Character idea that I had at some point: A dance teacher who had to give up his own highly promising career as a performer after an injury, and now makes his living giving lessons to children. He comes off as stern, serious, and frighteningly strict, and even some of the parents have a hard time believing that the kids genuinely like him and enjoy the lessons. Which, to be fair, are frightening to watch with no context of what this is about.
The children go through their practices with downright eerie, automation-like, coordinated synchrony, with stern and focused looks on their faces, while the teacher circles them, observing and correcting, brandishing his cane like a weapon and every once in a while dramatically lamenting about how "you little vermin can't do anything right", and occasionally the music stops and the only sounds coming from the studio are of kids running and screaming while their teacher bellows about teaching them a lesson.
This, however, is all just method. He started the first lesson with the children by proposing a game: How about they play flea circus, where he is the cruel evil ringmaster and they are all his poor suffering little fleas. One of the girls starts crying, protesting that she doesn't want to be a flea. Well, how about mice? Mice are cute. The children accept these terms, and ever since they've spent dance lessons playing Evil Circus.
For reasons beyond adult comprehension, children of a certain age really love playing pretend in a setting where everything is Dark And Horrible And The Worst, and Evil Mouse Circus is exactly that. And whenever he picks up that the kids are starting to get too genuinely nervous or agitated, that's when he goes "that's it I'm going to beat all of you" which is their cue to take a break to run around screaming, while he chases them. He won't catch them and isn't even trying to, the kids just need to let the nervous energy out.
It looks horrible to an outside observer, but the kids are having an excellent time playing circus mice.
forever thinking of the time i just wanted to know how long i could go without sleeping and google autofilled it to “in minecraft” without me realizing. you can imagine my shock and horror until i read the website title
(feel free to add your own thoughts to this list, hope it helps!) req by @miricalebabyy44 <3
what will your character be like if they were in your shoes?
is your oc the mom friend or the dad or the childish one in their friendgroup ?
do those "poet, king, soldier" quiz for your oc. im being fr
do the "36 questions to fall in love" quiz as your oc.
ik your ocs trauma have an impact on their character, but how would they be like, if they hadn't gone through that experience?
does your oc have similar tastes as you do? (music, art, fashion, coffee/tea etctetc)
will they "i only live once so I'll do it for the plot." or will they "i only live once ffs, i don't wanna die." ?
what is your ocs opinion of love? how is/was their love life on a scale of 1-10?
will your oc let go of someone precious to them when they know they're putting them at danger?
around whom does your oc lets their guard down?
are they romantically constipated or a hopeless romantic?
what type of music does ur oc like?
write a lot about your oc if you're struggling to get to know them. find a drabble prompt, and write what they'd do.
do they trust others easily or do they get trusted by others easily?
what is something your oc will never talk to anyone about? (their answer can be deep, like some emo trauma or like smthng like back when they shit their pants or smthng yk)
do they give off golden retriever energy, or a black cat energy? (or both?)
what will THEIR opinion be on YOUR current life? will they be ur friend? will they trust you?
will your oc survive in a fantasy setting, a war setting, a dystopian setting, a futuristic setting, a medieval setting? will ur oc survive after getting stranded on an island, or a forest?
does your oc like their parents, do they like how their life is, do they feel like they're born in the right gen?
if they are ever to get one wish definitely granted, what would they wish for?
how did they react to their first kiss? (if they have had it by now lmao)
what's an ideal day for your oc?
lastly, who does your oc go to when they've fucked up?
Not really a good writer but whatever. bit out of character maybe.
(Some aidlyn food for the soul)
Bail
"Aiden, I'm gonna fall again!"
"You're not gonna fall, be confident!"
"Alright- I'm confident I'm gonna fall off this stupid thing!"
Ashlyn flapped her arms, desperately trying to regain her balance. She couldn't believe she'd let Aiden rope her into learning how to skateboard- she'd fallen on her ass more times than she could count in less than an hour, and she was pretty sure her tailbone was starting to bruise. At the very least, the skatepark was totally abandoned, so there were no witnesses to her repeat failures. Besides Aiden, of course.
She felt herself tilting forward, squeezing her eyes shut and raising her arms to block the fall, but it never came.
"Ah, gotcha!"
She blinked slowly, still disoriented from the sudden movement. Aiden's hands were tight around her elbows, the tip of his shoe jammed between the wheels. He smiled at her, the sunlight bouncing off his hair and his white teeth making him look even more boyish than usual. "Almost face-planted there, haha."
His head was inclined towards her, making his face a little too close for her own comfort. She looked away, her knees shaking. "You couldn't have caught me all those other times?"
"I didn't think you'd fall that much! You're so good at everything, I thought...", he trailed off, eyes flicking to the ground. "Sorry, we can stop the sesh."
Something bubbled up in her chest, indignation, maybe, or her own wounded pride. "No, actually, I think I'm getting it, let's keep going."
He stared at her, in a very particular way that almost made her feel transparent, like he was calling her bluff, like he could see right through her bullshit. "Are you sure? Your arms are kinda..."
She was pale, and she bruised easily, but the mottled skin was partially hidden by her freckles. "I'm fine. I've got a helmet."
It wasn't her helmet, but Aiden never wore his anyway. If she was going to keep this up, though, she should probably invest in a new one. There was a dent in the back, and she didn't really want to wear a helmet that had "Brain Bucket" scrawled on the side.
"Well, alright...do I need to explain it again?"
She thought about the time Aiden had told her he'd cracked his skull when trying to do an acid drop and wondered if the problem lied not with her, but her teacher. "Mm...yeah, if you don't mind."
He took her hand -a little spark running up her fingertips at the contact- and helped her off his board. "Right, so first, pick your stance. You seemed to prefer regular, but you can try goofy too, that's how I ride."
She couldn't help but snicker. It was so like Aiden to ride his board in the most uncomfortable looking way ever. "Hm! Regular is fine."
He nodded, helping her up, his leg out in case the board shot out from under her feet and shot off to crash against a rail. Which had already happened. Twice.
Easy...just relax and balance yourself.
She let out a shaky sigh, and to her delight, she was only slightly unsteady. "Hey, I'm-!"
She clamped her mouth shut when she felt Aiden's hands settle around her waist. "Try to align your feet over the trucks."
The only trucks she knew were the kind you drove, but she shifted her weight around, watching Aiden's face, until his eyes brightened and she assumed she'd gotten it right. She was finding it hard to concentrate, Aiden was a touchy guy, sure, but he'd never just grabbed her waist before. His fingers felt cold, even through her tank-top, even in the summer heat. Her cheeks slowly colored, a pretty shade of rose, which was mercifully hidden by her sunburn.
He laughed, a mischievous-looking smirk spreading across his face. "There you go! Did you just need me to hold on to you?"
He made it sound stupid and flirty at the same time, and she fought the urge to push him away because otherwise she was going to eat shit again. Her pride did not overrule her own tolerance to pain. "Whatever, shut up."
He let go of her waist, before quickly latching one hand on her arm. "Okay, so- don't tiptoe, I've seen you do that, you keep losing your balance like that. Put your weight on the front part of your feet."
Force of habit. Maybe it was too much ballet.
Slowly, very slowly, she pointed her left foot frontwards, the right firm against the deck. Aiden tentatively untangled their fingers, only the pad of his thumb brushing against her knuckles. "That wasn't too hard, was it?"
Smartass.
She scowled at him. "You can't talk too much, Mr. I-broke-my-arm-doing-an-airwalk."
He just laughed even more.
She scoffed, pulling her hand away from his. She put her foot against the asphalt to push herself forward. "See? Easy as-!"
The board shot forward, knocking her off her feet. "GAH-!"
"Ash!"
Aiden rushed forward to catch her, seizing her wrist and tugging her towards him. He tumbled backward as she crashed into his chest, hitting the ground with a dull thud. "Agh- shit...!"
She moved her hand to rub her head, only to be met with the hard plastic of the helmet. Well, now she knew why it was called a brain bucket- it felt like the organ was being rattled around in her skull, like a pile of shells or stones in a child's pail.
"Ash-! Are you alright?"
She let out a groan before opening her eyes, immediately started by the blood red of Aiden's contacts being so close to her. They were very close. She could see all the little details that she usually never paid any attention to- the almost purplish color to his skin around his sunken-in eyes, a lock of black hair curling over his ear, the only survivor of his constant bleaching, even the scar on his chin from playing with a pocket knife.
And his mouth. His mouth was extremely distracting.
"Um, Ash? Did you get a concussion or something?"
You want to kiss him.
The realization hits her with a dull terror.
Oh, crap, I want to kiss him.
Not even her sunburn can hide the mortifying shade of red that spreads across her face, and her hands are a poor substitute. She mumbles incoherently into her palms, her skin tingling from the heat radiating off her skin.
"Ashlyn...? I...What's happening right now?"
"..."
"...I...Can you say that again?"
I'm gonna kill him.
"...you...hh...mouth..."
Making sentences is hard.
"Did you hurt your mouth? Should I check it?"
Imagining Aiden touching her lips, his eyes roving carefully for any cut or bruise, makes it almost a thousand times worse.
"...!!!"
She peeks at him between her fingers, big forest-green eyes gleaming, almost magnetically drawn towards his own mouth. He follows her gaze, before stopping abruptly.
"Oh."
Oh, indeed.
"...Ash, would you let me...?"
He sounds so earnest. It makes her stomach feel weird, like there's a gaping maw inside her, or a hive full of crawling insects. Nothing pleasant like in the movies, unless butterflies in your belly were supposed to make you throw up.
She nods.
"Um...it's a little hard with your hands on your face," he says, not unkindly.
She closes her eyes, because she feels like she'll lose any semblance of bravery if she looks at him, and lets her arms hang loosely by her sides.
First, she feels the exhale of his breath on her lips, and then, a very soft, slight pressure on her mouth. Somehow, it feels exactly like a kiss, and yet, nothing like one. She doesn't respond, because she doesn't know how. The experience is quite neutral, made positive-leaning by the fact that it's Aiden that is kissing her.
Then he pulls away. "Um...sorry, I'm not really good at this stuff..."
Her eyes flutter open. He looks flustered, a pink hue bleeding into his cheeks.
"I mean, I've done it a few times, and every time it was super awkward-"
She purses her lips into a flat line, arching a single brow.
"-! Not that this was awkward or anything! I liked it- I mean, if you liked, I liked it-"
She watches him dig himself deeper into this hole of his own making.
"...I gotta teach you how to bail."
"...what's that?"
"A way to step off your board safely when you mess up a trick."
"But I don't know any tricks."
He sighs, runs his fingers through his bangs. "I know, but if you keep falling off and into me, I might spend more time kissing you than teaching you."
A small smile curves her lips. Well, one of those things interests her far more than the other, but he doesn't need to know which is which.
CAN WE TALK ABT THIS I FEEL LIKE NOBODY HAS BEEN TALKING ABT THIS?!? LIKE. ok as a person w auditory sensory issues like ash’s this made me fold on her part 😭😭
also side note can we collectively acknowledge that aiden has rizz because he does and no i will not be taking no for an answer
Bunch of Aiden analysis under the cut because he's just SO OBSESSED CODED AND NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT 😭 (I will be very weird about it)
The way it's so doomed from the start. He's already so fascinated by her. It's in the little jump he does when she sits in front of him, like a secret they're both in on, like her sitting in front of him is some obscure way of her inviting him into a conversation.
Why is he like this (not positive but not negative either)
He has such a cocktail of personality traits and, most certainly, mental disorders, and his own history that makes it so, when he's in love, that it WILL blow up in his face.
The fact that he's been homeschooled for his entire life- he has no idea. HE DOESNT EVEN KNOW. He doesnt realize that its not normal. of course he doesn't :( His parents obviously leave him alone for long stretches of time and he doesn't seem to mind this. He hasn't had the chance to develop his social skills at all-
It's why he's so, let's be real, creepy. Ash makes it very clear she's not interested and he just keeps worming his way into her life. He plots so that she'll go on the field trip, he follows her around, he goes to her fucking house on the first day. LIKE, HELLO? RED FLAG?
He's having evil thoughts here I swear 💀
And already so quickly after meeting her he makes Ash his priority. He asks to sit next to her, he engages and makes an effort to talk to her. Tries to joke around with her. Gives her a nickname. Touches her. He's so touchy.
And defends her!!! When Tyler gets pissed at Ash, he honestly goes off on him even tho he KNOWS Ash can defend herself- and he's so...dark about it. There's a threat hidden behind his words. He's MAD here, right? Tell me I'm not crazy, please-
He also very clearly has violence on the forefront of his mind 💀 He's the first one to actively attack the phantoms; not to defend himself, not to defend somebody else (well, he pulls Ash out of the way), but for fun. And he's disappointed when they don't scream. He's sadistic, he likes causing pain, it's something he relishes in.
I mean look at how he smiles!!! None of the other kids have such an...active ENJOYMENT in fighting the phantoms, but for Aiden, it's almost like he finds relief in it, some way to vent out his frustrations. He's eager for a fight, for a thrill.
That's how Aiden sustains himself, he pretty much operates under "I'm here for a good time, not a long time." Everything he does gives him a boost of adrenaline, no matter the consequences. He got into a fight? Eh, who cares about all the bruises, at least it got his blood rushing. Broke a bone while doing parkour or smth? Whatever, the way his stomach dropped when he was falling as totally worth it.
It's a very dangerous mentality to live with, obviously. He's an adrenaline junkie. He's an addict. More than anything else, Aiden wants something that makes him feel alive.
And what makes you feel more alive than love?
Like not to minimise or anything but he's known her for like. 2-3 months- and he's already SO scared of losing her. Like I just don't think he would have had this type of reaction with anybody else besides Ben. He would have absolutely lost his shit if Ash 'died'.
He's a straight up love junkie. He's obsessive. Nothing beats the high love can give you. It overrules everything else. If Ash (or whoever he's interested in) feels bad because of smth, he's done with it.
He LIKED dying. He LIKED the adrenaline rush. But he won't do it again. Not because he had some realization that he didn't want to die, that he still wanted to live and do things, but because Ash was upset. Because this, this rush of care from her part, the way she was so scared of him dying that she was shaking, nothing could fill the hole in his heart better than that. And now that he has a taste for it, he won't let go easy. He will keep on living- if it means Ash will be by his side.
Which is a very dangerous position to put her in. Ash already feels responsible for her friends, and she doesn't even know that Aiden has "put" his life in her hands, not that it's her responsibility, because it isn't, but she will certainly feel responsible if Aiden does something FOR her.
Like He's so fucking obsessed and he doesn't even realize it- like look at how he sees her 😭 THE HEAVENLY GLOOOOOOW, LIKE SHES AN ANGEL AND HE THINKS SHE CAN SAVE HIM. BABY SHE CANT, YOU HAVE TO SAVE YOURSELF.
He could spiral so fucking bad. He could do some absolutely heinous things. Because he just doesn't know. He doesn't know how to love truly, yet. For him love really is that rush of adrenaline, the knife carving out his heart, he could be putty in her hands, or her executioner. This love that can be so obsessive, that he NEEDS it to function, like its water, like its the air he breathes. Its a compulsion, a fixation, a longing that burrows into your very soul. Ash doesn't even know what she's getting herself into-
Godddddd, it makes me so sick/ pos, it's SO FUCKING INTERESTINGGGGGG. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.
I literally cannot function around this drawing 🫠
The. The hand. That way he's grabbing her. He's pulling her back. Towards HIM. like "this is mine. And I'm not sharing." And that little fucking look in his eyes, he just looks SO fucking pleased with himself. And Ash looks so...resigned. they're so doomed-coded, i love them so bad.
I don't know how I was supposed to NOT make a killer au, when he's just...like that around her.
Love is a wonderful thing. But love is also cruel, it is vicious, it is possessive and obsessive, and it will leave carnage in its wake.
Romantic love is an obsession. It possesses you. You lose your sense of self. You cannot stop thinking about another human being. -Helen Fisher
it’s been two years, but i think that an icon like her deserves to be known about by more people.
her name was freddie oversteegen and she, at the age of fourteen, along with her older sister truus who was 16 and their friend johanna “hannie” schaft who was 19, was a part of the netherlands most famous all female resistance cell which was dedicated to fighting the nazis and dutch traitors.
among other things, they are known to have blown up bridges and railroads, smuggled jewish children from concentration camps and, as the tweet mentions, seducing nazis and then shooting them with guns that they had hidden in their bike baskets. freddie is quoted as having said that they “had to do it.” and that it was a “necessary evil, killing those who betrayed good people.”
though freddie and her sister truus were both lucky and survived the war, hannie schaft wasn’t. at the age of 24, hannie was caught and around three weeks later was executed by nazis, only 18 days before the netherlands were eventually liberated. she was shot with one only wounding her, and, before the final shot, hannie is quoted as having told the executioners: ik schiet beter, which translates to “i shoot better.”
though she didn’t survive, hannie is recognized as a national icon and a face of the dutch resistance, with her story even being retold in a movie from 1981 called “the girl with the red hair.” along with this, truus also founded the national hannie schaft foundation in 1992, on which freddie served as a board member.
freddie, at the time of her death, was 92 years old and the last surviving member of the resistance cell, with truus having died two years earlier at the age of 92.
though these women and all that they did played an important part in the dutch resistance, they are often overlooked in history outside of the netherlands. it’s important that they are remembered and that their work to save people isn’t forgotten. it’s incredible what they did, especially given how young they were, and they deserve more recognition than what they’ve gotten.
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