#give aways: inconsistent grammar

[shadow13dickpistons]

If you get a follow and an ask for you to go to someone's pinned post as they're looking for money for their cat - it's a spam bot. I know I have some "audience members" who share these kinds of posts, which is why I point it out.

#classic phishing technique: #social engineering - an emergency to pull on your heart strings #asking you to deviate from normal response #give aways: inconsistent grammar #it's a scam with at least some effort I'll give them that

[soundspeachytome]

7 minutes in heaven - shohei ohtani au

summary: Y/N snoops around famous football player Shohei Ohtani’s locker in search for a scandal against his clean record but ends up in one herself.

tropes: friends with benefits, friends to lovers(?)

tw: *slight* smut, mentions of sex, oral (f receiving)

word count: 30,033K words (i'm SO sorry in advance holy shit)

hi! it's been a while. when i made this account, i vowed to write at least once a week but it had been so difficult this month juggling work, my chronic migraines, and seasonal depression (lol).

please note i did not proofread this so plsssss i apologize for grammar mistakes and inconsistencies!!

posting this on the last day of 2023, hoping to give everyone a good read before we welcome the new year. so thankful for this small space to try, linger and reset all over again. hope you had a very merry holidays with your loved ones.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

==================================

Locker Lockdown

At around thirty minutes past four in the afternoon, I skimmed the clubhouse for any signs of life. It was only the quiet that prevailed. Clear. 

I tiptoed my way towards the player locker room. I only had around ten minutes to locate the correct locker and take whatever I could find. Discovering the locker area to be empty and unguarded, I felt a surge of excitement. 

Six years later, I couldn’t get my big break and decided sports journalism could catapult me into somewhere big in the industry. This is my last chance to prove myself, otherwise I’d have to reconsider going back home and write Hallmark greeting card messages again. 

Shohei Ohtani’s jersey number is the number 17. Lucky bastard, after all these years and even after going through free agency, he got to keep his famous number, even at the cost of having their senior player give it up for him when he joined the football team. 

And here you might be wondering why I’m doing this aside from my sheer desperation to get an official spot in the workplace and not eat scraps of topics editors discarded for themselves. 

Some people are privileged to a fault.

And I hate seeing him on TV. Or on social media. Or his Colgate-white smile plastered all over my favorite beer and skincare brands. 

Some would say this is the TMZ tabloid level of writing. I say this is investigative journalism. Find out if the famous favorite son-in-law has any flaws of his own and wrap around a bowtie of hidden horrors of sports documentaries. 

And where else can we find this but in the athlete hotpot: their locker room.

I found Shohei’s locker right away as it was the tidiest locker among all on display, with nothing but brand-sponsored clothing hung neatly on the rack. He also donned the top shelf with some dog-eared self-help titles and vitamin bottles. While the rest of the athletes have pictures of their girlfriends, wives and their kids, Shohei has an unreleased polaroid selfie with his dog, Dekopin, just right beside his perfume bottles. Dekopin was looking away, captured in mid-yawn, with his ears raised, and Shohei, smiling into the camera with pursed lips and a snapback on.

I got so immersed into reading the ingredients of his vitamin bottles, trying to find anything remotely related to steroids, or any form of illegal bodily enhancements, that I didn’t notice footsteps from outside the hall.

“What are you doing here?” a voice loomed behind me and I dropped the diet supplement bottle in panic.

Only the sound of the bottle rattling could be heard as I locked eyes with Shohei Ohtani, tall and all muscular. His hair was sweaty and unkempt and his eyes held mild anger and confusion. After the bottle stopped rolling and settled somewhere on the floor between us, there was only silence and the cold sweat building up at my back. 

I swallowed hard. I planned everything from studying the stadium’s entrance and exit doors but I didn’t plan on bumping into him. Not like this. Not when I’m at the lowest level of the social hierarchy right now. 

I could only be ashamed. 

Brain still befuddled at the thought of getting caught, I urged my limbs and picked up the vitamin bottle and returned it back to Shohei’s locker. The plan was not to respond at all and run as fast as I could before the rest of his team arrived. That was the only way to keep whatever dignity I have left. 

“I said, what are you doing here?” He caught my arm mid-exit and pulled me back, tightening his grip. 

“Let go of me.” I struggled to keep my balance and the way my voice wavered was no help at all. 

Shohei saw the camera slung over my shoulder and looked back at me, realization hitting him.

“Y/N, are you a sports journalist now? And were you looking through my stuff?” he said, sounding almost disappointed. 

“That’s none of your business. Let go of me.” I kept my voice steady but his grip only tightened. The sides of my eyes slowly formed tears. 

“What tabloid media do you work for? I should report you. Would you like that? What a shame you’ll be banned from all the games now, right? You nasty journalists just won’t keep your noses away from my business.” he took my camera and deleted all the photos I took of the contents of his locker. I tried to leap for it but he was obviously inches taller than I was and I was no match for that.

“I don’t write tabloid news. If I was, my name would have been all over TV by now.” I grabbed the camera from him and sighed morosely at the lost media. A day’s work is all lost.

“My boss gave me a green light to do a documentary about the team. And the star player.” I wiggled my fingers in front of him, as if to emphasize the word “star” in front of him.

“I came here assuming you and the other players would be here for an interview but no one was around yet. So I hung around a bit and took interest in your nutritional supplements.” Lie after lie after lie. I gritted my teeth and faked a smile. The most convincing lie I’ve learned on almost all my failed dates and relationships was to stroke a man’s ego and have him talk about all the things he is interested in, making him divert his attention to something else. 

“You’ve got really good, um, vitamins for muscle recovery there. Maybe that’s why you got so big and strong, right?.” He looked at me dubiously, nodding responsively to be polite. If he took the bait, then he is obviously just like any other guy I’ve ever met. 

“I mean, I guess? I’ve been doing deadlifts so–”

Approaching footsteps and faint voices were heard from the hall. Shohei pushed me toward the opposite end of the hall, where the showers were located. 

“Wha–” I started but was shut up when he pushed me further into the back of the shower room, swiping the doors closed. 

“Shut up if you don’t want to be caught.” He growled and I recoiled back into the tiled corner. On top of me was the almost rusting shower head who had seen better days, and two bottle pumps for shampoo and body wash. 

Voices and conversations were starting to fill in the locker room that was empty only a few seconds ago. The voices of men echoed through the shower rooms.  You could hear the sound of water turning on from neighboring shower stalls, laughter and tired conversation in the locker area. We were surrounded.

Shohei could be heard laughing with his mates while blocking the door to the shower room I was hiding in. 

“Are you using that, Sho? I could use a hot shower right now.” one of his teammates said. 

“Uh, no, I was just about to use this room, sorry.” he said, almost hesitating. After a few seconds, he entered the shower room and started undressing. 

I widened my eyes and shot him daggers. When he unhooked his shirt from his armholes, I was rendered speechless. 

He had the body sculpted by the gods with his wide shoulders and large pecs that glinted under the light. How could someone look handsome and beautiful at the same time? 

So when Shohei reached for the waist belt of his pants down, I didn’t know why I had choked on a silent scream. I looked away, embarrassed to have reacted like an inexperienced teenager. I have seen and have been with naked men before. This should be nothing new to me and my level. Or so I thought.

I stole a glance at Shohei, who was slowly walking towards me (or to the showerhead, where I stood under, obviously)  in only his boxers on, gazing at me in wild amusement.

We were almost inches apart from each other, foreheads almost touching, breaths almost converging, if you may. If I stand on my tiptoes, I would be almost at his eye-level and I could peck him on the lips if I wanted to. 

If I wanted to.

“Sorry, but I need to shower or someone else will try to take this stall.” His voice broke my salacious thoughts. He looked at me and turned the shower on.

“Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m supposed to. Aren’t I? I just got off practice and I stink.” He said almost sarcastically.

“So I’m supposed to just watch you bathe and hope I get out here alive?” Water slowly dripped into my shirt, soaking my chest and exposing a bit of my underwear. 

“If you didn’t sneak in here, we wouldn’t have this problem.” He concluded and pursed his lips, not looking at me. 

“Shohei? You okay? You sound like you’re talking to someone.” a familiar voice floated into the shower room.

“It was a video on my phone that I forgot to pause, Ippei-san.” Shohei’s face turned red but recovered quickly, glaring at me. 

“Oh, well then, I thought you finally had a girl in there. I was wrong.” Ippei laughed.

Shohei started lathering body wash on his body at the slowest pace possible. His hands glided through his chest, stomach, and into the dick he’s restraining inside his boxers. Simply having this view had me almost whimpering. If it had been another day, I would have obviously enjoyed this, having a sexy man bathe in front of me, because who wouldn’t? But under my circumstances, I’m only fairly annoyed at being a flustered, hot mess and I couldn’t do anything about it. 

“Oh, fuck, now you got me wet.” I blurted a little loudly as the water splashed and got into my socks. 

Shohei’s widened and panicked eyes shot at me.

In between those short seconds, Shohei was able to respond quicker than my brain could. He had faked a laugh and said loudly, “Well, that’s awkward, the video keeps on playing on its own. Let me turn my phone off instead.” gaining laughter from outside the shower area and then reaching for the small of my neck and closed whatever space was seen between us. 

Based on what I had learned in self-defense training, my initial bodily reaction should have been this: If someone is coming at you from the front, a groin kick may deliver enough force to paralyze your attacker, making your escape possible. 1. Stabilize yourself as best you can. 2. Lift your dominant leg off the ground and begin to drive your knee upward. 3. Extend your dominant leg, drive hips forward, slightly lean back, and kick forcefully, making contact between your lower shin or ball of your foot and the attacker’s groin area.

Instead, when his lips touched mine, I felt my arms throw around his neck and pulled him closer. They say we’re all beggars for something, and this indulgence I had let myself be greedy for. 

When his lips reached mine, I parted like the Red Sea almost immediately, welcoming him and everything that he could offer: the taste of his tongue on my mouth, the smell of honey orange and apricot from his body wash seeping through my nose as I peppered kisses on his chest, and his obviously hard dick grinding against my stomach. When I palmed him, he managed a low growl and caught my wrists.

“Not here.” he groaned.

I pushed my head back inquiringly, both of us breathing too hard. 

“I have no condom,” he tucked a wet strand of hair behind my ear. Under the dim bathroom light, I could see his face and chest were flushed. “Next time?”

“Well, usually when two old friends meet after a fall out in college, they just catch up and have coffee.” I said.

He laughed and said quietly, “Okay, so I owe you.”

“The coffee or the protected sex?” 

“Uh, it could go a lot of ways.” Before he could say more, I palmed him through his boxer shorts and looked up at him, trying to find his limit.

Shohei bit his own lip and tugged the roots of my hair in a bundle, pulling and tugging from the pleasure. To keep himself from making such ungodly hot sounds, he pushed his tongue down my throat and thrusted his hips back and forth against my hand.

As if to make it even, he unclasped my bra and sucked on my already soaked breasts, a satisfied groan slipped from me. We both pulled and pushed and sucked and kissed each other in the crevices the shower splatters couldn’t reach, silencing the moans before it could escape us.  

In that brief and elating moment, while we muted the noise from unsuspecting people, we smothered each other’s groans and reached our highs in the quietest, most pleasurable way possible. 

=========================================

7 minutes of heaven

It’s strange how I always find myself in the most ridiculous situations. 

The next few occasions that I’d meet Shohei would be wordless and timed interactions in enclosed spaces. We’d see each other in public and pretend we didn’t know each other but slip each other notes of the next place we’d secretly meet. It all felt strangely exhilarating to keep a secret like a fifteen year old would, with all the sneaking and running. 

We’ve explored almost every nook and cranny of the stadium, discovering hidden spots of our rendezvous. We’d meet up in a different bathroom and he’d push me on my back while he fucks me repeatedly on the bathroom sink. Pre-game preps meant I gave him blowjobs in his manager’s office hours and hours before everyone even arrived. 

Of course, when we ran out of places to hide, we’d go as far as looking for the next empty parking lot and tried to fuck each other noiselessly.

“So when can I take you out for dinner?” he had asked one day, when he dragged me out to meet with him around after midnight. I wouldn’t let him inside my apartment and I refused to do the deed in his either, so he’d bring me to places that only us knew, to fuck, to kiss, sometimes to talk, but more often, to drive each other’s pleasure and only that. 

Because god forbid we both catch feelings and lose the fun, right?

So no talking, no sharing of personal details, no anything. 

We were in an empty parking lot, away from the lampposts and streetlights. Shohei had made sure that we were well hidden in the dark. 

He had his legs spread while sitting on the driver’s seat. His hands, warm and wide, rested on my hips and thighs, lightly urging me to ride him slowly.

Soft RNB music played on the stereo, it was a quiet, still night. It was both our day off so he had wanted us to chill and take the sex slowly.

Slow meant gazing at each other’s eyes–gaze, not look–with endearment or adoration, not lust or pleasure. Slow meant thinking the unthinkable thoughts. Slow meant being vulnerable while coming undone.

And I don’t want the slow and quiet moments. I wanted the fast and rough with no time to talk, gaze or even think, just one hundred percent fun and debauchery. 

“Mmm. Maybe when you show me your photos,” I avoided the question but I also knew Shohei would never show me the photos he had taken–past and present. Even when we had been buddies for an entire semester, he had, not once, shown me his portfolio. 

“So probably never, right?” he gazed up at me with his creamy brown eyes, hands caressing my stomach lightly. 

“Probably,” I muttered and with that he had gripped my thighs tightly and moved his hips upwards to meet me. I moaned when he hit me in the right spots. Any sign of softness he had shown a few moments ago was gone, and only the roughness and unsettling disconnection remained. 

This particularly fine day, I would be standing at the mercy of his mouth. He had dragged me to an empty storage room in the east wing of the stadium, hours after practice. According to him, the area stands the exact opposite from the lockers so most people hardly come by. How he had found out about this, I had no idea. 

He was kneeling in between me, my right leg hooked on his shoulder, giving him more access and my hands tugged at the strands of his hair every time he licked my sensitive clit. 

Shohei’s tongue grazing against me had left me quivering in delight. He stands up and kisses me, giving me a taste. My fingers started unbuckling his belt when he felt his phone vibrate. 

“Oops, Ippei’s looking for me.” He pockets his phone, looking forlorn, as if telling me he didn’t really want to go yet. “See you again next time?”

“Yours or mine?” I had asked, brushing up and straightening my wrinkled dress. And when I realized what I had done, Shohei’s eyes shot up and he beamed widely. 

“I just– I- I want a proper night with sex, you know.” I explained, trying to sound nonchalant. “It’s so uncomfortable having to go commando at work after you had just literally sucked the life out of my vagina, Sho.”

“Mmm-hmm.” He smiled even more.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Okay.”

“Okay?” 

“What? Fuck off.” By this time, my face felt hot and had probably looked red like a tomato, which probably amused Shohei even more. 

“Your place, then. I’ll call you.” he gives me one last kiss then heads out first, leaving me a dazed and pulsating mess.

A shrill sound knocked me awake. It felt like seven thousand screaming hungry babies in my ear, bouncing off around my brain like a pinball. 

I looked at the digital clock on the bedside table and saw the time glinting behind the glass: 8:41 PM. I must've fallen asleep after taking a half day off from work, feeling nauseous and slightly feverish. It seemed that whatever body malaise that I have been carrying inside me earlier had sprung into a full-blown ailment.

 I pushed my body up and walked groggily to the source of my misery. 

Someone was buzzing the doorbell and repeatedly pounding on the door. Great.

“If you’re not dead or dying behind this door, you’re about to be.” I croaked harshly, throat burning; putting all my remaining energy in pulling the door open. I was greeted by an extremely tall man with frantic brown eyes, searching my face.

“Oh, thank fucking god. I’ve been knocking for half an hour.” he wrapped me in a tight hug, I almost collapsed. Partly because of the throbbing headache and overall discomfort that I already felt, but hugely because of the warm minty scent of Shohei Ohtani. 

“Jesus, you’re burning up!”

“What are you doing here?” I said, struggling in his grip, his face resting on the curve of my neck. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“You don’t text someone ‘at least i’ll die happy today knowing that my last meal was shoyu ramen’ and then not fucking reply after.” We were still standing by the entrance, his face now angled towards me, a look of concern or anger mixed in his face, I couldn’t tell. My cerebral cortex functions seemed to have shut down after witnessing this unexpected tenderness. 

“Medicine knocked me down cold.” I shrugged weakly. 

Shohei pulled me into the bedroom and tucked me back in, apologizing for his intrusion, putting down plastic bags of what seemed to be groceries on the kitchen counter, and went back to lightly scolding me for proper texting etiquette to family and friends, to anyone really. That my dark humor doesn’t translate well in messages and that I could have really died and people would think I’m joking but really, he got so scared that he went here as fast as he could.

I don’t remember much but in between fever dreams and my ibuprofen haze, I faintly remember the savory taste of rice porridge exploding in my mouth, the constant dabbing of a cold towel on my face, neck and chest, sometimes, my back, too; the smell of rubbing alcohol and a large, gentle, almost loving touch. 

I don’t remember much but in between waking up in the darkness and stone-cold silence, I remember soft forehead kisses until I drifted back to sleep; of big strong arms enclosing me into a big embrace, as if to tell me, you can put your guard down now. you are safe here. 

I don’t remember much from coming in and out of slumber, but I remember thinking: wouldn’t it be nice if this wasn’t a dream?

======================================

Reset

In the end, I quit sports media on my own volition and got into a friend’s ceramics house. I have always had a thing for ceramics and sculpting as early as college, where I had met my then-professor and now friend–who happens to be the owner of mentioned ceramics house. She had always praised me and encouraged me to join her when she first opened the shop, but as someone who had musings for writing at the time, I politely declined and pursued, you guessed it, journalism. 

I’ve always been good at writing, no doubt, from the way professors always had a good word for me, but I always seem to get into the wrong places every time. Time moves fast if you’re a journo, if you’re slow, then the news is rehashed news, it would just be a late-night recap at a midnight slot that no one is ever awake to watch. 

Here, inside her shop, it was quiet, and time moved slowly. I can get into my laziest clothes and no one bats an eye. I can finally retire my stilettos and straight cut blazers. 

It was all so going well. The customers were always mid-twenties who got interested in our social media marketing of creating your own mugs and other ceramics and always came in in groups, duos, and solos. 

Slowly, I realized that not everyone gets to the places they want. Even when you work blood and sweat for it. Not all were built like, say, Shohei Ohtani, whose talent was recognized early and afforded him an automatic slot in the big leagues.

Some are born to be big icons and some, like the rest of us, are meant for smaller, softer spaces. I get that now. It finally felt like I was in the right place and pace. 

All this positivity and good timing felt all too good to be true and been proven accurate when the scandal blew up. 

Shohei Ohtani photographed exiting his LA apartment with a woman in his arms.

Shohei Ohtani’s rumored girlfriend receives backlash from fans: READ MORE

EXCLUSIVE: More photographs of Shohei Ohtani and rumored girlfriend driving away in his Porsche

Rumored girlfriend of Shohei Ohtani: Who is She?

When I say it was everywhere, I meant it exploded right in front of our faces like a million confetti, falling and twirling fast. It was unstoppable. It was inevitable.

I felt my limbs go numb when I read the morning news. There in bold and black letters was the headline, my name and a clear photo of me holding Shohei’s arm, smiling. A certain news outlet had gotten juice of us and our secret hideouts and had spread all over social media like wildfire. You know what’s funnier? The media outlet that released this was my previous employer. The same company that asked me to snuff out a controversy. While I had failed to give them the news they wanted, I had unintentionally brought them an exclusive that wrote my entire name–and face–off the map and potentially ruined Shohei Ohtani’s clean record. 

Shohei Ohtani, despite his happy-go-lucky and passive demeanor, was a very serious and straight-laced person. I already knew this in university but I got to see more of this side of him when we had started the fucking thing. Even though I had clearly told him that I didn’t want any strings attached, it was unavoidable to give and receive bits and pieces of each other when we’re not naked. 

I  did enjoy talking to Shohei under the sheets. His ingenious ideas and the way he talked about the things he adored spilled all over him, like afternoon sunlight streaming in between curtains, making way even through the small spaces to cast his light. I basked into this warmth as much time allowed me, because who knows when I can experience the glow of his presence again after all the chaos. 

He was exactly like the golden hour: a warm afternoon orange luminescence that usually only stays for ten to fifteen minutes a day. If you wait too long to look up, he disappears quickly as he goes, leaving only the faint orange, yellow and pink hues chasing after him before the black of the night takes over you. 

Well, now the fairytale has run its course and the sun has set to announce that golden hour is over. Night has finally fallen on me and I’m feeling scared and alone.

The first thing I did was to grab as much stuff as I could and put them all in my luggage and filed for an indefinite leave. 

As if like clockwork, my phone rang and saw Shohei’s name on the caller ID. I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. What could I possibly say to him? That I used him just for the clicks and the views? That after all this time we spent together, he would realize that I am still the same despicable, scathing piece of garbage who’d trample on anyone just for a few cents?

So I don’t answer. Even when he calls back again and again and leaves me twenty or more messages by the hour. I turned my phone off. The latest message from Ohtani coming up on the notifications bar read, “Where are you?” before the screen flashed to black. 

I have nothing but my pride left. I’d like to keep it that way.  In such a way, I was embarrassed, too. I thought I finally had something to brag about. A job that I actually liked and enjoyed, a peaceful mind, and the possibility of liking a guy who had shown me nothing but kindness. 

And because I couldn’t handle all of this, I handled it like I have always handled things: I ran away like a coward. 

I rode a bus without reading its destination card and let it drive me away as far as it could, to someplace where no one knew me or Shohei Ohtani, or had any idea about the news. 

The bus drove away and I never looked back. 

================================

Waiting Until My Spring Comes Again: Shohei’s POV

Just like that I lost her. She wasn’t even mine to begin with. 

When the news broke out, I was so furious that I wanted to drive to the news outlet that published the article and give them a piece of my mind. I knew my blind rage would have done more damage so I didn’t.

Instead, I looked for her and wanted to let her know that whatever happens, I won’t drop her just like that. That I’m willing to acknowledge the rumors and make it official, if she wanted to. 

I’ve always been open to the idea of taking it to the next level with her but every time I broached the subject, she would change the topic, get into a foul mood, or try to pick a fight with me. Which I found endearing. She’s so adorable when she pouts. And when she pushes her luck thinking a five foot four girl like her can withstand someone as tall as me. 

I just can’t help but laugh and feel a flutter in my stomach. She’s someone who has been adorable and held a special corner in my heart. 

Y/N’s face was so expressive and whatever emotion she was in it would always be evident on her face. When she’s happy, a dimple on her cheek shows up. When she’s feeling sad or down, she’d look downcast and would prefer that you leave her alone. When she’s thinking about something deep, she would chew on her lower lip and always had a blank almost unfocused stare. Despite her many faces, I’m sure as hell that I love all of them. I wanted to be by her side when all this shit happened, I wanted to see which face she was making. Is she pissed like I was? Is she sad? I wouldn’t know. The moment her number didn’t connect after I had tried reaching her, I already knew that she was avoiding me. 

I lost count of how many messages I had sent her, of how many missed calls and voicemails I left her. She was unreachable. She gave me her spare key so when I tried visiting her apartment, it was empty. 

She was gone. 

And only the traces of her lingered in her apartment. Her unwashed mug with leftover stale coffee was on the kitchen counter, specks of lipstick staining the mouth. Dirty clothes hanging on her bathroom door, forgotten and unwashed. The peachy scent of her purifier that always latches on to her clothes whenever we go out. Her unread books on her coffee table, some dog eared and annotated. 

Everything that I love about her is here except for her and I miss her. 

For the next couple of days, I dodged the media and focused on training, playing and practicing. Those three over and over again. I tried to not think about her and lose sleep because of her. An athlete’s wellbeing is connected to quality sleep. 

But she was everywhere I went. Pieces of her were scattered all over the places I avoided, and it was my fault really, for bringing her to places we usually hid. For hoping that someday, the secrets we hid would be our stories to tell. Now I just let her memories rot inside my heart, where she should be. 

I thought it would be easier when you just let it slip by but the more days that passed without seeing her, the more I feel a gnawing pain in my heart. She had sucked all my sunlight and took it all away with her. 

I want her back. 

=====================================

My Answer is You

Eleven days. It took me nine days to realize running away was a bad idea. 

When I first got off the bus, I thought the place looked familiar. Turns out, I rode the bus to my hometown, to the very south and the last bus stop until it turned around to go back to the city. 

When I appeared in front of my mom–the first time in a long time–she had immediately said, “Did something in the city?”

The moment she asked, I broke down in tears. She shushed and consoled me while I cried like a little kid. Like the way I had bawled to her when my first boyfriend broke up with me, or when my love birds died from illness, the other from loneliness. 

It feels like I would die of loneliness, Mom. I had said.

Did he really say that? Did he tell you that it’s over? She cooed.

I was embarrassed to admit to my mom that no, Shohei had never told me anything because I had shut him out even before I could give him the chance. But what if that call was already the end of it all? What if answering his call meant exactly what I had thought. That would shatter me more. 

So, no, Mom, you can call your daughter a coward but in her heart, it’s all over. 

The next forty-eight hours at home was a blur. After feeding me with what feels like a day’s worth of homemade dishes, she made me wash the dishes, clean my old room, and the living room as well. And when that wasn’t enough, she made me go with her to the night market and bought whatever seafood she could find to feed me. 

Is this what you did when Dad left? I wanted to ask her. Did you go around acting as normal while nursing a wounded heart? Did you go all through that facade just to show me that you were strong for the both of us?

She had her back to me, her hands pale and creased with age, showing signs of passage of time and her hardwork to put me to school. I know she was trying to make me busy to keep my mind off of Shohei. I’m not sure if she fully understands the scandal but she was trying her best to keep my head above the water. Probably just like how she always did. 

I wish I was strong like you, Mom. 

On the fourth and fifth day, she had let me work under the sun harvesting corn. Which I absolutely despised. I had to wear sun hats and these jumpers to cover myself from the heat. 

“It’s cheap labor for letting you stay and eat my food,” she said when I complained. “Tomorrow, you’ll help me sell these at the market.”

As the days grew idly by, I’ve grown more accustomed to rising early and eating less meat and more vegetables. I willingly went out of the sun more to do housework, like hanging clothes, watering Mom’s plants, however, I was still not willing to harvest her vegetables, which she made me do a lot. When I say a lot, it means everyday since then. 

On the eleventh morning, I woke up earlier than usual and found my mom already awake. She busied herself with a cup of coffee. 

“Good morning, mom.” I yawned, grabbing my own mug. 

“After breakfast, pack your things and go back to the city.” She said quietly.

“Huh?” I’m not sure I heard her right. Is she kicking me out?

She pushed today’s newspaper into my hands and pointed at an article. An article shows a picture of Shohei smiling at the camera, behind him was a framed candid photo of me turning my head just in time when the camera clicked, I was wearing a sleeveless shirt, a shawl draped over my shoulders, and the wind blowing my hair and covering my face slightly. Just by looking at the photo, it looked like a time when Shohei and I drove to the beach. He had brought his camera and took a lot of photos. 

The article said, “Portfolio on Love: Shohei Ohtani’s Photographs Displayed for A Cause.”

“....and when the powerhouse athlete gets a day off, he plays around his camera and takes photos of anything, everywhere. He reveals Insider Today that for the first time ever, he is displaying his portfolio to the public at the Grand City Museum starting today until the 31st of the month, with the theme of “hello, love, are you there?”

“...’I don’t know how else to define love but this. I hope when the public sees this, they will instantly know that my photographs are a reflection of my love,’ he said.

“When asked if this was a confirmation to the rumors flying around recently, he just smiled sadly and said, "I'm hoping that this answers everyone’s questions, especially hers.”

“If your face is plastered on all of the newspapers, it wouldn’t make sense to stay here longer.” Mom said after a while. She had finished her breakfast and took them away to the sink.

“It doesn’t end well if you’re too afraid, my darling.” she said, not looking at me. “To love and to be hurt is to be brave. If it doesn’t work out after facing him, then by all means. Come home. My doors are always open for you. And I will feed you rice cakes while you harvest my corn.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. She wasn’t a hugger but welcomed my hug and patted me on the shoulders. “Now go, before all the chismosas wake up and corners you.”

I packed my bags and left home, my heart pieced back together. It was not wrong to go home and seek shelter. What I did wrong was leaving Shohei all alone when he took most of the fall. 

Five hours, one taxi ride, and a ten minute walk later, I arrived at the city museum, nervous, anxious, feeling a little lightheaded and hesitant. I wiped my sweaty palms and got inside. 

It was not as packed as I had expected, probably because it was a little over after lunch, though there was still a relatively big crowd overall. 

When I stepped into the hall featuring Shohei’s displays, I felt a surge of emotion. It was a collection of all the photographs of his loved ones. In a black and white collection, he had photographed his parents holding hands while walking in the snow, a photo of his dog sleeping idly on his couch, a photo of the football stadium in a wide angle shot, showing Ippei and the rest of his teammates playing a warm up game before practice. 

When I turned to a corner, that’s when I saw it. There were multiple frames hanging intricately on one side, showing all of the photos he took of me. One during university days, where I was showing him a strangely large eggplant during our photo walks at the market. There was another with me looking at him angrily for reasons I couldn’t remember, and a more recent one, in the middle, where he was holding my hand while I walked forward, back facing the camera. 

On the metal plate below were words that read in cursive: “2009–present. Moments of love that I hold dear.”

At that moment, tears had started rolling down my cheek and I couldn’t help but sob. The onlookers nearby started moving away, probably weirded out by the sudden burst of emotion over some piece of art.

They weren’t just pieces of art. These were moments when Shohei and I were together and maybe realized that it was love.

By then, someone on my left offered a handkerchief and I gingerly took it, wiping my tears-strewn face. I muttered an apology for ruining the fabric.

“This is not the first time someone cried in front of my photographs. Some were absolutely heartbroken after seeing them.” a man’s voice said. And that reeled me back as I turned around and saw Shohei standing in front me.

“I knew this would lure you back,” he said, smiling.

His face was a little gaunt and tired. He had dark circles around his eyes that I’ve never seen before. I could only look at him and he looked back. I had so many things I wanted to say to him, so many things I wanted to explain but he spoke first and said:

“Did you get a tan?” he started, raising an eyebrow.

“I-I was harvesting corn!” I said, covering my face with both hands. I didn’t even have the time to put on makeup or a swab of lipstick and that’s the first thing he notices.

He took my hands and held them tightly against his chest. “No one looks this beautiful even after harvesting corn.”

“Shut up,” I said looking away.

He tipped my chin and held my face. “Let’s start again, shall we?” 

I raised an eyebrow in question.

“Hi, my name is Shohei Ohtani. I’m an athlete and an amateur photographer sometimes. I’ve been in love with the girl in the photographs since forever.”

I managed a smile and laced my hands around his neck. “Hi, I’m a ceramics maker and sometimes, a farmer, you should see the corn I harvest. You look so familiar. I think you look like my future boyfriend.”

His eyes perked up and laughed at our silly little game. He went in for a kiss and I obliged, feeling safe and brave in his arms.

Let them take the damn photographs and write the articles all they want, but they could never take my sunshine away ever again. 

#shohei ohtani au #shohei ohtani imagines #shohei ohtani #shohei ohtani pov #shohei ohtani fluff #shohei ohtani smut

[icarusvshozier]

Luke Castellan x Hephaestus!Reader who crafted Backbiter

a/n: this started off as general luke x hephaestus!reader hcs but quickly spiraled into just luke x hephaestus!reader who made Backbiter with no hesitation but with no knowledge of what they were making it for + luke's betrayal. so, here's that. reblog if you like it, and come talk to me abt luke!!

warnings: not edited SORRY. lots of plot, spoilers for tlt duh, might not be totally canon compliant but fuck it we ball, swearing?, inconsistent grammar?, angst, a little bit of thirst, implied established romantic relationship between luke & reader, vague sword fighting, at one point reader literally turns into a bird and flys away like Superman so dont say I didn't warn you, I'm pretty sure this is GN!reader but let me know if it's not

— You could have never imagined having Backbiter being pointed at you in this way. When Luke told you to follow him during the firework show, you hesitated but only because you and your siblings worked hard on the display all year and you would be lying if you said you didn't care about seeing it play out. But he said it was important, you smiled and left with him thinking he was only playing, not wanting the ample makeout time to go to waste.

— But then he took you into the woods and started talking about the Gods faulty parenting, which wasn't terribly out of the ordinary but you hadn't been expecting a vent session. You just ran your hand through his curls and stared into his eyes, waiting for him to kiss you but he kept talking.

— All about Clarisse and Percy's quest and the master bolt. You guessed any camper would have a lot on their mind right now but you kind of wanted him to shut up and kiss you.

— "But it isn't over. Clarisse didn't steal the master bolt." You had been staring at his lips, but you snapped out of your haze, "What? What do you mean?"

— He confessed to you that he stole the bolt over the winter solstice. You gave a soft but slightly nervous chuckle as he held you close. You repeated your last question again with an added, "Why?" like a fool.

— He only held you tighter and poured his soul out to you, everything he had been hiding. The tricky son of the God of Thieves, how Kronos came to him in his dreams, how he played perfectly into his despise for the Gods, how he gave his shoes to Percy so he would either give the Master Bolt to Kronos or die getting there, and how he needs you by his side

— You realize much too late into his ramblings that you have already helped him in his mission, you gave him Backbiter with no questions asked.

— So many questions flooded your brain, how long has been planning this? How long have you been part of this scheme? Has he only ever gotten close to you for this reason, just to get something out of you? Are you even part of this scheme? Or would you join him and find out Kronos doesn't think you're worth jackshit and kill you the second you step out of line. You know how the world was before the Gods, when the Titans ruled, and you wouldn't live like that.

— You push him away and tell him such. Tell him that he's crazy for thinking Kronos is a better overseer than the Olympians.

— He asks you if you're really gonna die on the sides of the Gods just because your father has given you two acknowledgements in your whole 19 years of life.

— You almost sass him and tell him that you've actually had three interactions with your Godly father. But then you realize one of the three was being claimed as a child of Hephaestus, and he probably wouldn't count that right now.

— Though, Annabeth did just tell you all about her meeting with Hephaestus on her quest.

— You had thought of your godly father fondly enough before she told of meeting him. The second time you interacted with your father was when you prayed to him to help you figure out a way to make one of your latest inventions work, and he actually responded with input. The third being him gifting you a necklace of shapeshifting when you took his advice and successfully made a first of its kind invention. You thought responding to a call for help and then rewarding a child for pulling through something complicated was more positive enforcement than most demigods got from their parents in Olympus. But now, you really thought that he might be different from the other Olympian Gods. But it reminded you of when you first received your necklace.

It made your relationship with Luke a little weird for a while after, like walking on eggshells, just the visible reminders and contrast of your parents' behaviors. Him with his scar, you with your necklace.

Eventually you talked to him about it. Or, he told you how he felt about it, rather.

He warned you that your father was only doing this so you would do something in return for him. Warned you that someday, be it next week or 10 years from now, he will be cashing in that favor.

But its been years since you got that necklace, and you haven't heard from your father since.

With Luke's warning, you considered it a good thing.

You joke about it offhandedly how you haven't heard from Hephaestus in years on the anniversary of when you got your magic necklace, "Guess he doesn't need that favor yet." And Luke twitches.

"You say that like it's a good thing." "Isn't it?" "What? That he disappeared on you right after giving you a gift? Have any of your siblings even heard from him in the last couple of years?" He spewed it out like a cough he could no longer keep in.

As much as you liked the occasional structured debate for fun, you got choked up when Luke said this. You weren't sure if it was the words, or his tone or how fast he spilled his thoughts that got to you, but you wondered, was he mad at you?

"I mean," you could no longer look him directly in the eyes, so you flicked your gaze to the ground, to the stables behind him, his nose, his shoes, anything. "I dont kn-I guess, well- I mean, I don't know about everything that goes on with my siblings so..." you stammered out.

"As far as you know?" Tears welled in your eyes from the confrontation, you looked straight up and blinked as light and as fast as you could. "No, I don't think so, Luke." You paused and faced him, "Why even? Why do you care?"

"Why don't you care?! Your dad does one thing for you and you're loyal as a dog to him! He doesn't deserve that! He doesn't care about you! Or your siblings!" Or your siblings felt like an afterthought.

You didn't know where to start with him. Did he call you a dog?! Or how about him projecting and taking out his own daddy issues on you. You didn't know where to start so you didn't, you used the power in your necklace to shapeshift into a bird and fly away from the boy to find a nice tree to stalk observe him from.

He yelled after your disappearing form, "Y/N! No, wait! Come back here!"

He looked around, but couldn't find your form camouflaged in the branches behind him. He sighed defeated, and ran his hand through his curly hair.

He found you the next day at your workstation, back to regular, and apologized for saying what he did. You considered ignoring him but turned to face him.

"You hurt and confused me." You pout bluntly. "Do you believe what you said or did you just want to hurt my feelings?"

Luke pulls the work gloves off your hands, then takes one and leads you into the forest. Some of your siblings were starting to stare and he knows that you both would rather not be so emotionally vulnerable in front of so many people.

"I didn't mean what I said about your dad not caring about you.. I never want to hurt you, I just don't want to see you get hurt by someone that's supposed to protect you. And I guess I thought that if I could tell you what the Gods are like before they get to you, then they couldn't harm you."

— Which takes you to now, with shaking hands holding out your finely crafted medium sized blade a few feet from where Luke stands with his hand resting on another piece you created. A blade you created with only love in your heart, a blade you handed Luke while thinking about Viking weddings; how they exchanged swords instead of rings like today - a blade now used against you.

— You fight, gnashing teeth and spitting salvia and blood at each other's feet. The sound of blades clashing is silenced by fireworks overhead, you're yelling at each other, how could you be so stupid, why cant you see what's best for you? I thought you loved me & I'm doing this because I love you.

#luke castellan x reader #luke castellan #luke castellan angst #luke castellan fic #luke castellan fanfic #luke castellan headcanons #pjo fic #hephaestus!reader #cairo.txt #what should my fic tag for this be hmm #file: [luke castellan] #file: [pjo] #file: [my writing]

[ruhorih4ra]

Hey there! This is just another LuciferxGn!Mc hahaha, pure bliss and comfort I think. Lucy being pampered and those kind of things.

As always you may find grammar mistakes and inconsistencies (⁠┛⁠✧⁠Д⁠✧⁠)⁠)⁠┛⁠彡⁠┻⁠━⁠┻

The Lovers 💙

“Oh! He's handsome!” you muttered while looking at your phone. “Hmmm, she's pretty too...” you sighed. “You know, Lucifer, I find quite unfair that most demons are beautiful. I mean, how do you expect us not to fall into temptation?”

Lucifer stopped his work for a moment, putting down his pen and stretching his back. “I don’t expect that of you, Mc.” he said, sounding a little bit too suggestive, he smiled and you smiled back not without a questioning look. “Your Asmo is showing, my dear.” He got up, walking towards you. “Please, who do you think he learned from?” you laughed, but the sound was muffled by Lucifer giving you gentle, innocent pecks all over your face. “You taught him this?!” you asked between giggles. “Maybe he didn't understand you!”

Lucifer chuckled before kissing your lips, it was slow and sweet and soon turned passionate. You could feel his hot breath colliding with yours and the faint taste of coffee made you smile. He broke the kiss, leaving you waiting with your eyes closed and your mouth slightly open. “Lucy?” slowly he laid on top of you, giving you brief kisses along your neck. “Why are you looking at other demons, hm? Aren't you satisfied with me?” his voice was hoarse, and the exhaustion from countless hours of work was clear.

“Don't be jealous, love. I was just checking on my new classmates, we'll work together.” “I'm not jealous.” “If you say so...hey! N-no! Pfft-hahaha!! Sto-oh-op!!” Lucifer was tickling you, he didn’t stop stealing you kisses while his hands traced a path through your body. “Ple-heheasse, I'm sorry!!” he stopped once he was pleased, lying calmly over you. “I love you.” you said, looking directly into his eyes and Lucifer held you tight, before whispering. “So do I, love of my life.”

And that's why he wasn't jealous. He’s just not that type of demon, that insecurity was not like him. It was annoying that you and Satan could go to cat coffees and spend so much time together, it was irresponsible of you to stay up all night reading with him, he's concerned about your well-being, that's all.

He wasn't jealous, not even when you came into his office, looking breathtaking, only to inform him that Asmodeus and you were ready to go to a party. Asmo, whose hand always stays in your arms more time than it should.

He didn't care that his work was too much, so much that it was taking him away from you. He wasn't looking forward to spending some time napping with you, without a care in the world. He was happy to be the big brother, Belphie can still be the little brother.

He didn't want to take you on a date, his hands didn’t burn with the desire of hold yours. Solomon took your hands, because you are his apprentice and it was an important part of the spell he was teaching you. He's not jealous or angry (he doesn't want to kill the wise sorcerer, not at all).

He doesn't have time to be distracted by that game you and Leviathan always play and talk about, he's fine with you laughing with his brothers and not with him. He's okay with providing shelter and security, that’s how things are supposed to be.

How many times does he have to say it? He's not jealous, he just... desperately wish to have more time and less responsibilities, to be able to spend as much time with you as everyone does.

Able to hold your hand and laugh in the corridors of RAD. He's not jealous by any means, even though this is the third time you hang out with that demons you called beautiful.

“Lucifer?! Devildom calling Lucifer?! Do you hear us??”

“I'm jealous.” Lucifer said, looking right at your eyes. “I'm so jealous that I can hear myself calling Lotan.” he heard you laugh, you made a sound not as refined as usual. “That was a good one, love.” you took his hand and intertwined your fingers with his, happily humming a melody he recognized.

“I love that record, it brings me so much joy.” He looked at you as if you had said the most ridiculous thing. “My records are cursed, Mc.” “Well, I know that the composer gave his soul so that his deaf daughter could hear his melody at least once.” Lucifer's eyes widened, looking at you. “And then, you refused the offer and cured the girl's deafness anyway.” “I'll talk to Diavolo about the privacy of my life.” “Please, Lucifer! We were doing our favorite thing in the world!” The black-haired demon frowned. “We were talking about you!” you said happily but Lucifer's frown remained.

“You were talking with Diavolo?” you raised an eyebrow, incredulous. “You’re kidding, right?” but Lucifer continued to look at you reproachfully until you rolled your eyes.

“You know what? I'm also very jealous.” you said, earning a confused look from the conflicted demon next to you. “I don't need your pity, my love.” He uttered, slightly amused. “What are you jealous of? The stack of unfinished reports on my desk?”

“Yes, they get all of your attention without even trying.” you stopped, moving in front of Lucifer and taking his head in your hands you added. “I wish I could be part of your work, so you would care more about me...” you sounded hurt, heartbroken. “All I think about is you...” “And yet all you do is work.” Lucifer had seen this conversation many times before, he knew how it would end and he didn't like it at all but he is the avatar of pride and there is a script to follow. “We should end our relationship.” your face showed complete surprise and disbelief.

“What!? Excuse me?! W-why?! No you idiot, workaholic dumbass.” Lucifer was more than surprised by your little outburst and somewhat offended, you noticed it but it only made you angrier. “Oh! Are you mad?! Well, how do you think I feel? I ask you for more of your time and you try to break up with me!?” “I didn't!” the thought finally sank in. He wouldn't kiss you anymore, or hold your hands, or hear you laugh. Not with him, not for him. He wouldn't even have those little moments. “I just said that we should... I didn’t say I want to.” you stood there, looking at him desperately. “Then why...” you sighed, closing your eyes and asking your father-in-law for patience. “I’ll tell you what, we'll go to the house of lamentation and...” you whispered your plans in his ear, and each word seemed to have a bigger impact on the demon, who gradually turned redder.

“How does that sound?” Lucifer cleared his throat, fixing the neck of his suit. “I would love to”.

After sharing a bath and giving him a massage, you laid down with him on top of you, caressing his scalp with your fingers as the faint sound of classical music filled the room. “Are you feeling better, my gorgeous, perfect and immaculate lord?” you whispered, closely watching Lucifer's relaxed gaze, he showed you a soft smile and let out a brief sound of joy, he tried to say something but failed miserably.

“What did you say, my dear magnificent lord?” Lucifer cleared his throat. “I said you're ridiculous, Mc.” both of you laughed. He took your hand and kissed it, still with his eyes closed he kept kissing the lenght of your arm until he heard you laugh. “I'm terribly sorry.” “I know.” “No, you don't.” He leaned over you, looking directly into your eyes, he kissed the inner palm of your hands, slowly closing his eyes again. “I didn't think of this before, when I suggested that we should...” he sighed, defeated. “I didn't think how deeply entangled you are in my soul.”

He surprised you, adjusting your body so he could spoon you. “I want to read a book with you.” “Of course!” “We'll go to dance.” “Agreed.” “We will watch that TV show and you will always wait for me to watch the next episode.” you couldn't help but laugh. “Deal.”

You fell into a comfortable silence, both you and Lucifer were ready to call it a night. “We can do whatever you want, or we can do nothing. As long as you are with me everything is perfect.” you fell asleep, lulled by Lucifer's warm and heart beat. He, on the other hand, could feel your words engraved in his soul.

“As long as you're with me everything is perfect.” he whispered before falling asleep, a soft smile on his face.

💙

The Lovers by Arctic Monkeys has the vibes I was trying to accomplish.

Also, I'm sure there are lots of mistakes but I didn't want to reread, please not again. (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

Thanks for reading! (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

#obey me fanfic #obey me #obey me mc #obey me fandom #obey me gn!reader #obey me lucifer #obey me fluff #obey me lucifer x mc

[dani-says-stuff]

Your Very Own Attachment

❥ Back to the Control Center

❥ Nate Hardy Masterlist

❥ Link to Part 1: Robert the Doll

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Nate Hardy x fem!medium(?)reader

Summary: You notice things in your home quickly become strange after your return from Key West

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: creepy stuff, hauntings, some language, Robert the Doll, probably inaccurate spirit box, inaccurate depiction of attachments, inconsistent capitalization, my trademark disregard for run on sentences and perfect grammar

Dialogue Key:

Y/N

Nate

This is what it looks like when they are using Estes method

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

It had been a few weeks since you and the boys went on the investigation, having the chance of meeting the infamous Robert the Doll. To say things had been strange since then would be an extreme understatement. 

Things started off small, with a strange feeling here and chill there, but things quickly began to escalate as time progressed. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

You were in the kitchen, making dinner while waiting for Nate to come home when you suddenly heard the door swing open. You'd assumed it was just Nate returning home, so you called out to him not giving it much thought. 

After a second or two without receiving the usual response of 'Hey babe, I'm back' or something of the like, you pulled your focus from the tomatoes you had been cutting to peek around the corner. 

"Nate?" you spoke up, brow furrowed, "Are you ok? Did something happen?" 

He didn't respond, all you could hear from your position was a quick hum before footsteps were heard stomping up the stairs. 

You quickly rushed back to the kitchen, setting the knife down before moving to climb up the stairs after him.

You called his name once again from the third step from the top, upon hearing your shared bedroom's door slam shut. 

"Nate?" you knocked on the door, trying the handle only to find that it was locked, "Nate, please open the door you're starting to worry me." 

You tried again and again, voice getting shakier as the minutes passed with no verbal response coming from the room. The only noise answering your calls was the occasional grunt and the sound of shuffling within the room. 

Your mind was clouded with so much worry for your partner who was acting so far out of character for his usual happy self, that you didn't notice the front door open for the second time that evening. 

"Hey babe! I'm-" the brown-haired man cut himself off as he entered the home, taking note of the kitchen light on and the sight of the pot overboiling on the stove. He rushed over to turn down the burner before trying to find you.

While it was normal for you to get sidetracked while completing a task, for you to forget about a running stove for that long was definitely unusual. 

Once the loud bubbling of the water subsided, a new sound flooded his ears, quickly making his blood turn cold.

From all the way downstairs in the kitchen, he could hear you pounding on the door and pleading-sounding close to tears-begging for him to open the door. 

"Babe! Y/n!" he yelled, running the same route as you, bolting up the stairs. "Y/n are you ok? Is everything alright? What's going on?" 

You weren't crying yet, but the tears quickly rolled down your cheeks when you heard your boyfriend's panicked voice coming up the staircase behind you.

 If he was coming up here now, what the hell was in your bedroom?

You shuffled away from the door in shock, the noise continuing from inside. Your frantic pleas immediately exchanged for a terrified silence as you backed away down the hall, eyes pinned on your bedroom door until eventually your back hit a chest. 

"Y/N?" Nate called, wrapping his arms around you and looking ahead, attempting to see whatever you were looking at, "Y/N whats going on?" 

You shuffled around barring your face into his chest, finally getting a semblance of calm in his presence as you balled up your fists holding onto the fabric of his shirt.

He hushed you softly and rubbed your back as you cried, continuing to stare down the hall to your room. 

"Baby?" he kissed the crown of your head after a few minutes, "Hey, I know it's hard, but I need you to tell me what's going on."

"Somethings in there." you spoke, words muffled against his chest.

He tensed, gripping onto you tighter at the words, "Y/n, baby, what's in there?"

"Dunno" you cried, "thought it was you. It went up the stairs and locked the door." 

He pulled you from his chest, albit reluctantly, and looked down at your reddened complexion in a serious and determined manner, "I'm going to go check it out. Wait by the stairs, ok?" 

You nodded, quickly shuffling behind him. 

Just as you said, the door to your bedroom was somehow locked.

He slowly reached up to the top of the doorframe, grabbing the spare key you kept up there. While it was obvious whatever intruder was in there wasn't detered by the sound of you pleading for the door to be opened, Nate didn't want to chace startling them now. 

The strangest part, was by the time he unlocked the door and stepped inside, it quickly became obvious that no one had been in there.

He took his time checking the closets in the room and any place someone couldve hidden, but not a soul was found. The state of the room had also made it clear that nothing had been moved at all, depite the noises both of you had heard from behind the door. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

After a few more days of strange occurrences and strong feeling of being watched, you decided to find out for certain what the hell was going on.

Your first guess, was it was Sam or Colby's fault.

Both of them had attachments in the past and they'd been coming over to you and Nate's home recently, so maybe whatever spirit they brought along had decided they liked your clean home much more then theirs. 

This theory was quickly disproven by a call between both of the boys, which created a much less appealing situation.

This wasn't anyone else bringing something to your home, it was you guys who brought it into your own home. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

One day, after spending sometime at the boy's house, Nate decided to bring back a spirit box to find out what had decided to stick around in your home.

This was how you found yourself in the dark, blindfolded in the rocking chair in your living room, wearing a pair of noise canceling headphones. 

"Is there anyone here who wants to speak with us?" Nate spoke, watching you as you rocked slowly back and forth. 

"We know you're here, you've made that pretty obvious." the bitterness he was trying to keep out of his voice slipped in through his words. 

He knew you were supposed to be repectful to ghosts and spirits, but his patience was running thin with this one.

You were terified to be left alone in your own home and lost sleep most nights when in your own bedroom. He noticed that the only time you seemed to sleep peacefully, was when the both of you would leave the room and sleep on the couch while playing a movie. The way this spirit seemed to be messing with you was angering him, watching as it played games and heightened you anxieties in the place you were meant to feel safest, angered him. 

"Why are you here?"

Fun.

"Its fun? You find this fun?" he seethed.

A few moments went by without a response.

Yes.

"Why?" Nate spoke, watching as you shuttered, rolling out your shoulders as if they were sore, "Who are you?"

A few minutes passed 

A.

"A?" he asked, tilting his head, "Is that your name?"

A.

"Well... why are you doing this A?"

Not.

"You're not doing this?"

No.

"Then who is?"

A timer set on his phone went off, signaling ten minutes.

There was technically no time limit, as this was your house and not a location you had limited time in, but the both of you decided to only go in ten minute incriments to avoid any bad affects from being under for too long. 

You pulled the blindfold from your eyes, blinking for a moment to adjust to the dim lighting, "What's up? Did we get anything? Did something happen or was it just time?"

Nate shook his head, "Just time. Didn't get much though" he recalled, "just that whatever it is thinks this is fun, and their name might start with an A." he shrugged.

You perked up, "Wait, A?" you looked around the room before returing your eyes to his, "Was their name A? Like did they only answer their name was A?" Nate nodded slowly, brows furrowed in confusion. 

You quickly shoved the headset and blindfold into his hands, "It's Anne, from the Artist's House in Key West." 

"Are you sure?"

You smiled, "Positive." and with that, Nate pulled the blindfold over his eyes.

"Hello Anne, are you here?"

Yes. 

You smiled warmly, looking around the room hoping that if you looked at every corner, at some point you'd be smiling at the spirit, "Thank you for speaking with me again Anne. I'm guessing all of this stuff hasn't been you then?" 

No.

Been watching.

"You've been watching it?"

Help.

Helping.

Trying to.

"You've been trying to help by watching it?" you asked, stringing the words together 

Exactly.

You smiled again, "Well, we appreciate that very much Anne-"

Failed. 

The spirit box cut you off,

No.

Failed.

"You didn't fail, you're talking to us now." you tried to reassure the spirit, "Do you know what it is? Is there anything we can do?"

Doll.

Your blood ran cold. 

Doll.

"Anne, do you mean its Robert? Is he here?" 

No.

Just one.

You strained your mind, thinking back to the research you all did for the video.

Just one? What does that mean? 

Then it hit you.

Just one, just one of the spirits in the doll. 

"Is it just one of the spirits? Not Robert, just one of the spirits attached to him?"

Yes.

Watched it.

Simple one.

"Its a simple one?" you asked, "You mean it's not a stronger spirit?" 

Yes, simple.

Seen it.

"Ok, so I should be able to just do a cleanse and salt the windows and it'll be ok?"

Should.

You smiled, glancing all around once again, "Thank you so much Anne, we really appreciate your help." and with that, you brought Nate from the trance, knowing exactly what you had to do next. 

━─━────༺✧༻────━─━

Just like last time, after following what Anne had told you, everything seemed to be fine and quickly returning to normal.

Turns out, you may have an attachment, but it was a very sweet attachment who seemed to be choosing to use her time to play 'spiritual guard dog' for your happy home, rather than be trapped within the sorrowful cycle of memories plaguing her own.

#nate hardy #nate hardy x reader #nate hardy imagine #sam and colby imagine #part 2

[kjagasanpijrtu]

Hi! I do conlang commissions!

Call me Ire (she/they). I'm 23 and I'm away too into worldbuilding for my own good. I love talking about all these worlds locked up in my head and giving advice. My askbox is open for anyone looking for advice or guidance, or just interest in any of my worlds or conlangs

Speaking of conlangs, I DO COMMISSIONS I CAN AND WILL MAKE ONE FOR YOU IF YOU WANT. I may or may not have a special interest in linguistics lmao

For anyone interested in my credentials, I've made 7 or so conlangs and contributed to a few extra, and I specialize in synthetic and polysynthetic inflection. My commissions are open and actively support me while I put myself through the hell that is american higher education. I'd love it so much if you'd let me make a language for you!

Pricing and terms below the cut, dm if interested <3

Ko-fi Venmo

I divide the languages I make into 4 parts: Phonology, Grammar, Dictionary, and Writing System. I charge a certain amount for each part depending on the desired complexity for each, and I can do all or some parts depending on your needs. For example I can make an entire language from scratch or I can focus on, say, just the phonology or dictionary if you would prefer to do the other parts yourself

In other words you're basically ordering a custom language like a sandwich, as stupid as that sounds. I'm very flexible so don't be afraid to tell me what you're looking for, especially if it's weird (I love weird, don't hold back). Just beware that complexity charges may apply at any stage if what you're looking for is particularly laborious

TL;DR: A barebones conlang with 150 words and no writing system costs about $35. A language with the full complexity and dumbassery of English with 550 words would be $138 (and might incur some complexity charges)

Additional details at the bottom (they are important please read them). Interspersed are some samples of writing systems I've made, all of which have alt text that contain some juicy details. Prices are in USD

Phonology /fəʊ.nɑːɫə.d͡ʒi/

How you want the language to sound. Choose one.

Simple Phonology - $5

I'll make a vowel and consonant chart for the language's phonemic inventory with IPA characters (as seen above). This of course will also include a romanized alphabet you can use to make your own words if you wish.

Full Phonotactics - $10

Everything in Simple Phonology plus more details including charts of possible syllable structure & consonant clusters, vowel stress & tone, and any other phonological feature you'd like to add.

Grammar ∅

How you want the language to work. Can be similar to or vastly different from English, all up to you. Choose one.

Basic Grammar - $20

I'll make rules that cover basic sentences and questions, including basic inflection for nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs if applicable. Includes ~50 basic and grammatical words.

Complex Grammar - $30

Everything in basic grammar plus extra rules that cover complex sentences and word derivation (which may give you extra free words!)

Natlang Grammar - $50

All the bells and whistles. All of the above plus extra declensions, inconsistencies, and situational grammatical constructs. You'll be putting me through the wringer.

Dictionary 📖

The words themselves, even the weird ones.

Words - $10 Per 100 Words

I'll build you a dictionary for your language, word by word. You're welcome to also interpret this as 10¢ per word if you just need a handful. Plus I have a word bank so you can customize what general topics you want to focus on.

Writing System 𐎧𐏁𐎠𐎹𐎰𐎡𐎹

How you want your language to be natively written (my fav part). See below to decide what works best for your language if you want one.

Alphabet - $20 ΑΛΦΑΒΕΤ

A writing system where each character represents a single sound. A versatile choice that can work for pretty much any language, as evidenced by the Latin alphabet and its variations being the most used writing system in the world.

Abjad - $25 أبجد عربي

The predecessor to the alphabet which only writes consonants and rarely includes vowels. Best used for languages that have a heavy focus on consonants and where vowels don't carry much grammatical meaning, like Arabic, Ge'ez, or Aramaic.

Alpha-Syllabary/Abugida - $25 한글 अबुगिदा

A middleground option between an alphabet and a syllabary, where each character is made up of smaller parts that come together to represent a syllable. Another versatile choice used all over the Indian subcontinent and the Korean Peninsula.

Syllabary - $35 ひらがな カタカナ ᏣᎳᎩ

A writing system where every character represents a syllable. Fits best with languages that have lots of open syllables, like Japanese, Inuktitut, or Cherokee. More expensive because syllabaries often contain a large number of characters.

Logography - $1 Per Word 漢字

A writing system where every character reassembles a whole word or concept. Can work for any kind of language but works best with languages that are phonologically dense and/or have simple grammar.

Mixed - Negotiable وαत ðə ファⲕ 암 あй रीᏗŋ

Want a system that incorporates more than one of these? Great! Those are my favorite to make!

Number System - $8 ٩ ٨ ٧ ٦ ٥ ٤ ٣ ٢ ١ ٠ I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

If you want I can create a written number system to pair with your writing system. It can be simple or complex and can be any base you want (within reason of course).

To make this as easy as possible for me to understand what to make for you, please provide a reference, idea, or general vibe for each part of the language. I understand not everyone has that much knowledge about languages so I won't request anything too specific, but examples from real-world languages usually give me a lot to work with.

Terms ⚠️

Final product will be a single Excel Spreadsheet (.xlsx file) for one language that contains instructions on how to use and expand the language. Unfortunately I don't have enough experience with vector files or fonts to provide digital versions of the writing systems I make so photos of hand-drawn characters are all I offer for now.

Payment is minimum 50% upfront and the rest upon completion before the final product is delivered, as it divides the trust evenly between two unfamiliar parties. I accept payment through Venmo and Ko-fi only (no crypto or other bullshit).

Refunds: if something occurs where I will not be able to fulfill a commission, I will do what I can to return any money given to me. However if significant work has been put into a commission before an event that prevents its completion, the initial 50% payment will not be refunded.

Usage: if the language I make for you is used in a publicly released creative project, I ask that you credit me. Please notify me if you plan on using your language commercially.

I maintain the right to alter terms and pricing.

Thank you for reading this far ur amazing <3

#commission #comm #conlang #constructed language #language #langblr #scriptwriting #calligraphy #pinned post #worldbuilding #world building #fantasy #linguistics #creative writing

[mobbu-min]

So we know that we can take care of the housewardens as kittens but will they take care of us if we are kittens?

good question, excellent question really and its definitely... depends on the housewarden. okay but before I answer this, I got a request (and working on said request) of this exact scenario, but idk when that will be posted, so here are my thoughts and personal opinions. sorry for the bad grammar and inconsistent thoughts, im literally so stressed rn lol

but to anyone that might stumble across this and wonder 'what the hell am I reading' then let me introduce you to the 'twst kitty accident' (name still pending): one, two, three

im going to say it, but the best housewarden and dorm to be looked after is pomfiore. kitty!mc would literally be treated like royalty. vil would take excellent care of you and would pamper the shit out of you. he's constantly making sure you look your best and will make you little hats and bows to wears (the two of you have coordinating fits) might even carry you around in a little handbag like chloe from beverly hills chihuahua no joke

second is riddle, he's responsible and constantly keeping a watchful eye on you. tho, he's never had a pet before so he's kinda clueless. but treys there to watch you when riddle can't and the adeuce (which is no doubt the cause of your transformation) would be extra gentle with you. cater makes a fan page of kitty!mc tho :/

at first kalim and malleus was a tie for third, but kalim gets the one up bc of Jamil. nothing against diasomnia but jamil will make edible food. kalim is a little rough not that he means to (he's a little oblivious) but he's always carrying you around and getting you the softest pillows. gives you little kissies on the head before he goes mimi ni-night

malleus has probably had one pet in the past probably like a crow or something, but that was eons ago. so he's a little dense but learns fast and takes really good care of kitty!mc, hold yous in his arms like a baby(me next plz), shows you magic tricks, let's you sit on his head so you can get a closer look of the gargoyles, will read you bedtime stories, probs had Lilia make t-shirt for all of diasomnia with your face on it(kitty obvi), he gets cat ears to match with you. its really hard to tell, who the one enjoying it. he makes sure to keep you away from the kitchen anytime Lilia's up to mischief ahem, creative endeavours.

I kinda forgot about Azul (sorry sweetie) but! i am content with his placement. will def try to market off of your cuteness and will probably forget that you're there, which has led to him closing up monstro lounge and leaving you there in the dark until he wakes up in cold sweat and runs to get you in his matching silk pajamas, octopus slippers and little night cap. but if you can look over that, Azul isn't the worst. he'll play with you, feed you the best food, let you lay on his lap(let me lay on his lap instead) and just generally is a lot more open about his gentleness? kindness? emotions?

he gets points docked down bc of floyd and the jade (they know what they've done)

for last place, Leona and Idia are tied. I can't make up my mind

on one hand, Leona treats you more like a neck pillow then anything (also considering your a whole ass kitten in a predator den is kinda really terrifying) he purposely forgets about you and will carry you around but your scruff. will give you to ruggie at some point who just might(will) hand you to jack bc 'you're friends!' but on the flip side, he's also a cat. and will take all the cat naps you want with you. tends to groom you and vice versa, it's a little weird but Leona's really warm and his purrs are comforting, so who are you to object (let me lay on your chest Leona, plz just one chance)

idia doesn't even take care of himself, what makes you think he can take care of another living being??? Ortho is your literal guardian angel (bless that child) the only pro I can think of is that idia doesn't leave his room, so you can always nap on his lap and he doesn't really mind (at first he was a fuckin statue) his hands are cold but fingers are really long, so it feels live when he runs his fingers through your fur. also tried to dress you up in cosplays, so if you're into that, cool, if not, I'm sorry? (me personally, I would not let that slide)

so these are my thoughts, I had a lot of fun writing it bc I have too many thoughts and but no will power to write it unless asked so... yeah. hope this answers your question :)

#i plan(hope) to this request done soon #ive just been exhausted and stressed bc of school and shit #senior hasn't even begun anf im already considering dropping out #kitty!mc #twst hcs #twst headcanons #twst x reader #twisted wonderland hcs #twisted wonderland x reader #kitty!twst #i meant to say senior year

[moonbeamgoddess]

Stars and Moon, Guide me Tonight

Chapter 3

✨You were everything to me, my stars and moon, now the sky look dark without you✨

AN: Sorry if Ao'nung's name is inconsistent with the spelling of Aonung or Ao'nung. Also, there might be some spelling or grammar mistakes I didn't catch, as my keyboard keeps acting weird.

Word count: 4k+

TW: A smudge of angst, Neteyam feeling like a bad brother, small talks of death, probably some cursing, Lo'ak getting into a lot of trouble which makes him get yelled at, possibly some grammar or spelling errors.

divider by @cafekitsune

Jake had dragged both Lo’ak and Neteyam back to the family marui after the fight between them, Ao’nung, and the other Metkayina boys had been discovered. I was silently following behind with my head held down as I knew we were in big trouble. Neteyam while trying to put pressure on his busted lip to stop the stinging, while Lo’ak held his arm. Jake looked out of the marui for a second before glaring back at the three of us.

“What was the one thing I asked? The one thing!” Jake exclaimed as he kept his focus on Lo’ak. “Stay out of trouble” Lo’ak mumbled “Stay out of trouble, Right” Jake added. Neteyam looked down at the floor and then looked back up. He put his hands up to try and defuse the situation. “It was my fault.” Neteyam tried to take the blame, I sighed knowing it wasn't going to work this time with our father.

“I don't think so. You gotta stop takin’ the heat for this knucklehead.” Jake scolded Neteyam. Neteyam looked away and had a look of “I tried”. As Neteyam stepped back, Lo’ak stepped forward. “Look Dad, Ao’nung was picking on Kiri and y/n. He called Kiri a freak” Lo’ak tried to defend himself for what had happened. I softly stepped behind Neteyam as he seemed a bit agitated, and hugged him from behind.

Jake slightly froze and sighed, grimacing at the situation and looking back outside. Jake then looked back at Lo’ak and sighed again. “Go apologize to Ao’nung,” Jake said with a low voice. Neteyam looked over at Lo’ak as Lo’ak looked at our father with disbelief. “What?” Lo’ak asked. Neteyam looked back at Jake then looked away, licking at his wounded lip and rubbing it, before looking back at me and sighing.

“He is the chief’s son. Do you understand? I don't care how you do it. Just go make peace” Jake firmly said to Lo’ak, tail flicking behind him in irritation. “Just go” Jake added. “I can go with him” I quickly said but was stopped by Jake. “No, he needs to apologize himself” Lo’ak shook his head in disbelief at having to apologize for defending his siblings, but he obliged and started walking out of the marui. I let go of Neteyam when he started also walking out, following behind him before our father called out for Neteyam.

“Hey.” Jake softly called out to Neteyam, which caused both of us to turn back. “So what’d the other guys look like?” I smiled at what Jake said but hid my face behind Neteyam’s shoulder to hide my smile. Neteyam paused for a second before looking back up at Jake. “Worse” Neteyam mumbled, not knowing if he was in trouble or not. “That's good.” Jake nodded his head in approval. That made Neteyam smile slightly and answer with “A lot worse.”

“Get outta here.” Jake dismissed Neteyam, to which he started walking out. “Y/n, hang back for a second” Jake called out before I followed Neteyam, which made me freeze. I turned back to face my father, worried he was holding off a lecture for me till my brothers were out of earshot. “First and foremost, are you okay?” Jake softly asked. I was a bit surprised but quickly nodded my head. “I'm okay, mentally and physically if that's what you're asking.” I give Jake a reassuring smile. “Okay, that's good”

Jake sighed again and put his hands on his hips. “I'm glad you didn't join in on the fighting, it's one thing to have your brothers involved in a fight, it's another to have three of my children in a fight.” Jake rolled his shoulders, walked closer to me, and hugged me. “I don't want you getting hurt, I know you can protect yourself, but I don't ever want you to be in a situation that can hurt you, I love you,” Jake whispered. “But if you did end up fighting, what do I always say?” Jake looked down at me and held my face in his hands.

“Aim for the side of the knee so they fall and make sure they can't get back up” I smiled up at Jake. “Good, now go on” Jake dismissed me. I ran out of the marui and went to go find Neteyam. I found Neteyam sitting on the beach by the water, looking out at the ocean. I giggled as I leaned against his back and over him, my hair blocking his view. “What art thou doing, brother?” I mimicked an old British accent I heard back when Norm was watching TV. “Just decomposing” Neteyam replied with a smile and pushed my hair out of his face.

I sigh and get up from leaning against Neteyam, and just sitting beside him. “Are you okay?” I quietly asked. “Yeah, I'm okay—” Neteyam looked over at me. “No, I mean are you okay,” I asked Neteyam again, more firmly. “I'm asking as your twin, your confidant” I looked at Neteyam and held his hand. “No, I feel tired all the time, and I feel like I'm not doing enough to protect everyone. I can't even keep Lo’ak out of trouble like I promised” Neteyam sighed and leaned his head against my shoulder.

“I sometimes feel like I can't breathe, like I'm being crushed by the overwhelming pressure of everything, I want to just get some sleep but I never seem to be able to because of all the chaos that has transpired. I have to be the immovable older brother. The sibling that doesn't get overwhelmed and handles everything perfectly, the one that takes care of everything and everyone.” Neteyam shifted his head to hide his face in my shoulder, tears falling from his eyes.

“And I feel like a failure when I don't handle the stress with ease, I feel like I'm not worthy because I'm not the perfect son everyone sees” Neteyam continued. I took in a shaky breath as I leaned my head against Neteyam’s, and put my hand on top of his to give him comfort. “I'm sorry that I haven't been there to bear the burden with you. You shouldn't have to keep all these feelings in. Neteyam, you're an amazing person, you may not think you handle everything well, but you are the most resilient person I know.” I smile at Neteyam.

“Share the burden with me, put half of that stress onto me, I can handle it. We're twins after all, and were supposed to share everything, even burdens. I'm here for you and always will be, and I'll always be in your corner, please don't keep your feelings bottled up, it can hurt you in the long run. I'll always be here when you just want to rant.” I kissed Neteyam’s forehead. “There is a saying I tell myself when I feel down in the dumps.”

I looked up at the midday sky and took a deep breath of the sea air. “Stars and Moon, guide me tonight” I whispered out to Neteyam. “I say it to myself under the night sky and close my eyes. Then after a few minutes of silence, I feel better and ready to take on the next day. You should try it” I look back at Neteyam. “Sad to say, but it's midday, not night.” Neteyam chuckled and smiled back at me. “I know, you don't always have to say it when you see the stars, I mean the stars and moon are always out, even when we don't see them” I laughed.

Neteyam looked at the sky, taking in the bright blue view. He then closed his eyes and inhaled. “Stars and Moon, guide me tonight” he whispered to himself. I smiled and leaned my head back against Neteyam.

Neteyam and I parted ways so he could have a chance to figure out his emotions in peace and quiet. I was walking along the beach, starting to wonder where Lo’ak was. I started to look around for him, calling out for his name, it was becoming Eclipse and getting dark. I started to get a bit worried as it's been hours since I last saw him. “Lo’ak!! This isn't funny! Where are you?!” I grew frustrated as I had a bad feeling in my stomach.

I sighed and gave up looking around the beach as it got dark. I decided to check back at home to see if he had returned. Unfortunately, I didn't find him, I was about to ask my father but saw him talking to Kiri. Soon after Neteyam comes storming in with Ao’nung, holding him by his queue and pushing him towards Jake. “Tell him what you told me!” Neteyam snarled in anger. I walked closer as my heart dropped in fear and anticipation at what may have happened to Lo'ak. Ao’nung looked nervous and took in a shaky breath.

As soon as Ao’nung spoke, I felt my heart drop to my stomach and my ears ringing. I sprinted out of the marui and called for Oare. I made the bond and started flying over the ocean, trying to spot Lo’ak. I was scared he was hurt or worse, dead, especially since the reef is a dangerous part of the ocean. “Please don't be dead, please don't be dead!” I cried to myself, terrified that I couldn't protect my brother, my heart felt like it was pounding in my chest and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I heard the horn playing, indicating Lo’ak had been found. I quickly flew back and landed with Oare. I hope they found him alive and not his body. I quickly gave Oare a treat and sprinted toward where the large crowd was. I felt like I was going to throw up from the stress.

I pushed past the crowd, my father, and my mother, and slammed my body into Lo’ak, holding him tightly against me and crying while pressing my face into the side of his head. My ears were still ringing, but I heard that my mother was speaking. “No. My son knows better than to take him outside the reef.” Tonowari looked over at Neytiri and made Ao’nung kneel. “The blame is his”

“What the hell were you thinking?!” I screamed at Ao’nung as I let go of Lo’ak. “You could have gotten him killed you skxawng!! Are you that crazy that you would get the guy who beat you in a fight killed just because your ego was hurt?!” I continued to scream at Ao’nung, as I was furious that he almost got Lo’ak killed. Jake tried to pull me away and calm me down. I snarl at my father in a fit of rage as my emotions were all over the place.

“No. This is not Ao’nung’s fault. This was my idea” Lo’ak spoke up. I looked back at him with confusion as I knew Lo’ak was smart enough to know not to go beyond the reef. “Ao’nung tried to talk me out of it. Really.” Lo’ak continued. I knew Lo’ak was lying, and trying to take the blame off of Ao’nung. “Even if that's true he should have told someone about what you were doing, not leaving you out there for hours to fend for yourself or to die!” I snapped, grabbing Lo’ak’s face as I wiped away some blood from a cut on his face.

Jake urged Lo’ak to move it and started walking away from the crowd. “Dad, you told me to make friends with these kids. That's all I was trying to…” Lo’ak tried to defend himself from Jake, but Jake cut him off with “I don't want to hear it”. Lo’ak sighed “Dad...”. “You brought shame to this family” Jake glared at Lo’ak. “Dad! Don't say that!” I snapped at Jake, hugging Lo’ak closer to me to comfort him. Lo’ak looked defeated and gently pried himself out of my grasp. “Can I go now?” Lo’ak quietly asked. “Any more trouble, I jerk a knot in your tail. You read me?” Jake reprimanded Lo’ak. “Yes sir. Lima Charlie.” Lo’ak replied. Jake softened his gaze and tone. “Go on” he whispered.

I sighed as I watched Lo’ak walk away. “Where were you?” Neytiri asked Neteyam. “What happened to keep an eye on your brother?” Jake turned his focus to Neteyam. “Sorry sir” Neteyam replied and bowed his head. “I should have also been keeping an eye on Lo’ak, I'm also at fault.” I spoke up as I looked back at my family, as Neteyam shouldn't take all the blame as I'm also the older sibling.

“I wish I’d been there” Kiri spoke up with a smile. “The ocean blessed you with a gift, brother.” she continued. Lo’ak, Kiri, Neteyam, Tuk, Tsireya, Rotxo, Ao’nung, and I were all sitting around in a circle, with the sun rising behind us. “The tulkun have not returned yet. And anyway, no tulkun is ever alone.” Ao’nung spoke up. “Well, this one was” Lo’ak replied. “He had a missing fin. Like a stump. On the left side,” Lo’ak looked towards Tsireya. “Poor tulkun.” Tuk softly spoke up, I gave Tuk a hug and rubbed her arm. Tsireya was in thought for a moment because having a worried look on her face. “Payakan” she looked back at Lo’ak.

“What?” Lo’ak quietly asked and looked confused. “It’s Payakan” Tsireya looked back at Rotxo and Ao’nung. Kiri tilted her head in confusion, “Who’s Payakan?” she asked. I looked at Tsireya with a bit of worry as her tone suggested that Payakan wasn't exactly a safe tulkun. Roxto looked at Kiri and then back at the rest of the group. “A young bull who went rouge. He’s outcast. Alone.” Rotxo spoke up. “And he has a missing fin.” he added.

Tsireya looked back at Lo’ak and gently grabbed his arm. “They say he is a killer.” which made Lo’ak shake his head, “No, No” Lo’ak dismissed what she was saying. Ao’nung spoke up and leaned further down to Lo’ak. “He killed Na’vi, and other tulkun. Not here, but far to the south.” Ao’nung slightly shrugged his shoulders. “No, he’s no killer.” Lo’ak shot back. Tsireya softly called out Lo’ak’s name. “You are lucky to be alive.” Tsireya continued.

“I’m telling you guys. He saved my life. He’s my friend.” Lo’ak looked at Tsireya, holding her wrist, then looking back at the rest of us. Neteyam looked down and then stood up. “My baby bro!” Neteyam smirked as he put his hands on Lo’ak’s shoulders. “The Mighty Warrior. Who faced the killer tulkun, and lived to tell about it, huh?” Neteyam continued which led to Lo’ak pushing Neteyam off.

“Neteyam, leave him alone.” I sighed and rolled my eyes at Neteyam trying to tease Lo’ak. Lo’ak then stood up, looking irritated and annoyed. “You guys aren't listening,” Lo’ak grumbled. “Lo’ak, I’m listening,” Tuk called out. “Yeah, we’re listening Lo’ak,” I spoke up and tried to make Lo’ak feel heard. “Lo’ak come back,” Kiri called out as Lo’ak started to walk away from the group. “You skxawngs” I grumbled as I watched Lo’ak walk away.

Kiri, Tuk, Neteyam, Rotxo, Tsireya, and I were all swimming through the ocean on our ilu’s. We all seam up to the surface, gazing in awe at the scenery. “We are here” Tsireya smiled back at us. “This is the cove of the ancestors. Our most sacred place.” Tsireya explained. I smiled in awe as I looked around the cove, mesmerized by its beauty. I lifted my hand to shield my eyes from the setting sun. “Eclipse is the best time of day to be here.” Tsireya told us, as the sun was setting and it was getting dark.

We went more into the cove and came across a glowing underwater tree. “This is it,” Tsireya spoke up. “This is the Spirit Tree” Tsireya motioned her hand forward. I looked over at my siblings and smiled with them as we dove into the water and swam closer to the Spirit Tree. It was such a beautiful sight, the soft glow of the purple mixing with the blue of the water.

I swam next to Neteyam as we connected our queues to the tree and closed our eyes. I was taken back to a memory of when I was a kid. The faint smell of grass and dirt filled my nose, I felt the wind rushing past me, and I felt free. “Y/n wait up!” A younger version of Neteyam called out for me as he followed me through the forest. I was jumping across tree roots and rocks. Spider was also following me, he was a little bit ahead of Neteyam. I could hear his laughter echoing through the forest.

“Hurry up you slow pokes! We’re going to miss it!” I shouted back as I launched myself up onto a low tree branch and kept running as fast as I could. Spider playfully grabbed my tail to pull me back which made me yelp but laugh at his antics. We finally arrived at a clearing in the forest, it had a ton of flowers and enchanting flora. The blue, purple, and pink flowers started to bloom, letting the little fairy-like creatures rise from the flowers and create an alluring and colorful array of patterns as the beings flew around.

Spider lifted himself onto my shoulder to watch the show, and Neteyam kneeled next to me as the color lit up the area. “They look like colorful stars” I softly giggled as I tilted my head in awe. I then grabbed Spider’s and Neteyam’s hands and dragged them to the middle of the area. I started spinning and laughing as I played among the creatures, laughing at the colors filling my vision. Spider cheered as he chased the creatures, laughing as they flew around him. Neteyam smiled and started spinning around with me.

The three of us fell into the flowers and looked up into the sky, the fairy-like beings flying up and spreading out as the left. I felt at peace like nothing could ever hurt me. Then suddenly I was pulled from the happy memory. My eyes opened and the lights of the Spirit Tree were flickering, I saw Kiri seizing and immediately disconnected my queue and quickly swam towards her like everyone was doing.

Tsireya disconnected Kiri’s queue which caused the lights to go out, Neteyam, Tsireya, and I all started to pull Kiri up above the water. Rotxo swam over to help us. I felt my heart racing as I helped Neteyam put her onto his ilu. Tuk called out to Kiri with worry, “What is wrong? What is it?” Tuk calls out as she swims closer. Neteyam sits on his ilu and I help him pull Kiri up to lie across the ilu. “It was a seizure” Neteyam quickly said to Tuk. He then started to perform mouth-to-mouth CPR. “Is she breathing?” Rotxi kept asking with a worried tone. I grabbed Kiri’s hand and looked at Neteyam with worry, hoping it could help her. “Kiri” I softly mumbled.

Kiri started coughing and gasping. “Get her to the village! Hurry!” Tsireya urged Neteyam. “Let’s go! Let’s move!” Neteyam exclaimed. I called for my ilu and helped Tuk onto mine as I started to follow Neteyam. Tuk wrapped her arms around my waist to hang on as I kept up with Neteyam’s speed. “Will she be okay?” Tuk sadly asked. “Of course, we’re going to patch her right up” I reassured Tuk.

I helped lay Kiri on the mat as my mother and father came rushing in the marui, Jake called Norm and Max to ask them to send over help as Kiri had a seizure. Neteyam followed Jake outside to wait for the Samson helicopter to arrive. I kept a hold of Kiri’s hand as I brushed her hair out of her face. “It's going to be okay, you're going to get patched up.” I whispered to Kiri even though she was unconscious.

Jake and Norm came in with the gear from the helicopter, I moved out of the way so they could set everything up and help Kiri. Neteyam gently pulled on my arm to take me out of the marui so Kiri could be healed. I started crying into his chest as I covered my face with my hands. Neteyam rubbed his hands up and down my back to try and soothe me. “Oh Ewya please let her be okay” I mumbled to myself as I was shaken up from Kiri seizing underwater. "She'll be okay" Neteyam whispered into my ear to try and help calm me down.

I saw Ronal walking over to our marui, with Tsireya behind her, holding the basket of supplies. I decided to leave the boys outside and see if I could help in any way I could. Ronal started performing her treatment, and I handed her whatever she asked me to bring her and she gave Tuk whatever she was done with. Soon Kiri gasped and opened her eyes. “Kiri!” Tuk and I both exclaimed with joy.

Neytiri grabbed Kiri’s hand and cried while pressing her cheek into Kiri’s hand. Kiri started crying and I rubbed my hand on her forehead to try and soothe her. "It's okay, you're safe now, you're safe" I whispered to Kiri.

I was helping Lo’ak roll up the hammocks when my ears perked up at the sound of a conch being blown. I stepped outside and saw the Metkayina cheering and jumping into the water to swim into the open waters. I got onto Neteyam’s ilu as we followed everyone else to the tulkun. Neteyam chuckled with joy as we looked around at the science happening before us.

We swam around the tulkun, smiling at all the excitement that was happening. Neteyam then started to chase Ao’nung around, I held onto Neteyam’s waist to not fall off his ilu as he sped around the tulkun and Na’vi.

Rotxo, Ao’nung, Tsireya, Neteyam, and I all swam behind some plants to watch Lo’ak interact with Payakan. I looked confused about what was going on as Payakan opened their mouth as Lo’ak waded in front of them. Lo’ak then started to swim into Payakan’s mouth, which made me look over at Neteyam and then Tsireya in confusion. Payakan then closed their mouth which made my eyes widen in fear and Neteyam tried to quickly swim over, But Ao’nung put his hand on Neteyam’s shoulder and Tsireya grabbed his wrist and signaled for Neteyam to wait.

I kept my head down as I followed Ronal and Tonowari to their marui, with the rest of the group also following along. “You allowed this. You allowed him to bond with the outcast!” Ronal reprimanded her children, her breath was shaky from her trying to control her anger. Tonowari walked closer to Tsireya. “Tsireya. You disappoint me, daughter” Tonowari scolded her, which made Tsireya slightly flinch. Then Tonowari turned to Lo’ak, right as our parents came up to the marui and stood behind us. “And you, son of a great warrior, who has been taught better.”

“Payakan saved my life, sir. You don’t know him.” Lo’ak retorted. Tsireya tried to tell Lo’ak to stop. “Sit” Tonowari motioned for Lo’ak to sit. Which Lo’ak complied. Then he screamed at all of us to sit down which we quickly did. “Hear my words, boy. In the days of the First Songs, tulkun fought amongst themselves, for territory, and for revenge. But they came to believe that killing, no matter how justified, only brings more killing. So all killing was forbidden. This is the Tulkun Way.” Tonowari then took a deep breath.

“Payakan is a killer, so, he is outcast.” Tonowari continued. “I’m sorry, sir. But you’re wrong.” I grimaced and slapped Lo’ak’s arm. “Lo’ak! You realize you’re speaking to Olo’eyktan, right?!” I scolded Lo’ak as I knew if he continued he could get into big trouble. Lo’ak tried to continue but Jake stopped him. “That’s enough!”

“I know what I know” Lo’ak added, which made Ronal snarl and Jake step closer to him. “That’s enough.” Jake repeated but with a bit more force in his voice. “I’ll deal with this one,” Jake told Tonowari as he roughly grabbed Lo’ak’s arm and dragged him away.

#avatar 2022 #avatar the way of water #avatar way of water #avatar x sully!reader #loak sully #neteyam sully #atwow neteyam #jake sully #jake sully x daughter!reader #lo’ak avatar #neytiri x daughter!reader #kiri x sister!reader #tuk x sister!reader #tuktirey sully #sully!reader #kiri sully #neteyam x sister!reader #neteyam te suli tsyeyk'itan

[unhingedhousehold]

hairdresser

summary: it's bradley's first craft and he's proud of it, and he didn't know the response he received would be more than a simple thank you.

haha I'm bad at giving summary and title haha also what am i doing this blog is supposed to be my reading blog

pairing: bradley bradshaw x fem!reader

warnings: fluff, implied smut, friends to lovers i think, fem!reader, no use of y/n, reader has enough hair to get tied up, love confession???, mainly written using bradley's pov, bad grammar, me being inconsistent of using the dagger squad's real name or their call signs so it's mix up hahaha, blatantly copying wikihow on how to tie a ponytail helppppp

words: around 2,5k+ i think

note: so.. here is my first baby. this is my first attempt at writing after so many years and I'm so used t reading fics now i feel like i wanted to try out to write something. please be advised that english isn't my first language and I'm only familiar to write using my native language (which isn't english) so i apologized if you found any grammatical errors or repeated words 😢

i don't consent of my work being translated or copied, please be respectful of someone's work!

For anyone who didn’t know better, they would have called Bradley a creep with the way his eyes set on you the moment Phoenix dragged you away from him to join her defeat Coyote and Hangman in a game of pool. Bradley looks at you softly, eyes smitten and a small smile formed at his beautiful lips as he held back his laughter when he saw you successfully pocketed a ball and laughed at Jake's face as he rolled his eyes because you started making funny faces to rile him further.

You’re feet away, but he can hear your sweet laughs going through his ears and why does it feel like you’re exist in another dimension? You seem so far from where he's sitting, and it’s stupid because few strides and he would have you in his embrace. He didn’t know where his relationship with you stand because calling it a friend seems like it defeats what you truly mean in his life because you’re more than a friend to him.

Phoenix told him you’re his caretaker, looking at how you always make sure he had his dentist apointment scheduled on his phone calendar, you cook for him sometimes because Bradley would not have made it this far if he only had boxed mac and cheese and frozen pizza stocked at his refrigerator to survive. Payback mentioned in his drunken state on Hangman's birthday how you are Rooster's guardian angel and he wished he had someone like you, who would pick him up after a crazy shenanigans resulted of too many drinks just like you who got Bradley’s back to make sure he is sober enough to function the next day. And it’s a funny memory to him when Halo one day asked him if his girlfriend is kidnapped or what because she hasn’t replied her text since yesterday but to call you as his girlfriend seems too much (he’s not sure if you scolding him when you 'found out he didn’t use warm temperature to wash his white clothes to make it as clean as possible and Bradley got more earful from you when he said he didn’t even wash his white and colored linens separately to avoid color transfer' count as a girlfriend thing to do because Bob says it is), to put friends with benefits label just like what Hangman said is kind of not right because although you two spent few nights got tangled and panting each other’s name, he didn’t merely just see you for someone to please his biological needs.

To put it lightly, in Bradley's mind, you’re more than what he could’ve put in words.

But what he surely knows is that, he didn’t take it well when some-officer-he-didn’t-know-what-his-name-is tried to give it a try to ask you out last month. He didn’t straight up ask you yet though, he asked Bob after training saying if that girl you’ve gone grocery shopping for BBQ night at Fanboy’s with is spoken for, and Coyote who stood next to Bob swore he never saw Bradley gave someone a death glare that hard before. Coyote took the matters into his own hand for the sake of Bradley’s sanity (and for whoever the poor guy is to live longer), and instead of meeting Bob’s reply, he was met with Coyote's “She’s in a whatever relationship with someone, I suppose. Saw her came in to The Hard Deck with a guy last night.” Coyote didn’t specify who is the guy, but everyone who’s present at The Hard Deck last night knew he’s talking about Bradley.

Poor that guy for not knowing though, and Bradley wouldn't say it.

He was in a deep thought to the point he didn’t hear a feminine voice from a woman who’s standing next to him pointing to an empty seat next to his, apparently she's been trying to get his attention by asking him ‘Sir, is this seat taken?’ to which he said no (honestly, it’s kind of taken; you sat on it few minutes ago but now you’re not.. so it should be vacant, right? And if you’re back and found that your seat has been taken, Bradley would offer you his lap sit on. Ha. Sly. And kind of smart.) Bradley shakes his head, let the woman sit and setting his gaze at you again. You’re now bending over the pool table, brows furrowed to make your shoot but Hangman being the menace he is, checking you out from behind and all Bradley wanted to do was drown him or smack his big head.

Whatever relationship?

Well, that works too.

Maybe whatever is right. It doesn’t matter what relationship you and Bradley have, because you’re always with him and he’s always seen with you.

Maybe having no label to the relationship wouldn’t make it weird for further rendezvous you both got caught up in. He’s not sure if you’re up for a relationship, considering you have had your fair share of failed relationships before, and Bradley assumed he carries a lot of emotional baggages to even start a relationship, let alone a serious one.

“Beer sounds good.” He heard her called a new bartender Penny just hired last week, Gio, asking him for two bottles of beer. Bradley still had his eyes on you, who’s now laughing at whatever jabs Payback threw at Jake. He ponders for a bit, has he ever made you laugh like that? Because Bradley didn’t think he had a good sense of humor, thanks to years of being so tense in attempts to build his walls so high no one would be able to get in.

“I’m like new in town and I have no idea what to order.” A voice beside him surprised his train of thought, he didn’t think the woman would want to make a conversation with him but honestly, who is he kidding?

He’s charming, it’s no wonder people would take their chance to try with him, and it would be so stupid to not at least indulge him for a convo or two. He thought for a bit and said, “Maybe a beer.” He knew it sounded somewhat rude, why didn’t he say something like ‘What’s your preference?’ or ‘The bartender is good at giving recommendations, you can ask him. Sorry I can’t be a help’ but in Bradley’s defense, he didn’t know much about drinks despite the amount of time and money he spent at The Hard Deck (Penny jokingly said the reason why Amelia took a piano class is because Bradley gives the best tip, he laughed).

He felt a cold sensation on his arm, and he looked to his right and saw a bottle of beer shoved to him by the woman whose name he didn’t recall because he’s been looking at you the whole time instead of making a small talk.

“You didn’t have a drink so I suppose buying you one wouldn’t be a bad idea.” She said with ease, smile gracing her feature when he accepted the beer out of politeness, and she clinked the head of her bottle to his and took one small gulp.

(He didn’t have his drink on him because you brought it with you, and he felt butterflies in his stomach when he realized you drank from the same bottle as him so it should count as indirect kissing, no? And he found it funny at the thought because you two have been down at each other’s throat before, done more than kissings and make outs, and oh god he has seen your naked figure too! So why did the idea of you drinking from the same bottle as him made him weak at the knees? This whatever relationship has started to mess up his brain, he thinks.)

He said thanks, and the woman started to make a move by starting a conversation with the infomation that she just moved to San Diego few days ago as a result of her friend’s recommendation. Bradley gave what a good friend you have as his answer and she chuckled. She took his answer as a green light to prolong the conversation, asking what does he do, if the job is worth the salary, if he frequents the bar often, if he just got back from a summer Hawaii trip and got the shirt as souvenir, she babbled about it’s kind of sad the owner of the place she’s staying at didn’t allow any pets, thus she couldn’t bring her dog with her and suddenly all the sound around him is muted and he couldn’t hear what is she saying when she explained about her next door neighboor who didn’t have a pechant of shame for having sex at 2am, because there you are, a human form of sunshine, walking to him.

You rummaged through your slingbag for a while. Bradley didn't say anything, like it's a common occurrence to have your bag with him and he keeps an eye on it. The woman next to him asking him something like if he knows a good Italian restaurant and when he apologized for not having a knowledge about it, he felt a small fist from you swatting his chest lightly and you grumbled, there's one that we frequent to, how could you forget! and when he looked at your expression, he saw you pouting, not because he didn't remember he went to an Italian restaurant with you, but because you didn’t find what you’re looking for in the bag.

He sat up straight, unconsciously fixing his shirt (there’s nothing to fix), placing his beer at the counter behind him. Your hair is a bit damp due to the heat the bar produces and how hard you tried to win the game, few strands of hair falling all over your face, and you smiled so bright he’s sure the sun would’ve wanted to put its job to rest and have you up there instead.

You reached for your slingbag when you arrived in front of Bradley; it’s slung over Bradley’s broad and wide shoulder, it’s kind of a cute sight because your yellow slingbag matches the yellow Hawaiian shirt he chose to wear tonight. You pointed it out earlier when you get on his Bronco, and he asked if you had a blue slingbag because maybe you can match again for next week BBQ night at Mav’s.

Bradley tried his best to not kiss you and opted to ask you what's gotten you pouting.

“Are you looking for something?”

“Yeah. My hairtie. It’s so hot here,” you fanned yourself with your hands, lifting your head and had your eyes scanning for someone before it lands on the new bartender, “Hey, Gio! Tell Penny to have the cooling system near the pool table fixed!” Bradley chuckled because you have already told Gio the same thing few days ago, but it seems like the news didn’t deliver to Penny well. That’s the main reason why he had a black hairtie on his left wrist, because you didn’t have it too when you need it few days ago despite you insisted you already put it in your bag beforehand.

“Turn around.” He said, though you’re kind of confused as to why, but you did anyway.

You were about to threw some jokes asking if he is going to lift your shirt up and splash you cold beer on your back when you felt Bradley’s hand gathering your hair in place, and you realized he’s not trying to splash you, he’s trying to tie your hair into ponytail. He asked if it’s too high or too low and you said to lower it a bit as you wanted it to be mid-height ponytail. Bradley did what you asked, and you felt his free hand trying to catch any hair that comes loose around the base of your neck and gather it back. You felt his big hand smooth around your top, bottom and the sides of your head, and then his hand moved to brush the hair at the nape of your neck upwards. You can feel your cheeks getting warm, and you can’t hold the stupid smile that's started to make its way to appear. You’re thankful Bradley can’t see it though, or you will be embarassed for life for being super giddy over Bradley trying to tie your hair.

Bradley pull the hair tie off his wrist and onto your ponytail – not too low not too high. He pulls the ponytail through the hair tie, twist it two times and it’s done. Bradley looked a his first ever ponytail work proudly, hands moving to your hips and and turn you around to face him again.

Here you are, standing in between his open legs and few strands of baby hairs falling in front of your face. Bradley put them behind your ear, quietly making a note to bring some of hairclips next time because your bangs is getting longer too and it gets on your eyes. You smiled to him, sweet smile reaching your eyes. You move your body forward a bit, Bradley's protective hands stilled on your hips trying to balance you in case you're kinda drunk to stand up straight.

He practically can hear the sound of his heart beating so fast due to the close proximity (for god’s sake he had been in much more close proximity with you before!), and for a while he thought you’re going to give him a hug as a thank you, but to his disappointment, you reached for a beer in which he puts at the counter behind him earlier. You took one gulp and pressed a big soft kiss on his left cheek. His cheeks that felt warm earlier now feels like it’s freezing cold under your cold and wet lips. If you felt his body froze at the sudden kiss, you didn’t say anything about it and you gave him a wave as you make your way back to the pool table and happily said, “Thanks for being my hairdresser and the beer! I love you!”

He couldn’t move a single muscle on his body, his hands awkwardly unmoved in the air and he felt a warmth in his heart after hearing what you said. He blinked a few times and sheepishly rubbed his neck when he found his muscles back to its function in his body, his ears ringing he couldn’t remember what’s the song and the lyrics from the jukebox is about as the only thing his mind registers is Thanks for being my hairdresser and the beer! I love you!

I love you!

I love you!

I love you!

I love you!

You love him.

And he loves you for that.

“Wow, no wonder my attempts to flirt with you didn’t work. You have a girlfriend.” The woman from earlier pointed something Bradley been too afraid to voice out, and he had a big stupid smiley face because a total stranger who didn’t know the nature of your relationship just call you as his girlfriend and it’s because she just saw him tied your hair? How ridiculous, a friend can do that too! Right?

But as much as ridiculous it sounds, he liked the sound of that.

Maybe calling you his girlfriend is not too much.

You’re his gilfriend. And because he loves you and he's a gentleman at heart, he will ask you out on a proper date as his girlfriend.

And you will say yes because you love him.

omg i gave a birth to my first baby 🥹 ahsjsk I'm used to read things it's weird to write somethinf lol nevertheless i hope you enjoyed it as much as i enjoyed writing it, if you're reading it until the end, i can't thank you enough for giving it a try to read! thank yoiu thank you thank you ❤ ahshsj I've had this idea for a while but idk where to request this kind of thing so i took the matter into my own hand and tada. gave birth to my first baby lol

#rooster x reader #bradley bradshaw x reader #rooster fanfiction #top gun maverick x reader #bradley bradshaw imagine #bradley bradshaw fanfiction #bradley bradshaw fluff

[nobodysdaydreams]

THE WOLF359 CAST IS INCREDIBLY TALENTED AND I LOVE THIS! (or my reaction to the Wolf359 Live Show)

"Another Wolf359 reaction already? But Bods, I thought you said you were busy?" Yes indeed I am my friends, if I wasn't busy, I would have finished the podcast by now. In my younger days, I did all of ATLA in a weekend. Sadly at this age, I can't be doing that kind of bingeing. I'm also tired, because I've been studying all day and figured why not take a little break and watch the Wolf359 Live Show?

I firstly wanted to give a shoutout to @commsroom for not only telling me about when to watch the live show (after episode 26), but also telling me that it is on youtube where you can watch it live so thank you so much!

Tagging the mutuals who got me invested in this, and if you want to be tagged or untagged from these posts, lmk, or you can follow my blog or simply follow the tag "#bods wolf359 reactions". Anyone who has followed me for a while knows my updates are inconsistent, so I apologize in advance for that and for any spelling/grammar mistakes in my posts. Especially in this one because it is late, and I am tired.

@sophieswundergarten @oflightningandstars @acollectionofcuriousreblogs @herawell

Wolf359 Live Show Reaction:

"First ever life show" - are there other live shows?

Oh okay this is very helpful. So it's in the middle of Episode 26, so right in the middle of what I just listened to, that makes a lot more sense.

I honestly don't care about the audio quality difference this is amazing.

Uh...pretty sure Cutter is not the forces of good... see Doug this is why you always read the fine print! It's like that ominous song...the one that was a tik tok audio? The one about an evil corporation in space? I think it might have been video game music? You guys know what I'm talking about please tell me I didn't imagine this.

YES THE ONE COPY OF HOME ALONE 2 COMES BACK!

PLEASE- the way Doug is telling the story is the way I tell stories "Hilbert strikes back: specifically Doug's circulatory system" 😂

"Palpatine MD" 😂

I love how they enter in as their characters are introduced.

I love Hera though it is weird to hear her voice clear without coming through the intercoms.

Zach is doing a fantastic job I love how he's moving around Minkowski to play both Hilbert and Doug 😂 and he's doing a great job switch characters.

Lovelace!

I love how he crosses over to whisper to Hera, I can just see Doug's character whispering into her intercom or in the general direction of the computer even though it doesn't make a difference to her.

I also like Hera's character position on stage away from the others, it's kind of symbolic.

"Team Eiffel's on the case" I have literally used the phrase "Detective Bods is on the case" multiple times on this blog, why do I relate so strongly to every ADHD character I come across sasjdkfjsl;kdfj;slk. Not the talking to himself too... NOT THEM LOOKING AT HIM IN THE BACKGROUND...oh no...

I love how Hera says "yeah we're all here" when she's always there.

17 months Doug? Oh dear...

"No one told me it was my job" Valid Doug, valid, what you're told when you're spaced out doesn't count. ADHD rule #1. Oh she told him multiple times? Well maybe they could have written it down for him. Would that have been too much trouble?

Hilbert shut up.

Poor Hera. The way she shuts them down 😂

SHUT UP HILBERT. THANK YOU.

Oh not the Pyrce and Carter thing again. Do we ever get to meet Pryce and Carter? Do they work for Goddard Futuristics? Is this a NASA textbook? At first I thought she said something about a price and then "Cutter", and I was like "PLOT TWIST" but never mind it's just the tips book.

Minkowski's Lovelace impression 😂 HIS HERA IMPRESSION IS JUST A HIGH PITCHED VOICE. Hahaha...his Hilbert is hilarious. Her Doug impression. 😂

"No no she's Eiffel, that's impossible" This is perfect, and then the switch back to Hilbert. Comedic perfection. I love it so so much.

"Hilbert you're fine try to be less fine" I love Hera.

"Can I ask you to act like an adult?" "That's not my thing" the comedic timing of this is excellent.

"What do you even do here?" Hold Hilbert's Decima virus of course.

Comms line? With who?

PLEASE 😂OH MY GOODNESS CUTTER. The way he stands up from the audience with his smug little smile...

You just know he's been waiting his entire life to play a role like that. Honestly me too, so good for him for getting to live the dream. DID HE JUST PAT THE HEAD OF A RANDOM PERSON IN THE AUDIENCE. HE DID. HE EVEN HAS A SUIT.

"We'll break bread, we'll dance, we'll kiss-" Cutter man, I'm pretty sure you can't say that. I know that you're an evil corporation that murders people on the regular and unethically experiments on people in space so the law can't get you, but you don't even have one HR rep?

Another call Cutter? What deployment?

"He remotely destroys station, then goes on lunch break" Yep sounds like Cutter.

The way Cutters reenters... it's so dramatic I love it.

They are really gonna have to make sure their stories match.

Huh. "Communication problem of our own." I wonder what that could be Cutter? A little issue at Command?

"Alone at last" That sounds creepy Cutter.

Oh so Cutter worships at the alter of the Pryce and Carter manual too. Maybe he forced them to write the book and killed them. Maybe he wrote it under two pen names to make it sound more legit. Either way I can't imagine him memorizing anyone's book but his own.

CUTTER'S ASKING ABOUT HER FAMILY? oh he's threatening her. IS HE THREATENING HER FAMILY?

They are very low on toothpaste.

"I want to help in every way I can, but I can only do that if I know what's going on" Cutter I hope you die. Painfully. Very slowly and very painfully, and if it doesn't happen in the show, I'll write it into a fic.

Oh he's speaking to Hera now because of what she said... that's interesting. Cutter didn't think of Hera as a person or member of the crew before he realized that Minkowski did.

Doug is me cramming for my exams. DOUG IF ITS NOT A VIDEO CALL YOU CAN WRITE STUFF DOWN.

Or fake an illness.

Oh dear poor Hera.

"Manufacturing errors." I hope that doesn't mean anything bad for those robots, otherwise that has to be sad for Hera to hear.

Okay...I love how Hera and some of the other actors look straight at the audience like they can't see Cutter, but Cutter looks directly at them as if he can see them. It adds so much to the creep factor.

Oh my gosh that manual again. Why is he obsessed with it?

"You'd be shocked at how much I know about the Hephaestus" Cutter knows everything.

AND DO NOT CALL HERA PATHETIC.

Oh my gosh Hera talked back to him for a second. I think she's the only one who ever does thus far, which is odd considering all her code that stops her from doing that.

"A real person" THAT CROSSES A LINE CUTTER.

"I don't know if someone like you can understand this. We're trying to change everyone's lives" CUTTER SHUT UP. YOU ARE THE ONE WITHOUT A SOUL YOU HAVE NO ROOM TO TALK.

YES HERA TALK BACK TO HIM.

Hera's memory files? Personality setting? oh never mind...this is awful that he can just go in like that. Maybe that's why he programmed her with the ability and personality that would talk back to him. So that he can get the truth from someone he can easily destroy.

"The people who made you decided you were a mistake, and you were so desperate to rise above who- what you are" Who made Hera? Are they important? Or did Cutter just scrape her up from a tech company that didn't want her? And Cutter "correcting" himself on that line I hope he's blown into space.

"Don't you dare" wow Hera's still talking back. "You have no idea." DID SHE JUST CONFESS THAT HILBERT IS STILL ALIVE. Oh Hera...

"To err is human" oh dear...

Doug looks terrified. Me too buddy.

It's okay Hera. You deserve better.

"I'm sick!" I love that.

Cutter's like wow, I should have started with him.

The way he puts his hand on Doug's shoulder as if they are in the room together, like he has a way to reach them even if they can't get back to earth, I love the choices the actor's are making.

He knows that Doug doesn't know Pryce and Carter. He's been listening in on him. For sure. Bro. Not everyone has read your manifesto that you by this point probably ghost wrote under two fake names and declared the best book of all time. It's like when a professor uses their own text book, I've heard this song and dance before.

Cutter. Doug should have memorized it but YOU HIRED HIM. He is CLEARLY in no way qualified for this line of work. YOU know that. YOU'RE using him as a science experiment. If I knew my professor was using me for lab science that could kill me at any second, do you think I'd waste time studying for their pop quiz on silly tips?

"How did Renee stop him?" Just say that it was all a blur Doug.

"Getting around security protocols, tricking a multiple PhD...stellar Doug" "Thank you?" Doug that's not a good thing. A target is on your back right now.

Not the arm on his shoulder again. Cutter for SURE killed their HR rep and their IRB rep, and ethics department.

"I would have had to skin you alive" There is no "had to" here Cutter.

3 seconds or incredibly painful things will start happening. WHAT THINGS?

DOUG HOW DID YOU FUMBLE THAT? YOU COULD HAVE JUST PRETENDED YOU WERE NERVOUS BECAUSE YOU FAILED. YOU HAD THE PERFECT OUT RIGHT THERE.

"I got the feeling that I would be the same convo you and I just had" I love the fourth wall break.

Oh dear. LOVELACE YOU BETTER BE QUIET. NO NOT ALL THE STUFF DOUG YOU AT LEAST KEPT LOVELACE QUIET. DON'T BLOW THAT TOO.

"Is there anything I can do for you? I want to help you?" Get. Them. Back. To. Earth.

Cutter's little schoolboy laugh. Oh yikes. He's mad now.

Good job Doug, take the fall. Good solider. No, what are you doing, just say you forgot, don't say you kept information from him intentionally. Faking incompetence is so much easier when you actually are incompetent.

The ultimate sacrifice. He will memorize Cutter's stupid textbook.

"If you keep anything from me again, holiday's over..." I don't like it.

"I want to know the second anything new happens with those transmissions".

Haha...well as a matter a fact, after that last episode...

Exactly. Shut up Hilbert.

Yeah the book is unusually dark. Pryce and Carter have clearly been through some stuff, or it's Cutter being ominous with his ghost written book. At this point, he either wrote it under fake names, or he's a Pryce and Carter fanboy. (Is it spelled Pryce or Price, I just realized I have no idea. I've heard of the last name Pryce, so I'd assume that's how it's spelled?).

"Did I mention that I'm sick"

Careful what you wish for.

Well that was amazing. I loved the way the cast used the space to make the characters come alive, the way they moved, the choices they made, it all fit really well. I really enjoyed watching this. It brought me back to when I used to do high school theater. I kinda of miss it. Hilbert, Cutter, and Doug are exactly the kind of overdramatic and unhinged roles I always loved playing (that is if I was lucky enough to have a director who went for gender bent casting, we as a society really need more comedic relief and unhinged women roles with crazy accents). Although I did once win a medal at state in middle school for a 10 minute monologue that was very much in the tone of Minkowski. I was playing a babysitter.

And ask the show said: back to work. Thanks everyone for listening, I hope you enjoyed my reaction. Only two more episodes left in season two so we should be done soon. Excited to see what comes next!

#bods wolf359 reactions #w359 liveshow #wolf359 live show #w359 #hera w359 #wolf359 #wolf 359 #isabel lovelace #hera wolf 359 #renee minkowski #doug eiffel #alexander hilbert #wolf359 reactions #w359 reaction #w359 reactions #wolf 359 reactions

[thatgirlonstage]

Hey have a fucked up TAZ thought for the day. Gently pushing aside Merle and Gundran somehow literally being blood related, the people that the seven birds like grew up with and knew before the IPRE obviously wouldn’t… exist on Faerun. Or even if we take Griffin’s hand-wavey explanation of Gundran and accept that there are some of the same people in this particular planar system, these versions of those people wouldn’t have the faintest goddamn clue who the birds are. From what we’ve seen of the voidfish, it will to an extent overwrite its own inconsistencies, but it doesn’t have the ability to implant totally false memories in disconnected people. Lucretia couldn’t have done that.

And I know we kind of generally agree that all of our birds are orphaned and generally solitary people, which is borne up by none of them (LUCKILY FOR GRIFFIN LMAO) ever randomly being like hey let me roll to see if my dear childhood friend Claire lives in Goldcliff now or something or otherwise referencing connections from their childhood, but like— they couldn’t possibly have known no one at all who was still alive and in touch with them when they blasted off to space.

So like. What if, after the destruction of Raven’s Roost, Magnus actually tried to do the healthy thing first. He’s devastated, he’s not thinking straight, but he’s not quite at fling himself off a cliff in despair levels, so he does what you’re supposed to do: he reaches out to a friend. No one from Raven’s Roost, obviously, but an older friend, someone he met on fantasy study abroad and had maintained a pen pal relationship with for years. He hasn’t written to them recently, of course, bc he’s been so busy with the rebellion, and Julia—he sent them an invitation to his wedding but they must not have been able to come. Or it got lost in the fantasy mail! Shit happens—but he feels sure they wouldn’t turn him away, certainly not in this state. They’d at least give him somewhere to crash for a week, let him sleep through some of the worst of the grief.

He turns up on their doorstep and they’re—not there. According to the gnome couple that live there, they’ve never been there. This has been the gnome couple’s house for 120 years. No one of the name Magnus is giving has lived here since before he was born.

He asks around town. Goes to the school he studied at and asks for records. Literally hires a divination wizard to try a scry because he’s fucking desperate at this point.

This person, this person Magnus got sloppy drunk with, who got into a bar fight back to back with him, who helped him struggle through Elvish grammar and cantrip lessons, who wrote to him about the gorgeous half-orc boy they wanted to marry, who sent him chocolate every Candlenights, this person doesn’t. Fucking. Exist. Has never existed, as far as Magnus or anyone else can tell.

Spooked, and grieving no less, and seriously afraid for his friend’s well being, Magnus thinks okay. Okay. He needs help. He needs perspective. He tries someone else, someone maybe a little more distant but still reliable. An old school coach, maybe. Someone who gave him his first sparring sessions when he was training to be a fighter.

That man did exist, but he’s been dead for eight years according to people in town. Which isn’t fucking possible, because Magnus saw him for lunch four years ago.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Someone else. Who else can he talk to.

He goes to a town where he once spent a summer interning for a dog trainer. He learned so much there. It would be good to be around dogs again.

The woman he trained with has no memory of him at all. She doesn’t recognize him, she doesn’t recognize his name, she doesn’t believe him when he says he knows her. She doesn’t recognize half the dogs he talks about. She chases him off her property, accusing him of trying to steal from her, although he hadn’t asked for anything.

The next one was dead too.

The next one didn’t know him either.

The next one didn’t exist.

Magnus’s family, friends, and acquaintances are a string of “dead” “don’t remember him” or “apparently, never fucking real” until he says fine, fucking fine. He’s not the type to spiral into despair. He’ll do some good before he goes out.

But he is going to go out.

Because if no one still alive even knows who he is, what is he living for?

#taz #taz: balance #magnus burnsides

[emilywrites185]

So You Want to be a Beta Reader

Before we continue on… if there is anything you take away from this post, it should be the following; If you’re going to be someone’s beta reader, put some passion in to the work. No matter how big or small the project is. Sprinkle love on top. Put in good quality work. Make a positive bond with the writer. The writer put in some serious work to get the chapters written. There isn’t a better feeling than when a beta reader is serious about what they’re doing. Beta readers should be a secure foundation and a source of strength and motivation for the writer. If you aren’t willing to provide that, don’t provide your service. You are part beta reader, part support system. What you do and the work you put into the project will make a difference to the writer and their project. Make sure it counts.

Now, onto business! Beta business!

As a beta reader...

Ask and listen to what the writer wants. They will likely write out a list of questions for you to answer as you read. Don’t be afraid to look at that list and ask additional questions. Delve deep and find exactly what kind of feedback are they looking for. Take notes, even if they wrote down what they want from you. Are they looking for grammar mistakes? Yes? No? Mark that down. Do they want you to simply read though it and give your overall opinion? Are they looking for problems with the story structure? Focus on what they are asking for you to look for and do. Have a thorough understanding of what they want from you before you read a single word. How do they want the feedback? Written on the document? Over a call? Have a discussion with the writer and leave that conversation with a clear understanding of what to do.

You have talents as a reader.

Reading seems like such a simple thing to do, but there are things you pick up on more than other readers. You may find inconsistencies more often than others. You may weed out plot holes like nobody’s business. You could be the grammar police. Maybe you’re more in tune with how stories make you feel. Let the writer know what your strengths are before you get to work on the project.

Know the craft

Authors look for beta readers that know writing as a craft. I’ve had several tell me that is what they are looking for. No, you don’t have to know everything, but it is very good to familiarize yourself with what writing is as a craft. You probably already know it through reading and writing. The writer has a story to tell, and they will tell it using the elements of craft. As a reader, understanding things like foreshadowing, tone, style, plot, and characterization will make your feedback even more valuable to the writer. Learn the structure and inner workings of storytelling. The writer you’re reading for will find you to be a credible and valuable beta reader.

Work on projects that interest you

Read in a genre you enjoy and are familiar with. There is nothing worse than reading something you don’t enjoy. Your feedback will likely be less than helpful as a result. Do yourself and the writer a favor. Only beta read for genres you enjoy and are familiar with.

Respect the writer’s style.

This is what makes them unique. It’s like their fingerprint in the form of words on a page. Their style is their own. However, if their style is too distracting or takes you out of the story should you let them know. Other readers will likely pick up on it as well. Their style will develop over time and with outside constructive, respectful criticism. Look at their style objectively, not personally.

Give constructive criticism. And be honest.

The only way to tackle what needs work is to face it head on. Being honest and giving constructive criticism will only benefit you and the writer. Lying to them will set them up for failure. Lying to them does not help them grow and develop their craft. Lying does not help them.

Look at the piece objectively. Don’t put your too much of your personal feelings into your feedback unless they want to know how you feel about something in the project. As a beta reader, you are half reader, half editor. Be professional. Don’t just tell them something didn’t work. Explain why you think something doesn’t work. Give them ideas and suggestions on what could work instead. Don’t just leave it up to them with a “this isn’t working”. Talk it out if you can’t quite explain why. Writing and going over it all with a fine-tooth comb is overwhelming. Editing is overwhelming. Help a writer out. Have an explanation for everything you take a note on or highlight, whether it is something that needs changed or not.

It may sound like I’m repeating myself. I am. Give detailed critiques. There’s nothing worse than just a vague statement as feedback. Ask questions. Give suggestions. Highlight or comment on the trouble spot. Explain yourself.

Being on the receiving end of criticism can be uncomfortable and a source of anxiety and insecurity for a writer. Their personal work is being evaluated and judged, and most likely things are going to need changed. It’s inevitable. They’re trusting your beta reading judgement and they’re trusting that you are there to help improve their work. Consider that while putting your feedback together.

When you give your feedback, mix in praise and criticism. Better yet, ask them how they like to receive criticism and be sure to respect it. Encourage the writer. Encouragement will carry them through the project. Highlight and take note of what works. Is there a line of dialogue that really packed a punch or was poignant? Let them know. Did they write someone’s body language well? Tell them what works. What made you feel emotion, what sucked you into the story, which character is the most interesting to you. Valid are things that need changed, but so too are the things that work. Don’t give what needs changed all the emphasis. Showcase what works. Show the writer what they got just right. Show them that they’re on the right track. Even something as simple as getting into a discussion of your favorite character in the story so far will encourage them. Praising what is working is so important.

Things to closely examine:

Plot

Think about the structure of the plot and look for plot holes. Again, take notes. If anything is contradictory or doesn’t make sense, you can go back to your notes. Highlight plot points and where the story progresses. Ask the writer questions about the plots. Ask to see an outline or a map of the main plot points if they made one. If anything goes against the outline or any notes/maps provided, those differences can be evaluated, discussed, and the story can be adjusted accordingly.

Pace

Make sure to pay close attention to the pace. Does the story needs to pick up or slow down? Is the pace appropriate for what is going on? What kind of pace is the writer going for, and is it reflecting what they are trying to achieve? Are there any scenes or chapters that drag out the story? Are they necessary or can they be cut out or adjusted to be more effective?

Scene

Think about how the scene looks in your mind. Is there too little description? Too much? Are they telling too much and not showing? Mark down the points where you were sucked in, and where you skimmed through description.

Consistency/Inconsistency

As a beta reader, you need to keep track of what is happening in the story and to make sure everything is consistent. Sometimes details fall through the cracks as a writer. They need the second, third, sometimes fifth pair of eyes to make sure everything is in place for the story. Again, this is where having an outline may come in handy for broader topics. Look for little consistencies too. If there is an injury, is it on the right hand in one scene and then on the leg in another? Do specific, important colors change? (Are shirt colors changing like an old Scooby-Doo animation?) The spelling of a name?

Characters

Are the characters acting accordingly to their personalities and traits? Do they maintain accents during their dialogue? Keep their character arch in mind as the story goes on, and make notes of how their stories progress. After a personal turning point for a character, do they act differently? Make note of fine details and follow each character. Do the side characters serve their purposes? Is anyone unnecessary to the story and should be cut out?

Time

Make sure you have time to beta read. If the writer requests that you get a certain job done by a specific date, strive to get the work done on time. Work with the writer to work out the details and look at your schedule with a realistic eye. Are you able to put in good work in the amount of time you have? Will adding this kind of work to your schedule put you behind in everything else you need to focus on? Is the writer flexible? Are you getting paid to do this by a certain time? Depending on how big or serious the project is, it could take a long time. Know what you’re getting yourself into. If you’re not in for the long haul of an entire book that is going to be published, don’t beta read for them unless you intend to really put in some work and have the time to dedicate to the project.

You are part of an important step in the process of getting a book completed and published. Put in good, thorough work. Be the kind of beta reader you would want if the roles were switched.

If you have any advice to add, you’re welcome to do so!

If you made it this far, thank you so much for taking the time to read my post. I hope this was helpful to you. <3

#beta readers #writing advice #beta reading #beta reading tips #beta reading advice #writers of tumblr #writing community #writblr #writblur #plot #pace #reading #criticism #critique #scene #characters #style

[sab-teraa]

Delulu theory time

Please excuse my grammar, it’s my late night rambles loool! Anyway, let’s go 😮‍💨🚀

Am I the only one who thinks that Tolga set up the whole bar scene? 👀 He has made a bunch of shady comments in the past 🙄 + Alaz constantly reiterates to Asi that working for Tolga is dangerous, while also constantly telling Tolga that he is there to protect Asi from him. It could just be bad inconsistent writing, but I don’t buy the nice guy act lmao 🤷🏽‍♀️

I think he told Asi that Alaz never hooked up with that girl … knowing that girl would try and make another move = Asi to see with her own eyes what Alaz is up to + finally realize that Alaz cannot be trusted + doesn’t love her.

I say this … bc he knew that she is constantly thinking about Alaz and is struggling to break away from him, and even after he told her the truth … he tried to plant doubts in her head by mentioning Alaz’s bad qualities (side note, till now she’s mostly seen his bad qualities lmaooo but we move).

Asi walking into this misunderstanding kills two birds with one stone - Asi gives up on Alaz completely and Alaz will let Asi go bc he hurt her too much. This would make it super easy for Tolga to execute the plan Alaz has kept going on and on about! 🫠

I mean??? We all know that broke or rich, Alaz runs things lmaooo … so there’s absolutely no way Tolga could conduct any plan with Alaz there. But hey! Let’s see what happens 👀

#Yabani

[byronicbi]

Would anybody on here be interested in ✨ beta reading ✨ a hot piece of fucked up literature before I turn to reddit for help? I'm in a bit of a massive pickle with an October deadline + a gig that'll have me away for a week, and while I do have a pair of eyes on it, I would like to have an extra pair or two! I'd be willing to do a beta swap and provide feedback for your troubles. (Yes, this includes fic.)

The story in question is roughly 90k words, give or take a thousand depending on how the next week goes. It is an adult contemporary/folk horror (with a heaping of Gothic tropes) that goes deep into family dynamics, generational trauma, the lengths queer folks have to go in order to survive, and has an entire CreatureTM.

General info:

You've got your afrolatino transmasc protagonist (who happens to be disabled) and his gay husband. So we have an established t!m/c!m relationship that is kinky, loves communication, and reference a life of healthy polyamory. (Their relationship is not the center of the story but it does play a pretty major role.)

Found family? You betcha.

Daytime horror (as in a chunk of the spooks happen during the day).

Takes place in the Caribbean, specifically in Puerto Rico. Which means there's a lot of Spanish though knowledge of Spanish is not required. In fact, not knowing Spanish would actually be a plus.

The folklore part of the folk horror is to do with Puerto Rican culture as a whole; a blend and exploration of belief systems that have carved the sociopolitical landscape of the country dating back to its aboriginal roots.

That creature? El chupacabra. I am not joking.

There's also ghosts.

The ghosts may or may not be a metaphor, as it goes.

I'll delete this post once I've gotten it all settled!

Content warnings and other info under the cut.

Note that this is a horror novel, so not great things happen and are discussed all throughout, including:

Transphobia

Homophobia

Ableism

Racism/the effects of colonialism

Child neglect/physical abuse

Familial trauma

Police brutality

Implied sexual assault by a cop

Gore. Like, a lot.

Violence

Animal death (and explicit descriptions of corpses)

Public shootings

Suicidal ideation

Also gay sex of the consensual kind although it feels wrong to add here at the end of a fucked up list of fucked up things.

What exactly am I looking for in a beta?

Does everything make sense.

Glaringly obvious inconsistencies (my ADHD will not let me realize that I have the character doing the same action twice in the same chapter).

Ease of reading for the 85% that is in English.

If you wanna get finicky about grammar, I'm not going to stop you. But I can and will choose what stuff to change/keep.

I need to get this baby as cleaned up as humanly possibly by the end of September (a tall order, I know), but I can maybe get away with getting it wrapped by the first week of October. Method of doing the deed is through Google Docs because it's only a fraction more reliable than MS Word on this two-way street.

If you're interested, don't hesitate to send me a message off anon! Or, if you have specific questions about the manuscript and aren't sure if you want to commit quite yet, anon is a-okay.

I hope you've hydrated today! And thank you for giving this a read.

#beta request #writblr #writeblr #cause idk which tag is the proper one #horror #figured i'd give tumblr a try since i marginally trust it more than reddit

[sapphire-weapon]

I remember you saying you disliked ID and particularly how Leon was written. While I'm far less familiar with RE compared to you, I thought I'd ask for you to elaborate and go more in depth as to why you thought Leon specifically was poorly portrayed. I actually enjoyed ID and him. Was it a masterpiece? Well, no. It's a video game CGI film. I first came away thinking it was pretty bad, but I learned to enjoy it for what it was.

I found most characters pretty straight forward about who they are what they wanted to do. Claire needed a LOT more screentime, they fucked her up via laziness imo. Leon was fine. He was very cringe inducing (shudders on behalf of Shen May), but I thought it was a good insight to the chokehold that his duty has on him. How he struggles with making the most ethical choices, guilt and how it impacts his relationships with other people. Did ID do this particularly well? Not exactly, but I looked for it and found it.

I HARD agree that Death Island tops it all though. It had a solid story, a great villain, gave Jill a phenomenal comeback (cough, minus the sexist anti-aging bullshit that all RE women are forced to face), we saw Leon getting his shit wrecked (which I personally found funny as hell) and it was actually FUN to watch. It stuck out to me as a film that anybody, particularly those unfamiliar with the franchise, could easily follow and piece together, which other adaptations didn't do. To me, they only felt like "hey, fans who like these characters will GET it, others won't understand the appeal", but maybe I'm wrong.

Anyways, apologies for the novel length ask, I hope you're kind enough to indulge me, lol. Wishing you a wonderful weekend. (Apologies for grammar mistakes, girl I'm high as shit and just really, really enjoy talking bs with other fans, lmfao! I'm the Mr. X anon.)

I didn't say he was poorly portrayed in Infinite Darkness. I said his voice seemed inconsistent and, as a result, gave me the impression that he was going through wild mood swings at varying points of the show.

One scene that particularly comes to mind is towards the very beginning when Jason is trauma dumping on him, like... Leon is the one who initiates that conversation seemingly out of concern/empathy/genuine curiosity, and his tone starting out is one of like "hey lil buddy what's on ur mind we need to be able to work together on shit if we're gonna survive" and then like

out of nowhere, after Jason's story is over, Leon just like

snaps

for no reason? And starts shouting about how no one gives a shit about Raccoon City?

like

where the fuck did that come from and are you off your meds because you seem a little unbalanced like you might be off your meds

shit literally just comes out of nowhere, almost completely unprovoked, and I have no idea why.

So that's why my takeaway was: I don't feel like ID knew what they wanted Leon to actually be in terms of his placement in his character arc. Is he Mr. Supportive Man of Experience Who's Seen Some Shit? Or is he just full "fuck the police" angry mode? Because putting both not just in the same scene, but in the very same conversation, is just bad dialogue writing.

Like, Leon's character wasn't the problem. There was never a point where I was like "wow, that doesn't sound like him." It all sounded like him, but it sounded like him if you took his lines from the entirety of his character arc and just picked and chose at random which ones he was going to say.

It wasn't the character writing. It was the dialogue writing. Those are two different things. The character was fine. The dialogue was shit.

Infinite Darkness really could've used a first draft.

[roleplayerconfessions]

🌴 I recently took over a partner search forum for advanced literate roleplayers, because the old mods were inactive for a very long time and literally nothing was being moderated. Naturally, before I arrived, there were a lot of people who were taking advantage of the lack of moderation, and posting ads that were FULL of typos and terrible grammar conventions, and posts that didn't even qualify as semi-literate.

Once everything was set up, I started removing ads that were illiterate, because naturally, this was a forum for advanced literate roleplayers. Lots of advanced literate roleplayers were happy about this, because they previously had trouble finding partners among all the illiterate posts (and they couldn't go anywhere else, because no other forums curated their posts for advanced literate roleplayers).

And of course, the semi-literate roleplayers screamed bloody murder about this. One notable message was: "what the hell mind telling me why youre suddenly deleting my ads ? My ad wa always allowed before, why are you being dicks suddenly".

And another message: "The post was removed 2 minutes after it's post? What's worng with it? I can't spot any mistake in the first lines sorry". Their entire post was filled with spaces before punctuation, misspelled words, uncapitalized "i"s and uncapitalized words at the beginning of sentences (not a stylistic choice, it was inconsistent), and sentences that sounded like broken English. (Even if they were ESL, the end result still wasn't advanced literate by a long, long stretch.) When I told them the post was not in line with how the forum defined "advanced literate", and when I even spent five minutes circling all the errors to help them out, they came back all pissy and saying the errors were not worth removing the post for (I circled over twenty things), and they started arguing with me and saying I was ruining the forum.

Come on. First off, what's the name of this forum? And second, do you not see the big, "hi, I'm the new moderator, I am taking over for the inactive mods" announcement at the very top, which is impossible to miss? Or the new rules page at the very top, which is also impossible to miss? And, each of your posts have gotten an automatic reply mentioning how you should read the new rules, and how the forum is being run true to its name now. You were given more than enough information, and more than enough indication your posts wouldn't be allowed. If someone had been around to moderate last year, they would have taken them down too. Don't take out your butthurt entitlement on me, you clearly aren't even close to how the forum defines AL. You were just taking advantage of the forum's lack of moderation before when there was literally nobody around to sift through posts. You have OODLES of other forums to find partners, and I can see you're a user on them already. All you do is copy and paste your ads on every waking forum you can find, whether you actually fit the roleplaying type or not, and sorry, but that is not gonna work here.

...Sheeeeesh.

I do my best to be sensitive and polite about this crap. I understand that writing is a deeply personal thing, and a lot of people feel offended when their writing is declined on a forum, and I know how to be tactful there. If I didn't care, I would just ban them right away, and not give them any way to contact the moderators, certainly not proofread their ads like I'm a teacher when they ask me for specifics. So what the frick? Maybe this is why the old moderators left. I almost don't blame them. Some people are spoiled, entitled brats.

#Submission #Muns #Writing Styles #Rules Pages #Communication #Bullying #Manipulation #Coarse Language