#<- not really but still

[smalltownduck]

it's borderline criminal (/j) that, even with how popular manifestation theory is and will's powers being suspected for years to be creation-related, no one (that i could find) seems to have written a Pygmalion (the og myth) au for byler yet.

to (hopefully) avoid some of the unfortunate implications (re: ruby sparks my beloved) of a writer making his character come to life i mean, in order to make will the guy he is now, he had to go through so much pain and trauma, or else he wouldn't be will, not even pre-canon will in said (non-UD) au, i think i'd rather go for the 'will created the initial concept for mike but as a dnd character' route.

will, lucas and dustin (he moved in kindergarden) still became friends and got into dnd, but they're not as close as the og party; will keeps his terrible home life from them to avoid more shame or their parents not letting them hang out anymore.

one day, while brainstorming to create his own dnd character, will doodled a figure in armor: someone who could be loyal, kind and adventurous, that could actually lead a party and make their campaigns cooler than any of them could imagine. Someone they could rely on. Someone who'd inspire them. Someone who would protect them. Someone that would care enough to, against any kind of danger.

that evening, after too many striked scribbles and ripped sketchbook pages, will drew his first sketch of His Paladin -no name felt right.

he never told anyone about him, not even his mom or jonathan, who'd otherwise get to see all his drawings. he never considered playing as the character either, even though he made several character alignment charts for him (if you ever had an oc, you know how it goes) and had way more sketches of him than of will the wise. that just wouldn't feel right: his paladin wasn't him or someone he wanted to (or could ever) become. his paladin was someone separate from will, with his helmet never off, tall and always vigilant, the brightest smile even in the face of failure.

again, if you ever had an oc and you used fiction as escapism, you might imagine how close will felt to his creation, especially bc only will ever knew of his existence. his paladin was there, by his side, on bad days, on loud nights; whenever will feel down, he'd picture him joining the last campaign the party borrowed from a random booklet, cracking incredibly lame jokes and reminding everyone of what they were fighting for. it was a comforting thought to turn to. a friend far away who never failed to make him smile.

no one, not even his dad, could take him away from him. if will sometimes stared too long, with a dopey smile, at his latest drawing, it was only his business. those new budding feelings, despite everything, felt safe. his paladin wasn't real, so he was not doing anything shameful nor bad by feeling so attached to him.

cue fourth grade, his dad leaving for good, castle byers, and a new boy joining his class. a chatty, very creative boy who played dnd as well. a boy who acted too familiar and looked like someone will rarely dared to visualize without a helmet on for the sake of his own sanity.

(this version of mike would be a regular human with free will in case you were wondering.)

this concept would be more about will freaking out at the idea that he created mike, realizing that's impossible [?* and trying to reconciliate what he knows about his idealized Paladin with the real mike -a boy with as many flaws as wonderful qualities.

will constantly having to remind himself they're not the same only for mike to proudly show the party his dnd character sheet along with his notes for the big epic campaign he always wanted to write -cue will excusing himself to hide both his blush and panic.

just will constantly struggling to differentiate between 'projection' and reality. trying to get rid of his feelings towards his character so he could treat the real mike fairly, get to know him, stop himself from staring too long whenever mike showed any heroic traits, and not scare him off nor get him in trouble bc of his stupid feelings.

will could now befriend an amazing boy for real and that's all that should matter. all that would ever matter.

if it takes will years to feel comfortable drawing 'sir mike', that's between him and an unassuming stash of paper in his closet he cannot bring himself to throw away (he's still scared of the possibility of making mike dissapear)

[alloycord]

slipped and fellded

[tsukingas]

bluebird who flew too close to the sun

( closeups + version w out lighting under cut )

[mauxanhduong]

well that’s not right (id in alt text)

[w1lmuttart]

The lake town

[pirateprincessjess]

When I was a kid my family pretended to get raptured so I would think I was left behind on earth while they all went to heaven.

I was like 8 years old and my sister and mom had gotten really into the Left Behind novels (bible fan fic about the rapture). In the books when the rapture happened the clothes that people were wearing when they got raptured were left behind in neatly folded piles.

One day when I was getting home from school my family decided that they would leave piles of neatly folded clothes around the house, and then hide in the basement.

The intended effect was that I would get home and see the clothes then, think that my family had been raptured and that I wasn’t good enough to get into heaven… or something?

The problem was that I had never read these books, and didn’t really think about the rapture very often. There was no reason that I would see some laundry on the floor and think “The rapture happened and I’ve been abandoned by God! I’ll never see my family again!! Oh nooo!!!!”

I just sat down and watched cartoons and eventually my family got bored and revealed that they were all hiding in the basement.

It’s a good thing I didn’t understand the joke, otherwise that shit would have been traumatic.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[james-p-sullivan]

the older i get and the closer i am to reaching 30, the more the people around me try to deny me my age. it’s a constant ‘oh you’re just turning 29 again teehee 🤭’ or ‘dont tell your SO that, he’ll leave you for a younger model 😉’ and i just???? hate it?????????

i spent my entire teenaged years fighting for my life. i crawled through the deepest pits of my depression to cling to the promise of a life beyond that pain. i was so convinced that i was going to die young, that i would never see the grace of my age starting with a 2, let alone 3.

so im going to turn 30, and there’s not a damn thing anyone can do to stop me from loving it.

[ladysantos]

an old karlach i never got to finish

[churroach]

Full of Desires

[trans-rights-coastalmangoes]

you know he would have been one of Those kids

inspired by this pic:

[fuckinnear]

everybody Must say hello to burger boy immediately

[eydilily]

this is fine

[koddlet]

personal rules for winter ❄

[napping-sapphic]

take your clothes off and get on the bed what no we aren’t having sex right now we’re cuddling and pressing every inch of skin together as close as possible for the next six hours

[gotchibam]

Chandelure ko-fi doodle for solar!