#i feel a bit meh about the shading in this but oh well

[8dayrain]

first day of school

#fnaf #fnaf fanart #elizabeth afton #michael afton #evan afton #cc afton #my art #they were forced to hold hands #evan doesn't mind at all #lizzy is NOT a fan but she's smiling for the picture #and i think michaels opinion is pretty clear #i feel a bit meh about the shading in this but oh well

[gomzwrites]

100 Followers Special: Fic Marathon

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── Marked ─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

more info on the fic marathon check out this post :)

Day 4: John Soap MacTavish

CONTAIN SMUT, 18+ content, MINORS DO NOT INTERACT I will block ageless, untitled block so gtfo

Tags: smut, oral job(Soap receiving), xgn!reader, lipstick - let me know if I missed any

Notes: ・❥・reader's texts are in purple ・❥・dividers drawn by @gomzdraws

a/n: I think for a time there were a few lipstick smut fic and I really wanted to have my spin on it :) so I wrote this for our dear feral Soap

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What have yer been up to?

Soap asked from the bed as he placed down his journal and watched you shift around on the chair in front of the vanity table.

I'm trying out these new lipsticks, I got them a few weeks ago during my birthday from my friend!

You replied back happily as you usher him closer; he gave you an amusing look as he approached you and lifted you up to sit on his thigh. He watched the different lipsticks laid before him and noted the colours.

What do you think? Which one should I try first?

You flash a grin as he chuckles and tilts his head.

This one. 

He pointed to the one that had a crimson-red colour on it.

Okay. 

Soap hums along as he watches you take out the cover and glance at it. Then you get an idea as you hand him the base of the lipstick.

Wanna help me wear it?

He was taken aback a little by the request, but he decided to do it as he shrugged his shoulders.

Erm ah can try ah guess? Don’t scold meh if I mess up yer look then, pet.

He wiggles his eyebrow as you chuckle and push your lips at him. He slowly takes out the stick and gently swipes it across your lips, watching the shine appear and swallowing hard when it makes your lip look brighter and plump, the look making you irresistible.

Oops…

He whispers as he deliberately lets the lipstick swipe over the corner of your lip just a bit further than necessary. Before you can move, he takes his finger and traces it from your chin and wipes it off slowly, teasingly. He gives you a smirk as he squeezes your cheeks slightly and chuckles. He can feel your cheeks getting slightly hotter from his fingers.

Hmmm, it looks good on you...

He whispers in a lower voice as he tilts your chin up, staring at your lips for a few seconds before moving your head to the mirror.

You watch the reflection and nod. You give your lips a quick smack before another idea comes into your mind.

Hm, I don’t know. There’s another colour here as well to try, though I don’t feel like wiping this one off yet~

Soap grins back as he rests his hand on your thigh while the other rests idly on the chair armrest. He sensed that playful tone in your voice, which usually means you’re up to no good.

And what is yer pretty mind thinking now?

Well…

You trail off before grinning at him as you tap his lips.

I can put it on you, and then we can see how well the colour goes.

He widened his eyes and laughed as he shook his head.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Why? Scared of looking good?

Wut? No, am not; ah already look good without lipstick on.

Okay, yeah, that sounds like you’re scared.

He knows this is a trap, but he can’t help but give in to your plan as he sighs and rolls his eyes.

Okay, fine, do what yer want then.

You beamed up happily as you quickly took the other lipstick and slowly applied it over his lips. This one has a lighter shade than the one you’re wearing; the shade is somewhere between berry and burgundy.

ah look ridiculous.

He says it with a deadpan as he looks into the mirror and back at you. You burst into laughter as you watched how unnatural it looked on him. You were about to take your phone as he quickly snatched it from your hand and held it firmly.

Nuh uh, there’s no way I’ll let ye take a photo!

You give him a challenging look as you raise your eyebrow.

Oh yeah?

You lean in and kiss his lips suddenly as he gasps and weakens his grip. You hold him close from the neck as you pull back, feeling him chase after you. He huffed out a puff of air after you retracted your lips from him and stared at you with a dumb look. You grinned with satisfaction as you held the phone before him.

*SNAP*

Oh you little-

You yelp as he takes the phone and tosses it to the bed, grabbing your waist as his eyes glint with mischief as he pulls you in for another kiss again, breathing heavily as he takes his time to feel your soft lips. He could taste the shared breath and feel you fumbling around to grab his hair. He chuckles as he parted lips with you, absolutely awestruck with the way you look right now.

Your front hair is slightly messy, and your lips, the colours now mixed up from both his and your lipstick, the look sends a shiver down his spine as he lets out a small moan.

Steamin’ jesus, look at you...

You giggled as he looked the same to you, his cheeks flushed with a messy lip, and his eyes, the way it shows how much want and greed turn you on in ways you can’t describe. You lean in and kiss all over his face, making sure to plant them harder on his skin as you finish.

You don’t look too bad yourself, handsome.

He turns his head to the mirror and watches the amount of kiss marks adorned on his face; his mouth quirked up at the corners as he let out another breath. He never realised how much he liked being marked up like this by you.

He’d always been a big fan and would always like to go through the claw marks around his back and arms the next day after you have a steamy session with him, and he goes absolutely feral over the hickies you leave on his body; his favourite is when you leave it on the back of his neck, his collar barely being able to cover it.

Yeah, just look at the mirror like that, hm? Make sure you don’t look away, Johnny.

That made him swallow another breath as you whispered in that sultry tone into his ears. He obeyed and watched as you slowly kissed his neck, then trailed lower to plant more kisses around his shoulder blade. He wanted to take off his shirt, but you stopped him, only taking the hem of his shirt and pulling it up to his mouth.

Be a good boy and hold it, yeah? If you let go... I’ll stop immediately, and you don’t want that now, do you?

He gives you a frantic shake as he bites on the shirt, obediently following your orders as you take control. You run your hand all over his upper body, feeling every muscle tensing up and shivering slightly. He watches you in anticipation as you smirk and start painting him with your lips.

Going at such a slow speed as you trail ghost-like kisses around his chest, teasing him as he gives a few grunts, before finally licking those rough skin and kissing it, making a sloppy mess on every spot you imprinted with your lips, causing him to shiver everything your hot breath fanned against those sensitive spots.

You kneel before him, slotting between his thighs, as you wipe your drool off your lips with the back of your hand, admiring just how divine he looks right now, marked up all prettily with those lipstick stains from your lips. His breathing was much harder, his beautiful blue eyes were blown out, and the shirt he was biting on now has a wet stain surrounding it.

That’s not the only spot that is damp.

You palm him with your hand, watching how his hips jolt towards your hands as he gives out a hushed whimper.

So needy…

You tutted slowly as you grabbed him through the jeans harder, a strained moan escaping from him as he frowned and closed his eyes. His shaky hands held onto your head as he gently nudged it against the dent of his pants, urging you to go on.

Think you can keep that shirt in that pretty mouth of yours if I give you what you want?

He gives you a hurried nod as he massages the scalp of your hair and tries to speak through the cloth.

M-mmmhmm….mmpheasee…

You began zipping down his pants and letting his cock free from these constraints, gasping as you watched it bounce and hit his abs. God,  you’ll never get tired of this view. Then, you give a soft kiss at the tip of his head before trailing it down all the way to his base. You can hear him whining as he buckles his hip up desperately every time you retract your plump lips off him, silently telling you:

Enough with the tease, please.

You lick the cum off the slit of his hard cock and start flattening your tongue and running it up and down on the side of his cock, your eyes never leaving him as he throws his head back into the arm rest, pulling his shirt up further and showing off his glistening body from the sweat.

Good boy

You mumble before you finally start bobbing your head up and down on him, his hand tugging you slightly every time his aching cock hits the back of your throat, making you moan each time, the vibration of your sounds sending electric waves of pleasure into him.

Mmmm! Hngh….

More pleas and whimpers start escaping from his lips the faster you move your head, always sucking his tip slightly whenever you reach the top while you pump the rest of his cock with your hands. You can tell by how close he is, how much his cock is twitching in your hot mouth, and how he is leaning forward. He pulls you off his cock as he furiously pumps his cock with his other hand.

Come on, come for me, Johnny.

You rasp back as you open your mouth and stick your tongue out. He gives a strained, high-pitched moan as he comes undone and shoots his load into your mouth, his body tensing and shuddering as orgasm hits him like a wave.

F-fuckkk….y/n!! Ah! y/n….arghhhhh….

He released the shirt as he panted and mumbled incoherently with a broken voice, slumping forward as he watched you swallow, lick your lips, and clean yourself. He tilted your head up as he looked at your face. Your lipstick was smudged and messed up, and that fucked-out blissful face you had was almost tempting enough for him to go in for a second round.

You’re going to be the death of me…

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a/n: muffled moans? muffled moans- *nods* I hope this was a good read for you guys, Im still not confident with the way I write smut but this one was a fun one to write >:]

Previous fic: Kyle Gaz Garrick | Captain John Price | Konig next fic: Alejandro Vargas

taglist: @cathnoneofyourbusiness | @land-lord-lol like and reblog if you enjoyed this fic :D have a good day/night!

#john soap mactavish #john soap mactavish x reader #john soap mactavish smut #john mactavish x you #john mactavish #soap cod #cod soap #soap smut #cod soap smut #cod mwii #cod imagines #cod x reader #call of duty x reader #cod fanfic #gomzwrites

[starshapedpetals]

new merch line. you know the drill

first of all, i don’t hate this line. I think most of the boys are drawn pretty well. but what a strange concept? the diaboys.. as priests? “dark” anti christ priests but still.. strange? it’s unique at least?

my only real complaint with ayato is how his mouth looks weird. c’mon he’s a vampire, show me the fangs. c’mon let him do the iconic bite the glove thing. it actually frustrates me how they missed that opportunity 😭 overall, he looks fine to me. there’s no detail i’m particularly drooling over. except for this one very specific detail that has me drooling over the triplets. & it’s the… halo?? like look at the triplets next to each other. ayato in the middle with his brothers on the side. i LOVE the way they’re turned with him in the middle 😫 on that note, i hate how shuu is at the end. if they just swapped subaru & shuu’s placements, we could’ve kept up with the turn thing the triplets + reiji were doing. 

kanato looks a bit off, right? is it just me or are his eyebags less dark..? idk but he looks a bit off, to me at least. also.. is that teddy? kanato has been seen with more bears in the recent merch lines, but this one kinda looks like teddy.. except he’s so dark brown?? anyways, as off as he looks to me, i still really like him. he’s grown on me the more i look at him, i think he looks pretty, & i like the pose. also kanato with earring <3

shuu’s face is very very pretty, despite that there’s nothing really that interesting about his design to me. now he doesn’t look bad at all, just a tad boring in my opinion. other then that i’m crazy about how pretty they drew his face & hair <3

why is reiji so hot rn?? the face, the pose, the chained glasses, the ascot, my god reiji pull it back sir you are a priest. i originally thought his hair looked a little flat but i think that might’ve just been me. anyways, i love him so much <3

kou is so cute looking!! i think his priest getup looks so nice & pretty on him! i’m also a bit pink & black biased, but aside from that, i really do like him. i’m very pleased with this kou. he looks cute to me <3 i like his pose too <3

azusa so pretty like when does he not look ethereal? & yknow how much i love azusa with wings <3 i love how his wings have bandages on them. it’s so azusa. i don’t really like the design of the knife but oh well he still looks pretty

carla looks alright :/ i’m a bit disappointed tbh. I always love the black ribbon in his hair, but it’s just meh here. of course i love seeing it, but not my favorite appearance of it 😔 i really don’t like the weird wind blowing thing that’s going on with him. especially with this video quality, some of his details look bad to me. like that specific strand of hair blown too close to his mouth. looks fine in higher quality, & up close, but at quick glance.. not so much. i also just don’t love the angle. it could’ve been better (imo) but he’s fine overall

KINO IS JUST GIVING IN THAT POSE. he’s got the most unique pose so he stands out the most. i’m also a fan of how his color complements the black. he just looks so fucking pretty to me & i just love his tongue sticking out. he’s one of my favorite looks tbh i just love him

notes since photo limit & don’t have much to say abt them;

i’m living for laito in that shade of green 😫 i think his hair & face look so pretty here. i wish i had more to say since i really do like how he looks here. also, i cannot stop thinking about that church scene 😭

subaru’s pose feels familiar? like not from DL but maybe it’s inspired by a religious figure?? it’s been days & I still can’t figure it out? he’s alright. his hair is a bit too flat looking for me. i like how the hints of red on his outfit look

i’m so sorry ruki fans but i personally really don’t care for this design. he’s giving a little too much priest for me 😭 pls don’t crucify me

i’m a really big fan of the way yuma’s clothes hug his figure. it’s so so pretty. nothing else in particular catches my fancy sadly.

i’m sorry but i really don’t like how thick shin’s eyepatch is? i feel like they’ve done this before & i really don’t like it. other then that he’s fine? nothing too wow in my opinion but not horrible looking

#diabolik rambles ཐི♡ཋྀ #sorry it took me days to post this i was nervous #diabolik lovers #ayato sakamaki #kanato sakamaki #shuu sakamaki #shu sakamaki #reiji sakamaki #kou mukami #azusa mukami #carla tsukinami #kino diabolik lovers #kino sakamaki #laito sakamaki #ruki mukami #yuma mukami #shin tsukinami

[the-french-belphegor]

I finished another fic for the @critter-genfic-events's bingo card! "Beach day", this time. I swear I did mean it to be funny and only funny, but then it was also Vox Machina post-campaign, so "Missing someone" ended up being A Thing. Plus "Found family" because that's unavoidable when Grog and his gnomes are concerned 💜

I'll be posting this on AO3 shortly here if you prefer to read on AO3!

—

Grog wiggles sand between his toes and squints at the Marquet sun shining through a passing cloud.

“Oh man,” he hears Scanlan sigh from the chaise lounge thing next to him, “this is the life.”

Meh, Grog thinks, just a little.

Sure, it’s a nice day out, and it’s great that they finally got everyone for a little vacation weekend in the Bay of Gifts – even Keyleth, who’s very busy being leaderly, and even Vex and Percy, who have their hands full with Whitestone but mostly with little Vesper. (Grog still calls her ‘Whisper’, because it became A Thing, and to be fair she’s a fairly quiet kid, in his meagre experience.) Now the girl is napping with her dad under the shade of the parasol after burying Grog into the sand (with helpful pointers from her mum, her uncle Grog and her auntie Keyleth) and playing in the shallows with her auntie Pike and her uncle Scanlan. That’s a lot of things to do, and the little mite is all tuckered out. So’s mostly everyone, it seems, except for Trinket, who is having fun chasing seagulls in the distance.

And Grog is slowly but surely getting bored.

Of course, that’s the moment his insides choose to give a twinge at the lack of Vax shenanigans. One of the many things Grog misses about the guy is that you’d never get bored when he was around. Sometimes not getting bored meant getting half your beard shaved off or various belongings stolen for a prank, but… well.

Pike, Wilhand and Scanlan all say that it’s normal to still be sad about Vax even now. Privately, Grog wonders if it’s stupid to miss some of the truly infuriating things Vax did, like the beard thing. He has a feeling the answer would be “no”, but there’s no way in hell he’ll ask.

“Hey Pike!” he calls out, mostly to distract himself from the oncoming boredom but also from being sad on what’s supposed to be a fun day out. “Wanna go fight the sea?”

Pike is in the process of gathering Vesper’s discarded beach toys and eyeing Percy – who is currently fast asleep near his daughter – with Vesper’s shovel in her hand and a gleam in her eye. Just as Grog is starting to think pranking Percy might be a good distraction as well, she turns to him and grins.

“Sure, buddies. How d’you wanna do that?”

“I was thinkin’ I could walk into the waves and just, like, not budge. Or put you on my shoulder and then see how far we can go till you get splashed.”

“Okay, yeah, that sounds nice,” she says, nodding. “Scanlan? Wanna come with?”

“Eh,” says Scanlan from under the hat covering his face, “I had my share of the ocean earlier. Might work on my tan for a little bit.”

“Come on,” says Grog, because the first time they took a beach holiday Scanlan wasn’t there and their second trip to Dalen’s Closet was, well, A Lot – way too much to just let loose and have fun afterwards, “I have two shoulders. That’s one for Pike, and one for you. It’s huh. Balance.”

(He’s really proud to be able to say a number and not hesitate even a bit. Long sentences with lots of letters still elude him, but he’s starting to know numbers well.)

One of Scanlan’s eyes peeks out from under the hat, along with a smile.

“Aw, big guy. Okay, for balance then, but on one condition.”

“What’s that?” asks Pike with something sharp in her grin, like she really wants to laugh but she’s saving that for a better moment.

“My hair stays dry.”

“That’s it?” says Grog, eyebrows raised. He was expecting something a lot less simple.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

That sounds pretty fair, so Grog agrees.

So maybe walking into the surf isn’t quite fighting an entire ocean, but the three of them manage to make it fun, just like Grog thought they would. Pike stands on his left shoulder, hanging on to his head, and shouts at every wave just as loud as he does; meanwhile, Scanlan sits on his right shoulder, beating a rhythm on his chest with his toes and humming a vaguely familiar tune. There may be something magical at work there, because Grog is feeling a tingling warmth along his spine and into his ribcage, like they’re in the middle of a battle and Scanlan is singing to give him inspiration. That’s nice of him to do that. Maybe it’ll give Grog and Pike an edge.

(Even wearing no armour at all and with waves rolling up to his chest, Grog always feels just a little invincible with those two on his shoulders.)

“You know what, Grog?” says Pike after a while, settling down on his shoulder and grinning at him, her cheeks red and her chest heaving. “That was really fun. I think we could all do with some screaming at the ocean once in a while.”

“Seconded,” says Scanlan, who didn’t do any shouting and mostly either chilled with his eyes closed or looked at Pike like he does sometimes, all soft eyes and slight smile.

Pike gets the same sort of look every now and then. It’s this kind of little details that tells Grog that one of these days the guest bedroom in Wilhand’s attic might become a real guest bedroom again (that and the fact that dawn often finds Pike and Scanlan tiptoeing out of each other’s room). As long as they keep most of the lovey dovey stuff out of sight Grog is fine with it.

“Well, I’m smart like that,” says Grog with a grin, like a joke where only he knows the punchline. Which is kinda the case, actually, if the joke is The little bits are dating and Grog did notice. “I got lots of good ideas.”

Scanlan leans his back against Grog’s head and nods.

“You sure do, buddy. And you guys definitely win in my book. Eat your heart out, ocean!”

“Hey guys!” They all turn – which means the gnomes have to turn a second time because they’re facing the wrong way now – to the beach, where Vex is standing with her hands cupped around her mouth. “Keyleth says there might be some jellyfish in the water by now, have you seen any yet?”

“Some what?” asks Grog, and promptly steps on something squishy.

It’s like walking into a bramble bush. The sole of his foot is fine, but tendrils sneak up his ankle and fire up a prickling pain that instantly runs up his whole leg. The surprise, more than the actual sting, makes him bark a shout and instinctively jump back, but this is uncomfortable as hell.

His shoulders suddenly feel somewhat lighter. Oh shit, he thinks with a flash of fear, old habits taking over, Scanlan should float but Pike’s in heavy armour, she’ll go straight down—

But they’re on vacation, not adventuring – no weapons, no plate armour, just sun hats and bathing suits. When he whirls around he spots Pike easily treading water not far from his elbow. The waves rolling in towards the beach make her go up and down, but she’s completely unfazed.

“You okay, Grog?” she asks, looking a little startled, and Grog isn’t even sure if that’s from being thrown off her perch or on his account.

“Sure,” says Grog, not that sure. “Except, uh, question. Can people die from jellyfish?”

“Well,” says Pike reasonably, “that depends on the jellyfish. I saw some really big ones on the Broken Howl, like big big. But the ones around here just burn a little.” Then her eyes zero in on something ahead of her and her nose crunches. “Yikes. Yeah, you can tell Vex Keyleth was right, look.”

The first and last time Grog saw a jellyfish, it was in Vesrah. Two kids were poking a small blob with a stick until their father told them to stop. What’s floating close to the surface five feet from them is still a blob, but it’s got long thin tentacly things that look like a bunch of transparent seaweed. They’re trailing underneath like it doesn’t know what to do with them. It’s creepy, and it’s weird to think these are why his ankle and calf are stinging like he kicked through embers without a boot on.

Grog scoops Pike up, holds her up out of the water, and makes his way to the beach, trusting Scanlan to meet them there.

When he’s close enough to talk without shouting, he tells Vex, who’s been watching them curiously, “Yeah, maybe don’t let lil’ Whisper into the water just now. There’s at least a couple of the suckers out there. I even got bit, look.”

“Stung, Grog,” Pike corrects, hanging on tight to his arm to avoid toppling over when he lifts his foot. Oops. “Jellyfish don’t bite.”

Vex throws him a look, complicated and quick – worried-sharp-relieved – then grins.

“You know, I’ve heard you can treat a jellyfish burn by having someone pee on it. Not that I’m volunteering, but perhaps if you ask—”

It’s the way she says it. Something flashes in Grog’s mind, like he’s realised something isn’t right but his brain is taking a while to catch up on what, exactly. (It happens.) It’s not that it’s wrong for her to say that – although in the old days Grog wouldn’t have put it past Vax to bring it up instead – so much as she shouldn’t have been the first to say it.

Fortunately, Pike’s brain works much better and faster than his. Her eyes go wide real quick and she exclaims, “Wait – where’s Scanlan?”

A small sliver of cold creeps its way up Grog’s spine. Oh. Shit.

“Didn’t he swim to shore?”

“He didn’t,” says Vex, tense and sharp once more, but worse, like she used to just before a fight. “I would’ve seen him.”

“Well, he has to be somewhere, he can’t just – oh gods no.”

Pike’s voice goes sideways on the last word like someone tripping and falling down a flight of stairs. Grog looks into the same direction and goes cold all over.

There is a shape bobbing along in the water a little ways behind the waves crashing onto the beach.

Grog runs.

He does kind of end up fighting the sea for real today after all.

When he reaches Scanlan, what feels like the next second but also so much time later, the gnome is floating belly down just under the surface of the water. His arms and legs drift a little in the current, like the jellyfish’s tentacle things did. It looks so much creepier. But not as creepy as the way Scanlan lies completely still when Grog picks him up, arms and legs at odd angles like his limbs and joints are missing strings. Both his eyelids and his lips are a little bit blue.

At least there’s no blood. It would bring back real bad memories if there was blood. Well, it does, because this is not the first time Grog’s carried his second best little buddy cold and lifeless like that, but the absence of blood makes it a bit easier to push those memories away.

Pike takes charge as Grog limps out of the water, white seafoam frothing around his calves. Her face is nearly as pale.

“Lay him down,” she says, her voice steel under the usual warmth, and Grog does. He watches her press her ear to Scanlan’s chest, tip his head back, open his mouth, and blow into it. And look, Grog usually doesn’t like it much when they start getting kissy and too wrapped up in each other, but it’s the last thing he’d mind right now. This is the worst kiss he’s ever seen. He’s not even sure it counts as one.

Pike lays her hands flat on Scanlan’s chest and her arms find a steady rhythm – “…three four five six come on eight nine ten—” and Grog winces when he hears something crack. Pike with her gauntlets and her mace and the Blessing of the Everlight is strong, second only to Grog in strength in Vox Machina, but even without she’s a force to be reckoned with. Scanlan’s going to feel that when he wakes up. If he wakes up.

They can’t lose somebody else that’s theirs. They can’t.

Sometimes people go and you never get them back, Grog remembers Kerrek say to Keyleth once, that time Scanlan was dead and Grog spent a very complicated few hours grappling with the fact that all those powerful spellcasters couldn’t bring him back right now. Kerrek had looked surprised way before that when Grog had told him that when someone died, they just brought them back. Like that was usually not the way of things. Like sometimes even people you knew and loved a whole lot just died, and that was it, no Revivify spell, no resurrection.

Grog hadn’t really understood that before Vax died and then became feathers.

If Scanlan dies now, for real, is he going to become feathers, too?

Just as the terror starts to give way into rage – that’s always been Grog’s default way of handling things like that, mostly – Scanlan’s body gives a lurch and he upchucks more liquid than Grog’s ever seen him down in one go in all their years of tavern hopping.

The next second he hears Keyleth yell, “Turn him on his side!”

She’s motioning the water out of Scanlan’s lungs with her hands even as she’s full-on running towards them, spraying sand where her feet hit the beach. In the distance, Vex talks urgently to Percy sitting up next to Vesper before following her, almost as fast.

By the time she’s standing nearby, Keyleth is drawing out the last of the water and replacing it with air with complex arm gestures, long fingers flexing fluidly. The second she’s done, Pike flips Scanlan on his back again and smacks her hands flat on his chest with a flash of intense light that makes Grog see bright spots for a while. A heartbeat later, Scanlan is coughing and retching as if it would make more sense for his insides to be outside. Between dry heaves he takes big gulps of air that sound painful.

But at least he’s breathing.

Grog’s knees suddenly feel like jellyfish tentacles. Sea salt burns in his eyes, and wiping them doesn’t really help. He spares one furious thought towards the ocean – I still won, motherfucker, you don’t get to keep him, just a fleeting remnant of rage – before sitting down on the sand a lot more abruptly than he means to.

From there he catches some soft whispers, some in Gnomish he doesn’t understand, some in Common he does – “It’s okay, you’re okay”, “Slow down, deeper breaths”, and “I know, sorry about your ribs, babe, hold on a sec” – as well as the faint glow from Pike’s fingers as she runs her hand gently along Scanlan’s back. Scanlan’s breaths do come easier after that. (So do Grog’s, incidentally.) He still looks a wreck, though, his soaked curls all over the place, ashen-faced under his tan and half covered in a fine layer of sand. So much for keeping his hair dry. Oops.

“Are you gonna be okay?” asks Keyleth, her voice trembling just a little.

“What the hell happened?” Vex’s voice sounds clipped and almost angry, so sharp it could cut through diamonds but also kinda like it could break if she wasn’t careful. It only does that when things get bad.

Scanlan blinks up at her; he looks at Pike, at Keyleth, and at Grog, and blinks again.

“Good… question?”

It’s because of the jellyfish, Grog realises, and only notices he’s said that aloud when everyone turns their eyes to him. He concentrates hard on not voicing the niggling doubt that it’s his fault more than the jellyfish’s. The squish and the burn might have startled him, but letting both gnomes fall was on him alone. And that… that sucks. A lot.

Pike helps Scanlan sit up, one hand in his and the other still on his back.

“We were just messing around. Grog stepped on a jellyfish – by the way, you okay, buddy?”

“Yeah,” says Grog, even though his ankle still burns a lot, kinda, because he’s – they’ve all – gone through way worse during battles. Fortunately they’re not battling anyone, so Pike still has plenty of magic, and he almost immediately feels the familiar warmth of a Heal spell down to his toes. The next second the red welts on his skin are gone. “Thanks, Pike. And, uh… sorry for getting your hair wet, Scanlan.”

“That’s… a way of putting it, I guess,” mutters Vex.

Scanlan stops brushing wet sand off his face, still looking a little dazed. He looks up (and up, and up) at Grog and waves off the apology with a slightly shaking hand.

“Eh, it’s fine. I probably should’ve told you I can’t swim in the first place.”

Everyone stares at him in a stunned silence that Keyleth finally breaks.

“Wait,” she exclaims, “you can’t swim?”

Scanlan gives half a shrug. “Just never learned, I guess. And I learned Polymorph years ago, so I can just turn into something that swims better than I ever would anyway.”

That does nothing to placate Keyleth, whose voice climbs straight up.

“But – how did we not know that?!”

“It never came up!” protests Scanlan, eyes wide, almost defensive.

“How the hell did that never come up?”

“Guys.” Pike’s voice is clear and sharp; it’s not brittle like Vex’s was, but it’s a fine edge that slices easily through the rising tension before it turns back into her usual soothing tones. “Thank you,” she says to the two women. She opens her mouth, closes it again, and finally just says, “You know. Just… thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Vex says in her normal voice, but her face is pretty pale for all that she just ran a bunch of yards to go get Keyleth. “And Scanlan?”

Grog almost expects him to look up and go “Oi?” with a small smile that could mean pretty much anything. But he just looks up at Vex and doesn’t smile. His eyebrows go up a bit.

“A soon as we can find a body of water that doesn’t have waves in it –”

“Or jellyfish,” adds Grog, whose takeaway of the misadventure is that those things are more dangerous than ocean waves. One corner of Vex’s mouth twitches.

“– or jellyfish, we are teaching you how to swim, darling. And that is non-negotiable.”

Scanlan’s face is still a bit white, his voice still a bit raw when he nods and says, “Understood.”

“I mean it. I hope you can handle a crash course.”

“Well,” says Scanlan, sounding a little more normal, “you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks, but I—” Vex’s eyes glint, “—yep, okay, swimming lesson, no prob.”

Vex flashes a satisfied smirk, but it only stays up for a second. The next moment she’s hugging Scanlan, and it’s over just as quickly before she mutters, “I’d better go and inform Percy that nobody died, thank the gods…”

And it’s like Grog can hear the ‘nobody else’ hidden in that sentence, clear as day.

After she leaves, Scanlan looks at Keyleth with one of those smiles that mean he’s being serious.

“Thanks, Kiki. You know, you’re pretty awesome.”

Keyleth looks less spooked now. She gives a short snort of a laugh and unfolds her long lean body from where she’s sitting on the sand.

“Yeah, well. I spent a long time learning these spells, so. I’m glad you’re okay, Scanlan,” she adds in a softer voice before following Vex.

It’s when her back is turned and she’s a few feet away that Pike – who’s been so still Grog almost expected her to start vibrating – grabs Scanlan by the shoulders and then throws her arms around him. Doesn’t kiss him, just goes straight for a tackling hug that seems to drive the air from his lungs (again).

“I thought you’d Dimension Doored to the beach,” Grog hears her say in his hair, a little muffled, because after a second of surprise Scanlan is hugging back, just as tight. “I thought you’d swum back. You should’ve said you couldn’t, you… I should’ve checked… Holy shit, Scanlan. That was so fucking dumb.”

But she’s trembling a little as she says this, so maybe it’s not really dumb to be scared still, even though everything is okay now.

…Well, kind of okay. No matter what happens, Vax will stay dead. Which means Vex, and Keyleth, and Scanlan, and Pike, and Percy, and Tary won’t really be okay okay for a long time. They’ll still have those moments where they go quiet and still and kind of fragile, like they’re made of glass you can’t quite see through. Like Grog, when his memory betrays him and he thinks I gotta show this to Vax, or Vax will go nuts when he hears that – and then he remembers that Vax is gone and they’ll never get him back.

Maybe that’s part of why Pike is holding Scanlan so tight, and why Scanlan is murmuring to her in Gnomish looking like he just smacked his head into a wall.

And since there’s no kissing involved, just ‘holy crap you’re alive I love you you’re alive’ hugging, Grog picks up his gnomes for some hugging of his own.

The thing is… well. It’s like this. It’s Wilhand and Grog and Pike and Scanlan, living in Wilhand’s house. It’s Grog and Scanlan and Pike, going to taverns and sometimes – less often than they used to, but still sometimes – going home so smashed they can’t walk straight. It’s Pike and Grog and Scanlan going to Vasselheim via teleportation circles; Grog and Scanlan check in at the Slayer’s Take headquarters while Pike drops by the Temple of Sarenrae first, Pike and Grog fight at the Crucible while Scanlan sneaks them some inspiration from the stands, and Grog and Pike and sometimes Scanlan take a contract from the Take to kill some big beast that doesn’t hold a candle to a dragon or a god but is still fun to fight.

The thing is… Grog knows gnomes live a long time. The particulars are unclear and not really interesting to be honest. He just knows that one day, he’ll be too old to fight anything – which sucks, so he hopes it won’t last a long time – and he’ll die for good, and Pike and Scanlan will still be young compared to him. That’s not scary in itself. Grog Strongjaw has never been afraid of dying (especially not since the two halves of Kevdak’s corpse hit the cobblestones of the Westruun town square). But Grog Strongjaw has learned to fear death like he used to before he learned about resurrection spells, whether it comes from the fingertips of a snarling god or the whisper of raven wings. Revivify doesn’t always work, and it gets harder if you died and got brought back more than once. And then sometimes they’re just. Gone. (They could have lost Vex for good as well at the not-wedding a couple of years ago. Sometimes Grog looks at her playing with Vesper, or slumped against Percy with her head on his shoulder, and the thought goes through his brain and leave ice in its wake for a while.)

The thing is… They’re not always out of harm’s way, but they are safe now.

They killed dragons. They thwarted a god. They lost family. They’re entitled to safe, now, right?

None of them are allowed to die before Grog. Not for real. That would just be unfair.

(Especially because of a stupid misstep and a stupid jellyfish.)

So yeah. The gnomes hug each other, and Grog hugs his gnomes.

“Hey, Scanlan,” he says when the two break apart – slightly – and make themselves comfortable against his chest without even thinking about it, out of habit.

“Yeah?”

“Are you mad we didn’t know you can’t swim?”

Something complicated flashes across Scanlan’s face for a second, but then he shakes his head.

“I’d be mad if I’d told you and you’d forgotten,” he says, and Grog believes him.

“I wouldn’t forget a thing like that.”

“I know, bud.”

“We’re gonna teach you, anyway,” Pike points out as the three of them make their way up the beach towards the others, the towels and the parasols. “And no Polymorph allowed. You’re not cheating your way out of this one.”

“That’s not cheating, that’s just… creative thinking! Swimming is boring – why would I want to swim when I can turn into a porpoise instead?”

“Why didn’t you do that earlier, then, instead of giving us all a heart attack?”

“I was taken by surprise, obviously!”

“Wait,” says Grog, “how the hell do you turn into a purpose?”

“P-o-r-p-o-i-s-e, buddies. It’s an animal. Kinda looks like a dolphin.”

“Dolphins are usually purposeful, so that tracks.”

“You’re not helping, Scanlan.”

“Yeah, you’re not helping me cultivate my litter-a-see, Scanlan.”

Grog isn’t sure (yet) how to spell ‘literacy’ and he mostly means it as a joke anyway, but Scanlan’s whole face lights up with delight, so maybe it means he stuck the landing.

Of course this is where Vesper’s little voice pipes up to ask what ‘literacy’ means, and what’s a porpoise, and then what does a jellyfish look like, because she’s a curious little one and she loves to know things and figure things out. Scanlan spins a tale on the spot for her that only looks like what actually happened if you tilt your head and squint really hard; at some point a giant whale is involved and Pike, Vex and Keyleth swing down from an airship to save the day. Percy’s eyebrows shoot up from behind his glasses at that, Keyleth laughs, and Vex grins and takes a mock bow before returning to scratch the spot behind Trinket’s ear.

Vesper listens to Scanlan with increasing awareness that this is A Story – firmly in the land of make-believe, where no one dies, nobody is ever in real danger, and all’s well that always ends well – and gives dramatic gasps and laughs at the right places.

Pike plops Scanlan’s hat on her head and settles behind him to comb the sand and the knots out of his hair with her fingers as he talks. Sometimes she smiles the same soft little smile Scanlan had earlier, while she and Grog were screaming at the ocean.

And Grog?

Grog settles on the ground, wiggling sand between his toes, and watches his family being alive.

—

Raise your hand if you love Grog Strongjaw and his gnomes 🥰

Me a couple of months ago seeing this post:

"Ooh, that's great! Great potential for comedy!" So I jotted down these lines -

“Wait, you can’t swim!? How did we not know that?” “It never came up!” “How the hell did it never come up??

- and then a couple of months later came up with the fic above 😅

Hope you liked!

#critter genfic bingo #critical role #vox machina #pikelan #grog strongjaw #pike trickfoot #scanlan shorthalt #vex'ahlia #keyleth #percival de rolo #fanfiction #tlovm spoilers

[woofety]

I was tagged by @sirtadcooper - thank you!! 😃

Tag someone you want to know AND/OR some of your besties.

(mandatory under the cut because I'm an idiot who can't keep it short to save her life 😅)

Favourite colour: this is an easy one, I'm in an established relationship and still madly in love after so many years with practically every shade of violet/purple that exists! 💜 Maybe I'm slightly more drawn to colder hues, but I'm not really that picky when it comes to this family of colours!

(This is a picture of a portion of wall in my bedroom I have asked to be painted with this shade of violet - which is a bit darker in reality but y' know, artificial light, that corner is way too dark to photograph otherwise... the whole room has various hues of purple scattered around: curtains, decorations, blankets, pillows... here's a special appearance of my beautiful boat lamp! ⛵💕)

Last song: thanks to a suggestion from Youtube, which probably hates me, because I'm still recovering from a flu and generally weak so it would be wise to avoid any kind of unneccessary emotional outburst:

Not technically a song, but still... I'm not sure if I was crying while watching this because I haven't had the chance to listen to them live yet, since they made a European tour twice but never touched my country and I couldn't travel abroad to see them, or because of... whatever it is that is going on with this performance and these artists, "epicness" to me barely covers it, I know I'm exaggerating but that's how much I love Two Steps From Hell, what can I say... In any case here I am being even more of a mess than I already am, you'd think I have had enough of using handkerchiefs these days! 😭❤️‍🔥

Last movie: I think it was Imagine me & you, which I finally watched after seeing a lot about it here (unpopular opinion no one asked for, I thought I would have enjoyed it more... ☹️)... It was either that or Bros (which I actually enjoyed it more than I expected instead 😁), at the moment I don't remember exactly which came last...

Currently watching: Fellow Travelers as for new shows (fuck me, seriously, what am I doing to myself 😭 - I'm crying quite a bit in this post 😅), rewatching Blackadder after having finished A bit of Fry and Laurie 😆, and sports as well, mainly tennis, padel and basketball atm!

Other stuff I watched this year: Oh my, I didn't watch an awful lot of things, but I'll surely forget something - I'm terrible remembering this kind of stuff (if only it was just these things 😅)! Let's see, in no particular order, I can recall Minx (so far this year the most pleasant surprise in terms of TV series I've watched for the first time, silly [affectionate] little show), Wednesday (it was a bit meh for me, not sure if I'll watch next season), Red, white & royal blue (likely one of my favourite movies this year ❤️... yeah, it's not certainly a big deal of a movie ofc and I'm not even a rom com gal, especially for those Hallmark style movies, like this kinda is, but idk, it was cute and warm and brought good feelings and probably I watched it in the right moment for me, or one on which I just needed good vibes, what can I say), Call me by your name (even more than watching the movie reading the book was... quite an experience - I'm not saying it an entirely bad way, but I'm still so utterly confused about my feelings about this novel), What's love, The kissing booth (don't ask me about this one, the things I do to watch an actor I like 😅 - there's a whole trilogy of it but I only watched the two movies that had in the cast the actor I was interested in, really can't be bothered to do more than that, it was enough suffering I endured 🤣), Only murders in the building, The witcher, National treasure: edge of history (I don't care what anyone says, this show deserved at least another season, it was far from perfect but there has been way worse that still sticks around, and I'm speaking as a fan of the movies foremost, especially the first one, which is one of my comfort movies, as absurd and silly as it is 😊), Shadow and bone, The witcher (as for these, I'll probably keep watching an eventual next season only for some of the cast, because both were an utter disappointment and I wouldn't bother continuing otherwise), let's see, what else, oh yeah, Smiley (this was another nice show tbh, and in this case I could also train my ear a bit on the language since it's in Spanish and I'm trying to learn and improve it 😝) and two other Spanish shows (guilty again for watching mainly for an actor I wanted to see ah ehm), Merlì/Merlì: Sapere Aude and Alguien tiene que morir, and Érase una vez… pero ya no, all pretty much forgettable... I don't know what else, probably there is something more, but I'm making it lenghty already, I should stop anyway!

Shows I dropped this year/didn’t finish: damn, I should make a sheet about tv/movies as I do with books, it's honestly hard remembering what I watched or dropped! I can recall not going through the second episode of Warrior nun: again, another show I was curious about having seen things here on Tumblr, but I didn't feel it after the first episode, I'm not even sure exactly why - it's possible I'll try again someday, it's way too early to have an opinion after only one episode! I also didn't finish Lockwood & co., this one wasn't really for me tbh... I'm not even mentioning something I've been watching only and exclusively because it's a sort of joke I have with a friend of mine... All right, I'll say, it's High School Musical: The musical - the series 😅 Truth is, my friend likes the movies and low key also the series, whereas I hate them all, and she knows they piss me off and she has fun hearing my comments and teasing me about it... I have a bit less fun submitting myself to this "torture" but whatever! 🤣 I try to watch the series when I'm particularly willing to waste my time, because the only reason I'm doing it is to have a laugh with said friend, anyway rn I'm at the last season and it's so bad, sooooooo bad (mind you, meaning it's just not for me, I'm likely too old and too millennial to watch this kind of shows anymore), I don't know how I am supposed to endure any more of it lol!! I guess at some point I'll force myself to finish it to end my suffering and hoping my friend and I will finally close this questionable chapter of our watching experience, but damn it's hard! 😝 As for shows of which I completed a season but didn't watch the next, I could say one was Abbott Elementary: pretty bummed about it because it was actually cute and was enjoying it, I finished the first season when the second didn't air yet and when it did, I had moved on and lost interest a bit and wasn't in the mood to continue my watching (happens to me a lot)... I think at some point I will resume this one, just have to find the right inspiration! 😛 (I'm rather complicated and picky about my watching/reading experience in general, ops) And I have to mention as well, even if it will surely grant me some disapproval from the person who tagged me in this game 😆, I couldn't pick up Our flag means death after the first season as well, and for now I don't think I will resume it: I didn't really feel this show, I don't know what to say... 🤷 Should I mention that I also tried rewatching The Terror but I was like "oh hell no!" after the first episode?! 😅 In my defense I watched it at night, and the show is A LOT and nearly killed me the first time, yeah ok I'm making excuses but I have to be in a certain state of mind to watch certain things and The Terror is one of those cases - I already mentioned I'm complicated with my watching experience, yes?! 😜 Anyway it was a rewatch so it shouldn't count sssshhhh 🤫😁

Currently reading: more like, the books I've put on hold atm, ouch! True that this year, especially in the first half, I've read way more than I expected and definitely way more than I usually do, but that's not an excuse to make a pause - still, I'm realizing that it's been few weeks since I've picked up my readings! Anyway, what I've been reading is Mercanti avventurieri by Attilio Brilli, which collects stories about merchants and their travels and trades through the centuries; Columbus by Lawrence Bergreen, the account of Cristoforo Colombo's voyages in America - not happy enough of ending up horrified and outraged by the chronicle of Magellano's expedition (by the story and events, not the author's writing, which I actually appreciated a lot), I decided to educate myself more about another so called "pioneer" who thanks to his hubris committed terrible atrocities in the name of "progress" and "religion" and "civilization" and so on 😡 , since the little knowledge I have about Colombo comes mainly from my years at school... Despite the fact that my respect for this man is nowhere to be seen, I'm still somehow fascinated by the narration of sea voyages, which in the end are actually my main interest when reading this kind of stories; Atlante delle fortune di mare di Cyril Hofstein, an account of tales about (mis)fortunes at sea, involving incidents, lost treasures, mysterious events, discoveries, disappearances, disasters and so forth - btw, in the book there is this particular chapter:

The disappearance of the Erebus and Terror is the title - the real story is terrifying enough even without creating a fictional horror show inspired by it jfc!

And lastly, this is definitely the less "serious" reading, The Lawrence Browne affair by Cat Sebastian, one of my first attempts at reading "proper" (meaning they're not fanfictions, not that I don't consider those "proper" literature, on the contrary many of them are written far better than some published books I've read, so yeah, I should say "published" instead) erotic novels lmao 😝 This was a whim really, I felt I wanted to read something light, "wicked" and not to be taken seriously (it also was probably some sort of "knee-jerk reaction" to many of the queer books I read this year, which were sad, depressing and/or tragic 😔)! Romance novels are not really my jam in general, but every once in a while they don't hurt, since I'm doing it just for fun! This one is actually the second book of a trilogy, more disappointing than the first book I have to say, which was more "juicy" and entertaining! 😁

Currently listening to: ah, this is a tough one to pinpoint, because lately my Spotify is on shuffle most of the time (I have a folder literally called "Miscellanea" that keeps a bit of everything, it's a glorious mess lol), and my music preferences are rather varied... Let's say that if I have to consciously choose something at the moment, there would certainly be Poets of the Fall, Gaelic Storm, The Irish Rovers, Santiano (in general celtic folk/punk songs, especially if inspired by sea and sailors stories- those are good for all seasons 🥰), Two Steps From Hell, J2 and "epic music" in general, and dance-pop music from '70 to '00, original or remixes, especially when I work out in the last case!

Currently working on: do crosswords count? It's my newest pursuit lol 😆 Because otherwise I'm afraid I'm not working on anything in particular at the moment (and I should start, since I had a couple of ideas for gifts for Christmas that alas, have to be handcrafted in order to be created, and if I want to have them done I am the one who must work on them, ugh can you believe it, outrageous, what has the world come to 😂)... I occasionally do a bit of calligraphy, create costume jewellery or create little macramè things, again usually trinkets but this summer I bought thicker yarns so I could have a go at something a little bigger like coin purses, wallets and little bags, and all in all it didn't go that bad:

The problem is, at least with the purses, that with these dimensions I can't fit half the things I usually bring with me when I go out because "you never know what might happen I might need this thing", so these purses were more like first tries and will likely not be used by me very much because they are too small for my necessities! 😅 In any case, I had to put this activity on hold for a bit because I lacked some time to dedicate myself to it!

Oh, wait, does trying to repair a porcelain ornament that fell on the floor (not because of me, I want to clarify, for once that I don't accidentally bump into stuff and make a mess - which happens more often than I'd like 😅) count? Hardly but whatever, anyway it's going to be complicated to glue the pieces back, some have shattered in such tiny fragments, sigh...

Current obsession: I'm almost shocked to report that at the current moment no particular obsession has consumed my every waking hour 🤣 I mean, even the flame of padel, which I've been following almost religiously all year, has dimmed a little, but it is the end of the season/year, everyone is tired and so am I apparently, rooting for couples who almost never have significant results (story of my life lol), so I guess I'm recharging the batteries for another round of hopeless cheer next year, yay! 🥳 For the rest, in terms of media I believe there is nothing of significance to report in terms of proper "obsession" for the time being, so yeah, that's it 😌 (the times of Black Sails or even Agents of SHIELD are far behind me, I miss being that "obsessed" tbh ☹️)

Tagging @thelifeinmyshadesofgrey , @whitestnoise , @lives-ruined-and-bloodshed, @valentinaonthemoon , @mednay , @tirairgid (ofc if you want to and haven't done it before) and whoever wants to give it a go really!

#about me #tag game #sirtadcooper #how could I make this so loooooooooong gdi I'm sorry I rambled an awful lot 😖 #thank you again for thinking of me!

[booksandchainmail]

Pale 9.7

“Self-respecting Canadian practitioners should have worked out cold runes and cold manipulation a while ago.”

I'm sure practitioners in places warmer than Canada have figured it out

“I need a minute of your time to prep and paint the drywall in the basement this afternoon,” Verona’s dad said, from the dining room.

so weird the way Verona's father opens with a task, not even saying hello. This has been a recurring thing, but it's taken hearing it from another POV to make it sink in.

“You could help,” he told her. “It shouldn’t take too long."

also deeply strange to me that he keeps going with this once he realizes she's not Verona! I mean, I guess kids tend to fit into another category than adult guests, but still weird to lead with a chore to a guest. And it's not like he and Lucy have the kind of basically extended family relationship that people can wind up in with their close friends's family (For contrast, I would not find it weird for Jasmine to ask Verona to do a household task alongside Lucy)

“A proper painting job,” he said, looking unimpressed.  “And the flooring is like a puzzle, it all clicks together.” “A really boring puzzle where there’s no picture and all the pieces are the same?” “It’s about fitting it to the shape of the room, I think.”

unfortunately this does sound fun to me.

“Well, we’ve got people waiting for us, so I don’t think we can help.  But I hope you do have fun doing that.”

lol

“Are you going to get in trouble?” Lucy asked. “Huh?” “With your dad?” “He’ll get upset later probably.  But he usually gets upset, so it’s a bit meh?”

Verona doesn't seem to have a concept of being in trouble with her parents. Which given her dad is definitely better than the alternative! But it's weird that they basically interact like housemates who don't like each other. At the beginning of the story Verona was trying to meet her father's expectations, but at this point she's given up and just does what she wants, since regardless of what she does there'll just be the same guilt trips and task list.

They pulled Ken over into the shade by the fence, and then went to get a fan from indoors, bringing it over and putting it on the table, the cord stretched taut on its way through the kitchen. By the time they were done, clouds had stretched over the sky, giving Kennet a bit of shade. The wind picked up.

oh neat

“To start with, we bound him for Kennet.  Because of responsibilities we took at Awakening.”

between Matthew and Edith, I counted referring to "your binding" twice so far. I wonder if they were going for three times to set the pattern that the girls bind Others in Kennet, trying to push them into an antagonistic role?

“We swore to protect all sides of Kennet, including Other and human.  We did what we were told and we made it clear that this was our territory, as practitioners, that was pretty much what we were told would be our jobs as local practitioners.  That we just had to say that.  And things went sideways.  After Miss left, things changed.  We took on the task of dealing with the Hungry Choir, in accordance with our duties, and we were opposed in that.”

if you wanted the girls to just be practitioners on paper, you shouldn't have had them swear to protect Kennet. I wonder if that was Miss's idea, if some of the others would have preferred limiting the girls's role further?

“A handful of lives a month, in contrast to what may impact or cost the lives of the five thousand residents of Kennet? With ripple effects extending outward?

I think that doing blood sacrifice of your own people is bad even if you can justify it utilitarianly!

Verona stepping in like that to back her up, to complement her? It was the opposite of shaky and intense and on edge. She would have called it heart-melting, but it wasn’t. It brought feelings home and for a second she felt like she could cry, because of it, and she had to close her eyes and fight not to.

:)

“We were told we’d get a vote,” Verona said.  “But apparently not for the stuff that matters?”

I guess what it comes down to is are the girls members of the Kennet council, or just outside agents to use distrustfully?

“We’re a part of that freaking balance, Matthew!” Lucy shouted.  “We’re in this for the long haul, aren’t we!?  You, Edith, me, Verona, Avery, Snowdrop!?  We’re supposed to get to a point- a point where things are okay, and we’re still working together in a few decades… aren’t we?  Wasn’t that the idea?” “That’s the intention,” Toadswallow said. Tashlit gave a thumbs up.

Matthew and Edith noticeably not responding

“When Miss named and pointed you out as quickly as she did, we expected…” Edith trailed off.  “Less?”

you expected more controllable

“Apparently,” Edith said.  She sighed.  “A lot of what you’re upset about came about because we were so shocked you were so capable.”

and the level of drive and focus the girls are showing looks uncomfortably like ambition for power, when seen ungenerously

"My point is, dear girls, I’m wary.  I’m clever and capable for my size, I’m traveled, I’ve learned and I didn’t expect you to learn and work with one another like you did.  I can understand why others would vote against teaching you binding.  Or how they might worry how you changed when away at school, when you’d grown so fast already from the meager gifts we’d given you.”

I would like all of the girls to internalize this for the next time they start worrying they're incapable and holding the group back

“He goes by Bridge. Prefers male bodies. I don’t care one way or the other.

Diversity win?

“The Carmine Beast’s blood, all over Kennet,” Lucy said.  “It was drawn to it, and if that stuff’s collecting beneath it…”

new candidate? Doesn't seemed planned, so this could throw a wrench in the murderer's scheme

“Be careful,” Matthew said. “Montague takes over systems.  It might be a rough dream, whatever Alpeana tries.”

trying to keep them from talking to Montague in a place that can't be monitored?

Verona didn’t reply right away, her expression changing. “Does it… is there anything saying we strictly have to do implement, familiar, demesne?”

Demesne seems like a really bad fit for Verona. I'd honestly have picked her for Implement, maybe Avery for Demesne?

Lucy had no idea how to parse the feelings she was experiencing.  She couldn’t even put easy labels to them. Jealousy, a bit, maybe?

has Verona ever had a friend outside of Lucy before?

“And it all came out?  I get that.” “Didn’t use to happen, and now it’s happening a lot.”

there's more stress now, but also there's a limit to how long you can bottle things up before it gets on a hair-trigger

She thought of the nightmare, and she wished she could feel like this was a thought that was wholly her own, and not one someone else had wanted her to have…

oh there's a thought. If Alpeana is hostile, and using nightmares to influence them. Pushing Lucy to be worried about her family, and for Verona... to not be around Melissa? Or to be scared of getting stuck in Kennet, more hesitant to have a desmesne?

#booksandchainmail reads pale #pale #wildbow

[xiazats-mind]

Rating the 2023 Summer Cosmetics Cause Why Not

Previous rating (Also if your interested in me doing older crates let me know and I’ll get around to it eventually)

The scale

0 Absolute Garbage      5 Average     10 Must Have

Brimmed Bootlegger

Fairly generic slot filler, which isn't a bad thing. Don't have much else to say.

5/10

Prohibition Opposition

I like the name, and the button up shirt plus suspenders look makes this one of the fancier outfits for scout

6.5/10

Close Quarters Cover

This one has four very versatile styles: paint bandanna, paint hair, bandanna only and hair only. A great slot filler

8.5/10

Stealth Bomber

I don't believe solider has many other camo cosmetics, which you would think he would be over saturated with them. Regardless, this is other good outfit for everyone's nutty patriot

8/10

Firestalker

This is...okay. There's just so many good hats/head morphs that its a bit of a tough market, at least for me. (Then again, that could apply to literally any class)

4/10

Flame Warrior

Now THIS is more like it! Comes with our without the pauldrons, this is a helmet to strike fear in the hearts of spies everywhere (assuming your a competent pyro of course)

8/10

Soho Sleuth

This coat goes with the firestalker hat, and I must say its a pretty nice suit. I realize, looking back at previous ratings, I might be biased towards plaid

7.5/10

Blast Bowl

Giving demo a helmet based on a sticky bomb could easily look low effort, but this just works for me.

8/10

Shrapnel Shell

This is what I was referring to when I said low effort, this does not work for me

3.5/10

Brother Mann

Another versatile piece of headwear, with two extra styles removing the elements you don't what. Also, its just a nice looking ensemble

8.5/10

Heavy Metal

The emblem on the back is what elevates this from "meh" to "alright"

6/10

Hog Heels

Ehh...

4/10

Cargo Constructor

This construction worker garb works so well with engi's default helmet, I feel like this should have been added years ago

9/10

Cranium Cooler

Dont have a lot to say about this one; its a neat hat that fits engi character

5.5/10

Hazard Handler

Finally, engi is wearing two gloves. I don't know why, but that's so satisfying to me.

8.5/10

Medical Emergency

The modeler has confirmed that this a reference to the Half-Life medkits, which, despite me not playing a lot of Half-Life, my first thought was "Is that a the Half-Life medkit?" I'm pleased my intuition was correct. Oh and cosmetic is nice too

7.5/10

Über-Wear

Meh

4/10

Bushman

This is the 'sexy' cosmetic for sniper mains. Unfortunately for this outfit, I'm straight, which will definitely impact the score.

5/10

Cranium Cover

This sniper helm gives me military operative vibes; neat

5.5/10

Glorious Gambeson

Best used in conjunction with the huntsmen, although using a sniper rifle could add some anachronistic comedy

5/10

Preventative Measure

Same vibes as the cranium cover

5.5/10

Cleaner's Cap

Its a neat little hat, and the option to remove the shades is a nice bonus

6/10

Le Professionnel

'nother coat for spy, but it comes in two flavors: turtleneck and t-shirt; I prefer the turtleneck

5/10

Brothers in Blues

This feels like soldier's detective hat from a few crates ago, but made into an all class hat; That's not a bad thing, as I do like that hat.

5/10

Full Metal Helmet

This is actually the soldier's original hat-Soldier's stash-made into an all class cosmetic, complete with unique designs for each class. Since I can no longer get the original hats anymore (thanks Valve) I will be scoring this one a bit more favorably than if I could; It also helps that its a great slot filler

7/10

#tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 cosmetics rating #a thought(tm) from xiazat's mind

[cabbageslost]

Live Reacting to Live Action AtLA - ep 4

Nothing about this is spoiler-free. You have been warned. Skip til after you've seen if you're worried.

..

Okay, just like with the first three, this will be my space to blather my way through the 4th NAtLA episode. Almost to the halfway point. Here's hoping this one brings it, cuz if there's a Bumi who is "toned down" I will be just screaming into the void. Firing it up now...

..

Well. At least they let Katara be the one to be out looking for Aang. I feel like she hasn't gotten enough "umph" in this version.

Secret love cave is turning into secret haunted tunnels. *sigh* Gonna guess this change won't be one I like.

Wait, what? They're skipping WAY THROUGH a ton of Bumi lead up. Straight to instant knowing. *deep breath*

Yay, she gets a water skin now an-- oooh, Jet's back. Kick his ASS, girl! One hope speech then his stubborn ass goes down. YES! Yes that WAS you!! woohoo.. okay, favorite part so far. LOL

Pun game is strong with Bumi.

At least we still get the nomads, but.. this bit isn't even a book 1 thing. And it being here is gonna probably mean skipping a fairly iconic part from the OG.

Wait, Iroh dropped a pai sho tile? But that stinky sandal turned out to be an MVP later.. lol..

Okay, still having crazy Bumi trials of a sort.

Sokka's instincts showing up to lead them out of the cave. I kind of love their sibling fights. Giving me hope for Katara getting better writing as we're going on, because she clearly acts well (and her imperfect, layered self was always my favorite and I want none of that toned down.)

Guard/Iroh exchange is actually a pretty standout scene, acting-wise. And Iroh's expressions.. oh man, if those expressions didn't hit you in the feels enough, here's the flashback. Shades of Leaves on the vine..

Ah, sibling love. Um, okay. Yeah, still don't like it. This adaptation already has so much they cram in, no reason for them to try and reach out for more season 2 stories to shove in.

Aang and Bumi fight.. I wish that they would have Aang explain that he didn't "leave", not in this version. He and Appa were out for a midnight stroll when stuff happened to go down. What's the point of making that change if he's still letting the world think he left them? (Which, I mean, he was 12 and understandable.)

Yes!! A (very brief) mail chute ride AND a MY CABBAGES!! Some of my prayers have been answered.

Okay, and I approve the addition of this Zuko/Iroh flashback. "Everything I need is on this boat." Uncle Iroh, you and these ninjas-chopping-onions moments.

Ah, ending on Zuko ignoring an Appa sighting. Guessing that's why they were making Bumi completely hammer on Aang having run away (though he didn't) - because they were trying to get a couple points from The Storm in.

..

Alright, well. This one was a roller coaster for me. I actually did love the added scenes (the Iroh/Zuko flashbacks), and they seemed to start writing Katara better (please keep it up), and I got my tiny glimpse of a fun ride. Also got to see Katara put the smack on Jet, but the awesomeness was dampened a bit since she was immediately making excuses for him in the cave with Sokka. And then a lot of the rest of it was disappointing. Putting Cave of Two Lovers in there for no reason was a big L, and I remain frustrated by the repeated "you ran from this" stuff that is getting tossed at Aang - including by his own past life who would 100% know that didn't happen (in this version). It was a decision to change it to make it not a running away, but then there's no decision to have Aang reassure the world he never chose to leave them? Bonkers. I mean, it was frustrating enough in the original, since when he ran was when they were removing him from Gyatso.. he had been still around the temple after being told he was the Avatar, he wasn't running from that alone. But at least he was choosing to run, so I kind of "got it" then. But they changed it and now he hasn't even run and just.. meh. I'm also frustrated at the pretty big lack of showing the Gaang actually forming a close bond. It's all the little "fun" things that they cut out that just don't let us see how they're close friends.. we just have to be told at the end of the fight, I guess.

#atla #natla #live action atla #reaction

[lesyasun]

A while ago I received an interesting question about game aesthetics. The person in that ask really struggles with downloading stuff and finding their own style. They asked me how I came up with what you see on my screenshots. Have you ever thought that you can recognize whose screenshot this is by just a quick glance? Is editing important in photoshop? How to take beautiful screenshots? Today let’s talk about how different one single game could be for each of us and what really makes this mysterious “sims aesthetics”.

EDIT: Sorry, it turned out to be huge with lots of random thoughts :D I hope at least one percent of these is useful!

NOTE: English is not my native language, I apologize for possible grammar or spelling mistakes. I tried my best in writing this!

Ok, let’s imagine that you’re a person who just obtained the sims game or just want a nice fresh start and demolished your download folder. (We all need fresh starts sometimes, right?) The struggle is that you have no idea which style you like the best. There are so many sims blogs. Everyone seems to enjoy what they post but you’re a little bit lost in that jungle. Don’t worry! I’ll try to guide you and share my thoughts.

STEP 1 Choose your general style

I roughly divide all sims blogs that I see on my dashboard into a couple of so-called styles. I’ve been doing it in my mind for ages. I like following different people and seeing diferent editing. None of them are better than others. I hope you understand that it’s just a matter of liking. Ok, here we go. Let me put this sorting hat on you :D

1. Realistic 

Screenshot by @luchiatores

Perhaps, it’s the most important thing that you should decide for yourself. Wether you should use realistic textures in your game or you’d prefer to stick to more cartoonish maxis match ones. Why is it so important, to my mind? I like things that match. Just imagine game Witcher 3 where characters and surroundings are realistic. And now imagine Minecraft where things are pixelated. Both games are great, both games have certain beautiful styles. And now imagine Geralt hunting for monsters in a pixelated Minecraft swamp. A bit strange, isn’t it? :D The same applies to Sims. If you put a super realistic skintone on your sim and put a Maxis ponytail, that would probably look strange too. If you choose this style, just try to dig for a good quality content, start following simblrs in this style. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert when it comes to realistic content. So, try to drop an ask to someone whose realistic game you like. There are so many helpful people around in the sims community no matter what style they have :)

2. Trully Maxis Match

screenshot by @whattheskell

This is a complete opposite of a realistic style. I’ve always called people who use a lot of original maxis textures “trully maxis” :D If you can decorate a house without any custom content, if you like the way original hairstyles look, if you like Maxis clothes, you should go this way. From what I’ve spot after being so many years in the sims community, “trully” maxis simblr are so creative when it comes to storytelling. The stories that they write about either their sims/or maxis premades are so breathtaking. So much drama, so much fun. The only thing that I write about my screenshots is “Ok, this is my cat! Look, it can eat flowers and puke afterwardst! Yay! Cute”. If you choose this way, I can recommend you to check out @holleyberry, @didilysims or @moocha-muses. Obviously there are a lot more blogs that I follow. These people are just so sweet and helpful and they’re first who came to my mind. 

3. Bright Maxis Matchery

screenshot by @muupi

This is where I refer myself to. This style is still Maxis but what stands out is the use of bright colours and saturated photoshopped pictures. Ah, my love for overedited pictures is endless <3 This is what I’m going to talk a lot below since it’s my cup of tea. It’s all about colours and pallete addiction. If you love looking at super bright/silly/cheery screenshots and they boost up your mood, than join the squad! 

Basically, Maxis match (I’ll just shorten for MM from now on) players avoid super shiny skins or hair textures and prefer to have content with Simlish letters instead of English ones. This is a very important factor for me when I choose paintings or prints for T-shirts. I don’t know, I feel like it’s so cute that sims can’t understand our languages, talk this funny gibberish simlish language. It’s cute! There are so so many people that I can recommend. @lina-cherie @keoni-chan @kahlenas They are first who came to my mind <3

4. Grungy/cosmic

screenshot by @lilithpleasant 

I don’t know if these are suitable words :D But this is how I describe people’s game who like aliens/supernatural sims/grungy textures with or without bright colours as well. Just think would you prefer a bit of a grungy stuff or less-textured but cleaner MM? You always need to think about textures while you download stuff. I can recommend to check out @pooklet or @furbyq-sims 

5. Semi

screenshot by @whysim 

You might ask me “Why am I not allowed to put a realistic skintone on a maxis sim? What the hell?” Of course, you are! Do it please, if you want. There are no rules, no restrictions. You CAN go semi-realistic, you CAN mix patterns, you CAN mix colours. There’s only one rule: please, enjoy what you do. Don’t be afraid to share your pictures on the Internet. There will always be people who can judje your style and say: “meh, it’s too dull, meh, it’s too bright, meh, too shiny, meh, too plain meh, meh, meh”. Just don’t pay attention and enjoy your game. As for semi-realistic I can recommend such wonderful people as @marvelann @lilith-sims @falkii @knowledgeaspiration 

A bit about my style: I’ve always loved cartoonish/bright style. I’ve never ever played with shiny textures. Before Tumblr era I just played either without CC or with a bunch of maxis recolours. How I came up with the idea of cartoonishness? Pretty simple. It’s a part of my personality, I think :) I’ve always loved Disney/Pixar movies. Cartoons just make life a lot funnier! They make me happy. I’m a pre-school teacher after all :D. You can’t imagine how many cartoons I’ve watched throughout my life. I can quote Peppa Pig and will never be tired of that :D Before Tumblr I just played some funny legacies (I’ve never finished any though :D) When I found out about Tumblr, and such great content that can make my game even more Disney looking, it just blew my mind! Every time when I download stuff, I imagine that I’m watching a Disney/Pixar or whatever studio cartoon. When I create sims, I feel like I’m a cartoon designer. Pretty silly, right? :D 

Let’s take a look at my screenshots from the past. I tried to find similar ones with a lot of greenery.

2014

2021

I stil like a lot of greenery. Editing has changed, photo angles have changed. But bright colours and Maxis stuff are forever in my heart <3

Risa (2014)

Gage (2021) 

As I’m a big cartoon addict, I love recreating game/anime/cartoon characters. No matter, if they’re my favourite or requested ones. I love when my sims have different traits. I love when they’re funny looking/clumsy/absent-minded or when they’re evil/supernatural. When they are pirates/detectives/vampires or witches. This is my way of playing Sims. I love this game as it gives us possibilities to show your creativity, a chance to recreate our favourite characters. A chance to be a writer of storylines or if you’re bad at telling stories, just being “a cartoon designer” like me :)

STEP 2 Colour palettes

If you’ve chosen the path of “bright maxis matchery” than colour palettes are super important! Oh, you can’t imagine how addicted I am to certain colours. I can download GBs because of it.

Here are some of my favourite colour palettes:

1. Anna’s colours

My absolutely favourite palette. I would download absolutely anything in these pretty colours. Just looking at them makes me so cozy *0* There’s a photoshop action for those who want to recolour CC in this palette.

2. Poppet’s colours

I especially like the latest one. So pretty! @poppet-sims is the queen of lovely recolours. She has some more palettes. But “Back to Basics is my favourite”

3. Eversims colours

@eversims has got a lot of pretty colour palettes. But the most iconic one is Ever So Lovely

So, these are the basic colours that I like downloading furniture/clothes with. 

There are a couple more pretty palettes that I like:

Huning’s Pony Colours

Back in the days it was my ultimate favourite one. But these days I edit my pictures in Photoshop excessively and prefer calmer colours and add bright layers in photoshop instead.

Nyren’s Kosmic Colours

If you’re more into pastels, than try to download some stuff in this pretty palette.

You might wonder if I use all of these colours. Of course not! I have a selection of colours that I use: apple green, sky blue, yellow, red, pink, orange, purple, teal, mint. I absolutely love combining 2 or 3 of these in my interior shots. I also love choosing my sims’ favourite colours and dressing them/decorating their bedroom in this certain colour(s).

For example, my sim Mia likes apple green/purple and mint.

I think @deedee-sims can relate. While I prefer choosing a favourite colour per sim, she chooses favourite colour for the whole family!

This is a great idea, I think! :)

STEP 4 Bodyshop stuff

Ok, I hope it’s clear that I’m colour palettes addicted, now let’s move onto actual custom content and what I prefer adding to my game. I decided to divide CC by sections. Let’s start with Bodyshop.

4.1 Skintones

Another important thing that you need to choose for yourself. There are tones ofoptions. I’m going to recommend only MM skins as obviously I have no idea which realistic or semi-realistic ones are high quality.

screenshot by @deedee-sims

If you prefer trully maxis skintones, I recommend you to try Leh’s skintones. It’s super close to original ones in terms of shades. Also look at those button noses! These cute noses is the reason why I started using this skin back in 2014. But later I switched to Lilith’s feather as I wanted more variety and those noses there got a lovely shine.

It was my default skin for a lot of years. These days I own every possible skintone by Lilith and various blends by other people.

Lilith’s Alien Flavor

Lilith’s Android Skin Edit

Lilith’s Apple Pie Skinblend v.2

Lilith’s Apple Pie Skinblend

Lilith’s Apple Pie by Kahlena

Lilith’s Feather Skinblend

Lilith’s Feather Skins 

Lilith’s Feather by Sim-Strangers

Lilith’s Feathers Colourful by Berrynooboos

Lilith’s Honey Supernatural Custom

Lilith’s Honey with freckles

Lilith’s Honey with no freckles

Lilith’s Honey Unnatural by Berrynooboos

Pixel-danger-sims pastel skins

Here’s a very handy set-up by Vimpse with Lilith’s skins being townified.

Try to choose one set of skins or download all of them by one certain creator. I need a lot of skins because I love creating tones of sims and I want to make them various looking.

4.2 Eyes

 ♦  Polaroid ♦ - my favourite

♦ Transcendental ♦

♦ Sleeping Lion ♦

♦  Sharp Eyes ♦

♦ Shallowed in the Sea ♦

♦ Hand Outs and Punch Ups ♦

These are just some of my eyes. There are some more by Poppet, by Kahlena. And I have various addons to these sets that I grabbed over and here. I remember having struggles of choosing only one set. But than I thought: why do I have to choose if I like all of them and want my sims to look as different as possible? I just love when they are cartoonish but high-quality with nice white clean sclera. Just look at Disney Rapunzel. You’ll see what I mean ^_^

There’s one little trick that most mm players do for making sims’ eyes bigger and rounder - adding a whiteline eyeliner by jesstheex. I personaly do it for every single sim of mine.

4.3 Makeup

I use tooooons of blushes, lipsticks and eyeshadows. I have everything by Lilith and Jesstheex. And lots of bits and bobs by various creators. I love using both matte or shiny textures. I sometimes add nose shine or use special nosemasks. There are various lovely things in my collection. What I can recommend you is to download a sim that you like by another creator with the help of Sims Clean Installer and just steal makeup from the sim to add to your collection *evil laughter* I recommend to do it because sometimes there are some mouth corners or various eyebags and etc which are difficult to find. It’s easier to grab them together with sims.

For example, I grabbed the shiny nosemasks from one of Lilith’s sims.

Sometimes I like adding a bit of shine on Sims’ noses. Some sims of mine don’t have shine. It really depends on a sim. But what I definitely like is cute button noses! I like using nosemasks to achieve that. I have all the masks by Lilith and these ones by kahlena.

4.4 Hair textures

Another important decision for you is the hair textures. I recommend you to choose one certain retexture. Back in the days, I used to have Remi’s textures

screenshot by @selenaq13 

I liked Remi’s ones because they were non-shiny. They had maxis colours and a really cool yellowish blonde! 

Receintly I switched to Simgarooped as I’ve always loved that there are 6 naturals. The yellowish blonde is still there! Plus my favourite Deedee-sims keeps updating every week with the retextures of new meshes <3

There are lots of various textures blends. Just search, download, play test. Think, if you’re ready to look at such type of hair hours of simming.

Also try to decide if you’d like to have more natural looking sims or go crazy and have supernatural/aliens. I used to have really bright sims with colourful skins and hairs.

Even my toddlers had unnatural hairs. It’s a lot of fun! But right now I prefer to create more natural looking sims though I like vampires/witches/aliens anyways!

screenshot by @honeylungsims 

If you would like to have colourful supernatural sims, check out Honeylung! She has the brightest and most unusual supernatural sims <3 

You’ll need a lot of face masks/bright lips/shadows. Check out @berrynooboos​ for the cutest alien CC.

4.5 Facial hair and Brows

I don’t think they should really match as long as they look great.

For example, I use eyebrows by @suratan-zir which are super cute and high quality but use Poppet’s textures instead of Simgarooped.

As for facial hair, I use some Poppet’s as well.

by Skoogy

by Poppet #1

by Poppet #2

by Simgaroop

4.6 Clothes

As I already mentioned, I love clothes in my favourite palettes. I love Simlish prints. There are so so many creators who share wonderful clothes.

I love @deedee-sims for age conversions, shoeswaps, morphs. I love @mdpthatsme for really cool 4t2 conversions. I love @moocha-muses for colourful T-shirts <3 Don’t be shy to send me a WCIF about a certain item of clothing.

STEP 5 Buy and Build

Tooons of bright recolours, IKEA items, Maxis add-ons, 3t2 and 4t2 conversions - all these things make my heart beat :D

These days I play in a rural-type world. I download a lot of craftsman-style build things, a lot of plants and garden deco.

I love bright wallpapers and greenhouses, I love clutter and kids CC for nurseries. Patterns with polka dots and plumbobs. Sunflowers and tulips. This is what I usually drop into my download folder :)

STEP 6 Taking screenshots

No matter which recolours and textures you prefer, I think high-quality pictures are important. The first thing that you need to playtest for yourself is a camera mod. It’s upo for you, but I can’t live without Gunmod’s Camera Mod. There are some more available, just check out.

Also lighting is important since Maxis original is terrible. I use Dreadpirate’s mod. 

I recommend to take screenshots in a camera man mode. Click Tab to enter it. Use W, A,S,D,E buttons to move right/left/up/down etc. And what’s important, use X and Z for zooming in and out. I always use Z for example, when I take close ups of my cats.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with angles. Try some artistic ones.

You can move your camera down and take a screen from below.

Or vice versa from above.

Sometimes I’ll just take a screen of my sims’ hands or feet. It really depends. I love spending hours on just “walking” in a camera mod around my sims houses.

Another useful feature of this mod is to use Ctrl +4,5,6,7,8,9 buttons.

These can fix the angles for you. And after fixing them, when you click on 4,5,6,7,8,9 you camera will go back to those positions. It’s very handy when you want to screen 2 sims who are talking and there’s no need to constatntly move camera from sidde to side. Just fix it and wait for them to perform cute emotions!

As a bonus, you can fic positions in the life mode too. For example, I always choose a proper angle from above where the wgole house can be seen. And wait for something cute/funny/to happen.

Also there’s such a thing as The Rule of Thirds. It’s the rule of photography composition. I always try to follow it :)

STEP 7 Photoshop Editing

I love oversaturated colours. It can be too much for someone’s eyes, but I like the brightness :) I’ll share some good Photoshop resources. Probably, one thing that I can recommend to absolutely everyone no matter how bright you want your screens to be is sharpening! Seems that Tumblr eats our picture quality for breakfast. Sims screenshots seem so blurry to me. I love sharpening them first.

I use sharpening from Kalekaloo’s action.

After sharpening I run the base from Eversims Action and then add some colour layers from Simburgerr’s one (I like gradients and fluffy lights layers especially). It makes the reds colours a little bit too saturated but I think it’s cute!

There are a some more cute actions and PSD files out there:

OhMySims - Action 1

OhMySims - Action 2

Sterina’s Action

Photoshop PSDs by Pleyita

Snapdragoned PSD

Mandragore PSD by Kiinuu

JellyBeanery’s Action

Roguebotanist

Nnilou - 12:51

A generic PSD by Knowledgeaspiration

Colorize IT by Bonnypixels

Colour Crush by Bonnypixels

Just Like Heaven by Pixeldemographics

For more tips/palettes/cute fonts I recommend you to check out @bepixeled

That’s all that came to my mind. I hope at least something was useful!

#ts2 #sims 2 #the sims 2 #sims 2 tutorial #sims tutorial #sims guide #sims 2 guide

[sweetsweetkpop]

Day 11

Genre: Smut, slight Humor (I tried)

Rating: 18+

Aus/Tropes: Non-idolverse, Lifeguard Lucas

Pairing: Lucas x fem!reader

WC: 3.6k

Warnings: Exhibitism, Car sex, Fingering, Handjob, Slight Marking, Choking, Multiple Orgasms, eyes Unprotected Sex (use a condom please)

Event: @neosmutcollective Sunny Side event

Summary: You were waiting for the summer. You were ready for all the trips and the fun with your friends and family and what better way to start it off than by going to the pool. Your friend said the lifeguards were cute and when one of them catches your attention, you might just think she’s right.

Notes: Just want to point out that I see the reader as college age, just so y’all know. Also, I like this but at the same time it feels meh to me😭

Tagging: @nocturne-overtures @gettin-a-lil-hanse @jacksons-goddess-gaia @kimnamshiks

After the stress of your part-time job and with the blood, sweat, and tears put into finishing all your finals, you were more than ready to go and start your summer.

You and your friend were giggling and having fun as you drove up to the public pool. You had your swimsuit on already with some shorts pulled over the top of them since it was a hot day. Your friend turned off the car after it was parked and gave you a once over with a smile, “ Oh they’ll be eyeing you once you get in there.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, “ There just better be some cute boys here like you promised.”

“ Would I ever lie to you?”

“…Yes.”

“ Okay, but today I’m not!” They playfully hit your arm before you both got out of the car and started walking over to the pool, “ You remember the guy I was talking to?”

“Which one?”

“ Haha, very funny. I’m talking about Mark.” She says as she goes in her bag for some lip balm.

“ Oh, I remember him! He has a cute face.” You pointed out as y’all waited by the gate to get in.

“ Yeah he works here and I met some of his friends and they are all just handsome.” They squeal and it makes you laugh. One of the lifeguards came out to the gate and started letting some people in, doing headcounts to make sure they don’t go over max capacity. By the time you both got to the front, he smiled.

“ Well well well, look who’s here~,” He said with a grin, crossing his arms.

“Nice to see you too Haechan. Is Mark here today?” Your friends asked as you eyed the man over. His hair was a nice shade of brown, a cute round face, and a smile that could blind even the sun.

“ Just went on his break, so if you stay long enough, he’ll be back,” Haechan turned and looked at you, “ You brought a friend this time. I’m Donghyuck, but you can call me Haechan too.”

He extended a hand and you shook it, “ Nice to meet you.”

Your friend pulled your hand away and walked inside, sticking her tongue out at him and he did the same, “ She doesn't want to talk to you Haechan! Go mess with some other poor soul.”

“ Anyone would be lucky to have me.” He quipped back.

“ I’ll let you believe that for now.” They said as they guided us to an area with some chairs, putting their stuff down on some vacant chairs. “But you should look around at some of them, they look cute. I don’t recognize them all, but I've seen a few of them before and they look like your type.”

“I’ll get a good look once I’m in the pool.” You told them, taking off your shorts and pushing them into your bag, not noticing a few eyes on you already.

You both walked over to the pool on the deeper side, sitting on the edge of the pool and just letting your body get used to the cool temperature of the water. Your friend ended up diving into the pool and coming back up and swimming back to you, “See anyone that you find hot so far?”

You took the time to look around now that you were comfortable and your eyes wandered.

They first landed on one that was coming back into the gate, assuming he’s coming back from his break. His hair was long and pulled into a ponytail and he looked a bit mischievous.

You looked over to another one that was yelling at some kids, telling them not to run around the pool. He looked like a prince and had a handsome face.

“ You’re right. There are a lot of good-looking men here.” You tell them and they smile.

“ See? But do you see any that you would want to talk to?” They asked and before you could respond, another voice made you lose your train of thought.

“ Do you plan on just sitting pretty at the edge of the pool or are you gonna get in?”

The voice made you turn around to look at the man that was crouched down beside you. He was another lifeguard with a whistle around his neck as he looked at you with a grin.

Oh, he was cute. That was a lie. He was hot.

“ I don’t see any rules that say I can’t do this. Is this a problem?” You asked him, a small smile on your face.

“Well you got to at least get into the pool fully, but it’s okay I’ll help you out.” He told you and it made you and your friend tilt your heads to the side.

Haechan walked past the scene, making a side comment, “ Hope you don’t mind getting wet~”

Before you could even register what Haechan said, you let out a yelp as the man picked you up with ease. Instinctively, you had wrapped your arms around his neck to avoid falling. He looked at you with a smile that made him look like a puppy, stepping back as he spoke to you, “ Hey I’m Lucas, and can you swim?”

“ Hey, Lucas, and yeah I can swim. Why are yo-”

Lucas started running to the pool, your friend ducking as they watched Lucas run and jump right into the pool while holding you. You were quick to hold your breath before making an impact with the water. You let go of him before swimming back up to the top. Your friend and Haechan were laughing at you and you gave both of them the middle finger before you felt yourself get lifted out of the water.

You looked down and saw Lucas, him carrying you on his shoulders and back to your friend. He lifted you high enough for you to step out of the pool and looked at you with a goofy grin.

You would be lying if you said that his smile didn’t do something to you. But still, you didn’t ask to be throw- well carried into the pool. “ I should splash you after what you did to me.”

Lucas swam over to the edge, taking his shirt off and flinging it to the side, “ I mean your welcome to do it. I have no issue getting a little wet.”

You swallowed as he gave you a wink before climbing out of the pool, water dripping down his body and your eyes followed some of the droplets. It came down his neck before slipping past his chest and rolling in between his abs and getting caught at the waistband of his swim trunks.

“ See something you like?” Lucas asked as he stood in front of you.

“ I mean I would be lying if I said I didn’t.” You said back and it made him smile.

“ Good to know.” He eyed you for a bit longer with a look that you couldn’t quite figure out before he broke into a smile and headed over to another lifeguard who was irritated by his antics.

The flirting was happening the whole time you and your friend would be in the pool. Lucas would find every little reason to come over and sometimes he would just come swim with yall just because he could. Yeah, he was also getting in trouble, but he didn’t care.

He was making it hard for you to act appropriately in a pool that had crotch goblins swimming in the shallows. But at the same time, it was getting to the point that you were starting not to care just as much as he did. His hands would occasionally find themselves on your body and despite being in the pool, whenever he would move them, it left a type of warmth to your body. It made you want more and you were hoping that he did as well and wasn’t being a tease.

You moved away from your friend again as they were having a good conversation with Mark, swimming over to the tall chair that Lucas was seated in since the one lifeguard, whose name was Kun, made him sit there cause he was having too much than working. You called for him and he looked down at you.

“ Trying to get me into some more trouble?�� Lucas asked, his voice playful as he watched you climb out to get closer to him.

“ What are you doing after this?” You asked him, leaning against the tall chair and slightly on his leg.

“ I have nothing planned, but I would enjoy spending the rest of my day off with you,” Lucas said as he leaned closer and it would have been so easy for you to kiss him.

“ That’s crazy. I was thinking the same thing. How much longer until you get off?” You asked him with a sweet smile.

“Give me half an hour and I’ll be free. Is that okay?”

“ That’s fine with me.” You smiled and it made him grin.

“ Meet me outside the gate then. I’ll have to go inside and grab my stuff first.” He told you and you figured that.

“ Then I’ll see you then.” You pushed off of his leg and went back to the pool and swam back over to your friend. They already knew that you planned on leaving with Lucas, but they didn’t care since they would be heading out with Mark too.

Time ended up flying by as you spent the rest of the time out of the pool, to dry off somewhat in the sun, so you wouldn't be soaking wet. You went off to the shower facilities to get clean, not wanting to smell like chlorine the whole time you were with Lucas. You washed up fast before towel drying your body and trying to dry your hair the best you could. You threw on the dress that you packed in your bag and headed back out with your belongings and waited by the gate for Lucas after noticing he wasn’t out with the rest of the lifeguards.

You waved at your friend when you saw them with Mark. You leaned against the gate, patiently waiting for Lucas to come out. You were on your phone just scrolling through social media before you felt a tap on your shoulder, making you look up.

“ Did I make you wait long?” Lucas asked and you took the time to give him a once over. He was wearing a tank top with some shorts that you honestly just wanted to snatch off.

“Nope. I wasn’t out here for too long.” You told him before he had you both walking, presumably to his car.

“ Told your friend you were leaving with me?” He asked as he took his car keys out to unlock his car and opening the door for you.

“ They’re gonna spend the rest of their day with Mark, so they won't be too upset with me.” You sat in the passenger seat before he closed the door for you. You watched him walk over to the driver's side and get inside before starting the car.

“ Before I pull off, I want to ask you a quick question, and don’t take this the wrong way either.” Lucas turned in his seat and you did the same as you set your bag down on the floor.

“ Go ahead.”

“ Would you rather go on a date first or have sex? I’m fine with either.”

“ Why not both?” You both looked at each other before laughing, “ I’m fine with both, but I have been thinking about riding you the whole time you were working.”

He shifts the car into drive before pulling out of the parking lot, “ So sex it is.”

You enjoyed how honest both of you were with each other. Something about it made you more comfortable with him along with the light conversation that you both had. Sometime during the conversation, his left hand was holding your thigh and you would be lying if you said that you didn’t enjoy it.

It was about a fifteen-minute drive before he pulled up to an area. It was still in the city, but the area looked like you weren’t. It wasn’t a heavily trafficked area and seemed like a nice little getaway area.

“ You know, even though I asked if we could fuck, we don’t have to. I feel like I could honestly sit here and just talk to you too.” He turned off the car and stretched as he spoke, his shirt rising slightly.

It made you smile hearing him say that and it was comforting to know that you wouldn’t be pressured. You leaned over and moved close to your face, kiss landing gently on his cheek. “ I appreciate that, but I can talk to you afterward when we go on our date.”

You brought your hand up to gently grab his chin and turn his face towards you before leaning in to plant a kiss on his lips. He laughed for a split second before bringing a hand up to cup your face, pulling you in closer.

He nipped your bottom lip and you opened your mouth for him, feeling his tongue press inside your mouth. Lucas used his free hand to bring his seat back, you instinctively climbing over to straddle his lap, never breaking the kiss. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he placed his hands on your waist, kissing you deeper as you let out a hum.

Lucas rolled your dress up, hands dipping under to grip your ass before moving his mouth down to kiss at your throat. You grind your hips down, happy to feel him hard underneath you as he lets out a low groan. But you wouldn’t be silent for long as he started to rub your clit over your panties. You pressed back into his fingers and he rubbed your clit slowly before pulling your panties to the side and slowly pressing a finger inside and you moaned.

“ You feel so tight and I only put my finger inside,” Lucas mumbled as he fingered you slowly, resting your head against his shoulder. His fingers were long and they felt good inside as he added a second finger to stretch you open. “ I would rather have your pussy in my mouth.”

You let out a breathy laugh, “ I would like that, but even though I showered, I don’t want to risk hearing that I taste like chlorine.”

“ I’m a lifeguard. You think I haven’t tasted chlorine in my mouth before?”

“ Okay but this is my pussy we're talking about.” You nipped him playfully on his throat before moaning as he pressed his fingers deeper inside you, pressing into your g-spot.

“ I’ll listen, but understand that I don’t care.” Lucas started to finger you faster and your moans grew louder in the car. It was almost embarrassing hearing how wet you were when he started to finger fuck you faster.

You reached down and dipped your hand under his waistband and were shocked to find him not wearing anything underneath. You wrapped your hand around his cock and slowly stroked him, feeling him twitch under your palm. Lucas would let out little sighs as you continued to move your hand, placing a few hickeys on his neck.

With the way he was moving his wrist, you knew that you could cum at any time, but you didn’t want to cum with his fingers. So you raised your hips up and off of his fingers, “Move your chair back a bit more.”

Lucas looked up at you and cleaned his fingers, sending you a look, “ You sure you wanna start this off by riding me? I think it would be better if we just moved to the backseat.”

“ Then let’s get to the backseat then cause I want you inside me.” You climbed off of him and easily climbed over to the backseat of his car.

“ Eager much?” Lucas did the same and somehow managed to climb over as before, having you lay down and spreading your legs apart to make some room for him.

“ Of course I am. I want you deep inside of me.” You told him, holding back a whine as he rubs the tip against you before lining himself up with your entrance.

“ Don’t worry cause I will be soon enough.” Lucas had slowly pushed himself inside and you both let out a moan.

Even though you had your hands wrapped around him not that long ago, it didn’t feel like the same thing that you just had. It felt much thicker than what you had before as he pressed it all inside until he bottomed out. God did you feel full.

“ You okay?” Lucas leaned down towards your face before you wrapped your arms around his shoulders.

“ I’m okay. You can move.” You told him before pulling him down to kiss. This kiss felt a bit greedier than the last one. Maybe it's because you both were so close now and having him inside just made you want to keep him there.

Lucas pulled his hips back before thrusting back inside and getting a nice rhythm, causing little muffled moans to leave your mouth, but only to get swallowed by the kiss. He didn’t keep a slow pace for long as he felt you buck your hips slightly, making him reach to grab your legs and bring them to his shoulders, changing the angle. So when he thrust back inside again, his cock hit your g-spot. It made you pull your mouth away and when you looked back at him, you could tell that he knew exactly what he was doing.

He held your gaze as you start to fuck you faster and moans flew past your lips before, one of his large hands reached up and wrapped around your throat, “Tap my arm twice if I’m squeezing too hard.”

You nodded your head yes before letting out weak moans as he rolled his hips into and made our body ignite on fire. His hips moved in just the right way to have your body ache with want and need.

But also hearing the groans coming past his lips made your stomach coil with something big. You tried to speak to him and tell him, but he just smiled at you. Like he knew what you were trying to say as he leaned back, letting your legs rest loosely on his shoulders as he used his free hand to reach down and rub your clit. Your back arched slightly off the seat as you looked up at him before feeling your head touch the seat and cum on his cock.

You weren’t trying to cum that fast, but at the same time, you weren’t complaining.

Lucas lets go of your neck before slowing his hips and placing your legs down and lifting your body slightly, “ Want to take a tiny break before going again?”

“ I appreciate you asking me that, but I want you to cum too and if I get comfortable, I’m gonna fall asleep.” You panted as you rested your head on his shoulder.

“ If you want to, then fine. What position do you want it in next?” Lucas kissed your shoulder.

“ Whatever is gonna get you to cum.” You tell him before he smiles and looks at you.

“ Then I‘ll need you to turn around and get on your hands and knees.” He leaned forward to kiss you before you lifted your body off of him and turned around to get into position. You felt him get behind you and guide himself back inside of you.

He didn’t start slow at all, holding your hips to keep you still as he looked down at you. He was even deeper than he was early, but it all felt good. Skin slapping was echoing in the car along with your moans, your body rocking with his thrust and your back arching up as he held you in place.

You already felt your body getting close to cumming again with how the tip of his cock rubbed your g-spot every time. You reached back to grab his hand only for him to grip your wrist to keep you there. Every other sound leaving your mouth was a moan or whimper and occasionally his name.

Lucas let go of your hand before leaning over your back, his head right by your head as he moaned into your ear, making you clench around him.

“ Keep doing that…keep clenching me like that.” Lucas breathed huskily against your ear, his hand reaching up to grab your hand, which you squeezed back in return.

You could feel his cock twitching inside and it felt like neither of you would be lasting long. His thrust was sloppy and he was starting to get just as loud and vocal as you.

“ Cumming…again~” You whimpered out, barely getting the words out before cumming again, squeezing onto his hand and Lucas fucked you through your orgasm before pulling out and cumming on your ass and lower back.

Panting filled the car and it just smelled like sex. You could feel Lucas rub your lower back and it felt nice as you sighed. He did it for a bit longer before stopping. You turned your head to see him reach for some leftover napkins he had in the car to clean you off the best he could. Once he was finished, he sat you up, and you both relaxed in the backseat a bit longer before he finally spoke.

“ Soooo you want to go get some burgers?”

You laughed as you leaned on his shoulder, “ Burgers sound good right now, but you're gonna have to use the drive-thru cause I’m not walking anytime soon.”

Lucas let out a booming type laugh before kissing your forehead, “ That’s fine by me.”

#kdiarynet #neosmutcollective #nscsunnyside #kwritersworldnet #kpopficsnetwork #dee writes #nct smut #wayv smut #nct oneshot #wayv oneshot #lucas smut #lucas oneshot #lucas drabble #nct drabble #wayv drabble #yuhkei smut #yuhkei oneshot #yuhkei drabble

[astaroth1357]

The Obey Me Cast on a Camping Trip (Part One: Brothers)

Hey guys, thank you sooo much for getting me to 2,000 followers!! I honestly don’t know what to say... I never dreamed that this little hobby of mine would reach so many eyes, and I can’t be more grateful. At a time in my life where things feel so chaotic and uncertain, being a part of this community and sharing my weird ideas has been what’s kept me going. It’s been such a rewarding experience all around, so thank you. From the bottom of my heart. 😊

I pulled out all the stops for this post. I even brought out one of my favorite songs of all time: Ao to Natsu by Mrs. GREEN APPLE to get the feel juuust right. I hope you all enjoy it!

This post is split in two due to length (I had too much fun again...) For the Undateables, please click HERE!

Intro:

Another day, another team building activity between the demons and the exchange students. It was Diavolo’s idea to go on a camping trip to the human world (because of course it was), and there were very… mixed responses. That sentiment wasn’t helped when he refused Lucifer’s insistent pleas to just purchase cabins for everyone to stay in. Oh no, the Demon Lord wanted to rough it out in the wilderness, and now everyone else was getting dragged along with him…

Wonder how that turned out?

Lucifer

Really, really, really tried to push Diavolo to just rent out cabins in but noooo, he wasn’t having it... So he ended up driving a van crammed with his brothers, the MC, and a butt-ton of camping equipment into the Alaskan wilderness… 

The car ride itself was insufferable… We’re talking, “I SWEAR I WILL TURN THIS CAR AROUND!!” level of antics every 10 miles or so (mostly from Mammon)…

Setting up camp was even more of a nightmare because about half of his brothers were utterly useless. The other half (save Satan) were completely clueless… Had it not been for Barbatos and Satan he probably would have just resigned himself to the mercy of the river’s currents and let it take him away…

He couldn’t even wear his usual clothes because of the situation… For the first time in who knows how many centuries, he was stuck wearing jeans… Diavolo even bought him several plaid shirts... (which he was not happy with btw because his brother wouldn’t stop making fun of the “new” him)

He had his own tent of decent-size, enough to move around in but nothing to write home about. The very fact he didn’t have to share was a luxury in itself, so he took it for what it was worth...

He spent a good portion of the trip focused on two things: keeping Diavolo happy and everybody else alive. He rarely left camp unless forced to; he just wanted to get it all over with as soon as possible…

If he did leave, it was because Diavolo would drag him along to fish or hike. He was... less than pleased to be called out of his tent at the crack of dawn or well past dusk to sit on a little rented fishing boat with Diavolo… but he didn’t exactly pick his friends so...

He rates the trip Too Much Trouble/10. Let’s never do it again.

Mammon

Wasn’t a massive fan of being stuck out in the wild, but Satan told him some made-up bullshit about buried treasure out in the forest and got him HOOKED. He even borrowed stole a whole bunch of mining/digging equipment just for the occasion!

He spent most of the car ride asking, “Are we there yet??” like a child. The MC had to step in to keep Lucifer from leaving him on the side of the road at multiple points during the journey... 

He was one of the utterly useless ones when it came to setting up camp. Someone charged him with putting up the twin’s tent, and he spent thirty minutes reading (then re-reading) the instructions while shouting expletives. Poor Simeon had to shield Luke from the vulgarity…

He has to share a tent with Levi, which neither of them liked. Mammon mainly because of Levi’s “old fish stink” and Levi because he feared catching “Mammon’s stupid.”

He was all jazzed up to go digging from Day One, though. He’d have breakfast, grab his shovel, then wander out into the middle of nowhere to go dig holes in the ground…

He also got completely lost on Day One, and it took the MC summoning him with their pact to return him to the group... By that time, he was filthy and somehow looked like he had been castaway for days (even though he was gone for like, three hours?)

When he stubbornly refused to stop digging, Lucifer resorted to just tying a rope around his ankle and letting him loose. It was up to Mammon to get back to camp before dinner, or else Lucifer would yank him back like he was on a leash.

Satan waited until the last day to finally tell Mammon the treasure was bullshit, and he was PISSED. He even threw Satan into the river, which resulted in the rest of the brothers joining in for a swim while the two tried to “playfully” drown each other.

He’d rate this trip 0/10 because he didn’t get any buried treasure. What a ripoff…

Leviathan

Hated the idea with a burning, seething passion. There’s no internet, cable, electricity, or phone signal out in the middle of nowhere! How the heck is an otaku supposed to survive?!

He clung to his electronics during the car ride until either they ran out of signal or their battery died, then he didn’t know what to do with himself… He resorted to reading several volumes of the manga he stuffed into his bag and clung to the MC for emotional support…

Yet another useless soul trying to put the camp together. He was in charge of his and Mammon’s tent but ended up almost crying in frustration… How the hell do humans do this all on their own?? Wasn’t he supposed to be the third strongest?! Why is he so pathetic?!? 😫

Hates sharing a tent with Mammon because he always wakes up to the second born encroaching on his space somehow… Poor baby is pretty much directly against the tent wall and STILL has to deal with legs and elbows in his side... 😰

Spends the majority of the trip moping in the tent... If he goes out there, he has to deal with the sun, bugs, and people… No thanks. He only leaves for meals and occasionally to go swimming. 

When he found out part of the way through that Barbs brought portable solar panels and a battery pack for Diavolo and Lucifer’s phones, he was livid. He demanded access to the power source, which Lucifer refused because “It would defeat the purpose of this trip.”

He’d have summoned Lotan right then and there, deadass in the middle of the forest, if the MC hadn’t intervened. He then went back to moping, but now at the bottom of the lake and it took a lot of coaxing to get him back out…

On the final day, he was packing up the camp before anyone else even woke up. He wanted OUT and back to civilization ASAP. Bedroom here he comes!

Satan

You wouldn’t think of Satan as an outdoorsy guy. Still, he has shades of a survivalist in him (mostly because he’s read a lot of guides and was looking for an excuse to use them for a loooong time).

He read for the majority of the ride. He was squished between Asmo and Levi, which was reasonably peaceful. But he did end up shouting at Mammon quite a bit towards the end because “NO, we’re not there yet, peabrain!!”

He actually wasn’t a waste of space when setting up the camp, and between him, Barbs, and Lucifer, they were able to get a lot of stuff set up before sundown. He did have to bark a few orders to the others here and there, but overall competency won out in the end.

He shared a tent with Asmo, and the two made it work well enough… Except when Asmo did things like spraying his perfumes and dry shampoos, making it practically impossible to breathe in for a few minutes…

Spent a lot of the first few days reinforcing the camp to a ridiculous degree.

Did he have to collect large branches to build an exterior fence around the campsite? No. But he did.

Did he have to set up a water distillation system using some of the materials Barbs had lying around the “kitchen?” No. But he did.

Did he have to weave a series of fishing nets to catch them lunch from the lake and river? I think you get the point by now.

Only once he built pretty much every contraption or improvement he could think of, did he go back to just reading and relaxing by the fire.

By the time the group was ready to leave, Satan had somehow managed to craft them a veritable, self-sustaining fortress in the middle of the Alaskan wilds…

Overall he would rate the trip as… meh. Next time give him a challenge like a deserted island or an actual desert, and then he’ll really see what he can do.

Asmodeus

Was about as unhappy with the idea as Levi was… It wasn’t that he disliked the outdoors per se, it was just that no one, NO ONE, pulls off looking flawless after several days stuck in a tent!

He chatted the entire car ride from start to finish. He never stopped talking. It made for decent background noise at least…

Was one of the more clueless ones when trying to set up camp and pretty just did what he was ordered. The second he was left to try and figure something out on his own, he went to Lucifer or Satan for help because NOPE. Human equipment is needlessly complicated sometimes…

He had to share a tent with Satan, which in theory shouldn’t have been that bad, but Satan was out basically all day in the sun doing who knows what and would always come back sweaty and gross! At some points, he had to chase his brother out of the tent until he dunked himself in the river or something. No way was Asmo sleeping next to that. 😤

Asmo took the second-longest to get up and get ready in the morning. Sometimes he wouldn’t even leave the tent until well past breakfast just in an attempt to salvage his hair and skin… He only got grouchier about it as the trip went on… 😥

A more… earthy looking Asmo is kind of a bizarre sight. He’s still attractive, no doubt, but it’s less like polished glamour and more like Hollywood humble. He spent the majority of the trip looking like a somewhat dirtied movie-star (which he still insisted was the worst he’s ever looked in ages).

Aside from salvaging his looks, he actually enjoyed taking pictures of their surroundings or of the group (but not himself). He sometimes forgot how genuinely breathtaking the human world could be…

….but his patience for the place wore out quickly once he started noticing his hair getting greasy. He was right next to Levi, packing up the site once it was finally time to leave. At least those two finally found something they could agree on, let’s get the fuck out already! 

Beelzebub

He was really curious about trying camping food and pretty excited that Barbatos was coming, too (because that meant great food in general).

Unfortunately, Lucifer had to stop the van at basically every gas station they passed for Beel could refill on snacks… Belphie ended up getting buried in wrappers pretty often, but he was asleep, so it didn’t matter much.

Beel did a lot of the heavy lifting when setting the camp up, but the finer details were left up to everybody else. He had his hands full getting stuff off the cars as is…

Of course, he shared a tent with Belphie, and there wasn’t much complaint between them. Honestly, there would have been more drama if they were split, so this was the better option.

After the MC told Beel about fishing and how it could net him more food, if he did it right, he knew exactly what he wanted to do during the trip.

… But no one told him how long and slow the process would be. There were points he’d get so hungry he’d consider eating the bait himself…

That was until about Day Three of the trip when they passed by a river full of grizzly bears… He was about to ask the MC why the bears were all standing in the water, but then he saw a fish practically leap directly into one’s mouth…

Beel had discovered his true calling.

Of course, the grizzlies didn’t take too kindly to a demon suddenly sprinting into the water with them. They tried to fight him off, but Beel just tossed most of them downstream without any issue until they realized who the apex predator really was…

After forming a shaky truce with the bears, Beel would stand in the water for hours then come back with whole baskets full of salmon… There were far more fish than Barbatos knew what to do with, so he’d just confiscate a few then let Beel eat the rest...

The MC shuddered to think about what Beel had done to the local salmon population… But he was full and happy for most of the trip, so he had a great time!

Belphegor

Sleep for him isn’t too contingent on location, so the idea of camping wasn’t terrible. It did sound like a lot of hassle for no good reason, though…

He spent the entire car ride asleep, head and cow pillow pressed up against the window and everything. It wasn’t the most comfortable experience, but he’d dealt with worse.

He was utterly useless when putting up the camp by choice, thank you. He had more than enough sense to get things put together; he just didn’t want to. If he wasn’t asked to do something by Beel or the MC, he’d just lay back in the grass and smugly watch everybody else struggle…

Again, he and Beel are in the same tent, and you wouldn’t hear any complaints out of him. He did start to have some second thoughts when Beel began getting a fishy smell, though, so he tried to bunk with the MC in their tent for a while.

Like Levi, Belphie didn’t leave the tent much during the daylight hours, but that was because he was still asleep… There was no good way to wake him with no alarms available, so he’d sleep in past lunch easily.

When he was awake, he didn’t leave camp very much except to walk with the MC or watch Beel fishing grizzly-style.

Eventually, Asmo and Diavolo got sick of him dodging their photos, so they’d started posing him Weekend at Bernie’s style around the camp (always conveniently propped up by something and with sunglasses on)

Something Belphie did like, however, was the nighttime. Since there were no lights around, he could practically see everything the sky had to offer. He could spend hours laying on his back long after everyone else had gone to bed just admiring the stars.

All in all, not a terrible trip. Anything that could give him that view like that was well worth it. 6/10, would sleep again.

Click HERE for Part Two. Check out my Masterlist for more!

#obey me #obey me shall we date #shall-we-date-obey-me #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me headcanons #obey me scenarios #thank y'all so so much #you're fantastic

[maladaptive-ninja-returns]

Into The Thick of It (2)

Loki x Female Reader

Chapter 2: The God

Series Summary: Her work as an agriculturist nearly takes the readers life is not for a stranger (and his weird looking dog) who later turns out to be the God of Mischief. Thrown into a completely different realm, you want to figure out a way home while trying to stay out of the way of this literal God. But fate has its own plans for the two of you.

Written for @tarithenurse and her #Taris1Kchallenge

Warnings: sexist remarks

Word Count: My jaw is selectively pounding now that my wisdom tooth is out and the stitches are in place. It feels so weird because its not like you can simply scratch an itch or around the itch in some way.

MASTERLIST in bio, darlings. Tags are open (check bio)

"How does this look?" Zaira is holding up a green dress that goes down to your toes in length. You give the deep shade a once over and turn back to your laptop. "Meh." Zaira tsks. "I mean-" you breathe and give your attention to your friend- "it's okay. For you. For me?" You shake your head and shrug before trying to discreetly get back to the screen. "Bullshit. You look amazing in green." You try to find the mouse on the screen. "Are you sure?" The question is bland. "Of course! No one can carry this like you! And for the sake of all things holy, stop looking at your death again and again!" Your brows furrow at the statement, turning back to Zaira, who still stands there with the green dress, except for one thing- the usual workspace of white and grey is now replaced with an eerily familiar dark forest with trees trying to touch the sky. "What?" It is nothing more than a whisper, this word erupting from your lips at the change in scenery. Your mind is at the edge of a realisation waiting to erupt when your hand feels an unwelcoming heat. The immediate reaction is to get your arm away from the laptop, or at least that is what you think you are doing considering the last saved spot of this occurrence in your memory. But there is no laptop. No chairs or tables.  Just a bonfire in front of you and your hands covered in blood and tied in ropes tearing through your flesh. And beyond that fire are figures in the dark chanting verses that are alien to your ears. But just as the chanting grows louder, you can feel a cloud of dread begin to loom of your heart; growing bigger by the second. Zaira! You are screaming her name but your voice isn't audible and you cannot see her anywhere either. Zaira!! You call out for her again when the figures seem to be getting closer to you, the anxiety in your chest beginning to hurt even more.  ZAIRA!!!

The loudness of her name in your conscience jerks you awake with the dread transported straight out of your hallucination. Still breathless and sweating from the nightmare, your head pounds at the sudden jump to the reality of finding yourself lying under a fur skin as heavy as you inside what seemed like a tent. From where you lay, the roof is a muddy beige colour dense enough to block sun or rain. Turning your head to your right, you can see a side table housing a copper goblet along with a copper jug. I hope to the Gods that water. I don't care if it's laced with poison at this moment. Turning to your left you are taken a little back to see familiar golden eyes staring from the copper jug back at you, so close that that saliva ridden tongue could lick you if it wanted. "Hi," you greet the familiar creature from the night of your nightmare, your heart still trying to dilute, resting by your side. The creature tilts its neck a little before you can see its tail rise up and swing from side to side. Such a doggo. You try to get up- with much effort, thanks to this animal duvet weighing just as much or maybe more than you- and breathe the cold air around you. Even though the anxiety of this recent incident is still looming around you in the corners you don't want to look at, it is a relief to feel the quiet around you. And the weird doggo looking at you seems to make those corners lighter, convincing your heart that it all ended not so bad at some point. Moving the fur duvet off you to get to the water on your side, you suddenly find yourself quickly putting the fur back on at the momentary realisation of something major amiss, bringing back all that anxiety that was watching you from the corners. "Where the fuck are my clothes?" you whisper right at the doggo despite knowing that poor thing can only swing its tail whenever you look at it. "They were tattered beyond repair." The voice immediately brings your duvet up to your chin before your eyes dart towards the entrance in front of you. No fucki-oh. A woman with skin paler than the pale described for Bella from Twilight stands at the entrance of the tent with a bunch of warm clothing. Her eyes carry a hint of grey and muddy green in them. She takes it upon herself to have already gotten permission to walk towards your side and place the clothes she has got in front of you before going back to secure the entrance. "You were fortunate to be alive in those deadly woods of the dark," she mentions while taking a thermos out of her dress and pouring the contents in the bowl kept on the makeshift table; all the while with her back towards you. You, still cautious of the eyes around you, slowly snuck the clothes inside the duvet to put them on. Only when putting them on, you realise the lack of a bra or panties; just a loose cotton camisole in their stead. ...okay. Maybe they didn't know my size. You look back at the woman busying herself around the tent. All you can see is the huge- and seemingly heavy- overcoat made out of an animal. Or maybe they...don't have the resources? Great, Y/N. Go be a judgmental b for the people who saved your life. The gown is a deep blue shade that neatly wraps around your shape and is put in place with the hooks, the last step being securing it all with the one string tied in what only you would call a bow. "So, it was you who saved me last night?" The woman brought you a bowl with steaming hot stew, bursting out in laughter on hearing your question. You stand there watching her immediately suppress the laughter as if she had been caught red-handed for a grave crime. "My apologies for what you just saw. It was not me who saved you." And before you can ask who it was, the woman gathers a wide bowl filled with water, a couple of hand towels and two bowls of what looked like homemade ointments, and walks out of the tent. You are about to go thinking about the materials that woman just took away when the only being you are familiar with, gets up from the bed, jumps down and struts out of the tent. "Wait...don't leave me," you whimper in a low tone, gathering a bit of strength to walk out right behind him. . The clearing in the forest has been turned into a camp with soldiers bustling in any direction you look. Swords, bows and arrows are being used for practice in one corner and the same are being mended in the other. Helmets akin to the ones Vikings wore can be seen on top of many heads. So can the undercut and braids. "Is this a cosplay fair?" you ask the one guy who passes by close to you. He is nearly the same height as you, but with a lush red beard and hazel eyes.  He- and his two friends- observes you from head to toe, almost making you realise how out of place you already look. "This is a war camp, missy. One where you have no reason staying." You mock a laugh at the audacity of this person. "I will decide the reason for my stay myself...boy." You start to walk away, trying to find any familiar figure in this quite realistic cosplay village. But last you remembered, there has been no such fair going on in the vicinity of that cursed town. A heated hand captures your arm and forces you to turn around. A wince comes out of you and flashes of that gory incident move before your eyes. Especially the face of that man. The Viking guy takes a step towards you, not letting go of your hand in the first wank. "Sigmund! Who is this wench with a quick mouth?" Sigmund, the taller of the three men, with bulky features and a sharp nose huffed. "Someone who needs to learn her place, Kare." "Aye," the last of the three speaks, "she does not look like help. Not in that silk she wears." Kare smirks through that unruly beard of his. "Why, are you that prince's mistress then, lassy? Is that why you came out from those royal tents, eh?" Kare turns towards his lads to laugh, who had slowly gathered now to watch the show, giving you something new to be anxious about. Agni, on the other hand, makes his way through this crowd to come and stand next to you, observing the situation. "Fucking dogs," you whisper under your breath- which you are trying your best to stop from trembling- and begin to walk away again but Kare is already hopping in your path. "Why in such a hurry, my lady?" He bows and turns towards his lads to let his words be heard by everyone "Give us unworthy lads a chance to find out how well you warm the royal beds, eh?" But the 'lads' seem to be having a sudden seizure. Either that or the joke did not seem to register. A sudden movement behind you and all the eyes staring past you assure you in your heart that it is the former one. "Your lads do not seem to find that funny, Kare." A voice not too deep but certainly somewhere right under the surface with a weight that can be felt in your bones, speaks from right behind you, freezing you where you stand. It takes some time for you to turn around and look at the source of the voice. And once you do, you realise how tall this man stands. His pale skin is radiant and his features sharp. You could draw straight lines just by referencing his cheekbones. His black hair- perhaps the only one with black hair in this cosplay fair- is neatly braided in braids at each side and the rest of the hair left open. What shampoo does he use? "I pity your mother and sister," this man continues, "for meeting your lads in an alley someday and being asked the same question." He does not stir his gaze from Kare, constantly piercing through that man's existence without so much as a smile.  "Apologies, your grace." Your grace?  You turn to watch Kare and his buddies drop their heads down and then it hits you. Your grace?!!! Your head whips around with the air of surprise as you watch this man in a new light. I mean, yeah, he kinda looks like a...'your grace'. "It is not me you should be apologising to." He doesn't even blink. He is as stoic as a boulder and everyone here revolves around him. "Apologies...my lady." The words bring you out of the trance that this man's face has created for you and you turn to watch Kare bow to you along with his 'lads'. "Ansa!" the man calls out for someone, finally turning to look at you. You have to catch your breath when those green eyes bore into you, the stare not too piercing and neither too soft. Just balanced. But damn the skies for it is making you lose your balance somewhere inside you. "Yes, my lord," the familiar lady comes out of the crowd to stand before him with her head low. "How is the weather today?" He simply puts the question. Within seconds you realise what the question really is about. You try your best to stand still in this chilly weather despite the sun high in the sky but it is as if he can smell the chill off you. "It's cold my l-" she realises it too, running to the nearest tent to grab a fur coat just like her Lord's and put it gently on your shoulders. "My apologies, my lady. Apologies, my lord." "Are the armies ready for the west front, Aren?" "Yes, your grace. Two battalions are ready to march to the mountains. They wait for my signal." Aren, a tall ginger with soft features gives a warm smile when you look in his direction. "Very well. Go for it then." And with that command, Aren walks to the space vacating in front of you, spreads his arms and transforms into an eagle to fly up and away beyond the nearest mountain. You are left with your jaw unhinged as you try to make sense of what just happened, turning towards the man in charge here; all the while pointing at the sky. "H-how?" "Walk with me..." that commanding voice a couple of minutes ago has transformed into a soft tone that captures a completely different personality of this man. "Y/N." "Y/N," he repeats the name as if to memorise it, and lets his arm gesture you towards the direction you are asked to walk. "I am Loki, of Asgard. Pleased to make your acquaintance." "Asgard?" you wonder the name out loud, confusion visibly dripping from your face. "There is no place by the name Asgard on the maps? Is this further north in the Alps? Wait...are we still in Norway or did we change countries?" The guards by the biggest tent make way for Loki and you to enter. Unlike the place you woke up in, this one houses everything fit for a king. From the bed to the cutlery. And everything has a colour theme going on for some reason. A real deep shade of green. Even Loki's fur coat carries blues and greens as if they had been specially plunged from the deepest corners of the oceans on earth. "Y/N-" he gestures you to sit down on the settee by the foot of the bed while he pours you wine in a goblet- "I have to tell you something. Be kind enough to hear me out before jumping to conclusions." You take the glass from his hand and sit down on the settee. Oh! cold hands! Is he okay? It's really chilly out there. "What?" You wait for him to start. Loki stands by the conference table and faces you, his hands working with each other as he looks at them before finally letting his gaze meet yours. "You are no longer on earth. You were transported to Asgard last night during the Pagan ritual, where you were conveniently made a sacrifice, and would have died if not for Agni hearing your prayers and tearing that scum apart." Silence. Loki’s features show no emotions when he narrates the reality to you. In fact, he waits for a reaction from your end, carefully studying those y/e/c eyes as they blink at him in unadulterated innocence, turn away to look at Agni and then come back to him. Ultimately, you take a sip from the goblet, letting the wine go down your throat, the involuntary reflex of tasting something not to your liking naturally coming over your face. Waiting for a few seconds, you bring the goblet back to your lips, this time gulping down the contents within a breath. "Okay." Loki looks at you with a focused glare before tilting his head a little. "Okay?" You nod. "Are you-" Loki pauses to come and sit down in the chair right in front of you but at a respectable distance- "okay with everything that I just told you? All the parts of it that do not make sense to a human?" You breathe in a lungful. "Oh, Gods! No. I am overwhelmed at this point. To even consider the fact that I am not currently on earth and that I was about to be raped by an eighteen-year-old cultist if not for your wonderful doggo and you, I am considering. Because now that I look at you I completely put you in the silhouette I saw last night. And I thought this was some adult dress-up show going on until a legit person just turned into an eagle and fucking flew away right in front of my eyes. I mean...it would take a good amount of CGI to actually make that happen just in the movies, forget real life. And if I am not on earth, the thought of getting out of doing mindless labour because your boss is an asshole is very appealing, mind you. Even though that means I have been thrown straight into a pit of testosterone-filled sexist Vikings who look like they will pounce on me the first chance they get. So...yeah. I am...I...uhh...have decided to shut my brain down till-" you simply shrug before breaking into nervous laughter and bringing the empty goblet back to your lips, raising it as far as it could go before it decided to release a drop into your desperate mouth. Loki blinks at you before breaking into a smirk that he hides from your eyes. It feels like he has watched you slowly crumble a little within the last few moments when all you did was talk. He has noticed those shaking hand movements and those trembling lips that force a smile to show they are doing absolutely fine. He has observed that shift of your fingers to scratch an itch on your exposed neck and that movement of turning that sole ring made out of iron in your index finger; hiding your anxieties in the rotations of that little circle. And now he watches you trying to dissolve the incoming anxious winds in alcohol. He knows this look too well. The look of fear; fear of the unknown. Loki raises his hand to you. "Allow me to refill that. With something better." You watch his hands and make a mental note of those long pale fingers and how good they would seem wrapped around anything. "Something better? I don't think Asgard could provide me with a Long Island Iced Tea or a Jeager Bomb. Or a Zombie." Loki simply chuckles and you find yourself stuck on that toothed smile of his. Is he the same guy who was dragging his soldiers in the mud like anything? Taking the goblet from you, he gets up and walks towards a little cabinet that opens up like a medieval bar.  "I sympathise with you being so far away from home. But I can assure you these...Vikings will not touch you or even think about pouncing on you ever." You furrow your brows and let your arms rest on each side while you tilt your head a little in question. "They know it better than to even think about what I claim as mine." You feel little chills go up your spine at his words, your legs going one over the other as you wiggle away certain scenarios from your mind. Damn! He should write dialogues for the entertainment industry. "Excuse me, sir," you press while raising your brow, "I may have fallen on your royal highness' land but that ain't making me anyone's property...considering this is your property." You cannot see it from where you sit, but the God chuckles at your audacity of raising your voice at him. He comes back to you with your drink. You notice that this time it is not the familiar red wine waiting for you in the goblet but something relatively darker and comparatively with a more medicinal odour. "No one will harm you. Agni will make sure of it. Isn't that right, beast?" You turn to watch Agni sitting right next to your feet, immediately wagging his tail at the mention of his name, contently growling as assurance. You notice how familiar this creature look to the Pitbulls back on earth. Give them pits some pointed skeleton for their backbone, a pair of horns and huge canines and these two breeds will be a copy of each other. "And we will find you a safe passage home once we reach back to the city." Home. unfortunately for you, the first thing at the mention of 'home' is the rush of crude flashbacks from last night of that horrid nameless town. No matter how hard you try to breathe in, the scenes keep on coming. Both Loki and Agni seem to sense the uneasiness creeping onto you. Your racing heartbeat and uneasiness of breath can be heard by them as clear as you can. "I hope you were not too attached to your clothes. I had to tear them apart to treat your wounds," Loki announces, gulps his herbal drink and walks towards the entrance of the tent. "Yeah, no problem. They were just clo-wait what? WHAT? You-" you get up and lower your voice for the fear of any third person hearing it- "you tore my clothes?" He nods with the most neutral expression you wanted to punch. "Yes. As you mentioned, they were just clothes. And nothing I haven't seen before. Now come on." You wonder whether to be relieved or angry with this one. Putting that thought on the back burner to simmer for a while, you gulp down the goblet without breaking any eye contact with him.  "Where are we going?" "To get you out of your clothes again," he states without skipping a beat and you have to question all the good you have thought about him till now. Son of a bitch! What an ass- "You stink. About time you took a bath."

#loki #loki x reader #loki x female reader #loki x you #loki x y/n #taris1kchallenge #loki fanfic #fanfiction #marvel fluff #marvel smut #fluff #smut #MCU #mcu fluff #mcu smut #mcu loki #marvel loki #Into The Thick of It #maladaptive ninja returns #tarithenurse

[ladynoiresupremacy]

Falling For You || Miraculous Ladybug AU - Chapter 2

AO3 | Falling - AU Series

[Previous] | [Next]

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After her encounter with that new girl yesterday, Marinette was in a sort of daze. She had never felt this way before, yet the girl was on her mind for the entirety of that night. Her beautiful chocolate brown eyes gleaming with an unreadable emotion, her short flowing hair, a few shades darker than her own… 

She sighed dreamily as she relaxed into her blankets, patrol had gone fairly well - sure she wasn't too thrilled about Crimson bailing on her and leaving her to do her job alone in the rain, but meeting that girl had certainly lifted her spirits. 

She was on the brink of sleep, her thoughts becoming muddled together until one thought, louder than the rest, was suddenly brought to her attention and she shot up in bed, her eyes full of panic.

“I forgot to ask her name!” Marinette whisper-yelled, aware her parents were sleeping just a few doors away.

Plagg, who had been curled up asleep on her pillow, gave no reaction to the horror-struck expression on her face and simply muttered under his breath before rolling over again.

“Plagg! What was that anyway?” Marinette demanded, “I mean Princess? What kind of nickname is that?”

“Hey, I didn't flirt with that girl, you did.” Plagg's voice was muffled as he tried to tune out her voice under the blankets.

“Well it was still your influence.” 

“Meh.” The small kwami shrugged before rolling back over.

Marinette rolled her eyes, frowning slightly as she reached out for her phone - blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the harsh brightness of her screen. Almost two in the morning, she groaned to herself, maybe she and Crimson needed to talk about how late their patrols were getting.

A brief notification flashed up on her phone, it was Adrien of course, sending a string of memes in their shared group chat with Alya and Nino. Marinette scoffed lightly before she placed her phone back down next to her pillow, not really in the mood to chat so early in the morning.

She could hear Plagg's soft snores from the other side of her pillow, careful not to wake him again she moved slowly as she turned over and pulled the blankets up to her chin. She could think about that girl later, right now all she wanted was some sleep before she faced another day at school. 

Sleep came as quickly as before only this time she managed to remain asleep without an sudden realizations hitting her. 

~~~

Though it felt like only a few seconds until she was woken once again by the sound of her alarm blaring underneath her pillow, Plagg floated above her, his expression unreadable. Marinette blinked the sleep out of her eyes as she reached under her pillow to shut the alarm off. 

Crap . Her eyes widened. She was going to be late - she hopped out of bed, almost stumbling over but luckily she caught herself and proceeded to run over to the closet to find some clothes to wear.

“Why didn't you tell me it was so late?” Marinette hissed accusingly at Plagg.

“Is that my job?” Plagg twitched an ear casually, “hey where's my cheese, you were too busy thinkin' about that girl last night that you forgot to give me any.” 

“I'll give you your stinkin' cheese once I'm dressed and actually able to think.” Marinette retorted, picking out a pair of jeans, a plain polo and a nice blue checkered shirt - maybe it's time I did switch things up a bit. She thought.

Racing into the bathroom she quickly put the outfit on, brushing her teeth just as fast she darted back into her room, pulling on her shoes and socks. Plagg watched, eyes lit up with amusement as she stumbled over multiple times in her panic.

She pulled her hair up into a small ponytail, not having enough time to put her hair into its usual style she grabbed her bag and gestured for Plagg to go inside.

“Cheese.” The black kwami said simply, folding his tiny arms across his chest.

“It's in the bag, now hurry up we need to go!”

Plagg zipped over as soon as she told him where the cheese was, she heard his quiet, contented purrs as he chewed at the camembert inside. She sighed, climbing down the ladder and walking through the bakery. Her parents were doing some deliveries early so she wasn't surprised when she didn't see them up to their usual business in the morning. 

Usually it was her mom that woke her up if she slept in so late, Plagg wasn't usually bothered much if they were late or not, he just cared about his morning cheese. 

She heaved a sigh, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she made her way outside, careful to remember to lock the doors as she did. She navigated her way through the busy streets of Paris, checking her phone every few seconds to keep a close eye on the time. 

As she walked, her mind wandered back to last night, the girl - she really should've remembered to ask her name - was at the center of her thoughts. Better just forget about it now, she thought to herself, gripping the straps of her backpack tightly, it's just one girl in a sea of millions, I probably won't see her again. 

She met Alya at the foot of the stairs to their school, the other girl was tapping her foot against the pavement rhythmically, a huge grin lit up her features.

“Hey, not too late, an improvement.” Alya congratulated.

“What're you so happy about?” Marinette questioned, coming to a stop beside her.

“Oh nothing,” Alya's smile got somehow larger, “just… guess who got an exclusive interview with the Bug himself!”

An interview with Crimson? Huh, Marinette never really thought Crim would be so open to doing interviews, even with a lesser known website such as the Crimson Blog. Though she had to owe it to Alya, that girl sure was dedicated to her work.

“How'd you manage that?” She said, smiling as the two started towards the door together.

“After yesterday's akuma attack he had some time left so I just quickly asked if he'd be willing to do a short interview about himself and Lady Noire. I tried to get her too but she was already gone after the attack.” She seemed slightly disappointed about that fact, admittedly that made Marinette's ego grow a little bit - she'd always thought that not many people cared about her compared to Crimson.

“I'm sure you'll get her next time.”

“I hope so! I have so many questions about their powers and where they came from—” Alya started babbling on, Marinette listened intently to her friend, still smiling to herself. 

It had been almost a full year since she'd received the ring along with Plagg and her new duty as a protector of Paris - almost a full year since Hawkmoth had started akumatizing innocent people and using them against their will to attempt to gain hers and Crimson's Miraculous.

For whatever purpose that was for.

In that time Marinette had seen a lot of close calls, the battles were tough and only getting tougher, but as long as Crimson was still standing to purify the akuma and fix everything then it was okay. 

Even if it meant sometimes sacrificing herself for his safety.

She shuddered.

Luckily, both she and Alya had a free period to share that morning until their next class after lunch, so the two girls took a seat on a bench closest to the yard. Alya continued talking about her admiration for Crimson and Lady Noire, and Marinette listened, though this was something she heard from Alya almost everyday she was still interested to know every detail.

“Sup dudes!” She raised her head to see Nino striding over, Adrien in tow. The blonde was beaming at them both.

“Hey babe,” Alya smiled, sitting up to embrace her boyfriend in a delicate hug, both Marinette and Adrien rolled their eyes in unison.

“Hey lovebirds, us single pringle's are tired of watching you guys make out all the time.” Marinette chirped as Alya leaned in for a kiss.

“Yeah I'm kinda feeling like a third wheel here.” Adrien added.

“Fourth wheel.” Marinette corrected.

“Just because you guys can't find partners for yourselves doesn't mean you have to be salty about it.” Alya scoffed, giving Nino a brief kiss on the cheek before turning back to face them.

Adrien scoffed, “I could if I wanted to.”

“Alright sunshine incarnate.” 

“I could!”

“Mari couldn't possibly find a girlfriend, she literally shuts down when she so much as looks at a girl.” Nino put in.

“Dude.” Marinette said disapprovingly.

“He's not wrong.” 

Suddenly Adrien snapped his fingers, “I forgot to mention, there's a new student that should be arriving shortly who I want you to meet.”

“New student huh? Who are they?” 

“She should be here pretty soon.”

Alya elbowed Marinette lightly, “looks like this could be your chance to prove us wrong.”

Marinette shot her friend a quick glare.

Adrien looked over his shoulder, he then smiled and turned on his heel, “there she is. Hey Kagami!” He called out.

Marinette looked over to see a strikingly familiar girl walking up to them, dressed in a black shirt with a checkered red tie, a formal white blazer with a skirt matching the pattern of her tie and red sneakers. Dark hair, a few shades deeper than her own and dazzling, brown eyes.

No way, no way, no fucking way. Marinette thought in disbelief.

“Guys this is Kagami, she recently moved to Paris. Kagami, these are my friends, Alya, her boyfriend Nino and Marinette.” Adrien said cheerfully.

“Hey girl.” Alya said warmly.

“Nice to meet you dudette!” Nino dipped his hat in greeting.

Marinette could only manage a casual wave.

“It's a pleasure to meet all of you, I hope we can all become good friends.” Kagami said, the edges or her lips twitched upwards into a small smile.

Why couldn't she talk to her? She certainly had no problem with doing it last night. She cringed, remembering how she'd flirted and called her Princess . Way to screw up a first impression.

“I'm sure we will, any friend of Adrien is a friend of ours.” Alya told her.

Except Chloe. Marinette added on silently.

“That's very kind of you.” 

The group immediately dissolved into chatter, Alya was on her feet again, suddenly asking Kagami a string of questions.

“So, have you seen Crimson and Lady Noire yet?”

Marinette snapped her head up quickly, her attention pertained towards Kagami once again at Alya's question.

“I encountered Lady Noire last night.” Kagami said casually.

Marinette eagerly waited for her to say more on the subject.

“You talked to Lady Noire? Girl, tell me everything! ” Alya practically squealed.

Kagami seemed surprised, she most likely hadn't had this much social interaction before and was caught off guard.

“Well it was a very short meeting, but I had a small accident and luckily she happened to be passing by.”

“Saved by a heroine on your first day in Paris, what a story!” 

Marinette chuckled to herself.

She looked back up at Kagami who was looking more comfortable around the group already and a warm feeling filled her chest, she really hoped she'd get to know the girl more. Though, that was considering that she'd be able to form a single sentence when talking to her. 

She furrowed her brow slightly, it seemed all the confidence she had as Lady Noire melted away the moment the mask disappeared. Great, just wonderful . 

She swore she could almost feel Plagg's shaking laughter from her purse.

#miraculous #miraculous ladybug #miraculous au #miraculous fanfiction #kwami swap #marinette dupain cheng #kagami tsurugi #adrien agreste #alya cesaire #nino lahiffe #mister bug #lady noire #marigami #kagaminette #falling miraculous au #miraculous au: falling

[obeiii-mee]

Hey! I love your hc and I was wondering of i could get some hc of the boys s/o having dyed hair? It doesn't matter what color it is. I would love to see it!

This sat in my inbox for so long, I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done faster! Thank you for the request. Each of the boys got a random colour for their MC because why not. I made most of them really wild colours so I hope you don’t mind lmao. And the hair is implied to be at least average long so yeah.

Enjoy!

————————————

The Brothers Reacting to an MC with dyed hair:

Lucifer:

-I mean, most demons do have unnatural hair colours and all that

-So brightly coloured heads weren’t exactly new to him

-But yours was a vibrant and rich red

-Which definitely caught his attention

-You made an impression on him the moment you set foot in DevilDom, without even realising it

-He just thinks that your red curls go well with your mannerisms and appearance too

-He wouldn’t think anything less of you just because of your hair but he does love running his hand through it after an exhausting day of chasing after his brothers

-“I like how your hair matches my eyes, love. It’s reassuring almost, knowing that we have something in common appearance wise. For a human, you’re pretty angelic. You are just missing your wings to be honest.”

Mammon:

-Mammon has a bit of an unnatural hair colour himself, except he was created like that and does not dye it

-He thinks your blue bangs are badass and could probably stare at your hair all day long

-You even let him watch you re dye it again one time because he kept asking

-As much as he loves that blue mop you have on your head most of the time, he was always curious what your natural hair colour was

-So he also got to see that at some point too

-If you’re lucky, he might let you dye his hair blue as well (just so he can have more in common with you and to brag about it to his brothers)

-But only temporarily because Lucifer will fucking torture him for a few thousand years for it

-“Oi human! I don’t get why you bother with your hair so much ya know? Do you hate your original hair colour? Either that or you really love blue. I-I mean, don’t get me wrong or anythin’ because y-you are very good looking anyway and your hair is pretty cool- fuCK JUST FORGET I SAID ANYTHING OK??!”

Levi:

-He never really had an opinion on his hair before

-Levi thought it was a ‘meh’ colour

-But your dyed hair had a similar shade to his and that made him appreciate it a bit more

-Yours was slightly darker than his, royal purple and he was awestruck the moment he set his eyes on you

-That colour fit you so much better than him!

-Let him play with your hair, please, his heart will pop like a balloon

-He kinda respects you for having the courage to dye your hair. Even though he’s a demon, he wouldn’t really risk it because Asmo once told him dying your hair will cause it to fall out and he believed that, poor Levi he had to google that shit up

-“It’s not fair that your hair is so much better than mine MC! But... I guess it doesn’t matter. I like your hair a lot and it sort of reminds me of a anime protagonist. But don’t worry normie, I like you waaaayyy more. I.....I said that one out loud didn’t I?”

Satan:

-He would recognise that colour anywhere, believe me

-Green stands out a lot and it’s a very obvious and ‘in your face’ kind of shade

-Your appearance is what drew him toward you in the first place, since your hair goes so well with his whole aesthetic

-Like the rest of his brothers, hair colour has nothing to do with his selection when it comes to partners but he still thinks it’s mesmerising

-He loves running his hand through your hair too!

-Especially if you’re anywhere near him while he reads

-Once you start dating, he will ask you what your natural hair colour is but other than that, he respects your decision in wanting it to keep it dyed

-“Emerald green...It’s almost like the universe knew you’d get send down here and that I’d get this attached to you. Why else would your lovely hair complement with my sin so well then?”

Asmo:

-OH MY GOODNESS, YOU LOOK ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS

-Your pink hair is absolutely faboulous and he will not let anyone say otherwise

-He frets over your constantly, insisting on brushing your hair and helping you dye it

-Small secret that only his brothers are aware of: Asmo definitely dyed his hair at least a couple of times before

-It’s just so pink and cute and stylish, it looks so cute on you he could just eat you out up~

-Another small fact: Beel thought your hair was candy floss and tried eating it, resulting in Asmo throwing his make up kit at him

-“Oh darling, your hair is magnificent! And this colour goes brings out your eyes so well MC! It just makes me want to keep playing with it really. Hmm, I wonder how many styles I can try out~”

Beel:

-You actually have dyed your hair two different colours! Half of your hair is white and the other is red!

-Which of course makes Beel wonder at first if you’re actually a peppermint dressed as a human

-Seriously though, he loves your hair

-Belphie also has two colours mixed on his head (kind of) so it’s so nice seeing that two of his most favourite people are similar in that aspect

-He also offers to style your hair a lot

-He used to do Lilith’s hair back in the Celestial Realm whenever he had the chance to so it comes naturally to him

-“Your hair reminds me of candy but somehow it’s even better. I only have to look at you to feel satisfied and full, almost like my hunger has faded away completely. I love you MC.”

Belphie:

-Your hair colour just gives him relaxing and calm vibes, which is extremely delightful to him

-His new favourite colour now is teal because of you

-Belphie truly loves burying his head in your azure locks and just falling asleep like that

-He doesn’t even have the heart to tease you about you dying your hair

-Like Beel, he grew accustomed to brushing and styling hair so, even though he will complain at first because he’s a whining brat, he is actually more than happy to brush your hair if you ask him

-He watches you dye your hair from time to time too and even the process is sort of tranquil for him

-“That colour would look pretty stupid on anybody else. But you it makes you look really pretty you know? Do you mind if...I play with your hair a little? It’ll help me fall asleep better. Or even your presence alone is enough to be honest.”

Al~

#obey me #obey me asmodeus #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphegor #obey me imagines #obey me leviathan #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me satan #⭐️ requests #🕯 general #☂️ demon brothers

[akane171]

Haha, maybe🤔🤣 

*SOFTLY AND NICELY AND ONLY JOKINGLY BLAMES LW* (Never really cause she's WAY too nice to be blamed, but don't tell her i said that😂) 

Yup, true...At least with the Winchesters they semi-admitted they weren't always perfect or healthy😫

Yeah, now that you say it, it really is strange that there's always alcohol no matter the Time of day🤔😅

Omg, YES, that freaking elevator DIDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE?!! THEY DIDN'T EVEN MAKE A SIDE COMMENT ABOUT IT! But yes, I can only agree on Details over CGI🙈

You're definitely evil and now I kinda wanna get my poor godkid and his even poorer older sister far away and out of your reach😅😭🙈 You literally have no mercy on them, do you? Couldn't you at least have had her time travel to get her father&brother back or sth and no longer be alone anymore?😭

Lol, Same, here have another two high-fives for that😂

If that stereotype was a real person, I'd murder it painfully...😑 I hate it SO much. 

The movie had nice animation but it was kinda meh from what I remember😫 Again, I didn't mind NaruHina at all (esp. since she did indeed like him for him before anyone else did), but the movie was kinda pointless and I still dislike the sudden planet/dimension-hopping they introduced at the end of Shippuuden and them being able to breath on the freaking moon is just...what?😅🙈

Jup, same😂 Have them as Bros and Sasuke be fine alone (seriously, that boy should probably go to therapy for at LEAST 20 years before he even thinks of getting into a semi-serious relationship...) 

Ohhhh, sounds interesting!🤔 Really made me think of Hunger Games and Assasination Classroom tho, yeah😂

It kinda does and I mean, I had a discussion with a friend once where we did point out that having a bit romance is truly fine cause it's hardly believable that truly EVERY character is aro/ace or too emotionally unavailable, but...Agh, just the ratio of story vs. romance is so fucked up😫 

Oh, nononono, I understood that you meant 9am! Sorry, my autocorrect must have changed that to pm and I didn't realize🙈🙈 NO SHAME ON YOU!😭 Ha, zombie😂 You know that Cranberries song? I never have to NOT think of it when I hear that word🤣

YES, EXACTLY! Thank you, FINALLY someone who understands how freaking draining and tiring humans and human interaction are! 

Ohhh, that would actually be funny😂 Esp. if Kakashi still used those stupid/brilliant excuses like "I got lost on the road of life" or "I saw a black cat and had to take the long way around cause bad luck" etc😂

I'm still sobbing over Ace... It never was the Same again😫 (Fun Fact: OF COURSE they'd kill one of my two favourite side characters and never show the other (aka Shanks) apart from in openings😫🤦🏻‍♀️ I really need to stop getting emotionally attached to tragic and absent characters😫🤦🏻‍♀️)

Yup, definitely😅 But BEYOND creepy nontheless...🙈

Tokyo Ghoul is just another tragic mass (and to no surprise I once again got attached to the worst character you can get attached to cause you'll spend 99% of the story wondering where he is, what he's doing or if he's even alive🙄😫)

Oh, you gotta watch/read Attack on Titan's S4 Arc! I wasn't TOO into it before but after that time skip shit went down and uff, my heart died a few times (and I still Love the paralells between the two sides and how all characters are proven to be shades of grey instead of the stupid black-white-thinking animes etc like to have these days...) 🤔

XXXXX

....well, I blame her all the time foer a lot of things, @raisedbyfandomwolves i think you can confirm?

Yeah, well, Winchesters were the equals in the show, I think? Both screwed a lot, both hurt each other, and both apologized many times. In SG... I feel there was imbalance. Alex was usually propped, while Kara was treated like teh bad guy. Don't even let me moan how she treated Kara in the two last eps. And nothing was solved.

I mean, yeah, no cameras in the elvator? No one was surprised there was freaking HOLE in the roof? No one was surprised the levator was destroyed? Like? Someone could have died there, and we would not know. Sigh.

MUHAHAHAHAHA. I was thinking about reversing the future and erasing the bad stuff, becasue of some villain messing with their lives, I didn't plan anything that far ^^' I mean, it could end happy or disastrous. I'm pissed off, so ....

Basically, I'm happy i ended my Naruto journey on manga and have seen like 2 shippuden movies, nothing more. Anyway... all naruto movies suck and all are just dumb fillers. Sad facts.

I KNOW. Kishimoto fucked his character and imo, he seriosuly should have died. ... you know, teh same goes for Mon-El, I wish he had died in the end of s2 because as much as I love Chris and his portrayal of Mon Mon, they destroyed almost everything I loved about him and karamel. What we get was... a slap. Not only Kara will never find a partner, but he will also never move on. Fuck this show.

It's good, espeically the first movie. I haven't read manga (just one vol.) but it is super brutal. And I bought the book and it waits for being read... maybe... mext year?

Agreed. it's like no one can create a stroy without romance? That's dumb? And even if there is no romance, if the series is popualr, there you have SHIPPERS swarming everything and talking about only romances and ugh, just shoot me.

Like duh, who didn't hear about Zombie by Cranberries???? One of my fave songs. Seriosuly.

I KNOW. Look, i like a lot of people, I like having them, but jesus christ just leave me a lone for some time, i need to recharge myself? Also, for a long time my best friend was an extravert who totally, TOTALLY, didn't understand my needs of peace and quiet. After she talked about her LOVE LIFE for HOURS I felt drilled like an lemon after lemonade was made.

He and Tobi, if Tobi was Tobi not Madara xD, they would be best pals, I guess?

.... we seriosuly are spiritually conencted, because aside of the fact all my ships are fucked, usually my fave characters are fucked. Or not mentioned ever again. That's a curse. and you are cursed too =='

ehehehehe, black-white characters - that goes for Supergirl too :DDDDDDDD i mean, minus Lena, who is not black, not white, not gray, she's just shit.

Tbh, haven't been into anime and manga for a long time. Still finishing Skip Beat and I'm wondering if it will ever be finished. Same goes for NaNa and DNangel. And Saiyuki. Not mentioning Berserk... sad life of manga fan, huh?

#my fam

[love-little-lotte]

Ranking the Bridgerton Books

I know I should write this in my book blog, but frankly, I have no idea how to make another section for it, and I'm too lazy to research. So, I'm writing here. Please bear with me.

Recently, I read the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn. You might be familiar with the first book since it was adapted into a popular Netflix series by Shonda Rhimes. I binge-watched it back in December, and I have to say... not a fan. I guess I just find it too cheesy and annoying. Plus, the actors who portrayed Daphne and Simon had no romantic chemistry whatsoever.

But I'm not here to talk about the TV show. I'm here to talk about the novels! This is actually not my first time reading the books. Well, not exactly. I've read six out of the eight novels when I was in high school, I believe. I found the books when I was in high school as it was in the library (please don't ask me why my high school library has smutty novels in it, I have no idea who's in charge - they had Fifty Shades of Grey for a week but they eventually removed it from the catalog when they learned what's it about, but I digress). As a fifteen-year-old girl, the series hooked me.

If you're not familiar with the books or the Netflix series, here's a short synopsis: Set in the Regency era, the Bridgertons are one of the most influential families of the ton. The books follow the love stories of the eight Bridgerton siblings, alphabetically named Anthony, Benedict, Colin, Daphne, Eloise, Francesca, Gregory, and Hyacinth.

I didn't read it in chronological order back then, though. I just borrowed any available Bridgerton book in the library if there's one. You might think I was too young to read a romantic novel like that, but I guess I was mature enough to understand it.

Rereading it now that I'm twenty-two (cue Taylor Swift!), my heart's not in the same place. I was more skeptical with the writing, the story, and, most especially, the characters. But, really, I'm not that heartless, so I will cut the author some slack. Quinn wrote this at a different time for a different audience. It's not that long ago, but you'd be surprised how fast things change.

However, even though I have major criticisms, I cannot stop reading them. There's something about the novels that put me in a chokehold. Despite everything, I was able to enjoy it overall. This series is the definition of "guilty pleasure."

Anyway, here's my ranking of the Bridgerton books! I only read the eight main ones, which means I didn't include novellas of any kind. Also, as a fair warning, I might discuss spoilers and whatnot, so please beware. And do keep in mind that I'm writing my opinion, so if you don't agree, well... tough. I'd like to hear your comments, though, if you have any.

#8 - An Offer From A Gentleman (Book 3)

Honestly, this was probably one of my favorite Bridgerton books when I was younger. A Cinderella retelling? Come on! As someone who loves fairytales and forbidden romances, this was supposed to be heaven. However... it was not.

Benedict may be my least favorite Bridgerton brother. No, scratch that - he is my least favorite Bridgerton out of all of them. He's whiny and creepy and I was plainly annoyed with how he keeps asking Sophie to be his mistress in the novel. This was not the gentleman I imagined when I was younger. I might have liked him more in the first few parts, but as the story progressed, he became too childish and obsessive. Sophie, on the other hand, was all right. She's definitely one of my favorite Bridgerton heroines. She was tough but kind in her own way. I wish she had a better partner than Benedict, but I guess they suit each other in the end.

I just detest the climax and the ending of this book. It was too comical - and not in a hilarious way. I guess the same could be said for the entire novel. This was so, so different from the rest, to be honest.

Overall Rating: 3/10

#7 - On The Way To The Wedding (Book 8)

Fun fact: this is the first Bridgerton novel I read. And even then, I wasn't a huge fan of it. Just like An Offer From A Gentleman, the climax was a bit silly but more in a soap opera level than comical.

The biggest factor why I didn't like this was the characters. They were all so bland. Especially our hero and heroine. Gregory is the least featured Bridgerton in the novel, so I don't really know what to make of him at the beginning of the novel. In his book, I learned that he was a good guy - and that's all. Maybe he's too young and naive when it comes to romance (which is endearing, I have to admit), but he has no interesting personality whatsoever. Lucy, the heroine in this novel, was the same. She was described as pragmatic and sensible, which perfectly sums her up. Also, she's a great friend to Hermione (whose last name is Watson, by the way, and you can't tell me otherwise that this isn't a Harry Potter reference - Hermione Granger and Emma Watson? If that's not a reference, well, that's a very crazy coincidence, but I digress again). Gregory and Lucy's story was average - not bad, not good, just so incredibly dull.

The fun parts started way too early. It was difficult to find intrigue in the middle and end bits. The second main conflict, which happened near the end of the book, was truthfully not that good and was just obviously a ploy to keep things longer. You'd think that the Bridgerton novels would end the series with a bang. Alas, it did not.

Overall Rating: 4/10

#6 - To Sir Phillip, With Love (Book 5)

Eloise finally gets her turn in her own love story. She used to be one of my favorite Bridgertons, but when she got her own story, she was reduced into a plain girl. Gone was the feisty and outspoken Eloise we knew from the previous books.

Maybe it's because she's paired up with one of the most insufferable Bridgerton heroes, Sir Phillip. Just an inch away from Benedict, Sir Phillip maybe my next least favorite character. And it annoys me so much that Eloise gets to fall in love with someone like him.

It actually started pretty well. Before the events in the book started, Eloise and Phillip had already been corresponding for a year through letters. Phillip was on the lookout for - not a wife - but a mother for his two unruly children, and he thought Eloise was perfect for the role. He's a terrible father, but the book tries to convince us that it's not his fault because he had a bad upbringing by his own father (a recurring theme in the Bridgerton books - four heroes are plagued with different daddy issues). Eloise tried her best to turn things around, and of course, she eventually did, but I just really hate Phillip's initial intentions for seeking out a wife. He gets better in the end, sure, but I still really don't like him. At least the book wasn't short of excitement, else it would've been rated a bit lower.

Obviously, my favorite part in this book was when the Bridgerton brothers stormed into Phillip's house. He got what he deserved, truly.

Overall Rating: 4/10

#5 - The Duke and I (Book 1)

Now, this is the most well-known story in the Bridgerton literary universe, thanks to the Netflix series. I know I've said that I wasn't a fan of the series, but really, the Netflix writers and producers deserve all the gold in the world because they managed to transform this novel into something exciting.

Daphne and Simon had their moments, that's for sure, but as a couple, they were just so... meh. I liked their relationship at the start when they were still pretending to be courting. But as soon as they got married, everything interesting about the two of them sizzled out. And please don't get me started with how Daphne "took advantage" of drunk Simon. Thank God the show fixed that.

Despite my mixed feelings, this was a decent start to the Bridgerton books. There's really nothing majorly wrong about this novel (except for the aforementioned "taking advantage.") It laid out the future characters well. Lady Whistledown was also great. Thinking about her made me miss her because she wasn't featured in the later novels (you'll soon find out why).

Overall Rating: 5/10

#4 - It's In His Kiss (Book 7)

Since Eloise was stripped away from her feistiness when she got her own love story, I was obviously worried for Hyacinth. Thankfully, she didn't change! She was still the same tactless girl in the previous books. And for that, she gets to be my champion as my favorite Bridgerton.

This is the first time I've read this book, and oh, I'm surprised with how exciting it was. Hyacinth's hero, Gareth, perfectly suited her. Gareth was able to tame her impulsiveness, while also proving to be a good romantic partner for her. I loved that he could match her intellectually, too. It was never a bore whenever they have one of their silly banters. Lady Danbury was also featured more in this novel. She's one of my favorite side characters. As Gareth's grandmother, she was determined to bring him and Hyacinth together.

Maybe the only criticism I have in this novel is Gareth's issues with his father. I find it really weird that most of the heroes' problems are with their fathers. It just seemed lazy writing, in my opinion. But oh well, Gareth was interesting in his own way and that's perfectly fine.

Overall Rating: 6/10

#3 - Romancing Mister Bridgerton (Book 4)

I have a feeling that this is Quinn's favorite Bridgerton book. In this book, it's Colin's turn to find love. Colin is featured in several of his siblings' stories - in fact, in almost all of the books, he had an important role to play.

I love Colin and Penelope's story. Long before this book, they already knew each other. Penelope was Eloise's best friend, and she's almost always in the Bridgerton household. Colin has been forced by his mother for God knows how long to dance with Penelope every time there's a party. But it was only now that they became closer. Unbeknownst to Colin, Penelope had been in love with him for half her life, even though he didn't particularly care for her. Penelope speaks for all of us who know about unrequited love all too well.

Furthermore, this is the novel where they finally reveal who was behind the Lady Whistledown column. Yes, viewers of the Netflix series who are not familiar with the books. This is the part - and not in the first book! I'm so mad that they revealed Penelope as Lady Whistledown in the first season of the series, when in fact it's much later than that.

However, that's also one of the lowest points of this novel for me. Lady Whistledown's identity reveal was a bit anti-climactic. A little bit laughable, even. Also, also, also: I hated Colin's reaction to Penelope's secret. He didn't have to be angry and jealous of her, but ah well, whatever makes for conflict. Nevertheless, I love both Colin and Penelope because they had so much character and depth. Quinn was certainly biased when she wrote this.

Overall Rating: 8/10

#2 - The Viscount Who Loved Me (Book 2)

Remember earlier when I said that I cannot stop reading the books because even though I knew it wasn't that good, it was still highly enjoyable? Well, I'm really talking more about this book, to be specific. I think I've read it in less than 24 hours because of how much I love it. And yes, Anthony and Kate had their obvious flaws, but oh God, they were so perfect together. I can't help but imagine Jonathan Bailey from the Netflix series as Anthony when I was reading it. I swoon, all the time.

This used to be my favorite Bridgerton novel, but that's only because I haven't read my new favorite until recently. Anthony and Kate's story was just oh-so good and intimate and romantic. Kate's also my favorite heroine in the entire Bridgerton literary universe. She was headstrong and loving. She's unafraid to put the happiness of her family first.

In so many ways, Anthony was the same. He assumed the role of Viscount Bridgerton when he was only eighteen when his father unexpectedly died. Since then, he overlooks the family's estates and well-being. Yes, this is one of those "daddy issues" stories I mentioned earlier, but this one was kind of done tastefully. He didn't wish to fall in love but everything changed when he encountered Kate. He didn't mean to be attracted to her, but here we are.

Anthony and Kate had so much understanding between them. I agree Anthony was a bit of a dick when Kate asked if they could have one week to get to know each other before consummating the marriage (worse things have been said by Benedict and Phillip, though), but in the end, I can't deny that I truly love them together.

Overall Rating: 8/10

#1 - When He Was Wicked (Book 6)

*blushing furiously* So what if I put the smuttiest and steamiest novel as my top choice?! What about it? Oh, but really, though, I can't stop reading this. Francesca is one of the least known Bridgertons in the books, just like Gregory. I didn't know anything about her, except that she's quieter than most of her siblings. It was also first mentioned in Romancing Mister Bridgerton that she had already married but was sadly widowed after two years.

Michael was Francesca's late husband's cousin and best friend, which makes him her best friend, too. He has been secretly in love with Francesca since the first moment he laid eyes on her but was unable to pursue her because she's with his cousin John. In addition, I'd like to say that Michael is my favorite hero in the Bridgerton books. He's very charming and wicked, and really, my knees buckle at the thought of him.

Long after John passed away, Francesca and Michael reunited. Francesca was looking for a new husband because she desperately wants a family, while Michael... well, Michael was still in love with her. There was undeniable passion and intimacy between them, and it was hard to stay away from each other. I seriously have a thing for men secretly pining over women they love. That's got to be one of my favorite tropes.

However, the book itself was a bit longer than necessary. While I understand Francesca's hesitations in marrying Michael, it could've been shortened because it felt draggy by the end. Her constant changing of minds was a bit annoying, and yeah, it was probably a ploy to lengthen the novel.

Additionally, I was a bit skeptical at first of how they're going to treat their relationship, especially since Francesca was truly in love with her first husband. But it was done so nicely. Francesca and Michael never forget about John, even in the end. I loved what John's mother said to Michael in a letter at the end, "Thank you, Michael, for letting my son love her first."

I guess I love their story more than the other couples because both were already mature and experienced. Just like everyone else in this romantic series, Francesca and Michael belonged together. The entirety of Chapter 19 is proof of that.

Overall Rating: 9/10

***

Overall, the Bridgerton books are quite entertaining, despite being a cheesy and sappy series. I admit that I feel quite lonely and bored now that I've finished all eight of them. Ah well, there's always the possibility of rereading them!

#books #bridgerton #bridgerton books #julia quinn #novels #reading #book ranking #romance #romantic books #historical fiction