Now this is not 911 so feel free to ignore it but. I would love hair braiding for any of Parker/Hardison/Eliot
this is an excellent prompt THANK U <33 here are some guys
Eliot doesnât ask for things. It isnât how he operates. He hasnât made it as long as he has in this business by needing other people to do things for himâself sufficiency is a requirement for his survival. So when Parker walks in to the kitchen as heâs struggling to pull his hair back, neither of them say anything.
On their last job, Eliot had dislocated his shoulder, an ill-advised shove landing him harder than heâd calculated. Heâs been in his line of work long enough now that he canât bounce back from an injury the way he used to, and he still doesnât have full range of motion on his left side. It hasnât been enough to keep him out of commission, but itâs been irritating. And now, he canât get his hair back out of his face. With Parker in front of him, he tries not to show his frustration. But with Parker in front of him, he doesnât have to. Sheâs picked up people-reading skills from Sophie, sure, but for better or for worse, Parker knows his specific tells better than almost anyone. She makes a disapproving noise as she slides over next to him, pulling a stool out from under the bar.
âYouâre making it worse,â she tells him.
âMy shoulder?â
She huffs a laugh. âYour hair!â
âDonât see how it could get worseân it is,â he grumbles.
âHow about if you dislocate your shoulder again and have to sit the next job out?â
Eliot growls low in his throat, and trusts that Parker will know its not really directed at her. She easily disregards him, pushing at his shoulder until he relents and drops onto the barstool.
âJust let me fix it, âkay?â
Eliot gives an affirmative grunt. Parker comes up behind him on the barstool and starts finger-combing his hair. She isnât particularly gentle, not the way one might expect. But in a way particular to Parker, she is gentle. When Eliot hisses a breath through his teeth, Parkerâs hands still and adjust until theyâre no longer pulling at a tangle. Eliot gives a contented sigh as Parkerâs nails scratch over his scalp, and she repeats the movement, sending sparks down his spine. Neither of them speak for long moments as her hands untangle his hair, attempting to fix the mess Eliot had made earlier. But theyâre talking all the same. Itâs been years since Eliot and Parker had to speak to communicate. Not since they recognized their shared alien natureâthe thing that makes them different from everyone else, but the same as each other. Their shared secret language that means Eliot understands Parkerâs movements as if she were his shadow. As she starts tugging his hair into strands, pulling them over and under each other, Eliot hears, take better care of yourself. He hopes that as the line of his shoulders relaxes, she hears him reply, thanks for having my back.
From Parkerâs methodical weaving of his hair Eliot discerns sheâs giving him a French braid. He lets himself lean further into her hands. He almost never opts to braid his own hair, but he appreciates the practicality of it. Likes that Parker knows he wonât be fixing his hair himself for a bit, and is giving him a hairstyle that stands a chance of lasting a few days, if heâs careful. Thereâs a soothing, soporific effect to having his partnerâs hands in his hair, and Eliotâs eyes have drifted shut by the time Parker ties off the braid.
âDonât mess that up,â she tells him, breaking the long quiet.
âThe braid?â
âYour shoulder,â she corrects. Her quick thiefâs hands slide lightly over the injury.
ââS long as youâll fix my hair when this unravels, I promise Iâll take it easy.â
I'm going to preface this with two things. One, this card quite literally fell into my lap while I was shuffling the deck. Two: you're a persona writer.
In all seriousness, if you've been having difficulty with a WIP lately, I'd suggest trying again - you might find a breakthrough with another attempt. Try talking your ideas through with someone! Sharing your ideas can help to amplify them.
okay so. "deeper than she seems" is exactly what the show pulled on usâin the beginning she was presented as just a damsel that Utena has to save, but as the series progresses we get to see more and more behind the role of Rose Bride that reveals her interior life, and then! At the end she's the one who has the power to shut Akio's sick little game down! By walking away!!!!!
"they work better as part of a dynamic" a large part of why Anthy is so fascinating to me is that. She is constantly put into roles by other peopleâshe's an empty vessel for which others project onto, whether as the 'prefect woman' as the Rose Bride, or the 'evil woman' as the Witch, and these roles are cyclical; her character doesn't make sense if you strip that context from herâso much of her is bound up in other people.
This doesn't mean she has no interior lifeâhell, the entire point of the series is that Utena finally sees her in the end, and that, despite having to survive by taking on the roles others have shoved her into, she is more than those roles, and she has the power to walk away. But so much of her had been shaped by how other people see her, and her character doesn't make sense if you just look at her without looking at how other people interact with her.
I also debated whether to put "they're done DIRTY by fans" but decided against it, bc that only applies to early Utena fandom imo (like, early 2000s when i watched it). Anthy isn't a "perfect victim" and she has a sadistic side, so some of the early discussions about her fall into the trap of either dismissing every petty/hurtful thing she's done OR making her out to be The Most Evil, which are both soooo far off the point imo. Nowadays I think discussions about her are a lot more nuanced, and people embrace that she's not a "perfect defenseless victim who's done no wrong" but she IS a victim and she does deserve support to break free from her abuser/the system that oppressed her. Complex female characters ftw!
thank you @youandthemountains for tagging me in this even though i Also feel like "writer" is too generous of a description for me đ. "five favorite fics" well. i have only posted 2 on ao3 even though I just counted 21 wips in my google docs but here they are!
for one to handle | M/M | T | 3,345 | M!Lavellan/Solas
working title: gay solavellan isn't real it can't hurt me
This was the first fic I'd posted in over 4 years, having orphaned or deleted all of my work from 2015-2017(?). Letting people read my writing again was terrifying but I got so much positive feedback (especially from @queerspacepunk) that it helped me get my confidence back as a writer. I had a great time working with Ty on it as well and I rlly do owe them my life for their help with the dialogue and their ability to give critical feedback in a way that wasn't discouraging.
Kiernan and Solas are so very dear to me and it was so exciting to have a completed fic with them that I could share with others. Some good old fashioned h/c and mutual pining as the set up for a fic that's mostly centered on how people talk about and cope with mental health and trauma in Thedas.
with april an ocean away | M/M | G | 1,828 | Adaar/The Iron Bull (/Dorian Pavus)
working title: ehsaan feeds his chickens
Writing about Ehsaan's specific struggles with mental illness has been harder for me than writing about Kiernan's because they're much different than mine, but I try to do a lot of research and the assistance I've gotten from people with OCD has been absolutely invaluable.
I rlly love this fic. It's much lighter in tone than for one to handle but thematically... at least kind of similar? I love Ehsaan, I love writing his pov because he is just. so tender hearted. and I love that when I write things with him, I'm able to indulge in a lot of nostalgia for the place I grew up. I am also learning that I just. love writing about people interacting with their pets.
ain't you handsome when you're high | M/M | E | â6,500 | Adaar/The Iron Bull (/Dorian Pavus)
working title: Let's Talk About Mental Health Part 3
This isn't ready to be posted but it is mostly finished and I'm including it because I'm Excited about it. More h/c, more chicken feeding, and more animals with silly names, but this time there's smut at the end.
Someday I will actually publish a fic where Dorian is present but for now you will just have to settle with Mr The Iron Bull talking about him while he gives Ehsaan a handy â¤ď¸
alright i'm tagging @queenaeducan @merrybandofmurderers
@candidateofloyalty @madelinestarr
@potatowitch @queerspacepunk @queerthedas mwah
there are people who follow me who are in college. i am speaking to you now. look at me. listen to me. use a citation manager. i am not even remotely fucking around. it has changed my life for the better. i use zotero and i love it. i am currently working on my thesis a bit and it's SO nice that i don't have to worry about formatting references
if you do not know what a citation manager is. you know how adding references/a bibliography to a paper is the worst? with a citation manager you can save the articles/webpages/etc that you use to the manager, and then the manager can insert pre-formatted citations into whatever you're working on, AND generate a bibliography from the citations. it absolutely kicks ass and also if you're doing intense research (like for example oh i don't know a master's thesis) it's really easy to just save articles that you think you might need later. in conclusion zotero my best friend i am kissing you on the digital mouth
Oh nice! âď¸ Could I get a reading about which of my writing projects I should work on next, please?
Seven of Pentacles, reversed.
procrastination, scattered effort, failure to fruit.
Something's taking a lot of your time and energy without bearing results. Maybe one of your ideas isn't turning out quite like you'd hoped? Instead of toughing it out through a project that's just not working, take a step back and refocus. Ask yourself what's worth your time and energy. Know when to stop fighting the tide, and try something else.
the absolute whiplash of seeing a post about men with body hair and then scrolling down and the next post was solas⌠that man is a ken doll. shaves his head to make it seem like the porpoise look is a choice
im redefining bisexuality to mean being attracted to Men With Rugs On Their Chests and Men Who Shave Their Legs
