#The light effect was super fun to try

[lwoorl]

Fanart of @tossawary's wonderful fic, if it can be destroyed!!!

I really

REALLY

liked this scene.

#It turned out rather good if I say so myself #The light effect was super fun to try #my drawings #svsss #svsss fanart #mobei jun #shang qinghua #tossawary #This is me. Being normal about stuff. #if it can be destroyed

[bleedingoptimism]

𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚

part 1

“You look pale,” Jeff comments making Eddie snort loudly.

Of course he looks pale, he’s got vampirism, doesn't he? But then again, so does Jeff and he looks great.

“When was the last time you fed?” He asks.

Eddie sighs heavily trying to reign in his bad mood. He knows Jeff’s just worried and wants to help, and he’s grateful to have run into an old friend from high school as soon as he moved into the big city. 

Because he’d be utterly lost without him.

He doesn't know where anything is, he gets lost in the subway, and he has no idea when he’s being charged too much for a muffin or suspiciously too little for a hotdog, or where all the blood markets are.

“Like, two weeks ago,” Eddie finally answers.

Jeff looks surprised but it’s not actually that bad, people with vampirism can go up to 4 to 5 weeks without blood. 

It’s not the same as those vampires from movies and books, they still eat food and they can stand in the sun with just minor cases of sunburn. There’s also the light sensitivity, making them all look like assholes wearing sunglasses everywhere.

Also, they are not allergic to garlic. Which, thank the heavens because Eddie loves garlic, a lot.

There’re a couple of side effects that do come in handy sometimes, like augmented hearing and smell. And the healing spit is super weird but nifty. No super strength regrettably, that would’ve been awesome.

Anyways, it’s like they have super anemia or something.

“I went to a blood bar, hooked up with some dude but. I didn't have a good time, at all. I kind of don't want to go back to bars for a while,” He elaborates and when Jeff frowns worried, he shakes his head,

“No, not like that. It’s just… the dude was like way too into it, you know? It kinda freaked me out.”

“What do you mean? Don't you find it hot? When you feed?” Jeff asks him, curious. 

Eddie nods quickly, “Yes, of course I do! It can be really sexy with the right person, but this guy, he was like- like way too loud and like, he was faking it? I don’t for who, though. And halfway through it, I started getting worried I’d accidentally hired someone instead of just hooked up and I didn’t have any money, and then I started thinking about money and my dick-”

“Ok! Ok, I get it.” Jeff thankfully interrupts him. “Dude, why didn’t you say something, I know of a place. I didn’t mention it before because it’s kind of boujee and handles itself a little differently.” 

“Oh? Do tell” Eddie tells him excitedly, he loves going to new places, especially if they are weird.

“Well, it’s real private, like ‘can’t get in unless you are on the list’ private. And it’s run by this girl. Blonde little thing, super cute. Scary as fuck. Everyone calls her ‘The Boss’” he says doing air quotes.

“Dramatic, I like it.” Eddie smiles.

Jeff chuckles, “So the gist of it it’s you go there and just hang out normally, like any other kind of bar. The place is beautiful, the music is good, and the drinks are delicious. But what's interesting about this place is the hostesses,” he says and even does a little pause for effect before continuing, “Similar to a blood bar there’re people there willing to be fed on but what’s cool about it is they get to choose.”

Eddie raises his eyebrows, “That sounds kind of fun, actually.”

“Right? And it feels, safer somehow? For them?” Jeff agrees and Eddie nods and smiles at him, waiting for him to keep going.

“Anyway, the hostesses choose and then you get to go upstairs and talk through what you want to happen, just feeding, sex, talking, anything they agree to, it's on the table. I once ended up just playing a game of Uno with the girl I fed on and two other hostesses that hadn't picked anyone that night.” he finishes and Eddie laughs delightedly.

“Ok, this place sounds amazing, what’s the catch?” 

“Well, you have to pay an entry fee, the drinks are expensive and there’s always the possibility you’ll leave empty-handed. The first time is free though,” Jeff says.

“Like drugs,” Eddie replies and Jeff nods solemnly, 

“You know the hostesses can be kind of addicting.” 

…

That night, on the way there, Jeff tells him they have to sign a guest list at the entrance,

“No one uses their real name, not because the place is shady or anything! But because they want to leave that choice to us and the hostesses if you ever get too close with one. It's not like, frowned upon.”

Eddie nods listening intently, he feels kind of nervous in a way he hasn't in a while, but he’s not sure why.

“Also, secret nicknames are fun! I’m known as Jay there. So please don’t dox me. Or yourself.” Jeff tells him.

After careful consideration, Eddie smiles and says, “I’ll be… Strider”

“Nerd”

“Shut up, you are just jealous you didn't come up with it yourself”

Jeff laughs, “You got me there,” he says, and then, “We are here” and he opens a big glass windowed door and vows to Eddie, inviting him in.

Eddie chuckles and enters and immediately almost runs into someone—a tall, massive guy with short curly hair and the shadow of a beard.

“Hey freak,” Jeff greets calmly, “He’s with me,”

Eddie cringes at the nickname, bad memories from high school bullying. But the dude just nods and gives Jeff the tiniest of smiles, so he figures it’s the nickname the bouncer chose for himself.

They enter and sign their name in the guest book, a girl about their age with dirty blond hair and hundreds of freckles on her nose and cheeks is there and she asks Eddie a couple of questions. Not in a weird way, but in a ‘you are new and I’m curious’ kind of way.

Eddie feels comfortable and excited as they go in.

Jeff was right, the place is beautiful. The lobby leads to a big room with high ceilings and fake candle-lit lamps. The chairs and tables are antiques and all different but roughly the same time period so they look good together. There’re old signs and posters from all kinds of drinks and different products adorning the walls. And the music is instrumental and oldie too, sounds like probably 40s or 50s.

It is incredibly boujee. But in a fun way, cozy and warm.

They get a seat at a small round table in a corner and Jeff lets Eddie look around for a while before asking,

“So? Weird right? It’s like stepping into another time,”

Eddie snorts, “Yeah, one that has no idea which time period it wants to repre- who is that?”

Jeff looks at where Eddie is looking and sighs, “Of course you noticed Sunshine,”

“Sunshine?” Eddie sighs.

“That’s what they call him. Because apparently he smells like flowers and summer and tastes like orgasms or something,” Jeff says amused rolling his eyes.

The guy, Sunshine, is probably the prettiest person he’s ever seen in his life, definitely the most beautiful man in this room. His face is a contradiction of sharp and round angles that is just absolutely perfect, and he’s wearing a black suit that clings to his body like a second skin, showing off his big shoulders and his tiny waist. He’s looking around the room with big, brown eyes that look bored as he leans against a wall like he’s above it all, he’s a fucking dream.

Eddie swallows audibly and looks smirking at Jeff for a second before his eyes drift back to the man, “Tastes like what, you said” he teases and Jeff snorts.

“Not that anyone would know, as far as I know, he’s never taken anyone upstairs,” he tells Eddie in a conspiratory tone.

That makes him incredibly curious, “Really? Why is he still here then?”

“I don’t know for sure, mostly rumors but he’s the boss’s favorite, that’s for sure. Oh!” Jeff exclaims and then nods his head to a girl sitting on the other side of the room, in a big fancy-looking chair that looks more like a throne than a simple piece of furniture.

She’s got blonde hair up in a ponytail and she’s wearing a flowery dress but there's something about the way she looks around the room, something about the way people walk around her and look at her, with respect or fear, or maybe both. She’s fucking intimidating.

While Eddie’s looking, the girl from the front desk, with the freckles, comes to sit on a small stool beside the “throne”, there’s another one on the other side that’s empty. The blonde girl moves her hand towards freckles and she kisses it and then her shoulder and smiles as she leans in closer and starts whispering to her.

It’s kind of surreal. 

“That’s The Boss, and the girl from the entrance, that’s Sparrow. She’s her girl.” Jeff explains.

“Respect for looking scary in a sundress,” Eddie comments.

And Jeff nods, “Anyways my theory is, Sunshine is actually just a bodyguard and not a hostess but the people that come here like to think they actually have a chance with him, so no one says anything to the contrary.”

Eddie snorts and nods, it makes sense. It's actually very good marketing, just like the ‘the first one is free’ thing. That boss girl is really smart with her business.

Jeff and he get a few drinks and they chat calmly, Jeff isn't looking to go upstairs tonight, he only came by to accompany Eddie and Eddie knows he should be looking around, trying to make eye contact with someone, but he can stop staring at Sunshine.

He even looked at their table at one point, and Eddie thought he was going to faint. He was scanning the room as he apparently does every couple of minutes when he caught Jeff’s eye and Jeff lifted his hand in greeting.

And Sunshine’s face completely transformed, his bored calculating expression changed into a beautiful smile that made his eyes shine. He wiggled his fingers at Jeff cutely before going back to looking like fucking Droopy Dog. If Droopy was the sexiest motherfucker alive. It was amazing to see.

Eddie’s jaw almost hit the table and he turned to look at Jeff stunned and he just shrugged,

“Sunshine was one of the hostesses I ended up playing Uno with. He’s fucking vicious,” he says smiling at the memory.

Eddie chuckles as his eyes follow Sunshine moving across the room, he just can't. Stop. Looking.

But the thing is, Sunshine is looking back now. Keeping eye contact with him obviously and unashamed. It’s thrilling and it makes shivers run down his spine.

He watches as Sunshine sits on the stool on the other side of The Boss’s throne and grabs her hand and holds it, intertwining their fingers. 

The Boss and her girl turn and look at him and the three of them start whispering, looking at him.

“Dude,” he says and turns to Jeff to see if he’s seeing what he’s seeing.

Jeff looks from him to the whispering party, “Un fucking believable, first time here and tonight is the night Sunshine is taking someone upstairs” he says looking fed up, but clearly in a joking manner.

“Is that what you think it’s happening? No way,” Eddie shakes his head as Sparrow says something that makes The Boss chuckle but Sunshine speaks up and she sobers up immediately. Curious.

“He’s looking right at you, he probably went to ask Sparrow about you,” Jeff insists.

“Maybe he’s looking at you”

“He’s seen me before,” Jeff scoffs.

He’s about to reply but their conversation gets interrupted by someone shily clearing their throat. A girl, a hostess, is looking at him with curious eyes, and shit… she’s cute and looks like a nice person but, Eddie can’t- he needs to know what those looks from Sunshine meant.

He needs him.

He looks back at the group quickly to see Sunshine and The Boss in deep conversation and Sparrow… is she glaring at him?

He rejects the girl, as nicely as possible and Jeff scoffs and murmurs ‘unbelievable’ under his breath again as Eddie turns to look back at Sunshine.

Who is walking toward them, holy shit.

“Holy shit,” Jeff says and then moves to stand. Eddie grabs his wrist and tries to pull him back.

“Wait what are you doing, dont-” But Jeff frees himself and starts walking away,

“Good luck!” He sings songs and then leaves him alone.

part 1: you are here

part 2: 👄

part 3: 🩸

bonus content: ☀️

ao3: 🌙

art: 🦇

coffee?☕🥐💕

#stranger things #steddie #vampire eddie munson #steve harrington #i wrote something

[justalittletotheleft]

“daddy! it’s still light outside! why do i have to be in pjs and my nighttime diaper now?”

you pout as daddy finishes taping up one of your thick nighttime diapers with a booster in it around your waist.

“you’ll see in a minute princess, be patient.”

daddy pulls up your pajama bottoms, clearly displaying the bulk around your bottom.

as you slide off the changing table and grab your blankie, you hear the door bell ring.

“that must be her now!”

daddy begins striding to the front door.

“who daddy?”

he ignores you, but your question is answered a moment later as daddy opens the door to show a gorgeous older woman.

“you must be jackie! i’m nick and this is the little princess you’ll be watching, grace.”

daddy grabs your arm and pulls you into the doorway.

the woman, jackie, beams at you,

“hi sweetheart! i’ll be your babysitter for tonight! you can call my auntie jackie! aren’t you precious!”

she leans forward and pinches one of your cheeks, daddy and her laughing as you whine and try to pull away.

“i don’t need a babysitter! i’m a big girl!”

you take a step back, but auntie jackie just ignores you and follows you inside, closing the door behind her.

“you better behave little girl, unless you want me to give you a spanking before i leave?”

daddy shoots you a stern look, effectively quieting your whining.

he gives auntie jackie a quick tour of the house, you waddling behind as he shows her your changing table, crib, high chair, etc.

eventually he leads her to the living room, she settles in, putting her bag down while daddy puts his shoes and coat on.

“alright! she should be all set for the night, just remember to give her one of the special “nighttime bottles” so she can sleep without any fuss!”

you let out a whimper. those “nighttime bottles” have not only a sleep aid, but also a laxative and muscle relaxant, so you will definitely be waking up in a packed diaper.

“anything else i need to know? favorite cartoons? anything to watch out for?”

daddy shrugs, turning to you as you sit on the floor with your blankie.

“she’s a bit of a heavy wetter and messer, but don’t worry about changing her, she’s padded up well. but if you think she’s going to leak, feel free to put her plastic panties over her diaper, they’re in the top drawer of her changing table.”

you blush. it’s not your fault you daddy keeps you so hydrated!

“gotcha! well you go have fun on your date! i’ll make sure your little pamper packer is well taken care of while you’re getting lucky!”

he laughs, thanking her and heading towards the door.

“daddy! no! i’m your girlfriend! you can’t just go on dates!”

he rolls his eyes, seeming annoyed.

suddenly, you hear a loud hissing noise, and feel your diaper start to get warm.

“oh! it looks like your little princess is going peepee in her diapey!”

auntie jackie exclaims, reaching down and patting your newly soggy padding.

“you proved my point yourself sweetheart, who wants to fuck a potty pants? big girls don’t need diapers, so daddy’s going out and finding you a mommy.”

you whimper, embarrassed beyond means, and cover your face with your blankie.

he’s right, you’re closer to an toddler daddy takes care of than his girlfriend. you don’t even remember the last time you and daddy and sex.

“told you she’s a super soaker! you be good for auntie jackie, maybe if i get a good report back you can use mr. buzzy wand tomorrow, hm?”

you squirm in your wet diaper, knowing the closest you’ll ever get to big girl sex from here on out, is cumming into a wet and messy diaper.

[burrow-ix]

Sun-Kissed

Ted’s pool party turned out to be a lot more fun than you thought it would be…👀

Warnings: Joe looking like a beach babe, emphasize the BABE; smut; fingering if you squint; that freaking chain; etc.

Also this is like probs my first official time writing smut so hopefully it doesn’t bore you or make you cringe, if it does, I am so sorry :*)

Also, thanks to @balanceingrace for the encouragement❤️

Part Two is Here!

You and Joe arrive at Ted’s house for the pool party he was having for Memorial Day weekend. A lot of Joe’s teammates and their girlfriends and wives were going to be there as well, so you talked Joe into going so he could be social for once.

You sit down in-between Joe Bachie’s girlfriend, Holly and Sam’s girlfriend, Jess on the edge of the pool along with a couple of the other girls.

“That hair driving Joe nuts yet?” Holly asks and you giggle.

“Not yet anyway. He does mess with it constantly but I honestly think he likes it. We’ll see how he feels about it in July and August when its borderline 100 degrees during practice” you give her a smug look and she laughs.

“What do you think about it?” Jess smirks.

“I like it. It’s different. We were together for almost a year when he grew it out super long the first time and I didn’t mind it then but I’m curious to see what he’d look like with it now. That man has aged like fine wine so I’m excited to see some flow” you bite your lip and the girls giggle.

“You talkin’ shit?” Joe asks from behind you, standing over you.

“About you? Of course” you smile back at him and he just shakes his head as he hands you a cold bottle of water.

When you looks back at your man, you couldn’t help but let your eyes wander.

Joe had come back from playing basketball with some of the guys, his button up shirt all the way unbuttoned, showing his tan, sweaty, toned chest and torso. His chest being your weakness. His hair that has gotten longer over the past couple months and you were becoming feral over this new style he was trying. His hair was more blonde than usual, all thanks to the sun. The dirty blonde becoming low lights while the blonde really shown through. His Cartier sunglasses sitting nicely on his nose and cheekbones along with his chain around his neck that glittered in the sun, the rays bring out the jewels perfectly. Good God, you thought, if he just bent me over right now-.

“Damn, when did you turn into a slut?” You dip down your sunglasses at him, trying to joke with him instead of pouncing on him like a freaking tiger.

“A long time ago. When I started dating you” he dips his sunglasses down, copying you and shooting you a wink, which just made you even more hot. He’s such a jerk.

“Jesus” you mutter under your breath. This was too much stimulation for you, and you was afraid that if you looked at him any longer that you would

1) do or say something that no one else around should experience in public or 2) melt; which you were already doing.

“Well you need to quit because all of your ‘girlies’ can’t handle all of this” you motions to the heavenly being that was him. You couldn’t even handle all of that.

“Oh this is just for you, pretty girl. No one else to impress but you” he looks smugly at you, that famous smirk making its way onto his perfect lips.

And…it was done. That did you in.

You turn back around, facing the pool. You look over at Holly who knew what you were thinking.

“I’ll cover for you, get ya some” she smirks and nods her head towards the house.

“Thank you” you whisper to her before climbing out of the pool and facing back towards Joe. He chuckles lowly and you place your hand on his lower back, turning him around and pushing him nonchalantly into the house.

“Something wrong?” Joe asks you sarcastically, knowing the effect he has on you. Knowing your weaknesses that easily make you all hot and bothered for him.

You push him down the hallway and into the guest room and shutting the door behind you, locking it without even looking, just watching your man stare at you with eyes that were once bright blue, now dark as the depths of the ocean. And you were about to go for a dive.

“You” you tell him plainly. You make your way toward him, your hands finding their way to his bare, broad chest and your eyes looking up at him through your lashes.

“You are what’s wrong…but so right” you whisper.

In seconds, his strong hands grab your cheeks and his lips are on yours. Hard, unyielding, but loving and passionate. He couldn’t get enough of you and that damn berry chapstick you wore all the time. Your lips have never tasted any different.

His hands slide into your hair, gripping onto your long locks, slightly tugging which makes you moan against his mouth, causing his lips to curve up into a small smile.

Joe wasn’t one for PDA, but you get him in a room by yourselves, he was on you in less than a minute. Believe it or not, the man was handsy. But you didn’t mind the feeling of his strong, veiny hands on you, touching you, holding you. It was ecstasy.

His hands grip your hips as yours slide up his chest, to his shoulders, around his neck and into his dirty blonde hair that was now longer, easier to pull. He moans against your lips, spinning you around and letting you fall against the mattress, him going to pull his shirt off but you stop him.

“No. You better leave that on or so help me god-“

“Okay then” he chuckles, “can I take my shorts off or do I have to leave those on too?”

“Off, smart ass” you roll your eyes as you reach for his shorts, unbuttoning them and shoving them down his legs.

“These too?” He asks smugly, snapping the band of his boxer briefs against this skin.

“Joseph, I swear to god-“

“Okay, I’m done” he laughs, leaning down to reattach his lips to yours.

He quickly rids himself of his underwear, also quickly pulling your shorts and your blue bikini bottoms down all in one go and throwing them on the floor. He reaches behind your neck, his fingers sending chills down your spine as he pulls one the strings to your top loose, causing the tie to come undone.

He kisses down your neck, latching onto the place under your ear that makes you weak. He’s careful to not leave a mark, knowing you’d have his ass for having to walk back out to his teammates and their girls with a bright purple and red mark on your neck.

He makes his way down the column of your neck, you becoming a moaning mess, wanting him to be inside you already. He eventually arrives to your chest where he grabs onto the cloth of your matching blue bikini top with his teeth and pulling it down to expose your “perfect” breasts; his words.

“I’m obsessed with you” he says lowly, looking up at you through those blonde lashes and instantly latches onto your right nipple.

“Mmm” you moan, holding onto the back of his head, your fingers tangling into his hair as he swirls his incredible tongue around the bud.

He knew the other one was getting jealous so he moved over to your left breast, giving it the same amount of attention as the right. Joe was neither a boob or a butt guy; he was both. If he had to choose between your boobs or your butt, he would surely die.

Joe pulls away from your chest and looks into your eyes. He takes his index and middle finger and brings it to his mouth, licking them and bring them down to your core. You gasp as they brush your clit, him slowly circling it just to get you more worked up than you already were.

He drags them down to your entrance, teasing you as he feels the mess you’ve already made of yourself.

“Just wanted to make sure you were ready for me” he smirks.

“Always ready for you” you whine as he pulls his fingers away and brings them back up to his mouth, sucking your juices off of them.

“I know” he smiles.

He spits into his hand and brings it down to his dick who was also always ready for you.

You reach down and wrap your hand around him, slowly pumping him.

“O-oh shit” he groans, dropping his head to your shoulder.

You pick up the pace, a bead of precum appearing on his tip, he was starting to become a moaning mess. You take your thumb and slide it over his tip and let go of him to bring your thumb to your mouth. Slipping it into your mouth, you swirl around it, tasting him to which he watches you intently.

“I need to feel you, now” he says, his voice low and raspy. He lines himself up with your entrance before slowly, almost painfully pushing himself in.

“God” you moan out, your breath hitching in your throat as he hit your cervix. You’ll never get used to him, it’s always a pleasant surprise.

“You feel insane, baby” he groans, his head dipping down to your shoulder, pressing a kiss to your collarbone. Your hands still in his hair, obsessed with gripping onto and pulling on his now longer blonde curls.

He pulls out and pushes all the way back in again, your eyes rolling to the back of your head. Joe starts to pick up the pace, the sound of skin smacking skin making the experience oh-so-much better and intense.

“Look at me” he breathes out, his face hovering over yours, that chain gently hitting your chin as he continues to thrust into you. Oh, that could make you come undone right then and there. God bless that freaking chain.

“You are so pretty, Jesus-“ he hisses, starting to fully pound into you, repeatedly hitting that soft spot inside of you, making your eyes roll back once again.

“Joe, I’m gonna-“ your eyes screwing shut as your hands go under the back of his shirt, gripping onto his muscular back.

“Let go, baby, let go” he grunts, his dick spasming against your walls as they clinch around him. He brings his lips back down to yours as you come undone, whimpering into his mouth as he continues to thrust into you, the oversensitivity starting to kick in.

With a couple more sporadic thrusts, moaning your name against your lips, he lets go, coating your walls.

He pulls out of you gently, both of you whimpering at the sensitive feeling. He lies down next to you, both of you trying to catch your breath.

“So the unbuttoned shirt is officially approved?” Joe asks, looking over at you and you giggle.

“10 stamps of approval” you smile at him and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Cool” he smiles back at you before leaning over to you and pressing a sweet kiss to your lips.

“We should probably go back out there before they start to get suspicious” Joe sits up and pulls his underwear and shorts up his long legs and sets your bikini bottoms and shorts on the bed next to you.

“Joe, they’re not stupid, they know damn well what we came in here to do” you scoff and he laughs.

“Well, I’m going to blame it on you if they ask” He helps you stand up.

“Go right ahead and see what happens, you jerk” you narrow your eyes at him as you tie your bikini top strings back.

“Go pee. You can threaten me later, pretty girl” he winks and gives your ass a healthy smack as you make your way to the bathroom.

“It’s not threatening, it’s promising, JB” you tell him, patting his chest.

“Also,” you stop in the doorway, “you should wear that all of the time”

You smirk at him as he smiles at you.

“Oh I will wear it everyday if I get the exact same reaction I did today” he nods.

“Good” you wink and shut the door behind you.

After getting yourself cleaned up and fixing your sex hair, you walk back outside to where Joe was already sitting with the guys, chatting away.

You walk over to Joe and sit yourself on his thick thighs, your favorite seat to sit on, other than his face. Joe presses a kiss to the back of your shoulder, once again, sending a chill down your back. You shoot him a loaded look over your shoulder and he smiles up at you, those blue eyes glistening behind his sunglasses.

“Love you” he mouths to you and you blush.

“Love you” you mouth back and turn your attention back to the guys.

One of these days, he will be the death you. But hey, that would be a great way to go out.

#joe burrow #smut #football smut #cincinnati bengals #joe burrow smut #joe burrow imagine #joe burrow x reader #joe burrow fic #joe burrow fan fic #nfl #nfl football

[allysunny]

If you said your requests are open… I know this is silly but JEALOUS MIGUEL

Dude gets annoyed if Y/N talks abt someone else (Ben Reilly, Peter B, some other spider people orsome of her friends back in her world) fondly and even LYLA called him out on that

Then one time when Y/N was doing that thing where she talks abt someone else in a fond way and Miguel accidentally said smth that reveals his feelings for you 🤭🤭🤭

A Jab of Jealousy | Miguel O'Hara x Spider Fem!Reader

Words: 3.4k

Warnings: Jealous behaviour from Miguel - seriously, he's kind of a stalker in here. He's down bad and whipped and acts like a sulking baby. Mentions of violence, but it's for comedical effect. Peter B. is a menace. Perhaps OOC Miguel? If there's anything I missed, please let me know!

A/N: Hey guys!! Hello!! It's me again! Gosh, it's been kinda long since the last update. I'm very sorry, but as I mentioned, I'm super busy with university, and am trying to juggle everything without going absolutely crazy. I hope you guys haven't forgotten about me! Please be patient <3

Anyways, I had a blast writing this! I'd never really written for jealous characters before, so I'm not really sure if this is any good. BUT it was very fun to write a sulking Miguel. He's just so funny, picture a big grumpy cat, upset his owner won't give him any attention, hahaha!

Anyway sweet Anon, I hope this is to your liking! It's a bit shorter than my usual works, so I apologize for that, though. But I hope it meets your expectations!!

Miguel was fuming. So much, that he could probably fry an egg on his head. In fact, Lyla had expressed a desire to do so. If only she had a physical form, she thought.

But since frying eggs on top of her boss’s head wasn’t an option, she simply chose to watch as he dug his own grave over and over again, acting like a complete moron.

It’s not like she wasn’t amused – but there is only so much she could say when Miguel sulked because you’d given someone else your attention without making him upset and causing a “I am not jealous” rant to happen.

Lyla did not want that.

Lyla knew better than to prompt that conversation.

More people should be like Lyla – namely Peter B., who’d caught onto Miguel’s little act rather early on. But the brunet couldn’t help it – pissing off Miguel was a hilarious past time, and he loved to push his buttons. He wondered how long it would take for him to finally admit his feelings for you.

Thing was, Miguel had a soft spot for you.

A very soft spot for you.

A “I can’t listen to any of these idiots talk, but as soon as you start a conversation, he’ll tell everyone to shut up so he’ll listen” soft spot for you.

A “I do not want to see anyone, leave me alone you insufferable brats, but if you walk into his office, he’ll pull up a chair and let you keep him company” soft spot for you.

A “I can’t believe you guys disgraced your mission and were unable to contain the anomaly, it is unacceptable, unless it’s you because then it’s only a ‘common mistake’” soft spot for you.

A “I’m Mr. Grumpy and Annoyed and spend my whole days sulking, but if you walk through that door, I’ll light up like a Christmas tree” soft spot for you.

A “this is the last empanada in the cafeteria, and I really want to eat, but you seem to be starving, so please have it, I don’t want you passing out on me” soft spot for you.

A “I’m not jealous, how dare you, but if I see you talking to someone else, I will most likely punch a wall (and destroy it in consequence)” soft spot for you.

Yeah.

Miguel was down bad.

But he’d never admit it to anyone – let alone himself.

He’d simply sulk in a corner, muttering about how “Ben isn’t really that interesting, and he doesn’t really need help, he’s just dramatic and needs to grow up”. Or something of the sort.

Right now, he was watching as you casually conversed with Peter B. The two of you were sitting next to each other, munching on some spider themed burgers for lunch and catching up. Mayday was contentedly eating her own burger, cheddar sauce smeared all over her face and coating her hands. 

Peter must’ve made the greatest fucking joke ever, because you bent over the table, laughing like a maniac. Miguel loved your laughter - so carefree, so unapologetically you. You wiped some tears from your eyes, still giggling. You reached out and touched his arm, which made Peter smile, and Miguel frown. 

Why’d you be touching his arm? Were you two that close? Sure, you were friendly with everyone, but were you this touchy? You’d never touched him. Did you only do that to your close friends? Did you perhaps want something more with Peter? Well, Peter was a married man. And a loyal one at that - he wouldn’t leave Mary Jane. Why would you go for a married man?

Miguel was single. Why not go for someone single?

“Oh Peter - never change!” you exclaimed with a bright smile that could’ve lit up the whole Spider Society. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go take care of some reports for the big guy.” 

The Big Guy? Who the hell is the big guy?

“Ah, yes. Don’t want him to throw a table at you, do we?” Peter joked.

A table? 

Miguel had only done that once. 

And it was deserved.

Were you talking about him?

“Don’t be like that -” your voice quickly interrupted Peter’s. “He threw a table at you because you’d been slacking off. You let that Doc Ock anomaly escape. He’s not normally like that.”

Precisely. 

Oh.

You were defending him.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure he’s not. Off you go, you busy bee!”

“Give MJ my love - I can’t wait to try her casserole. Tell her I’ll bring the pizza rolls, I promised I’d give her my recipe.” You placed a delicate kiss on top of Mayday’s red mane (to which she giggled and reached out her arms towards you - Miguel wondered if you were this naturally good with kids, or if it was just the younger B. Parker that made everyone act like this) and walked away.

Peter smiled to himself, ruffled his kid’s hair, and then looked straight at Miguel, giving him a knowing look from across the cafeteria. He nudged his head towards your figure, and wiggled his eyebrows, mouthing “Jealous?”

Miguel sulked even more, finishing his burger in one whole bite.

Jealous. As if he was jealous. 

The next time something like this happened, Miguel had been doing some research on the Spider Library. It was a fascinating place, really - Spiders from every earth would donate books from their homeland. There were books on just about everything, from Victorian etiquette to small Lego blocks Lego Spiderman would swear to be books (a claim Miguel has never once doubted, for the little guy was one of his most trusted allies). 

He’d been looking through a few cookbooks (Because even Spider People deserve to learn how to cook), looking for casserole recipes. He convinced himself it was simply a way for him to eat a more balanced meal, for him not to eat at the cafeteria every single day - not that there was anything wrong with it, but he sometimes longed for the warmth of a homemade meal. 

“Noir!” your voice cut through the silence, and Miguel caught a glimpse of you chastising yourself for speaking so loudly in a space meant to be relaxing and quiet. “Sorry,” you whispered with a small giggle, before turning to the black and white character. 

You conversed happily, feet tugged under your body as you relaxed on one of the library’s comfiest chairs. The cookbook long forgotten; Miguel was now busy watching you. The way the corners of your lips titled up whenever Spider Noir said something that pleased you, how your hands fidgeted with your hair, twirling it around your fingers or tugging it behind your ear, how your eyes would widen in recognition whenever you deemed the topic good. 

“Stalker much?” Lyla whispered on his ear, making him jump. 

“Mierda! Coño - Lyla - pendeja de una…” He mumbled under his breath, looking around to make sure no one had heard him - unfortunately for him, you had. You looked over in his direction in confusion and gave him a soft smile once your gazes met, as well as a small wave. He retributed, far too stunned to speak, before returning his attention to Lyla. 

“What the hell do you want?” He asked, keeping his voice low and gruff. He hated being interrupted, especially when someone interrupted him while he was looking at you. 

“You do know this whole ‘Watching her from the shadows’ thing is getting sort of old, right? And it’s real creepy Miguel, real creepy!” Lyla chimed in, looking at him over the rim of her heart-shaped glasses. She was way too done with him. And with good reason. While it was amusing to watch jealousy eat him up from the inside and watch how smitten he was whenever you walked in, it was also draining, because it meant she was stuck with a big grumpy cat whenever you weren’t near, or whenever you were near someone else. 

“Why don’t you just ask her on a date?” she asked, voice way too exasperated. It wasn’t the first time she suggested this. Nor the second, nor the third. It surely wouldn’t be the last. “Grow a pair of cojones and ask her out. You’re a decent cook - why not cook up something for dinner? She’d like that, I’m sure.” 

“Why would I ask her out?” Miguel grumbled, trying to focus on his book once more. “And why would she say yes? She’s got plenty of friends, of companions. I’m sure she doesn’t lack dinner invitations.” 

Lyla scoffed and rolled her eyes, wishing her boss wasn’t so stubborn. 

“Well, you should ask her about because you’re whipped! Damn it Miguel, it’s becoming really disturbing to have you sulk and pout all day because she didn’t look your way, or smiled too much at someone else. It’s annoying. And you are becoming a stalker. Look at you! You followed her into the library and were watching her!” 

“I was reading!” replied Miguel, trying to keep his voice down but failing - which earned him a few “Shhhhh”s from other dedicated spiders. “Sorry…” he grumbled. “But I was reading. It’s got nothing to do with her.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, big guy.” If Lyla were to roll her eyes again, they’d probably roll into the back of her head. “Anyway, you have some new reports to catch up on. The new recruits have done a brilliant job, actually. You might want to give those a look.” Miguel sighed and swiftly exited the library, but not before catching your gaze again, and receiving a smile from you. 

Miguel was halfway into reviewing one of the reports Jessica had sent him when he heard a knock on his office’s door. 

“Who is it?” he asked, not particularly thrilled to talk to anyone.

“Oh, it’s me! [Y/N]!” You. [Y/N]. 

Well, his door would always be open for you. 

“Come in,” he said, turning away from his multitude of screens. 

Just be cool. 

It’s not like Lyla was right.

Or Peter. 

They love to tease him - they’re both insufferable and love to annoy him. 

He’s not jealous. 

He’s not possessive or anything. 

“Miguel?” You asked, breaking him out of his trance. “You okay?”

He looked up to meet your kind eyes, and immediately relaxed before them. 

“Yeah,” he nodded, “I’m fine. Sorry, I’m just distracted. Jessica sent me some new reports, and I need to revise all of these before I store them.” It’s funny. Miguel would never admit he was tired. Not to Lyla or anyone else. He wouldn’t even admit it to himself - but you were different. You made him feel safe. He felt like he could confide in you and tell you all that troubles his mind.

“I could help you out, if you wanted to?” You leaned against a desk, shrugging your shoulders. “I mean, I don’t have much on my plate right now. If you want, I could look at them?”

Miguel couldn’t do that.

He couldn’t give someone else his workload, couldn’t trust someone else with such an important task. Should you overlook something, the consequences could be disastrous. Even the tiniest detail could lead up to catastrophic events. That’s why he always took it upon himself to review everything himself, to make sure there were no mistakes.

“I might just take you up on that offer.” 

Huh. 

That’s not what he meant to say. 

No, what he meant to say was, 

“It would be great to have a helping hand.”

No. 

No, actually, abort mission. Abort mission.

Miguel didn’t need help. He was doing fine on his own. He was the only one qualified for such important jobs, and that was why he had to set the record straight and tell you,

“Thank you, [Y/N].”

You smiled brightly at him, one of those smiles reserved for your closest friends alone (at least that’s what he thought, because Miguel had not been stalking you, and most certainly wasn’t aware of the types of smiles you gave people).

But did this mean he was one of your closest friends?

Miguel shook his head at the thought, and you giggled – a cheerful, melodious sound that Miguel didn’t mind hearing more often.

“You know, everyone around HQ keeps saying you’re like this big bad wolf,” you begin, gesturing with your hands, as if painting a picture. “It’s funny because you’re not like that at all! It seems like I’m the only one who sees that, though. Oh, and Peter B.” You chuckled, rolling your eyes. “You see, the other day, we were joking about what kind of animals each one of us would be, and – “ Miguel’s ears blocked out the rest of the line.

Peter B. this, Peter B. that.

How close were you two anyway? And why are you always talking about him?

“ – And then I was like, no, Miguel would totally be a cat, and then Ben just completely faints on the floor in front of us, and we burst out laughing!” You’re doubling over yourself, even going as far as wiping tears from your eyes. “Oh, he may be dramatic, but boy is he funny. You should listen to his impression of Victorian Spider; he’s got it down to a tee! And oh – he can mimic Peter Parkedcar so well, he does this thing with his voice, in which he goes – “

He's not even that funny.

“Huh?” You questioned, looking up from your little rant.

Huh? What “huh”?

Oh. Mierda.

Had he said that out loud?

“I’m just saying, he’s not even that funny. Ben Reilly.” He grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest, and looking away. “I don’t even know why you hang out with him. He steals everyone’s jokes and makes everything about himself. Also, he’s annoying.”

Way to go Miguel. You do not sound a day over four years old. Not at all.

“Well, I find him charming.” You reply sympathetically. “We all have our flaws.”

“Charming. Tch. Sure, if you find crying over his ‘traumatising day’ which probably consists of a spilled Sepsi charming, then sure, he’s the spitting image of a charming gentleman.” Miguel scoffed, still not finding it within himself to look you in the eye.

“That’s just who he is. I mean, you can’t really blame him, that’s probably how his whole Earth is. Oh goodness – could you imagine? A whole earth full of Ben Reillys?” Your eyes widened and you grinned once again, covering your mouth with your hands. “Peter’s always saying –“

“Peter should probably get some adult friends. And doesn’t he have a baby to take care of? I mean, he can’t possibly be bothering everyone around HQ when he’s a father – you must have things to do other than listen to him ramble on and on and on about whatever topic. Dios, he desperately needs a hobby. Doesn’t he have a wife to return to?”

Perhaps Peter B. could arrange some playdates for Miguel and Mayday. Who knows, the two children might get along.

You’re looking at him, mouth agape in a grin. You supress a chuckle and clear your throat, amusement rather obvious in your eyes.

Could Miguel O’Hara, the big bad wolf leader of the Spider Society, be jealous?

“Someone seems to be a bit jealous.” Your remark was accompanied by some sort of smile that was also a smirk. Almost like you were too amused by the situation but were also flattered. Which you were.  

There was that word again.

Jealous.

Miguel ran the word repeatedly in his mind. Could it be he was actually jealous? Was he, perhaps, too possessive of you? You weren’t his. There was no reason for him to feel so protective.

“They’re just friends, you know.” You shrugged, tilting your head. A few strands of hair fell in front of your face, but you made no effort to move them. It gave you a slightly ragged look, and Miguel felt his heart leap in his chest at the sight. “You could hang out with us sometime. I’m sure they’d appreciate it. You’re the boss, I’m sure fraternising’s not against Spider Society rules.”

It was Miguel’s turn to roll his eyes.

“Yeah – right. I’m afraid any conversation I might have with them will reduce my brain capacity. Thank you, but no.” He waved his hand dismissively. It was true. Ben was a focused superhero, that was true, but he could get caught up in his own drama far too quickly. And Peter B… Peter B. was Peter B.

This was getting quite ridiculous.

Here he was, nearly stalking someone, attacking all her friends, and acting like a possessive jerk, all because he was sad said someone wouldn’t look at him, or hang out with him as much. Miguel was a grown ass man, but lately, he’d been acting like a confused teen going through puberty. You deserved quite better. Much better.

He’d dated women before, surely, he could do it again. He’d had nice dates and formulated interesting conversations. He could do all of that again. Without stalking you and following you around like a lost puppy. He could take you out and grant you a night of fun. Treat you nicely. Cook you some dinner, perhaps.

Something ran through Miguel’s mind – a thought he never expected to have – Lyla was right. Maybe it was time to do things like a proper adult instead of pouting and throwing tantrums whenever you looked somewhere else. It wasn’t fair of him to keep acting this way, and especially towards you, who’d done nothing to warrant such a weird treatment. All he hoped for was that you hadn’t noticed his strange demeanour these past few weeks.

“But, well,” he started, trying not to sound like a sulking child, “I surely don’t lose any of my faculties whenever I’m with you. Perhaps you would like to get some coffee sometimes?”

There it was.

An invitation.

(Even if slightly half-assed)

An opportunity to stop being some creepy loser (Peter’s words), and maybe get closer to you.

(It should be noted that Lyla was observing the whole thing, and although she was merely AI, the joy she was feeling was far too big to be considered “synthetic”. She was simply happy her oblivious moron of a boss had finally manned up. She was so proud. It was like watching a baby take his first steps – only in this case, the baby was a 6’9 superhero who could crush a car with his bare hands. She was proud, nevertheless. He was all grown up now.)

Your smiled softened, and you nodded.

“I’d like that. I really would.”

Miguel looked up.

Huh. That’d been surprisingly easy.

And you’d said yes.

“Really?” Were you messing with him? Was Peter going to kick his door down, shove a camera up his face and proclaim he’d been pranked?

“Yeah!” You shrugged, linking your hands behind your back. “I think it’d be fun. I’d really like to go on a date with you.” Your eyes widened. “Unless – I mean, is it a date? It doesn’t have to – I’m sorry, I just assumed – but it really doesn’t have to, and I’d love to get coffee either way!”

You scrambled for words, face heating up by the second, which made Miguel smile. He didn’t do it often, but in your presence? All was possible in your presence. You brought out the best in him.

“Would you like it to be a date?” Okay, now the ball was on your court. While Miguel had been the one to ask you out, you were the one in charge. If you told him you’d rather meet up as friends, he’d respect your decision. (Maybe stalk you some more with heartbreak in his eyes, but he wasn’t about to say that.)

“I… I’d like that. If it were to be a date, that is – I’d really like that.” You tried to hide the way your fingers fidgeted with each other, but it was far too obvious. And completely okay. Miguel too was nervous.

“Me too.”

You smiled at his words, and Miguel’s smile mirrored your own.

“That’s settled then. It’s a date.”

In the background, Lyla did cartwheels in the air, mentally congratulating her boss.

Miguel’s smile softened and reached his eyes.

Maybe he was jealous.

But he was sure it would work out in the end.

A/N: And that's it! Again, I hope you guys liked it! I'll be working on more requests, and stuff of my own hehe, I can't wait for you guys to see what else is up my sleeve. Thank you and have a wonderful day!!

#miguel o'hara x reader #miguel o'hara x y/n #miguel o'hara scenarios #miguel o'hara x you #miguel o'hara #miguel o'hara fanfiction #spiderman 2099 #spiderman 2099 x you #spiderman 2099 x reader #miguel ohara #atsv x reader #atsv x you #spiderverse x reader #spiderverse x you #spiderverse fanfiction #miguel ohara x reader #miguel spiderman #across the spiderverse #miguel atsv

[themirrorghost]

I can't write for the life of me, but I've just thought of a tasty soulmate-fic premise (romantic or platonic!):

When their eyes are closed, a soulmate can see what their other half sees.

Whether it's super clear, or just impressions, or perhaps the more one stares at something the clearer it gets, just imagine the potential.

Soulmates taking turns to close their eyes and communicate through notes to find eachother. Soulmates who know when the other's fallen asleep because it's completely dark on the other side. Soulmates who can't sleep because their other half is somewhere way too bright and have to write passive-aggressive notes asking if they could "please turn the lights down!" Soulmates who are bored and would rather watch the others everyday life, no matter how mundane. Soulmates who's friends and/or family make fun of them for zoning out to watch through their other halves eyes instead of paying attention.

And then, on the other hand? The angst potential is delicious-

Soulmates who are so desperate to stop their other half from knowing that they wear a blindfold, or straight up blind themselves, to prevent it. Soulmates who hate the thought of someone intruding on their private lives, whether they're meant to be together or not. Soulmates who have terrible home/work lives and hope against hope that their other half doesn't find out or worse. Soulmates who are abused or get into fights often, trying their damnedest to protect their eyes above all else. Soulmates who's eyes are damaged, accidentally or otherwise, terrified of the thought that their other half won't ever be able to find them.

There are so so many ways you can swing this:

One soulmate afraid that their other half had died, having never been able to see through their eyes. Their soulmate was born blind, and managed to see things they thought they never could/would thanks to their soulmate.

Soulmates that met during childhood, living their lives as a whole, using their connection for simple, silly, domestic reasons.

Familial soulmates! Twins who aren't quite psychic but know what the other is doing all of the time. Siblings who are stuck with eachother and pretend to hate it, but are secretly glad they'll always have the other. Found family where it feels like they've always had the other and are impossible to separate.

Long-distance soulmates, teaching eachother about where they were born/grew up, showing eachother things precious to eachother.

Daytime Vs Nighttime soulmates who are barely ever awake at the same time, treasuring those in-between moments.

Soulmates with nightmares, one waking up in a panic, blinking hard and trying to calm down as quickly as possible. The other getting glimpses of the aftermath as they blink, perhaps rushing to their side if they can, comforting their distressed soulmate.

College/University AU soulmates knowing too much about their other halves area of study. Writing eachother notes to go to bed or to eat when they both forget and stay up studying way too late.

Assassin/Spy AU soulmates, using their bond to complete their missions as effectively as possible. Or perhaps the assassin/spy's soulmate is their target. Especially tasty if you throw in undercover work.

I could write a million of these prompts-

#soulmates #soulmate fic #soulmate prompts #writing prompts #this is not a fandom-specific post #but im gonna tag some anyway #batfam #one piece #op #buddy daddies #haikyuu!! #assassination classroom #danny phantom #dcxdp #dp x dc #bnha #fuck it I'll tag a few ships too #zosan #lawlu #kidlaw #miya twins #karushuu #kiribaku #tw abuse mention

[bokettochild]

Random Legend Headcanons that haunt my brain at stupid hours <3

He has a big sweet tooth, but less so for sugary things and mostly more for fruits

greatest seemingly "irrational" fear is dogs, he has never liked them even since childhood, and the only dog he can stand is the old sheepdog his grandparent's kept to keep track of the goats

Sky is his favorite. Sky is real with him and doesn't dismiss him as an asshole = automatic favorite. They also share a lot in common

he and Sky like gossiping when no one is paying attention to them. Not about the other heroes necessarily, they just both find it fun

oral stims: he likes his hands free, but chewing/sucking on things helps him focus better and stay calm. He refuses to admit how many times he's found himself chewing on his medallions

he loves puzzles. You'd think he'd gotten enough of them in his adventures, but nope! Hes been doing this long enough that going WITHOUT puzzles to solve actually makes him feel bored. He likes the challenge of it, it keeps his brain ticking

history nerd. A lot of Hyrule's culture/history/tradition was lost because the people were just trying to survive after Ganon killed the hero, so Legend really likes trying to hunt down the pieces of the past to put together what it was like. It's a big puzzle for him, and he loves talking about it if he feels he'll actually be listened too

he knits. He doesn't know many patterns, but he knows some basic stitches and the repetition calms him down

good at most needlework, sucks at embroidery. He likes it, it's just too stressful for him. He's in awe of the fact that Sky's so good at it.

he actually loves the sea I know most writers have him scared of it, but he's got far more happy memories than bad ones, so while it's bittersweet, he still enjoys being near the water (as log as it's not storming)

hates lightning storms with a passion. Storms in general make his arthritis worse, but the lightning trauma sucks a lot more

actually enjoys light rain showers. it still effects his pain levels, but not super bad, and it's worth it to him

has the most un-attractive laugh ever. He tends to snort and cackle like a madman. He does have a "polite laugh" but it's far less genuine.

he CAN cook, he just doesn't care to. Food is an annoying requirement and necessity for him most of the time, and more of a chore than he's willing to admit

he has the biggest soft spot for kids, partially because of Gully, partially by nature

the most susceptible to Baby Therapy (the effect of feeling at peace, content, happy, or relief while holding a small child) Ulli figured this out early on and now abuses it.

he loves stargazing. Stars are a constant no matter where he goes and they're like old friends (got this from the manga)

he's an artist and a perfectionist, his preferred medium is paints, but he does carry a sketchbook

loves physical contact, but is hesitant about others boundaries, so he rarely initiates or maintains it

I have more, but yeah, this is getting pretty long :')

#lu legend #linked universe #linkeduniverse #ketto can't sleep #so have some blorbo thoughts

[caapsiizzereads]

Would you do a Jamie Tartt imagine where he and his girlfriend's anniversary is during an away game so he's super clingy and pouty he's missing it before/after the game, thanks in advance!

🤲

Jamie has been ecstatic about playing for the England national team. He doesn’t care about the extra travel or extra training – it’s all worth it. That is, until the date of an away match falls on your one-year anniversary. Suddenly, he isn’t excited for the match at all. He asks if you can come with him, but you’re swamped with work, so that isn’t an option.

Jamie can be one dramatic bitch sometimes, and it’s exactly one of those times. You insist that it’s fine and you can celebrate on the next day, but it’s not good enough for him.

“We’ll have other anniversaries,” you’re trying to comfort him. It’s only after you say it that you realize that it’s a bit presumptuous.

Jamie doesn’t seem to notice. “But this is our first one!”

“Jamie, it’s fine, really. We’ll just celebrate on the next day, it’s not a big deal.”

He whines.

“Okay, this is it. You don’t get to complain. You will be in Naples, playing for the fucking national team, while I’m stuck here.”

“But it’s no fun if you’re not there!” he pouts.

“It is if you win the match. Have some ice cream for me.” You kiss him on the cheek, and he lays his head on your chest miserably.

Jamie stays glued to your side for the whole day before he has to leave, he kisses you, like, a hundred times, and then hugs you for a full three minutes before stepping out the door.

You facetime when he’s there. He calls you the first thing in the morning, and you just hang out on a call while getting ready for your days, you say that you’ll be cheering for him and wish him good luck on his match. Then he texts you right after the match, and you congratulate him on the win.

The team is getting on the bus to go to the airport, and Jamie just can’t wait to get back to you. He googles all the food places that will still be open when he lands, so that you’ll be able to at least have a simple dinner at home. Fortunately, being a famous footballer comes with some privileges, one of which is that certain restaurants are willing to provide their services for him even after their regular closing time.

Jamie texts you when he lands, and you instantly reply, which means that you aren’t asleep yet, so he happily stops by a restaurant to pick up the food on his way home.

When Jamie parks by your house, he notices that the lights are off. It’s been only an hour since you texted him, surely you couldn’t fall asleep, right? He quietly enters the house and takes off his shoes. Now, standing in the hallway, he can see the dim light coming from the kitchen.

He walks into the room to find it illuminated by a dozen candles and you sitting on the kitchen island, smiling charmingly at him.

“Hi,” you greet him playfully.

“Hi,” he says softly, feeling the warmth in his cheeks. No matter how much time goes by, you always have this effect on him. “I got dinner,” he lifts his hand with the takeout bags in it. “And ice cream. Had to get it here, though, didn’t think it could survive the flight.”

“I got wine,” you nod in the direction of a wine bottle and two empty glasses standing on the counter.

Jamie puts the bags near them and walks up to you, standing in the space between your legs. You wrap your arms around his neck and pull him into a kiss. “Happy anniversary.”

Jamie melts into your embrace, smiling blissfully at you. “Happy anniversary.”

#jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt x you #jamie tartt imagine #ted lasso fic

[elyvorg]

Kieran Part 1: It’s All About Strength

I’m a longtime Pokémon fan who happily plays through every mainline game, but I’ve never been more than mildly fond of the occasional character here and there, because Pokémon isn’t much for deep and nuanced character writing. Then I played The Teal Mask DLC and came out of it with many, many Feelings and Thoughts about Kieran – enough so that it warrants a full, juicy analysis about all of his subtleties and issues. I never expected I’d write one of these character analysis rambles of mine on a Pokémon character of all things, but here we are. Colour me surprised and impressed.

For anyone reading this in the future: this was written before The Indigo Disk came out and therefore only talks about the events of The Teal Mask. Assuming The Indigo Disk doesn’t completely drop the ball on the best character-writing job that mainline Pokémon has ever done (please; please don’t), there will probably be a Part 2 to this analysis coming in a few months. (Aaaaand here it is! But you should read this one first, of course.)

(I’ll be referring to the player character as “you” here for ease of wording, but rest assured, this doesn’t mean I’m accusing you the reader of any of the questionable ways the player character treats Kieran. I was also very annoyed at being forced to lie to him, believe me.)

His weakness, and your strength

Kieran is a kid gripped with a crushing sense of inferiority and weakness. We don’t see all of where this came from, although we get a pretty good idea of part of it – his sister. So many times when Kieran tries to protest against things and assert himself, Carmine snaps back at him for doing so. Over time, that kind of thing would have made him feel like he’s wrong for trying to stand up for himself, leading to him letting people walk all over him. I don’t want to give Carmine’s behaviour all of the blame for Kieran’s issues, though, because there’s bound to be more to it than that. I expect some of it also came from him being bullied and outcast during his time at Blueberry Academy – I hope The Indigo Disk gives us glimpses into what Kieran’s life there was like before all this.

As a result of feeling so weak and inferior, Kieran admires and idolises people he sees as strong. This becomes clear early on with how much he looks up to you just for being able to beat his sister, someone else he also sees as strong. Apparently, he couldn’t stop raving about how cool you were and how he wanted to battle you all evening back at home.

He doesn’t want you to know that, though, based on his protest when Carmine comes out and tells you so. Kieran's probably rather embarrassed for you to hear how much he idolises you, after all. He also seems to think his request for a battle would be annoying and a bother – he says “You don’t mind?” in surprise when you accept, even though asking people for battles is supposed to be just what trainers do. Why would a strong trainer like you want to waste your time battling someone weak like him?

Kieran’s comment in the battle if you land a super effective move is also very telling: “Oof, ehehe… I guess I got a lot of weaknesses…” He tries to play it off as light-hearted, but, hm, that sure is A Way for a rival character to comment on you knowing about type matchups. And he most certainly does not seem to agree with his sister when she says he’s almost as strong as her.

(Fun fact: the game actually lets you lose the first battle with each sibling while still continuing the story. If you lose to Kieran in that first battle, he assumes you were holding back against him, as if that’s the only reason he’d ever be able to beat anyone. Perhaps he’s experienced people holding back against him out of pity before – maybe Carmine used to?)

He's flustered when Carmine partners him up with you, too, even though you’re the only option that he has at least a vague rapport with now – he’s still assuming someone cool like you wouldn’t want to waste any more of your time on him than you have to. Kieran worries he’ll “get in your way” if he sticks with you, so he hangs back and stays well out of your way instead. It’s a cute way for the game to justify him not actually following you around in the gameplay even though he’s supposed to be following you according to the plot, but it also just makes perfect sense for Kieran’s character. This is a kid who constantly tries to take up as little space as possible because he’s convinced that nobody wants him around. And it’s important that he seems to feel especially this way towards the people he looks up to (with the exception of Carmine, because she’s family and he spends most of his time with her already).

Then there’s the scene where he meets Koraidon/Miraidon. At first, I assumed it was there to introduce Kieran to our lizardbike friend because they’d be relevant later somehow. But they’re not! So the only reason this scene exists at all is for the purpose of illustrating to Kieran that, in his words, “you’re special”. You are A Protagonist, capable of befriending super special, rare, strong Pokémon with ease. (Just like a certain other special legendary Pokémon you’ll be meeting soon, how about that.)

Admiring the ogre

So, as you begin the trip to visit the signboards about Kitakami’s legend, Kieran starts to open up about how much he likes the ogre. Perhaps he feels safe telling you, because you’re an outsider and won’t frown upon him for it like the locals are prone to do. He probably gets that from them a lot and has learned not to bring up the ogre in town – another thing that makes him feel left out.

Even so, Kieran starts from the angle of “it’s so strong and cool because it won one-on-three”, since that’s a more acceptable reason to like the ogre that doesn’t question the validity of the legend, and is less personal to his issues. If you agree with him that the ogre sounds cool before he’s explained why he thinks so, he responds with “I knew you’d get it!” – you, who’s also really strong and cool, would obviously recognise that same strength in the ogre right away, right?

If you’re sceptical at first instead, he stresses that “it was all alone!” and still managed to hold its own – the more personal side of the reason he likes the ogre coming out just a little. By the second signboard, Kieran’s gotten a bit more comfortable with you, enough to start touching on that more deliberately. He mentions that it’s shunned, and that he likes its strength because he admires that and wishes he could be that strong himself.

Then he invites you to see the ogre’s den, something completely unrelated to the purpose of the school trip, because he trusts you enough to feel sure that you’ll get what he’s trying to illustrate about the ogre there. He points out that it seems like a lonely, miserable place to live, and that he’d happily let the ogre stay at his house if it wanted. He’s not quite explicitly saying so, but Kieran clearly empathises with the ogre because he relates to that kind of loneliness. Though he doesn’t want to outright say that the legend is wrong and the ogre isn’t actually the bad guy – maybe he’s got backlash from the villagers before for suggesting it –  he's got to believe that to be the case.

(I’ve seen one or two people suggest that Kieran fawning over the supposed bad guy in the legend is an early hint to his potential for darkness, but I really don’t think that’s it. There’s plenty of reason for Kieran to relate to and see the sympathetic side of the ogre in the story due to his own status as a social outcast, without it needing to be a case of “he just likes bad guys because he’s Edgy”.)

Later, at the festival, Kieran has a quiet chuckle to himself when Carmine’s talking about the Loyal Three being heroes, and says it’s funny that she doesn’t know anything about the ogre. Then he conspicuously changes the subject when she implies that it’s just that he likes edgy bad guys, because that’s not it – but at least now he has someone who does get it. Carmine mentions later that she feels Kieran is trying to one-up her about the ogre, and maybe this is true. Perhaps this is one small way in which he can privately feel superior to his sister, because he’s more right than her, or than anyone in the village, about the ogre’s true nature. And while that’s more due to luck and a large helping of projecting his own issues onto it than out of any genuine inside knowledge of the truth, Kieran is the one person who understands the ogre best.

Or, at least, he understands it best… for the most part. Because there is one very key way in which Kieran is actually thoroughly wrong about what Ogerpon is truly like.

Misunderstanding the ogre

This begins to be apparent at the second signboard, when Kieran’s gushing about the ogre’s coolness and says “it didn’t even care when everyone shunned it”. From meeting Ogerpon later, we know that this is patently not true about her – she’s terrified of humans because of how they see her, so really she hates being shunned! But Kieran doesn’t imagine that to be the case about her, even though he empathises with her presumed loneliness and is basically projecting his own onto her. He sees the ogre as somebody who is shunned and alone, like he is, but who, unlike him, is strong enough to not let it get to them. Someone in the same bad situation as him, but with strength that he only wishes he could have to deal with it.

In that same conversation at the second signboard, Kieran then goes on to talk about how his sister always does everything for him, and he’d like to become stronger and more independent and reliable. And, “then, just maybe… I could be that ogre’s friend.” As if he doesn’t think he’d deserve to be Ogerpon’s friend unless he was already strong, just like she is.

He mentions a couple of times that he comes to the Dreaded Den a lot but has never once seen the ogre, which might seem a little strange at first. Obviously Ogerpon kept well hidden from him because she’s scared of humans – but, did Kieran never try to call out to her? To tell her that he’s not afraid of her, that he admires her strength and she must be lonely and hey, maybe they could be friends? If he had, then surely over time, Ogerpon would have grown to trust him and shown herself – so apparently, Kieran never did try to call out to her in an attempt to befriend her. Because he felt he wasn’t worthy of her friendship, not when he’s so weak, so inferior to someone as strong and cool as her. (A lot like how he wouldn’t have had the courage to tell you how much he admired you, if his sister hadn’t blurted it out for him.)

While you’re visiting the den with him, Kieran assumes that “a powerful ogre like that would only show up if it heard some kinda battle”, leading to him challenging you again. Since he admires the ogre for its strength, he’s assuming that the ogre also values strength just as much if not more than he does, which really isn’t necessarily true about Ogerpon!

During the battle, Kieran says he’ll “put up a good fight” this time. Which is to say, he still feels so thoroughly outclassed by you that he isn’t remotely expecting or even trying to win – he just wants to at least not go down quite as pitifully as last time, not when he’s potentially being watched by his idol the ogre. And when he loses (the game requires you to win this and all future battles against him), he laments how he’s ever going to be able to beat you, and then he muses, “If the ogre saw that battle, I’m sure it’d be thinking, ‘That kid’s got some real strength…’” He is assuming that Ogerpon would like you, far more than she’d ever like him, because of how strong you are. This is very important.

(As it happens, Ogerpon was secretly watching that battle, but as for whether she’s actually thinking what Kieran imagines she is about your strength – who knows?)

Friendship! Or is it…?

By the end of the den visit, Kieran has just enough confidence to invite you to the Festival of Masks, and to his own house to get ready to go together, which there’s no way he’d have been able to do at the start of the day. He’s so surprised but thrilled to hear that you consider yourself his friend – based on that and his grandparents’ reactions, you’re likely the first friend he’s ever made, which would not be surprising. It’s lovely watching this shy but sweet kid actually smiling and feeling comfortable around you and happy to have someone he can call a friend for the first time ever. And GHHHH it is so painful in hindsight knowing where things are headed.

Even with you calling yourself his friend, though, Kieran still feels inferior to you. He dejectedly offers to give you his mask for the festival when you find yourself without one, even though it’s the ogre mask, his favourite, his thing – because he instinctively feels that if anyone should be the one who gets left out, it should be him, like always, and not you.

The whole time, Kieran’s bound to be feeling thoroughly insecure about this new friendship. The idea that he’s actually made a friend, and not least someone as cool as you, likely feels far too good to be true, more than he deserves, and I suspect he might be constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. When he mentions to Carmine that you’re coming to the festival with him, her response is vaguely evasive, and Kieran responds to that in a very prickly, defensive way. It reads to me like he thinks Carmine is jealous of him befriending you before her, and that he’s afraid she might try to take you away from him as a result. Whether that’s actually true or not isn’t really the point (I think Carmine might indeed be a little jealous, but she would not do something that deliberately malicious) – what matters is that Kieran believes this may be the case and is liable to view all further interactions with you and Carmine in that light.

Then, at the festival, Carmine pressures Kieran into playing Ogre Oustin’ even though he doesn’t really want to. She’s probably doing this in an attempt to encourage him to have fun, but since he doesn’t find it fun (because he doesn't like this game where he's pretend-killing the ogre!), it’d be easy for him to feel like she only did it because she wanted him out of the way so she could hang out with you. And it’s while Kieran’s doing that that you and Carmine meet Ogerpon without him. Of course, that’s nothing but pure unlucky bad timing – Carmine had no idea Ogerpon was about to show up – but from Kieran’s point of view, with his obvious history of being maliciously left out of things by others, it’s easy for him to feel like there was some deliberate element to it.

At first he doesn’t know it has anything to do with Ogerpon, though. But still, when he gets back from Ogre Oustin’ and asks what you two were up to, Carmine abruptly shuts you up before you can speak and is blatantly hiding something – which Kieran takes to mean that you were laughing at him behind his back. That’s something else he must get a lot, for him to be automatically assuming it’s happening here. Really not so far off from his fear that his sister’s going to try and take you away from him, either.

Carmine’s lie isn’t done out of any malice – she is genuinely trying to protect her brother from feeling bad over being left out of meeting Ogerpon – but she sure is doing so in a way that’s going to make him feel even worse over being left out on purpose once he realises the truth. Carmine does care about her brother in theory, but this girl has zero social brain cells. And we the player are forced to play along with the lie whether we want to or not, which awkwardly turns our player-insert character into a very specific kind of character who would do so. I guess they either also have zero social brain cells, or they’re kind of a doormat who’s swayed by a forceful personality like Carmine’s. This part is frustrating, but I have to accept it because of the delightful things it does to Kieran’s arc, which really is the important part here.

Learning of the lie

The next morning, it seems like Kieran’s largely managed to brush off the weird bit last night where you and his sister were maybe laughing at him behind his back, because he greets you with a smile, ready to go see the last signboard. And then Carmine… forcefully demands that he finds somewhere else to be, because you’ve got business with her. Kieran protests that it’s not fair that you’ve been spending all your time with her lately – score two for his fear that she’s trying to take you away from him – and when she snaps back at his protest like always, he runs off.

But he doesn’t run off that far, because he stays close enough to listen in on the conversation. The discussion of Ogerpon’s story goes on for long enough – and takes long enough to get to the important part – that Kieran pretty much has to have stayed to eavesdrop on purpose, which is a little sketchy of him. Still, I can’t blame him all that much, what with his background of being mistreated, and the way Carmine’s behaviour gives him ample reason to be afraid there’s something going on here – of course he’d have wanted to know for sure. Perhaps he was even trying to hope that listening in would prove that you’re not actually hiding something bad from him and he was just being paranoid.

Except that actually, it turns out the truth is so much worse than Kieran had feared. Never mind just laughing at him – you and Carmine met the ogre without him and then hid it from him as if he didn’t even deserve to know. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, it then turns out that he was right all along about the ogre being a good guy, and his own grandpa didn’t even think it was worth telling him that, and now you’re still just going to keep lying to him about it all and leaving him in the dark.

(Really, I have to side-eye their grandpa a lot more than Carmine here, because he’s a grown dang adult and has so much less excuse. He says he’ll tell Kieran the truth “when the time is right”, but what does that even mean? The “right time” would be right now! Heck, it should have been the moment he realised that Kieran had already intuited the truth!)

And all this being lied to and shunned and left out of things (like always) stings even more for Kieran because it’s coming from someone he’d thought was his friend. He’d actually dared to hope that someone – and not just anyone, someone really cool and strong – actually wanted to be friends with him? Of course that was too good to be true. Why would someone as cool and strong as you have ever wanted to befriend a weak loser like him, anyway? (After all, cool strong people only ever want to be friends with other cool strong people; that’s how it works, right?)

Probing about the lie

The correct thing for Kieran to do with this situation would have been to simply come right out and confront you about the lie. But of course he doesn’t have the courage to do that. He’s far too used to being shot down whenever he tries to assert and stand up for himself (no thanks to Carmine). And since he only learned about this because he was eavesdropping, it’s easy for him to imagine having that turned against him, and the whole situation being treated like he’s the one in the wrong for doing that.

Still, it seems like Kieran might want to at least indirectly give you the opportunity to tell him the truth. He heads off to the village shop to act like he was there the whole time, and then casually asks you what you were talking about back there. He’s maybe trying to hope that you don’t really want to lie to him and only got swept up into doing so by his sister’s forcefulness, and that you’ll tell him everything now that she’s not here, because, you said you were his friend, right? Later on, too, at the third signboard, the way Kieran brings up that his family is descended from the mask maker feels suspiciously relevant, as if he only thought to do so because he overheard the story and is trying to give you a chance to go, “Hey, speaking of that mask maker, actually…”

But no. It sure seems like you’re very deliberately choosing to keep him in the dark. As such, he’s bound to be feeling extra small and awkward at the signboard, just wanting to “get this over with” and be done spending time with you, because you clearly don’t want to waste any more of your time with him than you have to, right? The awkwardness of the third signboard photo, with Kieran obviously not wanting to be there, and your character’s very strained thumbs-up, is heartbreaking in comparison to how cute and happy the first two were.

During the conversation there, Kieran mentions the ogre being alone and treated like an outcast in a way that is very clearly also talking about how you and Carmine are treating him right now. The game pointedly lingers on his response to your comment, regardless of which dialogue option you choose. If you agree that that sounds awful, he says, “You think so too, huh?” – you think that it’s bad to treat someone that way, and yet, you sure are treating him that way anyway. If you instead mutter an awkward apology, Kieran asks, “For what?” This could read like he’s calling you out for not being able to admit to what you should be apologising for, but actually, I’m not sure that’s it. It could also be him genuinely asking that, because he doesn’t realise you need to apologise for anything. Hold this thought, I’ll go into it more in a bit.

It's because he’s weak

The other thing that happens at the third signboard is Kieran challenging you to another battle. He doesn’t really explain why, but I suspect he’s hoping that if he wins and proves his strength to you, you might just tell him the truth, or at least it’ll give him the courage to confront you about your lie. This is the first battle in which he says he wants to win and is actively trying and hoping to do so, rather than just accepting his loss before he’s even started. His optimism is pretty fragile, though, as he laments “it wasn’t supposed to go like this” if you hit him super-effectively, and “why does it have to be like this?” when he’s down to his last Pokémon.

But of course, he loses, just like he must secretly have been expecting to all along (how could he ever beat someone as strong as you?). And so he concludes, “it’s all ‘cause I’m too weak” – not just losing the battle, but everything. Why he’s always left out and shunned by everyone, why you lied to him and went behind his back about something you knew was important to him – it’s because he’s weak. He was battling you to try and prove that he’s stronger, strong enough to deserve better than that… but of course he isn’t.

A particularly important little subtlety is that he mutters “That’s why I…” – because it would have been easy to expect this line to say “you” instead. That you lied to him and shunned him because he’s weak, that it’s your fault for choosing to treat someone weak like this. But Kieran isn’t framing it that way. He’s thinking of it as his fault, simply for being weak, and that’s why he will always inevitably be treated like crap by everyone around him. As if that’s nobody else’s fault for choosing to do that, but simply the natural way of things when someone’s weak. As if he deserves this for being weak.

(So: what are you sorry for? You shouldn’t be sorry for anything; it’s his fault, isn’t it? Someone as strong and perfect as you could never be conflicted or in the wrong.)

By the end of this signboard visit, Kieran’s leaving on his own, saying that he’s got to get stronger with his Pokémon. All of this is happening because he’s weak, so he needs to be stronger – and apparently, that means “strength in Pokémon battling”. In reality, even if he did become the best battler out there, that wouldn’t necessarily make him any better at standing up for himself in social situations or being independent and reliable in other ways, but he’s very much conflating the different kinds of strength. This probably has a lot to do with his schooling at Blueberry Academy, which teaches Pokémon battling, leaving him overly focused on battling strength as the only kind of strength that matters. Perhaps he was picked on at school because he wasn’t very good at the battling classes, which wouldn’t have helped. I hope we see some glimpses of this in The Indigo Disk.

And on the topic of Kieran fixating on getting stronger at Pokémon battling: his Furret is never seen in his team again after this point. It was one of the first two Pokémon he used against you, so it’s presumably one of his closest Pokémon partners, which makes it heartbreaking that he ditches it from his team because, clearly, it’s too weak. Even worse, he’s inflicting being left out and shunned on someone else – someone he probably cared about – precisely because it’s weak. That’s just what happens to people who are weak, right? Guh. Poor Furret.

Outburst at Loyalty Plaza

Kieran most likely spends the next 24 hours alternating between fervently training as hard as he can, and stewing in his feelings of loneliness and rejection and betrayal. His grandpa mentions that he spent that night in his room after not even eating dinner, which, yeah, when he’s sharing a house with two of the people who are lying to him, not surprising. Oof. And more than just pain and betrayal, he’s got to be feeling so much anger, anger which he’s never been able to truly express, because every time he tries to stand up for himself he always gets shot down – but that only makes the suppressed anger worse.

The correct thing to do would have been for Kieran to confront everyone calmly about the lie as soon as he became aware of it. But because he couldn’t just do that, his resentment festered inside of him with no real outlet, until finally it becomes unbearable and explodes out of him and he has to do something to express it, no matter how questionable. So he steals the Teal Mask and runs off with it.

I don’t think Kieran actually has much of an idea of what he’s going to do with the mask. The one logical thing would have been to give it back to Ogerpon himself, but that can’t be his intent, because he doesn’t go anywhere near her den with it. And I highly doubt he’s planning to break it or anything like that, since he’d never do something that’d hurt Ogerpon. Really, I think he just wants you and Carmine to notice and acknowledge what he’s going through and what you’ve done to him – and if he steals the mask, you’re going to have to confront him to get it back.

He heads to Loyalty Plaza in particular because he’s conflating his own situation with Ogerpon’s. In amongst his pain and anger at the way he’s being treated, he’d have also been feeling a lot of anger at the injustice of how Ogerpon was and is treated, because he was right all along that she was never the bad guy, but she’s shunned undeservedly while the “Loyal” Three are lauded as heroes. Even though this outburst from Kieran is really all about his own situation, he makes it about Ogerpon first, because that’s easier for him to openly be angry about. He only brings up his own treatment as a comparison to how Ogerpon is treated like an outcast, as if the only way he can frame it as wrong in his head is by comparing it to something that’s definitely wrong. (After all, he deserves to be shunned because he’s weak – but Ogerpon didn’t deserve any of it, because she’s so much stronger!)

During Kieran’s outburst, Carmine blurts out an apology on realising that she’s hurt him – but Kieran basically just ignores it and continues to vent. Which tells us something interesting: that Kieran never did this out of any attempt to get you and Carmine to apologise for lying to him. If he’d wanted that, he’d have reacted in some way when Carmine did just that. So I think, in keeping with Kieran’s belief that all this is his fault for being weak, he doesn’t actually think you two need to apologise for anything. He’s lashing out because he’s angry and in pain and doesn’t know how else to deal with it, but he’s not consciously thinking that you and Carmine are in the wrong.

He’s also still holding onto the idea that you and Carmine were just laughing at him behind his back, which is of course not true, but when Carmine tries to say that, Kieran snaps back that she’s a liar. Given that she undeniably has lied to him about one very important thing, of course Kieran would find it easy to believe that she could be lying to him about anything and he can’t trust any reassurance she gives him. This poor kid must have such a history of being mistreated and patronised by others to jump to assuming things like this.

Lashing out with a battle

Then Kieran challenges you to another battle, promising to give back the mask if you win. Since there’s no way he is truly expecting to be able to beat you, this means that he never really intended to keep the mask forever. But he also doesn’t just want to seem like some weak pushover who’ll roll over and give in as soon as he’s confronted, so he at least wants to make you fight him for it. And based on his line at the beginning of the battle – “I know this isn’t right, but… I can’t just hand over the mask to you!” – he doesn’t want to just give up one of Ogerpon’s possessions so easily to someone who treated him like an outcast the same way those villagers back then treated Ogerpon.

Really, I think the battle – and the notably forceful way he asks for it, unlike the previous times – just comes a lot from Kieran’s anger, and his need to externalise it somehow. He even insists that he needs this battle, if you’re hesitant about accepting the challenge. There’s probably a part of him that wants to lash out with physical violence, maybe punch you or something, but he knows that’s wrong and that it’d look pathetically impotent of him anyway even if he tried. Happily, this world has a socially-accepted form of violence-by-proxy instead, so Pokémon battle it is!

As for the battle itself, Kieran’s switched up his team some more, removing Furret as previously mentioned, and adding two new members instead of just one like the previous times – but the Cramorant he uses here doesn’t stick around either. This is less sad to me than Furret, though, because he wouldn’t have been very close to it. Cramorant may even have been taken onto the team with the condition of “I’m trying out new team members to see who’s strong enough”, at which point ditching it is less of a betrayal and more of it simply failing a job interview.

(Meanwhile, the other newcomer, Gligar, clearly impressed Kieran a lot with its strength, as it becomes his ace for the final fight. Fitting that his ace there is not a long-time partner, but one obtained only after he began to fixate on getting stronger.)

He’s also more openly determined to win (despite his suppressed conviction that he could never beat you), and remains more optimistic than before even when things aren’t going so well for him. In fact, this is the only battle in which Kieran has lines for hitting you with a super effective move or a critical hit. That said, he’s still a little insecure, based on an optional line: “I need to get this right… I’m gonna make sure to give the right commands!” which tells us that he feels like his losses are his fault for making mistakes and choosing the wrong moves, rather than blaming his Pokémon for not being strong enough. He also has an absolutely great comment in this battle if you land a critical hit, which I have to highlight: “What can’t you do? You’re like the hero in a story…” It’s purely luck, but despite that, he’s seeing you as this impossibly perfect hero that he could never ever measure up to, and this delights me.

Losing the battle just seems to make Kieran’s frustration at his own inferiority even worse, to the point that he does indulge in some physical violence, towards the shrine. Which is as pathetic as he must have been expecting, and should in theory have been harmless enough. (Of course, it appears that this is what somehow resurrects the Lousy Three, but there is no way Kieran expected or wanted that to happen, so he can’t be blamed for that.) Then he gives the mask back, just as he promised he would, and (ignoring another attempt by Carmine to apologise – again, this was never about that to him) he runs off back home.

So I find it really hard to condemn Kieran for… any of his actions here? Sure, he stole the mask, but he didn’t do anything bad with it and gave it back just fine (and must have always been intending to). All he was doing was lashing out – unhealthily, but basically harmlessly – over the really very callous way you and Carmine had been treating him. And if he hadn’t done this, you two would probably never have told him the truth about Ogerpon, and he’d have remained out of the loop and never met her at all! That would have been awful!

And yet: making you and Carmine bring him into the loop about Ogerpon and getting the chance to meet her is also not something Kieran was aiming for here. Just before leaving in a sulk, he says, “Say hi to the ogre for me” – which means that he never expected to get to meet it himself. He is still, even by the end of this confrontation, labouring under the belief that you and Carmine don’t want him there with Ogerpon and that he doesn’t deserve to meet her at all.

Apologies, and a lack thereof

After you rescue Ogerpon from being bullied by the resurrected Lousy Three, Carmine shows up with Kieran in tow. Apparently she found him moping around at home and dragged him here to apologise to you about his stunt with the mask. Which, yes, does warrant an apology – but what really frustrates me about this part is that Carmine doesn’t apologise for what you and she did wrong. Sure, she blurted out a couple of cut-off apologies back at Loyalty Plaza, but those never had the intended effect when Kieran was in no emotional state to accept them. Here and now, he’s calmed down enough that he would be able to take on board an apology… but Carmine doesn’t give one. It’s possible that she already apologised at home before bringing him here, but if she’d done that, then she really ought to have got you to also apologise for lying to him, and she doesn’t – so I can only assume that didn’t happen. And you the player can choose to apologise to Kieran here anyway, but since it’s optional, it’s not given nearly the attention it deserves.

Since Kieran never gets a proper apology while he’s in a state to listen, it means he never actually ends up internalising the fact that you were in the wrong to lie to him and he didn’t deserve to be treated that way. Which would have been a really, really important thing for him to realise! As it is, he continues to quietly assume that all of this is his fault for being weak, with nobody to tell him that this way of thinking is flawed.

It's frustrating, but I do kind of get it, from Carmine at least, because she’s also a pretty flawed person. Her deal seems to be that she’s only able to be emotionally sincere in uncontrolled outbursts when she’s worked up, and when she’s calm she covers up her true feelings with bossiness and vanity. Which makes her not at all capable of apologising to Kieran when he’s in a calm enough state to be capable of registering it. These siblings’ issues do not mesh well. Still, here’s hoping that Carmine’s able to self-reflect enough to acknowledge her partial responsibility for Kieran’s suffering by the end of The Indigo Disk.

She does seem to realise her mistake here enough to make a point of trying to include Kieran in their Ogerpon adventures from here on out, at least. But it’s too little too late in terms of how Kieran views things. He seems to have assumed that Carmine dragged him here only to apologise, and not to properly meet Ogerpon or be involved in helping her out, because he expresses surprise when Carmine casually includes him as part of the Mask Retrieval Squad. He was expecting to be shunned and left out as always – what do you mean, she wants him there?

Meeting Ogerpon

The only interaction Kieran was expecting to have with Ogerpon here was giving the fixed-up mask back to her, because he wanted to be the one to do so – but she shies away from him when he offers it. Carmine comments that she’s probably scared of new people, and this is likely the truth, but Kieran’s silent response suggests that he’s not necessarily agreeing with that assessment. Remember, from earlier: Kieran is convinced that Ogerpon values strength. And he’s so used to being shunned by others, especially strong people, because he’s weak. It would be very, very easy for him to come to the irrational conclusion that the reason Ogerpon refuses him is because of his weakness, even though his sister’s suggesting something else.

Despite Kieran’s key misconceptions about Ogerpon’s values, he does continue to understand her better than most people in certain ways. When you try to head into town with her, Kieran’s the one to point out that she’s probably afraid to go in because of the way she’s been treated by the townspeople. He also comments that she’ll feel safe going to retrieve the masks from the Three as long as she’s with you. He empathises with that insecurity and social anxiety enough that, seeing it from Ogerpon in person, he can instinctively see that’s the case about her too.

And yet… seeing Ogerpon’s fear, and understanding that she’s scared of being shunned just like him (which he previously said the ogre didn’t care at all about!), doesn’t actually change the part of Kieran that is also irrationally convinced that she only cares about strength. There’s no moment in which he seems to be re-evaluating Ogerpon or realising anything new about her upon seeing her being afraid. The part where she’s shy and afraid, and the part where she’s strong and cool and therefore values strength in others, manage to be separate enough in his mind that he never actually cross-references them to realise that one of these surely can’t be as true as he thinks it is. So his false conviction that things are about strength to Ogerpon still remains, unchallenged.

Staying behind

Then, even though Carmine is making an active point of trying to include him, Kieran… chooses not to come with you on the mission to retrieve the masks. This is despite the fact that this’d be his best chance to spend time with Ogerpon and hopefully get her to warm up to him, which you’d think would be his priority when he’s quietly hoping to maybe have the chance to become her partner.

But even though it would be a logical choice for Kieran to come with them, it makes perfect sense to me why he doesn’t. As far as he sees things, you and Carmine are way stronger than him and already have the fights against the Three covered – he’d be nothing but a useless third wheel hanging back, only there out of Carmine’s pity for him and not because he’s needed. And in terms of Ogerpon, Kieran is the kid who visited her den countless times but never had the courage to call out to her and ask to be friends. Of course he knows he wouldn’t have the confidence to actually try and get closer to Ogerpon, especially not when she’s already got someone she likes (someone who’s strong while he’s weak, which is clearly what matters to her, right). He knows he’ll just spend the whole time watching Ogerpon obviously like you way more than him while not being able to do a thing about it, and it’ll just make him feel even more jealous and left out.

(Trust me, as someone with social anxiety who spent a lot of my childhood being low-key outcasted by my so-called friend groups, I get it. When you’ve lived like that, integrating yourself with new people can feel downright impossible, no matter how much you may want it.)

So Kieran doesn’t come on the mission – but it’s not like he just uselessly sulks around, either. He spends the time doing something else to help Ogerpon, something neither you nor Carmine seemingly thought needed to be done: telling the town the truth that she was never a bad guy. Because of course Kieran understands best just how hard it is for Ogerpon to be shunned and outcast by everyone, and of course he has some Strong Feelings that people deserve to be told the truth, hmm I wonder where that might have come from. This task is really difficult and scary for him, too, because he hates talking to people – but he does it anyway, for Ogerpon’s sake! What a brave lad!

(I’ve seen people side-eye the fact that the villagers accept the truth and turn around their view of Ogerpon so easily, but honestly it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. I get the mask maker way back when being persecuted because the villagers of the time saw Ogerpon kill the Three and made assumptions, but, like, it’s been generations. All of the witnesses who had that emotional gut reaction to the fight are long dead. Most of the people alive today didn’t even truly believe the story of the ogre was real until the Loyal Three showed up – they just thought it was a fun folktale that gives their village some unique culture. So for them to be told “hey, the ogre is real, but also the story’s backwards and the ogre’s actually the good guy”… so what? I was always sceptical of Grandpa’s conviction that the truth must never be told to the village (because… people will get angry that they were lied to? So therefore you should just keep lying to them so they never find out they have something to be angry about? Yes, great tactic, it worked so well on Kieran). Kieran basically just went and proved that there really was nothing to be worried about all along and the people should have been told the truth ages ago.)

His final chance to be strong

So now we reach the end, where Ogerpon makes it clear that she wants to stay with you, and… and even though he must have seen this coming, Kieran can’t accept it happening without trying to fight against it.

This isn’t even really about Kieran wanting Ogerpon’s friendship in and of itself. It’s more about what the concept of being partners with Ogerpon means to him. This whole time, he’s been obsessed with the ogre, and yet only letting himself imagine that maybe one day when he’s stronger, he could be its friend. He’s fixated on the idea of befriending Ogerpon as something that will mean he’s strong and no longer alone and everything is good now. Obviously this is extremely irrational and not necessarily true nor the sole way to fix his problems, but that’s how things are in Kieran’s head.

And so, with recent events making him feel even more weak and outcast than ever, you being effortlessly strong and cool enough to befriend Ogerpon on top of everything else feels to Kieran like it’s about to take away his one chance to turn things around, forever. Of course he can’t just let that happen without at least trying to have things his way. He says right at the beginning of the battle: “I know you’re probably a better trainer for Ogerpon, but I… I…” – and he can’t even voice the end of that sentence. He can’t put into words why he feels like he needs to become Ogerpon’s partner even though he knows he's being selfish and she’d be better off with you, because it’s not based in any conscious logic and is all just one big subconscious irrational mess of his issues and inferiority complex.

I’ve seen a lot of people condemn Kieran for this part, saying that he’s ignoring Ogerpon’s wishes because he’s planning to force her to join him whether she wants to or not if he wins. However, I firmly disagree that Kieran has any such thing in mind here. Remember, he’s still labouring under the misconception that what Ogerpon cares about most is strength. He thinks she likes you so much because you’re so strong (remember the previous time he battled you in front of the den, where he commented that the ogre must be thinking how strong you are if it’d seen that?), and that she refused the mask from him that one time because he’s weak. So Kieran has convinced himself that if he can prove himself to be stronger than you, by defeating you in a battle while Ogerpon’s watching, then she’ll naturally choose him to be her trainer over you. Right?

When Carmine says that he has to consider Ogerpon’s feelings, Kieran’s simply silent for a moment before saying “…I want to battle anyway.” He’s not denying that Ogerpon’s choice is what matters – he just believes, or is at least trying to believe, that her choice will be determined by this battle. And of course he doesn’t say anything like “Ogerpon will choose me if I’m stronger than you”, because – well, perhaps because a lot of this is also subconscious enough that he can’t articulate it, but even if any of it was conscious, he knows it’d sound stupid. Especially the part where he’d be talking like it’s possible for him to beat you, because deep down, he still completely convinced that’s impossible.

Plus, nowhere in this does Kieran bring up the fact that he told the village the truth about Ogerpon as a point in his favour for why she might choose him – which supports that it’s not about any kind of friendly gestures to him and he’s convinced she’ll make her decision entirely based on strength. (And it also proves that he did that out of a genuine desire to help Ogerpon, without any ulterior motives of trying to get her to like him!)

Just before the battle, he says: “Whoever wins gets to be Ogerpon’s partner… So don’t… don’t you dare hold back!” – making a point of demanding you don’t hold back, even though you might think he’d want any advantage he can get towards supposedly winning Ogerpon’s favour. But this makes perfect sense when you realise what this is about to Kieran. He believes that Ogerpon will choose (and deserves to choose) whichever of you is the strongest, and this battle won’t actually prove that if he only wins because you were holding back against him.

Kieran also thanks you for not holding back when you land your first super effective hit, which I enjoy. He’s so used to being patronised and seen as weak and pathetic, so he’s actually glad that you’re taking him seriously and viewing him as a legitimate opponent.

And, hey, he is! His team is pretty stacked: a full six Pokémon with solid movesets, and even strategic held items (at least in the postgame version). Assuming you’re not over-levelled, it’s quite a challenging fight, as it should be. Kieran is trying so, so hard to be strong enough, because this poor kid has convinced himself that all of his problems and pain are due to him being weak, and he is so desperate to fix that by proving himself even stronger than you, strong enough to win Ogerpon’s favour.

When he loses, he just crumples, and it’s heartbreaking. Kieran had so much more riding on this battle than just befriending Ogerpon – this was what felt like his one and only chance to stamp out the part of him that feels crushingly inferior and like he deserves to be treated like dirt. Guhhh.

And of course the first thing out of his mouth is, “Figures.” His inferiority complex runs so deep that, no matter how hard he’d trained and how genuinely really good his team had grown, he never truly believed that he ever had a chance at beating someone as cool and strong as you. He was just desperately trying to convince himself that he at least had a shot, because he couldn’t bear to give up without trying.

I really wish you could tell Kieran how good he was in this battle! It truly is impressive how much better he’s grown at battling since the first one, in such a short space of time, too. Just because he’s not quite as strong as you doesn’t mean he’s weak, not by a long shot. But nobody tells him any such thing, so Kieran continues to view things in that irrationally all-or-nothing way. He lost, so he's weak, end of.

Then he has to stand there and watch you battle Ogerpon in order to catch her. Before all of this happened, Kieran would have been so stoked to see his hero the ogre showing off just how cool and strong she is – and hey, her powers really are pretty awesome to behold! But here, despite the amazing spectacle in front of him, Kieran just looks supremely awkward. Like he doesn’t feel like he deserves to be here. Like he doesn’t even have the right to get to see Ogerpon’s full strength in all its glory. You’re the only one who’s strong enough to have earned this.

He does make one possible comment during the battle, if you land a critical hit on Ogerpon: “You really are good… I’m no match.” Which is a bit excessive, considering that really anyone is capable of critting Ogerpon if they get lucky – but apparently Kieran’s thoughts during this battle are still incredibly hung up on just how strong you are and how he’ll never be able to measure up to you. This goes to show that his issues at this point have shifted to be more about you than about Ogerpon. Which tracks, since his admiration for the ogre was never quite about Ogerpon herself and was more about what her strength represented to him – and now you’ve come along and given him an even bigger example of impossibly cool strength, in a much more painful way.

Once you’ve captured Ogerpon, Kieran manages to awkwardly congratulate you on it – hey, he’s doing his best not to be a sore loser! – laments once again why he can’t be like you, and then runs off. No doubt he’s feeling a huge heap of uncontainable painful emotions that he does not want to show in front of you or Carmine and needs to go let out in private. This kid is Not Okay.

So, in summary: Kieran comes out of all this with the message that all of his pain and suffering and loneliness is his fault because he’s still too weak, and he will only ever be strong enough to put all that behind him once he’s stronger than you. And to do that, he needs to get so, so much stronger, almost impossibly so, no matter what he has to do to achieve it. I’m sure this will be Just Fine leading into The Indigo Disk. (: (: (:

And one last thing: the game doesn’t let this happen, but if Kieran had won that final battle against you, I believe things might actually have turned out better. Because let’s face it, Ogerpon would probably still have chosen to go with you anyway, and if she had, Kieran would have been forced to face the fact that it was never actually about strength to her. It wouldn’t even be that hard for him to understand that, given that he’d already noticed the indications that she was scared of being shunned by the townspeople and that she liked you because you made her feel safe. This would help Kieran recontextualise things a little and stop focusing so unhealthily on gaining more battling strength as the One Thing that will solve all his problems. He still wouldn’t exactly be suddenly fixed and happy, but… things wouldn’t be quite so bad, at least. Alas, you are Too Protagonist to lose and let that happen.

#pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #kieran pokemon #pokemon kieran #the teal mask #the hidden treasure of area zero #ogerpon #pokemon carmine #character analysis #my buttons #ramble #kieran did nothing wrong #he is just a suffering kid with bad coping mechanisms #because nobody has taught him healthy ones

[riinkun-art-stuff]

Howdy ho! I'm very excited to finally be able to share this illustration I worked on as part of this year's @bumblebybigbang for @tahnex's lovely and super fun fic (with no pain attached whatsoever), "Of Dragons and Panthers," which you can read here! As soon as I read the original notes on it this scene captured me so much I had to do something dramatic for it. It's been such a pleasure watching the whole collab come together, tysm for having me!

First time joining an event like this, and I'd love to again if the opportunity comes around hehe. Still a few postings to go on this one, the pieces before us this year have knocked it out of the park and I'm super excited to see the rest once they come around!

Made a few process cuts just for fun, which I left under the cut!

I did do a few sketches roughly before I started out, especially based on other parts of the chapter, but this particular composition was so fixed in my mind that I ended up just sticking with it. In retrospect, I would've loved to go back and do some more thorough exploration for it. Here are a few of the sketches I managed to fish back up:

I also was thinking of trying a few other doodles/another big piece, but ended up not really having the time between other obligations :')

And the sketch I finally settled on:

Inking was SUCH a fun process on this piece in particular. I'm a huge fan of how dragon!Yang's mane turned out, especially, and all the detailing on the head and around Blake's fur and such. Feel like I'm really satisfied w the particular way the line weight variations came out, and it's where the piece shines the most imo.

Panther!Blake, too. Oh gosh. I feel like it took me a lot of reworking to get her structure to a point where she felt very leopard-like, rather than any other type of big cat- especially around the head.

Colours were such a challenging part. There was a big feeling I had for that glow coming off dragon!Yang in the middle of the heavy rain- I love seeing that sort of effect in real life so that's something I'm really hoping to work to capture better as I practice. Trying to get dragon!Yang's slight iridescence in there and to balance out the lighting on panther!Blake's fur each took a long time, too- I'm only a pinch sad that a good chunk of it is covered by other lighting effects XD

Blake's rosettes were SO fun. Augguhugg.

In terms of backgrounds. HOO boy I was going through a strange patch in life while working on the background and final polish for this piece, which is why (at least I feel like) it looks kinda rushed. I have been practicing natural landscapes and doing some observational studies but still struggling to get those rock shapes quite right, which I think is a big make or break point of something like this. I did really enjoy toying around with inking on the foliage and foreground layers of the ground, though! And in the end, lighting and effects ended up masking a lot of the big weak spots :D

I think natural effects like smoke/steam, and rain, are big things that I got to practice more of in this piece, but also really would like to get better at in future. Esp since I feel like it's been a great opportunity to mess around with different colours and brushes that I use way less, which I'm always grateful for w painting. I think just layering the rain on its own ended up being about 10 odd layers?

I think the only other thing I would have loved to improve is to just help the piece feel more Bumbleby™ in the final look. I think I like the cool colours of the lighting for this particular outcome, but I also would have probably tried to have made things much clearer (ahem at the very least switch to yellow/purple) in the long run in terms of representation and resemblance. Ik that at least for me it is fairly easy to associate the two characters with dragons and panthers since I'm more familiar w the fandom lingo around these two, but esp for outsiders I feel like it's probably not great at conveying who they are, and why they are potentially in this situation.

I'd also love to try and find a shading style that still has a painterly quality but compliments the inking a bit better, rather than overpowering it.

I think that, on the whole, I am pretty satisfied with the piece and had a great time working with Tahnex on the whole collab! And I've also has a fun time reading his work and notes in return, and thank you so much for being so so patient with me even as my updates were slow n rocky at points :'D

That's about all I got, have a great day y'all! Still a few big bang postings to go, so very excited for those once they come around!

#riinkun art stuff #my art #digital art #bumbleby big bang #bbb2023 #rwby #YIPPEEEE #very very happy to finally be able to show this off aaaaahugghh!!!! #it's been v cool working on this collab- tysm for having me again! :'D

[balioc]

Holiday Engineering: What Not to Do

We can learn a lot from Chanukah, because Chanukah is a garbage-tier holiday.

I mean this in a mostly-detached, mostly-analytic way. Like many people who were raised Jewish, I have some very fond and happy memories of Chanukah. Anything can accrue fond and happy memories, if you have a way of getting people to do it. But Chanukah is full of features that actively detract from its being resonant, impressive, memorable, or fun. It is an anti-advertisement for its community.

If you're a would-be designer-of-holidays, this is actually a really useful thing. Mimicking the good and successful holidays is quite hard; their quality tends to hinge on a lot of idiosyncratic hard-to-replicate factors, and "invent something as cool and punchy as the $WHATEVER" can be a tall order. But it's easy to look at a design failure and say, "I"m not going to do that."

With that, let's go into the details:

CHANUKAH: THE GOOD

Timing. It's a midwinter festival-of-lights. Solid start. Everyone loves those. Brightness and festival cheer, in the long cold winter nights, is practically a need for many. The holiday mostly skates by just on being the winter light festival for the Jews. A+. Or, really, we should knock that down to an A, because Chanukah usually comes too early to be ideal for this purpose, but -- still, quite good.

Traditional food (side dishes). Latkes are incredibly popular, and for excellent reason. If you're trying to settle on a food that everyone will love, "fried potatoes" is a damn good choice.

CHANUKAH: THE NEUTRAL

Symbols. There's really just one that matters: the chanukiyah (nine-branched menorah). Which is, on paper, a very cool and snappy symbol. Distinctive silhouette, ritual engagement, plus the allure of fire. But it loses a lot of points for the fact that you don't actually light the whole damn thing, and get the proper visual effect, until the very end of a long-ass holiday when everyone's enthusiasm and attention have ebbed. On the first night, in particular, you light just two candles in your chanukiyah, and it looks lopsided and sad.

Traditional food (sweets). Jelly donuts are fine, I guess, if uninspiring and uninspired. Chanukah gelt is pretty lame as candy goes...but from a holiday-design perspective, it's hard to go too far wrong with giving kids candy.

Music. "Maoz Tzur" is kinda pretty. "Oy Chanukah!" is kinda fun. That's pretty much it, barring some silly kids' music (and I guess that Adam Sandler thing). Nothing that will knock anyone's socks off. But, honestly, two decent songs is more than many good holidays have.

Gifts. Being the big annual gifting holiday is a double-edged sword. It's some super-powerful mojo, culturally speaking. People are obsessed with giving and receiving gifts, in a way that's very hard to excise or evade, no matter how often you trot out your utilitarian language about deadweight loss. Chanukah gets a lot of its traction out of the fact that it's the holiday where you get presents. But. (a) In the modern world, the gifting holiday is unavoidably a locus of stress and misery for many people, and Chanukah doesn't have nearly enough upside serving to support that burden. (b) Chanukah is bad at being a gifting holiday. The gifting is not well-integrated into the event, it's a tacked-on thing copied over from Christmas, and it shows. There's no real ritual surrounding it, no presents-under-the-Christmas-tree equivalent, certainly no Santa Claus. Worse yet, the eight-day-holiday thing means that either you need a set of gifts whose awesomeness is equally divisible by eight (mega-awkward), or else you have inconsistencies and disappointments.

CHANUKAH: THE BAD

Theme. What is the holiday about, when everything is said and done? What is our key takeaway message from all the shit we're doing. "God is great, God looks out for His people, God performs mighty miracles." Stop. Shut up. You fail. That's every holiday, if you're operating within a religious tradition. You need something more than that, something powerful and deep and important and special, to be even halfway-decent as a holiday. But for the vast majority of Jews (including Jews in the most orthodox and observant denominations), that's pretty much all you get. Because...

Mythology. The story of Chanukah, the holiday's narrative raison d'etre, is just unconscionably bad. In some extremely vague sense, it's a story about Jews overthrowing foreign oppressors and casting off foreign influences...which is already pretty bad from a modern liberal perspective, we don't like jingoistic ethnonationalism these days. But the actual events of the Chanukah story are less about Jews-against-foreigners than they are about Jews-against-other-Jews. It is a story about fanatics seizing power and murdering cosmopolitans. Virtually everyone hates that shit, up to and including the most tribal-minded Jews. The rabbis of the Talmud were pretty iffy about Chanukah for exactly this reason, and didn't talk about it much, with the result that the holiday doesn't have much in the way of supporting cultural infrastructure. And you really can't tell the Chanukah myth without that horrible stuff; it's so baked-in that it gets incorporated into even the most sanitized propagandistic Hebrew-school versions of the tale (with exactly the effects that you'd expect on Hebrew school students). The miracle of the oil feels like a tacked-on narrative coda, because it is, because without it the only possible moral of the story would be "kill your neighbor if he's not pious enough for you." But it's much too little, much too late. The miracle of the oil is super lame by miracle standards: no one is saved from danger, there are no memorable SFX, the whole thing is relevant only to the rituals of a long-vanished Temple.

[There are several lessons that can be learned from this particular problem, at multiple levels of abstraction.]

Structure. You can have a good eight-day holiday, but a festival of that length needs an arc. The days need to be distinct from each other. You need to be either building up to a climax, or -- more commonly, as with Passover and [the twelve days of] Christmas -- coming down from a main celebration at the beginning in a long pleasant haze of semi-special time. Chanukah is flat and internally undifferentiated, except for the addition of more candles to the chanukiyah. You can't sustain real holiday feeling that long, and there's no particular day on which you're supposed to do anything special, so it all just turns into a mush of "how much do we care right this moment?"

Activities. The traditional dreidel game is the worst, most boring, most unbalanced game in the history of games. Pushing it on children only makes those children hate Chanukah, and Judaism, and games, and you.

Traditional food (entrees). There's no classic Chanukah dish that can serve as a viable main course, unless you're one of those people who can happily eat fried potatoes as an entire meal. This is a glaring omission. It's particularly bad for Chanukah, because Chanukah has so little else going for it that it really needs to lean hard on the standard holiday "gather for a festive meal" thing.

Social role. As many people will eagerly tell you, Chanukah was a pretty minor holiday for most of Jewish history; it got big largely because of a marketing push in the 19th and 20th centuries, mostly because people got scared about the prospect of the younger generations assimilating, and wanted to give them a holiday to compete with Christmas. Which is maybe the worst idea that anyone has ever had. For more reasons that I can easily list here, modern Western Christmas is an absolute SSS-tier holiday, one of the very best of all time. Setting yourself up as a direct competitor to Christmas -- inviting your own people to make that comparison -- is tantamount to telling them that your traditions and your community are worthless and weak, and that they should join the ranks of the gentiles. And that would be true even if your own offering were something halfway decent. Trying to do it with Chanukah...it's like Estonia declaring war on the US. It's the ultimate "we have food at home." It is, if you'll pardon my saying so, Christian rock.

#holiday analysis

[dairy-farmer]

You ever think about how Tim has NEVER had normal sex in his life?

Has only known superhumans and Peak Physical Condition trainwrecks?

Think about it. Who would he have lost his virginity too? Some grabby, gross, civilian he can't relate too? That reeks of B.O. and would ask QUESTIONS about his battle scars? Or his BROS? Who he trusts. Who love him and understand him. Who where THERE when he got those wounds.

Who would stop if he told them too.

He totally, after working up the courage, siddles up to Bart and asks if he... you know... could help him with something. Because Tim's NOT about to risk his first time to SuperStrength and complexe FEELINGS. And Bart is from the future. He's much more chill about this.

But he's? Also a fucking SPEEDSTER? They VIBRATE when they get excited. That same stamina that can let them run for what TO US, OUTSIDE the Speedforce, seems like hours? It's literally DAYS to THEM. Fuckers are stamina BEASTS.

But Tim is still learning, hasn't figured that out yet. Bart is his Fun Friend. Light hearted and chill. Good first time material.

So they fumble out of their clothes. Bart getting more and more hyped. Vibrating. Trying to stay in slow time with Tim. They fumble about, learning what touches feel good. Vibrating fingers on his clit? Feel REALLY good. The same for inside him. A little lubricant, because he read you're supposed too, aaand? Oh. Oh god.

And look, Bart DID try! It just felt... *incoherent noise*

Which leaves Tim getting fucked at superspeed. Nerves lighting up and muscles trying to react to something that's already moved on. Getting gushed into again and again like a stream that keeps coming, ruining his sheets. Feeling hands everywhere as the sensations catch up.

He can't possibly keep up. Gets offs so many times his brain decides its NAP TIME now. Wakes up to Bart panting into his neck, his puss full and gushing cum down into the PUDDLE under his hips, and another orgasm.

Tim learns that Speedsters tend to marathon their sex.

His everything feels bruised.

Bart has to fix his bed as Tim steals Bart's. But! No longer a virgin. And when he recovers? He TOTALLY gets the "deal" with sex now. (No he doesn't. Speedster sex is an outlier.)

Thing is? No one thinks to correct this misinformation. Why would they? OBVIOUSLY somebody ELSE gave Young Justice "The Talk", right? Nope. Individuals got it, but not as a team. Tim never got SHIT. He RESEARCHED.

Figured out "safe sex" is birth control and NOT letting the Half Kryptonian with super strength be "on top". You have to ride THEM or you risk bruises in delicate places and potentially broken bones. Luckily, Kon has TTK. So he can help.

When Tim doesn't want to do all the work or is tired, Kon can just... wrap him up in that full body hug of a telekinetic field. Lift him and slide him back down, as fast or as slow as feels good. Tease everywhere that feels good at once. Even if Tim drifts off, while Kon is teasing himself after making Tim orgasm, his whole body is supported so he can just sort of relax. Drift and feel good.

Let Kon use him for a bit.

It takes so LONG for Kon to cum, but Tim thinks they're getting better at it!

Of course, Batman would NEVER. Is distant. But Tim tries his best to be a good Robin. Bond in any way he can. It all falls short. Bruce brittle and hurting. Then? Some idiot tries to recreate Ivy's Pollen. She catches word. Does NOT appreciate that. It's a shit show.

Their masks hold. But in the fight, Batman is sent crashing into a crate of experimental samples. It wouldn't be a problem, if not for the metal joints of the crate stabbing JUST enough to break skin, though a weak point in his Armour.

They don't notice until the fights over. Long after an emergency counter-toxin would be effective.

Tim manages to get him to the Batmobile. Get them back. Agent A, has a fever and is upstairs. Fast asleep in bed. Can't help. The emergency Ivy counter agents will only go so far. Luckily, Tim knows where the napping couch is. It has a pull out bed.

Bruce doesn't put together his plan until he's already half removed the suit, his brain already sluggish and overheating. He tries to object, but it is strangled into a groan when Tim leans forward and tries his hand at using his mouth. Because to be honest, Tim isn't sure Bruce will FIT.

He barely fits a few inch in his mouth.

He's gonna have to try though. Pollen really only has one cure. And if Bruce had groaned at his mouth? He nearly sobs for air when Tim carefully rocks over him, lines up and breathes into the strain as he let's himself slide down. Bruce's hand shoot up to catch his hips, flexing like they want to slam him down and lift him off, like they a warring and can't decide.

But Bruce's hips know what they need. Are desperately rocking up. A little deeper. A little deeper. Impaling Tim on the biggest cock he's ever taken. Tim let's Bruce control things. Take what he needs. Rubs his clit to try and help with the strain. And then? He's so, SO full.

Bruce is rolling them. Hiking up his hips and leaning forward to rest his sweating forhead on Tim's shoulder. Holds him possesive and close as he fucks him. Slow at first them faster and faster. Harder. Until it feels like Tim's insides are being battered. Growling in his ear, his, his. His robin. Good boy, his.

Like something finally snapped and all the desperation finally fell out. The lust and greed.

It's like Bruce is trying to drain him of every orgasm he can possibly HAVE. Too much. He's so tired. It's good. Overwhelming. Goes on and on and ON. Surely he's cured now? Right? Tim drifts. Wakes up in Bruce's Bed. Weren't they in the cave? But Bruce is still inside him, rocking, gently and just to feel it. Shhh, shhh, go back to bed. Yeah. Okay.

Bruce is a lot nice after that though. They're closer. Tim has definitely found his bonding activity.

It works on Dick too. Who was between relationships. Depressed again. Lonely. And... well, Tim is so WARM. Feels so good to cuddle. Too bend in half in a good ol mating press and just? Get as close as he CAN. It's fun to eat him out until he sobs. Sit him in his lap like a cuddly little buddy and split him open, carry him around all day like that. Maybe Dick gets a little bit obsessed too. A little attached. Who's to say?

But! Each and every person? Who wants a piece? Not normal! Super human or frankly human outliers with intimacy issues that make them backed up! Tim who thinks Sex=Railed Into Oblivion! That you gotta SCHEDULE around it, because OBVIOUSLY you won't be able to walk or move after. This is normal and to be expected, right?

What do you MEAN "no"?

-🐼

tim being completely out of touch about what normal sex is supposed to be like 😭😭😭😭! the only people he's ever fucked has been people who are so beyond what could constitute as normal and all have conditioned tim to believe that sex is just LIKE that 😭

#answered asks #asks #anonymous

[mcdonaldsnumberone]

LIGHTHOUSE!

make 'em swoon (prompt list) gender neutral reader

CHIGIRI HYOMA!

a smile that makes his eyes soften!

Chigiri can be surprisingly uptight sometimes. He isn’t necessarily the most openly affectionate boyfriend, but once you pester him with your love enough, he’ll gradually open up and give into your ministrations. Sometimes he might grumble but still let you cling to him, and other times, he’ll follow along with your teasing just to turn the tables onto you and leave you flustered and buzzing. But the moments where you know he loves you and loves soaking up your attention is in the small clues. Whenever you grin at him, either to goad him into doing something or right before a kiss, Chigiri’s eyes light up a bit. No matter how thorny and tsundere he pretends to be, he’s deeply infatuated with you. He can’t even lie to himself about how in love he is with you, and it’s these kinds of cues that let you know how down horrendous your boyfriend is.

“Pleaseeeeee, pleaseeeeee?” You’re practically hanging off of the redhead’s arm, dragging him down with your body weight as you grip onto him like he’ll disappear if you let go. Your eyes are sparkling, and you’re trying to flash your most stunning smile at him. “Look at how cute the drinks are here! We have to go! It’ll be the perfect date idea! C’mon, can’t you at least do this much for your absolutely wonderful and perfect and flawless partner?”

Chigiri pretends to pout, even though you can see him looking at the cafe’s Instagram pictures with a bit of intrigue. “...Are you that set on going? Aren’t there cafes like this everywhere?”

“But this one is brand new! I wanna try the snacks and stuff myself, and we have to go before it gets super popular and crowded! It’ll be fun, I promise! Please?” You beg passionately, continually sidling up against Chigiri. You two both know that even though Chigiri acts like he can’t bear with your pleas, he actually likes it when you bombard him with your attention and will always eventually give in.

He shakes his head, acting as if he doesn’t have any other option. “Fine. I have some time, and I guess it won’t hurt to treat you. If you want to go that badly, then…”

You cheer loudly, immediately enjoying your victory and beaming up at him with nothing but pure joy and adoration. Chigiri can feel his heart skip a beat in his chest, and his breathing feels a little tighter when he sees how happy you are. His eyes warm up around the edges as he gazes at you getting all excited, and when you pull him in for a hug, he laughs defeatedly and holds you back. 

“Oh, I absolutely can’t wait to go! You’re the best, Hyoma!” You gush at him, and Chigiri swears that if you were a dog, your tail would be broken from how hard it would be wagging.

He grins coyly, happy to be able to monopolize your attention like this. “Mhm. I sure hope I am.”

YUKIMIYA KENYU!

pressing foreheads together!

Life is never easy, and you know that Yukimiya navigates all sorts of pressures constantly in his life. The demands of his professional life weren't like the same responsibilities that other kids his age had: not only was he a soccer player in the making, but he was also a model on the side! You did your best to be a stable but caring lover for him, and whenever he needed a breath of fresh air, you’d be there for him. But that doesn’t mean you two can’t have your own shenanigans from time to time, and Yukimiya often tries to steal a kiss or two during these intimate moments together. He might claim to be a pacifist on the playing field nor is he as flashy as some of his peers, but Yukimiya’s still a passionate man. There’s nothing that makes him feel more proud and smug at the same time than seeing you get flustered and knowing that he’s the only person that can have this kind of effect on you. 

Yukimiya’s wavy hair had always caught your eye, whether it be bouncing with each step of his walk or soft curls decorating the top of his pillow when you woke up before him in the mornings. Either way, whenever he was close to you, you wanted nothing more than to reach out and to touch it, stroking his delicate hair and soaking up Yukimiya’s attention.

“You’re staring so intently at me, love.” His voice shatters your attention, and you give a small squeak when he draws close, quickly closing the gap between your bodies. He slings his arms around you, trapping you in a net of limbs and frantic heartbeats. “Is there something you want?”

A pleasant shiver went down your spine at the hushed tone of his voice, with Yukimiya whispering to you like the way only a lover would. His eyes were warm but sharp, like a man waiting to pounce, looking for an opening that he could dig into.

Your breath hitches when he leans his head in, and your foreheads touch. Even though it was just a little bit of skin-to-skin contact, it feels electric. Your lips part habitually, and you want nothing more than for Yukimiya to lean in all the way and to capture you with a slow kiss.

You swallow, and your voice trembles just a hint. “You. I want you, Kenyu.”

“Yeah? Is it me you want?” He chuckles darkly, and he lifts a hand to brush his thumb over your cheek. Without another word, his lips are on top of yours, and you melt fully under his touch. He holds you close, and he kisses you with his whole heart, matching your desire for him with affection of his own. Your chest is pressed up against his, and his heartbeat matches up to yours, beating in conjunction and intertwining with you. 

Your head spins, dizzy and intoxicated off of the kiss, but you don’t want to ever pull away. You’re sure Yukimiya feels the same with how greedily his mouth moves against yours.

Yukimiya wouldn’t trade you for the world. Not when he can have you perfectly, lovingly, and wantonly as he does. 

ITOSHI SAE!

a kiss pressed to the neck!

Sae still sometimes has yet to learn to appreciate the finer things in life. He’s only ever known soccer his entire life, and that’s cost him many valuable things. Now that’s a little bit older, had a little bit more time to reflect, a little bit more regretful than he once was, Sae’s teaching himself how to properly cherish the things and the people he holds close. He’s eternally grateful that you’ve stayed with him through thick and thin, and even though he’s not the best at expressing his emotions verbally, it’s through the small gestures that he shows his true heart. It can be anything from making sure he eats his meals with you when his schedule allows it all the way to asking you to wear his jersey when you come to support him at his games. But his favorite has to be sneaking kisses onto your body, his lips molding themselves to the gentle curves of your neck and shoulders, his soft touch electrifying with all the untold promises of his love towards you.

“Don’t you have practice today?” Your voice reminds Sae of the wind chimes he’d pass by during his time in Spain. Your grumpy boyfriend slides his arms around your waist and leans on your shoulder, and you scoot over on the couch to make room for him. Despite him acting like a high and mighty better-than-thou prodigy on the field, you know him better for his clingy and insatiable behavior once the two of you are in private.

He pouts slightly, only loosening his expression up when he can feel your fingers combing through his unkempt red hair. He blinks slowly as if he were a cat, and his piercing teal eyes trace over your silhouette before landing on your eyes. “It got canceled. Some maintenance issues. Nothing any of us need to worry about.”

Sae can feel you grin and shift to adjust to his presence as you make yourself comfortable again, your attention torn between the TV show you had been watching and him appearing out of nowhere. Truth be told, he wants to monopolize your attention quite a bit, more than what you’re giving him right now. But he’d rather eat mud than admit it out loud, so when you go back to immersing yourself in whatever reality TV drama you’re engrossed in, Sae begins upping his antics bit by bit.

At first, it’s just him holding your hand and maybe rubbing his thumb over the back of your knuckles. But then it turns to him burying his face into the crook of your neck, huffing slightly when you don’t turn to face him. It looks like being subtle won’t do the trick for him anymore, and only then does Sae look for an exposed patch of skin on your neck before leaning in. His breath fans out against your body before he parts his lips, and he presses his mouth against your neck. His sharp teeth ghost over what feels like your pulse, and you gasp, immediately sitting up straight and turning directly towards him.

“Sae!” Your eyes are blown open wide, and only then does Sae allow himself a coy smile. “What’s gotten into you?”

There we go. Much better. He’s far more happy now that your undivided attention is on him. 

MICHAEL KAISER!

smirking in a way that suggests more!

It’s downright unfair that Kaiser gets to walk around looking like that. The common phrase ‘God must have favorites’ feels true when it comes to him. Not only does he have a blooming career as a professional athlete, he’s also immensely popular and handsome to boot. And the cherry on top has to be the fact that he knows all of this. Kaiser is more than aware of how much of a coveted man he is, and now that you’ve stolen away his heart, he’s going to use every weapon in his arsenal to try and charm you. There’s nothing he wants to see more than to get you flustered and at his mercy: a perfectly smitten darling for him to pamper and to be spoiled by to his selfish heart’s content. He doesn’t care if it involves embarrassing you or coming across as desperate; the moment Kaiser sets his sights on something or someone, he’s doing whatever it takes until he emerges victorious.

You wish Kaiser had been born with a little more shame in his body. For the most part, you’ve gotten used to your boyfriend’s flamboyant and standoffish behavior when his soccer skills were involved (it wasn’t like you wanted to get in between his spats against other professional players either), but when it came to his shameless flirting with you, there were times when all you wanted was for a hole in the ground to open up and swallow you whole. You find yourself wondering why exactly you were even attracted to such a man to begin with, but Kaiser is more than happy to remind you of his charms all over again.

“Darling,” he coos lovingly. He only ever uses that seductive tone of voice when he wants your attention, which is more or less all the time whenever you’re on his mind. A tattooed arm slinks around your waist and pulls you closer to him, and he presses a flurry of kisses to your face. “I’m feeling peckish. Entertain me.”

“What am I, your personal jester?” You grumble, shaking your head. “Don’t you have clips to analyze? Or you can always go to the gym for a bit, if you really have nothing to do-”

“-No, no, I’m not feeling that kind of peckish.” His hands wander to your stomach, sliding down and toying with the hem of your shirt. The remainder of your words die on the tip of your tongue as realization flits across your mind, and heat instantly flares up in your cheeks. You squirm in his grasp, managing to turn yourself around to face him. You’re determined to scold him when he intercepts you by pressing a sweet kiss to your lips, the boy sighing happily when he can feel your soft mouth against his.

He pulls away and whispers just so that you can hear, “It’s a kind of boredom only you can take care of. Won’t you be good and take care of me, darling?”

Your mouth is dry as his eyelids lower slightly, and he bats his eyelashes at you tantalizingly. His striking blue eyes are alluring as always, inviting you to close the gap in between the two of you and to give yourself to him for the time being. You hate how downright sultry his eyes are at times, but you hate how helpless you are against him even more.

“I’ll make it worth your while,” Kaiser promises, leaning in so that his face is just a mere breath away from yours. “How does that sound?”

x

#blue lock #bllk #blue lock x reader #bllk x reader #chigiri hyoma #yukimiya kenyu #itoshi sae #michael kaiser #x reader #my writing

[mizu-nights]

♬ now playing: "you're blushing!"

-> perhaps some 'harmless flirting' isn't so harmless after all . . .

★ — chars ; ichika , airi , saki , tsukasa

★ — notes ; I HAVE NOW OFFICIALLY WRITTEN FOR EVERY PJSK CHAR!!!!! hoping nobody is SUPER ooc here......... prompt list can be found here >0< REQS WILL OPEN IN A FEW DAYSSSS WEHEHEHE

★ — warnings ; reader being flirty (ichika), hospital and saki's backstory mentioned once, established relationship (saki)

★ — requested by ; none

★ — taglist ; @akitosheart , @mintchocaur (tsukasa!!)

affiliated with @virtualbookstore ★

★ hoshino ichika :

it started off simple: ichika being her usual self, complimenting how you looked today. she was always the type of person to praise people for certain aspects, and you always thanked her for it, but today, you wanted to try something different.

"aww, you're such a sweetie, ichika, you know that?"

the tone of your voice had teasing written all over it, which stunned the girl that was standing right before you. she managed to fix her composure after a moment or two, nodding her head and smiling at you.

"ah... thank you, [name]-"

"not to mention pretty."

just like that, ichika was starstruck once more, only this time with a light blush spreading around her cheeks. her gaze darted around the room, stuttering and spamming while avoiding eye contact at all costs.

"oh, did i fluster you?"

"well... i'm..."

... seems like you broke her. perhaps if you tried a more... physical approach, you might just make her melt.

★ momoi airi :

making a girl like airi blush is very worth it. considering her personality, she acts absolutely adorable whenever you successfully fluster her!

but... what if it's the other way around for once?

you had asked airi to help teach you certain dance moves from more more jump songs, and surprisingly, she agreed!

and for today, she decided to teach you how she danced 'romeo and cinderella'!

"then, for this part, we have to get close to each other like this..."

she pointed to her and shizuku in the music video. at the moment, it seemed easy. just some arm movements and looking at each other, right?

"mhm, got it, got it."

wrong. you were a complete mess when you were actually doing it. this whole practice was just supposed to be for fun... and now you're-

"[name], are you blushing?"

"what..? no way, it's just the cold!"

"yeah. sure."

there was an awkward silence for a moment, with your face turning redder and redder by the second. eventually, airi spoke again, with an amused tone to her voice.

"you look cute, by the way."

"you're making it worse."

★ tenma saki :

considering saki was always at the hospital as a child, she never really got to try a few things. and of course, you wanted to show your girlfriend some of your favorites!

there was a brand new ice cream shop that opened, with dozens of flavors to choose from! and you'd be a fool not to bring her.

"saki, you've got some ice cream on your cheek..."

you giggle, watching your adorable girlfriend eat her ice cream so happily. despite how silly she looked, you couldn't help but fall for her even more.

"hehe... could you help remove it for me, sweetie?"

with such a simple request, how could you ignore it? but why wipe it off normally when you can help her in a special way, right?

you giggle and nod, now leaning in and making it seem like you'll use a tissue, but instead, you surprise her by kissing her on the cheek. maybe not as effective as wiping with a tissue, but so much cuter.

... which earned the even more adorable sight of your lover having this red hue to her face.

"are you alright, saki? you look a little..."

"i'm fine!"

you caught the poor girl off-guard, but... you really can't help it with how cute she looks like this.

★ tenma tsukasa :

rambling sessions with tsukasa aren't uncommon. your minds always seem connected—you say one thing, he agrees and says another... an endless cycle.

this time was... a different case, however.

it happened as it normally did. one of you initiated a topic, then both you kept yapping, yapping, and yapping... until tsukasa suddenly went quiet. not that you noticed, you were too busy talking about something that had piqued your interest.

that was until you noticed tsukasa stopped talking, though. instead of hearing his voice, laughing and agreeing with you, you were met with an adoring gaze from the boy in front of you.

"...stoooop, you're making me all..."

"hm? all what?"

but he was genuinely curious! he really had no clue what you were talking about, and you weren't helping by being so mysterious about it!

a light pink fills your cheeks, and once the future star right in front of you notices, he can't help but match with you.

"you, uh... i didn't mean make you- i mean..."

this was new. sure, he gets flustered around you at times, but to this extent? a sight to behold indeed.

"you're blushing."

"so are you!?"

#virtualnetwork #ichika hoshino #ichika hoshino x reader #saki tenma #saki tenma x reader #airi momoi #airi momoi x reader #tsukasa tenma #tsukasa tenma x reader #pjsk #project sekai #pjsk x reader #project sekai x reader #★ — you are my literature

[bubbly-minx]

NSFW Scaramouche x GN Reader

CW: NSFW, Sub/bottom reader, Dom/top Scaramouche, Drinking/drunk reader, dubcon, established relationship, Impact play, Jealousy, Possessiveness, Slight degradation. NSFW under the cut! Summary: You get dropped off at home late by your friend after a night of drinking. Scaramouche is upset, and makes that very clear to you. Words: 2.1k

You were holding your phone, pressing down on the power button in a futile attempt to turn it back on after you had just seen it flash its power down screen. You groaned in frustration, knowing that you really should have charged your phone before going out.

You were a little tipsy already, feeling a bit light-headed from the drinking. You glanced over at Venti, who had just called over the waiter to ask for another bottle. It was almost 1 AM, and he didn't even seem effected by the alcohol. He smiled as the waiter left, and downed the rest of his drink in one shot.

You had promised Scaramouche that you would be back home early, saying that you were only going out to grab a few drinks and eat dinner with an old friend who was visiting town. He reluctantly agreed to let you go alone, but only if you promised to come back early. You looked back down at your phone, which was not turning back on. You had left the house with only 50 percent, assuming that the meeting wouldn't last long enough that your phone would run out of battery. But with your friend's drinking habits, you should have known better. "Venti, it's getting late, don't you think?" You said. "I think we should start getting ready to go".

"Nonsense! The night is still young, and we still have so much catching up to do! I don't even know when the next time I'll be able to visit will be." He replied. "Besides, I just ordered us another drink. This one is really good, I think you'll like it"

"But-"

"Is this about your overprotective boyfriend? Sheesh, he's a little bit too clingy don't ya think? It's only 1 right now, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. We're just friends having some fun, everyone has to let loose once in awhile." Venti smiled, tilting his head while he continued to poke fun at you about "having a curfew". You chewed your lip while holding your dead phone, contemplating if you really should stay back longer. Venti's visit to town was super sudden, and it was a rare chance for him to meet and hang out with you before he would go off to travel again for his job. You looked at the clock behind Venti and back at his pleading face.

Before you could really even make up your mind, the waiter came back with two bottles, which Venti had grabbed rather quickly to pour into your cup. "Try it! It's super good. Tastes just like juice". You stared at the glass, smelling the sweet, fruity aroma of the alcohol he had just poured. "Okay but after this, I'm gonna head home". You sipped a little bit from your cup and Venti was right. The drink was sickeningly sweet, and barely had any alcohol taste to it.

Before you knew it, you had poured the rest of the bottle into your cup. And then another.....and another.....

"tehehe, Tell me- tell me the story again. That story about...about you getting, heheh, getting kicked out of dormssss" You were giggling, trying hard to focus on Venti's face. "Okay okay, so, the dorm RA found out that I was bringing alcohol, because someone snitched, right? and the RA raided my room while me and my roomie were drinking, and we both were super drunk so they took all our alcohol and gave us a scolding. But I still had a bottle that-" Your head bobbed up and down as you struggled to stay fully awake to listen to the story. You put your head down on the table, the cool surface feeling refreshing against your hot cheeks. You closed your eyes in bliss as venti's voice faded out while you began to doze off....

"Hey! Hey! Get up! The restaurant is closed, we gotta go!"

Venti was shaking you, trying to get you to wake up as an obviously tired and irritated worker stood by the table. You shook him off, asking for "Five more minutes Scaramouche".

Venti laughed nervously at the worker, before grabbing your arm and hoisting you up to your feet. "Come on, we gotta get you home". Venti apologized and thanked the worker, before walking you out the restaurant while you struggled to keep up.

"Ventiiii, I wanna go hooome. What time is it? Scaramouche is waiting for meee" you said while laughing. "He's waiting at home for meeee". Venti grunted as he tried to keep you on your feet. "Yeah yeah, I'm sure he is, let's get you home, okay?". You trip, sending both you and Venti tumbling down to the floor. You land on the floor butt first, causing you to squeak out an "ouch" while Venti rubbed his elbow. You began to tear up from the pain, and start to whine about how you wanted to go home and see Scaramouche Panicked, Venti grabs your arm while wiping the tears on your face. "No no, don't cry, you just need to walk a little more, come on let's go". You nod, and get up with his help and start walking again. "Thought you would learn how to hold your liquor by now, but I guess things never really change" he mumbled under his breath

Venti eventually gets you back home, and before he can even ask you to get your keys out, the door opens. Scaramouche is there by the door way, and he's standing in his pajamas, very clearly mad as he looks at Venti and then over at you. You hold your head up at Scaramouche and concern replaces his anger as he sees your puffy eyes and dried up tears.

"My butt hurtsss" you whine.

Scaramouche quickly looks over at Venti, before he snatches you into a hug from Venti's shoulder. "Explain." he demands.

"This is a huge misunderstanding, we were walking and they just fell, honest!" Venti exclaims. Scaramouche looks down at you, your eyes already closed again as you tried to sleep in his arms. He stares at Venti before telling him in a low voice, "Get out. Get out and go home. Don't worry about them". Before Venti can react, Scaramouche slams the door shut on his face, leaving him alone outside. "Talk about overprotective...." he mumbles as he starts his walk to his hotel.

Scaramouche places you on your bed, sighing heavily as he walked over to the doorway to turn the lights off. The loss of his warmth stirs you from your sleep, and you get up from bed to protest. With your arms out, you reach for hug. "Scaramouche, I wanna sleep with youuu itso cold".

He freezes, his hand just above the light switch to the room. He stomps over to you on the bed, grabbing your face and forcing you to look at him. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I called you over and over again but you never even picked up. You didn't reply to any of my messages and you didn't come back on time either. Do you even know what time it is?"

You shake your head.

"It's past 3 AM right now. You said you would be home before 1:30. I thought something bad had happened to you. But I guess you just couldn't resist drinking with another man, huh? You were just having so much fun that you didn't stop to call or answer me, your worried boyfriend? You must have loved all the attention your cute little ass was getting and lost a few screws in that dumb little head of yours. You reek of alcohol, it's disgusting. I was just going to let this go for tonight but you just riled me up again. Turn around"

He pushes you over his knees and pulls your underwear down, ignoring you as you yelp in surprise. He looks at your slightly red ass and clicks his tongue, running his palm over the red skin. "Is what he said true? Did you really just fall?" You nod your head yes frantically, and try to scoot away in embarrassment. Scaramouche's hand lifts from your ass and you look towards him, thinking that he was going to let you go now.

His hands slaps back down your ass, leaving a painful stinging sensation. "Stop squirming slut. You thought I was just going to trust that he didn't do anything to you? Ha, as if. You lied to me once already tonight. I'll decide for myself if he did anything or not".

"I promise Scaramouche, he didn't do anything. We just drank a little, just a little-" Scaramouche wordless shoved his finger in you, ignoring what you were telling him. His finger moved and squirmed around in your hole, moving in and out as deep as it possibly could, pushing until he was knuckle deep. "Just a little? Don't make me laugh. The zoned out look in your eyes and the way you're talking says otherwise. Look how wet you are. Were you this aroused when you were with him too? Did your friend touch you like this too?" He pushed in a second finger, stretching you out as he began to push and probe spots that made your head feel funny. He pulled his hand out, inspecting his fingers and your twitching hole.

"Looks like you were telling the truth. But you still need to be punished."

He shoves his fingers back in, moving at a faster pace than before and you began to moan and pant, grabbing onto his thigh as you tried to deal with the pleasure. "Are you mad? Aauhg- I'm sorry, i'm sorry Scara I won't do it again- NNhgh~. Wait slow down, slow down I'm gonna cum, i'm gonna cum, cumming, cumming-" Scaramouche's fingers suddenly left, and you whimper and push your hips out in hopes that your poor, aching hole would meet with his fingers again. Instead, you're met with a spank, which shuts you up. He smirks as he hits you again and again, the strength against each hit getting stronger and stronger as he a watched your plump ass grow red.

"Who said you can shake your hips like that? Like a brain-dead bitch in heat? This is supposed to be your punishment but look how desperate you are for just my fingers. You're so pathetic it's almost cute"

Tears form in your eyes from the pain and he stops, instead rubbing and soothing your stinging butt with his cool hand, shushing you and bending low enough to whisper coos in your ear that you couldn't hear well over your own panting and sniffling.

"Awwwh, Did that hurt? I'm sorry. But now how are you going to win my forgiveness?" You take a second to collect your self and look up at Scaramouche, tears now falling out of your eyes. "I dunno, I wanna cum, lemme cum please" you moaned out.

Scaramouche lifted you up from his knees and placed you face down onto the bed, pushing your hips up into the air. He takes out his already hard cock, stroking it a few times before slowly pushing himself into your hole. Both of you moan as he reaches to the hilt of his dick.

His tight grip on your hips didn't allow you to squirm or thrust back onto him, forcing you to just take him at the agonizingly slow pace he had set. You whimpered as he moved his hands to grope your now bruised ass while speeding up his pace. "You're so beautiful and you're all mine. Mine alone to see this undone, Mine alone to fuck. Don't ever forget that." Scaramouche grunted, his thrusts against your plush ass filling the room with lewd noises. You were babbling incoherently, moaning and clawing at the bed sheets in order to try and ground yourself but you cum, Scaramouche's cock and words being too much to bear.

"I can feel you tightening up, you like that? You like when I fuck you like this and make you cum? You like cumming all over my cock? Fuck, you're so cute like this, all drunk and fucked up. Can you even hear me?

He groaned, feeling you spasm around him as you continued to ride out your orgasm. "I'm going to cum, going to cum inside all over you. Take it, take it all". Scaramouche thrusted his cock in as deep as he could before cumming inside, his cum leaving a hot feeling inside you.

He pulled out, watching him cum leak out of your lewd hole. You panted as your body flopped over from exhaustion onto the bed. Scaramouche leaned over you, reaching down to wipe the tears on your cheek. "I'm going to get the water in the bath started. Just stay here"

You watched as Scaramouche walked out the room, and fell asleep to the sound of the running water.

#genshin fanfic #genshin impact #venti the bard #venti #smut #genshin smut #scaramouche #wanderer #scaramouche fanfic #scaramouche x reader #scaramouche x you #scaramouche smut #kunikuzushi smut #kunikuzushi #kunikuzushi x reader #scara #genshin

[skyward-floored]

Febuwhump collab day 14 — blood-stained tiles

Shhhhh don’t even look at the day this was technically supposed to be posted on okay (I’ve just. given up on posting them the correct days I think XD but that’s okay, I’m still having fun)

This one was suggested by the lovely @thepinklink! Some Legend angst for you <3

This is set after supers are legal again btw. Legend and Wild are both about 15 here.

Warnings: blood, and injury, but not described in too much detail.

Today’s lovely art

Ao3 link

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Wild scanned dully across the book page in front of him, holding back a yawn as the words smeared under his tired eyes. It was an interesting book, but it just wasn’t enough to keep his eyes from trying to close, lids heavy with exhaustion. He wanted so much to just drift off and sleep, but the nightmares had been bad again, and he knew if he closed his eyes they’d be upon him with a vengeance.

His pillow was so soft though, and his blankets were nice and warm, and resting his eyes for just a second or two couldn’t hurt...

Wild jerked himself awake from the doze, shaking his head and pressing his palms to his eyes. Maybe he needed some water. That would wake him up, right? Getting out of bed to get it would at least.

He sighed and threw back his blankets, slightly relieved he didn’t have to be quite as quiet as he normally would. Twilight was off at their grandpa’s farm for the week, and while Wild sort of enjoyed having their room to himself, he missed his brother’s snoring, and the solution and comfort he would doubtless give if he knew about Wild’s current problem.

It’s only for another few days, get a grip, Wild huffed to himself, then padded quietly out into the hallway.

He was nearly to the bathroom when he heard a small thump from inside, and Wild paused with his hand inches from the knob. The door was mostly closed, but the light wasn’t on, and Wild had assumed nobody was inside.

Maybe Four was in there? Sometimes he didn’t turn on the overhead since there was a nightlight inside, but he always shut and locked the door. Maybe it was someone else in there.

Or maybe it was something in there?

Oh if it’s mice again Mom’s gonna lose it, Wild thought. Or cockroaches. Though I really hope a cockroach didn’t make that thud.

Wild braced himself for any number of nasty things, then bravely pushed the door open and clicked on the light.

And was treated to the sight of Legend halfway out of his hero suit, leaning heavily on the counter, a hand clasped at his side, and a generous amount of blood dripping onto the floor.

Wild stared, Legend blinking in the sudden light, and it was a solid minute before his voice finally came back enough for him to speak.

“Ledge!” he gaped, and Legend glared at him, though the effect was diminished by the wearied look on his face. “Legend you’re bleeding—”

“Keep it down!” Legend hissed. “Do you want everyone running in here?”

“Maybe I do! What happened?” Wild whisper-shouted back, and Legend shushed him again before letting out a heavy sigh.

“I just... went out and ran into a little trouble, okay?” he bit out, leaning a little more heavily on the sink. “Don’t worry about it.”

Wild kept staring at him in disbelief. “Legend, we’re not supposed to go heroing out by ourselves. Dad said that was the rule until we’re older, you know that—”

“Right, and you’ve definitely never broken that rule,” Legend scoffed, and Wild faltered a second.

Admittedly, Legend had him there.

“...okay, but I’ve never come back with a great gaping hole in my side,” Wild pointed out, and Legend flicked his eyes away from him. Wild crossed his arms when Legend didn’t say anything further, and his brother sighed, giving a great big roll of his eyes.

“Okay, okay. I’m an idiot, and I learned my lesson, hooray. Now will you get out of here and leave me alone?” Legend snapped.

Wild shook his head. “No way. I’m getting Hyrule, don’t—”

“Wild don’t you dare try to wake up Hyrule, he’s been sick all week,” Legend hissed.

“You’re bleeding all over the bathroom!” Wild hissed back, “I kinda think that’s something he’d want to help with!”

Legend opened his mouth to say something equally snarky in reply, but his entire form suddenly flickered, and he closed his eyes, face drawn with pain.

Wild watched some blood drip onto the floor, and exhaled through his nose, anger fading away to be replaced with worry.

It was true Hyrule had been sick the past several days, nauseous and tired, and it was likely he wouldn’t be able to handle healing Legend up much at all. And even if he could, he really shouldn’t, since it would just wear him out further. Even if Legend was doing his best impression of a leaky faucet at the moment, and they’d all heard the stories their uncles would tell about how dangerous blood loss could be...

“Okay. Whatever,” Wild said more softly, and Legend looked at him, trembling a little. “At least let me help you bandage it up.”

“...Fine,” Legend murmured.

Wild came forward, stepping around the blood on the floor, and pushed Legend down to sit on the toilet lid. His brother did so with a pained grunt, and Wild began rummaging for something to help stop the bleeding. He pulled out some clean towels, and kneeled back down by Legend, studying his injury with nausea and worry swimming in his gut.

“Geez Legend, you really did a number on yourself,” he murmured as he looked at him.

“It wasn’t me. Some idiot with a knife just managed to guess where I was standing,” Legend muttered, hissing through his teeth as Wild pressed a towel to his side. “‘S not my fault.”

“I’m sure Mom and Dad’ll take that as an excuse,” Wild said dryly.

“Mom and Dad don’t need to know,” Legend muttered, and let out another hiss of pain as Wild shifted his grip. “Just my luck the guy got me while I was a rabbit.”

“You were in rabbit form?” Wild asked worriedly, and Legend looked away. “Didn’t changing back hurt? I know transforming is painful if Twilight’s injured, isn’t it the same for you?”

“Yeah, w-well he’s him and I’m me,” Legend shrugged, and squeezed his eyes shut again as Wild shifted the towel.

A few moments passed in silence, and Wild pulled the towel off a little, still concerned at the amount of blood coming out of Legend’s side. The towel was becoming rather red, and Legend only seemed to get paler, his hands shaking where they were gripping his middle.

“Legend... this looks really bad,” Wild said quietly. You look really bad. “I... think we should wake up Hyrule now.”

Legend immediately shook his head. “No.”

“Legend, you’re really...” Wild began, and Legend glared at him.

“No. He needs his rest and I’m fi—”

“Um.”

At the third voice, Legend and Wild both turned to stare at the doorway, where Wind was staring back at the two of them, his sleepy expression morphing quickly into one of shock and confusion.

Crud.

“...am I dreaming?” Wind asked in a bit of a dazed voice.

“Yep, better go back to bed,” Wild said quickly, and Wind blinked at them another few seconds, then shook his head, his eyes focusing a bit more.

“I’m not dreaming! Legend you’re hurt!” he gasped, and Wild and Legend both shushed him, Legend’s ears twitching as he listened for anyone else coming.

“We’re handling it Wind, go back to bed,” Legend said in an exhausted voice.

“Does handling it usually involve blood all over the floor and Mom’s good towels?” Wind asked with a raised eyebrow, and Wild winced as he realized he had, in fact, grabbed Mom’s good towels.

“...yes,” Wild said, but Wind sniffed out the uncertainty in his voice better than even Twilight could.

“Riiiiight. What happened?” Wind asked as he walked over to Legend, skirting around the blood on the floor. “How exactly did you— Oh geez— Legend that looks really bad, what did you do? Wait... you snuck out, didn’t you!”

“Genius deduction there Sherlock,” Legend growled. “Now that you’ve figured everything out, go back to bed.”

“Like heck I will, if I left you and Wild here alone you’d probably bleed out,” Wind huffed. “Haven’t you woken Rulie up yet?”

“He’s sick,” Legend hissed again, and Wind crossed his arms as he stared at Legend.

“Yeah and he’ll feel even worse if he hears you hid this from him and didn’t let him help,” Wind pointed out, and Wild blinked. He hadn’t thought about it like that. “And... it looks like you got stabbed Legend, that’s kind of a big deal?!”

“Well it’s really not,” Legend bit out, and sat up, as if to prove it.

His face went white though, and he slipped off the toilet, Wild letting out a panicked noise as he shot forward and grabbed him. Wind darted forward as well, and they both stared at Legend’s face, screwed up in a grimace. His eyes flickered back open after only a few seconds, but Wild was already falling firmly into panic mode.

“Legend?!” he asked frantically.

“Fine, I-I’m— I’m fine,” Legend got out, but the pain in his voice spoke otherwise.

“That’s a lot of blood,” Wind said quietly, sounding much more concerned then before, and Legend squeezed his eyes shut before dragging them open again.

“I... m-maybe you’d better get Hyrule,” he said in a small voice, a thin thread of fear coming through in the words.

Wild swallowed. Legend very, very rarely sounded like that.

Forget trying to avoid nightmares, Legend is trying to give me more.

“Wind? Can you get Hyrule?” Wild asked, and Wind nodded. “Do it quietly though, the last thing we need is Four waking up, or Mom and Dad.”

“Would it really be so bad if that happened?” Wind murmured, but he slipped out of the bathroom without barely a sound.

He returned a few minutes later, Hyrule shuffling quietly behind him. Their other brother seemed like he was only half-awake, and as Wild looked at the dark circles under his eyes, he felt a sting of guilt at having to resort to waking him up.

But Legend was only getting paler, and between waking up Hyrule, or waking up their parents and worrying them both and getting a lecture of some kind, Wild figured Hyrule was the safer option. Plus his parents would probably wake Hyrule up to help anyway. This just cut out the middle man.

Though if Legend loses much more blood, we probably’ll have to wake them up...

Hyrule quietly took in the scene, sniffling and wiping his nose on his sleeve as he eyeballed the blood all over the floor, then he frowned, looking intently at Legend.

“Why is it always you, Legend?” Hyrule murmured with a hint of both amusement and annoyance, and Legend looked down at his feet.

“Almost always,” Wind corrected. “There was that time with Wild and that tree, remember?”

Wild glared at him. “Not the time, Wind.”

Hyrule ignored them both, and sighed as he finished looking over Legend. “Okay. Hold still.”

“Don’t do too much,” Legend said as Hyrule kneeled on the floor beside him, Legend shakily grabbing his arm. “J-just stop the bleeding, don’t... don’t push yourself.”

“I’ll do as much as you need,” Hyrule said patiently, and lit up his hands with a soft blue light.

He pressed them both to Legend’s side, his eyes closing in concentration, and Wild and Wind watched in silence as the gouge in Legend’s side began to slowly shrink away. The glow from Hyrule’s powers lit the bathroom up in an almost eerie way, and Wild noticed Wind slide a little closer to his side, worry bright on his face.

Legend kept his eyes closed while Hyrule worked, and several quiet minutes went by before he raised his head and squeezed Hyrule’s arm.

“That’s good. You can stop.”

Hyrule dragged his eyes open and stared at Legend, the increased exhaustion on his face doing nothing to lessen the firm look in his eyes.

“I’m not finished.”

“Yes you are,” Legend said firmly, his face still pale, but much less so then before. “Rulie you look like you’re going to keel over, you’re in no shape to keep using up your energy on me.”

“What, cause of this l-little cold?” Hyrule smirked, but Legend didn’t return it.

“The sound of the faucet dripping earlier almost made you throw up,” he replied flatly.

“The bathroom is covered in blood,” Hyrule shot back, arms crossed.

“I’m not still bleeding!”

“You could easily reopen it! I’m not done!”

“You guys are both dumb, and need sleep,” Wind interrupted, and Wild couldn’t help his snort. “Let’s see how bad it looks now before you keep arguing, huh?”

Hyrule pulled back and moved the towel that was blocking Wild and Wind’s view, and revealed a shallow mark on Legend’s side. The skin was still bloody, but the injury itself didn’t seem like it was bleeding much at all, and was much less scary-looking then before.

Wild sighed in relief. “I think it’s good, ‘rule.”

“Yeah, it looks way better, I don’t think he’ll pass out now,” Wind said cheerfully, then hesitated. “Well, not from blood loss at least.”

“My own blood doesn’t make me pass out,” Legend grumbled as he began to clean himself up, but Wind ignored him.

“I think it’s good enough for now Hyrule, thanks,” Wild said, and Hyrule nodded, his eyes drooping tiredly. “We can look at it again tomorrow. You should go back to bed.”

“Legend too,” Hyrule murmured. “I can’t really fix blood loss. He needs rest.”

Wild nodded, and as soon as Legend was as clean as he was going to get and had his injury wrapped, Wild and Wind helped him and Hyrule back down the hall and into their beds. Legend didn’t even bother with his own bed, merely collapsing next to Hyrule in his blankets instead, and Hyrule snuggled up to him. Both were asleep in seconds, and Wind and Wild exchanged smiles as they shut the door.

“Finally. Makes me wonder who’s the older sibling sometimes,” Wind huffed as they walked back to the bathroom, and Wild quietly laughed.

“Well you’ll have plenty of time to think about it,” he said as he opened the door, and gestured to the mess they and Legend had left behind. “...We still have to clean all this up before Mom and Dad get up.”

Wind grimaced. “...Right. I Don’t know how we’re going to fix those towels though.”

Wild thought for a moment, then sighed. “...you think Four would know?”

“Probably.”

“I was afraid of that.”

Wind and Wild exchanged tired looks, though after a moment both of their faces cracked into smiles, followed by quickly muffled giggles. It really wasn’t that funny, but Wild at least had reached the point where it was so late and he was so tired that everything was at least a little funny.

Plus... he was still riding the wave of relief that Legend was okay.

Finally their giggles ran out though, and Wild and Wind both wordlessly turned out of the bathroom to go wake up Four, and see if he could help get the blood off of the towels.

It wasn’t the excuse Wild would have picked, but between this and lying in his bed trying not to have more nightmares... cleaning up blood and shushing Wind when he made a stupid joke was much more preferable.

#Incredibles au #linkeduniverse #lu Wild #lu legend #lu wind #lu hyrule #linked universe fanfic #writing from the floor #febuwhump #day 14 #blood-stained tiles #how many of these are going to end up happening in bathrooms absjbdjdddbh