#<- and I should really go back and tag all the drawings I've done for this fic appropriately

[keyblack]

As Anubis's gaze sought the duplicitous ghost, he found himself struck silent by the new presence in their midst. The woman was awake. No longer laid out in an unconscious heap, but sitting attentively, and pliantly midst the four men. Though clothed in strange attire, she was a vision the likes of which had not been seen by the four for centuries.

(X)

[scalpho]

4, 9, 24!! hope you're doing well btw :D

4: what's your favourite moment in game?

there are tons of small silly moments i like (stuff like when reko and joe explore together in chapter 1 and there's that bit of dialogue where they're either fighting over who gets to give gin a piggyback or joe is yelling in reko's ear) buuut if i must pick one... i really had to think about but i kept coming back to the end of the final attraction / chapter 2A so that's what i'm going with. i knowww that's a bit too broad (more of a part of the game than a singular moment but. anyway) but whether or not you push the reko doll, whether q-taro hits the button or not, whichever death occurs and ranger's death + gashu's entrance following it... the drama! the revelations! such a tense part of the game and the outcome is always a kind of loss. god. love love love

9: which character dynamic/friendship is your favourite?

it's hard for me not to say sara and keiji when you play the game as sara and spend far too much time around keiji, and it really is a fascinating dynamic tbh. the trust or lack thereof and the dependence and the way it directly impacts your experience as you play because it dictates that you see and feel things the way sara does. the absolute leap from suspicion to reliance, and the still unshakeable feeling that Something's Up, because why did keiji trust so much right off the bat? yeah . they're up there for me for sure. in a more general sense i'm a sucker for family (adjacent) dynamics so stuff like the yabusames and most of kai's relationships also hit hard for me

24 : in YTTS, which fondness events are your favourite?

ohhh it's so hard to choose... i'll take advantage of the plural here and list several - kai and reko's events are absolutely up there for me! the first two are so funny and always make me crack up, and the last one is a really lovely insight into kai. his events with nao and kanna are also favourites of mine since they're a really nice blend of funny and sweet while also exploring the characters (kai's dialogue in his nao events often forms the brunt of my thoughts on his character). as for mishima, i love his event w/ q-taro for similar reasons as to why i like kai and reko's - very funny AND god i love the stuff with q-taro and his parents and the orphanage... gah. mishima's event w/ kai is also great. and shout out to both keiji fondness events so far being so absurd they'll haunt me forever whether i like it or not

[reachartwork]

the process

a lot of people like to ask me about my process and how ai can be "creative" because they're under the impression that it's just kind of a big slot machine. you pull a lever and art uncontrollably comes out. well, let me show you my process

this is going to be a long thread tagged with #long post, blacklist that if you want to skip it.

so how it starts like most art is that i have an idea. in this case, earlier i made a post about witch-knights "surfing" on swords, so i'm going to try and make that - a witch-knight flying through the air atop one of her swords.

it starts with this picture.

i think this picture is dogshit so i discard basically all of it to try and find something closer to my original intent. there's a couple of uninteresting regenerations so it's clear i have to go back to the drawing board and teach the machine what it is i'm trying to do

let's start with a witch-knight on a broom. it's definitely not great but it gives us a better pose that i can work with.

i start by erasing the broom and replacing it with a skateboard - the machine understands skating better for what i need it to do.

there's a ton of small, subtle errors in this image and it overall looks like dogshit but the most important part right now is blocking and the overall pose structure - i need her "surfing" a large, lengthwise object, in the sky. i start by erasing pieces of the skateboard

now we have a sword, which is good. but the sword itself looks... bad. i'll spare you the abortive attempts at selective regeneration of the sword and just show you what happened when i rolled it back a couple of times from this pose and let it regen entirely.

again, tons of small little shitty errors, but this is something i can work with. i do another regen for a less shitty sword. her boob armor gets replaced with, like, generic scale mail.

this image has a great sword and decent pose but like... everything else is kind of futzy and i dont like it. instead of trying to pick and choose i just throw it back into the oven for a second. much better! but now she's going to cut herself on the sword, oh no!

again, i'll save you the agonizing thirty minutes of trying to get it to understand where the foot should go. unlike before i didn't really have a choice except to muscle through. there! now she's surfing safely :)

so it's done, right? well, i mean, i could post this. and it would probably do okay. but *i'm* not satisfied with it. there's stiffness. dozens of minor errors. the eyes look weird when you zoom in. let's start by fixing her hat, and then maybe her hands?

but she's missing fingers on her left hand so let's go ahead and fix that too. and i don't really like the tip of her sword and the ocean looks really flat and boring. so, VERY CAREFULLY, i have to etch out the parts of the sword and her body i have to keep, and also write an entirely new prompt to tell it "i want an ocean w/ rolling waves please :)"

this is better but not great. i try again - serendipitously, it makes this really cool variant with a shadow over the water, but i know working with that will take more wrangling so i'm considering it an evolutionary dead end and discarding it for now.

i proceed to spend 30 minutes trying to make the ocean look better but it's really not working imo. i'm gonna go back to the shadow version and see how that works

i'll spare you the other 8 minutes - i'm satisfied with the following picture. the sword isn't *perfectly* straight, her eyes aren't perfectly textured, the scale mail is... weird, in texture, but anything else would be greasing the wheel and i think beyond the machine's ability to do fine detail.

i've also attached the starting picture for comparison - it has better, "higher quality" clouds and ocean but i personally cared more about the pose and the sword surfing - the background is mostly tangential. could i get back ocean and clouds of that quality with another two hours of painstakingly cutting and re-generating bits of the background without destroying any of my existing work on the pose? probably. but i don't want to.

total time spent on this piece from start to finish was one hour and twenty one minutes. and now you know!

[fluffytriceratops]

I am DESPERATE for some 2k3 Donatello dating headcanons, literally give me anything PLEASE I AM OBSESSED

𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 - 𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨 [𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟑]

notes: i gotchu bestie. <3 lemme know if you guys want these for the other 2k3 turts as well! :D also sorry for taking literal ages to get this request done for you! thank you sm for requesting i hope you have a wonderful day/night! <3

warnings: brief nsfw mentions, mature language, 

tags: @thelaundrybitch @turtle-babe83 @leosgirl82 @rheawritesforfun @s-s-ironnie @post-apocalyptic-daydream @mysticboombox @drowninghell @lec743 @raphielover  @raphslovemuffin80 @squirrelfurs @bibiz82 @pheradream-15 @kikithedreamerwriter @m1dnyt3-w0lf @scholastic-dragon @moonsua1 [if i've forgotten anyone i'm so sorry please comment or dm me and let me know and i'll add you right away so i don't forget in the future!]

(if you would like to be tagged in my future tmnt x reader related work, feel free to let me know and i'll happily add you!)

i love you all sm! i'm sending all the virtual hugs and well wishes to you!! <33

---

- as usual, 2003 donnie has an obsession with coffee. so if you get this mans some coffee expect an INSTANT marriage proposal. [honestly what ver of donnie doesn't have a coffee addiction?] 

- likes to do your hair. it's calming to him and helps him think. hes watched a lot of youtube videos and stuff for it, so he knows what he's doing too. he likes to try new styles n stuff on you. everyone knows when he's particularily stressed or can't seem to figure something out because you seem to have a new hairsyle everyday until he's fixed whatever it is that's bugging him, 

- will also handmake beads and stuff to put in your hair. <3 

- makes jewelry for you, esp out of silverware and other things. it always turns out so beautifully. 

- late night drives. donnie has insomnia and his brain works a lot during the night/evening. so expect to hang out a lot with him during this time. driving at night at new york is super pretty and peaceful too. esp when it's just the two of you. [so long as you don't mind the hectic city hehe-]

- cuddling with him while he works. includes sleeping on him/in his lab when he works really late into the night. he'll later carry you to bed. 

- painting on his shell/body for funzies. and if he does the same to you don't expect it to look too great because 2k3 donnie can't draw for shit. 

- donnie will gift you homemade cards with stick figures on the cover cuz again he cant draw but he knows you'll adore it no matter what just because he made it. plus you think its funny as hell and he adores your laugh. 

- hes actually really good at photography. and he has loads of pictures of you. you two go out and take pictures together sometimes. it's always a lot of fun. and they always turn out great. 

- late night talking sessions are a normal for you. 

- donatello tries his best to get you to sleep at a decent time, but sometimes you'll refuse if he isn't coming to bed with you just to get him to go to sleep earlier. he'll probably lay with you for a while, unable to actually sleep. maybe he'll read or listen to music to help pass the time. sometimes he will also sneak back out of bed once you've fallen asleep, and when you catch him you give him a good talking to. 

- he really needs to take better care of himself. he's always putting those he cares for above himself. so you're always there to make sure he's okay and that he's doing what he needs to do to be happy and healthy. 

- you guys hardly ever fight. donnie isn't one to argue with you. he's a very gentle and kind soul. he rarely raises his voice. (but when he does you find it hot as FUCK- lets be honest--) 

- fix it felix. always fixes things for you, even if you dont ask it of him. if he's at your place and notices something needs to be fixed he'll just do it for you. even if you insist he doesn't have to, he will anyway because he loves you. it brings him joy. and honestly, you should just let him because it probably stresses him out a little thinking about how your door isn't closing properly or your car sounds funny or your light keeps flickering- 

- you like to prank him on occassion, this includes the whole "i filled my tank with the special gas-" or "i let them put premium air in my tires and they gave me a really good deal". it freaks and stresses him out, at least in the moment hehe. its very funny but keep in mind he'll get you back. 

- him reading to you sfghfdgkjhdfg (id die please-) esp if you have trouble sleeping or something. 

- coffee dates are a must. even if you dont drink coffee. 

- donnie napping curled up on your chest/on top of you. you tracing the grooves of his shell. you've learned he finds this very comforting and it helps him fall asleep. 

- hes a definite switch- lmao.

- very gentle and understanding. he's like your personal diary or therapist and you're the same for him. 

[lambouillet]

𓃔 Fiore - they/them - 18 - aro nb Lesbian 𓃔 I draw and I (hope) to make mods sometimes! I follow and interact from @fiomeras

🖍️ gallery - ✏️ Doodles

LAMBS OF GOD ( AU/Fangame Mockup/Worldbuilding )

NEVER WONDER ( "Deserter" Story )

📭Asks are always welcomed! I like to take my time crafting a response though so I may not respond as quick as others. Sorry!

⚠️ DISCLAIMER/BYF: unfortunately I cannot realistically tag all of my posts with trigger warnings but the ones that'll appear frequently are: blood, decapitation, gore, child death, animal death and nonsexual nudity; drawn or written, everything under the sun.

I have a very spiritual, folk catholic, faith healer background so I may come to talk about that at times! It's a main turning gear for all of my work that I hope to exemplify and sympathise.

Pr0sh1p/T3rfs DNI. And anyone neutral to it.

Extra FAQ under the read more ↓ Profile illustration by my friend MTSODIE

FAQ:

Asks & dms

📫 ASKBOX RULES

As mentioned above, all is welcomed, HOWEVER, I'd appreciate if you extend some of your courtesy to me and do not send me anything that's along the lines of being sexually charged. Suggestive jokes are fine, I am an adult! but that does not warrant that i'll be over the moon with descriptive asks about wanting to fuck my guys nasty. Alright? mind yourself.

Don't send me personal discourse. If you have a problem with another user It should be dealt with privately. In no way am I ever going to be in a position where I can give you an answer for this. Remember, I am just a random guy, on the web!

related but slightly unrelated, I will block people freely, whether you've done the above or not, that's just how I like to curate what I see and I do it very often. Please don't take it personally.

Otherwise, everything else is free reign (unless i say so) go nuts, insane even.

📨DMS

Anyone can dm! askbox rules still apply. Cant guarantee that I'll reply back if the conversation starts with just a "Hi" or "How are you" though. I'd really only prefer you message me if theres something to tell or I've done something to elicit you to do so.

ART RELATED

🎁Can I make Fanart/Fanfics of your au/ocs?

Yes! Ofcourse! Only thing I'll ask of you is for you to tag me in them so i can see it... These will always guarantee a smile on my face.

🎭can I use your art as a pfp/post it to Pinterest?

I'd rather you not use my art for anything unless you've had my permission or its art I made for you! Definitely don't post it around other places without my knowledge. I don't have any other active socials besides here and probably bluesky under Fiomeras ( that i ought to post more on, weh )

🎨🖌️Program and brushes

I use Clip studio paint for most of my art and Aseprite every once in a while.

my traditional brush info you can find on my main pinned.

Digitally I change what I use very sporadically so I cant really give you a proper concise answer but my frequent ones are:

Shockgrunge Marker and Pencil

Kasuy MK sploon

Tacodemuerte Mrsplotchy

Scribbly Dark

Jarijari

Bathylychnops Brushes

Intoxicate set

Thats all for now, will update when necessary! Muahhh

Curiousity rewards the brave! Take this ugly thing. As a gift

"Whats with the wording" i like doing bits

[runningfrom2am]

leveling the playing field XIV

summary: with nowhere else to go after getting caught cheating to help lucy gray, you both make some desperately stupid decisions.

pairing: coriolanus snow x fem!reader

wc: 2.2k

tags/warnings: capitol brat!reader, maybe slightly ooc coryo, idk i tried my best. do they love each other or hate each other? who knows (we do, kind of). implications and mentions of abuse, so read with caution!! also a little bit of swearing but that's neither here nor there. oh, and manipulation (both of them lowkey)

masterlists // nav // requests

a/n: omg so the next part has over 5k words and its not even close to being done?? should i post it all at once or break it up?? lmk your thoughts! also!! i think there's only two parts left omg... BUT do not fear bc i'm also writing another little thing for this and i feel like i'll keep doing that :)

series masterlist

You run back out to the stage, just as the Covey band's song is about to end. It was the last one, you thought, if their at home rehearsals were any indicator. You climb back up the side with an exaggerated stumble in your step, drawing the attention of Lucy Gray. She gave you a confused look, having expected that you and Coriolanus would be quite busy, especially after your song. She didn't expect you back on stage at all that night.

You smile and take the mic before she can say goodnight to the audience. "How about one more? I've had a second wind!" You say, looking to the band for their approval. Everyone besides Lucy Gray just giggles at you and nods.

"Alrighty, well, we'd really love to but our Sage here has clearly had a bit to drink and needs to get home." Lucy Gray tries to save it with a joke.

"Oh, come on, Lucy Gray. Live a little!" You laugh, playfully nudging her shoulder. "Who wants one more!" You call out which is returned with whistles and claps of encouragement.

"Alright, alright. Just one more, though." She agrees, smile returning to her face as he shakes her head.

The song ends and the band is packing up, and you can only hope that Coryo is long gone. The floor empties out, and you watch as Maude Ivory hops off the stage.

"Hey, Maude Ivory!" You call after her, hiding the sense of urgency in your voice. "Hey, can you help me clean up the floor before you grab a drink? I'll grab you your water." You offer, hurrying behind her to keep her from going to the back room. You didn't want her to see the bodies you assumed were still back there.

"Yes ma'am." She nods, giving you a quick salute.

"It's not a lot today, just a few bottles we can reuse." You smile at her as she skips out to start at the opposite edge of the room. "Lucy Gray, c'mere." You call to her as she closes up her old guitar case.

"You okay?" She asks, confused by your sudden sobriety.

"Come with me." You whisper, leading her into the back hallway in front of the door.

She follows, worry creased into her brow. Suddenly, she notes the red spots across the front of your dress which were almost invisible under the stage lights and among the red accents of the fabric.

"Something happened, okay? You can't let them come back here." You insist, referring to her family. "And you can't tell anyone."

"What?" She asks in a hushed tone, glancing past you toward the door. "Is it Coriolanus?"

Before you can explain, she's pushing past you and shoving the door open. You follow her quickly, reaching your arms around her to cover her mouth to keep any kind of reaction from being heard. You effectively muffle a cry of shock, and she's shoving you away and turning to face you. "That's- that's Billy Taupe, and, and Mayfair-"

"Shh-" You hush her quickly. "It was self-defense, okay? She was going to get us all killed. You included."

"I- no, I don't-" She tries to articulate her thoughts as her eyes fill with tears.

"I know, okay? It's less than ideal. Coryo is handling it. We just have to stay quiet." You promise. "Let's just grab everything and bring it all out, pretend you saw nothing. Maude Ivory and CC can't see this, do you understand?"

She nods, sniffling and looking between the bodies. "Hey, don't look at them." You remind her, gently turning her chin toward you. "They hurt you. Now you can move on, okay?"

"Okay." She whispers shakily, nodding again as you gather all the Covey's backstage supplies to bring out.

The next morning, you're awoken to a pounding on the front door of the small home, the four of you who shared a room all shooting up at once.

You scramble to get a peek out the window, spotting the grey shade of peacekeeper uniforms and cursing.

"Who- who is it?" Maude Ivory asks, scared as she looks between you and Lucy Gray.

"Peacekeepers. Lucy Gray, we have to go." You say quickly, closing the shade and grabbing your dress and Lucy Gray's arm.

"What? What's happening?" Barb Azure asks, rubbing her eyes.

"They're going to bust in if you don't open the door. Just tell them Lucy Gray isn't home. Don't mention me and if they ask, you don't know who I am. Do you understand?" You ask frantically and the girl nods fearfully.

As quickly as possible, you and Lucy Gray are flying out the back door and making a sprint for the trees behind the house.

"Any sign of the guns, or the girl? Mayor Lipp is sure she did it, or at least knows who did." A gruff voice of one of the peacekeepers has you and Lucy Gray both looking at each other, hands clutched over your mouths to keep quiet.

"None." His comrade replies, standing almost directly beneath you after they searched the yard. Clearly not very thoroughly, if they didn't see you and Lucy Gray sitting only about ten feet above their heads.

You cringe as he walks right over your garden, crushing the blooming raspberry bushes. "They arrested Plinth. Just got word, apparently, he was involved with rebels." The first man speaks again, and your eyes widen.

"Plinth? He's two beds down from me. Didn't expect that from him. He's a nice guy."

"No, I know. Anyway, he'll be executed this afternoon." You have to bite your lip to keep it from shaking under your hand, as if somehow that could give you away.

"Whatever, we'll come back later to get her." One of them says, making their way back through the house.

You hide in the branches and leaves until you're sure they're gone before carefully unsticking yourself from the ridged bark you were sitting on for far too long. You carefully climb down after Lucy Gray, making a quick effort to pull any stray sticks of leaves from your hair.

"What are we gonna do? They think I did it, I didn't do it, they'll kill me!" Lucy Gray panics, and you think about it while you quickly change into your dress.

"I think you have we have to run. Like you planned to do. We just have to follow through." You tell her, nodding to yourself.

Lucy Gray sighs, tipping her head back to look up at the sky. "I didn't even really want to go, I just wanted to get Billy Taupe off my ass."

"Well, he won't be there now." You say, looking her over. "How were they going to break that girl out?"

"Lil?" Lucy Gray asks, confused as she looks back at you. "I... I don't know, but it doesn't matter now, does it?"

"Did they have a plan? Did they write it down anywhere?" You ask again.

"Well, yes, but they didn't write it down. It was too risky."

"Tell it to me. Every detail you can remember." You urge her, trying to settle the panic rising behind your ribs.

Coriolanus had been out all morning with his team, looking for the weapon that killed the mayor's daughter and praying every moment that they wouldn't find it. After breaking down the doors of countless homes, he thought he would start to feel better. There was no way they would be caught, but he was regretting not taking the initiative to hide them himself. That way, he would at least know.

With his issued weapon in his hand, they were pacing down a desolate street. By now the whole district knew to lock themselves away, except for whoever he just saw in his peripheral vision through a narrow sidestreet. He turns his head fully, just catching the ends of their hair and the red in their short dress before they disappeared. He stops, quickly taking the turn into the side street and looking back to make sure no one had seen him depart from the group.

With the bag of tools thrown over your shoulder, you tried your very best to be quiet while walking through the city. Walking down a sidestreet, you found it was a challenge to be both fast and silent. At the sound of footsteps behind you, you hold the bag in your arms to prevent the tools from knocking together and step into a narrow doorway, back pressed to the wall.

You're breathing heavily, but keep it steady as the footsteps on the gravel of the road come to a stop. You hear them turn, presumably looking in both directions. You're in the middle of cursing yourself for being spotted when you hear a whistle. A calling one, baiting you to peek out from your hiding spot, but you don't budge. Another whistle. "Hey, Y/N? Is that you?" The whistle is followed by Coryo's voice whispering your name, and you're infinitely relieved.

You stepped out quietly, and you couldn't help but smile when you saw his familiar face. He meets you halfway, and you're quickly wrapping your arms around him. "Coryo..." You sigh, not ready to let go of him just yet.

"Hey, Y/N/N..." He whispers back, kissing your head. "Are you okay? What are you doing out? You need to get home."

"I can't." You shake your head, finally dropping your arms from around him. "Did you hear Sejanus got arrested this morning? He's going to be executed."

Coryo is in shock, jaw going slack as he tries to decide what to say. It must have been his recording, because there was nothing linking him to the murders.

"I'm going to break him out. Like they planned to do for that other girl."

Instantly at your statement, he shakes his head. "Absolutely not. You'll be caught and you'll be next. There's a poster of you in the head peacekeeper's office. I've seen it. They're looking for you here, it's too risky."

"I'm not going to let Sejanus die over something he didn't even do." You whisper, voice picking up in anger as you glare up at him.

"You can't, Y/N. I get why you'd want to, but it's not worth it." He insists.

"They won't catch us. I'm getting him out and we're running, just like they planned to do anyway."

Coryo scans your face for any sign at all that you may be kidding, but he finds none. "Don't. Don't go. I wanted to tell you this last night, but they're relocating me to Two. You can come with me. I'll get us both out of here."

"Closer to home?" You ask, a hint of hopefulness flitting in your eyes before it's quickly replaced with sadness. "Wait, no. No, they'll ship me back home, and then what? I'll be killed anyway, or worse." You sigh, shaking your head as you look down. This is probably about to turn into a goodbye you never wanted to say.

The idea of leaving him behind was breaking your heart, but would you really be leaving him? You knew what would happen to him. He'd go to Two, rise quickly in the ranks, and be elected president by the time he turned twenty-five. He would be okay, but would you be without him? You couldn't stomach the idea of taking such a bright future from him just because you had nothing left. "I have to go with them, Coryo. It's my only choice."

He can already see that there is no shot you'll be happy out there. You probably wouldn't last the week, either. He nods a little bit, taking your hand. "I'll come with you." He nods again, deciding it for himself. Coriolanus Snow is not about to say goodbye to the love of his life for the last time as someone she was pretending to be but never truly was, nothing more than a rebel from District Twelve.

"No, your relocation, it's your ticket home. You have to take it." You reply.

"It doesn't matter. If they find the gun, I'll be killed either way. Here, in Two, or back home. I can't escape it, same as you." He promises. "There's nothing for me there anyway. Not without you." Coryo says, rubbing his thumb gently over the side of your neck, warming the chilled skin there.

How could you say no? "Okay." You whisper, nodding slightly as your cheeks flush pink. "Can you leave tonight?"

"Uh, I, no." He shakes his head. "Earliest I can get away is sunrise."

"Shit... okay." You hum, looking around as if that will help you think. Undistracted from his all-consuming blue eyes looking into yours. "We can try and wait, then meet us at the hanging tree at dawn. If we're not there, hike to the cabin. We'll wait there if we can't hide here overnight."

He nods in confirmation, looking quickly over his shoulder as you both hear cheers and whoops of excitement making their way down the street toward you. "Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." He agrees.

"See you tomorrow." You give him a small smile, turning to continue on your way when he grabs your wrist. He's quick to pull you back to him, colliding his lips with yours. He always kisses like he's starving. God, you wouldn't be able to live without that.

"Be careful, Y/N/N." He warns as he pulls away. "Stay safe."

"Yes sir, mister president." You grin, kissing him again quickly before walking away. You turn as you walk backward to face him, giving him a salute.

Coryo smiles to himself smugly, nodding at you before rushing to rejoin the other peacekeepers in his squad as they drag Spruce back toward the compound.

taglist: @totallynotkaibiased , @stelleduarte , @klplynn , @secretsicanthideanymore , @bejeweledreverie , @gloryekaterina , @andrewgarfieldsbitch , @queenofspades6 , @pepperonipastas , @ladybug0095 , @lunamothwrites , @sbrewer21 , @mus-tbe-a-weasley , @splxtscreen , @unclecrunkle , @karmaswitch , @coconut-dreamz , @nekee-lilac02 , @ooooglymoooogly , @riddlerloveb0t , @lovedbalances , @notyourwildestdream , @snowlandson-top , @too-lit-for-fanfic , @utopiakys , @deafeningballoonnacho , @roosterschanelslut , @chmpgneprblem , @cosmoetik , , @urvampgfsworld , @carolanns-world@nan-nie , @shakespearseclipse , @iovemoonyy , @notyoursweetheart-honey ,  @xyzstar , @eatpizzasass, @slytherinholland , @queenofshinigamis , @elodiebeau , @soulessjourney

[sixhours]

i know you by heart - chapter 1

Series Chapter Index | Read on AO3 | Complete

Rating: Explicit, 18+, here be smut Series tags: The Last of Us, The Last of Us (HBO), Prospect, Joel Miller x Ezra, Joel & Ellie, Ezra & Cee, Joel is bad at feelings and relationships, Ellie is a little shit (affectionate), mostly follows canon after season 1, SMUT, gay sex, bisexual!Joel, period-typical homophobia, light angst, romance, age gap (~10ish years), I've probably forgotten some so please let me know <3

“Tell me again how it happened.”

It’s a standoff in the kitchen. Ellie’s face, flushed and furious, twists in a pout. Joel grips the back of a dining chair with one tight fist.

One week. It’s been one fucking week since school started, and Ellie has already come home with the pink slip of all pink slips.

“She tried to take my pen. Twice.”

“And?”

“So I…I took my knife out…”

“Uh-huh.”

 “...and I stabbed it into her desk…”

Joel winces.

“...and I told her if she tried that shit again I’d do the same to her fucking finger.”

“Ellie–”

“It’s not my fucking fault no one taught her to keep her hands to herself!”

“I know, and she–she shouldn’t have done that, Ellie, but you can’t just–”

“It’s not like I actually stabbed someone, Joel!”

“Doesn’t fuckin’ matter, kid. You can’t–you can’t do that shit here. This ain’t FEDRA. There’s no hole. Keep it up and they’re liable to put us outside the damn wall.”

“Tommy wouldn’t–“

“He doesn’t run this place. An’ Maria’s already on my ass about…everythin’.”

“Maybe we should leave, then,” she huffs.

“You don’t mean that.”

“We made out okay. We could do it again.”

“Ellie,” his voice softens. He draws his palms down his face. The start of a headache pulses behind his eyes. “Look, I know it’s…different. But we’re here now. We gotta make do.”

Four months in Jackson. Four months since he shot his way out of a hospital in Salt Lake City and carried the unconscious girl to safety. Four months since she asked for the truth and he told her the whopper of all lies instead.

When he thinks about it that way, things are going about as well as he has any right to expect.

He’d hoped going to school would give her some structure, that she’d make a few friends, but so far, every morning has been a trudge, every night a standoff. When she’s not clinging to his side like a lost lamb or waking from nightmares to crawl into his bed, she’s hurling sharp words and slamming doors and stomping around.

Months on the road together, but he’s never seen her so goddamn bratty.

He’s taking a lot of deep breaths. He’s counting to ten. He’s trying not to see the judgmental frowns from his sister-in-law when Ellie storms out of a family gathering or calls him an asshole at the caf in front of the whole fuckin’ town.

She’s never had the space to act out, he reminds himself. She’s never been fed enough, warm enough, safe enough, loved enough, and he gets the brunt of her anger. The way Sarah would come home after a long day at school and turn into a grouchy wildebeest for him after being an angel for her teachers.

It’s normal, he tells himself on the worst nights. Ellie’s making up for fourteen years of repression.

But he’s tired and she’s strumming his last nerve like it’s a fuckin’ guitar.

She’s holding out another note, this one hand-written and co-signed by members of the council. He notes Maria’s signature at the top with some disdain.

“Counseling,” Joel sighs, skimming it. “Mandated. Twelve weeks.”

“You’re not really gonna make me go, are you? C’mon, man, it’s a death sentence!”

“Hardly. You’re lucky they didn’t suspend you.”

“I wish they had. Then I wouldn’t have to go to that stupid fucking school.”

“Ellie–”

“I hate it here,” she spits out. Her lower lip trembles and he has to look away, eking out a tight breath.

“Yeah, kid. I know. But you gotta give it a chance.”

“I did, and it sucks.”

“You’re not giv–”

“Going to my room,” she huffs, already moving for the stairs. 

“You need to eat first,” he says, gritting his teeth when she rolls her eyes. “And you’re grounded.”

Those words have never come out of his mouth. He doesn’t even know what being grounded looks like in this day and age.

“What?! Joel–”

“You heard me,” he says, making it up as he goes. “Two weeks. You’re back here every night after your assignments. No wanderin’ around with your friends.”

“Lucky for me I don’t have any fucking friends.”

“That ain’t–“

“This is bullshit,” she seethes, then turns on her heel and stomps up the stairs.

“Damnit, Ellie, you need to eat–”

“I’m not hungry!”

The door at the top of the stairs slams shut, ending the conversation and leaving Joel to collapse into a chair with his face in his hands.

“Yeah,” he mutters to himself. “Yeah, this is bullshit.”

One week later she’s sulking over breakfast at the house.

“The guy wants to talk to you,” she says through a mouthful of eggs.

“‘The guy’? And close your mouth when you chew.”

Ellie wrinkles her nose, opening her mouth wide to show him her half-chewed breakfast, a move that’s painfully reminiscent of a different time, a different kid.

“I told you at dinner. The counselor guy.”

He frowns. “It’s a guy?”

She rolls her eyes. “And women can even be doctors! Dude, you are so old .”

“S’not what I meant, smartass,” he mutters. “I just…I know you’ve had some, uh…issues with…guys.”

Since Silver Lake , he doesn’t say.

“Only the creepy ones,” she says, stabbing a piece of potato. “Ezra’s not creepy. He’s, like, cool. He has a huge record collection.”

“Uh-huh. An’ he needs to see me why?”

“I don’t fucking know, dude. Unlike you, I didn’t give him the third degree.”

He bites his tongue. “Alright. When?”

“Before school. Today.”

Joel looks at the clock, then back at Ellie. 7:50 .

“So we need to go…right now,” he mutters, draining his coffee and gathering his dishes to put them in the sink. “Thanks for the notice.”

“I told you last night! Not my fault you’re deaf.”

Admittedly, she’d talked a lot at dinner last night. Mostly about how some kid named Dina was a jerk who deserved to have her finger taken off for being a ‘fucking klepto’ with her pen. But he’d been so tired and the headache behind his eyes won’t give him a rest.

“Alright, let’s go,” he sighs. “Don’t forget your bag.”

They step out into the streets of Jackson on a mild September morning. It’s the rush hour–if a town of a few hundred can be said to have a rush hour–with shift changes on the wall and everyone off to their assigned duties. They pass familiar faces; neighbors Joel still doesn’t have names for, kids he recognizes from Ellie’s school who give them a wide berth. Joel hunches inward, following the maroon cast of her sweatshirt through clusters of Jackson residents.

“You don’t have a brother, do you?” she says out of the blue.

“You know I do,” he frowns.

“No duh. But you don’t have another brother, right?”

“Not that I’m aware of, kid.”

“Like, what if your dad had a secret family–”

“Christ, where do you come up with this stuff?”

“C’mon, it can happen! I just–I wondered–”

“What the heck are you gettin' at, kid? Spit it out.”

“It’s nothin’,” she says, but there’s a weird little smile on her face. “You’ll see.” 

She leads him to the little house at the other end of town and knocks on the blue door. Ellie keeps looking up at him with the same funny smirk.

A dark-eyed man answers, peering through the screen. Dark, fitted T-shirt, slim black jeans. Younger than Joel by at least ten years, probably more, with a wide smile and messy black-brown curls with an odd streak of white at his temple.

He looks like a fuckin’ punk.

“Hi, Ezra,” Ellie says breezily. “This is Joel.”

“Hello, young prodigy,” he smiles, drawling in a southern accent that Joel can’t quite place. “Come in, come in both of you…join me in my humble abode.”

He leads them inside and to the right, to a little den just off the entry. It’s a snug office with a couch and chair, a coffee table in the center, and bookshelves lining the walls on either side. A record player sits on a podium in one corner.

Joel puts out his hand, realizing too late the other man isn’t able to reciprocate, lacking an arm with which to do so. Ellie watches with a smug smirk, lips twitching a little as Joel drops his right hand and fumbles through a handshake with his left. He shoots her a glare.

Couldn’t have mentioned that?

She shrugs, feigning a wide-eyed innocence, then looks between the two men with a kind of manic glee, as if waiting for something.

“...what?” Joel finally asks.

“You don’t see it?” She gestures to the other man.

“I don’t–”

“Jeez, I know you’re deaf but I didn’t think you were blind, too,” she groans. “He looks like you! If you weren’t, like, ancient.”

Joel’s face flushes as Ezra tries to hide a smile behind his hand.

“Enough of that, you little shi–smartypants,” Joel mutters.

“I suspect your young prodigy here gets the sense we might be of blood relation based on a similar, uh, distinguished profile.”

“That’s not, uh…that’s not possible, kid.”

“I agree,” Ezra says smoothly. “The universe is rife with serendipitous occurrences, and I do believe that’s what we have here. The mind is a funny thing. We see what we want to see, Ellie.”

“Seriously?!”

“Your dad here–”

“He’s not my dad,” Ellie corrects automatically. Joel can’t help but feel a pang of indignation at the speed with which she pipes up.

“My apologies,” Ezra murmurs. “I stand corrected. This is your…?”

“He’s just Joel.”

“Of course, gem. Just Joel,” Ezra smiles in his direction. “So I asked your Joel here to ensure you understood what we’re doing. As your guardian, Joel needs to be an integral part of this process.”

“Yeah, ‘bout that–what exactly are we doin’ again?” Joel asks.

“I suspect your young prodigy here is finding the adjustment to life in Jackson a bit…finicky. I’m here to help ease that transition in whatever way I can.”

“You can start by telling the other kids to stop fucking touching my stuff,” Ellie adds.

“Christ, Ellie–”

Ezra holds up his hand, cutting off Joel’s growl and addressing the girl. “Let’s not get weighted down by the minutiae of the situation we find ourselves in, gem. Suffice it to say, we have some work to do, and we need to do it cooperatively.”

Ellie crosses her arms and huffs, but Ezra’s easy manner seems to soothe something in the girl.

“Now that you’ve delivered your…Joel…to me, he and I are going to have a little tête-à-tête . Nothing damning, just the facts. And you, if I’m not mistaken, will be late to school.”

He leans down to scribble something on a notepad, then hands it to Ellie. “Give this to your teacher.”

“You go straight to school an’ home after chores,” Joel adds, watching the late slip disappear into the pocket of Ellie’s jeans. “You’re still grounded, ‘member?”

“Like you’d let me forget,” she mutters, trudging out the door, leaving it cracked slightly.

They hear the front door open and shut, but Ezra holds up one finger, watching the entry with sly eyes.

Wait.

Joel catches his drift.

“Ellie,” he says.

“Aw, c’mon, man,” she grumbles from the entry. “If you’re gonna talk about me, I should get to hear it.”

“We’re not going to talk about you, gem,” Ezra says. “But this is a private conversation between your esteemed guardian and myself. Please give us your discretion and make haste.”

“Ugh, fine.”

Ezra goes to the office door and gently shuts it. Suddenly closed in the small room with a stranger, Joel feels a familiar but unwelcome prickle of fear take root. It’s the same feeling that has him sleeping with a gun under his mattress and locking his door at night, despite Tommy’s assurances that Jackson is safe as houses.

Without thinking, he reaches for his holster–the holster that isn’t there, because he doesn’t wear it unless he’s on patrol, because Jackson is a community and not the fucking QZ. It’s a subtle tic, but Ezra notices.

“We can open it if you’d prefer to partake of the fresh air.”

Joel swallows his fear with a dollop of shame. “S’fine.”

Ezra nods. “Have a seat if you like.”

He takes the chair across the small room, considering Joel through thick lashes. His face is kind, but something about the man’s gaze leaves Joel uneasy, like a bug under a magnifying glass. There’s a warm, simmering coil of tension in his gut that he can’t place.

Indigestion , Joel decides. Too much coffee.

He settles on the couch, old cushions and springs protesting, then leans forward on his knees, glancing around.

“You, uh…you like music?” he says, gesturing to the shelves of vinyl just behind Ezra.

“I do,” he says. “I was fortunate to find this sizable collection in the attic upon being assigned a house. I’ve added to it as I find new treasures to trade. And you?”

“Huh?”

“Do you enjoy music, Joel?”

“Uh, sure, yeah,” he says, rubbing at his lips self-consciously. “Play a little here and there. Guitar.”

Ezra’s face lights up. “Ah! A musician!”

“Hardly.”

“Speaking as one who can’t carry a tune in a bucket, color me impressed.”

The office window is wide open, a cool autumn breeze floating through and rifling the other man’s already unruly hair, but a deep heat has settled at the base of Joel’s neck and the room suddenly feels like a hot summer’s day.

He clears his throat. “So, uh…Ellie says you’re a counselor?”

“Indeed.”

“An’ you have, uh, qualifications? Somethin’ that says you’re the man for the job?”

Ezra grins at this. “I know I don’t look the part of the sage, and I can appreciate your frank concern. I do have some experience in this area, surprising as that may be. Before the outbreak, I was a Master’s student in clinical psychology. Although I didn’t get much opportunity to practice for reasons that should be quite obvious.”

“Right.”

“The fine folks of Jackson have been kind enough to give me a place and a profession that suits my abilities. I’m not much use drawing a plow or riding a horse, I’m afraid,” Ezra continues, nodding to his right shoulder.

“But before we proceed, I should like to understand your expectations and to set a few of my own. For one, I’m not here to play Freud. And I’m hardly qualified to make a diagnosis of any sort,” he continues. “A diagnosis isn’t worth a damn in this day and age, and I suspect you’d agree.”

Joel bites his lip. “Look, uh, I’ll be honest. Last time I set foot in a place like this, it did jack shit and ended in a divorce. So you’ll forgive me if I ain’t entirely comfortable with my…with Ellie…comin’ in here and talkin’ your ear off.”

“Trust that you are not the first to express concern or have a, let’s say, downright suspicious quality about this particular practice. But I hope you’ll humor me when I say that I, like you, only want what is best for Ellie. She’s a bright girl, that one. Very perceptive.”

Joel huffs softly. “Too damn smart for her own good sometimes.”

This elicits a tiny smile, leaving Joel worried he’s spoken too harshly.

“But she’s a good kid,” he adds quickly. “A really…good kid.”

Ezra nods. “I hope you don’t mind my saying so, but I think she could benefit from the ear of a friend. As I said, she’s bright. I wanted to try to get a clearer picture of her through your eyes. Your family dynamic, if you will. I take it there’s no Mrs. Joel? Or…Mr. Joel?”

Joel snorts. “Just me an’ her.”

“And she’s adopted?”

“Somethin’ like that,” Joel murmurs, scratching his chin. “We, uh…I had a job to move her out here. From Boston. Was supposed to find, uh…her relatives…but that didn’t work out and my brother, Tommy, gave us a place here.”

Ezra nods but doesn’t say anything further. He sprawls in the chair, legs spread, almost slouched, one forearm draped over the side. Relaxed but intent, eyebrows drawn together with an unspoken question. Joel swallows, finding his mouth suddenly dry.

“You, uh, need to write this down or anythin’?” Joel coughs, gesturing to the notepad on the coffee table in front of them.

Ezra shakes his head, smiling slightly. “No…no, we’re just having a conversation. No need to put it on the record for now. So…Boston to Jackson. That must have been quite the excursion.”

“You could say that.”

“I expect it wasn’t exactly uneventful?”

“No,” Joel says, almost too quickly. “No, it was, uh…she went through a lot. Stuff no kid should have to see…to do. You’ll have to ask her about it, though. S’not my place to talk for her.”

“I intend to do that,” Ezra nods. “I look forward to getting to know her over the next twelve weeks. And hopefully beyond, if she’ll give me the chance.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Joel mutters. “She’s a bit…gunshy. Especially around, uh, men. Even Tommy…she can’t be alone with him, an’ he’s about as tame as they come.”

“But she feels safe with you?”

“Think so. I mean, I’m all she had for months…out there,” he shrugs. “But that went both ways. We’re prob’ly what you shrinks call, uh…codependent.”

Ezra nods, voice softening. “A little codependency can mean the difference between life or death in a difficult time. And I imagine it’s been an adjustment…all this. I know we–I–found it difficult at first. Even the thickest of walls aren’t enough if we don’t feel truly safe in the heart and mind.”

Joel bites his lip. “Yeah…yeah. It’s different.”

“And how about you, Joel?”

“How ‘bout me what?”

“You’ve been through a similar ordeal, I presume, traveling together. And now you find yourself the unexpected father figure to a dynamic and spirited young lady–”

Joel bites back a scoff. “This ain’t about me.”

Ezra shrugs. “I don’t mean to pry, and you’re free to pass on anything you don’t feel comfortable answering, of course. I’m just trying to build a picture in the interest of aiding my work with Ellie.”

The temptation to pass is strong, but that heat in his gut is still there, a distraction loosening his tongue. 

“Yeah, I guess it’s, uh…it’s been a lot. For both of us, but mostly her,” he says, rubbing at the back of his neck. “She’s not used to havin’ someone in her corner. She’s…she was an orphan…before.”

He sighs, allowing himself to sink back into the couch cushions, shoulders loosening a fraction.

“I told her not to bring that damn knife to school in the first place,” he says, glancing down at his broken watch. “But she needed it when we were on the road. She’s prob’ly needed it all her damn life. Seems wrong to ask her to give that up when we’ve only been here a few months. Not that she’s s’posed to be waving it around at folks, or…y’know.”

“Mmm,” he says. “Well, I don’t intend to lay blame here. Raising a child…alone…comes with its fair share of hardships and trials. Regardless, it’s a noble endeavor, to take one into your care.”

He snorts. “Think she’s done more to take care of me than the other way around.”

“If I may be so bold…I suspect you’re not giving yourself enough credit.”

“I’m sure she’ll tell you,” Joel says drily. “Kid’s not one to hold back.”

Ezra grins. “I sensed as much.”

He stands, offering his hand, and Joel takes it. The man’s grip is firm and warm and the memory of his touch lingers on Joel’s skin long after he’s left. That warm flare in his gut throbs, a not-unpleasant heat licking gently at the base of his spine, and he finally places it.

It’s been so damn long since he’s felt that particular burn, being on the road for months, never safe, never alone given Ellie’s constant companionship. There was probably a time or two in his early days with Tess when he found himself surprised by desire, but it was easily smothered, tamed, wrested into submission.

That night, Joel tosses and turns and finally gives into the low-level arousal that’s plagued him all damn day, palming himself roughly through his sweats until he’s fully hard.

He imagines Ezra’s eyes on him, watching, remembers the feel of the man’s skin against his palm. He bites back a groan of pleasure when he eases his waistband over his cock and takes himself out, allowing his grip to tighten and find a familiar, easy rhythm. He can’t get the younger man’s voice out of his head, that low, rumbling baritone, so oddly soothing.

He presses his face into the pillow to muffle the sound when he comes.

[chocodajib]

i dreamt of anemones

what was your expression?

lawlight week 2024 day 3: nightmares

inspo and thoughts under cut!

hello can you tell i've been rewatching madoka lolll

inspo!

i've been really into @ tothepointofinsanity 's art recently! it might be a bit to obvious hahah

with regard to the 'melting' effect, i was inspired by haruno's deep coma album art!

@ 19701125s on twitter! i didn't really end up doing too much similar to them, but i just really love the way they draw eyeballs or eyeball-like things

@ Veron_1411 on twitter as well! i wanted to take a lot more inspiration from their colours originally but uh. it was hard. so we will go back to blue and red

as aforementioned: madoka music has very much fueled this whole thing

i'm not totally happy with it since the whole composition is really unbalanced :/ but it was fun to just doodle a bit!

breakdown of the motifs and whatnot (i haven't done literature in so long....):

it's meant to be from light's pov! perhaps he is having a nightmare :)

many (L) eyeballs, mainly of when he's dying

the left side's wiggly 'column' of eyes going from open -> shut is L doing the dying thing; similarly, there's L's spoon that i liquified to death

tried to eyeball-fy the flowers and leaves too!

anemone

originally i was planning to have a heavier flower motif but then it was hard so. we just a little bit. as a treat. the floriography of anemone is usually pretty bittersweet (from wikipedia: Forsaken, sickness, brevity, withered hopes; anticipation), most of the time i just think of that one love live song tho

the colouring of the background, giant eyeball is loosely based on a red anemone flower (red white black). originally it was gonna be a moon cus like. light yagami's name. i didn't know how to make it look good tho

the flowers are in the corners of the boarders too

melting, rain ft. hands

uhh water goes dribble -> being washed away

L's pose is obviously a reference to The Rain Scene, but i struggled to do his cupping ear arm, since it kept unbalancing it even more. now it's just a hand lazily mozaic-ed. red since a) needed contrast, b) blood colour go drip drip, and c) wanted to like a. hands of gods thing. do you see the vision. (you can't because itis mosaic-ed)

(lazily drawn) chains are in there trust

wrote ryzaki, hideki ryuuga, l lawiet on the sides! mainly for aesthetic balance

light has really. violent ? english handwriting. i tried to imitate it

if you have read all of this tysm for joining me in my brain!!!!!!

p.s. not sure if i should tag a tw? and if so what tw? please lmk if i do need to!

[aurumacadicus]

I tagged this and the other post with 'minotaur steve' so you guys can find them together lol.

--

"So, there's this prophecy," Tony begins, rolling his ball of twine up as he walks away from the hidden labyrinth entrance. "I don't remember it exactly because I was too busy killing a guy trying to chop down one of my heart woods, but the gist is something like 'The bull-headed son of the Rogers clan is the only one who can save the Stark Forest.' So let's get going and--hey? Are you listening to me?!" He turns, scowling because the Rogers minotaur hasn't followed him.

His rant dies on his tongue the moment he sees the minotaur. The man's ovine head is tipped up, eyes closed, nose to the sun. Tony can see his nostrils flare as he sucks in deep lungfuls of air. He looks... somehow smaller, his curved, sharp horns no longer scraping the stone ceilings. The wind ruffles through his golden brown fur. He looks at peace. Tony suddenly remembers that all the minotaurs are kept locked in the labyrinth. They never get to see the sky.

He reminds himself that only this one has any modicum of intelligence suited for the outside world. The other minotaurs had proved that by grabbing for him when they saw him searching their halls, hungry and boorish. He's still not sure whether they hungered for food or for want of a cow, and he doesn't wish to know, either. Still, he wishes he could have rescued this one under better circumstances, even though he knows he simply wouldn't have left his forest unless he had to.

"...What should I call you?" he finally asks, more gently than he means to.

The minotaur reluctantly draws his head down, eyes fluttering open so human and blue that it makes Tony's breath catch in his chest. "...My," he begins, slow, as if not used to making human syllables. "Ma. She called me... Steve."

"Steve," Tony repeats quietly. He holds out his hand. "I'm sorry, Steve. The humans we meet will not be kind to you. You'll have to stick with me."

"No one has been kind to me but Ma," Steve says, and his fingers rub over the circled star scarred onto his hip before he reaches out to take Tony's hand.

Tony swallows thickly. Steve's hand dwarfs his, and he can see the muscles in it twitching, careful not to crush his own with his grip. He's scary, part of him acknowledges. Steve is at least seven feet tall not including the horns, maybe taller. Tony's bad with heights if there are no trees nearby. He's built like the stone walls they'd walked through in the labyrinth, wide and sturdy, muscles visible through his fur and skin. He'd watched Steve's hooves shatter the brick as he'd warned away another minotaur as they passed through its territory to leave.

But Steve has gentle eyes, and he's so careful where he's holding Tony's hand. He must have gotten practice, holding his mother and protecting her from the other minotaurs wandering the labyrinth. She had obviously instilled in him a gentleness that the other beasts had never known.

"Once I've done what the gods say needs doing... must I go back?" Steve asks, eyes sad.

Tony doesn't remember that part of the prophecy either, but he knows, suddenly and with certainty, that he'd burn his own forest temples to the gods down before he'd force Steve to go back into the labyrinth. "No. You can stay with me. I'll protect you from anyone who says you need to go back."

Steve smiles, and something about him softens further. "Lead the way."

Tony turns, mind already racing with routes to take that would keep Steve safest. Humans always want to take on monsters for glory. Steve might be the only one who can save his forest, but they need to make it back there in one piece. He still needs to take them to the tiny isle of Brookslynne to retrieve the Rogers weapon, so it will be a long journey. He doesn't want to travel at night, but maybe--

"...About your payment for my help," Steve says slowly, reluctantly. "You don't... look like you have the right parts."

"The gods don't really care about a person's parts when it comes to a bargain," Tony mutters. If Steve's only seen male minotaurs and human women, he's not going to give him the birds and the bees talk.

"The gods don't really care about a person in general," Steve agrees darkly, and Tony bites back the questions he has about how it must have been like to grow up in the labyrinth, seemingly the only truly intelligent one of his kind. It's none of his business, anyway. He just needs Steve to save his forest.

[azalawa-scroggs]

On why I think the "Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth Chooses Death" note was meant literally

I've had this in my drafts for a while after seeing a poll that elicited a little discussion on the topic. I know this is the fandom's majority take on the subject so I'll probably be preaching to the choir, but there (rightly) is discussion about it nonetheless so I felt like giving my arguments.

I'll put it under a read-more just in case people missed the warning in the tags. Considering the topic, naturally, here's a warning for discussion of suicide. Please take care of yourself!

The thing is that Justice For All is very, very ambiguous on that. It does what Ace Attorney is really good at doing - brushing a serious topic then waffling on it until it really doesn't say anything about it, giving itself the benefit of doubt but never making a statement. Both Phoenix and Franziska's dialogue strongly hint that they have a certainty that Edgeworth is still alive, and they're proven right. The narrative doesn't try really hard to sell us the idea that Edgeworth died - Edgeworth is even on the game's box art. I've watched a few JFA walkthroughs hunting for people's reaction to all the Edgeworth talk and his apparent death, and nobody really seems to buy it - either going through great confusion or immediately going like "oh he can't be dead there's no way - he's so coming back."

However. However. It's just impossible to ignore all the subtext that points at the note being real.

The game textually sets up Adrian Andrews as a foil to Franziska. In the parallel Edgeworth draws, Celeste is supposed to represent Manfred - a mentor she admired and whose guidance she lost. But it was a deliberate choice from the writers to have Celeste die by suicide. In the same game that spent a whole game-wide subplot on slowly revealing Edgeworth's apparent death by the exact same means. Edgeworth is the one who gives Phoenix the information about Adrian and Celeste's backstory. And Franziska revealed to us she wasn't seeking revenge for her father, but for her "little brother" - in the parallel between her and Adrian Andrews' stories, it's easy to see Celeste paralleling Edgeworth, not Manfred.

And in fact Adrian is also a clear parallel to Edgeworth himself. He, too, lost the guidance of his mentor and was left questioning everything. In the infamous scene where he interrogates her in the first phase of the trial, he even puts his own words in her mouth.

If you're going to say you would "choose death", that is of no concern to me.

If you consider Rise from the Ashes, Edgeworth's dialogue leaves even less room for doubt regarding his mental state. Compilation:

Edgeworth: Hmph. Some people need very little excuse to think ill of others. It's a fact of life. Impossible to stop. Some of them even go so far as to present me with toys like this… They think it's funny. (Referring to the award he was just given)

Edgeworth: Why, I ask you? Why!? All along, I've done only what I believe is right. I have nothing to be ashamed of! But still... Phoenix: (Wow, I've never seen him this out of sorts...)

Edgeworth: Hmph. I've had to live the past two years with rumors flying around. What's another allegation to me? Ema: Cheer up, Mr. Edgeworth! I'm rooting for you! Phoenix: (That's Edgeworth for you... Always trying to hide his real feelings.)

Edgeworth: There's no excuse for what I've done. Two years ago, I used false evidence to obtain a guilty verdict. That's what it all breaks down to, and nothing I do can erase that fact.

Edgeworth: I'm tired, Mr. Wright. I feel as if… something inside me has died. [...] I know the path I've walked. You don't need to tell me. And the path I've walked... hasn't been a just one. I can't forgive myself for what I've done... and no one else should forgive me either. Phoenix: (Uh oh. I think he's serious!)

Edgeworth: ... It's too late for me. No matter what anyone may say, I realized today that I can't change my own mistakes! Not only that, but I don't even trust myself anymore. Chief Gant was right...

And of course:

Edgeworth: If you'll excuse me… there are still some loose ends that need wrapping up. Take care, Chief Prosecutor. Phoenix: Edgeworth! What will you do now? Edgeworth: ... Phoenix: Well, whatever you do, just remember. What happened in this trial can either make or break you as a prosecutor. In the end, it's up to you. Edgeworth: I know... It seems I owe you my thanks too, Wright. But what I face now... is my problem. Phoenix: Edgeworth... I'll be waiting for you in court. Edgeworth:... Farewell.

I've pulled all my quotes from the wiki, which I believe takes the DS version, but the retranslation of the port makes things even more blatant. Instead of "either make or break you as a prosecutor," the line was retranslated as "You can let what happened kill the prosecutor in you, or you can let it help you grow."

I don't know how much more literal you can get.

Of course, none of this dialogue strictly refers to anything but a professional crisis for Edgeworth. But it is a true crisis, one he takes very deeply and personally - it is his entire moral system that is crumbling down. And the phrasing of some of those lines is downright chilling. "I can't forgive myself, and nobody should do it either" "I feel like something inside me has died" "It's too late for me" or even those ominous "loose ends"... Whatever his final conclusion, he is not doing well. That's one thing RftA makes abundantly clear.

But then why are Phoenix and Franziska so angry, you'll ask me? Grief, of course. Why is Franziska adamant he still lives? Grief, of course - specifically denial. Why does Gumshoe know Edgeworth still lives? Several options. Edgeworth contacted him knowing he'd need someone to help him come back once he decided to come back, or Gumshoe is the one that prevented his note from turning literal, or Edgeworth contacted him at some other point for another reason - it could have happened at any point in his little mental health gap year.

It just makes much more sense to me than the alternative. Why leave a note saying he "chooses death" so unambiguously only to rely on a play on words? He was shown writing a perfectly good resignation letter right before that - the note was meant to be one step further from resignation. And why leave his loved ones in the dark, mourning him, for one entire year if he just deliberately left for soul-searching purposes? The man is obtuse when it comes to feelings, and honestly I could see him pulling this, but... not in conjunction with everything else.

And his arc just makes it make so much sense as well. Depression is often a comorbidity of PTSD, which Edgeworth has, as close to canonically as possible without it being spelled out. He is in an extremely fragile place psychologically - two months earlier his trial dragged him across the coals emotionally, his traumatic past revisited and revealed in an extremely public way. His quest for "perfection" was shattered not just through the losses he suffered at Phoenix's hand but through the sudden, deep and complete betrayal of the man who taught it to him. He only had one moral high ground left - the fact that he never knowingly forged evidence - only for that to be ripped away from him too. Of course he could be nothing less than unstable.

So anyway I don't have any fancy conclusion but yeah I can't imagine "Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth Chooses Death" wasn't meant literally. Even though I'm pretty sure that wasn't the authorial intent, I think it must have been somewhere in the works anyway, otherwise there wouldn't be so many hints to it.

[day-drawn-blog]

Epilogue II :

Moonlight burning the flower

Hold tight, don't fight the power -

'The Power'

Pairing: Astarion x Reader. This is set in Act I.

Tags: angst ... leading into some smut.

Part I : The outer layer. Mostly angst and jealousy.

Part II : Where you try to find meaning or draw boundaries.

Part III : maybe tonight I'll rest in peace.

Part IV : There is more to do and I still want to live.

Part V : our futures bound, our bodies known.

Part VI: These ain't my sins. I broke my chains.

Part VII: You are not mine and am I truly yours.

Part VIII : Your blood like wine, invites me in.

Part IX : I welcome my sentence, to give you my penance

Part X : I can't go yet...don't let me die

Epilogue I : Leave the flames and take a chance with me

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

You woke up. You recognized your tent. What happened? Is it morning? No, it was still dark outside. Oh that's right... you drank a lot, and passed out. There was a party, yes, that's right. Astarion broke your heart again. You felt disappointed. You had wanted someone to take you back to their tent. But you were in yours instead. So who had carried you in here?

And then you realized, that there was someone there...with you.

You recognized the familiar silhouette. His chest showing through his clothes, just like this morning. Wait, did you have your clothes on? What had happened while you were asleep? Yes, you had your pants on, and your underwear. Where was your shirt? That's right - you were hot and sometime after you were carried in, you had taken it off.

Was he the one who carried you in?

You looked at him. Your stirrings woke him up, and he looked at you with sleepy eyes. "Ah, you are awake, darling... I've been waiting". Honeyed words were not going to pull you in anymore. You sat up, resolved and looked away from him. "Why are you here?" You asked. He propped himself up as well. "Because ... you are such a handful". He smirked.

"Why are you not with her?" You asked point blank.

You were done beating around the bush. "Who"? He seemed confused. You could feel your pulse rising, anger. "Shadowheart." You sharply clarified. "Ha!" He laughed out loud, his usual cheerful self. "Why should I be with her?" "I saw you talking" you replied, not even trying to hide your resentment and jealousy. "I was apologizing to her...you know... about the whole... blood drinking secret situation" he replied, waving his hands about, looking guilty.

"You must really want her to forgive you." You said, bitterly.

"Well, that would be nice, yes, we are all allies after all. We need to journey together, I need to know I don't have an enemy in camp". He said, pragmatically, sitting up. It all made sense to you, but you refused to believe such a simple explanation. "And ... did she?" "I think so." The answer somehow made you unhappy. You were still hurt, it felt unfair.

"So ... you are here because she threw you away..."

You said, knowing full well, how much that would hurt. You could feel his eyes on you. You dared not look back at him. He was quiet. Even though you had wanted to hurt him you regretted saying that. "I was only with her, because I couldn't refuse her." He said, his voice low, serious. "I was never hers to throw away." "But you want her to want you, isn't it?". You were not done. That question was met with silence, and you dreaded to hear his response to that. He said something unexpected.

"Do you ...want me to want her?"

Taken aback, but you wouldn't back down. You wanted to prove, that you were unaffected, not jealous, that you were above it all. Too proud to admit, that you loved him, that you wanted to be his, and him to be yours.

"Yes. I do. I do want you to want her".

You lied, in anger. You stood up and walked away from him. "I want you to go to her, and beg for her forgiveness, and be with her every night. Make love to her till dawn, again and again, till she is done with you." You stopped to breathe. "Oh ... don't worry, I will still protect you.... I gave you my word after all, didn't I." You smirked, bitterly. You were near the door, looking for your shirt to wear and head out.

You did not want to stay in his presence a minute longer.

He said nothing at first, then he stood up and came up to you, and held your left wrist before you could wear your shirt. You tried wresting free but he wouldn't let go, not until you had heard what he had to say. You looked away, "I can want her, if you want me to." He growled. "I have done my master's bidding countless times before. Lured victims in for him. And I can give my body to do your bidding". He paused "but it will not be of my own free will." His grasp on your wrist tightened.

"I will fuck her or let her fuck me, if that is what you want".

"Every night, if you want me to..." He stepped closer to you. "Would you like that? Would that make you happy? Because you see... I would rather... fuck... you." He held your face in his hands. Clearly having seen through your facade. "I can go to her, if you ask me to, but I will always come find you ....of my own ...free will" His face was very very close to yours. "you taste ...simply delectable."

He came even close to you now, breathing you in.

"Here is a secret I've heard my master say. Sensient beings, can taste positively divine... when you indulge in... carnal pleasures". "Sadly, Cazador never let us drink from any of our victims before.... so I never had ...someone, of mine own." He looked at you, pouting, teasing. "You.... were more and more delicious... with every bite I took of you. But when I bit you... here" he touched between your breasts, "I almost lost my mind. And now... all I can think about... is how you will...taste... when I take you over the edge... till you lose yourself, in me... and scream my name from your lips....darling... I can't wait..."

He almost ripped off your bodice, unceremoniously.

Then he lifted you up, and took you back to your bed before you could protest. "Push me away anytime, my love". Then dropped down to kiss you. Kissed your breasts, the side of your breasts. And trailed kisses down your stomach. Then he unbuttoned your trousers, and with one glance at you, took them off you. Your legs on his shoulders, he kissed your thighs, lower and lower...

You braced yourself for what was to happen next.

Clutching the bedding around you, you inhaled sharply as you felt him tear your underwear off of you. He licked and kissed you down there. You loved every second of it, and did not hold yourself back. Your legs wrapped around him, he made eye contact and placed a hand on your stomach. His tongue felt electrifying. Finding your folds and you could feel wetness soak the blanket underneath.

You lay there naked, admiring his chiseled body. You knew where this was headed and you knew he would not stop unless you stopped him.

You would not stop him.

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

Might finish the smut, some important dialogue too.

[lily-orchard-gossip-blog]

Hello hello again! It's good to have you back for a little while! Unfortunately there is a lot of infighting in the critical sphere right now and it's not very fun to follow. And worse still Lily is as smug as ever. People are too invested in who ripped off what, who's disrespecting this or that, they should just be having fun at Lily's expense. That's what Saiscribbles has done, and you can tell how effective it is because Lily has tried every strategy in the book to prove how not mad she is.

You know what?

I think I would like to poke fun at the whole thing. I mean, it's sounds like she's gotten a bit ridiculous since I've been gone. (Ridiculous sounds like an understatement, thought.)

I've done serious and it's exhausting. You can only take her serious for so long before you realize she doesn't really even know or believe what she's saying.

As for the fighting, well... It's a shame, but let's try to focus on what's at the core of this blog: Gossiping about Lily.

...But I do have one thing I want to get off my chest, so I will mention it here and then move on. It is under the read bar just so those who don't care can ignore it.

I do have one thing to say about the drama, and that's about Ethel.

They are a liar liar pants on fire.

Seriously, I watched Evangeline Skovs video, which was one of the better coverages on the subject and there was no plagiarism. Not even of me, and I was a source!

Never mind that fact that Ethel legit lied about my blog in their rebuttal, claiming that Levi couldn't find anything on my blog about their video, or glade, so Evangeline was lying.

Their proof? Levi used the search bar, used the word minor and glade, and nothing came up except one post...

Fun fact: I'm bad at tagging things, and my search bar is kind of useless because of that.

(Side note: why would I use glade's name? Why would I want to draw attention to someone who I assumed wanted to be left alone? I'm pretty sure that was made clear in the video.)

Anyway, if you used my archive you could easily find TONES of posts from me talking about the video in question with details.

Here's one that Ethel conveniently left out:

And you know what's hilarious about that? They reblogged this take to try and rebuke it on their tumblr. (That they have long since abandoned.)

I decided to ignore it, because obviously I'm not going to try and get in a fight with them, and Ethel was so mad by that they messaged me directly to try and threaten me with legal jargon.

So I blocked them.

But hey, since I'll probably never bother with this again, here are the messages. Enjoy old drama from like...2 years ago:

Image text here:

[Okay, I've put this off for as long as possible, but please, read this case study as right now you are parroting harmful legal advice. Victim testimony not only constitutes evidence, but can be sufficient evidence to convict, a fact that was tested in Commonwealth v Gustavo Gonzalez Santos in Massachusetts.

I’ll highlight two relevant sections in case you don’t have the time to read the entire thing: “The defendant's sole argument on appeal is that the evidence was not sufficient to support his convictions. The defendant asserts that "there were no witnesses to the alleged assaults," "no physical evidence," "no medical or forensic evidence," and "no expert testimony." He argues that "there was absolutely no conclusive evidence presented at trial that suggested the [d]efendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt."” And: “Here, the victim testified to facts that constituted each element of the charged offenses. Her testimony, which the jury found to be credible, was sufficient, standing alone, to support a finding beyond a reasonable doubt as to each of the convictions. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Lawrence, 68 Mass. App. Ct. 103, 104 (2007)

("The victim's testimony was sufficient evidence of [indecent assault and battery on a child under age fourteen]"); Commonwealth v. Gonsalves, 23 Mass. App. Ct. 184, 185 (1986) ("The victim's account of what the defendant did to him in the apartment was sufficient to overcome the defendant's motion for a required finding of not guilty of rape"). The idea that long infected our legal system that the victim's testimony in sexual assault and rape cases is less credible than the testimony of victims in cases involving other types of crimes -- an idea that reflected nothing more than sexism and an unwillingness on the part of our courts to treat sexual crimes as the gravely serious matter that they are -- has been rejected both by statute and by common law.”

When you and others continue to parrot the myth that victim testimony does not constitute as valid evidence, you are harming victims of rape and abuse. This is straight up rape culture and, since I’m pushing back any video coverage on the matter until I’ve finished dealing with Lily because I don’t want to muddle things, I need you to stop promoting falsehoods. We have legal members on our team who have passed the bar, Patchie does not, Opal does not, and neither does You Can Eat Hearts. You are causing unnecessary harm to victims by breathing life into myths constructed by rape culture. To be clear, I am not asking for your denouncement of certain people, just for you to please, stop publishing bad legal takes.

This is also the case in Canada, if you're wondering - https://www.accused.ca/evidence.htm

Sorry, I just realized I didn't give you the US case study. Here it is - http://masscases.com/cases/app/100/100massappct1.html#:~:text=The%20jury%20found%20the%20defendant,We%20affirm. ]

Oct 30, 2022 9:16 AM

Whew, you have no idea how long I wanted to spill this tea.

Alright, I've said what I've wanted to say on this topic. I'm now going to focus on laughing at Lily and her horrible incest stories.

[countrymusiclover]

11 - He’s Finally Mine

Part 12

The Lion Knight and Dragon Princess

Tags- just send an ask to be added @cdragons @kmc1989 @starkleila @noirrose21-blog @lover-of-books-and-tea

Blinking my eyes opened slowly where I lifted my hand getting blinded by the sunlight coming through the thin curtain material.  Rolling over onto my side a smile graced my lips seeing Jaime sleeping beside me.  Raising my right hand I ran my fingers gently through his long blonde hair causing him to wake up. “Vaella?” 

“Sorry I wasn’t trying to wake you up.” I apologize drawing my hand back away from his head where he rolled over to face me. 

“It’s okay.  I haven’t been a heavy sleeper for years.  Not since I became a knight under your father anyways.” 

Resting my head against the palm of my left hand that was resting up on my pillow. “So how did you sleep last night after we made love again?” 

“I always sleep better than I ever do when I’m away from you.” 

I flashed him a cheerful smile climbing up into his lap and straddling his waist. “Is that your way of telling me you missed me?” 

“Possibly.” He clicked his tongue. 

I leaned forward closing the gap between us concreting our lips together for the very first time this morning after he had returned to me in the middle of the night. “I do rather enjoy an answer like that.” 

“Oh I see.” He smiled into the kiss, raising his left hand up to bring my head closer against his doing the best he could to keep the kiss going. 

"Jaime?" He hums against my lips so I break away from the kiss making him pout. "I - I love you." 

Jaime looked up to me before he smashed his lips to mine, grinning from ear to ear,  He pulled away barely to have his long locks fall on my face. His green eyes glowing. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to hear that. I - I’m just not good with words so I was afraid you’d think it was too soon." 

“I’m done waiting to let myself be happy with you.” I smiled, pulling his lips to mine once again and he didn't have us break for a long time.  Trying to catch my breath I labor out, resting my hands on his bare chest. "You know at this rate, we'll never get up.." 

Jaime shook his head playfully at me, leaning down to kiss me. "Who said it would be a bad thing, Vaella?" 

I replied in between kisses. "No one." Jaime deepened the kiss, making my heart race.

“Then I don’t see the problem.” 

 "But we should talk about the fact that I’m pregnant...I mean what are we going to name the boy or girl?” I broke away from his to rest my hands around his neck, his forehead against mine to catch our breaths. 

He doesn’t really answer my question. “We’ll figure it out later.” 

“You’re totally lying just so I’ll cave and we can have sex again.  You’re not as clever as you think when it comes to me sniffing you out.” 

Jaime chuckled with a sigh. "I’m not lying, I will help you with all that business later. But doesn't this sound tempting right now?" He started kissing me on my neck tickling me with his scruff and I nearly fell for it when he heard me moan but I pushed my hands against his chest. 

"Indeed it does - ah make love to me, Lannister." Jaime bends his head down laughing before rolling me onto my back smashing our lips back together with us getting entirely lost in the kiss. 

Ringing the water out of my hair I walked towards my bed. I had just gotten finished with my bath heading over to Jaime who was laying in my bed with some simple red and gold Lannister clothing. “I have been thinking about something recently.” 

“Yeah and what exactly does that mean?” He asked me seeing my light nightgown flowing around when I laid down beside him. 

“I’ve told you about how my house was formed.  But I’ve never heard the story of yours.” 

The golden knight lightly chuckled at me. “You want to hear about the Rock?” 

“Yes.” 

Jaime replied simply back to me. “Alright.  Let me see it starts with-“

“Wait, wait, wait.” I held up my hands, placing them over his mouth, snuggling down underneath his right arm laying my head on his chest. “Now tell me.” 

Jaime chuckled playfully down at me. “You’re ridiculous, princess Vaella.” 

“Regardless, I'm ready for you to tell me.” I stuck my tongue out looking up into his gaze then buried my head in the crook of his neck. 

His other arm draped over my chest where I gently held onto his right hand, listening to him starting to explain. "According to one legend my ancestor Clan the Clever swindled the castle from them. The most common story is that he found a hidden cleft in the rock and snuck into the castle. At night he whispered threats into sleeping ears. Howled in the darkness, planted one brother's treasure in the room of another and so forth." 

“Jaime! Ahh - finish the story.” 

Jaime shifted his weight moving to plant some kisses on my neck before he kept talking, getting to hear me giggle in his ear. "My brother prefers a different version. Clan the Clever did find a secret entrance into the castle. But used it to have his way with the Casterly maidens. Eventually the girls gave birth to golden haired bastards and the Casterlies had no choice but to accept their father into the family.  In gratitude he changed the family name and house Lannister was born." 

“Do you think one day I’ll get to be at the Rock with you?” I asked him intertwining my left hand with his right. 

He shrugged his shoulders giving a response. “If we’re lucky, yes.  I’d rather like for someone else than me to be fond of my home.” 

“Make me your wife and Lady of the Rock then there will be nothing to stand in our way.” I teased him with a smirk wrapping my arms around his neck moving to straddle his waist with him instantly kissing me back.  My dream of seeing the Rock had began to get slimmer and slimmer from that day onward. 

A few hours later I had gotten myself changed into a red handmaiden dress and my boots, finishing the tying of my laces by the time Jaime came out of the washroom.  Turning around on my heels I sent him a confused look tilting my head to the side. “What did you do to your hair?” 

“I cut it.” He answered. 

“Why?” 

He shrugged his shoulders. “It was far too long and was getting on my last nerve.” 

“I understand that.  I just thought you would tell me before you did it.” 

Jaime clicks his tongue. “What is this really about, Vaella?” 

“I love your longer hair.” I finally answered his question, nearly throwing the gold dress ribbon I had in my hands at the lion in front of me. 

Jaime chuckled, smirking at me when he crossed the room trapping me in his arms. “Awe my dear princess, I’m sorry.  If that’s one of the things you enjoy about having sex with me I wouldn’t have done it.” 

“How would you feel if I chopped my hair to look like a boy hmm?” I lightly pushed myself from his grasp beginning to tie the lace around my waist and into a knot behind my back putting my back to him until he tugged me back into his chest and spun me around to face him once again. 

“Please don’t ever do that.  You’re Targaryen hair is one of the things I love about you.” 

I tapped his nose with my index finger with a glare. “Then you now understand why I am so upset with you, Ser Lannister.” 

“I’ll grow it back out for you in time of course.” Jaime responded, his gaze pouring down into my purple eyes. He raised his left hand cradling my cheek in his palm and smiled when I leaned into it. “How about I make it up to you later tonight hmm.” 

Blinking my eyes I already knew where his mind was going and I had to admit my desire to be with him had grown since I had accepted that I was pregnant with his child. “And how would you make it up to me?” 

“Oh I’m quite certain you’d be very happy with what I have in mind.” Jaime twirled me underneath his left arm so my back was pressing to his front allowing him to whisper in my ear. 

He nuzzled his nose into the crook of my neck kissing there ever so slowly for my liking. “Jaime - don’t be a tease.” 

“I sort of have to, princess.  For I’ll know you’ll be just as bothered as I will be during Joffrey’s wedding.” Jaime pushed me forward exiting the room leaving me standing there all flustered and bothered by what he had just done. 

“You golden ass!” 

The wedding of the young Lannister bastard had gone pretty well even though the king had started forcing Tyrion to do ridiculous things.  Raising a cup to my lips I drank my water until I heard some people muttering in the King's direction where he had abandoned his food and appeared to be choking on whatever he had consumed.   I remained standing beside some of the other servants who were there to serve the royals.  So before my eyes I watched Joffrey begin grabbing for his throat and his wife cry. “He's choking!”

“Help the poor boy. Idiots, help your king.” Lady Tyrell shouted at the guards who were just standing around doing nothing. 

Jaime pushed his way through the crowds of people rushing over to his son. “Move away! Joffrey! Joffrey!”

Cersei pushed her son’s wife out of the way. “Help him! Someone help him!”

“Joffrey!” Jaime grabbed his shoulder rolling him over seeing he was foaming at the mouth now. 

“ Don't touch him!” She pushed Jaime away from her son seeing her son raising his finger pointing at Tyrion who had picked up the cup that was dropped. “Joffrey. Please, Joffrey. Joffrey, what is it?” 

“Oh my god.” I muttered under my breath, holding onto my mothers ring necklace while Joffrey began to turn purple and blood came from his eyes. 

Cersei began crying, touching his chest with Joffrey’s hand falling limp beside his body. “My son.”

A man announces. “He's gone. Our king is gone.”

“He did this. He poisoned my son, your king. Take him. Take him!” Cersei shouted at her younger brother before guards dragged him away to the dungeons.  All I could think was that Sansa Stark was finally free of him. 

[ghostoffuturespast]

WIP Whenever

*takes a deep breath* Tagged by @streetkid-named-desire @wanderingaldecaldo (you two I think at least twice lol) @seeker-of-truth

@baublekute @scarlettspectra @aggravateddurian. Thank you all very much for thinking of me! 🧡

Tag backs for everyone above 😘 and @luvwich @merge-conflict @shimmer-like-agirl @mynonsenseistingling

@fly-amanitaa @dani-the-goblin @tarmac-rat @lavnderkiwi @morganlefaye79

Cash your tag in now or later and feel free to do whatever creative projects you're working on! Doesn't even have to be fandom related.

It's been a minute. This one got long.

I largely haven't been doing any fandom stuff other than VP because my work schedule has been insane the past two months. And the only reason I have VP to post is because I'm generous about snapping pics and the vast majority of photos y'all are seeing are ones I took back in March/April/May.

Things at work are starting to be slightly less hectic though, so hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. I'm trying to be gentle with myself about the time and energy I do have but it's been frustrating wanting to do things and not having the beans to do them. Spending most of my workdays outside for extended periods of time means I'm bone tired when I get home. And then I have more work to do outside...

Gardening

My garden is gonna be very scraggly looking for the rest of the year, but if I can keep it alive, in theory, the plants should come back bigger and bolder next year. Shortgrass prairie plants spend the bulk of their first few growing seasons establishing their root systems since water is often in short supply, so the tops of the plants are very unimpressive rn. Most of them probably won't get much bigger than this or even flower this year.

I've gotten a good chunk of the plants in the ground, have irrigation lines going to all of them, and did the lil concrete paver patio. I still need to finish planting the plants that have been languishing in their pots for over a month, bury the irrigation lines, and do a bunch of other random things, but we're getting there. Not planning on covering the bare dirt with mulch because I'm doing fall and spring seeding and I want the plants to self-sow. Going for wild pocket prairie and I'm gonna let it go absolutely feral. I'd eventually like to get rid of the river rocks too but baby steps.

What's really funny is all my native plants seem to be doing reasonable well. My vegetable garden on the other hand... It's sad. I know where I fucked up though (I should not have done that soil experiment lol and attack of the cutworm catepillars), so I'll just have to cut my loses this year and reevaluate for next. The worm composter is doing good though 🪱

Drawing

Attempting to get back into drawing. Again, it's been slow. Have been doodling some mutual's CP2077 OCs when I have the time and still have a ways to get through my list. I'm surprised by how much fan art of Grandpa I've received so I figured I'd return the favor for some folks. It's always a pleasant surprise getting some lovely art in your inbox. Probably won't be coloring most of these from here on out. I have a love hate relationship with coloring. Sorry, I just find lines more interesting. All of these were done with dip pen, ink, and watercolor.

I've got another more formal piece I need to work on as well and get done by the end of the month. Keep forgetting to do the layout sketches...

Writing

The slowest of them all. Been working on the same damn short fic (No. 1 of Les Preludes) and then brainstorming for about fifty other projects that are waiting their turn in line. Plus, I'm still trying to read too. But when I can only manage a chapter of a fic about every two weeks...

Most of my writing efforts have been bopping into my drafts now and then and pecking out a sentence or two. However, I did manage to spend 45 minutes detangling a section of about 200 words 🐢:

Have you or a loved one been in an accident or injured on the job?  Are you missing your former quality of life?  Holed up in the bathroom, Robert winced at his reflection in the mirror and at the crusted blood he picked at underneath his nostrils.  Then consider Arasaka Cybernetic Implants!  Fully functional prostheses are capable of replicating the full range of human motion and more!  Available in a range of sizes and styles to suit all your lifestyle needs.  The body of the future is NOW. The corners of his mouth tugged on a bruised eye and what former experience had taught him was a broken nose. Call 1-800-IMPLANT today for a free consultation! Low-interest financing and payment plans available. A rapid fire of unintelligible fine print was drowned out by the sputter of the faucet. Robert cupped his hands and scrubbed at his face, the pain disappearing for the briefest moments with the black of shut eyes and splashes of cold water.      Arasaka Corporation.  What can we do for you? Dry flecks of red decorated the sides of the sink before rehydrating into inky swirls of blood that slipped down the sides of imitation porcelain. Yellowed, cracked, and starting to chip. The plastic hadn’t aged well.

This snippet gives me the hardest war flashbacks to those late 90s/early 00s TV phone ads. Anyone else old enough to remember these things?

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Mlekragg

Unsurprisingly, multiple people read the entry and immediately clocked what this was. (Thank you for not actually making a guess in text, so that people who don't recognize it are able to work without that preconception.) I didn't want to leave it out, because the mythological ones are fun, but unlike some of the others, the modern conception of this beast is pretty much exactly what the bestiary says.

Anyway, as always, if you don't know what I'm talking about, you can find an explanation for this whole thing at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. If you want to join in, the new entry for each week is tagged with "maniculum bestiaryposting" so it should be findable. This week's entry can be reviewed here:

Below the cut you will find the drawings responding to it, in roughly chronological order:

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) decided to branch out in an unusual direction with this one, in order to avoid drawing the creature they'd identified from the entry and also have some fun with it. I just think this is some quality creature design. Love the mask-thing, love the springy tail, and that's a really good rendering of a cuttlefish face IMHO. There's a really interesting explanation for all of these features, what inspired them and how it all works together, in the linked post, which you should go read.

@moonygryffin (link to post here) took a more direct approach, with the twist that the creature here is modeled on American fauna rather than ones the medieval Europeans would have been aware of. The body is a mountain lion, and the man-like head is a golden-headed lion tamarin, which of course comes with its own mane. I enjoy the choice to not use a lion lion, but rather two animals with "lion" in their name; also I've always thought lion tamarins were very cool-looking. For more details -- and an example of an attempt by MoonyGryffin to draw the same creature several years ago -- see the linked post. (Also thank you for providing alt text.)

@sweetlyfez (link to post here) has made an attempt to take the entry literally without drawing the creature she has recognized, which is a challenge considering how specific the description is. I think the decision to give it flea legs to help with that exceptional jumping is clever. SweetlyFez describes the result as an "awful creature" and... honestly I can't argue, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one of these. In fact I think I'm going to wrap up this commentary and scroll down so I don't keep making eye contact with it.

@pomrania has also decided to go the route of "let's get weird with it", and avoided the literal interpretation by re-analyzing the word "has". This is similar to that style of joke one hears now and then -- you know, "he has the heart of a poet... he keeps it in a jar at home." (Incidentally, props to Mary Shelley for being perhaps the only person who could make that claim and not be kidding.) So this creature has the face of a man and the body of a lion, not in the sense that it was born with them, but in the sense that it keeps them as possessions. Very clever, and the underlying creature design is also fantastically creepy in my opinion.

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) mentions that she didn't recognize the description, and has given us this really cool-looking, rather menacing creature in their excellent medieval style. (This is why I insist on not naming the beasts even when it seems clear what it is -- this amazing piece of art might have looked entirely different if someone posted a spoiler.) I'm really struck by how it simultaneously looks like a patchwork sort of creature (different front & back legs, etc.) but all flows together into a cohesive whole. Just really well done, I think. (Also, thank you for including alt text.)

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has drawn the creature mid-leap, showing off its jumping prowess by shooting straight up into the air. I think this drawing does a very good job at combining human and lion anatomy to make something unsettling -- and the inclusion of the skull diagram up in the top left points to the amount of thought that went into this. As always, please check out the linked post for a detailed discussion of the design. (Also, thank you for including alt text.)

@strixcattus (link to post here) has drawn one that's oddly cute, and looks a bit worried. However, according to the description they've written in the linked post, this reaction on my part is probably going to get me killed, because apparently they're still quite vicious. I like it, though -- and, as always, I urge you to go read the linked post for this one.

On to the Aberdeen Bestiary... oh, we can't, actually. This is another missing page. So here's the illustration from the Ashmole Bestiary instead:

So, first of all, this is indeed the manticore, and I'm sure most if not all of the people who said they had guessed it got that correct.

Second, we can also note that all the artists who said something along the lines of "well we know about the issues of drawing medieval scorpions, so the scorpion-tail description doesn't need to be literal" were also correct there. Apparently this time a scorpion tail is just spiky all over, which I have to admit does look kinda cool.

Now let's address the elephant in the room. WHAT is that thing on its HEAD? My best guess is that it's meant to be a crown -- medieval art often sticks hats on nonhuman creatures with human faces, almost as if the artist wants to make sure you know it looks like a human head on purpose. I don't see crowns that often, though; usually it's just a cloth hat. (The one in Bodley MS 764, where I got the text for this entry, is clearly wearing a Phrygian cap.) I find myself unable to see it as anything but a daring hairstyle that is absolutely not working for it, though.

Anyway. The manticore is an odd one in its continuity here -- a lot of the mythical creatures in the bestiary have been changed, reinterpreted, or forgotten in the intervening centuries. I think maybe the manticore happens to have hit that sweet spot where it's popular enough that people remember it, but not so popular that it gets excessively telephoned through widespread transmission. I think a couple people noted that the Standard Fantasy manticore is more or less spot on to this description, and indeed, I can only think of one change:

(Art from the Magic: the Gathering card "Crimson Manticore", artist Daniel Gelon)

At some point, those bastards got wings. It's not universal at this time, but if you do an image search for "manticore", the majority of the modern ones are winged. I'm not really sure where that came from.

(Side note: I tested this by doing a Google image search, and one of the top results was a particularly odd-looking image, so I clicked on it out of curiosity. It was at the top of an... article? on a webpage I'd never heard of, and the opening of said article included the sentence, "In medieval bestiaries and art, the manticore was depicted with unique features such as paws, teeth, and fur." You don't say there, bud.)

Interestingly, the D&D manticore is slightly different from the description in an additional way.

Instead of a scorpion tail, it has a tail covered in spines. This has apparently been part of the D&D manticore since the beginning -- the above image is from 2e, but the 1e version had the same tail. (I just didn't use it because it's not as clear in the picture.)

Now, scroll back up to that Ashmole Bestiary image. The one where the tail doesn't really look anything like a scorpion's. Looks... similar to this in broad concept.

I doubt that Gygax or Arneson or whoever designed that aspect of their manticore after one bestiary image, so I popped over to bestiary.ca to see what else was out there. Out of the 38 medieval manticore images collected on that website, there are only two with a tail covered in spikes: the Ashmole manticore and one other that's clearly just a less-skilled artist working from the same image (it also has the same hat). Looking at the text sources, though:

"...it has a tail like a land scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the spines with which it is covered instead of hair..." -- Aristotle, De animalibus

"To the end of its tail is attached the sting of a scorpion, and this might be over a cubit in length; and the tail has stings at intervals on either side." -- Aelianus, On the Characteristics of Animals

Okay, that's the D&D version, mystery solved. New question: is it a coincidence that the Ashmole illustration fits Aelianus's description? Remember, the page is missing from the Aberdeen bestiary and the Ashmole bestiary isn't translated. The text comes from Bodley MS 764, which does not have a spiky-tailed manticore. My Latin is terrible and I'm untrained in palaeography, so I can't tell whether the entry there preserves the spiky description.

If any palaeographers out there want to solve this one for me, it's Bodleian MS Ashmole 1511, f.22v-23r, available digitally here. (I'll put some screenshots below, but I expect it's easier to zoom properly on the library's digitized manuscript.)

Okay, that's all I've got. Enjoy your week everyone.

[breakoutime]

Whaddup! I'm glad to see that you enjoy the drawings I've done so far! Chronos has been a major brainrot for me lately so lmao glad to see that I'm not the only one who is just brain rotting over that stupid time gilf! If it isn't much, May I request Chronos getting grabbed and fucked senseless by a bunch of tentacles? (I want this smug old timer being humiliated and fucked so badly)

OMG HI- I NEED TO ADMIT THAT IF IT WASNT FOR UR ART I WOUDNT HAVE FELT BRAVE ENOUGH TO SHARE MY BRAINROT TOO, THANK YOU ILU

Anyway! this is like, set after chronos took over the house of hades and before the events of Hades II. Wanted to do something special for the tentacles other than the seamonster, so I had to get creative haha!

It's been a while since I wrote some smut, but I hope this is good enough :3

(I really enjoyed writing this, thanks for the wonderfully dirty request)

Being at the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Chronos x Erebus/Tentacles

Warnings: Non-con, Dub-con, Tetatrofilia, Humiliation, Pleasure torture.

Other Tags: Groping, Overstimulation, Bondage, An old man getting fucked?

Chronos basqued in the victory of his dominion over the house of Hades. A deep sense of satisfaction coursed through him as he watched with pride the renovations of the soon to be called “House of Chronos”. His bratty son, Hades, was put in his place by chains, helpless to stop him as he regained his rightful place… Chronos felt great pride in the fact that his plan was going smoothly. 

Though he made it all look so easy, it had not been easy at all. Even with the sacrifices and the worship of his cult, despite regaining his form and rebuilding himself, his energy and power still needed some time before coming completely back to him. He had gathered just the right amount of energy to capture the chthonic gods and subjugate his son, and so he had been admittedly drained for the first months of his victory.

But as time passed and all kept going exactly how he had planned, Chronos was growing arrogant. Tartarus was already turning into a beautiful machine, all golden gears and ticking sounds around him, the gold he so loved adorning everything he deemed worthy. But what about the other layers of the underworld? Chronos wanted to make sure that all of the layers knew and recognized him as their new ruler. After all, wasn't his own cult on the entrance of the underworld what brought Hades’ downfall? He couldn't allow a similar cult to form under his new rule. So, he set his eyes on the rest of the underworld, one particular area catching his attention the most. 

Erebus.

Since he gained control of the underworld, Erebus became unruly. As if it was a living organism, the chambers that his son had once established were coming apart, slowly growing its own nature and taking their own shape. He couldn't have that, of course. After all, wasn't Erebus a place where shades arrived to wait? He was the new ruler of the underworld and time himself. This place should bend to his will, and despite still recovering from his revival, Chronos felt very confident he could tame the beast that Erebus was becoming. 

…

Perhaps now, he might have regretted that decision. For he was now lost, no matter what he did in this realm, he found himself wandering unable to bend this place to his will, and worse, unable to find his way *out*. Angrily he swung his scythe to whatever he could, breaking the columns that were in the process of being reclaimed by vines or cutting short the lives of trees that were just beginning to sprout between the floor slabs and exposing the soil underneath. It might look petty, but everything here was born of darkness, the very essence of Erebus. He knew that soon enough he would provoke a reaction from the realm, knowing that at some point a manifestation of Erebus itself would come and confront him. That's when he would dominate and control this place. 

A smug smirk appeared on his lips when after all his wandering, he was sure he found something that showed progress. As he passed through the forming cracks of the old walls of Erebus, breaking and cutting down what he needed to make a dignified trail, he encountered something. 

It looked like a pit. A pit so dark that it seemed endless, the light practically swallowed by its mere presence. 

“Ah. There it is.” He said as he floated towards it. He didn't once set foot down on this dirty place, deeming it unworthy yet of his touch. “So Erebus is finally making a real appearance, hm? Good. It's time I showed you who is in charge now.” With a wave of his hand, he tried to freeze this manifestation of Erebus in time, but it didn't work. “Hmmm…” Perhaps since Erebus was something both of a place and a living thing, it was not as simple as freezing it in time like the other chthonic beings. Besides, he was seeing what he assumed to be a hole- a dark void on the ground, maybe it was a gateway?

He tested first by dipping his cane into it. And before he could react, something took hold of it, janking it and himself inside this void. The next moment all Chronos could see was darkness. He couldn't even see his hands in front of him. Snarling, he transformed his cane into his scythe again- but this time that something had grabbed him, squeezing first the wrist of his hand holding the scythe, another unseen appendage janking it away from his hold, leaving him unarmed. “How dare you-!” another appendage wrapped around his other hand, and despite being unable to see it, he could feel it. It was some sort of tentacle, cold and smooth. He trashed and attempted to get away, but the darkness around him was powerful. It refused to let go. One tentacle wrapped around both his legs, leaving him inmobile, his wings attempting to move and even flap to attack the offending appendages fruitlessly. 

It was now that he realized he should have waited to regain his full power before attempting such a thing. And now, he was worried that he would pay the price. He cursed at himself, his own hubris bringing him low, being captured like a fly on a web. As he tried to look around himself, all he could see was the darkness around him. No escape routes. No matter, he was time himself. He couldn't be killed, and he couldn't be captured forever like this. But he squirmed and growled as he felt another tentacle touch him, tracing the line of his spine, as if it was looking for the place where his wings connected to it. He shuddered, which encouraged the tentacle. “W-what are you…?” She said through gritted teeth as more joined, a couple running through his hair, another experimentally wrapping around his neck, and a couple exploring his chest and arms. A new feeling flared for Chronos. 

Pure, humiliating and unwanted *arousal*.

It was now that he realized that he was not only vulnerable and at the mercy of Erebus, but also, ever since his reforming he had not been even touched by anyone. He had no idea his body was this sensitive after being remade. A new panic set in, as he began to writhe with more desperation as the tentacles began to get more mischievous. One of the tentacles exploring his chest brushed against a nipple, making him buck and writhe as a strained groan escaped him, a blush forming in his face. Experimentally the tentacle continued, now one tracing the form of his buttocks, and one tentacle poking gently the inside of his ear. 

His legs squeezed together, trying to hide the growing arousal and limit the tentacles wandering. “S-stop! Stop this instant! I'm your master, you can’t-” His words were caught short as a tentacle entered his mouth. The void of tentacles did not speak, but Chronos could sense its intentions. It didn't care for his demands nor his complaints. He could sense as if it was curious, and even delighted to have a plaything in its clutches. He tried to bite down on it, but the tentacles did not even react, exploring his mouth deeper and deeper. It seemed to relish on his temperature, he was warm compared to its own cold darkness. The only thing that could be felt in this dark endless void was both their touch and the sounds he made. Erebus liked it. He wanted to hear more, to feel more. To have him at his mercy. To show him he was no master of Erebus. 

With horror Chronos realized that a couple of tentacles began to explore his legs, wrapping around his thighs and caressing them, making him shiver and swallow up a moan. A couple of tentacles decided to focus on his nipples as he tried for dear life to keep his legs squeezed together. Another tentacle found his belly button and attempted to enter it, making him convulse for a second out of the strange ticklish sensation that jolted through him. Sweat formed in his brow as he realized the tentacles were looking for more holes to explore, not satisfied with gagging him alone. “Hmmm! Hmm- mmmn!” He furtively complained as one tentacle managed to undo his loincloth, now exposing him completely. There was a pause, despite the darkness Chronos knew that he was erect despite how much he tried to escape and deny this, the pause stretching as if Erebus was taking a moment to appreciate his naked form and drink up his humiliation. An undignified whimper escaped him when a single tentacle wrapped around the base of his cock, a deep shame taking over him as he realized how his body was betraying him, making him enjoy this violation. He thrashed, his energy waning as he was beginning to tire himself out. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a hand or a leg free. Slowly, oh so slowly, the tentacle on his cock began to stroke it, from the base up to the tip and again down. Slowly, as if taunting him, the tentacle makes sure to swirl on his tip before continuing its ministrations, forcing a low moan to leave Chronos. 

Chronos could not even begin to pull himself together before the rest of the tentacles joined in again. He could do nothing but cry into the darkness as he was being both stroked and teased. To his horror a couple of tentacles wrapped around each knee, the one holding his legs together releasing him so that the others could pull his legs apart. He shook his head violently, the muffled sounds of pleas and whimpers heard as his legs parted despite his protests. 

He felt tears swell in the corners of his eyes, he never before felt this shame, especially since his cock was dripping precum, which was now passing around his balls, down his taint, and reaching his clenched asshole. Trying to find even a modicum of a good thing, he found himself glad that he couldn't see himself in this pathetic position, the darkness at the very least keeping this private. But it also meant that he couldn't see anything else the being was planning. The tentacle on his mouth slowly pulled out, making him cough as spit saliva as his mouth was free. He struggled too tall for a moment. 

“Enough of this. Release me now and I will be merciful when I punish you for this transgression.” He tried to say as evenly as possible, trying to regain control and his dignity. The only answer he got from Erebus was feeling a cold- this time slimy- tentacle touching his taint, making him flinch and gasp. “N-no! I said no! Hnnnnnghh-'' He couldn't help but moan as the tentacle began to tease his puckered entrance, making him convulse in place and make sounds he was definitely not proud of. The tentacle began to prod inside, forcing the tight sphincter to open up, its slimy nature making this a lot easier, but it's cold temperature made him shiver and even whine. “H-how d-d-d-dare you….” He managed to say, his voice trembling as he realized this creature had released his month only to hear him moan as he got penetrated. He never thought something from the underworld could be this depraved. He tried to quiet himself and not give Erebus the satisfaction of hearing his grunts and moans, but the tentacle was going deeper and deeper, the stretch beginning to hurt slightly. “Mmmmmmngh- AH∿!” A surprised moan escaped him, when the tentacle found his prostate. He began to writhe again, unable to accept that this was happening. But he quickly went still when it rubbed against that spot again…

And again and again.

He lowered his head- was he even floating face up or face down? he couldn't tell up from down in here- closing his eyes tightly as he gritted his teeth. It was a sign of submission. Chronos never thought that being defiled this way would feel so good. He loved it- he hated it. Again he became aware of the tentacles on the rest of his body, making him sob. It was beginning to be too much. “Hnnnnn! Too much- It's too much-!” Again a tentacle invaded his mouth, making it impossible to even plead. How cruel. The tentacles in his mouth, cock and rectum were now moving in sync. He could feel his eyes crossing as his orgasm was close- oh so close. A part of himself told him that orgasming would be disgraceful- the other couldn't care less. 

Two tentacles were on each nipple, swirling and massaging the little peaks, a couple would run up and down his chest and back, simulating a lover's caress. One gently applied pressure on his neck, and some more were squeezing and caressing his thighs. If this had been consensual he would have called it worship, but he knew better. Erebus had the control, and Chronos had clearly been reduced to little more than a plaything. He was being humiliated and forced to enjoy it. The tentacles began to stroke him faster, rubbing more insistently his prostate as the one in his mouth moved deeper. Chronos was a mess of whimpers, moans and cries, his body beginning to spasms as he became overwhelmed by all the stimulation. He desperately tried to buck his hips- anything to release the tension that was building, but he barely wiggled as finally, he got over the edge. 

“HNNNN∿! MMMH∿! MMMGHNNN∿!” He uselessly babbled as his orgasm washed over him, the tentacles not stopping for a second, making him ride it as hard as possible. His body spasmed useless as his eyes rolled slightly to the back of his head, he was sure he felt the tentacle in his mouth twitch too, but he could barely register the fact that it was actually cumming too, depositing something deep into his stomach. The tentacle continued its assault until his cries became high pitched. Now he truly felt overstimulated. Not pulling away, all of the tentacles stopped, leaving chronos still and breathing heavily through his nose. He felt so drained, but at least this was over, he needed to get back into tartarus and- “Hmmm!!??” The break was over, and the tentacles resumed their assault, not giving him really enough time to recover himself. If his mouth was free he would be openly crying and pleading for mercy, the pleasure being too intense in his overstimulated post orgasmic state. For a bit, time himself lost track of time. Erebus forced orgasm after orgasm out of him until he passed out. 

… He later would wake up miraculously at the edge of Erebus, his body cast out like a used toy. His body was sore but with a shameful satisfied buzz going through it. As he tried to stand he could see his legs shaking, his entrance was definitely leaking something and he felt his stomach oddly heavy- As he got into full height he couldn't help but barf. Darkness. Erebus had ejaculated darkness into him. He groaned.  “Blood and darkness.” Rarely the Titan of time would curse, but this time he allowed himself the simple act. One thing was clear. He wouldn't be delving into Erebus again anytime soon.