#well of course the whole game is easier once you know how to beat it i think if i played it for the first time i would still have trouble

[flash-from-the-past]

DWARF complete

[catmiemy]

Another Chance to Live Part 4 (Ana Maria Crnogorčević x Reader)

Summary: Ana and you finally start dating.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

A/N: Look at me sticking to my upload schedule. Although I might be able to publish the final two parts earlier since I had more time to write because I had to cancel some plans thanks to conjunctivitis.

I hope you enjoy these two finally getting together. As always, happy to hear what you think :)

After your conversation with Jenni you continued to sit on the couch, staring at your phone as if the device would be any help in figuring out how to ask Ana out.

As it turned out, it actually did. While you were still contemplating, weighing the pros and cons of every option, your phone buzzed with an incoming message. Your heart skipped a bit when you saw it was from Ana, just like it always did. And your heart definitely skipped more than one beat once you read the message.

You read the words over and over again, finding it impossible to believe this was actually happening. For so long you had told yourself there would never be anything more than friendship between you and Ana, and now all of the sudden your whole world had been turned upside down in the best way possible.

A little birdie just told me about the conversation you had.

Hope you don’t mind she told me.

Jenni said you didn’t tell her not to tell me, so she thought it was fair game.

Anyway, what do you say about changing our hangout tomorrow to an official date?

You know as a date, as more than friends.

Ana’s reply was almost instant.

Of course I don’t mind, it makes my life a lot easier!

I really owe that birdie, but don’t tell her that.

And yes, I’d love to do that!

You quickly texted back that you were excited about it as well, before putting away your phone grinning like a fool.  You felt like you were floating on a cloud of happiness, something that you hadn’t experience in a long, long time, maybe never to this degree.  

Great, I’ll pick you up at 7 tomorrow.

Already looking forward to it.

---

The next day you got more and more nervous the closer the time for Ana to pick you up came. However, whenever the anxiety threatened to become overwhelming, you just thought about the Swiss woman; how happy you always were in her presence and how at ease she made you feel, as if you were perfect just the way you were. Every time you did that you immediately felt much calmer; less anxious nervous and much more joyful excited. 

 Still, it took you forever to pick out an outfit, mentally thanking Ana that she had texted you earlier in the day to at least let you know what style of clothes you should be wearing, elegant but not overly fancy. In the end you settled on a black dress because you could never go wrong with that, and it did show off your body in the best way possible.

Even with all the internal debating about your outfit you ended up being ready almost 30 minutes before the pickup time, because you had started so early. Therefore you settled down on the couch, trying and failing to distract yourself with your phone.

Only a few minutes passed before there was a knock on the door. With a frown you went to open it, hoping it wasn’t your parents with some sort of request to help them out. You definitely didn’t have time to do that right now.

However, when you opened the door and laid eyes on Ana your frowned turned into a big smile. You were always happy to see her, but tonight even more so. Finally you got to be with her in the way you wanted, no more pretending to be just friends.

“Hi,” you greeted her, too distracted by the blonde’s mere presence to wonder why she was here so early.

“Hi,” Ana echoed, stepping forward to hug you. You melted into the embrace and turned your face inwards against her neck, relishing in the fact that you didn’t have to suppress gestures like this any longer.

“Ready to go?” The Swiss woman asked you after a bit.

You nodded, grabbing the bag you had conveniently placed next to the door. When you turned back towards Ana, she reached out offering you her hand. You instantly laced your fingers through hers, the small contact filling you with warmth and an overwhelming sense of belonging right there in this moment.

When you were getting into the car you heard the church bells ring and suddenly realized how early the Swiss woman had been. It wasn’t like she was known for being unpunctual, but also she wasn’t usually this early.

“How come you were here this early? Did I have the time wrong?”

That seemed like the most logical explanation, even though you had checked the time in Ana’s text about at dozen times.

“Well, I knew you’d be ready early and I didn’t want to make you wait unnecessarily and maybe get anxious.”

Your heart melted at this. It was so thoughtful of Ana and it showed how well she already knew you. This fact put you even more at ease. There was no need to pretend or try to show yourself in the most favorable light, this woman already knew you and somehow she still liked you.

“Plus I was excited to go out with my friend,” the blonde continued.

For a second your stomach dropped at the last word, but when you looked over and saw the humor in Ana’s eyes you recognized that she was just teasing you.

“I guess I deserve that,” you conceded, “And for the record I never wanted you to be just my friend.”

You were a little surprised by your own boldness. However, Ana made you feel like it was not only okay to say what you were thinking, but that it was in fact exactly what the Swiss woman wanted.

“That’s good to know,” Ana stated, sounding much more serious all of the sudden as if she still hadn’t been totally sure about your feelings.

Suddenly you felt a little silly for not taking into account that other people got insecure as well. You had been so focused on yourself, that you had never considered how it must have been for the Swiss woman to constantly hear you emphasize that you were merely friends.

“I’m sorry about that, I just didn’t think there was any possibility you’d ever like me too,” you apologized.

Ana looked over at you sadly. “I know, but we’ll work on that,” she promised.

“On what?”

“On the way you see yourself! Don’t think I missed how you didn’t believe me when I told you that everyone I know on the Spanish national team likes you and is always looking forward to seeing you,” the blonde elaborated.

You didn’t quite know how to react to such blatant flattery. Most likely this was just Ana being sweet, but you couldn’t lie, it was still nice to hear.

“See, you’re doing it again. You don’t believe me,“  the blonde accused you softly.  

You whipped your head around to look at Ana, shocked that she could read you so easily. Up until now you had always prided yourself on having a good poker face, but apparently the Swiss woman saw right through it.

She didn’t say anything else though, merely smiling at you gently. The silence gave you the time you needed to gather your thoughts. Once again you found yourself being surprisingly honest.

“It’s just because I’m nothing special, I’m just me. I’m too quiet and not very interesting. It’s not like I think everyone hates more or anything. But why would anyone particularly like me?”

In your opinion you had made a good point, but Ana’s eyes were filled with disapproval and sadness on your behalf.

“Because you’re a great person! You always have an open ear for everyone. If there’s anything you can do to help someone, you do it without hesitation. You have such a good heart and you’re so mindful of everyone around you, doing your best to make everyone feel seen and heard.”

“Sure you don’t talk everyone’s ears off as soon as you meet them, but once you’re more comfortable? You tell great stories that always make me feel as if I’m right there with you and I love hearing what you think about things because I can tell that you took your time to form opinions. And to see you speak passionately about the things you care, that’s just something else!”

“Also, I love how much you appreciate the beauty around you. Going somewhere with you is such a treat because you will always point out the pretty flowers, the interesting cloud constellation or the cute dog you see with so much joy and reverence.”

“And let’s not forget that you’re gorgeous. You have the most beautiful and kindest eyes I have ever seen and don’t even get me started about your smile!”

You were overwhelmed by how easily, without even thinking about it first, the Swiss woman managed to list all of these nice qualities. It made you more inclined to believe her. At the very least Ana had you convinced that she meant every word she had said, and that in itself was a good feeling, even if you weren’t convinced all of this was actually, objectively true.

“I could keep talking all night long about all the reasons why I like you so much, but I guess you wouldn’t really appreciate that. So instead I’ll keep bringing it up for as long as you’ll let me be a part of your life, which I’m hoping will be a very long time,” Ana concluded.

“That’s probably a good idea, otherwise you’ll spend the rest of the evening with a tomato head,” you joked.

You had always hated how easily you turned red, your frustration usually only making it worse.

“I wouldn’t complain about that for a second, I find your blushing adorable,” Ana commented, which of course only made you blush even more, but for once you didn’t mind as much.

You arrived at your destination soon after, and you immediately recognized the place from pictures you had seen of Lola and her girlfriend. So the mystery of how the blonde had chosen where to take you was solved. You had never actually been to the restaurant yourself since it was very romantic and mostly frequented by couples, but you had heard good things about it.

By the end of the evening you could definitely confirm that all the praise you had been told about the restaurant was justified. Although in all honesty every place would have felt like heaven to you when it was the location of your first date with Ana.

The conversation stayed mostly light and happy for the first half and hour, both of you enjoying each other’s company and this new and exciting situation. In a lot of ways it wasn’t all that different, you talked as easily as before, the conversation flowing effortlessly. So once again you realized that you had gotten into your heard for nothing. Things weren’t awkward or weird at all, like you had been concerned about.

Sure, there were some differences, all of them positive though; the way you kept slipping from normal conversation into light flirting, how you just gazed deep into each other eyes a few of times, and the way Ana placed her hand onto yours and left it there as long as she possibly could, sighing when she had to retract it because you both needed your hands to eat.

“So do you want to talk about the national team?” You asked, once the last of your nervousness had settled.

Ana shrugged her shoulders unsurely, smile dropping from her face. You had to fight the urge to take it back and apologize for probing; reminding yourself about the conversation you had had after the game against Barcelona. It was okay to ask, and if the Swiss woman actually didn’t want to talk about it, she would tell you. Still, this went entirely against your instinct.

“It’s just such a frustrating situation. Inka is a horrible coach! At least for us, maybe it’s just not a good fit, I don’t know, but for us it doesn’t work. We’re playing badly and the atmosphere at camp isn’t how it used to be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing like what I heard about Spain, but everyone was kind of in a state of constant annoyance and was so happy when we could leave.”

“And the worst thing is that the home Euros is coming closer everyday and I wanted that to be the crowning moment of my career. Maybe that’s selfish, I don’t know, but now? Now I think it’s going to be nightmare, if I even get to go at all,” Ana finished her rant that had began passionate and angry, but fizzled out into something more like helplessness. 

Exactly like after the game against Barcelona the Swiss woman looked drained, her shoulders slumped and her smile no longer reaching her eyes. It made you simultaneously want to give her the longest hug in the world and go and punch Inka in the face.

However, since you were still sitting in the restaurant you settled on reaching over and giving her hand a good squeeze, before doing your best to come up with a good response.

“I’m so sorry things are like that and I’m always here to listen if you need to rant about it or hold you if you need to cry. Trying to keep in your emotions isn’t healthy.”

That was probably one of the most hypocritical things you had ever said, you who always held your emotions in until you felt like imploding. However, theoretically you knew that wasn’t a helpful thing to do, so you weren’t going to advise someone else to do that.

“And I can help you figure out if there’s anything you and the girls can do. I did a lot of reading and looking things up when everything was going down with Spain. Of course it’s a totally different system, but I’m still happy to help out,” you offered.

A soft smile, a real smile, one that made Ana’s eyes shine, returned to the blonde’s face.

“I appreciate how much you care. That means more than I can ever express with words. To be honest we’ve already started looking into what our options are and have been talking with the Swiss federation. So maybe it’s not quite as hopeless as it feels right now. The next few weeks should give us an answer to that,” Ana told you.

You felt some relief at that. Surely there was no way the Swiss federation would be as difficult and idiotic as the Spanish one. Right? Therefore things would hopefully be sorted out before too long and Ana would get the home Euros she deserved.

“That’s good. I’m confident things will turn out okay,” you said with more confidence than you actually felt. But Ana didn’t need to know that. If you were wrong in the end you would deal with it then, right now the best thing you could do was strengthen her hope.

“Yeah?” The Swiss woman double-checked, confirming to you that this was actually the right thing to do.

“Definitely,” you assured her, praying to a god you didn’t believe in that you wouldn’t be proven wrong.

“I think so too,” Ana admitted quietly, as if she was scared to say it too loudly out of fear of jinxing it.

“Now let’s talk about other things. I don’t want Inka to ruin the mood on my date as well, she has done enough of that during camp. How about we focus on your national camp instead? I heard you almost made Jenni rip out her own hair with your cluelessness,” the Swiss woman teased with a big grin.

Your first instinct was to tell Ana that it was totally fine to keep talking about the situation with her national team, that it wouldn’t ruin anything. But then she mentioned Jenni and all the teasing you had endured, and all of the sudden you wanted to beg her to continue talking about the Swiss team. Anything to avoid speaking about how oblivious you had been.

“Come on, let’s be honest Jenni would never rip out her precious hair or do anything else to ruin her looks,” you deflected, basking in the sound of Ana’s laughter. You would never get tired of making the blonde laugh.

You kept up the banter for a bit, before you remembered a specific thing you had been fretting about for the last 24 hours. It probably wasn’t something you should bring up on the first date, or maybe it was exactly the kind of thing you had to mention on the first date. You still hadn’t made up your mind about that.

All you knew was that in that moment, feeling happy and secure in Ana’s presence, you wanted to talk about it. And maybe it was time to do what you wanted more often and worry less about whether it was the ‘normal’ thing to do. What was normal anyway?

“There’s something I need to tell you”, you blurted out, kicking yourself for making it sound so ominous. No one ever said ‘I need to tell you something’ about unimportant stuff.

“Of course, I’m all ears,” Ana replied, smiling at you encouragingly.

“Okay, so…” You swallowed, trying to gather yourself. „I’ve never been in a serious relationship before. I mean I’ve dated and had flings and such, but never a serious long term relationship. And I don’t know it that’s a problem for you. I would totally understand if it was. And maybe I shouldn’t even have brought it up tonight, so I’m sorry if I’m making this awkward. Although if it is a problem then it was probably good I told you today. I…”

“Schatz,” Ana interrupted you. You didn’t really know any German, let alone Swiss German, but you were fairly certain you remembered this one. The use of a sweet pet name relaxed you significantly; she wouldn’t do that if this was in fact a deal breaker.

“I don’t care about that in the slightest. I’ve never been in a relationship with you either, so that will be brand new for me too. We’ll figure it out together,” the Swiss woman promised.

“Together,” you echoed. You loved the sound of that.

---

As time passed and more dates followed it became clear that Ana had been right. Things between the two of you just progressed naturally and not once did you feel out of your depth because of your lack of experience with relationships.

You shared a magical first kiss on a walk through the city after your second date. Ana’s lips felt pleasantly warm on yours in the chilly night air. After that all dams were broken and you spent a lot of time kissing like two hormonal teenagers, slowly or more precisely pretty rapidly moving on to other activities.

After the first time you slept together, the two of you lay in Ana’s bed facing each other. The Swiss woman gently traced her thumb over your forehead and your cheek, looking at you lovingly. Although you did your best to avoid using this word for anything to do with Ana just yet. It was too early to even think about love.

“Are you okay? Was this okay?” The blonde whispered, her eyes serious and for some reason slightly worried.

You stared at her in surprise. Could she not see how happy and satisfied you were, how cherished and lo- adored you felt?

“This was perfect and I feel amazing. You know I had sex before, right?”

Suddenly you weren’t sure if you had been clear about that. Maybe you had given Ana the impression that you weren’t just a relationship virgin, but an all around virgin.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but still this is a big step and I just wanted to check in. It’s different when feelings are involved,” Ana elaborated.

For a moment you just grinned at her like an idiot. If you thought you had been feeling lo-, adored before, it was nothing to how you felt now.

“You’re just the absolute sweetest, tesoro. And you’re totally right, it is different. So much better! I can’t wait to go again, but right now I need some sleep. Someone wore me out.“

You looked at her pointedly, but that quickly changed into a smile when you saw how proud of herself Ana looked.

“In that case, sleep, mi Schatz. Because I definitely need you to be ready for another round soon,” Ana said, pulling you against her and kissing your forehead.

It took you all of five seconds before you fell into a peaceful slumber, your face buried in Ana’s neck.

---

However, you were right too, about everything sorting itself out with the Swiss national team. You were eating lunch at Real’s training ground when you heard, willing the time to move faster because tonight you would finally see Ana again. The two of you hadn’t been able to meet up the last few days because of insanely busy and conflicting schedules.

So when your phone buzzed with a message from Ana your heart fluttered happily. Hearing from her was always the highlight of your day. Things at Real were still less than ideal. You didn’t feel connected to the team, most of them still seeing you as ‘that Altético player’.

You were well aware that you were to blame for that as much as anyone, maybe even more so. Your efforts to integrate into the team had been minimal to say the least. And you felt a fair bit of anger at yourself for being so unprofessional, but somehow that still wasn’t enough to change anything. You just didn’t want to be there. It was as simple as that. And you could pretend, but you couldn’t change your actual feeling.

Day after day you forced yourself to be perfectly punctual, train hard, listen to the game plans and analyses, but there was no joy to any of it. Not even when you played games, something that you had always loved before. You were simply going through the motions.

At least you were having a pretty good season; otherwise your disappointment with yourself would have been through the roof.

When you checked your phone you saw that it was a screenshot announcing Inka’s departure from the Swiss national team. A happy squeal escaped you, everyone turning to look at you. It wasn’t like you to be loud, especially not in a cheerful way.

“What is it?” Misa asked curiously.

You simply showed her your phone, a smile appearing on the goalkeeper’s face.

“This is great news,” she agreed.

“Amazing news,” you corrected.

Now you were even more excited to see Ana later that night and celebrate this special occasion.

You were happy that you had decided to meet up at your place; this gave you the opportunity to prepare something special. However, you didn’t have much time, so you found yourself standing in the store after training looking around frantically and blanking on what to do.

The first idea that came to mind was to get a cake with a message like ‘She’s gone!’ on it. But you seriously doubted that you would get one on such short notice. Also a whole cake for just the two of you didn’t sound like a good plan.

So maybe just a card? What kind of card though? You had some strong suspicions that there wasn’t anything like an ‘I’m so happy you got rid of your stupid national coach’-card. 

You could practically feel the seconds ticking by, getting more and more anxious by the minute. Time was running out and you still didn’t have the slightest idea what to do.

Noticing how tense you had become you forced yourself to exhale slowly and relax your body, starting with your jaw and slowly progressing downwards. There was no reason to get so stressed about this. Ana wouldn’t expect any grand gestures; you wouldn’t disappoint here no matter what you did or didn’t do.

As you calmed down the fog in your brain lifted and you regained the ability to make decisions. After having a swift look around you settled on buying the ingredients for Ana’s favorite meal, as well as two caramel cupcakes. As a last minute decision you added two candles to put on the cupcakes, one an I and one a G. This way you could literally get the satisfaction of seeing Inka Gring’s legacy go up in smoke.

Later that evening Ana arrived at your apartment with a bright smile on her face and some extra pep in her steps. She immediately pulled you into a tight hug, rocking the both of you excitedly from side to side.

“I’m so happy for you,” you told her, leaning back slightly to beam at her, before getting closer again and peppering her face with light kisses. 

This made Ana giggle. “And you know what makes me happy?” She gasped.

You stopped your kisses and tilted your head, unsure of where the Swiss woman was going this. It didn’t seem like the kind of question she would ask if the answer was the obvious one; Inka leaving.  

“That you are so happy for me. It means the world  to me that you care so deeply, about both the good and the bad things happening in my life,” Ana clarified.

A blush cropped up on your face and you moved to hide your face in Ana’s neck, but the Swiss woman gently stopped you

“Don’t. You know I love your blush,” she murmured, placing her hands on your slightly pink cheeks and taking in every inch of your face. “So beautiful.”

Of course that only made you blush more. Ana winked at you, but didn’t stop you when you once again stepped forward to bury your face in her shoulder.

The two of you spent a nice evening together; spirits were high all around thanks to the good news. Ana showered you in compliments for your cooking and when you brought out the cupcakes she burst into laughter.

“I love this! Like a cleansing from Inka,” she said in between laughing.

“Shhh, this is a serious matter,” you chastised her playfully.

“Oh sorry,” the blonde replied, forcing a solemn expression onto her face.

However, it only lasted for all of five seconds before the huge smile that had been on her face all night long returned. You wouldn’t be complaining about that though. A happy Ana made you happy.

“To the end of the unfortunate Inka-area and to a better future for your national team,” you announced, lighting the two candles on fire. “Make a wish!”

Ana leaned forward and blew out the candles with closed eyes. Then she turned to you. “Do you want to know what I wished for?”

You shook your head firmly. “No! Otherwise it won’t come true.”

Ana smirked. “Too bad because it involves you.”

“Wait really? Then I change my mind and want to know,” you backtracked, mentally running through everything she could have wished for.

“Nope, too late,” the Swiss woman informed you.

“Meeeeeaaaaan,” you complained.

Ana just grinned at you, shrugged her shoulders and took a big bite of her cupcake.

When you continued to pout at her, she offered you a compromise, “Fine, I’ll tell you when it comes true, okay? And now enough with the puppy dog eyes. Otherwise I might crack and tell you right now and then we’ll both be at fault when it doesn’t come true.”

“Sounds good to me,” you agreed, biting into your own cupcake with gusto.

And honestly just knowing that Ana had made a wish that included you warmed you heart. It was nice to be such a big part of someone else’s life, someone other than your parents that was. But you wouldn’t think about them right now, nothing was allowed to taint this moment.

Instead of dwelling on your thoughts you looked up at Ana happily chewing the last bite of her cupcake.

“I love you,” you blurted out without thinking about it.

Once the words had left your mouth you instantly regretted them. Not that they weren’t true, they absolutely were, but you hadn’t said them to each other yet. So what if Ana didn’t feel the same and you just ruined this perfect moment? Or even worse, everything!

At least Ana was still smiling at you, that was probably a good sign. If she was going to leave right then and there she wouldn’t smile. Right?

“I love you too,” the Swiss woman simply said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.  

“Really?” You couldn’t help but ask.

Ana got up and came over to your side of the table. She grabbed your hands, softly pulling you up so you were on eye level.

“Of course I love you. How could I not? I guess we still have some work to do until you see yourself the way I see you, as such an amazing, good-hearted, beautiful person,” she told you earnestly.

“I really love you.” It was the only thing that came to mind, Ana’s compliments once again overwhelming you.

“That’s good because I really love you too,” the blonde replied with a chuckle, gathering you into her arms. “And I won’t rest until you love yourself too , exactly the way that you deserve.”

You just snuggled even closer into Ana, a deep calmness filling you up from head to toe. It wasn’t something you were used to, usually there was always some anxiety running in the background. However, the blonde brought you so much peace.

It was something you had never expected before you experienced it yourself. You had always thought love would be all excited butterflies and exuberance. There was some of that of course, but also this all-encompassing calmness, that was in many ways even better than all of the excitement.

[seiya-starsniper]

For the flower prompts: Hyacinth - loser has to ask out...

I will leave pairing(s) to your discretion, whoever most strikes your fancy ❤️

TJ, thank you for the prompt! I went with Dreamling, with a nice little monsterfucker twist to ring in the first day of @monsterfucktoberbingo!

Square: Were-creature.

Flower Prompt Game!

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

“You ready for tonight?” Johanna asks, dropping her densely packed duffel bag onto the table before plopping in the chair next to Hob. She’s tense. Hob can tell without even looking at her. But there’s also a thrum of excitement coming off her in waves.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Hob replies, not looking up from his stake sharpening. “How many stakes have you got in there?” he asks.

“A dozen wooden, and three steel,” Johanna answers, patting the duffel with pride.. “All consecrated, and plenty of holy water.”

“Good girl,” Hob praises her. He means it too. Johanna’s one of the best damn hunters he’s ever worked with, and he knows she’s going to give the vampires they’re hunting tonight absolute hell. It’s one of the biggest nests they’ve ever come across. Nearly six dozen vampires all quartered in a large abandoned grain barn that spans nearly a quarter of an acre. They’ve been hunting all the nearby towns, picking off the elderly first, but soon moving onto the adults and children. Their mission tonight is to raid the nest for hostages and kill any of the guard vampires, then torch the whole thing at dawn when the rest come back to sleep. Their reign of terror should hopefully end tonight.

“How many are you aiming to gank yourself?” Johanna asks casually, but Hob can hear the competition in her tone. 

“You looking to put some money on that?” Hob replies cheekily. “I thought you’d have learned with the banshees that you can’t ever beat my record, Constantine.”

“Those were unfair odds and you know it!” Johanna whines. She’s right, of course. Banshees tended to flock more to men, and so Hob had taken out far more than Johanna had. But a bet was a bet and Johanna had had to clean Hob’s shotguns for a month after.

“I’m just saying,” Hob says, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m happy to let you clean out the Impala when I trounce your numbers tonight.”

Johanna grimaces. It was no secret that Hob lived out of his car and that he was a bit disgusting about it. She’d once opened the back door to sit in the back and had been greeted a rat he hadn’t even known was there. To this day he doesn’t know where it came from. 

“How about this instead?”Johanna replies. “If I get the most vamps in this nest, you have to ask Peggy out.”

Hob sighs. He should’ve seen this coming. “Johanna—”

“I’m serious Hob,” Johanna interrupts him. “I know you two get along and I see the way the two of you look at each other. You’d be good for one another.”

“Peggy’s young,” Hob argues. “She deserves someone who will get her out of this life.”

“You and I both know she’s never getting out of this life,” Johanna replies solemnly. “And she’s 25 for Christ’s sake. Not even a decade younger than you, stop looking at her like a child.”

Johanna was right. She was usually right, not that Hob would ever tell her unless under extreme duress. Peggy may have been a child when she first became a hunter but she was a full grown woman now. And well…she was quite beautiful and smart as fuck. Hob could maybe love her. It’d been almost fifteen years since Eleanor was taken by vampires herself, and the void she’d left behind had gotten easier and easier to bear with each person he saved. 

Hob sighs. What could it hurt? If things didn’t work out, he knows he and Peggy could still be friends. 

“Fine, but if I get more vamps than you, you’ve gotta ask out Rachel instead,” Hob says back. 

Johanna blushes a furious shade of red and Hob smiles. Now that was a relationship he was invested in seeing bloom.

“You got yourself a deal Hobsie,” she replies, and the two of them shake on it. 

—------------

Hob is at five vampire deaths when he starts chasing three fledgling vampires into the woods. They’re fast, but uncoordinated, and Hob thinks he can probably pick them off one by one if he times his shots right with the crossbow he borrowed from Johanna.

He realizes too late that the vampires have isolated him from the other hunters, and that he’s been led to a clearing to be ambushed. There had also been a fourth he hadn’t accounted for, and he curses at himself for falling for such an obvious trap so easily. He manages to take out one of the fledglings, but the remaining three overpower him. Just as they’re getting ready to tear into his flesh, Hob gets unexpected support in the form of a fucking were-panther.

Hob watches in awe as the beast knocks aside one of his assailants, freeing Hob from their hold and allowing him to stake one of the remaining vampires holding his arms. He then watches in awe as the panther tears into the throat of the fledgling it knocked aside, before the beast grabs the thing by the hair and yanks the head clean off. 

The final vampire is easily picked off between the two of them. Hob is surprised by how fluidly they work together, despite this being the first time he’s ever met the creature. When he is certain there are no others approaching, he turns to the panther, who is looking at him with curiosity and brilliant golden eyes. 

“Not that I’m not grateful for the assist, but what the fuck is a were-panther doing here?” Hob asks.

The air seems to vibrate for a few moments and Hob recognizes the tell-tale signs of a shift and moments later he’s face to face with a pale naked man with a shock of messy, jet black hair, and the most brilliant blue eyes he’s ever seen.

Fuck, but he was gorgeous and Hob’s type in every single way. Despite his shifter disposition, the man’s human form was void of any hair, and though he was thin and almost lanky, Hob could see the ripple of muscle in his legs and arms. Hob knew he was staring, but for some reason he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the man. It was only when his hands landed on the man’s cock that he jerked his gaze upwards, and instead of disgust, he found the were-panther actually looked pleased at Hob’s obvious leering. 

“My name is Dream,” the were-panther introduces himself with a smirk.

“You certainly are,” Hob replies then slaps a hand over his mouth. “I mean—” 

God’s wounds, why had he said that? He was smoother than that! Had the vampire hunt really scrambled his brain that much? 

Before he can come up with an apology for his poor brain to mouth filter however, Hob hears a low, rumbling noise, and he belatedly realizes that Dream is purring.

“You are pleased with me,” Dream says, stepping closer into Hob’s personal space. “That is…good.” 

Hob suddenly smells his grandmother’s homemade bread and his favorite beer. He realizes quickly the delicious scent is coming from Dream, and before his brain can tell him otherwise, he pulls the pale man in a desperate, teeth clacking kiss.

Dream moans into his mouth and pushes Hob down into the grass in the clearing, grinding his hips down on Hob’s rapidly hardening cock. He growls and tugs angrily at Hob’s jeans, and Hob quickly works at shucking them off before the were-panther could tear them clean off. Now that would be embarrassing to explain to the rest of the hunters. 

It isn’t long before Hob’s completely naked underneath Dream and it feels absolutely amazing and right the way their bodies fit against one another. Dream’s cock is a pleasant weight against Hob’s own as he strokes them together, pleasure building higher and higher with each needy whine and moan shared between them. 

“That’s right, love,” Hob pants, increasing the speed of his strokes when he realizes he’s close. “I’m so close, I wanna come with you, come on—”

Dream wails as his orgasm hits him, and then there’s a sharp pain in Hob’s shoulder when his own orgasm follows shortly after. His brain blearily registers that Dream’s bitten down on him, and though there’s some part of him that knows he should be alarmed by that, his body is too blissed out from the earth shattering orgasm his just experienced to care.

“Mine,” Dream mumbles, licking at the new mark on Hob’s shoulder and snuggling into his chest. “My mate.” 

Ah, fuck, Hob thinks as he drifts off to sleep, wrapping his arms protectively around Dream. Johanna was absolutely going to skin him over this.

[ghostinthegallery]

Hey there!! I really enjoyed your insight the other day about how writing a serial differs from a plotted-out-and-written-in-advance novel! As someone who's just dipping my toes into posting as I write, any chance you could give some advice or tips you've learned about that style of writing specifically? 💚

(from @inquisitor-gayfax)

Why yes! I'd love to (thank you for giving me the excuse XD)

The main thing I have realized is that experience with traditional, "complete on arrival" novels is actually super helpful for serial writing. The principles of character writing, world building, and all that still apply, but even more importantly the beats you want your story to hit are all pretty much the same. You want that into, the inciting incident, the midpoint turn, etc. Those are all vital to keeping your story on track. Especially as serials are prone to meandering. It is so easy to get lost and lose sight of the forest for the trees. For me, always checking with myself that I am hitting or actively working towards those major beats helps to keep me on track.

Also note that one big thing will be different is the length. Serials tend to get much longer and thus the beats are stretched out. The length is because each chapter essentially functions as a short story in and of itself. It has to be a satisfying reading experience on its own as well as in the context of the larger work. This oftentimes means fleshing things out more than you otherwise would and bam, longer work. (not necessarily as long as I often go! but the tendency is there). FWIW, I find editing these chapters as I got to be much easier than editing a whole novel. I do miss being able to move big chunks and scenes around (cut and paste, my beloved), but it is worth the tradeoff to me.

The nature of the chapters functioning as short stories (minus a definitive ending of course) is probably going to be the biggest difference if you are someone who writes the entire thing ahead of time and then posts chapter by chapter, as opposed to posting as you write or posting with a backlog but not a finished novel.

Now, the other biggest difference if you are posting as you go is that you will not have the chance to revise the entire story the way you do with a traditional novel. You cannot go back and change things, add foreshadowing or a character beat or anything. Once you publish that chapter, the events are set in stone.

I actually enjoy this! It is a fun challenge to work with what I have established. But...I also cheat. I have a tendency to drop little things here and there that could be hints at larger plot points or things that are setting up things later on, but they are vague enough that I am not fully locked into anything.

The secret is that your readers are unlikely to remember a small detail in chapter 3 that didn't really go anywhere. But they will remember that detail in chapter 4 that got paid off in chapter 35 and you will look like a super genius (I am 99% sure Eiichiro Oda, possibly the greatest serial fantasy writer/artist of all time has done this writing One Piece, alongside his legit 5-D chess long game reveals)

To call myself out, here is an interaction from chapter 5 of The Silence & the Storm (poster child of fics that got too long)

Before he turned to go, he placed a hand on Anrakyr’s shoulder. Anrakyr tried to shake him off, but his grip was as strong as his bulky build would imply. Through an interstitial message he said, “If you ever wish to hear of Pyrrhia, you need only ask. Perhaps you still have friends there? Perhaps not. But would you not like to know?” “What are you—” Zultanekh broke the connection. He started back down the corridor, and Anrakyr had to choose whether to chase him, or remain with this stranger.

I had no idea what had actually happened on Pyrrhia when I wrote that. I just knew I wanted to address Anrakyr's backstory and why he left his home planet, so I left myself that set up figuring I would pay it off later. And then in chapter 48 we got this:

“Do you remember back when the mot was called,” Anrakyr said. “You told me that if I wished to know about Pyrrhia I need only ask. That I might still have friends there. Was that true?” “Would I lie about such a thing? Never,” Zultanekh replied, surprisingly softly. “Did my own wanderings take me to Pyrrhia? Yes, they did. An unlucky clash with some orks left this ship in need of repairs—although make no mistake the orks were far worse off! Space debris after we were done with them.” Anrakyr flashed a glyph of impatience.  “In any case,” Zultanekh continued. “We landed, declaring our intentions to repair and leave. Had we heard rumors of lost Pyrrhia? We had, however the planet itself was quite…orderly. Calm.”

The conversation goes on as Zultanekh describes more of what he saw because 33 chapters later I, the author, now know what happened and can start giving that pay off. Sometimes I will get really lucky and find something I didn't intend as foreshadowing but that happens to work! Those are good days.

Now this is a risky strategy. You can limit your options when you do this, and you have to make the pay off make sense given whatever you set up. I've definitely wished for the power to go back and edit some of my vague hints in the past. But that is the challenge! True you could actually be good at planning and meticulously plant all your little seeds and reveals. Or you can be me, a creature of vibes and chaos.

Speaking of vibes, I think it is important to talk about the audience. And how they will influence you. When you present a finished story, that is it. It is done. The audience can talk about the story all they want, but it cannot retroactively influence how you wrote the book. With serial writing 99% of the time readers will be able to comment. And I think we writers have to be very careful about how we let that affect our writing.

The Game of Thrones writing team apparently at some point decided that "fooling the audience" and being unpredictable was more important than telling a good story, so they changed plot points when too many audience members predicted certain outcomes. This is bad. However, sometimes audience feedback is good! I personally unlocked a whole subplot because a commenter asked about a character I had included totally at random. It was a filler name! I did not realize this character was in a game, but realizing that gave me incredible stuff to work with. I'm glad I listened to them! Not to mention the incredible kindness and support that has kept me going through some rough patches in my life. By that same token, negative comments can feel awful. I have not found that to be an issue in my corner of the 40k fandom, but it is absolutely a consideration in other spaces (especially outside of fanfic) so just be aware.

I hope that answered your question! Probably too much, but as we have firmly established, I am verbose ☺️

[hellverse]

Touch starved Dean (858)

It was 4 AM and Dean was still awake. He was spent, tired, just plain exhausted really, but there was a tingling in his chest and under his skin he couldn’t quite kick. 

He hadn’t seen Cas in a while, so earlier that day when the angel had finally returned, he pulled Dean into a warm hug. Dean hugged back, of course, but he also made sure that the interaction was brief. Just like he always did. 

It was funny, really. He always considered touch to be something good, something that felt important. But as it goes, he tried to convince himself he didn’t need it.

In reality, it was all for show. Dean knew. Knew that he wanted it, needed it, but convincing himself of the opposite made the pretending easier. For a while it worked, he kept up the charade for both himself and those around him. But for better and for worse, Cas never stopped trying.

Dean would never go to the extremes of completely avoiding meaningful touches, but he rarely ever allowed himself to show just how much he wanted it. At some point, the walls he put up developed tiny cracks and he had to stop lying to himself. It’s hard to argue with the voice in your head, when you both know the truth. 

Instead he told himself it wasn’t a necessity, that he could want it but still survive without it. And so it went on. He craved, he wanted, he pretended. 

It wasn’t much different with Cas, at first. Dean played the same game, kept to the same self-set rules. But now as he stared at his ceiling at 4 AM, he thought of the angels soft smile as he hugged Dean, the hundreds of smaller touches between them, the way Dean felt a pull towards Cas, a pull to be near, be close. 

It was dangerous. Dean was desperate to focus on the surviving not living, but the pull held promises of crossing that line. And well, that never really worked out for him, now did it? 

So Dean tried, he tried to bend the truth, tried to forget, but the tingling stayed, as if it had permanently stained his soul. All he ended up with was a maybe - that maybe the edge of a cliff wouldn’t be so scary. 

Before he could do so much as think it through, he was standing in front of the room Cas liked to stay in. It wasn’t far from his own. Dean knocked quietly and after a beat the angel opened the door. 

“Dean? It’s late,” confusion was clear in his voice. 

“Yeah, I, uh, know,” Dean let out an almost nervous chuckle, “is it okay if I come in?”

Cas seemed even more puzzled at that, but let Dean in nonetheless. 

“Is something wrong?” the angel had turned half of his confusion into concern. 

Dean wanted to say no. Or maybe. He wanted to tell Cas he missed him, that he was happy to see him, but the words sat heavy in his throat, so he did the next best thing - or really the thing that he actually came for - he pulled Cas in for a hug. 

Receiving no explanation from Dean, Cas stood frozen still for a second, before wrapping his arms around him. It was warm, so warm that the tingling under his skin grew into something else, something made of tiny fires wherever Cas was touching him. 

Dean had a distant thought of letting go, an echo reminding him how he shouldn’t need this, shouldn’t have it, shouldn’t let it get too far, because once he got deep enough he would get pulled under. And he wasn’t sure he could just move on after that.

But he couldn’t do it anymore. Couldn’t live on brief hugs, subtle shoulder brushes, short-lived touches. His whole body ached from the need and he couldn’t ignore it much longer.

So Dean stayed. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around Cas, longer than he ever had before. And Cas let him, like he knew the angel would. 

Time passed slowly, comfortably. When Dean pulled away, concern was still present on the angels face, but the soft smile had returned as well. Dean was buzzing, contentment flowing through his veins and in the momentary daze he let himself have more. 

Dean stood close to the angel, hadn’t stepped away after the hug. He lifted his hand near Cas’ face, held it there for a second, before catching some out of place hairs and pushing them back. Dean then followed the outline of Cas’ jaw, starting below his left ear and ending up at his chin. He let his fingertips move up, tracing along the angels cheekbone. Cas let him, he only moved his arm so it could rest around Dean’s waist again, softly grabbing at his shirt. 

They stood there silently. Dean’s eyes followed his own fingertips, but every now and then he would look up, only to find Cas staring back at him, a calmness in his eyes. 

Being on the edge really wasn’t that scary. Maybe falling wouldn't be either. 

[scaredcrab]

Wukong can't read? (lmk hc)

My personal headcanon about the whole "Wukong is illiterate" thing in the show is that he knows how to read and write perfectly in his native language, but he is still learning english.

Well, technically his native language is the monkey language, but you guys know what I mean.

Follow my mindset here. In the Journey to the West our king spent years of his life studying with his first master to learn how to turn immortal and all, it's impossible that he didn't learn how to write and read there, in my opinion that's when he learned.

And my main proof of him being capable of writing, it's when he gets punished for causing a havoc in the celestial realm. When Buda challenged Wukong to escape his hand, he jumped and went so far that he found giant pillars of the universe (that later was revealed to be Buda's fingers), so the Monkey King literally pissed in the pillars and left a message there to prove that he actually got there.

(this is a scene from a series of children's videos about jttw, you can search for little fox jttw and find it on youtube)

"But the Lego Monkie Kid show isn't a direct sequel of the JTTW, it's only inspired on it."

Within the show, there are several occasions where his ability to read and write is shown:

In the "Impossible Delivery" episode, Wukong reveals to us that he receives emails from a lawyer.

How would Wukong read 37 emails from his lawyer if he didn't know how? Yes, he is shown to be too lazy to read, but it wouldn't make sense for the two to communicate via emails if the Monkey King couldn't read or write.

Those were all the times that I saw Sun Wukong actually writing something inside the cartoon (as far as I can remember).

In the special "Revenge of the Spider Queen", it is shown a small note that Wukong leaves behind in the peach trees of the heavenly realm after he ""borrows the fruit"" (but keep in mind that this scene may just be a visual representation of the situation and not something that Wukong actually did).

In the same special episode, he leaves a Happy New Year note behind when he gives a box of traditional sweets made with his fur.

And he once wrote (and illustrated!) an instruction letter to MK in the second season episode, "Ping Pong Panic". Also, MK doesn't show difficulty in reading what his master wrote to him, it could be that he already got used to the calligraphy or Wukong is simply good at writing.

(what i.o.u mean? it's "I owe you one"?)

Of course, in the show, some of these notes were translated into English, but that for me is just to facilitate the visualization, and there is nothing too complex being written in the translated notes, the most complex text that MK reads in the ping-pong episode remain as scribbles not understandable by the public in both versions (or maybe our king wrote everything in a rush, so his calligraphy isn't the best in this letter for me to recognize as actual letters).

And the third episode of the second season isn't the only time when writing is represented with unknown symbols, this happens in many episodes like in the vr game that Wukong owns in the sixth episode in season two, "Game on".

This surely happens to make the translation easier, there's no need to change the text written every time if it's just symbols, but this occult if things are being written in a specific language, and to me is everything in chinese.

This is a scene from the Ping-Pong episode where Wukong just beat every guard in some heavenly place, and he doesn't seem happy with whatever is written in this scroll. The letters in this scroll look like lots of hanzis instead of unknown symbols.

Of course, as I stated in the start, this is a personal headcanon of mine. I really enjoy the idea of Wukong knowing how to speak in the monkey language, in cantonese and mandarin, and to be learning english in the modern times. I can't confirm if this is all how it works in the show itself, still cute to imagine him speaking a broken english (just like I do, lil bit of projection on my side).

That's it, thanks to everyone who read all this thing.

[whaleofatjme1920]

hi, els 🥰 i love how innovative your writing is (can i use that word?? I just feel like your fics are always really fresh sjksjksjk) this is a half request kinda thing and it's okay if you dont do it ofc but i figured I'd give it a shot since requests are open and you're willing to write for tall reader (BLESS) but can it be (characters of your choice) x a tall reader who talks big but is actually the most submissive person known to man? I'm trying to narrow down on characters but there are so many good ones you write for so i figured I'd let you chose and pray that you dont find it too annoying haha. Thanks!

Masky, Ghost, Ezio Auditore, and Miss Pauling with an “All Bark no Bite” SO

[GN!Reader, i don’t really describe any body for this one. Kept purposely vague.]

[Warnings: general smut. Slight degradation, more praise. Body worship. You know the drill. MINORS DNI]

[AN: you’re too entirely sweet to me, thank you!! you mentioned I could choose and forgot literally every fandom I have ever written for!! It’s rough out here when I choose. Anyways here’s this <3 sorry it takes me ungodly long to do these I’m so busy these days. ALSO it’s just a garden variety of characters that came to my head.]

Reblogs are appreciated!

Masky

Did you know he’s actually kinda short for men? He’s like 5’6-5’7! I’m keeping that here for this. So let’s pretend you’re 5’11 nearly 6’, just know you’re what people consider tall regardless of perceived gender.

Gods the playful arguments you two get into. It becomes unbearable at times. You have the most cocky personality a proxy has ever been gifted it’s UNREAL.

But he knows your secret. In the bedroom, you like being babied in a way. He’s gotta be your dom, always topping, making sure he treats you so well. You’ve even caved once due to his sickeningly sweet condescending words and called him ‘daddy’ just to get him to finish inside of you.

It’s such a pretty sight to see you on your knees sucking his cock like there’s no tomorrow. You’re allowed to use your teeth but just BARELY. And his praise is so good. You let him up so bad in public as you stand over him and talk huge game but one look from him in private and you’re melting.

Masky enjoys having that sense of power over you. It’s hot. He makes you worship his cock and you’ll do it because you’re a good pet, aren’t you? Of course you are. Be good pet and suck. Take it nice and slow, careful of your teeth! That’s right. Whole thing.

Ghost

Don’t know how it’s possible but you’re near his height. That doesn’t happen often. While his ego is… he does have an ego, he manages to hide it kind of. Well, he’s classy with it. You, however? Absolutely not. Ghost does like to hear you talk because he loves thinking of all the ways he’ll break it down later.

Sparring with him is fun, enough said. You bring such good energy, give him a genuine run for his money but he knows how you crumble behind closed doors. He can see you pinned underneath him, nails dug into his back as he pushes so deep inside of you that you can’t think of anything but how he fills you.

Will admit for him, it’s nice to have an equal in height partner because it’s easier to kiss you and just,,, be with you. People who are shorter make some positions really hard to do comfortably. Regardless, he’s still going to pick you up and manhandle you. He knows you like it.

Loves hearing you beg for him, especially after a really long day of you egging him on. You’re kind of a brat and think you can get away with it because you’re physically similar to him but that’s so far removed from the truth. He’s bent you over his lap and spanked you before, watching you heat up and pout as he disciplines you.

Some people have the idea that you top but literally nothing could be further from the truth. He tells you a single command and you’re doing as he asks in a heart beat. His voice makes you melt completely. That and somehow, he makes you feel ‘small’. Not in a bad way, but sexually, like you’re too delicate for him to handle.

Ezio Auditore

Will admit i think Ezio has a thing for tall people. Something about legs here. Anyways he loves the way you boast in the sense of “gods I am putting you in your place later.” He allows you to act the way you do because it makes everything else after so much better.

He’s not really mean about it like others might be? He’s a very loving dom. He utilizes his praise to make your head spin and pin you under him. It’s quite easy for him to love you. The first time he was with you he was very surprised you weren’t the dom you portrayed yourself as. The fact you were a flustered mess just from him pushing your head down to suck his cock made him chuckle.

He’s very amused at how you fold right under him. He really does love bending you like a lawn chair. Your legs drive him crazy in the best way. He will spend forever between them. Him and his oral fixation. Out of everyone here, he’s the most sugary sweet and so prone to loving you rather than taking you down a peg.

Though, that isn’t to say he won’t discipline you if you get too boastful or what have you. He’s a daddy dom. Come on, look me in my multiple eyes and tell me he isn’t. Has a daddy kink. He’s daddy.

Loves when he marks you so everyone knows what happened the next day. While he loves marks for himself personally, during those lovingly disciplined sessions, he won’t let you mark him. It’s a whole thing between the two of you-a sign of his intimacy with you and that you’re all bark and no bite. In this case, literally.

Miss Pauling

She’s actually kind of similar but in the opposite sense. While I don’t think she’s that short, I think she’s around 5’6-5’7, people see her as timid/demure/a doormat (she’s not) but she’s actually very dominant. She’s a really smart lady, so when you come in acting like you’re god’s gift to the universe, that you’re the one that tops, “this guy (you) fucks” energy, she sees right through that act.

And she’s right. She’s entirely right. The first night you guys sleep together, she’s got you buried between her legs for way longer than she’s had anyone there because she wants to prove a point: you’re a people pleaser at your core. If she asks you to jump, you’ll then ask how high. Your dominant nature in public is all a front and she knows.

To be fair she does like it. You flirt so blatantly and boldly with her, but she knows. She knows. Miss Pauling also likes the body worship you can give her, focusing on her breasts and hips. But she’ll also do the same for you because she knows you’ll melt.

Giving praise to you is very easy. You obey her so well! She honestly expected more of a brat from you but you do everything she asks when she asks and more. On the off chance she has to discipline you, she’s so teasing. Loves to edge you and deny you your orgasm because how dare you disobey? You’re so much better than that, sweetheart.

She’s also very similar to Ezio I’m not having you mark her but she can mark you. She’ll put on her favorite lipstick, or if you’ve been especially good, let you choose your favorite shade and she’ll cover you in her lipstick kisses. You may not wash it off, they come off naturally unless she says otherwise. If people ask, explain. Go ahead. Use your big words. She’s looking up at you, how you tower over her, and smirking due to the influence she has over you.

[duhragonball]

Reign of the Super Saiyans!

It's still kind of surreal that I'm here, posting the part of the fic that I'm currently posting. I guess I should explain the significance of "The Kid Goes Wild" while the moment is fresh.

So in 1990, they made a little movie called Robocop 2, and the trailer captured my imagination and never really let it go. I was only 13 at the time, so I hadn't seen the first Robocop, but I had seen his crappy animated series, and I knew enough kids in school who just got to watch R-rated movies whenever they wanted, so I had some general idea of what it was about. All that mattered to me was that in the sequel, they introduced a second Robocop. The characters in the movie acted like it was easier to just replace the guy with a new model, except Robocop 2 was built with a criminal brain, so now it's up to original Robocop to arrest him. So the movie was promoted as this awesome fight between the classic original and the upstart succesor, and this badass song plays through the trailer, like all hell has broken loose.

Decades later, I finally sat down to watch all the movies, and it doesn't quite live up to the hype. The whole movie sets up this inevitable fight, and then it finally happens, but there's really only so much you can do with these two characters. Robocop 1 isn't exactly what you'd call "nimble" and Robocop 2 is depicted almost entirely in stop-motion. Just getting both of them in the same shot is a logistical challenge. Most of the fight is them chasing or shooting each other.

Much of the early 90's was spent having various powerful characters get into fights with newer versions of themselves. Batman broke his back and appointed a new Batman, then came back to fight him. Terminator 2 turned the villain from the first movie good, then pitted him against an even deadlier Terminator. Superman died and then four new Supermen showed up to take his place, and then all five of them fought in what might as well have been a tournament. The original Superman won, of course, but only through the combined power of mullets, partial nudity, and vibration...

... I'm sorry, did you think I was joking? No. This is why Goku can never beat Superman. Saitama who? What good is one punch if you never vibrate your arm afterward?

Obviously Goku was no exception to this phenomenon, as Vegeta turned into a Super Saiyan shortly after him, and Cell was introduced as a superior version of both of them, and then Broly was introduced as a more "worthy" claimant to the "Legendary Super Saiyan" title. Of course, I didn't know about any of this going on in Japan, but once I did find out about it around 2000, I got on board very quickly.

When I came up with Luffa in 2004 or so, I was trying to think of fanfiction ideas for Dragon Ball Z, and I decided the one avenue left unexplored was the ancient Super Saiyan that Vegeta spoke of in Episode 66. In a lot of ways, defining that character was sort of a critique of Z-Broly, who was presented as a sort of realization of the Super Saiyan Legend, but never quite checked all the boxes for me. My biggest gripe with Movie 8 is that Goku needed help to defeat Broly, when the point should have been that Goku is the true inheritor to the legend. Basically, I wanted Goku to crush Broly and expose him for the impostor he was, the same way Superman demolished the Cyborg Superman in 1993.

My aim with Luffa was to make a Super Saiyan who could be in the same throughline as Goku. Not a carbon copy of Goku, but also not a dark reflection like Z-Broly either. For a lot of years, I never got serious about actually writing the story, but I thought about her a lot, and imagined the sorts of things I could do with her, and I couldn't help but imagine how she and Goku might react to one another.

I suppose that's why Xenoverse 1 inspired me to actually write my fic, because the game provided me with a way to get the two characters in the same scene together. It wasn't just the time travel in the story, but the way both characters had to team up to complete the same mission. And then at the end Goku challenges your CAC to a friendly match, except when it's my CAC, with all this unspoken emotional connection to Goku, it takes on a whole new meaning. I soon realized that Xenoverse 1 could function as the basis of my story. All I had to do was write the stuff Luffa was doing before she exploded and got recruited into the Time Patrol. How hard could that be?

So it took me a lot of years, and I was always looking ahead to this moment, where Luffa and Goku finally fight. He doesn't know her well at all, but he still has this interest in her. And she knows him mostly by reputation, but this her literal dream opponent. Luffa sees him as her heir. For everyone else, this is Goku vs. another fan OC, but for her, this is Luffa vs. Luffa 2. She has to see how she stacks up against the new model.

And that's why I've had the song from Robocop 2 stuck in my head for so many years. I've been looking forward to these two characters slugging it out for a long time, and I finally wrote it in November and then I had to put it away for a while because I found that I couldn't stop writing it. Like, I kept thinking about cool spots I should add to the fight, except I had already written it all, and there really isn't room for everything. Eventually, I managed to get some distance, and I was able to edit the thing. It may not be perfect, but like Robocop said, "We're only human." The important thing is that I got it out there where people can see it.

I hope you enjoy it.

[masterofrecords]

Angstober day 13: From Childhood

This will be a small one, I told myself. Barely a drabble, I told myself.

Well I'm a fucking liar, I guess.

Buttons

Luca was laughing. He laughed and laughed, and it made Leopoldo angrier and angrier.

“Ah…” Luca wiped the tears from his eyes. “Really, planting Enzo’s button under the cupboard was a stroke of genius. You almost got caught though.”

“I wouldn’t have had to do it in the first place if you hadn’t messed with the cake,” Leopoldo lashed out. It was scary, in honesty – if he got caught, Aunt Eloisa might have thought that he was the cake thief, and that would have been most unfortunate.

“Oh, come on, it worked out, didn’t it? He shouldn’t wear such fancy buttons, really. Or keep a better eye on his clothes.”

“Whatever,” Leopoldo grumbled. “Did you at least save me a piece?”

“Sorry!” Luca chuckled and whispered in his ear, “The great thing about stealing someone’s birthday cake is that you don’t have to share.”

And off he went, in search of new mischief. Leopoldo should have just let him get caught – but he didn’t. Couldn’t.

This was what big brothers were for, wasn’t it?

---

“Oh, will you stop nagging,” Luca waved Leopoldo off. “Who cares?”

“I care,” Leopoldo hissed, frantically hoping no one was listening at the door. “He was hurt, badly.”

“That was the whole point,” Luca pointed out. “Because he’s an asshole and he made fun of my hair. And I don’t like how he looks at Mamma.”

“That’s no reason to push a guy off the roof,” Leopoldo’s pleading fell on deaf ears. “What if he wakes up? What if someone saw you?”

“Nah,” Luca smirked. “I wiped his memory. Want to try, too?” He twirled the chain of his pendant around his finger, and goosebumps ran across Leopoldo’s back.

“Leave me out of your weird games,” he snapped. “Just… stay in your room. I’ll go check the roof.”

“Do you have to?” Luca rolled his eyes. “Won’t that just attract more attention?”

“You’re missing a button,” Leopoldo pointed out, jabbing a finger at the empty space on Luca’s waistcoat.

Luca looked down. “Ah,” he laughed softly, “so I am. What would I do without you?”

Indeed, what?

---

“You messed up.”

“Look, you don’t have to tell me that, I just need you to help me fix it.”

“If the police comes, there’s nothing I can do, Luca.”

“He heavily implied blackmail.”

Ah, of course. So much better.

They were walking through the dim streets, Leopold wasn’t sure where. He still didn’t know this town very well, and Luca’s absolute refusal to try and keep a low profile didn’t make things easier.

“Well, what do you want me to do? Beat him up so he doesn’t tell anyone? I hardly think that will work, besides, he’s twice my size.”

“Shut up and let me think.”

Luca had always considered himself the thinker in the family, severely underestimating the amount of planning that had to go into bailing him out of trouble – to say nothing of Leopold’s mental gymnastics to justify doing so.

They arrived at a small house, secluded enough that Leopold let himself relax a little.

“So, what now? Knock and try to reason with him?”

“No, no, we need to get in quietly. Can you pick the lock?”

There was light inside, and Leopold winced as he got the set of lockpicks out of his pocket. The lock itself wasn’t difficult, but he ran into an unfortunate problem once he finished with that.

“It’s bolted from the inside.”

“Can’t you do something with it?”

Leopold listened to the quiet of the nighttime street, already disturbed enough by the clinging of the picks.

“Not unnoticed. Look, just… let me talk to him, we’ll figure something out.”

Luca shook his head. Leopold was almost surprised he didn’t stomp his foot. After looking around, Luca suggested, “Can you get in through the chimney?”

“Are you an idiot?!” Luca shushed him, and Leopold continued in a quieter voice, “Unless you know some mumbo-jumbo to make me three times smaller and fireproof, that’s out of the question.”

Luca bit his lip and then his gaze finally landed on Leopold’s coat. His eyes lit up, “These are ivory, aren’t they?”

He plucked one button off with surprising strength, and Leopold protested, “Oi, that was Dad’s!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, shut up.” Luca bit his finger until it bled, pressed it to the shiny white surface. Leopold watched, desperately suppressing his disgust, as the droplet of blood boiled on top of the button, grew and solidified into a fleshy impression of a four-legged creature, the original ivory barely visible on its forehead.

The creature was thin and ugly, barely resembling the pictures of elephants Leopold had seen in books. At the command of Luca’s finger, it climbed the wall as if it was a spider, then disappeared in the chimney. In a few minutes, Leopold heard the latch quietly drop, and pulled the door open as quietly as he could.

With another sharp flick of Luca’s finger the creature dropped to the ground, dissolving into the carpet and leaving behind the slightly dirty button. Luca picked it up and pressed it into Leopold’s hands with a wide, unnerving smile.

When Leopold pressed the edge of his rapier to the blackmailer’s throat, he thought the hard part was over. That was what Luca wanted him for – the sneakiness, the light steps, the ability to take someone by surprise to give Luca a chance to find the papers and burn them.

But then Luca turned away from the fire, face cast in moving shadows, and smiled.

“Don’t,” Leopold tried to say, but Luca interrupted him.

“You know, there’s been this one thing that I’ve been meaning to try on a person. Get some feedback. Maybe teach someone a lesson on snooping in other people’s affairs.”

He stroked the chain around his neck and his smile grew wider.

And then the man screamed.

He jerked, cutting his throat against Leopold’s rapier – not enough to kill him, but more then enough to bleed. Leopold drew back, jumped off the chair he was standing on to avoid being accidentally pushed off.

“What are you doing, stop!” he hissed at Luca, unsure why he was still trying to be quiet – the screams must have alerted everyone in the neighbourhood to their presence.

“Teaching him a lesson,” Luca didn’t take his eyes off the man writhing in front of him in agony. “Just in case he had the idea to try this again.”

“Enough is enough,” Leopold stalked towards his brother, getting more and more enraged. “This is how you get caught, don’t you realize?”

He tried to pull at the chain of Luca’s necklace, hoping it would interrupt whatever magic was going on. Luca leaned away, turned to him, and then –

Everything was on fire. His body was burning, every nerve ending screaming for the torture to stop. He fell to his knees, unsure if he wanted to try and fight whatever was causing it or beg for mercy, and then –

It was gone.

As quickly as it came, the pain stopped, leaving him gasping at Luca’s feet.

“Well, then,” suddenly, Luca was all business. “I suppose now he’s seen too much, and his neighbours have heard too much. An accidental fire, what do you say?”

Leopold didn’t dare do anything but nod, and Luca leaned down to him with a smile.

“I knew I could count on you. Get what you need ready. I’ll take care of him.”

---

“Did you have to kill him?”

“He’s the reason Grandma’s dead, don’t you have any sense of pride?”

It felt like the same conversation all over again. His voice argued, but his mind was already running through the possibilities.

It was a big party – hiding the body wasn’t a possibility, but they could make things confusing. Those detectives, their cousin’s friends – they were a danger, but one that could possibly play in their favour.

The study – Archibald had another key, didn’t he? It would be easy enough to stumble into him, slice off a button off his frock…

“You said these detectives know magic?” Luca nodded.

Leopold looked around the study. Ah, a letter opener – wonderful.

He stabbed it into the dead body’s chest and turned to Luca. “Make sure if they look, they see what they need to see. Can you do that?” Luca nodded. “Ah, and make sure we’re heard somewhere… downstairs.”

The parts of a plan were coming together, the reluctant perfection of cover-up.

“I knew I could count on you,” Luca smiled, and Leopold shivered.

“Anytime,” he echoed.

That was what big brothers were for, wasn’t it?

[rubys-domain]

ladies and gentlemen and nons, it's time for

Doing every single domain* but only with x character/s 2: electric boogaloo

*not actually every single domain but that's not a catchy nameeeeeee

give it up for our guest star of the day: Lyney!!!!!

*camera pans to Lyney as the spotlight shines on him and he bows with a confident yet smug smile on his face*

let's see if this pretty boy can magic his way through all of teyvat's domains, shall we? ;)

(okay i'm dropping the tv show host voice now)

viridescent/maiden's - there were only 5 enemies so it was alright. not the comfiest clear by a long shot, but with better kiting skills than mine it definitely works

noblesse/bloodstained - hoo boy. despite the pyro abyss mage that i knew for a fact lyney had no chance of dealing with completely solo, i did it anyway cuz i'm the graystillplays of genshin players chongyun mains. and. yup. he died. and this is when i realized that an er sands would actually not be a bad idea for solo-ing purposes. since he gets that one stack from his burst, he can still go back up to full health if he ever drops below the usual 60% hp. of course the nre was still essential for me, but this trick definitely helped prolong his lifespan a bit. i did unfortunately have to use my other non-pyro teammates tho, i.e. barbara, candace, and lisa, all lvl >40 (again, i'm doing this to find the most efficient friendship farming strategy for domains). and of course they died too. but i beat the domain in the end. with the tiniest sliver of health on lyney. so yeah.

blizzard strayer/heart of depth - i has donned the er sands. and boy. despite the obvious loss in damage after giving up my atk sands, it was by far the most comfortable clear, despite having to fight a fucking abominable snowman. it's thanks in part to those little moments where the thing will sometimes just stand around not knowing what to do. it's not a slow connection thing it's just. idk, the movement code being wonky or whatever. (i'm not a game dev; don't come after me for not knowing game dev terms.) because of those, i had an easier time dodging, and also getting headshots in. i am not going to redo the previous two with the er sands (even i'm not that masochistic), but it definitely would've made those clears at least a little bit more comfortable

tenacity/pale flame - oh my god, that was actual pain and suffering. he literally died three times — it was awful. -20,000/10 would not recommend. unless you have some kind of shielder or resistance to interruption, these fuckers are a nightmare to fight

shimenawa/emblem - despite the electro abyss mage and his annoying electro ring thing, it was even easier than the blizzard strayer domain. goddamn

husk/clam - this... actually went way smoother than i thought it would. i did not eat a single healing food in this domain, and lyney still cleared it with full hp. his hats actually made for some decent crowd control so i didn't get corrosion as much. my teammates were all on life support tho, that much goes without saying. also that little healing trick with his burst helped a ton, especially now that he gets his burst back every two casts of his skill. the hat taunt + his skill + his burst let me get in quite a bit of aoe damage as well. he did not die once, i did not swap into my other party members the whole time. overall, i'm surprised at how well he can actually clear this domain. he might even be better than the bennet+kazuha duo here

gilded/deepwood - was pretty chill on account of not needing to hug the enemies like bennett and kazuha do. and also the er sands (ergo, way more burst casts) was enough to keep him super healthy without healing food

marechaussee/golden troupe - i mean this domain was basically tailor-made for lyney. so of course he's gonna clear it with ease. his damage wasn't amazing on account of er sands of course. but not needing to eat healing food constantly was nice and comfy. it was also fairly fun kiting practice: the meks aren't the fastest, so there's a decent size window to dash out of range of their attacks when they try to lunge at you. again, the taunt also helped them not come after me constantly. i definitely would do this again cuz i already use lyney to clear this domain anyway; might as well have him solo it and take freeloaders along to soak up the friendship points

[bublp0pr]

As someone who finds anxiety feeding into depression a big part of this process is rewards and giving myself as much time as I need. No punishment or pressure is going to make this work faster, just be patient. Every one of those steps needs to feel like the victory you were looking for instead of just a small insignificant part of something bigger.

You just managed to wiggle your fingers. Doesn't that feel good? This is so much nicer than not moving, look how much more energy you're using already! Don't stop. This is so good. If this is as far you get in the next ten minutes that's still so much better than where you were before. Do you feel like trying that next step? Getting another win? It's okay if trying the whole lifting arm bit doesn't work out, of course. Now you've got control of your hands again. Passing time is so much better this way - look I'll tap a little beat to prove it! Boop Boop be Boop. Hey, I bet if you do lift up your arm you might be able to reach something like your phone or a book or a glass of water. That would give you even more things to do.

Here's some positives I've used before:

Breathing manually is therapy 101. It's meditative. You can't focus directly on both the physical responses of your body and the thoughts bouncing around in your head at the same time. It's a biological reset. You're controlling the oxygen going to your brain, discipling your lungs and by direct relation your heartbeat. The tip works for panic by slowing things down, works for depression by turning back on pieces of awareness that were left on standby because of a literal hormonal burnout. Really it's just the best ground zero for any kind of crisis. If you want to enact change you've got to start somewhere. Breathing is something you've been doing since the second you were born, what better start is there than that?

Moving fingers means an interruption to the depression loop. Forget how small it is, something has changed. You've been stuck like this for who knows how long and something has changed. It's more physical sensation to focus on. You can ground yourself, do silly little moments and focus on that instead of the Big Tired feeling or bad thoughts. And it's something you have control over. Being depressed can be awful but it can awful just be miserably boring. Finger movement has gotta be better than nothing, right?

Moving your arms means you can reach out for things immediately around you, which is a Game Changer. It might let you text/call someone, or reach out for a nearby object to distract/comfort yourself. Being able to interact again, atleast for me, is the sign that you're going to make your way through this. It's so much easier to pass time or think about there being stuff outside of this bed once it's in your reach again.

Rolling over is big. The past few steps have been about building up control of your body piece by piece, but something like this moves the whole damn thing at once. You're facing the correct way now. Considering the normal way rooms are renovated, you're probably even facing the door of whatever room you're in. Those bigger goals aren't so abstract anymore when you can literally look at where they might happen.

Sitting up changes your perspective - literally. Your head is up instead of reclined and the air is different up here and theres new things to look around at instead of a blanket and some pillows. You definitely start to feel more in control of your body at that point. In control of your life/external world might be a different story, but you're well on your way to making progress.

Once I'm sitting that's usually the tipping point for decision-making. Whatever's still holding me back from is what I'm going to be dealing with for the next hour with standing up or sitting down in various places. How do I want to deal with that?

If you have nothing pressing going on then self care is priority one. Let the good feelings that will come from all that motivate you forward. If you did have something you might be missing out on because of originally not getting out of bed, well. You have a choice to make.

Cancelling plans is an option more possible and less rude than you usually think it is in most cases. It means you have the time for even more self care steps once you defeat the dreaded bed. But this is also around the time where you can be a bit more rational about what whatever you were meant to be doing means to you. What's on the line, how important is this? And significantly, is whatever I feel like I "should" be doing going to help with how I'm feeling or make it worse?

Resolving that can of worms usually clears up the rest of what's holding me back. Build up to it by testing out a few muscle groups, stretching them a little, and then when you're ready try lurching a little off the edge of the bed.

ALL OF THESE REQUIRE GETTING OUT OF BED

[muchadoaboutnot]

⚔️

It's typical and of course, comforting the first person to come to her is Varric.

Composed, unconcerned, airy attitude he has about him tells her everything she needs to know. Obviously, he saw her walking around with Samson earlier and needs to know every detail STAT.

"So... Where's your friend?"

"Taking a bath."

"How scandalous."

Is their first exchange. The laugh that both of them emit is as familiar as if they were blood family, but she thinks made family does the job even better. Either way the pair walk side by side and shes in a much better mood than when she left the tower. Yet Varric's voice brings her back to her task, she's steering them towards the small stalls that have been set up in a makeshift marketplace the Hold has. "I thought you were supposed to be watching him at all times? Sparkler let a few of us know what's going on after Lucky told him."

"I locked the tower door, he's not getting out."

Her response makes Varric chuckle because technically Leto is already not holding up her part of the deal but she was never one to listen to rules.

"He'll be fine! He's got a hot bath, a whole room... Sans food and water, but he'll get that later."

"I'm sorry, are we talking about a human or a Mabari?" The playful tone is there in Varric's voice but something else.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying, he's not a plaything, you just lock him in the tower and walk off."

Leto thinks about Varric's words but gives the shorter man a look of her own unconcern. "I'm aware he has feelings, thoughts, and many other things- but I'm not going to wait in the tower while he bathes when I can easily accomplish getting him new clothes so when he's done he doesn't have to wear his prison clothes."

To emphasize that, Leto walks them over to one of the vendors that has standard-looking shirts and pants. Pre-sewn for all the people who've joined the army so far, it's easier than sewing on the spot for the sheer amount of people.

"Shopping for him? Wife activities if I've ever seen, and coming from you?" Varric gives Leto a lively look. While she herself just hushes him.

"So you're going to say Mabari first and now he's my husband? Make up your mind."

"Hey, you said husband, not me."

Leto's mouth is in a line, causing Varric to grin and raise his eyebrows at her.

"No. No this is not like one of your novels, Hard in Hightown. We are not playing at any games, I literally just took him from the cells and am..."

"Caring for him."

"It's required, he can't exactly walk around freely and do it himself."

After that Varric does drop it, letting Leto pick out several outfits that'll last training sessions and a normal day in the Hold. Everything is folded and placed into a rucksack.

"Did you hear about Orlais?" They're walking back now and the change of subject is appreciated, so when Varric brings up Oralis she raises one eyebrow in curiosity.

"No? Well, that's not true, I heard about what happened with... Blackwall or Rainier... I don't know... How should we address him now?"

"He goes by his name now. Thom Rainier, since you know, The Inquisitor pardoned him. But no, that's not what I'm talking about."

Intrigued now, Leto gives Varric her full attention as they walk on, passing a few people who say hello.

"Something is broiling over there."

"Something is always happening with those people, it's their past time to be dramatic."

Varric concedes and does nod his head, but he pushes on.

"No, no, but there might be a big party in a few months and I hear The Inquisition might be invited."

Leto is unsure at this point whether to still be interested or not, she does like courtly intrigued but at the same time it brings up old memories and it dampens the fun. Her mother made her act like a noble once upon a time, or tried, which granted she was noble on her mother's side. But mostly Leto just felt like... Nothing really. Just herself.

"Oh? Who do you think Hestia will take with her?"

"If she could, probably all of us. Even you and Beatrice included. But I know the council will have to come: Ruffles, of course, Nightingale, and Curly. But I know for sure Buttercup."

They exchanged knowing looks at each other.

"... Saw them eating cookies together on the roof."

"See. That's the romance I like to see, simple pleasures."

The smile each of them has on their face is the warm gooey kind, yet they're each thinking about something different as they walk together. Companionable silence between them now.

[jinsoulfromlewna]

𝗣𝗬𝗥𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗗 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘'𝗦 𝗅𝗈𝗏𝖾 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗒𝗈𝗎

𝗌𝗒𝗉𝗇𝗈𝗌𝗂𝗌 how the pyramid game characters show they're undying love for you! as subtle as it may be or as obvious as possible

𝖺/n god this kdrama is SOO good! i know it's a bit new but i got sad at the lack of fics ;(

btw, eunjueng n yerim don't like eachother here (boooo!!)

S𝖴𝖭𝖦 𝖲𝖮𝖮-𝖩𝖨

this main character almost curses herself for falling in love with you! i mean, sure, you're talented, nice.. amazing.. pretty.. but she's trying to destroy the pyramid game! and you're distracting her so much. maybe talking to you and sitting next to you in half of your classes will help, yeah!

she sweats, trying to start any small talk with you. of course, it's not obvious at all. sooji has a talent of acting calm and stuff. when she asks you the time, and you turn on your phone to reveal the time and coincidentally, what song your headphones are playing, she quickly makes a conversation with you about the artist. you quickly become friends.

but like.. it's just for you to join them in defeating the game! at least that's what she tells jaeun.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝖬𝖸𝖤𝖮𝖭𝖦 𝖩𝖠-𝖤𝖴𝖭

ja-eun has always liked you, you were the only reason she kinda.. stayed alive during her continuous years of being grade F. you (mostly) always stayed in grade C but even if you moved into D, or even F, you were always with her. one time, you actually moved into the F grade with her and she won't ever forget how you giggled on the floor with her after getting beat up.

she hated that moment, but loved seeing you giggling over the saddest things, really.

she always admired you a lot, and that special friendship slowly turned into love. she would feel special as you reject your other, more popular, friends to eat with the school's outcast.

you were one of the first people she brought home, and you even called her mom once! though, it hurt when you introduced yourself as her friend. she wanted to be more, so, so badly.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝖡𝖠𝖤𝖪 𝖧𝖠-𝖱𝖨𝖭

harin never really.. liked you. you thought, because she would always stare at you with that lifeless, shiver inducing stare. you never really understood why everyone liked her so much because of this.

but it was all wrong, harin liked you a whole lot. but god knows she would rather die than admit that. she's secretly praying for the day you confess your secret love for her, as you ramble how you were too shy to say so because she's so rich and popular and pretty, and then she interrupts you with a kiss and-

"ha-rin! c'mon, let's go to lunch!"

ugh. well, fantasies aside, you were already hers the moment she stared into those beautiful orbs of yours.

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝖨𝖬 𝖸𝖤-𝖱𝖨𝖬

this idol trainee has always been head over heels for you since you two met! she found you very interesting to say the least, and having lunch with you and eunjeong has.. made her realize some things. like her sexuality

but she brushes it off, not wanting to ruin the friendship you have. to show her love (in a normal, 100% platonic way) constantly buys you stuff like snacks you seem to enjoy, or gifts you might like. she also invites you on shopping sprees, on "friend dates", or to her house to have a sleepover together! or yours, she wouldn't mind either

just be careful when ogling something you want or even show the minimum interest in when on a hangout with her, because you will find it on your desk the day after. maybe with a letter... a flower or two.. or a dozen..

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝖲𝖤𝖮 𝖣𝖮-𝖠𝖧

probably the hardest to catch on to. she's a bit cold and tough to crack but after she realizes the tad crush she has on you, it'll be easier to talk with her. if you're lucky you might even get a moment of her smiling!

she always pressures you to study for finals or midterms, well, exams in general. she video calls you sometimes but like, just to be sure you're doing that project due thursday at first period, not because she wants to see that cute little face of yours- i mean, what?

even after all that pressure from her to study, you don't do it as much as she does, so when the teacher isn't looking you whisper into her ear. "do-ah, what's the answer to number 17?" and while she usually never replies when it's someone else, she can make an excuse for you. "a." she whispers back.

after the exam results, you two walk out of school together, you were going to say farewell but she interrupts you. "hey. you owe me for giving you the answer." do-ah was never the one to do things like that, but you complied. "how about a dat- uh, a hangout at a restaurant o-or the movies?" you smiled. getting close to her, you whisper in her ear. "to a restaurant, ey? hehe, a date it is."

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝖡𝖠𝖭𝖦 𝖶𝖮𝖮-𝖩𝖨

this cutesy girl had the biggest friend crush on you since you met! i mean you were so pretty and kind, who wouldn't wanna be your friend?! she'd try and eat lunch with you everyday, she'd sit next to you whenever she can (in and out of class) and just really tries to spend time with you whenever she can!

as you get more used to her being all over you all the time, you give in and accept being her friend. i mean, it's not like you ignored her but you kinda thought she was weird and stuff. yet now, she's one of your best friends!

she's with you at all times, and you were there for her when baek ha-rin yelled at her and you were there when she didn't have anyone. when you hugged her, and said everything was going to be okay, wiping her tears as you stared into her eyes, she knew you were the one.

the one for her. she smiled. <3

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

𝖪𝖨𝖬 𝖣𝖠-𝖸𝖤𝖮𝖭

while she's an absolute bitch to everyone else, that changes completely when you're around. she even gets a bit lively, but obviously she's still super mean, in a teasing way!!

she hooks an arm around your shoulder as you two walk together to class, cutting off anyone who wants to try and flirt with you. whenever she's bullying a grade F, just tell her to hangout with you, especially in that tone when she can tell you're sad about her actions, she'll leave them alone immediately.

you're one of the only people she goes to so she can vent and stuff, a lot of times she goes to your house (when your parents aren't around, obviously) and smokes or drinks liquor as she talks about her problems. you're a real comfort for her, well, your presence in general is.

if you ever get into grade F (unlikely, because she has like over half the class threatened to vote for you plus your friends and her), let's say the 'bullying' is a bit different. you guys are just friends, yeah, but she still teases you by saying stuff like how about you give me a kiss?

and well, who are you to reject what a grade A says, right?

written by @jinsoulfromlewna. please do not repost or translate without consent.

[hellmouth-manor]

i shake it off and run || minami || trial mm.10?! || re: WOOOOO

Minami is left looking a bit smug that pulling on the strings was apparently annoying Alou, and that's enough to make up for his wholly unsatisfying answer to her question. Sure, it makes sense. But she doesn't think it explains why they all had to sit around and murder each other. Pretty shit purpose, if you ask her. Which she would. 

And after that, Minami is left wondering if she would count for fulfilling the new motive, if she were to just leap at Alou and beat the fuck out of him right now. Probably not, because she was dead, but it would be satisfying. And everyone would probably let her get away with it. She can't stand the way he continues to talk to them, or the way he continues to talk to Micah in particular, or his smug-ass attitude. Maybe it would at least buy some time to go make an explosive. And after that--

Well, the thing is, Minami had been wholehearted when she said she trusted Micah. Even if his whole rugpull had been genuine, she would have been wholehearted in the belief that she could bruteforce him into seeing that Alou was a shithead. She had had no real evidence, though, besides her own conviction about the sort of person he was. And as a result, Minami had really had no fucking idea how the rest of the dead's little quest had gone. For all she knew, they could have actually been caught in a trap and booted out of there. What, was she supposed to be able to guess they were acting? She'd been fooled, like, at least four times in this whole game by people acting right to her face. The most she was able to do was stare intently at people and try to develop psychic powers to yell into their brains. Not for the first time, she really wishes she had a bit more experience with people than robots.

So-- and she really can't believe she's thinking this-- it's a relief when Hisashi starts laughing. 

And it's a much-easier-to-accept relief when Micah speaks up and reveals that she actually is the smartest smart person in the world instead of the dumbest one for believing in him. 

For the irritating way Alou has spoken about him just in this trial, she can't really imagine what an ordeal it must have been working for him. Her face goes from a surprised optimism to full-on delight as he reveals the extent of his meddling. And pride, of course. She has no excess of it, after all! It's nice to continue to be able to apply it to other people. It's an almost overwhelming relief that all along, Micah had been the good, strong person she thought he was. What a nice change of pace.

"Micah!"

Practically crowing, she moves around the table to where he (and Eli, now) stands. With the exuberant force of a very, very enthusiastic parent, she claps him on the back excitedly. 

"I'm so proud of you, man! You're the fuckin' best! I knew I could trust you! Like my bestie would ever let me down!"

Hopefully his big buff demon form cushions his spine,

Once her congratulatory bone-breaking is over, she returns to her seat with much more of a pep in her step, though she does spare a... well, maybe pitying look, but filtered through the bluntness of Minami. For Alou, the actively-being-deposed king.

"See? This is what I meant. Sorry you ain't had anyone to do shit like this for you. Too bad it's too late."

Despite the rather gloating tone to her words, she really does mean them. It's a shame things went this far. She knows what it feels like to not see the mess you've made of things until it's too late and you've lost everything.

...Except she hasn't, now. 

As embarrassing as it is that it took going to hell and getting murdered for it to happen, some of the fog that had clouded Minami's view on her life has cleared. She very much does have things she very much does want to live for, both here in the game and one very important one outside...

Who she might get to see again soon. (Without the use of explosives.) She doesn't want to start celebrating that part of things just yet, not until she sees her own soul-- returning to her chest or busting the fuck out of here or whatever souls do-- but the relief of being this close to a second chance she hadn't thought she was going to get (and likely wouldn't have accepted) just a few months ago is palpable. She leans her hands on the table in front of her, looking exhausted as if she's just run a marathon and simultaneously relieved she's finally been able to stop running said marathon.

"The souls..."

She tries very hard to not stare a hole in all of the dead people's heads again while she waits to hear about that part of things. But, given that she's already very late getting back to her kid and is very going to get scolded for being missing, maybe she can't be blamed.

[asoulofatlantis]

You know... a lot of people have complained about the way Yuna had changed in FFX-2 (and then how she has changed back in the Audio-Drama eventually - although I think that was much better explained when you know, what you need to know...) but look at Lulu. She loved the rush and the excitement and yet, she ends up a married woman with a kid, stuck in Besaid ones more. It doesn’t fit her current character-development either, now does it?

Not to say that I don’t want her to be with Wakka and have a baby with him... but looking at this, I think it was a bit too early for her, to leave the exiting adventures behind for the quiet family life.

I can understand Yunas concern. That must have hurt.

I feel like singing “Into the unknown!” XD Because we are headlining straight into the mouth (literally) of the unknown - I mean I do know what is coming of course, but they don’t.

Well... at least this will be the last time I have to deal with this guy. FINALLY!

This part of the game were those ice-peak-thingys hit you and you have to gather those crystals while the whole scene is spinning is a freaking nightmare. I do not have to fear the immensely dangerous monsters this time, but I still feel like just running around, trying to get all the crystals.

So we are finally here once more...

This actually hurt a lot when you played it for the first time.

And this even more.

But... lets fulfill Tidus promise and lets end this quickly.

You know... after starting out with Tidus hating his father so damn much... this is really one hell of a painful moment.

This is what the game did to me and I fear it will continue to do so in ever following CGI - Scene. So we are likely missing out on A LOT. But I can not and will not go back now.

You know... the part were you have to fight all the Aeons that you’ve gathered is A LOT easier if you did not gather all the secret ones ^^’ I mean, you are literally immortal at this point, but it will take less time if you have less Aeons (and furthermore, less stronger Aeons) to beat...

It was really mean of him to wait till this moment, but at least he did say goodbye.

Yes, lets finish it.

[uramichislefttiddie]

Life Lessons With Uramichi Oniisan Alphabet

||Contains: Uramichi Omota + Iketeru Daga||

||Warnings: NSFW||

Reminder! Please don’t comment anything that implies your age, I cannot stop who reads this unfortunately but I can at the very least give out a warning that this contains nsfw content.⚠️

please forgive me I could not stop laughing whilst writing this, I had to skip specific words because it did not sound right to me and my childish behaviour😭

Uramichi Omota:

A: Aftercare (how they treat you afterwards)

If anything all this man will want to do is try and get a good nights rest even if it means only a couple hours of sleep. He will make sure however you are cleaned up and are alright before he deals with himself. He’d never leave you to care for yourself, he always makes sure he cares for you first. He’s very touch starved meaning he makes sure he gets cuddles and kisses before you both drift off into a slumber!

B: Body (his fav part of his body and yours)

His favourite body part on himself most likely would be his muscles specifically his toned arms, I mean he’s a former gymnast so what can you expect? On you his favourite part would be either ass or thighs, the reason mainly being it’s something he can rest on, or another reason being he loves to mark your thighs up not caring if anyone can see, also he just genuinely likes groping your ass however he’ll only do that in privacy, he’d rather not have the risk of someone having just witnessed him groping your ass in public. In make out sessions always expect his hands to be roaming either along your thighs or ass there’s no other option it could be.

C: Cum (well I’m pretty sure you can gather what I mean)

Majority of the time he will make sure to not cum inside you meaning hell either do it over your face or body, however once in awhile if you allow him he will not pass up the opportunity to cum inside you. When I say once in awhile, Uramichi will try and make it near enough every time that you allow him to cum inside, he just loves the idea of having the risk you could end up with having his children. (Russian roulette type beat/j) and a plus to him is that if he can cum in you it means less cleaning to do.

D: Dirty Secret (a secret of theirs that they haven’t told)

Now I get a strong sense that this man really wants to try bondage with ropes especially, wether it be you that’s tied up or him he doesn’t care either way he really wants to try it. But he doesn’t want to scare you off by asking so he still hasn’t mentioned it and he doesn’t want you to start making fun off him about it💀 however you’ve had an inkling for awhile that he’s got something about being tied up.

E: Experiance (Do they know what they’re doing?)

Now he may be 31 years of age but this man has never gone past kissing someone before he met you. You were his first and oh boy he had no clue what he was doing, mainly because he was nervous and couldn’t comprehend what was truly happening. He has watched his fair share of porn etc but when it came down to actually doing it himself he mind had become fog. Overtime though he’s come to learn what you like best and least and has took that into account and now it’s as if he’s been doing it for years.

F: Favourite Position (which he prefers to do)

Now he’ll most likely switch between a mating press or doggy style. The reasoning for mating press is it allows him to be more face to face to you and he can see your face during it which turns him on even more. And let’s be real he more than likely has a breeding kink. So mating press + breeding kink = heaven to him. Now the reason for doggy style is because he loves having your bare ass slam against him and watching it jiggle when he slaps it. He also loves leaving marks on your hips meaning doggy style makes that all the easier.

G: Goofy (do they laugh or are they the serious type)

Uramichi is probably the type of be serious, he might laugh there and than every so often if something a bit funny happens but overall he’s pretty much serious and that’s just him.

H: Hairy (shave? Unshaven?)

Unshaven, however he will trim it if you ask him to, but seeing as he’s 31 I think he couldn’t care less about body hair as it’s normal and he just sees it as a waste of time to have to repeatedly shave.

I: Intamicy (how they’re like in bed)

80% of the time he will be rough, releasing out all the pent up anger and frustration, but he still makes sure your ok. Although there will be them days where he just wants to be more romantic than rough and his whole demeanour will have flipped upside down and he’ll be acting all lovey dovey. Plus most definitely a switch.

J: Jack Off (Do they? Or not?)

Nah, not really, if he’s in that type of mood and your not with him he’ll either wait or come meet you wherever you are so he can get relief.

K: Kink (What kinks they have)

Gagging, Breeding, Bondage, Dacryphilia, cockwarming

L: Length (how big they are)

He’s more girthy than long, he’s probably about 6 inches which is a good length all in all.

M: Motivation (what gets them going)

When you start whining at him for attention or if you raise your voice at him because oh boy that really does set off something in him when you raise your voice.

N: No (something they will not do)

Knife play or anything that could seriously harm you even by accidental.

O: Oral (which they prefer)

He prefers giving than receiving but once in awhile he’d just want you to be the one giving it to him and making him fall under your touch.

P: Pace (how fast they go)

He’s not necessarily fast but rather hard. By that I mean he will go full force into you where both yours skins slap against each other and where he will grunt a lot which oh boy is hot.

Q: Quicke (do they do them?)

Surprisingly he does them a lot seeing as he has work 6 days a week which really only leaves him with one day where it can just be you and him all day. So either he’ll do one in the morning or at night but it depends if he’s feeling too tired after work.

R: Risk (are they one for taking a risk?)

Now he’ll hate someone interrupting so he always makes sure you both do it where the chances of getting interrupted are reduced drastically, plus it’d be very embarrassing for someone to walk in. Usahara now always make sure to knock before making his grand entrance into his apartment. The risk of you getting pregnant kinda excites him in a way so you gotta watch out with this man.

S: Stamina (how many rounds can they go for)

On an average he can last around 2-3 rounds but on a very good day it feels like it’s never ending, he just needs that motivation if you get me.

T: Toys (do they use them)

No. He’s never really been into them and they’ve never sparked his interest.

U: Unfair (are they fair)

He’s quite fair to be honest, he makes sure you both equally get what you both want but there can be times he can be a tease when he’s in one of them type of moods.

V: Volume (how loud they are)

Majority of the time he lets out grunts rather than moans, he gets embarrassed if he moans however after the time you told him you like it when does he doesn’t hold back anymore but like I said most of the time he grunts and breathes heavily.

X: X-ray (what they’re like under there)

Like I said, more girthy than long.

Y: Yearning (how high is their sex drive)

It’s shockingly quite high, although it may not show when he’s near you expect him to be quite touchy most of the time waiting for you to get the signal. In simple terms he’s quite the horn dog.

Z: Zzz (how fast they go to sleep afterwards)

I’ll say it straight. He goes to sleep incredibly fast, but he won’t before he makes sure your cleaned up and settled down!

Iketeru Daga

A: Aftercare (how they treat you afterwards)

This boy will give you the best aftercare ever. You hungry? Ok he’ll go make something for you. You want to go for a drive? Ok he’ll take you for a drive. You want a shower/bath? Ok he’ll go prepare you one. You understand me now. He will double check your ok and cleaned up as best as possible. Will always make sure you’ve gone to the toilet afterwards and have had some water. Will fall asleep with you in his arms always whilst reading to you.

B: Body (his fav part of his body and yours)

His favourite part of his body will be his hands, not only because they’re pleasing to the eye but because he knows his long fingers can make you come undone very quickly and easily and that gives him somewhat of a boost. His favourite part of your body to him will be your lips, he loves the feeling of them when he kisses you or when your kissing him anywhere (😏 /j)

C: Cum (well I’m pretty sure you can gather what I mean)

He loves seeing his cum dripping down your face, the way it leaves a shine along your face just looks so pretty to him. So he prefers to cum over your face or in your mouth to where he can see it dripping down yourself. Don’t get me wrong he’d love to cum in you but he’s responsible and would rather wait until you both want a child so he doesn’t need to worry about getting you pregnant.

D: Dirty Secret (a secret of theirs that they haven’t told)

He likes to be choked. Awhile back you had no clue until you accidentally did and that’s when the game got even more interesting. He really just overall loves seeing you in charge.

E: Experiance (Do they know what they’re doing?)

He’s had a few girlfriends in the past but never gone as far as to do more than make out with them, he’s always said he’d save it for the when the right person comes along and he knows it the right person. But he very much does know what he’s doing, he knows how to make you feel good, he’s done plenty of research.

F: Favourite Position (which he prefers to do)

Reverse cowgirl. He absolutely loves you riding him and if it means reverse cowgirl it allows him to smack your ass and fondle it, also allows him to easily guide you with your hips. Damn he goes berserk when your in this position I tell you.

G: Goofy (do they laugh or are they the serious type)

Do I even need to say? Of course he’s going to be goofy, the man laughs at dick jokes. However once he starts laughing that’s it, he won’t be able to stop for awhile, it’s honestly become uncontrollable.

H: Hairy (shave? Unshaven?)

Honestly, he leaves it down to you and what you prefer, he doesn’t mind if you prefer shaven or not either way he’ll go with what you like.

I: Intamicy (how they’re like in bed)

Probably the slow but long stroke type of guy. He loves the way you start to become impatient and fidgety. He loves the look in your eyes when he’s facing you.

J: Jack Off (Do they? Or not?)

He only will if he hasn’t seen you for a few days or hasn’t been able to do anything with you. He prefers doing it with you actually.

K: Kink (What kinks they have)

Choking, Food Play, Cockwarming, Spit, Praise

L: Length (how big they are)

Longer than girthy, he reaches about 7.5 inches, he can definitely reach the high spots.

M: Motivation (what gets them going)

When you start to praise him, especially with “good boy” that will get him going almost immediately, it just switches something on in his mind so very quickly.

N: No (something they will not do)

He’s willing to try most things as long as you feel safe and he feels safe and you both know to be careful and know how far to go with everything.

O: Oral (which they prefer)

He prefers receiving than giving, he just loves being able to watch you go down on him and struggle. But when you want some he will be more than happy to give.

P: Pace (how fast they go)

Life I previously said, he’s the type of guy that goes slow but he makes sure he’s hitting all the right spots that you like and that gets you going.

Q: Quicke (do they do them?)

He prefers to not have them but if it comes down to it and you really want one he will do so, but don’t expect it to become a regular thing.

R: Risk (are they one for taking a risk?)

Oh he’s scarred many peoples eyes and mind because he simply “forgot” to lock the door and close the curtains/blinds. Poor Uramichi as if he hadn’t enough going on. He doesn’t really want to risk getting you pregnant though, so he will use a condom.

S: Stamina (how many rounds can they go for)

He can go for a straight 3 or more rounds, it normally stops when it’s you that can’t take anymore not the other way round, he always waits until you’ve had your pleasure before he’ll stop.

T: Toys (do they use them)

Now he’d never admit it, but before you two started being sexual he had quite the few toys. He most likely had a flashlight, tenga egg and a cock ring for example. Them type of ones.

U: Unfair (are they fair)

He’s the fairest of them all, he’d make sure your getting what you need and than sort himself out, he’s never once been unfair to you.

V: Volume (how loud they are)

Now…this mans a full on moaner and he has no shame about it. He honestly has that type of pretty moan too, where he whimpers at the same time and he will not look away either. Oh and if your the one sucking him off, be prepared because he can’t hold back at all, it’s honestly like heaven to him.

X: X-ray (what they’re like under there)

As already said he’s quite long compared to others, he reaches about 7.5 inches.

Y: Yearning (how high is their sex drive)

Probably around average but if you get him going well-

Z: Zzz (how fast they go to sleep afterwards)

Will not go to sleep no matter what before you, it always has to be you that falls asleep first before he can fall into a slumber. He always wants to know your safe. And plus if you’ve fallen asleep he will clean you up if you haven’t already, and will leave some water and paracetamol next to you for when you wake up and if he leaves before you in the morning or wakes up before you he’ll always leave a little note next to you too.