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lilirari · 5 months

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🏍️ everyone's favourite biker couple is out on a nye bike date

💌 biker! oscar piastri x biker! fem! reader (social media au)

💭 author's note : this is very short but i've been having oscar brainrot again (don't i always ?) and idk how but i'm always on the biker side of instagram these days so i just decided to put these two together and feed my own delusions hehe. anyways this is my last smau for this year ! thank you all for making 2023 fun and memorable <3 see you next year ;)

twitter 🫖

instagram 🎥

yourinstagram 11 minutes ago | oscarpiastri 9 minutes ago

seen by yourbestie, landonorris, logansargeant and 1,293,456 others

yourinstagram

🎶 slow down : chase atlantic

liked by oscarpiastri, yourbestie, fabioquartararo20 and 30,188,293 others

yourinstagram i ❤️ bikers (oscar)

view all 99,183 comments

yourinstagram we don't slow down though we like the fast life 😋

-> oscarpiastri we are speed

-> liamlawson30 the lightning mcqueen dialogue summoned me

yourinstagram also LS2 helmets in the last slide for logansargeant 🤭

-> logansargeant glad to know that y'all still remember me 😐

oscarpiastri my pretty girl

oscarpiastri step on me

-> yourinstagram what

-> oscarpiastri what

-> user81 LMAO HE'S WILDINNNN

oscarpiastri mine mine mine

oscarpiastri god you look so fine in that first picture

oscarpiastri did you have to include that picture of me swinging though 😞

-> yourinstagram ofc ! you look so cute 🥹

-> yourinstagram (he fell down right after this picture was taken btw)

-> oscarpiastri hey now you don't have to mention that

-> user44 NOT Y/N SNITCHING ON HIM LMAO

yourbestie GIRL YOU LOOK SO FINEEEE SO SLAYFUL

yourbestie ABSOLUTELY ATE !!!!

-> yourinstagram I LOVE YOUUUUU my hype girl 🫶

yourbestie THAT'S MY GF Y'ALL

-> oscarpiastri that's MY gf 🤨

-> yourinstagram chill guys there's enough y/n for everyone

-> oscarpiastri yeah well i don't share though 💁🏻‍♂️

-> yourinstagram why did i find that extremely hot

-> oscarpiastri you're extremely hot

-> yourbestie oh no nvm guys please don't start making out in the comments

logansargeant not giving this post a like because i'm a hater !!!!

-> yourinstagram is it bc we didn't invite you

-> logansargeant what else do you think it is 😒

-> yourinstagram logan pookie we're sorry 😭 but it was just meant to be an us thing today

-> yourinstagram we even wore the helmets with your initials man

-> yourinstagram we'll call you on our next ride, aight ?

-> logansargeant fine 😐

user16 ughhh y/n's an absolute goddess

user55 THAT OUTFIT THOUGH ??? SLAY QUEEN

user02 the LS2 helmets are so cute :(

user20 OMG SLOW DOWN AS THE SONG ARGGHHH

user22 YNOSCAR ARE SO CHASE ATLANTIC CODED 😩😩

user23 OSCAR LOOKS SO HOT IN THAT FOURTH SLIDE WHAT

user63 SHE SAID FVCK ME LIKE I'M FAMOUS I SAID OKAY 🗣️🗣️🗣️

user24 Y/N ARE YOU A CHASE ATLANTIC FAN

-> yourinstagram YEAHHHHH OFC BRO CHASE ATLANTIC >>>>>>

-> user27 i think i've fallen in love with y/n all over again

-> oscarpiastri user27 same

user04 why's oscar kinda fine..

-> user01 WDYM KINDA HE'S ALWAYS BEEN FINE

-> yourinstagram facts user01 !!!

user03 GOD WHEN IS MY TURN GOING TO COME

user10 MY FAVOURITE BIKER COUPLE 🫶

user11 icb the two hottest people on the planet are dating it all feels surreal

user14 WHERE'S MY BIKER BF 😭😠

user18 i love you both so much 🥹

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oscarpiastri

🎶 ohmami : chase atlantic

liked by yourinstagram, landonorris, logansargeant and 40,293,455 others

oscarpiastri nye with my baby 🖤

view all 107,293 comments

yourinstagram thank you for making my 2023 worthwhile, oz 🫶

　liked by oscarpiastri

yourinstagram can't wait to spend another whole year with you <3

　liked by oscarpiastri

yourinstagram i love you, my favourite boy🤍

-> oscarpiastri i love you, my favourite girl 🖤

logansargeant 🤢🤢👎🏻👎🏻

-> yourinstagram this is the reason why you're still single and why you didn't have anyone to kiss you on nye you HATER

-> user77 HELP Y/N THAT'S SO FOUL

-> logansargeant you didn't have to call me out like this 😧

landonorris that guy on the second slide looks kinda cute

-> oscarpiastri he's taken

-> landonorris aww that's too bad 😞 does his girlfriend want to share him with me ?

-> yourinstagram no his gf does not share 🤍

landonorris questionable hand placement on that third slide though 🤨

-> logansargeant no seriously why is she grabbing him like that 😧

-> yourinstagram it's comfortable 🤭

-> oscarpiastri your single arses won't know how it feels like to be touched by a woman

-> landonorris ok foul 💀

-> logansargeant you guys are such haters #ynoscarsinglephobic

-> user30 SINGLEPHOBIC PLEASE IM CRYING

-> user05 nah fr they're giving us singles too much pain it's time to cancel ynoscar

user08 I WANT WHAT THEY HAVEEEE 😭😭

user14 again... WHERE THE FRICK IS MY BIKER BF HUHHH

user06 God i see what you've done for others

user47 THE HAND PLACEMENT ON THE THIRD SLIDE GAWDDAMN

user66 i so badly want to be y/n in the third slide

user58 ynoscar do you want a dog i can bark

user49 i feel faint after seeing these pictures

user07 dayummm oscahhhhh

user56 that fourth picture 😩😩😩😩😩 (aggresive slamming on the desk)

user84 i too want to be carried around by oscar

user34 THE KING AND QUEEN OF BIKERTOK AND BIKESTAGRAM

user09 he's such a cutie patootie look at his bread cheeks in the 2nd slide ☹️

user21 the way they're looking into each other's eyes in the last slide 🥹🥹🥹

user95 ynoscar >>>>>>>> any other couple

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howtofightwrite · 3 months

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I've got a world-building/combat question. I have these two warring nations in my setting, both medieval-ish tech levels. One of them figures out how to make magical flying craft that are basically WWI airplanes. The other country invents dragon riders in response. Since then, they've been at war for ~60 years. I'm trying to figure out how the heck an air force would alter medieval combat strategies. If you've any suggestions, I'd appreciate it

The first, and biggest world building problem is that magic is part of your overall tech level. Ironically, Diskworld is an excellent example of how magical technology can basically function as an alternate path for social and technical development, though, honestly, a lot of high-magic settings tend to have tech leakage from magic.

One of the more common examples that comes to mind are “magical radios.” Either it's an enchanted device that allows person to person communication, or it's direct telepathic communication, but whatever it is, it serves a fundamentally similar role to a handheld radio, or (depending on how it works) a phone. The thing is, it's functionally a magical replacement, and it would affect society in much the same way those technologies have.

This is a long way to say, if your magical combat technology has WWI-grade planes, there is a very real possibility that a lot of your warfare is also going to be at a similar magi-tech level, if not more advanced. Having written that, I'm reminded of The Red Star comic series; though, that has a heavy Soviet aesthetic, and is not-at-all medieval.

Again, it doesn't really matter if you have fully-automatic firearms, or if you have a bolt thrower that conjures and propels crystals at hyper-sonic speeds into your foes. If they have a similar rate of fire, and similar accuracy, the meaningful change is texture. Your characters might see tiny crystal fragments shattered on the floor, or embedded into walls, instead of bullet holes. There may be no smell, or conjuring the crystals might leave a different odor. A handheld lightning projector might leave scorch marks, and a scent of ozone, for instance.

Magic might also factor into armor and defenses. If you can use a magical ward to dispel conjured objects, that might be extremely useful for fortifying specific targets against incoming conjured attacks, but it would likely be wholly ineffective against the lightning projector, or some other kind of directed energy beam weapon.

“Inventing,” dragon riding as a response to someone else making a magical airship, does strike me as an odd cause-and-effect. If dragon riding was that easy, it would seem likely that someone would have militarized them long before that point. Inventing flying objects that could function as a hard counter to dragons feels a little more natural. Or, magical, AA installations. Though, this is something that could probably be finessed, if you're really committed to the setup. It's also worth remembering that air superiority is an extremely potent advantage, even if you're not sure what to do with it, meaning that if one side suddenly had fliers, and the other side couldn't come up with a counter in short order, they'd be picked apart, and the war wouldn't have this 60 year timescale.

If it seems like I went to ranged weapons very quickly, there's a simple reason. You can't joust from a plane. Your options are to either propel objects at people, or drop things on them from above. Dragons also (usually) have the option to breathe fire on them. Now, firearms did exist in the late medieval era. So, that's not that far out of range. I'm less sure of the invention of bombs. At least, of the variety you could deliver to your enemy on the battlefield. Though, it occurs to me, you could probably use a catapult or trebuchet to deliver an explosive payload, if the explosives were stable enough to survive launch, but sensitive enough to detonate on impact. (Of course, if you have some kind of magically primed explosive, that stays stable until it is ejected from the catapult, and then explodes on impact, that would work.)

Looping back to the timescale again, this would require some pretty potent defensive capabilities. A dragon, with the ability to breathe fire, and the capacity for strategic thinking, could easily starve out an entire kingdom, simply by making a habit of torching all the cropland it could find. It doesn't, particularly matter if it gets all the food, so long as it torches a meaningful percentage of the available crops. When you have farmers going hungry, you're going to see food production dipping, exacerbating the problem. When you have soldiers going hungry, they're not going to be able to fight as effectively. When you have the peasantry going hungry, you're going to see civil unrest, and probably rebellions coming for their lord's head. You can't wage a war against a hostile nation under those circumstances. (In fact, there were multiple peasant revolts during the Hundred Years War, which basically stalled out France's ability to fight. England also suffered multiple peasant uprisings at roughly the same time. Though, those were motivated by taxation, which ends in a similar place.)

A related concept that's somewhat hinted above, is that wars are expensive, and both France and England found themselves facing uprisings because of taxation needed to support the ongoing war. (The irony being that both nations encountered this at roughly the same point in history. Roughly 40 years into the war.) A war that's been going for 60 years will likely have ravaged the economies of the involved nations. This isn't necessarily something that your characters would be aware of, unless you expand the context to show non-wartime economies.

The simplest explanation for why this happens is that any money you spend prosecuting the war are products that you never see returning value from. The money itself doesn't leave the economy, but the natural resources, and labor required, are expended non-productively (from the perspective of economic growth.) So, if you have a peacetime merchant, they're moving money around, but they're paying for their goods, and then those goods are going to consumers, who may also be contributing to economic activity with those goods (this even applies for food, you can think of that as a necessary component to any productive activity.) If you're a wartime merchant, selling weapons to the military, you are contributing to economic activity when you buy the weapons, but when they're sold to the crown, that's no longer productive. Those weapons leave the economy and never return. Worse, any soldiers who are permanently wounded, or killed, are also removed from the economy. Over time, this can destroy the most prosperous of nations. (To be clear, this is more advanced economic analysis than anyone in the middle ages would have had. So, the idea that wars are expensive was understood, but the exact reasons it slowed the economy were not.) And, this kind of thinking is another form of technological advancement. Ideas for understanding complex systems have become more intricate and detailed over time. While it's not the concept of, “invention,” that you might be used to, it is a similar form of progress.

So, how would this look in your world? There's a lot of potential consequences, most of which are not contradictory.

An impoverished lower-class is very likely. Whether that includes wounded veterans or not is a little more up in the air, though after 60 years, military pensioners, and those who suffered life-altering injuries on the battlefield are likely to be a common sight, either on the street or in the poverty line. (Especially if the crown is willing to enforce drafts and conscription.) At this point, that might be a very real possibility.

A struggling aristocracy is also likely, with former major power players who've declined into poverty. This might take the form of borderline abandoned estates that have been taken over by the crown or squatters. (Probably not both at the same time.)

Serious inflation is likely (and could be why formerly stable guild members, merchants, and even some of the aristocracy might now find themselves struggling.) I realize this point isn't something most really think of when you're trying to write a fantasy world, but it's worth considering. More likely this will be seen in food prices having increased over time. So the major symptoms you'd likely see would be decaying structures that no one has the resources to maintain, rising food prices, and generalized poverty. Even in a fairly magically advanced setting, a lot of these things would, likely, still happen. Of course, if the dragons have been used to destroy the agricultural base, things would be even worse in that nation. To be clear, food and taxation riots are not off the table there.

This is sort of a non-sequitur, but if you have a setting with classic transmutation (lead, or other base metals, into gold), you would actually see inflation with every batch of transmuted gold hitting the market. It's sort of an amusing note on the fantasy of being able to produce as much money as you want, but ultimately, it's actually harmful from a macroeconomic perspective. (Basically, the same reason counterfeiting is a problem.) Though, it is a possible hook for criminal groups in one of those nations, producing counterfeit gold via transmutation.

There's also a real world example from 2020, where a jewelry company had fabricated “fake,” gold bars as collateral to secure loans. In total, they claimed to have 83 tons of gold used to obtain loans worth over 2.8 billion dollars, from 14 different creditors. Except, when they defaulted on those loans, and were forced to hand over the gold, it was discovered that these were in fact gold plated copper bars.

I realize the question was about the flying forces specifically, but so long as that advantage is dealt with quickly, and neither side is able to monopolize air superiority, that's not going to change nearly as much as having that level of magical advancement would on its own, and of course, the general consequences of having a war that's been going on for long enough that multiple generations have died on the battlefield. That's going to a bigger effect on your world as a whole.

-Starke

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#writing reference #writing advice #writing tips #how to fight write #starke answers #Starke is not a real economist

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littlepuppyliam · 3 months

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I've fallen off my writing streak again. Hopefully I can get back to it but I wanted to share a snippet of my Spencer Reid one shot to see how others react to it.

Spencer Reid x shy!reader

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How fast can you read?” The sudden flair of confidence scared you once you said it. But the thought of books reminded you of how fast he was reading the first time you saw him.

He stared at you, brows raised like he was unsure if you spoke. But he heard you. He cleared his throat. “I can read 22,000 words per minute.”

Now it was your turn to raise your brows. But it made sense the way he had flipped through the pages. “Can you read aloud that fast too?”

“The fastest rap, Gozila by Eminem, is around 220 words in 30 seconds, that's 7.6 words per second but even that is hard to comprehend by the average person let alone recite it at such a speed. So no, I can't read aloud as fast as I read in my head.”

Now you stared at him gobsmacked.

“Trust me, I've tried.”

A soft chortle escaped your nose making his lips upturn.

“What else can you do besides devour books at lightning speeds?”

“I have an eidetic memory and an IQ of 187.” He rambled off as if it was a common question he got from many people. “I also indulge in magic.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's all I'll share for now. I hope maybe some reactions to this will help me get back to my writing as I do well with input and support.

Thanks,

#spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid #spencer reid one shot #writing fanfic #spencer reid x reader

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yuus-sentient-teddy · 6 months

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"You're staying here."

A/N: Spoilers for Prologue, Books 1-6, and certain events. Sorry! I've had this story in my drafts for so many months. I hope ya'll enjoy it and please let me know what you think.

EDIT: I accidentally posted this while in the middle of editing and decided to still work on it while it was posted XD

". . . What? Hang on--"

"Calm down, we just need you to be our in-between in case the beast gets to us. Having you up here means you can get to the Headmaster faster--"

"Wait, stop. Stop." Yuu squinted at Leona, incredulous. "You could have one of your dormmates do that. Your dorm is based on athletics, I'm pretty sure whoever he is could get to the Headmaster faster than me. Not to mention, I'm a Beast Tamer, I should be going with you guys!"

"You're also magicless." Leona was mercilessly blunt with that fact. The words reminded Yuu of all the jabs of random bullies throughout the schoolyear, and they gritted their teeth. Before they could argue back, Leona said, "I'm not saying that that makes you useless, but let's face it: you're not going to survive that oversized house cat unless you can put up a barrier or counter a spell."

"I probably wasn't meant to survive a lot of things since coming here, but look what happened--" Yuu spread their arms out--"I'm alive anyways."

"It's probably because you had one of us or Grim with you," Ace said. "Dealing with the ghosts at Ramshackle the first night and every other thing after that, Grim. Fighting the Phantom in the mines, the three of us. All of the Overblots, a group of us." He was counting off each instance with his fingers, clearly not sorry for making a case against Yuu. "I know you're not thrilled about being left out of something as big as this, but without Grim, you're not going to be able to do much, let alone protect yourself. We can't keep an eye on you either, so it's basically better if you stay here."

He didn't shrink away from the look of betrayal and anger on Yuu's face and stood still when they marched up to him. "Okay, first of all, when have I ever asked any of you to keep an eye on me? Yeah, never. And second in case you forgot, I've handled myself pretty damn well when it came to random magic crap. I literally can't count how many times I almost got burnt by fireballs, impaled by ice, and struck by lightning by people that can't aim, and there are a lot of them at this school. Yeah, Vargas's 'catch-up' lessons helped with my speed, but my point still stands."

They held up a hand, stopping Ace from rebutting. "And if you're going to bring up Grim probably throwing out spells with weird side effects, don't. I've suffered enough curses getting thrown at me and potions being snuck into my food to get used to weird effects."

"Wait, people have been doing those things?!" Kalim's eyes were wide in disbelief and shock. "Why?"

Yuu half-heartedly tossed their arms, palms turning upward, as a form of a shrug. "Probably because they're assholes and I'm an easy guinea pig. If we're being a little pessimistic, it's probably also because no one would miss me. Magicless nobody from another world and all that."

"That's a horrible thing to think about!" Kalim cried. The Ramshackle Prefect was a helpful person and tried avoiding trouble the best they could. Not to mention, they weren't in line for something major like a merchant business or a throne. How could anyone want to trouble Yuu? (And how could Yuu think no one would miss them?)

"No surprise they'd think that," Idia mumbled.

"Hate to break it to you, but even if you got potioned and cursed a lot, there's still going to be something you won't be able to handle," Ruggie said. "I get what you mean, though. I got cursed and potioned a bunch of times before I started working for Leona and still a little after. At some point, you're more annoyed than bothered by whatever happens to you."

There were times he saw his freshman self in Yuu. Struggling to understand the lessons, having to bear with a handful of cruel upperclassmen or fellow classmates, left to carry out a difficult task on their own... he sometimes may or may not have been at the right place at the right time to offer help--in exchange for a favor, of course.

"That still doesn't mean you should throw yourself into a fight without knowing what could happen to you," he added, almost scolding.

"I know, but I still helped with the Overblots, didn't I? I think that's enough proof that I can handle being in dangerous fights," Yuu said, crossing their arms. Their sleeve got pushed up and a healing scar on the back of their wrist was revealed, which caught multiple eyes.

Savanaclaw and the Leech Twins remembered the cry of fear and pain when the Octopus Phantom's tentacle snatched their arm, right after they had stepped out of the way of a funnel of water. Octavinelle and Kalim remembered Yuu being sent flying after the Genie Phantom shot a spell that created a force upon impact. They would have hit the wall like a rag doll if Azul didn't catch them with wind magic. The VDC group members remembered them on the ground, twitching sporadically as one of the Hag Phantom's regular sized apples innocently rolled away like it didn't poison them through touch. (Deuce panicked so hard he summoned a cauldron to crush it even though just stepping on the apple was all that was needed.) And who could forget Yuu yanking their arm out of a nest of thorny branches that had been summoned by the Dragon Phantom? They had scars from thorns that got particularly stuck.

After realizing they were staring, Yuu followed the gazes and put their hands in their pockets as casually as they could.

"If you're worried about us thinking less of you, I assure you we wouldn't," Azul said. "There's nothing about the offer that you should be worried about. Again, it's not because your magiclessness makes you less valuable. It's simply letting you avoid another troublesome fight."

He didn't turn on the charm; no smiles or overly fawning words. He was dead serious and it made Yuu uneasy. Why did he want them to take the offer? Although--and this uneased them much more--it was starting to feel like most of the boys were conspiring to keep them out of the fight.

"After everything you've gone through, you pretty much deserve this. Don't worry about Grim, either." Deuce pounded his chest. "We'll be sure to bring him back in one piece."

"I. . . appreciate. . ." Yuu gestured vaguely while also feeling that 'appreciate' was a strange thing to say. They didn't appreciate being pushed out of something important without being heard, and they weren't sure how to feel about the unexpected concern for their wellbeing, especially at a time like this. "I appreciate you guys wanting to give me a break, but I really am serious about coming with to save Grim."

They saw shoulders slumping and heard frustrated huffs. "Listen!" they yelled, starting to feel frustrated themself. "I almost lost Grim once! I need to be there to make sure I don't lose him again. I know you guys can do what I can't, I've seen you all fight before, and I know you all will be able to handle what's coming, but I can't stand being on the side again! So, like it or not, I'm coming with. And why do any of you care about me getting a few scratches or hits from magic, anyway? It's not like it hasn't happened before."

No one responded.

". . . Guys?"

Finally, Leona clicked his tongue. "So annoying. I told you all it would've been pointless to do this."

"What's going on?" Yuu scanned the faces around them, noticing how uneasy Jack and Riddle looked, how Ace and Deuce seemed to have something to say, how irritated or hesitant everyone else appeared. Malleus approached them and they immediately noticed his brows furrowed in concern. "Tsunotaro. . . ?"

"Two night ago, we all shared a prophetic vision, likely similar to what you have been experiencing as of late. All of us were gathered together battling the chimera form of Grim in the same area as the current one. He casted spells that were beyond his usual abilities, including one that made it hard to breathe. Somehow, in the blink of a moment, you ended up alone with him trying to get him to come to his senses."

Yuu held their breath as Malleus said, "But then he opened his mouth and lunged towards you, and the vision ended. Forgive us for not telling you sooner. It is difficult speaking of someone's prophesied death and we did not want you to lose your confidence."

Multiple eyes carefully watched Yuu process everything he said. Some wondered how this would affect their character (Malleus admired them for their courage, considering their circumstances, and Ace liked them for their gutsy and surprising moments; hopefully nothing would change).

Others hoped that Yuu would relent and let the group fight Grim without them (Rook was regretful of leaving Yuu behind, but someone as special as them needed to be kept safe; Riddle simply didn't want to lose a dear friend).

And others prepared to rebut Yuu if they were still stubborn about going (Leona was mentally groaning and Vil shared his sentiment; aside from the Freshman Squad's reputation for having hard-heads, the two understood how much Grim meant to Yuu).

The Ramshackle Prefect started to observe them in turn with an unreadable expression.

Then they scowled. "You all realize how fucked up it is to keep that a secret, right? I mean, shouldn't I be told I might be walking to my death? Or is it--I don't know. You all think I can't make my own decisions?"

"That's the thing, Yuu. You care a lot about the people around you, and when it comes to Grim, you'd do anything to keep him safe. Even if we told you about the vision, I'm willing to bet you'd try to convince us to let you come anyway," Ace said. "You're right, it was fucked up to keep the vision from you, but we can't let you be so careless about yourself, especially since it's basically confirmed you might die."

"That cat has no idea how lucky he is to have a patient and caring person like yourself," Sebek said. "It wouldn't do for him to learn it through severely injuring you."

"And actually, none of us would be able to stand it if you got hurt or worse and we had the opportunity to prevent it," Ortho said. "You've done a lot already. Just this once, we want to handle this without troubling you."

Yuu silently stared at their Squad, mouth agape.

"When we found out you had gone with Epel and Hunt to find S.T.Y.X.'s headquarters, we seriously thought wouldn't see you again," Deuce said. "You gave us a heart attack with what happened in Scarabia. What you did then was unbearable."

"I know it's pointless to think about, but I sometimes worry over what would have happened if I didn't get my Unique Magic in time," Epel said. "Seeing that vision of Grim pouncing on you, though. . . it's made it harder to sleep at night."

"Frankly, the headmaster could be more considerate of you," Jack said. "Having to take care of Grim and being a Prefect can't be easy. Not to mention, what was he thinking tasking you with stopping Azul?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking to the side. "On top of being a little reckless, it makes it hard to not want to pull you back from any trouble."

"So, whatever you tell us, we're not taking no for an answer," Ace concluded.

The anger they had towards everyone for their audacity to keep the vision a secret was dimmed a little (just a little) by their friends' worry for their well-being. At the same time, the worrying made their heart tremble and throat tighten. They closed their eyes and took a deep breath. "You know, this whole time I was expected to be a stone wall. I forgot what it felt like to be cared about."

"Huh?" multiple voices chorused.

"What do you mean by that?" Deuce asked.

"Well, I was pretty much thrown into a lion's den and expected to survive it. I wasn't given much sympathy either by nearly everyone I met, especially during the first month." (A few of the boys internally cringed, remembering the hurtful words he had said.) "There's also the fact that most of the school consists of pricks who are self-absorbed year-round. It's not very comforting to know that if something happens to me, there's a good chance no one's going to give me a hand, except if it's people I get along with or people who can benefit from my suffering."

"I don't blame you for wanting certain attitudes to change, but you know as well as I do that you'll encounter pricks and predators anyway beyond the school walls," Vil said but not without some sympathy.

"I do," they said bitterly. "Look, I get it. I shouldn't expect the world to hold my hand or offer me everything on a silver platter. But--god damn it, would it have killed anyone or even any of you guys to have some sympathy? To be a little more decent?”

"I was able to bear the atmosphere of NRC for a while, but at some point, it gets so fucking tiring. A student population that can't be a smidge nicer unless they're beaten up or more upfront about their actual intentions." They shook their head, then made a derisive sound. "That's why I'm having a hard time processing this. I'm sorry, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that you guys, who come from Night Raven College, are actually showing that you care."

The corner of their lip twitched upward, forming a broken smile. Concern was visible on everyone's faces.

"Yuu," Ace said, "are you okay?"

". . . No. I haven't been okay since coming here, or maybe I wasn't okay before coming here and it just got worse. I don't really know."

They turned their face to the side, but it was too late: everyone saw a tear slide down their cheek. Except for Grim and the rest of the First Year Squad, no one ever saw the Ramshackle Prefect cry. It strangely made everyone concerned, and some reached out a hand.

"Yuu..."

"Prefect..."

They raised a fist to their face, as though it could stop the tears before they could spill. They took a slow, deep breath to calm themself, but they never let that breath go in fear a sob would escape.

"Yuu." A hand gently touched their shoulder. "It's all right."

They shoved the person away. They couldn't see who it was from the torrent of tears that suddenly spilled and blinded their sight. "It's not!"

"I was starting to believe people when they said I wouldn't be anything! They told me I was useless and dumb and a nobody. They told me I should've stayed a janitor because I couldn't do anything right. They'd try to beat me up for some etiquette I didn't know or for some stupid reason."

Insulting Yuu's parents and them. . .

Riddle noticed Trey setting aside a big cookie during preparations for the Unbirthday Party. It was for Yuu. Earlier that day, someone or some people had stolen their bag and stuffed it with crumpled paper and empty food wrappers. Their notebooks--thankfully still in tact--had been tossed haphazardly around the school and led to the field where the bag was left. Trey found all this out when Ace and Deuce returned to Heartslabyul dorm scowling. The Unbirthday Party went on as usual, and Yuu seemed cheered up by the cookie and receiving the honors of petting a hedgehog. Much, much later, Riddle caught a bully red-handed and dished out the consequences for breaking Rule #53: You must replace anything you steal. Sadly, it didn't deter other bullies from stealing Yuu's bag, but Riddle still punished whoever he could for breaking an important rule and troubling someone so undeserving.

Threatening to take a tooth. . .

Leona overheard a conversation while napping in the botanical garden. In between sleep and waking, he initially thought he was dreaming the times he overheard the servants whispering disapprovingly about him. What made him wake up was hearing plots to get Yuu kicked out. He couldn't be bothered to care what ridiculous crap the herbivores in the other dorms or his juniors in Savanaclaw got caught up in, but this was something different. Joke or not, someone had to step in before either party gets kicked out--and that's what he did, telling the students off for planning something ridiculous and highly risky (and glaring harshly when he recognized some of the students as members of the Magift Club). After the students scrammed, he settled back down to sleep and his mind wandered to Yuu. He felt a little deja vu when he thought how they needed a tutor to keep themself from failing (and Grim too even though that fur ball could pay to be less annoying). It would dig into his rest time, but he had an idea for what Yuu could do to make up for that. Say, help a certain hyena finish his given tasks quicker.

"It feels like I'm only here for people to use or take from. I keep wondering why it always happens. Is there something wrong with me? Was there some invisible sign telling people I was a tool that didn't need repairs? Was I cheap labor because I'm on the bottom of some hierarchy?"

Taking Ramshackle Dorm away. . .

Once, Azul came across a group of students playing 'keep away' with Yuu and their lunch box. For a moment, he was reminded of his child self, trying to get back a seashell from a couple of bullies who were tossing it to each other over his head and taunting his slowness. He snapped out of his memories when Ace, Deuce, and Grim entered the scene, magic ablazed and yelling. It wouldn't be the first time he would see this happen: anytime anyone picked on Yuu while using magic, their friends would come to their aid. (If Azul had to be honest, he envied the Ramshackle Prefect for having people like the First Year Squad look out for them.) But then, some time after his Overblot, he came across a couple of students on brooms waving Yuu's homework from their perch. The sight particularly irked him, but before he could step in, one of the bullies lost his grip and a couple of papers got blown away. The rest of the homework got lost when he and his accomplice tried grabbing the sheets. It all drifted onto the wet grass below or sailed over the trees, and the bullies, suddenly remembering they had something more important to do, left Yuu scrambling to salvage what they could. Azul wouldn't forget the Prefect's face when they asked, defeated, what he wanted in exchange for helping them with the missing papers. He neither wouldn't forget their face when they asked how he had been able to deal with being picked on so much. For once, he didn't feel the urge to strike a deal.

Using them for a plan. . .

When the high of partying in the desert died down, all Jamil could think about was how he would tell his family that he Overblotted and why. It churned his stomach picturing their horrified faces, and it was made worse when he wondered what the Al-Asim family would do if they heard that their heir had been caught in a dangerous situation by none other than the loyal best friend. What would happen to him and his family then? Amidst the inner turmoil, the Ramshackle Prefect and Grim were far from his mind until he and Kalim found them practicing for the VDC tryouts. A proper apology was due, but he didn't have one prepared. It didn't seem to matter to the two, though, as they acted like nothing happened. As though he didn't force them to "solve" another dorm problem right after Grim expressed not wanting to. When Vil Overblotted, he saw Grim rearing to fight while voicing how troublesome it was to deal with yet another Overblot. His eyes slid over to Yuu. . . and it was crystal clear they didn't want to deal with anything anymore. They stared at Vil's cackling, levitating figure with despair, eyes telling of exhaustion and mouth tugging into a grimace, a sign of reluctant acceptance. He tried to protect them when he could from poisonous spells--emphasis on tried, since he still had Kalim to keep safe--and afterwards, offered leftover food whenever Scarabia had parties.

"Was an Overblot all it took for people to see me differently? I can't control how other people act, only how I respond. All I can do is take things easy and forgive, but I don't know if I can keep doing it. It's just. . ."

Their voice trembled. "So hard to keep going when it seems like barely anyone wants to consider you."

Word spread fast around Night Raven College and it wasn't long before Vil recognized that Yuu was in a challenging position: they lived in a literal ramshackle dorm, had to live on a small budget, and were entirely new to this world. He had to hand it to them, they possessed quite the will and backbone. After all they experienced, he counted himself lucky that they warmed up to him rather quickly--which was why he noticed how tensely quiet they became the night after their friends snuck a bite of unknowingly cursed dessert. When asked, they told him bluntly that it was painful seeing food used like that. They were struggling to pay off lunch debts and it was made much worse when already broken windows broke a little more or parts of the roof had to be patched up after a short downpour. Vil could see a little hunger in their eyes as they talked of instances where they had to decide between repairs and eating dinner that night, even the next two nights. He didn't know about their struggles in the first place, but he nonetheless felt terrible about what he did and deeply apologized. For the rest of the VDC training camp, he ignored any footsteps that came from the Prefect's bedroom and headed downstairs, even as they made the floorboard creak loudly.

Idia sometimes thought about how the Prefect looked when they thanked him for listening to their rambles of all the anime they watched back on Earth. The two of them were sitting in Ramshackle Dorm's lounge, waiting for the next level of the game to finish loading, when he glanced over. Serene and distant, like they had recounted a fond memory. He thought back to all the isekai manga, anime, and video games he consumed. Some protagonists seemed pretty eager to be in another world, others were immediately wishing to go back home, but those who expressed homesickness did it in a cool way, like staring at a moon while sitting next to a best friend (he did remember reading fanfiction where it was more emotional, though.) None had a protagonist talk about something as mundane as the shows they loved to watch, let alone a protagonist who would talk to someone awkward like him. Didn't Yuu have their squad for these sort of heart to heart things? But they insisted that he was the guy they wanted to talk to; according to them, he was the most similar to the friends they rambled to about anime and would very likely 'get' what they would be talking about. Idia was simultaneously flattered and frightened: flattered because his expertise in the media was recognized and frightened because he was in a position reserved for those with high relationship levels. In fact, he panicked when Yuu suddenly got teary-eyed. The saving grace was the next level finishing loading and the characters getting thrown into chaos. The next time he came to Ramshackle Dorm, he brought with him some anime he thought Yuu would appreciate.

"And that's the thing. I don't understand how people forget there's more to a person than whether they have magic. There were times I wished no one had magic so they'd just shut up and stop acting like they're better than me or anyone else. It's like having magic is an excuse to be an ass."

Yuu sometimes joined Malleus on his nighttime strolls. Most nights they would be sound asleep, which was why he treasured the times they were awake enough to walk with him. The two talked about anything that came to mind: gargoyles, schoolwork, differences between Earth and Twisted Wonderland. Then one night, Yuu casually mentioned that many of the students were rather. . . unwelcoming. "Some of them act like I don't exist, but it's better than getting my homework stolen and thrown to the wind." He was surprised, but not unfamiliar with bullying from Lilia's recollection of cruel humans and various history lessons. He asked why. They shrugged, answering, "Probably because I'm low on the hierarchy. I don't have basic knowledge on magic on top of being magicless." When he said it still didn't warrant such behavior, they smiled sadly and replied, "Well, that's how it goes when you got something another person doesn't, and that other person just so happens to not really fit in a certain place." Later, Malleus was distraught to hear from Lilia that some of the students who were unkind to Yuu were of Diasomnia. The dorm was founded on the elegance of the Thorn Witch, surely the students would act with decor. But Lilia told him not to worry, he had a word with those students on being more open. But Malleus still wondered if there was something he could do. It turns out the answer was simple (even though it took place after his Overblot): hang out with Yuu during the daytime. They were a fellow student, were they not? So why should they be treated any different?

"Sometimes, I wonder if anything would change if I Overblotted. Would anyone wonder then why it happened and be nicer? Or. . ." Yuu let out a bitter scoff. "Would nothing change and people just see me more as an alien freak?"

They scrubbed the tears in their eyes. "Maybe I'm just a dumb ass and my Phantom would just eat me. It's not like I have anything else to offer it. God, what am I doing?"

The weight of what they had spilled for the past couple of minutes started crashing down like a crumbling shelf. They didn't want to see what the others' reactions were and continued to wipe their eyes with their hands and sleeves, even if there wasn't much to wipe. Their mind cycled through anything they could say to escape such an embarrassing situation. So sorry, I didn't know where it came from. Let's go back to arguing why I can't come with you guys to save my cat. He has been nothing but a pain in the ass, I should know, but he's become nicer and been my primary protector. He keeps insisting he'd protect me because he's the boss and I'm his henchman, and it's so endearing sometimes. And he's comforted me when I become so sick and just need someone to hold me--

"How long has this been going on for?" It was a gentle question. Yuu lowered their hand and found Ace and Deuce standing before them, the worry on their faces making their heart clench.

"A long time."

"Why didn't you say anything? We could have done something, you know," Deuce said.

Yuu shook their head. "This school runs on sink or swim. 'Losers don't have the right to complain.' And did you guys forget that we're freshmen? What can you guys do against the whole school? I actually talked about this with the school counselor and all he could do was apologize and tell me he'll put in a note for the headmaster."

Yuu almost laughed at the faces Ace and Deuce made. "I'm pretty sure I'm his first case for something like this."

"Still, you shouldn't just take everything lying down," Deuce said.

"I don't want to anymore, but I'm so tired of fighting. At what point can I stop?"

Yuu was once again seen under a new light. The viewpoint was different for each boy: from magicless outlier to honorary dorm member, notorious problem solver to exhausted errand runner, doe-eyed student to determined but kind mastermind, just to name a few. Yuu had laid bare wounds previously covered up by uniform sleeves, things they couldn't talk about or didn't feel comfortable sharing because otherwise they'd go against the school norm and grab negative attention to themself. Their closest friends knew of these wounds; others caught glimpses of certain parts. With the revelation, they all shared a similar viewpoint: an ordinary person so far from home, dropped into a magical, chaotic world and more vulnerable than what anyone realized. More exhausted and heavily scarred than what anyone realized.

"When Leona told me to stay here, I thought all along you guys didn't think of me as someone who could stand beside you and that everything had just been you all tolerating me." Yuu's voice dropped to a whisper. "That had hurt me more than any of you could know."

". . . Anyone who thinks you're undeserving of your position knows absolutely nothing," Riddle said. "Not counting your grades, you've proven yourself enough to have a place in this school."

Yuu gave Riddle a wobbly smile and he found himself feeling a little bashful. "Thanks, Riddle."

The smile suddenly became strained and they looked away. "I'm sorry. I know I said I took things easy and forgave, but--" they grimaced--"I can't bring myself to let go of some things you and the others did."

A/N: This accidentally became a two parter

#twst angst #yuu/mc (twisted wonderland)#riddle rosehearts #leona kingscholar #azul ashengrotto #jamil viper #vil shoenheit #idia shroud #malleus draconia #ace trappola #deuce spade #🧸🖊writing

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dotster001 · 1 year

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helloo~~ i was summoned by your twisted earth headcanons (which are amazing, btw) and like, speaking of chara!readers love interest...

if its alright with you, how would they react once the couple becomes canon? like what would happen? also what would happen if some angst or chara!reader and the romance chara broke up?

Summary: Vil/Malleus/Neige/Floyd/Ace x gn! Reader

A/N: since there weren't specific characters requested, I picked the five that I thought would have the most interesting/unique responses, but if you want some more, let me know!

Confused? Check out the Twisted Earth Literary Universe!

When you get together

It was an unexpected twist in the story. He was slated to be a va in the next phase of the story, so he had had hope. Until your book in this phase came out. Neige was voice acting as an evil millionaire's son. After the climax of the story, it was clear they were alluding to you humanizing that character.

But he still had hope! Until he got his script, and his character single handedly match made the two of you.

He's furious! Of course you'd end up with Neige! He can't have anything, can he?

He gives Neige the silent treatment for a couple weeks. Which he does a lot anyway, and Neige is too sweet and just assumes he's busy, so on the whole, he doesn't act too out of the ordinary.

Until he sees Rook's fanart of you and Neige kissing under a cherry blossom tree….

When you break up

It was truly a devastating break up, and it left the fandom in shambles. Your and Neige's characters just had too many differences, particularly with Neige's character not being super respectful of human livelihoods.

He wasn't part of this arc, his character was somewhere else with some random potato, but he'd heard it was coming ahead of time because Neige had come to him asking for pointers on how to up his villain game. Neige was excited to be the bad guy, and knew Vii would be so helpful!

Vil is smiling the entire time. Neige thinks it's because they are having fun together. Spoiler alert, that's not it.

All his simmering rage resurfaces when the arc comes out and Rook is still doing fanart of you and Neige.

And I quote, "Why shouldn't I draw the two most radiant individuals in love's embrace?"

When you get together

Malleus had locked his door when the update with your book came out. He was so excited, giggling like a schoolgirl as he binged the entire 100 chapters.

The weather progressively gets worse and worse as he reads through it. By the time he's finished it's pouring, there's dangerous amounts of lightning, and hail has hit more than one poor Diasomnia resident.

Lilia quickly hits up the twst version of reddit, and finds out your childhood friend confessed to you, and you accepted.

As fast as he can, he sends in emergency commissions to Mal's favorite fanfic authors, paying an ungodly amount of money for speed, and slips the finished products under the door.

The weather eases up, and after about an hour, Mal emerges, pretending his makeup and face isn't tear stained.

There are a huge influx of anon requests requesting "lonely fae prince who comforts Y/N after (childhood friend's) grisly murder". The author's think it has to be more than one person. It's not.

When you break up

You and your friend broke up because what you both thought was a crush, was really just a strong friendship. You're still both on good terms, just free to pursue other people.

He's got a very intimidating smile on his face all day. That's it.

When you get together

At your job, there was a worker who was a year older than you. He was a real stick in the mud. Always insisting that everyone follow the rules. Poo pooing on parties. Ace had thought it was a throwaway character. Until you confessed to him!

Your body pillow is in time out. I mean, it is not so different from normal in that it lives under his bed. But now, if it was a moment he would have snuggled it in the past, he will look under the bed, tell you to think about what you've done, and pout.

He boycotts the game for a while as well. As though his anger at this turn of events will outweigh all the millions of people in the fandom who adore this couple.

Poor Deuce, in this specific version of the au, ships it really hard. I don't think I have to tell you about the verbal assault he gets from Ace on this matter.

When you break up

Truly a devastating moment. Your partner had been secretly cheating on you with someone even more rebellious than you.

Ace is smug as hell! He's going off on Deuce at all hours of the day! He told him so! He knew it wouldn't last! He was right, you'd never fall for a stick in the mud loser!

Your body pillow is still in timeout. You did this to yourself, and he's not sure you've learned your lesson.

When you get together

He was so excited to work with Vii again! Since they hadn't been able to work together in so long, it was nice when Vil joined the project. And then Vil's character kissed you…

He's fine! It's fine! That's fine! You're not real, it's okay! And even if you were real, he doesn't have the time for a relationship, between his acting and schooling. It's totally fine!

He's not sad! He's not! In fact he's happy because it means Vil's character is going to be even more important to the story, so they can keep hanging out!

It's totally fine!

When you break up

Vil didn't have as much time in his schedule these days. So the best thing to do was to kill his character.

It was devastating for you, and you'd definitely have lifelong trauma, but the death scene went viral, and people have gone nuts with Vil's last words to you. Neige has even seen videos of people adding them to their wedding vows!

You're not real though. So it's fine! It's okay! He shouldn't be attached to a fake character anyway, so it's fine!

He feels guilty that he doesn't feel guilty over how happy he is that Vii's character is dead…

When you get together

Jade and Floyd were quietly sitting in their room, doing their own thing, when Floyd's phone suddenly smashed into the wall by Jade's head.

The last thing Jade saw on the screen before the image flickered off and the phone shut down forever was, "I love you, even though I hate mushrooms."

Now, Jade was super far behind in the story, but he knew enough to know that 1. His brother was madly in love with you and 2. You had clearly just confessed to someone who must have been as into mushrooms as he was.

It would be amusing if Floyd hadn't started smashing his terrariums.

Quickly calling in Azul, who was one of the few people who could pin Floyd, they gave him some tranquilizers, then cleaned up the shattered glass in the room.

Floyd has no motivation to do anything for the next several days. He also picked three fights with various students. It takes a long time for him to be okay again, and as I said in the initial HC's, he is no longer allowed to play the game without supervision.

When you break up

Heh heh. Ha ha ha. HA HA HA MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!!

....

Tag list- @shytastemakerthing @stygianoir @leonia0 @eccedentesiast-sapphic

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mur-art · 6 months

Text

A Calivada Essay in Song Lyrics

Lowkey inspired by @sleepdeprivedsimp234's song lyrics posts I decided to let my instincts win and put together a post full of song lyrics that are Calivada-coded to me. (Since the latest episode got me fully back on my Calivada bullshit. You could say they took a high-speed rail straight into my heart. )

The songs are roughly in order with how I picture the progression of their relationship. It starts with the early days of the Gold and Silver rushes and the Wild West, marked with periods of stormy and reckless whirlwind romance. Then it progresses into the early 20th century, with them growing apart, and yet together: Nevada finding his identity in casinos and sin, and California giving into the hedonism of Hollywood. Somewhere along the line, they became on-and-off again FWB, coming together when they're drunk, or lonely, or hopeless... or all of the above, locked in a frankly toxic and tumultuous co-dependent relationship. Not quite enemies, not quite lovers, definitely not friends... (or so they'll say).

Just... them. Anyway...

A bunch of these have been compiled from suggestions from various people over the past year-ish and some are just my shitty millennial taste in mid-2000s pop rock.

Link to actual playlist here

PART 1: "We're meant to be together like silver and gold"

California and Nevada meet for the first time. There's an immediate attraction to each other-- is it really love or is it simply a lust for the sparkle of silver and gold? Either way, it's a force of nature when they come together.

Silver and Gold- Parade of Lights (Cali's perspective)

Can you let me in if I take you home? / I'm never giving up 'cause I can't let go / I feel it in the air, feel it in my bones / We're meant to be together like silver and gold

Silver Stallion- The Highwaymen (Cali's perspective)

I'm gonna find me a reckless woman / Razor blades and dice in her eyes / Just a touch of sadness in her fingers / Thunder and lightning in her thighs

And we're gonna ride / We're gonna ride / Ride like the one eyed jack of diamonds with the devil close behind / We're gonna ride

Reckless Love- Bleachers (Nevada's perspective)

So give me a chance to remember / What I've given up to defend ya / I would burn my dreams away / Just to stand in the thankless shadows of your reckless love

gold rush- Taylor Swift (Nevada's perspective)

What must it be like / To grow up that beautiful? / With your hair falling into place like dominos / I see me padding 'cross your wooden floors / With my [49ers] t-shirt hanging from the door / At dinner parties / I call you out on your contrarian shit / And the coastal town We wandered 'round had never / Seen a love as pure as it / And then it fades into the gray of my day old tea / 'Cause you know it could never be

Stardust- MIKA (Nevada's perspective)

I could put a little stardust in your eyes / Put a little sunshine in your life / Give me a little hope that you'll feel the same And I wanna know if I'll see you again / See you again Funny how the time is rushing by / And all the little things we leave behind / But even then, in everything I do / Is a little bit of me, a little bit of you / When will I see you again?

Addict- Silva Hound (I think this is from Hazbin Hotel lmao) (Nevada's perspective)

So what if I misbehave? It's what everybody craves / You already know / So come if you're feeling brave / And fancy yourself a mate

You want it, I got it, see what you like? / We could have it all by the end of the night / Your money and power, my sinful delight / A hit of that heaven and hell, a hell of a high

PART 2: "We are brief summer lightning (we are sparks that spiral upwards in the darkness in the night)"

As they spend more time together, their affection for each other grows. They'll deny that they were ever in love, but the history between them doesn't lie.

Wild as You- Cody Johnson (Cali's perspective)

You're like wakin' in the morning by a mountain stream / You're like watchin' an eagle floating on the breeze / And as I listen to you dreaming by my side / I wish I could call you mine

But you belong where the four winds blow / Out where the untamed mustang roam / Like a sweet summer rain passin' through / Never seen anything wild as you

Hymn for the Weekend- Coldplay (Cali's perspective)

Oh, angel sent from up above / You know you make my world light up / When I was down, when I was hurt / You came to lift me up / Life is a drink and love's a drug / Oh, now I think I must be miles up / When I was a river, dried up / You came to rain a flood

Summer Lightning- Garnet Rogers (Nevada's perspective)

We are brief as summer lightning / We are swift as swallow's flight // We are sparks that spiral upward in the darkness in the night / We are frost upon a window / We won't pass this way again / In the end only love remains

Peaceful Easy Feeling- The Eagles (Cali's perspective)

I like the way your sparkling earrings lay against your skin so brown / I wanna sleep with you in the desert tonight / With a billion stars all around

Death Valley Queen- Flogging Molly (Nevada's perspective)

Death valley queen where have you been? / Since they crowned you in glory / Filled your head with dreams / But it still goes to show in every desert / There's a rose that's bloomin' for all to be seen

House of Memories- Panic! At the Disco (Nevada's perspective)

Those thoughts of past lovers, they'll always haunt me / I wish I could believe you'd never wrong me / Then will you remember me in the same way as I remember you?

Baby, we built this house on memories / Take my picture now, shake it 'til you see it / And when your fantasies become your legacy Promise me a place / In your house of memories

Joy Ride- The Killers

(I showed enough restraint to wait until ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE to include a Killers song. Y'all should be proud /s )

It's gettin' close to sundown over the Sierra / Stranded on the heatwave, burnin' with desire / She was on the sidewalk, looking for a nightlife / We talked about the real things and drove into the fire

Headlights on the highway, the desert wind is howlin' / Rattlesnakes and romance are spillin' with the rain / Candy apple red dress, bleedin' when she kissed me / Heaven a ragtop, take away my pain

PART 3: "Just call me angel of the morning, angel..."

The relationship has lost its initial shine and turned tumultuous. Difference in personality emerge and disagreements become common. And yet, they still can't keep their hands off each other... maybe they both like the drama. They are both performers, after all...

The Way it Was- The Killers (Nevada's perspective)

I drove through the desert last night / I carried the weight of our last fight / Elvis singing "don't be cruel" / And I wonder if you feel it too / It's like we're going under

Somewhere outside the lonely Esmeralda county line / The question of my heart came to my mind

If I go on with you by my side / Can it be the way it was when we met? / Did you forget all about those golden nights?

Bend and Break- FM-84 feat. Ollie Wride (Cali's perspective)

Leave your reason at the door / 'Cause the writing's on the wall / The sunshine's gone / Maybe it's too soon to call / But we've both been here before , so I'm waiting on

No our music it ain't done, 'cause I found our revelry / In the highways and the dancehalls that filled our history

Angel of the Morning- Juice Newton (Nevada's perspective)

There'll be no strings to bind your hands / Not if my love can't bind your heart / There's no need to take a stand / For it was I who chose to start / I see no need to take me home / I'm old enough to face the dawn

Just call me angel of the morning, angel / Just touch my cheek before you leave me, baby / Just call me angel of the morning, angel / Then slowly turn away from me

Body- Jordan Suaste (1st part- Cali's perspective; 2nd part- Nevada's perspective)

Body, let me see your body / Take off all your makeup and your clothes / Trust me, why don't you just trust me? / You're the only beauty, show me more

You're not a dime a dozen / Oh, your skin is golden / Let me show the whole damn world / You're one in a billion / The only thing you're missin' / Is some tape over that mouth

BABY SAID- Maneskin (Cali's perspective; Nevada is "baby")

Baby said "When you're talking, I go dead" "Shut your mouth, give me your head" (uh-uh-uh-uh) I know you really want to Baby said "Let me taste your silhouette" "You can talk between my legs" (uh-uh-uh-uh) I know you really want to

Faithless- The Airborne Toxic Event (Cali's perspective)

I wake up early my head ain't right / It's the fever dream of what we did last night / I flex my fingers and feel my age / Fifteen minutes till we take the stage / And I call you when I wake up drunk / My arms are cold and my head is sunk / They say the lights go up at ten PM / Just make sure you're okay by then

Neon Medusa- The Midnight (Either one tbh)

It's a highway, highway to the dark / And a neon medusa's got your heart / Sweet canyon lullabies, don't look straight into its eyes

Alone Together- Fall Out Boy (Both)

Cut me off, I lost my track / It's not my fault, I'm a maniac / It's not funny anymore, no it's not / My heart is like a stallion / They love it more when it's broken / Do you wanna feel beautiful, do you wanna? / I'm outside the door, invite me in / So we can go back and play pretend

and also

This is the road to ruin, and we're starting at the end

PART 4: "I only love you when I'm drunk"

Fast-forward to today (well, the past few decades, really), and they're THOSE TWO drama-Filled Frenemies With Benefits (although the benefits are debatable at this point).

Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts- The Killers (Nevada's perspective)

Why did you roll your dice, show your cards? / Jilted lovers and broken hearts / You're out on the wind and I'm still waiting to be found

Yeah, will I ever win? / Only time will tell / You've gotta suffer to remember how well / That our ideals never really marched in time / That's the bottom line / Jilted lovers and broken hearts

Getting Even- White Lies (Cali's perspective)

If you're getting even, you're getting even / Trying to get even, better start believing / I can forgive and we can forget / Even after all this wrestling of conscience / I can forgive and we can forget / Even after all this love and other nonsense

Love You When I'm Drunk- MIKA (Both)

Don't get me wrong, last night I didn't change my mind / It was the drink, it was leaving me blind / And when I kissed you, it was such a big mistake / A couple drinks, that's the chance that I take

We All Get Lonely- The Wrecks feat. TOMI (Nevada's perspective)

You're so in love with self-destruction / You're bringing me down

Why'd you come over? / Are you sober? / Are you playing around?

You touch me gently / But it's empty / You should figure it out

Don't say, say you love me, need me / Until you've had your fun / Use me when you get lonely / We all get lonely / You're not the only one

FUCK ABOUT IT- Waterparks (Nevada's perspective)

I like you but I need some space / I like you kinda far away / It's not hard to kill a day lookin' at your face / I like you but I need some room / Been givin' me your attitude / It doesn't always stay that way / I hate the aftertaste

Ancient History- Set it Off (Both)

Damn, pick up the phone, I know I'm drunk again / And you, know my intentions 'cause it's two a.m. / It's fun and games until we both get hurt / We play with fire 'cause we like the way it burns / No use in patching up a sinking ship / This is the last time we do this, baby / This is the last time you taste my lips

I know, I know how to drive you wild / You know, you know how to make me smile / But I need you to be / My ancient history

I know, I know who you really are / You know, you know how to break my heart / But I need you to be / My ancient history

Walk Me Home- P!nk (California's perspective-- despite everything that's happened between them, he still goes to Nevada when he's hurt and lonely)

Walk me home in the dead of night / I can't be alone with all that's on my mind / So say you'll stay with me tonight / 'Cause there's so much wrong going on outside

Till It Shines- Bob Seger (Nevada's perspective; reflecting on California's loneliness)

Storm the walls around this prison / Leave the inmates, free the guards / Deal me up another future / From some brand new deck of cards

Take the chip off of my shoulder / Smooth out all the lines / Take me out among the rustling pines / 'Til it shines / Oh 'til it shines

Like an echo down a canyon / Never coming back as clear / Lately I just judge the distance / Not the words I hear

and this part:

See the rich man lost and lonely / Watch him as he dines / Sitting there just testing all the wines / 'Til it shines

AND OF COURSE...

Waking Up in Vegas- Katy Perry

I think this one speaks for itself, BUT...

Spare me your freakin' dirty looks / Now don't blame me / You want to cash out / And get the hell outta town / Don't be a baby / Remember what you told me

Shut up and put your money where your mouth is / That's what you get for waking up in Vegas / Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now / That's what you get for waking up in Vegas

#i MAY have thought about this a bit...#these two always live rent-free in my head #wttt calivada #long post #song headcanons #wttt california #wttt nevada #mur headcanons #yeah i went a lil bit unhinged on my love for calivada #i can't help it #wttt #welcome to the table

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frosty-the-killer-doll · 6 months

Note

What are your opinions/headcanon’s on Olivarry? Also your Arrowverse polycule Au is so cool!

thank you, i know it 💅

opinion? love it. barry being a nerd for ollie and his many vigilante codenames before he even knew the guy? barry finding out that asshole playboy famously saved from a shipwreck after a supposed 5 years on some fuckin island oliver queen is his hero? such a broken pedestal/death of a hero moment. and then this fucking dweeb oliver met once going into a coma? felicity and oliver quietly worrying about him? delicious. and then said dweeb gets superpowers and becomes a superhero right after waking up from the coma. what the fuck.

i mean, oliver is to thank for barry taking "the flash" as his name. oliver is to thank for barry becoming a superhero. oliver is to thank for barry being alive. oliver broke that pedestal and rebuilt it with his own two hands- bloody, damned hands- before barry's very eyes. they disagree, they fight, they butt heads, but they always believe in each other. barry sticks up for oliver, oliver sticks up for barry, so on and so forth.

oliver believes barry is 1/2 of "the best of us." whether oliver's talking about our arrowverse heroes or creatures in general is never established. oliver believes that barry can inspire things in a way he cannot. oliver believes in barry more than he believes in himself and because of that, barry trusts oliver with every cell in his body. because he's barry allen. and he's oliver queen. and that's all they need.

faggot behavior honestly

in the polycule au, they are married in crisis on earth x. they first officially start dating around the flash s3 and arrow s5, and that's when olicity finally join the big polycule. olivarry marry smoakwest as a complete quad officiated by dig, spontaneously as was their canon one-way marriages

in emerald archer, barry appears in the documentary episode so barry has been seen enough with oliver that ollie's fans/paparazzi know they're friends. before people know that they're polyam and fucking married, there's online theories that barry is oliver's secret boyfriend and felicity's his beard. there's ship art of their civilian identities and everything.

everyone got quite pissy when barry was spotted kissing iris- yknow, his girlfriend. and then everyone was even more mad and confused when barry was spotted also kissing cisco, ralph, patty, linda, kara, felicity... whAT is the TRUTH?? for some reason only a very few amount of oliver fans theorize that a polyamory is happening

there's also ship art of their vigilante identities, yippee. sometimes barry reads flarrow rpf out loud to him. oliver gets mad at smut fics the most. in his own words, "the green arrow isn't a sub! or a bottom!"

hard to lie about how much you sub/bottom to your husband that you have had sex with multiple times, but, hey, you do you, oliver

also do you guys remember when sara lance said "you deserve someone better, someone who can harness that light that's still inside of you" to oliver and then oliver saying "why i sacrificed myself for you, so that in all of this darkness, you could be a guiding light, a hero" to barry? ha. i fucking do. i sure remember that one. that's why to me oliver has so many light-related pet names for b, such as; sunshine, sunlight, sunny, lightning bug, firefly, supernova etc etc. oliver also has ones in russian that he generally refuses to teach barry what they mean, like; zaychik (meaning little rabbit), moya lyubov' (my love), solnyshko (little sun)...

barry loves oliver's cooking so much it's unreal. oliver regularly sends him home-cooked meals and makes sure barry's fridge is filled to the brim with his food if oliver knows they won't be able to see each other for a bit. the second thing oliver does every time he sees barry is offer him food.

the first thing is, of course, kissing him until he can't breathe

to get nsfw with it oliver very much likes when barry speed-fucks him, especially when oliver is not in flash time. one second barry is fully clothed across the room and the next barry's on him and oliver's suddenly cumming.

^ obvi they had talks abt this before they ever did it, talking abt sex stuff when ur bf is a speedster is very much needed. that bitch vibrates if he gets too excited!!

they both have survivors' guilt and other ptsd, so, sometimes one of them just... shows up at the other's house, distant and achingly quiet, and the other just sits with them and holds them and it's all so silent and when they leave they never mention it again.

okay that's all i got rn GOODBYE FOREVER!!!!!!!! 🫡

#frosty answers #arrowverse asks #arrowverse polycule au #olivarry #barry allen #oliver queen #the flash #the flash cw #cw the flash #arrow #arrow cw #cw arrow

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lucy90712 · 5 months

Text

Road to recovery- Part 4

Masterlist How did he find my instagram? Why did he follow me? So many questions were swirling around my mind. I know he asked for my number but I expected just to never hear from him again I mean he's a very famous footballer who has so many friends and fans wishing him well why does he want to talk to me. It felt so surreal that all of this was happening I expected my life to get a bit crazier with training for and going to the Olympics but once that was taken away from me I didn't expect to still be wondering how I ended up here.

A few of my close friends from school and the gym were quick to message me asking how I was feeling but also freaking out over Pablo liking my post. They wanted all of the details but I didn't give it to them I just gave them a vague story as I didn't think Pablo would want me telling my friends about his personal life. Most of them quickly moved on to telling me I had to try and get him to go on a date with me but I quickly shut them down. As much as I would really love that to happen as I can't lie Pablo is cute and over the day we spent together I have begun to develop feelings I know that it's never going to happen as he could probably have any girl he wanted, someone who is so much better than me in every way.

After not getting much sleep I went to bed quite early and slept in later than I have in years which to most people still wouldn't be that late but to me if felt like I'd finally had a full nights sleep. Like always I picked up my phone to check what I'd missed while I was asleep and I had a couple messages so I went through them until I got to one from an unknown number. As I read it I could feel my phone slipping out of my hand due to the shock. I quickly added the number to my contacts and typed out a reply as the text was sent a few hours ago and I felt bad for not replying sooner.

Pablo

Hey it's Pablo I hope you're doing ok. Thanks for keeping me company in the hospital it was really nice to have someone to talk to. I really want us to keep in contact so feel free to text me at any time

You

I'm doing as well as I can, I hope you're ok too. I'm glad you text as I wanted to thank you for keeping me feeling positive without your encouragement I don't think I'd be feeling as hopeful about my recovery. Also if you ever need anything you can text me too

Pablo

Don't worry about it you helped lift my spirits too so I had to make sure you felt the same I'm just glad we have each other and I really do mean it when I say if you need anything just text me

You

Thank you I really appreciate it

Just reading those texts made me smile. Maybe this injury isn't such a bad thing after all especially if I end up with a friend like Pablo.

Gavi's POV

Since I woke up I've written and rewritten a text to Lola probably 100 times. I want to text her as I really do want to be at least friends with her and I don't want her thinking that I just asked for her number to be nice and that I won't actually keep in contact. I just have no idea what to say I want to come across friendly but we don't know each other well enough for her to know how I text. Eventually I just decided to hit send but then I just kept checking my phone to see if she replied. The longer that went by the more I started to worry that she didn't actually want to hear from me or that I upset her somehow. Eventually I had to stop myself as there is so many plausible reasons that she hasn't answered me yet and I'm only making myself feel worse by thinking about it.

There's not a whole lot I can do but I found something to watch to keep me distracted for a while. It worked until I heard my phone sound out from across the room and I couldn't stop myself reaching for it. As soon as I saw the text was from Lola I typed my passcode in at lightning speed and finally opened the message.

She's so sweet I can't believe I was so cold to her at first I'm so glad she didn't take that to heart as having her to talk to has been so nice. Having someone who's going through the exact same thing and knows the struggle I think will really help both of us which is why I wanted to keep talking to her that and because she's so beautiful that I can't just let her leave my life without getting to know her properly. I don't know if it was because we were forced together or what but I found myself developing feelings for her and not feelings I've felt with any other girl so I have to see where that goes or I know I'll regret it later in life.

I so desperately wanted to see her again but I know that we both need a bit of rest before we start doing too much and realistically we don't know each other that well and I don't want to move too fast and make her uncomfortable. I'm hoping that we can keep talking to try and get to know each other better and then maybe I can ask to see her in person again as I already miss seeing her smiling face across the room from me.

A/n: sorry this is short it's kind of a filler

#gavi imagine #gavi imagines #pablo gavi imagine #pablo gavi imagines #gavi #gavi oneshots #pablo gavi #gavi x reader #football imagine

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ni-kol-koru · 5 months

Note

Hi❤️ 2, 4, 12, 14 for Hayama. ✨

Hiii! Thank you so much for sending the numbers, and thank you for sending me numbers for my favorite boy! ✨️

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Well, I can't really pick one favorite thing, because I literally aodre everything about him! However, one of my favorite canons about Kotaro is actually something that I rediscovered recently: it's that when he sees someone is taking a photo he has to get in on action! We had him do that once in an Audio Drama when he photobombed Seijuro's photo for Shintaro. In that one official art (that I think was supposed to picture that exact moment from the Audio Drama) we can see Reo trying to take a photo of Seijuro and Kotaro just hugging him and excitedly smiling and showing the peace sign to the camera! I think that was an adorable moment!

Now, I think he would just hug and intentionally get into the frame only when it is his friends or classmates or skating buddies taking photos. He probably wouldn't jump onto a stranger just like that... If he was aware that he was getting into a frame of a stranger's photo, I think he might just smile at the camera, wink or show some hand sign! He would just feel the need to subtly photobomb them, and that would be a respectful and non-invasive way to do so! Imagine being a tourist and looking back at your photos from Kyoto and finding a blond teenager smiling, winking or showing hearts or peace signs in the background while looking at the camera? I would find it hilarious, and very endearing and sweet! He sure made a lot of people smile like that, I just know it!

I wouldn't be me if something seemingly minor didn't tell me something deeper about the character. Of course, Kotaro's love for being in photos can be interpreted in a couple of ways and reveal something about his personality!

There is one very obvious reason why Kotaro would like to jump into people's pictures: because it's fun, it can turn out to be very funny, it creates a unique and fun memory to look back at and he is just the type of a guy to chase the fun things and fun activities! That would just prove of how lighthearted, fun, playful and upbeat his personality really is, and I love that for him!

Now, onto another perspective!

When someone loves having their photos taken, it can show just how comfortable they are with the cameras and with what they look like in photos! That can be a very obvious sign of confidence right there. Maybe Kotaro is naturally very photogenic and always looks good in photos, whether they are candid or posed, so he likes being pictured. Or maybe he thinks he always looks good because humans are always beautiful and perfect and thinks he doesn't need to look like a perfect doll to look good in a photo. So yes, maybe Kotaro's love for being in photos shows how comfortable he is with being human and how confident he is in his looks!

Still, if we look at the original canon, Kotaro doesn't really stand still and let people take pictures of him. He jumps into them! If he isn't doing it for fun, he might just do it because he wants attention. He might also do it because he is self-centered and narcissistic and wants to appear everywhere. He wouldn't really care if he was potentially ruining a photo, just as long as he was in it!

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

I often wonder about this actually! I could always see him as a part of anything I was reading or watching. I recently started re-watching Marvel movies, so, let's say I would put him in a superhero movie! He could be both the hero and the villain. In both scenarios I would give him some power with lightnings and thunders and speed and people would, of course, know him as ''The Raijuu''!

If he was a hero, he would be that goofy, unserious, lighthearted, High School boy that just somehow got superpowers and is now responsible for the safety of his city while having loads of homework and studying to do! His movies as a hero would be comedic, because of his own funny nature. Reo and Eikichi would be his best friends and classmates and the only two people in his life who would know about his superpowers. They would always freak out when Kotaro has to do his superhero business, but still do their best to cover for him when he is saving the city instead of doing an exam! If you watched Spider-Man movies with Tom Holland, that is the exact type of movie for superhero Kotaro!

If he was a villain, he would be one of the few villains that the main antagonist created to get rid of the protagonist and help them fulfil their evil plans. He would be nothing but someone's puppet and obey someone's orders. I can't really see him as independent villain, because I don't really see a reason for Kotaro to be evil. Even when speaking of his role in KuroBasu you can't call him evil, and he is an antagonist just because he plays in the same team as the main antagonist. In the movie where he is a villain, he would be in that kind of a situation as well. Matter of fact, he might just be kind enough to reveal to the protagonist how they could defeat the antagonist, because he doesn't like the ideas and plans of his boss, the main antagonist.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I have a lot of headcanons for my favorite boy, but here is one that I developed most recently: that he is a picky eater. I always wondered why his favorite dish (kappamaki) was something so simple. For those of you know don't know what kappamaki is (because I had no idea what it was for a while), it is sushi roll that consists of a piece of cucumber in the middle and rice around it, wrapped in dried seaweed. Japanese cuisine is really rich and has a lot of really unique dishes, and yet this boy decides cucumber, rice and a piece of dried seaweed is the best thing there is! I know a lot of picky eaters aren't really fond of Japanese cuisine because of the combination of different food textures and the fact that you can't separate the ingredients and eat them separately. Then there is kappamaki: you can easily take the dried seaweed off, take the cucumber from the middle and eat the three ingredients independently. He might love kappamaki because of that!

When I thought about Kotaro being a picky eater, it somehow made sense to me, and I wanted to explain it somehow.

I think it might come from his childhood. Hear me out, please. We know that teenager Kotaro can't sit still. Imagine how impossible it was to get mini Kotaro to sit still. Mini Kotaro likely couldn't really sit still for a while, even if it was for a meal. He just had more important matters to attend to, he was a kid and just wanted to play and run all the time. When it was food he liked, he could sit still for a while and enjoy. On the other hand, imagine how hard it was making him eat something that he didn't like. Hellish. Considering he is the third child and his parents were likely tired of parenting, I can just see his parents giving up and giving him food he likes so he just sits still and eat. They gathered all of their patience and made sure he was fond of foods that provide the most necessary nutrients. The rest of the foods and textures? Noup. He might warm up to them when he grows up.

When he came to Rakuzan and started living in the dorms with Reo and eating in the canteen, I can see him warming up to some foods and textures. After all, you can't really pick too much in the canteen. Reo would sometimes cook for him and he would try something new, and Eikichi would also make sure to inspire him to try something new. So he kind of expands his horizons a bit in High School. Still, you can't teach an old dog how to bark. Kotaro still gets shivers down his spine if he accidentally puts two different textures in his mouth, he will never eat fries with ketchup and will keep ordering chicken nuggets in restaurants.

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character?

I am not so into fashion and I don't really know the terminology, but I can see Kotaro wear the colorful 80's inspired clothes! The looks I have seen on Pinterest when I searched for '80's inspired fashion colorful men' look very pretty and bold! They look like something that would suit Kotaro and his personality! He loves being spotted and unique, so 80's inspired fashion probably does the trick since it's not something you see every day. He would have sweaters and jackets and Hawaiian shirts in so many wild colors and patterns, he would always wear colorful sneakers and socks and, of course, wear them all with the wide legged jeans! Sometimes he would have some accessories like sunglasses of unique shapes or colors, colorful bracelets and belts!

#knb #kuroko no basuke #kuroko no basket #hayama kotaro #hayama kotarou #my favorite boyyy!!#thank you so so so much for giving me these asks and giving me an opportunity to elaborate about kocchan #i really decided to make this a longer post #and ohhh i am so happy that i have even more asks related to kotaro on the way #you guys know me so well #<3 #now i really want to draw these tings i talked about #first of all CANDID PHOTOS OF KOTARO #and some funny photos he photobombed hehe #also... villain hayama sounds kinda hot #i will surely have fun with his design hehe #also superhero hayama and his friends!! i already have ideas of how i could draw them all together #anyways is it seen i am a picky eater from how i describe pickiness?? because i am pretty pickyy #i tried kappamaki once. it was good (i could separate the ingridients)#so yeahh that headcanon is just me pushing my own struggles onto kotaro in a way!!#ANYWAYS KOTARO IN 80's fashionnn #i already saved a few fits and i hope i will be able to draw them well hahhh #this post is too long and these tags are just making it longer oh my gosh #but i can't help it I LOVE ELABORATING ON HAYAMA!#thank you again evelhak for this ask <3 i appreciate you so muchh

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spacedoutman · 2 months

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【𝖂𝖊𝖗𝖊𝖜𝖔𝖑𝖋 𝖉𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖒𝖘 | 𝕬 𝖐𝖎𝖘𝖘 𝖆𝖚】

(𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 no)

"A p air of golden eyes cut through black. Paul looked up, he couldn’t help but to grin wider. Joy sent his heart thudding at lightning speed. His grin could only grow. The eyes got bigger. Paul trembled like mad."

Description: With the misterious death of his family, Paul Stanley dreams of a life where he never has to worry about anything again. Notorious werewolf Peter Criss can give it to him--but will the sacrifice be too much to bear?

♥ Paul Stanley x Peter Criss

Note: Thank you guys for voting on the poll! I left this mostly unedited and got the ship through an internet wheel. Hope you enjoy! This is part 1 of until I can't take take it anymore

Warnings: Grief

Tears glinted in the sprinkle of moonlight touching his soft face, smearing his makeup as they rolled down his cheeks. He held himself as tight as his arms would let him before snapping. His sobbing drowned out crickets chirping and whatever night animal hung around—well, of course. They’d all probably been scared away by now.

Stanley Bert “Paul Stanley” Eisen pressed his sleeve against his eyes. Wet. Those big eyes sure held a lot of tears. His shoulders jolted. He hugged the steering wheel like a lover and slammed his face into it. His nose almost shattered. His heart writhed. His entire family misteereyusleeh was dead and he found himself out here again.

“People, let me get this off my chest!” He sobbed.

He swept his Iphone out of his pocket. His best roommate’s contact shook as badly as his hand. His throat clenched. His vision blurred. The phone slipped, crashing onto the crackled cement. He threw himself against the car door, which flew open. His body hit the cement with the force of an airplane. Searing pain exploded in his body as every pebble pierced.

“Rock n’ roll!”

He pulled himself up.

Deep green trees surrounded him like an army. He narrowed his eyes. Darkness his between every trunk and bush. His legs wobbled as he stumbled forward. All he wanted to do was cry, that’s all he could do. He looked around, furrowing his brows as a wildfire boomed inside. He had to eat, but there was no food in the car. Why couldn’t he stay out here forever?

He could. Paul ha come out here for a very specific reason. His phone howled in his pocket. He weakly reached down, jamming it between his shoulder and ear as he glared into the darkness.

“Paul.” His ear vibrated as a dark voice rang through. “Have you made it? I smell your presence..”

“I made it.” Paul’s own shaky voice filled his ears. “You.. you’re going to let me live out my dreams?”

“Yes.”

Paul’s eyes turned wild. A weary grin crawled on his lips.

“My wildest werewolf dreams?”

A p air of golden eyes cut through black. Paul looked up, he couldn’t help but to grin wider. Joy sent his heart thudding at lightning speed. His grin could only grow. The eyes got bigger. Paul trembled like mad.

“I’m here, Stanley. To give you the gift of the wild.”

#werewolf #crack #shitpost #fanfiction #alternative universe #paul stanley #peter criss #kiss band

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wyattjohnston · 2 years

Text

out of ten - tyson jost

note: this is reader insert and was written in ~6 hours inspired by that ^ gif.

word count: 1,015

You don’t spend much time on Tumblr anymore, definitely not as much as you used to, but sometimes you head on in to catch up on discourse from your favourite shows or to reblog every piece of content you can find of the most recent show you’ve binged.

Once upon a time it had been your go to place to talk about hockey and hockey players—that became less relevant when you met Tyson Jost.

It wasn’t a conscious decision to stop participating in conversations about players, it just became slightly weird to see people talking about how cute they thought Tyson was when you’d woken up in his bed that same morning.

It’s almost a surprise when you see gif sets of him on your dash and you can't help but laugh at the tale of him being caught in Vegas with a fake ID. You save the source link, vaguely remembering him having done the interview and continue scrolling through posts until the browser slows and you’re forced to refresh.

Tyson’s face appears again, and you smile in expectation of another funny tale—that’s not what comes.

Your smile falters at the text on the gif—the host has asked Tyson to rate his love life on a scale of one to ten and Tyson’s answer: Three.

Three and a hearty laugh.

It rips through you worse than you ever could have imagined and you close your laptop to get away from it, only to make the effort to navigate to it on your phone so you can send it to Tyson in a text with no comments accompanying it.

He’s with his trainer, so he won’t see it for a couple more hours, and you know that because he has plans to come over when he’s finished. For dinner, not just a hook-up which should amount to more than a three, you think.

You know it’s been a weird few months since you met—the season ending, Tyson heading north to see his family and even when he returned to Minnesota it had been for summer hockey and off-season training. You’ve been around, though, seeing him multiple times a week since he came back and even being at some Da Beauty League games because he’d asked you to.

But, no, definitely worth a three.

You send the same post to a friend, and you don’t know what you want to get back but you do know that the offer to hide Tyson’s body feels pretty appropriate. It comes right before a FaceTime call comes through and what little amusement you got out of it disappears and is replaced by a blubbered greeting.

Next thing you know, you’re saying, “I couldn’t even get a five” and getting more upset by the second.

Your friend does their best to calm you down, switching between jokes and sympathy and distractions with lightning-fast speed. Despite all the effort they’re going to, you still see the number 3 in every part of your vision like a neon sign.

“I think a three is more insulting than a one,” you mumble into your chest. “A one is a clear sign that he doesn’t actually want me, a three feels like he’s stringing me along.”

“I don’t think he thought that hard about it,” your friend says.

Your chin drives further into your chest as you lower your head and curl even more into yourself. It doesn’t matter how hard he thought about it. As you think more about it, you realise that you wouldn’t have been happy with a number less than seven but would have accepted that you hadn’t even had a conversation about exclusivity. A five.

After listening to your ramblings, and what you think each number means, your friend tries to be kind as they say, “I think you’re thinking too hard about it.”

It does come off a little patronising and you can’t blame them.

You’re startled by the knock at your front door, and, when you minimise the FaceTime, you realise that you’ve missed a few texts from Tyson telling you he was on his way over—apparently your number-by-number run-through had taken longer than you thought.

It’s with a nervous laugh you say goodbye to your friend, a laugh that you try to supress as you open the door because you’re really not happy with it and you don’t want to risk giving that impression. Tyson doesn’t seem to have that worry, because he’s genuinely happy to see you and doesn’t look like anything has happened at all. He even leans in for a kiss and makes a hurt noise when you turn your head.

“How was training?” you ask coldly, stepping aside to let him in. You don’t really want to but you do want to have some sort of conversation about it.

“It was fine?” he says back, entirely uncertain. He stands awkward in the middle of the room, realising that everything is tense. “Is this about what you sent me?”

“A three, Tyson? A three.”

“What else was I supposed to say?” His nervousness manifests in him swinging his arms by his side and you watch them move so that you have something to focus on that isn’t Tyson’s face. “They were throwing things at me; it was supposed to be funny.”

“Funny,” you say sarcastically. “It makes me feel like I’m nothing but an easy fuck, Tyson.”

Your name falls from his lips, so softly you almost don’t hear it. It’s just loud enough that you finally make eye contact and see that he’s pouting.

“You know it’s not just that.”

“Do I? How could I possibly know it’s anything more?”

He covers the ground between you in only a few steps, raising his hands to your cheeks. His thumb brushes under your eye as he says, firmly, “You know.”

“I never want to be called a three ever again.”

His kiss isn’t unexpected, given that your faces are so close, and you let yourself melt into it.

Earnestly, he says, “Tens for the rest of your life.”

#tyson jost fic #tyson jost imagine #hockey fic #hockey imagine #nhl fic #nhl imagine #homemade fic #fic: wild

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silverfox66 · 2 months

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As an American can I just say how fucking shameful it is how right you are that you can't depend on the USA

Like our leaders are making us into fucking fools who no one can trust cause oh... looks like we only honor commitments when we feel like it. The speaker can single handedly hold up aid for months by just not putting it to a vote, and the house can't even get it's shit together enough to sign the discharge petition to get it on the floor

It's just a disgrace, it's horrific and vile, and if all that weren't enough it's just plain stupid. America gets... fuck it gets so much out of sending military aid to Ukraine

It gets to fight a strategic rival without risking a single troop, it gets to dump old inventory where a lot of it was probably going to have to be decommissioned, we don't even send most of the money cause what that money actually mostly goes towards is restocking our own arsenal with new equipment which pays Americans wages we get to tax... the list of selfish reasons to help is almost endless and yet these pricks still fight tooth and nail to do the wrong thing

And once again, it makes us look like undependable allies cause we're fucking being undependable, and that weakens us so much strategically. Like even if you don't care about russia, it makes our allies in the Pacific question if they can actually depend on our support

Sorry, this stuff's just on my mind a whole lot, and would you believe that it's hard to find other Americans you can actually have this conversation with? So many smart people I know who in spite of that act like they don't have a brain in their head and just don't care

Meanwhile johnson is complaining that we need aid to Israel... well if that's what you want prick, isn't it nice that you have that sitting on your desk, already passed in the senate, and all you have to do it put it to a vote? Lightning speed legislation if you ignore the months you've stalled with it (and he's gonna send them on vacation yet again to stall more)

The fact one man can hold up the whole system, and the fact like 5 far right maga members can take the whole house hostage and the gop can't even muster the guts to sign a discharge petition... it's just sick, it makes the US into a fucking laughing stock and it's deserved

Can't even imagine if trump wins, mr wants to encourage russia to attack NATO allies. The fact that... that so few other Americans seem to care he said that, the fact that any one even considers voting for him as he sets all out political alliances on fire for his own gains... the hell is wrong with people?

Again, sorry. I just... this stuff eats at me sometimes. Just how fucking bad America is doing not just at being decent, but at serving our own interests

We could have put China and Iran in their place (something maga people claim to want) if when this invasion started we'd just dumped all out old inventory straight away, made clear we were loading up the pipeline with everything Ukraine needed, and basically said you don't fuck with the US industrial base

Might have even stopped the war, a lot harder to want to continue when you know the valve on the military aid was fully opened and then smashed so the artillery shells and fighters won't stop coming

Instead we rolled over and trickled things in, made ourselves look weak

Just can't stand it, just can't fucking stand how this country is run. Again, even if you don't care about the civilians killed in drone strikes, we should at least care about our own strategic interests

But we don't, far to many selfish scumbags, and russian stooges, and people who buy russian propaganda hook line and sinker

Anyway... hope you have a good day. Like I said, just know hardly anyone I can say this stuff to. No one seems to listen... and even if they did, I can shout all day and it's not like I can force johnson to act like an actual human being instead of toxic sludge in a suit

Just pass the damn aid, every last person with half a brain is begging you to including our generals

It makes me so frustrated and it's so damn shameful, a real stain on this country

It's such a shame that America has become an unreliable ally, I so much wish it was different. And it's bizarre to me how one speaker has so much power to block the voting of a bill. It's seems highly undemocratic to me.

Aiding Ukraine is the cheapest way to defeat America's number 1 enemy: russia. But decades of pro-russian propaganda has been so effective, it has infected American politicians and made them unwilling to stand up for freedom and democracy.

And I talk about the USA now, but here in Western Europe, we have the same problem. High on cheap gas, we have funded the russian war-machine for decades. That money has been turned into weapons and is now killing Ukrainians on a daily basis. And now we are too much of a coward to switch to a war economy.

Oh same here. I can talk about this dire situation in Ukraine with only a handful of other people. Other people support Ukraine overall, but passively. And we need people to support Ukraine actively, we need more people to sound the alarm bells. But it feels like we're shouting into the void right now. Simply not enough people care.

I hope you have a nice day as well and thank you for standing with Ukraine.

#Ukraine #war #russian invasion #USA #America

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elliotemerson · 2 years

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1. Fever | Eddie Munson x Reader

Authors note: Hi, this is my first public fanfic ever, based off my POV series that did quite well on TikTok! Every video will be a different chapter and a different post (still gotta figure out how Tumblr works so advice is always welcome). I don't often write full on stories, so please bear with me :)

Tags: No usage of y/n, neutral pronouns (except for in this first video, the rest is also neutral), fluff.

Word count: 1324

Hope you like it!

_________________________________________

You've been wanting to play D&D for ages. You got several sheets laying around your room of potential characters with the craziest backstories. But the people around you never really wanted to start a campaign with you. It just wasn't for them. Which is fine, but still. The newspapers having several articles headlining "Board Game Downfall of Youth", and not to forget the best (or worst) one "Dungeons & Dragons to Drugs & Death" didn't really help finding yourself a willing bunch of friends. Well, that until some scrawny kid approached you after class today.

"Hey! Are you the one from Mrs. Campbell's history class?"

You quickly glance behind you to make sure he's not talking to someone else.

"Yeah, well, maybe? I take that class just like-, 60 others?" you respond with a soft scoff.

"Right. Ehm. Are you in a class with a guy with long, curly hair, basically a bird's nest. About- I don't know how tall he is. He's pretty metal? And like, way too old?-"

"mIKE, he's is gonna mur-der you fo-."

With the speed of freaking lightning the kid reaches to his backpacks sidepocket that not so subtly contained a walky-talky, hits it a bunch of times until the little red light goes out and restores his original casual position, a bit more awkward. You raise an eyebrow.

"So, yeah, like I said-"

"You mean Eddie Munson," you interrupt him.

"Yes. Okay, great, you know Eddie. That's great! He was wondering-, or well WE were wondering if you would like to join our campaign?"

A little silence falls.

"Yeah ehm... You gotta narrow it down for me here," you respond, somewhat getting uncomfortable. This whole interaction felt off, as if the kid was being dared to do this.

"Sorry, our D&D campaign. Dungeons and Dragons? It's basically a boardgame where you can play just anyone-"

When he starts explaining, your whole mood changes and your face just brightens up. You're being INVITED into a party. You don't even have to ask!

"-and you also get a t-shirt, although they might be a bit expensive depending on your allowance but-"

"I'm in!"

The kid stops his rambling and looks at you with raised eyebrows. He definitely didn't expect you to agree this fast.

"Oh! Well-... in that case, ehm, welcome to Hellfire!" he says almost impressed by his own convincing skills.

"We're discussing the time during break at 1:30pm, so yeah, if you wanna join we'll keep room at the table if you want?"

"Hell yes, sounds good to me!"

Your face was glowing and you couldn't stop smiling. You've never played it before, but God you can't freaking wait. You can FINALLY use your characters.

"I'm Mike by the way."

"Yeah, I kinda caught that."

"Cool, cool, cool. Eh, see you during break!"

_______________________________________

Mike and Dustin had this amazing idea to tell Eddie during break that the person he clearly had a crush on was gonna join his party. At least, that's what Mike and Dustin assumed it was. 'Crush' meaning 'talking about what D&D class and race you would play in so much detail that he's definitely thought of it before'.

Eddie, however, did not appreciate it.

"We thought you liked them! That's why whe invited them!"

"That's the problem," Eddie snaps back.

Eddie had stood up, like he often does when he's about to put on half a theatre performance. He says he can express himself better when he's standing.

"Oh."

"Can your brain comprehend?" He nearly hisses.

Judging by the looks of Mike, Dustin and the rest of the gang, their brains clearly couldn't.

"If they're gonna join the club, they're gonna watch me DM. And DM'ing is a skill, it's not easy."

He was doing a little trip around the table, his way of pacing.

"ME? I'm going to em-bar-rass myself to death. If you think D&D is just a silly litt-"

"Hey hey!"

You put your lunch tray down on the table next to Dustin's and give him a smile before you look up to what Eddie was doing. Eddie instantly stops his words and just looks at you joining the table.

"Hey," he responds, just before he wanders back to his seat at the table.

It's odd how fast Eddie can switch his tone. Maybe it's a dungeon master thing, because suddenly there was a soft smile on his face. Even Dustin squints his eyes on the sudden change. Mike however, looks entertained. The sudden silence at the table felt off.

"Wait, I'm sorry, was this seat already taken?"

With that the entire table turns into a mishmash of sounds going "no, no!" and "please do!" and "nah, you're good".

The rest of the break mainly consists of you introducing yourself to the others and all of you deciding when to play D&D, which is the day after tomorrow, 7:30PM. The break's nearly over and the whole table stands up to put their trays away. The kids sprint ahead trying to get in class on time, but you and Eddie stay behind taking your time.

"Thanks for having me, by the way, hope it's okay. I've had some characters in mind for aaaages."

"Oh it's cool, we were looking for an extra anyways," he says and gives you a side smile. "Can I?"

He takes your tray and stacks it on top of his. You give him a little smile as thanks. He puts it on the pile and the two of you walk into the hallway.

"I do have to roll for stats still. You don't coincidentally have dice on you, do you?" you ask with a tease.

"Oh this box, holds a looot of things, but dice ain't one of them," Eddie says walking a bit ahead of you, repeatedly looking back at you, his smile getting cuter by the minute. "Dungeon Masters are in fact not chained to their dice, contradicting recent alligations. I know, it's mental."

You give a little laugh while he turns around to look at you and begins walking backwards, a cute smile on his face from making you laugh.

"But if you want, we could meet outside of class tomorrow?" he continues. "Liiiike 3 o'clock? Build the character a bit, rolling your stats-"

"Tell my character's backstory."

"Tell your characters backstory, of course, the best part, can't forget about that."

"Also, gotta calculate my AC."

"Armour class. Someone knows their stuff. What class are you gonna play?"

"Hmm, I'm not telling you yet."

"Sorcerer?"

"I'm not telling you."

"A Bard?"

You stop walking, cross your arms and give him a look. Eddie stops as well when he notices and gives you a teasing smirk.

"It's a bard, isn't it?"

"Tomorrow, then I'll tell you," you say, not being able to surpress a smile either. You reach for the doorhandle on your left.

"Can't wait," he says softly, leaning against the lockers across of you.

You give him one last smile before you open the door and disappear into the classroom. Eddie remains to lean against the lockers for a bit, fidgeting with his rings. His mind was running wild right now, positively. Maybe, maybe after all it wasn't too bad of an idea of Mike to invite you into the party. Actually he was filled with excitement over you joining the next session. Yet something inside of him was nervous. Which was a feeling he did not often feel regarding D&D. Nervous isn't something that goes hand in hand with Eddie "the Freak" Munson.

Except for when he's heads over heels.

End of part 1 of 9.

#eddie munson #eddie x reader #eddie stranger things #stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie fluff #fluff #joseph quinn #joseph quinn x reader #dungeons and dragons #d&d #dnd #Spotify

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brown-little-robin · 8 months

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45: The Dark Bedroom

part one | previous | next | masterlist | ao3 version

“They killed the others. Did you know that?”

Thad’s expression is far away, troubled. Joseph mentally freezes, but he nods calmly. This is a time to listen without judgment.

“It was self-defense,” Thad says, very low and quiet.

Joseph lets the silence spin out. Thad’s fingers dig cruelly into his leg. If only Joey knew what was going on in his head, he could help.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No. Yes.”

Joey waits, silently willing him to put words to his distress so that he can help him.

After a minute, he rasps, “I’m just… I don’t…” Joseph watches him struggle for words—and fail. “I don’t have enough information to draw conclusions.”

Oh well. He has his whole life to work through his trauma. Joseph signs, “OK. Do you want a hug?”

Thad laughs disbelievingly, but he accepts the offer.

Thad is silent and limp as a doll in Joseph’s hands. This would be a very concerning sign from anyone but Thad, but Joseph knows him well enough by now to know that he’s just… deeply, deeply tired. And touch-starved.

The boy’s head falls back against Joseph’s shoulder. His eyes are closed. For all the world, he looks like he’s asleep or dissociating, but Joseph can tell he’s not.

…How can he tell Thad’s still fully aware? Joseph checks again, not moving a muscle, and again he just knows that Thad is awake—awake and feeling safe.

Is this what it is to be a lightning rod? Is it a form of mild telepathy? Does it go both ways? How is Thad going to feel about this? This can't be ethical, but is any solution to Thad's illegal and uncomfortable situation perfectly ethical? Not really.

They’ll just have to learn to live with it.

A sudden buzzing breaks their silence. Joseph’s awareness of Thad fills with panic. Thad jolts and scrambles for his pocket, vibrating. Joseph lets him slide out of the hug, but stays close beside him for support. Thad fishes his flip phone out of his pocket and fumbles with it.

Joseph sees him slam the phone onto the floor, lean on it with both hands, and take a deep breath. The phone is thrumming slowly against the tiles—

And that’s when Joseph realizes that they’re both channeling the speed force. He’s seeing the phone ring in slow motion.

Thad is pressing it against the floor with both hands like he’s trying to smother it, and he’s still shaking, but he's breathing calmly, eyes closed almost serenely. Joey breathes with him, taking the opportunity to calm down. Everything is fine.

After a minute, Thad shifts position. He leans on one hand, picks up the lethargically buzzing phone, and clicks the button on the side. The caller id says “Max”.

Thad doesn’t answer it. He sighs shakily. Joseph sighs too, catching the gesture like a yawn.

“You’re doing it again,” Thad says, not looking at Joseph. “Channeling my lightning.”

Joseph nods. Thad turns minutely to look at him out of the corner of his eye. Joseph reaches out with that new instinctive sense of Thad’s emotional state, and feels—

racing heartbeat.

With a horrible jolt, Joseph remembers that Thad left Max partially because he was afraid of people with super-speed. He's scared. Of Joey.

Joseph is also suddenly aware of how close he is to the child, physically. Leaning over him. He freezes, unsure what will help. Backing away too fast might just make Thad feel rejected.

Acknowledging it. Acknowledging it would help. He sits back carefully and signs, “Am I scaring you?”

Thad swallows. “No more than usual.”

Joseph hides a flinch. He wasn’t aware that he, personally, scared Thad. He thought Thad’s general anxiety was just… general… anxiety.

Thad hunches over the phone like an animal staying low to the ground. He's looking at Joey out of the corner of his eye, not moving his head.

“I’m sorry,” Joseph tells him.

“Don't be. Your speed is strategically essential.”

Joey reaches to touch the boy's shoulder as if to confer strength upon him, and Thad flinches. Joey stops.

“You reminded me of CRAYDL,” Thaddeus adds, still watching him cautiously. “Looming like that. CRAYDL did that. I don’t mind.”

The affection in Thad’s voice surprises Joseph, combined with this acute wariness. What was CRAYDL like, to make Thad feel so at home with being “loomed” over? Joseph hates to think it, but… it couldn’t have been good.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

Thad’s eyes flick to the phone and back to Joseph. Joseph wants badly to ask Thad more, but the phone is still ringing in Thad’s hands. He signs, “Do you want to answer that?”

“Yes.”

He doesn’t open the phone.

“Do you want me to leave while you—”

Thad shakes his head hard. Joseph nods. “Take your time.”

Thad nods. He sits back in a more comfortable position and just… breathes a bit more, and after a minute, Joseph hears the phone’s ringing speeding up with each exhale.

Finally, they're both at what seems to be normal speed again. Thad flips the phone open. He puts it to his ear.

“Max.”

A pause. Thad glances at Joseph, then away. His face twists in response to something Joseph can’t hear.

“I’m not your ‘kiddo’.”

Whatever Max says next makes Thad flinch hard. But when he speaks, his voice is only and exactly as tense as normal.

“Yes. Fine.”

He really is a good actor, Joseph realizes. But it’s costing him, doing this—it must be. Joseph holds out his hand and raises his eyebrows. Do you want me to take the phone?

Stark relief. Thad says “Here’s Joseph” and slaps the phone into Joseph’s hand at just enough above normal speed that it stings. Before a second passes, Joseph finds his text-to-speech equipment in his other hand and sees Thad sit down a few feet away and put his hands over his ears.

Strangely, this makes Joseph feel better about scaring Thad. At least he doesn’t make Thad hunch over and cover his ears like that. Small victories, right?

Joseph wonders uneasily how often he reminds Thad of CRAYDL, and why.

He takes it easy on them both after that.

It’s been a long day.

Thad follows Joseph passively to the other side of the second floor, accepting Joseph’s explanation that he gets to pick his own bedroom. He’s seen the White Room and the Green Room. The Mustard Room is a study, not suitable to be a bedroom. The three rooms available for Thad’s bedroom are the Scarlett Room, the Plum Room, and the Peacock Room. Joseph is interested to see which he’ll choose. Not the red room, definitely. But plum or peacock… Joseph has no idea which way Thad will choose. The other one, of course, will be Joseph’s room.

He introduces the rooms by signing, “There’s three bedrooms available—”

“Scarlett, Plum, and Peacock.”

Joseph lifts his eyebrows at Thad, surprised. The boy grins. “I’ve played Clue, remember? It’s simple.”

“And you figured it out!” Joseph grins at him.

Thad’s grin goes crooked and genuine. Joseph leads him to the first door and opens it halfway, showing Thad the interior without letting him in.

The Scarlett Room is one of the tower rooms, and if Joseph is being honest, he’d have to admit that it’s one of his least favorite rooms in the house. The concept of a red room is fine, but it wasn’t well executed. The warm brown walls have so much red light reflecting on them that they look red themselves. Theoretically, the four tower windows should make the room cheery and bright, but the light is drowned in red hangings, red bed linens, maroon rugs redundantly placed on a red carpet… scarlet everywhere. It’s overpowering. To Joseph’s eyes, it looks like a bloodbath.

From the way Thad hisses, it looks that way to him too.

Joseph shuts the door.

“Creepy!” he signs cheerfully.

“That can’t be normal,” Thad says, sounding vaguely impressed.

Joseph snorts and shakes his head. He can’t imagine any normal interior decorator deciding to do that with a room.

“That’s a no, then?” Joseph signs dryly.

“…Correct,” Thad says. He keeps glancing at the door, looking like he can’t believe what he just saw. “I wasn’t going to take the Scarlett Room anyway, but that looks like a bloodbath.”

Joseph nods emphatically. Thad glances at the door again, shock giving way to a disbelieving smile.

“I would wake up thinking I was Bart, living in that room.”

Oh. Joseph hadn’t thought of that. The colors of Impulse’s costume are white and red.

He takes too long to respond.

Thad gives Joseph a strange, bitter look, like he’s daring Joseph to say something. Joseph shrugs at him. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say to that, and neither does Thad.

They move on.

Joseph opens the door of the Plum Room all the way and actually steps in this time. Thad follows him.

It’s a comfortable room, the Plum Room. It’s darker than the Scarlet Room, both because it only has one window and because the dark purple walls absorb light. The cornice and trimmings are cream colored, the bed black with an oversized quilt and golden pillows. Everything is vaguely corduroy-textured, soft but firm. Luxurious. Joseph always used to think it was a room fit for a crown prince. And it was Grant’s bedroom, after all.

He looks down at Thad. The boy is looking around, pupils wide and dark. After a moment, Thad starts walking around the room, cat-silent and graceful on the thick carpet. He glances back at Joseph regularly, as if to check that he’s staying within bounds, but he’s clearly fascinated by the room. He moves around it, looking now up to the ceiling and now crouching to look under the divan. His hair matches the creamy trimming, Joseph notices. A perfect yellow-purple complimentary color scheme.

The boy reaches out to touch the bed and stops quickly.

Joseph snaps his fingers. Thad jumps guiltily and looks at Joseph’s hands.

Joseph signs, “You can touch things. It’s fine.”

Thad mirrors the sign for touch, a hesitant look on his face. Joseph mirrors it back and nods. Thad turns and brushes his hand over the puffy quilt, barely disturbing its sleek surface. Then he turns and goes to the wall and presses his hand against it. He touches the divan, and the bedside table, and the lamp. His fingers are very careful and gentle.

Joseph covers his mouth with his hand. It just occurred to him that Thad only has two way of touching things: over-cautiously, as if he might break them just by existing too much, or violently. There’s no in-between.

He’s that way with people, too.

Thad doesn’t notice Joseph having a moment, thankfully. He’s too busy kneeling and brushing his fingertips against the carpet, rubbing one thick strand of plum-colored carpet between his fingers.

Joseph masters his face and waits until Thad turns around.

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah. It’s good.” Thad looks around the Plum Room again. He adds analytically, “I prefer dark things and enclosed spaces.”

And again, Joseph is left wondering about Thad’s childhood and knowing this is not the right time to ask. For someone who named himself “Free”, Thad draws a surprising amount of comfort from being contained.

He’ll probably like this room best, then. It’s… not exactly small, but smaller than the tower rooms, and it does hold a dark, quiet kind of peace. Thad would fit in here.

Still, Joseph wants to show him the Peacock Room. It was his room, growing up, and he likes it. Besides, the tour wouldn’t be complete without the northeast tower room.

Without speaking about it, he and Thad end up outside the door to the last room. Joey opens the door and steps in. He smiles.

There are four windows in Joey's old bedroom. Three normal ones on the walls, and one small one on the roof, slanted like it can’t decide whether to be a regular window or a skylight. The walls are medium blue, the floor wood, the curtains white. It used to live up to its Peacock Room name, but now the only remnants of the rich, dark peacock-green decor are a few sea-green pillows. The bed has its own tucked-away nook in the corner; the main area is more open, brighter, with an old wooden trunk and a sheepskin rug in the middle. Joey changed the ostentatious Peacock Room to a simple blue room while he was living there. All of the bedrooms were so dark; he wanted something brighter, happier.

Thad hasn’t come out from behind Joey yet. Less interested in this room than the Plum Room, evidently. Yes, Joey thinks, this will be his bedroom again, and he looks around again at the rough furniture and smiles.

And then he looks down at Thad and re-evaluates.

The boy is staring up at the skylight in something like wonder. His hands are clasped behind his back in a way that would look polite if his fingers weren’t digging so sharply into his muscle.

Thad catches Joseph looking at him.

“There’s four windows,” he says.

Joseph smiles. “Nice, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Thad takes a small step to nowhere in particular, and stops. “CRAYDL didn’t have any windows.”

Yes, Joey remembers the lair. There was absolutely no natural light in that place.

Thad briefly meets Joseph’s eyes and then looks away like the eye contact burned.

“I only saw sunlight in virtual reality, and did you know you can’t actually feel two different temperatures at the same time in that VR equipment? The liquid is either warm or cold, no mixtures. You can’t feel cold on your back and warm on your face; you have to choose one or the other. I never felt sunlight there. I didn’t know what it was like until I came out to fight Bart. I thought I did, from the virtual reality, but—”

Oh. Oh. “That’s awful.”

“I know,” Thad says, with a choked sort of laugh.

Joseph laughs silently back. What else is there to do?

Well, he can figure out Thad’s bedroom situation, for one thing. He signs, “I don’t know what will be best for you—”

“Neither do I,” Thad interrupts with a grin.

Joseph smiles. “I mean for your bedroom.”

Thad hesitates.

The sunlight illuminates every pore on his face, and it throws the dark circles under his eyes into stark contrast. It makes him look even more tired than usual.

“I… I like this room.”

“It’s okay if you like the Plum Room better.”

“I don’t! I like this room, it’s… it’s good, it’s got windows, it’s…”

“Too much light?” Joseph guesses.

Thad looks torn. He glances up at the skylight again. He does not squint against the light, although his pupils shrink to tiny dots.

“No…”

Joey is starting to see what’s going on, he thinks. Thad thinks that he should want this room, because it’s bright and cheerful and normal. But he doesn’t want it. He wants the Plum Room, where he feels comfortable.

“The Peacock Room used to be my bedroom,” he tells Thad.

“Really?” Thad glances around again.

“Yes! That’s why it’s so bright. It used to be dark green, but I asked my mother to change it because I like to have good lighting for my art. I switched the blue curtains for white ones. And we tore out the carpet and installed wood.”

“Good choices,” Thad says quietly.

Joseph smiles at him. “Thank you.”

Thad’s smile goes crooked in that strange, sincere way of his.

“You don’t have to like it better just because it’s bright, though,” Joey tells him. “That’s my preference.”

“I do like it.” Thad glares at him defensively.

“That doesn’t mean you have to live in it. It can be my room.”

“Yours?”

“I do need to sleep,” Joseph points out. “Whichever room you don’t pick will be my bedroom.”

“I pick the Plum Room, then,” Thad says instantly.

Joey tilts his head at him. “Are you sure…?”

“You’re the one who was trying to talk me into the Plum Room two seconds ago,” Thad points out sarcastically. “Yes, I’m sure. You shouldn’t be in the Plum Room; that’s ridiculous. You shouldn’t have even given me a choice.”

Joey is about to tell him that he wants to give him a choice, but then the boy admits, quieter, “I don’t think I could sleep very well in here.”

He nods, understanding.

“Sleep is healing to the spirit.”

Smoothly, Thad agrees, “Every growing weapon needs sleep.”

And Joey knows it’s deadpan humor. He knows. But his heart—and hands—move faster than his caution: “You’re not a weapon.”

For a split second, Thad looks like he’s going to go defensive, lip curling—and then he looks into Joseph’s eyes, hesitates, and subsides.

“I know. That’s why I’m here.”

He closes his eyes. In here, with the sharp light purpling the bags under his eyes, he looks as weary as a statue of a veteran.

Joseph thinks he’s done speaking, and then he speaks, eyes still closed, cutting Joseph off from responding until Thad chooses to look at him again.

“I’m not. A weapon. But I still act like a weapon sometimes. I can’t help it. Is that… a problem? I mean—” Thad opens his eyes again, but he’s staring past Joseph’s shoulder. “I can’t even… take the right bedroom.”

Joseph snaps his fingers. Thad’s attention snaps back to his hands.

“Listen,” Joseph signs. “That doesn’t matter. Not even a little, tiny bit. Pick the bedroom you can sleep in. Make jokes if you want to. I don’t mind.”

“Even morbid ones?” Thad asks, spitting the words like a snake darting out in a warning challenge.

“Even morbid ones.”

Thad stares at him.

“Just because I don’t make morbid jokes doesn’t mean I don’t get them,” Joey points out.

“Yeah,” Thad says slowly. “I’ve noticed. It’s interesting.”

Better interested than scared. Joseph smiles.

Thad smiles back.

#The Strange Redemption of Thaddeus Thawne #next chapter!!! let'sgoooo

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k7l4d4 · 21 days

Text

K Reviews and Rants: Miraculous Ladybug Season 5! Episode 11

And now, my fair readers, I shall now embark on PART 2 of the first two-parter of this season! Let's see if it's an improvement...

If there is one thing this episode upsets me the most about, in hindsight, it's how this episode basically embodies the fact that no one in this series has apparently any kind of critical thinking skills. Any kind of ability to reflect on what is going on around them or draw connections just... does not exist, because doing so would cause the flimsy writing to fall apart in seconds, exemplified how Tikki never apparently made the connection between the Alliance Rings tracking the steps of their wielder automatically, Dark(er) Owl going after Socqueline immediately after Marinette ran off to take down the Dinosaur-Pigeon hybrids, or how Monarch was able to find out her and Plagg's new wielders so quickly... or how Alya never once stops to consider the fact that Marinette is still the Guardian, so keeping her identity secret is still a huge deal. It's just not sustainable.

Anyway, rambling over. Onto my mental breakdown! As always, warning for profanity on my part.

Episode 11: Kwamis Choice Part 2 (Deflagration)

Okay, just got started... here's seeing how this goes. And wow, they seriously cannot have people NOT obsess over the love lives of two teenagers for even a second, can they?

Uugghh... this is a small gripe, but them trying to present Alya confidently stating that Ladybug and Chat Noir aren't in love and never have been... to say it IRRITATES ME is an understatement, given how much of an unabashed fangirl she was for the ship, up to and including ignoring Marinette's wishes in posting pics on the topic online.

Okay, we get a scene of Adrien moping over a picture of Marinette on his phone... despite the last episode literally being all about on them FINALLY MAKING FUCKING PROGRESS AND HIM GETTING CONFIRMATION THAT SHE LIKES HIM!! What in the world is he moping about!? It can't be that he's no longer Chat Noir, given that he got over THAT bit of moping at lightning speed. SO WHAT IS HIS PROBLEM!?

Y-You know what makes this entire scene currently going on (Marinette checking in on Alya and congratulating her for being the new Ladybug wielder) so much worse? It's the fact that MARINETTE KNOWS, and also SHE IS STILL THE GUARDIAN OF THE MIRACULOUS. Meaning she is STILL A SERIOUS RISK FOR AKUMATIZATIONS!! Oh, and once again, I'm gonna chime in that, even if she isn't aware that Monarch can listen in on the Alliance Rings, AT MINIMUM Tikki should've let Alya know that they DO track her movements. And the fact that this isn't brought up at all... yeah...

Alya... no. CUT IT OUT WITH THE SHIPPING. You SENT HIM TO HER HOUSE, HIM FORGETTING HIS BAG THERE IS NORMAL, STOP READING SHIT INTO THINGS!!! Dear god, the way they cannot let up for even a second on the LS just drives me insane.

...She told Adrien she was "shaving her socks." They. ARE NOT EVEN TRYING AT THIS POINT.

Alya acting all smug about Marinette and Adrien hanging out (NOT DATING) is honestly infuriating. Because given just how wishy-washy this entire fucking fiasco has been about her respecting and caring about MARINETTE'S OWN FEELINGS, as well as the show's inability to honestly take a fucking SOLID POSITION just makes her come across as a smug "rhymes-with-witch" at the moment.

Alya... YOU KNEW HE WAS OVER THERE BECAUSE YOU FUCKING SENT HIM TO GIVE HER HER HOMEWORK!!!

Dadada... Alya still being unable to grasp and respect Marinette's boundaries, of course.

Ughh... I honestly hate how Alya is referring to Marinette's stupid crush as "episodes." Like, treating a person you actually know, particularly one who is meant to be your BEST FRIEND, as a soap opera for you to watch is incredibly insensitive. And news alert, calling attention to the NON-EXISTENT PLOT PROGRESSION IN YOUR FUCKING SHOW IS NOT FUNNY, IT IS ANNOYING AND JUST SHOWS HOW SHIT THE WRITING IS. Marinette being "back at square one" is not funny. It's pathetic, and honestly unhealthy.

...I honestly just cannot get over how Alya says "you don't have to worry about secret identities or anything about that" when she's conveniently forgetting that MARINETTE IS STILL THE FUCKING GUARDIAN. She is ALWAYS going to have to worry about this stuff, because until she passes on the title (and all relevant memories connected to it), she will ALWAYS be involved in the fight, NO MATTER WHAT. But of course, the show glosses over all that because it doesn't give them the type of drama they want.

Okay, I hate to admit it, but Plagg's face at "Largest cheese cellar in Paris" was honestly funny.

And we get Zoe sneaking around... in her own home. Apparently because of Chloe. Ugghhh... it's gonna be like that, isn't it?

First things out of her mouth being about how "Zoe isn't allowed in the kitchen with her dirty sneakers." And apparently Chloe SOMEHOW gets to dictate where Zoe is allowed to go within the hotel. I'm not even going to pretend to acknowledge this because CHLOE DOES NOT HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE THOSE DECISIONS, and if Andre is ALLOWING THIS then this is just an early look at how much of a fucking pathetic excuse for a father he is.

Also, I don't get why Chloe is calling for Audrey, because it's not as if Audrey would even give a shit, considering that Zoe's literal introduction established that she doesn't give a damn about EITHER Chloe or Zoe, so she isn't gonna give Chloe her way. And if this stupid scene just has the worst Chloe makes Zoe do to "keep her mouth shut" is clean her shoes... okay, what the fuck about this is supposed to justify Plagg running off screaming about Cataclysming Chloe!?

Fucking GOD does this shit annoy me!! Having characters overreact to shit that is, at WORST, annoying and inconvenient pettiness on Chloe's part does not make her worse, it just makes the person DOING said overreacting look petty and stupid! Granted, the one they are having do this is Plagg, whose track record for being "reasonable" isn't very good, but I doubt that thought ever occurred to the writers.

Ughh... and they retconned Plagg accidentally genociding the Dinosaurs as an act of deliberate petty spite. No, this does not make him look cool, it makes him look like a fucking PSYCHO.

Also, Zoe saying "it's pointless" with a smile on her face just gives me the same vibes as Adrien's "She'll never change" comment in Despair Bear. It's treating the actions of someone prone to extreme self-destruction and living in a toxic environment as something to just shake your head over and shrug off... and this is before acting as if Chloe being petty and immature is deserving of regarding her as the Spawn of Satan.

Okay, for this scene alone, I'll GRUDGINGLY give them SOME credit for at least acknowledging that Plagg blows things out of proportion... but that shouldn't be a JOKE, if anything, the fact that the Embodiment of Destruction is prone to overreaction SHOULD BE A VERY BIG PROBLEM!!!

...I just watched Gabriel... putting on a dance number... after coming out of his fucking secret lair. The ONLY fucking reason I'm not screaming at just how completely inappropriate this scene is (in terms of just both undermining any menace within Gabe as a character, but also for writing off his recent discovery as part of a cheap GAG), is because it was over quickly.

AND HERE IS WHERE TIKKI NOT BOTHERING TO MENTION THAT THE ALLIANCE RINGS RECORD A PERSON'S MOVEMENTS COMES BACK TO BITE THEM IN THE ASS!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THIS ONE FUCKING SCENE MAKES THIS ENTIRE GODDAMN FIASCO OF TIKKI AND PLAGG FINDING NEW WIELDERS TOTALLY FUCKING POINTLESS!!!

Oh, now we get a scene of Nathalie sadly staring at a picture of Emilie. No, you don't get to do that since you are fully complicit in ignoring her wishes and have actively continued to go against them, with the only change being that you "aren't on Gabe's side anymore."

Also, the way Gabe phrases it as "the right combination of powers" just makes me bang my head against a wall at how the writers have completely abandoned any pretense of him being able to be genuinely creative in the powers he already grants. The last Akuma didn't even HAVE Unique Powers besides being big and bear-themed.

Again, Nathalie, you DO NOT GET TO GO ON ABOUT HOW SCARED YOU ARE WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN COMPLICIT EVEN WHEN HE MADE AN AKUMA THAT DROWNED THE FUCKING CITY!!!

You also were perfectly willing to make the exact same Wish for yourself, so you have no leg to stand on.

Honestly, him going on about him having discovered the identities of the new Miraculous Holders in Zoe and Alya would be more impressive if his plan wasn't literally the exact same as all his other plans, but copying what he did during Nino's scheme to get Gabe Akumatized and doing it better, which just makes me wonder why the FUCK he didn't add those power ups THEN anyway!? Or at least just used the Ox, given the whole "invulnerability" thing. Heck, the fact that he's had the Ox as far back as Episode Two makes me wonder why he didn't use it to make Chat Noir's Cataclysm Bluff just that, a HARMLESS BLUFF.

And now we get another scene of Nino's fucking stupid resistance. I still cannot take them seriously with those idiotic names.

Next we get a moment of Adrien taking Marinette's hand in his to comfort her... and Adrien, while I appreciate the spirit, and think Marinette wildly flailing is an overreaction, you don't just grab someone's hand like that. That's a violation of her personal boundaries. Ughh... we honestly should've gotten more episodes about stuff like THAT, about how Adrien just doesn't know how to be a normal teen, more than this BS.

...Everything I see of the Resistance just makes me think less of it. Because on the one hand, yes, being able to report Akumatizations is nice... that's why the "Megakuma/Akuma Alerts" exist, and makes Kitty Section writing loud rock music and broadcasting it over the school's speaker system completely pointless, and if anything it isn't going to get any form of the response they are looking for since no one would KNOW that it has anything to do with Akumas, and is more of a distraction from the threat the Akuma represents.

...I do not get why they think they would somehow be able to stop someone from being Akumatized, OR WHY THEY THINK THAT PAINTBALLS WOULD DO ANYTHING TO AN AKUMA!!!

Oh, and another mention of the tired "we would have to lie to each other!!" talking point. Not even gonna pretend to engage with that BS.

Aaaannndd... we get a scene of LITERALLY FUCKING EVERYONE STARING AT ADRIEN AND MARINETTE SHARING A TWO-PERSON TABLE AT LUNCH. This... this is just completely and utterly unhealthy. THE FACT THAT THERE ARE FUCKING FLOWERS ON THE TABLE MAKE IT WORSE, THEY STILL ARE NOT OFFICIALLY DATING YET!!!

I'm just... nothing about this is romantic. If anything, it's creepy because it's overwhelmingly trying to force this scene to be romantic.

...Oh, and we get the first 'Chloe is a dumb blonde' scene with her apparently needing Alliance to define Generous to her. Excuse me while I go out into the snow to scream my head off.

Like, it would be one thing if this was a sarcastic quip she's making that the Alliance Ring just took literally, but we both know it isn't, and I FUCKING HATE IT. Because this is beyond making her stupid, this is literally trying to force her into a specific mold in the most hamfisted way possible.

And another hit, right away, with it apparently being that you HAVE to say "please" to Alliance. There is literally no possible reasoning for including this scene except to point and go "SEE!? SEE!? CHLOE IS AWFUL!! SHE CAN'T EVEN SAY PLEASE!!!"

Oh, she's apparently going to "destroy Dupain-Cheng," where have I heard that before? Never. I have never heard her talk like that prior to Season 4. This... this is just obnoxious.

This also includes the start of the trend of the show making Chloe Lila's attack dog. It's hard to take her as a credible threat when literally it's just Lila using crass manipulation on the girl Astruc insists would be the bottom of the class without help from Sabrina, and she didn't even CARE until Lila brought it up. Nope, I just can't take this seriously, because they are STILL TREATING THE LOVE SQUARE LIKE A FUCKING JOKE.

Yadayadayada, more Chloe Character Assassination and the show not even pretending to have any kind of internal continuity...

Them trying to present Zoe standing up for Marinette as this badass sign is honestly pretty stupid since MARINETTE HAS LEARNED TO STAND UP FOR HERSELF SINCE FUCKING ORIGINS, and no one has EVER taken Chloe seriously as a credible threat. This is just completely and utterly stupid.

...I would laugh at them having Chloe say "I'll crush you all!" if it didn't sound completely and utterly WRONG coming out of her mouth. Her voice IS NOT SUITED TO SAYING GENUINE THREATS. It just makes her sound like she's reading from a cringe-inducing script for a school play.

And now they have Chloe stand-up and just let the Akuma come to her. Not even pretending that this is something DONE to her, and the fact that it's Chloe means that any attempt at trying to make her resist is utterly pointless.

Wow, they didn't even TRY to stop Chloe from being Akumatized. How "totally surprising." So much for "only having one enemy, and that's Monarch."

...And "Sole Destroyer" isn't even something I can take seriously as a threat because of how utterly stupid her power is. She turns people into shoes that "sing her praises" by kicking them.

Also, how is no one hearing Monarch!? Just because he's invisible doesn't mean he's inaudible, and he IS IN THE ROOM WITH ALL OF THEM.

Oh, and we get Plagg shilling for Zoe again...

Also, I just do not get on ANY LEVEL how Monarch not wearing the Miraculouses when he made himself invulnerable would make them... not invulnerable. I just don't. It feels totally arbitrary.

Also, Tikki was ALREADY absorbed into the earrings, how in the world did she get blasted out??

Marinette freaking the hell out really just... undermines any threat that this is supposed to have, it's too out of place right now.

Oh look, Sole Destroyer was somehow defeated off-screen with no explanation. And Monarch gets ambushed by the Resistance, which I still can't take seriously since by all rights this should be entirely in Monarch's favor since, you know, HE HAS VOYAGE!!! Oh, and how in the world did they somehow knock Chloe out!? Did... did this show just FORGET that all the Miraculouses grant their wielders a degree of super strength, toughness, and agility?? Because there is no reason a bunch of kids jumping on top of him should have even slowed Monarch down. And again, VOYAGE.

I don't get why he had to use Multitude before using Voyage at the end, since the fact that he still had a grip on Ladybug's Yo-Yo means he realistically could've just dragged her through with him and had her completely at his mercy.

Tikki and Plagg wondering how Monarch found him out... while ignoring that there is canonically a WAY FOR THEIR WIELDERS TO BE TRACKED IN THE ALLIANCE RINGS!!! Even if they dismiss the idea of Gabriel being Monarch, they should at fucking LEAST be suspicious!!

Once again, I'm not touching the nonsense of Plagg comforting Zoe with a ten-foot-pole, given that it's just tied to the show's Chloe Assassination process. "It was an honor to be your Kwami," PLAGG YOU KNEW HER FOR LESS THEN A FUCKING DAY!!! Okay, and with that, I'm done with this episode.

#miraculous ladybug #mlb season 5 salt #mlb season 5 spoilers #mlb writing critical #mlb writing salt

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