#tl: miss Vegas

[inverswayart]

i'm still on the trip so here's another sketchbook sketch of Ino, this time in her post-game glory (a few years into ruling New Vegas)

As a ruler she's basically Mr. House 2.0 but slightly more self-aware (and waaay pinkier). The fact that she manages to lose/alienate most of her inner circle save for Rex and Yes-Man in following years doesn't help

#tag for art #doodle #tag for ocs #innocence bennett #fnv courier #courier six #fnv #fallout #fallout new vegas #once i'm back to my computer it's over for y'all #tl: miss vegas

[captainreecejames]

Wrong City - CL16 smau

in which you commit to the bit on Instagram

authors note : I hope you guys like this one! Originally it was going to be a different post every city and driver, but I didn't think that would really be enough so it became a short story on charles. Let me know if you want one on a different driver as I still have a few captions in the notes.

pairing : Charles Leclerc x FEM!reader

warnings : none

ynusername posted --------

liked by bsfinstagram, yourmominsta and others

ynusername as the french say "soo la voo" or whatever

joris_trouche and who ate that second gelato? ↳ ynusername I had both duh 🙄🙄🙄 ↳ joris_trouche and that isn't Charles favorite flavor ↳ ynusername it's obviously my second favorite

pierregasly what??? ↳ ynusername isn't that what you say? I'm confused ↳ francisca.cgomes looks right to me ↳ ynusername thank you!

username22 quick flex in italy

username14 oh to kiss Charles leclerc in front of the trevi fountain in Rome, Italy

carlossainz55 I'm telling!!! ↳ charles_leclerc booo you whore ↳ charles_leclerc yn made me type that ↳ charles_leclerc but please don't tell

yourfriend1 did you try those gelato places I sent? ↳ ynusername yes, we agree they were so good! ↳ joris_trouche we??

username12 a woman in a white dress in italy will always have me going 🤨 ↳ username36 miss yn do you have anything you want to share with the class

username29 she's chronically on tiktok like me

landonorris get this off the tl ↳ charles_leclerc just cause youre chronically single doesn't mean we need to cater to your needs ↳ ynusername get him babe!

liked by georgerussell63, lewishamilton and others

ynusername when in rome 🇮🇹🤪

pierregasly don't fucking piss me off ↳ ynusername oooh someone's even more sensitive than the monagasque

francisca.cgomes you are so pretty it actually hurts me ↳ ynusername babe look in a mirror ↳ francisca.cgomes our spot in 15 ↳ ynusername see you then babe

username27 oh she's committing to the bit huh ↳ charles_leclerc you have no idea ↳ username27 CHARLES HI

username83 when will it be my turn?? 😭😭

joris_trouche was the croissant good ↳ ynusername yep and I didn't share it ↳ charles_leclerc she tripped running away from me when I asked for some ↳ ynusername i thought we weren't sharing that info ↳ charles_leclerc sorry ma cherie

oscarpiastri you let that croissant touch the wall? ↳ ysusername of course not, what do you take me for? a loser

lorenzotl hope you had a good time ↳ ynusername we did <3

liked by yukitsunoda0511, pierregasly and others

ynusername what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas

username71 can't wait for the Vegas post now

username26 okay now she's teasing us about Vegas '19 ↳ username38 LER US KNOWWWWW

arthurleclerc bestie!!! ↳ ynusername little bro!!! ↳ arthurleclerc 😑🤧

username45 she really is feeding us with boyfriend charles content ↳ username28 I know, thank you yn. 🙏🏼🙏🏼

bsfinstagram she's everything, he's just there ↳ charles_leclerc accepting my role as trophy husband ↳ bsfinstagram husband 🤨🤨 ↳ charles_leclerc you know what I mean 😑

username74 now why are Arthur and BSF being weird ↳ username90 asking the right questions cause why are they being weird 🤨

alex_albon stop kissing on the tl, there are kids here ↳ ynusername weird to use third person but to each their own ↳ alex_albon im talking about logan

liked by scuderiaferrari, lilymhe and others

ynusername you know I love a monaco boy 🇲🇨

load more comments

username82 HE LOOKS SO GOOD OMG ↳ username82 LIKE THAT POST RACE GLOW IS JUST 🧑🏼‍🍳💋 ↳ username82 WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE ↳ username82 WHY ARE YOU IN ALL WHITE MS. YN

username63 Ma'am, you simply cannot post this then disappear

charles_leclerc ma cherie 🤍 ↳ ynusername you called?

lewishamilton congrats! ↳ ynusername thank you sir lewis. ❤️❤️

sebastianvettel wishing you two all the best ↳ ynusername thanks seb, from both of us

scuderiaferrari can't wait to welcome mrs. leclerc to the paddock!

username20 that post race glow hit so hard they got married

username30 yn please tell us he didn't wear that to the chapel ↳ ynusername he looked very handsome at the chapel, don't worry ↳ username30 that somehow doesn't make me feel better. was he wearing a costume?

tomholland2013 congrats you two! ↳ zendaya i guess our invites got lost in the mail? ↳ ynusername reception soon!!

yourmominsta my beautiful girl and handsome son-in-law ↳ ynusername love you mama ↳ charles_leclerc love you maman

username93 when she goes from the g in wag to the w >>

olliebearman you look amazing yn! congrats ❤️ ↳ ynusername awww thank you ollie ❤️

maxverstappen1 congratulations, no inchidents hopefully? ↳ ynusername you just can't let it go, huh? 😭 ↳ maxverstappen1 nope, little leclercs will know this story from my point of view ↳ ysusername please slow down 😐

lilymhe party soon? ↳ ynusername yes! I need a proper bachelorette party

username29 wait this wasn't planned?? ↳ username22 girl, vegas weddings are not really ever planned ↳ username29 yeah but when did he propose to her? if they didn't even have time for the bach parties, then i don't think they thought about this at all, makes me sad. you don't get married on a whim ↳ username22 take a breath. this is not your relationship ↳ username94 also they've been together for years, so this really isn't something out of the blue. plus they've joked about getting married on twitter and insta before, so it's something they both wanted. not that any of this is really our business

bonus post

liked by ynusername, andferrari007 and others

charles_leclerc and ynusername forever

#charles leclerc #charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc x fem!reader #charles leclerc smau #charles leclerc soc med au #formula 1 #formula 1 imagine #formula 1 smau #my stories

[runawaymarbles]

Would you be comfortable sharing that flow chart you mentioned in the tags about different ways Black and white people start conversations? It seemed really interesting and practical, but of course no worries at all if not! Thanks!

it wasn't about Black vs white conversation starters specifically: it's about making small talk at work without starting off with assumptions or putting them in an awkward position of having to explain something they shouldn't have to. (E.g. I do not outright ask people where they're from, what they do for work, etc.)

Context: I photograph newborns for work.

Example: Grandparents are usually good for at least three minutes of conversation, but you cannot ask about the baby's grandparents, because there's a non-zero chance that they are deceased (worse: recently deceased) or on bad terms with the baby's parents. So instead I'll say something vague like "is everybody very excited about the baby?", which gives the parents the choices of saying something like "Yes, all my friends are texting me for updates" (inference: they do not have close family; I might follow up by asking if many of their friends have children already) or "I didn't tell anybody I was pregnant" (got that once, it was fascinating, we had a good time discussing how she planned to spring it on people) and "Yes, she's the first grandbaby on the dad's side so his parents are thrilled"

The last one unlocks dialogue options like: oh do the grandparents live in town? No, they live in Nevada? I went to Reno as a kind and it blew my tiny mind. Is that where you grew up, or did they move there later?

Then they'll either say "yes that's where I grew up" and I can ask what brought them here (potentially opening such topics as: their jobs, if they say they came here for work; whether they miss sunnier weather, and so forth) or they can say "no, I grew up in Scranton but my parents retired to Vegas" or just "they moved later" and not mention where they grew up, if that's not information they feel like sharing. Then I can ask if their parents are enjoying wherever they've moved to, possibly fall back on some vague and unoffensive personal anecdote about said place, or go on to my next pre-programmed question* without anyone feeling awkward about it.

Some people are happy to tell me about how they grew up in Ethiopia and where their family is living now and how they came to the US to study microbiology and whether or not they like it here and if they'll be getting the baby dual citizenship and so on and so forth: some people do not, and this usually lets me skip around that without sticking my foot in it. (I'm pretty sure a lot of people don't want to say that they're Russian, for example, which makes me sad.)

The TL;DR is that I try to ask vague/open-ended questions that people can narrow down themselves, if they choose to, or make sure that a question is sort of an either/or so that they don't feel like there's a wrong answer. And I try not to assume anything about them whatsoever: sure, 99% of my clients with Indian names and Indian accents are in fact from India, but once in a while they're not. *"Do you guys have any pets? if yes: Do you think your pet knew you were pregnant?" [Most people think their dogs noticed the pregnancy, and some suspect their dog was the first one to notice they were in labor. It's fascinating. Alternately they say "no my cat's an idiot," and I can tell them about the time my aunt's cat stuck his face in a candle twice, and so forth.]

#my job #first person shooter #asks #op #sorry i think i lost the thread here a bit #anyway like I always say: when you assume you have to kink tomato out of telepathic space vampire mindfuck noncon

[magnorious]

Review: ‘We Take a Zebra to Vegas’, Percy Jackson Episode 6

***Spoilers Ahead for all books and show. TL;DR at the bottom***

After episode 5 I was starting to wonder if episode 3 was a fluke. Here we have the potential for the only non-book reference I wanted in the entire show: Would Nico cameo in the Lotus Casino?

Small, I know, but book fans were robbed of ever seeing him on screen once already when Titan’s Curse was never adapted and with his massive popularity, I was almost certain he’d be here. The closer we got to the Lotus Casino, however, the more I wanted to be wrong. Almost none of the characters look like they’re supposed to, many of them with inconsistent personalities to match. I went from hoping for a blink-and-you’ll miss it reference with a little scruffy 10-year-old that book fans would be able to tell is Nico by his appearance alone to hoping they’d not touch the matter with a 10-foot pole.

After the absurdly dramatic and angsty episode 5 that was supposed to be semi-dangerous and funny, there was a chance to have both the whimsy and wonder of the Lotus Casino, and the rather chilling escape. Before that, the conversation about conservation in the back of the zoo trafficking truck. There was a lot of opportunity for more quiet character moments as well as the adventure and absolutely no need for more nonsense filler.

Onto the episode and given that Hermes is in the thumbnail, are we all in agreement that he only exists here because he’s played by Lin Manuel Miranda? That’s the reason, right? He barely exists in the first book otherwise.

We start right off the bat with more interesting changes. Instead of IM-ing Luke in some random car wash, they do so in the zoo truck. The scene in the book was funnier, because it existed in the place that it did to be funny and the pay-to-pump water gave a clear time limit. But more importantly – they decided to scapegoat Clarisse… for reasons.

Why? Just why? In the book they spend 99% of their quest accusing the wrong person, Hades, and don’t realize they’re wrong until it’s too late. Everyone in the book was like “it’s Hades, it’s gotta be, his kids were Nazis” (a detail I still can’t believe exists, wow). Chiron said it was Hades, everyone said it was Hades, based on ancient biases that Hades spends the entire series proving wrong. He is the best godly parent by a country mile by the end of Book 5 and all of that groundwork started here, when Hades was just as much a victim of the Master Bolt nonsense as everyone else.

Clarisse is neither here nor there, because the writers didn’t have the foresight to script or film any scenes at camp of this random arrest that’s supposed to be important now. The jump cut from ‘the animals have a plan’ to them stopping traffic on the Vegas strip was funny, but it robbed the scene of the seriousness it should have had. More powers Percy doesn’t get: His ability to talk to horses and horse-adjacent animals.

Once they make it to the Lotus Casino, the script does this incredibly irritating thing where it removes the tension of the unknown from every hurdle they meet. Percy’s trapped alone against a mysterious monster in the book and has no idea how to beat it? Nope, Annabeth exposits all over it. They enter a seemingly-abandoned, mortal waterpark and only get suspicious once it’s too late? Nope, Annabeth figures out immediately that it’s a godly amusement park and they must be careful. Two twelve year olds and a satyr are immediately charmed by the glitz and glam of the lotus casino and get trapped for almost the rest of their time limit for the quest? Nope, Grover exposits all over that, too, ruining the mystery and any danger or threat.

Why?

The show also does the irritating thing where it creates problems just to solve them later and before you go “that’s the point of conflict” I mean it creates meaningless problems through meaningless contrivances, like every horror movie cliche that forces its characters to make illogical choices so they don’t just run away from the horror.

And another irritating thing! Spoiling bigger mysteries before their time: We didn’t learn about May Castellan until book 5. Why is this here? What purpose does this serve? Percy realizing he didn’t even know Luke’s last name for five whole years meant something to him. Seeing Luke’s tragic, mortal mother, after hating him for five years *means something* to Percy and to the readers. The gods damned Lotus Casino was absolutely not the place to discover any of this. Why did they do this?

Also, who tf is Augustus? He’s fine. Grover’s random side quest is fine. Every consecutive episode leaves me more and more annoyed with him, but it’s *fine*.

They do actually forget their purpose in the casino, thank the gods. Or, Grover does. Annabeth continues to give away May Castellan exposition like Halloween candy, smack-talking Hermes in a way that she’d never dare at 12 years old. Hermes is still only here because he’s played by Mr. Miranda. He’s fine, he’s just not Hermes. His “woe is me, loving mortals is so damn hard” speech exists. The sentiment is four books early, but it exists.

I understand why it’s here. They’re trying desperately to capture Percy’s internal conflict over whether or not the gods and his dad care about him, if he should let himself be disappointed presuming that they don’t. Problem is– in the book, Poseidon didn’t send a naiad to give him false promises of a clandestine meeting. In the book, the naiad told Percy there’d be a vague “gift” in Santa Monica, and Percy was never naive enough to think that gift would be his dad.

The entire season so far has tried to give nuance to both sides of the “do the gods care and should they be expected to” argument and it’s just not a very well written attempt. Why? Because it had five entire books to give both sides, and they’re shoving as much of it as they can here like they’re afraid they won’t get renewed for season 2. In doing so, they’ve made a tonal mess.

Once Hermes is gone and done randomly and spitefully sabotaging their quest, Percy, unseen, figures out that they’ve lost time and lost Grover. Also, Annabeth pick-pocketed the God of Thieves? Funny, but no. The script has its weird Mitichlorian moment sciencing lore by adding in the detail that lotus nectar or whatever is pumped in through the air, a question no one had and a plot hole that didn’t exist.

They do manage to keep the fear and unsettling realization that they’ve lost time, but their amnesia is inconsistent and confusing, considering that they overexplained how the casino works. Then they’re gone using a God of Thieves’ Car gimmick.

No Nico, thank the gods, unless he was one of the VR kids in the background. It would have been wonderful to see him in a better script.

In the book, they get instantly dazzled by the food, the video games, the nice clothes, nice suite, all things Percy could never dream about growing up poor. There is no Hermes and he only figures out something’s wrong when he meets other kids displaced from time and has to shake Annabeth and Grover from the illusion. They use their casino cash cards with infinite money to hail a cab all the way to LA and it’s funny.

They create more problems that didn’t need to exist by forcing Percy to drive a taxi and okay, that was genuinely funny. I am shocked, though, that Annabeth’s pride let him drive.

The episode comes to an end with them supposedly by the Santa Monica Pier… in a thunderstorm. In southern California. Odd choice, but okay. I'd say the storm exists because Poseidon's pissed but I really think it's there beacuse "dark and stormy night" fit their new vibe better than bright sunlight.

Maybe in live action it was tricky trying to make him both dry underwater and still plausibly underwater and not just rotoscoped in with a hazy green filter. For all their love of exposition, they never actually told non-book watchers about that, or that he can breathe underwater and control some currents. It’s also supposed to be night time, and yet he’s lit as if it’s high noon far above on the surface – they could have just written the beach scene at noon.

Then the naiad he was supposed to talk to in St Louis drops the bomb that the Summer Solstice deadline already passed, Poseidon got too impatient to wait for Percy after the casino delay, and the gods are now at war.

What the fu…..?

Percy resolves to keep going despite armageddon already happening apparently. She gives him exactly the right amount of pearls that he needs, not three, which would force him to choose, and then cut to black.

—

How is the best part of this episode Annabeth’s completely deadpan and exasperated Dude when Percy asks her not to make fun of him? That, and Percy driving the taxi.

Once again, to all the set designers and VFX artists and costumes and makeup and foley and music and score and everyone in between – you’re amazing, keep up the great work. To the actors, you were given a bad script and bad direction and you did the best you could.

Having just come off watching Game of Thrones for the first time and seeing little Arya, Bran, and Rickon Stark’s actors doing donuts around these three just goes to show that it’s not that child actors’ lack of experience that’s the problem. Heck even Baby Percy is better than these three. It’s how much or how little help they get in conveying what they’re supposed to. These kids were thrown to the wolves.

I don’t watch the teasers and I stay away from all marketing for the show. I don’t know who’s been cast to play any characters we haven’t already seen so what Hades and Poseidon look like are a complete mystery that I do hope pays off.

With two episodes to go they have the following left from the book to adapt: Crusty’s water beds, the DOA studios, the entire trip to the underworld and Cerberus and Hades that took two hefty chapters, the Ares fight, Percy’s trip to Olympus, Luke's betrayal and reveal, and the return home to find Hades had paid his debt.

Suddenly the mini series with an episode to burn in St Louis has to sprint to the finish line.

Maybe if they hadn’t spent ten minutes expositing with Hermes they could have at least crammed in Crusty and the DOA, but it looks like armageddon is already upon us so who knows? They might’ve just tossed out the rest of the book to write their own ending.

TL;DR This show is a mess and this episode actually has me nostalgic for the brevity of the horrible movie because they didn’t even try and it’s fun to make fun of. This is just disappointment stretched out across seven hours instead of speedrun in 90 minutes. The skeleton of the book (mostly) remains intact and to all those who keep saying “at least it’s not the movie,” you’re right. Enjoy.

#pjo series #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #review #pjo

[lu-sn]

For the AU game: MVP and anything involving dance - Step Up, Center Stage, Hairspray, anything!

ooooooh this is bait for me 😂 two options came to mind, but you specified MVP so here you go:

1. macau is in jail. he comes from gang roots and he got caught doing something stupid and also bad enough that they bumped him up from juvie. but he's still very young, and impressionable, and he oscillates unpredictably between teenage rage and scared kid. jail is a very bad place for him to be

2. guess who else is in jail! pete!!!! pete's been in there for a very long time for patricide an Unspecified Crime. he's not... powerful within the prison hierarchy, or anything like that, but people respect him enough to keep his distance. you don't start shit with pete

3. you're like wtf lu where is the dancing? WELL. pete's also a breakdancer.

(breakdancing culture is traditionally steeped in gang culture, and breakdancing battles between gangs in circa-70s NYC were often a way to settle disputes without outright violence. it was also something that a lot of kids who grew up then attribute to saving their lives, because it gave them an outlet to channel their time and energy and anger. it kept them out of jail. and if they were already in jail when starting to learn, it saved them there, too.)

i think a young pete with a murder charge slapped on his back and a scrawny build and boxer's fists would get into a lot of fights in jail. i imagine someone saw the raw fight in him, recognized it as potential, picked him up by the scruff of his neck and went "kid, you're gonna get your lights punched out before you hit 20" — and taught him how to break. and pete takes to it really well. it requires strength, and precision, and guts, and... not all that much sense of musical timing 😅

4. so pete sees macau getting caught up in the stirrings of a fight macau can't win, and pete hauls him out of there, and he pays it forward. macau is an angry stubborn little shit about it — but goddamn, breaking is so cool. he loves the way it feels to get a move right after hours and hours of failing. he loves how it feels to fly around in circles on the floor, almost weightless, but with power, too, power he earned with his own blood and sweat.

and macau misses his brother so much, but here pete is, taking care of him, teaching him, giving him something to put all of himself into. and pete is always so proud of him when he nails a combo, or when he battles with all his heart. macau loves it. it saves him. pete saves him

5. macau gets out of jail before pete, and he's thrilled to be back with vegas, but he's different now. settled, in a way that makes vegas so relieved. and he's talking vegas's ear off about this guy named pete who's "so fucking cool hia, he's so chill... i miss him a lot."

i am rapidly losing control of this train so i'm reining it in. tl;dr vegas takes macau to visit pete in prison and then vegas and pete fall in love and when pete gets out he comes to live with them and they're all still in the gang life but pete and macau get to dance together 4evr 😂 the end

#i thought this would be short but i'm a fool 😂 #thank you adanima for the ask ❤️ #(this all just leads to a step up type story with macau as the mc 😂😂😂) #kinnporsche #vegaspete #macau theerapanyakul #mvp #mine: asks

[vegaseatsass]

I am so rusty at writing that I hesitate to ever talk about writing things, because I almost never finish them, and even if I did, I'm not sure I would share anything publicly right now lol sob, but I'd still like to try to write something for the KPTS Prompt Fest. So I wish to once again use polls to make my decisions for me! (Thank u all for ur help in the tv poll btw; having a great time w/ Theory of Love & Little Women!) Tl;dr: Help break me out of my decision paralysis and choose one thing for me to focus on writing! (Detailed prompts after the poll)

Excerpts of full prompts beneath the cut.

1. Vegas/Porsche arranged marriage:

Bonus points for Vegas resenting Porsche for being the son his father has always wanted (or in the version where Gun's already dead, for stealing his birthright), and plotting little schemes before their marriage to ruin him and the like, and Porsche disarming him the more they get to know each other. Extra bonus points if Vegas betrays him anyway, just like in canon, but the fondness is still real (for both of them), and makes it hurt more on both sides.

2. Vegas wakes up main family heir: Vegas goes to sleep wishing, not for the first time, that he'd been born to the main family. He wakes up in an alternate universe where his grandfather made Gun the main family heir, not Korn. Gun is not a better father in this timeline. 3. Vegaskinn arranged marriage: Korn strong arms the minor family into a marriage agreement to, he claims, ease the tensions between them, but actually because he would like to collect Vegas and Macau under his roof, like chess pieces or pokemon.

It would be fun if this were set after Vegas's big betrayal, as his punishment, instead of being blacklisted and going to the safehouse, but it can also be something AU/pre-canon. The hilarious idea popped into my head of Korn having already arranged Tankhun/Porsche and Kim/Chay marriages long before he decided Kinn/blood-related nephew should happen. Alternatively, maybe Kim/Chay and Kinn/Porsche as preexisting relationships make Korn confident in his hold on the Kittisawats, and he assumes Kinn/Vegas will be a loveless Emperor/Empress marriage up against Porsche as Kinn's most beloved noble consort. 4. Porsche and Big bodyswap: Cue Big experiencing the exquisite pain of Kinn looking at him with adoration and want, but it's not actually HIM he's looking at, and fighting himself on what to do when Kinn wants to touch him. Cue Porsche having to get along with Ken and pretend he loves doing nothing but shittalking himself all day. Cue Porsche picking up on the fact that Chan is completely gone for him (for Big) after years of Big missing all the signals? Comedy, angst, any ships you want!

5. Tankhun and Kim start hearing each other's thoughts, and can't turn it off. It's actually worse when they're not in the same physical vicinity, they start hearing more of what the other is thinking and worse, so they have to start spending a lot of time together to keep the thoughts calmer and less invasive. This means Kim joining Khun for horror movie night, and yes, he does have to dress up, and Khun joining Kim…on tour? Can he do it? And what do they learn about each other when they are physically separated? What lurks in the deeps of their psychologies?

RAPE/NON-CON WARNING FOR THE REST OF THESE

6. Vegaspete, puppyplay. Vegas makes Pete wear puppy ears and a puppy tail butt plug and bark. Totally up to you if it's noncon at the safehouse or consensual after that.

7. Vegas sex pollens Kinn: Kinn is at a very important professional function surrounded by very important professional contacts when Vegas, who is also at said function, slips a drug with aphrodisiac properties into his food/drink/expensive cologne/whatever. Kinn valiantly tries to maintain his self-control, but he's only human, and before the end of the night someone — or even a team of someones — ends up having to somehow fuck Kinn until he cries while not giving any rival crime families any inkling. (@vegaseatsass note: I would 100% write this as Vegas planning to leave Kinn alone to deal with his situation, hoping he will fail but counting on Kinn superhumanly outlasting the drug, and then getting possessive about it and rushing in to take control the second it looks like Kinn's going to capitulate to unworthy outsiders. Apologies in advance to the anon that I am a Vegaskinn sicko and not a Kinn whump sicko; I hope they get this filled by a gangbang connoisseur!)

8. Vegaspete handcuffed together: Vegas and Pete are kidnapped at the auction. They wake up naked and handcuffed together. Vegas makes the most of it.

#so like realistically i will be posting any of these anonymously because that's the beauty of kinkmemes and also what i need to tell myself #to get over my brain's constant self-monitoring! #but you have no vested interest in whether it is ME writing these things or just SOMEONE! vote based on SOMEONE writing these things #kpts #polls #i MAYYYYYY delete this but any feedback u give me will help i promiseeee #this is just the number one top thing i have not learned how to handle being Perceived in #(well it's two things. writing and horny)

[heywriters]

What's your thoughts on New Weird fiction? And do you have any advice on how to write in that genre?

(If the second answer is against your ask policy, it's alright if you only answer the first one. Thank you.)

"New Weird"?

Didn't know that term, so I had to look it up. Turns out, that's the genre of one of my favorite book series, The Southern Reach Trilogy!

It's like nightmare fiction. Trippy, angsty, which-way-is-up fiction. I could not put the first book, Annihilation, down. When I did, my brain was messed up, I felt abnormal and unsafe, convinced my reality was actually crawling with strangely hostile energy. It was awesome. However, I would have to prepare for the melancholic anxiety it put me through if I chose to read it all again.

I know it's "new" but tons of old weird stuff is coming to mind now. First, stuff from the '60s my mother would describe as "nightmarish" or "you had to be high to enjoy it." Then the grim nightmare of Metamorphosis by Kaftka, the opium-addled adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Can I throw "Miss Peregrine's Home..." into the new weird pile? It is perhaps more fantasy than new weird, but it's also more horror/freak-show than magical. Plus, I loved the first book and my tastes are apparently quite weird.

There are so many movies I'd label new weird too, like Jupiter Ascending. So much stuff I can classify now!

Advice for Writing New Weird

It's described as a genre that flips science fiction and fantasy tropes on their heads, sometimes satirically. From that, I say be a reader of spec fic first. Know your tropes so you can twist them into terrifying and absurd shapes. Be willing to commit to the most ridiculous, strange ideas that come to mind. Then take them seriously (or ridiculously).

Be comfortable with discomfort. New weird is often dark and disconcerting. Establish an air of eeriness that will have no rational solution. Unlike horror and thriller where we know we will see the monster at the end or that the trauma will be resolved, new weird stays weird and rarely supplies a come-down. If anxiety is something you struggle with, have ways to come down yourself after each writing session.

New weird stories do not need to explain why they are weird. They use logic sparingly to suspend disbelief in places where reality must be hyperreal to contrast the dreaminess that will follow. Places that hold the story and theme together may need a semblance of stability and relatability to the reader, but mostly the point is that there is no logic, at least not a familiar one. Logic in new weird is entirely up to the author, like their own private language. The reader has to accept that there may never be a satisfying resolution, and be satisfied with open endings and unexplained phenomena.

Emotional catharsis is in high demand. At least, that's what I enjoy about new weird. Experiencing intense, galaxy-brain-meme levels of emotion seems to be a thing for new weird characters. Describing those emotions and what causes them may be difficult for some writers, or great inner exploration for others. When logic, reality, and other factors normally used to tether readers to a story/character are missing, emotion becomes the most relatable tool a writer can employ.

There are worse things than death. Characters in new weird typically go through bizarre transformations, horrifying circumstances, and mind-altering states. The question is often asked, "Is it worse to fall asleep in death, or to live forever as a lonely, deformed monster with warped memories of being human?" and the answer is always "Deformed monster of loneliness! With tentacle wings! And a drinking problem! And distant memories of a happier life where they were a human mother! And those aren't even their memories!" (Now I'm thinking of Lily from Fallout: New Vegas and it's making me sad).

TL;DR --- Be prepared for anxiety and chaos and strong emotions. Stick to a storyline, please, but overall go where the weird takes you.

—

+ Please review my pinned Ask Policy before sending in your ask. Thank you.

+ I'm moving to another state and the process is taking up all my time and money 😥. If you'd be so kind as to Buy Me a Coffee on ko-fi, I'd really, genuinely appreciate it. Trying my best to stay on top of this blog, but might need to take a break for a while...

#writing #writeblr #writing tips #genre #new weird #creative writing #writing blog #writing advice #writing help #spec fic #nanowrimo #writer help #answer #writing question

[chronomally]

Here is a long-ass review about Gamedec but tl;dr I've been having fun and I recommend it if you like media like Shadowrun, Fallout: New Vegas, The Sinking City, and The Matrix; as well as cyberpunk, transhumanism, and detective stories (and don't mind a little bit of jank in your games)

I'm surprised by how much I've really been enjoying Gamedec. It's an isometric point-and-click and a lot of aspects of it remind me of the Shadowrun games and Fallout: New Vegas, including the "influence" system that allows you to take certain actions or unlock certain dialogue options based on unlocked specialties, information gathered, and relationships (positive or negative) you've developed with other characters

The main game play involves hopping between different video games and solving crimes as a video game "detective" ("gamedec" = game dectective) and I've been quite impressed with the amount of thought and design put into each of the games your character enters. You gather clues and use them to make deductions (that may or may not be correct), and you can also assist (or not) the characters you meet in each video game as you progress through your assigned case. I've seen a similar design (re: the deductions) in Frogwares games like The Sinking City and Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, so it was exciting to try out a similar mechanic myself. There aren't a ton of (visual) character customization options (which is pretty standard for this genre), but I always appreciate a game that allows you to set your appearance and gender/pronouns separately (it's been nice to be able to play a feminine-looking character that still gets addressed as "he" and "sir")

Admittedly, the game can be a bit janky, which I think was the major contributor to its pretty low critic rating. The original game studio is Polish (I believe, based on the names they selected for certain characters and the fact that the game takes place in a cyberpunk version of Warsaw), and it seems like as you get further in the game, there was less and less quality checking re: translations (certain lines are missing words, poorly translated, or appear to be missing entirely). Also, considering certain interactables are only highlighted when you're standing fairly close to them, I dislike that the game doesn't contain a feature that allows you to highlight all potentially interactable items on screen; maybe I'm being nitpicky, but I feel like this is a pretty standard feature in most modern point-and-clicks. On a somewhat related note, it's not always clear where you can and can't walk; sometimes the game takes a second to respond or dislikes where you've clicked, and sometimes you just...can't walk to that spot

To be honest, I'm not very good at judging moral choices in video games vs. Moral Choices in Video Games (TM) but I thought that the game offered a fairly wide variety of ways to settle cases and play your character. You're generally free to be money-hungry, job-focused, compassionate, or a dish out Code of Hammurabi-style justice as you see fit. The first case deals with graphic themes (there's a comment with more detail about this on their DoesTheDogDie page) and I don't think the resolution options are quite extensive enough, but in general there doesn't seem to be a "right" answer to a lot of the things that are going on, especially as you progress further through the game and begin to unravel the larger mystery that links together the cases you've been solving

Overall, like I said, I've been really enjoying this game, to the point that I'm kind of surprised and almost disappointed that I'd never heard of it. I got it for free through Epic Games a while ago and I'm glad I finally sat down to play

#please feel free to ignore this #I'm playing Gamedec #It's gamebro #No one ever let me do this again I promise to only be pretentious about movies from now on

[bread-cat-luna]

Okay I'm thinking about how "what if friends was made now" and what changes would be made and here are the few I could think of in no order

Either Ross just straight up dies/is never mentioned/was never in the friend group

OR after the divorce it's CAROL who gets the friend group and she and Susan take on the Ross role, but like, in a not whiny and homophobic way

Joey ISN'T turned into a child throughout the show, and is allowed to actually grow and be the streets smarts (along side Pheobe) of the group he was build up to be in the first few episodes

Pheobe is bisexual and sometimes goes on dates with women and it's not a big deal

Also Pheobe's trauma isn't treated as a joke

The sexism and fetishing of lesbians is either cutout all togethet or only there to show how fucked up it is

Monica isn't fat shamed. She is allowed to be fat and she isn't considered less valuble just because she's fat (idk if I want to keep the "she gets thin and hot" thing because on the one hand it's SUPER problematic but on the other hand it can make intresting stories involving Monica thinking the gang is only her friends cos she's thin)

RACHEL TAKES THE JOB IN PARIS

RACHEL IS A SINGLE MOM WITH A STABLE JOB BY THE END OF THE SHOW AND SHE'S HAPPY BECAUSE SHE FOUND HERSELF

RACHEL ENTIRE ARC WAS THAT SHE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT SHE WANTED BUT THAT SHE KNEW SHE NEEDED TO FIGURE IT OUT ON HER OWN AND GROW INDEPENDENT AND THE SHOW FUCKED THAT UP BY HAVING HER GIVE ALL THE INDEPENDENCE SHE GOT HERSELF UP FOR ROSS

Um... sorry bout that

Okay so... unlike Pheobe, whose bisexuality is treated like just a normal part of the show, Chandler's would be a season-two season arc of figuring himself out

It starts with him getting a crush on Joey, and freaking out because I'm KEEPING the internilized homophobia and external transphobia (I'll explain why soon) (also don't worry it's done in a more watchable way)

I haven't decided if Joey is pan or aro (leaning towards aro) but if he's atractted to guys then at some point I want him and Chandler to kiss/hookup/get together

Chandler, after the freak out, starts SECRETLY going to gay clubs and hooking up with men (there can be a gag where one of the dudes didn't leave the appartment before Joey came back and Chandler has to sneak him out)

Pheobe finds out first because she also goes to the gay club, and she tries to push Chandler to tell the group

Shit happenes and Chandler is in vegas and him and his father (or mother..? She's a trans women in the show but I'll get to the father vs mother thing soon) start talking

They try to keep it civil at first, but than Chandler blows up and all the feeling about how he blames Helen for ruining the family, and how he blames her for his own bisexuality, and how he feels as if he lost his dad

This leads to an emotional conversation between them, where Helen tells him that she may be a women, but it's okay that he misses his father, and that she misses that man too sometimes, and that she'll always be his dad, even if she's not a man anymore

They hug it out and that's the best episode

As for romance, idk if I want Joey/Chandler and Monica/Rachel as the end game, if I want Chandler/Monica and Rachel and Joey not in a romantic relationship, or if I want Joey/Rachel and Chandler/Monica

Because like... if we make Chandler Bi it's almost expected that he be with a man in the end, but I LOVE the Monica/Chandler romance, and I want that to stay in the story

But also Joey/Chandler was SUCH a good bromance that seeing it develope into a romance could be cool

And despite popular opinion, Joey and Rachel were cute together. They liked each other, they excepted each other as they were, and they had fun with each other

But also I think it'd be important for Rachel not to give up her life for anyone, so if she does have a romance it's have to be VERY carfully done

Tl;dr I want to remake friends

Holy shit I love this so much seriously I would watch the living daylights out of this show!!

( Really sorry I didn't reply earlier by the way I have been busy all day)

I want an out-and-proud-casually-dates-women Pheobe to talk to a full-of-internalised-homophobia Chandler and try and get him to come out to the group yes yes yes

About your Chandler/Joey vs Chandler/Monica problem I think an aromantic Joey whose best friends with Chandler would still be awesome (they are soulmates platonically or romantically) bonus points if Joey figures himself out first but isn't sure how to tell Chandler and then one day Chandler full on breaks down about his bisexuality in front of Joey and Joey comforts him and is like "by the way I'm queer too"

Aroallo Joey is something I didn't know I needed until now. But it turns out I do

RACHEL BEING A GIRLBOSS IS SOMETHING I ALWAYS KNEW I NEEDED YES

I do not have time now (still kinda busy) but later I will draw some stuff for this

#noah it is always a great day when you send me an ask but boy this one exceeds expectations #friends #f•r•i•e•n•d•s #friends show #remake #f.r.i.e.n.d.s

[asklittlepip]

Ok, I’m gonna go to bat for Fallout 4 on something, so be warned.

Kid in the Fridge

People like to use this quest as an example, no, THE example of ways in which Fallout 4 is the worst thing since Satan. Todd Howard personally came to their house and kicked their dog, salted their fields and put a plague upon their home, all because of this!

How about.. no? It’s a Wild Wasteland encounter. That’s it. New Vegas is loaded with those, and you don’t see anyone throwing a fit about the alien ambush or the completely mood-inappropriate Monty Python joke in Cottonwood Cove, or goddamn Indiana Jones IN A FRIDGE, just down the road from Goodsprings!

It is a moment of levity. It’s not meant to be taken seriously. Questions about what a ghoul can be sustained on have come up in prior games, both 2D and 3D. This does not answer it, but it wasn’t intending to. It was a reference to something that was a common issue with refridgerators, especially the 1950′s variety you see in the game world, and it was making a joke about it.

If you do not like it, do not do it. It does not mean the end of the world; that already happened. It does not mean that the lore is shredded either. It’s a wink and a nod at the player, which clearly missed since some people lack a sense of humor. Does Fallout 4 have it’s problems? Yes. The Nexus wouldn’t have nearly a BILLION mod downloads for it if that was not the case.

And if you’re gonna argue with me about how this would NEVER have happened in prior games, especially before Bethesda purchased the franchise, then I ask you.. who are you that does not know your history? ‘Cause you’re wrong. Fallout has always had moments like this, and, hopefully, always will.

Oh, and if you’re gonna tell me things would be better if Interplay had never lost the brand, then I point you to not only Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, but what kind of horrendous further damage would have been done by Fallout Extreme.

tl;dr: Fallout 4 has it’s issues, but one very minor quest isn’t one of ‘em.

P.S. Fallout 4 was meant to include traits, as the framework & code is present, but like so many other things, such as the Combat Zone, it got cut for time. So this is what they meant to do, and indeed, are bringing traits back verbatim for Starfield, so calm down. The aforementioned mods exist so you can have your game exactly the way you want it on a playing level, too. There are more important things to be upset about, especially now...

#fallout #fallout 4

[inverswayart]

A couple of special cards I doodled today at card swap hangout!

Ino got traded almost immediately after i took her photo and Sinclair will stay with me as a memento

#gotta admit they turned out way lighter then they should've been #but I had limited resourses and was terrified of ruining them so there was no room for correcting the mistakes #tag for art #doodle #tag for ocs #fallout #fnv courier #courier six #innocence bennett #courier sinclair #fallout new vegas #tl: miss vegas #tl: package deal

[wearebipolargods]

Right so I've been getting high and playing fallout new vegas a lot because what else is there to do in lockdown and realised that we are definitely missing the point with the dead money dlc

So the whole theme of the dlc is "letting go" and that's represented by the fact that you get the opportunity to loot all the gold bars from the casino's vault, but they're too heavy to pick up more than 3 or 4, showing that the real treasure is not based in greed

However, that's fucking wrong. The real treasure is pre-war money.

Pre-war money is WEIGHTLESS and can sell for 10 caps apiece (depending on your barter score).

Now, because the casino is frozen in time, you can exchange your Sierra Madre chips for pre-war money at the cashier.

The chips/money ratio is still 1:1, which means that you can make a fucking killing once you get back to the Mojave.

So, say if you have 5,000 chips before the final confrontation with Elijah. This is easily done with a high luck stat as a luck of 8+ pretty much makes the casinos free money machines.

Cashing in 5,000 chips gives you 5,000 pre-war money, meaning that you have 50,000 CAPS WORTH OF GEAR RIGHT THERE WITHOUT INCREASING YOUR CARRY WEIGHT.

This is just the tip of the iceberg as I'm not counting any additional chips you find in the Sierra Madre or the fact that you can make 10,000 chips worth of profit in the casino before they stop serving you.

TL;DR fuck gold, the real treasure is little scraps of useless paper.

This message was brought to you by copious marijuana use, increasing isolation and literally zero sleep

#personal #fallout new vegas #fnv #dead money #fallout: new vegas #im so tired oh my god

[fallout-lou-begas]

Hi everybody, Lou here.

The tl;dr of this update is just that I’m going to try to be online and available here a lot less. Before I get into it, lemme clarify that I’m not leaving or deactivating or anything, it’s not because of drama or discourse or anything, and IKROAH is still in production as normal.

Anyway,

I've got really bad online FOMO where I feel compelled to stay glued to a lot of social media so that I don't miss anything. I have fun in this fandom sharing and making shitposts and art, and I love supporting new and exciting art especially, but I’m just spending way too much time on this website and I’ve realized lately that being in a fandom has been taking up way too much of my mental real estate. It’s not a bad thing at all to be very passionate or fixated on one thing, but it’s a bad thing for me when I feel like it’s getting in the way of other interests and work that I want to indulge in or explore. Believe it or not, Fallout: New Vegas is just one thing of many things that I like! But being so preoccupied with this blog, I’ve lost my bearings on creating and experiencing the original, non-fandom art that's so vital and significant to me.

So I just want to use this website less. That’s it. I’ll probably be unfollowing a lot of people besides mostly close friends, because ultimately I like actually talking about Fallout and sharing work and jokes and love with the treasured friends I’ve made here more than I like mindlessly, ephemerally scrolling through my dashboard and clicking on green and red buttons.

I felt like I had to make this post because my queue is actually just about depleted, an observation that sort of spurred this whole thought in the first place. So to an outside observer, I might just not be posting all that much anymore in general. I’ll still be here: askbox and DMs are still open, and IKROAH will continue production as normal (and remember that as of the previous issue, all future comics will be posted directly to @ikroah​​ from now on as opposed to posted here and then reblogged to the archive secondhand). I just don’t want to feel like it’s my duty to comb through my whole dash or all the Fallout tags anymore for good posts, and that’s hard to do unless I change a lot about my approach to how I’ve been carrying on.

So yeah, that’s it. Lou will still be here but will probably just not post as much. I don’t know how much or how little that will actually turn out to be, I’ve just got books to read and movies to watch and stories to write and I feel like I could be doing so much more that is so much more fulfilling if I wasn’t looking at pictures of the same characters from the same video game from 2010 for way too many hours a day.

anyway, here’s to feeling more alive

<3

#psa

[accendimi]

Are You Lonesome Tonight {Desrina}

TW: Binge Drinking, Drugs, Fade Out Sexy Times. Time: August 13-14th Weekend after the Swynlake Dream TL;DR: Sarina and DeSoto jet away for the weekend to get their heads out of the classic Swynlake bullshit. Being the little shits they are, they play a game that gets very real but let’s Sarina realize she has a family she never considered before.

Introducing Sarina Sykes.

We started this before the event and then realized the timing was perfect so the beginning doesn’t ref the event but just refer to the other Para.

Part One: I Need Your Love Tonight

@desotosykes

SARINA

It wasn’t a quick flight by any means but when you had the money and the motive things moved very quickly. It helped when you had a partner willing to partake in the mile high club to make things even a little more fun.

Because wouldn’t you believe Sarina had never been to Vegas. 

Lights, Sex, Fun in the Sun. It sounded like a fun time for the girl that didn’t have any gigs lined up for the week and with DeSoto by her side it sounded like a great time. 

At the moment they were bar hopping Sarina’s little black dress hiking up as they walked through the city her arms wrapped around DeSoto’s a blunt hanging from her lips.

“You know what would probably get us a few free drinks. A proposal.” 

DESOTO

As much fun as being in Swynlake with one of his favorite partners-in-crime was, DeSoto craved time away from the not so often sleepy town. He’d had his fill of wacky Swynlake bullshit so when Sarina had mentioned the idea of a getaway, he was more than on board. Her idea of Vegas only solidified that notion.

More than a few drinks in and the eldest Sykes brother was feeling all sorts of good. He had his own arm wrapped around Sarina as he plucked the joint from between her lips and took a long drag of his own. “Probably get us more than a few,” he snickered as he stumbled just so slightly. Money clearly wasn’t a problem for them, DeSoto was more than willing to spend his money on Sarina and this little getaway. But fucking with people that had no clue who they were? That would never get old.

“Figure I can give yous this t’make it look real.” He gestured to his free hand where he wore the ring he stole from his father way too many years ago. Taking another long drag from the joint, he handed it back to Sarina with a smirk. “Guess dinner’s about t’be interesting, ain’t? Ham it up maybe even get dessert free too.”

SARINA

Sarina took the blunt with no argument bringing it to her lips. She missed nights like this. Towns like Swynlake were impossible to mess with (at least in this regard) too small and everyone thought they knew everything. DeSoto and Sarina getting hitched. No one would bat an eye. But here where they just looked like a smoking hot couple. It was perfect.

They looked like a power couple honestly.

"Now now Des you're truly going to steal my heart if I get a ring that you wear every day." With the blunt between her fingers Sarina set her hand over her heart with a wink before handing it back to him.

"Then we truly need to go somewhere expensive. Make it a show they won't soon forget. What do you think about Joël Robuchon?"

DESOTO

When he’d been much younger and, arguably, a little more dumber than he currently could be considered, DeSoto Sykes was a ladies man. He still was a ladies man but he didn’t sleep around as much as he did when he was younger. All that to say that he definitely knew how to steal hearts and break them. It wasn’t his fault that he was such a charmer or that girls were typically entirely too romantic for their own good.

Still, he returned the wink after taking a drag of the blunt with a smirk. “You mean I didn’t already have your heart to begin with? Guess yous really are just keepin’ me around for my looks.” He teased her, fully knowing that neither of them were in this for emotions. At least nothing as substantial as romance and love. 

Even if they currently looked like they were a couple and acted like one.

“Joel Robuchon? Fancy. Yous gotta play the part of clueless while I talk to ‘em. Think yous can handle it?”

SARINA

“Well they aren’t bad looks, now are they? I could be keeping you around for the money which would you prefer?” Sarina’s heels clicked with them moving and she knew both of them were getting looks in the best way. Well in a way both of them liked.

“Don’t worry I’ll put on my best blonde impression and they’ll know nothing. They won’t even know we’re a few drinks in and looking to have some fun. I’ll look the ever loving girlfriend.”

DESOTO

If he was honest? DeSoto didn’t really give a shit either way. The man grew up with probably the world’s shittiest dad. Someone who made sure his kids knew, especially as they got older, that he only kept them around because they were good at their jobs within the family business. A trait that definitely transferred over to DeSoto. He was just… less vocal about it. 

But this wasn’t a therapy session. It was a trip to Vegas with, arguably, one of his best friends. And he had a good buzz on just like she did and they were being their usual shit head selves with each other. 

“Both’a us know it ain’t the money, babe,” he smirked with a slight pinch to her arm. “But it ain’t matter. S’long as I get t’spend time with you.” He tried his best to keep a straight face; a feat that was just a bit harder than usual with the drinks and drugs currently in his system. “C’mon. Ain’t that far away.”

SARINA

Sarina placed her free hand over her heart looking up at DeSoto as if she was completely swooning over the very thought. And it was sweet and Sarina recognized she had made great connections since being here and that would mean everything to her.

But beyond the impending proposal they didn’t need to be sappier.

Walking into the restaurant Sarina bounded up to the hostess glancing at the reservations with a quick glance.

“Hi I’m so sorry we’re a little earlier than expected but we have a reservation in about an hour under the name ‘Thompson’.” Sarina grinned brightly at the hostess, memorizing the information to call and cancel this little Thompson reservation and send them on a little goose chase to make sure her and Des had all the time they needed.

“Oh hello Ms. Thompson, let me see what I can do and if I can get you two in.” The hostess slipped away and Sarina smiled at Des. 

“Let me go cancel the reservation for those two and you let me know where we’re sitting.” Sarina popped up on her toes to kiss DeSoto on the cheek as the hostess came back.

“Sorry business call I’ll be right back. I’ll be one second love. Business deals just can’t get done without me.” Sarina tacked on with a pretend sigh.

DESOTO

It took all of DeSoto’s willpower not to smirk as Sarina sweet talked the hostess with the most endearing smile. Really, the hostess made it all too easy to take advantage of the system. Instead of smirking, however, he just grinned as he wrapped an arm around Sarina’s waist and pressed a quick kiss to her temple. “I’ll be here waiting, darling.” 

That smile stayed on his lips as Sarina flitted away, phone pressed to her ear. Really, he could have very easily gotten them a seat without such a fuss but, well, where was the fun in that?

Turning back to the hostess, he pulled his hand from his pocket and showed her the ring that typically sat on his right hand. “We’re high school sweethearts, yous know. Been together a long time.” He watched with an inward smirk as he saw the hostess’ features soften even more than they had been. “We were waiting to have a stable income and all to get married but then… her ma got sick so it kinda put us back. This is the first vacation we’ve had in a few years and I figured now would be the best time t’ask. Yous think yous could help me do somethin’ real special for her? Make it a night she won’t forget?”

SARINA

The hostess did melt as she looked at the ring and then out at the girl who had left. What a sweet pair and gorgeous too. She couldn’t imagine they didn’t come from money considering how they were dressed but the mention of a sick mother and just, oh she could see it happening.

The pair against the world, finally getting a stable income. Only for her mother to fall sick. They take care of her and maybe she passes, maybe the mother tells them to go on and enjoy their life. 

And that ring was most definitely a family ring.

“Of course. We should be able to celebrate with a bottle and a dessert. I’ll look into it for you as soon as we sit you down.” 

All the while Sarina was outside waiting the time out. But then she saw the familiar glint of a ring, one that she thought DeSoto might like. Now it wasn’t as fancy as his family ring but it would be a nice touch if needed.

Turning her ankle slightly Sarina pretended to stumbled into the guy laughing and giggling, drunk off her ass. “I’m sorry,” She giggled. “Or am I you’re cute.” With one hand going up to his cheek the other took the hand that was steadying her and slipped off his ring. As he reassured it was okay she brought her hand to her chest slipping the ring into her bra.

“You should find me later. If you do I’m sure we’ll have a good time.” Kissing his cheek, Sarina stumbled into an hidden corner to wait him and the waitress out and when the coast was clear she strolled back in palming the ring into her clutch as she wrapped an arm around DeSoto smiling brilliantly at the woman as they were led in. 

“You’re in luck we have the best table reserved for you. I’m sure you’ll enjoy your visit with us.” Seating them the hostess all but ran off and Sarina raised an eyebrow. 

“What’s our sob story?”

DESOTO

It was easy for DeSoto and Sarina to follow the woman as she led them to a rather impressive table. Secluded and candle lit. Entirely too romantic for the two of them but perfect for a couple about to get engaged. He thanked the lady as she walked away and then gave Sarina a shit eating grin. 

“High school sweethearts,” he explained with a roll of his eyes. “But your mom got sick so it set us back a bit. I’m proposing tonight since it’s our first vacation in years.” It wasn’t the most inventive lie but it worked on the sap of a hostess and would work on the rest of the idiots working the restaurant. 

When the waitress came over, Des didn’t have to even ask for a bottle of wine. “The finest wine on the menu, on the house.” A subtle wink was offered to DeSoto as the waitress poured two glasses and then set the bottle down in a small bucket of ice. “I’ll give you time to look through the menu. If you need anything just wave one of us over and we’ll be glad to help you.” 

Des nodded with a smile as he took Sarina’s hand gently. “Thank yous. We’ll call if we need anything.” Turning back to Sarina once the waitress was gone, Des smirked. “Pick what yous want. M’sure the whole meal’s gonna be comped. Shit. Could probably get a swank hotel room if we’s play our cards right.” 

SARINA

Sarina brushed her hair back giving both Des a show and she knew some other boys were looking too. It was cute as they tried not to having been on dates with their own significant others. 

“That’s easy enough to remember then again we won’t need it after the night.” It would be even funnier if it dropped and they tried to run them out. Both Des and Sarina could get out without a second thought. 

“Then let’s do their fancy four course whatever it is. Let them treat us. Honestly how do businesses stay in business and be this gullible.”

DESOTO

If DeSoto were a more possessive man, he’d be pissed at all the looks Sarina was getting. But he wasn’t possessive and he was getting the same sort of looks from those boys’ girlfriends. It was fun seeing the looks of longing. As if somehow in some different universe, DeSoto would be a good boyfriend and Sarina would make a good girlfriend. It made him want to laugh, though all he did was smirk as Sarina gave her own little show to those around them.

“Dunno. Works in our favor, though, ain’t?” He smirked before laughing. It was probably because they were soft. Emotional. They lived for these kinds of things. Engagements and anniversaries. Anything to celebrate. But who needed a special day to celebrate? Hell, he’d gotten tickets for them to Vegas just for the hell of it. Sarina hadn’t been and Des hadn’t had anything super important to do, so why not?

Calling the waitress back over, he grinned when he told her they’d like to have the four course meal, complete with the best dessert. And of course, he’d be more than willing to pay for their meal.

SARINA

The meal was fabulous, it wasn’t outside of Sarina’s budget, she liked to steal high value so she could live high value. But it was nice to share a fun time of mocking the employees with someone. At least she could always trust Des with that.

And he wasn’t wrong throughout the whole meal they played into the emotional card. Every once in awhile Sarina would look up at Des with those eyes full of wonder and amazement. She would reach out and just tuck a strand of hair back up and away from those beautiful eyes.

“You spoil me love.” Sarina knowing she was within ear shot as their dessert was delivered. “Better late than never and it was well worth the wait.”

DESOTO

The waitress had given DeSoto a small warning when they were about to bring out the dessert and Des easily excused himself so that he could slip his ring off of his finger and give it to the waitress to hide in their dessert. 

Oh was the restaurant about to get the best show of their lives. 

“You deserve the world, dearest.” He smiled back as their dessert was set in front of them. As expected his ring was nestled on top of the rather decadent looking cheesecake. All he had to do was wait for Sarina to notice for the real fun to begin. 

Before she was able to really put on the show, Des rose from his seat so that he could kneel down next to her chair. 

“This…. Shouldn’t be any surprise… You’ve been the love of my life since we were fifteen. And I’ve known you were the woman I was gonna spend the rest of my life with since I was sixteen.” He paused as he wiped a fake tear from his eye before taking his hand in hers. “I know things ain’t…. Ideal but why wait anymore? Marry me?”

SARINA

Sarina spotted the ring easily but took a moment to really spice it up her eyes widening as she looked between the dessert and DeSoto, back again until he got up and got on one knee. With on hand in his Sarina lifted her other hand to cover her lips and then when a fake tear rolled she lifted that hand as if to fan the tear away.

Nodding her head, Sarina fell into his arms taking his face in her hands to kiss him.

“Yes yes yes.” She repeated when she pulled away resting her forehead on hers. “I’d marry you this second if I could. I love you.” 

DESOTO

Sarina was good. If he was on the outside looking in he’d definitely think this was a real proposal. The way she teared up and fell into his arms? Perfect. It made it all too easy, really. 

One arm wrapped around her while the other cupped her cheek gently as he kissed her back, the smile not leaving his lips as their foreheads pressed together. He kissed her again before taking her hand in his and slipping his ring onto her finger. 

An idea formed then and he couldn’t help the slight smirk that formed on his lips. Why not see just how far they could take this? They were in Vegas after all (and entirely too fucked up to be making decisions). 

“Let’s get married then. Right now,” he huffed out before pressing another kiss to her lips. “I’m sure there’s a chapel close by. We can do a big wedding later.”

SARINA

The ring slipped onto her finger and Sarina admired it, and that was actually true. She could only imagine the stories behind this ring and what exactly Des had done while wearing it. 

“Wait- Wait-” Sarina gasped out for a breath, pretending to be overwhelmed for the crowd and it was a crowd, their hostess, the waitress, even who she suspected was the manager. “I- well I got you something too.” Reaching out without leaving his arms Sarina grabbed her clutch pulling it toward her looking like she was stumbling but careful to hide any of the cigarettes and worse that she had in there.

Pulling out the ring that she had stolen earlier she held it up to him. “My mom gave it to me when she passed. It was the one she got my dad for their engagement. I’ve been carrying it with me since. So yes, let’s get married. I don’t think I could wait any longer.” The sad thing about that was Sarina actually did have her parents wedding rings. At this point they were locked up safe but she wasn’t about to leave that with her brothers. 

The awes could be heard throughout the restaurant, and Sarina spied the waitress talking to the manager and him nodding. The show was good enough wasn’t it. What great publicity, and a story to tell everyone.

“Go, we’ll box up the dessert. Get married. You two have been waiting long enough.” The waitress whispered coming up to them and Sarina looked up at DeSoto with a smile.

“Let’s go get married.” And while she had tears in her eyes and she was pretending to be breathless she knew he saw the amusement in her eyes.

DESOTO

The show was going so well. Everyone in the restaurant truly believed what he and Sarina were saying. They were the only ones in on the joke and it was so hard to keep from losing his shit laughing. Neither were sincere at all. But, at their core, they were con artists. The best, it seemed. 

Still, Des wrapped his arms around Sarina and held her close as she looked up at him. “Alright, love. M’sure we’s can find someone t’marry us. Can make this part of our honeymoon.” Smiling softly at her, he leaned down to press a soft kiss to her lips while everyone around them cooed at their little display. 

At the behest of the waitress and her boss, Des stood and reached for Sarina’s hand. He was not gonna pass up the chance to get out without having to pay a bill. Even if he could afford it, they were doing #themost just for the hell of it. 

As soon as they were out the door, he shifted to wrap an arm around Sarina’s shoulders and laughed. “Yous sure yous weren’t an actress before? They was eatin’ outta our hands,” he chuckled. “Where’d yous even get that ring from?”

SARINA

Sarina moved to wipe the tears from her eyes with a grin. “Maybe I was but then I actually had to listen to direction and that sounds like a bad time.” Hopefully all Sarina’s past lives were this exciting, and hopefully all her future ones would too.

After all. Die Young. Have Fun.

“When I stepped out to make that call it was fate, this guy had a ring that I thought you might like. I might have invited him to play later but I doubt he’ll be able to find me. Though with your possessive streak it might just make the night hotter when we do have our honeymoon.” Sarina teased. Spotting a club with a line out the door.

“Think we could get in? And keep the party going?”

DESOTO

It was easy to follow Sarina’s line of sight when the line was as long as it was. He hadn’t seen a line for a club that long since he’d been in New York. Of course, he’d never had to wait in a line that long before. All he had to do was give his name and he was in with whoever he wanted. He knew it’d be no different now, too; though he wouldn’t give his name, just flash that pretty family ring on his lovely partner’s finger.

“Course we can get in,” he huffed. “Look at us. And with yous layin’ that charm on? We’s in without a problem.” 

Moving past the line, all while eyeing the people lined up and waiting, Des tucked Sarina closer and put on the same dopey grin he’d had at the restaurant. “Might as well figure out who’s you want t’share before we reach the door.” 

He smirked as he pressed his lips to her cheeks as a cover to why he was so close to her. It only added to the image they were playing with. The naked eye would see only an intoxicated and in love couple. Not two devious masterminds plotting their next bit of fun. 

“Hey, man… my fiancée’s been dyin’ t’get into this club all night. Said it was the best place t’celebrate n’shit. Yous think you can help us out?” He gave his best hopelessly in love look to Sarina before turning back to the bouncer at the front. “We’ll make it worth your while, aint?”

SARINA

It wasn’t hard to fall into the roll again, the doting and absolutely in love fiancée. Even as her eyes trailed over all the people in line. If any of them could handle her and DeSoto together. Smiling up at Des, Sarina slowly turned her eyes to the Bouncer who looked less than impressed.

“Lots of people want to get in, you two will have to go back to the end of the line like everyone else.”

“Baby do you hear that? Like everyone else. We’re not just everyone else? And he even promised to make it worth your while. Something no one here would have the means to do.” Sarina whined a little bit, like a spoiled little rich girl who expected to get her way.

“What’s the offer then?” The Bouncer asked glancing around quickly before returning to an unamused expression.

DESOTO

It was… beyond irritating that this guy wasn’t buying any of the bribes. It made him wish he’d taken her to New York; even if that was an insanely stupid idea. At least then he wouldn’t have to work so damn hard to get into clubs that probably were subpar at best. 

But he didn’t let that show. Instead he gave a sheepish grin as he pulled Sarina closer. “Well, for starters money clearly isn’t an issue here. Unless… yous lookin’ for somethin’ else. More… fun.” He smirked as he pulled his other hand from his pocket. 

The little baggie he revealed contained a good variety of pills. Mostly uppers that were only going to enhance their night. Party favors, really. They were celebrating after all.

“Or if that’s not your bag. Well, m’sure my fiancée could have some fun with yous. She’s amazing in the sack.”

SARINA

Well slow down there Dez. Sarina turned her attention to him with a raised eyebrow. Now would she have some fun with him. Potentially. Did she like being pimped out. Not at all.

“Only if I think you’re worth my time you’re better off taking the party favours.” Sarina instead stated as the man did look over the bag, Sarina had no idea what Des had in there but it was all good stuff she was sure and it looked like the man was actually considering it.

“Fine, you guys can go in. This stuff better be the good ones, Or I’ll drag your ass out myself.” 

With him stepping aside to let them in, Sarina poked at Des’ chest. “No pimping me out again. Even if he’s hot. You can have him for yourself if you really want to.”

DESOTO

Was it his brightest idea? Not at all. He’d had worse but he was only focused on the goal. Getting into the club. Which they did. So technically he was going to count it as a win. Which was the reason why even though Sarina poked him not so gently and offered that warning, he still smirked. “Hey, got us in, aint? And yous ain’t hafta to do nothin’ except look a little mean.” 

He slung an arm around her as they moved further into the club. They definitely picked a good one. The music was hot, bodies packed the dance floor, and everyone looked like they were ready for a good time. Drink girls were walking around scantily clad and Des took no time in grabbing two drinks. “Consider it my first apology of the night for attempting t’pimp yous out,” he grinned as he handed one of the shots to Sarina. Clinking their glasses together, he took his shot easily and deposited the empty glass onto another drink girl’s tray. 

Scouting the place out it wasn’t hard to find where the life of the party was. It was a large group, a mix of guys and girls that were already pretty inebriated and loud. Perfect for what Des and Sarina had in mind. “Think we found our new suckers. Ain’t gonna hafta spend a dime tonight. Ready t’lay on the charm?”

SARINA

Sarina rolled her eyes when she took the drink. Irritating bugger, but she did like the thought of multiple apologies throughout the night. She would give him a pass for now and only now.

Glancing over the group Sarina grinned throwing her hair over her shoulder and nodding. “Got any extra party favours in there for us?” Sarina questioned with a grin before they joined the group.

And DeSoto hadn’t been wrong in his assumption, people kept calling for shots whenever they saw the ring and heard the sob story. Forgetting it and being reminded again and calling for more shots. That paired with whatever DeSoto had provided, Sarina was on a nice cloud.

“You guys should get married right now! Why wait!” One of the girls screeched out. “There’s so many places to get married. We can all come and be your witnesses. OMG we could find you some sexy lingerie as a wedding gift. It could be your something new!”

While the screeching was unpleasant the story had been repeated so many times the you know why not? Go with the flow. Really seal the deal.

“We could get married right now. They are right.” Sarina slurred just a bit throwing her arms around his shoulders as she kissed his neck. “Have a wicked honeymoon with the gifted lingerie.”

DESOTO

The party was beyond pumping. Their little group was the life of the party. People gathered around them like they were honey and Des loved it. The girls crowded around Sarina, all squealing and giggling and screeching, while the boys congregated with DeSoto offering congratulations and lewd comments about his partner. The drinks didn’t stop flowing and every once in a while a party favor would appear from DeSoto’s pocket. 

Best to keep the party going. 

He was feeling good, the mix of alcohol and drugs flowing through his system freely, and had an arm draped around Sarina’s waist. They’d just finished another (free) round of drinks and he’d made the decision to endure the screaming and screeching girls for it. Even laughed as they suggested getting married right then. 

“Mmm, think we’s already havin’ a wicked time,” he grinned as he raised a hand to lift her chin up to kiss her. “But yous wanna get married? Let’s do it. Always wanted t’get married by Elvis.”

SARINA

They were having an wicked time but suddenly it just seemed like a good idea to get married. Why not? It was all for fun and they had been swinging that story around all night, it sounded better and better the more they talked about it.

“How else would I get married? I’m not a walk down the aisle in white type of bride.” Sarina stated easily, it was true. Sarina had never thought of it for herself. She hadn’t ever like the idea of getting married, being locked down into a family that would shackle her to the ground.

But now it felt like a good idea, a fun idea. Why not was the overall response.

“Why not?” 

With all that as confirmation the girls tugged on Sarina. “We’re getting her a dress. Boys go get him a suit We’ll text you where to meet and the next time you see each other you’re going to be getting married.” Another screech. And god Sarina was sure her ears would burst.

DESOTO

Everything was happening in even more of a blur. While the beginning of the evening was still pretty clear, Des was losing coherency bit by bit. Not that it mattered. This was supposed to be a fun trip, a trip where he got to have fun and fuck with other people with one of his favorite people. And that’s what they were doing. 

And also getting married but whatever. 

Before he even had a chance to question it his newfound friends were dragging him away from Sarina and out of the club. “Man we gotta get you something awesome for your wedding! It’s Vegas bro! Gotta go big!” One of the men clapped him on the back before jumping up excitedly as they walked down the street. Des couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. “S’a Vegas wedding. Gotta be ridiculous, aint? Gotta find somethin’ cheesy as fuck. My girl’ll appreciate it. Trust me.” 

They made their way into a suit shop that looked promising. It was filled with designer suits that, if he wasn’t high as hell, he’d buy. But that wasn’t what he was looking for. No. If Desoto was getting married in Vegas he was gonna get married in the worst fashion he could think of. Which alternatively meant it was the best fashion. Everyone knew Vegas had its own culture, it’s own ideas of what true fashion was. 

And why not emulate the best of them?

He saw it in the back and knew immediately that whatever the cost he was gonna buy it. It looked exactly like something the King would wear and tonight? DeSoto was the King. 

“Alright boys. Target acquired. Gotta get yous some ridiculous accessories and then we’d good t’go.” He grinned as he draped the suit bag over his shoulder and headed towards the wedding chapel. 

SARINA

The girls were on two trips one to get a dress and two to get what went underneath. And Sarina had no problem modeling or stripping in front of them. And while they did stay with the traditional white, it had a high slit and a deep back. Sometimes it felt lucky that it even stayed up.

But that’s what Sarina wanted and paired some sexy lingerie the girl was set.

Sarina truly couldn’t remember how they got from there to the chapel but she was standing in front of it, her other outfit forgotten somewhere but it didn’t matter considering the things she did consider important were the jewelery she kept from her family. 

But now music was playing (she didn’t know what) And her and Des were being summoned down the aisle while all these random people watched.

DESOTO

As usual, Sarina looked absolutely gorgeous. It took all of his power to keep his hands off of her because with everything running through his system all he wanted to do was strip that dress off of her. But there were more important things they had to do. Like meet Elvis. 

The man had just finished crooning Teddy Bear when they reached the end of the aisle where Sarina’s new girlfriends and DeSoto’s new guy friends were waiting for them. Standing in his spot, Des grinned as he took Sarina’s hands in his. 

“Alright, alright. We’re gathered here today in this house of love to wed these hunk’a hunk’a burnin’ loves,” Elvis started, swiveling his hips in a near perfect imitation of The King. “If there’s any suspicious minds out there thinkin’ these two need to go to the hearbreak hotel say your peace. It’s now or never.” 

With no one saying anything, Elvis returned his attention back to Sarina and DeSoto. “So tell me my little hound dogs. Do you take this groovy lil mama to be your lawfully wedded wife?” Des smirked as he nodded. “Course I do.” 

SARINA

Sarina hadn’t actually noticed it before, her music taste wasn’t exactly Elvis after all. But now seeing DeSoto and Elvis side by side she was having a hard enough time keeping the laughter at bay.

Especially for something that was supposed to be as serious as wedding. But she had way too much in her system to worry about that. 

“And you do you take this hound dog to and promise to love him tender love him sweet?” Elvis turned his attention to her and Sarina had to quiet her giggles to respond.

“Of course I do.” That’s why they were here after all.

“Now with those good luck charms on your fingers already, it proves you just need one night to get stuck on each other forever. I pronounce you Husband and Wife! You may kiss your bride!”

DESOTO

DeSoto didn’t waste any time as Elvis said he could kiss his bride. He wrapped an arm around Sarina’s waist and pulled her close, even went as far as dipping her as he kissed her deeply. He’d never had a thought of getting married. Hell, Roscoe constantly teased him about the fact he hadn’t settled down. But at the moment this felt right. Very right. 

At least that’s what his heavily intoxicated brain was telling him. 

The group that came with them whooped and cheered before running over to congratulate them. Des laughed, keeping his arms wrapped around Sarina. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks guys,” Des chuckled, pressing a kiss to Sarina’s temple. “But, uh, me and my wife have a little less conversation planned, if yous know what I mean.” Wiggling his eyebrows he pulled himself and Sarina away from the group. 

“Go have fun and celebrate for us,” he smirked, tossing them a baggie of assorted pills and some cash. The least he could do for all the help they’d been. “Me and my lady are gonna go have a private celebration.” 

SARINA

Sarina laughed as Des dipped and kissed her. Phones went off and in theory that was a good thing because there was no way they would remember this in the morning. But Sarina didn’t care about details like that. 

No she was much more excited about the private celebration they were about to have. And where. And with DeSoto’s gift she was sure the group was more concerned about their own private celebration as well.

Splitting up from that group, it wasn’t hard to walk into a fancy hotel and get a honeymoon Suite. Even plastered as they were, they were smart (debatable considering they just got married) and could handle themselves (Again debatable).

But Sarina was having fun so she didn’t care, Tugging DeSoto into the elevator, Sarina didn’t waste anymore time dragging Des into her and kissing him, setting his hand by the silt on her dress.

DESOTO

DeSoto easily anticipated Sarina’s attack in the elevator. They’d been behaving all night. Keeping their hands mostly to themselves in lieu of their little game. It made it all the more interesting, he felt. Built up the tension for when they finally decided to call it quits. 

Tension that Sarina couldn’t handle by the time they got to the elevator. But neither could DeSoto. He responded eagerly, fingers curling in the hair at the nape of her neck as his other hand slipped up her leg using the slit there as access to push the dress farther up. 

“We’s gonna get kicked out puttin’ on a show like this,” he huffed against her lips as the elevator dinged with each floor. It didn’t stop him, however, from resting both hands on her hips and squeezing. 

SARINA

“We’re newly married, do they really think we can keep our hands to ourselves.” Sarina joked just as breathless against her lips. Her accent back to it’s normal Italian, having lost focus hours ago to keep it at the English one.

“I bet you anyone watching is just enjoying the free show. We could make it a good one for them if we would like.” Further and higher the dings went. Especially because Sarina didn’t want to stop.

DESOTO

“Only if yous want to, my hunk’a hunk’a burnin’ love,” he huffed, shifting his grip so that he could lift her easily. Wrapping her legs around his waist he moved to kiss her again while he shifted to push her against the back wall of the elevator.

The dings went ignored as he took his time working Sarina up. It was his favorite thing to do considering most of the time she gave as good as she got. 

“Ahem…” a voice interrupted him and made him groan just slightly from where he’d been nipping at Sarina’s neck. Turning just slightly to the intruder, Des raised an eyebrow. “Sorry, we’s celebratin’.” A fake apology for an annoying person who definitely muttered something under their breath. Des didn’t care though. Not when they were close to their room and the real fun could begin. 

SARINA

Sarina pouted when DeSoto stopped, tightening her grip around his waist to bring his attention back to her. “You know we just got married you should be congratulating us.” Sarina added waving and wiggling her fingers in the direction of the other eventually just giving them the middle finger when they muttered under their breath.

But honestly it was a surprise Sarina hadn’t accidentally given any sort of slip, then again Des at her waist his chest against hers, she was pretty secure.

Either way Sarina drew him back in until the other got off and they continued to rise to their floor.

DESOTO

By the time they got to their floor, DeSoto was more than ready to be off of the elevator. There was so much pent up energy coursing through him that he could barely contain himself on the elevator. Whoever was watching from the lobby got quite the show as he and Sarina groped and grabbed at each other, both barely keeping the rating below X-rated. 

The show continued in the hallway as he stopped every few feet to push her against the wall as if showing her what was coming once they got into the room. He couldn’t stop touching her, didn’t want to. 

Finally pushing the door to the suite open, Des fumbled in closing it behind them as he pulled Sarina closer once more and kissed her deeply. “I think it’s time we got outta this. Someone promised sexy lingerie and I wanna tear it off yous.” 

SARINA

“Feel free to tear any of it off. I don’t hold any sentimental attachment to it.” As long as her family ring and now Des’ ring on her stayed safe, Sarina didn’t care. “Though you’ll have to buy me clothes in the morning. Not really sure where the dress I came here with ended up.” Trying to think back on the night they just had was nearly impossible. 

Dropping her legs from his waist Sarina pulled away so she could start sliding it down.

“Unless you want a show of course.” 

DESOTO

Des grinned as Sarina pulled away from him even though he missed the heat of her body. This was his favorite thing about mixing all his vices. Everything was heightened and he could never get close enough to whoever he shared the night with. It didn’t matter if he didn’t remember it in the morning. All he cared about was the moment they were in, satisfying every craving he and his partner had. Now, it was whatever craving he and his wife had. 

“We’s can probably get somethin’ from the gift shop n’then do a proper shopping trip for clothes. Think I’d be dumb as fuck t’say no t’a show from yous,” he smirked as he took off his ridiculous scarf/sash and undid his shirt to let it hang open. “Show me what yous got.” 

Moving to grab a chair, he sat in it and placed a hand in his lap all but waiting for Sarina to start whatever show she was going to put on for him.

SARINA

Sarina laughed and giggled and overall just let her guard down, not only was she with one of her best friends, and could now call her Husband. (Weird yes) But she was having fun, coming down off this one wasn’t going to be as fun though.

Until then Sarina promised a show.

Travelling her hand up her thigh slowly Sarina gave him the briefest glance at the red she wore underneath and the thin strings that connected it.

Turning her back to him Sarina brought her hair to the front slowly letting the dress fall and kicking it aside. Finally she turned to face him all the little straps connecting the top and bottom and yet none of it showed from behind.

Brushing her hair back Sarina grinned sitting on his lap. “It wouldn’t be fun if you couldn’t touch as I pulled the rest off.” 

DESOTO

There was something… different about this time with Sarina. His feelings about her were still the same (even if they had recently gotten married) but there was something between the two that had changed. Or at least that was how DeSoto felt at the moment. Who knew if it was just the drugs and alcohol or if there was some truth to the way he was currently feeling. 

All that mattered was Sarina in his lap with the sexiest lingerie he’d probably ever seen. 

His hands traveled to her hips while he took in how little she wore and how well she wore it. “How’d yous know I liked red?” He teased, pulling lightly at one of the strings before letting it go so the he could trail that hand up her side. 

SARINA

“Who doesn’t like red?” Sarina teased reaching back to unhook her bra almost completely bare to him and yet he was still dressed in the ridiculous get up. Pulling away once more Sarina stepped out of the rest and walking to the bed. 

“You can join me but you should match me first in what you’re wearing and only then will you be welcomed in this bed.”

DESOTO

“Insane people probably,” he responded easily, though was quickly side tracked as she slipped the bra off. After that all train of thought left him and all he could do was work off of instinct. As she got up he followed her, making sure to get rid of his Elvis outfit in the process. No way was he going to jeopardize this night by insisting his outfit was perfectly suitable for joining her. 

~~~~

Sunlight peaked in front the slightly open curtain and DeSoto couldn’t help the low groan that fell from his lips. His head was throbbing and the direct sunlight, no matter how slight it was, was not helping anything. Rolling over, another low groan left him. His body was sore but in a familiar way, a not unpleasant way. Just unexpected. 

The details from the previous night were fuzzy as hell and as he reached to close the curtains more completely he frowned. His ring was gone. Turning back to look in his clothes, his frown deepened when he saw an overly flamboyant Elvis impersonator suit instead of the black one he’d been wearing when they touched down. 

“What the fuck?” He swore lowly as he wandered around the rather large room, only taking notice of Sarina curled up in the bed he’d all but fallen from. “Hey… ‘Rina, wake up.”  

SARINA

Sarina didn’t want to wake up everything hurt, her head most of all and her throat beyond dry. Even at Des’ voice she yawned and buried her head back into the pillow. At least it wasn’t another Swynlake dream.

Slowly she peeked at him with one eye open and one closed as she yawned.

They were in a room and it was just them, nothing to really write home about yet. “What’s up? Did you wanna get food or something.” the more she moved the more she felt the weight of her rings differently. Weird.

DESOTO

This wasn’t anything different for one of their romps. So he wasn’t exactly panicking. He just… wanted to know where his ring was and… and why he was wearing a completely different ring. On the wrong hand. What in the actual fuck had happened last night? 

“Nah… yous ain’t seen my ring, aint? I ain’t gamble it away or trade it for this thing?” He asked as he took off the new ring and showed it to her. “Yous ain’t think I did somethin’ stupid with it after we left the restaurant?”

Was it dumb that he was upset about losing his father’s ring? Yeah. Probably. Especially since his dad was a complete piece of shit that would kill him on the spot if given the chance. But it still held sentimental value to DeSoto. Was still the one thing he wanted to keep from his bullshit family. (Other than his brother of course but that went without saying)

“D’yous even remember anything after we went t’the club?”

SARINA

The concern in Des’ voice actually had Sarina sitting up grabbing the blanket to cover herself a little bit. “No I don’t really remember anything about the club.” Sarina lifted her left hand to rub the sleep from her eyes pausing at the weight. Instead she held it out infront of her blinking at Des’ ring on her ring finger.

“Well I guess this solves that question.” Sarina held her hand up so he could see the ring was at least in the room with them and not lost to some random betting table. Glancing around Sarina looked at both his suit and her white dress and the red lingerie, which the later wasn’t surprising but a white dress.

“Do you know where your phone is?” His ring was on his ring finger, she had his on her ring finger and there was white suit and a white dress.

Sarina wasn’t sure this could go anywhere other than what she was thinking. Where was her phone?

DESOTO

His ring was on Sarina’s ring finger and Des was officially perplexed. Vaguely he remembered a fake proposal at the restaurant. Had they swapped rings so they could fake being married too? He could see how it would benefit them. This room, for one, was a fucking suite. They could have hosted a party and had people stay over if they’d wanted to. But from the looks and sounds of it they were completely alone. 

“Nah. I woke up and shut the fuckin’ curtain cuz the sun was blinding me.” Over dramatic? Absolutely. But Des was hungover and confused. He was allowed to be a bit of a drama king. 

Rummaging through the pockets of the disgustingly bedazzled suit, he found his phone and moved back to the bed. “I got a shit ton of texts from numbers that ain’t saved…” he trailed off as he opened the texts.

Each text thread was nothing but pictures. Pictures of him and Sarina at the club with a shit ton of strangers. They were clearly having a great time celebrating their fake proposal and judging by the amount of strangers in each picture they’d made plenty of friends. “Who the fuck are these people?” He huffed as he continued going through the texts. 

Nearing the end it became all too clear why Sarina was wearing his ring on her ring finger. “Apparently we made good on that fake proposal…”

SARINA

“Yes yes.” Sarina nodded along with his dramatics pulling the sheet from the bed so she could wander around her mess of clothes. (After double checking her family ring was still on her.) It would actually be smart to get Des’ off her incase she needed to use magic. If it wasn’t enchanted to withstand the heat from her blasts it wouldn’t survive.

Eventually she found her phone in a manilla envelope just as DeSoto spoke. And yup there it was… a marriage license with their names on it.

“Looks legal too.” She flipped the paper to show DeSoto. “Uh- this is weird I mean I can burn it and we pretend this never happened?” Sarina offered grabbing her phone and flopping back onto the bed. Just the movement hurt her head and she was ready to go to sleep even when she started to thumb through all the photos that had been sent to her. “Or does this make me Sarina Sykes. It’s got a ring to it.” Sarina joked coping with humor. 

DESOTO

DeSoto settled back into the bed easily, feeling the fatigue in his bones wanting to take back over. Still he took the marriage license from Sarina and looked it over with furrowed brows. He’d never contemplated marriage, never really thought he would get married. It didn’t matter to him, really. It’s not like he wanted to settle down and have what Roscoe had. He was perfectly happy being single. 

“Hate t’say it but even if yous do burn it there’s probably another copy’a this,” he shrugged as he handed it back to her. 

Laying back he let his eyes slip closed as he sighed lowly. “And s’probably more work getting it undone than it is t’get married here. S’just easier t’stay married cuz I dunno if I can be fucked t’even get back outta bed today.” A truer statement had never been spoken by DeSoto. It’d been a good while since he had partied quite that hard. Sleep sounded beautiful. 

“But we’s can do whatever yous want,” he shrugged again. “Does got a ring to it, though.” 

SARINA

Marriage, that wasn’t something Sarina had ever considered, never even considered staying in place long enough to meet someone and want to get married let alone have the time to do so.

She wasn’t a romantic, she had lost faith in humanity a lot time ago and didn’t trust enough people to give her heart to. Des was one of them but just in a way that was very different than for people that wanted to get married. 

“Honestly, I don’t really care, it’s not like it’s gonna change our lives. Neither one of us is in love with the other and I don’t see us ever being in love with each other like that.” A piece of paper didn’t change that. Maybe she was still a little bit of a romantic. Wanting what her parents had.

Lifting her left hand up she looked at his ring on her hand. “After that dream- I mean, I ran away from my family Des. Never told you guys that. After that dream, I keep thinking about dying alone. Doesn’t really feel like I’ve been a Go, in a very long time. Not sure they even think about me anymore.” Sarina really was just alone at this point.

DESOTO

He could have fallen asleep once Sarina said she didn’t care either way. They were on the same page, at least. They cared about each other but they weren’t ever looking to get married. At least now the both of them had a scapegoat of sorts when people asked. They were married to each other, now all they had to do was avoid questions about starting families and shit. Something they could easily do. 

But then Sarina brought up the dream and he knew that despite being tired, neither one of them were going to go back to sleep. There were things to unpack, things they had tried to run from by going to Vegas. 

So instead, he shifted to sit up and lean against the headboard and wrap an arm around Sarina so he could pull her closer. 

“I—- I get it,” he started quietly. “Me and Ros… we did the same thing sorta. But we got our own definition of what being a Sykes is. A little bit of our upbringing is in it but mainly it’s just us deciding what we wanna be. If your family don’t think of yous? Fuck ‘em. Yous got a family here. With me and Ros. Or whoever yous want. They can’t accept yous or somethin’ then yous too good for ‘em.”

SARINA

Moving with the touch Sarina curled into DeSoto. Maybe it wouldnt be bad being married to your best friend. There was barely any tax benefits though considering most of their work was illegal.

It was just Sarina wished she could agree with him. Fuck them. But it wasnt that easy, she was the bad guy in this situation.

"It wasnt that, my parents were killed at a magick rights protest, for the longest time my brothers and I always went with them fought with them. When they were killed I stopped fighting, the boys didnt. But I had to step in as a primary caregiver to them. They were utterly useless. I was the one that abandoned them." The dream just brought the guilt back stronger. 

"Used to have a secret identity and be a vigilante if you would believe it."

DESOTO

Okay. Okay. DeSoto had no idea how to deal with dead parents. He wanted and actively planned how to kill his own father. He wasn’t a good guy. Had never been a good guy. Part of him couldn’t believe that Sarina had once been one of the good guys. But—- she hadn’t ever really opened up to him like this either, so there had to be truth to it. 

“What made yous leave ‘em?” He asked it carefully, making sure to keep his hold on her light so that if she wanted to distance herself she could. Some family things were tough to talk about. There was a lot that he didn’t talk about or even acknowledge so he definitely understood that. 

But he wanted to know more about this part of Sarina’s life. Especially if it was something that was bothering her this much. He could be a safe place for her if that was what she needed. 

SARINA

"I was going to break, even when I was in University I was falling down a rabbit hole that I could barely see the light of. We were there fighting for magick rights and it was thrown in our faces, or we would try using our powers to help someone and we would be looked at like monsters." Sarina had planned to go into early education. She had wanted to help.

"The boys never saw it like that, they would keep helping but they lacked common sense. Would rush in without even thinking about it. Our parents held us together. Without them… I couldnt do it. I stopped caring about helping, I stopped caring about the things I couldnt control. I could kill myself over it or I could try to live. The boys wanted me to fill the void my parents left and I couldn't do it." The more she spoke about it the guiltier she felt.

"This ring is a family heirloom." Sarina held up her right hand for Des to see the simple silver band. "Enchanted to handle the heat from my energy blasts." 

DESOTO

There were times that DeSoto actually forgot that Sarina was a Magick. He’d seen her use her magic but it still slipped his mind. Maybe because it wasn’t in your face like some but whatever it was he often treated it like out of sight out of mind. It didn’t matter to him that she was a Magick. Did it mean he cared about every other Magick out there? Absolutely not. He still thought there needed to be better policing of them out there but those thoughts didn’t pertain to her. 

“That ain’t your fault, y’know,” he said instead. And it was true. Not wanting to be and do what her brothers wanted wasn’t wrong in any way. A hard concept to grapple with but true all the same. “I mean… I ain’t the son my pops wanted. And— yeah it sucks but, end of the day? I’m my own person.” Even if it wasn’t true and Des was always destined to be a follower. 

Taking her hand, he looked over the ring before locking their fingers together. This was, perhaps, the most tender he’d ever been with someone. “Don’t feel bad yous couldn’t be something someone else wanted yous t’be. ‘Sides, yous wouldn’t be married t’me if yous had been.”

SARINA

Sarina let out a small laugh at that, leave it to Des to boil it down to something so simple. But he wasnt wrong. If she had stayed she wouldnt have met Des or the people she cared about at the Court.

Never would have met Drakken and dealt with his antics. She might not even be here still if she had stayed. 

"Maybe one day I'll be strong enough to check in on them. But right now you think it's okay to weasel myself into your family. Be a Sykes." She wouldnt go around calling herself one, they might be married but they werent about to boast about it unless the situation needed it. 

But it was truly more for herself than it was for other people. 

“Do I get to keep the ring then?”

DESOTO

Sarina’s question was a silly one. Even though they hadn’t been married before she was still a part of his family. He cared for her just as much as he cared for Roscoe. Their bond was unbreakable. But he knew this was a rare moment for the two of them. A small bit of vulnerability shared in the quiet of the morning. 

It was a new and terrifying type of relationship for DeSoto but he knew that Sarina would never betray him. 

“Course yous a Sykes. Was one before we got married,” he huffed even as he pulled her closer. “Be a great addition to the family.” 

Shifting so that they could both lay down again, Des shrugged at the next question. “Long as you’s don’t melt it? Sure.”

SARINA

Sarina smiled against his chest, maybe it wasn’t the most conventional marriage and maybe they would get divorced one day. But the very thought of this giving her a place to call home no matter what. It was kind of nice.

For someone who had her guard up all the time, it was nice to be vulnerable for once.

“No melting, don’t worry I have a way to make sure it’s fine.” And it seemed like a trip back to Italy was in order, it was about time she at least kept her parents wedding bands with her again. Maybe she could stop running in pieces.

But for now, sleep was good, curled up against her husband, they would deal with anything else after they woke up again.

#desotosykes #tw: drinking #tw: drugs

[brilapse]

1-60. That should keep you busy. Plus it'll be fun to read.

lol, jesus christ. Yeah, it'll keep me busy, that's for sure. :|

Okay, let's get started:

EDIT- Okay, this took me way too long, lol. I started it a couple days ago and go to the low 20s and then went to make dinner and got distracted after dinner and then watched the game, lol. Then yesterday I got on the computer, saw it and remembered and did a few more and then gave up really quickly because it was HOT AS HELL here yesterday. The humidity was insane. Newfoundland usually has mild weather, but when it is hot (25-30) it is extremely humid and dense. I was in a sports bra and female boxers and was still sweating and my hair sticking to my face and ugh, IT WAS HORRIBLE. So I went in the bedroom and lied down on the cool floor with the fan blasting on me and stayed there for the rest of the night reading lol, and then that brings us to this morning, I finished the last little bit and here you go. Not like anyone is going to read this anyways, I have some pretty long rambling TL;DR answers hahahaha so yeah:

1. selfie

I don't feel like taking a selfie right now lol, besides I left my phone at my computer desk to charge in the living room and I'm on my tablet in bed rn lol

2. what would you name your future kids?

Boys: lol okay so I LOVE the name Gaius (Ancient Roman/ Latin) but noone I tell likes it lol so I'd have to settle for Marcus, a more normal name from ancient Rome. I also LOVE the name Damien, but my mom says it reminds her of the devil lmao. I reallllllly like the names William (not will. Not willy. WILLAIM) & Richard as well, so it'll probably be one of those two because they're the most "normal" haha

Girls: Aeliana (ae is pronounced like ee) Cassia (can call her Cassie), or Saoirse. If I had it my way my daughter would be named Bouddica after the Ancient Briton Warrior who rose up against the Romans 😏😏

3. do you miss anyone?

My mom, brother and dog who are in another province.

4. what are you looking forward to?

Death. Blackness. Peace and Quiet.

Lol. for real tho, Nothing particularly exciting is coming up, so I'm not really looking forward to anything. Probably hiking La Manche this weekend. OH, Game 5 Habs + Vegas! EDIT: Game 6 now!

5. is there anyone who can always make you smile?

Yeah, Aragorn 💗 ....and my boyfriend...I guess

6. is it hard for you to get over someone?

Hmmm, I mean, it depends. Obviously if I invested a lot into a relationship and it was a pretty good relationship- yes I'd say I have "trouble" getting over someone.

7. what was your life like last year?

The same as everyone else's. LOL. Stay at home, quarantine lockdown, work from home, lots of Netflix and reading, haha.

8. have you ever cried because you were so annoyed?

YES. Sometimes you just hit your limit (especially after an anxiety ridden day) and any little thing you find annoying will throw you over the edge. I cried once because my boyfriend wouldn't stop snoring lmao. One of many examples.

9. who did you last see in person?

My boyfriend when he left for work this Morning.

10. are you good at hiding your feelings?

Immaculate. Do I choose not to and overshare sometimes? Lol, yes.

11. are you listening to music right now?

I am, I am. Drinking my Morning Tea and listening to my Celtic/ Nordic/ Medieval Chill Playlist lol

12. what is something you want right now?

A cigarette, lol. Thanks for reminding me lol. I'm cutting down and hopefully eventually quit fully. I'm down to 5 a day from like 12-14 a day. I've already had 4 today (anxiety was bad today) so I'm trying not to have another one until before I go to sleep.

13. how do you feel right now?

Blasié would be the best way to describe it.

14. when was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you?

This morning.

15. personality description

Jesus. I hate describing my personality, its like, how do I even begin to summarize something so convoluted? I refuse, we'll be here for ages. Go through my tumblr, you'll get an idea at least lol

16. have you ever wanted to tell someone something but you didn’t?

Yes. You're a liar if you say you've never not told someone something you wanted to say. What kind of question? ? ? ??

17. opinion on insecurities.

They suck and the confirmation bias (looking around for things that confirm your insecurities, like when you walk past a group of people and share eye contact for a moment and hear them laughing, think "they're laughing at me", etc) that goes along with them suck as well.

18. do you miss how things were a year ago?

No. We were on full lockdown and I was working from home at a job I hated.

19. have you ever been to New York?

No.

20. what is your favourite song at the moment?

At the moment I would have to say "Hallucinogenics" by Matt Maeson ft Lana Del Rey - I've been listening to it A LOT lately. I've also been listening to Anything (Malaa Remix) by Alison Wonderland, Valentino Khan, Malaa a lot recently too haha. It's my go to song when cleaning the past week :)

21. age and birthday?

Twenty-five.. November 20th.

22. description of crush. boyfriend.

Ginger, thick wavy hair (I LOVED it when he had it longer, like "hockey flow" with his "beard" (lmao he cant grow one, he has like a short stubble beard i guess) Chubby (dad bod <3) but has Big Muscular Arms (MY FAV in a man).

He's also DUMB AS SHITTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lmao, well. He's actually fairly intelligent when it comes to numbers, patterns, etc. He's like a damn calculator, like he would literally be able to figure out a random equation like 491x596 in the same amount of time it would take me to put it in a calculator, kinda crazy sometimes lmao. THOUGH HE DUMB AS SHIT WHEN IT COMES TO COMMON SENSE SHIT AND WOMEN AND RELATIONSHIPS and like abstract theories and shit haha.

Kind. Like. Too kind sometimes. When we "fight", I always feel like a piece of shit because I'm after getting heated (CAUSE HE DUMB!!!!!!! :') ) and raising my voice, saying some not so nice things (he describes me as "ruthless" lol) and he NEVER raises his voice back or gets heated back. It's extremely rare. Which, in the moment annoys me because I feel like my energy needs to be matched and he isn't taking me or the situation seriously, but afterwards I appreciate it because I know the reason he doesn't is because before him, I was in a pretty abusive relationship mentally and physically, and I also have PTSD from situations that occured while I was homeless & a drug addict, so sometimes men getting angry with me triggers a panic attack or tramautic memories, and he literally doesn't raise his voice back or get angry because he never wants me to perceive him that way or inadverently scare me. So I do appreciate it.

Funny. In such a stupid way, you have no choice but to laugh at how stupid his humour is. (Like superbad, Step Brothers, etc ahah)

Lol. *writes 3 paragraphs describing my boyfriend but can't write 1 sentence describing myself*

23. fear(s)

I actually don't have many fears, and I think that's attributed to the fact that I have seen/experienced some traumatic things and I've just become desensitized I guess. I would say my fears are things that fairly improbable and silly. Like a plane crash and dying in burning flames, or a ship sinking and being trapped inside and slowly waiting for the water to come in and drown me. Fear of dying in a painful way, I guess. That's pretty evoluntionarily normal for any human though haha.

24. height

5'2 and a bit, pretty much 5'3. My DL says 5'3.

25. role model

I don't really have a role model. I don't really "look up" to anyone enough to model myself after them. There are people I admire, which leads us to the next question.

26. idol(s)

I have plenty of idols. (and I may not admire EVERYTHING about these people either) A few being, Bouddica. Livia Drusilla. Nero. Sappho. Augustus. Hypatia of Alexandria. Carl Sagan. Friedrich Nietzsche. Michaelangelo. Marie Curie. Jean-Paul Sartre. Albert Camus. Simone de Beauvoir. William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Botticelli. Jane Fonda. Hedy Lamarr. Marilyn Monroe. Sarah Paulson. Catherine the Great. Elizabeth I. Rousseau. Marx. Engels. Isaac Asimov. Richard Dawkins. I could go on and on.........

27. things i hate

I don't "hate" much. Humanity, I guess. More so Humanity's ability to be ineradicable violent and then use a "higher goal" ( For God, for "protecting" our country, etc) as a justification to keep recoursing to brutality. Humanity is also extremely self-righteous. We are constantly creating a reason about why it was right for us to do what we did and why we are victims rather than perpetrators. We ignore self-examination and our moments of guilt and atonement might amount to no more than half an hour across a lifetime for some people. We're envious and greedy, ignoring empathy for richness. We can be unbelievably cruel. We can be extremely close-minded. We are moral hypocrites.

I also love humanity as well. The ability to overcome the things above. Empathy. Kindness. Intelligence that will send us out into the far reaching corners of space if we let ourselves. Our resilience. We are the most remarkable species on earth, how far we have come in the short time since we evolved from our ape ancestors and climbed down from the trees and emerged from our caves, setting off on creating Civilization, Society, Technology, etc. The speed at which we advanced and the things we have overcome in the past shows our ability as a Species. The past 100 years alone we have advanced more technologically than the 500 years combined before

Human beings, homo sapiens, are a most remarkable species which is easily seen in a comparison with how far we have come in the short time since we climbed down out of the trees and emerged from our caves. The speed with which we are currently advancing leaves the future open to a wide range of speculation, but we have overcome much in the past and will continue to do so in pursuit of our future. I’m proud of my species and confident in our future.”

28. i’ll love you if…

idk lol

29. favourite film(s)

I have a few but Ill list the first 10 that come to mind

2001: A Space Odyssey

Alien

Interstellar

Gladiator

Barbarella

Donnie Darko

The Gladiator

Jane Eyre

The Ninth Gate

Star Wars

Every Marvel Movie basically lol

30. favourite tv show(s)

Again, I have a lot of shows I really enjoy, but these 10 are what came to mind first

Star Trek - In order from most liked to least liked of: Voyager, OS, Picard, TNG, Enterprise, Discovery, The Animated Series, Deep Space Nine and The Lower Decks

Game of Thrones

Battlestar Galactica

Westworld

The White Queen Series (The White Princess and the Spanish Princess following TWQ)

The Tudors

Spartacus

The Borgias

The Expanse

Man in the High Castle

31. 3 random facts.

1-Ancient Romans would sometimes fill up a Colosseum with water for a simulated sea battle. These simulated battles were called "naumachia". Nero held one in an amphitheater with actual marine creatures as well.

2-There are an estimated 2 trillion galaxies (each galaxy with an average of 100 billion stars) in the Observable Universe. That's 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars (24 zeroes) Astronomers say this is likely a gross underestimation as well. lol.

3- If we found a way to release the energy of a singular human body (aka explode) the explosion would wipe out the earth (render it uninhabitable). So yeah, the human body contains significantly more energy (potential) than a hydrogen bomb.

Hey, it didn't say facts about yourself :)

32. are your friends mainly girls or guys?

Mix of both. I have like 4 friends right now lol, 2 are girls, 2 are guys.

33. something you want to learn

Archery.

34. most embarrassing moment

I literally can't think of one, lol.

35. favourite subject

Damn. It's pretty hard to choose between Science, History or Philosophy.

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill?

Never have to worry about money again. Not be super rich, but to be able to afford a comfortable life and buy the things I want without worrying about spending too much, not having enough, running out, etc. Financial Stability.

Travel to all the places I want to go and see all the historical things I want to see (art, architecture, etc)

Be happy 90% of the time.

37. favourite actor/actress

Sarah Paulson. <3

also, Jodie Comer is an amazing actress, I really enjoyed her in The White Princess as Elizabeth of York and in Killing Eve as Villanelle (srz. just look up Villanelle compliation on youtube, great character, great actress.)

As for men, Tom Hardy. I really like Mandy Patinkin as well.

38. favourite comedian(s)

I think Aubrey Plaza is HILARIOUS. I also really like Ali Wong.

39. favourite sport(s)

Hockey lol

40. favourite memory

uhhhhhhh jesus this is a tough one, I have a few memories I cherish. I really can't pick one.

41. relationship status

Taken. Lol nope, I actually hate that. "taken" like i was kidnapped and forced into a relationship and my bf owns me lol

so we'll go with In a Relationship.

42. favourite book(s)

Okay, I'm going to just name one or two fiction and one or two non-fiction, or this list is going to get long af and fast haha

Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov (my favourite series of all time) and A Pillar of Iron - Taylor Caldwell

By Taylor Caldwell

Being and Time - Martin Heidegger and The Denial of Death - Ernest Becker

Okay, I need to add one more because this book will always live in my mind rent-free. Hunger - Knut Hamsun.

43. favourite song ever

EVER? ugh. I'd have to say Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead.

44. age you get mistaken for

Most people think I am my age, usually a couple years younger, early 20s rather than mid 20s.

45. how you found out about your idol

idk? usually by reading

46. what my last text message says

"I just checked the mail, you have a couple birthday cards"

OKAY I'M TIRED OF ANSWERING THESE, and the questions have started to get kind of mundane and it just gets worse from here, so yeah I'm gonna stop here :)

#mine #me #personal #my post #myself #my life #selfie #questions

[oc-growth-and-development]

so I’m back

Whoo boy it’s been a while since I’ve been on tumblr dot com. What have you kids been up to? Staying healthy and starting revolutions, I hope? Well, I’m here to say that after a little over 6 months away from tumblr, I’m back to posting prompts for y’all! For those who care, I’m putting a general rundown of what happened under the cut. TL;DR: I missed the awesome OC community, but I just really needed some time in the “real world”

New prompts coming up starting tomorrow!

What prompted (heh) me to get off tumblr, you ask? Well, December, when I unceremoniously posted my last prompt, happened to be a super busy time for me. Exams, traveling, general stress, etc. I simply didn’t have the time or energy to be on tumblr. When things finally did slow down, I just kinda... didn’t come back? You know when you put off confronting someone for so long that as more time passes, you feel less inclined to bring it up even though you kinda should? Yeahh, that happened. Nothing terribly dramatic. Life happens sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But yes, what I’ve been up to:

Turned 22 and went to Vegas with friends before Everything happened

Sheltered-in-place with my roomies and our cat son for 3 months

Graduated and had to say goodbye to said roomies and cat son :(

Read and wrote a lot (for fun!)

A whole lot of deep dives into the weirder side of youtube

Trying (and failing) to find a job for the fall

Lots of baking, cooking, knitting, embroidering... oh god I’m a grandma

Playing the sims for hours on end

Watching WAY too much anime

Overall, I’ve genuinely enjoyed my time off of tumblr (and social media in general). I’ve been pretty productive and, quite frankly, fully realized how much of an echo chamber tumblr can be sometimes. To say I’ve matured is inaccurate, but I do feel changed. One might even say I went through some character development. I’ve decided to come back mostly because I missed the writeblr community, and I feel like we honestly all just need a distraction from The Everything and an excuse to write about our OCs. Working with my OCs and on my worldbuilding brings me a sense of familiarity and control, and I’m sure a lot of you feel the same way. 

Anyways, thanks for reading, hope you’ll have me back, and happy writing!

#not a prompt #personal