#when im in charge of this place were gonna do things differently

[invoncible]

♡ THINK I NEED SOMEONE OLDER ... ! (CECIL VER.) cw. suggestive towards the end

— as requested. i've gotten a few asks for some cecil, conquest, and nolan stuff so i'm gonna make this a mini series! the next part will probs be conquest ? i imagine you're controversially young for them in comparison. because lets be real these guys are fossils. — i probs got him ooc IM SORRY

cecil is a private man. nobody knows about your relationship, and that's how he liked it.

you were a secretary at the pentagon, a well-to-do front line desk worker that loved your low maintenance job that allowed you great pay, easy hours, and lots of benefits. 

the first time you met, he came in to work grumbling as usual about all the shit he had to deal with... until he saw your bright smile over the counter. 

"hiii!" you sprung up from your seat, offering him a coffee. "director stedman, good to see you today."

his name and 'good to see you today' rarely coincided. being the guy that made all the hard decisions didn’t leave much room for camaraderie—no one got buddy buddy with the guy in charge (except donald). 

he accepted the coffee on autopilot while scrutinizing you. you were a new face, at least to his knowledge. first day, maybe? wanting to make a good impression on the boss?

"thanks." he muttered, taking a sip and trying to hide his surprise when it was made just how he liked it. he was too picky for it to be a lucky guess, so you probably asked around... for information on him... interesting. he had to be careful with you. 

he caught your eyes over the rim of the cup; you were watching him with an equal intensity, searching for any microexpressions that would affirm you did a good job. your lips quirked up in a smug little smile when you managed to pull approval from his facade, smoothing down your pants as you dropped into your seat again. 

"have a good day, sir." you hummed, eyes flickering up to him as he walked away. 

"yeah." he cleared his throat, more confused than anything. 

he brushed it off as a fluke—again, he thought you were new and wanting to make a great first impression. which you did, by the way, but his intrigue grew when you just didn't stop.

every morning without fail, you had his coffee ready, a sweet little greeting, a warm smile. it became a comfort for him, but he didn't even allow himself to go down that road of ... affection. because you were you and he was him. 

"so, how about that secretary, sir?" donald asked him one day. 

"what about 'em, donald?" cecil sighed, but he was itching to talk about it, too. his thoughts drifted to you more often than he’d like, and it was becoming a biiit of a problem. 

“nothing.”

“you brought it up. clearly you had something to say.” cecil pinched the bridge of his nose. “so talk.”

donald’s lips quirked up ever so slightly. “are you aware they only prepare coffee for you?”

no, he wasn’t aware. it’d become so normal that he hadn’t even considered that. he might as well be hyper-aware, now. breaking people down to their innermost desires and principles were his trade, and his analytical mind was not lost on you. and so, every morning without fail, he talked a bit. went beyond the ‘have a nice day’ thing you’ve both grown comfortable with.  

you perked up in your seat upon seeing cecil walk in, another thing that endeared you to him. “director—”

“how do you like your coffee?”

you blinked, thrown off by the change in routine. “um… i like to try something different each time, i guess..?”

“if you had to choose.” he murmured, delicately accepting the warm cup from your outstretched hand. “humor me.”

that was where it started. from then on, he showed up with your coffee, performing an amicable exchange of sorts (he had ulterior motives, of course) and while you two sipped on the hot invigorating brew, you talked about how you ended up here, what you did outside work, places you’ve traveled… emphasis on you because he wasn’t going to spoil this slice of heaven with his troublesome past.

“it’s a good deal, you know?” you hummed, swirling the cup in your hand. “nice desk all to myself, easy admin work, no one annoying to handle for the most part.”

“for the most part?” he inquired, leaning over the counter. 

you waved him off as you sipped from your cup. he frowned and chucked his empty cup in the garbage behind your desk. 

“tell me.”

you laughed softly, tossing your cup along his, licking your lips of the residual taste. “mm. you have bigger things to deal with, director. things that needed your attention…” you trailed off, glancing at your screen. “what, an hour or so ago?”

“is it the end of the world?”

“no.”

“then the team can handle it.” cecil’s lips parted in a smug smile, his words holding a finality you couldn’t help but listen to. you couldn’t suppress the warm feeling pooling in your gut. “tell me. that’s an order.”

“oh?” you reacted verbally, your eyes widening, the firm command making your heart flutter. “since when do you give me orders?”

“since i care about harassment in my building.” he shot back before allowing himself to be impressed with your audacity. since i care about you. 

you giggle softly and he takes a moment to commit the sound to memory. 

“i’m just kidding,” you stand and jog your papers against the desk surface, preparing to make your rounds with the freshly printed documents. “you are my boss, after all.”

yeah… he is your boss. but with you, he often felt like you were in charge. 

you’d be lying to say this wasn’t your plan all along. you saw him when you came in for your job interview and decided to try your luck. you didn’t expect it to work, much less work well. you had him wrapped around your finger! at first, it was just a fun way to pass the time at your desk; now it was something you looked forward to everyday.

“it’s just some analyst from upstairs that comes to bug me.” you shrug with a roll of your eyes. “just stands there and talks for hours.”

“isn’t that what i do?” the question left his mouth before he could stop it, and he instantly regretted it. the more he talked to you, the less of a filter he had, rarely thinking things over before speaking and impulsively saying what’s on his mind. 

your lips spread in a small, mischievous smile, a glint in your eye. “you’re different. i like you.”

you’d become more and more forward and it was getting harder for him to dismiss the hints you dropped. the man’s been around, and he wasn’t so dumb to be blind to what you were doing. what you were trying to get him to feel. although considering that he was your boss, he was simply content with the song and dance you had right now.

he watched you walk away until you disappeared from his sight with a heavy sigh.

side note, you never saw that analyst again. 

there was one day you weren’t at your desk, and your absence rang some alarms in his head. he’d been sneaking looks at your records and would know if you requested time off. more than that, you would have told him.

he was about to walk off when he heard the doors behind him burst open and the rapid clack clack clack of shoes racing across the floor. 

he turned to watch you, looking deliciously disheveled might he add, with a raise of his brow. “y/n—“

“i’m sorry!” you stop in front of him to catch your breath. “i didn’t get your coffee today—“

“that’s fine,” cecil said lowly, his expression amused. “you run a fucking marathon or something?”

“—i got up late and… and… damn, that’s the first time i’ve sprinted in a while. fuck.” you bent over your knees, panting. “there was traffic and a whole line at the coffee shop—someone knocked it out of my hand when i was leaving—“

“hey.” he set your coffee down on the counter behind him, putting his hands on hips. “you don’t have to apologize. it was nice you even started to do that in the first place, doll.”

your eyes snap to the cup he got you, a frown tugging on your lips. “but you—“

“don’t worry about it.” 

“okay, but—“

“i said don’t worry. that’s an order.”

you huffed a breathless laugh as you straightened up. “i’m beginning to think you just like telling me what to do.” (he did.)

your odd relationship with the director came to a head at a workplace get together. a rare moment of respite which was really a space for the entire department to wallow in their misery together rather than alone.

cecil never came to these things until he knew you’d be at them. he figured he’d drop in just to scope things out, and he wasn’t sure what he expected but he definitely did not expect you, and many others, to be piss drunk. 

you recognized him through the dim light, brightening up as you usually do. you stumbled over, jostled by the packed bodies pushing and pulling you through the crowd.

“easy.” cecil murmured, coaxing the glass out of your hand. “damn, you’re wasted.” he commented more to himself than you, a short incredulous laugh slipping through his lips. 

“mhmm.” you slurred, head thumping into his chest. 

“okay.” he whispered, downing the rest of your glass and setting it aside to free up his hands. can’t let good wine go to waste. a thought passed through his head as he swallowed the beverage: this must be what you taste like right now. pump the brakes, loverboy.

he propped you back upright by your shoulders. “how ‘bout we lay off the drinks?”

“whatever you say, boss.” you hummed, a buzzed smile on your lips.

“you want a ride?”

your clumsy hands wrapped around his tie, pressing into him and tugging him forward by the loose fabric. “you offering?” 

holy shit. his eyes flickered to your delicate fingers, the same ones he’s watched type away at a keyboard, walk up and up and up his red tie. “no.” he said curtly.  

“‘nd i don’t mean a car.” you hiccup.

he paused, wondering if you realized you were talking to him, not some other co-worker. “i know.” 

you sigh dramatically, leaning into him. “you should give me your number.”

cecil groaned, shaking his head. now he knew you needed to get some water in you and sleep your intoxication off. you were saying nonsense. “let’s get you out of here, kid, i’ll call you a cab.”

“no. m’serious,” you pushed, lips pursed in a pout. “i want your number.”

his steely blue eyes narrowed at you, searching your face even as you swayed from side to side. “no, you don’t.” 

you scoffed and knocked your head against his shoulder, clinging to his arm for support as he walked you out of the gathering. “whyyyy…” you mumbled.

cecil dialed someone on his phone, holding it up to his ear as it rang. “you’re drunk, y/n. you’re not thinking straight.”

“i am!” you retorted petulantly, tugging on his arm and pulling the phone away from his head. “i’ve wanted it for a while, just took a little liquid courage to ask…” you trailed off, eyes drooping. “we have coffee dates all the time, what’s so different if—”

“woah, woah, woah.” he stopped you, “dates?” he echoed incredulously. 

you bite your lip, peering up at him while his response buffered in your inebriated mind. after a moment, you nodded. “uh-huh.”

“those aren’t dates, kid.” this bitch was lying through his teeth. he considered them dates, too, but anything to keep a semblance of control over the situation. 

“might as well be. ‘nd stop calling me that.” you scrunched up your nose in distaste. he’s never called you ‘kid’ before this and you’re beginning to think it’s his way of putting distance between you. 

“i’ll call you whatever the fuck i want.” he snapped, growing defensive. he liked your little game, the fun will-they-won’t-they thing you two had going on, but now that it was becoming real to him… now that you were forcing him to confront the feelings he knew he had for you, he had to build his walls back up again—even if it pushed you away in the process. 

“yeah? cuz you’re my boss?” you managed to shoot back, still gripping onto him for support. 

“look at that, you got it. was that so hard?” he scoffed, turning away from you to prevent himself from caving. your shiny eyes in the darkness and tinted lips from the drinks made him want to throw caution to the wind. “i know you think you want something from me… trust me, sweetheart, i’m doing you a favor.”

you roll your eyes. “cuz you’re so noble like that.”

cecil’s eyes narrowed, getting into your space. he walked into you, unintentionally guiding your back into a wall. “mock me all you want, doll. the moment you lie in bed with me is the moment you’re erased from existence. i won’t allow anything to happen to you, and i’ll do everything to prevent that from happening.”

“okay?” 

he put his hands on his hips. “i don’t think you understand. i don’t do anything half-assed.”

you giggled drunkenly. “and that’s supposed to be a threat?”

“you know i love when you talk, but shut up for a second,” cecil closed his eyes like he was trying to gather himself. you always had a knack for undermining his authority. but in retrospect, he made it way too easy to do so. when he looked at you again, something had shifted.

“this isn’t a game to me,” he muttered, voice quieter now, but no less intense.

you blinked up at him, suddenly realizing how close he was—not just physically, but in a way that made your heart stutter. you were finally on the precipice of what you’d been building up to since you met him. 

cecil exhaled sharply, running a hand over his face like he was trying to keep himself in check. “i’ve spent months convincing myself i should keep you at arm’s length.” his hand curled around your wrist, not hard, but firm enough to make your breath catch. “if you push me…” he trailed off, leaning in closer… and closer… his nose brushed against yours and that singular touch sent a jolt of clarity into him. 

he pulled back, stepping back and shaking his head with a click of his tongue. “this is reckless.”

“cuz you’re my boss?” you offered, finally finding your voice, your mind no longer occupied by his proximity or the scent of his cologne. 

“uh-huh. and i can’t be your boss if i’m with you like that.” cecil adjusted his tie and shirt. “also. you’re drunk.”

“i’m not that drunk.” 

“drunk enough.” he shot back with a raise of his brow. 

“cecil.” you step towards him, reaching out to him. your heart swelled when he didn’t try to evade you. your hand fastened around his wrist. “i’m telling you i’m not. scrub me from your records for all i care. keep an eye on me. i know you do that already, anyway. the only thing that’s changing is that we’re both getting what we want. i don’t want you to just be my boss.”

he groaned, turning away from you despite the tether you had on his arm. “don’t say that shit.”

“what? that i want you?”

“will you stop?” cecil turned to you, a scowl on his face. 

your lips split into a grin. his instructions never really worked on you. “do you want me to?”

cecil rolled his eyes. obviously the answer was no. “...fuck.” he cursed before dragging you outside, storming across the parking lot.

he stood next to his car. “last chance to back—”

“fuck no.” you scoffed with that stupid grin of yours and cecil wasted no time ripping the back door open and shoving you into the back seats. he quickly followed you inside. 

his breath hitched as you clambered onto his lap, hands landing on your hips. for a brief moment, he hesitated—just a fraction of a second before he kissed you. 

it was rough and desperate and months in the making, like he couldn’t get close enough, like he couldn’t pull you in fast enough. his hands slid down the curve of your ass, pulling you up further on his lap as he let his legs shift apart. your fingers tangled in his hair as you pulled him deeper.

“you’re so fucking annoying,” he growled against your lips, his grip tightening around you contrary to his declaration. 

you laughed brightly. “you're taking me to coffee tomorrow. but for now... still up for that ride?”

�� invoncible

[guiltysungho]

— let the light in

genre : tags. domestic, angst, fluff, comfort, reader is in a slump

pairing. bsf!kim donghyun x gn!reader

wordcount. 726

a/n. this went a completely different direction than I intended but i still wanna put it out there, im not used to writing like this so it might not be perfect but i hope you enjoy reading it. its not too sad dw.

Once again you were stuck in your room completely shut off from everything and everyone, you hated when this happened but it seemed to have become a part of your life. You rolled over on the bed where your phone was charging right at the edge of your mattress, letting the bright led light flash in your eyes as you adjusted to the feeling of being awake after what felt like an endless slumber.

I’ll be there in 10 - Donghyun 5 mins ago

Your knight in shining armor, he had been spamming you throughout the week hoping you’d reply him more than 3 letters. He knew your moods too well to not know what was going on, after 5 years of being close you’d hope 2 letters was enough for him to read the signs.

You rolled back belly flat against the mattress, drowning in the darkness of your cave waiting for the jingle of his keys to help you out of your slump. Maybe your patience was wearing out, your eyes grew heavier as you waited, almost ready to shut, and then you heard it, the jingle.

“I brought you take out, I’m gonna come in so like don’t be naked” He called out from the other side of your room door, you somehow managed to crawl out of bed and swing the door wide open for him before falling right back on it, you loved your bed.

“Feed me.” You groaned in pain, jokingly, somehow you were able to joke.

He smiled at you, and your face muscles mirrored like a reflex. You sat up on your bed watching him walk around your room, first to the desk placing all the treats far from your reach and then the curtains, it was inevitable, your begging was in vain as he let the light in.

“It’s a really nice day out, if I feed you we should take a walk, deal?” as usual bargain, nothing came easily in this life, you shook his hand reluctantly.

When you think about it, it felt almost comical the way you’d regain life whenever he showed up, before Donghyun you hated being bothered whenever you felt this wave of utter lack of willingness. You would figure it out yourself and that could take months, but now you didn’t even have to say anything for someone to just be there.

It wasn’t like you couldn’t do these things on your own but some times were harder than others and knowing someone cared enough to help you made it easy again. You didn’t know what it made you, if it meant anything outside of your friendship, but you felt loved and that was more than enough.

“You’re doing such a good job, don’t worry too much I’m here for you,” sweet words of comfort that helped, like he could read your mind and sense your doubts just so he could reassure you later.

“I’m sorry I’m such a mess” He shook his head, dismissing your comment,

“You’re not a mess baby, I’m doing this because I love you,” Your eyes glistened with heavy tears just waiting to drop, the feeling of his soft hands on your cheeks made you close your eyes, finally letting them loose as you took in a deep breath, a soft pout on your lips as you looked back up at him.

“I love your pout, and I love your smile. I’m working hard to see that beautiful smile again,” his thumbs brushing away the droplets staining your cheeks, he made you feel like you didn’t constantly have to put up a front.

That you could actually be human and he wouldn’t decide one day that he wanted a doll, his words made you wonder the depth of his love, was this just another moment that friends shared. Did he mean them the same way they sounded to you?

The weight of your worries had shifted from one thing to another, walking down the river by his side you wonder how many meanings could “i love you” have, could you be loved even more than this?

Thinking about it, made your cheeks burn up, placing your fingers on your lips trying to not get carried away, while he was right there but the smile was too strong to hide, turning your face away from him as you succumbed to the feeling.

“There it is.”

[wileys-russo]

saw a tiktok and ran to ask this….could we please get a mearps x reader blurb where reader is pregnant and they’ve invited lessi and ella round, tell them they’ve got presents for them and when they open it they both have a little baby shirt (you can decide wether it’s england kit or their club shirts) with their name on the back. i just know they would be the best aunts ever omg…

hypothetically in this let’s say less stayed with man utd for the sake of the plot and not her sanity 🫶🏻 part of the a date to remember universe series

a bit small || m.earps

“mary, love you’re gonna wear a hole in the poor carpet if you keep pacing back and forth like a mad woman.” you chuckled as your wife sat back down beside you, nervously bouncing her knee instead.

“i can’t help it! i don’t know why I’m so nervous, i wasn’t even this nervous to tell our families.” the blonde rambled as you extended a hand and rested it gently on her knee. “look at me.” you called out softly, knowing how her anxiety affected her and what to do to try and ease it.

“whats three things in the room that are blue?” you asked, squeezing her knee and nodding encouragingly. “er that photo frame, the fifa ball and…the clock.” mary sighed, her knee stopping bouncing as you repeated the question going through a few different colours until eventually your wife had settled.

“baby i get why you’re nervous, they’re like our already grown up children and their opinion means a lot to you. we knew our families would be supportive because they knew we were trying, none of the girls do and you’re worried how they’ll react.” you smiled softly as mary nodded, her head coming to rest on your shoulder as you played with her fingers, a comfortable silence falling between the two of you momentarily.

“they really are like our daughters hey, jesus we’ll be great mums we’ve already had a load of practice!” your wife perked back up, back to her normal joking self as you nodded in agreement, pressing a tender kiss to her lips.

“yeah and at least we’ve got a fair few years before this ones calling us drunk at 3am for a lift home or crying into a pint of ice cream on the lounge about relationship problems.” you grinned as your wife let out a pelt of laughter.

“our child isn’t dating anyone till they’re at least twenty five.” mary shook her head sternly as you smacked her arm. “we started seeing one another when we were eighteen!”

“yeah and look how that ended up, im stuck with you for life now.” mary sighed as you scoffed, the goalkeeper quick to grab your face and pepper it with kisses, mumbling about how there wasn’t anyone else she’d rather spend her life with.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.” mary spoke up much softer, gently tugging up your top and sweetly kissing your stomach a few times, her hands gently placed either side.

“now you listen here junior you protect those hands in there yeah? you’re an earps now you’ve got keeping in your blood and we have to protect those little golden fingers.” mary spoke to your stomach sternly making you laugh and smack her gently.

“what if our baby doesn’t want to play football?” you teased, your wife only scoffing at the thought.

before she could tell you off for even insisting that though the doorbell went, and when neither of you answered within the first ten seconds, it went again, and again, and again.

“right that’s it, im gonna kill them!” mary smacked her legs with a determined nod and stood to her feet, charging off toward the door and you chuckled as you heard her sternly telling off the two younger girls before their footsteps sounded, shuffling closer as they chattered away.

“couldn’t even come and greet us at the door? lazy!” ella scoffed sarcastically with a roll of her eyes as she sauntered in first, spotting you laid back on the L shaped couch with an amused smile.

“why bother when i know half the time you show up uninvited and just let yourselves in?” you smirked as alessia arrived, flanked by your wife who was fiddling nervously with her wedding ring, the only telltale sign of her worries as her face remained unbothered.

“it’s not breaking and entering if you use a key!” ella replied in a duh tone, kissing your cheek hello and sinking down into the opposite side of the lounge. “i really don’t think that defence will hold up in court tooney.” mary patted the girls shoulder with a chuckle.

“hello daughter!” you greeted the tall blonde with a smile as alessia made an instant beeline for you, and you watched marys eyes widen as she realised less would likely flop on top of you for a bear hug as she normally did.

you’d been able to avoid it for the last few weeks, always making sure you were stood when she’d arrive and initiating the hug so she wouldn’t grow suspicious. alessia and you always had quite a close bond from the moment you met her, the blonde gravitating toward you even more than she had to mary which you often happily used to wind up your very pouty wife.

“not today less! got an upset stomach.” you managed to lie quickly and held out your hands to stop her before mary could speak, the younger girl nodding in understanding and instead sitting right beside you and pulling you into a hug.

“so what are we watching then?” ella clapped, moving her feet to rest on the coffee table as mary swiftly kicked them off, moving to stand in front of her. it was an unspoken sunday tradition between the four of you that every sunday the two young footballers would come to your home for a roast dinner, so you’d strategically planned to tell them about the pregnancy on a sunday so there wasn’t any sort of alarm bell raised and nothing was out of order.

“strictly come dancing obviously, and the roasts in the oven! but first, we have a present for the two of you.” mary announced with a clap, gesturing for alessia to move to sit closer to ella before she popped out of the room.

the two girls immediately launched question after question at you which you only answered with a shake of your head and a smile, refusing to give anything away.

though mary was quick to return, balancing two large white boxes in her hands. “oo is it a cake!” ella asked excitedly with wide eyes, making grabby hands as mary carefully handed each girl their box.

“find out for yourselves, at the same time now!” mary smiled softly at the girls before moving her affectionate gaze your way, her eyes dropping down to your stomach which was well hidden behind a baggy old england jersey.

“er look this is dead cute and all but i think these might be a bit small for us!” tooney frowned as she moved aside the crete paper and picked up the tiny man united jersey with her last name and number on the back.

“are you serious?” alessia of course caught on right away, looking in between you and mary with wide eyes full of shock and jaw slackened. “very serious.” you answered softly, sending mary a lovesick smile as ellas frown deepened and she stared down at the jersey in her hands wondering what she was missing.

then finally, the ball dropped.

“YOU’RE HAVIN A BABY?”

“surprise!” you cheered, both you and mary unable to keep the shit eating smiles off your faces at their screams of excitement. the two girls rushed to mary first, tackling their team mate and showering her with congratulations.

then it was your turn next and you winced as both girls jumped almost on top of you. “oi idiots watch it! she’s pregnant!” mary hurried over and pulled them off, helping you to stand as instead both girls squeezed you in a very tight and loving hug.

“how far along?” ella asked with a grin, bouncing happily on the balls of her feet. “seventeen weeks.” you revealed and if their jaws hadn’t already hit the floor by now they certainly did at that reveal, both girls exploding into questions and scoffs of disbelief you hadn’t told them sooner.

but those all fell silent as mary gave you a look and you nodded, your wife carefully lifting up the jersey to reveal your bulging stomach. “oh my god you’re SHOWING?” alessia squealed, both her and ella ducking their heads to gently kiss your stomach which made you laugh and playfully shove their heads away.

“do you know what you’re having?” ella asked with a beaming grin as you and mary nodded. “but you’ll have to wait until the gender reveal to find out, we aren’t telling anyone until then, not even our mums.” mary explained as she kissed the side of your head with a soft smile, rubbing your back affectionately.

“can we feel? is that a weird question?” ella asked with a concerned frown and you shook your head, grabbing one of each of their hands and placing it carefully on your stomach as mary watched on protectively, holding up your jersey out of the way.

a few seconds passed before ella screamed and quickly pulled her hand away, scaring alessia who stumbled backwards and almost fell down if not for mary scrambling to grab and steady her.

“was that a kick?” ella asked in shock as you nodded, taking both of her hands this time and placing them on your stomach, the girl squealing in delight as she once more felt the baby kick, alessia swiftly elbowing her out of the way for her own turn.

“stop it! both of you.” you chuckled as they began to bicker, silencing them with a firm look as mary sighed lovingly.

“my love you are going to be the best mum.”

~

“hey lessi, can we chat for a second?” you murmured quietly to the younger girl as ella disappeared to help your wife clean up after dinner, all of you having finished for the night.

“come on.” you nodded for her to follow you, stepping out and moving to sit on your patio, groaning slightly as you bent down to take a seat on the stairs, alessia right beside you.

“so. you and I have always had quite the bond yeah?” you started with a soft smile, bumping your shoulder into the strikers who nodded happily in agreement. it was true, from the moment mary had joined united and become quite close with the girls you’d always had a particularly strong connection within both ella and alessia.

but alessia reminding you a lot of your own younger sister molly and without the girl having ever had sisters of her own you found you’d taken her under your wing, mary often joking more like mother and daughter as you smacked her and would always remind she was older than you.

“now look i am about to ask you something but i need you to know that there isn’t any pressure at all about a yes, or even any sort of answer for a few weeks.” you continued, the blondes eyes now narrowing in concern as she still nodded along none the less.

“right.” alessia confirmed hesitantly, rubbing her hands on her knees as she awaited what was to come next.

“obviously the baby is going to have a lot of aunties, but would you like to be the godmother?”

a tense silence followed after that question, alessia opening and closing her mouth like a fish as she struggled to find the words.

“yes, absolutely yes oh my god!” the girl threw herself at you in a hug, though careful not to hit you too hard as you squeezed her tightly. “but you can’t tell anyone, not even tooney. mary and I are still working out who else we ask, we’d like to have four godparents, two from either side of our circles.” you explained as alessia assured over and over she completely understood, kissing your cheek and pulling you into another tight hug.

“…can i still tell tooney I’m definitely going to be the favourite aunt though?”

[exrasworld]

i just finished the dragon prince, and i have so many thoughts. mostly disappointing.

first of all, i don’t think that the showrunners were prepared for the show to be this long, i felt like all the arcs and whatnot were reallyyyy drawn out, and honestly, they built up this entire world just to focus on three max regions? like huh? there is so much magic and different elves that could’ve been explored, but it still focused on the same characters. i really would’ve just liked to see the show move on with uniting the elves and dragons back together and whatnot, but the entire focus was on aarvaros, which is fine, but i felt like his motivations were underwhelming.

i’ll just do a list of positive and negative

negative

1. karim was actually so useless omg. i understand why they introduced him the first time but honestly after he got banished, that entire arc was useless when he failed TWICE. there were so many long, drawn out scenes focusing on him and the whole mini arc where he and his wife were having a baby and whatnot, AND BRO STILL DIDNT CHANGE. WHAT WAS THAT FOR. stop wasting my time omggggg. but it was super hilarious to see him get crushed by aarvaros.

2. the power of love and friendship: look. i get it, this is a kid’s show and love is supposed to overpower all, but it doesn’t really make sense in this universe because they touch really serious topics and they are not afraid to do that. i don’t understand how ezran was manipulated into forgiving his father’s literal murderer, but that actually pissed me off so much. ik they saved it at the end with harrow being implied to be alive, but im so over it.

3. death of callum’s character: i love raylum, but i abandoned ship after the runaan arc in s7. all of callum’s actions were dictated by his love for rayla, which can be cute or whatever, if he didn’t fucking BETRAY his brother. the fact that he betrayed ezran made me so upset. this may be personal, but i would never let romantic love get in the way of an invaluable sibling relationship that has lasted for years longer than raylum ever has. the fact that callum ignored ezran at the council meeting and acted so uninterested in those affairs was so out of left field and really soured my perspective on his character.

4. aarvaros’ motivation: okay so his whole thing was that he was mad that the council killed his daughter, which makes sense. but if the council was in charge of the cosmic order of all things…couldn’t they just kill aarvaros?? also, why is he so persistent? like at the end he dies but he’s gonna come back in 7 years, but literally why? just to cause chaos? to see claudia? bro quite literally lives in the stars, choose another place to wreak havoc on.

5. runaan and kotolis: literally why the fuck would he return there. he just got out of a curse, which took years to break, and he just agrees with rayla that he needs to go back to kotolis? without protest? this guy quite literally killed the king and he just doesn’t seem to know that fact. i’m thinking maybe the writers did it to put a wedge into ezran and callum’s relationship or to to progress raylum? idk

6. claudia: RAHHHH i actually loved her sm but then by the end of s7 i actually just wanted her to die bro. she literally deserves it. i would’ve actually liked to see claudia either kill soren in the end or soren kill claudia. the show really wants her to be this evil person but then totally ignores that and plays the trauma card. pick a lane dude. also there was literally no reason for her to join aarvaros but she did anyway but the show for some reason kept hinting she was gonna change. i also honestly don’t think she ever cared about terry, which is sad bc he is such a sweetheart.

7. elf apocalypse: chat if there was a cosmic elf, the most powerful being in the universe that’s immortal and WILL come back in less than a decade, while he killed literally all the most powerful beings on your planet, i would just take the L atp honestly 😭😭😭😭 like there is quite literally nothing you could do that would stop him 😭😭😭

positive

1. viren’s arc: i think that he might be the best character in the entire show. his ending and his struggles into madness were really well done and his guilt was portrayed well. the whole thing where he wrote out his backstory to soren and then burned it AGHHHHH so good. his sacrifice at the end was such a good way to complete his journey as a father and as a mage. viren my goat i love you.

2. ruthari reunion: even though i do have my gripes on how it was done, their reunion was SOOOO worth it. the angsty speech ethari gave when he thought runaan was a ghost- dude i ain’t even lying when i say i started tearing up. they are actually so cute together and deserve the world.

3. jamaya wedding: self explanatory. WORTH THE WAIT I LOVE THEM

4. soren and corvis: though i think they are just friends, i see why people ship them. their interactions are so perfect and funny.

5. rayla choosing runaan: though it was a difficult decision, im so glad rayla chose runaan because he raised her and he is her true family. love their family dynamic.

that’s all i have to say rn but i probs have more. happy new year everyone :3

[riveracheron]

hey guys have my wild magnus protocol theory that stemmed from me just overanalyzing the little bits of content we have

i think lena is a homunculus.

(spoilers for the pilot and jonny + alex’s post pilot discussion under the cut)

basically this stems from. a lot of places w small amounts of information so some of this might be stretches. But

1. a lot of marketing around protocol mentions the theme of “what does it mean to be a person?” which. leads me to believe there’s gonna be a plot around a protag being Not Human but has the heart or whatever the fuck. standard pinnochio or wizard of oz story. sure youre not human but ur a person bc of xyz free will or whatever

2. lena’s behavior in the pilot is So odd and almost inhuman in its extremely dull corporate jargon way. she literally uses things like “you can file a complaint” or “here at the oiar we….” (advertiser shit) , in genuine conversation. she doesn’t leave the building, either and has a Generic office party.

im genuinely thinking bureaucracy and the weird eldritch stuff of the oiar is Literally all she knows, not that shes being manipulative and evil in the trailer like elias; she doesn’t or maybe cannot question the whole. asking sam about the eldritch trauma thing, something something cant understand human emotions and why that might be troubling.

also “people like chocolate cake.” that sounds weird and something someone with only base knowledge of humanity would say.

she’s described as “an odd one” by jonny and that we will “get her soon”. im under the full belief that shes the non-human character of the bunch thatll yknow. have the Real Boy plot

3. homunculus specifically comes from all the alchemy shit around protocol, and homunculi are some of the most famous alchemical creations in popular culture, and i think she’s not. an entity creation. lenas too much of an important character to just be like. tied to An Entity, as a main character extremely tied to the OIAR, that entity would have to be the basis of like the entire plot of protocol; which i doubt theyd do.

the eye is so important to archives because the themes of archives was the consequences of knowledge- the entire plot was engineered around the Eye as the Main Character Entity and the Eye was written to be that in turn, sorta similarly to how Griffindor is the Main Character House (TM) of HP with its themes of bravery. i doooont think the oiar is tied to the stranger or flesh or any other simulacrum creating entities.

all that to say i think lena is a different kind of artificial human, one that’s manmade rather than entity made yknow?

we get glances of the people above her in status, theres mentions of an ephemeral “he” in the pilot, so. heres what i think

the He in question is an alchemist whose in charge of the OIAR (and maybe other branches but lets focus w the oiar). He created Lena the homunculus to be the middle manager of the branch in his stead; “programming” her to be as dull and corporate as possible to keep the employees in line or whatever. something something shes got a plot wrestling with that and her inherent lack of persondom

EDIT: totally forgot this part

adding that the first statement’s plot was about an abomination of corpses given a humanlike shape and coming back wrong which is. exactly what frankenstein’s monster is, and frankenstein’s monster is considered a homunculus.

with the anglerfish’s importance to season 3 of archives i definitely think the Arthur monster will come up again in some form, but maybe instead of Actually being In Podcast maybe its a parallel to the main characters’ story in the same way that many s4 statements were used to give us more information on how jon is working through it all. the zombie statement when he just wakes up comes to mind especially. maybe it’s a hint and echo of what a Character in podcast (lena) is

[paperstorm]

Thank you for the tag @strandnreyes and @thisbuildinghasfeelings ilu!!

Missing Moments are happening, they're just happening slowly and frustratingly 😂 but progress is progress.

-

“You’re bouncing.”

TK looks up from the block of sharp cheddar he’s slicing into bite-sized cubes. Carlos is standing at the entrance to the kitchen, arms crossed over his chest and leaning with his hip against the countertop. There’s a smile on his face, head tilted to one side, radiating in fondness.

“Am I?” TK laughs. There was a time in his life when he would have denied it. He’d resisted the charge of cute as a younger man, wanting to be strong and tough and sexy instead. Carlos assures him that he’s all of those things and adorable, and TK embraces it now.

“Excited or nervous?” Carlos asks, even though he probably already knows the answer to that question.

“They’re gonna love it,” TK says. “Excited.”

Carlos moves in close behind him. His hands cup TK’s hips and his lips press to the nape of TK’s neck. “Me too.”

“Everything was so shitty for such a long time.” TK slices carefully into more of the cheese and nudges the cubes to the side with the tip of the knife. It’s one of their fancier ones, with a golden blade and a rose quartz handle. It’s part of a set of serving pieces TK bought over the summer with the intention of giving them to Carlos for Christmas. He presented Carlos with them last week, instead, since they were broken up over Christmas and TK doesn’t want to wait another year.

“Mhm.”

“Not just with us. I barely saw anyone but Nancy for months. We tried to get together with the others but we all had different schedules so it only worked out one time. Mateo wasn’t being treated well in his new job so he didn’t seem like himself. Marjan was angry at all of us for not fighting harder for the 126. Everything was just …”

“Shitty,” Carlos finishes, and TK nods. “Tonight is going to be great.”

“Do you think we have enough food?”

Carlos laughs softly. He turns TK around and gestures at the multiple trays of appetizers and raw veggies and charcuterie. “I think we have way too much food.”

“You always serve way too much food when people come over,” TK points out.

“True,” Carlos agrees. “It’s how my mom did it. The evening was a failure if everyone didn’t leave stuffed almost beyond their limit and there weren’t so many leftovers she could fret about what to do with them all, as if she wasn’t the one who made that much food in the first place.”

Chuckling, TK rests his head on Carlos’s shoulder and Carlos wraps arms around him sideways and kisses his hair. “She’s a good host. And so are you.”

Tags under the cut!

Tagging @theghostofashton @birdclowns @reyesstrand @carlos-in-glasses @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @tailoredshirt @goodways @alrightbuckaroo @lightningboltreader @mooshkat @liminalmemories21 @sznofthesticks @chaotictarlos @lemonlyman-dotcom @whatsintheboxmh @inkweedandlizards @bonheur-cafe @reasonandfaithinharmony @thebumblecee @never-blooms @freneticfloetry @orchidscript @im-overstimulated-and-im-sad @jesuisici33 @tarlosluvr @kiwichaeng @fallout-mars @honeybee-taskforce @vineofroses

[pasta-in-the-pudding]

Hello, I have a scenario request <3 your an infected but you still have normal brain functions [ie you aren’t feral/completely gone in the head and can still sorts function. Your body is partially decayed and you can’t speak, but you can still partially function] Brian, Tim and Toby find you and bring you back, without knowing your partially infected, and realize that you can still sort-of function normally and won’t attack them.

So sorry this took me so long!

TW: Gorey depictions of your body!

Thank you so much for requesting!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brian, Tim and Toby with an Infected!Reader

Wandering the woods in an apocalypse was both very stupid, and very resourceful. On one hand, you could end up finding a hoard of the undead. On the other hand, you could find something useful, like first aid kits, ammo, food, etc.

Or, (like this time) you may just find some survivors. Which is what these three men had thought they found today. You lay there, in this pile of leaves, twigs and bugs, completely knocked out and unresponsive to anything they tried. And so, Tim picks you up and hauls you on his back, while Brian carries Tim's other things, trying to quickly get back to their cabin before sun down.

Once they get back, Toby is the first to point out that your leg is almost fully decayed, and that your skin has a purple-ish undertone to it. The trio gets to work, zip tying your hands, putting you in a room by yourself, and wedging a piece of wood into your mouth.

By the time you wake up, it is early in the morning. Maybe 1 or 2 at the latest. You begin to frantically hit the walls with your body, trying to bust your way out of the room you are in. This wakes the boys up, seeing various lights turn on in different rooms and hearing the heavy footsteps coming your way.

There is hushed argument outside the door about what they should do with you, before Tim slowly enters the room with a knife held in one had, and a makeshift pillow sheild in the other. He fully expects you to charge him, and when you do, Toby will shoot you so that this whole ordeal can be over and done with.

You instead, stand still, giving him a puzzled look. This confuses everyone, and they look to each other for what to do next. "Are you....infected?" Tim asks you finally. You look down to your body, before looking back up at him with a "duh" look. "Can you....understand me?" He asks again.

You nod. "Can you talk?" He asks, slowly placing the knife down on the ground to make himself appear less threatening. You shake your head in response.

The boys share another look with each other before Tim approaches you, and uses the pillow to carefully jab you. You, in turn, make a frustrated noise. "How rude!" You think to yourself. This makes everyone jump back, expecting the worst.

When you dont do anything else, Tim begins to approach you again, after grabbing his knife off the floor. "Im gonna untie you, but you can't hurt us, ok?" You nod and hold up your wrists. He cuts the ties off and takes the wood out of your mouth. You rub your wrists and move your jaw out of habit from when you were living, expecting to be sore.

Since then, you have grown in relationship with all three of the boys, even working alongside them. You are able to get past other infected people in order to get things that they need. In turn, you get shelter and easy access to your fair share of nutrients (living people) through looking at who's wronged your friends in the past...

[year2000electronics]

Actually, I have a lot of questions about your Supernu-trollau.

1 does Bruce still have a family with Brandy?

2 does Branch get close to his brothers just because he wants to get to know them or also because of guilt for what his parents put them through?

3 When Clay decided to leave and find Branch was there any problem with that? I mean, he's one of the executives in hol'n fun and in charge of "boring stuff" like taxes or security. He certainly couldn't leave without some sort of instructions or promise that he'd be back.

4 will John ever have a will of his own? Or will he just do as he's told?

5 How much will the presence of Branch's older brothers change his zing? Will their antics and unusual behavior bother him?

6 How do the brothers feel about each other? Do any of them have a strong problem with John for doing their parents' bidding? Or maybe with Branch? Because he was the only one their parents really loved.

he does! vacay islanders LOOOVE him because he is an absolute PARTY ANIMAL, he loves pulling pranks and summoning drinks for them and stuff, brandy still falls for him because she knows despite his mischievous nature hes still a big softie on the inside!

his kids still exist, its just now theyre part-troll-part-vacay islander-part-imp :]

2. at first hes just trying to keep them out of trouble and protect pop village, but i feel like he actually ends up really happy that he had secret brothers cos he lost the rest of his family!

3. CLAY WOULD NEVER LEAVE VIVA ALONE LIKE THAT!! he found out about branch and like, it was almost like the scene in tbt where clay tells viva "i dont wanna lose my brother either" cos at this time viva probably still thinks poppy is dead... she'd understand that if there was even a CHANCE clay might be able to find this new baby brother and try to introduce himself, hed take it, just like she would go search for her sister (i dont have viva solidified just yet but im thinking either she comes along with clay, OR clay promises to bring poppy to her if he finds her, i definitely want viva to show up at some point, maybe all the bros can visit the putt putt trolls haha)

4. thats what his whole arc is gonna be about i think!! he obviously cares about his brothers a lot besides trying to get the BOY BAND back together, its like jd's canon arc of accepting that he doesnt need to be perfect except like. cranked up to 100. where he doesnt have to make other people happy he can make himself happy and do things for his own sake!!

5. HES GONNA BE REAL SCARED AT FIRST cos in this au its not like everyone in every kingdom is SUDDENLY supernatural, its only a few trolls! some trolls dont even think the supernatural is real but branch was probably raised as the superstitious type so hes always on the look out for what if monsters were real... imagine his surprise when he finds out that monsters ARE real and those monsters are his BROTHERS

6. i think the brothers like each other but not enough that they ran off together or anything! cos they were all in the same situation with their parents but they were each also the only monsters of their kind they knew, so i imagine all of them wanted to find a place for themselves

floyd and bruce probably get along REALLY well

i feel like the brothers kinda pity jd a little bit, jd really thought his parents were sweet people who loved all their kids- he wholeheartedly believes in them in a way the others don't, so all they can do is shake their heads and go "poor guy"

bruce might have wanted to get back at branch if it was a different situation, but now that hes a dad, he knows how important it is to look out for your family, so he goes to find branch because he wants to make friends with him... but cos hes an older brother as well as an imp that manifests in the form of teasing and playing tricks on him haha

i think floyd would be a little jealous of branch

[violet-moonstone]

i feel like my reasons for enjoying rhaenyra targaryen in hotd is completely different from most of the fandom's. my girl makes nothing but bad decisions and it's a trainwreck that i cannot look away from. I would have far fewer issues with this fandom if people realized that rhaenyra has no idea what she's doing.

rhaenyra there are a variety of ways to have sex but only one of them can get you pregnant - please stop making clearly non-targ looking babies with harwin strong. look at those valyrian orgy paintings in the red keep and get some ideas. change things up in the bedroom, im betting you. this isn't about morality, it's survival

rhaenrya what have you done to consolidate your power all these years while you knew alicent and otto were scheming against you? did you strengthen ties with lords who you knew would be loyal to you? did you go on another tour of westeros to reinforce in people's minds that you are still the heir? did you commission artists and architects to build things in your name? no? oh, ok coolcoolcool

rhaenyra are you SURE you wanna marry daemon so soon after laena and laenor's funerals??? like...maybe don't alienate the velaryons, one of your strongest potential allies? she didn't even actually order laenor killed in the show and still managed to make it look like she did! girl! use your head please, im begging you!!!

rhaenyra leaving the read keep and fucking off to dragonstone so alicent and otto can take over is a bad idea, you sure you wanna do that? Have you considered getting to know aegon at all? because he doesn't want to be king and the only reason he thinks you want to kill him is because of his mom and grandad, are you sure you don't wanna try and address that in any way? he's pretty weak willed and you could at least try to manipulate him.

rhaenyra your father is literally falling apart and could crumble to dust at any moment, are you SURE you wanna leave alicent and otto in charge of funeral arrangements when that happens? you're just gonna knock on wood and cross your fingers and hope they honour your place as heir when you know for a fact otto hates you?

MY GIRL

don't even get me started on daemon like...everyone is in love with daemon cause hes a charming badass and i get it, but can we acknowledge that if this man played his cards right with viserys and weren't such a fuck up, he'd be sitting on the iron throne and married to rhaenyra from day one

team black is just as responsible for the dance of the dragons as team green is and i will die on this hill

team green is at fault for the dance for scheming too much, team black is at fault for not scheming nearly enough

thank you for listening to my ted talk

[iiota]

my unasked for hades 2 overview for no one that asked

first off im gonna say this game is so much fun and wildly different than the first game which doesnt make it feel as repetitive as i thought. a lot of hades 2 focuses on longer range attacks which definitely will take a while to get used to as someone who replayed hades 1 a bit before playing thinking itd be similar playstylewise

the main new introduced gimmick is charged attacks and a change cast that is a circle placed on the ground over a launcher which i LOVE now but the weapon charge attacks are really hit or miss for me. im also a tad disappointed with the weapons i like the staff and the skull but the axe and twin flames arree kinda difficult to use with how i play. the sickle im neutral on and i think theres one more i dont have unlocked

the environments are gorgeous. end tweet the only time i remember im playing an early access game is coming across placeholder assets.

a bit of the combat feels like itll get rebalanced later but its not the Worst. its not really buggy besides like 3 really minor things most ppl wont notice (my timer turning off when i reopened the game, sometimes damage numbers dont show when i hit hecate, not being able to change my monitor in settings)

i do not like how you cannot trade ur tools once you get into a run..i forget what i have sometimes..the tarot card upgrades are a cool concept and fit the witchy theme

i feel..less attached to a lot of the characters than the first one which is funny bc i didnt really care too much about them in the first bc the story writing in 1 is awful but character interactions were fun sometimes. melinoe's design is. not Bad but its not really great it feels a bit too disconnected from..like everything when it feels like shes supposed to be a mix of hades but with evidence of being raised by hecate but the orange and blonde hair............girl i do not like it are they allergic to giving a woman dark hair (minus like.. nemesis) (in trying to make melinoe the opposite of zagreus they kinda just made her into a very bland Woman she should have been a slob too idk shes kinda just like..perfect)

I DO like nemesis more than i thought. much more fun to have some woman come antagonize you other than just helping. but dora is the best character so far..my weed smoking shade roommate. i feel like my feelings on the designs are obvious but i will give a pass to chaos because i do think its a bit of a slay but i cant help but laugh at the bishounenification

scylla's songs are way better than all the vocal tracks from hades 1 like no contest in the blood sucked

the story is fairly non existent atm mostly bc i havent beaten a run yet..its..fine i guess. better than 1

the nude headshots from the bath cutscenes are so scary they need to back the fuck up

[xplrvibes]

so the second colby goes under and starts (whether consciously or subconsciously/unintentionally) channeling and focusing in on the spirit world, EVERYTHING starts happening? and he hasn’t even said a word yet.

I DARE ANYONE TO TELL ME COLBY ISN’T A CONDUIT OR WHATEVER THE FK

bang in the morgue, music box goes off indicating someone walking out of the morgue and towards the kitchen, first thing colby says is “take them” … dude i’d be halfway back to melbourne.

“take them… the girls… they won’t stop” to me its like there are girls in the room and someone wants them taken away from snctb in a protective way? like in an old fashion ‘women are fragile and must be protected from harsh things’ way

“everything is going off!” sam… this happens almost every time colby is under. are you surprised anymore?

“that’s me” 😳 ….just gonna aggressively cross geelong gaol off my list of places to visit

i was just thinking ‘colbys been under a long time’ and then colby said “get him out”

it is actually super creepy the way colby just sirs there like a statue, saying creepy shit, while everyone else freaks out abt knocks and responses lol

and aaallll the activity stops when colby is out?

no one argue with me rn. colby just… yeah man. he’s got direct access to the other side. he can open that door and shut it.

ok that was good :) better than anticipated and im SO PLEASED not a single fan of dipshit moment of the other stuff made even a hint of an appearance.

Ok, so here's the problem -

I STILL haven't had a chance to go back and watch the middle part of this video. 😬

I just got too much going on. I plan on downloading it to watch it on the plane, but until then, I decided to at least weigh in on the Estes Method, since that's the only part of the video I truly remember.

Anyway, I agree with what you said here, but I also have to be controversial and state this for the record: The Estes had the potential to be top tier.

And I say this knowing it sounds like I hated the Estes, which I didn't. It was really good. There were lots of interesting answers that lined up with everything going on, it was creepy, Colby was in his zone...

...but like, all of them talking over one another was driving me up a wall.

It was too much. It was 9 Sam's a'Samming.

I needed silence and calm so I could truly start to decipher some of what was happening. It was just too much.

Anyway, aside from that - Colby is really fucking creepy when he gets into his little conduit mode, huh. The way his body moves, the inflection of his voice, the way his head sometimes moves around? I don't know what all of that is, but it adds to the creepy factor. He is so freaking good at that shit.

And that isn't knocking others who do the Estes Method; there are others who get brilliant results as well. But something about Colby's whole aura and demeanor when he goes under has always felt so charged and different. He's truly putting himself in a trance or something, I don't know.

Also, side note - but can someone make a compilation of all the times shit is going down and snc seek each other out for reassurance, either by touch or just by making sure they are in each other's line of sight? I saw a mini-compiliation on tiktok of Colby reaching for Sam while in the Estes Method (from a different epsiode) and Sam in this episode moving to stand as close to Colby as humanly possibly when shit was going down during this one and it just made me think that they have a habit of doing this shit, huh 🥺.

Anyway, the Estes would've been a 10/10 but I'm deducting 2 points for the annoyance factor with the yammering lol...so 8/10!

[bitternanami]

made a bunch of phone calls today. ive been in the process of trying to track down a PT place that takes my insurance. i do work at one but i dont rly want to be there as a patient bc that would give like. all of my coworkers access to my deadname etc which i just knowwwww theyre gonna be annoying about

SO. a different place. theres one in the same shopping center, even, but id set up with them a few weeks back and they waited until the day before i was scheduled to tell me they were going to charge me my Entire yearly deductible ($400) for the first appointment. and i was like, what in the world are you coding it as to bill it that high. this is something i need to be doing at least once a week like i Cannot field that. and they didnt really have an answer for me, so. that ones out.

i was personally disappointed, ofc, but also bc of the fact that i literally have the same job as the person who called me, i was also kind of professionally affronted at how little she seemed to give a shit about what she was saying. i could Not get her to go off script to explain to me what happened, like for fucks sake youre dealing with peoples health. its so much worse when you Know how to do this properly, and you have to be on the other end of someone doing it badly. it has me all the more determined to be better to my patients. insurance is a racket which everyone knows but its also intentionally opaque about where these figures even come from. i need to understand it better because i need to be able to answer someone when they need to know. i need to be able to find the workarounds.

anyway.

i called two others today, neither of whom are covered, but the self-pay rates are like. not Good, but certainly more doable than that. so that may be how it goes. im gonna ask after the practice that cass' hand OT is at, see if they would take my ins, bc theyve seemed pretty okay when weve worked with them before.

in the meantime like. the back stuff is Annoying, and it means i need to do things differently than i used to, im taking a heating pad to work now, etc etc whatever. i can deal w that. i just need, for a place to not charge me exorbitant sums in order to try to work through it.

[screechingsandwichhologram]

my official worldbuilding ask for you please <33 explain anything to your hearts content <3 (specifically the timelines tho? :))

hiiii !!!!!!!!1 i love you so so so much <33333

okay im gonna focus on timelines rn because if i do other stuff then this will be. so fucking long. uhm this will already be pretty long tho probably.

okay so three very important things to note first off !!!

1) timelines are very very complicated and i may have trouble wording stuff so you just have to roll with it

2) servers are things such as hermitcraft vs. empires vs. dsmp !!! people can be on multiple servers and still be the same person !!! this is very important to note that things like osmp vs. dsmp are not the same people, because of different Dimensions (capital D, not like the end vs. nether). if u have questions on this part feel free to ask, but it isn't crucial to the timeline part so im not gonna mention it other than here

3) there are three seperate things in charge of the world !! gods/deities/server gods, magic, and code (NOT QSMP CODE). code is the potential of things, magic is how things run, and gods are the beings that run it!

okay now to start !!!

(oh, and, a lot of names for gods are kinda. on the nose. but shhh)

first, there was the void. then, a small point of magic burst, spreading it across the abyss. as it cooled down, it became code, which then kicked our timeline into motion. (and a few others, but we'll get to that later)

one of these bits of magic hurled into a star, which created khaos, god of the void. during their formation, the code had created an island. this is The End.

The code, after creating the end, started creating another island. This one grew so big that they had to move it far, far away from the End. This was the Nether.

The code, realizing the void was becoming crowded, split the world into two. However, they messed up (being new and all) and accidentally created three dimensions. It then decided to work on making each dimension as perfect as possible. This became The End, The Nether, and The Overworld

When Khaos opened their eyes, they let out a ripple of magic. This magic spread all across the void, hitting every star. Each star became an Ancient God. These gods either died before they could find a source and purpose, or managed to make it to the world, where they could stay

Khaos decided to form life, the enderians. Seeing what they were doing, the rest started doing the same.

The Blaze Empress claimed the Nether as her own, and started forming life. She did not let others in, though through bribes she allowed The God of Blood, Flesh, and Bone. Most others started working on the Overworld.

During this period, there were humans, hybrids, supernaturals, everything !!! This is when things like The Masquerade took place and stuff.

During this time, though, the god of blood, flesh, and bone started fighting with hysteria, the god of the mind. they had always hated each other, and it got to the point where they would try to sabotage the other and anyone near them. Because they were so powerful, they almost wiped out all of the things on earth, creating a hellscape. (the end was not impacted by this war)

Fed up, the rest of the gods made them do one last duel. Whoever won, won. They would kill the other and just figure it out from there. So they did that. For a thousand years. During the taunts, they actually kinda worked stuff out? like they would explain why they were mad and shit. So at the very end, they both drew first blood at the same time, and realized they were the same. Their blood mingled on the apocalyptic snow/ash and created a new god, the goddess of love. Now they had a kid to raise (spoiler alert, they did not do well) (we wont go into that here tho).

So now the war is over but. the world has fucking ended. and because they are lazy, the just make a new one!! This is The New Timeline (congrats, we are on timeline 2/3!!)

This timeline is the most similar to our world. Obviously, things are different cause of Minecraft, but like. there's france and America and British (this is how they know whos British and whos not even though britain doesn't exist in their timeline!! it carries over !!) uhm this timeline also like. goes past ours too into the future.

all the gods just kinda do their own thing? nothing too notable happens here (except the Revolution in the End but that's for a different post). basically everyone's kinda just. getting along. doing normal god things.

BUT THEN !!!

The Collision happens. This fucks SO MUCH UP !!!

The Collision is when a ton of worlds & time constructs collide!!! there are two major time constructs!!! Old Time Construct (which is what I've been telling you about) and Modern Time Construct (which is a parallel time construct with DIFFERENT GODS AND MECHANICS that was created alongside our Old Time Construct (wayyyy back in the beginning!!)) These two time constructs colliding resulted in The Next Timeline, which is where canon takes place !!!

The Next Timeline is characterized by servers !!! yup, this is where servers come into play!!! people can now suddenly jump servers !!! weird!!! this isn't too much of a big deal for our lovely canon but it still exists, yknow.

however, there is one MAJOR thing that The Collision fucked up. In the Modern Time Construct, there are different gods. Server gods. And because our world is now a server, they take precedence over the Ancient Gods that I explained back up there. This is Bad.

To be frank, the server gods are dicks. they suck ass. they don't give a shit. like at all. there are very few gods that actually have a domain over good, actual things. most are just concepts and have too much power for having such a limited domain. many VERY IMPORTANT things have no god at all. and, the gods that do have a reasonable domain don't give a shit !!!

so, here's our deal. the Ancient Gods are fucked because not only is their entire timeline rebooted without notice, but their power is SIGNIFICANTLY less than it was!! They have VERY little say in how the world is run now, and the people who are running it suck ass and are doing a shit job. Not only that, but the timeline wasn't even rebooted properly, so everywhere you look there's remnants of the glory days (temples, villages, etc)

AND HERES THE KICKER. the server gods hate the ancient gods. its a mutual hate. so most of the server gods try their best to reduce their power. and one of them, a pretty big important server god (exdee) decides to CLOSE OFF THE END AND THE VOID.

This is REALLY BAD!!! REEEAALLLYYY BAD !!! there are two (2) ancient gods who weren't majorly affected by The Collision: Lady Death (who managed to strike a deal with the server gods to keep her domain and power - don't interfere (that much) and leave the players to them) and Khaos (immensely powerful, couldn't be tamed). By cutting off the end, this means that the one person who could really fuck up the server gods and fix the worlds CANT GET TO THEM. and whats worse is that the ancient gods are made of magic and void stars. and if the void is cut off, so is most of their magic supply.

SO. It's the Next Timeline. Server gods are in power and don't give a shit about anyone. Ancient gods who would give a shit can't because their power is so diminished that they struggle to exist, let alone do anything. People can server hop, but the server gods basically forbid it. The End is cut off, meaning all enderians not in the End get Void-Sick, meaning that they loose the ability to think beyond instincts (loose personhood-basically become mobs). Canon world is happening (so people obviously are not having a fun time). and yup ! thats the timeline!!!

i didnt mention specific events because that would take much much longer but feel free to ask!!

vocab under cut (probably helpful tbh i just threw a Lot of words at you)

Magic - what fuels everything!

Code - a cooled down form of magic. makes up everything, and holds all possibilities and probabilities

Gods (in general) - beings made of magic that hold power or influence over the world, especially so in specialty areas (called "domains")

Timeline (general) : a period of time within a time construct.

Original Timeline : The first Timeline (the one where everything was created) within the Old Time Construct

New Timeline : The second Timeline (the one with us, rn) within the Old Time Construct

The Next Timeline : The Timeline after The Collision (the one where canon happens) in the Next Time Construct

Time Construct (general) : a universe in which timelines exist. Created from the first burst of magic.

The Collision : and event where the Old Time Construct and the Modern Time Construct collided, merging together to create the Next Timeline and the Next Time Construct

The Old Time Construct : A time construct where the Original Timeline and the New Timeline happened (what I was explaining)

The Modern Time Construct : the parallel time construct to the Old Time Construct, which had different gods, different mechanics, and servers.

The Next Time Construct : the time construct after The Collision. when canon happens.

Worlds : comprising of The End, the Nether, and The Overworld

Servers : Worlds that exist with other worlds in the same time construct

Server Gods : Gods that were created in the Modern Time Construct. Overpowered the Ancient Gods

Ancient Gods : Gods that were created in the Old Time Construct. (the ones i explained). Gets magic from the Void

okay that's it!!! also if u read this far then you are legally required to reblog :3

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight Gaming: Untitled Zombie Game

So I played Stubbs the Zombie past midnight, checked socials to find.... not much to talk about that isnt just bad news... so lets skip the news for the day.

Its a lovely day in Punchbowl and you are a horrible zombie

So Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel without a Pulse was a game released in 2005 for og xbox and pc, got average reviews and has been remastered and released by aspyr media for modern platforms. I enjoyed this game on the old pc version mainly cause it was game where you played as a zombie eating the brains of the living and growing your own horde. So seeing it get a remaster and available to folks nowadays is very nice to see.

So yeah, you mostly eat brains and make it through levels which are mostly linear with some open sections but for the most part you are more or less being directed foward. And of course as you eat brains, former humans become zombie allies that can assist in some ways, you can have them go forward and soak up bullets as you follow behind letting you close the distance and they can distract enemies while you flank and get them from behind for a backbite. You can also whistle at zombies you're looking at to get them to head towards you like some sort of grim version of pikmin. It certainly looks like it when I see my zombros swarm someone.

A lot of the voicework in this game is also just great, given its trying to go for a comedic vibe it does help with the dark theme of devouring people. Hearing folks panic and exclaim "eating brains is way not cool daddy-o" or "dont eat me no no noooo" does gets a dark chuckle from me. It might be why the game takes place in a retro future city in the 50s just for the sake of the comedy. You have barbershop singers on jetpacks using rayguns while singing about killing the zombies. How the hell did this get average reviews???

Of course since you're a zombie yourself, you dont have access to guns or weapons but you do have some abilties to help you out. For one being your ability to regenerate health which also doubles as a narrative reason for how your abilties work. Your gut grenade is your best ability having a max of 3 charges and lets you throw a major organ at enemies that can stick onto them and can be detonated at your command. Your very own hand can be thrown and controlled, giving you an opportunity to possess nearby humans. Grab someone with a gun and you can start shooting at their former allies and help clear out several threats. Since your hand ability is the easiest to recharge, it can be a pretty effective ability especially on the insane difficulty. Your head can be used like a bowling ball and rolled towards groups which can damage and infect enemies it rolls into and of course it explodes too. And finally, you can fart which is generally useful to stun groups of nearby enemies opening them up to be feasted on.

A lot of the strong points of this game is leading a horde of zombies, dealing with enemies you come across and taking out priority targets that can be a hassle to your undead buddies. Thing is there are some issues with the game mainly due to its length. A normal run for me lasted 4 hours according to my steam playtime so it ends up feeling a bit short. Sometimes when you end up stunning an enemy and go for a brain dinner, you end up tearing their arm off to use as a weapon because whoops you were beside them and got a different prompt, which can be useful at damaging but eating brains is how you're able to recharge your abilties so this gets kinda annoying at times. Also that simon says boss battle at the police station.... went on for too long and it sucks.

Speaking of that boss battle, the game uses some newer versions of old 50's songs such as earth angel, mr sandman and lollipop. Im gonna leave a link to that so you can go hear it if you want.

Honestly, i dont see much games that let you play as a zombie and cause havoc. Theres games where you create or control a horde of zombies like infectionator, games that are versus zombie players that you end up joining when you die like zombie panic or games that just has you play an undead character but not causing an apocalypse like medievil or sonny. Theres gotta be some other game where you play as a zombie leading an outbreak on humanity like a reverse dead rising. I feel like a lot of Stubbs is a game that has only scratched the surface of what it was trying to present and it be great to see more of that explored and built upon in a sequel, in a literal or spiritual sense.

So thanks for reading todays midnight gaming. Feel free to leave feedback and game suggestions. See you all tomorrow.

[placeinthisworld]

i am relating to SO much of what im reading on ur blog rn. do not get me wrong - i LOVE ttpd and love taylor. it's kind of one of those things that's like "always have, always will." im always going to be so grateful for her work and this community, and as i said - i AM loving the music rn!

BUT. she feels different, and feels so far away. i know we are not owed her time or attention, but when you've built your entire brand on fan connection and being "different" than any other celebrity in that regards, it's going to feel off and unexpected when it suddenly stops with no explanation. most of her little interaction is on tiktok, which is half the time not with actual fans, but rather anyone who uses her song in the background (which a lot of times is influencers!) ppl say "yeah but now she does so much more for us" .... yeah... so many new THINGS to buy.

i also think she's at a place where she KNOWS she is on top of the world rn (good for her!) but it has come with a complex - she knows now she doesnt NEED to be close with her fans, doesnt NEED to use her platform for good, doesnt NEED to take constructive criticism - because the gp likes her enough to where she doesn't even need a strong centralized fanbase. as of rn, no opposition can make a dent in her fame or income and she knows it. and it feels icky, and honestly makes her feel less human (which is interesting, because the ttpd is imo some of the most raw humanlike work)

the new social circle is off too. i dont hate travis, and i was happy for her, but have come to like him less and less since realizing he's a bit sleazy and is kind of only liberal for pay. he's publicly made r*pe jokes and xenophobic comments in the past couple years (NOT from 15 year old tweets! recent!) his dad is also super transphobic and mahomes brother is a charged SAer yet taylor gallavants w both of them. travis just seems like an oaf and while im glad she had something more easy and fun, it's telling that there's been a lack of backlash towards him when he's exhibited the same behavior as matty and the only things taylor could write ab him were sports and high school references. i hate to even touch on her personal life like this but god forbid this is a forever thing :/ omg this is a lot but yeah im glad we're having this convo

yup!! bestie your feelings are so valid and i feel very very similarly about everything!!

she knows she doesn’t need to appeal to a niche audience of tween girls anymore. she knows she’s beyond that. fate worked its magic and now she’s america’s it girl without any of drama of having to censor her work. and while yes i’m very proud and happy for her, you’re exactly right, she’s more than happy to continue to push things for us to buy in order to feel close to her. she’s already established a group of life long fans by those who she’s interacted with, invited to things, sent money too etc. so she really doesn’t have to do anything else besides make more music and have the world speculate about her personal life. at the end of the day she just feels sooooo disconnected to us now, compared to how we used to have it at least.

ugh i knew icky meathead was sleazy without even needing taylor to bring him into the limelight but now everyone and their mom is obsessed and up his ass too. EVEN with all those gross things about him (we all saw the recent commencement speech excuse 🤢) he’s definitely democratic for pay. i definitely don’t think he’s gonna stick around forever, either he’ll fuck up and get caught w another girl or she’ll get bored of his ass (speculating that this is a legit relationship and not PR at least lol) she’s a girl that needs a new boy every now and then i fear.

generally i’m just disappointed in her now in a lot of aspects. but completely disconnecting from the world, acting like a whole ass genocide is not actively happening, only ever promoting of talking about herself or her own work just seems so bland and selfish. she’s mentioned voting like what, twice this year? in generic ghost written sentences on an IG story?

[trashbins-stuff]

"Why do you love us?" (A ttc fan fanfic but its fluff this time i swear)

Radimufbin fluff squeeeee, im praticing writing dialogues lol, also this can be read as established queer-platonic relationship but can also be read as best friends (who kisses sometime) :]

It was a calm day in the afterlife, there isn't much going on, somewhere under the beautiful pink sky, Cherry Muffin was reading a book on a soft cloud with Radi0 was leaning agaisnt her.

"Hey, Radi0".

"Mhm?".

"Why do you love me?-" She turn to face them.

"Oh, well..you're pretty and strong and really nice! You also give me some rlly cute trinklet after you return from your adventu-!".

"Hey darlings, whatcha talking about?" Bin say, flopping down on radi0's lap.

"Oh hey Bin! Radi0 was jus telling me why they uhm..like me so much, i mean i dont think i'm really that special, you know?" Cherry muffin awkwardly laugh.

"Whatttt, no way!" Bin got off Radi0 and scoot over and hold her. "You are the most awesome object i know!".

"Ehem.." Radi0 cough.

"Ah-ONE of the best object i know" Bin quickly correct its sentence. "Everyobjects are different and unique!! You have your own specialty too!".

"Yeah right, at being as blind as a bat that is" Cherry Muffin say sarcastically as she move one of Bin's hand away.

"Remember those yummy garlic bread you baked for me? I GOBBLED THEM ALL IN ONE SECOND" Bin flap his arm, he talk so fast that she doesn't understand half of what he said.

"And then you proceeded to choke on them! We thought you were gonna die! Again!" They laugh at Radi0 remark.

Gosh, they can be stupid sometime but she couldn't help but love these dorks, her stomach feel warm and fuzzy when she look at their face.

Bin slapped Radi0's back while laughing so hard, they kick it's shoulder in return and they started to tackle eachother on the ground.

"Alright guys, wrap it up-oof!"

Radi0 accidentally kicked Cherry Muffin in the stomach.

"Whoops! Sorry Muffy, heheh-" radi0 slowly stop laughing as they saw her pulling up her sleeve.

"Hi-ya!"

She jump in and it become a three-way fight, things only heat up at every strike.

After a few kicks and punches, Bin suddenly trip and drag Cherry muffin down with fem, she grab Radi0's tail and they were on a standstill, if none of them move, they'll be safe..

"Achoo!"

"FROG DAMMIT BIN!!"

"AHHHHHHHHHH"

They shouted as they fall off the cloud.

"Oof!..huh?"

Oh that's right, they are in the afterlife, there's cloud everywhere! They all breath out a sign of relieve.

"Are you guys okay?" Radi0 get up.

"Yeah, we're good!" Cherry Muffin dusting herself off.

"Duh! It's CLOUD, stupid."

"What did you just say?" Radi0 charge at them and knock both of them over.

"Aha!! Radi0 1, Binny and Muffie ZERO!!" The three break into laughter,s not even bother to get up.

As the laughters die down, they were still lying on top of eachother, they were content and happy in eachother's arm.

Afterlife isn't so bad.

"So Bin?"

"Mhm"

"Why do you love us?" Cherry Muffin asked, catching Radi0's attention int he process.

"Uhm..hmm..i just do i guess"

"...what do you mean?..by that" Radi0's face suddenly get serious, they're sitting up now, their eyes staring at Bin's direction.

"Well, i mean if i have a reason to love you, them wouldn't i have a reason NOT to love you?"

"Huh?.."

"Like if i were to say..i love you because you guys are pretty, then wood that not mean i won't love you giys anymore if you guys were ugly and old?"

"Oh-"

Bin pratically throw itself on top of them and bury it's face in their chest.

"I will ALWAYS love you guys, no matter what, and nothing will EVER make me stop loving you, not in this world or any other world"

"..We love you too Bin" Cherry muffin place a hand on Bin's back.

"..Even if im ugly and old?"Bin look up at them. Radi0 chuckled slightly at that.

"Even if you're ugly and old" Cherry Muffin reassure him, rubbing his back"

"..Even if i-"

"Okay we're not doing this."

"Fair enough."

They help eachother up and walk along the cloud. Cherry Muffin and Bin wrap their arm around Radi0 as they talk about whatever funny thing they can come up with.

And it was nice.

"In This World or Any Other World."

--

A/N: Yo yo yo! BIN HERE, i wrote some fluff for ur guys lol, i hope u enjoy!!

Words count: 681