:  1325 Tags: Hand Jobs, Anal Fingering, Anal Play, First Time, POV Harry, Smut, Humor, Shameless Smut, Porn With Plot, Prostate Massage, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Hogwarts Era, Students, Pining, Sexual Tension, Sexual Content, Sexual Inexperience, Virgin Harry, Oblivious Ron, Awesome Hermione Granger, Seduction, Sneaking Around, Classroom Sex Summary:  Two weeks later and Malfoy has yet to repay his debt to Harry. Does Harry even want him to? Oh Merlin, yes he does! ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 You Are Safe (I Know) by hephaestiions Rated:  Explicit Words:  42568 Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Post-Second War with Voldemort, Hand Jobs, Voyeurism, Exile, Racism, Person of Color Harry Potter, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Past Abuse, Minor Character Death, Blood, Azkaban, Drinking, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, Hyperventilation, Dissociation, H/D Erised 2020 Summary:  Draco Malfoy is sentenced to one year of exile following his participation in the Second Wizarding War. Harry Potter tags along. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 The Spoiling of Sex From Enthusiastic Ignorance by Cibee (Cibeeeee) Rated:  Explicit Words:  6087 Tags: Humor, Fluff, Mutual Piningm Friends to Lovers, Misunderstandings, First Kiss, Making Out, Loss of Virginity, Awkward First Times, Eventual Enthusiastic Fucking, Vulgar Language, Rimming, Blow Jobs, Premature Ejaculation, Post-Hogwarts, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, POV Draco Malfoy, Virgin Draco Malfoy, Flustered Harry Potter, Switch Draco Malfoy, Switch Harry Potter, Thirsty Draco Malfoy, Quidditch Player Harry Potter, Minor Pansy Parkinson/Ginny Weasley, H/D Sex Fair 2020 Summary:  Draco is going to lose his virginity, so help him god, and he's going to lose it to one Harry Potter. Why? Because of his big cock, his status as The Top Five Quidditch Players in England, and Witch Weekly's Most-Eligible Bachelor for eight years straight. At least that's what he tells himself. Too bad first times rarely go as one plans, and now Harry is looking miserable and Draco doesn’t understand why. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Lost Boys by Dahlia_Rose_83 Rated:  Explicit Words:  32278 Tags: Hogwarts Eighth Year, Party Games, Secret Relationship, Falling In Love, First Time, Smut, Clueless Harry, Insecure Draco, Helpful Luna, Oral Sex, Anal Sex,Top Draco Malfoy, Bottom Harry Potter Summary:  On his way to meet Voldemort in the forbidden forest, Harry ran into Draco, who kissed him. Now they're both back at Hogwarts for their eighth year and he doesn't really know how to act towards the blond. ❤️ Read on AO3

📜 Wings on Fire by CapricornBookworm Rated:  Explicit Words:  1938 Tags: Coming Out, Enemies to Lovers, Banter, Clubbing, Dancing, Semi-Public Sex, Kissing, Grinding, Blow Jobs, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Rimming, Bottom Harry Potter, Top Draco Malfoy, Morning After, Virgin Harry Potter, First Time, Wizarding Media, Idiots in Love Summary:  Harry was sick of being everyone’s angel, the 'golden boy,' the Chosen One. And if he was going to go out of favor, he was going to go out flaming. ❤️ Read on AO3