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5ummit · 4 months

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AO3 Ship Stats: Year In Bad Data

You may have seen this AO3 Year In Review.

It hasn’t crossed my tumblr dash but it sure is circulating on twitter with 3.5M views, 10K likes, 17K retweets and counting. Normally this would be great! I love data and charts and comparisons!

Except this data is GARBAGE and belongs in the TRASH.

I first noticed something fishy when I realized that Steve/Bucky – the 5th largest ship on AO3 by total fic count – wasn’t on this Top 100 list anywhere. I know Marvel’s popularity has fallen in recent years, but not that much. Especially considering some of the other ships that made it on the list. You mean to tell me a femslash HP ship (Mary MacDonald/Lily Potter) in which one half of the pairing was so minor I had to look up her name because she was only mentioned once in a single flashback scene beat fandom juggernaut Stucky? I call bullshit.

Now obviously jumping to conclusions based on gut instinct alone is horrible practice... but it is a good place to start. So let’s look at the actual numbers and discover why this entire dataset sits on a throne of lies.

Here are the results of filtering the Steve/Bucky tag for all works created between Jan 1, 2023 and Dec 31, 2023:

Not only would that place Steve/Bucky at #23 on this list, if the other counts are correct (hint: they're not), it’s also well above the 1520-new-work cutoff of the #100 spot. So how the fuck is it not on the list? Let’s check out the author’s FAQ to see if there’s some important factor we’re missing.

The first thing you’ll probably notice in the FAQ is that the data is being scraped from publicly available works. That means anything privated and only accessible to logged-in users isn’t counted. This is Sin #1. Already the data is inaccurate because we’re not actually counting all of the published fics, but the bots needed to do data collection on this scale can't easily scrape privated fics so I kinda get it. We’ll roll with this for now and see if it at least makes the numbers make more sense:

Nope. Logging out only reduced the total by a couple hundred. Even if one were to choose the most restrictive possible definition of "new works" and filter out all crossovers and incomplete fics, Steve/Bucky would still have a yearly total of 2,305. Yet the list claims their total is somewhere below 1,500? What the fuck is going on here?

Let’s look at another ship for comparison. This time one that’s very recent and popular enough to make it on the list so we have an actual reference value for comparison: Nick/Charlie (Heartstopper). According to the list, this ship sits at #34 this year with a total of 2630 new works. But what’s AO3 say?

Off by a hundred or so but the values are much closer at least!

If we dig further into the FAQ though we discover Sin #2 (and the most egregious): the counting method. The yearly fic counts are NOT determined by filtering for a certain time period, they’re determined by simply taking a snapshot of the total number of fics in a ship tag at the end of the year and subtracting the previous end-of-year total. For example, if you check a ship tag on Jan 1, 2023 and it has 10,000 fics and check it again on Jan 1, 2024 and it now has 12,000 fics, the difference (2,000) would be the number of "new works" on this chart.

At first glance this subtraction method might seem like a perfectly valid way to count fics, and it’s certainly the easiest way, but it can and did have major consequences to the point of making the entire dataset functionally meaningless. Why? If any older works are deleted or privated, every single one of those will be subtracted from the current year fic count. And to make the problem even worse, beginning at the end of last year there was a big scare about AI scraping fics from AO3, which caused hundreds, if not thousands, of users to lock down their fics or delete them.

The magnitude of this fuck up may not be immediately obvious so let’s look at an example to see how this works in practice.

Say we have two ships. Ship A is more than a decade old with a large fanbase. Ship B is only a couple years old but gaining traction. On Jan 1, 2023, Ship A had a catalog of 50,000 fics and ship B had 5,000. Both ships have 3,000 new works published in 2023. However, 4% of the older works in each fandom were either privated or deleted during that same time (this percentage is was just chosen to make the math easy but it’s close to reality).

Ship A: 50,000 x 4% = 2,000 removed works Ship B: 5,000 x 4% = 200 removed works

Ship A: 3,000 - 2,000 = 1,000 "new" works Ship B: 3,000 - 200 = 2,800 "new" works

This gives Ship A a net gain of 1,000 and Ship B a net gain of 2,800 despite both fandoms producing the exact same number of new works that year. And neither one of these reported counts are the actual new works count (3,000). THIS explains the drastic difference in ranking between a ship like Steve/Bucky and Nick/Charlie.

How is this a useful measure of anything? You can't draw any conclusions about the current size and popularity of a fandom based on this data.

With this system, not only is the reported "new works" count incorrect, the older, larger fandom will always be punished and it’s count disproportionately reduced simply for the sin of being an older, larger fandom. This example doesn’t even take into account that people are going to be way more likely to delete an old fic they're no longer proud of in a fandom they no longer care about than a fic that was just written, so the deletion percentage for the older fandom should theoretically be even larger in comparison.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the author of this "study" KNEW the data was tainted and chose to present it as meaningful anyway. You will only find this if you click through to the FAQ and read about the author’s methodology, something 99.99% of people will NOT do (and even those who do may not understand the true significance of this problem):

The author may try to argue their post states that the tags "which had the greatest gain in total public fanworks” are shown on the chart, which makes it not a lie, but a error on the viewer’s part in not interpreting their data correctly. This is bullshit. Their chart CLEARLY titles the fic count column “New Works” which it explicitly is NOT, by their own admission! It should be titled “Net Gain in Works” or something similar.

Even if it were correctly titled though, the general public would not understand the difference, would interpret the numbers as new works anyway (because net gain is functionally meaningless as we've just discovered), and would base conclusions on their incorrect assumptions. There’s no getting around that… other than doing the counts correctly in the first place. This would be a much larger task but I strongly believe you shouldn’t take on a project like this if you can’t do it right.

To sum up, just because someone put a lot of work into gathering data and making a nice color-coded chart, doesn’t mean the data is GOOD or VALUABLE.

#ao3 #ao3 stats #psa #my words #fandom #I doubt anyone is even going to read this but I needed to get it out of my system and at least try to stop this from spreading #if you know me #you know I get Big Mad about misinformation #don't take anything at face value #do your own research

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flamingpudding · 7 months

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Fictober23 Prompt: 17 - "I never said it would be easy."

Fandom: DPxDC

Rating: T

Warnings: -

A/N: I saw a post with a comment that Dan chronological wise is ten years old according to a wiki, I haven't seen it myself but I decided to run with it for this anyway.

It was supposed to be a normal morning but that got quickly interrupted by a long drawn out shout of 'Bruce' and a white and black blur suddenly flying though their ceiling right at Bruce. Two out of four present bat-kids instantly sprang up from their chairs into defense positions and with drawn weapons. The other two only arched an eyebrow before turning their attention back to their breakfast with a suppressed laugh, they had seen that black and white blur often enough during their times as Robin.

Damian glared at his older brothers as he stood with drawn throwing knives while Tim after a second of realization sighed, righten his chair from the ground and sat only slightly embarrassed at how Dick and Jason laughed.

Hovering above their breakfast table with his hands on Bruce's shoulder was now Phantom also known as Danny Nightingale, looking completely frazzled. The source of the yell as well as white and black blur from seconds ago.

"Bruce! I need your help! Please! I can't ask Jazz because she is busy and I sure as hell won't ask Trenchcoat. I don't think Supes can handle them and you're like the only one else I could think of to ask! Bruce, please!"

None of the bat kids really knew how long exactly Bruce had known Phantom. The man had only recently admitted to personally knowing the Ghost Hero when Nightwing had caught Phantom collapsing onto Batman and de-transforming and Batman handling it like that hadn't been the first time. They only knew that he had been an unofficial member of Justice League Dark and was the one that helped Jason with his Pit Madness as well as came to visit every now and then as Danny. What they had learned additionally from Alfred was that Phantom was the adopted son of Alfred's old friend and that when Bruce had been younger, he often came to visit or to hang out with them to escape his own family drama.

The bat-kids had figured out that way that Bruce and Danny were probably something akin to childhood friends that both also worked in the hero buisness.

Either way no one was in danger and so they watched on with curiosity as to what Phantom wanted. So far the Ghost Hero was still rambling on and on about something he couldn't entrust to anyone other than Bruce, while their father was leisurely taking a sip from his coffee completely pokerfaced like he was used to the other man rambling at him like that.

"Danny." Bruce finally cut in as the other was about to restart his entire plea for help. "World ending or personal."

The white haired man blinked as he finally floated to the side and let his reformed feet touch the ground. "Both? Sort of?"

Bruce grunted, the universal sigh for the other man to elaborate and the children payed attention interested on what was going on.

"I have a diplomatic meeting with the Tempest Dimension. One of their Demon Lords discovered that interdimensional travel is actually possible by having created a portal when he tried to teleport somewhere in their Dimension. I can't take Dani and Dan with me for this, the last time I allowed them to accompany me they nearly caused a dimensional war. Clockwork doesn't want to watch them, Jazz is to busy trying her newest psychological tortur- I mean therapy on Joker and I can't make the fruitloop watch them since both Dan and Dani swore they would wreck havoc if I leave them with him during football season."

Bruce arched an eyebrow and Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yea I know, but last time Trenchcoat watched them he nearly sold his soul again to never ever babysit them again. And Clark is too nice to watch them, they will use it against him."

Bruce hummed. "How old are they now?"

"Five and ten body wise since the assimilation process with their bodies finished a couple years ago. They should start normal aging soon."

The bat-kids exchanged confused, disturbed and partially horrified looks at what the two men were talking about. There were so many questions they had. They were wondering if they could make Bruce talk about his childhood and get some information about Phantom that way. Tim had attempted researching him once and barely found anything besides some disturbing information about a haunted tourist town called Amity Park that was Phantom's territory.

"Bruce! Please! They have a dragon with a human body in that dimension! I just know that Dan or Dani will attempt to fight him!" Suddenly an idea popped in Dicks head and exchanged a glance with his siblings, checking if they had similar thoughts.

"We could watch them!" Dick then piped up, this was their chance to find out more about Phantom and his relationship with their dad.

Wide green eyes blinked at Dick and for a moment he felt like he had made a grave mistake, especially as he noticed Jason was sneaking away now like he decided he did not want to be part of any of this. Which is fair but come on, this was their chance.

"Are you sure?" Phantom questioned him carefully, side eyeing Bruce who was still calmly sipping his coffee and gave phantom a slight nod.

"You said five and ten, right? How bad can it be watching kids their age! They can even hang out with me and Dami!"

"Do not involve me-" Damian's complaint was shushed by Tim stuffing a pancake in the others mouth, earning him a death glare from their youngest but it was good to know that at least one of them was on his side with this plan.

This time Danny exchanged a full on look with their father, it appeared like they were silently talking. Something Dick doesn't really remember Bruce doing with anyone in the way he saw it right now.

"Well if you say so…" Phantom slowly agreed before reaching with his hand into a green portal pulling out a heavy looking bag. "This is the medicine box. If either of them look the slightest bit melty use the syringes in here. That's ecto-dejecto and basically ghost medicine for them. Though for emergencies there is a portal amulet that leads right to Frostbite."

The bat-kids looked stunned at what Danny was holding up before putting it back into the medical box and pulling out a silver green thermos front he bag. "If Dan misbehaves in any way or form use this to put him in time out. Just point the open Thermos in his direction and press the button down here. Pressing the button again will release him, but if he misbehaves to the point of having to use the thermos you can leave him in there until I pick them up again."

They knew that Phantom wasn't completely human but was that normal parenting? Hadn't they seen him use that thermos on enemies of the JLD before? And he was using it to discipline his kids?

"They know better than to overshadow anyone to get their will but in case one of them does, these bracelets should keep you safe from it. Otherwise call Bruce, he is one of the four and a half adults they listen to too."

"Is all of that really necessary? I am just babysitting them right?" Dick asked, still a bit stunned as Phantom handed him the bag.

"Yes. I never said it would be easy." The man only answered before opening another portal and sticking his head through for a brief moment.

A little girl of five hopped out of it a second later looking like a perfect copy of Danny Nightingale's human form, though what was more shocking was the hulk of a man with flaming hair coming through the portal growling and snarling at them as the grown man stood behind the girl with crossed arms. From the corner of his eyes Dick saw Phantom pinching the bridge of his nose. Before he floated over to the tall man and quite frankly pinched and pulled on that man's ear.

"Dan. Human-form now."

The man continued to growl and snarl for a moment with blazing red eyes before two white circles formed around his middle. A transformation they had seen a couple of times before from Phantom after Bruce had admitted to knowing him personally and introduced him as Danny.

Instead of the hulking beast of a man there was now a ten years old boy that looked surprisingly similar to Damian just lighter skinned and blue eyed. The boy still growled at them with his arms crossed while the little girl giggled. Damian was looking at the two with narrowed eyes before he turned his stare on Bruce.

"This is Dani and Dan." Danny introduced the two kids and Dick heard Tim mutter something about unoriginality when it came to naming. But before anyone else could comment on anything or even greet the kids an eyeball appeared out of thin air. The ghost hero and his kids looked at it for a moment before the man sighed dismissing it with a wave of his hand.

"I have to go now! Dani, Dan behave and play nice. If anything goes wrong Bruce has my emergency summoning pendant!" A second later Phantom disappeared through the portal the kids had come in, the little girl, Dani, gleefully shouting a quick "Bye mom!" Before the portal closed.

There was a moment of silence before Damian decided to break it. "Father, I believe there is something you have failed to inform us about."

"And that would be?"

"The existence of blood related siblings you have sired with Phantom."

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artist-issues · 8 months

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also, about Anakin—I distinctly remember realizing when I was first watching Star Wars that part of what makes Anakin’s relationship with Obi-Wan so compelling is that his love for Obi-Wan is as much forbidden as his love for Padme.

I mean, here’s this kid who’s too old to be trained as a Jedi, not because he’ll be prideful or have to catch up or anything, but because he’s old enough to have already learned how to get attached. And the Council was right; he never, ever unlearns that.

But the very first person aside from Padme that Padawan Anakin got attached to was Obi-Wan. And so all through his training, as he’s growing up and Obi-Wan is growing up too, Anakin is thinking “this is my guy. This is my older brother, this is my best friend, this is the only father I’ve ever known” and just recently discovered that someone like that (Qui-Gonn) can be killed and ripped away from you.

All through his training, that fierce attachment is growing, even more steadily than his love for Padme because he’s never separate from Obi-Wan…and the difference is, Obi-Wan shuts it down. It’s obvious that they love one another like brothers, but Obi-Wan never says it until Anakin is lying like chopped-up charred hibachi on the banks of Mustafar.

I mean, imagine having a father or older brother who you know loves you, but who refuses to say so? Except through his actions, almost in spite of himself?

And then imagine yourself as someone who never gets on board and believes in the code that says you can’t attach? So you know that your father-brother-figure is a hypocrite, about, like, the thing you think is the most important and also the stupidest part of the code?

Because he can’t say it! Because he’s supposed to be teaching Anakin not to get attached—what’s he gonna do, tell Anakin “I’m so glad you’re safe” every time they escape an adventure? Tell Anakin he doesn’t know what he’d do if he lost him? Remind Anakin that he cares? And then say “but attachment is bad. Trust the Force.” No, he’s not going to do that. He’s going to keep that aloof-thing going, even though Anakin knows Obi-Wan loves him.

So Anakin, a very dramatic young man who likes his declarations of affection super up-front, never gets that from Obi-Wan. And he’s so sensitive in the Force, and they’re so connected for such a long time—he must be feeling, constantly, that Obi-Wan loves him too. But Obi-Wan never says it. And even though Anakin knows why, it’s a constant source of frustration, because Anakin doesn’t actually respect the code and he doesn’t see why Obi-Wan does.

So constantly, Anakin feels like Obi-Wan is hiding affection for him, or withholding it. Keeping something good for him back. He’s feeling like Obi-Wan is, on some level, a little two-faced. He’s feeling like Obi-Wan’s willing enough to save his life and stick up for him—clearly Obi-Wan is attached—but coming out and saying it? Admitting it: “hey little bro, I know you’re attached to me but you have to stop; it’s not the Jedi way. I know how you feel, I’m attached to you too—we’ll just have to figure that out together?”

No, he never does that. Not until it’s way too late, and Anakin has already conflated Obi-Wan’s refusal to express their bond out loud with how deceitful and two-faced the Jedi are, and they have to be enemies.

which, you know, understandable, considering who Obi-Wan is as a character. but still.

Yeesh. I love this character, I feel like he was when I first started thinking about the tangled web of character motivations and conflicts, but the poor guy.

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milkb0nny · 6 months

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Hii 👋🏼 Can you do an Ivar x floki daughter? They were raised together and she was his only friend when he was younger because she wasn't scared and he'll always protect her.

Older she become a healer of the village, and one day floki want her to marry ubble/hwitserk and Ivar become very very jaloux..👀

You can make fluff/smut/ angst as you want!

thank u 🤍☺️

Sorry for my English it’s not my first language

Jealous Games

Ivar the Boneless x fem!reader

Summary: One day, your father enters your room, unveiling that your parents want you to marry Ubbe. Though, the past years you grew feeling for another man: Ivar. You never told anyone about your true feelings for the man but now that Ubbe is supposed to be your husband, you feel utterly broken down. Refusing the offer, you leave the scene, only to discover a life changing secret...

Note: Thank you SO much for this request. It was a lot of fun writing it. I enjoyed writing this particular request more than I should've. 🤍 I hope you'll like it!

Warnings: slight angst (nothing graphic), forced possible marriage, mentions of anger issues, detailed kissing scene

Genres: slight angst, fluff

word count: 2.445

Ivar's childhood was shrouded in a tapestry of dark grays and blacks, a period marked by relentless bullying, discrimination, and a stark absence of love. love. Amid this harsh environment, Aslaug, his devoted mother, stood as one of the few adults who genuinely embraced him. Yet, even her unwavering love couldn't quell the relentless growth of his simmering anger. But, within these somber times, there existed a glimmer of hope - a hope that emerged when you entered his life.

Ivar adored Floki, viewing him as his own father and protector. Whenever the cruelty of both children and adults bore down upon him, Floki served as a steadfast anchor, and so did you. Your friendship started with a shy hesitation.

Helga and Floki, your parents, had taught you to always accept others, no matter how they looked like. You watched your father engage with Ivar, teaching him the art of weaponry and regaling him with Nordic sagas. You had shared them whenever you wanted company and as a result, the two of you became friends.

As the years passed, your bond with Ivar deepened. He shielded you from any unwelcome advances, such as nasty men, while you provided solace during his most challenging moments. Together, you embarked on hunting expeditions, sharing meals at Ivar's dwelling with his family.

Fortunately, his mother held you in high regard. She possessed a strict demeanor when it came to the women who orbited around her beloved sons, yet she understood your unshakable bond with Ivar. With open arms, she welcomed you whenever you graced her home with your cherished friend.

Of course you faced discriminating comments and remarks from time to time because of Ivar, though you stayed by Ivar’s side. You were the only woman who glimpsed Ivar's vulnerabilities, the only girl who had witnessed his anguished tears and experienced the gentleness that lay beneath his hard exterior during your shared childhood.

You knew him, cherished him, and secretly, perhaps even loved him. Yet, you concealed your affections, carrying them within your heart, as your father saw you both as siblings. Sure, you grew up together and were basically one person, but you could also love him, right?

You kept your adoration hidden and you honestly were fine with it because you remained close to Ivar but you always faced struggles when a woman tried to seduce him. You were a strong and loving woman, supporting a man whom few understood or respected.

In recent years, you had devoted your time to the study of science and honed your skills as a healer. Your knowledge extended to various herbs and methods to mend any kind of injury. Ivar sought your counsel frequently, valuing the conversations you shared.

The atmosphere between you was one of relaxation, love, and kindness, something that Ivar rarely encountered in his tumultuous life. He harbored deep emotions for you, but fear held him back. Rejection had been his constant companion throughout life, even from his own father, Ragnar Lothbrok. This fear of rejection crippled him, making him hesitant to express his emotions to you.

One day, your father entered your room with an unusual expression. You initially assumed he was about to share one of Floki's eccentric ideas, as was his habit. Therefore a bright smile creeped over your lovely face, greeting your father. However, what he proposed was far from comforting; it shattered your heart in a matter of seconds.

“I've been thinking about arranging a marriage between you and Ubbe,” he said, his words falling like lead..

You raised your eyebrows, believing that he joked at first but his serious expression remained - he meant it.

“Uh, father. I don’t know if I-,” you began, only to be interrupted by his eager explanation.

“I thought you’d remain close to Ivar and find a man who truly treats you right. I know Ubbe is a good man who will respect you,” he continued.

You pondered his words briefly, acknowledging that Ubbe was a compassionate and respectful man who held women in high regard. During your childhood, you had formed a fondness for him, but it was far from romantic.

No, you truly despised the idea.

“Father, I don't wish to marry," you protested vehemently, rejecting Floki's wishes, which he met with displeasure. You couldn't fathom joining hands with a man you didn't love, especially if it were your true love's brother. The thought left you with an overwhelming sense of unease.

“Child, you've reached a point in your life where you need a man to protect you. You're all on your own, and we're concerned," he voiced his genuine worries. While you understood his concerns, this request felt like an intrusion on your own autonomy, a call you couldn't embrace. You preferred making your parents proud and being a memorable member of Kattegat, but this wasn’t your true faith.

You were bound to none other than Ivar the Boneless, a man whose depths you knew better than your own skills as a healer. As you sat there, Floki's hand swept across his weary face, his gaze avoiding yours as he delivered the unimaginable truth.

“Ubbe has asked for your hand in marriage, and we've already agreed with Aslaug. The decision has been made, my dear," he disclosed, a heavy burden of heartache settling upon you. Tears welled in your eyes, and your cheeks flushed with the ache of this revelation.

“No, Father,” you protested, your voice quivering from the shock of their decision, made without your consent.

“We only want you to be happy," Floki tried to bridge the emotional chasm, but his words fell on deaf ears. You were consumed by fury, your emotions tearing at you, digging a chasm within your heart.

“I’m not!” You cried out, finally allowing your pent-up emotions to pour forth. "I'm not happy, Father. You have a woman you love, and Mother loves you too. Why can't I?” You shouted while tears ran down your soft skin, falling onto the ground. You sobbed uncontrollably.

“No, don’t think that,” Floki tried to console you, his heart aching as he witnessed your distress. After all, you were his beloved daughter, a sweet and loving child he cherished. Right now, you feared the fatherly connection was breaking apart.

“I’m not marrying Ubbe! I’d rather die,” you declared, your voice barely a whisper but loud enough for your father to comprehend. With those words hanging heavily in the air, you rose and fled the room, leaving your father behind. As you left the building you came across Ubbe, who of course knew about the idea before you did, though you rage signalized that you weren’t enlightened.

Floki followed closely, calling your name, but your steps quickened with each utterance. Ultimately, you ran away, seeking refuge in the familiar embrace of the Kattegat forest, a place you knew intimately. You spent a lot of time in the forests and fields to collect herbs and plants, sometimes even staying overnight in summer. With your father, mother, Ubbe, and the impending marriage fading into the background, you retreated into the solitude of the woods. Little did you know your secret significant other just found out about the marriage through Sigurd.

“You’re telling me, y/n is going to marry my brother?” The crackling fire of the fireplace represented Ivar’s slight rage as he received the information.

Sigurd understood that you were Ivar's soft spot, and while he relished the opportunity to tease his brother, he also conveyed the truth. Aslaug had kept this secret from Ivar, knowing precisely what she was doing.

“Yes. Ubbe is the eldest among us brothers, so it only makes sense for him to claim one of the town's most important women, Ivar,” Sigurd explained while deftly carving a sculpture from wood.

Ivar despised the idea entirely, his lips chewed raw as he gazed out the window. It was not Ubbe's right to simply take any woman, especially not you. He believed Ubbe was not meant for your delicate being, no matter how loving, respectful, and kind he might be. At least in the eyes of the Ragnarsson, Ubbe would never be worthy.

As the evening progressed, Ubbe and Floki entered the brothers' home. Ivar remained silent, seething with anger and disappointment. However, he was not Ubbe's primary concern.

“Ubbe, she ran way. I cannot force her,” Floki implored Ubbe to reconsider.

“Floki, it’s not your fault. I love her though, and you know it. I’d treat her with everything she desires and I’ll love the children she will bear,” Ubbe explained, greeting Sigurd and Ivar with a small nod.

“You don't love her if you'll force her to marry you," Ivar's words were cold and stern, his anger barely contained.

“Excuse me?” Ubbe was taken aback by the accusation.

Finally, Ivar’s jealousy piqued and he looked up to his brother, “You heard me. She doesn’t love you. She never will!” His words struck like a shock.

Sigurd, joining the conversation, couldn't resist a taunt, “Oh, are your little feelings hurt because she won’t hop in bed with you? Poor Ivar.”

Oh, how much Ivar hated these people, these cruel brothers who always take his hope away. They rob him of his freedom, his excitement and love. They always seemed to achieve everything, while Ivar was left with nothing but solitude and heartache. As the tension simmered within the dimly lit room, Ivar's words hung heavy in the air, causing a palpable rift between the brothers.

“Ivar, you have no right to dictate her heart. She's a woman with her own choices," Ubbe retorted, his voice carrying an air of defiance.

Ivar scoffed as a response to this unsolicited statement. It wasn’t Ivar who was trying to force himself upon you, it was Ubbe. All his life Ivar did nothing to pressure you or force you to do something. You had been safe around him, no burdens dragging you down when you had spent time together.

Sigurd, needing to provoke Ivar further, leaned in with a sly smile, "Is that so, Ivar? Or are you just afraid she might choose someone else over you?"

The youngest among them decided to not react to the jokes Sigurd made as he intentionally tried to fuel Ivar’s anger. While Ivar was torn between his immense longing for you and the realization that he might never be able to offer you the love and protection you deserved, Ivar couldn't help but feel that marrying Ubbe was wrong. The young Ragnarsson decided to leave the situation, searching for you.

They didn’t, but Ivar did.

Meanwhile, you had found safety in the forest, away from the prying eyes and expectations of your family and the town of Kattegat. There, you wandered aimlessly. As you reached a small, shallow river, you placed yourself on a rock. The silence and peace gave you enough room to reflect on the horrible decision of your parents.

You couldn’t deny your love for Ivar anymore. Whenever you thought about becoming Ubbe’s wife, Ivar’s face popped up on your mind. He was the fragile yet strong man you truly desired with your whole heart.

Tears still covered your face, seeking their way down into the cold water of the river.

It was in this melancholic moment that you spotted a familiar face among the shadows. Ivar’s presence unveiled itself on the other side of the river. His intense blue eyes, filled with a mixture of longing and despair, locked onto yours.

“Y/n,” he called your name out, his voice heavy with emotion.

You blinked a few times and a broken, yet warm smile rushed over your lips. You stood up, jumping over the small width of the river, getting closer to Ivar.

“Ivar…,” you whispered, seating you down next to him.

Even though you appreciated his company, your heart couldn’t bear to look into his loyal eyes. Alone the fact others think you and Ubbe would be a suitable couple made you feel dirty.

Ivar’s eyes remained locked on you, his voice filling the silence between you, “You… you don’t want to marry my brother, right?”

You frantically shook your head as an answer.

Ivar came a little closer, his eyes never leaving yours.

"I can't stand the thought of you being with him," he confessed, his vulnerability laid bare. Jealousy or not, his emotions were genuine and Ivar thrived for your love. Yet, he never told you.

“Ivar,” you whispered, contemplating whether you should reveal your intimate feelings. “Ubbe isn’t the man I want to call husband. Of course he’s intelligent and a wonderful fighter, though…”

Ivar’s soothing voice interjected, “I want you to stay by my side.”

Finally, a massive amount of weight released the both of you, and you widened your eyes in surprise. His confession lightened a fire inside you that you had guessed was already banished. A smile lingered on your lips while you replayed his words again and again in your mind. He asked you to remain his, not to become Ubbe’s woman or anyone else’s.

His eyes expressed his fear of rejection, since you two had shared a unique relationship he couldn’t put together. Your beautiful smile warmed his mind though, letting his hope grow little by little.

Your heart quickened in response to the significant magnetic pull between you. Softly, you said the words you had longed to say the past years.

“Ivar, I love you.”

Without a further word, Ivar reached out, his hand gently cupping your cheek. His touch was both tender and possessive, as if he wanted to memorize every inch of your face. He never held you like this - a whole new level of trust and intimacy unveiled itself. His passion and your admiration mixed together.

Slowly, he leaned in, his lips brushing against yours in a soft, tentative kiss. You didn’t know how a kiss normally feels like, but you knew his kiss was the right thing. His lips were warm and inviting, and his breath mingled with yours, creating an intimate connection that defied the existence of everything but your shared love for one another.

It was a kiss filled with unspoken promises - the weight of unexpressed emotions that were kept hidden for many years. It was a kiss that spoke of a love that had always been there, just waiting to be acknowledged, waiting to bloom, waiting to emerge.

When he gently pulled away, your hearts were racing, and a breathless silence hung between you.

Ivar's eyes stared into yours, filled with a raw intensity that left no room for doubt. He loved you too.

“No one will take your hand, except for me, Ástvinur.”

#vikings ivar #ivar ragnarsson #i'm crying #ivar the boneless #vikings x you #vikings x reader #vikings #ivar lothbrok #ivar x reader

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invisibleicewands · 2 months

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Bringing revolution to Port Talbot - by Michael Sheen

On a recent February morning, I woke up to find I was wrong. Not a particularly uncommon experience in itself, but unusual to discover that on this occasion I was being publicly accused of it by the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. “Michael Sheen has said that ‘the people of Port Talbot have been let down’,” Kemi Badenoch wrote in the Daily Mail. “But he is wrong.”

It was a big day. I spent all of last year directing a three-part drama series for the BBC called The Way, which was to air that night. It begins in my hometown of Port Talbot, where a strike at the local steelworks becomes the spark that ignites a violent descent into national chaos. Clearly, Ms Badenoch had been given a sneak peek of the series before forming quite a strong opinion on it. But no: reading her article, Ms Badenoch admits that she hadn’t watched it at all. Why let a total lack of information prevent a full-throated denouncement, eh? Presumably, she also assumes that we managed to write, film and edit the entire series after Tata Steel announced the imminent loss of some 2,500 jobs at the steelworks mere weeks ago.

While the winds of change have only been blowing in one direction for many years, the events in our story were dreamed up some years ago and act as a fictional catalyst for all that follows. Surely even Tory ministers understand there is no VIP fast lane for making a TV series. This isn’t a PPE contract, after all…

Nothing to see here

After that episode aired, it occurred to me that such shenanigans in the right-wing press could have been about a couple of things. Since the ITV drama about the Post Office scandal, Mr Bates vs The Post Office, caused public outrage, I imagine the government has a new fear of the impact a TV show can have. A pre-emptive strike against a series it perceives to be criticising its actions around the steel industry must have seemed a useful tactic. And, having seen Breathtaking – based on Rachel Clarke’s memoir of how the Covid crisis unfolded in the NHS, which aired on ITV the same night as The Way – I wonder if her piece was an attempt to distract attention away from more dangerous territory.

It gave Ms Badenoch a chance to trot out her line about how the people of Port Talbot should be grateful for all that the government is doing to save the steel industry, not moaning about the impact job losses will have on their community. But the people of Port Talbot have been let down, no matter what Ms Badenoch wants us to think. Not by any single entity, but by years of neglect. That she immediately assumed my comments referred to her and her government tells its own story. In the words of a much older drama than mine: the lady doth protest too much, methinks.

Then and Nye

“This crisis is a privateering racket with your friends lining their pockets!” No, not an accusation against Boris Johnson, but something I currently say to Winston Churchill every night. We opened a new play called Nye at the National Theatre this week. I play Aneurin (“Nye”) Bevan, who attacks the prime minister for turning a wartime crisis into a money-making scheme for him and his cronies. It’s one of many moments in the play that seem to speak to past and present at the same time.

The entanglement of “now” and “then” is heightened by the fact that I am wearing pyjamas. Nye is lying unconscious in his hospital bed at the end of his life, and we follow him through a dream of his past. He wanders from childhood memories of overcoming his stutter in Tredegar library to his meteoric rise through local politics, to becoming the youngest member of Clement Attlee’s pioneering postwar cabinet. And, of course, as minister for health, his tumultuous birthing of the NHS on 5 July 1948. It’s an extraordinary, surprising and moving experience telling this story on stage each night. That shared space between actors and audience, where all is felt but unseen, crackles with electricity.

Once more, with feeling

It seems that exploring the motives of politicians, the uses and abuses of political power, and the quest for justice that saw the creation of the NHS taps into deep wells of emotion. Like the pockets of gas that miners feared within the coal seam, their release brings risk and reward. At a recent show, we had three instances of people needing to be helped out of the theatre, the final one forcing us to pause the show moments from its end. Thankfully, it was nothing more serious than someone fainting. But emotions are running high.

I’m more than happy to invite Ms Badenoch to a performance. But I realise, of course, there’s no guarantee she would make it to the end.

#Michael Sheen #The Way #Port Talbot #politics #Nye #the man knows how to write

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nyxyxx · 4 months

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Godly Desires - Part 5

Disappeared for a while for holidays and stuff. Happy New Year folks. This chapter is quite short but the good parts come next so that's exciting. (Also with a little bit of lore hehe). I. II. III. IV. V. Warning: This series will contain yandere content and religious themes.

"The City of Wind"

In the woods, stirring from its ancient slumber was a darkness so wicked and vicious, the very life that surrounded it began to wither and decay, rotting away from its presence alone. This darkness, it had a mind of its own, yet had no name to accompany it. Perhaps it once had a name, but said name has been long lost in the archaic oceans of time. Sunk deep within the waters of the world, lived a name so egregious, that uttering it would only bring about misfortune.

There was a prophecy to be told about this darkness. An ancient prophecy, one that was older than the gods themself. A legend told from within the land, an old story that was soon to be unearthed. Though this story would very soon present itself, discovered in the depths of the sea, now is not the time.

"It is the calm before the storm, my love."

"Stop right there!" A young girl emerged from the trees and promptly ran towards you. Dressed in red, white and brown, alongside the pyro vision at her hip, it was the ever-so recognizable Outrider Amber. She stood in front of you, with an air of justice and gentleness. "May the anemo God protect you, stranger!" She announced, suspiciously gazing over your strangely dressed self. "I am Outrider Amber, of the knights of favonius, and who are you?"

"Oh uh...I'm [___]"

Amber simply stared at you in silence, looking a lot different than her typical self. Almost like she was thinking really hard about something, but also staring at you. Noticing how weird she was being, she kinda just turned away from you, her ears tinted a little pinkish.

...

There was somewhat of an awkward silence following. You gave her a fake name, as Diluc had mentioned it may be a good idea to do so, though you found it to be quite strange. Still, this was just way too awkward. Why wasn't she responding? Did you already do something wrong?

"Oh um...right. Where was I..." Amber snapped back into her usual persona, and thus you carefully explained your situation to her, keeping a few things hidden, but otherwise being truthful. She seemed to relax after a while of talking to her, even opening up a little bit.

"If you'd like, I can take you to the city, there have been lots of monsters in the area recently." She said, a little bit shy. It was uncalled for, but since she was offering you her company, you accepted happily.

Reaching the gates of the city, you glanced up at the sky. Though you had seen Mondstadt many times it looked so much more beautiful in person. Maybe your dream just had such great detail to it. Amber hastily showed you around, though it was mostly unneeded, as the entire city felt so familiar, to you. She quickly mentioned that she had to get back to work, and hoped that you had a good time while you remained in Mondstadt.

You couldn't help but shake the feeling that there was something that you were missing. Some important reason that you had to come here. Like you had been sent here for some purpose that you can't quite remember. You tried really hard to think of what that could've been, but attempting to do only led to your head hurting.

Well, you were here anyways. You might as well try and find something fun to do. So, swallowing those strange feelings, you decided to try someplace that might be interesting. The local tavern, perhaps.

Taglist: @justyoureader; @mmeatt; @iamapotatoe; @clavichordcleffa; @yu-ulda; @c3rtifiedsimp; @eravariety; @vianitry; @dulcedelechenginamo; @reveihehe; @liansh3ng; @angelofdarkness2; @yarabutterfly;

#genshin impact sagau #genshin sagau #sagau cult au #genshin cult au #genshin impact x reader #sagau x reader #cw yandere #sagau #yandere genshin #yandere genshin impact

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thegeneticopera · 7 months

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after seeing many misconceptions on the ages of the characters and also the general lack of knowledge on relevant key events, I thought I'd create a timeline!

A comprehensive breakdown of important dates in Repo! The Genetic Opera:

1993: Rotti Largo was born (July 14th)

2006: On April 5th, the first ever death for NOS (Neuro-Overstimulation Syndrome) was recorded. GeneCo was then founded later that month in Milan, Italy by Giuseppe Largo and Dr. Michael Whatley who eventually discovered a treatment using an experimental drug called Zydrate and genetic manipulation.

2011: Marni was born (No date)

2016: Nathan was born (No date)

2017: Blind Mag was born (July 5th)

2019: Luigi Largo was born (November 20th)

2024: Pavi Largo was born (September 29th)

2025: By this point, The Genetic Opera, an interactive TV show, was sponsored by GeneCo to promote designer organs and keep the public "status-conscious" in order to continue boosting profits.

2032: Carmela Largo/Amber Sweet was born (August 23rd)

2035: Graverobber was born (No date)

2036: Marni brings Mag to meet Rotti Largo

2039: Shilo Wallace was born (August 27th), Marni Wallace dies, Nathan becomes a repo man

2040: Mag's eye transplants (March 21st)

2048: Blind Mag's Corpus Crusade tour

2053: Tao of Mag, a charity concert event held for blindness

2056: Rotti signs his last will and testament, declaring Shilo as the sole heir of his estate (August 7th). The events of the film take place on November 7th - Nathan, Rotti, and Mag die. Shilo presumably goes missing. Amber takes over GeneCo at a later unspecified date.

Some common misconceptions cleared up by the timeline:

Mag did not receive her eyes at 19, the date listed on her repossession chart says otherwise

Marni and Mag have a relatively large age gap. At the time in which Marni brought Mag to meet Rotti, she was already 25, and Mag was only 19. I personally like to think that Marni was a singing mentor of some sort (since in Chase the Morning we see that Mag has a memory of Marni singing), and perhaps worked with disabled people and this is how they met!

The age difference between Shilo and Graves is only 4 years!

Mag and Luigi only have a two year age difference. Her being under GeneCo's thumb since she was 19 and Luigi was 17 is probably why they have a relationship.

On that topic, Nathan is only 3 years older than Luigi, there's no way him or Mag could have "baby sat" the Largos as children if they're all approximately the same age (excluding Amber, but considering Nathan had his own daughter to raise and was a repoman and Mag was a world class opera singer I still doubt that would be the case)

This one doesn't have a specific date, but I felt it should be added regardless: Pavi's face disfigurement seemingly happened very recent to events of Repo! We see several times within the film that there are posters and billboards of him with his original face, even in the pictures Rotti has he didn't have the scarring yet. The posters say that GeneCo offering face replacements will be happening in 2057. Pavi was the one in charge of that, and he was stealing faces prior to his scarring (as seen in the pictures). We also know from several sources, including Luigi himself, that Pavi's face happened because of a botched surgery. It's safe to assume this was because of the new face replacement campaign that was being offered, and it was within the last year or two before the events in the film.

#repo! the genetic opera #repo the genetic opera #r!tgo #rtgo #mod luigi #blind mag #luigi largo #pavi largo #amber sweet #shilo wallace #repo graverobber #nathan wallace #timeline

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mrs-illyrian-baby · 6 months

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The Old Gods and The New - Chapter 8

A Prayer in the Fog | Loki x Reader

A furious Loki requests Val's help in searching for you, but with Asgard's guards so recently depleated he is forced to turn to the Avengers for support. Meanwhile you contend with you captors, all of your captors.

Warnings: 18+, reader has been kidnapped and imprisoned, flashbacks, Loki throwing things around (only sort of a warning), Avenger arguments.

Divider by @firefly-graphics

Series Masterlist | Loki Masterlist | Masterlist

“What do you mean there’s no sign of her,” Loki shouted, body bending inward with anger, a protection against the burst of magic he released sending a table flying across the room, behind him Brunnhilde’s books were swept from the shelves, swirling in a whirlwind of green magic that consumed its master.

Loki’s first burst of anger had been calculated and controlled, an effort to ease the pressure that was mounting inside of him, screaming at him. But his patience was gone. Objects crashed from the shelves, Brunhilde’s glass trinkets and picture frames smashed into shards on the hardwood floor and cut into the soles of Loki’s shoes as he paced like a caged animal. In one hand his magic shimmered, gold and green, aching to be set free. In the other he grasped his dagger, fingers curling around the handle for comfort.

“Loki, calm down.” Brunhilde put her hands out in front of her, gesturing for Loki to sit again, she moved him backwards until his knees hit the armchair and he fell, slumped and defeated.

He would be sorry in the morning. Loki liked Brunhilde, a simple emotion reserved for so few of his acquaintances. He respected her and he knew he would regret taking out his fury on her home.A curl of ink black hair fell across his forehead and he tipped his head back in exasperation.

“How can I calm down when she is lost? My ásynja was supposed to come back to me, she wouldn’t just leave. She has to be here, she has nowhere else to go!” Loki ran a hand through his hair, already messy from the week he’d spent searching up and down the coastline. “She wouldn’t go anywhere else, she only knows us and those idiotic superfriends.” He fell back again, closing his eyes against the horrible idea that you might have returned to them.

It was an unbearable thought, but one that had crossed his mind, that you had run away to escape him and return to the almost hermetically sealed world of the Avenger’s Compound. He had been so sure you’d hated it there as much as he did, so sure he was doing the right thing by bringing you to the fresh air and freedom of Tonsberg.

When you hadn’t come back to his cottage that night, Loki had gone out looking for you. He’d planned to take you for dinner, perhaps walk along the harbour again and discuss what you’d been able to discover with Brunnhilde. And then he’d imagined taking you back to his home in Tonsberg to show you the spare room he kept, that even if you didn’t want to be with him there’d always be a safe space for you there if you wanted it. He’d imagined you’d be happy there, together, however you wanted. But that was the unbearable thought wasn’t it. That he could ever be happy, ever have something, someone, for himself to hold and cherish and dote upon.

He had even found your bracelet by the harbour, still glinting even without light, magically imbued to always shine for you. But there was no other trace that you’d even existed outside of his desperate, lonely, imagination.

Brunnhilde called in help from the village to search for you, but they had been badly depleted on their journey to Midgard and there were few guards or soldiers left who were skilled enough to help. Those that did join the hunt were mostly the very young or the very old, those that had been protected by the fierce warriors of Asgard.

The only lead Loki had found was that two older members of the village had also disappeared, no one knew them well, only that they were at least as old as Odin himself and twice as reclusive as the volatile king had been. The grouchy men kept to themselves, mumbling in the pub about Asgard’s protection and Odin’s orders, much to the quiet amusement of the younger patrons or, more often, hiding in the small fisherman’s cottage on the wharf. No one had seen their lights on since the night of your disappearance and they were the only villagers to be unaccounted for.

Brunnhilde had sent two of the newer guards to track them in the vain hope that being young and eager would help them. But she’d insisted that Loki remained in the village, you might return at any moment and, more than that, he was volatile in his current state.

Loki had paced the living room, certain he’d wear a hole in the carpet before he dared to rest for a moment. And the two guards had returned, their leads as empty and hollow as Loki’s heart.

“I’ll ask Thor to speak to them, okay?” Brunhilde let her hand fall slowly to Loki’s slumped shoulder and patted him gently, unsure whether his temper was controlled or merely simmering below the surface.

Loki slumped from the chain onto the floor, leaning back against the armchair, his energy drained. Somehow he could feel you still, and it was these sensations that he clung to as he waited for news knowing that if he could feel you, you were alive, even if you weren’t safe.

The sensation had changed that morning, triggering his new bout of fury. You were awake, for the first time since he'd lost you, and there was a fire burning inside of you. He could feel its warmth, but also its rage, white hot and powerful, and he told himself you were fighting back. Soothed himself on the prospect of your anger carrying you through whatever ordeal was being thrown at you. Proud that you were harnessing your magic to escape.

Suddenly the feeling vanished, as if it'd been ripped from him and you were gone. No lucid dreams, not even nightmares. Just darkness.

If you had returned to the Avengers and his reading of your emotions were correct, they would pay dearly.

In the darkness you felt a tiara, nestled on the top of your head, it's intricate, itching weight familiar in your dreams. Your dresses were clean, decorative, but not practical as they were on Asgard. A doll, on display for the court, just as had been ordered. And as you touched your hand to your face, feeling the soft skin beneath, the jewels that encrusted your fingers scratching the sensitive skin, you allowed yourself a tear.

“Stop crying for that pathetic boy” a harsh voice snapped next to you.

“He’s not a boy, he’s a Prince,” images swirled in your mind as you tried to claw back your consciousness. Childish play, stolen kisses, your last week in Asgard and the secret, forbidden acts that you'd indulged in, revelled in, with Loki. Loki. Loki…

You woke up in the dark, hazy slumber grasping around your consciousness and dragging you back. Sleep, wake, dream, suffer. Your hands bound behind your back, ankles bound to your chair legs. You could smell the sea still and see light coming through a high window, it cast a small shadow around you but not quite enough for you to study the details of the room.

You had seen enough documentaries when you were cooped up in the little flat to know that any sensible person wouldn't have allowed you a window at all, even without the powers you had been honing.

There would be a way to send a message though the window and then Loki would save you. You were sure of it. You just had to get free.

“Are you awake Princess?” A croaky voice asked from the darkness. You tested your bonds for the first time. Rope, that was it, simple rope, all you had to do was create enough heat to singe the fibres and pull them off.

They didn’t know what you were capable of now, but then, you thought, you weren’t overly confident either. Playing with fire was not a skill you'd worked on properly, perhaps you could burn the ropes. Perhaps the flames would take you too. The risk was high.

“Yes.” You answered, sharply, shifting imperceptibly so you could attempt to make your hands smaller, slipping them against the ropes in the hope you could break free.

“Good. You know you’re not meant to run Princess.” The old man bowed painfully, his back creaking at the movement, “His Majesty, the Allfather, The King of Asgard, the God of War and Wisdom-” the man coughed and began to straighten, “the God of the Heavens, behold-” he opened his arms towards the door as if expecting Odin to step into the room before looking blankly at the empty space and turning his bleary eyes back to you.

“You know they're all dead, don’t you?” You tipped your head to the side looking for a light source around the crooked figure of the man. A small lantern flickered in the hall outside, you could see the light through the glass at the top of the door. Focusing on the thought of it, warm under your touch, taking in the salty air, eating the oxygen, consuming the wick, it flared giving you a good look at the room.

The man was old, as many of the Asgardians were, but he truly looked it. Wrinkled face half wrapped in cloth, back bent by time and feet hobbled by his dutiful pacing. A gold helmet slipped about on his head, his sunken cheeks no longer supporting the plates, his white hair sticking comically from the edges.

“Pardon, Princess?”

“They're all dead, you fucking idiot. Who gave you these orders, who told you to take me?” You tried to muster as much regal courage and venom as you could, thinking of Loki in his Asgardian leathers, how they made him look impossibly taller, and you channelled that feeling of divine importance into your expression, eyes narrowed at the old man and lips tight.

“His Majesty.” The man insisted.

You rolled your eyes, but if he wanted to play by courtly rules, surely you could too? You thought back to the scant memories you had of the Asgardian palace and the time you spent there. Most of your memories seemed to centre on the gardens, rather than the halls and rooms, perhaps the old man could be persuaded to simply let you leave.

“Would his Majesty mind if I took some air in the gardens?” You offered, fluttering your eyelashes in the most royal way you could muster.

“Come, Princess,” he sighed as if this was a daily discussion, “you know you must stay here-” But he didn’t seem sure. Perfect, you thought, he can be manipulated.

“Ah, as you say - uhm - noble guard of….”

“I have the honour - the honour,” he coughed again, doubled over with the effort, “of being Odin’s personal guard, he has sent me here to collect you, Princess, for protection of course.”

You slipped your hands one last time and felt the rope go slack, blood rushing back to your pinched fingers. You hooked the rope around your fingers, hiding your freedom behind your back.

“For protection? I don’t feel very protected?” You looked pointedly at the ramshackle room.

The old man wagged his finger, “it is not for your protection that we must keep you, Princess. The Allfather says we must protect Asgard.”

The man must be deep in his memories, you thought, to still talk of Asgard in this way. Even you knew that Ragnarok had consumed Asgard months before.

“And what does Prince Loki say?” You needled, hoping he’d slip back into this former version of the world and at least indulge you with some tales of Loki.

“You must not speak to Loki!” The man was angry suddenly, throwing himself forwards into your space, the change in his demeanour frightening. He smelt like musty old blankets and you hated it, wrinkling your nose in disgust and turning your face away.

A few short months ago you might not have noticed, too used to the trapped air of your apartment. But you had become accustomed to a new way of life, not just because of the lavish surroundings of the compound, but also because you knew that Loki would never had allowed this man to get so close to you. The thought of his protection thrummed inside of you, shoring up the knowledge that he would come and rescue you from this awful place.

Your pity waned and bile rose in its place, your nose wrinkled.

Channelling your deepest memories you took a deep breath, “how dare you tell a Princess what to do!” You thundered, the flame in the hall flared again, licking up the wall and sending eerie patches of dark and light flying up the walls.

“I, Your Highness, my apologies.”

The man threw himself at your feet, grovelling and snivelling on the filthy floor and you looked down for the first time. Ignoring the disgusting spectacle before you, you turned your attention to your bare wrist. The bracelet was gone. It felt light as air when you were wearing it, but the loss of it was heavy, your heart sank. What if Loki found it and thought you’d abandoned him?

You contemplated your next move, trying to ignore the continued snivelling of the man at your feet, when the door swung open again.

The man who entered was as old as his friend, hunched and twisted with age and war, his sword dragged along the floor where his scabbard had become lose and his joints compacted.

“What are you doing?” He wheezed, “get up you idiot.”

Instead of climbing to his feet, the man instead crawled to the corner of the room and appeared to fall asleep, slumping forwards into the wall.

“Here, child, food.” A bowl was unceremoniously tossed onto the table, the gruel inside making a sludgy trail up one side of the chipped ceramic before falling back into the bowl.

“How am I meant to eat that? Who’s the idiot now.” You scoffed, keeping your chin up at the haughty angle Loki favoured. Perhaps if you acted the part they would treat you better.

Your second captor gave a sigh and moved behind the chair to loosen your hands, but instead of allowing him you tossed your body back into the chair and knocked him into the solid wall behind you. He made a wet thump as his head connected with the stone and then fell to the floor.

Pushing the ropes from your arms and legs, you freed yourself from the broken chair. Hazy, unseeing eyes attempted to focus on you as you stood, brushing dust and debris from your clothes, but you ignored them, attempting to summon any magic you could to clean your clothes and light your way to freedom.

The old man looked up from his prone position on the floor and gasped in shock, scrambling away from you. His fear, the belief in his eyes that you could hurt him now sparked inside and your magic flooded you.

“Goodbye.” You waved at the two men, confidently striding towards the door playing with the magic between your fingers, flames climbing the walls in the corridor outside as your concealed rage took over, knocking the door from its hinges before you even touched it.

“Not so fast,” a voice growled in the gloom.

From the shadows a young man appeared, his hair was tied back in the newer style favoured by Loki and Thor, and his clothes were similar too, draped and colourful where her other captors wore blacks and greys, the patterns were different though, as too was his accent.

You stopped mid stride, mind reeling.

“Estrid. You must stop using your magic. You’ll draw attention to yourself.” He barked, but it wasn’t unkind. For a moment you were entirely confused, clawing back at your memories to try and find why this person made your mind itch and your eyes burn.

A carriage ride through lush green land, a secret meeting, your mother and another man, so bright you could barely see him, and this guard, watching and waiting, holding the carriage door for you.

Although the memory filled you with warmth, you couldn’t trust him. Hadn’t you experience many memories of Asgard, just for Odin’s men themselves to take you and bind you in that forgotten room.

Your trust was too precious to waste.

“I think you’ll find I do whatever the hell I want these days. If you want to drug me you’ll have to do better than that,” you pointed at the porridge splattering the tiles. Instead you conjured an ice cream, with a chocolate wafer and sprinkles. “I’m going to look at the sea, we are near the sea aren’t we? Enjoy the view for a while until Loki finds me.” You started to the door, licking the strawberry drips as the made there way over the cone and tried your best to ignore the boring eyes of the new guard.

“Stop. Using. Magic. Do you want to draw attention to yourself?” The man followed you, his leather boots thumping along the stone flagged floor and echoing in the dark hallway.

“Yes, obviously. I want to be found.” You rolled your eyes, calling to Loki in your mind.

“You’re a fool. We’ll have to move you again.” He grabbed at your arm but you pulled it back.

“No, you won’t, I’m not being caged anymore, get out of my way,” you fluttered your hands. A fork in the corridor appeared as you strode around the corner, stairs on both sides. “Now which way is out. I’ll make you an ice cream if you tell me?” You offered an attempt at a smile playing on your lips. Once this man had been kind to you, and although you didn’t trust him entirely, he had at least two daggers and a sword at his hip that he hadn’t used. Even when he’d touched your arm he hadn’t hurt you.

“I warned you to stop. Follow me.” The man made a grab for your hand again, but you dodged out of the way and picked a route, but it was blocked. You could see through but couldn’t get further than the first step without coming up against another stone wall. You huffed and your ice cream vanished back into the ether while you tried to figure out a way through.

The man looked at you, snapping sharply, “you’re the one who brought magic into this, let’s go.”

With your escape blocked, you were compelled to follow him, keeping a step behind at first to try and gauge his path.

“Hey, hey, wait!” You jogged to keep up with the man, his strides long and the heels on your boots clicking against the stone. “Why the hell should I trust you, anyway?!”

He turned to face you, his eyes flaring as he reached up and grabbed your arm again, scanning your face, “how do you not remember?” He sighed, you had expected anger but he was disappointed, despondent, when he spoke again, “put the cloak on. Quickly.”

“I don’t have a cloak,” you stopped in the corridor, taking the opportunity to absorb the details of your surroundings. It was still dark and the smell of the sea still permeated the thick stone walls, but there was a fresher smell as well, like wet grass after the rain.

“You can’t walk around like this,” he gestured at your outfit, black jeans and boots, a thick aran jumper.

“What’s wrong with my outfit? It’s cold out there.”

“We can’t use magic here. When we can, I'll find attire suitable for your station.”

“My station. As a Prisoner? No way. Let me go shopping,” you twirled and batted your long lashes teasingly, hoping to distract or annoy him enough that you could make an escape. Although you couldn’t use your magic consistently, you had been learning, very quickly, that some of your talents, like Loki's, were just innate. You didn’t require a spell to irritate a man.

“As a Princess, a Queen in waiting.” The man was furious now, he took your arm and dragged you along until you squealed dramatically and tried to make yourself as heavy as possible until he was forced to slow his pace.

“Do Princesses normally get dragged about? If you don’t like my outfit I can change.”

Mentally you started flicking through all the clothes you could remember. Dresses, skirts, jeans, suits, pyjamas.

“Stop!” The man shook her shoulders “Do not use your magic!” And then there was a flash of light and you fell to the floor.

Thor was fairing no better than his brother. He’d been expecting to crash their romantic dinner with both stories of war and anything he could remember to embarrass his little brother in front of the lady he was so obviously pining for. But there was no mirth in his heart when Loki revealed you’d never returned from Valkyrie’s cottage and he’d joined the search immediately.

When nothing was revealed he offered to return to the Avengers compound in an effort to secure their help, much to Loki’s chagrin.

Now, with his head in his hands, he sat in the living room of the Avengers compound and appealed to them again.

“There must be some system you possess, Stark, to track her? She has magic now and will be using it. Can’t you track that?” He asked.

“And what does magic use or emit that I could track? Radiation? Pollution?” Tony answered, waving a screwdriver in the air before returning to the small circuit board he was tinkering with.

Thor looked thoroughly confused. “It’s just magic. Loki’s is green, Estrid appears to have a blue and silver sedir, track the colour.”

Tony sighed, exasperated, and didn’t answer, keeping his eyes focussed on his work.

“Are we going to address that you and Loki have been keeping all of this from us?” Steve interrupted, arms crossed.

Natasha nodded her agreement, “I knew she could shift, what else can she do that you’ve been keeping secret?!” Natasha asked.

“Oh Romanoff, you know, girl magic like Loki, silly things. She changes her hair and clothes.” Natasha narrowed her eyes at ‘girl magic’, but kept quiet. Thor shrugged, he’d never been that enamoured with Loki’s magic, it seemed frivolous to him to spend hours making little potions and writing runes. He was more interested in the armoury and his personal assortment of weapons.

“We know that, what else?” Natasha grit her teeth, frustrated.

“She makes little trinkets, jewellery and gems and such. Like I said, girly things.”

“She can manifest things? How?” Banner sat forwards, his elbows on his knees, fascinated. “Can she teach us?” He turned to Tony and nudged him to rejoin the conversation.

“What? No. I don’t know. Loki taught her. Anyway, she can control flames and I think I saw her grow a plant once.” Thor was bored of this part of the conversation and went back to sipping his mead to steady his nerves. He thought back to Loki’s face as he left, his sunken eyes, devoid of mischief. Time to change tactic, courtly ways were never Thor’s strong point, but he knew enough not to labour a point too much. “Anyway, I brought some new things for you to try Steve, should you be interested in -”

“No not anyway we needed to know these things and you kept it from us. Why the hell should we help you now?” Tony waved the tiny screwdriver again, a magnetic screw dangling precariously from the end.

Bargaining. Thor could do bargaining, he’d seen his father and Loki use it to various effect enough times. “What if… I got them to help you. Natasha said she needed someone inconspicuous for your next mission, what about someone who can shift?”

The assassin mulled over the prospect for a moment, “it would help me a lot, it's a simple B&E really but they know all our covers. Loki would be perfect.” Natasha looked at Thor, hopeful.

“Perfect! You come to Tonsberg and find Loki’s beau and I will ensure Loki is most helpful on your mission.” Thor held his hand out to Natasha to shake, but Tony poked it away with the sharp end of his screwdriver.

“Not so fast. I want Loki and the girl and I want her to stay behind afterwards.” He levelled his stare at Thor.

“Loki and the girl, it’s a deal.”

“Fine, fine. We can send two agents. I’m done with this. You can’t keep things from us and then expect our help.” Tony groused.

“Loki won’t be happy with two agents.” Thor shook his head.

“I honestly don’t give a fuck what Loki wants,” Steve stood, uncharacteristically angry amidst the growing tensions, “he isn’t on our team. We brought her here and owe her some safety. But after this mission she needs to make a real choice. Is she in or is she out?” Steve stalked off to the gym slamming the door behind him.

There was silence as the other members slowly dispersed until only Tony and Thor were left. Thor followed Tony to the bar set into the wall of the living space, pouring another round of mead into his large cut crystal glass.

“Candidly, Stark, she has the ability to be quite annoying. My hope is whoever has her let’s her go. But we will need more than two agents.” Thor tipped his head back, swallowing loudly.

Tony smiled into his drink, he could understand annoying, he didn’t mind annoying. “What makes you so sure she was taken and that she didn’t just run away.”

“Oh, that’s easy, she is in love with my brother.” Thor smiled at the thought of Loki’s dopey, lovelorn expression, “I’m not sure they realise they are in love with each other so deeply, but,” he shrugged, “such is love.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. So he had been right, Loki had been flirting with you and you did seem to prefer the Trickster God’s company, spending a good deal of your time together. But love? Loki?

“I’ll go with you. If she loves Loki she’s a strong woman, we could use some of that.” Tony tipped his head to the side and nodded as he spoke. “But it also means she’s an idiot and can’t be trusted. You understand that, right?”

“Oh yes,” Thor didn’t even look offended. “My brother is terrible and the two of them together? Incredibly vexing. But we must find her. I do not wish to discover the breadth of his wrath and vengeance should she be missing indefinitely.”

“And they’ll work the mission?”

“I’ll endeavour to keep them in line.”

Tony sighed he supposed that was the best he could hope for, dealing with actual gods.

“Wake up,” a new voice echoed in your sore head, waking you from your dreamless sleep. This room was different to the last, rather than rope your hands were now bound with heavy iron shackles etched with runes.

Your gaze was cloudy, confused, but you still tried to channel your magic into altering the weighty shackles. Maybe you could make a bracelet like the one Loki gave you and simply slip away. But your magic fizzled before it could manifest. Not even a spark, though your head throbbed terribly at the attempt.

“No magic when you behave like a brat." Your captor spat.

“You’ll regret calling me that.” You bit back, yanking at your chains.

His mocking laugh echoed in the early morning gloom, the door slamming shut in the dark and then you were alone again with your thoughts.

Manoeuvring your heavy hands you sat at the foot of the bed, tucking your feet underneath you and away from the cold floor. With a deep intake of breath you tried to clear your mind and then exhaled, searching for him, for Loki. You prayed, attempting to send a vision of not just your thoughts, but your whole self to him, what you could see and hear, the smell of the sea and the call of the birds outside. You thought of Loki, implored him to save you, sent your thoughts floating into the air as you breathed your plea to him.

In your prayers you reached out to him through the fog and touched your fingertips to the stone and in return, you were sure you heard him calling your name.

<<Part 7

Part 9>>

#Loki #loki laufeyson #loki odinson #loki/reader #Loki x Reader #Loki fanfic #Loki series #loki marvel #Loki x you #Loki/You #loki fanfiction #Loki smut #The Old Gods and the New #Loki fluff #loki x female reader

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londonfoginacup · 2 years

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A New Larrie’s Guide to Tumblr

A probably incomprehensible, certainly incomplete list of what you need to know; whether you’re coming from a different platform or discovering Larry for the first time.

My credentials

Hello! I’m Emmu. I’ve had tumblr since… 2008? Maybe 2009. I moved over from deviantArt and used Tumblr as a personal art blog for many years. I joined the One Direction fandom in 2014, so my 1D blog has 8+ years at this point. That being said, I will get on my soapbox a bit during this. Please excuse me, I’m quite passionate about cultivating a happy and healthy fandom.

What makes Tumblr different

The biggest thing that makes Tumblr, as a site, different from Twitter or Instagram is the rejection of algorithms. The “following” tab on your dashboard is in chronological order (and if it isn’t, you can – and should – change that), and the “for you” tab is both a recent feature and rarely used. Tumblr has very little algorithm, and the algorithm they have isn’t very good. It means that you’ll get the most god awful ads you’ve ever seen on this site, because they don’t utilize your data well. And that’s to your advantage.

Tumblr is a great place because you can curate what you see more than other social media. The people that you choose to follow are the only people that you see on your dash (unless you choose to follow tags, which I guess is an option? @lululawrence says “it is and it used to not do anything unless you went to the search page and then it would like autofill your followed tags options, but NOW they take those followed tags and plop them on your dash... SOMETIMES. usually only on mobile. but if there's only one new post in the tag, it shows you that post OVER. AND OVER. AND OVER AGAIN. IT'S SUPER ANNOYING ACTUALLY. SO I STOPPED FOLLOWING TAGS. lol anyway”).

So, the site is in chronological order. This is its biggest selling point.

There is also the opportunity for long posts. Masterposts. Things that are searchable without having to read through pages of screenshots or condensed twitter threads. You can write a whole lot more without worrying about character limit. People publish whole fics on here (I suggest ao3 for that, but tumblr is technically an option!).

Another important thing to know about tumblr is that the archives on tumblr run deep. There are newer larries here, and a lot of them, but you can also find older larries. People whose 1D blogs go back to 2010 or 2011. You can dive into the archives and read firsthand accounts of what was happening with One Direction or larry at that very time. Doing a bit of research means you find cute fetus pictures of the boys, but also you’re able to figure out for yourself whether something actually happened. Rumors always seem to spread quite easily and fandom memory always seems impossibly short, but here on tumblr you’re able to find out for yourself. That means the next time you hear about how xyz thing happened a long time ago, check out some of those archives and see what you can find.

Also, my personal favorite part of tumblr is that old posts are just as valid as new posts. Find a masterpost about RBB and SBB from 2015? Go ahead and reblog that; bring it back to the circulating dash. People will love that. Find a fanartist that you really like? Search through their tags, reblog anything you want. It’s not considered stalking or weird in any way. We love bringing back old posts here. Tumblr is a website where you’re not meant to just talk about the present.

The cultural difference between Tumblr and Twitter

Speaking of the ways that tumblr and twitter are different, let’s talk for a moment about the 1D fandom in particular.

I’ve held this theory for a while that the twitter (and instagram) algorithm is fracturing the fandom. Because twitter is so dependent on the algorithm, people are more likely to split apart and join smaller and smaller communities based on smaller, more specific opinions. Tumblr, being a place where you don’t just get a post on your dash because someone else liked it, doesn’t have those smaller cliques. There are larries, and there are antis.

(if you get really in the weeds, there are also larry shippers [who don’t believe they’re together but like to read it in fic], and houis [who think they were together but broke up], but I just don’t hear about them as much).

While I do occasionally hear about blouies on my dash, for the most part this is a culture that exists primarily on other sites.

On another note, because tumblr doesn’t have that handy algorithm, we have to work to make it a more active space. Likes don’t do anything here for anyone other than you, and it doesn’t really change anything about what you’ll see on your dash. Think of them more like the bookmark setting on twitter or instagram. Reblogs are necessary to get anything spread. Anything that you enjoy, or that looks interesting for any reason? Reblog it! That’s the only way other people will see it! And leave a happy comment in the tags if you’ve got one (more on that later).

And, while lurkers do exist in this fandom (and we love them), it’s important to get an icon and blog header that make you look like a real person. People on tumblr have long been in the habit of blocking shady blogs, mostly because of a bot problem, so if you want to lurk, you have to look like a lurker. Maybe reblog a post or two to establish yourself, and make sure you don’t accidentally look like an icon-less bot posing as a sugar daddy.

How to set up your account

Okay, so you’ve got a tumblr. Let’s take a minute to fix up the settings so that you’re not getting, well, the worst version of the site.

My advice is to start by going into your dashboard preferences and:

Turn off the best stuff first (it’ll just show you things you’ve already seen)

Turn off “include stuff in your orbit” (you’ll see terrible posts that are mostly NOT in your orbit)

Turn off “Included based on your likes” (again, you’ll see posts you hate)

Turn off “shorten long posts”. It’s a ridiculous setting that, like many things on tumblr, had potential but was rolled out in an incredibly unhelpful and user unfriendly way.

Once you’ve got that squared away, go into filtering and block any tags and content you don’t like, as that is always proper fandom etiquette. Not seeing things you don’t like is your responsibility, not the responsibility of the person posting them. I personally suggest adding the topics you don’t want to see to both the content list and the filtered tags list, as that gives a much better likelihood of posts that are particularly unsavory for you getting caught by the filters. Please also note this might need to be done on both desktop and the app separately as, depending on where tumblr is at the moment, these filters do not always carry over from one application to the other.

Now scroll down to tumblr labs. These are their experimental things. Some are good! Some are very bad. They do change, though, so this might get out of date pretty fast.

Personally, I enabled fast queue

And disabled everything else

ALSO, an important note, if you are using the apple app, you need to go in and turn off the adult content filter. No idea offhand where that is, but it means posts that include tags like “mine” and “girl” are blocked. It’s ridiculous.

Who to follow and how to find them

So, you’ve got a new tumblr and need people to follow. This makes sense! To really fill up your dash, I’d suggest the following

Find one person you like. There’s a good chance you know at least someone from twitter who also has a tumblr, so you can start there. If you’re not from twitter, or are looking to start fresh, you can dive into the search function (I’ve never tried finding someone this way myself, but searching larry stylinson or something similar would probably get you started)

Find the people they reblog from and check out each of their blogs! Follow people that make you happy

Follow some update accounts! Thinking of some off the top of my head, there’s @HLUpdate, @Stylesnews, @dailytomlinson, @HLDailyUpdate, or @neilswaterbottles (there’s definitely more though).

Follow some fanart or fic rec accounts!

I’d always suggest @1d-fanart or @hlcreators for art.

For fic, you could check out @hlficlibrary, @ficsyoumayhavemissed, or @thelarriefics.

Or, recurring fic fests! @onedirectionbigbang or @wordplayfics, which happen every year.

And if you end up not enjoying someone you’ve followed? Unfollow them! It’ll make you happier.

How to interact with posts

Tumblr is all about tags. Do you have a comment or thought? Reblog a post and say your thought in the tags. That way anyone you follow will see it, and the person who made the post will see it. This way a post doesn’t end up with a lot of cluttery additions that don’t mean a lot to the average person reblogging it, but if you browse the tags of posts you’ll find lots of interesting things. Tags can be used to keep track of things, too, of course — some people tag all pictures with who’s in them, or tag art or fic with tags that mean they can find them again. Tags are versatile! But reblog, don’t just like, and tag! The more you interact, the happier content creators are!

What not to do

Don’t repost. If you see something you like on tumblr, reblog it. Even if it’s a really old piece of fanart (like circa 2011). Reblog that old post! Reposting means people don’t get credit, and it doesn’t link back to them. That’s not cool, and in the long term makes fandom less happy.

How to cultivate a happy and healthy fandom

Send happy anons! Ask how people are doing, do question memes, say how much you loved fic/art/edits, etc.

Reblog art. Reblog fic. Reblog what makes you laugh. The more you reblog, the more other people see, the more the fandom moves! Content creators just want their things seen; every time you reblog, their phone gets that little notification and you’ve given someone a bit of happiness.

Unfollow people who annoy you. Follow people who make you happy!

If someone has a take about 1D that you don’t agree with, don’t tell them or send them argumentative anons. Find people who will agree with you, and complain to them privately. Or make your own post, not shading anyone, just presenting your own opinion and theories!

Remember that everyone is a real person. Cut them some slack when you find them being annoying. But also, unfollow. Curate your dash.

#I made this like #in the spring? or summer #and then felt like it was too pretentious to post lmao #anyway maybe this will help someone!#foggy essays #that's a tag that WILL have more in it eventually #once i write my essay about Carolina #...which i was supposed to do back when it first came out lmao

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sepicriting · 6 months

Text

yandere twins introduction

―wherever you go, whatever you do, they'll always trail behind.

directory: part two here. contents: yandere male x gender-neutral reader. yandere female x gender-neutral reader. only reference to reader/darling is 'you'. implied murders.

notes: finally finished their introduction! they've been sitting in the back of my mind for a long while now.

You might've been a little scared. Your recent transfer to another university left you feeling lost, especially since you didn't know anyone. At the very least, you were well-off enough to afford a dormitory on campus.

And your first week went by great! You were able to somehow befriend numerous friend groups and floated between each. It wasn't long before your name was passed around and people were vaguely familiar with you. By the end of the first month, everyone knew you. You were being greeted in the hallways, given free things for your acquaintanceship, invited to any and every event... People were so comfortable with you that even gossip presented itself freely.

Of the idle chatter, one topic caught your curiosity: A pair of twins had just begun attending a month into the semester. You were curious, though you didn't have faces to tie to the names people gave you. The Mihailovs twins.

The circumstances around them seemed somewhat intriguing as you heard offhand comments here and there. Something about their origins, their sense of style, and the hyperbolic rumors of a murder caused by one of the twins.

So you decided when you could try to at least figure them out. The opportunity to meet other classmates was also something you kept at the forefront of your mind with academics, though it wasn't very difficult to keep track of as long as you kept your priorities straight.

You first meet the older twin of the two, Vitalina, after participating in a debate in one of your classes. While you were trying your best to give your contributions, Vitalina was on the opposing end keeping her head cool and hung low. It was kind of weird, but that wasn't the only odd thing she did during class. She spent half of the lecture playing mostly cards, always alone. Sometimes, she was joined by other people who wanted to connect, but she seemed reluctant to spend time with anyone.

It wasn't until later that day in the library that you found her doing homework all by herself. She didn't seem to realize that you'd approached her at first, as it took her a minute to finally look at you. She stilled upon noting your presence. Surely, you didn't see her gazing at her homework like some of the words were written in an alien language and she couldn't read them, right?

"Do you need some help?" She didn't seem to miss your silent offer, slowly nodding before she looked back down. "...Yeah." Her tone was soft. She slid her paper towards you, her gaze remaining distant. There was no question as to what you'd ask for now as you took a seat beside her. "Vitalina, right? What can I do?"

You didn't realize it then, but you sealed your fate.

With your help, Vitalina was steadily able to keep up with her classes, and in the process, you were able to learn a lot more about her. You discovered that she had the tendency to be bored and detached from the things she became interested in, thus explaining a lot of her weird behaviors during lectures. However, the funny thing is that... She started to take an interest in you.

The changes were subtle at first, increasing inch by inch, enough for you to be unable to register them until someone else pointed it out while you were doing pair work for a class.

Over weeks, Vitalina had begun to act strangely — or, normally, which was why it was unusual. Her hair, previously always unruly, was combed and taken care of. She dressed differently, more feminine and neat, posh. It wasn't the same as before, but she seemed to be in a better state now compared to when you first met her. She talked more. She was smiling a lot, making small talk, and laughing along with you whenever you shared jokes with her during your only shared class and your time together in the library. She insisted that only you called her Lina, her nickname.

There was one thing, however, that seemed to remain consistent since the day you met her; She never showed interest in anyone other than you. Sure, it was obvious that you and others began seeing her as a popular girl after the changes, but she never seemed to care. She was completely indifferent to it, only keen on keeping you close for as much as she could help it.

You wouldn't have any idea of the disdain she felt towards your other friends. She seemed to start thinking that you wouldn't come back to her once you realized how much fun you would be having if you kept hanging out with them. She didn't like how your attention wasn't on her alone.

She couldn't have that— No, she really can't stand the idea of that!

It was why she suddenly started to chat people up. To you and everyone else, it was an overnight change. But to her, it was a necessary step in the long run that she made sure she took the social reputations of others in her control. That way, if anyone were to do anything unsavory to threaten her current relationship with you, she would be able to simply pull a string to ensure they'd never think of approaching you ever again.

She never stopped going to the library with you throughout all this, making up excuses as to why she still wanted to keep your quality time together. She even convinced you to go shopping together from time to time, as she just never bothered to hang with anyone outside of school and the events you both were invited to. It was just too hard for her to make conversation with new people.

And thankfully for Lina, you understood where she was coming from, so it was often you two together. It was peaceful that way, her neediness appeased knowing that you had time for her and you stuck to it.

Then her brother ruined it.

Try as Lina might to hide it from him, he wasn't blind to the hours she spent prettying herself up for you. At night, he could always see light shining from underneath her door. If she forgot to close it, sometimes he could make out her soft curses whenever she messed up during eyeliner practice.

She wouldn't do this for herself, no. Varis knew better than that. If it were the case she'd have done it ages ago, so there had to have been a reason for her dedication. It wasn't long for him to figure out the cause of that dedication was you. And from what he observed during his time sifting through the pictures Lina took with you after he hacked her phone, you didn't seem to be aware of it. It wasn't enough for him to watch you through a digital screen though, he felt as though he hadn't discovered all he needed to know about you before deciding if you were a good or bad influence on his twin.

He wanted to observe you from up close.

It was a bold move on his part to sit directly beside you while his sister was on the other, he was sure he could feel Lina glaring hatefully his way when she realized it. You, on the contrary, were struck by the physical similarities between the two.

Lina was pretty, yes, but Varis could be a model. It was strange to you that he somehow succeeded in being more alluring.

And as much as Lina wanted nothing more than to strangle someone of her blood, she didn't want you to think negatively of her so all she could do was sit tensely as Varis proceeded to make small talk after introductions came out of the way. Much to her chagrin, he never left after, opting to study in the library for a change with the excuse that the apartment was starting to feel stuffy. He didn't expect himself to like spending that study time with you though, considering he was never interested in socializing with anyone.

When the time came for you to bow out, the two had offered to walk with you to your dorm before they left for their apartment. The walk home was silent, one-sided tension could be felt. And the minute they entered their home, Lina's first instinct was to grab the nearest object and throw it to her brother.

After living with someone for so long, you'd grow to predict their actions, as Varis displayed when he caught her hand before she could let go of the flower vase. When her strength was unmatched, her verbal yells came next. How could he?! How did he know about you?! Was he trying to take you away too?! Does she have to destroy her brother?!

"Lina," Her shoulders tensed. Eyes glinting with near-murderous intent, glaring and mentally cursing him. "I'm not taking anyone." She didn't realize his other hand had gone to take something from behind him until the object taken had glinted in the dim light of their living space, a knife finding itself being pushed into her grasp. The implications were present, she could kill him right now.

It's so hard for her to outright kill someone, unlike him.

Sucking in her breath, Lina pushed Varis and pointed the edge his way. "Try anything funny and I won't forgive you." His eyes narrowed, holding up his arms in a lackluster manner, expression blank. She was trying so desperately to keep you away from him.

Why? What was it about you that had her so wrapped around your finger?

You and your effects on Lina were the only thing that occupied his mind when he retired to bed that evening.

The day after, he sought you out. He wanted to know you without Lina's presence, see what about you made her want to stick to you like glue. Why did she want you as her partner? What would happen if he involved himself further? He wanted to make sense of everything; he had a feeling this wasn't going to be the last time he found himself face-to-face with you.

The more time he spent around you, the more he began to be aware of this one growing feeling. A selfish desire to keep you all to himself, creeping up with no way to stop it. He couldn't explain it. He continued to pursue your time and attention, trying to pinpoint an explanation.

Somewhere along the way, the need for knowledge slipped away, and what replaced it was the rush of being with you. And fuck, now he knows. Now he knows why Lina had been acting strange, why she's changed, why she's so desperate to mold herself into someone you could desire. He understood, now all that was left was this feeling of yearning.

If Lina was doing her best to keep others away from you, he was making sure to erase those who he deemed a threat.

Slowly, people around you trickled less and less. Sudden decisions to relocate, disappear into another city with some friends in tow, and a few students turned up missing. It might've started to feel worrisome to you, but Lina was always there to chat you up and take the occurrences off of your mind.

It was because she knew who was behind all of it that she was able to keep calm. Had it been anyone else or an unknown party, she would've swept you along to a much safer place.

When Lina finally confronted her brother, ready to fight; Varis could only keep seated, relaxed. During the time she spent unable to face him, he had been contemplating. He didn't want to kill his sister if it ever came to that, his parents would know and people might catch on. While he was able to outrank her in strength, she would still be able to leave evidence on him. And if she succeeded in killing him instead, she would have difficulty disposing of the body privately.

You would inevitably find out, either way. You would come to hate them both if you did. That's why he an another idea in mind. "I know a way to get what we both want." His words struck his sister dumbfounded yet guarded, he took her inaction cue for him to continue and explain.

The next time you saw either of them, they were together. It was a surprise, given that both often spent time with you separately. When they noticed you, they'd glued themselves to your side in a matter of seconds. Lina had wrapped her arms around one of yours with a sweet smile, while Varis blankly towered comfortably over you with a hand around your shoulders.

Everything went by smoothly during the next few times you hung out with them, not a single ounce of hostility shared between either. You weren't incredibly dense enough to pick up on the fact that the twins had their disagreements, so you were simply glad they'd set aside whatever was driving a wedge between them.

In turn, they were both teaming up to spoil you little by little. Lina's always inviting you over to places to try new things together, while Varis always somehow keeps himself physically close and acts as a source of comfort. You'd receive gifts of things you needed or were running out of, and it essentially came to the point where the three of you were always together even on campus.

It was only a matter of time before they would decide it was time to whisk you away.

And they'd make sure you would have no reason to refuse.

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iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia · 22 days

Note

What do you think M6’s answers would be to the question “is it better to feel all the pain or nothing at all?” I haven’t played all the routes so I can’t answer for everyone but I think

Julian -feel it all

Asra -nothing

Muriel -at the start of his route nothing but as he grows as a character it would shift slowly to feel it all

Portia -feel it all

I’d also love to hear your answer if you’re comfortable with that! As someone who’s felt both my answer is nothing bc in my experience the numbness allows you to still function. Even if the life you’re experiencing isn’t as full as it could be, you still get to experience it. When I become so overwhelmed by Everything I completely shut down and cease to be a person. I am my emotions. And I think in Asra’s route this kinda gets explored in that they choose to not feel as deeply ever again bc a muted life with MC is better than a full one without them. Anyway can you tell I recently reread The Giver lol

Woah, that's a good question friend!!

To be completely honest, I think all the M6 progress from the "numb" to the "willing to feel everything" point throughout their routes - as is the case for many people who are in the healing process! (essay below the cut)

Julian, while fully embracing the misery of his situation, is also running from the part of him that wants a happy ending. Meeting the MC is his slow journey of self-acceptance, realizing that his happiness is valuable and worth fighting for. He stops choosing one feeling to drown out all the others and starts feeling everything in a context of loving and being loved.

Asra's in a similar situation. They don't see giving up half their heart as something to regret, but they still talk about the reduced ability to be attached to people as a loss. Reconnecting with MC, being able to slowly bring down the walls that used to facilitate a drifting, untethered survival mode, allows him to start caring more about the people around him since he has a person to call home again.

When Nadia wakes up, she's lost. Seven years of memory have blipped out of view, she's responsible for a city she knows very little about, and the people who are supposed to help her are only getting in her way. She speaks of a similar numb state, being detached and uninvested in the world around her, until meeting MC and finding a way forward gives her what she needs to flourish again. We see a lot of that emotional progression in her reconnecting with her family.

Muriel is an almost textbook case of complex trauma and the myriad of coping mechanisms that arise from trying to escape it. I've written whole essays on the effects of his deal on that process before, but his journey with MC starts with him just wanting them to forget about him, and ends with him asking MC to help him collect the memories of himself and his people.

Portia isn't quite as much numb as she is stuck. From the moment her parents' ship wrecked, she's lived her life in the orbit of other people. First her older brother, then the children and grandmas of Nevivon, then her older brother again, now the Countess - it isn't until she begins to receive that same attention from MC that she starts to really own herself and discover the true depth of her capacity. While we never see her choosing to be numb, we do see her hesitating to come fully into her own. With MC's empowerment, that's exactly what she ends up being able to do.

And finally, Lucio - he's literally numb. He's spent the last three years trapped between realms in a ghostly form that won't let him feel anything at all beyond hunger. While MC is instrumental in returning him the capacity to feel, it's Lucio's own choice to take advantage of that as a fresh start.

#ask arcana brainrot #the arcana #the arcana headcanons #the arcana game #the arcana hc #asra the arcana #julian the arcana #nadia the arcana #muriel the arcana #portia the arcana #lucio the arcana #asra alnazar #julian devorak #nadia satrinava #muriel of the kokhuri #portia devorak #lucio morgasson

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cantstoptheimagines · 1 month

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Their Reaction to You Losing an Eye

Summary — Preferences for Atreus, Kratos, and Thor from God of War!

Requested by @nickeverdeen — Hey there! Can I please ask for hcs with either God Of War or Horizon Zero Dawn characters with a reader who lost their eye and is insecure about it? If for God Of War then pls hcs with: Kratos, Atreus (older or young is up to you) If Horizon Zero Dawn then pls hcs with: Aloy, Talanah (you don’t have to do Talanah if you don’t wanna) Also pls let me know if you’re uncomfortable with the request Take time and care about yourself ❤️

Warnings & Other Tags ➳ Depictions, discussions, and mentions of severe injuries (losing an eye, fainting as a result of pain); canon-typical violence; envisioned Ragnarök!Atreus for this work; I tossed Thor into this request because he’s my husband.

Notes ➳ Word Count is 433. ➳ Reader is gender neutral (they/them). ➳ I recently met T.C. Carson, who was the original voice for Kratos in the God of War series, after which I ran to write this request (even though it’s intended for Christopher Judge’s version)!

atreus

in all honesty, he wouldn’t quite know how to act. his emotions would be all over the place, tears streaming down his face as his father and freya tried to help you. the coverings on your face are soaked in your own blood. “don’t leave,” muttered atreus. he finds himself kneeling by your side as he pleads with you, one of your weak hands held tightly in both of his, “please don’t go.” but his newly discovered godly abilities are still out of sorts. his sadness quickly shifts to anger at those who caused you harm. his wrath is unlike anything the world has ever seen. he won’t stop until you, his dearest companion, is properly avenged, so don’t be surprised if he returns with your attacker’s head.

kratos

this man does not hesitate. in mere seconds, kratos is lifting you into his arms and calling out for someone, anyone, who can help. he avoids looking at the blood that decorates the place where your eye should be. “i lost faye,” he mutters. “i won’t let you go as well. stay awake!” everything is a blur. whatever vision you have left is slowly turning to gray as a sudden wave of tiredness overtakes your body. the pain of it all is settling deep into your bones. as kratos’s muffled voice calls out for you in a panicked tone, you allow unconsciousness to take over, and the world finally fades into darkness.

thor

he breathes heavily, staring down at heimdall with such rage that the golden-eyed god realized he was experiencing fear for possibly the first time in his life. a gentle touch on his arm, however, tears thor’s focus away from his father’s devotee. his eyes drop to the deep scar on your face — a new habit he’d developed recently — before they drifted to meet your lone eye. heimdall scurries away at the same time thor’s fingertips graze your cheek. “why do you keep me from tearing him apart?” whispered thor. “he needs to be punished for what he’s done to you.” a sharp inhale came from him when your touch caressed his strong chest, exactly where his heart lay beneath his skin. he was quick to let his rough palm overlap your gentle hand. “heimdall is a fool,” you replied in the same quiet tone he had been using. “why waste your days threatening him when you could be with me instead? his punishment will come when the time is right.” he was only convinced when you pressed a kiss to the back of his hand. perhaps, for now, he could set revenge aside.

#2024 #requested #their reaction to you losing an eye #god of war #gow #god of war x reader #gow x reader #god of war preferences #gow preferences #atreus x reader #kratos x reader #thor x reader #atreus preferences #kratos preferences #thor preferences

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satansdarlin · 6 months

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Op men as dads

IM NOT DEAD! I've been working on requests and also doing school so I havent had much time to post much recently but I thought I'd drop this little treat for you all while I work.

(I was inspired ✨️)

Sanji, zoro, luffy, usopp, ace

Warnings: talk of pregnancy, talk of labor, talk of neglect, talk of anxiety, talk of premature baby's, talk of premature side effects.

Masterlist

Sanji- twin daughters

Girl dad to the extreme

Okay okay so let's start off when you were pregnant

He was incredibly doting, literally wouldn't let you lift a finger for anything

Tons of research on safe foods for pregnancy and also learning how to properly make baby food

When the girls were born it was the first time sanji discovered that feeling of such a need to protect them

They were so tiny and had his blonde hair and blue eyes

Either gives them zeffs last name or yours

Their names? Éclaire (or Claire for short) Sora and Suzette Rei

Very much princess standard

Spoils them as much a humanly possible

When they grow up he teaches them all the stuff he knows how to cook and actually begins making a cookbook soley so his girls can have it when they are adults

Claire tends to be the flirter one out of the twins often making sanji chase off all sorts of boys and men from his princess

Suzette tends be more withdrawn. She prefers to stick to the kitchen helping her dad anywhere she can

Both of them are huge daddies girls

Zoro- triplets, two boys one girl

Zoro through most of the pregnancy was calm and collected.

Another one who refused to let you do anything without his hand on your hip

He did the pregnant belly lift for you all the time

All shit goes down when you actually give birth

Zoro had been expecting one baby but when two more popped out he panicked

Absolutely wants to train them personally

Their names? Shogi Korushiro Roronoa, Menko Arashi Roronoa, and his daughter Karuta kumia Roronoa

Shogi is the eldest of the triplets and even though it's only by a few minutes he really takes being the eldest sibling seriously. He looks over his siblings and trains the most so he can protect them and be as great as his dad one day

Menko tends to be the lazy one. Menko can and will take a nap everywhere and anywhere he can. Sanji once found him sleeping in kitchen cabinet on a bag of rice.

Karuta feels the need to stay on her brothers level. She takes her training even more seriously than shogi does. Zoro is more than pleased to train her but even he worries about her over doing it to keep up.

The triplets also see chopper almost as a older brother

Zoro decided if he was to pass away ever each of the triplets would get one of his swords.

Luffy- two sons

Lord.

During your pregnancy it was really confusing for luffy about around the time you started showing he began to realize

He is constantly lettering Sabo filling him in and asking questions

Luffy became more protective of you when you were pregnant literally barked at someone for getting too close once

When you go into labor he is right by your side.

After you gave birth to your first son, Monkey D Ace luffy was suprised at how small he was.

Luffy was surprisingly gentle but that didn't change much of his childish ways

The baby would scream sometimes just because luffy would scream back (there's this video of twins who yell to figure out if the other is near, kinda like that)

When you got pregnant the second time when ace was around age two luffy understood it a lot more.

He did his best to not stress you with the baby and this time it went a lot smoother.

He knew what to expect in the delivery room the second time when your second son, Monkey D Ademir, came into the world

Ace tends be rambunctious, running into trouble much like his father with a similar appetite, but he also knows the weight of his name and so he holds it with pride

Ademir is similar to his brother and father, but he also tends to be far more brutally honest than ace.

Both boys tend to lean towards you though. Surprisingly, they tend to listen to you more than their father although it's a shocking sight when luffy is actually telling them to do something

Usopp- premature boy

Anxiety ten times higher than normal

When you found out you were pregnant usopp used his anxious energy to start making things

Baby clothes? Got it. Crib? Got it. Toys? Got it. With the help of Franky converted a large storage closet into a baby room.

Imagine his panic when the baby room wasn't even half done when you went into labor.

The labor was brutal on both you and usopp. But eventually his son, Shinji took in his first breaths.

For the first few months of life the crew fussed over shinji constantly due to his prematurely he had a hard time breathing and needed far more cuddling than a normal baby.

Usopp would stay up all night just making sure his son was breathing after he had read a book that said children born premature could pass away easily

Shinji pulled through. And unfortunately became the most brutally honest person anyone had ever met. He gave luffy a run for his money about not being able to tell a lie

Shinji would run and tell you all about the acts his father wasn't supposed to get up to even small ones like sneaking a extra treat after dinner.

Even so usopp coddled his son constantly

When shinji took a interest in art and carving usopp nearly cried because they had a shared interest.

Becoming a father made usopp realize how truly messed up what his own father did was.

Usopp understood having his own goal while being a parent would make it harder but he would never abandon his son or you to achevie them. He'd prefer to achieve them with you by his side.

Ace- daughter

Ace panicked when he found out you were growing his child inside of you.

The ship was on fire type of panic

Ran you straight to Marco who checked you out and congratulated you when he confirmed the pregnancy.

Ace similarly to luffy was incredibly protective.

You were never out of his sight and if you were he had someone checking on you hourly.

His coddling was almost suffocating.

When you went into labor, more fires had to be put out on the ship.

Marco nearly had to remove ace from the room because he was freaking out more than you were.

The one time ace settled down was when his newborn daughter nuzzled her face against his warm chest, Rouge D Portgas named after his mother.

Rouge lived up to her name, she frequently made the ship panic because no one could find her only to find her snuggled up in between some barrels.

Ace sworn the night Rouge was born he would never let her go through the things he did as a child.

Ace was a amazing father often having her up on his shoulders and would cry with her when she had to go get her shots or got scrapes.

Spoilers ahead

When ace died Rouge went into Marco's care. The only thing she had left of her father was his hat which she wears constantly.

Although Rouge goes through a similar thing of being bullied for her father she is prideful of his father and who he was.

Spoilers over

Overall ace tries to be the best dad he can be.

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