#i really went out of my way to find as many adaptations as possible

[cozmiczzz]

I MADE A SNUFKIN TIER LIST

#moomin #moomins #moominvalley #snufkin #snusmumriken #nuuskamuikkunen #moominvalley 2019 #tanoshii muumin ikka #90s moomin #fuzzy felt moomins #moomin 1972 #new moomin #moomin 1969 #moomin comics #moomin books #i really went out of my way to find as many adaptations as possible #not really many of the screenshots of the more obscure ones came from vimbry's post about the russian snufkins #i highkey wanna find the sources of them though they look very skrunkly #if anyone can give me links to some of the obscure russian ones you will be my new lord and saviour

[twig-tea]

Cherry Magic Thailand Exceeded My Wildest Dreams

This series really surpassed all expectations I had for it. I've already yelled a few weeks ago about how this series righted years-long wrongs both with TayNew and with the Japanese adaptation, and encouraged everyone to watch this show. I'm so happy that the finale didn't let me down, ending its run as a near-perfect series!

The series as a whole did so many things right and only really stumbled slightly on one of the mid-series filler episodes that didn't affect the arc of the main characters or the story overall, so it was forgivable. Everything else in this series is a joy.

Cherry Magic Thailand has perfect character arcs, with relationships that all champion communication all the way through. There's a reason why Kurosawa and Adachi experienced the penultimate episode breakup in the Japanese adaptation but Karan and Achi did not; Karan and Achi worked so hard for this relationship all the way through this series, and that makes them feel so solid that a breakup would not have felt believable or true to them.

I loved how quickly and fully Karan embraced Achi's magic, and used it to be as embarrassing as possible about his feelings. This worked so well in the Thai version; For a man who is not super worried about homophobia, and is not as worried about being seen as less than perfect (the way the Japanese version's Kurosawa was), but who instead is mostly certain that he's Too Much, finding out that his every thought has been heard by the man he loves and that he fell in love with Karan because of those thoughts must have been the hugest relief. Karan's energy after the confession scene is consistently: I can't believe I'm lucky enough to have this.

And that's why it's so critical that Achi already has a ring in his pocket in this finale when Karan proposes. There are of course the reasons why this works as an ending to Achi's arc; The story starts in a way that feels like Karan is leagues ahead of Achi; Achi struggles with feelings of inferiority at the beginning of the series, just like he did in the Japanese version.

I already wrote in a response to @lurkingshan's ep 11 post about how Achi's arc on this was so good, he managed to gain enough self-confidence to build a workplace friend group, move forward in his career, and proactively move forward his relationship. For Achi, proposing is a perfect end to his arc of coming into himself.

But Karan was already self-actualized. If anything, his fear in this relationship has been that Achi would never love him the way Karan loves Achi. Before they ever get together, Karan organizes his day at the office to Achi's schedule, making sure to reduce minor inconveniences and discomforts without ever expecting to be noticed, never mind reciprocated. Karan lies to Achi all the time about how far out of his way he went to do things for Achi (from buying drinks to braving Songkran crowds to bring him medicine). When they first start dating Karan over-plans their first date, and Achi has to remind him that small moments are also good. During the dreaded episode 8 confrontation with their boss, Karan takes the responsibility of their relationship on himself alone. When they were preparing for Achi to be leaving for a month, Achi straight out told Karan he was worried about Karan's ability to handle the separation. He hung out outside Achi's house secretly, and designed a new krathong for them to release at Loy Krathong, but was willing to let go of their Loy Krathong date at the first sign Achi might have to skip it.

This is the first time Achi really steps up in their relationship, but it's still following Karan's lead--he knew celebrating Loy Krathong was important to Karan, so he prepared a surprise for a different day so that they could still celebrate together. While Achi is on his work secondment, they both prioritize staying in touch, but Karan takes a surprise trip out to see Achi before the month is over. And they have sex, and so Achi can no longer hear Karan's thoughts.

This means Karan is able to keep secrets from him again, like a proposal. And so Karan buys a ring, retaining what he thinks is his position as the one who does the work to move their relationship forward. But Achi surprises him by asking him to meet his parents as soon as he comes back from his secondment. And then he overhears Achi tell Karan's mother that he is making sure Karan isn't the only one putting effort into their relationship.

And then Karan is so overwhelmed with happiness that he can't hold back and asks Achi to marry him, and because he's Karan he has the ring already and is carrying it with him. And Achi tells him yes.

And this is the critical bit: Achi then tells Karan that he was also planning to propose to Karan, and proves it by pulling out his own ring. This is physical evidence that Karan is not alone with the intensity of his feelings; that Achi is doing what he told Karan's mother he would, and is putting effort into their relationship himself outside of steer from Karan; that Karan is allowed to love as hard as he does and he will be met halfway by a partner who is a partner in every sense of the word. When Karan says to Achi "I really love you, you know?" And Achi says "I do", it's not just about Achi knowing the depth of Karan's feelings intellectually, but about him knowing the depth of Karan's feelings by reciprocating them. It's about Karan knowing that Achi won't just coast on Karan's love, but will make sure Karan is being taken care of too.

[The part that breaks my heart about that is that Achi's kindness is the thing that attracted Karan to him in the first place; but Karan is so used to not being taken care of that he never expected Achi to turn his caretaking skills on Karan, even after they started dating. Quietly devastating, nbd]

Let's talk about happier parts of this last episode I noticed instead. The parallels in this last episode are so stacked on top of one another that I find it almost overwhelming; We have the two Karan/Achi bench scenes in CMT, from when they become a couple and when they get engaged; there's the proposals between Karan and Achi and between Jinta and Min, and how complete opposites they are (in the contrast between each individually having planned rings and having them on their person even for a mutually unplanned proposal, and how that contrasts to using a pen to draw on an engagement ring because neither of them had prepared at all); there's the use of pens as a proposal tool in Jinta and Min's story and in the Japanese adaptation's Kurosawa and Adachi's story; the perfect reverse parallel between the heat levels of the couples in the Japanese adaptation and the Thai adaptation--I love that Thailand flipped this rather than keeping them both moving faster, it makes the universe feel more balanced somehow--and (as @liyazaki illustrated in her post) that final fake-out parallel that ends the Thai and Japanese versions.

Love the decision to honour the Japanese adaptation while keeping to the manga on which it's based by giving Pai a story that has a clear aroace read while building the foundation for a start to a relationship with Rock that is believable and one I can root for.

I can't talk about Jinta, Min, Rock, and Pai without talking about how much I love these ride-or-die friends that Karan and Achi have acquired. The way Pai drops everything to get Achi to the airport; the way Rock kidnaps Karan without knowing why; the way Jinta and Achi talk to one another using their powers; the way Jinta looks at Achi and Karan when they have dinner together. All of these things warm my heart so much. The way Duj is the most intense busybody in the office but it comes from a place of caring.

And I cannot end a post about this show without talking about just how funny it is. Karan's internal scream, Jinta being able to hear the cat's internal voice, Pai's shipping constantly being misinterpreted by Achi and Rock, these jokes landed every time.

This post got out of hand, again. TL;DR I LOVED THIS SHOW. I loved the humour, the friendships, the relationships, the character arcs, and the scenery. I loved seeing Tay and New absolutely slay on my screen again, I loved seeing another adaptation of this stellar source material, and I loved watching something so well put together week to week. It's been such a good run of shows!

#cherry magic thailand #bl meta #typed so that i can stop thinking it #long post

[sevensoulmates]

Spec on what Tommy's (possible) sexuality might be?

In relation to some spec I'm seeing going around about how Tommy identifies his sexuality, I'm so curious to see what that's gonna be and how he came to figure it out.

Here's what we know:

Tommy had a girlfriend in Chimney Begins because Captain Gerrard asked Tommy when his girlfriend was coming by the station to cook them all dinner. But then again he was kinda cagey in answering the Captain about her coming.

In Hen Begins, Sal insinuates that Tommy is "more of a Team Jacob kind of guy" aka Gay because Tommy finds Kristen Stewart "too broody". Tommy takes this in stride, sending Sal a joking air kiss, but it's by far the biggest hint we've gotten about Tommy possibly not being straight during the time he worked with the 118. However this line was likely originally intended to show casual workplace homophobia in order to make Hen uncomfortable, and not really to be like "oh hey Tommy's queer". But it ends up working out for the writers that they already had this tidbit in here.

In Bobby Begins Again Tommy tells Hen and Chim "I'm telling you, single is easier. Having the scars impresses women, getting 'em freaks 'em out." Which heavily implies dating/being attracted to women. In the same conversation, he later brings up a quote from Fight Club the movie, and in case anyone wasn't aware, has long been interpreted as a queer allegory due to large amounts of homoerotic material in the source material and film adaptations.

All of that being said, there are arguments for Tommy possibly being bisexual, or possibly being an in-the-closet gay man. Whichever direction they choose to take Tommy will be telling for the future of the plot for different reasons.

If Tommy ends up being bisexual like Buck, then more than likely they'll end up having a lot of parallels to experiences Buck has had in the past, further cementing to the audience that Buck has been bi this whole time but just didn't realize it. It could also parallel Buck's current situation (hiding him and Tommy from Eddie + the 118) and possibly the catalyst for Buck to come out to the rest of the 118.

But, if Tommy ends up being gay, and had to hide it and/or repress it for most of the time he had been with the 118, that could prove very interesting for the ways in which he strongly parallels Eddie.

7x04 spent a lot of time hammering home to the audience that Tommy is extremely similar to Eddie. I wouldn't be surprised if they take this a step further by having Tommy have a queer experience similar to how many of us believe Eddie's to be. That being growing up in a hypermasculine environment, filled with shame and plenty of reasons to repress and/or keep that information to himself. And only figuring out who he is later in life.

Personally, I would prefer it if they went this route with Tommy. Not only because I think it would strongly parallel a possible queer Eddie storyline, but it would also provide a contrast for Buck. By that I mean if Tommy says "well, my relationships with women never felt right, and I realized later it's because I wasn't attracted to them at all" then Buck can firmly place himself in the bisexual category in contrast by clarifying that he was and still is attracted to women, but now realizes he likes men too. And it doesn't hurt that it could be possible foreshadowing for Eddie, and/or parallels to Eddie's storyline with Marisol in the episode with something possibly not feeling right between them.

Either way, I'm excited to see to learn more about Tommy in 7x05. I'm also hoping for a bit more acknowledgment for how shitty he was to Hen and Chim in the beginning. It's a good way to show 10+ years of character development in one convo.

#911 abc #bucktommy #tommy kinard #speculation #911 speculation

[pilferingapples]

started re-watching LM 2K with some friends who also make terrible life choices

went in honestly thinking , Hey! maybe I am forgetting things! Maybe it's not as bad as I remember it being!

well 1.5 hours into this 8 hour fever dream and I can say. I was forgetting things all right! quite a lot of things! but whoo boy I owe Past Me an apology, this is bad and every new Thing I Had Blocked Out Of My Mind makes it worse

Thoughts, While I Have Them:

why does it start literally on fire

I'll give John Malkovert this: he does seem disturbingly horny for the idea of inherent traits and inborn social hierarchy. Beeblevert didn't really seem to know what to do with his phrenology displays; Malkovert whispers to them lovingly at night and probably licks them. This guy feels about eugenics like Grantaire feels about Enjolras. This guy is messed up.

( ...filmmakers know that when they've got someone with lots of human skull measurements and phrenology and Types of Human displays, they're saying that character is into eugenics, right? I'm not saying it's a bad move, it can be very accurate and telling ,but like. They get what that's doing there, right? RIGHT???)

The dialogue...is bad.... it's so bad...

"yellow is the color of happiness"

this timeline is a shambles. Fantine doesn't have Cosette until after Tholomyes is gone, and then apparently holds out for YEARS in Paris, since Cosette is if anything a little older than her book age when Fantine meets the Ts; meanwhile Valjean doesn't get out of prison until AFTER Fantine has moved to M-sur-M. Which of course means there's no factory for her to work at!

...but then after Valjean (very intentionally) steals from Petit Gervais, we cut to Fantine working in the factory. The Nettle Cloth factory . Which means Fantine was doing SOMETHING before Valjean showed up to Disrupt the industry with his Tech Breakthrough but like. What. If she was doing something else then why doesn't she go do that some more after she's fired? Because she very much doesn't, she goes right to attempting sex work...badly

like trying it with Javert first Badly

and then he threatens to arrest her but doesn't?? who is this man, what kind of Javert is he ffs . Letting a Poor go unarrested? Seriously this doesn't even scan with his characterization in this series

Instead he starts stalking Fantine and giving her Helpful Hints. He comes in right after she has a client?? and tells her to go to the circus??

She goes and finds the dentist and tries to get him to pull TEN of her teeth bc for no reason he's giving 4 francs a tooth instead of 20 for the fronts. The dentist is the only character in this show with sense and says NO THAT'S TOO MANY TEETH, and he just cuts her hair instead And listen we've got another Fantine with Mostly Straight Brown Hair , it's not even that long, and I'm sorry but there's NO WAY that's worth more than teeth, why do adaptations keep doing this

also why do they keep making Fantine so passive, so dependent on people telling her what to do? She makes bad choices sometimes--often even!-- but she Makes Decisions and fast, she goes all in without any pushing, that is a defining part of Fantine's character! but everything she does here gotta be because someone told her she Should

another one where Javert inexplicably goes to M sur M to see Cosette. Why? What possible reason for this?? he almost seems like he has a weird crush on Fantine rather than JVJ but that's. That's incoherent, for this character. even in this series!!

I've written so much and haven't even gotten to Valjean officiating a wedding for, apparently, a famous former sex worker in the town ? this is mentioned once and I don't think it'll ever be relevant again

1.5 hours in, Points For: a very cute little donkey, Petit Gervais having his Marmot, some very nice architecture, Baptistine existing

Unpoints for: everyone's bafflingly inconsistent characterization, the absolute mess of a timeline, Myriel still living in the palace but letting homeless people sleep on the floor?? , lots of very pointless Walking Around Time , Thenardier Sex , why do directors think I want to see them get it on, Please Stop

#LM 2K #LM 2000 #no analysis just reaction

[roselensedeyes]

Be still, my foolish heart - part two

Pairing: elriel, elain x azriel

Word count: 5k

NSFW: yes

Hello everyone!

Here's finally part two! It's shorter than the first part, but don't worry! I have a multichaptered elriel fic releasing during Azriel's week. It features Elain as a single mom, and I'm super excited to finally share it with you!

Here's the link to Part one and the link to AO3! I hope you enjoy!

Uri’s arms were tight around Elain’s neck as Azriel gathered both of them in his arms and shot in the sky. 

Although his flying had improved greatly in the month since his first flying lesson with his new father, the flight from the town house to the river house was still too arduous for Uri’s recently-healed wings.

Not to mention how nervous he was for tonight’s dinner.

Elain and Azriel had tried to reassure him that everything would be fine, yet his heart still beat too rapidly, his hands felt clammy and shaky, and he still kept picking at his nails.

He was fidgeting in Elain’s arms, trying to assess how long until their descent. Not that he had any actual idea; after all, this was going to be the first time he visited the river house, the first time he met the High Lord and High Lady of the Night Court, and their inner circle.

“Don’t fret, sweet boy,” his mother soothed. “Everyone will love you. I heard there might be presents with your name on them, too,” she whispered, conspiratorially. Even the promise of gifts wasn’t enough to draw away his anxiety. So Elain settled on rubbing his back, hoping the comfort of her embrace would help calm her son down. It did, a little.

“We’re here,” Azriel announced.

She heard Uri take in a deep breath as they made their way down the path that led to the entrance. Elain assessed the state of the flowers she’d planted a few weeks back; she made a mental note to remind her sister and brother-in-law how often some of the flowers needed to be watered.

Uri was holding both of his parents’ hands as they walked. When they were a few feet from the door, their son stopped dead in his tracks. 

“What’s wrong?” Az asked him.

“I want to go home,” the Illyrian boy replied quietly. 

“Can I ask why?” 

Uri didn’t say anything, his gaze fixed on the ground. He shook his head, once.

Elain and Azriel exchanged a look, before Az got down to Uri’s eye level. He gently lifted his chin. “If you want to go home, we can and we will,” he said firmly, holding Uri’s gaze.  “Though I know your aunts and uncles really, really want to meet you.” The boy’s eyes gleamed with uncertainty at that. “All week, your mom and I got so many questions about you from our family.”

Some of the nervousness had eased off from their son’s face the more Azriel spoke. He glanced behind his father’s back, toward the door. His eyes widened.

Elain looked at it, too, and saw Cassian staring at them from the window near the entrance. She rolled her eyes, and tried her best to hold in her laughter. Especially as she saw Amren’s smaller figure trying to take a peek from behind Cassian’s much bigger frame. 

Her mate had noticed them, too, and snorted. Uri glanced back at him. “I told you,” he shrugged. “They’re really excited to meet you.”

With one last look at the now-clear window, his hands in each of his parents’, Uri took the final steps and entered the river house.

-

Azriel watched as his son played with his cousin Nyx and his uncle Cassian. He wasn’t sure what game it was, but as Uri laughed, loudly, again, he found he didn’t care much. As long as he was happy and safe, he let him have his space and possibility to explore himself, to find out who he was, what his likes and dislikes were. 

As he sat on the end of the sofa, his lovely mate on his side in the middle of what appeared to be an intense conversation with her sister Nesta, Azriel thought back on tonight’s dinner and how smoothly it went.

He’d had no doubts that Uri would adapt quickly — even less that his family would wound up loving his son — yet he didn’t have the words to convey the emotion that overtook him when Uri had finally relaxed his body completely, and hugged Feyre of his own will. 

Az’s High Lady hadn’t let him go for a long while. Nesta had tried to take him from her, but Feyre refused, claiming her favorite nephew needed her love a while longer. Nevermind that he was her only nephew, a fact she waved off when her older sister pointed it out.

When they’d gotten through the threshold, Uri had been pale with apprehension. Rhys had answered the door, and promptly stopped his new nephew from bowing to him. “You’re my family. I never ask that of my family,” he’d explained gently. The young Illyrian had blushed, but before his embarrassment could escalate, Rhys said, “We weren't sure what you liked. Your mother and father weren’t really helpful with that, so if you don’t like it we can change it.” Then, the High Lord of the Night Court gestured behind him, towards a pile of presents. 

Spring was approaching, yet it felt like Solstice. “They’re all yours,” Rhys nodded at Uri, whose jaw dropped open in wonder. He pointed at his chest in disbelief. Rhys smiled and, grabbing his hand, led him to the gifts. They were from Rhysand and Feyre, Cassian and Nesta, from Mor and even from Amren. He’d gotten toys and clothes, shoes and jewelry. Cassian had gotten him Illyrian fighting leathers, promising him to be the one to train him when he was ready. Uri had glanced at Azriel at that, murmuring he wanted his dad to train him. His heart had warmed in his chest, and he’d looked smugly at his brother. The latter had rolled his eyes at him, before grudgingly amending that Az could train with them, too.

His son had been shy for the majority of the dinner, until Nyx had woken up and demanded to play with his new friend. After that, any tension that still held Uri in its grip vanished. His quietness had released him, and Az was now rubbing his temples, sensing a headache forming. 

Elain’s delighted laugh brought him back to the present. He looked at her now. His mate was the most beautiful in all of Prythian. He was a lucky bastard. He wondered if he’d ever think he deserved her. He shook his head. How could he, so broken and sullen, deserve someone as perfect as her? Elain’s beauty went beyond a pretty face. No, hers manifested when she cared for their son, when she looked after her garden and baked her family’s favorite desserts. It came out when she used her power to help the court she belonged to, when she used her weaknesses to create something greater. It showed when she kissed him, soft and sweet, in their bed late at night, early in the morning in the bath, nothing between their naked bodies. When he was inside her, the loving sounds she made. 

No, he could never deserve something as magnificent as she was. 

Azriel was still staring at the love of his life as she looked him over her shoulder. Elain smiled softly at him, light dancing in her eyes. I love you, she mouthed. He wanted nothing more than to whisk her away to find a hidden alcove and show her with his mouth and body how far his love for her went.

A shadow appeared in front of him. Not one of his own. Rhys.

Things between them had been tense for a while, since that fateful night over a year ago, in the office where Rhys had forbidden him to be with Elain. Even after their mating bond had snapped into place, things between them hadn’t gone back to how they were before. It made Az feel guilty that he couldn’t let that sense of betrayal go. 

A week after they’d accepted the mating bond, when the frenzy and animalistic instincts had finally allowed them to be around people who weren’t their son, they’d announced it to their family. 

Azriel could still remember the tension in his body, how cold and clammy his hands were, how Elain’s were shaking, the rapid beat of her heart as they told their family. Feyre and Nesta had been overjoyed. They’d been worried about their sister ever since she’d told them about how she and Lucien intended to cleave their bond. It was something never-been-done before, their fears well understandable. They’d thrown their arms around her, hugging her so tight with their love and happiness. So was Cassian, while Amren only smirked and sipped from her cup. Mor had looked at them with a strange gleam in her eyes, but had smiled and congratulated them.

Yet they weren’t the ones who worried them. It was Rhys, Rhys who had stayed silent while the others expressed their felicitations, and who now was looking at them without a hint of what he was feeling. Az had been ready to grab Elain and take them back to the town house, to Uri, who they’d thought best to leave at home with Nuala and Cerridwen for this meeting. Then Rhys had smiled at them, and had wished them a happy union for eternity.  

Azriel had frozen as Elain had thanked her brother-in-law and kissed him on the cheek. Az’s brother had noticed his reaction, though, and a while later, while everyone was distracted, had taken him aside and told him, “I am sorry, brother, if I made you feel like your feelings didn’t matter to me. They do, they always have and always will. I shouldn’t have said those things to you.”

And that had been that. They’d exchanged a look of understanding, before they hugged and went back to their family. Where Elain and Az had dropped a bigger news: they’d adopted a child.

Yet things still hadn’t smoothed between them yet. He guessed some things needed time to heal and grow anew, and perhaps this was one of those.

“Hi,” Rhys said now. “It looks like Uri is enjoying himself.”

Az smiled and nodded his agreement. “He does. Now he has a friend to play with, as does Nyx.”

Rhys gave him a pleased smile. “They do. It’s what I always saw in my mind, as I worked to build this court into something I was proud of. Our children being friends, playing without a care in the world.”

Azriel thought on his words, and realized it was the truth. His son, and any other children he might have one day, would never again feel unsafe or scared. And it was thanks to him, to Elain, to Rhys and the Night Court.

Elain interlaced her fingers with his in that moment, as if she could hear his thoughts. He sent his gratitude and love down their bond, and felt a kiss through it. 

-

Their family had insisted, though it hadn’t taken much convincing. 

As she walked down the aisle in a beautiful strapless, champagne, flowy dress, Elain thought back to her girlhood, when she used to dream and plan her wedding. There was always a handsome young Lord at her side, but reality had given her someone else. Someone her young, human mind couldn’t envision. He was much better than any of her fantasies.

The love of her life, her husband, was looking at her as she made her way to him. Elain had thought they’d have a mating ceremony, but Azriel had surprised her by telling her he wanted to have a human wedding. 

“We’re already mated,” he’d explained. “All fae know we are. Now I want the humans to know you’re mine, too. Plus, I want to put my ring on your finger,” he’d shrugged. 

She’d rolled her eyes at that, though the smile on her face was huge. She’d kissed him, and kissed him some more when he told her he knew she had their wedding planned already, and wanted to hear it.

The reality was pretty faithful to what she had in mind.

Elain reached her soon-to-be-husband, stared him in the eyes the entire time the High Priestess talked, when they recited their vows, when they slid their rings on each other’s fingers. Only closed them when they shared the kiss that sealed their union.

The rest of the evening went by in a blur. They danced, laughed, ate. They celebrated their marriage with their family, but most importantly with their son. Uri had perhaps been more excited than them.

But now they were back at their home, alone. In the morning, they would leave for the continent, where they’d spend a week there traveling from town to town. It was Elain’s dream, and her perfect mate was about to crown it.

But that was tomorrow, tonight their first as husband and wife. It felt foolish to be nervous. It technically wasn’t different from the others, from their first as mates. Still, her stomach was fluttering, her heart beating rapidly in her chest.

Azriel was looking at her, hunger and love battling in his eyes. Elain swallowed before she turned around, giving him her back.

“Will you take off my dress?” 

Nothing— He neither said nor did anything for a few beats.

Then she felt him walk over, his scarred hands landing on her nape, where the zipper lay. The descent was agonizingly slow. Goosebumps appeared on her back, her arms, her neck. When the zipper met its end, she could have sworn his little finger grazed the top of her bottom. She shivered, arousal making her eyes roll in the back of her head.

She heard him take a deep breath. In a flash, she was against the wall, his mouth pressing against her hard, hot, wet. She matched his fire. 

Elain felt his hardness against her pelvis, thrusting against her, seeking relief. She bit his lip, hard enough that he reared back. “Take your wife to bed, husband.”

His eyes flashed as he did just that. He stripped both of them. Then, his head was between her legs, tasting her wetness. He groaned as she gripped his hair as she thrusted against him, her legs finding their place on his shoulders. She gasped as she found her pleasure, but he wasn’t done.

In one single push, he was inside her. A moan wrenched out of her, loud, and she would have been embarrassed if he wasn’t already sliding in and out, reaching that sweet spot deep inside her. His mouth was wet against her throat, making goosebumps appear on her skin, before sliding down to her breasts. 

When he bit a hardened peak, white stars appeared behind her eyelids. She soon heard his answering groan, before he fell on top of her, breath haggard.

They kissed, slow at first, quickly became passionate and bruising. Lust and devotion, fervor and tenderness. “I love you,” she whispered to him. 

“I’ve been in love with you since the moment I laid eyes on you. I didn’t know at the time that that was what it was, yet now I look back and feel like a fool for not realizing it sooner. I will never be able to explain the depth of the emotion I feel for you. You are my sun, my moon, and my guiding star,” he said, not once tearing his gaze from hers.

Elain had managed not to spill any tears all day, yet now they escaped freely, rolling down her cheeks. She’d once thought Graysen would be the one to murmur these loving words to her, that he’d be her husband. She was the real fool, here. 

She kissed him again, trying to tell him without words how much she loved him. 

They fell asleep while he still was inside her, embraced tightly together. 

-

Elain and Azriel had a secret.

They didn’t mean to keep it much longer – not that they could, even if they wanted to. But, they weren’t ready to share it with other people yet. They wanted it to be theirs for just a little longer, the unexpectedness of it still so surreal. Elain smiled each time she thought about it, though the knowledge stayed at the back of her mind constantly. It wasn’t something she could forget, something she didn’t want to forget. She smiled again now, before it nervously fell away.

Yet the main reason why they hadn’t told their family yet was another. And he was staring at them right now.

Elain’s leg kept jumping up and down as she dined with her family. Her churning stomach didn’t want her to introduce any food inside it, but the concern on her mate’s face was enough to make her force some of the stew down her throat. 

Uri’s beautiful hazel eyes looked up at her, apprehension swirling in them. She tried to smile, but by the way his eyebrows furrowed even more, she knew it didn’t do anything to smooth his nerves.

“What’s wrong?” He asked them, putting down his spoon.

Azriel looked at her before replying, “Nothing is wrong, baby. Keep eating your stew.”

But Uri only shook his head. “You’re lying. Why are you lying? You hate it when I lie, so why are you lying to me now?”

The corners of Elain’s mouth threatened to quirk at the habit he’d picked up when he was five. Even though he was almost eight, it was still something he hadn’t outgrown. Maybe he would never outgrow it, instead become a defining trait of his personality.

Taking a deep breath, she met her son’s eyes. “Nothing is wrong, but we need to tell you something.” 

Azriel went still at her side. Biting her lip she nodded, more to herself than to Uri.

“We have some exciting news.” Az grabbed her hand. “We haven’t told anyone, yet, because we wanted you to be the first to know.”

“I’m pregnant.”

Her words were met with silence. She watched as her son’s features slowly fell, her own smile equally dropping. She looked at her mate, lost. 

“You’re going to be a big brother. Aren’t you excited?” Azriel asked him.

In answer, Uri began eating again. Elain placed a hand against her chest, where she could have sworn she could feel her heart breaking underneath.

She remembered how excited she was when her own parents had told her she was getting a new sibling. She’d prayed for another sister, who she could dress and have tea parties with. Feyre hadn’t really enjoyed them, though, so once again Elain’d had to play by herself. 

“You’re going to have someone to play with all the time, isn’t that exciting?” She tried a different tactic.

He only shrugged. Tears pricked her eyes, but she blinked them away. “Is there– Do you… not want a sibling?” Her voice was quiet, tremulous. 

Again, Uri only shrugged. Az cleared his throat. “You know you can always come to us for anything, right? You know we’ll always love you, no matter what?”

He nodded. “I’m finished. Can I go play for a while before going to sleep?”

Her heart beating rapidly, lost for words, Elain only managed a nod. He was out of his chair before her next blink.

When she was sure he was far away, she let out a quiet sob. Azriel’s arms were immediately around her. “Shh, my love. It’s alright.”

Elain shook her head. “No, it’s not. You saw how he reacted, Az. He’s not happy about this,” she said, gesturing to her still-flat stomach. It would take a while before it’d begin to swell, Madja had said. 

Azriel had insisted she visit the healer as soon as he noticed the change in her scent. It happened one lazy, early morning. His kisses had woken her up, and when she opened her eyes it was to the sight of Azriel’s filled with unshed tears. He’d held her in his arms, his hand resting against her belly. “My love,” he’d whispered. “You’ve given me too great a gift.” 

They’d made love, gently, their hands held together, their wet cheeks touching. their breaths mingling. They told each other how far their love went, not just with their words, but with their hands, their bodies. 

Yet, now that quiet joy she’d felt that day threatened to crumble in the face of Uri’s dismay.

“He only needs to come to terms with this. It’s a big change, and considering where he comes from, it makes sense that he needs some time before he can fully embrace this new adventure of sorts,” said Azriel.

Elain nodded, praying to the Mother that he was right.

-

He wasn’t right.

Azriel and Elain laid on the couch, going through reports Rhys had sent over. Nuala and Cerridwen, with the occasional help from Azriel, had trained her in the past few years, and now she proudly called herself the Spymistress of the Night Court. Her visions helped with their missions, although with the recent peace they’d reached those missions were now very few and far between.

Elain let out a yawn and snuggled closer to her mate, who dropped a kiss on her forehead. “Let’s go put our son to sleep, my love. Then we can go to bed, too.” He gently lifted her, sorting the papers and placing them on top of a shelf, where Uri couldn’t reach them. He knew better than to fly inside the house. Not that there was enough space, anyway.

Their boy hadn’t come downstairs since dinner. They’d hear him move at times, but mostly he was being quiet. Maybe Az was right, Elain mused, maybe he just needed to brood and work through his emotions and thoughts before he could understand how he truly felt about having a new sibling. After all, he’d been an only child his whole life. When he did figure out his true feelings, he’d come to them, and they’d discuss and face them like the real family they were.  

Sure, it would devastate her if Uri was unhappy about his sibling, but she was sure talking about it would make him see how great of a news it was. Sentiment reinforced, she straightened her spine and got up, following her mate up the stairs.

That was when an eerie sensation had her go still. Her stomach clenched. She gripped Az’ hand, her eyes searching for Uri’s door. Az turned to her, a question written in his gaze. “What’s wrong, my love? Is it a vision?” They —Uri included— had gotten used to her sudden visions. She had better control now than when her powers first manifested, could block them or make them come forward when she deemed it best, yet when the vision was too strong, the message too important to be ignored, there was nothing she could do but submit to it. It used to frighten Uri, while it made Azriel restless, but now it was familiar, accepted.

Elain shook her head even as her grip on Az’s hand tightened. “Uri— It has to do with Uri.”

He didn’t question her — he never did. Her mate simply turned around and marched toward their son’s bedroom.

He knocked, once, twice, three times. Only then did he open the door

The sight nearly knocked the breath out of her lungs.

All of Uri’s clothes were no longer in his wardrobe. Instead, they were all over his bed and the floor, where the child in question was sitting, carefully folding his clothes. He looked up at them, then went back to placing the shirt in his hand in a big, black bag.

“What’s the meaning of this,” Azriel asked, though it was more of a demand than a request.

“I’m packing my stuff, and then I’ll leave,” Uri answered, and though Elain could tell he meant to sound collected, the tremors in his voice gave him away. 

“What,” she gasped.

“I’m trying to be as fast as I can, I promise,” Uri rushed out to say. “I am not going to take all of the clothes, either. I know you’ll need them for the baby,” he said. 

A shudder went through her body. The thought of having a brother or sister was so awful for Uri that he planned on leaving them.

“Can I take my toys with me? I would like something to play with at the orphanage, unless you want to give them to your baby,” he explained, and he sounded so calm, like this was a fact nothing and no one could change.

A sob wrenched out of her. Uri looked up at her in surprise, his eyes wide. 

“You are our baby,” Azriel said, intensely. “If you think we’ll allow you to go away, you’re sorely mistaken.”

Uri’s brows furrowed in confusion. “But—But you’re having your own baby.”

Elain tilted her head. “You already are my own baby. Just because I didn’t bore you doesn’t mean you are not. It pains me to think I ever made you feel like I don’t love you from the deep well of my heart.”

He quickly shook his head. “No, I– I know you love me. It’s only that…” He trailed off, looking down at the ground, almost like he couldn’t bring himself to say the actual words.

Then Elain made the decision to sit down on the floor with him. Azriel quickly followed. She laid a hand against his cheek. It was still baby soft, one of the few remembrances of his childhood. “What’s troubling you, my sweet boy?”

Uri’s face crumpled. And then he sobbed. Elain’s hands wrapped around his head and brought it against her chest. She swayed back and forth, murmuring soothing words, stroking his hair. Az rubbed his back. 

“I don't want you to stop loving me!” Uri bellowed out, like he’d restrained himself from speaking the words out loud for so long that now they fought to get out as loudly as possible. “I want you to love me forever, I don’t want to leave,” he yelled.

Elain’s eyes watered, and she wanted to cry, too, yet her words were steady and unfaltering as she said, “Listen to me, Uri.” She lifted his head up, staring right in her son’s red, shining eyes. “That will never happen. You’re not going anywhere. You are our son, and you’ll live with us forever.” She left feathery-light kisses on his swollen eyes. “And then one day, many, many years from now, you’ll decide it’s the right time to move out and create your own family, and I’ll be inconsolable for days on end, and you’ll roll your eyes and call me dramatic, which in turn will make me cry even more, but deep down I’ll be happy and supportive of your next adventure, even though you won’t be able to tell at first as I’ll be trying to lock you in your room—”

Her son’s giggles were the best sound she’d ever heard. 

“You can’t say that, mom!” He admonished, even though laughter still colored his tone.

She smiled, and caught Az’s gaze. The Spymaster’s own eyes were glassy from unshed tears. Yet even that wasn’t enough to conceal the love reflecting in them, the love for her and their son. He cleared his throat, once, twice, before he said, “Uri, the baby your mom is carrying will be your brother or sister, do you understand? We will love you the same. You’re as much our child as this one.” He pointed at Elain’s still flat belly.

Uri looked at her stomach for the first time for a long time. Then he nodded. 

She was aware the issue wasn’t resolved just like that, that it would take some time for Uri to truly believe it. Still, she peppered his face until he was gasping for air.

When his giggles quieted down, when he was nestled between them in their bed – no way was he sleeping by himself tonight. His room was a mess, anyway. — his Illyrian stuffed toy in his embrace, Uri sighed. “I hope it’s a girl. I want a sister.”

Azriel and Elain looked at each other over him. Azriel inclined his head, a silent agreement. They fell asleep with their smiles plastered over their faces.

-

Uri grumbled when they told him he now had a brother. Over the past ten months, he’d tell everyone he met he was really excited to meet his new baby sister. No matter how many times his parents tried to prepare him from getting disappointed. He was dead set on getting a new baby sister. 

And now he had a brother.

“Mom, it’s so unfair,” he whined now. “I wanted a sister.”

Elain had just given birth. She was tired and in pain, though the tonic Madja had given her subdued it. Yet she was the happiest she’d ever been. Uri was nestled against her side, her mate on the other, her new child suckling at her breast. 

She’d dreamed of it as a girl. It’d seemed an impossible dream when she was thrown into the Cauldron, the months of depression and heartbreak that had followed it. Yet it was now before her eyes.

It was exactly as she’d envisioned it. Perhaps even better.

“I know, baby,” Az echoed his statement. “But we love him, right? We’ll protect him?”

Uri rolled his eyes. “Of course. He’s my little brother,” he said.

Elain smiled. “You better. He already loves you so much. He told me.” As though he had heard her, the baby blindly reached out his hand. It landed on Uri’s cheek, a light touch that one might have called a caress. Uri kissed his brother’s palm. “I love you, Adi. Please grow up quickly. I want to play with you.”

“He loves you, too, baby.” Azriel pressed a kiss against his two sons’ foreheads. “Plus, next time you might get a little sister.”

Uri’s eyes sparkled with mischief at that. Elain shook her head, her smile still shining on her face.

It took two more tries before Uri finally got his long-awaited sister. That day, his scream of joy could be heard from all over Prythian.

#elriel #elriel fic #elriel fanfic #elriel fanfiction #elain archeron #azriel #elain x azriel #elain archeron x azriel #azriel x elain #azriel x elain archeron #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #pro elriel

[mamaspresley]

to find a cure | austinbutler

summary in which austin tries to find himself in the art of pottery, and instead, finds you wc 3,932 tw mentions of depression

note : aaa i saw the request @scrambled-eggs-y posted about this and i could not stop obsessing so i decided to write on the idea as well. go check out their fic, it’s linked here , it is phenomenal <<33 i hope u guys enjoy my rendition of pottery!austin !!

It was amazing, how much stress he lived under every day for two years. Shooting Elvis was nothing short of a dream, one that Austin would be forever grateful for, but it wasn’t as pleasant as his mind had made it out to be at the beginning. The past two years had been so strenuous, so draining on him from the long hours and the consistent studying and learning of his role. It had taken a seriously heavy mental toll on the boy and it wasn’t until he was bedridden in a hospital in Queensland that Austin realized how serious it was. 

He got many texts and calls from friends and family, wishing him well and hoping that he would get better soon. He was admitted for a week, so by the time he returned home to LA he was feeling a lot better, physically. But there was still a pressure weighing down on him emotionally, and Austin wasn’t sure if treatments and doctors would help him this time. 

That feeling never truly went away— not for a long time, at least. It was almost a full year since he finished filming Elvis, and he’d tried to cope with his depression by throwing himself into his other projects, into his friends and family. He never took the time to work on himself, so when he was between jobs and had nothing to do but be by himself, he was miserable. And that was just the case in the early months of 2022. 

“You should try getting into art, or something,” a friend suggested to him. Austin had gone to one of his closest friends, Ashley Tisdale, for help, finally admitting defeat after a year of living with this unhealthy mindset. “You know, I heard painting is really therapeutic. Maybe you could try that? Or I heard about this new pottery class downtown. That could be nice.” 

Since the wrap on Elvis, Austin had reached a level of depression he’d never even known was possible. It could easily be described as imposter syndrome — he didn’t know who he was, who was living in his body, taking over his soul. He felt lost within himself, like he wasn’t Austin every morning he’d wake up. For nearly three years of his life he dedicated every conscious moment to becoming Elvis Presley, so having to adapt back to his old ways — his own ways — felt impossible. Elvis was all he knew for such an extended period of his life… It made sense that Austin had lost his own individuality in that process. 

But trying art as therapy? Austin almost laughed at that — sure, he was an actor, but he wasn’t big into the arts, like sculpting or painting. “Ashley, you know damn well I can barely even draw a stickman.”

“You don’t have to be good!” she assured him. “Just try it. I’ll go with you, if you want.”

It was about a week after that conversation when Austin called her up, swallowing his pride and asking if she would stay true to her word and accompany him. “You mentioned somethin’ ’bout a pottery class? I’ve never tried pottery… let’s do that.” It took a lot of strength to pull himself out of bed every morning. But Austin was big on trying new things — it was something that made him feel excited, encouraged him to step out of his comfort zone, and since filming Elvis he hadn’t found anything that made him feel like that again. So he felt good about this; he felt good about getting out of the house — and that surprised him more than anything. 

“I’m happy you wanted to do this,” Ashley said, smiling at the boy from the passenger seat of his car as Austin backed into a parking stall just a few blocks from the building she directed him to. “It’s good, seeing you out and about again. I was getting worried for a bit there.”

“Yeah,” he said, putting the car in park and shutting off the engine as he looked over at his friend. “Me, too. But I think this will be fun.”

They both got out of the car, walking across the parking lot. “I have a feeling you’re gonna suck at this,” Ashley teased, and Austin rolled his eyes as he slung an arm over her shoulder. 

“You’ve got just as much experience as me at this pottery thing, so you can’t say shit if I’m terrible.” He smiled. Ashley was someone who Austin held very close to his heart, and he had for a long time. She was truly the only person he trusted enough to go to if he was struggling, and this just proved his theory. She was his best friend, nothing more than that, and it made Austin happy knowing that he had such a good support network in times of need. 

He held the door open for her as they walked in and Ashley found the two of them seats near the back of the room. There were a few other people taking the class, some looked more experienced than others, but Austin didn’t feel nervous at all. He was excited— he loved trying new things, even if he had no clue what he was doing. He couldn’t even guess what half of the instruments in front of him were used for, and it was comical how confused Ashley looked beside him. They were both screwed — so what else could they do but laugh about it?

They put on the smocks hanging near the side of the room, after realizing everyone else was wearing them, and Austin rolled the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows as he sat down at his station. 

“Okay, I think we can start.” The voice came from you, standing at the front of the room in a pair of light washed jeans and a tank top. You were tying a white smock around yourself, which had paint splatters and stains all over, and you had your hair tied up messily but somehow it looked perfect, within the imperfectness. You had soft features, a kind smile, and Austin genuinely believed that you were the prettiest girl he’d ever laid his eyes on. 

“Is she… is she the instructor?” He leaned over to Ashley, his gaze never falling off of you. 

“I think so.” Ashley looked over at Austin, who was too busy gawking at you to notice that his friend was watching him. Ashley grinned ear to ear at her realization, seeing the way his tongue darted out to wet his lips, his eyes seemingly sparkling at his admiration over you, a total stranger. “Oh my God.”

“What?” He snapped out of his trance, looking over at Ashley like nothing had happened. 

“You think she’s cute.” At her words, Austin felt himself blushing. And he was quick to defend himself, stumbling over his words and the heat in his cheeks only made it worse. At his nervousness, Ashley laughed. “You totally do! Oh, this is adorable.”

“Would you shut up?”

“Okay, first things first, who here has experimented with pottery before?” You, who Austin was marvelling over seconds before, were now drawing the attention of the class, taking a seat at the station in front of you. A few people around you raised their hands, but Austin and Ashley kept to themselves. “So the rest of you have no clue what you’re doing, then?”

Everyone laughed, but Austin was too distracted, unable to tear his eyes away from you. You were enchanting, your skin glowy and your eyes so soft and kind, as well as your smile. He couldn’t get over how adorable you looked — you were the human embodiment of the word sweet. “Well that’s all right. You’ll figure it out with the rest of us. So the first thing we’re gonna do is wet our hands and prepare our clay on the wheel.”

The class went by quicker than Austin expected, and for the whole hour he figured he’d only spent a total of two minutes not looking at you. You were ethereal, encouraging a feeling in Austin that he hadn’t experienced in a long time, and that was why when they were cleaning up at the end of the lesson, Austin turned to Ashley and asked if she wanted to attend next week’s class with him, as well. 

“Yeah, sure.” And that’s how Austin ended up as one of the class’s regular students, and by a month in, not only was Austin’s adoration for you growing, but he was actually becoming pretty good at the whole pottery thing. 

Currently he was attending a class without Ashley — she couldn’t find a babysitter for the night, and Austin assured her it was fine. He didn’t mind going alone, he quite enjoyed spending time by himself, and if he was being honest, he’d been trying to work up the courage for a while now to talk to you. Ashley continually teased him about it, and though he knew it was lighthearted, Austin really did like you. He wanted to talk to you, not just in passing or when you asked if he was doing okay with the lesson. He craved a real conversation, much like he’d been dreaming about since the day he saw you. Every night of his was spent excitedly going to bed, so he could fall asleep and make contact with the girl that mainly existed inside of his head. He’d never been so in love with the idea of someone before, and Austin was getting tired of only meeting you in his dreams. 

Austin was excited for this week’s class, a little bit more than all the others. He’d been planning to finally strike up a conversation with you, and once the day came, he couldn’t wait. 

So he showed up early. Only by a few minutes, but being in the vicinity helped ease his nerves a bit. It was funny, really, the contrast between the man he was now versus how holed up he had been only two months before. A pottery class, something that Austin never would’ve guessed he’d be frequently attending, was what saved him. A depressing spiral he was previously caught in, something that seemed would never come to an end, was easily prevented by a simple suggestion from a friend, something as silly as an art class. And now, he was working up the courage to ask out a girl, something he hadn’t even thought of since the beginning of his past relationship of nine years. He never really advanced towards a new one after their split two years before, never felt the need to nor did he meet anyone that he fancied, until laying eyes on you. It felt like love at first sight, and Austin was smart enough to realize that this was a feeling he didn’t want to let escape him just because he was a little scared.

The class started as it always did, with you welcoming the new students and saying hello to the returning ones. Today they were making vases, straying from the usual path of simple things like bowls or cups. The style that you wanted the class to try was a bit more advanced, with a slight curve and a weird shape to it. Austin was excited to try out his newfound skill, but the more he thought about it, he realized he would probably do anything you asked, realistically. It was humorous to him, how quickly he’d fallen for you when he didn’t know a single thing about you. Aside from your love for pottery, of course. That was something he found himself pondering a lot of the time when he dreamt of you — you were artistic, which was a trait that Austin loved. That meant you appreciated the beauty in things, you were creative and were such a kind, warm-hearted person. And this was just from what he gathered from the way you taught the class. There was so much more he was dying to know about you. 

About halfway through the class, you asked, “Okay, and how’s everyone doing?” You were walking the length of the room, peering in on certain people’s creations. Austin was working absentmindedly, his focus being more on you standing only a few feet away, admiring one of the older lady’s work. “Margaret, this is beautiful. I love the way you put your own spin on this.” And I love the way every single word sounds falling from your lips, he thought.

It was only a few minutes later before you came behind Austin, and he was momentarily embarrassed by the way his heart picked up so quickly at your presence. “This looks good,” you said, moving to stand beside him with your arms crossed. Austin watched as you chewed on your lower lip, eyes clouding over with thought before you bent down. “I feel like you might wanna add a bit more of a curve, though.” You placed your hand over his lightly, applying a slight pressure that caused Austin’s stomach to twist. By the speed at which his heart was racing, he was sure it was lethal. “There we go. Good job.”

You were gone as quick as you came and Austin focused the next few minutes on recuperating himself. It was child-like, the way you made him feel, the undeniable crush he had on you. But no matter how on-edge and starstruck he felt when you were around, he begged for the feeling back. 

It wasn’t long until the class was finishing up and they were putting their creations on the back shelf. Austin rinsed his hands off, drying them on his smock while he gave himself what seemed like the most important pep talk in the world. Just talk to her, he told himself, his eyes watching you as you cleaned up your station. She’s just a person. She’s not scary. Nothing can go wrong if you just say hi. 

Taking a deep breath, Austin made his way over. He owed this to himself. 

Nervously, Austin lifted the smock up and over his head, folding it once over before hanging it up. Then he turned on his heel, looking directly at you. “Hi,” he said. What the fuck was that?

“Hi! Austin, right?” 

God, you were so kind. The smile on your lips, forming perfectly on your face. It was as if the act of smiling was meant solely for you; you had perfected the art. Your eyes stared up at him like he was the only person in the world you cared to talk to. Austin’s heart thudded in his chest. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right. I’m Austin.” Shut up, shut up— but say something! “I just, uh, figured it’d be nice to talk to you when you’re not teaching me how to make clay into a bowl.” What the fuck was that?— for a second time!

“You know, that is my speciality,” you said with a laugh, and Austin found himself smiling way too much for the simple small talk the two of you exchanged. 

“Well you’re really good at it.”

“Thank you, Austin.” He loved the way his name sounded when you said it. Thankfully, you continued talking, saving him momentarily from having to come up with something. “You’re getting pretty good, too! I noticed you’re coming every week. Usually your girlfriend is with you— where is she tonight?”

Girlfriend? “Girlfriend?”

“The woman you always come with.”

Oh! Ashley. “Oh! Ashley. She’s—she’s not my girlfriend.” His cheeks were heating up and Austin prayed that the nervousness he felt wasn’t transferring onto his expression. “Just a close friend. She got me out of the house for the class.”

“Well that’s good,” you smiled, and Austin crossed his arms as he smiled back. “I’m glad you continue to come. So you’re single then?”

What? “What?” That was a quick jump.

“Usually I find that a lot of the people that come to these classes are married couples.” You were speaking while continuing to clean up now, and Austin helped you as best he could. “Pottery can be a very romantic thing, so it’s not unusual to bring your significant other to a class. You should bring them, you know, if you have a partner.”

“I don’t.”

“Oh.” You were speaking almost absentmindedly as you shoved things into drawers, wiping up the counter space. You kneeled down to grab a few paint brushes that had fallen to the ground before pausing, looking up at Austin. “This is gonna sound so weird, but I really feel like I’ve seen you before.”

Austin chuckled small, his hand moving to his jaw, his fingers playing with his lips, “I get that a lot.” You looked on at him, waiting for an answer. “I hate saying this because it makes me feel like just the biggest douchebag.” You laughed, and the sound was so pretty coming from your lips he had to answer. Maybe he could impress you. “I’m an actor.”

You snapped your fingers as soon as he said it, and Austin laughed. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood! Oh my god, I can’t believe I didn’t clue in.” You stood up, and it was then that Austin became aware of the drastic height difference. You were a lot shorter than him, which he adored, and he couldn’t tell if the glimmer in your eyes was from the sudden change in conversation or if it was just a look you always had. “I’ve lived in LA for so long but it’s always surprising to me when I meet famous people.”

“I could say the same about people calling me famous,” he joked, and you smiled at him genuinely. 

“I can’t believe I didn’t know it was you. But then again, you’re almost unrecognizable in that role. I loved that movie — Quentin Tarantino is one of my favourite directors. And for him to dip into the Charles Manson story, I just… that was such a great film. I loved Brad’s character, he was so complex and, like, the whole bit about Charlie’s deciples, I mean…” You rambled on about the film, hardly mentioning anything about Austin’s role, which was definitely something he noticed but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He loved that you didn’t talk about him at all, actually, and instead enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the film itself. “Quentin had such a good take on Once Upon a Time, Leo’s whole bit and how he tied Sharon Tate into it… I can’t imagine anyone else telling the story in a different way than he did. But I mean, he’s always—” You’d been going on for maybe about three minutes before realizing Austin hadn’t even gotten a word out, and your cheeks instantly turned a slight shade of pink. “I’m sorry.”

Austin was smiling, chuckling as he stood with his arms crossed, leaning against the counter behind him. 

“I can’t believe I just went on for, like, ten minutes about a movie you’re literally in. Like you didn’t know anything I just said. Oh my god.” You were rambling again, and Austin found it charming. “This probably happens to you all the time. I’m so sorry. This is embarrassing.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Austin reassured you, and you looked up at him as if to say, you sure? “I love hearing people’s thoughts on the film. It’s one of my favourite movies, too. I’m a huge fan of Quentin’s work, so I understand. I mean, I was completely fangirling the whole time over him.”

Your cheeks were pinkish, and you smiled small. An awkward silence settled over the two of you and it was almost thirty seconds before you spoke up again. “You know, next class I’m thinking of trying mugs.”

“Like coffee mugs?”

“Mhm,” you nodded. “They’re a bit difficult, though.” Austin licked his lips as he listened to you speak, and the way your eyes flickered down to his mouth didn’t go unnoticed. “The, uh, the handles are the tricky part.”

He hummed, meeting your eyes when you looked back up to them. You gulped silently, lips curling into one another as you pressed them into a thin line. He couldn’t be making up the tension between the two of you. 

“Will you be here next week?” you asked, shifting back and forth between the balls of your feet and your heels as you waited for an answer. Austin nodded, and the softest smile grew across your cheeks. “Okay. Then I guess we will be making mugs.”

“I’d say I’d better come prepared, but I don’t really have the facilities to practice at home.” Austin didn’t know what he was hinting at, but it was something. And thankfully, you caught on. 

“I teach other classes so, um, maybe you would wanna drop in at some point this week and use the wheels here?”

“You’d let me?” He was grateful that you had offered, because if he was being honest, Austin had no clue where he was going with the rest of the conversation. It made him feel a lot better knowing that this wasn’t just his idea, but that you wanted to see him, as well. 

“I don’t see why not. If it’s strictly for practice, that is.” You gave him what seemed to mirror a firm look, and Austin smiled at your playful seriousness. 

“Of course.”

“Okay. Then drop by any time,” you said, stepping back slightly as you grabbed your jacket off the back shelf. When you spoke, you glanced back at him over your shoulder, making eye contact the whole time. “I teach classes on Thursday from five until nine pm, if that’s not too late for you.”

“Nine is perfect. Let me walk you out.”

After grabbing his things, the two of you exited the building. Austin held the door open for you like a gentleman, reaching above your head to push it open from behind, and you thanked him once you stepped out. He watched as you took out your keys to lock the door of the shop, Austin stuffing his hands in his pockets while he waited. 

“Where’s your car?” he asked. 

“Just up here on the left,” you answered, and Austin walked you to your vehicle. Once you arrived at the small sedan, which beeped from the unlocking of the doors, you looked up at him with a smile. “Thank you for walking me out.”

“Oh, don’t thank me for that. Common courtesy.” He gave you a smile.

“I’ll see you on Thursday?” you confirmed, and Austin nodded, reaching over to open your door for you. 

“See you on Thursday.”

Smiling, you silently thanked him before ducking into your car, and Austin closed the door for you. He crossed the street to his own vehicle, watching as you drove away in yours, and the warm feeling that enclosed his heart wasn’t something he was afraid of, but something he embraced. 

The past year was harder for Austin than any other time in his life. Depression was something he combated on a daily basis now and it was extremely difficult for him to move past that feeling of being lost within himself. But there was something about taking this class that made it just a little bit easier for Austin to climb out of the hole he’d been stuck in for so long. And now, after speaking to you for maybe ten minutes, he realized it was you. You were the cure that he needed to this awful sickness he’d fallen ill to, and he was finally starting to feel a little bit better. It’d been years since he felt that, better, but finally he did. And it was all thanks to you. 

➳ @satninbeaulieu @suspiciousbutler @sagesolsticewrites @shimmeringlights44 @butlersbitxh @floralcyanide @sassy-ahsoka-tano @austin-butlers-gf @butlersbabe @dontbesussis @x-earthangel @anangelwhodidntfall @she-is-juniper @butler-on-beale-street @iloveaustinbutler @http-sponge @theliterarybeldam @melodydior @dances-and-dolly-dresses @mommy-maia @alligator-person @elvisabutler @scarlet-knight @austiebutbut @80s-outsiders @a-bolanos @sweetheartlizzie07 @ghxst-heart @matchaluvr123 @emilykolchivans

part two is here!

#austin butler #austin butler fic #austin butler imagine #austin butler one shot #austin butler x reader #austin butler smut #austin butler fan fiction #elvis 2022 #elvis movie #austin butler fanfic #elvis presley #mamaspresley #jackie writes

[lambertdiary]

hello 💞 first i wanna say i love your fanfics so much and i'm literally obsessed with Dalton and i wanted to request something

can you write one where reader and Dalton move off campus together and so they finally spend all day together and its like really sweet how they get used to being with each other all the time and build cute habits

idk if it made sense but thank you if you do write it !

A/N: heyy thank you so much for your kind words and for the lovely request!! I’m not sure if this is exactly what you requested but I hope you like it <3 Also I wanna start by saying I’m not entirely sure how off-campus housing actually works in the USA, so i just went from a little bit of my personal experience, sorry if it’s not accurate! Please let me know what you think 🤍

Word Count: 1.5k+

Warnings: mention of showering together (not in a sexual way), pure fluff, extremely cheesy stuff

MASTERLIST     ✩    SEND ME A REQUEST

Domestic Love

Y/N and Dalton were finally able to move off-campus. They started talking about it kind of early in their relationship, craving the privacy that college dorm life lacked, and after discussing it for a while they eventually started looking for a flat. 

Y/N had a part time job and a little help from her parents, and Dalton was managing to sell a few of his art pieces, with the support of professor Armagan who constantly encouraged her students to put themselves out there. It would be way more affordable anyway, and overall the best decision, so after finding a place they both liked they went for it. 

It wasn’t the biggest flat, but they had everything they could possibly need. A bed, a kitchen, a bathroom and most importantly, each other.

“Is that the last box?” Dalton asked her, taking it from her hands and setting it next to the door.

They didn’t have that many things to move with them, just their personal belongings, other essentials they had to buy and a few boxes their parents sent them to help with their new independent lifestyle.

“Yes” She replied, collapsing on the couch “Although we might need to get more pans and stuff if we actually wanna start cooking” 

Dalton collapsed next to her, immediately pulling her in for a hug “We will, but right now let’s just enjoy this”

Adapting was as easy as they expected, the only thing that annoyed them at first was transportation and getting to their classes on time, but once they adjusted to that there wasn’t a single thing they could complain about.

Y/N was especially excited to decorate their own space, weeks in advance before moving into their home she had been collecting pictures of them together to hang around the house, choosing an entire wall in their room to put up their favourites. She made sure to ask Dalton his opinion on any new addition, even if it was just a little plant or a candle, but he said yes to everything she wanted. He was thankful for the effort she was putting in, but what truly warmed his heart was a permanent night light plugged next to his nightstand, although he didn’t need it as much anymore. 

Sleeping in the same bed without having to really squeeze in was a huge upgrade, not that they hated being really close to each other but in order to fit into the tiny dorm beds Y/N practically had to sleep on top of Dalton, so it wasn't always the most comfortable thing or ideal.

They also got to know each other on a whole new level, and he started to notice the tiniest details about her, but the things that stood out for him were the things she does when no one is watching, things he’s sure she doesn’t even notice herself. Like how she sticks her tongue out when she’s pouring something, or how she does a little dance when she’s eating anything she loves, or the way she taps her fingers when the microwave is not fast enough, just everything about her that made him love her even more.

He often caught himself doing things he never did before, like writing down the stuff they needed to get next time they went to the grocery store or carefully folding his dirty clothes instead of just throwing them somewhere on the floor, loving how proud and happy Y/N would get whenever he did it right. Really just taking pleasure in the little details that came with living with her, as simple as saying ‘I love you’ before any of them left the house without the other.

There were a lot of times Y/N found herself stuck when she couldn’t reach high in the cupboards. Dalton enjoyed that more than he should, so he started to put some of their groceries there, just so that he could see her struggle in her tiptoes and ultimately have her ask for his help.

“Why do you keep purposefully putting my snacks so high?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you” She replied, pointing a finger at him “You think I can store things all the way up there?” She made her best attempt to grab something as she stood in her tiptoes, demonstrating she couldn’t reach there.

Dalton shrugged his shoulders and smiled as he helped her, denying any accusation Y/N threw at him.

Oh, but cooking together was something he didn’t think he would love as much. Putting on their favourite songs as they moved along the kitchen, picking up every ingredient they needed for their meal. Y/N was much more talented when it came to that, but he wanted to be just as involved, so that the in-betweens steps felt like a reward when he pulled her in for a little dance break and as they shared cheesy kisses.

They had been living there for almost two months, and slowly but surely the flat was coming together very nicely, definitely feeling like a home already. It was Sunday and they didn’t have any plans for the day, wanting to just stay in and relax. Dalton got out of the shower with a sleepy gaze still on his face, the wet strands of his hair were left to drip water on the floor leading to the small mirror in the bathroom. He stared at himself for a moment, contemplating if he had the energy to shave. He didn’t, so he just went for a fluffy towel to shake his soaked hair with it.

He then made his way to their shared bedroom, the bed was made and he noticed a brand new book on Y/N’s nightstand. He quickly changed into something comfortable as he wondered where Y/N was, but as soon as he opened the bedroom door a delicious smell invaded his nostrils.

Dalton walked slowly towards the kitchen, where he spotted Y/N quietly humming to herself as she decorated the plates in front of her with french toasts and strawberries. The blinking of the coffee machine indicated that it was ready to be served, so he decided to grab their designated cups and do it, but not before greeting his lover.

“Good morning” He whispered as wrapped his arms around her from behind and kissed her temple, resting his head on her shoulder.

“Good morning” She tried hard to hide her smile but failed when his eyes finally met hers “How did you sleep last night?” Y/N asked, now facing him.

“I haven’t slept that good in a while. You?”

“Me too. Fells nice to sleep in for once” “Yeah, we should do that more” He replied, now directing his attention to the coffee cups.

He helped her bring everything to the small table and Dalton smiled softly at the new set of flowers that were decorating it. 

“So when are you gonna paint something for our home?” She asked once they started eating their breakfast.

“You would like that?” “Obviously” She replied “I didn’t think I was gonna have to ask you”

He giggled and looked down at his plate shyly “Okay. I guess I can give it to you for very cheap, family discount”

Y/N rolled her eyes playfully at him, but her heart definitely skipped a beat when she heard the word family “Come on. I think some of your art would definitely tie everything together. Maybe in the living room… or our bedroom”

“Not that I'm trying to boost my own ego…”

“Here we go” She said under her breath.

“But yeah, a portrait of us over there would be the perfect touch” He said, pointing at an empty spot on the wall.

“That’s what I’m saying!”

Getting ready for bed with her was one of his favourite activities. Dalton adapted most of her bedtime routine, sometimes taking a warm shower together and then standing by the sink to proceed with skin care next to each other as they talked about their day, he just loved the intimacy of it.

He also looked forward to the late night conversations as she tried to keep her eyes open just to have a little more time with him before completely dozing off, although it wasn’t always easy after a long day.

“Are you sleepy?" Y/N just hummed in response “You don’t wanna talk?”

Y/N opened her eyes again, looking up at him and meeting with his soft blue eyes “What do you wanna talk about?” She asked, a sweet smile appearing on her face.

“Well, we’ve been living here for almost two months and I don’t think we’ve had a proper housewarming party”

“We’re not throwing a party”

“I didn’t mean like a crazy big party, just a little gathering with our friends” He clarified.

“They have been here”

“Yes but not all of them at the same time. I was thinking we can invite them over, cook something and just have a chat or movie night, just like we used to”

She reached for his soft hair and slowly brushed it out of his face “We can do that”

“Ok, you can go to sleep now” He whispered, kissing her forehead softly as her head laid on his chest and her heavy eyes finally got to rest.

He went to sleep every night with a smile on his face, and he was always excited to wake up next to her.

#sorry if it's a little short #dalton lambert #dalton lambert x reader #dalton lambert fluff #dalton lambert fanfic #dalton lambert fic #dalton lambert imagine #dalton lambert imagines #insidious #insidious the red door #insidious 5 #ty simpkins

[princelylove]

My Prince,

If it would be to your liking, would you share your personal intelligence rankings, which you spoke of in the tags of a previous request, to the court?

Thank you, Your Highness.

Intelligence is classified by your ability to apply things you already know and the skills you already have. You can be bright but slow, or a quick thinker but lack experience. There's many things to take into account when talking about intelligence. This may not make sense, as I am a bit loopy from switching meds recently.

Loosely:

Giorno is obviously at the top. I think it's criminal that his intelligence is listed as a B on his stats. Giorno doesn't slack in any of the things I understand intelligence to be, he applies absolutely everything he has and somehow never misses. Giorno spent his entire childhood figuring social etiquette out the hard way, he's hard wired to figure out what to do and not to do as quickly as possible. To Giorno, survival means being the best of the best. Has he always been absolutely perfect? No. Has he always bounced back? Yes.

Trish is fairly young, it's a bit unfair to put her up against grown men. She takes after her father in many ways- one being how clever she is. She may not understand stands yet, or why she couldn't just stay home and never go out again, but she's very quick to adapt. Trish did well in high school, she had a high gpa and did lots of extracurricular activities, which just means that she's a hard worker. Her ability to adapt and her natural curiosity is what leads me to believe that she's on the higher end, it's just that she lacks experience pre canon. Post canon, she's a force to be reckoned with. A Trish that understands how to fully use her stand, how to do what her father did and make someone disappear entirely, and how to manipulate the public so they think her kidnapping victim lovely darling is on tour with her is a very dangerous Trish indeed. If this is strictly pre-canon, bump her down to the middle-lower end.

Some people may not like Guido being in the top three, but I'm fairly firm on it. Guido's a quick thinker and has managed to stay alive for this long. Does he understand things like infections and germs? Not really. Could he, if you explained it to him? Sure. Guido's street smart- he never went to college, but he reads a lot. He's a curious guy! If something interests him, he'll look into it. He's got great instincts and a ridiculous amount of luck, which isn't intelligence, but often will help him figure out what's going on. He checks for Sale's shadow under a truck, he yells at Narancia for not telling him the stove was on and it wasn't safe to fire his revolver. He knows what he's doing, even if it seems like he's just fucking around until something clicks. That's kinda scientific theory, isn't it? Fuck around and find out? Yeah, he gets it.

Pannacotta... the author Her Highness does not believe in IQ tests, as most people who claim to have a high IQ got it off of some online test made to stroke the quiz taker, but I believe Pannacotta is very intelligent. He's just not socially intelligent, which bumps Trish and Guido above him. He left behind his prissy, rich lifestyle in favor of being homeless for a little while before Bruno found him- he's left behind most manners and forgotten most unspoken rules. In this case, Trish and Guido outdo him. What worth does purely academic intelligence have if you cannot apply it, and it has nothing to do with the situation? Pannacotta is intelligent, but he isn't creative enough to apply what he has. Who makes a vaccine on the spot like that?????? If he wasn't so in his head all the time, he'd probably be a lot scarier. I mean, who thinks to put capsules in things you're not supposed to be touching anyway?

I think it's a bit silly to put Bruno so low when he is, in fact, an adult with a fully developed prefrontal cortex. I don't think Bruno is unintelligent at all, he's a man of average intelligence for his age. He's only so low because everyone above him is not average, even if they pretend to be. An older, more mature Pannacotta would have him in too many categories for comfort. Guido has him in reaction time and blind instinct, and while some may argue that isn't intelligence, it's applying what you've got. Bruno can be a little slow at times mentally, but never in combat. He pauses to make decisions that would take Giorno a split second. He makes mistakes that, although he makes up for later on, he still makes in the first place. He's formidable- he has experience and knows how to use it, but he's not very creative.

Narancia's not all there all of the time. It's not fair to say Narancia's stupid because he isn't good at math or academics in general, you can be smart and have weaknesses. But not Narancia. He's a little lacking. He doesn't try to make up for it at all, but he's figured some things out that he definitely shouldn't have before, saving him from dead last. Narancia has some crazy instincts, but he doesn't really know what to do with them. Instincts don't equal intelligence, but it helps. He'll take credit for anything you're willing to blame on him- FUCK yeah he figured out you're trying to escape 'cause you left some shit on the table. (He felt it in his tummy and got anxious that you're leaving him.)

Leone went through some schooling, but he barely passed. You could always argue that he was too depressed to do his work, but I personally don't believe so. Leone's slow and prone to picking the hard way- not because he's a masochist, but because he's been living off of going "Well, one of these is right." for the past three years. He's just happy he finally got a stable job. His instincts are terrible, his reaction time is shit, he has very slow realization in general- the list goes on. Does that mean you're getting off easy? Nope. He's still taller, and stronger. Doesn't take a lot of brains to pin someone, especially when it's muscle memory. Leone can bump himself up over Narancia eventually, but only because Narancia is emotionally stunted. You have him in the emotional maturity (aha. Leone and emotional maturity?) category, and what else? Get a grip. Leone knows how to do more- makeup and cosmetics is a skill, so is media literacy- but Nara's got him in reaction time, realizing that dots do in fact connect, and learning how to put you in your place at a faster rate.

#request granted #poor leone #a pass is a pass I respect it #yandere vento aureo #yandere leone abbacchio #yandere bruno bucciarati #yandere narancia ghirga #yandere guido mista #yandere giorno giovanna #yandere trish una

[number5theboy]

Something I find fascinating is that the show implies that Five was the odd one out among the children who Reginald did train, that he was one whose potential Reginald actually fostered but who he couldn't keep under control the way he did the other six.

Three seasons in, we have a pretty reasonable idea of what Reginald did to each of the children. Klaus and Ben were terrified of their powers and hated using them. Viktor was unaware of his, because Reginald kept him medicated and subdued. Diego was constantly being undermined and made to feel inferior to Luther, while Luther was both bolstered as a leader but also kept small and docile by Reginald through constant criticism. Allison used her powers to get away with things, using them indiscriminately to get what she wanted, and she remained content with that for a pretty long time, being the last one to leave the Academy, save for Luther. And Five was an arrogant child striving to push his power to new heights - he was not afraid of it, he relished what he could do and wanted to do more.

It seems like Five, different from the other children apart maybe from Allison, was not stifled in developing his powers, but instead was pushed by Reginald to develop both his powers and his mind, as he did need a substantial understanding of maths and physics to be able to apply them. Indications for this are littered throughout the seasons. Luther saying Five always thought himself better than them. The implication that Five would use his teleportation powers as much as possible as a kid. Reginald giving him five stars on his performance report. "Five cheated!" "He adapted." Reginald being fascinated first and foremost by Five's powers at the tiki bar. The implication that things got even worse in the household once Five had gotten lost.

The implication is very much there that Reginald treated Five differently, did not quite nip him in the bud like he did with most of his siblings, and once that had backfired spectacularly on him, he tightened the grip on the siblings that were left, making them even more miserable than they already were, a situation that spiraled further with Ben's death.

Reginald not keeping quite as tight a lid on Five led to Five being less afraid of him, more willing to openly rebel and defy him, a trait that keeps up all the way through the show. Letting Five's natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge develop what I assume to be reasonably uninhibited also meant that Five did not adhere to Reginald's authority as strongly, because he had an inherent trust in his own abilities that the other children did not have. And it went wrong for both Five and Reginald, with Five overestimating his own abilities and their long-term consequences and Reginald overestimating how obedient Five would be to him, and so Five got lost, never to come back in Reginald's lifetime.

For all intents and purposes, Five should have been Reginald's golden child. He is very powerful - which I think is the key reason of why Reginald treated him the way he did, someone who can control time and space can be useful in many different ways - and he had an inherent drive to explore and better his powers. But he never was, because Reginald could never really figure out how to fully control him. His influence is still stark, but Five is inherently unpredictable and adverse to authority. He genuinely rattles Reginald in every season at least once, and it's all because Reginald raised, as he so nicely put it, "an arrogant son of a bitch".

Just a small addendum about the comics, but this characterisation in the show is interesting to me especially because it is also in the comics, albeit in a much sharper way, like most things taken from the comics. There's the three attached pages from Dallas here below, which is genuinely one of my top three favourite scenes from the comics, it's so good and such clever foreshadowing while also nailing down the dynamic between Five and Reginald within just a few pages. In this passage from the final installment of Dallas, Reginald wants to present Five to brag to some fellow-minded rich dickheads, and Five sabotages it on purpose to embarrass him, and Reginald knows it. And it goes even further, with Gerard Way saying in an interview that Five is called Five because he called his father's bluff about the numbers, that he understood that they are meaningless and chose to adopt his number as a name rather than a rank. In the comics, there was a genuine power play between these two, and it'd be really fun if the show headed in that direction as well, I think it would be incredibly interesting to explore.

#tua s3 spoilers #my meta

[princesssmars]

in love with the parrs

being the additional parent to the incredibles family.

wc : 2.452

contains : fluff, poly relationship, mentions of violence and fighting bc superhero business, and angst. reader kinda has the powers of starfire bc it was hard to leave them blank for the reader to pick i'm sorry :')

*helen's dialogue is italicized and bobs is emboldened bc tumblr wont let me use the colored words without some dumb 4096 character limit warning.

a/n: i mostly just need helen bad but ill take the big guy 2 for 1 special. this has been in my drafts since late 2021 i suck at this writing shit.

you met helen and bob on a mission a little after the start of your hero career; your manager thought your abilities matched well with theirs, and it'd be great way to boost your popularity. so, wanting to make more connections and break out onto the hero scene, you agreed.

before meeting them your nerves were a bit on edge, their reputations definitely having proceeded them. but when you were first introduced it went great, helen being sweet and affirming to you while bob was telling you how he had seen and admired your work.

the mission went great, your powers a good mix to complement theirs. between ranged blasts to help helen from afar, using your energy to fly in and rescue any injured civilians, to using your powers in close combat along with bob when the villain showed up and decided to get bold and take you both on. after dealing with the villain, more hurt and thankful civilians and the brief press interview for the live news crew, helen pulled you both off to the side.

she remarked how that went way better than she expected, complimenting your powers and ability to adapt with hers and bobs. the hulking hero agrees, saying he wouldn't mind working with you again.

after that it was history. after various stealth missions with elastigirls and training with bob, you found yourself catching feelings for both of the renowned heroes. given that this was the 40s, poly relationships weren't exactly the norm so you decided to keep your feelings to yourself.

but one day, after catching up with the two of them on a rooftop, joking about bomb voyage's recent capture and the recent protest with gazerbeam at the forefront, the topic of relationships came up when bob asked you why you "still hadn't found a guy who could handle you yet."

your sudden silence speaks volumes, the look on your face clearly telling them something was wrong. it only takes a soft hand on your shoulder from helen and a "tell us what's wrong, y/n," from bob before your burst into tears, leaning into helen's welcoming embrace. its through tears and hiccups that you confess how you feel to them both, telling them how you've been trying to hide how you feel but its getting harder and harder with time and seeing that they clearly have feelings for each other.

none of you speak for a while, the hustle and bustle of the city below you filling the silence. most of you wants to disappear, to bolt and never face them again if it means you wont feel as embarrassed as you do now.

but the embarrassment goes away when bobs large hands wrap around the both of, speaking lowly into your hair and reassuring you to help calm you down. after your breathing slows and they're sure you wont bust out into tears, they tell you that they are so sorry you've been dealing with all of this alone, that its true that they've been together a while. but what really makes you raise your head is when they tell you that they have feelings for you as well.

itd be nice to say things get easier after this but its the opposite. its made better by the support of your friends, family and partners, but balancing the stress of a relationship with your job brings on so many problems that at night you find yourself thinking if its even possible to have both. but whenever you have doubts, helen is there to talk about it while you both make some new recipe you heard about and bob is there to make dumb jokes to cheer you up while you both go to the new movie at the theater.

everything is made better but confusing with the engagement. bob proposes to both of you and you all say yes to each other, both of them telling you their plan of them getting married 'publicly' and having an even more private ceremony for all three of you. after the wedding, you're even going to all move in together.

the day of the wedding you decide not to go on call, focusing on the wedding since you know the bride and groom will be busy most of the day. its a good (and sweet) thing hel made you the maid of honor so you could help her take care of everything. its slightly irritating but expected when bob shows up late, the ceremony short but sweet.

the married bliss doesn't last long with the incoming lawsuits against bobs and supes in general, and just like that your world is turned upside down.

fifteen years, three kids and countless moves later, you've settled in the suburbs of metroville. its simple and completely different than your superhero days, except for the few times you might have snuck out with bob to stop a robbery but hey, you can take the super out of the hero but not the hero out of the super. or whatever dumb thing he told you. when you weren't sneaking out and technically breaking the law you'd be at home with helen, taking care of the kids and the house. you're lucky your kids were as interesting as they are; dash is energetic, violet snarky, and jack jack is the giggliest baby and always laughing at something.

while life wasn't perfect, it was alright.

things started changing with bobs promotion, the whole family benefitting from the increase in money, with just you and your loves benefitting in the bedroom...you were a bit suspicious, asking bob if this had anything to do with his desire to rekindle his heroism, but he just denies it and tells you that "lucks finally on our side."

but helen has always been very keen, and she brings you along with her to a trip up to ednas in denial about bobs whereabouts. you sadly find out that she was right about her suspicions, and in your guilt you admit you knew about bob listening to the police scanners and fighting crime, even joining in yourself. you can tell shes disappointed but decides to focus her energy on finding your husband after you reaffirm (and edna literally smacks) her that she is elastigirl and she can do this.

its after the revelation and edna sending you both home with a tracker and new supersuits for the whole family that you both start to pack, but not before being interrupted by your ever curious kids. a favor from an old friend later and you two are on a jet to the island that bobs been tracked to. aside from helen doing the standard pilot call ins its silence, your revelation from earlier still causing tension until she finally breaks the silence,"i just wish you would've told me. yes, i would've gotten mad but for good reason. with bob always at work its just you and me at home and we're our own little team, y'know? i just..im just scared-" she interrupts herself with a sigh, passing glances to you and her carryon containing her suits.

"they haven't responded in a while. ill put this baby on autopilot and we can head to the bathroom and put our suits on." you give a small smile at her request, taking the bad and getting up after her to follow her inside. "im sorry. i should have told you." comes from your mouth in a soft whisper from behind her, looking into the mirror so her tired eyes look into yours. you raise a hand to lay on her shoulder, waiting for her gentle nod before you place it there. she rubs it with hers and just nods at you from the mirror.

"you and me against the world, right el?" "heh, more like me and you against our husband."

after you both finish putting on your suits, helen moves to toss the empty canvas bag onto one of the empty passenger seats when the air above the seat lets out a "ow!"

"violet!" helen exclaims before violet breaks into a rushed excuse of how dash had stowed away first before she followed after him knowing she would get blamed for it. her words cant be told after that since dash comes up from a seat farther down the aisle and starts yelling how shes lying. your heart stops and you question them if they left jack jack alone, and then both of them are complaining to you that "of course we got a sitter, ma."

you try not to giggle at helen on the phone with kari, the girl who sometimes comes over to study with violet and can talk for hours straight if you gave her the chance. but shes harmless, so youre put a bit at ease that your baby is with the girl. even if he could potentially be a ticking time bomb.

the rest doesn't last long with the incoming missiles heading right toward you, helen frantically trying to alert whoever is behind them that you aren't a threat while you hug the kids close to you as the plane dips and spins. but she's unsuccessful in convincing and your daughter cant manage to make a force field, helen rushing to warp her body around you before the plane is struck.

the next thing you see is violets face is over yours and the clouds are passing by, raising your head to see dash running on water. you let your head relax with a long drawn out sigh. "your dad better have a damn good explanation for this."

its hours later when you all reach land, helen spent after staying in one form for so long and dash after running non stop. once you all collect your bearings and start a small fire in a cave, helen decides to go look for bob and asks you to stay with the kids.

its a quiet hour of dash staring at the fire while vi practices her force fields before your son grabs a torch and asks you to go with him while he looks around, reluctantly agreeing he can go explore the cave a bit.

turning back to vi, you see her gazing into the flames with a scrunched brow before you scoot closer to her, making sure to keep a few inches of space knowing she prefers it.

"when i was younger, i barely used my powers." you see her head tilt towards you at your voice; loud in the near empty cave. "hell, i didn't even want to use them much before i first started. they're powerful but dangerous, and if i didn't train them i would've gotten a lot of people hurt."

"is there a point to this because sorry ma but its not really making me feel better," violet speaks up, mumbling out a "sorry." when she sees you staring at her.

"it wasn't just physical training i needed. i mean yes, it helped a lot, but i needed to prepare myself mentally as well. superpowers can be a gift and also a curse, and its up to you which one you want yours to be more."

she's silent for a few minutes, but you can tell she's mulling over your words in her mind. in the distance you hear an echo of "cool!" before the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps and the light of something big and bright comes to you, dash dragging you and violet by the hands out of the cave as a blast of fire leaves the cave, and what looks like a rocket leaves the island.

you decide to find somewhere to rest after this, laying on the canopy floor with dash and vi on either side. eventually sunlight peaks through the forest canopy and awakes you, turning to see the adorable sight of dash cuddling to his big sister. a few seconds later dash wakes up and leaps off of her in disgust, causing you to giggle at his reaction.

"you didn't see anything, ok ma?"

"whatever you say, champ."

"identification, please." a bird...speaks? from behind you, dash looking at it in amazement while you look on in confusion. he wakes up his sister before you can stop him, and the sound of an alarm causes you to hurry and rush the kids to run in the opposite direction.

armed men with guns corner you, encouraging dash to run away while you strike down some of the flying saucers. while fighting you lose track of violet, running in the direction you think she went when you run into bob and helen. they look like they were just in the middle of a fight (well helen does, bob looks overjoyed), and when bob tries to move in for a hug you punch him in the shoulder. "if this was your idea of a family vacation its a really shitty one, honey."

heading together deeper into the forest, you're run over by a big purple mass and rolled over and under it, eventually coming to a stop in one big mass with you're family.

the bliss doesn't last long when more saucers appear and the whole family fights together, then being stopped by the gauntlets of some crazed looking redhead.

he imprisons all of you, doing the whole villain explains his whole plan shtick. lets just say he didn't appreciate it when you pretended to snore.

but violets powers manage to let her escape and free all of you, her appreciating your proud smile.

you all take a rocket and a van back to metroville, planning to stop syndrome and his big dumb robots for good.

the fight is long and hard, but with the help of the whole family and frozone the robot is finally stopped.

but the recurring theme of the week being nothing staying normal for long, you listening in with helen to karis voicemails of her worries about jack jack's behavior. you get bob to listen in when she calmly tells you she's thankful for the replacement babysitter. rushing into the house you see the red haired devil of syndrome holding your sleeping infant in his arms, bolting into the air.

but jack jack manages to stall syndrome long enough for helen to be thrown to him and the villain is sucked into the jet of his rocket.

three months later you're all in the stands of dash's first real track meet, and you couldn't be prouder at second place.

youre peace is broken by the underminer declaring war on peace and happiness and blah blah blah, but looking to your family gearing up for another fight, you're pretty sure you've got it handled.

.

.

.

ok so yeah this took. quite a while. i was going to do both movies in one but i just want to get this out now so its only the first one. its pretty clear when i started watching the movie alongside it but i hope its not too werid. idk i love self insert rewrites. thanks for reading <333

#the incredibles #the incredibles movie #the incredibles 2004 #the incredibles x reader #mr incredible x reader #mrs incredible x reader #bob parr #helen parr #bob parr x reader #helen parr x reader #violet parr #dash parr #jack jack parr #poly reader #pixar the incredibles #pixar x reader

[thesamoanqueen]

Blackwater

Raiting: 18+

Warnings: Omegaverse (AlphaRoman/ Y-NOmega); Werewolf AU; errors after errors after errors after errors after errors...

A/N: Its the first chap of this fic, im trying something new. For those who don’t know what The Omegaverse is, its a scenario where people are divided into Alpha, Beta and Omega. I won't go into detail and I will try to explain it inside the story, but know that usually Alphas are the dominant elements, they have power over others, especially their designated mates. Omegas are not always seen good elements for society cause they are unstable, especially during the time they have heat. The story was requested me by @ichdrachenfrau and when I imagine Roman as a werewolf, this scenario doesnt come out of my head, so I hope you will like it too.

Buses were never a good idea, too tight spaces, too many people around to poke their noses where they shouldn't. But she didn't have many other choices left to take without documents and after all, trips like that also had their positive sides. The windows in the buses were huge and allowed her to always monitor where she was or in which direction she was going, giving her time to react and get a precise idea. Nobody hunted her there, it was a new area, but she had learned to be cautious, watch her back and precautions were never enough when you crossed the territory of a pack and there was a big one there from what she had heard. But it didn’t mattered anyway, she wouldn't cause any problems and she would board the first ship leaving for the south as soon as possible, hoping to cross some border maybe where the lack of her documents wouldn't be an insurmountable problem as there.

She rested her chin on her hand, the road rushing past the glass and endless rows of trees everywhere.

They were skirting the Blackwater Reserve, in direction of the city where the bus would have its terminus. From there other vehicles, other drivers, other roads departed. A form of smart precaution not to give too much freedom to those who came from outside, while keeping the borders under control and open. She liked that place, there were Atlantic white cedars everywhere, magnolias and azaleas, the sound of the river reached her ears despite the bus engine and for some strange reason, it seemed to almost comfort her mind in turmoil. It was a beautiful place and somehow reminded her of home or the faded memory she had, Y/N smiled, she would see home again soon and then those forests would fade.

***

Standing on the edge of the bridge, he watched the river flow unchecked beneath them, his hands tucked into the pockets and the dark waters watching him. Somewhere in the middle of the forest, there must be the old collapsed bridge from which as a kid he dived with his cousins or maybe it was no longer there, it seemed a life ago. In those days Roman had no other thoughts, spent day and night outside the house, running among the trees, bathing in the river, eating wherever he could thanks to his father role. Now he was the one to provide for everyone, to ensure that other kids went around ignoring what was beyond their borders, the very thought of it led him to run a hand on his temple, where the wound was still throbbing.

It had been a bad deal, lasted even longer than he would have liked, but it had to be done and it was over now. The world had moved on, it was no longer that of his father or of those who had come before him, the economy was spinning, you could not isolate yourself. Their blood was watered down, it was full of betas out there that had been given fillers they shouldn't have, pumped alphas that made big voice without really knowing how to stand up to it, identical omegas that weren't right even to relieve a little bit of tension, most people had even forgotten how to shift. The packs that remained faithful to the past had had to adapt, compromise, be smart and find other ways to maintain control, but it still happened that some beast jumped out of nowhere claiming what did not belong to them and then you had to be ready to pour some blood.

- We could expand the refreshment areas by reopening the stretch over the bridge, some camping areas, a couple of rowing facilities - he heard the men chattering behind him, a group of betas and two alphas in suits and ties arrived there from the city.

They even put on helmets. Helmets… as if they were going to climb or extract stones from a mine, weak. He pursed his lip and a shiver of nervousness moved his body, his aura suddenly widening, chilling them all without exception. They made proposals, them. To him.

- No.

- My Tribal Chief? - Paul mumbled submissively next to them, a folder in his hands and his gaze wandering worriedly over him.

Roman remained with his eyes fixed on the river, the black water flowing silently ignoring each of them and returned his hand to his pocket, reaching the car in a few steps without waiting for anyone else.

He had to compromise, do business and feed each of his people, but he dictated his rules in his land and the deals were deals. His family came before everyone, no matter how much money they had to make, he wasn't going to sell his home to groups for trips, picnics or churning out bastard puppies in camping tents. He had consented to those things on specific plots, along the borders, not on what his blood considered sacred.

- From the bridge up it's for us. - he reminded everyone.

- As you like my Tribal Chief - Heyman indulged him with a little curtsy, exchanging the last goodbye chatter with the businessmen.

Roman didn't deign to greet them, didn't even look at them, didn't care. His phone vibrated in his pocket, as it had been doing continuously for years now, a flood of news and monitoring that came from the most distant places, from everyone, even those who did not have a mental connection with him. A few minutes passed and the wiseman sat down next to him, talking about details, future meetings, trips to be made in the city to meet face to face who knows who. Those matters bored him, but usually he was able to pay enough attention to know the bare essentials about the money they were going to make, the benefits they were going to get, but today he was less interested than the previous ones. The wound throbbed, yet that wasn't what made him uncomfortable, he had a strange feeling on him, something he had never felt and could not explain and all he wanted was to go home after two weeks of traveling, rest and run. With his back relaxed against the suv seat, he closed his eyes and listened: the engine of the car, the trees that followed one after the other between the curves of road, the gravel under the tires, too many voices crammed together, maybe a bus... the river.

***

She put the bag on the floor, looking at the entire house from the kitchen, living room, recreational area. Two windows on one side, one on the other and two skylights on the mezzanine where they had placed the bed.

- There is a motel in town and they have a real hotel on the military base. They also have a restaurant with a chef. - the woman who had welcomed her repeated for the umpteenth time, a condescending smile that served as a certificate of presentation and her eyes trying not to look at Y/N again.

She and her husband, a big man from the islands that Y/N had been waiting for disappeared around the estate before crossing the door - just to avoid any further risks - managed that small group of rooms for campers who could not find a place in the areas dedicated. It was more a house where you could pitch your tent without permission than a hospitality business, but at that moment for Y/N a car seat would have been fine too, a fact that the woman evidently found it hard to believe judging by her behavior. Y/N had seen her arrange the cushions on the armchair and the vase at the entrance at least a dozen times, even she was not in front of a judge or her mother-in-law. She was anxious, her body began to emit an unmistakable smell and Y/N took off her shoes and distractedly tied her hair, to give her an impression of normality.

- The room is perfect, I just need to rest maybe a day or two and then I will go. - she explained casually, giving that information to reassure her.

She had already had enough meetings that day, she didnt need a worried omega ready to go crazy for her high heels. She really just wanted a place to recover some energy before leaving and there was no reason to create unnecessary problems or attract more attention.

- I can prepare you something... if you are hungry - she proposed a little quieter, while Y/N looked around more carefully, reaching the top of the stairs that led to the mezzanine.

- Maybe later.

- Sure, I'll let you rest, sure... I'll go then. - she finally greeted her, closing the door after a last moment of hesitation and Y/N waited to see her walk away from the window before moving.

She closed the lock more out of habit than out of necessity and headed for the bathroom, taking a shower before putting on something more comfortable, that didn't smell like buses and waffles. After half an hour spent taking care of her body, she finally let herself sink into the armchair next to the window, her legs between the soft pillows and a cup in her hands. Her muscles had relaxed, her back no longer bothered her from the hours of travel and all the exchanges she had made, there was a pleasant silence in that place and although the decor was not at all to her liking with all those lace and wooden wall units everywhere, even that little cottage she didn't mind.

Yet Y/N just couldn't understand what seemed out of place... she had a strange feeling, a tingle under her skin that had bothered her since she had crossed that state line and that had grown stronger inside the Blackwater reserve. She liked that place, there was a peaceful, green atmosphere everywhere, nothing to motivate that annoyance. Maybe it was the pack presence, those two in the city had not been very friendly... that guy in a tank top had smelled her across the street.

She checked her phone carefully, there was no warnings and her calendar had no notes. She was still very much away from her next heat, she had planned the trip at that time on purpose and she hadn't experienced any signs of failure in the previous weeks. In her bag she had a whole box of suppressants. It couldn't have been her smell that called him, maybe he just recognized something different and snapped, it was a thing that often happened to the alphas, they were territorial, competitive and if they knew how to shift – as Y/N suspected for those two - it got worse.

She dropped the phone on the windowsill, resting her head on the back with a sigh, and surveyed the portion of the property that could be seen from there. The well-kept garden, the fence, the road that went up towards the refreshment areas and the row of trees that bordered the wood. She was thinking too much and worried about the rest of the trip, it had nothing to do with that place. She just wanted to go home.

***

He'd found them waiting for him on the back porch messing around as usual, yelling at each other under Solo's bored gaze. Where they found all that puppy energy when they were grown up, Roman could not explain, but his cousins had always been like this for as long as he could remember and the same was true for Naomi, so everything was normal. More or less.

- Hey Big Uce - she greeted him, without removing the arms from her chest and Jimmy quickly echoed her with one of his smiles, but Roman hardly paid any attention.

- What happen to your face? - he asked, studying Jey who was sitting on the steps.

His cheekbone was swollen, skin tight as if it had been about to open. It was not a fall, that was a blow and also given well. Had he been missing for two weeks, had he entrusted everything to them while he was away and now he found him like this?

- Guess what? He deserved it. - Naomi clarified, swinging her head as offended, Jey widened his chest.

- You two should have lemme do it! They held me back! - he barked, jumping to his feet.

- Sure we held you back, you can't go around sniffing who's passing by Uce! - Jimmy tried to make him think about it, a feat that he had been trying from birth and without results.

- Hey hey! I had a reason, that one smelled strange! And she kicked me, its normal? Hm, its normal?!

- You scared everyone on da bus! Y’were yelling in middle of the street!

With his ears already hurting, Roman raised a hand, silencing them all to take stock, while the car that would take them to the city turned around the perimeter of the avenue to reach them.

- ... lemme understand. A woman kicked you after you smelled her? - he repeated, struggling to keep from laughing in his face.

It was damn ridiculous. Those things happened when you were a puppy, when you didn't know how to behave and took the step longer than necessary, certainly not when you were a grown ass alpha.

- Almost sniffed, she didn't give him time.

Roman turned to look at him again, this time laughing seriously. Wasn't he even able to do it?!

- I felt somethin! The smell of her was... wasn't the smell of a normal omega. Was different, she… she had something known, something I had already scented! - he raved angrily, seeing him laugh, but the more he went on the more ridiculous that story became.

- Y’know Takecia is inside, right?

- Yo man! I didn't smell her for that!

Roman ran a hand over his face, reaching the Wiseman who was waiting for him with the car door open and an enthusiastic smile for the evening that awaited them, while those three still insisted on messing up and inspired a deep breath of air, enjoying the peace - or whatever it was - of his family. They spent the rest of the time in town, in one of those restaurants that Heyman had reserved especially for them, eating steaks and drinking heartily, between the jokes of Jimmy trying in vain to get Solo in trouble and the wiseman ranting with all the female waiters for the glances they cast at their table. They stayed longer than expected, enjoying that well-deserved, thoughtless break as the city emptied and people returned to their homes. When they finally decided to leave, a cold breeze blew from the forest more than welcome on that month of the year. It was the perfect time for a run and his cousins didnt have him repeated twice, agreeing to go once they arrived at the reserve, taking opportunity to check the north borders.

He needed to stretch his paws, feel the earth beneath him, the scent of fallen leaves and the wind whispering in his ears. He wanted to exhaust himself and release his energy, tension accumulated in the previous weeks that did not seem to have left him. He had a strange agitation under his skin, something his wolf longed to vent, probably due to the fighting he had recently been engaged in and which now clashed with the tranquility and safety of what he called home. The adrenaline was difficult to dispose of and unexpectedly Roman found himself hearing it increase, when something filled his lungs from the lowered window of the car.

- Stop - he ordered abruptly, opening the car door before the wheels could even stop completely.

Both the Wiseman and his cousins called him worried, delaying in reaching him just long enough to give Roman time to plant himself in the middle of the empty road, head wandering from side to side trying to find the trail that had gripped his body in a vise.

- My Tribal Chief?

- Whatts up Uce?

Deaf to their questions, Roman moved as if in a trance, legs unable to stay still and his senses on alert. It had been an imperceptible moment, something that perhaps came from afar, he no longer felt it now and his muscles were tightening, the anger mounting.

Find it, find it, find it.

His ears were ringing, blood was pumping into his head like a roar, eyes wandering in search of anything, along the asphalt, beyond the empty ground on the other side of the road. There was a house somewhere and a church, maybe it had come from there, but his nose didn't feel anything and Roman ran both hands over his face, his wolf growling impatiently and annoyed.

It's not there, find it. Find it.

His body was in a state of agitation, a tension he had never felt before, not even facing an enemy, not even in the middle of a fight. His mind seemed to have turned off, he wasn't thinking and all he could hear at that moment was his blood flowing and the need to find that trace. He moved without a plan, hitting the road for the few meters the car had passed before he stopped it, his head in the air and the tension increasing. Someone touched him on the shoulder, perhaps to make him regain consciousness, Jimmy, but chased him away with a brusque gesture. His bones, Roman could feel them vibrating and his breath was catching in his throat, why couldn't he find it?

He left the road, charging towards the empty ground. That wasn't the direction, but he had to try, he had to. Maybe it was inside that house, maybe something had watered it down and that was the reason he couldn't smell it anymore. He was starting to see a trail on either side of his eyes, his tense shoulders rolling to release the pressure that threatened to collapse, and then he felt it again. His head snapped back, in direction of the wood from which the wind had come, there was Jey in front of him, but Roman didnt even see him as his bones creaked and his muscles stretched. He saw nothing.

Mate. Find her. Find her. Mine. Take her. Mine. Mine.

***

Sitting on the cottage porch, Y/N put away her toast. Her stomach was acting up, but she didn't want to eat and the wind was starting to bother her. She hugged her jacket with a shiver to make her bones vibrate, some of the guests on the estate were celebrating, she could hear the muffled noise of a badly played guitar, laughter and the smell of the bonfire... suddenly she raised her head, wide eyes wandering the empty garden along the path that led to the other cottages. What was that smell?

Smells good. Stay. Stay. Good.

There was no one, not yet, but she felt him. She was used to hearing them in advance, before they swooped in on her, she had trained for that, she knew what to do and so why wasn't she succeeding? Her legs seemed blocked, her muscles tense with apprehension, she was not afraid of him, her ears were ringing. She had to get out of there, she had to do it now, he was running straight to her. She stood up, going down step after step, her head was bursting, her blood pounding in her veins.

Stay. Stay. Good. Lower your head. Stay.

Her she-wolf was prey to a mixture of euphoria and anxiety, she was trying to hold her back and that was the last thing Y/N wanted at that moment. No way that thing was good…

On another occasion she would have tried to stand up to whoever was coming, she knew how to do it, she could do it, but she felt strange and she didn't like that feeling. It was new, it had never happened to her and she was struggling to keep what she had inside of her at bay. She took her hands off the porch and clenched her fists, eyes on the dark row of trees on the edge, she felt his paws on the ground. She will act the edge of the cottage, abandoning everything that belonged to her inside and ran down the driveway, the voice inside her head as she whimpered for the space she was trying to put between them. She had to get to that party, find other people, no matter who or what they were, she couldn't stay there or...

Cocoa butter, sweat, good. Mate. Home. Stay. Mate. Mate.

The growl that hit her, made her bones and earth vibrate under her feet, her belly tightened in a vise and Y/N closed her eyes for a second, stopping where she stood.

It couldn't be true, it had to be a mistake, she was wrong.

Her wolf had screamed mate and a bitter smile folded her lips, it was a damned nightmare. But she had no intention of playing the part of the girl who was butchered, not her, not when she was one step away from leaving. She slowly turned, trying to regain control of her body in turmoil and her eyes instantly stared at him, from the tips of his dark hairy ears to his giant paws embedded in the earth. He oozed alpha from every pore and Y/N looked inside his golden eyes.

- You better calm down big boy or I'll make a fur coat with you. That’s not the way.

An annoyed growl came out of his throat like a rumble, but Y/N remained unmoved nonetheless. He could make his big scary voice with someone else, she had no intention of giving it to him and he had to guess it, because as it came out of nowhere, he came on her, forcing her to squat. She dug her feet into the black fur under his thick neck and heard him whine for a moment, her inner wolf complaining about her, trying to make her stop, but she didn't want to stop, she couldn't. She wouldn't get caught, even at cost of being torn apart. She saw him shake his head in annoyance, his teeth clenching with an eerie noise around nothing, his ears twitching over his head as she tried again. The big guy was fast in spite of his size and Y/N slipped over once again, not caring about rolling around on the grass, she had to do it in that form or the big guy would have come up with weird ideas without even having invited her to a date. She barely managed to get on her knees and a shiver ran through her body, causing her to turn back in the direction of the woods. She saw her alleged mate plant himself in front of her like a wall, to protect her, trying to muffle whoever was coming and the rest for her was just a bad blow to the head and darkness.

Tag squad: @sunnyfleur23 @racerchix21 @alyanross @wickedsunfire @romanreignsdefencesquad @romanstheory @thiccc-rider-mcintyre @keybladeofsteel @mcreignsera @msbigredmachine @nayys-world @gobbersworld @utika151209 @cumxxslutt @jeyreigns @civildawn @minanajra @romanmydaddy @raidenandreigns @triscillal @papireigns-05 @helensanders92 @itjazzbicch @ichdrachenfrau @darqchilddaydreamz @meggylynnloves @mariamheeeeee @vintage-pvssy @unfriendly--blvck--hottie @nicolewoo @helensanders92 @niknakbucks92 @wrestlezaynia @reignsx @reignsxroman @kianaleani @daguenoire @iyoskyslover @extra-11 @josphinna @thedonsfactory @snowpanda18

#roman reigns smut #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns x reader #roman reigns #roman reigns one shot #roman reigns x oc #roman reigns x y/n #roman reigns x female reader #wwe fanfiction

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

Disney and Dreamworks have been locked in combat since day one, and honestly, can you blame them? The Katzenberg/Eisner feud is pretty legendary, with both men taking potshots at each other in films, and the drama behind stuff like A Bug’s Life and Antz has been done to death. The thing is, in the early years of Dreamworks, it was pretty clear that no matter how hard they tried, Disney was the one who was taking the Ws when it came to the cinemas. Stuff like Sinbad and The Road to El Dorado were flopping pretty hard, and while The Prince of Egypt was a success, the failure of the former two ended Dreamoworks’s hopes of ever competing with Disney in the 2D animated market. What’s a studio to do in a situation like that? Well, someBODY ONCE TOLD ME...

Shrek didn’t just solidify Dreamworks as a contender, that movie changed the course of animation in the 2000s all on its own. With its snarky humor, pop culture references, awesome pop soundtrack as opposed to musical numbers, and celebrity cast, Shrek codified many trends for animation going forward—for better and for worse. But whatever impact the film had pales in comparison to one simple, unignorable fact: This movie came out on top over Disney. It won the first ever Academy Award for Best Animated Picture, and considering how long Disney was in that game that must have really fucking stung. While Disney spent the early 2000s floundering and releasing flops that would only become cult classics later, Dreamworks was riding that green wave Shrek produced all the way to the bank. What’s a studio to do in a situation like that? Well, someBODY ONCE…

Oh no.

Chicken Little was Disney’s blatant attempt at making their own Shrek (with blackjack! And hookers!), but to say that things didn’t pan out well for Disney there is a vast understatement. Michael Eisner made sure to meddle as much as possible, turning a more straightforward adaptation of the fairy tale into a snarky, self-deprecating comedy about baseball and aliens, which certainly is a choice. This choice had some dire consequences; while not a bomb by any means, the film ruined the already-struggling career of The Emperor’s New Groove director Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer left Disney with Dindal and went into making guitars, and ultimately Eisner himself became a victim of the film as well, with it being the final blow to his tenure at Disney after a decade of failed investments. Eisner ended up passing the torch to Bob Iger, who turned out to be a better leader than Eisner who never did or said anything quite as stupid!

Audience reaction to the movie has always been pretty mixed, to say the least. Reviewers on YouTube such as Schafrillas, Doug Walker, and Mr. Enter have used the film as their punching bag at various points, with the latter in particular helping shape the image of Buck Cluck as Disney’s most vile father figure. Audiences these days aren’t particularly receptive to it either, with most people considering it Disney’s absolute worst film, though there are nostalgic viewers with a soft spot for it. I first watched the film myself a few years back, and I was thoroughly disgusted and unimpressed by what I saw; for the longest time, I had it higher than Doogal on my list of the worst films ever. Fucking Doogal! Can a film really be that bad?!

Well, I decided to give it a second chance and find out if maybe my perception was just colored by all the negative reviews. Is Chicken Little really that bad, or is this just a so-so Shrek ripoff that people overreacted to?

THE GOOD

Most of the characters in this movie are actually decent, even if they’re a little cringe. Chicken Little himself is a likable dork, which only makes all the suffering and setbacks he goes through that much harder to watch; I think they made him too likable, y’know? His friend group is pretty solid as well, with Abby being an okay love interest, Runt being a nice guy (or maybe I should say Nice Guy considering what he does with a bimbofied Foxy Loxy at the end), and Fish Out of Water being a cute “lol so random XD” character. They aren’t the best thing ever, but they’re all pretty decent. I can see why Zach Braff likes voicing the title character so much, and it is cool he got to be in the best Kingdom Hearts game, so that’s something!

Though of, course none of them hold a candle to the absolute Chad that is Morkubine Porcupine, a character so fucking cool that he refuses to give this movie the dignity of more than three single words out of his mouth. If he had more dialogue, the whole movie might collapse under the sheer power of his voice. He’s like Black Bolt, except a porcupine, and in a marginally better piece of Disney media.

There’s a great sequence at the end of the movie that has a Pee-wee’s Big Adventure-esque film within the film about Chicken Little’s exploits… except he’s a ridiculously buff rooster voiced by Adam West in a film that looks like an insane version of Star Fox from the brief clips we see of it. Runt is in there as a hardcore, ugly warthog and Abby is an overly-sexualized space bimbo, but I’m not even particularly bothered by the fact they gave the girl chicken breasts because Adam West’s chicken breasts are so much more massive. 

The entire scene, as brief as it is, is delightful thanks to West being West, and it honestly makes you wish that the whole movie was just a ridiculous space battle adventure… And everyone’s wish was granted when they released a pretty good video game based on this silly concept!

Of course, as is typical of any Disney movie, the best part is without a doubt the villain: Buck Cluck, Chicken Little’s own father.

 In his youth, he was a strapping sports star, and because of this he feels a deep sense of shame at his son’s wild antics and is completely unable to relate to him. He constantly puts him down in front of others to try and salvage his own reputation, throwing him under the bus at every opportunity and refusing to support him. And even after Chicken Little pushes himself to the limit and becomes a baseball star all so he can earn even the slightest smidgen of his father’s respect, Buck is quick to cast him aside once more all so that he can try and keep the dignity among the townsfolk he mooched off of his son’s victory. Buck Cluck is the proto-Mother Gothel, a distant and absent parent for the ages, and one of the most despicable foes the studio has ever produced. Hell, I might even go as far as to say he’s one of the greatest villains of all ti-

Wait, hold on. I’m being informed that Buck… isn’t intentionally a villain? He’s supposed to be… sympathetic…?

THE BAD

I’VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT! BUCK “THE CUCK” CLUCK’S A BITCH-ASS MOTHERFUCKER!

Ok, ok, let’s be serious for a second. I’m gonna get a bit controversial here, but Buck Cluck isn’t nearly as evil as people make him out to be.

Let me explain: While the film’s narrative completely and utterly fails to make his redemption feel earned at all, it’s not like he was ever really intentionally or even physically abusive like Frollo, Gothel, or Lady Tremaine were. Buck Cluck has a very real problem a parent can have, in that he has a hard time relating to his son while being a single parent that is likely still dealing with the loss of his wife. The issue is the movie doesn’t bother trying to flesh him or his feelings out and tries its damndest to make him look like a good guy all while he emotionally neglects his child.

All this being said, his vocal performance from The Princess Diaries director Garry Marshall is actually pretty great, he gets a few good jokes here and there, and it’s actually really endearingly goofy when he overcompensates with loving his son in the third act. While I’m never going to stop treating the character like he’s Chicken Hitler, I want it to be clear that my jabs at him are very much in the same vein as someone like Huey Emmerich. The difference, of course, is that Huey is an intentional case of making a character you love to hate, while Buck is accidental. And that’s why this segment is here, in “The Bad” part of the review: The movie failed this man so bad that he is put alongside characters like Shou Tucker, Ragyo Kiryuin, and Fire Lord Ozai in animated parent rankings. How do you fuck up that badly? Mainly by deleting the scenes where he actually gets development or characterization beyond being a lousy parent, that’s how!

These writing issues don’t just affect Buck, though; literally the entire movie is as messy as that Kentucky fried bastard’s characterization. The main issue is with the story itself. Now, when you have a movie called Chicken Little, you kind of expect an adaptation of the fable of the same name. And since this is Disney, you wouldn’t be stupid to assume that’s what they’d do, considering adapting fables, myths, and fairy tales is basically their bread and butter. But that is decidedly not what they did here; instead, they decided to make Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius by way of Shrek, because movies like that were popular at the time, and what we’re left with is a film populated by mean-spirited jerkasses who do nothing but dump on our likable main character as he takes part in a story to win the love of his dad via baseball that suddenly, out of completely nowhere, turns into an alien invasion movie about halfway through. Absolutely none of these elements work well together, and the film comes off felling like it was stitched together from unrelated scripts and turned into an unholy Frankenstein of bad ideas.

Not helping helping the disjointed story are the desperate attempts to seem cool. I like Morkubine Porcupine, he’s one of the better gags in the film, but he is so plainly a desperate attempt at creating an ensemble darkhorse that it hurts (the fact it actually worked in spite of this is nothing short of miraculous). The humor is very much aping Shrek, with lots of snarky humor and mean-spirited characters which ends up not working because it’s too cruel, and even ignoring that the pop culture references (a staple of Dreamworks at the time) just all come out of nowhere. Why is the fish reenacting King Kong? Why are these animals watching Raiders of the Lost Ark, and why is Indy still a human? Why did Disney think referencing the lemming suicide myth was a good idea when they literally perpetuated that myth by driving lemmings off a cliff for a movie?

Then there’s the animation. It is so blatantly obvious that this is Disney’s first time making a fully computer animated movie without Pixar’s help. A lot of characters look really unpolished, and even worse is that a lot of the characters are extremely overanimated. If you wanna see what I mean, watch Abby at the end of the dodgeball scene when she’s talking to Chicken Little. She just never fucking stops moving! Once you notice it, it becomes really distracting.

But by far the worst thing this movie does is the constant needle drops. This movie would make The Super Mario Bros. Movie blush with its overuse of licensed music, and it sure feels like Suicide Squad took notes from this because they cram so many tracks in here it’s not even funny. Sometimes they even just have thew characters sing them because… who fucking knows. Barenaked Ladies gets a pretty fat W with their song “One Little Slip” playing over our introduction to Chicken Little, but after that we either get the most obvious songs possible for any given seen (“It’s the End of the World as We Know It” plays over the alien invasion at the end, because of course it does) to “what the actual fuck is this doing here in the movie” (“Wannabe” by the Spice Girls is sung by Runt and Abby during a karaoke session, proving that canceling the Spice World review was not enough to save me from this band).

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Alright guys, here comes my hottest take ever: Chicken Little… isn’t that bad.

Now, don’t get me wrong! This movie is still not really good at all. It’s disjointed, mean-spirited, confused, and stuffed to the brim with the tropes and trappings of every bad animated movie of the 2000s. But all of that is also what helps make this so genuinely fascinating! When Dreamworks did stuff like this, it was whatever, that studio is a rising contender in the animation game… but this is Disney! This is THE animation studio, the biggest around, and they’re making every single mistake possible because they want to try and beat Dreamworks at their own game, and they are failing at it! It’s honestly so funny that they tried to make their own version of Shrek without any sort of understanding of what made Shrek work.

But even beyond that, even though this movie is bad, it’s not really worse than Shark Tale is, and that is a premier so bad it’s good film. Really, this movie is the opposite of that film in many ways. Where that film had a world that was too overly nice and propped up the shittiest main character animated at the time, this movie has an insanely cruel world where the sweet, charming, heavily traumatized child is incessantly beaten down and belittled to the point you half expect him to try and dive headfirst into a deep fryer; where that film had a single generic plot that was at least remarkably consistent, this film has two separate plots that don’t go together at all and just end up making both halves of the film feel stupid and pointless; and where in that film Oscar is desperately seeking love from his peers due to his sheer selfishness, Chicken Little just wants the love and respect of his father. Pile on that the mountain of similarities, from the overuse of lame pop culture references for the sake of pop culture references gags to the bland love interests, and you have the Awesomely Bad Animation Double Feature of your dreams.

So yeah, I think the rating it has is about what it deserves. This is easily one of Disney’s weakest entries for sure, but it’s not without its moments and it has some amusing jokes, charming characters, and Adam West as a buff space chicken. If you go in with lowered expectations, you might be amused, but honestly I get why this film is so absolutely despised. It really isn’t great at all, and is firmly in the “so bad it’s good” category. You can’t really expect much more from a movie that presents a character whose biggest crime was just being an asshole getting their personality overwritten with a girly-girl one that the comic relief fat guy insists is perfect as a hilarious joke and then leads into a dance party ending where the whole cast sings Elton John.

...Or you could expect more if it weren’t for that son of a bitch Buck Cluck. Fuck that guy.

#Is it really that bad #Chicken Little #Disney #review #movie review #Zach Braff #animation #animated movie #Disney animation

[ghostly-wisp]

MY DEAR VALENTINE

💌: Joel Miller x Reader

🎞: Last Of Us (HBO adaptation)

👥: Joel Miller, reader, Tommy Miller and Ellie Williams

✒️: ghostly-wisp on Tumblr

word count: 1,837

warnings/note: fluff omg!! happy valentines day loves <3

Joel was not good at sharing his feelings—years on the road, survivng and fighting for himself made him this way; not that you could blame him. He'd seen so much, and love was the last thing on his mind. It hadn't even been a concept to him since Tess died.

You knew that when getting into the relationship with him, he was more devoted to Ellie—the little girl he swore to keep alive no matter the cost. His younger brother, Tommy, had even warned you so. Everyone did, but it was the small things that made it worth it.

Joel always pulled your chair out when you'd spend dinners together, hold you close in bed on nights either of you slept over, or hold your hand while you two watched Ellie play something on her guitar for entertainment. Your relationship was private, and you didn't mind. Joel wasn't good at saying I love you. Though he made sure you felt loved as much as possible.

You had spent the night alone, Joel was out working—fixing things around Jackson in attempt to get some money. You wondered if he remembered that it was Valentines day. You didn't know if it was actually, but everyone in Jackson decided it so, and you went with it to have some sense of normalcy. If Joel didn't know, it wasn't that big of a deal anyways. I mean what is there to do? it's not like you can go to some fancy restaurant, or have a picnic in a park like you could do before the apocalypse. Ellie was put with Dina and some friends, so it was really just you. Most days were, which you couldn't complain about. Sometimes even in a world like this, it's nice to have time to yourself.

You were snug in your bed, reading some book to yourself, amazed that you could find copies of The Great Gatsby, even if the book wasn't your all time favorite – at least it was something to read.

You just got to the part where Daisy and Gatsby begin their affair, blah blah blah Tom Buchanan sucks and Gastby is rich. When you heard a knock on your door, whoever it was, seemed rather impatient, because they knocked a few more times before you got to the door to open it.

"Joel!" you say suprised, he looks tired (So, like he normally did.), as much as you're happy to see him—you figured he'd be working all day, and probably go home once he finished. You just didn't expect to see him today. "What are you doing here?" Despite your question, you move to the side to allow him in. Once he's inside, you close the door.

His shoulders drop, he's less tense. Instantly more comfortable in your presence, he doesn't feel this way around many people. But you're one of the only ones that makes him feel like he's safe, almost like the apocalypse never started. "Now," he says quietly, turning to you—his arms reach out to invite you into an embrace, which you gladly accept, moving closer to him and wrapping your arms around his neck. "You don't think I'd forget about you on the most romantic day of the year?"

"I wasn't even sure if you knew it was Valentines day." you respond, "I didn't even know, until yesterday." He chuckles, his eyes are on you at all times, his arms wrapped securely around you. He leans in to press a kiss to your forehead. "No matter, I've got something planned."

"You do, do you?" He nods, "Get your coat—it's quite cold out there." You're reluctant to pull away, but you're more curious about what he has planned. "Well, I have to change if we're going out." You say, pulling away from him completely, making your way into your bedroom. He follows after you instead of standing around until you got ready, he knew sometimes you'd change your outfit plans a few times; so it very well could take a while.

"Sweetheart, The Great Gatsby? again?" He asks, holding up your copy.

"You try finding something better!" He raises his eyebrows, you're not wrong. You find something simple, it's not like you have fancy outfits nowadays anyway.

You grab your coat, slip it on and the two of you are out the door, you close your door behind you, to your surprise—Joel's holding his arm our for you to take, he'd never been one for PDA, so you took this opportunity graciously.

The two of you don't walk far at all, in fact it's just to his place. He opens the door to reveal the candle-lit home, occasional clutter heard coming from the direction of the kitchen.

The previously three-seated dining table now only had two seats across from eachother. Only laminated by the candle in the middle. There's a nice smell I'm your nose, and upon closer inspection, the clutter and the smell came from Tommy, working away in the kitchen for seemingly awhile.

Joel has this wide grin on his face as he begins to explain, "I know we can't go eat at over-priced Italian restaurants like the old days," he hums, moving to stand infront of you to catch your reaction. "So I decided to bring one here, Tommy's cooking for us, and after many many hours of begging and bargaining, Ellie will be our server."

"Adoring" doesn't even capture the feeling you feel for Joel right now—all the trouble to set up a fancy dinner for you on some day you weren't even sure was actually valentines. For all you knew, in normal days it could've been March right now.

While Joel can be closed off, less affectionate and bad at saying his feelings outright, he knew how to assure you felt special, loved, like you were the one that hung the stars. Despite how happy you felt, you could feel the tears swell in your eyes, he chuckles softly, putting his hands out. "Can I take your jacket?"

You nod, shaking it off and handing it to him, watching him drape it over the back of one of the chairs and pulling it back for you. Once you take your seat, he wants for you to push yourself in before he takes his own seat, like a true gentleman.

"Joel, you didn't have to do all this." you would've been completely content with a sleepover, holding eschother ad you slept and moved onto thr next day. The relationship was low maintenance, and it was easier that way.

"Nonsense, I ought to treat my special person right. I don't do it often enough."

It doesn't take long for Ellie, dressed in all black, to walk over from the kitchen counter over to the table with plates of whatever Tommy had cooked up. It looked delicious, and Tommy had a reputation for being a decent enough cook.

"Here you two go, I'll be back shortly with the wine." Despite the fact that Joel made it sound like she hates the idea of doing this, she had a big, giddy smile on her face. When you entered Joel's life, you were worried about Ellie. If she'd like you, and if you were stepping on her turf. Though she seemed excited to have you around, someone other than Joel to balance him around. In a way, you almost considered her your step-daughter.

Joel's the first one to take a bite, talking to you about his day at work. How he had talked his co-workers ears off about his plans for tonight, that he thinks they were excited for him to leave so that they wouldn't have to keep hearing about it for the rest of the night. When Ellie pours the wine, he's the first one to grab his glass and raise it.

"To us," he says, "Finding comfort and love in such a difficult time, I wouldn't be half as happy as I am without you. I love you."

"I love you, too. Thank you for being you, Joel."

Your glasses clink, and you each take a sip. Continuing the rest of your meal, when Tommt comes over to collect your plates, you laugh at the poorly drawn mustache he has. Like every television based chef, he's wearing all white. All he's really missing is the hat. "How did you two enjoy your meal?" He asks, faking an accent, and needless to say—he's very bad at it.

"It was lovely," you respond, handing your plate to Tommy, "Thank you, kind sir. Compliments to the chef." To which, he does a slight bow.

Joel feels like he's almost who he once was, before all of this. He missed the warm feeling of home and the sense of family. Though he gets all these feelings from you, and he could never be more grateful for it. He truly does love you with every fiber of his being, he's only sorry he's so bad at telling you. While gestures were never his thing, seeing how happy it made you made everything worth it.

He's lost so much, endured and survived the worst things a person could imagine. If it took all of that to end up with you, he considers most of it worth it. Sarah would've loved you, he thinks, the three of you could've been a happy little family in Texas. Not that he doesn't love and value Ellie, but nobody compares to his little girl. He thinks about her during these times of the year, Sarah would always bring home the cutest homemade valentines from school and would be so excited about it.

He moves to stand, shaking all the somber thoughts out of his head, offering his hand out to you. "We've got one more thing planned."

You feel as though you've already been swept off your feet, though he seems more excited about this than he did the dinner he had prepared. You lightly take his hand as he leads you to the living room area. Your cheeks hurt from how much you were smiling, though you felt like you couldn't stop.

Ellie sat to her own secluded corner, playing a song you could easily identify — Can't Help Falling In Love by Elvis Presley. Surely Joel had to have taught her that, because when you met her all those months ago, she didn't even know who Elvis was.

Joel stands in front of you, one hand on your hip and the other gently grabs your hand.

"Joel, I don't know how to slow dance." You laugh, looking at your feet as he slowly begins to guide you, "I don't either, sweetheart. Let's just have fun."

He holds you close to him, enjoying the acoustic. Ellie truly was talented, she could already be better than Joel, much to his dismay.

"I love you," he whispers. "I know I don't say it a lot, but I see you every day, and I just love you."

"I love you more." you reply, looking up to meet his gaze.

"That ain't possible," He hums, giving you a slow, yet loving kiss. "Happy valentines day, my dear."

#joel miller #x reader #gender neutral insert #Last Of Us #pedro pascal #I LOVE THIS MAN #Valentines day #for all my singles out there #romance #fluff #happiness in a time of depression #ghostly wisp #joel miller fluff #joel miller x reader #no pronouns #Spotify #joel is happy #tooth rotting fluff #the last of us show #reader insert

[lifblogs]

🖤🎂🎧📝🫐🪻 <3

Omg, thanks for sending this ask!

🖤 Favorite hobbies outside of your blog?

I’m a housebound nerd. It’s reading and watching TV for me! I’ve also gotten back into listening to music, which doesn’t always work out because of my TBI (sometimes makes me sick, and causes pain). Does being a cat mom count? Sometimes I’ll be on mommy duty for a couple hours a day, and I love it.

🎂 When is your birthday?

April 3rd!

🎧 Last song you listened to?

“Ahsoka - End Credits” composed by Kevin Kiner for Ahsoka.

📝 Last thing you wrote?

This. Ironically, I wrote it the night before I hit my head. :( *sigh* At least this idea is finally started, at least.)

🫐 Some place you’d love to visit?

New Zealand! Someone take me to the Shire. Also Alaska; Lyons, France (actually lots of places in France); Iceland, England, China (probably somewhere rural, like any of the mountains, or maybe Henan Province); and the Great Lakes.

🪻 What is the toughest thing you had to go through, but can you’ve successfully overcome?

‼️WARNING FOR SEVERE ANIMAL ILLNESS.‼️

Maybe some people won’t like this answer, but I’m not sure humans actually overcome hardship. What we do do is change. We adapt. It’s what we’re good at even while we hate it. So with that said, I… actually have a hard time choosing because my life has been filled with tough moments that I’ve had to work through in order to keep living. So many, to the point of even surprising a few mental health specialists. I’m sure my answer for this will be different every day, but right now I want to say seeing Loki have his first seizure and having to take him to the hospital while I unknowingly had a broken leg. I had a panic attack when I saw his seizure and how distressed he was, I saw my life literally crumbling around me. Finding out this will eventually kill him was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to acknowledge. And hearing that his bloodwork showed he was in pain from the seizure— That was one of the worst nights of my life. I didn’t sleep at all, and I was sick from my IBS and migraines and fibro because of it, and I just cried and cried. And then I went to physical therapy while he was still at the hospital, like my life was normal. We took him home that day and already his life was different, mine was different. Yet I swear I love him more every single day. I’m scarred, and I’m absolutely terrified about his future, and I’ve had to watch him have almost a hundred seizures since then. Yet I make myself as excited as possible every time I see him. I play with him as much as I can, I shower him in kisses, and cuddles, and love. I keep living with him as my baby. I cry sometimes when he’s sick, but I pull myself together for his sake. And I’ll be honest, I have no idea how I’m still here, but I am, and I think it’s for him despite the pain. So I never really overcame anything. I adapted. Loki adapted. He’s my baby, no matter what comes his way.

#ask #cascigarette #ask game

[godbirdart]

first off, i just want to say that i love your art, you are a huge inspiration to me and i love how expressive your characters are! would you have any tips for someone trying to grow a following from their art? specifically within the furry community ideally. im just not sure where to start

i hope youre having a great day!

thank you so much!!

okay i gotta preface this with: i have been doing commissions for over a decade. everything i say here i've been doing since roughly 2014, but my career as an artist didn't really Take Off and become reliable until 2019. success isn't immediate. some artists will grow faster or slower than others, not every tactic is going to apply / work for every artist; and that's okay. just keep pushing yourself and adapting and figuring out what works for You!

i’m putting this under a readmore as it got a bit long. every time someone asks me for advice on professional Anything i always write up a five page essay despite trying to bulletpoint it oof

post on multiple platforms and keep them all updated. i’m putting this one in bold because it is possibly the Most Important thing. we’re all watching twitter sinking over there, and many of my mutuals there were floundering because they hadn’t established themselves on any other social media site. i strongly recommend three or four socials minimum. my main four sites are tumblr, deviantart, twitter and toyhouse. furaffinity is also good. inkblot and artfol are new and i use them frequently as well. if you don’t like posting manually to every site each and every time you post art, Postybirb exists and is what i use to crosspost all my art to most of my socials at once.

avoid venting a lot on main. we all have frustrating days where our art isn’t getting the recognition we hoped, or we’re feeling petty about a controversial topic or the latest drama. it happens! it’s okay! however, many people just don’t like seeing dozens of negative posts on their feed. most people will sympathize, but if your negative vents are constantly clogging their dashboard they’re not gonna stick around.

shamelessly self promote yourself. reblog your own art. retweet it again. repost it. mention your other socials. we live in a world of timezones! when you post art, only a fraction of your audience is going to see it. i recommend reblogging / retweeting one to four individual pieces periodically over the course of a day and change it up each day. you can also repost your own work into photosets and title it “recent commissions” or the something like that.

don’t hide your linktrees and carrds. seriously! the amount of times on twitter i went to try and follow someone on another platform only to find they had no carrd or linktree link,, it is infuriating. put your socials link in your bio or pinned or SOMEWHERE readily at the top of your profile that’s easy to spot.

if you’re offering commissions, make a telegram channel or discord server for your announcements / openings.

post regularly. this one is a lot harder for artists that don’t make a lot of content, but posting even a status update once or twice a day can go a long way - especially if you’re on twitter with that platform’s hideous algorithm. alternatively as i said earlier, just retweet/reblog your work a few times a day and you should be good.

art trends are cool and fun and an easy way to get your work seen by others. see a “draw your sona in this outfit” meme? go, have fun with it. this one’s a bit tricky as timing is everything when it comes to ~trending~ content, so try and draw quick. that said, it’s never outdated to drawover reaction memes with your fursona.

try not to clog your socials with memes and shitposty images. this one is directed at twitter specifically. with twitter moments now gone, your media tab is the last way for people to hope to find your work organically on your profile without having to use the twitter search. they can’t get invested in your work if they can’t find it!

it’s okay to change course if you’re not vibing with where you’re headed. if you want to move onto a new aesthetic - that’s fine! you may lose some followers if they don’t click with your new vibe, but you’ll inevitably gain some new ones.

avoid frequent name changes. so many of the artists i follow have changed their brands / urls over the years that i don’t recognize them anymore.

tag your work properly. on tumblr, the first five tags on the original post are the tags your work will pop up in in the search feature. make those first five tags the Most important ones; example: #furry, #anthro, #art #fursona etc. twitter’s algo seems flip-flop if it likes tags or hates them. if you see a tag trending, repost your art in a photoset with the hashtag in the post [example: if #pokemon is trending, repost some of your pokemon fanart with the hashtag in the post body]. if the tag isn’t trending,,, i’ll be honest it’s a gamble if twitter likes your post or not at that point. i have no advice for that hell algorithm.

hosting raffles or doing a mini art request event [example: “leave a ref and i might draw your oc”] is good for traction while simultaneously giving back to the community + your audience a little!

try and reply to / like comments on your work. it’s not required per se, but it’s good to express gratitude.

engage with other members of the community. comment on other peoples work. like it. retweet it. follow other people. obviously don’t be disingenuous about it, but this is what the professionals call ~networking~

don’t compare yourself to others. this one is one you have got to keep in mind constantly. you’re going to find 17 year olds with huge followings and 30 year olds that are doing professional industry work whose level feels alien and almost out of reach. if you’re not doing as well, don’t let yourself get discouraged. we all gotta start somewhere!

related to the above point: be nice to your followers. venting on main about not having the same audience volume as others can come off as a huge middle finger to the audience you already have.

gaining a following takes time. unless you get a really lucky break, it’s going to take a lot of work and self promotion to build up your brand.

slap your name on everything. i mean it. any art you do - sign it. watermark it. people can and will share art in telegram channels and discord servers, and if the art interests someone they can easily source it back to you if your name is on it.

you can buy adspace. if you’re catering to a furry audience specifically, you can buy adspace on furaffinity pretty easily. inkblot i believe also offers adspace for artists though i haven’t looked too deep into it. this is really a “if you’re okay burning money” situation, as the huge chunkk of internet users have adblockers now and it’s a gamble if people will see or even click on your ad.

just have fun and do your own thing. you can hop on trends and draw art that caters to your audience’s tastes, but don’t forget to draw what YOU want and what YOU’RE about. Draw what makes YOU happy.

hope these help!! ;w;

#long post

[transfloridaresources]

Hey, I just wanted to tell you thank you so much for making this blog. It means more than I could possibly tell you to see support that isn't just "move out", because so many of us just simply can't, or even if we can we don't want to. I shouldn't be expected to uproot my entire life because of other people's bigotry.

Things are getting worse here, and I'm scared. My mom told the doctor that my period was normal last time we went to the doctor, and refused to elaborate. She said that she didn't want specific information about my cycle on file, in case I went on puberty blockers for any reason. My school canceled the Scholastic book fair, because it's a charter school and they were scared of getting on DeSantis' radar. There's uncertainty over if we'll have a psychology course back by the time I reach the age to take it.

Even on a less political front, gay and trans are making a massive resurgence in terms used for bullying. I'm clinging on to my silly little microlabels like a lifeline, because even though it hurts to know that nobody outside of our community is going to know about them, at least that means they aren't going to be slung back in my face like a bullet.

It's really scary, and seeing how people are actually making efforts to combat this means more than you could ever know. It gives me hope that I can stick it out, and make my state a place where the kids younger than me can grow up safely and happily. Seeing adults openly wearing pride pins even in the midst of everything makes me feel safer with them than can be put into words. I hope that by the time I'm an adult and have control over my own life I can be that person for someone, but I also really hope I can help make it a world where that's not needed. And seeing that there's people here that care about us gives me hope that we can accomplish that.

Much love, a queer kid living in central Florida <3

Hello there, wonderful anon & thank you so much for reaching out 🫂💖 It is so meaningful to hear things like this and I'm so grateful that you took the time to write this message. I know so much seems bleak rn, but your message made me think about the world I grew up in when I was a kid / teen. I didn't even really know trans people existed. Queer people barely existed, either. There was no mainstream celebrity for any of those identities and social media didn't exist. I know it feels absolutely terrifying to see this happening now and wondering where you'll go and what life you'll have, but trust me - we'll always be here. We're targeted so much now because people are afraid of change and because these systems of oppression need a constant mark to aim hatred at in order to function. But we're louder than ever now and there's people like you who exist now who are aware of our existences and aware of themselves more than we ever used to have. That's powerful. That gives me hope for the future. YOU give me hope for the future. I look at you the same as you look at us who are older and you inspire me as well. I know this is painful and I know you're scared but know that you're not alone and you never will be. Remember that even if certain laws are passed and attempts to silence information and truth occur - there are still always ways to access that information and keep it alive. These TFR accounts look to BIPOC lives because those are the groups already living under so much oppression who can teach the most about persistence and resilience. Read about other social movements, look to past leaders, look to current events like the people in Gaza right now. Even through tragedy, the spirit of resilience remains. It's still possible to find happiness and fulfillment and build a life somehow. We are not at the mercy of any of this, we just need to learn how to best adapt & keep moving. It's not easy and it's not fair but it is doable. You will have a beautiful life and trans people will always exist. We are still thriving here. Florida (& the south in general) will always have a strong LGBT community no matter what. Let me drop a few links for you or anyone who might need them. CampOUT Florida is a week long summer camp in July for LGBT youth, located around Ocala. Queer Expression St. Pete finally got a permanent home & routinely offers a safe space for LGBT families & youth, especially. If you are struggling and need someone to talk to, Trans Lifeline and Thrive Lifeline both offer peer to peer support (meaning anyone on the other side is also LGBT and/or other identities as well) & also will not involve police / involuntary psych holds. They have a variety of options to communicate with them for support & Thrive even has a trans discord server for anyone 16+! We are also working on a discord server for trans Floridians, which should be available soon, and will have a dedicated channel for teens only (with support as needed from queer & trans adult moderators from a variety of racial backgrounds & who have professional experience working with children / youth). These are just a few things that exist as well. More and more are out there and will also soon be created in the face of increasing pressure on our community. We keep us safe 💖 You are loved, you have value, you have community, you have family, you have a future!

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