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randowriters · 2 years

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Cards

Lily: Sorry for this one being late, I was busy yesterday and didn't have time to post this properly.

D&F: This fic is less lovey-dovey. Though it was fun to make and different!

Card games are weirdly complicated yet provide the most exciting fun in a competitive sense. Monty isn’t big on card games, he’s a golf player. Though, he’d be lying if he said that it didn’t get his wires surging with adrenaline. The looks on everyone’s faces when he manages to win a round, and the amount of gloating he can do after it.

…Too bad those moments are rare.

Hence, why the animatronic gator isn’t too keen on playing card games that much. He almost always loses. Almost, as the bassist had a win here and there. He HATES playing against Roxy because her competitive streak comes out in full force.

She’s a sore loser AND a sore winner.

Whenever he manages to beat her, the robotic wolf would go off on him. Very colorful insults get thrown that, even with their censor program on, did little to block such phrases that clearly used no swear words or anything the dumb thing considers offensive. If she wins, the keytarist rubs it in Montgomery’s face HARD and will still mention his defeat for weeks in the most subtle ways. Which is why the green glamrock had been secretly practicing his card playing skills online.

Some humans within the staff managed to set up a private card game online to play on their break. It can be played alone, or with others through servers. Monty always played on the private server, as he doesn't want anyone to know he is using it. Here, he felt like he was getting a hang of the game…with the help of a tutorial. Slowly, but over time the robotic alligator was understanding it. To the point that Montgomery is able to get a few wins off of the computer.

Then comes GARY.

Gary, the online user who suddenly sent Monty a request to play together. It startled the glamrock gator, no one was supposed to be playing the game during work hours. Much less be using the very server he was logging into. Yet, the bassist played along and agreed to play with the user.

That ended up being Montgomery’s biggest mistake.

Every. Single. Game against Gary ended with the robotic alligator losing. The guy was just too good, and the animatronic alligator hated it.

He was determined to beat Gary by any means necessary. Every free time that the robotic alligator had was spent on mastering the cards. Now, Monty is ready.

Logging on the server through his interface, the gator animatronic is greeted by two other users: Geologamaps and UrsineStars135. Geologamaps is on the left with a squared image of a globe, while UrsineStars135 is placed on the right with a squared image of a starry night. “A full house…” Montgomery crossed his arms. It’s closing hours, but a few of the workers remained to finish some business within the shops of the megaplex.

[ So, what should we play? ]

[ Goldfish? We havent play it in a while. ]

The bassist ignored the text bubbles, he was more focused on his target. Gary. “Where is he?” The robotic gator’s tail switches impatiently as he walks around the miniature golf table, “He better not have left early.” A ping catches the robotic gator’s attention.

: GaryvEEE65 HAS LOGGED IN :

“Finally!” Montgomery exclaimed. He quickly sits down and texts.

[ Ur late GARY. Wat took u?! ]

A square-shaped image of a smiley face appears across from the glamrock gator. [ Ah KajuIn1O. Nice to see you again ☺. ] reads a text bubble above the smiley picture, [ Ready to play? ] Smug as always, the cheeky user. The green glamrock huffs, [ Watevr! Just choose a game already! ] He’s ready, tonight WILL be the night that Gary is going DOWN. Another text bubble appears above the other user.

[ Hey Ursine! Lovely night we’re having♥ ]

Monty groaned. There Gary goes flirting with Ursine, again. He ALWAYS does this! It annoys the robotic gator, because all of that flirting takes up time from the game! And URSINE, whoever this user is, it is SOO clear that they like Gary. Every single flirt the guy throws their way receives a “♥” at the end of their sentences. It’s cheesy, it makes Montgomery’s eyes roll, and it irritates him. That, and Ursine keeps bringing up space facts. Which reminds the green glamrock of Freddy…

His eyebrows furrow. Has Ursine been hanging out with Freddy? Would make sense, the bear animatronic seems to be obsessed with that kind of stuff. Or, maybe Ursine is a Freddy fan-

[ Earth to Kaju! We’re waiting for you to accept ☺! ]

The bassist notices the message from Gary. At the bottom of the screen is a pop-up message that reads, “Accept the game? Yes / No” [ Oh. Sry. ] Monty texted before pressing the yes button. The game begins.

Geo is selected as the dealer to deal the cards on the virtual table. ‘Okay, Monty,’ the robotic alligator cracks his neck, ‘time to beat Gary. Once and for all.’ His hand raises up in front of him: Two queens, two fours, two twos, a seven, a six, an eight, two jacks, a nine, and a five. Huh…a bit more cards in the animatronic alligator’s hand than usual, but whatever. Another message suddenly appears, before the glamrock.

“How much will you bet?”

Weird, why would the game ask that? Isn’t the betting feature turned off? With a shrug, Montgomery looks at his choices and chooses ten. Each text bubble reveals what everyone betted. Geologamaps bets three, UrsineStar135 bets three, and finally Gary bets three. Hah, only three? Losers. When the green glamrock’s text bubble appears to show his bet, the reactions from everyone confuse him. [ Um, Kaju, maybe you should redo your bet. ] texted Ursine. Despite there being no audio behind those words, it is clear that the user wrote it with concern.

[ Too high. Go down :( . ] Geo texted. [ Yeah buddy you have it too high. Lower it to a reasonable number for yourself ☺. ] texts Gary. Monty snaps out of his confusion. [ Wat? U think I cant win 10 points or smthn?! I show all of u! Just watch! ] He angrily texted. He’ll show them! Getting ten points will be a breeze for the bassist! In fact, the glamrock gator will get far more than ten! Like, a hundred points or something!

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

……Why…is Montgomery LOSING?!

He doesn’t understand, he’s playing the game, right?! Right?! Then, why does the robotic alligator only have ONE POINT OUT OF TEN?! Geo had gotten all three points, Ursine had gotten FOUR points out of three! Gary? …That cursed user has FOUR. POINTS. OUT OF THREE, TOO! Monty sat there in shock. He’s down one card.

The jack of spades.

“I don’t get it…” He muttered as he stared at his point again. One. Just one point out of ten. The dread begins to sink in, the green glamrock is going to lo-NO! He fiercely shakes his head. Montgomery can still win this! Just play this last card and hope for the best! “C’mon card…” He utters to himself, “help me win.” Ursine sends out a nine (♠), and Geo throws out a four (♠). When it’s Gary’s turn, the user uses a six (♥). Monty’s eyes grew.

He has the stronger card!

The bassist sends out his jack into the pile, and the stack is automatically given to him. “YES!!” The animatronic alligator cried out with excitement. His body jumps off the couch as his fists punches the air. He did it! HE finished the game! HE WON the game! HE BEAT-

The results pop up.

Montgomery eagerly reads the verdict. The scores are tallied up, and according to it Monty and Geo had gotten…-38 total points. His toothy grin shrinks as the enthusiasm within him fades.

…What?

“You lost.” the text reads at the top, “You did not collect all of your bet.”

…..He lost?

The glamrock reads further. Gary and Ursine’s total points are 62 points.

Freddy can hear a muffled scream from outside of his green room. He knows the reason behind it, Monty is about to have a temper tantrum in his green room. Thankfully, the girls were hanging out in Mazercise, so they are far away from the upcoming mess. The robotic bear sent a message, [ You could have gone easy on him. ]

[ Sorry! I got caught up in the game ☺! ]

A small smile appears on his face as he leans back against his couch. [ I know “Gary”, but you need to learn to have some restraint. ] The glamrock bear was introduced to the game by DJ, who had a fun time beating the employees under his online disguise. He didn’t even find out about the online rivalry the bassist had with the music man’s persona until the robotic spider brought it up in their casual conversation. The lead singer pauses for a moment, [ I do not think Monty even knew we were playing Spades. ]

Spades, a trick-taking card game in which spade cards always trumps. It can be played in pairs or alone against three other players. The rules revolve around being able to succeed in filling out one’s bet. Each player sets the number that they plan on collecting before the start of the game. That becomes their goal in how many “tricks”, or piles of cards, they need in order to win. Each player throws a card into the center of the table. The card with the highest number in the pile, goes to said player that used it. Spade cards are the strongest, and easily overpowers any card that isn’t another spade. In pairs, the player and their partner must help each other meet their set number before the other team. The game is over when all players have no cards left in their hand.

The game isn’t played by the staff, mostly due to the majority not understanding how to play the game properly and the others not wanting to be accused of gambling during work. However, it was found in the list of games that was available, and DJ was eager to try it out after playing it solo for a while. Though, the glamrock leader will admit that it took some explaining what bet meant in the game for him to be okay with playing it at all. [ Well we did try to tell him. ] texts the music man, [ I mean we’re playing in pairs. ] True, Freddy was paired with the robotic spider while Geologamaps, who was Mapbot, was paired with Montgomery.

[ He made me lose >:( . ] texts the animatronic worker. The poor bot got the short end of the stick when it came to choosing partners. The disc jockey had begged her to let him and Freddy pair up. Being a good friend, and fellow supporter of their relationship, Map agreed. What no one expected was for Monty to royally screw up at the game. He played almost all of his stronger cards, first. Then used up the rest of them without even realizing it. It was luck that the glamrock alligator managed to win at least TWO piles in the end. Sadly, that mattered little when the robotic gator failed to gather enough bets to meet the quota, he himself had set up.

[ We know, Geo. ] texts the robotic bear. Truly, he feels for the S.T.A.F.F. Bot. She was trying so hard to get Montgomery to listen to her in the whole ordeal, yet the gator animatronic had tuned everyone out. [ He. Made. Me. Lose. ] She texted. The emphasis alone tells the orange glamrock that Map is still furious. [ I am sorry, I will pair with Monty next time. ] He offered. It isn’t much, but it’s the least that Freddy can do.

[ Better >:( . ]

[ Hey now don't be so harsh on him, it’s a game. Live a little ☺. ] The glamrock leader’s ears wiggle as he reads DJ’s text. His hero. Another text bubble pops up, [ Okay she’s giving me an earful so I gotta go. ] Oh…she’s personally there with the giant animatronic. That can’t be good. His ears pick up a muffled sound of a large object coming in contact with a solid surface. Oh no. [ I have to go, too! Monty is about to wreck his room! ] Freddy frantically texted before closing the game. He rushes out of his green room to stop the enraged glamrock alligator from decimating as many things that are within his reach.

Looks like DJ and Freddy ended up being the real losers.

#FNAF: SB #Glamrock Freddy #DJ Music Man #DJ x Freddy #DJMM x Glamrock Freddy #Montgomery Gator #spacetunes #fanfiction

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reidgraygubler · 3 years

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going in blind (luke alvez/reader)

{image id: gif of luke alvez holding two long sleeved button ups, the one on the left is gray and the one on the right is blue. A german shepard is in the foreground. the caption reads “the blue or the grey? hmm?” end image id}

Title: Going In Blind

Request: No

Couple: Luke Alvez with Visually Impaired Reader

Category: Fluff

Content Warning: swearing (if any), mentions of service/guide animals, mentions of serving in the army, brief mentions of PTSD, blind/visually impared!reader, if I missed anything or something else needs to be tagged, please message me and I will fix that!

Word Count: 2,885

Summary: Penelope sets Luke up on a blind date with one of her friends… What could possibly go wrong…?

Author’s Note: Welcome to day two of my 7 fics in 7 days event! We have more firsts with this piece of work. I tried my hardest to make this be screen reader-friendly, if this has any problems with that, please let me know. This also blocks off a square on my third (i know) bingo card. It’s for the blind date square on the @cmbingo card! Thank you all so much for the love and support! Check out my masterlist!

{***}{***}{***}

“Are you on tinder?” Penelope asked, looking over Luke’s shoulder. Luke was quick, jumping as he put his phone face down on his desk.

“What? No!” He looked over at his friend and colleague. He swallowed roughly, knowing that there was no way out of this one. Penelope already had the tools to find the truth. There was really no use hiding that from a woman like Penelope. Even if she wasn’t one of the best hackers he knew, Penelope would have worked it out of him no matter what.

“It looked like you were on tinder, Newbie,” she glared at him as she crossed her arms over her chest. Luke looked down at his phone for a brief moment, before looking up at his friend.

“He’s definitely doing something,” Spencer chimed in, looking away from his book. “He’s been picking up his phone and looking at it every other minute. That’s not an exaggeration,” he spoke looking back down at his book. Penelope looked back down at Luke with an excited smile.

“Yes, fine, I was on Tinder. It’s been awhile since things ended with Lisa and I wanted to… put myself out there, as some would say,” Luke spoke as he gestured towards his phone, “and, tinder is a viable way of doing that,” he looked up at his friend and shrugged.

“What if I set you up on a blind date?" Penelope smiled as she looked down at her co-worker.

“I… I guess… you can do that," he replied, furrowing his eyebrows. He wasn't too sure what to expect from Penelope when it came to a blind date.

“Oh sweetness! I know the perfect person!” Penelope clapped her hands together as she looked back at Luke. "I'll give them your number! And then you guys can plan a date or something!" she looked down at her friend with excitement.

{***}

"Roxy, blue or gray?" Luke looked at the German Shepard that was sitting on his bed. Roxy tilted her head to the side as she looked at her owner. Luke groaned as he looked at his pet, tossing both the shirts to his bed. He looked at the two clothing items before picking up the navy blue shirt and holding it to his chest.

“Blue might be best. Who doesn’t love blue?” he looked over at Roxxy with a smile before changing into the shirt. “Alright, Roxxy, wish me luck,” Luke whispered as he rubbed the dog’s head. With one last look at the animal, Luke left, hoping to make it there on time.

Unfortunately for him, time was not on his side and traffic ended up being his new friend. And when he did finally make it to the restaurant, he was a few minutes late. He rushed to the table, hoping they’d still be there.

“So sorry I’m late, I was trying to pick what color of shirt to wear and then traffic was a nightmare on the way here,” Luke chuckled as he sat down at the table across from them. They smiled and nodded, folding their hands over the table.

“Oh, oh it’s okay, really. I was a little nervous myself,” they laughed as they lifted a hand to their chest as they spoke. Luke looked at them and smiled. He silently prayed that this date wouldn’t crash and burn like previous dates he had been on.

But, little did he know, they were doing the same thing. They couldn’t even count how many dates they had gone on that failed harder than a teen who didn’t study for a test. They went into this date expecting it to have a bad outcome.

“Which color did you pick?” they asked like it was no big deal, like maybe he already knew the biggest, most obvious fact about them. They would have assumed that Penelope told him.

“Well, I, uh, I wore the blue shirt… I wasn’t sure which color to wear,” Luke laughed, watching as they started playing with their hands.

“So that’s what color it is,” they laughed lightly before blinking. The smile they had on their lips was very genuine. They were excited. Of course they were excited, someone was going on a date with them. And, so far so good, right?

Or, so they thought...

“I don’t… I don’t get it… Am I missing something,” Luke furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at them. They had their hands resting in their lap. As a certain nervousness took over, they began pulling at their fingers, popping each knuckle.

“Did Penelope not tell you,” they nervously chuckled, blinking slowly as they shifted in their seat.

“Tell me…? Tell me what?”

“I’m blind,” they chuckled again. The silence that fell between both of them was tense. It was obvious that Luke had no clue that they were blind. Of course, they went into this blind date knowing whoever it was might not have known it was a literal blind date. It wouldn’t have been the first, or last, time Penelope left that detail out.

“Oh… Oh… I’m… I’m so sorry,” Luke muttered as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. They laughed and shook their head.

“It’s okay. Really, it’s fine. I knew Penelope probably didn’t tell you,” they chuckled lightly before shrugging.

“I don’t know why Penelope didn’t mention that you… you’re blind,” Luke laughed as he brought his glass to his lips. They laughed and shook their head.

“I honestly wouldn’t put it past her… Wouldn’t be the first time she’s done that to me,” they smiled, reaching their hand out to feel for their glass of water. “Well, I’m not totally blind. I can see shapes if they’re being backlit. So, like if someone was standing in front of the sun,” their smiled and nodded before bringing the glass to their lips. After taking a sip, they carefully placed the cup back on the table. “Does that make sense?” they cocked their head to the side.

“Yeah, yeah it makes sense,” Luke nodded as he looked at them, “So, I picked a pretty good spot then, huh?” he asked as he realized that he was facing away from the sun.

“Well, I was the one who picked the spot, silly,” they couldn’t help but laugh. Luke felt somewhat comforted by their laughter, laughing lightly in return. “I knew the window seat would help me in that. It’s nice having the shape of my date,” they kept laughing. In their head that made sense, but thinking back about it now, they weren’t too sure if it made sense out loud.

“How… How did you go blind? If you don’t mind me asking,” Luke asked, his voice soft as he spoke. He wasn’t too sure if it was insensitive to ask that, but he was genuinely curious. If he didn’t find out through them, he would have just asked Penelope.

“Oh, uh, yeah you can ask,” they laughed again. Luke smiled, it was clear he really liked their laughter. Part of him was happy they couldn’t see how he looked at them. But the other part of him was upset that he couldn’t share the same things he saw with them. “I went blind when I was really young. I was like 5. If it wasn’t a million dollar word that you probably didn’t understand, I’d say it. But, I basically went blind because of an illness,” they smiled and nodded.

“Wow, I… I can’t even imagine…” Luke started but let his words trail off. Of course, how would anyone ever imagine being blind at such a young age? But they’ve heard that from so many people, and not just people they went on dates with, but friends, nurses, strangers on the street, and even family. They didn’t let it bother them though.

“Yeah, the number of times I’ve heard that,” they shrugged as they reached out for their glass of water again, “Trust me, it’s fine. I’ve been blind all my life, basically. I’m like a professional at it or something,” a small snicker came from them.

“Do you have a service animal?” Luke asked, watching as they expertly placed their water back down.

“His name is Pickles,” they smiled as they dropped their head down, “He’s a Labradoodle,” they felt happiness spread through their body as they talked more about their pet. Although, he was more than just a pet, than just a dog to them. Pickles was basically their best friend and family.

“I bet your Pickles and my Roxxy would be great friends,” Luke enthused with a laugh. Their head jerked up as if they looked at him the second he mentioned having a dog.

“Is Roxy a service animal?” they asked, resting their hands on the table. Luke smiled and nodded.

“Roxy helps with my PTSS…” he supplied a proper answer when he realized they didn’t see the nod.

“Oh my goodness,” they whispered, a sudden anxiety grew in their stomach as they thought of what to say next. But, they didn’t really know what to say.

“It’s all good now. Roxy’s my best friend. I’d be lost without her,” Luke swallowed roughly before nodding again.

“When did you serve? Where did you serve?” they asked, cocking their head to their shoulder.

“Uh, several years ago now. I served as part of the 75th Rangers in Iraq… with the U.S. Army,” his words got quiet as he spoke, but they were just loud enough for them to hear. They smiled and nodded.

“Thank you for your service, Luke,” the date whispered with a soft smile, “And now you work for the FBI."

“Yep! And now I work for the FBI,” Luke laughed and nodded, “Wouldn’t trade it for anything. My team is like my family,”

“You know, that wouldn’t be the first time I’ve heard somebody say that. Penelope speaks so fondly of you,” his companion smiled as they ran their hand across the tablecloth. Their shoulders relaxed as they felt the fabric beneath their fingertips. “Well, she speaks fondly of everyone she knows, so I suppose it’s hard to judge that. But, she does talk about you and your team a lot. More often than anything else. Other than Sergio, of course,” they laughed, which in turn caused Luke to laugh.

“You’re not wrong. She really does talk about everyone she meets like they’ve done no wrong,” he agreed with a soft laugh.

“Which is impressive in her line of work, because of everything she sees. But I think that’s something Penelope and I have in common. I think too good of people. I think it would be too hard to work in the FBI, though,” they wrinkled their nose. “I’ve met some pretty shitty people but not serial killers… Not that bad,” they shrugged and dropped their shoulders.

Thankfully the moment was saved when the waitress came up to the table and took Luke and his date’s order. Playing it safe, they got spaghetti with sauce and cheese. Where as Luke ordered steak with vegetables.

“That sounds yummy. Hopefully it’s as good as it sounds,” they smiled and nodded. “Sorry I was intense about talking nice about other people. I don’t know. Working for the FBI sounds like it’d be cool, but very exhausting.”

“It is… It can be mentally and emotionally draining,” Luke nodded as he leaned over the table, resting his elbows on the edge to keep himself up. “But, it makes up for itself… See people be reunited with their families… It’s worth it then,” he nodded as he thought about previous cases he worked on.

“I’d never be able to do that,” they blinked before shaking their head, “I don’t know how Penelope does it,”

“A lot of courage. She surprises me everyday,” he laughed. This time it was their turn to appreciate his laughter. Though they couldn’t exactly see his face, they could imagine what was in front of them. The happiness and love he had for a friend. Luke’s date loved that he loved his friends like they were family.

“Anyways, enough about me and my work…” Luke cleared his throat as he watched his date rest their elbows on the table. “Tell me about you. Like, uh… What kind of music do you listen to?” he raised an eyebrow.

{***}{***}{***}

“You should have taken her seriously when she said blind date," Luke’s date chuckled lightly as the two of them walked down a cobblestone path. Their arm carefully rested on Luke's as they walked. Their other hand held their cane, tapping it across the ground in front of them.

"I agree, wasn't expecting it to be a literal blind date," Luke returned the chuckle, "But I had fun," he added as he looked down at his date.

"I did too. I'm kinda glad Penelope didn't tell you I'm blind," they laughed nervously. Truth be told, they were scared Luke would have ditched them. It’s happened before, what's not stopping it from happening again? They couldn't count how many times it has happened.

Luke abruptly stopped in his tracks as he looked down at his date. It caught them off guard, forcing them to turn and face him.

"What? Why'd we stop? Did something happen?" As the grip they had on his arm softened a little bit, the grip on their cane tightened. A certain fear filled their body, not sure what was happening at the moment.

"You know…” Luke started, pausing for a moment to find his words. The date pulled their hand from Luke’s arm as they turned to face him more. “I would have come whether Penelope told me you were blind or not," he continued, lifting a hand and resting it on their shoulder. They jumped slightly, not expecting the friendly gesture.

“I know… Well, actually, I don’t know. Because you wouldn’t be the first person to say that to me,” they swallowed roughly before dropping their head to the ground, “The number of failed dates I’ve gone on… Is a little embarrassing… And, the number of people who knew I was blind before the date and ditched… Is even worse,” they whispered as they stepped back away from Luke. Luke furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at his date. He couldn’t figure out why someone would ditch someone as cool as them. So what if they couldn’t see as well as others, or at all? They still deserved to be treated like a normal human.

“You don’t deserve that,” he muttered as he stared at his date. They smiled and nodded, already knowing that. “And, frankly, this is the best date I’ve been on in a long time,”

“I’m glad to hear that. It was a pretty good date for me too,” they smiled, as their hand returned to his arm. “Where are we anyways?” they took a deep breath and shuffled closer to his body.

“Down the street from your apartment,” he replied, looking down the street.

“Did Penelope give you my address?” they tilted their head up to him as they spoke. Luke’s date wouldn’t put it past Penelope, honestly. They expected it.

“Yeah, she said I should pick you up. But you said you would take an Uber…” he replied with a nod, “When we left the restaurant, I parked a few blocks away from your apartment, so we could walk… And so this date wouldn’t end,” he laughed lightly. His date couldn’t stop the large smile growing on their lips, feeling their heart pitter-pattering quickly in their chest.

“You really mean that,” they stopped tapping their cane across the ground as they began trusting Luke.

“We'll have to do this again,” his date laughed as they turned to face Luke, “I had a lot of fun tonight,”

“Of course I mean that. I told you...This is the best date I’ve been on in a while,” Luke laughed as he sensed their new level of trust in him.

“I wish this night didn’t have to end,” they said with a bubbly smile. Luke enjoyed the excitement of his date and hummed in agreement. Even though they both wished the night could keep going, the two walked in a comfortable and warm silence to their apartment.

“Yes! We will. Maybe we can walk Pickles and Roxy in the park,” Luke smiled as he looked down at them.

And just as he got to the bottom step of the small staircase, he stopped for a brief moment before turning to his date. “I’ll see you later,” Luke smiled at them.

“I won’t,” the blind date smiled as they rested their hand on the railing beside them. Luke froze when he realized his verbal mistake. His mouth opening slightly as he looked up at them with shock in his eyes.

“Aw man, I totally fudged that, didn’t I?” he pointed at the date before shoving his hands in his pockets. They laughed and shook their head.

“No, no, don’t worry. It’s fine. I thought it was funny. It happens all the time, actually,” them smiled and nodded, “I better let you go. It was nice meeting you, Luke,” they grasped their cane with both their hands as they turned to face him more.

“I’ll definitely call you,”

“I’ll definitely text you,” the date grinned before turning and entering their apartment.

if you want to be a part of a taglst or have any comments about this one shot, let me know here

taglist: @mggsprettygirl , @thebluetint

#shadow posts stuff #shadow writes stuff #masterlist #luke alvez #luke alvez x reader #luke alvez x you #luke alvez fanfic #luke alvez fan fic #luke alvez fanfiction #luke alvez fan fiction #criminal minds fanfic

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amanda-teaches · 5 years

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Chilly Night Hunts

Summary: Freezing your butt off on a hunt in the middle of a cold, fall night, Dean finds a very fiery way to keep you warm.

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Square filled: Flannel for @spngenrebingo and Free Space for @spnfluffbingo2019

Word Count: 1202

Warnings: Minor bit of swearing, some fluffy fluff, and Dean being all cute and humorous

A/N: This was written for @because-imma-lady-assface for my Fall Drabbles. Her request was “Chilly night around a bonfire with Dean ;)”. I may have gotten carried away and written this slightly-longer-than-a-drabble fic in one night, but I’m not sorry. Happy first day of October, y’all!

The crisp, fall wind blew past you, sending leaves cascading around your hair and a chill running up your spine. You shivered involuntarily and drew your flimsily-thin sweater tighter around your chest, but it did little to guard against the chill. “What crazy person’s brilliant idea was it to schedule a hunt in the middle of a stupid Fall night?” you muttered under your breath, knowing full well the driving force behind the idea had been you and only you.

Dean turned at the sound of your voice, picking up only the barest of a whisper carried to him by the wind. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” you mumbled, your now-chattering teeth doing little to conceal your discomfort from him. “You see anything yet?”

He shook his head, giving you an irrational urge to kick him just for the hell of it. “You sure we got the right place, Y/N/N? I don’t see any signs of a werewolf pack.”

You frowned, growing more and more miserable by the second. “I’m not sure of anything right now except that I should’ve stayed back at the stupid motel with stupid Sam.” Dean raised his eyebrow at that cutting remark, stopping in his tracks and turning back towards you. “Sorry,” you apologized, fitting your arms into the crooks of your elbows in search of warmth. “I didn’t mean to snap at you, I’m just really, really cold.”

“You are?” Dean wondered offhandedly. “Really? I don’t think it’s that bad. Maybe a little chilly, but…”

“Yeah, that’s easy for you to say, Mr. 12 layers of flannel,” you snapped again, your shivering returning full force. “Some of us aren’t unnaturally giant space heaters.”

Dean’s face softened, his eyes traveling up and down your body to take in your pitiful state in mere seconds. “Okay, that’s it.” He held up his hands to form a make-shift T. “Hunt time-out. We’re getting you warm.”

Your eyes widened as they met his. “Dean, we’re in the middle of nowhere and it’s like 30 freaking degrees outside. How could I possibly get warm?”

Dean rolled his eyes as he stepped closer to you. “Okay, first of all, Little Miss Dramatic, it’s barely 45, and, second of all,” he muttered, shrugging off his outer layer of flannel and wrapping it around your shoulders, “take this.”

You opened your mouth to argue, but instantly closed it as a cloud of flannel-coated warmth surrounded you. You closed your eyes, sinking into it with a happy sigh as Dean pulled it tighter around you. “Mmm...warm….”

Dean chuckled while he quietly snapped the buttons closed, adjusting the flannel slightly until it covered you completely. “Better?” he whispered.

You nodded slightly. “Much.” Finally opening your eyes, you were surprised by how close he’d gotten, his face just inches from yours, making you tilt your head back to meet his gaze. “Thank you,” you responded, your breathless whisper matching his. “But, what do we do now? Keep looking or head back to the car?”

Despite how cold you were, even with the thick flannel wrapped around you, you said a subconscious prayer that he’d pick keep looking, if only so you’d get a chance to stare into his eyes in the soft fall moonlight for just a little bit longer.

He smiled and shook his head. “Neither.” He placed his hands on your shoulders and guided you over to a nearby log, gently pushing you down until you were sitting. “Sit here. I’ve got a better idea.”

Without so much as another word, Dean disappeared into the woods, leaving you alone and very, very confused. You looked after him for a moment, wondering what he was up to, before you decided to huddle deeper inside of his flannel and just wait.

Almost reflexively, you breathed in his scent, wrapping the flannel around your neck and bringing it up to your nose. The warm smell of gunpowder, leather, and whiskey enveloped you, and you smiled, the smell, so instinctively Dean, bringing you an instant sense of peace. Before you could begin to question that reaction, Dean returned, an armload of wood in his hands.

“Dean?” you questioned, but he just smiled, using the soles of his boots to clear a small little circle in front of you. He placed the armload of wood down, holding a finger up to his mouth with a grin to stop your questions before they could start. “Just wait. You’ll see.”

He quickly turned and disappeared into the woods, and, three armloads of wood later, he squatted down beside you, pulling his trusty lighter out of his back pocket. With a dramatic flourish, he lit it and threw it onto the triangle-shaped woodpile, watching as it instantly caught fire. “Voila! Bonfire!”

You laughed, shaking your head. “Okay, so one, that’s a waste of a perfectly good lighter.” You caught Dean’s grin before continuing. “Two, how the hell did you get it to light so fast?”

Dean chuckled and moved to stand beside you, plopping down next to you on the log with a laugh. “A good boy scout never shares his secrets.”

You laughed out loud and shook your head even harder. “You were never a boy scout, you liar.”

“Okay, okay,” he acquiesced, holding up his hands in surrender. “I’ll tell you, but you’ve gotta promise never to reveal my secrets.”

“Pretend scout’s honor,” you promised, drawing another throaty laugh from him. God, how you loved that laugh. It made your heart skip a beat just hearing it.

He turned towards you and leaned in close, whispering in your ear despite the emptiness of the forest around you, his breath tickling your neck. “The secret is a liberal helping of dried leaves and just a little bit of this,” he revealed, holding up a flask.

“Ha, you jerk!” you exclaimed, pushing him away with a laugh. “I thought you had some crazy ingenious method. You just used whiskey?!”

“Hey, it’s the good stuff,” he chuckled. “80-proof.”

You looked at the roaring fire for a second. “Isn’t that dangerous?”

Dean grinned, slow and easy, leaning back on his hands. “Come on, Y/N/N, I’m a professional.”

“Yeah, a professional jackass,” you shot back with a laugh. Leaning back into him, you smiled as he settled his arm around your shoulder, drawing you close until your head was tucked under his and you were surrounded by warmth on all sides. “Hey, Dean? Thanks for giving up your whiskey to keep me warm.”

You could feel him smile against your hair, his stubble scratching you gently. “Anytime, Sunshine. Can’t have you freezing to death on me out here, now can we?”

“No we can’t,” you mumbled happily, burrowing just a little deeper into him so you were covered completely by his unrelenting, flannel-shrouded warmth. You closed your eyes and sighed softly. “Warm is good.”

With your eyes closed, you missed the way Dean’s eyes flicked down to your still form and the way his breath hitched as you snuggled closer to him, his stare filled with wanting. “Yeah,” he muttered, mesmerized by the way the light of the fire tinted your hair with fiery golden streaks. “Warm is good. Very, very good.”

Forevers- @hamartiamacguffin @mrsdeanfuckingwinchester @katymacsupernatural @impandagrl @cyrilconnelly @impala-dreamer @castielhasthetardis @jarpadandjensenaremyheroes @be-amaziing @jalove-wecallhimdean @there-must-be-a-lock @mysterious-398 @hannahindie @emoryhemsworth @ohmychuckitssamanddean @wi-deangirl77 @carryonmywaywardcaptain @ericaprice2008 @masksandtruths @roxyspearing @squirrel-moose-winchester @sweetpeamoose @babypieandwhiskey @deans-dirty-writer @roxy-davenport @heyitscam99 @starry-chaos @spnbaby-67 @rideandwritethings @mogaruke @atc74 @dolphincliffs @closetspngirl @maddiepants

Dean Tags- @akshi8278 @whimsicalrobots @dean-winchesters-bacon @adoptdontshoppets @alexwinchester23

#dean winchester #dean winchester x reader #dean winchester fanfiction #dean fluff #supernatural

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worstgirleva · 4 years

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This thread will explore the character design and visual cues for easy identification of characters in homestuck. Go in detail about design choices for specific characters and how they work well in differentiating the characters

It has already been explored how her long jacket makes her look smaller, but it’s an interesting addition to her design and balances all the indigo she wears otherwise she would be wearing more indigo than her actual color. When looking at the base sprites for characters in homestuck it’s interesting how they’re both at the same time 1: very simple, following the same base and lacking various characteristics (like noses and ears) and 2: extremely easy to differentiate from each other.

Even arguably the two characters most alike to each other, June and Jake who have the exact same face and only differentiate from each other by their hair and outfit are easy to tell apart even when ignoring their bodies and looking only to their faces.

And of course we should mention the use of different glasses for easy identification of the characters. In a comic where characters are so simple it begs the question: how to make characters easily identifiable? The answer? A lot of glasses.

Jake and June again are the only ones who share a pair of glasses, all the others have one completely unique to them. Jade has round ones, Jane has oval ones, and we absolutely can’t ignore the iconic Strider shades.

Dave and Dirk’s shades have not only become something to easily identify the character, but almost a platonical symbolic representation of their characters. Dirk’s glasses specifically considering how unique they are and how they associate him with anime protagonists

This makes the few characters like Rose and Roxy that don’t use glasses almost unique in their own ways. When six out eight kids wear glasses being the only ones who don’t becomes a novelty (not even mentioning Meat Roxy’s heart shades).

Other subtle details in each character like how their hair is build, mostly using basic shapes that don’t even look like hair and more like a symbolic representation of hair. Like Dirk and Dave's hair are literally birds turned 90 degrees.

Other details like Rose’s headband, the Prospit kid’s buck teeth in contrast with the Lalonde’s lipstick and between their eyes with Jade and Jane’s while June and Jake only have dots for eyes.

Their symbols on their chests and the main detail of their outfit is also a huge signifier of who you’re looking to and part of their personality. Also the only hint of color in their initial outfit designs.

Their bottoms are all also simple and minimalist representation of their clothes. Jade has a long skirt that slightly sits on top of her shoes: You can either read that as just a normal part of her long skirt, or that she’s too small for her skirt.

And now we get into how their designs are so abstract that you can easily have different interpretations of visual things. Some things are just shapes and colors in a way different people will interpret it in different ways.

Maybe Roxy’s hair just looks like that or maybe it’s meant to represent the beehive haircut that was popular in the 60’s linking to Mom Lalonde’s vintage housewife aesthetics.

So let’s skip to act 5 and take a look at the trolls: The first one to have their appearance shown is Karkat. You can consider him the default troll that all others are defined by how they’re different from him.

He has no glasses, little bags under his eyes and what I like to think is the equivalent of buck teeth connecting him with June. They also help his face look less blank. Adding fangs and teeth to trolls is another easy way to make their designs unique.

His hair is very wild which fits into being an literal alien and presents how other trolls will also be wild and have more different designs. His shirt is black, a clear juxtaposing to the kid’s white outfits as the trolls have mostly black clothes.

Creating a clear distinction between kids and trolls and a shared motif between each group. Karkat also has a symbol on his shirt, but a astrological sign one in contrast with the kids having mostly symbols that don’t properly make a pattern.

And of course: he has horns. Giving each character unique horn designs fitting their zodiac motif and personality is another great way of differentiating between them. Each one has a distinct pair of horns that can be easily used to differentiate them.

The next to be introduced is Gamzee: His expression reflects his personality. His hair is even more wild and barely even looks like hair. It's just a lot of shapes together conveying the idea of very wild and unkempt hair.

His horns are much longer and his teeth looks like proper fangs and his facial paint and pants details reinforce his clown aesthetic. He also wears his blood color on his shoes presenting the pattern.

Why is Gamzee often considered the tallest troll? All characters in homestuck have no clear size distinctions. In this image we see Nepeta and Equius (who fanon wise often have very different body types) having the exact same height and body type.

And while Karkat is shouty, he is also harmless, making it common the body type of a very angry little marshmallow. Kanaya on the other hand is composed and refined, making it easy to view her as tall, but in a very different way that Gamzee is tall.

Terezi, has a much more kempt hair and a simple design. Her horns are small, just a little more sharp than Karkat’s, but she is also the first one to have glasses, bright red ones like her shoes which connects her design to Vriska.

Her glasses are another point of iconicity. Where you could only draw a piece that is enterily composed of her glasses and the viewer will know that it’s about Terezi Pyrope.

Her smile and her sharp teeth is another point that brings her personality out. She is sharp and although she is smiling it’s not a friendly and welcoming smile. It’s a smile that invokes fear as she is not scared of violence.

Sollux is another one that comes with iconic glasses. They’re not only useful as a visual signifier, but it fits his duality theme and the two universes. They’re perfectly round in contrast of Terezi’s sharp glasses following shape theory

Rounder shapes are whole and friendly in contrast with triangles that are more dynamic, volatile and aggresive. Sollux might not show it, but he is also harmless and one of the trolls with the largest common sense among the twelve and highly caring for the others.

He also has 4 horns. They’re all very simple, but the fact he has the double amount than all the others not only also fits his themes, but also helps to easily differentiate him from the others. His hair is short, simple and somewhat kempt.

Unsure over the intent of his “bangs”. Are they just short? His hairline? There is a joke about him cutting his hair with funny scissors. Interpretation. And for last his shoes also fit his theme of duality. A small detail, but helps to build his character with few cues.

Tavros has a mohawk (or side cuts, interpretation) and very large bull horns. He wears sandals on the color of his blood and a jacket in contrast to all the others that wears only shirts (something he shares with Vriska)

We will be mostly focusing on Aradia’s dead form because she just changes forms too much in a period of time too small. First: her eyes are completely blank a very clear visual signifier if you ask me!

Her ram horns reinforces her motif and red lipstick and lashes makes her face that would be otherwise quite bland more unique. Her skirt reflects how she is dead and i like the implication that her shirt is button up one.

Another on the list of “things that are implied, but not actually confirmed so its open to you on how you want to draw them”. Her hair is long and fluffy, like a sheep’s fur! Another fitting into her motif.

Next we have Nepeta. She is the first one to have clothes of the blood color of someone important to her. Directly connecting her design to her moirallegiance to Equius. Her mouth and horns fit into her cat motif and her wild hair reflects how unkept she is.

And how long can we talk about homestuck without her eventual appearance? That’s right, the next one to introduced is Vriska Serket. Part of the iconic glasses gang her half shades aviator and eightfold eyes makes not only for an easy signifier that “yes, this is Vriska”

But fun fact! the reason i started reading homestuck in the first place was because i saw an image of vriska and i wanted to know what was the deal with her eye.

Her horns reflect the hook and and arrow in her symbol, but also there’s meta about how it represents the sun and the moon. Much to think about. It also connects her with Kanaya as they share one horn since both of their signs are “M”s.

Her jacket is something she shares with tavros and her red shoes she shares with Terezi. Her large hair has a small bit that reminds me Jade which I like to think links to how they’re almost opposites, but I might be just making this up (interpretations!)

Also her eye patch and metal arm links her to captain hook, but I already wrote a very long meta on that too. https://tinyurl.com/qooc5el

Next is Equius. His horn is broken which explores how trolls *can* break their horns over physical trauma. It fits into his symbol and also phallic metaphors. He also wears iconic glasses: square shattered ones with eye bags underneath.

His default mouth brings in to the fact he constantly breaks his teeth and he is one of the only characters with straight hair. And for last: while Nepeta wore indigo all over her her body, Equius doesn’t wear a single piece of green clothing.

Kanaya somewhat follows Terezi and Vriska’s of bright red pieces. Her hair is short and very sharp with few details. Her visible fangs make her mouth more unique. Her long skirt connects her with Jade as they’re both space players.

Her design is clean and conveys very well the idea of how refined and consistent she is. She cares about her appearance and also her T-shirt long sleeve shirt combo also helps to make her more unique

Eridan and Feferi are awfully more detailed than the others like the more far from Karkat we get the unique designs do (which also reflects on how detailed the dancestors are). But anyway.

Eridan is the only one to have dyed hair. His face doesn’t need that many details as he also has those big square glasses and seadweller fins. He wears a lot of Vriska’s color showing how he didn’t moved on from their break up and golden rings to show royalty.

Feferi is almost the only one with no bangs which already makes her design unique. Her golden tiara and goggle make her face unique and simple to signify. her outfit is awfully detailed compared to others with golden jewelry and whatever that skirt was.

All the unique glasses help to frame all the character’s faces and make clear who they are even with the lack of noses, ears or different facial shapes. All the different types of tooth and color of lipstick help to easily differentiate their mouths

It ends up creating designs that could be hyper simplified and still be recognizable. Reducing a character to it’s bare essentials, but it’s already presented on it’s bare essentials so you only elaborate on that.

Not only that but they're reduced to platonical symbols that can easily be subverted so a character can be so many different things.

And here’s hyper fast doodles of each character I did to prove how simple it is to convey an image that can easily be related to each character.

A few more bits on other characters: The midnight crew all have unique body shapes as they lack hair and have very simple designs. They also have unique hats for each one.

Doc Scratch’s head is a white circle. You really can’t go more unique than that. You see a large white circle, that’s doc scratch. It's hyper simple, but also not meant to be interpreted. It *is* a circle and that's it.

The Felt has very unique body shapes since there is way too many of them and they need to be clearly different from each other. They also have unique mouths and and hats, not only in color, but also in shape, to elaborate on that.

The cherubs, well they’re green so it’s easy to distinguish them from other characters and it's interesting how they're so similar to each other, but also so easily differentiated: eyes, cheeks, mouth expression and outfit is all you need to see the clear distinction.

thank you for reading

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ardenttheories · 5 years

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I think one of the biggest letdowns about the Meat Epilogue for everyone seems to be how much it trashed the development of the characters up to the end of Homestuck.

A lot of people have been pointing this out most fervently with Dirk. He went from someone who was well aware of his flaws, of his obsessions, of his tendency to take over and control, of his capability to hurt the people he cares for most, from someone who genuinely cares about every single person he’s met and tries his best to be a better person for them... to someone who was actively harming them without a fucking care in the world, under some misguided theory that he was doing the right thing.

And yes, I recognise that this is because of the Ultimate Self bullshit. Dirk has become every little splinter of himself that exists across Paradox Space - all the good ones, all the bad ones, all the ones in between. All of that mingles and merges into what we get in the Epilogues, and it, to some degree, makes sense.

But here’s two thoughts for you.

Why did he have to end up like that? If, by the end of Homestuck, he was getting better, and if the chances of there being just as many Emotionally Developed Dirks as Emotionally Stunted Dirks is incredibly high, why does he have to take all those bad qualities and bring them out to the fore of who he is in the Epilogue? Why does that have to be the route he goes down, when he was in such a good position when Earth C was created and when he’s merged with plenty of emotionally capable Dirks as part of becoming his Ultimate Self?

When Homestuck ended, I considered Dirk a Realised Prince of Heart. A Prince of Heart who’d worked through all his shit, opened up to people, recognised that he needed to share his burdens and to let people in - to use his powers for good, not for the harm of the people around him. He was aware of what he could do, and actively choosing to use it in a productive way.

In the Epilogue, he’s a True Prince of Heart. He’s destroying without truly recognising it as destruction. He’s become the epitome of what it means to be a Prince of Heart, without any growth of character or any attempt to use what he can do for the benefit of the people around him. He’s hurting them instead; shaping them into things he thinks they should be, completely disregarding their individuality because of his own thoughts on free will and how illusive it is.

This is the Dirk we had at the beginning of Act 6, merged with the Bro we saw at the beginning of the comic. And sure, from the standpoint of the Ultimate Self, it can make sense - if you disregard the fact that he could as easily become a Good Dirk as a Bad Dirk.

But what makes this suck so much as a fan is that, as people, we fucking hate seeing characters lose their development, and that’s what we see happening to Dirk. He’s regressed back to a point prior to all his development throughout Act 6. Everything that we saw him achieve has been lost, and it feels cheap because it fucking is cheap. It’s a literary constant. It’s one of those things that you don’t do. Destroying a story worth’s of development for no actual reason, or without showing why they’ve regressed, will never come across well. Especially in regards to an idea as abstract as the Ultimate Self - and, again, the very clear knowledge that Dirk, even as an Ultimate Self, didn’t have to end up like this when you consider his position at the end of Act 7.

The development doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t flow. You don’t just go from “emotionally developed individual” straight back to “emotionally distant and morally perverse”, even with an idea like “he’s fused with every other instance of himself” - because logically, if he was in a good position, why wouldn’t he remain in that good position? What about the Ultimate Self ruined his development? Why does merging with every version of himself - the good and the bad - suddenly revert him all the way back to square one?

Which brings me on to thought two. I hope you’ll excuse me for the really dumb choice of fandom to explain this.

Supernatural is notorious for frequently setting its main characters - Sam and Dean - back to square one in terms of emotional development. Inevitably, something that was resolved in series 6 ends up being revisited in series 7 without explanation. Emotional issues that the brothers had resolved almost always become an issue again; relationships that they thought had healed always find a way to come back; issues with their past that they had come to terms with almost inevitably cause them to split up yet again, and become the main issue to be resolved throughout the new series.

This, from what I can tell, is a big reason why a lot of people fell out of the fandom. It’s why I did. You can only watch characters grow, and regress, and grow, and regress again over the same thing so many times before it starts to get disheartening. Just when you think they’re better, that they’ve solved it, that everything’s okay, it’s brought up all over again to make them suffer over and over and over. There’s only so much of this you can take in a character before it becomes dull, or boring, or unrealistic.

And that’s exactly the issue with Dirk’s development in the Epilogue. For a lot of people, it’s unrealistic. Even with the Ultimate Self taken into account, it still seems wrong - because we’re seeing him go through the same mistakes all over again, and when you’ve already seen it once, seen him get through it and grow and progress and and become better, seeing it again but worse does not leave you feeling satisfied. It’s disheartening. It’s narratively a cheap move to try and cause more tension.

The fact of the matter is, whether that’s the point or not, it’s a sign of bad storytelling. There’s no reason for Dirk to have slipped during the Epilogue, other than “because Hussie said so”. Narratively it just didn’t need to happen. Narratively, it’s not what people were expecting, either. And dropping something this huge without providing any hints beforehand just doesn’t work. If you’ve set up a character to get better, to be in the best possible place he could be, or on the road to recovery, suddenly pulling out a regression of character doesn’t work. It won’t feel satisfying because you didn’t imply the possibility - you didn’t build suspense, you didn’t leave the seed for people to think about at the end of Act 7. You just dropped it, at random, and expected people to be prepared for it.

This is like Hussie pulling out a gun and yelling “aha! Look at how wonderfully I have crafted this masterpiece!!” without ever having insinuated that he was going to pull out a gun to begin with.

Compare this, for instance, to the reveal that it’s Adult John who ends up getting sucked into the Ultimate Treasure alongside Teen Jade, Dave, and Rose as part of the Epilogue. This is a good drop. This is a good reveal. We knew this was an event that happened; we knew that it was something an unreliable narrator had said; we knew this was something that never actually ended up happening in the main story of Homestuck. This isn’t a surprise because the foundation of the reveal was all there. We knew it was John, Dave, Rose, and Jade that would end up in there - we just didn’t know which John, Dave, Rose and Jade it would be, or why. Our expectations for that scene are shattered, but because of how it was set up it ends up being more shocking and more exciting because of it. All the pieces were put in place for Hussie to build on.

That’s not what we get with Dirk. The pieces put in place for him were that he was meant to get better, that he was improving, that we’d see him as the best Dirk Strider there could possibly be - a foil to Bro, the abusive dickhead Dave had dealt with his entire young life, someone who would step up and take the shape of a healthy familial figure in Dave’s life. This subversion doesn’t work. Not in a satisfying, enjoyable, or natural way. It’s shocking, yes - but it’s a bitter shock, a shock that no-one saw coming, rather than a shock that suddenly blows your mind.

A Dirk who goes from “I wish I could love Roxy, because (s)he’s the best one out of the lot of us, and (s)he deserves that” to “I’m going to actively misgender my best friend because part of my Ultimate Self was merged with Lord English and I rely heavily of the dichotomy between male and female to understand myself” is interesting, yes, but not the way it’s done. It’s fucking horrific to read Dirk talk about someone he’s meant to love that way, and it’s not a good sort of horrific.

Ultimate Self Dirk being the douchebag he is in Meat can make sense and work, sure. But not in the way Hussie framed the narrative of Act 6-Act 7. When you’ve framed your narrative to make the character grow, reverting everything in some shock twist at the end will never settle well with your fanbase. That’s why Dirk’s role feels weird, and out of place, and overall bad on an emotional level. The jump was too big, too unbelievable - and for the main plot point of your Epilogue, that’s not really what you want to end a series.

#long post//#homestuck epilogues #character analysis

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erinoddly-archived-blog · 5 years

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THoE Chapter 1

Here is the full first draft of the first chapter of The Hounds of Edrus! I’ve posted this before but keep taking it down, so hopefully I’ll keep it up this time....

Please leave any comments you have on how this could be made better in the next draft!!

The thing about prophecies was that they were more like puzzle pieces than any sort of coherent thought; a mess of imagery and metaphors that needed to be translated and pieced together, even though there was always something crucial missing. That was why Roxie thought it was extremely stupid to do this ritual year after year to try and force a prophecy. The chances of her being able to make sense of any sort of prophecy the gods granted her in return were slim to none. She knew that.

She knew that, and yet here she was, dressed in the dusty orange robes she was forced to wear every summer, with her green eyes smudged with kohl and her face covered with sharply defined lines of orange paint, with her dark hair tied back in a long braid and adorned with small bells, all to perform some dumb ritual that was virtually pointless. But as long as the elders asked her and Eli to do it, as long as they believed that the power of twins would bring them good fortune and more answers than they knew what to do with, she would participate.

Hell, as long as her brother asked her to do it, she would.

Because unlike herself, Eli seemed to love the ritual. She figured it had something to do with the fact that he wasn’t the one who had to smell like incense for the next week. Which was absolutely stupid because as twins they should have been treated the same, but because she was the bard of the family, he didn’t have to smell like burnt herbs every time the elders decided they wanted to find an answer on how to end the drought.

“Roxie?” A voice startled her out of her thoughts. She spun to find Eli in the doorway of her changing room, leaning against the door and smirking. “I called your name like five times.” She stuck her tongue out at him. Because she was a very mature adult.

Usually, looking at her brother was like looking in a slightly distorted mirror. Since they were twins, they looked almost the same. They had the same light green eyes, the same bronze skin, the same general build and face shape. But on ritual days, looking at him was like looking at a stranger. Where the black around his eyes somehow looked right in place, hers contrasted too much with the lines of orange across her face, making her look more like a pumpkin. Where Eli normally wore neutral clothing, ritual days required him to wear deep blue robes with small, silver bells attached and washed him out. And then, of course, where he usually never cared about his hair, his wild curls had been wrestled back, nestled firmly underneath the white and blue mask he’d slip on once the ritual started. Ritual Eli was nothing like Normal Eli. If she didn’t know better, she’d actually assume they were two different people.

“We’ve only got a couple minutes ‘til we need to start.”

“I know.” Of course she knew. No matter how used to attention she was, it was always hard to get up in front of a crowd of onlookers to give an offering to the gods in hopes that she’d be granted a prophecy she didn’t even really want. “I just don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.”

He sighed. Roxie understood his frustration, at least. She’d never fully understand what was going through the elders’ minds, no matter how many times Eli tried to explain it to her. “They’re just trying to help.”

“Aren’t there better ways to help? Researching magic, looking into curse breaking, anything like that? Something that doesn’t involve placing the hopes of an entire country on a prophecy that a 17-year-old girl may or may not have?”

Eli sighed again. “It’s been 150 years. Don’t you think they’ve tried everything else?”

It had been 150 years since the drought had started, 150 years since the traitorous mage Sabrine had cursed the land, 150 years of the mages of Edrus being imprisoned and forced to work their lives away to try and reverse the curse.

“Magic evolves, doesn’t it? That’s what Mom always tells us.” She knew it was a stupid argument. She had pulled the exact same card on him the year before. And the year before that. And probably before that, too, but she didn’t bother remembering that far. She knew his answer word for word before he even opened his mouth to reply. “Magic can’t evolve if all the mages are locked away, I know, I know.”

Eli glanced at her, something almost afraid in his eyes. It was a look she knew all too well. Every mage in their village had worn it at least once. But still, she hated seeing it on her brother. She wanted to say something, anything, to comfort him, but he turned away before she could.

“Come on.” His voice became muffled as he slid the mask over his face. “You wanna get this over with, right?”

“Right.” She followed after him, down the long, narrow hallways of the temple, brushing her fingers against the cool, white marble. The temple had sat in Ayrith for as long as anyone could remember, built long before the village of Ayrith by settlers from Afrea. That was the one good thing about the rituals, she thought. After Ayrith had been founded, the Kingdom of Edrus had forced the settlers to worship the Edrusian gods, and the old temple had fallen into disuse. Having these stupid rituals gave the old building a purpose beyond a fancy storage shed.

She followed Eli up the long, spiraling staircase that led to the second floor, her heart thumping. Once they got up to the second floor, it was only a few steps until they were at the balcony overlooking Ayrith’s main square. Once they got there, the ritual would begin. The ritual that would supposedly bring her visions of how to end the drought. For some reason, it made her stomach twist.

Prophecies weren’t unusual to her. She’d been having them all her life. So that wasn’t the problem. What was? What was it that was making her guts twist and wrench within her? What was it that was making her feel like the floor would crumble out from under her at any second? She reached out, grabbing a hold of Eli’s hand. He didn’t miss a beat before squeezing back.

“Ew, stop acting like the older sibling.”

She could hear him snort a laugh behind the beastly mask he was wearing. “You’re only 7 minutes older. That doesn’t count. Besides, you’re the one that wanted to hold my hand.” He laughed harder as she ripped her hand from his and slapped his shoulder.

The distraction had been a nice change of pace, but they both fell silent as they stepped onto the second-floor landing. It was easy to hear the dull roar of the crowd below from so close to the balcony. How many people had come from the neighboring villages to watch some silly ritual? How many of them would leave disappointed?

“Scared?” Even if Roxie couldn’t see Eli’s face, she knew him well enough to know that he was smirking at her.

She huffed. “You wish. I’m way better in the spotlight than you.”

“And yet I’m the one who’s gotta be center stage.”

There was a moment of silence. She could feel waves of tension rolling off of her brother and reached out, taking his hand again and giving it a harsh squeeze, relaxing when she felt him squeeze back. It always felt better to her to be the one comforting him.

“Let’s do this.”

The crowd fell silent as the twins walked out onto the balcony, taking a small bow before sitting cross legged on the floor, clasping their hands in front of them. There was no room for the crowd to sit down, but they all clasped their hands together and bowed their heads over them.

Roxie took a moment to drink it in. The square was filled with people, packed together, all there to watch the two of them. It was almost intimidating. Ayrith was a small village, only a couple hundred people at most. All of them knew each other’s names. Now, looking out into the crowd, she could only pick out a couple of familiar faces mixed in with a sea of strangers.

With a deep breath, she let her eyes drift closed.

“We humbly ask you, O Gods of the Sun and the Moon, to accept the gift we offer.” The words of the prayer spilt from her tongue as easily as her own name. Part of her wondered if she had already learned the prayer before she even knew how to say her name. “We offer a gift for a gift. Please grace us with the answers we seek, a way to bring the rain.”

Eli clapped twice.

The crowd followed suit, almost deafening in comparison to the normal quiet of the village. She stood, backing away and letting Eli move forward toward the balcony’s edge. Honestly, she had never understood why Afrean gods decided they wanted songs and dances as offerings, but it was better than killing a virgin, at least.

Behind her, the elders prepared their instruments. They were all traditional instruments of Afrea, delicately crafted from dark wood and silver strings, embellished with carvings that she didn’t understand. As they struck the first note, Eli began to move.

If there was anything that she knew about her brother, it was that he was one of the most graceful people she had met, though years of dance training would do that to anyone. It was almost shocking watching him now, though. The boy dancing in front of her, all graceful turns and perfect movements, was a far cry from the boy she knew who would stumble and trip over his words and his own feet the moment he got flustered. It was almost amazing.

But she was only allowed a moment to watch him before she had to focus on her own part of the offering.

The words flowed out of her mouth like a river, carefully arranged to not distract from Eli’s movements. She knew the lyrics like the back of her hands, though she didn’t know what any of the words meant. Her father had been Afrean, but he hadn’t taught either her or Eli the language before he disappeared when they were 11. Still it was a pretty enough song, and distracting enough. Before she knew it, it was over.

Once again she took her place next to her brother, both of them dropping into small bow. The crowd bowed back as the twins turned and took the couple of steps back into the temple.

Eli pushed the mask back up onto the top of his head. He took ahold of the collar of his robes, trying to fan the sweat off of his face. “You’re so lucky you don’t have to do that in a mask. It’s so fuckin’ hot under there.”

“Don’t be a baby,” she snickered, pushing him with her shoulder. He stuck his tongue out at her. “No one would be able to hear me if I wore a mask. Even if I want to.”

She grabbed the mask from his head, despite his objections. No one was really sure what material it was made from, but the white was still cool against her skin, despite Eli’s claims that wearing it made him hot. Where her face paint, made to replicate the Sun Goddess, was all angles and sharp lines, the blue paint decorating the mask’s long snout was as curved as the horns jutting from the top of its head. It was made to look like a dragon, one of the many forms the Moon God had been said to take.

“Elijah, Roxana.” Roxie handed the mask back to her brother as footsteps approached them.

Philip, one of the village elders, stood in front of them, smiling gently. Sometimes Roxie thought that was his default expression. It was rare that he was ever seen without a smile on his face. That was probably part of the reason Eli took such a liking to him, seeing him as a father figure.

But a quick glance at her brother showed that Philip was the only one smiling now. When Eli spoke, his voice was tight. “It’s time?”

“It’s time.”

The walk to the inner sanctum was long and silent. The twisting feeling had returned, and Roxie once again felt like the walls were closing in on her. Based on Eli’s apprehension towards Philip earlier, she wondered if he had felt it too. If he had felt like something might actually happen this year.

The inner sanctum was the innermost room of the temple. For the ritual, the small room was decorated with silks hanging from the ceiling and walls, colored in reds and golds and pinks. The floor was littered with soft, colorful cushions and a small table stood in the middle of the room, holding nothing but a matchbox and a metal bowl, painted a bright teal, that held incense inside of it.

Eli sucked in a breath, but gave her a small smile. “I’ll be right here when you wake up, okay?” With that, Philip put a hand on her shoulder, gently leading her towards the middle of the room. She sighed as she sat down on the cushions, watching Philip move.

He lifted the matchbox, taking a single match out and striking it against the box. As the fire came to life, Roxie took a steeling breath. It was time. Time to see if the gods would be helpful for once in her life. Philip glanced at her, the smile gone from his face. She nodded despite the fact that his face felt like a bad omen. He nodded back and dropped the match into the incense bowl. It only took a moment for the room to fill with the scent of herbs and some other things she couldn’t quite place, things that she was sure had some abstract name that made no sense. But it was part of the ritual, no matter how much she hated smelling like burning herbs for a week afterwards. The incense was said to bring about prophecies, so it was necessary, since prophecies tended to be fickle little assholes who came and went as they pleased.

Sleep pulled at the edges of her mind, darkening her vision. Her pulse, which had been racing with apprehension, began to slow. Behind her, she could still faintly hear Eli and Philip talking softly, and why this incense had no effect on them when it put bards to sleep almost immediately was beyond her.

Everything went black.

When Roxie opened her eyes, she was standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The wind was screaming, crying for help, but she knew there was nothing she could do. Even though she could hear it, she couldn’t feel it. Nor could she feel the grass under her bare feet. She was there, but she wasn’t there. This wasn’t where she was meant to be, but it was where she was destined to be. Everything was wrong, yet exactly how it was supposed to be.

The sky was dark. Pitch black, not a single star or cloud in sight. Down far below her, the waves tossed and turned, discontented and angry. She couldn’t see the color of the dark water, but the foam was a sickening red. Sitting over the waves, hanging in the sky, was a glass box. Eli was kneeling inside of it, a fist pressed against the side. As he beat against the side, screaming soundlessly, Roxie could see his fear, his desperation. But he was safe in there. As long as he stayed, he was safe. Nothing would happen to him. Nothing could touch him. Nothing would ever hurt him again.

Why couldn’t he understand that? Why was he still fighting so desperately?

The glass cracked. She wanted to scream at him, to tell him to stop and not to break it. Her mouth fell open, but nothing could come out. Eli looked at the crack for a long second before rearing back and hitting it with as much force as he could muster.

All at once, everything came to life. The box splintered into a million pieces, falling into the sea. Roxie felt the scream she had been trying to force out rip itself from her throat as her brother fell, his body limp and lifeless, a bloodied sword lodged in his chest. The sky broke open, blood raining down over her. The sound of the wind changed, turning from a howling scream into a woman’s voice, repeating the same words over and over.

The wheels of fate have begun to turn.

The wheels of fate have-

She screamed for the voice to stop.

Until she felt the familiar cloth of her brother’s robes in her fingers, she didn’t realize she had been reaching out. Just as promised, he was right there when she woke up, his hands rubbing comforting circles into her shoulders and his face twisted with worry.

Usually, prophecies were broken and messy things that she couldn’t make out. But this on was easy to understand. It basically spelt everything out to her.

The only way to break the curse was for her brother to die.

#wip; thoe #though i'm still working on the first draft...hm...#long post under read more

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peinde · 6 years

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((yeah

- What is your Full name? Include any maiden names, aliases, or nicknames. 3B| My name is Feferi Peixes-Pyrope. Nicknames include Fef...T)(e Princess of Fas)(ion...and...Feffy-Weffy... - When is your birthday? Do you know where you were born and at what time? June 26t)(! I was )(atc)(ed on Alternia, but I don’t know w)(en. - What is your star sign? Do you know your Chinese Zodiac too? I am a Cancer! I’m year of t)(e Rooster. - What is your earliest memory that you can remember? I don’t like t)(inking about my memories, t)(anks. - Where was your childhood home? Was it more urban or rural? I guess you cod say it was rural? Nobody else lived near me, and t)(e only friend t)(at ever came to visit )(ad to fly over. - How was your childhood in general? Did your parents treat you well? Did you have a lot of friends? My lusus treated me reel well! I didn’t really )(ave lots of friends at all. - How was/is school? What is your favorite and least favorite subjects? What were your grades on average? Sc)(ool sucked. - Did you have a best friend growing up? What was their name? Are you still in touch? Vriska 38)! We’re still best fronds and we always will be. - Were you in any cliques? I guess? I )(ave a circle of friends w)(o are pretty stubborn and won’t leave me alone. - Best childhood memory you can recall? ??? - Worst childhood memory you can recall? All of it? - Name an event in your childhood that has shaped you into the person you are today ...I glubbing died. - What is the dumbest thing you have ever done to impress someone? Were they impressed or was it all for naught? I do dumb stuff to impress people all t)(e tide! T)(ere’s a long list, really. - Did you ever have any sweethearts or lovers? Do you have a boy/girlfriend? I’m married and )(ave t)(ree mates. I also )(ave two lovers. - Are you a virgin?

)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A)(A!

- Do you ever plan on getting married in your life? Do you want kids? I am married, but I will N-EV-ER )(ave c)(ildren. - Would you rather have your own kids or adopt? How many kids would you want? Wtf? I said no kids??? - Do you think you'd be a protective parent or a relaxed parent? I’d be a “reverse my c)(ildren’s aging so t)(ey Benjamin Button t)(e fuck out of existence” kind of parent. - How would you prefer to pass away? Surrounded by loved ones and at peace, or while doing something heroic? Just obliterate me. - Generally, how healthy are you? Do you get sick or injured easily or are you fit? Due to my powers, I’m in perfect )(ealt)(! - Have you ever been badly injured before? W)(o )(asn’t? - What is the worst injury you have ever gotten? What was it and how did it happen? Were you ever close to death? I mean I’ve died before, does t)(at count? - How many times have you been to the hospital/doctor's? Never? - Have you ever had a concussion or brain injury? Have you ever had amnesia? Of course! amnesia’s a coin flip on t)(e fun scale. Sometimes you spend t)(e entire day finding cute fins you leave lying around, Ot)(er times you wind up in t)(e desert wit)( no p)(one service. - What was the worst illness you ever contacted? Do you know what it was? How long were you sick? I’ve never been sick in my life. - Ever had any extended hospital stays? What for? Nope! - Have you ever had to give yourself or someone else emergency first aid? What happened? O)( yes! It was awful. Vriska was bleeding from 3 big wounds! It only took a bit of )(ealing, but t)(e clean-up took FOR-EV-ER! Plus, it got on my s)(oes. T)(ose were SATIN, Vriska!!! - Are you employed? Where do you work and who do you work for? What do you do? I’m a model. - Are you happy with your current job? O)( yes! - Did you have any previous jobs? What were they and what did you do? ... - Most dangerous thing you have ever done? Anyfin I do is dangerous. - Do you consider yourself a more active person or a more relaxed person? Active. Relaxing’s for squares. - What is your dream come true? How about your worst nightmare? My dream come true is Zi-Zi. My worst nig)(tmare is losing Zi-Zi. - What is the biggest and most important goal you have set for yourself? To make my wife )(appy, no matter t)(e cost. - How persistent would you say you are? How much does it take to get you to give up on a task? I’ll never give up. You could kill me, and I’d still come back! - Would you surrender yourself to your enemies or fight to the very end? Fig)(t until t)(e end. --Enemies only kill you anyway. T)(ere’s no point in begging for mercy. - When do you usually do your shopping? What is currently on your shopping list? I s)(op w)(enever I want! I don’t )(ave a specific list, but I always )(ave a general idea of w)(at to get. - Top three things on your wishlist? I don’t )(ave a wis)(list. - Currently, what is something you want but do not need? Most of t)(e t)(ings I own. - Do you like shopping? What is your favorite thing to shop for? Y-ES I DO! I like s)(opping for clot)(es! - What is the most expensive thing you have purchased? Was it worth it? T)(at’s a toug)( one, but it usually is wort)( it. - What would you do if you were suddenly given one billion dollars out of the blue? Give it back. W)(y t)(e fuck would I need someone else’s money w)(en I )(ave my own? - What would you describe your style of clothing as? Simple, conservative, minimalist. - Do you have any hobbies? Name all of them if you can. Cooking, baking and gardening! - Do you like and appreciate art? What is your favorite piece of artwork? Art is cool, but it’s just not my t)(ing. I do )(ave an original Dali in my guest wing t)(oug)(. - Do you like music? What is your favorite style of music? )(eavy metal is pretty good, but I also really like dance and pop music! - Have you ever seen any musicals? What is your favorite? I t)(ink Roxy took me to sea Cats once. I wasn’t paying attention. - What are your top three favorite animals? What would you say your "Patronus" or "Spirit Animal" is? All of t)(e ones in t)(e sea. - What are your top three favorite colors? Blus)(, lilac, baby blue - What is your favorite season? Do you prefer hotter or colder weather? Do you like snow at all? Summer, )(ot, and s)(ell no. - What kind of flavors do you prefer: Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Spicy, Dry, or Umami (savory meat taste)? Umami, or moby spicy. - Can you cook at all? Yup! - What is your favorite dish? Can you prepare it? Do you have the recipe handy? )(and-blowtorc)(-seared sliced blowfis)(. I can prepare it, and I’ve t)(e recipe memorized. - What is your favorite fruit and vegetable? I really like lettuce. - What is your favorite dessert? What is your favorite type of candy/treat? I don’t like sweet t)(ings. - What is the best thing you have ever had the opportunity to eat? What is the worst? I once managed to eat an entire )(otdog. It was plain and bunless, but very eye-opening. T)(e worst fin I’ve ever eaten was a c)(ocolate bar. - Do you like to drink tea or coffee? Any favorite flavors? Tea! I prefer green, but I’m pretty partial to orange pekoe and pink tea. - Describe your sense of humor. Spongebob Squarepants and dicks. - What is one thing you are justly proud of? My career. I’ve worked )(ard on it. - Do you have any religious beliefs? If not, have you ever been to a church service? ---Ew, no. - What would you say is the worst thing someone has done to you? What is the meanest thing someone has ever said to you? ... - What is the worst thing you have done to someone? What is the meanest thing you have said to anyone? ... - Share the latest entry in your diary/journal. I don’t )(ave one. - What is the most precious thing you own? Is it valuable at all? Somefin given to me by my wife. It’s more valuable t)(an anyone could ever know. - Talk about someone you know. It can be someone you either like or dislike. My wife! S)(e’s beautiful, smart, articulate, cunning, considerate, compassionate, funny, talented and t)(e most perfect person you could ever meet! S)(e’s got t)(e most beautiful body, all squis)(y and curvy wit)( lovely folds. A smile t)(at bot)( terrifies and delig)(ts. ---Eyes t)(at burn wit)( joie de vivre and dept)(. A devilis)( cackle t)(at rings t)(roug)( my ears like music. S)(e’s got t)(e sensibility and wisdom of a monk, wit)( t)(e revenge streak of an assassin gone rogue. S)(e’s stuck wit)( me t)(roug)( all my bulls)(it, and is t)(e only reason I’m alive. I love )(er so very muc)(. - FREE QUESTION ???

#long #fis)(canons

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edenfalling · 7 years

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[Fic] “I Am the One Who Lives with the Ocean” - Homestuck

mme_hardy said: Calliope/Roxy, having a cuddlepile on Earth C after all the fireworks have died down. Basically, what we can do now that we don't have to do anything.

Note: This ficlet was written in response to the Cotton Candy Bingo square soft. It is also a Genprompt Bingo fill for the square monsoon.

This is tangential at best to Madame Hardy's prompt (and also only tangentially fluffy), but it's the only version of this thought that was willing to coalesce into a fic with a beginning, a middle, and an end, so I am declaring victory and getting out rather than letting this project devour me alive. *wry* (700 words, slightly tweaked from the draft on DW)

[You can also read the fic on AO3.]

--------------------------------------------- I Am the One Who Lives with the Ocean ---------------------------------------------

1. Callie's skin is beautiful. Soft as baby pumpkin leaves, tough as sailcloth, and covered in a dusting of impossibly tiny scales: a thousand variegated shades of green, shimmer-glittery in the white-gold light of your new sun. Like butterfly wings, damp from the chrysalis, beating once, twice, and again as she gathers herself to fly.

That's the simile you say out loud, because you're pretty sure the other one -- that her skin reminds you of the iridescent slick of fish oil on quiet seas, a mélange of summer warmth, clear skies, and the rare sense of satiety after hauling in an unpoisoned catch large enough to feed the whole colony -- might come across wrong. Callie's references lean heavy toward generic 20th century America, before the fishqueen took over, and that culture thinks fish oil's a gross health food at best.

Still, you rub your fingers together after stroking her cheek or hand or ankle, and almost expect the callused whorls of your own skin to gleam with stolen rainbows.

-----

2. The weirdest thing about Sburb wasn't the zombies or the magic powers or anything like that. It was standing on dry land for the first time in your life, knees braced for motion that never came and ears straining for the vanished sound of waves.

Being with Callie's like getting your land legs all over again every morning, familiar world turned upside-down to show vistas you never dreamed might be yours to grasp.

You have never been more excited to face each new day.

-----

3. Callie loves the rain. She grew up on a world without weather, an Earth old and tired long past the point of clouds or even plate tectonics. She likes the way rain feels on her skin, the way it makes everything green and grow. She even loves lightning and hurricane winds. You've already lost count of the times you've sat on your porch, obsessively reviewing supply lists and generator repair procedures, while she stands laughing in the middle of a storm.

Storms bring change, she says, when you take her sailing in the bay at the foot of Can Town's verdant fields. Just like the sea, she says. Just like you.

Her lashes flutter against your cheek, delicate and tender like baitfish nibbling your toes or the tiptoe of butterfly feet.

-----

4. On the ocean, there are no solid foundations. Your whole colony was always moving, even on calm days, and when a storm hit it was like being inside a blender, bouncing up and down on a fuckton of unhappy waves while the wind and rain bitchslapped you from every direction at once. And it's dark and slippery and totally disorienting -- people could blow right over the edge of the settlement if they weren't careful -- but you couldn't stay indoors and huddle because stuff always leaked and broke and if you didn't fix it right then and there, that fuckton of angry water would swallow you whole.

The number of hours you spent bailing basements when the pumps shorted out does not bear thinking of, not to mention all the deeply ominous crap you and your neighbors had to pick off the roofs and toss back into the water once the sun came back. The ocean is older than the land, and bigger than the land, and it never quite forgave life for venturing past the surface and forsaking gills for air.

All water comes from the ocean and returns there in the end. Every drop of rain remembers that ancient betrayal. Why else do rivers wash mountains into the sea?

You still tell Callie you love storms.

You love them because they make her happy.

-----

5. Water shapes itself to its container, but its inner nature never changes. Water is only ever itself.

No matter how many countless generations ago your ancestors left the sea, the human body is still at least fifty percent water. Much of the rest is oil.

You don't know if the other scattered fragments are enough to let you follow Callie when she gets tired of resting, when she realizes soft isn't the same as weak. She's always been strong enough to spread her wings and spiral into the storm.

-----

6. Even fish can grow wings.

--------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------

I have noticed, over the years, that I have a tendency to get kind of experimental (in both structure and phrasing) when dealing with water imagery. I am not sure why that is.

Possibly I should try doing something similar with other imagery sets.

#liz writes stuff #mini ficlet prompt meme #homestuck #roxy lalonde #calliope #cotton candy bingo #genprompt bingo #in conversation with the internet #madamehardy

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erinoddly-archived-blog · 5 years

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THoE Ch.1

Hell, as long as her brother asked her to do it, she would.

“We’ve only got a couple minutes ‘til we need to start.”

Eli sighed again. “It’s been 150 years. Don’t you think they’ve tried everything else?”

“Come on.” His voice became muffled as he slid the mask over his face. “You wanna get this over with, right?”

“Ew, stop acting like the older sibling.”

“Scared?” Even if Roxie couldn’t see Eli’s face, she knew him well enough to know that he was smirking at her.

She huffed. “You wish. I’m way better in the spotlight than you.”

“And yet I’m the one who’s gotta be center stage.”

“Let’s do this.”

With a deep breath, she let her eyes drift closed.

Eli clapped twice.

But she was only allowed a moment to watch him before she had to focus on her own part of the offering.

Once again she took her place next to her brother, both of them dropping into small bow. The crowd bowed back as the twins turned and took the couple of steps back into the temple.

“Don’t be a baby,” she snickered, pushing him with her shoulder. He stuck his tongue out at her. “No one would be able to hear me if I wore a mask. Even if I want to.”

“Elijah, Roxana.” Roxie handed the mask back to her brother as footsteps approached them.

But a quick glance at her brother showed that Philip was the only one smiling now. When Eli spoke, his voice was tight. “It’s time?”

“It’s time.”

Everything went black.

Why couldn’t he understand that? Why was he still fighting so desperately?

The wheels of fate have begun to turn.

The wheels of fate have-

She screamed for the voice to stop.

Usually, prophecies were broken and messy things that she couldn’t make out. But this on was easy to understand. It basically spelt everything out to her.

The only way to break the curse was for her brother to die.

#thoeu #I wanted to repost this so that I have something for thoe on my blog #i accidentally deleted everything whoops #anyway note that this is a messy first draft version and is subject to change #long post under read more #sorry to anyone on mobile

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