#will reblog with the lil thing i see people send once its all set up

[inthenameofsverige]

i bought pocket camp complete 😔

[tetzoro]

BLOOM — ༉‧₊˚.

ft. zoro roronoa !

꒰ SYNOPSIS ꒱ : after the events of wano take place, you and zoro find yourselves having a slow morning filled with thoughts of your future. (there’s no spoilers dw i just wanted to use the setting lol)

꒰ CONTENTS ꒱ : fluff ; zoro being vulnerable and in love — WC : 1.3k

꒰ NOTES ꒱ : zoro in wano forever altered my brain chemistry so here is a silly lil blurb from my drafts ! enjoy ! dividers by @/cafekitsune ᰔ

reblogs and interactions are always appreciated ! (*ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ᰔ*.ﾟ

in the early morning where the flower capital begins to bloom and the sounds of the bustling street fill with people eager for another day of celebration start to take root, zoro wakes up next to you. in the distance, the faint scent of cherry blossoms begins to fill his nose as the breeze glides through the windows, sending a shiver down his body.

“cm’here.” zoro slurs, his arm easily hooks around your waist, other hand grabbing a hold of your plush thigh as he lifts you over to him. your eyes flutter open for a moment and zoro swears he can see the rising sun in them. but it was a false start — your eyes shutting once again as you nestle yourself against his chest.

“too early.” you complain, the world only just waking up as light starts to lazily spill through the windows and into the room, pouring over you in an angelic glow.

“mhm.” he agrees, running his knuckles along your exposed back, eliciting chills in its wake. he couldn’t help but bask in the warmth of your nature, wanting more than anything to tuck you into his chest and keep you there for safekeeping. “good morning to you too.”

“good morning.” you let the words tumble from your lips after breathing out a soft chuckle. your chin moves, resting upon his chest as you finally look at him.

his breath hitches as he realizes he’ll never get over how pretty you are — sleepy eyes still shining bright even though they fight to stay open, dried up drool endearingly taking residence in the corners of your mouth, hair in slight disarray after a sleep filled with tossing and turning, no doubt already tangled from the activities from the night before. he could never get enough.

zoro leans in and presses his lips against yours, a sweet kiss that you easily melt into like burning wax. your hands crawl up to cradle his cheek ever so softly — packed with all the care in the world it almost makes his heart skip a steady beat.

a part of him wonders if this is what his life will look like after luffy becomes king of the pirates and he himself finally becomes the greatest swordsman in the world.

would he get to lazily wake up with you in his arms every morning — languidly kissing each other until he’s positively drunk off listening to your little sounds of pleasure as they slip out of your mouth and into his? or slowly waking up together by showering the other with affection safely behind closed doors, the privacy allowing all of his walls to fall down around you, where you tenderly move past the vanquished rubble.

these little things have steadily grown on him like the moss that the shitty cook claims grows from his head and he honestly couldn’t imagine not having in his future. there have been too many close calls during the time you’ve known each other and the thought of not being able to love you for the rest of his days sends a spike deep into his core, threatening to take his breath away.

“sleep okay?” you ask, pulling apart from him in favor of kissing his cheek, nuzzling into the side of his face. a small comfort that reels his wandering mind back to you, grounding him back into the present.

“yeah, always.” he gives you a little squeeze, a silent message that he only sleeps so well because you’re here beside him. “you?”

“always.” you parrot back. a smile breaks along your face, cracking through like the sun when it first rises for the day. a shimmering glint before it consumes everything it touches.

zoro’s dumbfounded for a moment, blinded by the force of nature that unfolds before his very eye.

“although,” he starts to tease, a dastardly little smirk dangling on his face. “you’re a damn blanket hog, you were moving around so much i thought you were going to fall off the bed.”

“what!” your eyes widen in shock. zoro humorously watched as the gears in your brain started to speed up at the accusation, harmless irritation puffing steam out of your ears. “no i’m not! you’re just making that up.”

“no.” zoro chuckles, “that’s why i had to pull you onto me. was tired of you being so damn far away.”

“aww, you missed me?” now it’s your turn to tease, poking his cheek with that sweet little grin on your face. so much for riling you up.

“just wanted to catch you before you rolled off the bed.” he grumbles.

“oh really?” you squint at him, not entirely convinced that his intentions were so heroic. “so if i just—“

you go to move off of him, but he’s quicker, flipping you so you’re sprawled under him over the wrinkled sheets. zoro’s palms land by either side of your head, effectively caging you in. even though it was still early, zoro never missed a step.

wordlessly, he shifts onto his elbows, lowering himself down on you until your back sinks into the mattress, tucking you in just like one of the many petals you press into your books. you’re his own version of that he thinks, the pretty flower that got trapped between the harsh lines that write up his pages, sealed with a heavy exterior that you had no problem prying open with loving hands.

“nuh uh, not a chance.” he leans down and kisses you, letting out a soft groan as your sweet hands slide over his bare shoulders and roam along his back.

“knew it.” you whisper against his lips with a giggle. “just admit it, won’t you?”

“just shut up and keep kissing me.” his biting words don’t match the endearing tone in his voice; a bark reduced to a whimper.

zoro grabs your chin, using it as leverage to keep your mouth on his, not letting you get another word out as you spiral into your desires, kissing him like it’s the only thing you were meant to do. now and forever.

after a few moments, he pulls back panting slightly and rests his forehead against yours in an attempt to regain his dizzying thoughts.

“do you ever wonder what’s next?” zoro asks, pulling his head up a little. the question slipping out of his mouth before he had a chance to reel it back in.

“like where we are headed next?” you tilt your head. “wherever the tide takes us, i suppose.”

“i meant you and me.” zoro can feel his face burn with vulnerability, embarrassment licking at his cheeks until they’re a pretty pink. he shifts a bit at the intensity so he can lay on his side, his arm coming up behind your head.

“oh!” your face melts into a smile as you turn toward him and suddenly he doesn’t feel so silly. “i do think about it, actually.”

“yeah?”

“yeah.” you nod, your finger trailing along his bicep, the corded muscles intertwining together such as your fates. “i don’t know what we’ll be doing but all i want is for us to do it together.”

your eyes met his gaze, luring him in as the depths of your devotion pools in your eyes. an expression he was no doubt returning.

together. what a nice word, one that holds so much value to him and eases the tension in his shoulders like the waves on the shore reclaim the sand. for those two years you were apart, during the dead of night when his mind would wander after a grueling day of training, his thoughts would land on you.

thoughts filled with nothing but adoration that soon turned into a steady love once you reunited, side by side once again.

a love that could only be expressed as how the ocean loves the shore. gentle waves lapping against the sand, forever fated to find your way back to each other one way or another whether it be a slow crawl or a violent reunion, destiny had made its decision.

“me too.” he squeezes you, pressing a chaste kiss along your hairline. “together.”

thank you so much for reading ᰔ

[mosshead-lover]

Hey Bau<3. Hope you doin well. LOVE your MHA hc's and one shots. <3 Saw that you write for Shoto and Katsuki. So I heard a RP audio on soundC. All be playin 7 minutes in heaven thing. Sho & Baku get in to a fight about who the bottle landed on, cuz clearly they both want to be locked in with the reader. Would love if you built a smut on this. PLEASEEE. With valentine's day coming up, could really use some kink. lol. Although, I totally understand if you don't wanna write a 3some.

A/n: Firstly, Thank you💞. You guys know how to make my day!✨ Secondly, writing this took such a toll on me! I had such a hard time shifting from one to other. And you played the Valentine's day card. I had to write🥺 (jk, keep em those requests coming over, XOXO) Hope you enjoy reading it. And, A happy Valentine's Day!💝 🥰

The Third Way Out

~ Bakugou & Shoto x Reader

Warnings: NSFW, Threesome, lil swearing etc

Disclaimer: All the characters are aged up. They are NOT high schoolers in the context. Also, any underage readers, Shoo! Shoo!

For the safety of its students, the UA university had quarantined all the hero students in the Institution, rather than sending them homes. Especially the ones from UA High, who had a history of running right into trouble. Out of boredom, your class decided to play Seven minutes in heaven game. The typical bottle spin and people at the ends of the bottle point to will be locked in a closet for seven minutes and, you know the rest. It was all steamy and exciting till one end of the bottle landed on you and the other, between Shoto and Katsuki. Usually, Shoto would give in to Bakugou. It was just a game, after all. But, to everyone’s surprise, he kept fighting. Then, you were asked to pick one for the sake of ending the fight. Since you failed to decide, the rest called it a day and left for their dorms.

The next day...

You were just out of a refreshing shower after a run, drying your hair when you hear a knock on the door.

”It’s open!” You affirm, loud enough for the person at the door to hear.

”Hey!”

As the door flung open, You saw a familiar face, half-covered with the bi-coloured bangs. The usually composed Shoto was a little fidgety. He kept his face low, avoiding eye contact.

”Hi Sho, what brings you here?”

You try to sound normal suppressing the last night's memories.

'He must be feeling embarrassed about dragging a petty fight,'

you thought but, you hadn't made it any better by not picking one. So, you were equally embarrassed.

"I.." Shoto was about to state his reason and,

"You there?" Katsuki barged into your room, banging the already wide-open door. His mood was further clouded when he saw Shoto.

”What the fuck are doing here!?”

”I could ask you the same.” Shoto replied calmly, though it was evident from his face that he reflected Katsuki’s feelings. You sensed a familiar knot in the gut. You were once again in a dilemma that you couldn't get out of.

"I guess you have pick one of us, after all," Bakugou stated in a low voice, ignoring Shoto. You wore a confused look.

"The game... We left it unfinished." Shoto clarified.

"Oh!" You threw the towel on the bed and tiptoed towards the door, where they stood. You indicate them get in, close the door and lean against it as you spoke.

"Do I have to?" You tilt your head sideways, letting your damp hair fall over your shoulder. It took a second but Shoto spoke up once he processed what you meant.

"I guess I would enjoy watching you get destroyed as much as I enjoy doing it myself!" the corners of his lips curving into a devious smirk as he spoke.

Your face was a few inches away from Shoto's. You put your arms over him as he slowly starts sucking on your lips. You groove to his pace, feeling his silky hair. He ran his hands up & down the curves of your waist as if appreciating the feel of a forbidden art piece. You suddenly feel another firm grip on your hip. You were turned around in one swift pull. You close your eyes in response to your partially damp hair hitting your face before settling down. When you opened your eyes, you saw Bakugou, wetting his lower lip, not taking his eyes off you.

"He's not the only one here, Kitten!"

He pulls you closer and starts kissing you coarsely. You were bearly catching up with his kisses, you could feel Shoto squeeze your buttocks from behind, subtly grinding. Katsuki slides his hands inside your tee, feeling your bearskin. You lift your arms, making it easier for him to take the shirt off. Your lips part as the shirt went up to fall on the ground. You turn a little, reaching for Shoto's face, stroking his cheek and running your forefinger down his adam's apple to the first button of his shirt. You completely turn to Shoto, planting a few more kisses, sliding your tongue in. He does the same. Katuski unhooks your Lacy golden bra and graces his teeth on you bareback, moving up to your neck. He impatiently moves your hair to the other side to access the neck and starts sucking as Shoto helps you get rid of the unhooked bra and gets himself busy with your boobs, squeezing, nibbling and sometimes just feather-light strokes. It was kind of hard for you process everything that was happening yet you were enjoying it. You felt over the moon to have undivided attention from not one but both the guys you absolutely adored and dreamt of day and night. You were going to ensure they have fun too. You start unbuttoning Shoto's shirt. Once done, you take your hands back, to adore his chiselled abs. Shoto takes his arms off you to let you strip his shirt. While you were getting drunk on the view, Katsuki takes you in his strong arms, walks over to your study table and sets you down. You couldn't help but notice the growing hardness under his pants. You smile at how he was all riled up for you, not that Bakugou didn't like getting hard for you. He lets out a grunt of pleasure as you reach for his core, taking your time to feel his clothed manhood. Your other hand reaches for Shoto who now stood next to Bakugou. You take his hand and guide it your cunt. He slides a finger between your lower lips over your panties. You bite your lip at how awesome it felt even with the piece of cloth in between. Pleased, Shoto continues to tease you. It felt as though he was just letting you know the taste of your own medicine. You quickly unzip Katsuki's pants to reveal his massive hood.

"There, Do you see what you do to us? " Katsuki whispers in your ears. His voice was as sexy as ever.

"Our little slut is sure capable of building massive things" Shoto comments, half impressed at Katsuki's and impatient get his own out of the suffocating pants. Katsuki rubs his wood against your wet yet clothed cunt as you free Shoto out of his misery. The way Katsuki's tip slid over you clit was torturous indeed. You couldn't wait to get rid of the obstacle. You take his harness in your hand and start stroking, varying the paces, learning from his reactions. While you were at it, Shoto gets rid of your panties. He fingers you as though taking a dip in a sauce and licks his finger off.

"Ummm. You sexy thing!" He marvels at how wet you were and bends down to work his tongue on your pussy. Although, You lost control, gasped and even clenched your free hand whenever Shoto hit the right spots. You got always got back to jerk Katsuki off. You had to give in when you started hitting the peaks. Katsuki and Shoto now took turns eating you up & fingering while the other busy stimulating your other sensitive parts. Initially, you kept tab of who was down on you as the other explored the rest of the body but, you were bearly able to recall your name when you came let alone know whose face you came on. You were driven crazy with all the over-simulation. You moaned and breathed heavily, trying to calm down your body but, your core was even hotter and wetter, painfully empty.

You see Shoto settling down on the chair nearby.

"Come on Bakugou, Do the honours."

Shoto says.

"Too scared to go first?" Bakugou smirks.

"I just want to enjoy the show and let her show the best is saved for the last," Shoto replies, gently stroking himself, as though showing off his weapon.

"F...Fuck me" You let out a desperate scream.

"Just anyone...Fuck me already!" You continue, pleading.

"Tch" Shoto and Bakugou huff unanimously.

"You are in deep trouble, kitten!" Bakugou fills you, granting you the much needed. Shoto ended up enjoying you two fuck more than he had expected to, he too ended up coming as you two reached the climax. It didn't take him much time to get back a boner, looking at your dripping pussy and the way you lay there, anticipating his cock. It was Katsuki's time to step back. You were experiencing the best way out of your dilemma. The usual over-thinking you couldn't think of anything out of what was happening right then and how thrilled every inch of your body was.

--

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[yeenybeanies]

i cannot imagine jaskier being afraid of geralt himself, but being spooked of the newly-gigantic world he’s found himself in? & knowing that geralt isn’t always the gentlest of people could be a lil nerve-wracking :>

the witcher | geralt of rivia & jaskier

1274 words

no warnings

reblogs > likes!! thanks for reading!!

It’s times like these when Geralt is forced to face things he’d really rather not face––things like the fact that he cares ( quite a lot, actually ) for his bard’s well-being. Despite the constant exasperation and headaches he suffers, Geralt finds himself appreciating––perhaps even welcoming––Jaskier’s presence.

Right now, though, he has never wanted to be closer to Jaskier, or further away. Right now, Jaskier stands not much taller than a rat on its hind legs, and weighs about the same in his fist.

Geralt had grabbed him in confidence, but, now that he has the bard, now that he sees the discomfort on his features, he isn’t so sure.

“ Geralt––– ”  Jaskier bows his head, his tiny hands pushing against theWitcher’s gloved thumb.  “ Geralt, you’re––I can’t breathe very well. . .. ” 

A spike of . . . an emotion he can’t ( or won’t ) quite name surges through Geralt; he suppresses the initial impulse to drop the little bard, recognizing that the fall would likely injure him. Instead, after a moment of hesitation, he brings his other hand up under Jaskier and releases his squeeze. The gasp Jaskier makes sends another spike through his brain.

He can smell fear. It’s a sharp, sour stink in his nose, and Jaskier reeks of it.

Many people fear Witchers. Jaskier has never once been afraid of Geralt. This is new. ( And he still doesn’t want to think about how it’s making him feel. )

“ Jaskier . . .. ”  Silvery brows knit tighter together.

The bard, after a moment spent catching his breath, waves a hand.  “ New rule! I am instating a new rule, Geralt, okay? So you don’t end up accidentally squishing me like the handsome beast-killer you are. ” 

Geralt blinks.  “ I am not going to squish you, bard. ”

“ Not intentionally, maybe, but you are a bit rough. Um . . .. ”  He glances down to see that he’s sitting in Geralt’s palm.  “ Um. Actually, if you could put me down . . .. ”

Geralt notices another wave of that smell. His frown deepens. Obliging the tiny man, he lowers his hands to let him off, then quickly pulls back. His jaw is set tight.  “ Are you hurt? ”  Did I hurt you? 

“ No, no, I’m––– ”  Jaskier waves again, though Geralt can still see some pain in his face. He hadn’t realized that he was squeezing so hard . . ..  “ I’m fine, Geralt. Thank you for asking. ” 

Liar. There is no lying to a Witcher this close. Cat-like pupils narrow on the bard.

Jaskier is too fragile in this state. Geralt can’t touch him without risk or fear of harming him more. Briefly, he glances around them, a low hum sounding behind closed lips. This is not an ideal place to set up camp for the night, but they wouldn’t get very far with Jaskier’s stature in what remains of the daylight.

Geralt stands and takes a step back. To his surprise, Jaskier’s heartbeat speeds up, and the little man scurries a little nearer to his boot. Now Geralt is just . . . confused. Muscles tense like he means to move further away, but he remains still. Holding Jaskier brings with it a risk of crushing him in his hands. Leaving him on the ground means he’s at risk of being crushed underfoot. There is no winning, no way to quell the Witcher’s only-growing concern.

He hates this.

Jaskier hates this.

The bard feels similarly lost with his situation. Everything looks even bigger from the ground. It doesn’t help either that Geralt—brave warrior and beast-slayer Geralt that fears nothing and no one—looks very uneasy. It’s not a look he’s ever seen on the Witcher before. Jaskier swallows thickly. He should say something. Talking usually helps him when he’s nervous. His mouth, though, feels terribly dry. The words are dusty as they reach his tongue.

“ So . . . um. Well—looking on the bright side of things, I’ll be able to reach new high notes that would otherwise be impossible. ”  Focus on the positive. Geralt’s sharp gaze falls back to him, a hint of annoyance cutting through the new unease he wears. Faint as it is, it’s familiar. It makes Jaskier smile. He claps his hands––a sound that reaches Geralt’s ears as a tiny pop.  “ Anyway! Back to that rule I mentioned! I think, moving forward, it would be best if you didn’t suddenly grab me with your big, strong hands. I’m positive you have it in you to be gentle–– ”  he gives the Witcher’s boot a kick, which Geralt wouldn’t have noticed if he weren’t looking at him  “ ––but I would appreciate not being man-handled. Open-fists only. ”

Geralt breathes out a sigh through his nose.  “ Right, ”  he growls. As it stands, he doesn’t want to handle Jaskier at all. 

“ That being said . . . ”  the bard glances over his shoulder to the humongous world around him and shudders,  “ I do think I liked it slightly better when I was high up. ”  He looks back to Geralt with his hands on his hips, expectant. When Geralt does not move, he huffs.  “ Oh, come on. Just put your hands down and let me climb on. ” 

Still the Witcher hesitates. He spares a glance to his hands––the very weapons that only a minute ago held Jaskier too tightly. He did say that he wouldn’t squish him, but did he believe it?

“ Geralt. ”  The bard pulls his attention back to him.  “ I know I just asked you to put me down, but I’ve changed my mind. Being down here makes me nervous. And it’s cold. ”  

The smell of fear lingers, quite strong. Swallowing his own nervousness, Geralt takes a knee before his shrunken companion and lowers his hands to the dirt, palms up and fingers flat. Jaskier, now faced with what he asked for, does feel some apprehension about this. He’s sure his ribs might be a little sore for a while yet after Geralt’s first grab ( not that he blames the man ). However, alternatives are in short supply. He takes a breath to steady himself––which does not go unnoticed––and climbs over the dark leather. He settles himself back into Geralt’s palm, legs crossed and tucked close. The difference in temperature is immediately apparent.

“ See? Not so hard. ”  He puts on a smile, though it’s a tad bit forced. Geralt says nothing as he gingerly lifts his hands and the little bard.

“ We need to find shelter, ”  Geralt says, pointedly ignoring Jaskier’s comment. The second time around does not make this any less strange, holding an entire person ( his friend ) in the palms of his hands. Every tiny movement Jaskier makes, Geralt can feel.

“ Right. And . . . you’ll need both of your hands. So, erm . . .. ”  For a moment, Jaskier looks around.  “ How about you put me on your shoulder? What with how broad they are, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of room. And I can always hold onto your luscious hair! ” 

Well, that sounds just awful. Geralt’s grimace expresses as much. Jaskier does have a point, though: he will need his hands to set up their shelter for the night. He would also just rather have both of his hands readily available in general, should something be foolish enough to attack them. ( That would end poorly, now that Geralt has a tiny bard to protect. ) With a reluctant sigh, he brings his hand up to his right shoulder so Jaskier can climb on. Little hands immediately grab hold of his hair for balance, pulling another growl from his throat.

“ Don’t fall, ”  he says. To anyone else, it would sound like a warning. Jaskier knows better; it’s affectionate. He settles down into sit on the Witcher’s shoulder, one fist loosely gripping a silvery lock.

“ I know you’d catch me. ” 

“ Hm, ”  is all the Witcher has to say. Of course he would.

[the-gay-prometheus]

(AU Segment) “Second Chances”

Ok so- after almost two weeks I finally freakin finished it. It might be a little messy because I have done absolutely zero proof-reading on it because I’m just happy to have finally finished it 🙃

Anyways...

This is another little segment of my work-in-progress Frankenstein AU that still has yet to have a solid plot other than “Victor agrees to live with the creature on the mountain they meet on as an alternative to creating a companion for him. And also Henry comes to live with them too because he can’t stand to be without his boyfriend™.” An actual plot is in the works but... I’m currently thinking about revamping all that I have of it so far and also completely changing the setting of it.

No warnings needed for this segment to my knowledge! Just a nice moment of interaction between Henry and the creature with a little bit of clervenstein toward the end. It’s not super long but it is 5 google docs pages single spaced so uh- it’s also not super short - just a lil heads up.

Likes, comments, reblogs appreciated as always if you feel inclined to do... any of those things. 

Oh! Also- before getting into it - I still need name ideas for this AU. I want to do something like “The <blank> Prometheus,” but I don’t know what word I want to put there so uh- if anyone has any ideas... send them my way ;~;

Henry pulled his coat tightly around him and shuddered as he stepped out into the frigid night time mountain air, clouds of mist drifting away from him with each breath. He glanced around, searching the moonlit ledge until his eyes set upon a cliff just a short climb above. On that cliff sat a familiar tall figure, staring upward into the starry sky as his long hair drifted in the chilly breeze. Henry rubbed his hands to let friction warm them, then made his way toward the cliff. He took his time to carefully climb up, then sat down beside the figure - his lover’s creation - who leaned away as soon as he sat beside him.

“You should not be out here,” the creature mentioned. “It is far too cold.”

“Neither should you,” Henry answered, trying to keep his teeth from chattering.

“The cold does not affect me in the same way that it affects you,” the creature countered simply. “I am fine - you should be inside with Victor.”

“Actually, I was just talking to Victor. He agreed that I should come out here and try to talk to you.” The creature glanced toward him, his yellow eyes ever so slightly glowing in the dark of the night, but turned his face away after only a moment, pulling the hood of his cloak over his face. “You don’t have to hide from me, you know. I’m- I’m not afraid of you.”

“I do not doubt that you are not afraid - I cannot imagine you would be out here if you were,” the creature replied. “I am merely sparing you from the sight of me. I know well that I am a hideous wretch.”

“I don’t think of you as a hideous wretch.” Henry paused, looking up toward the sky. “I think you are… fascinating, really.” The creature pulled some of the fabric of his hood away so he could look back toward Henry.

“Fascinating is not a word I think many would use to describe me.”

“Well - I’m not ‘many,’ now am I?” Henry glanced toward him with a smirk, but the creature simply turned away with a shaky, labored sigh. Henry’s smirk turned to a more solemn expression as he returned his sight to the stars. “It’s true, though. I think you are… incredibly fascinating.” The creature didn’t reply, except to shrink away from him and cling tighter to the edges of his cloak. “I mean, think about it - how many people get a second chance at life?”

“Victor can argue whatever he wants, but that doesn’t change the fact that you are very much a person. Sure, you may have been made rather than born, but what difference does that make? After all, there are plenty of people who would argue that regardless of birth, all of us are intelligently made. And just think - how lucky you are to know your creator while the rest of us are all destined only to wonder,” Henry explained. He turned to look toward the creature with a sympathetic smile. “Of course, unlucky for you it happened to be Victor, who can barely take care of himself let alone an entire other person,” he joked. The creature couldn’t help but smile a little - it was true, comically true, in a way. His creator was no god, he was just a young man searching for answers and glory, but who left himself and everyone else behind along the way. “Anyways, with regard to your first question, I would say it is. In fact, I would say that’s the best kind of second chance. You’re not burdened by any preconceived notions about what life is or about how the world works, you started your new life with no worry of money or the trivial squabbles of man; you just existed as you were and as you are, perhaps a bit confused and a bit lost, but when you emerged into the world what you saw first shaped you in a way that most people have not been exposed to.”

“Is it a second chance if I cannot even recall the life… or perhaps I should say lives I had before?” the creature began, tracing over the scars on his arm as though he were trying to find memories within each graft of skin that existed there. “For that matter… am I even a person?” He paused, his hands dropping to his knees. “Even my own creator would argue that I am not.” 

“Most people awake in their first moments to find a mother’s embrace or a father’s kind smile. From the moment I took my first breath I was not just miserably alone, but actively feared and hated, Henry. This is not the kind of ‘second chance’ I would wish on anyone,” the creature said quietly, staring down off the cliff’s edge into the dark valley far below. Henry sighed softly with a shiver from the cold.

“I… I am afraid I do not understand your meaning.”

“You know that now, but did you know that then?”

“I mean - did you know that the reaction you saw was a reaction of fear?” The creature thought long and hard about that statement, trying to recount the memory he had chosen to repress.

“I suppose not,” he replied at a length. “I was… confused, and somewhat afraid myself, but I did not understand the meaning of his reaction. I thought it was normal. How should I have known any differently?”

“So what did you do? How did it affect you in that moment?”

“I tried to follow him but I was… still unsteady. He was far too nimble-”

“Ha! Victor? Nimble? That’s funny,” Henry interrupted with a laugh, though he quickly stifled himself and cleared his throat. “...Go on.”

“For my unsteadiness, he was far too nimble,” the creature restated, giving Henry somewhat of a disappointed glance before returning his gaze to the valley below. “So, assuming that I was simply not meant to follow him, I decided to wander elsewhere.”

“Which means in that moment, you had no assumptions of mistreatment, correct?”

“In that moment, yes, that is correct.”

“And where did you go, then?” The creature looked up to him, brow slightly furrowed from confusion.

“I have… already told you this story before, Henry,” he mentioned with uncertainty. “Why must I tell it again?”

“Because I want you to hear yourself tell it. And this time, I want you to actually think about how you felt in each moment,” Henry answered with certainty. The creature stared for a moment, then dropped his gaze downward once again.

“I found myself in a nearby forest,” he began. “It was cold, and dark, and I was still afraid, but I looked upward and saw the moon and the multitude of stars against the night sky. For some reason this sight gave me… comfort. I had no words with which to describe what I saw or what I felt, but it was a moment of serenity. The days following as I learned more about my surroundings were much the same. My fears were allayed by a sudden sense of curiosity and wonder at the life which surrounded me - and everything was certainly alive. Yes, the flora and fauna, but also the stream as it rushed along its way, and the stones in their cold stillness. I felt…” He paused, lifting his gaze to the horizon. “Connected; to all of it. I did not know who or what I was, but I knew I was alive, and for the time being, that was all I needed to know.”

“Those were your most formative moments. Unbound by the values and traditions of our time, blissfully unaware. The rest of us may have had people in our lives from the moment we were brought into this world, but for many, that isn’t necessarily a good thing. We become biased from the very moment we learn how to speak, taught and told how to think or act. Yet there you were, untethered, and instead of finding your sole connection in the eyes of mankind, you found yours in the purity of nature itself.”

“What good has that brought me, though? I happened upon mankind regardless of my contentedness within the woods, and promptly yearned for a place among them, only to be beaten and shunned away for no cause other than my appearance alone. Mine is a miserable existence.” The creature turned away after he had spoken, clenching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth at the sudden pang of sorrow that throbbed deep in his scarred chest. 

“Tell me how you see the world,” Henry answered, resting a shivering hand gently on the creature’s arm. The creature heaved with a breath, holding back tears as even a simple comforting touch such as this was so rare and so precious to him.

“It is,” he began, taking a moment to think. “a cold, dreadful place full of hatred and malice.” His voice, though clearly wrought with pain and some slight sense of anger, sounded uncertain. Henry looked to him.

“You’re describing the world of men. Describe the world itself to me,” he insisted. The creature didn’t respond for a length of time, instead shuddering as he held back tears, but then finally breathed a heavy sigh and opened his yellowed eyes and stared off into the distance beyond the peaks that rose and fell across the horizon.

“The world is…” He paused as he gathered his thoughts again. “The world is a dawn chorus, each bird singing sweetly in its own tune, somehow both melodious and cacophonous all at once. It is... the painted sky as the sun sinks down to dusk, the way each color blends and shines, and the way the clouds glow with golden light, a fleeting work of art that fades into darkness and is never the same twice.” He breathed deeply, slowly closing his eyes as his expression of concentration and contemplation turned to a contented smile. “It is the way the stars shine brightest when the moon hides itself away, and the pale silver gleam that all things acquire when the moon is at its fullest. It is the silence of a heavy snowfall and the deafening roar of thunder, the glitter of ice and the blinding sight of lightning. It is the lonely shriek of the fox and the communal cry of the wolf, the powerful bellow of an elk and the gentle bleat of a deer.” His eyes reopened and he turned toward Henry, who was now staring up at him with a look of astonishment on his face. “The world is wonderful and terrible, familiar and strange, lovely and frightening. It is like fire, which both warms and burns, dances and destroys. Though it is not always kind, I am inclined to search for the beauty and kindness that does exist within it.” 

“Incredible,” Henry breathed, dropping his hand from the creature’s arm to wipe away the tears that had welled in his eyes. The creature flinched and turned his gaze away as Henry’s hand fell away, instinctively reaching up and placing his own hand in the open space that Henry had left as though he just needed to feel something there, as though he wasn’t quite ready to exist alone again. “That’s what makes you a second chance worth taking,” Henry continued, smiling as he put a hand over the creature’s. “I am absolutely sure that none of those who were used to make you saw the world in such an awe-inspiring, beautiful way.” The creature turned to him with a curious tilt of his head.

“How can you be so sure?” he asked, slowly pulling his hand away and bringing it up to his face as he inspected each stitched-on piece of skin that covered it. 

“Well… People tend to take on the views of whatever surrounds them for their first true moments of consciousness, I’ve found. It leaches into who they are. When we are surrounded by the life we’re meant to have - a life free from the confines we created for ourselves in the name of ‘civility,’ - we open ourselves to exactly what makes us human to begin with.” The creature opened his fingers, gazing at Henry from between them.

“And what is it that makes…” He hesitated, eyes shifting from side to side as he considered what he was about to say before locking with Henry’s once again, “us human?” Henry grinned, warmth filling him despite the cold for the joy of hearing the creature speak of himself as one of them rather than as some horrible thing.

“Curiosity,” he replied simply. “Curiosity is what makes us human, but far too many of us have lost our sense of it. Yet here you are, curious and full of wonder. How many of those whose parts made you can say that they felt the same in their lifetime? I’d hazard to guess very few, if any.” He lifted a shaky, shivering hand and gently pushed the creature’s hand down so they could see each other truly eye to eye. “You are their collective second chance. Yes, it hasn’t been easy. Yes, you have done things you have come to regret. Any other man would have become all but lost to his misery, but you, in your endless search for the good and beauty you found in your most precious moments of life, have chosen not only to try to be better, but to never lose sight of that same inspiration that made you who you are. I can’t imagine a better second chance than one such as yours - regardless of the hardships you have endured and have still yet to endure.” The creature stared at him, mind reeling with what he had just heard. Leave it to Henry Clerval to once again make him feel not just like somebody worthy of life, but somebody worth celebrating. He blinked away tears, retracting his hand to wipe away those which had already fallen upon his pale yellowed cheeks, and was just about to speak when a new voice took both his and Henry’s attention away.

“Do you… mind if I join you both?” Victor stood behind them, wrapped in a large, heavy wool blanket. Henry smiled, moving over to make room for Victor beside him.

“Not at all. I could use the extra warmth,” he mused. Victor smiled slightly, shakily walking over and sitting close to Henry. Henry took one end of his blanket and wrapped it around himself, making sure the other end was also fully covering Victor so the two of them were snug within it. The creature watched them for a moment, then turned his eyes toward the stars.

“Long enough,” he answered softly, pressing himself closer to Henry and laying his head on his shoulder. There was silence between the three of them, Victor slowly closing his eyes and breathing a soft sigh as Henry wrapped his arm around him and held him close.

“How long have you been standing there?” he asked suddenly. Victor glanced up at him.

“Henry says I am… incredible,” the creature mentioned, breaking the silence for no reason other than that he was still processing all that had just been said. Henry looked to him with a smile.

“And he’s right to say so,” Victor answered after a long pause. Both Henry and the creature looked to him simultaneously in shock. Victor opened his eyes and looked up at them both. “I’ve just been too blind to see it.” 

“That almost sounded like an apology,” Henry remarked with a smirk. “I thought you didn’t do apologies.”

“I don’t,” Victor grumbled defensively. “Not usually, anyways. And that wasn’t an apology, it was… an observation.” 

“I appreciate your… observation, Victor,” the creature murmured, unsure of what else to say or how else to respond. After so many months of hearing his creator berate him and call him such horrid, disgusting names, it was still always a shock when those rare moments came that Victor acknowledged his existence in a positive way - much less rare now that Henry was here, of course, but still rare all the same. Victor, also unsure of how to respond, simply glanced up at him and muttered,

“Your appreciation is duly noted.” Henry chuckled softly at the awkwardness between the two of them, and gently tapped Victor’s shoulder.

“I think it’s time we get some rest,” he said quietly. He turned toward the creature. “As long as you’ll be alright, that is.” The creature nodded.

“Thank you, Henry. You have been very generous. I believe I will be well.” Henry gave a curt nod in return, and pulled the blanket off of himself to drape it back over Victor before standing and extending a hand. Victor gripped the blanket around himself as he reached out and took Henry’s hand with the other, the two walking off and disappearing as they helped one another climb their way back down. 

“Did you mean what you said just then?” Henry inquired as they walked back to their cabin home on the ledge, hand still firmly gripping Victor’s own.

“I did,” Victor answered with a nod. As they approached, Henry reached for the door, and Victor’s hand slipped from his as he hesitated. Henry stopped just as he opened it, turning toward Victor with a curious expression. “As I listened to him speak I realized something I hadn’t quite realized before.”

“Oh? What would that be?”

“He’s a lot like you - in the way he thinks and speaks, that is.” Henry was about to respond, but Victor took him by surprise as he suddenly wrapped his arms around him and embraced him tightly. “And you’re the most incredible person I know.” Henry was shocked, as Victor was rarely the one to initiate physical contact, but hugged him even tighter in return.

The creature sat alone on the cliff, listening intently to the two voices below as he stared up at the sky. Brushing a lock of hair that fell over his face behind his ear, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His eyes followed a comet as it passed through the stillness of the stars, and smiled as he continued to recount all that had been said. As he heard the door of the cabin click closed, he rested his hands on the stone of the cliff and leaned back to look up at the moon. “How delightful, dear moon,” he began as though speaking to it directly, “to be given the second chance to be something incredible-” He paused, and slowly closed his yellow eyes with another soft sigh. “to be something human.”

[evansyhelp]

do you have any advice for getting your blog off the ground?? i was around abt the same time that your blog came up, so yeaaaaaaaaars ago i think, and now ive come back fresh and i'm struggling to get much interaction bc idk anyone anymore and its making me a lil sad :(

Aw, I'm sorry to hear that, anon! I totally feel you — I don't know many people here either and I still sometimes feel like I'm shouting into the void. But there are some things you can do to establish yourself.

1. Make the most of your tags. It used to be that your post would only show in the first 5 tags you used, but now you can use all 20. Spend some time researching what tags your content belongs in. If you're an RPH for example, head to #rph and #rp resources and see what other tags RPHs are adding to their posts. If you're going to be posting a theme, check out other theme-makers' posts and see what tags they're using.

2. Make sure you're showing up in the tags. Something that's changed a lot in the past couple years is the rules around tags. To be blunt, they're fickle as hell, and your post might not show up in the tags for a few reasons, including: you've linked to something other than another Tumblr post, your image looks too much like skin to the mature content algorithm, or you've used a word that's been flagged by the mature content algorithm. These rules aren't consistently applied across blogs at all which makes it annoying as hell to figure out your own blog's rules, but just check the tags 5 minutes after you post something to make sure it's actually showing, and tweak the content of the post if it's not.

3. Make it clear what your blog is for. Your URL, description, and pinned post (and even your icon and header, if you want) should all indicate what kind of content you provide, so people know at a glance if your blog is something they're interested in. A vague URL and description will kill your engagement because you'll blend in with thousands of other personal/casual blogs.

4. Be the first to interact. Follow other blogs similar to yours and engage with their content consistently. Reblog their creations, reply to their posts, send love to blogs you enjoy. This will help get your blog out there and get your blog recognised by people, and you might even make some friends in the process!

5. Create, create, create. Create content consistently and your audience will build itself. To borrow some freelancer terminology, try to establish "authority" (aka prove that you're a good resource worth listening to) in the community by demonstrating that you know what you're talking about and that you're talented at what you do — create sample work, tutorials, masterlists. Answer questions before they're even asked.

6. Put your offer out there. Once you've demonstrated your knowledge, make a post in the tags inviting people to ask you questions, request content, or whatever kind of interaction you're seeking. I don't recommend doing this any more than once a week, and generally creating content will be more effective than these kinds of posts, but they do work!

7. Join communities. On Tumblr there are two kinds of notable communities you can join: networks, which let you apply to put your content into their network tag/blog (e.g. gifpacknetwork); and discord servers, where you can find similar users, make friends, and get your content seen by a wider audience (either with a server-dedicated Tumblr tag (e.g. codingcabin, supportcontentcreators) or a channel within the discord server where people can link their creations). You can check out #network on my blog, or Google "(your kind of blog) tumblr network" / "(your kind of blog) discord server".

8. Be prepared for silence. Engagement on Tumblr honestly kind of just sucks. A lot of users don't engage with other people's content at all, and even when you do get engagement, you'll experience random dry spells, or random posts won't do as well as others for no apparent reason. It's easier said than done but try not to get too invested in any particular post or any particular aspect of engagement (e.g. how many asks you get) — this is so much more enjoyable when you stop dwelling on the numbers and just make what you enjoy making with no regard for how well it performs.

9. Be patient. Patience and consistency are key. You're (most likely) not going to get hundreds of followers overnight, so set realistic expectations and enjoy the small milestones. If you're always wanting to get bigger and bigger, you're always going to be disappointed that you're not getting there fast enough. Take it one day at a time and enjoy every note and every follow you get.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.

[monsoonblooms12]

Christmas with the Waverleys ❄️: Part I

A/N: Hi, how is everyone doing💫💛? So I really wanted to do something for the Holidays and this is what I came up with. Writing this was a really joyful process, so I really hope that this brings a smile on your face💛 

If you enjoyed the story, please like, leave a comment or reblog. Your feedback keeps me going 💕

Thank you so very much @caseyvalentineramsey for prereading and @jamespotterthefirst for prereading and helping me up with the editing. You guys are life-savers and I love you💛💛

Characters: For this part, the characters are my OH MC(Dr. Pooja Sharma) and OH F!OC (Dr. Alexandra Walton)

Word Count: 1467

Rating: General

Prompts :-

CFWC(@choicesficwriterscreations) Winter Season Prompt #6: Character A doesn’t like the holidays. B loves it. Will B try to find out why or convince A to celebrate it?

@wackydrabbles #74 (Will appear in bold): What do you want me to say?

@choicesdecemberchallenge​ Day 23: Friendship

December 23rd

The riffling of sheets, concomitant typing on the keyboard and the gentle tapping of a blue ballpoint pen.

Aha! Here it is!

The dainty curling up of her lips purported that her quest had been prosperous.

The young girl let down her brunette hair as the muffled voices of Boston's December traffic infiltrating the quiet beige Living room subserved as a token of the celebratory season.

With balmy footfalls, she went to the bay windows of her residence, moving the white satin draperies and looked down to the provocative streets.

Festivals. Gaieties. They were not her thing.

For her, they were needless gatherings, wastage of capital and time.

Christmas, New Year, never held much of a significance in her life.

No matter how much she relished seeing all the people fortified with holiday disposition, she never aspired to be one of them.

Engrossed in thoughts, she nearly plummeted at the unforeseen chime of the doorbell.

A deep breath.

Another one.

And another.

And the abrupt adrenaline rush faded past as she reacquired her equanimity.

An agile glance at the wooden digital timekeeper on the davenport told her that it was 10:30 in the morning.

Mmm-hmm.

An unlikely time for someone to visit.

Must be some parcel posts.

Moving to the door, she clemently swivelled the knob and-

"LEX!"

"Poo?"

Alex was comprehensively purblind as to why Pooja would have come here at 10:30 am, groomed as if she was the anthropomorphism of celebratory spirit.

Not acknowledging her interrogating glimpses, Pooja went inside. Alex accompanied.

And then, Pooja's eyes fell on the vademecum and jotter sitting on the settee.

Hmmm, so they are my rivals.

"Poo? What's the matter? Has something goofed?"

Alex still had no ounce of idea about all that was transpiring.

"IS SOMETHING WRONG? Lex, EVERYTHING IS WRONG!"

Pooja roared as she denoted towards the current occupants of the couch.

"What is wrong with my manual?"

"Lex, ITS CHRISTMASTIDE! You, sitting here and swotting is Inequity!"

"Poo-"

Pooja held up a hand to prevent her from proceeding further. She knew unequivocally what Lex was going to utter. That she shunned celebrations. All this was a waste and the record of criticisms moving on & on.

She had endured her overtures the prevenient time.

But this time? This time, circumstances would change. Alexandra Walton would be carousing Christmas, no matter how absurd it appeared.

"Lex. I understand, okay. I know you loathe fiestas. But-"

"Now don't begin convincing me and convert to a walking, talking book of 101 reasons to savour festivities."

Nah.

This wasn't going to work. Even if she convinced her, she knew better that she would not heed in.

So, what to do now? Hmmm…

Pooja's mind went back to the discussion she had the previous night.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Of course not! Look!"

The Portrayal of Numerous ocular evidence of the case were placed in front of her.

"So, you're stating that she is here, in Boston and that all this is gonna work?"

"Exactly! Believe me, Poo, you will not regret it. Just give it a try!"

This was the only alternative. She ought to do it. It seems implausible, but the stuff she saw with her optics, felt versus her skin, couldn't be a deceit, could it?

"I need a promise."

"Promise? Wow! What a marvellous way of pressuring me into all this."

Alex substantially scoffed. Pooja lightly smacked her forehead.

"Why did you do it?"

Alex produced a perfect faux crybaby face as she tended to her point of the hit.

"You killed my Lil Lil forehead cells!"

Pooja scarcely restrained her chuckle as she set up the stern big-sister facade,

"Just shut up and listen first. I demand you to promise me that you will go with me somewhere on Christmas Eve."

"On a voyage?"

"No, bimbo! To meet someone."

A pouty face followed. But Pooja's glare was enough to make her regress and concede.

"Fine, Promise. But don't you dare pull me to a holiday funfair. Remember, I can bite."

Alex responded as she unveiled her teeth.

"You won't have to stoop that low" Pooja affirmed while stifling a hearty guffaw.

December 24th

"Are you going to tell me where you are taking me?" Vexation grazed Alex's features.

But her irritation was Pooja's gold. It was one of her reactions which made her laugh hysterically.

"If I die, I will spook you until I am served with 12 boxes of extravagant Walter's White and Pink Chocolate because you are making me do THIS." Alex pointed at the two of them.

"Which, I should make it clear, you won't get. 'Cause you won't die. Also, If means?"

"No, like I mean, subsequently we all will die, but before that, we will become top tier doctors, make millions, eat chocolates."

"We will get husbands" Pooja added to the list.

"They will die"

This earned Alex a scowl from her best friend.

"Then we would be sitting in our opulent houses and would be promoting golden dentures on our Pictogram."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!"

"And then we will die. We will be in heaven and do the Hippity-Hop dance with our already-in-heaven husbands", And the two of them laughed like crazy. Passers-by gave them side glances, most of them presuming they both had gone mad, but the two couldn't bother less.

After a little while, they reached in front of a modest house. Entering through the small copper-coloured gate, they peered around.

It posed an explicit opposition to the modern peculiarities of Boston. The place was serene. The garden surrounding the humble stone-exterior dwelling was immaculate and well-kept. The two of them went towards the white gate and pressed the doorbell.

Seconds later, an elderly lady opened the door.

"Hi, I am Pooja. And this is Alexandra" She introduced the two of them.

"Of course, please get in sweetheart. I have been expecting you." The lady gave a friendly smile and motioned the two of them to come in.

While entering, Alex tugged at Pooja's sleeve, dragging her back.

Keeping her voice as faint as plausible, she spoke, "Why did you bring me here? To discover how to make gingerbread?"

Pooja almost let out a tee-hee and gave her a warning look.

"What do you want me to say? You dragged me out of my cozy blanket and summery dreams to learn how to make gingerbread!"

Lightly hitting Alex's forehead, she jokingly admonished "Shut up Lex! Just wait and watch."

And then they followed the lady to a dim room.

In the core of the room, stood a circle table, encompassing which, three obsolescent chairs were orderly arranged.

Several aromatic candles blazed the shadowy nooks. Various shelves positioned on the walls with articles they couldn't recognize due to the gloom.

They were motioned to take a seat on the chairs.

"So, Miss Pooja! I am so overwhelmed to have you and your friend with me! I am very certain, that the forthcoming journey will be a once in a lifetime venture." The lady's grin revealed two blank spaces in her teeth.

"You have planned everything for us?" Even though they had talked beforehand, Pooja still felt a bit dubious. What is something went awry?

No. 

She halted the train of thought. What ifs are endless. Trust yourself, everything that happens will be for the best.

"Yes, dear. Your request was the loveliest. And I have planned to make everything accurate, just the way you want."

At her words, the tension heaving down on Pooja dissipated.

"Now, both of you lay your hands on the table and relax. Don't ask any questions, Don't have any concerns. Just follow my statements and repeat the words I chant after me."

They both followed. Relaxing, for Alex, was hard, but for her twisted sister, she tried her best and finally calmed down.

The lady began. "Relax. All the arrangements are made. I am sending both of you to the Braidwood Manor, where the Waverleys live. You both are getting a chance to experience Christmas as it was celebrated nearly a century and a half ago. You both will reach London in the 1880s. Take a deep breath"

It felt like someone had cast a spell on them. They both followed all the words, all the instructions wordlessly. As said, they took a deep breath.

"Very Good! Now repeat the words after me. Try to remember them. I am sending you both in the past for a day but in case you wanna come back earlier, you will need them"

Then the lady tapped her purple-painted fingernail four times on the table and began, "Zahiri Washiki Ra, Zahiri Washiki Ma, MaRa LaYa Ma."

Both of them repeated. The gloomy room echoed with the words.

ZAHIRI WASHIKI RA, ZAHIRI WASHIKI MA, MARA LAYA MA!

PS: That's all for Christmas with the Waverleys Part 1🧡! Part 2 will be up tomorrow.

If you reached till here, please know that I am truly grateful for you🌟 I wish you nothing but happiness and smiles for the Holidays and the coming year❤

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a great day ahead🧡🧡

[hopesangelsprite]

Sin City | KSJ (2/?)

Pairing: Demon!Receptionist!Seokjin x Angel!Reader

Summary: After her encounter with Kim Seokjin, the reader gets ready for her date with him.

“Come on, chubs! It’s not even that revealing!”, my annoying ass brother said for the umpteenth time causing me to peek out from my bathroom. “Not revealing?! It’s barely at my mid-thigh! And It’s pink!!”, I roared in annoyance. Yoongi sighed and facepalmed.

The last three hours had been spent trying on different outfits. It was my first date in years, and I was nervous as fuck. When Jin had invited me out for lunch, I’d happily agreed and prepared for a casual lunch date somewhere in the city. Then, three days ago, he told me there was a change of plans. He wanted to take me clubbing with him and Yoongi’s friends.

Now, here I was trying to get out of wearing a bright pink mini dress with matching pumps. “Look, chubs, I know what hyung likes and that outfit is it!”, Yoongi spoke as he crossed his arms. I huffed and peeked out again. “Can I change it, at least? Make it more my style?”, I asked in a pouty tone I knew would work on him. Yoongi sighed before nodding in approval. I grinned before shoeing him out so I could finish getting dressed.

Once he was gone, I quickly exited the bathroom and opened my closet. In the very back of the closet was a single duffel that I had purposefully left unpacked. I pulled it free from the depths of the closet and opened it with an excited smirk. In the bag were multiple chains, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, chokers, and other miscellaneous accessories. I looked in the mirror and back into the bag wondering how to accessorize it. I glanced at the clock to see I had an hour and a half until it was time to leave. I stood and walked to my drawer before opening the bottom compartment. Inside were various tools and trinkets. I put on a determined face before gathering a few things and setting to work.

*TIME SKIP BROUGHT TO YOU BY JK’S TINY ASS WAIST*

I smiled with heavy satisfaction as I looked over myself in my full-length mirror. There was a quiet knock on my door before the knob turned and my brother entered. “Hey, it’s time to-WOAH!! You weren’t kidding when you said you wanted to make it your own.”, Yoongi said while looking over my new and improved outfit.

I had turned the dress into a two-piece set by separating the top part from the skirt. I’d quickly hemmed the raw edges by hand and added some spare elastic to both parts so that they fitted snugly. Once that I was done with that, I just picked out matching accessories: A layered chain, an ear cuff and attached earring, and a set of thigh garters. I also had decided to switch the pink pumps for pink wedge sneakers. In short, I looked amazing and felt amazing, too.

(A/N): IMAGINE IT WITH THE AFORMENTIONED ACCESSORIES!!!

Yoongi smirked and nodded approvingly whilst looking me over. “Before, I only thought Jin hyung was gonna love it, but now… I know he’s gonna fall head over heels for you!”, he complimented before taking my hand a leading me out of the room and out of our apartment. Once we were in the elevator, he spoke again. “Listen, this is your first time going out, so pay attention. Don’t wander off alone, don’t drink anything from strangers, tell me where you’re going at all times, and if someone tries to attack you, give ‘em hell.”, he ordered as we reached the bottom floor and stepped into the lobby.

As expected, Seokjin wasn’t at his usual place behind the front desk. In his place was a blue-eyed girl with blonde hair. As we passed by, she sent us a bright smile and a cheery wave. I returned it and continued to follow behind my brother. Once we were outside, Yoongi whistled and waved a pale hand in the wind. A few seconds passed before a cab pulled over for us. Yoongi opened the door and let me in before following shortly after. After giving the driver directions and paying our fare, we set off into the dark, busy streets of Seoul.

I watched the flashing lights of the bustling city go by in a blur while attempting to ignore the growing bundle of anxiety in my tummy. A sigh from Yoongi’s direction turned me away from the window and towards him. “Don’t be nervous, little one. Jin hyung’s a good guy and he’ll take good care of you or else!”, he assured before reaching over nudging my cheek affectionately. I smiled and nodded before continuing to gaze out my window.

Soon enough we were standing outside of a tall, sleek building illuminated with purple neon lights that read ‘Club Bangtan’. Outside the entrance was a line so long that it wrapped around the corner of the building. Yoongi chuckled at my awe-filled expression before taking my hand again and leading me straight to the door. The two bouncers, who had been lazily admitting people inside, quickly stumbled to attention at the sight of him. “Easy, boys. Listen up cause I’m only telling you once. This girl right here can come in whenever she wants with whoever she wants with no waiting. You treat her right, too. Spread the word.”, Yoongi ordered with sternness.

The two looked me over quickly before nodding and opening the doors to the club. Once we stepped in, I was immediately blasted with music. Multicolored pulsing lights flashed wildly as throngs of people danced. There were angels, demon, and humans all in harmony as the music filled the atmosphere. A small tug from Yoongi brought me out of my stupor. I turned to see that we now were entering another elevator.

Once the doors closed, Yoongi placed his hand on a screen before typing in a few numbers. “Your turn! Gotta get you in the system.”, he informed before placing my hand on the screen. The cool glass beneath my palm vibrated before a small ding sounded. I pulled away to see the words ‘Choose your four-digit PIN.’ on the flashing screen. “Go ahead and choose. I won’t peek!”, Yoongi said before putting his hand over his eyes. I chuckled and thought for a minute. Then, four numbers came to my mind. Although they were random, they felt right to use. I quickly typed ‘1992’ on the keypad before hitting the enter button. The elevator made a small sound of approval before the doors slid open to reveal a large penthouse.

Yoongi took my hand and led me through the spacious living area. “Hey, Yoonie. How do you have access to all this stuff?”, I asked curiously. He chuckled and answered, “This entire block is mine, chubs! And now that you’re here, it’s yours, too!”. I stared at him in awe. He had become successful after he left. We stopped at a door painted bright red before Yoongi raised his hand and did a special knock. There was a pause before the door swung open to reveal Seokjin in all his handsome glory.

His hair was no longer blonde but a vibrant purple color. His flawless skin was cast in its usual heavenly glow. Today he had dawned an all-white suit. At the sight of us, he smirked sending chills running rampant down my spine. “Your late, Yoongles. Fashionably, I presume?”, he asked with the flick of a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “As always, hyung.”, he retorted.

Seokjin glanced at me and paused before looking me over. “Well hello, love. It’s good to see that you made it.”, he said almost hungrily as he took my hand from Yoongi and pulled me into the room. Just like the door, the room was decorated in shades of red and crimson. Scattered about the area were five other men and three girls. “LISTEN UP, BOYS AND GALS! THIS ADORABLE LIL THING RIGHT HERE IS ALL MINE, SO KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELVES!!!”, Jin announced whilst pulling me into his side by my waist.

Yoongi rolled his eyes before making his away around the bar in the corner to pour himself a whiskey neat. Jin lead me to a couch and sat down before pulling me into his lap. Warmth spread throughout my cheeks at the sudden lack of space between us. “Now, honey. Let’s get to know each other.”, Jin drawled out seductively. His chocolate orbs flashed pink as they bored into mine.

“I can tell we’re going to enjoy each other’s company…”

(A/N):

Hiii! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I’ll be updating soon cause this one was just a filler. Please like, share, reblog, and comment your thoughts and ideas!!!

[foxtophat]

(still trying to figure out how i link these but whatever)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!! i decided to just sit down and hammer out the last edits for this lil one-shot so i could get it out today!

i’m gonna be real with you: the only reason i wrote this fic is because i couldn’t get the idea out of my head.  you weren’t supposed to see mercyverse for another month, honestly!!! but it’s been cold as fuck here and it’s made me fantasize about classic bed-sharing tropes, and so here we are!

this is a bit of a slice of life, to sort of give an idea of how day-to-day these guys all interact, especially now that carmina doesn’t have to pretend john doesn’t exist.  plus, i’m starting to see how the caches might be involved in the overarching plot???? awesome!!!

as usual, the full text is below the cut for my friends who don’t wanna leave tumblr.  i hope you enjoy -- feel free to leave a comment, i loooove hearing from readers. likes and reblogs are also great! kudos are fantastic! adding to the hit counter is just fine by me!!! anything you do to show support for fanfic is a good thing imo.  i hope y’all have a happy wintereenmas or whatever and i will see you guys in 2021 with more mercyverse :)

The best thing Nick can say about the blizzard currently sweeping the county is that he could see that it was coming. They'd gotten almost a foot of snow the night before, which gets him worried about getting snowed in, and as the day progresses, the sky grows an ominous gray that Nick recognizes from a lifetime of living in the area. He knows that they probably only have a few hours left before they're going to want to get inside and avoid the worst a winter storm has to offer.

Nick and John spend the entire morning hauling wood into the house, while Kim does her best to clean out the broken chimney and ensure they won't die of smoke inhalation. They also pull in some pre-made stock that Kim had left in the freezer after it had gotten cold enough to use, as well as a few smaller pieces for miscellaneous projects. But with the storm rolling in overhead, they don't have long; they end up leaving a lot of things for later as the wind whips up around them and turns the snow sideways.

By two in the afternoon, they've closed the doors to officially bunker down for the rest of the blizzard. They have enough wood to last them three days, plus their military rations and plenty of coffee, so Nick isn't particularly concerned about their safety. The only thing he's really got to contend with is boredom, which is easier to stave off in the first few hours of captivity than it is later in the evening.

For the most part, Nick passes the time by sharpening their knives, cleaning their guns, and checking the radio every hour for any emergencies. The blizzard ensures that not many people are on, but at least he gets to check in with Jerome and make sure that Grace is safely in her bunker. It's unlikely they'll get in contact with the trailer park until after the worst passes, but that just means Nick's gonna worry about those jackasses all night.

Kim is probably the only one comfortable with the downtime, making the most of things as she chews on the radio's instructions. When the technical jargon gets to be too much, she switches to entertaining Carmina, who gets bored quick when her only job is to keep the fire going. The easiest distraction comes from card games; the deck they'd had in the bunker had shrunk to only 32 cards, but now that they've got a full deck to work with, Carmina is eager to relearn and master games like Go Fish and Old Maid. Nick doubts Jacob planned to be entertaining kids with his survival gear, but it's not like the guy's gonna complain.

Carmina isn't the only one that Jacob is keeping busy beyond the grave. Ever since they found that cache of his, John has been borderline obsessed with figuring out what the point of it could be. He'll go all day without mentioning the puzzle plaguing him, but any available downtime has him staring at the map and its coordinates. Nick and Kim have both been keeping an eye on it, just in case it turns into something worse than his usual tunnel-vision, but so far it hasn't gotten out of hand. If anything, John seems more aware and alert now that he has something to focus on, and now Nick can even pretend he's a normal guy for conversations at a time before being reminded otherwise.

Of course, the blizzard's making it impossible to find alternate distractions. John does spend part of the afternoon in his room, but eventually, he can't help but come downstairs to mull over the map. There's only one problem with that — they've hung the map up in the radio room, so there's about ten minutes every hour where Nick has no choice but to sit in John's presence. It probably wouldn't bother him so much if there was somewhere else either of them could be, but they're stuck for the foreseeable future. John's looming is just going to be part of Nick's life until the storm passes.

In the interest of keeping the peace, Nick reluctantly tries to have the same level of interest in the random dots that John shows. His attention, however, is distracted by the penciled-in changes that he, Kim and John have all been making to the landscape. The river's wider in some places now, and there are doodles of trees in spaces that were once open fields. A few X's mark places where bridges have collapsed, and Kim's circled anywhere they've made radio contact with. Their notations have scattered across the valley, and have even spread over to the river region thanks to Hurk and his raider gang, but they still don't know anything about the mountains, or even the spaces that are supposedly occupied by bow-wielding religious nutjobs. It's going to be a while before any of them get the nerve to go poking that particular hornet's nest.

John has his little notebook open, but he's not writing anything down. Nick's not sure what he would even put down, since they haven't gotten any more leads since early autumn, but he's always got the thing tucked in a pocket nowadays. Maybe Nick should be mad he outright stole that resource from the rest of them, but — well, come on. He can't yell at the man for taking up journaling, not without flying in the face of every therapist Nick had pretended not to listen to. It's just... well, what the hell is there for him to write down?

"Are you staring for any particular reason?" John asks, because of course he does.

"That's rich, coming from the guy lurking over my shoulder all day." Nick flips off the static-ridden radio frequency, leaning back in his chair so that he can get a better look at the map push-pinned to the wall. "I hear if you look at it just right, you can see a sailboat."

John's clearly not much of a Kevin Smith fan, because he only sighs heavily at Nick's flat joke. "If you have something better for me to be doing, I'm all ears," he says, revealing to Nick at last just how bored he really is. Weirdly enough, being in the same boat as John is somehow reassuring.

"Okay, fine. At least tell me what you're staring at, so I know what to fake interest in."

Even though it's mostly a joke, it lands softly enough that John doesn't take offense. Stuffing the notebook in his back pocket, he shakes his head, gesturing at the map. Getting John to explain himself is usually like pulling teeth, but right now he seems relieved to have someone to bounce his thoughts off of. It's a long way away from the guy Nick remembers saving, enough so that it almost catches his full interest.

"It's nothing in particular, really. I've already spent hours staring at this thing, but I'm... still looking for a pattern, I guess. Jacob was paranoid and secretive, but if there's a hidden code buried in these coordinates, it's beyond me to see it. And the snow was already keeping us from traveling too far — now with this blizzard, we're likely stuck with no new information until spring ..."

John sighs, rubbing his forehead as the pretense finally abandons him. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to do until then."

That's certainly a feeling that Nick can relate to. Nick is less of a workaholic than John might be, but that doesn't mean he won't go stir-crazy without his own set of chores. Hell, that's why he's been hanging around the radio in between games of cards with the girls and cleaning whatever he can get his hands on. It must suck extra for John; the guy's been spinning his tires in the dirt for years, probably, and being this close to having a purpose beyond doing whatever chores Nick sets him to must be irritating.

Nick props one leg up against the wall, tapping his boot against the wood as he ponders the dots scattered around the map. There are a few still in the valley, but there's no driving until they thaw out. The points in the mountains are probably inaccessible to anybody, and who knows when they'll get to investigate the old vet center or find the Wolf's Den. There are a couple points nearer the trailer park, though, and not for the first time Nick tries to measure the distance from Hurk to the various red dots. There's one near the lumber mill, and one near where that godawful statue was, and of course one right smack dab in the middle of the original Peggy compound.

Nick can't imagine his truck making it all the way there and back, not without more information about the roads. Hurk might not have the same trouble. "I could send the trailer park a couple coordinates," he points out. "They might get to search before us, and it could cut the work in half."

Despite John's scowl, he only sounds tired as he replies, "I've considered it, but I don't trust them. Then again, I hardly trust myself, so who knows."

"I guess you're shit outta luck, then," Nick says. John takes obvious offense at Nick brushing him off, but hey, what else is Nick supposed to do? "God's giving you a freebie with this blizzard. Maybe you should try catching up on your sleep, or something."

"And ruin the precarious schedule I'm keeping?"

"Jesus, then go read a book! Just — you know, quit hovering over me all day. Don't you know how to entertain yourself?"

John seems unphased by Nick's half-hearted outburst. "This is how I entertain myself. Maps, resources, legal documents — that's probably the only decent outlet I've ever had." He stares at Nick's boot, unwilling to meet his eyes. "At least, it's the only one healthy enough to keep."

That is probably a safe bet, Nick realizes, quickly trying to backpedal away from the open scab that is John's history. "Uh, well, what about before the cult?"

John surprises them both with a brief laugh. "If I could source some coke, then yes, I would be entertained."

"Jesus, John."

"I'm not known for my healthy self-care habits," John points out, a little too smug to be truly self-deprecating. At least he seems to understand what Nick had been getting at originally, deferring with a vague hand-wave. "Is my loitering in the kitchen going to be too smothering for you, too, or is that okay?"

Nick rolls his eyes, flipping the radio back on to scan the channels once again. "It's fine, whatever. Just as long as you've got something better to entertain yourself than snaking the whiskey Jacob left."

"I'm more of a gin guy," John admits.

"Of course you are."

It's still a relief, though, knowing they aren't keeping an alcoholic too near his fix. On top of that, John's relaxed disregard for his past vices settles nerves Nick hadn't even realized were rattled. Sure, there's probably a whole other box of American Psycho- esque worms waiting to be opened up from John's time before Eden's Gate, but at least he seems to have comfortably packed that part of his life away for now. Unlike talking about the cult, John has no trouble dropping the conversation, just as casually as he'd brought it up. He retreats into the kitchen to mull over whatever he's written down already, leaving behind no traumatic story or sad-eyed stare — just the casual admission that he would really like to do some drugs.

Weirdly enough, that is probably the most respectable thing about John to date.

Nick spends another fifteen minutes checking the radio, scanning the channels he knows people use most. He winds up with nothing to show for it — either the storm is making radio communication impossible, or everybody else has given up on their radios. It's only after he's cleared the range twice that he flips the radio off and escapes back to Kim and Carmina, leaving John in the kitchen with a broad, somehow-sarcastic gesture towards the now unoccupied radio nook.

Carmina ropes Nick into a game of Go Fish, which Kim seems keen on losing. Nick isn't surprised — Carmina is a wily player, which is to say that she tries to bluff her way through hands with all the grace of a sledgehammer. Kim's not as willing to put up with cheating as Nick is, but neither of them are capable of even pretending to believe Carmina's poker face. It's going to be a problem one day, but Nick isn't exactly ready to teach his daughter how to lie to his face.

Well, that is until she and Nick are on their third round of Go Fish, and Nick has had to pretend not to see through all of Carmina's gambits.

He asks her if she has any threes, and she scrunches her nose up as she glances meaningfully at her cards. "Go fish," she says, making Nick regret not having Kim sit right behind their daughter as a referee.

"Fine," he grumbles, "If you say so."

Kim blinks skeptically at the pants she's fixing, but she doesn't offer Nick any out. If it weren't for his clumsy hands, maybe he could use darning socks and patching shirts as an excuse to quit playing, but as it stands, the only thing he has other than getting trounced is staring at the map with John. And since he already tried that and found it to be mildly aggravating at best...

"You know, this would be more fun with more people," Nick says, desperately glancing at Kim.

Kim, of course, gives him no quarter. "Why don't you ask John," she suggests rhetorically.

"John," Carmina calls out, "Do you wanna play Go Fish?"

Nick opens his mouth to chastise Carmina, but he realizes there's nothing to discipline her for. Especially not when John flippantly replies, "I think your father's looking to play with fewer cheaters, not more."

"I'm not cheating!" Carmina exclaims, not-so-surreptitiously pressing her cards into her lap to ensure nobody's looking at them. Between that and her guiltily furrowed brow, there's no hiding it. Her poker face needs a lot of work.

"Go Fish isn't even worth cheating at," Nick sighs, gesturing for her cards. "If that's the way you wanna play, at least do it the right way. Here, gimme your cards — John, come over here so I can teach my daughter how to lie to your face."

As if playing a game of cards with John wasn't enough to excite Carmina, she's doubly over the moon when he tells her the rules. After all, a ten-year-old girl is the prime demographic for the game Bullshit, especially when she's given carte blanche to shout cuss words at her dad. On top of that, it seems like bluffing really is half of the fun for his daughter — which is a little intimidating, sure, but at least he knows she's smart enough to understand the utility of lying.

John is... unenthusiastic, to say the least, but that only makes the prospect of humiliating him that much better. A few weeks ago, Nick would've thought John was too fragile to be messed with, but now there's a bounce in his step that will make taking him down easier. He's got to do something to remind himself that this nearly-tolerable man is usually a miserable sonofabitch.

Unfortunately, John has a fantastic poker face. Nick figured that from the get-go, but it's still daunting to play against a bored, uninterested party. That's probably why Carmina avoids John in favor of hounding Nick, calling out "bullshit!" with delightful glee whenever she thinks Nick has dropped the wrong face card or played a nine instead of a King. On the one hand, Nick appreciates that he can read her as well as she can, but on the other hand, he'd really like a chance to beat John. So far, he's the only one who's called John out, and all he has to show for it is the extra six cards in his hand.

Although Kim is on standby for this round, she keeps flashing Nick amused grins whenever Carmina calls bullshit. Nick almost hopes John can hold it together to be mundane for two entire rounds of cards because he wouldn't stand a chance against Kim.

Case in point, John lays down two cards that are meant to be threes, and Kim clicks her tongue disapprovingly. Carmina frowns up at her mom, who only shrugs and suggests, "I would call him out, if I were you."

John's neutral frown doesn't change. "Last I checked, you weren't playing," he says.

Kim only shrugs in response. Nick furrows his brow at Kim while Carmina squints suspiciously from the discard pile to John and then back again. Of course, encouraging a ten-year-old to swear is always going to win out, and so Carmina wrinkles her nose and calls John out with a slightly uncertain, "Okay, bullshit."

Without so much as a grimace of defeat, John lets Carmina flip his played cards — one three, and one dirty, rotten, lying, bullshit seven .

"That's what I thought," Kim says, flippantly triumphant. "Guess you're not as hard to read as you thought."

Nick sure can't tell what John's thinking as he lifts one shoulder noncommittally. "I stand corrected."

"Wait," Nick asks, "What gave it away?"

"I'm not helping you too , Nick," Kim laughs. "That wouldn't be fair."

"It's not exactly fair to help Carmina," John points out. Nick bets he's just as interested in what tell Kim noticed, although he manages to be less obvious about it. At least he can't crack Kim's smug smile any better than Nick, which is some small compensation.

Nick manages to win this hand, if only because his play strategy involves lying as little as possible. That seems to work against Carmina no problem, but Nick suspects John threw the game out of personal disinterest. If it weren't for the howling winds whistling through the roof and second story, John would probably excuse himself from another hand by retreating upstairs, but as it is he manages to sit through one more round of cards, this time with Kim joining in.

Carmina's poker-face doesn't improve by leaps and bounds, exactly, but she manages to fool Nick into picking up a fat stack of cards, so that's something. Too bad he'd been trying to teach her to lie to John , not her parents. Well — at least she's a nice enough kid to only do it for fun. He hopes, anyway.

Kim makes John's loss look more organic, at least, and she doesn't rub it in too badly when she wins. It's extra kind of her considering Nick is the one who called her last play bullshit, leaving him to rot in miserable third place after both his girls. Well, fine . At least Carmina seemed to have fun, even if Nick is now sitting with nearly half a deck in his hands. If the blizzard keeps up for too long, they might have to graduate to poker.

Before they can play any more card games, though, they take time out for dinner. It's almost normal, sitting around the fireplace with their military rations and some hot broth — if they were eating Marie Calendar pot-pies and watching Christmas movies, Nick would even be able to ignore John's presence sticking out like a sore thumb.

The next best thing to watching movies is talking about them, which has become something of a tradition between the Ryes. It all started in the bunker, where Kim and Nick ran out of normal Christmas stories and began taking turns narrating whatever holiday movies they could remember. They've run through all the memorable Rankin & Bass flicks, as well as a couple more contemporary ones, so they're starting to reach for their personal favorites or the very bottom of the barrel plots.

Nick intends to be paying Jingle All the Way a tribute tonight, but as soon as he mentions that the Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle is one of his favorites, he's interrupted by John snorting derisively.

"Let me guess," Nick snaps, "You're one of those jackasses who pretends Die Hard is a legitimate Christmas movie just so he doesn't have to watch good, family-friendly content."

"It is a legitimate Christmas movie," John responds, just petulantly enough to tell Nick he hit the nail on the head.

"Look, Kim and I have already had this discussion — just because it takes place during Christmas doesn't make it a Christmas movie . Set dressing alone isn't enough!"

John raises his eyes towards the ceiling, which is as subtle as his eyerolls can get. "Whatever you say, Nick."

"What's Die Hard about?" Carmina asks, excitedly guessing, "Does Santa get to shoot people in it?"

"That would be a good Christmas movie," Nick replies. "No, it's just about some guy who has to fight bad guys in a building."

"During Christmas," Kim points out.

"Okay, fine during Christmas. But nobody's dressed up like Santa, nobody sings any carols, and there sure as hell isn't any Christmas magic that saves the day, so it doesn't count!"

"So what does happen?" Carmina asks.

Damn it — Nick should have known that talking about an action flick would immediately disinterest her towards any sloppy story about consumerism. She doesn't even know what a mall is — but she knows how to shoot a handgun, and now that Nick's thinking about it, she might need to use the duct-tape shoulder holster trick one day. It would be pretty bad-ass if she knew how, anyway.

"Okay, fine, I'll do it real quick. I don't remember all the parts, so Kim, you gotta help."

Real quick turns out to take almost as much time as the movie itself had. Kim interjects whenever Nick forgets a plot point, but at least he remembers the core conflict. Sort of, anyway — by the time he's done recounting John McClane's tale, John looks visibly dissatisfied, and Kim has a "well, sort of" expression on her face that implies he didn't quite nail the execution. Well, who cares what they think? All that matters is that Carmina is entertained, and of course she is. After all, narrated or not, it's still Die Hard . Just so long as she doesn't ask about the sequels, they should be okay.

The wind is still whipping overhead, and Nick can see nothing beyond the windows. There's no telling how late it's gotten. Although his internal clock insists it can't have been that long since sundown, Carmina has been yawning for a while now, and the fire's gone down again. It looks like sleeping through the storm is the only pastime left for Nick to try.

Carmina takes over stoking the fire for the final time before bed, while Kim makes her way upstairs to gather as much of their bedding as she can carry. John follows reluctantly behind, clearly unhappy with the prospect of facing his own cold room, but Nick figures he can deal for five damn minutes. For his part, Nick busies himself checking the radio one last time, just in case there's an emergency. He doesn't know what they'd be able to do if there was one, but that doesn't stop him from checking anyway.

With the radio situated just under the stairs, it's easy to listen in to Kim stomping around in the room above, desperate to keep her temperature up. Nick had put off too many attic repairs before this winter — he's going to have to make up for that in spring, when he and John can worm their way into the rafters and ensure that their next winter won't turn the bedrooms into a cold wasteland. Of course, even if they did patch up the gaps in the floorboards and do their best to insulate the attic, not much can beat a genuine fire in the middle of a snowstorm.

Nick isn't even paying attention to the radio, so he flips it off and trusts that everyone can keep themselves safe for another night. He hears the whump of fabric as Kim tosses their two biggest, least moldy blankets down for Carmina to start with, and the creak of footsteps on the landing overhead. Kim's voice isn't raised, but it carries down to Nick clear as a bell.

"John, you'll freeze if you stay up here," she says. "Get your stuff and come downstairs."

"It's not that cold," John says, attempting to deflect from one weak excuse with another. "I doubt Nick approved that suggestion."

Well, not technically, no, but Nick had sort of assumed they were already all on the same page. What does John think Nick's gonna do, force him to freeze upstairs so he can hog the fireplace all to himself?

Kim doesn't give the excuses a chance to breathe, replying with parental exasperation. "He and I both agree it's too cold to sleep upstairs." Nick can hear the teasing plain as day when she adds, "Just don't be weird about it."

Sure enough, suggesting John might be making things awkward is enough to get him to shut up and follow orders. Nick briefly longs for the days when John would mutely nod and do as told without any additional goading, but only for a second. Even that is long enough retrospection to remind Nick of how creepy and genuinely alarming it had been. Sure, John might get argumentative or exasperated now, but at least there's an actual person to communicate with. Nick might want to kick his ass more now than before, but he absolutely hated dealing with the hollow-eyed monster John had been.

Besides, it's way more satisfying being a dick to him now that he actually gets offended.

Despite John's furrowed-brow glares, Nick doesn't comment whatsoever on him trailing downstairs after Kim, clutching two actual blankets and a tarp that's weather-worn enough to pass muster. He stands and waits for someone to point him in the right direction as Kim and Carmina do their best to bundle together a soft place on the floor, but Nick studiously ignores him until he makes a decision himself. John takes a spot close to the fireplace, off to the right of where the girls are setting up. It's still plenty removed enough, so that nobody will get the wrong idea and think John is supposed to be welcome down here. Nick wonders who he's trying to convince, but there are so many damn demons in the man's head, it's anybody's guess.

With the fire roaring for the last time that night, all the blankets arranged and everybody looking exhausted despite not doing anything all day, Nick finally gets to crawl into bed and put this whole goddamn blizzard behind him. Hopefully, the weather has the common sense to clear up tomorrow — for now, it's time to shut out the cold entirely.

He must be tired. Nick barely stays conscious as Kim and Carmina climb under the blankets, the cool air rapidly warming as they begin to shift around and get comfortable. He rouses a few times at first as Carmina kicks his leg and Kim bumps into him, but eventually, he finds himself dozing in the silence of a quiet house. Far above them, the wind is whipping through the attic, but from down here, it sounds like a generic white-noise machine; coupled with the crackling fire, Nick is lulled to sleep by the sounds of peaceful normalcy.

Who knows how long it is before Nick finds himself conscious again. Even then, he only wakes enough to hear the dying fire popping by his feet. Maybe he should stoke it. But that would mean moving, and Nick is weighted down on either side beneath warm blankets, so that's a hard no. He tries first to roll towards Kim and Carmina, ready to curl into a ball and conserve even more heat, but his right arm is stuck. It takes a few bleary-eyed blinks to realize what's pinned him down, but he's barely coherent enough to make sense of it.

Sometime in the night, John must've migrated from the no-man's-land he'd made for himself towards the Rye's pile of blankets. Unsurprising, really — but more than a little awkward, given how he's pressed into Nick's side, pinning Nick's arm in place. Worse yet, half of his blankets have been absorbed into the mess that Nick's been using to keep warm, which is going to make extracting himself tricky if not impossible.

While he tries to figure out how to avoid making this mortifying situation worse, Nick watches John for any signs of consciousness. The guy usually sleeps light, but Nick watches his breathing for a solid minute and doesn't catch anything. Either his poker-face is just that good, or John is actually asleep. Deeply, peacefully asleep. Nick had assumed that was impossible.

If Nick were a better person, he'd probably be thankful to see it. Glad to know that John's insomnia might finally be coming to an end. But Nick is mostly just an exhausted, anxious mess, and now he's just wondering how to get out of the situation he's found himself in.

John shifts, and like a guilty ten-year-old, Nick immediately closes his eyes and pretends to be asleep. If he's lucky, John will roll away of his own volition, or at least move enough to let Nick roll over himself. If only he'd decided to sleep on Kim's side — she wouldn't have the same trouble Nick has. She'd just kick him away and be done with it.

Slowly, John moves away from Nick. The relief is short-lived as John pulls back the covers enough to send a cold chill down Nick's side; it's a split-second decision that John immediately regrets, hissing under his breath and letting the blankets fall back into place as he recoils from the freezing temperatures.

Nick can't help his quiet huff of amusement — which is enough to break the illusion that he'd been asleep in the first place. He could probably still fake it, but if he does, John will definitely try to move his blankets, and that is going to be a much bigger problem than tolerating John in his personal space.

"Quit squirming so much," Nick mutters. "Gonna let in the cold."

John is silent and tense beside him, but he does stop squirming. It's like lying near a tense bar of iron. After a brief struggle to figure out what to say, John's embarrassment catches in his voice as he apologizes. "I'm sorry," he rasps. "I — must have been tired."

Nick sighs. "Just don't crush my arm again."

Even though John moves as though Nick threatened him, he stops short of retreating from the blankets entirely. Nick can only imagine how cold it must be — every breath of his that makes it above the blanket-line comes with a faint puff of visible air. No matter how humiliating it might be to cuddle up to Nick, it doesn't seem like John had much of a choice in the matter.

Before John can decide to try escaping again, Nick repeats, "Whatever you do, don't let in the cold."

In for a penny, Nick decides, worming deeper into the makeshift bed so that John can have more room. Rolling over is the easiest way to avoid the mortifying process of finding a comfortable sleeping arrangement. Eventually, they wind up back-to-back; Nick normally wouldn't be able to stand John touching him, but the additional body-heat does a lot to soothe Nick's reservations. Who knew all he needed to tolerate John's physical presence would be cold weather and exhaustion?

The Deputy, probably, which only makes Nick grin in tired relief. At least they would be glad to know that Nick's grown as a person. They'd probably be glad to learn he's finally gotten on-board with not murdering the Seeds in cold blood — even if it took an apocalypse to get there. If they could see the shit he's gotten himself into now, they'd probably...

He sighs. It must be a heavier sound than he imagined, because John whispers, "What?"

"Nothing," Nick says immediately, as default an answer as John's yeses are. But that's not fair, he doesn't think, because they never let John get away with his obvious deflections. As late as it is, it's easy to blame his guilt on his exhaustion. "Just thinking about Rook," he admits.

"Oh."

John is clearly uncomfortable with the topic, but he doesn't react when Nick continues sleepily, "They'd get a kick outta this, is all."

John hums. It's a quiet noise, but Nick can feel it vibrate through John's shirt. If there are two people Nick hates bringing Rook up around, it's Sharky and John. Sure, Sharky's crush was the one that was reciprocated, but Dep had always treated John's flat-footed overtures like creepy compliments instead of outright threats. They'd probably figured John's crush was superficial, whereas Sharky's had been more real than probably anything else Nick had seen the poor sap go through. John's infatuation had been about power, control, and Joseph goddamn Seed. Still, Nick can't help but wonder just how much of it might've been real to John at the time.

"They had a bad sense of humor," John finally responds, quietly enough that Nick almost misses the hurt.

"Terrible," Nick agrees.

When John sighs, Nick recognizes it as a sign of defeat. Whatever he's debating with himself, he's clearly lost. Although he doesn't speak up again, Nick isn't sure he's gone back to sleep. He sure hopes he didn't just instill another restless night in the guy, but that's John's burden to bear. Maybe he can use it to finally find some common ground with Sharky.

Nick isn't even sure that he can fall back asleep, but that doesn't seem to matter. Before he knows it, he's being woken up once more — this time by a glance of sunlight coming in through the upper part of the windows. It's just enough light to wake him, but he spends an exhausted minute staring at the wall over Kim's shoulder as he debates whether or not he's really committing this time. He's going to need to use the bathroom sooner or later — and just thinking that is enough to tell Nick that he's not getting back to sleep again.

John's back is still facing Nick, and Kim rolls away as soon as Nick starts to squirm, which leaves his path to escape much more open than it was a few hours ago. He manages to pull himself free without waking anyone else, but as soon as he does, John worms into the warm spot left behind. Nick should probably be upset, but mostly he just needs to pee. He can kick John out of his spot after he takes care of himself.

Nick leaves the rest of them to sleep as he tiptoes across the living room to the front door. Unfortunately, the door only wedges open an inch before it hits a wall of snow. Unwilling to wake anyone else up with catastrophic noise, Nick heads upstairs, going for the broken window in John's room. It's freezing up here, cold enough to keep meat until spring, and Nick pulls his flannel closer as he crosses the room, trying not to take too much stock of his surroundings. He doesn't care about the tallies John used to carve in the wall by his bed, and he definitely doesn't care to snoop through the pile of clothes that John's been growing in the corner. What he does care about is how easy it is to crawl out onto the roof from the window — after all, this isn't the first time Nick's been snowed in, and he's made escaping his childhood home an art-form.

There's a good three and a half feet of snow on the ground below, blocking any exit from the first floor. At least the gray sky above is calm, and the weather seems to have calmed down some. They'll have to prepare for another couple of inches before the week's out, but Nick bets the worst of it is over. Now he can think about breakfast — more specifically, coffee — and debate the best way to clear the doorways. They need a path out to the hangar, although they can wait another day or two before they'll need to press the matter. Nick's still convinced there's a set of tire chains hiding away in there, but it's not like the roads will be in any condition to drive on for a while yet...

Nick spends so much time thinking about what he's got to do, he forgets to consider how willing the rest of the house will be to pitch in. The top-of-the-snow sunlight isn't enough heat to make up for the lack of a fire, and getting Kim out from under the blankets is gonna be like pulling teeth until he does something about it. Worse yet, John's rolled into the spot Nick had occupied — not exactly sprawled out, or anything, but the guy is irritatingly close to Kim's sleeping back. If he decided to roll one more time, he'd probably end up smacking his face into her shoulder.

Nick considers throwing a fit on principle, but honestly, that's too much work. It's much easier to sulk, glowering at the bed he's definitely not getting back into before getting some logs to stack in the fire. He drops them noisily by John's feet, although he makes every effort not to accidentally pull a Misery on the guy.

The sound of hollow wood clattering on the ground is enough to stir John, who wakes with a sharp inhale, and cause Carmina to groan and turn away from the noise. Kim has probably been awake for a while now, but it won't make a lick of difference until the fire's on.

He turns away to toss the logs semi-haphazardly into the fireplace, then remembers the kindling and turns to get it. John has propped himself on his elbows, but his half-waking confusion causes him to overlook Nick entirely as he stares around the room. Seeing Kim and Carmina asleep next to him is initially met with confusion. He barely seems to recognize the shapes bundled in the blankets, but when he does he recoils in shock. All the nasty comments Nick had thought up take an abrupt backseat as he stops to marvel at the physical repulsion John shows. He's not sure if he should be offended or not. Probably not, but this apocalypse has got Nick wired all wrong.

"She's not gonna bite," Nick says. John whips his attention back to Nick the moment he raises his voice, only for Nick to realize that looming over the guy with a thick block of wood in hand might send the wrong message.

Sure enough, John catches sight of him, jerking back with a startled hiss. " Jesus !"

"Shit, sorry." Nick turns and drops the log, wincing at the noise that he'd moments ago been deliberately making. "Well, judging from that reaction, looks like this isn't the first time a man's caught you in bed with his wife."

John's withering glare is enough to lift Nick's mood right up. He turns his attention back to starting the fire, listening as John slowly shifts his way free of the blankets. Part of him wants to make a few more jokes at John's expense, but that can wait until John's coherent enough to be snide in return.

Nick gets the fire going and turns to follow John, who's made his way into the kitchen to peer out the window. "Completely snowed in," Nick tells him as he gets the instant coffee and the beat-up kettle. "But it looks like the worst of it's over."

"Seems to be," John agrees, adding, "We forgot the shovels in the truck. It's going to be difficult digging them out now."

"Not a lot of other options, unless you wanna stay inside until the big thaw. Don't worry, I'm sure Carmina will be excited to help us dig."

John hums in assent, although his mind seems to be somewhere else. Nick can't help but notice that John's pensive states seem damned near reasonable nowadays. He has plenty to think about, and he seems to be keeping one foot in the here-and-now. He's aware enough of his surroundings that he stops Nick before he can leave John to it.

He tries to stare Nick down, but he can't quite manage it. "Thank you for not..."

John gestures vaguely as the rest of the sentence fails to generate. Nick could probably wait it out, but he's just as embarrassed as John apparently is, and he would rather move past the whole thing.

"Don't worry about it," Nick says. "Just don't get too comfortable cuddling up to me."

Rolling his eyes doesn't hide John's faint smile, but he turns away before Nick can see if it lasts. "That won't be a problem, trust me."

Nick is surprised that he does, even for something as small and inconsequential as a joke. "Grab the mugs when you're done looking for Santa," he says, turning back for the warmth of the fire. A few months ago, Nick might've resented how eroded the line has become between John and his own family, but it's honestly too much work to keep up. At a certain point, they're just going to have to include John in their daily routines — Nick just hadn't expected that point to be made by sharing blankets during a blizzard.

Well, there's one good thing about that, Nick supposes — it means that somewhere up there, the Deputy is watching over them. After all, there's no way in hell random chance has the same shitty sense of humor as Rook had.

[devilmaycamera]

FAQ

So I get a lot of questions. And I also get the same questions a lot, so hopefully this helps some of y’all before sending something through, but also those too nervous to ask!

I’ll edit this post and reblog as more things come to mind or more things get asked regularly.

[Updated 3rd Nov ‘19] My work season has now picked up which severely limits my time, so it’s time to revise the FAQ! (Was previously unemployed, now busy 6 days a week.)

Requests

Do you take requests? I used to, but my schedule doesn’t allow for it any more. However if you are an artist looking for something specific, you are welcome to IM me and I’ll see if I can help you out. Just be aware I only get to take screenshots about once a month now and queue everything.

I requested [thing] before you closed requests, is it gone? Although slow-coming, former requests are still on my list to do except for if it was a vague or colossal request like ‘more of [character] please’ or ‘all the characters [detail]’

Can I have screenshots of [Thing]? I’ve probably already had at least three requests for it, so please check the appropriate tags to find it. Most likely what you’re after will either be in a character tag from this list, and/or the relevant scene from this list. I take great pride in my lists and tagging, please use them. I will ignore vague/ duplicate requests because my inbox is flooded with this.

Can you post more/less of [Character]? No. Deal with it. They’re all great and I’ll post what I want. >:3

Screenshot Use

Can I Repost/Reupload your pictures? To Tumblr? No. Please Reblog. If you want to only share one image of a set that I’ve posted together, send me an IM with the link to the post and let me know which image and I’ll post it for ya separately. :3 To any other website? Kind of yes, BUT please don’t crop the images. Cropping makes me sad. It’d be rad if you can refer back in case people wanna find more, tho! I have set up a Twitter that auto-posts when Tumblr does too if that helps.

I saw someone repost your screenshot on [Platform]- Saddly its inevitable. Technically there is nothing I can do about it as the game and its assets belong to Capcom and I don’t own exclusive rights to the use of its assets obviously. So please don’t message me about it. If you want to do something, just politely ask the reposter to credit me and that’s cool. I’d rather not stress about it. This is a hobby for me.

IMPORTANT NOTE THOUGH REGARDING ART: If you see an Artist’s work (including fanart) please let the artist know, as they do hold rights to their portrayals of things even in fan works, and they can formally issue a take down notice. DMCA Info: [Tumblr] [Instagram] [Facebook] [Twitter] [AO3] [Youtube/Google]

Can I get Higher Resolutions? I know Tumblr downscales pictures. If you want the 1080p for a desktop background, IM me the deets and I’ll pop it on Imgur for you when I can. Don’t expect it in a timely fashion though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Can I edit your pictures? Generally I’d prefer not (I am actually a photographer and a retoucher/editor, so hence the feelings about it.) But if you have a really cool idea, IM or flick me a question and I might be okay with it still! If it’s just like for a lil meme thing though, go for it. I enjoy a laugh. Send it to meh! 

Can I use your screenshots for my Avatar/Banner? Sure! I’ve love to see it, in fact so hmu so I can check it out! (In THIS context editing is okay.)

Can I use your screenshots for RP Icons? A’ight, so I have to address something here as an update: Yes, I’m still fine for my screenshots to be used for RP Icons. But please follow the same terms for icon use as on DMCRPC. For those who don’t know, DMCRPC it is a project I’ve undertaken with a friend to create a MASSIVE icon resource for the role-play community. This includes that coming up with the terms of icon use for it together.

I have chosen not to engage in RPC discourse on this blog, nor do I want drama about my friends or affiliations. My friends are my friends, and reasonable adults. Therefore the following must be said:

If you are inclined to gatekeep, moderate or censor other people’s fictional works because of ‘problematic’ themes/content by actively seeking people to try ‘correct’ them via harassment and, threats and hate: I have no interest in supporting you. Please don’t use my work. Anyone I find doing this I actively block from all my blogs. You don’t have to support ‘problematic’ content; just don’t send abuse and don’t be passive-aggressive to strangers.

[tricksterreformed-a]

**( repost don’t reblog ) **

Feel free to add to any of your answers!  The purpose is to tell your partners about the way you write!  For the multiple-choice ones, BOLD all that apply and, if you want, italicize if it’s a conditional answer!

– B A S I C S – NAME: Bernadette ARE YOU OVER 18?           Yes / No IS YOUR MUSE?           Yes / No  ARE YOU SELECTIVE ABOUT WHO YOU WRITE WITH ON THIS BLOG?           No (anyone) / Semi / Yes / Highly / Private ARE YOU SELECTIVE ABOUT WHO YOU FOLLOW ON THIS BLOG?           No (anyone) / Semi / Yes / Highly IF YOUR MUSE IS CANON, HOW MUCH TO YOU ADHERE TO CANON?           Not at all / A little / Somewhat / Mostly / Strictly / (OC)           (( this is a canon character in a canon setting but anything not stated outright by canon is up to my interpretation. Nobody ever said Gabriel didn’t have a dumb crush on Eve so... )) WHAT POST LENGTHS DO YOU WRITE?           One-Liners / Single-Para / Multi-Para / Novella             (( I tend to ramble once I start writing, so if I don’t cut myself at one line you’re getting paragraphs. Rarely do I have the time/energy to do novella length replies but if you’re willing to wait... )) DO YOU USE ICONS AND/OR GIFS?           No / Gifs / Icons / Gifcons DO YOU WRITE ON OTHER PLATFORMS?           No / Yes           (( I have been known to write a little on discord. but I prefer to keep anything I’m going to be referencing on this blog... on this blog. )) WHAT LEVEL OF PLOTS DO YOU WRITE?           Unplotted  / Open-Ended Plots / Semi-Plotted / Fully Plotted Epics HOW QUICKLY DO YOU USUALLY RESPOND TO THREADS?           Very Slow / Slow (4-6 Weeks) / Average (1-4 Weeks) / Fast (Less Than One Week) / Very Fast (Less Than One Day)           (( hah )) WHAT TYPES OF THEMES DO YOU LIKE? (feel free to add!)           Fluff / Angst / Smut / Action / Tragedy / Domestic / Family & Found Family / Conversational / Hurt-Comfort / Dark / Violence            (( Ok, listen here’s the thing: I like writing smut for fanfic. I used to like writing smut for rp. Then something took place. I am not comfortable writing smut for rp anymore. )) WHAT GENRES DO YOU LIKE? (feel free to add!)           High Fantasy / Supernatural / Science Fiction / Historical / Horror / Comedy / Romance / Drama / Action / Adventure / Espionage / Everything ARE THERE ANY THEMES YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WRITING ON YOUR BLOG?           No / Yes             (( I think the no smut thing knocks a lot of things I’m uncomfortable with off the table. Which is by design. )) DO YOU HAVE ANY TRIGGERS?  HOW DO YOU REQUEST IT TAGGED?           No / Yes            (( yeah, listen, I don’t want to see dental horror. or like... unreality involving teeth. Or dramatic close-ups of teeth.  i have the usual tags blocked (tw teeth, teeth tw, trigger warning teeth, etc) and i try to check people’s tagging systems. so hopefully I’m good ))

– S H I P P I N G –

WHAT TYPES OF RELATIONSHIPS ARE YOU OPEN TO?           Romantic / Platonic / Familial / Physical / Sexual            (( that last one is italicized because I’m ok with it if you’re ok with the sexual component being ooc discussion and me sending you lil mini-fics about it )) WHAT TYPES OF PRE-ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS ARE YOU OPEN TO?            Romantic / Platonic / Familial / Physical / Sexual DO YOU HAVE OTPS?            No / Chemistry only / Yes             (( i am an outlier, I know. )) DO YOU HAVE NOTPS?           No / Yes / I don’t know yet            (( i mean i don’t ship any of the angels with each other because i read that remationship as familial but that’s more a preference than a full on NOTP )) WHAT IS YOUR MUSE’S SEXUAL ORIENTATION? -           Heterosexual / Heteroflexible / Bisexual / Homoflexible / Homosexual / Pansexual / Demisexual / Sapiosexual / Asexual / Questioning  ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WRITING SMUT?           No / Selectively ( w/ship only ) / Yes           (( nah fam. not anymore )) HOW EARLY IN A RELATIONSHIP DO YOU SHIP ROMANTICALLY?           Autoship / During Plotting / After A Couple IC Interactions / Several IC Interactions / Slow Burn / Depends on partner & muse           (( sometimes you just know, y’know?  and I’m always happy to play it unrequited if the other muse doesn’t feel the same )) ARE YOU OPEN TO TOXIC SHIPS?           No / Selectively / Yes  ARE YOU OPEN TO PROBLEMATIC SHIPS? (canon history, age difference, complicated, etc.)           No / Selectively / Yes ARE YOU OPEN TO POLYSHIPPING?           No / Selectively / Yes           (( I’m more an OT3 kind of gal. Where each point in the triangle has its own dynamic and they’re all interesting and involved. Which is polyshipping, but a very specific kind. )) ARE YOU AN EXCLUSIVE SHIPPER?           No / Sometimes / Yes            (( gimmie’ AUs for every ship!! )) DOES CRACK SHIPPING EVER HAPPEN?           No / Sometimes / Yes  DOES CROSSOVER SHIPPING EVER HAPPEN?           No / Yes / Depends             (( in the past this was MY JAM.  And I can see it possibly happening here too. I also ship with people’s OCs ))

tagged by: @twowaywardboys-andanangel​  tagging: @daedaluscried​, @ryanfuckingcarter​, @inferniangod​, @inkednightemares​, @rcliicta​, and @empyreal-muses​

[dragonscalesatdawn]

Dragon Worldbuilding in ‘Scales’

@abalonetea​

“i’d love to know anything about your dragons that you’re able to share” - first of all, thank you! So much!!!! I was going to answer that in a reblog like you did, but the post got long, so...now it’s this. 

Second - You fool. You’ve activated my infodump card! I have so much to share! A lot of what I’m about to write will probably never be explored, at least not in much depth, in the WIP itself, as much as I’d love to, because it’s just backstory infodump stuff and not really plot-relevant. But it’s really cool and I adored coming up with it, so I’m thrilled to have even the tiniest excuse to share! 

I’ve put it all under a cut because seriously, I’m not kidding about it being long, lmao. 

The classic dragon in fantasy is great, and all, but there are aspects of them that don’t make a whole lot of sense if you look at them from a science viewpoint. I’m no animal expert or anything, but I’ve decided to use what knowledge I do have/can google to try to fix a few of the little things that don’t make sense. I like to science my fantasy lmao. There doesn’t seem to be much I can do about them being far too heavy to ever fly, let alone carry passengers, and a few other elements just wouldn’t come together naturally in a single animal, so I used some backstory excuses. 

My world, which I’ve yet to name, was made through a mix of Gods and evolution. Gods made the Big Bang, and though they mostly left things to form as they would, they did help things along here and there, and continuously interfered in how their Big Bang evolved until they had the world as we see it today. They still interfere - frequently, from their viewpoint, but of course they’re immortal, so interference happens only every few thousand years at most. 

Dragons were, long story short, a result of one God bragging about her creation of the first human, and saying that nothing could be more creative or original than this, and how her creation would soon conquer the world, blah blah. Another God (Gods being petty as they are) basically just said ‘hold my beer’ and made dragons, in much the same way that a twelve year old author makes a shameless self-insert character. He took a bunch of features from other creatures that he thought were cool and smooshed them together. 

Now, if a God wants to bestow a creature with magical abilities, these abilities come from that God, and tax the God a little of their power. Gods have a lot of power, so this is only a very minor inconvenience, but they still like to avoid overusing it if they can. This guy was really hell-bent on spiting his sister, though, so once he had the basic beast to work with, he just couldn’t resist giving them a bunch of magic in the end. But that’s why they’re not just creatures of pure magic. 

(Fun fact - another God also had the idea to build a creature to spite the God who made human and her bragging - but she took a different route and just gave humans magic - and hey presto, elves! The dragon guy was really pissed that he didn’t think of it.) 

He used magic to make them fly, and magic to allow them to breathe fire - literally, purely for The Aesthetic™. He also gave them a certain brand of telepathy - I’ll get to that later. But that’s all the magic he gave them (although, this was enough to give them a connection to magic that they can, in times of great need, draw on more magic to use at their own will. But that’s basically limited to a panic response, they can’t do it just whenever) and here’s where we get into my own takes. 

Dragons are typically reptiles. They’re also typically warm-blooded. Like, super warm blooded - some stories have dragons who are hot enough to make rain turn to steam. Those two facts don’t really work together, so in my world, dragons aren’t reptiles at all. After a bit of research and screwing around, I’ve decided that they’re probably closest to monotremes - a group of mammal that lays eggs. Their scales are made of keratin, similar to an echidna’s (one of two types of monotreme) spines. They also have short, dense fur underneath the scales, and the males have manes. Male monotremes also have a venom spur, so my male dragons have venomous barbs at the tips of their tails. 

Monotremes are born hairless, but I discarded that because...because shut up, is why. Baby dragons looking like little lumps of raw chicken didn’t work for my Aesthetic™. But, it seemed to much of a stretch to have them born with scales. Thus, for the first two weeks of their life, dragons are covered in a layer of extra-soft baby fur. The fur doesn’t come in the same variety of colours as their scales, but it’s usually as close as possible. For example, Avaura is going to be a red dragon, but at the point I’m currently up to writing, she’s just a little ginger puffball. 

Ok, now for the telepathy thing. Originally, the God who made dragons was content to just let them communicate through body language, but (because this design process took a fair while) he saw how humans and elves were really benefiting from being able to communicate more complex thoughts to one another, and he changed his mind. Only, dang it, he hadn’t made a creature with the sort of mouths that could pronounce sound the way the others’ creatures could, so he had to find another way for them to communicate. One that didn’t drain too much of his own power. So he came up with a pretty complex system. 

Baby dragons inside their eggs can sense the minds of people who touch the eggshell, and they imprint upon a creature - usually their mother - from inside, and only hatch when this creature is around to protect them through their vulnerable infancy. And then, only when that creature’s thoughts tell the small that it’s safe to hatch - well, mostly. If a dragon is waiting in its egg for too long, it can get impatient. Sometimes they make hasty decisions about who to imprint upon, and sometimes they do things like hatch when it isn’t safe once they’ve chosen somebody. 

(There’s a famous figure in my world who decided to smash a bunch of dragon eggs. It backfired horribly, from his viewpoint anyway, and he ended up with like ten dragons imprinting on him because hey, this guy was better than nobody at all. He may or may not be real, but parents tell their kids about him to scare them away from being cruel to other children.) 

Upon hatching, the baby dragon forms a permanent psychic link with it’s imprinted ‘mother’ where their minds become basically two parts of a whole. They can see through one another’s eyes, feel each other’s pain, and remember each other’s memories. They can ‘speak’ to one another without speaking, just by sending thoughts, images, sensations, etc., although in my actual writing I translate these into something like dialogue for readability purposes. When an entire clutch of eggs (which are usually around 30 at my current stage of worldbuilding, but that number might change idk) all the little babies who imprint on the one mother are connected to each other through her. Thus, they have a strongly matriarchal society - and since they can remember all their mind-partner’s memories, after a few generations a dragon is less of an individual being and more an amalgamation of several wise and ancient beings. If they could talk to you, it would probably be a pretty unsettling conversation. 

Dragons usually live on a continent, a fair ways away from where the ‘people’ races live and where my story takes place, so when a dragon egg for whatever reason doesn’t imprint on its mother, its usually another dragon who takes care of the lil bab. 

But, for reasons that aren’t and probably never will be known, there was one time that a heavily pregnant dragon decided to fly away from her home and lay her eggs in the land of peoples. These babies were all set and ready to hatch, and then tragedy struck and mummy dragon died. The babies never got to emerge from their shells, and there were no other dragons around to adopt them. 

Thus, these babies, 30 or so of them (again, might change the number, idk) were left with no mind to tell them it was safe to hatch. So they didn’t. For quite a few years. Then along came a human that one little egg deemed worthy of imprinting on. This human became known as ‘scaled,’ due to the dragon scales, of the same colour as her mind-partner, that grew and spread from the spot on her skin that first came into contact with the egg. Humans aren’t dragons, though, and so the clutch of eggs were far pickier about picking one to imprint on. No two of them ever agreed on a person, and so each scaled human has only been partner to one dragon (aside from the one guy I mentioned earlier, but he’s a special case. And possibly fictional). 

The scales growing on human mind-partners is basically the dragon magic trying to identify the hatchling’s mind-partner as another dragon, failing, and instead of accepting this, just going ‘well them I’ll make them a dragon!’ But of course, dragon magic being pretty weak, it takes far more than a single human lifetime for any real change to happen, so they just grow a few harmless scales on the surface. The scales are harder than human skin, obviously, so they make for somewhat decent armour, but just because they protect the skin from cuts does not make the area immune to any sort of bludgeoning or impact-based damage, as many scaled folk find out the hard way. 

Avaura is the second-to-last to hatch of this clutch. One the last bab hatches, there will likely be no more scaled people. Unless of course, Something Happens. Which it might. Or might not. Who knows. 

And my god, that was long. If you actually read all of that, thank you so much for listening!!!!!!! I hope it was even half as entertaining to read as it was to write :) 

[whitewolfbumble]

The Promise (Bucky x Reader, One Shot)

Summary: Bucky had stood you up once before, promising never to do it again. But he was about to make another promise that was a far, far better one.

Pairings: Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 2k

Warnings: None! A lil angst that melts into pure, loving fluff!

A/N: This was a sweet idea that I couldn’t help but speed write! Get ready for the fluffy, wonderful feels! If you enjoy this, please reblog or like or send me a message or a combination of those!

(Also, I promise my next chapter for The Fallout is coming!! I just needed some happy fluff in my life lol).

MY MASTERLIST

You were furious with him.

You had been here at this cafe, twiddling your thumbs,slowly after the first five minutes alone, then increasingly faster. Once it hit minute forty you were practically hitting bone.

With a deep, frustrated sigh you rung your hands, tightening them into fists at your sides.

Bucky was late. And he was never late.

Only once had he made this mistake before and you had been practically beside yourself with agonizing worry. 

You had remembered it so vividly like it wasn’t actually quite some time ago at the beginning of your relationship. It was that weird, nebulous time when you weren’t exactly newly dating but you weren’t sure how serious he thought it was either. You were completely head over heels in love, but didn’t want to scare away the Winter Soldier quite yet. 

So when he had left on a mission, you had bit your tongue with an emphatic “I love you” on your lips, left unsaid as he flew away into a world of unknown danger.

And the next day when he was supposed to return, he didn’t.

Or the day after that.

Or the one after that.

You were practically in tears the entire time, wondering if an unsaid “I love you” would be on your lips forever, waiting for his return that would never come. Hold up in your room for days, on the last day you couldn’t take it, pacing and roaming the halls, unable to voice the screaming insanity of panic in your chest. 

You thought he was dead. Thought he was bleeding out in some field or warehouse halfway around the world from you, riddled with bullets or stab wounds. You thought of a thousand then a million different ways in which he could be dead or hurting, all worse than the last.

But word came in that they were on their way back. Worse for wear, but alive.

Eventually, he rolled in, moving slowly and covered with dirt and specks of blood. You had thrown yourself at him in a bracing hug. Your immediate instinct was to hold up your weary soldier but the moment his body was pressed into yours, you melted. You wanted to be his strength in such a fatigued moment, but you ended up need him to hold you up. Your despair had wrecked your body and soul and the sudden relief at seeing him opened up the floodgate for you to finally break down into him. 

He had held you with his metal arm curled around you, keeping you upright and close to him. Neither of you noticed the team walking by, leaving you two alone in the hall. You had eyes for each other only. He was silent but into his chest you choked and sputtered and tried to voice three days worth of feelings. But in your sudden emotional rush you again couldn’t voice your feelings of love through your gushing tears.

You felt his fingers brush lightly against your cheek as your tearful eyes met his deep blue ones. 

“I love you, Y/N.” he whispered, his low and tired growl sounding like velvet. It was his first words to you in days, and you couldn’t have possibly imagined anything sounded better.

It caught your breath in your throat and you couldn’t respond, only setting your lips feverishly to his, feeling the wet and sweet taste of his lips on yours.

You had pulled away, shaking both with an overwhelming joy and emotional overload.

“I love you too.” you whispered back, lips so close to his you could feel the light touch of them on yours, before pulling back and looking him dead in the eyes. “And if you ever stand me up again, I’ll make you sorry. I promise you.”

He smiled, hand pulling slowly through your hair and reeling you in closer, speaking a promise into your lips. “Yes, ma’am. I promise, never again.”

Since then not once had he ever been late, and vowed he never would be (not without forewarning) again. That is until today.

It brought you right back to those three days in purgatory, imagining you were on the edge of a hell you would never escape.

Had he been pulled away quickly on another mission? It wasn’t completely unheard of, but he always let you know. Had he gotten hurt somehow? Despite being the best at what he does he was always bruised or cut up somehow. Had his phone died? If that was the reason for all this furious waiting you really would try and kill him.

After twenty more minutes you were just about done, at this point standing and leaning against the wall by your table. The cafe was surprisingly dead for this time of day you noted, with not one person coming in since you had arrived at the empty shop. The barista was at the back, only a little bell out on the counter should a patron need something.

You huffed darkly pushing off the wall and pacing the small pastry shop. You didn’t notice the gleaming, glazed pottery coffee cups for sale or local art hanging on the wall. You had your third latte in hand, taking intermittent sips more out of habit than enjoyment.

You and he had found this place some time ago by chance, Bucky insisting to try it out since it was named “Y/N’s Cafe”. It had been his favourite place since, though the coffee was a little on the weak side and the pastries just alright. But he loved it, and it had become yours and Bucky’s spots. It was out of the way, quiet, and a little piece of calm in your unusually intense world. Today the barista filled the little place with songs from your favourite album playing on repeat, though you barely registering it in your anger.

Your back was turned to the door when you heard that tell-tale twinkling chime of a bell. You didn’t need see that it was him; you knew it was already. Your brows pulled together, face set in a frown as you turned on your heels.

“Hey, love.” he said, walking up to you like he wasn’t an hour late and you hadn’t been thinking of a million and one deadly reasons why already.

“Hey love?” you said, pushing a hand against his chest with your eyes narrowed.

He gave way to your touch, eyebrows raised before pulling them down in confusion. 

“What’s wrong?” Ugh, the fact that he didn’t even realize made another flash of heated anger rise in your chest.

“You better tell me you just stopped the world from ending, Barnes.” 

You only used his last name when he was in trouble. That did not escape his notice.

“What?” he said, a little dumbfounded with his face scrunched.

“You made me a promise once that you would never stand me up again.” you said, fuming.

Understanding dawned, and he surprisingly (just to add fuel to your fire) didn’t seem to take it all too seriously. 

“Sorry Y/N, I was... caught up in something.” he said, only barely answering. Not good enough.

“So? Tell me what happened. It better be good or I’ll be stuffing your metal arm somewhere painful.” you threatened.

“I don’t think now is a good time to tell you.” he said dryily, not reacting in anger to your own anger. That just made it worse.

“You damn well better! I was worried that you were dead, you jerk!”

“We’re in the middle of New York,” he scoffed, as if nothing bad ever happened here. “I wasn’t halfway across the world fighting enemies or something.”

That got him one over-exaggerated eye-roll as you clunked down your coffee cup and put a hand on your hip.

“Okay, literally, not a couple years ago an alien invasion happened here so that excuse really doesn’t work.” The fool.

“Listen,” he sighed. “Can we just start this over, I’ve been late once, I don’t think that’s cause for a break down here.”

“Well, I’m not the one whose life revolves around fighting evil people, Bucky. Excuse me for loving you so damn much that I worry. You didn’t even call! You could have just sent a quick message to me, but apparently, I don’t mean that much to you.”

Okay, yes, you were over-reacting. And yes, he probably didn’t deserve all of this for legitimately being only one piddly hour late. But whatever, at this moment you didn’t care.

He sighed stepping back with a half-eye roll. Oh, that got you fuming. But as you opened your mouth to start shouting at him all over again, you cut yourself short as he reached into his back pocket, pulling out a small package.

“If it's that important to know, I was picking up this,” he started slowly holding out the small little white paper covered box in his palm. “And lost track of time. That’s why I’m late.”

“What is it?” you snapped, crossing your arms, refusing to give in and take it, like a stubborn child.

Another eye roll as his lips pulled into a grim smirk. He gently unwrapped the paper, setting it down on a cafe table before showing you the equally uninteresting plain brown box underneath.

“I got it made especially for you, over in Brooklyn. I guess I didn’t realize how long it would take to get back here.”

He only response from you was silence.

Bucky sighed, looking at you hard right in the eyes, but still his smirk grew bigger. What was in that thing anyway? You wanted to know but didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.

“Please just take it.” he said exasperatingly, and you both stood there at a standstill.

Eventually you curiosity won out. You narrowed your eyes and took a step forward, plucking the box out of his hand and turning to the side. It was made of craft paper, the thin and delicately dyed box holding something equally light inside. You pulled open the box lid and it slid off easily. Tissue paper lay underneath, and gently you pulled open the paper to reveal its contents.

Staring at you was a gold ring. It had beautiful delicate etchings on the side with one beautifully gleaming diamond in the middle.

It was classic. It was perfect. It instantly drew up visions of your life with Bucky.

Oh god, it was an engagement ring.

You couldn’t form a single word as realization sunk in. This was an engagement ring. He was proposing. Suddenly the empty cafe made sense. And your favourite album playing on repeat. He had planned this.

And you had been the biggest dick in the entire world.

You couldn’t look at him, maybe out of embarrassment or maybe the ring was just too entrancing. You could picture him studying the ring at the Brooklyn shop, eyes shining as brightly as the diamond was now. He would’ve been thinking through this perfect proposal, planning out the details in his mind and getting too caught up in the moment to realize he was running late. If that was the reason for breaking his promise, you would certainly- happily- accept it.

You felt his arms snake around you, fingers drawing over your hips as flesh and metal pushed under your shirt to the skin below. He pulled you close to him, his nose at your temple as his stumbly chin gently moved against your cheek.

“So, will you?” he said, hushed in your ear. “Will you marry me, Y/N?”

Your heart was in your throat and stars in your eyes and you turned and looked up to him. Again, just like all time ago when he came home, you could barely speak. He smiled, looking down to place the cool metal ring around your finger. But you couldn’t look away from him.

“Yes, Bucky.” you choked, before pouncing on his lips. 

Maybe it was the sudden one-eighty from anger to happiness or how lightheaded you were suddenly feeling, but you couldn’t keep from laughing and crying and kissing him all at once.

“I promise, loving you is a vow I will keep. Forever.” You reach up and held onto his face, your glimmering ring catching the light.

“You better, Barnes.” you said, the tears in your eyes not of worry or anger, but pure, loving joy.

[dreammutual-remade]

high school!donghyuck

request: idk if you’re taking reqs but i really like ur highscool aus so if u want to write one abt hyuck ill be :^))))))) - anonymous

word count: 5.1k

a/n: oof its been awhile unnies!!!! ive had exams for the past two weeks and I still have exams now so im sorry for not posting anything but reblogs with headassery in the tags!!! we are continuing the high school series n renjun is next!! since I got like 3 requests for him !!!!! hhehhehehheheh its gonna b cute <3 anyways hope u enjoy this I love my lil duckie baby

masterlist

mark, renjun, jeno, donghyuck, jaemin, chenle, jisung

big oof i’m gonna cry while writing this

i’m running out of creative ways to say let’s dive in

let us take the plunge

okay!!!!!!!!!! so you’ve been an editor/writer for the school paper for pretty much all of your high school career

you’re not super well known though because you don’t try to take any credit for anything and always sign your pieces like “- the daily newspaper team” or smth 

anywhom you’ve always loved writing about the stuff around you or making up little short stories

one of your hobbies is just going people watching and trying to write down a brief description of people you see and what you think they’re on the way to do

you’ve befriended the baristas at your favorite spot, lucas and mark, and they always beg to read them but you never let them because mark is too nice to tell you it’s shit and lucas is too dumb to at least say it nicely

you’ve got at least 6 notebooks FULL of these little stories but you’ve never really ? showed anyone because wow showing others your work is Scary

criticism ???/$&/&:&:&:

it’s midway through the first semester of the school year and you’ve been super busy since it’s football season and you gotta write about all the games

and you haven’t had much time to write your cute little stories for yourself and you miss it a lot :/

this weekend though the chance of rain is SUPER high so the football game is cancelled and you have plenty of time to yourself !! :D

there is, a setback tho

THUNDER!!!!! IS SO SCARY !!!!!!

u fckin softie

you decide to tough it out though and get suited up in some polka dot rain boots and a rain jacket and set off to find somewhere to chill

as you’re walking to the nearest lil greenhouse/cafe thing it starts raining ,, ,,, hARDER

when you started it wasn’t rlly raining it was just like that weird tension in the air right before the air pressure drops and it starts to rain and you were already on edge OOF

but then it’s raining so you clutch your notebook to your chest and dash

usain bolt had nothing on you girly you were ZOOM ZOOM

broom broom- doyoung

unfortunately you don’t make it though because with you head down to keep the rain out of your eyes you run RIGHT into someone’s CHEST !!!!!!

hehe u know i’m a sucker for these god damn TROPES

your notebook goes flying and and the arms attached to the Chest That Caused Your Grief come up to catch you by the arms

“oh gOD sorry are you okay ??? i wasn’t looking and i was trying to keep my journal dr- MY JOURNALSDJDDD”

you fling yourself out of this boys arms and pick up your soaking wet journal sadly

:((((((( you had so many stories in there wtf

“oh shit i’m sorry do you uh want me to buy you another one ???”

“no that’s okay it wasn’t your fault :( and it’s just a journal i’m only sad because all my stories are gone :(((((“

you finally look up from your Ruined journal to see , the prettiest boy

you can’t tell for sure cause his hair is soaking wet but it’s a bright red that looks a bit faded and his skin is tanned and golden like HONEY OOF

he meets your eyes and awkwardly smiles and he looks so GUILTY AW

“no really it’s fine don’t feel bad!!”

“okay but i feel bad what can i do to make it up to you?”

“hMMM you could come help me think of wacky stories about people who walk past”

“well if you INSIST m’lady”

“aw, never mind”

“IM JUST KIDDING SJDJJD”

so in the pouring rain you both walk to cafe and find a little corner to people-watch in

on the way there he tells you his name is donghyuck but his friends call him hyuck

“dude that’s the sound goofy makes when he laughs your friends are terrible”

“oh my god i don’t even think they know what they’re saying HsjdjHEHHS”

after a couple minutes of bad goofy impressions you decide to call him duckie instead because ,,,, GARSH MICKEY 🤠🤠🤠

also because it’s cute

you didn’t hear this from me but he uwued so hard rip his street cred with the Boys

anyways right before you settle in you’re like hey uh did you have somewhere to be like weren’t you heading places

and he was like nah i like the rain it’s nice to just walk around feels GOOD

your eyes widen so big and he snorts because what’s so ridiculous about that

and you’re like uh UH NO NOPE NO SIR I DONT FUCK WITH DEMONS

your dramatic ass tries to get up and LEAVE but he grabs your wrist and is like noooo we haven’t even written any stories yet why do you hate rain so much ??

you explain how thunder is the work of the devil and that lightning could strike you down where you stand at any moment and storms are EVIL

he chuckles and side eyes you

“aW you big wimp you’re afraid of thunderstorms aren’t you”

“yES. like any sane person would be”

“you know a lot of people actually like storms”

“like i said, SANE people do not”

and then you change the subject right quick because your face is getting RED with embarrassment

you n donghyuck spend like 2 hours just sitting in the corner and writing little scenarios on napkins

“oh shit that girl over there with the french braids is TOTALLY gonna marry hipster beanie guy in two years. mark my words”

“idk y/n she lowkey has the hots for the barista”

“ ew you mean mark??”

“yeah. now THAT man is a work of art”

MARKHYUCK RISE

“god what is wrong with you maybe you should buy me another book”

“too late now we’re FRIENDS and i don’t owe you ANYTHING”

“being friends doesn’t work like that at all but, okay”

at the end of the day you’ve got a stack of napkins with scribbled notes on them

(one of them has donghyuck’s number on it skdkkfjd)

he leaves you with a bright smile and you’re in awe this boy is so golden and lovely

oof and when you were still in the cafe his hair had dried to the unnatural red color that he ? somehow made look good ugh not fAIR

and it was a lil curly and fluffy and looked very soft :(((((

as you walk home you drift along the sidewalk with a stupid smile on your face wow please get a little less obvious hunty

when you get home the sun is setting and the rain has cleared and you are so Happy that was the best day !!!

you weren’t even scared of the thunder because whenever the sky would fckin CRACK OPEN hyuck would subtly try to keep your attention and distract you with questions

the sky: AAAAAAAAAAA

duckie: oH Hey uhhh so hOW do you even come up these stories ?):$:$ theyre so good

such a sweet boy uwu

when you get home your mom eyes you suspiciously as you drift down the hall towards your room but doesn’t comment

she didn’t need to though because you immediately return and tell her everything !!!

she encourages you to befriend him at school and see where it goes from there ;))) or just TEXT HIM

so you do

both of those things !!!

you: hey!! it’s y/n btw

duckie: hey! u make it home alive without the sky cracking open and killing u

you: stOP MAKING FUN OF ME

you send him memes and he sends , even better ones back this boy is Husband Material

the next couple weeks you realize that hyuck is actually in like a lot of your classes

and he’s like yeah i don’t blame you for not noticing since your nose is always in one of those Damn Journals

can’t believe u smh

anywhom

you start actually interacting with people in class

and by people i mean donghyuck and any of his friends who happen to be there

you literally get thrown into their friendgroup like one day you know donghyuck and have vaguely heard of jeno since he’s on the soccer team

and then the next you’re a part of the group message and jaemin begs for your math homework during lunch ????

“jaemin just dO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK FOR ONCE ???”

“ugh but i don’t know how”

“hey you know what maybe if you didn’t sleep in class you WOULD”

“IM TIRED GOD DAMN IT”

this is usually when duckie interjects with

“hey now girls, you’re both smart <3”

“i know im smart but , jaemin , i don’t know about him 😔😔”

poor jaemin leave him alone :(

jisung is , extREMELY awkward around you because he’s a Baby Freshman and you’re a Female Senior hsjdjf it’s so cute

and chenle is the complete opposite he IMMEDIATELY latches onto you and is always like

“y/n !!!! wanna watch this video of me singing and playing the piano when i was thirteen on live national television !!!!”

“y/N !!!!!!! can you drive me n jisung to get ice cream plEASE !!! we won’t even play PSY this time”

“okay,,,,, pinky promise?”

his pinky hooks around yours at an incredible speed as he jumps up and down with excitement

“pinky promise !!!!!!!!!!”

hyuck overhears and insists upon coming with for , unknown reasons

renjun and jeno keep snickering to each other across the lunch table too uGH

sneaky bastards !

after school you wait in the parking lot for the Babies with hyuck who looks rather flushed considering his skin is pretty tan and it takes a lot for him to visibly blush ??

“hey duckie boy you good?”

“haha yEAH uh just wondering where the boys are hhhh”

“oh yeah ! they should’ve been here like 10 mins ago”

your phone buzzes in your pocket and you go to check it to see a text in the group message

lele: hey y/n~ me n jisung can’t come we totally forgot we joined a frisbee team and there’s practice today !!!

blueberry: yeah ! have fun w/ hyuckie tho

moominluvr96: sjdjd i’m so proud of them

jenomunomunomu: absolute legends have fun at ur frisbee practice my sons

you: 🅱️ro i wanted to go home and SLEEP

blueberry: sorry ! xoxo :*

duckie: chenle my son ? how could you 🅱️etray me this way???

you: ur dead to me

you: literally what’s a chenle ?? sounds like a poisonous fruit

lele: NO IM SORRY

but tbh you’re just being Silly you don’t mind just going with Sunshine Boy

hyuck has only gotten redder as the texting went on though what’s his deal 0.0

you agree to take his car !

actually you insist because you don’t wanna drive but, let’s say you agreed

you find out that hyuck exclusively listens to hipster bands and the occasional troye sivan song because we love a gay legend

actually his music taste is ALL OVER THE PLACE but we r still boppin ladies

you roll the windows down even tho it’s Chilly and let your hand float in the breeze until your fingers start getting numb and you pull your hand back in and roll up the window

okay maybe that was a Bad Idea your fingers almost hurt they’re so cold and you’re rubbing the feeling back into them when hyuck clears his throat

you look up at him and he tilts his chin toward the hand he stretched toward you

you’re confused bc like ? i don’t have anything to give u duckie

he sighs anxiously

“just. give me your hand. mine are warm because i didn’t try to be cool and stick my hand out the window like this is a teen coming of age movie”

“have you ever just been nice and not followed it up with a weirdly specific insult”

“nope. now gimme”

you cautiously placed your hand in his and felt heat bloom all over your cheeks and trail up to your ears and down your neck

he gulps and interlocks your fingers and tucks them in the pocket of his hoodie

you have to lean against the console in between you a little so that your arm isn’t strained but it’s,,,,, Warm and Nice

you’re quick to continue the conversation like normal but your voice sometimes goes in and out since he is subconsciously rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand or tapping his fingers against yours

when you arrive you awkwardly pull your hand from his grip to get out of the car and he cringes a lil :(

you decide to be bold for once in your life and run around the car to catch up with him and shove your other hand into his

“this one’s cold too”

he ducks his head and smiles but gives your hand a lil squeeze :3 uwu

eventually though you do have to let go and enjoy your ice cream

you just make small talk with him about the newspaper and whatever homework is due the next day when a man walks in wearing BRIGHT RED CLOWN SHOES

the weirdest part though is the fact that other than the clown shoes the man is dressed like a body builder and has the hulking mass of one

and also there is a PARROT ON HIS SHOULDER ???

you and hyuck whip to face each other and then look back at the man

without looking away you slide your notebook to the middle of the table and flip open to where you’ve bookmarked the next available page

needless to say you both have a field day making up storylines for this man

“hey hyuckie i missed this it’s been forever since it’s been just the two of us and my journal”

“me too, sunshine”

“heY now you’re the sunshine in this relationship”

both of you choke at your use of the term “relationship” but continue with the conversation JSKSK

“alright but then you have to be the rain”

“aw you know i don’t like the rain”

“yes i know that’s why YOU are sunshine”

“kay but you are so much more like sunshine than i, an Emo”

“how bout i be sunshine since you like sunshine and me, and you be rain since i like rain and you”

OOF ????????

you blush for the Millionth Time and nod shyly and duckie is about to turn purple YIKES

you leave the ice cream shop and climb back in the car and the whole atmosphere is very Tense

you sigh because you miss holding his hand and then turn up the song on the radio which just happens to be, Walkin On Sunshine

THE !!! IRONY !!!

you giggle into your hand and he snorts and you both break into laughter

you plug your phone into the aux

“alright time for some Real Tunes”

“i swear to GOD if you play Bad Boy one more time i’m gonna LOSE IT”

“fuck you red velvet are LEGENDS”

“the only reason you know who they are is because mark tells everyone with a pulse that one of them is from canada just like him”

“okay and ??? i can still appreciate that they produce iconic songs only”

“LISTEN I LOVE RED VELVET TOO BUT ENOUGH IS ENOUGH”

you playfully bicker the whole way back and when you get back to the school to pick up your car you realize you never even got to play your song

“for your information, i was in fact NOT going to play bad boy i was going to play the bop of the century, what is love by twice”

and then, with heavy sarcasm

“well gee why didn’t you just sAY SO”

“IM SICK OF YOUR GIRL GROUP SLANDER LEE DONGHYUCK”

then he giggles and grabs your hand to keep you from getting more than halfway out of the car

“okay okay you know i’m just messing with you”

“yes but leave my gorls out of it”

he releases your hand with fake disgust and wipes it on the passenger seat headrest

“ugh go home, gru”

“it’s a good meme and you can’t even deny it duckie boy”

you blow him a half serious half playful kiss as you bounce over to your car and climb in

you play bad boy and roll the windows down as you drive by his car just to spite him and he laughs good naturedly

it’s only when you get home that you’re like heyyyy nOW

WAS THAT A DATE ??????

you tell your mom about it and she’s like uHHH sounds like a DATE to me ???

but you’re Unsure so you don’t say anything to the others or hyuck just the usual goodnight texts and whatnot

although it could be argued ,, that goodnight texts are a little, relationship-y

it could also be argued , that you do have his contact name as , duckie☼♥

but those can be discussed another time

you continue to hang out with the boys although you refuse to allow them to sit with you at football games because they’re so DISTRACTING

jeno and jisung just fckin yell the whole time while you try to jot notes down to turn it into a story later for the paper

but you can’t concentrate or even figure out wtf is goin on because they’re scREAMING and jumping and messing you uP !

so you sent them elsewhere although,,, hyuck stayed with you

he always does “just in case you get cold or smth”

ur not fooling anyone hyuckie baby

and would you look at that time has FLOWN and it’s time for homecoming !!!!

you plan on going in a big group with hyuck and all The Boys and jaemin has even scored a date !!!

it was highkey through trickery but that’s okay

chenle and jisung are gonna wear matching shirts because they’re headass like that

you’ve already bought a dress and you haven’t ….. shown hyuckie……. just in case……… he asks you

since he…… hasn’t …… YET

renjun keeps assuring you that you don’t need to find a date and that everything is covered but ???? inch resting how duckie has done nOT ONE THING

alright the day of the dance you wake up feeling a little off but go through your normal saturday routine of eating a waffle and absentmindedly watching old gossip girl reruns

but later in the day you feel SHITTY

you’re flushed and your head hurts and it takes so much EFFORT just to get up and get a glass of water

you , comrade, are sick :-(

you text in the gm to let your boys know you can’t come

chenle thinks you’re faking until he calls and hears you sniffling and how rough your voice sounds

“hEY THOT I KNOW UR FAKING BC U DONT HAVE A DATE”

“chenle if it didn’t hurt to speak i would yell at u but my eyes are watering please just text me”

“oh,,,,sorry love u”

and then he hangs up real fast lmao

so you decide to just wallow in despair in your bed and rent overpriced movies on demand

there’s a half drank mug of tea that has long gone cold that contains the medicine you’re supposed to be taking but,, you can’t be bothered tbh lifting your hand is so hard

after a few movies and the sun setting there’s knock at the door ???

you barely hear it since you’re in your room with the door closed but /sigh/ you gotta go answer

you drag yourself out of bed and stumble to the front door and open it, immediately slumping against the frame

this whole time you have still not opened your eyes because light hurts a lil and you know your house well enough

in hindsight that was probably dumb considering you don’t know who’s at the door

you try to open your eyes but they only turn half lidded and droopy so you can just barely make out donghyuck looking Concerned on your front porch

“duckie? what are u doing here?”

“uhhh i uh came to take you to homecoming ??”

he then holds up some flowers and smiles awkwardly

“duckie. baby. sunshine. did u not read the texts i sent ? also it is VERY late to be asking me to homecoming. also, i am a little high on cold medication”

“srry princess, can i come in? you look like you need company and soup and possibly some Sarcastic Banter”

“sounds good duck”

“okay duckie was already incorrect please don’t shorten it to duck”

“you know i didn’t have to let you in”

“so what kind of soup do you want? :-)”

he busies himself attempting to make soup while you have melted into a chair at the dining table with one eye cracked open to watch him

he is very obviously Struggling so you wobble to your feet to stand behind him at the stove and maybe lean a little too much into his back to prop your chin up on his shoulder and reach a hand around him to turn the heat down on the stove

you’ve reached the point of I Don’t Give A Shit and have given up on trying not to be affectionate with him you’re too tired and sickly to restrain yourself and his heart is just steadily beating faster and faster

after your soup you drag him into your bedroom to force him to provide you warmth while watching another movie

but he digs his heels into the floor and tugs on your hand to turn you around

“since you’re missing homecoming….. wanna dance?”

“in my bedroom. while i’m dying. with no music.”

“i’ll take care of the music. cmon don’t be difficult”

“i’m not being difficult i’m just-

you’re cut off by him pressing a finger to your lips and going shhhhhh

you open your mouth to curse him out bc hOW DARE HE

but then he gently pulls you by the waist into his chest and does his best to tuck you under his chin

you’re too comfortable like this so you don’t bother admonishing him for earlier and just settle into his embrace

you loop your arms around his neck as he starts to sway you back and forth

after a couple seconds he starts humming, quietly at first and then louder

and then he starts singing and it’s so sO SWEET AND SOFT

you can feel each breath he takes under your hands and the vibrating of his vocal chords against your forehead and you just close your eyes and press closer to him

you’ve literally never been this content in your whole life binch

he is so warm and ever so often smooths a hand up and down your spine whenever you shiver a little or shift in his arms

when the song finishes you keep swaying with him a little while longer

you’re leaning against him so hard that like the majority of your weight is on him yikes

“babe are you asleep”

“mm”

“no?”

“mmm”

“pretty close though?”

“hm”

“alright”

he chuckles and presses a barely there kiss to the top of your head and sort of waddles the two of you over to the bed

you don’t even have to ask him to climb in with you that was The Plan, Stan

(that’s a saying and also i’m calling u a stan wow queen of puns)

as soon as he settles in you tuck yourself under his arm and throw an arm over him to play with the fingers of his other hand

you’ve got the breakfast club on and it’s Real Nap Hours

hyuck’s arm falls asleep pretty soon tho so instead you switch to laying on your sides facing each other with your face pressed into his neck and your arms draped over each other

right before you fade into unconciousness, he tilts his chin down and nudges his nose against yours to get your attention

your eyes flutter open and you look up at him while he smiles gently down at your sleepy expression aWE ???

“hey wanna be my date when you’re not on your death bed?”

“god, what a romantic. is that a shakespeare quote?”

“shut up and say yes”

“alright fine”

“with more enthusiasm!”

“YES!! GOD DAMN IT”

he shakes his head but then leans down to press a lingering kiss against your cheek before tucking you back against him and evening out his breathing

you fall asleep and dream of boys with beautiful voices who love to dance in the rain

a couple hours later you wake up to a forehead smooch and your Boy whispering bye angel

you sit up and whine and he’s like bby i have to go it’s like midnight n my momma wants me home :(((

you pout and he giggles and taps your lips with his index finger

“go back to sleep and i’ll text you something nice to wake up to yeah?”

you nod and grab his hand to kiss it before flopping back down and passing The Fuck Out

the next morning you wake up still feeling a bit shitty but smiling anyways bc you’ve scored the cutest boy in the universe uwu

he even kept his promise and left you a cute message to wake up to ;((((

duckie☼♥: good morning bbg i hope ur feeling better today and that the sun shines all day for u !!!

you: JEKDKDJ DUCKIE IM STILL SICK BUT TAKE ME ON A DATE RN

you: 💗💗💗💕💌💞💞💗😤💖🤧😔💗😔🤧😔🌺💐🌺🌺🌸💐😔💛😔💛💐🤧💐💐💖💖

duckie☼♥: noooo ur gross

you: you ruined it :(((

duckie☼♥: i mean noooo u gotta get better

you: okay :)))

you finally get over your cold like 4 days later and insist you’re fine to be Taken Out And Treated Like A Princess

he tells you to dress warm except gloves bc he wants to hold youR HAND CAN YOU BELIEVE

you’re weirdly not nervous ? like you thought you would be but you’re just excited and very happy !!!! uwu

he picks you up about an hour after school and reveals that he’s gonna take you to all the cafes in town to people watch and write stories which is !!! your favorite activity !!!!!!

“is it lame??? oh god you think it’s lame i’m so sORRY”

“nO!!! no i love it you did good”

“are you sure?”

“yes duckie”

“okay good i mean i knew you’d like it”

“but you just-“

“hm?”

“,,,,, nevermind”

you both hike around town until it gets late and you’re tired and you end up on a bench in the local park with his head in your lap and your fingers in his hair

you lightly scratch his scalp and hum and he practically PURRS like a cat

(furry ????? it’s more likely than you think)

his eyes are closed and you trace your fingers over his features lightly until it tickles and he scrunches up his nose aw bABY !!!!!

then, without opening his eyes

“so when are you gonna man up and kiss me?”

“first of all, i will never man up i prefer being female thanks. sECOND WHY DO I GOTTA DO IT”

“i asked you on the date !!! you gotta do something!!!”

“i held your hand first!!”

“after i literally offered my hand to you”

“uGH fine come here”

“no i’m not gonna ‘come here’ you literally just made a disgusted noise at the thought of kissing me”

“it wasn’t at the thought of kissing you it was just at you”

“this isn’t helping at all”

you roll your eyes playfully and then yank him up by the collar of his shirt to press your forehead against his

“does this help?”

aND THEN YOU LAY ONE ON HIM ??????:$&:&;&;

QUEEN OF CONFIDENCE

he sighs against your lips and sits up a little more so he can reach you better, smoothing a hand up to cup the side of your jaw and neck

you pull away and his eyes are still closed

“hmmm,,, yeah”

you scoff and drop him back to half laying on your lap

“you’re such a dork”

“yeah but i’m your dork now so it’s embarrassing for both of us”

“aw i wouldn’t have it any other way <333”

“is it just me or was that sarcasm”

“just you <3333”

renjun, who has been rOOTING FOR YOU GUYS THIS ENTIRE TIME

screams when you call him that night lol

literally SCREECHES

chenle happens to be with him and screeches eVEN LOUDER

basically the whole group screams simultaneously they’ve been shipping it since day one

hyuck is a bit prideful so when you guys are out in public he’s not super affectionate but ,, when you’re not out

he’s wrapped around you like a koala and will never let go

you have to go pee? hold it

you’re dehydrated and dying? you can live off of his Love

your favorite activity to do together is BAKING because it never goes well no matter how hard you try

and although it usually ends in DISASTER it’s also a good time and afterwards duckie lets you curl up between his legs on the couch and nap uwu !

dating really didn’t change the dynamic between you two other than affection you still read each other to DUST on the regular  lmao

no one gets too harsh tho bc you love each other and whatnot

ugh love ruins all the FUN doesnt it :/

donghyuck makes it his business to know exactly when it will rain and makes sure to be with you when it does

at the first sight of clouds he is in your house with board games and movies and snuggles to distract you !!! what a sweetheart

on days when it’s really bad you just climb into bed and bury your face in his chest while he talks about whatever comes to mind and distracts you

he also takes to slumping down and falling asleep on your shoulder whenever you have movie nights together and it’s so CUTE

his little heart shaped lips and his cheeks always end up smushed and he just looks adorable wow rip you

he’s obsessed with your cheeks he loves to cup your face while he talks to you and press gentle kisses to them during Sleepy Time or when you part ways in the school hallways

if he’s excited he’ll bound up behind you and wrap his arms around you and kiss your cheek real hard and then start babbling about whatever’s got him so worked up

basically, hyuckie is a boy full of sunshine and passion and sarcasm and he’s the best boyfriend you could ever ask for :’-)

[eyes-of-dominance]

@lil-deviousbrat for asking me to answer all the questions.

1.  what is your biggest kink?

Spanking; it’s been my thing since before I had any idea what sex was, and it’s what led me to the rest of my kinks. However, any form of domestic discipline kinda applies here as well. I just have a thing for naughty girls learning their lesson.

2.  describe your go-to masturbation fantasy

I have a few, but my most common is surprisingly a low-key bed time or otherwise domestic spanking. The girl being punished is usually dressed in sweatpants or cute pajama bottoms. She’s led to the edge of my bed as we talk about the offense; usually she gets very whiny and apprehensive about what’s about to happen, begging me not to, but to no avail. I then lower her bottoms, put her over my knee, and give her an exceptionally hard spanking with multiple implements until her ass is cherry red, tears are flowing, and her apologies and cries fill the room. After a post spanking lecture, it then usually leads to sex or an edging session for her. There’s a couple variations; sometimes she’s gagged for mouthing off or tied up for not cooperating, a lot of times I imagine her doing corner time beforehand, admiring her cute bottom before the main event, the implements used often change based off what I’ve been excited about recently, though the hairbrush usually features in some capacity. I sometimes find it weird that the majority of my sexual fantasies are kinda low-key and domestic in nature, but I guess I just like to fantasize about the kind of life and relationship I want more than something a little more conventionally sexy or scenario based. Even in my other more specific fantasies, the roots often trace themselves back to this core scenario.

3. do you play a more dominant or submissive role?

If it wasn’t clear by now, dominant.

4. describe a roleplay scenario you would enjoy

I’m not terribly big on roleplay; as stated earlier a lot of my fantasies are more domestic in nature, and that dynamic covers a lot of what I enjoy. That being said, there’s some things I can see myself having fun with. The classics of teacher/unruly student, coach/lazy player, boss/secretary, preplanned forced sex, all sound fun and enjoyable in their own way.

The main one that sticks with me in came from the internet. I read it awhile ago, so the details are fuzzy, but there was a scenario where the Dominant acts as an interrogator trying to get a piece of information from the submissive, given to her before the scene. The Dominant, within limits of course, then tries to extract that information from the submissive in any way he can, spanking, bondage, clamps, edging, until the submissive can’t take it anymore any gives it up. Perhaps a reward can be given to the submissive if she successfully keeps the secret within a time limit, so there are some stakes. Sounds like a really fun way to assume a character and have fun with it while still giving it some meaning as well.

5.  what’s a kink that you’re not into but would do for a partner?

I’m very sexually adventurous, in that I really don’t have much that I couldn’t get into to some degree or wouldn’t try for a partner. I guess the easiest answer for something I’m not innately interested in would be the more overt aspects of ageplay. I’m not really into paci’s and diapers and all that; I’m much more naturally attracted to middles in that regard, but if I liked the girl enough I could see myself giving it a shot.

6.  what was the best orgasm you ever had?

I mean, that’s a hard thing to keep track of. One that stands out in my mind is when I was writing a story. I was trying to plan it out in my head before I actually began to write it, and I absentmindedly just began stroking as I thought about it. Wasn’t very vigorous, just enough to keep me hard and in the mood. At least an hour passed, probably more thinking back to it, where I was just stroking myself thinking about all the things I’d do to this brat, and by the time I started going at it in earnest and reached the edge, it became overwhelming. The orgasm lasted a fair bit longer than usual, was extremely intense, and I came far, far more than I normally do, which was a sensation in itself. The funny part is, I can’t remember what story it was even for, because my mind ended up drifting off the original course.

7.  do you have any kinks you’re ashamed to admit to?

Not that I can think of.  As a kid/young teen I didn’t really understand why I was different in my desires, and I’m not exactly out telling everyone about my dominant feelings everyday, but I have come to terms with my kinks/fetishes and see them as much a part of me as any other, if not more so. There’s pretty much nothing I’m into that a close friend wouldn’t be able to ask about. 

8.  what’s a kink you enjoy in fantasy but wouldn’t really want to try?

There’s a few that there’s too many issues with. The first is a very public spanking. Now, I have little qualms about spanking a naughty brat in front of her/my friends, or in a place that it could potentially/likely be seen or heard by someone else. But the kind of fantasy you sometimes see in stories about a Dom turning his submissive over his knee in the parking lot of a crowded store, the bathroom of a mall, or otherwise around a ton of strangers? It’s hot to think about, that she gets her punishment wherever and whenever, no matter who’s around, but involving other non consenting people in my kink isn’t sexy, I’m sure it’d be way too much anxiety for both her and me, and I’d rather not have to explain D/s to a crowd of randos. 

The second is really, really long term denial. Like the several months to a year kind. As hot as it is to read stories about, there’s one major problem; I love to see girls cum. Particularly a girl I’m involved with. The only person a several month denial period would be harder on than me is the poor girl subjected to it.  I still love denial as both a punishment and as a power dynamic, but I’d likely stick to the shorter term variants. 

Also, hardcore bondage. Can look very sexy in porn and in photos, but I’m not exactly looking to wrap my girl from head to toe and hang her from the ceiling any time soon.

9.  would you say you’re sexually adventurous?

I would, especially within the realm of my kink. My main hard limits are knife/blood play, and stuff like scat. Pretty much everything else within the dynamic I am open to try.

10.  tell us about the kinkiest sex you’ve ever had OR if you haven’t had sex, your kinkiest masturbation session

Well, one of my single greatest regrets is that the one time I’ve had sex it wasn’t kinkier. So that leaves masturbation, which raises the question, kinkiest way I’ve masturbated or kinkiest thing I’ve masturbated to? I don’t really know how to respond to the former; aside from switching up techniques and adding some different stimulation, I’m not sure what constitutes as kinky or not. For the latter, I’ll go with fantasies, not like videos I’ve seen since that’d be too hard to track down. The kinkiest thing I’ve fantasied about would probably be the ‘sex doll for a day’ style fantasy. Where the submissive is gagged, blindfolded, earplugged, and tied up extensively, and spends a prolonged period of time being an ass to spank and a set of holes to fuck. Completely impractical and arguably dangerous in real life, but it’s hot to think of a consenting girl being put in such a position that you have complete and utter sexual control over her for a prolonged period, where she has no idea when or in what manner she’ll be used, only that she’s going to be there quite a long time.

11.  has a scene in mainstream media ever tripped your kinks really hard?

Quite a few times. I love Tangled for so many reasons that aren’t sexual, but the bondage potential for Rapunzel’s hair is quite endless, and any time she is especially adorable trips my daddy side quite hard. I never really watched the show, but I remember my friend once reblogged a gifset of Jade from Victorious being put in time out; that did a lot to me.  Any scene in which a cute female character is mildly embarrassed or put in a compromising position tends to trigger the sadist in me. I actually have to give this one a little more thought, since I’m sure there’s a ton more but I’m kinda drawing a blank at the moment.

12.  how did you discover one of/some of your biggest kink(s)?

There’s not really a huge moment of self discovery for most of them. I was interested in spanking as long as I can remember. My first developing sexual thoughts were about spanking pretty classmates and girls I knew rather than touching breasts or normal adolescent thoughts. That developed into my love of domestic discipline and traditional D/s in all its shapes and forms over the years. I will say that Realspankings helped shape a lot of my sexual preferences, and I started learning a lot about spanking and discipline in general from reading Michael Masterson’s old blog.  I didn’t really get into the more broad world of BDSM until late adolescence, and specifically the DD/lg side of things until I came to Tumblr, and more specifically met @lil-deviousbrat. All the other stuff has just fallen into place over time.

13. are you into [send a kink]?

The brat that asked to to answer all the questions neglected to give me a kink to answer this one. Until she gets back to me with one, this will remain blank.

[Updated: The kink is suspension rope play]

Rope play in general is something that I’m curious about, but am somewhat apprehensive to get involved with, as I have learned that I am very much a novice at it. It definitely can be hot, and if I ever get better at it I think my interest may increase, but for the moment it’s a fantasy only type thing, until I can get reasonably good at restraining a non-airborne girl.

14. do your real life friends know about your kinks?

A few do. My brother and a close friend know explicitly.  My brother’s girlfriend/fiance used to joke about me being DD/lg a lot, but I’ve never responded to it and she to my knowledge doesn’t know any specifics beyond that. I assume my mother kind of knows, but we’ve never discussed it outright. Outside of that, I tend to make jokes that hint at the fact with my close friends, but I doubt any of them know beyond a suspicion at best.

15. what is the weirdest situation that has ever turned you on?

I’m not sure about weird, I’d have to ruminate on that one a bit, but I’ve had a few unexpected/sudden ones that kind of count. I remember I was in the pool with my friend that I had a gigantic crush on. We had a slide right next to the pool, that occasionally we would jump off (maybe 7-8 feet up) into the deep end. I remember that she went to climb it, put her foot on the edge, and stalled for a second. I, somewhat worried for her safety, told her jokingly that she better not jump. She mock responded something to the effect of “what, you’re gonna come and get me?” So I got out the pool, walked over to the ladder, and started to climb it briefly considering how to bring her down from the ladder. I ended up letting her jump, but the D/s part of me was instantly and massively triggered by the whole event.  Another one is when she tried to tickle me, and as we wrestled for control I ended up with her pinned over my knee with both hands behind her back. To say I was aroused would be an understatement. Not very weird, but was definitely a “0 to 100″ moment.

In general, the “weird” things that turn me on tend to be innocent phrases or scenarios that relate back to D/s. I will also say that I get intensely turned on by expressions. Some make sense, like a girl rolling her eyes or flushing with embarrassment, but there will be times where I have no idea why it turned me on at all. Some might consider that weird.

[graylit]

𝚙𝚕𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚕 & 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 : 𝚙𝚜𝚢𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚞𝚖𝚊, 𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚍 𝚊𝚋𝚞𝚜𝚎/𝚊𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝/𝚗𝚎𝚐𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚡𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚢, 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚜, 𝚘𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚜𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚛, 𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚎𝚌𝚝.    NOT  FOR  REBLOG !!!! ( unless you’re aloy )

REY  IS  NOT  OKAY, lets kick this clusterfuck of emotional content off with that! She is a ball of anxiety, depression, and low self esteem all wrapped up in spiky armor. She’s basically a lil hedgehog curled up in a ball protecting her soft tummy, which is how she’s lived most of her life until the events of TFA. This doesn’t make her WEAK in any way shape or form. In fact, it’s the pillar of strength that keeps her pressing onward. She is vulnerable and tender underneath the spikes she built to survive a world where softness doesn’t survive or exist.

We’re gonna start with the obvious here  ABANDONMENT  and work our way up down this painful laundry list. Now, many adopted children that are in loving and wonderful homes are still liable to feelings of abandonment or low self-esteem (  this varies from person to people ofc. the adoptees I have known over the years are an even split down the middle  )  ‘why wouldn’t my parents want me? am I not good enough? did I do something wrong? ect’ These are children placed in healthy environments with people that love and want them and those dreadful creeping feelings still exist. Now imagine quite literally WATCHING your parents on a hot and dead planet with a stranger, zooming off into space never to be seen again! If you can garner such lifelong & potentially damaging feelings in a place thats wonderful, imagine knowing and remembering their departure.

That is so goddamn WOUNDING and traumatic that she has no other choice but to bury that pain. It’s a survival instinct. It’s the mind and body protecting you from something too terrible for a child her age to cope with. So she goes on autopilot and clings to the hope of SOMEDAY because she has no other choice.  Trauma like that erases memories, especially in children as young as Rey. 

ANXIETY?  Heaps of it. Constantly. About nearly everything whether she is able to express if or not. There’s a chance she’ll miss her fam if she’s away from Jakku? Panic attack. There’s a chance her AT-AT might be ransacked by thieves in her absence? Panic Attack. You’re headed off somewhere without her? Panic attack. It might be mild at the start, but years down the road now that she’s away from the child labor camp daycare it will hit her full force. Finn will say he has to go off planet, he has to go SOMEWHERE alone and he promises he’ll be back. Her stomach would give a sick and ugly jolt but he had never lied to her before so she bites her tongue and waits. She HATES herself for the relief she feels at his swift return, how weak it makes her feel against a feeling she has no control over. Anyone she has ever grown close to is subject to these feelings, this fear. With Han being murdered right before her eyes she’s utterly shattered and can’t help but expect her loved ones to disappear.

Lets talk about that good ol soul crushing  DEPRESSION !! When the excitement dies down, when you’re heart stops pounding and you’re still for some unforeseen amount of time, it sets in like a weight. When there’s nothing let to be anxious about and the stillness takes ahold. Whether she was laying awake in her AT-AT on Jakku or curled up in her bed on D’Qar / Ahch-To / The Falcon, it is so heavy it nearly crushes her. The moments she doesn’t spend every second fighting to survive are foreign and agonizing. Being surrounded by wonderful friends and adoptive family is fantastic, sure. But depression doesn’t give a fuck how great things are going. It eats and eats at you until you cease to exist. She’s whittled away during the night, reborn every morning, ready to expend all of her energy on work so she can forget.

SELF ESTEEM? where do we download that? reiterating the abandonment issues ‘my own parents didn’t want me, why would anyone else? what did i do wrong? what if i do it again and people leave me?’ an endless stream of consciousness that makes her ache. Rey doesn’t wallow though, not for long and certainly not where anyone can see her. That’s where those lil hedgehog spikes come in handy. She doesn’t need anyone! She’s spelt well over a decade by herself, she doesn’t need to let anyone in. But God she wants to. She’s so tired of being hurt and left behind. She WANTS to be chosen for once, so much so that the girl wary of all physical contact throws her arms around the boy that came to rescue her. Does she deserve it? Is she worth all that trouble? She doesn’t know but she thanks her lucky stars someone things she is.

Last but not least that good ol OCD ‘cause if you think she stopped scratching lil tallies into places or counting down the days you are WRONG. When a habit that important and kept so devotedly, it doesn’t just go away. None of her little ‘quirks’ do and she will go into a full blown panic if they are not completed. Rey missing a tally? She’ll lose track of the days that go by in her head, she’ll lose track of her family, she’ll miss them! That feeling would have been double on Jakku, especially if she was trapped somewhere or away for an unspecified amount of time.

Every single ill that has befallen her, every abhorrent thing she has suffered and quickly swept away in order to survive will come back sevenfold down the line. The body keeps score and boy has she racked up a SIGNIFICANT number. This shit does not go away with a hug and a new life. This will follow her until her dying day, which if left untreated by a mental health expert, could be sooner rather than later. If you honest to God think that Rey would okay in any capacity with whoever left her, that a normal relationship would ensue in the near future, than you have no concept of mental health or trauma or this character in general. 

On the subject of  PARENTAGE & LUKE SKYWALKER since that is still a terribly unfortunate theory ; I cannot think of a faster way to send either of them dark side. Not only does it destroy any integrity Luke had, but it would send Rey SPRINTING in the opposite direction. There is no reason good enough to abandon your child to a life of starvation and hard labor and deep down Rey knows this. There are hints that her parents are dark siders, people that lived and possibly worked on Jakku for the Empire which would make sense given its history. That being the case she’s much more likely to stay were she is, not fleeing to a middle ground or to the opposite side which would happen if the former came true. Her outlook would be tainted because why would a HERO, a GOOD MAN leave her to suffer alone? No matter her lineage, the relationship with her birth parents is FRACTURED. No matter how much she wants them, they have sewn seeds of mistrust in her heart that will take DECADES to undo. With her new family in the resistance, in FINN, she doesn’t need anyone else. The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.  She’s found her family in friends and that is far more profound than any blood relatives.