#[pending threads tag]

[sunlitmews]

@spokewar gets a starter from Ishtar:

"I know I've seen eyes like yours before. Stewjoni right? From that rim world with all those glowing mosses?" Better to keep conversations to such mundane things, instead of whatever crimes she may have committed that could have possibly brought a Jedi to her ship…or more precisely to the little stall she had set up on the dock.

"I have a little dried glow-root left, if you're looking for something from home. Though my journey-cubs cleared me out of most of it, good for the fangs, and little moon likes the texture." Yes, offering snacks was a good choice, no one needed to look for poisons, or misdeeds, nothing to see here. Just a normal Cathar merchant, selling assorted plants, with no assassination training, and definitely no room filled with so many toxins the very air could kill.

"I've definitely got some tea-moss somewhere, people generally don't look for it, so I don't run out too quick. Good thing too, it grows so slowly off-world."

[orphanedshadow]

@catfcng requested a starter

"Calm little one, if I am to help you I have to touch you, and if you keep struggling you will injure yourself further." Kara wasn't necessarily stupid, she knew the rules, but she also wasn't the kind of person to let them get in the way of what needed to be done, especially not when it was a matter of life and death, and especially not when kittens were involved. The one before her was not responding to gentle words, and who knows how long it had been trapped. Certainly long enough for things to swell, but not long enough for the kitten to lose any of its fire.

"Little hellbeast." The kitten's hissing was temporarily mirrored by Kara as needle-sharp teeth dug into her hand, the one that was supporting the dangling kitten. It was a mere child, but that did not mean its fangs and claws were dull. "Fair warning, I am going to spell you to sleep. Just for a moment, so that I may get you free and dress your wounds."

It only took a simple brush of her fingertips and a few whispered words to send the baby off to Dreamland, and once it was still she could begin the delicate process of freeing it from the ornate gate upon which it had clearly misjudged a landing.

With that done she could sit in the alleyway, taking stock of the injury and sealing some of the cuts with simple spells. It was only then that she realized she was being watched, caught in the midst of a crime. Best act innocent, hope that the watcher couldn't recognize forbidden actions, or was just focused on something else.

"Is this child yours? I found them caught in the fence."

[hermidetta]

“ Bernie!! ”  Leif calls out to her then he remembers himself. He softens his voice but still makes his approach swift to her, checking over her condition.  “ ...This is just like we first met, huh? ”

But back then, neither of them had been injured. It was the aftermath of a mission and they were doing their best to take care of those who could not take care of themselves. It had been Leif teaching her of what was going on around them, more familiar with Garreg Mach than her, but now, here they were, everything flipped. Here, they cradle their wounds. Here, Bernie knows these lands far more than he does. Here, this is the start to when things go wrong, not the days after everything was said and done.

Here and now, the need to be brave was stronger than ever.

“ Are you OK? With both your injuries and... everybody else around us too. ”  Was she overwhelmed? Did her heart bleed for all these people? He doesn't know her like some others do, but he knows her enough to know his own feelings on her: of this protectiveness built inside his heart. Perhaps with so many people, it's not the type of thing he can afford, but still.

Just as she had tried to help all the wounded on that first day they met, Leif tries to clumsily search for her in worry too— to care, whether or not it was his right to do so.  “ Despite how things look for me, I'm doing fine. So I can help you if you need me... ”

In an attempt to be brave, to be reliable himself, he shows his plea to be of help to her whether or not she needed him. In times like this, dismal as they were, he can think of little he desired more than to be needed and to be able to rise up to that need, save for the hope that no one more had to die.

the familiar shout of his voice has bernadetta turn immediately. it had been one of the very first she had met at the academy, after all, and one of the very first who had treated her with more kindness than not.

"leif!" her hands worry themselves in front of her chest, a usual habit of hers, but they are more nicked than ever that she is even more embarrassed at how unsightly they look—she lowers them in a stuttered movement, the petite slope of her shoulders hunching. "h-huh? wait, yeah, you're right..."

funny that he brings up their first meeting then, too. had it not been nearly around this same time last year? just a bit earlier. she had been behind, so out of the loop even to bernadetta's standards, perplexed as to why garreg mach's infirmary had been teeming with students and instructors and knights alike.

now neither of them can say if that infirmary is still standing at all. they are stuck in some purgatory between adrestian lands, varley being one of them. she had been looking so forward to reaching the monastery again.

(because home is not where the heart is. not this one, she thinks. at least not as she had known it before.)

leif is still just as dazzling as his first impression had been: compassionate, competent, a natural leader. had she not known any better she might have mistaken him for a prince. he reassures her of his state, inquires about hers, and bernadetta shakes her head in return with wet eyes.

"i'm okay! i'm okay, i think. um..." and maybe this is a privilege she affords him because he is him—she mumbles honestly, "well... my head kind of hurts...? but other than that, i'm okay. i-it's not as bad as a bunch of other people! so, i mean, do you need any help with helping?"

again. like when they first met. even like when they had served soup to the needy not so long ago. she wants to be as brave as him someday. maybe here, now, she could find it in her to try. no matter how briefly their paths cross, leif has always made those parts of the journey easier.

[ikiryomi]

❝  —  time, i fear, has always been against us. and someday soon, it shall be you who will be left behind again. ❞  // @kaimettsu

[inmensapotentia]

Heated Hot Springs - Aizen (from fluff!Mode or arrancar!Mode)

Water was generally considered a limited resource within Hueco Mundo, but Aizen was above the rules he placed on the Arracncars. Besides, Gin had set up a wonderful filter system so that he could reuse the water for bathing. Or at least soaking as he quite enjoyed the heat and how it helped his muscles relax. He wasn't terribly stressed out generally, but sometimes he seemed to sleep in positions his back was less than fond of and his private bath was a good way to counter act it.

Looking up when the door opened, Aizen had expected to see either Gin or Tousen but instead his gaze fell upon the gentle hearted Arrancar that had been spying on the Sexta for him. Lips curling in a slight smile, he stayed where he was in the bath, leaning against the wall. She was thankfully easy to manipulate, having shown weakness towards not only himself but Grimmjow as well. Which seemed to be working at warming the Sexta up to Aizen as well with the gentleness he portrayed with Mode.

"Don't let the heat out, Little One..." The chastisement came on a nearly playful note as he sat there, he steam wafting up from the water only partially disguising his body.

@modeinthemiddle

[konohadaddies]

While he couldn't claim to be the most romantic man, not even close, Shikamaru did feel like the last few dates he'd taken Ino on had gone decently. Walking her back to her apartment, the brunet had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he moved, not really great at knowing what the right thing to do was. When they reached the woman's apartment, he had been about to ask her if he could kiss her goodnight when she instead asked him if he wanted to come in.

"Are you sure?" He had no desire to ever make her feel like she had to do something for him; he loved her for being her and didn't want to change her.

[cpirits]

(( @crimsononiarataki || got a starter from Jean

★ ━━━━━━ It wasn't often that the Acting Grand Master of Mondstadt traveled to other nations, so she definitely felt a little awkward being in the unfamiliar Inazuma.

She had heard about the nation from her Knights and the Traveler, but it was a whole other thing actually being there. The mood of Narukami island was very different compared to Jean's home nation, and she was getting the feel for the streets and bustling stalls.

Many things smelled good and she stopped at a stall that sold Dango, a treat she had heard was a favorite of many people. Asking for a stick, and paying for it she held it in a gloved hand, admiring it.

"Let's see how this tastes..." Putting it to her lips and taking a small bite. "—Oh, it's sweet!" Not expecting it, her cheeks flushed as her mouth tingled as she ate the piece. It was really good, and she fully ate one piece, walking around to a place where she could watch the water off the cliff side.

[gcldfanged]

@setirophx

Getting from Midgar to Junon had been a stressful endeavor, requiring assets such as falsified documentation and passports- New identities they had to memorize and manage to seamlessly obfuscate. Jae’s cover story had been easy enough, a simple name switch and a fake occupation. Immigrants from Wutai and Haneul typically had dual citizenship, so it wasn’t a massive stretch. Sephiroth and the child, on the other hand, had been more difficult. It wasn’t just a matter of cutting and dying hair, they had uniquely colored eyes to boot- Not to mention the former General couldn’t exactly pass himself off as any other eight to five salaryman.

The worst of it was behind them, they’d managed to get through to Yoon’s nation of origin. Shinra still had its industrial claws sucking the land dry of naturally rich deposits of mako, but they would not be risking a life in the capital city. The Turk took them further in the north along the various streams and rivers branching from the sprawling mountain range. Flat grassy planes and fertile hills began to give way to steppes and rocks. But they remained along the borders at the feet of the jutting dragon’s spine of cliffs along the peninsula, where the forest was dense. Game and flora would be more abundant there.

It took some time even by truck and Al was clearly growing rather disenchanted with how windy it was in comparison to the sunny shores of Junon or mild weather of Midgar. 

“I think this might be it,” Jae finally spoke, stepping out of the pick up. Ancient slices of tree trunks made a meandering pathway to a large house, clearly abandoned and in a questionable state. He was surprised that it was still standing, to be honest.

Al glanced around, looking less than impressed as he clung to Sephiroth’s leg.

“When are we going to go back?” the child asked, fidgeting in an anxious and unsure manner.

“This is going to be our home, Al. I grew up in this house when I was about your age,” he answered, feeling a strange mixture of nostalgic familiarity yet also awareness of the passage of time. It was still on the cusp between the end of summer and the start of fall, so the foliage was alive and vibrant green, trumpet vines and creeping ivy overtaking everything.

“Good thing winter hasn’t kicked in yet, or it’d all be snow.”

The nearest trading outpost wasn’t too far away, a small village a couple miles south. They could rely on dry goods and canned food for now, but when they had to contend with day long blizzards and low visibility, hunting would be their only source of steady food in addition to preserving grown vegetables during the fairer times of the year.

“Just keep your shoes on, I have no idea what kind of nasty bugs have probably been shacking up here. We get everything- Huntsman spiders, house centipedes, geckos- At least the geckos are cute.”

The hanok is mostly wood, stone, and earth, with sliding screen doors lined with additional panes of glass. Most of them were broken or cracked from wear and weather. The floors were heated via water boiler, but there was also a gudeul system for cooking and heating via firewood. There was a bathing area inside the house that required heat as well, but the bathroom was in a shed a couple steps away. A large gas generator was housed in a shed to run appliances and electricity, though they usually saved energy and relied on the gudeul in the wintertime.

“I’ll have find someone in the village to check the ondol system, since carbon monoxide poisoning is an issue if you don’t know what you’re doing… The generator seems okay, just dry. Water comes from wells and the mountain streams. Everything is totally overgrown, I’ll have to start over from the soil up if we want to have a garden.”

It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it wasn’t great, either.

“We could make this work, but I’ll be honest- It’s going to be hard. We’re going to have to do ton of repairs while the weather’s still nice and winter prep is going to be… uh. Maybe we’ll just deal with that after we get the house in working order. What do you think…? No good?” he asks, looking over the place once more.

[anankelotus]

@eosasami

She did not approach initially. After all, what were the odds that there would be another of her kin in this foreign land? But as a day went by, and another, the feeling not fading but growing clearer, she decided to investigate. It led her to a secret path, underground. She sighed, knowing who it was that she was going towards. Nevertheless, it has been such a long time since they had last seen each other.

Locating him once underground was much simpler than hunting for the entrance. Forgoing subtlety, she approached him and… was he jumpy? She couldn’t quite remember. Either way, a not-so-gentle tap on the back is what she uses to announce her presence.

“Greetings, brother. It has been long, has it not? I see your habit of hiding underground has not changed.”

Anankos knows who has tapped on her shoulder before she even turns around, would have known that presence even after a thousand years of separation. What is she doing here? Why is she here? Has she come to make her repent? Anankos thoughts are already spiraling out of control before she has even had a chance to see her sister's face.

Her hands shake as she does, a familiar visage catching on her many eyes. Her sister, Hoshido's god, the Dawn Dragon, is truly standing before her. But... that should not be possible. Anankos was the only one who had not shed her mortal vessel - though, she knew now that may have been one of the greatest mistakes of her life. But then again, Anankos should not be alive either. The monastery did seem to have an odd way of drawing the strangest of characters to it, even if it was a face that would make you tremble and want to cry just at the sight of it.

"Asami... sister... you... how is this possible...?" Her voice trembles just as her hands do, always so scared, a coward who could not even bear a simple war between dragons. But she had nowhere to hide now, not while her sister was here. It was impossible to hide from another First Dragon.

"Ah... well... it truly has been... quite a long time... but can it truly be called hiding if it's so easy to find me...?"

[sercphs-a]

⠀⠀⠀⠀W, huh.

[backmaskcd]

❓ RED QUESTION MARK — a theme of the sender's choice (Essie & Reid bc who knows what that is)

want one? click here

[orphanedshadow]

Continued from X:

orphanedshadow asked:

I know you can not eat, but I have always wondered why you do not bite people. Some of them really need it, and you could escape so easily once you were done.

@helltechnicality

" why on earth would i bite someone? not only is it terribly unhygienic but animalistic. to get to such a point would mean i have devolved beyond thought and reason. there are plenty methods for fighting that do not require me to take a bite out of someone. " that and he knew intimately what it was like to be gnawed upon and would not subject someone else to that.

"Apart from it being incredibly satisfying and effective? As well as unexpected enough to provide you with an opening? There are more reasons to bite than not to."

His argument did get a little bit of an eye-roll, it seemed so...mundane. "Why would hygiene matter to a ghost? The purpose of that entire exercise is to keep oneself from becoming ill. You can not die, nor become ill, ipso facto, there is no reason to be concerned with the various ailments that can come about from biting someone."

[chronosbled]

@batbrides continued from here.

SPEAKING IN GENERAL HAD NEVER BEEN ONE OF KIMORI'S STRONG POINTS, especially since she was a naturally nonchalant person, that and the fact she was never really a people person to begin with — or rather... she stopped being a people person once her and her younger sister's mother was murdered — but that wasn't something she would ever get into, thus why she rarely interacted with others. In truth, she hadn't planned on even stopping to talk to the other, but once her eyes caught sight of those childish looking stickers, she couldn't help but stop (probably because they reminded her of the ones her sister often had placed on her notebooks).

Though it was evident that the other didn't appreciate the comment she had made just moments ago, ONCE AGAIN FALLING SILENT AS SHE WATCHED THE SHORTER'S FACIAL FEATURES SUDDENLY SHIFT INTO SOMETHING AKIN TO ANNOYANCE — a singular brow twitching into a furrow as her lips struggled to keep a smile. It was a look that she was quite familiar with, etched deep into her mind much like a burn across one's skin, something that she often affiliated with disappointment; after all... ever since her mother died, her father had begun to grow more and more distant with her (not to mention she could never live up to the standards he'd hoped for her).

IT'S ONLY FOR A MOMENT, but there was a slight aversion of sky blue irises, almost as if she regretted saying anything to begin with, yet it doesn't last long before she returns her gaze towards the other. After all, she wasn't the type to show that things bothered her.

She gives a small shake of her head finally, DOING HER BEST TO SHOW THAT SHE WASN'T INTENTIONALLY TRYING TO TALK DOWN UPON THE FEMALE'S CHOICES. Taking a moment to shove her hands deeper into her pockets before shifting all her weight onto the right side of her body. "Nah, I don't think it's childish to question others choices, but don't let me rain on your parade. Nothing wrong with stickers." What Jinx did in her space time was none of her business and it probably never would be. "Besides, my little sister likes stickers too. Just like the ones ya got on yer horns."

[princessmacedon]

“ Ah! Lady Maria! It does me well to see you again, ”  Kent beams as he addresses the young redhead.  “ I actually have a present prepared for you for the Winter Festival, if you would be so willing to accept it. ”

A large wrapped box passes from his hands to hers. Upon unwrapping it, it would be revealed to be a huge set of various thread and ribbons all of different colors, full enough to complete the rainbow and then some.

“ Seeing as you seemed so pleased to do embroidery work multiple times in the past, I thought it a hobby of yours, so I wished to help procure you some supplies for it. I am sure you have a great many things you might wish to give or some fine work you would like to practice. I shall hope this shall suffice to give you the opportunity for either case then. ”

“Hello, Ser!” And she beams back as she replies in kind, eyes narrowed at him in happiness as she accepts the box without a second thought — truly without a second thought, for it is the beat after his words that her eyes drop down, blinking with a sort of awe as she realizes what it is.

Oh, but it is the excited sort — the sort that draws her eyes clear and round, that crinkles at their corners and shimmers at its center, that glitters with anticipation — all the ‘really truly’s and the ‘what could it possibly be’s!— and her mouth drops into a little ‘o’ before clacking shut, bared with pearly whites and laughter. Hoisting the box up higher, the little princess lays her cheek against its top, hugging the gift with affection.

“Wow…! Heehee… Thank you, Ser — I love it!” A statement honest and true for the simple fact of who gifted it, or that it exists at all.

Of course, she is delighted when she opens it, eyes all moon-roundness and new inspirations bright as the sun. Fingertips glide over spools of thread and colors beyond counting (or, well, countable but no less plentiful and delightful for it), and when she smiles yet again, there is a tautness to the corners of her mouth— appreciative… if also touched.

“Thank you…! I’m really, really happy, hee hee… Happy Winter Festival to you too, Ser!” At that, she presses a finger against her lips, a secret to cleave her grin in twain. “Something is a little late… so you’ll just have to look forward to it, okay? Heeheehee!”

(Some few days later she will stop by his office between classes, a package delivered with a smile and wave; if he is to open it, he will find a modest collection of tea blends with cards accompanying each tin — most notably, there is a blend from Macedon (complete with a happily-chattered story about wyverns and the sky) and another most carefully picked…)

(And, neatly folded in the corner, a white handkerchief trimmed with warm and sunny gold, the boughs of an apple tree embroidered into its southern corners.)

[inmensapotentia]

❛ i like being close to you. you’re warm. ❜ - arrancar Mode for Aizen

Not bothering to move from where he was sprawled across the bed in his chambers, the God of Hueco Mundo gave a soft chuckle, which took far less energy to shape correctly than he'd expected. "It's a desert. It doesn't get cold, Little One." Though Aizen didn't make her leave, his mind instead sorting through the newest round of information she had brought him that night about Grimmjow's strange reiatsu. Well now, it sounded like perhaps he needed to offer Grimmjow some of the freedoms he gave Mode...

"Little One, would it bother you for the Sexta to join us here?" While he didn't actually give a damn about whether or not she was alright with anything her God chose to do, he did need to know if she would try to cause him any problems. It would be easy enough to erase her from Hueco Mundo if need be, but if it didn't become necessary, she did made an awful good spy.

[arctic-hands]

Related to my tags on the Irish American reblog, how long have bastardized "Celtic" crosses been neo-Nazi symbols? I wasn't aware of this stupid use until I was an adult and my father was equally unaware until I learned about it, and in our Celtic (American) Pride we often used Celtic cross imagery in decor and accessories. Granted these usually did resemble actually woven/knotted crosses (which by no means meant they were authentic. At best a few came from local Celtic Pride fests–which as I said in those tags was plagued by Confederate and Nazi imagery), but most of them came from like JoAnn's or Michael's or Walmart whenever Saint Paddy's Day rolled around. That said, the woven pattern of a Celtic cross is a bitch to draw especially when you have yet to nurture or be nurtured in any art skills, so when my borderline-Gothic ass would doodle graveyards in my school notebooks I would often doodle simplified Celtic crosses as grave markers, which unfortunately just meant a simple cross with a simple circle in it, unfortunately reminiscent of the neo-Nazi symbol.

Me and my family were staunchly Indiana liberals (to be fair that wasn't that shocking in our democrat enclave city) and have only become more leftist as time goes on, so those who knew me well would know I didn't mean anything by it, but like I have to wonder/worry that those who didn't know me well (like most of my classmates. I was pretty lonely in high school) or people who would briefly visit my home or come across us while we were wearing Celtic pins that day or something came away with the wrong impression. I'm especially dismayed at the thought that the kids I knew to be actual neo-Nazis might thought I was one of them

For the record I left school in like twenty eleven and had been doodling graveyards for years and wearing Celtic imagery for even longer. I can't really find out when the "Celtic" cross became a dogwhistle